Worth the Wait (Picking up the Pieces #4)

by Jessica Prince

  “Yes, honey. Mommy said some bad words that she shouldn’t have. I don’t want to hear either of you repeating those words, got it?”

  Luckily, my four-year-olds have the attention span of a flea and they both simply shrugged and went back to coloring. With that bullet dodged, I went back to making dinner.

  Later that night, after getting the kids off to bed, I collapsed on the couch, queued up an episode of So You Think You Can Dance and got comfortable. I was in the middle of watching one of the boring ballroom numbers when my cell went off.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, babe. How’s the headache?” Lizzy’s cheerful voice rang through the line.

  I stretched my legs out and laid my head on one of my throw pillows.

  “It’s better, thanks. Sorry for bailing early on you.”

  “Don’t sweat it. I’m just glad you’re feeling better. That headache wouldn’t have had anything to do with the fact you came home Friday night looking like you’d had your brains banged out and got into it with a certain hottie contractor this morning, would it?”

  A deep sigh escaped my lips. “Really not in the mood to go there right now, Liz.”

  “Oh, come on! You can’t hold out on something juicy like that!”

  “There’s nothing to tell,” I lied. “Nothing is happening or ever going to happen between me and Brett.”

  “Sure as hell looked like something was happening to me.”

  I felt that annoying twitching in my eyelid again, accompanied by a dull throb behind my eyes. I couldn’t stand that stupid little eye tick. I’d had it ever since I was a teenager. Whenever I felt extreme stress, my eyelid would start twitching uncontrollably. I used to get so much grief about it, first from my father, then from Lance. They loved to make fun of my issue. Miraculously, after leaving Lance and moving to Cloverleaf, the twitch had diminished, only really occurring when the twins were on a rampage. But ever since I met Brett, the damn thing seemed to have come back full force.

  I couldn’t hold in my groan as I asked, “Can we please talk about something else?”

  I heard a faint giggle through the phone, “Your eye’s doing that twitchy thing again, isn’t it?”

  Damn that bitch for already knowing me so well.

  “If I say yes, will you drop it?”

  “Okay, okay. I’ll let it go, but let me just say this; if you’re face is getting all ticky just from talking about Brett, how do you think you’re going to handle seeing him around town all the time? You can’t hide away forever, honey. Not in this town.”

  She was right. And at that moment, I kind of hated her for it.

  Past

  Walking into the house, I felt that sense of dread that accompanied me every time I came through the front door of my home. I headed straight for the stairs on quiet feet, prepared to sit in my room for the remainder of the night and do my homework.

  That was what I did every night.

  Get home from school, close myself in my room, study, read, and then eat my dinner once my father had gone to bed, or he’d left to sit at some bar for the remainder of the night. Childhood in my house consisted of being neither seen nor heard. On the rare occasion my parents and I spoke, it was mainly so my father could berate me and my mother could blame me for what he had become.

  Since I was old enough to understand, I’d been told I was the reason my parents’ relationship had gone south. When they’d gotten together, it had been a whirlwind courtship, intensely romantic, the stuff of fairytales to hear my mother describe it. They had been sweet and loving with each other. They had the perfect marriage. That was until shortly after I was born. The older I got, the more disconnected my father became. He and my mother’s relationship stopped being about passion as my father became more and more uninterested. He began drinking, leaving the house and staying gone all night. I’d hear them fighting about his affairs. He’d yell at her that she’d turned into a fat, lazy slob who couldn’t keep his interests so he’d had to find it somewhere else, and she’d spend days crying over his harsh words.

  Mom lived on constant diets. She’d go days on end without eating just to lose a few pounds. At times like that, the only person she’d cook for was my dad, so I’d go hungry as well.

  All of their marital problems rested solely on my shoulders. I was told by the both of them that if I hadn’t been born, they’d still be happy and in love.

