The Friends We Keep (Mischief Bay)

by Susan Mallery

  “I’ll get with her.” Andrew grimaced. “I can only imagine how that’s going to go.”

  Gabby risked a subject she’d been thinking about for a while. “There are teen parenting classes. I think Makayla should take one. I don’t want to have to teach her everything. I think it would go better if she were in a structured environment. Plus she would learn how to balance school and a baby.”

  She finished and held her breath. Would Andrew agree or would accepting the idea of the class be too much like saying Makayla had to do it all?

  “That’s a great idea,” he told her. “You’re right. She has a lot to learn. I remember how scared I was when she was born and I was a lot more prepared than her. Let’s get her signed up.”

  Wow—that was unexpectedly easy. “I’ve found a couple of places that are local. We can talk about it tonight.”

  “Good.” He smiled. “Okay—now for a more cheerful topic. Are you excited about starting work tomorrow?”

  “I am. I’m nervous, too.”

  “You’ll do great.”

  “I hope so.” Makayla’s pregnancy had sort of consumed much of Gabby’s mental time so she hadn’t obsessed as much as she had thought she would. Probably a good thing.

  “I’m proud of you, Gabby, and lucky to have you in my life.”

  “Thank you. I feel the same way.”

  This was what she wanted, she thought. A good relationship with her husband. Her mother had been right about taking the moral high ground and about Gabby talking to Andrew.

  “What does your morning look like?” she asked. “Do you have to get to the office right away?”

  One eyebrow rose. “What did you have in mind?”

  She grinned. “A little makeup sex. It’s been a while.”

  “It has.” He rose and tossed away his to-go cup, then reached for her hand. “I’m all in.”

  She smiled. “Good. Me, too.”

  * * *

  Hayley put the sheets in the washer. Her first full day at work since the surgery had left her tired and a little achy, but she still felt good. At least she’d accomplished something other than sitting around and feeling sorry for herself.

  She turned on the machine, then went to the kitchen to start dinner. Now that she wasn’t working at Supper’s in the Bag, she was fully responsible for the meals, but that was okay. She and Rob enjoyed barbecuing and she would figure out the rest. She had a Crock-Pot she’d never made friends with. That could be a start.

  She pulled chicken pieces she’d been marinating out of the refrigerator and put them on a plate. Her cell chimed with an incoming text.

  I booked my hotel reservation for the weekend. I’ll drop the kids off at three on Friday.

  Hayley stared at the words, then swore silently. In her smugness from standing up to her sister, she’d completely forgotten about her agreement to take her kids. She hadn’t discussed it with Rob at all.

  Before she could decide what to text back, she heard Rob’s car in the driveway. He walked in a minute later.

  “Hi,” he greeted her with a smile, then froze. “What’s wrong? Are you bleeding?” The color drained from his face as he crossed to her. “Hayley?”

  In that moment she saw all that she’d put him through. How he’d suffered. It wasn’t that wanting kids was wrong, she thought sadly. Of course it wasn’t. But the price everyone had paid didn’t seem fair.

  “I’m fine,” she said quickly. “Really, I’m good. Don’t worry.”

  He relaxed. “Okay, then what’s wrong?”

  “I did something stupid. Morgan wants to get away for a weekend and I said we’d take the kids. I’m sorry—I totally forgot to ask you about it. Now she’s made plans to drop them off on Friday. Is that all right or do you want me to tell her to reschedule?”

  Rob pushed up his glasses, then cupped her face in his hands and kissed her mouth. “I love the kids. Of course they can stay. We’ll have fun.”

  She smiled. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. Is it this weekend?”

  “Uh-huh. We’ll have to get out the blow-up beds for the boys. And, um, Amy’s going to need the bed in the spare room.”

  The room where Rob was still sleeping.

  He lowered his arms to his side. “You okay with that?”

  She nodded. “I miss you.”

  “I miss you, too.”

  She wanted to say more. She wanted to ask if they were okay. Because since the surgery, Rob hadn’t touched her. Not that they could have intercourse. She needed a few more weeks of healing, but still, there were other things they could do. Only there were issues standing between them. Things that hadn’t been talked about. She’d gone behind his back with selling the house and he’d left her. They both had things to answer for.

  He smiled. “Let me go change my clothes, then I’ll start the barbecue. While it’s heating up, I want to hear about your day.”

  Because that was normal, she thought wistfully. What they did now. But was it enough? She didn’t know how much had been lost. Worse, she didn’t know what the first move would look like, let alone who would make it. And without that, how could they possibly move on?

  * * *

  The world of immigration law, like much of the legal world, revolved around details. Facts, precedent, rulings, exceptions, exemptions, extensions.

  Gabby found herself thrown in the deep end with her new job. She’d been given several ongoing cases and had spent her first few days trying to get up to speed. She’d done this sort of work before so had expected to jump right in. What she hadn’t realized was that her brain had changed. She wasn’t used to slogging through literally hundreds of printed or digital pages and retaining all the salient points. Eight paragraphs in, she found her attention wandering, so she had to go back and read them again and again.

