The Wager (4 page)

“Grandma, please, I beg you: don’t tell me what for. It’s bad enough that my imagination is running rampant. I just… I need this day to be over. I need to get some sleep before work, okay? Let’s just get you to wherever you’re staying so I can get home.”

Grandma shrugged and breezed by him to the outdoors. She raised her hand for a taxi and gave him instructions while Jake helped haul the luggage into the back.

Once the taxi was on the I-5 he finally relaxed. Grandma sat silently next to him, her eyes on the Seattle landscape. He knew this was her favorite city in the world. For good reason, too. The air was crisp and even the bustling metropolis was surrounded by forest.

Suddenly it occurred to him: When was the last time he’d even gone for a hike or appreciated the city he lived in? That would be
never
. Shit, he needed a vacation.

Within ten minutes Grandma was snoring. At least she’d stopped yelling obscenities. With his luck, she’d start talking about her red heels or orgasms again. Aw, hell. He’d never look at red heels the same way again.

He clicked through his phone messages. A few from Aileen, where she’d misspelled words anyone her age should know how to spell. If a woman struggled just sending a text, perhaps she wasn’t dating material for him. Not that he’d ever tell Grandma she was right, lest she hold it over his head for the rest of his life.

The last text was from Travis.

Moved up wedding date. No waiting. Kacey and mom unstoppable. Be ready in two weeks, best man!

“Shit!” Jake slammed the phone against the seat and cursed again.

Grandma stirred but didn’t wake.

How the hell was he supposed to face Kacey and Travis after everything? He’d been best friends with Kacey his whole life and then… things changed; he changed, she changed. People changed, right? It was normal to move on! It was normal to outgrow friends. What wasn’t normal was sleeping with then abandoning them. Clearly Jake had an issue with commitment. He hated the way women whined in the morning. They were like clingy death traps. All legs wrapped around his, lips on his back—no. He hated it. He only wanted that one moment. He refused to give more.

Because in the end, when you gave more, people left you, just like Kacey’s parents had left her. They’d died the night he’d taken her virginity. He’d never gotten the chance to apologize for disrespecting their daughter. But what was worse—he’d never been able to say good-bye to the two people he owed everything in the world to. The only two people in the universe that knew about what he had done back in high school—they’d saved his life. And now… now they were gone.

The idea of going to the wedding put a bad taste in his mouth. Kacey had no father to walk her down the aisle, and she deserved that more than anyone. The worst part was Jake had been just fine living his life until he’d mistakenly pleaded with Kace to be his fake fiancé for a weekend. He had never expected himself to be so affected by her. But the final blow to his pride was Kacey falling for his older brother—the same older brother who used to chuck rocks at her and had a stutter. How was that fair?

He wanted to have his shit together for the wedding. He had to. After all, appearances and money… Really, those were the only two things he had. He knew he didn’t deserve anyone’s love and he never really asked for it. He just hoped that his false security lasted long enough to get him through the next two weeks and to his best man duties.

Shit. Now he needed to start over and find a girl willing to be his date for the wedding. By the looks of Aileen’s colorful text messages, she would be out. The girl before Aileen had reminded him of Kacey so she was out as well.

He felt a headache coming on, but ignored it as the taxi took the next exit. His exit. The exit toward Lake Washington. He shrugged; maybe Grandma was getting dropped off after him.

Once the taxi pulled up to Jake’s house on the lake, he hopped out and grabbed his bags and turned toward the door. It wouldn’t be nice to wake up Grandma. After all, she was in a dead sleep.

Did that make him a bad person? It wasn’t as if the taxi driver was going to kill her or anything. After all, who would kill a sweet old lady with drool running down her—

“Ta, ta! Thank you!” Grandma yelled.

Praying for the first time in years, Jake turned to see his grandmother, bags in tow, waving to the disappearing taxi.

Just as Jake was getting ready to open his mouth she announced. “Get my bags! I’m fatigued. Where’s my phone? Have you seen my phone, Jake?” She dug around in her giant purse and finally pulled out the zebra covered iPhone.

No. Hell no. She was staying with him? For how long? Please God not up until the wedding not—

“Oh my heavens! The wedding is in two weeks. That gives us plenty of time!”

“Time?” God was punishing him; either that or Grandma was possessed. Truly it was a tossup.

