His Brother's Wife by Michelle Love (6)

Sometimes life makes things happen before we’re ready for them, though. And this seems like one of those times.

“I’ll be there for you, Jenna. You won’t have to do anything alone. I’ll stay with you every second so he can’t do anything to hurt you.” I reach out, grab a towel, and wrap her up in it then take one to dry myself off.

Jenna smiles at me as she dries off. “Hopefully, I won’t have to use it, but I have a bottle of pepper spray in my purse. If he touches me, I’ll use it on him.”

“Smart thinking.” I pull her into my arms again. “We have to face this sometime anyway, don’t we?”

With a tweak to my nose, she says, “We do. We’re going to be married in May, only six months from now. Rod’s going to be my brother-in-law. You and I have to learn how to handle the dastardly man.”

With a hug, I kiss the top of her head. “We really have no choice. We have to face him head on and just be more stubborn than he is.”

I let her go, and she takes my hand and leads me to the bed where she has my clothes laid out for me. “I was reading the other day about facing what you’re afraid of. When you hide from it and show it you’re afraid, it gets stronger. That’s why I was talking to you about talking to Rod and letting him know I’m not afraid of him anymore.”

I watch her pull on a pair of little blue silk panties and a matching bra and listen to her talk, but I know Rod is a danger to her. He kidnapped her, and God only knows what he planned to do to her.

But I have to wrap my head around the fact we do have to confront him at some time about this. I just hope he cares more about our mother than he does with his obsession with Jenna, so we can begin to put things in the past and move forward.

If not, then this whole thing will get very messy, and I don’t want that. For my family’s sake, I don’t want that.

But people don’t always get what they want!

Chapter 29

JENNA

The sun has still not lit up the sky as Reed and I walk into the hospital his mother is in. It’s six in the morning, and her surgery is only hours away. The Intensive Care Unit nurse leads us to her room and tells us each visit can only be ten minutes long.

Sue’s eyes are closed as we walk into the glass room full of monitors which are hooked up to her.

“Mom,” Reed whispers.

Her eyes open and she smiles. “You made it.”

“Of course I did.” He lets my hand go and hugs her as best he can with all her attachments. “How do you feel?”

“Awful. Can you believe I have a golf-ball sized tumor in my head?” She looks at me and a frown covers her face. “You know Rod’s here, right?”

I nod. “Yes, ma’am. Don’t worry, there will be no trouble. I promise.”

She narrows her eyes at me. “Promise me that, Jenna.”

“I promise, Sue. I’ll leave if there is any.”

She nods. Reed looks back at me with his lips held tightly together. Then he looks back at his mother. “Don’t worry about a thing except getting better.”

“I wish I could just stop worrying. Maybe it’s the tumor that has me so riled up all the time. I just worry over everything lately. And Rod and Reed and their relationship is at the very top.” Sue looks at me again. “If I die …”

Reed stops her. “Mom, don’t even talk like that.”

She pats his hand he’s holding hers with. “I might die, son. It’s a fact, and I have little time to get this out there. I want my family back. I want you two boys to kiss and make up. I want it back. I can’t stand how things are. If you two can’t come to some middle ground where Jenna’s concerned, than I expect your blood to come before anything else.”

My heart stops, as I know what she’s saying. If they can’t figure out how to get along with this, then I need to step out of the picture.

Reed looks at her. “Mom, I won’t ever let her go.”

“I know that. Neither of you will. That’s why I’m talking to Jenna. Woman to woman. You understand me, don’t you, Jenna? I love you, and I don’t want you to think I don’t. My family is the most important thing to me. My sons are all that will be left of me, and I want them to be able to have a relationship. If they can figure things out, great. If they can’t stop playing tug-of-war over you, then I expect you to take care of that. There are plenty of other fish in the sea. The Manning boys are not the only men in the world, you know.”

“Mom, don’t,” Reed says.

She pats his hands again. “I have to.”

I nod. “I understand and respect you, Sue. I will get out of the way if that’s what I have to do to honor your wishes. I promise you.”

Reed turns back to me with a terrified look on his handsome face, but says nothing. The nurse comes back in. “Time is up. She can have another visit in twenty minutes.”

Reed kisses his mother and I give her a wave, then we leave. Reed’s hand is shaking in mine and I know that was the hardest thing he’s ever had to do.

A waiting room on the left is open and empty and he pulls me into it then shuts and locks the door. I’m pulled into his arms as his whole body shakes and he cries even harder than he did when he first found this out.

“Jenna, you can’t walk away if Rod and I can’t come to terms over you! You can’t!”

“I’ll do all I can to make sure you two can come to terms, for her sake. She just wants to keep her family intact. I completely understand her.”

It’s so hard not to cry when he’s so hurt and afraid, but I feel I have to shove my fear aside and only show him strength at this time. I can go off when I’m alone and cry my eyes out. But for now, I have to be strong for him.

“Mom doesn’t understand how deeply I love you. If I lose you because of him, I won’t want a relationship with him, anyway.” He pulls back and looks at me with tears running down his face. It makes my heart hurt. “I can’t handle this thing with her and this thing with you too.”

“What do you want me to say? If I’m a source of friction, then I’ll be making things worse for your family. You are part of something, Reed. You are a part of a family. And I may be a thing that breaks you all apart. I can’t do that.”

He holds me tighter and squeezes me. “Jenna, please just stay the hell away from Rod and things will be okay. I’ll make sure they are. Please.”

“Of course I’ll stay the hell away from him.”

And just as the words leave my mouth, I see Rod walking by the room we’re in. The lights are off and the window is tinted, so I can see him, but he can’t see us.

My heart begins to pound as I recall that the last time I saw him he was pulling the nightgown over my head and then binding my hands together while another guy bound my feet. Then he placed a gag in my mouth and threw me over his shoulder, then tossed me into a tiny trunk.

Suddenly, I feel bile welling up in my throat. “Fuck! I have to go to the bathroom, Reed. Sorry!”

I run out of the room and don’t look back as I take off toward the place I saw the ladies’ room sign. I barely make it in, then throw up in the trashcan.

The nerves have finally taken me over and I keep throwing up until all that’s left are dry heaves. A knock comes on the door and Reed pushes it open.

“Is anyone else in here?” he asks as he holds his hand over his eyes.

“No, only me. You can come in.”

He pulls his hand away. “Are you okay?”

“I will be. I just had to toss my cookies with all the nerves, you know.” I try to smile, but it’s hard.

“I’m running to the car to get you a mint to help you. I’ll be right back. Meet me at the ICU and we can go back in and see Mom. It’s about time again.”

I nod. “I have to wash my face anyway. I’ll meet you there.”

He leaves me alone, and I lean against the wall and try to regain my composure. I have to figure out how to fix this, and I have no real clue how to do that.

After washing my mouth out with water and rinsing my face to ease the flush on it from the puking, I walk out and head toward the ICU.

“Jenna!”

I look up and Rod is right there. I’m grabbed up before I realize how close he is.

“Rod!”

He moves us into a small closet and closes the door. He’s crying and shaking, and I don’t feel like he wants to hurt me.

“Jenna, what am I going to do? If Mom doesn’t make it, this is going to kill me. I can’t help but blame this on myself. She’s been so worried about me, and she has every reason to be. I’m living hard. Harder than I ever have. When I lost you, I lost my way. I need to find my way back, Jenna. I need you back.”

He pulls back and looks at me, but doesn’t let me go. “Rod, I don’t know what you want me to say. I can be there for you as a friend, but that’s all. I want us all to get along.”

He shakes his head. “No. No, Jenna. I need you. I need you more than I ever have needed anyone. Please. Please, Jenna, I’m begging you.”

“Rod, I love Reed. I can’t be any more than your friend,” I tell him as I look into his steel-blue eyes that are filled with more tears than I’ve ever seen in them before.

“Jenna, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything I did to you. Every last bit of it. I’ll never hurt you again. I swear to you I won’t. You loved me once. I know I didn’t let you say the words, but I know you did. You can find that love for me again, especially when I treat you the way I should’ve always treated you. Give me a chance, Jenna. I’ll be dead in a year if you don’t take me back. I know I will.”

I’m in a trance. I don’t know what to tell him. “I love Reed. I’m marrying Reed. I need you to come to terms with that.”

“I need you to come to terms with this. I love you, Jenna. I always have.” His tears stop falling as he looks into my eyes. “I need you. I love you. I want to make it all up to you. Make up for all the wrong things I’ve done to you. All of it.”

My head is spinning. “Rod, I need to go.”

“I’ll prove it all to you. You’ll see.” He lets me go. “I will let you go because I know you will come back to me. You may think you love my brother, and you might love him. But you and I loved each other first. You and I have history. You and I began a life together and we can finish our lives together. You’ll see. I tore up the contracts I had with you and that other girl. I set her free too. You’re both free. I don’t want her back. I want you back. I want us to pick up where we left off. Things were good before I had to leave. You know they were. We were in love, girl. You know we were. If I hadn’t gotten myself into trouble than we’d have gotten married. You know that.”

“Rod, I have to go.” I turn the knob and leave the closet, feeling like I might faint. When I look up I see Reed walking down the hallway toward me. “There you are. Are you okay?” he asks.

Then Rod walks out behind me and Reed stops dead in his tracks. Then he starts coming at Rod, fast and furious. I hold out my hand. “No! He didn’t hurt me. He didn’t do anything to me. He just cried and hugged me. No reason to fight. No reason to fight at all.” I take a step to the side and turn to walk away.

Reed calls out, “Where are you going?”

“To the car.” I walk faster, as I feel like I might pass out. “I have to get away from here.”

“I’ll be out there in a minute, Angel,” Reed says.

Then I hear Rod say, “Reed, you and I need to talk.”

I run the rest of the way until I get outside. Then I sit on a bench and try desperately to catch my breath. My world is turning upside down, and I can’t find the right direction I need to be going in.

The fact is, I’m ripping this family apart. Rod wants me; Reed wants me; and neither will give up.

I waited a long time to hear Rod admit he loves me, and I thought that, with my love for Reed, it wouldn’t affect me. But it did.

Not in the way I expected. It made something inside me happy he finally admitted it. And I found I do still have love for him buried deep in my heart.

His pain hurts me too. And I don’t know what I’m supposed to do about that. Our history has affected me. I guess that love I found for him all those years ago was strong. So strong the small flame sparked up when he finally told me he loved me.

But the fire I have for Reed is huge, and it runs deep. And in a perfect world, Reed and I could get married and have babies and all would be right. But this world is far from perfect. With Rod’s stubborn refusal to let me go and do what’s best for me, I will never have what I crave with Reed.

No family functions will go smoothly. His mother will most likely die from the stress their feuding will cause her. And there I’ll be, the big catalyst who single-handedly destroyed a family. A once very happy family.

A car pulls up and their father, Jason, gets out of it. His face is pale with worry and he looks down. He doesn’t even see me.

As he passes me, I say, “Hello, Jason.”

He stops and turns back. “Jenna? Why on Earth would you come here? This is all your fault. You know that, right?”

His accusation has me cringing. “No, I don’t think this is from me. Rod said himself it was he who caused her stress.”

“Only because of you. I never knew you to be selfish. But you are one selfish woman, Jenna. My family has fallen apart, and you did that.” He turns back and takes two steps, then stops. He doesn’t look back. “When are you going to stop being selfish?”

I look down as his footsteps fade away.

When will I stop?

Chapter 30

REED

Rod takes me by the shoulder and steers me to a waiting room. “Reed, you and I need to talk. I can’t take life like this anymore, and Mom obviously can’t either.”

I go along with him, in a very odd state of mind. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do here. This situation is beyond odd and confusing. “I agree. We have to work things out. Jenna was nearly hurt because of this.”

He nods and looks sad. I’ve never seen my brother look sad in my entire life. “I know. I was crazy with jealousy. I’ll never hurt her again. I tore up the contract she and I had. I know it was just a piece of paper, but to me it was more than that. And I thought it was to her too. Guess I was wrong about that. I’ve been wrong about so damn many things.”

“I’m glad to see you’re coming to grips with things. This will make Mom happy. I know we can put this all behind us.”

He looks at me with a certain grimness in his expression. “Reed, I want you to know that I love you. I know I was a mean little shit, and I hurt you plenty. I’m sorry.”

I about fall out of the chair I’m sitting in. Then I feel like I should do a little apologizing too. “Sorry about breaking your arm.”

He nods. “Thanks. Anything else you feel sorry for, Reed?” His steel-blue eyes twinkle a little.

“I know you want me to tell you I’m sorry for stealing your girl, Rod. But I don’t see it like that and you know it. I liked her a good two years before you even knew she existed. And I never made a move on her until you left her and had been gone a couple of years. And now I love her more than you can even imagine,” I tell him, and look right into his eyes so he knows I’m telling him the God’s honest truth.

He can’t hold my eyes though and looks away. “I know you do. But I do too. And I need her more than I’ve ever needed anyone or thing in my life. I need her to get me off this bad road I’ve gotten myself on. Only she can do it.”

I hold my breath to steady myself. The guy’s talking about the love of my life, the woman I’m about to marry.

I try very hard to say the right words without doing damage to how far we’ve come. And I know Mom’s words to Jenna went deep into her brain. So I have to try hard to make something work between me and my brother.

“Rod, I can’t walk away from her. And even if I could, I don’t think she would go back to you. She’s changed.”

“I know she has. She’s blossomed. And I know you have everything to do with that. I know you paid for her college and kept her going when I left her. I know your pure love for her opened up her soul. She glows with all you’ve brought out in her. I know this, and I’d just walk away if I didn’t have this all-encompassing love and need for her myself.” He looks away as tears start to fall.

Next to me is a box of tissues and I say, “Here you go.” Then I toss the box to him when he looks back at me. “Never seen you cry before.”

He shakes his head. “Yeah, I don’t cry. But now I do. Man, I cry all the fucking time. I tried to get my head going in another direction. I got a new chick and treated her like shit, all the while trying to change her into Jenna. I was a real asshole. And I know I was one to Jenna too. But not that last year, I wasn’t.”

“After the incident, you mean?” I ask, as I feel kind of like crying myself.

