Romancing My Love (Love in Bloom: The Bradens) Contemporary Romance

by Melissa Foster

  She went back to her bedroom and called Pierce.

  “Hey, babe. Are you on your way?”

  He sounded so hopeful that she almost changed her mind. “Actually, would it be okay if I stayed here tonight and we got together tomorrow?”

  Her stomach sank with the silence that followed.

  “Is something wrong, Bec?”

  “No. Not at all. It’s one of my roommates. He’s having a hard time, and I think talking might help.” She looked around the bedroom and knew that after spending three nights together, she was going to have a heck of a time sleeping without him.

  “Want me to come there?”

  “No. I’m sorry, Pierce. This place is relatively new to me, and I just need a night. Do you mind?”

  “Whatever you need, babe. Tomorrow, then.”

  The disappointment in his voice was palpable. “I’m sorry. I’m going to miss you like crazy.” Maybe she could talk with Henry and then go see Pierce. Ugh. What message would that send to Henry? Why did she care? Because she did care. That’s who she was. Henry was obviously going through a lot, and she was clearly an intruder into his world. Being someone who loved her privacy, she understood that completely. Rebecca wasn’t one to ignore someone else’s suffering. She and Pierce could go twenty-four hours without seeing each other, couldn’t they? She’d gone twenty-seven years without him in her life. Why now did one night alone seem torturous?

  They made arrangements to meet tomorrow after work, and by the time they ended the call, Rebecca already missed him.

  She grabbed the notebook that she used for her budget and headed into the den.

  PIERCE PACED HIS living room, wondering who the guy was who could keep Rebecca from seeing him. He eyed the files from the meetings he’d had earlier today. He needed to review his notes and prepare for tomorrow. Maybe this was a blessing in disguise. He picked up the files and tried to wrap his mind around the issues in two of his West Coast properties. He spread the reports and spreadsheets on the coffee table and sat, elbows on knees, staring at them, but his mind drifted back to seeing Rebecca on the security camera while she was working. It was obvious that the customers loved her. She took a little more time with them than the other waitresses did, and she was attentive to their requests. He remembered what she’d said about her job at the bar. He didn’t like us talking to the customers, and, well, I think people come into bars to unload…And when he’d asked her about what other jobs she’d held, she’d said, Caretaker.

  He picked up a report, and a smile eased the tension in his jaw. Damn, was he ever blind to have gone straight down Jealousy Road. If there was a person going through a hard time, he had no doubt that Rebecca would never walk away. When he turned back to his files, it was with a clear head and a warm heart.

  Chapter Eleven

  THE FIRST THING Rebecca did the next morning was reach for her phone. She was rewarded with a text from Pierce. Hated waking up without you. Can’t wait to see you tonight. P. She texted back, I hated it more. Xox. She hadn’t slept well, and until that minute, she’d written it off to being in a strange house, but the house didn’t feel strange at all this morning—she did, and she knew it was because she missed Pierce. And now her stomach was doing flips in anticipation of seeing him later that evening.

  She dressed for the gym, then went into the kitchen and made coffee. Henry hadn’t said more than a handful of words to her the night before as he sat at his desk in the den working on something that had him mumbling under his breath while she worked on her budget. She hadn’t minded the quiet, and even though she’d missed Pierce when she went to bed, she was glad she’d stayed. When Henry had said good night to her, she could feel him warming to her. She’d stayed up later than Henry, working her budget over and over based on her new salary, and even with paying Mr. Fralin each week and paying off her mother’s remaining debts, she should be able to afford classes by the spring. The next item on her list was saving enough money to take her mother’s ashes back to Punta Allen, and she hoped she could save enough to do that by the holidays, assuming, of course, that she found an amazing travel deal.

  Another day full of hope lay ahead.

