Nothing To Lose

by Jenna Byrnes

  She approached the front door cautiously then rang the bell. Normally not a nervous person, Bailey felt actual trepidation as she waited for the door to open. Mandy answered the bell and a cloudy look immediately covered her face.

  She attempted a smile. “Hello, Mandy. Is your mother home? I hoped to speak with both of you.”

  Without saying a word, Mandy turned and walked into another room. She left the door open, so Bailey waited.

  In a moment Sarah returned with her daughter. “Yes?” She spoke as if they had never met.

  “Sarah, I owe you and Mandy an apology. May I come in for a moment, please?”

  Mother and daughter exchanged glances, and they stepped aside to allow Bailey entrance. She walked inside and extended the flowers. “I’d like to give you these. The vase was one of my mother’s favourites. I hope you’ll accept it.”

  Sarah looked it over, taking the arrangement carefully into her hands. “That wasn’t necessary.”

  “Yes, it was. I acted horribly and I’m sorry. I know it’s no excuse, but this whole week has been hard for me.”

  “Please, come in and sit down.” Sarah motioned to the small living room.

  “Thank you.” Bailey chose a seat on the sofa, which was covered by a knitted afghan.

  Mandy sat next to her and smiled.

  Sarah dropped into the chair across from them. “I know this has been horrible for you. Really, we were trying to make it easier.”

  “I get that, now,” Bailey nodded. “In the city you don’t have neighbours offering to do things for you. Everyone wants something in return.”

  “We just wanted friendship,” Sarah replied.

  “I’m sorry,” Bailey repeated. “I’ve been down in the dumps and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.” She turned to Mandy. “I understand you took care of my mother’s flowerbeds.”

  The girl nodded.

  Sarah said, “I think at first Missy enjoyed the company, and they worked side by side. Later, she couldn’t do the work by herself. Mandy did everything this season.”

  Bailey smiled. “Well, I know my mother enjoyed her flowers.” She reached in her purse and pulled out the little black velvet bag. “I think Mom would want you to have this.”

  Mandy opened the gift and gasped. “Oh, I couldn’t…”

  “Please accept it. I think it will look lovely on you.” She looked to Sarah questioningly.

  Sarah thought about it for a moment and then nodded. “Thank you.” She finally smiled at Bailey.

  Mandy removed the necklace and put it on. “It’s beautiful! Oh, thank you!” She threw her arms around Bailey’s neck and hugged her.

  Bailey was caught off guard by the open act of tenderness. She took a moment to compose herself then accepted the hug. When they pulled apart she said, “All right, I do have an ulterior motive. I thought I was being strong and tough, wanting to do everything myself. Now I find myself alone in that house which is so full of stuff, and I haven’t the foggiest idea where to begin.” She looked at Mandy. “I hoped, if I paid you, you might considered helping me sort through things and clean it out.”

  “You don’t have to pay me. I’d be happy to help.”

  Bailey looked at Sarah. “With your permission, of course.”

  Sarah nodded. “It does seem like a big job. I’ll be happy to help whenever I can, too. But we won’t accept payment.”

  Bailey shrugged. “We’ll see. Perhaps mom had some things you might like to have. I certainly don’t have room for half of her stuff at my place.”

  Sarah repeated, “We’ll see. When would you like Mandy to start?”

  Bailey looked at Mandy. “As soon as you can? Tomorrow?”

  Mandy nodded. “I can be there tomorrow. What time?”

  Looking around for anyone else in the house, Bailey said, “Later than six-thirty a.m., if possible.”

  They laughed, and Sarah added, “I’m sorry about that. Doug can be a little stubborn. But he’s a good worker and he cared an awful lot for Missy.”

  “Stubborn seems like an apt description.” She caught her thoughts drifting to his long, jean-clad legs, and stood. “It’s nice to hear Mom had such good friends. Oh, Sarah—I need to call a realtor about selling the house. Can you recommend anyone?”

  “Sure. Let me think about it and I’ll send a couple of names and phone numbers with Mandy tomorrow. What, about eight-thirty, nine?”