He nods and blows his nose, making a loud elephant-like sound and I laugh a little. He grins, then says, “Yeah, after I threw her around the front yard and the cop came and she had the chance to be rid of me. But she asked him not to take me to jail. She didn’t do that because she was afraid of me like I thought I needed her to be. She did it because she loved me. It made something snap inside me. I changed that day. If I wouldn’t have been an idiot and sold drugs in the first place, then I’d have married her and we’d probably have a bunch of rugrats running around by now.”

I tap my fingertips on the arm of the chair I’m sitting in. My mind is spinning, and I don’t know what to do. “But you did do those things, and it all stopped for you two. No one but you caused that. I don’t see how you think she will be able to trust you again. I mean, even if she wasn’t with me, I still don’t know if she would take you back.”

I watch my older brother get off the chair he’s sitting in and get on his knees on the floor. A knot forms in my throat as he scoots on them across the floor. Stopping at my feet, he looks up at me with tears in his eyes.

“Reed, I have no idea if she will either, but I need to find that out. All I’m asking is for you to set her free. Who knows if she’ll come back to either of us. But I’m asking for one last chance with her. She is the love of my life, Reed. I know she’s yours too.” He stifles a sob, and my throat clenches as I try hard to hold back my own tears. “Mom told me you guys have scheduled a wedding in May. That’s about six months away. Set her free. Don’t talk to her, and I’ll leave her alone too. But if she attempts to contact either of us and wants either of us back then we agree to accept who it is she picks. And if she moves on to another man, we agree to accept that too.”

“Rod, if I break up with her it will hurt her. I never want to hurt her.” I shake my head, as I don’t think I’m capable of doing what he’s asking.

“Did Mom talk to her? Because she said she did. She said that Jenna agreed to take herself out of the picture if you and I couldn’t come to terms about her.” He looks up at me from his place on the floor with pleading eyes.

“She did. And if I know Jenna, she’s taking Mom’s words very much to heart.” I glance to the side as I see our father walk past the waiting room. Then he opens the door.

“Thank God. Come with me. They’re about to take your mother into surgery, and she’s making them wait until she sees you two.”

Dad doesn’t ask why Rod’s on his knees in front of me. He just holds out his hand to Rod and Rod takes it and gets up. Then we three walk down the hall with clicks and clacks of our shoes to see the woman who has held this family together all this time.

She breathes a sigh of relief as we all walk into her room and find her on a gurney, prepared to leave the ICU to go to surgery. “My men!”

We take turns hugging her and each of us tells her we love her and will be praying for her. Then she gives Rod and me a stern look. “Can I see you two hug before I go?”

I turn to my brother and open my arms and he does the same and we hug. A real hug, not one for show. One that says we can put this bad shit behind us, but it will take some doing. It will take some sacrifices.

And I’m not sure I want to make them.

And I won’t if Jenna doesn’t want to. I will never hurt her. I can’t do that.

We stand back and watch them move the gurney out of the room and wave to our mother. We hold it all back until she gets good and gone, then, collectively, we sniffle as we let a few of the tears free that we all were holding back.

With a clap on Rod’s back, I say, “I’ll go talk to her.”

We walk down the hallway and Rod looks at me. “Can I talk to her after you have?”

My father has been eerily silent, and he turns to us in the hallway. “What have you two decided about that girl?”

“We have a bit of an idea, but I haven’t talked to Jenna about it yet,” I say.

Dad opens the door to the waiting room they told him we needed to wait in so we could be updated about the operation as it goes. “Whatever your plan is, I just want you both to know that if Jenna doesn’t stop being selfish then she has no place in our family.”

Rod gets an angry look on his face. “Look, Dad, Reed and I can work this out. This is our problem. It’s not Jenna’s fault. And I don’t want you talking about her like that. She’s anything but selfish. She’s selfless!”

Dad looks kind of shocked. “Well, I talked to her outside and told her to stop being selfish.”

Rod wags his finger at our father. “Then when Reed brings her back in here you had better apologize to her. She’s not selfish. Reed and I are, but not her.”

I nod in agreement and Dad looks kind of sheepish as I say, “I’ll go get her. For now, we won’t talk about anything. Let’s get through Mom’s surgery. Then we can talk to Jenna. Okay, Rod?”

He nods. “Yeah. Right now all that matters is Mom. Tell her there’s nothing to worry about. I’ll be cool, and so will Dad.”

I leave the room and go outside. She’s sitting on a bench with her head hanging low as she looks at her phone.

“Hey, gorgeous,” I say and she looks up at me.

“Oh, it’s you. How’s your mother?” she asks with a lot of sadness in her eyes.

“They just took her in. I’m here to get you to take you into the waiting room. Dad told us what he said to you and he has an apology waiting for you. Rod jumped his ass about telling you that you’re the selfish one. Rod and I both know it’s us, not you.” I reach out to take her hand and she just looks at it.

“No, he’s right. I am selfish. I want it all, I guess. And that’s not fair, and it is selfish. I was waiting for you to come out so I could tell you that I’m going to go to my parents I think. Your family needs this time alone. This time should be about your mom, not anything other than that.” She looks back at her phone, and I kneel down in front of her.

With a gentle tug at her chin to make her look at me, I catch her eyes with mine. “Jenna, come inside, please. I need you, and Rod has promised he’ll be cool. Dad’s sorry. My parents don’t understand things, but Rod and I are coming to terms with things. And we can talk about it later. For now, I need you to come hold my hand. Rod may need you to do that for him too, and I want you to know that if you feel like comforting him, you can. Don’t do it if you don’t want to, though. It’s all up to you.”

She looks a little stunned. “Are you kidding?”

I shake my head. “No. The fact is, you loved him once, and I could tell by how you looked, the things he told you in that closet had you feeling conflicted. He and I have had our ropes on you for too long now. We’ve pulled and pushed you and that’s going to stop.”

“I don’t know what to do, Reed. I love you, and I’d like a friendship with Rod,” she says as she looks confused. “But right now I feel in the way of your family and your obligations to them.”

“I can see you feel that way. So let me tell you that if I go back in there without you, it will make all three of us Manning men feel terrible. And you can decide what you want to do with that information.”

I wait for her to digest what I’ve said, then she takes my hand. “I’ll go. We can deal with the other stuff later.”

I wrap my arm around her shoulders and take her inside. Jenna Foster has had a place in our family in one capacity or another for a very long time. Now is not the time to toss her aside as if she’s no part of it.

And I hope I have the strength to handle it if she decides not to be a part of it after this.

Chapter 31

JENNA

The Manning men’s faces as I come into the little waiting room are an odd combination of grim and happy. Rod gets up and walks up to me as Reed still has his arm around my shoulders.

He reaches out and takes both my hands in his. “Hey, Jenna. I just want you to know I’m going to be cool about shit. And Dad has something he wants to say to you.” He keeps one of my hands in his, but lets the other go.

The feeling as both of them touch me is odd and I feel uneasy. Then Jason stands up and I feel very uneasy as he says, “I’d like to apologize for what I said earlier, Jenna. The boys have explained things to me and I am sorry. This stuff with Sue has me on edge. I hope you can accept my apology.”

“Of course. I understand, Jason.”

Rod pulls me along and sits down. I sit in the chair in between him and Reed. Reed’s arm moves from my shoulders and he takes my other hand. Rod still has the one he’s been holding.

So here I sit in the most awkward position I have ever been in. Both know I’m holding the other’s hand, and no one is mad or jealous or anything. Only worried about their mother.

I sit back and do my best to relax as Reed’s thumb runs nervously back and forth over my knuckles and Rod’s hand makes little squeezes every once in a while.

After a while, the phone in the room rings and Jason picks it up. “Yes. Okay. Thank you.” He hangs up and smiles. “They have the tumor out. She’s doing fine. Now they have to close her head back up; they’ll call when that’s done.”

My heart jumps with the good news. Then Reed stands up and pulls me along with him and Rod follows too, as he still has my hand.

He lets it go as I turn to hug Reed and I wrap my arms around him. “I told you it would be okay,” I say as I hug him.

Reed lets me go and gestures with his head for me to turn around. I do, and find Rod there with tears in his eyes. “I was so worried about her.”

I hold open my arms and he hugs me. “She’s going to make it through this, Rod. She’s a tough lady.”

“Thanks, Jenna.” I freeze as his lips touch my ear for a second, then he lets me go.

I look at Jason and say with a laugh, “How about you? Do you need a hug too, Jason?”

He steps forward. “I really do.” He takes me up in his arms in a hug too and I smile.

I really do have a place in this family!

We all sit back down and Jason laughs, then says, “Do you kids remember when we had that last big New Year’s party and Sue did shots with Rod and the cousins? Man, she got wasted. I had to carry her to bed that night.”

Rod laughs. “She downed those shots like a sailor on leave in Singapore!”

Reed starts chuckling too. “The next morning she looked like something that cat had dragged in.”

I add in my memory of that day, “I had to take her to the bathroom and brush her hair. She seemed to have forgotten to brush it with that monster hangover she had, and she whined with every brushstroke I made.”

Reed laughs harder. “Oh yeah! One side flat and one side frizzed all out. Poor Mom!”

We all laugh with the memory, then Jason’s eyes tear up. “Man, I hope we get a hell of a lot more days with her.”

A few tears leak out and then my hands are quickly taken again by Sue’s sons. And now I see how I can be of help. “Hey, remember when the pool was first put in and she slid down that slide hollering wheee all the way down, like a little kid?”

Jason starts laughing. “And she made the biggest splash and her face went all red when she came out from under the water to see us all laughing at her!”

I nudge Rod’s shoulder with mine. “And you had to go and take a video of her with your phone. Remember how mad she was at you when you posted it on Facebook?”

He laughs and shrugs. “It got like a zillion likes!”

“I never told her because she would’ve killed you, Rod, but I saw that video on YouTube a whole year later and the remarks were hilarious,” Reed says.

Rod jerks my hand. “And when you and Mom tried to light the barbecue pit on your own, Jenna!” He laughs so hard he doubles over and Reed joins in.

Reed says in laugh-choked words, “Mom’s eyebrows were gone, and Jenna’s bangs were singed almost completely off.”

Jason struggles to stop laughing as he says, “Then Rod came outside and saw the two of them and laughed so hard he fell off the porch, so Reed had to go help him up.”

Reed and Rod both crack up even harder as Reed says, “Yeah, I did, because he and I had just smoked a little happy weed and I knew he couldn’t get up on his own.”

My eyes roll to Reed in surprise and his eyebrows rise up high as he says, “Oops, you didn’t know that, did you?”

I shake my head and narrow my eyes at him, then look back at Rod and give him a little look too. “You bad, bad boys. That’s why Sue and I were even attempting to light the damn thing, because we couldn’t find you two.”

Rod gives the little impish shrug he’s so good at getting out of trouble with. “We heard you both calling us as you two were wandering all over the place looking for us. We were in the garage.”

“Uh, uh,” I say with a shake if my head. “We looked there.”

Reed nudges me with his shoulder. “Not behind the blue bedspread that was strategically hung up in there.”

“You guys are a couple of real scamps!” I say, and we all laugh again.

Everything is feeling great. Then the phone rings. Jason looks at it. “That seems kind of soon, doesn’t it?”

“Want me to get it?” I ask.

He nods and I get up and pick up the phone. “Hello.”

“Hi, this is Dr. Lexor. There’s been a complication, and Sue’s heartbeat stopped.”

Mine stops at that moment too and I close my eyes so they don’t reveal anything to the three men staring at me. “Is she okay now?”

“She is. She was gone for five minutes though and we’ll have to test her for any damage. So bringing her around will take a little longer than expected. I’ll call when we’re done, unless further complications occur.”

“Thank you, Dr. Lexor.” I hang up the phone. “She’s okay.”

Collective sighs ring out. “What happened?” Jason asks.

I take his hand and look him in the eyes. “Jason, the important thing is she’s okay now. Okay?”

He nods. “Tell me what happened.”

“Her heart stopped for five minutes. But they got it going again. The process of bringing her around will take a little longer because of the time loss of resuscitating her. And they’ll be checking to see if it did any damage to her.” His hand is crushing mine, but I don’t say a word.

Rod sees it though and gets up. “Hey, Dad, want to take a walk with me, since we have some time?”

“Yeah,” he says as he looks up at Rod. “Yeah, I need to walk. Shit! I almost lost her there for five minutes, didn’t I?”

Rod pries his father’s hand off mine and helps him up. “Nah, Mom was just fucking with us. You’ll have her around for a long time. Don’t worry.”

I shake my hand to get the blood flow back and look at Reed as they walk out. His face is really pale and I go to him. “You want to take a walk too?”

He shakes his head. “We need to stay here to answer the phone.”

“I can wait here. You can join them if you want.”

He takes my hand and pulls me down to sit in the chair next to his. “Jenna, thank you for being here for us all. It really has opened my eyes like I never have before. You’re a real part of this family. You know it?”

“I feel like I am, yeah. I’m glad to be here for you all. I’m glad I can help you all, and I think Sue would be happy I’m here for you guys.”

“She will be happy to hear you were here for us all. And I want you to know that we all appreciate the hell out of you, girl,” he says. Then his lips touch mine for only a second.

The rush he always sends through me with his kiss goes all through me. And I can feel something extra. His eyes are hiding a secret. “Reed, would you like to tell me anything? Like maybe what you and Rod talked about?”

“He’d like another shot with you.” His eyes go dark. “And I feel like you should have the opportunity to make a choice. I kind of took you along with me very quickly when I got my greedy mitts on you. So we talked about letting you free for a little while. Letting you think about things and leaving you to pick one of us or move on from us both and find another. We wanted to give you a shot at finding a man that’s not a Manning, if you want that.”

His words should surprise me, but as I was holding both their hands I got the sense they had come to some kind of an agreement about me. And it seems I’m going to be set free of everything and everyone.

“You both want me, huh?” I ask.

He nods. “The deadline Rod and I agreed on is our wedding day. But that’s a little too late if you decide not to be with me. So how about three days before that date? I’ll give you a nice sum of money and get you set up anywhere you want to. Neither Rod nor I will contact you, but you’re free to contact us on your own or whoever you want. You’re really going to be free. No hard feelings on anything you decide. We both swear to take whatever it is you decide.”

“If I pick one or the other of you, the other will be hurt,” I say as I take his hand and run my fingers over the top of it.

