“So am I.” She took his hand and pulled him out of the seat. “We were stationed at this base when I was first married to Joe. We were pretty poor, and Joe was overseas, so the only thing the wives could afford to do on a Friday night was go to the rec center. They had free movies, one-dollar beers, and cheap hot dogs.”
When they got to the hallway, she asked, “Which way?”
“This way.” He pointed down a long hall.
It was hard to keep her bearings straight.
He turned her shoulders in the right direction, and when they set out across the travertine-tiled floor, he said, “So back to dollar beers and hot dogs…”
“Oh yeah, well they rigged up the video games to play for free too, but they were all the really old ones. Nothing like they have now, and Pac-Man was one of them. I was the reigning champ for a solid year. And then we moved.”
He swung his arm over her shoulder. “Were you always this agreeable? Happy with so little? I was broke growing up and swore I’d never be poor again. I hated it.”
“That explains this house. But it was what it was. I could mope about it like some of the other wives did, or I could embrace it and become a champion at something.”
He shook his head. “Joe was a lucky guy.”
She sighed. Joe must’ve not felt the same, or why would he have ever cheated on her? She needed to quit having thoughts like that if she was ever going to be able to move on and trust again.
Luckily, they’d arrived at the game room, and Deek was busy turning on lights so she wouldn’t have to comment.
She took in all the different machines as he crossed to the rear. He had Skee Ball, high-tech team driving games, a motorcycle game a person could ride, classic pinball machines, and the dancing one Emily loved to try to keep up with. If it weren’t for the promise of skinny-dipping later, she’d happily spend the rest of the evening in the arcade.
Deek leaned down to turn on the Pac-Man machine. “Be prepared to give up your title, princess. I see bacon grease and egg shells in your near future.”
“You’re dreaming, pal.” She gave him a shoulder bump. “Best two out of three?”
“You got it.” He held his hand out. “Ladies first.”
She pushed the button, and the game began. She was a little rusty at first, but it came right back. Like riding a bike. “I think I’d like my breakfast served to me in bed in the morning.”
“Don’t get too cocky.” Deek snuggled up against her back and watched over her shoulder as she racked up points. When she reached the first bonus round, he leaned down and nibbled on her neck. “Nice. But still amateur level.”
“Yeah. Then why are you trying so hard to distract me?”
He moved his hands to her breasts and squeezed. “You’re the distracting one here. Don’t mind me.”
She smiled while doing her best to ignore his large hands caressing and teasing her body. She was hanging in, until he snuggled his hard crotch against her rear end, reminding her how much she wanted him too.
He whispered, “Watching how intense you are while playing my favorite game is seriously sexy. How about I concede right now so I can have you on top of this machine?”
She was just about to throw in the towel when a feminine voice called out, “Deek?”
“Annie?” His hands quickly snapped to his sides before he turned around. “What are you doing here?”
Annie was back? Crap!
Her time to win Deek back had just run out.
14
LEARNING TO TRUST AGAIN IS HARD TO DO WHEN THE WORLD KEEPS PITCHING YOU CURVE BALLS.
Lori’s heart nearly beat out of her chest with nerves. Deek asked Annie what she was doing here, and Lori was dying to know the answer too. He hadn’t been expecting her until Asher’s birthday, and not even then for sure.
“Apparently interrupting something fun,” Annie’s monotone voice answered.
Deek still stood in front of Lori, as if he was hiding her. She didn’t know what his plan was, but she poked him in the back to spur him on.
“Oh.” He stepped aside and held his hand out toward her. “This is my friend Lori. We were just playing some video games. How did you get in?”
Annie held up a key. “You gave me this, remember? And the gate code.” Her eyes shifted to Lori. “He said he built this house for me.”
Annie was clearly marking her territory. One she’d had little or no desire to claim until that moment.
Lori glanced at Deek. The look of sheer terror on his face reminded her of Emily whenever she got caught with her hand in the cookie jar right before dinner. But surely he’d say something. Explain to Annie that things have changed. And that he was taking her advice and dating other women.
