Finally he spoke. “I’m sorry about last night. Coach wasn’t supposed to be there.” He leaned across the counter and took her small hand in his large calloused one. “I’d never put you through that on purpose. I hope you know that.” A flicker of regret substantiated the sincerity of his apology.
Lavender looked away, choking up again. She cleared her throat but still couldn’t find her voice.
A sad smile floated across his lips. “Vinnie, I’m sorry. I really am.”
She nodded, pulled her hand free, and turned away, wiping at her face with a napkin. The weekend had shaken up her house of cards, and she doubted it would survive.
“You know, Vinnie, you should give him a second chance.”
She turned around and faced him. “I can’t. You don’t have a clue.”
He looked at his beer as if it held life’s answers, then raised his gaze back to hers. Dark circles ringed his eyes and weariness shone there. Stress creased his handsome face. “I do have a clue. More than you can imagine.”
“You talked to him after I left, didn’t you?” Betrayal stabbed deep. Leave it to jocks. They always stuck together, just like her grandmother warned. Tyler didn’t understand. No one understood except for her gram—according to her gram. A sliver of doubt crept past her well-shored defenses and settled deep in her gut.
Warily like a man walking through a den of snakes, Tyler spoke with quiet determination. “Yeah. There are things you should know.”
“The only thing I need to know is that I love my gram, she’s always been there for me, and he wasn’t.” Grabbing a bar rag, Lavender walked around the counter.
“Vinnie, I—” He stood and held his hands out in a gesture of surrender, looking so lost she almost caved and ran into his arms.
“Drop it.” She snapped the bar rag and hit him on his thigh, dangerously close to his prized possessions. He jumped back, obviously fearing for his boys’ well-being. He tried one more time by taking a half-step forward. She snapped the bar rag again. He yelped as it narrowly missed his crotch.
“What the fu—hell is wrong with you? You’re nuts. Just like your effing grandmother.”
Oh, low blow. By the look on his face, he regretted the words as soon as he said them.
“Get. Out.” She twisted the towel in her hands.
Keeping his eyes on her, Tyler backed to the door with Lavender dogging his every step towel at the ready. He lunged out the door and slammed it so hard the windows shook.
How dare he compare her to her grandmother? She’d never be that bitter and vindictive and unforgiving.
Never.
No, not her.
Oh, crap.
The cold hand of truth wrapped its fingers around her neck, choking her. Out of site of the patrons, Lavender sank to her knees behind the bar and gripped the counter.
That’s exactly what she was—just like her grandmother.
* * * * *
Tyler stood on the back porch on a rare sunny day and sipped his cup of coffee. Lavender drove out her driveway and never looked his way.
He sighed. He’d screwed up again and been an insensitive ass as usual. For two days, he’d stayed away, let her cool down.
But damn, he missed her.
He’d never worn regret well, but regret his actions he did. A lot. In fact, so much he felt like crap inside. Dredging up this stuff about her father hurt her deeply and uprooted her life. Damned if he knew whether it’d be worth it in the end for all of them.
A smart man would butt out, just as Coach warned him, but Tyler’s pigheadedness outweighed his intelligence. Always had.
Tyler’s father died without reconciling with his own father. Ryan died unable to say goodbye to his mother. If he’d learned anything, he’d learned life was too short for such bullshit. Too short for regrets. Better to try and fail than to regret not trying. Maybe he should follow his own frigging advice. Live so you won’t have regrets on judgment day.
And what would he regret when his ninety days on the island were up?
Tyler leaned on the railing and stared out at the peaceful bay. Sun shone on the water, and the old dock creaked from the wake of a passing motorboat. A seagull dropped an oyster on the dock to break it then dove down to collect his reward. A smile twitched at the corners of Tyler’s mouth.
Smart bird.
It was a beautiful spring day, warmer than usual, and Tyler decided to take a walk around the estate and make a list of outside projects.
He liked it here. This place gave him peace. It felt like home more than his ritzy Seattle condo ever had. For two more weeks, it was home.
