by Liz Crowe
After he’d tossed the last of the weedy debris from the former garden nearest the now barely-used patio across the fence, he stopped to admire the impressive pile of green and brown he’d accumulated. He jumped and cursed when someone touched his shoulder
“Calm down bro,” Dominic said. He had a pair of work gloves and a six pack of Antony’s favorite of their brews—the crisp, delicious Kolsch style ale Dom had named ‘Eros’, which had offended their mother ever so slightly. “I heard you were out here slavin’ away, risking old man heart attack so…” He held up the sixer. Antony took it.
“Thanks,” he said, using his utility knife to pop one open and draining half in one gulp.
“All righty then,” Dom muttered under his breath before pulling on his gloves and jumping into the cleanup fray.
Another hour or so went by as the two men worked side by side mostly in silence, years of doing similar work for their father standing them in good stead for the task. By two o’clock Antony’s stomach was rumbling and he felt light-headed. He leaned on the trowel he’d been using to scrape the last of the nearly twelve years worth of neglect out of the beds lining the long gravel drive, smiling at the sight of his other two brothers, Kieran and Aiden, hauling huge wheelbarrow loads of dead plants and old leaves towards the woods. He barely remembered them showing up. Something in his chest loosened at that moment, noting how they kept trying to dump each other’s barrow loads of stuff like a couple of little kids.
Dom appeared at the front door, brandishing a pitcher of water and some cups. Antony nodded at him and trudged up the front lawn. This had been long overdue, and he was proud of himself for finally tackling it—but at the same time ashamed for letting it get into such a poor state. The same way he’d let his relationship with his own daughter decline.
Thoughts of AliceLynn and how ornery she’d been lately made his brain shut down. He squared his shoulders and was opening his mouth to thank Dominic for his help when a loud horn beeped from behind him.
The brewery van pulled up behind the cars already arrayed in the drive. The doors opened and Rosie emerged, bearing a picnic basket and a huge smile. His heart raced as the ‘you’re a lucky bastard’ mantra rolled through his head. He changed direction and headed for the van to help his mother out, and then took the basket from his fiancée.
“Heard you’d finally gotten off your sorry lazy butt and were doing something about this yard,” Lindsay said, patting Dominic’s cheek and accepting a glass of ice water from him.
“Yeah, well…” he said. His throat closed up when he saw the next two vehicles pull in behind the van. His daughter’s little car stopped and she climbed out, sunglasses on and ball cap pulled down low. Behind that, the stupid goddamned Audi that had shoved Margot firmly into his universe the first day they’d met, stopped, and she unfolded herself from behind the wheel.
He entertained a brief moment of memory of the day she’d shown up at his parents’ house as the Lindsay-declared ‘family therapist.’ Her Audi—and he hated Audi’s for the over grown, pretentious VW’s that they were—had stalled out on her so he’d tinkered and fixed it while she’d watched making him comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time.
“Hey,” she called. “Thanks for inviting me.” She spoke to Lindsay but when her gaze met Antony’s he nearly dropped the basket and ran for the woods. This was not good. He didn’t understand it, couldn’t get his head around it and did not care for it one bit. The woman strode over to AliceLynn and gave her a quick squeeze, said something Antony couldn’t hear and then turned with a smile. Antony tried to speak but found he could not. Rosie elbowed him aside and pulled AliceLynn by the hand towards the house, leaving Margot and Antony to stare at each other.
“You left sort of suddenly yesterday,” she said, her soft voice making his entire body go on high alert. “I’m sorry if I upset you.”
“You…you….you didn’t,” he managed.
“I shouldn’t be here,” she said, letting her gaze flicker down his dirty, sweaty frame then over to the small house. “But AliceLynn asked me to come. So…” She shrugged. “You guys are making me break a lot of rules.”
Antony tried to reply. He felt frozen; mesmerized in a way he’d never been by a woman. Finally, Dom broke the tension by snagging the basket Antony still had clutched to his chest.