Deek just stood there with his hands shoved into his pockets. Totally flummoxed. Wasn’t he going to remind Annie about how they could see other people?
Well, she wasn’t going to pretend this wasn’t a date. They were adults and could all be civil about the awkward situation.
Lori stepped forward and held out her hand. “I’m Emily’s mom. She and Asher are in the same class at school.”
Annie stared at Lori’s hand for a moment before she finally reached out and shook it. “Annie.” She turned to Deek. “If I’m still welcome here, then I think I’ll go on up to our room and go to bed. I’ve been traveling all day, and I’m beat.”
Deek’s jaw flopped opened and closed like a fish out of water as he looked back and forth between her and Annie. “Of course you’re welcome. Asher will be thrilled to see you. He’s at a sleepover but will be home in the morning. And Lori was just leaving anyway.”
Just leaving?
Before she could say anything, Annie’s eyes locked with hers again and she said, “Good. Then Deek and I can have some privacy to celebrate. I came home to accept his proposal. He asked me to marry him last Monday.” Annie’s gaze shifted back to his. “We’ll do it next week. At the courthouse, if that works. Goodbye, Lori.” Then she turned and walked out of the arcade.
All the air whooshed from Lori’s lungs. Annie was accepting his marriage proposal?
She looked up at Deek as she tried to draw enough air to speak. “You asked her to marry you on Monday?” That was the day they’d first slept together. How could he do that to her?
How could she have been so wrong about him? She thought he was different. Not the type to play two women at once so he could get laid.
Like Joe had done to her.
“No. Yes, maybe. I mean she opened the e-mail on Monday, I suppose. This is all happening too fast.” Deek shook his head. “I can explain, Lori. I’m just not sure what to do here.”
Not sure what to do? Yeah, she’d been an idiot to open up her heart again. “Never mind, Deek. I was just leaving, right?”
He ran a hand down his face. “I’m not good at confrontation. I can’t find the right words as fast as she can.”
“What if she’d come in five minutes later? When you were showing me how much you wanted me? Would you have still told her I was just your friend?”
He lifted his hand’s palms up and then let them fall helplessly by his sides. “I honestly don’t know what I would’ve said. But I didn’t mean to hurt—”
She held up her hand to stop him. “Never mind, Deek. You made your choice. Have a nice life.”
She headed for the front door, blinking back her tears.
“Wait.” Deek caught up with her and slipped his hand around her arm to stop her. “Can you just give me a minute to think? I don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to do. This wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”
Lori stared into his eyes. Her heart, still carrying the scars Joe had left on it, shattered into a million pieces. “That you don’t know what to do means you should probably go upstairs. Annie’s waiting for you.” She yanked her arm out of his grasp. Her only goal was to get to her car before she fell completely apart.
When she got to the foyer to grab her coat and bag, An
nie stood at the bottom of the steps with a triumphant grin on her face. “Buh-bye, now.”
Annie had to have heard their whole conversation. And who knew how long Annie had been standing behind them in the arcade before she’d said something?
Asher’s mother wasn’t as nerdy and innocent as Deek made her out to be. She’d known exactly what she’d been doing.
And she’d won Deek’s love, even though she didn’t deserve it.
Lori was almost all the way to the door before she stopped and turned around. She marched back toward Annie and got in her face, “If you’re just using him for his money so you can go play in the dirt rather than grow up and be Asher’s mother, then at least have the decency not to marry him. Take the money, but let him move on.”
Annie raised a brow. “And let you win? Not happening, loser. And Asher won’t be playing with Emily anymore either. Now get out of my house.”
Rage fisted her hands. It took all her self-control to keep them at her sides. “Don’t even think about dragging the kids into this, or I’ll be sure to tell Deek what you really are, Annie.”
