Chapter 14 #2
I stop in town and pick up some fruit and veggies from the store, and then I take the back roads to Durban’s.
I don’t want anyone in our business. These quiet, intimate, steamy nights are just for us, and if we’re exposed, they might stop.
No one’s going to think I’m making a smart decision when it comes to men while I’m in the middle of this wedding, and I don’t want to get questioned.
I don’t want Durban to get asked about what he’s thinking. He might realize he’s wasting his time on me.
I drive to his house, loving the view more each time I make the short trip.
I park in my usual spot on the concrete pad in front of his garage and let myself in just like he said to. I drop my groceries on the counter and deposit my duffel on his precisely made bed. The nightshirt I forgot is neatly folded on the pillow.
The corner of my mouth lifts. He didn’t have to text me to tell me that I left a mess. Sometimes he leaves my nightshirt where I drape it, and sometimes he cleans up without holding it over my head. There’s no condemning statements like Stanford used to wield.
I picked up the kitchen. You’re welcome.
Why can’t you take five minutes to look behind you?
You’d forget your head if it wasn’t attached.
In the kitchen, I look through his fridge. We talked about spaghetti last night and there’s a pound of hamburger waiting. I can wow him with my grandma’s homemade meatballs.
Ten minutes later, four rows of three seasoned and rolled meatballs are on a pan. I’m humming to myself when the door opens from the garage.
I wash my hands with my back to the entrance of the mudroom. “He-ey. I hope you’re ready for some balls.”
“Can’t say they’re my taste,” Haven answers.
I bark out a cry and whirl around, spraying water across the counter and floor. “What is it with you guys and sneaking up on women?”
He’s grinning like I robbed a bank and he gets the haul. He leans against the doorframe and crosses his arms. Like Durban, his biceps bulge in his gray Bootleg Tavern shirt. “Hi, Campbell.” His smile weakens. “What a surprise.”
“Hi, Haven.” I hastily grab a paper towel and dry my hands. My cheeks are burning, and for some stupid reason, I want to cry. Will Durban be upset? No one’s supposed to know. What if he’s embarrassed to be sneaking around with me? He’s going to care what Haven thinks.
“Nice balls you got there, but uh, what’s going on?”
The oven beeps and I wince.
“Does Durban know you’re here?”
“Yes.” I scowl. Does he think I’m a hungry stalker?
“Well, that part’s a relief.”
Is Haven’s disapproval going to end everything? If I have to finish this damn wedding after getting rejected by Durban, that’s just a cruel joke.
He pushes off the doorframe. “Don’t let me stop you. Durban owes me a meal anyway.”
He crosses to the sink and I scoot over. I can’t help the feeling that he’s going to kick me out despite being here with his brother’s approval. We’ve always had a good relationship, but that was before Haven realized I’m sleeping with his brother.
“Need some help?” he asks as he scrubs his hands. “Might as well put me to work.”
I’d rather have him busy than asking me more questions I don’t have the answer to. “Do you want to chop some veggies for a salad?”
“I’m allergic to them,” he says soberly.
“Which ones?”
“All of them.”
Laughter bubbles out of me. He’s joking with me. That’s got to be a good sign. He won’t tell Durban he’s made a bad decision, right?
He dries his hands. “I know my way around a salad, and as long as you don’t make me eat it before the meatballs, I’ll chop away.”
My smile dims and the relief pushing through my panic stalls. “Are you okay with this?”
“Not gonna lie, I don’t like cheating.”
I jerk my head back like he slapped me. “They broke up.”
Astonishment passes over his face. “No wonder I caught him whistling when he was doing a wash the other day. He can actually get on with life.” Why wouldn’t Durban tell his brother about Natalie? “You two seeing each other?”
“Sort of, but we’re not telling anyone,” I admit and try to get over my confusion. Is he hoping Natalie will return, or that I’ll just be a good but forgettable time? “I don’t want to disrupt the wedding, but this is . . . helping me get through it.”
He studies me for a moment. “Did you think I was going to run you off?”
“I’m not exactly his type.”
“Clearly you are.”
I open my mouth. Shut it again. I’m not prepared for that response. “Natalie is—”
“Kind of insufferable.”
