Page 11 of Nothing to This (Nothing to… #8)

“So you didn’t have sex?” Brenna asked.

“No,” she said, rearranging her salad.

It probably tasted great, she just couldn’t get excited about it. Food was the furthest thing from her mind.

Usually, she looked forward to her time with Brenna. They ate lunch together several times a week. Without Brenna as an outlet, insanity was a real possibility.

“Did you want to have sex?” Brenna asked. “Did you… you know?”

Trying to figure out her friend, she frowned. “Did I what?”

Brenna shrugged. “I don’t know, do whatever you do to get a penis interested.”

Trust Brenna to make her laugh in a melancholy moment. “Get a penis interested? You’re asking if I tried to initiate sex? No, I didn’t.”

“Why not?”

“Do you have sex with Lotta every time you share a bed?”

Shaking her head, Brenna caught some dressing as it dripped from a salad leaf. “That’s different. Lotta and I live together. We share a bed every night. You and Baxter only see each other every two weeks.”

“We see each other more than that.” Sometimes. Rarely. “We go for dinner if the twins are with you or your mom.”

“And you’ll be able to see each other more now Jamie is in town… Do you want to go apartment hunting tomorrow?”

“You moving?”

“No. My brother can keep the kids, freeing us up. I say we go for a penthouse, a duplex maybe. How many kids do you want? You’ll want at least four, right?”

“What’s wrong with the two I have?” she asked, enjoying her salad a little more. “I’m not ready to trade them in yet.”

“You might lose them to JD.”

That stopped all thoughts in their tracks. “Why would you say that?” Panic was inevitable. “What’s he said?”

“I meant their affection,” Brenna said, reaching over to pat her hand. “He’d never take custody from you. You’re an amazing mommy.”

She relaxed. “He’s had their affection since they first blinked up at him in the hospital. He’ll always be their number one, I admitted that to myself years ago.”

“And you have his, so I guess it balances out.”

“What is your obsession with JD and me?”

Brenna put down her fork. “Oh, come on, he comes back into town without telling me or Mom and suddenly you’re living together?”

“What do you think is going on? I’m with Baxter,” she said. “JD knows it. We’re figuring out how to co-parent, that’s it.”

“That’s it, hmm?”

The jeering was beginning to grate.

Leaning back, appetite gone, she pushed the plate away. “You know, he’s been back in town for two days and my life has been turned upside down. Why does everyone assume we’re going to hook up?”

“Uh, maybe because the only other time the two of you have been alone, you made babies.”

“And why am I the only one suddenly dealing with grief and harassment from every quarter?”

“Count yourself lucky that it’s suddenly. Mom’s been giving him grief and harassing him about you for five years.”

That brought her up short. “She’s what? Your mom barely mentions JD to me.”

“Because she never wanted to point out his absence. Mom is always upset with him for not making more of an effort to be present… At least she says that, but she loves having sole responsibility for them. I think she always sort of wished you two got married.” Brenna picked up her iced tea, took a long drink through the straw, then put down the tall glass. “Why didn’t you get married?”

“We don’t love each other, Bren. Why would we get married?”

“The babies.”

“You have never talked so much about your brother in the five years we’ve been friends.”

“I’ve never seen you two together for more than like ten seconds. I think I want to.”

“You’ve seen me with Baxter.”

Brenna kept eating; her expression didn’t change much, but she didn’t back down.

“Look…” Brenna said eventually. “I like Baxter, I do, and I think he’s a good-ish guy, but…”

“But…?”

“I’m never going to like him more than my own brother, am I? And if it comes down to my niece and nephew having a stepfather who they might like versus a father who we know they do like…”

As Brenna went back to eating, her gaze drifted to the front window. She’d never entertained the idea of being with JD, not on a permanent basis. He’d shown no interest in becoming a family unit, a united family unit, and she’d been happy with her routine.

These ideas were being put into her head just because he’d chosen to become more present. She had a life. She had Baxter. JD’s newest whim couldn’t change that. Couldn’t change her whole life… more than it had already.

Much as the seeds were being planted, she resolved herself not to even think about cultivating them. Not until it was clear JD was for real. How long would it take for him to prove himself?

All she kept coming back to was how complicated things were becoming, and she hated nothing more than complications.

***

On Sunday night, she couldn’t have been more ready for home.

