Take 2 on Love

by Torrie Robles

  “I didn’t know who the hell was pulling into my driveway. And I sure as hell didn’t think it was going to be you with another man.”

  “You know what? I’m done here. I never meant to come here and upset you. That wasn’t my intention. I’ll just talk to you another day.”

  I don’t give him another moment of my time. I make my way back to Liam’s idling car, ready to get the heck out of here.

  “Do you have a Top Gun fetish, Whitney?”

  “What?”

  After the confrontation with Heath, I didn’t want to do anything, but Liam convinced me that throwing a pity party for myself on my birthday was no way to live, so I called Ruby and told her that it was a Team Whiney night and to ditch her husband because I wanted to get sloshed.

  Liam looks over from the driver’s seat and smirks. “I was wondering because I couldn’t help but notice the way you were looking at me back in your classroom.”

  “How was I looking at you?”

  “You were totally checking me out.”

  I burst out laughing. “What?” I screech, I wipe the tears from my eyes, trying to catch my breath.

  “Come on… What type of pilot fantasies have you had? Do you wonder how well I work under pressure?” He wiggles his eyebrows.

  “You’re a goof.” I laugh. “Sorry, fly boy,” I put my hand on his chest, giving him a pat. “But I don’t even care for Tom Cruise,” I lie.

  My lips are numb, and the room is slightly spinning. I don’t think I’ve been this drunk since I was a teenager.

  Ruby and Liam hit it off from minute one. Not that I was worried. He’s a great guy and a total catch. I guess as you get older you can have a guy friend without the awkwardness of wondering how they are in bed. Who am I kidding? Married or not, I still wonder. Totally.

  “You know,” Liam’s voice hits my ear, making chills roll down my arm, “all you have to do is ask.”

  I pull back, trying to focus my stare towards him. “What are you talking about?”

  Ruby bursts out into a chronic case of the giggles. “You totally need to stop talking out loud, honey,” she says between heaves of breath. Liam gives me a wink, biting his lip and trying to suppress his smile.

  “Oh, come on. Like that surprises you,” I scoff, trying to play my mistake off. “I’m a romance author, after all. My mind works double time when it comes to the hot and sexy stuff.”

  “Well, if you ever need a research partner to act out any of those scenes, I’d be happy to help.”

  “You wish,” I tell him.

  “How’s your birthday turning out?” Ruby asks, thankfully breaking the start of some tension brewing between Liam and me.

  “It’s perfect,” I purr, making myself sound like a cat. “You know,” I continue on, “every year on this day I can’t help but think that in nine months from now, Charlie will be a year older.”

  “What do you mean?” Liam asks.

  “She means that every year she’s reminded that she and Heath had sex today,” she states matter-of-factly.

  “Seriously?” Liam’s gaze bounces between the two of us.

  “Yep. Maybe I should call Charlie up and wish him a happy conception day.”

  “Yes, let’s do it,” Ruby chimes in. “And next year you should get him a box of condoms.”

  “I think we should think about making and marketing conception day cards.”

  “Oh my god, that is perfect. You’re an author, so you can use that to increase sales.”

  I laugh. “Yeah, they can read something like, ‘On this day, your mom and dad had sex.’” I take a gulp of my cider.

  “‘On this day, I blew my load into your mom,’” Liam adds, making me choke on my drink. When I eye Ruby, there’s a total look of shock on her face, and that’s a hard thing to accomplish. It takes a lot to shock her. He shrugs. “What? Am I not allowed to add to the list of potential card options?”

  He says it with so much seriousness I can’t help but laugh. “Oh my god! I need to pee, or I’m going to wet my pants.”

  “Damn, girl, you’re only forty-one, and you already need to invest in some Depends?” Ruby quips.

  I sigh, getting up from the table. “Thank you for this, you guys,” I say with a smile on my face. Placing my hand on both of their arms, I give them each a little squeeze. “I really needed this.”

  “You know I’ve always got my girl’s back, sweetie. No thanks necessary,” Ruby says.

  “Trev?” I give a light tap of my knuckles against his door.

  “Yeah?”

  I open the door to his room and see him on his bed, earbuds hanging from his ears with his laptop resting on the mattress in front of him. “You know you have a perfectly good desk in the corner to do homework on.” When I look towards the desk, I see that it’s piled high with what looks like clean clothes.

  He looks up from his computer. “I know but doing it on here doesn’t make it feel like I’m doing homework.”

  I take a step into the room, clicking the door behind me. I grab the chair from the desk, swinging it around because I drop myself onto the wooden surface. “Are you sure that’s the reason or is it because you’ve turned your desk into a clothes storage?”

  “I don’t have time to put them away.”

  I drape my arms over the back of the chair. “You need to make the time, Trevor.” He nods. “I want to talk to you.”

  “Is that why you shut my door?”

  “Yeah, I didn’t want your sister to hear.”

  “Okay.”

  “What do you know about your mom’s neighbor?”

  “Is this about Liam bringing us home today?”

  “No.”

  He sits back against his headboard, stretching out his legs next to the laptop. “There isn’t much to know, I guess. He helped Mom with some boxes the day we moved her into the condo.”

