Chapter 38
Betty slid out of the storeroom and headed in the opposite direction than the one Jamie and Alex took, leaving Becca to it.
Unsure of what to do, her only option was to fret—so she chewed a fingernail.
”I”m a lot of things,” she murmured to no one. “But a daft bimbo, I am not.”
Just the thought made her shudder.
”Daft bimbo?” she heard a husky male voice ask, startling her from her reverie.
Gasping, she swung to face the open doorway as Jamie came toward her.
”Was that the name of your girl band in college?”
The question was a joke—the serious expression on his face was not.
”Jamie!” She rushed to him and threw herself at him. ”Are you okay?”
He answered in a resigned voice.
”I might have a few rug burns from the dragging, but I”ll survive.”
”Is Alex pissed? What did he say?”
Jamie”s smile didn”t quite reach his eyes. He gently stroked her arms from shoulder to elbow.
”Not pissed, but he had a lot to say.”
”Are you going to tell me?”
”Yes,”he murmured. ”But I”d like some time to think about what he had to say.”
Time to think? Was that the same thing as reconsidering their relationship?
Fearing the worst, she cried, ”Oh my god, are you going to break up with me?”
”What? No!”he denied. ”Rebecca, it”s okay. Everything”s okay.”
”How can you say that when I clearly see something is up? Don”t treat me like a child, Jamie.”
”Okay, okay, okay. My bad.”He pulled her in for a hug and whispered, ”He”s concerned about Kori.”
Drawing back, she searched his face. ”Really? Why?”
”That”s what I need to think about. He, uh, used a word I hadn”t given any thought to.”
Confused, she frowned and asked, ”What word?”
To his credit, he didn”t hesitate.
”Stepfather.”
She felt her brows shoot up and knew her mouth gasped one word. ”Oh!”
”May I assume from your shock that you never went there either?”
”I,”she stammered. ”Uh, no. It”s just…I thought … and you.”None of the thoughts running around in her head made much sense.
”We should probably talk, huh?”
Nodding was all she had.
Kori knew she was interested in Jamie and had all but signed their dating permission slip. Still, Becca never stopped to consider what an actual relationship with Jamie looked like or how it might affect her daughter.
”You”re not a terrible mother,”he drawled—interrupting the guilty thought as it blossomed in her head.
”Well, maybe not,”she lamented. ”But I am a mom, and I know I don”t have to say this, but that means I have baggage.”
He snorted. ”As do I.”
”Fair enough.”
They embraced for a long moment and then drew apart.
”Come on,”Jamie said. ”It”s hot and stuffy in here. Let”s get some air and decide what to do next.”
They exited the barn and stood beside his truck. She put on her sunglasses and hat.
”I”ve got busy work at the clinic,”he told her. ”Performance reviews thatcan”tbe rescheduled. Now doesn”t seem like a good time to piss off Betty—she”s a stickler about paperwork. I can call you after dinner.”
No, she didn”t want to rush him. He said he needed to think, so she suggested they leave it until tomorrow. At least that way, she”d have a chance to speak with her daughter.
Workers milled about, and somewhere, the Junior Saddle Squad was doing its thing under Ben and Tori St. John”s watchful eye.
”The audience conundrum,”he snickered. ”I”d feel so much better and breathe easier if I could kiss you right now without HR ruining things.”
They were side by side, their elbows leaning on the top of the truck bed. Separated by a couple of feet, it was an innocent enough pose.
She giggled softly. ”Tori is lurking someplace—not that she”d care, but we don”t need to start a scandal.
Turning her head, she regarded his profile through her dark lenses. He allowed her to see his human side when he mentioned breathing easier and feeling better.
”Would it help you to know that those one hundred and twenty seconds were excruciatingly painful for the two minutes when I thought you were going to end things?”
In her mind”s eye, she was already fashioning their happily ever after.
Jamie grimaced. ”Telling me you were in agony is supposed to make me feel better?”
”You claimed me, remember? You said I was yours. That meant everything to me, Jamie. I”m sharing my feelings so you”ll know how committed I am. You aren”t alone anymore. We”re in this together.”
Becca didn”t know where her confidence came from—she only knew that Dr. Tall, Dork, and Handsome was her destiny—hers and Kori”s.
”That means a lot, honey,”he murmured.
”By the way, I like it when you call me honey. It”s sweet and reassuring.”
He grinned and straightened. ”We”ll have to come up with a list of pet names.”
”Ooh, I”d like that. We can color code it for situational times.”She was perfectly serious because organization and systems were her thing.
”Color code? Do you mean like a pleasure slave in the bedroom but not at the dinner table? Those kinds of situations?”
”Quite,”she drawled. ”Although now that you put it that way, maybe we could also consider hand signs and whatnot. No, it would not be okay to get my attention by shouting pleasure slave at a barbecue, but I can envision certain situations when it might serve as a heads-up. I want to keep it on the table, but maybe instead of saying it, you should whistle.”
”Honey, that sounds like fun.”
