Читать книгу Unexpected Destinies - Constance Ruth Clark - Страница 12

Chapter 8

Jayne was driving to Connecticut alone. As usual, she hadn’t listened to the weather report and was now regretting it. Sheets of white blasted her windshield, swirling around her headlights in the inky blackness. She felt like she was inching along in a spaceship, the snow looking more like stars streaking past and she was having trouble seeing the road. A couple of times she’d run over the grated side of the highway, telling her she’d gone too far to the right. She’d managed to get back on the road but her head was pounding from the effort of driving in a blizzard.

Thank God she’d listened to her father and had the snow tires put on her car. She thought about the last time she’d seen him, a week ago. For such a big man he’d looked surprisingly small in the sterile hospital bed. He’d told her he was fine and not to worry, but it was hard to see him like that and not think the worst. According to her mother, they’d taken off the heart monitor this morning but they hadn’t proclaimed him out of danger yet.

She’d made the decision to come down for the weekend after speaking to her mother that morning. She’d said her father was resting comfortably now and the doctors were expecting him to make a complete recovery, but Jayne was still worried she hadn’t been told everything. Her mother told her to wait until morning before leaving but she hadn’t listened. She’d been too anxious to see her father. Now she was stuck driving in the worst snowstorm of the decade.

Slowly inching her black Mercedes along the highway, Jayne strained her eyes to see if there was sign or mile marker coming up to tell her where she was. Finally, she spotted a sign through the swirling snow and slowed even more to read it. She recognized the town as being one close to where she had grown up. She wasn’t far from the hospital. If it weren’t for this snowstorm she could have been there in less than an hour. The way things were now she’d be lucky if she made it at all. She wasn’t used to driving, much less in a blizzard since she’d been chauffeured everywhere she needed to go for the last ten years. She needed to stop and wait out the storm, but where? There weren’t any motels close by, another hazard of driving in Connecticut.

Thinking quickly she realized she knew people who lived nearby. Nick’s family. She’d become very good friends with his younger sister and parents while they’d been dating. She still kept in touch with Nicole, although it had long ago ceased to be about Nick, and more about being friends with Jayne. She was sure they wouldn’t mind if she dropped in on them in the middle of a blizzard. Jayne loved his mom, and had always thought she was a sweetheart. She couldn’t help that she had a cheater for a son.

Stopping by the side of the road carefully, her hazard lights flashing, she found their number in her iPhone. No sense trying to drive in a blizzard and talk on the phone at the same time, even with Bluetooth.

“Jayne.” Elaine Graham’s voice was warm and cheerful over the storm. “Of course you can stay here tonight. You can stay as long as you need to.” Jayne sighed with relief.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can find my way through this storm,” she told Elaine and drove carefully back onto the highway after the call ended.

Almost an hour later Jayne stopped her car in the driveway of the rambling, spacious farmhouse and said a little prayer of thanks that she’d made it. Then she grabbed her overnight case from the backseat and struggled through the storm to knock on the front door.

“Come in, dear, come in” Elaine pulled the weary girl inside and shut the door. “Oh you poor child, you look exhausted!”

“Yes, I am a little tired” Jayne admitted. “Do you have a room where I can just go and crash?”

Elaine laughed and took her coat. “Well, Nicholas isn’t here yet, and with this storm I doubt he’ll make it until tomorrow, so you can have his room for the night.”

“But...”

Sleep in Nick’s bed? She couldn’t.

“It’s really all I have right now, dear, if you want privacy. The girls and their children are everywhere else.” Elaine frowned with concern.

“Okay, as long as he never finds out,” Jayne gave in. She really was too tired to do anything else. Driving in a blizzard could wear anyone out.

“Jayne!”

“Nicole!”

The two girls hugged enthusiastically.

“It’s been ages,” Nicole said, pulling back with a smile. “I’ve missed you.”

“Me too,” Jayne admitted. Nicole was the one person in the world who she had always felt she could be herself around. No matter how famous she might get or how many celebrities she knew, Nicole had a way of bringing her down to earth again and reminding her of her roots.

