Chapter One #2
before school or something. Your sex life isn’t my concern, and I’m not changing the parenting plan because of your girlfriend.
What we’re doing works for the kids and that’s what’s important.”
“I knew you’d be difficult.” He rose. “Maybe if you started dating, you’d be a little more understanding.”
“I could be madly in love, but I wouldn’t change my mind. Gentry’s eleven and Xander’s only eight. They’re too young to have
to deal with you and Shawna sleeping together.”
“Whatever,” he grumbled and walked to the door. He jerked it open so hard, it banged against the wall.
“Immature much?” she said to his retreating back.
Ramon flew in. “You getting laid.”
“Actually I’m not, but thanks for asking.”
She held out her hand and he flew down to land on her, then he leaned in and pressed his beak to her cheek.
“Love you,” he said.
“Love you, too.”
“Time for a snack.”
She laughed. “Of course it is. Come on, let’s go see what’s in the kitchen.”
The day had been everything she’d dreamed of, Ryleigh Weaver thought to herself as she walked along the sand with her boyfriend,
Dustin, at her side. Santa Barbara had been great—all pretty and quirky with fun little shops to explore. They’d gone hiking
in the morning, had hung out in town in the afternoon and now, after a wonderful dinner, were walking on the beach at sunset.
Almost nothing could make the moment more special.
Is it now?
The faint voice in her head repeated the question, but Ryleigh shook it off. She wasn’t going to ruin a perfectly magical
moment by wondering if, after fifteen months of dating and twelve months after declaring their love for each other—something
they were in fact in Santa Barbara to celebrate—Dustin was going to propose. He would in his own time. Eventually. After much
thought and consideration.
“I love you,” he said, looping his arm around her. “Today’s been great.”
“It has been and I love you, too. Celebrating our one-year ‘I love you’ anniversary isn’t conventional, but I like it.”
He stopped walking and faced her. He was about three inches taller than her five-eight, with dusty brown hair and a dimple that peeked out as he smiled at her. Yellow-and-orange light from the setting sun seemed to surround them, making her feel the moment was extra sparkly.
“You mean so much to me,” he told her, brushing a strand of hair from her face. “I like what we have together.”
Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God. This was it! He was going to do it. He was about to propose. Butterflies soared in her belly and
her knees got a little weak. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest.
His dark gaze met hers. “Ryleigh, you really do mean the world to me.”
It. Was. Happening! She told herself to stay calm and present. The light breeze picked up a little, sending cool air across
her skin. She shivered slightly as she silently urged him to keep talking.
“You know I feel the same,” she whispered.
He smiled. “I’d feel kind of foolish if you didn’t. It sucks to be in love by yourself. Ryleigh—”
She shivered again. He frowned.
“Are you cold?”
“What? No. I’m fine.”
He ran his hands up and down her arms. “You’re freezing. You should have said something. Come on, let’s head back to the hotel.”
What? WHAT? The hotel? Was he kidding? What about the question he was about to ask? She had her answer ready. She’d had it
ready for the past six months. Holy crap, no. This wasn’t happening.
But it was. Dustin drew her close, as if using his body to warm hers, and guided them back to the hotel. When they reached
their room, he crossed to the TV and turned it on.
“Five minutes,” he said with an easy grin. “I want to check the score. When we left, the Dodgers were ahead.”
She stood just inside the door, staring as he settled on the small sofa and flipped channels to find the baseball game, then she walked over to the bed and sat down.
The moment was gone, she thought, still stunned by how close they’d come. Surely he’d been about to pop the question. Only
now she wondered if she was wrong about that. Maybe it hadn’t been on his mind at all. Maybe he never planned on marrying
her. Maybe this was all there was.
She flopped back on the bed and closed her eyes. Tears burned, but she held them at bay. No way she wanted to explain them
to her emotionally oblivious boyfriend who was never going to propose.
“You warming up?” he called from the sofa. “Feeling better?”
“I’m great,” she whispered, doing her best to keep the sadness out of her voice.
“That’s what I like to hear.”
“How was your weekend away with Dustin?” Jax asked as she and her sister settled on the comfy loungers on the widow’s walk.
