Hurt (13 page)

“I was going to ask her to marry me,” Jamie said quietly. Megan looked at her, but said nothing. “I’ve got a ton of vacation time on the books and thought maybe we could take a trip to Hawaii. I was thinking maybe invite a few friends, have a small ceremony on the beach, and then, you know, already be there for the honeymoon. Ridiculous, I know.” Jamie frowned, surprised that she was confiding to Megan everything she had been planning before Nicole walked in on her and Sundae.

“No, it’s not.” Megan reached across the table as Jamie wiped back a tear. “Hey, it’s not. That’s really sweet, as a matter of fact.”

“Well.” This time it was Jamie’s turn to shift uncomfortably in her seat. “It’s not the kind of thing I can leave on a voicemail, you know? Hey, I’m sorry you think I’m cheating on you with some blonde-headed floozy, but by the way, will you marry me?”

Megan gave a little laugh.

“I suppose not.” She picked up a fork and took a small bite of cole slaw. “So, what can you say to Nicole, do you think?”

“Hey, I’m a dumbass, please forgive me?” Jamie repeated with a wry grin.

“I think we’ve ruled that one out already, haven’t we?”

“I guess. I may still leave it on the backburner, just in case.”

“Mmm. Seriously, though. If Nicole was right here, right now, what would you say to her? Whether it sounds like bullshit or not.”

Jamie stared at Megan and absently chewed her bottom lip as she thought.
What would I say
? Lord knows, she’d thought enough about it over the past several days.

“There’s no one I’d rather be with than you,” Jamie said finally. She imagined for a moment that she could almost hear Nicole’s voice, smell her perfume. “You don’t know what you do to me. There’s no one that has ever made me feel the way you do. You are the only one that I want, have ever wanted,
will
ever want.”

Megan licked her lips and sat back in the booth.

“Oh, Lord. I don’t know where you got that line, but, damn, it makes
me
want to go home with you,” she laughed.

“Whatever,” Jamie said and shrugged. “That’s it, I guess—”

“It most definitely is a line, and I wouldn’t believe a word of it.”

Jamie jumped as Nicole suddenly materialized in front of the table. It took a second for her mind to register the fact that Nicole was actually there, let alone what Nicole had said, and when it did, Jamie realized that she must have overheard the conversation with Megan, or the end of it at least.

Nicole’s green eyes flashed as she stared at Megan. “I’m going to give you a good piece of advice and tell you to get out now while you can. If she cheated on me, she’ll cheat on you. Hell, she’s already cheated on both us from what I saw the other day.” Nicole turned to glare at Jamie. “Just how many women do you have, Jamie?”

“Nicole—” Jamie said, rising from her seat. Her legs didn’t seem to want to cooperate though, and she suddenly felt like she was playing out a scene in some horror movie.

Nicole threw a hand out to stop her.

“Don’t,” she said, making a point not to look at Jamie. “Just don’t.”

Jamie’s stomach turned as Nicole spun on one heel and stormed away from the table. Jamie looked at Megan, who stared back, eyes wide.

“Go,” Megan ordered. “Don’t let her just leave like that.”

Jamie jumped from her seat and started after Nicole, almost tripping over the hostess standing in the middle of the aisle. She pushed open the exit door and ran out into the parking lot in time to see Nicole’s green Honda peeling off.

“Goddamn it,” Jamie said under her breath.

“Are you kidding me?” Jamie heard Megan’s voice behind her. “How in the hell can that happen twice?”

Jamie turned to look at Megan and threw her arms up in the air. Dejected, she walked past Megan and then crumpled down to the curb in front of the restaurant. She put her hands over her face and shook her head.

“I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

Chapter Seventeen

“I still don’t know why you had to drag me all the way across the country on Christmas day.”

“Nana, what are you talking about? We’ve only been in the car forty-five minutes. Steven just lives in Cleveland.”

“So you say,” Nana muttered as Nicole turned off the Honda’s ignition. “I just know that I’ve already been gone long enough for those bitch nurses to take everything I own.”

