9781618853158SpecialKindofWomanBergman (16 page)

* * * *

Collin was at home,
nursing his third glass of scotch that evening. His mind was buzzing with
thoughts of Regina and how sad she looked today and how stupid he was to make
her so sad. Hearing the phone, he raced to get it thinking she was calling.
“Hello?”

“Hello brother, you
really fucked it up this time didn’t you?” said Randall.

“Who told you man?”

“Mom, she called me
furious as hell. She got a call from Gina, who was crying her eyes out. She
would have called you herself, but she was too upset after hearing Gina crying.
Yeah, she’s really pissed off at you man. I haven’t heard her saying half the
stuff she said over the phone since that time Kendrick got arrested for spray
painting some cars when he was sixteen. How in the hell did Regina find out?”

“Some woman that I had
slept with got mad because I didn’t get with her again. So she went and told Regina
today at lunch. Man, Randall, I fucked up big time. But I plan on getting her
back. I love her too much to let her go,” Collin told his brother as his eyes
started to grow heavier. “Did mom tell you if she said anything else to her
about anything?”

“No, she tried to
invite her over to stay at the house but Regina told her no, said she was going
somewhere and that she would call her,” Randall told him. “Listen bro, have you
tried to talk with her since you last saw her?”

“I left her a message,
told her that I would leave her alone for a week and that I wanted us to talk
then. I just hope she will want to talk with me.”

“Maybe if you guys just
collect your thoughts while you’re apart, once you get together maybe things
will be better.”

“I hope so too, but all
I can do is just wait and see,” Collin said while taking a sip of his scotch.

* * * *

Regina was looking
online for someplace to get away to before she went to bed. After a couple of
hours of searching, she found a perfect spot; a little bed and breakfast place
by Myers Lake called Cella’s B&B. She dialed the number and hoped someone
answered. After the fourth ring, a male voice said, “Cella’s, how may I help
you this evening?”

“Yes sir, I was
wondering if you had a room available, I wanted to reserve one for a week.”

“Yes ma’am, I do have a
room free, the nicest room we have. We don’t have very many people out here
this month so it’s really quiet right now. When would you like to come down?”

“Tomorrow will be just
fine.”

The next morning, Regina
was thankful she had gotten directions off the Internet because the directions
the owner, Mr. Warren gave her would have sent her in circles. All she wanted
was to take a long hot bath and relax in it until the water got too cold for
her to bear. Up ahead, she saw a sign that said, ‘Cella’s B&B turn left’
and turn left she did. In the clearing she saw a big white Victorian house with
a wraparound porch. There were only three cars parked in front as she pulled up
to the house. Turning the engine off and getting out, Regina was greeted by an
older lady with grey hair and a smile on her face. She was simply adorable in
her floral floppy hat and some dirty overalls. “Why hello there, you must be
Ms. Talbot?”

“Yes ma’am, I am,”
Regina said with a smile as the lady came up to her while taking off her gloves
to shake her hand.

“I’m Bertha Warren, you
talked with my husband, Jeff, last night, let me help you with your bags and
get you to your room.”

They got her things out
of the trunk and walked up the steps onto the porch. Regina followed the lady
to a screen door that opened up to another door that had a number four on it.
“I hope you like this room, I know you wanted a quiet stay here and this room
here is our most private.”

When she opened the
door and Regina walked inside, the space reminded her of when she was a little
girl visiting her grandmother’s house. The four post cherry wood bed had a
beautiful white comforter with blue flowers all over and a handmade quilt was
nicely tucked at the foot of the bed. Little pictures and figurines cluttered
the mantle over the small fireplace with a rocking chair in front of it.
Flowers in vases were in every corner of the room, making the room smell
wonderful.

“There is a door that
leads out to another smaller porch that is more private, we usually serve
breakfast, lunch and dinner in here. There is also a path that goes out to the
lake, which is really nice during the day for a swim as well as at night when
the moon is out. Would you like me to bring you anything to eat Ms. Talbot?”

“Yes, can you bring me
some tea and just something to snack on if you have anything?” Regina asked as
she picked up her bag and put it on the bed.

“Will do dear and you
can put your clothes in the dresser drawers instead of keeping them in your
suitcase while you’re here. Just make yourself at home Ms. Talbot and we will
take care of the rest,” Bertha told her with a smile as she walked out of the
room.

Going over to the
dresser, she opened it up and the distinctive smell of lavender hit her senses.
She saw a lace satchel in the corner of the drawer and smiled as she started to
put her things in. Once she was done, she went out to the private porch and
looked out onto the lake. “How beautiful,” she said to herself, finally feeling
a sense of calm as she watched a flock of geese make a smooth landing on the water.

“Ms. Talbot, I didn’t
know if you liked lemon poppy seed cake, I made some the other day, luckily the
hubby didn’t eat it all up. I brought you two slices along with some of my
lavender honey. Just so you know we will be having lunch around noon,” Bertha
told her while bringing in a tray with a beautiful tea set and two slices of
cake.

“Thank you Bertha, I’ll
probably take myself a bath, you have a really lovely place here. I wish I had
known of this place years ago,” Regina said with a smile.

“Well now that you
know, you are more than welcome to come back anytime.”

After pouring herself some
tea, she used the wand from the cute little honey jar to drizzle some of it
into her cup and stirred slowly. She walked to the bathroom, blowing at the steam
before sipping and had to admit the honey made the tea taste really good. She
couldn’t believe that the bathroom had one of those old fashioned claw-footed
bathtubs as she put the little stopper in while she turned on the hot and cold.
Going back to the dresser, she grabbed her cosmetic bag to get her bath gel,
bath salts and loofa sponge. Locking the door, she went and got a chair and
brought it into the bathroom. Pouring some of the bathing salts into the tub,
the aroma of vanilla hit her nose while she went back in her room and grabbed
the tray.

