Fall With Me

by Julie Particka

  Lacey spun her phone on the table, snagging my attention with the way the light caught on it. Her smile was almost as bright when she said, “Adam ordered us brunch from this little restaurant he likes here in town.” Her phone buzzed and she glanced at it. “He also said not to worry because there’s more than enough for five.”

  A restaurant here? Probably someplace he’d gone with Jenna long before he’d hooked up with my sister. “Honestly, I’m not sure I can stay.” Or that I have a strong enough stomach to deal with the sugar being poured on everything. “I mainly stopped by looking for you.” I nodded at Lacey.

  Mom gave another harrumph, but she didn’t argue. I wasn’t much of a breakfast guy. Never had been. Eventually, as a kid, I’d caved and agreed to a protein shake in the morning, nothing more.

  Lacey frowned. “Me?”

  “Yeah. You need to learn to answer your phone.” I waved her toward the door, not wanting to have this conversation around Mom since it would generate far too many questions.

  Lacey looked at her phone for a minute before her lips twisted. “Oh. Yeah.” She shoved away from the table and stepped outside with me. “I saw the missed calls but I figured it wasn’t anything important. You could have left a message, you know.”

  “If I had I wouldn’t get to see your face or hear your voice when I gave you the news.” I waited until she looked like she was going to jump on me to get me to talk. “Jem’s willing to see you.”

  The high-pitched squee that came from between Lacey’s lips was enough to make me wince. She circled her arms around me, hugging me tighter than her skinny frame should have been able to manage. “When? Is she coming over today? I can’t wait to see her. I’ve missed her more than you can know. What made her change her mind?”

  A twinge of guilt hit me at the excitement of her questions. “Not today. I needed to talk to you to set something up.”

  When Lacey let go, she moved as if in slow motion, stepping away as her expression shifted from glee to confusion. “Why are you setting it up?”

  Lacey wasn’t normally suspicious, but I had to admit this had “trap” written all over it. I let out a little chuckle as if this was no big deal and felt stupid bringing it up. “We’ve started dating, and she doesn’t want to go into this alone. She said she’d agree to see you if we made it a double date.”

  “With Adam?”

  “Unless you have another guy hidden somewhere.” Dad’s car pulled into the drive, and I counted the seconds as Lacey stood there saying nothing. If Adam came into the conversation now, it could complicate things. I wanted Lacey to commit first. “If you’re not comfortable with it, I’ll let her know. You’ve been adamant about seeing her; I figured you’d jump at the chance. Not a big deal. Enjoy your brunch.”

  Her touch fell on my arm as I turned to leave. “Wait. Yeah. I’ll talk to Adam about when and give you a call. I guess I’d just expected some one-on-one girl time. Maybe we can build up to it.”

  I pulled her into a brief hug. “That would be great. Talk to you soon.”

  I was halfway to my car when a less gentle touch than Lacey’s caught my arm. I turned and stared Adam down until he let go. My glare didn’t keep him from saying, “Not staying to say hello?”

  “Sorry, man. I have a girl to get back to. You understand, I’m sure.”

  “Only one? From what your sister tells me, you’re slipping.” He laughed and clapped me on the shoulder like we were best buds, like he understood a damn thing about me. Like my past was something to be proud of.

  “Yeah. This one’s special. Kind of like Lacey.”

  His hand fell away at the mention of her, and his smile tightened. “Yeah. Like her.”

  I didn’t know what his game was, but it needed to end soon. He wasn’t in love with my sister, the same way he hadn’t been in love with Jenna—that was perfectly clear. I only hoped opening Lacey’s eyes took a lot less time than three years.

  …

  I didn’t actually see Jenna until Monday at work since she wanted to surprise her parents with an anniversary dinner Sunday night. As soon as we were alone though, she said, “Well? Did she take the bait?”

  With the help of a sledge and wrecking bar, I broke up the ugly one-inch tiles on the bathroom floor. “You make it sound like we set a trap for her.”

  “And you’re saying we didn’t?” Jenna peeled up a section of the tile and jerked her head to where the mesh hadn’t torn. “A little help?”

