My Everything - Seth & Amber (5 page)

“You have to talk to him,” Katie explained.
“Obviously that night meant something to him, too. He made a
beeline for you. He wanted to talk to you. He wanted you to say his
name
. Don’t you think at the very least you could get some
closure?”

Amber’s stomach dropped and her heart sank at
that word. Closure. Because if she were being honest with herself
she didn’t want closure with Seth. That night, her
one
night
with him, had gotten her through some pretty bad times
in her life and she wasn’t ready to lose it as her go-to coping
method.

“I honestly don’t know what I would even say
to him,” Amber confessed.

“Well, let’s start with his opener. Why did
you leave that night?” Katie asked.

“I left because, I just…I don’t do well
with…I’m not very good at…” This was exactly the reason she didn’t
want to talk to him about it. She was a mess.

Katie came through with the assist, “You
don’t do well with what? Emotions, feelings?”

“Yes. Those things.” Amber realized that it
was odd to feel those things after knowing a person only a few
hours but
that
was exactly the reason she had left the hotel
room. The whole night, the connection she felt to him, was just too
intense to process.

“Well, weren’t you just saying last night
that you are done dating emotionally unavailable men? Maybe that
means you are ready for more. I mean how old were you when you and
Seth…um…when the
night
happened?” Haley asked.

“I was twenty-two.” Amber remembered at the
time how very old and mature she had felt. But now, looking back,
she realized how young she really was.

“See!” Haley exclaimed. “Now you’re thirty!
That’s a big difference!”

“Thanks for pointing that out, Hales,” Amber
said dryly.

Haley just smiled at her. “Aren’t you even a
little bit excited about the fact that you now know Mystery Man’s
identity? And he’s here. In Harper’s Crossing.”

“And he’s related to you,” Amber pointed
out.

“Okay that parts a little weird, I’ll give
you that,” Haley chuckled. “I used to be upset about the fact that
you wouldn’t tell me the
good
stuff, but now I have to admit
that I am glad I don’t have that information floating around in my
head. I would have had to go to a counselor or a hypnotist to get
rid of it!”

Sophie leaned forward in her chair, “But come
on, you have to be a teensy, weensy bit excited that you know his
name and
he’s
here
.”

“I guess a little bit,” Amber begrudgingly
admitted for their sake.

All the girls started talking at once about
how
romantic
and
amazing
the whole thing was. Amber
didn’t want to be the wet blanket (or ‘party pooper’ as Chelle was
so fond of calling people) and ruin everyone’s fun. But really, if
she was being completely honest, she wasn’t excited. She was
scared. Totally one hundred percent terrified.

Before his first day at Titan Security, Seth had agreed to meet his
brothers at Gerard’s Diner for breakfast. Pulling into the dirt
parking lot he was stunned by how little the diner had changed. He
hadn’t recognized a lot of the town he had seen so far, everything
looked so much more built up. But
this
place looked exactly
the same as it always had.

He had mixed feelings about coming here - to
Gerard’s. When he was growing up, before his mom Cheryl’s bi-polar
disorder had gotten severe, she had taken him and Riley here every
Saturday for breakfast. The time they spent here were some of the
best memories he had with her.

Part of him was hoping that the building
would have changed. Maybe they would have added to the structure or
something. At the very least, that it would have been painted
differently. And, although Seth realized they must have painted the
building since the last time he had been there, it was still tan
with a forest green trim. His chest felt tight.

He stepped in through the front door that had
the Gerard’s Diner decal etched into the glass. The smell of
pancakes, syrup, and coffee hit him smack dab in the face. Sure,
over the years he had been to dozens of diners in several different
countries and they all smelled of pancakes, syrup, and coffee. But
there was nothing like this. This smelled like home.

Seth easily spotted his four brothers waiting
for him at a large round table in the back of the restaurant. He
was having a hard time adjusting to the fact that his brothers
weren’t kids anymore. They were grown men. It was odd.

“Okay, what’s the deal with you and Amber?”
Jason asked abruptly, his brow lifting as Seth took a seat between
Bobby and Riley. There was a plate of pancakes, eggs, sausage, and
bacon with a cup of coffee waiting for him.

