Sweet Southern Nights (Home In Magnolia Bend Book 3) (15 page)

“You do realize that your sister loves you?” Jake brought the kid closer to him so that their noses nearly met.

Charlie merely screwed up his face and started crying.

“No sense in crying about it now, kiddo. You didn’t act nice to her in there and everyone saw that. What do you have to say to that?”

“I’m...I’m...sor...sorry,” Charlie cried, lifting his hands to rub at his eyes.

“That’s a good start, Charlie,” Jake said, setting the boy down, ruffling his hair. At that moment, Eva saw a spectrum in Jake she’d never seen before. Jake would be a helluva dad. Firm but kind. Funny and yet sensible. Approachable, loving and not too far off his own father.

“Okay,” Eva said, grabbing her brother and giving him a hug. “I know things have been hard. I forgive you. We all make mistakes, but we have to do better. Okay?” She looked at Jake, her words carrying double meaning.

Charlie nodded against her neck. She felt a suspicious dampness that was likely tears mixed with snot, but she ignored it and hugged him tight.

How could she want to both throttle and hug someone at the same time?

Jake watched them with a tender expression. “Guess everything’s okay now?”

Eva nodded, pulled her keys out of her pocket and unlocked the car. After she got a sniffling Charlie settled, she shut the door and turned back to Jake. “Thank you. That was an awkward situation for me. I actually thought about pulling the fire alarm but it seemed redundant for a firefighter.”

Jake chuckled. “Naw, B Shift would have to answer.”

“Seriously, though, thank you.”

“That’s what friends are for, right?” He reached out and tucked a piece of the hair she’d left unbound behind her ear.

Eva swallowed. “That’s right. We’ll always be friends.”

He pressed a gentle kiss on her forehead and stepped away. “See you later, alligator.”

“See you soon, you big baboon.”

The flash of his teeth in the twilight was like a crumb of bread to a starving prisoner. She wanted more. But she’d make it past this craziness in her life—all of it.

She had to. More than
her
heart was on the line. Charlie’s sat right alongside hers, which meant she didn’t do what she wanted. She did what she needed.

And even if Charlie wasn’t her responsibility, Jake Beauchamp would never be a wise decision.

She had to accept that he was a heartbreaker.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

J
AKE
GAVE
HIS
sister a wave and backed his truck out of the recently repaired driveway of Laurel Woods, his niece beside him in the truck.

“Wait, how much did you say you’d pay me again?” Birdie asked, flipping her hair over her shoulder, looking up from the cell phone permanently glued to her hand.

“Uh, twenty bucks?”

“I get twelve dollars an hour,” she said, raising her dark brows.

“You do know I’m a firefighter. We don’t get paid much. And don’t you have to do service hours or something anyway?”

Birdie made a face. She was a pretty girl who’d gone through a bratty stage last year, wearing black, dressing like a shadow and giving her mother all kinds of fits. But thankfully she’d turned a corner. She’d grown several inches, stopped wearing dark eyeliner and begrudgingly wore a dress every now and then. Still, Birdie had attitude in spades, and nothing got by her. “True. I’ll take twelve dollars an hour for the first two hours and then the remainder of the time will be service hours. Deal?”

“Deal,” he said as he pulled onto the highway. Thursday night when he’d taken Clint to Ray-Ray’s, he’d learned his friend planned on taking Eva and Charlie to the Peanut Festival in Fort Brantley. Something inside him had rattled around, banging on the steel bars encircling his heart, like some caged beast. And something ugly had propelled him to smile and say “Hey, if you don’t mind, I’ll tag along.”

Clint gave him a death stare, so Jake amended. “I’ll bring a date.”

Birdie was as good of a date as any, especially since she had her babysitting certification and could take Charlie to jump in the bounce houses and get his face painted.

A few minutes later they pulled up to the Cochran place. Biscuit bounded toward his truck, yipping happily. Birdie bailed out and dropped to her knees for doggy kisses. Abigail really needed to get the kid a dog. He’d never seen someone so crazy about animals as Birdie.

“Birdie!” Charlie crowed from the porch, hustling down toward the dog and thirteen-year-old girl. “Are you coming with us?”

Birdie nodded. “Sure, kid.”

“Cool,” Charlie said, bypassing Jake and heading straight to the girl.

“What am I? Chopped liver?” Jake muttered, leaving Charlie and Birdie with Biscuit to roll in the few leaves that had fallen from the sweetgum tree sitting beside the lake. Eva and Clint sat on the porch, watching him as he headed their way.

“I didn’t know you were coming,” Eva said from the large unfinished rocking chair.

“Yeah, I told Clint I’d like to go. I heard there’s a guy at the festival who sells knives. Want to pick up a certain brand for my dad’s birthday next month. That’s okay, huh?”

“Sure.”

“You said you were bringing a date,” Clint muttered.

“I did. I brought Birdie. Figured Charlie would like hanging out with her.”

“How much did you have to pay her?” Clint drawled. His old friend knew Jake’s niece well.

“Just twenty-four dollars. And she negotiated service hours.”

