A Kiss For You

by Rachel Van Dyken

  Emery had been with Landon all night?

  Kimber had said she was with Heidi. But it was right in front of my face. Landon was stepping out of the driver’s side. He sprinted around to Emery’s side and wrapped an arm around her waist. She turned her body into his and held on to his shoulder.

  I felt like I was going to be sick. I didn’t think I could watch any more of this. If I had thought half-hearted that Landon still had feelings for Emery before, it was now confirmed. He’d run out on me to go see my girlfriend. And here they were, together.

  They walked arm in arm up to the front door.

  As much as I wanted to look away, I couldn’t seem to. Landon definitely still had feelings for Emery. And the way Emery was acting—leaning against him, holding on to him, practically gluing herself to his body—showed that not everything was gone from her either.

  Emery rested back against the brick wall next to the door that I had walked out of only minutes before. She was staring up at Landon’s face, and I didn’t even need to hear what they were saying. The picture was clear enough to me.

  I put the truck into drive and zoomed away from the sight before me. I couldn’t watch any more.

  I’d thought that there was nothing that would keep me from Emery.

  But I would not compete with Landon.

  Not in this lifetime.

  Not in any lifetime.

  Chapter 25

  Emery

  My back was against the brick wall to Kimber’s place, and my head felt like I’d blown up a balloon inside it. Landon was hovering. Little hoverer. But I should be thankful because I wouldn’t have made it to the front door without his help.

  Somehow, I’d gone from a three-drink max to, like, ten drinks. I didn’t even know how it had happened. At one point, I had been standing, and the next, I had proclaimed to the bar that I was definitely not drunk before suddenly wanting to make out with Heidi. Sure signs that I was a drunky-drunk face.

  “Are you going to be okay? You look like you might throw up,” Landon said.

  “Just go check on Heidi. If she vomits in that Mercedes, Jensen is going to be sooooo pissed.”

  Landon grinned and shook his head. “Man, you’re so fucked up.”

  “This is all. Your. Fault,” I said, punctuating each word with a smack to his chest. It might have been some stupid girlie hit, but I felt fierce while doing it.

  “Where is your key? Do you still not carry a purse?”

  “As if the key would magically appear in a purse,” I said, patting down my pockets in a half-assed effort. “It’d be full of other junk I didn’t need. I’d never find it.”

  “You can’t find it now, and it’s in your pocket.”

  “Judgy McJudgerson doesn’t find pockets acceptable. You only have pockets,” I slurred, poking at his pocket and giggling.

  “Do not make me look through your pockets for you,” Landon said with a sigh. “God, if my wife saw me right now.”

  “Her head would explode,” I crooned. Then, I made the boom sound for an explosion.

  “Something like that,” he conceded. “So, hurry up, so I can get home and incur her wrath.”

  I giggled again and then finally dug out the missing key.

  Landon plucked it out of my hand and unlocked the door for me. He shoved the door open. “Here you go. Inside with you,” he said, helping me blunder inside.

  A light flickered on, and Kimber appeared around the corner. She stopped short, her mouth hanging open and her eyes darting between the two of us.

  “Hey, Kimmy,” I said happily.

  “Landon?” Kimber asked softly.

  “Hey, Kimber,” he said with a short wave.

  “That is not the Wright brother I was expecting,” she confessed.

  Landon’s cheeks turned pink, and I giggled at his embarrassment. Man, I am loaded.

  “Just wanted to make sure she got home safe. Caught her at Flips with Heidi, and they needed a ride home,” he told her.

  “I see.” She crossed her arms over the top of her pregnant belly. “Don’t you have a wife to get home to?”

  She was using her mom voice, and I wanted to tell her to stop. But Landon seemed to take a cue from her and backed off. I stumbled onto the couch and watched the ceiling spin.

  “Good seeing you again, Kimber. Good night,” Landon said.

  “Good night,” she said, closing the door behind him. She turned back to face me with a sigh. “What have you gotten yourself into?”

