by Reese Ryan
“There really should be a doorman in the garage, too.” Lucinda followed Miles and Kari up the stairs.
Miles groaned, more from carrying his mother’s leaden luggage than her remark. “This way.”
He turned right down the long, slender open hallway that led to the three spare rooms. Two were decorated as lovely guest accommodations. The third was a sitting room for the guests. He nodded toward the larger room—the one with two large windows and plenty of light spilling through them. “That’s your room, Mother.”
He rolled his mother’s luggage into the room and watched as she opened the closet and inspected it, then pushed her hand against the bed to check its firmness.
“This will do nicely,” she said.
“I’m glad it meets with your approval.” Queen Lucinda. He’d almost snarled the words.
“You don’t have to be a smart aleck about it. I said I liked it, didn’t I?” She looked at her son with feigned innocence.
“You did. And thank you.” He kissed her cheek. “I’m glad to see you. I really am.”
Miles turned and closed the door behind him. It was almost true.
Chapter Eighteen
Jamie and Lisa walked across the bridge above the little brook flowing through the Irish Cultural Garden. Archie poked his nose into some plants growing along the sidewalk.
“So he jetted on you, just like that?” Lisa—who was far more indignant about the situation than Jamie—snapped her fingers.
“Shit happens.” Jamie shrugged. “It’s no big deal.”
“Hmm...” Lisa wound Archie’s leash around her hand, seemingly unconvinced. “You’d better not be eating poop,” she scolded the little dog, who refused to acknowledge her. She turned her attention to Jamie again. “You believe him?”
“You’re such a little shit-starter.” Jamie pointed a finger at her friend. “First you’re upset because I won’t do the guy. Now that I am, you’re telling me I shouldn’t trust him.”
“I’m not trying to make trouble.” Lisa stopped and looked at Jamie. “And let’s get real here. This stopped being about ‘doing’ the guy two months ago. You like this guy. A lot. Like, a lot a lot. Almost like—”
“You don’t have to be so dramatic.” Jamie held a hand up. “I get it. And yes, I like him. So what?”
“Are you fucking kidding me? This is huge. You go through men like toilet paper.”
“That’s gross.” Jamie shuddered, trying to shake the visual from her head. “And I’m not that bad. I just know what I want, what I don’t and when it’s time to move on. What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing.” Lisa tugged on Archie’s leash. “If that’s what works for you. And it always has. Until now. Now you’re in a whole different space. I’m worried about you. You’ve been quiet this past week. Everything okay?”
Jamie shrugged. “Everything’s fine.”
Lisa raised her super-thin eyebrow and poked out her full lips.
“Really. I am.” Jamie turned to watch the cars flying down Martin Luther King Boulevard, well above the twenty-five-mile-per-hour speed limit.
“You’re fucking lying.” Lisa shoved Jamie’s shoulder with her own. “What’s really going on?”
Jamie zipped her jacket, winding her scarf tightly around her neck. “Jo dropped by my place. Been in a bad mood ever since.”
“She’s pretty determined to make you forgive her.”
“She can’t make me do anything. That’s the point. I can’t seem to get her to understand that. Three visits and a couple of confessions don’t make us a real mother and daughter.”
Lisa stopped and eyed her friend. “What kind of confessions?”
Jamie shook her head, looking at the ground. “About how she grew up. That her parents were shitty, too.”
“She’s building a case for your forgiveness. What’d you say?”
Jamie thought momentarily about telling Lisa the truth, but she couldn’t. Rather, she chose not to. She wasn’t worried about Lisa’s perception of her changing. After all, she’d had her share of run-ins with shitty guys. Lisa had been enrolled in a top university and was an honor roll student. The roofie in her drink at a frat party, and a subsequent gang-rape that she barely remembered, had completely derailed her life. She’d dropped out and started waitressing. She’d moved three times since then. So it wasn’t that Lisa wouldn’t understand. Jamie just didn’t like the idea of being cast as a victim, of people feeling sorry for her.
“I told her that having awful parents of her own should’ve made her a better mother, not a worse one.”
