All that work, and he wasn’t many credits closer to world-storming. It wasn’t something he wanted to tell Brielle while she was reveling in his company. He squirmed in his seat. A voice at the back of his head echoed Siggy Seagram’s offer for Josh to come work in his research facility for alternative energy. He shushed it and concentrated on Brielle’s words, because she’d turned serious.
“Josh, I missed you. Yes, Germany was a whirlwind experience, but without you, I realized especially this last three weeks, I felt like a part of me was missing. I loved all that, but none of it was a fraction as good as it would have been if I’d experienced it all with you.”
A quick glance showed Brielle’s eyes earnest and real. She meant it. She’d wanted him there. “I missed you, Josh,” she whispered.
“I missed you, too.” Truly he had. She was vibrancy and life. But it didn’t penetrate him with that buzzing he usually felt around her, and he had a suspicion of why. He’d fallen for Morgan.
Brielle inhaled sharply and said, “Whew. Okay, but you were pretty swamped with school and work and stuff, too, and getting into that house, so that must be why you weren’t thinking about me even enough to write me at all for the last few weeks. Man! What a coup that house was, though! Good on ya.” She went on again about Seagram’s house, and Josh finally responded, but he was testing the waters as he did.
“The best thing about the house is the workshop out back.”
“Ooh. A workshop. You always wanted a workshop.” Brielle shook his elbow a little, sharing his excitement. “Did you work on your chemical stuff?”
Wow. She was taking an interest in his passion at last, and with renewed excitement of his own he told her about the patent approval. “I opened it just before you arrived this morning.”
“Well, no wonder you were all glowing and red-cheeked when I got there. I thought maybe you’d just come back from a Christmas morning run or something, although you’re much more likely to spend it in church, ha ha. But I can see why you’d be excited for that approval. Way to go, man. I never knew you had it in you. A patent! That’ll look good on your résumé when you apply for diplomatic jobs.”
“Yeah.” He heard himself say this from down a long tube. “Résumé.”
A wolf was eating him from the inside out. He hadn’t been rosy-cheeked this morning from patent excitement; he’d been with Morgan. He might still have raspberry lip gloss on his neck, for all he knew. When Brielle expressed that Josh had been busy with school and work and stuff, she had no idea what all the and stuff entailed. Like getting married to a super hot blonde who would never say, I never knew you had it in you. Instead she’d say, You’re the smartest guy I’ve ever met.
He cursed at himself under his breath. He was drawing comparisons. He swore he’d never do that to either woman. Was it possible for a man to love two wildly different women at the same time and not be a colossal jerk?
“So,” Brielle was going on. “I’ve got a lot of family commitments this evening, and a couple of appointments tomorrow, and basically I’m jammed this whole week, which is why I had to hunt you down this Christmas morning, but since you were all alone and probably missing me, I’m sure you don’t mind, right?” She patted his arm. He didn’t respond. “Did you know Claire is getting married? She asked me to be her maid of honor, which is partly why I came back for the holiday. Her wedding is this coming weekend, and preparing for that will keep me totally tied up, but would you be my date for the wedding? It’s on New Year’s Eve.”
New Year’s Eve. That rang a bell. His date with Morgan. She’d wear the rubies.
Brielle went on, almost nervously, which was really not her style. A sudden vulnerability surfaced that Josh hadn’t expected. “We can go to the wedding for a while, and then there’s a rocking party I thought we could attend, and then afterward, maybe we could spend some time, just the two of us. We haven’t been together, just the two of us, for a long time, Josh.” Her hand pressed his shoulder, and then she reached up and ran her fingers across his neck. Again he prayed the lip gloss wasn’t there in a slick.
The two of them. Together again. He had waited so long for her to take him seriously, to hear her express clearly that she wanted him, to be with him, that she was proud of him for his research and accomplishments. It was the music he’d been waiting to hear for a long time.
That exploded crossroads from earlier reappeared in front of him again. Down one road lay Brielle and the intensity of her rip-roaring life. Down the other lay quitting school, settling for a job without a degree, working for Seagram who was generous to a fault but who also might turn his favor away from Josh at any minute, leaving him without a chance of getting another job, but also with Morgan, the gorgeous blonde who wanted a steady home life and taught herself to cook and play the piano. She was incredible. That road looked really enticing, the steak dinner road.
But Brielle was no peanut butter sack lunch. Being around her again reminded him that she had substance and grit and verve that energized him. He knew he was being an idiot, letting his soul tear in two like this when he’d been a hundred percent sure just an hour earlier. Self-loathing racked him for his sudden indecision.
But suddenly he was being presented with everything he thought he’d wanted.
Maybe Morgan’s close proximity every day and every night was the reason she’d ended up infiltrating his brain—and nearly his bed, if Brielle hadn’t shown up right when she did. Close call, maybe? Sure, Morgan was sweeter than honey. He loved honey, even when presented with that drug Brielle’s grandiose descriptions of a larger life injected into his veins. The drug was a rush. He’d been an addict to it for years.
But now he’d gotten clean, free of it for months, and he’d tasted the sweetness of a different kind of life, a life where he was the smartest man a good woman knew.
