Page 32 of Homebody (The Long Road Home #21)

Chapter Thirty-One

D ean had to wonder if he was destined to always, always , find the worst possible messages on his cell phone when he powered it back on after landing.

Last time he’d flown he’d been plagued by texts from Lara and his mother. This time it was a bunch of texts and a voicemail from Juniper. What the hell was that about? Was Atlanta cursed for him? That thought was enough to make him stop booking flights with a layover here.

Hell, it was enough to make him ditch his phone altogether. Live like a luddite. It made him long for the olden days when a man could travel in peace without people annoying him. Damn technology.

Scowling with annoyance and an equal amount of dread, he ignored the three texts demanding he call her back and instead opened the voicemail.

He pressed the cell to his ear and Juniper’s smug voice filtered out.

“Hey, Dean. So it turns out your little girlfriend Bessie or Jessa or whatever her name is, was paid to date you. Paid! By your mother! I heard Ruby and your mom celebrating at the salon this morning, bragging about how well their plan worked. How easily she reeled you in and kept you busy while you were home. Just thought you’d like to know.

Looks like you should have hung out with me instead, huh? ”

What the hell?

Stunned, he stood right there in the middle of the concourse in Atlanta, not moving, barely able to breathe.

Of course his first thought was that Juniper was lying. But since he’d already left town with no date for his return, what motivation would Juniper have to make up such a crazy story?

Although just being mean might be enough for her.

This wouldn’t be the first time. Or even the worst lie she’d told him. Juniper pretending to be pregnant after one of the times they’d broken up took the prize for biggest and worst lie. But this…

His head spun. It couldn’t be true. Tessa had slept with him! Many times. If it was all a lie, why would she do that? It didn’t make sense.

But the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. Red and Ruby swarming him with Tessa in tow that first night at the bar. His mother’s mysterious, incessant texting during his time home, so out of character for her. As out of character as how strangely she’d been acting lately.

Tessa saying yes to that first date so quickly when she didn’t even know him…

Jeezus. Had Tessa ever liked him at all? Or was it all just an act? If it had been she deserved an Academy Award for her acting. To be able to pull that off, the woman had to be diabolical. Completely devoid of all feelings.

Thank fuck he hadn’t texted Tessa something sweet at the crack of dawn when he’d been sitting in Albany waiting for the flight to board.

Oh, he’d wanted to but it was too early and he didn’t want to wake her.

He also didn’t want to look like a needy teenage girl looking for attention and make a fool of himself.

Little did he know what a fool he’d been.

This unholy alliance between Tessa and his mother did explain how Tessa had been so cool and collected when they’d said goodbye. It wasn’t like he’d expected tears but he had thought there would be something more.

He should have known. The clues were there.

Angry. Confused. Numb, which was preferable to the pain that was going to hit when the numbness subsided, he needed to talk to somebody.

Not Tessa, that was for sure. Not his mother either. Not yet. He was too enraged. He’d end up saying something he’d regret. Definitely not his teammates.

That left one person who knew both him and Tessa. He navigated in his contacts list, tapped the screen and waited through the ringing until he heard, “Sinclair. Hey. What’s up?”

Without a hello, Dean launched right into the situation. “Tessa’s been lying to me.”

There was a moment of silence before Liam said, “Oh. You okay?”

“Am I okay? Well, let’s see. My mother paid a woman—one I truly liked—to date me.”

“Ah. Yeah. That’s a tough one. But in Tessa’s defense, she needed the money. She has some hefty grad school loans to pay back. It’ll be hard for her to work more hours or get a better job until she finishes her thesis. You okay?”

Grad school? Thesis? No. Dean was not okay. There were even more lies than he knew about. He felt like a freaking idiot.

When he could get the words out and not just sputter in anger, he said, “So now you’re telling me that she not only withheld the very critical piece of information that my mother paid her to date me, but that she’s also been hiding that she has like a frigging doctorate degree too?”

“Not a doctorate. A master’s,” Liam corrected as if that was the part of Dean’s rant that was most important. “And that’s not official until she successfully defends and submits her final approved thesis.”

Dean remained silent while mentally sorting through all the extraneous bullshit Liam had spewed. Finally, one thing became clear from their conversation. Liam had way more information than Dean and he had for some time.

“You knew?” Dean asked Liam.

“Of course. I have her CV,” Liam answered matter-of-factly.

“What the fuck is a CV?” Dean asked on a frustrated exhale.