  The older I got, the worse my father became. The verbal and emotional abuse morphed into physical. He loved to take his issues out on my mother and me using his fists. I used to pray Mom would pack us up and take me away from that awful house, that she’d see his abuse wasn’t right and she’d finally have enough. But that never happened. She remained insanely in love with Dad throughout everything, never once faulting him for his own actions. It was all my fault. I was the reason he didn’t love her anymore.

  “Mackenzie, get your worthless ass down here!”

  Already halfway up the stairs, I paused mid-step and turned with a sigh. I dreaded each step that took me closer and closer into the living room. Closer to a man I hated with an intensity that no fifteen-year-old should even comprehend.

  “Yes, Daddy?” I asked once I was standing in front of his recliner. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my mom perched on the edge of the couch like the good, doting wife. As usual, she was dressed in her very best. Not a hair out of place, the makeup on her face strategically applied to cover up the black eye she was sporting from his vile outburst just two days ago.

  “What the hell is this, you little twerp?”

  He tossed a crumpled sheet of paper in my direction, causing me to have to scramble to catch it. It was a truancy letter from my school stating I’d already gone over the allotted number of days I was allowed to miss. It said I would fail tenth grade unless I made up those hours before or after school each day for the remainder of the year.

  Of course I’d missed too many days of school. There was no way my mother would have allowed me to show up with bruises on my face and body for anyone to see. She wouldn’t risk people asking questions and finding out my dad liked to hit on his wife and daughter. But I’d have been stupid to think Mom would have actually spoken up for me.

  “Once again, you’ve disappointed us, Mackenzie. I can’t believe you’d cut class and get into trouble.”

  “Oh, shut the hell up, Nancy. No one asked for you to open your fat mouth.”

  Mom bowed her head at my father’s insult, offering up a pathetic, “Of course, honey. I’m sorry.”

  I kept my eyes focused on the pristine carpet under my feet.

  “Well, what do you have to say to yourself?” Dad asked.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered, knowing that trying to defend myself was pointless. The eye twitch I’d developed two years ago hit full force as I stood before him.

  “Goddamn it. Will you knock off that stupid tick! You look like a retard!” At his words, I squeezed my one eye closed, trying to get it to stop, but I couldn’t control it. “And you’ll make up every one of those fucking hours before and after school. So help me, if you fail this year, I’ll make you live to regret it.”

  With that, he stood from his recliner to go.

  “Sweetie, where are you going?” my mother asked, jumping from the couch and following like an obedient dog as my father stormed from the living room.

  “I’m going out.”

  “Please, Gary,” Mom pleaded. “Don’t leave. I made your favorite. Let’s just sit and have dinner together like we used to—”

  “Christ, woman! Would you stop your damn sniveling? It’s pathetic.”

  I was silent as the front door opened and shut on the sounds of my mother’s whimpers. Seconds later, the loud rumble of his truck pulling from the driveway alerted me he was gone.

  My mom stomped back into the room and stood before me, brushing the tears off her cheeks. “This is all your fault, you stupid little brat. I wish you’d never been born!”

 
I couldn’t find it in me to be hurt by her cruel words. I’d heard them so many times growing up that I’d become numb to them. The only thing I was thankful for was that I’d managed to avoid my father’s fists, at least that time.

  Present

  As a rule, all single men hated grocery shopping. It was just a part of our nature, but seeing as I’d already finished my last pack of Ramen the previous night and ate my only can of Spaghettios for breakfast that morning, I didn’t really have much of a choice but to endure the dreaded grocery store.

  “My mommy says those is full of bad stuffs that’ll make your tummy hurt,” I heard off to my side as I tossed another bad of potato chips into my cart. I looked over, and then way down to see two little brown-haired, hazel-eyed kids standing next to me, staring up in wide-eyed wonder.

  I smiled as I watched the little boy shove half a cookie into his mouth. “Well, hey, there. Where’d you two little bits come from?”

