Craving You (TBX #2) (25 page)

“I’m happy for you.” My eyes are glassing over at the emotion in my mom’s voice. She’s searched so long for this man. “Really. When will you be home? Where will you live?”

“We’re honeymooning in Mexico for the next two weeks. Andrew has to be back in Dallas for a merger as soon as we land. He’s a lawyer for Montley, Trite, and Watson.”
Wow.
They’re a big name here in the Dallas metroplex.

“Honey, stop bragging about me and tell that daughter of yours that we shall see her soon, but I’d like some alone time with my wife,” the voice I now know as Andrew says playfully.

“Husband duties call. Did you hear that? Husband! Love you, Kelsey.”

“Mom, wait!” Sitting straight up in the bed with the phone tight to my ear.

“Yeah, honey?”

“I really am happy for you. See you when you get home. I love you.” Her sniff clears over the line, and when she replies, her voice is heavy with emotion.

“I love you, too. Bye.” Our line goes dead, and I’m staring at my white wall.

Finally, it seems, my mom has found love around the same time I have. Is this fate turning things in our favor now that we’ve let her in? Whatever it is, I’m so grateful. My mom and I have our arguments, but she’s always been a romantic sap, and that’s one of the main reasons I vowed to never be.

Never say
never
.

My phone vibrates again. This time with a text, and it startles me from my staring contest with the wall.
The wall won. Bastard
.

I love you. - Parker

The butterflies take off, fluttering through my stomach. It feels good to be loved by him.

I love you, too. Hurry home.

Walking up to Dad’s house now, just needed to hear from you. -Parker

Lean on each other and do what you have to do. Either way, when you get home, I’ll be here, still loving you.

Sweetness. -Parker

When I step in front of my dresser mirror, I’m still wearing the smile that last text gave me. With just that one word, he says a million. It’s like I can hear the low, needy rumble of his voice just by reading that one text. Knotting my hair up into a mess, I head downstairs to find Brealynn sitting with a tear-streaked face Jamie.

“You okay?” Padding my bare feet across the floor, I make my way over to the couch.

“I’m just worried about how today is going to play out. I mean what if Dad just cuts them completely out? They
are
that brand.”

“Exactly. He’d be an idiot to cut them out of TBX.
They make it
, not him. Everything will work out,” Brealynn assures her.

“He’s an idiot. Gah! I don’t even want to think about how Colt and Parker will react if things don’t work out for them today.”

“It
will
. Trust me on this.” If Mom and myself can be on the right track, then this will all work out. I have no doubt.

“And what about Blaine? I still haven’t met him …”

“Neither has Colt. They’re going to get TBX, and you’ll meet Blaine, and we’ll all be a happy family.”

“Ugh, you are totally into the fairy tale shit, aren’t you?”

“Yes. Bad.” Joking, kind of. Resting my butt on the arm of the couch, I add, “On another note, you need to spill your guts.” I look pointedly at Jamie.

“It’s the same problem without a different solution.”

“He knew that before you guys started messing around. What changed?”

“I stopped being fragile and began healing because of
him
. I swear the moment he no longer saw the pain in my eyes he distanced himself. Hell, half the time we were both trashed when we did hook up. I became too clingy, I guess, and it scared him, but the thought of my brothers finding out scared him more. Now, with all that’s going on … he for sure won’t be interested.”

“You need time to sort your life, Jamie. If you and he are meant to be, it’ll happen.” Listen to me. Brealynn’s knight in shining armor shit is rubbing off thick on me.

“Have you heard from them?” Jamie asks.

“Yeah … They’re probably arguing as we speak.”

The front door swings open, and Tim comes uninvited into the living room. All three of us girls look in that direction, but Tim’s eyes are on Jamie the whole time. “Colt told me last night. I tried to stay out of it, but I had to make sure you were okay.”

Jamie maintains her emotionless stare. “Don’t fool yourself into actually caring about me, Tim. It’s pointless.”

“Fuckin’ do care.” Tim’s tone has an angry edge to it before his eyes dodge from Jamie’s to ours as he finally takes in the fact other people are in the room as well. He clears his throat. “You guys are all my friends.” Nice cover, but it doesn’t work.

“That’s right, but this is a family matter.” She’s not tolerating anything from him today. It’s awkward for Brea and me.

“Jamie …” The feelings he has hidden for Jamie are showing through his plea.

“I tried to call you when I found out and you ignored my calls.” Her voice cracks exposing her.

“I didn’t know …”

“Exactly. Couldn’t even answer my phone call, Tim! I mean nothing to you anymore, so I’d appreciate it if you’d just leave right now.” Tim’s eyes widen toward us, and Jamie holds her hand up in a stop fashion. “They know everything, but it doesn’t matter anymore, does it?”

“It always mattered,” he mumbles as the door closes behind his retreating back and Jamie has fresh tears streaking her red cheeks. This is going to be a long afternoon, but my heart hurts for both Jamie and Tim. Life’s so complicated at times and souls don’t always find each other at the right time. I hope they can find their way back to one another because the chemistry is there; you can feel it pulled tight anytime they’re in the same room.

With a heavy sigh, Jamie rises from the couch and walks over to her bag. Rummaging through it, she pulls out a clear plastic box with many compartments. I see a few dozen colors in the container. Plopping back down on the couch with us and sitting Indian style, she confesses, “I used to make these all the time when I was little. It helps occupy my mind.” Opening the box, I see what looks to be little rubber bands.

“What is it?” Brealynn’s curious eyes watch Jamie.

“Looms. I make bracelets out of them. Wanna make one?”

“I suck at making things, but I’ll try.” I do. You should have seen me trying to work an easy bake. False advertisement if you ask me, there’s nothing easy about that little oven.

