Heather Rainier (14 page)

“Jayne?”

Jayne jumped as though she’d been electrocuted. “
Mom!
”

They turned to the door of Jayne’s house, which was open. In the doorway stood a woman who bore a striking resemblance to Jayne. Jayne glanced at him, and Seth saw the frustration in her eyes.

“Mom, what are you doing here?”

The woman, who appeared to be in her early fifties, tilted her head. “You didn’t get my text?”

“No—” Jayne replied as she pulled her phone from her purse and activated the touch screen. “Yes. Shoot! Have you been here long?”

Jayne’s mom looked Seth up and down, and Seth thought he caught a familial trait in the speculative way she examined him, humor in her eyes. For a moment she reminded him of her niece, Charity. She kept her eyes on Seth as she replied to her daughter. “Only about half an hour. And
you
are…” Her blue-green gaze flicked over his arms but returned to his eyes a second later.

Jayne smiled tremulously, glanced at him, and opened her mouth to speak. Seth held out his hand and nodded to Jayne’s mother respectfully. “Seth Carter, ma’am. I’m Jayne’s boyfriend.”

Mrs. Sheridan arched her brown eyebrow, and a smile quirked her lips as she shook his hand. “Frieda Sheridan. Pleased to meet you.” She leaned against the doorway as though enjoying herself. “Boyfriend, huh?”

The similarity to Charity was unmistakable. Jayne’s expression didn’t give anything away when he glanced at her but she practically radiated frustration.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Mrs. Sheridan cleared her throat. “Well, Mr. Carter, it’s good to meet you. Jayne, I’ll leave you alone to say good night. I’ll just be inside.”

The door swung closed, but not before Seth thought he heard a soft snicker. Jayne sagged against him. “I must not have heard the text message come through. Shoot. There goes our night.” Her lower lip pooched out, and he wanted nothing more than to nibble on it.

“Looks like we’ll both be busy with houseguests for the next few days.”

“True. That’s the first time you’ve ever called me your girlfriend. I like it but I’d hoped to upgrade you to lover status.”

Seth tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. What he felt for her went beyond mere girlfriend status. “I know, me too. We’ll still get our chance, if that’s agreeable?”

Jayne tilted her head as she gazed up at him, mirroring her mother’s earlier reaction. He thought she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen as she looked him up and down. “Yeah, it’s agreeable. I wonder what kinds of perks are available. You’ll have to teach me all about them.” Her eyes sparkled enticingly.

“You’re killing me, baby. Go spend time with your mom. I’ll call you later tonight.”

After one final, sweltering, cock-hardening kiss, Seth returned to his truck, texted his cock-blocking sister, then dialed his mom’s number as he backed out of the driveway. He was home for five minutes when his front door barreled open and a familiar, comical voice called out, “Ricky! I’m home!”

Seth scoffed and rolled his eyes that she still used this greeting with him. Too many years of watching TV Land sitcoms together when they were growing up.

As he leafed through his mail, he called out, “Lucy! You got some ’splaining to do!”

His drop-dead-gorgeous sister came bustling into the house with her hands filled with shopping bags, which she dropped onto the couch before running to him.

“Butthead!” Her eyes sparkled playfully as she threw her arms around him.

His heart gave a little lurch as he hugged her. The old nicknames still made him smile, but he could see the anguish in her eyes that she vainly tried to hide. Even though there were several years’ difference between their ages, they’d always been close as siblings, and all he’d ever had to do was look in her eyes to know something was bothering her. Their mother had said they’d had an almost psychic bond.

“Beavis!”

“No noogies! Mess up my hairdo and I’ll kick your ass.” Lucy was nearly eye to eye with him, and she’d been working out, so she’d give him a run for his money. Messing up her long, wavy black hair wasn’t worth it.

He gestured at the shopping bags. “I see you cleared out the store.”

Lucy nodded. “Yep. Rosemary set me up.”

“So, how long will you be in Divine?”

He picked up the bags and beckoned her down the hall to his extra bedroom. He grabbed up the clean laundry piled on the bed and tidied the room as she unloaded the shopping bags and they chatted.

He noticed that she had bags from Walmart and asked, “Is your luggage in the trunk of your car?”

Lucy stopped arranging her purchases and gave him a discomfited look. “I didn’t pack any luggage. And at this point, I’m not sure how long I’ll be staying in Divine.” She put out her hands and added, “But I won’t be in your hair any longer than necessary.”

Seth sat on the edge of the bed and braced his elbows on his knees. “I talked to Mom a few minutes ago. What happened?”

His resilient, bubbly sister slumped her shoulders in an uncommon display of defeat as tears sparkled in her eyes. “Casey didn’t take it well when I broke off our engagement.”

“Don’t you think that’s putting it mildly? Mom said he burned your house down.”

She used the side of her hand to wipe away a tear. “The fire is still under investigation. They haven’t been able to find him, but, yes, he’s a suspect until the police and arson investigators can interview him.”

“You broke the engagement with him?”

Her eyes flitted away as she answered. “Yes. He was putting too much pressure on me.”

“Pressure? What kind of pressure?”

“I heard his mom make a comment about his bride being a tad dumpy and I think it upset him. He wanted me to lose weight before the wedding.”

“What bullshit!” Seth’s sister had always been active and fit. It just so happened she came from a long line of hourglass-shaped women. But she was tall and usually carried herself with confidence. That evidently wasn’t enough for snobs like her ex-fiancé had been. Appearance was everything with some people. It wasn’t the first time his sister had been hurt by men for that reason, and Seth’s protective big-brother instincts made him want to hunt Casey down.

“I already had enough pressure with planning a wedding to satisfy his mother, and build up a clientele at Lake Breeze Spa, and…I had enough. I broke it off and I guess he snapped.”

