Draw Me Close (5 page)

 

Three

Derek pulled into his ex's driveway and tried to ignore the anxious knot in his gut. He loved his weekends with his son but they weren't nearly frequent enough. The hard part was seeing Lisa. That never got any easier. Throughout their separation several people had shared their unsolicited advice and a common saying was that “you see a person's true colors during a divorce.” Derek hadn't worried much in the beginning because the Lisa he'd been married to was pretty damn hard to like. They'd both been unhappy so he was certain that putting them both out of their misery would make her kinder. Gentler. He never dreamed things could get worse. How wrong he'd been.

Lisa blamed him for her unhappiness, no doubt about it, and the divorce had been crazy ugly. She'd pulled lies out of her ass that almost would have been funny if they didn't threaten Derek's future with his son. She took everything he did or said as a threat against her character, her relationship with their son, and she lived in retaliation mode. It was as if the divorce were his final insult to her, despite the fact they'd grown to hate one another. Maybe she thought they should have lived unhappily ever after, but who in their right mind wanted that? Thank God he'd had a great attorney and a judge that could see through her bullshit, because she'd laid it on thick. Still did when it suited her purposes, which seemed to be every damn time he spoke with her.

Turning off his truck, Derek got out and headed for the front door. Thanks to nearly a week of snow, Kansas City and the surrounding area were covered in white. Derek had big plans for his weekend with Tanner that included sledding, hot chocolate, serious PS4 gaming, and maybe a snowman. He couldn't wait to tell him. He just needed to get them home on his own turf where they could relax and enjoy each other. Be guys. Derek needed some time with his son to remind him what his priorities were. For the past week his thoughts had been scattered, confused, and conflicted thanks to one particular green-eyed woman he'd not been able to stop focusing on.

He knocked on the door of the house he'd once lived in for five years and shoved his hands into his pockets, dreading the conversation that would follow. He really never knew what to expect from Lisa. One day she'd be over-the-top sweet, the next she might be spewing venom in his direction. The one thing he was grateful for was that she was sneaky and manipulative enough to keep Tanner oblivious to the drama. She made sure to appear to be the perfect mother in front of their son. Derek could only pray she would continue that practice. He did everything he could to try and shield Tanner from the crazy conflict between his parents but he wasn't sure if he was successful at it.

Lisa opened the door and a hint of something cooking caught his attention. Was she planning to have company after they left? He sure as hell didn't care, the woman could do whatever she wanted as long she treated their son right and didn't try to take any of Derek's visitation rights away. But it was a little odd because she usually only flaunted other men in his face when she was mad about something he'd done. It was possible she'd invited a female friend over but she didn't have many, and on those nights they'd usually have dinner and drinks out. And it couldn't be her parents, they lived too far away and definitely wouldn't come on a weekend when Tanner wasn't going to be home.

“Hey, you,” she said with a sheepish grin. Tight jeans and an even tighter sweater graced her petite form, only serving to annoy him further. Although Lisa had always been attractive, the sight of her did nothing to him now. Hadn't for years. But her outfit let him know she was up to something.

“You're going to be so annoyed with me,” she continued. “I completely forgot it was Friday when I started making Tanner's favorite dinner—chicken strips and my homemade macaroni and cheese. He was so disappointed when he realized he wouldn't get to eat it. I told him I was sure you wouldn't mind just eating here before you go.”

She was a piece of work. Derek stepped into the house, glanced around for his son, and when he didn't see him he gave Lisa a hard stare. He'd been looking forward to taking Tanner to the new pizza place in Preston. Sure, Tanner loved chicken strips but he also loved pizza. It wasn't like he'd never get another chance to eat her food, and he didn't buy her “I forgot” story. Nobody forgot it was Friday. Just as he was about to call her on it, Tanner came down the stairs. His floppy hair and Marvel hero T-shirt made Derek smile. God, he loved this kid so much.