Ryleigh sank onto the cushioned seat, careful not to spill her glass of wine. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she said with
a sigh, still smarting from what had or rather what hadn’t happened. It had been three days since the non-proposal and she couldn’t seem to shake the uncomfortable combination of hurt
and embarrassment that followed her through her day. Hurt because she was starting to wonder if she and Dustin really did
want the same things, and embarrassment because sometime in the past couple of months she’d turned into a needy, whiny female
who was desperate for her guy to slap a ring on her finger. Only she knew it wasn’t about the ring, but rather what the ring
represented—yet telling herself that didn’t make her feel any better.
Her sister immediately went on alert. “What happened? Did you two have a fight?”
Jax’s voice was laced with concern, her expression intense.
Ryleigh knew exactly what she was thinking, because even though they were five years apart in age, most of the time they reacted like identical twins.
They laughed the same, thought the same, even had similar voices.
They’d inherited their medium brown hair from their mother but the waves that were almost-curls had come from their mystery father.
They both had brown-with-a-hint-of-green eyes and, according to Jax’s first boyfriend, “killer smiles.”
But unlike her formerly married sister, Ryleigh was unable to get her long-term boyfriend to commit.
“No fight,” Ryleigh told her. “Not even close. We had a lovely time. The last night the sunset was really pretty.”
“I hear tone,” Jax said, then sighed loudly. “Oh, no. You thought he was going to propose and he didn’t.”
“It was our anniversary,” Ryleigh said, looking at her sister. “We took a sunset stroll on the beach because he suggested
it. There we were, on the beach at sunset and he didn’t say a word. I kept waiting and waiting and then it got cold and we
went back to the hotel.” She leaned against the cushions and closed her eyes. “It’s never going to happen. He’s never going
to cough it up.”
“I’m sorry.”
Ryleigh didn’t bother opening her eyes. “No, you’re not.”
“I am. I want you to be happy.”
Which sounded great but Ryleigh knew the truth. Jax, her always supportive and loving older sister, didn’t think she and Dustin
were right together. Jax complained they lacked “sparkage.” Sure, when compared to the firestorm that had been the start of
Jax’s relationship to Harris all those years ago, she and Dustin were quietly boring in their affection for each other. But
not everyone needed wild, passionate, take-me-now moments. For some people, a steady love was the best kind and that was what
she and Dustin had. Nice, calm, forever love.
“I want to get married,” Ryleigh said, looking at the sky and wishing that instead of complaining she was showing off an engagement ring. “I want the rest of my life to start. I have a great career, friends, but I want kids and I’m not like Mom.”
Their mother, a powerful literary agent in New York City, had, at the age of thirty, realized she wasn’t interested in anything
like a traditional relationship, but she did want children. So she’d used a sperm bank and nine months later, Jax had been
born. Four years later, she’d wanted a second child, so had used the same donor and voilà. Ryleigh.
When the girls had been ten and six, their mother had taken them to Port Palmas, her small, West Coast hometown, for what
was supposed to be a summer visit. There she’d reunited with her high school sweetheart and in an unexpected turn of events,
had married him. She’d managed her author clients remotely long before it had become a thing, and had gone back to New York
every other month for in-person meetings. When Ryleigh had graduated from high school and headed off to college, her mom and
stepdad had moved to New York permanently.
Jax reached across and grabbed her hand. “I know and I’m sorry Dustin is being such a butthead.”
“Thanks.” She squeezed her sister’s fingers before releasing them. “Do you think he’s fallen out of love with me?”
“No. Why would he take you away for the weekend if he didn’t want to be with you?”
“I guess. I don’t know what’s wrong. We’ve talked about the future, so what’s the holdup?”
Dustin was a lawyer in town. He was part of a small practice that included her friend Alex and the two founding partners.
In fact Alex’s late wife, Kim, had been the one to introduce her to Dustin. After Kim’s death, Ryleigh had felt shattered.
Dustin had been there for her, holding her when she cried and generally being a rock. At the time they’d only been dating
about a month, but those horrible weeks had drawn them closer.
“Maybe we don’t have what you and Harris used to, but it’s still special. I can’t figure out the problem.”
“Want me to beat some sense into him?” Jax asked. “I’d need to use a shovel or something because he’s probably strong enough
to take me, but I could make a run at it.”
