Broken Open

by Lauren Dane

  “I co-own two clothing stores with a friend who designs. We’re expanding to include more accessories. Jewelry is hard because we want quality stuff but not so expensive most of our customers won’t splurge that much. Your stuff is fantastic. It’s bold and feminine. I think we could do some business together. I like that you’re local, that’s important to us as a brand. I like that you’re a woman, also important to us.”

  Tuesday sat back, really, truly excited. “Wow. I hadn’t even considered that as what you wanted to talk to me about. I mean I figured you wanted me to make you a piece.”

  “You do custom work, too, which will be a selling point. We do a trunk show in the fall at our Portland store and feature the designers we carry in the stores. You’d be a perfect addition. I mean, look, it’s going to depend on how your stuff moves, but I think it will. What do you say?”

  “I say let’s talk some details because this sounds like a great idea.”

  The details, as it turned out, were pretty awesome. A fair split of the profits. Her jewelry being sold in two successful clothing boutiques was a dream. Now she just had to hope their customers liked the stuff as much as Kelly did.

  “Maddie is doing all right?” Tuesday asked after they’d finished talking business.

  “She’s doing great. She just started back to school Monday. Both girls are out of their minds with excitement that Vaughn is staying with us right now. They love seeing him every day.”

  “You can tell me to mind my own business, but do you love seeing him every day?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  Tuesday laughed, reaching out to pat Kelly’s hand. “Girl. I bet. I’m around if you want to talk about it. You don’t know me very well, but sometimes that’s a good thing.”

  “I’m so confused right now. To be honest, I couldn’t answer you because I don’t know. Well, no, that’s a lie. I like Vaughan. I mean as a person separate from my ex-husband or as the father of my kids. I’ve always liked him, since the start. And it hasn’t served me well in every circumstance. I have a lot to figure out. Right now I’m just trying to figure out what it is I want.”

  “Fair enough. I hear that. Believe me.”

  “So, what’s the story with you and Ezra?” They paid for lunch and headed back to the shop.

  “I’m where you are, I guess. We’re dating. I like him. I like his family. The rest I’m stumbling through right now.” He could be so closed off it felt like a slap, but when he did open up, she realized it wasn’t about her at all, but the iceberg of shame and guilt that he dragged along with him.

  “He’s so imposing and gruff. But with my girls he’s a great big softy. And the animals.”

  “He constantly surprises me. Which surprises me in and of itself. I like to think I’m jaded but he...he’s refreshing. Unexpected. I like it and I’m trying not to think about it much more beyond that because I don’t know.”

  She used to love not knowing. Used to love learning new things and being surprised by the universe. Until the universe decided cancer qualified as a surprise. Since then, she and surprises had been on uneasy terms.

  “Okay. I get it. I’m with you in that boat. I’m just... I loved him so much before. And he walked away and I don’t know if it ever really hurt him. Not the way it hurt me.”

  Tuesday unlocked and flipped the Open sign and they went inside.

  “I’m going to take some pictures of your stuff to send to my business partner. Is that all right?”

  Tuesday nodded at Kelly as she unlocked the case again, pulling out the pieces Kelly pointed to.

  “Vaughan isn’t a bad man.” Kelly began to speak as she arranged the jewelry and took pictures of it. “He just didn’t want a life with me and the girls. It took me a really long time to get over that.”

  Tuesday heard the fear there in the words. The fear that if Kelly let Vaughan back in, if she gave him another chance, he’d hurt her again.

  “I was married once. Eric and I met in college. He lived on my floor in our dorm. He was something special. I pretty much loved him about ten minutes after the first time we had sex.”

  Tuesday leaned against the counter. “Things were fast with us. We clicked. He had dreadlocks back then. We were nineteen.” Tuesday laughed.

  “The next year we all decided to move into a big house together. Natalie and me and our other roommates. And Eric. We all went to school together, some of us worked together, we lived in the same house and we were a family. As we neared graduation, Eric asked me to marry him. Or I guess I should say he and I had this talk about life and the future and we decided to get married. He and I had plans. A path and we were on it together. It was a really great time in my life. I’m telling you this stuff so you can understand what I’m going to say next a little better.”

