Trouble in Disguise

by Sonia Stanizzo

  He said his goodbyes to Fi-Fi. It was always hard leaving her. Even though she was a fit seventy-nine-year-old, she was getting older, and he didn’t know how many more times he’d get to see her. But by the way she was going, she’d probably outlive him.

  “I’ll walk you out,” Toby said as he headed for the door.

  Once outside, they stood by Nate’s rental car.

  “Are you sure you need to leave?” Toby asked.

  “You’re not going to start with me too, are you? I’ve heard enough from Fi-Fi.”

  “What about Jade, how’s she taking it?”

  Nate had put her quietness down to the stress of the last few days, the paparazzi, the newspaper article, and being on leave. But maybe it had something to do with him too. He knew it wasn’t just a fling for her, no matter what she’d said at the start. It hadn’t been a fling for him either. He genuinely cared for her. Leaving wouldn’t be easy.

  “Watch out for her for me, will you? And give her back her fucking job.”

  “You should watch out for her yourself.” Toby sounded pissed. “You promised me you wouldn’t mess around with her feelings. And I told you if you hurt her, you’d be dealing with me. Do I have to kick your arse?”

  “I’d like to see you try.” Now Nate was pissed. Why was everyone on his back? He had a job to do—commitments. No one seemed to care that leaving was cutting him too.

  “I could kick your arse from here to New York,” Toby grumbled. “Tell me, am I going to find Jade a broken mess?”

  Maybe he should let Toby kick his arse. Beat him up so badly he couldn’t feel a thing anymore. But he knew that even if his body was numb, his heart would still ache.

  “Honestly, I don’t know. But if she’s feeling anything like I am at the moment, it isn’t good.” Nate’s shoulders slumped.

  “Do you love her?” Toby’s voice lost some of its heat.

  His heart thumped at the question. Did he? What he felt was something stronger than he’d ever felt for any woman.

  When Nate didn’t answer, Toby blew out a long breath, clearly taking his silence as confirmation. “Then make it work with her.”

  “Even if I wanted to, she’s so caught up in that curse she wouldn’t let it happen.”

  “If you stay, I’m sure you could convince her it’s all bullshit,” Toby suggested.

  Could he stay and let his father’s legacy go? But what if Jade couldn’t let go of her beliefs—then what?

  “At least think about it,” Toby said.

  “Okay, I will.”

  Chapter 26

  Thursday night dinner at Jade’s mother’s house was a monthly occurrence. One that Jade didn’t feel up to, but she knew if she didn’t attend, her mum would whinge about not making an effort for the family. Although Jade wasn’t sure how her mother could complain since Jade popped over all the time. Except for the last few days. She’d avoided coming past because she hadn’t told her mum she’d been put on leave.

  With no job to go to, she’d cleaned her place from top to bottom, ironed the pile of clothes that had been sitting in the laundry for months, did some grocery shopping, and briefly spent time with Ava, Nick, and baby Adriana.

  Usually, Jade looked forward to her mother’s cooking and spending time with her siblings. But today, she dragged heavy legs inside the house. She attributed her lethargy to a busy day and not because Nate was leaving in the morning.

  Smells of a roast drifted through the house, and she followed the scent into the kitchen. Her mother was by the sink washing lettuce, and Kaitlyn was setting the table with only three place settings.

  “Hi, Ma.” Jade kissed her on the cheek. “Where’s Connor?”

  “Hi, sweetheart. He got called into work.”

  “That’s a shame.” She lied because she didn’t know if she could look him in the eye quite yet after getting busted making out in public again. She loved her brother, but she could do without the disapproving glare he would aim at her over dinner.

  While their mother’s back was turned, Kaitlyn winked at Jade and whispered, “How was your make-out session in the car?”

  Jade shook her head, pretending she couldn’t hear what her sister was saying.

  “Do you really want me to repeat the question louder?” This time Kaitlyn didn’t whisper.

  “What question?” Their mother looked over her shoulder at them.

