by Toni Aleo
Lucas and Molly shared a long, sad look before looking back down at their food. There wasn’t a day that passed where Lucas didn’t think of James Brooks. He was the man that taught Lucas to play hockey, he picked Lucas’ number out, he did everything in his power to give Lucas everything to succeed in the hockey world. When Lucas’ condition came into play, James did everything to get the best help for him, even if it didn’t help or broke his parent’s bank. James didn’t care, he just wanted Lucas to feel normal.
James died the day before Lucas’ 18th birthday. Lucas would never forget the feeling when he saw his father fall at the end of their driveway, or how he screamed when James wouldn’t wake up. Lucas held his father’s body until his mother found them and pulled Lucas away.
Lucas looked down at his finger, seeing the fingers that at the time had been bloody and bruised from where he tried to get to his father while his mother held him back. Lucas was in such a state of hysteria that he had dug his nails into the cement, popping off two of his nails as he tried to get back to his father.
James was only 42 when he had the massive heart attack, and instead of getting the help he needed, Lucas turned to alcohol. Lots of it. He was drunk through the first year of college and pretty much through his first couple years of the NHL. He sobered up some for the two years he was with Fallon, but that was only when he was with her. When he was on the road, he was drunk because he couldn’t handle being alone. Even with Levi there, Lucas still felt alone.
“You’re father once got a fortune cookie that said ‘Love is like war, easy to start and hard to stop’. He looked at me, and laughed before saying, ‘Isn’t that the damn truth?’” Molly laughed before looking up at Lucas, “She’ll take you back honey, once she sees that you’ve changed. She will.”
Lucas smiled over at his mom, his rock. Lucas loved the little stories his mom would share about his father, they would always fill him with the love he missed from his father being alive. Most of all he loved Molly like a son should and would do anything for her. He believed anything she said, because he knew she loved him so much, but for some reason he was pretty sure it was gonna take more than Fallon finding out that he had changed for her to take him back.
“We’ll see,” he said with a grin. “I’m going to head out early tomorrow, I need to get back.”
“Alright, I just love that you’re only an hour plane ride away,” she gushed, reaching over the table to cup his face.
“Me too Mom, me too.”
“Can you do me one favor though?”
Lucas smiled. “Sure Mom, anything.”
“Shave your face honey; you look like a homeless person!”
Lucas laughed. “Mom, it’s almost playoffs season.”
“I don’t care. You know you better shave it, or Fallon might not take you back,” she warned with a grin.
A bashful smile went across Lucas’ face. He knew for a fact that Fallon liked his beard.
A lot.
Especially the feel of it between her thighs.
Chapter 8
Lucas should have known when he walked into Rocky Top Wine’s main office that he was going to have a problem. Fallon’s poor ‘boyfriend’ almost jumped out of his skin at the sight of Lucas before rushing to shut Fallon’s door. Lucas found that odd because when he had called earlier, Rob had said Fallon was out on lunch and wouldn’t be back until two, and it was only one.
Lucas stood in front of Rob’s desk that was surrounded by the flowers he had bought Fallon, begging Rob to do him a favor. As he looked around the office he wanted to laugh out loud. If she didn’t want the gifts, why were they still on display?
Because she wanted them.
“Okay now Rob, how much do I need to pay you to get you to do this for me?” Lucas asked, pulling his wallet out. Rob’s eyes became the size of quarters as he looked up at Lucas from his desk.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Brooks, but I cannot let you in Ms. Parker’s office. She’ll flip on me!”
“Fine, I’ll give you the post-it notes I have for her and you put them all over her office,” Lucas said, pulling the pack of post it notes out of his pocket. “I’ll give you a hundred bucks.”
“Are you kidding me?!” Rob exclaimed, looking as if his big eyes would fly out of his head.
“Okay, 200,” Lucas said, pulling another hundred out of his wallet.
“Oh my God, she’ll kill me and probably fire me! She specifically told me not to let you anywhere near her office!”
