Curves in the Road (The Southern Devotion Series Book 2) (7 page)

"Ouch, harsh." He winks as he streaks through the hotel room.

Derrick's phone rang while he was in the shower. It was Gracie's number so I answered it. "Hey Gracie!"

"MJ? I wasn’t expecting you
to answer. Where's Derrick?" She sounded concerned and it worried me that something bad had happened. We'd all been through a lot of rough patches in the last year with Gracie.  Her abusive stalker boyfriend Hudson tried to kill Ashton and Gracie on more than one occasion. One attempt ended up leaving a bullet wound in Derrick. Hudson is dead now, but bad luck seemed to follow Gracie a lot.

"He's in the shower. What's wrong?"

"Katelyn's sick. She's running a fever and we're at the hospital having her checked out right now. Luckily these Collins' boys are prepared and he has Ashton listed as a guardian who can approve healthcare services. I need to let Derrick know though. He thought it was a small cold when he left. He said she gets it every time the weather changes because of…"

"Because of her asthma? He told me. What's different this time? Is it serious?" I stepped toward the bathroom door listening to see if the shower was still running.

"She woke up this morning with a fever and the doctor said based on her symptoms it could be the flu or possibly pneumonia as a worst case scenario." 

"Hang on, Gracie."  I knocked on the bathroom door. "Derrick?"

Derrick opened the door and tugged me inside, pressing his lips to mine. "Couldn’t wait another second for me, could you?" He teased as his mouth moved to my neck.

Pushing him away
gently, I leaned back and held the phone out to him. "It's Gracie."
              Instantly he took the phone and panicked, "Is it Katelyn? What's wrong?" He nodded as Gracie relayed the same information to him. "I can't believe I haven't called you guys in over a day. I got distracted." 

Distracted?
I distracted him from thinking of his daughter and pulled him two hundred miles away from her when she needs him. This is my fault and I needed to fix it. Katelyn is the most important person in Derrick's life and she always should come first and if our relationship is interfering with that then I have to end it.

While Derrick finished his phone call, I packed his bag and placed it by the door.
I heard him say goodbye and he came rushing into the bedroom. "I need to pa…" He stopped when he saw his bag sitting by the door. "Oh."

"You need to go. I'll check us out of here and take care of everything. Katelyn needs you."  To say I wasn’t disappointed to end our weekend would be a lie. We would lose a few hours together but Katelyn's health was most important.
While he goes home to take care of Katelyn I'll use the time to really think things over about whether or not we can even continue this long distance relationship.

Derrick wrapped me in his arms and kissed me.  "I love you, MJ. Thank you for understanding. You're amazing, you know that?" I smiled and Derrick grabbed his backpack and threw it over his shoulder.  "I'll call you when I get home and I'll let you know how Katelyn is because I know you'll be worried."

And once he walked out that door, I wouldn’t see him
face to face again for another year. We tried to continue our long distance chats, talking on the phone every night for a little while. Things were going fine except for the fact that we missed each other so much. Then two months after our Atlanta trip and after a long conversation with Cameron, I came to a decision on what needed to be done.

With a trembling hand, I dialed Derrick’s number. It took me four tries to hit the correct name in my contacts list. When it finally went through, Derrick answered on the second ring, “Hey baby. I was just thinking about you.
” The emotions I’d been holding in, spilled out in my voice. “What’s wrong MJ? Are you crying sweetheart?”

“Do you have time to talk?” I managed to ask.

“I always have time for you. What’s wrong? Hold on a second,” Derrick set the phone down for a moment. He was talking to Katelyn. He said, “Sweetie, MJ’s upset right now and needs to talk to daddy about grown up stuff. I’ll let you talk to her another time, ok?”

I
heard Katelyn’s small voice say, “Maybe I can cheer her up. Please let me say hi, daddy.”

It broke
my heart to know what I was about to do. Talking to Katelyn could make this decision that much harder. Even hearing her voice right now was making me question what I really wanted.

