Feels Like Home: A Southerland Family Contemporary Romance Book 1 (4 page)

“
Summer, honey, Abby should
be home soon. Let’s take her for ice cream. My treat.”

Summer’s eyelids fluttered but didn’t open.
“Take her. She’d love that. I want to sleep.”

“
Are you sure? Are you
okay?” Worry tightened Autumn’s stomach, but she held onto the
image of the sweet pink bedroom.

“
Yeah, I’m fine. Just
tired. Take Abby, and I can get some sleep. I’ll be better when you
get back.” Summer didn’t open her eyes, but she smiled.

“
Okay.” Autumn touched her
sister’s cheek, and then picked up her bag and went out to wait for
the bus, unable to stay in the trailer for another
minute.

Abby polished off a huge hot fudge sundae,
chattering the entire time about school, friends, and Princess
Sophia. Autumn nodded and smiled and fell deeper in love with the
bright, engaging little girl.

After the ice cream, they went to the grocery
store and Autumn put a dent in her savings filling a cart with
food. She might not be able to convince her sister to leave Dwayne
tonight, but she could at least make sure she and Abby had decent
food.

They piled the loot in her car, including a
six dollar bunch of daisies Abby had shyly asked if they could get
for her mother, and Autumn drove while Abby talked. Autumn hadn’t
been around enough kids to know if Abby’s behavior was normal or a
symptom of a child starved for attention. She was happy to be the
object of her niece’s focus. Abby demanded attention and keeping
her mind focused on her niece kept Autumn from worrying about
anything else.

Autumn loaded Abby down with the flowers and
lightest grocery bags and picked up the rest herself. When they got
to the front door, she could hear the vacuum running inside and
smiled. If Summer was cleaning she must be feeling better.

Balancing the bags, she turned the doorknob
and pushed the door open with her foot. When Summer saw them she
smiled, a real smile this time and shut off the vacuum. She still
looked tired, but her color was better and her eyes didn’t look as
hollow. She’d put away the dishes and straightened up. The trailer
wasn’t photo spread ready, but it was clean and tidy.

“
Did you guys have
fun?”

“
We did. Aunt Autumn let me
get my own hot fudge sundae and I ate the whole thing.”

“
I see that.” Summer wiped
a smear of chocolate off Abby’s face with her thumb. “Did you
behave yourself?”

Abby looked at Autumn who smiled and
nodded.

“
Yes, I did.”

“
Good girl.”

“
These are for you,
Momma.”

Summer took the flowers and squeezed her
little girl. She looked over her daughter’s shoulder to Autumn and
mouthed the words thank you. Autumn’s heart clutched and she
blinked hard.

“
I had the best day.” She
set the grocery bags on the table and started to put the cold
things in the refrigerator while Summer got a vase for the flowers.
“Handsome men in the morning and ice cream with my best girl in the
afternoon.”

Abby beamed at her and Summer arched an
eyebrow. “Handsome men?”

“
I went to see Andrew
Coles. We need to talk about that later,” she said, lowering her
voice.

“
He is handsome and a
pillar of the community,” Summer said in her best Junior League
impersonation.

“
Charming, too, but I think
he might actually be nice.”

Summer shrugged her shoulders noncommittally.
“Okay, but you said men. Who else?”

“
Gran’s doctor.”

“
Doctor Southerland?”
Summer’s eyes got big. “He’s definitely handsome – all tall, strong
and too rugged to look like a doctor.”

It was Autumn’s turn to arch an eyebrow. It
sounded like her sister had spent some time thinking about the
doctor. “Really?”

“
Stop looking at me. I
don’t like him like that.”

Autumn grinned at her sister.

“
I don’t. He scares the
crap out of me.” She clamped a hand over her mouth and looked at
her daughter.

“
I know. Don’t say that
word.” Abby settled in at the kitchen table and pulled a stack of
papers out of her backpack.

Summer smiled. “Exactly.” She turned her
attention back to her sister and the groceries. “He intimidates
me.”

