My Sunshine (18 page)

“No, Mike. I haven’t. I met her that weekend on my way
to my parents’ house, and then I slept with a girl back home. I didn’t even know I would even see Chloe again. The next weekend, I drove back to North Carolina to see her. And that’s

been it. Nothing else. No one else. Just her. Not
Benice, not MonicaWilliams, no one.”

“Did you tell her that?”

“She knows that. I just don’t know what to do, Mike. I

can’t change what happened in the past. What can I do?”

Mike chuckled. “You know, this happened to me and

Jane
once. Except, it was me running from her past.”

“What did she do to fix it?”
John asked.

“She chased me.”

John inhaled deeply. “Thanks, Mike. I gotta go.”

“Good luck.”

John ended the call and dialed his manager’s number again.

“
Carl, I need that plane again.”

“It’s not here.
Monica Williams is using it. You’ll have to charter this time. Or fly commercial.”

“I don’t have time for that.” He hung up. Again, he headed
for the airport, where he knew there were pilots waiting with their own jets to fly anywhere you wanted to go.

Chloe
eased quietly into Daniel’s apartment. She hadn’t been home since she left. It was early evening, and the apartment was empty. She assumed Daniel had gone out to dinner or was test-driving a car that he was working on. She could see from the feminine touches around the apartment that

Rebecca
had moved in, and Chloe wasn’t even sure if she still had a bedroom.

She moved through the apartment toward her bedroom. The
door was open and her room was just as she had left it. She sat on the bed and began to take off her shoes. She saw movement at the door and jumped when she made eye contact with Daniel.

“What’s the point of your even having a cell phone if you’re
not going to ever have it turned on?” he asked.

“Have you been trying to call?” she said blankly, kicking
her shoes across the room.

“As a matter of fact I have.” He paused. “
John called here.

He told me to be expecting you. Do you want to talk about
what happened?”

“Did he say what happened?”

Daniel shook his head. “He said that you had decided to come home for a visit and you didn’t have your cell phone on and he wanted to make sure you got here okay.”

“It sounds like you know it all then. What’s there to say?”

She stood up from the bed and walked to the door. “I saw mom yesterday,” she said casually, as if it happened everyday.

“Our mother? Where?”

“She came into my office to settle a debt. She asked me for the money. I kicked her out.”

“Is that why you’re here?”
Daniel asked.

“Not really. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I want to get some
sleep.” She tried to push the door shut.

Daniel
stepped out of the way. “We're gonna talk about this in the morning.”

Chloe
closed the door and locked it. John hadn’t told Daniel that they had had a fight. She wondered what that meant. Was he trying to protect himself or her?

It has to be himself, stupid. He doesn’t care anything
about you. You’re just a worthless piece of trash he keeps around to get sex from. Why you thought someone like John Bernett would be interested in someone like you for anything more than a quick lay is beyond delusional. You’re crazier than you thought.

Chloe
curled up on the bed and cried. She didn’t want to believe Shannon, but she couldn’t bring herself to believe that she was worthy enough to make someone change. How could she expect that John would give up his playboy lifestyle just for her? It didn’t make sense. Except for Eli, no one had ever cared for her. And Eli hadn’t been real. He had just been an angel there to help her get well.

Sometime later, there was a knock at
Chloe’s door.

Rebecca
let herself in. “Chloe, you’ve got company

downstairs.”

Chloe sat up. “Who is it?”

“It’s
John. He’s here for you.”

Her heart skipped a beat. “He’s here?”

Rebecca nodded. “Yeah.”

“I’ll be right down.” She went into the bathroom and

washed her face, but she couldn’t get rid of the bloodshot eyes or the ugly bruise.

“Have you told him?”
Rebecca asked, watching her.

“Yeah,”
Chloe lied. “Of course.” She left the bathroom and went downstairs into the shop.

John
was leaning against the Jeep Daniel was working on deep in conversation with him. He straightened when he saw

Chloe
. “Hey.” He shoved his hands into his front jeans pockets.

“I didn’t think you would come,” she said.

“I had to. I couldn’t let you go like that.” He kept his eyes dead on her, knowing they had an audience. “I wasn’t sure that you’d see me.”

She went to him and pounded her fist on his chest.

“Dammit, John, why did you come here? It would be so much easier to believe Shannon.”

“
Rebecca,” Daniel said curtly with a nod of his head toward the door. They left.

John
grabbed Chloe’s wrist. “Believe me, Chloe. I love you. I am not cheating on you. I haven’t cheated on you.”

She laid her head against his chest. “I’m sorry. It’s just that
sometimes I get confused. I don’t understand things.”

