Curves in the Road (The Southern Devotion Series Book 2) (8 page)

Ashton cleared his throat nervously. "I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"
You're the one always trying to convince me not to give up on her. Is there something you know that I don't? Is she seeing someone?" This wasn’t something that occurred to me. I don’t know why. She's in a new place and could’ve met someone easily enough. She's a sexy vivacious woman and would make any guy lucky.

Ashton cleared his throat and said, "No, nothing like that. With what you told me about how she ended things, I think it'd be better to wait for her to come back to you when her internship is over. You two tried the long distance thing and it didn’t work. Be patient with her."

"It's difficult, Ash. Not being with her is driving me crazy." I said, not considering who I was talking to.

"At least she isn’t dating an abusive asshole that you can't save her from. That is something hard to live with. I still beat myself up for not trying to convince
Gracie to leave him sooner like everyone else did."  Ashton never has forgiven himself for what happened to Gracie. Instead he strives to make every day perfect for her.

"Sorry, man. That was stupid of me to say."  Before he responds, Ashton's face lights up as he glances at something over my shoulder. I turn to see Gracie coming in the room.  "Wow, you look like a different woman." 

She smiles, "Normally I'd flip you off for that back handed compliment but I appreciate it right now. So, are you really calling it Club Cameron?"

Ashton and I both let out hearty laughs. He responds, "He's dreaming. We haven't come up with a name yet."

Ashton and Gracie shared an intimate moment as he went to embrace and dote on her for a moment. I turned my attention to the blueprints again, trying to drown out the noise of their kisses behind me.

"We're being rude to Derrick," Gracie says, as she pries herself out of Ashton's arms to occupy the empty space next to me. She places her hand on my shoulder as she leans
over to glance at the designs. "This looks amazing!"

"Thanks." I say. My index finger elicits the attention of her eyes as I point out spots in the room. "This will be the bar with pool tables, loud music, dance floor, typical club scene." I move my finger to the box adjacent to it. "This room will be closed off
from that so it's quiet enough for talking. Light music will be playing; there will be couches along this wall. Tables will fill the center of the room. We figured we could use this room for parties, poker games, even dating groups. We've been talking to a few of the singles groups to see what they do and this is a place they are interested in using to host speed dating nights and other singles events. There will also be a door that exits this room so that we could shut it off from the club completely for private parties or invitation only events."

"That's a great idea, Derrick. You guys, this place is going to be a hit,
and I know it. Now we need to think of a name. Personally, I think Gracie's would be perfect."  She winks, and then leans up on her tiptoes to kiss my cheek.

"It's no wonder you and Cam are so close," I tease. "We've been throwing around a few names, nothing seems perfect yet."

"I'm going to run upstairs to check on Autumn," Ash calls from behind us.

Gracie takes the opportunity to pull me over to the couc
h. "Sit down. We need to talk." It was obvious this would be a talk about Mary Jane. She's the topic of every conversation we've ever had. "Ashton's birthday is coming up and I want to do something special for him. I thought we could get the whole family together and go to dinner at his favorite restaurant."  Well that was not the topic I expected and it seemed that was obvious on my face. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I was expecting a different talk."

She nods her head, and then places her hand on my leg. "You thought I was going to ask you about MJ?" It was more of a rhetorical question because she didn’t wait for an answer. "She misses you. I know because we talk almost every day. Her internship is over soon and she may move back home. If she does…"

"If she does, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it." I lift the coffee mug from the table, bringing the ceramic cup to my nose to breathe in the strong aroma of the French roast.

Gracie gasps, "I got it! A shot in the dark."

"What is?" I ask as I scramble to keep my cup from spilling over when I'm startled by her excitement
.

"No. The club name, A Shot in the Dark."  She's bouncing in her seat with excitement over the idea. "Clubs are dark, shots are served, it's a pun. A Shot in the Dark. Plus, a shot in the dark means a hopeful attempt which is what you're doing by opening this club."

"I like it! We could even have a menu specifically for special shots. We could have a game where you're blindfolded and must name the shots for free drinks or a name on a wall, something gimmicky like that." I exclaim. "It's perfect. When Ash gets back down here we'll run it by him, but I think you just named our club."

