Disgruntled (3 page)

She put a hand to her mouth as if to draw back the words. It
was a completely involuntary move, asking like that. Still, it
came out as naturally as asking Maria would have. Odd.
“Nice of you to ask but no, thanks. It’s a family thing. We
shouldn’t intrude.”
She
laughed.
“You
don’t
know
my
family.
We
love
intrusions. Besides, this is more like a neighborhood thing.
There will be a crowd there and definitely lots of kids Eric’s
age. It won’t be awkward if that’s what you’re worried about.
No one will make any sort of assumptions about us.” At
least, I hope not.
He met her gaze. “I wasn’t worried.”
Eric ran up to grab his hand. “Can we go, Dad? Please?”
The child really had the puppy-dog eye thing perfected. Reva
could see it wasn’t lost on the man either, which warmed her
heart.
The
wind
blew
a
waft
of
lemon-lime
fragrance
between them.
The exchanged look between the two was
almost comical, a Dad wanting to please his child but caught
in an awkward situation. The boy’s facial expression tugged
an involuntary laugh from Todd and Reva both.
“Don’t
you
think
it’s
impolite
to
invite
ourselves
to
someone’s family get-together?” Todd placed his hands on
hips and fake-frowned.
“If you had invited yourself, that would be the case—but
you didn’t,” Reva corrected. “I wouldn’t have asked if I
thought it an issue. I’m not that nice.” She grinned.
“Could have fooled me,” Todd said, “but I can see I’m
severely outnumbered on this, so we’ll go. You’re sure it
won’t be a problem?” He closed the distance between them,
hands in pockets.
“Not one bit.” Reva nodded and gave a conspiratorial wink
to Eric.
“Hey! It would be nice if someone didn’t fall for his game. I
hate to see what will happen when he’s a teenager. At least
let me have a little bit of control over this situation, please.
What time should I pick you up?” He leaned toward her and
lowered a teasing brow in mock admonishment.
Reva
stared
at
six
feet
plus
of
solid
strength
and
testosterone. The likelihood anyone would be able to push
Todd to do something against his will was non-existent. He
was a softie with the kid, an appealing trait in her eyes, but
he
wasn’t
a
pansy.
The
jovial
attempt
at
intimidation
encouraged a laugh from her and as she let it go, another
strange feeling crept in behind it—warmth that wasn’t suninduced. Although every inclination was to step into the
man, she took a deep breath and backed up. She rattled off a
time and escaped to the comfort of her house.

It wasn’t often that Reva’s family showed surprise. When
Maria brought home the short-term boyfriend who spent
evenings and weekends in a theatre troupe, they’d barely
given him a glance in his made-up white face and red lips
straight from a performance. Reactions were a bit more
noticeable when Tim was babysitting his neighbor’s toy
poodle and carried it to the house decked out in its own
shoes and silk bows. He stuffed the tiny dog in his shirt
pocket and calmly took the few jibes he received later in the
evening. His only response – “Cute girl, cute dog.” Ben, the
eldest, made sure his kids fed it lots of jelly beans which left
a trail of colorful stains on Tim’s shirt before it upchucked
all over the silk bows.
Reva’s confidence that Todd and Eric’s appearance would
warrant little more than a glance was quickly lost when they
arrived. Her mother dropped the beer she intended to hand
to Reva’s dad. Her jaw quickly followed suit by dropping as
well. The action caused a double-take from the entire group.
“Hi everyone!” Reva said, attempting lightness.
Ben,
enjoying
the
moment,
barreled
toward
them
and
hugged her. “Hi you.” He slipped a hand from her back to
reach
toward
Todd,
who
took
it
briefly.
“Ben,
Reva’s
brother,” he said.
“Ah, the artist…I’m Todd, and this is my son, Eric.”
“They’re
my
neighbors,”
Reva
answered
before
any
assumptions were made.
Ben grinned. “I thought all your neighbors were old farts
and married couples.” He released her from the bear hug
and stepped toward Todd. “You’re not married, are you?”
Reva slapped him on the back of the head. “Leave him
alone, goofball.”
Ben’s head bobbled and he growled back a nice Spanish
expletive.
“So, how’d you meet Reva? Don’t tell me you
were peeking over the fence.”
Ugh. This was a mistake.
Todd kept a serious face and answered, “Datemydad.com.
Haven’t you heard of it? Great website.”
Did he really say that? Ben’s face washed with confusion.
