Crossing the Line Part One (A Novella) (5 page)

"We haven't sparred in a while. Want to get
in the ring?" Luke assessed Nick. "You've kept most of your muscle
mass in the last month, probably due to your job."

Nick shook his head. "Maybe Friday. I have
to work all week."

"Want to impress your new girlfriend? Don't
want to look like a wimp on the job, not with the bruises I'd leave
on you."

"Right." Nick grinned. "I always kicked your
ass."

Luke clapped him on the shoulder. "That's
not how I remember it." He pointed toward the now empty punching
bag. "That's the only one open for now. After work is one of our
busiest times, you know that. Hit that for a little while, see if
you can work your sexual frustration off since you won't call Ivy.
God, you've got it bad."

Nick clenched his jaw against the string of
curse words he wanted to sling at his brother. He claimed the
punching bag, starting off with short but strong jabs to burn off
the edge of the frustration. He didn't have it bad. He didn't even
have it, whatever it was, a little. Victoria had a hot body, but
was a mother recently out of a divorce. He didn't want to step into
that mess. She wasn't going to just roll around in the bed to
satisfy an itch and then wave him out the door. She'd want to make
him breakfast, talk about his day, ask him to fix stuff around the
house. Things a man would do for the woman his woman.

The jabs got sharper, the bag rocking. The
thought made his chest tight. She had pre-teen daughters. He didn't
know what to do with kids. Hadn't spent time around any, other than
some of the kids at the gym, and he just taught them stuff he
already knew. He sure as hell didn't know how to raise a kid.

And why the hell was he thinking about
raising kids? The woman confused him, shredded his mind. All at
once he wanted the job over so he could forget her, but at the same
time he didn't want it to end.

Damn that woman for messing with his
mind.

§§

Victoria tapped her fingers on the steering
wheel while she waited in the car line at the girls' school. For
once she'd finished early enough to pick them up. She eyed the
students rushing out of the middle school, glee on their faces
because they were finally done with another day of school. She
wondered if any of them knew how easy they had it at the moment,
how confusing adult life could be. Of course not, she knew that.
When she was in high school, all she thought about was moving out
of her parents' house. If someone had told her that she'd be
divorced with twin daughters, she would've laughed in their faces.
Back then she'd thought divorce was for people who didn't want to
make it work, who were lazy.

What made it worse was that her parents had
a near perfect marriage. They were each other's soul mates. Never
once had she heard her parents have anything other than a heated
discussion, and after it seemed to solidify them even more. They
were a solid unit, even today, best friends and lovers.

Someone tapped on the passenger window and
Victoria jumped. She saw Lucia and Helena standing outside the car
door.

"Unlock the car door, Mom." Lucia rolled her
eyes. "Were you daydreaming again?"

"Sorry. Thinking about a house I have to
stage." Victoria hit the unlock button, feeling ridiculous. What
had spurred that train of thought anyway?

Lucia slid into the front seat, beaming.
"Mom, Jack Browning asked me out today. He wants to take me to the
movies Friday night. You have to let me go!"

Victoria hands slipped from the wheel and
she turned sharply toward Lucia. "A date? No, I don't think so.
You're only in the sixth grade." She glanced in the rearview
mirror, saw Helena staring out the window. Helena's arms were
folded across her chest and she frowned. "Helena, baby, will you
put your seatbelt on?"

Helena made a sour face but complied.

"Mom." Lucia turned in her seat as Victoria
drove out of the car line and toward home. "I really want to go. It
won't be by myself, a group of friends are going."

"Hmm." Victoria wished she had a partner she
could discuss this moment with, someone who could help her figure
out how to let Lucia down easily, who could take some of the brunt
of the girl's anger at being told no. "Lucia, you're way too young
to be going out with a boy, even if it's with friends. I'd need to
be there."

"No way." Lucia's eyes widened. "This is so
unfair. No one wants their mom there."

"It's the only way you're going, honey."
Victoria sighed. Lucia's anger practically swallowed any remnant of
a good mood she may have had.

When they went in the house, both girls
dumped their bags and ran to their rooms. Victoria watched them run
up the stairs, heart aching.