“Yep,” is his very simple answer. “But we can deal with it. Your happiness is what’s important to us both.”

I can’t help but feel weird. “So I have this pass, in a way. I have your offer of marriage still on the table. Rod still wants me back. But what if I want to date a man, not a Manning man, to see what it’s like not to date a Manning? What if I have sex with this non-Manning man? You still want me to marry you if I decide he’s not the one for me and you are?”

Reed nods. “It’s more than complicated, and I know that. If you want to talk to Rod and try things out with him, then you can do that too. And if it’s not what you want and you find you still love me, then I will take you back.”

I smile, as these men are fooling themselves. “That isn’t how things will work. I know that. Both of you are possessive creatures. If I’m with either of you, the other will write me off. But with a few dates with another man I might be able to see if anyone can hold my attention the way both of you have.”

I watch Reed’s face go very solemn. “I don’t want to do this, Jenna. If it will hurt you, I won’t allow it. I just don’t want to go into a marriage with you and build a family and one day you tell me you love Rod and our marriage is over. Take the time to think about what it is you want.”

What do I want?

I want Reed. I know I want Reed. But I want a life with Reed that doesn’t mean he and I both lose his family. So I say, “K. I’ll stay with you guys through this, but go back to my parents for the nights. Then I think I can get a student teacher job in Tempe until the middle of May. And then I can make the decision. My final one.”

His mouth forms a half-smile. “I hope you pick me.”

I run my hand over his smooth cheek. “I love you, Reed.”

“I love you, Jenna Foster.” He takes my hand in his and holds it to his cheek. “And now, you are a free woman. Fly away and only come back to me when you know it’s me who you want.”

My heart feels so odd as I look into his love-filled eyes.

What the hell will I do as a free woman? And who will I end up with?

Chapter 32

REED

Two weeks since Mom’s surgery and I’m back in Bel-Air, alone.

Jenna went to Tempe and has already started a student teaching job. I set her up in a small apartment and gave her a new car. But I told her not to think she has to pick me in order to keep them. The car is hers, and so is the bank card I gave her to pay her bills.

I don’t want her to come back to me based on my money. But I do want her to come back to me.

I’ve slept very little without her in my bed. The nights pass by like molasses in the winter. And I miss her with every fiber of my being.

But on the bright side, my mother is doing very well in the rehab facility we have her in. Rod has found a job as a mechanic at a garage in Prescott and already has a small house rented.

Just before I left, we all had a nice day with Mom at the rehab center, and she looked like she was happy having me and my brother back on good terms.

I have to admit, Rod seems to be getting on the right path. I didn’t see any signs of him drinking or doing any drugs. And he maintained very good behavior where Jenna was concerned.

The two had their talk about what he wanted, and she told me all about it and how she does have love for him in her heart. She’s taking this all very seriously and taking the time to be by herself and think things through.

If she picks either one of us, then that’s a forever commitment, a thing the three of us are well aware of.

With a bottle of wine in my hand, I walk up the staircase to the room I used to share with her and pray we will share again. But I’m not fooling myself into thinking she will come back to me for sure.

As a matter of fact, I see Jenna moving on away from both Rod and me. I could see things in her eyes as she looked at us all, Mom and Dad included. A happiness was there, but so was an underlying emotion of guilt.

I don’t know if she can get past the guilt of loving us both. Of being a rip in the middle of our family. She’s a good person, and I don’t know if she’ll be able to hurt either of us by picking one of us.

She hasn’t contacted me or my brother at all since we both kissed her goodbye the same day of Mom’s surgery. Late that night, after Mom was stabilized and we were all able to visit her, Jenna got in a cab and left us behind her.

Jenna saw how happy Mom was and wanted it to end on that happy note. She felt her presence was a distraction. She also felt that Rod and I needed to bond over the situation with our mother. If she was around, she’d get in the way of that.

So we let her go that very night. We’ve had no contact with her since, other than making sure she had what she needs, which I do through her parents.

But my heart hurts, and my body aches to hold her.

The time can’t pass by quick enough for me!

JENNA

Grading papers in the dim light of the small dining table in the apartment Reed rented me in Tempe, I sip on a glass of red wine to relax at the end of a long day. The kindergarteners were in full swing today and wore me out.

With a sip, I think about the proposition I had this afternoon in the school’s cafeteria. The principal, a man named Steven Johnson, asked me out for Friday night.

I told him I’d think about it and get back to him by Wednesday. It’s Monday, and I only have a couple of days to decide if that’s a thing I want to do.

In my jewelry box are both the engagement rings Rod and Reed gave me and I look at them each and every day, placing them one at a time on my finger to look at them and think about which man I want to spend the rest of my life with. Raise a family with.

And the truth is, I know if I pick one of them, the other will be hurt. I don’t want either of them hurt, but I also don’t want their family hurt.

So the idea of moving on from the Manning clan is forefront in my mind. And Steven Johnson may be the first step out of that world and into a new one.

But I’m not sure yet. I’ve been a Manning’s girlfriend since I was eighteen, except for the two years when I was no one’s girlfriend.

There’s no easy choice. But if I had to make it right now, I’d have to say that Reed still has the largest piece of my heart and I ache to hear his voice.

It’s him I miss the most!

The nights have been lonely, much more so than ever before.

Ironically, it’s my complete love for Reed that has me contemplating picking a whole different man so Reed doesn’t lose his family because of me.

I love him so much, I would let him go for him to have a happy life free of the family drama I’ve caused him so far.

But, my God, I miss him!

ROD

Drinking a beer as I look up at the star-filled night sky after a hard day at work, I tip the bottle back and think of having Jenna back in my arms.

It was nice having her back in my life again. Seeing her and having her around, even though it was only for one day before she left, was the best I’ve felt since the night I left her a little over two years ago.

And when I kissed her goodbye, I felt the old feelings flow back into me from the second our mouths met.

Her body melted into mine just like old times. Her tongue moved with mine like it always had. Her breathing went faster and her heart did too.

I know she felt something for me again. Now to find out if it can override what she feels for my brother.

Being the ass I can be at times, I peeked at Reed and her when he gave her his goodbye kiss. He gave us privacy for ours, and I feel kind of crappy for doing it, but it did give me some insight into what my chances are for Jenna picking me instead of him.

There was a significant amount of intimacy in their kiss. A lot of facial stroking by them both. A lot of deep sighs and many, many, loving words were whispered by them both.

The reality is that it made my chest hurt to know I’m coming between them when it seems they have a very deep connection. The thing is, though, she and I also have the deepest connection I’m capable of.

My brother has always been more in touch with his feelings, so it doesn’t surprise me the two connect on a deeper level than she and I do. But it doesn’t make him the right choice for her.

I was her first love, after all. I think Reed is her rebound love and, while that can seem like a true love for a while, those are usually very intense and burn up quickly.

Not to mention that Jenna and I have years of history and Reed and she have only months of it. He rushed to ask her to marry him only a week after they started seeing each other, from what Mom told me.

I think he found the need to rush things so when I came back I’d have no chance of rekindling what Jenna and I had. And that gives me hope that he saw something in her which told him I could get her back if I tried hard enough.

Which I plan on doing. But, since we did agree not to contact her, I have to wait and see if she’s even going to give me a chance to do that.

I gave her my number, and she knows Reed’s. She changed her phone number, so neither of us has it. I wonder how my brother is doing with all this, so I pick up my phone to ask him. It rings a couple of times before he answers, “Is Mom okay?”

“Yes, she’s doing great. I saw her this evening after I got off work. I went to the rehab, and she was up doing some aerobics with a bunch of old ladies. She was wiggling her caboose when I left her.”

“Good. I didn’t call her today like I normally do. My mind was elsewhere,” he says.

“Jenna?” I ask.

“Yeah. I did something really dumb and took out the binder we made of the wedding plans. And it made me all lonesome for her. It also made me wonder about what I’ll do with all the things that are already paid for concerning the wedding if she doesn’t pick me. I came up with an idea, though.”

I take a drink of my beer, then ask, “What did you come up with?”

“If she picks you, then I’d like to let you two have the wedding we planned. Jenna really planned the whole thing. I just showed her the different things that are available. It’s her dream wedding. As such, I’d still give it to her even if it’s not with me. So I’m asking if you plan on marrying her if she picks you, Rod?”

“I do,” I say quickly. “I’ve planned on marrying that girl for three years now. I just got very sidetracked.”

“Then it’s settled. The wedding will go as scheduled if she picks either one of us. And if she picks some other man, then you and I can have us a bad ass party with our family up here. It’s a win, win, win. Don’t you think?”

I think about it for a minute, then laugh. “Reed, you’re something else, little bro. I don’t think I could do what you’ve done. You’d still give that girl her dream wedding even if it’s not with you. That’s very interesting.”

“Well, she deserves it. And I’ll accept whatever she decides to do. I’ll love her forever, of course. You can’t stop that when it’s gone on for so long,” he says.

“How long have you loved her, Reed?”

“Since she was a mere fourteen years old, I have mooned over that girl.”

I take another drink. The fact is, I didn’t know I loved her until I looked into her eyes after she told that cop not to take me in. I knew I wanted her. I knew I wanted something with her, but love didn’t come into play until that day.

“Seems you do have a bit more of a longer love for her than I have, how did you stand it then when you saw her and me?” I ask him, then take another long drink.

“What choice did I have? And, honestly, the way you treated her, and the way she took, it told me there was no reason to try to take her away from you. If she didn’t leave your ass after what all you pulled, then me telling her my feelings for her wasn’t going to change her mind, anyway. She was loyal to your mean ass.”

I look up at the stars and blink back tears. “Yes, she was. And I repaid that loyalty by leaving her with no clue as to why. I left her not knowing if I was dead or alive. For two long years, I left her alone. And all the while you still didn’t have her and you paid for her college and gave her encouraging phone calls to keep her moving forward with her life.”

Reed laughs. “The way you put it, I sound kind of saintly. I’m not a saint, though. My reasons for not making an effort to get her were selfish. I knew in my heart that if you showed back up, she’d leave me. But when I saw her hot ass in the grocery store that afternoon, well, I couldn’t help myself. I had to have her.”

I suck down the rest of the beer. “And you and her made quick plans to cement the deal. Then I showed up and threw a kink in your plans. Dick move, I know.”

Reed sighs, then says, “Talk about your dick moves, I fucking told Jenna I was marrying her after sleeping with her for the first time. I didn’t ask her to marry me. I told her we were getting married. I judged you for controlling her, but I did the same damn thing. Only I left out the whips and chains.”

“She’s probably better off without us, little bro,” I say, and pull another bottle out of the six pack on the ground by my feet.

“She probably is,” he agrees.

Maybe we should let her know that …

Chapter 33

JENNA

Putting on a pair of strappy sandals, I end my preparation for the first date I’ve ever had that isn’t with a Manning.

I’ve accepted Steven Johnson’s offer to take me to dinner, and my heart is pounding in my chest with anxiety. The man is about to turn thirty. He’s five years older than me, and very sure about what he wants for the future.

He’s been a grade school principal for two years, and he’s looking to move into a higher job with the school system here in Tempe as the superintendent. So he’s got a plan, and that’s admirable.

Steven is easy on the eyes, with dark hair he keeps cut short. He wears dark suits, which I think is a bit overdressed for a grade school principal, but I think he must be dressing for the success he’s aiming for.

A knock on my door has me nearly hyperventilating, so I stop and take in a deep breath and say to myself, “Calm down! It’s just a date!”

But it’s a date I don’t really want to be going on. I want to be lying on our bed, wrapped in Reed’s strong arms. That’s what I really want to be doing.

As I open the door, I see Steven wearing a nice black suit and tie and looking like he just left a high-powered business meeting. I stifle a laugh as Reed is a billionaire and only wears suits when he has too. He pulls them off way better than this man does.

“You look gorgeous,” he says as he steps inside. He holds up a bottle of wine. “I thought a drink before we head out would be nice. Where are your wine glasses?”

I step back, as he’s too close to me. “Over there on the counter.”

He walks over, opens the wine, and pours it into a couple of the glasses. “That color green of the dress you have on makes your pretty green eyes stand out. You have a real knack for fashion, Jenna. It’s what drew me to you. Well, that, and the fact that you have a killer body and are sweet as they come.”

“Thank you,” I say, and take the wine he hands me.

He takes my hand and pulls me with him to sit on the sofa. “So tell me your story, Jenna. I’m dying to know how you ended up working in my school.”

My brain nearly implodes. There’s no way I can tell him the truth, so I say, “My family thought Tempe would be a good place to try student teaching. I’m not too far away from my hometown of Jerome.”

His arm moves over the back of the sofa and way too close to me. “And no man?”

Sure, there’s a man. Or men, should I say?

I shake my head. “No man.”

He takes a drink and looks at me with a knowing gaze. “I think there was one. Am I right?”

“Of course I’ve had men in my life before.” I look away and take a drink and am really rethinking this dating thing. When you date someone you don’t know, there’s so just much backstory to catch up on.

And my backstory comes out a little dirty and sinister. Not a thing I like to talk about.

I laugh inside my head as I think about telling this man that I started out with a man who liked to whip my ass and ended up with a man who liked to shower me with love and affection, and it’s his car I’m driving and we’re sitting in the apartment he rented me. I’m wearing clothes his money bought me as well.

I shake my head as I just realized I’ve been a kept woman by both the Manning men. And that’s so not what I wanted for my life.

So I decide to give this guy a real chance and shove Reed and Rod out of my head.

For tonight, anyway!

He drains the last of the wine from his glass. “Ready to go? I made reservations. You do like French cuisine, don’t you?”

I shrug. “I’ve never had it.”

“Oh my goodness. Where have you been living, under a rock? Never had French food!” he says as he ushers me out the door.

No! Bel-Air, Mr. Rude!

My car is nicer than his, I see as we get out to the parking lot. Reed has me in a Mercedes, and Steven is driving a Ford Fusion.

Then I realize he has no idea what I drive, as I mostly walk the two blocks to the school.

He looks over at my car, which he’s parked right beside. He lets out a long whistle. “Now what kind of pretentious piece of work drives this environmental killer?”

I have no idea if I should claim it or not. Then I think maybe I should be truthful with this guy. “It’s mine.”

His eyebrows go way up. “Yours? How the hell can you afford this?”