“Hi, Dad,” he said. “Sorry, Mom forgot. I hope you're not mad. She already made it, so…”

Derek let his rigid shoulders fall. Over the past few months he'd noticed that Tanner appeared more and more wary around his parents, as if he were trying to keep the peace. He could not allow his kid to feel that kind of burden. “Of course not, bud. No way I'd let you miss your Mom's mac and cheese.”

Derek tried not to flinch when Lisa squeezed his arm and headed for the kitchen, her hips shifting as she spoke over her shoulder. “You're such a good sport, Derek.”

He held in about a million nasty things he'd like to say in reply and followed her through the living room, ruffling his son's hair along the way. It had been a while since she'd pulled something like this, but it wasn't a shocker. She always had something up her sleeve. In the beginning he'd assumed she played these games to try and get them back together, but he soon realized she was taunting him. Daring him to be the bad guy. To hurt Tanner and give her justification to cut Derek from their lives. He would never give her the satisfaction. If it meant sitting through a meal with the woman, he'd do it. A million times if that's what it took.

They all stepped into the kitchen and Derek noticed she'd already set the table. For four. He sucked in a breath and then glanced at Lisa, who'd conveniently made herself busy. He hated having diabolical thoughts about the mother of his child, a woman he'd planned to spend the rest of his life with at one point, but he couldn't help it. She drove him to madness and she knew it.

“Where do you want me to sit?” he asked with all the politeness he could muster.

She glanced over her shoulder and smiled. “Right there is fine. I invited Lane over. Again, just not thinking.”

“Sure,” he said a little too dryly. He'd never even heard of this person and that pissed him off. Not out of jealousy, but because whatever she did affected their son. “I hope
Lane
doesn't mind me being here.”

“Oh no, he's such a sweet guy. Laid-back, nothing ever fazes him. Such a nice change in my life. In fact I don't think I've ever been so happy.”

Derek remained silent despite the fact that he was bursting to give her a piece of his mind. He would not allow her to manipulate his actions. He quickly decided that Lane might be a saint to put up with this woman. Or maybe this was all his fault. It could be that Lisa was a good woman—she had been once—and he'd damaged her with his terrible choices. Through high school they'd been inseparable. Happy. It had just been the natural course of things that led them to grow apart in college. It happened to young couples every day. And he'd seen their breakup coming for a while, he knew she had, too. But they'd held on to each other out of familiarity, comfort, fear … who knew what. And long after they'd both known that they wouldn't be with one another forever, they'd continued to have sex.

Tanner scooted his chair closer to the table and Derek instantly noticed that his son looked a little down. He hated anything that made his son uncomfortable—which he could tell this was—so Derek put on a fake smile, deciding to handle this like a pro.

“How was school this week, bud?”

Tanner shrugged. “Okay, I guess.”

“Just okay? How'd you do on your spelling test today?”

“I only missed one.”

“What word was that?”

“Situation. S-I-T-U-A-T-I-O-N.”

“Well, looks you got it down now. But that is a tough one. Still proud of you.” Derek gave Tanner a wink. Lisa placed a giant baking dish of steaming macaroni on the table before heading back into the attached kitchen. Derek looked back to his son and leaned in close. “Hey, I had an idea. I thought we could go sledding tomorrow.”

Tanner's eyes flicked toward his mother for a beat before she turned and frowned, obviously overhearing the conversation.

“Oh shoot, Tanner just went sledding yesterday,” Lisa said as she walked over and set a plate of chicken fingers down on the table. “Lane and I took him down the road to that hill behind the grocery store. I should have thought you'd have that idea. Sorry.”

Derek worked his jaw back and forth as he collected his thoughts. He rested his forearms on the kitchen table and leaned forward a bit, steeling himself.
Do not react.
Derek glanced at his son who looked sad. And guilty. That served to settle Derek's frustration a little. The last thing he wanted was for Tanner to feel bad about what they'd done. Reaching out, Derek grabbed his son's hand and gave it a quick squeeze.

“Hey, bud, no big deal, I'm glad you had a good time.” Derek forced a genuine smile.

