Chapter 2
CHAPTER 2
“A ren’t you going to ask me in?”
Instead, Rachel threw herself into her best friend’s arms and her tears fell. “I never thought I’d see you again.”
“Oh Rach, you know how I feel when you cry. Please don’t cry.” Nick’s arms held her close...safe.
“I’m just happy.” She looked up at him for a moment. Gazed into those sapphire blue eyes and felt something she hadn’t for years...safe. She rested her cheek against his chest. His heart beat soothed her so much she didn’t want to let him go.
He held her close, resting his cheek on the top of her head.
Finally, she stopped crying and stepped back, wiping her cheeks with her palms. “Nicky, what are you doing here? How did you even know I’m back ?” I’ve never been so glad to see anyone in my life. He’s still my best friend. Time and distance can’t change that...at least for me.
“I have my ways.” He winked. “Suffice it to say I knew and thought I’d visit you. You look great by the way.”
She narrowed her eyes. “My nose is red and runny, and my eyes are puffy from crying. I’m sure I don’t look great.”
“You always look great to me. When I look at you I see your beautiful red hair and emerald-green eyes. And usually, I see your big smile.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“It’s been ten years since I’ve been home. I was still in college last time I was here.”
“You look the same to me. Are you going to invite me in, or are we talking on your porch?”
She laughed and stepped back, waving her left arm in a wide arc. “Sorry. Please come inside.”
He stepped over the threshold and into the living room.
“Let’s go to the kitchen.” She turned and led him to the kitchen.
She’d forgotten how tall Nick was, and he was much more muscular than when she’d left. She admired the way his muscles filled out his black t-shirt. His black hair was the same. Just a little too long, so it curled over his collar, and a lock still fell over his forehead in quiet disarray. But I’ve never forgotten your blue eyes. The deep sapphire color haunted my dreams every night, for every one of those years I’ve been gone.
“Have a seat. Would you like something to drink? I have Coke, iced tea, coffee, and water.”
“Water would be good.”
She grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, then sat across from Nicky at the table. She picked up her coffee cup and took a sip, but the liquid was cold. Setting the cup back on the table, she gazed at Nick.
“How’ve you been, Rach?”
She shrugged. “I’m good. Very glad to be back home though.”
Nick leaned back in his chair and crossed his left ankle over his right knee. “How is your son? Jake, isn’t it?”
Rachel cocked her head to the right. “How do you know that? And he’s great. He’s my life.”
He shrugged. “I see your mother most Sundays. She still fixes Sunday dinner every week. I go as often as I can. She has nothing but good things to say about you and Jake. And nothing at all good to say about your ex-husband.”
“I’m happy to hear you see her so much. You know more about my family than I do.”
He lifted a dark brow. “Whose fault is that? I’m sorry. That just slipped out.”
She waved away his words. “Never be sorry for saying what you feel. I know I’m to blame. Greg wouldn’t let me leave with Jake, and I wasn’t about to leave my son with his father. He was afraid I wouldn’t come back, and he was right, I wouldn’t have. I took this long to finally work up the courage to divorce him. Now, except for following me, violating his restraining order, and breaking into my house, I don’t have to see his miserable face.” She fisted her hands and pounded them once on the table, wishing all the time it was Greg’s face, she was pounding.
“Wait. He broke in here, this house?” Nick stood and paced the small kitchen.
“Yes.” She quieted and her voice got small. “He grabbed me by the neck, and if the police hadn’t come in the back door, then I’m afraid he might have killed me.”
He stopped, reached over, and took a hand in his. “I’m going to put security people on your house. I don’t want him breaking in again.”
“Nick, you can’t do that. It’s too expensive.”
He chuckled. “I can see you haven’t been keeping up with the tech world. I designed a couple of chips that airlines now use in their navigation. And I helped design several very popular video games. I’m very wealthy, Rach. My security team will handle the particulars.”
“Your security team?”
Nick sighed. “This would have been easier if you already knew. But I guess there is no way to say this except to just say it. I’m a billionaire, Rach.”
