by Quinn, Taryn
I wasn’t sure where he still found them, because the local paper had ceased daily operations. Probably some national paper. Leave it to my dad to want to stay informed.
My own life was insane enough.
“Be glad you’re even allowed out, Danielle.” I was more than a little salty that apparently I was the only one in the known universe who didn’t have a cool nickname for my daughter. “After that stunt you pulled—”
“But you’re going on a real date. And you kissed Macy on TV. Toby was almost sure you used tongue.” The expression on her face revealed the depth of her disgust. In case I didn’t fully grasp it, she crossed her eyes and mimed gagging. “That’s totally gross.”
“You like Macy,” I reminded her. Which really didn’t address the whole kissing thing.
I kind of hoped that her mother would have the birds and the bees chat with her, ideally when she was eighteen or so. Okay, no, I knew I couldn’t wait that long, and I also knew I couldn’t depend on her mother to handle such an important task. Especially since I had no way of guessing what she might say to her.
Then again, I had no clue what to say either. Thank God she was just eight. I still had a little while to think of the best way to describe flat-out lust, the kind that Macy seemed to inspire in me on a daily basis lately.
“She knows basically every horror movie. Is she your girlfriend now?” Before I could answer that, Dani stopped coloring in the book her grandfather had given her and frowned. “If you get married, will she adopt me?”
I didn’t know why I laughed. It was tinged with more than a small amount of hysteria. “Macy isn’t the marrying kind.”
“Oh.”
It was my turn to frown. She wasn’t, was she? If anyone had asked me that question a month ago, I would’ve said Macy was the only person in town less likely to get married than I was. I’d done it once, and that was plenty. More than. I’d let impulse and desire and the fact we were having a kid push me to the altar. When my dad had questioned my good sense, I’d insisted that I loved her. I had, but probably not enough. When you love someone, protecting that love should be worth any fight. It should be more important than any risk.
Jessica had cheated on me, and she’d asked for forgiveness. I’d shut her down and requested a divorce and that had been that. Throughout, I’d only felt sadness and a terrible sense of relief that I could never tell anyone. Our getting married might’ve been a mistake, but the daughter we’d made was a gift. She was still one, even as she gazed up at me with her eyes asking far too many questions.
Then her mouth joined in.
“Does Macy like you? I mean, besides kissing you.”
That was the question of the hour, wasn’t it? Although I’d just thought of another question, and that one had my response sticking in my throat.
Had Dani heard about what I’d said about her mother cheating on me? Or worse, had she seen the actual clip? I had to hope that maybe Toby had just described it to her and the idea of kissing was so abhorrent she wouldn’t go looking for the evidence herself.
Not that I wouldn’t deserve it if she did go looking. But she didn’t deserve to be confronted with my stupid off-the-cuff remark. True or not, she would never hear anything bad about her mother from me—even if it killed me. Some days, I was nearly certain it might.
“I think you should let your dad get ready to go,” my father said, peering out from behind his newspaper.
I looked down at myself. I wore my standard uniform of jeans, white T-shirt, and boots, with the addition of a jacket because it was a cool late August night. Autumn would be here soon, which was why I’d managed to pull off this particular date in the first place. “I thought I was ready to go.”
“You look like you’re headed to work.”
“This is what I wear, Dad.” It was almost impossible to keep the impatience out of my voice. “We’re headed to a hayride—”
“What, noooooo.” Dani threw down her crayon and crossed her arms. “You always go on the first hayride with me.”
It wasn’t a lie. Guilt attacked me with fists and claws as it so often did. “Not with that ankle. Next time, squirt,” I promised as she screwed up her face. “You wanted me to have a date, right?”
It was probably cheating to use that against her—and I still needed to give her a stern talking to about why what she had done was wrong, no matter how good her intentions had been—but I was a desperate man.
On about sixteen levels, not the least of which was that I’d packed fresh condoms in my wallet. Which might have also made me ridiculous, since Macy and I had barely kissed a couple of times yet I already thought—hoped—it was time to level up.
