Sweet Serendipity (19 page)

“It’s been a long time, huh?”

“I know, Mom. You know I love you. Even if we argue, I love you.”

Rebecca smiled at her beautiful daughter.

“I know, kiddo. It’s all part of growing up.”

“Don’t ever get sick on me, alright, Mom? I don’t think I could handle it.” Riley began to tear up.

“Oh, sweetie, I’m not going anywhere. I’m not sick and I promise I’ll take the best care that I can. You know Aunt Tasha didn’t plan on getting sick. It’s just a fluky thing. No one could have predicted it. That’s the scary thing about the type of cancer she is fighting, it’s hard to detect.”

“Then how do you know?” Riley asked her.

Rebecca swept a strand of her dark hair from Riley’s face.

“I’ll do the best I can. It’s all I can promise you.”

Riley’s eye began to get heavy, and they finally closed. Rebecca lay staring at her sleeping daughter. Sleep eluded her. She knew there was no point, but she stared out at the brightening daylight out her window. She thought about Ethan and she thought about Jack. Ethan was right, she was wondering if it would be easier to step back into her old patterns instead of diving head first into something new. She cared deeply for Ethan. No one had ever physically and emotionally made her feel the way he did, but she was scared. She was afraid of making him feel trapped. He was such a free spirit, and she wasn’t.

She gave up on sleep and decided to take a long, hot shower. She got out and put on a pink sundress. The weatherman predicted that temperatures would hit over 100 degrees, and she could already feel the heat trying to penetrate through her central air conditioning system.

A car pulled up in the driveway. She looked at the clock and noticed that it was seven and knew it was Jack. Adam was already banging around in the kitchen, but Riley was still curled up on her bed.

Becca opened the door and Jack’s demeanor was happy and relaxed. He walked past her and into the kitchen carrying a box of doughnuts and a tray with coffee and coolatas from Dunkin Donuts. Adam perked up when he saw his father.

“Dad, hi.” He ran to his side.

“Morning bud, I got you a mango coolata. Where is your sister? I got her a strawberry one.”

“Thanks, Dad. I’ll go and wake her up.” He grabbed his coolata and ran for the staircase.

Jack placed the goodies on the counter and looked at Rebecca.

“You look beautiful today.” He handed her a coffee. “So I’m taking today off and I thought we could go out in the boat. I know I’ve been promising Adam, so I thought we could all go.”

Adam came charging through the kitchen door.

“Yeah, totally, we’ll go. Right, Mom?” he stated with enthusiasm.

Rebecca looked at her son and took a deep breath.

“I think you should take the kids with you, Jack. I’m going to wait to hear about Tasha, and I still need to call Emily and tell her what happened, so go ahead and take the kids.”

Adam stomped his foot.

“No, Mom. Dad said all of us. Don’t ruin this, Mom.”

“Adam, don’t speak to your mother that way,” Jack said firmly.

“No! She’s the one who told you to move out. She’s the one who told you that you can’t come home. It’s all of her fault.” He looked at her with a hint of hatred behind his eyes. “Why do you keep doing this, Mom? Dad is trying to make things better; you are the one who is stopping it.”

He stomped back out of the room, and then a moment later, his bedroom door slammed shut.

“Thank you, Jack. Now he hates me when it should be you.” She began walking out of the room. Jack grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

“Then come today, Becky. Show him that we don’t hate each other. I’ll have a talk with him, I promise, but come out on the boat. Let’s give this to him. No matter what happens between the two of us, we have the kids in the middle of it.”

“You are fighting dirty, Jack. You knew damn well that he would hear you, and you knew how he’d react if I said no. I can’t believe that you’d stoop this low.” She pulled her arm out of his grasp. “I am going to check on my son.” She stormed off and left Jack standing there proud of his small victory. He knew he’d have to play his cards right, but he’d win her back.

Rebecca knocked on Adam’s door.

“Go away!” he yelled out.

Rebecca opened the door anyway and stepped in. Adam rolled on his side and threw a pillow over his head.

“What part of go away don’t you get?” He snapped at her.

“Don’t talk to me like that, Adam. I’m your mother.” She walked over and sat on the end of the bed. “I think we should talk,” she told him.

“What for?” he snapped

“Because you seem to think I’m out to get you when I’m not.”

“Then why are you being so hard on Dad?” he sat up slowly and curled his legs up to his chest.

“Your dad hurt me, Adam. He chose another woman over me.”

“But that’s over now. He knows he was wrong, and he knows he made a mistake.”

“Sweetie, we had a lot of problems before all of that.”

“No, we were fine until Brian died. That was my fault. I was the one playing with him.”

Rebecca quickly grabbed hold of her son.

“Don’t ever think that, Adam. It was a horrible accident. It was no one’s fault.”

“But if he hadn’t died, then Dad would still be here, so it’s my fault.”

She grabbed him even tighter.

“No. It is not your fault. You had nothing to do with what happened. It was just time for him to go back to heaven. What is happening between your dad and me has nothing to do with you, Riley, or Brian. Sometimes people just stop loving one another.”

“Will you stop loving me?” Tears streamed down his face.

“I would never stop loving you.”

“Then why did you stop loving Dad? He still loves you. Is this because you are dating someone else?”

“How do you know that?” she asked him.

“I heard Riley and Ashlee talking. They said you have been dating someone other than Dad. I also heard Dad talking at his shop. He’s sad, too. I don’t want you dating anyone. I won’t
ever
like him.”

