After Victory: A Searching for Glory Novel (A Second Chance Love Story) Read online

  “Dad, thanks for watching Jack. Let’s get you home before it gets really bad out there.” He smiled when he saw Jack’s big smile.

  “Anytime, son. Jack and I had a great time together.” Mr. Carter was slow to get to his feet. His health still wasn’t as good as it used to be. “These two could probably use some time alone together anyway.”

  Johnny dropped a hand on Jack’s head, ruffling his dark hair. John Junior was the spitting image of his father and seeing the two of them together was like seeing the world as it was always meant to be. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Okay. I’ll put Jack down while you’re gone.” I gave him a meaningful look that made him smile.

  Once Johnny and his father were gone, I gave Jack a quick bath, laughing as he splashed water at me. Once he was dry and clothed in warm, superhero pajamas, I curled up with him in a big rocking chair and read him our favorite story.

  Johnny returned just as we reached the end. “He missed you,” he said, looking down at our sleeping son. “Hopefully he’ll sleep well tonight.”

  “That’s the plan,” I said with a wink. “I’ll put him down and then –”

  “Wait just a few more minutes,” Johnny said, his hand stroking my hair as he stood next to the chair. “It’s good just to see the two of you like this.”

  I knew exactly what he meant. It was these moments, the small every-day moments, that filled me with so much joy and love that I wondered how I had ever survived without them.

  A few more minutes turned into almost an hour. Johnny wandered away to give me some time alone with Jack and I enjoyed watching him sleep. His long lashes fluttered against his cheeks and I wondered if he was dreaming. When I finally put him in his crib, he let out a long sigh that seemed to echo how I felt.

  “Down for the count,” I said, finding Johnny in the living room. He had started a fire and opened the curtains to watch the snow fall.

  “You made it just in time,” he said as I settled in next to him.

  He offered me a sip of his beer, but I waved it away. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

  “Are you hungry? Want me to make you something?” Johnny started to move away.

  “No.” I pulled him back to me and set the beer on the coffee table. “The only thing I want right now is you.”

  A familiar look of longing filled his eyes and I marveled that he could still look at me that way. It made my heart flutter in my chest. As we lost ourselves in the moment, and in each other, I wished for every night to be like this.

  Hours later, I opened my eyes and saw that I was still on the couch. My clothes were in a pile in front of the fire and I was covered in a warm blanket. Snow continued to fall outside and I could see that it had already accumulated several inches on the windowsill. I realized that the spot next to me was empty.

  Wrapping the blanket around me, I padded down the hall toward Jack’s room. Johnny was holding him as he cried, patting his back and singing softly. He was wearing nothing but his boxers, looking darn near perfect with his messy hair and stubbled jaw. Jack tucked his head into the soft space on Johnny’s neck, one of my own favorite places to rest my head.

  “Why didn’t you wake me? You’ve had him for two weeks,” I said. My voice betrayed the worry that I had been battling since Jack was born. I worried that I wasn’t a good enough mother, that I was doing harm to Jack by leaving him to pursue my career.

  “You’re tired. You need to rest.” Johnny didn’t seem to pick up on those worries. He was too busy soothing our son.

  After finding out I was pregnant, we had sat down and talked about how we wanted to raise our baby. I was tired of the Hollywood lifestyle, but I still wanted to have a career. Besides making good money for our family and my philanthropic organizations, it was also important for me to keep doing something that I loved. Johnny had understood.

  We had agreed that I could still pursue my career, as long as I was never away for more than a few weeks. When Jack was seven months old, I had left to film a short cameo. I was only gone for a week, but it had been torture for me. These last couple of weeks had been my second attempt at being a career woman and I had felt guilty the entire time.

  “You’ve been working, too, Johnny. I’m sure you haven’t gotten much sleep with his cold acting up.” As if to prove my point, Jack coughed loudly.