  “Nothing,” Jade said and threw her sister a dirty look.

  Their mother wiped her hands on a dish towel and focused her attention on Jade. “What’s wrong, sweetheart? You look sad.”

  “I do?”

  Her mother nodded.

  It would seem her emotions were out there for the world to see. Thankfully, Nate was too blind to notice. There was no point denying she’d seen better days, but how much did she tell them?

  “Toby had to put me on annual leave.” Needing to do something, she grabbed a knife and chopping board and cut cucumbers for the salad.

  “What? Why?” Her mother frowned.

  Jade scraped the cucumbers from the board into a bowl and started on the tomatoes. “Because parents were complaining about the article online. The one with my arse in the air and me flipping the bird.”

  “I can see why that could upset some parents, but surely they can understand that these people have been harassing you?” her mother snapped as she took the lamb from the oven and placed it on the counter. The scent of rosemary and garlic filled the kitchen. “I thought Toby had more sense than to be dictated to by parents who don’t know the full facts. I’m disappointed in him. How long are you on leave?”

  “Indefinitely,” Jade answered.

  “Indefinitely! How can he do this to you?” Her mother huffed.

  “It’s not Toby’s fault. He tried really hard to support me. But then…” Jade bit her lip and flicked her gaze at Kaitlyn who sat on the edge of her seat, looking eager to hear the rest.

  “And then what?” they both asked.

  Paying close attention to putting the salad together, she said, “One afternoon after music lessons, a parent walked in on Nate and I kissing.”

  Jade’s mother sucked in a quick breath.

  “It doesn’t look good for a primary school teacher to be involved with two different men at the same time.”

  “But they’re not,” Jade’s mother pointed out.

  “We know that, and Toby knows that, but no one else does. To calm everyone down, he thought it would be best if I lie low for a while.”

  “I still don’t like how he’s holding you to blame for something out of your control.” Her mother sniffed.

  “I talked to the paparazzi. I shouldn’t have.”

  “Those leeches have been hounding you. I don’t know how they live with themselves making money from innocent people.” She sliced into the lamb with a bit too much force.

  “Here, Ma, let me do that.” Kaitlyn took the knife from her hand before she hurt herself.

  “They’ve left the house now, so hopefully they’ve forgotten about me and Nate.”

  “What’s been happening with him anyway?” Kaitlyn asked as she placed the roast on the table. “Besides…you know.” She smirked.

  Jade rolled her eyes.

  They all sat at the table and passed around the plates of food. Finally, her mother said, “Well, are you going to answer your sister?”

  There was no way she would tell her mother about getting busted by Connor making out in the car. It was bad enough her mum knew she’d been skinny-dipping. This would surely give her a heart attack. It surprised Jade that Connor and his big mouth hadn’t run to tell on her.

  “There’s nothing much to say. He helped me out with music lessons.” She shrugged. “That’s all.” And she’d fallen in love.

  “You were making more than just music together,” Kaitlyn said with a sly smile. Jade knew exactly what she was suggesting.

  “After your…” Jade’s mother cleared her throat. “…beach incident, are
the two of you in a relationship? Maybe he’s the one you can finally settle down with.”

  Jade nearly choked on the meat she was in the process of swallowing. Coughing a couple of times, she then took a sip of water. “No, Ma, I’m not settling down with him or anyone. You know why.”

  Her mother slapped her napkin on the table and gave Jade a stern stare. “This curse business used to be a bit of fun. You know—that couple broke up, it must be the Brennan curse. A joke. But you’re taking it too far.”

  “But—”

  “I haven’t finished.” She pointed a finger at Jade. “You’re letting it come between you and your happiness. And you deserve the best life. You look sad, and it’s not all because of your job. There’s more to it, and I’ll put my money on Nate. We thought you’d snap out of that nonsense when you fell in love.”

  “I’m not in love,” she lied.

  Her mother stared her down without saying a word.

