When You Were Mine [Second Chances 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (2 page)

“C’mon then. Let’s go get you a drink,” Taryn said.

Cora let out a deep breath. Maybe a drink would help her jittery nerves.

They passed through the main living area, where Steven and Cory paused in their epic battle over the remote control. Cora gave them a quick wave and tried not to notice that they were staring at her boobs.

As they walked into the dining room, Cora asked, “Is it me or do the twins get creepier each time I see them?”

Taryn smirked and said, “Not just you. To their credit, though, they don’t do that to anyone they’re actually related to by blood.”

“Still,” Cora said, shuddering slightly.

Together they walked into the kitchen where the women were gathered. She heard several voices call out her name in greeting so she made her way around the room exchanging greetings by way of hugs.

When Jane, Taryn’s mother-in-law asked, “Hey. Where the heck is mine?” Cora moved over to where she stood chopping at the counter and dutifully gave her a hug and a kiss. “Hi, Jane.”

Jane set the knife down, then pulled her in closer and said, a grin on her face, “Good to see you, sweetheart.”

A couple of minutes later she was settled onto a stool at the countertop bar with a glass of wine. She realized that Taryn had really won the lottery so far as families went. She’d gotten to know the entire group over the years and she genuinely liked each one of them. Except maybe the twins.

Unsurprisingly, Taryn pushed a cutting board and a stack of vegetables her way and said, “Here ya go. Chop these while I stare longingly at your wine.”

“You can smell it, if you want,” Cora said, smirking.

Taryn narrowed her eyes and then pushed more carrots toward her.

Cora waited dutifully as Taryn moved to the butcher block and retrieved a large chef’s knife. As Taryn passed it over, she gestured to the carrots and asked, “How do you want these cut?”

“Julienne cut, please.”

“Not a chance. How about I slice them in rounds? That’s a pound and a half of carrots.”

Taryn frowned at her and said, “Fine, fine. I mostly just wanted to see if you’d do it anyway. Rounds make the most sense.”

“Lack of sleep makes you sadistic, Tare.”

Taryn smirked and said, “Evan’s been hiding upstairs with the menfolk since noon for a reason.”

Impulsively, Cora set aside the knife and slid off the stool. She pulled Taryn into a hug and quietly said, “You’re doing great, even if you feel like a crazy lady.”

Taryn squeezed her and whispered, “Thank you. Now can I please just sniff your wine?”

Cora laughed, pushed the glass toward her on the counter, and said, “Have at it.”

A few minutes later, the room was clamoring with several different conversations at once. As she chopped, she was half listening to them all and talking with Maureen about her webpage. She’d tried to make one for her practice and it was rudimentary at best. She was going to have to give up and hire it out. Since she was family, it made the most sense to use Maureen.

They discussed the general layout and color scheme that she had in mind. When Maureen started to talk about search engine optimization, Cora stared blankly.

“Search engine optimization is when you—”

Maureen broke off in the middle of her explanation. Cora watched as her eyes shifted toward the doorway of the kitchen. The entire room went silent. She knew Jamie was standing there. Even with her back facing toward him, she could feel his eyes on her. Slowly, she set the knife down and turned around.

Jamie stood in the doorway of the kitchen, frozen, as if he was unsure it was safe to enter. She gave him a wave and said, “Hey.”

Their eyes connected, and she felt the same familiar longing. It had been years, but he had barely changed. Maybe he looked a little older but his eyes still had that same mischievous sparkle that she remembered. She smiled in greeting. Mostly because she couldn’t help herself.

That familiar smile tugged at the corners of his mouth in answer. He raised a hand in greeting and said, “Hey.”

She felt that stupid rush of warmth come over her. It was the same one that she had always felt when he smiled at her. She cursed herself mentally, broke eye contact, and turned around to continue chopping vegetables. She’d have to engage in some sort of conversation with him at some point, but she certainly didn’t want to do it with all these witnesses.

As she calmly chopped, she heard the sound of the refrigerator opening and then closing. Seconds later, he said, “As you were, ladies.”

Everyone’s eyes turned from the doorway back to her. She remained stubbornly silent. She was absolutely not rehashing the moment with his sisters and his mother. Not going to happen.

Wisely, Taryn started the conversation again and slowly everyone else joined in. Cora focused on the vegetables in front of her and continued slicing until Maureen finally called her name and shook her out of her reverie.

“What?” she asked. “Oh, sorry. I was in the zone.”

“I can see that,” Maureen said. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Cora said. “Fine.”

Maureen only raised an eyebrow at her.

“I’m fine,” Cora snapped.

She watched as Maureen held up her hands in surrender and then felt guilty.

“Sorry, sorry,” Cora said. “Clearly, I’m not fine. It was weird. It’s been six years but everyone still knew it was going to be weird.”

“The dead silence didn’t help either, I’m sure,” Maureen added.

Cora shook her head and laughed. “Not in the least. Thank you, though. I’ll survive.”

A little over an hour and a half later, all of the women and children had migrated to the rooftop of the building. When Evan had purchased the building, one of the first things that he’d done was turn the roof into a large outdoor seating area with a grill, a fire pit, some large picnic tables and a greenhouse tucked off to one side.

The family all mingled upstairs now as Evan manned the grill. When she went over to say hello, she spied several rib eye steaks in varying stages of doneness. She poked him in the ribs and said, “Hey there.”

“Hey Cora,” he said, leaning over to give her a quick one-armed hug as he tended to the steaks. “Good to see you! How’s it goin’?”

“Not too shabby,” she said. “My dad sends his best. He got stuck going to some mandatory work retreat this weekend. He wanted to be here. He sent a gift along though.”

“Sophie will be thrilled.” After a short pause, he asked, “How’s he doing?”

