Fate Interrupted 2

by Kaitlyn Cross

  Ben let out a victory cry and high-fived Pam, who was more than happy to take a break from pushing a broom around the lobby to make physical contact with him.

  “And we closed early, too!” Evy said, curling up next to Dean and hugging him tightly, heat flushing her right side as he pressed against her.

  Her bubbliness brought laughter to his lips.

  “Drinks are on me!” Ben exclaimed.

  Brooke collapsed into a chair at a table littered with empty cups and wrappers. She buried her face in her hands and broke down crying.

  Ben’s smile melted down his scruffy cheeks. “Hey, hey, hey, what’s wrong?” he asked, rushing to her side.

  She shook her head, trying to reel in her sobs. “It just finally hit me.”

  Ben rubbed her back, his eyes thinning. “What finally hit you, babycakes?”

  She looked up to meet the concerned gazes staring back at her, her waterproof mascara being put to the ultimate test. Her runny eyes stopped on each of their faces, but only for a moment. “We’re going to be okay,” she said faintly, wiping her nose with a cocktail napkin and shedding a slow moving smile. “All of us.”

  Ben pulled her up and took her into his arms, nearly concealing her entire petite body. “Of course we are, baby.” He squeezed harder and then held her out for a good look. “Aren’t we always okay?”

  She responded with a shallow nod, tears running down her cheeks. “Eventually,” she said, dabbing at her eyes. “It’s just so weird how things sometimes work out.”

  Evy took Dean’s hand, her eyes brimming with tears. “I’m just sorry all of you had to go through this,” she said, unable to hold their gazes for very long. “This was all my fault.”

  “That’s not true,” Dean piped in, taking off his apron and tossing it into a hamper overflowing with dirty towels and silk napkins. “This was my fault and my fault only.” With two fingers, he tipped Evy’s chin up and fell into her soft eyes. “And it will never happen again, that much I can promise you.”

  She smiled brightly, believing his every word.

  Dean turned to the others and swallowed against the lump in his throat. “I am sorry for everything that has happened. I really am.”

  Brooke sniffled softly, lifting a shoulder to her ear. “The Lord works in mysterious ways.”

  Ben smiled warmly, holding her hands. “That’s no joke.”

  Pam clapped her hands, giddy with excitement. “Oh, I just love a happy ending!”

  Jon laughed and passed out beers and glasses of wine before joining the others in cleaning up from the wonderful tornado of support that had just blown through their doors.

  Evy turned to face Dean and squeezed his hand tighter, standing in front of a curved glass case with nothing more than different colored crumbs inside. “Thank you for everything you did for us.”

  “You don’t have to thank me for anything. I should be thanking you.”

  A grave look replaced her warm smile. “I am so lucky to have you.” She took his other hand and stepped closer, peppermint floating from her breath. “Your parents would be so proud of you,” she whispered, staring into his eyes.

  Dean nodded softly, terrified of what blinking might do to the water rising in his eyes. “I wish they could’ve met you,” he said, his voice quivering. “They would have loved you.”

  She smiled, rubbing her thumbs along the backs of his hands. “I love you.”

  He smiled at her. “I love you,” he said, cradling her face and kissing her softly.

  Pam stopped sweeping and let out a wistful sigh. “They’re so sweet together.”

  Jon pulled a jam-packed garbage bag from its container by the front door and set it on the floor, glancing over at Dean and Evy. “I hope to make a woman swoon like that someday,” he said, tying the bag up.

  “You will,” Pam said, unable to take her eyes from the glow hovering around Evy and Dean.

  Jon pulled a new garbage bag from his back pocket and shook it open. “You think?”

  “I do.”

  One corner of Jon’s mouth rose into his cheek. “You wanna grab a drink somewhere after this?”

  She turned to him, eyeballing him from top to bottom. “You couldn’t handle this.”

  A deep frown carved across Jon’s face. He ran a hand through his blond bangs, leaving a streak of raspberry frosting. “I’d like to try.”

