Stormy Surrender (New Hope #1) Read online

  She took a moment to rattle off any number of things he might need a computer for, not limited to printing invoices, which she would need for the house and her taxes. To each reason, he shook his head.

  “Computers are a hassle. They are always getting viruses and needing repair. I doubt I’ll ever buy one again.” He had started washing her hands at this point and she was surprised with how gentle he was.

  With a twinkle in her eye, she retorted, “You wouldn’t have this problem if you’d lay off the porn sites.”

  He colored and stood up to look at her. “What makes you think that was the problem?”

  “Wild guess. The blush confirmed it.” She chuckled. It was funny when he did it. They weren’t together. Blaine, however, had not found her to be so forgiving. And soon after her complaint about how he was spending the money in the joint bank account, he had opened a private one that she didn’t have access to. There was never any question as to whether or not the two were connected. Why did she stay? She had been asking herself that question all day…maybe for days…or months…or years. And in the end she knew it was because she thought being lonely was superior to being alone. She thought that being married meant having a family and she desperately wanted one of those. She had tolerated everything in the hope that they would have a child to fill the void in her heart. She sighed.

  “Oh, you don’t approve of porn?” He asked with a tone that suggested he was more than a bit annoyed.

  “What do I care? I’m not dating you.” And with that, she turned her head to examine the bedroom.

  It was a bland room with cream colored walls and a bed that looked completely unappealing. There were two pillows in white pillow cases, and a gray duvet cover on the bed.

  “Where’s the feather bed?” She asked out loud without considering that it was even inappropriate.

  “What?” She could tell he was somewhat confused by the question.

  “Oh, your bed just looks…I don’t know, I just thought that someone with your reputation for being such a ladies man would have a fancier bedroom.” She stared him boldly in the face.

  “What makes you think that?” He crossed his arms in front of his chest while he waited for her response.

  “I hear things,” she said with a shrug.

  And with that, the conversation was dropped. He helped her clean up. Once the bleeding stopped, she could see that it was just as she suspected that she really didn’t even need a bandage.

  “No more demo.” He reprimanded.

  “Fine,” she said, stomping out of the bathroom. “What am I supposed to do now?”

  “What do you mean? Go shopping. Go have a late breakfast. Go play in the street. I don’t care; just get off my job site. You are a hazard and a menace.”

  “Do you talk to all your homeowners this way?” Her hands were on her hips and her voice was raised. “This is my house. And I’m paying you and your crew to do a job. I am literally hemorrhaging money, staying at Hope House. I just want some kind of normal. I want running water and a roof over my head. I want a working toilet. I want to move in before I lose my nerve.” She sank down on the edge of his bed. “Although I don’t know where I would go anymore anyway.” She sighed. “Give me a time frame, Joe. Give me something. Right now…I need something to hold onto.”

  She was looking up at him with those sad chocolate brown eyes and it was melting his heart. He knew she didn’t mean to be in the way. He knew she had something going on that she wasn’t ready to talk about. And he knew that without a home or friends or a job, New Hope could be a pretty lonely place. He knew because he had experienced it himself when he first moved into his father’s house.

  He hadn’t always fit in. She was adapting much better than he had. She had Keely and apparently Laurel. And he had moved into a home that had essentially been the home of the local recluse. After his third marriage went belly up, his father had opted to stay away from people. He didn’t speak to his neighbors. He didn’t give out candy at Halloween. He didn’t decorate for holidays or participate in the town activities. When Joe moved in, the quiet was a welcome change from the life he had in Charlotte. Instead of women knocking at all hours of the day and night and an endless string of weekend parties, he stayed in. He cleaned out. He sold what was salvageable and threw out the rest.

  Soon he discovered that he was living in the shell of a house and felt like a shell of a man. That emptiness that settled in when he had finally walked away from Finn…it still hadn’t gone. Sure, he had tried to fill it with other women. And that helped him forget in the moment, but when it was over, when he was alone once more, he felt worse than before. Now he looked down at Marti, sitting on his bed. He was used to that being the only invitation he needed, but he could never…never with her. They would have to overcome their loneliness some other way.

