Facial Recognition Read online

  Tears trickled down my cheeks. He had no idea how long I had ached to hear him say that to me. How it killed me now.

  “When I look back on my life,” he continued, “the happiest I’ve ever been is with you.”

  I felt the same way, but it was too late. I wasn’t going to be second choice or an afterthought. I couldn’t afford to hope this time he would truly be mine. “I have to go.” I hustled toward my house.

  “I’m not giving up on you, Grace,” he called out. “I’m used to facing tough opponents. I’ll plead my case to you for the rest of my life, if I have to.”

  Well, he’d better get used to losing. I was done with men. Especially ones who lied to me and never put me first. How could I ever trust him?

  As I marched up the porch steps, I wiped my eyes and took several deep breaths. I only wanted to go inside, smile at Daddy, and pretend my little episodes with Brooks and Julian had never happened. After that, I was going to go to bed early and pray that when I woke up in the morning, I wouldn’t love Brooks anymore. That what he had just said to me meant nothing. So basically, I was going to need an alien abduction tonight where they scrambled my brain.

  I threw the door open, armed with the biggest fake smile ever, to find Daddy in the foyer surrounded by dozens and dozens of roses in a variety of colors and vases. It looked as if we had opened a floral shop.

  Daddy grinned. “Looks like you have some admirers.”

  “Admirers?”

  “As far as I can tell, the peach bouquets are from Brooks and the rest of them are from Julian.”

  I rubbed my face. This was so not happening. Okay, maybe it was sweet that Brooks remembered my favorite flowers were peach roses, but I wasn’t falling for it. And as far as Julian went, he was dead to me. He’d knowingly used me. Not to say the evil half of me wasn’t happy to see him take his sister down, but still.

  Daddy carefully walked around the jungle we had going on and handed me several cards I assumed had come with the flowers. “Looks like you have some interesting choices to make, my love.”

  I took the cards. “Did you read these?”

  Daddy kissed my cheek. “I’m only looking out for you. Good luck.” He chuckled to himself as he walked off.

  I stared at the tiny cards in my hand. I tossed the ones from Julian. I’m sure they weren’t any different than what his voice mails had said. Something to the effect of, I’m so sorry. I know things didn’t start out like they should, but I honestly think we could have something. I’ve never felt for a woman like I do for you. I’d finally had to send him a text that said, I listened to your messages, and I don’t believe you. Please don’t contact me again. Honestly, there was nothing Julian could say to me to make what he’d done better. Not like Brooks had a better shot, but there was something about him that made it so freaking hard to let go. Like our souls shared the same ingredients or something.

  Against my better judgment, I opened up the first card.

  Dear Grace,

  The first flower I ever bought for you was a peach rose. You don’t know how sorry I am that I never gave you that corsage. If I could go back in time, I would have asked you to prom myself. I wouldn’t have let anything get in the way of me taking you to the dance and holding you close all night long.

  I flipped the card over.

  I would have recognized what was right in front of my face the entire time. Grace, I see you. I’m sorry it took me so long.

  Love,

  Brooks

  I looked up to the ceiling, tears streaming down my face. “Oh, Momma, I wish you were here. Do you know what this reminds me of? Remember when Felicia thought Frisco was dead and she married the man who’d tried to kill him? But then Frisco comes back, and Felicia gets amnesia, which makes her realize that Frisco is the man for her. So they get remarried even though Felicia hates that Frisco is a spy and leads a dangerous life. Okay, maybe my situation isn’t exactly like that. But remember how happy we were every time we watched those reruns? Remember when you said there was nothing like a second-chance love story? Is that true?”

  I lowered my head, angry with myself. Pretty words and flowers shouldn’t be swaying my resolve. Brooks was my past. I was going to look forward to the future. Alone.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  I opened the door, happy to see two of my favorite people. Tom and June were cute as could be standing on the front porch, him clinging to his walker and June’s hand resting on top of his.

  “Come in,” I sang.

  “Darlin’.” June smiled. “I’m just dropping off this old geezer. I’m going to be late to my spray tan appointment if I don’t hurry. Momma needs her some color.” She pecked Tom on the cheek. “Be good and don’t cheat.”

