Chapter Thirteen
My head shakes and a snicker escapes me as I descend the archway steps, taking in the low-slung dark shorts and tightly-fitted gray sweatshirt clinging to the fine specimen at the bottom of them. My memory hasn ’ t done him justice these past few weeks. I ’ m a tiny bit giddy at the sight of him.
“You know it ’ s rude to stalk people, right? This is what, the second or third time?”
“ Second. I think. Besides, I was here first, and it ’ s not like you ’ re here every weekend.”
“ I was out of town last weekend. Were you here?”
“ Maybe.”
“ Didn ’ t I tell you I was away?”
“ Nope. ”
“ Oh. Are you planning on making a habit of ruining my run?”
“ Definitely.”
I shake my head, unsure what to make of that. “ You might as well make yourself useful, then.”
He raises a brow as I close the distance between us.
“ Catch.” I lift my right leg up.
He grins, taking hold of my foot. “ What do I look like, a bench?”
“ Benches are usually more silent and get more ass.” I chuckle, touching my nose to my knee, and feel the familiar twinge burn along my muscles as they stretch.
“ Smartass. Let me guess, gymnast?”
“ Pfft, hardly. Yoga.” We repeat the process with my other leg, and he frowns at me.
“ I did not picture you as a yoga enthusiast. It ’ s rather low-key.”
“ You obviously haven ’ t tried ashtanga or glow yoga.” I grin, taking my leg back and jogging off.
“ Glow yoga?” Jeremy asks, coming up beside me.
“ Yeah. There ’ s this class with black lights and glow paint. It ’ s crazy fun, not your kind of thing at all.”
“ Ha ha. ” Jeremy punctuates his displeasure at my rib with a shoulder nudge.
I push him back, but I overshoot the mark, my momentum taking me forward. Jeremy captures my wrist in an effort to catch me, but it ’ s futile. I smack into him instead, and we fall to the ground in a tangled, rolling mess. Jeremy somehow lands on top of me with a grunt, and I laugh, or try to , with half the wind knocked out of me.
“ You ’ re an idiot, Viv. Are you okay?”
“ You started it. I think I ’ m okay. It ’ s hard to feel anything except, well, you.” I grin. “ Now that you have me on my back…”
“ Ah, sorry.” Jeremy ’ s cheeks color, and his uneasy laugh rumbles against my chest. He ’ s not the only one getting turned on by our compromising position.
I roll on top and wiggle my hips. “ On second thought, I prefer being on top.”
“ Jesus, Viv. ” He grips my hips tightly, his fingers digging into the soft flesh, stilling my movements. “ Will you stop moving?”
“ Well, I have to move to get off.” I laugh at my own pun . Jeremy rolls his eyes , and I lean forward quickly and peck him on the lips, catching us both off guard. I carry on, pretending nothing happened, but my heart accelerates tenfold. “ I told you you ’ re no fun. ”
His surprise morphs, and he glares at me, making me laugh more as I rise, noticing we ’ ve drawn some early joggers ’ attention. His eyes widen, and he pulls me back to him, causing me to lose my balance again. I fall on top of him with a thud.
“ Ow.” I chuckle. “ Have you changed your mind?”
“ Sorry. Ah, no, but can you, umm, give me a minute… ? ”
I bite my lip, understanding dawning on me.
“ Yeah, that ’ s not helping.”
I laugh again, the movement vibrating through me to him.
“ Jesus, Viv. Stop making it harder.”
I cover my mouth, desperately trying to suppress my mirth, but it only makes it worse. My whole body shakes with it.
“ God,” he groans, pushing me off him to sit up, pulling his knees to his chest. I fall to my back, tears pooling in my eyes as I laugh unchecked. “ You ’ re such a dick,” he says with a reluctant smile, shaking his head.
I stand up, still chuckling, and shrug with a grin. “ If the running shoe fits…” I start jogging , turning backward to see Jeremy watching me. “ Come on, Sleeping Beauty. Jog it off.”
“ I ran into my father Friday.”
This sounds ominous. I frown and chew on my lip. “ How crazy. Anyone would think you worked in the same building.” It ’ s been weeks since the lobbygate incident.
“ Or even for the same company. How weird.” He draws out the word, clearly unimpressed with my flippancy. “ He asked if I was still in contact with you.”
This almost stops me in my tracks. “ Did he, now? And what, pray tell, did you tell him?”
“ The truth. Mostly.”
“ Whose truth?”
“ I found your card in his wallet, confronted you, and you told me everything.”
At this, I stop. “ You didn ’ t.”
“ I didn ’ t.”
“ You ’ re an asshole.” I hit him in the arm, and he chortles.
“ Sorry. I couldn ’ t resist. I just told him that I know what you do. You should have seen his face.”
“ I bet. Are you trying to kill the man? Let it alone, Jer.”
“ He told me it was a one-off.”
Interesting . I ’ m surprised he said anything at all, but I refuse to take the bait and don ’ t respond, jogging off again instead.
“ Damn it. Fine. Dropping …”
“ Good, but I have to go. I have somewhere I need to be later. Have a good day at the office tomorrow. I ’ ll be boarding a plane.”
