Take 2 on Love

by Torrie Robles

  “When I woke up the next morning, the bottle was over half empty, and those papers were strewn all around the counter. I knew the kids would be up, and I didn’t want to have to explain it to them, so I just pushed those, along with whatever other mail I had on the counter, into the drawer.”

  I shift in my chair. “Why didn’t you throw them away?”

  His head drops again. “I don’t know why.”

  “Is that where your mind is going?”

  His head snaps up, his brows furrowed. “No, absolutely not. That’s the last thing that I want. If I had my way, you’d be back home. You never would have left.”

  “All right,” I concede. “It was a mistake, an impulsive move on your part.” I place the pillow on the arm of the chair and push myself up. “I’m tired Heath,” I tell him as I stand in place, waiting for him to get up.

  When he stands, he pushes his hands into his dark jeans. “Can I take you out for New Year’s? Do you have plans?”

  Biting my lip, I shake my head. “I don’t think so. I’m not in the mood to do anything this year.” He pulls his hands from his pockets and takes a step towards me, but I stiffen at his closeness. I might have told him this misunderstanding was all right, that I understood, but I’m not ready to have him so close to me.

  “Whit, I’ve spent every New Year’s with you for twenty-five years.” His hands come up, to my arms, where his thumbs brush against my skin.

  I wrap my arms around myself, causing him to drop his hands. “I think I’m just going to have a quiet night this year. I need to work on my books. I’m running out of time before school is back in session.”

  A thin smile edges his lips. I know he’s not happy, but right now, I’m not happy either.

  “I need to get to bed,” I sigh.

  He takes a step in my direction but stops himself. “All right, Whit. I’ll see you later.” He gives me a quick nod and walks out leaving me feeling defeated.

  I’m not sure if Harold was right when he told me to allow my personal situation to influence my writing because for the past five days I’ve made no progress on my books. The exchange with Heath is still fresh on my mind. I can’t seem the shake the betrayal that I feel. I know this funk is part of the problem. I haven’t had a case of writer’s block in months and now is not the time for my brain to shut down.

  School is back in session in two days, and the time I thought I had to make a dent in what my editor needs from me is almost gone. Ruby insisted that she take the kids over the weekend so I can work. It’s not that there’s a problem with having them here, they don’t need the constant watchful eye like they did when they were younger, but it’s the noises. The occasional laugh or burst of anger. The opening and closing of doors, or the muffled murmurs of their conversations that bother me. I need quiet, and sometimes that’s not possible with two teenagers at home.

  I hear the jiggling of keys in the front door, and then I hear it click closed. Wondering what the kids want, I place my laptop on my bed, swinging my legs to the side.

  “Whit?” Heath’s voice sounds a bit shaky.

  Padding over to my door, I swing it open to find Heath, looking ragged. His hair’s in disarray, there are dark circles under his eyes, and his typically clean-shaven face is sprinkled with salt and pepper flecks.

  “What are you doing here?” I keep my posture rigid, hand gripped firmly on the door because I don’t want him thinking that he can walk into my room like he did before my trip to New York.

  “I’ve been calling, and texting you for the past few days, since we last talked. You haven’t been answering.”

  “What?”

  “Why haven’t you been answering?”

  “I didn’t know you called. Hold on.” I turn around and grab my purse, fishing for my phone.

  “Is this about those papers? I thought everything was all right.”

  “Everything is all right,” I call from over my shoulder as I take the phone from my purse. I turn around, showing Heath my phone. “See, no calls.” I turn the phone back around, unlocking it. “Not since…” my voice trails off as I scroll through my phone. I have nothing from Heath. No calls, no texts.

  “What? What’s wrong?”

  “I blocked you.” I laugh.

  “You what?” He takes a step into my room, an inquisitive look on his face.

  I sigh, thinking this is way too funny, “There’s an option on our phones where you can block callers so they don’t disturb you. I guess I blocked you.”

