Rum and Raindrops: A Blueberry Springs Chick Lit Contemporary Romance

by Oram, Jean

  “I’m so glad he’s the designated driver tonight. I always feel safe around him, you know?”

  Jen nodded. It was true, even with her fate in his hands she felt safe. Worried, scared, but not unsafe.

  Becky nattered their way back to the bar, her volume increasing to be heard over the loud eighties music. Reaching the group at the bar, they were handed a shot and told to catch up.

  Jen scanned the area for Rob, who was sipping a bottle of water several feet away. The way he was leaning against the bar, taking it all in, was sexy.

  After another round of Sex on the Beach shots, Ericka roamed over to Rob and began pawing his abs. Jen almost laughed. She’d figured it would be herself mauling him like a bear on a squirrel after a long, cold winter.

  Ericka glided a hand along Rob’s stomach, and Jen’s breath caught as Ericka gave Rob a knowing look.

  No! They couldn’t. He couldn’t.

  What about her? He promised they’d flirt.

  “Robbie, ever done a body shot?” Erika’s voice cooed over the music.

  Rob’s smile tightened as he gently removed her hand. Ericka tossed back her head, laughing as she leveled her gaze. “I know your wilder side. Let it come out and play.” She made a clawing motion, and Jen felt the air around them still.

  “Ericka,” Rob said in a warning tone.

  It was like watching a car crash and being unable to look away. It was as though this was the defining moment in her life. When she discovered what kind of man her crush really was. As well as where she ranked in his world of women.

  His world of women? Oh Lord, please don’t let him have a world of women.

  Ericka pushed herself against Rob. “A body shot. Off me.”

  In an effort to seal the deal, she lifted her shirt, exposing a perfect, flat stomach with a sparkling belly ring.

  Jen turned to the bar and gulped back another shot, valiantly fighting the temptation to vie for Rob’s attention. Out of the corner of her eye, Rob politely removed Ericka again and reminded her gently that he was the designated driver. Her hands were quick and they were back on his abs like flies on a carcass.

  Dina strode over and grabbed Ericka by the arm, whispering something in her ear as she hauled her friend past the group toward the dance floor. Ericka snatched Jen along the way. “I’m sorry. He’s just so fucking hot.”

  Well, Jen had to agree with Ericka on that one.

  “No grudges?” Ericka pleaded.

  Jen shrugged in agreement and vowed to let it go. No girl-fight dramatics.

  After a few songs, Jen left the sweating throng to grab a glass of water and give her ankle a rest. It was itchy like hell, which she took to mean it was healing, but man, it was hard to ignore. She peered down the bar, spotting Rob chatting with a group of men. She pushed her hair off her face and scanned the bar, on the lookout for interesting people to watch while letting her heart rate settle back into its normal pace.

  She spotted a face she’d know anywhere. She straightened up for a better look.

  Definitely.

  She stepped into the crowd and lost the man. She continued in his direction until she saw his dirty blond curls touching the neck of his faded black Metallica shirt. The plastic print announcing the tour stops was cracked and peeling. She remembered that tour. She’d told him not to go, afraid he’d get hurt in the crowd. She tapped him on the shoulder.

  He turned, stepping out of her way before doing a double take and engulfing her in a massive bear hug that sent his beer trailing down her calf and her with a difficulty to breathe.

  “Jenny!” Her old friend, Cody, held her at arms length, his cold beer set against her shoulder. “I haven’t seen you since the day you left Ken.” His eyes roamed up her and then down again. “I must say those years have been good to you.”

  “You’re not too bad either, Cody.” Well, if a retreating hairline and paunch were considered not too bad for not-yet-thirty.

  He pulled her to him again and breathed into her hair. “Jenny. Holy blue angel fart. Not who I expected to see. I thought you were gone forever.”

  He pushed her out of his clutches, his eyes flitting over her, taking her in again. “How have you been doing?”