Derrick picked up the phone, “Do you mind if Katelyn says hello?”

“Of course not,” I lied.

“Hi MJ. Daddy said you’re sad right now. I wanted to come on here and tell you that I’m going to draw you a picture and have daddy
text it to you. Is that ok?” How could I tell her no? Once this call ended I knew I’d never see that picture, but I couldn’t turn her down.

“That would be wonderful Katie
-cat.” 

Her next words tore my heart in two. “I love you MJ.” I
loved Katelyn as though she were my own daughter. “Does that make you smile?”

A smile, that if seen would be heartbreaking to a small girl, spread over my face as the tears fell. “Yes, baby girl, that makes me smile so much. I love you too, never forget that.”

Derrick came back on the line and said, “She’s a great girl isn’t she?”

“Definitely. She takes after her daddy for sure.” I said.

“Yep, you know what else we have in common. I love you, only it’s probably a lot more than she does.” He whispered the last part and my heart shattered. It was too much to handle doing this over the phone.  “You’re quiet, sweetheart. Did I say something wrong?”

“Nope. You never do. I’m sorry Derrick.”

“Sorry for what?”

“The reason I’m calling is that this isn’t working for me.”
  My confession was answered with silence. “The long distance thing, it’s too difficult. I can’t ask you to give up time with Katelyn to come see me and I can’t afford to come see you all the time either. I think it’s best if we stay friends. When my internship is over, we can explore this again if there’s still a chance for us. For now, I think it's best we don't talk for a while.”  More silence. With a quick glance at the phone I knew he hadn’t hung up. “Derrick, say something, please.” Still nothing.

After a moment I heard a sniffle and I choked back more tears knowing that he was crying on the other end of the line. Nothing made me cry more than seeing or hearing a man cry. Men are supposed to be so strong, so when one cries it seems that much more devastating.

“Daddy?” I heard Katelyn’s voice call out. “Are you sad now too?” 

I heard Derrick’s hand slide across the speaker as he tried to muffle the sound. It was barely audible but I heard him say, “Yeah, daddy’s pretty sad sweetheart.” He grunted as though something fell on him. He dropped the phone and then I heard him say, “Hugs from you always make it better.” His voice was still laced with such sadness though that I knew even at her young age Katelyn didn’t believe him for a minute.

A few moments later he picked the phone back up, “I’m here, MJ.”  He sighed, “I want to fight you on this. I want to fight for us. The thing is I know you, and you’re stubborn. So this is my proposition to you. Take a while to think this through. In a few months, if you change your mind, I’ll be here. I’m not going anywhere and I don’t want anyone else.”

“I can’t ask you to wait on me, Derrick. You should start dating again. You may meet the girl of your dreams.”

“I already did, she’s on the phone with me right now.” Derrick sighed again, "Cheesy but true lines aside, I love you Mary Jane. The best things in life are worth waiting for and you're worth it."

"Promise me one thing and mean it.  If you meet a woman who sparks your interest, don't hesitate.  Ask her out and make sure you're not giving up your happily ever after on me." 

After that phone call, we went our separate ways for the most part. At first Derrick called once a week and then it fell to every couple of weeks. After a while we kept in touch through Gracie only. It was odd the way things changed so quickly. One day he called me asking if he could come see me. There was no way I could let him do that though so I told him no. It's as though that set things straight for him. The next time I called him he was cold and aloof.

I missed Derrick but there was nothing I could do about it. He needed to be with his daughter and I needed to finish my internship. Our lives were on different paths now. We both had come to terms with that and were moving on.

Chapter Nine

**Derrick**

It was a nice spring day, the first after a long bitterly cold winter
that saw way too many single digit temperatures for the South.  The weather was warm with a nice cool breeze, a perfect day for fishing. Sitting on the dock, I cast my line out first. Ashton took a seat next to me and cast his out next. Fishing with him is something we did as kids with our father running the show. Being a single dad, I didn't get to go much anymore. Gracie was kind enough to take care of Katelyn so that we could enjoy some brother time.

