Gentlemen Prefer Curves: A Perfect Fit Novel (33 page)

“Isn’t that what being in love feels like?”

“Yes. My damn wife has the temper of a bobcat and talks more than a women’s chorus on a coffee break, but she’s got me. Bill Junior’s got you. What are you going to do about it?”

“I want to marry her again. Life is too damn hard without her.”

He turned the fishing pole over in his hands. “I want grandkids. And if I kill you I’m pretty sure I’m not going to get any so I’m going to allow you to marry my daughter again, but if you break her heart again, I’m not only going to snap your neck—I’m going to break every single bone in your body.”

“I understand.” He nodded. “There’s only one problem.”

He raised his thick brows. “What’s that?”

“She doesn’t want me back yet. She says I need to date other people.”

“Does she now?” He smiled. “That’s my Junior. Stubborn as hell. I know exactly how to fix that.”

CHAPTER 20

Stormy weather …

Carter glanced at Ruby through the mirror as she stared at him while he shaved. Her arms were folded over her chest, her lips turned down. Her forehead was furrowed. She was pissed.

He tried to ignore her death glare but it was hard. She looked kind of cute. Plus she had every right to be mad at him. “Are you all packed, baby girl?”

“I’m not a baby and I’m not packing.”

He put his razor down, took a deep breath, and turned to face her. “Why are you so mad, Rube?”

“I don’t want you to go out tonight. You said when we moved here that you was gonna stay with me. I want you to stay with me.”

“I’m sorry, but I have to go out tonight.” He was sorry. He had to go out tonight. He had to do this to get Belinda back.

Growing up, Carter could never go to his father for advice about anything—especially women—but Bill Gordon seemed to have a fountain of information to share with him about the women in his family.

Sometimes, son, you’ve got to give a woman exactly what she is asking for.

And that’s what Carter planned on doing. Giving Belinda exactly what she was asking for.

“I do stay with you more. And we talked about this. I told you I was going to start seeing ladies my age.”

“No you didn’t! You asked me if it was okay. I said you could date Belinda. I didn’t say you could go on a date with another lady.”

“Well, it’s good thing that I’m the adult and you’re the child, because I don’t have to listen to you. I’m going out tonight and you’re going to spend the night with Belinda. So get your stuff packed or I will pack it for you.”

“Fine!” She turned to leave, but he heard her mumble something under her breath.

If he thought she was going to back down he was sorely mistaken. He had fallen in love with one incredibly strong woman and raised another. There was an early grave in his future. “What did you say, young lady?”

She turned around, her little face red with anger. “I said she’s your wife. You aren’t supposed to date people that are not your wife.”

She was right and he should have never told her they were married. Belinda was right. Ruby was confused by their relationship. He thought she understood about them but how could she? She might act like a wise old woman but she was just five years old.

“Do you know what a divorce is, Ruby?”

She nodded. “It’s when people get unmarried.”

“Yeah.” He didn’t know what else to say to her or how to say it to her. The simple truth of the matter was that he was married to Belinda. He still thought of her as his wife. He still loved her. There was no moving on. There was no life without her.

He had a plan. He could see their future. He just had to get through tonight.

“Well, Belinda and I were unmarried for a very long time; that’s why you haven’t seen her until this year. I have a piece of paper that says she’s my wife but she’s not my wife really. We haven’t lived together or had fun together or talked in a very long time. Belinda and I are friends. We like each other very much, but we aren’t married like most people are.”

He watched her as she tried to process his words. Her face was scrunched with confusion but he knew that no matter how much he tried to explain it to her she wasn’t going to get it, get Belinda’s and his relationship, because he didn’t get it himself.

“I’m sorry, honey.” He picked Ruby up and kissed her cheeks. “I wish I could make you understand but I don’t know how.”

“My tummy hurts.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “I don’t like being mad at you.”