“We have so much to catch up on. Thank goodness the girls are asleep and we can talk. Let me take you up,” Nicole offered and Jayne followed her up the stairs and into Nick’s bedroom.

Jayne put her suitcase down, and Nicole showed her the adjoining bathroom.

“There are fresh towels too,” Nicole said, pulling them out of the linen closet in the hall. “Let me know if you need anything else.” Setting them out on the bathroom sink, she led Jayne back into the bedroom and sat on the bed with a little bounce. “Now come over here and let’s catch up. I’m dying to hear about your photo shoot with Jack Black.”

Laughing at the memory, Jayne sat next to her friend on the bed, forgetting for a moment just whose bed it was.

“Is he really that funny in person, or does he save it all for the stage?”

“Oh he doesn’t save it,” Jayne said. “He’s a sweetie, but I almost peed my pants laughing at his antics!”

An hour later Nicole left Jayne alone to get ready for bed. She’d almost fallen asleep while they were talking, and couldn’t hide her large yawns.

“Good night, Jayne,” Nicole said getting up with a grin. “I’ll see you in the morning and we can finish catching up then.”

“Good night.” Jayne grinned back as Nicole closed the door behind her.

Ten minutes later Jayne sighed with pleasure as hot water ran over her tired body. It felt good to take a shower after all those long hours cramped inside her car. Turning off the water, she stepped into a thick terrycloth towel and dried off. Running a comb through her wet hair, she towel-dried it and then left it to dry. She’d worry about it tomorrow. Right now, she just wanted to sleep.

In Nicholas’ room, she dropped the towel and put on her emerald green satin lingerie gown, which barely reached her knees. She’d planned to stay in a hotel nearby the hospital, and hadn’t expected to be around company when she’d impulsively packed for this trip. Now she wished she had brought something a little more modest to wear. She would have a hard enough time not thinking about him as it was, especially after seeing him at the Vanessa’s Closet show a few weeks earlier. She had tried for fifteen years to forget him, only to have him turn up at the most revealing runway show she had ever done. The entire time she’d been walking she’d wondered if Nick had liked what he’d seen. God, she was pathetic.

Giving a sigh, she pulled back the covers and slipped into Nick’s bed, exhaling with relief as she relaxed. Driving in a blizzard was really stressful, not to mention worrying about her father. Jayne was very aware that it was Nick’s bed, his smell was everywhere and in spite of her fatigue, when she inhaled his scent, her belly tightened with arousal. She might hate him, but she’d never gotten over him. She would be lying to herself if she didn’t admit he still turned her on.

As she turned out the light, she pulled one of his pillows to her face and breathed in deeply. There, alone in the dark in his bed, his scent surrounding her, she could admit to herself that she’d never gotten over him. She still wanted him as much as she had when they’d first kissed. She wondered again what it would have been like if she’d given him her virginity on prom night like she’d planned all those years ago. Thinking of him with a smile, she closed her eyes as the memories engulfed her.

* * * *

Ten Years Earlier

Jayne bit her lip nervously as her father called up the stairs. She was back in her old room, about to see Nick for the first time in months and she was really hoping he’d like the new her. Her braces and glasses were gone, as was her frizzy, flyaway hair. The girl looking back at her from the mirror had her hair in a sleek up do and flawless makeup. The silver dress given to her by a top designer, clung to her curves.

“I’ll be right down,” she called back.

Slowly she picked up her shawl and matching clutch. Diamonds sparkled at her earlobes and throat. They had been a gift from her mother after she’d made the first fifty thousand. She had no idea how much she was worth now, but it was enough that they no longer lived in the tiny apartment in the Bronx anymore. Now they lived in an upscale high-rise complete with a doorman.

Jayne still missed being home and she doubted that would ever change.

Descending the stairs, she smiled with pleasure as Nick and her father gasped.

“Honey, you look gorgeous,” her father said as he snapped a few pictures.

Her gaze was on Nick and he hadn’t taken his off her since she’d come within his line of sight.

“Wow,” he said, standing as if struck by lightning. “Jayne, you look awesome!”

