He had seduced the perfect woman only to screw up his success at the first obstacle. His jealousy made him ill now to recall it, and his suffering had been for nothing. It was her brother the whole time. Her brother. Damn it. Why hadn’t Jane made him listen? How badly had his words hurt her?
“Never is a very long time away when you’re as young as you are, Walter. Things could still change,” Eli said wisely. “How old are you anyway?”
“Old enough to love your sister the way she deserves to be loved. I’m sorry, Elijah. I overreacted because Jane is everything to me,” Walter said, extending his hand across the table again.
Eli nodded as he clasped it. “It’s no skin off me if you thought I was my hot sister’s sweet scoundrel lover, Walter. She’s the one that ran out in a mad hurry to correct your assumption. I never gave a shit what you thought. We’re good.”
“But what does Jane think now?” Walter asked.
Eli shrugged. “Dude, you’re in it so deep, I don’t even know where to tell you to start shoveling. Jane got a new cell phone to avoid your elderly grandfather. That seems a rather extreme step to take over a simple misunderstanding. After she spent all that time crying over you, I don’t think the issue seems simple anymore to Jane.”
Walter rubbed his face with his hand. “Harrison called her?”
“Several times a day until she got the new phone,” Eli confirmed. “She didn’t even do that when she divorced Waterfield. I think it gave her a sense of satisfaction to hang up on him.”
“How am I supposed to fix this?” Walter asked, turning to Daniel.
“Don’t look at me. I told you this was going to happen. I’m into preventative maintenance with Amanda,” Daniel said. He looked at Elijah. “Forget how Walter looks. He’s too smart for most women to like him. Jane is the most serious relationship he’s ever had. That’s why he screwed up so badly with her.”
Eli nodded, looking at the now humbled man. So Jane was young Walter’s anomaly. He supposed that was promising, if she could get past the screw-up. He could see why his dad liked him.
“I can’t give up. I’ll think of something,” Walter said. “I have to think of something.”
Eli stood, but motioned to the table. “So does this drink thing happen to you often?”
“All the time since Walter was in the fire station pin-up calendar, but he never drinks them. He just buy drinks back and goes home to his grandfather,” Daniel supplied.
Eli nodded. “Yeah, Dad says Waterfield hasn’t been able to replace my sister either. Don’t worry though, I’m watching for him to show up. When I tell Jane about him and Shira, it’s all over. You,” he pointed to Walter, “you get one more chance.”
“Thanks for tracking me down, Eli. I mean that,” Walter said.
“You may not thank me for long. Crashing and burning is going to hurt worse now because you’re going to have to live with what you’ve done to her,” Eli said.
Walter watched Jane’s brother saunter away, looking just like he did the day he first saw him, except with a shirt.
“He was naked,” Daniel mocked. “Dude, Jane would not go from you to that kind of man. You had to be thinking with your dick, because your mind is a hell of lot smarter than that.”
Walter laid his head back down on the table and groaned over his stupidity.
Chapter 16
“So you were due Saturday two weeks ago?” Dr. Bensara asked.
Jane nodded. “Yes. I had all the symptoms, but nothing happened. It’s probably just stress, right?”
“Have you been sexually active in the last month?”
Jane nodded again.
Dr. Bensara stopped writing to hold her long time patient’s gaze. “Your discomfort is probably a low grade urinary tract infection, but we’ll have to run a pregnancy test to rule that out before we start you on the meds to clear it up. Fill the cup and we can test everything with one sample.”
Jane sighed and took the cup a nearby nurse handed her. Sighing, she faced the doctor. “What are the chances of conception if you have unprotected sex the day before you’re due to start your cycle? That’s a pretty safe time of the month, right?”
The doctor smiled back. “Normally. But there are factors that can affect it. At your age, your hormones are fluctuating in unusual ways so your monthly cycle is beginning to fluctuate too. Plus, repeated instances of intercourse close together would likely increase the chances of conception. There’s also your partner’s virility. Some men just pack more punch than others. Things like the rhythm method are not precise, Jane. Neither are contraceptives though. Abstinence is the only true way to avoid pregnancy.”