  “If you’re not ch . . . cheating, you’re not trying hard enough.” Tom slyly stole a kiss on her mouth.

  Old love was the best and, at my rate, the only kind I had a hope of obtaining.

  She swatted his butt. “See you later.”

  “D . . . Don’t excite me like that, honey,” Tom laughed. His speech was getting better all the time. Maybe he just needed some sexy talk to up his game.

  “Bye, June.” I waved.

  “Give the men hell tonight.” She waved back.

  Oh, I planned on it. I was so thrilled when Tom had called and asked if we could reinstate poker night. I wasn’t sure his mind was up for it. However, it was normal, and I needed normal after the last month. I wanted my routine back again. Except no more fried food Friday. I was proposing fish Friday or maybe fajitas with whole wheat tortillas and fruit on the side.

  I grinned at Tom. “You look good.” His face was slimmer, and he looked like he was in a smaller size of pants. Plus, he had this glow to him that I hadn’t seen in twenty years. I wondered if it had more to do with June or the fact that Brooks had been over the last couple of nights. Which, of course, meant I had stayed away. Not only had I wanted to give father and son some time, but my heart needed the distance from Brooks. I was curious, though, how it was going with the two of them. My plan was to get the scoop while we played poker.

  Tom’s ears pinked from the compliment. “No mushy stuff t . . . tonight. I plan on winning.”

  I playfully shrugged. “We’ll see.”

  Tom, with effort, maneuvered his walker over the threshold and walked in. I made myself not help him. He didn’t like to be babied. He had snapped at me a couple of times on our walks to his mailbox and back. Of course, he was quick to apologize, but he hated feeling like less of a man.

  Daddy came out of the kitchen carrying a tray filled with fruits and veggies, and glasses of water with lemon. No more beer and chips during poker night. Besides, I could use some fiber in my life after all the sugar I’d been consuming, trying to force myself into a carb coma in hopes of forgetting a certain someone. Which wasn’t going so well, considering I’d kept all the beautiful flowers he’d sent. I hated to waste them. I mean, peach roses were my favorite. Julian’s I’d tossed in the garbage. I’d also blocked the moron’s number after he kept calling and calling, begging for me to give him another chance, saying what we had was special. Um. No. It was all a lie.

  “Steve,” Tom rumbled in greeting.

  “Tom,” Daddy’s voice cracked a bit. Daddy wasn’t an overemotive guy, but I knew he’d feared for a while that he would lose his best friend.

  “Ready to lose some money?” I tried to give the men an emotional out.

  “Not tonight, G . . . Gracie girl,” Tom chided. “I have a secret weapon.”

  My brow quirked. “If you think I’m going easy on you because you’ve been sick, think again.” I pointed to my lucky I’m Magically Delicious shirt.

  Tom painfully walked toward me with an impish grin. “I’m not sure you’re l . . . lucky sh . . . shirt is going to cut it tonight.”

  “Did the nurses teach you some mad skills while you were in the hospital?”

  Tom shook his head. “Nope.”

  “I think I’m
safe, then.”

  The doorbell rang.

  Daddy dashed into the living room, and Tom’s impish grin grew. “I think you should answer that. I need to sit d . . . down.”

  My men were behaving oddly, but okay, I would answer the door since it was my house. I sauntered over to the door, expecting to find the pizza guy delivering contraband, which I would have to refuse. No empty, greasy calories tonight. Instead I opened the door only to gasp and choke on my own saliva. I began coughing and sputtering while Brooks stood there looking like he was posing for GQ, leaning on the doorframe in his tailored dark suit with a smolder to melt my insides.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  I slapped my chest several times, trying to get my coughing fit under control. The answer was, no, I wasn’t okay. I was about to slam the door on him when he walked in without an invitation, kissed my cheek, and whispered in my ear, “I love that shirt. I have no doubt you’re magically delicious.”

  That stopped the choking, but now I couldn’t breathe.