  While she’d been home with the girls, she’d tried to stay current with the changes in the law. She’d subscribed to a few online journals and had read them...or so she’d thought. What she’d actually done had been to skim them. Lightly skim them. And she’d apparently retained nothing.

  Now it was Friday and she was exhausted. Not just by the change of having to be at a job—albeit only four hours a day—while juggling her family, but by her late nights. After the family was fed and everyone was in bed, Gabby had gone downstairs to read her cases, along with the applicable laws. Short nights, long days and plenty of legalese did not for perkiness make.

  She glanced at the clock and saw it was a little after eleven. She had only been in the office two hours and she was on her third cup of coffee. That couldn’t be good. Plus next week she had meetings three of her five days, which meant she would need to do the rest of her work at home.

  She reminded herself that working at a full-time job in a big law firm would mean eighty-to-ninety-hour weeks. The concept daunted her. How did people do that? She missed her kids. Funny how when she got home, she was fine. She knew the twins were happy with their teacher and their new friends, but here in the office, she worried. She also found herself wondering about Makayla. The teen hadn’t said much about school the whole week. She’d been sleeping a lot. Gabby worried she was depressed.

  But the most startling part of working was more personal, and kind of sad. Peeing alone was not the thrill she’d thought it was going to be. Honestly, she missed Jasmine’s little paw poking under the door and Boomer whining his displeasure if the door was closed.

  Gabby got up to get another cup of coffee. As she walked down the hallway, she smiled at her new coworkers and told herself things would get better. That she’d argued about how she needed to get back to work. That she couldn’t possibly continue to stay home.

  Only, she’d thought it would be more fun. Or at least more interesting. Had working as a lawyer always been so dry
?

  “A first-world problem,” she murmured to herself as she made her way back to her desk in her tiny office. She was making a difference. Helping people. Her brain would remember how to focus for more than thirty seconds at a time and she would make new friends. This was everything she wanted and by God, she was going to figure out how to enjoy it.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Jairus’s place was not that far from Nicole’s house. She was careful to take a more complicated route than necessary so that Tyler didn’t figure out his hero was a short three-quarters of a mile away. Tyler’s love of all things Brad had only increased since meeting the author and Nicole didn’t want him stalking Jairus for the next few years.

  Jairus was back from his book tour and had invited Nicole and Tyler to lunch at his house. Nicole told herself he was just being, you know, nice. After all, she’d had him over. But all the logic in the world didn’t stop her palms from sweating as she made two more turns before going up to Pacific Coast Highway before going north for three blocks and then headed back toward the water.

  “Do you think Jairus sold a lot of books?” Tyler asked.

  “I’m sure he did.”

  “I’d go to a signing every day.”

  “I don’t know. When you do something every day, it’s not special anymore.”

  Tyler grinned. “Presents every day would be very special.”

  “Your room isn’t that big. Where would you sleep? On the roof? In the car?”

  “On the roof!”

  She turned onto Jairus’s street and found the address, then pulled into the driveway.

  The house wasn’t all that different from hers, she thought with some surprise. It was an old-fashioned Spanish-style bungalow. Many of the older, smaller homes in the neighborhood had been torn down and replaced with big houses that filled the entire lot, with only minimal clearance on each side. But Jairus’s place didn’t stand out at all. She thought maybe the windows were newer and the yard looked well kept. Still, there was nothing about it to distinguish it from others on the street. No flashing neon signing proclaiming A number one New York Times bestselling author lives here.

  Tyler was already unbuckling his seat belt. Her son opened his door and took off for the front of the house. Nicole reached for her purse and the cake she’d made as her contribution for their lunch and followed him.

  Jairus opened the front door before Tyler got there. He knelt and hugged the boy.

  “Hey, sport. How are you?”

  “Good. Did you have fun on tour? Did you sign lots of books? Did everyone want to talk about Brad?”

  Jairus laughed. “Everyone did. Come on in.” He rose and smiled at Nicole before taking the cake she offered. “You can come in, too.”

  “Thanks.”

  She walked into the house. The living room was big and open, with arched windows and large, comfortable furniture done in earth tones. The tables were wood, as was the floor. There was a fireplace at the far end of the room. Seeing as this was Southern California, she knew it rarely got used, but it was still pretty to look at. She guessed the house was a few hundred square feet bigger than hers, but built at the same time.

  “I thought we’d hang out in the backyard,” he said, motioning for her to lead the way.

  They went through the kitchen where he put the cake on the counter. The space was large and open, obviously remodeled. She took a second to envy the stainless steel appliances and the smooth granite countertops.

  “Where does Brad sleep?” Tyler asked.

  Nicole turned to him and smiled. “Honey, you know Brad’s not real.”

  “I know, but Jairus thought up Brad. He has to live here.”

  Jairus ruffled Tyler’s hair. “You’re a smart kid. You know that, don’t you?”

  Tyler grinned. “I’m smart sometimes.”

  “Brad does have a room. Would you like to see?”

  Tyler nodded so hard and fast, Nicole worried he would hurt his neck. Then she followed the two of them back down a short hallway, past an open door that led to a good-sized bathroom.