  My jaw ticks because that means she’s been friendly with him for months and she didn’t think to tell me.

  “He’s a dad to one of her students.”

  “Does he come over to the house a lot?”

  He throws his head back and laughs. “You’re jealous,” he states between snorts.

  Great.

  “I’m not jealous–”

  “You’re totally jealous, old man.” He sighs as he wipes the tears from his eyes.

  I roll my eyes. “Whatever, son.” I push myself up from the chair. “Get your clothes cleaned up, Trevor. Now,” I growl. I leave my son’s room, the sounds of him still snickering following me. Once I get into the kitchen, I pull my phone from my pocket and call Steve.

  “You need to come over,” I tell him before he has the change to say hello. “I know Ruby’s not home because she’s out with Whit celebrating her birthday with the neighbor.”

  “You know?”

  Fucker knew about him and didn’t fucking tell me. “Yeah, I had the pleasure of meeting him today. I’m opening up the good stuff, so get your ass over here.”

  I hang up before he can contest.

  “Priscilla was pregnant,” Liam confesses as I’m about to take a drink of wine.

  We’re at my place–just the two of us. My kids are still with their father, and Liam’s kids are with their mother. Something shifted between me and Liam on my birthday two days ago—two days of radio silence from Heath. He fit in so well with Ruby and me, like he’s been part of our clique for years.

  “What do you mean was?” I pull the blanket from the back of the couch and cover my legs.

  He takes a deep breath then continues to stare out my sliding glass door that’s on the other side of the room. “I was about four months into my deployment. We both knew that our next command was going to be here, so she was going to move while I was overseas. She would set up the house, get the kids settled, and be at work while I did my tour. One night, after I finished talking to the kids, she grabbed the laptop and went into our room. She told me that she was pregnant.” He stops and rubs his hand over his
face. “Three months to be exact.”

  My heart drops. “Holy shit.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I said.” He laughs to himself. “She’d been having an affair with a lower ranked officer. Priscilla was always a command chaser. She was an Army brat. Her father was a Sergeant Major, and the highest ranked enlisted man before he retired, so that’s what she grew up wanting. When we met, I was fresh out of officer school and nowhere near ready to settle down.” He laughs again. “I was this hotshot stud who knew how to fly a freaking jet, and my plan was to use that in my favor with all the stripe sluts—”

  “Wait, the what?”

  “Stripe sluts are women who like to sleep with officers. They’re called tag chasers for those who go after enlisted guys.”

  “Wow, you learn something new every day.” I take another sip of my wine. “I didn’t take you as someone who’d do that.”

  “Yeah, well I didn’t get the chance to test that theory, so I can’t agree or disagree with your assumption.” He gives me a sheepish smile. “I met Priscilla at one of the base bars. Once she knew I was a newly ranked officer, her eyes lit up. I should’ve known her ulterior motives, but I didn’t think twice about it. She blindsided me. One thing led to another, we slept together, several times, and a few months later, I get a call that she was pregnant. The rest is history.”

  “That doesn’t explain the newest development.”

  “Ah, yeah, that. Well, a little over a year ago I decided that I was done with the military. I decided to take an early retirement and get out. I was tired of not seeing my kids. I had missed every pivotal moment in their lives and I didn’t want to miss anymore. She didn’t like that idea. She wanted to be married to an Admiral one day, and if I retired that wouldn’t happen.”

  “So she found someone else?”

  “She found a much younger schmuck who she thought she’d be able to manipulate in a way that she wasn’t able to manipulate me. The entire Skype conversation was basically telling me what a pathetic man I was and how I’d never measure up to her expectations. That was her opinion of me as both a husband and a father.”

  “Wow…”

  “So her plan was to ship my stuff out here while she stayed with my kids back east with her lover boy.”

  “That’s insane.”

  “I think Insane is her real middle name. Anyway, that’s why I have the condo. She found it for me, and was nice enough to decorate it using some of my hazard pay that I saved to build a house on a nice piece of land.” He sighed. “Little did she know that lover boy didn’t want any part of her plan, and she ended up losing the baby not even a week after telling me of her indiscretions. She managed to get a house on base under the impression that she and I were moving there as husband and wife.”

  “So when you came home, your entire life had imploded.” I reach out, rubbing my hand in circular motions against his back. “You know, you not living at home is bothering Ben. He mentioned it to me during your fly in.”

  I watch as he squints. “Ben has always been the most sensitive. The environment around him has always had a strong effect on him. It’s been that way since he was little. When his mother and I would fight, he would try to make us laugh. He’d do anything he thought would change our focus to him and not on the argument at hand.”

  “He’s the peacemaker,” I state.

  “Yeah,” Liam agrees.

  “And this is something he can’t fix.”

  “It’s something that doesn’t need fixing. Ben needs to see that with his own eyes.” He takes a drink of his wine. “So what about you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “How long are you going to hide out here until you decide if your marriage is something worth working through?”

  “That’s not what I’m doing.”

  “It’s not? Because from where I stand, I see a woman who doesn’t know what she wants. I don’t want to pry or overstep, but what are you doing here?”

