by A. P. Jensen
He shot her a considering glance. “By any chance, are you feeling particularly angry at Daniel? Maybe I can write a song about you finding out he’s a cheater? By the by, what position were they in when you caught him?”
“I’m two seconds away from dropping your ass off in the middle of nowhere,” she threatened.
“Okay, okay. Maybe you could tell me about this lineman guy. Have to say, he is so not your type. Is what he said true?”
She parked in her mom’s driveway, turned off the car and stared at the house with the dim porch light on and piles of leaves everywhere. The cold was biting tonight and she drew her jacket firmly around herself.
“I don’t know what the hell I’m doing here,” she murmured and gestured to the suburbs they were in the thick of. “I left White Mist because I wanted more than this place offers. Small town life isn’t for me. Brooks wants what guys in this town want- wife, kids.” She tilted her head back against the headrest. “Maybe it’s a good thing you interrupted us. I can’t afford to get involved with him.”
“Why? You’re not with Daniel.”
She stared at him. “Did you not hear what I said? This guy wants a wife. Can you imagine me pregnant and cooking, waiting for my husband to come home?”
“No.”
She slapped the steering wheel with her hand. “Exactly! Why get involved with someone like him?”
Johnny scratched his jaw. “Because you have feelings for him.” When Regan sent him a scorching glance he shrugged. “I was around you less than a minute and I could tell you guys were hot for each other. Aside from the fact that your lips are swollen and he was nearly hunched over with how much he wants to screw your brains out, he wanted to kill me when I hugged you.”
She laughed. “So you asked if he was my brother? You’re sick.”
“It worked. He’s not like your other men.”
“My other men?” she echoed archly. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“He’s not going to let you walk all over him.”
“What?” she yelled indignantly.
Johnny howled with laughter and pounded the dashboard gleefully. “Oh my God, Regan, don’t even try to act like you’re not a control freak. The moment a guy gets too close or tries to hold onto you, you cut line and run like hell. I think that’s why you stayed with Daniel for so long. He gave you space, too much if you want my opinion. I don’t know why you’d want to be in a relationship like that but there you have it. JC was madly in love with you but you put him in the friend zone and nothing he did would get him out of there. Poor bastard. He hates Daniel for getting you.”
Regan whacked him hard. “You’re such a liar.”
He held up a hand and put the other over his heart. “I swear. Ask him.”
She felt her stomach lurch. JC was her best friend. Yeah, they dated once upon a time and she’d broken it off. Come to think of it, breaking up had always been done by her, not the men. She brushed that away. JC couldn’t have feelings for her all these years and not say anything, would he? If he’d told her… Damn Johnny, he knew her too well. She would have stomped all over JC and kept him at a distance. What the hell was wrong with her? Any emotional attachment to anyone and she started to feel suffocated and she knew why- because all these years she’d been hung up on a guy she couldn’t have. Is that why she’d taken the legit job with Daniel? To prove that she could change? All she proved was that she could walk the straight and narrow but she hadn’t felt anything. She couldn’t remember the last time she had ever been truly happy.
“You need to stop spreading your damn funk everywhere,” Regan muttered.
“Just telling some truths, you know, like how you love to jam them down my throat when I don’t want to listen?”
She stuck her tongue at him and got out of the car. He came around and put an arm around her and looked at her mom’s house. She didn’t feel self-conscious. Despite being the byproduct of a rock star father and model mother Johnny was one of the most down to earth people she knew. He loved luxury and he could be a diva once in a while but Johnny never scorned anything that came his way. His parents could care less about his existence unless they needed money and that made Johnny more human than most.
“So how did your mom react when she saw you after all this time?”
“She hugged me, brought me home and fed me stew.”
“Having someplace to go home to is priceless.”
When she tried to shrug him away he cupped her face and forced her to look at him. He saw love and confusion on her face. He sung her a few sweet lines from her favorite song by him and she leaned over and kissed him for being such a cutie.
“Hey!”
They broke apart and looked across the street. Regan peered at two shadowy figures on the porch of the house across the street. She stepped away from Johnny and threw her hands in the air.
“What the hell do you want?” she shouted.
Max came down the steps of the house and leaned on the fence. “Who you have there, little sis?”
“None of your business.”
The second figure came down the steps and Regan crossed the street.
“Wade! How did everything go down?”
Wade shrugged. “I may be getting full custody now. She’s in deep shit.”
“I’m glad,” Regan said and looked at the house behind them. “Who’s house is this?”
“Mine,” Max said proudly.
“You live right across from your mom? Manly,” Regan said.
Wade jerked his head at Johnny who stood beside her. “Does Brooks know about this?”
“Know about what?” Regan said dangerously.
Wade floundered. “We just saw you kiss him.”
“And?”
“And I heard you were driving Brooks’ car. Word has it you’re cooking for him and shit.”
She glared at her brother. “You have a big mouth. This is one of my good friends and I can kiss whoever I want.”
“Do I know you?” Max asked Johnny.
“No. I’m Johnny.”
Holly came out on the steps smoking the hugest cigar Regan had ever seen.