  Jairus opened the first door on the left. The room was small and painted white with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves on two walls, and storage cubbies on the third. The fourth was dominated by a big window surrounded by a huge mural of Brad’s world.

  She didn’t know where to look first. Tyler began to laugh as he raced inside and sank to the floor. He started pulling out different copies of Brad books from the bookshelf.

  “Tyler,” Nicole began, but Jairus put his arm on her shoulder.

  “It’s okay,” he said quietly. “He can’t hurt anything.”

  The room was a testament to all things Brad. There were hundreds of books, mostly in English but also in several foreign languages. There were Brad stuffed animals and T-shirts and pens and flashlights, party favors, packages of balloons. In one corner was a stack of Brad towels by a Brad trash can. Possibly from the bathroom collection she hadn’t known existed.

  “Admit it,” he murmured in her ear. “You’re scared.”

  “No. I’m terrified. How do you sleep at night?”

  “Brad’s a great companion.”

  She had her doubts about that, but had to admit to being impressed by what Jairus had accomplished. He’d started drawing for his sister and now he had a Brad-driven empire.

  After a few minutes, Tyler was enticed away from the Brad room with the promise of seeing Jairus’s office. Nicole was equally curious about his writing process.

  Jairus crossed to one of the other bedrooms and opened the door. Only they weren’t in a bedroom at all.

  The room was huge—obviously an addition. The style matched the rest of the house, but the ceiling was higher—maybe twelve feet. There were windows everywhere. Ceiling fans circled lazily overhead.

  Beige paint offered a neutral backdrop for sketches pinned up everywhere. There was some kind of molding going around the room. Nicole stepped closer and examined the two-inch border of corkboard installed just above eye level. There were pins every couple of inches and they allowed Jairus to put his drawings up, in order. She saw the beginnings of a picture book—sketches of a tropical Brad in a Hawaiian shirt and holding a surfboard.

  Jairus pointed to the drafting table at the far end of the room. “That’s where I do most of my work.” He showed them the big pads of paper he used, along with all the pencils and colored pens.

  “It’s not computerized?” she asked.

  “Nope. This is how I learned to do it. I can’t change now.” He turned and pointed to the computer at the other end of the room. “I write the text there. For my manuscripts, I scan in the drawing so everyone can see how it will look.”

  Tyler walked along, staring at the story in progress. “Brad’s going to learn how to surf?”

  “He is.”

  Nicole had read enough of Brad’s books to know that the adventure would probably not go smoothly and that the young dragon would learn a lesson along the way.

  “When did you do the remodel?” she asked.

  “Shortly after I bought the house. I thought my sister, Alice, would like the big windows and the backyard.”

  Nicole could see the east windows faced the big yard. There were trees and a sturdy swing set, along with a built-in barbecue and a seating area.

  “You didn’t want to be along the water?” she asked.

  “It wouldn’t have been safe.”

  For his sister, she thought. Because Jairus had known she would come to live with him. He’d been thinking of her when he’d bought this house and remodeled it. Because this was Southern California and the best light would be south, not east. But if all the windows were in the south part of the room, he wouldn’t be able to keep watch over his sister in the yard.

 
She wasn’t sure exactly what was going on in their relationship. There’d been that one, brief kiss, a lot of texting and some hanging out, mostly with Tyler along. So while she thought they might be seeing each other, the relationship was fairly undefined. Still, she couldn’t help reaching for him, lacing her fingers through his.

  Jairus squeezed her hand and drew her closer.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said. “All of it.”

  “I’m glad you like it.”

  They went outside through the French doors in his office. Tyler raced to the swing and jumped on. Nicole bit back the automatic “Be careful,” and instead seated herself where she could see him.

  “Tell me about your tour,” she said. “You told me about the logistics and how you do a lot of media and stuff. You were gone a long time. Do you like doing it?”

  “Mostly. I enjoy meeting my readers. The kids are great.”

  She knew he had events in most cities and there were private parties for children with developmental problems.

  “I could do without the TV and the interviews,” he said with a shrug. “They get old. New city, same questions. I have to keep reminding myself that even though it’s the tenth time I’m telling the story, that for them it’s new.”

  “Does Brad have groupies?”

  “More than me.”

  She smiled. “I doubt that. I suspect there are more than a few single moms being very friendly.”

  His expression turned serious. “I didn’t hang out with anyone, Nicole. And I sure didn’t sleep with anyone.”

  She felt her mouth drop open. She closed it, then glanced to make sure Tyler couldn’t hear them. “I wasn’t asking that.”

  “Whether or not you were, I’m telling you.”

  There was an intensity to his voice—as if he had to be sure she understood. He wasn’t teasing now.

  “I appreciate that,” she murmured.

  Everything about the moment felt awkward. She wasn’t used to talking about this sort of thing with a man. Jairus seemed to go out of his way to let her know he was interested and she didn’t get that. It was as if he wanted to let her know she was special. She’d never been special. When she’d been younger, she’d never been good enough. Not to get into the American Ballet School, not to make it on Broadway. She’d come home a failure.