Gravel crunched in Lavender’s driveway, and his heart sped up a beat. Expectantly, he swung his gaze back to her little house. Her grandmother’s car turned into the driveway, as disappointment flooded through him.
While Larry sat in the car reading a newspaper, Doris walked up the front steps and tried the door. The door opened, and she disappeared into her granddaughter’s house. Larry continued to read the paper, as if he expected to be there a while.
Tyler waited, expecting Doris to exit in a minute or two. She didn’t. His eyes narrowed. The woman had to be up to no good. The minutes ticked by. He checked his watch. Twenty minutes passed.
Unable to stand it any longer, Tyler slipped over to Lavender’s and opened the unlocked door.
With her back to him, Doris Mead rummaged through the contents of a file cabinet. Silently, Tyler watched as she picked up a folder of pictures and sorted through them. She wadded one up into a ball and tossed it in the nearby garbage can.
What the hell?
“What are you doing here?”
Doris spun around at the sound of his voice, hackles up and ready for a confrontation. “I could ask you the same thing.” Her gaze drilled into his, as if a mere dumb jock could never intimidate her.
“The door was unlocked. I knew Lavender wasn’t home. I’m a good neighbor and thought I’d check it out.” His gaze never wavered but neither did Doris’s. Like two prize fighters, they sized up each other.
“Well, you’ve done your good deed for today now get out.” The woman pointed at the door and stepped in front of the desk in an attempt to block his view. He’d already seen what he needed to see.
“Does Lavender know you’re going through her stuff?” Tyler pointed at the open file folders on the desk. “Just because you took care of her doesn’t give you the right to invade her privacy any time you please.”
“It’s my house.” Doris snarled at him like an enraged lioness.
Tyler almost grinned. Armed with his newly-discovered information, he relished having it out with this bitch. “You’re not the only one who’s nosy. This isn’t your house. It’s her house. It was her grandparents’ house, paternal grandparents.” He bent down, retrieved a wad of paper from the nearby wastebasket and uncrumpled it. Doris stiffened and looked ready to kick the crap out of him. He bit the inside of his cheek to stop the laughter. He had her where he wanted her.
“I wonder how this ended up in the garbage.” Tyler waved a picture of Lavender and her father in front of Doris’s face. It was like waving a red flag in front of an enraged bull.
“She must have thrown it away.” Doris fixated on the picture in his hand. “Lavender makes bad decisions. I have to watch out for her best interests.” Doris charged, lunging for the photo, but Tyler held it out of her reach, not hard to do since he towered over her by several inches.
“You mean you have to control her.”
“I care about her.”
Tyler shrugged, which infuriated her further. “She’ll never learn to stand on her own two feet, if you keep propping her up, but then you don’t want that. You want her dependent on you. You need absolute control.”
“I don’t have to explain my actions to you. I’m a protective, loving grandmother.”
Doris’s contemptuous glare didn’t faze him. In fact, he kinda liked getting under her skin. “You’re a selfish, narcissis
tic bitch.”
“How dare you.” She raised her hand, and Tyler braced himself for a slap across his face. Strained silence stretched between them. Tension clawed the air. The sharp sting never came. Doris lowered her hand and walked behind the table.
“Yeah, whatever. You’re a piece of work, lady. You should butt out of your granddaughter’s life. You’re the one with issues. Lavender’s relationship with her father is private between the two of them, and none of your business.”
She whipped back around to face him. If she’d had a knife, she would have gutted him from neck to bowels. “Lavender doesn’t need a relationship with her father, and she never will as long as I have anything to do with it. I’m only looking out for her best interests.”
“You need counseling.” Tyler advanced on Doris like Coug stalking a mouse. He gave her credit for not flinching. Instead, she stood up straighter and stared him down—or up actually, considering the height difference. Crazy-assed woman. The table separated them, which suited Tyler just fine. He preferred to keep his balls intact.
“Get out.” Doris pointed toward the door. Her pudgy fingers shook with anger.
“Don’t tell me to get out. You get out. Neither one of us has a right to be here without Lavender’s permission.”
“I have every right. She owes me rent.”
