by J. Kenner
“Then work them out with him. I mean, come on, Mom. This is my dad.”
Eva sighed, and stopped packing, her attention focused entirely on her daughter. “I know. And I know that you’d thought you were getting the fairy tale. Honestly, I thought I was, too. But that’s not the way the story’s turning out. Your father loved his wife. Really loved her. And that’s wonderful, but it’s also confusing for him. And it only makes it harder for him when I’m here.”
“Sounds like a cop-out to me.”
Eva shook her head. “No. No, it’s not like that. I don’t want to leave. I love him. I love him more than I did before you were born, and there’s not much I wouldn’t give to stay here with him.”
“Then stay.” Elena wasn’t crying, but her voice sounded thick with coming tears.
“I said there wasn’t much. But I won’t give myself. I won’t settle. I did that before, and I’m not going to do it again.”
Elena licked her lips. “But it’s Daddy.”
“Oh, baby,” Eva said, as she lifted the duffel onto her shoulder. “Whatever Tyree Johnson is to me, I swear he will always be your daddy.”
A tear trickled from her daughter’s eye, and Eva forced herself to stay strong. She leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I’m going now,” she said, then hurried into the living room and toward the front door, intending to go down to the street and wait for her ride share.
Instead, she opened the door and found Tyree.
“You’re leaving?”
Eva turned, shooting a frustrated glance toward the bedroom. And toward the daughter inside who’d been fiddling—apparently texting—on her phone.
“We both know it’s best, Tyree. And it doesn’t have to be goodbye. We can talk later. But you need space.”
He stepped into the apartment, forcing her to either hold her ground or take a step back. She stepped back. It was just too damn hard to think when he was that near.
“Don’t tell me what I need. Especially when what I need is you.”
“Do you?”
“Eva…” His voice sounded ripped. Like by just asking the question she’d broken his heart.
She drew in a breath, determined to remain firm. “Fine, maybe you don’t need space, but I do. I need time. I think we both do.”
He took her hand, and she felt it swallowed up in the warmth of his strong grip. “Please, Eva. I don’t want to lose you.”
“I don’t want to lose you either,” she said, then saw his shoulders sag with relief. “But I’m not going to settle anymore, either.” She drew in a breath for courage. “I have a career I love back in California, and I want a man who loves me. Who isn’t afraid to love me completely.”
She touched her fingertips to his face. “I don’t know if that’s you or not, Tiger. I'd like to believe it is. But you won’t let yourself love me. Not fully. Because you think it’s dishonoring Teiko. You’re a big man, Ty, with a big heart. Did you ever think there’s room in there for the both of us?”
“Eva, please.”
But she just shook her head. “No. I’m sorry. I have to go home. Tell Jenna I’ll call her. I can come out and do all the calendar shots right after Mr. December is chosen. I’ll make it work. And Elena can do the publicity shots and I’ll clean them up in Photoshop for her.”
He rubbed his eyebrow, his expression pained. “Don’t go. Can’t we—”
“There’s no we,” she said gently. “There can’t be a we until you figure some things out.”
She kissed him gently on the cheek. “I love you,” she said. “For that matter, I never stopped loving you. And I never will. But right now, I have to go.”
Chapter Eighteen
Over two million people lived in the Austin metropolitan area, but with each passing day without Eva, the town felt more and more empty. Hollow.
Tyree sighed. It wasn’t the town, he thought, as he stood at the front window of The Fix and looked out at the dense crowd of people out for a good time on a Saturday night. It was her. Because any place without Eva was a cold, empty space.
Frustrated, he pulled out his phone, just as he’d done every few hours for the last three days. This time, though, he was finally going to call her.
Except when he dialed, it was Elena’s number.
She answered on the first ring. “Hey, Daddy. You okay?”
He bit back a sad smile. Already, the kid knew him too well. “Fine,” he lied. “Listen, Eli’s studying late at a friend’s, and you and I both have the night off from The Fix. Want to grab dinner with me?”
“You’re not working tonight?”
“Nope.” He justified the lie by reminding himself that he’d tell Reece to take over and walk out that door the minute she agreed to meet him.
“Um, Daddy?”
“Yeah?”
“Turn around.”
Shit. He did, then found himself facing his daughter, who sat having a drink at one of the tables in the far corner of the main room, with Amanda, Nolan, and Shelby sitting beside her.
“Well, what do you know,” he said. “Looks like we both hang out at the same place on our day off.”
Even across the room, he could see her roll her eyes. Then she said something to the others, stood up, and very deliberately walked over to him, ending the call in the process.
“So, I’m guessing this is a yes for dinner?”
She crossed her arms and cocked her head. “You know I’m not the one you want to be having dinner with. Call her.”
He shook his head, then sighed. “She has her life out there.”
“Yeah. But she doesn’t have you.”
“Have you talked to her?”
“Well, duh. She’s my mom.”
“And?”
“And you already know. She loves you. She’s not the problem here. I thought she was before she took off, but we’ve talked some more and I’ve thought a lot about it. And she’s right. You’re the one who needs to kick his own ass.”
He fought back a bitter laugh. Wasn’t that the truth?
