The Rebound Girl (Getting Physical)

by Morgan, Tamara

  “I know I’m early, but I wasn’t sure how passable the roads were here.”

  “It’s upstate Pennsylvania, not the wilds of the Yukon,” she said, scowling. “And what do you mean early? Early for what? Your forcible removal?”

  A puzzled look lowered his already low brow for just a moment before he gave way to full-hearted laughter. Whitney waited, impatiently tapping her foot, until he was done. That had always been the problem with Jared. He got so caught up in his reactions to his own thoughts and how they contributed to his own amusement that he forgot there might be other people in the world.

  Well, that and the fact that he stuck his dick inside another woman after Whitney gave up her livelihood for him. She didn’t care to quibble over the details.

  “You really don’t know what I’m doing here?” he finally asked, drinking in her frown as if it were ambrosia. “Pearl didn’t tell you?”

  The room, which was generous even by upscale medical spa standards, suddenly felt very confining. Jared was taking up the oxygen, heavy mouth-breathing it all in and out on a constant loop.

  What was it her mother had said the day she arrived? She’d set up a meeting with a potential investor?

  Oh, Mom. As far as maternal figures went, hers had to be one of the most blithely meddlesome on the planet—and if you asked her, the sun rose and set on Dr. Jared Fine’s wide shoulders. Even though she was firmly arranged on Whitney’s side in terms of the breakup, there was still a warm place in Pearl’s heart for the God of Guatemala.

  And if her mother was thinking of a deus ex machina solution for their current predicament, Jared was the first place she’d look. He might have spent the better part of his adulthood practically working for free, but there was no lending institution in the world that would dare turn down a man as adored by the public as this one.

  In fact, he was perfect.

  Her stomach turned. That type of thinking had no place inside her head. It had no place anywhere within a ten-thousand-mile radius of her.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be off saving the people of Beirut or something? What appeal can Pleasant Park possibly hold for a third-world rock star like you?”

  “Rock star, huh?” He smirked. “I had no idea you were still holding a torch.”

  “I’m not,” she managed, her teeth gritted so hard she could hear her dentist yelling from across the state. “But you’ve definitely got the ego for stardom. You always did.”

  He tapped her forehead. “That’s your problem. You think that just because you haven’t moved forward in twelve years, no one else has either. Maybe it’s time for me to think about settling down. Maybe I heard that my best friends were opening the clinic we’d always planned together. Maybe my feelings were hurt.”

  False. He didn’t have feelings. “I don’t need you. I’ve moved on. What do you think all this is?”

  “Actually, we might need him.” Kendra’s voice broke through some of the heavy tension in the room. “I hope you don’t mind—your mom told me you’d be here.”

  “Kendra!” Jared cried, turning. And just like that, Whitney was once again left to fend for herself. “You look incredible.”

  Jared and Kendra spent a few minutes sharing one of those nauseating reunion moments, both of them exclaiming over how well-preserved they’d remained over the years. It was true, of course, but that didn’t mean it had to be shared in deafening tones and with heaps of exclamation points throw in. “I would ask if you’ve fallen into the hands of a master plastic surgeon, but I wouldn’t dare insult you that way. You don’t need any work. You never did.”

  “Of course she does, asshole.” Whitney finished brewing another cup of coffee. At least it gave her something to do. “She’s not impervious to gravity. You just can’t tell she’s had anything done because I’m the one who did it. I’m good.”

  “Not good enough, or I wouldn’t be here.”

  The tiny white porcelain cup rattled in its saucer as she struggled to gain control. He was goading her on purpose. That was kind of Jared’s thing.

  “Don’t be mean.” Kendra angled herself between the two of them. Like her mother, Kendra would profess up and down that Whitney was her favorite, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t loved Jared once upon a time. They all had. “Let’s go to the conference room. I think we need to talk.”

  She ushered them down the hall and into the half-finished room, which would soon boast an oversized round table where they could talk over their procedures and woo the hard-to-convince clients. For now, it was a cavernously empty space with white walls and a thin layer of underflooring. Kendra, in comfortable-looking yoga pants, settled cross-legged onto the ground, gesturing for them to join her. Jared also had jeans on, paired with an Oxford shirt opened to the douchebag button located about halfway down his chest. He got down easily, extending his legs and leaning against the far wall. They stared at her.

  Whitney had on a short black skirt over dark gray tights and slouchy boots. It was not an outfit for the floor. Unless one counted nudity, she never dressed for the floor. “I’ll stand.”

  “Suit yourself,” Kendra said, but there was a note of hesitancy to her voice. Good. Whitney appreciated that her friend was pulling out all the stops to make this thing work, but that didn’t mean it was okay to side with her nemesis.

  “Wait a minute—shouldn’t we wait for John before we start stirring up all these old, rancid memories? Does he know my mother has asked the prodigal son to return?”

  If anyone would be on her side, it was John. John knew what it felt like to transform your life for a man only to have it squashed in your face at full speed. He didn’t talk about it much, but his Jared had been a closeted politician, his Guatemala a series of seedy hotels.

  “I just got off the phone with him,” Kendra said. “He told us to get started. He should be here soon.”