  She was going over her budget one last time, when Henry sauntered lazily into the kitchen wearing a robe pulled tight across his belly, a pair of striped pajamas beneath. His gray hair was matted in some places, sticking up in others. He had bags beneath his eyes, and Rebecca wondered if he hadn’t slept well. Then again, it wasn’t yet six. She was heading out to the gym in a few minutes, but she was glad to see him.

  “Good morning.” Rebecca had always been a morning person. She woke up ready for whatever the day held, which probably was reinforced as her mother’s condition worsened, because she needed to be fully awake no matter what time her mother needed her.

  “Morning.” He poured himself a cup of the coffee that Rebecca had made.

  “I hope you don’t mind that I made coffee. I’ll buy some today to replace it.”

  He sat down across from her. “It’s coffee, Rebecca. We can afford coffee.”

  Darn it. She hadn’t meant it that way. “I’m sorry. I just meant—”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  “I do worry about it, Henry. I’m not sure if Daphne told you or not, but…” She paused, feeling funny about revealing what she hadn’t even revealed to Pierce, but chances were pretty good that Daphne had already told Henry, and if anything, it might help ease his embarrassment. “I was living in my car for a few days before you rented me a room. I know what it feels like to have stability ripped out from under you and thrown so far away that you think you’ll never find your footing again.”

  He scoffed, rubbed his tired eyes, and looked away.

  “I’m sorry. It’s just that when you’ve had as much taken away from you as I have, you learn to recognize and separate the things that are a reflection of who you are and those that are caused by something out of your control. Believe me, for a control freak like me, that’s a hard realization.” She paused, giving him time to tell her to shut up if he’d like, and when he didn’t, she continued. “You were laid off.” She shrugged. “Economic times are tough right now, but you’re still the same man you were when you went to work every day.”

  He locked a steely gaze on her, and Rebecca held her breath.

  “That’s easy for a young gal like yourself to say. There aren’t many companies looking to hire an old man.” He leaned his elbows on the table. “What are you working on?”

  She closed the notebook. “Just looking through my budget, forecasting the next few months.”

  “Forecasting.” He raised his brows.

  “I like to know where I stand.”

  “Rebecca, if you don’t mind me asking, how did you end up living in your car? That seems…extreme.” He sat back and crossed his arms.

  She met his stare. “Taking care of my mom ended up being a full-time job. She’d had a stroke near the end, and I had a hard time keeping a job.”

  He lowered his chin and looked down his nose at her. “Did she have disability income?”

  “Yes. She did. But she was only eighteen when she had me, and she was a single mother, so she never had the chance to make a career for herself. She was only earning thirty-four thousand a year when she went on disability. She took home only sixty percent of that, and since she didn’t pay for her own disability insurance premiums, she had to pay taxes on the income.” It had been a harsh realization when the IRS notified her mother of back taxes that were due. Her mother hadn’t known that if she didn’t pay her own disability insurance premiums that she was responsible for paying taxes on the income she received. “Not to mention the never-ending medical bills.”

  He shook his head. “They screw you every which way but sideways.”

  “Yeah, well, we found that out the hard way. She didn’t realize that was the law until after she didn’t pay the taxes the first year. But in all honesty, she needed every penny of the income she
earned, so even if she had known, she probably wouldn’t have paid the premiums. Disability insurance is one of those things that you don’t think about until you need it, and for her, it was too late at that point. It took the IRS about a year, but they came for their money, so I used my paychecks to help her pay off the taxes she owed and to pay for her medical expenses. Anyway, to make a long story short, without a job and with what we owed and everyday expenses, we couldn’t afford the apartment we lived in.”

  His eyes filled with empathy, and Rebecca turned away with the painful memory of the days after her mother’s death, when every day felt terminal. Between waking up every day and having to accept that she’d never see her mother again and waiting for Mr. Fralin to turn her out on the streets, she’d been a nervous wreck.

