Ruining Mr. Perfect (The McCauley Brothers) (14 page)

Brody and Flynn looked at each other before sitting down. “You haven’t heard?” Brody asked.

“About what?” He’d been focused on growing his clientele and spending as much time with Vanessa as was humanly possible. He’d spent an entire night with her at her place two days ago. A victory of epic proportions. And the woman no longer flinched when he called her his girlfriend. He was on top of the world.

“About Mom and her date tomorrow afternoon.”

Cam froze. “Date?”

Flynn frowned. “Yeah. And not with Dad.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” He had the uneasy sensation he should have followed up with Vanessa about her discussion with his mother a week and a half ago.

“Abby told me not to mention it,” Brody said slowly. “It’s been killing me. I told Flynn, but we decided to keep it quiet. But now, this date’s actually happening… I don’t like it.”

“Me neither,” Flynn fumed. “Mike told Dad yesterday, and he said nothing.”

“Wait. Slow down. What’s going on?”

Before Flynn could answer and confuse him even more, Cam pointed at Brody. “You. Speak.”

Brody glared even as he explained the situation.

“Mom is dating a mechanic?” Cam’s voice rose. “What did Dad say?”

“Nothing.” Flynn swore. “Fucking nothing. He just looked at Mike and shrugged, then went back to work. Mike’s beyond pissed, I have to tell you.” He paused, and he and Brody exchanged a look.

“What?”

“Well, apparently Mom got the idea in her head from something Vanessa said.” Flynn shook his head. “Vanessa told her to stop being a ‘whipped puppy’ and do something about her single status. To get a new hairdo and some new stuff to wear.” He scowled. “I had a talk with Maddie about that. My fiancée has apparently been taking Mom shopping for sexy clothes.”

“Yeah, and how did that conversation go over?” Brody asked with a grin.

“Maddie told me to go fuck myself,” Flynn muttered. “But I got my point across. My mother is not sexy. She’s…Mom.”

“She’s also a woman,” Brody said flatly, surprising Cam that he’d stick up for her in a war between “Pop” and “Bitsy.” “She hasn’t been happy for a long time. If Pop thinks it’s okay to hang with some stupid coffee chick, then Bitsy should show him what he’s missing.”

Flynn blinked and relaxed. “Oh. You mean, get Dad jealous.”

Brody sighed. “Dude, seriously. You’re not that stupid. I’m the blond, not you.”

“Shut up, asswipe.” Flynn laughed. “So she’s out to make the old man jealous. Good for you, Mom.”

Cam contained his urge to drive straight home and shake some sense into Vanessa. Evidently, her lame explanation that she’d advised his mother to get a makeover wasn’t
half
of what her conversation had been.

“Hey, guys. Think about it,” Cam suggested. “Maybe Mom isn’t out to make Dad jealous. Maybe she’s out to be with a guy who appreciates her for who she is, and not who she isn’t.”

Flynn frowned. “What?”

“You think she likes this guy?” Brody asked.

“What did Mike say?” Cam wanted to know.

“Not much. He’s annoyed with the world in general, lately,” Flynn answered.

Brody cleared his throat. “Yeah, he is. The other day when Colin pulled one of his usual funny stunts, Mike went ballistic. The little bugger tried to talk Mike into taking him to Del’s to say hi and Mike snapped. He’s on serious edge.”

“We all are.” Cam seethed with the need to talk to Vanessa. They were going to have their first big fight. He had no idea how she’d take it. But damn it. She’d been wrong for involving herself in something not her business without at least talking to him first. “Look. It’s late, I’m beat, and I need to talk to Vanessa.”

“I’ll bet.” Flynn shook his head. “Good luck with that one.”

“Maybe you can get her to interfere again and call off this date with Bitsy and her ‘sexy’ man,” Brody said. “I’m all for Bitsy being happy, but I think she and Pop can work it out. They just need to stop being so damn stubborn.”

“Fuck yeah. But try telling that to either of them. They won’t listen,” Flynn said to Cam. “We’ve tried.”

“I haven’t. Yet.”

“Good luck.” Flynn stood.

Brody did as well, then whistled as he took a hard look around him. “You know, we will sit down with you next week. Just think, Flynn. Maybe if we listen to Einstein, we can have an office this nice. Did you see Hope’s leather chair? It’s quality, man.”

Flynn snorted. “I know. Maddie told me how much he paid for all this.” He turned to Cam. “So you know, she did give you a discount.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Get out.” Cam ushered them from the office and decided to leave as well. If he talked to Vanessa now, while thoroughly annoyed, he might say something he’d later regret. He locked up and walked home, pleased to find the evening clear. At home, he found his father in the media room sitting on the couch watching a sitcom. For the past several nights, his father had been in a black mood, so they’d steered clear of each other. But not tonight.