Why was that?
“Okay, 500 bucks and if she fires you, I promise I’ll hire you. I’ll pay you double too, but that’s only if she fires you,” Lucas added because he swore he saw dollar signs in Rob’s eyes.
“Fine, but I need that in writing!”
“Sounds good to me. Type it up and I’ll sign it.”
After an hour of negotiation, because for some reason Rob really thought Fallon would fire him, and explaining what Lucas wanted Rob to do, Lucas finally walked to his truck with a satisfied grin on his face.
If his plan didn’t work, he didn’t know what would.
****************************************************
“Elli, he had no teeth,” Fallon said as she looked at the picture of the man that had volunteered for the Assassin/Rocky Top Wine campaign. Martin Sidorov was a nice-looking man, but he didn’t have any teeth! And he said he refused to wear his dentures!
The horror!
“Sidorov is the only guy who volunteered that you would even consider taking, Fal. What am I supposed to do? Make a guy do it? I can’t do that,” Elli said, causing Fallon to look up.
“Consider taking? There was someone else?”
Elli looked down at her finger, picking at the nail. “Um, yeah.”
“Who?”
Fallon knew it was Lucas before his name even left Elli’s lips. “Lucas Brooks.”
“No fucking way,” Fallon said without thinking.
“Jeez Fallon, cuss much?”
Fallon giggled as her face turned deep red. “You’re just as bad.”
Elli shrugged her shoulders. “True, so anyways, since you brought up Lucas…”
“I didn’t bring him up,” Fallon countered but Elli went on.
“Aiden, Lucas…”
“Yeah,” Fallon nodded, waiting for Elli to look up so she could pin her with a glare.
“He doesn’t know, I take it.”
“You take right.”
Elli finally looked up and Fallon could see the worry in her eyes. “Oh Fallon, why? You’ve struggled to give that baby everything he wants, when Lucas could have been helping. Along with the fact that he deserves to know about his son.”
Fallon looked away. “I didn’t come to be lectured Elli. I know what I’ve done wrong. I don’t need you to tell me.”
“Fallon, come on. I love you and Aiden, you know that. I’m not lecturing you, I’m worried about you.”
“I’m fine, everything will be fine.”
“I don’t think so,” Elli warned.
“It will be,” Fallon promised, even though she really couldn’t do that. She didn’t know how Lucas was gonna take finding out about his son, and she really didn’t need to worry about it as long as she stayed away from him and everyone kept their month’s shut.
Simple, really.
“Why don’t you want to tell him? He’s a good guy, Shelli adores him.”
“She’s four months Elli, come on. She likes the sparkly ball I bought her a couple weeks ago, too.”
“Hey now, Shelli is smart for her age.”
Fallon rolled her eyes. “I know that Elli, I’m just scared that he will hurt Aiden the way he hurt me. Of course, he will love him — hello it’s his kid — but what happens when he gets married and has another. He’ll totally forget about Aiden and I’m not doing it.”
“I doubt that, you’re overreacting.”
“I’m being practical.”
“You’re being dramatic. Give him a
chance, at least tell him.”
Fallon shook her head. “I am not!”
“Yes, you are, and you are going to regret your decision when Aiden gets older and really needs his dad. Right now he’s good but about when he needs daddy advice, or wants to play a real sport.”
Fallon rolled her eyes. “Oh Lord, there are other sports other than hockey, Elli.”
“No there isn’t. Everything else is a sissy sport, baseball being the biggest.”
“Oh hush, Aiden likes it.”
“Because he doesn’t know any better, poor baby. More of a reason to give him a chance to know Lucas, he’ll probably want to play a real sport,” Elli said with a grin.
“That is not a good reason to introduce Aiden to Lucas,” Fallon insisted.
“I think it is, but mostly because they need each other. Lucas deserves to know his son and Aiden deserves to know his dad. If Lucas decides to be a douche and not be a good father — which I don’t think that well happen — then at least Aiden will know who his daddy is and that he is a douche. Let him make up his mind on Lucas. It isn’t fair that you get to make that decision for him.”
