Next Door Secrets (Secrets Series Book 2) (13 page)

After she'd
sweetened her tea, he scooped sugar into his cup and took a sip. "Not bad.
I'm not much of a tea drinker. I'm usually guzzling coffee while I'm driving to
stay awake." He took his place on a stool next to her and they sipped in
silence.

A child’s voice
singing "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" came from the bathroom and
then the toilet flushed. They looked at each other and smiled.
Kaylee
must be feeling OK if she were singing to herself.
They heard a lot of splashing as if she'd climbed back into the tub and probably
grabbed one of her rubber ducks to play with.

He sighed and
stroked his beard. "I would've felt like an idiot if I'd taken her to the
ER."

Chuckling, she
pointed at him. "You need to buy some prunes."

"I guess
so." He allowed the sound of
Kaylee's
faint
singing to fill the air. "So
Kaylee
tells me
your father is the minister at that church you've been taking her to."

Nodding, Beth
wondered where he was going with this.

"I bet it
wasn't easy growing up under his shadow."

Yes,
father-daughter relationships could be complicated. "He expected me to be
perfect. The other kids never wanted to play with me because they wanted to
goof off."

"That's how
kids are."

She shrugged.
"
Kaylee
said she doesn't have many friends,
either."

He rubbed his
forehead. "We've moved around a lot. That makes it hard to get close to
anyone."

"Maybe you
should settle down."

His head cocked to
the side and he offered her a seductive smile. "Maybe."

CHAPTER
FOURTEEN

Beth pulled the
plate of brownies out of
Kaylee's
hands.
"Remember how terrible you felt last night?" The girl nodded.
"Did your dad explain to you why your belly hurt?"

Again,
Kaylee
nodded. "He
said
I need
to eat more fruits and veggies." She crossed her
arms. "But I don't like those."

"Maybe you
don't like everything, but you have to like some. What's your favorite
fruit?"

She scrunched up
her face as she thought. "I don't have one."

"Try this
apple then." She grabbed the fruit bowl and placed it in front of
Kaylee
. When the girl didn't move, Beth felt her blood
pressure rising. "After you eat an apple, I'll let you have a
brownie." She hated that she'd just bribed her, but she didn't know what
else to do. "I'll go get my walking shoes on."

Soon they were out
the door carrying the brownies to the English-as-a-New-Language class. Beth
considered telling Jim to stop baking her goodies, but she knew the immigrants
appreciated them. Plus she admired his sense of fairness and his determination
not to take charity.

As they walked
through the
sixty degree
weather, Beth mulled over
Kaylee's
aversion to healthy foods. Any kid would probably
choose processed foods over whole foods if given the choice.
That
was part of a parent's job
,
to ensure they ate right
.
She understood Jim's dilemma, though. He worked all of the time and he wanted
to indulge
Kaylee
to make up for his absence.
Probably to make up for her losing her mother and her sister.
To make up for all the crap life had thrown at her.

The problem was
that food didn't really heal the pain. And now that kids were teasing
Kaylee
for being fat, it was creating its own problems. She
needed to help
Kaylee
discover that fruits could be
sweet, too. "I have an idea. I think we need to go on a scavenger hunt in
the grocery store."

Kaylee
looked up at her with those gorgeous blue eyes.
"What's that?"

"Well, I'll
tell you what you need to find, like something round or blue, and you'll put it
in our grocery basket. Then we'll go home and taste test to figure out what your
favorite fruits are."

After the brownies
were gone and Maria's mother finished her lesson, Beth walked
Kaylee
to a nearby grocery store.

Once home,
Kaylee
sampled sweet-sour kumquats, beautiful star fruits
and the ugly, yet delicious kiwis. She was most surprised to discover that she liked
red and yellow bell peppers.
                                                                                                                 
 

The next afternoon
Kaylee
held up a basket of cookies when they met on
her stoop. Beth pulled back the
red checkered
cloth
and peered at them. "What are those?"