So why did the drug even tempt him now?
It wasn’t fair to Brielle to keep her in the dark, or to Morgan to not tell Brielle the whole truth, whatever that may entail. Anguish twisted at his insides again. He would tell her about Morgan, about his feelings and how they’d changed—he had to. He just didn’t know how.
Josh opened his mouth to say something, hoping divine inspiration would fill its emptiness. But before he could speak, a loud roar came up behind them, and Josh glanced in the rear view long enough to see a dark green flash before it peeled around them, going at least eighty-five miles an hour in this forty zone. The Doppler effect as the sports car tore past growled in their ears, and then all they saw was tail lights, and Josh jolted. Only one De Tomaso Mangusa in dark green existed around here.
“What was that?” Brielle half-laughed. “It was almost like an Autobahn moment. I remember this one time, in Germany when we were driving and as you know the Autobahn has no speed limit, and…”
That? That was his wife.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“I’m not at Mom’s.” Tory’s voice through Morgan’s phone sounded like she was eating. “And wow, are you playing one of those pole position video games? Or are you somewhere watching NASCAR? I didn’t realize they did stock car racing on Christmas day.” She crunched some more. “I’m with Rosencrantz. Luckily Guildenstern croaked, so Rozer and I could finally hit it off. I’m meeting his family, you know.”
“That’s great.” Morgan knew her response’s enthusiasm probably rang hollow as she downshifted on a hill, but even through her supreme distress, she still recoiled at the shock of what Tory’d said. Meeting his family? That had happened fast. Well, not as fast as Josh and Morgan’s, Nice to meet you now let’s go get married debacle, but still. “He’s the third guy you were making costumes for.”
“Bingo. But he’s only a part-time actor. He’s not even equity—unless you count that he deals in equities down at Manwaring and Tyne. He’s a banker by day who likes Shakespeare, so he tried out for the part and got it. First play of his life. I showed him the theater ropes.” Laughter splattered in the background.
“You’re at a big family gathering?”
“This guy has eleven brothers. Can you believe that? And they all have kids. It’s one of those mega-families. I love it. And the little kids keep having me paint their faces with snowflakes and Santas and stuff. I bet their moms want to kill me.”
“I bet they love you for letting them have a break.” The road opened up again, and she really hit the gas. The speedometer was all in metrics, and she didn’t have the focus to do even that simple conversion to miles per hour.
“You didn’t text me back.” The sound of a shutting door came, and then the background noise hushed. “I was worried. Everything okay?”
Uh, no. It was definitely not. Morgan’s throat tightened and she let off the gas a little since she couldn’t see through her tears.
“I’m glad you like this Rozen dude. Does he have a non-stage name?” Morgan strained to keep her voice even and the vibrato of crying steady.
“Richard Young, Junior.”
“Ooh, and if you had a son, he could be Richard the Third.”
“I already thought of that. But Rich and I are afraid of jinxing the kid into having severe back problems.”
Morgan remembered that Richard III was allegedly a hunchback. “You’re already talking about what to name kids, huh? Sounds kind of serious.”
“It is kind of serious. I never thought I’d fall this fast for someone, especially someone with a solid career and a 401K.” Tory sounded happy, and Morgan wanted to share in it, but her own anguish put up a wall. “Hey,” Tory said, “you’re not driving somewhere, are you? You guys should come up and meet this family. The more the merrier. They couldn’t have more food here if this were a Costco, so there’s definitely enough for both you and Josh. I bet he and Rich would like each other.”
“I bet they would, but—” Her voice broke here, and a catch in her throat revealed that she’d been sobbing just before the call.
“Oh, hey, sis. You don’t sound okay. Are you all right?”
“I almost told him. I almost did.”
“What happened?” The noise behind Tory went quiet. She must have left the loud party to listen better. Concern filled her voice.
“His real girlfriend came back just as I was about to throw all caution to the wind.”
“What? Where did she come from? Did he know she was going to show up?”
“I don’t think so. He sounded really surprised.”
“What? So you were standing there and saw it all happen? What did she say when she saw you? Because there’s no way in the universe she’s hotter than you. I bet all her claws came out.”
Morgan shook her head and told Tory about being upstairs. She didn’t tell her about the present she threw at the back of the closet. “He’s been writing her letters all this time.”
“Uh, okay. That’s not all that strange, is it? Why would you even know that?”
“I might have accidentally read one.”
“And?”
“And there was a whole stack of them.”
“You read a whole stack of love letters from the man you love to another woman? That’s like drinking arsenic. Stupid move, Morg.”
“Duh, no. I just saw the top one. I didn’t even necessarily read it. Scanned. There’s a difference.”
“Whatever. Okay. So why were they sitting there? He didn’t send them?”
Morgan hadn’t asked herself that question. But it was beside the point. “I don’t know.”
“So what happened when she showed up? Was he ecstatic? Did they run off together?”
“Left me standing there like I never existed. He took off with her in his car after about two minutes.”