“I still want to go with you, Dad. Your hill in Preston is the best.”

“Darn right it is. And there's definitely no such thing as too much sledding, gotta pack it in when the snow hits.”

Tanner grinned and that was enough to make Derek forget how much he wanted to strangle Lisa. She knew damn well that he'd always taken Tanner sledding when the weather permitted, had started the minute Tanner could fit into a toddler-sized snowsuit. In all those years Lisa had never accompanied them. Had never desired to stand out in the cold for any reason. Derek knew she'd purposely taken Tanner first yesterday just to try and rob him of that pleasure. It didn't matter. She and this
Lane
character—whoever the hell this moron was—could never replace him in Tanner's life. He was his father and that meant more than anything.

Five minutes later when Lane walked into the kitchen, Derek could tell by the shocked and awkward look on the man's face that he'd had no idea what he was in for when his girlfriend invited him over for dinner. Derek almost felt sorry for him as he stood and shook the man's hand. He introduced himself and apologized for the surprise.

“No problem at all. It's nice to finally meet you,” Lane said with an awkward smile. Seemed Lisa had managed to make every male in the room uncomfortable. Classic. Why did she have to do that? She could be sweet and nurturing if she wanted to. He'd seen it before.

And “finally”? Lane's words settled into Derek's mind. How long had this guy been around? Derek wondered why Tanner had never mentioned him. Or maybe Lisa had kept the relationship from their son for a while.
Good luck, man,
Derek thought.
You're gonna need it
.

*   *   *

“I really think this one brings out the warm tones in the tile on the backsplash. Don't you agree?” Anne asked, her face scrunched up in indecision as she held a stained chip of wood next to a tile sample. It was early Saturday morning and they were choosing floor stain over coffee and doughnuts in Anne's current kitchen. In fact, they'd been at it for almost an hour and Lindsey was all decisioned out.

“I think you should go with your first instinct,” Lindsey said, pulling another sample chip to the forefront. “This one is not as dark. That was a concern you had initially.”

Anne shook her head. “You're right. I just can't help thinking that Mike said he liked this one.” She pointed to a different stain sample.

Lindsey sat back in her chair with a sigh. “True, he did. But that was also after you'd forced him to choose even though he'd previously said he didn't care many times. And if I recall, he told you his favorite and then once again followed it up with a ‘But do whatever you want, babe. I'm happy when you're happy.'” Lindsey had lowered her voice while imitating Anne fiancé. She now wanted to imitate a gagging gesture but she refrained. Good thing because Anne smiled, the happy, glowing smile of a woman well loved.

“You're right. He's said that through the whole process. I just keep trying to make him help me. He'll have to live there too, and I'd like him to tell me what he wants.”

“I think all he wants is you,” Lindsey said. “I'm pretty sure when he says he wants only what you want, you should believe him. Since you can't decide, how about we put this decision up for vote on the blog?”

Anne's eyes lit up. “Yes, let's do that. Take it out of my hands because I like them all and I just can't make a choice.”

Lindsey nodded. “Okay. I'll post an updated photo of the kitchen and samples of each color. Let's allow them to vote for two days, see what we get.”

“Readers will love that. Every time we have a vote they get so excited. But not nearly as excited as I am to go out and see the progress made on the house. I haven't made it out in a couple of weeks. Derek texted when the entryway was done but I told him not to send a picture. I want to see it in person.”

Lindsey tried not to squirm when her friend mentioned enemy number one. Everything had been going great during the renovation until lately, and then boom, she just kept seeing him. Was that his plan, to just keep showing up and wearing her down? Lindsey wished she could be certain that plan wouldn't work.

“Why don't we head over there this afternoon and see how things are going?” Anne asked, interrupting Lindsey's daydreams. “We can even take these stain chips and see what they look like in the afternoon light.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” Lindsey smiled.

“Perfect,” Anne said. She then looked a little … wary. “How about this? I promised Claire we could go sledding for a little while. You could come with us and then we can stop and see it when we're finished. I'll even buy you lunch.”