Back for Seconds (19 page)

His eyes bore into hers, daring her to defy him. She tipped her head and squeezed past him through the door. Just as she cleared the door frame he gave her a firm swat on her backside, which made her gasp and spin around. “That’s one,” he said with that insufferable smirk. “You get the rest Friday night.”

He closed the door between them.

Joely ended up working all the way up until Friday. She had to produce enough cookies to last the weekend, making six days’ worth of inventory over the course of three days. By the time the weekend rolled around, she was ready for the mini-vacation, though she had no idea what to expect with Xander in the driver’s seat.

He sent over another outfit that Friday afternoon, another dress, with a white bodice with capped sleeves and black skirt with a tulip hem. He also provided lingerie to wear underneath, complete with an ivory embroidered bustier with garters, matching panties and stockings. Normally she would have felt ridiculous putting on such a get-up, but thanks to Xander she felt flirty, feminine and empowered as she added each sexy new layer. The anticipation built by the minute until she was a raw nerve as she sat at her vanity and applied her makeup. Her mind went wild, contemplating the possibilities. She had no idea what to expect from him, which was part of the excitement.

She was amped up before she picked up the kids from school. She picked up Hannah first, who was strangely out of sorts. She wouldn’t even cheer up at the idea of an ice cream cone, a treat that Joely sometimes indulged as they waited for Nash and Kari to get out of class. “What’s the matter, honey?” Joely finally asked.

“I don’t feel good, Mommy,” she said with tears in her bright blue eyes. They stopped by the house, where she checked her temperature, which was 99.1. Her low-grade fever, coupled with her complaints of nausea and chills, pointed to a stomach flu that had just started circling around.

“Sounds like a bug, Bug,” she told Hannah as she brushed her hair out of her face. She thought about cancelling her plans and keeping Hannah at home, but then reasoned that Russell was a doctor after all. It wasn’t like he was incapable of taking care of a sick child. And that was going to happen on his watch sometimes too. “Do you want to stay here with Mommy this weekend?”

Hannah’s lip quivered as she shook her head. “I want to go home,” she said. It broke Joely’s heart to realize that no matter how much had changed, that house in Fairway Oaks, where Hannah had lived her whole life, was still “home.” It was the place she wanted to be when she didn’t feel good. It was still her source of comfort.

“Okay,” Joely said, and that was that.

“Maybe you could stay with us,” Hannah suggested, her eyes wide.

Poor kid
, thought Joely. She felt so miserable she just wanted things to be back to ‘normal.’ No one could blame her, least of all Joely, but she knew she couldn’t comply with the request. This was their new reality. It was the new ‘normal.’ Hannah’s time with her dad no longer included her mom. It sucked in times like these, but the sooner everyone acclimated to these changes, the better.

It was times like this that her job as Mom, the one who had to enforce things that would discomfort or inconvenience her children, flew in the face of her affection for them. She wanted to give them whatever would make them happy, whatever would make them feel better. But she had to do the hard work of saying ‘no’ when all she wanted to do was say ‘yes,’ simply because it was better for Hannah in the long run. “No, sweetie, I’m sorry,” she finally said. Tears rolled down Hannah’s cheek and she turned away from her mother, who had disappointed her yet again.

It dimmed her enthusiasm as she picked up the older kids. Kari looked over her new outfit with interest. “What are you all dressed up for? Another night out with Auntie Novi?”

Joely didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to lie but she couldn’t tell them the truth. “I have some business meetings this weekend,” was all she said. Fortunately Kari didn’t press her further.

“Cool,” was all she said.

Joely arrived at Fairway Oaks a little after five o’clock, but the mood was far from festive. Nash was back to his withdrawn self. There were no bro handshakes between him and his dad as Russell greeted his son with his standard, “Hey, sport.”

