Two Of Hearts (Three Of A Kind #2) Read online

  “You know she’s gonna kill me if she finds out that I know and didn’t say anything.” He nervously ran his hand through his hair.

  “No, that’s okay. I want you to tell her, that way she’ll have time to digest it,” Carrie replied.

  “Hey, thanks again, this must be my lucky day.” He let out a deep breath.

  “Sorry Ben, but you know she’s gonna get all freaked out by this. Maybe if she hears it from you first…..you can kind of soften the blow, you know, like you did the last time you caught Jason and me in a similar situation,” Carrie pleaded.

  “Yeah, well I don’t think that’s gonna be possible this time.”

  Carrie creased her eyebrows in confusion. “Why not?”

  “Because, she’s on her way here right now. I forgot my wallet and she’s dropping it off to me.”

  She bit her bottom lip and suddenly her cool, calm demeanor disappeared. “Oh shit! I can’t deal with her right –”

  “Ben?” my dad smirked at the sound of Melanie’s voice at the front door.

  Carrie froze for a second and then hid behind me as Melanie’s footsteps came closer. Melanie’s full attention was on my dad when she entered the kitchen. “Here you go and don’t forget –” her eyes quickly shifted to Carrie. “Carrie? What are you doing over here this early in the –.” She looked over at me standing there shirtless and covered her mouth. I had never seen Melanie speechless, and it was actually quite comical to be witnessing it for the first time.

  “You okay, Melanie?” My dad laughed, waving his hand in front of her face.

  “Umm….Well…”

  “Bring back memories, Mom? Kinda like how we found out about you and Ben all those years ago.”

  “Wait…you two -?”

  Carrie took my hand in hers. “We were gonna wait to tell you guys, but I guess the cat’s out of the bag now.” Carrie smiled.

  Melanie nodded, still unable to render words.

  “Damn Carrie, if this is all it took to keep her quiet, you guys should have done this a long time ago.” My dad teased.

  Melanie playfully smacked him on the shoulder while the rest of us laughed. “You guys…I mean, I’m really happy for you, but will you be okay with this if things –”

  “That’s never going to happen, Melanie. Carrie and I have known each other for a long time and we’ve grown up a lot since then. We tried it apart, and now we know that we belong together. I mean, it’s kind of like you and my dad. You liked him in high school, you both went off and did your own thing and then finally got together.”

  She let out a loud laugh and waved her finger in the air. “Oh…no, no, no! I did not like him AT ALL in high school.”

  “Yes, you did, just admit it,” My dad murmured under his breath.

  “Well, you get what I’m trying to say. I loved Carrie all those years ago but now…I’m in love with her. I don’t know, maybe I was in love with her all along, but now it just feels right.”

  Carrie wrapped her arm around me and kissed me gently on the cheek while Melanie placed her hand over her heart. “Aww, Ben, why can’t you ever be that sweet?”

  Carrie walked over to her mom and took her hand in hers, trying to offer her some reassurance.

  “Mom, I get what you are trying to say, but Jason and I….well we’ve wanted this for a long time and now the time is right for both of us. I love him and he loves me. We know each other better than we know ourselves, and I would do or go anywhere for him. Something I wasn’t willing to do for the man that I thought I once loved. It’s just so different. I can’t explain it. ”

  She nodded and finally smiled. “I’m happy for the two of you. I really am. I’m just still trying to get over the shock.” She looked up at my dad.

  “Well, it’s been a long time coming. I’m just glad you finally told her how you were feeling.”

  “Ben Wilder! You knew about this and didn’t tell me?” Melanie exclaimed.

  “No. I didn’t know that they actually…you know. I just knew how Jason felt about Carrie.”

  Carrie looked over at me and smiled.

  “And you didn’t tell me?!” Melanie shrieked.

  He rolled his eyes. “No, because you’ve got a big mouth.”

  “I do not!”

  Carrie and I both laughed. “Mom, I love you, but you kinda do.”