Gracie seemed pleased with herself. She jumped up and ran up the stairs, yelling behind her
, "I'll be back in a minute."

A moment after she left, her phone rang. Mary Jane's name popped up and I let it go to voicemail until she called back again twice. The third time I answered, assuming it was an emergency. "Gracie!" she called out as soon as I answered it. She starts laughing and says, "Tristan, stop!"  That was a punch in the gut. "Hello?"
she says when she hears nothing from my end.

Gracie appeared in front of
me; I held the phone out to her and said, "It's Mary Jane.  She called three times so I thought it was an emergency, from the sounds of it I was wrong." She'd told me about her friendship with Tristan, but the way she said his name right then didn't sound friendly, it sounded flirtatious and it awoke the green eyed monster of jealousy inside me.

Gracie took the phone from me and said
, "Hello? MJ? Yeah, it's me. No that was a friend of mine who answered my phone for me."  She mouths 'I'm sorry' to me and I wave my hand letting her know not to worry. "Oh…um…yeah, let me call you back in just a minute."

She hung up the phone and said, "Tristan is a good friend, that's all."

"No one has to explain anything to me. She's free to be with whoever she wants. Look I need to go. I have to pick Katelyn up from school. Tell Ash I'll call him later." I couldn’t get out of that house fast enough.

On my way to Katelyn's school I tried desperately to quit hearing MJ's giggles in my head. The line at the school was full of cars with parents anxiously awaiting the school day to end. A woman walked past my car then stopped, ducked down to look in the windshield and waved. I rolled down the window when she stepped back to stand by the door.

"Hey, Derrick
, right? Katie's dad?"  She pushed a strand of her deep auburn hair back behind her ear in a nervous fashion and added, "I'm her teacher, Melanie Harris, we met on the first day of school."

"Of course, how are you
Mrs. Harris?"

"It's Ms. Also, you can call me Lanie." She forms a soft smile with her lips then runs her tongue along them slowly not in a sexual manner but it still made me feel a little uncomfortable. "Katie's a great joy to have in class."

"That's great to hear. Who's watching the class right now?"

"Oh, they had an assembly this afternoon so everyone's in
the gym. It's my week to direct traffic after school."  She leaned forward placing her elbows on the window frame which put our faces closer than I was used to for cordial conversation. "The school year is almost over, any plans for a summer getaway?"

"Nope, not really."

"Oh, Katelyn's been talking about Disney a lot so I assumed you'd be going this summer."

"No, probably not. Katelyn
and I have a friend that works there that she wants to see but it's not looking plausible this year."  The bell rang alerting the waiting parents that the kids would be out in only a few minutes.

Lanie glanced back to check the sidewalk and noticed that the kids were trickling out slowly. She returned to face me and asked, "
This may seem weird, but would you like to grab coffee with me sometime?"

I'm getting hit on by a hot
elementary school teacher, this is strange to me. Women flirt with me quite often; I just haven't really paid much attention to it lately. At first I wanted to say no, then I heard the giggling and the "Tristan, stop" ringing through my head and I decided there was nothing wrong with saying, "Yes, I'd love to."

She reached her hand inside
the car. "Give me your phone and I'll put my number in."  I watched as her fingers moved lithely over the keyboard, while she bit her lip in concentration. When she was finished, she glanced up at me, "I look forward to hearing from you."  She stood up, turned to walk away and then turned one last time to give me a flirty wave. She wore a white blouse with a silk scarf tied around her neck, a straight black knee-length skirt and subtle black heels. Her curvy hips made a nice shimmy as she walked away. It wasn't the emotional attachment I felt to MJ when I met her, but I was attracted to this woman physically at least.

The moment I got home with Katelyn, I sent her upstairs to do her homework. I'd been terribly lonely lately and
was actually pretty excited to see if I had anything in common with someone new. If Mary Jane was moving on, so was I.

"Lanie? Hi, it's Derrick."

"Hi. I didn’t know if you'd call me today or not. I was afraid I might have come on too strongly."