  His concern just about made her tear up. Cody knew everything. Everything she’d kept to herself for so many years. He’d been her friend since sixth grade, and she just up and left him because of something someone else did. Someone else’s choices. She shut him and everyone else out.

  She missed it. People knowing about who she was, where she came from. The stories of her life. The stories that shaped who she was today.

  Cody was the one who’d been there when she’d run away from her parents. He’d offered to hide her in his parents’ basement until she figured things out. But she’d accepted Ken’s halfhearted offer instead and her parents had happily allowed her to stay. But Cody was the man she’d cried on.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t call. Once I’d settled,” she said, struggling to meet his gaze.

  “Shit. I was so worried.” He gave her shoulders a little shake. “I mean, I figured out what happened and why you ran away. But I thought we were friends. You just took off and dumped us all.”

  Her shoulders sagged. “I’m sorry. I assumed you’d side with Ken. You were best friends. I didn’t want…I didn’t want you to have to choose between the two of us.” She swallowed hard, unable to find all those reasons she’d had years ago to abandon his friendship as though he was worth as much as the dust on her Corolla.

  Wash it away and forget it was ever there.

  Cody led her to the bar with a cool hand on her lower back. “I’m glad you’re okay. Your parents freaked when they found out you’d bolted from Ken’s place. But you were an adult by then.”

  “Like they suddenly decided to care.” Jen snorted as she wiped down her leg with a cocktail napkin, avoiding her sore ankle which was ranting at her that it wasn’t a fan of dancing.

  “Your dad talked about hiring a private detective.”

  The room paused for a second and Jen faltered, staring at Cody. “He what?”

  “For real. I told him he didn’t need to. That you were fine.”

  But she hadn’t been fine. She’d been shattered, the pieces thrown in a million different directions. If he’d sent her parents after her, she might be a completely different person today. Maybe not, but he’d taken away the chance.

  “But he’s my dad, Cody.”

  “I told them you didn’t want us coming after you and that you’d call when you wanted us all back in your life.” His chin tipped up. “What? That’s what you told me.”

  “That didn’t mean I actually meant it. I was hurting from Ken’s betrayal.” When would men figure out that women said one thing when they were hurting but really meant the opposite? It wasn’t fine. It never was. And they always wanted someone to care enough to come chasing after them and to try and make it right again. Always. “I was hurt and scared and didn’t exactly believe any of you guys would be there for me.” She saw the hurt on Cody’s face and gave his shoulder a squeeze. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t know where to go where everyone wouldn’t…be there. The reminders. I just needed out.”

  Cody sighed and flagged the bartender to refresh his Budweiser. “What are you drinking?” he asked.

  “Mostly shots.”

  “Learned how to hold your liquor did you?”

  “Not really.” The room was spinning more than she cared to admit. That and how much effort it took to avoiding slurring.

  “A Cuba Libre then?”

  She smiled and shrugged in agreement, happy in the comfort of being with someone who knew her. Her preferences. Her life. Her history. Nothing to dodge.

  She held the drink, postponing her first sip, wanting to slow things down a bit. The girls went by, doing a weird locomotion thing to a George Michael song. She laughed and pointed to them with her glass. “I’m here with them. Bachelorette party.”

  “Is th
at one single?” he asked, pointing to Ericka. “She’s going to go home with someone if you don’t watch her.” He pointed to Ginger. “That one, too.”

  “I think that’s the idea.” She laughed and glanced at Cody’s ring finger. To her surprise it was home to a dinged-up gold band.

  He whirled on her. “Yours?”

  She laughed. “I’m not getting married.” She took a large gulp of her drink. “And you? Who is the lucky lady?”

  He rubbed the band. “Yeah. Fine city girl. Her dad’s in politics.”

  So, the world had gone mad. Good to know.

  “Do you live out here?” she asked. They were days away from their old hometown.

  “Nope. You?”

  She nodded.

  “You ran far,” he said, assessing her again.

  “As far as the Corolla would take me. Why are you out here?”