  Kelly stilled, looking up at Tuesday and abandoning all pretense of taking pictures. She sighed, a hand at her throat and a blush on her cheeks that told Tuesday what she’d suspected.

  “I found a letter. Not a love letter,” Tuesday amended quickly. “It was a discussion about this thing they’d had while studying in Central America. It was like, Hey I get it, I’d never say anything to her, I know you love her and I hope it works out.”

  It used to hurt like fire to think back on that moment. The betrayal. The shame. The horror that they’d gone to that woman’s damned going-away party just a few weeks after that letter had been written. Eric hadn’t wanted to go but Tuesday had pushed.

  “I was planning our wedding, getting ready to move away from my hometown to Seattle, where Eric had a job. Boxing stuff up. I confronted him as he walked in the door. He confessed immediately. He begged my forgiveness. He said he loved me and wanted to be with me. He’d chosen me, deliberately every single day of his life since he returned from that program he’d been in over two years before. I went home, because that’s what you do. Anyway, my mom was awesome. She said love can start a marriage, but a commitment is what kept it together. Did I think Eric would do it again or did I think if I forgave him I could have a really wonderful life with a man who wasn’t perfect but one who loved me? You listen to me, Kelly. Lots of people will say if he or she ever cheated I’d break up with them forever. And maybe you should, given the circumstances. Hell, you did. But it’s how long ago now?”

  “Eight years. I served him with papers eight years ago.”

  “You’re a different person now. Maybe he is, too.” Tuesday shrugged. “Maybe not. But you get to think about it if you want to. Screw what anyone else says about it.”

  “You were glad then? That you gave him another chance?”

  Tuesday nodded. “Yes. I never regretted it.”

  “Thanks for that. I needed to hear it. Can I say something else? Not about men or marriage.”

  “Sure.”

  “I wasn’t sure what I expected when you said you owned and ran a custom framing shop. But, Tuesday, this is so much more than that. This is a gallery. You should call it that.”

  “I guess you weren’t the only one who needed to hear something today. Thank you.”

  Kelly hugged her as they walked to the door. “I’m excited about this. I’ll have our agreement sent to you so you can have your attorney look it over. In the meantime, I’d like to buy that choker. The blue-and-citrine one.”

  “Damn, you have good taste.”

  Tuesday believed in her gut when it came to meeting people. Kelly fit into Tuesday’s life a lot like Natalie had. Pretty much instantly. Which Tuesday believed was exactly what was supposed to happen.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “I REALLY THINK all four of us and the dog in one vehicle up to the mountains is a bad idea. Paddy is a horrible passenger and an even worse driver.”

  Tuesday looked at his reflection as he moved around in the room behind her. They were set to leave for the cabin in the mountains within the next hour and he’d jumped her the moment she’d come through his front door that morning, so she needed to get herself back in orde
r.

  “Honestly, you two.”

  “You smell good.” He ranged around, always busy, but got increasingly closer until he was close enough to kiss her shoulder.

  “Coconut oil. I use it in my hair.”

  She caught a flash of white in his reflection as he dragged his teeth over her skin where her shoulder met her neck.

  “Don’t get started on something you cannot finish to my satisfaction, Ezra.”

  The gaze he flicked to hers was full of amusement. “Your exacting standards, as always, must be met.”

  “I’m glad we can agree on that.” She turned into his arms as he picked her up and put her on the edge of his bathroom counter. “Just tell Paddy and Nat to go up first because we have the dog.”

  “I’ll tell him he’s a fucked-up driver and I don’t want to have to dig my heels through the floorboard for an hour and a half.”

  “Or you could say that so the two of you can get your punching out of the way before the trip.”

  He thought it over and she sighed, smiling. “Go on. Call him or go over there or whatever. I’ll finish loading your truck.”