Nicole ignored the familiar rant as she stepped out and around the vehicle to open the passenger door and assist Nana out. With all that had been going on with Jamie, she had considered skipping Christmas dinner at her brother’s, but she had promised weeks ago to bring Nana the relatively short drive from Chattanooga to her brother Steven’s house in Cleveland, Tennessee. Grimacing and ducking as Nana took a swipe at her head with a small black purse, Nicole wished now that she had just stayed home.

“Look, we don’t have to stay long,” Nicole said as she took her grandmother’s arm and led her up the driveway to Steven’s house. “Just eat some ham and try to be nice.”

“Hmpft. I’m always nice.”

Just stop arguing with her
, Nicole told herself as they reached the front porch. Before she was able to knock, the door swung open and two young boys came bursting out of the house.

“Nana!” they cried in unison and began hugging the elderly woman.

“I’m so glad to see you! Come give Nana some sugar,” she said and then bent over to hug them back, kissing the closest one on the cheek.

“Nana, come see what Santa Claus brought us,” the smaller of the two boys said, pulling on her arm.

“Boys, be careful you don’t hurt Nana,” Nicole said to her nephews with a laugh.

Nana looked sharply back at Nicole and scowled.

“Nonsense. You leave these boys alone.” She turned back to the boys and smiled. “Now come show me what Santa brought you Kevin.”

“I’m Dakota,” the boy said and then pointed to his brother. “He’s Kevin.”

“Same difference,” Nana muttered. Nicole shook her head and smiled as she watched the boys tow their great-grandmother away.

“Hey, Nicole. You’re here. I thought I heard a commotion.”

Nicole turned at the sound of her brother’s voice.

“Hi Steven,” she said, hugging her brother and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Sorry we’re late. It was a mess getting Nana to the car.”

“Don’t worry about it. C’mon back to the kitchen, Amy is just putting the finishing touches on dinner.” He motioned for her to follow and then began to walk down a long hallway. “So what happened?” Steven asked over his shoulder. “Did she not want to come?”

“No,” Nicole answered as they stepped out of the hallway and into the kitchen, inhaling the aroma of baked ham. “We were halfway to the car and she made a break for it.”

“What? What do you mean she made a break for it?” he chuckled, walking to the oven. He opened the door and peeked in.

“Just that. We got ten feet out of Golden Meadows and she broke into a dead run. You’d be surprised how fast an eighty year-old can run when she puts her mind to it.”

“Good grief,” he said. “I know the last time I was there the nurse told me they had to put a lock on her window.”

“Steven, if you don’t stop poking your head in the oven that pie is never going to get done,” Amy exclaimed, walking into the kitchen.

Steven closed the oven door and gave his wife a sheepish grin.

“Sorry, babe.”

“Don’t ‘sorry babe’ me, just make sure the boys don’t start back in on the rolls. They’re going to have them all eaten before dinner even starts.” Amy turned to look at Nicole as if just noticing she was standing there. “Oh, hi Nicole.”

“Hey, Amy.” She grinned at her brother as he skulked out of the kitchen.

“How was the drive over?” the slender woman asked, stepping over to take her own glance inside the oven.

“It was fine. Traffic wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.” Nicole looked around the kitchen as she spoke, trying to decide the best way to make her escape. “Can I help with anything?” she asked, motioning to the covered casserole dishes lined up along the marble countertop.

“If you want to start taking those and putting them on the dining room table, you can,” Amy answered.

Nicole nodded and picked up what looked to be a squash casserole and walked it from the kitchen to the adjoining dining room. She was just in time to see her oldest nephew swipe a roll from a basket on the table and then run out of the room with it.

“Kevin!” Amy shouted as she came in behind Nicole. “I’m not going to tell you again!”

Nicole couldn’t help but laugh, which earned her a stern glance from her sister-in-law.

“I’m sorry, babe,” Steven said, walking in the room. “I told them to stay out.” He frowned at Nicole. “Where’s Jamie? I thought she was coming.”

“Oh, is Jamie not here?” Amy inquired, looking around the room.

Always gotta be a bitch, don’t you Amy
? Nicole thought. “No, she had to work tonight,” Nicole lied, not wanting to give Amy the satisfaction of being on target with the accusation she had made the other day.

“Really? On Christmas? That’s unusual isn’t it?” Amy asked, trying—and failing—to be nonchalant in her questioning.

