Boyfriend for Hire (30 page)

“Cheryl, it’s okay. He’s not going to get mad. We were worried that your ADD might cause a problem for you. You know, something’d get missed and you’d get hurt. You’ve always had Jason to watch out for you on your other jobs, so we didn’t worry about it before.”

Dave sat back in his chair and stared at the people across from him. “I thought I didn’t have ADD, Mom? Isn’t that what you said all those years ago when the doctor wanted to give me medicine to keep me focused? Now you admit it.”

He should have gone home.

“I didn’t want to admit there was something wrong with you. You’re my baby.” She reached out and held his dad’s hand and looked to the man for what, Dave wasn’t sure. Guidance, support? As if she hadn’t been standing on her own two freaking feet for the past twenty years.

“No, you’d rather have believed I was just acting out or being a brat. I’m pretty sure those were the exact words you used to describe me.”

“David Scott Farber, don’t talk to your mother in that tone.”

He jumped up from his chair. Enough, he wasn’t twelve anymore. “Dad, don’t take this wrong. You’ve been a great father, when you were around, but it’s a little late to play the disciplinarian. I’m going to leave now before I screw up what the two of you have together again.”

He made it to the front door before his dad’s hand on his shoulder stopped him. “Son, I think we need to talk. Please, come back to the table?”

“Why? So you can tell me what a fuckup I am? How if I’d behaved better, done better in school the two of you wouldn’t have always been fighting? How I’ve made you lose the last twenty years together?” All the guilt he’d been feeling since he was a young teen rushed to the surface. He dropped his head forward and focused on his breathing to keep the anger and tears at bay. Crying in your thirties to your daddy wouldn’t solve a thing.

“David.” When he wouldn’t turn around, his dad walked in front of him and enveloped him in his tight hug. “Son, if that’s what you think, then we have a lot more to apologize for than we thought.”

Dave let the warmth and love from his dad’s embrace hold him in place. It wasn’t until his mom squeezed in between them and wrapped her arm around him that the anger started to fade. It took a couple of minutes for him to get a grasp on his emotions and shove them back where they belonged. “I’m sorry. Mom, I shouldn’t have raised my voice to you.”

She patted his back and stepped back to where she could look up to him. “No, you shouldn’t have, but obviously I’ve wasn’t listening, and you needed to do something to get my, get our attention. You have it now. Will you please come back to the table and hear us out?”

He’d never been much good at telling his mom no, so he followed his parents back to the dining room and took his seat.

“First off, you aren’t a screwup. We screwed up, not you,” his mom said, this time reaching out to take Dave’s hand. “We failed you as parents when we walked away from each other.”

“You weren’t a bad kid either. None of you boys were, and you’ve all grown up to be admirable men. Look at you. You and your best friends own a business together, one that’s doing rather well. You’ve never been arrested. Never knocked any girls up—hey, that matters. And you’ve got a beautiful, smart, sharp lady to call your own now.” His dad rattled off his list of accomplishments like he’d won a blue ribbon.

“Honey, I’m sorry I didn’t listen to the doctors. If I had, school probably would have been a lot easier. It’s hard for a mom to believe anything could be wrong with her child. I blamed myself. I thought if I fed you healthier food, kept you on a better bedtime schedule, maybe gave you more to do so you wouldn’t have so much excess energy, you’d be okay. But I didn’t have time to do all those things. Money was tight, even when your dad and I were together. My pay was a joke. Your dad was gone all the time for work. I was young and didn’t know better.”

His chest felt lighter than it had in years. He’d always thought his parents blamed him for the divorce.

“We didn’t know better. Our marriage failing was completely on us. So young, dumb, and in love, we thought we could conquer the world together. Then reality set in with rent, utilities, food, long hours, and demanding jobs. With my mom on the other side of the country, she couldn’t help, and your maternal grandparents had their health issues. What we’re saying, Dave, is what happened is no one’s fault. It’s life, and hopefully, we’ve learned our lesson. I’ve never stopped loving your mom. She’s always been the one for me.”

“The same is true for me.” His mom leaned over and kissed his dad, but this time his stomach didn’t knot up at all. For the first time, he had hope for them that they’d finally found their happiness.