Likewise Kari’s feet dragged as she carried her backpack into the house. No longer did she race back to her father’s home, empty-handed, to all the belongings she had left behind, like some anchor to her old existence. Instead she began transporting the things she had been acquiring as a part of her new life in Old Elmwood, like the stacks of books she got from Granny Faye, or the diary Lillian had purchased her as a homecoming gift.

The shift was subtle but undeniable. She no longer considered her time at her Nana’s house as the temporary sleepover. She was planting roots there.

Hannah was whiny and testy as Joely lifted her out of the car and into her arms to carry her to the house. Normally Hannah detested such things. She had been proud to become a big girl at every stage in her life. But she didn’t feel well, so she whined and leaned against her mother’s shoulder as they walked up the sidewalk.

Russell gave Joely’s new duds a once over before he focused on Hannah. “Everything okay?”

Joely transferred their daughter to him. “She doesn’t feel well. I think she’s come down with a bug. She has a low-grade fever and some nausea.”

He held his hand to Hannah’s head. “And of course your plans this weekend don’t allow for you to care for her, I suppose.”

Joely glared at him.
He
was criticizing
her
for not properly prioritizing their children? What nerve. “She wanted to come home,” she told him as she reached into her purse and pulled out the medicines she had already begun administering. “I already gave her the first dose at three-thirty.”

“Are you still going out of town?” he asked.

“Yes,” she answered. “I have some business in Dallas over the weekend,” she added, though she hated herself for justifying anything to him. It was clear from the smirk on his face he didn’t believe her anyway.

“Do you have a number where you can be reached?”

Her eyes leveled on him. “You can reach me on my cell.”

“Are you going alone?” he finally asked.

“I don’t think that’s any of your business,” she retorted.

“So, no,” he decided.

“Think what you want, Russell. You will anyway.” She turned to Hannah, brushing her hair out of her face. “Feel better, baby girl,” she said as she bent forward to kiss her cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Mommy,” she managed, though tearfully. It practically ripped her heart in two as Joely walked back to her car. When she got inside, she saw Russell cuddle and rock their daughter to stem her tears. Despite what a horrible husband he had been, and a part-time dad, he did love his kids. She knew that Hannah would be okay.

Maybe this was good for them, she decided as she pulled out into the street. Hannah needed to know that she could depend on her father every bit as much as her mother. Russell had never been particularly doting, especially when the kids were small. He had very little patience for their childlike questions or their constant need for his attention. That was the benefit of having a stay-at-home mom. They could have all their emotional and practical needs met so that he could get about an hour of the good stuff every night when he got home from work. They were fed, clean and generally well-behaved, so all he had to do was offer little nuggets of his precious, limited attention and his dad duty was fulfilled.

Now he had to get in the trenches and do the hard work that Joely had always done. It would be good for their relationship overall. Joely already knew that having an absent father was tough on a kid, and she had seen what that lack of attention had done to Kari. There were times when all she wanted was just a little undivided attention from her dad, and she’d do just about anything to get it. Since he prized academics, she’d study her ass off to get the best grades in the class. She always showed her papers and report cards to Russell first, before anyone else. His rare praise validated her entire existence, which was probably why she fell apart when they were forced to move away from him.

In that respect, Joely was glad that Kari had been so receptive to working at the restaurant. It gave her a sense of accomplishment all on her own. She loved it there, so much so that her weekends with her father now came a distant second to working and earning her own way. It made Joely proud to see her grow.

Even Nash had thrived away from the house in Fairway Oaks. He smiled a little more. He laughed. He wanted to participate in her cookie enterprise, as did the other kids. It was as though each and every one of them was growing in their new environment.

She believed that Russell, too, could rise to these new challenges. He’d already been more involved with the kids in the last two months than he had been in all the years before. It wasn’t perfect, obviously, but it could be okay.

It made her feel better about leaving, despite how much that pained look in Hannah’s eyes had gutted her when she turned to leave. She reminded herself that it wasn’t selfish to do things to take care of her business. Ultimately her success would benefit her children far more than the occasional disappointment to be had when she was pulled in more than one direction.

