Breaking All The Rules (Book 1 - Second Chances Series)

by McKnight, Rhonda

  “What do you mean? I’m not…” I paused mid sentence. “I’m not mad. I’m just, I don’t know.”

  “That was beyond angry,” Ethan said. “Pretending you and I –” I shot him a sharp look. He shook his head. “What a waste of my rep. I didn’t even do anything but watch bad television.”

  The headlights on the truck dimmed. I moved to the table and picked up our ice cream bowls and glasses and took them into the kitchen. Why had I done that? Why do I want to make Terrance angry? And more importantly, why does he care?

  I heard the screen door snap and readied myself to return to the living room.

  Janette had just taken a seat in her favorite chair when I entered. Terrance stood next to her, hand on her shoulder and his face twisted as if he’d just eaten some sour grapes. “You two seem cozy,” she said.

  Ethan and I looked at each other. He smiled a little. I cleared my throat. “I didn’t know they discharged patients this time of morning.”

  “They send pregnant women home as soon as they finish monitoring them,” Terrance replied. “Plus, your sister insisted she wanted to come home and finish the night in her bed and wake up to her bathroom.”

  “How are you feeling?” Ethan asked.

  “Better. I think the fluids from the I.V. helped hydrate me. I’ll be good as new in a few days.”

  “Great.” Ethan nodded.

  A beat of silence passed between the four of us.

  “You ladies could use some sleep and so could I,” Ethan said. “I should be going.”

  “I’m sure you should,” Terrance replied, through gritted teeth.

  Ethan had been walking toward the door, but Terrance’s comment stopped him dead in his tracks. “What’s your problem? You’ve been trippin’ for days?”

  “I don’t have a problem. I’m just disgusted that you’ve forgotten what a small town Garrison is.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning you’ve got no business leaving this house this early in the morning.”

  Ethan rubbed a hand over his bald head and shook it. “Have you lost your mind?” he asked through gritted teeth. “I’m grown. You’re not talking to the boys in your youth group.”

  Terrance removed his hand from Janette’s shoulder and made a bee line right to Ethan with a pointed finger. “Then act like it. Grown people take responsibility. You should care about Deniece’s reputation.”

  Ethan waved his hand in front of him, knocking Terrance’s finger out of his face. “Reputation? If people are talking, it’s about their preacher’s son knocking up his ex-girlfriend’s sister.”

  Terrance looked hurt at first, but then without warning he hauled off and punched Ethan in the face. Ethan hit the ground, stayed there for a few seconds like he was trying to decide what he was going to do. Decision made, he sprang up and charged Terrance. The two flew out of the door, onto the porch and down on the grass with a loud thud. I couldn’t believe it. Janette screamed and I ran out the door behind them.

  “Stop!” I yelled, pulling on Ethan’s arm.

  I heard Janette on the porch screaming for Ethan to get off Terrance. After few moments of my pleading and a few good body shots, Ethan stopped. He wrenched Terrance’s badly torn shirt again for good measure and stood to his feet. “Try me again.”

  “Are you two crazy?” I put my body between them, just in case one of them decided they weren’t done hitting the other.

  Ethan stormed off in the direction of his truck.

  I followed. “Are you okay?”

  He turned and looked at me like I had to be joking. “That was nothing. Terrance and I have been fighting since we were kids.”

  He had a cut over his eye, probably a slit opened by Terrance’s class ring. “I’ve never heard of you getting into a fight on the field.” I leaned close to his face and raised a hand to his eye to examine the damage. “I don’t think you need stitches, but let me get something for it.”

  He dabbed at it with the tail of his shirt. “It’s fine. I’ll take care of it when I get home.”

  I put a hand on his arm. “At least let me get a tissue and some ice to stop the bleeding.”

  “I’ve gotten much worse playing soccer, babe.” He smiled and I realized he probably had. “Have lunch with me tomorrow?”

  He caught me off guard. An invitation was the last thing I was expecting while he was recovering from a fist fight. I sighed and shook my head. “I need to keep an eye on Janette.”

