On the Verge (Sisters Series Book 3)

by Karen Lenfestey

  He kept his eyes on his drink. “I can’t.”

  Her arm returned to her side. This was starting to get embarrassing. “Was I just a one night stand?” Her voice grew loud and finally Nate looked at her. A couple of other guys in the bar also stared at her, but she didn’t care.

  Nate held his hand out flat signaling for her to shush. “Mia, keep your voice down. I’m sorry if you thought we were dating or something, but. . . .”

  “But what? You’re suddenly devoted to your wife now that you’ve slept with me?”

  His Adam’s apple moved as he swallowed. His voice remained low. “Mia, it’s not like that. I was drunk. I didn’t mean to. . . .”

  “Oh, that’s so much better. Now it was an accident that you slept with me. Thanks a lot!” She hopped down from the bar, ready to storm out. Hoping he’d come chasing after her.

  He reached into his wallet as if he were going to pay his bill, but it was empty. His mouth fell open and he stared at his billfold.

  She leaned in and kissed his lips. Maybe this would remind him of the good time they’d had before he’d passed out. “You know where to find me.” She turned and marched out the door, knowing that all eyes were on her.

  # # #

  Within half an hour after Mia left, Nathan’s friend walked in. Rod stood behind Nathan and patted his back. “Hi, buddy. I’m glad you called.”

  Nathan hung his head in shame. If he started talking, he was afraid he might cry. And real men don’t cry--especially in front of other men. “Can you loan me twenty bucks to pay my tab?”

  Rod pulled a bill out of a wallet full of green and placed it on the bar.

  Envy flashed through Nathan, but only for a minute. Then he remembered that Rod was here to help. “Thanks. I owe ya one.”

  Rod gripped Nathan’s arm. “Let’s get you out of here.”

  At first he waved away Rod’s support, but when he almost tripped on his own two feet, he allowed Rod to escort him through the bar. Once outside, he couldn’t remember where he’d parked his car. Turning his head, he searched up and down the street.

  “Nathan, you’re in no condition to drive. I’ll take you home.” Rod walked toward his Mercedes and unlocked the passenger-side door. He assisted Nathan into his seat, much more gently than the police had the night he’d been arrested.

  Nathan tried to shake his head, but it moved all over the place. “No. I can’t go home. Val doesn’t want me there.”

  Rod walked around the vehicle and climbed behind the wheel. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. I no longer have a home.”

  Rod checked his rearview mirror before pulling out of his parallel parking spot. “You can crash at my place then. We have a lot to talk about once you sober up.”

  Nathan thought of the coin. He reached into his jean pocket where he always kept it. He pulled the gold piece out and held it between his thumb and forefinger. “I need to give you this.”

  Rod glanced over at the coin and his eyes grew wide. But only for a second. Then his gaze returned to the road. “I was wondering where that went.”

  “I took it. I’m a horrible friend, I know. . .because I saw that you dropped it. . . and I stole it.” Confession didn’t make him feel better, but he didn’t seem able to stop. “I’m sorry. I meant to give it back. . . I don’t know what’s wrong with me. . . . Val hates me. Did I tell you that? Oh, and I cheated on her.”

  # # #

  Knowing she couldn’t count on Nathan, Val finally refinished the upstairs floors herself by laboring each night after work. A company Kelly Designs did a lot of business with loaned her the sander. Chip filled in the gouges with wood putty and helped to rub on the stain. The two of them were a good team.

  The heartbreak was that she had to fix up the house in order to put it on the market. She’d done everything on the inside herself, but the roof remained unfinished. That would certainly hurt her chances of getting a good price for the place, but she didn’t know any other way to dig herself out of this hole.

  She wanted to blame Nathan, but she knew it was her fault, too. She’d longed for this house even though they couldn’t afford it. It wasn’t very responsible of her to close her eyes to reality.

  Saturday morning she was forced to take a break. She drove Chip to his father’s apartment and rang the doorbell. It didn’t work. She pressed the button again. Still no sound. Her hand curled into a ball and she knocked on the door.