  “It’s fine.” He didn’t notice the pained looked on my face. “We’re just glad to have you home. There will be plenty more sleepless nights when I’ll be happy to let you handle it.”

  He was right. I was just being overly sensitive because of my own insecurities. But it made me wonder if the guilt was worth it. Would I be able to sustain this type of lifestyle long term?

  “I think maybe I should quit work for a while.” I said, seemingly out of nowhere.

  Johnny stared at me blankly. “Okay…”

  “I think it might be the best thing for our family,” I continued.

  Jack had stopped fussing, his timing a little too perfect. Now Johnny was focused only on me. “This seems a little sudden. Is it something you’ve been thinking about for a while?”

  “Kind of.” I shrugged.

  Johnny slowly placed Jack in the crib, pausing to make sure that he would stay asleep. Then he straightened and said, “We should talk about this.”

  “We just did.” I turned, lifting the blanket so that I wouldn’t trip over it. I let it fall to my feet in the living room and started to redress.

  Johnny watched me with an unreadable expression. “What’s going on with you?”

  “Nothing.” Standing in just my underwear, I turned with my hands on my hips. “I just told you what I’ve been thinking. Why are you acting like I’m starting a fight?”

  “For the record, if you were trying to start a fight, it’s never going to work with you standing there like that.” A small smile played at his lips. “You win.”

  I grabbed the closest item of clothing I could find and pulled it on. It was Johnny’s t-shirt. “This isn’t about winning.”

  “What’s it about then?” He sank onto the couch and rubbed his hands through his hair. I knew that he was frustrated.

  “I’ve been really lucky with Jack. I got to see him crawl, and hear his first word. I made it back in time to see his first steps.” I hugged my arms around myself, wondering how I could still be so cold while standing in front of the fire. “That luck is going to run out eventually.”

  Johnny’s stare turned suspicious. “What do you mean, you’ve been really lucky with Jack?”

  Guiltily, I looked to the ground. My right hand moved lower until it circled my waist. “I wanted to wait until after Jack’s birthday to say something.”

  “Are you…” He stood slowly, mouth slightly agape.

  I raised my head and looked him straight in the eye. “I’m pregnant, Johnny.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Kate

  “Brad. You are over an hour late.” I tried to keep my voice level and calm. I knew from experience that using the wrong tone with my ex-husband would only make things much worse. “Tomorrow is a school day and now we still have to drive home.”

  “I said I’m sorry.” Brad shoved his hands into his pockets and glared at me. “Denton wasn’t ready to leave. Maybe if you let me have him more than every other weekend, this wouldn’t be a problem.”

  “No, then it would just be a problem more often.” I took a deep breath to prevent myself from saying anything more. The less Brad and I spoke to each other, the better.

  Per the agreement of our divorce, we met every other weekend in the parking lot of a Walmart in Barrington. The town was directly in between our two homes, making it a good place to hand off custody of our son.

  “I haven’t gotten a payment in three months, Brad,” I said, carefully. “Denton said you’ve been working, so what’s going on?”

  “I’ll get it to you.” He removed a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. “I had some unexpected expense
s come up.”

  “Of course you did.” It was exactly this type of thing that had led to our divorce. Brad had refused to grow up, even after Denton was born. “I need to go. We’ll see you in two weeks?”

  He nodded and lit his cigarette.

  Denton was unusually quiet when I joined him in the car. Normally he was a chatterbox after leaving his monosyllabic father. Today, he seemed troubled.

  “How was your weekend?” I asked carefully. Just like his father, the wrong question could make him snap.

  “Fine.” He didn’t look up from his phone.

  “Did you guys do anything? I thought he was going to take you to that car show?” If Brad had gone back on his promise, that would explain Denton’s surly attitude.

  Denton muttered. “He took me.”

  “That’s good.” I thought again about how I could get him to open up as I turned onto the highway. “Did you –”

  “I have a baby brother,” he said, cutting me off. His phone was now forgotten in his lap. “Dad’s girlfriend had a baby.”