  “You traitor!” She tapped Carrie on her butt. “Okay, since you’re spilling your guts. Tell me about this guy in Gia’s life.”

  I didn’t want any part of this or to be anywhere near Melanie when she found this one out. “Ummm….Dad, I’m gonna jump in the shower and then I gotta drop Carrie off.” I widened my eyes, trying my best to tell him to get while the getting was good, just in case Carrie planned on dropping that bombshell.

  He picked up on the signal right away. “Yeah, I’ll just meet you over there.”

  I nodded.

  “You know what Ben, can you just give me a ride home on the way?” Carrie was doing her best to avoid Melanie’s question.

  “Yeah, no problem.”

  “Oh no, Ben, that won’t be necessary I can give Carrie a ride home. I’m sure she has lots to tell me on the way.” Melanie smiled.

  Carrie threw her head back and let out a loud irritated breath. I felt bad for her, but in a way I was glad. At least I didn’t have to worry about locking up the breakables.

  Chapter 22

  Carrie

  I dodged my mother’s questions about Gia the best I could during the car ride home, giving her vague answers that I was hoping would suffice. I was praying that she would just drop me off and be on her way, but when she got out of the car and followed me into my apartment, I knew it wasn’t over. When she walked over to the coffeemaker and made herself a cup of coffee, I knew I was in for the long haul.

  “I’ll take a hazelnut,” I said, accepting that I wasn’t getting out of this one and was going to need caffeine.

  She prepared my coffee, fixing it just the way I liked it and made herself comfortable on the sofa. "You make the best coffee." I took a seat next to her, hoping that maybe a little flattery would work toward making her forget about the quest she was on. "So, are you really okay with this whole thing between Jason and me?" I really didn't want to go there with her again, but if it would get her mind off Gia, then I was willing to take one for the team.

  "I am. I really am. You have a spark in your eyes that I haven't seen in a while. It’s just –” She stopped herself. Now why did I actually think that I was going to get off that easy?

  “Just what, Mom?”

  “Well, I just hope that you gave yourselves time. You know, for you to get over Brett and Jason over Ashley. Not too long ago you were contemplating moving across the country with Brett and now you’re with Jason. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I would rather see you with Jason any day, I just hope that you didn’t rush into this.”

  I took a sip of my coffee preparing to strike back. “Mom, I didn’t rush into it at all. I’ve had feelings for Jason for a while now, and I’d been fighting them. The whole thing with moving and Brett, there was something that was holding me back, making me not want to go and I never knew what it was. Now I know – it was Jason.” She nodded and continued to listen intently. “I always felt this pull to him and every time he would introduce me to one of his girlfriends, I instantly disliked her. She didn’t have to do or say anything. I just felt like no one was ever good enough for him.”

  “Well, what exactly happened between him and Ashley?”

  “Ashley was a total bitch who didn’t deserve Jason at all. I just….I hate her!”

  She widened her eyes. “Tell me how you really feel, Carrie.”

  “I’m sorry, but just thinking about that girl raises my blood pressure!”

  “Well, then let’s not mention her name again.”

  “Fine by me!” I took another sip of my coffee, trying my best to form a smile.

  “Now, back to Gia….”

  “Mom, I don�
��t think it’s my place to tell you about Gia’s new man. I’m sure if he becomes a semi-permanent fixture in her life, she’ll tell you all about it. But given her track record, I doubt that’ll happen.”

  My mother shook her head. “No, I think you’re wrong about that. The last time she was here visiting, he called her and she rushed back to the city. She was planning on spending the night and we had made plans to go shopping the next day. You know Gia, she never rearranges her plans for a man, especially when shopping is involved.”

  She was right. Gia’s relationships, or whatever you wanted to call them, were always on her terms.

  “Well, what did Gia tell you about him?”

  “Not much. Just that he’s a developer. How did she meet him?”

  Why? Why? Why? Why did I have to be the one stuck answering this question? I waited until she put down her coffee cup and then moved it away from her, just in case she got any ideas about hurling it.

