Abrupt Changes: A Second Chance Romance (O-Town Book 3)

by Karen Renee

  At the next cut-out in the highway, I pulled a swift U-turn. Five cars sat in front of me in the right-hand turn lane. Brock craned his neck, and I knew what he saw. Our guy was third in line, and none the wiser to our oncoming approach.

  “You’re pretty good, Ramsey.”

  I smiled.

  “Or pretty lucky. Depending.”

  I looked at him for a second. “Shut up, newbie.”

  Three of the five cars moved forward, even though a sign said, “No Turn on Red.” Our guy turned on to the road, and we soon followed suit. With four cars between us, I saw him make a left into a Courtyard by Marriott parking lot.

  “Bingo-bango,” Brock said.

  I coughed out a chuckle. “Don’t be so sure. Multi-story structure. How are we gonna get the goods, Sully?”

  He groaned. “Are you serious? ‘The goods?’ We have to get them in the act?”

  I looked at him for quite a while before I asked, “‘Uncle?’”

  He exhaled before he said, “No. Not yet. Dammit.”

  WHEN I PULLED INTO our office parking lot, Brock sighed. “Seriously? We have to do this shit all over again tomorrow?”

  I shrugged. “Gotta talk to Paul about it. We got them kissing, and we have his vehicle and her vehicle in a hotel parking lot during work hours.”

  Brock shook his head. “He’ll probably claim he doesn’t know what kind of car she drives or some shit.”

  I nodded. “It’ll help when Deanne gets us the other woman’s name based on the plate. Anyway, a decent divorce attorney can make what we have work, but my hunch is our client scraped together the last bit of her savings to nail this guy to the wall. Not sure this helps compared to ‘the goods’ as you put it. The goods means he caves... most of the time. A guy like this, definitely caves.”

  “What?” he asked.

  “He’s not well-to-do. He’ll cave and that’s that. If she were married to a guy with more means, more resources, it wouldn’t go to settlement, it’d require the full Monty to get her what she deserves.”

  “And what’s she deserve?” he asked reflexively.

  I let that slide. I knew we had different views on women because we’d had different types of men in our lives... which ultimately meant we had different types of women in our lives. His father was so good and upstanding. Whether that had anything to do with why his mother left, I’d never know and I didn’t want to know, but I knew that my father was so bad, vile, and ugly that the fact my mother not only persisted but persevered made her the salt of the earth.

  “She deserves the truth at a minimum, Brock. It’s what we’re paid to deliver.”

  He opened his door, nodding. “Yeah. I wish we didn’t have to photograph them in the act, though.”

  We both got out of the car and walked into the building. “Yeah, you’re gonna have to get over that.”

  Deanne, the administrative assistant for the group, told us Paul was out of the office. Brock and I went to our desks and wrote up our reports.

  An hour later, we both left for the day.

  Walking out to the parking lot, I asked, “How’s your girl like Disney? You said she didn’t get that role as Elsa.”

  His tight-lipped smile spoke volumes. “Yeah. She won’t admit it, but I think Disney isn’t really her thing.”

  I nodded. “Yeah. She looking for a new job?”

  “Not yet. One thing at a time, you know.”

  “Oh yeah. I get that.”

  “What about you? Raegan leave town?”

  “No, but I’m sure she will soon.”

  Raegan

  IN THEORY, I SHOULD have been interviewing people to check in on Mom so I could get back to New York. Yet, I had no motivation to do any of that. The thought of lining up strangers to check on Mom drove home the fact my sister wasn’t here to do it anymore. What would stop these people from taking advantage of Mom? From casing the joint? I shook my head because that last thought sounded like I’d watched one too many old movies, which I had.

  A little voice suggested I ask Tanya to hang with her while these people came in to do their jobs, but I simply couldn’t ask that of her.

  That little voice didn’t let up though, and instead asked, why I couldn’t relocate to Orlando? There were plenty of decent agencies in town. The work wouldn’t be as big as my work on national accounts, but work was work, right?

  I wanted to punch that little voice, because I didn’t spend ten years in the Big Apple just to run back home.

