Begin Again (22 page)

It didn’t take long
until they reached Journey’s house. When he turned his truck off, he hopped out and went around helping Journey down. His arm was wrapped around her shoulders as they walked up to her front door. It opened and Nan met them with a small smile on her face. Journey went to the other woman, hugging her tight. He could hear Journey’s whispered, “sorry.” Nan told her that it was okay and that Joey was asleep on the couch.

Journey went inside to
see to their boy and Dylan approached Nan. “Sorry, I fell asleep and my phone was dead.”

“She seems better now.
I hated letting her drive over to your place in the state she was in, but she couldn’t leave the kids home. She promised she’d be careful. It was probably a bad decision on my part, but I knew she needed to see with her own eyes that you were fine.” She turned her head to look through the screen door. Journey was picking Joey up off of the couch. He watched lovingly as she kissed their boy’s face and snuggled him close to her body then they disappeared down the hall.

“Yeah
, she’s good. We’ll get her car in the morning. Thanks for coming and sitting with the kids.”

“You bet, honey.
I’m going to head back to work, but tell her I’ll check in with her in the morning.” She kissed his cheek and left.

H
e shut and locked the front door and went in search of Journey. He found her in the bathroom brushing her teeth. He kissed the back of her head and went into her room to get ready for bed. She joined him a few minutes later. Once under the covers, Journey wrapped herself around him and he rubbed his hand down her back. He felt her breathing slow and knew right when she fell asleep and he wasn’t far behind.

Chapter Fifteen

Journey had to stop being a wimp and just tell Dylan about her brother calling. She had had plenty of opportunities to do so, but she didn’t. He wasn’t going to be happy about it and she knew that he would have no problem expressing his displeasure about it. Dylan was just going to have to accept it and that was that. She knew how to play it smart. The first meeting was going to be in public with just the two of them so she could see if her brother was sober and doing as good as he said.

She was supposed to
have lunch with Zach that past weekend, but she didn’t want to push her luck with Dylan. Zach didn’t seem too happy with her, but there really wasn’t anything she could do about that. Maybe she could have him over sometime when Dylan was there. If he saw that all she and Zach were going to have was friendship he might be easier going about her spending time with Zach occasionally.

She would tell him about her brother tonight. Her plan was to meet him for lunch on Saturday,
which was only two days away.

She pulled into the parking lot behind the dance studio. Abby had been taking lessons for a while now and was a natural.
They got lucky signing her up when they did so she could participate in her very first recital in a few weeks. Her costume was ordered and Journey couldn’t wait to see her in it.

The waiting area was packed. It was filled with moms and kids,
from toddlers to teens. She sat Joey down and grabbed Abby’s jazz shoes out of her bag.

“Here
, sweetheart, slip your shoes on.”

“Okay
, Mommy.”

S
he swapped her tennis shoes for her dance shoes. A few minutes later, Bellamy came out to get Abby’s group. She stopped to give Journey a hug and a quick kiss on Joey’s cheek. She grabbed Abby’s hand and led the little girls to the back. Journey played patty cake with Joey while they waited. She heard the door open and looked up. Her man was walking through the door followed by his brother and brother in-law. The waiting area went silent as all of the other women openly gawked at the three men.

She could admit they were all gorgeous, but Dylan was far above the other two.
Joey called out for “dada” as he went running towards him. Dylan got down on his haunches and opened his arms as their son hit his chest at full speed. He stood up with Joey in his arms and came to her, dropping a kiss on her lips.

“Is Abby in her class?”

“Yeah. Your sister just came out to get her about ten minutes ago. What are you doing here? Did you come to let all of the women here drool while staring at you?” She asked the latter in a whisper.

“Well
, they can drool all they want, but I’m a taken man.”

It made her stomach flip to hear him say stuff like that.
“Yes, you are.”

“Luke wanted to stop by because he’s obsessed with my sister.
I’m a little disgusted by it all.” Luke came up and smacked him upside the head.

“Dude, we’re married and have children together.
It’s been three years. Get over it.” Luke shook his head and disappeared through the doorway.

It really was sweet how devoted he was to his wife and daughter.
It certainly wasn’t one-sided, either.