Cam jumped right in. “So you’re good with Mom dating some hot guy with muscles?”

His father started. “Jesus. Give a guy some warning,” he snapped.

“So you and Mom. You’re done then?” he asked calmly, hoping to spark his father into doing anything but nothing.

“Not your business.” James refused to turn and face him.

Cam rounded the couch and crossed his arms. “So are you and
Amelia
dating? Is she going to give me the little brother I always wanted?”

His father blinked and stared at him. “Are you drunk?”

“Are you? Do you even care that Mom’s moving on?”

“Of course I do.” His father stood and ran a hand through his hair. “What the fuck do you want me to do?”

“Talk to her.” God. Was his father this obtuse on purpose? “Have you ever asked her why she preferred all those college men to you?”

His father flinched. “I didn’t have to ask.”

“Oh my God. You don’t even know if she had an affair.”

“I never said she did.”

“You implied it.” Cam wanted to choke his father into showing some sense. “You aren’t a stupid man. Not all the time.”

“Watch it, boy.”

“Jesus, have some pride. Your wife is going out with another man tomorrow, and you don’t care?”

“I fucking care! But what do you want me to do? She made her choice.”

“After you made yours with Amelia! A woman younger than Mom, one who seems pretty and attentive any time you go for coffee. Yeah, she told me about your little girlfriend.”

James flushed. “She’s not my girlfriend. Okay, she flirted a little. Maybe I flirted back,” he said, sounding defensive. “But Christ, Cam. Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I’ve…”

“Had sex? Told Mom you loved her? Gone out on a date? No. I don’t know. But I do know that burying your feelings like an ostrich with his head in the sand is fucking dumb. Hell. Maybe she is better off with her new boyfriend.” Cam felt absolute disgust that his father wouldn’t fight for the woman he loved.

Aggravated with the world and his family in general, he stalked off as his father threw a hissy, not in the mood to deal with more excuses. Vanessa might be a pain in his ass, but she wasn’t afraid to tell the truth. When he confronted her, he’d see what she had to say for herself. In the mood he was in, she’d have to do a hell of a lot of groveling to apologize.
If
she’d apologize. Or would they be over before they’d even started?

Vanessa stared at her infuriated boyfriend and realized her roommates had scattered the moment he’d slammed into their house.

She stared at him still dressed in his work clothes. They’d planned on a late run, but when he hadn’t called by six, she’d realized they might have to postpone their jog. Then Abby had let it slip that Beth would be seeing Liam Webster—Del’s father—tomorrow, and she’d known the worst was yet to come.

“What do you have to say for yourself?” Cameron asked, his voice oddly calm.

She felt defensive when she had nothing to apologize for. “Excuse me?”

“Tell me exactly what you said to my mother at dinner that night. You know what I’m talking about.”

He wore his suit without a tie, his shirt parted to reveal his strong, corded neck. He clenched his fists by his side. She’d never seen him so angry. She swallowed around a dry throat, determined not to let him see her anxiety. She didn’t worry that he’d ever hurt her, but she did fret that he’d leave.

“I told her she should get a makeover and stop acting like a wuss any time she had anything to do with James. I might have mentioned that looking nice would make her feel better about herself.”

“And?”

“And that if he saw her looking that good and was jealous, more power to her.”

He stared at her, his gaze disapproving, and sparked her ire.

“You can’t be blaming
me
for this?”

He just watched her.

“Bullshit.” She scowled. “Your mother is finally living her life, not the one your father thinks she should. Her decisions, her idea to be her own woman. I applaud her for her choices.”

“Yes, but did you have to instigate them?”

“I was trying to help. Why should your father get to screw around when she’s stuck in soapy water still taking care of her grown-ass boys?”

He paused. “What’s that?”

On a roll and sure of herself, Vanessa continued, “Beth has always been about her family and putting herself last. Hell, she’s been upset with James for a long time, but she kept quiet to maintain the peace for all of you. Now she wants to live life, and I say go for it. Why shouldn’t she date? Your dad isn’t begging her to come home. Oh no. He’s off with some bimbo at the coffee shop getting free muffins and God knows what else.” God forbid Vanessa say the truth. She was suddenly at fault for a rocky marriage?

“Did it never occur to you to talk to
me
about this?” Cameron asked, still quiet. “She’s
my
mother. He’s
my
father. Not yours. You’re my girlfriend. But instead of
us
talking about them—together—of
us
trying to decide what to do to help my parents, you took it upon yourself to solve everyone’s problems. Instead, you made more.”

Expecting more of an argument, she frowned. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”

“What more is there?” He sighed, and his disappointment hurt her more than harsh words or an argument. “Once again, you’re right and everyone else is wrong. I don’t have the patience to deal with this right now.” He shook his head, turned, and left.

