Undone

by Shannon Richard

  Brendan wasn’t surprised he had it in him. Paige had said she would stay and the euphoria coursing through his body was enough to get him to do just about anything. She brought this light to his life that he’d never experienced before. He loved it. He loved her.

  He wanted to tell her how he felt, but he needed to take some time to adjust to it himself. He’d never been in love with someone before, and he’d fallen in love with Paige fast. He also didn’t want to scare her. She was hesitant about moving too fast, but she’d taken the key. And she’d gotten that same stunned look he’d seen when he’d put the socks on her feet, the stunned look that made his chest ache for wanting to see it again.

  When they pulled up in front of her parents’ house, he put his truck in park and turned to her. “So your parents knew that you weren’t coming home last night?”

  “I told my mom it was a possibility.”

  “So your mother knew that we were going to have sex before I did?” he asked.

  “She knew it was a possibility. I knew I was ready, but I had no idea what your response was going to be.”

  Brendan laughed. “Paige,” he said, shaking his head, “my response to sex with you will always be yes. Alright,” he said, unbuckling his seat belt, “it’s now or never. How do you think your parents are going to react to your staying with me?”

  “To you taking away their baby girl? You’re lucky my dad doesn’t own a gun.”

  “Did someone tell you that you were funny at some point? ’Cause you were misinformed.” He frowned at her.

  “Brendan,” she said, unbuckling her own seat belt and moving across the cab of his truck toward him. “My parents adore you,” she said, touching his face. “And you’re a vast improvement on my last boyfriend. As long as I’m happy, they’re going to be fine.”

  “So you’re happy?”

  “Very.” She beamed at him. “Are you?”

  “Happy? Beyond words,” he said, grabbing her and pulling her against him. He kissed her hard, and she molded against him, her hands coming up to the back of his head.

  She pulled back a second later, her cheeks flushed and her breath labored. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with you,” she said, shaking her head. “Let’s go,” she said, pulling away from him and getting out of the truck.

  Brendan followed her up the steps and through the front door.

  “Mom, Dad,” Paige called out.

  Denise stepped out of the kitchen and the second she saw the two of them her face broke out into a large grin.

  “Hey,” she said. “You guys staying long?”

  “No,” Paige said, shaking her head. “I’m going to change real quick and then we’re going to head over to the festival.”

  “Your father and I just got back,” Denise said. “Those pies were to die for.”

  “Hey,” Trevor said as he came down the hall. “I heard you guys are heading over to the festival?”

  “Yeah,” Paige said and nodded.

  “Are you going to be back for dinner?” Denise asked.

  “Actually, no,” Paige said, shaking her head. “I’m going back to Brendan’s afterward.”

  Brendan had never been in this situation before. Girls hadn’t stayed over at his house when he was in high school. And he’d never had to go pick any of them up at their parents’ house since then. He’d also never had a relationship with his girlfriends’ parents. But he ate dinner with the Morrisons regularly. He watched games with Trevor in their living room. It was a little weird for him, standing in front of her parents, when they had to know full well what had just taken place.

  “Oh really?” Denise asked.

  “Yeah.” Paige smiled, looking up at Brendan. “I’m going to be staying there. I’m just going to pack a bag and we’ll get out of your hair.”

  “Alright,” Trevor said, heading for the living room. “Just say good-bye before you leave.”

  “Will do,” Paige said, grabbing Brendan’s hand and leading him toward her bedroom.

  She let go of his hand when they stepped inside and headed for her closet. She pulled out two bags and set them on the bed, opening them.

  “Sit down,” she said, indicating the bed.

  He watched her as she ran around her room, filling both bags with clothes. It took everything in him not to say, Pack it all up, Paige. Pack everything you have and move in with me. But somehow he held his tongue. She needed time. Time to realize he was the real deal. Time to realize he wasn’t ever going to be able to let her go.

  * * *

  When they got to the festival, Shep and Jax were already there, along with Grace, Mel, and Harper. Shep took one look at Brendan and his face split into a grin. Even the corners of Jax’s mouth were twitching up.

  Apparently, Brendan’s previous tension had been a little bit more evident than he thought.

  They all bought tickets and got in line for a sampling of the pies. Grace kept her mouth shut, refusing to tell anyone which one was hers. They all voted for their favorite, and then walked around. All three winners of the cook-offs would be announced at five o’clock, and then the festival would end. Everyone would pack up their stuff and head out.

  The girls went off to check out some of the booths that were still up, and the guys sat around at one of the tables and enjoyed a beer.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look more relaxed in my life,” Shep said to Brendan the second the girls were out of earshot.

  “You guys play Scrabble or something last night?” Jax asked.

  “Or something,” Brendan said.

  “It must have been a pretty good game. A lot of triple-word scores,” Shep said.

  “You two just about done with this?” Brendan asked.

  “Nah,” Jax said, shaking his head. “We’re your best friends. If we aren’t going to give you a hard time, who will?”

  “You still claiming that you just ‘a little more that like her’?” Shep asked before he brought his beer to his mouth.