Kaylee
scrunched up her face. "Prune cookies."

Beth burst out
laughing.

# #
#

"I can't
believe I listened to you!" Hannah's voice accused Beth across the
telephone.

Every muscle in
Beth's body tensed and she was glad
Kaylee
had gone
home early. "What are you talking about?"

"You gave me
bad advice. I talked to my mom about getting birth control and now she won't
let me go to prom. She forbade me from seeing Ryan ever again!"

"I thought
you and Ryan broke up."

"We made up.
He said he was drunk and didn't do anything with that bitch he met in
Florida."

Beth shook her
head. "Are you sure you want to take him back?"

"That's none
of your business. Just like it's none of my mom's business. I can't believe if
I'd kept my mouth shut, I'd be out with Ryan right now."

Not sure what to
say, Beth took a breath. Didn't everyone know that forbidding a teenager from
doing something would make
them
want to do it more?
"I'm sorry your mom reacted that way. Maybe she just needs time to process
it."

"She said I'm
too young to have sex. End of story."

"I thought
Ryan dumped you because you wouldn't sleep with him."

"Yeah. You
can't expect a man to wait forever you know."

Beth closed her
eyes. She wished she could talk some sense into her
sixteen
year old
daughter, but she didn't think it possible. "The right guy
wouldn't pressure you. The right guy would respect that you're still a
virgin."

"I'm not
anymore."

Beth gasped.
"You slept with Ryan?"

Silence filled the
line.

"Hannah? Did
you sleep with Ryan?"

"Yes."

"Did you use
birth control?"

"He wore a
condom."

At that, Beth
released her breath. Thank God. "If your mom won't get you a prescription
for the pill, it's important that you always make sure he uses a condom."

"But he
doesn't like them."

"It doesn't
matter. You have a bright future and a baby will mess that up."

"Is that how
you felt about me?"

Again, Beth
flinched. This girl knew how to hit below the belt. "No. I
mean.
. . ." Of course that's how she felt finding
herself pregnant as a college freshman. "Try to learn from my mistakes.
Not that you were a mistake because you're wonderful and I'm so glad you were
born,
but.
. . ."

"Whatever."
Hannah's angst travelled across the miles. "I just wanted to let you know
how wrong you were about my mom."

"Do you want
me to talk to her?" Not that Beth wanted to do that. Connie had made it
clear that all parenting decisions were hers alone to make.

"No. Don't
talk to her. Don't tell her I've had sex and don't tell her about the drinking.
I've got it all under control. She'll just freak out if you say anything."

"Please,
whatever you do, make sure you use protection every time. It only takes
once.
. . ."

"I know, I
know. Thanks for nothing. Bye."

As soon as she
disconnected the line, Beth dialed Parker’s cell. "We need to talk about
Hannah."

"What's
wrong?" he asked.

"I'm afraid
she's making a big mistake. She slept with Ryan, the guy who cheated on her in
Florida."

"Damn
it."

He must not be in
the office, she figured, or he wouldn't have used such language. "Connie
won't get her birth control, either. She told Hannah she's not allowed to date
him anymore."

"Like that
will do any good."

"I know. Do
you think we have a responsibility to tell Connie what we know?" She held
her breath, worried about the consequences of his answer.

It took him a
minute to respond. "I think we should stay out of it. Hannah did the
responsible thing by telling Connie she needed birth control. It's Connie's
right to say no."

"I guess
so." Beth tried to gather her thoughts. "Do you think we would've
been better parents to Hannah?" This, of course, was the question that
haunted her.

He cleared his
throat. "I think you would've been a good mother even though you were so
young. But I think you selected wonderful people to raise Hannah. Have faith in
your decision."

"Thanks."
She chewed on her lip. "I just want to protect Hannah from this boy."

"Tell me
about it. I fired the interns that got her drunk."

"Really? You
can do that?"