*   *   *

Belinda opened her front door as soon as she saw Carter’s headlights shine through her front window. She was ready for her sleepover with Ruby. She had bought all the fixings for ice cream sundaes. She’d rented movies and bought pizza and buttered popcorn. She even got a special nightgown and slippers for the occasion. Tonight was going to be fun. She kept telling herself that all day. All she had to do was ignore the little ache in her chest and the knowledge that the only reason she was able to keep Ruby tonight was because Carter had a date. Foolishly she’d forgotten that she’d agreed to do this, or she had pushed it out of her mind. Maybe it was the trip to the farmers’ market, or the fact that he took her and Ruby to the movies the next day that made her think that he was no longer going to see Molly. But he’d called her later and asked her to keep Ruby. Not for a few hours but overnight. Overnight.

While he was out with another woman.

Another woman that she had practically forced him to go out with.

Father and daughter approached her but instead of the happy faces she expected they both looked kind of miserable, and Carter had this weariness in his eyes that made her heart squeeze.

“Hey, baby doll.”

“Hi.” Ruby dropped her bags on the floor and hugged Belinda’s leg, resting her head on her thigh for a long moment.

“What’s—” Carter caught her eye and shook his head. She dropped her question. “Ruby, put your things in my guest room. I made it up special just for you.”

“Can we lay in your bed and watch TV tonight?”

“Of course, but I bought all the things to make ice cream sundaes. Don’t you want to make them first?”

“No, thank you. My tummy hurts.”

She let go of Belinda and headed upstairs to put her things away. Which left Belinda alone with Carter. He looked so … sad. It made her want to wrap her arms around him.

“We had a rough evening. She wouldn’t eat her dinner.”

“It’s okay. I have food here. Why is she mad at you?”

“For so many reasons.” He took in a deep breath and locked his sad-looking eyes on hers. “Do you think I should cancel tonight?”

“Is she that mad? I usually don’t advocate backing down with five-year-olds, but I’m not in your shoes.”

“This is not about Ruby. This is about me and you. Do you want me to cancel tonight?”

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes!

But she couldn’t say that. She couldn’t tell him that she was horribly jealous or that she hadn’t slept well since he had asked her to take Ruby overnight. Or that when she did sleep she saw him with Molly in her dreams. “You go have fun,” she told him instead. There was that fake cheerfulness in her voice again. And in that moment she hated herself for it. “I know you don’t get to do grown-up things very often. It’s rare you get to eat in a restaurant that doesn’t have paper place mats and kids’ meals. You go and enjoy yourself.”

“I love restaurants with paper place mats and kids’ meals. I like having my little girl with me.”

“We’ll be here when you get back,” she said, suddenly feeling the need to cry. “Go out tonight. She’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.”

“I know.” He took a step toward her and pulled her into his arms. He did nothing but hold her tightly against him for a few moments, his nose buried in her hair. “Bell.”

She shut her eyes, holding him back, loving the way he felt pressed against her, not sure she could go the rest of her life without him or even a few more days. “What is it?”

“Nothing.” He let her go. “Thank you for keeping her tonight.”

*   *   *

Belinda sat on the edge of Ruby’s bed and looked down at the sleepy child. It had started to pour in the last hour. The rain was pounding against the windows; streaks of lightning made the room flash bright purple. It was one of those spring showers that made it hard for Belinda to sleep.

“Are you scared of the storm?” She leaned down and pressed a kiss to Ruby’s cheek.

“I like storms. I like to lay in bed and listen to the thunder.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah, I like it when the thunder shakes the house. Sometimes I scream, but I’m not scared. Sometimes it’s just fun to scream.”

“You’re very brave. Much braver than I am.” She lay down next to Ruby, taking her small hand in hers. Even though she was feeling shitty, it was nice having a little girl around. It was nice not having her house feel so empty. This is what she wanted. A child. It had taken her so long to figure that out, but she wanted to be a mommy. “So you’re going to be okay up here by yourself tonight? I have to go downstairs into my office for a little while.”

“Don’t worry about me. I had a long day. I’m going to go to sleep.”

“Good girl.” She smiled at her mature answer then kissed her again, ready to leave her and work on the ordering for the next week.

“Belinda?”

“Yes?”

“Can I live here with you?”

Totally taken aback by the question, she stared at Ruby. “I—um … What about your father? You can’t leave him. Who will take care of him?”