  “I can’t believe you blocked me.” His voice goes up an octave.

  I brush past him, leading him to the living room. “I didn’t do it on purpose. Geez.”

  “So we’re okay?” he calls after me as I head into the kitchen.

  “Yes. Fine.” I pull open the fridge to grab a couple of teas. When I turn back around, I take in his appearance again. “Is that why you look like death warmed over? Because I haven’t answered you?” I ask as I hand him a bottle of ice tea.

  “Yeah.” He twists the cap, bringing the bottle to his lips, and I watch the movement of his neck as he swallows the liquid down. He moans in approval as he drinks. When he brings his head back down, his eyes meet mine, and he gives me a knowing look. The dismal Heath has the gleam in his eyes back. He was honestly bothered by my lack of communication. Five months ago, I don’t think it would have mattered to him if we hadn’t talked in days.

  “It really bothered you, didn’t it?”

  He licks the tea from his lips. “Hell yes, it bothered me.” He takes a step towards me, setting his tea on the counter. His hands wrap around my hips, tugging me to him. “Do you know how hard it is to give you the time and space you need while at the same time freaking out because the last thing I want is to be away from you? At least when you answer my calls or text, I get bits and pieces of you. These past few days have been hell.”

  “Whitney?” Liam’s voice travels from the front door. “Your door was open. You need to keep that locked.” His gaze lands on Heath, traveling down the length of our bodies and stopping where Heath’s hands are. “Hey, Heath.”

  “Hey,” Heath says, not letting go. When he turns his attention back towards me, his face softens a bit. “I need you to take Harper for a couple weeks.”

  “Oh, okay, why?”

  “I have a job out of town, and I leave early tomorrow morning.”

  “Okay, no problem. I’ll come by and grab her if that’s all right.”

  “She’s in the truck. I thought it would be easier for me to bring her to you. I’ll go get her.” He nods towards Liam, and leaves the house, closing the door behind him.

  “I’m sorry, Whitney. I honestly didn’t know that he was here.” Liam turns back to the door. “I saw your door ajar, and I was worried.”

  “No, it’s fine. I didn’t know Heath was coming over. He just showed up.”

  I hear Heath’s voice as he tries to control our dog. There’s a few ‘no’s’ and ‘settles’ before Heath pushes through with Harper in the lead. Her tongue is hanging out, clearly excited. When she sees me, she tries to wiggle her way from Heath’s grip towards me. She pulls on her leash, whimpering when he won’t let her go.

  Walking over to her, I bend down to pat and kiss her head. “It looks like you’re staying with me for a while, huh, baby?”

  “I know you don’t have much of a yard–”

  I stand, still petting Harper’s head. “No, it’s all right. Between the kids and me, we’ll make sure she gets enough exercise.”

  “I wouldn’t mind walking her either,” Liam says as he takes a step towards her, reaching his hand out so she can sniff him. “I’m sure Talia would love hanging out with her. She loves dogs.”

  “Who’s Talia?” Heath asks as he lets Harper’s leash slack a bit.

  “She’s my four-year-old daughter.”

  Heath nods at that piece of information, and then turns his attention to me, pushing her leash in my direction. “I need to go grab he
r food and dishes.”

  “Okay.” I take the time to walk Harper through the condo, showing her around and finally letting her out to the backyard so she can get her sniffing out of the way. Liam is standing in the kitchen, hands crossed over his chest with a concerned look on his face. When I close the door, I face Liam.

  “Did you need anything?”

  “I saw you the other night.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The other night when you came home. You were crying. I called your name, but you ran into your house. Heath came barreling around the corner soon after you made it inside. I was worried, but I didn’t want to pry.”

  I wish he didn’t see me like that. “Thank you.” I take a step towards him, needing to tell him, but not wanting Heath to hear. “I found divorce papers–”

  “Here’s everything,” Heath says as he enters the room. Setting a very large bag on the counter, he steps back and looks between Liam and me. His finger dances between the two of us, “What’s going on?”