  Chip smiled up at her while they waited. “Dad said he’s going to take me to the figure-eight racetrack and let me watch the drivers practice.”

  She returned his smile, thinking that was the last thing she’d want to do on a Saturday. Boys needed their dads. When no one answered the door, she pounded it. “Darrin! It’s your weekend with Chip. Darrin, open the door!”

  The door across the hall opened and an old woman with her white hair in curlers stuck her head out. “He’s not home. I saw him leave last night and he never came back.”

  Val didn’t know whether this woman knew what she was talking about or not. She shook her head, hoping the neighbor was wrong.

  The woman pointed toward the parking lot with a crooked finger. “Look for yourself. His car isn’t here.”

  Following the woman’s directions, Val headed toward the lot out back. She searched the small paved area and quickly realized defeat. The yellow Mustang wasn’t there. Poor Chip. His dad had blown him off again.

  Waving at the old lady, Val hoped she would go back inside her apartment and give them some privacy. The neighbor lingered for only a moment before doing just that. Val crouched down to Chip’s eye level. “Looks like your dad got tied up at work.”

  The little boy’s brown eyes shone with disappointment. “You don’t have to cover for him, Mom. I know he forgot.” He crossed his arms across his chest. “Like always.”

  “He probably just got his dates mixed up.” She flipped open her phone and dialed Darrin’s cell. It went to voicemail. She exhaled a little too loudly. Darrin had flaked out for the millionth time. How could he do this to a child who idolized him?

  And what was she going to do with Chip? “Looks like you get to come to an estate sale with me and Joely.” Her voice tried to make it sound like fun, even though they both knew that it probably wouldn’t be.

  “What’s that?” He held her hand as they made their way back to her Honda.

  Pushing the curse words that she wanted to yell at Darrin out of her mind, she searched for the right details. “Well, it’s when someone is selling everything they’ve collected over a lifetime. Sometimes you find real neat stuff, like old comic books or toys.”

  “Will there be Matchbox cars?”

  Her spirits rose. “Maybe. It’s a good thing you’re coming with me because it’s kind of like a treasure hunt. I’m going to need your help to find the good stuff.”

  His head still hung low. They climbed into her car and she drove toward Joely’s place to pick her up. Usually it was a treat how she could hang with her friend while they searched for items to decorate their clients’ homes. But she worried Chip would grow bored and pressure them to rush. She flipped on the radio, hoping it would cheer them both up.

  “Do I really have to go?” Chip whined from the backseat.

  Glancing at his reflection in the rearview mirror, she nodded. “I’m afraid you do.” She searched her mind for the week’s spelling words. “How do you spell ‘because’?”

  “Aww, Mom. It’s the weekend. That means no school.”

  “We need to practice, Chip. Spell ‘because’.”

  In the rearview mirror, she saw him silently mouthing the letters before saying them out loud. Why did Mrs. Bean give the students such difficult words anyway?

  Chip finally spoke loud enough for her to hear. “B-e-k-o-z.”

  Swallowing, she shook her head. Not even close. “It’s b-e-c-a-u-s-e.”

  “That doesn’t make sense. Zzzz. It sounds like it ends with a ‘z’.”

  �
��I know. It doesn’t really follow the rules.” She wondered if the upcoming meeting to determine if Chip was dyslexic would prove helpful or if she would be left without answers. If he had a learning disability, then surely the school would have someone trained to tutor him in reading. Because she’d been pushing him to read almost every night, but it was torture. He could read a word correctly one time and not recognize it in the next sentence.

  Her shoulders tensed. Just thinking about it stressed her out. The poor kid deserved an easier life. Not only were his parents divorced, but just as he was warming up to his stepdad, that man moved out, too.

  As if he were reading her mind, Chip piped up. “Mom. Mom! I know. I don’t have to go with you to your sale. What about Nathan? He could watch me.”

  She kept driving. “I don’t know about that.” Who knew what Nathan was up to these days? He’d called to tell her that he’d moved in with Rod, but that was the extent of their contact outside of their counseling sessions.

