Bella Cove_A Second Chance Romance

by Rochelle Katzman

  “Come with me.”

  Lauren grabbed Kayla’s arm and practically dragged her over to the man. Kayla would have preferred Lauren meet him alone, but if Kayla’s presence made her sister feel better, then so be it.

  They walked over to the blond god, who was scratching his jaw while staring at the section of toys for seven-to-ten-year-old boys. Kayla was about to ask him if he needed help, but surprisingly, her sister beat her to it.

  “You look like you could use some help,” Lauren said, giggling.

  He must not have heard them approach because he jumped a little when Lauren spoke to him. Then he stared at her.

  “Did you just come out of the princess section? Are you a live doll?”

  Lauren burst out laughing, but it took all Kayla’s strength not to roll her eyes at him. Her sister was beautiful, no doubt, but he was laying it on a little thick. If a guy spoke to her like that, she would have ignored him and given him the cold shoulder. Lauren, on the other hand, appeared to be eating it up.

  “You busted me,” Lauren said. “I escaped the other dolls by the skin of my teeth.”

  Lauren giggled again, and the blond hottie joined in. Kayla looked at her sister in disbelief. Never in her life had she heard Lauren flirt.

  “So…can I help you, for real?” Lauren asked.

  “Not unless you give me your name,” he responded.

  “Only if you tell me if you’re married, engaged, or have a girlfriend.”

  Wow, Kayla thought. Gutsy. She was starting to feel like the third wheel.

  “I’m single. What about you?” he asked.

  “I’m single, too,” Lauren said, still smiling.

  “So…? Will you give me your name?”

  “Lauren.” She put her hand out for him to shake. “Lauren Conway.”

  The man grabbed her hand and then lifted it and kissed the back of it. “Jordan Wolf.”

  “Like the animal.” Lauren giggled.

  He held her hand a little longer than necessary then, finally, he dropped it.

  “Everyone asks me if I’m a veterinarian. I assure you, I’m not. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a vet. But I paid my way through law school, and I wouldn’t give that up for anything in the world.”

  Lauren playfully hit his arm. “Oh, come on. You know you’d rather help animals.”

  “I love animals. I grew up with two dogs and a cat. But I faint when I see blood, so that would be a problem.”

  “Just a small problem,” Kayla chimed in.

  “This is my sister, Kayla. She owns the store.”

  Jordan put his hand out to shake Kayla’s, but no kiss for her…thank goodness. The last man who had kissed her hand was Gabe. In fact, the last man who had kissed her at all was Gabe. She hadn’t even been on a date since she’d left California. She wondered whether Gabe had, but then she put the thought out of her mind. Too painful.

  Lauren and Jordan were laughing at some of the toys while Kayla had been obsessing over thoughts of Gabe.

  She walked away without Lauren or Jordan noticing. At least she had a few minutes to be by herself. Gabe showing up this morning was messing with her head. One day, she wanted to explain everything that happened in the last two years, assuming he’d let her. She had abandoned him, and she couldn’t change that fact, but maybe they could be friends.

  Kayla escaped to her office when she saw that Jordan had picked a toy, and Lauren was about to ring him up. Could Lauren have finally met her future husband? How awesome would that be? The second Kayla heard the front door close, she came out of her office.

  “Well?” Kayla asked.

  Lauren jumped up and down, laughing. “He asked for my number.” She kept jumping.

  “Okay, calm down for one second and give me the details.” Kayla pulled her down to the floor, where they could talk easier.

  “I worked at that stupid real estate firm for seven years, and not once did I meet a single man who asked for my phone number. Thank you for asking me to work here.”

  Kayla smiled. “My pleasure.”

  She smiled back. “When Jordan walked in, I thought he was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. Apparently, he has a business associate who has a house in the Hamptons, and he needed to buy a toy for the man’s son. Jordan Googled toy stores on the way to the Hamptons and found us. He was really interesting. He said he’s about to be a partner at a real estate law firm in Manhattan. I asked him if he’d heard about the firm I used to work for, and he hadn’t. Anyway, I helped him pick out a toy, and he asked for my number. Of course, I gave it to him. Do you think he’ll call?”