She knew he hadn’t decided whether Todd was serious. Reva
suppressed a giggle and confirmed. “That’s right. Great
website. Amazing how many single dads are out there. And
you know what they say about single dads, don’t you? Eric,
come meet my parents’ dog, Scooter.” She took Eric’s hand
and hustled him across the yard where the dog chewed
vigorously
on
a
rawhide
bone.
She
had
severely
underestimated her family’s reception of her companions.
Within seconds, Maria beelined toward her. She tugged on
Reva’s forearm and whispered into her ear, “Where’d you
find the hunk?”
“Online dating site,” she said, straight-faced. She might as
well keep rolling with the fun.
“No joke? Which one?”
Hook, line, and sinker
. Reva kept her head down, concentrated
on Eric to suppress the twitch of her mouth.
“Desperategeeks.com,” she managed to say with a straight
face. “Strictly for technology professionals like me.”
“Wow. That sounds so incredibly thrilling.” Maria rolled
eyes and patted her hand to her mouth in a fake yawn. “I bet
you have all kinds of things to talk about. Why didn’t you
mention him this morning?”
Reva flinched as a hand grasped her shoulder. “Because we
were afraid we wouldn’t finish getting her furniture moved
in before we came over.” Todd’s voice sounded serious
behind her yet she could feel the hint of amusement as he
squeezed her flesh. His breath tickled the back of her neck.
He enjoyed the charade.
“What!” Maria squealed. “You’re moving in with him? Oh
my God, does Mom know?” She threw a hand over her
mouth and glanced nervously at their parents. Good grief,
when did her sister get so gullible?
“No.” Reva grinned. “And don’t tell them.”
“Don’t tell them? Are you crazy! You know they’ll have a
cow. You said you’re not even seeing anyone and now, all of
a sudden, you’re moving in with some guy and his kid? After
everything you’ve been through!” Maria strode frantically
toward the group gathered by the grill to spread the news.
Reva tsked under her breath.
And she’s supposed to be the
peacekeeper in the family.
Ben had already preceded her so Reva
felt sure they’d have a lot to talk about for a while. It takes
time to determine how to extricate a crazy sister or offspring
from the clutches of yet another wrongly-suited man.
Eric looked up. “She’s moving in with us, Dad?”
Todd patted him on the back. “No, buddy. It’s just a joke.
Nobody’s moving anywhere. We’re just pretending.”
A twinkle passed over Eric’s youthful eyes. “I love jokes!
Can I pretend too?”
“Don’t you think this is getting out of hand?” Reva asked.
Todd shrugged and bent to scruff the dog’s ears at eye level.
“It’s just a little fun. Serves them right for prying. Besides,
we’re not hurting anyone, are we?”
He turned his face up to hers and grinned. Why’d the guy
have to be so ridiculously delicious-looking?
“But
I
can’t
have
them
thinking
I’m
moving
in
with
someone who—”
“You met on the internet? Or has a kid?” Scooter, the traitor
dog, lifted and lashed out a tongue to swipe Todd’s cheek.
Todd didn’t even back away or scrunch his face up, although
he did close his mouth.
“That I barely know,” Reva finished. “I’ve never been that
careless.”
Todd laughed. “Even more funny. Do they really think
you’re that stupid?”
It’s complicated.
He leaned to a knee and looked past Reva’s hip. Over her
shoulder, she noticed her parents headed their way. By the
decisiveness of their steps, she expected a confrontation.
“Guess the game’s over, roomie,” Todd said.
Clearly he had no intention of continuing the charade with
her parents. It was one thing to fool her siblings—they spent
too much time nosing in her private life anyway. If he
thought she was going to lie to her parents about him just
for fun, he was shit-out-of-luck. Reva knew better than to
cross
her
mother. The woman had a temper
that was
unrivaled; even Reva’s dad knew when to back down against
Angelina Zamora. Reva braced herself for the explosion as
she looked at the red puffy cheeks and blazing eyes on the
otherwise beautiful face.
“Reva Zamora, you better not…” Her voice pitched as she
raised a finger and punched it toward Reva’s face. Todd
stood, left Eric, and quickly strode to intercept.

“Hello, Mrs. Zamora.” He held a hand out daring her not to
take it. “I’m Reva’s neighbor Todd, and that is my son, Eric.
We met her a few days ago and she very kindly invited us
over today when we were out working in the yard. I hope
you don’t mind us crashing your family get-together.”
Angelina’s mouth dropped open as she choked back any
further chastising of her daughter. “But Ben said you…I
mean, Maria thought…”
Reva chuckled at the way she quickly deflated.
