Wrecked (Stories of Serendipity #8): #8 (11 page)

A
fter the fight, the drive, and the booking, actually spending the night in jail had been anti-climactic. Serendipity Jail was not as hopping a place as it probably should have been now that Jason knew there were addicts around every corner. His cell started out empty, and he sat on the cot, staring at the wall until he eventually fell asleep, thinking about his dad. Sometime later, he was awoken when the cell opened and a drunk fell in, staying on the floor the rest of the night. Jason listened to the man’s ragged snores while his thoughts were again consumed by his father. Memories of fishing with Jodie, showing off his newest baseball card acquisitions, and Joe’s advice about the fairer sex filled his mind the rest of the night.

Jodie had never been a more welcome sight in Jason’s eyes than when he’d shown up for his arraignment hearing. Wearing the fancy Dallas lawyer suit, putting the DA to shame visually, Jodie explained to the judge what had happened and managed to get the assault charges dropped. Jason heaved a sigh of relief when the judge banged his gavel and dismissed the case. Jason and Jodie then went to pick up Joe from the hospital where he’d spent the night, as the doctors wanted to perform tests to make sure there wasn’t any lasting damage done to the elderly man. Of course, all the observation had interrupted his sleep pattern, and Joe was ready to climb into his own bed when they got back to his apartment.

“What a night, huh?” Jodie sank into Joe’s recliner and watched Jason. “You probably haven’t had a chance to see it, since you’ve been in jail all night, but somebody trashed the storefront.”

Before Jason could reply, a pounding at the door grabbed his attention. Groaning with exhaustion, he opened it to Les, who looked like he was ready to fight bears.

“Hey man, now really isn’t—” Les’ fist hitting his eye socket interrupted him, and he went to his knees immediately. “What the fuck, man?” His hand went to his eye as he stood, glaring at Les, who still fumed.

“You have no idea who you’re messing with here, asshole. Renae is one of the nicest, most generous women I know. She’s been through hell already, and she doesn’t deserve to have someone like you come along and treat her like trash.” Les was breathing heavily, fists clenched, ready to throw another punch.

Aw shit. Renae…
Images of her sitting at the restaurant, alone, flooded him with guilt. Jason held up a hand, weakly. “I was arrested. Don’t hit me again.” He gestured to the couch and grabbed a chair from the kitchen. “I forgot all about Renae…” Now he felt like double shit. On a stick. Dipped in liquid shit. Left in the sun to dry. He looked at Les, who sat on the edge of the couch, ready to hit him again. Glancing over at Jodie, he saw the mischievous glint in his eyes that said he was enjoying this immensely. Looking back at Les, he asked, “Is she mad?”

“No, she’s not mad, you asshole. She’s telling herself she deserved it. Which pisses me off.” Les growled the words. Jason knew Les had a thing for Renae, but as far as he could tell, it was unrequited, which probably was why this pissed him off so much. Les probably saw himself as the type of guy who would never do that to a woman. Well, so did Jason. Although the idea that she was thinking she deserved it sat in his belly alongside the jail oatmeal he’d eaten this morning like a boulder.

“Jason was arrested for beating the snot out of the guy who was supposed to be taking care of our dad but was instead high in the kitchen while dad was stuck in a bathtub full of freezing water.” Jodie stood and leaned forward, hand extended. “I’m Jodie, by the way, Jason’s brother.” Sitting again, he continued. “I should say, while that was entertaining as hell, I’m sure thoughts of Renae and their date were eclipsed by the whole jail thing.”

“You’re the lawyer?” Les asked, visibly relaxing, eyeing the suit Jodie still wore.

Jodie nodded.

“Is Joe all right?”

Jodie nodded again. “Yeah, he’s tired, and sleeping right now.”

Les looked back at Jason, chagrin written all over his face. “I’m sorry, man. I’m glad you kicked his ass, and I’m sorry you spent the night in jail. But you gotta call Renae and explain what happened. She really thinks that you did this on purpose and she deserved it.” He gritted out the last part, and Jason saw how much Les cared for Renae, which added to the shitty feeling in his gut.

Jason ran his hands through his hair with frustration. He’d wanted last night to be amazing. He’d wanted to romance her, make her feel special, open up to him. She’d barely said yes. Now he had to start over.

“I’ll call her. I need to go to the shop and shower.” He looked to Jodie. “What were you saying about the storefront?”

“Ah shit.” Les muttered. “I’ll clean it up. I’m sorry, I was a little drunk last night.”

Jodie turned on his lawyer voice. “That’s vandalism. Hefty fines if we decide to press charges.”

“I’ll go right now and clean it up. You won’t even see it if you give me an hour or so, man.”

As Les stood, Jason asked, “What is this, fucking high school?”

Les shrugged. “Renae’s special.” He left without another word.

Jason and Jodie watched him leave, and Jason finally managed, “It’s not saying much, but that’s the only friend I’ve made in this stinking town.”

“Wow.”

“I know.”

Jodie spread his hands in a gesture of supplication. “Well, Elaine and the girls are coming up to stay at my hotel room this weekend. I’ve rearranged my schedule for the week, found somebody to cover my court appearances. You’ve got me the entire week. Use me where you see fit, I’m at your disposal.”

Tears of gratitude stung Jason’s eyes as he looked over at his brother. He didn’t want to admit to how overwhelmed he’d felt trying to get the shop back in order with his dad going nuts. Now that his dad wasn’t totally nuts, just being abused by someone Jason himself had hired, the guilt on top of the stress was about to break him.