Why does a thrill soar through me? I could take flight from it. “She is?”
“Trust me. The breakup is good news. Private fucker didn’t share it with me though.”
Durban is a private man. That clears my cloud of insecurity, just a little.
“She’s his Stanford,” he continues as he digs through the grocery bag of produce I bought. He pulls out bananas, sets them aside, then lines up the head of lettuce, tomato, and cucumbers. “No kale? Or what’s that purple shit?”
“Arugula.”
He shudders. “I might actually eat this salad.” Pulling out one drawer and then another, I give up waiting for an answer and slide the meatballs into the oven.
When I turn around, he’s got a knife and cutting board out.
“Natalie is a super nerd, and don’t get me wrong, that’s fine.
But she also has this tone when she talks to Durban.
” He swirls the tip of the knife in a circle.
“And she would rarely speak to me and Iverson. Durban was like her little cowboy fetish or something. So trust me, I’m glad to see that he’s moved on. Finally.”
“Even if it’s to me?”
He frowns and slices through the tomato. “What’s wrong with you?”
All the excuses that Stanford gave me pile into my brain. “I’m impulsive. Messy and forgetful. I can’t hold a job and had to come home to work for my parents.”
“Aw hell, Campbell, that’s just being normal.”
Again, I’m punched with the urge to cry, but not from fear. I want to shed tears for that young Campbell who felt so alone and misunderstood. “If I had more Durbans and Havens surrounding me, I might have fought both times I was unfairly terminated.”
He stops slicing and frowns at me.
“Both times?” Durban asks from the mudroom.
I whirl around to see him in the same spot Haven was in when he first busted me. The panic from earlier resets. Shit, shit, shit. Haven’s cool with us, and the apprehension of Durban’s reaction was forgotten.
It comes roaring back and tears poke the backs of my eyes.
He doesn’t bother taking his boots off. He closes the distance between us and grabs my shoulders. “Hey, it’s okay. We’re here now. What happened?”
It’s me he’s worried about? Not his reputation or what his brother thinks?
“No, it’s not that. I’m over that.” He doesn’t let go and he’s looking at me like he doesn’t believe me.
Right. I only told him about the one time.
“Um, so, I legitimately got fired from my first job out of college because I was always late. Fair. Then I got a job at a senior center, a bougie one. My boss was cutting our hours for bullshit reasons. Like, oh, ‘that was training and it doesn’t count.’ Or she’d demand we be twenty minutes early, but we couldn’t clock in, yet she put us to work.
That’s like, a couple hundred a month! When I confronted her about it, she fired me and made up complaints from the residents. ”
“You didn’t kick her ass?” Haven asks.
I shake my head. “I was, um, dating Stanford and he thought I should get something better, and I didn’t want my parents to know I’d lost another job.”
Anger etches Durban’s hard features. “You didn’t lose it. She should’ve been fired.”
“I was a girl with a lot of resources but no support.”
“The resources were conditional,” Haven says as his knife steadily clicks on the cutting board. “We know all about that, don’t we, Durban?”
He grunts and pulls me into him. I soak in his heat and the faint hints of hay, dirt, and animals.
“You aren’t mad?” I ask against his brick of a chest.
He pulls away. “Why would I be?”
I slide my gaze to Haven. “He thought you were cheating and I told him about the breakup.”
Durban’s features turn pinched. “About that. Thought it might help hide how Campbell and I are sneaking around through the wedding. Don’t want to worry Iverson and Jamison.”
There’s that disclaimer again. I have to forget about how my feelings are growing and enjoy my time.
“Haven can keep his mouth shut.” Durban looks over his shoulder at his brother. “Since we’re feeding him.”
“My lips are sealed.” He mimics zipping his mouth shut. “Your girl asked me if I’d like some balls. She didn’t specify and I almost turned her down.”
“I didn’t know it was him coming into the house.”
“I’m hurt. I thought I was the only one sneaking up on you.” Durban grins and gives me a kiss. It’s way more chaste than it would’ve been were we alone, but I sink into him.
“Hey,” Haven says, but Durban doesn’t break away from me, “did you hear I’m going to be a favorite uncle again?”
Durban smiles against my lips, and I laugh. If this could be my every Friday night, I’d be a very happy woman.