“You must miss her like crazy. We had a blast when I took her to the beach last spring.”
“I haven’t seen her since then.” His daughter had canceled her August visitation at the last minute and had been avoiding his calls. It seemed Dani blamed him for leaving and had no idea that, if he had his way, they’d all be living together in California.
Chewie nudged his hand and whimpered, reminding Nick of their nightly run. “Anyway, make yourself at home, and I’ll be back in a half hour or so.”
“I’ll walk him for you. It’s the least I can do.”
He didn’t live in the best neighborhood for a woman to be on the street alone at night—even with an attack dog. And Chewie definitely didn’t qualify.
“That’s okay. We both need the exercise.” If he didn’t work off the testosterone surge thinking about Sam always produced, he’d be awake half the night. “If Samantha should call, please don’t mention I’m out with the dog. She doesn’t know I adopted him.”
Even though he might enjoy rubbing it in that he now had the pet she would never agree to, he refused to give her the satisfaction of knowing how lonely he was. At any rate, with Sam’s propensity for reading a hidden agenda into everything, she would undoubtedly interpret the announcement as him throwing his newfound freedom in her face, which would do nothing to promote the reconciliation he wanted more than his next breath.
Leaving the apartment, Nick glanced back at Bethany huddled on the couch. Her defeated posture reminded him of Sam’s dejection in the weeks following her parents’ death when she’d sat alone on her aunt’s porch every evening.
He’d felt sorry for her until he discovered she was a rough-and-tumble tomboy, who was as comfortable in her frilly dresses as a linebacker in a tutu. Yet, by the time she entered high school, she’d transformed into a feisty, totally feminine beauty. And El Capitán—as she nicknamed his penis on their wedding night after she insisted his stiff erection reminded her of a brave wooden soldier—had snapped to attention in her presence ever since she was fourteen.
On their day in court, Samantha looked stunning and sexier than ever in a clingy dress that had left him, the judge, and both lawyers squirming in their seats. Suppressed anger, jealousy, and bitterness simmered inside Nick after months of getting the cold shoulder from her. Consequently, when the judge banged his gavel and announced their divorce final, Nick’s rage spewed from him like hot lava.
“Thank you very much,” he snarled at Sam. “At least now I have a choice about who I sleep with. I’m free to hook up with every babe I meet.”
“As if you haven’t already,” she snapped, indicating she must have bought into the illusion he’d created—by working extra late—that he’d been getting his needs met elsewhere since she’d rejected him. “Go ahead. Enjoy yourself in California!”
Upon landing at LAX airport, he intended to do exactly as she’d suggested. But now, a full year later, his boiling fury had cooled, and his resentment was no longer directed exclusively at Sam. He was even madder at himself for his inability to do whatever it took to save his marriage and, more specifically, to move on.
It had taken only one embarrassing date with a Lakers cheerleader for him to admit the woman he’d lost was the only one he wanted in his bed.
~*~
“Wait, Mom! It’s me!”
“Dani?” Sam released the breath she’d been holding and groped for the light switch. Shielding her eyes against the sudden glare, she gasped at the sight of her daughter drenched to the skin. Her short dark hair was plastered to her head, and her plum-colored tank top stuck to her body like a spray-tan. Not that the shirt had been all that loose dry. Dani’s physical development had occurred later than average, so her post-pubescent growth spurt during the last six months had left most of her summer clothing too small.
What had she been doing outside in the rain? Narrowing her gaze, Sam flung open the child’s door and glared at the hairy, purple cocoon that had warmed her to the core earlier. Acid churned in her stomach, turning her belly into a bubbling cauldron.
“Where have you been, young lady!” She tossed the bat on the mattress and snatched the wad of hair from the tangled sheets. “And what do you call this?”
“A wig?”
“Don’t get wise with me.”
“Well, y-you asked,” Dani muttered past her chattering teeth.
“Just answer my first question.” Sam yanked the child’s bathrobe out of the closet and shoved it at her. “Where were you?”