Lisa nodded. “Rarely works out that way. People get trapped in a cycle of pain. Someone hurt them, so they’re determined to hurt someone else.”
“It doesn’t make it right.”
“I didn’t say it did.” Lisa shuffled to catch up with Jamie, who’d started to walk faster. “But it is an unfortunate reality.”
“Well, I don’t have to forgive her. And I won’t be part of her stupid ‘cycle of pain.’ That’s why I’m never having kids. I don’t want to fuck some kid up the way they fucked me up.”
“Just because your parents didn’t get it right doesn’t mean you won’t. Like you told your mother, you can use that pain—every bit of it—and become an amazing mother. You know what a kid needs and what it’s like not to have that in your life.”
“Forget it. I don’t want to talk about kids. It’s not like that’s ever going to happen, because we both know I’ll never stay in a relationship that long.”
A rock formed in her gut as the realization of her words hit her. Who was she kidding? The prospect of things working out between her and the handsome prince born with a silver spoon in his mouth were slim to none.
“Do you actually believe that, or is that the shit you just keep shoveling down your throat, hoping you’ll eventually like the taste of it?” Lisa peered at her friend through stern slits, her jaw set.
“Why are we even talking about this?” Jamie gestured wildly with her hands, then put them together and blew warm air between them. It was cold, even with her mittens on. She could see her breath.
“I saw something yesterday and I didn’t know if I should tell you.” Lisa slowed down, her eyes tearing from the cold wind whipping across her face.
Jamie stopped abruptly and pivoted around to face her. “What did you see yesterday?”
Lisa bit her lip as she turned to watch Archie examining an empty cup lying in the grass. “On my way into work I saw Miles walking down the street with a girl. He had his arm around her shoulder and they were laughing.”
Jamie’s gut churned. “Are you sure it was him?”
Lisa nodded. “Positive.”
Jamie stood staring at the line of cars stuck behind an older female driver who was actually doing the speed limit on the one-lane road. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, her mouth suddenly dry.
“You okay?” Lisa touched her arm, bringing her back.
“I’m fine.” Jamie took off again, arms swinging as she walked.
Lisa and Archie scrambled to keep up with her. “I knew you’d want to know, but I was afraid to tell you. I know how much you like him.” Lisa’s words came out so hurried and with such force they seemed to slam into one another. “And of course, we don’t know the whole story. I mean, I have friends I kiss.”
“He kissed her?” Jamie halted and jerked her body toward Lisa’s.
“Not on the mouth or anything. He kissed her forehead. It was kind of...sweet,” she said.
Jamie scowled and she lowered her gaze to Archie, who’d finally decided to take a dump. Lisa pulled an old plastic grocery bag out of her pocket.
The smell of Archie crapping and the queasiness she already felt at Lisa’s news combined. She could taste bile in her throat. She spit in the grass then wiped her mouth with the back of her mitten. Her head felt light. She needed to sit down and collect her thoughts, but they were at least a mile from the car, maybe more, a
nd it was too cold to sit on the ground.
She leaned over, her hands on her thighs, and tried to breathe deeply. Every muscle in her body was tense and her chest ached.
Not that she was expecting forever, or even long-term with Miles. But she’d grown more attached to him than she’d been to any guy, except maybe Ex.
Ex. Jamie sucked in a deep breath. He’d been right all along. She and Miles were just too different for it to work between them.
She didn’t believe for a second that the timing of Miles’s dalliance with a mystery woman was a coincidence. Less than a week ago she’d told him her darkest secret, and he’d said he... Jamie snatched her hand out of her mitten and swiped the corner of her eye with the back of her hand. He’d said he was falling for her. Was it a manipulative attempt to keep her from dumping him? Or had she blown it when she couldn’t reciprocate his feelings?
Either way, she’d bet that one or both incidents had some impact on the situation. Or maybe this was who he truly was.
Lisa tied the stench-filled bag and looked back at her friend, still bent over. “You okay?”
Jamie held a hand up. “If you touch me with that dog shit hand, I swear, I’ll push you into the grass, right where you picked it up.”
