The ominous remark made her gulp. Darcy put down her knife and watched as her mother slowly turned around to face her.
“Your father cheated on me.”
Darcy’s jaw fell open. “He did?”
“Oh, yes. He cheated quite a lot, in fact.”
Waves of anger on her mother’s behalf rippled through her chest. “I can’t believe it.”
Carol quickly held up a hand. “No, this is precisely what I didn’t want to happen. I never wanted you to think less of him, or hate him. Stu hasn’t been the greatest father, I’m the first to admit that, but he does love you, sweetie.”
Yeah, he loved her enough to see her twice a year, three times tops. And he’d forgotten to call her on her birthday for the past four years in a row. He’d apologized for that, though, claiming he lost track of time when he was on the road. As a long haul trucker, Darcy’s father spent ninety percent of his time driving across the country and doing God knew what in his spare time.
Scratch that—she supposed she now knew exactly what he did in his spare time.
“I can’t believe you never told me. And why aren’t you angry, damn it? You never, ever seem angry when you talk about him.”
“That’s because I’m not.” Carol’s features became drawn. “I’m sad. And I blame myself, partly.”
“For him cheating on you?” Indignation boomed in her voice.
“Sweetie, I knew what kind of man he was when I married him. I thought I could change him, and trust me, that’s the worse mentality to have going into a relationship. You can’t change people,” Carol said sadly. “They are who they are, and yes, sometimes they do change for the better, but not because someone else made them. They have to decide to change for themselves, and your dad wasn’t interested in doing that. He liked his freedom. He liked being on the road all the time. He told me that when we got married, and I lied and pretended to be okay with it because I was certain I could tame my bad boy.”
Darcy bit her lip. “But you couldn’t.”
“No, and in the end, he resented me for trying to force him to settle down, and he broke my heart, just like I always knew he would.” Carol moved closer and touched Darcy’s cheek. “So my advice to you is, if you know that this man of yours isn’t long-term material, then you need to make it clear going in. He needs to know what you want out of this affair before you start it.”
“I kinda already made it clear.”
“Kinda won’t cut it, Darce,” her mother said sternly. “There’s no point in starting something you know will result in heartbreak. If you don’t see a future with him, make sure he knows it. Sex can be fun, sex is fun, but it’s not fair to lead him on, and you shouldn’t get involved with him if secretly you have expectations about it leading to something more when you know it can’t.”
“I don’t have any expectations.” She felt herself blush. “I just want a little excitement for once in my life.”
“And there’s nothing wrong with that.” Carol smiled. “If you want a casual affair, then have one. Just be honest about it from the start.”
The microwave beeped, cutting off the discussion that had become more serious than Darcy had intended.
“All right,” her mother said brightly. “Now finish up that salad before the lasagna gets cold.”
…
Reed found AJ in the walk-in cooler behind the bar, unloading a pallet of beer cases. Leaning his shoulder against the doorframe, Reed cleared his throat and said, “You have a minute?”
AJ’s blond head lifted. “Sure. What’s up?”
Reed stepped inside and closed the door, instantly enveloped by the chilly temperature in the cooler.
He’d come to work early just to have this conversation, since AJ had been too busy to meet up the previous night. Which meant that Reed’s second workshop at Darcy’s school earlier today had been pure torture. He’d promised himself he wouldn’t touch her until he spoke to his friend, and by some miracle he’d managed to keep his hands off the woman.
“I need to tell you something,” Reed started. Then he stopped. He took a breath, gathering his courage as AJ’s green eyes watched him expectantly. “I did something pretty bad. Something you’re not going to like.”
AJ stiffened. “Yeah?”
He nodded. “I…” The confession shuddered out on a shaky exhale. “I slept with Darcy.”
Dead silence crashed over the cold room.
Silence that went on and on and on, until Reed released a frustrated expletive.
“Did you hear what I said?”
“I heard you.” AJ’s voice didn’t contain an ounce of emotion. Not even a twinge of anger.
Reed waited, knowing he should probably offer a more detailed explanation, feed his friend excuses, apologies, pleas, but his vocal cords refused to cooperate. He watched AJ’s face, trying to make sense of that shuttered expression, but he truly had no idea what his best friend was thinking.
And he certainly didn’t expect what AJ said next.
“Are you two dating now?”
Discomfort constricted his chest. “Ah…no. Not really. I mean, I…I wanted to talk to you first. “
AJ nodded, then picked up the case of Bud Light he’d set on the floor. He heaved it on the counter and proceeded to pull longnecks out of the crate. Keeping his back to Reed the entire time. “I can’t say I’m very surprised.”