Unexpected Ride (8 page)

“Yes… you can play football but
only
if you keep up the good behavior and turning in your homework.  We are also going to see about getting you a tutor,” Carla replied.  Again, he cringed at the brutal hug the excited boy gave Carla but the look on her face eased his worries over her ability to take his roughness.

“My Mama Dana tutors me and now I’m the best in my class.  You should get tutored from her too, Ben,” Gretchen advised.

Carla looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, “Guess who else has news about school?”

Meredith smiled right at Greg as though to thank him for what she was about to hear.  “You?” she asked Carla.

“Yes!  I signed up for some nursing classes and I start after the Christmas break.  The classes are in the evenings though… after the boys get home from school” Carla gushed and then hesitated.

“Is it after football, mom?” Ben asked.

The excitement and eagerness left Carla’s face in an instant when she realized that the classes would likely be during Ben’s practices or games. 

Chuck, in his normal fashion, stepped in and said, “Maybe it should just be you and me at football practices little buddy and your mom can come to some of the games.  Moms usually just sit around worrying that you will get hurt or some shit anyways.”

Ben glanced at Carla who looked away from him.  It was obvious to Greg that Carla having been the center of their world and now suddenly unavailable from time to time was going to mean an adjustment for them all.  As excited as Ben was to play football… the possibility of his mom not being there for it was disappointing to him.  What Greg was unprepared for was the look of anguish on her face when she turned back to look at him.

“Hey why don’t we go to the basement and play twister with Meredith’s fake foot,” Chuck offered, clearly reading Carla’s mood on her face and playing interference.

“Edith’s foot is not a toy… my Chuckie!” Gretchen admonished him.

It took but a moment for Meredith and Chuck to usher the three kids out of the kitchen and Greg listened as they were herded down to the basement.  Carla had again turned away from him and he knew she was struggling to maintain her composure.

“I have asked you repeatedly not to interfere… and still you do.  I knew I should have talked it over with them before I just made a decision like this but instead I let you talk me into it.  Did you see the disappointment on his little face?” she choked.

Oh hell no… not this again.
  He approached where she stood and placed his hand on her arm once again and said, “So if Ben playing football would have negatively impacted Matt… you wouldn’t have let him play right?  Is that what you are saying?  Because what I hear is that everyone here is allowed to have their own interests, dreams and goals… except you… at least not if your interests, dreams and goals interfere in any way with theirs.”

“He’s just a child... and I’m his only parent now.  I should be there for
every
game…
every
practice because… because…  Doug doesn’t get to be,” she replied with tears shining in her eyes.

“So you think Ben will hold the fact his father can’t be there against
you
if you’re not at
every
game…
every
practice?” he asked.

“No… I think Doug would… it should have been me that picked up Meredith that night.  He only did it because I was watching one of those learning programs on television.  He told me he knew how much I liked the show because it had to do with…
medicine
… and offered to go and get her instead.  I owe it to him to do all the things he won’t be able to anymore,” she sobbed.

He caught her by the back of her neck and pulled her to him. 
God he hated it when she cried
… he completely understood why Chuck had such an issue with it.  She was so
sweet
and
kind
that seeing her cry was painful to everyone around her. 

When her tears subsided a little bit he said, “Yes you do owe him that much… but that debt also includes things like fulfilling a dream, learning to live and love again, and experiencing excitement like I saw on your face earlier.”

She turned away from him and grabbed a napkin out of a holder and wiped her eyes and blew her nose.  When she finally pulled herself together she turned back to face him. 
She was even pretty when she cried but it still bothered the hell out of him when she did.
  He watched her eyes find his mouth and before he knew what to expect next, she crossed the floor to where he stood.  Reaching up she pulled his head down to her and pressed her lips to his.

The fire in her kiss destroyed whatever was left of his defenses as her lips found his over and over again.  Just as quickly as she had started, she broke off the kiss and leaned in one final time and rubbed her mouth against his, savoring the feel before stepping back from him.

“Thank you…” she whispered.

Now he was even more confused.

Chapter Five

It had been a week since she’d turned in her paperwork for the nursing program… and experienced a kiss that had turned her whole world upside down. 
God his mouth!
  Men over the age of forty shouldn’t be allowed to look that good and kiss like...
he did
. 

Carla forced thoughts of Greg Sanders aside because she had things to do today.  She could only pray that between going back to school and what she was about to do… things would work out. 

She felt like Jarrod Tompkins was making it a point to conveniently run into her whenever she went into town on an errand.  Having him so close by after all this time made her uneasy because each time she did come across him in a store… or the gas station… even at the post office… it had ended up turning into a long discussion about his new life and how much he had changed. 

It was terrible to think so negatively about a person, especially one who was constantly apologizing for the past, but a part of her thought it was all just a big act.  That he was doing nothing more than pulling the wool over her eyes yet again. 

When Jarrod called mid-week and asked if she had thought anymore about allowing him to meet Meredith she’d been ready for his interruption in her life this time.  Her decision making skills might be a little rusty, especially without Doug around to talk things over with and sometimes even make the ones she didn’t want to, but she’d made another big one… all in the course of one week. 

Greg had forced her to make one decision on her own and it had felt good… so she’d voluntarily made another.   Besides if she didn’t do something about Jarrod it was quite possible that he would eventually take it upon himself to contact Meredith on his own and then what?  At least this way Carla had some control over the situation.

She had taken over the phone conversation with Jarrod by imitating the way Becca spoke to people.  The deal was she would take Meredith and Chuck to a store in the mall on the pretense of looking at some invitations and decorating ideas for the wedding they were trying to plan.  Jarrod would approach Carla and she would pretend to recognize him as an old friend of Doug’s and introduce Meredith to him. 