  “Okay.” She could never lie to her mother when she gave her that look. “I might have some strong feelings…”

  Again, the look.

  “Fine.” She threw her hands in the air. “I fell in love. But nothing can happen.”

  “Because of the curse.” Her mother huffed.

  “Yes.”

  “Have you told him how you feel?”

  “There’s no point. He’s leaving in the morning. I can’t stop him.” A cold tightness squeezed her chest.

  “If you love him, you need to tell him,” her mother encouraged.

  “He never planned on staying.” She bit her bottom lip to stop it from trembling.

  “He may surprise you and change his mind if he knows how you feel.” Her mother placed a hand on her heart. “Or, as much as it would kill me, you could go with him.”

  Jade smiled. “Don’t worry, I’m not leaving Brimland Point. My job is here—well, that’s if Toby lets me come back. It would never work even if I went with him. The curse would see to that.”

  “Enough with the stupid curse! It isn’t real,” her mother snapped.

  “What about all the broken relationships in our family? They’ve been real. Liz’s fiancé and her younger sister Melissa’s boyfriend, Kaitlyn’s husband Phil, and…dad.”

  Jade’s mother dropped her elbows on the table and placed her head in her hands. “Liz’s fiancé was a jerk, he did her a favor. Melissa was only eighteen when she dated that boy, and he wasn’t much older. They were too young for a relationship. And Phil…” Her eyes flicked to Kaitlyn.

  Kaitlyn blew out a breath then blurted, “Phil was gay.”

  “I knew it!” Jade yelled. “No straight guy quotes from the movie Legally Blonde and performs the bend-and-snap like a pro.”

  “You knew? Why didn’t you say anything? You could have saved me two years of wondering why he rarely wanted sex.” She made a cringing face when her mother sighed. “Sorry, Ma.”

  “I hoped I was wrong,” Jade said.

  “See, he didn’t leave Kaitlyn, he was gay. They shouldn’t have gotten married in the first place,” her mother added.

  “What about dad? He left.” Heaviness sat like a rock on Jade’s chest.

  Her mother slumped in her chair. “I left him.”

  Jade’s mouth fell open, and even Kaitlin look surprised. “That’s not true.”

  “It is.”

  Shaking her head, Jade said, “No, he kept leaving for trips until he never came back home.”

  “That’s because I told him not to. Our marriage was over. I put an end to it.”

  They’d never talked about why their father left. Jade had assumed the family curse was to blame. She didn’t know her mother was the one to walk away. She thought they were in love.

  Her mother continued. “As you know, I fell pregnant with Connor while we were dating. Your father wanted to do the right thing and get married. We probably shouldn’t have—we were too young—but I’ll never regret it, because then I had you two girls. We tried to make our marriage work for you kids, but it was only making us miserable. Your father wasn’t happy about divorcing, but I didn’t want you kids growing up around two people who would probably eventually hate each other.”

  Jade and Kaitlin both slumped back in their chair, looking at their mother with shocked expressions.

  “Wow,” Jade said while her insides shook with the news.

  “I never thought you included your father in your list, but there really isn’t a curse. I would never have made fun about it all these years if I’d known what you believed. We should have explained things better when we separated. It was a hard time, and we thought we were shielding you from the painful details.” Her mother’s eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry I’ve ruined your chances of finding love.”

  “But the diary at Granny’s house…it’s all written in there.” Jade was still unconvinced.

  “There’s a box in Granny’s attic filled with old diaries and stories about many things your ancestor wrote about. I remember reading one about how she’d cursed the men in someone’s family to be born with scales because the fisherman wouldn’t give her free fish. No one is walking around with fish scales. There were many more stories like it, and none of them were true.”

  Jade clasped her trembling hands on her lap. Not true? For most of her life she’d believed it. “Okay, if you left Dad, why did he still leave us?”

  Her mother jolted upright in her seat. Even Kaitlyn’s eyes widened with surprise.

  “Your dad never left you. Why would you say that?” her mother asked.