She leaned in and kissed his cheek. “I’m sorry, Daddy, but I’ve already got dinner plans. And honestly? I think you need to sit down and do some serious thinking. You’re throwing away happiness and thinking it makes you a martyr. It doesn’t. It just makes you stupid.”
“That’s harsh,” he said.
She lifted a shoulder. “Maybe. But it sure looks like truth from where I’m standing.”
Tyree was dozing on the couch when Eli walked in. He did a lot of that lately. Either slept or buried himself in work. There really wasn’t much of a middle ground.
“You’re home,” Eli said as Tyree scrubbed his face with his palms, trying to wake up. His beard, which he usually kept trimmed, had grown wild. Right at the moment, he really didn’t care.
Eli plunked down on the coffee table right in front of him. “You look like crap.”
“And a warm welcome to you, too, son.”
“At least you’ve got your sense of humor.”
Tyree didn’t answer. He wasn’t sure he had any sense of humor left, actually.
“Elena picked me up after school today,” he said. “We went to Starbucks.”
“How is she?”
“Better than you, that’s for damn sure.”
“Language, Eli.”
“Damn, fuck, shit, piss.”
Tyree opened his eyes wide. “What the devil’s wrong with you?”
“There.” Eli pointed a finger at him. “That’s the question. What’s wrong with you?”
Tyree drew in one long breath, then let it out slowly. “I’m in a funk. I know it, but I’ll get out of it. I just need a little time. A little space. Everyone needs a little space sometimes.”
“Elena says you need a kick in the balls.”
The words almost made him smile. Instead, he said, “Let’s temporarily remove your sister from the role-model list, okay?”
“Do you remember the last time we went to Mom’s g
rave?”
Tyree’s head whipped up, both at the mention of Teiko and at the complete non sequitur. “Of course. That was the seventh anniversary of her death.”
“No,” Eli said. “No more of that shit.”
The words stung. More than that, they confused. “What are you talking about?”
“Anniversaries are for celebrating. I’m not gonna celebrate losing my mom. Not anymore.”
“Eli—”
“No. Listen to me. I’m not going there anymore. Not like that, anyway. Not like it’s a ritual.”
“Be careful, son.” Tyree’s whole body felt cold. Tense. “You’re treading on very thin ice.”
“I’ve been thinking about it. I don’t think she’d like it. I remember her every day, Dad,” he said, his eyes shining now. “I don’t have to go to a grave to do that. And you know what? She wouldn’t want me to.”
A tear trickled down the side of his nose. “She’d tell me I was rearranging my life for a life that didn’t exist anymore. She’d want me to stop. Like with my jeans.”
He’d been about to explode. Now he felt deflated and confused. “Jeans?”
“Yeah.” Eli nodded. “You said she wouldn’t care what I wore that day, remember? And you were right. She doesn’t care what we wear, Dad. She just wants us to be happy.”
Tyree sat for a second, his eyes unnaturally wide, fighting his own urge to cry.
“You aren’t happy, Dad.”
And, dammit, there went the tears. He drew in a wet, stuttering breath. “It’s not you, son. You know that, right? You’re the best thing in my life. You and Elena.”
“Yeah, yeah. I get that. So does she. But Dad, come on. It’s kind of obvious. And you know what? Mom would get it, too.”
For a moment, Tyree simply sat there. A little shell-shocked, the world feeling hollow around him, muffled. Like the eerie silence after an explosion. Then he drew in a breath, gathered himself, and faced his son. “I think your mom would have liked Eva.”
The corner of Eli’s mouth twitched. “Yeah. Me, too.”
He thought about Eva. About the life she had in San Diego. About how he must somehow convince her that things had changed. That he loved her fully and completely and without reservation. That he wasn’t going to give up on them, no matter what the price and no matter how long it took to prove it to her.
Then he looked at his son. “Did you mean what you said the first time we had Elena and Eva over to the house? About thinking it would be cool to live in California?”
“Are you kidding? Surfing? Hell, yeah.”
Tyree nodded, considering.
“So, I guess you’re going to have to go see her now, huh?”
“I guess I am.” He looked at his son, seeing a much older and wiser kid than he had the day before. “How’d you get to be so smart, anyway?
“Must’ve got it from Mom,” Eli said, dropping to the couch and letting Tyree swing an arm around his shoulder. “‘Cause you can be a real dumb ass.”
Chapter Nineteen
Thank goodness Eva’s work schedule was light, because ever since she’d returned to San Diego, she’d had the most terrible time concentrating.
Fortunately, Marianne had taken point. Taking over organizing the calendar, covering a few basic shoots for corporate clients, and handling the various retouching orders that had come in from past weddings, parties, and the like. Eva had trained Marianne on Photoshop years ago, and she was patting herself on the back for having made that decision.
Now, Eva was staring at her own computer screen trying to organize her upcoming schedule. She’d talked to Jenna yesterday, and they’d agreed that she’d fly to Austin in July for a two-day shoot, then again when the contest ended in early October. That way they could be sure and have the template for the calendar worked out by the time it needed to go to press.