She laughed. “Thanks for letting me in on your plan. All I’ll have to do now is run some interference. He won’t believe a word you say because Deek loves me. Not you. Get over it.” Annie turned and walked up the steps. “There’s nothing uglier than a bitter woman, Lori.”
A bitter woman? She refused to be one. She’d known going in this could happen. But it didn’t mean her heart hadn’t just been destroyed because it had. She was pretty sure it’d never be the same again.
She left, slamming the big wooden door behind her as she made her way to her car in the driveway. She turned around and took one last look at the majestic Tuscan-style home. Deek stood in his study window. He slowly lifted a hand.
Screw holding back her tears until she got to the car. She let them fall as freely as the snowflakes that were coming down on her head. Let him see how much he’d hurt her.
And as she’d promised Shelby, Lori would walk away and let Deek live with the decision he’d just made.
While she lost all faith in men.
After Lori’s car had disappeared down the drive, Deek flopped into his desk chair. He’d seen that look in Annie’s eyes. The one she got when she was angry enough to start breaking things. She didn’t lose control often, but when she did, it wasn’t pretty. He hadn’t wanted Lori to be Annie’s target.
He held his head in his hands as he counted all the ways he’d screwed that up. He’d asked Annie to marry him fifteen times, and she’d never accepted. Until now. It had thrown him off and confused him. And how could he have told her she wasn’t welcome in her own home? As far as he was concerned, it was her home too, just not on paper. He didn’t want to make her so mad that she left before Asher could see her.
“Deek? Are you coming to bed?” Annie stood in the doorway.
He lifted his head. “No. Not yet. I have some work to catch up on.” The last thing he wanted to do was sleep with Annie when twenty minutes ago he was about to sleep with Lori. He needed to sort things out first.
Annie crossed her arms. “It didn’t look like you were too worried about work while you and Lori were in the arcade.”
Crap. He wished everyone would leave him alone so he could think.
He hated to lie, but he didn’t know what else to do. “I just checked my e-mail. I need to make a critical fix.” Next week. Not that she needed to know that.
“Okay. But I’ve been asking around about Lori this past week. I think she’s just using you for your money.”
What? That wasn’t true. “Lori would never do that, Annie.”
She let out a long sigh. “You know it’s happened before. It’s because you trust people too easily. And you don’t pick up on subtle behaviors. You’ve fallen prey again, Deek. But we won’t have to worry about that anymore, once we’re married.” She stepped farther inside and stopped in front of his desk. “And Asher will finally have the family he deserves, right?”
That was the argument he’d given her for years about Asher. And why they should be married. Asher deserved to have both of his parents. It was their duty to their son. “But why now, Annie?”
She blinked at him. “Because it’s clear you and Asher need me. Look at the mistake you were just about to make with that woman. You always said I was strong where you were weak and vice versa.”
He used to think that. And it was true on paper. But it didn’t feel as true anymore. “Okay. I have to get this done.” And he hated that she didn’t say it was because she finally realized that she loved him.
“Good night, Deek. Don’t stay up too late.”
“Okay. Night.”
He waited until she was out the door before he picked up his phone. Lori should be home by now. But what was he going to say? He started to tap out a text telling her they’d work everything out but stopped. What was he doing? Annie was back, and she was finally going to marry him. It was what he’d wanted for the last seven years.
He erased his text and tossed his phone aside.
Did he still love Annie? He’d always love her because she was Asher’s mother, but did he love her as much as he’d envisioned he could love Lori? What if he was making the biggest mistake of his life?
He picked up the phone again.
Just wanted to be sure you made it home okay.
He crossed his arms and laid his head down as he waited for her reply. When one didn’t come after a half hour, he began to worry. She’d been crying and upset. And the roads were slick. What if something had happened to her? He’d have to go over there to be sure she was okay.
Finally, his phone chimed.
I’m home.
I’m sorry, Lori. And I’m sleeping on the couch tonight. Just wanted you to know.