  “Shall we play cards?” He strutted past me, smiling at the bouquets he’d sent me that I’d placed on the entryway and sofa tables. Oh man, did he smell divine. No. No. No. I wasn’t going to be taken in by him and his sexy ways.

  My brain finally started functioning. Boy, did he have a lot of nerve. I wanted to kick Brooks’s tight butt out of there, even though it was a heavenly sight. Holy crow. “Why are you here? I don’t remember inviting you.”

  “Darlin’, I did,” Tom rang in with a joviality I hadn’t heard from him in forever. He was so happy it gave me some pause.

  Brooks loosened his tie and took off his jacket like he intended to stay for a while. This was not in my plans. Where was this Brooks twenty years ago? Heck, even a month ago? Now, though, I knew too much. That was a good thing, right? I steeled myself as I walked past the infuriating man, totally prepared to stick to my guns. Some flowers, a beautiful card, and a few flirty words weren’t going to sway my resolve.

  I took my seat at the card table and realized there were four glasses of water, which meant my daddy had betrayed me too. He’d totally known Brooks was coming and didn’t tell me. I gave Daddy and Tom the evil eye. Both men had the audacity to laugh at me. I thought they were on my side.

  Brooks sat to my right, closest to his daddy. “Father,” Brooks struggled to say.

  I suppose father was better than Tom, but you could tell it still cut Tom. However, Tom rallied with a smile. “G . . . Good to see you, son.”

  It wasn’t like I had expected father and son to automatically fix all that had been broken. There was a lot of water under their bridge that had to be waded through. I would at least give Brooks props for coming, even if it tortured my soul.

  “What are we playing tonight?” I decided to get the show on the road so I could get Brooks out of the house and my life. Though I had a feeling he was going to make both difficult.

  “Why don’t we let Brooks decide,” Daddy offered.

  I refrained from rolling my eyes.

  “How about five-card draw?” Brooks responded.

  “Amateur.” I played with my chips.

  Daddy and Tom chuckled while Brooks hit me with his enigmatic eyes. “Would you like to up the wager, then?”

  “What do you have in mind?”

  “I happen to have scored two front-row seats to the Rick Springfield concert next month.”

  No freaking way! I shouted in my head. On the outside, I remained calm, cool, and aloof. “How nice. I have tickets too.”

  “Yes, but are they in the front row?”

  I rubbed my neck, seriously salivating for those tickets. “No.”

  Brooks leaned in, giving me a taste of his minty breath. “How’s this? If you win, I’ll give you the tickets. If anyone else at this table wins, you go with me.”

  Oh, that was so dirty. Like sexy dirty, but still rotten. I internally debated. I was a good poker player, and five-card draw was like a child’s game. Yet skill was such a small part. It was mostly luck. And it was me against three of them. But, I really, really wanted those tickets.

  I sat up tall and straightened my shirt. “Okay, fine, but you’re going to have to win if you want me to go with you.” It wouldn’t mean anything if we went together. We would drive separately, and I would ignore him while I sang every single song and prayed Rick Springfield would reach down and touch me. Maybe pull me up on the stage and serenade me with “Jessie’s Girl.”

  Tom clapped his hands together and hooted. “I l . . . love your fire, Gracie girl. Let’s play.” He grabbed the deck of cards in front of him. He was always the dealer. Except when he went to shuffle, his hands wouldn’t work right. The cards kept slipping out of his fingers, yet he kept trying, cussing as he went. It was painful to watch, yet Daddy and I knew better than to interfere.

  After several attempts, Brooks placed his strong hand over his father’s. “Let me do it for you.”

  Tom stopped and met his son’s eyes. Tears leaked from his own. “Thank you, son.”

  It was the most tender thing I had ever seen, so much so my eyes welled up with tears.

  Brooks took the deck and, without another word, began to deftly shuffle the cards.

  “No cheating,” I threw out there to stop myself from kissing him for being so sweet to his daddy.

  “I plan to win you fair and square,” he zinged back.

  “I’m not anyone’s prize,” I snipped at him.

  “I think he meant to say you are a treasure,” Daddy betrayed me and helped the fool out.