Already, Eva was nervous about the trip. She hadn’t heard from Tyree, and was desperately afraid that she’d pushed too hard. He’d loved Teiko so much, and she knew that his wife’s death had almost broken him.
Had she been an idiot to push him? She didn’t know. All she knew was that she couldn’t share a bed with a man who felt guilty when he made love to her.
No. She hadn’t made the wrong choice. It was the right one, absolutely.
But it was also the choice that hurt.
She heard the beep beep beep of someone punching in the code for the studio’s keypad lock, and she moaned in anticipation. Marianne had promised to return with a Starbucks latte, and Eva was in desperate need of the caffeine.
“You saved me,” she called. “Hurry up and get in here before I pass out.”
“Wouldn’t want that.”
She gasped, her hand flying to her chest and her heart pounding as Tyree stepped into her doorway, then leaned casually against the frame.
“I—What are you doing here? And how did you get in?”
“Elena told me the code. Why are you going to pass out?”
“Shock, apparently,” she retorted. “Seriously, why are you here?”
“Do you want the long answer or the short one?”
She considered, decided to go for the gold. “The short one.”
“Because I love you,” he said, the words like the sweetest perfume. “Because I need you. And because I’ve finally got my shit together.”
“Oh.” Butterflies fluttered in her stomach as her pulse skittered. “And the long version?”
“That I’m not going to lose you. That I’ll do whatever it takes, for however long it takes, including moving back to San Diego if you need more time to believe that I mean it, or if you don’t want to leave your home or your job. I already lost one woman I love, Eva. I’m not going to lose you, too. And I’m not going to feel guilty about loving you. It’s not fair to you, and it’s not fair to Teiko.
That surprised her. “Not fair to her?”
“She wasn’t a bitch,” he said. “She’d want me to be happy.”
“I think I would have liked her.”
“You would have. But she’s my past. You’re my present. And my future. At least,” he added, “I hope you are.”
She came around the desk slowly, then stood right in front of him and took his hands, forcing herself not to simply leap into his arms. It was important to do this right.
“Definitely the future,” she said. “But there are three legs to this stool, Tyree.”
His brow furrowed in confusion.
“You love me. You love Teiko. And you love The Fix.”
“True?” He said the word, but his tone and his expression turned it into a question.
“I told you I’d never expect you to stop loving her. And you damn sure better not stop loving me. But if you think that I want you to leave The Fix behind, you’re sorely mistaken.”
“I can’t ask you to pick up and move to Austin.”
She nodded. “Yeah, you can. You need a whole building. I just need my camera.” She made a face. “Well, and Marianne. But she can be my West Coast office, and I can fly here when I need to.” She grinned. “See? I hook up with you and suddenly even my career has more cachet. And you forget that my daughter’s there.”
He chuckled. “Fair enough. Although Eli will be disappointed.”
Her brows rose.
“He was looking forward to learning to surf. I figure he’ll get over it.”
“So we’ll go back?” She couldn’t wait. She missed Elena and the friends she’d made at The Fix more than she’d anticipated. And though she loved Marianne, they’d still talk every day by phone or by text. And her friend would love being in charge of Eva’s West Coast division.
“We’ll go back,” he agreed. “But in a few days.”
“Oh?” She lifted her brows. “And what exactly will we be doing in all that extra time?”
He laughed. “That, yes. But I also want to walk around San Diego with you. Visit the places we used to go. I want to stroll hand in hand with the woman I love, and I
want to soak up this town. Mostly, I want to remember us.”
“Us,” she repeated. “I like the sound of that.”
“So do I,” he said, then kissed her. A long, sweet kiss full of passion and promise. A kiss that sealed the past and opened the door on a future.
Their future. Together. As a family.
Epilogue
Megan Clark paced the reception area of PCM Enterprises, still unable to believe she’d made such a boneheaded mistake. And she had absolutely no one to blame but herself.
Well, herself and Parker Manning’s idiot assistant.
But, no. Megan couldn’t pass the buck to the other woman. This had been her project, her baby, her stupid, lame-ass mistake.
All she’d wanted to do was prove to the folks at The Fix that Jenna hadn’t made a mistake in hiring her. That she actually had a brain and could help out with all of the various tasks at the popular bar. Most important, she wanted to help out with the marketing, because that was Jenna’s area, and Jenna had taken a risk and offered Megan a job, even though The Fix was on a tight budget. And even though Megan knew buckets about makeup but next to nothing about marketing.
Still, she was the one who’d come up with the idea to start advertising the entrants in the Man of the Month contest instead of just the winner. Get people excited to see who was competing against each other.
And she was the one who’d wanted to up the game a bit where the entrants were concerned. Yes, most of the guys who entered were total hotties, but very few of them were local celebrities. Which meant that very few people were paying attention. But if they could get some of the local television guys or wealthy business owners … basically anyone who made the news or the tabloids regularly, that would be a total plus. Especially if the guy was a social media draw.
And Parker Manning was about as social media centric as they came.
He came from a Texas oil money family, but he’d lived in LA for a while. He’d dated actresses, dabbled in producing, and been front and center with two successful companies that he’d turned around and sold right after they hit big.