"That is so typical of you," Brandon said softly. "You do something wrong and you think that the whole world should just rush to forgive you. You didn't just bang my car or misplace my keys, Ashley. You cheated on me with another person, in our home. That shows disrespect; it shows disregard; it shows a lack of moral fortitude. Saying I am sorry while batting your eyelashes is not going to cut it with me." He opened the door. "Bye."
"You could meet me halfway," Ashley said, raising her voice. "You just don't want to. What about the kids, Brandon? They need two parents."
"What about trust, Ashley?" He spun around and confronted her wrathfully. "I may never trust you again with anyone, male or female, and don't you dare throw the kids into this; you conveniently remember them only when it suits you."
Brandon left the building as fast as he could. He let himself into his car and drove out of the parking lot so fast the gravel caused his car to skid.
*****
Nadine was leaning on her car and waiting for Brandon in the parking lot when he got back. She was dressed in hiking boots and had a denim jacket thrown around her shoulder.
Brandon, saw her and immediately his sour mood lifted. She smiled at him tentatively, and that worried him. Nadine was not a tentative sort of person. She gave him a little wave and then pushed herself from the car.
"You are a sight for sore eyes," he greeted her happily.
"I am going to my grandparents for the weekend," Nadine said brightly, "I came to give you the essential oils that I promised because I won't be around."
"Your grandparents in Blue Mountain, huh?" Brandon said interestedly. "They are the ones who own the B and B where Tara is staying?"
"Yup." Nadine nodded. "I have to go check on Tara. She sent me an SOS; said she was dying of boredom and other inexplicable ailments."
Brandon chuckled. "I won't be having the kids this weekend. Maybe I can come along. A peaceful weekend in the mountains sounds like a good prescription."
"Sure." Nadine nodded her head. "I could tell my grandparents to prepare a cabin for you. It's cabin style."
"Sounds nice," Brandon said. "Want to wait for me while I pack?"
"Sure," Nadine said and then she frowned. "I was, er, going to tell you that we can't see each other as friends anymore."
Brandon swung around to face her. "Really? Why?"
"I... er... went to your wife's store today and it hit me that you are married. Honest to goodness married. It's not just a theory. You are not divorced, not even really separated. You have a flesh and blood wife who is gorgeous and pleasant, and I..."
She cleared her throat. She chickened out at the last minute. She couldn't tell him that she had feelings for him that she thought ran deep and that she was preserving her sanity.
That would completely spoil the dynamics of their relationship. It would cause awkwardness and stiffness when there was none.
She feared that she was acting like a foolish teenager and Brandon might not feel the same way.
Brandon inclined his head to one side. "And you?"
"And I kind of feel uncomfortable about it. I don't even know if you are going to get back with her."
Brandon sighed. "You don't want to be my friend anymore because I am married?"
"Well, yes... er... no. I can't."
"So maybe I shouldn't come on this trip to Blue Mountain, then?" Brandon said forlornly.
"Well, yes, I mean no. For heaven's sake, Brandon, why did you break up with Ashley? She's gorgeous!" Nadine looked at him anxiously. "Was it something that you did?"
Brandon laughed harshly. "No. I was a relatively good husband. I guess. Maybe I wasn't the best husband for someone like Ashley. Come on inside while I pack. That's if you want me to still come?"
"Yes, sure," Nadine said jerkily. "Sorry to ambush you like that."
Brandon half smiled. They didn't start talking again until they were on the road, heading through Papine and toward the lush green mountains in the distance. Her grandparents had an inn that was midway to Blue Mountain Peak, in Whitfield Hall. Nadine drove and Brandon sat in the passenger seat looking through the window contemplatively.
"Ashley cheated." Brandon spoke after a long while. He had a somber tone to his voice. "That's in answer to your earlier question. That's why I left her."
Nadine looked over at him, a surprised look on her face. She then hurriedly looked back at the road. "Wow."
