Beautifully Decadent (Beautifully Damaged Book 3) (12 page)

Returning home the following day after taking Loki for a walk, I noticed the silver car parked in front of Rafe’s house and the two women and two little girls standing at the gate, one of which was Ember Montgomery. The woman with her was slightly taller with long black hair. Ember was holding Faith’s hand and the other woman held the hand of a little girl who looked very much like her. Both the women and the girls had their heads together, which gave the impression that they were up to something.

Envy stabbed me at the sight and had me missing Jessica and my sister.

When I was close enough to call to them and not sound like a raging nut, I said. “Hi, Ember, Faith.”

Four sets of eyes turned to me. The woman with the black hair had the brightest blue eyes, her daughter’s looked more green than blue.

“Avery. Hi. This is Darcy and Emily. We were just in the neighborhood.”

My brow rose at that obvious falsehood. “Really? How long did it take you to get into the neighborhood?”

“Busted. I told you she wouldn’t buy that.” That came from Darcy and it sounded so much like how Nat and I spoke to each other that it was clear Ember and Darcy were very close “Lucien mentioned he met you yesterday, we were curious.”

Lucien, yep Emily looked just like him. I shouldn’t be surprised; that overeager fairy godmother really should have her wand confiscated.

Ember hunched down next to Loki, who was standing just a little bit taller than he had been only minutes ago. Even he appreciated the overachieving godmother’s efforts. “Hey, buddy.” Ember’s gaze met mine. “The first time I met Rafe, he was walking Loki in the park. Well, Loki was actually running through the park without a care in the world. We had a head-on collision.”

Rafe had mentioned that Loki used to be way more active. “That’s interesting. He acts like an old man now.”

“Contentment, I guess. And seeing Rafe’s place, how could he not be?”

“True. So what brings you here?”

“Darcy wanted to get a look at you.”

“Ember!”

“Well you did. There’s no point in beating around the bush.”

“Ember wants you to feed her.”

If Darcy thought that tidbit would embarrass Ember, she’d be disappointed. “I do. Trace raves about you. Trace does not rave.”

Excitement had my heart fluttering like a hummingbird’s wings. “Really? He raves?”

“Yes and I know he invited you to Allegro this Friday, so we wanted to make sure you were still coming.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

Darcy added, “Rafe’s coming too, so you can catch a ride with him.”

“I’ll likely drive in case Rafe wants to bring his girlfriend.” I didn’t miss the look that passed between the two and more curious than I was polite, I asked, “What am I missing?”

“Have you met the girlfriend?”

“Yeah.”

Glancing down at the girls, Darcy whispered, “She’s a b-i-t-c-h. She never comes out with us.”

“She’s not a b-i-t-c-h, she’s just shy.” Ember was clearly the diplomat. And talk about sharing freely, and for some crazy reason I had no problem with voicing exactly how I felt about Melody to these two.

“I’m with Darcy on this.”

It was like I’d just screamed that Brad Pitt was across the street, I had their rapt attention. Ember asked, “Why?”

“She’s rude and crass and despite being exquisite, she’s ugly.”

Darcy’s smile held a bit of wickedness. “How many times has she been around?”

“She showed up the day I moved in, came a few days later and the last time Rafe was giving me the tour of his house, he introduced us.”

“And that was your takeaway, rude, crass and ugly?”

“Her first visit she had to know I was moving in and yet she made no attempt to meet me. The second time, she walked right past me and yet didn’t acknowledge me. The third time, I’m pretty sure she was the one who kept calling Rafe while he was giving me the tour. When he finally answered and she knew he was entertaining me, she arrived acting all surprised to be interrupting. She even went so far as to suggest I could watch Loki now so Rafe could spend nights at her place. So, yeah that was my takeaway, she is a b-i-t-c-h.”

Darcy threw her head back and laughed. “We are going to get along just fine.”

Glancing at my watch, it was half past ten. I was meeting Terry, Chef Moree’s sous chef, in an hour and half to discuss the menu for my first week at Clover, but there was time enough for a cup of coffee. “I have to be at Clover for a meeting, but I’ve time to offer you some coffee. And I have freshly baked apple cinnamon scones.”

