Jenny wasn’t sure whether to laugh or shake her head at his stupidity.
Didn’t you read the warning on the package?
She put on her customer smile and patiently escorted him to the emergency room door. She didn’t go further. She couldn’t. After depositing him on his front step hours later, she took his keys and promised to deliver his car later.
Some people should just stay home on holidays — for their own safety.
She had called Grant as he asked, and he met her at her apartment that night, and each night thereafter Grant ended up staying each time and left early to get to work. He had asked her if she minded each night. She shrugged and said, “Up to you.”
Apparently that wasn’t the answer he hoped for, because the last time she said it he frowned and shook his head. Still, she was too tired to discuss it much and he didn’t push. Four days after New Year’s, her phone rang around 10 at night. Him.
She answered and tried to sound cheerful as her passenger slept in the back seat.
“I’m not coming by tonight, Jen.”
“No problem.”
“You’re not going to ask why?” He sounded irritated.
“It’s none of my business. I assume you’re busy.”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
She heard voices calling him to join them.
“Better get back, sounds like you’re missed,” she said.
He’s at a party. She wondered if it was one like she attended before. She hung up before he could say more than “Jen.” Why did that piss her off? It was his job to attend those things. An image popped into her head of David and the crowned starlet he’d stepped out with. She also remembered the fact that Grant hadn’t said anything about a party or asked her to attend
. Great. I knew it wouldn’t last.
• • •
Grant stared at the phone.
Did she really hang up on me?
She didn’t even ask or wait for an explanation. He wondered if she even cared to know. Truthfully, she had not seemed to want him at her apartment these last few nights. She didn’t say so and he wasn’t one to jump to conclusions but she seemed disinterested. He wanted to be there and that was good enough. Still, after Emma’s fiasco, he wasn’t about to wear out his welcome. Give her some room, he told himself. He flipped the phone closed and turned around to the room full of people.
Shit. Speak of the Devil.
“Grant!” Emma glided toward him with a pasted on smile. He looked around for Hodge, hoping for an exit excuse.
“Emma. You look well.” He walked past her.
“Thank you, honey. I am.” She slipped an arm through his and stepped in beside him. “Have you missed me?”
He lifted her fingers from his arm and dropped them. “Not really. What are you doing here? Does Hodge know you crashed his party?”
“I came to see you, actually. Don’t you think it’s about time you got over your mad? I miss you, honey.” She drew her lips into a practiced pout and looked around to see who might be watching.
“That’s a laugh. The last time I saw you, you had your hands on someone else’s ass. I seriously doubt you’ve thought about me more than a minute, Emma. Missed your meal ticket, maybe, but not me.” He trod toward the bar.
“Come on, Grant. You know you can’t be mad at me forever. You love me,” she called after him.
Grant stopped in his tracks and whirled back. “No, Emma. I don’t love you. I never did. I
thought
I did once, but now I realize it was never that. Lust, maybe — or possibly it was just better than nothing. Regardless, I’m seeing someone now and I’m done with you.”
Emma glanced nervously to the people standing nearby then laughed hesitantly. “You’re just trying to make me jealous, aren’t you! Of course, you are. No need, honey. I’m back and I plan to stay.”
“Like hell,” he muttered. Grant slipped through the throng of people, found Hodge, and asked him why she was here.
Hodge’s eyes popped. “I didn’t know she was. She must have sweet-talked the guys at the door to let her in. I sure didn’t see her.” Hodge frowned and peeked around. “Want me to run her off?”
“No, don’t worry about it. I’m going anyway. Lauren’s got things under control so you don’t need me tonight.”
“You planning to see Jenny?” Hodge asked.
“Not tonight. She’s working.”
And she doesn’t seem to want to see me any more than I want to see Emma.
• • •
Grant went home and slept alone. It was a restless and unsatisfying slumber. When he woke, his mood darkened significantly. He seriously needed a vacation. Until now, he never thought it possible because Hodge needed him. With Lauren back on the scene, personal time would be easier to find. Grant decided he’d broach the subject with Hodge today.
