by Scott, D. D.
“You’re damn right I’m going to fill you in.” As much as Roxy knew he’d meant her no harm, as much as she knew the way his eyes talked that he loved her and only wanted to please her, the magnitude of what he’d left her to clean up throbbed stronger than the bruise from her most recent mishap. “You left your wonderful mother in the hands of my evil, misfit maternal fuck-up.”
“Oh.”
“That’s all you’re going to say is ‘oh’?” Roxy pushed her upper body toward him, resting her weight on her hands and shoulders to ease into a sitting position. The room spun, and she swore she heard birds chirping.
“Like I could say anything that would fix this. Shit, Roxy, I forgot she was there.” Zayne raked his fingers through his hair, apparently finally digesting what he’d unwittingly done. “What do we do know?”
“Hell if I know. I suppose we’d better call and make sure they’re both still breathing.” Roxy said it then thought about the ramifications of her statement as far as Kat’s health was concerned. Lily Vaughn was a cardiologist’s nightmare.
Sensing Zayne’s unease with her comment, Roxy leaned into him, glad he didn’t pull away.
He held her close and rubbed her back, whispering he was sorry.
“No, I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sure I’m overreacting. I know you were only being sweet and giving us privacy. A luxury neither one of us have much of now.”
“I got it. We can fix this,” Zayne said, jumping to his feet, then helping Roxy stand.
He waited patiently until she had her bearings, effectively blocking out the obnoxious birds.
She couldn’t escape the desperate attempt in his voice to make things right. Taking a deep breath, open to any and all ideas to escape what she thought was certain doom, Roxy gave Zayne her full, most open-minded attention.
“Let’s pick up breakfast for them. That would seem natural, unobtrusive, right?” He paced the floor, zipping and buttoning his jeans.
So much for a recap of their nightcap.
Roxy fell into step beside him as they wore a path together into the refinished hardwood floors. “You mean unobtrusive, as in ‘we’re not just checking up on you to see who’s the stronger-willed, most wily of you, but rather just being neighborly and bringing coffee and croissants’?”
“Precisely.” Zayne stopped moving and took her shoulders between his hands. “What do you think, Princess?”
“My head hurts too bad to think period. We’ll just go with your plan.”
She took his hand, leading him on a scavenger hunt from the entryway, down the back hall to his bedroom, picking up pieces of their clothing as they found them.
Considering they had to face The Moms, providing the prima donnas had survived their initial meet and greet, Roxy and Zayne’s walk of shame took on a totally new dimension.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Frankly, even the thought of ringing her own door bell, considering the unknown state of affairs inside, scared the hell out of Roxy. Her body sizzled with anxiety as if it were filled with a string of firecrackers, lit and hissing their way to detonation.
“I don’t know why you’re ringing the buzzer instead of just punching in your code,” Zayne said, precariously balancing two bags of croissants and four sugar-free, vanilla mocha lattes with fat-free milk. “It’s your damn townhouse.”
“Listen, Buster,” Roxy snapped, using her best Rachel Bilson ala Adam Brody ass-chewing. “You got us into this mess. I’m getting us out. So pay attention. And if I want your opinion, I’ll ask.”
“Okay. Got it,” he said, not even bothering to contain a silly grin. “Would it be wrong for me to be looking forward to this in a small, inconspicuous way?”
“Yes, Zayne. It’d be wrong. Very, very wrong.” Keeping the part of her that wanted to laugh in check, Roxy glared.
She pressed the buzzer with her index finger then took a deep breath, sucking in so much air the bruise on her head throbbed back to life. She stared at the ground wishing she was small enough to hitch a ride on the big ass ant scurrying across the landing. Damn the bugs were big in Tennessee.
But nothing matched The Queen Bee answering her door.
“Hi. Mom. We thought you might like breakfast.” Plastering on a mega-watt smile, Roxy greeted the matriarch of misery.
“I don’t eat breakfast, Darling” her mother purred.
Keeping the door only half-open, her mom used her cosmetic perfect body to block the portion ajar, as if her daughter who happened to own the home shouldn’t be allowed access.
