“Want to impress your new girlfriend? Don’t want to look like a wimp on the job, not with the bruises I’d leave on you.”
“Right.” Nick grinned. “I always kicked your ass.”
Luke clapped him on the shoulder. “That’s not how I remember it.” He pointed toward the now empty punching bag. “That’s the only one open for now. After work is one of our busiest times, you know that. Hit that for a little while, see if you can work your sexual frustration off since you won’t call Ivy. God, you’ve got it bad.”
Nick clenched his jaw against the string of curse words he wanted to sling at his brother. He claimed the punching bag, starting off with short but strong jabs to burn off the edge of the frustration. He didn’t have it bad. He didn’t even have it, whatever it was, a little. Victoria had a hot body, but she was a mother recently out of a divorce. He didn’t want to step into that mess. She wasn’t going to just roll around in bed to satisfy an itch and then wave him out the door. She’d want to make him breakfast, talk about his day, ask him to fix stuff around the house. Things a man would do for his woman.
The jabs got sharper, the bag rocking. The thought made his chest tight. She had pre-teen daughters. He didn’t know what to do with them. Hadn’t spent time around any, other than some of the kids at the gym, and he just taught them stuff he already knew. He sure as hell didn’t know how to raise one.
And why the hell was he thinking about raising kids? The woman confused him, shredded his mind. All at once he wanted the job over so he could forget her, but at the same time he didn’t want it to end.
Damn that woman for messing with his mind.
* * *
Victoria tapped her fingers on the steering wheel while she waited in the car line at the girls’ school. For once she’d finished early enough to pick them up. She eyed the students rushing out of the middle school, glee on their faces. She wondered if any of them knew how easy they had it at the moment, how confusing adult life could be. Of course not, she knew that. When she was in high school, all she thought about was moving out of her parents’ house. If someone had told her that she’d be divorced with twin daughters, she would’ve laughed in their faces. Back then she’d thought divorce was for people who didn’t want to make it work, who were lazy.
What made it worse was that her parents had a near perfect marriage. They were each other’s soul mates. Never once had she heard her parents have anything other than a heated discussion, and after it seemed to solidify them even more. They were a solid unit, even today, best friends and lovers.
Someone tapped on the passenger window, and Victoria jumped. She saw Lucia and Helena standing outside the car door.
“Unlock the car door, Mom.” Lucia rolled her eyes. “Were you daydreaming again?”
“Sorry. Thinking about a house I have to stage.” Victoria hit the unlock button, feeling ridiculous. What had spurred that train of thought anyway?
Lucia slid into the front seat, beaming. “Mom, Jack Browning asked me out today. He wants to take me to the movies Friday night. You have to let me go!”
Victoria hands slipped from the wheel and she turned sharply toward Lucia. “A date? No, I don’t think so. You’re only in the sixth grade.” She glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Helena staring out the window. Helena’s arms were folded across her chest, and she frowned. “Helena, baby, will you put your seatbelt on?”
Helena made a sour face but complied.
“Mom.” Lucia turned in her seat as Victoria drove out of the car line and toward home. “I really want to go. It won’t be by myself; a group of friends are going.”
“Hmm.” Victoria wished she had a partner she could discuss this moment with, someone who could help her figure out how to let Lucia down easily, who could take some of the brunt of the girl’s anger at being told no. “Lucia, you’re way too young to be going out with a boy, even if it’s with friends. I’d need to be there.”
“No way.” Lucia’s eyes widened. “This is so unfair. No one wants their mom there.”
“It’s the only way you’re going, honey.” Lucia’s anger practically swallowed any remnant of a good mood she may have had.
When they went into the house, both girls dumped their bags and ran to their room. Victoria watched them run up the stairs, heart aching.
Her attraction to Nick only reaffirmed her intentions. She wanted to focus on her girls, not her sex life. The girls were more important than that. She trailed her way upstairs, wanting to talk to the twins, get them to calm down so they could spend the rest of the afternoon happy and together. As she approached their room, she heard their voices escalating.