  “You filed for divorce?” Liam stands at his full height as he questions Heath. “How the fuck could you let a woman like Whitney go?”

  “Liam–” I try to stop him, but Heath beats me to it.

  “Not that it’s any of your damn business, but I’m not letting my wife go–quite the opposite, actually. I didn’t file for divorce–”

  “So she finally decides not to be shit on by an undeserving husband, and instead of fighting–”

  “Fuck you, man. You have no business in this,” Heath barks.

  “Like hell I do. Whitney’s my friend, and it’s about damn time someone thinks about her for a change.” His fists are clenched at his side, jet set like stone as his stare hardens.

  “Stop it,” I scream, done with listening to this pissing match. “Neither of you are thinking about me right now. Liam, I wasn’t able to finish what I was trying to tell you, so please drop it.” I turn to Heath. “I’ll take care of Harper, no problem. Don’t worry about the kids. They’ll be fine.”

  His chest is slightly heaving when he looks at me. Taking a deep breath, he calms himself. “I’ll call you.” He takes a step towards me, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into a hug. When his arms fall to his sides, he turns around leaves the condo without another word.

  I have to admit, having Harper at the condo has been nice.

  I’m spoiling her rotten, and I’m sure she’s going to be a handful once Heath gets back. There’s nothing like having her curled up at the foot of my bed. I didn’t realize how much I missed her doggy breath and brown eyes until she showed up. The kids were ecstatic when they came home last night and realized that she was with me. Questions flew from their mouths, but once I told them their dad was out of town and it was easier to have her with us, they seemed pleased with the answer.

  “Hey, Jenna, did you see the post last night from Gabby?” Trevor asks from the passanger seat of my car. “She’s going to be an aunt.”

  “Yeah, I don’t understand that. She only has a brother, and he’s in your grade.”

  My eyes glance at Trevor who’s looking at me. “That’s because it’s her brother who’s going to be a dad,” he confirms.

  “What?” she screeches. “How is that even possible?”

  “Seriously? He was having sex without a condom.”

  “That’s crazy.”

  “More like stupid.”

  “That’s what happens when you’re not acting responsible and you don’t use protection. It’s like playing Russian Roulette, and I guess it didn’t end well for Gabby’s brother,” I add.

  “That’s why I always carry a condom in my wallet,” Trevor states. “See.” He continues to pull out his wallet from his backpack, opening it and pulling out what looks exactly like a condom wrapper.

  I have no words.

  “What? Are you serious? Why would you have that, Trevor?” Jenna shrieks.

  “You never know when things are going to go down, Jenna. I have plans for my life, and I don’t plan on having kids until I’m at least thirty, so I know that I need to be responsible. I’m not going to mess up like Gabby’s brother, no way.”

  “I haven’t even held a boy’s hand, and you’re talking about sex.”

  “You’re thirteen, Jenna. You shouldn’t be thinking about sex,” he declares, and I can see the big brother start to come out.

  “Well, you’re fifteen, and you are,” she tries to defend.

  “There’s two years between us, and you’ll find out that a lot happens in those two years. I don’t see why you’re making a big deal about it. I’m trying to be responsible here. Even when I went to the store and bought a box–”

  “You bought an entire box?” Jenna is becoming exasperated, and I’m still speechless. I have a tremendous amount of questions that I’d like to pepper Trevor with, but I’m trying to stay cool, calm, and collected because I know if I fly off the handle, there’s a chance that Trevor won’t come to me if and when he’ll ever need me, and I can’t handle that.

  “Yeah. The clerk asked if I was eighteen, and I told him nowhere on the box does it say I had to be eighteen to buy them. The clerk agreed.”

  “I can’t even.”

  “Mom’s cool with it, right, Mom?”

  “Better safe than sorry,” I respond.

  Yep, mother of the year.

  Today is the first day of school after the break.

