Johnson Family 1: Unforgettable (16 page)

“Was there something else?” Ivy asked, when the silence between them had drawn out to a longer than usual length of time.

“Not really. I…” Why was he trying to keep her on the phone? In the past few weeks, he really hadn’t had much of a chance to talk to her, and right now he wasn’t even sure why he wanted to.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Me?”

He smiled at the surprise in her voice. He leaned on the metal railing, relaxing into the conversation. “Yes, you.”

“Oh…nothing really. I brought some work home and I’m doing it while I watch TV.”

“You still watching those trashy shows?”

There was a short pause. “I plead the fifth.”

“Come on, Ivy, I can’t believe you’re still addicted to reality shows.” She used to make him watch them with her at his apartment. Then she’d spend half the time complaining to him about everyone’s behavior.

“Don’t judge me.”

“How many of them are there now? Every time I turn around there’s another one.”

“I’m embarrassed to say I watch them, but it’s nice to see other people have more problems than I do. It’s like watching an accident on the highway and makes me realize how good my life is. That’s bad, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, that’s pretty bad.”

Another pause, another opportunity to end the call, but still he didn’t. He could hear the television in the background, and then his mind went in a direction it shouldn’t. He wondered if she was in bed, and what was she wearing if she was?

“Did I tell you that you turned into a really good cook?” he said.

“Really?” He heard the smile in her voice.

“Yeah, I have to give you credit, especially considering your limitations when we met.” She’d definitely come a long way. He’d enjoyed the dinners at her place.

“Limitations. That’s a nice way of putting it. The only time you got a meal from me was when I brought it home from a restaurant.”

“It’s the thought that counts.”

“Next time you come, you’ll have to cook,” she told him.

“Deal. I know just the thing.”

“Please tell me you have Mama Katherine’s fried chicken recipe.”

He chuckled. “It just so happens I do.”

“Yes!”

He stood there, grinning like an idiot, but he couldn’t stop. Hearing her voice just…did things to him.

“Remember when you bought me that silverware set?” he asked.

She laughed, the sound attractive and enticing. He looked down at his arms. Goose bumps had broken out on his flesh.

“Do I? It was an act of desperation. You only had three forks.”

“I didn’t need anymore than that.”

“They come in packs of four.”

“Yeah, well, I must have lost one at some point. I wasn’t too worried about it. I appreciated you buying me a set, but you didn’t have to.”

“What choice did I have? I got tired of washing forks every time I wanted something to eat!”

They both broke into laughter at that. “Oh, so it’s like that?”

“You brought it up,” Ivy pointed out, when she finally caught her breath. Man, she had the best laugh, like she was all in on the joke. He wanted to immerse himself in the sound.

They grew quiet again, but this time the silence was less awkward and more from the reflection of shared memories.

“She misses you,” Ivy said softly.

“She said that?”

“Pretty much. I didn’t want to say anything, but she was crying in her room tonight. That’s why she went to bed so early. She cried herself to sleep. She wanted to know why you can’t live here like her first daddy.”

Her voice thickened at the end, and Lucas felt his heart break a little bit. He bowed his head. “I…miss her, too.” The words weren’t as hard to say as he thought they’d be. What was hard was believing that he’d only known Katie for a short time.

“When are you coming back?” Ivy asked. Her voice sounded tentative, as if she didn’t think she should even be asking such a question.

“In a couple of weeks.”

He hadn’t planned on flying back so soon, but knowing his daughter missed him, and knowing how he felt, he saw no reason to delay. He only had a couple of days of travel coming up, and the few deadlines he had to meet for
Ask Men
magazine and
Marie Claire
were ones he felt he could handle fairly quickly if he buckled down and put in longer hours. It was better to get in as many visits as he could before next year, when he would have less time because of his teaching schedule.

“You’re coming back so soon?”

“I travel so much I have a lot of frequent flyer miles, so it’s not a problem.”

He heard Priscilla behind him as she came back to the patio door. “I thought you were coming back to bed,” she said.

Lucas pulled the phone away from his ear and covered it to muffle the sound. He tried not to show his frustration when he looked at her. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

Her eyes dropped to the phone in his hand, her gaze accusatory. She made him feel guilty even though he wasn’t doing anything wrong. He was having a perfectly innocent conversation.

With her face fixed into a mask of displeasure, Priscilla went back inside.

He lifted the phone to his ear again. “Hello?”

“I didn’t know you had company,” Ivy said.

Lucas rubbed the back of his head. “I do, but—”

“I’ll let you go. I shouldn’t have bothered you so late.”

“
I
called
you
.”

“I shouldn’t keep you, then.”

“You’re not keeping me.” A sense of desperation overcame him, as if something important was slipping away. It was just a conversation, but he needed to hold on a little bit longer and salvage the delicate rapport developing between them.

“Let me know when you’d like to come back.”

“I’d like to—” The phone went dead, and he looked down at the screen in surprise.

Sighing, he stayed outside for a little longer, digesting the conversation, thinking about his daughter. Thinking about Ivy. Wondering what the hell was wrong with him and why he was thinking so much about Ivy. And what she was wearing. And how attractive her voice sounded when she talked, and her laugh—all warm and husky, and—

He was getting hard just thinking about her
laugh
.

He shook his head. He had to stop thinking about her because she’d made it clear she wanted nothing to do with him, and they weren’t even on the same page when it came to relationships. His only concern should be for Katie, but Ivy filled his thoughts more and more often.