He would then be given a few minutes to ask generic questions of Meredith before moving on.  Carla had even threatened that if he in any way tried to give away more than that to Meredith, she would tell Meredith that he was crazy and that was why Doug hadn’t ever brought him around. 

Jarrod had sounded surprised at her ability to completely orchestrate the whole thing and even more astonished at her forceful attitude about it. 
She was turning out to be a resourceful and clever girl.

The pride she felt at making another big decision all on her own… without Doug… and the resulting smile disappeared when her thoughts drifted back to Greg Sanders.  Now
he
was a clever person.  He must have checked out her tale about the nursing classes and figured out that all those times she’d ended up side tracked by Jarrod hadn’t been spent at the college.  

He would occasionally hint that he knew more than she was saying which just made her a nervous wreck.  Lying had never been her strong suit.  At least Meredith and Chuck didn’t call her out on them or ask her questions trying to trip her up and get her to confess what she’d actually been doing. 

Telling the kids about going back to school had given her an excuse to get Chuck and Meredith to accompany her to the mall.  She’d simply implied that when her classes started up, she’d have less time to help them with wedding plans. 

Besides… they really did need to start finalizing their plans if they were going to be married the first week of spring.  The excuse and then rationalizing her actions sounded good in theory but the deceit was killing her. 

Jarrod Tompkins had been the most dishonest person she’d ever come into contact with and it felt like the more often she ran into him, the more his treachery was rubbing off on her and she didn’t like it one bit.  Could she even trust that by allowing him to meet Meredith this one time, he would then go away and not bother them anymore?

“You ready to do this thing, hot stuff?” Chuck asked, entering the kitchen and startling her out of her thoughts.

Ready as she was going to be to introduce her precious Meredith to the one man from Carla’s past that had been instrumental in getting her arrested.  Looking at Chuck and knowing the crimes of his past, which were bad… somehow didn’t compare to what she had done. 

Much like her, Chuck was out running his past and
that
she
could
respect... it was part of what she liked about him.  She’d done the same with some help from her father and Doug.  She could only pray that by helping Chuck rise above his mistakes, his past wouldn’t crop back up in twenty five years to remind him that he was once young and naïve… the way her past was doing to her currently.

“Sure, let’s go,” she smiled.

“You ready to get your sexy on and ride on the back of my bike?  Meredith is going to meet us there and I thought you could drive her car back so she and I can take a ride out to the beach where she
will
promise to obey me… for
life
,” he teased.

She could only laugh at him.  His constant attempts to try and get her feisty daughter to do anything she didn’t want to was some form of game to him.  In his mind the winning play would be to get Meredith to include the traditional love, honor and
obey
promise in their wedding vows.  So far Meredith had only agreed to it if Chuck was the one who would be saying them.

Carla, having only ever ridden on the back of his motorcycle once… at a very slow speed… had also become a challenge for Chuck.  Now he constantly referred to her as hot stuff, sexy mama, biker babe or some other derogatory term as a way to tease her and relentlessly tried to get her to take a ‘real’ ride on his motorcycle.  Well, if the third time was supposedly the charm… then why not a third big decision in the same week.

“Sounds like fun,” she replied nonchalantly.  The ornery look on his face changed to one of complete disbelief which had her laughing hysterically.

“Are you serious?” he asked, his grin returning. 

Her heart felt lighter than it had since before she lost Doug so she simply nodded.  It felt good to finally get one over on the mischievous young man who would soon be her son-in-law.  He picked on her constantly and it was great to finally give him back a little dose of his own medicine.

“Sweet… how about we hook you up with some ink too… maybe a piercing or two?” he laughed.

“Very funny…” she replied with a smile. 

“Remind me to thank Detective Sanders next time I see him… he is the
man!
  I thought Dickie corrupting Becca was awesome, but
this
… I bow to the man.  Damn… and Meredith is missing it,” he laughed, shaking his head in disbelief.  “Here I thought you were un-corruptible but boy was I wrong!  Greg has got you kissing him, riding on the back of motorcycles and sneaking around doing God knows what… what’s next?  Drinking? Gambling?”

“I highly doubt that… now let’s go before I change my mind,” she said unable to stop laughing at his antics. “I cannot believe you saw us kissing… you were supposed to be in the basement!”

“Don’t worry… your secret is safe with me unless Meredith specifically asks, ‘Did you happen to catch my mom planting a porn kiss on Detective Sanders?’ Now, if she asks me that, I cannot lie so I would tell her the truth, but aside from that I didn’t see a thing,” he laughed.  Then he grinned and said, “Turning kind of red in the face there, Carla.”

She should have known she couldn’t win at this type of game with Chuck.  So instead of replying she simply picked up her purse and headed outside to where his bike was parked.  He was still laughing when he came out, got on the bike and stood it up. 

She put her purse strap over her head to ensure it didn’t come off her arm and slung it behind her back then climbed on behind him.

Looking back at her, he smiled and then said, “You know Detective Sanders is getting a sweet ride too, right?”

“I’m not talking about Greg with you anymore,” she said, looking away from him.

“Greg, huh?” he laughed and then turned back around and started up the bike.

Thanks to Chuck redirecting her thoughts back to Greg Sanders, specifically Greg’s mouth and how good it had felt against hers, and the bike ride to the mall, she felt ready to get this thing with Jarrod over with. 
Hopefully once and for all.
  Lots of changes in her life… but most of them felt really good after suffering for so long and Greg was right… she owed it to Doug to feel this way.  They met up with Meredith and Carla led them towards the department store she’d designated as the spot to meet Jarrod. 

“Carla Johnson?” Jarrod said from behind them as they neared the store. 
Just get it over with.

Stopping and turning she was hit with a complete dislike for the man as she watched him look at Meredith and then move on to eyeing Chuck and finally back to looking at her.