“In my house? With my wife and kids there?”
“I’ll leave it up to you, but just so you know... I won’t be wearing underwear tonight.”
Curtis worked the scene for another hour, but his mind was elsewhere.
CHAPTER 25
By late-February, Mary had fallen into a routine with Bobby, as she grew fonder of the boy every week.
Clay was also spending time at the house on a regular basis, as Mary made dinner for them more often than not. After eating, she and Clay would sit together and talk, or watch a movie or documentary that had a historical context, especially anything having to do with the American Civil War.
Mary refused to take money from Clay, but he found a way around that by showing up for Bobby with an armful of groceries, and would often buy Mary a book that she mentioned she wanted.
There was nothing romantic between them, however, Mary was growing more attached to Clay and found him charming, to say the least. For his part, he’d often look at her and wonder if Brady Ross knew how lucky he was, but he was still mourning his wife and had no desire to begin a relationship.
They were friends, and Mary, who had always wanted to be a mother, loved taking care of Bobby and thought that the little boy needed her as well.
He had lost his mother while very young, and although Clay loved his son, Bobby was at an age where he still needed mothering.
Mary knew he would grow out of that phase soon enough and someday flinch when she kissed him on the cheek, but at six, he still needed a feminine influence in his life, and Mary did her best to fill that role for him.
She had spent time with Bobby’s mother in the weeks leading up to her death, and one of Patty Richards greatest fears was that her absence from her son’s life would damage him somehow, and if Patty was looking down on them as Mary tried to fill that void, Mary hoped that it was with a smile.
***
Clay made his way back inside Mary’s house after shoveling over a foot of snow that had fallen the night before, and had even cleared the snow off her car and the length of the long driveway.
After taking off his boots, he looked up to find Mary walking towards him with a cup of hot cocoa.
“Thank you, that’s just what I need.”
“No, thank you, but like I said, I could have hired one of the neighborhood kids to do it.”
Clay laughed.
“Good luck with that. The kids today don’t seem to do that sort of thing anymore. My guess is that they’re all inside enjoying their snow day and playing video games.”
“You may be right, but I also could have done it myself.”
“Not while I’m around. It’s the least I can do considering how much you help me out.”
Bobby came running out of the kitchen with a cookie in hand and a milk mustache on his upper lip.
“Daddy, Mary has the new Buzzy & Beano movie and she said that we can watch it whenever you’re ready.”
Clay smiled at his son’s exuberance.
“I’m ready, let’s put it on.”
Clay and Mary sat on the sofa together while Bobby lay on the floor and stared up at the flat screen television.
“I took him to see this movie three times when it was in the theater and he never gets tired of it,” Clay said.
“I bought two copies so that he could watch it at home too.”
“Mary, you’re going to spoil the boy.”
“He deserves it.”
Other than the time spent together with Bobby, they also talked on the phone every night.
The calls began just before Christmas, and at first, they were just a way of confirming that Mary would be available to watch Bobby. Later, they would talk just to talk, and soon they became a nightly ritual where if Clay didn’t call her, Mary would wind up calling him.
The movie ended and Mary put on another of Bobby’s favorites. When that one finished playing, it was time for dinner.
After that, they went out into the backyard for a snowball fight that they let Bobby win, and shortly after coming inside, the boy fell asleep on the sofa.
When it was time to leave, Bobby woke as Mary was putting on his jacket, and he smiled at her through sleep-filled eyes.
“I wish you were my new mommy.”
Mary felt tears well up in her eyes, and she was about to respond to Bobby when she realized that he had fallen asleep again.
She looked up, saw that Clay had heard Bobby, and that he looked uncertain of how to respond.
“I’m glad I can be here for him,” Mary said.
“You’re a Godsend, Mary, and I don’t know what either of us would do without you.”
As Clay was carrying his son out the door, Mary did something that she had never done before; she stood up on her toes and planted a kiss on Clay’s cheek.
“Drive safely.”
Clay told her that he would, and then walked out to his vehicle with his son draped on his shoulder.
After closing the door, Mary realized that she wanted them to stay and never leave, and not just Bobby, but Clay as well, along with everything that would imply.
She felt a pang of guilt over her feelings because of Brady, but also because of Clay, who she knew was still mourning.
Mary sat on the sofa and dialed Brady, and when he answered, she said five words.
“I want to see you.”
CHAPTER 26
Mary traveled to Boston to stay with Brady for the weekend, in the hope of rekindling her feelings for him.
She loved him, or at least she thought she did, but their long-range romance made it tough for love to grow, and the weather had been so bad over the last few weeks that it made traveling difficult, as a series of snowstorms had blanketed the roadways between them with record snowfall.
***
“Two months,” Brady told her. “In two months I’ll be back in Destination to supervise the framing of the new homes, and from that point on we’ll spend every day together.”
They were at Jake’s house, sitting together on a sofa in the living room and kissing whenever a commercial break came on TV.