  “Umm…She met him at Dad’s?”

  And here we go. She stared at me blankly, creasing her forehead and lowering her jaw before taking a deep, cleansing breath. “Okay….continue.”

  “Well, that’s really it.”

  “Is he a friend of your father’s? How old is he?” I ran my hand through my hair and looked away. “Carrie, how old is he?”

  “I-I don’t know – thirtyish?” Actually closer to fortyish, but I didn’t dare say it.

  She took another deep breath and nodded. “Thirtyish, as in early thirties, mid-thirties?”

  Keep going.

  “Ummm…”

  “Don’t even tell me late thirties?” My silence gave it away. She let out a loud sigh. “Next thing you’re gonna tell me is he’s married?” I choked on the sip of coffee I had just taken. “Oh no, Carrie….don’t even!”

  “He’s…ummm separated. Gia said that he has his own place, and the wife and kids have their own.”

  Oh shit! I shouldn’t have mentioned the kids. Her eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her head. “Kids? He has kids? This just gets worse!”

  “Mom, calm down. We both know how Gia is with men and kids! And imagine this, his daughter is ten times bitchier than Gia was during her pre-teen years. This could actually be fun to watch! Think of it as a payback!” I tried my best to make her feel a little better about the situation, but it didn’t seem to be working.

  “What the hell is wrong with your father for allowing this to happen?”

  “Umm….Mom, in case you haven’t noticed, Gia is a big girl now, and Dad is not happy about this either. Just give it time, I’m sure in a few weeks he’ll be a thing of the past.”

  She threw her head back and looked up at the ceiling. “She’s a young, beautiful girl with her whole life ahead of her. Why on Earth would she want to be tied down with an older guy and his baggage?”

  I gave her a sympathetic smile and raised my eyebrow. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, he’s really hot.”

  “Oh, well, yeah….. because that’s so important.” I laughed at her sarcasm.

  “Well, look at the bright side. You and Ben will have a lot in common with him, after all, he’s a lot closer to your age than Gia’s”

  I couldn’t hold back my laughter at the look on her face. She picked up one of the pillows from the couch and tossed it at me. “Brat!” she shouted.

  ***

  Jason

  “And we are done!” My dad stood back and looked at the last piece of sheetrock that we had hung. “Thanks for all your help, buddy.”

  “You’re welcome. But I wouldn’t be in such a hurry to head home, if Carrie told Melanie what she was fishing for, I think you’re going to get an earful.”

  He rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Why? What’s up with this guy?”

  I gave my dad all of the details about Gia’s new man. Sparing him the description of his anatomy that Gia had so freely shared with me. “Oh, boy. Hopefully Carrie didn’t tell her everything.” He gathered up his tools. “She can finally stop ragging about Brett, now that she has someone new to move on to.”

  “She didn’t like Brett?”

  “There was just always something that she didn’t like about him. Then when he was trying to get Carrie to move, that was cause for her to dislike him even more.” I nodded and helped him clean up. “Guess you’re lucky she likes you,” he teased.

  “Yeah, well, I guess she was right about Brett all along. I never thought he would do that to Carrie.” He nodded, seemingly having the same opinion. “I don’t know, maybe that’s a common thing with guys, but I would never be able to do that to a girl. I just feel like trust is the most important thing you can have in a relationship. If you can’t be honest with the person you’re with, then why bother?”

  “Hey, I did raise you right after all.”

  “Well, Mom gets some of the credit for that too. She says I get my sensitive side from her.”

  “Well, wherever you get it from, I’m proud of you, Jas, and I’m glad you’re finally happy.”

  “I really am. For the first time ever, I feel like I’m with the person that I want to spend the rest of my life with. Yesterday, I spent the day with her and her little brother. She’s just….you should see her with him. The whole time I kept thinking what it would be like to have her be the mother of my kids. Is that crazy?”

  “No, but you’ve got lots of time for kids, Jason. Don’t rush things.”

