InHap*pily Ever After (Incidental Happenstance)

by DeSalvo, Kim

  “I figured as much,” Cecile said, releasing her grip on Candy, who immediately made a dash for the restroom.

  “Get out,” Bryce growled, turning his beet red face to Lexi. “I’ve tried to be patient with you while you went through your little celebrity encounter and your break-up, but this is beyond inappropriate, and I won’t tolerate it.”

  “Are you firing me, Bryce?” She was hepped up and ready for a fight—she felt alive again for the first time in weeks.

  “Yes, Lexi, I guess I am.”

  “Fine. Screw you, Bryce. I hope your wife dumps your worthless ass.”

  “You know what? You get out,” Cecile fired back at her husband. “You might want to remember that my father owns this building, and I guarantee you a quick eviction notice.” Bryce tried to put his arm around her, and she efficiently stepped out his reach and thrust her finger at his chest. “You are finished,” she hissed. “Everything you have is because of my family, and it’s gone, Bryce; all of it.”

  “Cecile, please. Just talk to me. We can work this out.”

  “All of it,” she said again, touching the tips of her fingers together in the air and then splaying them open in one quick motion. “Poof. Just like that.” She grabbed her coat from the hook on the wall and walked out the door with her head held high.

  Bryce’s eyes swept around the room and took in the sea of faces that witnessed the scene. “Get back to work!” he bellowed, turning his stare on Lexi. “Except for you. You get the hell out of my sight!” He strutted back into his office and slammed the door.

  Lexi spun on her heel and stormed into her office, dumping a case of copy paper on the floor and tossing her personal things into the box. Just for fun, she opened her filing cabinet and grabbed a huge handful of client files, turned them upside-down, and let the contents flutter to the floor. She knew it would be Candy’s job to have to clean them up; if she even had a job anymore; and that with her piss-poor filing skills, it would probably take her days to get them all sorted out. She strolled out of her office with her back ramrod straight, accepted the praise or looks of pity from a few people that she’d likely never see again, and walked out the door.

  Lexi hadn’t taken two steps into the parking garage when the sleek red Jaguar pulled up and the tinted passenger window slid down. “Hop in,” Cecile said. “I’d really like to have a chat.”

  Lexi leaned down and peered inside, the words, ‘don’t kill the messenger’ rolling through her head. When she made eye contact, however, there was no threat in the woman’s eyes. She didn’t know Cecile well, but they’d attended their fair share of office parties together and she’d always been kind and easy enough to talk to. “I’m really sorry for you,” Lexi said as she plopped her butt on the warm leather. “I just found out my fiancé was cheating too, and I’m having some trouble dealing with it—obviously. I swear I didn’t know you were there—it’s not my place to bring you that bit of news, and I’m really sorry. I guess I already said that, but I am.”

  “I’ve suspected it for quite some time now,” she said, “but I couldn’t bring myself to face it. Oh hell, I’ve known it all along. She’s not the first.” Lexi put her hand on Cecile’s arm in a show of support. “I didn’t want it to be true, but I had a feeling the bastard only wanted me for my family’s money from the start. Don’t apologize—I’d rather know than be in the dark. And you just saved me from a costly divorce. Now I’ll make sure it’s Bryce who pays.” She rolled up the sleeve of her coat and glanced at her watch. “I know it’s early, but can I buy you a drink? I sure could use one.”

  “Why the hell not?” Lexi said, tugging the seat belt and enjoying the throaty sound of luxury engineering as Cecile gunned the engine and headed for the exit.

  *****

  It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but by Tuesday, regret settled in like like a flood. She didn’t feel bad about walking out—at least she could say she maintained her integrity—but she suddenly found herself with no fiancé, no job, and a best friend who’d be moving halfway across the country in just a few months. A best friend who was, unknowingly but at least partially, responsible for the mess her own life had become. Damn it. She’d never considered herself a jealous person; or a vindictive one; but the downward spiral had really started with the damn secret. Ryan lost his faith in her loyalty, lost his sense of self-worth in Dylan’s shadow, and found solace with another woman. She’d foolishly thought that her life would get better after the secret was out—she’d certainly never anticipated the landslide that had effectively buried her entire future.