“Okay, okay. I’m taking the hand sanitizer out.” She swung the bag into a nearby trash can and cleaned her hands with the scented hand sanitizer she always carried on Archie’s walks. “We should head back.”
Jamie nodded and they walked silently toward where she’d parked.
Lisa slipped her arm through Jamie’s. “I know what this looks like, and maybe it is, but maybe it isn’t. Give the guy a chance to explain, okay?”
She nodded, her eyes squinting against the cold air assaulting her eyelids, and the warm tears behind them.
* * *
Miles could hear his mother’s and sister’s voices. They’d returned from the half day of treatments he’d booked for them at a local spa so he could catch up on his sleep. He climbed out of bed, got dressed, brushed his teeth and joined them.
“That was just what the doctor ordered. Thank you, son.” Lucinda kissed him on the cheek, careful not to transfer lipstick to his skin.
“Yeah, thanks, bro. You have no idea how much I needed a massage.” Kari kissed her brother on the cheek then whispered in his ear. “Even if you were just trying to get rid of us for a few hours.”
His lips pursed, but he didn’t respond. He turned to his mother. “You look rested and ready for a night on the town.”
“I am.” She patted her hair. “I got lots of rest while you and your sister were at that Rock and Roll place yesterday. But son, there is one thing I’ve been meaning to ask you...who’s the girl?”
“What girl?” Miles froze, one foot suspended in the air for a beat, before continuing to the kitchen to get himself a glass of orange juice.
“While you two were gone I gave myself a little tour of the house.” Lucinda followed him into the kitchen. “I found these in your office.”
She handed him a stack of photos he’d printed. Pictures of Jamie. None of them were indecent exactly, but she wore very little clothing. The gorgeous smile she so rarely revealed was on full display, as were her kaleidoscope of brilliantly colored tattoos.
Shit. He’d wanted to tell his mother about Jamie on his terms. Preferably as he was driving her back to the airport.
“Oh, Jamie,” he said. Everybody knows Jamie.
“And who, pray tell, is this Jamie person? And doesn’t the girl own a piece of paper? Does she need to write everything on her body?”
His nostrils flared and he could feel heat rising in his chest. Jaw tight, he glared at Lucinda as he ground his back teeth. So much for a peaceful week together. He opened his mouth to respond, fists clenched at his side, but his sister stepped in between them. Catching him off guard, she pried the photos from his hand. “Va va voom. She’s a looker.”
“What, are we in the forties?” He reached for the photos, but his sister yanked them out of his reach.
“She’s pretty hot and pretty naked. I wonder what you were wearing during all of this?” She raised her eyebrows up and down, laughing.
“Not much,” Lucinda offered.
“Oh...guess she’s right about that one.” Kari held up a photo Jamie had taken of him with a sheet draped strategically across his body.
“So who is she?” Lucinda repeated. “And why haven’t we heard about her?”
“Because you haven’t even met her yet and already you’ve got your claws out.” He gritted the words out through clenched teeth, ignoring the feigned hurt look on her face. “Besides, we’ve only been seeing each other for a few months, and—” The buzzer sounded. It was Karl down in the lobby. He crossed the great room and pressed the intercom button on his phone. “Yes, Karl.”
“Mr. Copeland, Miss Charles is on her way up to see you and she doesn’t look very happy.”
Miles’s face grew hot. He swallowed. “Thank you, Karl.” He turned toward his mother, his arms folded across his chest. “Looks like you’re going to get a chance to meet her.”
There was a pounding at his front door. He took a deep breath and opened it. Unhappy was a gross understatement. Her normally gorgeous face was pulled into a tight scowl that had him wondering if flames would start spewing from her mouth. She was pissed, though he hadn’t a clue why. He forced a smile and tried to warn her, but she pushed past him.
“Miles, what the—” She stopped when she caught a glimpse of Lucinda standing in the great room, her arms folded over her chest as she looked down her nose at Jamie.