  Though, I wouldn’t be running really. More like life redirected me. It should be a no-brainer. Mom took care of me for decades, and now she needed me to take care of her.

  I texted Angela asking her about where her aunt used to live. A year or so back, her Aunt Liz fell and had to live in a facility for six months. It wasn’t ideal, because the cost of living in New York was exorbitant, so getting care for Mom would be twice as expensive and would eat up my money at a rapid clip.

  However, I was thirty-three and had started making a name for myself two years ago. If I moved to Orlando, regional agency executives might attribute my success to my former spouse, not so much my own talent. At least during my interview with Eastern, Sharpe, and Prescott, the panel made it clear they recognized my talent.

  My phone chimed with a text from Angela.

  Aunt Liz was at a facility in Queens. Your mom up for snow and bitter cold?

  I loved Angela. Always pragmatic and forward-thinking, that woman.

  And with a simple question, I had the very reason I couldn’t uproot Mom. It didn’t often freeze in Orlando, but when it dipped into the forties for a couple days in a row, Mom’s arthritis flared in the worst way.

  Which brought me back to square one. Either find people to help mom, or I moved and became the person who helped Mom.

  If you moved back, you could give Clint another shot, the little voice piped up and my back straightened.

  Nope. That was not happening. It was great seeing Clint, but the way things had ended with us, they were done. I still didn’t know why he took me to dinner at his buddy’s place, but my best guess was to keep them from harping on his heroics. As much as I wanted to say he used me, that wasn’t true. Being with him was almost like old times, but likely because neither one of us was going to rehash the past.

  “Gah! Stop it, Raegan,” I muttered.

  “You say something, honeybunch?” Mom asked from the living room.

  “No, Mom. Just talking to myself.”

  “As long as you don’t talk back, it’s all good,” she called.

  I sighed.

  Could I put Mom through another heart-wrenching conversation this week? Again, nope. I would wait to talk to her tomorrow.

  Tanya’s familiar knock came from the kitchen side door, which surprised me. I opened the door to her and Jared bee-lined to Mom as usual.

  “No need to get me a drink, Rae. I brought my own latte. It’s been one of those mornings.”

  I nodded, and she strode into the living room to put Marcus down, who I noticed was sleeping soundly.

  She came back in and put her mug in the microwave for a warm-up. I thought about having a cup of coffee myself, but I wasn’t thirsty as much as I was starving.

  Days after Wynnie’s celebration of life and the gathering here at the house, we still had enough food to feed the Orlando Magic and the opposing team. At the pantry, I spied a bag of unopened kettle-cooked potato chips and I remembered a tub of Dean’s French Onion dip in the fridge. I loved that stuff but rarely bought it.

  I put the chips on the kitchen table. “You want any chips and dip, Tanya?”

  “Ooh! Absolutely!”

  “What are Jared and I? Chopped liver?” Mom asked.

  I shook my head, not that Mom could see it from the living room. “I’ll let Tanya decide what Jared eats, and you’re on a low-sodium, low-cholesterol diet.”

  “No cholesterol in those chips or that dip, Raegan Anne.”

  I turned the unop
ened bag of chips over. “I’ll be damned,” I mumbled.

  Tanya grabbed the dip and took the top off, shaking her head. “I find it strange as hell someone opened the dip but didn’t bother with the chips.”

  I shot her a disbelieving look. “Bronwyn worked part-time at a gym, and most of her friends were fit as fiddles. I can’t believe anybody brought dip, let alone a bag of chips.”

  Tanya grinned. “Who do you think brought the chips and dip?” She pointed to herself. “This girl! There’s comfort food. Then there’s comfort junk food. Both are important, but as far as I’m concerned the right junk food is even more important in a stressful situation.”

  I wheezed with laughter. “You are one crazy lady, Tanya.”

  Her chin dipped as she grinned at me. “And don’t you forget it!”

  I popped a chip loaded with dip into my mouth, and she leaned toward me. “Your mother’s right. There’s no cholesterol, and the saturated fat isn’t that bad. The salt might be an issue, but let her live a little, woman.”