  “Trucking. Ken and I are in business. Was passing through and since I can’t drive anymore tonight, I thought I’d check out the nightlife.” He waved his beer. “Glad I did.”

  There was a long silence.

  “Business is good,” he said.

  She fidgeted with the damp glass cooling her hand. She didn’t want to talk about her life. Didn’t want to share the trouble she was in. Didn’t want to hear how everyone was doing. How she was the only one who hadn’t turned out fine.

  “I’ve got to run.” She set her glass on the bar.

  “I knew you were out this way,” he said quietly. “I saw you in the papers. You burned down a forest.” He stared at her. He wasn’t exactly unfriendly, but he wasn’t exactly friendly either.

  She froze, waiting for it.

  “Ken needs to talk to you.”

  Wait. What? “Ken?”

  So, not only did she get to play the jealous future wanna-be girlfriend role with Rob she also got to play the bitter ex-girlfriend tonight. Great.

  “He’s getting married,” Cody added.

  Her gut lurched. Married? She’d assumed, for some reason, that he’d be single like her. That his life wouldn’t be oh-so-hot, and that he’d discover her side of the bed was hard to fill.

  But, truly, why would a cheating bastard stay single? He was probably engaged to three different women.

  “Send him my congratulations,” she said, nodding to Rob that she was okay. He was peering around a man blocking his view, looking concerned.

  She adjusted her tank top, moving away from Cody. Why couldn’t she be wearing something extra sexy so he’d report back to Ken how awesome she was and he’d feel a pang of loss and regret so deep it would give him a seizure? No, that was mean. A heart attack. Just end him. No suffering. No, wait. Suffering was good.

  She downed the last of her drink, Cody’s hand on her arm.

  Where was the justice in this world? Why wasn’t Ken pining away in eternal agony? Left with a hole in his heart so big no other woman could ever step in and fix it?

  “He’s marrying Kimmy,” Cody said in a low voice, as though he was sharing a secret.

  “Kimmy?” Her voice rose way too high. Her ex-best friend, Kimmy? The two of them had hated each other, creating a constant source of tension as she frequently had to choose one over the other. And yes, it was Kimmy’s belt under Ken’s bed—their bed—that had sent her running. But she never thought of them as something serious. More of him taking an easy out. Not of the betrayal being that deep. Of it being so two-sided.

  And it sure as hell wasn’t supposed to be true love.

  She needed to sit. Soon. Fast. Now.

  Cody raised a shoulder as if preparing to duck a punch. “I’m just the messenger! They were an item for, I dunno, two years. They have a kid already.”

  “What!?”

  Okay, now she really needed to sit. She shoved a nearby man off a stool. “Sorry, it’s here or the floor, and the floor is so sticky I’ll be stuck to it forever.”

  The man frowned but gave up his stool.

  Heat was rushing to her face, and her hands were trembling. How? How? How?

  Cody leaned against the bar. “Jesus, Jenny. Doing it behind your back was like stealing candy from an invalid. I tried to throw you hints, but you’d get so funny about it. I figured you knew but had nowhere else to go.”

  How could she have been so stupid? So blind? So trusting?

  She blinked back tears.

  Ken was in love. With Kimmy. Why hadn’t he just broken up with her? Why would he keep living with her but be with Kimmy on the side? Had he felt he had to take care of her? That she wouldn’t make it on her own? Had she really been that weak and small when she’d been with Ken that he felt as though he couldn’t tell her the truth?

  Hell. His cheating had been meaningful.

  She dropped her face in her hands and turned away.

  “I’m sorry.” Cody placed a hand on her shoulder.

  There were so many emotional shards flinging through her she didn’t know how she felt.

  She felt numb.

  No, hurt. Really hurt. Betrayed by her two closest friends. She’d trusted them and they’d played her for a weak fool. They’d pulled the wool over her eyes—the three of them. Because they couldn’t have done it without Cody. She’d been the fool of the town.

  She had no-one and they had…they had…

  She pushed down the sob shouldering its way up her throat.

  The humiliation was too much.