“You lying bi—you should be in jail for collecting rent on a place you don’t own. I know for a fact this property is owned by Brian Gerloch and put in trust for his kids.”
“How dare you accuse me of dishonesty.” Doris’s face turned crazy-assed ugly. She clutched a vase as if preparing to throw it at him.
“I’m not accusing you at all. It’s a fact.”
“I’ll have you out of Lavender’s life.”
“Just like you did her dad? I’m shocked you didn’t put out a hit on him. You’re that wacko.”
“The man is an alcoholic. He’s emotionally abusive. He’s toxic to the kids. Unfortunately, Andy fell under his spell.”
The door slammed open, hitting the wall with a bang. Tyler spun around as Lavender burst in the door. Chickenshit Larry slinked in behind her and stood in a dark corner of the room, out of the line of fire, and wisely keeping his mouth shut.
“What’s going on here?” Lavender looked from Tyler to her grandmother. “What are you doing in my house? Both of you?”
Doris lost it. Like a hyena on crack, she bared her teeth and threw a glass vase at Tyler. Athletic as he was, he dodged it. It slammed against the wall behind him and shattered. “Get out! Get out now! You’re causing problems. Brian Gerloch needs to be out of our lives for good. I hate him.”
“Maybe your grandkids don’t.” Tyler yelled right back in his loudest quarterback voice in an attempt to be heard over Doris’s high-pitched screech.
“He stole my grandson. Abandoned my granddaughter. He wasn’t good enough for my daughter.”
“Yeah, but really, it’s all about you, isn’t it?” Tyler shouted so loudly his temples throbbed.
Doris’s face turned so red Tyler expected to see the top of her head blow off. “You’re as toxic as he was. You drink too much. Chase women. You’re no good. Just like him.”
“You don’t know a thing about me.” Tyler’s loud and booming baritone clashed with Doris’s high-pitched screech, like a discordant grade school band.
Lavender jumped on a chair and screamed to get their attention. “Stop it. What’s going on here?” They both started to talk at once. “One at a time. You first.” She pointed at Tyler.
Smugly, Tyler winked at Doris. She clenched her fists and most likely fantasized about planting her knuckles in his mouth. Larry stepped up beside her and tried to put a restraining hand on her shoulder. She slapped his hand, and the wimp flinched.
“I saw your grandmother over here, and knew you weren’t home. I found her going through your file cabinet.” He pointed at the open drawer on the file cabinet and waited expectantly for Lavender’s reaction, her anger at being violated by someone she trusted.
Lavender looked at her grandmother and sighed, as if this had happened before. “Gram, you know I hate that.”
Open-mouthed Tyler gaped at his purple lady. “Don’t you care that she’s invading your privacy?”
Doris sputtered, still recovering from her fit. “And it’s a good thing I did. Someone needs to watch out for you, honey. You’re too susceptible to men like your father and him.” She snatched the folder from the desk and waved it in Lavender’s face. “What are these?”
With a dramatic flair, the crazy woman threw the folder in the air. As it fell to the ground, pictures of Lavender’s father fluttered to the floor. Hands over her mouth, Lavender watched in horror, like a little girl being caught snitching candy from a candy store.
“Gram, I forgot all about those.” Her apologetic tone knocked Tyler on his ass. She shot Tyler one of those keep your mouth shut glares.
Doris switched from crazy woman to concerned grandmother in a manner of seconds. “We’ve worked so hard to heal after all that man has done to tear our family apart. How could you keep such personally painful memories of him? This isn’t good. I’m just concerned about you, honey, and it appears I have every right to be.”
“I’m sorry, Gram.” Lavender hung her head, like she’d been in the wrong. What the fuck?
Tyler stared in amazement at Doris. She’d somehow turned this into being about Lavender and not about her control issues.
He knew better than to involve himself in a family dispute, but he did it anyway. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to have some pictures with you and your dad.” Tyler had spent several hours with his sisters yesterday going over copies of paperwork they’d dredged up, proving Doris a liar on several fronts, such as child support, ownership of this very property, and court papers filed on more than one occasion by Brian alleging that Doris interfered with visitation, countered by her claims of emotional abuse and neglect.