  I’m taken aback by his tone. “I don’t mean to sound like a bitch here,” I lean forward and place my glass on the coffee, “but your marriage is nothing compared to what Heath and I have. We were the real deal. We are the real deal. From a young age, it was him and I. We weren’t some bar fuck that turned up pregnant.”

  “Wow.” He nods, placing his glass down on the coffee table in front of us. “I never took you as one who thinks they’re better than others. Maybe I pegged you wrong.”

  “That’s not what I meant.” I let out a sigh. “Jesus, what I meant is that our situations are different. I agree one-hundred percent in your decision to end our marriage. I don’t think she’s good for you.”

  “And you think Heath’s good for you?”

  “I do.”

  “Then, again, why are you here? Why are you throwing money away on rent when you have a home, kids, and a husband who actually wants you around?”

  “That’s the thing though.” I look down and pick at the threads of the blanket. “For a while, it’s felt like he’s kept me around because it was convenient. I’d run through my day, taking care of the kids, the house, the dog, and that’s on top of my own job and my writing. I did it all, and yet when he got home, he was barely able to give me a half ass smile.”

  “I’m going to try and play the devil’s advocate here for a minute. Heath not only owns but runs his own company. I can’t imagine the stress that has to put him under.”

  “And flying isn’t” I lift my head and look towards him.

  “It’s different.” He leans back, placing his arms on the back of the couch. “I’m responsible for only me when I’m in that jet. I don’t have the livelihood of several different families on my conscience while I’m working. I’m sure he can’t just turn his work brain off when he comes home. Most people aren’t wired that way. I don’t think the way he was towards you was intentional. It was him, being a man, being a boss, and coming home to be a father and husband. It can’t always be sunshine and roses. I hate to say it, but it’s true.”

  “Well, even so, that doesn’t give him the excuse to be checked-out most of the time. After years of thinking it will change, of making excuses, I took a stand. No woman or man needs to take that. It doesn’t mean I don’t love Heath, because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be renting. If I wanted to walk, then I would have filed the papers already. I think he needs to see things in a different light like I have.”

  He cocks his head to the side. “And if he doesn’t?”

  I press my lips together before answering. “I haven’t thought about that possibility.”

  “Well, maybe you should.”

  “Mom?” Jenna’s muffled voice is followed by a knock on my bathroom door.

  “Yeah, baby, come in,” I say as I dab foundation over my face. I’ve never been big on makeup, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to notice the dark spots caused by years of sunbathing without the proper protection. My mom didn’t believe in sunscreen when we were growing up. I thought I had won the skin tone jackpot having my olive skin, but little did I know that the spots would be more defined. So now I spend a small fortune to try to look like I have healthy, non-spotted skin.

  When she enters, she’s dressed and ready, which is unusual since I’m usually the one waiting for her. Her wavy, chocolate hair is silky straight and parted down the middle, and her cheeks and lips are highlighted by a shimmery pink color.

  “You almost ready?” she asks as she props her hip on the sink counter.

  “Not really. I need to finish my makeup and comb out my hair.” I stop brushing the powder over my face and take in what she’s wearing. “You know its winter, right? Why are you wearing shorts with that sweater? You’re going to freeze.”

  She rolls her eyes. “We’re going to be inside. It’s not like the mall won’t have the heater blasting.”

  “Still, I don’t need you sick. Go put some jeans on.” I continue with the power, ignoring her while I try to finish my makeup.

  “Ugh,” she
groans as she stomps her foot. “Can’t I at least keep the shorts and put some leggings on underneath?”

  “That’s fine.”

  “Let me finish your makeup.”

  I stop what I’m doing and look at her in the mirror. “What?”

  “Come on, Mom. Let me do your eyes. They’ll be litty by the time I’m through.”

  “What the heck is litty?”

  “You know, lit–on point.” She rolls her eyes again. “You know you’ll look poppin’ when I’m done.”

  “Yeah, I don’t care to look litty, on point, poppin’, hot, or whatever you kids use these days. I just want to finish getting ready so we can leave and I can come home and pack. I leave for New York soon, and I want to be ready.”

  “Whatever,” she grumbles under her breath before leaving my bathroom.

  “Don’t forget your leggings!” I shout.

  “I am!” she yells back before I hear the slam of her bedroom door.

  “Oh my God, you’re so annoying,” Jenna complains as Trevor and I follow behind her from store to store. My parents sent them their Christmas money, and like the kids they are, they can’t save it. No, they have to come to the mall during the holiday season when it’s a complete and utter madhouse.

  “How am I being annoying?” Trevor asks from a few feet behind her.

  “You’re following me.”

  “And? I’m looking out for my little sister. What if some crazy person comes up to you and tries to snatch you? I’d never forgive myself.”

  “Mom,” Jenna groans. “Tell him to stop.”

  “You should feel lucky to have a brother who cares about you this much.”

  Trevor turns to me and gives me a wink. I know it’s not right, but sometimes Jenna is too easy to rile up. Without another word, Jenna turns into Pink by Victoria’s Secret, leaving us behind.