After Jason’s blunt question Seth stared at
the plate full of food and realized he should have just grabbed a
bagel and coffee and skipped the ‘family’ breakfast.

“Look,” Jason continued, “I wouldn’t ask, but
Katie won’t let it drop.”

“Chelle’s pretty curious, too,” Riley
added.

Bobby, who Seth had noticed over the last few
days didn’t say much, chose this time to speak up, “Sophie won’t
stop asking.”

“Is this why you guys invited me here?” Seth
asked, feeling a little ambushed.

His brothers just stared at him.

“I just came for the show.” Alex smiled
happily as he shoveled pancakes into his mouth. “Jamie hasn’t said
a word about it.”

Seth wanted this conversation over. “Nothing
is going on.”

“But you remember her?” Jason lifted his
coffee cup to his lips.

“Yes.” Seth could not believe his brothers
weren’t dropping this.

“And...” Jason gestured for Seth to
elaborate.

“I remember her. End of story.” Seth did not
want this to become a running theme, that his brothers felt like
they could ask him about his personal life. He was an extremely
private person and that was not going to change because of his
unexpected homecoming. Yes, these were his brothers, but that
didn’t make this any more their business.

“Sadly,” Jason said looking almost
apologetic, “It is not the end of the story. Because if I don’t go
home from this little pancake ‘intervention’ with some answers, I
will never hear the end of it from Katie. So, sorry, bro, but you
need to start talking.”

Looking around the table, it seemed that
Bobby and Riley were both backing Jason up. Alex might as well have
been holding a bucket of popcorn as he watched the proceedings. He
seemed very entertained.

Seth didn’t want to talk about Amber, about
their night together, but obviously his brothers weren’t going to
let it go. Since there wasn’t much to tell anyway, he decided he
might as well get it over with.

“I want to make it clear that this is the one
and only conversation we will have on this subject. Understood?”
Seth looked around the table; his brothers all nodded their heads
in agreement.

Seth inhaled deeply through his nose. “On
August 14th 20…”

“August 14th?” Bobby interrupted his brow
creasing.

“Yes. On August 14th 2005 I was at the Four
Seasons in DC…”

“That’s the hotel where the police found you
and Mom, when you were in fourth grade and your class was on that
field trip to DC, right?” Riley interrupted.

“Do you want to hear this or not?” Seth asked
his brothers sharply. They just silently stared at him so he
continued, “I had just had dinner and wanted a drink.”

His brothers nodded in understanding and he
saw them glancing at each other, probably silently communicating
the importance of the date.

“I went to the bar and sat down. There was a
girl seated to my right. An asshole came over and started hitting
on her. She stood to leave. Asshole grabbed her hand. She kneed him
in the balls.” The corners of Seth’s mouth twitched as he
remembered how impressed he had been with the gorgeous stranger.
“The idiot called her a bitch, I made sure he apologized. She was
upset. I got her out of there. We went to my room. She left
sometime in the middle of the night. The next time I saw her was
yesterday. I tried to speak to her. She left.”

“Yeah. We knew all that,” Jason said as if
that story was common knowledge.

“You knew what?” Seth asked, not really
comprehending the statement Jason had just made.

“Not the date, and not the exact hotel, that
was all new info but the other details, yeah. Your Amber’s Mystery
Man,” Jason said matter-of-factly. “I’ve known about it for
years.”

“Years?” Seth clarified.

“Yep, about five years,” Jason explained.
“But I’ve known Amber longer than everyone else. We went out a few
times back in the day.”

“You did what?” Seth’s jaw clenched as he
felt a surge of anger spread through his chest.

“Wow! Soooo nothing’s going on with you two,
huh?” Alex smiled from ear to ear. “That reaction was for
nothing
going
on
. Interesting.”

Seth ignored his brother. He had always
maintained that Alex thought he was a lot funnier than he actually
was. He continued staring at Jason.

“It wasn’t serious.” Jason’s eyes grew wide
as he raised his hands in mock surrender. “When she first moved to
town we went out a couple of times. That’s all. But we quickly
realized we would be better off as friends. No chemistry.”