  It amazes me how much information kids can lose on a three-week vacation. Every year, for as long as I’ve been teaching, I’ve given my kids a ‘refresher’ test to see what they’ve retained from the first day school to the winter break. More than not, most of them end up barely passing. When I hear heels clicking, I glance up from the stack of tests to see Priscilla Prescott enter my room.

  “Priscilla,” I pull my reading glasses from my face before dropping them to my desk.

  “Mrs. James.” She says my name as she leans against a desk in the front row right in front of my desk. Today she’s opted for something different from her usual pencil skirt. She’s now wearing tight pink pants that hit above her ankles paired with a sheer cap sleeved shirt and shiny nude heels. She’s your standard mean girl. I’ve seen it many times since the beginning of the school year. She doesn’t socialize with the other teachers, she never volunteers to help about the campus, and she rarely has anything nice to say about anyone.

  “What can I do for you, Priscilla?”

  “It seems that my husband,” I roll my eyes at her use of husband when it comes to Liam, “has been throwing your name around my kids and I really don’t appreciate it. Especially with Talia.”

  “Liam and I are friends, nothing more. I have no control what he tells his children so I’m afraid I can’t help you.”

  “I wonder if Heath is in need of a new friend.” I see the gleam in her eye. She’s so obvious in her intentions it almost make me laugh.

  “I’m sure he isn’t, but I have no problem with you asking him, Priscilla. He’s his own man, especially now that he and I are separated. I’ve never had control when it comes to my husband, even when we were actively living together as husband and wife, so I don’t see why you’d think I have a say when he and I are currently separated.”

  “Do you get off on multiple men fawning over you?”

  “If I remember correctly, I’m not that one who had an affair while married–”

  “You expect me to think that you and Liam haven’t crossed the ‘friend’ line? Please. I know my husband.”

  “I don’t care what you think. Neither does Liam, from what I understand. You’re wasting your time with me. As a matter of fact, you’re wasting my time, and my time is something that I hold in value, so if you don’t mind, I have work to finish.”

  “You’re the reason why my family is still broken. If it wasn’t for you, Liam would have forgiven me and my kids would have their father back under one roof.”

  I laugh as I push my seat out and stand, placing m
y hands on my desk. “You’re so delusional. You’re the only reason why your family is broken, and you have no one else to blame but yourself. You need to take a good hard look in that mirror of yours because your beauty will only last for so long, and once it’s gone you’re going to be left with nothing but that black heart and soulless corpse. Now, get the hell out of my classroom and don’t ever approach me again.”

  I sit back at my desk and begin to organize the papers that are currently scattered about. For almost a good minute she’s still rooted in the same spot, but I’m not about to give her the time of day by looking up and acknowledging her.

  I don’t even look when I hear the clicking of her heels retreat from my room.

  “I can’t believe you got in her face like that.” Ruby clicks her glass to mine.

  “Yeah, well, I’m tired of dealing with people’s shit, and I’m done keeping my irritations at bay. Besides, she had an exceptional thing with Liam, and she chose to ruin it with brainless decisions. No one but her should have to suffer for her stupidity.”

  “He is pretty awesome, isn’t he?” She lifts her brow, and I know exactly where this is going.

  “Don’t even start with that, Ruby. I’m not going there.”

  “Why not, Whit? I haven’t seen you laugh and joke the way you do with Liam in years. You have this glow about you.”

  “Yeah, that’s because he and I are friends and I don’t have to stress out when I’m with him. I’m not wife, mother, teacher, or author. I’m a friend, and friendship doesn’t normally come with stress. I don’t want to ruin that by stepping out of the friend zone.”

  “I still think you’re making a big mistake.”

  “I know you do and I appreciate it.” My phone dances across the table, so I pick it up seeing that it’s Jenna. “Yeah, babe, what’s up?”

  “Mom, the police are here at the condo, and they have Trevor.”

  “You need to breathe and not freak out,” Ruby tells me from the driver seat. She wouldn’t let me drive, which was wise of her.