Keeping Claudia (Toby & Claudia Book 2)

by Suzanne McKenna Link

  “The bridal store,” I said. “I have an appointment for a bridesmaids’ gown fitting.”

  “Are you sure—?”

  “Yes.” I cut him short and grabbed my car keys. I was far too restless to stay in the house. “See you later.”

  I cried all the way to the bridal store, quiet defeated tears, knowing Bella was my cross to bear, and I would always be alone in that.

  Chapter 23 • Toby

  “This isn’t a good time.” Heidi Chiametti stood in the doorway out of place in the house where she once lived. She hadn’t invited me in. Didn’t think she intended to. “Claudia fainted when she was at the bridal store with April.”

  “What?” I made to step into the house, but Heidi extended a skinny arm, checking my entrance.

  “She’s fine, but the doctor said she needs rest. I’m here to make sure she gets it.”

  That explained why Claudia hadn’t answered my calls.

  “Would you please tell her I’m here?” I said, my patience thinning by the moment. “She’ll want to see me.”

  “You know, sometimes things like this happen for a reason.” She tilted her head, a hint of sympathy in her eyes. “It gives you time to reflect, look at your life, and figure out what you really want. Or don’t want.”

  Pops could be surly, but, at least, he was straightforward. Heidi, though, was a bit of a chameleon. I couldn’t be sure if she had an angle, and if so, what it was. Surely her pity wasn’t aimed at me. I wanted Claudia. I’d be the first to admit I wanted nothing to do with the outdated tradition of marriage, but my mother’s ring on Claudia’s hand felt like a promise, a promise that would keep Claudia by my side. If that meant going traditional, I’d forgo my ideals.

  I didn’t get to see Claudia that day, but I kept up with voicemails and texts to her: first thing in the morning, during the workday, sometimes just something amusing or interesting, and each night, to make sure she knew I was thinking of her.

  I had good news I wanted to share with her. I’d made some headway with my money situation, securing a small loan from Sal Delfino. It wasn’t a lot, but my Jeep had proved too small for most of the side work I got or the business I hoped to start. With some of the money, I bought some equipment and one of the company’s used four-wheel drive pickups. The brothers gave me a good deal. I wanted to tell her in person.

  Friday I called the office at Sterling while Claudia was working, and she answered.

  “Hey, hi. How are you?” I rambled, like it was our first conversation ever. “It’s been so long since we talked I was starting to worry.”

  “I wasn’t feeling well, and the semester started. New classes,” she responded, her tone civil but flat.

  “Let’s do something tonight. How about dinner and a movie, something easy? We can walk through Main Street and look in the windows. I know how you like that. Or we can do whatever you want.”

  “I can’t. I have a work party tonight,” she said.

  I scratched my head. “Oh, that Sterling anniversary thing? Wasn’t I supposed to go to that?”

  “I forgot about it until Monday. I don’t really want to go, but another coworker asked me to carpool.” She sounded uninterested herself, so I let it go.

  “Tomorrow then. I’ll come over tomorrow,” I promised, but tomorrow felt like too many hours to wait. I hadn’t been able to take a full breath since I’d last seen her.

  I made it to the jewelry store just before they locked up. Adele remembered me. She packaged the ring in a white velvet gift box, and I ran to the florist next door. They were closing up shop for the day, too. I tapped on the window anyway and convinced the flower lady to unlock the door by showing her the ring. I bought a dozen red roses and drove to the catering hall a half hour before the company party was slated to end. I was going to surprise Claudia, take her down to the bay and give her the ring.

  I waited in my Jeep, thinking how I’d say all the things I should’ve said the first time—how I loved the way she felt in my arms. How the sound of her laughter and the smell of her body set me afloat. How I worshiped the little noises she made when I moved inside her. How nothing seemed important when she wasn’t by my side.

  At a few minutes past eleven o’clock, people trickled out, voices breaking the quiet night. From my Jeep, I watched for her, more nervous than a guy about to get laid for the first time.

