Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set (208 page)

Misty Reigenborn

Copyright 2013

By Misty Reigenborn

Chapter 1

Jessica was tired.  She wondered if she should pull over at the truck stop she could see ahead of her and get coffee.  She'd drank she didn't know how many cups of coffee already that day and two energy drinks.  Yet it didn't seem to be helping. 

She sighed as she lit a cigarette, wondering why she bothered anymore.  What was the point?  She was twenty-four years old and had been moving around since she was eighteen.  She had lived in seven states and had almost lost track of the towns.  What made her think she was going to find her father now?

Just because she'd finally decided that she deserved some answers from a man she hadn't seen in twenty-one years and she'd finally found the courage to say screw it and try one last ditch effort to find him didn't mean she was going to.  The searches she'd paid for and the ones she hadn't; hadn't turned up a thing.  It was like her father had disappeared off the face of the earth.  And maybe he had.  Her mother probably thought she had. 

She sighed again as she closed the gap to the truck stop.  It was either turn in now, or keep driving.  She threw her cigarette out the window and decided to pull into the lot.  Maybe someone in there could give her an idea of where to stay she thought.  Somewhere cheap and halfway clean preferably. 

Jessica Brewster, or Jess as she preferred to be called, a slender woman with dark hair and her father's green eyes, stepped out of her car and pushed the button to lock the doors.  The lot was mostly empty, a few trucks and a shiny red sports car that seemed too flashy for a small town America truck stop parking lot.

She stepped into the brightly lit diner.  A waitress with teased hair and a nametag that read 'Glenda' said "Sit where ever you want honey.  I'll be with you in a minute."

Jess nodded and glanced around the restaurant.  There were few customers at this time of night, too late for dinner and still a bit too early for the bars to have closed for the night.  The only other customers were three truckers at the counter, only one who bothered to look her way, and a
good looking guy sitting alone in a booth by the door, drinking coffee and looking at the screen of his cell phone.

He paid attention to her.  She could feel his eyes roving her body.  She almost shivered, as if suddenly colder.  She knew that he was picturing her without her clothes on.  He looked like what was politely called a ladies’ man.  She avoided his eyes as she headed towards a booth in the back.

She picked up the menu off of the table and glanced through it, lost in thought. 

"What can I get you to drink hon?"

She looked up.  The waitress had reappeared and somehow the young guy from the front booth had ended up right behind her.

"Coffee please," Jess said.

The guy was looking at her with unabashed interest.  Glenda turned to him.  "Daylin leave her alone.  Can't you see that the young lady wants to eat her meal in peace?" 

"Don't you think we should let her decide that?"  Daylin gave Jess a grin that she was sure had gotten many a woman right into his bed.

Jess didn't know what to say.  If she was too polite, he'd take it as an invitation.  But she didn't want to be downright rude.  Never mind that he was being pretty rude himself she thought.  He seemed to expect her to jump at the chance of sitting with him.  She said nothing.  He took it as an invitation anyway and slid into the booth across from her. 

Glenda gave him a dirty look.  He grinned at her, showing a set of straight, white teeth. 

"If he's bothering you honey, you just let me know.  I'll get one of the guys at the counter to set him straight for you."

Daylin made a face.  "Don't call out the boys Glenda.  I don't mean this beautiful girl any harm."

Jess sighed.  Sometimes she wished she was plain, but she looked like her mother who could probably still be mistaken for her older sister at forty-three. 

"I'll be right back with your coffee hon," Glenda said. 

Jess nodded, wishing she'd brought her book in from the car.  With her nose buried in a book, it was usually enough to make people leave her alone.

"So what's your name darlin'?"  Daylin said.

Oh, she thought, they should be in a bar and he should be ten years older and sporting the white band from the wedding ring he'd shoved in his pocket on his finger.

She looked at him, appraising him.  He was very good looking with a beautiful pair of hazel eyes and dark hair that could use a trim.  The arms that were draped across the back of the booth were muscular, his tight fitting t-shirt pulling across his well-built chest.  Yes, he was definitely hot she thought.  But he most definitely knew it.

She picked up the menu again, though she'd already decided she was going to have-a cheeseburger and onion rings.  Maybe that would turn him off she thought, her having an appetite.  Though she doubted it.  His gaze never left her. 

He was making her very uncomfortable, looking at her like he'd never seen a woman before.  She finally cleared her throat and said "Jess.  My name is Jess."

"That's a beautiful name for a beautiful girl.  Or should I say woman?  At least I hope you're over 18."

He laughed, though she found nothing funny about his statement.  She looked away again, counting the minutes until she could safely make her exit.

Glenda came back with her coffee.  She accepted it with a grateful "thank you", glad that she had something to concentrate on besides trying not to think about the way Daylin was concentrating on her.

"Have you decided what you'd like to eat sweetie?"

"A cheeseburger and onion rings please."

"It'll be right up.  If you need anything else let me know."

"Hey," Daylin said as Glenda started to walk away.

"Yes Daylin?" Glenda sighed.

"What about me?"

“Yes Daylin?”

"Can I have more coffee please?  And a slice of blueberry pie with ice cream.  Put it all on one check.  I'm paying."

"Yes Daylin," Glenda said.

Jess started to protest, but Daylin's attention was elsewhere suddenly.  A good looking guy had walked in the door, practically holding up the pretty woman he was with who was wearing what Jess considered to be entirely too much makeup.

"Cam, over here," Daylin called out.

The guy looked their way.  Jess almost groaned.  Just what she needed she thought.  More company when she hadn’t wanted any in the first place.

Daylin got up and slid into her side of the booth, giving her an amused look when she plastered herself against the wall.

