Return of the Jerk (Sweet Life in Seattle, Book 2) (51 page)

“What’s wrong with Mr. Maurice?” he wants to know.

“He misses you.”

Nathan reflects on this. “That so?”

“He blames me for everything. And he’s right, of course, it is my fault.”

Looking down, Nathan studies the bottle in his hand.

“But mostly Mr. Maurice sits around all day, glaring at me. Wishing I were you, I think.”

Nathan chuckles softly. “Yeah, he gets an attitude sometimes.”

“I should probably just give him to you. He prefers you, anyway.”

They’re both quiet again as the sounds from the party drift out to them.

“Fiona told me your place is a mess.” He glances at her. “That true?”

Blair bites her lip. Thinks about her condo and the chaos she can’t deal with. It’s all too much. Overwhelming. Suddenly, she doesn’t want Nathan to know this about her, though, how he’s brought her to her knees.
I don’t want to be an object of anybody’s pity, least of all his.

“It’s fine. I don’t know why Fiona would have said that.”

He nods. “Don’t know why, either.”

Blair stares down at her crystal Jimmy Choos, and Nathan follows her eyes.

“Been taking selfies of your feet again?”

“Maybe a couple,” she admits. Blair turns to him. “Did you really come back to Seattle to get a divorce from me,” she tries to hide the quiver in her voice, “so you could marry Sonia?”
Apparently, I do want to know.

“What?” He frowns, but she sees something in his eyes and realizes Sonia wasn’t lying.

Apparently, Nathan has his secrets, too
.

Someone comes around the corner. It’s Sonia, of course. Skank Factor X always has impeccable timing.

“Nathan!” she says in her heavily accented English. “Why are you out here?” She gives Blair a once-over then dismissively looks back to him. “Tori is looking for you. There is a problem with your mother.”

“There is?” Nathan pulls away from the wall.

“You must come now. Tori asked me to find you.”

The three of them head back inside. The band is playing Loverboy’s “Turn Me Loose”, a song Blair has always liked, and judging by how many people are dancing, she isn’t the only one.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long to discover the problem with his mom.

She’s out on the dance floor, very drunk, bumping into people and latching onto every guy she sees. People have stopped dancing around her and are watching the spectacle instead.

Tori is there, along with some of her cousins, except Lori is pushing them away.

“Jesus Christ,” Nathan mutters.

“Get your fucking hands off me!” Lori shoves at Brody, who’s trying to help.

Tori looks around, her face turning to relief when she spots Nathan.

“We need to get out of here,” Tori says to him, talking loudly over the music. “She’s wasted.”

“Mom.” Nathan goes over to Lori, tries to take her arm. “Come on, let’s go sit down.”

“I’m not done dancing!” she yells, swaying on her high-heeled sandals.

Blair is amazed she can even walk in them considering her state, but then she’s seen Lori drunk so many times and knows she always manages to stay upright.

“That bastard left me!” Lori yells. “He can rot in hell while I dance!”

Tori is looking around in frustration, but then Nathan steps in closer to Lori. He puts his hand on her hip, his other hand out to his side. “It’s okay. Dance with me, Mom.”

Lori blinks, looks up at Nathan.

He grins. “Come on.”

She takes his hand and the two of them start dancing together. Mother and son. The music is fast and loud, but they’re dancing a slow two-step.

Blair watches the way Nathan dances with her, moving her away from the crowd. People have stopped staring and started dancing themselves again.

Finally, he gets her to one of the outer tables. By now, Lori is crying. “You understand, don’t you, Road? Don’t you?”

“Sure, course.” He nods.

“We need to get her out of here,” Tori says. “Like right now. I’m going to take her home.”

Kiki joins them, observing her mom’s drunkenness with annoyance. “You and Nathan can’t leave! The photographer just arrived, so we’re taking photos with the wedding party in a few minutes.”

“Well, we can’t leave her here like this, either,” Tori says.

“I’ll take her home.” Blair steps forward.

“No,” Nathan says. “I’ll do it.”

“You can’t!” Kiki’s eyes are wide with distress. “These are my wedding photos.” She throws her mother an angry look. “God, she ruins everything!”

“I can take her,” Blair says again. “It’s not a problem.”

“This is a family issue,” Nathan says heatedly. “No offense, Blair.”

“Are you
kidding?
You can’t miss the photographer!” Kiki’s voice takes on a note of hysteria.

Tori, who’s standing next to Nathan, puts her hand on his arm. “Let Blair take her home. She’s dealt with Mom like this before.”

“She has?” Nathan’s eyes flash over to Blair. “Since when?”

“Since you’ve been living out of the country for the past five years. Blair has helped me with Mom a lot.”

“I see.” Nathan goes quiet, seems to be processing this bit of news. He glances over at Sonia, sitting on the edge of the table, studying her phone and looking bored with the whole situation.

Tori goes over to their mom. “Blair is going to take you home now. Is that okay?

“All right.” Lori looks up at Blair and smiles. “That’d be fine, hon.”

“Come on, I’ll help you get her to the car,” Nathan says.

