by Tonya Kappes
“Your home is gorgeous.” I did a little twirl to take it all in and ended up facing Clay’s mom.
“Here you go.” She handed me a Margarita glass in the shape of a cactus. “My secret Margarita recipe.”
“Mm…Thank you.” I took the glass and watched Clay in his home and how he treated his momma.
The night went so fast and my belly was so full that I was ready to crawl back into my comfy bed at the hotel with Clay right next to me.
“Thank you so much for having me, Mrs. Preston.” I offered my hand when it was time to say goodbye and Clay had gone to the bathroom.
“I think you can call me Adela.” She opened her arms and I melted into them. “Are you okay?”
She pulled me away and took a good look at me. Tears had formed on my lids.
“I’m fine.” I fanned my hand in front of my face. “It’s just that I have never met a man’s family nor have I let myself fall for a man. I’m a workaholic and I have feelings for your son that I just can’t explain.”
“I can see my son feels the same way.” She embraced me again. “No matter what happens or what you find out, I need you to know that Clay has a heart of gold. I know he told you that he loves you and he means it.”
“Find out?” I asked a little confused.
“Momma, don’t be going telling secrets.” Clay put his arms around his mom and me. He kissed the top of her head. He turned to me. “Ready, babe?”
“Don’t be too late,” his mom warned.
“I won’t,” he assured her before we stepped out of the door.
“So you aren’t staying with me?” I asked. My stomach fell.
“Baby, I can’t. My momma just doesn’t agree with us staying together.” He ran his hand down my face and caressed my lips with the pad of his finger. “I will stay as late as I can. But you need some sleep. Big day tomorrow.”
Chapter Fifteen
After Bobby dropped us off back at the hotel, we made our way back to the room, finished the champagne, chocolate-covered strawberries, and made love again.
Clay beamed lying next to me as he ran his finger up and down my arm.
“You make me so happy.” He leaned on his elbow, lifted his lips until they hovered right above mine. “I love you so much, Vivian Westwood.” His voice sounded tense.
“Hey,” I put my palm on his face, “are you okay?”
“Yeah.” He shook his head and took a deep breath. He rolled over on his back and ran his hands through his hair before he rested them behind his head.
I rolled over on my belly and took a good look at him. There was something nagging him, but what I didn’t know.
“Are you sure?” I didn’t want to pester him, but there was something he needed to tell me.
“I’m fine.” He turned his head and stared at me. “I don’t deserve you,” his voice quivered.
“Of course you do.” I laid my head on his chest. “You are the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
“It’s just. . .,” he paused. He put his hand under my chin and lifted my head toward his. “My momma loves you. And I love you. And it’s just too late. . .” His voice trailed off and he looked away.
“Too late?” I asked.
“What if you don’t talk them into keeping Brilliance at the Lady B? I’m going to have to find another job and then. . .” He wagged his finger between us. “How is this going to work?”
“We will make it work. I love you.” My heart quickened. It hurt. It felt like he was breaking my heart when I knew he was only scared like me. “I’m scared too, but we will always have each other. I love you.”
His phone buzzed from the side table. I rested my head on his chest, listening to his heart thundering against my ear as he reached over and looked at his phone.
“Babe, I’ve gotta go.” He lifted up a bit, causing me to move my head.
I lay on my back as he got up and got dressed.
“It’s late and you have to have sleep.”
There were barely any other words spoken between us before he gave me a goodnight kiss and left.
He was right. It was after midnight and I still hadn’t gotten the presentation all put together. I glanced over at my suitcase and all the documents, papers, and video that needed to be in some sort of order.
“Gee.” I sighed and pulled on some clothes.
I would get a few things together before I went to bed, but I needed a drink of water.
I headed down to the lobby to grab a water from the vending machine. The courtyard was illuminated by the full moon, causing me to stop.
“Beautiful isn’t it?” Bella asked.
“Oh,” I smiled and walked over to the fountain. “I didn’t see you there. How are you?”
