A Forever Kind of Guy: The Braddock Brotherhood, Book 2 (20 page)

“Hey, buddy.”

Fletcher wrapped his arms around Ray’s legs and stared up at him until Ray picked him up.

Roscoe gazed around at the playground, where several other children played or were gathered in groups. “Where’s Jasmine?”

“I don’t know,” Molly replied.

Roscoe swung his gaze back to her. “She’s supposed to be here keeping an eye on you guys.”

Molly shrugged. “She was for a while. Then she started talking to a couple of other girls. They brought her something to drink and they all left.”

“They left?” Roscoe’s voice boomed in disbelief and outrage.

Molly sidled closer to Rick. “There were two boys waiting for them,” she added in a small voice.

“Boys? What boys?”

Molly’s lower lip trembled.

Rick drew her close. “Roscoe, calm down,” he warned. He hunkered next to Molly. “You’re not in trouble. Roscoe’s not mad at you. We’re worried about Jasmine, okay? Now, she went off with these girls and two boys?”

Molly nodded, her gaze fixed on Rick.

“Did you see which way they went? Did they say anything?”

Molly shook her head, her dark hair swinging to and fro. “No. They were laughing a lot and acting weird.”

“Did you recognize the other girls? Or the boys?”

“Uh-uh.”

“How long ago was this?”

Roscoe stamped his feet like an impatient bull while Rick questioned Molly. He wanted answers and he wanted them now. “I don’t know. We were on the swings. We went on the big slide.” She turned to Ray. “I helped Fletcher climb up, and I came down with him so he wouldn’t be scared.”

“Thanks, Molly. I’m sure he liked that.” Ray caught Roscoe’s glare at this interruption in the questioning.

Rick glanced up at Roscoe then returned his attention to Molly. “Can you describe the girls, honey? What did they look like? What were they wearing?

“One had on a halter top. She had big…um, boobs.” Her companions giggled.

“And big earrings, and short shorts. Red ones. Her butt was hanging out a little bit.” This sent all the girls off into peals of laughter.

“That sounds like that girl Renee,” Roscoe muttered. “I told Jasmine she a bad apple.”

“Okay, Molly. Molly.” Rick got Molly’s attention once again. “What about the other girl?”

Molly shrugged. “I don’t know. Not very pretty. Kind of fat. But she had really shiny hair. Black hair.”

Rick nodded. “Do you remember what she was wearing?”

“I think like a white shirt.” She looked to April and Hannah for confirmation. “And a jeans skirt.”

“She had a lot of makeup on too,” April put in. “Blue eyeshadow. Yuck!”

“Okay, what about the boys? Do you remember anything about them?

“One had a shaved head. But I didn’t look at their clothes. Boys’ clothes are boring,” Molly informed the group.

Rick straightened. “That help you at all? Any idea who the other kids are?” he asked Roscoe.

“No, but I’m going to call Sharla.” He already had his cell phone out to auto dial Jasmine’s mother. “Maybe she knows.” He stalked off and started to talk.

Ray looked at Rick. “Why don’t you take the kids back? I’ll see if I can help him find her.”

He set Fletcher on his feet. “You go with Molly, okay, Fletch? I’ll see you in a little bit.”

It didn’t take long for him and Roscoe to track Jasmine and the other kids down. They were sprawled under the shade of a giant sycamore on the far side of the parking lot. The two boys scrambled to their feet and took off into the brush that bordered the park. If he’d been that age and a guy like Roscoe was coming at him, he’d have taken off too.

Roscoe ignored the other two girls completely. He focused all his attention on his daughter. Without a word, he got her on her feet and frog-marched her across the parking lot.

Ray lagged behind, embarrassed for Jasmine who he’d known since infancy.

They were halfway across the parking lot when Jasmine stopped. With her father still gripping her elbow, she bent forward and was violently sick. Roscoe swore and muttered under his breath the entire time. Eventually they made it to the women’s restroom, and Jasmine disappeared inside. Not sure what else to do, Ray offered to get Callie. Roscoe looked mildly troubled by that suggestion but then he nodded.

A short time later, Hayley approached the women’s restroom to discover Roscoe pacing back and forth several feet away. She stopped short when she saw his expression. She’d seen Ray say something to Callie earlier and noticed that Roscoe, Jasmine and Callie hadn’t returned to eat with everyone else. “Roscoe? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. I think so.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “Jasmine’s in there. Callie’s with her.”