  As the alternative was to sit and make chitchat until his arrival, Whitney capitulated. “Let’s hear it, then. And this better be good.”

  Kendra took a deep breath. “You know I’ve been running the numbers and looking at our options, and it’s not what we want to see. The chamber of commerce has denied our request to join the local business registry and our business license application is stalled in some kind of jumble of red tape. Even if that new bank loan goes through, we only have enough money to open the facility and operate for about two months.”

  “That’s good.” It was good. “Don’t forget my career day thing at the elementary school coming up. That’s free positive PR.” And, oddly enough, she found herself looking forward to it. Kids and Matt under one roof. According to history, the very thought should reduce her to breathing into a paper bag and dropping her head between her knees.

  Kendra frowned and feigned intense interest in her fingernails, which were free of polish but otherwise flawless. “The principal called, Whit. They’re going to pass. The official word is that they’ll only accept established professionals who have been in town a year or more. Next time, maybe?”

  She swallowed woodenly. No tears in front of Jared. Not even a twinge of disappointment. Even after Matt stood up for her, she was no closer to being accepted here than when she started. “Sure. Next year.”

  “And the real problem we’re facing right now isn’t necessarily the startup costs—it’s the day-to-day. Until our appointment book is filled and people show an interest, we don’t have a feasible long-term plan. More than money, Whitney, we need to improve our image. Without community backing, all we can do is pack it up and call it over.”

  “Fine. If the school is a no-go, I’ll pick up shifts at the hospital,” Whitney said. “I can ask to be put on rotation. What I earn can go straight into the spa.”

  John appeared in the doorway, leaning casually on the frame. Massive arms crossed over his chest in defensive mode, and his normal
ly beaming face settled into a frown. “I meant to talk to you about that, Whitney. They’re retracting their offer to let you schedule operations there.”

  Whitney’s chest tightened, and it became increasingly difficult to draw a full breath. That was it. Those were all her irons—and it seemed the fire had gone out.

  As she looked from face to face, all she saw was the somber confirmation she was an utter, miserable, useless failure. Even Jared looked sympathetic.

  “All this because I refused to kowtow to one uptight soccer mom?” Whitney knew better than anyone that one small mistake could lead to far-flung consequences, a butterfly effect rippling through her life. Why hadn’t she seen just how devastating this could be?

  “What exactly did you do to her?” Jared asked.

  “It’s not important.” Let her feel her guilt and shame in private. Share it with Kendra and John, even. Anything but parade it for Jared to enjoy.

  “It is important,” Kendra corrected. “But it’s also only part of the problem. Jared, could you give us a second?”

  Nodding once, he hopped up off the ground. He looked like he wanted to say something or offer a hand, but Whitney turned her back, her eyes pricking. Anything he had to say meant zero. Less than zero. A black hole of zeroes.

  “I’m sorry,” Kendra said. “Your mom only just told me. I had no idea she even still talked to Jared. I got here as soon as I could.”

  “I can’t believe you’re on board with this idea.” She brushed at the hot, angry tears forming in her eyes, refusing to let them fall. “You’re supposed to be my friend.”

  Kendra winced. “I am your friend, Whit—you know that. But I’m also your business partner, and there’s a reason you and John put me in charge. You knew you weren’t always going to like my decisions, but you asked me to make them. So I am.”

  “That was before I knew your decisions included bringing Jared back into my life.”

  “I’ve been talking to area businesses, and you know what I’ve found?” Kendra asked, ignoring her. “Every single one of them has some sort of cause they’re allied with. Animal shelters, foster care, medical research. The people of Pleasant Park might be uptight and judgmental, but they care about giving back. And they want their local companies to care too.”

  “So we’ll adopt a three-legged dog.”

  “We don’t need a three-legged dog.” John moved to her side and laid a heavy hand on her shoulder. “Not when we have a world-renowned philanthropist offering to become our fourth partner.”

  John’s other hand snaked around Whitney’s waist, holding her up. She might want to kill the man right now, but she would forever be grateful for him not allowing her to sink to the floor.

  “It was always our plan to do this together, the four of us,” Kendra added quietly. “You know that. And with Jared by our side...”

  Kendra didn’t have to finish that statement. Everyone in the building knew Jared Fine’s worth—no one more so than the man in question. Money, credentials, experience...not a single one of those things mattered. Not when it was his goddamn heart of gold that really cinched the deal.

  Who—investor, patient or otherwise—could resist a man who’d dedicated almost half his life to providing free surgeries to the world’s poor and downtrodden? The number of pediatric cleft palates he’d repaired in his lifetime qualified him for sainthood, and that didn’t even count the number of years he’d spent in war-torn countries like Afghanistan helping save the lives of innocent victims of landmines and car bombs.

  His list of awards and accomplishments made her nauseous. Which, of course, also made her the official worst person on the face of the planet. Who wanted to take away the chance for underprivileged children to eat and smile? Who wished double amputees a botched surgery with scars twisting their bodies?

  Dr. Jared Fine brought out the very worst in her. Of all the things she disliked about him, that one scared her the most.

