by Harlow James
My confession startles me, rocking Frank back a bit on his feet as well. I didn’t mean to make that admission, let alone to the man that bread that insecurity in me all those years ago, but maybe he needs to hear that.
“I own a home and a booming business. I’m honest and hardworking, and I care for Victoria more than you could ever imagine. I’ve loved your daughter for years, waiting to make sure I could live up to your expectations and feel good enough to pursue her.” I lower my voice when I make my final declaration. “But guess what? She’s an adult and can make her own decisions about who she chooses to date, whether you like that or not. So go ahead and hate me all you want for what my father did and how he behaved, and who you think I am because of him. But I am nothing like him, and when you lose your relationship with your daughter over the man she loves in return, you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.”
My chest is rising and falling from the sharp breaths I’m taking, the adrenaline coursing through my veins firing rapidly and sparking intensity everywhere it travels. I know that Victoria loves me just as fiercely as I love her, even if she hasn’t voiced it. But the idea that her dad could never change his mind about me, makes me realize that this could be the future of our relationship, strained and worrisome from interactions and disapproval from her father.
Frank just stands there, his hands now shifted to his pockets, hiding his emotions and response at my speech behind a stoic face. He doesn’t move for what seems like forever, freaking me out to where I’m about to poke at him to make sure he’s still alive.
“Your daddy used to work with me…. Did you know that?” He asks calmly, his voice five octaves below the level it was earlier.
I nod. I imagined that’s where his distaste for him resulted from. My dad worked at the farming equipment factory for about six months before he finally lost his job. The factory is about a forty-five-minute drive between Hopetown and Omaha, but it employs over five-hundred people and pays a decent wage. My father was ecstatic at the prospect of good money, which he pissed away the second he got his hands on it. The casino and the bar saw more of his paychecks than my family ever did.
“I’m sorry, Mike. Your dad was a piece of shit, and most of the time, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
“I get that,” I reply, also lowering my voice down this time. “But it’s not fair to me to hold his mistakes against me, and it’s not fair to Vic.”
He nods in understanding. “It’s hard watching my little girl dating. I only want what’s best for her, you know.”
This version of Frank Baker is one that I’ve been waiting to talk to. Why couldn’t I have stood up for myself sooner? Finally putting him in his place was the key to unlocking his anger and letting rationality come through. Of course, five years ago I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, so who knows how this conversation may have gone then.
“I understand, Mr. Baker. I only want what’s best for her too. And I want to offer her the world. But I need you to give me a chance. Stop trying to run her life and run me out of it.”
“I’ll try,” he replies, running his hand through his thick head of gray hair. “But I have to say, she seems to have taken a liking to that Paxton boy too, just so you know.” His confession makes the relief I just felt at seeing eye-to-eye with him finally, immediately sink in a pit of despair in my stomach.
“I understand. But believe me, I’m not letting Victoria go without one hell of a fight.”
He reaches out to shake my hand, a nod between the two of us solidifying some sort of a truce I imagine, at least for the moment. No other words are spoken before he turns towards his house and I hop into my truck and make my way home.
This whole situation just keeps throwing me for a loop. One minute I feel like I’m on cloud nine, the next I feel six feet underground. The fact that I was able to come to some sort of understanding with Victoria’s dad is huge though. Hopefully, it will stay that way and I won’t have to tell her that her dad is the reason I stood her up all those years ago. But then his confession about Ben sets me back down off the pedestal I felt I was climbing. I know Ben is still an obstacle, one I will have to be just as patient with if I will finally secure Victoria as mine. This fight is proving to be more of a roller coaster ride than a battle, and I hate roller coasters.
Chapter 15
Victoria
“I can’t believe this is your last day working at the diner, Vic.” Hayley wraps her arm around my neck as she pulls me in for a hug. I just walked into the diner to start my last shift and she’s already crying.
“I know, Hayley. It came faster than I thought, but this is a good thing.” I’m trying to console her, placing my hands on both of her shoulders. But the truth is, I think she’s more upset about me leaving than I am.
Don’t get me wrong, I am beyond grateful to Hayley and her dad, Mark, for giving me a job and being so flexible with my school schedule over the last seven years. And Ruby’s diner has become a home away from home since when I wasn’t at my house or at school, I was here. But I am SO ready to start teaching. The change is scary, but I know in my heart, teaching is what I’m meant to be doing. My classroom will become my new home, my students my new responsibilities. I’ll miss going home with money in my pocket each day and working alongside one of my best friends, but that’s about it. I keep trying to focus on all the new and exciting parts of my impending dream career versus sulking in the sadness of leaving my first and only other job.
“Pauline already left me last year and now you’re leaving me,” she cries dramatically, throwing herself in my arms this time. I know she’s just trying to pile on the guilt, but I’ve been working towards this new job for years, so she knew this was coming. Pauline leaving the diner to co-own BJ’s Bar & Grill blindsided her a bit more, I think.
