The Denver Cereal Read online

  “Money makes the world work,” Jill said.

  “Not really,” Jacob said. “Come on. I promised no hanky-panky on our non-date. You need to rest. Tomorrow is going to be another long day. Let’s just rest for a while. I can take the couch . . .”

  “I don’t mind if we share a bed,” Jill said.

  Jacob nodded. “Bathroom?”

  Jill shook her head. He took her hand and held the covers for her. He went into his closet to change into another white T-shirt and slipped into the bed next Jill. When he held his arm out to her, she snuggled against him.

  “I guess I made a fool of myself,” Jill said.

  “Welcome to the club.” Jacob chuckled.

  “How did you get so much money if you don’t care about it at all?”

  “Oh, Jill, that’s a long, complicated answer and you’re exhausted. Let’s save some excitement for our second non-date.”

  Jill stretched up to kiss him.

  Snuggled together, their lips began a gentle exploration of each other’s mouth and tongue. When Jacob moved to kiss her face, he found her cheeks wet with tears. Pulling back to look at her, he saw that she was crying.

  “What is it?” he whispered.

  “I just feel really sad,” Jill said. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

  Jacob pulled her tighter into his arms. Tucked against his chest, Jill began to sob. He stroked her back and head until her emotional storm abated.

  “Your shirt is drenched,” she said.

  “Easy remedy,” Jacob said.

  He gave her a tissue for her nose and pulled off his shirt. She tucked herself against him and fell sound asleep.

  “I love you, Jill,” he whispered.

  She stirred with his words, opened and shut her eyes. He smiled. Closing his eyes, he fell into a blissful sleep.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Jacob woke to the sound of his Blackberry buzzing. Someone had sent him a text. Jacob shifted his shoulder and Jill rolled over. The clock read 3:07 in glowing red numbers. The site managers start up at five, so it couldn’t be work. He lay back against the bed.

  The Blackberry continued its persistent buzz.

  Someone needed his attention.

  Slipping from the bed, Jacob crept across his apartment. He dug around in his laptop case until he found his vibrating phone. Looking at the face, he saw the same text repeated three times.

  “Where the fuck is my sister?”

  Mike.

  “She’s asleep,” Jacob texted back.

  “Stupid fucker,” Mike texted.

  Hoping to not wake Jill, Jacob slipped out of the apartment. He had just reached the bottom of the stairs when Mike pounded on the door. Jacob opened the door.

  Mike hit him like a ton of bricks. Jacob stepped aside, redirecting Mike’s energy, and Mike fell forward.

  “I cannot believe you would take advantage of my sister when she is vulnerable.”

  Mike took a swing at Jacob, which Jacob easily avoided.

  “You done?” Jacob asked.

  “No.”

  Mike shifted to throw Jacob over his hip, but Jacob defended his position. The men stood in the small landing looking at each other.

  “You want me to be with your sister. You’ve said that over and over again,” Jacob said. “Plus, nothing happened.”

  “Then why don’t you have any clothes on?” Mike was mad but calming down.

  “She cried on my T-shirt. I took it off because it was soaked,” Jacob said. “Besides, who are you? The morality police?”

  “As far as my baby sister is concerned, asshole.”

  “I’ve never come after you about my sister. And she was fourteen years old!”

  “Fifteen. But I was only seventeen.” Mike grinned. “I love Val. You know that.”

  “I love Jill. You know that. So what’s the problem?”

  Mike looked at his boots for a moment, and then shrugged. “Breakfast?”

  “Sure,” Jacob said.

  Jacob pointed to the door that connected the attic stairwell to the house. Mike nodded.

  “Val’s here,” Jacob said as Mike passed through the door. Mike stopped walking.

  “What? Why?”

  “She said she didn’t want me to have all the fun. Tomorrow’s the step-whore’s prenuptial meeting.” Jacob put his hand on Mike’s back. “Cereal?”

  Mike nodded. They went through the darkened house to the original kitchen. Even though Jacob had installed small kitchens in the apartments, everyone used the main kitchen. Jacob pulled cereal boxes from the cabinet and retrieved the Royal Crest milk from the refrigerator. Mike ate a bowl of Cap’n Crunch before saying anything else.