  “Clouds.”

  “Clouds?”

  “They’re twirling on the ceiling.”

  “Oh God, you’re so drunk. Why didn’t you answer Jensen’s calls?”

  “He didn’t call,” I said, trying to sit up. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and tried three times to light up the screen before realizing it was dead. I sheepishly glanced up at her. “Um…it’s dead.”

  Kimber sighed heavily again. “Well, charge it, and give him a call. He was here earlier, looking for you.”

  “He was?” I asked, sobering up a bit at that revelation. “Why?”

  “He wouldn’t say, but he seemed concerned. And, since I just saw you with his brother and your ex-boyfriend, I could see his concern.”

  “Whoa! Wait a second, Kimmy. Reel that mom voice back in. There’s so nothing going on with me and Landon. He just apologized to me for blowing up on me when he found out about Jensen. He played pool with Heidi. We had a few drinks. He drove us both home. No big.”

  “All right. What do I know? Just happily married with no drama in my life.”

  I giggled. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too. Now, go. Charge. Now.”

  I nodded at her and gave her a quick salute. Then, I meandered the way to the stairs like I was walking through a hedge maze, and I more or less crawled up the stairs. I found my charger resting on the nightstand and plugged it in, waiting for the signature beep, beep to let me know it was ready to use again.

  Then, it beeped and beeped and beeped.

  Kimber had not been joking. Jensen had definitely texted me. And called. And texted some more.

  Holy text messages!

  They were very blurry though and kind of all melded together. I didn’t know what he was so desperate to tell me, knowing that he’d shown up here after I didn’t answer, but I might as well call him. Probably not the best idea I’d ever had, considering the amount of alcohol I’d consumed.

  Imbibed. Drank. Drunk.

  I flopped back onto my bed and stared at the spinny ceiling, contemplating which word was the best. Probably drowned in. Because I felt like I was on a boat adrift in the water, bouncing up and down and up and down on the waves.

  Oh God, I was going to be sick.

  I sat up in a hurry and tried not to think about vomiting. That was better. Now, I could call Jensen.

  I dialed his number and let it ring about a million times before it got to his voice mail.

  Then, I tried again. No luck.

  I stared down at it in confusion. Why would he call and message me so many times and then not answer my phone calls?

  I tried one more time and then gave up. I was too drunk for this.

  Maybe he’d call me back tomorrow morning. He was probably already asleep or something. And I clearly needed to do the same.

  Stripping out of my clothes, I crawled into bed naked and promptly blacked out into oblivion.

  After puking my guts out all night, I remembered that I had to open the Buddy Holly Center today. I’d switched my schedule around so that I could get away to Austin for the weekend and had given myself the morning shift. I felt like shit and looked even worse. My face was pasty, and my hair was limp. I brushed my teeth three times to get the taste of throw up out of my mouth.

  And then I checked my phone.

  Again.

  Still nothing from Jensen.

  I’d called him in between bouts of vomiting and texted him before I hopped into the shower. I double-checke
d that I’d contacted him as I put on clothes for the day.

  I was royally confused. Beyond confused. And sick as a dog.

  Why call and text and show up, only to ignore me when I tried to get in touch with him again? Is he trying to punish me or something for not answering?

  That didn’t sound like Jensen. That sounded petty.

  With a heavy sigh, I grabbed my keys and cell, which was fully charged, and left the house.

  The Buddy Holly Center was empty. The construction crew from Wright Construction wouldn’t show up for another ten minutes, which meant I had a few extra minutes to try to recuperate and not to throw up again. I didn’t have anything left in my stomach. I’d packed a few snacks that would be easy on the stomach, but the thought of doing anything but sipping on water made me feel nauseated.

  A knock on the door broke me away from staring aimlessly at my phone, hoping for a text message. I couldn’t think that Jensen was sleeping. He didn’t sleep unless we were together. The insomniac would rear its ugly head when we were apart. I couldn’t imagine that he was ignoring me.

