Two Of Hearts (Three Of A Kind #2)

by Beth Rinyu

  “So, when are you heading back to London?” I asked, quickly changing the subject and looking away.

  She let out a loud laugh and put out her cigarette. “Who knows? My boss is an asshole and is trying to get rid of me. Can you imagine that? All my dedication to that company, and to him, and the jerk wants to fire me.”

  “Wow, I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “Oh, don’t be. I got some good leads at other companies. He could take that job and shove it right up his ass. I hope he burns in hell.” She was seething with anger. “Hey, do you mind if I use the bathroom really quick before I go?”

  The last thing I wanted was for her to come inside, but if it got her to leave quicker, it was fine by me. I’d planned on having to spend a little more time than this talking to her, so I was actually getting off pretty easy.

  “Yeah, no problem.” I got up and led her inside, watching her go right into the bathroom. The few minutes that she was in there seemed like hours. I just wanted to get her out of here. Relief swept over me when I heard the bathroom door open.

  “Well, thanks for listening to me vent,” she said once we reached the front door.

  “No problem.” It’s not like she really had much to say. I thought she was going to be a little more upset than what she was. She definitely had some anger issues, that was for sure. She stretched her neck to kiss me on the cheek and I backed away, causing her to barely skim it. I didn’t want to give her any reason to misconstrue anything. She seemed a little defeated when she stepped outside. She took a step off the porch before turning around and looking at me.

  “Can you just answer one question for me?”

  “Depends on what it is?” I replied.

  “What’s she have that I don’t?”

  I looked down at the ground before locking eyes with her once again and answering without hesitation. “My heart.”

  She closed her eyes and nodded before walking down the driveway and getting in her car.

  I closed the door behind me, wondering what the hell that was all about. I began to wonder if her mother had even died or if that was all made up just to get me to talk to her. I shook my head at that ridiculous thought, she wouldn’t go that far. My police instincts immediately kicked in. I went into the bathroom and examined every inch of it, making sure that she hadn’t “accidently” left something for Carrie to find. I sat on the ledge of the bathtub, feeling like an asshole when I came up empty-handed, maybe she genuinely needed someone to vent to and didn’t have any ulterior motives. Still, I knew it was best to not mention anything to Carrie, and that’s exactly what I planned on doing.

  Chapter 26

  Carrie

  It was a crazy Monday morning. The strap on my favorite pair of sandals had broken, causing a whole wardrobe malfunction, and I couldn’t find my favorite pair of earrings that my grandmother had given me for my high school graduation. Adding to the bedlam was the fact that I’d forgotten to set my alarm, causing me to wake up half an hour late. The only good part about it was being able to kiss Jason goodbye while he lay sound asleep in my bed. The whole drive to work was filled with backtracking my steps of when I’d last seen my earrings. I knew I had them this weekend when I was over Jason’s house. That had to have been it. I must have left them at his house. It finally dawned on me. I had taken them out on Saturday night in his bathroom. They were probably still on the vanity. I arrived at work and sent Jason a text:

  Can you please check to see if my earrings are in your bathroom when you get home? Have a good day off! Xoxo

  I was feeling a little more at ease, confident that he’d find them. “Morning, sweetness,” Mary chimed. I wasn’t sure what was up with her lately, but she had totally dropped any and all conversation about a potential relationship between her son and me. Maybe he had come out and told her he was gay, or maybe he told her I wasn’t his type and she didn’t want to make me feel bad. Whatever the case, I was grateful. I had scheduled Teigan as my first appointment. Normally, we met on Tuesday afternoons, but his dad had called and said he couldn’t make it this Tuesday so he asked if I could reschedule for today instead. He walked in right behind me, looking like he had just rolled out of bed.

  “Hey Teigan, how are you?” I asked.

  He shrugged his shoulders and I motioned for him to follow me back to my office. He plopped down on the couch and took off his baseball cap, running his hand through his shaggy hair, then placing it back on his head.

  “Well, you look like you’re still half-asleep.”

  “I am, and no offense, Carrie, but this is the last place I want to be right now.”

  I nodded. “I don’t blame you. It’s a beautiful day. I’d much rather be spending it at the lake or at the pool myself.”

  “Fuck that. I’d rather be spending it in bed.” He threw his head back on the couch. “I had a little too much to drink last night and then got into a fight about it with my dad. He literally dragged me out of bed and drove me here.”

  “Well, how much did you have to drink?”

  “Enough.”

  “Is that all you were doing?”

  He grinned. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  “Yeah. I would.” I remained straight-faced.

  “Look Carrie. You, my dad, and Jason can sit here and tell me not to do certain things, but I’m not gonna change for anyone. I told my dad this morning, and I’m telling you now. I’m a fuck-up….so quit wasting your time.”

  “Well, maybe we don’t think we’re wasting our time because we don’t think you’re a fuck-up. Maybe we actually believe in you.”

  “Yeah, okay.” He laughed. “Like I don’t know you’re getting paid to sit here and stroke my ego.”

