Back for Seconds (23 page)

So he did what any man possessed by desire would do. He walked upstairs to his office, gathered all the orders he had saved for her, and drove across town to Old Elmwood to see her again. When she opened the door, his heart leapt with joy – despite the worrisome frown she wore.

He offered the folder. “I was in the neighborhood and I thought I’d bring these by,” he said as he brushed past her.

She followed him to the living room. “Yeah, I’m not ready to deal with any of this, Xander.”

He ignored the dismissal in her voice. “Where’s our wee patient?”

She sighed as she stared at him across the room. “She’s sleeping.”

“On the mend, then?”

His dark eyes were guarded as he stared at her. She closed the gap between them to speak in a voice that Nash couldn’t hear from the family room. “I really appreciate everything you did to help,” she started. He promptly cut her off.

“We’re just getting started, love. I’ve decided if we can’t bring Mohammed to the mountain, we’ll bring the mountain here. I called Trish this morning and she’s willing to come to Abilene one weekend in November, to get your segment on air by Cyber-Monday. Biggest online shopping day of the year.”

“Xander,” she tried to interrupt, but he was undaunted. He took a step towards her.

“You’re about to blow up nationwide. Don’t tell me you’re not excited.”

She took a deep breath as she braced herself for that hungry look in his eyes. It still made her quiver. Though their night together had been brief, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it, or him. “What are you doing?” she finally asked in a soft, broken voice.

“Same thing I’ve done from the start,” he murmured. “I’m helping you.”

“Xander,” she said, this time a soft plea for him to take mercy on her. Just being in his presence was all wrong for her now. It reminded her of all those things she had thought she wanted, that she thought had mattered, until she was racing across West Texas hoping to see her daughter one last time before the unthinkable happened. Their affair had been brief and explosive, but if God had been willing to punish her for that, what more would she be risking for one more minute in his arms?

She shook her head. “I appreciate everything you’ve done. Really. But I think we both know that anything other than a business relationship is a big mistake.”

He looked around to make sure they were alone. Then he backed her right up to the wall. “I know that you’re blowing a very minor thing into another excuse not to try.”

“Minor thing? My daughter had to have emergency surgery, Xander.”

“And she’s fine now,” he said. “Everything is fine. You’re fine.
We’re
fine.”

“There is no we, Xander. I told you before. I’m too old for you. I have a houseful of kids. I’m still married, for chrissakes.”

“Do you want to be?” he asked her. “Or is it just one more convenient get-out-of-life card for you?”

Her hand made a resounding crack against his cheek. His jaw clenched as he grabbed her arm with one hand and pulled her close. “You can hide if you want, Joely. If that makes you feel better. But I know your secrets now. You want me every bit as much as I want you. Try as you might, you can’t lie about that anymore. This is one hunt I will not abandon.” He lifted her up and planted a blazing kiss on her mouth, crushing her lips under his until she was forced to relent.

He released her quickly and stalked toward the door, slamming it behind him. When Nash emerged from the family room, he saw his mother leaning against the wall, trying to catch her breath. “What was that?”

“The wind caught the door,” she lied easily as she put her folder into the roll top desk just inside the living room. “Let’s start dinner,” she said as she guided her son back into the kitchen.

Hannah was out of school the rest of the week, so Joely’s output was half as much as she normally produced. Part of that was because she hadn’t wanted to see Xander again so soon after their stormy confrontation. As much as she hated to admit it, he was absolutely and totally right. She still wanted him despite everything fate had thrown at her to scare her away. She dreamed about him at night. She thought about him all day. There wasn’t one part of her new life at her mother’s that didn’t have Xander’s fingerprints all over it. This included her cookie enterprise, which was her only real chance she could provide for herself or her kids.

It was ridiculous. Theirs had been a steamy sexual liaison, nothing more. It wasn’t like they were falling in love. She knew the odds of a rebound relationship. It wasn’t fair to any of them to get their hopes up, especially when the kids were already so crazy about him. Hannah had been inseparable with her Xander-bear. Kari was always full of tales from the restaurant, where Xander ruled all as the Lord of Awesome. Even Nash had opened up to Xander, following him on social media, where they shared fun little memes and jokes back and forth between each other.

The true test had come that Friday, when she and the kids were preparing more cookies for the weekend. She casually mentioned the future, just to see what expectations the kids might have had. “Have you guys given any thought to what kind of place you’d like to live after Nana’s?”

“I think we should move close to the restaurant,” Kari told her. “Make it easy for me to get back and forth to work.”

“You really like your job there?”

Kari nodded. “I love it.” She liked it far more than school, which was still so uncomfortable thanks to the popular girls who regularly made her life hell. They snickered behind her back in the locker rooms before or after P.E., and they constantly talked behind their hands about her in class and in the hall. If only they knew how important a full grown man treated her, maybe they’d cut her a break.

