More Than A Fling Read online

  More Than A Fling

  A Cottage Grove Novel

  Copyright © 2015 Amber Nation

  First Edition

  All rights reserved as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. No part of these publications may be reproduced, distributed, transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the Author. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the publisher.

  This book is a words of fictions. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or person, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Cover Design by Najla Qambar Designs

  Edited by Jen Akers

  Third Time’s The Charm…

  Other Titles by Amber Nation

  Brown County Series

  Not Alone

  Runaway Love

  How To Save A Life

  Unconditionally

  Cottage Grove Series

  More Than A Memory

  More Than A Fling

  More Than A Friend (Coming Soon)

  Prologue

  2012- 2 Years Earlier

  Dean

  Maneuvering my car off the interstate towards my exit, I loosened the knot of my neck tie pulling it away from the confines of my throat. Summers in Dallas were excruciating and even though it was only eleven in the morning, it was already a sweltering 105 degrees. Once my neck could breathe again after being released from the silk noose, I proceeded to unbutton the top two buttons on my shirt before moving on to carefully rolling up my sleeves exposing my forearms.

  It wasn’t a common occurrence for me to be heading home that early during a workday, but as soon as I had received a text message from my wife, Kate, I asked my secretary Colleen to immediately clear the remainder of my schedule for the day.

  Kate: We need to talk.

  Four words was all it took for the flock of butterflies to tenaciously swarm around in my stomach. I strummed my fingers along on my steering wheel to the beat of the radio, trying to subdue my nerves.

  Something about Kate had been off lately, and I couldn’t for the life of me put my finger on it. Strong headaches occurring late in the evening, faint stomach cramps that had all but turned her off of cooking and cleaning. A fleeting instinct had me thinking that she was going to reveal that all of our hopes and prayers had finally been answered. After almost six years of marriage, I knew in my gut that she was finally going to reveal that she was pregnant.

  She’d cried through countless hours of heart ache followed by seeing the best fertility specialists in the state of Texas, only to not be any closer to finding out any answers worth hearing.

  That had to be what she needed to talk to me about, what else could it possibly be?

  Slowing down my car and turning down our long, winding driveway towards our cottage home, the crunching of the gravel underneath the tires of my car did very little to dissipate my nerves. If anything it made the feeling more prominent the closer I approached. Bountiful cherry trees were in full bloom, leading me to my empty spot in front of the garage.

  Only that day, it wasn’t empty.

  Not recognizing the vehicle as one of her few friends, my brows knitted together with vast confusion.

  I came home early to surprise her, but it seemed as if I was the one caught off-guard.

  Pulling up next to the Mercedes that was occupying my spot, I noticed it was a much newer and flashier model than my own. They definitely spared no expense when it came to all of the bells and whistles added-on. As a man, of course it would be the first thing I noticed and scrutinized. I wanted to wrinkle my nose at the over the top gaudiness of their oversized chrome wheels, but I also felt a pang of jealousy. Things had been a little rough lately, with Kate not working, trying to pay for my left over school loans, which the end was never in sight, and the copays for all of the specialists. A new Mercedes was wishful thinking but nowhere even close to being in our budget.

  After killing the engine, I reached across the console and grabbed the handle to my leather briefcase, the same one I had received from Kate after I passed my BAR exam six years ago. I also grabbed ahold of the bundle of daisies I had picked up from the corner florist that was located next to my law office. I didn’t want to come home empty handed when there could very well be cause for a celebration with her impending news.

  As I entered my house I was immediately accosted by muffled grunts and moans floating from our upstairs master suite. I hesitantly placed my briefcase on the entry table located directly to my right before I softly closed the front door behind me.

  Doubt was starting to crawl up my spine as I poised my foot over the bottom step just as I began to climb towards the muffled noises. I was beginning to think that the news wasn’t going to be as hopeful as I initially thought. My feet felt like lead and grew heavier after each step I took ascending the stairs, and the sounds grew easier to hear the closer I got to my bedroom door.

  Standing stiffly in the hallway just outside my closed door, I could feel my heart tumultuously thundering against my chest.

  This wasn’t happening to me.

  But the increasingly loud, “Ah yes!” and “Oh God!” that was yelled in my wife’s voice was proving that it was.

  Sweat beaded on my brow despite the coolness of the house and my hand physically shook as I reached for the doorknob. I was waiting for the point when rip roaring anger would surge through me, but the only feeling that I could directly pinpoint was dread. Dread that I’d open the door and see with my own two eyes that Kate was cheating on me. We took a vow, entrusting ourselves to one another. Apparently I was the only one who saw that as sacred and wholeheartedly abided by it.

  I inhaled a deep breath into my lungs, because I was sure once I opened that door what breath remained would be forcibly knocked from me. How did the age old saying go? There was no time like the present? Well, I was sure you wouldn’t see it that way if you were about to catch your wife committing adultery in your own fucking bed.