Fallon knew that Elli was right, but that didn’t mean she was gonna run out and introduced them. Fallon hadn’t heard from Lucas since she called him, yelling. So hopefully, she wouldn’t even have to deal with him anymore.
********************************************
Why did Fallon think she wasn’t gonna have to deal with Lucas Brooks anymore?
Fallon should have known something was up when she passed Rob and he wouldn’t look her in the eye. Fallon stood in the middle of her office and was taken back to the day her dorm room was filled with post-it notes. Every surface of her office was filled and this time all of the notes said the reason why she should take Lucas back. Fallon moved behind her desk, seeing that all the ones that covered her computer screen were in Lucas’ handwriting.
We have fun.
Great sex, remember?
You make me laugh.
I’m always smiling when I see or think of you.
I love your smile.
I miss your face in my hand.
I miss you, all of you. Everything.
Fallon pressed her hands to her stomach, feeling like there were a million butterflies swirling around in there. How in the world did he know what to say? Why couldn’t he just leave her alone? Was he trying to drive her crazy? Fallon looked up at the screen again, reading the post-it note that was in bold writing in the middle of her screen.
I’m willing to talk about the problems and fix the problems that ended our relationship. Are you?
“Oh come on! You never liked to talk about emotional stuff!” Fallon screamed at the screen. Her door opened and Rob walked in with a post-it note hanging from his finger.
“He said to give you this one when you stopped screaming. Are you done?”
“Give me the fucking note Rob, ah! I’m so mad at you!” Fallon stood up, snatching the note from Rob’s hands.
Stop yelling and meet me for dinner tonight. Just me and you. Let’s make this work. I miss you.
Underneath was the time and place for where he wanted to eat. Fallon hands shook as she filled with worry and anger at the fact that Lucas wasn’t gonna give up.
Just like she knew he wouldn’t.
She looked up at Rob with nothing but fire in her eyes. Rob took a step back as Fallon crumbled up the note and threw in the trash. “I should fire you.”
“He didn’t come into the office, I did it all.”
Fallon eyes about bugged out of her head. “You did it! How dare you!”
“Whoa! I made 500 bucks and was guaranteed a job if you fired me! Don’t act like you wouldn’t have done it!”
“You went against what I asked for money? And I thought you loved me,” Fallon said, shaking her head. She was mad, but didn’t blame Rob. Hell, she would have put the post-it notes up for $500. Rob moved towards Fallon’s desk, leaning against it as he talked to her.
“I do love you Fallon, I just don’t get it. That dude is hot, and I mean you haven’t had a boyfriend in what? Not while I've known you.” Rob picked up the picture of Aiden and Audrey, smiling as he looked down at the picture. “Aiden needs a male fig- holy fucking shit, Aiden looks just like that guy! Holy shit, is Lucas his dad?”
Fallon’s face dropped down into her hands. How was it that she didn’t want anyone knowing about Lucas and Aiden, and now in a matter of days, two people did? Did Aiden really look that much like Lucas?
“Please don’t say anything Rob,” Fallon groaned as she started tearing post-its off her screen and putting them in a pile in front of her. She couldn’t throw them away, they were in Lucas’ handwriting. She loved his hand writing.
“Oh my God, he doesn’t know!?”
Fallon looked up. “Please, promise me, you won’t say anything.”
Rob blinked twice, total shock on his face. “I promise.”
“Thank you,” Fallon said, letting the breath she was holding out in a whoosh.
“Are you going to tell him?”
Tears welled up in Fallon’s eyes. She knew Lucas wasn’t gonna stop and if she was honest, she would say that she kind of didn’t want him to. She did miss him; everything he had put on the post-it notes on why he missed her were reasons she missed him. Everything was so simple when it came to them, it was so easy between them but then she had gone seven years hating what he did to her. Being mad at what he ruined, and hating that he never came after her.