  “I gave her a key to my house.”

  Shep choked on his beer.

  “You what?” Jax asked, raising his eyebrows.

  “I gave her a key. And she’s going to be staying with me.”

  “As in moving in?” Shep asked incredulous.

  “Not yet,” Brendan said.

  “Yet?” Shep asked, smiling.

  “You’re serious?” Jax asked.

  “Yeah,” Brendan said, smiling widely.

  “You’ve known Paige for less than three months,” Jax said.

  “You’re sure about this?” Shep asked.

  “You’re sure about her?” Jax asked.

  “I was sure the moment I met her,” Brendan said simply.

  “Well, alright then,” Jax said and nodded.

  “I think we’re going to need another round of drinks to give your bachelorhood a proper send-off,” Shep said.

  “Yeah.” Brendan nodded, taking a sip of his beer. “That ship has sailed for good.”

  * * *

  Lula Mae got second in the seafood gumbo cook-off and Grace took third in the pie contest. After the winners were announced for all of the contests that took place over the weekend, everyone headed out. Brendan took Paige home. He made her venison burgers, which she loved, and dragged her to bed, where they spent a good portion of the night driving each other out of their minds.

  * * *

  The first chance Paige had to call Abby was on her way to work on Monday morning.

  “Hey, what’s up?”

  “I had sex with Brendan.”

  There was silence on the other end of the phone for a few seconds before Abby started shooting off questions.

  “When? Where? How many times? Was it amazing? Because he sounds like he’d be amazing.”

  “Saturday after the dance. The first couple of times were in his bed but we moved to the kitchen table at one point, then the shower.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Abby screamed into the phone.
>
  “No, I’m not. And yes, it was amazing. I still can’t really believe it. He’s incredible.”

  “I hate you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you had sex all weekend with your hot mechanic and I was in freaking meetings the entire weekend with difficult pain-in-the-ass clients, not having sex.”

  “I stayed last night too. Abby, he gave me a key to his house.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Yes, he said he wants me there all the time. He cleared out a drawer and space in his closet.”

  Silence.

  “Abby, say something,” Paige begged.

  “I can’t. I’m getting all choked up. My little girl’s growing up.”

  “Shut up. I need perspective. I need you to tell me that this is ridiculous. That we’re going too fast. That I’m crazy.”

  “Are you happy?” Abby asked, suddenly sounding serious.

  “Yes.”

  “Sweetie, that’s all that matters.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Good Enough

  On Wednesday, Mr. Adams came up to Paige’s office just before lunch and put a dozen paint swatches down on her desk.

  “So I’ve been thinking about repainting and getting rid of the wallpaper.”

  “Really?” Paige asked, trying not to smile.

  “It’s outdated. My father put that wallpaper up forty years ago.”

  “I agree with you. I think painting everything would give this place a nice update.”

  “Well, what do you think of these colors?” he asked, pointing to the swatches.

  She looked down at the swatches, examining the different colors. He had some bold reds and blues and a couple far tamer yellows and greens. There was a beige one that she positively hated and a dark brown that she just didn’t understand.

  “I think,” Paige said, running her fingers over a soft yellow, “that you should pick neutral colors. And then get your bold colors from your accents.” She looked up at Mr. Adams. “If you’re going to repaint, I think you should look into replacing the curtains and the upholstery too. Start everything off fresh.”

  “Could you help with that?” he asked, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his jaw. “You replaced the fabric in here,” he said, eyeing her blue and green curtains. “Would you be able to do it for the whole funeral home?”

  “I’m sure my mom would be willing to let me bring in her sewing machine.”

  “I’d have you do this on the clock. You could work on one room at a time until you finish. The tributes are the first priority, but whenever you aren’t working on those you could be working on this.”

  “I can do that.”

  “Alright,” he said, leaning forward in the chair again. “Let’s figure out what colors for which rooms.”

  * * *

  On Friday, Paige finally had a chance to start measuring windows. She had to figure out how much fabric she needed between replacing the curtains and reupholstering the furniture. The last room that had to get measured was the second viewing room. It was just after five when she dropped her purse on a table and started counting the chairs in the room.

  As soon as Paige was done, she was getting out of there as fast as possible. She and Brendan were staying in for the night and ordering pizza. It pretty much sounded perfect, in her opinion.

  “What are you doing in here?”

  Paige looked up to see Missy standing in the doorway. She managed to look down on Paige even though she was about half a foot shorter.

  “Figuring out how much fabric I need to order,” Paige said, looking down at the paper in her hands and writing down a number.

  “Fabric for what?” Missy asked.

  Paige looked up again. “Mr. Adams wants me to get rid of the old curtains and make new ones. He also wants me to reupholster all the furniture.”

  “Oh, he wants you to do this, does he? Was this another one of your brilliant ideas that’s going to cost us a fortune? You’re a money pit. We’ll just see about this,” Missy said and walked out of the room, her heels hitting the hardwood floor in an agitated staccato.