  I unlocked the door and allowed the crew to come inside. Once they were all inside, I could go back to the office and dick around until someone else came to take over at lunch. We really didn’t have to stay the whole time, but some of the artifacts were pretty priceless, and no one liked to leave the place empty. Even if we’d hired the people.

  I lay back down on the couch in Betty’s office and took another sip of my water. Feeling slightly up to par, I found the number for Jensen’s office and pressed Call.

  “Mr. Wright’s office,” his receptionist said. “How can I help you?”

  “Hi. Um…this is Emery. I was wondering if Jensen was in.”

  “Unfortunately, Mr. Wright is out of the office today, but I would be happy to take a message.”

  I furrowed my brow. Jensen isn’t at work? That seems…wrong.

  “Do you know when he’s going to be back in?” I pressed.

  “Mr. Wright is away on business right now.”

  “Away on business?” I asked in confusion.

  “Yes. He had to go to New York at the last minute to take care of some business. I’m not sure when he will be back in the office, but I could get him a message if you like.”

  New York.

  My brain stalled on the word.

  What is in New York?

  The only thing I could think that was in New York was what he had told me. Vanessa had lived there. He and Vanessa had been together in New York. Did she still live there? Was he on his way to see her?

  No, that didn’t make any sense. He had said that he divorced her for cheating on him. That definitely could not be it.

  I was just trying to freak myself out.

  Or I was just freaking out, period.

  Why wasn’t he returning my calls?

  What kind of business could he possibly have in New York the week of Christmas right after he had gotten back from purchasing Tarman? And what kind of business would he have where he had to disappear so quickly without telling me…or responding to any of my messages?

  By the time lunch rolled around and I was off my shift, I felt like I was going insane. Jensen and I had had an awesome weekend. I’d left him alone with Landon to clear my head. Jensen had called and texted, and then when I’d responded, he’d gone radio silent.

  What the hell had Landon said to him?

  Before I could second-guess my train of thought, I canceled my standing lunch date with Heidi and swung by Jensen’s house. I rang the doorbell and impatiently tapped my toe.

  When no one answered, I rang the bell again and again.

  Finally, a bleach-blonde appeared at the door. Miranda’s gaze dropped to mine, and then she pursed her Barbie pink lips. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  Fuck. I hadn’t counted for on seeing Miranda. I hadn’t even thought about her. I just wanted to talk to Landon about Jensen.

  “Um…hi,” I said. This is not going to be fun. “Is Jensen here?”

  “You can’t fool me,” Miranda said.

  She eased the door open more, and I could see she was in some kind of tennis getup. But I didn’t know if she had been playing or what because her hair and makeup were still perfect.

  “I know why you’re really here, and if you get near my husband, I’ll file a restraining order.”

  I held my hands up. “No interest in your husband. Just trying to find Jensen.”

  Right then, Landon’s face appeared. He looked green when he saw that I was talking to Miranda. “Emery? What are you doing here?”

  “Came looking for Jensen. I haven’t seen him since last night. He’s not answering my messages, and his receptionist said that he was away on business.”

  “Landon!” Miranda cried. “Why the fuck are you talking to her right now? I thought we discussed this before we left Tampa. I would come if you didn’t go anywhere near her!”

  “Hello? Standing right here,” I muttered. “I’m not interested in Landon. I’m dating Jensen.”

  “I’m not an idiot.”

  Beg to differ, was what I wanted to throw back at her. But, instead, I just turned back to Landon. “Help? Thoughts? Anything?”

  “Landon!” Miranda whined.

  “Just give me a minute, honey, okay?” He kissed her forehead as he crossed the threshold. “Just one minute.”

  “I cannot believe this. You are so going to owe me for this.”

  “Just one minute. Don’t you have a tennis lesson?” he asked.

  “Don’t you dare try to get rid of me.”