“Yeah, I was using that method for a long time. It worked really well,” Jane said, laughing to keep from crying. She’d done more crying in the last two weeks than she’d done in her entire lifetime.
Jane forced herself to smile when her doctor laughed and rubbed her shoulder.
“Well, you’re not alone, no matter what we find out,” Dr. Bensara said. “Accidents sometime happen even to the most careful of women. I like to look at them as divine intervention, but if you feel this is not a good time for you. . .well, I have referrals I can give you.”
“Those won’t be necessary. If I’m pregnant, I’ll deal with it,” Jane said, hoping that she could back that statement up if it turned out to be the case. Her dad would be both thrilled and disappointed in her. But he couldn’t be more disappointed than she was in herself.
Dr. Bensara had said she was not alone, but as she endured the humiliation of peeing into a plastic cup, Jane thought she had never felt more alone than she did in that moment. It would be just her luck to get pregnant by a man way too immature to ever be a decent father.
She dreaded having to tell Walter more than she feared finding out she was pregnant with his child. If there was a way she could avoid it, she probably would.
***
“I’m sorry, Walter. You asked for Jane’s name to be put on the original contract and our office is choosing to enforce her signoff. We’re at a standstill. You can submit your revised project contract that releases her from the work, but it will take a month or more to get that change acknowledged through the channels at our office. If you could just ask Jane to sign off this once, that would be the best solution for our time problem.”
Walter shook his head at Brenner’s request. He knew he couldn’t reach her by phone because she had changed her number. But his balls weren’t big enough to just show up on her doorstep again. “I don’t think asking Jane to sign off is going to work.”
“If we don’t move forward pretty quickly, we’re looking at the new system not getting finished by the time it gets colder. We had to cut off the natural gas lines already. You’re going to have residents out of heat unless this happens soon,” Brenner said. “Want me to take it to Jane and ask?”
Walter shook his head again. “No. No, I’ll try to do it. I need to talk to her anyway. I owe her an apology for a misunderstanding we had. I’ve just been putting it off.”
“I see. Well I hope it works out,” Brenner said. “Maybe you’re right to hesitate. Jane didn’t strike me as the kind of woman willing to sign off on something she hasn’t seen for herself. If you could get her to come by for like ten minutes, I could run through it all quickly. She’s really quick to grasp how it all works.”
“I’ll see what I can do, but don’t get your hopes up,” Walter said.
Brenner’s eyebrows lifted at the first discouragement the younger man had ever shown, but he let it go without comment. Instead, he returned to do what he could until Jane could be reached.
***
“So I guess you’re wondering why I asked you to fly down to see me. . .and without Mom,” Walter said.
Leland shrugged. “You’re my son. You said you needed me, so I came.”
“Well, I’ve already talked to Harrison. I didn’t want to bother you, but. . .I don’t know where else to turn. I’ve messed up and do
n’t know how to fix my problem.”
“Walter, your mother and I have already discussed this. Harrison told us how much the environmental work means to you. It’s not surprising you overextended yourself on this large a project. We’ve got fifty grand set aside. We were planning to open an educational account for your children, but. . .well, you have to have a solid income to have a wife. . .so. . .”
“Dad—stop,” Walter said. “I don’t need money. I’ve already raised the extra money I needed for the North Winds work.”
“How? Harrison’s even got his pedigreed lawyer trying to figure out a way you can borrow from your trust fund before you turn thirty,” Leland said quietly. “This is no time to be proud, Walter. Let us help you.”
“Dad, I swear I don’t need money,” Walter said. “I got fifteen thousand on a modeling contract. The rest I got back from canceling my classes this fall. I’ll finish my MBA in the spring. I can’t let the residents at North Wind go without heat.”