  I faced my father in shock. Seriously, whose side was he on?

  “That’s exactly what I meant,” Brooks agreed with Daddy.

  “Let’s just play cards.” I was annoyed with all of them ganging up on me. “Ante up.”

  Brooks tossed a large pile of chips in the center.

  “Um, you realize each of those chips represents real money, right? We don’t mess around here.”

  Brooks flashed me a dazzling smile. “Neither do I, and I’m feeling lucky tonight.”

  Holy crow, he needed to stop with the alpha male vibe that admittedly turned me on like a floodlight. “We’ll see.”

  “Yes, we will.” Tom took a sip of his water.

  Brooks dealt us five cards each. I picked mine up and held them close to my chest. I had to stop from grimacing. I had a pair of jacks and three crap cards. This wasn’t good news. My only hope was to turn in the three meaningless cards and pray for a miracle. I looked around at my opponents, mainly Brooks, who was already grinning at me. I had to stop myself from smiling back. It was almost a reflex to this playful side of him that I’d thought was long gone. I couldn’t let him get to me. I was here to win my Rick Springfield tickets. I averted my eyes. What I found was Daddy and Tom looking at each other conspiratorially. On an unseen cue, they both put down their cards and in unison said, “I fold.”

  “What! Let me see your cards,” I demanded.

  “Honey, that’s not how it works,” Daddy said reasonably. But there was no reason to any of this.

  “Daddy.” I used my please, I’m your little girl voice.

  He patted my knee. “I think this is better left between you and Brooks.”

  “I second that m . . . motion.” Tom grabbed a handful of grapes.

  I couldn’t believe my men had turned on me.

  “Are you still in?” Brooks taunted me.

  With determination, I threw several chips in the pot. If anything, I was way overconfident. Brooks matched my chips.

  I scowled at him before discarding three of my cards and taking another three from the dealer.

  With delight, Brooks counted each card out succinctly and slowly.

  I picked up my cards, silently praying for another pair of jacks or three of a kind. I was gifted with a couple of twos. Two pair. It wasn’t a good hand at all. Sure, I could win, but it was the third-worst hand to have in poker.

  Brooks took two cards. His face wa
s stoic and unemotive. He had a much better poker face than his daddy. After looking at his cards, Brooks tossed in a buttload of chips. Oh crap. Maybe he was bluffing? Please, let him be bluffing. I didn’t care about the money. It was having to go to the concert with him. Not that long ago it would have been a dream of mine. Now it filled me with terror. How could I trust myself to keep it platonic? Because, I’m not going to lie, Rick does something to me when he starts singing. And Brooks only has to look at me and I go a little wobbly in the knees. This would not be a good combination.

  I swallowed hard and pushed all my chips into the pot. “I’ll see your bet and raise you fifty dollars.” Please let him be bluffing.

  With a smirk, he tossed in fifty bucks’ worth of chips. Then he laid his cards out. The man had a straight flush.

  I let out a long sigh and dropped my losing hand for the world to see.

  Tom cheered, and Daddy squeezed my knee.

  “Let’s go double or nothing,” I pleaded with Brooks.

  Brooks leaned toward me and whispered, “Not a chance.”

  “What do you have to lose?” I begged.

  He stole a kiss on my cheek. “Everything.”

  Me too.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “Here you go, ladies.” June handed Carly and me each a strawberry daiquiri while we lounged poolside, our feet dangling in the cool crystal-blue water. It felt like perfection on a hot Texas summer night. The Hamiltons’ backyard was lit up by strung bistro lights, and the waterfall in their pool made for the perfect background noise. It felt like the good old days when Carly and I were best of friends in high school. I was glad she was able to come back for the reunion taking place next weekend, as well as to spend time with her family.

  “I was going to go nonalcoholic but added a little something something to celebrate our girls’ night.” June giggled. I think she might have been partaking already.

  I took the pink drink in its fancy-shaped glass. “Thank you.” I immediately took a sip and had to stop myself from coughing. Um . . . her little something something was going to make us all tipsy. It tasted like she’d used a half a bottle of rum. I set the drink down near me.