“Stop it! You don’t care what they say about me!” Helena screamed at her sister.
Victoria stopped outside the door. She didn’t want to eavesdrop, but how else would she find out what was going on with them?
“I do care, Helena. I take up for you, just like Mom asked me to. You know I do.”
“No, you don’t!” Helena screeched. “The only one who cares about me in this family is Dad!”
Victoria’s chest clenched. Did her daughter think that Victoria pushed Roger away on purpose? You’re an adult, and their mother, get in there.
She pushed the door open slowly. Both girls’ mouths snapped shut, their eyes widened, and tears ran down Helena’s face.
“Hey, girls.” Victoria stepped into the room. “What’s going on?”
Neither spoke. Lucia’s eyes welled up, but she bit her lip.
“Helena, can you tell me what’s going on?” Victoria sank onto the edge of Lucia’s bed. Her room, full of pink and white in a Paris theme, suited her perfectly.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Helena mumbled and stared down at her favorite, almost worn-out, sneakers.
“You couldn’t wait to yell at me,” Lucia threw out. She crossed to her desk and took a seat in the chair.
Helena’s head snapped up. Before they started a new argument, Victoria held up her hand.
“Stop.” Victoria looked from one twin to the other. “We need to have a serious talk, one I should’ve had long before now. I just thought you were adjusting okay enough to skip it, and that’s my fault. Sit down and listen. When I’m done talking, I want each of you to share how you feel.”
“God, Mom. When did you become a therapist?”
The venom in Helena’s voice hit Victoria like a slap on the face. Where had all this hatred come from? “Helena.”
Helena stayed silent, keeping her gaze fixed on her shoes. The defiance in her stance shook Victoria. When had her little girl become this angry pre-teen?
“Your dad left. I know that’s a big thing.” Victoria watched them both while she spoke. Lucia picked at the nail polish on her fingernails, ruining the manicure her aunt had done. “I understand that it’s a lot to deal with, and we all have to adjust. I didn’t make him leave, and he didn’t want to stay.”
Both girls shifted. Lucia’s breathing was more ragged, but she still held back her tears. Helena looked pissed at the world. Victoria hoped to God this was the right thing to do.
“He wanted to explore things in the city, people and job opportunities that he couldn’t get here. I wasn’t going to uproot you from the only place you’d ever known, the business I’d built, and we couldn’t compromise.” She wasn’t going to tell them that Roger had basically said they’d held him back in life. “Helena, I heard what you said to Lucia. Please, tell me what’s going on.”
“Nothing.” Helena shrugged.
Deciding she’d get nothing from Helena, Victoria turned to Lucia and raised a brow.
Lucia glanced at her sister and sighed. “Kids are teasing her about being in the math club and because she doesn’t want to do cheerleading. I told them to stop.”
“Are they being really mean?” Hearing all the news stories about kids being bu
llied and committing suicide terrified her. She didn’t want the same thing to happen to Helena.
“No, Mom, it’s cool.” Lucia stood from the chair and moved to the bed. “They’ll stop.”
“I want to know why you think the only person who cares about you is your dad, Helena. You know your aunts, grandparents, sister, and I all care about you. We would do anything for you. Anytime you need to talk, or just hang out, you know we’re here for you.”
Helena ignored her, focusing on a strand of hair she kept playing with.
“Sweetie?”
“Sure, whatever.”
The venom had disappeared from Helena’s voice, but she still sounded numb. It worried Victoria. She’d have to call her sisters and mom and figure this out. Her mom had three teenage girls at the same time, and while her parents never divorced, maybe her mom had some advice for this type of situation. Maybe she could contact the school counselor about the bullying and the divorce.
“Want to go watch TV?” Victoria stood and gestured to the door. “I think there’s some good episodes of Hell’s Kitchen. Maybe some Storage Wars.” Reality TV was their guilty obsession.
Lucia nodded reluctantly, and when Helena said nothing, she pulled her to the door. “Come on, I know you want to hear Gordon Ramsey yell at people.”