The truth was she wanted to go to Dallas. She wanted to see what new adventures lay ahead of her, particularly with expanding her business. But she also wanted to explore her new identity as a single woman being pursued by a tempting man. Like her kids, her life was much bigger now. How could that be a bad thing?

When she pulled up into the driveway of her mother’s house, Xander’s sleek car was already parked there. He got out as soon as she arrived, walking over to her driver’s side door before she could put the car into park. He opened the door, held out a hand and pulled her to her feet. “You look beautiful as always,” he murmured as he brought her hand to his lips. “Are you ready for the weekend of a lifetime?”

She nodded with a tentative smile. “I’m all yours,” she said, and this time she meant it.

He grinned as he led her to his car, opening the passenger side door so that she could slip inside. He walked around to the driver’s side, climbed inside and gunned the motor. With that sideways smirk, he put the car in reverse, backing them out of the driveway, and then they were on their way.

The music playing from the radio was sultry, with a beat that pulsated much like the clamoring of her heart as they sped out of town. He reached for her hand, which he placed on his muscular thigh just inches away from a promising bulge in his pants. When he began singing the seductive lyrics of the song, she melted even more. He stole the occasional glance her way, with that insufferable grin of his, but he didn’t speak much as they hit Interstate 20 heading east.

For a Friday night, traffic was relatively light. There were the occasional big rigs, and a few other cars zooming their way to the bright lights of Dallas for a weekend getaway, but as the sun started its descent behind them, it felt like they were in their own little bubble.

She luxuriated in the feeling of his muscular thigh under her hand. She spread her fingers wide as she explored his leg, inching up toward his groin. “Why, Joely,” he grinned. “I do believe you’re turning from a good girl into a bad one.”

“Wasn’t that the plan?” she asked with a grin of her own.

He wound his right hand into her hair. “Don’t stop,” he said in a gruff voice.

She teased him mercilessly throughout the next hour, total payback for how long he had prolonged his own seduction. She wanted him so crazed by the time they got to Dallas that he would take her right up to their hotel room and fuck her at last.

As receptive as he was to her blatant caresses, the minute they pulled up to the five-star resort hotel in downtown Dallas, he was back in control. He took his sports jacket from the back seat, handing off the keys to the valet before directing the bellman to take the two big suitcases in the trunk up to their room.

Everything was courtesy of the producers of the morning show, so all they had to do was walk in the door to be treated like A-list celebrities. He guided her to one of the restaurants on the property, a steakhouse, for their late dinner reservations. She ordered the filet mignon, he ordered the porterhouse. She grinned at him as she sipped her glass of red wine. “I honestly thought you’d take me straight to the room.”

He chuckled. “You did make that option quite tempting. But for the weekend I have planned, we need sustenance.”

“So what’s our agenda?”

“Tonight we’re on our own. Tomorrow we meet with Tisha. She’ll do the pre-interview stuff and we can tape any demonstrations preparing some of your masterpieces they can edit together and use with the package when it airs. The sooner the better,” he said before he dove back into his steak.

“I’m a little nervous,” she admitted. “I’ve never been a camera-ready sort of girl.”

“There’s no time to be shy anymore,” he told her. “You are your brand. And if I have my way, you’ll be a household name by the end of next year.”

She eyed him thoughtfully. “You’re going to be around by the end of next year?”

His eyes met hers. “Is there somewhere else I’m supposed to go?”

“Didn’t we already cover this? I know the rules of the game. It’s inevitable that you’ll leave sooner rather than later, right?”

He leaned back in his chair. “Is that what you’re worried about, Joely? That we’ll start something here tonight that is doomed to end?”

“Maybe,” she said softly. “I’m just now getting back on my feet, Xander. I’d like to know there isn’t another rug being pulled out under me anytime too soon.”