Twenty more minutes had passed before she wrote back. Thank you. I hope Asher and Emily can remain friends even if we can’t
Of course they can. And I hope we can too
Nope. Can’t have it both ways. Goodbye.
Dammit! He’d lost her friendship too? She’d filled a void in his life he hadn’t even known was there until he’d met her.
He threw his phone on his desktop and rubbed his eyes. He had a raging headache. And in the morning, he was going to have to talk to Annie again.
And tell her what?
Lori had been crying so hard that she hadn’t heard Rachel come in. Her sister lifted the covers on Lori’s bed and snuggled up to her back. She’d told Rachel what had happened earlier and thought she’d cried herself dry, but the tears came back with a vengeance when she’d gotten in bed. All alone. As usual.
Her sister whispered, “You’re making my soul hurt, Lori. Can I help?”
“Not unless you can find me a new heart. One with a no-breakage guarantee.” Lori rolled over and faced Rachel. “I knew this might happen. It’s my own fault for getting my hopes up.” She tossed her wet tissue onto the nightstand and grabbed three new ones.
“No. It’s Deek’s fault for giving you hope. And I have half a mind to go over there and tell Annie where she can stick it. Talking to you like that… And maybe I’d tell Deek a thing or two as well. Like, grow a pair. Why aren’t you madder at him?”
“I was madder than hell at him all the way home. Thinking he’d just been using me for sex. But then he texted me to be sure I got home safe. And told me he wasn’t sleeping with her tonight. That’s when I realized he really does care for me. He wasn’t just using me as it felt like at first. He’s sacrificing his own happiness for his son. So now I’m just unbearably sad. For both of us.”
“Maybe you should call him and tell him what a bitch Annie really is.”
Lori sighed. “It won’t help. I think Deek has made excuses for Annie’s lack of compassion for so long, and he’d just make that one more concession. She’ll still always be Asher’s mother, and that’s what Deek thinks Asher needs. He made his choice. Asher. How can I argue with that?”
“Fo
r a smart guy, he’s being an idiot.”
“I agree.” Lori almost smiled. “Tonight brought back all those old feelings from when Joe cheated on me. I can’t seem to close that door fully.”
Rachel snuggled deeper into her pillow. “And Mel betrayed a lifelong friendship. Let’s not let her off the hook.” Her sister yawned, and her eyes drifted closed.
It made her feel bad for keeping her sister up so late. Rachel needed her rest.
Then her twin whispered, “There might be a way to close the Joe chapter. Maybe you should meet with Mel like she asked?” Rachel reached for Lori’s hand. “I’ll go with you if you’d like.”
Maybe Rachel was right. Had the remorse she’d seen in Mel’s eyes been real? It had been bothering her ever since that day. “When I told you about running into Mel, I was sure you’d tell me to tell her to go to hell. But you didn’t. Why not?”
“That’s what I would’ve done, but not you.” Rachel scooted closer and encased Lori in a hug. “As much as I tease you about being too softhearted, you just are. There’s no changing that. But because of it, I think you need to find a way to forgive both Joe and Mel so you can go back to being your happy-go-lucky self. Now please shut up. I need my sleep. And no more crying.”
“Fine.” Lori sighed. No one could comfort her like her sister. And no one knew her as well either. Maybe she’d set up a meeting. It wasn’t as if her heart could be any more broken than it already was. If it’d help her heart heal so she could love again, it’d be worth it.
15
SAYING YOU’RE SORRY ISN’T ALWAYS ENOUGH. BUT SOMETIMES IT’S ALL YA GOT.
Deek walked into the house with Asher in tow after his sleepover. He hadn’t told him about Annie. He wanted it to be a surprise. And to also be sure she’d still be there when Asher got home. She’d been pretty angry the night before. And it was like her to just pack her stuff and go when she got like that.
Asher spotted his mother sitting in the kitchen nook, and a huge smile lit up his face. “Mom! What are you doing here?”
Matched For Love (Rocky Mountain Matchmaker Book 3) Page 14