  “Pleeeeease, Mom. Don’t make me go to your boring thing.”

  A minute later, she pulled into Joely’s apartment complex. She didn’t get out of the car, though. Instead, she located her phone and dialed Nathan’s cell. It probably wouldn’t work, but she could try. When he answered, her voice left her.

  “Hello?” he said again.

  “Nathan, it’s me. Val. . . Um, I was wondering what you have going on today.”

  “Nothing really. Rod is making me go to an AA meeting tonight, but otherwise, I was just going to watch TV.”

  AA. She’d tried to talk Darrin into going, but he never would. How did she end up married to another alcoholic? Beads of sweat formed above her lip. She wiped them off before speaking. “Have you been drinking?”

  “No. It’s not like I have to drink. The bar just gave me some place to go during the day when the house was empty.”

  Was she supposed to feel sorry for him now? She rolled her eyes. “Any chance Chip could hang out with you today?”

  “Uh--you mean here?”

  “Or you could hang out at the house. Give Rod and his family a break.”

  “Sure. I miss the kid. Maybe I’ll take him to a movie. They’re playing Cars at the old theater downtown.”

  So he’d been keeping track of kid movies. She smiled to herself. “That would be great.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  After he’d thrown on jeans and a T-shirt, Nathan drove exactly the speed limit to pick up Chip. He didn’t want to attract any attention since his license was suspended for that dumb DUI. And he didn’t want to remind Val that he wasn’t supposed to drive. He wanted to make her life easier--swoop in and be the hero. Be everything that Chip’s real father wasn’t.

  When Nathan pulled up to Joely’s place, Chip opened the front door and ran toward the car. Since when was Chip happy to see him? Nathan climbed out of his MG, unsure of what to do. He crouched down to Chip’s level. “Hi, buddy.” Seeing Chip’s smile warmed Nathan like a day at the beach.

  Chip squeezed him tight for a minute. “Thanks, Nathan. You saved me!”

  When they separated, Nathan realized that was the first time they’d ever hugged. His heart jumped. He mussed Chip’s hair the way his grandfather used to do to him. “Climb in. Prepare for an adventure.”

  Val approached, holding out her keys. “Take my car. It has seat belts.”

  Chip skipped to his mom’s car. “Can we go to the race track?” He climbed in the backseat.

  Nathan took Val’s keys and sat behind the wheel of her Honda. He looked over his shoulder at the boy he thought of as a son. “We could go see a movie or if you want to go to the track, we can do that.”

  Chip grinned, exposing three gaps.

  Nathan waved bye to Val. He started the car and carefully merged into traffic. He glanced at Chip’s reflection in the rearview mirror. “Did you lose another tooth?”

  “Yep.” He wiggled a tooth on the bottom row. “Pretty soon this one’s gonna come out, too.”

  “Did the tooth fairy come?”

  “Gave me a dollar. Can we go to the store so I can spend it?”

  Nathan loved the fact that he could devote the entire day to Chip’s whims. “No problem.” They went to the race track, but there wasn’t anything to see. They hit the Dollar Store and then the library.

  Chip stuck out his lower lip. “Aww. Why are we going to the library?”

  “I thought we’d get some books on how to train Homer to do tricks.” Nathan hoped this would inspire Chip to try to read.

  Chip nodded. “That sounds cool!”

  They found some books and returned to the house. Even though Chip seemed motivated, he struggled to sound out every word. He didn’t know when to say a long vowel sound or a short one. He had no idea how to divide up multisyllabic words, either. Unfortunately, he soon gave up and asked Nathan to finish reading.

  The poor kid was really trying, but to no avail. Nathan wondered if that information he sent away for about dyslexia had arrived yet. He’d have to ask Val.

  They grabbed some doggie treats out of the pantry and called Homer. The not-so-small pup wagged his tail and happily followed them into the backyard. Nathan shook his head. Homer had grown in the short time Nathan had been gone. Chip seemed a little taller, too. Nathan tried to swallow the horrible taste in his mouth.