“Come on around back, sexy lady shrink,” he said, winking at Margot and making Antony’s hackles rise in an outrageously inappropriate proportion to the situation. “Glad you could join us.”
His brother disappeared around the house. Antony could hear his brothers’ and mother’s voices combining in a way that gave him a modicum of peace.
“Boy,” his father’s gravelly voice barked from behind him.
“Sir,” he said, turning to face the man who was for all intents and purposes his mirror image except for about five inches of height and twenty-some years.
“Stop gawping and take this.” Anton held out a case of the Eros. “Nice to see you again, m’dear.”
Margot smiled, her face flushing prettily when Anton took her hand and kissed it. Antony put his arm around his father’s shoulders. “Thanks for coming out, Daddy.”
“Well, your mama made me,” he muttered, unwilling to admit anything resembling goodwill, at least on the surface.
“I’m sure she did.” Antony turned to Margot who seemed to be stuck in place. “C’mon around therapy-lady. I’m willing to bet there’s a feast set up.”
There was indeed and Antony allowed his brothers to take over the conversation as they ate the combined catered food from Brantley’s and his mother’s additions, and consumed the Love Brewing beers. He sat, content, his arm draped around Rosie’s chair, realizing that he truly had missed this sort of gathering at his own house for a lot of years. He looked up at the deep blue of the late summer sky, willing away the dark mood he sensed lurking around the edges of his consciousness.
Rosie leaned into him and he pulled her close, burying his nose in her hair. Her palm was warm against the inside of his thigh, making him feel settled and normal, and all sorts of things he hadn’t felt for so long that he marveled at them now. The chatter went on around him for a bit longer until Dom got up and stretched, claiming he wanted to get this ‘stupid project’ done in the next few hours because he had a ‘hot date.’
Lindsay regarded him as she sipped her water. “I don’t suppose it’s with who I hope.”
“Diana Brantley’s married, last I heard,” Dom said, his gaze flickering to the horizon for a moment.
“Divorced,” Rosie chirped as she got up to clear the glass topped outdoor table that hadn’t been used in the better part of a decade. Antony rose to help her but she shoved him down. “Relax. Have another beer then get on back to work. I’ve gotta pick Jeffrey up in a few. I promised him a movie.” She blew a lock of her dark, curly hair off her forehead. “I can help, you know…with this…later.” She lifted her chin to indicate the yard and its many, now cleared out, gardens. Antony smiled and yanked her down onto his lap so he could kiss her, setting off a cacophony of wolf-whistles from the peanut gallery.
When she got up, Rosie looked at Aiden. Antony frowned but berated himself for imagining things. He sat with a beer in hand and his legs propped up on the table, alone but for Margot who had said very little during the impromptu picnic meal. She was at the far end of the table from him, her head tilted slightly, regarding him as if he were something under a microscope.
“Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” he said before finishing off his beer and settling the bottle on the table. She blinked and Antony cursed himself for being a jerk for no reason.
“Yes, well, I guess you’re right about that.” She got up, and he would swear that his mouth watered at the sight of her. All sorts of unwelcome, wholly erotic visions shot across his consciousness. Images of her, of him, of them, in situations and positions he’d long ago given up imagining or wanting.
“I shouldn’t have come,
” she said under her breath, shaking her head and sending tendrils of honey blond hair bouncing around her flushed face. As she passed by him on her way into the house, something made him reach out and grab her hand. It was something he thanked himself for later, but at that moment it made him cringe.
“I’m glad you were here.”
She stopped, keeping her gaze trained on the house he’d been gifted by Crystal’s aggravated but resigned parents as soon as she’d dropped ‘I’m pregnant’ bomb on them. Antony could sense Margot’s tension as if it were his own but he didn’t let go. Finally, she pulled out of his grip. Despite his sincere efforts not to, he lifted his gaze to hers, drawn as if by magnets or the power of her personality, as he was coming to understand.
“I’ll expect you at our next scheduled day, after AliceLynn and I have an hour together.”