  “Nine would be great.” Bailey nodded. She looked at Mandy and said, “I’ll see you in the morning, then. And thank you both for giving me another chance.”

  “See you tomorrow!” Mandy walked her to the door. “And thank you!” She fingered the necklace happily.

  “Yeah, thanks,” Sarah added as Bailey left.

  She felt better as she drove home. She hadn’t been trying to make enemies, but she felt so out of place in Perry it seemed like that was what she was doing. She’d made a good start at changing that, though, and was at least formulating a game plan for cleaning out the house. With someone to help her, she knew she could get it done.

  She ate a salad and cleaned up the kitchen before she sat down with the phone to try to call Marc again. She’d reached his voicemail last night, and he’d never called her back. Bailey made a noise of disgust with her tongue as the voicemail answered his phone again. She left another message, a little crisper this time, and hung up.

  She wandered into her mother’s room and looked around. They would box up clothes and personal items tomorrow for Goodwill. Bailey picked a necklace and two rings she especially treasured from the jewellery box and decided she’d let Mandy go through it too.

  From the closet, Bailey took a sweater and a robe that were two of her mother’s favourites. She put them in her own room and then decided to get ready for bed. It was early, but she was lonely and depressed and just wanted the day to be over.

  Mandy arrived at precisely nine a.m. Bailey greeted her at the door with a yawn and a cup of coffee in her hand. “Hello.”

  “Good morning.” Mandy stepped inside.

  “I guess you don’t drink coffee. Can I get you anything?” Bailey hid another yawn behind the back of her hand.

  “No thanks, I’m fine. Here are the realtor names and numbers mom wanted you to have.” She handed over a slip of paper.

  “Great, thanks. I thought we’d start with her clothes and the stuff in her room today. I called Goodwill and they’ll pick it up—we just have to put it in boxes.”

  Mandy got a nervous look on her face and Bailey asked, “Is that going to bother you? I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

  “N—no,” Mandy said uncertainly. “It’ll be okay.”

  Bailey nodded, somewhat nervous herself, and headed into the bedroom. “Let me know if this creeps you out. We can do something else.” She almost hoped the girl would say something. When she didn’t, Bailey opened the closet doors and put an empty box on the bed. “I guess we’ll just start boxing. Anything that looks worn out we should throw away. I’m going to pitch a lot of stuff in the dresser.”

  Mandy watched as Bailey opened the top drawer and began throwing underwear away. She turned to the closet and pulled clothes out one at a time. “I remember this dress,” she said and folded it lovingly.

  Bailey looked at the girl and said, “You know, if there’s anything you’d like to have, just take it. It’s all going to Goodwill. I kept a couple of things for myself.”

  “Thanks.” Mandy set aside two sweaters and a gardening smock.

  “Yeah, you should have that. I really had no idea you helped my mom so much with her flowers. It’s funny, we talked about a lot of stuff, but I don’t know if she ever mentioned your family.” Bailey realised that her mother might have mentioned them and she just didn’t remember. Once again, she realised how much she let things go in one ear and out the other, especially things that didn’t pertain to her busy daily life. Realising that made Bailey feel a little uncomfortable.

  She tried not to thi
nk too much, and soon the closet and dresser were empty. “Wow, this isn’t as bad as I thought.” She closed a box and tucked in the flaps. “I really hated the idea of tackling it by myself—thank you so much for coming over.”

  “Sure,” Mandy replied. “So what’s next?”

  She cleaned off the top of the dresser and handed the jewellery box to Mandy. “Would you like to look through here and see if there’s anything you want? I know there’s nothing valuable, but there might be some fun stuff if you’re interested.”

  “I don’t know if I should.” The girl bit her lip.

  “Of course you should. In fact, why don’t you take it and keep what you like? Whatever you don’t want you can donate or give away, I don’t care.”

  “Okay,” Mandy agreed and set the box on the bed with the other things she was keeping. “Mom’s going to have a fit if I come home with too much stuff.”

  “I don’t know why. I’m giving it to someone, so if you want it I’d prefer to give it to you.”