  “Dinner,” he insisted. “Terrance can take care of his woman when he gets off work.”

  He was probably right about that and as it had been, I had no interest being in the house with the lovers, but I was noncommittal. “Call me.”

  “Answer your phone or I’ll show up.” He kissed my cheek like we were lovers, climbed into his truck and drove away.

  The kiss. Such a simple gesture, but it felt right like he had been doing it forever. I shook it off and turned around to find Janette attempting to nurse her man’s wounds. Terrance was sitting on the steps dabbing at a bloody lip.

  “You should be in the house,” he said to Janette.

  “I’ll get you some ice.” I walked pass them to go inside.

  “Haven’t you done enough?” Janette barked.

  I stopped in my tracks. “Excuse me. What exactly is that you think I’ve done?”

  “I told you he was trouble. There’s no explanation for you to have him here this time of night,” Janette said and then corrected herself. “I mean morning.”

  “I don’t need to explain myself. Like Ethan said, we’re all adults. This is my house just as much as it is yours. If your man can’t be civil and not attack my guest –”

  Terrance exploded. “Your guest happens to be my younger cousin. We were raised practically as brothers and I’ll say what ever I want to him wherever I want!” He was yelling so loud he had to have ruptured some blood vessels and woke up a neighbor or two.

  “Not in this house and not with your fist.” I shook my head. “What’s happened to you? When did you become such a disrespectful, careless fool?”

  Terrance wiped his lip and turned his eyes away from mine.

  “That’s enough,” Janette cried. “Enough for tonight.”

  “Yes, it is.” I snatched the screen door open. “I’m going to bed. You can get your own ice and you can tuck in your fiancé. I’m sure you know where her bedroom is.”

  I jogged up the stairs to my bedroom and slammed the door against the temper Gayle had warned me would eventually explode.

  Chapter 8

  Time had never been on my side with respect to this event and now it was even less so. I had eight days to pull all the loose ends together while continuing to run my business in New York. Gayle was great, but only with the vendors and for the administrative details. Brides and their mothers wanted to talk to me.

  I prepared Janette breakfast and pushed a sixty-four ounce insulated water bottle on her. I also left her with a note pad and pen and assigned her the task of completing her reception playlist for the D.J. Then I settled in the dining room with my iPad, which included a monstrous to-do list and started making phone calls. First up was Renea to let her know that due to Janette’s condition, the bridal shower would be held at our house. Renea’s dreams of eating at Palermo’s would have to be shared with her boyfriend as she would no longer find out how fine or not fine the food was at my expense. Instead of the potluck she offered, I opted to have it catered and placed a call to a family friend who owned a small BBQ restaurant in town. I assigned her to get the Evite out to let all the women know. I’d preferred a hand delivered invitation to each of the guest, but she was clear that “ain’t nobody got time for that”, and told me her email invitation would suffice.

  I moved on to my other calls, which included the photographer, videographer, caterer, soloist, musicians, limo service, manicurist and a follow-up with the florist. I was glad to be able to get most of my work done by telephone because it saved me from
having to drive around town all day. Driving was already getting old and I had only been in town a few days. That realization reminded me I needed to stop at the drug store to get some Sea Bands to help with that especially since I was going to have to make a trip to Atlanta to get decorations and wedding favors. There was no way I could drive around the city all day and not be sick.

  I pulled up the catalog for a bridal supply store that I’d used in Atlanta for a few local events way back when I was still living in Garrison getting my business started. They were still operating and had vastly updated their offerings, so I was hopeful I could get what I needed as soon as I figured out what that was.

  I had no vision for this wedding, which was so unlike me. As soon as I sat down with a client ideas would flow like water down a fall. My choice of career was perfect for me because I could turn any venue into a place fit for royalty to be married, but I was stumped and I knew why. I wanted no part of it from the beginning and I’d yet to put my heart in it. But heart or no heart, I was out of time. I had to execute this, if not for my sister, for my own good. I had my business reputation to protect.

