Burned (22 page)

I couldn’t argue with her because I thought she might be right.

She pulled out her phone and grimaced. “Sorry. I have to run. I’ll leave the yoga mat and DVD here so you can do the same workout tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” I said, because it seemed easier than arguing that I would never willingly do yoga again.

After she left I finished off my drink and then took a shower.

As I was brushing out my hair I couldn’t stop thinking how unfair it was that I had fallen so hard for Jake in such a short amount of time. Sure, I’d been crushing on him from afar for months. And having him live here sort of felt like a round of speed dating. Still, my heart ached and I, yet again, wished I could go back in time and fix another colossal mistake.

Maybe my mother was right. I shouldn’t be allowed to trust my own judgment.

By the time Holly came home I was curled up in my bed with a book. It was a heavy, boring volume about the history of California’s vineyards. I’d swiped it from Max’s stash because I was desperate for something to read. Honestly, I was hoping it would bore me to sleep. It was almost working when I heard Max and Holly come home.

A few minutes later Holly knocked on my door and stuck her head inside.

“Did Paige stop by?”

I rolled my eyes as she came into my room. “She did. And she tried to kill me.” 

“Really?” Holly deadpanned as she raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“Well, she made me do yoga and in the end I was wishing I was dead.”

Despite having a rather extensive collection of yoga pants, I’d never actually tried yoga.

“It’ll feel so good,” Paige had said.  “It doesn’t matter if you’ve never done it before. It’s easy, you’ll figure it out in no time,” she had encouraged.  “You’ll love it,” she had lied.

It did not feel good. I was not able to figure it out (some of these positions were hard!) and I did not love it.

“Sounds fun,” Holly said.

I scoffed. “DVD is in the player if you want to find out for yourself.”

She grinned. “I think I’ll pass.”

“How was the rehearsal?”

She breathed a sigh of relief. “It went well. The bride is pretty laid back. That doesn’t happen very often. I think everything should go smoothly.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“Well, I just wanted to check in with you,” she said. “I’m glad Paige was able to stop by.”

“Thanks for asking her to. But it wasn’t nearly as good as having you around. Not only did she make me do yoga, she made me drink one of her detox smoothies. The girl knows nothing about dealing with break-ups.”

Holly grinned. “Tomorrow, we’ll break out another batch of chocolate chip cookies.”

“Perfect,” I said.

“What did you do to my brother?” Maggie asked. She shoved me aside so she could barge into the beach house. She slammed the door shut behind her and then turned to face me. “Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. He hasn’t been this wrecked since Darby dumped him. And even then, he wasn’t just a mess because of Darby. He was messed up because of my dad. And our mom. So…?” she said. “Want to tell me what happened?”

“I don’t know if I should,” I admitted. “Jake’s a little mad at me for overstepping boundaries. I’m not real sure he would appreciate it if I went into details.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and scoffed. “I’m not sure he could get any madder than he is right now. So spill. What happened with you two?” She narrowed her eyes at me. “He didn’t mess things up, did he?”

“No,” I admitted. “It was all my fault.” Wow. How many times was I going to have to say that? It was true. But still.

“I thought so.”

“Thanks,” I muttered.

She shrugged. “It’s just that I know my brother. He’s like the nicest guy on earth. I can’t imagine him doing anything to mess things up.”

“So he really didn’t tell you anything?”

She shook her head. “Not a word.”

I pulled a hand through my hair. I was torn. Should I tell her? Risk overstepping once again? But maybe she could give me some insight. It seemed to me that she knew Jake better than anyone else on the planet. She had a point. I couldn’t possibly make things worse at this point.

“I messed up,” I admitted.

She nodded. “We already established that. Go on.”

I moved through the kitchen and she followed. We took a seat out on the deck. Max and Holly were at work, but they’d probably be home soon.

I decided to dive right in, get my admission over with. “I talked to his dad.”

“When?” she asked with a frown. “He’s been out East on a business trip all week.”

I realized she thought I meant Frederic. Again. She obviously had a hard time thinking of anyone else as Jake’s father.

I cleared my throat. “I spoke with Bobby.”

Her eyes widened. “No wonder he’s
so
pissed! I warned you!”

“I was just trying to help,” I said.

“You really don’t know Jake well yet at all if you think he wants that kind of help.”

Tears welled up in my eyes. There were too many to blink away so I tugged the edge of my sleeve up and dabbed at them. “I know. You’re right. I was just trying to do something nice. It’s just,” I sucked in a breath, “it’s hard for me to explain but it just killed me that Jake’s dad was
right there
. I would give anything to have a chance with my dad.”