  I yanked the bar through, tearing it and nearly making her fall in the process. “Sorry. The date isn’t the trap, though. It’s the setup. You and Adam, that’s the trap.”

  She shuddered as she heaved the trash into our waiting wheelbarrow. “How far do you expect me to run with this if he goes for it? And do we have a schedule yet?”

  The way she said it made it crystal clear the first question was one she really wanted an answer to. Unfortunately, the second was easier. “Friday night at eight in Ferndale. Tell me this, Jem, if he tried something, what would you do?”

  “Run screaming into the night.”

  I started to laugh, then I caught a glimpse of her face. She wasn’t kidding, not by a long shot.

  The wrecking bar clattered against the remains of the tile when I dropped it, but I didn’t care. “Hey. Look at me.” When she finally glanced up, there was a kind of fear in her eyes I’d never seen before. “Are you sure you’re up for this?”

  “For getting my best friend back and beating Adam at his sick and twisted game? Yeah. For anything close to flirting with him? I don’t know.” She shook her head so fast it was almost as if she were trembling.

  I wrapped my arms around her. “You don’t have to flirt with him, just try to not act repulsed by him. The hardest part of your job is going to be pretending you’re trying to keep your hands off my fantastic body. He won’t be able to resist you after that.” She rolled her eyes and jabbed me in the stomach. I laughed and then squeezed her tighter.

  “Then you let him do the work, and all you have to do is smile and half-assed brush him off. It’ll make him think you’re playing hard to get after what he did to you.” I pressed my lips to her hair and sucked in a breath, drinking her in. “If you don’t think you can pull it off, we’ll come up with another plan. I can tell Lacey you got cold feet—whether because of her, or Adam, or fear of another fucking ice age, I don’t care.”

  She sighed against my chest, and the sound was so mournful it tore at my heart. “Yes, you do. It’s a good plan and, as much as I love the idea that you’d put my needs ahead of saving Lacey, I’ll be okay. I mean, it’s not like I’m going to have to drive home with him or something.”

  “I would never do that to you.” Sure, I wanted to get rid of Adam, only not at the expense of my relationship with Jenna, or her sanity.

  Wriggling from my embrace, she plastered on a smile. “Then I have four days and change to psych myself up for Friday night. No problem.”

  She was grabbing another section of tile before I opened my mouth to respond. Instead of saying anything, I snapped it shut again. Four days was a decent amount of time to build up to the date. It was an even longer time for her to freak out over it. I was going to have to make sure she had something else to think about in the meantime.

  Chapter Eleven

  -Jenna-

  Thursday. The date of doom was tomorrow. Sutton had been great the whole week, joking about Operation Ex-plosion, which was pretty funny. Only the closer we got to Friday night, the more stressed I was.

  Then the worst possible thing happened.

  We were cleaning up on the job site when Dad started cursing in the other room. I barely heard him over the sound of the radio, but I went to see what the fuss was anyway. It sounded like the kind of distraction I could use. “Everything okay, Dad?”

  “Issues with the inspection.” He slapped his cell phone on the makeshift table that held the basement plans. “We’re on hold until it’s straightened out.”

/>   It was three o’clock, which was earlier than he liked to close up shop, but it shouldn’t have had him this irritated. “No biggie. I’ll get with Sutton on cleanup and we’ll hit it hard again tomorrow.”

  Dad shook his head and stalked toward the tools. “We’ll be lucky if we can hit it by Monday. New inspection won’t be until tomorrow at best.”

  “Oh.” In our line of work, time was most definitely money. Delays were always factored into estimates, but there’d already been issues here because of things that hadn’t been accounted for. “Are there some other jobs where we can go in and do touch-up work?”

  He usually had things like changes of outlet color or other nonsense on the back burner until he had free time. “A few that’ll barely keep me busy for the day.” He tossed a hammer into his toolbox. “Looks like you and Sutton get a long weekend.”