And with that, the two of them help walk Lori out to the parking lot.

“My car is just over there.” Blair points toward her Honda.

But as soon as Lori sees Isadora in the opposite direction, she makes a beeline for it, dragging them both with her. “I want to ride in my big brother’s car,” Lori insists. “Lance always looked out for me and my kids.”

He gives Blair a wry look. “Guess you’ll be driving Isadora. That okay? I can pick her up from you later.”

“Sure, that’s fine.”

Nathan helps get Lori into the passenger seat. She drops her purse on the ground and when Blair hands it to her, Lori smiles up at her with bloodshot eyes. “Thanks, hon. You’re a sweet girl, always thought so. And I know how much you love my boy.”

Blair’s brows go up and she feels Nathan stiffen beside her, his hand on the open car door.

Lori cackles in her drunken way. “You think I never noticed it all those years? The way you look at him? Seen it a thousand times.”

Nobody says anything for a few seconds, and then finally Blair gives Lori a helpless smile. “You’re right, it’s true.”

“Of course it’s true!”

Blair turns to Nathan. There’s a strange expression on his face, one she’s never seen before. He doesn’t say anything, though, just appears deep in thought.

“Now, where’s my damn cigarettes!” Lori says, rifling through her purse.

“You can’t smoke in Isadora!” Blair says, and hears Nathan chuckling.

“Here,” he says, handing Blair the Mustang’s keys. “I’ll come by later to bring you your car.”

She gives him the keys to her Honda then climbs into Isadora’s driver’s seat. Sighs a little as she looks around the interior of the car, taking in the faint scent of warm leather seats.
I’ve missed you.
Just before she leaves, Nathan motions for her to roll the window down.

“What is it?” she asks.

He studies her for a long moment. “Thank you for doing this.” Lori starts going on about how Lance never had a problem with her smoking in his car. “She’s lying,” Nathan says softly. “My uncle never let anyone smoke in Isadora.”

Blair snorts. “Don’t worry, I’ll throw those cigarettes out the window before I let her light one up.”

Nathan chuckles. “You do that, babe.”

A FEW DAYS
later, and Nathan still hasn’t come by to trade cars. Not that Blair is complaining. In fact, driving Isadora has been helping her mental state so much that she finally started cleaning up her condo.

“Do you mind if I come by sometime next week and pick up the rest of my stuff?” Blair asks Tori over the phone. “I still have some clothes and a few other things at your house.”

“Sure, that’s fine.”

“How’s everything with your mom?”

“Much better, though she’s still upset about Garth. Thank you again for taking her home from the wedding. You saved the day.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” Blair thought Nathan saved the day by getting Lori off the dance floor and calming her down.

All Blair did was take Lori back to the house, make her some tea, and tuck her into bed. Lori’s hollering and swearing at the wedding reception must have gotten it out of her system, because she was downright docile with Blair. She made more comments to Blair about Nathan. “Was glad when he married you,” Lori told her, drifting off to sleep. “Always thought you’d be good for him.”

“Have you seen Nathan?” Blair asks Tori. “He still hasn’t brought back my car.”

“I haven’t talked to him since the wedding. Fiona called me, though, trying to get a hold of him. His book has reached number two on
The
New York Times
best seller’s list.”

“You’re kidding? That’s amazing.”

“He’s probably dealing with Sonia,” Tori says with a sigh. “You should have seen her the rest of the night at the reception. All she talked about was herself, her family, and having my brother move to Madrid.”

Blair’s stomach drops. “Is that what he’s planning to do?”

“I don’t know. He never said anything either way. He was really quiet, now that I think about it.”

They hang up and Blair gets back to cleaning, enjoying the way her place is starting to look tidy again. Though, she isn’t lining up boxes or worrying about the exact location of every item. In the same way telling Nathan the truth finally freed her from secrets, she realizes it’s also helped free her from obsessing about things that don’t matter.

I’m the one seeing the big picture now.

Blair knows she’ll never be completely over her OCD, that it’s a part of her and always will be, but realizes she’s at least gained some perspective on it. The same with her perfectionism. For the first time in her life, she can finally see past it.

People are what matter and none of us are perfect, no matter how hard we try
.

She realizes something else, too. As hard as it’s been since Nathan left, she’s glad the truth came out. She loves him and wishes they could be together, but her mom was right. You can’t build a life based on lies.

By Friday the next week, Blair’s condo is back in order, and she decides to swing by Tori’s house after work and pick up the rest of her stuff.

There was no answer when she called, but she figures Tori might still be at the vet’s office, since her hours there vary from week to week. Luckily, Blair still has her key.

Eddie, Duff, and Tommy Lee greet her at the door when she arrives, crowding around her legs, tails wagging.

“Hey, boys,” Blair reaches down to pet them. They follow her to her bedroom where she goes through the drawers, pulling clothes out to stuff into the bag she brought along.

She remembers some of her clothes are hanging in the laundry room and goes to get them. On the way there, the boys are all crowded by the sliding door in the kitchen, so she lets them out into the backyard to run around.