With the way she already handled the
attraction with Nick, it only reaffirmed her intentions. She wanted
to focus on her girls, not her sex life. The girls were more
important than that. She trailed her way upstairs, wanting to talk
to the twins, get them to calm down so they could spend the rest of
the afternoon happy and together. As she approached their room, she
heard their voices escalating.

"Stop it! You don't care what they say about
me!" Helena screamed at her sister.

Victoria stopped outside the door. She
didn't want to eavesdrop but how else would she find out what was
going on with them?

"I do care, Helena. I take up for you, just
like Mom asked me to. You know I do."

"No you don't!" Helena screeched. "The only
one who cares about me in this family is Dad!"

Victoria's chest clenched. Suddenly she was
terrified of facing her girls, Helena especially. What did her
daughter think of her? Did she think that Victoria pushed Roger
away on purpose?
You're an adult, and their mother, get in
there.

She pushed the door open slowly. Both girls'
mouths snapped shut, their eyes widened, and tears ran down
Helena's face. On the backdrop of the pink and white stripes on
Lucia's walls, the agony in her daughter's stare hit harder.

"Hey, girls." Victoria stepped into the
room. "What's going on?"

Neither spoke. Lucia's eyes welled up, but
she bit her lip.

"Helena, can you tell me what's going on?"
Victoria sank onto the edge of Lucia's bed. Her room, full of pink
and white in a Paris theme, suited her perfectly.

"I don't want to talk about it." Helena
mumbled and stared down at her favorite, almost worn-out,
sneakers.

"You couldn't wait to yell at me." Lucia
threw out. She crossed to her desk and took a seat in the
chair.

Helena's head snapped up. Before they
started a new argument, Victoria held up her hand.

"Stop." Victoria looked from one twin to the
other. "We need to have a serious talk, one I should've had long
before now. I just thought you were adjusting okay enough to skip
it, and that's my fault. Sit down and listen. When I'm done
talking, I want each of you to share how you feel."

"God, Mom. When did you become a
therapist?"

The venom in Helena's voice hit Victoria
like a slap in the face. Where had all this hatred come from?
"Helena."

Helena stayed silent, keeping her gaze fixed
on her shoes. The defiance in her stance shook Victoria. When had
her little girl become this angry pre-teen?

"Your dad left. I know that's a big thing."
Victoria watched them both while she spoke. Lucia picked at the
nail polish on her fingernails, ruining the manicure her aunt had
done. "I understand that it's a lot to deal with and we all have to
adjust. I didn't make him leave, and he didn't want to stay."

Both girls shifted. Lucia's breathing was
more ragged, but she still held back her tears. Helena looked
pissed at the world. Victoria hoped to God this was the right thing
to do.

"He wanted to explore things in the city,
people and job opportunities that he couldn't get here. I wasn't
going to uproot you from the only place you'd ever known, the
business I'd built, and we couldn't compromise." She wasn't going
to tell them that Roger had basically said they'd held him back in
life. "Helena, I heard what you said to Lucia. Please, tell me
what's going on." Victoria leaned toward Helena. When Helena took a
step back Victoria tried to hide the hurt that crossed her
face.

"Nothing." Helena shrugged.

Deciding she'd get nothing from Helena,
Victoria turned to Lucia and raised a brow.

Lucia glanced at her sister and sighed.
"Kids are teasing her about being in the math club and because she
doesn't want to do cheerleading. I told them to stop."

"Are they being really mean?" Hearing all
the news stories about kids committing suicide terrified her. She
didn't want the same thing to happen to Helena.

"No, Mom, it's cool." Lucia stood from the
chair and moved to the bed. "They'll stop."

"I want to know why you think that the only
person who cares about you is your dad, Helena. You know your
aunts, grandparents, sister, and I all care about you. We would do
anything for you. Anytime you need to talk, or just hang out, you
know we're here for you."

Helena ignored her, focusing on a strand of
hair she kept playing with.

"Sweetie?"

"Sure, whatever."