“Yes.” Grandma’s smile softened as she reached for Jake’s hand and kissed the top of it. “Time to ruin you.”

“Ruin?” Jake chuckled as he pulled his hand back. “I’d rather stay… um, un-ruined. Thanks, though.”

“Have it your way.” Grandma shrugged. “Oh, and Jake?”

“What?” He grunted as he lifted her heavy suitcase toward the stairs.

“You’re fired.”

The suitcase dropped out of his hands. Black spots appeared in his line of vision as he repeated, “Fired?”

“I need a drink,” Char announced once she and Beth were safely at their shared apartment on Queen Anne Hill. “Scratch that. I need ten drinks and a sedative.”

“So what?” Beth opened the wine bottle and pulled out two glasses. “You were arrested and zip-tied to some hot man candy. Really, there are worse things in the world.”

“You mean like going into anaphylactic shock and having your grandmother stab a needle next to your man parts?” Char chuckled and took a sip of merlot. “That part, I enjoyed.”

“Yeah, well, hopefully Grandma has good aim and Jake can still sire children after that little escapade. How the heck did I sleep through it?”

Char shrugged. “No idea. At any rate, I’m glad it’s over.”

“Right.” Beth snorted. “And I don’t stalk Damon Salvatore on Twitter.”

“Not his real name, Beth.”

“Don’t kill the dream, Char.”

Char sighed and leaned against the table. “I was totally fine; seeing him again, I mean. No flashbacks of that crazy night we shared, no lustful thoughts or feelings, or—”

Beth’s eyebrows arched. “Oh, do continue. It was just getting good.”

“It wasn’t good. It was awful.”

Smirking, Beth tipped back her glass and swallowed. “So you’ve said, over and over and over—”

“Can we just…” Char waved into the air. “Drop it? It’s not like I’ll ever see him again.” Then again he’d probably be in Kacey’s wedding, not that it mattered. He’d be lucky to see past the whiskey haze and the women hanging all over his arms. Right; like he’d pry himself away from skank long enough to make her life a living hell. It wouldn’t be a problem, because she wasn’t going to let it be a problem. So what? If they were both in the wedding, she’d just avoid him at all costs. Hell, she’d drug him if she had to. No way was she letting him near her.

“You’d better hope that’s the case, because next time it’s not gonna be Grandma I’m worried about, but you.”

“Please, he’s like the opposite of sexy.”

“Careful, Pinocchio; wouldn’t want your overly large nose getting in the way of your wine glass.” With that, Beth left the kitchen.

Please. Like Jake mattered at all. So what if he was attractive? He knew it, and that was the problem. He’d always known it. He was a selfish bastard and she wasn’t going to fall for him again. She wouldn’t let herself, because that tragic story always ended badly. With a pint of Rocky Road and a bottle of wine, watching
Downton Abbey
on Netflix.

The madness had to stop. Grandma had only been staying with him a day—a DAY—and in the course of 24 hours she had thrown his life so off balance that he’d probably be in a mental institution come Friday.

Grandma woke him up at two a.m.

Her reason? She thought she’d seen a Huntsman’s spider. Right. A spider that, according to his Internet search, was native only to Australia. But when Jake brought that little bit of information up, Grandma had shouted that she’d been to Australia a few months ago and it was possible that a spider had crawled into her bag and hatched eggs.

Truly, it was Jake’s fault that he even engaged his grandma. His question had been simple—why the hell would a spider choose her bag? Out of all the bags in the world, it had chosen hers? Not likely.

Her response?
Because it’s shiny and everyone knows spiders like shiny things
. She then proceeded to thrust a flashlight in his face and make him search the house for said spider.

By four a.m., Jake was ready to cut off his own ears. Apparently, Grandma had a snoring problem.

Six a.m. was even worse. Grandma did yoga. Jake was given the opportunity to discover this firsthand, when Grandma proceeded to put on her yoga DVD, blaring it throughout the surround sound in the house. Which really wouldn’t have been so bad had she told him it was a type of stripper yoga for elderly woman, aka Cougars.

Her workout shirt had the picture of a cougar on it. Big shock there.

Finally. Jake locked his door.

But Grandma was relentless. After some banging and a loud clang, his door came off the hinges. “Jake? Oh goodness! I thought you’d died!”

“God isn’t that just. Believe me. I’ve begged.”

“Oh, Jake.” Grandma plopped on his bed. “Chin up! Think of me firing you as an extended vacation.”

