Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set (219 page)

Chapter 10

The days passed quickly.  She didn’t see Daylin around town, and he didn’t come into the bar.  But she knew he was there.  She’d seen his car in the parking lot of the diner a few times when she’d driven by.

She was getting ready to go out to the movies with Starla one night when there was a knock at her door.  She opened it and saw Daylin standing on her doorstep with a huge bouquet of flowers.  She almost shut the door in his face, but decided against it.

He gave her a shy smile.  “Hi.”

“Hi.”  She had no idea what to say to him.  She thought it was pretty arrogant of him to show up on her doorstep, but then again, his confidence was one of the many things about him that turned her on.

“Are you busy tonight?”

“I’m going to the movies.”

“Oh.  Is there another guy in your life?”

“Daylin, that’s none of your business.  We had sex.  That’s obviously all it was or you wouldn’t have been doing what I found you doing with Kateisha.”

Daylin sighed.  “I can never tell you how sorry I am Jess.  Would you consider giving me a second chance?”

Jess looked away from him.  He was too close to her right now for her to think straight.  “No.”

"Please Jess.  From the second I met you I know I wanted too much from you.  Looking back on it I would have wanted to run away from me too.  I met someone who hadn't had a real relationship and threw everything at her.  I tell you about Amanda, I tell you that I've slept around.  I practically proposed to you.  It was a little too much."

"So that's why you slept with her?"

"I didn't sleep with her and no.”

“Why should I believe that?”

“Because it’s true Jess.”

She could see in his eyes that he meant it, but it wasn’t enough for her.  She didn’t think she could trust him again.

“Please Jess.  One more chance.  I promise that if I screw this one up, I will leave you alone.”

Jess sighed.  “Fine Daylin.  You can call me later tonight.  I’m going to the movies with a friend from work, not another man.”

“Starla huh?”

“Yeah.  It’s so great to live in a small town where everyone knows everyone else’s business all the time.”

Daylin laughed.  “Yeah.  Thank you Jess.  You don’t know how much this means to me.  I won’t screw up again.  It’s been so hard having you in town and not being able to be with you.  I know I screwed up royally, but I promise you that I can be a better man for you.”

“Be a better man for yourself Daylin.”

“Yeah.”  Daylin handed the flowers to her.

“Thank you.  I need to finish getting ready.  The movie lets out at ten or so, so you can call me then if you want.”

Daylin grinned.  “I’ll be counting the minutes.”

Jess fought an urge to smile back at him.  “Sure.  Bye Daylin.”

He looked like he was walking on air as he walked back to his car.  Jess let herself smile.  She let herself feel it a little too.  Daylin still got to her way more than she wanted to admit he did.

Starla told her she was crazy when she told her she’d said it was okay for Daylin to call her, but Jess reminded her that she was a big girl.  Starla smiled and told her not to try to say she hadn’t warned her later on.

Daylin called her almost as soon as she was in her apartment.  She took a deep breath and then let it out, answering the phone right before it went to voicemail.

Her heart was pounding when she said “Hello.”

“Hi Jess.  How are you?”

“I’m good Daylin.  I’m going to meet my stepmom and brother and sister in a couple weeks.”

“That’s great.  I’m sure they must be excited to meet you.”

“Yeah.  I’ve been talking to my sister a little.  She seems like a really good kid.  Smart.  How are Cameron and Lucy?”

"They're good.  Still getting everything moved into their house.  I've been helping out a lot which means I get to hear them tell me how much of a dumbass I am even more than usual.  Luce wanted your phone number.  I gave it to her.  I hope that's okay."

"It's fine." 

Maybe she could stand to talk to his cousin's fiancé now that she’d she was going to give him another chance.  She had decided she was going to give him another chance as soon as she’d heard his voice.  But she needed to make sure that he was okay with taking it slow.  She wasn’t sure she could take getting so involved with him so quickly again.

“Daylin, we have to take this slow.  I mean it.  We can go out, but we’re not going to be hopping into bed together again anytime soon.”

“You’re no fun Jess.”  But she could hear the smile in his voice.

She figured it was better to change the subject then.  “How's your mom?"

"Not great.  She's lost so much weight that she looks like a skeleton already.  I'm so mad and yet I'm so sad that I don't know what to do.  I'm grown and I look at my mom and I can't imagine what life will be like without her."

"I'm sorry.”  It had been hard enough for her to learn that her father was gone after the fact.  She couldn't imagine what it would have been like having to watch him die. 

"It's okay.  I'll deal with it.  My dad on the other hand, I don't know.  But we don't get away with telling our parents what to do even when we’re grown do we?"

She laughed half-heartedly.  "Yeah, probably not."

"Have you talked to your mom again?"

"No."

"Are you that mad at her?"

"Not exactly.  It's like there's this big space between us that wasn't there when I was growing up."

"You're grown babe.  It happens."

"I know.  But the whole thing with Ned.  .  .  I never told anyone about it until I told you so I don't know why it should be hard not to talk about it.  But it feels like I'm going to say something to her without meaning to."

"Tell her.  You'll feel a thousand times better if you do."

"Are you kidding me?  Well, it might make me feel better but it sure as hell won't make her feel better."

"Do you still think that she doesn't have a right to know?"

"It's not that.  I just don't want to cause problems.  It's already done.  There's nothing that can be done to change it now."

"I still think you should tell her but I'll shut up about it.  I’ll let you decide when you want to go out with me and what you want to do.”

They agreed on a dinner date a few nights later.  Jess figured dinner was safer than the movies.  She wasn’t sure how she was going to control her overactive hormones when she was around Daylin, let alone his.