I can’t!

“It was a graduation gift from my family,” I lie. And I think I’ll find myself lying about more things, if I’m not very careful.

He walks around to the driver’s side, not even attempting to open the car door for me, which Reed always has done. Even Rod would let me in on his side of the truck and I’d slide over, staying in the middle to be next to him.

I get in, a bit disappointed in the man, but still not giving up on him yet. “So where are you from originally, Steven?”

“Florida.” He stops and looks at me. “Well, New Jersey, then Florida. And sometime before that, I lived in Connecticut. My family moved a lot. My mother married three times before I turned eighteen and went off to college.”

“Are you close to your family?” I ask as he pulls away from my apartment and I realize I’m stuck with him until he decides to bring me back. It scares the shit out of me for some reason.

“God, no!” he says, as his hand goes through the air. “I don’t even talk to them. I have four half-sisters, one-half brother, and that’s all on my mother’s side. On my father’s side, I have no real number to tell you. He was a real player. As a matter of fact, that’s what my mother loves. Men who cheat on her. I like to call her a professional victim. She acts like it’s never her fault the men cheat on her. But she picks the same type over and over again.”

“I see. So no big family Christmas parties or anything like that?” I ask as I look out the window at the lights passing by very slowly, as this man drives like an old man.

“No. I haven’t even seen any of them in the last three years. And what about your family?” he asks, then he takes my hand and holds it in the middle console.

I look at our clasped hands and feel nothing. His touch does nothing to me.

Does the hand have to belong to a Manning to ignite anything in me?

“I have a mom and dad and I’m their only child. They were older when they had me. I was a surprise. They thought my mother couldn’t have children,” I say, and look back at our hands and wonder why there’s no spark at all.

“Well, maybe she wasn’t meant to have children. I know there are plenty of women out there who should never be mothers. Mine included.” He gives my hand a squeeze. “I should think, since you want to be around little kids all day with your kindergarten teaching, you have no desire for kids anytime soon.”

My mind is kind of blown that he said my mother must not have been meant to have kids.

Does that mean I was a mistake in his eyes?

“I love kids. I want quite a few of them.”

A frown covers his face that I would call handsome. He’s definitely not ugly, but the way he talks is making him look less attractive than I thought he was before this.

“Yeah, but you’re just starting your career. I know you don’t want kids for at least ten years or so, right? I mean, you have to get your life in order first and then see if kids have a place in it.” He pulls into a parking lot with not a lot of cars in it, and that usually means the food sucks.

“Ten years is a long time. I’ll be in my thirties by then. No, I want kids before that.” I open the door and get out on my own once he parks, as it’s obvious that, if he didn’t open the door for me to get in, he won’t be opening it for me to get out.

He walks up next to me and puts his hand at the small of my back. “That’s interesting that you’d say that. In my ten-year plan, I have no part of it that contains kids.”

“I don’t have a ten-year plan,” I say as I wait for him to pull the restaurant door open, but he’s behind me, so he doesn’t.

I sigh, pull the door open, and step inside, as he looks confused. “No ten-year plan, huh?”

I turn back to him. “Does that disappoint you?”

He shakes his head. “No. No, not really. I can teach you about those kinds of things.” He looks at the hostess. “Reservation for two for Johnson.”

She looks around the half-empty restaurant with a smile on her face. “Oh, you’re the guy who called. Yeah, we don’t usually need anyone to make reservations. But come this way, please.”

Steven looks around then whispers, “It’s eight o’clock. We must’ve missed the dinner rush.”

I nod, but think there never is a dinner rush in this place and plan on filling up on crackers or bread or whatever they don’t cook in this place.

The woman shows us to a table for two under a dim light that hangs from the short ceiling. “Can I start you off with any appetizers and drinks?”

Steven sits without pulling out my chair so I do it myself and think that even the motorcycle gang member, Rod, pulled out my damn chair for me.

“Escargot and Merlots,” he says.

The look on the young woman’s face makes me think she has something she’d like to say, so I ask, “Is the escargot good here?”

“Um, uh,” she stammers.

Steven looks at me. “I’m sure it is. Go ahead and get what I asked for. You said you’ve never eaten French cuisine before. What do you know about escargot, Jenna?”

“I know it’s snails, and I can’t think of a way to prepare snails in a pleasant tasting way at all.” I pick up the menu and look at it as he stares blankly at me.

“Well, they are a refined taste for a palate which is experienced. You will learn to like the finer things in life if you decide to keep dating me, Jenna. I can show you a world you never dreamed of.”

I pull the menu down to look at him. “Is that so?”

He nods. “I am very well read, and have studied a lot about all kinds of things.”

This man is so full of himself!

 

The date goes on and eventually, when Steven stops talking, things get better. And now we’re standing in front of my apartment door and he’s looking at me like he wants to kiss me.

I’ve never kissed anyone else other than a Manning, so I lean in and let him kiss me. It’s kind of a smooshing feeling, as his lips are squishy, and I pull back before any tongue action starts.

“How about tomorrow we go see an afternoon movie?” he asks.

I see hope in his brown eyes and nod. “K.”

“Good. I’ll call you in the morning to let you know what time I’ll pick you up,” he says, then turns and walks away.

I turn and open the door and go inside feeling very odd. It’s only ten, and I find myself wanting to know what Reed’s doing. But I know I shouldn’t call him, so I tap in a text to Sue to see how she’s doing instead.

I text or call her every day, and I seem to have forgotten to do that today.

Evening, Sue. I know it’s late. I just wanted to see if things were good for you today.

She texts right back. I’m up. Just got off the phone with Rod. Things are good today. Feeling better every day. Reed’s coming in tomorrow and the boys are going on a fishing trip together.

I text back. Glad to hear that. Seems they’ve been getting along great.

My heart hurts that since I’ve left them alone they seem to be doing so well with each other.

Her text comes back. They have. Love you. Going to sleep now.

Love you, Sue. Goodnight.

I pull off my clothes and go to bed and know it’s best to leave them alone.

But how long can I do this?

Chapter 34

REED

A woman with long brown hair which hangs in curls down to her tiny waist sits across from me at the restaurant I took her to after days of conflicting thoughts about asking her out.

I met Lana Littlejohn at a meeting in Sacramento last week. She’s a wealthy woman in her own right and knows how to make savvy real estate deals.

Lana suggested we get together sometime, as she thinks we’d make good business partners and maybe compatible love interests. I laughed her off at first, but she’s kind of been pressing me into asking her out.

A lot of texting and emails have been going back and forth between us, so I finally said what the hell and asked her out.

But now that we’re out together and I can see the real her, I’m not so sure. She’s nowhere near as down home and nice as Jenna.

The waitress brought her a bottled water like she asked for and I thought for a minute there that she was going to toss it into the poor girl’s face when it was the wrong kind.

But she quickly calmed down and even apologized for her behavior. Though I do wonder if that was for my benefit and something that wouldn’t happen in the future once she got really comfortable with me.

It’s been three months since I’ve talked to Jenna. And she has another three months until she tells us what she’s decided.

She’s not spoken to Rod or me. Yet she talks to or texts our mother every day. Mom has been tight-lipped about what Jenna is doing. She did make mention of her having a date with the principal of the school she’s student teaching at.

No more was ever said about that, though. I guess it was a one-time thing, much the way it looks like this might be.

Long red nails inch over the tabletop toward my hand, which is resting on the stem of my wine glass. They gently scratch at my hand as she purrs, “Reed, what are you thinking about?”

How badly I wish it was Jenna sitting in that chair instead of you!

“Nothing.”

“You were a million miles away just then,” she says, and her nails continue to move over my hand.

I take notice that no sparks run through me with her touch. Jenna can look at my hand and it’ll tingle. When she touches it, electricity fills me.

“I’ve been working a lot lately. Just tired, I guess,” I offer for my attention problem.

I have immersed myself in work. It makes the time pass a lot faster. Late to bed, early to get up, has my days long and filled up.

“So, how is it a man of your good looks and money is alone, Reed?”

Because I fell in love with the same woman my brother did before me, and I’m giving her a chance to see which one of us she really wants, if either of us.

“The timing isn’t right for a woman in my life right now,” I say, instead of all that other stuff.

“Reed Manning has enough money to calm down a bit and make time for a woman in his life. As do I,” she says, then runs her hand up my arm as she scoots her chair closer. “And my bed has been cold and lonely for a little too long and needs heating up. If you know what I mean?”

Of course I know what she means!

“You just say what you want, huh?” I ask as I move back out of her reach, as her touch just isn’t doing a thing for me.

“I didn’t get to where I am by not going for what I want. And Reed Manning, I want you.” She sits back and puts one red nail on her lower lip, which is also red.

Her white teeth peek out between her plump lips as she smiles just a bit. I suppose she’s waiting for my response.

“Okay,” I say and look away, as I don’t know what the hell else to say to that.

“Okay? That means you accept my proposition? Me and you, a thing?” She leans in, and the top of her white shirt gapes open on purpose.

Her breasts are perfectly formed as they pour over the top of her white bra. And I think they’re too perfect. I look harder and know then they aren’t real.

My cock doesn’t move with the sight, and that’s a real eye opener for me. But Jenna has yet to get in touch with me and if she has news she is moving on to another man then I need a shoulder I can lean on when I get that news.

And Lana has nice shoulders!

“Do you like Chinese food, Reed?” she asks, as her hand runs over the top of my thigh.

Nothing! Not a single spark, and her hand is inches away from my dick!

“I do like it,” I tell her.

I don’t add the fact that my favorite Chinese restaurant is going to be catering a wedding for me in three months if Jenna picks me or Rod to marry. And if not, it will be a monster party for me and my brother to get the hell over her at.

I don’t think one giant party is going to do that for me, though!

Lana is a beautiful woman. She’s a little older than I am, at thirty, but she’s nice to look at. Her brown hair has some gold streaks in it. But they’re not natural like Jenna’s blonde hair, with its golden strands that occur naturally.

Her face is heavily made up, so I have no idea what she looks like under the thick layer. Jenna wears little to no make-up. Her creamy skin is perfectly tanned, and her cheeks are naturally pink tinged.

Jenna’s breasts are perfect. The left is slightly larger than the right, and the nipples can get erect really quickly. Sometimes with just a look from me.

My finger moves in a swirling motion on the tabletop as I think about running my hands over Jenna’s firm but squishy-in-the-right- places breasts.

“Reed?”

I look back at Lana. “Sorry, did you say something, Lana?”

“I did. I asked you about going to get Chinese food tomorrow in San Francisco. We can take my private helicopter. I love flying it.” She taps the top of her wine glass as she waits for me to answer.

“You know how to fly a helicopter?” I ask with a grin.

She nods. “ A trip in it along the California coastline tomorrow sounds like a great idea, and adding you into that plan sounds like an amazing day to me. How about you?”

“It does sound cool,” I admit.

“So?” she asks, as she stares at me.

I know this woman is not used to being turned down. But I’m feeling like this isn’t going anywhere anyway, and all I can think about is Jenna.

“I’ll let you know by tomorrow.”

She rolls her eyes. “I see. You know, Reed Manning, I never take no for an answer.”

My lips quirk up into a half smile. “Bet you don’t. But I don’t ever say yes to something until I think about it.”

Her lips form a tight line. I think she’s met her match and doesn’t like it too much. Then she smiles. “Reed Manning is a man of decisive actions, from what I’ve been told about you.”

Okay, this Reed Manning shit is getting old so damn fast!

“Lana, look, I don’t want you to feel like I’m wasting your time. I’m going to get right to the point here. If you’re looking for anything more than an occasional date, I’m not your guy,” I say, and watch her frown.

“Then why did you ask me out?” she asks with a snarl to her voice.

“Because you have texted me, instant messaged me, and called my phone a lot since we met at that meeting.” I watch her dark brown eyes grow large.

“Are you saying I was annoying you?” Her hand goes to her chest, and I can tell I’ve offended her.

“No. I’m saying I wasn’t up to dating, and your insistence on it may be bad timing. I think we have a lot of common interests. I like your idea of fun. I do. The timing is off, I think. That’s all.” I pick up my wine glass and suddenly feel like I need something much stronger.

I wave our waitress down and order a gin and tonic, to which Lana adds a Cosmopolitan.

Seems we both need something stronger than the wine!

“You have someone you’re pining after. I can see it in your eyes, Reed. But if this woman is daft enough to leave you hanging, I assure you, she’s not worth your time.”

The drinks arrive, and I take a nice long drink of mine. I hold up a finger, telling the waitress to bring me one more, and she leaves us to do that.

When I pull the glass from my lips, I say, “Lana, you don’t understand. I don’t care to discuss this with anyone. And I won’t. Because it involves too much information on a party who is not present, and it might hurt her if she ever found out I spilled her secrets. But the fact is, I am holding out for a certain woman.”

“Where is this dumb woman?” Lana takes a drink and places it back on the table. I can see she’s getting ready to make a case for me to move on.

“Working and taking the time I told her to take to figure out who it is she loves.” I find my leg shaking, as I hate having to discuss this with anyone.

“She loves more than just you, then?” she asks with a smirk. “Who would the other man be? My God, you’re the catch of the century! Who else could she be in love with?”

I shake my head, as there is no way I’m going to tell her that she loves my grease monkey, ass-whipping brother too.

Who the fuck would understand that?

“Lana, this has been great, but I’ve got to go. Maybe we can do this sometime later. I’m sorry about this. I just wasn’t ready. You’re a great girl.” I get up and walk away, leaving her at the table glaring after me.

I don’t look back. I keep walking until I’m out the door and catch the first cab I see.

The lights flash through the window as he drives me home and I call my mother to see how her day went. “Reed!” she answers.

“Hi, Mom. How are you this evening?”

“I got back home yesterday and I am loving it! I just got off the phone with Jenna to talk to you and was telling her how great it is to be in my own home after what seems like an eternity in the rehab facility.”

“How is she?” I ask, as I run my fingertips over the window and pretend it’s her face.

“She’s doing great over there in Tempe. They’ve offered her a teaching job there, and she’s still dating that principal,” she says.

I stop her. “Still?”

“Yes. She says he’s nice and has this ten-year plan to become the superintendent there. He sounds like he has a good head on his shoulders. I think he’s very good for her,” Mom says, and my heart is thumping hard in my chest.