She stared at me, her big doe eyes full of confusion. “You don’t know where your dad is?”

“It’s not that,” I explained. “He died. Before I was born. I saw what was going on with Jake and Bobby. I kept thinking that I would give anything to have a second chance with my dad. I wanted that for Jake. Or I thought I did. I guess I really just wanted it for myself. And since that’s impossible…”

I faded off but she finished for me.

“You did the next best thing. You tried to give Jake a second chance.”

I nodded.

“But you didn’t think to ask Jake what he wanted.”

“No.”

“The guy dropped by the hospital, donated some blood—just like twenty years ago he donated some sperm—then waltzes off into the night like he doesn’t have a care in the world.”

I shook my head. “That’s not what happened.” I hesitated, wondering what to say. “I don’t think it’s my place to tell you this but if I don’t, no one will. He claims that your father told him to leave. He threatened to call security if he stayed.”

Maggie shook her head. “Bobby is playing you. My mom asked him to stay. He said no.”

“Is that what she told you?” I tried to keep the doubt out of my voice.

“Of course,” Maggie said with a frown. “That’s why Jake is so pissed. He walked away from him all those years ago, then walked away from him again as soon as he had a chance.”

I didn’t want to cause another rift in their family but I didn’t believe that for a second. I had seen Bobby’s face when he talked about Jake. Walking away was not something he wanted.

“I hate to be the one to break this to you,” I said to Maggie, “but I think it’s very possible your mom,” I cleared my throat, winced, and pushed ahead, “lied. I’m sure that’s hard to hear, but I think she lied. Bobby, Jake’s dad, said he left a note for Jake. He also said he tried to see him but was only allowed in the room for a little while when Jake was still unconscious. He was asked to leave before Jake woke up.”

She stared at me, mixed emotions warring across her face. These were her parents we were talking about. I could tell that she didn’t want to believe me. Yet I could also tell that part of her did. Probably the part that knew her parents were far from perfect.

“At that point, the secret was already out. Why would she lie?” She folded her arms across her chest. It didn’t look like a defiant stance. It looked like she was simply trying to hold herself together.

“Having Bobby around probably made your dad mad. Also, I’m sure it was harder for her to control the situation with Bobby there. She wouldn’t admit to asking him to leave. Not to Jake. And if she told you that she asked him to stay, it was probably to make herself look good.”

She frowned. “Knowing Mom, she probably didn’t want Jake to know because she knew he would want to learn more about this guy. If she made it sound like Bobby didn’t care, Jake would be more likely to push him away.”

“I don’t get it,” I admitted. “It’s like your mom doesn’t want Jake around, but she doesn’t want anyone else to support him either?”

Maggie shook her head. “No. That’s not it. Not exactly. Dad wants nothing to do with Jake. Mom, she would totally still be running Jake’s life if he let her. When Dad kicked Jake out, Mom tried to talk Dad into letting him come home. But Jake was pissed. He was pissed at Dad, of course. But he was pissed at Mom too. I mean, she lied to him. She lied to him about something huge.” She scrubbed her hands across her face. “And then she made it even worse by continuing to lie to him. Does Jake know? Does he know that Bobby wanted to see him? Does he know that Bobby only left because they threatened to bring in security?”

I shook my head. “I have no idea. I never got the chance to explain everything to him. So I would guess that he probably doesn’t know.”

“I should go talk to him. He usually listens to me. Maybe I can talk some sense into him.”

“I don’t want you to be caught in the middle. Not on my account.”

She gave me a sympathetic look. “I’m not so sure I can sway Jake’s opinion about what you did. He can be so damn stubborn. But I think he needs to know what Mom was up to. I think it’s important that he knows that his dad, his real dad, cares about him. Probably always has.”

“He does care.” I told Maggie most of what Bobby had told me. I left a few select tidbits about her mother out. By the time she left I was feeling hopeful. I didn’t necessarily feel hopeful that Jake and I would work things out. But I did hope that finally, after all this time, he would be able to get to know the father who had been shoved out of his life.

~*~*~

Despite joking with Holly about a junk food binge to make me feel better, I really had no appetite. I swirled my straw around in my lemonade, ignoring my chili cheese fries completely. Clarissa dropped into the booth across from me.

“Are you sure I can’t get you something else?” She had just finished her shift.

“I’m good,” I assured her.