  Kayla gave her sister a big hug. “I do.”

  They continued talking about him and guessing what he liked to do. Lauren wondered if he liked going to the movies and what his apartment in Manhattan looked like. But the entire time Lauren talked, Kayla kept thinking about how she would describe first meeting Gabe. Lauren said Jordan was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. That was exactly how Kayla had felt when she had met Gabe for the first time. And to be honest, she still felt that way. In fact, he hadn’t aged at all, but at the same time, he seemed manlier. When she fell in love with him, he’d been a boy, regardless of his age. Now he was a man.

  * * *

  By the time Kayla arrived home, it was late and she was exhausted. Lauren had left an hour early to get her hair done. Kayla had stayed past closing time to go through the recent shipments of toys. With Melody gone, she could buy more creative toys for the shop. Melody preferred popular toys that sold well at the bigger toy stores. Kayla thought those toys were important to stock, but she liked more unique toys, which the bigger stores wouldn’t necessarily shelve. Melody also didn’t like a lot of children’s books, whereas Kayla loved them.

  As she was climbing the stairs to her bedroom, she heard her mother crying. Kayla sighed. She wanted to crawl into bed and fall asleep. The only time she had for herself these days was in her bed. Then she could finally allow her mask to fall and be herself.

  But her mom needed her.

  Kayla walked back downstairs and found her mom sobbing on the living room couch.

  “Mom, are you okay?” Kayla sat next to her mother but refrained from hugging her. If she touched her, she would only sob more. Kayla had learned that the hard way. Her mom tended to break down and cry at least four times a week. She could ignore her and let her deal with her pain on her own, but if Kayla knew that if she didn’t help with whatever was going on, Mom would stay in bed and refuse to leave for days. At least her mom wasn’t threatening to kill herself anymore.

  When Nana had passed away, Kayla had been mourning the loss of two major people in her life—her grandmother and Gabe. She hadn’t been mourning one more than the other, although she couldn’t speak to Nana again, and she could, technically, speak to Gabe. For the first week after Nana passed, Gabe and Kayla spoke every day—even if only to say a quick “hello” or “good night.” After about a week, Gabe had asked when she’d be coming home.

  And that’s when she was honest with him and told him she didn’t know. She wanted to return to him very badly, but she hadn’t expected her family to go off the deep end, which they had. He’d heard her mom screaming in the background, crying her head off, so he knew she was telling the truth. But it wasn’t enough for him. She even told him about her dad’s depression, her sisters moving out, and Matt going to the hospital for pneumonia. But she didn’t tell him about Josh. She’d mentioned he was drinking, but she didn’t have the courage to tell him everything else. Gabe had told her that her family should take care of themselves, and it would all work out the way it should, but she needed to return to him. She’d heard panic in his voice, when normally he sounded strong and steady. So she’d asked him to give her three months, and then she’d return to him. But after three months, she wasn’t ready. If she’d left, she didn’t think her family would have survived Nana’s death.

  When she told him at three months to give her anothe
r three months, he’d insisted on flying to her house. But the timing had been wrong, so she told him not to. He’d begged her to return to him anyway. When she said no, he gave her an ultimatum: Return now or never. Her family was in such a state, she’d said never. Yet she still called him at the six-month mark. And at six months, he didn’t pick up his phone, so she’d left him a voicemail and told him she was sorry. But she needed another three months and then she was sure her family would be able to stand on their own two feet again. There had been no word from Gabe for a week after she’d left that message. She’d called a dozen more times. Finally, a week later, she’d received a text that had read: Too Late.

  That had been one of the worst days in Kayla’s life. The only other day that had been as bad was the day Nana died. Truth was, Kayla couldn’t return to Gabe until she knew her family would somewhat be okay. They were functional at the year mark. But since the only other time she’d heard from him was when he texted her saying he needed her home address because he’d packed up her stuff and it would be on its way to her soon, she’d been scared to tell him she could finally return to him, but she did anyway. She texted him and told him she was willing to get on the plane the next day and be with him. That night, she’d received her last text from him. Gabe had written, No, thank you. Take care, Kayla.

