Zenith Fulfilled (11 page)

Rebecca ignored the churning of her stomach muscles as she drove her van towards Rob Williams’ neighborhood. She ignored her mother’s chiding that was still fresh in her head. Debbie Lassiter thought her daughter’s adorable hobby of writing had suddenly gone way too far to be interviewing “that vile man
,”
which was what she called Rob, as if he were a famous serial killer. Debbie knew about Rob from Joelle, Nick, and even Trina, but not from Rebecca. Rebecca tried to explain what she was doing to her mother, and that her writing wasn’t a vapid, adorable hobby. She tried to convey that hers was a real project, and the importance of what she was trying to accomplish. Rebecca even mentioned that Nick believed in her wholeheartedly. Nick knew what she was doing with Rob, yet he still supported her. But her mom refused to believe it. Rebecca could tell her mother thought Nick was simply sponsoring Rebecca out of his kindness, and not from any belief in her career as an author.

It pissed
her off and she had to clench her teeth to keep from telling her mother so. Still, she was free, and finally had a few hours without the kids to spend with Rob.

She swung her van into his driveway, but
stayed put for a moment. There he was. In his garage, lying under his bike, another bandanna in his hair, grubby jeans, with loud music pounding from the garage. That was probably why he didn’t hear her pulling in. He was using a wrench to do something.

She felt a pulling from deep in her stomach. It was much more than just nerves.
Was it sexual attraction?
She blinked at the thought. Where did that come from? Was is for Rob? Or just for the sight of a man working on a bike? Doug used to do that, but not on a bike. He worked on their vehicles every weekend, be it changing the oil, puttering with their ride-on mower, or using the array of tools that now only gathered dust in the garage. She felt a stab of pain from her forgotten memories.

Then she squared her nerves in her mind and dragged herself out of the van. S
he straightened her jeans, adjusted her light jacket, and flipped her hair back. She pretended that she didn’t take extra time to get ready today. She combed her hair down flatter, and put on more than her usual makeup. For a softball game? Yeah, sure. That’s right. For her daughter’s softball game.

She came into the garage where it felt cooler.
  It smelled of gas, oil, metallic tools, and the usual garage stuff. He didn’t notice her because he was working intently, while tapping along to
The Eagles
song, “Desperado.” Rebecca loved that song and she wondered why he didn’t use his voice to sing along instead.

“Rob?”

He shifted from under the bike and glanced her way while turning his wrist to check his watch. He squirmed out from under the bike, and was instantly on his feet in a graceful leap. He walked over to the radio attached to the workbench and turned the knob down. He had grease on his face and still needed a shave. His arms were bare and the myriad colors swirling together were as one under her eyes. Again, her stomach churned.

“Hi.”

“Hey. Didn’t realize it was four already.”

“It’s okay. You look busy.”

“Just messing around. Changing the oil. Nothing much. Come in.”

He seemed so affable today. Nothing like the surly Rob of last week. Or the mean Rob from when she kept badgering him. She followed him into his laundry room.

“So, did you win?” he asked, as they entered the kitchen.

“Win what?”

“The softball game? Isn’t that where you were today?”

“Oh
, Kayla. Yes. Yes, her team won.” She flushed. She’d been staring at his sinewy legs, encased in the tight jeans and didn’t immediately register what he was saying.

“You okay?”

She jerked her gaze to his face. “What do you mean?”

“You seem so different. Perhaps, distracted.”

“Oh nothing.” She blushed, and the damn heat rose instantly from below her chin up to her hair. She was very distracted at seeing him walk in tight jeans. But instead, she said, “I had a little argument with my mother.”

“About?”

“You,” she said truthfully. “About me coming here to see you.”

He crossed his arms. “Most mothers don’t approve of their daughters coming to see me. Except Joelle. Her mother was in prison. Never even met her.”

Rebecca didn’t know that about Joelle either. “That’s sad.”

“Yeah, well, that’s what Spencer, me, and Joelle all had in common, Nick’s little sister. We all were pretty sad.”

“
Were
. You
were
pretty sad. Things are better now. For Joelle, for Spencer, and for you.”

“Yeah
, sure; for me, too. So tell me, why does your mother care if you come here? Because of your writing or because of me?”

“Both. I guess. You, because you frighten her, and my writing because she thinks I’m wasting the time I should be putting towards my kids, or getting a better job. She doesn’t get the part that I really think this could be my better job.”

“What job? Doesn’t Nick support you anymore?”

“He does. Whatever I can’t provide is supplemented by him. Which turns out to be a lot. I work too, though. I wouldn’t just sit on my hands and let Nick do everything for us
.”

“Taking care of three kids alone, I imagine, you would be doing anything
but
sitting on your hands. What job do you work at?”

“Oh
, at the cafeteria at one of the elementary schools. It’s the only way I get the same days off that the girls do.”

“You’re a lunch lady?”

“Yeah, you don’t have to make it sound like I just told you I worked the streets.”

“Does Nick know?”

She laughed. “Of course, Nick knows.”

He shook his head.
“I can’t believe he lets you work as a lunch lady, when he’s sitting over there in his little empire.”

“Nick doesn’t
let me
do anything. And there’s nothing wrong with what I do. For now. I took the job last year, after Dou-–, after my husband left. I had no skills, no schooling, nothing. I’d been staying at home for a decade. But since I knew a lot of people at the school district from PTA stuff, I managed to get hired on there. Seemed logical.”

Rob’s brows lifted and he was frowning, as though
he really didn’t like her job. Why would Rob judge that? It wasn’t like he was glowing with success over his career choices either.