While his coffee brewed, Grant went online and checked email then poked around for travel opportunities. There was something dull and lifeless about traveling alone. Even the thought of it lacked appeal. He closed his laptop just as a rap on the door sounded. He checked the landing outside the door. Jenny with two coffee cups from Starbucks.
Things are looking up.
She waltzed in, handing him a cup as she passed, and planted herself on one of the kitchen stools that lined the counter. “Okay, so I’ll ask,” she said. “Why?”
“You mean why didn’t I come over last night?”
“Of course. What else?”
“I don’t know. Sometimes you get a little cryptic. Last night you said it wasn’t your business. For all I know you could have meant just about anything.”
“It isn’t my business. You don’t owe me an explanation and I don’t expect you to show up every night.”
“Then I guess we’re good.” Another rap on the door interrupted him. Now who could be here? He strode to the door and whisked it open.
“Emma?” Grant gritted his teeth.
Not now.
“Hey there, sweetie. I was almost ready to pull out my key but I thought I’d knock first.”
“Why are you here?” he asked.
Jenny came up behind him and stared at the two. Emma slipped through the door and extended a hand to her.
“Hello. I’m Emma.”
“The ex?”
“Um, not exactly ex.” Emma shot a coy look at Grant. “I thought we settled that last night, honey.”
“Last night,” Jenny repeated.
Grant groaned.
“And who might you be?” Emma asked. The saccharin voice sounded like fingernails scratching glass.
He opened his mouth to introduce Jenny but before the words came out, Jenny’s hand was up. “I’m Jenny. The driver.”
Why did she say that?
“Grant has a driver? Sweetie, you’re moving up in the world, aren’t you?” Emma stroked his cheek.
The action made Jenny step backward and sidle toward the door. “Well, technically, I work for Lauren.” Jenny used her business voice. “Mr. Tucker, I’ll be waiting downstairs.”
Grant saw cold-as-ice daggers in Jenny’s eyes and Emma seemed to enjoy it thoroughly. He knew she wouldn’t wait. He imagined the sound of rubber peeling out as soon as she reached her car. There was a part of him that wanted her to speak up and put Emma in her place. A part of him that wanted her to acknowledge what he had thought was between them. He supposed it was more inconsequential to her. The door closed with a clap behind her.
“When did drivers get so pretty?” Emma smiled. “What a glamorous life you have. Still, I see you haven’t sold my car yet. Wanted to hang on to a part of me?”
“No. Don’t kid yourself.” Grant grabbed the cups from the counter and walked to the door. “Emma. Leave.” He didn’t bother to look at her as he followed Jenny.
Emma. Bad Timing. Bad Karma. And incredibly Bad Woman.
• • •
As Grant expected, when he reached the lot her car squealed away. He shrugged. Let her steam for a while. Might be interesting to see where this goes. Jenny’s never acted like anything mattered to her when it came to him; maybe it was time to challenge her thought process.
They’d never really talked about being together, or a relationship. Shit, he wasn’t even sure he wanted that. She certainly had an acidic side to her personality. Although that apparently disappeared once she dropped the front. The sticky-note thing came to mind. Her way of saying what she didn’t seem to be able to voice. He had the small squares of paper in his wallet, his favorite on top. Two of them actually, both labeled, “I like these around me.” She had stuck one on each of his biceps.
“God dammit, Jenny.” He stomped to his car, fumbled his keys into the ignition and headed toward the freeway.
Grant’s car growled to a stop behind hers, blocking any hope of exiting the parking spot. Not that she intended to leave. No, she intended to lock herself in her apartment and curse him for a while, then go to work. After all, why should he be different from David or any other guy she dated? Face it, she was meant to be alone. She was capable of handling things herself. Grant had only complicated things by keeping her up all night, writing notes, and playing drinking games. His showing up every night, staying over, made it difficult to keep up with her bookkeeping. Yes. Grant Tucker was bad for business.
“You didn’t wait for my answer,” he called when she started to make an escape.
“Answer to what?”
“Your question — the one you asked when you brought this.” He handed her a coffee cup. “It’s probably ice cold now.”
She didn’t drink it. He had something to say so she waited him out.