  I took a lunch tray to Janette. Like a good girl, she’d compiled a list of music she thought would work for the reception. I took a seat and browsed it. First on the list was “The Closer I Get to You.”

  I tried to remember the words to the song, something like “Over and over again I tried to tell myself that we could never be more than friends.” I rolled my eyes. “Which version of The Closer I Get?”

  “What do you mean? Luther and Beyoncé made that.”

  “Luther and Bey’s version is a remake. The original is Roberta Flack and Donnie Hathaway.”

  Janette frowned. “I don’t even know who they are, so go with Luther and Bey.”

  “Of course.” I perused the rest of the list getting more and more steamed as I thought of the implications of music by Brian McKnight, Kenny Lattimore, and Tony Terry. “Do you think Terrance will be okay with this list or do you need to run it by him?”

  Janette pushed her body higher on the pillows. “Terrance doesn’t care much. He’s not really into secular music, but you already know that.”

  I eyed my sister suspiciously. Why had she added that tag at the end about my knowing? She had a snitty look on her face, like she wanted to pick a fight. I chalked it up to boredom or discomfort. She didn’t want to fight with me. I could leave and let her plan herself right into a wedding day disaster.

  “The DJ should have everything,” she said. “He did the Dorsey wedding last year and he had every love song ever made.”

  “Okay, great.” iPad in hand, I moved down my list. “We need to talk about your theme. I’ve been asking you for weeks and now I have to get decorations.”

  “I don’t know, Niecy. Whatever you can make happen with my budget.” She picked up the remote control and started flipping though the channels on the muted television.

  “Your budget? I’m not sure what that is,” I muttered, rolling my eyes.

  Janette bit down on her bottom lip. “We only have four thousand dollars left after I take out the money for the video, the photographer and the DJ. That’s barely going to cover the rest of the food at the reception so I’m going to have to owe you.” She waved a hand. “Do whatever you can.”

  I looked at the stack of bride magazines on her nightstand. How could she not know what she wanted when she had all those magazines and the Internet? I stood. “I don’t want any drama after the wedding if you don’t like what I’ve chosen.”

  Janette sighed and gave me a polite smile. “I trust you.”

  I left her room. She trusted me. I had a mind to make it look like a bottle of Pepto Bismol had exploded. Ethan was right, my sister should have eloped.

  I entered the dining room to a ringing phone. It was Terrance. He was last person on the earth I wanted to talk to. I let it go to voicemail. He could check on his fiancé by calling her. I was determined not to have a conversation with him, especially after the way he behaved last night. He may be becoming my brother-in-law, but it didn’t mean we had to be friendly. That wasn’t ideal. It was never the way I imagined it would be, because family was so important, but I hadn’t gotten to that place where I’d forgiven yet. Plus, there was the matter of his jealousy about Ethan. How dare he have an attitude about who I was dating? Did he love my sister or did he just knock her up and now he was going to marry her and make her miserable? I know lots of couples married and grew to love each other, but that wasn’t the way it was supposed to be, especially not with a baby in the picture. I resented him for so many things. I just couldn’t exchange a word with him without wanting to cuss him out.

  I cleared the screen on my phone and noticed I’d missed a call from Ethan. My heart skipped a beat. I plopped down on a chair. What was going on with me? Getting all in like with Terrance’s cousin was not in the plan. I lived in New York. He lived wherever he wanted. One Wright man had already been the wrong man for me. Hadn’t I had enough? I thought about ignoring his call, but he’d already let me know if I did he’d be showing up here, so I pushed the button and dialed his number.

  “I’ve been thinking about you the entire day. It’s taken every ounce of discipline in my body not to have called you already,” he said.

  I smiled. Talk about a greeting. Who didn’t want to hear that?

  “I’ve been talking to vendors all day.” I could hear the smile in my own voice.

  “So, are you trying to tell me you haven’t been thinking about me?” The velvety timbre of his voice dropped an octave and become huskier. I imagined his long body stretched out on a piece of furniture in his family room. That was hot.