"I'm the
boss."

A knock came from
Beth's front door. "Hold on a minute. Somebody's here." Expecting to
see
Kaylee
coming for a visit, she put down the phone
and opened the door without checking the
peep hole
.
When she saw a teenager holding a vase full of flowers, she pressed her hand to
her heart. "Are those for me?"

He checked his
notepad. "Bethany Morris?"

She nodded and
reached forward. "Who are they from?" Searching for a card, she
didn't see one.

"I don't
know. It doesn't say." He lingered a moment and she went to give him a
tip.

After he left, she
placed the flowers on the kitchen island and grabbed the phone. "Did you
send me flowers?"

"Flowers? Why
would I do that? It's not your birthday."

"No, it's
not. But I can't think of anyone who would send me flowers except for
you."

"Maybe you
have a secret admirer."

Her heart pounded
a little faster. Could they be from her neighbor? "There's no card. Isn't
that weird?" If he wanted to thank her for helping when
Kaylee
was sick the other night, he would've included a
card.

"Interesting.
Sounds like I've got some competition."

"No, you
don't. In fact, why don't you come over here and stake out your territory? We
haven't seen each other in days."

"I
can't."

"Well,
tomorrow you're definitely taking me to that new sci-fi movie. You
promised."

"Uh, is that
tomorrow?" He seemed to be stalling. "Things are hectic at work right
now."

"That's what
you always say. I'm starting to get suspicious that you're the one with someone
else on the side." She didn't really think so, but she sensed he'd been
pulling away. "Have you seen Ivy since she had the baby?"

"No. She
keeps asking me to babysit, but I tell her no."

"Why?"

"Because I'm
not that baby's father." His voice boomed over the line. "In fact, I
can't wait to sign the divorce papers and forget that I ever knew her."

"You know you
won't be able to do that. You were married for sixteen years."

He didn't respond.

"So I'll see
you tomorrow for the movie."

"Beth, to
tell you the truth, if I have to sit through one more movie set in outer space,
I'm going to shoot myself."

Her mouth fell
open in shock. He'd never complained about her movie choices before.
"Well, what do you want to see?"

"Nothing. I
need to work."

She took a deep
breath. "Fine. Call me when you can fit me into your busy schedule."
She hung up the phone before he could respond. The air pushed in and out of her
lungs with force. After she tossed the phone onto her couch, she noticed the
beautiful flowers brightening up her kitchen. If they weren't from Parker, she
didn't want them.

She marched next
door and pounded on the
Steins's
door. When Jim
opened it, his face turned from a scowl to almost a smile. What caught her
off-guard was that he'd shaved his unkempt beard, revealing a dimple in his
chin. He actually looked handsome.

She pushed that
thought out of her mind. "You need to stop giving me things."

"Sorry, I
know the prune cookies didn't turn out as good as I'd hoped. I found the recipe
on-line."

Shaking her head,
she crossed her arms. "I'm not talking about the cookies. I'm talking
about the flowers."

"What flowers?"

"The ones
that were
just delivered to my door."

His eyebrows
lowered and his smile fell. "I didn't send you flowers."

Now she didn't
know what to say. Was he lying? She didn't know him well enough to know. If
she'd accused Parker face-to-face, she would've known the corner of his mouth
twitched when he was holding back. "Normal people just say thank you when
someone is nice to them. That's all I'm saying."

"Thank
you."

His words caused
her to freeze. She'd expected him to argue with her. Finally he was admitting
she'd been more than generous. "For what?"

"For helping
me with
Kaylee
the other night. For taking such good
care of her while I'm at work. She's happier than I've ever seen her. She sings
in the tub and she talks about her new friend Maria all the time."

She rubbed the
tight muscles in the back of her neck. "I'm glad to hear it. She makes me
happy, too."

"If you don't
have any plans,
Kaylee
would love it if you’d come
for dinner."

Her stomach
rumbled before she could say no.