  She came out with a throng of people. Her hair was up, and she was wearing a long white coat with black, high-heeled boots. She looked phenomenal.

  The group broke up, parting ways, and Claudia held the arm of a coworker.

  Yacht club chump.

  Claudia’s hair blew in the wind, but Berger’s, probably lacquered into place, stayed perfect. He wore black, a long topcoat, gloves, and scarf, and looked like some rich Wall Street executive. Walking alongside Claudia, he was only a few inches over her heeled height, but his steps were measured and sure. The two of them looked like a well-matched professional couple. The lights from the building illuminated her face, her smile, and the sight of it made my chest ache. She’d been nothing but cool and distant with me. Berger had her warmth.

  They walked towards the parking lot. The wind gusted, trees bowing with its force, and he put a protective arm around her shoulders. With my stomach sinking to my knees, I got out of the Jeep, leaving the flowers and ring behind, and headed in their direction.

  They didn’t see me approach until I was only a few feet in front of them.

  “Toby.” Claudia glanced up at me. Her cheerful expression morphed into one of displeasure, and my back stiffened with understanding.

  I’d embarrassed her by showing up.

  The knowledge stung, but I rose up against it. I needed to get her away from Berger where she couldn’t so easily draw a line of comparison between us.

  “I need to talk you,” I said.

  “Not tonight. There’s nothing so urgent it can’t wait.” She stood woodenly.

  Berger’s arm slung across Claudia’s shoulders made me want to knock his front teeth out. The doctor extended his right hand to me like we were business acquaintances passing on the street.

  “Nice to see you again. How’s your music going?”

  I ignored him and his hand and addressed her. “You’ve been avoiding me since the—” Her eyes snapped to mine, daring me to finish the sentence. I swallowed it, keeping our secret. “Don’t make me stand here and ask you why you’re here with him instead of me.”

  She edged away from Berger, wrapping her arms around herself—equal parts protective and defensive, but denied it with a stern, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “I think you’re reading into this.” Berger stepped forward. “We’re just coworkers getting together and having some fun outside the office. No harm, no foul.”

  “I didn’t ask you. This is between Claudia and me.” I didn’t spare him a look. I was too busy admiring the stubborn set of her jaw. I wanted to seize her chin and stroke her lips into submission with my thumb, but given how agitated I was, I didn’t trust I’d be gentle.

  Berger stepped in front of Claudia, shielding her from me. “Go have a beer with your friends. I’ll make sure Claudia gets home safe and sound.”

  I might’ve kept myself in check if only he hadn’t put that leather-gloved hand on my shoulder.

  Darkness gave my bruised feelings a backhanded slap, and I gave in. I clamped onto his wrist, twisting it until I saw him wince. “I told you to mind your own business, asshole.”

  “Take your hands off me.” His face contorted with annoyance as he wrestled uselessly to loosen my hold on him. “It’s no wonder Claudia preferred to leave you home.”

  Anger surged like steam from a burst pipe. I collared his neck with my left hand and cocked my right high, fist curled tight. I didn’t care about the expensive cut of his Brooks Brother coat; he was about to go down.

  Bursting out of her silence, Claudia shrieked, “Toby, no!”

  Hooking my arm, s
he leveraged her weight against my strike. I could easily shake her off and deliver the blow. The itch to hurt Berger was strong, like a flicker of a snake’s tongue, teasing that black place inside me. Darkness, like an old friend, whispered with the familiar taste of release. I wanted to punch him, to hurt him for standing beside Claudia, for looking good next to her.

  For being who I could not.

  “Please don’t.” Her voice softened. “You don’t solve problems with your fists. You’re not that guy anymore.”

  I angled my chin to look at her. She was begging me with her eyes; I felt a shift as my anger bowed to her. I shoved Berger away. He stumbled backwards a few steps until he regained his balance.

  Claudia rushed to his side. “Andrew, are you alright?”

  “Damn bull,” Berger huffed, adjusting his collar. “Learn some manners.”

  I took a threatening step in his direction and laughed when he jumped back and collided into the car behind him.