  She went into the kitchen and took the paper out from the back of the silverware drawer. She stared at it for a long time, even picking up her phone twice and starting to punch in the number. Bo did have a way of making her feel good, but after the way they left things in California, there was a chance that she was the last person he wanted to hear from. Frustrated, she tossed the paper and her phone on the counter and went to lie down.

  By Tuesday night though, she was getting sick of herself. There were only so many hours a person could sit and stew in self-pity, and she’d well exceeded that. So she’d lost her fiancé. And her job. And soon, she’d probably lose her best friend. Once Tia moved out west, things would change. They’d been inseparable since they were twelve, but soon there’d be a thousand miles between them, and Tia would forge a new life for herself. A damn good one, at that. She couldn’t help but worry that, through no fault on either part, they’d slowly lose touch; which made the loneliness that pushed down on her even now feel like an ever-growing chasm.

  What she really needed to do was to reinvent herself. She needed to start looking at the possibility that there might actually be a silver lining above the dark cloud that currently hung heavy over her life. She had been complaining about the weather in the Midwest for years; maybe it was time for a move. At least if she was in a different city, she wouldn’t have to worry about running in to Ryan and his new freaking girlfriend. It was an exciting yet daunting prospect. She was still young, newly single, and she had enough in savings to keep her afloat for at least a year while she was settling into a new place and looking for a job. She pulled a road atlas out of the drawer in her home office and studied the US map. For the next hour, she crossed out states. Too cold, too hot, too crowded, too expensive, too rural…and her eyes kept falling back to the same place. Colorado. Damn it.

  She needed some clarity—some perspective—to get her mind off her issues. Finally, after giving herself a huge pep talk, she punched in all eleven digits, and hoped that Bo wouldn’t hang up on her.

  *****

  He felt so much better. In the four days he’d been on the island he hadn’t had a single headache, his arm hadn’t ached despite the vigorous workout he’d dealt himself on the kayak the past few days, and his tension had nearly melted away. The days were already starting to fall into a pattern; he woke up whenever he wanted, usually by 7:30, walked down to the beach to greet the day, and then hiked up the steep path that led to a crumbling roadway and a forest trail. It was a good couple miles round trip, and the exercise and fresh air were doing wonders for both his physical and emotional states. When he got back to the house he made himself a smoothie with tons of fruits and vegetables, a little bit of yogurt, some protein powder, and some chia seeds. He’d sit on the deck and watch the water for a while; letting his body process the nutrients, then he’d kayak out to one or two of the little outcrops that dotted the bay. It took him a while to get the rhythm right with the vessel; the first day he came back soaking wet from leaning too much with his body as he tried to steer the thing; but he was really getting the hang of it now. It was an incredible feeling, being so close to the surface of the water and skimming silently across its glassy surface. Twice he’d seen harbor seals almost close enough to touch, and he’d followed the flight of a bald eagle back to its enormous nest in a dense clump of trees just above a rugged shoreline. The place was rich with life, and it made him
feel alive just being part of it.

  Usually after his kayak trip he’d nap on the swing on the deck, then take a soak in the hot tub before showering and grilling up something for a late dinner. He was barely five minutes into his soak on Tuesday when he heard his phone ringing from inside the house. That was one thing he didn’t miss when he was out in nature—he left the phone behind, and only checked for messages while his dinner was sizzling on the grill—he ignored it and sank deeper into the heat and pulsating water.

  Not another five minutes passed, and he heard the drone of an engine, the slam of a car door, and then the front door creeping open.

  “Bo, are you decent?” Joi’s voice rang through the screen door.

  Bo sat up, surprised. “I’m on the deck,” he called back, standing up and reaching for the towel that hung over the back of one of the patio chairs.

  Joi slid open the screen door and stepped out, looking him up and down. “Not only decent, but looking mighty good, my friend. You been working out?”