  “I’ll be right back,” he said. I could hear the exasperation in his voice as he shut the door in her face. But he looked livid when he turned around. “What the fuck are you doing here, Emery? Miranda is going to murder me in my sleep.”

  “Jensen is gone and not returning my messages. What did you say to him last night?”

  “I don’t know. I was pissed last night. Said some dumb things.”

  “What dumb things?” I demanded.

  “It was just me overreacting. I was going to talk to him this morning to try to clear the air, but when I woke up, he was gone.”

  “What did you say?” I said, my voice low and deadly.

  “I might have said you were too good for him.”

  “Ugh!” I groaned. “Great. I don’t know what he’s thinking, but he’s gone. He went to New York. Why would he be in New York?”

  Landon’s face dropped, and he was utterly silent. When he glanced away, that was when I knew it was bad.

  “What? Tell me!” I said, pushing him.

  “Nothing.”

  “Landon! Is it Vanessa?”

  “I know Vanessa has a place in New York, but that doesn’t mean he went to see her. He’s probably working. That’s all he normally does anyway.”

  “Landon, why would he go see his ex-wife? Why would he do that?” I didn’t really want him to answer. I didn’t want to consider why Jensen would go see Vanessa in New York after being upset last night. He’d promised he’d never cheat on me, and I had to believe that. I had to latch on to that with everything I was, or I might fall apart entirely.

  “It’s complicated.”

  I winced. “Then, make it uncomplicated.”

  “I can’t. You should just…talk to Jensen about this.”

  “I can’t!” I cried in frustration. “He won’t return my messages.”

  “I’m sorry, Emery. I can’t talk about it.”

  “Can’t talk about what?”

  “Nothing,” he said quickly. “Don’t jump to any conclusions. It’s not Vanessa. This is normal Jensen behavior. He’ll come back soon and then all will be back to normal.”

  I shook my head in disbelief. I couldn’t believe what Landon was saying. Things were complicated? Things were always complicated.

  But Jensen running away from his problems was not solving anything. Whether this had anything to do with Vanessa or not…Jensen
was purposely ignoring me. And that alone infuriated me.

  Chapter 26

  Emery

  Jensen didn’t return a single message for five whole days.

  By then, I’d thought of every worst-case scenario—from him being with his ex-wife to his death. My imagination was ripe, but it had no reprieve. I knew that I hadn’t done anything wrong. Not a damn thing. And, at this point, he was ignoring me on purpose. We definitely needed a good long talk, and maybe he needed a sharp kick in the ass.

  By Christmas Eve, I was even agreeing to go to church with my mother of all people just to see if he showed up. That way, we could get all of this out in the open.

  Kimber, Noah, and Lilyanne decided to stay in since Kimber was due soon, and the days had gotten harder. She wanted to conserve all of her energy for Christmas morning when she would get to see Lilyanne open her mound of presents from Santa.

  So, I drove myself over to my mother’s place to pick her up.

  “Look what the cat dragged in,” my mother said when she answered the door in a chic black dress.

  “Ha, Mom. Never heard that one before.” It was our normal routine and slightly comforting, considering the week I’d had.

  “Well, I was going to let Gary Lupton drive me to church, but I suppose you’re a worthy substitute.”

  I cringed. “What about Harry Stevenson?”

  “A girl has to have options, Emery.”

  “Oh God, Mom!”

  She cackled and walked out to my Forester. “Don’t be such a prude. I know you’re seeing Jensen Wright. Everyone knows that he isn’t a prude.”

  I ground my teeth as I turned over the ignition. “I really, really don’t want to talk about my love life. Thanks, but no thanks.”

  “Why do you have to be like this? I thought we were bonding.”

  “I can’t bond with you over who you’re having sex with. It grosses me out,” I told her as I pulled out of her driveway.

  “Well, you refuse to come by and see me. You aren’t getting married. You aren’t getting your degree anymore. You hate shopping and pedicures and makeovers. What exactly am I supposed to bond with you over?”