"Hey Daylin," the guy said, helping the girl into the booth ahead of him.  "Who's your friend?"

"Cameron, Lucy, this is my new friend Jess.  Jess, this is my cousin Cameron and his girlfriend Lucy."

"Fiancé." Lucy gave Daylin a dirty look. 

"Oh yeah," Daylin said.  "I forgot he shelled out the big money for that ring."  He winked at Cameron.  Jess wondered why, but Cameron just looked away.

"Baby I'm starving," Lucy said.  "Where's the damn waitress?"

Cameron looked over and caught Glenda's eye.  She held up a finger.  Lucy said "I have to go to the bathroom Cam.  When she finally gets her sorry ass over here will you order me a patty melt and fries?"

"Of course." Cameron stood and held out a hand to Lucy.  She was a little unsteady on her feet.  Cameron held on to her for a minute.

"I'll be right back," Lucy said.

It was sad to Jess to see someone she could tell was normally as lithe as a dancer practically stumble to the restroom when it was only twenty feet away.  But alcohol could tumble the best of them, she mused.

Glenda came back and refilled Daylin's coffee cup, asking what she could get Cameron and Lucy to drink and if Lucy was okay.  Cameron nodded; looking embarrassed, and ordered coffee and the food that Lucy had requested, ordering a grilled cheese and fries for himself.

"Why do you still order off the kid's menu?"  Daylin teased.

"I don't feel the need to prove my manhood with a fancy sports car or by ordering a T-bone every time Daylin."

Jess hid a smile.

Daylin scowled, and then his face softened into a concerned look.  "I thought you said she was going to slow down on her drinking Cam."

"She has been until tonight.  She had another fight with her mom."

"There's always going to be some excuse Cameron.  A fight with her mom, she hates her job, she has PMS.  When's it going to end?"

"She tries, she really does."

"No she doesn't.  Every time you go out of town, she's out with her friends, flashing her tits at the bar.  One of two things is going to happen.  She's going to tease the wrong guy and end up getting raped and you'll end up in jail for kicking the shit out of some sorry scumbag.  Or she's going to say yes and you're going to end up playing daddy to a kid that might not be yours.  And she'll still be smoking and drinking while she's pregnant."

"It's not like that, and you know it."  Cameron sounded very frustrated.  Jess figured that this was a discussion they'd had before.

"It is Cam.  And I thought you told her you weren't going to marry her unless she quit drinking.  I told you not to give her that ring."

"You don't get it.  I love her.  I can't lose her."

"I do get it Cam.  I've watched you moon over her since high school.  She's still the same party girl now that she was when we graduated.  She complains that all her friends are married and they haven't been with their men even half as long as she's been with you.  But she's not doing anything to change."

"Daylin stop.  I know what I'm doing.  And you're the last person to give relationship advice."

Daylin scowled again and started to say something, but then Glenda returned with their food, telling Cameron that his and Lucy's food would only be another few minutes.

It had been over five minutes and even Jess, who felt very uncomfortable to be sitting with strangers in the midst of a family feud, was starting to get worried about Lucy.

Cameron took a sip of his coffee, looked at his watch and gave Jess an apologetic look.  "Would you mind checking on Lucy please?"

"Sure."

Daylin had started to get up to let her by when Lucy appeared from the direction of the bathroom.  She still looked a little unsteady.  Cameron jumped up, helping her back into the booth.

"Is our food done?  This place is always so slow."

"It'll be another few minutes baby."

Cameron gave Lucy such a look of adoration that Jess turned away, and ended up looking straight into Daylin's eyes.  Which was a mistake in her mind because he was doing it again.  He was looking at her like he knew what she needed, and what he thought she needed was obviously him.

Why hadn't she kept driving she wondered again?  She could be sleeping right now in some anonymous motel room instead of here with strangers feeling like she was eavesdropping on a private discussion.

"So Jess," Cameron said.  "Are you new in town or just passing through?"

"Um.”  Jess wasn’t quite sure what to say.  This was the town her father had grown up in, so it was her destination at least for the moment, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to admit to Daylin that she was going to be staying in town.  Though Welton seemed like such a small town that she figured she might as well tell them the truth.  “I’m going to be staying in town for a while at least.  It might only be a day or two though.”

Daylin gave her a disappointed look.  "All the good ones are just passing through.  Then again, there's not much to attract someone to this shithole."

"Asshole," Lucy muttered.

"Not an insult to you Lucy," Daylin said.

"Right," she muttered.

Daylin rolled his eyes.  "Why does she still not like me after all this time Cam?"

"I don't know Daylin.  There couldn't possibly be any reason for a woman in this town not to like you right?  I mean like the one woman that you're not related to that you haven't been to bed with," Cameron said.

Something passed then between Daylin and Lucy, so brief that Jess barely caught it and was glad that Cameron didn't.

Daylin said.  "Do you really need to discuss my past in front of Jess?"

Cameron snorted.  "Your past?  Last week you were with what's her name?  Luce what is her name?  The chick with the big nose that you used to work with."

"Dolla." Lucy glanced impatiently towards the kitchen where Glenda was picking up two plates of food.

"Yeah Dolla.  The week before it was Jane, and we certainly can't forget the fiasco from last summer when you almost got arrested now can we?"

Once Glenda had dropped off their food and left again, Daylin muttered "We didn't almost get arrested.  That old bat just threatened to call the cops.  And I asked you to shut the hell up about this stuff in front of Jess.  How can I impress a girl when you're dragging my rep through the dirt?"

"Your reputation is very well earned Daylin." Lucy dipped a French fry in the huge pool of ketchup she'd dumped on her plate.

"And yours isn't?"  Daylin shot back.