No chemistry. What the hell? They could not
be talking about the same girl. Amber was the sexiest woman Seth
had ever laid eyes on. How could any man be in the same room with
her and not have ‘chemistry’? Still, it made him feel better to
know that Jason and Amber had not really dated.

Although the tightness in Seth’s chest was
lessening, he still didn’t like the feeling that Jason’s
information had caused to riot through him. He figured he would
just get through this ‘breakfast’ and deal with that later.

Seth began to eat. The sooner he was out of
there, the better.

Jason must have sensed his fight or flight
response because he quickly said, “Look, I’m just gonna ask you all
the things Kit Kat has been asking me and then I won’t bring it up
again. Deal?”

“You still call her that?” Seth asked. He
seemed to remember that when they were kids Katie had
hated
that nickname.

Jason just smiled a mischievous smile.
“Yep.”

Okay, whatever. It was none of Seth’s
business. Just like anything between himself and Amber was none of
his brothers' or their wives' business.

“Do you plan on seeing Amber?” Jason
asked.

“No,” Seth answered honestly.

“Let me rephrase. Do you
want
to see
Amber?”

“No,” Seth said flatly.

Jason just stared at him, doubt written all
over his face. “Why?”

Bobby and Riley had been fairly quiet during
this interrogation, he appreciated it.

He just wanted to eat and get to work. No
more talk about Amber. Him seeing Amber. His night with Amber.

“Is it because she left? Twice?” Bobby asked.
The question hit Seth right square in the chest like a punch,
knocking the wind out of him. Where the hell had this kid come
from? His balls hadn’t even dropped the last time Seth had seen
him, now he was coming out with shit like this.

Seth didn’t answer, just took a drink of
coffee.

“That’s not what she’s like Seth,” Jason
defended Amber. “She’s not like mom.”

“Who the hell said anything about mom?” Seth
couldn’t believe his brother had actually just brought up their mom
in
this
conversation.

“I’m not trying to piss you off,” Jason
quickly said. “But I just want you to know Amber’s not a flake.
She’s brilliant. She owns her own business. She has a lot of
friends. She volunteers at the women’s shelter. Sure, she’s got
issues like anyone else, but not like that. She doesn’t just
leave.”

Could have fooled me, Seth thought to
himself. This conversation was just getting worse and worse. He
could feel the tension radiating off of him in waves. He was
normally so controlled. He didn’t let things get to him. He never
let things affect him this strongly. Except, it seemed, when it
came to Amber.

“Okay, one more question - and this one is
all me, not Katie,” Jason prefaced, and from the look in his eye
Seth, was pretty damn sure he wasn’t going to like the question
that was to follow.

Seth nodded at him to continue.

“You really didn’t even know her name?”

Seth hated to admit it, but...“No.”

“Damn,” Jason shook his head slowly.

“Well, kids,” Alex said as he stood, “as fun
as this has been, I’ve got to get to the station. Seth, glad you’re
back. Amber’s one of the good ones. I wouldn’t count her out just
yet.” Alex slapped him on the back as he left.

As he watched his brother leave his chest
constricted with another emotion. This time it was pride. Although
Seth didn’t really know how to tell Alex – or, actually, any of his
brothers - how proud he was of them without sounding condescending
or patronizing, it didn’t change the fact that he was, very proud
of them. They had all made good lives for themselves. They were
successful in both their personal lives and their professional
lives, and that was more than Seth could currently say for himself,
if it came right down to it.

Jason and Bobby had both gone into the family
business. Sloan Construction was his dad Bob’s first baby. He had
started the company a year before Seth was born. Jason was in
charge now and Bobby was a foreman. Jason and Bobby were both
happily married to great girls who they had each loved most of
their lives.

Riley had recently gotten out of the Marines,
but unlike Seth, had planned ahead for his civilian life. He had
opened a bar that was quite successful down in New Orleans with a
couple of the guys he had served with. His plan had originally been
to head down there to live, but he and Chelle reconnected and now
they were married with a baby on the way. Riley was able to handle
a lot of the bar’s business from Harper’s Crossing thanks to the
wonders of technology.