“We were just playing around.” Todd ran his fingers through
his hair.
Reva’s parents stared at them with cautious curiosity. They
seemed unwilling to let him off the hook so quickly.
“Besides, from what little I know about your daughter, I
doubt she’s the rebellious type that would do something
crazy. Especially without your knowledge or approval.”
Right on cue, Reva’s brother, Tim arrived behind her Dad.
His height spanned an extra three inches over her father’s
round frame, which added serious intimidation to his words.
“Do I need to kick some ass here?” Tim asked.
José Zamora prided himself in the fact that his sons were
almost as protective of their sisters as he was. When Tim’s
chest bumped protectively against his back, he turned and
pressed a calming hand to the chest that certainly could do
some damage. “Easy there, big boy. If there’s an ass-kicking
required, I’ll be the one to do it. Why don’t you take Todd,
here, over and get him and his kid a burger?”
“Dad, this isn’t the divide and conquer trick is it?” Reva
asked. She settled her hands on her hips in a mocked
warning. “Take it easy on the guy, will you? I just met him a
couple days ago. It would be embarrassing if you get him
arrested before we even know anything about him.”
Todd shot his head up and looked at the group. Oh, yeah.
She
should
have
remembered
that
José
was
prone
to
overreaction when it came to his daughters. She hated the
idea of a guy being involved in a Spanish inquisition with her
family, which is why she had hesitated to introduce Nick
until they had dated a few months. Nick was straight-laced
and conservative. Stiff, if she wanted to be honest. They
were merciless with him, teasing and pranking until he was
completely confused. Still, when the chips were down and
Nick slapped her around for the third time, the police
showed up at her doorstep and cuffed him, courtesy of one
really pissed off José Zamora. And she’d been thankful.
José didn’t hesitate to get involved if his daughter’s safety
was at stake. He likely would have gathered up Tim and Ben
and whipped the guy into unconsciousness if they’d lived
closer. As it was, all he had done was pick up the phone.
Reva knew it tore her dad up that he had to call the cops
when he preferred to teach a lesson himself. It wasn’t that he
was a violent man but he had been miles away and could
only depend on strangers to keep her safe. It had always
been his knowledge that family is a better bet every day.
Fortunately, the distance kept things relatively civil and the
police handled it well. Not that abuse is ever civil. As soon
as Nick was in jail, Reva packed up and drove home. Her
hasty departure left her with a black mark on her credit and
her job history that had been difficult to erase, but no
matter. She was alive, recovering, and strong. Where Nick
had tried to make her feel less than capable, her family did
just the opposite.
José
laughed
nervously
about
the
arresting
remark
and
clamped a hand on Todd’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. She’s
just messing around. I only sent one of her boyfriends to jail
and he deserved it. Go ahead, get some food.” Her dad gave
a quick squeeze and released Todd to Tim.
Reva watched the two equally gorgeous men saunter toward
the grill. It occurred to her that Tim would find a tough
match in Todd Grisham—probably tougher than expected.
Yet, Todd didn’t seem the type to seek out an altercation.
“He treats you good?” José asked.
“Jesus, I barely know the guy, Dad. And if you guys keep
this up, it’s unlikely I’ll know him for long. He’s just my
neighbor. He doesn’t treat me any way at all. Don’t go all
over-protective on me, okay?”
“Can’t help it. You have a history.”
“History. One guy is a history?”
“Yeah, if you nearly married him, it is.”
“Dad, you know I never would have married Nick. I’m too
much like Mom to let some idiot with a superiority complex
try to control me.”
She attempted humor but it was lost. Two seconds of silence
grew into ten as both accepted the undertone of what could
have happened. Hindsight made it sound easy to walk away
but they all knew it had taken a lot out of her. They saw the
dampness in her spirit that had occurred and the wariness
she tried to conceal.
“You’re not at all like your mother. If you were, it never
would have gone that far. You’re as much my daughter as if
you stepped out of my skin. There’s not a person on this
planet that you wouldn’t try to please and win over. You
always were one to attempt to befriend rather than get in a
pissing match.” José patted his baby girl on the cheek and
followed Tim and Todd, but not before adding, “That’s a
good thing in most situations. You just have to know when
it’s not and give it up.”
A roar of laughter erupted as Todd confessed to Ben and
Maria. He’d punked them, a feat not easily done in her
family, and they respected that. Several glances her way
assured her that they should have known she couldn’t snag a
guy like him anyway.