“I’m fine.” Her face was firm. Her voice was shaky. “But I have to tell you something about Clay Preston.”
“Okay.” I took a seat next to her as she patted the space. “You are making me a little nervous.”
“Listen, it’s no secret around here about my engagement.” She took a deep breath.
“Engagement?” I asked.
“Yes. Clay and I were engaged and our wedding was supposed to be two weeks ago.” She looked down and played with the fingers in her lap. “He didn’t show up. So, call this revenge or whatever, but you really do seem like a nice girl and I don’t want the same to happen to you.”
“You and Clay?” I tried to swallow the knot that had collected in my throat, only it was so big I thought I was going to choke and die. I sucked in a lot of air through my nose and blew a stream of air out my mouth.
“Yes.” Her voice was low. “But that is not what is bothering me. He is the manager of Infiniti Farms and went undercover to see what the Lady B was doing to get the Sheikh.”
“What?” Memories of making love to Clay were pure and clear. Him saying he loved me haunted my head and I clung to his words like a life preserver in a stormy sea.
Bella pulled out her phone and showed me a string of pictures of them. Them at engagement parties, wedding showers, his mom, him in Infiniti clothing, and them kissing.
Seeing his arms wrapped around her made me more sick than seeing him in the enemy’s clothes.
“He is going to take the Lady B down and he doesn’t care who he hurts along the way.” She slipped the phone back in her pocket.
His momma’s words rang in my head “no matter what happens.” Images of his fancy truck that no regular farm hand could afford started to make sense. He knew too much about the industry to be just a horse breaker.
“I think I’m going to be sick.” I put my hand over my mouth.
“I’m sorry.” Bella stood up. Slowly she walked away without another word.
Dizzy, scared, and sick, I ran back to the room. My chest heaved up and down.
“You!” I screamed and glared at my image in the bathroom mirror “How did I let him in? You are so stupid!” I yelled at myself.
Anger quickly replaced the hurt as I looked at my body that I let him have.
“You asshole! I gave you all of me!” I ran to the bedside table and grabbed my phone. “I’m going to show you!” I scanned for his phone number.
Something stopped me before I dialed.
“Hello? Vivian?” Luvie sounded dead asleep. I sniffled. “Oh my God, Vivian? What’s wrong?”
“Clay. . .” I gasped and broke down into the cry I didn’t want to have. “He. . .he is a spy for Infiniti Farms.”
Tears blinded me as I choked on my own voice.
“Calm down. Calm down,” she urged. Her voice was muffled as she told Jase everything I had just told her. “Something is wrong. That can’t be right.”
“No, it’s right.” I wept out loud, rocking back and forth. “I’ve seen pictures. Oh my God!” I began to dry-heave.
“Viv, please, please stop,” Luvie cried from the other end of the phone. “Jase, she’s getting sick.”
I heard him say something to Luvie.
“V
iv, I’m calling Daddy. He will have someone come get you now!” Luvie screamed in the phone. “That sonofabitch!”
“Wait.” I tried to gather my wits. “He was engaged. He was getting married a couple weeks ago and didn’t show up at the wedding.”
“He is a slimeball!” she screamed even louder. “Vivian! I think Birdie is there! I’m calling her to come get you.”
“She is,” I confirmed. “I saw her at the farm today. Can you tell her to come get me at the hotel and take me to the airport?”
There was no way I could stay here a minute longer. Nor could I call Bobby to pick me up. These good ole boys seemed to be sticking together.
“Get your shit together or leave it. We can replace it,” Luvie instructed me. “What do you mean by spy? What is going on with the Lady B really?”
In a brief few sentences, I filled Luvie in on what was going on with the Lady B and how her father sent me to Marfa to save the farm.
“You’re saying that Birdie and the Sheikh are going to move Brilliance to Infiniti?” Luvie caught on quick. “Over my dead body. You get whatever you want to bring home and go outside the hotel and wait for Birdie. And Viv, don’t you dare call that asshole. Let him figure out you left. Do you understand me?”