“Jamie, hon, I’d like you to meet my mother, Lucinda, and my sister, Kari.” Miles placed a gentle hand on her back as he used the other to indicate his mother and sister, respectively.
“Oh. Hi. I mean, hello. It’s very nice to meet you both.” Jamie cleared her throat then pressed her lips into a smile.
“You, too, dear. In fact, we were just viewing some of the pictures my son took of you.” Lucinda smirked with one perfectly drawn-on eyebrow raised. “You’re quite photogenic.”
Jamie turned a shade of red so deep he thought her head might explode. She elbowed him in his gut and whispered loudly, “You showed those pictures to your mother?”
“I raised him better than that. Let’s just say I stumbled across them yesterday while I was here alone.”
* * *
Jamie turned to Miles. So that was the emergency; his mother and sister had come to town. Why didn’t he just tell her that, rather than making it sound like he had a work emergency? Maybe he was too embarrassed to introduce her to his family.
Glancing down at herself, she could only imagine what Ms. Saks Fifth Avenue over there thought of her. She was wearing tattered jeans with black leggings underneath, coupled with a paint-smeared sweatshirt. Her hair was a mess from the hat she’d worn during her walk with Lisa and Archie and she was sure she smelled like dog. No wonder he was embarrassed by her. She looked a mess and she’d nearly made a complete fool of herself. Well, an even bigger one.
“Oh,” Jamie said finally. “Well, I can assure you that’s not something we do often. It was just...I mean, it’s not like we make pornos or—”
“Like Jamie said, we were just fooling around with the camera.” Miles put his arm around her and pulled her closer. “She’s an artist. She paints from memory usually, but sometimes she likes to use visual cues.”
She was failing miserably at the meet-the-parents game. Suddenly her relationship avoidance policy seemed like a perfectly good idea, one she shouldn’t have abandoned. She pressed her lips into a wide, tight smile that made her cheeks hurt.
“That’s wonderful, dear. What kind of paintings do you do? Nudes?” Lucinda looked from Jamie to her son.
Jamie could see Miles’s sister, Kari, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. She liked her instantly. His mother? Not so much. “I’m exploring various styles and media right now.” Jamie cleared her throat and st
raightened her spine. Maybe she wasn’t gorgeous, wealthy, well-educated, from a good family or trendy. But two things she knew for sure—she was a hell of a bartender and a skilled artist. “My favorite medium at the moment is oil painting but I’ve also been working on a few sculptures.”
“You didn’t tell me you were working on a sculpture.” Miles squeezed her shoulder. “That’s great.”
“You don’t know everything about me,” Jamie said in a hushed tone as she leaned into his shoulder playfully.
“I was just wondering the same thing.” Lucinda inched closer. “How well do you two know each other?”
Miles narrowed his eyes at his mother. His jaw tightened.
Lucinda smiled and launched into that phony little laugh again. She put her hand on her son’s forearm. “Relax, Miles. I just wondered where you two met and how long you’ve known each other. That’s a perfectly fine question to ask, isn’t it?”
She swallowed. Yeah. This will go over well.
“Jamie tends bar at the fantastic bar and grille across the street from the hotel I lived in until my place was finished.” He slipped his arm down around her waist. “We met my first night in town.” His face broke into a gentle smile and his eyes danced a bit.
Jamie relaxed. Memories of that first meeting made her smile, too. “Miles came in and ordered Satan’s Whiskers,” she said. “I’m pretty sure he was trying to impress me.”
Miles laughed. “You picked up on that, did you?”
“You two certainly do get on together well,” Lucinda said, her head tilted slightly. She extended her hand and shook Jamie’s. “I’m certainly glad you stopped by, or else my son here would’ve never introduced us. It was such a pleasure to meet you, dear.”
“You, too, Mrs. Copeland.” It was like shaking hands with a snake. There was no way she could avoid being bitten.
“Please, call me Lucinda. Well, we were just about to go out for a late lunch—somewhere nice, I hope.” Lucinda poked her son in the side playfully as she eyed Jamie’s paint-splashed shirt and tattered jeans. “Or else we’d have loved for you to come along.”