“Tyler, stay out of this. Please.” Lavender’s eyes pleaded with him to understand, to drop it. He did understand. She wanted to keep peace with her grandmother but at what cost?
Doris stepped forward, patting Lavender’s hand and sucking her back in her web. “Honey, we’re just concerned about you. A relationship with your father would be damaging to you. You know the man is harmful. Why would you want to see him?”
“Listen to your grandmother, Lavender. She knows what’s best for you. Don’t disrespect her by going against her wishes.” Larry blurted out the words. He glanced at Tyler, cringed like a frightened pansy, and retreated to the safety of his corner.
Tyler shook his head in an attempt to clear it, totally baffled. Doris and Larry worked their own kind of black magic on Lavender. He’d never seen anything like it. He clamped down on his lower lip and savored the taste of blood, wishing it were theirs. He couldn’t fight this battle for her. She needed to stand up to them, but she wasn’t.
“Vinnie, hon, I know this is tough for you. A child naturally wants to have a relationship with her parents, but the man who donated his sperm to your existence gave up his parental rights after your mom divorced him. He never paid a penny of child support. Larry and I gave you all our love. After all we’ve done for you, how could you be so disloyal? We’ve always been here for you.” Doris clenched Lavender’s hand.
The stench of her flowery perfume wafted around the room, like being buried in dead flowers. Tyler hated the smell. He’d never date a woman who wore that scent. Ever.
He ground his teeth together until his jaw hurt. He wanted to yell, to scream, to throw things at the injustice of it all.
A knot of anger gripped his stomach in a vise. Oh, yeah, at first the manipulative witch had sucked him right into her web of hatred. He’d believed every word Doris uttered until his sisters had uncovered a shitload of information on his old coach and his ex-wife’s parents. Facts don’t lie. Maybe he should’ve minded his own business, but it’d gone way beyond that. Lavender deserve
d the truth, despite the possible repercussions. While his coach wasn’t entirely blameless, the guy was also the victim of a vicious, vindictive grandmother obsessed with her hatred.
Turning on him like a wounded animal, Lavender pointed toward the open front door. “Go home, please. We’ll discuss this later.”
Tyler hesitated. The lead weight in his stomach warned he might have stepped out of bounds on the last play of the game. His arguments would make matters worse right now. Lavender needed to come to her own conclusions in her own time.
He flashed back to the last few months and how far they’d both come, how much he looked forward to being around her, how she made him see things about himself no one else ever did. She’d turned his image of himself upside down and inside out.
Lavender thought he was worthy, thought he made a difference. She didn’t see him as a failure. Just by her kind words, he’d gained back a piece of his self-worth, started to see his life for what it was and how he could make it better. She’d given him hope. Even more, she’d given him something so fragile and precious, he refused to put a name to it for fear it would slip away. When she was around, he felt alive, content, passionate yet comfortable. Things seemed so right, like they’d known each other for a lifetime, not a few months. She’d taught him so much about himself without even trying. When she wasn’t around, her absence left an empty hole only she could fill.
Now her expression told him to go away, and her rejection hurt like hell.
Frustrated and powerless, Tyler shot one last menacing glare at Larry and Doris. They might have sacked him for a loss on fourth down, but he’d be damned if they’d win the game.
* * * * *
Lavender sported the Super Bowl of all headaches. Her grandmother ranted for what seemed like hours, forcing Lavender to cancel her shift at the VC. Finally, Larry managed to coax Doris into leaving so they could catch the next ferry. Lavender almost felt sorry for him as he trudged out the door behind her grandmother, who still hadn’t stopped screeching.
Angry, frustrated, and looking for someone to blame, she sprinted across the field to Tyler’s house. She’d set him straight on getting involved in this mess between her grandmother and father. She’d managed to keep peace with Doris—no easy feat—until Tyler came into their lives. Now he’d sliced open those old wounds, and there’d be hell to pay for months to come.
Forward Passes (Seattle Lumberjacks) Page 24