He nodded, attempting to form words as he noted the odd sensation of hollowness in his chest that seemed to ease upward into his brain, causing a sort of whiteout—not something he’d ever think would be pleasant. But it was in a very alarming way. The kind of alarming way that made him have to readjust his shorts, clear his throat and look away from her.
To his utter horror, she leaned down to his ear, sending a shiver down his spine. His dick got even harder, if that were physiologically possible. Sounds from inside the house faded as he attempted to hang onto them, especially that of Rosie’s voice, to anchor him to earth. But all he knew at that precise moment was Margot’s lips nearly touching his neck and her breath on his skin as she said, “It’s all right, Antony.” Her fingers brushed his arm and then she was gone, leaving him a shivering, teeth chattering mess and so revved up he seriously pondered running into the house, kicking everyone out and dragging Rosie to the bedroom.
But that wasn’t what he required right then and he damn well knew it. The fact of that matter made him furious with himself and with Margot. What the hell she thought she was doing escaped him but he wouldn’t put up it with it, or buy into it, or even want it. He was engaged to a wonderful, lovely, caring woman he’d known nearly his whole life. He didn’t need anything …else.
Slamming his next beer, calling on his grown-up powers of self-control, he forced his body to a parade rest and got to his feet. There was more work to be done and the soft, quiet place in his head he’d inhabited all day as he did it had been so very comforting.
It wasn’t until much later that night, alone and sipping a final beer on the patio did he realize that the quiet space had consumed him for the bulk of the afternoon, and all it took was the sound of Margot’s voice and the sensation of her body near his to send him there.
Chapter Five
Margot set her laptop aside, vowing to finish all the insurance filing crap later and took a long, deep breath. The grandfather clock bonged, reminding her that she had fifteen minutes until her next appointment—one with Antony’s challenging daughter, and one she felt utterly unprepared for in a way that reminded her of the days she’d allowed herself to sink into an obsession with her ex-husband.
Getting to her feet, she forced all that out of her head, determined to give AliceLynn the attention she deserved. Margot was known for her ‘expertise’ with teenagers, which amused her since each one of them truly believed they were the ‘only ones’ with such special issues. Bless them but they were all selfish creatures, which was nothing but pure evolution at work. Sometimes she did come up against one with a harder shell to crack and something told her after just one session with the girl, she’d be having a tough time getting AliceLynn to open up.
Never mind her father.
The thought of Antony sent a bolt of forbidden, scary lust down Margot’s spine. She cursed, stomped her foot and closed the blinds so she could pray and do a few calming yoga poses in private. By the time the knock came, signaling AliceLynn’s arrival, she felt a bit more settled and ready.
“Hey,” the girl said when Margot opened the door with a smile.
A solid forty-five minutes of frustrating, one-sided talk later, Margot took another deep breath, determined not to let on how aggravated she was. She’d worked with kids way tougher than this. There was no reason to allow anger into her emotional stew, even though she knew why it was happening. Some sort of an inappropriate bond had been formed, both with Antony and his daughter. Hence she was getting a ‘too close to the situation’ sensation about AliceLynn. She might even call it ‘parental,’ were she inclined to think such nonsense about a client.
“Okay, well, it’s about time for your father to get here.” Margot glanced at the clock, ignoring the way her scalp prickled in anticipation of seeing Antony.
“That’s my signal to leave,” AliceLynn stated, getting to her feet and adjusting the straps of her too small tank top. Margot shook her head at herself. Since when did she pass judgment on a girl’s clothing choice?
“I want you to stay, just for a few minutes if you would. Please.”
The girl made an unpleasant sound somewhere between a laugh and a snort of derision. “Trust me, my daddy wouldn’t want that.”
“Your daddy—your father—does want that as a matter of fact.”
“Oh?” AliceLynn drew her arms in close as her lips turned down into a frown. “He hasn’t wanted me for going on thirteen years now. Why would he all of a sudden need me here, in this office with you?”