“ Don ’ t get stuck in any cubicles.” Jeremy hollers after me, making me grin before I hear his footsteps behind me. “ Wait. Are you busy next weekend?”
“ Yes, and you ’ ll have to find someone else to torture next Sunday. I won ’ t be back till Tuesday.”
“ Oh.” His pace slows at that. “ Well, good. Maybe I ’ ll find someone who can keep up.”
“ Pfft. Like you could find anyone else to put up with your lazy-ass pace.”
His chuckle follows me as I jog off.
“ Nick, looking good, as always.” I wink at Max ’ s driver as I slide into the town car, smiling to myself when his cheeks turn pink. Maxwell chuckles beside me as he leans across the backseat to kiss my cheek in greeting.
“ Will you stop tormenting the poor man? If you keep distracting him, he ’ s likely to crash the damn car, and I would like to get to Daniel ’ s game in one piece.”
“ Sorry.”
“ I ’ m sure you are.”
He ’ s seemingly in a chipper mood, but mine plummets at the mention of Daniel ’ s name. “ We ’ re seeing Skeeze today?”
Max sighs, then nods in agreement. “ Yes, that is the plan.”
“ Damn. I was hoping you were kidnapping me and taking me to Atlanta.” I force a smile.
Truth be told. I ’ m getting a little… uncomfortable with the game we ’ re playing here. The odds are becoming less and less in our favor. Not to mention Daniel makes my skin crawl something fierce. My instincts are rarely wrong. He ’ s not good people.
“ Maybe next time. Mix it up a little, keep you on your toes.”
“ Instead of my ass?” I raise a brow, and he chuckles, shaking his head.
“ I called Lydia the other day.”
“ Wait. Lydia? Your daughter Lydia? The one you yourself told me you haven ’ t spoken to since before your grandson was born?” I leave out since he kicked her out. He doesn ’ t know I know that tidbit of information. Still, I ’ m taken aback.
“ Yes. ”
These Thatcher men never cease to amaze me. I guess what I said about living with your head in the sand being no way to live hit home. “ And? What happened? What did she say?”
“ She hung up on me.”
“ Oh.” Not surprising. I think he said it ’ s been nine years. “ You didn ’ t leave it there, did you?”
Max smiles and shakes his head. “ No, I didn ’ t. I waited thirty minutes for the shock to dissipate before calling again.”
I hold my breath, more interested than I care to be. The suspense is killing me.
“ She answered.”
“ And? ”
“ And she called me Maxwell.”
I close my eyes and cringe.
“ That wasn ’ t pleasant. But nothing less than I deserved.”
I reach over and take Max ’ s hand, squeezing it tightly in mine.
“ She was civil, which is far more than I do deserve, but brief and short. We Thatchers never forget and rarely let go or give up.”
I ’ ve seen enough of both Max and Jeremy to believe the truth in that. I can ’ t imagine Jeremy ever forgiving his father, but I know little of Lydia ’ s disposition to know how she ’ d respond. But it doesn ’ t take a genius to anticipate that when your father kicks you out when you ’ re four months pregnant…well, I ’ d be bitter.
“ I…after our conversation weeks ago—”
“ The one where I called you a stubborn jackass and told you one day you ’ d wake up and life would have completely passed you by? That one?”
“ Yes, the very one.” He smiles, and I wrinkle my nose. I felt bad about that outburst. “ I admit I wasn ’ t in a good place after I lost my wife.”
“ Their mother.”
“ Yes. I somehow managed to—not forget, but not acknowledge that Jeremy and Lydia had lost her too, and me as well. I threw myself into work and was purposely never home because it was too hard.”
“ I get that, I really do.”
“ What I ’ m trying to say is, you were right.”
“ I was, was I?” I grin, knowing damn well I was. I always am.
“ Yes, yes. Gloat all you like. But I couldn ’ t even admit to you that I ’ d made a mistake, or that my sister has been sending me photographs of them both this whole time. I never wanted to push her away, and I regretted it almost instantly. I ’ m not getting any younger, and I would like to know my grandson, for him to know his grandfather, before it ’ s too late.”
“ Is there something else you ’ re not telling me, Maxwell?”
“ No, no. Nothing like that. Let ’ s just say you put the wind up me, and I can ’ t live like this anymore. Photos aren ’ t knowing, aren ’ t experiencing. I ’ ve missed out on enough. I don ’ t want to miss out on anymore .”
“ Now what?”
“ She was very quiet after my confession. She ’ s allowing me to call again , but needs more time to decide whether I can be a part of Michael ’ s life.”
“ She ’ s afraid you ’ ll hurt him, too?”
Max nods, crestfallen.
“ Well, it ’ s progress and a start. You ’ ll just have to convince her you ’ ve changed.”
“ Indeed. ”
“ This is cause for celebration.”
“ Let ’ s not get ahead of ourselves.”
I pout, and Max chuckles.
“ But after, what do you call him? Skeeze?”
I nod, and he shakes his head.
“ We ’ ll have a small toast to progress.”
“ To progress. ”