  “I can’t do it. I’m sorry, you guys. I know this would be an easy solution, but there has got to be another way. More time. More money.” She paused. “I am a surgeon. I could probably find a good home for our kidneys.”

  “May I?” Jared asked gently, returning to the room. Whitney immediately stiffened, but since neither John nor Kendra made a move to oust him, she was forced to stand there and remain calm. That was what life would be with him around. The whole world would embrace him with open arms and keep moving, leaving Whitney standing furious and alone.

  “I know it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you guys. Too long.” Jared smiled, and for one painful moment, Whitney was wrested back over a decade, to a time when that smile meant everything to her. His coarse features, unattractive by modern standards, meant that he almost always looked like he was scowling, that smile a break of sun in a world of clouds. “And I know how much time and work you must have put into this project already. It’s presumptuous of me to ask to be brought in as a fourth partner after I’ve done almost nothing to help with the groundwork. But this was us, remember? We used to stay up until dawn every weekend planning our future, drinking coffee and subsisting entirely on nachos. We had so many dreams, so much passion. Those were the best months of my life.”

  Kendra smiled mistily, watching Jared with rapt eyes. Even John seemed a little smitten, nodding in time to Jared’s words. They were giving in.

  And then Jared landed the clincher. Turning to Whitney, he added, “I can’t believe you guys were going to make it all happen without letting me know. After everything we’ve been through, I think I at least deserved a phone call.”

  Whitney couldn’t stay to hear another word. It was all too easy to imagine what it would feel like to be the odd man out, how hurt she’d have been if Jared, John and Kendra opened a spa without her. It would break her heart—almost as much as losing the man she loved in a Central American outpost.

  Without waiting for any of them to try and stop her, Whitney stalked out of the room. Hatred of Jared, dripping into her veins as if through an IV, had been her nourishment for years.

  She wasn’t sure she could live without it anymore.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “That was not okay, Mom.”

  Whitney stood opposite her parent in her bedroom, where her mother had been searching through her shoes for a lower pair of heels. Apparently, the Louboutins hurt her arches.

  “You have about forty pairs of shoes in here, and all of them look exactly the same. I don’t see what the big deal is.”

  “I’m not talking about you pilfering my shoes.”

  Her dad poked his head in the room, most likely beckoned by the sound of Whitney’s teeth grinding together, and took in the situation at a glance. “I told her it was a bad idea, but you know how your mother gets. Tunnel vision. I hope you gave Jared our love.”

  “I’m sorry—what with the being blindsided by my parents and best friends and all, being polite must have slipped my mind.” Not since her teenage days had Whitney leveled such a perfect tone of sarcasm at her parents. Wisely, her father ducked his head back out.

  “Oh.” Her mom slipped on a pair of silver-spangled sling-back kitten heels and nodded her approval. “I thought he wasn’t coming by until next week. He looks well, doesn’t he? That hard, on-the-go lifestyle suits him.”

  Whitney fell to her bed in an exhausted heap. She didn’t have the strength for this. She’d be turning thirty-four in just a few short days, stood within arm’s reach of her professional goals, and her parents still possessed the power to reduce her to a wreckage of overwrought emotions.

  “Yeah,” she said, her voice muffled by her pillow. “He looked really good.”

  The end of the bed sank with her mother’s weight. “Don’t you think it’s time you forgave him and moved on with your life?”

  Whitney turned over, still clu
tching her pillow to her chest, gazing on her mother with wary eyes. “That’s the exact same thing he said to me today—about me not moving on. Frankly, I don’t get it. In what respect does my life look like I’ve been at a standstill? Why can’t anyone see how far I’ve come?”

  Pearl paused thoughtfully, taking the question at face value. That had always been one of her most irritating attributes. No matter how cruelly or peevishly a question was hurled at her, she took her time answering, as if they were having a rational conversation instead of a one-sided sullen fit.

  “If you’d have asked me that question one week ago, I would have had an easy answer.” She pulled Whitney into a hug, the pillow wedged between them. “I know you’re a beautiful, single, independent woman who doesn’t need a man to feel complete, and your father and I are proud of you for it.”

  “But?” Whitney braced herself. No matter how many degrees lined her walls or how much money she earned, it always came down to this.

  Her mother squeezed. “We just want you to be happy. And all those men, those short relationships that meant nothing...I don’t know, Whitney. They never seemed to make you happy. We always thought that maybe you hadn’t yet faced the lingering Jared feelings. Closure is a good thing.”

  “So you don’t want me to get back together with him? This isn’t some archaic matchmaking move?”

  Her mother’s laughter rang out over Whitney’s head, and she dropped a kiss on her hairline. She could almost feel the lipstick imprint being left behind. It was comforting, that relic of her childhood. “It might have started out that way. But now that I’ve met Matt, well, I can see that I was wrong. He’s fantastic, and I can tell by the way he looks at you that he’s a man deeply in love. What does Jared matter, now that you have him?”

  Whitney smiled blandly and proclaimed to have a headache—not her most creative excuse in the world, but the lack of blood in her face probably helped add a hint of authenticity. She needed to be alone with her pillow right now, wallowing and acknowledging that her mother was, as always, right.