“Oh.” That’s all I can say.

My head hurts; my heart hurts; my whole body hurts.

Mom’s voice goes soft. “You know, Reed, I think you and your brother are better off without her. Rod’s doing great. He’s just working and going home. Staying out of the bars and away from skanky women.”

“Glad to hear that.” I look out the window at the dark night and feel so alone. “I’m glad he’s doing well. I am, Mom.”

Wish I was …

“He’s calling me, Reed. Do you mind if I get off here?” she asks.

“No. Bye, Mom.”

I end the call, look at my phone, and wish like hell Jenna would fucking call me.

After five minutes of thinking that, I press the buttons that take me to Lana. “Hi,” she says.

“Lana, I think I’d like to tell you I’m sorry for my previous behavior.”

“Not a problem, Reed. I accept your apology. Why don’t you come to my place and we can talk some or do whatever you want to?”

“What’s your address, Lana? I think I need to crawl into someone else’s bed for a while,” I say, and feel very numb inside.

But knowing Jenna is dating someone Mom says is good for her has me very full of nothing. No hope, no feelings, and no more wanting to wait.

“Hand the phone to the cab driver, Reed,” she says.

I hand him the phone and sit back and close my eyes.

Will I be able to take it if Jenna has moved on?

Chapter 35

JENNA

Though I’ve told no one about the deadline Reed and Rod gave me, I am asking my mother about how Rod really seems to be doing, as Sue is always talking so positively about Reed and Rod that it’s hard it’s believe.

I have a month and a half to make my decision. My heart has hung on to Reed, but if his family is better off without me around then I’ll leave him alone. But I know Steven is not the guy for me.

I’m still dating him, but not even once a week do I go out with him. It’s mostly a thing at school. We eat lunch together, and all the other teachers leave him alone. I kind of think he’s hanging on to me just to keep the other single women away from him.

They seem to bother him, for some reason.

“I see Rod about once a week when we go into Prescott to get groceries,” Mom tells me.

“Do you talk to him?”

“Your father and I have on a couple of occasions. I know what Sue says, but she’s here in Jerome, and he’s off in that city. The fact is he still rides that motorcycle, and his beard is still long, and the man still looks like trouble.”

“How about Reed? Have you seen him around?” I ask.

“I saw the two of them with a boat one day a while back. Guess they were going on a fishing trip together. They seemed like they were getting along well.”

“That’s what Sue says too,” I say, as I drum my fingers on the countertop I’m leaning on in my little kitchen.

“Have you talked to Reed?” she asks.

“No. I haven’t talked to either of them. But I still have it bad for Reed, Mom. But if I’m that much of a problem for their family that I can break it all up, then I’ll leave him alone.” I turn and look out the dark window at the night sky.

“What about that new fella you’ve been seeing?” she asks, and I hear my father clearing his throat, which means he wants to talk to her about something.

“He’s not the one for me. But I hear Dad, so I’ll talk to you later.” I hang up and look at the phone long and hard, then call Rod.

“Hello,” he says as he answers.

“It’s Jenna,” I say.

“Hi!” I hear something clank and clang and some more racket, then a door shuts. “How are you?”

“Not real bad, not real good. How are you?” I ask, as I put my head in my hand and don’t know why I’m calling him when it’s Reed I want to talk to.

“I’m good, Jenna. Are you calling me to tell me you’re ready to give us a try before your deadline?”

I hesitate, then say, “No, Rod. That’s not why I’m calling you. I’m actually calling to find out how you’d really deal with things if I married Reed. I have to know if you would really do what you said and accept it or not.”

“Oh.” He’s dead silent, then I hear him open a beer. “I thought you were seeing some principal.”

“I’ve dated him some. So how would you take it if I went back to Reed?” I hold my breath for his answer.

“Didn’t Mom tell you, Jenna? Reed has another woman. She’s rich, like he is. She sells real estate like he does. She flies a helicopter, and they came to Jerome in it a couple of weeks ago. They took Mom and Dad on a ride. I thought Mom would tell you about that. I’m sorry to be the one to break that news to you, Jenna. I really am.”

My legs go weak, and I go in slow motion down to the floor where I lay out like I’ve just been shot. “He’s moved on?”

“Yeah, baby. I’m sorry.” I hear him take a drink of the beer. “But I’m still here waiting for you, baby.”

I can’t think. I can’t breathe.

He moved on …

“Baby?” I hear Rod say again.

“I’m here. Um, about you, Rod. I will always have love for you in my heart. I will. We were young and dumb and I forgive you for all we went through together. I do. Honestly. But Rod, I don’t love you like I did back then. It would be a short-lived thing if I came back to you. I don’t want to do that to you or your family. Not that Reed would care, obviously. But I don’t want to do that to you.” I roll over and hold my hand over my eyes to try to hold the tears which are burning the backs of my eyelids.

His voice cracks as he says, “Let me come visit, Jenna. Give me a shot.”

I lie on the floor and open my eyes and look up at the bright kitchen light with its naked bulb in the center and then close them again. “No.”

“Jenna, I really am sorry, and if you could give me a chance I could make it up to you. I know I could,” he says, and I can hear the tears in his deep voice.

“I’m not that girl, Rod. I’m so different now. I’m a kindergarten teacher, and I love that about myself. You drive old trucks and loud motorcycles, and that’s cool. But that’s not me. You can find a woman who likes the things you do. You should do that. I’m not going to have fun riding on your bike or going to bars with you. That’s not me.” I try to get up, but can’t, so I lie on the floor and let my body just give up.

“I can change,” he croaks out, and I know he’s crying pretty badly.

“Why would I even want that, Rod? You’re this dangerous cool guy and a real badass and women love you. Why would I want to make you into something you aren’t, just to please me? And if you did change, then how long would that last?”

A long sigh is all I hear before he says, “You’re right. I know you are. You were a Sunday school teacher when I met you. I wanted to change you then, and I tried so hard to. And for a little while, you and I met in the middle. But in the end, it wasn’t enough for either of us. When given the chance, you went back to the good woman you always were, and I went back to the life I yearn for.”

I let the tears flow then, as this is the first time he and I have ever been this real with one another. “Rod, you’re not a bad man. You like to live life on the edge, and you’re good at it. The things you like, even the sexual things, there are women who like that rough stuff too. Find yourself one of them. And I swear to you, I will only wish happiness for you.”

“You don’t hate me, Jenna?” he asks, and I really break down.

“Rod, did I hate you at any time? After anything you did to me, did I ever hate you?”

He waits for a long time. “No. No, you never did. But I have to know this. If you had still been single when I came back, would you have given me another shot? If there had never been Reed, would you have tried it again with me?”

I know that answer, as it was in my head long before I saw Reed that day at the grocery store in our hometown. “No, Rod. I wouldn’t have. I got myself back, and I was never going down that road again. No one will ever change me again. Not ever. That’s why I have no wish to change you, Rod. Be who you are. You’re a free spirit who loves to fuck hard, play hard, and ride hard. Fucking be that badass motherfucker, Rod!”

He laughs and so do I. “Jenna, you are phenomenal! Can I still call you my friend?”

“You sure as hell better! And I will always call you mine. I love your mean ass, Rod Manning! I always will.” The tears dry up, and I feel like Rod and I have put the past right where it belongs.

“I love you too, girl. You know what? I feel better than I ever have, Jenna. I really do. I’ve been beating myself up over what I did to you and now, since you’ve forgiven me, I can stop that shit and move on with my life. I do like to fuck hard!” He laughs like a wild man.

“That you do!” I laugh along with him. “And some woman is going to love that shit and beg you to spank her ass and you and her will fall madly in love and have those rugrats you wanted. And you better introduce me to that bad bitch when you find her contrary ass!”

His laugh goes up a few notches and mine goes right along with his. I feel free. Really free, for the first time since I can recall.

I take in a deep breath to regain my composure and feel very happy it’s from laughing and not crying. “So, are we good, Rod?”

“We’re good, Jenna. Love you, girl. I’m going out and shooting some pool and being okay with who the fuck I am. Thanks to you, I finally feel okay about that guy,” he says.

“Go! Have fun. Love you too, Rod. Bye.”

“Bye, Jenna.”

I hang up and laugh a little as I pull my ass off the kitchen floor and go to my bedroom.

As I fall on top of my bed, I think about the Manning boys moving on and I think it’s a good thing. Reed has found a woman much like himself, it sounds like. A good thing, I think.

Rod will definitely find a woman who loves him for the bad boy he is. And then there’s me.

Well, I could have this principal. He is interested in the things I am. I suppose he would make a great husband. He has his plans and one day will be a bigwig in the education industry here in Tempe.

I get up and pull my clothes off and get under the blankets naked. I haven’t done that since I moved here. But I like sleeping naked and I am. From now on.

So what if Steve thinks it’s unsanitary!

Who am I kidding? Steven Johnson is not the man for me.

I love Reed. I do. No matter if he’s moved on or not, it’s going to take me a while.

Taking my phone off the nightstand, I open the photo album and scroll through the pictures of him and me. There’s the one where we were coming back from visiting Catalina Island.

We’d made all the plans, and he paid the manager for the whole island for our wedding. We chartered twenty yachts to bring the guests out to the island for the occasion.

In the picture we have on the sunglasses he got us that match and we’re wearing matching white shorts and blue shirts, like a couple of sailors.

Man, we look so fucking cute!

Now tell me how it’s not us who are meant to be together! How is it that he found someone more compatible than we are?

We have magic between us. How did he find that with another woman as well?

It makes no sense. Or is the fact I didn’t stand up for our love the problem?

I walked away so easily. Too easily. It made him lose faith in me.

He must’ve lost faith that I would pick him in the end.

And now he’s moved on. And I’m alone.

How can I keep on going?

The time was right at hand that I was about to end this all and call Reed and tell him he’s the one I want. It really has always been him. From the first time he ever touched me, I knew he was the one.

And now I’ve blown it all. Waited too long.

My Reed is in another woman’s arms. A woman every bit his equal.

I’m just a kindergarten teacher with a limited income base. I’ll never be his equal in the earnings department.

I suppose he’s better off. They’ll be super rich and powerful, I guess.

And the Manning family will go back to their happy lives and I’ll …

Well, I’ll figure something out. But right now, it seems I have to cry, because the tears are pouring out and I’m helpless to stop them.

Why did I wait so fucking long?

Chapter 36

REED

Jenna’s deadline is one month to the date away and I’m back visiting my parents for the Easter weekend. Dad’s outside putting the meat on the pit, as they invited the usual crowd for the party this afternoon.

I keep hoping Jenna will walk through the door unexpectedly and make my world come alive again. This waiting is killing me.

I’ve ended up in Lana’s bed three times, and not one of them have been memorable. She’s just a semi-warm body to try to help me find some comfort at times when I get to feeling very low and lose hope that Jenna will return to me at the end of May.

Lying on the sofa in the living room has me sitting up as the front door flies open and in walks Rod with a woman on his arm. I stare at him, as I have no idea what the hell this means.

Is he out of the running for Jenna?

“Hey, little bro,” Rod says as he brings this new woman with long blonde hair toward me. “Meet Ashley. She’s my new old lady.”

I get up and extend my hand. “I’m Reed, Ashley. Nice to meet you.” My eyes move back to my brother and he looks very happy as he takes a drink from the tall brown bottle of beer in his hand.

Her eyes are blue, and her hair is blonde, and she’s roughly the same height as Jenna. But this young woman has an edge to her that Jenna doesn’t.

She looks straight into my eyes and seems to have little fear of new situations. Her tight leather clothes show she’s not very shy at all. “Nice to meet you too, Reed,” she says, then looks back at Rod. “So on to your parents then, baby?”

He nods, spins her around, and pops her ass as she walks in front of him and she makes a little growling sound. Rod looks back at me and winks.

I follow along behind them, as I have to see what the hell is going on with this man. Waiting patiently for him to introduce her to our parents, I pull him to the side as Mom takes Ashley off to show her around.

“Okay, what’s up?” I ask him.

He smiles. “Jenna and I talked a couple of weeks ago.”

I find myself very hurt that she’s talked to him and not me, and it hits me like a baseball bat to the stomach.

“And what did she say that has you with another woman?” I ask as I take a couple of steps back and sit in a chair by the pool so I don’t fall down.

“She said she didn’t want me to wait for her. She wasn’t coming back to me. But it’s all good. We ended on very good terms. She hasn’t called you, then?” He takes a drink of his beer.

I shake my head. “No.”

His lips go up on one side. “Maybe she’s serious about the principal. She told me she was dating him. Maybe she’s done with the Manning men for good.”

“Why wouldn’t she call me?” I ask myself.

Rod shrugs. “Maybe you two weren’t as close as you thought. You did only see each other for a few months, you know.”

“And we were engaged and inseparable for all but the first week of them.” I hold out my hand. “Beer me, please, bro. And does this mean you’ll accept things if she comes back to me?”

He frowns and pulls a beer out of the cooler and hands it to me. “I will. But Reed, I don’t see that happening. She would’ve called you, man. Don’t let it upset you. I mean, you got that new chick. That rich one. Why didn’t you bring her home for this, by the way?”

I take a long drink of the cold beer, then say, “I was hoping Jenna might show up. And I can’t really take too much time with Lana. She’s kind of overbearing and bossy and she can be a real bitch. You know how our family is. I could see her telling me we had to leave and go get somewhere nice to stay.”

“But you brought her home before. Mom told me you took them on a helicopter ride.” He kneels down to pet the puppy Dad bought Mom last week. “Hey there, Puddles.” The little wiener dog pees a bit as he pets him, hence the name.

“We didn’t stay. It was a quick trip in her helicopter, then we went right back to California. We were looking at a property in Arizona where me might want to join some other investors in a project. That’s the only reason I was with her. And when I told Mom I’d be in the area, she made us stop by.” I down the last of the beer. “So, you think Jenna is serious about this other man?”

“Well, she let me go and didn’t call you, so I’d say she must be,” he says, then stands back up. “Don’t let it get you down. There are more fish in the sea if that rich chick’s not the one for you either.”

I nod my head at the approaching new girl as she’s making her way to Rod. “Where’d you find her?”