"No, you didn’t. I'd love to have coffee with you, but is this okay? With you being Katelyn's teacher and all that
, I mean."

She laughs nervously, "I think so. I've never done this before and
first grade isn’t exactly big in the scandalous grades. I don't think anyone will accuse me of playing favorites. I've wanted to get to know you since I first met you."

"That's very flattering for a guy to hear from a beautiful woman like
you. Are you free on Saturday?"

There wasn't even a pause as she answered, "Yes."  As the date plans were finalized, my guilt began to set in. It was silly of me to feel guilty when Mary Jane and I aren't together anymore, somehow it still felt as though I was cheating on her
and I hated that feeling.

Chapter Ten

*Mary Jane*

“Hola Chica!” followed by a sound of keys clanking against the kitchen table alerts me to the news that Angel is home. Most days I felt fine and went on with life as normal. Today was a day that I curled up in the bed to listen to depressing music all day while propping my feet up to keep them from swelling more. Angel sauntered in, noticed my
sad expression and asks, “Chica, what’s wrong? Move over, girl.”  I slide myself over making room for her to curl up next to me.

“I miss Derrick. I heard a song earlier by that band Halestorm that we went to see in Nashville a few years ago. It was called Break In and it was exactly the way I feel about him. It stirred up my hormones something fierce.”

“Have you talked to him? Your internship is almost over.” Her fingers trailed through my stringy blonde hair, smoothing it away from my face.

“He hasn’t wanted to speak to me the last few times I’ve called. He always makes excuses as to why he has to get off the phone.” Changing the subject, I ask, “Since my internship is almost over, have you decided what you want to do? Are we going to move back to Nashville or stay here?”

Angel pondered that briefly before saying, “I’d like to go home, back to Nashville. I miss the gang, especially our Gracie. Can you handle going back there and seeing Derrick if things don’t work out between you?”

“I’m pretty sure that Derrick ship sailed or sunk long ago. I’m with you, Nashville is home. I didn’t want to leave you or make you leave though if it isn’t what you wanted.”
  Angel and I had been friends for so long that when I got the internship, she moved with me so I wouldn’t be alone. We never would have left Gracie if we didn’t know she had Ashton for life now. “My internship is over in two weeks, so when do we start looking for a place to live?” We talked that over for a while and decided we’d start looking now since our lease would be up for renewal in a month.

The prospect of moving back heightened my mood, until work the next day. On break I was researching housing for us on my tablet when Tristan sat down. “Hello beautiful, whatchya doing?”

My eyes remain fixated on the computer screen as I say nonchalantly, “Trying to find a house for Angel and
me in Nashville.”

A clanging noise causes me to glance up. Tristan’s fork had fallen to the table, his mouth gaped open,
and his eyes bulged in shock. “What? Why? When?”

“A house. My internship’s up. Next month.” I answered the questions in the order he asked them.

“Mary Jane, you’re my best friend. You can’t leave me.”  His eyes actually became a little misty with tears and it broke my heart. Tristan has been my best friend since I moved here; we’ve spent basically every day together. We even scheduled our days off the same in order to do things together. I hadn’t realized how hard it would be to lose him until now.

“T, you know you’re my best friend
. Nashville is my home though. My family is there, blood and chosen. You could come with us. Move to Nashville, start over like you’ve always wanted. Bring your little sister. Maybe she’ll do better there.”

"You don’t think she'd be bullied in Nashville too?" he asks skeptically.

"You never know.  A new start, new town, a new chance to make friends, it may be exactly what she needs. I know of a public high school there too that is specifically for exceptional children. She could fit in; I can get information for you to see if she can attend."  He was considering it; I could almost see the wheels of thought turning in his head. If Tristan moved with us then I knew I could get through this move back with or without Derrick waiting for me. "Well?"

"Let me think about it. I'll let you know."  Tristan stood up, tossed his uneaten lunch in the trash and walked out the door.  Tristan never skips a meal, this wasn’t looking hopeful.