“But since you brought Starbucks, although it’s not quite Dean and DeLuca’s, I might reconsider, provided you’ve chosen non-fat dairy.”
Roxy cleared her throat and willed her tightly wound muscles to take her into her home, which now felt like an asylum for the socially impaired.
“Great, Mom,” Roxy lied her ass off then stood, waiting, anxiously looking at her monster of a mother.
Was the queen going to grant them safe passage or would they have to perform some impossible feat to gain access? As if her mother was the great and powerful Oz.
“Mind if we come inside to eat?”
Behind Roxy, Zayne coughed. Not once, but twice, evidently having something large blocking his airway.
“Zayne. Roxy, dear. I’m sorry. I was outback with the dogs and didn’t hear you.” Kat, wearing a gigantic, floppy-brimmed straw hat and without missing a beat, brushed Oz aside and greeted Roxy and Zayne with hugs. Taking the coffee from Zayne, Kat ushered them into the house. “Oh look, Lil, they brought us breakfast.”
Lil? This time, Roxy choked.
Hoping to get some sort of clue how bad a shape the battlefront was in, she looked at Kat with wide eyes. Kat winked and squeezed Roxy’s arms. At least The Moms were still alive and apparently speaking, Roxy surmised.
“Why don’t we eat in the garden, kids?” Kat suggested, opening the door to the garage and motioning for them to follow.
“I’m not much for eating outside,” Roxy’s mother, now named Lil, said. “I don’t enjoy insects touching my food or me.”
“Oh, nonsense,” Kat called behind her back, already opening the rear door of the garage into the garden. “The bugs and food issue I understand, but we’re eating under Roxy’s gorgeous canopy. That’ll help. As far as the bugs bothering you, well, not to worry. You aren’t sweet enough.”
Ouch. Kat hit a grand slam zinger.
Roxy looked at her mother, afraid of what she’d see. To her surprise, Lily kept her chin lifted, picked up her pace and whizzed past both her daughter and Zayne. Taking the hat off Kat’s head, Lily bee-lined for the canopied bistro table. Shooing Dipstick and Darling off two of the chairs, she plunked her tenacious ass at one of the place-settings.
Zayne, whose mouth had fallen wide open, was apparently too stunned at first to speak. As he handed Roxy the croissant bags and headed for the table, his face filled with deep red splotches.
“You can’t do that,” he said, swiftly snatching the hat back and handing it to his mother. “She’s under doctor’s orders not to get too much sun.”
Zayne looked at Roxy for help, begging her with most desperate eyes to do something. He tossed his hands into the air in complete surrender.
Roxy sighed, trying to steady her nerves, wishing she’d just faint. At least if she were out cold she’d find a temporary peace from the impending brouhaha.
Before she could think of anything witty to defuse the situation, Kat spoke. “Zayne, dear, don’t worry about me getting overheated. That’s more in line with Lily’s personality.”
If Roxy had a whistle, she’d have given it her all, blowing their eardrums and her mind free of the antagonistic banter. As it was, all she had were croissants. She could always pummel them with those bad boys.
“Come sit, Roxy, dear,” Kat said while repeating Lily’s attempt to keep Dipstick and Darling off the chairs. Giving up, she took Dipstick in her arms, giggling as he licked her nose. She handed Dar
ling to Zayne.
Zayne threw his head back in indignation, but eventually relaxed his shoulders and snuggled into the soft rolls of Darling’s neck as if trying to hide from the monsters surrounding him.
Roxy almost felt sorry for him until she remembered he was the moron who’d been the maestro of the mayhem.
“Let’s start the visit over, shall we?” Roxy dug around the croissant bag, serving each guest with a smile. Her false bravado, however, failed to convince even her that she stood a chance in hell of smoothing the stormy spirits taking over her Zen garden.
“I’d love to try that approach,” Kat said, passing out the coffees. “What do you say, Lil? Let’s pretend we’re friends.”
Roxy’s mother, apparently weighing her options, and for once, evidently unable to find anything better, said, “I suppose you’re right, Kat. With our children together, and with you and I working together, we should make the best of our circumstances.”