  She stepped in front of him and squished her lips into the side of her face. “I’ll give you an audition but, just so you know, if you finish before me it’ll never happen again.”

  His eyebrows pulled together. “I’ll use a rubber band.”

  Her dark eyes tightened. “Do you like spankings?”

  He glanced around the room to see if anyone else was catching this and turned back to Pam when he realized they weren’t. “Yeah, I guess.”

  “Fine!” Pam said angrily, returning to her broom. “Because that’s what bad boys get.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Jon mumbled, wrinkles sprouting from the corners of his eyes. “Where are you from anyway?”

  She stopped the broom and looked up. “Dallas.”

  “So this planet then?”

  A coy grin molded her lips before she returned to sweeping up.

  Jon waited for her to look away before glancing at the ceiling and silently mouthing the words: thank you, God.

  Carrie smiled behind the counter. “Looks like Jon made a new friend.”

  “Good,” Brooke whispered. “Maybe she’ll quit drooling all over my husband.”

  Ben laughed. “Don’t get your hopes up.”

  Brooke rolled her eyes and took Carrie by the hand. “Thank you so much for helping out today. We literally couldn’t have done it without you.”

  “Anytime. I had so much fun.”

  “It’s a lot more fun now that it’s over.” Shaun let out a long breath and put his hands on his hips, not knowing where to begin. “That was sheer madness.”

  Brooke squeezed Carrie’s hand before trading it for Ben’s and pulling him into the kitchen, where the real mess was waiting.

  Carrie walked over and wiped frosting from Shaun’s cheek and licked it off her finger. “God, you taste good.”

  Shaun zipped the receipts and cash up in a bank bag and leaned against the counter. “You sure you weren’t jealous by all those women wanting to take my picture today?”

  She smoothed her short blond hair. “You mean the one woman? And she may have taken your picture, but I’m going to take the rest of you.”

  “Ooh, sounds kinky,” Shaun smiled. “Thank God your mom took the girls.”

  “We have the whole house all to ourselves.”

  “What do you want to do?”

  Carrie shrugged, her lips stretching downward. “I’m sure we’ll think of something.”

  Shaun kissed her softly before surveying the place from one side of the room to the other. “This is going to work out, ya know.”

  She pressed up against him, their noses inches apart. “I never thought otherwise.”

  “Not even for a minute?”

  Her eyes thinned. “Okay, maybe for a minute, but I knew you would come through, honey, you always do.”

  A short laugh ruffled his lips. “Who would’ve thought I’d end up selling my own beer in a real bar?”

  “Like Brooke said...”

  “Yeah,” he replied, peering deeply into his wife’s eyes and kissing her again. Carrie hesitated before throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.

  “Get a room!” Dean yelled.

  Evy turned to him, smiling from ear to ear. “So what happens now?”

  He shrugged. “Now, I get a divorce and finally marry the woman I was supposed to marry the first time around.”

  Evy could barely contain herself, butterflies launching in her stomach, reservations thrown to the wind. “Sounds like a lucky girl.”

  He smiled, his fingertips lightly tracing her jaw line. “She is. Her name’s Gina and she shou
ld be here any minute,” he said, checking his watch.

  She smacked his arm and turned for the kitchen.

  He snapped her back to him like a ballroom dancer and swept her up in his arms, peering deeply into her eyes. “I love you more than anything in the world.”

  Evy’s smile lit him on fire. “I know,” she whispered, pressing her lips to his and shutting out the rest of the world.

  The End

  About Kaitlyn Cross:

  When not scoring great deals on purses and shoes, I enjoy drinking red wine, spending way too much time on Pinterest, and denying that I watch The Vampire Diaries religiously. For future release dates and secret recipes (stolen from Pinterest), like my Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Kaitlyn-Cross/176038785868539?ref=hl

  Thank you so much for reading Fate Interrupted 2! Once again, a special thanks to the city of Milwaukee, which will always hold a special place in my heart.

  Life is short, buy the shoes!