  “My landlord was really good to us. He let us stay for the last two months of her life, and then he let me stay for a few weeks to get myself in order.” Through the fog of taking care of my mother’s things and learning to function again would be more accurate. “But it wasn’t fair of me to stay in an apartment when he needed the income. I eventually found a job at a bar, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before I’d have enough money to find something cheaper, a room in a house like this, or something similar.”

  “Weren’t you worried? A single woman like yourself living in your car?”

  “Not in the way you’re thinking. I’m pretty good at self-defense. But I was embarrassed about it. I had a gym membership at Fitness Heaven, so I had a place to shower. It’s open twenty-four hours. As much as I knew I’d get out of the mess I was in, I was scared to death about people finding out. Let’s face it: Living in a car sounds bad. It sounds dirty.”

  His gaze softened. “And then you got the job with Daph?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. It was a miracle.”

  He smoothed his robe over his chest, and an unexpected smile lifted his lips. “You give me hope, Rebecca.”

  “I do?”

  “Yes. I’ve tricked myself into believing that this is who I am and that I’ll never be the type of man who can take care of Daphne again.” He laughed under his breath. “Amazing what a little youth can do for you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He shrugged. “Well, Rebecca, if you can come out of what you’ve endured with a smile on your face and hope that practically jumps off of your skin, then what the hell is a wise old bastard like me doing feeling sorry for himself? I’m going to borrow a little of your youthful exuberance and see if I can figure something out, too.

  “Tell me something, Rebecca. This boyfriend of yours, is he a good guy? Because this is a racy town, and I’d hate for you to fall into something with a guy who isn’t worth his weight in salt.”

  He’s the best guy. “Yeah, he’s a good guy.”

  He smiled as Daphne came into the kitchen. “Morning, Daph.”

  Daphne kissed his cheek. “Good morning. Are you calling the bank today about the mortgage?”

  “I’ll take care of it. Can we please not talk about that at the crack of dawn?”

  Rebecca shifted her eyes away, uncomfortable with the tone of their conversation. The fact that they’d needed to rent a room had told her that they were having financial difficulties, but she didn’t need to be privy to the details. That would surely underscore Henry’s discomfort.

  Daphne touched the top of his head. “You’re right. I’ll wait until the crack of lunch.” Her hand slid down his shoulder, and Henry reached up and squeezed it.

  They spoke to and touched each other like nothing the other person could do could change their love, and it warmed Rebecca’s heart to witness such comfort. She was beginning to sense that she and Pierce might be headed in a similar direction, and although it was a little scary that it was all happening so fast, she hoped they were.

  “Where are you off to so early, Rebecca?” Daphne asked.

  “The gym. It’s good for my brain.”

  “Did you sleep okay?”

  Not really. I missed Pierce. “Yeah. The bed’s wonderful.” And lonely.

  As Rebecca walked away from the kitchen, she heard Henry say, “She has no one looking after her.” She stopped to listen, worried that he thought she couldn’t handle things on her own.

  “Daph, I want to make sure this boyfriend of hers is good enough for her.”

  “Oh, Henry. I knew you’d like her.”

  With a smile on her lips, Rebecca gathered her clothes and gym bag and walked out the front door.

  Chapter Twelve

  IT WAS FOUR o’clock in the afternoon before Pierce had a second to breathe. He’d worked straight through lunch and had just come from a meeting with a national foundation that was wooing him as a sponsor for an event they were putting on next year. He pulled out his cell phone, intending to text Rebecca so she’d receive it after her shift. He was scrolling through several missed calls from his mother and siblings when Kendra knocked on his door.

  He glanced up from his phone. “Hi, Kendra.”

  “Sorry to bother you, Pierce, but you had a call from Jeff while you were in the meeting. It appears that he’s found issues with the Grand. I told him you’d call him back as soon as you were free.” She set the message on his desk.

  Pierce sighed. “Damn. I was hoping my gut was off on this one.”

  Kendra pointed her pencil at him. “Your gut is never off, Pierce. I’d think you would know that by now.”