  When Gabe had given her the ultimatum, she’d thought maybe he was bluffing. At the same time, she’d understood that in his eyes, she’d betrayed his trust and their love. Unfortunately, if she had to do it all over again, she’d do the same thing. As much as she loved Gabe, she couldn’t abandon her family until they were somewhat back on their feet. And that had nothing to do with Nana asking her to take care of everyone. Kayla’s conscience wouldn’t have allowed her to do anything less.

  She glanced at her mom, who continued to sob, but Kayla knew the drill. She had to ask her mom three times if she was okay before she’d respond.

  “Mom, are you okay?” Kayla sighed. She knew what this was about. It was always the same thing. Mom didn’t think Dad loved her anymore.

  Kayla always consoled her when her mom was in this state or she’d get a lot worse. Her mother had been known to wake up Dad in the middle of the night, screaming that she wanted his love. Those were the times when he’d threaten to leave. Kayla believed he did love her or he would have been long gone by now.

  Once Nana died, Kayla had sat her father down and told him directly that if he wanted to leave her mom, Kayla would make sure Mom was okay. Kayla had felt she needed to give her dad the option. There was nothing worse than feeling trapped. Her hope was that if he felt he had the choice and decided to stay, any feelings of resentment and bitterness would disappear. He had looked Kayla directly in the eye and told her he was staying. He didn’t give her a reason, but he didn’t have to.

  Kayla cleared her throat, took a deep breath, and repeated, “Mom, are you okay?”

  Her mom let out a loud sob. “No. I tried to give your father a hug before he left to go to a meeting and he pushed me away.” She sobbed even louder.

  Before Kayla left for work that morning, she had heard her mom criticizing her dad, telling him he wasn’t wearing the right clothes, his hair was messy, he wasn’t sitting up straight when eating breakfast, he’d gotten crumbs on the floor, and so on.

  “Mom, when you’re mean to Dad, he doesn’t want to touch you. At least, not for a few days.”

  “I see you’re on your father’s side. I’m never mean to him, Kayla.”

  Kayla sighed. “I heard you this morning. You were criticizing him left and right. You might as well have told him he’s a disappointment as a husband.”

  Her mom stopped crying, which Kayla knew would happen, but her sadness switched quickly to anger.

  “I love your father. He doesn’t love me. I try to be a good wife.” And then the anger switched to self-pity.

  In about five or ten minutes, she could go back upstairs.

  “Mom, you have to stop criticizing Dad. It makes him feel bad. I’m not saying there aren’t certain aspects of him that don’t annoy you, but that’s normal in any marriage.”

  “How do you know? You’ve never been married.”

  Ouch. “Mom, when you’re mean to Dad, you hurt him, so he shuts down. When you hurt him, he doesn’t want to touch you. You have to earn his love and affection.”

  “After all these years, I still have to earn his love and affection?”

  “And after all these years, you’re still constantly criticizing him. Try not to do that, even for a few days, and see what happens. I bet he’ll be warmer toward you.”

  “I criticize him so he’ll be better,” her mom snapped back.

  Kayla smiled softly. “I think he’s doing pretty okay for a sixty-five-year-old man. He works hard. He maintained the furniture business even after Pop passed. And he loves his family, whether you believe it or not.”

  Her mom became quiet, which was exactly how Kayla wanted her to be.

  “I believe he loves the family, but I’m not sure if he loves me.”

  “Mom,” Kayla said through clenched teeth.

  Her mom sighed dramatically. “Okay, I’ll try not to criticize him. It won’t be easy, though.”

  Kayla smiled. “I didn’t say it would be.” She felt safe enough to give her mom a hug without her breaking down again.

  Her mom hugged her back tightly and then pulled back, looking at her straight in the eyes.