  Coming in the summer of 2013: Brooke & Ben (their standalone love story, before fate interrupted.)

  Chapter Eighteen

  The sun beat down on blue waves crashing to the surf with a thunderous roar, spraying sea foam high into the air. Seagulls cried out from above, surveying the sand for loose scraps, while the silhouette of a cruise ship lazily traversed the horizon, appearing no larger than a child’s toy. Footballs and Frisbees sailed through the air while boogie-boarders kicked their feet to catch the next tube.

  “Another beautiful day!”

  Ryder looked over to see a pretty, gray haired lady with blond highlights setting up shop to his right. “Never in short supply around here,” he smiled, returning to The Maui News he was clutching tightly.

  “No, they’re not,” she said, unfolding a short beach chair and sitting down with a relieved sigh. She adjusted her floppy sun hat and took a moment to soak in the majestic view. “It’s breathtaking.”

  Ryder lowered the paper and followed her gaze out to sea, where sun sparkles skittered across the water’s surface like diamonds. “It sure is.” He pulled his hat down as a breeze nearly swept it away and she did a quick double take.

  “I don’t mean to be rude, but what happened to your face?”

  Ryder smiled thinly and pushed his sunglasses up his swollen nose. “Little fender-bender, but I’ll be right as rain in no time.”

  “Maybe some sun will help.”

  “That’s the plan. You on vacation?” he asked, deliberately changing the subject.

  She nodded, applying enough sunscreen on her arms to protect an entire island village. “My husband and I were married on this very beach fifty-two years ago tomorrow.

  Ryder followed her gaze down the beach to a thick Polynesian man presiding over a ceremony for a younger couple dressed in ivory colored clothing.

  “I come back every year for our anniversary.”

  Ryder turned to the hotel behind them he had purposely put some distance between, his brightly colored Hawaiian shirt flapping in the wind.

  “Oh, he’s not here,” she said, lathering up her shapely legs next. “Bill’s been dead now for sixteen years.”

  He leaned back. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “Don’t be,” she smiled. “We had a good run.”

  “Sounds like it. Thirty-six years is a long time,” he said, raising the paper back up.

  A wistful sigh broke from her lips as she capped the sunscreen and dropped it into an orange beach bag with red stripes. “Death was the only thing that could’ve kept us apart.”

  Ryder snorted, shaking a kink from the paper’s spine. “I know a couple of kids like that.”

  “They’re lucky,” she said, surveying the busy beach. “I know I was.”

  Ryder folded the paper and slipped it beneath his leg to keep it from blowing away. He opened a small cooler next to him in the sand and offered her a cold can of Corona. “Never remarried?”

  “Oh, thank you,” she said, taking the can and cracking it open. “No, I never remarried.” She took a quick drink to wet her whistle. “When Bill was sick, he made me promise I would find someone to share the rest of my life with, but it felt wrong when I knew he would always be up there waiting for me.” She glanced to the blue skies above and dug her toes into the sand. “Stupid I know, but that’s what happened.”

  “Not stupid at all,” Ryder replied, cracking a beer of his own and peering over the top of his black sunglasses at a group of four youths sauntering closer. Just when he thought they would keep going, they laid their towels down just a few yards away and turned on a large boom box. Ryder rolled his eyes behind his glasses as something that sounded like bowling balls dropping on cats began wailing from the speakers. He shook his head and took a long drink. All this beach…

  “I’m Victoria.”

  He turned to Victoria’s hand, pausing for a split second before taking it. “Nice to meet you, Victoria,” he smiled warmly. “I’m Frank.”

  “Frank,” she grinned, taking her hand back. “Where are you from?”

  Frank cleared his throat and sat up straighter. “The Milwaukee/Chicago area. How about you?”

  “Portland,” she answered, taking a cold drink. “So I take it you’re on vacation as well.”

  “Actually, I just retired.”

  “Oh?”

  “About to start my condo hunt tomorrow.”

  Victoria backed her head up a little. “Here?”

  He nodded proudly as one of the kids called someone a freckled-face fuck-stick. “Easy street from here on out,” he said, ignoring the outburst.