She stood talking to Dylan and Dustin until Luke came around the corner.
“Did you see her? Are you going to be okay now?” Dylan snickered.

Geez, they were like a bunch of toddlers when they were together. Shaking her head
, she took Joey back from Dylan. He kissed Joey’s cheek and then her lips. “I’ll see you later. I should be home around ten.”

She hated that he saw her little freak out the other night.
Maybe it was irrational but when he hadn’t shown up and then his phone kept going to voicemail she immediately thought the worst. Journey didn’t know what that was about but she hoped to never have it happen again.

“Okay, have fun. Bye, boys
.”

Luke and Dustin both kissed her cheek and said goodbye.
Dylan shoved them out of the door as all three men were laughing at something one of them must’ve said.

Journey sat back down on the floor and pulled Joey into her lap. She looked up and some of the women were staring at her. Some had the look of curiosity on their faces, but some looked at her then at Joey with mildly disguised disgust.
Of course they were; why she even thought that how she was being treated there would be any different than that stupid class was beyond her.

She wanted to say something to them so bad, but she wouldn’t do that in
Dylan’s mom’s studio, especially in front of her kids. That wasn’t the sort of example that she wanted to set. Ignoring them, Journey kept her attention strictly on Joey until Abby came out a little while later.

“Hi
, sweetheart! How was your class?”

“It was so fun! Aunt Bell teaches good.”
She loved Abby’s enthusiasm.

“It’s teaches
well
, sweetheart.” Abby sat on the floor, changing her shoes when Bellamy came up to them. “How are you feeling?” Journey reached out, patting the other woman’s belly.

“I feel great
. Luke still swears there are two babies in here, but the doctor promised there was only one. We have another ultrasound in a month, so they’ll check one more time and we’ll find out the sex of the baby.”

“How fun!
You look fantastic.” They talked for a few more minutes and then Journey asked, “How’s Abby doing?”

“She’s a natural.
I think in no time she’ll be right on track with the other girls her age. You’re going to love their routine for the recital. It’s going to be so fun. They’re excited about it already.” Abby stood up and hugged Bellamy. “Bye, sweetheart.”

She stopped and got Subway for the kids on the way home.
While the kids ate their dinner, Journey graded the last few quizzes that she didn’t get done before she left school for the day. She smiled as Abby told Joey about her day. It was cute because Joey would just stop and listen to her talk.

After dinner
, she gave Joey a bath and put him in his jammies. She let him play with his toys just a little bit longer. Abby was already in her pajamas, brushing her doll’s hair in her bed. It didn’t take long before they were both asleep. She still had an hour before Dylan was due home, so she decided to take a nice long bath. It was helping calm her nerves. She wasn’t looking forward to the long overdue talk she and Dylan were going to have when he got there. She needed to stop thinking the worst. Maybe she’d be pleasantly surprised and he’d be okay with it.

She was just settling into bed when she heard the front door open.
Sitting cross-legged in the bed, she waited for him to come in. She was picking at her nails when Dylan walked in.

“Hey, baby,” he greeted her. Turning her face up, she accepted his kiss.

“Hi, honey.
Did y’all have a good time tonight?”

“We did, thanks.
I take it that all was well here tonight?”

She watched as he pulled his t-shirt up and over his head.
Gah, he was the picture of male-perfection. He was tall, lean and beautiful. She watched, trying not to drool as he pulled off his jeans. His boxer briefs hugged his beautiful dick and tight ass perfectly. It was a shame that he had to cover them up with pajama bottoms. “If you don’t stop looking at me like that we’re going to have problems. Look what you’re doing to me already.”

He was semi-hard and she wanted to touch it. Whether it
was with her hands or her mouth she didn’t care, but they had to talk first.

“Sorry.”
She just had to spit it out. “So I wanted to talk to you about why I was crying Sunday night before you got home.”

Dylan settled on the bed and pulled her down with him.
She snuggled against his chest and he wrapped his arms around her. “Go ahead, baby. What happened? “

Taking a deep breath, she started talking. “Well, while you guys were gone I was in bed reading and fell asleep
. The house phone rang and woke me up. When I answered it, it was my brother, Cash.” She felt Dylan’s body stiffen. “He wants to make things right with us. He’s been sober for about a year and a half. He wants me to have lunch with him when I’m ready. I’d like to do it Saturday, but wanted to tell you about it first.”