  “Let’s see what the plumber and the electrician say. They may need days. And as soon as that’s done, we’ll get at least the downstairs bathroom done. We’ll have water and electric in the kitchen. We’ll make it livable. I’m thinking that you can move in a week from now. The house won’t be finished, but you will have your space again.” He squatted before her and gazed at her face. She was avoiding eye contact, but he wasn’t going to give her that option. He lifted her chin, forced her to look at him. “Got it? A week. Maybe less if you stay out from under foot and stop getting into trouble.”

  She smirked a little. He wasn’t trying to hurt her. He was almost gentle and playful. “I’ll try. I just need something to do. I’m so bored.”

  He looked at his phone. It was only late morning. “What if we go to Charlotte and pick what you want for the bathroom and kitchen? Will that keep you busy enough for today?”

  Nodding happily, she smiled as they walked out of the house and headed for his truck. He paused and spoke to the crew. And then they went on the most expensive shopping trip either one of them could ever remember.

  The next day, Marti skulked around Hope House for as long as she could stand it. She had promised not to go to the house until he gave her approval. Obviously, that wasn’t going to happen for a while. Finally, by lunch time, she couldn’t do it any longer. She left the grounds and went for a walk. Soon enough she found herself on Main Street. And then it was just a few steps to Laurel’s. She could almost taste the cupcake she was going to have after lunch.

  “Hey, Marti!” Laurel called from the kitchen. “Whatcha want today?”

  After glancing at the menu, she knew it was going to be French Onion soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. She walked over to her usual seat and only enjoyed a few moments of peace, reading a book on her iPhone when the chair across from her was pulled out.

  She looked up, expecting to find Laurel, instead Joe was scowling at her. She merely groaned and turned her attention back to the book. It was a love story. When Marti realized that might be the only way she had to escape from her own loveless relationship years ago, she had turned to romance novels. She devoured them…just about any version of them, but especially paranormal. The more she had to dream and imagine the better. She had just about settled into a Christine Feehan novel…how she loved those Carpathians…when he was peering over the edge of her iPhone, trying to see what she was reading.

  “What?” She asked without even trying to hide the irritation in her voice. She was banished from her house and he was walking around without an ounce of guilt.

  “I just wanted to know what you were doing.” He leaned back in his chair and suddenly remembered that they were always being watched. He’d have to start carrying his own Texas Pete if he wasn’t careful. “Honestly, you could try being nice.”

  She glared at him. “I could try being nice? You kicked me out of my house.”

  “You keep messing everything up and slowing us down!” He leaned over the table at her.

  “Yeah, well, it’s my house!” She crossed her arms over her chest like she had seen him do so many times and leaned toward him, too. Suddenly, he licked
his lips. She flew back in her seat. She still remembered that kiss. She didn’t want to, either. Nope. She’d rather have a repeat performance. She sighed.

  “Backing down? Good.” He leaned back with a self-satisfied look.

  She set her phone down and said honestly, “I’m just bored. I have nothing to do. And I want to have the pride that comes from being able to show people around the house one day and say, ‘yup, I laid that tile, and I painted that wall.’ Only because of you, I can’t do that.”

  He threw his hands up in the air. “I give up. You want to lay tile?” A smile spread across her face. “Fine. We will lay tile. We will even lay tile tonight if you’d like. I can’t have you there during the day distracting the guys. Meet me later.”

  She smiled and picked up her phone. “I guess you aren’t as sick of me as you thought.”

  He glanced over and saw Laurel eyeing them. His hot sauce was on the line. He could feel it. And he wouldn’t be able to even buy a cookie again if he wasn’t careful. Still, he refused to let her think that he missed her. “Are you insane? Today was pleasant. It was wonderful. There was no drama. I was able to go to work and relax for the first time since you came to town. In a perfect world, I’d have been able to enjoy a nice quiet lunch, too, but instead…you’re like kudzu!”

