Temporary Father (Welcome To Honesty 1) (7 page)

“Maybe I’ll call Jeff Lockwood.”

“Good idea. He has an extra skateboard, doesn’t he?”

“Can we go over to the parking lot at the Food Trader?”

“You know they don’t like you guys skating over there.”

“Mom, I’m going to be in the Olympics one day, snowboarding. This is the only way to practice when it’s not winter.” He forked a bite of egg into his mouth. “Besides, I’m a man. I can decide what I want to do.”

With a helpless nod she tried to walk—not wobble in rage—into the hall. “I’ll be downstairs when you’re ready.”

“Okay. You’re sure I can go to Jeff’s? You’re not just tricking me?”

“I may be overprotective, but I’m not dishonest.”

“Sorry, Mom.”

As soon as he turned on the shower, she dialed the bank. The receptionist offered help with her usual enthusiasm.

“This is Beth Tully. May I speak with Jonathan Barr?”

The woman connected her. “Beth, what’s new with you today?” Mr. Barr asked.

Normally, his “let’s be friends” tone annoyed
her. “Nothing’s new, except I’ve found a little common sense. I’d like to come talk to you about an amount the bank would lend me.”

“We can do that. When will you come in? I’m pretty full today, but tomorrow at eight-forty-five, I have an open half hour.”

“I’ll be there.” She forced down a bitter lump of humiliation. “I don’t know how to thank you, Mr. Barr.”

A
FTER
E
LI PROMISED
not to skateboard at the Food Trader, Beth dropped him off at the Lockwoods’. In sweatpants and a ponytail and a dusting of flour, Jeff’s mom came out to the car.

“Hey, Beth—how’s it going?”

“Fine, Ann. Are you sure both boys won’t be too much trouble?”

“I’m glad you let Eli come.” She waved him toward the knot of children fighting over big yellow toys in her yard. “He keeps my offspring occupied. You know how little ones look up to older ones.”

“I’ve heard.” Beth would have loved another child, but that chance seemed to be passing her by.

“Don’t kid yourself. They say two are as easy as one, but they lie. Two is twice the work. Three, three times and, let me tell you, with four, I’m lucky if I remember their names and don’t put Jeff in Kailyn’s tutu before I send him off to Jamie’s cello lesson.”

“You make it sound good.” That was chaos she’d love.

“How much longer before you can start rebuilding? I can’t believe you’ve done most of the cleanup yourself.”

“I hired help for anything toxic and for the appliances and the bigger stuff, but I’ve mostly got shove-the-rest-of-the-trash-into-a-Dumpster duties from now on.” She leaned her head against the seat. “After two months, I can’t wait.”

“I’ll bet.” Ann reached in and squeezed her shoulder. “We’ll be glad to have you home, too.”

Jeff and Eli ran toward Ann’s minivan. Beth grabbed her friend’s hand. “Where are you taking the boys?”

“Over to that new half-pipe they put up in the mall, but I don’t know where they think they’re going. I’m not ready yet.”

“A half-pipe? In the mall?”

“They installed it over a weekend. Jeff’s been there almost every free minute since, and the other children and I play on the kiddy equipment until they get tired enough to shout encouragement at their brother.”

“Sounds like fun. I’m missing out on all these days with Eli. You’ll stay with them, won’t you? You won’t leave the boys alone when you get to the mall?”

“I don’t make that mistake since Jeff was a show-and-tell example at kindergarten. Police Officer Chris used him to explain what happens when little children wander off. Speaking of cops, I heard what happened with Lucy.”

“I know. Can you believe people being so reckless? Nothing like that ever happened here. Who told you?”

“Trey.” Ann’s husband was a fireman, but several police volunteered part-time in Honesty’s fire department and provided a conduit for talk about town happenings. “Dr. Patrick got the men all worked up. No one likes to see a pet hurt.” She glanced back toward the boys. “I’d better gather up the troops. See you later, Beth.”

“Thanks for the chat. I’m losing touch with my own life.”

“You’re just too busy to check in with the old gang.” Another squeeze of the shoulder, and Ann was off, chasing her toddler daughter who veered out of the garage, carrying a diaper and her dress.

Normal problems. Ann was a lucky woman.

Beth waved goodbye to Eli, who wore a big grin as he rocked back and forth on Jeff’s skateboard. In a few minutes she turned down the long, narrow lane that led to her house. The woods here were older than at Van’s, fuller. The lake seemed darker. Fish were plentiful and swimming free, instead of being sacrificed to her guests.