“You are speaking our language.” Darcy said.

Once the girls were settled in the living room playing with toys that Rafe had in the closet, Ember, Darcy and I moved to the kitchen.

“Can the girls have a scone?”

“They would love that, but maybe they should eat in here.” Ember suggested.

“They’re having fun and it’s only crumbs.” Plating them each a scone, the wide eyes that greeted me when I placed their dishes before them was adorable.

“Yummy.” Faith said after her first bite.

Emily followed Faith’s movements exactly, her expression sweet. “Apples.”

“Yep.”

Rejoining their moms, I pulled the mugs from the rack and poured us coffee. I settled across from them, but both were too busy eating, their mouths full of scone. The amount of
oh my
and
good God
that came from the pair of them did wonderful things for my ego. When their plates were clean, practically licked of crumbs, Ember’s focus shifted to me. “That was amazing.”

“The secret, baking powder and cream of tartar, extra fine flour and the butter has got to be icy cold when you cut it in.”

“Delicious.” Darcy reached for her cup. “So tell us what you think of Rafe.”

I had just taken a sip of my coffee; the unexpected question had it going down the wrong pipe. After I coughed it clear, I managed to ask, “Excuse me?”

“Come on. All that hunky male beauty, you have got to have thoughts.”

Not only were they all ridiculously beautiful, they were the most outspoken people I’d ever met. “Do any of you come with a filter?”

Ember’s brown eyes widened in all innocence, but I saw the mischievousness lurking behind her expression. “Whatever do you mean?”

“When Lucien was here, he called me on a few things and not knowing me, it was a surprise.”

“What few things?” Ember asked.

Following the pattern in the quartz countertop with my finger, I muttered. “I may have been checking Rafe and Lucien out with my binoculars. He saw the binoculars and called me on it.”

“That was likely for Rafe’s benefit.” Darcy said.

Rafe’s benefit…what did she mean by that? “How so?”

“Lucien is also not a big fan of Melody’s. I knew I married a smart man.”

Ember’s head, that was nodding affirmatively, looked like a bobble head. “Yes, you did.” And then her gaze sliced back to me. “So, what do you think of Rafe?”

“He’s very nice. Extremely talented.”

“Come on, we already know that. Everyone knows that. What do
you
think of him?” Darcy was now leaning so far over the counter she was practically in my coffee mug.

“He makes me catch my breath, my brain disengages whenever he’s around which causes me to say the most ridiculous things and when I saw him coming from his barn with no tee, hot and sweaty, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.”

This earned me dropped jaws from both of them.

“What? You asked.”

Unlike her husband, Ember would be terrible at poker. Her thoughts were very transparent and right now she wanted to play matchmaker.

I tried to derail whatever she was plotting when I asked, “How did you all meet?”

Ember rested her head on her hand. “Let’s see. Lucien and Darcy met at an orphanage when they were younger. Trace too was there and so was Rafe. I met Trace a few years ago. I was at a bar, a drunk was being overly friendly, and Trace stepped in.”

I was beginning to better understand the dynamic between Rafe, Lucien and Trace. They were like brothers, not of blood but I’d guess just as strong. The idea that the boy Rafe had been had them to help him through what had to be a very difficult time made me happy. And it was the depth of that happy that gave me pause because it wasn’t at all in line with the fun, flirty banter I had convinced myself was all I felt for my landlord.

Rocked a bit by that revelation, I almost missed what Darcy said. “I applied for a job with Lucien a few years ago. He was the love of my life at fourteen, turns out he’s still the love of my life and luckily for me, I’m his.”

“A second chance love story, I love those.” And I did. I didn’t even have a first chance love story, but whatever.

“What about you? Are you seeing anyone?” Darcy asked.

“No.”

“Why not?” Ember asked.

“I’ve never had much luck dating and I’ve kind of been conditioned to not bother working on a relationship if it isn’t worth the effort.”

Darcy’s head cocked as she studied me. She was clearly intrigued. “Conditioned how?”