The parks were packed full today, it was the middle of summer which is peak season for tourists. As I shove my way through the hoards of people I keep an eye out for Tristan, though I'll never logically find him in this crowd. We had a tradition of meeting up at the parking lot after work each day in order to plan our evening entertainment. Tonight, I get to our normal bench and there is a teenage couple locked in a serious make out session. I turn my back to them, prop up against a brick wall and watch the entrance for Tristan to appear. After a half hour of standing in the blazing sun, sweating enough that I lost at least five pounds, I realize he isn’t coming.

In the last year or so that we've been close if I've learned anything about Tristan it's that sometimes he just needs room to breathe. I sent him a text to give him an out
Headed home for the night, I have a headache, Love you T.  –MJ.
We said I love you's all the time but nothing romantic ever happened between us, our friendship has never been intimate.

When I got home I went straight to my bed and popped in a movie to pass the time. My phone is strategically placed directly in my peripheral vision so I'd know immediately if Tristan responded. My mind wasn’t focusing on the movie; instead I drifted off into a memory of a day I spent with Tristan last year.

It was during off season at the parks which meant the rides for lines were almost nonexistent except on weekends of course. We chose a warm sunny day in February to have Tristan help his sister, Macy, have a day of fun away from school. When I first laid eyes on her, I wanted to cry. He knocked on the door and as I opened it she was standing there with her arms wrapped around his
waist. Her hair was slowly growing back though it still had the appearance of a buzz cut. She had a ribbon tied around her head to offer a sense of femininity.

"Hi Macy, I'm Mary Jane.
You can call me MJ."

She smiled shyly then softly responded, "Hi, MJ
."

"Tristan, if you'll wait for us in here I have a surprise for Macy." She eagerly followed me into the bedroom where I closed the door to give us some privacy. "I bought something fun for us to wear to the parks today if you're up for it."  Macy shook her head then sat in the chair that I pulled out from the vanity for her.

When I found out we'd be spending the day together I went to the costume department for help. A girl named Summer helped me to find the perfect accessory. Colorful streaked wigs so that we could both wear one and no one would think anything of it other than we're having fun. "Do you prefer purple or pink?"

"Pink," she said, smiling in wonder of what was coming. I lifted her wig out of the bag. It was a pale pink wig with soft curls and streaks of dark blue. My wig was purple with
pale pink streaks throughout. She clapped in excitement and said, "I love it!" I fixed her wig first, adding her bow to the finished product. After adjusting my wig, I added a headband, and then pulled her towards my closet.

"Grab whatever accessories you want to wear. Earrings, scarves, shoes if they're not too big. Have at it."

When she finished shopping through the closet, she came out with a new attitude on life. She was smiling and twirling around to show me her ensemble. To offset the colorful wig, she chose a black and white scarf with a flowery print. When she arrived she'd been wearing a black Tinkerbell t-shirt with denim Capri pants so for shoes she chose a set of flat sandals with straps that circled her ankle, and then added a silver anklet for bling. In her ears, she had a pair of funky owl earrings.

"You look great! Now help me?" I let her choose my outfit for the day. She apparently wanted to match which was fine with me. I had a purple Tinkerbell tank top that I paired with a set of pale pink Capri pants to match my hair. Then
I grabbed a scarf of my own that was black with white Mickey heads on it, my first treat to myself when I arrived in Florida.

Tristan
waited patiently for us in the living room. When he spotted us, his face lit up, "You guys look awesome!"  Macy ran to him, hugging him tightly. He bent to embrace her then glanced up at me mouthing, 'Thank you' with tears misting his eyes.

Our ensembles had the exact effect I hoped they would. Everyone paid attention to us in a good way though. Kids were coming up to Macy all day telling her how cool her hair was, wanting to know where she got her shirt, even guys were smiling and paying attention. At a snack stop in the afternoon we grabbed ice cream cones
to celebrate our fun day. Macy excused herself to go to the restroom giving Tristan and me a moment alone.

He placed his hand against mine, catching me off guard for a moment. "You are the best friend I could've asked for here. Today has meant the world to Macy but it's meant even more to me seeing her have fun and be happy."
Sliding off his stool, he wrapped his arms around me in a hug. "I love you, MJ."

