“Please. He adores you.”
“Maybe he did before he caught you giving me a hand job at a work site,” I said between clenched teeth. We were definitely going to have to draw up some guidelines for eight to five on weekdays. Ruining the job I was starting to love didn’t rank high on my to-do list.
What also didn’t hit the top five was making a decision about the interview I’d been offered for next week. I’d applied for the job so long ago, I’d figured they weren’t interested.
Now that Jenna had quieted my fears about falling back into the life I’d had in Chicago, I didn’t know what to do. Working with her and her dad was great, but I wasn’t sure it was what I wanted for my long-term future.
“Whatever.” She knelt by the next electrical box and poked the wires into the outlet before screwing it into place. “Trust me when I say I’m pretty sure you can do no wrong in his book. And whether you’re there or not, I’m going to give them the heads-up that this is officially more than two old friends hanging after work. Dad knows we’re dating, and I’m pretty sure there aren’t many illusions with Mom. This morning probably made any lingering ones evaporate with the dew, but I don’t want them to feel like I’m hiding something.”
Crap. Maybe I should go with her. “Can you hold off? The four of us can do dinner later this week. We’ll take them someplace nice. Make the announcement together?”
Her shoulders sagged, and the screwdriver slipped from its position. “I’ll think about it, but you know I don’t like keeping secrets.”
I twined my fingers around hers and redirected the screwdriver to its target. “Very short-term. Promise.”
“You and your damn promises.” She huffed an exaggerated sigh and got back to work.
Stepping away, I continued sweeping the floor, content in the knowledge that this was a promise I shouldn’t have any trouble keeping.
…
The drive home was spent trying to plot the night. If I wanted to be at Jenna’s by ten, I had four hours to bust ass, eat, and shower. Not necessarily in that order. If I really tried, I could probably get the rest of the drywall patching in the main living area done.
I had a plan and I had an amazing woman waiting for me. Everything was right with the world.
Until I opened my front door to find Lacey perched on my threadbare couch. She shot to her feet. “You’re here.”
“That’s what I was going to say about you. It was going to sound more like ‘How’d you get in?’ But same basic thing.”
“Mom and Dad had a key.” She waved the key ring from the end of her finger like that answered everything.
Well, they wouldn’t have one for long. I snatched it from her and shoved it in my pocket. Lacey knew I hated surprises, and showing up uninvited and unannounced very much qualified. “Thanks for returning it. I’m assuming there’s more to this visit.”
“I came to talk to you about the party.”
“You mean the party where your asshole fiancé chased my girlfriend through Mom and Dad’s house, freaking her out until she fell off your balcony? That party?” While it might have been sharper than I’d intended, I couldn’t do this anymore. I loved Lacey, but Jenna was right.
If my sister was determined to end up with the asshole, I wasn’t going to ruin my own relationship to try to stop her. “He could have killed your best friend. Killed her, Lacey. If you can’t see what a loser Adam is, I’ve got nothing else to say.”
Lacey rubbed at her forehead. “I’m sorry you weren’t expecting me. And I’m extra sorry about what Adam did. That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“Comforting that he didn’t plan to throw Jenna from your bedroom window.”
“That isn’t what I meant!” She flopped on the couch, sending up a cloud of dust that set her coughing. “Look. There are things neither of you understand. I want to talk to Jenna and explain, but she won’t give me five minutes alone. I have no excuse for Adam. He said he was trying to look out for me.”
So much for hoping she’d make a quiet exit. “Are you listening to yourself? Protecting you? The last girl he vowed to protect could have been in the hospital this morning because of him. If I hadn’t gotten her message and heard them arguing when I went to find her, who knows how badly she’d have been hurt? Why the hell do you want to get mixed up with someone like him?”
“I don’t! I don’t have a choice though, Sutton.” She twisted away and her shoulders started to shake.
Jesus. I knew Adam was a cheater, but was he worse than that? Had he pressured first Jenna and now Lacey to be with him? Like she was a frightened animal, I tentatively rested a hand on her shoulder, urging her to turn around. “Everyone has a choice, Lacey. You have a lot of people who love you. Whatever it is, we’ll help you through it. You don’t have to be with someone like him.”
When she finally faced me, it was with mascara already forming black streaks on her cheeks. “I’m pregnant, and he’s the father.”
Shit. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure I’m pregnant, and there’s no way it’s anyone else’s unless I was abducted by aliens.” More tears fell, and she scrubbed at her face, heedless of the makeup I knew she applied with care. “It was one stupid, drunken night that I barely remember, but I know it was him. What am I supposed to do, Sutton? I’m trapped.”
It didn’t matter that she was pro-choice, Lacey had always said not choosing abortion was a choice, too, and that it would always be hers. Obviously she was standing by that. Part of me was proud of her, the other part…
Blowing out a deep breath, I pulled her into a hug. “Do Mom and Dad know?”
She shook her head against my chest and her voice was small, like she was a little girl again. “No. The plan was to get married quickly so no one knew.”
Her idea, I was sure—when faced with the choice of being a single mother or marrying an asshole, Lacey would always choose the option that looked better from the outside.
