Not Planning on You (Danvers #2)(56)
Through all of her childhood, Suzy put her heart on the line just as Beth had. She remembered how proud she’d been of a Christmas ornament that she’d made in school for her mother. She couldn’t wait to get home with it. She just knew that this would make her mother happy and she pictured her picking her up to give her a hug and a kiss. The reality had been much different. When she’d handed her mother the ornament that she’d wrapped up in notebook paper, her mother had set it aside, scolding her for interrupting her work. When she’d asked her again to just please open it, her mother had huffed and finally pulled off the paper. She’d looked down at her with her usual frown and said, ‘Suzanna, I can see why your grades are so bad, you waste all of your time on such silliness. Now go do your homework and have it finished before dinner.’
Suzy had run to her room with her heart shattered and cried until there were no tears left. That was the last time that she tried to reach out to her mother. Her heart had frozen that day and it had never truly thawed until she met Gray. She’d loved Jeff in her own way. They had a comfortable relationship and he had seemed fine with the part of her that she was able to give him. When he had cheated on her and moved out, it had shaken her. A part of her had said, ‘see there? You were right to hold back because he doesn’t want your love either.’
Gray was different, though. He plowed through every line of defense that she had and refused to let her put her barriers back up. She’d managed fairly well while he had been based in Charleston, but she knew that it was all over the minute she found out he was moving to Myrtle Beach. She was helpless to hold back with him. He saw a part of her that no one other than Claire had. Her heart was his and she didn’t know how she’d recover if he broke it.
“Youuuuu whoooo, Suzy, helloooo. I’ve been calling and calling you. You’re not barbequing alone in there, are you?”
Suzy jumped at the sound of Nick’s voice on the other side of the door. With a roll of her eyes, Suzy yelled back through the door, “What’re you talking about, barbequing alone?”
“You know, the two finger twirl, the solo mambo, the five finger shuffle.”
Suzy jerked the door open and clapped her hand over his mouth. “Oh geez, please stop. You’re such a pervert. If I was doing any of the above, which I wasn’t, you would be the last one to know.”
Nick threw an arm around her shoulders and said, “We’re all family here, babe, no need to be embarrassed.”
Just when Suzy was trying to figure out how to use her cast to trip him, Beth walked in from the deck asking, “What’s taking you guys so long, the pizza is getting cold.”
With a chuckle, Nick said, “Your sister was, um, exploring her feminine side and it took me a few minutes to tear her away.”
At Beth’s confused look, Suzy buried her elbow in his ribs and enjoyed his moan of pain as she walked away from him. Beth had opened a bottle of wine and set the table. When Suzy bit into her slice of pepperoni pizza, she closed her eyes in bliss as the vibrant flavors exploded in her mouth. This would be a perfect evening if Gray was here. She’d love to have him beside her looking out over the ocean sipping a glass of wine. Instead she was here with Nick and Beth and he was somewhere having dinner with Reva. Life had a cruel sense of humor and it truly sucked sometimes.
“Any word on when Gray will be back, sis?”
Suzy looked at Beth with a grimace. “He’s supposed to be back Friday. He wants to take me out for my birthday. Of course tonight he’s taking Reva to dinner.”
She didn’t miss the quick exchange of looks between Nick and Beth at that piece of news. Nick cleared his throat looking uncomfortable. “Suzy, don’t give up on him. I know that most women would run for the hills with something like this going on, but my brother really loves you. I still don’t believe that this is his baby.”
“It is what it is Nick, and I’m doing the best I can.”
Suzy could tell that Nick wanted to say more, but changed the subject instead. “Hey girls, lets watch a movie tonight. Whatever you two pick is fine with me.”
Suzy couldn’t resist teasing him a little. “I thought you were a ladies’ man yet here you’re home again tonight. Are the ladies here immune to your charms, Nicky? Maybe we could sign you up on one of those dating sites tonight.”
“Ha ha, you’re so funny. I’ll have you know that there is nothing wrong with the Merimon charm. Just this morning Crystal in accounting asked me out for a drink.”
Beth slammed her drink down on the table and flushed when Suzy raised an eyebrow in question. “Oh, sorry, my glass slipped.”
Both Beth and Nick seemed to be doing everything to avoid looking at each other. What in the hell was going on with these two? They had seemed to almost be friends the last few days; Suzy hoped the arguing wasn’t fixing to start back again. Maybe she should encourage Nick to go out in the evenings more to give Beth a chance for some time away from him.
Chapter Twenty
Suzy and Beth picked the movie Pretty Woman to watch and Nick reluctantly agreed. She was pretty sure he was imagining himself as Richard Gere and debating trading his mini-van in for a Lotus Esprit. That could only be a step up in her opinion. It was after ten when she finally settled into the bed. Where was Gray? He should have called by now. Surely he wasn’t still out with Reva. A stab of jealousy tore through her as she imagined the man she loved having dinner with the woman carrying his child. What had they talked about? What decisions had they made? With a tired sigh, she turned the light out and left the phone where she’d be able to hear it when Gray called.