Helena shrugged and left the room. Lucia turned to Victoria. “I’ll make the kids stop, Mom.”
“I know, baby.” She pulled Lucia into a hug. “Just don’t forget to take care of yourself. You’re holding this stuff in because Helena is so upset, but you don’t need to. Any time you need to talk, I’m here.”
Lucia’s breath shuddered, but she smiled. “I know. I’m just not ready to talk about it now.”
“Okay, but don’t hold it in forever,” Victoria said. “You go make the popcorn, and we’ll all try to cheer up.”
Chapter Seven
VICTORIA DROPPED BY the office a few days later, wanting to check on the progress Nick and his crew had made. When she pulled up, she saw her dad’s truck parked beside one of the crew member’s cars.
“Hey, Dad,” Victoria called out when she stepped inside. The whirring of drills and thuds of hammering drowned out her voice, so she called his name louder. Her gaze swept over the place. The flooring was gone, along with the ugly receptionist counter she’d helped demolish.
“Hey, darling.” Her dad straightened from where he removed the old, stained baseboards and walked over to envelop her in a hug. He smelled of sawdust and old paint.
“I thought you were retired.” Victoria smiled at him, and his eyes twinkled down at her.
“I was driving your mom crazy. And I couldn’t help myself. I want to have a hand in helping you with your dream.”
“Dad.” Victoria hugged him again. “You helped me buy the place. That’s more than I could ask for.”
“Yeah, well, I want to have a physical hand in it, too.”
Nick walked over, and Victoria’s pulse sped up. He wore jeans with holes in them, a snug t-shirt, and three days’ worth of stubble. When his gaze met hers, the thrill went straight to her core.
“Checking on our progress already?” Nick’s crooked smile did nothing to help her pulse slow down. He removed his thick gray gloves and stuck them into his back pocket.
“I had to make sure you were doing it right,” Victoria teased. “But I see my dad is here, so I know you won’t screw it up.” She sensed her dad watching them, but couldn’t help smiling back at Nick.
“We’ve managed to get most of it gutted, which is the easy part. We need to redo some of the sheetrock, replace the baseboards, and remove all the flooring.” Nick looked at her dad. “Wes has been crucial with getting those baseboards. Superman crucial.”
Wes laughed. “It’s all he would let me do so far. I’ve only been retired for six months, not years. I still know how to wield the equipment.”
Nick chuckled. “I know, but your wife would kill me if anything happened to you.”
Victoria watched the easy camaraderie between the two. This was her father’s kingdom, the place he knew like second nature. That Nick appreciated his help and didn’t act like her dad was trying to take over showed her how much he respected him. Roger had always dismissed her dad’s questions and advice and would charm her sisters or her mom instead. Jerk.
“Nothing’s going to happen.” Wes waved a dismissive hand. “I can take care of myself.”
“I know you can.” Nick clapped him on the back.
Wes pointed a finger in the air suddenly. “Victoria, I know you wanted to go to the antique shops and flea market tomorrow, but my truck is going in for a problem with the water pump. I won’t be able to haul all your finds back here.”
“Oh, well, that’s okay. We can go next week.” Her mind whirred with the possibilities of shifting her schedule. She had a lot of high-profile consultations next week and a few clients that hated being rescheduled.
“I’m sure Nick wouldn’t mind taking you out there.” Wes shot Nick a look.
Victoria’s head snapped up and felt red stain her cheeks. Why would her dad suggest that? Why was he so determined to get them together? Now he forced Nick to either accept or make it extremely awkward between all of them.
Nick rubbed the back of his neck. Before Victoria could open her mouth to tell him that she’d find someone else, he surprised her. “I’m sure the guys can handle the work here tomorrow.”
“You don’t have to do that.” The thought of being in his truck, next to him, for a full day sent tingles up and down her spine. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.
“I don’t mind. It’ll be nice to get away for a day.” He arched a brow and sent her stomach spinning again.
“Thanks, Nick. I appreciate it.”
“What time do you want to leave?”