“Except…” Jake growled. “It’s not. I’m jobless. I have no career, no money, I have nothing, and you’re downstairs doing damn cougar yoga as if the sun is still shining!”

Grandma paused and then went over to the window and thrust open the curtains. “But the sun is shining… and it’s a beautiful day. I think if you just go outside for a run, you’ll realize how nice it is to be on vacation.”

“Fired,” Jake corrected her.

“Vacation,” Grandma said sternly. “Now, I’m going to go shopping with that nice young girl from yesterday. She’s Kacey’s maid of honor and we only have two weeks to—”

“Wait.” Jake jolted out of bed. “Back up. Who’s Kacey’s maid of honor?”

“That nice young girl who saved your life yesterday. She and Kacey have been friends for ages! She was in Portland with her sister for a quick vacation and considering it was just family, except for your whore, at the engagement party, she wasn’t present.”

“But—”

“Now!” Grandma clapped. “Go enjoy your day off and I’m going to shop!”

“But—”

“And put some damn clothes on, son. You ain’t got nobody to impress in this house.”

With that, Grandma marched out of his room, leaving his unhinged door lying against the wall and Jake staring after her wondering if he’d in fact be arrested for assaulting an elderly woman.

Fired.

No more family money.

And he had to go to his brother’s wedding in two weeks.

With a woman he’d scorned not once, but twice in his life.

Maybe he’d carry some peanuts, just in case he needed an easy escape… or a new way to meet his maker, since apparently God was keen on keeping Jake on earth so he could torture him for the rest of his days.

“It’s brown.” Char blinked a few times at her reflection in the mirror. “Why is the dress brown?” Had she really taken a sick day in order to go shopping and feel fat and depressed in a bridesmaid’s dress?

“Because that’s the color, dear.” Grandma Nadine sipped on her champagne and tilted her head. “But it is atrocious. Do you think Kacey was confused about the color?”

“God, I hope so.” Char shuddered at her reflection. The dress was an awkward brownish orange, as if it was a tree turning colors in the fall but had forgotten exactly what color it was supposed to be turning into and just decided on ugliness as a last resort. It was strapless and form-fitting until it hit her hips, and then it flared out so wide that she looked like a poor excuse for Marie Antoinette.

If this was what that poor woman had been forced to wear, no wonder she was beheaded. Char sighed as Grandma pulled out her cell phone.

“Kacey? It’s Grandma.” She yelled into the phone so loudly that Char jumped half a foot. “Kacey! I can’t hear you! Oh wait, just wait.” Grandma stood and walked over to the window. “Yes? Is that better? Oh, lovely, I say this gown would look fantastic on you, Char! Come over here.”

Not really given a choice, Char shuffled over to the mannequin in the window. “It’s a wedding dress.”

“I know!” Grandma put her hand over the mouthpiece. “It would look divine on you! Just try it on! Just this once; go on! I’ll just be a minute.” Grandma shooed her away. “Kacey! Kacey! Sorry, I was talking to your little friend. She’s beautiful by the way and—Oh, I see…”

Char shifted uncomfortably while she searched the racks for the dress in the window. Her fingers came into contact with its delicate silk. It was a beautiful dress. But it wasn’t as if she was getting married. Wasn’t it bad luck or something to try on a wedding dress before you even had a groom?

“Try it on!” Grandma shouted, causing Char to jump. “What a lovely idea, Kacey. Yes. Yes, I understand. Yes. No. No, you let Grandma work her magic. Yes. No. Now, Kacey… Fine. Tell him I’ll take that wager.”

Char paused, hoping if she was quiet enough she could hear what the heck Kacey and Grandma were talking about.

“Try it on! Shoo!” Grandma made a motion with her hand and turned her back toward Char. “You tell Travis it’s a bet.”

Char carefully pulled the silk dress off the rack and went into the dressing room. Oh well, what did she have to lose? She shimmied out of the brown bridesmaid dress and carefully unzipped the white silk wedding gown. It was entirely open in the back, meaning she couldn’t wear a bra. It fastened just behind her neck and dipped somewhat low toward the front. Once it was zipped on the side, she looked in the mirror.

Damn. She was not going to cry. Not over a pretty dress. Sucking in the ridiculous tears, she opened the curtain and stepped onto the platform in front of the mirror.