She laughed, turned, and offered him a hearty high five.
As he climbed into the truck, he whistled.
Shaking her head at his adorkable cockiness, she chuckled and watched him drive away.
* * *
A jumbleof thoughts and a thousand scenarios ricocheted inside Jamie”s head. The famous saying, life comes at you fast, applied to his current situation, so keeping it together topped his priority list.
When the day began, he did not have tangling with the Major on his schedule. Now that he had foolishly done so—and then wisely backed down—some amends for having acted like a douche seemed appropriate.
A bottle of Glenfiddich, perhaps?
No. Scratch that idea. Part of the legend of Alex and his feisty wife included an amusing bon mot wherein the outspoken Irish lass scorned the big man”s choice of whiskey, memorably declaring for all to hear Glenfiddich is for pussies.
As far as Clan O”Brien and Meghan Marquez, in particular, were concerned, Jameson”s was the whiskey of choice—period. Gifting Alex a bottle of the scorned brand was sure to end badly for Jamie.
He chuckled and shuddered at the same time. Meghan, or Red as she was often called, wasn”t just the wife of he-who-birthed-Bendover; she was an auburn-haired goddess—part Mary Poppins, part Marilyn Monroe, and part earth mama—with extraordinary influence over pretty much everyone and everything. Staying on Red”s good side was incumbent on him if he hoped to keep his job. The lady did not fuck around. She was not here for bullshit or mean people, and especially not for players, peacocks, or poseurs. Nobody was less interested in tooting her own horn or hogging the spotlight than the wife of Alex Marquez. Her considerable power was quieter, and he was sure if need be, deadlier. Truth be told, he was a little bit afraid of her.
Maybe a box of cigars would be better than whiskey.
Alex was a natural leader. He did his best work as pack alpha, which explained why he usually had people around him. A box of expensive cigars might come in handy—especially considering the constant appearance in the Justice compound of military brass and high-ranking government folks eager to do business with the Agency.
Everyone wanted five minutes with the guy.
Parking in the covered spot marked with a sign saying RESERVED FOR DR. HUNTER, Jamie hurried from the truck, headed into the clinic, and marched down the hallway to his office after acknowledging the two people at the front desk.
The perks of being him—he had a private bathroom with a stall shower, perfect for quick wash-ups after surgery or on a day like today when he was uncomfortably damp with sweat.
Stinking up the room while he met with his staff for their work reviews was rude.
Stripping to his skin and stepping into the shower of warm water, he rinsed off and quickly put on a set of clean clothes he kept for such occasions.
Vigorously rubbing his wet hair with a hand towel, he tossed it on a chair with the rest of his laundry and returned to work.
Okay, so describing what he did next as work was a miss.
Opening the laptop on his desk—the one he used for personal stuff instead of the desktop option—he considered texting his mom or Nora until a burning desire to talk with his brother took over.
Where was Robbie these days? What time zone was he in?
Scrolling back through the Hunter family chat, he found a clue—a photo of his younger brother in scuba gear with an elaborate underwater camera for an assignment photographing the sea life around Key West.
Glancing at the time, he figured it was dinner time in the Keys, so his chances of catching Robbie were good.
Knock, knock
Robbie: Who dis?
Jamie chuckled.
The ghost of Christmas past ??????????
I”m stuffing my face with queso nachos. What the fuck do you want?
Beating around the bush wasn”t their style—not after everything his family had endured thanks to Jamie”s ex-wife”s perfidy—so he went for it, no holds barred.
This may surprise you, so you may want to hold onto your hat.
Robbie: Wait, wait. Can I guess?
Rolling his eyes, he responded:
If you must.
Jamie knew his brother, and there was no way his reply would be serious.
It”sfinally happening—you”re changing your name to Jacinda and are touring the southwest with a drag show. High five!
Sorry to disappoint. Didn”t pass the audition.
Robbie: Wait, I know. You”re going to publish that filthy story we wrote as teenagers—the one with the long-haul truckers sharing the sexual favors of a busty waitress at an interstate truck stop in the middle of nowhere.
Jamie burst out laughing. He hadn”t thought about their attempt at triple x storytelling in a long time.
Lola! The deep throat queen with the loose morals.
Robbie sent a dozen laughing emojis and an equal number of eggplants, water droplets, and flames.
Robbie: Have you ever?
No. As it turns out, I”m that fucker who doesn”t share. Also, I have performance anxiety. (Not). What about you?
Robbie: Yeah. Once. Years ago. Was casually fucking a neighbor who was casually fucking another guy. She had a hankering for two dicks at the same time. She convinced me with a bottle of tequila, three-way porn, and the assurance my dick was biggest.
Jesus Christ, man. Way too much information.
He was laughing because … Robbie.
Robbie: Not nearly as hot or memorable as you imagine. One and done for me.
Good to know. I want to tell you something, so shut up, okay?
The reply was a speech bubble and an ear.
I”m seeing someone, and it”s serious.
Robbie: Male or female?
He ignored the taunt to keep the conversation from veering into the weeds.