“I know, Hales,” soothing her back with my hand as she shudders in my arms. “But it’s not like you will never see me again. Let’s just try to have fun today and you can sulk more this weekend when we get together for girl’s night. Today we are going to have fun, and tonight we are celebrating at BJ’s, and I’m not going to have you crying the entire time.” I pat her on the shoulder after releasing her, turning eagerly to make my way to the back of the diner to store my purse before I start my last shift as a waitress.
The day goes by quicker than expected, most of my regular customers stopping in to wish me good luck and deliver a few cards and gifts. Hayley cries only two more times before I clock out at the end of the day, which is less than I thought she would this morning. I rush home to change and meet everyone at the bar, eager to have a few drinks and enjoy a night free of responsibility. Heck, I don’t even have to set an alarm for tomorrow. Maybe I can stand to have a little fun.
When I arrive, Tyler and Dean are already sitting at our usual table in the back corner, and Pauline is behind the bar, her bar towel thrown over her shoulder, a move that has quickly become her signature. She had to work tonight, but at least she’s here and can still celebrate my new beginning with me.
“Miss Baker, the new teacher in town is here, everyone!” She shouts over the noise, granting me with hoots and hollers of celebration from the larger than normal crowd for a Thursday night. I take a bow in jest, then sit on a stool across the bar from her.
“Thank you for that unnecessary display of attention,” I chide as Pauline slides a drink my way.
“This one is one the house, girl. Congratulations! How was your last shift at Ruby’s?” Pauline wipes down the bar in front of her and fills a few drink orders while she talks to me.
“Well, aside from Hayley crying three times today, it was actually pretty pleasant.”
“Only three times?” She asks while sliding a beer across the wooden surface to a customer. “She cried five on my last day.”
“Well, she must love you more than me then,” I joke with a wink as I take a long sip of my rum and coke.
“What’s not to love? I have plenty to love
right now,” she gestures down to her growing belly. “I still have a little less than two months to go, and I swear, there is no more room left for this kid.”
“It will be over soon, Pauline. I can’t wait to see him, though.” I smile over at her while she’s still watching her belly, smoothing her shirt over her bump.
“Me too, Vic. We still have Tyler and Hayley’s wedding to get through though. And you get to start your first school year as a teacher right after that. Are you nervous?”
Flipping my hair over my shoulder, I readjust my seat on the stool. “I’m more excited than nervous. I’ve wanted this for so long, Pauline. I’m picking up my keys on Monday, then I have meetings and training throughout the entire month of August, and I still need to arrange and decorate my classroom. Who knows what shape it will be in when I get inside.”
“And how are things going with Ben and Mike?”
I let out a long sigh of frustration. The truth is, things are going really well. With both of them. And it surprises the hell out of me. I feel something for each guy in different ways.
Ben is handsome and refined, eager to show me new things and not afraid to tell me how much he likes me. And Mike, well things are just so effortless with him. And our physical connection is off the charts. I mean, I definitely feel something physical for Ben as well, but the heat between Mike and I forces me to change my panties at the end of each of our dates. That intense physical connection scares me though, because what if it fades? Is that all Mike and I really have? I mean, he took Lilly out on our date when he didn’t have to, and Ben doesn’t seem too interested in our sisters and that bond we share. Honestly, the more I debate between these guys, I feel like a ping-pong ball bouncing back and forth between the paddles, floating effortlessly through the air, but just waiting to fall over the edge of the table into the unknown.
“Um, it’s going. I’m so confused though, honestly,” I exhale loudly, Pauline tilting her head in concern as I continue. “I like them both, Ben more than I expected, and I am no closer to deciding.”
“Well, you still have time to figure things out. I mean, did you put a time cap on this little experiment of yours?” Pauline questions me, which really makes me wonder if I should put an expiration date on this whole debacle.
“I never put a limit on how long this whole thing would play out, no. Should I?”
Pauline shrugs. “Well, maybe if you knew you had a deadline, it would force you to really assess your feelings for each of them. What’s got you twisted up about it so far?” She reaches down under the bar to grab two beers for Tyler as he comes up behind me.
“Hey, Vic. Congratulations on your last day,” he greets me, accepting the beers from Pauline. “Hayley should be here shortly. She had to stop by her dad’s house for something on her way here.”
“No, biggie. I did just spent the day with her, you know.” I nudge him with my shoulder. “But thanks. It feels weird, but I’m excited.”
“Well, I know you’re going to be great. I’m gonna get back to Dean, but it looks like Mike just walked in,” he throws his chin in the door's direction, causing me to turn and drink in the sight of Michael Kelley in all his rugged glory. Tyler leaves Pauline and me just as I feel the temperature in the bar rise twenty degrees. That heat. It suffocates me any time Mike is around, his proximity like a match waiting to ignite a log that had gasoline poured all over it. One spark, one look from him, and I feel like I’ve stepped into an oven. The heat overcomes my body, traveling south and starts a throbbing between my legs that’s become much stronger each time he’s near. Being a virgin, I’m uneducated in sexual desires, but I’m sure the way my vagina feels right now is directly related to the tall, dark, and handsome man approaching me.
Mike’s hand reaches out to cup my face, his smile stretching far across his supple lips when he reaches me perched on the stool.
