Derailed

by Gina Watson

  Maura was at her side. “Hey, are you getting ready to leave?”

  “Yeah, it’s approaching ten o’clock. Ryder needs to get to bed.”

  She placed her hand on her shoulder. “He loves you. I can see it in his eyes and his expression.”

  “I know.”

  “They say he’s never had a girlfriend so he probably doesn’t know that this situation is worrisome.”

  “You’re right.” Fiona nodded and waved away her previous anxiety. She hugged and thanked Maura. Then she issued goodbyes to Courtney and Bailey.

  ***

  Everett was more than shocked at standing toe to toe with Clarissa Girouard.

  “I hope you weren’t too busy.”

  “Not at all. You’ll have to excuse me, I would have invited you in, but all of my family is in attendance so I thought we’d have more privacy out here.”

  “This is fine.” She offered him a nervous smile as she roved him from head to toe. “You look great.”

  “As do you.”

  “What’s it been, like six years?”

  “Has it been that long?” He watched her and noticed, not for the first time, that she seemed a bit more shy around him than she used to. “What’s on your mind, Clarissa?”

  “I’d heard you were back in town working at the Baton Rouge firm and I wanted to see you.”

  “Well your information is out of date. I no longer work at the Baton Rouge firm. I’m in Boston. I’m only home for the weekend.”

  “Oh?” Her eyes widened.

  “Yeah.” She seemed disappointed with his explanation.

  “Well I just wanted to stop by and welcome you back so I guess there’s no point in my hanging around.”

  He pulled her by the hand to sit on the fountain. “Clarissa, I think I owe you a very long, overdue explanation and apology.”

  She fidgeted with the bracelet on her wrist. “I was stunned that you’d left without so much as a goodbye.”

  He’d hurt her. He could see the residual pain in her expression and her warm honeyed eyes.

  “I was young and stupid. Instead of having a confrontation with your father about why I wasn’t interested in interning at his company, I fled. It was cowardly, but at the time our relationship was building and it was starting to grow into something I wasn’t ready to pursue.”

  Her eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry, Everett. I wasn’t trying to trap you or take away your freedom.”

  “I don’t think you were. I think your father was.”

  “Well you’re right, but he just wanted to see his only daughter united with a great guy. You can’t fault him for that, can you?”

  “Absolutely not. However, you’re much too good to settle for the likes of me.”

  “I disagree. And for what it’s worth, so does my father.”

  “I’ve gotta say, I’m a little surprised he didn’t come after me.”

  “I begged him not to. After you left without a word I realized our intensity had been too much for you and I regretted it. Regretted us.”

  Everett didn’t remember there being much about their relationship to regret and he wondered what she was getting at, but he wouldn’t make light of her admissions, so he kept his thoughts to himself.

  “Everett?”

  “Hmm?”

  “I’d like to pick up where we left off, if you would. I still have feelings for you. I haven’t been with anyone since you. I was so happy when I heard you were working in the Baton Rouge office I couldn’t wait to see you again.”

  Holy fuck! Despite wearing a tie or even a starched collar he felt a noose tighten around his neck and reached up to rub the area. Sure, he cared about Clarissa in a I’m-her-former-shitty-boyfriend-turned-friend kind of way, but he wasn’t into her like that. He never had been. She eyed him with intensity, gauging his every flutter.

  “I uh … I’m in a committed relationship with someone. I’ve prepared to propose. I care about her and her son a lot. I love them more than anything.” He felt like shit. She hadn’t moved on? What the hell?

  “I’m too late. Of course you’d have met someone. You’re a great guy.”

  “Clarissa, you’re a great girl. A woman. You need to move on. Forget me. Why haven’t you been dating?”

  “Are you a blind fool?”

  “I guess I am.”

  “I’ve loved you since the first moment I met you. Do you even recall when that was?”

  Behind him he heard the front door crack. He turned to see Fiona and Ryder walking toward their vehicle.

  “Won’t you give me a moment?”

  After speaking with Fiona at the SUV he reasoned that she was tired and needed to get home. He decided this to be her state of mind because she was using her standard issue okay response that carried with it much more meaning than an agreement regarding something that was not quite good.

  He made his way back to the fountain. “Forgive me Clarissa, I’ve got to go. It was nice catching up. Maybe I’ll see you again some time.”

  “Thank you for speaking with me.” She pulled him into a friendly embrace before he pulled her hands free.

  ***

  Fiona collected Ryder and made her way out to her SUV that unfortunately was parked near the fountain.

  When they stepped from the massive front porch she heard Everett tell Clarissa to give him a moment.

  So proper, Mr. David.

  He walked to the vehicle as they piled in. “Hey, am I coming over later?”

  Why was he asking? For the past few months, when he was in town he stayed with them. “Why wouldn’t you?”

  “No reason. I just thought you might wait for me is all.”

  “Ryder needs to get to sleep.” She turned to her son who was already napping in the front seat.

  “Yeah, I guess he does.” Everett chuckled, a sound like sweet warm tea with cream to Fiona’s ears.

  “Can you give me five minutes and I’ll collect my things? I’d like to ride with you.”

  “Okay.”