  “Grow a pair,” I scoffed.

  Braver than Berger, Claudia inserted herself between us. “Toby—”

  I tipped my steely glare at her and backtracked to my Jeep. I threw the roses out the window and left.

  * * * *

  I wished Berger had tried to throw a punch. The moment had been left unfinished, and I felt restless. I drove over to Claudia’s house and parked out front waiting for her to come home. There would be no rest until we worked this out.

  I waited, my eyes growing heavy, until I finally checked the time.

  2:08.

  The front door opened, and Pops stood in the doorway, leaning heavily on his cane. When he noticed my car, he waved an arm over his head, summoning me. I hopped out and went to him.

  “Where is she?” he bellowed, releasing a waft of alcohol on his breath.

  “I don’t know. Haven’t you heard from her?”

  “No!” Pops hammered his cane on the floor. “If she isn’t with you, where is she?”

  Berger. The fucker.

  I don’t know who was more stressed out, the old man or me. Inside the kitchen, we snapped at each other, hurdling details about the last time we’d each seen her and/or talked to her. It was unlike her not to call, especially her father. She hated getting into hot water with him. He was brutal, but tonight, I might top him.

  Heidi padded into the front room in a floor-length white robe and matching slippers. I hadn’t realized she was still there.

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake, you two are like Frick and Frack with all this ridiculous behavior,” she said. “Claudia is a grown woman out with a responsible doctor.”

  It didn’t escape my notice that she knew Claudia was out with Berger, but my mind was racing. I was too worried to care. Headlights lit the darkened road in front of the house, and a black Lexus slid silently to the curb. The three of us stood sentry at the door, but once Claudia emerged and the car began to move away, her father threw the door open and hobbled outside to the porch.

  “Good God, Claudia! Do you have any idea what time it is?” El Capitán’s angry voice echoed through the neighborhood.

  I pushed out the door, too, more concerned with where she had been. “Were you with Berger this whole fucking time?”

  Claudia came to a halt on the porch steps, looking from my face to her father’s, like she was considering who to answer first.

  “The two of you need to keep your voices down. You’ll wake the neighbors,” Heidi reprimanded. “Claudia is fine. There is no need for hysterics.”

  “Everyone inside.” Pops yanked open the door and motioned us inside. Dismissing his ex-wife, he held up a hand to me. “I know you want to speak to her, but she is my daughter. I want five minutes with her, and then you can have your turn.”

  Though I was tempted to hurl Claudia over my shoulder and take off, I yielded to his authority and followed them inside. In the living room, while her father ranted at Claudia for disrespecting him, she stood solemn but impervious. Heidi, like me, stood quietly in the background during the exchange. When he allowed, Claudia spoke dutifully, answering him. She was sorry she didn’t realize the time, but she was fine and never in any danger. Once, she made eye contact with me. Her expression was distant, unreadable as if she’d removed herself from the here and now. I waited my turn, pacing the length of the room, my temper escalating as my imagination conjured images of her and Berger and what they’d been up to.

  El Capitán’s questions petered out, and, sounding calmer, he finished up with a final warning. “While you’re under my roof, you will obey my rules.”

  “I’m sorry, Daddy. I was wrong. I should’ve called,” Claudia said, taking his hand. “But I’m safe. Please calm down. It isn’t good for your blood pressure.”

  “Uffa.” He threw his hands up. “Do this again, and I’ll put you out on your ear.”

  Finally, Pops cut it off. As he passed by me, he muttered, “Don’t have kids. They will kill you.”

  I spun round and narrowed my gaze on him and caught him as he miscalculated the height of the first step up. He stumbled and cursed under his breath before correcting himself. The bastard was crocked. I couldn’t blame him considering he’d spent several days under the same roof as his ex-wife. A moment later, a door slammed upstairs, and Claudia flinched.

  “Are you okay, honey?” her mother asked. Claudia nodded, and the woman’s regard fell on me. “I’ll be in the other room.”

  Clearly a warning meant for me.