John
didn’t know what she was talking about. She seemed to him to be of above average intelligence. “Well, understand this, I couldn’t let you leave like that. I love you, and I want to be with you and only you. Are you confused about that?”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry.”

“I have a plane waiting at the airport. We have a wedding to get to.”

She shook her head. “I don’t want to go to that.”

John frowned. “Dennis is my friend, Chloe. I can’t blow off his wedding. I’m in it. You can stay home, of course, but please come home with me now.”

She nodded. “Okay. I’m sorry,
John.”

He kissed her. “It’s all going to be okay, baby girl. I
promise.”

                       
Chapter Nine

I
n the week that followed the wedding, Christine made it a point to spend as much time with Chloe as she could.

The women had bonded, not just as roommates and girlfriends
of Parrison members, but also over their shared faith.

On the Friday before Thanksgiving,
Christine suggested a trip, just she and Chloe, to Atlanta to do some Christmas shopping. Chloe readily agreed. She had never had a close female friend and she was enjoying the companionship.

“What did you and
Christine do today?” John asked. He had just come home from the studio. Chloe was sitting at the kitchen table balancing her checkbook.

Chloe
shook her head. “We didn’t do anything. She had somewhere she had to go. She was pretty secretive about the whole thing, but we’re having supper with them tonight.”

“What are we having?”
John asked, looking toward the stove. Nothing was cooking.

She shrugged. “Don’t know. We’re meeting over at

Jane’s.”

John
smiled. “Good, I like going to Jane’s.”

“Are you saying she’s a better cook than me?”
Chloe narrowed her eyes in mock anger.

He nodded. “Yep.”

“Christine call me today, though,” Chloe said. “She asked if I wanted to go to Atlanta with her for a few days. I said I would.”

“When?”

“She wants to leave tomorrow afternoon.”

John
’s eyes widened. “And come back when?”

“Thursday morning. We’d meet you and
Tyler in

Nashville.”

“It’s kind of short notice, don’t you think?” He cocked his head to one side. “Did you just say you’d meet me in Nashville on Thanksgiving?”

She nodded. “Is that a problem?”

“No. It makes me really happy, actually. Now let’s get back to this shopping trip thing. I’m not sure how I feel about it.”

Chloe
was shocked. She was sure he would be happy that she was getting along so well with his friends. “Why?”

“I don’t want you leaving me.” He walked over to her and
draped his arms over her shoulders and rested his chin on her head. “I just got you back. I don’t want you leaving me again.”

She sighed. “I’m not leaving you,
John. I’m going

shopping. I might buy you something.”

He frowned. “I don’t need anything.” He sat in the chair next to her. “I just don’t want to be alone. I don’t want to fly home alone.”

“You’ll be with
Tyler.”

He shook his head, but didn’t say anything.

“Are you not going to let me go?”

“I can’t stop you from going.”

She winced. “That’s not exactly what I wanted to hear.”

Her disappointment was like a punch in the stomach. “I’m
sorry, baby girl. Go and have a good time.”

“I don’t think you mean that.”

“I mean it. Have a great time with Christine. Buy me something nice.”

“Is your mom going to be okay with me coming for

Thanksgiving?” She had heard John talk on the phone with his mother, and she knew that they didn’t have the best relationship.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I think I’ll book us a hotel,
just in case.” He paused. “Daniel doesn’t want you to come home?”

She shook her head. “He and
Rebecca are going skiing for Thanksgiving.”

He yawned and rubbed his stomach. “What time are we
supposed to go over? I’m hungry.”

“In about an hour. Can I get you a snack?” She stood up
and started toward the refrigerator.

John
jumped up and grabbed her, picking her up like he was  cradling a baby. “Nah, I found something.” He laughed and carried her toward her room.

“Okay, we’re all here,” Dana said. She looked around the large oval table until her eyes rested on Christine, then Tyler.

“What’s the big announcement?”

“Y’all are getting married,” Jane guessed. That wouldn’t have been a big announcement. Everyone knew it was just a matter of time.

“Y’all are already married?”
Josh said.

“No,”
Tyler said, shaking his head and smiling.

“You’re pregnant,”
Bright blurted out.

Christine
playfully shoved him. “No.” She looked around the table. “You know that house next door? The one for sale?”

Everyone nodded. The log-cabin style house was on the
land that adjoined Mike and Jane’s. It was hidden from the road, but the views from the lakeside were spectacular. They had all talked about wanting to get a look inside.

“We bought it,”
Christine said. “We signed the papers today.

We’re moving in right after Christmas.”

The chatter started right way with everyone trying to talk over each other. Chloe was filled with mixed emotions. She was happy for her friends, but she was going to miss her roommates. And Tyler and Christine moving out meant she and John would be alone. She felt John’s hand reach out and grab her knee under the table. He ran his hand up her thigh.