She remembered how he liked to tease her and laughed. “Don’t tease me.”
He didn’t smile, instead he crossed his arms over his chest.
“Nick? Are you being serious?”
He lifted a brow. “As a heart attack.”
She slumped in her chair. “You are serious. I...I don’t know what to say.”
Nick kneeled beside the chair and took her left hand in his. “Let me help you, Rach. You’re still my best friend, even though we haven’t been together for ten years. I don’t ever want to go through that estrangement and lack of contact again.”
“I’m sorry, Nicky. I...it wasn’t a good time for me. I knew my marriage to Greg was over by the time Jake was born. But I wanted him so badly, and I couldn’t bear the thought that Greg might take him away. That’s when the abuse began. Whenever Jake cried, which babies are known to do, Greg would lose it and tell me to shut him up. If I couldn’t, then he took it out on me.”
She was embarrassed, but she needed to tell someone, and he was her best friend. “He put me in the hospital twice. Our neighbor, an eighty-year-old woman, took care of Jake each of those times. I don’t know what I would have done without Mrs. Bradley. She protected Jake the best she could. She took him into her apartment, she lived across the hall, rather than stay in our apartment with Greg.”
Nick’s dark brows formed slashes over his eyes and he clenched his teeth. “Your ex sounds like a real piece of work. How did you get involved with him in the first place?”
“He was one of my professors. He was older and more experienced. He wined and dined me, treated me like a princess, and I fell for it. We married the day I graduated with my Doctor of Medicine degree. I landed a job at a prestigious surgical clinic in New York City.
“Meanwhile, Greg quit teaching in order to take the Head of Surgery position at the same clinic. I didn’t know it then, but he was afraid the other doctors would hit on me, and I’d find someone better.” She laughed bitterly. “If only.”
She shifted in her chair and wrapped her hands around her coffee cup. “By the time Jake was born, I could barely leave the house because he was afraid I would leave him. He was right to be afraid. If I’d had the backbone, I would have left in a heartbeat. I didn’t manage to do it for seven years. I finally decided after the last time he put me in the hospital. Jake saw him beat me.” Rachel gazed at Nick. “I was so afraid...that Greg would turn his wrath on him.”
Nick reached over and took her right hand. “It’s over, Rach. I won’t let him hurt you again.”
She gave him a sad smile. It was all she could give him. “You can’t be with me twenty-four-seven. And regardless of how much money you have, I can’t allow you to pay for security. I have to stand up for myself and for Jake. He has to learn that he can’t let people like his father dictate the way he lives his life.”
“Rach, you?—”
Rachel pulled her hand back. “No, Nick. No. This is the way it has to be. I’m glad to be back. You are still my best friend, too. But you have to let me be my own person. I’m an adult and a mother. I have to show my son how to become an adult. I don’t want him to be afraid all the time or to have to depend on others. He needs to learn to depend on himself.”
Nick took a deep breath. “Okay, Rachel. For now. I can’t convince you to let me help you. How about you let me take you to dinner?”
I would love to just to spend time with you. “I can’t. I have Jake?—”
His pursed his mouth, then he shook his head. “No, I meant you and Jake. I want to meet him. I know a wonderful place with a great kid’s menu, too. It’s called Pepper’s Fireside Grill. They have good, down-home food, and tonight the special is my favorite—chicken fried steak.”
“Chicken fried steak,” she said simultaneously.
His brows shot up and his eyes widened. “You remembered.”
“I remember a lot about us and our friendship. You don’t know someone from the time you’re five-years-old without knowing some of their favorite things.”
Nick chuckled. “Yeah, that’s definitely true. So, are you and Jake coming with me to dinner?”
“Yes. Let me get Jake.” She smiled and stood. “I’ll be right back.” She headed upstairs to get Jake. What if Greg is still hanging around? What if he’s just waiting for Nick to leave before he attacks?
* * *
Not one to twiddle his thumbs, Nick walked into the living room. Empty white walls and neutral-colored furniture didn’t reveal much about Rachel’s grown-up tastes. A sofa, upholstered in a rose brocade material, and a single rose damask Queen Anne chair faced the TV on the far wall.