  “I know. It’s just….Carrie brings out all these feelings in me that I never felt with any other girl.”

  He smiled and continued cleaning up. “Well, then stop talking and let’s get to cleaning up, because I know you’d much rather be hanging out with her than me.”

  “Nah, that’s not true, Dad, you know I love hanging with you, too.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m not as pretty.”

  I let out a loud chuckle. “That you are not.”

  ***

  “Hey, you!” Carrie looked up from her laptop and was grinning from ear to ear when I walked through her apartment door. “You smell awful good for doing manual labor all day,” she said as I took a seat on the couch next to her.

  “Oh, I stopped home and took a quick shower. Trust me, you would not want to be this close to me now if I hadn’t.”

  “I think I still would want to be.” She placed her laptop on the coffee table and inched closer to me. “I would still want you no matter how stinky you were.”

  I pushed her hair from her face and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. My hands moved up her shirt, and she pulled me down on the couch. Her phone began to ring just as I was unhooking her bra and I was hoping she would just ignore it. “Hold that thought.” She looked at me apologetically. “Gia is supposed to be calling me to let me know if she got the part she auditioned for.” She raised her head and reached for her phone on the table, seeming a little rattled when she looked at the Caller ID. Throwing the phone back on the table, she grabbed my face into her hands and tried to pull it together, but she wasn’t fooling me.

  “Carrie, who was that?”

  “Who was what?”

  “Who just called?”

  “Brett,” she replied, letting out a deep sigh.

  I sat up and so did she. We never really discussed Brett after that day in Houston. I hadn’t heard from him, which didn’t surprise me, but I wasn’t sure if he had tried getting in touch with Carrie.

  “Have you talked to him since…..”

  She quickly shook her head. “No. I texted him and told him I wasn’t ready to talk, but you know what Jason? I don’t really care now. The way I look at it is, he did me a favor by cheating on me. I mean let’s face it, if he hadn’t, we would’ve broken up anyway because I wasn’t planning on marrying him, you and he would still be friends, which means you and I wouldn’t be together right now, and you would’ve probably been pissed at me for turning your best friend down. So, you see, everything happens for a reason. So, maybe I should be thanking him.”

 
I’d never really thought of it that way. In a way she was right and in a way she was wrong. I wouldn’t have been pissed at her for turning him down. Would I have been able to cross that line with Carrie and jeopardize my friendship? Deep down inside, I knew that part of the reason I was bothered by that phone call was because I was a little jealous.

  Carrie grabbed my hand and moved it up to her lips. “Hey, whatever you’re thinking…..don’t.” I stared at her, wondering how she could read my thoughts so well. “I love you. It’s always been you, Jas. Now, bring those sexy lips over here and kiss me.”

  Chapter 23

  Carrie

  How I had wished that Jason worked a regular nine to five, Monday through Friday job so we could be on the same schedule. It made our time together very limited, with him working mostly midnights and then going in for some day shifts for overtime, but we were making the most of the time that we did have. After two weeks of our work schedules clashing, we were finally spending a whole weekend together, heading up to Connecticut for his little sister’s sweet sixteen party.

  Jason had worked all night but still insisted on driving the two and a half hours to his mother’s house. “Jason, you really need to lie down and get some sleep when we get there.”

  “I’m fine, Carrie.”

  “Hey, why are you getting off at this exit? I thought your mom’s house was the next one.”

  He looked over at me and smiled.

  “Jas? What are you doing?” I asked when we pulled up to an elegant waterfront inn.

  “I’m going to get some sleep and you’re going to get some with me.”

  “But, I thought we were staying at your mom’s?”

  He leaned over and kissed me. “You thought wrong.”

  “Jason, this place is probably outrageously priced. You –”

  “Carrie, be quiet. I’ve got it all under control.” We grabbed our bags, got out of the car and headed inside. I looked around the huge lobby and cringed, thinking about how much this place must be costing him. It was beyond beautiful, from the elaborate chandelier hanging overhead to the antique furniture, no detail had been overlooked.