It needed to end here, before she made this horrible mistake.
“You have to tell them, and I’ll be there when you do. And damn it, Lacey, unless you really love him and you truly believe he’s going to be a great father to your baby, you have to walk away from Adam. The guy is going to end up hurting you, and then you’ll have that on top of everything else.” I ran my hands over her hair, holding her tightly enough I worried she couldn’t breathe.
She managed to eke out a few words as she pushed away from me. “You’re right.” She sniffled. “Can I ask you one favor?”
“Anything, Lace. If it’ll keep you from ruining your life, I’ll give you whatever I can.” She was the only sister I had, and I’d help her through this mess in any way I was able.
“If I’m coming clean and calling off the wedding…” New tears were welling in her eyes when she tipped her head up to look at me. “I can’t try to fix things with Jenna at the same time. On top of the rest of my life, I can’t deal with what I did to her. Can you promise not to tell her about this? Just until I make it through the next week or two, then I’ll explain everything. Please?”
She wasn’t asking me to break up with Jenna, but keeping the promise would mean lying to her—probably more than once. Plus, with the family drama that would come on the heels of Lacey’s announcement, I wouldn’t have any time to see her other than at work.
Then Lacey’s secret would stand between us the whole time. Jenna and I were barely together and already I was going to have to fuck things up between us with deception. If I couldn’t control things now, what hope did I have of doing it in the future? How could I be sure I wouldn’t end up hurting her, too?
I didn’t want to start our relationship with lies. Maybe there was another way around this. “She still cares about you, Lacey. I know she does. Let me talk to her. She might still be pissed, but she’ll be there for you.”
“No. This is my mess. I screwed up our friendship; I need to be the one to try to make it right. You can’t tell her. You can�
�t, Sutton. Promise me.”
“I promise, but you have to know she might not forgive you. As much as I think she wants to, there’s a chance the baby will push her over the edge.”
“I know. Which is why it has to come from me. I don’t want her to hate both of us. If I haven’t grown the balls to tell her by the day I was supposed to get married, I’m a complete coward and you can handle it however you like. Just give me that long.”
My voice caught and the ability to form words disappeared, so I nodded silently. I would have happily given her every dime I had in the bank rather than hiding anything from Jenna. But Lacey needed me right now, more than Jenna did. I wasn’t leaving Jem, I was only keeping one little secret to help Lacey through the worst time in her life.
…
I worked longer than I’d planned, frustration over Lacey’s request fueling me. It would only be for a week or two.
She could deal with canceling the wedding and the fallout with my parents. Maybe get settled into an apartment if Mom and Dad threw a fit about the pregnancy. I had some money put away—I could help her get on her feet.
By the time I showered and made it to Jenna’s, my blood had cooled considerably. Since the game had been about sneaking her out, I parked down the street and worked my way through the yards until I stood beneath the maple tree marking the northwest corner of the Brandts’ lot. From there, I had a perfect view of Jenna’s window.
She stared through the glass, clearly waiting for me. We hadn’t discussed how I was going to signal her or how exactly she was “sneaking out” since her parents were still awake and watching television. Standing there, though, I didn’t reach for a pebble or my phone or anything.
Our entire relationship had been based on being straight with each other. How was I supposed to keep the answer she needed from her while I dealt with family stuff? It wouldn’t matter if it was only a couple weeks.
Our relationship was so new, the secret was a betrayal.
There were two things Jenna couldn’t deal with: lies and desertion. There’s no way she’d understand why I was hiding something.
The obvious assumption would be another woman. Because of Adam, she’d see it through the lens of cheating and assume I’d lied about other things, too. If I spent too much time with her like this, I’d wind up breaking her all over. I’d turn her angry and bitter, all because I couldn’t be with her and keep my mouth shut.
The girl in the window—she was a dreamer, the kind of person who thrived on seeing the beauty in little things. She deserved a guy who could make her dreams reality, not one who brought nightmares with him.
And I’d finally realized my entire family was a nest of nightmares waiting to happen. Sure, I’d left my past behind. What if someday it caught up with me? What if there was some secret baby…or worse?
My fingers dug into the tree until I could feel the nails tearing—pain giving me focus.
Considering that the ring had been what pushed her into helping me with the plan in the first place, it was pretty clear Adam had given her reason to expect to be the one getting that particular bauble. Run from the cheater to the womanizer.
And I’d totally lured her in. God, I was a worse asshole than Adam.
Explaining what was going on with Lacey in the vague terms I could use wouldn’t help anything. It would sound like bullshit, and I knew it. She’d see it as trying to wrap up deception in a pretty bow—and she’d be partly right. It didn’t matter how much I thought I could have something real with her. Or how much I knew I loved her. She deserved better.
Just like Lacey.
No. The only way for this to work was to avoid Jenna as much as possible until I could be the guy I’d promised to be. And if I realized I could never be him—at least I could break things off before it went too far, before it meant more than it already did.
Too bad my feet seemed as rooted to the spot as the maple. One too entrenched to move, the other too afraid.
