by Lucy Francis
“Uncle Curry!”
He sighed and closed the book. His nephew had a talent for interrupting.
Rob barreled into the room at full speed, fresh from his half-day of kindergarten. He flung his backpack on the floor beside the recliner and dropped down next to it. “I got cool stuff at school today, Uncle Curry.”
“Really? What sort of cool stuff?” The joy radiating from the boy made him smile. Rob’s zest for life always rubbed off on him. He put the foot rest on the recliner down so he could sit forward and examine the treasure trove his nephew dumped from the backpack.
Envelopes, mostly small white ones with a few reds and pinks mixed in, cascaded from the backpack as Rob turned it upside down. Curran snagged one from the pile and examined it. “What’s all of this?”
Rob rolled his eyes as if Curran had suddenly dropped a few IQ points. “It’s Valentine’s Day, of course. And, see, these are all my valentine cards from my class.”
Something inside him twisted and compressed like a tourniquet around his heart. Valentine’s Day. His mind filled with the plans he’d made—and subsequently canceled. A fabulous dinner in Deer Valley, dancing, a sleigh ride. He still hadn’t gotten around to returning the pearls he’d intended to give her.
How long was he going to hurt over her?
Rob waved a pink heart backed by a frilly white doily. “This one is my favorite.”
In a painstakingly perfect child’s writing, the card said To Robby, Love Melissa. “Why is this your favorite?”
Rob ducked his head and a bright blush stained his cherub cheeks. “Because it’s pretty. It’s from my favorite girl.”
He missed her smoky voice, and the tiny lines beginning to form at the corners of her eyes. The tourniquet cranked harder. “Do you like Melissa?” He missed the way her fingertips circled lightly on his wrist when he put his arm around her.
“Yeah, she’s my friend, and she’s funny. She burps louder than I do.” The clear respect in Rob’s voice kept Curran from laughing.
“She sounds like quite a girl.”
Kelli walked in from the kitchen. “Rob Taran Davenport, haul your backside back home. It’s almost time to go to the dentist.”
Robby made a face. “Okay, Mommy. I have to give Uncle Curry his valentine first.”
“Make it quick.”
Curran waved at her. “Kel, an express mail came for you. It had to be signed for, so they brought it here. It’s by the front door.”
Kelli left the room and Rob opened another compartment in his backpack. He pulled out a folded piece of red construction paper. “I made this for you. I hope you like it.”
Curran accepted the paper and unfolded it. Inside, he found crayon drawings of stick people skiing down a hill, decorated with silver glitter. His throat constricted as he read the crooked words.
You are my best friend cause you take me fun places like to ski. I love you, Uncle Curry.
Love, Rob Davenport
A rush of tears filled his eyes, and he swallowed them back. With all the good things he enjoyed associated with being an uncle, he imagined how much better it would be someday when he was a father.
“Is it okay? Do you like it?” Rob looked up, hope shining in his face. Curran swept images of curly-haired children from his mind and opened his arms. The boy leapt up from the floor and threw his arms around his neck. Curran hugged him hard. “Of course, I like it. I love it, Rob. It’s the best valentine I’ve ever received.”
Rob pulled back, his eyes alight, his mouth shaped in a wide grin. “Really?”
“Yeah, really. Thanks, mate.”
“Welcome.” Rob scrambled off his lap and went to work stuffing his cards into his backpack.
“Did you make a card for your mother, too?”
“Yes. I gave it to her after school. It was pretty nice. Wasn’t as cool as yours, though.” Rob zipped his backpack closed.
“Did she like it?”
Rob laughed. “She cried.”
Curran laughed too. “Then you did well, Robby. Making a mother cry happy tears is quite the accomplishment.”
Kelli returned to the entertainment room, holding the large brown box. “Rob, go home and brush your teeth.”
“I can use my toothbrush that’s here.” Rob trudged across the room, his head low, trailing his backpack along the floor. “I hate going to the dentist.”
“It’s a necessary evil.” Kelli sat on the couch and examined the box.