“Are you girls done spying on Regan?” She caught sight of Regan and rolled her eyes. “These guys are worse than women, I swear. Max, you got cheese from those nachos all over my floor. You better clean it up or you’re not getting laid for the rest of the week.”
Regan decided she liked Holly. “What’s happening Holly?”
Holly wasn’t the least bit embarrassed. She came down the steps puffing on her cigar with a leopard printed coat.
“Heard you and Brooks are getting hot and heavy. He’s a hot piece of ass-” Holly stopped dead, finally getting a good look at who stood beside Regan. “Oh my God! It’s Johnny Bentley!”
“Who?” Wade and Max said together.
Holly shoved them out of her way and let out a squeal worthy of a twelve year old seeing Justin Bieber for the first time. Holly flapped her hands and babbled incoherently. When she sang snatches of Johnny’s songs Max and Wade covered their ears. Johnny didn’t seem bothered by her horrible singing or the fact that she was nearly hyperventilating with excitement. He was used to it.
“What are you doing in White Mist?” Holly demanded.
“I’m visiting Regan.”
Holly turned to gape at Regan. “You didn’t tell me you know rock stars!”
She met Holly yesterday but Regan didn’t point that out. Two little boys came out on the porch and Holly went from a star struck fan to pissed off mother in two seconds.
“What are you two doing up?” Holly yelled.
The taller of the two boys shrugged while the smaller one inched his way back towards the door.
“We heard dad yelling.”
“That’s not a good reason for you to come down. Get back in the house before you freeze.”
“I’m hungry,” the younger one said.
Holly glared at her sons and then turned to Johnny with a
bright smile on her face. “You want to come in?”
Johnny smiled. “Love to.”
Holly linked her arm through Johnny’s and led him up the stairs to her house, waving her cigar as she talked. Max and Wade faced her with crossed arms.
“Do I need to have a talk with Brooks?” Max asked.
Regan snorted. “You called him boss the last time you saw him. I don’t think you can call him boss and still tell him you’ll kick his ass if he messes with me.”
Max frowned. “I’ll do it if I have to. I haven’t seen you in ten years because of him.”
Her heart melted. Max, typical boy, hadn’t known what the hell was going on when Brooks proposed. He would have respected her decision to say no and gone on with his life- unlike Valerie and Missy who went raving mad and attacked her. Max hadn’t found out about the proposal until after she was gone. She went up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist.
“You’re sweet but I can take care of Brooks.”
“You probably won’t believe this,” Wade said uncomfortably. “But I don’t think Brooks has ever gotten over you.”
“He married six months after I left.”
Wade and Max winced.
“So you know about Allison, huh? Well, Brooks was in a bad place after you left and-”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
She and Max walked into the house with Wade trailing behind. Warmth engulfed them once they stepped through the door. The smell of cigars filled the house and she walked into the kitchen to see half eaten nachos, chips and pizza along with poker chips and crumpled dollar bills and cards.
“We try to play poker once a week,” Max explained.
His youngest son was digging into the nachos while the other scooped up quarters and dollar bills while Holly was distracted by Johnny. The house was small but homey. She sat on the couch while Max shook the money out of his older son and Wade tried to switch the hand of cards they’d been playing. Her phone vibrated in her pocket and she glanced at the screen and stilled. She walked back outside without anyone noticing and took a deep breath before she answered the phone.
“What do you want, Daniel?”
“Where are you, Regan?” he demanded.
“Why do you care?”
“We’re engaged,” Daniel bit out. “What you saw was a mistake.”
“And how many times did you make that mistake without telling me?”
“It was just that one time. Please, your departments in chaos. Can you just come back to New York? I promise it’ll never happen again.”
She hadn’t loved Daniel but she still had feelings for him. She’d been so proud to stand by his side and admire his accomplishments. He was a good employer and hadn’t looked down at her because she was a drifter. Even when she hadn’t believed in herself he coached her through the stress and haters and rewarded her loyalty. It was the reason why she stayed in her position so long and said yes when he proposed. Seeing him cheating on her gave her a reason to back out of their engagement. She still admired him as a businessman but she didn’t want to be a part of his vision anymore.
“So that’s why you want me to come back to New York? Because of your company?”
“Of course not. I miss you.”
Regan rolled her eyes. “Well, screw your secretary again and you won’t feel so lonely anymore.”
“Regan, come back and we can work through this.”
She thought of Brooks, hunched over and aroused by her. She had been more turned on making out with Brooks than sex with Daniel. She hadn’t felt this alive, this emotional since she left White Mist. She’d shut down completely and now that she freed the bindings on herself she couldn’t go back. She wouldn’t. Why should she go back to a job that she didn’t love and to a man who didn’t love her? In New York things seemed so complicated but here in White Mist everything was crystal clear and simple.
“I’m not coming back. Don’t call me, Daniel,” she said and hung up.
She looked across the street at her mom’s house and then up at the stars. They shimmered and winked at her. She pocketed the phone and forced away the tension that gripped her. She didn’t need money and she didn’t need Daniel. She wasn’t sure what she needed but she would find it.
“Mom says you need to come inside.”