Not sure how to handle this situation—a first for Vanessa—she followed him outside and rushed in front of him before he could enter his car and leave. “You have some nerve.”

“Move, Vanessa.”

Panicked because he seemed ready to leave and she had no idea how to stop him, she shoved him.

His eyes narrowed. God, but he was so sexy when angry. “Don’t do that again.”

“Why? You going to talk me to death?” She wanted to instigate him to anger, to feeling. Not that cold detachment she’d gotten all too often while growing up.

“I’m too angry with you to talk. When you realize what you did and how you hurt me, give me a call.” He lifted her up and out of the way as if she weighed nothing, then got in his car and drove away.

No fuss. No scene or emotional mess. He was just gone.

She stared after his taillights until she started to shiver. When she went back inside, she saw Maddie waiting in the hallway.

“You okay?” Maddie asked softly.

“No, I’m not. But I’ll live.” Vanessa swallowed irrational tears and headed upstairs.

“I’m here if you want to talk.”

That constant support from her cousin meant more than she could say. Emotion bottled up inside Vanessa, crippling her ability to process and making it impossible to accept Maddie’s compassion for fear the fissure cracking inside her might shatter. “Thanks for that. But I’m going to bed. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow.”

Inside her room, she ignored the clock’s glaring notice that it hadn’t even reached eight and slid under her covers. She’d deal with Cameron and his issues tomorrow. Their breakup could wait. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t known it was coming, after all. As she’d done her entire life, Vanessa disassociated herself from the pending drama. Numbness settled in, and she closed her eyes.

Yet as she tossed and turned, she realized the others might also consider her the bad guy. In this new extended family of McCauleys, now including Abby and Maddie, Vanessa might find herself ass-out of her friends if it all went to hell. Maybe she’d do better to try to fix things in the morning.

With that in mind, she went to sleep.

***

The next day, Vanessa took an extended lunch and sat in a far corner of the coffee shop where Beth was supposed to meet Del’s dad. She’d arrived early enough to get a table, and in the mad lunch rush, knew she’d made a wise decision.

Beth arrived, as Abby had said she would, exactly at noon. She glanced around, and Vanessa made sure to keep herself hidden behind the taller guys at the table in front of her, as well as behind a large magazine she’d brought along. She saw Beth light up and join an attractive guy across the room.

Hell. Abby had been right. This man might give James some serious competition. Tall, muscular, handsome, and he looked at Beth like she hung the stars and the moon. Then too, Beth looked gorgeous. The haircut and flattering clothing did make her look younger. Beth looked happier, more confident. And confidence was sexy.

She couldn’t hear them talking, but she could see the behemoth of a man trying to sneak into the shop without drawing attention to himself. He’d entered through a side door, but his attention remained fixed on Beth and her new beau.

Vanessa threw up a hand and signaled his attention. When James McCauley saw her, he narrowed his eyes but joined her in the back. His leather jacket, dress slacks, and fancy tweed driving cap effectively shielded him from discovery. No way would she have ever thought James could look dapper. Not a bad disguise.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he growled in a low voice and sat with his side to Beth, most likely so he could keep an eye on her.

“Don’t move. Pretend you’re here to see me,” Vanessa said back. “I’m keeping an eye on them, and let’s face it, you’re conspicuous.”

He grunted. “I’d have stayed outside, but I couldn’t see anything. Too many fucking people in here.”

For James to swear in front of her meant he’d either found out she’d driven his wife to a date, or he was so frustrated he’d forgotten himself.

Then he flushed. “Sorry. I just… I don’t know up from down right now. And what the hell did she do to herself?” He glanced over his shoulder. “She’s…
amazing
.”

Vanessa saw Beth laugh, and the woman looked so happy and carefree. Vanessa had half a mind to leave the growly idiot next to her to his unhappy fate. “She is. She’s smart, pretty, funny, and raised a terrific group of men. Yet her husband cheated on her. Go figure.”

“I did not.”

“Oh? She thinks you did. You have ‘feelings’ for Amelia, I’ve heard.”

He sunk into himself and faced her once more. “You don’t know anything about anything.”

“No, and neither does your wife. Unlike you, I’ve talked to her. She isn’t sure why you two went south. She thought you didn’t like her job, so she quit. But you were still unhappy. Anytime she tried to talk to you, you clammed up.”

“She was too busy clinging to her college buddies.”

“Since her husband ignored her,” Vanessa continued quickly before James cut her off, “she took solace in her college buddies. As many times as she invited you to be a part of her world, you ignored her. She grew unhappy, dejected, feeling ugly. Especially when you paid attention to the younger, prettier—her words, not mine—barista.”

He was quiet for a moment. “Does she really think I cheated on her?”