On the last curve in the road, Beth dodged a truck filled with teens front and back. There was barely room for two vehicles. The road had been carved out of wilderness during Honesty’s horse-and-buggy days.

Beth glanced in the rearview. Kids kept breaking
into her garage and storage buildings to indulge in their vices. She didn’t want anyone getting hurt in her derelict ruins, and she sure didn’t want to end up on the bad end of an affronted parent’s lawsuit.

She parked down the steep hill from the lodge and started to go up, but the dark water called to her. She’d dreamed beside it, imagined a clean, honest future for Eli and herself. She walked down the deck, taking her time, breathing in honeysuckle and a hint of wood smoke.

From another deck on the far shore, her friend, Les Kyle waved. He rented boats for a living, and his business had been off since hers had burned to the ground.

She waved back and then faced what was left of her house. It had once nestled like a Christmas card into Virginia evergreens. Now a pile of rubble, it looked like the cover of an old gothic novel. All she needed was a long-haired girl in her nightgown fleeing from the burned pile etched into the tree line.

After checking the outbuildings for vandalism, she took coveralls and a mask from her trunk and climbed the stone steps set into the hill. Donning her work things, she chanted her own mantra—just a few more days of this—and with the help of the loan, she could start rebuilding.

The acrid smell of loss burned her lungs. She opened the garage and got out her wheelbarrow and then rolled it back to the rubble. The house had
burned all the way to the porch. This had been her domain, her way out of debts left from her marriage.

Her success had grown with each passing month since she’d asked Campbell to leave. She’d felt it crackling in the tips of her fingers every time she’d run her end-of-month spreadsheets. It hadn’t been just bad wiring and an old computer. She’d felt the future, sparkling within her reach.

Not just for her, but for Eli. She’d liked going out, no longer having to worry that Campbell would cause a scene. She’d drifted to sleep each night secure that she was showing Eli how hard work provided for their family.

She pulled on her gloves and grabbed a hunk of waterlogged drywall. She was tipping her third wheelbarrow into the Dumpster at the edge of the porch when she heard a truck coming.

She looked up, wary that those children had come back, but it was Trey Lockwood. A couple more men from the neighborhood sat beside him on the front seat. Behind them, four guys shouted from an open Jeep.

Beth set the wheelbarrow on its rests. She couldn’t yell back and the men blurred in front of her eyes. Grinning as if he’d brought Santa and the Easter Bunny and Cupid on Valentine’s Day, Trey presented his work crew.

“Ann said we should bring you home faster,” he said. “So I rounded up everyone who was off duty today. Where do we start?”

“Are you sure? I don’t know how to ask…”

“You don’t have to.”

Beth took the hint. “It’s pretty nasty in there. Do you have gloves? I have extra masks in case the air’s bad.”

They’d brought their own gloves. Each man took one of the masks she stored in her trunk, and everyone pitched in. On her next trip to the Dumpster, Beth found herself behind Trey.

“Thanks,” she said as he veered around her.

“My pleasure. We should have thought of it before.” He actually looked embarrassed.

“Listen.” She cocked her head toward the pile behind her. “They’re laughing. I’ve had to keep my mind blank to keep doing this work.”

Trey almost rubbed her shoulder, but stopped when he saw the soot on his gloves. “It’s not our house, Beth. You think any one of us wouldn’t be in bad shape if this happened? I don’t know how many times we’ve talked about teaching that bastard ex-husband of yours to face his responsibilities.”

His quiet-spoken anger spooked her. “Lending me all these hands is much more useful.”

T
HE COOL MORNING AIR
gave way to growing heat as the sun climbed toward the middle of the sky. Beth had forgotten to bring lunch. She glanced at the men, lining up to dump garbage from whatever they’d found to use as scoops. They must be even hungrier. She’d had wheels to push her loads to the Dumpster.

She was shaking her glove off to check the time on her watch when another vehicle came down the lane. Not a truck this time. Maybe Ann had brought the children and lunch in her minivan.

It wasn’t Ann. Beth recognized the car that emerged from the trees, and she couldn’t have been more startled. She glanced at the men who’d helped her all morning. Friends, every one, they felt like brothers today.

How was she going to introduce Aidan?

He got out of his car, bearing a sack printed with a picture of a small cabin. Trust a friend of Van’s to bring takeaway from Uncle Moe’s, the disarmingly named, most expensive restaurant in town.

His smile grew serious as he realized he hadn’t brought enough for everyone.