  “Trevor came to the hospital,” Mike said. “He made a huge-ass fuss. I guess he saw something on the news and put two and two together. He rushed into Katy’s room, saying this proved that Jill was an unfit mother. I guess he was all but foaming at the mouth. That crazy fucker tried to take Katy from the hospital. He said he was going to kill Jill for putting his daughter in harm’s way.”

  Mike poured another bowl of cereal.

  “Katy took one look at her father and started screaming in horror. I . . .” Mike shook his head and poured milk on his cereal. “Did Val mention me? I mean, do you think I should call her?”

  “You and Val have a complicated relationship. If you want to call her, I know she’d like to see you.”

  “Then why didn’t she tell me she was coming?”

  “A very good question to ask Valerie. If it helps, she didn’t call, email or text me either.” Jacob shrugged.

  “I drove this bachelor party tonight. Stupid fuckers. They picked up hookers for blow jobs all around. While his wasted friends cheered him on, the groom screwed some girl in the alley behind Vinyl,” Mike said. “All I could think was why does this jerk deserve to be married?”

  “You and Val will work it out eventually,” Jacob said.

  “God, I hope so,” Mike said.

  “You were telling me about Trevor?”

  “How did you know he would show?”

  “I just figured it would happen. Who was there?”

  Jacob had asked his midnight hockey team to keep an eye on Katy in case Trevor showed up. Mike set up a schedule so someone was there at all times.

  “Colin.”

  Mike smirked.

  “What?” Jacob asked.

  “Colin beat the crap out of Trevor when Trevor was in high school.”

  Jacob raised his eyebrows. “What?”

  “Colin’s little sister is about four years older than Trevor and Jill. Trevor started really hassling Erin. I mean, Colin’s what six-four, six-five? Erin’s not even five feet. She’s tiny — smaller than Jill, even. Colin was home on leave before he went into Special Forces. He went to pick up Erin at school and saw Trevor pawing at Erin. Colin isn’t known for his restraint, especially when it comes to his sisters.

  “So Trevor’s there ranting and raving about how he’s going to take Katy, minus the hospital bill, of course. Colin took one look at Trevor and laughed. You know all those Hargreaveses are fucking nuts. I guess he tossed Trevor onto the sidewalk,” Mike laughed. “Trevor was so freaked he scrambled away.”

  “He told Colin that he was going to find Jill,” Mike said. “I had just dropped the assholes off at the bride-to-be’s house when Colin called. I found Trevor trying to get into Jill’s apartment.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I called the cops. But then I couldn’t find Jill and . . . I guess I went a little nuts.” Pointing his spoon at Jacob, Mike said, “You should be glad I’m not Colin.”

  “So noted. I do have a black belt in Brazilian jujitsu.”

  “Well, big whoop-de-fucking-do. They teach everybody that in the military. Colin’s like an expert in every martial art.” Mike shrugged. “Sorry, man.”

  “It’s not a problem,” Jacob said.

  “Why’d you bring her here?” Mike asked.

 
“She didn’t want to go home. She said it would be too hard to be around Katy’s things. She was freaked enough about money, so I didn’t want to check us into the Adam’s Mark. Plus, Scooter and Sarah are here.”

  “She saw Scooter?” Mike asked.

  “The dogs were really what she needed.” Jacob nodded. “She played with them for a while and then took a shower. She’s exhausted. What a horrible day.”

  Jacob looked up from his cereal when Mike didn’t respond. Mike’s face was completely blank. Jacob turned to see what Mike was looking at.

  Valerie.

  Val’s dark hair hung in waves over the spaghetti straps of her silk shorty. She beckoned Mike with her hand. Like a man in a trance, Mike stood up from the table and walked to Valerie. Jacob was just closing the door when Valerie giggled and squealed.

  Guess Valerie and Mike are “on” again.

  After cleaning up their cereal, Jacob went back upstairs to his apartment. Jill stirred when he came in but fell right back to sleep. Sarah had taken his side of the bed. Rather than fight the dog, he went to the table to work. He needed to clear his day so he could be available for Jill.

  One last glance at Jill and he set to work.