“Stay here with dad while I go home and shower and change? I’ll bring the updated financials back with me along with my laptop so you can see what all I’ve done with the shop. Later, I’ll take you by to see it.”

“Sounds good.” Jodie reclined the chair he was in and closed his eyes.

Jason felt a sense of relief flood through him. First he needed a shower, and then he’d call Renae. He wasn’t sure if he even had time for this thing with her, but he didn’t want to think last night was her fault. Hopefully, he could explain. If not, he’d try again to get her out of his mind.

A
fter being so out of breath after her sprint at Jessie’s farm, Renae made an appointment at the closest gym on Monday with a personal trainer. She figured she needed a personal workout consultation so she could know what to do when she worked out to get in better shape. She had no idea where to begin. So she was getting help. If she hit it off with the trainer, she would get a membership and start working out. That would keep her in good shape throughout her pregnancy as well as give her something to do with herself. At least until she had the baby. Then she was sure she would have plenty to do.

She made the appointment for after work and went straight there from the bank. She’d been anticipating the blip in her schedule and had a change of clothes in her van to work out in. When she got there, the lady at the front desk told her where to change and instructed her to wait for her trainer, Sabrina.

At the name Sabrina, a chill swept up Renae’s back. Surely it wasn’t the same Sabrina. What would the odds be? Of course, in a town the size of Serendipity, they ran into each other from time to time, but if
the
Sabrina was her personal trainer, she would have to find another trainer. Or gym.

Renae had changed into her gym shorts, sports bra and tank top, and was tying her shoes in the weight room when a familiar voice poured across her skin.

“Why don’t you ever return my calls? I’ve been trying to reach you all day.” Of course. Jason was standing right behind her. He’d called her a lot today, as well as Les, for some reason. And she’d ignored all of the calls. She didn’t feel like reliving her inadequacies as a woman any more.

Renae turned and shrugged. “I didn’t see the point. If you’re not going to show up for a date, why should I call you back?” It was petty, him standing her up because she’d left after that night, even if she did deserve it. If that was the kind of father he would be, she didn’t really want to involve him anyway. She felt bad about her snap judgment but not too badly. She really needed her comfort level to be in a better place before she talked to Jason. She knew it was wrong on so many levels, but she couldn’t just tell him. Certainly not here, and she wasn’t going to agree to go out with him again. She’d managed to put herself through enough drama for now.

“Look…Something came up. With Dad. I’ll explain to you, I promise.” He looked around the room, his eyes falling pointedly on some of the other people working out, before turning his crystalline gaze back to Renae. She noticed one of them was blackened but refused to succumb to his gaze again. So she looked down.

Mistake.

Seeing more of his skin in his workout clothes only reminded her of seeing his spectacular form in all its glory.

“I’m sorry. I don’t think I can do this. I’ll call you later though. We need to talk about something.” Face hot, she turned to leave, and bumped into Sabrina.

Of course.

It was
the
Sabrina.

“Hey, Renae. I saw that we’ll be working together, and I’m really excited about helping you become a new you.” Her perky voice didn’t hold any of the shame Renae thought it should, and she couldn’t help but wonder if Sabrina even remembered what happened. Didn’t she feel uncomfortable with this situation?

Memories flooded Renae, pushing memories of the night of Jason to the side knotting in her stomach. Memories of the car after the crash, the light pole falling on the driver’s side, the passenger side left intact, where Sabrina could just stumble out, every bit as drunk as Cody had been. Where Kelly’s father had been killed instantly, his mistress had survived. And she stood right in front of Renae, eager to become her personal trainer. With Renae’s current… whatever… standing right behind her.

Renae was in hell.

“I’ve got to go. Sabrina, this isn’t going to happen.” She all but ran to the locker room for her things. When she came out, Jason was waiting.

“Hey. I’m not done.”

“I am. I’ll call you.” Renae swiped at the tears of frustration at what her life had become before bolting out the front door to her van.

J
ason had left her alone. He’d seen her at the gym on Monday when Jodie had told him to do something for himself and take a break from the shop and dad. So he’d gone to try and get his head on straight with the weight machines. It hadn’t worked because after he’d been rebuffed by Renae again, he’d only obsessed about her.

He’d gotten his mind off the shop and his dad, but he couldn’t get her out of his head. He’d told himself he wasn’t going to grovel at her feet, begging for another date, but he wanted to explain about standing her up. She didn’t deserve to think it had been her fault. That’s what she told Les anyway, but to him, she’d said she hadn’t called him back because he hadn’t shown up, like it was retribution or something. He figured if he looked at it from her point of view, he did deserve it. But if she would only let him explain…

It was Thursday. Jodie had put his seal of approval on the changes Jason had made to the shop, telling him it was going to be more profitable, and their dad would love it when he was okay enough to go in. Joe only had two more weeks in the boot before his next doctor’s appointment, and in the meanwhile, Jodie had put himself in charge of finding another caretaker for him. Jason was relieved to not have to deal with the responsibility, and Jodie was having a hard time finding someone to meet their suddenly stringent criteria. Jason felt a little justification in his own initial choice, but the guilt was still there.

Jason was behind the counter on his knees, trying to sort a shipment of FedEx packaging that had come in, beating himself up over obsessing about Renae, when the scent of cinnamon filled his nostrils.