"Yes. Wow." Brandon grimaced. "It wasn't the best of times for me. I am still thrashing around in my mind as to what to do about the whole thing."
Nadine gripped the steering wheel harder. "Do you still love her?"
It had to be asked. She had so longed to ask that question that she anxiously waited for his response, but Brandon seemed as if he was a million miles away. They were passing by Blue Mountain Inn and heading toward Mavis Bank before he spoke. That was twenty minutes into the drive. Twenty whole minutes while she wondered if he was going to answer, fretting that he would say, "Yes, Nadine. I still love Ashley, with my whole heart."
"I don't know," Brandon finally answered. "I lost that in-love, warm fuzzy feeling for Ashley a long time ago. Our marriage has been on a collision course for so long. That doesn't mean that I don't love her anymore, though. I made up my mind to love her when we said our marriage vows and I will always love her because she is the mother of my children."
"Yes, there is that." Nadine murmured, feeling a tad nauseous. "Some girls have all the luck." She laughed uneasily, trying to dislodge the queasy feeling that his statement brought on.
What did she expect Brandon to declare, how awful Ashley was for cheating on him and that he hated the ground she walked on? That had never been his style and frankly, she wouldn't have found him attractive if it was.
He never bashed Ashley in the month since she had met him. He had only told her why they broke up because she had practically begged him.
He was looking through the window and she wondered what he was thinking. Brandon had times when he became introspective. She understood that much about him and she was respecting his space but it hurt just a tad bit to hear him say that he made up his mind to love Ashley. Who did that? Who made up their mind to love somebody even though they did you wrong?
*****
Do you still love her? The question kept ringing in Brandon's head even when he and Nadine had engaged in another conversation. He had given an answer but really, did he still love Ashley? He tried listing Ashley's virtues in his head but he kept coming up short.
On the other hand, he could list a ton of virtues for Nadine without even trying. If he ever got the chance to do it over, the whole marriage and family thing, he would want it to be with her.
He shouldn't be thinking that way. He hadn't even known her for a month, but he felt that he really knew her, like finally he had found his soul mate. It was a deep sense of certainty. But he couldn't trust it. He couldn't trust his instincts where women were concerned. Look where leaning to his own understanding got him. It got him Ashley.
He looked through the window at the various shades of green on the mountainsides. The air got cooler the higher they climbed into the mountains.
"Your mom grew up here, in the hills?" Brandon asked a solemn-looking Nadine.
"Yes," Nadine glanced at him. "My dad stayed at the B and B at Whitfield. She was a young girl, barely seventeen, working the front desk then. My dad was visiting with a group from college and then the rest is history. They lived happily ever after—well, until they got divorced, anyway."
Brandon grimaced. "Tara took it badly and that's how I met you. How did you take the divorce?
"I saw it coming." Nadine sighed. "They hadn't been happy together for quite a while, from when I was a pre-teen. They were trying to hold the marriage together for my sake, and then they had Tara. She was the makeup baby they had to help secure the marriage, but of course that didn't work. It never works, so maybe you shouldn't plan a makeup baby with Ashley."
Brandon
groaned. "That's the farthest thing from my mind."
"Good." Nadine smirked. "And then one day my parents couldn't pretend anymore," she murmured. "They trudged on for ten years. I was twenty when it happened but it still hurt. Children never really get over their parents divorcing, no matter how old you are."
Brandon nodded. "I know. That's really..." he paused and sighed again, "I know."
Nadine twisted her lips. "I was going to say... at first. People do adjust after a while. I am okay with their other partners now but at first I was resentful. I don't like that kind of change but my mom and dad seem truly happy for the first time in years.
"My dad's wife, Heather, has three girls. They lost their father in a car crash. They are sweet girls. One of them is Tara's age but Tara is so possessive she doesn't want them calling her father Daddy, nor does she want him to give them any attention, which is impossible; our dad is a loving kind of person. Heather is a psychologist; you may have heard her on the radio. She has her own family program."