He leaned over to whisper in her ear. “You know what this
means? Anywhere you want it, baby: in the kitchen, the hallway, and the den. Hell, I’ll do it on the front lawn if you want.”

Chloe
smiled and blushed. “You wouldn’t have before?”

He gave her upper thigh a squeeze, exciting every nerve
ending below her waist. “Probably.”

“Can we go see it?” someone asked.
John wasn’t even sure who it was. He was too busy concentrating on the warmth he could feel radiating from Chloe. He knew his hand was strategically placed and he wanted nothing more than to move it

a couple of more inches and feel the warmth first hand. He felt
himself getting excited. It hadn’t even been two hours since they had left the bed, and he could think of nothing else than getting her right back there.

Chloe
picked up his hand and moved it, breaking his trance. He shook his head slightly to rid his brain of the residual sexual thoughts. He tried to catch up with the conversation.

From what he could gather, after supper they were all gong over
to tour Tyler and Christine’s new house.

“So why don’t y’all get married, already?”
John asked.

“When the time is right, we will,”
Tyler said.

John
had heard it all before. They were waiting until one or the other of them was done touring for a while and their schedules could be more in sync. The way things were going now; it would be years before that happened. He didn’t understand their choices, but he respected them, and he knew

Tyler
was a much stronger man than him when it came to restraint. He glanced at Chloe. He was beginning to understand, though, how loving and being loved by someone could take away the desire to stray.

The house was beautiful. It wasn’t as large as the houses
Mike, Josh, and Dennis owned, but there was plenty of room for Tyler and Christine and the houseful of kids they were sure to have one day.

“I want one of these,”
Chloe whispered to John as they walked through the house holding hands.

I’ll buy you o
n
e, he wanted to say. “Yeah, it’s nice.” He pulled her to him. “We need to go home.”

“What has gotten into you?”

“You,” he said. “Let’s go.”

A few days later, the day before Thanksgiving, John was busy packing a bag for his trip home to Nashville when the doorbell rang. He didn’t even bother looking through the peephole before slinging the door open. He jumped back in shock of who was standing in front of him.

“Matt.”

“Hello, John,” Matt said cordially. The two men had met just once before, but Matt greeted him like they were friends.

“Can I come in?”

John nodded slightly and stepped aside. “Yeah, I guess so.”

He glanced around the room. “Sorry about the mess.”

Matt entered the house and moved toward the couch. “It’s okay.” He sat down.

“Can I get you anything to drink?”
John asked. “I’ve got bottled water.”

“That would be great.”

John left the room and snagged a bottle of water out of the refrigerator. He handed it to Matt and sat in a chair across from the couch. He didn’t know what to say. I’m sorry just didn’t seem to be enough.

Matt cleared his throat. “I think we should talk about what
you want to do about this situation.”

John
shook his head. “What do you mean?”

“Are you going to try and take him? Do you want
visitation?”

John
was shocked. The idea of getting custody wasn’t something that had ever crossed his mind. He didn’t even want to be a father right now. He wanted to forget this whole thing had ever happened. And he wanted Mary and Matt to do the

same thing.

“No! He belongs with his mother, and his sister, all of his brothers and sisters. I don’t want to take him. I don’t want custody. I want you all to be a family.”

Tears brimmed Matt’s eyes. “Thank you. I know that he’s
not mine biologically, but he’s just as much my baby as Anna is.

I don’t care what science says.”

John reached forward and put his hand on Matt’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry for what has happened. I never meant to disrupt your
family.”

“It’s not all your fault.
Mary was looking for something. If it hadn’t been you, it would have been someone. But it’s not entirely her fault either. It’s mine. I have some responsibility in this. If I had been a better and more attentive husband, then she wouldn’t have gone somewhere else.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what you believe, but I believe that everything happens for a reason, and this is all a big divine plan that we’re not supposed to understand.”

“I’m still real sorry.”

Matt shook his head again and held up his hand. “It's okay.

I don't blame you.”

“How can you…? Dude, I slept with your wife. I got her pregnant.”

“I know, and believe it or not, I think you might have saved
our marriage. Mary was so unhappy. We’re going to be okay.

God-willing, we’re going to make it.” Tears were unabashedly
running down his cheeks. John could tell that they were tears of joy and relief. He could feel the power of them from where he sat.

I wish
Chloe were here. She would appreciate this so muc
h
. “That’s great,” Johnsaid. He was at a loss for any othe
r
words. He was sitting in his living room all but embracing th
e
man whose wife he had gotten pregnant. God certainly di
d
work in mysterious ways.