  “A baby?’ My mouth dropped open. That certainly was an unexpected expense. “Did you know that you were going to have a brother?”

  Denton stared hard out the window, his smooth jaw clenched tight. “No. I guess he was born a month ago, but he was early so they kept him in the hospital. But now his girlfriend and the baby live with Dad.”

  “Oh.” That was a lot of change to happen so quickly. “How do you feel about that?”

  “I feel like I didn’t sleep all weekend because the baby wouldn’t stop crying.” He picked up his phone again. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

  Our conversation was over. It had been brief, but revealing. Brad had been a pretty terrible husband, but he had always done his best to be a good father to Denton. I worried that this baby was going to change that.

  “I need to stop at the shop to have the car checked,” I said, not sure if Denton was even listening.

  Yesterday, after the snow was done falling, Jake Delroy had appeared at my house with a shovel in hand. In a matter of minutes, he had completely cleared my driveway. I invited him inside to warm up, and over coffee at the kitchen table, I mentioned that my car had been making a strange noise. Jake had recently given up his farming life and was working for John Carter at his repair shop. He told me to bring in the car and he would take a look, free of charge.

  A girl on a budget can’t refuse an offer like that. It didn’t hurt that Jake was an attractive man and could carry on a decent conversation. He even made me laugh, which was darn near impossible to do most days.

  When I pulled into the parking lot, a weird feeling of déjà vu washed over me. John and I had dated for a while, pretty seriously until his old girlfriend came back to town. It had been obvious that he was still in love with her and we had ended things abruptly. I hadn’t been ready for it at the time. John was an amazing guy, and I had thought that I was in love. But looking back, I realized it was for the best.

  Now I was entering his shop, hoping to see anyone but him. My wish wasn’t granted.

  “Kate!” Johnny appeared at the front desk looking flustered. “Hey, Denton.”

  “Hey, John.” Denton glanced at him and then took a seat in one of the torn chairs, complete absorbed in his phone.

  “Is Jake here? He offered to take a look at my car…” I suddenly felt rattled.

  John glanced over his shoulder. “Yeah, he’s back there. You want me to get him?”

  “I’ll just go on back, if that’s alright?” I used to walk through the place all the time, but I wasn’t dating the owner anymore.

  “Sure. Just be careful.” He forced a smile. “It’s good to see you, Kate.”

  “Yeah. You too.” I hurried away as quickly as I thought was allowed without being considered rude. It wasn’t that I was still in love with John. We had both moved on. But it was still uncomfortable being around him.

  The shop was always busy on Sundays. A lot of people like me depended on weekends for things like a tune-up. “You look good in grease,” I said when I found Jake at the far end of the shop.

  “Kate.” His face lit up. “I wasn’t sure you would remember to stop by.”

  “I was in town anyway. Is it still okay?” I was still getting used to this friendship and I didn’t want him to think I was taking advantage of his generosity.

  “Of course. Give me the keys and I’ll pull the car in.” He took the keys with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. It was obvious to anyone that he was still grieving the loss of his wife.

  While I waited for him to return, I snooped around the garage. It looked more or less how I remembered it. The other mechanics eyed me curiously and kept a respectful distance. I decided it would probably be a good idea to check on Denton.

  Johnny had gone back into his office, so I didn’t have to worry about carrying on an awkward conversation. Denton was busy texting his friends. I picked up a magazine and pretended to read while occasionally peeking through the window to watch Jake as he worked on my car.

  The bells over the door chimed as someone entered the shop. I looked up instinctively, then wished that I had kept my nose in the magazine. The new arrival was none other than Glory Stark.

  “Kate.” Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw me. In her arms, she cradled an adorable baby. He looked at me with unblinking eyes.

  “Hi, Glory.” It was strange to have her in my life again. We had been best friends when we were teenagers. Then she had left one day, without a word. When she finally returned ten years later, we had nothing in common other than the man I was dating. And now she was holding his baby. Life was weird.