  If he didn’t get his act together, he’d miss everything.

  # # #

  Val dreaded telling Joely her decision.

  The two of them made their way through the bungalow past hard-sided suitcases, a hefty 1950s TV, and an art deco bedroom set. Val tried to avoid thinking about what she needed to tell Joely. “Thank God Chip didn’t come with us. I haven’t seen one toy or comic book in the whole house.”

  Joely sniffed and wiped her nose with a tissue. “If Nathan couldn’t watch Chip, Jake might’ve been able to.”

  Shrugging, Val didn’t know what to say. Jake was Anna’s father, but it was a little much to ask him to watch Chip. “It sounds like you’re getting a little bit of a cold.”

  “Yep. No big deal. How are things going with you and Nathan?” Joely picked up a ceramic angel which was part of a large collection on the dresser.

  Glancing around to make sure no one was listening, Val lowered her voice. “I don’t know. I never would’ve guessed he’d start drinking. I mean, he’d never even order a glass of wine when we went out to dinner before.”

  Joely made eye contact. “Maybe that’s why. He knew he wouldn’t be able to stop once he started.”

  Val tugged on one of her three earrings. Was she that naïve? She’d assumed he didn’t like the taste. “He said he’s not an alcoholic, but I don’t know. Do regular people get behind the wheel after they’ve had too much to drink?”

  “Unfortunately, some do.”

  “He said he’s going to a meeting tonight, so maybe that will help. Plus, we’re seeing a new marriage counselor. I think I like her.”

  “That’s good. I know you have a hard time trusting counselors.”

  That’s because it seemed like every time she told her counselor something as an adolescent, somehow her mom found out. Her mom had found the cigarettes and condoms hidden under her mattress and had grounded her so that she missed her senior prom. But why had her mom even thought to look there? So much for patient-therapist confidentiality. In the end, Val always felt like a disappointment to her overly-religious mother. Just for being a normal teenager. Just for being herself.

  But Dr. Shouse had a point. Val no longer was a child. She needed to be a grown-up in this marriage, even if Nathan no longer was.

  Something on the bureau across the room caught her eye. She walked over toward what appeared to be a carved elephant, but just when she got close, a man with glasses picked it up. Sticking her hand in her pockets, she stood and waited for him to put it back down. After all, her client loved elephants because they were the symbol of her sorority. Val would score points if she could add this beautiful pi
ece of art to her client’s décor.

  The man who held her treasure had a receding hairline and was dressed in business casual.

  Val shifted her weight. “Are you going to buy that?”

  He looked at her. “Yes, I think so. My youngest daughter loves elephants.”

  Disappointed, Val fiddled with her wedding band. Funny how she was still getting used to it. “Well, she’s a lucky girl. That looks like it was hand-carved.”

  Nodding, he turned the piece over in his hand. Val joined back up with Joely and decided to continue searching on behalf of her clients. She’d keep an eye on the man, though, just in case he changed his mind and set down the elephant.

  Joely opened the bedroom closet and ran her fingertips across an array of colorful dresses. “Oh my gosh. Look at these!”

  Val came closer to see the collection of old cocktail dresses. They weren’t her style, but Joely loved vintage clothes. Her friend liked to mix old and new, much like Val enjoyed decorating her historic home with both modern and antique pieces. “You could double the size of your wardrobe in one fell swoop.”

  Joely held the skirt of a black and white polka-dotted dress. “I could throw on a belt or scarf in any color and this would be fresh.” She continued digging through the clothes, coughing off and on. When she reached the dark corner, she gasped.

  “What is it?” Val craned her neck to see.

  On a hanger way in the back, Joely pulled out a wedding gown. It went straight down and was covered in elegant white lace. It seemed more 1960s flower child than the other dresses. “It’s perfect.” She walked over to the nearby dresser mirror and held it in front of her body as if trying to imagine how it would look.

  “What size is it?”

  Peeking at the tag, Joely smiled. “I might have to take it in a little.” Still clutching the dress, she danced in a circle. “Finally! I’ve found the perfect dress!”