Clint snorted. “I love that kid.”

Eva stood. “Let’s get going. I have to get back early because Charlie has homework. He’s behind on a few things.”

Clint hit the controls on his chair and rolled toward the ramp hidden on the side of the traditional Creole house. His friend looked a bit grumpy about Birdie being Jake’s date...what was that about? Did Clint have a thing for Eva?

No, that’s crazy. Clint and Eva were friends.

But so were she and Jake...and he’d seen her naked. Well, almost naked.

“Hey, is everything okay with Charlie? Did he see Macy?”

A little nosy maybe, but he’d been there when Charlie had a meltdown. He’d seen the worry crowd Eva’s eyes, seen the sheen of tears following.

“Yeah,” she said, grabbing hold of the rough cypress railing, seemingly hesitating. “He’s been having some power issues. That’s what his therapist calls them. He lost control of his world, so he reacts by trying to exert control on others around him. With his classmates, he expresses it more physically. With me, he manipulates me emotionally. Macy says it’s a natural process that almost all kids go through, but with kids who’ve been traumatized, it can be pronounced. I feel like he’s getting good care, and I’m just trying to give him stability and not overreact to his manipulations. Raising a kid is hard. Why don’t people know this going into it?”

Jake smiled. “Because no one would have them then.”

“Come on, guys,” Charlie yelled, running toward Clint and the van he’d started via the remote starter. Clint had a nice van converted to suit his needs as a paraplegic, replete with a lift for his chair and altered controls so he could drive. Birdie rose as Clint ordered Biscuit to the front porch. Oftentimes, Clint took the service dog with him but since Jake and Eva would be with him, the dog wasn’t necessary.

Eva and Jake walked down the steps.

“Why did you come?” Eva asked.

Jake didn’t look at her. He didn’t want her to see his jealousy. “Because I need that gift.”

She stopped halfway down the ramp. Turning back, Jake noted she’d arched one elegant brow. Yes. Elegant. Not that he’d ever noticed before.

“Seriously. I have to get Dad a birthday present.”

“We’re just friends,” she repeated like a mantra.

“Me or Clint?”

“Both.”

Jake ignored that and called out, “Shotgun.”

“Damn it,” Eva shouted after him. “I’m the guest. You’re the tagalong. You ride in the back.”

Jake smiled all the way to the front seat.

* * *

E
VA
SET
HER
funnel cake on the table next to Birdie and plopped down. On the stage in front of them,
Totally Toad
, a Bluegrass revival band, strummed the banjo, making toes tap and hands clap. Eva, however, was focused on digging into the fried, powder-sugared goodness in front of her.

“What’s up with you and Uncle Jake?” Birdie asked, taking a slurp of a melted sno-ball.

Eva almost choked, but held it together enough to swallow the confection that suddenly tasted too cloying. “What?”

“He looks at you all the time. Like he wants a bite of you.”

“What?”

“I figure you know what I’m talking about. You’re weird around him, too—all tiptoey.”

“No, I’m not. We’re just friends.”

“Like my mom was just friends with Leif? Are you two hanging out, too? ’Cause that’s what she called it.”

“Called what?”

Birdie merely wiggled her eyebrows.

“Birdie,” Eva said, her voice rising. Good heavens.

“What? I’m thirteen. I know about s-e-x.”

“Your uncle and I aren’t having s-e-x.” Eva felt silly spelling it out, but she needed to spell that out. What had happened in her bathroom last weekend wasn’t sex. Technically it was foreplay. She thought. “We’re friends in the true sense of the word. Maybe you’re just seeing me different because of Charlie.”

“Why would I do that?” she asked, looking genuinely confused.

“Uh, because I seem more, uh, I don’t know...”

Birdie reached over and ripped off a piece of Eva’s funnel cake. “You mean like in a motherly way, huh? I guess I can see that. You treat him like my mother treats me. Have you licked your thumb and rubbed something off his face yet?”

Eva shook her head.

“Oh, good. Kids hate that. And it’s okay if you do like Uncle Jake. Not a big deal ’cause all the ladies like him. He’s that kind, you know?”

“No. I don’t.”

“A player.”

“Oh.” Solid observation from a thirteen-year-old. Jake’s player status had been part of his persona for so long that apparently everyone understood what his intentions were regarding the fairer sex. Which made her feel doubly good about the decision she’d made to keep her and Jake firmly in friendship mode. Okay, yeah, she still loved him and nurtured that happily-ever-after seed planted long ago at the hands of dog-eared fairy tales. Some things couldn’t be helped. She blamed her unrequited optimism regarding her heart squarely on all those dumb books. Her mother and father, however, had set her up for reality.

“Wanna go find the guys?” Eva said, sliding the barely nibbled funnel cake toward Birdie with a hooked eyebrow.

Birdie pulled off a huge hunk, peppering her navy shirt with powdered sugar. “I guess.”

They walked through throngs of people standing around beer booths and arts and craft tents as they made their way toward the huge area of inflatables. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of her brother’s bright red Spider-Man T-shirt...climbing an enormous rock wall. Her heart lodged in her throat until she realized he was strapped into a harness and Jake stood beneath him, calling out instructions and smiling as her brother maneuvered around the small plastic rocks.