Margot blinked, unsure how to answer that. She didn’t know if Antony wanted it and was completely perplexed at herself for even saying such a thing. While the therapist in her knew it was too early to put them together for a session, the woman in her must be using the poor, angry, confused teenager as some sort of a shield.
“You’ve moved in with him, right?” She deflected, trying to gather her thoughts.
“Yeah,” AliceLynn grunted out, as she pulled Chap Stick from her purse and applied it with a shaking hand. Something about the obvious tremble in the girl’s fingers nearly broke Margot’s heart. “So?”
“So, how is it? Being home again?”
“It’s not my home. I’m just stuck there a while I guess, until I can find something else.”
“Until you go away to college you mean,” Margot prodded, thinking that if it took her over into Antony’s hour to get the girl to actually talk, she’d use it.
“I have a job already, waiting tables at my Granddaddy’s pub. And my boyfriend is…”
Margot held up a hand, and even as the words came pouring out of her mouth she wished them back. “Young lady, you are going to college. I know you have straight A’s even though you’ve been skipping. Are you studying for your ACT? And what boy is…”
AliceLynn’s eyes narrowed. “You know, Miz Hamilton, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you sounded an awful lot like my mama. And I promise you, you are not that. I’m getting a step-mama soon and she won’t be the boss of me either. None of you will be. The only mama I know is my Grammie Lindsay and I guess she’s busy dyin’ or something.” She swiped at her face. “Anyway, I’m done with this.”
Margot watched as the girl stumbled over her own feet in her haste to get out of the office. She was frozen in place, horrified at herself and acknowledged that she did, indeed, sound like the girl’s mother.
She sat and put a hand over her eyes, wondering what in the hell she’d managed to get herself into. One thing she and her ex had agreed upon was that the ‘no kids’ rule was sacred. There were too many humans in the world already. They had no business adding to the population. If they got the urge to parent someone, they’d adopt. End of story.
Bastard had that girlfriend of his knocked up by the time he’d broken the news to Margot.
A sharp rap on the door made her jump. “Come in,” she said, not looking up at the sound of Antony’s low, growly voice.
“Hi,” he said. “So…I’m here. Now what?”
Margot believed she could hear the ligaments in her neck creak as she looked up at him. She swallowed, smiled and stood, deciding to just go with her gut and
see where it took her. She’d never been cautious but getting dumped by the one man she’d allowed herself to love made her hesitate. It would be all right. Antony was engaged, and to a lovely woman who did not deserve to be treated this way.
“Sit,” she said, pointing to the chair near her window.
He shrugged and did as she said, slumping down and crossing one ankle over the opposite knee and hooking his hands behind his head, striking a classic male pose of defiance. Confidence surged through her once she realized he was already taking on a role she wanted him to—one she would need to break down in order to help him, whether he realized it or not. The problem was, her sort of ‘breaking down’ usually ended with sexual intercourse, and she couldn’t allow that. It would be wrong.
She slid one of her desk drawers open and put her hands on something she’d placed there, almost without thinking, after his last, awkward visit. The silky fabric slipped through her fingers. Antony frowned at the sight of it in her hand, his posture shifting ever so slightly from defiance into fear. She could almost see it shimmering off him and it made her feel powerful, yet sad at the same time.
“I’m going to try a little experiment with you.” She came around the side of the desk and headed to him, just as he jumped to his feet. “Sit down, Antony,” she said, using her best ‘take no shit’ voice as she invaded his personal space with the blindfold in one hand. “It will be all right, I promise.”
He shook his head but sat, leaving her standing over him, which gave her a shiver of anticipation that she promptly quelled. His strong arms hung loose at his sides, his jeans clad legs sprawled out, too long for the chair. She stood behind him and placed the black silk blindfold over his eyes. After tying it in a way she knew would be nearly impossible to release, she placed her palms on his broad shoulders. As she had hoped, his thrumming, nervous energy calmed under her touch.