"Aww, I love you too T," I responded. From that moment on, we were inseparable as friends and coworkers.

Back to
the present time, I noticed my movie had ended and I was staring at the menu screen again. Reluctantly I slid out of bed, trudged over to the DVD player and put another movie in. Curling up in bed watching movies used to be my favorite thing to do after a long day, now it was lonely. My phone was sitting beside the bed, I scrolled through the list of names to see who I could call when my finger stopped on Derrick's name. "Oh what the hell," I mumbled out loud before dialing his number.

"Hello?" a female voice answered.

"Oh, I'm sorry I must have the wrong number," I said, thinking Derrick must have changed his number.

"Are you looking for Derrick?
My name's Lanie and he left his phone on the table while he's stepped away to the restroom. Is this Katelyn's babysitter? If so, if you'll hold on a moment he'll be right back."

"No, I'm not the babysitter. I'm a…friend."

"Well would you like me to have him call you back tomorrow? We might be out a bit late tonight," she said with an almost nervous sounding laugh.

"Um…yeah, I mean, no. You can tell him I called
to check on Katie. Thanks."  Well that was unexpected, then again why wouldn't Derrick move on? Did I really expect him to wait two years for me? I felt the moisture on my cheeks before I even realized I was crying. My chest felt like someone dropped a boulder on it and I couldn’t breathe. This must be what a broken heart feels like. This seemed silly to be crying over a woman answering the phone without knowing who she is, though her suggestive words of spending the night together repeated in my head.

The doorbell interrupted my moment of self pity. Trudging down the hallway I peek into Angel's room, the bed is made up and hasn't been slept in again. I know that because
I'm the one that makes her bed; Angel's a slob. Shoulders slumped, hair disheveled, I open the door to see Tristan standing there smiling. His smile fades into a worrisome look. "What's wrong?" He steps inside, wrapping his arms around me. I slide my arms under his and bring my hands up to rest on his shoulder blades. The hug elicits gasping sobs to explode from me as though I'd lost all control of my emotions. Tristan gently guides me to the couch then takes the seat next to me. He reaches across my body to grab a tissue on the table next to me. "Talk to me, MJ."

"You didn't meet me after work today. What happened?" I say through gasping breaths as I try to calm myself.

"I needed some time to think. Is that why you're crying?" His look of worry became a look of shame he felt at causing me pain.

I shook my head to ease his worries, "No, sweetie." I told him
about my phone call to Derrick and the mysterious woman who answered.

"Maybe she's Katelyn's babysitter or possibly a client he's meeting with? Doesn’t he run a security company?"

"She asked if I was the babysitter, so that's out. And if she was a client, why would she answer his phone and know about his daughter? I mean I suppose that's possible but not probable. It doesn't matter."

Tristan pushed my hair behind my ear and said, "Of course it matters. You wouldn't be so hurt right now if it didn't. How about I make us some fruit smoothies and we put in a good horror movie to take our mind off things?"

"Sounds good. Make mine a strawberry banana?" I asked with a grin.

"You got it. Why don't you go wash your face and pick out the
movie?"

Tristan went to the kitchen and I stepped into the bathroom to splash water on my face. As I glanced in the mirror I cringed at how puffy my face looked. Cameron called what I was doing 'the ugly cry' and boy is that an accurate description. My face resembled that of a person having an allergic reaction. My skin was red and
puffy; my eyes were bloodshot and barely able to open. I grabbed a clean washcloth from the closet and soaked it with the coldest water possible. Pressing it against my face felt like heaven. In a few minutes I began to look normal again.

Cabin in the Woods is the movie I chose for our viewing. Whenever one of us felt lonely or down we chose a horror movie because no one really gets a happy ending in those so they didn’t make us feel worse.

Placing it in the player, I joined Tristan in the kitchen to search the cabinets. "We should have some…Ah…here it is." I pulled down a paper bucket of microwave popcorn for us. I pressed the buttons on the microwave and said, "In three and a half minutes we'll have some buttery goodness too."