  “Not really,” I teased.

  “Not one thought?”

  I smiled. I was enjoying this. “You did cross my mind earlier. I wondered how your eye was.”

  “It’s black. It may be black at the wedding.”

  “Hmmm,” I murmured, “there’s makeup for that.”

  “I’m not wearing makeup. It’s bad enough I have to put on that suit.”

  “You’ve worn makeup every time you’ve had a photo shoot for a sports magazine. You will not mess up the pictures for a wedding I’m planning. A little makeup won’t kill you.”

  “You’re right, but not seeing you all day will, so what about that dinner?”

  I sighed. Gave it some thought. I did need to eat, and I most certainly did not want to be stuck here with Terrance and Janette all evening. “I could stand to get out of the house.”

  “Great. How about we go into the city and have some real pizza?”

  “You forget I live in New York. I have real pizza all the time. As appetizing as that sounds I really don’t want to go for that ride. I get car sick pretty easily and I’m going to have to go to Atlanta tomorrow anyway, so I need to save my nausea for then.”

  Ethan was silent for a moment. “I’m free tomorrow. I could take you.”

  An image of them shopping for wedding decorations came to her. He’d be bored to death. “I appreciate it, but I couldn’t put you out like that.”

  “Put me out? I said I had nothing to do.”

  I considered his offer. A truck would be helpful as would someone else behind the wheel other than me. I couldn’t deny the idea of spending the day with him was appealing.

  “Okay, tomorrow is a date, but I don’t want any whining about how long it takes me to shop. This wedding stuff can be pretty painful for an onlooker.”

  “I swear I won’t moan or groan,” he said.

  “I’m going to remind you of that.”

  “I’ll figure out something for dinner. How about I pick you up at five-thirty and surprise you.”

  I hesitated. “I don’t like surprises.”

  “Of course you don’t. Planners never do, but trust me, this’ll be cool. Jeans and a tee-shirt okay?”

  “Let me confirm the time with Terrance.”

  “I already did. He said he’d be there at five-
thirty.”

  I remembered the ugly words Terrance and Ethan had exchanged and decided the two men didn’t need to see each other this quickly. “In that case pick me up at five-fifteen. I don’t want your other eye black.”

  Ethan laughed. “Trust me. He’ll never catch me off guard like that again. I’ll see you at quarter after five.”

  “Okay.”

  “And Nectar, you can wear jeans, but don’t skip the heels.”

  I laughed. “Say goodbye, Ethan.” I pushed the end button.

  ***

  Ethan was right on time and that was good because Terrance was a few minutes early. I spotted his truck turning onto our street. I hustled downstairs and opened the front door so he could let himself in. Then I hid out in the restroom and waited until I heard Ethan’s truck. Childish I know, but I had no intentions on letting Terrance get me alone.

  While I had no plans to be alone with Terrance, Ethan certainly had plans to be alone with me. His surprise was a dinner made with his own hands served on his deck.

  “I tried a few new things,” he said. “I catch an occasional cooking show on the television.”

  I slid into the chair he pulled out for me. “Have you just watched or gotten in some practice?”

  “Watched,” he replied, opening a fancy jar that looked like fresh steeped ice tea and filling both our glasses.

  I raised an eyebrow. “Watching eh, do you think you’d be a great soccer player if you’d just watched the game or even have learned to play the piano without practice?”

  He shrugged. “I figured I couldn’t mess this up. It’s a recipe.”

  I laughed and reached for my glass. “I’ll let you know.”

  He nodded. “I’m sure you will.” He retreated into the house leaving me to marvel at his deck. I turned and took the entire view in; an outdoor retreat was the accurate description. It was two levels with a massive pergola and an integrated privacy screen at one end. The other end swept down to a hot tub with a pool. The table I was sitting at was a concrete built in. To my right he’d installed an outside kitchen area complete with an enormous stone barbeque grill, which looked like it was turned on. To my left was lounge seating in an outdoor entertainment area that included a television as large as the entire wall space. It had to be sixty inches or more.