Loving Mondays (4 page)

Luke groaned as he moved behind Tanya, pulling her back into his chest and pressing a kiss into her hair.
 
"Don't remind me.
 
I swear running off to Vegas looks better every day," he muttered, lifting his brows at me.

"Don't even joke." Tanya twisted to give him a stern look.
 
"You'd break my momma's heart, and your momma's too.
 
They want a big wedding, and they're getting a big wedding.
 
Just give them their day and we'll save ourselves years of grumbling about how tacky it is to get married by Elvis around the dinner table."

My eyes darted from Tanya to Luke and back to Tanya.

"You guys are engaged?" I asked, not disguising the surprise in my voice.
 
"When did this happen?"

Luke had always had a thing for Tanya but never had the sack to pursue it.
 
I was happy for him, but I felt like an even bigger fool for believing there could be anything between Monday and Luke.
 
How could I have forgotten how much Luke had loved the raven-haired beauty before me?
 
But then I never could understand how anybody could fail to be in love with Monday.
 

"I popped the question about a year ago." Luke grinned.
 

"Which you would have known if you could be bothered to call home once in a while." Tanya's eyes narrowed at me.
 
I hung my head and stared at the floor and flushed.
 
"Monday called over here last night and filled me on what's been going on.
 
I ought to smack you upside the head for thinking that my Luke would do you dirty like that. If I ever get my hands on that Madison, I'm gonna set her ears ringing for a week for spreading filthy lies.
 
She was always green with envy whenever you and Monday were together."

"I still shouldn't have believed her," I muttered, my cheeks heating from embarrassment, lifting my gaze to meet Luke's.
 
His expression was tight and I knew that I had wounded his pride.
 
"I'm sorry, Luke.
 
I should have known better.
 
You're the best friend I ever had, and I sure turned out to be a piss poor one in the end."

Luke just shook his head and walked to my side, clasping my shoulder in his hand the way his Dad used to do to us both when we had fucked up and he wanted to impress upon us the severity of our actions.
 
"It's water under the bridge.
   
But still, I wish you would have just called me, or at least picked up the phone when I called.
 
It would have saved everyone a whole lot of heartache in the end."

I rubbed my face with both hands.
 
"Yeah, well, hindsight and all that.
 
I'm happy for you and Tanya.
 
You have no idea how good it is to see you both.
 
I missed ya'll a lot more than I thought I would.
 
So when is the wedding?"

"May." Tanya smiled and settled herself on a chair across from me.
 
"As sorry as I am for the reasons you finally came home, it sure saved us on airfare."

I looked at her questioningly.

"I was going to fly up there and put the invitation in your hand myself." Luke grinned.
 
"You think I could get married without you at my side?
 
Even if I had to drag your sorry behind all the way back here I was going to do it, so why don't you save us both the hassle and come of your own free will.
 
Traditionally the shotgun should be held on the groom, but don't think I won't use it on the best man."

I snorted.
 
"I'll be here, no kidnapping necessary.
 
I just wish fixing things with Monday was this easy." My heart dropped when I realized there was a good chance I couldn't fix things with Monday.
 
What if she never forgave me?
 
Would I have to keep moving through life with this hole in my chest like I had been doing?
 

I thought of the women that had tried to take her place over the years.
 
None had ever come close.
 
Even when I thought she had betrayed me, I could never give another my heart, not when it wasn't mine to give.
 

Luke gave Tanya a meaningful look and she muttered something about needing to check on dinner and left the room.
 
He sat down on one couch and I sat down across from him, bracing myself for whatever he had to say. My heart sped up as the worst case scenarios started rolling through my mind.
 

What if she loved someone else?
 
Obviously not Luke, but that didn't mean that any of the other guys in town wouldn't have jumped at a chance with Monday once they knew I was out of the picture.
 
It had only been the knowledge that I would have buried them somewhere on the back forty of my property that had kept them away when we were growing up.
 

"So am I right in assuming that you want Monday back?"

I nodded.
 
I didn't just want Monday back, I needed her as much as I needed air.
 

"The good news is that she's still in love with you.
 
She never stopped."

"Oh thank baby Jesus," I muttered, running a hand over my face, feeling my shoulders sag in relief.
 
If she still loved me, there was a chance I hadn't fucked everything all to hell after all.
 

"You hurt her something fierce, Cody, and she's been nursing that pain for a long while.
 
So I would be doing both of you a disservice if I didn't warn you.
 
If you hurt her again, best friend or not, I will bury you so deep that archaeologists won't be able to find your bones for another thousand years."
 

Startled, I looked at Luke.
 
His eyes were stone-cold serious and his jaw was tensed up like he was waiting for me to argue with him.
 
I wasn't going to because the look he gave me let me know this wasn't an idle threat.

"I won't hurt her ever again, Luke, I swear it. I'd rather cut my own heart out and stomp on it."

"Good." He inhaled deeply and climbed to his feet.
 
"Because I'll be right there next to you handing you the knife and critiquing your field dressing.
 
Some hurts go soul-deep, and what you did, it left a wound that hasn't come close to healing yet.
 
So you go fix it, and then you spend every day for the rest of your life making it up to her."

"I'm planning on it," I swore.
 

Monday was an angel.
 
Or rather, she was dressed like one.
 
I watched, transfixed, from the same pew that my ass had polished every Sunday morning and Wednesday night as a boy while Monday moved around the stage.
 