  I was frozen to the spot, unable to speak for a minute. No work meant no distractions, physical or mental. An entire day to dwell on the double date from hell was about as bad as my luck could get. “Are you sure—”

  “Yes. Actually, since he saved my bacon with your mom last Friday, I can deal with cleanup. Why don’t you see if Sutton can give you a ride home and get your weekend started earlier? Maybe you could do a Cedar Point getaway or something?”

  I wished. Roller coasters and greasy food sounded like a lot more fun than my current plans. When I didn’t move, Dad turned around and tilted his head to the side. “Jenna-bear, are you okay?”

  “Yep. Thanks.” I forced my feet to move. One in front of the other until I found Sutton. “We’re done here today.”

  “What?” He swiped at his sweaty face, leaving streaks in the grime. The gesture and look were ridiculously masculine, and it gave me a new focus. As sexy as I found Sutton when he was dirty like this, right now I wanted to beg him to drive me home and let me take him into a shower and get on my own version of cleanup.

  Then I realized he’d said something. “Oh. There are inspection issues. We’re off duty until at least Monday.” I tiptoed my fingers up his arm, still thinking about that shower. “And I don’t want to go home to spend the next however many hours by myself.”

  He watched the progress of my hand as I slid it down the front of his T-shirt. “You’re still stressed about tomorrow, aren’t you?”

  I stopped before reversing course under the shirt. “Why?”

  “Because we’re at work and you’ve got a look about you that says my clothes may end up in pieces if I let you keep going. Besides the inconvenience of driving home naked, your dad could pop in here any second.”

  “Stupid logic always getting in the way.” I swatted at his pecs, which only made me want his shirt off more. Damn.

  Sutton caught my wrist and pressed a kiss to my knuckles. “Get your things and I’ll take you home. Pick you up at six for a movie and dinner?”

  Yes, please. Wait. No. I want that shower. I smacked my inner voice. I did want the shower and a million other things with Sutton, but some of them would be a lot better without the shadow of Adam hovering around us. “Sounds perfect.”

  …

  The movie was horrible enough to be a comedic diversion and dinner was lovely. And I still couldn’t get my mind off tomorrow. Part of me wanted to call the whole thing off. If I thought we had another workable option, I would have.

  “What can I do, Jem?”

  “Huh?”

  Sutton squeezed my leg right above my knee. His hand had been there for I don’t know how long without my noticing. I was beyond screwed if he wasn’t a distraction anymore. “I asked what I can do. You’re off somewhere else, and I’m wondering if, or when, you plan to come back.”

  His voice didn’t sound boyfriend-worried, though. It sounded plan-worried. Was I going to be able to handle this? The answer hadn’t changed since we first hatched the scheme. I didn’t know, which wasn’t what Sutton would want to hear less than twenty-four hours before go time.

  “I need—” I blew out a slow breath, trying to decide what the hell I did need. The shower. I didn’t care if he’d taken one already. “I need something I can’t ignore. Something to take all my attention. Take me home, Sutton. Your home.”

  His jaw went tight enough that I worried for the fate of his teeth. After everything, I couldn’t understand why that request made him stressed. If there was another woman, he wouldn’t have been able to hide that once we were with Lacey. Not to mention he’d been spending enough time with me I had to believe another girl would get suspicious.

  Granted, I hadn’t with Lacey and Adam, but I still couldn’t figure out how or when they’d hooked up. Sutton hadn’t had time for someone else, especially someone who shared his living space.

  “I have someplace else in mind.” He cranked the wheel and pulled onto I-75, heading north. For the longest time, he just drove, and I stared at the passing scenery, seeing everything and nothing in the blur of lights.

  Too bad “somewhere else” gave me no idea of how long we’d be driving. Time to fill the quiet. “You, working for my dad… I said before it made no sense to me. How did that happen?”

  “It had to come up sooner or later, and you have a right to know what you’re getting into with me.” Sighing, he sagged against the headrest, staring at the road as he talked. “I got my degree and followed a strategic financial analyst job to Chicago. Great city, loved it. Great-paying job…if you can handle being the small fish in a pool full of sharks. I made it for a couple years, and managed to grow into a slightly bigger fish, but I was losing myself there. Work, regardless of the money, sucked ass. I hated it. So I hit the bars every night looking for something to take the pain away.”