Regina rested in the
hot water while sipping her tea. The cake was moist and delicious as she closed
her eyes, relishing the moment and putting the cup back onto the tray and
slowly submerged herself into the water and coming back up for air. Wiping her
eyes, she thought about Collin and when he was trying to explain about the
party. She just couldn’t understand why this was all happening and why he lied
to her like he did for some stupid ass bet. She thought about yesterday and how
angry she had been at him as well as that stupid bitch Carol. Grabbing her
loofa and the gel, she poured some on and started to scrub herself as thoughts
of how wonderful her life had been with Collin up until that day flooded her
mind. She tried not to cry as she scrubbed but eventually the emotions came
through as she stopped scrubbing and continued crying in the tub.

* * * *

Collin was coming off
of an all-night drinking binge when he made it over to Randall’s apartment that
morning. Immediately, Randall dragged him into the kitchen and poured strong
black coffee down him. Randall made it clear he was taking him back home for some
much needed rest and a good talking to by their parents.

“Come in boy,” Randy
told Collin as he made his way inside.

When Collin walked into
his parent’s home, both Bobby and Mackenzie stood up. He wasn’t about to
complain because he knew he was totally in the wrong. He deserved their glares
of disappointment. Bobby was shaking his head when his mother came in. Collin
saw her and the disappointment written all over her lovely face.

“Why did you do it son?
That girl loved you and you made her look like a fool.”

He didn’t say a word at
first, just rubbed his blood shot eyes before laying his head against the couch
and sighing deeply.

“I’ll talk to you
later, love you Momma,” Randall said as he left the house.

He felt his mother sit
down next to him. Looking over at her, he saw the hurt in her eyes. At the
moment, he couldn’t hold it in any longer. He started crying. Collin didn’t
care what his family thought as he continued to sob and his mother quickly took
him in her arms. “I’m so sorry momma, I’m so sorry for making you angry with
me.” He never wanted to upset his mom and the look in her eyes told him that he
did by his actions.

“There now me Collin, I
don’t know what got into you for doing such a stupid thing but I hope that
you’ve learned your lesson. I want you to go and take yourself a shower and we
will talk. Now go on and put your things in the guest room,” Alannah told him
as she pushed him up. He grabbed his bag and Bobby put his arm around his
waist, helping him down the hallway.

After taking a very
long shower, Collin’s senses were finally coming back to him as he got dressed
and went back into the living room. He found his brothers and father were gone
but his mother had made him more coffee.

“Come son, I told
everybody to leave out because we are going to talk outside in the garden.”
They walked outside where Collin noticed his mother had made a lot of
improvements on her private haven.

Her garden was
something she had always wanted and her boys made sure that what their mother
wanted she got. She would come out with her morning or afternoon tea and either
do some reading or crochet. Sometimes she would do some weeding and trimming of
her flowers to make sure that things were kept tidy and neat. They went over to
a small table and sat down. She sipped her tea before setting it aside to stare
at him. “Now I want you to tell me what happened that day and I want to know
everything.”

“You sure you want to
know everything?” Collin asked her.

“Not the gritty stuff
son, just the basic things, like how she found out and what was said and things
like that.”

Collin took a deep
breath and another sip of coffee before he put it down and started to talk. “I
had just come from a meeting, when Gina, this woman named Carol—who I had a one
night stand with—and their friends barged into my office. Gina asked me point
blank why I invited her to lunch that first day. Honestly, I couldn’t lie to
her because if I did, from the look on Carol’s face, she would’ve said I was a
liar, and really I already was one. So I told Gina, it was because of a bet. I
went on to tell her everything about the party but I also told her once I got
to know her, that my feelings for her were different. But that didn’t matter to
her—even after everything we shared—because I still went through with the party
for a stupid fucking bet.”

Collin looked over at
his mother and noticed how red her face was getting as she stared at him with
eyes so cold and disheartened he wished he never bothered telling her the
truth. But he had never lied to his mother before because she was one of the
most important woman in his life and he wasn’t about to start now. It seemed
the more Collin talked the more red she got and her lips had thinned out to a
line. Before he realized what was happening, Collin saw her hand go up and
swing toward the back of his head, making contact with a loud smack.

“Ouch!” Collin winced
as he quickly rubbed his head.

“You deserved more than
just a hit in the back of the head. I’m surprised she didn’t slap you herself
because you deserved that. How long have you been doing this party thing?”

“For about six years.”
And with that answer, another slap was brought upon the back of his head.
“Jesus Christ, Momma that hurt!”

“It should hurt, just
like you hurt her. I raised you to respect women, all of my boys were told to
respect women and what do you do? You end up using them because of what your
friends at that office wanted to do for a stupid bet. You could have and should
have told her the truth in the beginning Collin and now you’ve probably lost
the most wonderful girl you’ve ever met.”

“I have to tell you
something Momma, something I’ve never discussed with you. For the longest time
in my life, I always thought of women as just a challenge. I tried many times
before to do the dating scene but with work, I put that before anything else.
Back then I was a playboy who would go around picking up women from work to
have one night stands with and think nothing of it the next day. That’s how it
was with that Carol. But all of that changed when I started getting to know
Gina. She is totally different than any woman I’ve ever met. She was sweet and
kind and funny, things I wasn’t used to in some of the women I’ve been with in
the past. Gina is different and pure and loving, the smallest things I take for
granted, she enjoys. She used to run her fingers through my hair you know and I
always wondered why she loved doing that, she told me she just did. I never let
her stop though, I let her do whatever she wanted with me or to me,” Collin
said with a chuckle in his voice.