  “You don’t gots no ve-i-tibles,” the little girl told me, sounding out the word vegetables slowly. It was the most adorable thing I’d ever heard. “You has to eat healthy, mister,” she scolded before biting off a piece of her own cookie.

  “Well, those cookies you’re munching on don’t look all that healthy either, you know.”

  “Mommy said we’s allowed one cookie if we be good,” the little boy said with a full mouth. “Is you a giant, mister?”

  This little boy bounced from one topic to another faster than I could keep up.

  I threw my head back on a laugh. “No, I’m not a giant. I’m just a really big guy, bud.”

  “Does dat mean you ate all your veg-i-tibles like a good boy?” the little girl asked.

  “Nah, that’s just something parents say to make little kids eat all that nasty shit.”

  “Ooooh, you said a bad word,” the little boy scolded at the same time a woman shouted down the aisle, “Cameron, Callie, there you are! What have I said about running off? Huh?”

  I spun around to see the figure of every recent sexual fantasy come storming down the aisle looking like one pissed-off Momma bear, and I couldn’t help but smile. She was even gorgeous when she was pissed off, and just seeing her made me momentarily forget that we were both mad at each other.

  “Well, hello there, beauty.”

  She narrowed her eyes at me before turning her angry gaze to her little rugrats. “What have I told you two? You stay where I can see you at all times.”

  “Sorry, Mommy,” the little boy said, having the good grace to look properly chastised. Although a part of me was pretty sure those sad puppy-dog eyes were just for effect.

  I was proven right when the little evil genius turned all of Kenzie’s attention back to me by saying, “Mommy, dis man said ‘shit’ and told us you don’t hafta eat veg-ables to grow big and strong like him.”

  The little shit sold my ass out without so much as blinking.

  Kenzie’s laser-eyed focus shot back up to me and I could have sworn I felt the skin melt off my face.

  “Oh, well, that’s just great! Want to impart any more wisdom on my kids while you’re at it? Why don’t you just tell them they don’t need a college education?”

  “Yay!” the little girl cheered excitedly.

  “Callie, no. Mommy was just being sarcastic. Don’t listen to anything I say for the next two minutes.”

  “Ah, dang it,” the girl pouted.

  “If we don’t listen, can we hab another cookie?” the boy asked.

  I was really starting to dig these kids. They definitely knew how to play to their strengths. I was willing to bet these two would give half the police force a run for their money when it came to interrogations.

  She muttered something under her breath that sounded an awful lot like “Lord, give me strength,” as she rubbed at her eyelid that seemed to be twitching.

  “You all right?” I asked, pulling her hand away from her face.

  She yanked back and scowled. “I’m fine. Kids, let’s go. No more cookies.”

  Kenzie started back down the aisle with two moping children behind her and I was hit with a feeling of desperation. I didn’t want to her to leave just yet.

  “Hold on a second and I’ll check out with you guys. Help you load your groceries up.” Turning around and bending to say something to Callie and Cameron, I got a peek of her tight ass in her jeans before she made her way back to me.

  Don’t get hard, Brett. For God’s sake, man, don’t get hard.

  “I don’t need your help with anything,” she whispered angrily once she stood in front of me. “And that includes you playing daddy to my kids. Consider this your out on having to deal with all my baggage.”

  Then she was gone, leaving me standing in the chip aisle after just confirming she’d heard every ugly word I’d said to Trevor, and wishing I was flexible enough to kick my own ass.

  My body felt like it was running on nothing but fumes. No amount coffee was going to do the trick. But waking up in the middle of the night to toddlers puking like something out of the Exorcist would do that to a person. Daycare wasn’t an option, at least for the next two days. Luckily, I’d gotten a sitter to stay with the twins, but it looked like I’d have to take the following day off, and a day out of the salon was a day without pay that I desperately needed for me and my kids.

  The last thing I was in the mood for was having to deal with a certain construction worker, no matter how good looking he was. I’d just finished one appointment and was sitting at the break room table, trying to rest my eyes before my next one when a thump on the tabletop startled me awake. I bolted upright to see Brett before me with a hesitant smile on his face.