  His jaw clenched harder at whatever was racing through his brain; I wanted to touch it, kiss it, anything to make the thoughts stop. Then he sucked in a breath and shook it off—one shake and he was normal-ish again. “I always wanted to eventually find what my parents had, the romance that’s approaching forty years together and is still going strong. Instead, I dulled my misery with one woman after another. I couldn’t tell you most of their names.”

  Ouch. That wasn’t what I’d been expecting from him. At all.

  “One night I passed out with the TV going and woke up to one of those stupid cartoon fairy tales about true love and happily ever after playing, and I snapped out of it. I took a good, hard look at my life. Put in my notice at work that day and came home two weeks later.”

  He choked the steering wheel as if the motion grounded him in the now. Obviously, he wasn’t too happy about his past. “Working for your dad was something physical, something that would exhaust my body and my mind enough for me to get myself right again. While I’d love to use my degree eventually, I’m more concerned with the rest of my life. It’s not that I expect some kind of happily ever after to fall into my lap, but I needed to get on a better path. Home and your dad are helping make that happen.”

  I didn’t know what to say. Sure, he’d had a playboy’s reputation during high school, but I hadn’t believed it. The only thing this news meant for sure was that he hadn’t come home for me.

  The idea had been my greatest hope and my worst fear since the morning we’d had sex. Ultimately, I’d been nothing other than a bit player in a much bigger story. “Then I came along and threw a wrench in everything.”

  Sutton turned toward me and reached up to trace a line from my neck down to my fingers, his eyes still dark with pain and sadness. “Funny. Turns out, I needed a wrench.”

  After that conversation, we didn’t say much. The silence gave me too much time to think. It wasn’t long before concerns over why he wouldn’t take me to his place shifted to memories: me and Adam, me and Lacey, me and Sutton. I wished I could have spent more time dwelling on the last. Even our spotty past was way better than thinking about Adam and Lacey.

  When the car pulled to a stop, I realized the glow of the city had disappeared a while ago. With the lights off, I saw more stars than I had since an astrono
my class trip to the observatory. “Where are we?”

  “The cottage.” Sutton opened his door, and I shielded my eyes against the blinding dome light. Before I recovered, he was on my side, helping me from the car.

  This was stupid. He’d taken us to the lake, and all I could think about were summers spent here with him—and Lacey. Waterskiing and swimming and lying on the grass, watching people shooting off fireworks. Not good. More memories weren’t what the doctor ordered. I glanced toward the very dark house. “You sure your parents aren’t here?”

  Sutton shrugged. “Doesn’t look like it, but I had other plans when I picked this place.” He tugged me away from the little house, down a path lit by motion sensors that had shadows leading us and darkness following in our wake, and onto a floating dock that creaked and groaned with every step as water lapped gently at the sides. Then he stopped and jerked his head toward his parents’ boat. “All aboard that’s getting aboard.”

  I stepped up onto the boat. As their kids had grown and gone off to college, the Bells had upgraded their toys. This boat was big enough for them to sail across one of the Great Lakes and use it as their hotel—comfortably. “Nice digs.”

  “Not mine, but I won’t tell if you don’t.” He held open the door leading belowdecks.

  A few steps down and I was trapped in the belly of the fiberglass beast with my very own pirate. As metaphors went, I wasn’t sure what the hell any of it meant, but it sounded bad in my head. Past the galley, he led me to the fore and the cabin there. Inside, he sat, patting the spot on the mattress next to him.

  Sex. He had brought me here for sex. Why the lake and not his place, I still didn’t know. Losing myself in him sounded perfect enough that I didn’t care, either. I settled in next to him and moved in for a kiss.

  Either I’d misjudged or he was having second thoughts because, before I made contact, he flopped on the mattress like we were kids again. He squinted and moved his finger in the air as if tracing imaginary patterns on the ceiling. “Remember when we came here the summer you and Lacey met? You two drew on the ceiling, and my parents got pissed. I always loved sleeping in the fore cabin after that. I’d look up and see you in every mark.”