The Perfect Match: A New Adult Erotic Romance (Inseparable Book 2) (21 page)

Kurt rubbed his face and sat forward. “Yeah.” Camden went into her room and slammed her door.

“Get your shit together, I’m taking you over to see Polly,” Cathy said with her arms crossed under her breasts. “You should be ashamed of yourself for coming here.”

“I ain’t done nothing to be ashamed of,” he said quietly.

“Polly is going out of her mind! Why would you do this to her?” she asked, standing in front of him with her fists on her hips.

He looked at her for a moment, then shook his head. “Do you know what she did to me?”

“Oh my god, she told Trey something you said,” she said in an exasperated tone. “So what?”

“She told him after they slept together,” he growled back.

She blinked a few times, “And? You knew they’d been together.”

“I didn’t tell it to her until after they broke up and we started seeing each other,” he explained. “Did she forget to mention
that
part?”

“Wait,” Cathy said with a frown. “That’s not right.”

“Yes, it is,” he said as he got up. “There’s no other way she could have known what she told him. No one knew but me and Uncle Jack. She even admitted it to my face.”

“No, I don’t believe it.” Cathy tried to stop him at the door. “Wait, you need to talk to her.”

“No, I don’t,” he whispered. “This whole trip was a mistake. I’m going back to Morgan City.” He left Cathy standing at the door and began the long walk back to get his car at Dave and Buster’s.

J
ack hadn’t spoken since Julie left, but Polly refused to leave the dining room table where they were both sitting. Her stubborn hope was that Kurt would have to come back to get Charlotte and his things at some point. Maybe she could get him talk to her. Maybe he would forgive her whatever it was he thought she’d done. She wiped her eyes again and pushed those thoughts away for what felt like the millionth time that day.

Charlotte had gone to sleep hours ago after the two of them finally got the girls in bed. When Julie had left without saying goodbye, Lisa had a total meltdown. Polly guessed it reminded her of when Sophie and Jack had fought before their divorce.

Jen had shut down completely until Polly hugged her goodnight. As they sat together on her frilly pink sheets, Jen asked in a scared voice, “Is Julie-mom coming back?” Polly held her and told her reassuring things, but privately worried.

Jack had kept a secret from Julie that Polly still didn’t understand entirely. Since buying the house, Julie had worried constantly about the debt, fearing something would happen and steal her new life away. The way Julie explained it, Jack had taken a major risk without consulting her. She considered it serious enough to take Jackson and go stay with her mother.

Polly had pieced together bits and pieces of the secret from everyone, but it still confused her because Jack refused to explain. She knew Jack had brought Kurt to Houston to try and get him a job with a transport company. When Kurt had gotten the job and went on a delivery run, he’d learned something critical for Jack in the process. After Polly mentioned where Kurt was working in passing to Trey, he evidently pieced together whatever the secret was and sent an email bomb that wrecked their plans.

Her phone beeped with a message from Cathy.
Kurt was here when I got home from work. Call me if you want an update.
Her heart pounded in her throat as she read the words.
He’d been there with that little slut Camden
, she thought, but pushed that pain away to deal with another day.

After panicking for hours when Kurt had gone missing, Cathy called late in the afternoon to report he was drinking alone at the bar in Dave and Buster’s. Polly didn’t want to scare him off, so she told Cathy to keep an eye on him until she could get up there, but Camden had found him first.

Standing up from the dining room table, she went out the patio door into the predawn cold for privacy as she called her friend.

“I can’t believe you’re still up,” Cathy asked when she answered, sounding weary herself.

“Yeah, I can’t sleep,” Polly said. “Did he say anything?”

“I didn’t understand it, but maybe you will. Did you tell something to Trey that Kurt told you?”

“Sort of,” she sighed. “Trey always obsessed about what Kurt was doing for some reason. This whole thing got started when I mentioned in passing where Kurt was working.”

“Kurt says he only told you about his job after you started seeing him.”

“No, I’d overheard him and Jack whispering about it the day he got the job.” Then cold chills shot up her back when Polly remembered the job offer that Kurt had told her about. “Oh, shit! He didn’t know I overheard him and Jack talking. He thinks I didn’t know until he showed me his offer letter.”

