Conklin's Foundation (Conklin's Trilogy) (3 page)

“Jamie
, I…” I choked. 

She shook her head at me as her eyes started to water.  She practically sprinted over to me and pulled me into her chest.  “Becca,
stop it,” she hushed. 

I wrapped my arms around her and let the
waterworks fly.  “I… I never… I never should have said those things about you. I… I…”  I was stuttering like an idiot while I tried to apologize.  Tears were flowing down my cheeks and there was no way I could hold it together anymore.

“Shh… stop.  I needed to hear it.  I can’t believe I never thought about how my dating a technically still married man would affect you.  I was being stupid and careless
… I said I wasn’t going to do that anymore.  I moved here with you so we could grow up, not fuck up.”

I snorted at her last confession.  We were both bound to fuck up no matter what.
Jamie let out a muffled laugh as she pulled back to look at me.

“I never should have said you used me.  I’m so
rry, I just went a little crazy,” I added, wiping my eyes.

“Yeah
that was pretty harsh…”  Jamie pursed her lips.  “I thought about that a lot, and honestly, maybe I did?  But I never intended to. We just get along so well, and I wanted us to stay friends.  If I ever made you do something you weren’t comfortable with I’m so sorry,” she croaked, her eyes watering.  I knew she was talking about our year off in Florida.

“Jamie, I’m an adult.  I make
my own decisions.  It’s my own fault if I get upset about something from my past.” I gulped as I started to say my next sentence. “But I buried my past last night, and I was so scared I threw the dirt on you, too.”

Jamie let out a laugh.  “You are going to have to say something a hell of a lot bitchier to get rid of me
, Becs.”

I laughed and hugged her.  We were going to be okay.  I didn’t des
troy my relationship with Jamie.  If anything, my outburst may have made our friendship stronger.

Jamie looked past me over at Tyler who was leaning back on the kitchen island with his
arms crossed, smirking at the two of us.  He looked so young in his faded blue jeans and black North Face hooded jacket.  We hadn’t been in the house long enough for him to take it off. 

Probably because he was distracted by the flower arrangement from
Gage.

Jamie looked in my eyes after noticing Tyler, trying to read
whether or not we had made up.  I blushed at her stare as a slow smile spread across her face.

“How about tomorrow we have a
girls’ night?  We can order some Chinese; I will even refrain from giving you shit about that boring chicken and vegetables you always order.”  She smiled.  “I’m sure you already have plans tonight,” Jamie smirked, looking from me to Tyler.  I blushed again at the thought of Tyler and me continuing making amends this evening, if his mood wasn’t soured by the flowers from Gage.

“Thanks for taking care of my B
ecs last night, Tyler.  I would have pounded down your door to come after her once I kicked Sean to the curb, but I thought I should let Becca cool off.” Jamie took a step to the side of me so we were making a triangle between the three of us. 

“Jay Rae
, you didn’t have to break it off with Sean.  You are in charge of your own life. I won’t let it bother me,” I said feeling guilty. 

Jamie shook her head and narrowed her eyes at me.  “No way!  Not when my best friend got cheated on.  I
can’t do that to someone else.  I can’t be part of a reason why a marriage fell apart.  We were never really serious anyway.  I’m ashamed I never put it all together.  I know I’m not anywhere near as morally correct as you Becca, but I’m trying.”

Tyler pulled me to his side and kissed my temple.  “I’m trying
, too.  You are a great example, baby.”

I wrapped my arms around Tyler’s waist, grateful that he had softened a bit from the note
Gage left me.  “I’m no saint,” I whispered, thinking about all of the random men I had slept with.  Gosh I would give anything to erase that part of my life.

“Stop
selling yourself short.  You are being way too hard on yourself,” Jamie scolded.  “Although, you did spit some mean venom towards that bitch last night.  She finally got what was coming to her.  I’m not sure if it sunk in that you are done with her.  You and I both know not a whole lot is going on upstairs when it comes to Ashlynn.  Hopefully she won’t call you in a few weeks asking you to make blueprints for her.” Jamie rolled her eyes.  “I hope Connor has come to his senses and gives her the boot.”