"Yes." Brandon nodded. "I have heard of her. She has her own set of problems at home, as a stepmother, doesn't she?"
"Yup." Nadine grinned, "Tara is the stepchild from hell. Her skills as a psychologist have really come in handy."
"If I divorced Ashley now," Brandon mused, "my children would not get the chance to be bratty to a stepmother. They would be used to her by the time they were Tara's age."
Nadine looked at him sharply and then the car dropped in a pothole. She cursed under her breath and slowly drove out of the thing, which seemed like it was a mile wide.
"These mountainous roads are pretty, awful aren't they?" Brandon chuckled. "They can cause a perfectly good Christian to curse."
Nadine groaned. "It's not the roads. You said...never mind. Never mind."
Chapter Nine
Brandon was convinced that Nadine was the master of understatement when she said that her grandparents owned a bed and breakfast type inn. He was expecting a quaint little place off the beaten track, probably with a little sign hanging up at the gate announcing that it was open for business. He hadn't expected that they ran a bed and breakfast on a coffee farm.
"An honest to goodness Blue Mountain coffee farm," he whispered, looking around the vast estate. The road leading up to where Nadine indicated was the main cabin was paved. Flanking the walkway were strawberry patches. The scent of strawberry was the first thing that he noticed. He could even spot some strawberries among their white blossoms. He could also see the rows and rows of coffee in the distance.
"I love it already," he said to Nadine. "Somebody should sentence me to live up here."
Nadine laughed. "And you haven't seen Grandma's greenhouse yet, or Grandpa's grape vineyard. Everything eaten here was grown here."
"Are you sure that we are still in Jamaica?" Brandon asked, chuckling.
"Yes, we are." They walked up to the main building and a little bell chimed as they stepped through the entrance. Inside was done completely in wood and looked rustic.
Tara was around the desk on a chunky computer. She looked up with a bored expression on her face but when she saw them her face lit up.
"Nads! Brandon! Welcome to the sticks! The back of beyond. The place that is going to kill me!"
Nadine laughed and hugged her sister as she hurled herself on her. "I hope you don't greet the guests this way."
"Nah," Tara said, hugging her back, "just filling in for Georgia while she takes a break. I am waiting to see Gersham."
"Gersham?" Nadine looked over her sister, who was almost glowing. The mountain air and the healthy organic food were having a good effect on her.
"Yes," Tara said excitedly, "Gersham Pottinger. They came by this morning with his church group. He is one cute guy, I tell you. His one downfall is how much he loves this place but I can work with that. They are going to see the sunrise at the peak on Sunday. I want to go but Grandma said no.
"I am telling you, Nads, Grandma is not as nice as she used to be. She is strict and mean and she is treating me as if I am ten. Grandpa is not so bad but he is always on the farm. He gives me long lectures about coffee and other boring farming stuff. He said I remind him of Mom when I was her age. Seriously... Uh."
Nadine looked at Brandon, who had wandered over to the wall looking at pictures.
"That's you," he turned to them and grinned, "when you were a little girl."
"Yes," Nadine nodded. "I used to love it up here, unlike Tara. I used to beg my parents to send me here."
"Are you sleeping with him?" Tara whispered in Nadine's ear,
"No," Nadine whispered back. "He is still married, and unlike you, I am old-fashioned. You know, I have this bee in my bonnet that I should wait for the right guy and marry him before we become intimate."
"Yes you are old-fashioned," Tara snickered. "You would fit right in with Granny's old country church set. I personally can't stand them. Nads, they have these ridiculous rules for everything."
Nadine laughed. "I love those people. Is Brother Barnswell still at church playing the mouth organ?"
Tara rolled her eyes. "I knew you would love them and yes, he is still there with the ridiculous thing. Anyway, even though I am usually unhappy to be here, I must say that I am not feeling as bad this weekend.