  I watched her leave the room, thorny about her lurking in the perimeter. “Your father must love that she’s still here.”

  “My father is fine with it,” Claudia snapped back, stalking into the kitchen.

  That couldn’t be true, but I was not the least interested in discussing it. I followed her into the kitchen. “What the hell were you and Berger doing all this time?”

  Her lips pursed, but she wouldn’t look at me. She capped an open bottle of bourbon on the kitchen table and put it away in a cabinet, resting her hands on the sink.

  With her back to me, she dropped her head. “Nothing.”

  “You want me to believe nothing happened between you and Berger? Nothing until almost three in the morning?”

  She spun around, her hard eyes meeting mine. “Would it be more believable if I told you we were naked and screwing wildly for the last few hours?”

  My heart stopped. I couldn’t breathe.

  She drew herself up to her full height and lifted her chin. “The shoe is finally on the other foot. Thinking I’d been with another guy doesn’t feel so good, does it?”

  “I don’t know what the hell that’s supposed to mean.”

  “I saw you with Leah that night, arm wrestling in the backyard.” Her nostrils flared. “She’s extremely comfortable touching you. She’s the one you were with before I came home, the one Marla saw you with, isn’t she?”

  “Are you going to be suspicious of every girl I know?”

  “No, just the ones you probably slept with.” Her lip curled with derision. “I’m right about her, aren’t I?”

  I dodged the question. “Tonight was all about you trying to fuck with me, to get back at me, for Leah?”

  “My being out had nothing to do with getting back at you. Not everything I do revolves around you.” She folded her arms across her torso. “Go home, Toby.”

  “Only if you come with me.”

  She shook her head.

  “Then tell me what you were doing with Berger.”

  “God, Toby. We were talking. Just talking.”

  “What about?”

  “Not that it’s any of your business or that you’d even care, but he’s starting a new senior residence. In Boston.”

  My eyes travelled over her face. “So?”

  “He offered me a position.”

  “And you’re taking it?”

  “It’s a good job.” She shrugged, her tone casual despite not being able to look at me.

  I leaned on the table, arching forward
and drawing her gaze back to me. “Are you planning on asking me to come with you?”

  When her eyes darted away, my body felt like it was on fire. I wanted to sweep the counter of all the shit on it, flip the table, and throw the chairs across the room.

  I bumbled to pull the ring box from my jacket, and, putting it on the table, I pushed it in front of her. “I picked up your ring.”

  She glared at it and then at me. “You’re kidding, right?”

  Chapter 24 • Claudia

  Toby and I stood in the kitchen, locked in a tense silence, the small white ring box, like a Pandora’s box, on the table between us.

  Outside, cold January gusts scuffed against the windows spurring the heat to kick on; its warmth gurgled and belched through the house.

  “You can’t be serious.” I backed away from the table. I didn’t want to go there. I couldn’t go there.

  “Why? Nothing’s really changed.” He had the grace to shirk at his own comment and correct the grievous error. “I mean other than that, nothing has. Before this all happened, we had already decided to get engaged so you could move in with me.”

  “We didn’t decide anything,” I flung back. “You don’t want to be engaged, and you don’t want to be married. You only agreed to the engagement to appease my sense of tradition.”

  His jaw wrangled from side to side. “I don’t care how we do it. I want you to live with me.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” I said. “We don’t agree on much. You don’t get along with my father, and you think marriage is archaic, like all my family’s traditions. You didn’t even want to go to church with me on Christmas. You turn your nose up at the traditions and people I value, people who will always be part of my life. We’re fooling ourselves if we think we can make this last between us.”

  “Maybe I could’ve handled your dad better, but he’s so damn judgmental and intimidating. And it’s not that I don’t want or accept your family traditions, I just don’t like being forced into anything before I know if it’s for me or not. And, as I recall, I’m not the only one who thought marriage wasn’t for them.” His voice grew soft, and his gaze wandered over my face. I could tell he wanted to touch me but knew me well enough not to. “Claude, don’t give up on me.”