Beth hurried down the porch steps. The others just stared. “How did you find me?” she asked.

“I asked where your lodge was.” He lifted the bag. “At Uncle Moe’s.”

“I’m sorry—that was a rude way to thank you.” She sensed the other men coming in the way his glance slid around her.

“I’d better go back for more,” he said.

“I can’t ask you—” She wasn’t even sure why he’d brought food for her.

“You didn’t,” he said, paraphrasing Trey. “You really have been doing this all by yourself.”

“Until today. These guys are my neighbors.” She stepped back. “Ted, Trey, Ben, Lyle, Gary, Rick and Jim, this is—” She stopped again, her mouth going dry as she remembered those moments in his arms. She stared at his mouth, his firm, disturbing seductive mouth that had turned her into a woman she hardly knew. She couldn’t say his name.

“I’m Aidan Nikolas.” His intimate look unsettled her. “A friend of Beth’s.”

The other men darted curious glances at her, but they stepped forward to shake hands, each shucking off a glove. None seemed to catch on to the idea that Aidan was a minor celebrity.

Maybe none of them cared.

“If you’ll let me write down what you’d like, I’d
be glad to get lunch for everyone,” Aidan said. No one turned him down.

“Arthur’s, about a half a block north of Uncle Moe’s has the best burgers in this part of the country,” Trey said.

“I could do with one of those myself. Same for everyone?” The men all nodded and so did Aidan. “Do you want to come, Beth?”

“I couldn’t leave everyone else working,” she said and ignored all the laughing suggestions that she was being too polite. “But thanks, Aidan. I never expected…” She didn’t know what to think. Bringing meals for a lot of strangers went above and beyond a guy wanting a kiss.

“I’ll be back.”

T
HAT NIGHT THEY FINISHED
before the sky was more orange than blue and the evening chill set in, although Beth suspected it would take a blizzard to make her feel cool tonight.

After delivering lunch, Aidan had rented a small trailer and brought out wheelbarrows for everyone. He hadn’t pitched in, and he’d matter-of-factly told the other men why. Laughing, he’d offered to be the team water boy, apparently more willing to risk discovery than look like a slacker. Beth had a feeling these men had bonded. None of Aidan’s new friends would divulge a word about him.

Even though she moved away whenever he came near, Beth felt proud to know him by the time the
other guys shoved their wheelbarrows back into the trailer. Trey shook his hand with approval.

“I’d never have guessed a guy like you could let down his guard.” He looked at Beth. “You’ve been a good friend to her. Hope you stay well, man.”

“You did know.” Beth could tell by his tone.

He flicked an imaginary straw of hay from the side of his soot-darkened mouth. “We ain’t all rubes, ma’am.”

She punched his arm. “Idiot. Van made me think I shouldn’t be spreading information about you,” she said to Aidan.

“You know how the papers are. They’d turn a minor heart attack into an incurable illness. I’m following doctor’s orders even when they humiliate me, but I won’t lie about my own name, even for the company.”

“You’re safe with us,” Gary said.

“But maybe you should try an alias,” Trey said. “See what you can get away with. You sure can’t do it when you grow up in a small town that just gets smaller because everyone knows you. That Van, Beth. He wasn’t always such a stuffed shirt.”

She laughed with the others, but guardedly. He was her brother after all.

Jim tossed his gloves into the Dumpster. “I’ll talk to my brother-in-law tonight and have him get in touch with you tomorrow, Beth. First thing to do is pour the foundation and then look at the framing.” His brother-in-law was a contractor in the next town.

“Thanks, Jim, but I have an arrangement with
Sam Grove. He said I could let him know with a few days’ warning.” Of course, he also wanted money. She looked from man to man to man. “I seem to have thanked you all several times, but I don’t know what else to say.”

“You’d do the same for us,” Rick said. “Ann was right. We should have been over here before now.”

With tired good-nights, they trooped down the hill to their cars. Aidan took out the keys to his rented trailer.

“I’d better get that back. Know anyone who needs six wheelbarrows?”

“You bought them?”

“I couldn’t find a place to rent them.”

“Aidan, you shouldn’t have.”

“I brought wheelbarrows and lunch. It doesn’t mean anything.”

What did it mean that he looked at her as if kissing her was still on his mind? How no one else had noticed…

“Where’s Eli?” he asked.

“Playing with Trey’s son. They’re best friends.”

“That’s good medicine.” Aidan pointedly ignored her confusion. “Why don’t we pick up some dinner? What do you think he’d like?”