  I nodded, grabbed a paper plate, and took some out to Mom.

  The surprised look on her face didn’t keep her from speaking. “It’s a minor miracle. The warden’s letting us live large, Jared.”

  “Don’t push it, Mom.”

  Back in the kitchen, Tanya watched me, and I knew she wanted to talk about something. I just didn’t know what.

  Since I didn’t feel like chatting, I kept shoving chips in my mouth.

  “You know who didn’t come by the house after the service?”

  I sighed. “There were plenty of people at the service, Tanya. It stands to reason not all of them could swing by the house afterward. And really, some of them may not have been invited or didn’t—”

  “Clint. He didn’t show up afterward, and I found it weird he spoke to Penny but did his damndest to avoid you. Especially since he took you out almost two weeks ago. What gives?”

  She spoke with a pushy tone, but I wasn’t giving into her pushiness. I had learned my lessons about pushy people.

  “He has a job, Tanya. It’s not a crime he didn’t drop by the house. Hell, he’s here so often, it’s not like Mom doesn’t know how much he cares.”

  Her lips pushed out into a duck-pout, but she pulled them back in quickly. “You’re right. I just don’t understand. Why wouldn’t you try to tap that?”

  “Because she already did, doofus!” Mom yelled.

  My elbow on the table, I put my head in my hand.

  “You did,” Tanya whispered, sitting down next to me.

  I sat up straight. “It was a long time ago, Tanya.”

  “Sounds juicy, and you never did tell me the long story when I was here the other day. Spill it, lady!”

  “He was gonna—,” Mom started, but I spoke over her.

  “I’ll tell her, Mom!”

  “Be sure you do,” she muttered.

  I shook my head, but Tanya was grinning like a loon. It felt like the story of me and Clint took an hour to rehash, but when I finished only twenty minutes had elapsed. However, from the slack-jawed expression on Tanya’s face, I probably should’ve left a few things out.

  “He was gonna propose that weekend?” she shrieked.

  I shrugged. “Seemed so, otherwise he was a crazy man to walk around New York City with a diamond ring in his pocket.”

  “No doubt,” she muttered, dunking a chip in the dip.

  While she chewed, her eyes narrowed at me and I wondered if I could run to the bathroom because I knew I didn’t want to hear what she had to say next.

  “Done with the dip, Tanya?”

  She swallowed before she arched an eyebrow at me. “Not if that’s your ruse to get away from me. Truly. How did you not come running back? I’ve seen the way that man carries himself. I’m married, but I ain’t dead, and if I were available, you can bet I’d be all about getting his attention.”

  From the living room, Mom guffawed. It was good to hear her laugh, even if it was at my own expense, essentially.

  “That’s when she met her no-good, two-timing, weasel of an ex-husband.”

  When the silence stretched, Mom said in a more somber voice, “Tell her about that, Rae.”

  I sighed heavily. “That’s an even longer story.”

  Tanya snapped the lid on the dip and put it away. “Believe me, I got time for that story. Jared stopped taking his naps three months ago, and Marcus is already out. Let’s hear it. What’d he do? Swoop in the very day Clint split?”

  My face fell and Tanya mirrored my expression. “You’re kidding me?”

  I shook my head. “Unfortunately, no. I mean, it wasn’t that immediate, but it kind of was. I cried myself into a nap, woke up and thought I’d go to the office to get out of the apartment, and away from thoughts of Clint. Except there were a dozen people in the office. I saw my creative director, but Trey was there too. He was an account executive, which meant he was on the business side of the office. For whatever reason, he was wandering around the creative area and saw me at my cube. Noticed my magazine ads, which happened to be for his account. He acted as though he was impressed, charmed me, and convinced me to go get drinks with him and other coworkers I hadn’t spent time with from the business side.”

  Her brows furrowed. “And from that you married him?”

  I scoffed. “No. From that, I met Angela, who is, bar-none, the best woman in all of New York. Somehow, Trey worked his way in there with me. He knew I’d been hurt. And the charming bastard convinced me to go against my policy of not dating coworkers, and one date led to many more. Clint never called. His mother sent a letter which ensured I never called him, and the rest is history. And that is why I’m not trying to ‘tap that,’ as you put it.”