  CHAPTER TEN

  One step forward

  Mike slipped Val’s long hair over her shoulder so he could caress her back. He was sitting behind her in the big bathtub tucked against a glass-block window to the Castle’s backyard garden. Her elbows wrapped around his knees. The light from the setting moon danced against the wavy glass.

  “Are you going to ask me for a divorce?” Mike asked.

  Valerie turned to look at him. Her motion in the warm water caused her breast to float into Mike’s hand. He smiled. Unable to risk looking at her face, his eyes focused on the beautiful nipple rising to his touch.

  “No,” Valerie said. “I was going to ask you if you’d like to make a go of being married.”

  Mike’s head jerked up in surprise.

  “I’ve tried to love without you. I’m incapable of loving anyone other than you, Michael Roper. And too terrified to let myself just love you.”

  Mike nodded.

  “Say something,” Valerie whispered.

  “I’m afraid if I say anything you’ll change your mind,” Mike said.

  She turned and leaned back against him.

  “What about this Wes guy?” Mike asked.

  “I had this dream . . . I . . . I saw Mom. She was knitting this beautiful golden blanket. When I got closer, I saw that every strand of the blanket was one of the people she loved — me, you, Jake, Jill, Delphie, even Dad. The sun surrounded her in a hazy, warm light. She smiled at me and . . . When I woke up . . . I guess it was yesterday . . . I realized that I only want to be with you. I think about you all the time, every day, almost every minute of every day. I . . .”

  “I think about you all the time too,” Mike said. “Is this guy gay?”

  Valerie laughed. “You mean, am I back because my fiancé is gay? No. I’m back because I want to be with you.”

  “I heard that . . .”

  “What?”

  “That you have a movie coming out on Friday. You told TMZ you were going home to your husband to generate press for the movie,” Mike said. “Candy watches Entertainment Tonight for me when I’m working. I . . . It’s the only way I get to hear about you every day.”

  “I don’t know why I said that. It just came out,” Valerie whispered. She shook her head, “I . . . I’m sorry. I’ve really hurt you. I . . . I don’t have any excuse . . .”

  “I’m sorry for everything. I never should have left you. I regret it every single day,” Mike said. “I can’t imagine what it was like for you. You lost your family and then me . . . To lose your mom . . .”

  “It was the baby that really did me in.”

  “What baby?”

  “Before I tell you, I want you to be clear: I left Wes. I left the ring, the beach condo, everything. I don’t want to be with him. Tomorrow, Wes is going to say he loved me enough to encourage me to sort out my life. My publicist talked him into it as a way for him to save face. He can be vicious if he’s humiliated.”

  “But that’s not true?”

  “No, that’s not true. I left him a note saying I was leaving. I don’t know why I said that at the airport. It’s like my soul spoke the truth — I wanted to come home to my husband,” Valerie said. “I was just one of Wes’s women, one in a long line of trophy brides.”

  “Why would you want that?” Mike asked. His voice held hurt and confusion.

  “It’s safe. I don’t have to risk . . .”

  “Losing again.” Mike finished her sentence. He settled her back against him and kissed her head.

  “I want to be here with you. This is my choice and my choice alone. It’s been a long time since I’ve made my own choice . . . It feels good . . . right.”

  “What about the meeting tomorrow?” Mike asked. “Jake said you have a . . .”

  “The meeting got me off my ass yesterday. I’ve wanted to come a million times, a billion times. I’ve wanted to beg you like I did when we were kids. I just never had the courage.”

  “And now?”

  “I want to see if we can make it work. I mean . . . if you . . .”

  “There’s nothing in this world I want more than to be your husband every single day,” Mike said. “But Val, what baby? How . . .?”

  He didn’t know how to ask the question. He knew she wasn’t pregnant with his child.

  Valerie turned again to look at him. He looked away when her eyes filled with tears.

  “We were pregnant — you and me. I didn’t tell you because I wanted to be sure. Remember you asked me if my breasts were bigger or if I’d gained weight?”

  Mike nodded. “Your body changed. I could see it in the photos.”

  “Couple days after Mom died, I lost the baby.”