  Now he was pissing me off. He had picked the wrong morning to give me his obnoxious teenage attitude, so I was going to give it to him straight. “Actually I’m not getting paid to see you Teigan. I’m doing it because I believe in you, and I see all that you could become and achieve in your life. The same way Jason does.” His eyes widened. “Don’t you think it would have been easier for Jason to have just arrested you and let you go to juvie, instead of taking the time to go through all this?” He looked away unable to answer. “Then there is your dad who loves you more than life itself and is willing to sacrifice anything for you, and this is how you repay him?” I could see the tears welling in his eyes. “So, if you want to continue to act like a fuck-up that’s one thing, but just remember you can choose to stop it anytime…..but if you’re not willing to try, then maybe the rest of us should just stop wasting our time. Is that what you want Teigan?”

  He quickly shook his head. “It’s just – every time I try and break away from it all, I can’t.”

  “You can. I get it. High school can be a difficult time. There are a lot of adjustments and a lot of peer pressure, but you’ve got to be strong and stand up to that. Don’t worry about not doing what everyone else is. Teigan, I was the biggest geek in high school.”

  He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “What? No way!”

  “I was. I was a goody-good who didn’t do anything wrong. All I cared about was studying and getting good grades. I hated the popular kids, especially the jocks, until one day I accidentally befriended one who I now love more than anything.”

  “Jason?” he managed a smile.

  “It was hard for me back then, just like it is for you. Just believe in yourself, Teigan. Stop saying you’re a fuck-up just to take the easy way out of life.” I looked down at my watch and noticed that our time was just about up. I would much rather have talked to Teigan for another hour instead of my next patient and her shopping addiction; I felt like a bit of hypocrite, dishing out advice on that topic when I kind of suffered from it myself. I was hoping that he had taken some of my advice to heart as I walked him out of my office.

  He stopped for a moment and looked deep in thought. “Hey Carrie, next week, I start my senior year, and I’m……I’m gonna try and turn things around.”
/>   “I know you can do it, Teigan.”

  He smiled for the first time all morning. “See ya next Tuesday?” he asked.

  “I’ll be here.” I smiled back.

  “Cool.” He nodded and was on his way, almost walking right into my worst nightmare on his way out – Ashley.

  I quickly scanned the waiting area for Karen Trembow – aka shopping goddess before turning around to head back to my office and avoid any communication with the bitch that had just walked in.

  “Carrie?”

  Shit. Fuck. Damn it. I couldn’t. I couldn’t even pretend to be nice to her. I took a deep, cleansing breath and turned around. Her hair was slicked back in a chic ponytail and before I could check out what stylish outfit she was sporting, my eyes focused on her earlobes and the earrings she was wearing – my earrings!

  “Excuse me, but where did you get those earrings?” I asked. My tone was sharp and to the point.

  She grabbed her earlobes, looking like she was trying to figure out which pair she had on. “Oh, these ones? Jason gave them to me.”

  My stomach churned in every way imaginable. “Jason did not give them to you! They are mine!” I shouted, not even caring that Mary had front row seats to this whole show and was taking in every word of it.

  “Oh my god, Carrie. I’m so sorry. I had no idea.” She quickly took them out of her ears and placed them in my hand.

  “I was over there yesterday and –”

  “Bullshit!”

  “Uh-oh.” I heard Mary mutter under her breath as she pretended to continue filing.

  “Actually, I was! I texted Jason because I needed to talk. Here, I’ll show you the text if you don’t believe me.” She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her messages. “Here. See?” She placed the phone in front of my face and Jason’s message was as clear as day. My stomach clenched. Jason had never said a word to me, and at that moment, I wasn’t sure who I was pissed at more…her or Jason. She sneered at me in triumph, and I had to look away if I didn’t want to cause a scene in my workplace. I pulled in my bottom lip, took a deep breath, turned around and headed back to my office. It took everything I had inside of me not to go back at her, but I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of knowing how badly she had just upset me.

  I sat down at my desk trying my hardest to pull myself together. Why didn’t Jason tell me that he’d seen her? She obviously was in his house if she had my earrings. A million different images began to flash through my mind, and each and every one of them made me feel like I was going to vomit. I took out my phone, ready to call Jason and lay into him, but at the last second decided not to do it. I knew that I would be a complete mess once I talked to him, and I needed to get through the rest of the day, so instead, I turned off my phone completely. I didn’t want to see any texts from him or any phone calls. I would be too tempted to reply with a not-so-nice response. I took a deep breath, wiped the tears that were starting to form in my eyes and pulled it together. I had patients to see and the last thing they wanted was to get advice from an emotional wreck.

  I startled at the light knock on my door. “Carrie, your next patient is here, honey,” Mary stood in the doorway, gazing at me sympathetically.

  I put on my best game face and forced a smile. “Okay. I’ll be right out.”

  I may have been burning up with anger and hurt on the inside, but I wasn’t going to let that show now. I would unleash that all in six more hours on the person it was intended for.

  ***

  Jason

  What was supposed to be my day off turned into five hours of overtime, working out in the blistering sun, directing traffic and then getting into it with my sergeant. I was sunburned as hell and mentally and physically beat when I got home. I just wanted to take a shower and sleep. When I walked into the kitchen and saw the floor covered in water, I knew both of those things would have to wait. I looked under my kitchen sink to find one of the pipes busted open and sprouting water all over the place. “Fuck!” I shouted. Could today get any worse? I dialed my dad’s number while I tried my best to sop up the water from the floor.