Her adopted mother had passed away last year. It still stung to think of her. She read the unasked question on his face as well so she answered in kind for both of them. “There are good days and bad days. We just move forward, ya know?”

“I guess that’s the only thing you can do,” he murmured, giving her arm a squeeze.

“I hear you’re looking to open another location,” she said, remembering that Taryn had mentioned that the last time they’d gotten lunch.

She couldn’t help but have a soft spot for Evan. He was a good guy. Anyone that was able to make her sister that wildly happy was clearly a keeper.

A grin spread across his face and he said, “Yeah. I think after the baby is born, I’m going to open up a shop in Burbank. We’re looking at space.”

“That’s awesome. You’re going to have to hire on more staff, right?”

He considered for a minute and said, “Yeah. Probably. Kate, my part-timer is looking for more hours, but I’d need a full-timer, too.”

“Sounds like you’ve got a lot to consider,” Cora said.

“Yeah. That’s why I want to hold off until the baby is born. Taryn’s morning sickness has been hitting at really random times. We were up all night last night. I don’t want her to be any more stressed.”

“She mentioned. You were up too?”

Evan snorted and then asked, “Can you imagine how much trouble I’d be in if she was throwing up all night and I was snoring away in bed?”

“Smart man,” Cora said. “Is this ready enough to start bringing up the side dishes, do you think?”

Evan poked at one of the steaks with his finger and said, “Yeah. Just about. Can you try and make her sit down? She’s been running around all day.”

“I can try,” Cora said. “You, of all people, know how stubborn she is.”

“True story,” he said as he tipped his bottle of beer at her in salute.

Cora moved toward the door that led downstairs into the apartment. She grabbed Jane, Maureen, Christine, and Patty along the way. Between them, they managed to get the side dishes together and mostly upstairs before Taryn wandered into the kitchen.

“Hey. What the hell, guys? Why didn’t you come get me?”

“Because you’ve been running around since I got here, and probably before,” Cora said.

Christine piped in, “Have a seat, honey. We can handle getting everything up there. You must be exhausted.”

“Oh Jesus,” Taryn said, a startled expression on her face. “Do I look exhausted?”

“Oh shut up. You look all glowy and radiant. Even on three hours’ sleep. Just let us take the damn food upstairs, Taryn,” Cora said.

Cora watched as her sister let out a watery sigh and said, “Okay. You win. But only because you said I’m radiant and glowy.”

Thirty minutes later, people were settled in for dinner. She was seated near the end of the table, next to Taryn and Evan who were helping Sophie feed herself bits of hot dog and carrot. Cora was eating and taking pictures of Sophie with her cell phone. She was so adorable in her sunny yellow dress, her face smeared with carrot.

As the evening wore on, Sophie opened her presents and had the customary piece of cake. She ended up wearing most of it on her face and so Cora took several pictures of that, too. She couldn’t wait to go through them all with Taryn.

Later, when people had already started to make their way home, Cora and Taryn sat in front of the small fire pit. Sophie lay sleeping in her lap. She had been so excited that apparently she’d skipped her afternoon nap. It was barely dark outside, and already she was passed out.

Taryn hauled herself up, then scooped the sleeping girl off Cora’s lap and said, “Be back in a few. Gotta put my girl to bed.”

Cora grinned and said, “Take your time.”

Snuggling back into the seat, Cora slid down another comfortable inch and then took a sip of her coffee.

As she set her cup down, Jamie walked up. “Hey, Cora. Is it okay if I sit?” he asked hesitantly.

“Sure, sure. Have a seat.”

“You’re sure? I just have this feeling that you’re going to get up and wander away,” he said, a teasing grin on his face.

She winced and said, “Yeah. Sorry about that. After the last time, I realized you probably thought I was avoiding you. I’m not really. I just wasn’t really enjoying the fact that your family stopped talking and stared at us every time we were within ten feet of each other. I wonder what they were waiting for.”

“No clue. But, yeah. Sorry. They’re nosy,” he admitted.

“Not your fault. They mean well, I think.”

“Mostly. My mother is a little cagey,” Jamie said, a smirk on his face.

“She’s wily, that one is,” Cora agreed. “She sent me four separate emails to remind me you were moving back.”

He snorted and said, “Subtle.”

“So, uh…welcome back, I guess.”

He gave another laugh as he settled onto the cushion next to hers, and then said, “Thanks. So, catch me up on the last six years.”

“Hmm. Well. I got my doctorate in child and adolescent psychology. I opened my own practice a little bit earlier this year. It’s doing pretty well so far,” she said. “What about you?”

“I spent the last six years buried at work until I realized that I was miserable. Then I decided it was time to come back home. I missed my family. I missed everything about this place. New York has a completely different vibe to it,” he said, frowning.

“Every so often I think about going somewhere else, but I really don’t think I could leave Taryn. Or my dad. Especially not now.”

“Yeah. I was really sorry to hear about your mom, Cora. She was a great lady. I thought about sending a card or something, but wasn’t sure whether it would be appropriate under the circumstances.”

“I didn’t open them,” she confessed. “I couldn’t. It felt rude to throw them away so I didn’t but…” Cora had no idea why she had told him that. She hadn’t told anyone that.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’d love to tell you that it gets easier to deal with, but it doesn’t. Maybe it just gets easier to put it away.”

“I hope,” Cora said. “What are your plans now? Are you going to open up your own agency?”

She watched as a huge grin spread across his face. With a nod he said, “Yep. I’m going around to look at some space with Patty this week. I’m really hoping to find a good rental. I may eventually buy something but I think a small space would be good for now.”

“She found me a great spot in a little business complex,” Cora said. “All I needed was a couple of rooms and a small kitchenette area.”

“Yeah. Something like that,” he said. “It doesn’t need to be huge. It’ll be just me for a little while anyway.”