“Don’t worry. I’ll show you.”

“I want to make an orange and black one for Colt!”

“They won’t wear these!” I laugh. Seeing these guys sport these plastic bracelets would be priceless.

“So what. I still want to use his bike colors.” Brealynn pouts, and I laugh harder.

Jamie pulls out a clear plastic tool and a hook. She begins showing us how to loop the rubber and create the perfect fishtail look. My mind begins to focus on the task at hand and my stomach unknots with every loop.

Maybe this does help get your mind off the problem…

Parker

“It’s all true.” Our father has been patiently waiting for us to finish our spill of the events that led us into his office willingly.

“You bastard!” Colt shouts scooting up in the chair. “How could you do that to her?”

“Do that to her? I fuckin’ saved her! If I’d have left, hell, who knows, Parker may not even be here because your mom wouldn’t have been here. Do you understand that?” Our dad’s voice loses its anger toward the end of his statement. “I loved her.”

“Bullshit.” That’s my anger boiling over.

“Son, listen, it was a complicated time. It’s hard to know what the right choice was, but at that time, it had to be to keep your mother in the state of happiness she was in, living in reality and loving life with her boys. That’s what made her happy. Sure, we fought later on in the relationship, but it wasn’t all that it seems. Let me assure you, you don’t know what goes on behind closed doors nor do you want to know.”

“Are you tryin’ to say Mom had a hand in you being unfaithful?” Colt’s face is twisted in disgust.

“I wasn’t the only one who strayed from our marriage.” Our dad’s tone has a hard edge to it. “When Colt was younger, maybe twelve, I caught your mother with another man. She claims it was a moment of weakness, but it set everything else is motion,
a domino effect
. I loved Elaine and still do. Maybe I blamed your mother for getting pregnant, although it was just as much my fault, but the one person I wanted was unavailable. Your aunt refused to sneak behind your mother’s back. So I started seeing other women, many women. The moment Blaine visited is the moment that broke her, and I’ll take all the blame for that, boys. She didn’t know, and for good measure, I knew it would shatter her.” Rough and emotional, a sigh slips from him. “If I could fix this, if could take that pain away from you boys and rewrite things, I would. I’d do anything to make you happy. Just like I tried to do for your mom.”

“Give us TBX.” Colt jumps at the opportunity, and I sit there staring at our father. He’s aged a lot over the years. The brown eyes that once looked like mine have wrinkles in the corner with a matching frown line around his mouth. Remaining silent for what feels like hours, we hear a light rasp against the office door.

“Not now.” His tone firm, but the door opens anyway and Aunt Elaine stands before us.

“Now seems like as good of a time as any, Bryan.” I don’t miss the glimmer in his eye when she appears.
He still loves her …

“We’re not going to tarnish the name of your mother. She was a wonderful woman who loved you kids with all of her heart. However, depression is a disease many don’t understand and fail to see the full picture. Making irrational choices and doing whatever can keep the darkness at bay seems vital. Some of those choices were good … and some bad. I’m sorry you had to find out everything the way you did. Blaine informed me he spoke with you, Parker. That’s why I’m here. To help clear the air.”

“Don’t you think it would’ve been nice to know we have a brother out in the world?” The growl of my voice is strong, but my stance is weak.

“At the chance of breaking your mother and losing her? No. I stand by the choice I made for
my
son.”

“Can’t fuckin’ believe this.” Colt’s anger is vibrating off him in waves that begin crashing into me. Feeding off of each other.

“Watch your mouth! We’ve all been through enough. Your father and me included.”

"We want TBX.” Colt stands with his demand, hands clenching at the sides of his body.

“Can’t let you affect our life any more than you already have. TBX has always been ours, and it should be official.” Standing, I back Colt.

“You can’t come in here demanding -”

“It’s yours.” Silence creeps in and nearly suffocates the room. “Over the years all I wanted was for your mother to be happy, for
us
to be happy. I failed. So if giving you boys TBX will make
you
happy –
done
. We can set up all the legalities and make it official this week.”

“It seems this whole family has been chasing down happiness while it evades us at every turn. I truly hope this makes you happy and that you boys can find it in your hearts to see the love that was underneath all of the ugly. I hope with
this
, you catch it. Happiness that is.” Aunt Elaine is right. It does seem like we’ve been running down a winding road with the thought of catching a glimpse of the joy we see in others’ lives, mimicked in ours.

Dad looks tired and I see his age more today than ever. Rubbing his hands down his tired face, he looks directly at Colt and me. “I’ll stay on the TBX team. Just like we discussed would happen when you graduated college. I don’t want to fight with you boys anymore.”

“That works.” I’m eager to get out of this office and back to Kelsey, and it’s clear in my voice.

“Let us know when the change can be made official.” We start toward the door ready to escape.

“Don’t forget about the Late Night Bike Riot. From the look of your faces, I assume you have. It’s in two weeks.” Damn, I can’t believe we forgot about that and
in two weeks
...
Shit
. That’s when the girls’ birthdays fall. Colt looks over at me, probably realizing what I just did.

Closing the door to our father’s office seems symbolic. In a way, we are closing the door on that part of our life and I feel rejuvenated already. Whether that’s the door or Kelsey, I don’t know.

Watching the blur of passing trees from the passenger window of Colt’s truck, I contemplate how we’re going to talk these two crazy girlfriends of ours into spending their birthdays at a comp. This isn’t as big as Ride or Run, but it’s up there.
We have to be there.
End of story.

“Guess we should set up a meet with Blaine.” Colt turns down the music. “That seemed pretty easy with Dad, don’t you think?”

“I’ll text Blaine. Dad seems like he’s aged faster over this last year. Maybe what happened weighs on him more than we know. All I care is that we got TBX.”