"By the way, because you told Grandma that Brandon is your guest she said he should stay at the great house with us. She is up there baking bread and doing all sorts of domestic things. I came down here to escape; don't tell her that you saw me."
Nadine laughed and waited at the door while Brandon looked at the various pictures.
"Fascinating," he said, turning to her. "Your family has had this land for close to a century."
"Yes," Nadine nodded. "It's quite a history. You are staying at the great house, and I am sure that Grandpa will tell you some of it."
"No cabin then?" Brandon raised an eyebrow.
"No, my grandparents decided that you are their guest this weekend. Sorry about the peace and quiet thing."
Brandon inhaled appreciatively. "I can already feel the peace. I am looking forward to this weekend."
"Well come on then," Nadine said, holding the door open. "Grandma is cooking. It is sure to be something special. I am suddenly famished."
"Don't tell her where I am," Tara warned when they headed through the door.
*****
The plantation house was on an incline overlooking rolling mountains and acres and acres of green coffee plants.
"It is a good thing I brought my camera," Brandon said when they were standing in the driveway and looking out. "It is gorgeous," he laughed when he felt the cool, almost cold breeze, "and it is a good thing I brought my jacket." He pulled out his two bags.
Nadine looked out over the view and sighed. "I like coming home to the Blue Mountains."
"You aren't cold?" Brandon asked.
"Not really, not yet," Nadine said, "but I will be. It gets really chilly at night."
"Chilly? What an understatement." Brandon shrugged into his jacket and aimed the camera at her. "Smile."
She smiled and he clicked away.
"Oh my," a voice said from the veranda, "Nadine Langley, you are home."
Brandon watched as Nadine and her grandma had an emotional reunion, hugging each other and talking in low, loving tones.
When Nadine finally introduced him as her friend, her grandmother gave him a thorough once-over and then nodded her head. "Nice to meet you, Brandon Blake. You can call me Nonna. Everybody does." She had a lovely voice. Brandon could imagine her reading children stories by a fire.
He didn't know why that image came to his mind. He was also surprised to note that Nadine looked a bit like her. They had the same hair style except that Nonna's hair was completely white with a purple rinse and she had green eyes—clear, sparkling green eyes...
"Come on in," Nonna said. "I gave Brandon the blue room. Nadine, you sleep in your usual room. The two of you settle down a bit and then come down for
dinner."
Nadine showed him to a room that was painted in a pastel blue. It was a large bedroom. Center stage was a four-poster bed with its own curtain tied back to the bed. He had only ever seen beds like this in historical movies.
He sat on it, bouncing a little and feeling like a kid again. It was comfortable and he laid back, looking through the canopy. He could sleep right now, forget about today and his meeting with Ashley. He could forget anything right now he was feeling that comfortable.
He closed his eyes for just a bit. He was jerked awake by a soft touch. Nadine was smiling at him; the side lamps were on.
"I wasn't sure if you had eaten anything today." She sat on the bed beside him. He blinked at the lights and then groaned. "What time is it?"
"Seven o'clock. Nonna did a hearty dinner and she made strawberry pie."
Brandon smiled. "I'd get up just for that. This bed is hypnotic."
Nadine smiled. "Or maybe you are just tired and careworn and need some rest."
Brandon sat up and they stared at each other. The air was heavy with unspoken emotions.
Nadine was the first to look away. "We are going to have family devotion now, and Grandpa wants to meet you."
"Yes." Brandon got up and stretched. He looked at her; the lamp at the side of the bed gave her skin a glow. "You look so beautiful in the half light."
Nadine flushed to the roots of her hair. She knew that her ears were deep red when she backed away from him, as if he insulted her.
"See you downstairs." She stumbled out of the room. Her heart had started its insane rhythmical pounding and she found that she was gasping for breath.
She leaned on the wall when she closed the door. She thought that he looked beautiful in the half-light, and his sleepy eyes made him appear a little vulnerable; he looked yummy as he stretched his lean muscles.
On the Rebound Page 9