Curran didn’t know what it was, but the return address was Jamie’s. She frowned and picked at the edge of the packing tape until she could pull it up. She ripped off the tape and opened the box, spilling packing peanuts around her feet, then gasped and withdrew a figure covered in bubble wrap.
He smiled to himself. Jamie obviously knew the way to Kel’s heart was through the door of a porcelain doll shop.
Kneeling on the floor, Kelli carefully unwrapped the doll, then set it into its rosewood stand and placed it on the floor. She straightened the doll’s frothy lavender organza and lace gown and arranged the long blonde ringlets around the doll’s shoulders.
Rob ran in, a bit of toothpaste foam clinging to the corner of his mouth, and plopped onto the floor beside her. He gingerly touched his finger to one of the doll’s ringlets. “She’s pretty, Mom. Is she a Valentine’s present?”
Kelli nodded. “Jamie sent her to me.”
Curran grinned. Major score for his friend.
Rob turned his attention to the packing box and rummaged through the peanuts. “Did he send me something, too?” He tossed an envelope at his mother, then whooped and pulled out a small package wrapped in blue paper. “Look, this has my name on it!”
In three seconds, Rob destroyed the paper and jumped to his feet. “It’s a new game, Mechazoid 3-D! This is the best game, and even Chad in my class doesn’t have it! Look, Uncle Curry.”
Kelli glanced up. “Hold everything, Robby. What’s it rated?”
Curran examined the game box. “E for Everyone, Kel, it’s fine.”
Rob snatched the box from his hands and bit into the plastic wrap at the corner until he could rip it off.
Curran propped his elbow on the chair arm and rested his head against his palm, watching his sister slip a sheet of Jamie’s pale blue letterhead from the envelope. She sniffled, wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Another point for Jamie. “Must be a decent letter if it’s made you cry.”
Kelli started, as if she’d forgotten he was in the room. She brushed her fingers across her wet cheek. “Yeah, it’s a good letter. He misses me.”
“I’m not surprised.”
She cocked her head at him. “You miss Victoria, don’t you?”
Curran tensed. Here he was bursting with pride over his best friend rising to the occasion. Why did she have to spoil it? “Don’t ask me that.”
Kelli sent Rob to get his coat from the bathroom, then stood, cradling her new doll in her arms.
“Curran, you’re being stubborn.”
He glared at her. “You’re treading on unwelcome territory, Kel. I know you’re friends with her, but don’t think you can intervene on her behalf.”
She sighed and walked toward the hall. She paused at the doorway and looked back at him. “Maybe I’m trying to intervene on your behalf. Life’s too short to spend it miserable and alone. You pushed away the best thing you ever had.”
“I didn’t push her away.” In the end, she broke up with me. “I couldn’t trust her anymore.”
“I’m sure that old article startled you, but admit it, deep down, you never believed Victoria was using you. It just provided an easy way to end the relationship.”
Her words stunned him. “An easy way? You think I was looking for a way out?”
“Yeah, I do, because it was getting too deep.” Her voice softened. “Curran, you’re my brother, and I love you, but sometimes you are every bit as superficial as your Hollywood mates you complain about.”
He bristled at
the offense. He’d changed, dammit. “I am not.”
“Look, you say you want something real. I reckon real is the one thing that truly scares you, or you would have found it a long time ago.”
He barely noticed when she left the room. For a long while, he sat staring into the mirror Kelli made with her words.
He didn’t like the man who stared back.
The front door of the house slammed open just after seven in the evening on Friday, sending Victoria’s pulse into orbit. She dropped her book on the couch in the great room and scrambled to her feet, her instant fear morphing into relief and irritation when Mara walked in through the kitchen.
“Hiya, cuz. How’s tricks?” The woman had the audacity to grin at her.
Victoria sank back onto the couch, breathing deeply to calm her pounding heart. “Mara, could you maybe not burst into the house like that? You scared me to death.”
Mara cocked her head, her grin widening. “Sorry. If you didn’t want me letting myself in, you should’ve locked the door.” The redhead sauntered over and plopped onto the couch, looking at the magazine in Victoria’s hand. “Whatcha reading? Oh, Uglies, I love that one.”