“No one knows where he is?”

“Nope. But this is how he’s always been. Going off half-cocked. I imagine he’ll show up in a few days and his parents will have purchased an alibi for him to keep him out of trouble.”

“Do you have everything you need?”

“Yes. I hit Walmart for toiletries, and Mom let me raid her closet. I bought a new phone and got a new number on my way out of town. Cheaver’s had a sale so I got some outfits and accessories. Mom thought it might be better if I stayed here for a few days until he shows up and talks to the authorities.”

“What about your job?”

Lucy shrugged with nonchalance, but her lip trembled. “They said they understood but told me that if any of my clients called they’d have to schedule them with other massage therapists until I knew when I was coming back. I worked so hard building up my little following.”

Seth knew there was more to this story than she’d told him so far. His mom had said that Lucy had seemed not only upset about the loss of all her earthly possessions but also scared when she’d come to the house that morning. She’d suggested that Lucy visit Seth in Divine until things settled down and they knew more.

“Luckily, Waldo was at the vet.” Waldo was an overgrown, lovably obnoxious, and recently neutered tomcat Lucy had taken in.

“Did you bring him?”

“No. I knew I’d be making several stops and it’s too hot to leave him in the car. Mom has him.”

“You’re welcome to stay however long you need to, Luce. Both you and Waldo. I hope they find that asshole. I’m all ears when you’re ready to tell me the rest of the story.”

Looking thoroughly exhausted, Lucy shrugged and lifted her bare feet to the bed as she reclined on the pillow. “Later. I just need to decompress right now.”

Seth nodded and rose from the bed. “You hungry?”

“Starving.”

“I’ll fix us something.”

“Where’s your girlfriend?”

“I dropped her off at home a few minutes ago.”

“She didn’t want to spend the evening with you?”

“It’s not that. She wanted us to have time to catch up and her mom is visiting her this week.”

“She sounds nice. Not at all like that friggin’ heinous bitch you used to waste time on.”

Seth laughed as she giggled and the sparkle returned to her eyes. “Geez, tell me how you really feel, sis.”

“She was a possessive, spoiled, bitchy brat. No wait—she was entitled, and snotty, and at the same time really slutty—”

Seth held up his hands. “Okay, okay. I get the picture. Not my best choice.”

Lucy got up off the bed and hugged him again, hard. “She wasn’t nearly good enough for you, Seth.”

“Thanks, Luce. I think you’ll like Jayne when you meet her.”

“Jayne, huh? What does she do?”

“Librarian.”

Lucy snorted when she laughed. “Are you serious? Horn-rimmed glasses librarian or hot librarian?”

“Hot librarian. Very hot.”

* * * *

“Mom, you didn’t have to give him a hard time!”

Jayne stood inside the foyer, toe tapping on the tile as her mom continued snickering behind her hand. Jayne was happy to see her but beyond frustrated with the timing of this visit. When she’d let her know about making the trip to see Dr. Hawks, she’d had no idea her mom intended to show up for a visit, letting herself into the house with the extra house key Jayne had sent her.

“I was gentle. I just wanted to see where he stood. He didn’t need to know that you’d already told me about him. I was just ascertaining his intentions. Your father would’ve given him a much harder time than I did.”

Jayne let out a soft laugh, knowing that was the truth. Her dad would take it as his duty to at least
try
to scare the ever-living shit out of Seth, all in the name of being a dad. “You weren’t that bad.”

“So he’s your boyfriend, huh?” The happy glow in her mom’s eyes made up for the embarrassment she’d felt earlier.

“Yes. But behave from now on, Mom. You sounded just like Charity for a minute.”

“Why thank you.
She
learned it from
me
, though.”

Jayne had a good time catching up with her mom as they put together the ingredients for a simple meal. Jayne filled her in on what the doctor had said, and they reminisced over everything she’d been through. She was reminded of that feeling she’d had back in December, perched on the precipice ready to really start living. Her body still ached a bit with unrelieved tension, reminding her of what she’d hoped to be doing that evening.

“Have you called Grace and Charity to let them know you’re in town?”

“No but I need to.”

While Jayne washed the dishes and tidied the kitchen, her mother sat on the couch with her feet up and chatted on the phone with Grace.

As Jayne returned to the living room, she overheard her mother say, “No, Grace. Jayne hasn’t showed me her tattoo yet.” She nailed her daughter with her blue-green eyes and arched her eyebrow. “But I’ll be sure to ask her about it.”

Jayne thought she heard Grace’s faint voice on the other end of the line, saying, “Oh, crap.”

Her mom chuckled, and they chatted for a minute longer before she ended the call. “So…Can I see?”

“Yes, but it’s not completely healed yet.”

“Where is it?”

Jayne cringed.
Practically everywhere!

Somehow, she’d thought that this bit of body art wouldn’t be of any interest to her family members, but she should’ve known that was a mistaken assumption.

Evidently, her face gave her away as her mom said, “Wherever it is, it must be spectacular, if you’re blushing like that. I wanna see.”

She followed Jayne into the bathroom and gasped melodramatically when she revealed it. “Holy crap! I want one!”

“
Mom!
” Jayne pulled her T-shirt back down and zipped her jeans.

“It’s fabulous! I want a tattoo.”

“Dad would shoot you with a bazooka. You know that.”

“How much?”

Jayne paused for a second and then giggled at her mom’s shocked expression. “He’s not charging you?”

“I don’t know. In our sessions, the price never came up.”

What a dolt! Never once did you think of the cost? I wonder why he never said anything.

“Wow, he must be really,
really
good if he keeps you so distracted that you never asked how much he’d charge.”

“It just never came up in the conversation.”