“Okay. Back up just a bit,” Roxy said, her mouth full of a mammoth bite of a perfectly flaky, ham and cheese toasted croissant that could damn well wait ‘til she got The Mom’s shit straight.
Certain she’d misheard the conversation while trying to enjoy her breakfast, she swallowed her food. Desperate to make something good out of this day, and refusing to give-up, Roxy revisited her mother’s response. “First of all, yes, I am with Zayne, and I hope he finds a better side of you than what you’ve shown him this morning. And two, you can’t possibly be working with Kat, because she works for me.”
Roxy relaxed back into her chair. But the only satisfaction she’d gained from her soliloquy came from Zayne who gave her an atta girl thumbs up. Continuing to sip his coffee, he never uttered a word. Using the rim of his to-go cup as a barrier and safety net, his eyes followed the conversation.
“Might be wise, Lil, if I jump in here,” Kat said, setting her coffee on the table and repressing the napkin on her lap with her fingers.
Shit. Roxy had seen her do that only one other time, and nothing good came out of Kat revealing the secret she wanted Roxy to keep about her health, the secret that damn near destroyed both of their relationships with Zayne.
“Roxy, your mother and I have talked, cussed and discussed actually, the possibility of her joining me at Raeve.”
Evidently taking the look of horror on Roxy’s face for what it was…sheer, unabashed horror…Kat continued, while Roxy fought to keep her croissant from reappearing in the back of her throat. Roxy shook her head and swallowed carefully, trying not to stir her rising anger.
“Your mom’s apparently always wanted to be a part of your work, but never quite known how to approach you with the idea,” Kat said, now using her napkin as a fan instead of a security blanket.
Kat wasn’t the only one at the table getting warm. Even the dogs were panting. The heat of the moment was suffocating.
“It’s true, Roxy. Your father never thought I should interfere with your business. But I’m dying to see what it’s all about. You know I have a flair for fashion just like you and your father.” She hung her head, dabbing at her eyes with her napkin. “No one’s ever believed in me. Or given me the chance to exercise my skills.”
Roxy choked back tears, not of pity for her mother’s regrets, but tears of rage at the nerve of the woman. Through teeth gritted in seething anger, Roxy decided to go for broke. She had nothing to lose. With Zayne’s first official family breakfast sure to be his last, she’d show him her ugly side, an inherited trait straight from her mother’s half of the gene pool, giving Zayne all the more reason to bolt.
“Kat, I appreciate your help at Raeve, your friendship, and your unwavering support of my career. That is something, because of the woman sitting across from you, I’ve never had. A choice of her own choosing, not of my father’s whims,” Roxy said, her anger damn near preventing the words from making their editorial debut.
She turned her attention to her mother, who looked up at her with a combination of fear and ferocity. “You, you despicable excuse for a parent, don’t deserve to be called a mother, don’t deserve being let into my home, don’t deserve to sit in the company of the wonderful people at this table, including my dogs.”
• • •
“Roxy,” Zayne reached his hand across the table and linked his fingers with hers, taken aback by the coldness flowing through her veins and venomous words. “I don’t think…”
“I haven’t given you permission to think, Zayne.”
The ice dripping from Roxy’s voice should have stopped him cold, but he’d take his chances before she ran out of chances.
“No. No you haven’t given me the floor,” he said, refusing to let go of her hands. “But I’ve been where you are. And I don’t want you to make the mistakes I did.”
Turning to his mother, Zayne said, “Mom, I’m sure you remember the day just like I do.”
“That I do, son,” she answered, taking Zayne’s free hand in her own.
With the three of them linked, hand-by-hand, heart-to-heart, Zayne felt a glimmer of warmth return to Roxy’s fingers. Not wanting to lose the spark, he pressed on. “Like you with your mom, Princess, my father never understood me. Never knew who I was. Never took time to learn what made me happy.”
Zayne’s heart broke for the pain he saw in Roxy’s eyes.
“But unlike you, I never had the chance to make things right between us,” he said, taking a moment to compose his words with extreme care, hoping to turn his losses into Roxy’s gain.