  “The website?” She asked, confused.

  “There’s a website?” He shook his head. “NO, not the website. Kudzu the plant. Why would I know about a website?”

  She shrugged. “Good point. It isn’t porn.” She started to turn her attention back to her reading when a thought occurred to her. “So, what’s kudzu?”

  “It’s this weed, this deceptively attractive weed.” He was breathing harder from frustration.

  “Oh, so I’m deceptively attractive.” And she smirked and looked down again.

  He grabbed his head in frustration. She had to be doing this on purpose. It was hard to believe that upsetting him this much simply came naturally to her. “No, the thing about kudzu is that it looks beautiful…”

  She smirked. “I think we covered that part.”

  “You aren’t letting me finish!” He nearly growled. And the more upset he was the happier it made her.

  “Carry on. I think you left off at beautiful weed…”

  He made a motion like he wanted to choke her when Laurel brought their food over. She raised an eyebrow at him in warning. “And that is how you choke a chicken,” he said as he dropped his hands. Laurel gave him five packets of Texas Pete. He looked at them. He looked at Laurel. “Now what am I supposed to do with this? Really? No bottle?”

  She leaned to within an inch of his face and said seriously. “You are lucky we had fries. We were almost out of those, too.” Then she turned on her heels and stomped back to the kitchen.

  Marti laughed and took a bite of her grilled cheese sandwich. “Kudzu?” She asked with a giggle.

  “It chokes everything else out,” he said quietly. “It looks cool and then it kills the trees, the grass, and all the other vegetation. They can’t get any sunlight. And they just…die.” He picked up a cold and crusty chicken finger. “Really?”

  “So, I’m stealing your sun?” She raised an eyebrow at him.

  “No, you’re choking me out. You’re killing me.” He pushed the basket away from him. There weren’t even close to enough Texas Pete packets to make that meal edible. He stood and grabbed for his wallet, threw some money on the table and started to walk away.

  “See you tonight for tiling?” She asked as he sulked past her.

  He paused. It was like she had heard nothing he had said. And then he saw the smile on her face. She knew what she was doing. He might just hate her. “Fine,” he said quietly.

  “No lunch?” She asked as she savored every bite of the thick slabs of homemade bread cooked to golden brown melted cheesy perfection.

  “I’m not hungry anymore,” he said simply and then left.

  He wasn’t feeling nearly as cranky as he was at lunch by the time they met to lay tile. The nap hadn’t hurt. And seeing Marti looking so excited helped more than he cared to admit. She met him on the porch where he was smoking a cigarette while working on his phone. It had taken her seconds to pull in and jump out of her vehicle. Her pony tail was bouncing behind her. In the past, he would have viewed someone like Marti as plain, but now after years of experience, she looked natural and fresh to him. It was a welcome change from having someone high maintenance around.

  Joe brought her into the bathroom to show her the progress thus far. He proudly pointed out that there was a new sturdy sub-floor. He showed her how close they really were to having a functional room.

  All she saw was that there was already tile on the walls and in the shower surround. “Hey!” She complained. “I thought we were doing tile! I thought I was helping.”

  Shaking his head he responded. “We’re doing the floor. I told the tile guy to leave us the floor. I figured that was the place we could do the least amount of damage.”

  She sighed. “Well this won’t take long. Then what am I supposed to do with the rest of my night.” She studied the floor and realized that the lines were already on the floor. “I do like the diamond pattern. Have you ever laid tile that way?”

  He shrugged. “How hard can it be? The lines are already there.” He could see that she wore an uncertain look on her face. He laughed. “Come on. This floor isn’t going to tile itself.”

  After just a few hours it was good and dark. The floor was as finished as it could be until the thin set had dried and they would be able to grout it. The grouting was a much faster process.

  She glanced at the time on her phone. “Nine o’clock,” she mourned. “Great.” And she started toward her vehicle.