Ash
took a deep breath and let out a sigh of delight. “Last time I was here was with Gracie. You know she fell in and my fishing pole was tugged under by her catch?”  I listened to him, but every time I heard Gracie’s name I thought of MJ and it made it hard to concentrate on anything else. He didn’t seem to notice my lack of interest in his story. “In a few years I want to bring Autumn and teach her how to fish. You should bring Katelyn sometime. She’s at the right age.”  I nodded, still staring ahead at the water battling the thoughts in my head. The next words he spoke, stirred something inside me. “Gracie is going down to Florida in a few days. You should think about going with her. Spend some time with Mary Jane. I know you miss her.”

“Nah. That’s in the past. I’ve moved on.” I lied, hoping to avoid having to talk about something that was still painful for me.

“Come on man, when I said her name I saw the look on your face.” Ashton pushed further.

“I said I’m over it, so drop it. Please.”
  The last thing I needed is a lecture on true love from my brother who got his happy ending. It’s easy for someone with a perfect love life to think positively about relationships. When you don’t have anyone though, it’s hard to remember how great relationships can be. Ashton and Gracie had a rocky start to their relationship, I haven’t forgotten that part. Now they are like Prince Charming and Cinderella or something mushy and girly like that. If you’re miserable and want company, they aren’t the ones to be around. It’s easy to believe that happily-ever-afters are real when you find yours. Some of us aren’t lucky enough to experience that bliss. The last thing I wanted to do was fight with him over this, so I changed the subject instead. “I’d like to bring Katie out. She loves the lake and I think she’d get a kick out of it. Maybe we can invite Gracie and the four of us can have a picnic?”

Ashton smiled obviously noticing my avoidance of the subject. “Yeah man, that sounds great. Gracie will love that as long as one of us does all the icky stuff for her.” He laughed and clarified, “In her words, she loves the serenity of fishing but not the sliminess. Hence I have to bait the hook and pull off a fish if we catch one.”

“I didn’t realize she was so girly," I teased him.

“To hear her tell it, she’s not.” Ashton laughed.

“Too bad she doesn’t have a twin. You really lucked out when you found her, man.” I meant every word of that too. I adored my sister-in-law. She’s not only gorgeous but one of the strongest people I know and one of the most loyal friends you could ask for.

“You’ll find your own Gracie one day, Derrick.
  In my opinion though…”

I cut him short, knowing how he was going to finish the sentence, “Don’t say it. You can think it all you want, but please don’t say it out loud.”
  Ashton frowned and gave a nod. And that was the last we spoke of it for a while at least.

***

"Katelyn! Get down here! You're going to be late for school!" How did I end up with a six year old that took more time to get ready than any grown woman I know? Now I remember, her Uncle Cameron. Cameron is married to my adoptive brother Gavin. Gavin's sister Addison was dating my brother Ashton when Gavin came out to his parents in high school. They kicked him out of the house and my parents took him in. He's very subtle for a gay man, not like the flamboyant ones they show in movies most of the time. Cameron on the other hand, puts Hollywood from the movie Mannequin to shame.

Cameron taught Katelyn about being
fabulous
one day and now her motto is 'Always Strive to be Fabulous'. Due to that motto it takes me an hour to get her out of the house each morning.

Katelyn stepped downstairs wearing a pair of black jeans with a white t-shirt. On top of the t-shirt she wore a
pink fleece hoodie with sparkles and on her feet she had a pair of sparkly glitter pink boots. At the top of the stairs she held her arms out. "Do I look fabulous or what?"  I rolled my eyes and cursed Cameron for turning my six year old into a diva.

"Completely. Let's go. Your lunch is packed. Go grab it and put it in your backpack. The car is warming and if we're not on the road in five minutes you'll be late."