“Yeah, well, don’t give me spoilers. I’m enjoying it. When did you get back from Florida?”
“Yesterday. I had serious jet-lag to sleep off or I’d have called sooner. And I got sunburned, but it was so great.” Mara shrugged off her white parka, revealing a tight, black, low-cut wraparound blouse, matched by clingy black pants and spike-heeled boots.
The woman might as well have ‘I’ll show you a good time’ tattooed on her forehead. “You obviously have plans tonight.”
“Yeah, but I was in the area, and thought, hey, I’ll drop by and say howdy.” Mara craned her neck, looking around the room, down the hall. “Imagine my surprise at finding you here alone at primetime on Friday night. Where’s Curran?”
Oh, that’s right. She didn’t know. “We broke up.”
Mara’s jaw dropped. “What? Why?”
Victoria picked up her book to give her something besides her own crashing wave of hurt to concentrate on. “Because he’s a jerk.”
“That’s real specific.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
Mara shrugged. “Fine. Whatevs. Have you heard from your prison penpal lately?”
Victoria knew she meant Nate. “Nothing in the last couple of weeks.”
“Good. Maybe he got some sense knocked into his head and gave up.” Mara turned on the TV and started flipping through the satellite stations.
As much as she liked Scott Westerfeld’s writing, Victoria just couldn’t get back into the book, not with the TV on and her own thoughts churning. She didn’t believe Nate was through. She wanted to relax and not worry about him any longer, but a knot of apprehension took up space behind her heart. Instinct told her whatever game Nate was playing still had a few hands to go.
She settled a bookmark between the pages and returned the book to the end table, then watched the picture on the TV switch every five seconds while Mara channel-surfed.
A couple of minutes of that were all she could take. Her patience frayed. She grabbed the remote from her cousin and switched the TV off.
Mara mumbled an apology then turned her attention to the silver rings on her fingers, twisting them around and around. In that moment, Victoria realized her cousin’s innate happy-go-lucky spark had gone out. “Mar, are you okay?”
A feeble smile crossed her red-painted mouth and she waved a hand in the air. “Oh, yeah, of course.”
Victoria took her hand. “Be serious with me, cuz. Just once. What’s up?”
Her lower lip quivered. “Dad called me last night and yelled at me.”
The very idea shocked Victoria. Uncle Martin never raised his voice that she could recall. “What for?”
Mara rolled her eyes and made a face. “Because I’m wasting my life. I mean he understands that I’m traveling a lot to get some culture and some experience, but he thinks I’m spending way too much money doing it.”
“But you’ve always spent too much money. What changed?”
Her cousin ducked her head, avoiding her gaze. “He ran into a friend of mine when she was in town last week. I guess he asked her how I was handling school. Like a total dunce, she told him, oh, yeah, didn’t you know she dropped out last quarter?”
“You dropped out?” Victoria knew her cousin was socially flaky, but she also worked hard to keep good grades. She never expected her to do something like quit school. “Why?”
Mara heaved a huge sigh and looked at her with the most serious expression she’d ever seen on the woman’s face. “I realized I don’t want to go the direction I’m headed. I thought all my life that I wanted to be a nurse, because, you know, helping people was cool.”
“And you could work in your dad’s practice.”
“Yeah, that, too. Then last summer, remember when I went to Europe? I spent all this time in the great museums and stuff, and it totally fascinated me.” Mara grasped her hand. “And you know what? I loved it. I want to learn about that stuff, Vic. I want to be a curator.”
“That’s a pretty big switch.”
“Oh, I know. Totally different classes, for sure. And a different school. Since I have an associate’s degree already, I’m using that in my application to other universities. I’d love to get into a program in New York. There are so many great places there to get an internship. So, hopefully I’ll hear something in time to start classes this fall.”
Wow. Mara actually put thought and effort into this. Would wonders never cease? “How did your dad take it?”
“He blew a gasket, but that was mostly after I admitted that I withdrew from school. Once he chilled and I explained what I want to do and why, he was okay with it. I had to promise to stop running up my credit cards though, if he’s going to support me in New York. I could get a job, but I have enough distractions from school without working, too.”