Mary knew that Brady’s friends had been going out of their way to be nice to her, and she found that she liked both Lindy and Selina, and was finally feeling relaxed around them.
When the sound of a car screeching to a stop came from the driveway, Mary and Brady walked over to the window and saw a tearful Shay leaving her car. Before Shay had even closed her door, Avery came flying into the driveway on his motorcycle and nearly hit her with the bike’s front wheel.
Shay shouted something at Avery, who responded in kind, and then grabbed her by the wrist hard enough to make her yelp.
Before Mary knew it, Brady was flying out the front door and headed towards the couple, while looking as angry as she’d ever seen him,
Mary followed, and by the time she joined them, Brady was bellowing at Avery.
“Let her go, and don’t ever let me see you grab her like that again.”
Avery made a face of disgust, but he released Shay, who rubbed her wrist as if it hurt.
“What’s going on?” Brady asked Shay.
“I broke up with him, but he won’t leave me alone,” Shay said.
Avery pointed at Brady.
“It’s because of him, isn’t it? You want to get back together, and don’t try to deny it. I’ve seen the way you look at him.”
Shay glanced at Mary.
“Brady has moved on, or don’t you see Mary standing right there?”
“I see her, Shay; oh, I’m far from blind.”
Avery walked over to Mary.
“Did you know about these two?”
Mary looked a bit flustered.
“I... yes, Brady told me that they dated.”
Avery leaned in as if sharing a secret.
“Do you want to know what I think? I don’t think they ever stopped, I think that they’ve been fooling around behind our backs, and if she’s dumping me, guess who’s next.�
�
“Alright, I’ve had enough of you.”
Brady made a move towards Avery, but Jake ran out of the house and got between the two men.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but nobody is throwing fists over it. Now let’s take it inside and stop giving my neighbors a show, huh?”
Brady pointed at Avery.
“This asshole put his hands on Shay.”
“Inside,” Jake said.
Brady huffed, but he put an arm around Mary’s shoulders and headed for the door. Shay followed behind them, as Jake stayed outside with Avery.
From inside, they could hear Jake’s calm voice as Avery ranted, and then came the sound of the motorcycle starting up and driving away.
When Jake came in the house, he went straight to Shay.
“You alright there, honey?”
“He didn’t hurt me; he was just excited when he grabbed my wrist, and then Brady overreacted.”
Brady opened his mouth in shock.
“I overreacted? Look at your wrist, Shay; it’s already beginning to bruise.”
Shay pulled her sleeve down.
“I’m going to go talk to Selina.”
After Shay left, Jake spoke to Mary.
“It’s not usually this exciting around here.”
Mary gave a little shrug.
“Break-ups are hard, and I think Avery is sensitive.”
“Well, anyway, Lindy says dinner will be ready soon, so I hope you’re both hungry?”
“I was,” Brady said. “But I think Avery has taken my appetite away.”
Jake gave him a playful punch on the shoulder.
“Dude, Lindy has made her famous stuffed shells.”
Brady grinned.
“That’s my favorite.”
“That’s right, so cheer up,”
When Jake left the room, Mary stared at Brady.
“What? Why are you staring at me?”
“How long did you and Shay date?”
“A little over two years, almost three,”
“That long?”
“It’s not so long.”
“Do you still have feelings for her?”
“Enough so that I won’t let some punk manhandle her, yes, but Shay is in my past, and I thought this weekend was supposed to be about us?”
Mary forced a smile and hugged Brady.
“It is about us, and also about me getting to know your friends better, and I’ve certainly done that.”
Brady kissed her, and even as she kissed him back, Avery’s words were placing doubts in Mary’s mind.
CHAPTER 27
Avery looked up with a start as Joe Venta sat across from him at a table inside a Boston bar.
Avery was still pissed from his confrontation with Brady, and the appearance of an uninvited guest didn’t help his mood.
“Dude, I don’t know what you’re selling, but I ain’t buying.”
“I’m buying,” Venta said, and then gestured for the waitress.
“Give my friend another drink and I’ll have a shot of Jack.”
“Well hell, if you’re buying I’ll have a burger and some onion rings too,” Avery said.
Venta asked the waitress to bring Avery what he wanted, and after she left, he smiled across the table at the young man.
“You know how to take advantage of an opportunity, that’s good.”
***
They talked for hours while drinking, and Avery opened up to Venta, who averaged less than one drink for every two that Avery downed.
When Venta mentioned that he worked for Carlito, Avery looked alarmed, but after Venta assured him that he was not there to hurt or threaten, the kid relaxed.
When the talk turned to Shay dumping him, Venta made sympathetic sounds even though he thought Avery an idiot for pining over one woman when the world teemed with billions of them, and even a glance around the bar revealed at least half a dozen who were good looking enough to sleep with.
After he started on his eighth drink, Avery mentioned the robbery that they had planned for the spring.