“Cool,” Birdie breathed. “I could climb that thing in no time.”

“Yeah, I hear you’re good at climbing.”

Birdie’s eyes widened slightly but she ignored Eva’s comment in favor of heading toward her uncle.

Eva shouldn’t have teased the girl about the time last year she’d climbed a tree to spy on her neighbor who swam laps in his pool...naked. The apology Birdie had to give led directly to the happy relationship her mother now had with the delicious Leif Lively. Yeah, Birdie seemed to have an above-average curiosity about sex and the human body. Maybe she’d be a doctor...or a porn star. But she damn sure picked up on things she wasn’t supposed to for her age.

Eva watched as her brother passed the halfway point, his sweet face screwed in concentration, tongue caught between his teeth as he struggled to find footholds and heft himself up.

“Good job, Charlie,” Eva called up, clapping her hands.

The child turned his head and gave her a beautiful smile. “I can do it, Eva.”

“I know you can, bud.” Eva gave him a thumbs-up, a warmth flooding her heart. The past week hadn’t been easy. After Sara had approached her about Charlie’s threat toward her son, Eva had tentatively tried to open a dialogue with her brother after they’d read about monster trucks at bed time.

“Charlie, I need to ask you something, okay?” she’d said.

“’Kay,” he’d responded with a yawn. His brown eyes looked sleepy, and his hair stuck out, reminding her she needed to take him for a haircut.

“I talked to Drew’s mom tonight. She had some concerns.”

Charlie didn’t say anything at first. Just watched her with suddenly cautious eyes.

“She told me you said some things to your friend that are hard for me to believe. Stabbing him with scissors?”

“I was just joking,” Charlie said, throwing some disgust in his voice.

“I don’t think your friend thought that.”

“He’s just being a baby. I was kidding.”

Eva had paused for a moment and tried to think what to say next. “It’s never appropriate to threaten someone...even if you’re just joking. Drew didn’t think you were, and he was upset enough to tell his mother. You made your friend feel uncomfortable. You can’t make him do something by threatening him. Understand?”

Charlie had just shrugged.

“You’ve been a trouper, Charlie, but I know sometimes you get angry about everything that’s happened this past month. I know. I felt really mad all the time when Dad and my mom split up. I even slapped a girl in the lunch line at school.”

His gaze jerked up to hers. “Why?”

“She called my new jeans lame. I was so proud of them, and she made me feel so embarrassed. Even though she was wrong to do that, I was wrong to hit her.”

“Why?”

“Because I allowed my anger to hurt someone. That’s never, ever a good thing.”

“But she was being a bully. I learned about bullies this week. That’s when someone is mean to you. You’re supposed to stand up to them. That’s what our teacher says.”

“Was Drew bullying you? No. He refused to, what, play what you wanted to play? Give you something you wanted?”

Charlie ducked his head. Guilty.

“You don’t control people that way, and you certainly don’t use any form of violence against them. I had to learn that the hard way. I went to the principal’s office for what I did. Not fun.”

“Wow,” Charlie breathed, his eyes widening. “You got sent to the principal’s office?”

“Yeah.” Eva ruffled Charlie’s hair. “And this isn’t just about Drew and what you said to him. It’s also about what happened at the church.”

“I was really mad at you,” Charlie said, twisting his fingers in the blanket covering his bed. “I wanted to hit you.”

“I know, but you can’t do that, either. Being a kid is hard. The good thing is that you have people to talk to. And if you don’t want to talk to me about something, tell Dr. Hebert. She’s good at knowing what a person should do when he feels like you did. I wish I had had her when I was a kid.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, someone to listen to what upsets me and then help me figure out what to do? That’s gravy.”

Charlie gave her a smile. “My tooth’s loose. See?”

Nice diversionary tactics. Must be a male thing. “I see. We’ll have to put the tooth fairy on standby.”

“I want five dollars. That’s what Ezra Gerard got for his front tooth.”

“So there’s a going rate, huh? Well, let’s see what she brings when it happens.”

For the rest of the week, Eva had tried to focus on her brother and what he needed. After talking to Macy at the counseling center she better understood Charlie’s emotional fragility. Macy had suggested she register her brother for fall soccer. Practice had already begun, but since Dutch coached his daughter’s team, he was able to get Charlie on his team. So after buying cleats and shin guards at Triumph’s Sports store, it had been merely a matter of getting the kid to practice. Charlie had seemed pumped to attend his first practice, but had had a meltdown when he didn’t kick a goal.

Up and down, round and round. Child rearing wasn’t for wimps.

But watching Charlie’s pride at scaling the rock wall gave her a glimpse into why being a parent was so rewarding.

The last few handholds were far apart, but Charlie had nearly reached the top. Eva held her breath as the child reached up as high as he could toward the red buzzer. His fingertips brushed the bright plastic button, and Eva rose on her tiptoes as if she could help him. “Come on, kid,” she whispered under her breath.