“Yes,” I whispered. My head was going in a million different directions as I looked at the empty spot in the bed he had filled just a few minutes ago.
“I’ll arrange for Daddy to get you a plane.”
Just like Luvie had instructed me, I grabbed my suitcase and briefcase and waited outside the hotel. Within a few minutes Bobby pulled up in his taxi with Birdie in the back.
Her black spiked hair from when I first met her a couple years ago was long gone and had grown out past her shoulders. She had on her usual camo print, but in a cute capri pant that was tapered at the ankle. She wore a black cardigan to make it a little more dressy.
“Those mother. . .,” Birdie murmured some explicative. “There is no way Infiniti Farms is going to get away with this shit. I can swear to you on that.”
“Hi, Vivian.” Bobby’s lips were pinched.
“You!” I shook my finger at him as he put my suitcase in the back of the car. Birdie grabbed my briefcase and stuck it in the back of the cab with her.
“Listen, I had no idea what was going on.” He put his palms up. “When we dropped you off at the hotel, he informed me that he was going to be giving his notice at Infiniti and that he loved you.”
I glared at him.
“Bullshit!” I spat before I got into the back of the cab with Birdie. “He is a spy and trying to bring down the farm I work for. He is a slimeball and so are you!”
Birdie grabbed me and pulled me to her as she stroked my hair. The feel of his arms, his body on and in me whispered in my memory. I shivered at the vivid recollection of how I gave myself, all of myself, to him.
“He did all that ‘darlin’, babe, sweetie’ shit and I let him,” I sobbed.
“Shhh.” Birdie patted me and did the best she could to comfort me. “If my husband thinks he is going to go with a low-down dirty farm like Infiniti, he will not have a wife.”
Bobby tried to say something, but Birdie cut him off quickly. Before I knew it, I was on a plane and back in Kentucky.
Chapter Sixteen
My eyes hurt at the sight of the sunlight streaming into my bedroom window. I groaned and rolled to the other side.
“Are you okay?” Luvie sat in the chair on the far side of the room.
The daylight brought my reality to light. The heartache alive.
“Ohmygod!” I jumped up and ran to the bathroom. There was nothing left in my stomach to get rid of, but my body insisted that there was.
My phone rang.
“Don’t answer it!” I screamed out knowing it was Clay at the other end.
“Listen here you sonofabitch,” Luvie didn’t bother listening to me. “You stay away from Vivian. As a matter of fact, you stay the fuck out of Kentucky or I will have you killed! Do you hear me?” she screamed with venom I’d rarely seen from her.
I made my way back into the bedroom and crawled back in bed, pulling the covers over my head.
“I’m turning this off.” Luvie put the phone in the drawer of the bedside table. “You don’t need that distraction.”
She took the matches out of the drawer and lit the candle. She picked up the glass of water and handed it to me.
“Please take a drink,” she said in a low voice before she sat down on the bed next to me. “We will get through this,” she assured me, though I didn’t believe her. “Your momma is worried sick.”
“Who told her?” I asked.
“You know my mom tells her everything. Like they are sisters.” Luvie was right. Mom and Lucia were thick as thieves. There wasn’t a secret between them. “Dad is livid. But at least he came clean with us about the farm.”
“I’m glad.” I managed a slight smile. “He was so worried. I’m sorry I couldn’t save the farm.”
Regret was a bitter pill to swallow.
There was a knock at the door, before someone just let themselves in.
“Honey?” Momma’s voice echoed into the loft. “I brought you some breakfast.”
I didn’t have the energy to respond. She didn’t wait for a response. Her feet shuffled up the stairs and into the room.
Her eyes dripped with worry; the lines on her face were deep with angst. She held a big tray of food with a long-stemmed sunflower in a bright red vase.
I eased myself up to sitting. Luvie fluffed the pillows behind me. Momma eased herself next to me after she put the tray on the table. She ran her hands along my hair and tucked it behind my ear.