  “What’s up, Jas?” he answered.

  “Yo, dad. I need you to walk me through this leak I have under my kitchen sink.”

  “What happened?” he kept cutting in and out, adding to my frustration.

  “I don’t know! One of the pipes is leaking, and I have a fuckin’ river in my kitchen right now,” I snapped.

  “Alright. I’ll be there in a few.”

  I hung up the phone, wondering if I should have called my dad’s uncle instead. My dad was good at a lot of things, but plumbing….that was his weakness, but he still knew more than me, so I would take what I could get. I glanced over at my phone on the table and realized I hadn’t heard from Carrie all day. She hadn’t even responded to my text letting her know that I couldn’t find her earrings. I couldn’t worry about that right now, she must’ve been busy. My father arrived just as I finished drying up the floor.

  “So where’s all this water at?” I pointed to the mounds of wet towels on the washer machine to prove to him that I wasn’t exaggerating. When he bent down and looked under the sink, he realized I wasn’t. “Yup, it’s leaking.”

  “Really, Dad? I didn’t know that?”

  “Hey, you want it fixed smart ass?” He shouted as he walked out to his truck to get his tools. He came back inside with his tool box and wasted no time, crawling under the sink, spewing out the usual profanities that were just normality when he was working on plumbing. I stood around trying to help him out the best that I could, finally making myself useful when I heard, “You motherfucker!” coming from under the sink followed by another stream of water. Yup, this day couldn’t possibly get any worse.

  Chapter 27

  Carrie

  I finally powered up my phone when I got out to my car, scrolling through everything else to get to Jason’s message:

  No earrings here, sorry.

  My blood pressure shot right back up to the level it had been earlier that day. “Of course they aren’t, dumbass! You gave them to that bitch!” I shouted, throwing my phone on the passenger’s seat. I was too mad to even call him. I needed to see him in person. I wanted to see the look on his face when I busted him in a boldfaced lie.

  The closer I got to his house, the madder I was getting. I felt like I was going to combust when I pulled into his driveway, slamming my car door and stomping up the driveway, totally zoned out and just focusing on the task at hand. I walked through the front door and followed the noise coming from the kitchen.

  “Don’t come in here unless you want to fall on your ass!” Jason said, sounding annoyed, just as I took a step in, ignoring his warning.

  “Hi Jas, guess where I found my earrings?” I scoffed.

  “Carrie, really, right now I don’t have time to talk about that.” He replied, sounding even more annoyed as he sopped up the water that was everywhere.

  There was no way in hell he was going to throw an attitude my way after what he’d done. I continued on as if he didn’t even say a word. “Ashley’s ears.”

  He finally looked up from the floor and creased his eyebrows at me. “Yeah, Jas, you heard me right.”

  “Hey, Jason, hand me that wrench on the counter,” I heard Ben’s voice echo from underneath the sink.

  Shit. I’d been in such a rage when I walked in, I hadn’t even noticed Ben’s truck. Jason stood up and handed him the wrench, never taking his eyes from me.

  “What do you mean, Ashley had your earrings?” He laughed as if I was crazy for even suggesting such a thing, which was pissing me off even more.

  “Just what I said! You gave them to her when she was over here yesterday!”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” He yelled.

  “Oh, please Jason. You are the worst liar!”

  He opened his mouth to speak, but I stopped him before he could even begin to say a word. “And before you try and deny it…..she showe
d me the text!”

  He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “First off…. when –”

  “Jas, hand me the caulk on the table,” Ben requested, still under the sink and completely oblivious to the shouting match that was going on up above.

  “When the hell did you see Ashley?” He demanded as he reached down and gave Ben the caulk.

  “She comes to the counseling center to see one of the therapists, and the bitch couldn’t wait to show off my earrings today.”

  He took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair. “She texted me yesterday because she needed –“

  “Yeah, I know. I saw the message, remember?” Ben got up and turned on the kitchen faucet, looking at the pipes underneath as if Jason and I weren’t even there.

  “I was gonna text her back and tell her I couldn’t meet her and she just showed up here. We talked for about five minutes, she used the bathroom and left. I never gave her your earrings….she took them. Are you that stupid?”

  I felt my jaw drop to the ground. “No, I’m not stupid, but I’m pretty sure you are!”

  “Excuse me,” Ben said as he reached between us to grab one of his wrenches from the table.

  “You’re the one that fell for her ‘woe is me’ act after she cheated on you with her married boss!” I couldn’t believe it came out, but it did, and at that moment, I didn’t care.

  “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “Oh, the whole reason the little damsel in distress was seeing a counselor in the first place, because she was stressed about sleeping with her married boss while she was still with you!”

  His eyes seemed to be changing colors instantly, and I knew what each and every one of them symbolized. Hurt, confusion and finally anger.

  “Alright, I hate to come in between you two lovebirds here, but the sink is temporarily fixed until I get a new fitting.” Ben interrupted.