“
Why?” Intimidating wasn’t
what Autumn thought when she thought about Jude Southerland. Angry,
Viking, yummy, but not intimidating.

“
He’s a Southerland. You
know what that family’s like. They practically run the town. Which
should make them easy to hate, but they’re all so nice. It’s
impossible not to respect them. Taylor was in my class and she’s
the only one who isn’t over the top successful. Even she was nice
to everyone in school . Not cliquey or spoiled at all.”

Autumn remembered Travis from her class and
Rachel, his older sister. Summer was right. They moved in much
different circles, but the Southerland kids had all been nice. Even
when their friends went out of their way to avoid the trashy Smith
and Maddox kids.

“
Okay, but I still don’t
get the intimidating.”

“
He’s so smart. He’s a
freaking doctor. And on top of all of that, he’s really kind. You
should have seen how he was with Gran.”

“
He must have shown her a
different side of himself. Today, he almost ran me over with his
car and then yelled at me.” True but not strictly speaking
accurate. She left out the part about her stepping in front of the
car, but all this talk about the good doctor was making her
uncomfortable. She could still feel the way his muscles bunched
under his shirt when she’d touched his arm. It had been a long time
since a man affected her like that. If ever.

“
That doesn’t sound like
him. He was always so nice to Gran and me.” Summer set the daisies
on the kitchen table in front of Abby and kissed her daughter’s
head. “Thank you for bringing these for me. And thank you for all
of this.” She motioned to the clean kitchen and the groceries yet
to be put away. “You didn’t have to do it, but I appreciate it.”
She smiled, but it was a sad smile.

“
You’re my sister and my
favorite niece.” She reached over to ruffle Abby’s hair and the
little girl beamed. “Seriously, you took Gran to her doctor’s
appointments. You helped her when I was off worrying about myself.
Let me do this. It’s such a little thing in comparison.” Summer’s
smile warmed and Autumn thought what the hell. “Listen, I’ve been
thinking. What if you and Abby…”

Before she could finish her sentence the
front door banged open and Dwayne came in. Summer hurried over to
meet him, but Autumn saw Abby shrink into herself, the vivacious
little girl crawling into a shell. If she didn’t already have a
stack of reasons to hate Dwayne, that alone would be enough.

“
Hey baby, you’re home
early.” Summer fluttered around him like a matador trying to
appease an angry bull.

He took in the scene with red rimmed eyes.
“And you finally cleaned things the fuck up.”

Next to her, Abby cringed and Autumn started
to get to her feet. Only the desperate pleading look from her
sister kept her from going after the asshole.

“
Autumn helped. You know
how tired I’ve been lately. Go on and sit down, baby. I’ll get you
a beer.”

“
I guess two Maddox sisters
are better than one.”

Dwayne leered at Autumn and she fought to
keep her face expressionless. She didn’t want to let him know how
he repulsed her. Instincts told her that would only make him try
that much harder to push her buttons. Until she could get her
sister and Abby away from the prick, she’d keep her mouth shut.

Summer got a beer from the fridge. “Take your
backpack into your room. I’ll be in to help you with your homework
in a minute,” she murmured to Abby as she went to deliver the
beer.

The little girl put her papers back into her
backpack and carried the pack to her room. She looked over her
shoulder once to meet Autumn’s eyes but avoided looking at Dwayne
and her mother.

“
I should go.” Autumn got
to her feet.

“
No need to hurry off,”
said Dwayne staring at her over the rim of his beer.

He made her feel dirty and her sister look
sad. She followed Abby to her room, closing the door behind her.
She had to talk to her niece, to make sure she’d be okay before she
could bring herself to leave.

Abby sat in the center of her bed surrounded
by coloring pages and papers with wide lines to practice writing
her letters. Autumn picked up one of the sheets, peeling it away
from a paper with red construction paper apples glue-sticked to
it.

“
Did you write this by
yourself?” she asked, motioning to the A-b-b-y written in shaky
pencil.

Abby nodded but didn’t speak. Autumn’s heart
broke at how quiet the little girl had gotten.