“My dad married a twenty-four-year old when I was eighteen. The lessons started in high school. There was a boy in my senior year I really liked and one day I brought him home and he met my stepmother. Now my stepmother is a total b-i-t-c-h. She didn’t like that I had a boyfriend and so she went out of her way to make it so I wasn’t comfortable bringing him home. I guess if it had been real I’d have fought harder, but the fact that I caved as easily as I did was a sign.”

“What did she do?” Ember asked.

“One time she came out of the bathroom, soaking wet, wearing only a towel that did very little to cover her. She acted appropriately embarrassed and hurried back to her room, but it was intentional. The next time she strolled into the kitchen wearing her very sexy nightie and thin little robe. What teenage boy isn’t going to drool over a woman with a size four figure and double D cup? She wasn’t even subtle about her scheming because when I didn’t have a boy over she didn’t even acknowledge my existence let alone walk around barely clothed.”

“She is the b-word.” Ember said, chancing a glance at the girls as if they would somehow know the b-word really meant bitch.

“When I was at culinary school I was so focused on school that I didn’t make any serious commitments.”

“Are you a vir…” Darcy started to say; my bark of laughter cut her off.

“Seriously with the filter. But no, I had boyfriends I liked enough to explore s-e-x with.” Glancing at the clock I almost fell off my stool. “Holy crap, I’ve got to go.”

Immediately a chorus of, “Holy crap” came from the living room.

“Oops.”

Ember waved off my faux pas as she stood and started collecting the dishes. “I swear Faith can hear a bat belch three miles away. It’s unreal. Trace soundproofed our bedroom, hand to God. He didn’t want to traumatize Faith, but he wasn’t going to curb his appetites, if you know what I mean.”

I wanted to put my hands over my ears because talk about too much information. Jesus, now when I looked at Trace I was going to be thinking about the various appetites he didn’t want to curb. “That is too much info to know about my boss.”

Ember’s wicked grin was an indication that she didn’t agree.

Within a few minutes, my kitchen was spotless and the five of us were walking out the front door. “You hang here, Loki. I’ll text your daddy and let him know where you are.”

Since Loki made no attempt to move from the sofa, I knew he was very happy with this plan.

Both Ember and Darcy were staring at my car when I finished locking up.

“It’s a classic.” I said in way of explanation.

“It’s a piece of sh—” Darcy caught herself; she even blushed. “I’m sorry, that was rude.”

“Rude, but true.” I acknowledged because it was a piece of shit.

“Does it hold a special meaning for you? Did you lose your virginity in the backseat or it came with a million dollars?”

Ember had unknowingly hit it on the head. “My dad bought it for me. He’s usually pretty unapproachable, so the memory of us spending the day searching for a used car is a good memory.”

“Well, now I feel like crust on dog poop.”

“What? Crust on dog poop? How would you even know that dog poop forms a crust?” I asked and then put my hand up to stop Darcy from replying. “You know what? I really don’t want to know.”

Darcy was grinning at me now and Emily was jumping up and down, giggling. “Mommy said poop.”

To which Faith immediately replied, “Poop, poop, poop.”

“They’re like parrots.”

“You’ve no idea.” And with the way Ember said that, I suspected someone dropped a few words they shouldn’t have in front of the little one. And after Trace’s near slip the other day, I suspected he was the culprit.

“I do have to go though. I’ll see you on Friday.”

“Absolutely and thanks for feeding us, the unexpected and nosey women that we are.”

“I enjoyed it.”

“Us too.” Darcy waved, as did Emily. Ember gave me a half hug before lifting Faith into her arms. Faith reached over and touched my cheek, her little fingers so soft and then she said, “Pretty.”

My heart melted.

Resting against the tree at the back of Rafe’s property, I pondered my wardrobe for my night out at Allegro. I couldn’t wait to get out and socialize; I was feeling a bit stir-crazy and, if I was being honest, lonely. I had known it was going to be lonely coming here, but I didn’t realize how lonely. Jess had been so close that we visited each other all the time and even being closer to Nat now, with her schedule I couldn’t just pop over like I used to with Jessica.