  He rolled his eyes before dropping a kiss on her forehead. “Yeah, that’ll happen. Never. Anyway, I’ll finish loading the stuff and then we’ll drive over to his place on the way out and tell him then.”

  “I’m perfectly capable of lifting things to put them in the bed of a truck.”

  She followed him out, catching a cat before he could dig those little claws into Tuesday for an assist up to her arms. Tuesday held the squirming cat so they could get eye to eye. “You, rogue, go use those claws in a tree, not my leg.” She kissed the top of a furry head and put him down.

  He wound through her legs and then trotted alongside as she grabbed her duffel bag and headed out the front door.

  Ezra gave her a look, but she tossed her duffel up to him, satisfied with his oof when he caught it.

  “Oh, wait, was that heavy? The thing I just tossed to you?”

  He fit the bag into some slot, Tetris style. “I’m not disputing your ability. Or your strength. I like to do things for you. It pleases me when you let me.”

  He was so good at that stuff.

  “Whatever. It’s not like I suffer watching you bunch and flex.”

  Paddy and Natalie pulled up as Ezra finished strapping down everything in the back of the truck.

  “He’s coming over here to suggest we drive separately. Saves me from having to do it,” Ezra muttered as he jumped down.

  Natalie gave Ezra a hug as she approached with Paddy at her side. “Hey there, sweetheart.”

  Natalie beamed at him and then winked at Tuesday.

  Tuesday tipped her chin. “We’ll see you guys up there.”

  Natalie wasn’t surprised at all. Tuesday knew this because they’d discussed this very thing a few days before. Neither woman had a problem driving up together, but they didn’t have any issue going separately, either. Especially because Paddy and Ezra could be superfun or work each other’s nerves until a scuffle broke out.

  “We’ll pick up groceries if you get the keys.”

  “Deal.”

  Paddy gave Tuesday a peck on the cheek. “Try to keep him in line, okay?” He waved in Ezra’s direction.

  “Your brother keeps his own lines. He’s particular that way.”

  Paddy grinned. Holy shit, was he gorgeous. “You know him pretty well. We’ll see you guys in a few hours.”

  “Okay, Loopy, you need to go pee now so we don’t have to stop in twenty minutes.”

  The dog looked up at her after Paddy and Nat drove off, her tongue hanging out to the side.

  Ezra whistled in a certain way and Loop trotted around the side of the house where there was more grass and did her business.

  “So do all women just obey you or what?”

  He laughed. “If only. You ready?”

  “Let me do my business and grab my purse. The cats are going to be all right?”

  “They’re going to stay with my parents. My mother said she’d wait until we left and she’d come grab the cats. They’ll just follow her up to her place. Mary and Damien are making sure Hoss and Violet are fed so that’s okay, too. She brings all manner of treats down here for those pigs. She doesn’t think any of us know.”

  “Well good. Be right back.” She jogged into the house to take care of her business. Of course his animals would be taken care of. It had been a silly question but she liked all his little creatures so she wanted to be sure.

  She pulled her hair into two puffs that she rather liked. It was low maintenance and she could fluff it out the next day or the day after, but Ezra got a dreamy look on his face when she came back out.

  He opened her door and she hopped up. On his side, he opened up, whistled, and Loopy came running around the house and bounded into the truck, settling across the bench seat behind where Ezra and Tuesday sat.

  “Someone likes to go for a ride.”

  Loopy licked her face and settled her chin on the top of Ezra’s armrest.

  “The hair, I like it.”

  “A gal needs to switch it up from time to time. Keep it fresh, folically speaking.”

  He snorted as he drove away from the ranch.

  “Well, whatever. It makes me want to bend you over something immediately.”

  She laughed, delighted and a little tingly. “Your bar for that is already pretty low.”

  “When it comes to you, beauty, my standards are high and exacting.”

  She had no doubts about that at all.

  He waved, pulling to a stop at his parents’ driveway, where his mother had been standing.

  “Hello there, Tuesday! Don’t you look pretty today? If you and Natalie could make sure Ezra and Paddy don’t wander off a cliff or set anything on fire, I’d be grateful.” She winked and Tuesday snickered.