  “You want to come over, sit by the bonfire, and have a drink?’ He had already walked in that direction.

  “I know I don’t have to go far, but I really shouldn’t drink and drive.” She shrugged.

  “Well, I was going to offer a hot chocolate…” He smiled at her and soon discovered that she had caught up to him and was walking companionably beside him.

  Since he had started logs and everything was stacked and ready to start the fire, he showed Marti to the kitchen to see if she could get the hot chocolate started. She had happily set to work on it. And before long there were two mugs of hot chocolate and one roaring fire with a big blanket spread out on the damp grass. He sat beside her and took one of the mugs she offered.

  “This is really nice back here,” she commented. “Have you lived here long?”

  Smirking, he said, “I can tell you are working at making conversation.” He winked at her. “This was my father’s house. I inherited it and all the problems along with it. This house was never my dream, but sometimes it’s nice to have a fallback. And I’m working on a ten year plan. Then I’m out of here.”

  “Oh,” she said, sounding surprised. “I guess not everyone comes here on purpose.”

  “Why did you come here? Lose a bet? Think that you had a shot at Mayberry? I’m baffled.” He stared closely at her while he waited for her answer.

  Marti took a deep swig of the hot chocolate. He could see that she was hesitant about sharing what was going on in that mysterious complicated mind of hers. Slowly, however, she began to open up. “Well, I had a miscarriage…”

  “Oh, I’m sorry!” If there was anyone who looked like mother material, it was her. Just something about her seemed like she was meant to have a baby riding her hip and a toddler playing around her feet. He leaned back. Where that image came from was beyond him.

  “Yes, well these things happen. Only, most of the time when these things happen, the husband is by his wife’s side, I’ve heard.” She shrugged.

  “He wasn’t?” He could feel the twitching start in his eye. It was impossible for him, as protective as he was, to imagine that there was any man who would let his wife or girlfriend go through that alone. He didn’t. Not even when it was Finn’s fault. And th
en, when it was obvious that the experience hadn’t affected her like it had him…well, then he left, but never before.

  “No. He didn’t visit or send flowers or even try to keep up appearances at the hospital he had surgical privileges at.” She sighed and drank some more of the sweet warm liquid. “I checked myself out, drove myself home, and announced when he finally returned for a moment days later that I wanted to move south.” She looked up at him and even in the dark the sadness was obvious on her face.

  “And I guess the divorce came as a shock?” He pulled her head so that it was resting on his shoulder. He leaned his head on hers and tried to offer some sense of comfort as they spoke about some of the most intimate details of their lives.

  “Losing the marriage…that doesn’t really bother me. I haven’t loved him for quite some time. I was pretty much over that before the marriage.” She cleared her throat. “I just wanted to grow up so badly. I wanted this life that I thought I was supposed to have. And a big part of that was having a baby. It’s the loss of our child that bothers me. He would have been a lousy father, but the baby was for me.”

  They were quiet for a few minutes, enjoying the crackling of the fire, the closeness that had developed between them that could only come from sharing secrets. And that’s when they heard the sirens. He heard the air brakes out in front of the house as the fire truck came to a screeching halt. He jumped up and rushed to the front yard. Marti soon followed.

  “What’s going on?” She asked, surprised.

  The firemen were hauling hoses off the truck, preparing to hook them to the nearest hydrant just one house away in front of Miss Gracie’s place. Suddenly he worried that the poor senile woman next door had started a fire. “Is everything okay?” He shouted.

  One of the firemen called from on top of the truck. “Well, Joe, we heard your house is on fire!”

  They glanced about. “My house?” He asked. And then he growled as he looked up at the window of the house next door. The blinds snapped shut the minute that he made eye contact with Miss Gracie. He looked at the firemen collected around the truck. “Sorry, guys. Looks like another false alarm. Maybe I should just call you when I decide to have a bonfire?” He chuckled and shook hands and clapped the firemen on the shoulder as they packed up to leave.