“I’m sorry.” Her words were sincere and exactly what I needed to hear. I flung myself forward and melted into her for what seemed like an hour.
Finally, I took a deep breath and peeled myself out of my momma’s nurturing lap.
“I’m done with this.” I swallowed. “I have never let a man make me feel like this and I won’t let it happen now. I have my whole life ahead of me.”
Momma and Luvie stepped back as I put one foot on the ground and then the other.
“With or without Brilliance, I’m going to help Leonard save this farm.” I took another deep breath and walked into the bathroom where I took a hot, long shower and let the water melt away the last remains of Clay off my body.
“Why don’t you take the day off?” Luvie asked through the bathroom door.
As strong as I was trying to be, tears poured down my cheeks. I couldn’t even bear to look in the mirror. It was definitely going to be a baseball hat kind of day with a laying-low style.
I took a deep breath and straightened my shoulders. “I’ll be fine,” I called out in the best confident voice I could muster up.
“She doesn’t need to work,” I heard Luvie tell Momma.
“It’s how she copes.” Momma knew me best. “She needs to be with those horses. Comet. And that pond she escapes to.”
The pond.
How was I ever going to be able to go back there? My little oasis was no longer a good memory for me. I forced the images that played like an old movie to become blurred, distorted. They had to be locked away. Far away.
My wet ponytail dripped down my back. I tucked my towel around me and opened the bathroom door. The steam from the shower rolled out like the fog rolled over the Lady B.
“Are you sure?” Momma had already put a Lady B polo shirt on the bed with my favorite pair of jeans and my boots on the floor.
“I’m positive.” I picked up the new truck keys on the side table. “I’m going to give Leonard the keys back. I don’t need that big truck. It is uncomfortable for me to drive. It’s not me.”
“Okay, honey.” Momma helped dry off my back. Her loving mothering hands were exactly what I needed to give me the confidence I needed to call a Lady B meeting.
I picked up my phone and turned it on. Before I let the messages ding in, I
quickly sent a group text.
Please meet me at the ring in thirty minutes for a quick meeting~Viv
A message scrolled across the top from Clay before I could hit send. The words I’m sorry stood out like a sore thumb, followed up by I LOVE YOU in all capital letters.
I refused to give him any more time than I already had. It was a proven waste of time.
“Here.” I dropped the phone on the bed. “Get rid of this phone and please get me a new one with a new number.”
Luvie quickly grabbed it up and scrolled down.
“Are you sure you don’t want to hear what he has to say?” Luvie asked.
My eyes slid over to her, my brows hooded. “Are you kidding me?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I just keep remembering how he looked at you, treated you. . .”
“You forget he was trying to take down your family’s livelihood. Every fucking thing your father has worked so hard to give you!” I screamed and shoved my feet in my boots. “You can be such an ungrateful bitch!”
I ran down the stairs and plucked the old truck keys off the counter.
Anger boiled inside of me. The breeze from the open truck windows whipped around my face as the truck flew over the hills. I wanted the crazy shit going on in my life to drift right out of the windows but seeing my staff gathered around the ring only made the reality more of that. . .a reality.
I threw the truck in park. Leonard didn’t even look up at me.
“Thank you for sending a plane for me.” I took him by the hand. Guilt. “I’m sorry I failed you. I’m sorry I let my heart ruin everything you have worked for.”
“No. You would never disappoint me, kiddo.” Leonard hugged me. “You did all you could do.”
“Oh no.” Grace lifted her hand to her mouth. “You didn’t get the Sheikh to come to his senses?”
“That is why I called this meeting.” I tried to look everyone in the eye, but I couldn’t stand to look at Earl. He had spent his life building what took me a couple days to tear down. “Unfortunately, the meeting didn’t go well. In fact,” I paused. Disappointment settled on their faces. It would have been a good time to rat out Clay Preston, but it just didn’t matter at this point. “I came home last night.”