“Yeah, but we do the hayride together.” Dani’s chin wobbled as she reached down to itch under the edge of the bandage around her ankle, kicking up my guilt to the max.
“We’ll go twice. Maybe even three times. You know how the first night usually sucks. Remember that time Mr. Ronson couldn’t even get his chainsaw working?”
She giggled. “Yeah. But it was funny.”
“Macy won’t find it funny. She’ll get pissed. Maybe I should call Sheriff Brooks and have him on standby.” I was only half joking.
“I could come and help calm her down.” Dani’s big green eyes lifted to mine hopefully. “She likes me. Everyone likes the cute kid.”
I had to laugh as I ruffled her hair, even knowing she hated it. Some habits wouldn’t die no matter what. “And the modest one too. Thanks for the offer, but you better hang with Grumps tonight. He’s back on the road tomorrow and he’ll be gone, what is it now?”
“Three weeks, give or take.” My dad folded up his newspaper and looked at Dani over his reading glasses. “Sure you aren’t ready to travel the States with me, Ginger Snap? Think of all the fun we could have.”
He was only kidding, but I still narrowed my eyes. Danielle was an impressionable kid, and I really didn’t need her deciding a life riding around in a truck all day making long-haul deliveries was more interesting than going to school. And interfering in her Dad’s love life, which actually wasn’t going too badly now that the hungry women had stopped circling.
At least Macy and I were kissing, with an option for condoms. Possibly, by the year 2023.
“No, I have to get all As to get into college.” Dani resumed coloring. “But you can buy me stuff, like from where you go.”
“Oh, can I now?”
“Yes, please. Thank you.”
I shook my head and looked down at my clothes again. “Fine, I’ll change my shirt.”
They exchanged a glance as I shed my jacket and went back upstairs to my bedroom. It wasn’t as if my dresser drawers held a ton of other options. I owned a couple of pairs of sweats and more jeans just like these, plus a black pair. Shirts-wise, most were plain white like the ones I wore to work. I did have a couple of concert tees, most of which hadn’t seen wear since I’d last been to a concert about five years ago.
How pathetic was that?
I swapped my jeans for my black ones and my white shirt for a vintage Poison shirt that I’d had forever. Poison wasn’t even cool anymore. Had they ever been cool? I wasn’t sure. But it had to be better than wearing my work uniform on a date.
My dad had been right. As usual.
When I came back downstairs, Dad was sitting beside Dani on the couch, and she was curled into his side under the glow of the adjacent lamp. He was reading her a story, something about big trucks and ice demons. You know, your standard fare for an eight-year-old who had zero interest in fairies or princesses or handsome princes.
Thank God.
“Better?” I held out my arms wide.
“Yes,” my dad said. “Though you should really try to improve your taste in music. What about The Beatles?”
Dani cocked her head. “Poison? Like to kill you? What a stupid name for a band.”
I lowered my arms and grabbed my jacket off the chair. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys.” I
came over to Dani and kissed the top of her head before doing the same to my dad, mainly to make Dani laugh. “Wish me luck.”
“Break a leg,” Dani said seriously. “Though even a sprain hurts super bad, so I’m not sure a date is worth it. Also, can you bring me home a caramel apple?”
“Sure thing.”
With that, I was off to Macy’s, after giving my father a slew of assurances I wouldn’t be late picking up Dani because he had to be up bright and early the next day. As if I didn’t. Normally, Sundays were the one day I slept in then made breakfast with the kid, but the crew was behind on The Haunt after the clusterfuck of the last week. It was hard to keep to a schedule when your team had to constantly duck and weave due to single women wanting to snag a DILF.
Who knew?
I hit the open road in my truck and turned up the radio. It was a nice night, already chilly and would get chillier as the evening progressed. I could practically smell fall in the air and in the crunch of leaves under my tires. I wasn’t one to rush summer along, especially considering how far behind schedule we were on the restaurant, but I couldn’t deny that autumn brought with it a surge of new possibilities.