Dressed as the Angel of the Lord in a glittering white gown with huge gossamer wings affixed to her back, she moved about the stage, telling the shepherd boy and the audience of the coming of their savior.
   

It was a part she had played every year since we were teenagers and the good Rev had thought her blond curls made her look heavenly. Really, it was just her.
 
There was something about her that forced the eyes to follow her movements on the stage, a light that filled her and spilled over to everyone she touched.
 

Jesus, I had been a fool to let her go.
 

Her eyes met mine and she blinked, startled to see me there.
 
I smiled at her and lifted my eyebrows when she missed her cue.
 
Her face colored brightly, and she angled her body so that I was out of her line of sight. It was rare to see her off her mark, and knowing that I could still unsettle her lifted my heart a bit.
 
I chuckled and let my own gaze move about the church, startled to see how people had changed in such a short time.
 

I had always held this view that the people here would stand as still as the town itself did, as if it were caught in a vortex that prevented anyone from moving forward.
 
Seeing guys that ran the field with me in school with small babies in their arms made my heart stop beating momentarily.
 
Is this where Monday and I would have been had I never left for college?
 

My heart warmed briefly before I remembered our conversation in the kitchen that morning.
 
Whatever track we had been on, Monday had made it obvious that she wasn't ready to pick that back up.
 
Luke had said I shouldn’t give up, but right now the whole situation seemed hopeless.

The sound of applause startled me from my thoughts, and I joined in as Monday smiled and moved off stage, her gaze clinging to mine.
 
I stood up in the pew and slid to the aisle, meaning to head through the hall to the anteroom where all the players always changed into their costumes.
 
I only made it as far as the hallway before I realized I hadn't made it out unseen after all.

"Fancy seeing you here, Cody Jackson." A sultry voice caught my attention.
 
I turned to find a tall, beautiful girl leaning against the doorway.
 
She tossed her glossy dark hair and crossed her arms under ample breasts that seemed far too exposed for a Christmas Eve church service.
 

"Madison," I replied coldly.
 
I had never hit a woman in my life, but that didn’t mean that I hadn't visualized it a couple times since I found out that she had lied to me about Monday and Luke.
 
I tucked my hands in my back pockets to keep from throttling her in the house of God.
 

She leaned forward and ran a finger down my chest, looking up at me from under heavily made-up lashes.
 
"Football has done you good." She smirked, biting down on her lip and grinning at me.
 
"I'm sorry to hear about your Grandmother.
 
She was a sweet old lady.
 
How hard it must be for you to lose her so close to the holidays."

A stab of pain bloomed in my chest again as I thought of Gran.
 

"Yeah," I muttered, closing my eyes against the tears that threatened to fall and ducking my head.
 

"Poor Cody," she purred, stepping closer.
 
She rested her hands on my forearms and I stiffened uncomfortably as I felt her breasts brush my chest.
 
"I'm sure things are mighty awkward for you staying up at the ranch, what with your ex girlfriend living there now and all.
 
You're more than welcome to stay at my place while you're settling things.
 
My couch is a mite small for you to be crashing on but you can always take the bed and I can bunk on the couch if you like."

"I appreciate the offer, Madison," I stuttered, scratching the back of my neck uncomfortably, "But I'm not about to kick you out of your bed."

"I suppose it is big enough to share." She grinned licentiously as she leaned in towards me.

"That's not what he meant Madison." Monday glared at the girl.
 
"He was trying to say no without hurting your feelings, but as usual, you're oblivious.
 
Cody never cared much for the scent of desperation and bad choices, and Lord knows your sad little apartment is probably reeking with it. Now, if you don't take your trashy hands off of him you're going to pull back a bloody stump."

Madison whirled around and shot a withering glance at Monday, still wearing her white gossamer gown, now missing the wings and halo that she had worn on stage.
 
"Please, I'm surprised he can smell anything with your skanky scent all over his house.
 
Cody is a grown man and he ain't yours anymore, honey, so if he wants to spend the night in my 'sad little apartment', he's welcome to.
 
It can't be easy sleeping under the same roof as your cheating ex.
 
That's so pitiful they wouldn't even put it in a country song."

Monday flashed a brilliant smile and Madison blinked at her, confused until Monday's fist barreled straight at her face, slamming her head back before she crumpled in a heap on the floor.
 

"Didn't your momma ever teach you not to tell lies, Madison?
 
I think that was the lesson that came between not letting your mouth write checks your ass can't cash and not spreading your legs for every man that looks at you crossways.
 
Although I see she completely skipped over how not to dress like the town slut at a church function."
 

Madison climbed to her feet and stamped one stiletto heel before turning tail and stomping off.
 
My shoulders shook as I struggled not to laugh at the look of satisfaction on Monday's face.
 
I wiped away tears of mirth until Monday fixed her glare on me.
 
I held both of my hands up in surrender.
 

"I swear I was only back here looking for you."

"I know.
 
I was wondering what was taking you so long. I wish I could say I was surprised to find Madison trying to trap you with her vagina, but I'm not."

"I can't believe you hit her in Church."

"Well, she had it coming," she muttered.
 
"I didn't like her before, but knowing that it was her lies that started this mess pushed that from a soft dislike to a hard hate."

"And me?
 
Am I at a hard hate, too?"

She shook her head.
 
"No.
 
I keep trying to hate you, Cody, but I never can seem to pull it off.
 
But I
am
disappointed and I'm not sure which one is worse."