Hayley frowned. “But they’re all right?”

“Yeah. I think so.”

Hayley’s bladder sent her another signal. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to interrupt whatever’s going on in there, but—”

Roscoe waved a hand at her. “Go on. It won’t make no difference.”

Hayley opened the door and tiptoed in. She could hear the murmur of voices from behind one of the stall doors. She sped as noiselessly as she could across the tile to the furthest stall. Silly, she admonished herself. She could walk softly, but she couldn’t pee silently. They’d know someone else was in here.

“You feel better now?” Callie’s distinctive, slightly husky voice queried in a gentle tone.

There was no reply, but a toilet flushed.

“You gonna tell me what’s goin’ on?” Callie asked. “So I can tell your daddy? Or you want to tell him yourself?”

A tear-laden but defiant voice, which had to be Jasmine’s, replied, “You wouldn’t understand. Nobody understands.”

Hayley cringed in spite of herself. How well she could remember feeling the same way during her teen years. She’d had no one she could talk to, no one, she was sure, who would understand what she was going through or how she felt. She still felt that way a lot of the time, in fact. It was easier to keep everything inside when you didn’t think anyone cared or would understand.

“How ’bout I guess and you tell me if I come close?” Callie offered.

Again no reply. Hayley could imagine Jasmine’s response. A shrug of the shoulders probably that meant
I don’t care. Go ahead.

“You don’t like it your parents aren’t together. That’s first off. They both workin’ all the time and you think they ain’t got time for you. Then you think maybe they don’t love you. Or else they don’t love you enough.

“You don’t like school too much. Middle school sucks. Girls you were friends with since kindergarten won’t speak to you. They turn mean, tease you, make fun of you. You start lookin’ for someplace you can fit in.

“You think you’re a freak, even though you’re tall and pretty, and when you grow up all the way you’re going to be a knockout. That’s my assessment, by the way, that’s not what you’re thinkin’ at all.

“You think you’ll be cool if you start doing some stuff with some kids you don’t like and you don’t know very well, just because they’re willing to include you. These kids are into drinkin’ and smoking, probably drugs and sex too. Little punks, pretty soon they’ll be stealing cars and turning tricks. And you’ll go along with them because you want to belong somewhere, for someone to tell you you’re okay.

“How am I doing so far?”

Wow, she’s good
, Hayley thought. Callie had pretty much nailed the road Steffie had taken, and one Hayley herself might have traveled if cheerleading hadn’t saved her.

Jasmine mumbled something Hayley couldn’t hear but she could hear Callie’s reply. “I know because when I was your age, I felt the same way. Your dad did too. Everybody has those feelings. Even those girls that used to be your friends who act like they don’t want to be friends with you no more. You think you’re the only one, but you’re not.

“Your parents love you even if you don’t think so. Your daddy, in fact, is crazy about you, and if you wasn’t so pathetic right now I’d kick your butt for what you put him through today.

“You want to hate me for doing my job, for taking your friend Serena someplace safe where her momma’s boyfriends can’t get at her, you go right ahead and hate me. That’s what I do. I look out for kids when their parents don’t. And believe me, Serena’s momma wasn’t looking out for her, which I think you know already.

“I got some news for you. I’m plumb crazy about your daddy, and I’m not goin’ nowhere, so you better get used to it. Now what you think about that?”

Callie’s voice had lost some of its softness, but the concern underneath her words echoed clearly through the tiled space.

Hayley could barely hear Jasmine’s reply. “Okay, I guess.”

Chapter Eighteen

Fireworks exploded over the lake, but Ray barely noticed. He was too aware of the weight of Fletcher sitting in his lap, leaning back against his chest, mostly silent but clearly awestruck. Occasionally, the boy gestured, or turned to look at Ray as if for confirmation that what he was seeing was visible to all. Ray smiled and whispered, “I see.” Then Fletcher would turn back to watch the next display with an exclamatory sigh.

As if Fletcher weren’t enough of a distraction, Hayley proved to be even more of one.

Ray had no idea what happened after Jasmine got into trouble by going off with a couple of other kids and sampling whatever it was they were drinking. Ray sincerely hoped that alcohol was all she had sampled.