“Thanks,” she said shyly. She heard something similar all the time, but somehow hearing Nick say it meant a lot more. She didn’t care about what anyone else thought.

“Here, I brought you this,” he said holding out a perfect orchid wrist corsage. “I hope you like it.”

“Nick, it’s beautiful,” she said, and smiled at him as she held out her arm. “Would you mind putting it on for me?”

“Sure.” Nick touched her arm to hold it steady as he slipped the corsage over her hand and into place. Her breath caught at the contact and her heart seemed to skip a beat. Whatever fears she’d had that she might not like him the same way anymore disappeared.

“Thanks,” she said. “Don’t wait up, Dad.” She kissed her father’s cheek and gave him a quick and careful hug so she wouldn’t ruin her makeup or rumple her dress.

“No matter what time you walk through that door, I’ll be waiting,” her father promised and looked suspiciously at Nick. “I have a gun or two that need cleaning.”

Nick swallowed visibly and her father grinned evilly and wiggled his eyebrows at him.

“Daddy. Please, you’re embarrassing me.” Jayne said with a small groan. “Come on, Nick. Let’s get out of here while we still can.”

“Gladly,” Nick said, and followed her outside to the limousine parked at the curb.

“Have her home no later than 3AM.”

“Yes sir,” Nick said, almost tripping over his own two feet in his haste to open the limousine door before she could get there.

Her father watched Nick help her inside the car and climb in after her, waving as they drove off.

“I’m so glad your mother finally said you could come,” Nick said, putting his arm around Jayne.

“Me too,” she snuggled into him, as the masculine scent of his cologne wafted around her. Would she still be a virgin after tonight?

“Should we go right to prom or drive around for a while and make out?” Nick asked, his voice hopeful. Jayne laughed.

“We could make out on the way to prom,” she said, pulling back to look up at him, her lips twitching in amusement.

“Best of both worlds,” he said and lowered his head. She sighed as his lips touched hers.

The magic was still there after all this time. It seemed like ages since they’d last been able to embrace this way. His lips moved over hers and Jayne felt a fluttery feeling in her lower stomach and a strange tingling between her legs. The moment lingered and she heard the door to the limousine open through a hazy fog. Someone cleared their throat loudly.

Nick pulled back and Jayne followed his lips with her own for a moment before realizing he was ending the kiss. She sat back and frowned at his chuckle.

“I did offer to drive around for a while first,” he said.

Jayne cleared her throat and shook her head as she fumbled around for her clutch and the tube of lipstick inside.

“No,” she said, “I promised my mom.”

She pulled down a visor with a mirror and reapplied her lipstick, making sure her face looked flawless once again.

“No one is going to recognize you,” Nick said as she finished her toiletry and flipped the visor back up. “They’re going to be looking for a geeky girl with braces, frizzy hair and glasses.”

Jayne shuddered at the thought. When she’d first been discovered, she’d found it hard to believe that she was beautiful. Even now she occasionally had doubts about her looks. It was hard to be vain in the fashion world because there was always some designer or photographer pointing out your flaws, but at least she knew she didn’t look as bad as she had when she’d last seen her classmates. No one was going to make her feel like the gawky schoolgirl she had been. She’d gained so much self confidence since then.

Does anyone besides Nick’s family know who I’ve become?

“That’s the way I want it,” she said without confidence. She didn’t want anyone to recognize her, did she?

“Let’s just go have fun,” Nick said holding out a hand to help her out of the limo.

She smiled up at him and stepped out of the car. She had been to a few red carpet affairs since starting her modeling career but none had given her the butterflies she was feeling now. It wasn’t just that she was going to make an entrance with the cutest guy in school, it was that she felt a little out of place. Like she had just taken a giant step backward in her life.

As they walked through the small crowd of people making their way into hotel ballroom, Jayne looked around for people she might know. So many faces. There was Gabe from Sophomore French class. She gave him a little wave and he looked back with a puzzled expression. She giggled. This might be fun after all.

* * * *

Those were the good memories. Jayne sighed as she drifted off to dreamland. That was the Nick she had been in love with since high school. She still wasn’t convinced what had happened later that night hadn’t been partly his fault.