How about now? “Um, how about eight a.m.? I’d like to get an early start.”
“No problem. I’ll meet you here, and we’ll head out.” Nick nodded toward Wes, then made excuses to head to the back.
Victoria glared at her dad. “What the heck, Dad? You put him on the spot. I could’ve rescheduled.”
“Nonsense. It’ll be good for you two.” He patted her on the back. “Your mother wants you and the girls over for dinner. Don’t be late!”
She hated it when he steamrolled her, effectively cutting off her protests. How did he get everyone to do just what he wanted? Then again, maybe it was just what she needed.
* * *
Victoria walked into her parents’ kitchen to see her mom boiling pasta. “Hey, Mom. Need any help?”
Halle waved from where she sat on a stool at the bar, chopping vegetables for the salad. “Sure, sweetie. Boil some tea for us. Extra sweet, the way your dad likes.” Cecilia’s dyed blonde hair, artfully styled in a French twist, had a few hairs that errantly escaped. Her dark blue eyes matched Addie’s, and she shared Addie’s fiery nature, although she kept hers wrapped up. She ran her hands down the red and white polka dot apron the girls had made her a few years ago and reached to Victoria for a hug. “Where are the girls?”
“They spotted Addie in the living room on the Wii. We won’t see them until dinner’s ready.”
Cecilia’s lips quirked. “I don’t understand their need for that stuff. Those girls should be in here learning how to cook.”
Halle laughed. “Mom, really? Have you seen Addie cook?”
“Honestly.” Cecilia huffed and returned to stirring the pasta and starting on her sauce. She always cooked from scratch.
Victoria stood next to the stove, keeping watch on the teapot. “So, how’s work going, Halle?”
“Good. Busy all the time. Trevor’s been really busy lately, too, not getting home until the sun comes up, if then. I swear my blood pressure rises the moment I walk into that place.”
Cecilia shot Vic
toria a look, then said, “That’s not good, darling. I think you should take some time for yourself. Stop bending over backward for that job. Try something new. Like yoga, or a gym. Maybe a knitting class.”
Halle gave her mom a perplexed look. “You want me to knit? I can barely sew a button.”
“Okay, maybe knitting is a bad choice,” Cecilia told her. “But you shouldn’t let your life revolve around work.”
Or your husband, Victoria thought. Especially when his life definitely didn’t revolve around Halle. He hardly came to family dinners, always stating some type of work emergency. He’d never been with them on one of the family vacations and seemed to like to do his own thing.
“Honey, I’m home.” Her dad strode into the kitchen, carrying a bouquet of sunflowers. He kissed Cecilia and waved to his daughters.
“Oh, they’re beautiful, Wes. Put them in a vase with water and set them on the dining room table.”
“Sure thing.” He kissed her again.
Victoria melted at the look of love in her parents’ eyes. It made them glow with happiness. It struck her in that moment. She wanted that, so badly, and Roger would never have given it to her. When she glanced at Halle, she saw the same longing on her face, and it pierced her heart. Her sister deserved so much more than Trevor.
She glanced down and cursed when she saw the pot of tea boiling over. She cleaned up the mess and carried the tea into the formal dining room. The basket of cell phones sat on the side table. Cecilia forbade any form of technology at dinner, preferring to have actual conversations.
Helena remained quiet, talking to her grandfather only when he pestered her. Addie relentlessly tried to make her niece laugh. Lucia kept up easy conversation with Halle and Cecilia about boys and school.
By the time dinner was over, the girls were back in the living room with Addie, boxing it out on the Wii. Victoria figured now was the time to broach the subject about Helena to her mom and Halle.
“Mom, I wasn’t sure if you noticed Helena’s behavior lately. I don’t know what to do.” Victoria brought the plates to the kitchen and scraped off the leftovers into the garbage can. “She’s been so hostile lately, and when she’s not argumentative, she’s numb. Uncaring on the outside, but I know that’s not how she really feels. I can’t tell if it’s from the divorce, or the kids at school, or maybe both.”
Crossing the Line Page 4