But her life at the restaurant was far removed from her life at school, which is why she preferred to be at Lillian’s Place than anywhere else in the world.

“Don’t you miss your friends?”

Kari shrugged. “They have their own lives now. Angela has a boyfriend. Both Brianne and Lori got jobs at the mall. But it’s okay,” she assured her mother with a smile. “We’re growing up.”

Joely returned her smile. “I guess you are. Pretty soon you’re going to have a boyfriend, you’re going to head off to college and start a life all your own. Hard to believe you’re going to be sixteen in a few weeks. Have you thought about what you wanted to do for a party?”

Kari nodded. She had given plenty of thought to it. There was only one thing she wanted – more time with Xander. “Can we have it at Lillian’s Place?”

“I don’t see why not. I’ll talk to your Nana about it.” Kari smiled happily as she returned to her lettering on the cookie. “You’re so good with that. I’m surprised I sold any at all with my crappy old writing on them.”

Kari laughed. “Your writing wasn’t bad.”

It was an unexpected compliment. “Your writing is better.”

“I know,” Kari grinned and Joely laughed. Their relationship had finally turned a corner these last few weeks. She had even helped her mother take care of Hannah while she was recuperating. Best of all she was eager to run interference between Xander and Joely, all as part of the
Back for Seconds
crew. Joely had barely talked to him all week, though she still jumped every single time the doorbell rang.

“What about you?” she asked Nash, who was packaging the prepared cookies.

He shrugged, as always. Where they lived really didn’t matter to him. He had made a few buddies at school, mostly thanks to Xander. They were gaming buddies online, which helped him expand his social circle. Thanks to their connection with social media, he always got to share funny, cool things from Xander, which was a big hit with his friends. But he preferred to be behind a computer screen than face to face with anyone, so as long as he had an Internet connection.

Before she could drill any more, the doorbell rang. Again Joely had to suppress any nerves as she rose to answer. She was sure she’d see Xander on the other side of the door. She hoped that her unkempt appearance would send him running for the hills, with her flour-dusted hair tied back with a handkerchief, her face free of makeup or her messy jeans.

Still, she smoothed her hair back as she opened the door. Just in case.

Only it wasn’t Xander standing on the other side of the door. It was Russell. He was dressed in a sports coat and tie, and he wore a smile for her that she hadn’t seen in years. “What are you doing here?”

He chuckled. “Nice to see you, too.” His blue gaze traveled over her appearance. “Did I come at a bad time?”

“Just making cookies,” she said as she gestured toward the kitchen. “Hannah’s asleep,” she informed him, figuring he stopped by to see her since this wasn’t his weekend for visitation.

“I’m not here to see Hannah,” he declared. “I was wondering if you had an hour to spare.”

The kids, having heard their father’s booming voice all the way in the kitchen, both came out to greet him. He observed their equally unkempt appearances with a grin. “Looks like the elves are hard at work,” he said as he hugged them both in greeting. “That’s what I like to see. My family pulling together for a common goal.”

Both kids preened under his praise. “Are you staying for dinner, Dad?” Kari asked.

“Maybe,” he said. “But first I was going to take your mother out to run an errand. If you can keep an eye on things while we’re gone.”

Both Kari and Joely were puzzled by the strange request. “Sure,” Kari finally said. “I can finish up the cookies.”

Russell turned to Joely. “There you go.”

She looked down at her outfit. “I can’t go anywhere looking like this.”

He laughed as he took her by the arm. “Actually, that’s perfect for what I had in mind.”

When they got to the mall, she understood why. He let them into one of the stores that used to sell cookies before the shop closed about a year before. It was a commercial kitchen with the perfect storefront for pastries, and it was right at the heart of the food court. Russell didn’t say much as she wandered around the space, confused as to why he brought her there. “What is this?”

“It’s yours,” he announced with outstretched arms. “If you want it, anyway. I can sign the lease tonight. And I’ve already lined up a professional manager to run the place, since I think we can both agree you don’t have the knowledge yet to do that. But everything is in place for you to be up and running by the holiday shopping season.”

She stood gaping at him. “What?”

He chuckled as he approached. “I’ve been giving things a lot of thought, Joely. Why our marriage stumbled. Why you might be reluctant to return. Consider this my olive branch.” He handed her a key. “You can stop selling cookies from home and run your own legitimate business.”

Funny
, she thought to herself.
I thought I already was
. She stared at the key in her palm. “Why are you doing this, Russell?”

“Because you’re my wife,” he stated simply. “And I want to see you happy.”

“We’re separated,” she reminded. She left off the part how her happiness never mattered to her when he was screwing around with Jena behind her back. She knew the opportunity to bring it up would circle back around again. It always did.