  “Oh, Val,” Mike said. He gathered her close. She nestled her head on his shoulder. “Oh God . . .”

  For the first time since that awful month in Hollywood, Mike cried. Lying together in the bath, he cried for himself and her. He cried for their baby. Then in jerky unplanned sentences, he told her about the days and nights he was dead to the world.

  When the bath water cooled, they migrated to soft blankets in front of the fireplace. With his head on her lap, he told her about the one thing that got him through — the unbreakable love in his heart for Valerie, for her.

  When the sun peaked over the horizon, Mike slipped Val’s original wedding ring from her right hand. His eyes held the question, which she answered with a nod. He slipped the ring where it belonged, on her left ring finger.

  And they began again.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Jill woke when the early morning light hit her eyes. Stretching in Jacob’s comfortable bed, she smiled. The sheets smelled like Jacob. She turned toward the warm body next to her to find Sarah. Sarah licked her face and Jill laughed. Hearing the odd sound that woke her, she sat up to see what was going on.

  She wandered across the open loft toward the sound. Passing the sagging couch, she saw Jacob sitting at his round dining table. Wearing only his white boxer briefs, he spoke quietly into a Bluetooth device connected to a cell phone. He was also texting someone on his Blackberry. The sound that had woken her was his fingers blazing across his Blackberry keys.

  Unsure of what to do, she stopped walking. Her eyes darted across his muscular legs, flat belly, and round, muscular shoulders. Her hand moved instinctivey to hold the rising heat in her belly while her eyes settled on the dark line of hair that ran like an arrow from his belly button. In that moment, Jill noticed something she hadn’t allowed herself to see.

  Jacob was a hunk!

  Embarrassed, she turned to go back to bed when Jacob smiled and winked at her. She smiled at his greeting. She waved her hands to indicate she didn’t want to interrupt. But Jacob walked over to he
r. Without breaking the conversation, he kissed her lips and hugged her.

  “Good morning,” he murmured.

  She sighed. She melted into his embrace.

  “Okay, you know where to find me if you need me,” Jacob said. “Right. I’ll be there.”

  Jill moved to step away from him, but he held her in place.

  “Thanks,” Jacob said. He pulled the earpiece from his ear and tossed it onto the table. Returning his attention to Jill, he said, “How are you feeling?”

  “Really good,” she said. “You’re a balm for any insomnia.”

  “I’m glad. Katy is doing very well. They’ll release her to our care this morning. Rest, quiet, stuff like that. I was able to cancel most of my day, but I have to attend a meeting at eight-thirty. I shouldn’t be too long, but I have to go,” he said. “I thought Mike could take you to the hospital. That way, you can be there when Katy wakes up. I’ll come and get you when I’m done. Will that work?”

  “I know you have a company to run,” she said.

  “Help my father run,” he said. He kissed her nose. “The company runs itself. I mostly run interference for my father. That’s what the meeting this morning is about — one of my father’s messes.”

  Jill smiled. “I’ve never been with anyone who had a job, so I don’t really . . .”

  Jacob laughed.

  “How about some cereal?” Jacob asked.

  “I understand it’s the house specialty,” she said. “Crunch Berries?”

  “Mike finished them yesterday. I was going to get more at Walgreens but I talked to the pharmacist for too long. I can go right now.”

  Jill shook her head. Wandering to the table, she saw Jacob’s Blackberry vibrate. She flushed with guilt. She shouldn’t distract this important man.

  “You have a phone call,” she said.

  “I also have an assistant. If anyone really needs me, they text,” he said. Jacob pulled the boxes from the cabinet. “Would you like me to get some Crunch Berries or can you choose something from my vast selection?”

  Jill’s pierced brow relaxed. She laughed. “I love cereal.”

  “See! I knew you were a girl with taste.”

  “What are you working on?” Jill asked. “Oh, I probably shouldn’t ask.”

  “No, it’s okay. We have a group that estimates jobs. They estimate what we’ll spend down to the gallon of gasoline, what company resources will be required, and how much we’ll make from each project. It’s a hard job — really hard. We have some talented people who keep us in business.”

  Jacob sat down in his chair. He turned the laptop for Jill to see.