She didn’t know whether to take his silence as a good thing or a bad thing. Turning her head to look at him
, she could see his jaw was clenched and he was staring straight ahead. “Dylan?”

He turned his head and looked at her
. “Baby, I know he’s your brother, but I don’t like it. How can you trust him?”

“I don’t know if I can
, but he’s my big brother. I have to at least see how he’s doing. The plan is to meet some place public. It’ll be just me and him. I need to know he’s telling the truth and that he’s doing well before I let him see Abby.” She paused, looking up at Dylan again.

“Baby, I’m by no means okay with this
, but I understand it. I wish you’d let me go with you, but I know you need to go alone. Just promise that you pick somewhere busy. Is Abby’s mom going to be there, too?”

“Um
, well…I guess she died of an overdose six months after they signed over custody of Abby. He went to jail right after that happened. That was his wake up call to get sober, he says.”

“Jesus, Journey.
Jail?” His body was strung tight as he sat there.

She should’ve kept that part to herself, but it was too late for that.
“I know, and I don’t know why he was in jail, but it was obviously the kick in the ass that he needed.”

“Well, thank you for telling me about it.
I know I don’t have the right to voice my opinion, but thank you again.”

She got up on her knees next to him. “You do have a right, Dylan.
I love that you care enough to tell me how you feel about it.” Wrapping her arms around his neck she kissed his lips, “I promise I’ll be careful. I’ll leave if things don’t seem to be on the up and up.”

Brushing the hair out of her face, Dylan smiled up at her
. “Okay.”

Journey reached across him to shut off the light.
They both settled down in the bed. Dylan pulled her back against his front. She felt so much better now that Dylan knew about Cash. As she felt sleep claim her, she did it with a smile on her face.

Journey sat in her car at Mac’s Diner, just outside of Charleston, trying to psych herself up to go inside.
She knew her brother was already in there because he texted her where he was sitting. Her hands shook as she opened her sun visor to check her makeup and hair one more time. She was anxious to see what he looked like now. He’d been heavily into drugs while he was still a teen, so she didn’t know if she’d recognize him now.

When their parents died and then when she took custody of Abby he was barely recognizable.
He looked emaciated and like he was starving, which he probably was. She took a deep breath and got out of the car. Her legs shook as she stepped through the door of the diner. Mac’s looked like every other diner she’d ever seen. People were seated at the stools in front of the counter. There was a brightly-lit pie case filled with every kind of pie imaginable. It had the feel of a 50’s style diner.

The text from him said he was sitting in a booth in front of one of the windows.
Her heart was racing and her palms felt damp as she slowly scanned each booth that was in front of a window. She reached the third and froze. There was a man sitting there. His blond hair was shaggy; he looked built from where she was standing. Maybe it wasn’t him. The last time she saw him he was so thin. He must’ve felt her eyes on him because he looked up and the biggest smile graced his lips.

Before she could stop herself
, her feet were carrying her across the diner and right into her brother’s arms. “My god, JoJo, you’re beautiful.”

Stepping back
, she scanned Cash from head to toe. He was built; his muscles caused his shirt to fit snuggly across his chest. His face was no longer gaunt and pale—it had filled out and had a healthy glow.

“I can’t believe this is you. You look great.” They both looked like their mom
, but had their dad’s coloring.

They sat down across from each other in their booth.
They ordered their drinks and sat there in an uncomfortable silence. She didn’t know what to say or ask. He seemed nervous as well. His arms rested on the tabletop and she noticed the tattoos covering his forearms.

“They’re to cover the worst of my track marks
,” he said quietly.

“Oh. Well
, they’re beautiful. Who did them?” She didn’t have any, but she could appreciate their beauty.

“Jared did.
He owns a pretty popular tattoo shop. He did them for free in exchange for some minor repairs and updates around his shop. I figured it would hurt my chances getting a job if they could see the marks on my arms,” he said with a humorless laugh.