“On the Internet. At Jenna’s prompting, I went searching for females who like the things I like, rather than trying to change anyone. I found that little beauty there and we are compatible in all ways.” She walks up to him and runs her arm around his waist, leans into him, then takes the beer out of his hand and takes a drink.

He just smiles at her. She bites her lip after she pulls the bottle down and says, “Oops, I forgot to ask, didn’t I?”

With a nod, he says, “You did. That’s three.”

She gives him a wicked smile. “Only three? I think that deserves five.”

He moans and pulls her to him. “Time to show you my old bedroom.”

She growls and they leave me, thankfully!

Mom kind of hops up to me as they leave. “What do you think of her?”

“They seem to get along well,” I answer.

“He’s told me some about her. I told him he’d better bring her today. It’s so good to see him moving on. And now if you could, I’d be really happy. What about the Lana woman? Boy, she’s got the hots for you. You’re kind of cold to her, but you should let her heat you up,” she says, and I think I might be blushing.

“Mom!”

“What? You should. She’s a lot like you, son. I think if you could forget about Jenna, you and Lana would make a great couple. What do they call it? A power couple! Yeah!” She claps her hands. “Oh, to see both of my sons with women who they love and love them is all I want.”

“Well, I can barely stand Lana, so she’s not going to be your daughter-in-law. When’s the last time you talked to Jenna?” I ask and get up and grab another beer out of the ice chest.

“It’s been about a week. Her calls have slowed down, I think because she’s moving on. And, Reed, I think it’s best she has. Your brother and you have gotten along so well with her out of the picture. I hope you don’t think about going and getting her,” she says, and the thought springs into my head that I do know where she lives and I could do just that.

Tempe is only a two hour drive from here!

“Mom, if she and I do get back together you will treat her right, won’t you?” I ask, then take a drink and watch her kind of squirm.

“Reed, you and your brother would start this fighting stuff up again and I would just hate it,” she says, then knots her hands together. “Just leave her alone, son. Please!”

“Rod and I won’t fight over her anymore. We made a deal. So if there’s no fighting in the family, would you accept it if she came back to me?” I look at her, as she seems very conflicted.

“But there would be fighting.”

I shake my head. “I think Rod’s found a woman much more fitting for him. And he and Jenna have talked, from what he told me, and it sounds like they have found their closure. We both know Jenna was never the woman for him. She’s an angel, and Rod’s a devil.”

Mom takes the chair next to mine and takes my beer away and downs the rest of it. She sits there for a moment before she says, “Look, I love that girl. I do. But life has been so peaceful since she left.” She looks at me really hard. “But there is something missing in you. I can see it. Just wait and see if she comes back to you on her own. You and your brother both took that girl over. She’s never had a shot at finding out if she likes something else other than being taken over. You know.”

I nod and know she’s right. “But if she does come back to me, you will accept that?”

“Reed, as long as it doesn’t disrupt what you and your brother have managed to regain, I will accept it.” She gets up and walks away, then looks back over her shoulder at me. “But please let her come to you. Let her make a decision for once, instead of a Manning going caveman on her and dragging her off with him.”

I give her a nod and a smile. “Okay, Mom.”

Caveman is not the way I want to go, anyway. But this waiting shit has to end.

If Rod’s out, then the family thing is no longer an issue. And I want Jenna to know that. I want her to know I still want her, and I’m not about to let her pick another man if she’s not head over heels in love with the guy.

What we have is real, and I’m not about to let her throw that away.

But how to get her to call me is a thing I need to work on. Showing up unannounced is kind of caveman.

***

The party progresses, and everyone goes home. It’s late. Very late. And I’ve yet to figure out how to approach Jenna.

The light out by the pool is nice and I unbutton my shirt and lie back on the lounge chair I’m sitting in. I take a nearly naughty selfie and send it to her using Mom’s phone.

I lifted it from her just before she went to bed. She didn’t even notice I took it.

So now I wait to see if she texts back.

 

An hour later there is still nothing. So I go inside, stopping to pick up a half-empty bottle of Jack Daniels, and go to my bedroom. I leave Mom’s phone on the counter after deleting the picture of myself from it.

Pulling my clothes off, I climb into the bed and prop my head up on the pillows. Then I take a nice long tug from the bottle.

It burns as it goes down my throat. I find the pain good, in a way. It means I can still feel things.

She must be done with me too.

But why in the hell can she tell Rod she’s not interested in him any longer, but not me?

Chapter 37

JENNA

“Crap!” I say out loud as I see my phone ran out of charge sometime in the night.

I plug it in and go to get dressed. There’s a staff party this evening, and Steven wants me to go with him.

I’m not really feeling it, but it’s one of those things I do to keep the peace between him and me.

The phone rings and I look at it to find it’s Steven. I ignore the call.

I can’t deal with him yet!

One shower and a cup of coffee later, I go back to get my phone off the table by my bed and see a text message I missed from Sue. At three in the morning.

God! I hope everything’s all right!

With a swipe of my finger, I see there’s no emergency. There is Reed by the pool. His shirt is unbuttoned and he’s looking very sexy.

I fall back on the bed and gaze at him. His tight abs look even tighter than the last time I saw them.

His hair has grown just a bit, and his blue eyes sparkle in the pool’s lights. He’s devastating!

He must’ve taken this with his mother’s phone after she fell asleep. So I don’t bother replying to this text. Instead, I pull up his cell number and text, Looking good.

I wait and he doesn’t text back, so I call Steven back. “You called?”

“I did. I need you there by seven tonight. I’d pick you up, but I’ll be running late. I have some things I have to pick up for the party. Wear that green dress I like and put your hair in the side part thing I like so much. Your gold necklace with that cross will be good too. It’s Easter and all, and the cross works with that whole thing.” He stops talking just long enough for me to talk.

“And how was your night, Steven?”

“Oh, fine. I watched some television, then read until I fell asleep,” he says. “And wear those nude heels. I like the way your legs look in them.”

“Okay. I guess I’ll let you go and see you then.”

“Yes. Oh! One more thing. You told a joke at the last party and I didn’t like that. No jokes at this one. See you at seven sharp.” He hangs up, and I find myself fuming.

“No jokes! He’s a fucking joke!” I toss the phone on the bed and start to get off the bed, but it lights up and makes the buzzing sound it does when I have a text.

“It better not be another thing he needs to tell me how to do!”

But I see it’s Reed. Heard you were happy with a new man.

“Wonder who told him that?”

I text back, Heard you were happy with a new woman.

He texts back, Who told you that?

I text, Your brother and your mother.

He texts back, Funny, those are the same two who told me that about you.

I send, I’m glad you’re happy. Your whole family is a lot happier now that I’m not in the picture.

He sends, Not all of them

So I send back, What does that mean???

He texts, Don’t worry about it. Are you really happy???

Sue’s been doing so well. She’s made a full recovery from the tumor and there’s been no reoccurrence. She’s been so happy with how things are going. And she has not so gently told me about how compatible this new woman in Reed’s life is with him. How well they get along and how happy Reed is with her.

The phone buzzes again and I see he’s written, Are you afraid to tell me you’re happy, Jenna?

I think about it for a while and I know they’re all better off without me. So I send, Yes.

A little while goes by. Then he texts back, Okay, then. Have a nice life.

I quickly type in, You too. Then the tears start to fall.

I can’t breathe. My body aches. I think I might be dying.

I pick the phone back up to call him and think twice about it and put it down. He deserves better than me.

That woman is his equal. I’m sure she’s mentally strong too and I’m weak.

My phone rings and I can’t see who it is through all the tears. But I answer it anyway.

“One more thing,” Steven says. “No drinking tonight. I don’t want us to do any more drinking. I want to have the appearance of an up and coming couple who are about business and education. All work, no play. That kind of couple. A real educational power couple. And I want you to keep going to college until you get your doctorate. So get working on that. See you tonight.”

He ends the call without me saying a word.

Not one damn word!

The phone leaves my hand as I toss it away from me. I want no more of this thing with him.

He hasn’t asked me to marry him, but I saw pictures of engagement rings on his phone the other day. And now all this talk about the future and what I need to do to fit into his ten-year, mother-fucking plan.

Well, fuck that!

I’m done! Done with being led around like I don’t know what I want or am too stupid to know I can do more. I’m sick of it!

Reed never put me in a box. He never said, “Jenna, I want to have sex like this, so you need to learn to do it my way.” He never said, “Jenna, I want you to do this with the rest of your life, so go to school even longer so you can do what I want you to do.”

No, Reed told me I could do whatever I wanted. Anything or nothing. Whatever I wanted.

He let me love him the way I wanted to. He let me do the things that made me happy. He let me plan the wedding around what I liked.

And now he’s moved on to another woman. And I know in my heart it’s because I didn’t stand up and fight for what I wanted.

I rolled over and did what would make everyone else happy. Everyone else but me and Reed. I let him go, to keep the peace. I let him go because it was the easier road to take.

And now he found a woman who’s most likely willing to fight for him. The way I should’ve done.

I could’ve told Rod the same things I told him a couple of weeks ago, to get him to understand that I’ve grown and am not that person he loved. I could have told Rod those things that night, instead of kissing him to see if there was anything there.

Why did I do that?

Why did I allow other people to get between what Reed and I had?

What we had was real, honest, and pure. And I threw my hands up in the air and told myself it was for the good of his family.

So now what do I do?

I’m done with Steven. I won’t be his date tonight, and even though it will be uncomfortable working in the same school as he does, I will not quit my job and hide away as if I’ve done something wrong.

I will face the uncomfortable situation with my head held high and go on. Because shit happens, and it’s not always roses and wine. Sometimes it’s a pile of shit, and you have to step over it and go the fuck on!

The fact is I may have lost Reed. And he may have been the one for me. He may have been the only man who will ever make me feel electricity with his touch.

Reed Manning may have been the only slice of heaven I will ever have on this planet. But I will no longer let some man control my every move.

No joking around, Jenna! No drinking, Jenna!

Who does Steven Johnson think he is?

There’s going to be a new Jenna. One who knows what she wants, and when she finds it—if I ever find it again—she will hold on to it like her life depends on it.

And now I am done talking about myself in the third person because that seems a little crazy to me and I don’t want the new Jenna to be insane!

In an effort to face things head on, I throw on a dress and slip on a pair of flip flops, pull my hair into a ponytail, and get into my car.

I’m going to face Steven when I tell him we’re done.

Tucking tail and running isn’t a thing I’ll be doing anymore.

 

Steven is getting into his car as I pull into the driveway of the three bedroom brick home he has no immediate plans to fill with children because they aren’t in his life plan.

I pull in behind him and get out of the car. He doesn’t even bother to get out. He just rolls his window down. “Jenna, I need to go. Move your car.”

“This will only take a second, Steven,” I say as I lean in his window.

“Jenna, just do as I say. Whatever you have to say can wait until I get back. You can wait on the patio for me to get back, if you want. It should take me an hour to get what I need to done.”

He looks agitated that I’m still standing here instead of hauling ass to get out of his fucking way.

“I’m not waiting. We’re over, Steven. Done. K. I’ll let you go now.” I turn and walk back to my car.

I hear his car door open. “Jenna, wait!”

I shake my head, wag my finger behind me, and keep walking until I get to my car and slide into the driver’s seat. He stands there just looking at me. “Bye,” I say, and drive away.

My phone rings and it’s him. I ignore the call.

I’ve said all I have to say to him!

No amount of pleading is going to get me to change my mind and go back to being his Barbie doll that he dresses and tells how to act.

The fact that we’ve slept together a whopping three times, and never did I come close to climaxing and never did he care, sits forefront in my brain.

What an ass!

I feel weightless with this off my back. I can just be free. I don’t have to have a man just to fill some space in my life. I can just be me.

The fact is, the love I have for Reed has made me see that I should never settle for anything less than a love like that.

He may have moved on, but I think I’ll just kick back and relax and let myself live with the fact I have a heart that’s full of love for a man who totally deserves it.

He didn’t do a thing to make me stop, and I couldn’t if I tried. So why fight it?

I love a man who doesn’t love me anymore. Okay. I can handle that.

Pulling back into my parking spot at my apartment complex, I sit for a moment and let myself feel what it feels like to be a woman who is free but who also holds a ton of love in her heart.

It feels damn good. Whether it’s reciprocated or not, it’s there, and it feels great.

The first thing I do as I walk into my little apartment is go straight to my jewelry box and take out the ring Reed gave me. I slide it on my finger and look at it and feel happy.

Not sad at all. Reed made me happy once. He taught me how that feels. I can’t hate him for moving on. It was my fault.

But I can feel the way he showed me is possible. I can live my life the way I want.

From the day he talked to me about going to college and doing what I wanted, until the day he told me I could walk away from him if I wanted to see what I felt about Rod or anyone else for that matter, he has taught me a lot.

It’s not the job; it’s not the way you do things that matter. It’s how you feel about it. If you like it, do it. If you don’t, don’t!

I like wearing this ring. I like feeling the way I felt when I was with him. And I can if I want to.

Now to see how long this euphoria lasts!

Chapter 38

REED

I can’t stop staring at my phone. The last text from Jenna isn’t making sense to me.

I know that girl has not found another man who makes her feel the way I do. So I make a quick decision and look online and have flowers and candy sent to her address today.

Then I make damn sure Lana knows we have nothing going on, as she texted me a few times yesterday and I can’t have her thinking she and I are a thing.

So with a swipe of my finger I call her. “Reed! Miss me?”

“Lana, sorry. This isn’t one of those calls where I tell you I miss you and want you to join my family for Easter, sorry.”

“Oh, I see. What is this kind of call then?”

“This is the call where I tell you that you and I are not working out.”

She sighs. “Reed, that dumb girl isn’t coming back.”

“She might not be. But Lana, that girl taught me what true love felt like, and I’m done settling for Mrs. Right Now and not Mrs. Right. She may not take me back, but I’m sure as fuck going to try.”

“And what if she shoots you down?” she asks. “Do you think I’m the kind of woman who will take this from you, then, when you come crawling back after she tells you it’s over, welcome you with open arms?”

“I’m not going to be doing that. If she shoots me down, then I’m going to be thankful for what she’s shown me: how to love and be loved unequivocally. Sorry for wasting your time, Lana. I’m sure we’ll see each other around, and I don’t want things to be weird,” I tell her, then hear something breaking in the background.