My phone chimed from inside of my purse. I knew better by now than to think it might be Jake. I didn’t have to look to know with near certainty that it was my mom. Never one to be put off, she had called earlier this morning. She’d left a message saying that she had picked a date for her visit. Most likely she knew that I wasn’t about to pick one any time soon. She’d already requested a week off from work. So had Rick. They had already reserved a week at a bed and breakfast less than half an hour up the coast.

Looked as if I was about to meet my new step-dad, ready or not.

“Are you going to get that?” Clarissa curiously eyed my phone.

I took a peek at the screen. It was, indeed, my mother. “Nope.” I knew she would call back. I would talk with her then. Probably.

“Sorry I’m late!” Paige said as she breezed up to our booth. She dropped down next to Clarissa. “What did I miss?”

“Nothing,” Clarissa said. “My shift just ended.”

Paige pulled out a tattered notebook and a pen. Holly was working so there was zero chance she would catch us meeting up. We were going to plan a surprise wedding shower and toss around some ideas for a bachelorette party too.

So far we had decided that we would do it all the week before the wedding. I’d already spoken to Dani and Felicia. They were willing to take time off to spend a week in California. In fact, they were both delighted with the idea. Part of the surprise at the shower would be the two of them attending.

“Now that they finally picked a date, this will be much easier,” Clarissa pointed out.

They had decided late fall would work. Neither Max nor Holly wanted to wait too long, yet they wanted to be sure to give themselves enough time to plan. Right now, we had several months to get things organized. We were right on track.

“So for the shower, I was thinking—”

“What do we have here?”

My head whipped around to see who had interrupted Paige. I found myself staring into Darby’s gloating face.

“We have a private lunch that you are not invited too,” I said as sweetly as I could. “What are you even doing here?”

Her eyes scanned the café.

I snorted out a sound of contempt. “You’re looking for Jake.”

She shrugged unabashedly. “So what if I am?”

I was tempted to say that he’d been avoiding his usual hangout. I managed to keep that bit of information sealed up tightly. If she wanted to waste her time stopping in every now and again, it was no business of mine.

“Sounds like we’re in the same boat, you and me. Jake’s not speaking to either one of us.”

“No, we’re not,” I scoffed. “We’re not in the same boat. Hell we’re not even the same harbor. In fact, we’re in completely different oceans.” At least I hoped we were.

The smile she gave me was full of mock sympathy. “Oh, darling, we are definitely in the same boat. We both stepped on Jake’s toes. As you’ve figured out, Jake’s not a very forgiving person. We were together for years. If he can’t forgive me, there is no way he is going to forgive you.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Paige said airily. “The difference is that you hurt Jake because it was convenient for you. Lanna was just trying to help.”

“And yet, the result was the same. Was it not?” Her smile turned smug.

“We’ll see about that,” Clarissa said. “Now Darby, unless you order something you should probably leave. The café has a no loitering policy. And well, it seems to me that you’re definitely loitering.”

“I was just getting ready to leave,” Darby assured us.

“Because Jake isn’t here?” I pressed.

She gave me a flat look.

“Darby,” Paige said sympathetically, “you should probably just give it up. Jake’s not going to take you back. We all know it.”

“You know nothing,” Darby said with a frown.

“I know rumors are floating around that you’d already moved on with Braden before Jake was even out of the hospital.” Paige stared at her, daring her to deny it.

“You can’t believe everything you hear,” she said.

“Not everything, no,” Paige agreed. “But I do believe that. You were seen together. If
I
know, you can bet Jake knows. There’s only so much a guy can forgive.”

I clenched my hands in my lap. And there was only so much betrayal a guy could take.

“I know we’re not exactly friends,” Paige started and Darby scoffed contemptuously, “but I’m going to give you some advice. Move on. Jake has.”

Darby eyed me up like I was a fly in her merlot. “We’ll see about that.”

She spun on her imperious heel and sashayed out the door.

“Well, that was not pleasant,” Clarissa murmured.

“Is that true?” I asked Paige. “Did she cheat on Jake?”

“I shouldn’t gossip,” Paige said with an apologetic cringe.

“It’s not gossip. I think it’s more of a public service announcement.”

“She was seen with Braden
a few times while Jake was in the hospital. It’s hard to say how far things went. It’s possible she kept it platonic but she was definitely testing the waters, seeing if she had somewhere to go if she left Jake.”

I glanced out the window and caught a glimpse of Darby sliding into her sleek car. I cringed as I watched her drive away. I did not want to be in the same boat as that girl. It was no wonder Jake had trust issues. But I didn’t have time to think about her now.