Tyler let out a chuckle under his breath.  “You didn’t even hear the best part of it.  You walked in after she finally confronted her.”

Jamie smirked.  “Oh, I heard it.  Nathan and I took the long way to the exhibit.  You would be surprised how much sound carries against glass display cases.”

I
scrunched my eyes and squeezed Tyler even tighter.  I didn’t want to think about last night anymore.  I wasn’t proud of how I acted.  I didn’t like that I turned into a fire breathing dragon, even if Ashlynn and Connor deserved my wrath.  Tyler sensed my uneasiness with the conversation.

Intentionally c
hanging the subject, Tyler asked, “Since when do you know Nathan?”

A wicked grin spread across Jamie’s face.  “Oh
, your brother and I shared the same concerns.  Besides, we met through work.  You are looking at Conklin Architecture’s newest marketing coordinator.”

“You’re kidding?”  I
snorted with a puzzled look. 

“Nope.  Nathan
and I met to talk about you two.” Jamie pointed between the two of us with her index finger.  “And he clearly saw my mad skills and offered me a job, and since my current job blows, I took his offer. Besides, now we can carpool!” she exclaimed, clapping her hands.

A
huge smile spread across my face.  I loved seeing Jamie this happy.  But then I frowned and furrowed my eyebrows as I looked at Tyler. He had the same expression on his face.  “What do you mean you met with Nathan to talk about us?” I asked, pulling my hands from Tyler’s waist and crossing my arms.  Tyler set his hands on the kitchen island while he looked intently at Jamie. 

Jamie rolled her eyes and sighed.
  “Well Becca, you were miserable, and YOU wouldn’t stop blowing up my phone,” she grumbled, glaring at Tyler. “I was sitting at The Woods with some people from work for lunch, and I happened to notice some guy talking loudly on his phone by the bar.  I was rather irritated with him, because honestly, he acted like he was the only one in bar,” she scoffed. 

Tyler and
I exchanged glances.  We both were picturing Nathan exactly as Jamie described him.

“So after 10 minutes of him barking at whoever was on the other end of his phone
, I got up to tell him to either quiet down or leave.  Just as I came up to him he ended his call and turned to look at me, full blown Conklin scowl--Yes, exactly like that,” Jamie chided, pointing at Tyler’s expression that was plastered on his face after Jamie said Conklin scowl.  I let out a laugh and leaned up on my tip toes while wrapping my hands around Tyler’s bicep to kiss his cheek.  He deepened his scowl when he looked down at me, causing me to laugh again.

Rolling her eyes at
our display of affection, Jamie continued.  “Anyway, I knew who he was then, and my intentions changed.  We talked about how miserable you both were, and we were planning on forcing you back together at the Christmas party, but clearly we didn’t need to.” 

Tyler wrapped his arm back around me and kissed my hair.  Yes, we finally came to the conclusion
of meeting each other’s demands because we
were
miserable without each other.  We still needed to talk more, but I felt we were headed in the right direction.

“
I guess he liked how my mind worked because he offered me a job.  I start the beginning of January.” 

“Good thing you will be
eight floors apart,” Tyler teased.  “Otherwise you probably wouldn’t get any work done.”

Jamie raised an eyebrow at him.  “And how many floors are you from Becca?”

Tyler became serious.  “Becca and I are very professional at work.  That won’t change,” he said turning to look at me.  I shook my head in agreement.  Yeah, I wanted to walk into work with him and kiss him goodbye once we got off the elevator, but I still wanted people to take me seriously and not think I was only there because my boyfriend practically owned the company.  Yes, I was used to being able to get what I wanted because of my father’s notability, but I never took advantage of his capability to get anything he demanded.  I tried to hide from the fact that my dad practically owned the city, but it was an unfortunate shadow that was constantly cast upon me; therefore, it would never matter how hard I worked for something because there would always be doubters.  My mother and siblings were always okay with this. I, on the other hand, wasn’t.