"Chillax Daddy-O." She held her left hand palm out to me as though telling me to talk to the hand. If she says that to me one more time I'll flip out.

"Look here, I'm about to ground you from talking to your Uncle Cameron."

She giggled. Sometimes I think she only does this stuff to get me riled up. Finally I got her to the car and settled in. After I dropped her off at school I headed to Gracie and Ashton's house.

Ashton opened the door before I could knock. He whispered, "Shh, Autumn's asleep."  Autumn is their newborn baby. Ashton is a stay at home dad now. It's nice to see him go through some of the same experiences as I did so that I have someone to share stories with. Not too many of my friends have kids. "Let's go downstairs. I've got the baby monitor."

Ashton has never been a bad boy by any means. Although, his size makes him intimidating, six-four and over two hundred pounds of pure muscle will intimidate most anyone. He rides a Harley and has a couple of tattoos now, but he's pure mush. He resembles a bad boy on the outside, though after you get to know him you'll see he's one hundred percent good guy. He's a hopeless romantic which is why he won over Gracie who actually thought he was gay when they first met. He's always been a push over for Katelyn and now his daughter would have him wrapped around her finger in no time. My joy will come when Cameron teaches her about being fabulous.

"Where's your beautiful wife?" I asked as we settled into his downstairs r
ec room.  Every time I'm in this room I remember the way we first met, she was waiting on the pool table in nothing but a button down shirt. I felt like an asshat that day when I interrupted them.

"She's sleeping. We've been taking turns getting up at night with Autumn. Last night was her night." Ashton placed some paperwork out on the table
, unrolling it until it was flat and placing a coffee mug at each corner to hold it down. "I can't believe we're really doing this, man."  Ashton and I were working on the blueprint plans for our club. We're designing a dream come true after years of only talking about it. A building on Broadway became vacant and Ashton was able to get it cheap from a friend so we bought it. For the last few months we've been really working hard on the plans to get it up and running.

"Look here bitches. I know you're not starting this without me here!" Cameron came barreling down the stairs
making his presence known as usual. He smacked my ass and then Ashton's.  "Damnit, you Collins' boys are built so nicely." Gavin cleared his throat as he came in behind him. Cameron turned to him and wrapped his arm around his husband, "You know you're the only one for me."

"Hey Gavin, do me a favor and tell your husband to stop teaching my daughter his diva
ways." Gavin and Ashton snickered at my annoyance.

Cameron looked offended as he spouted, "Stop that nonsense talk! There's
nothing wrong with fabulousness."

"You may get your wish Derrick. We found out today that our surrogate is having a girl.
Cameron will have someone else to teach all his fabulous ways."  Cameron and Gavin were having a baby via surrogate and she was due in a few months. Cameron and Gracie are best friends and now they'd have babies only a few months apart. Being whipped by our daughters, Ashton and I knew they were in for an amazing adventure.

There was some silent cheering and manly one arm hugs being exchanged. "Do we ever get to meet this surrogate?"  I asked. As far as I knew, no one had ever met the girl. Cameron said she was a friend of a friend with no further elaboration.

"She prefers to stay anonymous. She doesn’t want the baby to be confused. She was already so generous to do this for us with nothing in return but the cost of her medical expenses. I'll tell you though, she's gorgeous. With her genes and Cameron's mixed together, we're going to have a beautiful baby." Gavin's face lit up as he talked about the baby.

Cameron's phone rang, he answered and said, "What's up gorgeous?" After a brief pause he peered up at me and turned to walk upstairs.

"Where you going, Cam? We've got blueprints and décor to design." I shouted after him.

Ashton hit my arm, "Shh!"  Then the cry of a baby sounded as Cameron opened the door to the upstairs room. "Crap. I'll be back. I'm going to bring Autumn down here so Gracie can sleep."