“Do you believe that shit, they take the winter off. I mean, what are we, roofers? The last score only earned me ten grand, and yeah, I can hack into somebody’s bank account and get more, but I mean, it’s the principle of the thing, ya know? Lazy bastards,”
“Who brought you into the gang?”
“Craig, he and my father used to run together back in the day.”
“Are you two close?”
“No, see, my dad’s in jail and Craig’s running around free, so I figure he’s just cutting me in out of guilt or something, and his buddy Jake, he’s a jerk too, butting into my business and telling me that I shouldn’t have grabbed Shay. Screw him.”
“And this man, Brady,” Venta said. “He sounds like he’s just using you for your hacker skills, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he sent that girl Shay to seduce you.”
Avery blinked to clear his vision after downing the last of his latest drink.
“Why would he do that?”
“They wanted to implicate you in the robbery of that armored car, and now that they can hang that over your head, he no longer needs her to keep you happy.”
Avery’s face scrunched up as he thought that over.
“You know, Shay had been acting weird even before we broke up and was always too busy to see me, and I can’t remember the last time we slept together.”
“And the reason she dumped you was because she didn’t need to string you along anymore.”
Avery mumbled, “Bitch,” and then he stood. “I’ve gotta take a leak.”
Venta watched Avery wobble towards the restrooms and when the waitress came over again, Venta told her to bring coffee.
It was time to get down to business, and by the time the bar closed, Venta had Avery ready to betray Brady and the others.
***
Steve Beck stared at the numbers on the laptop screen and his mouth dropped open in shock. His neighbor and lover Toni Hogan just showed him how much they had made with their porn business. It was ten times what Steve had expected.
“I didn’t make that much money the first year I opened my shop.”
Toni kissed him.
They were lying in bed in a motel and had just made love.
“We have sixteen different videos up and they get a lot of hits, thanks to your stepson and his own little side business.”
Steve’s stepson Tyler not only used his van for his own rendezvous with girls, but also rented the vehicle out to his fraternity brothers. What Tyler didn’t know was that every time someone used the van, it was all being captured on video.
Steve and Toni had also filmed Steve’s underage stepdaughter with her boyfriend, but those tapes they kept for themselves because of the girl’s age.
“We’ll make even more than this next month,” Toni said. “You wait and see, and in a few weeks we’ll have three times as many videos.”
“Why so many?”
Toni flashed a wicked smile and hit keys on the laptop. An image appeared of a bedroom, then, the image seemed to multiply into four images, and each took up a quarter of the screen.
The images showed four different bedrooms. Two were empty, while in one, a young woman slept atop the bed in bra and panties, and in another, a woman in shorts was doing yoga.
“What is this?” Steve said.
“Those are the apartments of four of my tenants, and I placed cameras in all of their bedrooms. Each one of the girls that rent those apartments are young, hot, and sexually active. In other words, they’re a goldmine.”
Steve laughed.
“Holy crap, Toni, do you know what would happen if you got caught filming them?”
Toni waved that off.
“We won’t get caught, those girls are all clueless. Two of them are strippers and the other two work down at the supermarket.”
“That doesn’t mean that they’re dumb.”
“Maybe not, but it was too good to
pass up; I should have thought of this a long time ago,”
Steve watched the screen and saw that the woman doing yoga was very flexible.
“You ah, you wouldn’t have happened to get her on video, hmm?”
“I sure did, twice, and it was with two different guys, but if you don’t think we should film them then I’ll—”
“Show it to me.”
“That’s what I’d thought you would say.”
CHAPTER 28
By the time spring came, Mary was spending every weekend at Brady’s apartment, and had grown fond of his friends.
Things were going well between them, but there was a shadow of doubt in Mary’s mind about him, because whenever Shay was present when Mary appeared, she would soon leave, and Mary also noticed that Brady seemed uncomfortable whenever Shay was around.
They had just arrived at Jake’s house when Mary saw Shay make a face of disgust, kiss her Cousin Selina on the cheek, and head for the door with her purse in her hand.
Mary had enough of her behavior, and followed her, intending to talk things out.
***
Shay was just about to get in her car when she heard the front door open behind her, and when she turned around, she saw that Mary was walking towards her.
“Something I can help you with, Mary?”
“You can tell me the truth.”
Shay smiled.
“Honey, that’s the last thing you want to hear.”
“What’s that mean? Are you saying that what Avery said when you two broke up was the truth, and that something is going on between you and Brady?”
Shay sighed. She had promised Brady that she wouldn’t tell Mary that they had slept together, and so she wouldn’t.
“Avery was just hurt then because of our breakup; I wouldn’t take what he said seriously.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Maybe not, but it’s the only one I have.”
Shay got inside the car and that’s when Mary noticed the sticker on the windshield.
It was the same permit that Brady had on his car, and that allowed him to park in the underground garage of his apartment building.
She tapped on the side window and Shay lowered it.
“Where do you live? Do you live in the same building as Brady?”
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