  “Good afternoon, Sharon.” Tuesday waved. She liked Sharon Hurley. The woman was a boss. Smart and strong. She had the type of protective persona that Tuesday’s mother also had. It had drawn her to Sharon from the start.

  “I’ll do my best, but your sons like to do their own thing.”

  Sharon laughed. “True. Well, keep out of the way of fists if he and Paddy get into a tussle.” She gave her oldest a look. “You have a good time, Ezra. Your dad and I ran this place before you started on—everything’ll be just fine for the next four days. I have your number if something happens that we can’t handle. We won’t break the ranch and we’ll keep your creatures alive and happy. Now go.” She stepped back after patting his hand.

  Loopy barked and Sharon guffawed. “You, dearest granddog, will be missed. Have fun chasing squirrels.”

  Satisfied she’d got some attention from Sharon, Loopy barked one last time and put her chin back on the armrest.

  “Love you, Mom.” He waved and her teasing grin softened into a mother’s smile.

  “I love you, too, Ezra. Enjoy yourselves!”

  “It seems like we end up on long car rides a lot.” He relaxed back into the seat once they’d got on their way.

  She leaned back, liking the view from up that high. “I have what Natalie terms an unnatural love of road trips.”

  “There’s a story here. Tell me.”

  “Nah, nothing superexciting like meeting Laurence Fishburne at a rest stop or something equally fantastic. You come from a big family so I bet you guys took a lot of road trips for family vacations as you grew up. We have family in Kentucky and in San Diego so we would drive to both. Usually Kentucky in the summer and down the coast to San Diego at Thanksgiving or Christmas.”

  In a funny coincidence the Hurleys and Tuesday’s family hailed from the same forty-mile radius in Kentucky.

  Ezra broke in. “We did that trip to Kentucky every two years or so. That’s a long drive. At first we all jammed into an old cargo van but when I was eight or nine they bought this secondhand RV. Not a big one, but way better than that cargo van. Imagine being stuck in an enclosed space
with a ten-year-old Damien.”

  Tuesday shuddered at the thought of a ten-year-old superhyper, always-in-motion Damien trapped in a car for eight hours at a time. “Your mother is my hero. For. Real.”

  Ezra laughed. “She’s a goddamn pain in my ass. But she’s pretty amazing.”

  So odd to be discussing this sort of thing with a woman he wasn’t related to. He didn’t really chat about his private life with the woman he’d been seeing in Portland. He drove to her place, fucked her for a few hours and drove back.

  Seeing. Hmm.

  The woman he fucked when they both had time and he needed something hard and rough. And meaningless otherwise.

  He hadn’t been to Portland since November. There’d really been no one else on his radar in any way since he kissed Tuesday that first time in December.

  “We had one of those campers you hitched to the back of the car. They still have one, only theirs now is way swankier.”

  “Are they all outdoorsy then?”

  “My dad loves to camp. He goes all summer and fall. Now he scoops up the grandkids and he and my mom take them all out. He teaches them how to fish and how to orient themselves if they’re ever lost. I hope they grow up loving road trips, too. My dad, my two oldest brothers and my sister are all sporty. Competitive. When GJ—he’s the oldest of us all, Greg Junior—was in fourth grade someone told him black people couldn’t swim. So as it happened, he ended up one of the top swimmers in the state until he finished college. So there you go. Tell an Easton they can’t do something and it’s irresistible.”

  “I’m astounded someone actually said that to your brother. Jesus.”

  She snorted. “I passed by astounded by the time I was four or so. Some people are dicks, as my friend Jenny says. Anyway. We were a superbusy family as I grew up. All of us had activities of all sorts. We were always going to track meets and baseball games or piano recitals. My parents’ house is full of trophies and ribbons and all that stuff.”

  “Piano recitals, huh?”

  “That was Shawn. He’s really good even today. My parents were big on art. They didn’t care how we did it or what we chose, but we all had to take some sort of lesson. Music, dance, art, whatever.”