  “I’ll call Jeff.” He picked up the message with Jeff’s number on it.

  “Luke called you, too, and your mom, and Treat wanted to know where to meet you for dinner Thursday night.”

  As she listed his family members, he realized that he was waiting to hear that Rebecca was trying to reach him as well, which was silly, because she’d call his cell phone, and she was at work. He’d already mentally cataloged her in with the people he loved most.

  “I’ll call them back. Thank you.”

  “I had a nice chat with both Luke and your mother.” She raised her brows. “Want to tell me who Rebecca is?”

  “Christ Almighty!” He shook his head. “My family just gave Family knows no boundaries a whole new meaning. I’ll have to alert my uncle Hal. It’s his catchphrase.”

  “Catherine and I agreed that for you to mention a woman to Treat, she must be very special.”

  He pictured the conversation between his mother and Kendra, scheming to pry more information out of him.

  “Well, if you two are in agreement, then you don’t need my two cents.”

  She smiled down at him. “Pierce, we’re all happy for you. She must be very special, but you don’t have to share anything with me. I’m happy just knowing that you might let a woman get to that big heart of yours. You’ve kept it locked away so tight that I worried you might never step out of your bachelor ways.”

  He rubbed his temples with his fingers and thumb and settled back in his chair with a sigh. “Her name is Rebecca Rivera.” He flashed a teasing smile. He would be happy to tell Kendra all about Rebecca, but he was anxious to talk to Jeff and find out what kind of shit had hit the fan. And he enjoyed teasing Kendra as much as he enjoyed teasing his family members. “That’s all you get for now. I need to return these phone calls.”

  “Rebecca Rivera,” she said with a nod. “I know you’re dying to call Jeff, but please call Catherine first. She’s climbing out of her skin over something Emily’s said.” Kendra spoke with a motherly tone, and while that probably should have annoyed Pierce, it was one of the things he liked about working with Kendra. She wasn’t afraid to share her opinions or put him in his place, and sometimes he needed that. She was trustworthy and loyal, and she treated his entire family like they were her own.

  “Will do.” He dialed his mother’s number.

  “You, my son, are the talk of Trusty,” his mother said when she answered the phone. He pictured her smiling with the tease, her brown eyes vibrant and full of joy. His mother was always full of joy. It took a lot to drag her down,
and everything around her accentuated her positive spirit, despite what she’d gone through with his father before they’d moved to Trusty. Her front yard burst with colorful flowers, and her house was layered with rich textures, light colors, and photos capturing some of their best family moments.

  “I’m going to strangle Emily.”

  “Oh, Pierce. She followed your rules. She told us that you were going down fighting. Just because she added, Yeah, right, shouldn’t make a difference.” His mother laughed.

  “And then you told Kendra?”

  “Someone has to keep an eye on you there. Besides, Kendra knew something was up. She said you’ve seemed lighter on your toes lately.” Pierce’s mother, Catherine, was down-to-earth and close to each of her six children. She could be tough as nails, had instilled lessons of fairness, honesty, and strong work ethics into their heads as far back as Pierce could remember. She was also sensitive and thoughtful, and he was sure that if she’d been in the room with him, she’d have noticed he was lighter on his toes, too.

  “Okay, Mom. Her name is Rebecca Rivera, and yes, she’s gotten to me like no woman ever has.” It felt good to say that out loud. Really good.

  “I assume you’ve checked out her background?” she said in a serious tone.

  “No.”

  “Pierce, a man in your position—”

  “Trusts his gut.”

  “Okay. Yes, I can see that. But women are very sneaky,” she warned.

  Pierce had never let anyone get very close to him, and he knew his mother worried because suddenly he was, and she wanted to protect him from being hurt the way she’d been hurt by his father.

  “She’s not sneaky, Mom, though I appreciate your concern.” He spun around and looked out the window. “She is one of those women who does everything for herself.”