“I can live with you some of the time and with him some of the time. He could live here with us, too, but I don’t think he wants to live with you. He went out tonight. He didn’t tell me with who. But I know it was with that stupid lady.”

“Don’t call her stupid,” Belinda scolded softly. “It’s not nice.”

“I don’t like her. She pretends to like me so my daddy will pay attention to her. If he marries her I’m moving away. She can take care of him.”

“Don’t say that. You don’t mean it. You’re just mad at your father. You want him to be happy, don’t you? And if you left he would be a miserable sad lump.”

“I know,” she sighed. “He needs me. Can we have pancakes for breakfast?”

“Of course, love.”

She left her a few minutes later, going downstairs to her den. She wanted to check out the jewelry of a new local artist and get a head start on accessories for the upcoming season, but after twenty minutes of staring at pieces on the computer she couldn’t concentrate anymore. She kept thinking about her conversation with Ruby and Carter’s miserable face when he dropped her off earlier. It was a little after ten. He had been gone for four hours. She didn’t want to think about what he was up to.

She turned off her monitor and sat on the old couch she kept in the den. She should just go upstairs and go to bed, but she knew that sleep would elude her. Her mind was too busy and the raging rain was unsettling. Ruby was handling it better than she was. She envied the child. She also worried about her. She had told herself that she didn’t want to confuse her, that she was keeping Carter away so that she wouldn’t think they were a couple. But it was too late. Ruby was already attached. She was already attached. And she’d sent him out with another woman tonight. He could hit it off with Molly. He could decide that being with his estranged wife was too hard, too painful. She could lose him and it would be her fault.

There was no way she could continue to be in Ruby’s life if Carter found love with another woman. It just wasn’t possible, and the thought of not seeing that little girl anymore killed her.

A loud rumble of thunder startled her, causing her to look out her sliding glass doors. A purple streak of lightning raced across the sky—and that’s when she saw the man standing at her door. She screamed.

“It’s Carter.” He yelled through the door. “Let me in.”

She didn’t move for a moment. The shock of seeing him there made her feet immovable.

“Bell. It’s me. I’m sorry I scared you. Please open the door.”

She finally unfroze enough to move. She slid the door open, feeling a blast of humid air as she did. “What the hell is your problem? You can’t be banging on my door in the middle of the night! Are you trying to give me a heart attack? Do you want me to kill you? Why can’t you use the front door like normal people?” She stepped away to let him in. “You’d better be glad I didn’t have a weapon. I might have bashed your brains in or—or—or … I don’t know but it would have been bad.”

He frowned at her. “Are you done with your rant yet?”

She nodded, her heart still racing—but it was no longer heavy. He was back. He was with her. “I think so.” She touched her chest. “I’m just waiting for my heart to jump out of my throat.”

“I tried the front door, but obviously with all the thunder you didn’t hear the bell so when I saw the light on down here I figured you were in your den. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m sorry.”

She nodded. “You’re soaking wet.” She walked a few steps away from him and into her laundry room where she kept the extra towels and blankets. “Give me your clothes.”

*   *   *

Carter tried to suppress his smile when he saw Belinda walk away from him in a huff. She was adorably disgruntled in her pink-cupcake-printed nightgown.

“Give me your clothes.” A blanket and a towel were tossed unceremoniously in his face, and it took him a while to process what she was saying. “Clothes. Take them off so I can put them in the dryer. I’m not going to let you sit on my furniture with a wet behind.”

He did as she ordered, noticing that she kept her eyes off him as he stripped down. All evening he had been jumpy, unsettled. He had wondered if he was doing the right thing but as soon as he saw her, as soon as he was in the room with her, his unsettled feeling melted away.

This was where he was supposed to be.

“Wrap the blanket around you and go sit down.”

He didn’t listen immediately. Instead he stared at her while she bent over to put his clothes in the dryer. Her bottom looked extra sweet in her bubble-gum-colored pajamas. “Stop staring at my ass and go sit down.”

Busted. But he didn’t care. Still, he obeyed her barked-out order and wrapped the blanket around his cold damp shoulders. “I don’t know why you don’t have the blinds down over these doors. I don’t like the idea of just anybody looking in here and seeing you.” He pulled them shut.