“Damn it, Reed. Look, I get what I want!” she shrieks.

“So do I,” I say, with a very calm voice. “And I want Jenna Foster or no one right now. I’ll never be settling again. Not now that I know what real love feels like. Bye, Lana.”

There’s some cursing on her end, but I hang up without listening to anymore.

There was no love there. I was a thing Lana set her sights on. A nice bank account, a handsome face. But she had no real feelings for me. And I sure didn’t for her.

So that’s done, and now on to Operation Get Jenna Back.

A text comes in and I cross my fingers that it’s Jenna. But I see it’s from Lana. Reed Manning, we are through!!!

I laugh out loud. “Duh!”

Jenna or no Jenna, I’m through with faking it just to have a warm body around once in a while.

And I’m through with waiting around for Jenna to realize she’s hurting us both by taking this high road where she doesn’t cause any waves in the Manning family.

Pulling on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and my running shoes, I leave my bedroom and find my mother in the kitchen. “Hey, Mom. You feel like making some lasagna for dinner tonight?”

“It’s ten in the morning, Reed. I haven’t thought about dinner, son,” she says, then drinks her coffee.

I can see she’s slowly realizing what I’m about to do. Her eyebrows go up. “Reed!”

I kiss her forehead as she sits at the kitchen table. “Bye, Mom.”

“But Rod and his girlfriend are here. It’ll be Armageddon!” I hear her shout out.

But I keep on going. I know Rod won’t do a thing. Now Mom needs to see that too, and things will be fine and dandy.

As I slip behind the wheel of the rental car, I put my shades on and turn up the radio. I’m going to jam all the way to Tempe and pick up my girl!

JENNA

The doorbell rings and I get up off the sofa and peek through the peephole. I have no wish to see Steven.

It’s been about two hours since I ended things with him and he’s called several times and texted several messages, but I deleted them all without reading any of them.

All I see are flowers and then the face of a delivery man. “Miss Jenna Foster?”

I open the door. “Those are for me, huh?”

He nods and hands a huge bouquet of red roses to me and a big box of chocolates. Then he seems to be searching for something. He hisses, “Shit!”

“What?” I ask as I put the flowers and candy down on the table by the door.

“The card! Man, I lost it on the way up. I didn’t read who they were from. Sorry, ma’am.”

I laugh and shake my head. “I have a strong idea I know who sent them. I just broke up with this guy. They have to be from him, although, he’s never done a romantic thing before. Thanks.” I hand him a five-dollar bill for his trouble and shut the door.

And it hits me as I look at the flowers and the candy on the table.

Reed is in Jerome!

The text he sent last night was from his mother’s phone and he was at their pool. He’s there. A mere two hours away.

But that woman might be there too!

Oh, that would really start some shit if I showed up. And Sue is doing so well now.

Fuck it!

I spin around, go get my purse and car keys, and take off. I need to go to Reed and tell him how I feel and that I want to get married like we planned.

If I have to beat the hell out of some rich woman to get him back, then that’s what I have to do.

I’ll prove to him I do think he’s worth fighting for. It might have taken me a little while to realize it. But now that I do, anyone who is standing between us is in my way.

And heaven help anyone who does. Because I’m through being the quiet girl who gets out of everyone’s way and does only what makes everyone else happy.

Because the way Reed seemed on those texts told me he isn’t happy. And I’m not happy, so I need to fix things with him.

That man is mine. He knows it and I know. And I belong to him. Heart, body, and soul.

As I slide into the driver’s seat, I put on the shades Reed bought me that match his and I crank up the radio. I’m going to rock all the way back to Jerome and get my man back!

And I hope Sue can forgive me!

Chapter 39

REED

I take the stairs two at a time to get up to her apartment on the second floor. It’s number 212 and as I get to the top step, I see some man pounding on the door.

“Jenna, open up. I’m not going to let you do this to me!” he shouts.

“Hey, buddy!” I say as I come up behind him.

He turns around and looks at me. “Can I help you?”

I shake my head. “Nope. You seem to be looking for my fiancée, Jenna. What can I do for you?”

This guy is about three inches shorter than I am and he’s wearing a black J.C. Penny’s suit for some reason and smells like cheap cologne. He stammers as he looks at me, “Fiancée? I’m talking about Jenna Foster. She’s no one’s fiancée. She’s my girlfriend! Now who might you be?”

“I might be Santa Claus. Jenna Foster is my fiancée. So, why are you here?” I fold my arms across my chest, which is broader than his, and wait for his answer. But I’m pretty damn sure this is the grade school principal she was dating.

No way she’s in love with this douche!

“She and I had a misunderstanding earlier and I’m trying to get it straightened out before we go to a party this evening.” He turns and bangs on the door again. “And I have no idea who you are. Jenna has been here about five months or so and I’ve never even heard her talk about any man. Much less a fiancé.”

“Well, I am her fiancé, and I’m about to take her back to our Bel-Air mansion, so you may want to go ahead and cut on out of here, buddy,” I tell him as I take hold of his shoulder to stop his incessant pounding.

“Bel-Air mansion?” He shakes his head. “There’s no way we’re talking about the same woman. My Jenna is not that refined. There’s no way she ever lived in Bel-Air in a mansion. Not my Jenna.”

I shift my weight to the other foot. “Okay, let’s get this straight. I have a Jenna. This Jenna is mine. You, well, I don’t know what you think you had, but you never had her. Her heart has belonged to me for some time now. So, like I said, you should go. She’s most likely hiding in there until you leave, anyway.”

His brown eyes go big and he walks to the top of the steps and looks down them to the parking lot. “Hey, did you see a white Mercedes when you parked?”

I shake my head, then recall that I had one just like that sent to her.

She’s not here!

My cell phone rings and I pull it from my pocket and see Rod’s name on it. “Hey, what’s up?”

“I got your girl, Reed. Guess who came looking for you? It’s just like you wished for. She showed up at our front door,” he tells me.

“Fuck! Tell her to wait for me there. Don’t let her go anywhere. I’m at her apartment in Tempe. It’s going to take me a couple of hours to get back. Don’t let her leave, Rod! Promise me, please!” I haul ass past the guy who thinks he knows my girl and get into my car.

The guy comes at me, waving his arms and shouting, “Hey, did you find her?”

I nod and shout as I drive away. “She’s at my house. It’s over, dude. Whatever you had is done. Bye!” I spin out as I leave the parking lot and floor it to get back to Jerome.

She came for me!

JENNA

I tap my foot as Sue stands in the doorway. “Well, he’s not here, sweetheart. I’m sorry,” she tells me.

This is so not like Sue to leave me on the porch. “Look, I know Rod’s here. I see his bike right there. Ask him if he knows where Reed went. I came all the way from Tempe to see him, and Sue, I am going to see him. If that woman is here with him, I don’t care. I have to talk to him.”

“Well, it’s just that I don’t want any trouble, Jenna. Rod is here.” She looks back over her shoulder, then looks back at me then whispers, “Reed’s happy with that woman, Jenna. Just go on back to Tempe and have a great life, sweetheart.”

I tap my foot and watch Rod coming up behind his mother. “Hey, Mom. This isn’t like you, keeping Jenna on the porch instead of inviting her in.” He gently takes her by the shoulders and pulls her back inside. “Come in, Jenna. Please.”

I give him a nod. “Thank you, Rod. Do you have any idea where Reed might be? I’d like to find him before he goes back to California.”

“At this moment in time, I am not positive of my brother’s whereabouts. But what brings you by, Miss Foster?” He reaches out, takes my hand, pulls me inside, and takes me to the sofa. “Have a seat. Would you like a beer? You look a little tense.”

I nod. “One wouldn’t hurt. I am keyed up. But I can get it.”

He presses my shoulder so I have to sit down. “Nonsense. After all the beers you brought me, I can bring you a few. We can relax and talk until Reed makes it back here. He will be coming back. It may be a little while, but we can entertain you until then.”

He walks out of the living room and Sue just stares at me. “Jenna, what does bring you here? What do you want with Reed?”

“Sue, I love you. I really do. And your health means so much to me. But what I want to say to Reed is just between him and me. Okay?” I watch her eyes go big.

I’ve never talked to her this way before. I think she’s kind of freaking out. Then someone comes out of the hallway just as Rod comes back with four beers in his hands.

A woman with long blonde hair, wearing black leather pants and a white halter-top, wipes her mouth with the back of her hand as Rod stops next to her. He smiles at her. “You okay, baby?”

She nods and runs her hand over his cheek. “Are you?”

He nods and my head goes a little wiggly inside. Then he looks at me. “Jenna this is the woman you told me to look for. I found her on a website. And you were right. Finding someone who thinks like I do is working very nicely.”

The pretty blonde, who has the classic good girl looks with a very deep hint of badass, smiles at me and comes toward me with her hand extended. “I’m very happy to meet you, Jenna. Rod has told me all about you.”

I stand up and shake her hand. “It’s nice to meet you. I can see you two get along pretty well so far. Your name is?”

“Oh! I’m Ashley. And thank you for what you told him about being himself and not trying to be anything less than the badass he is. I love this bad ass motherfucker.”

I laugh and look at him. “You did tell her everything, didn’t you, Rod?”

He nods and hands us each a beer. Then I sit down and Ashley sits next to me as Sue’s mouth hangs open.

Rod hands her a beer too and helps her sit in a chair. “Mom, you okay there?” he asks.

“Well, I didn’t think this is how things would go.” She takes a long drink as she looks at Rod as he comes back and sits next to his new girl.

Ashley looks at me and smiles. “So you pulled a switcheroo with brothers. I’d say you’re somewhat of a bad ass yourself!”

I blush and look away as Rod says, “She is. She’s just starting to figure it out, is all.”

Sue takes another drink then says, “Well, I may as well go ahead and say it. I’m sorry, Jenna. I thought this would be a fiasco. A total brawl. But it seems like it was you who told Rod to look for someone more fitting for him and you were right. These two balance each other out very nicely.”

Rod runs his arm around Ashely and she lays her head on his shoulder. “We do, don’t we?” he asks her.

Ashley nods. “We do, baby. We really do.”

She kisses him with a little peck on his lips and I see it in his eyes when she moves back.

He loves her!

And she looks like she loves him. My heart is pumping hard with how damn happy I am.

A tear falls down my cheek and Sue sees it. “Oh no! This is upsetting you. See! I knew it wouldn’t go as easy …”

I stop her. “Sue, no. That’s not it at all.” I wipe the tear away and look at Ashley. “I love this man. Not in the way that I want him. I want him to be happy. I always have. You make him happy. I love that.”

Ashley takes my hand and taps the top. “I know you love him. Thanks for your honesty, Jenna. I love him so much more than I knew was possible. And he loves you. We can all be one big happy family. Well, as soon as Reed gets here and fixes you guys up.”

“Thanks for understanding this craziness, Ashley. If Reed will have me back, then we will be one big happy family,” I say, and then the front door opens and there he stands.

“Jenna.”

I get up and walk to him as I hold up my hand with his ring on it. “Can I still be Mrs. Reed Manning?”

He nods, and then I’m wrapped in his arms. His lips touch my ear. “Angel, I’ve missed you!”

“I’ve missed you too. I don’t want to ever miss you again,” I whisper, because I’m crying like crazy.

His tall, muscular body feels so right as he holds me tight. Then he picks me up and carries me down the hallway to his bedroom.

Rod calls out, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

I hear Ashely add, “Which means go hog wild, ’cause this man will do anything!”

They laugh, and I hear Sue join in. “You crazy kids!”

I bury my face in Reed’s chest and take in a deep breath, taking him all in. He kicks his childhood bedroom door open and takes me inside.

My heart is pounding as he sits me down on the bed and says, “Strip!”

Has Rod taught Reed about punishments?

I trail soft circles with my finger over her naked stomach as Jenna lies back on my small childhood bed and gazes up at me as I lie next to her.

“You had me afraid you were about to teach me a lesson, Reed,” she says with a smile on her beautiful face. A face I have longed to see for months, too many months.

“I am about to,” I whisper in her ear.

A shiver runs through her. “Really?”

I nod and nuzzle her neck, then leave one kiss on it. I had her get undressed, and I did the same, then climbed into bed with her, our skin touching the others.

I craved this for what seems like so long. This simple thing of our skins touching. It makes me feel different. Whole.

Her scent has my mind filled with only thoughts of pleasing her in ways that will assure her this is where she belongs, in my arms, forever.

“I’m going to teach you that you and I belong together.” I move my hand down until I get to her sweet spot and she moans as I run my fingertip lightly over her clit.

“Reed.” She moans out my name, and her body shivers again. “I missed your touch so damn much. I’m so sorry I ever let you go. It was the stupidest thing I have ever done and as long as you want me, I will never make that mistake again.”

“Good.” I kiss her neck, then give it a little nip as her hand travels up my arm and halts on my bicep, where she gives it a squeeze. “Did you miss the guns?” I chuckle.

“I did.” She turns and looks at me as I lay by her side.

She puts one leg over me and I roll onto my back and pull her on top of me. She sits up, straddling me. Her moist heat is on my stomach, and her breasts rise and fall with every breath.

I take her left hand and kiss the ring I gave her. “So you really want to marry me, huh?”

She nods and runs her hands over my pecs. I run my hands up to take her pert breasts into them. She sighs as I do and licks her lips.

“I don’t know what came over me this morning. Something in my brain clicked into place and I knew I had to get to you. I was ready to fight everyone to do it too.”

“How un-Jenna-like,” I say as I move my hands around and cup her ass in them as I push her to me.

Her lips fall on mine for only a second, then she sits back up. “I hope you like this new Jenna. I’m done being the silent little thing who lets everyone else’s happiness get in the way of hers.”

“And mine,” I add, then push her back to me.

Her mouth lands on mine and this time I move my hands to hold her face and kiss her long and hard. Our mouths mingle like they never were apart.

As if a day hasn’t passed without us touching one another. But days have passed. Too many of them, and now that my body knows she’s here, it wants her very badly.

My cock grows with an ache to be inside her and I roll her over without letting our mouths part. She pulls her legs up, bending her knees, and I push my aching cock deep inside her.

Our moans fill the room, and I have no doubt anyone who might be walking by the bedroom door can hear us. But I just don’t care.