  “Something wrong with your car?” she asked politely. I could tell that this encounter was even more awkward for her.

  I nodded toward the garage. “Jake offered to take a look.”

  “Jake is a good guy,” she said, eyeing me strangely.

  “Your boy is getting big,” I said. I thought that would be an easier topic for us, but it was actually equally strange. “What’s his name again?”

  “We call him Jack.” She looked through the glass toward the garage where Jake and John were chatting. “His actual name is John Junior.”

  Of course. They had named him after his father. “Jack is a good name. He looks just like John.”

  “He does,” she agreed. “So this is going to sound weird, but we’re having a party tonight. It is Jack’s first birthday. Jake and the kids are going to come and… would you like to join us? You can bring Denton, of course.”

  I checked to make sure my mouth wasn’t hanging open in surprise. “You want us to come to your house tonight?”

  “Can we, Mom? I want to see Chris.” Denton perked up for the first time all afternoon.

  “It won’t be a long party or anything. I know it’s a school night. But we are going to have cake and it would be really nice to have you there.” Glory stopped talking abruptly, as if she had run out of air or words, or maybe both.

  “I’m not sure,” I stuttered.

  Jake and Johnny picked that exact moment to join us. “Not sure about what?” Jake asked.

  “Glory just invited us to the party,” Denton explained in a hurry. “But Mom doesn’t know if we can come.”

  Now there were three shocked-looking adults in the room.

  “I just picked up Denton from his father and I’m sure he has school work to do.” I found myself fumbling to come up with enough excuses to guarantee I wouldn’t have to put in an appearance at the world’s most awkward social event.

  “I don’t, Mom,” Denton protested.

  “You have an algebra test tomorrow,” I reminded him.

  Jake was the first one to have mercy on me. “If you’re busy, we understand. It would be nice to have you, but it is last minute notice.”

  “Of course,” Glory added, bouncing the baby on her model-sized hip. “I didn’t mean to put you on the spot like that.”

&nbs
p; “Sundays are bad days for us,” I explained lamely. “But thank you for the invite.”

  Now everyone in the room seemed to have forgotten how to speak.

  “How’s my car?” I asked Jake, hoping to get out of there as quickly as possible.

  “All fixed. Just a couple of worn parts, and I went ahead and changed the oil.” He held up my keys.

  “Thank you, Jake. I really appreciate it. What do I owe you?” I reached into my bag.

  Jake held up a hand. “No way. That’s on the house.”

  “No, you have to let me pay you.”

  This time John stopped me. “Friends don’t pay here.”

  Friends. Was that the dynamic I had with these people? It didn’t feel right. But I knew John well enough to know that I wasn’t going to win this argument.

  “Okay, then. Thank you.” I gave what I hoped was an appreciative smile. “Denton, let’s go. These people have a party to get ready for.”

  We all chorused our goodbyes and I was glad to step outside where the air wasn’t so tense and I could breathe again.

  Denton waited until we were in the car before he said, “You just didn’t want to go to that party because of John’s hot girlfriend.”

  “You are a devil child,” I told him.

  “If it helps, I think Chris’ dad likes you,” Denton said nonchalantly.

  “Why do you say that?” I stuttered.

  He rolled his eyes. “Mom, guys just know these things. We have a code.”

  As I drove away, I couldn’t decide what was weirder – being invited to my ex-boyfriend’s baby’s birthday party, the possibility that a widowed man with four children might be interested in me, or that my teenage son now understood ‘guy code.’

  A few moments later, I decided that the weirdest thing of all was that I wasn’t actually horrified by any of those things.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Jake

  Hearing that Glory had invited Kate to our family gathering was a shock, to say the least. I wasn’t sure those two had even spoken since Johnny and Kate broke up. Perhaps more shocking was that I actually liked the idea. The second I realized that, I reminded myself to stay away from Kate. I wasn’t ready to deal with thoughts like that.