  “Hey, you looked like you could use this.” He pushed the Starbucks cup closer and the warm aroma of the espresso nearly caused me to cry in thanks. Right then, I couldn’t have cared less if the man who’d offered it was my enemy.

  “Thanks,” I muttered, not quite making eye contact as I grabbed the cup and took a much needed gulp. “Mmm, pumpkin spice.”

  He reached behind him and scratched the back of his neck, awkwardly.

  “Uh, yeah. I heard you telling Lizzy one day that you were excited that that flavor was back.”

  I sat there dumbfounded for a few seconds, somewhat shocked by his kind gesture and the fact that he could actually remember something like that before muttering idiotically, “It’s seasonal.”

  “I figured that.” One corner of his mouth tipped up on a grin. “Anyway, I thought maybe you could use a caffeine boost or something. You looked tired. Hope it helps.”

  Despite my best efforts, my heart gave a little squeeze at Brett’s thoughtfulness. He turned to leave the break room when my mouth opened and the words spilled out on their own accord.

  “Thank you, Brett. Really. This…” I said, indicating the cup in my hands. “You didn’t have to do this. I…just…thank you.”

  He surprised me by turning back around, pulling out the chair opposite me, and taking a seat. He looked so serious as he rested his forearms on the top that all I could do was sit speechless as he dove right in to what he had to say.

  “Look, what I said to Trevor the other day was a real asshole move.”

  “It was,” I cut in, in complete agreement.

  “I was being a dick, and I’m really sorry you had to overhear that. I didn’t mean it, Kenzie.”

  I had no idea what to say so I at silently as he continued.

  “I’ve acted like a bastard because I couldn’t get what I want—”

  “What do you want?” I interrupted.

  He looked at me curiously, his head tipped to one side. “You, Kenz. I want you. How can you not see that?”

  I opened my mouth to reply but nothing would come out.

  “I guess I just wanted you to know that I was sorry, and if you’re still willing to be friends, I’d really like that.”

  “Wow, this is…uh. I gotta say this little conversation was unexpected.”

  “Well
, what were you thinking was gonna happen? A fight to the death?” he joked.

  I let out what felt like my first laugh in days. “With how things have been going between us, something like that.”

  He flashed me his panty-melting smile and stuck his hand out across the table for me to shake. “So, what do you say? Friends?”

  “You sure you can handle being just friends?” I asked tentatively, only then realizing how badly I wanted him to say yes. The fact of the matter was, I really and truly wanted to be friends with this man. I couldn’t explain it, but for some reason, I wanted desperately to keep him in my life.

  “I’ll try my best, beauty. I promise. And I also promise to keep my inner asshole locked up tight.”

  “Now, don’t go making promises that are impossible to keep,” I joked with a smirk.

  “Ouch. Don’t leave me hanging here, sweetheart.”

  I reached across the table and took his hand in mine, giving it a firm shake as I tried to ignore the electricity that zinged through my body at just a simple touch.

  “Friends.”

  “Good,” he said once I’d pulled my hand back and tucked it into my lap, unconsciously rubbing where his work-rough fingers had just been. “Now, friend, want to tell me why you’re so exhausted today?”

  I let out a sigh as my shoulders slumped. “The twins woke up in the middle of the night with some sort of stomach virus. I kid you not, it was like something out of a scary movie.” I watched with humor as he cringed at my description.

  “Sorry to hear that. They gonna be all right?”

  “Yeah, they’ll be fine. I just have to keep them out of daycare for a few days. I was able to get a sitter today, but I’ll have to take off tomorrow to stay home with them, which sucks because I really can’t afford to lose a day’s pay.”

  I didn’t know why I was being so forthcoming with Brett, but it felt good to have someone to talk about it with. It was like a weight being lifted, being able to get the stress off my chest. But his response was the very last thing I ever expected.

  “I can watch them for you tomorrow.”