“Well of course not but. . .modeling contract?” Leland asked, the term finally penetrating through the lecture he had practiced in his head on the drive from the airport. “This is not about that calendar you were in, is it? Your mother has gone on and on about that. Never do that again.”
“No. This is different. I’m modeling suits. Two catalog companies have already picked up my shots,” Walter said. “Besides, it’s not open for debate. I’ve signed and I’m doing it. Mom will just have to deal with seeing me in print again. Hell, even news anchors have modeled suits and did ads for aftershave. What celebrity hasn’t? Maybe everyone will think I’m gay and the women will finally stop sending their underwear to the North Winds office,” Walter exclaimed. “And for the hundredth time, I wasn’t supposed to be in the damn fire station calendar. That was the chief’s fault. I was just goofing off and helping the photographer set up.”
Leland studied his agitated son as Walter stood to pace. “So this really isn’t about the North Winds project or money, is it?”
“No,” Walter said tightly, slowing his pacing until his stopped to curve a fisted hand on top of his fireplace. “I know how to make money. What I don’t know is how to get the woman I love to forgive me for being a total jackass to her. I hurt her badly, and now I don’t know how to make it right. You’re my last resort, Dad. She’s not having anything to do with me.”
“Last resort? No surprising news there. I’m certainly no expert on women. What exactly do you think I can help you with, Walter?” Leland asked, feeling every line on his forehead collapsing in confusion.
“I don’t know. If I knew, I would just ask and save us both this awkward conversation. What I did was evidently so bad that Harrison says he’s got no ideas,” Walter said.
“Is this about the ‘Jane’ woman your mother mentioned?” Leland asked. He rose and walked to Walter’s side. At his son’s tight nod, Leland nodded back. “Okay. So what did you do that’s so unforgivable?”
“I made love to her on the pool house floor at North Winds so she wouldn’t think any of the lingerie from the crazy calendar women was appealing to me. That worked pretty well, but later that same day I thought her brother was just another younger guy she was sleeping with and I accused her of that,” Walter said. He found the words bitter every time he confessed it to someone new. He still couldn’t figure out why he hadn’t been able to fight off his stupidity.
“Why would you think so badly of her character when you’d just slept with her?” Leland asked.
Walter swallowed. “Because I’d never met him and he came to her door half naked. We’d just been together that morning and I. . .ah hell. I didn’t ask who he was. I just assumed the worst. He was naked and Jane was in the shower. I couldn’t see through my jealousy enough to ask the right questions.”
“Sounds like your logic failed you. Why would you jump to such a harsh conclusion about her?” Leland asked. He watched Walter shake his head and close his eyes.
It was interesting to see history repeating itself. The only viable solution to Walter’s problem was simple enough from his point of view. But why hadn’t Harrison just told him? Obviously his father had wanted Walter to talk to him for some reason. The old goat was far more sneaky than anyone would ever believe. Still, he was glad Walter had called. He was glad that for once he could be the father his father had been to him.
“Doing something like that doesn’t even sound like you, Walter. You normally see the good in everyone. You got that trait from your grandmother. Mom always saw the good in people no matter how they acted, which I figured always explained why she could tolerate Dad so well.”
His father’s praise of his character made his mistake somehow worse. Walter leaned his head against his fists as he thought about how to describe what he’d been feeling.
“I don’t really know what happened, Dad. I’d never been jealous before. Mostly I never cared about women leaving me. I know it sounds conceited, but there was always another one or two waiting when the one I was dating left. It’s not like that with Jane. There are no other women like her. She can talk about anything, and I mean anything, and still when I look at her, all I want is to. . .”
Walter stopped and looked at his father, surprised to see Leland Graham’s full genius in the two sharp laser beams focused on him for once.
“Do you think I’m being stupid now in trying to fix this? You would not believe how sick it makes me to think I made her cry.”