Chapter Nineteen
-Jenna-
When Sutton hadn’t shown by midnight, I got worried and texted. A vague not feeling well had me more than a little confused. If not for the fact that Dad physically dragged me from my car to his truck, I’d have been breaking down the door to a church instead of working at the job site.
Only after Dad got off the phone and told me Sutton had called in sick did I relax…a little. When texts regarding soup and movies were brushed off with I don’t want to get you sick, and a call went straight to voicemail, I wasn’t sure what to think.
A drive by his place that night found the windows dark and his car nowhere to be seen. I debated calling his parents to make sure he was okay, but it felt intrusive—especially after only a day off work. I grabbed a piece of paper from my glove box, scribbled a note about how he could call if he needed anything, and slid it under the door.
I stared at my phone for hours that night, wondering if or when he was going to call. The silence wasn’t like him. And in the wake of the night at his place, it felt strange. As if I was one more of those nameless women from Chicago.
Overreacting much?
For two days, I managed to convince myself I was being stupid. When Wednesday rolled around and he still hadn’t come to work or gotten in contact with anything other than brief texts, I started to wonder. Was I being a crappy girlfriend by not checking up on him more or a sucker for believing I was his girlfriend in the first place?
With my hopes hung on it being the former, I broke down and called his parents. Mrs. Bell answered on the second ring. “Hello?”
“Hi. It’s Jenna.”
“Oh! How are you feeling after that fall? Are you okay?”
There went my hope she’d say something about Sutton right off. “Yes, I’m fine. I’m more worried about Sutton since he hasn’t been at work this week.”
The pause on the other end of the line was long enough I could picture her expression changing—and no matter how I saw it, it didn’t mean anything good. “That’s strange. I thought he’d been home this week. Except for driving down to Toledo tonight for his interview tomorrow.”
I swallowed hard. We’d talked about whether or not he was going to start using his degree again, but he’d never mentioned a new interview—much less one in Toledo. “Oh, that’s right. Well, he called in sick the last couple days, and I think my brain short-circuited with worry over him being sick and not answering his phone. I forgot about it.”
“It’s totally understandable. He’ll be home tomorrow night, and he didn’t mention being sick when I spoke to him last. It’s probably some glitchiness with his messages. That happens sometimes when I call him, too. I’m glad you’re feeling all right though. See you soon.”
“Yeah. See you.” When I put my phone down, I couldn’t help wondering if I was going to see any of the Bells again.
…
Apparently I was the only one who hadn’t heard about Sutton’s interview—he’d mentioned it to Dad when he’d called in sick on Monday. My attempts at playing it off hadn’t gone over well with Dad.
“He’d said he wouldn’t be in the rest of the week if he wasn’t one hundred percent better Tuesday morning, since showing for only part of Wednesday wouldn’t help much. I assumed you knew about the interview and were letting him make the announcement,” Dad had said, his brows pulling together in cockeyed confusion.
Which may have had something to do with the interrogation at dinner Monday night and my spilling the beans about Sutton and me being an item. “Yeah, well, not my story to tell, and I think I had my dates confused. I thought the interview was next week.”
Dad’s expression shifted to a most definite frown. No mistaking that puppy. “And now we’re back to you hiding something. What’s going on, Jenna?”
I wished like hell I knew, but with what little contact I’d had with Sutton, I had less of a handle on the situation than Dad did. The only difference was I’d spent the entire week dwelling on what I’d missed. As soon as we
pulled into the driveway after work, I raced upstairs to shower. My excuse for leaving right away was wanting to surprise Sutton after his big interview with a romantic dinner of takeout by candlelight.
The only truth in all that was the surprise part.
I drove across town blind to everything. If I’d found blood on my car when I pulled up to Sutton’s church, I would have felt horrible, but I wouldn’t have been shocked.
Wishing there was something more effective than my fist accessible, I pounded on the ridiculously heavy front door for all I was worth, stopping only when it hurt to keep going.
He hadn’t answered, but I knew he was here. Not only was his car in front of mine, I’d seen a light flick on as I’d pulled in.
“Damn you, Sutton!” I stalked to my car, desperate for a new plan, when my foot struck one of the rocks of the gravel drive and sent it skittering. Plan B. Bending down, I picked up a small rock and lobbed it at the nearest window on the side of the building.
Really, I’d meant it as a warning shot. Not my fault the glass was weaker than anticipated. A bright-blue piece that was probably the exact color of his stupid eyes shattered, fragments tinkling down to the rocks below. My eyes threatened to pop from their sockets.
Oops…
Sutton burst out of the door. “What the hell are you doing?”
His anger fueled my own, and any guilt I’d felt over the broken stained glass vanished. “Getting your attention. And if you refuse to talk to me now that you’ve made it perfectly clear you’ve been ignoring me since Monday, my next target will be the big window in front.” I bent and picked up another rock, tossing it lightly into the air.
He clenched the door hard enough his knuckles whitened, and lines etched themselves on his face. Lines of…pain? “I can’t.”
No. He wasn’t getting out of this with puppy-dog eyes and frown lines. Uh-uh. “You can’t what?”
“I can’t talk to you.”
“You’re talking to me now.” I stalked toward him, projectile tight in my fist.
Fall With Me Page 13