  I steeled myself and pushed the door open with such force that it smashed into the wall. There was a glimmer of the anger I was searching for. No amount of preparation could’ve readied me for the scene that was unfolding right before me. My wife, in all of her naked glory, was riding a man that I’d never seen before. The sound of the door jarring open must’ve startled her, so she had paused her position, wide, startled eyes now reflecting back at me.

  “What the fuck is going on here?” I screamed, finally letting the anger overpower me.

  “Dean!” Kate screeched while scrambling up off of the pompous asshole trying to find something to cover himself with. The bastard who just ruined my life quickly pulled the sheet on my bed over his lower half and actually had the nerve to smirk at me.

  Here he was in my house, fucking my wife, and he smirked at me? This wasn’t real life.

  I now realized that the feeling in the pit of my stomach wasn’t hope beginning to blossom, but rather apprehension not wanting to make its appearance known. Well, it was front and center on display now.

  “Dean, let me explain,” she pleaded with her hands held in front of her as she tried to come closer to me. I looked into the eyes of the woman I loved and saw that it wasn’t the same woman looking back at me. “You weren’t supposed to be here.”

  A menacing laugh ripped from my throat, “Oh that’s rich, Kate. I just caught you fucking this moron and somehow you try and make it my fault? I thought I’d surprise you after receiving your text this morning, but apparently it was me who got the surprise.” I threw the flowers to the side, not even capable of holding onto something that was supposed to b
e given to her. “So tell me, was this what you needed to talk to me about?” I asked as I flicked my hand towards the bed and the man who had yet to move from his position in it. Wouldn’t you think the asshole would be smart enough to at least get some clothes on? I decided to let my displeasure loudly known, “Hey, jackass!” I yelled, my jaw tightening as I provided him with my attention, “You think you could at least put some fucking pants on or do you really have no respect at all?”

  I turned my attention back to Kate as the guilt of her actions consumed her features as she feebly looked towards the floor. “Dean,” she quavered, whispering my name and I hated it. I hated the way that it sounded coming from her lips. It was the voice of finality.

  Her shoulders raised and her posture straightened as if she found a scrap of defiance, “I am leaving you.”

  Four words.

  “I want a divorce.”

  Four more words.

  The asshole sidled up beside her and tucked her under his arm as she continued, “I’m having his baby.”

  Those were the last four words that I’d let her say. Four fucking words that felt as if I had been dealt a major blow to my stomach and sent my world crumbling down around me. Words that were meant for me. It should’ve been, we’re having a baby. Mind-numbing anger seeped all the way into my bones until I was seeing red before me. One minute I had my hand placed on the doorknob and the next I was connecting my fist to the jaw of the asshole.

  A gasp left Kate’s mouth as soon as my knuckles grazed his flesh and she was rushing to make sure he was all right.

  Consoling him instead of me.

  He quickly straightened his posture, removing his hand from his bloodied lip before letting his eyes connect with mine. He opened his mouth to speak, but quickly snapped it shut. He decided to go ahead and open his mouth again before saying, “At least you can represent yourself during your own divorce.”

  There you have it, ladies and gentlemen, my own occupation was being used to mock me.

  I grew completely numb in that moment, my anger oddly dissipating. I turned on the balls of my feet and retreated down the stairs I had ascended mere moments ago. Who knew that with a series of four words and a span of a few short minutes my life would be changed and I would become a different man. My own occupation was thrown up in my face as if it were a running joke. I had picked that type of law to practice in order to help sad schmucks in what was suddenly my own situation and it ended up being an omen against me and my personal love life.

  Hello irony, I’m Dean Parker.

  Chapter 1

  Present Day

  Dean

  “You need to come over as soon as you can,” was all that was said to me before I heard complete silence on the other end of the line. I couldn’t pinpoint whether Baylor sounded frantic or not and a call such as this in the middle of a workday was definitely out of the norm. Baylor Jenkins was my very best friend of almost twenty-five years and the thought of anything troubling him instantly had me on edge.

  I hollered out to my receptionist and all-around right-hand woman, Beatrice, to reschedule my upcoming appointments and to hold my calls for the remainder of the afternoon. I grabbed my briefcase and all but flew out the door, thinking what a strange case of déjà vu this was.

  The air was crisp on my face as I set out in almost a run towards my car, reminding me that I forgot my coat, but I was far past the point of turning back for it now. Fall was quickly approaching and it always seemed to cool off much quicker in Oregon than it did in Texas, where I had resided for several years up until this past summer.

  A million different scenarios were playing out in my mind and they all tended to go in the negative direction. Something could have happened to Norah or Eden or even Petunia for that matter. That sweet yet annoying little dog had become a fixture in my life, even though she could barely tolerate me on her best days. As my hand gripped my steering wheel just a bit tighter, I remembered back to a few months ago when she absolutely hated me. Ever since we had to endure a thirty-eight hour car ride together and we got off on the wrong foot or –er paw, I’d made it a point to stay out of her way except to shower her with treats.

  I knew how to spoil the females, ones with and without fur.