They spent several nights together, doing no more than kissing.  Jess was feeling a lot of sexual frustration, but she knew that going to bed with Daylin again would not be a good idea.  Soon it was time to meet Selana and the kids.

She wasn’t sure how could she be so terrified and excited at the same time.  She was wired on caffeine because she’d drunk four cups of coffee.  She’d smoked three cigarettes and now there was no more delaying it.  She was going to meet Selana, Craig and Chelsea.

She picked up her overnight bag and her purse and went out the door, locking the house behind her. 

She turned the music up loud and tried not to think as she drove.  She was so nervous she was sweating in the unseasonably warm October weather so she rolled down her window not caring that her hair was going to be a tangled mess by the time she reached her stepmother’s house.  Her father’s house.

It was early afternoon when she pulled up in front of Selana’s house.  It was a modest three story with a well-kept yard.  There was a basketball hoop in front of the garage and three bikes hooked up to chains.

She took a deep breath as she got out of her car.  By the time she had crossed to the trunk Selana had come out the front door.

Her stepmother, who looked even more like her mother in person, walked across the driveway.

“Jess.  It’s so good to see you.”  She looked almost as nervous as Jess felt.

“Hi Selana.  It’s good to see you too.”

“Did you have any trouble finding the house?”

“No.  I was able to print out a map.”

“That’s good.  Come in honey.”

Selana led her inside.  The house was neat, though cluttered.  The walls were covered in pictures.  Jess suddenly stood face to face with her father’s life after he’d left her.  She blinked back tears as she looked at the family portraits.  He looked so happy, like such a proud father.

Selana led her upstairs to the guest room where she’d be staying.  Their conversation was stilted at first, but when Selana started talking about her children she started to open up more.  Jess’s heart finally stopped pounding so hard. 

Once they’d eaten lunch Selana disappeared into her bedroom and came back with the last letter that her father had written her.  Jess couldn’t bring herself to read it at first.  It felt so strange being in her father’s house with him being gone even if Selana was trying her best to put her at ease.

Finally, she opened the letter and started to read:  ‘Jess, There are no words to tell you how sorry I am.  I know that by the time you read this, I may be gone.  It makes my heart ache to think that I wasn’t able to see your beautiful face again.  I don’t want you to think for an instant that I forgot you or stopped thinking of you.  You were my world and it killed me to walk away from you.  I thought of you every day.  There was always a part of me that was broken without you.  When you miss watching your child grow you can’t help but feel something’s missing.  You can’t help but wonder what that child’s life would have been like if you’d been in it.  I hope you can understand that I couldn’t take you away from your mother.  Little girls need their mothers.  Little girls need their fathers too and believe me baby I never wanted to leave you without a father.  I never wished anything but the best for you.  It hurt me so much to not be a part of your life.  But though I couldn’t be there and it hurt me to think that you could live without me, when I never for one instant wanted to live without you, I always wanted you to be happy.  Your smile always brightened my day.  I may not have always made the right choices, but I never wanted to hurt you.  I loved you until my last breath and if there is an after, I will love you until the end of time.  I can never tell you how sorry I am that I couldn’t be there to see you grow, but I can tell you that I
loved you from the moment that I knew there was a you.  I cherished every moment that I had with you and wouldn’t trade it for anything.  My love always and forever, Daddy’

She wasn’t halfway through before the tears started.  Selana crossed to her and took her hand.  When she had finished the letter, she let herself be enveloped in her stepmother’s embrace.  It was like déjà vu.  Selana wore the same flowery perfume that her mother had worn when she was young.

“He said goodnight to you and told you that he loved you every night,” Selana said softly, handing Jess a tissue.

“I wish.  .  .”  She trailed off because it was too much to say out loud.  It still hurt so much to think that her father was gone. 

“I know honey.  I know.”

The front door burst open.  Chelsea walked in.  She looked shy, though she and Jess had been texting back and forth.

“Hi Mom.  Hi Jess.”

“Hey Chels.  Where’s your brother?”

“With Steph.”

“Did he give you a ride home like he was supposed to?”

Chelsea shook her head.  “No.  Krissa’s mom gave me a ride.”

“If you would have called me I would have come and picked you up.”

“Krissa’s mom was already there.  They were coming out this way to visit Krissa’s Grandma anyway.  It wasn’t a big deal.”

“I thought you had dress rehearsal today for the play.”

“It’s at five thirty.  Craig doesn’t have to be there.  That’s why he took off with Steph.  Can we go to the mall after I finish my homework?”

“Is that where your brother is?”

“I doubt it.  They’re probably at her house having sex.  His car stinks.  He let her smoke in it again.”

Selana sighed.  “I’ll talk to him.  Again.  Do her parents know she’s smoking?”

“Probably.  They’re dipshits.  I heard Craig telling Trainor that her parents caught them doing it and they still won’t let her get birth control.  I think they want her to get pregnant because they think if she does you’ll let her move in with us.  Her Mom’s boyfriend went to jail again.  Somebody said he was dealing drugs.  Maybe you should let her move in Mom.  I don’t think they’d do it right under your nose.”

Selana gave her daughter a dirty look.  “Enough with the gossip Chelsea.  I don’t want to hear it and I’m sure your sister doesn’t either.  Go.  Do your homework.  If you get done quickly enough we’ll go to the mall.  If not, we’ll go after your practice.  I’ll call your brother and see if he and Steph want to meet us for dinner.”

“Okay.  Sorry Jess.”  Backpack in hand; she turned towards the stairs and her bedroom.  Then she turned back and said “You’re even prettier than your pictures Jess.”

“Thank you.”

Selana laughed once her daughter was out of earshot.  “I tell her she looks like you but she doesn’t believe me.”