Immediately our breathing increases and so do our heartbeats. I pull my mouth away to let us both get some much-needed air. Her green eyes glisten with tears as she looks up at me and cups my face in her soft hands.

“I have dreamt of this. I never stopped loving you, Reed. Not for one second. Nothing feels the way you make me feel. I know without a doubt you and I are meant to be.”

I make a hard thrust and give her a smile. “We are, Jenna. We belong to each other. And very soon in name as well.”

The heel of her right foot grazes my calf as she runs her foot up my leg, sending a heat through me. “Faster,” she whispers.

I give her a hard thrust and do it over and over until she’s about to burst. But then I pull out of her and she frowns at me.

With a kiss to the tip of her nose, I flip her over, then pull her back until she’s on her hands and knees. Standing beside the bed, I’m at the perfect level to ram deep into her and she makes a terrific groan as I go back inside her.

“Reed!” She puts her head down on the bed and her ass goes up higher as I yank her back by her waist to meet every hard thrust I give her.

I slam into her over and over until I feel the slightest tremor inside her that tells me she’s about to climax. Then I pull out of her and she moans and falls to the bed.

“Reed, this is torture.”

“But the sweetest kind of torture, my angel.” I pick her up in my arms and take her to the wall and hold her hands up over her head. “Wrap your legs around me.”

She smiles as she pulls her legs up and wraps them around my waist. My cock slides into her again and the way her face glows lets me know it makes her extremely happy.

I slam into her over and over. Then I move her hands to wrap around my neck and kiss her as I press her body against the wall. Her tits smash under my hard pecs. Her stomach is soft against my tight abs.

Her legs start to shake, and I know she’s near again. This time, I let her.

She makes a high shriek and my mouth stifles what would be a very loud sound if we weren’t kissing. Her body convulses around mine and I have no choice but to climax right along with her.

I move back to the bed with her and nearly fall on it as our bodies fall apart together, hers milking every last drop it can from my cock which fills her up.

Our mouths part only a little as her hands run over my cheeks. “Reed, I love you. I love you so much. I’ll never stay a night away from you ever again. Not ever. I love you, I love you …”

Pulling back to look at her, I see tears streaming down her reddened cheeks. “Jenna, I love you. It might’ve been a tough bunch of months, but it served its purpose. I know you truly love me. I know you won’t be leaving me one day for something you thought you might have lost with my brother. I know you won’t be wondering if another man can make you feel like I do.”

She sniffles. “No one can make me feel like you do, Reed. I know that now.”

I kiss her cheek and find the salty tears on my lips, which I lick. “I love you, Jenna. I won’t ever let you get away from me again. Not ever. You’re stuck with me, girl.”

“I’m very glad to hear that.” She pulls my face back down to hers and kisses me sweetly.

And finally, our lives can really begin!

Epilogue

JENNA MANNING

“Maddie, have you seen Glen’s left shoe?” I shout toward the kitchen.

Reed smacks my ass as he comes up behind me. “Here you go, Mama. The always evasive shoe our son keeps hiding in a different place every time we go to leave anywhere.”

“After three boys, how did we get one who hates to leave the house?” I ask as I hold our one-year-old down and try to get him to let me get the shoe on.

Reed takes the shoe from me. “Here, you hold ol’ Wiggle Britches here, and let me stuff his chubby foot into his shoe.”

Out of the kitchen, and into the little den area off of it where we are, come our other kids: Tanner, who’s eight, Roland who’s five, and Panther, who’s three.

Yes, Reed got to name one of our four sons!

But that’s the last one he’s getting to name. And Panther is the only one who got his father’s dimpled chin.

Tanner shouts, because he apparently knows no other way to communicate, “Come on! Gee whiz! You have one kid to get dressed, Mom!”

I wipe the sweat off my brow from the struggle with our youngest and shoot a wicked look at our oldest child. “One kid? Tanner, this one kid is like three of them.”

With his shoe on and his brothers running through the room on their way to the front door, Glen busts out of my hold and follows as fast as he can after them.

Reed opens his arms and I fall into them. “Whew! And only three minutes behind schedule.”

He laughs. “You’re nearly on time, Jenna. Come on, I’ll give you guys a ride, then go to the office for a bit. Then I’ll go back to the school and pick you up for a nice lunch. How does that sound?”

His arm wraps around my shoulders as he leads me out to our Suburban. I lean into his firm body. “That sounds fantastic. Since I moved up to being a third-grade teacher, things have been rough.”

He nods as we get outside and I see the others have left Glen to try to climb into his car seat on his own. “Dang it, Tanner!” I shout. “Can’t you see your baby brother needs some help?”

“I tried to help him and he bit me!” he shouts back at me.

Panther lets out a loud growl. “And I’m the one named after a wild animal. You should switch our names!”

And just like that, Reed and I stop and look at each other. “Oh, no!” we say simultaneously. “Just like Rod!”

Reed opens the passenger car door for me. “Climb in. I’ll strap the little devil down.”

I get in and look back as Glen hits at his father and then lunges at him with a screeching sound. Roland is in the seat next to him and watches the scene with a little bit of horror in his expression.

Reed manages to get the baby strapped in and wipes the sweat off his forehead. “Shit, son!”

I remind him of the young ears in the car, “Reed, the kids.”

With a wink to me he says, “Sorry, boys.”

He closes the door and walks around to get in as Tanner says, “That’s okay, Mom. We’ve heard worse words.”

I shake my head and turn around as Reed gets into the driver’s seat. “Now how many more of these things did you say you wanted?” he asks with a grin.

With a smile, I answer, “I want a girl, Reed.”

He shakes his head and pulls away from our home, which many see as a mansion, but really is a home to us and our kids. No matter how fancy it may seem, it’s full of love and hopes, dreams, and lives that go on just like anyone else’s.

And I love this life we have!

REED

Of course, it has to be storming like crazy when Jenna goes into labor with our daughter. We had one more son after the notorious Glen, who is nearly the spitting image of my brother. And if Rod had been anywhere near my wife in the time frame she got pregnant, I’d have given that boy a DNA test.

As Rod had been in another state for the whole year, I had no choice but to accept the fact the little devil came from my own loins.

Two years after Glen came another son we named Patrick, after Jenna’s dad, who passed away that year. Her mother was invited to come live with us, but said she’d rather stay in the house she and her husband had lived in their entire marriage.

I bet it’s really because our house is kind of chaotic, with all the boys running wild, though!

I make my way to our bedroom where Jenna is walking around, trying to get through another contraction, it looks like, as she holds her back and stops to lean against a wall.

“She’s on her way, my angel. The midwife will be here as soon as she can. The weather is pretty awful.” I run my hands all over her back as she makes little panting sounds with her breathing.

The pain subsides, and she turns to me. “Reed, I don’t want to do this anymore. Can we stop after her?”

I laugh. “As if it was me who told you to keep having babies, Jenna. But if you want to hear it come out of my mouth, then here you go. Jenna, honey, can this be our last little bundle of joy?”

She nods. “Yes, it can. If that’s how you want it, darling.” She smiles, and I take her hand and lead her to the bed.

“You should get all comfy until your midwife gets here.”

The door flies open and in run the five boys, who all jump on the bed. Glen shrieks, “Baby?”

I shake my head. “Not yet. I’ll bring her out to meet you guys as soon as she gets here. Now kiss your momma and let me get you back to your bedrooms. You all have school tomorrow, and it’s late.”

After exchanging a lot of I love yous and kisses and hugs, I manage to wrangle the boys back to bed at eleven p.m. When I get back to my wife, I see the midwife is drenched, but she has made it.

“Thank God! I was afraid I would have to deliver this one. She’s going to be our last, I’ve been told,” I say as I climb on the bed next to Jenna and hold her hand as she starts taking in deep breaths with another contraction.

The midwife checks Jenna and looks as us with a smile. “She’s at ten. She can push with the next one. I did cut it very close making here in time.”

Jenna looks at me with a red face and tears fall. “Reed, we’re about to meet our daughter. Our baby girl.”

I kiss the tears away and give her hand a little squeeze. “I know. Are you happy, Jenna?”

She nods. “More than I ever thought possible. Thank you, Reed. Thank you so much.”

I tweak her nose. “Thank you, Jenna. You’re the one who made this life we share possible. I love you more than you will ever know.”

“And I love you.” Jenna’s lips touch mine. Then they harden as she pulls back from me with a deep groan. “It’s time!”

We look back at the midwife, who’s wiping tears out of her eyes so she can see. “You two are so perfect for each other. It pulls at my heart. Okay.” She sniffles. “Let’s see what we have here. A head full of blonde hair, it seems.”

Jenna pushes, and her face goes really red. Then she stops and looks at me. “Wow! That was hard, and she’s not even out yet.”

I gently stroke her arm. “You’re doing so good, Mama.”

With another wave, Jenna goes red again and makes a loud grunting sound. Then I hear our daughter crying.

It’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard. “You did it, Angel.” I kiss her cheek, and she closes her eyes.

“We did it, Reed. You and me. Together, we made ourselves a family.” Her head leans against my shoulder as the midwife holds up our daughter and we gaze at her like she’s a precious work of art.

We did it!

ROD

My brother moved his family out to a place in Wyoming to get his kids out of the city and into the country. Seems his twelve-year-old son, Glen, was getting into trouble already, and they wanted to see if a change in environment might help him to straighten up.

When Jenna called and asked if I could bring my family to come see their new place and maybe see if there was anything I could say to Glen to get him on a better path, I had to come.

“Wow,” Ashley says as we turn into a driveway lined with giant trees. “This is gorgeous. I like it better than the mansion they had in Bel-Air.”

I roll down the windows and take in the fresh air. “You and I are going to take the bike out for a ride while we’re here. The kids can visit their cousins for a little while, so you and I can spend a little Mommy-Daddy time.”

Our two daughters in the backseat of the truck both groan. Miranda, our fifteen-year-old, whines, “The cousins!”

Her twelve-year-old sister, Hope, joins her. “Dad, do we have to? Can’t you take us with you?”

“No room. Sorry,” I say, and give Ashley’s hand a squeeze. “Your Aunt Jenna will probably take you girls shopping. That will be nice, won’t it?”

“I guess,” Miranda says. “But this isn’t Beverly Hills, Dad. It’s the middle of nowhere.”

I pull up in front of a monster-sized place that looks like a hotel instead of a home. The front door opens and there stand my brother and his wife.

My heart always does this little dance when I see my old flame. I love that girl still, but in a sister-in-law way now.

My legs are stiff as I climb out of the truck, followed by my family, and Jenna has me in a hug before I know it. “Rod! I’m so happy you came all this way.”

After exchanging hugs and hellos we go inside, and I see young Glen looking at me with eyes just like mine. The steel-blue in them glistens as he sees me.

That kid and I are cut from the same cloth, and he saunters his little twelve-year-old body up to me. “Hey, Uncle Rod! How’s it hanging?” He holds out his hand, and we do this little hand clasp thing I showed him.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Reed rolling his eyes. I chuckle. “It’s hanging, little man. I hear you like to take cars out on your own already.”

He shrugs and leans back against the wall, putting his foot up behind him. Jenna calls out to him, “Glen, what have I told you about putting your feet on the wall?”

With a smirk and a nod, he takes his foot down and puts his hands in his pockets. “The car was this guy’s mother’s. This guy hit my little brother, Pat. I told him if he ever did that again, he’d be sorry he did.”

“I see,” I say, as I lean up against the wall with him. “And how did his mother’s car help you make him sorry?”

“After I told him that, he ran to his mommy like a little snitch and told on me. She came up to me at the playground and griped me out. So then I needed to teach her not to ever talk to me like that. Two days later that guy hit Pat again at the same playground. So I went to her car and got in. She’d left the keys in it, another thing my taking her car was going to teach her not to do again.”

“Of course,” I say, as I listen to his logic.

“And I started the car and proceeded to chase the guy down with it. My parents didn’t see what I did as a good thing. Especially since it ended with me hitting the monkey bars, because the little chicken climbed up on them to get away from me. His fault, I thought.” He nods and looks at me for confirmation that he did all the right things and everyone else was wrong.

“You know, Glen, I was a lot like you when I was a kid.”

Jenna adds, “And a grown up.”

I glance sideways at her. “Okay, fair enough. Anyway, like I was saying, Glen, I was a lot like you when I was younger. I thought I needed to teach lessons. But what I found out is that’s not up to me. I just needed to live my life and let the lessons in other’s lives get taught to them in their own ways. Leave the punishing by the wayside. People get what they have coming to them in other ways. It wasn’t up to me. You’ll do better the quicker you figure that out.”

He nods then looks hard into my eyes. “So, you’re saying, if another guy hits my brother, let my brother deal with that?”

I nod. “Or your parents. It takes a load off your shoulders if you let someone else figure out what to do about something you think isn’t right. And just live your life. Saves you a ton of trouble, I assure you. Don’t try to change a person. Pick people to be in your life who are already like you or like the people you want to be around. And leave the punishing and teaching up to someone else. You get me?”

A smile moves over his face. “I got you, Uncle Rod.” He slams his fist against mine as I hold it up.

I run my hand over his little dirty blond head, the only kid they have with the same color hair I have. “Wanna go with me on a ride? I brought my Harley.”

“Will you teach me how to drive it?” he asks with a gleam in his eyes.

I see Jenna shaking her head and Reed nodding his. “Yeah, I’ll teach you how. Come on.”

And maybe I can help this kid not to be a screw up like I was!

JENNA

The stars in the Wyoming sky are a bit brighter than anywhere else I’ve ever lived in. Reed and I sit under a tree in our backyard and look up at them, as everyone else has gone to bed.

His lips touch the side of my head. “Maybe Rod’s being around Glen will change things.”

“I hope so.” I turn and take Reed’s mouth in a hungry kiss. “Want to make love to me under the stars?”

“Do you even have to ask that?” He pushes me back and I run my arms around his neck.

Next week is our twentieth wedding anniversary and, still, Reed’s touch sends me to another place in my head. A place where only he and I exist.

His mouth leaves mine as he looks down at me. “I love you, my angel.”

With a smile, I say, “I love you, my prince. And I always will.”

As he takes my mouth with his, I think to myself how lucky I am to have found the man who can make me feel so amazing, and I will never let him go for the rest of my life.

And we all lived happily ever after …

The End