  “What’s wrong?” He frowned.

  “Nothing.”

  “I’m going to be right back.”

  “Okay.”

  “See”—he pointed with his index finger in the air in true lawyer fashion—”whenever something’s bothering you, you say ‘okay.’”

  “I’m just tired.”

  He smiled, “I’ll be right back.” From her rearview mirror she watched him walk back to Clarissa. They exchanged a few words, but the thing that was most interesting was his hand on the small of her back—how familiar. Clarissa then reached her arms around his neck and the hand he had on her back began to caress.

  Much too familiar, Mr. David.

  Fiona had never thought of herself as a jealous person. However, she’d never been quite as in love as she was now. If anyone tried to hurt her son, she’d fight them off with her life. In that moment she realized she’d do the same to keep hold of her man. She continued to think of his connection to the sophisticated woman. She thought not only of their physical connection, but also of their emotional connection. So lost in her thoughts was she that she failed to realize he was standing next to the car knocking on her window because he was locked out.

  ***

  Was Fiona trying to tell him something? He knocked again on the window. “Do you want to unlock the door so I can get in?”

  The locks clicked, and then Everett folded himself into the back seat. “You must be tired.”

  “I’m a little tired.”

  “Would you like for me to drive?”

  “No. I’ve got it.”

  She turned up the radio and for the second time Everett thought there was something bothering her. Something more than could be cured by a good night’s sleep.

  When she pulled into the driveway Everett exited the vehicle and walked around to Ryder’s side of the SUV. He delicately extracted him from the web of seat restraints and carried him to the door. Inside he carried the boy to his bed. Fiona wa
s behind him, pulling pajamas from his dresser.

  “I’m going to go get my bags from the car.” He leaned in and placed a kiss on her cheek.

  “Okay.”

  Everett sighed. If Fiona told him okay one more time, he was going to take her to bed and withhold gratification until her eyes bled, but dammit she’d tell him what was bothering her.

  When he returned from the SUV he found her in the bathroom. He walked in and leaned his hip against the counter as she brushed her teeth. “Do you want to tell me what’s bothering you or shall I guess?”

  She spit, and then rinsed her mouth. Wiping her mouth with a towel she mumbled something unintelligible.

  “Come again?”

  “Who was that woman you were talking to?”

  “Do you mean Clarissa?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Just an old friend from college.”

  “Friend!”

  Suddenly it dawned on Everett what this talk was all about.

  “I was hoping you’d tell me about it and that I wouldn’t have to ask, but you didn’t.”

  His hand clasped her shoulder. “I’m sorry. She showed up at the estate tonight. I haven’t seen her in over six years. As you can imagine, I was more than a little surprised to see her. She uh … she thought I was back working in Baton Rouge. I explained that I wasn’t.”

  “What did she want?”

  Hmm. Wasn’t this a slippery slope? How much should he divulge? “I think she wanted to get together. As I said, I was dumbfounded. When we were together in college we weren’t close. We didn’t go out on dates per se. We took a lot of courses together and so we studied and partnered on projects, but I never took her out on a romantic date. We’d grab coffee or a sandwich or run to the drug store, but that was about the extent of it.”

  “Except for the sex.”

  “Well Fiona, I’m not in the habit of speaking to the current woman I’m sleeping with about past sexual partners, but yes, we also slept together. We were in college.” He shrugged off her unease.

  “I thought she seemed really tall in stature and sophisticated in her pencil skirt.” Fiona picked at her nails. Everett took her hand in his to quiet her actions, kissing her fingertips. Now that he knew this all stemmed from a little insecurity he could make everything better. It was his time to shine.

  “She may be tall, and yes, she may be sophisticated, but I never once loved her body the way I love yours.” He kissed her neck. “It’s your skin that makes me sigh, your touch that makes me hard. Your mouth that draws me in.” He took her lips in his and felt her shiver in his arms. “I love you, Fiona. Only you. Always.”

  “I love you too.”

  With that little encounter behind them, Everett proceeded to brush his teeth.

  “I think I’ll soak in a bubble bath.”

  Her plans worked perfectly with his. “Great. I’m going to answer email while you do that if you don’t mind.”

  “Not at all. Thank you for explaining the situation without getting upset.”

  He patted her butt, “Of course.”

  In the living room he removed rose petals, chocolate, and Riesling—Fiona’s favorite brand—from the duffle bag he’d packed back in Boston. Next he dug around for the most important item in the bag. He cracked the lid on the square box and the diamond winked at him. He smiled, excited to present Fiona with the ring, and the question.

  He scattered the petals around the room and turned on some soft jazz music. After lighting candles he turned off the overhead lights. Satisfied with the ambiance, he then poured the Riesling. When he heard the water begin to drain from the tub, he got into position. As she exited the bathroom, Fiona’s eyes locked with his. Down on one knee as he was, she would have known his plan immediately.

  “Fiona Marie Miller, you and Ryder are part of me now. I can’t be away from you any longer. I love you. I want to take care of you and Ryder for the rest of our lives. You’re beautiful and amazing and I want to love you forever. Will you make a family with me?”