“Hodge had a celebration for another contract signing, a young girl who’s going to star in an upcoming television sitcom. I found her so I had to be there.” He sipped the coffee once then walked the cup to a nearby dumpster and tossed it. “Jen, if you’d given me any indication that you wanted me to be with you, I would have jumped in the car and been at your door in a heartbeat. You always sound so disinterested. You said more on those damn little sticky notes than I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth.”
“I never expected you to be — ”
He held up a hand. “I know. I know. You never expected me to be around all the time. You don’t want that. I get it. Strange, too, because I never thought I’d really want to be. Sometimes you’re so grouchy and angry I want to pull my hair out. I get it though, because I’m kind of that way myself sometimes. The other night, I had a chance to see you being yourself. No big roadblocks to maneuver around or walls to break down. You were finally open with me.”
“I thought things were moving forward. Obviously, I didn’t know about Emma.”
“There’s nothing to know. She showed up at Hodge’s last night, uninvited. I spoke to her for about five minutes and left.”
“She isn’t staying … I mean … she has a key.” Jenny walked her cup to the dumpster and joined it with his. She had a key to the apartment that they had shared.
“A key to my apartment which doesn’t work because I changed the locks two months after she left.”
“But you lived with her. That’s serious.”
“I thought so at the time. I know better now. It’s only serious if both people are on the same wavelength. Emma’s only serious about Emma.” He brushed a hand down her arm and grasped her fingers. “Let’s go up.”
“Still, she’s beautiful, and you — ”
Bought her a car.
“Not so beautiful if you know her.” Grant’s cell phone rang. He glanced at the display and sighed. “It’s Hodge. I’d better take it.”
While he spoke, Jenny opened the apartment and walked in with him trailing behind. He stopped inside the door, closed it, and leaned against the wall, listening.
“I’ll be there in an hour,” Grant said before hanging up.
“Problems?” Jenny asked.
“Apparently so.” The furrows in his brow deepened. “Josh is in the hospital. I have to go.”
She gasped. “What happened? Is he okay?”
“Not sure. Hodge just said to meet him at United Methodist. Stress-related breakdown or fatigue — something.” He reached for the door handle. “You want to come?”
“No!” She forced a calmer tone into her voice. “I’m terrible at those things. I get nauseous just walking into a hospital.”
“What if I said I wanted you to? Would you do it?” He leveled his gaze straight into her eyes.
Great. Put the guilt trip on me. A stronger woman would say no but I’m not that woman.
She opened her mouth to reply but no appropriate excuse came. Clamping her lips back together, she shook her head then converted it to a nod. “I’ll get my purse.”
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
“Do you want me to or not? Just tell me.” She put hands on hips and matched his stare.
Without answering, Grant pulled her right hand from her hip, tightened his fingers around it and pulled her with him.
• • •
An hour later, they walked up to a waiting room where a very agitated Hodge paced. Lauren listened as the doctor spoke to them.
Jenny’s throat constricted. After eight years, this room still looked the same. It disappointed her that even the smell was familiar. Clorox and antiseptic. One for mopping the blood from the floor, the other for mopping the infection from the injured.
She forced herself not to hyperventilate. Breathe in, breathe out. Easy. Concentrate. Breathe In.
“Hello, there.” The doctor’s eyes took in both of them approaching.
“Oh my God.” Jenny exhaled the pent up breath. This was the same doctor. The same waiting room. Oh, God, please not the same circumstances.
Grant cocked his head in confusion. “Jen, are you okay?” She wagged her head furtively.
“No. This is where … that’s Dad’s doctor … same room. Same smell. No. Not okay. He’s not okay.” She slumped against him. Her vision clouded and she knew if she didn’t sit down, she’d likely keel over. “Have to sit,” she mumbled as she melted into a padded bench.
It’s okay, honey.
She could hear her Dad as he spoke to her that day in the car.
You’re going to be okay. Everything’s going to be fine.
But it wasn’t.
Grant approached the back of Lauren’s chair and listened while the doctor finished his directions. Jenny felt as if she witnessed herself in the room eight years earlier. She had been in the same chair where Lauren now sat. Her mother stood in Grant’s place with her arms resting on Jenny’s slumped shoulders.