“So that’s what he meant,” Cathy said. “Apparently Trey said you told him after you’d had sex or something,” Cathy said.

“No wonder he’s so pissed at me,” Polly said as she covered her mouth with her hand. “He mentioned talking to Trey and I know they haven’t spoken since Thanksgiving. He must have gone to see him today! God, what a mess. I can only imagine what kind of lies Trey filled his head with.”

“Oh, one more thing, he said he was heading back to Morgan City when he left a while ago,” Cathy said.

“Then hopefully he’ll be coming by here for Charlotte and his things,” Polly sighed. “I have to get him to listen to me.”

“Look, if it means anything I’m kicking Camden out of my apartment. We had a huge fight about all this after he left. She’s a total pig anyway and I was getting tired of doing her dishes.”

“I appreciate you standing by me,” Polly said, fighting tears again. “You’re a real friend, Cathy.”

“Hang in there,” she said. “I gotta get some sleep. So do you.”

“I will. Talk to you soon,” she said and ended the call.

Looking through the sliding glass door, she could see Jack still leaning over the dining room table with his head in his hands. His shoulders were moving as he sobbed quietly over the paperwork on the table. She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and marched back into the house.

“Okay, the pity party is officially over. Let’s get to work fixing this shit,” she said as she sat down next to him.

He looked up with a scowl at her. “I’m already doing everything I can think of.”

“Let’s see,” she said as she ticked off her fingers. “You broke your nephew’s heart, you kept a dangerous secret from your wife, you’ve pushed away all the people who’ve tried to help you, and your sitting here pretending to be busy so we’ll leave you alone. Did I miss anything else you’re doing?”

“Fuck you, Polly,” Jack growled. “You can leave any time you want.”

“No, I can’t,” she said as her rage boiled over. “The man I’m in love with thinks I betrayed him because of you. Kurt
idolizes
you, Jack. When he and I sat around dreaming, he wanted to be more like you than his own father! Do you know what you did to him when you accused him of talking and threw him out of here?” Her hands were clenched into fists as she leaned into Jack’s face.

“He told someone what we were doing and caused all this! I know he did because
I
sure as hell didn’t,” he shouted back.

“No, you son of a bitch,
I
did! I overheard the two of you discussing his job and mentioned where he was working to Trey.”

“Trey?” he asked with a puzzled expression. “What’s Trey got to do with this?”

“Who do you think sent the fucking email?” she shouted in exasperation.

“Mike Phillips,” Jack muttered. “It had to be Mike.” He looked away with a deep frown on his face.

“Wait, what does your old boss have to do with what happened?” Polly asked, feeling totally lost.

“Oh my God,” Jack whispered. “I’m such an idiot.”

Charlotte came stumbling into the dining room. “Come on guys, stop yelling or you’ll wake the kids.”

“I think Kurt figured it was Trey who sent the email and went to see him today,” Polly said, trying to keep Jack talking. “This is all
my
fault, Jack, not his. He never told me anything about your plans. All I did was tell Trey the name of the company when I overheard you two talking. Trey must have figured out the rest himself and used it to get Kurt fired after we broke up.”

Charlotte sat down on the other side of Jack. “I knew you asked Kurt to come here to do something for you, but he never told me either, Uncle Jack.”

Jack was glassy-eyed and panting like he was pushing back a heavy weight. “I can’t fix this,” he whispered. “I don’t even know where to begin.”

“Let us help,” Polly said.

“I’ll make some coffee,” Charlotte said as she got up and patted her uncle on his shoulder.

It took the whole pot of coffee and the rest of the night before Polly understood the whole situation. Jack had wanted to know why every transport company had doubled their quotes at the same time. After Kurt found out that Jack’s old company,
MJP Engineering,
was getting cut rate shipping it hadn’t been too far of a stretch for Jack to figure out what happened.

Jack had discovered his old boss, who was also the man Sophie had left him for a couple of years before, had extended loans and investments to transport companies to get favorable rates. After he had some leverage it wasn’t hard to imagine him asking each of them to stop doing business with his competitor, Deep Drilling, by raising their quotes when asked for bids.