The venom had disappeared from Helena's
voice, but she still sounded numb. It worried Victoria. She'd have
to call her sisters and mom and figure this out. Her mom had three
teenage girls at the same time, and while her parents never
divorced, maybe her mom had some advice for this type of situation.
Maybe she could contact the school counselor, about the bullying
and the divorce.

"Want to go watch some DVR shows?" Victoria
stood and gestured to the door. "I think there's some good episodes
of Hell's Kitchen. Maybe some Storage Wars." Reality TV was their
guilty obsession.

Lucia nodded reluctantly and when Helena
said nothing, she pulled her to the door. "Come on, I know you want
to hear Gordon Ramsey yell at people."

Helena shrugged and left the room. Lucia
turned to Victoria. "I'll make the kids stop, Mom."

"I know, baby." She pulled Lucia into a hug.
"Just don't forget to take care of yourself. You're holding this
stuff in because Helena is so upset, but you don't need to. Any
time you need to talk, I'm here."

Lucia's breath shuddered but she smiled. "I
know. I'm just not ready to talk about it now."

"Okay, but don't hold it in forever."
Victoria said. "You go make the popcorn and we'll all try to cheer
up."

Victoria
dropped by the office a few days later, wanting to check on the
progress Nick and his crew had made. When she pulled up, she saw
her dad's truck parked beside one of the crew member's cars.

"Hey, Dad." Victoria called when she stepped
inside. The whirring of drills and thuds of hammering drowned out
her voice so she called his name louder. Her eyes swept over the
place. The flooring was gone, along with the ugly receptionist
counter she'd helped demolish.

"Hey, darling." Her dad straightened from
where he removed the old, stained baseboards and walked over to
envelop her in a hug. He smelled of sawdust and old paint.

"I thought you were retired." Victoria
smiled at him and his eyes twinkled down at her.

"I was driving your mom crazy." He stood
with his hands on his hips. "And I couldn't help myself. I want to
have a hand in helping you with your dream."

"Dad." Victoria hugged him again. "You
helped me buy the place. That's more than I could ask for."

"Yeah, well, I want to have a physical hand
in it, too."

Nick walked and Victoria's pulse sped up. He
wore jeans with holes in them, a snug t-shirt, and a three day five
o'clock shadow. When his gaze met hers, the thrill went straight to
her core.

"Checking on our progress already?" Nick's
crooked smile did nothing to help her pulse slow down. He removed
his thick gray gloves and stuck them in his back pocket.

"I had to make sure you were doing it
right." Victoria teased. "But I see my dad is here, so I know you
won't screw it up." She sensed her dad watching them, but couldn't
help smiling back at Nick.

"We've managed to get most of it gutted,
which is the easy part. We need to redo some of the sheetrock,
replace the baseboards, and remove all the flooring." Nick looked
at her dad. "Wes has been crucial with getting those baseboards.
Superman crucial."

Wes laughed. "It's all he would let me do so
far. I've only been retired for six months. Not years. I still know
how to wield the equipment."

Nick chuckled. "I know, but your wife would
kill me if anything happened to you."

Victoria watched the easy camaraderie
between the two. This was her father's kingdom, the place he knew
like second nature. That Nick appreciated his help, and didn't act
like her dad was trying to take over, showed her how much he
respected him. Roger had always dismissed her dad's questions and
advice and would charm her sisters or her mom instead. Jerk.

"Nothing's going to happen." Wes waved a
dismissive hand. "I'm can take care of myself."

"I know you can." Nick clapped him on the
back.

Wes pointed a finger in the air suddenly.
"Victoria, I know you wanted to go to the antique shops and flea
market tomorrow, but my truck is going in for a problem with the
water pump. I won't be able to haul all your finds back here."

"Oh, well, that's okay. We can go next
week." Her mind whirred with the possibilities of shifting her
schedule. She had a lot of high profile consultations next week and
a few clients that
hated
being rescheduled.

"I'm sure Nick wouldn't mind taking you out
there." Wes shot Nick a look.

Victoria's head snapped up and red stained
her cheeks. Why would her dad suggest that? Why was he so
determined to get them together? Now he forced Nick to either
accept or make it extremely awkward between all of them.