  Paige shook her head. She really didn’t care what the woman did.

  The floor-to-ceiling windows were the same size as the ones in the main viewing room. But there was one window on the back wall that didn’t reach down to the floor, and it had a crescent curve on the top. Paige pulled a chair over to it, slipped off her heels, and climbed up. She grabbed the measuring tape from around her neck and held it up, measuring the height of the curve.

  As she stretched up on her toes the chair teetered. As she righted herself, a callused hand ran up the inside of her thigh. She jumped and almost fell off the chair but she leaned forward and grabbed onto the wall, holding onto the frame for purchase.

  “What the hell?” Paige said turning around.

  Chad’s hand was still moving up her skirt, the other one palming her butt.

  “Get your hands off me,” Paige said, trying to pull away, but the chair teetered again and she fell right into Chad’s arms. He pulled her up against him, one of his arms banding around her and his hand landing on her chest. He squeezed her breast.

  “Careful there,” Chad said letting go of her.

  “What the hell was that?” Paige asked, taking a step back from him.

  “Didn’t want you to fall.” He smirked and took a step toward her.

  “So you groped me?” she asked as her chest tightened. She took another step away from him and her back hit the wall.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was merely making sure you didn’t hurt yourself,” he said, coming closer.

  “Stay away from me,” Paige said, holding out her hands palms up. Her pulse was hammering in her ears and it was getting harder for her to breathe.

  “Or what?” he asked, stopping in front of her. “You going to tell your boyfriend on me? You know, Paige, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. I wouldn’t say no to taking you for a ride sometime,” he said, leering at her. “Wouldn’t say no to you wrapping those legs of yours around me,” he said, reaching down and running his hand up her thigh again.

  He was repellent. Every time he touched her she wanted to throw up.

  “Get away from me,” Paige said, pushing at his chest but it was pointless. He was much bigger than her.

  “What’s going on?” Missy asked from the doorway.

  Thank God, Paige almost cried. Even though it was Missy, she’d never been more relieved in her life.

  “Paige fell off the chair when she was standing on it,” Chad said, taking a step back from her. “I was making sure she was okay. I’ll see you later, Paige,” he said, smiling at her as he backed up toward the door. “We can continue this conversation in a more private place later.”

  The menacing look in his eyes made Paige’s stomach heave. She grabbed for the wall behind her trying to steady herself.

  “What was that?” Missy asked when Chad left the room. “Are you fraternizing with more boys at work? That is completely unacceptable. Mr. Adams is going to hear about this when he comes back.”

  “Where is he?” Paige panicked, looking up.

  “Why? You want to tell him you weren’t coming onto a man while you were working?”

  “That wasn’t what happened. Chad came onto me. He—he touched me,” she said, choking on the words. “I need to tell Mr. Adams what happened.”

  “Oh, I saw what happened. I’ll be filing a report about this. And Mr. Adams left to go pick up a body, so whatever lies that you want to tell him will have to wait.”

  “You file whatever the hell you want,” Paige said, slipping on her shoes. “It doesn’t matter what I say to you. You won’t believe it anyway,” Paige said as she walked past Missy and grabbed her purse.

  Please, dear God, let him be gone. Just let him be gone, she prayed.

  Paige walked past Tara’s empty desk and out the front door and into the chilly evening, the cold having nothing to do w
ith her shaking body. When she saw that the only cars that were still there were hers and Missy’s, a little of the tension left her shoulders. Paige got into her Jeep and drove to Brendan’s, her hands gripping the steering wheel like it was a lifeline.

  She felt sick to her stomach. What the hell had happened to her? There hadn’t been any fight-or-flight response. She’d pretty much just shrunk back in fear like a scared little mouse. But there was something about Chad that really freaked her out. And he’d touched her. She wanted to go home and scrub at her skin in the shower.

  We can continue this conversation in a more private place later.

  A chill ran through her body. She never wanted to be in a room with him again let alone talk to him.

  Brendan wasn’t home when Paige pulled into the driveway. When she opened the front door Sydney came running up to her. Normally, Sydney would circle around Paige, her tail wagging in excitement. But today Sydney calmly pressed herself into Paige’s thigh. Paige walked to the back door to let her out, but she wouldn’t leave Paige’s side. She sat down and pressed her nose into Paige’s hand.

  “It’s okay,” Paige said, scratching her head. “You can go.”

  Sydney whined and pawed at Paige’s leg.

  “Fine, I’ll go down with you,” Paige said, heading for the back steps. Sydney followed behind her and when they reached the grass Sydney walked a few feet away to do her business.

  Paige looked out at the water, rubbing the cold out of her arms. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath of the salty air. She tried to clear her head but she kept feeling Chad’s hands on her. She turned back to where she’d last seen Sydney sniffing around. The sky was starting to get dark as the sun set, and not having Sydney in sight was beginning to freak Paige out.

  Two hands grabbed her elbows and Paige screamed as she jumped forward. She turned around to find a completely startled Brendan holding up his hands.