“I should have told you both how I felt years ago. I was afraid if I did, I’d add to your burden, and it was heavy enough. I’m sorry I’ve acted like a jerk.” He stopped his mom from disagreeing with a shake of his head. “No, I’ve not been supportive and I’ve only thought of me. I really am happy for both of you, and come the holidays, my waistband on my jeans might be happy that I’m not eating two meals.”

They did that weird, in-sync parent look again and smiled silently until he couldn’t take it anymore.

“What this time?”

“You know how we said we were thinking of moving in together?”

Dave nodded, waiting for the shoe to drop.

“We’ve decided to get married instead. If you’ll give us your blessing,” Dad said.

“Heck yeah, you have it.” And he meant it.

Chapter Eighteen

A
fter the week she’d had, the only thing Tawny wanted to do today was lie in bed, read, and make love with Dave.

The week had been filled with planning sessions (big decisions to be made, white or pearl white tablecloths), meetings (snagged another client, thank you!), a birthday party (preteens—ugh, kill her now), followed by a retirement party, and a dressing-down by Momster DeSalvo. While she couldn’t lounge around in bed today partaking of her carnal desires, at least it was for a good reason—cutting the ribbon on the Johnson family’s new home.

Standing on the edge of the crowd, Tawny gazed at the house she’d help build. Yeah, that bedroom window—she’d framed it, and that east wall, she had a hand in that too. If she went inside there would be more touches from her, but the one she smiled about the most was the tree fort, which she’d not only helped build, but had suggested it. The Johnson kids were going to have a blast shooting down aliens, kicking zombie butt (everyone knows zombies can’t climb), and probably hosting a tea party or two.

“You sure you don’t want to give up event planning and come work for Valentine Rehab?” Jason stood next to her, arms crossed over his chest, with his feet planted shoulder-width apart (typical guy stance) nodding in appreciation. “You guys did good. I especially love the tree house.”

She scanned the growing crowd looking for Dave. He had gone for a last-minute check before the guests of honor arrived and should have been done. No big, he probably got waylaid by one of the crew. No way could anything be wrong with the house. The team leader had gone over the place, the building inspector had gone over the place, and she was pretty sure Jason had as well. “Thanks, Jason. Where’s Cherry?”

“She had to show a rental this morning, should be here any time.”

“Great. What are they doing here?” Tawny waved to her family as she tried to spot Dave.

“Who?” Jason turned to look.

“My parents and Grams and Gramps Ryan. I better go say hi. Dad’s forgiven me for my earlier blunder, but Mom’s still peeved about the air I choose to breathe. I’ll see you in a bit.”

Tawny wove in and out of the people to reach her parents and the Ryans. “Mom, Dad, I didn’t expect to see you here.” She kissed and hugged her parents and then did the same with Grams and Gramps.

“We came to celebrate your accomplishment,” Dad said.

“It’s a lovely home. Oh, you planted roses for them.” Grams, eyes glistening, patted Tawny’s cheeks.

“
Mija
, I can’t believe you helped build this. Baby girl, I’m so proud of you.” Her mom held her hands to her heart, smiling from ear to ear.

“That’s my girl.” Gramps patted her on the back before kissing her forehead.

Their praise and support meant the world to Tawny, but it was the look on her mom’s face, one she rarely saw, that brought tears to the backs of Tawny’s eyes, threatening to ruin her mascara. In all her twenty-eight years, she could count the number of times her mom had said she was proud of Tawny on one hand and have fingers left over.

“Thank you all for coming, it means more than I can say right now.” Her voice choked up, emotions overwhelming her so she shut up, smiled, and waved a hand to dry her eyes.

Grams draped an arm over her shoulders from one side while her mom slipped her arm around Tawny’s waist from the other side. Both held her tight.

“You girls do us proud, and once again you’ve done our neighborhood proud,” Grams said.

Tawny spotted a familiar older-model brown car pull up to the curb, and the tears she’d just dried welled up all over again. “The Johnsons are here. I can’t wait to see their faces. This is the first time they’ll get to see inside. You should all come down to Paddy’s Bar after the reception here and celebrate with us.” She gave each another kiss and went to find her crew.