“Temporarily,” he acknowledged with a slight shrug of his shoulders. “I realize now that I never nurtured you to find your own special niche. You were unfulfilled and I never even noticed. I guess I thought you were happy with the way things were because you never tried to change anything. Maybe you didn’t feel free to, and that was my fault. So I’m trying to correct that if I can.”

Her hand closed over the key. It felt cold in her hand. “And what do you want in return?”

“For my family to be happy,” he said. “Everyone can come home. You and the kids could work here together, building another successful Morgan enterprise.”

She made a face as she put the key on the counter facing the mall. People walked past, tossing them curious glances as they stood in the darkened storefront. “And you get to keep your playmates on the side, is that it?”

“For God’s sake, Joely,” he exclaimed. “How many times are you going to beat that dead horse?”

“Depends,” she shot back. “How many times did you fuck her? Because I think I’m allowed ten for every one.”

“What about you and that foreigner at your mother’s restaurant?”

“Is that what this is all about? You’re jealous? You didn’t think anyone would want me, but now that someone does, someone younger and sexier and – God forbid – threatening to your precious ego, all of a sudden you want to pretend you’re some devoted husband?” They stood glaring at each other for a long moment. Finally Joely grabbed the key and thrust it back at him. “I’m not interested.”

“You’re going to shoot yourself in the foot because of spite? Do you have any idea what this could mean for your business?”

“Yes, I do,” she said. “I also know what it could mean for my business to give you that kind of control over it. You blew my life apart, Russell. What part of that do you not understand? Now you’re asking me to trust you again and all I can think is at what cost?” She shook her head. “I’m doing this on my own or not at all. Now please, take me home.”

He took the key. “I’m going to take you to your mother’s house, but that is not your home. Your home is in Fairway Oaks. With me. With our family.”

Neither of them said a word on the way back to Old Elmwood. He didn’t get out of the car. He didn’t even turn off the engine. She wordlessly slipped from the seatbelt and slammed out of the car and headed up to the front porch of her mother’s elegant old home.

Russell’s eyes narrowed as he watched her disappear inside. He put the car in reverse and peeled out of the drive.

He didn’t stop until he got to Lillian’s Place where Xander greeted customers right inside the door. They faced off against each other before Xander reached out a hand in greeting, with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Nice to see you again, Doctor,” he said. “To what do we owe the honor?”

Russell didn’t mince words. “I’d like to speak to you privately if I may.”

Xander eyed him suspiciously. “Regarding?”

“My wife,” Russell stated.

Xander handed off host duties to a nearby employee before he led the way to his office upstairs. Neither man spoke until the door shut behind them. “Make yourself comfortable,” Xander suggested as he walked around the desk to his chair.

“I will be brief,” Russell told him, opting to stand. “It has come to my attention that you have been selling Joely’s homemade cookies through the restaurant.”

Xander nodded. “We have.”

“You are probably unaware then that is against the law.” Xander’s eyes narrowed as he stared up at Russell as he waited for him to continue. “Cottage laws allow people like Joely to sell certain baked goods, like cookies, from their home. But restaurants like Lillian’s Place are prohibited from selling home-baked goods. I would think that a restaurant manager would have known this.”

“Joely isn’t just any third-party contractor. She’s got a vested interest in this restaurant, which will default to her ownership should either Lillian or Granny Faye retire. We simply allowed her to work from home so she could take care of the kids. She could easily be making these same cookies here at the restaurant.”

“But she isn’t. The law is the law. Technically Joely shouldn’t be selling her wares through your storefront. It could present quite a few problems for the both of you.”

“Is that a threat?” Xander wanted to know.

“I’m just saying it would be a shame to see this promising new business curtailed by some technicalities. She can still work from home, and sell her goods from home. She just can’t sell them here.”

“Through me,” Xander surmised. He leaned back in his chair. “So the problem isn’t so much that Joely is selling cookies made from home. It’s that she might be fucking me that really bothers you.”

Russell chuckled. “Don’t flatter yourself. You’re a distraction, Mr. Davy. Someone she used to tend a battered ego.”

“That does happen when one’s husband fucks around with someone half his age.”

Russell scoffed. He wasn’t about to be shamed by the likes of this loser. “And now we’re even. She’s done with you. She was done with you the minute she left your little getaway in Dallas to race home to her family. The only tie she has to you is this cookie thing, which as we both know is tenuous at best.”

Xander stood from his desk and walked around to face Russell. “This cookie ‘thing’ is brilliant business idea, something she developed all on her own. She’s on her way to being a huge success. If I have my way she’ll be a household name within a year and a millionaire within two. This is just the beginning for her. Her days as a happy homemaker, taking care of your kids and cleaning your house, keeping your life in order, are over.” Russell’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Xander, who smiled triumphantly. “That’s what really kills you, doesn’t it? She doesn’t need you anymore.”