“Haley and I went bowling with Allison.” Dani peeled off her wet shirt and jeans before pulling on the dry robe.
Bowling? It was nearly a half-hour drive to the closest lanes and movie theaters. “You know you’re not supposed to go out on a school night—especially not somewhere that far. You had me so terrified, creeping in at this hour, I nearly bashed you over the head.”
“What’s the big deal? You never cared if I went out when I was being homeschooled.”
“The big deal,” Sam said, drawing little quotes in the air, “is you have to get up at six to catch a school bus now. How do you think being out in the rain and getting only a few hours sleep will affect your health? Do you want to be sick again?”
Dani merely shrugged, nibbling one of her mauve fingernails.
“And I don’t appreciate you sneaking out while I’m on a date.”
“I didn’t sneak out.”
“Really? Then what was the point of doing that?” Sam jerked back the bedcovers, revealing a herd of stuffed animals rolled up in the sheets.
“I didn’t want you to worry if you came home early.”
“Oh? Was your hand so incapacitated you couldn’t call or text me? If so, how did you expect to bowl? Be honest, Dani. You set up this scene so I wouldn’t know you were gone.”
“I’m sorry, okay? I was supposed to be home way before you. But Allison’s mom got a flat, and it took forever for the auto club to get there.”
Sam was thrilled to have Dani back in school and making new friends, but ever since the term began, the child had been surly and defiant.
“I don’t care about your excuse. You weren’t supposed to go out in the first place, and you knew it. Consider yourself grounded for the next week.”
“Whatever.” Dani huffed and shoved past her to flop onto the bed.
A whiff of tobacco assailed Sam’s nostrils. She leaned down and sniffed her daughter’s breath. “Please tell me you weren’t stupid enough to start smoking.”
“Okay.” Dani thrust her chin out at a belligerent angle. “I don’t smoke. The smell must be from my friends’ cigarettes.”
Sam’s palm itched to slap the so-there smile off her daughter’s face. Teenagers were, without a doubt, the most effective form of birth control. If they’d had a fourteen-year-old two years ago, she never would’ve objected to Nick using condoms.
“That’s it!” She slashed her hand through the air. “If I smell tobacco on you again, you’ll be grounded for a month. So I don’t suggest you even hang around anyone who smokes. And you can bet your father’s going to hear about this.” Not that she was looking forward to telling Nick how badly she’d lost control of their daughter, but she needed him to back her up.
“Fine! Go ahead and tattle to the bastard.”
“Watch your mouth. He’s still your father, and you’ll respect him.”
“Why should I after he left me?”
“Oh, cut the theatrics, Dani. He didn’t leave you. Your daddy loves you and calls you every single day.”
Dani stared through Sam as if she were listening to the empty squawking of an adult voice from a Charlie Brown cartoon.
“And speaking of your dad, he’s plenty annoyed with you right now for not answering his calls. You’ll be lucky if you still have a cell phone next—”
A loud pounding in the foyer downstairs cut her off. “Samantha,” a deep voice called from outside the front door. “It’s Jack Wallace. Is everything all right?�
��
Every muscle in her back contracted. Oh, jeez, no. In her fury, she’d forgotten all about the 911 call. At least they’d dispatched Jack, an officer she knew from Nick’s membership in the local volunteer fire department.
“You haven’t heard the end of this,” she called over her shoulder to Dani as she stopped in her bedroom to grab her robe before dashing down the stairs. “Get ready for bed while I keep Sergeant Wallace from busting down our door!”
If there was ever a time she needed her stash of peanut butter cups, this was it. Maybe if she shared with Jack, he’d forgive her cry-wolf call.
Then again, a stint in jail would buy her some time before she had to admit to Nick she was a miserable failure as a single mom.
Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
EPILOGUE
Excerpt from The Great Bedroom
The Parent Pact (Book Three of The Return to Redemption Series) Page 25