  I pulled into the driveway to Baylor and Eden’s house and put my Mercedes Benz into park. Although, I lived right next door, I didn’t want to spend the extra added time in running over here.

  The garage door was open and all of Baylor and Eden’s vehicles were in the drive. I rushed through the garage into the laundry room, then continued on into the kitchen. That was where I found the both of them sitting at their kitchen table looking anything but frantic or in trouble.

  They glanced up from a few notebooks they had spread out across the light oak wood table and at me with quizzical expressions and raised brows. I bent at the waist, placing my hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath that I seemed to have been holding during my entire drive there. I figured a moment of pause could be spared since everyone looked intact.

  “What the hell, Dean?” Baylor exclaimed as I recovered my stance, unbuttoning the single button on my suit jacket and sitting down on an exposed barstool.

  My erratically racing heart had almost been restored to its normal rate, so I slammed my open hand on the countertop to their island and just glared at Baylor. I threw the same three words he just said to me, back in his face, “What the hell, man? You called me in the middle of the day while I was at work telling me to come over ASAP!” I threw my hand in his direction, “You’re home during a weekday but everything seems to be all right. What gives?”

  Eden pushed back the chair she was occupying, stood up and came over to where I was sitting and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Baylor, what did you say to him on the phone?” Eden looked to her fiancé and then back at me with nothing but underlying concern.

  Baylor chuckled lightly under his breath before standing from his position as well and coming over to slap an open hand on my back. My mood had quickly turned sour at the fact that Baylor seemed to think this was pretty comical. My having to cancel the rest of my appointments for the day would put me behind schedule. He may not have been taking things seriously, but I did.

  “I’m truly sorry, Dean. I guess I couldn’t contain my excitement to ask you to be my best man.”

  Well, that perked me up. I propped my foot up on the spindle of the barstool and rested a hand on my leg, “You thought you even had to ask that?” I cleared my throat, “I mean, I was under the impression that it was already a given.”

  “I just wanted to make it official since Eden and I,” he paused and grabbed a hold of Eden’s hand, my gaze instantly honing in on their interwoven fingers. My heart panged with jealousy at the image of how insanely happy they were, “we’ve finally set a date.”

  “Oh yeah? That’s fantastic!” I exclaimed, truly happy for my two best friends. “So, when will the big day be?” I was already pulling up my mental calendar so I could start fulfilling my duties as best man and planning the bachelor party.

  What I wasn’t prepared for was Eden to respond with, “Six weeks.”

  SIX WEEKS? My eyes bugged out of my head. It was the beginning of November, so that would ultimately put their big day about two weeks before Christmas. “Why in the world would you have it so soon?” I couldn’t even fathom getting everything ready within a six week timespan. I had been married twice myself; my first was a whirlwind elopement but my other ‘significant other,’ who shall remain nameless, took months and months of planning every little intimate detail. Making sure the colors were right, along with the flowers and the cake, even the damn invitations had to be intricately precise. Which meant that it was all extremely expensive. This was Baylor’s second wedding and Eden’s first, and while she wasn’t an all-out flashy woman I would have thought that she had a dream of how her wedding would pan out. Did they have ulterior motives for having this shindig so soon?

  I eyed Bay
lor and then Eden carefully, while bracing a hand on the edge of the counter for either the answer that was going to shock the hell out of me or the blow that would sequentially follow my question… I narrowed my gaze and then lowered my voice to just above a whisper, as I leaned in closer towards Eden. “Are you pregnant?”

  “Dean Parker!” Eden screeched as she drew back her right fist and landed it square on my collar bone. “No, I am NOT pregnant! What’s the big deal that we are getting married in six weeks, it’s what we both want, why can’t you just be happy for us?”

  “You’re right, I’m sorry,” I apologized as I gingerly rubbed my now throbbing shoulder, “congratulations, you two, I’m sure it’ll be an amazing wedding for two amazing people.” I had never had to backpedal so fast in my life. But all was ok when a smile spread across Eden’s face, enhancing the glow that she had. There was a time, on two separate occasions, when I could’ve sworn that I had the glow. The underlying aura of being in love. But it was all just a strange fluke, a joke played on me by two conniving women who thought it was funny to see me suffer and my heart break.

  “Who is going to be your maid of honor?” I already had a clue, just like I had assumed I’d be Baylor’s best man. I knew this woman was going to be Eden’s maid of honor, it was just the icing on top of the cake to hear her confirm it.

  “Julia, of course.”

  Ah, Julia…

  Julia Caldwell was Eden’s best friend back in Nashville, where she had spent the prior fifteen years of her life before coming back to Cottage Grove for our High School reunion and reconnecting with Baylor. Jules was breathtakingly gorgeous, a spitfire, not to mention a complete and utter smart ass, and she grated on my nerves… She was definitely right up my alley.

  A slow, sly smile began to spread across my lips, one much like the Grinch when he was up to absolutely no good. I then tipped my head back and released an almost maniacal cackle as I rubbed my hands together. This was going to be the greatest week of my life…or I mean, the greatest wedding of all time.