  Bo ignored her question and asked his own as he rubbed the towel over his body. “What are you doing here, Joi? I mean, it’s your place, and you have every right, but I thought…”

  Joi collapsed into a chair and took a deep breath. “Ah, there was a fire. Electrical, they think, but I won’t know for sure until they do their investigation. Talk about an interruption to my winter holiday.”

  “Holy shit,” he said, wrapping himself in a robe to ward off the chill and taking the seat across from her. “No one was hurt, were they?”

  “No, no,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand, “but I couldn’t salvage anything. I had to come back and regroup—get some things and figure out where I’m hiding out for the rest of the winter. It’s going to be a bitch trying to find a rental at this time of year, but my assistant is working on it. God, I could use a glass of wine. Will you join me?”

  “Uh, sure.” He took the couple minutes she was gone to recover. He’d been pretty much in isolation since he’d gotten here and aside from a quick call to his mother to tell her that he was doing just fine without her nursing him, he hadn’t talked to another person in days. In fact, the only human voices he’d heard, aside from his own when he was talking to the seals and the little crabs he found on the beach—and they were damn good listeners, he thought—were Dylan’s and Ty’s; and those were only recordings of songs to which he was trying to work out some beats before they went back into the studio. He always enjoyed Joi’s company, but it threw a bit of a kink in his proverbial chain.

  She strolled back onto the deck with a huge smile on her face; two glasses and a frosty bottle of chardonnay cradled in her arms. “Don’t look so panicked, Bo—I’m going to pack some things up and I’ll be out of your hair by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.”

  Bo grinned. “It’s not panic, darlin’; it’s just surprise. It’s always great to see you. But it’s me who should get out. This is your place, you certainly shouldn’t…”

  She waved her hand again, a dozen bracelets clinking together and reflecting the late afternoon sun. “Are you kidding? I can’t work on my tan here—not at this time of year. No, this is my summer destination, not my spring one. Whether you were here or not, I’d pack some things and make a quick exit.” She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. “Didn’t you get my messages? I’ve been calling you all day to let you know I was coming.”

  Bo shrugged. “I like the quiet here; helps me clear my head. I heard the phone ring a bit ago, but I’d just gotten in for my soak.”

  “So you’re feeling pretty good then? No more headaches?”

  “Not since I got here,” he smiled. “Something about the air, I think.”

  “Glad to hear it. What I want to hear now is that whatever’s cooking on the stove is enough for two. I’m famished.”

  “Then you are in for a treat, my friend, because those are my special recipe ribs tenderizing in the pressure cooker and my nearly famous homemade barbeque sauce infusing on the counter. I’ve got hickory chips soaking, some potatoes we can bake up, and I picked up some fresh asparagus this morning. Plenty for two.”

  “Now you just made my day,” she smiled, tipping her wine glass in his direction.

  Bo stood and hung the towel over the back of the chair to dry. “They’ll be ready for the coals in about a half hour or so. I’ll just hop in the shower real quick, and we can catch up while we feast.”

  “Anything I can do?” Joi asked.

  “There’re salad fixins’ in the fridge…you could put that together if you want.”

  She gave him a warm smile. “It’s good to see you back to your old self, Bo,” she said. “You really had us worried for a while there.”

  He kissed her cheek. “Thanks. I’m glad you’re here. It’ll be nice to have some company tonight.”

  Joi was slicing a green pepper when she heard drum beats thump against the counter. Smiling, she picked up Bo’s phone and tapped the screen. “Hello…Bo’s phone…he’s, um, indisposed at the moment…this is Joi; can I take a message?”

  “Oh, uh, I’m sorry…I must have the wrong number,” Lexi said, punching the screen to end the call and then collapsing onto her couch. “Well, there you go,” she said out loud. “So much for Bo making you feel better.” She crumpled up the paper with Bo’s number on it and tossed it in the trash, grabbing a bottle of wine from the fridge and yanking out the cork. Oh God, it was going to be a long week.