A second matching Queen Anne chair sat at an angle to the fireplace on the outside wall. An oval braided rug of Native American design laid under the chair. A tiny foot stool, which matched the material of the chair, stood in front of it and a floor lamp sat on the left.
The mantel on the fireplace held a single framed photograph of Rachel and a small boy he assumed was Jake. Rachel looked happy. Her smile was wide, and it reached her eyes.
Jake was looking at his mother with a grin, like he was about to laugh.
The boy looked like Rachel when she was his age. His hair was pale red like hers, and he had her deep green eyes.
Nick had always loved looking into Rachel’s eyes. Looking in them was like seeing the Irish Sea, a clear, dark green. He’d always imagined being able to look in those eyes forever, but she’d gone off to college and hadn’t returned...until now. Nick was determined not to let her go again. She was his best friend, and if the fates allowed, she would be his wife.
Hearing voices behind him, Nick turned to see Rachel and a young boy. He didn’t look too happy. The frown on the child’s face when his gaze landed on Nick was his first clue.
Nick swallowed and stepped forward because he was so tall, he went down on one knee in front of the boy to make them face to face. Then he held out his right hand. “Hi. I’m Nick. You must be Jake. Your mom and I have known each other since we were younger than you. She’s my best friend and has been since kindergarten. Even being apart doesn’t change that.”
“Nuh huh. Boys can’t have girl best friends. Isn’t that right, Mommy?” Jake narrowed his eyes and then turned toward his mother. “Right, Mommy?”
Rachel smoothed his hair. “That’s not right, Jake. Nick has been my best friend since we were five years old. Believe it or not, I was really shy then, and he took me home to meet his mom. They sort of adopted me, and he’s been family ever since.”
The child’s eyes were wide as saucers. “Really?”
Rachel smiled. “Yup, really.”
Nick stood. “So, would you like to go to dinner with us, Jake? Or do we need to take you to Ruby’s?”
He wrinkled his nose and furrowed his brows. “Who’s Ruby?”
Nick chuckled. “That’s your grandmother. Her name is Ruby.”
“Oh.” He shook his head. “Nope, I’ll go with you and Mommy.”
“Okay. Let’s go. My car is out front.”
Nick walked to the front door first, opened it, and held it for Jake and Rachel.
Rachel locked the deadbolt with a key.
“I noticed the kitchen deadbolt uses a key on the inside, too. Don’t you think that’s dangerous?”
She shrugged and then shivered. “Not as dangerous as it would be if Greg broke the window in the door and could unlock the door. The front door doesn’t need one. Hopefully, I’d hear the glass breaking and be able to get out to the garage before he realizes he can come through the window.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“You’re not going to badger me about putting twenty-four-hour security on the house?”
He shook his head. “I don’t figure you’ll change your mind and will just dig in your heels if I try to change it. But why don’t you let me put in a security system and keypad? It would be a lot safer.” He walked over to his metallic candy apple red Ford Mustang. “Jake, you get the back seat all to yourself. Be sure and put your seatbelt on.”
“I can’t let you do that without the landlord’s permission. And it’s just a rental for a short period of time. Just until I can find a place I want to buy.”
“I understand but you really need to talk to your landlord. I’m sure that since it won’t cost him anything he’d be more than happy to have a state-of-the-art security system.”
“You’re probably right. I’ll talk to him. In the meantime, I’ll have the deadbolts.”
“All right as long as you promise to talk to him tomorrow. I’ll have someone out here as soon as you give the okay.”
“Fine.” Rachel huffed out a breath. She had to remind herself this was Nick and he wasn’t being like Greg.
Jake piped up from the backseat. “This is a cool car. Is it fast?”
“It is, I can show you.” Nick looked over at Rachel. “Or not.”
She shook her head. “Not tonight, maybe some other time.”
The look she gave him didn’t leave him much hope she’d change her mind on this any more than she would change it on the security issue. But with the security team on it, what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her, would it?