Speaking of my mother, I wondered if Jamie had talked to her, if she seemed
different after my outburst.  “Did you, um… talk to my mom last night after I left?” I asked, biting my lip, gripping Tyler’s bicep a little tighter.

“No, why?  Oh no…
did you say something to her, too?” Jamie asked. 

Tears threatened my eyes
.  Why did she have to cross my path last night?  She never meant to talk to me the way she did, and I’m sure she never realized the way she had talked to me my entire life was so damaging, but she didn’t need to feel bad about how I perceived her comments.

“Becca, you
told your mom exactly what she needed to hear,” Tyler spoke in a soothing tone.  I bit my lip harder, shutting my eyes, remembering exactly what I said to her.

“I’m never going to be perfect enough for your family picture,
Mother.  You can poke and prod at my face, tug on my dress, and tell me to suck in my stomach, but I’m still not going to measure up to your satisfaction.”

“
Good, it’s about time.  That woman can be just as much of a monster to you as Ashlynn,” Jamie snorted.

I dropped my hands from Tyler’s bicep.  “She may speak before she thinks, but she is my mom, and she didn’t deserve for m
e to speak to her the way I did,” I whispered, staring at the ground.  “The air is forever going to be weird between us.”

“I’m sure your mot
her didn’t think anything of it. She probably thought you were just PMSing. I’m sure if you called her right now she wouldn’t act any different than she always does.  Don’t worry about it, Becs.” Jamie walked into the kitchen to rummage through the fridge.

“Do you two want breakfast?
I was thinking about making pancakes,” Jamie said, pulling out the eggs. “Or should I say lunch?  It is after 11:00am.”

I was still full from Tyler’s giant breakfast.

Tyler glanced at his watch then spoke. “It doesn’t matter to me, but I was hoping to run to the mall today. I have to get my mother a Christmas present,” he grumbled, sounding less than enthused.

Shit.  Christmas was in less than a week, and I had totally forgotten about getting gifts.  My head had been in such a fog, I completely forgot about Christmas.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. I need to do some shopping too,” I agreed.  “We will take a rain check on the pancakes I think,” I said, glancing at Tyler.  Although I’m sure Jamie already knew my answer because she knew I didn’t eat pancakes.

“Sure, I assume you are going
to be gone all day and night?” Jamie smirked as she was pulling out the skillet from the dishwasher.  I blushed and nodded my head yes.  I peeked up at Tyler who was grinning as he laced my hand with his then pulled them to his lips, never taking his eyes off me.  I widened my eyes and blushed even more.

Jamie made a gagging sound.  “Okay, okay, I get it, you two are lovey dovey again, doesn’t mean you have to g
o all obnoxious on the PDA.  Go Christmas shopping or go to your bedroom,” Jamie groaned, throwing ingredients into a large bowl.  Tyler smirked as he tugged my hand towards the door.

“Bye Jay Rae
,” I giggled as Tyler pulled me along.

“Bye…
gosh it’s like you two are middle schoolers,” Jamie scoffed as she stirred her pancake mix. 

Our goodbye was
wonderful; it was like nothing had happened between us.  I mended another relationship, and I was off to spend the rest of the day with my Ty.

Chapter 2

“I want to go switch cars.
The snow is supposed to start coming down this afternoon.  I’ve already driven this bad boy in too much snow from last night,” Tyler said as we pulled out of the parking ramp at River House.  I looked at him quizzically.

“I didn’t know you ha
d more than one car.”

Tyler smirked at me as we stopped at the light underneath 131.  “Oh,
baby doll… I have a lot of cars.”

Of course he had a lot of cars.  He was young and successful, what guy wouldn’t spend an obscene amount of money on cars if they were given the opportunity.

“How many?”