Rebecca glanced around, taking in his house, as he had hers. It was nice. Surprisingly so for the rough, wild persona that Rob continually projected. It was homey, and the kitchen looked like it had recently been updated. Everything matched, from the gleaming appliances to the granite counters.

“It’s nice in here.”

Rob shrugged
and looked at her. “Erica did it all.”

“Erica? She really likes you, doesn’t she?”

He nodded. “It’s not that incredible, you know, for someone like her to like me. She is, after all, married to my best friend.”

Rebecca flushed
, of course, he wasn’t hard to like. Especially, to people who weren’t trying to probe his private sins and shameful past. He was quite pleasant as long as you didn’t try to make him relive his life. Problem was, she had to know all about his past.

Her gaze wandered back to him when he spoke. “Look, I me
ant to clean up before you arrived. Why don’t you wait right here, while I shower, then we’ll grab something to eat? How much time you got?”

“Uh, until seven or so.”

“I’ll hurry.”

Then he was down the hallway,
and she heard him going upstairs. She was alone. She heard the pipes groaning, and water rushing from upstairs.

Something to eat? Like going out together? Like on a date? Rebecca’s nerves became skittish. No. That was not what he meant. Couldn’t have been. He didn’t even particularly like her. She had to persuade him and pay him for any time spent with her. Not exactly the start of... anything. Nothing at all. Why then, was she so nervous?

She turned from the sliding door through which she was staring when she heard Rob running down the stairs. His steps were quick and concise as he came around the banister and down the hallway. He was putting a watch on his wrist as he walked, and wearing a navy blue, hooded sweatshirt with jeans. His tattoos were all covered up, his hair was still damp, and his face smoothly shaven. She didn’t think she’d ever seen him shaved clean. She stared unapologetically: at his face, his jeans, and him. Rob was an indisputably attractive man now walking towards her. 

The overly masculine appeal of him shocked her senses. He looked so much more normal,
right then, at that moment, than usual. No longer wild and dangerous. He looked almost normal enough that she could be attracted to him. The only things that didn’t jive with his normal look were the piercings on his face. He still had those. Did they tug and pull when he smiled or frowned? And why… suddenly, did they not seem so repulsive? He looked up just then and met her gaze that was fastened on him. His eyes scrutinized her, studying him. She looked away after the charged moment and the sudden awareness that they were all alone in his quiet house.

Doug, her husband, worked as a manager for an import/export firm, based in Seattle. The company had satellite offices all over the world, and currently, her husband was working for one of them in Japan. Doug had to wear a suit and tie, and was no more than a glorified paper-pusher. Tall and thin, Doug’s physique was on the slight side. He had blond hair, with fair skin,
and wore glasses. He was handsome too, and well put together.

Rob was almost the complete opposite of Doug. He was short for a guy, although he carried himself well. He was in good shape, with strong muscles,
and powerful legs. He wasn’t big and broad, but narrow and more compact. He usually appeared haphazardly put together. He always looked like he was in a hurry and forgot to comb his hair, or shave his face, or tuck in his clothes. And most of the time, his loud, conspicuous tattoos were glaring at her. He seemed like he was always trying to appear and be abrasive.

But just then, he wasn’t. He seemed normal looking, and her kind of attractive. The idea that she found him suddenly handsome disturbed her. She didn’t know where her unexpected reactions to him were coming from. She’d found him interesting before, and thought he was hot in a bad kind of way. But it was okay because he wasn’t someone she would ever look twice at, or feel emotional about. Suddenly, she seemed interested in a man with whom she had
no chemistry.

And all at once, just then, she did.

Rob walked over to his kitchen counter, and grabbed his wallet, which he tucked into his back pocket. She watched, utterly fascinated. How long had it been since she got to watch the daily, ordinary movements of a man? So different and so ridiculously intriguing. He was nearly mesmerizing her just by getting ready to leave his house.

“Rebecca?”

She glanced up when she found him again watching her. She was staring at his hands. Tan, strong, compact, and oh so masculine. Naturally, they were inked. Yet… it was kind of sexy. “Yes?”

“You sure you’re okay?”

No
. Apparently, she was becoming a crazy, old lady who lived too long alone out in the woods. She was suddenly captivated by every part of the male anatomy. She couldn’t remember ever staring at Doug’s hands, or even noticing he had hands!

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

“You’re usually chatty. Opinionated. Not quiet and allowing me to take charge.”

She was usually the one taking charge? Rob thought that of her? The truth was: she’d never been in charge of anything during her entire life. She married Doug at barely twenty
years old. He was ten years her senior, and already set up, with a house and all the accouterments. He was also quite successful, and well versed with the ways of the world. He was paying a mortgage, and did his own taxes. She’d hardly even written a check before she married him. Doug acted like he knew about everything, and she knew nothing. So she had a baby, because it was the only thing she felt she could do. And Rob thought she was opinionated? Or that she knew how to direct a situation? It almost made her laugh out loud. How could she come on so strong, and so sure to Rob Williams, when no one else in the world thought that of her? Everybody assumed she was laid back, submissive, helpful, but never a leader, always a follower.

“I’m fine. I’m just beginning to realize how I pushed you into this. And I’m seeing how selfish I’ve been
. I wanted to do this book so badly, I could have almost sold my heart. I thought it would make things feel better for me; and make me better. But, maybe I was totally wrong. You shouldn’t have to talk about some things if you prefer not to, and maybe I shouldn’t print them either.”

Rob paused and lowered his hands to the counter, leaning on them as he looked into her eyes. “Where’s this coming from? The Rebecca I’ve known so far would kick this Rebecca’s ass.”