  Mandy nodded and they finished up in Melissa’s room by noon. They ate a sandwich and then Bailey had Mandy start boxing up unopened food to take to the food pantry at the church. While the girl started that, she called one of the realtors Sarah had recommended and made an appointment for the next day.

  She threw another box on the kitchen table and stood next to Mandy to fill it. “So, what grade will you start in the fall?”

  “I’ll be a freshman,” Mandy replied.

  “Do you like school?”

  “Yeah, I have to admit, I do. I love to read and write. I think I might want to be a journalist someday.”

  “Did my mother tell you I’m an editor at Chicago Today magazine?”

  “Yes,” Mandy smiled slyly at her. “I was dying to ask you about it.”

  Bailey shoved the last of the food into her box and sat in a kitchen chair. “It’s a great job. I get to travel and meet people. I can write as much or as little as I want, and they let me pick my story ideas. I highly recommend it as a career possibility.”

  Mandy sat in the chair next to her and looked in the air dreamily. “Getting out of Perry sounds like the best part, and to travel and meet all kinds of people—wow! My fantasy job.”

  “I’ll show you some stuff on my computer when we have time.”

  “Cool!” Her eyes lit up.

  Bailey chuckled. “Maybe tomorrow, if we get a good head start on boxing this stuff up.”

  “Yeah!” Mandy agreed.

  Bailey called the Goodwill store and confirmed their truck would be there at four-thirty. The sky was clear with no rain in sight, so she and Mandy hauled the boxes out and stacked them in the driveway. They grabbed some other small stuff that Bailey wanted to send and a couple of end tables. She looked around the house and couldn’t see anything else to go at that point. They might come up with more later, but for now she felt like they’d accomplished a good day’s work.

  Doug found them sitting in the shade of the porch, sipping lemonade, when he arrived that afternoon. He started to focus on Bailey’s long, tanned legs, prominent in the shorts she wore, but got sidetracked by the pile of stuff in front of his truck. He got out and walked around the stack, then looked at her incredulously. “What in the hell are you doing?”

  “Drinking lemonade at the moment. Care for a glass?”

  “What’s this stuff doing out here?”

  “Goodwill is picking it up anytime now.”

  He looked at her as if she were insane. “You’re giving it away?”

  She set her glass on the little table by her chair and walked down to stand next to him. “My mother is gone. What do you suggest I do, keep everything in her house as some sort of Norman Bates shrine?”

  He felt a surge of fury as he looked at her and then back at the pile of Missy’s belongings. “No, but it might be nice to ask someone before you start giving things away.”

  Bailey’s eyes flashed. “Ask who? You? Why the hell would I do that? The will’s been read, honey, and you weren’t in it. All this is mine, now. If I had room in my condo, I’d take it with me, but I don’t. Sorry to break it to you.”

  Doug closed his eyes for a moment to collect his thoughts. He opened them and said calmly, “So if this stuff is going to Goodwill, you won’t mind if I take a couple of things?”

  “Knock yourself out. I’m not sure her dresses will fit you…”

  He glared at her as he picked up the two end tables and stacked them gently in the back of his truck. Every time he ran into her, they butted heads. She was so near, he could either reach out to kiss her or throttle her. It was a tough choice. He looked past her at Mandy on the porch. “You about ready to go, Squirt? I’ll give you a ride.”

  “Sure,” she called back. “Let me get my things.” She went in the house.

  Doug looked back at Bailey. “I hope you’re paying her to do all this work for you.”

  “I intend to,” Bailey gave him a nasty look. “I guess that’s what motivates you—money? I suppose my mother paid you for every little thing you did.”

  He bit his tongue and turned away from her, not wanting to say what he was thinking. He headed for the cab of his truck and said, “I never took a dime from your mother. Some people you just want to do things for.” He looked at Bailey. “And some people you don’t.”

  “Aw, bite me.” She turned and walked towards her house.

  “You’d have to pay me to do that!” he muttered.