“ Curriculum Vitae … it’s like a resume.”

Then why hadn’t Liam just said that in the first place? But that wasn’t the point.

“Fuck the CV. I’m asking if you knew she was lying to me, about everything , why didn’t you tell me?”

Liam let out a sigh. “First of all, I never imagined you didn’t know she was a grad student.

When I did figure that out, I questioned her.

Asked why you didn’t know about her studies.

That’s when she finally confessed the whole thing about your mom.

Then and there I told her she needed to tell you the truth herself. ”

“Yeah, well, Tessa didn’t tell me.” Dean scowled.

“Then how did you find out?” Liam frowned.

Fucking Juniper, that’s how. The witch who’d very obviously enjoyed every second of destroying Dean’s delusions about the woman he’d fallen for.

Dean kept the humiliating details to himself and said, “Mudville gossip chain.”

“Ahh. I really am sorry.”

“Yeah, so am I.” Dean heard the defeat in his own voice. He sounded pitiful. Unacceptable. He rallied and said, “It’s fine. Not the worst thing a woman has done to me. That’s for sure.”

“You want me to let her go?” Liam offered.

“From her job with you at the lab? No. Hell no.” As angry as he was with everyone—his mother, Juniper, Liam, and yes Tessa most of all—Dean still didn’t want to destroy her life. “I don’t want you to fire her. I’m good. Really.”

“All right,” Liam agreed.

“Look, I gotta go. My flight’s boarding,” Dean lied to get out of this humiliating call.

“All right. God’s speed, brother.”

“Yeah. Thanks.” Dean disconnected the call and held on to one hope. That this connection would be on time. He needed to get back to work. Get his mind off Tessa and this whole mess.

He shoved the cell in his pocket and headed inside the USO to lick his wounds for the two hours until his flight actually did board.

“Hello!”

Blessing the ever-helpful USO volunteer. Of course she’d be here and bubblier than ever. Great.

He nodded a greeting as he stepped up to the desk.

“Leave over? Heading back to base?” Her tone and her phrasing sounded more like a statement than a question. Like she already knew it to be fact so why did she ask?

“Yup.” He pulled the sign-in form toward him without making eye contact.

Perhaps his curt one-word answer was a clue. Or maybe she’d read his damn mind. He didn’t know, but Blessing tempered her overly cheerful demeanor. She reached out and laid her hand over his. “Dean.”

He looked up, startled as much by the touch as by her use of his name, which he hadn’t even had time to write on the sign-in sheet yet.

“Sometimes good people do… questionable things. I find it’s always best to reserve judgment until I learn the reason.”

Swallowing hard, he made the decision to not question her strange, and strangely pertinent, advice. Instead he said, “Good advice. Thanks.”

Who was he kidding? He wasn’t going to be able to sit here in the USO, chit-chatting with a bunch of strangers he had no desire to talk to while pretending he was okay.

He put the pen down and pushed the clipboard away from him. “Actually, I think I’ll go grab something to eat on the concourse before my flight.”

She nodded. “I think that’s a very good idea. The beer and burger place is nice and big and usually pretty quiet. The perfect place to sit and make a phone call.”

Again she was dead on. And again she was not so subtly telling him what to do. And once again, he wasn’t going to get into it with her.

“Thanks.” He spun and strode away, fast before she tried to read his palm or something.

He took the tram to the correct concourse, then read the overhead signs, locating the direction that would lead to his gate. He was still pouting—about life, about love, about nosy USO volunteers—when he smelled the aroma of broiling beef.

His stomach gave a rumble and he realized it wasn’t too early for lunch considering he’d been awake since zero-three-thirty. He glanced up at the restaurant to his right and, dammit, it was the beer and burger place Blessing had mentioned.

Worse, it was exactly as Blessing had described. Spacious and pretty much empty considering the early hour. Dimly lit, which would fit his mood and his need to hide away in a dark corner. A perfect place for him to sit, eat, drink a beer to calm himself, and finally make a phone call.

He walked up to the person setting up the bar. “You serving lunch yet?”

“Yes, sir. Sit anywhere.”

“Thanks.”

He chose a table in the back corner, as far away from the door, the bar and the hostess stand as he could get. His back to the wall, he waited for the server to take his order—bacon cheeseburger medium rare and a draft beer—then took out his cell.

Navigating the screen, he hit the second most recent number in his call list and waited through the ringing until he heard, “Dean, sweetie. How’s the trip been?”

“Mother. We need to talk.”