“I don’t know. She loves you. I mean, I get the impression she still does. But she’s tired of being beneath your notice. Other men find her attractive.”

“I find her attractive.” He stared down at his hands on the table.

“But you never told her that. You made her feel like shit. How would you feel if she’d ignored you for years then told you she had feelings for one of her
younger
, attractive male college buddies?”

He glared up at her. “She did. She just never said anything. Woman was always trying to make me into her smart friends. Like everything I do is so beneath her. Do you have any idea how hard it is to always come up short?”

“Yes, I do.”

He apparently hadn’t expected that. “You do?”

“My parents have never considered me anything but a biological burden. I carry on their genetics, and that’s about all I do of worth. So yeah, I get that sometimes you can’t please everyone. That’s not the situation with Beth. If you had ever talked to her, told her about your problems, all this might have been avoided. Because if you think you’re the only one bothered that you two never have sex, think again.”

He gaped at her.

“Yeah, she told me it’s been awhile. It hurt her feelings. She’s lonely, James. Looking as pretty and happy as she is now, do you really think she’ll have to wait long to find someone who truly appreciates her?”

“Fu—hell if I know.”

“Your son Cameron is thoroughly annoyed with me for telling your wife the truth. You can be as mad as you like as well. But the fact of the matter is you only have yourself to blame. If you’d actually gone to the counseling she asked you for or confided your problems to your wife, you two might be sitting at home laughing together—or something better. But hey. What do I know? You have Amelia, she has Mr. Hottie. Maybe it’s all good?”

Beth laughed at something her companion said. Then the two stood and left the shop together, smiling.

“What are you going to do about it? Let your wife find happiness on her own, or convince her to stay and give you a second chance?”

***

James ignored Vanessa’s questions. He gave Beth and that dick with her a few minutes’ head start before leaving the shop to follow them. The big guy gave his wife
a
fucking
hug
before leaving in a cherry Mustang. Beth continued to walk down the sidewalk, window shopping.

That or dwelling on what a fine time she’d had with the giant who’d left.

He hurriedly caught up with her, having dressed in his better clothes to not look like his usual self. He’d even gotten a haircut, shaved, and worn some cologne. He still couldn’t believe Beth had gone on an actual date.

But Jesus, she looked good. He stepped next to her and saw her start when she noticed him.

“James.”

“Beth.” She seemed taller, her figure fuller. Damn, she sure filled out her jeans well. When was the last time he’d seen her looking so…beautiful? So different from Colin’s grandma or Mike’s mom? But as Beth McCauley, a woman, his wife?

“Something you wanted?” Her frosty tone warmed him. Why, he couldn’t say.

“Saw you with that guy inside.” They walked in silence. “New friend?”

“What of it?” She sniffed. “You’re moving on. It’s time I did too.”

But he wasn’t. He’d mooned over Amelia, flattered by her attention and wishing she’d been his wife. The one he’d fallen in love with so many years ago.

“Amelia and I aren’t dating. Flirting maybe. But hell, woman. I haven’t touched anyone but you in thirty-six years.”

She turned on him and poked him in the chest with a finger his kids had always claimed was made of iron. “Well the same goes for me, you egotistical ass. For thirty-six years I ignored advances from other men and was true to you. I gave you
everything
,” she whispered in a harsh voice as people walked around them. “I tried to help you. Tried to talk to you, to love you. And you did nothing but push me away. Well fuck you.”

“
Beth.
” He stared, not sure how to deal with this firecracker. Where had his mild-mannered wife gone?

“I’m done being your doormat, James McCauley. Now go away. I’m having a fine day and you’re ruining it.”

She turned and actually walked away.
From
him.

He ran to catch up and dragged her to a stop, then pulled her to the side of the foot traffic. “I never did anything with Amelia. But I can tell you this. She never made me feel like a loser.”

“Neither did I.” She yanked her arm away. “What nonsense. I never—”

“Yeah, Amelia never treated me like trash because I don’t have a college degree.”

She blinked at him. “What are you talking about?”

“She never told me to go back to school, to work harder, to try something other than the job I came to fucking love. What’s so wrong with construction, Beth? It put food on the table and a roof over our heads for over thirty years.”

“I never said anything of the kind. I’m proud of what you do.”

He huffed. “You’ve been trying to make me into Cameron since the day we met. I gave up the Corps for—”

“Now hold on. I didn’t get pregnant all by myself, mister.” She blushed, and even in his anger he found her a sight to behold. “Raising Mike and then Flynn all by myself was hard. You left the Marine Corps because you knew it was the right thing to do. I’m sorry if you regretted it.”

“Not the boys or you,” he said to clarify. “But yeah, I loved the Corps.”

“Well, I loved my job. But I gave it up early for you.”

He didn’t believe that. “No way. You were tired of the hours.”