The crew gathered on the front porch while the director for Habitat for Humanity expressed his thanks to them for their hard work, the community members for coming out, and all of their sponsors for the donated equipment and supplies. After what seemed like an eternity, he picked up the huge scissors that might have belonged to the giant at the top of the beanstalk, and the director and Mrs. Johnson cut the ribbon. The crowd cheered and the director handed the keys to Mrs. Johnson and welcomed her home.

While the family got familiar with their new home, the crew led everyone else around back to where goodies and punch had been set up. Tawny and Dave had been assigned the task of making sure the VIPs got drinks and to answer any of their questions. It seemed like each of them had a million questions, and not all about the project. Some wanted to talk about the West End Recreational Center, which Tawny had headed up a fund-raising committee to rebuild, and others brought up her connection to Cherry and the reality show they had both been on.

She turned down a couple of offers to join other committees, because while she loved the work and giving back to the community, she needed a little downtime. Not to mention she had Cherry’s wedding, and before she knew it, the holiday season would be here, and she had a lot to do for Ivan’s event. There was also the hope she’d be spending a lot more time with a certain someone. Speaking of, where was Dave?

Excusing herself from the council member, she wandered around, greeting crew members, making sure her parents and the grandparents had drinks, finally coming to a stop when she spotted Dave under the tree fort with a couple of the women from their crew. She started over, but the director stopped her.

“Tawny, we’re so glad you jumped on board with us.” Mr. Long shook her hand, stepping right in front of her and blocking her view.

“Thanks, I had a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to the next project.” She craned her neck to see around the man.

Dave leaned back against the trunk of the tree, a red plastic cup in one hand and the other skimming down Jody’s cheek. Hmm, maybe she had something on her face and he was being a friend and brushing it off.

“The next one won’t be until spring, but we’ll have plenty to keep us busy in the office, screening applicants, rounding up supply donations, and raising funds.”

“Uh-huh.” Tawny half paid attention to what Long said while keeping an eye on the interplay between David and the women. Jody now had her hand on David’s arm.

“I was thinking that maybe you and your friend Ms. Ryan could help us out with our winter campaign.”

“Sure, that sounds great,” murmured Tawny.

Dave leaned in close to Jody to speak directly into her ear. Whatever he’d said had the woman laughing like a crazed hyena.

“Wonderful. I’m not sure what the fund-raiser will be yet, but I’m sure with yours and Ms. Ryan’s track record, it will be a resounding success.”

What? Crap, what had she just agreed to?

“It was good talking to you, and thanks again for all your hard work. I’ll have my assistant get in touch with you when we’re ready to start. I better go over and thank the city council members for coming. Take care.”

She waved him off, thinking Cherry was going to kill her for signing them up for . . . something. Whatever. It wasn’t like her friend hadn’t done the same to her once or twice in school, and if it was too much, Tawny would figure a way out of it or a way to make it work for them. It was all in the details, and she was a pro at making a list and checking it off. In the meantime, she needed to rein in her internal green monster. She took a step in the direction of the tree when Dave turned and climbed up the ladder to the fort. He was probably looking to escape the crowd. Or so she thought until Jody followed him up while her friend headed off toward the punch bowl. Dave reached down and helped Jody up the last few steps.

Probably not what it looked like.

Because what it looked like was David back to his playboy ways and moving on to the next victim.

Before she could decide to join the two of them in the fort or move on, another benefactor of the project stopped Tawny. The man asked if Tawny thought Cherry might do some spotlight advertising for them. The guy rambled on about his company and their product (lights, toilets, something to do with houses) for several minutes. Tawny promised she’d mention it to Cherry. The show had almost ruined her life, but thanks to their success with the rec center, Cherry was the town’s sweetheart. Hopefully in another month or two the excitement from the show and Jason’s proposal on it this past summer would die down and her friend could finally start the life she’d always dreamed of.

As for Tawny, it looked like hers would still be stuck on pause. It’d been at least fifteen minutes since David and Jody had disappeared. She’d like to think “oh well, it was good while it lasted,” but the sinking sensation in her stomach told her otherwise. Pressure built in her chest and forehead. Acid turned in her stomach, and Tawny made a quick dash into the house. She dropped to the cool tile in the bathroom and put her head between her knees.