Leland snorted. That had caught him off guard. “No. You are not being stupid to fix this, well no more than any other idiot in love. Love makes all men stupid. You probably weren’t making decisions with your brain that day anyway.”
Walter laughed at his father’s teasing. “That’s true enough. Have you ever been that stupid?”
Leland frowned and studied the unlit logs in Walter’s fireplace.
“Harrison said you broke up Mom’s engagement to another man. Is that true?” Walter asked.
Leland looked at the floor and then back at his son’s earnest face. “There might be a little truth to that statement. It stands as evidence of my previous comment.”
“The one about love making every man stupid?” Walter asked.
“Yes. Willingly stepping in front of a guy’s fist hardly seems like a smart thing to do, does it?” Leland asked.
“Depends on what you were trying to accomplish,” Walter said, shrugging one shoulder. “Why did you do it?”
Leland rocked on his heels as he studied the ceiling. “Because I had treated your mother like all the other women in my life. It took me too long to figure out that wasn’t the case, but by that time, she had moved on to other men. Your mother was the only woman I was ever able to talk to comfortably. That’s the truth and she still is. Before her, I confess I did my fair share of experimentation. Sex is a pleasant pastime. It took the edge off my strenuous college years.”
“Dad, I find most women boring. The few I’ve slept with bored me too. I was beginning to think I wasn’t wired for a real relationship, but then I met Jane,” Walter said.
“Your mother. . .she was totally different from the others. She had goals for herself and plans for her life that didn’t include me by the time I came to my senses. She left me like I had left all the other women. At first I willingly let her go, just to see if I could. . .I guess. I don’t remember why I thought that would work as a strategy. Letting go of her was stupid. It was stupid then. It would be stupid now. Your mother has always been the only woman that made me happy in every way. I had to get her back. So yes, Harrison helped me. Dad told me to take a punch so your mother could see the other guy for the ass he was. He was right—as he usually is—about people anyway.”
“Jane’s brother eventually tracked me down to tell me the truth. I could let him punch me, but I think Jane would just cheer him on at this point,” Walter said. “And the women fans of the calendar aren’t helping. She was already worried about that before I had my stupid moment. When I was mad, I t
old her I was going to start dating them. And I did that for a short time. . .but it was awful. . .just like Harrison predicted. I couldn’t even kiss them.”
“Well, the biggest obstacle you face is all the competition for your attention. It sounds like you need to completely remove all women but Jane from the equation, Walter,” Leland said easily.
“How in the hell do I do that, Dad? They’re everywhere I go, even here at North Winds,” Walter said.
“Go public and announce your relationship to Jane. Be clever and vague, but not so vague that Jane can blow it off. She’ll come to you then, if for no other reason than to set you straight. You may have a fight on your hands, but. . .well, I’m sure you’ll do fine at arguing your case. Whatever happens, keep in mind that things have a way of working out how they’re supposed to.”
Walter thought about what his father said. “You know, when Harrison told me the story about you and Mom, I didn’t believe him. I just couldn’t see you doing it.”
Leland laughed at his son’s skepticism. It was well deserved in his case. “Walter, I’d do it again today if it meant keeping your mother at my side. She’s my anchor, my best friend, and the woman I want. If you’re sure Jane is that woman for you, then you have to try to win her back. When I think of how empty my life would be without April, I start to have a panic attack.”
“So you’re telling me I should just fake the relationship I want with Jane until I can figure out how to make it really happen?” Walter asked.
“Yes. It’s a very new age way of approaching problems. Your mother read this article about manifesting what she wants. That’s what made me think about its application to your case,” Leland said.
“What does Mom want to manifest?” Walter asked, befuddled to think of his practical mother doing something so out of the box.
Leland laughed. “Next time you come up for a visit, ask her to show you the ‘home and family bagua’. She’s taped pictures of young families all over it. What you will see is better than anything I could explain.”
“Oh God. . .she heard me talking to Jane on the phone,” Walter said, groaning in dismay at his mother’s weird machinations.
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