Including this one, that the impenetrable Macy Devereaux had not only kissed me a few times but had also appeared to actually enjoy it. She’d even agreed to a date. I didn’t know if we’d just scratch our itch and be done with it, but right now, with the wind coming through the windows of my old truck and Springsteen on the radio, anything seemed in reach.
Grinning, I drove down Main Street in the Cove, humming along, tapping my fingers on the wheel. I was already eager to see Macy and get a full-barreled dose of her snark when we had an entire evening to be alone.
Well, as alone as we’d be with our fellow hayride attendees and Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers and whomever else lurched out of the darkness. I wasn’t a huge horror fan like my daughter or Macy, but even I could enjoy a night of being entertained out in the woods.
And if that led to some making out in the woods…let’s just say I wasn’t averse.
My smile lasted until I pulled up in front of Brewed Awakening, already prepared to drive around back and look for parking. Like I usually did. I’d never showed up here to pick up Macy for a date, but otherwise, everything was like normal.
Then I glimpsed the white stretch limo gliding up to the curb. The driver stopped and climbed out to open the back door for his passenger.
Huh. Who the hell could that be? It was far too early for homecoming dances, and besides, did anyone take limos to those? I thought that was solely reserved for the prom.
And for my ex, who floated out of the car and stood on the sidewalk, patting her lacquered hair and glancing around as if she couldn’t believe her spaceship—sorry, limousine—had landed in the center of small town, USA.
She wasn’t the only one. I was finding it hard to believe myself.
“Jessica.”
She didn’t hear me at first, since she was bickering with her driver. Probably debating if this could really be the right place.
We’d met when I lived a few hours away from here, near New York City where Jessica had been filming a movie at the time. She’d bought a small place outside the city that she intended to use as a hideaway and had contacted me through a reference from a friend of a friend to redo her fireplace and the surrounding built-ins.
I wished I could say we’d had a lengthy courtship—if you could call it that—but we’d been lovers within a matter of days. I’d moved in not long after that. Within six months, she was pregnant with Dani and we were married.
Looking at her now, staring at me as if I was a stranger, I wondered how I’d ever been that young and naive.
Or just stupid.
“Jessica,” I said again, and this time, she tilted her head, her gaze sweeping over me in that thorough way that had once heated my blood.
Now all I felt was cold.
“John.” Her voice matched the chill at my back. “I drove by your place. Your truck wasn’t there.”
“So it wasn’t, because I was on my way here.” I moved forward, my steps measured and unhurried even as my heart thudded dully in my ears. “Have you stopped using phones?”
“We needed to chat in person.” She stepped away from her driver and I half expected a hulking bodyguard to emerge from the bushes as she approached me. Imagine a star of her caliber walking around freely in a dangerous town like Crescent Cove. “Since things have changed recently.”
I set my jaw. “Have they?”
She gestured to Brewed Awakening. “Does this place serve espresso? The real stuff, not the watered down kind most Americans favor.”
Oh, she and Macy would get along so very well. “This is a very high-end coffee bar, so yes, they serve whatever suits your palate.”
“Is that so?” Jessica wrinkled her nose as she stared at the Jason hockey mask hung over the ornate light adjacent to the coffee shop entrance. “I wouldn’t have guessed, since it’s so…quaint.”
“As is the owner, whom you’ll be meeting soon enough.” I didn’t glance at my watch, but I knew I wasn’t more than a few minutes early.
If I wasn’t at Macy’s door right on the dot, she’d come down into the café and soon realize why I thought marriage was the gateway to certain doom. More precisely, marriage to Jessica Kyle. I wouldn’t blame anyone else for my negativity.
“Well, then, let’s go inside and chat.” Jessica gave a quick nod to her driver. “I shouldn’t be long. If anyone questionable approaches the car, deal with them as you see fit.” With that, she flounced toward the café door.