“Well, good for you, then. I hope everything goes the way you want it to.” Victoria stamped on the envy rising deep within her heart. She couldn’t hold such support against Mara, just because her own parents withdrew all financial support the day she declared a journalism major instead of the pre-law track her mother expected her to take.
Maybe that’s part of what drew her to Nate in the first place. If her mother couldn’t have an attorney daughter, she could have had an attorney son-in-law. Yeah. Like it ever had a chance at going that far.
Mara studied her for a moment then said, “You haven’t been out to do anything fun since your spat with Curran, have you?”
“No.”
A grin spread across her wide mouth. “Well, cuz, my personal cure for a lousy, boyfriendless Friday night is a bunch of rowdy friends and a beer. In fact, I’m meeting a group of just such friends at Brindle’s. Want to come?”
Rowdy friends in Mara-speak meant guys. Usually gorgeous twenty-somethings. How long had it been since she had simply hung out, surrounded by a bunch of friends and loud music? Nope, she couldn’t remember back that far. “I need to change. Give me five minutes. I’ll even play designated driver.”
She bolted to her room to change clothes, since going out in her ratty old flannel pants wasn’t appealing. She grinned, thinking of Mara’s choice of friends. Most of the guys her cousin knew were a little insane. They were a parent’s worst nightmare, living for dangerous sports, getting plastered and chasing girls. But they were a lot of fun to spend a few hours with.
Victoria pulled on navy leggings and a clingy baby-blue, V-neck tunic sweater. Yeah, this was exactly what she needed to chase away her lingering Curran blues. Mara’s guy friends flirted relentlessly. She could use a little ego-stroking. Feeling desirable should boost her spirits.
In half an hour, she and Mara had joined her friend Brian in commandeering two tables at Brindle’s. Over the next twenty minutes, their group grew to eight, including Brian’s girlfriend and three guys who w
orked on ski patrol at The Canyons resort.
The last to show up was Danny Holt, one of Mara’s many ex-boyfriends whom she still claimed as a buddy. Danny slid into a chair beside Victoria. He pushed his black forelock out of his dark blue eyes and gave her a wicked smile. “Hey, gorgeous, haven’t seen you in a while. How’ve you been?”
When he took her hand in his and kissed her on the cheek, Victoria sidled closer to him. “Been better, been worse. Are you getting into trouble these days, Dan?”
He laughed and kissed her fingers. “When am I not in trouble, babe?” So true. Danny partied way too hard, and had been in rehab once already that she knew about.
He wasn’t her type, not by a long shot. On top of his partying habits, he was five years her junior. Besides, she most definitely wasn’t looking for anything, not even a fling.
But with his killer good looks and easy, seductive manner, Danny’s flirting soothed the empty, aching space inside her. It was harmless, friendly fun that would go absolutely nowhere, and he knew it as well as she did. She willingly gave herself over to it.
Curran thirsted for a crowd tonight. He craved the energy, the electricity, needed to feel it coursing through him. Thoughts of Victoria tormented him, but a couple of drinks and the flow of the crowd should dampen his need for her.
He drove into town, intent on going to one of the microbreweries that should be hopping on a Friday night. Maybe he’d drop by Fusion later and say hello to the Grant girls.
Reflexively, he glanced at the Brindle’s parking lot as he passed. A white SUV caught his eye.
His heart kicked into double-time and his breath vanished from his lungs.
Surely it wasn’t hers. There had to be a score or more identical vehicles in town. He signaled and pulled into the lot. He drove slowly behind the SUV. Fuzzy purple dice and a miniature disco ball hung from the rearview mirror, singling this vehicle out from all others like it.
Victoria. Raw need punched him square in the gut.
A horn honking behind him cleared his head and he took his foot off the brake and circled into the next parking row. He found a space for the truck and parked.
Her silent call drew him through the club doors like a sailor to a siren. He looked around, his eyes slowly adjusting to the low light, the pulses of color. The steady stream of people through the club doors gradually filled the dance floor and the bar. Many of the tables still stood empty, but they wouldn’t stay that way long. He scanned the club for her.