  “Well, shit,” Tanya whispered, but her lips twisted this way and that while she thought about something.

  I couldn’t dwell on that because I needed to shake off memories of the past.

  “What about now?”

  I shook my head and focused on Tanya. “What do you mean?”

  Her eyes widened. “I mean, what about now? You’re divorced. He never married. And for God’s sake, what’s that about? A man as hot as him, not married! So... what about now?”

  “That’s what I’m sayin’!” Mom put in, unhelpful as ever.

  I huffed out a breath. “There is no ‘now.’ I gotta figure out what I’m doing. No. Actually, I gotta figure out if the cops are wrong, and if Wynnie was murdered. Then, Mom and I need to chat—”

  “I’m not goin’ to a home, dammit!”

  I threw my head back and glared at the ceiling for a couple beats. “I never said anything about that, Mom.”

  “Just as long as we’re clear.”

  My phone rang, and to my surprise, the display showed Clint calling.

  “Hello?” I answered, my tone questioning.

  “Hey. You still in town?”

  My lips pursed, but I unpursed them to say, “Yeah. Not sure when I’m out of your hair, Ramsey.”

  Tanya gave me a beaming smile before she went to the living room.

  In my ear, Clint exhaled slowly. “Don’t be that way, Rae.”

  I followed his lead and did a slow exhale to hide my sigh. “Sorry. The way you spoke to me the other day just grated on me.”

  He chuckled. “Don’t let this go to your head, but you being in town grates on me.”

  I gasped.

  “But in a Mellencamp type of way.”

  I shook my head. “Say what?”

  “You know, ‘Hurts So Good,’ but with you it’s more like you irritate me so good.”

  “I’m so flattered.”

  He chuckled. “Exactly.”

  Dammit. There was that dry wit he had, and we bounced the jibes off one another like ping pong balls. It was familiar, which made it dangerous.

  “I’ll text you when I’m leaving, Clint. In the meantime—”

  “I was a dick, and I didn’t mean that bullshit I said, Rae. You don’
t owe me shit about being with Penny. It’s tough on both of you, so of course she needs you.”

  “Thanks.” I whispered, because I didn’t trust my voice not to give me away. He was hitting all my soft spots. I had shoved out of my mind how empathetic and insightful he could be. And as always, when he did wrong, he ’fessed right up to it and made it right.

  “You’re welcome,” he whispered back. Then he said, “So what were you going to say, ‘In the meantime?’”

  My lips quirked. “In the meantime, you don’t have to worry about supplying Mom. I bought up as many cans as I could today, though I’m surprised at how many more cans of Cajun peanuts there are.”

  He laughed and my brows drew down.

  “What’s so funny, Clint?”

  He took a deep breath. “What’s so funny, Rae, is that I did a run today and couldn’t find anything but Cajun peanuts, which Penny can’t tolerate. And I wondered what the hell was going on. So much so, I asked the manager.”

  I grinned. “You asked for the manager?”

  “No,” he clipped out. “I know the manager, so I asked him what happened to the normal stock.”

  I wheezed a brief laugh. “And what did he tell you? Hell, could he even tell you anything?”

  “Honey, they got software just like any other business does these days. He said someone bought up six cans, all they had until tomorrow, and that had happened early this morning.”

  I laughed outright. “Wow. I think that was me, but what were you doing at Mom’s Winn-Dixie? You don’t live around here, and you always preferred Albertson’s.”

  He paused for so long, I nearly thought the call was dropped.

  “Albertson’s left Florida a long-ass time ago, Rae. But to your other point, I don’t live that far away.”

  My eyes widened because though Mom bought her house decades ago, her real estate values were through the roof. In fact, that was another option for getting her the care she needed, but selling the house or taking out some type of reverse mortgage was absolutely a last resort measure. I knew Clint was doing well for himself, but I was still surprised.

  “You don’t?” I asked.