I wasn’t one to demonize people. In fact, my father had always accused me of seeking the good even to my own detriment. I’d obviously once believed Jessica had many positive qualities or I wouldn’t have married her. But it seemed like those particular attributes had been hidden under fur and jewels and pretension, and I wasn’t at all eager to find out what had brought her to my town.
I followed her inside and met her at the counter, where she was already ordering a quad shot latte and “one of those adorable little scones”. A very pregnant Vee was helping her, and she arched a brow at me when I stopped at Jessica’s side. There was plenty of space between us, but I wanted to get this over with as fast as humanly possible.
Preferably before Macy came downstairs and schooled Jessica on how out of her depth she was.
We chose a table in back, closest to the pass-through that led to the apartments upstairs. I didn’t relish Macy coming downstairs and seeing me seated with another woman on our date night, but I also wasn’t going to squirrel away in a shadowy corner.
If Macy and I were going to make some kind of go at this—or hell, even if we were going to fuck each other’s brains out and part as reluctant friends—I intended to keep all my cards firmly on the table. That was the only way I knew how to be. Especially after my unintended near miss with Macy regarding not telling her right away about Dani.
“You don’t want a drink?” Jessica sipped hers and made a face. “I see why. It’s not total swill, but definitely not like Paris.”
“I’m sure Macy will be heartbroken at your assessment.” I leaned back in my chair and slung an arm over the back. Already I was antsy to get this over with. “So, why are you here with no warning?”
“What, I can’t visit my own baby girl without scheduling it first?”
“According to the courts, no.”
“You’ve always been so rigid, John. Were you this tedious while we were married?” Before I could respond, she hurried on. “All the more reason I couldn’t wait any longer to visit. I have concerns.”
My gut tightened as if it was being twisted by a fist. “Such as?”
Jessica trailed a glossy pale pink nail along the edge of her china cup. She must’ve asked for one like that, since Macy’s collection of cups for in house drinks were on the funky, eclectic side. Not tiny and fussy with little roses. “What’s this media circus you�
�ve subjected my daughter to? I have to say, I expected more from you than airing dirty laundry—ancient dirty laundry to boot. Irreconcilable differences are no excuse to potentially harm my child.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Vee creeping closer with a tray of drinks precariously balanced on her baby bump. I nearly rose to help her, but she edged away before I could.
“Your child is our child, and I have no clue what you mean.”
“Oh, really. You don’t recall telling Tillie Neusbottom—what kind of name is that, by the way—that your ex-wife cheated on you while you were live on camera? I’m surprised you would be so tacky, but I suppose small towns have a way of doing that to you.”
I leaned forward, narrowing my eyes as my muscles locked. A common reaction to Dani’s mother, but this time was worse than ever before. “What exactly do you want?”
“Are you denying you subjected my girl to a media firestorm thanks to your libido?” She looked down her ski-jump nose at me. “No wonder Dani was so worried about you and your hermit lifestyle, if you think the way to find someone is to announce your desperation on Facebook.”
“Dani was worried about me, hmm? If you know that much, then you probably won’t be shocked to find out our daughter decided to make that post for me. Also, I wasn’t the one to give her your old phone, and I wasn’t the one who was probably filling her head with God knows what.” I clenched my jaw. “Like saying I looked sloppy. That was a particularly nice one.”
“I don’t recall using those exact words.”
I shifted in my seat. It was taking everything I possessed to not take off. Hell, I’d prefer to meet Macy somewhere rather than sit here.
“Right.”
“Well, for God’s sake, look at yourself. Do you even shave anymore? And a Poison T-shirt? Are you actually serious right now? On top of that, you’re blaming my child for what you obviously did because you’re starved for attention.” Her pursed lips as she looked me up and down told me her thoughts on that score exactly. “Which means your focus isn’t where it should be—on my daughter.”