  “That’s so wonderful! I’m jealous.”

  He chuckled softly. “Knowing my luck, I’ll have a heart attack two weeks after I get settled in.”

  “Don’t say that!” she laughed. “You’ll curse yourself.” Her eyes wandered back to the sea, uncontrollably drawn to the majestic body of shimmering water. She took a long drink. “What line of work were you in?”

  Frank cleared his throat and sat up straighter. “Waste management.”

  “Oh, okay.”

  “Gettin too old for that garbage though,” he said with a light laugh.

  She laughed with him and they grew quiet, sharing a comfortable moment of gazing out to sea. A kite surfer went zipping by, slicing across a forming wave and then using its crest as a ramp. He shot into the air and kicked the board up to his rear end before sinuously planting the landing and disappearing down the coastline.

  Frank leaned over and tucked the paper under the cooler. “Say, I don’t mean to be forward, but would you like to have dinner tonight by any chance? I hate dining alone.”

  Victoria placed a hand over her heart. “Well, you certainly don’t waste any time, do you?”

  “Not much left to waste.”

  She smiled back, her cheeks flushing in the shade of her hat. “I’d love to.”

  The ear bleeding music grew louder. One kid with long blond hair started dancing in the sand, a can of beer in his hand, board shorts hanging past his ass crack. His friends laughed and shouted things that would make a sailor blush.

  Frank quickly disregarded him and turned away. “I saw them working on a Hawaiian pig roast back by the hotel and it smelled delicious. Always wanted to try that.”

  Victoria leaned forward and put a hand to her ear. “What?” she yelled over the music.

  “I said,” he began, pausing when the music turned up even louder. Anger slid down Frank’s face, turning him back into Ryder – the man he would never completely outrun. “Excuse me for a minute,” he grumbled, pushing himself up from the chair.

  The sand was hot beneath his feet, but not as hot as it was beneath his collar.

  When a kid with short spiked hair noticed Ryder coming their way, he tapped a red headed kid with freckles sitting next to him. The blond stopped dancing and took a long drink of beer, watching Ryder come closer.

  Ryder had to keep from laughing when the kid crumpled the can in his
hand and threw it across the sand. Ryder held up a friendly hand instead. “Do me a favor and turn it down a little, will ya guys?” He smiled warmly and nodded to Victoria. “Got an old man tryin to score a hot date over here.”

  They stared at him for a moment without moving and then burst into a hysterical bout of laughter.

  “Hope you brought a buttload of Cialis, pops!” spike laughed, elbowing his pasty friend with sun burnt shoulders. “Cuz you’re going to need it, yo!”

  Ryder laughed with them, the sun hot on the back of his neck. “I appreciate any help I can get.”

  Their laughter turned into a tension filled silence as they traded barbed stares.

  “Yo, why are you still standing there?” blondie asked, inflating his muscular chest. “Don’t you have an arts and crafts class to get to?”

  His friends howled with more laughter, slapping hands and shaking their heads.

  Ryder waited them out, his grin melting along with his patience in the hot sun. He nodded to the radio. “Turn it down. Now.”

  Spike’s face sobered dramatically. “Or what?” he asked, throwing his wiry arms out.

  “Or I’m going to knock blondie out first because he’s the biggest, and my guess is the rest of you runts will take off running for your mommies.”

  They stared at him through shocked eyes before cracking up even harder.

  With surprising quickness, Ryder glided into blondie’s personal space and stared him down. The blond kid stopped laughing and studied Ryder’s battered face while waves crashed in the background before slowly bending over and turning down the radio.

  He stood back up and smiled thinly. “Oops,” he said weakly. “My bad.”

  Ryder leaned in closer, the smell of cigarettes lingering on the kid’s breath. “And if you don’t pull up those Goddamn pants I’m gonna give you a beatin you’ll never forget.” He smiled and turned to the others.

  A chubby kid with a skull tattoo covering one man boob turned away and started whistling.