“That’s not fair, Adam. You are not a little kid anymore. You’ll be eleven soon, and you are old enough to understand that sometimes families break up.”

He threw a transformer across the room and it shattered into pieces.

“That’s just it, Mom, we don’t have to be broken up. Dad wants to come home. It’s you who is stopping it.”

“Adam, stop this right now.” Jack stood in the doorway.

Adam collapsed on the floor and cried.

“I’m sorry. I just want us all to go out on the boat.”

Rebecca shook her head.

“Why is it so important, Adam?”

“It just is,” he answered.

Rebecca closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“I don’t know if this is the right thing or not, but I’ll go just for today, but Adam you need to understand that you cannot act like this anymore. What is going on between your father and me is between your father and me.”

Adam jumped to his feet and hugged his mother.

“Thanks, Mom.”

Rebecca called Emily on her cell. She looked at the clock and realized that she was headed to the store. Rebecca told her about the events of last night and that Tasha had been admitted to the local hospital.

“Why the hell didn’t you call me last night? I can’t believe you’d wait until now,” Emily snapped at her.

“Everything happened so fast. I knew I’d call you if it was something life-threatening, but you have small children.”

“Don’t give me that crap, I love her, too. I know you have a longer history with her, but that doesn’t give you the right to disregard me like that. I’m hurt.”

“I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I thought I was doing you a favor. I apologize. Richard is going to call later; they aren’t allowing visitors until she isn’t contagious anymore. There is nothing that we can do.”

“Fine. I get how you could be distracted, but promise me that you will never leave me out again.”

“I promise,” Becca told her.

Jack rounded the corner of the bedroom and said, “We’d better head out before it’s too hot.”

“Was that Jack?” Emily demanded to know.

“Long story,” she told her friend. She held her hand over the speaker on the phone and said to him, “I’ll be down in a few minutes, Jack. Please wait downstairs.”

He threw his hands up and quickly looked around at the changes in the room. He quietly made his way downstairs.

“Sorry, Em.”

“Sorry? Why is Jack in your house at seven in the morning? Please tell me he didn’t stay the night.”

“No, he just got here. Adam’s having a really hard time with everything. He’s angry and confused, and we’re going to spend some time with him together.”

“That’s a stupid idea. He’ll never get used to you being divorced if he can throw a shit fit and get his way. I think you are causing more damage. Hey, I see Ethan. He’s carrying a suitcase. Let me call you right back.”

Before Rebecca could say anything, Emily hung up the phone. Rebecca sat on her bed staring at the wall.

“Hey, Ethan, what’s with the suitcase?” Emily asked as she ran down the sidewalk to his store front.

“I need to get away for a while. I’m going to be opening soon, and I won’t be able to travel, so a friend invited me to go surfing in Hawaii. I’m taking her up on it.”

Emily raised an eyebrow.

“Her?” she asked.

“Yes, her. It’s not what you think. She’s an old friend; just a friend. I need time to think.”

“Is this because of Becca? Did you guys break up?”

Ethan laughed.

“You’d have to be going somewhere to break up, I’m not sure I am any more than pay back to Jack.”

“You can’t think that,” she said to him.

“I don’t know what to think. I told her that I love her and she couldn’t get away from the subject fast enough. My pride is hurt, and I just need some space. Maybe a little distance will make her heart grow fonder. Isn’t that the saying?”

“No, it sounds like you are quitting and allowing Jack schmooze his way back to her.”

“That’s what she needs to figure out. She has some sick sense of loyalty to him.”

“They lost a child a little over a year ago, Ethan.”

“I know, Emily. I’ve talked to her about it. I understand everyone grieves differently. I think she and Jack need to work through it if there is any hope for a future between the two of us.” He handed her a business card. “Can you please give this to her? This is the agent who is interested in meeting her about her books. She’s expecting to hear from her. I can be reached on my cell phone if it’s needed.” He leaned down and kissed her on her cheek. “Please let me know how Tasha is doing, will you? I’ve grown very fond of you guys and I’d like to make sure that she pulls through.”

“Absolutely! Ethan, make sure you come back.”

“I have a gallery to open. Just wait until you see the show. I just hope I don’t make an ass out of myself.” He flagged down a taxi and waved goodbye to Emily. He threw his suitcase in the trunk and crawled into the backseat of the cab. Emily stood and watched the cab pull away and hoped it wasn’t the last time they were to have a friendly conversation.

They had been out all afternoon. Rebecca could see how happy Adam was as he fished off the side of the boat. Riley and Rebecca lay on towels. Rebecca had closed her eyes and was just at the point where she was falling into a deep sleep when she felt someone pick her up. Riley and Adam laughed hysterically. Rebecca realized Jack was about to jump into the water while holding her.

“Don’t you dare, Jack! I swear to…”

Too late! He jumped off the side of the boat taking her with him. The water felt icy cold compared to the hot tanning deck. Rebecca held her breath as she went under water. She pulled herself to the surface and began yelling at him. Adam jumped into the water between them. He came above water and laughed at his parents.

Riley took pictures with her cell phone and had to admit she was having fun. She wasn’t really expecting her parents to get back together, but if they could stay friendly just like Ashlee’s parents, she would be alright with it. She had already seen her dad with another woman, and she knew her mother had been seeing someone, too. She just wanted everyone happy.