Ryleigh smiled at her. “Thank you for offering violence on my behalf, but no. I just need to think about what’s wrong.” She
sipped her wine. “So what’s new with you?”
“Harris wants to change the parenting plan.”
“To what? You guys have an unusual system, but it’s working. The kids are doing great and you like living here on the alternating
weeks.”
“He wants to be able to have Shawna sleep over.”
Ryleigh stared at her sister. “He didn’t say that! No way. He wants to change the parenting plan so he can have regular sex
with his girlfriend? His kids are in the house. They’re too young to know about adult sleepovers. What is he thinking? Seriously?
No. Just no. Can’t they hook up when the kids are at school or with friends? Change the parenting plan just so he can get
laid? I don’t think so.”
She had more to rant about, but stopped when she saw Jax smiling at her.
“What?” she demanded.
“You and I are so much alike.” Jax grinned as she raised her wineglass in a silent toast. “I said pretty much that exact thing
to Harris when he brought up the subject, right down to yelling at him some version of ‘you getting laid.’ Unfortunately Ramon
was in the room at the time. Guess his new favorite phrase?”
Ryleigh winced, thinking of how piercing the parrot’s voice could be, but as was her nature, she tried to look on the bright
side. “Maybe it could be good for business. You know how much your customers love a scandal.”
“I’m thinking more of trying to find something else for him to repeat over and over again.”
“Ask Cheryl. She’s the creative one.”
Cheryl, a retired elementary school teacher and Ryleigh’s former mentor, worked for Jax as her events coordinator. The part-time
position required tact, resourcefulness and spy-level organizational skills—all of which Cheryl had used every day in her
former career.
“Good idea.” Jax sipped her wine. “If we’re both testing out interesting things for him to say, he might pick up on one of
them.”
“Or keep yelling ‘you getting laid’ for the next week.”
Jax groaned. “Which is much more likely to happen. That bird.”
Ryleigh didn’t bother pointing out that Jax loved Ramon. Their step-grandparents had taken him in twenty-six years ago. He’d
been about two and obviously stressed from his previous living situation. He’d been underweight and half naked from plucking
out his feathers. They’d agreed to keep him until a suitable owner could be found, but it turned out not that many people
wanted a very young African gray—what with the lifespan in captivity being over forty-five years.
She’d been more afraid of Ramon, but Jax had immediately wanted to take care of him. Their grandparents had given him the
smallest of the upstairs bedrooms in the old Victorian, moving out the books so Ramon could have a nice, large space. Jax
had spent every free moment with the bird. She’d read to him, talked to him, hand-fed him and potty-trained him. Over that
summer, he’d blossomed. By early September, he’d started exploring the bookstore and interacting with the customers. He was
definitely a people kind of bird, but Jax was his special someone.
“What are you going to do about Harris?” she asked.
“Nothing. The house rules are in the parenting plan, so they can’t be altered unless we both agree.
I’m not changing my mind about Shawna sleeping over.
It’s just icky. He’ll sulk for a while, but he’ll get over it.
” Jax looked at her. “He’s been going out with her longer than he’s gone out with any of his other women, but he’s not looking for anything permanent.
Let us all remember him telling me he was quote—tired of being tied down—unquote. ”
Her tone was cheerful, but Ryleigh knew there was still a bit of pain hidden in the words. Jax had had no idea that Harris
wanted out until he announced he was leaving. Ryleigh would never admit it to her sister, but she’d been a little less surprised.
In the few years before the divorce it had seemed to her that Harris and Jax were living separate lives and that the sparks
that had been so evident at first had long since died.
“I agree Harris doesn’t want to get too serious,” Ryleigh said. “Besides, he agreed to the house rules.”
Jax nodded. “You’re right.” She grinned. “And now they’re coming back to bite him in the butt. I kind of like that.”
“If you get Cheryl to say ‘bite him in the butt’ in front of Ramon, he might pick up on it.”
Jax laughed. “It’s marginally better, but I’m not sure it’s a solution. Why can’t he fly around saying ‘have a nice day’ instead?”
“Because he’s not a ‘have a nice day’ kind of bird. I think you’re going to be stuck with you getting laid for the next few
days.”
“Lucky, lucky me.”