  She dropped to her knees in front of him, wearing only a towel. Smiling through her tears, she nodded and mumbled something that sounded a lot like ‘yes’. He removed the diamond from the box and slid it onto her finger. “Marry me?”

  “Yes.” Tears fell onto their conjoined hands. “I love you. Being apart is killing me—I can’t do it anymore.”

  “Oh Everett, I can’t either. It’s so hard, I feel like part of a whole person.” She stood on her knees and clasped her hands tightly around his neck. “I love you.”

  He took the towel from her body and lifted her to the bed intent on making slow, sweet love to her. He kissed her eyebrows and her cheeks, and then her nose. She’d made him so happy he knew he had an extremely emotive smile on his face. He kissed her lips. “I’d like to adopt Ryder, if you and he are receptive to it.”

  “We’ll be a real family—The David family.”

  “We will.” He kissed her lips.

  “When will you move in for good?”

  His brow furrowed at her question. “I’d hoped you and Ryder would join me in Boston. We can wait until summer, of course.”

  “What?”

  “I’m sorry, I never got the chance to tell you. Earlier today I received an email from the senior partners at my firm. Currently there are no outstanding assignments in Baton Rouge, Atlanta, or Houston. Looks like we’ll all be living in Boston.”

  Fiona pulled away and sat up in the bed. “Everett, I’m not okay with that. I don’t want to uproot Ryder from the only home he’s ever known. His school and his friends are a large part of his life. I’ve made sacrifices so that he could attend St. Mary’s. He’s been there since he was three years old.”

  His hand on her back he said, “Boston has a bevy of top Catholic schools. We’ll find out which is the best one and enroll him.”

  “But he lives here. His friends are here. His teacher”—she shook her head—”moving and acquiring a family are just too many changes for him all at once.”

  “Kids are resilient, and it’s not like I haven’t been around him. He’s used to me being in his life.”

  She left the bed and pulled a gown from the dresser. Everett hadn’t thought what he’d do if she said no or if she said no to moving to Boston. He thought she’d be understanding and flexible.”

  “We can discuss it further, but I think you’ll see Boston is for the best.”

  She pivoted toward him, dressed in her gown. “How is it for the best? How is it best for me? For Ryder?”

  “Boston is best for starting a family. My income alone will provide well for all of us. You will no longer have to make sacrifices.”

  “Nothing has been sacrificed where Ryder is concerned!” Her voice was clear and loud.

  “I didn’t mean that he was made to sacrifice. You yourself said you had to make monetary sacrifices to place him in Catholic school. I’m attempting to relate that I earn a very nice salary and am generously willing to shower it all on the two of you.”

  “I don’t need you to shower your money over me. I’ve provided for Ryder for ten years.”

  He went to her, drawing her into his arms. “Hey, I’m not trying to upset you.”

  “Well you are. You claim to love me, but you just took away all of my options in three seconds flat.”

  “I have done nothing of the sort.” She flailed out of his hold. “You did so. You’re being uncompromising. You won’t even consider Baton Rouge.”

  “You won’t consider Boston.”

  “I have a child!”

  “I have a partnered position!” It was the first time he’d yelled at her. As soon as he did it he regretted it completely. Her eyes grew wide and she cringed, her shoulders hunching. “I’m sorry, Fiona.”

  “I’m sorry too. I haven’t seen you in ten days and when I saw you caressing the small of another woman’s back I didn’t like it.”

  “Is that what this is about?”

  “No! I meant what
I said about uprooting my son from his home.”

  “But you’re jealous about Clarissa even after I confided in you.”

  “Jealous?” She shook her head. “What if I’d met an ex-boyfriend of mine, who really was just someone I used to fuck more than date, and he pressed his hand into the space above the curve of my ass. That space is for making a statement—usually it marks territory and says Mine! And then I had to watch you hug her!”

  “You’re the one who’s being inflexible and unreasonable. I had no idea Clarissa was coming over!”

  The situation went from a spark to an untenable fire within a matter of seconds. Everett was out of his element here. He didn’t know what to say or do. And then the worst thing happened …

  “Mom? Everett?”

  Standing in the doorway was Ryder in superhero pajamas, crying—his face red, his Kermit the Frog dangling from his hand.

  “Ryder.” Everett called.

  Meanwhile Fiona went around blowing out the candles he’d lit. “Go back to bed, Ryder.”

  “Why are you yelling at each other?”

  “We’re just having a disagreement,” she answered.

  “But I don’t want you to disagree.”

  “Everybody disagrees now and then. Please go back to bed.” He walked across the room and climbed into her bed, not easily deterred by her. Everett would like to learn that trick because right now he was terrified of losing her.

  “Are you going to make up?” Ryder eyed Everett with a hopeful expression.

  Fiona leaned over her dresser, her back to them. “It’s not something that can be made up so easily.”

  “What’s gonna happen?”

  Both Ryder and Everett looked in Fiona’s direction—both with anxiety-laden faces. Her back turned as she spoke, “Everett’s going to go home early. We’re going to take a little break.”

  “But I don’t wanna take a break from Everett.”

  Fiona sighed. “It’s just a break, now please give us some privacy and I’ll speak with you later.”