Despite attempts to be slow and unhurried, she missed not only her children, but her usual environment as well.

Unlocking her apartment, she went inside with the sports bag she’d packed to take to Baxter’s and opened her mouth, ready to call out to her babies.

The words dammed when a blonde woman appeared from behind the hallway wall. For a score of seconds, she stood stunned in silence.

“Oh my God,” she exhaled. All the times she’d seen “hot, powerful men” stories related to JD in the media rushed through her mind’s eye. He could get a model-type beauty like this, no doubt, but as her blood boiled, it wasn’t his prowess or exposure that dominated her thoughts. “Get out.”

“Miss Hampton.”

Trying her damndest to hold on to her temper, the quiver in her voice gave a good indication of her struggle with restraint.

“Grab whatever shit you have here, leave, and don’t ever come back.”

“But Miss Hampton—”

“Get out!”

Startled by the outburst, the woman rushed past her, grabbed a purse and jacket from by the door and disappeared.

A fraction of a second later, JD came around the end of the hallway. “Ry—”

“Don’t Ry, me,” she said, dumping her bag and marching to him. “How dare you!”

Widening his stance, he folded his arms. “How dare I… what?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Jamison. I can’t believe you would do this. Either the children are at home and I’m going to rip the testicles from your body, or you palmed them off on your mother, which just proves to me what kind of father you are.”

The ease of his amusement vanished into the snap of his frown. “What kind of father I am? I’m a damn good father.”

“Because it suits you to say so? Because you think taking your dick out of the model’s pussy in time for Mommy coming home earns you some kind of reward?”

He got up close. “What the hell are you talking about? I have been nowhere near a….” Clarity slowed him, but he didn’t yield his position. “You’re talking about Anya.”

“I didn’t ask her name before I tossed her out on her ass.

You know, you have some nerve,” she hissed.

“I have been with a real, decent man, for months, and I haven’t even considered introducing him to our children, not once, because I wouldn’t do that to them.

I wouldn’t introduce someone into their lives that will one day leave them.

I don’t want my babies hurt; I don’t want them getting close to—”

“Neither do I. I don’t want you to introduce them to him.”

“So they’re at your mother’s?” she said and sighed, shaking her head as disappointment replaced anger. “I’m happy they’re safe, but really thought more of you, JD. I thought you could do this.”

He licked the glimmer of an ironic smile on his lips.

“You know, I love this hole you’re digging for yourself.

Keep going. Tell me more about what a terrible parent I am and how I’ve been screwing my mother’s housekeeper in front of our children, go on.

” She blinked. “Yeah, that’s right, Anya is my mom’s housekeeper, not a nanny, not my whore.

I’ve never touched her and the kids have known her for years. ”

“I don’t…”

“I didn’t want the place to be a mess when you got back,” he explained.

“Turns out I’m not super dad and there is a learning curve with this single parent thing, so I didn’t do it all.

I didn’t do the laundry or stack the dishwasher; I didn’t make the beds or clean up the paints.

I did feed them. I did keep them safe and entertain them.

I did ignore work and spend every waking second in their company…

and a few of the sleeping ones too because you were right, they did end up in my bed, both of them.

And you know something? I couldn’t wait to tell you how amazing it felt to wake up with them wrapped around me.

I barely got a glimmer of it on Friday morning because they were up so fast and I was disorientated, but I’ve really got to enjoy them this weekend, Rylee, and it felt better than I could’ve imagined.

” He took a step backward. “Sad thing is, I was sort of proud of myself for getting through it and enjoying it… and I actually thought you might be proud of me too.”

The kids ran around the end of the hallway as JD turned to walk away. “Mommy!” they hollered and threw themselves at her.

She crouched to hug them, unable to take her eyes from JD’s path. Oh, boy, had she overreacted. Jumping to conclusions wasn’t fair. She didn’t like hurting him. In fact, she felt sick. The sensation was similar to what it was to disappoint her kids.

Right then, they were excited and chattering, so she forced herself to smile. Their excitement rubbed off. They’d had the time of their lives and fallen deeper in love with their father, if that was possible.

Yet she’d broken his heart. He should be proud. Looking after two hyper twins, who often decided to dislike each other, wasn’t easy. She’d make it up to him… if she could figure out how.