Feeling his mom’s light pressure on his hand, silently encouraging him with her touch to continue fighting for the woman he loved, Zayne finished his thoughts. “My dad died before I found the courage to accept and love him for who he was — faults and all. I was too consumed by how he’d wronged me to love him for the things he did right.”
Zayne took a deep breath. His body trembled. But as if he’d removed a horribly burdensome weight from his soul, a lightness filled him. By giving Roxy the chance to forge a different destiny with her mom than he’d had with his dad, Zayne had freed his emotional baggage.
“Well done, Zayne,” his mother said, releasing him from her grasp.
The pride highlighting her kind face maintained Zayne’s stoicism. He’d purged the guilt he’d suffered at the hand of his father. But would the courage he’d finally mustered to break free from those barriers cost him the woman he loved?
Turning to Roxy, his mother said, “The choice is yours, dear. It always has been.”
Zayne let go of Roxy’s hands long enough to get up from the table and go to her. Bending down on one knee, he wiped several stray tears from her cheek. “I love you, Princess, and I’ll be here for you no matter what you decide.”
“I love you too,” Roxy answered in a soft whisper.
Her body quivered under Zayne’s fingertips.
“Thank you,” she said, her lips forming the words her raw emotions must have blocked her voice from sounding.
“Anytime.” Standing and turning his attention to The Moms, he said, “Ladies, if you’ll excuse me, I have an appointment. Some unfinished farming business to tend to.”
Not missing his mom’s curious gaze, Zayne winked, trying to ward off her concern. As if that would satisfy her.
Meeting Lily’s hesitant look, Zayne extended his hand. “Lily, it was nice to meet you. I’m looking forward to spending more time with you.”
“Quit while you’re ahead, Cowboy,” Roxy cautioned, a warm smile replacing the frigid lines of her earlier anger and fear.
“Overkill?” He raised his eyebrows, appealing to his mother and Roxy to score his encore.
They both nodded simultaneously, affirming his concerns. “Probably could have left that last line out, huh?”
Lily straightened in her seat, and in a quiet, but firm voice said, “Your performance already earned my approval. Bravo, Cowboy.”
• • •
Zayne left The Moms and Roxy in the Zen garden, hoping they all
made it out alive.
He got into his truck and slammed the door, surprised at the strength of the resolve building inside him. Starting the engine, he steered the truck towards home. He was actually looking forward to getting his hands dirty.
He’d realized while pleading his case to the diva squad, that before he could pursue his dreams with Roxy or his dream to open a dance studio, he had another mission to accomplish. He had a tomato contest to win.
This time, however, he wasn’t giving the challenge every ounce of his sweat, skill and steel-will because of his dad’s wishes. Zayne was seeing through the competition for his own sense of accomplishment. No one else’s.
Now that he’d forgiven his father’s rebuke of his natural talents and skills, Zayne had nothing to prove to the old man. He had only to prove his abilities to himself.
He couldn’t expect Roxy to give his new outlook a try if he didn’t do the same.
Now that he’d convinced her to give both him and her mother a shot at becoming permanent fixtures in her future, he planned to build that future, literally, from the ground up.
That meant dealing with the Baudlins the best way Zayne knew how. He’d kept Jack away from Roxy. Now he’d take Jack’s father out of the winner’s circle for good.
Zayne used to think the best way to figure out what the Baudlins were up to was to go to their farm and confront Jack about the missing card, forcing the asshole to come clean about either his or his father’s games.
But he’d changed his strategy.
First, he and Cody would fix his dad’s hybrid, making it the best tomato in the county. Giving it the thick skin Zayne had now found for himself.
In the mean time, he’d turn The Moms and Roxy loose on the Baudlins. If anyone could get them to buckle, pun intended, those three could.
Turning onto the county road that would take him past the Baudlin Farms then to his own farm, Zayne laughed. He felt sorry for the cocksuckers. They had no idea what they were in for. But they deserved every bit of the bullshit Zayne’s favorite new bitch squad would no doubt dish-out.