Regan turned and saw her older nephew Bobby poking only his head out the front door.
“How come you’re here?” he asked as she came in and shrugged off her coat.
“I’m visiting,” Regan said.
Bobby played with his bottom lip as he examined her. “You don’t look like Aunt Missy.”
Regan made an exaggerated grimace. “I hope not. Don’t you think I’m prettier?”
Bobby took her question seriously. He looked her up and down and then shrugged.
“I guess.”
Because he was so damn cute and serious Regan went with her impulse to mortify him. She leapt on Bobby and pressed loud, smacking kisses all over his face. He yelped and tried to run away but she wrapped her arms around him to hold him hostage. When she finally let him go he glared at her, rubbed his face with his shirt and plopped on the couch where his younger brother watched a Harry Potter movie.
In the kitchen Holly stood behind Johnny’s chair, whispering in his ear as he played poker against Max and Wade. Johnny’s eyes sparkled as he threw a bunch of dollar bills on the table. Had he been planning to go to a strip club? Regan settled on the couch with Bobby who scooted to the opposite side and threw her a dirty look. She settled on her side of the couch and dozed. At some point her younger nephew Luke curled into her side.
“Luke’s a wimp,” Bobby said with a sneer.
Luke stuck his tongue out at his brother and settled more comfortably against his aunt. Regan put her arm around him and fell asleep to the sound of her nephews cheering Harry Potter on.
Regan groaned. Damn phone. She was unemployed. Why the hell was it ringing so damn early in the morning? She cracked open one eye and found that she was still on her brother’s couch with Luke using her butt as a pillow. She dug her phone out of her pocket and glanced at it. Brooks. She so didn’t want to talk to him. She pressed the ignore button and scrolled through the texts, emails and voicemails, most of which were from Daniel, that asshole. Brooks called again and she pocketed her phone and scooted out from under Luke. She snooped around until she found a bathroom with a Spiderman shower curtain and Darth Vader toothbrushes.
Her phone rang again as she brushed her teeth with her finger. She ignored it and walked out of the bathroom to find that all hell had broken loose. Holly was yelling at Luke to wake up and change his clothes for school, Max was shoveling food into his mouth at the table and cursing when he tripped over a fire truck. Bobby thundered down the stairs and thumped his little brother on the head. Luke woke up, howling and crying and Holly slapped Bobby upside the head, making him shout and curse just like his father.
“How many times do I have to tell you not to hit your little brother?” Holly snapped and punctuated this by shoving Bobby towards the kitchen. “Eat and get your ass outside for the bus.”
Johnny came down the stairs in the same clothes he had on last night. He looked rumpled but wide awake and excited as he watched the mayhem taking place. Regan and Johnny backed into the wall as little Luke grabbed a plastic sword and charged after his brother and thumped him on his head. Bobby jumped on his brother and they rolled on the carpet, fists flying. Holly sighed as someone knocked on the door.
“That’s my ride! You two,” she kicked Bobby. “Shape up. I have to go to work. Max, you get your sons to school!”
Holly paused a moment to wave sweetly at Johnny before she ran out the door. Max put his bowl in the sink and walked over to his sons. He pulled them apart in the same gesture he used on Halloween and tossed Bobby into the kitchen and gave Luke a shove up the stairs.
“You have five minutes to get dressed, brush your teeth and get your backpack,” Max warned Luke and
turned to Johnny and Regan. “Morning.”
“Sure,” Regan said and stared at her brother. “You have demons for sons.”
Max beamed like a proud papa. “I know.”
Regan went into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee as Max forced a pop tart on Bobby and shoved him out the door. He did the same for Luke just as the bus pulled up in front of the house.
“What are you two doing today?” Max asked as he pulled on work boots.
“No idea,” Regan answered.
“Has mom or Missy seen him yet?” Max said with a jerk of his head towards Johnny who was playing with the boy’s action figures.
“Not yet. Why?”
“Looked him up on the internet. He’s huge. Mom and Missy keep up with that celebrity crap.”
Regan grinned. “I know. What’s the best way to break it to Missy?”
“You could say you’re dating him. That’ll give Missy a heart attack.”
“I could do that.”
“Well, anyway, I’m off. Can you call Brooks?”
She snapped to attention. “Why?”
“He’s called me twice. I know it’s about you. Call him, will ya, or else he’s gonna be a bitch to work with today.”
Max slammed the door behind him and Regan went into the kitchen with Johnny. They sat in silence, sipping coffee for a few minutes.
“How could you give this up?” Johnny asked, looking around at the wrecked kitchen.
She laughed. “Most people would see what you saw this morning and call the cops. You’re the only one I know that would think having a daily battle with kids is fun.”
“This is great,” Johnny said and lifted his mug that said unicorns fart.
“Classy,” Regan said.
“They act like I’m one of them,” Johnny said proudly.
She pointed her finger at him. “That’s just it! I’m here for a few days and everyone acts like I never left. My high school sweetheart is conveniently available so people think we’re just going to start dating each other again and you know what? I’m going with it. But you know what? I’m not going to let it continue because what we had in the past is gone. I’m a different person. I am-”