  She turned back to him, her expression incredulous. “What an arrogant ass you are! I can’t believe my mother allowed you near her or this place.”

  “That just goes to show how much you know. Your mother and I spent quite a bit of time together, and we both enjoyed it very much. But you wouldn’t know that, would you? You were never here.”

  “How dare you!” she started, but stopped again as Mandy came out and bounced over to the truck. Bailey shook her head at Doug and muttered, “You’re so lucky…”

  She wouldn’t say anything else with Mandy present, and he knew it.

  He waved his hand in the air at her, a gesture of irritation and impatience.

  Mandy waved at Bailey. “See you in the morning!”

  Bailey turned to the girl, offering a smile that looked forced. “Thank you for your help. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Doug peeled out of the driveway, willing himself to calm down on the drive home. Mandy talked the whole way about what a great day she had and what a great person Bailey Montgomery turned out to be. The chatter irritated him even more, and by the time they got home, he was livid.

  “I’ll be down later to eat.” He jumped out of the truck as soon as he had parked. “I want to shower and unwind.”

  “Okay.” Mandy went in her house and Doug climbed the stairs to his loft. He went in and locked the door, going immediately to the bathroom where he stripped and stepped into the shower. He turned the water to lukewarm—almost cool—and stood under the spray for a long time.

  He tried to decide what upset him the most about Bailey Montgomery. The bottom line was the fact that she had not been here for her mother during Missy’s battle with cancer. He, Sarah or Mandy had been with Missy every day for the past several months. They had jobs and school but still managed to make time for what was important.

  Mandy was already bragging what an important person Bailey was, with an impressive editor’s job at some magazine. Doug scoffed at that—who cared about money or prestige over the health of a loved one? Nobody he wanted to know, that was for sure.

  So why was his dick standing straight up? The mere thought of Bailey Montgomery made his cock twitch. And right now, Jesus! He was hard as a rock.

  Doug grabbed his shaft and stroked it back and forth. The shower grew cold so he heated the water to match his rising body temperature. He stroked himself slowly, picturing Bailey’s long dark hair spread out on a pillow beneath him. Her bangs were a little too long and hung in her eyes in a sexy way that drove him crazy. A
nd her tits, God Almighty, they were a sight to behold. He could still see those nipples poking through her silky pyjamas.

  Imagining his tongue circling one of the brown peaks, he groaned and stroked his cock faster. He thought about sucking the nipple into his mouth roughly until it was cone-shaped and swollen.

  Doug grasped the wall as an intense orgasm shattered through him. He milked the last of the jism from his prick and when he could think straight, used the soap and washed up. No, he definitely wasn’t thinking straight—Bailey Montgomery was a snotty bitch from Chicago, and he wanted her to return there. So why did his cock still tingle?

  He rinsed the soap from his body and shut the water off. After stepping out to grab a towel, he dried his hair and then the rest of him. He looked at himself in the mirror—his dark hair was short and stood up, and he liked it that way. He didn’t have to do anything to it and he thought it looked good. Rubbing his chin, he decided not to shave—he also liked the three-day-beard look but occasionally had to shave to keep it from growing too thick.

  He stepped into boxers and a lightweight pair of gauze pants. He pulled a tank top on and went to his small fridge for a beer. He was trying to avoid the issue that was upsetting him—Bailey Montgomery, with her mile long legs and big tits. And her spunk. Doug liked a spunky woman, but something about Bailey surpassed spunk and went right into bitchiness. It pissed him off that he was wasting even one minute thinking about her. She would pack up and be out of here in a few days, and it was for the best. Thinking about her only got his dander—and his cock—up.

  There was a tap at his door, and he unlocked it and opened up to his sister. “Hey,” he said.

  “Hi there. Mandy said you were in a bad mood. Anything I can do to help?”

  “No, thanks.”

  “What is it this time? She said you seemed unhappy at Missy’s house.”

  He looked at her. “She was giving away the end tables I made for Missy. It just struck me wrong.”

  “I’m sorry.” Sarah touched his arm. “Missy loved those tables. I hope you told Bailey.”