Did he really not ever love her?
But he had to have, because if he didn’t then why was he trying to get her back now? Why did he wait seven years? What the hell was really going on!
And why was she again asking the same fucking questions!
Fallon looked up again, shrugging her shoulders in defeat. “I just don’t fucking know.”
“By the way, love the cussing,” Rob said with a laugh. Fallon smiled weakly as he went on, “Okay, well are you going to dinner with him tonight?”
“Absolutely not,” Fallon said because even if she did miss him, or even wanted to find out the answers to all her questions, until she told him about Aiden, she just couldn’t risk it.
**************************************************
“Please don’t tell me she fired you,” Lucas said when he answered the call from Rob. He told Rob not to call unless he was being fired or worse, like Fallon went ape shit on him. Lucas was a little worried too, because he hadn’t heard from Fallon and was worried that maybe Rob didn’t do his job. Maybe that’s why he was calling.
“No she didn’t, but I thought you should know that she isn’t going to dinner with you tonight,” Rob said quickly and quietly.
“You are kidding me, right?” Lucas said in disbelief. He was sure that the plan would work! Two pads of post-it notes full of reasons he missed her and still wanted to be with her didn’t work? What the hell?
“No, I just asked, and she said she ain’t going.”
“Son of a bitch, is she there?” Lucas asked, madder than hell. How dare she blow him off! He put his heart on the line letting her know how he felt and she couldn’t even call and tell him!
“Yeah, but I can’t transfer you,” Rob whispered. “She’ll kill me.”
What Rob didn’t know was that Lucas was driving down West End and Rocky Top Wines was located on 16th Avenue when he called. Lucas turned onto 16th, heading towards Fallon’s office.
“Fine don’t, I don’t care.” Lucas hung up and tried to control his breathing. He was done with their games, she was going to talk to him and she was going to do it now.
Lucas parked his truck along the side of the building and got out, pushing the lock button as he walked towards the front door. He rode the elevator to the third floor and when the doors opened Rob looked up from his desk. As Lucas stepped off the elevator and headed towards him, Rob stood up, sputtering something along the lines of Lucas wasn’t allowed in
Fallon’s office.
But when did Lucas ever go by the rules?
Never, and he wasn’t going to start today.
Lucas threw Fallon’s office door open, slamming it behind him before Rob could come in. Fallon looked up from her computer with a pair of naughty little glasses sitting low on her nose. Her eyes went wide as she stood up quickly. His heart skipped a beat at the sight of her wearing an oversized dark green sweater that hung along her thighs. Her legs were covered by tight black stretchy pants and her hair was down along her shoulders. She looked beautiful, even in everyday clothes. That was one thing about her that he just couldn’t stop loving, he loved that she could be dressed to the nines and then dressed in sweats and still be the most beautiful girl in the world.
“Lucas.”
“Yeah, hey, so you weren’t going to call me or meet me for dinner tonight?”
“What?”
“You heard me, I worked hard on all the things I did for you this week and you can’t even give me one dinner?”
“I never asked for them!” she yelled, coming around the desk.
“I don’t care, isn’t it common courtesy that when a guy does something nice for you, you should do something nice for them? Isn’t that the way you country folk do things down here?!”
“Oh my God, get over yourself, I don’t want anything do with you, what don’t you understand?!”
“Oh come on, it’s been years! I’m sorry for what I did, I just want another chance!”
“And who said I want to give it to you! Who says you deserve it?!”
“I do! I’m not that person anymore. Give me a chance to prove that to you!”
Yeah, this Fallon wasn’t the girl he cheated on back then. The girl he knew wouldn’t have been in a screaming match with him; she would have just ignored him and waited for him to leave.
But not new Fallon — she was set and ready to fight back with him.
Damn it turned him on!
“I don’t want to give you a chance, you ruined me! You broke me! So why would I give you another chance to do it all again?!”