Former military. Bit of a bitchy ball buster, but therein lies the thrill.
Robbie: Say that three times real fast—bitchy ball buster!
Dude, she”s got a kid.
There was no immediate reply. Frustrated, Jamie put the phone on the desktop. A second later, it rang, and the picture he had saved of his brother lit up the screen.
He answered, ”Who dis?”
”A kid?”Robbie squawked. ”What kind of kid?”
He answered sardonically. ”A human kid?”
”Suck my dick, you moron. How old is this kid? Are there diapers involved? Who”s the baby daddy, and how come you”re okay with it?”
”Pay attention, shithead, ”cause I”m only saying this once. Her name is Rebecca. She”s a hard-working divorced single mom with a twelve-year-old daughter.”
”How do you know her?”
Robbie knew a little about the BDSM influences in Jamie”s life. His brother wanted to know if the woman he”s involved with is in the lifestyle.
Truth is freedom, he thought as a snap decision entered the chat.
”She”s the reason I”m here.”
”Say again,”Robbie muttered.
It was suddenly important that he say the words out loud and explain how he ended up in a place as unlikely as Bendover, Arizona. He wanted his narrative out there—in the ether—where it would live forever.
”I remember telling you about Justice when they started sniffing around.”
”Yeah,”Robbie grunted. ”Said you weren”t interested.”
”And Iwasn”t, not even when they tried throwing money my way. At the time, I couldn”t see myself staying in one place—not in any permanent way—and they wanted a full commitment.”
He chuckled and continued.
”Justice, however, doesn”t give up easily. They”re relentless. One day, when I happened to be in the area, they sent their secret weapon—a drop-dead spectacular Southern Belle beauty queen—to try to convince me. She turned up at a dusty cowboy rodeo looking fresh as a Georgia peach, with an entourage in tow.”
”Entourage? Good word. Is this when the story gets good?”
”Yep. So this entourage included the Southern Belle”s infant son, Ben, a wily old coot pretending to be some sort of butler, and the Southern Belle”s assistant, Rebecca.”
”Wait. Is this one of those at-first-sight things? Have you gone round the Hallmark movie bend?”
A bark of laughter met Robbie”s snarky question.
”Quite the opposite. Oil and water. Chalk and cheese. Heaven and hell. We rubbed each other in all the wrong ways from that first meeting. She”s got a mouth on her, that one,”he chuckled. ”The Army taught her how to grab her balls like one of the guys. You”ll like her—she”s a taker of no shit. Especially mine.”
”Mm hm. Does she know?”
”Yes. All of it. We wouldn”t be together if shedidn”t.”
”By all of it, I know you mean the ex-wife. Does she also know about the other stuff?”
”Again, dude. We wouldn”t be together otherwise.”
”Wow. And none of your, uh, baggage scared her off?”
”Like I said—the lady has balls. What do you think about the kid? That”s why I called. Am I stepdad worthy?”
”Oh fuck,”Robbie snorted. ”You”ve always been dad material, and if Darlene hadn”t been a duplicitous cunt, there might have been kids. It would have sucked when she turned out to be a mob whore, but you would have gotten custody. So, where”s this twelve-year-old”s biological father? Is he in the picture?”
”Polished turd,”Jamie drawled. ”Background noise.”
”I think it”s great—all of it—the woman, the kid, the permanent home base. You earned it, Jamie.”
”It”s kind of exciting,”he admitted. ”I like the kid. I got her hooked on Dr. Who.”
”So, this thing is far along, huh?
”Well, we had to file a relationship affidavit with HR. That was fun.”
”Ho ho,” Robbie honked. ”Epic! Have you told the folks? Mom will catch the first plane she can get on once she hears you making dad noises.”
”No, not yet. We”re still in the navigation portion of the user manual. I need a little more time. I did mention the relationship possibility to Nora, butshe”swrapped awfully tight these days. There”s no way she”d spill the beans.”
”She sent me some rough sketches of the house she”s flipping. That girl has mad talent. I look at a place taken down to the studs and see nothing. She visualizes walls, windows, ceilings, doors, anddécor. Flow is a buzzword. If I ever buy a house,I”mgoing to hire her.”
”My home would be an ode to Ikea and folding lawn chairs without her influence. She sourced my bed and all of the living room furniture.”
He heard Robbie”s sigh.
”You know,”Jamie said somewhat hesitantly. ”It might be time to get the band back together.”
”A family reunion?”
”Yeah. Maybe around the parents” anniversary. There”s a brand new motel under construction here—kitschy Palm Springs style in the middle of the desert. I”ve got connections. We can rent a bunch of rooms, fly the folks in—again, I have connections—and spend some quality time together.”
”It”s been a long time, man.”
Jamie agreed. Yes, it had.
”Let”s circle back to this again in a few weeks.”
”Okay,”Robbie answered enthusiastically. ”And keep me in the loop with your situation.”
”Will do.”
”Love ya, bruh.”
“Love you too,” Jamie replied.