“
You did a good job.” She
asked the next question and braced herself for the answer. “Are you
scared of Dwayne, honey? Does he hurt you or your
momma?”

Abby shook her head and Autumn breathed a
little easier. “He yells, and he says bad words.”

“
I heard that
part.”

“
And he makes momma
tired.”

Autumn didn’t know what to make of that, but
it did seem like her sister now was a different person from her
sister this afternoon.

“
But he doesn’t hurt
you?”

“
No,” Abby said her voice
barely more than a whisper.

“
I had fun today. I’d like
to spend more time with you and your mom.”

“
Me, too.”

“
Later
alligator.”

“
Bye.”

Autumn went back into the main room and found
her sister scurrying around in the kitchen, getting dinner ready
while Dwayne lounged in front of the TV drinking his beer. She
leaned in and kissed her sister’s cheek. “You and Abby could come
stay with me.” She whispered the words against Summer’s ear, but
the TV was turned so loud, there was no way Dwayne could hear.

Summer pulled back like she’d been burned.
“No. I appreciate your help. I do, but we’re fine. I was just tired
today. I’m fine now.”

“
Okay.” The last thing
Autumn wanted to do was push her sister away. “The offer
stands.”

“
I appreciate it, but we’re
fine.”

“
I fold.” Andrew laid his
cards on the table and picked up his scotch.

“
I’m out,” said Jude,
waving away a haze of cigar smoke. “I’ve had crap all
night.”

“
I call, little brother.
Show me what you got.” Adam and Blake were Jude’s younger twin
brothers, but Adam insisted being born first made Blake the younger
brother.

“
Full house,” said Blake.
“I’ll take these.” He scooped up the pile of nickels.

“
Any more wings?” Adam
picked up the empty bowl and headed into Andrew’s
kitchen.

“
In the oven. Y’all are
grown men, how can you still eat like seventeen year olds?” Andrew
followed the twins into the kitchen.

“
High metabolism.” Blake
grabbed a bag of chips and another beer and Jude rolled his
eyes.

“
I have a very active job,”
said Adam.

“
Chase many bad guys
through the mean streets of downtown lately?” asked
Jude.

“
Funny.” Adam dumped a
cookie sheet of wings into the bowl and grabbed his own
beer.

“
Wait until you’re on the
other side of thirty-five. That’s when it all changes,” said
Andrew, taking a puff on his cigar. “High metabolism my
ass.”

“
Speak for yourself.” Jude
took a swallow of scotch. His apartment above the doctor’s office
was a couple of blocks away from Andrew’s house. He usually walked
to their weekly poker games so he didn’t have to worry about
driving after. They’d been meeting like this since the twins got
back from college and the police academy and settled into their
places in the community. Early on they decided Andrew had the
nicest house and the best food. And the best scotch, thought Jude,
taking another swallow of the smoky amber liquid.

“
I’m gonna ask Autumn
Maddox out for dinner,” Andrew declared as he sat back down at the
table.

Jude breathed in his scotch and choked. “Easy
old man.” Blake pounded on his back.

“
Enough,” Jude said on a
cough, moving away from his brother’s fist. “I’m okay. Why Autumn?”
He knew why. It’d been two weeks since he almost ran her down and
he hadn’t been able to forget her. He could still see her
impossibly blue eyes and remember the way she smelled – flowers and
something warmer, spicier. He did not want to think about his best
friend with the woman he couldn’t get out of his head.

“
What do you mean why?”
Andrew’s brow creased.

“
Maddox? Not Colin Maddox’s
sister?” asked Adam.

“
Yeah, Marion Maddox’s
granddaughter,” said Andrew. “Her gran left her the house. I’m
handling the estate.”

“
Colin Maddox is bad news.
I’ve brought him in a half dozen times – everything from domestic
abuse to minor drug charges. He’s never done real time, but he
should have.”

“
She’s Emory Smith’s
sister.” With as much time as he’d spent thinking about her the
past two weeks he couldn’t believe he hadn’t put it together
sooner.