  “Nana made the right decision by making you the matriarch of the family.” She smiled a bit.

  Kayla groaned. “Mom, I am not the matriarch. Even using that word makes me cringe. In Nana’s generation, there were matriarchs. She asked me to look after the family, so that’s what I’ve been doing, except now much less. You’re all pretty much on your feet. We don’t have a matriarch in our family anymore. That was healthy at one time, but now it isn’t. The world is a very different place from when Nana was born.”

  Her mom sighed. “I know. It’s just some days, I really miss her.”

  Kayla gave her mom a kiss on the cheek. “Some days, I do, too.”

  She needed to get up to her room. Suddenly, she felt edgy. She smiled and then escaped upstairs. Her life had been going fine until a few days ago when Gabe showed up. Since then, she had been forced to reflect on a life she had left behind. And it hurt so badly, she’d had a constant ache in her stomach and heart. Then he’d kissed her. She wished she could have it all. And she had never felt so alone in her entire life. The only other time she had felt that way was the day Nana had died, when all hell broke loose.

  Chapter Eight

  When Kayla opened her store the next morning, she wasn’t surprised to see Gabe painting the other side of her wall.

  “You don’t have to do this, you know.” Kayla’s intuition had told her he would be there, so she’d stopped on her way in and bought two iced coffees—one for him and one for herself. “I brought you something.”

  Gabe stopped painting and looked down. The second their eyes met, the tension in the room increased. His eyes weren’t as cold as they had been. They weren’t exactly warm, but at least when she looked at him, shivers didn’t run through her body.

  He climbed down the ladder and took the iced coffee out of her hand. “Thanks.”

  He didn’t smile, but he wasn’t looking at her with daggers, either. Something had shifted inside him, but she wasn’t sure what it was.

  “Good morning,” she said softly.

  He nodded while sipping his coffee. “Good morning.”

  He was being civil with her. She could do civil. Maybe they could call a truce and move on from the past and all their drama.

  “I mean it, Gabe. I can paint. You don’t have to.”

  “I don’t mind. I promised your sister I’d do it. I always keep my word.”

  “Can I help you, then?” she asked, wanting to be near him.

  Gabe raised his eyebrow. “Help me?”

  “Yes, I have a paintbrush in
the back.”

  “But I’m only painting the border. It wouldn’t make sense.”

  “I could hold the paint.”

  Gabe chuckled. “The paint rests fine on the top of the ladder.”

  Kayla had to do something to get closer to him. “Come on, we did that in our apartment, remember? You’d paint a wall, and I’d either hold the paint or paint with you.”

  “That was then, and this is now,” Gabe said. He took a drink of his coffee.

  “Then I’ll sit on the ladder while you work.”

  “Suit yourself, but when I have to move it, are you going to get up?”

  Kayla smiled. She couldn’t help herself. The vision of him moving the ladder with her on it almost made her laugh. If there wasn’t so much tension between them, she would have.

  “Of course I’ll get up. I’ve gained a little weight since graduate school. I wouldn’t want you to pick up both me and the ladder.” She had to bite her bottom lip to stop herself from laughing.

  “You look perfect. You didn’t gain any weight. Looks like you lost some. With the constant pressure of making your family happy, I’m not surprised.”

  Kayla looked at her iced coffee and took a sip. What could she say to that?

  Gabe shook his head, put his drink on the ground, and started to climb the ladder again. Kayla was about to sit on the other side of the ladder like she said she would when Gabe looked back at her.

  “Are you happy, Kayla? You spend so much time thinking of ways to make your family happy, but are you happy?”

  “How do you know I’m making them happy?” she snapped.

  “I’ve watched you with them. You don’t need your sisters working here. You’re doing it to help them for different reasons. If anything, them being here is more work for you. I think you’d prefer it if you were running this place alone. You always liked to have time by yourself. Instead, you thought them working here would be best for them.”

  Kayla exhaled and sat on the ladder.

  “You didn’t answer my question. Are you happy?”