Looking chastened and pale, she finally returned to the group, escorted by Callie and Roscoe. Roscoe hadn’t taken Jasmine home, although she whined and begged him to. Instead he told her she could stay whether she wanted to or not. It was her own fault she felt lousy. Silently, Ray applauded Roscoe’s decision. Jasmine had made a mistake and he was forcing her to suffer the consequences instead of letting her off the hook.

Jasmine’s
café au lait
complexion had turned ashy, and she refused to eat. Instead, she sat in a chair nursing a bottle of water and ignored the activity swirling around her. Even Molly’s well-meaning inquiries and concern were rebuffed with an annoyed, “Leave me alone.”

As the evening progressed, Ray sensed Hayley withdrawing bit by bit. She socialized, smiled, helped with the food, but something told Ray she wasn’t all there. She seemed…oh, he didn’t know what the word for it was. Wistful, maybe. A little sad.

During the fireworks, she’d positioned her chair slightly in front of his, so he’d been able to observe her without her noticing. Her gaze flickered between Rick and Kaylee, Roscoe and Callie and Hannah’s parents, Tara and Tim. Was that what was bothering her? That they were each part of a couple? And she…wasn’t?

God knew watching Rick and Kaylee together was enough to nauseate anyone. They were so damned in love, so connected. Ray was pretty certain Roscoe and Callie were heading in the same direction. Even Tara and Tim, after ten or twelve years together, were pretty affectionate with each other.

Maybe he’d gotten his signals crossed. He’d thought Hayley wasn’t ready to be part of a couple. Hadn’t she as much as told him that? And wasn’t that why he’d backed off that night he’d kissed her on her porch? He sure wanted to do more. Then as well as now. But he’d thought he should wait. He thought that’s what she wanted him to do.

But now he wasn’t sure.

“You okay?” he asked Hayley as they made their way back to the car. Fletcher snuggled against Ray’s shoulder, worn out from running around on the playground earlier and the fireworks display that had begun well after his normal bedtime.

“Fine,” Hayley replied.

Uh oh. Ray knew that particular tone of voice women used to assure a man everything was fine when it wasn’t.

“Bull,” he whispered as they approached the car. He dug his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the vehicle. Fletcher protested groggily before settling into his car seat.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as they got into the line of cars exiting the park.

“Nothing.”

“Is it Rick and Kaylee?”

Hayley sighed. “No.”

There was something bothering her though, Ray thought triumphantly. Pretty soon he’d be able to read Hayley like an open book.

“I don’t know. It’s everything. It’s seeing other couples together, it’s wondering where I went off track. Not only with Trey, with my whole life. Pablo wants to talk to me about setting up some kind of cheerleading academy at the Y.”

Ray knew Pablo was Pablo Estevez, the director of the YMCA where Hayley worked. He’d graduated from Jannings High two years ahead of Ray.

“I don’t know exactly what he’s got in mind, but it’s more than cheerleading, like a physical fitness academy for girls. Dance, cheerleading, gymnastics. Nutrition, self-esteem. He’s got all kinds of ideas.”

“And he wants you to head it up? Smart guy.”

Hayley turned to look at him. “I didn’t say he wants me to head it up. We haven’t discussed it in any kind of detail. Besides, I’m hardly qualified to be in charge of anything.”

Ray’s gaze flickered her way before he concentrated on the traffic situation once again. “I disagree. You’ve got the background for it. You’d be good at it. That’s the kind of thing that could help girls like Jasmine, don’t you think?”

Hayley sighed again and turned to gaze out the window. She’d been thinking about girls like Jasmine all evening. How easy it was for kids that age to succumb to peer pressure, especially if they didn’t get what they needed at home. Even if she could safely adopt him, she tried to imagine raising Fletcher on her own. What would she do when he was a rebellious teenager and started down that slippery slope? She’d be on her own with no one to back her up or help her.

In spite of her doubt in her own abilities, she’d been thinking about the kind of program Pablo had outlined. She could see the possibilities. Certainly she could relate to how such a program could help young girls in the community.

Comparing it with what Paige did in L.A. was like comparing apples with filet mignon. Paige worked with a lot of celebrities, designing personal fitness and nutrition programs. Her gym wasn’t a mere gym. It was more like a spa that offered all kinds of classes—dance, yoga, tai chi, aerobics, kickboxing. Members were offered appointments for massage therapy, facials and other skin treatments. A retail outlet offered organic foods, nutritional supplements and her signature line of workout gear.