  She pushed her fingers over her eyelids. No tears.

  Everything would be clearer if she was drunk. Manageable.

  She scanned the wall of liquor bottles. She could get philosophical before she passed out cold. Solve the world’s problems.

  Ignoring Cody, she ordered a new drink. She downed it, blinking back an unexpected wave of pain she thought she’d left behind years ago.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Fucking peachy. Thanks for asking, you ass-jerk-bastard. I thought you were my friend.” She gave him a hard shove, and his shoulder came up in protection. She didn’t like who she was becoming. Who she was. She couldn’t cope with this. Not right now. Not when the night had started out with so much potential.

  “Ken felt he had to take care of you. He couldn’t just break up with you. I was his friend. I had to…surely you understand?”

  “I thought he loved me. I thought you were my friend. Kimmy, too.” She threw her hands in the air, the sob escaping. “Evidently, I’m a poor judge of character.”

  She’d even thought Rob wanted her when all he probably wanted was to make his sister happy, to flirt, to get over his rebounding heart.

  Cody made her face him and there, in that moment, all her guilt for not keeping in touch was released. He was a bastard. A sneak and a liar. Every bit as much as Ken and Kimmy. It hurt to see his betraying face. Just like it had with her parents after the courthouse fights.

  Jen choked back the urge to vomit.

  All these years…so many misunderstandings. Ken and Kimmy. Cody. Her parents.

  So much guilt. So many hard feelings.

  And all those lost years believing her parents didn’t care. Had they really just been waiting for her to show up to let them into her life? Waiting for her to stop running away?

  But if they truly cared, why hadn’t they come after her—even if Cody had told them not to? When she’d run away from home the first time they’d let her go to Ken’s, no questions asked. But this time? To let her run away twice?

  More importantly, who was she for pushing them away and not letting them in? Who was she for making her parents feel as though they could never reach out to her, and deserved to have no part in her life?

  CHAPTER 8

  Everything crashed and settled its way through Jen’s mind, and she hunched over the toilet as her world spun. She started to laugh, the sound bubbling up like an insanity gene kicking in, full force. The sound echoed on the porcelain and she leaned back on her heels, the muffled dance music making its way into her stall.

  It was all so
pathetic and mixed up. For years she’d felt bad for taking off when, in reality, it had been the best thing for her, Ken, and Kimmy, and heck, even Cody. No muss, no fuss.

  She shook her head. How could Cody even think she wouldn’t want her parents to come find her? Sure, she’d had a bitter break with her parents when she ran away, but if they saw each other around town it wasn’t as if they crossed the street to avoid each other.

  She smoothed her hair in the mirror and left the bathroom, determined to let loose and deal with everything later. The past was the past and what had happened, had happened. Good things were going to happen in her future. Maybe even her immediate future.

  “I need your phone number.” Cody’s hand clamped on her arm and she whirlwinded her arms backward, breaking his grip, taken off guard.

  “Jesus. Were you stalking the bathrooms?” She clutched her chest, willing her heart rate to take a chill pill.

  “Come on, Jenny.”

  “What’s in the past is in the past.” She went to move by him, but he cornered her.

  “What’s your deal? Ken needs to talk to you.”

  She gave him a ‘so’ look.

  “Are you going to just throw away those six years?”

  “Obviously, I already did.”

  “Ken needs you to sign papers.”

  Jen crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “For what?”

  “He wants to sell your place.”

  Shit. The house. Ken’s parents had set them up with a teeny little, falling-down place the summer after graduation, covering the down payment so they wouldn’t get slammed by renting.

  And for some reason, she just kind of figured he’d take over the place when she left as it wasn’t as though they had more than about two grand in equity. It wasn’t worth fighting over.

  “So, tell him to sell it,” she said, pushing past him, making it a few feet before something in the way he called her name made her turn back.

  “He needs your signature. There’s unfinished business between the two of you.” He stepped closer. “You two need to break up all official-like so you don’t take him for half of everything.”