Maybe it was normal. After all, she was his daughter’s mother. If he was honest with himself, he had to acknowledge something else was going on because he hadn’t wanted to hang up. He’d wanted the conversation to go on for much longer. Even now, he was tempted to call back, but truthfully the moment, and whatever had transpired between them, had passed.

****

Ivy stared at the phone, barely holding back from tossing it across the room. But why punish the phone? It wasn’t the phone’s fault she had conveniently forgotten he was involved with other women. He certainly hadn’t made a secret of his relationships. He’d told her from the beginning.

She was the one who’d lost sight of reality because he’d spoken to her in an overtly friendly way. It didn’t help that she’d already gotten comfortable playing in her little fantasyland where she watched his and her daughter’s bent heads as they worked on crossword puzzles. Or she cooked dinner and listened to them talking and giggling in the living room, and afterward Lucas would insist that since she’d cooked, he and Katie would clear the table and load the dishwasher. All of those little moments gave them more time together and more time to bond.

He had a woman at his place right now. She laughed bitterly as pain lanced through her chest. Of course he did. Lucas wouldn’t be living his life like a monk.

The other day at work, Cynthia had told her she should date more, and her friend was right. She’d dated a little bit since Winston passed away, but she needed to really start dating. And she knew where to start.

She scrolled through the contacts in her phone and settled on a number. She hit send.

“Hello?”

Ivy smiled at his very proper British accent, one of his attractive qualities. She drew her legs up to her chest and settled back against the pillows. “Hi Gil, it’s me, Ivy. It’s not too late, is it?”

“I know it’s you, and no, it’s not too late. You know I’m a night owl. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

She felt better already. “When will you be back in the country?”

“In a couple of months or so,” he replied.

“Do you still want to go out when you come back? If so, I’d like to take you up on your offer.”

“Sounds like a smashing idea.”

Ivy closed her eyes. Forget Lucas.

“Great,” she said, keeping her voice upbeat. “Call me when you’re back in Seattle.”

Chapter Eighteen

“Royal flush, gentlemen.” Derrick laid his hand on the table, a wide grin plastered across his face.

“Dammit!” Lucas tossed down his cards and joined in the chorus of groans as his friend scraped his winnings to his side of the table.

Five of them had gathered to play poker in Derrick’s man cave on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. In addition to Lucas, there was Derrick, Derrick’s half brothers Roarke and Matthew, and their brother-in-law, Antonio.

After traveling to New York for an appearance that lasted Thanksgiving Day and the day after, Lucas came back to town and savored spending time with his buddies. The brothers often included him in family events—weddings, a bachelor party, or simply hanging out in Derrick’s man cave, like they were tonight. They were the brothers he’d never had.

Located on the bottom floor of his mansion, Derrick’s lair contained leather furniture and a polished steel, custom made pool table. A fully stocked bar and refrigerator ensured the men could eat and drink for hours without having to go upstairs. As if that wasn’t enough, his chef had prepared platters of crab cakes, meatballs, a crazy-good hot caprese dip, and something called broccoli cheese bites that Lucas couldn’t get enough of.

Tonight’s get together had been prompted by his best friend Roarke’s temporary return. A professor of physics at the University of Georgia, he was on loan to a university in Chile and had come home for the holidays. It was a one-year assignment, and he and his wife had decided that it was best to live apart for the year rather than uproot the entire family.

“This is ridiculous.” Matthew scowled across the table at his brother. Derrick had won every single hand they’d played. He was definitely the better player amongst the five of them, but this was a record even for him.

Derrick chuckled. “Are you guys even playing?”

“I think you just invite us over to take our money,” Lucas said, eyeing Derrick as he counted the cash.

Derrick laughed. “Sorry to have to do this to you again, gentlemen.”

Antonio stood up from the table. “You’re not sorry.” He went over to the refrigerator and took out a beer.

“Don’t you have enough money already?” Matthew asked Derrick.

“You can never have enough money, Matt,” Derrick replied. His comment didn’t come as a surprise to Lucas. Derrick had inherited millions from his adoptive father and strived to build the business left to him into an even bigger, more successful company.

“I’m done.” Matthew scraped back his chair and went over to the pool table.

“Me, too.” Antonio followed Matthew and they each grabbed a cue stick from the wall.

“Don’t be sore losers,” Derrick called, a grin on his face.

Roarke rose from the table and headed toward the bar. “I know you’re cheating, but I haven’t figured out how. Anybody else want a beer?” he asked.

“I’ll take one,” Lucas replied.

Roarke came back with two bottles of Full Moon beer. “I’m going to figure out how you’re doing it, too,” he said to Derrick.

“Did it ever occur to you that I might be a better player?” Derrick asked, his blue-gray eyes filled with amusement.

“No!” Matthew and Antonio yelled from across the room.

“I don’t know if that’s up for debate, since I’m the only one who won any hands tonight.” Derrick was enjoying rubbing it in. The brothers went back and forth, taking verbal shots at each other for a while.

When they were done giving each other a hard time, Derrick turned in Lucas’s direction. “You’re quieter than usual,” he observed.

“Thinking, man, just thinking.” Something he’d been doing a lot of lately. He’d found it particularly hard to leave Seattle after his last trip. Katie’s sad little face still haunted him.

“How are you adjusting to being a father?”

“I gotta hear this,” Matthew called from across the room, “because I never expected you of all people would ever have kids.”

Lucas snorted. “I didn’t either, but I had one eight years ago.” He launched into the story of his relationship with Ivy. The room fell silent and all eyes turned on him as he explained what had happened. He left out the part about Ivy purposely not taking the pill, but he did mention that she’d known he didn’t want kids and that’s why she never told him.