“Probably so they could have a private conversation. You’d do the same thing. Maybe he’s dumping her right now. That’s a merciful thing to do—dump her privately. It shows character.”
“That girl doesn’t seem like the type he’d dump.” Her eyes cleared a little and she went back up to speed when picturing this Brielle person together with Josh. It wasn’t right. How could they be right when Josh and Morgan were so right?
“Why? He’d be certifiably insane to want whatever it is she’s offering when he’s got you in the palm of his hand—no, make that with his ring on your hand.”
“He said she’s smart, organized, has all her ducks in a row.”
“So do you.”
She did? Morgan never thought of herself as that type. She skirted around a stray deer in the road, barely tapping the brakes before hitting the gas again.
“Don’t sound so stunned. You’re totally organized and have all your ducks in a row. You attack life like a maniac, doing whatever it takes to get your degree. You’ve worked a horrible job to put yourself through one of the most expensive schools in the country, and then you’re graduating and will no doubt get a job at one of the best accounting firms out there. Clarendon’s job placement is basically a hundred percent, or it would be exactly a hundred percent except it had to tick down once for the guy who got in the waterskiing accident a day after graduation and couldn’t work for a year. But otherwise, it’s pretty much guaranteed you’ve got a blindingly bright future. Did this girlfriend go to Clarendon?”
“I don’t think so. I think she was at State of Oregon Collegiate.” Hadn’t Josh told her that?
“Uh, see?”
“I don’t care about that. All it means is I did better on a test for high school students and had a good day.”
“Whatever. It means you are organized, smart, and have all your ducks in a row. Probably more than she does. I mean, wasn’t she supposed to be gone for a year? What’s she doing back? Did she get fired? Was it a real job or just one of those unpaid internships like I keep getting offered?”
“Tory, you know you’re worthy of your hire. Besides, I don’t want to start judging Brielle.” Comparisons just injected pride into the equation, and that wouldn’t fix anything. “If Josh was or is in love with her, I’m sure she’s got to be a top notch person.”
“Whatever. Men fall for the wrong woman all the time before they find the right one, which you most definitely are. Does his family like her?”
No. They didn’t. Especially not Bronco, but that was definitely not a great gauge of a person’s worth, or of Brielle’s rightness for Josh.
“Because, after today with Rich’s family, I can see for the first time something I never saw before.”
“What’s that?” Morgan didn’t necessarily want to hear about perfect, fresh, uncomplicated love right now, especially when her own hopes were crumbling around her like the walls of Jericho at Brielle’s single trumpet. “That family matters?”
“It’s more than that. When a person gets married, it sets off a reaction.”
Yeah, a chain reaction of never-ending complications and heartaches.
“It has a beginning, but if the elements really combine, then it’s possible that what they’ve done by making that choice is create something that doesn’t have an end. It’s like that old saying. Anyone can count the seeds in a single apple, but only God can count the apples in a single seed.”
Morgan did not need this pressure. She was already a pot on the stove with a lid about to explode with steam. “Don’t lecture me on the sanctity of marriage, Tory. This day has been trauma, through and through, and I can’t even imagine how it could get worse.” She pressed the gas to the floor. Trees blurred past. She skidded around a slow car, a Land Rover like Josh’s, and then sped until her tachometer was in the red before she upshifted. “You’re the one who got me into this.”
“I didn’t sign your marriage certificate, Morgan.”
“You talked me into moving in with him, after being the one who signed us up for the Seagram Scholarship.”
“You never would have agreed to it if some part of you didn’t know it was the right thing for you to do. And don’t go telling me you are doing all this for me, anyway. I know you said you had to go to work at VeggieVictims so I could start school, and
that you had to finish this year, do or die, so that I could go, but I told you a hundred times I never wanted to go. I’m perfectly content with doing hair and working at the theater. I’m happy. I like my life. I get to help people like Mrs. Reeves, giving her perms in my free time. If I’d been in school, I never would have met Rich, and he is quickly becoming the best part of my life. That’s what I’ve been pushing you to realize—that Josh Hyatt is the best part of your life. Wake up and look around you. See the truth before you miss out on the biggest happiness ever handed to you on a silver platter. You kept your feelings so secret, and you’re so shy and modest there’s no way he could have guessed you’re panting after him. You moved so slowly getting him to see how much you’re in love with him, that now, if you’re not careful, he’s going to think you don’t even care.” Tory’s voice dripped with exasperation, and she huffed. “Now, quit watching Formula One on TV and go get the man you love.”
Tory never wanted to go to college? Morgan slowed a little. “You never wanted me to support you while you were in school?”
“No. And I don’t even know why you had that idea. I’m a hairdresser. A dang good one. Books aren’t my thing. Give up on that fantasy right now.”
“He’s already chosen. He picked Brielle.” She slowed a little more. Trees stopped blurring.
“You don’t know that.”
“Oh, yes I—” The words clipped off in Morgan’s throat when lights came flashing in her rear view mirror red and blue. A siren became audible as she pressed the brake. Wow, how long had that guy been following her? “Sorry, Tory. I have to, uh. I might be going to jail.”
Legally in Love Boxed Set 1 Page 29