  “Because that’s what he did. He left his family to travel around the world, hardly ever coming home,” Jade explained.

  Jade’s mother folded her arms on the table. “That’s his job. He didn’t leave because he took off on holidays, he left to provide for us. And as soon as a flight was done, he came back to spend time with you kids. Even when we separated, you were the first thing he came home to.”

  She looked toward Kaitlyn, hoping for support. But her sister only stared back with a sad expression. “Dad always tries when he’s home, and he calls all the time. When we were younger, he was never gone for over two weeks at a time. And when he came home, he’d spend every day with us before he had to fly out again. Now that we’re older, it’s changed. He knows we have our own lives to live, but he’s constantly in touch.”

  A knot tightened in Jade’s chest. Could she have gotten it wrong all these years? Were the breaks in between his flights not as long as she’d imagined? At the time, she was only a kid, could she have exaggerated the time frame? And Kaitlyn was right. Every time he flew into Brimland Point he’d arrange for them to spend time together. He often called, but Jade didn’t always answer. Was she the one who’d put the distance between them?

  “You were young when we separated and such a Daddy’s girl. You were his shadow, following him around everywhere. I should’ve known you’d take it the hardest. But you seemed so strong. I never knew you thought he left me but most importantly you.” Her mother lifted her hands and covered her face. “I’m so sorry, Jade. I tried protecting you from the separation only to have made it worse.”

  Jade slid her chair closer to her mother and pulled her hands away from her face. “It’s not your fault. Divorce is never easy. You did the best you could.”

  Tears shone from her mother’s eyes. “I’m still sorry, sweetheart. If I’d known you’d been carrying this around with you all these years, I would have put things right.”

  “I know.” Jade hugged her.

  “Maybe now you can make things work with Nate?”

  Jade could now hope for love and family in her life, but the only man she could picture in that role was Nate. Her heart dropped. The curse wasn’t real, but Nate was leaving her anyway.

  Chapter 27

  When Jade arrived home, she found Toby sitting on her front steps. Her heart skidded to a stop. Was something wrong? Had Nate left without saying goodbye? She removed her helmet and locked it in the
back compartment of her moped and rushed over to him.

  “I still can’t believe you ride that thing. And why yellow?” He shook his head.

  She had more pressing matters to discuss than her awesome machine. “Why are you here?” Her voice trembled, and she cleared her throat. “Has Nate gone?”

  Toby rose. “No, not yet.”

  Her shoulders slumped with relief. “Is everything okay? I don’t normally find you sitting on my front steps.”

  She walked past him to unlock the door, and he followed her inside.

  “I wanted to see how you’re doing. A lot has happened these last few days.”

  Jade dropped onto the couch, and Toby took a seat next to her. “I’m fine.” Her mouth tried lifting into a smile only for it to wobble.

  Toby removed his glasses, placed them on the coffee table, and rubbed his eyes. “I tried to talk to him. But I’m not sure if what I said sank in.”

  Confused, Jade turned to look at him. “What did you say?” She didn’t need to ask who he was talking about.

  “We were at his grandmother’s house. She knows he’s not doing what he really wants with his life. He’s living his father’s dream, not his own. She knows it doesn’t make him truly happy. I know it doesn’t make him happy, so I asked him to think about letting the band go.”

  She took a deep breath to calm her racing heart. “And what did he say?”

  His expression looked hopeful. “He said he’d think about it.”

  The palpitations in her chest kicked up in speed, and she had to clear her throat before asking, “He really said that?”

  “Yes. And if you forget about that family curse and tell him how you feel, he might stay.”

  “The curse isn’t real.”

  “What? You’ve been telling me for years it is.”

  “My mother told me it was an old tale my ancestor made up along with a bunch of others. When I told her Dad left because of the curse she realized I’d taken it too seriously and explained what really happened.”

  Toby’s mouth fell open for a beat. “You’ve never spoken about that to your mother before?”