  Chapter 37

  “Oh my,” Tia breathed as they turned another bend in the road and the house came into view for the first time. They’d rolled through a winding wooded drive, past the “Big D Ranch,” sign and through an ornate gate that opened when Dylan hovered his finger over a print reader. She’d expected the place to be magnificent, but she wasn’t prepared for the incredible structure that would become her new home.

  “Welcome home, baby girl,” Dylan said, stopping in the curved driveway. Tia was out of the car before Dylan could even undo his seatbelt, and she just stood and stared at the immense log cabin with floor to ceiling windows and wrap around decks.

  “This is a house?” Tia joked as Dylan reached her and wrapped his arm around her waist. “I would’ve guessed ‘hotel,’ or ‘ski lodge,’ but not house.”

  “Home sweet home,” Dylan replied with a half-smile. “I have a makeshift studio here, and some rehearsal space, so when we’re getting ready for the tour, the guys come stay here. Believe me, it doesn’t seem so big when they’re all here taking up space.” He swept her into his arms and carried her toward the walkway that led to the front door. “I know it’s not official, but I’m planning some consummating in the very near future, so…”

  Tia threw her arms around his neck and giggled, kissing the tip of his nose. “Funny, I was thinking exactly the same thing.” They hadn’t been together in nearly a month, and she’d been thinking a lot about making love for the first time in what would be their marriage bed.

  Dylan turned the knob and swung open the unusually tall front doors, setting her down to stare gape mouthed at the interior. She was only in the foyer, but a sparkling chandelier hung on an incredibly long chain from three stories up, passing two levels along the way that looked over the entryway. Dylan put his hand at the small of her back and led her into the living room and her breath caught immediately. It wasn’t the three story stone chimney or the view of the mountains through the enormous windows that caught her eye first; it was the painting that Kelley had given her at Christmas hanging over the fireplace that took her breath away. It was perfectly at home there among the rustic stone, as the vineyard had been staggered on a hill with vines separated by stone much the same color. It was at home there, and instantly, Tia knew she would be, too. “It’s perfect,” she smiled, pulling Dylan into her arms and resting her head on his chest. “I don’t need to see anymore to know that I’ll love it.”

  “I can’t tell you how relieved I am to hear that,” Dylan smirked, scooping up her leg
s to cradle her in his arms again. “I was worried I was going to have to do the whole five dollar tour before I got you to our bed.”

  “The tour can wait,” she winked, “take me to our bed.”

  It was good to be home. Even better, it was good to have Tia home. Life on the road wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, and although they were making a base in Chicago, after months in hotel rooms and tiny trailers, it was good to be in his own bed, especially with the love of his life opening her arms to him. Ah, how many times had he imagined her right here, her dark hair splayed over his pillow, languid limbs awaiting his caress? “So beautiful,” he said softly as he ran his hands up from her waist to the curve of her breasts, releasing the buttons of her blouse with one hand while running the other through her her hair.

  Tia’s lips parted slightly and her eyes rolled back as he slipped his hand beneath the fabric and stroked a nipple with the pad of his thumb. He separated the fabric and unhooked the clasp of her bra, gently kneading the flesh and taking one of the hardened nubs between his lips. He felt her moan resonating in her chest, and pulled away just long enough to tug his shirt over his head so that he could press against her body.

  “I missed you,” she smiled as she nuzzled his neck and raked her fingernails gently down his bare back.

  “Prove it,” he murmured back, sliding his hand down to undo the button on her jeans. She lifted her hips to shrug out of them, and he quickly slipped out of his own, tossing the clothing to the floor and stretching out beside her.

  She took his hand and kissed each of his fingertips, taking the middle finger into her warm mouth before moving it between her legs and pressing his hand against the heat of her mound. He moved his hand upward until he found the velvet folds, his own growl vibrating in his throat as he slid into her drenched opening. “I’ll take that dare,” she smiled, reaching down and wrapping her hand around his urgency, gently stroking the tip with one finger.