That left Deep Drilling paying such high shipping costs that there was no profit from the sales Jack had brought in. So when the email came, Jack assumed it was Mike’s final punishment for stealing away his most lucrative customers. The idea that Trey was behind the email took Jack a while to accept.

“Whatever problems I had with Laurie over the years, she’d never have done something like this to me. Trey’s my blood,” Jack said as he stared into the steaming cup of coffee. “I brought him in as an intern, for fuck’s sake.”

Polly nodded. “He fooled me too, Jack.” The three of them sat quietly for a moment.

“Well, at some point your boss is gonna figure out you didn’t steal anything, so what are you gonna do then?” Charlotte asked.

“We’re completely screwed,” Jack admitted. “Johnson and Abernathy won’t deliver for us and getting someone else at the last minute is impossible. Those guys plan their deliveries weeks, sometimes months out. Without a way to deliver the equipment I sold, the company will be hit hard, maybe even go under.”

“So call Great Uncle Charlie,” Charlotte suggested. “Maybe he could help.”

Jack nodded and said, “I was thinking that very thing, but there are more important things to take care of first.”

“Hopefully showering is one of them,” Polly mentioned with a grin.

He chuckled sadly and nodded his head. “I've got to make things right with Julie. I should have know better than to keep secrets after what we’ve been through.”

“What do you mean?” Charlotte asked, but Polly answered.

“Julie was pregnant with Jackson for months and kept putting off telling Jack. When she sprang it on him one night, he left town without a word to her for weeks.”

“Oh, I never knew,” Charlotte said, then took a sip of coffee.

“It wasn’t my finest moment,” Jack said. “But we swore we’d never keep secrets again. I didn’t think a secret from work would backfire this way.”

“Well, go clean up, buy some pretty roses, and go grovel until she comes back,” Polly said with an encouraging smile. When it faded, Jack took her hand.

“I’m gonna make things right with Kurt, too,” he said. “You were spot on. I wasn’t being fair to him. I’m sorry it ended up hurting you.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not giving up,” Polly said with a quivering chin. “He’s mine and we’re gonna get through this.”

“I’ll help,” Charlotte said. “I know he burns hot now and then, but Kurt can see sense if you put it the right way. Of course, sometimes that means a hard stick upside his head, but I’m willing to beat some sense into him for my new sister.”

That made them all chuckle, then Jack stood up. “Thanks for helping me work through this. I never expected...” He stopped and pinched his lips for a moment until he got control of himself. “You’re both good friends.”

“Naw,” Polly said, imitating Kurt’s Cajun accent with a grin. “We family.”

* * *

J
ulie came home later that morning. Polly and Charlotte had kept the kids busy while Jack had gone after her, then napped while Lisa and Jen played with their new Christmas toys. Polly had just started dreaming about making up with Kurt when the shrill cry of the girls woke her.

“Julie-mom! Julie-mom!” They ran from the living room to embrace Julie’s legs, not letting go until she sat down on the floor to hug them both. Polly spotted a large bouquet of red roses on the ground behind her back.

“I’m so sorry I left without saying goodbye. I’ll never do that again,” she promised with eyes full of tears. “Never again.” The kisses and hugs slowed down just as Jack came in carrying Jackson and their overnight bag with a broad smile on his face.

“Good choice,” Polly said, nodding at the roses.

“Thanks again,” he said as he stepped around Julie and the girls. “Take Jackson for a sec?”

“Come here, little man,” she cooed and held out her arms for him.

“Da! Da Da!” Jackson said as he reached out for her. She gave him kisses until he squealed, then sat him down to toddle between the couch and coffee table.

Jack went into their bedroom to put away their things while the girls pulled Julie into the living room to show her what they’d been doing. Polly couldn’t help but notice the dark circles under her best friend’s eyes.
They probably match my own
, she thought to herself. After the excitement wore off, Julie scooted back to lean against the couch.

“Jack explained what’s been going on. I’m so sorry about Kurt. Have you heard from him yet?”

Polly shook her head and took a deep breath. “I’m in for the long haul. I’m not letting him go.” The room got a little blurry until she wiped her eyes.

“I seem to remember feeling that way once when someone was mad at me. You gave me some pretty good advice, as I remember.”