“Hey, Vic. You look gorgeous,” he rasps, his voice coating me in a silken wrap of warmth.
“Thank you. You look nice too,” I bat my eyelashes up at him, teasing him with my gaze as I take in the dirt on his cheek and think of dirty things I want to do with him. The notion of X-rated images flashing through my mind startles me, causing me to turn away from him abruptly and find my drink. A long drag of the ice cold liquid helps to cool me down, but the heat on my cheeks tells me my blushing is still strong. Holy hell! This reaction I have to Mike just keeps getting stronger. I’m not going to lie and say I haven’t thought of him in a sexual way before, but now that I know what it feels like to touch him, look deep in his eyes, and feel his want for me back—-the intense and diabolical thoughts are threatening to overtake my mind.
“Well, I’m going to go say hello to the boys, but what are your plans for the week? I want to take you out again soon,” his hand finds mine this time, the light brush of his fingers sends sparks up my arm and down my spine, increasing that throbbing between my legs. Pauline is just standing there on the other side of the bar, watching our interaction.
“I actually have to pick up my classroom keys on Monday, then I have a few meetings and training in the next few weeks. And somewhere in between all of that, I need to find time to arrange and decorate my classroom.” My mile long list of things to get done in the next month is suddenly overwhelming.
“I could always help you out if you need it,” he offers, the gesture meaning more than he probably realizes.
“I may very well just take you up on it. I’ll let you know, okay?” I shoot him a grin and one more brush of my hand on his face before he dips down to give me a quick peck on the cheek and turns in the direction of the table where Dean and Tyler are seated.
Turning back to face Pauline, who’s fanning herself with a menu, I find her shaking her head in amusement. “Holy crap, Vic. The heat radiating off you two is making me sweat even more than I normally do being almost eight months pregnant in the thick of the summer!”
“Right?” I whisper at her over the bar. “I mean, we all know that Mike and I have had a thing for each other for years, but now that we’ve finally been able to act on it, it’s….”
“Explosive?” She finishes for me, the bob of my head solid in agreement.
“Does it feel that way with Ben?” She prods, asking the question I keep debating in my mind.
“No, but it’s different. Ben makes me feel like a prize, even though I know that sounds bad. It’s like…. He knows what I’m worth and isn’t afraid to show me that. He makes me feel special and puts thought into taking me places and showing me things he thinks I would enjoy. We have fun, he isn’t afraid to tell me how much he likes me, and that’s refreshing, you know?”
“And how does Mike make you feel?”
The answer startles me. “He makes me feel desired and loved… I’m consumed in him when I’m with him, which scares the shit out of me.”
“Why does that scare you?” Pauline is laying down the law with these questions right now. Her blunt directness is exactly what I need to help me sort through the conflict in my mind.
I turn my head in search of Mike’s face, finding his dark chocolate brown eyes staring back at me.
“Because he has the ability to ruin me, Pauline. I feel like when I’m with him, I don’t need to breathe because he does it for both of us. But if something were to happen, if we broke up and destroyed our friendship, I don’t think I’d ever recover.”
Pauline whistles behind me, urging me to turn back to face her. “That’s deep, girl,” she jokes, which makes me chuckle. “If it’s any consolation though, that same feeling you get with Mike… is exactly what I felt with Dean. It’s what made me run away from him because the pull was so strong, it terrified me.”
“Was giving in to him worth the risk?” I choke on the words because I feel like I already know her answer. She glances down at her belly and then the gorgeous ring adorning her left hand.
“What do you think?” The most genuine smile to ever extend across Pauline’s face flashes back at me,
confirming what I know. Sometimes the risk is worth the reward and I feel like Mike would be worth it. But there is still something that is pulling me back from jumping in with both feet.
If it feels this right, like we should have been together this entire time, then why did he stand me up five years ago? The question lies nagging at the back of mind, waiting for the perfect time to pounce and shatter the rose-colored view of love that I’m quickly starting to develop. I know I have to be realistic here, which is part of my hesitation in blowing off Ben completely. There is still something there with him, and I need to explore it further before I can be absolutely certain about either man.
Chapter 16
Mike
August proves to be more miserable than July as far as the heat goes, crushing the idea of a rewarding dip in Mrs. Hanson’s pond, which now feels more like bath water than a refreshingly cool reprieve from the hell that has taken over Hopetown, Nebraska. The short dip I took with Tim after finishing my latest project was my prize for the sweat I poured into that desk, the desk I handmade for Victoria for her classroom.
Sauntering out of the pond, water dripping from my head down my chest and legs, I make my way over to Tim sitting on the picnic table in front of me, devouring his sandwich.
“This was a good idea,” he exclaims around a mouthful of food, warranting a laugh from me. I take a seat across from him, running my towel through my hair with one hand, while retrieving my sandwich from the lunch box with the other, before taking a healthy bite to satisfy the carnal hunger I developed all morning.
“Work is great, but we must remember to make time for some fun, too,” I declare, cracking open my soda to wash down the roast beef.
“I agree, I just wish that water was cooler,” he replies.
“You and me both, kid. This heat is unbearable.”