"Back to bed!" Cameron whispered forcefully at Gracie as we rounded the top steps. I followed Ashton upstairs so I could fix drinks for everyone and saw that Cameron had Autumn in his arms and was softly singing to her.

"What happened to your phone call?" I asked, watching him calm the baby as if he did this every day.

"I told her I'd call her back. I love spending time with this little one." Cameron smiled down at Autumn.

"You're pretty great with her, Cam." I said genuinely. 

He grinned up at me, "Thanks. It's a little frightening. I don’t know how you did this alone, man."

"I won't lie. It's not a piece of cake."
Being a teenager with a baby was tough enough even with two grandparents willing to help. Though they were around a lot, I raised Katelyn for the most part on my own. There were many nights I spent pacing the floor with her only to turn around and have to attend school to finish out my senior year to graduate. Having a baby at such a young age caused me to mature quicker than most men.

Gracie stumbled out of the bedroom with her hair sticking up in several different directions. She was wearing
baggy flannel pajama pants with a tank top that looked as though it was covered in baby spit-up. Cameron turned and handed me the baby without pause. "Good golly Ms Molly what the hell happened to you?" Cameron asked with a high pitch to his voice.

"This is what motherhood looks like." Gracie said as she yawned and rubbed her hands over her mouth to clear the dried spittle.

"That's what motherhood looks like on Damien's mother. Did you fucking roll in dirt and stick your finger in a wall socket?" Gracie rolled her eyes, flipped Cameron off and stumbled into the kitchen.

She poured a cup of coffee, brought it up to her nose inhaling the intoxicating aroma that caused a smile
of bliss to appear on her face before taking a small sip. "What are my guys up to this morning?"

"We were about to go over the plans for Club Cameron. I need a break so I can save you from yourself. Let's go get you naked." Cameron said, grasping her arm and trying to lead her away.

Ashton walked in at that moment, "Normally I wouldn’t be too excited to hear another man ask my wife to get naked. In this case, Cameron please pamper her. She deserves it."

"Are you agreeing with him that I'm hideous?" Gracie asked, sounding a bit hurt. Hormones will do that to a woman during and after pregnancy.
Come to think of it, hormones will do that to a woman most anytime, but I'm too smart of a guy to say that out loud.

"Bug, you couldn’t look hideous if you tried. I want him to pamper you so you can relax and feel better." Gracie's face softened into a loving smile as Ashton lea
ned forward and kissed her. Ashton was lucky to have had two great loves in his life and I envy him for it. They say nice guys finish last, for Ashton that wasn't true in the least. Between the two of us, I was the bad boy and I seemed to be the one that always finished last. In high school I had several girlfriends before I got one of them pregnant. Being a single dad can be attractive to women but not when you're a teenager. It was a few years after Katie was born before I even had sex with another woman. There'd never been anyone I wanted to spend more time with than MJ though.

Cameron
latched his hand over Gracie's arm and turned back to us, "You boys go downstairs and start without me on the boring stuff. When I finish with my Gracie girl here, I'll be down to make your lives more exciting with my presence."

Ashton, Gavin, and I went back downstairs to his rec room to get back to work. After an hour we took a break to wait on Cameron
who still hadn't shown his face again. Ashton poured a mug of coffee and handed it to me. "Have you heard from MJ?" He asked eyebrows rose above the glass as he drank.

"Not in a few weeks.
She's tried to call me but I kept blowing her off hoping that it would make it easier. It hasn't, it's only made me feel terrible. I was thinking about going down to see her as a surprise." I'd blown off women before when I didn’t want to date them anymore; I'll be the first to admit it's an asshole thing to do. Some women do not get the point of no though and think they can change your mind about wanting them. The only way to get the point across sometimes is to be rude. Dismissing Mary Jane tugged on my conscience constantly. I didn’t want her to give up on me and I wasn’t ready to give up on her either. She didn’t deserve to see this side of me.