“Not really. Jamie’s on call tonight, so has to stay close to home in case she gets called in.” Nicole glanced to her brother, who was making a point to not make eye contact with either Nicole or his wife lest he be drawn into the conversation. She knew that Steven was well aware of the animosity between the two of them and, as a general rule, did his best to keep them separated at family functions.

“Well…” Amy drawled. “I hate that she wasn’t able to make it.”

“Mm-hmm,” Nicole said absently. “Steven, I have some presents for the boys out in the car. Can you give me a hand in bringing them in?”

“Um, sure,” he said, avoiding a narrow glance from Amy. “Lead the way.”

Nicole flashed a smile at Amy and walked out of the dining room. Not for the first time, she wondered what her brother saw in the woman.

“So, you want to tell me what all that was about?” Steven asked once they were on the front porch. “Does this have something to do with that woman that Amy saw Jamie with last week?”

Nicole stopped and glared at her brother.

“She told you about that, did she?” Nicole shook her head in disgust. “Of course she did.”

“Now Nicole, Amy’s just trying to look out for you.”

“Oh, spare me. Amy would love nothing better than to see trouble between me and Jamie, just so she can be right about something.”

Steven leaned against the porch railing and leveled his eyes at Nicole.

“So, is she right? Is that why Jamie’s not here tonight?”

Nicole opened her mouth, closed it, and then sat on the front porch step. She stared at the Christmas lights on the house across the street as she reflected back on the last week.

“I’m not going to say she’s wrong,” Nicole said finally. “We’re going through…a thing right now.” Nicole sighed, surprised that she couldn’t bring herself to tell her brother everything that had happened.

“A thing? Like a bad thing?” he asked, sitting down next to her. “I thought you two were pretty serious.”

Nicole shrugged.

“I thought we were too.”

“You want to talk about it?”

“Not really.”

Steven blew out a long breath.

“You know, if Jamie were a man I’d go kick his ass.”

Nicole laughed in spite of herself. She cocked an eye at her brother, who, at five foot eight, looked like he barely tipped the scales at a hundred and twenty-five pounds.

“Yeah, well, don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m pretty sure Jamie could take you.”

“Sadly, I think you’re right,” Steven grumbled. He stood from the step and held a hand out to Nicole. “C’mon, let’s go get your gifts and get back in. It’s getting cold out here.”

Nicole grabbed his hand and let herself be pulled up. She dusted off her jeans and continued walking down the stairs.

“Do me a favor and don’t say anything to Amy.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t.”

“Dad!” Nicole and Steven both turned back to see Dakota come running out the front door. “Nana’s locked in the bathroom and can’t get out.”

Chapter Eighteen

It was the knocking that woke her up. Well, it was more of a banging sound, coming from the front door and getting progressively louder. Jamie cocked open one eye and glanced at her watch. She couldn’t make out the exact time, but could see it was around six-thirty. Jamie wasn’t sure if that was a.m. or p.m., however.

With a groan she rolled off the couch and stumbled her way to the front door, mumbling “just a minute” as she reached it. She turned the handle and attempted to open it, remembering after a few tries that she hadn’t unlocked the deadbolt. Jamie turned the gold-plated knob positioned just over the door handle and finally managed to swing the front door open.

“It’s about goddamned time,” Megan said angrily as she brushed past Jamie. “I’m about to freeze my ass off out here.”

Jamie watched the pint-sized woman walk into the house with a frown.

“Well, come on in,” she muttered. Jamie closed the front door and turned to see Megan looking distastefully around the living room as if she was trying to determine where she wanted to sit and if it was safe to do. “Can I help you?”

“You could start by cleaning some of this mess up,” Megan answered, pushing an empty pizza box to the side with one foot. “And what in God’s name is that noise? You can hear it all the way down the street. It’s a wonder the neighbors haven’t called to complain.”

“That’s not noise, it’s music,” Jamie scowled. “And it’s my fucking house and I can keep it any goddamn way I goddamn want to.” She rubbed one hand across her temple, feeling the beginnings of a headache coming on.

“Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain, goddamn it,” Megan quipped. Jamie frowned, but decided against pointing out that Megan had already done so herself at least twice since barging into the house. “Can we please turn that
music
off? It’s giving me a headache.”