“Why?” Beth asked, refusing to pretend that kiss hadn’t happened.

“Why pick up dinner? I’m starving, and you probably are, too. If Eli’s been playing all afternoon, he’s hungry, and we’re neighbors.”

“It has nothing to do with what happened last night? You have no other motive?”

Aidan flipped the rental keys in his hand. “I thought over what you said—what you asked.”

“Please don’t mention that. I literally burn with shame.”

“It must have been hard, and I understand why, but I don’t want things to be uncomfortable between us.”

How could they be anything else? She still had him on her mind, too.

“I was trying to tell you I’m Eli’s mom first, and he’s in trouble right now. Maybe that kiss meant nothing to you.” Even she didn’t believe something so powerful could have been innocuous—even for a man like him.

“Don’t pretend, Beth. You know it mattered to me. I think you have time for Eli and me. I don’t want to say give us a chance, but I do want to bring you dinner.”

She’d be crazy to risk it, but he lifted a curl of her hair, and as he tucked the strands behind her ear, his finger brushed her lobe, and she shivered, head to toe.

“Eli loves pizza,” Beth said in a thick voice. “Smothered in pepperoni. I’ll pick him up and we’ll meet you at Van’s house.” She plucked at the blackened T-shirt that rose above her coveralls. “I’m not fit to dine with.”

“I disagree. Think we should have some wine?”

“Okay, if it’s all right for you.”

He went down the hill ahead of her.

She peeled off her coveralls as Aidan tried and then tried again to back out his trailer, grinding gears. He waved sheepishly as he finally straightened out.

He didn’t have to worry about looking masculine. His kindness and faint self-consciousness, his ability to laugh at himself, and his prickly acknowledgment of the restrictions that held him back made him man enough.

“Y
OU WERE HELPING
Mom?” Eli asked around a mouthful of pepperoni.

Beth would have suggested he chew first, but she was too happy seeing him interested.

“I was a total loss as help,” Aidan said, sipping Kool-Aid. The grocery store beside the pizzeria hadn’t sold wine. He lifted the cup in admiration. “This stuff’s pretty good. Like sangria without the kick.”

It was nothing like that, but Eli laughed and Beth eased deeper into the cushion on Van’s kitchen banquette. She’d showered and made her arrangements with Sam Grove about the foundation before Aidan had arrived with the pizza.

Now she was propped with one elbow on the table. She’d sleep well tonight. The lodge site was clean—as it could be—and her friends were still her friends.

“What did you do?” Eli asked. “Mom said you helped.”

Aidan shook his head. “Here, Beth, eat something before you fall asleep.” He put a piece of pizza next to the crust she’d left from her first slice. “Your mother doesn’t ask much. I passed around water bottles.”

“And magically made equipment appear. And he brought us food and picked up everything we dropped.” She lifted the pizza. “Which you shouldn’t have done, Aidan.”

“I’m alive.” He sounded as smug as if he’d tricked the universe.

“I could have done that,” Eli said. He eyed Aidan as if he were seeing him differently. “I should have.”

Time for a quick change of subject. “How did your skateboarding go?”

“I learned to do a grab.”

“Is that where you hang on to the board while you ride it?”

“Yeah. It was so cool—like flying.”

She hated to think of her son dangling in air. “Wow,” she said. “Did Jeff teach you?”

Eli nodded. “He’s better than I am since he’s been practicing, but I’ll catch up.” He poked Beth’s drooping hand. “You are falling asleep at the table, Mom.”

She’d taught him better manners. “Sorry.” She dropped the pizza before it landed in her lap. “I’m too tired to chew.”

“Go to bed,” Aidan said. “Eli promised to show me his new video game.”

She tried to smile, but it wouldn’t come. She glanced at Eli. “Do you mind cleaning up, honey?”

“Sure.” He started scooping up the paper plates and plastic cups they’d used. “Even I can do this without driving Mrs. Carleton crazy.”

As soon as the kitchen door shut behind him, Beth turned to Aidan. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing.”

“Why pretend you want to know my son?”

“Pretend?” He pushed back from the table. “I want to know you both.”

She didn’t speak.

“Your rules,” he said.

“Rules?” She woke up then. “You’re not going to hurt Eli.”

“No.” He looked horrified. “What did your ex-husband do to you? As soon as I get close, you think I’m the kind of man he is?”

“You don’t know anything about him.”

“You forget what a small town this is, and the kind of resources I have. I know about Campbell Tully.”

She closed her eyes for a humiliated second. “I don’t think you’re like him, but I don’t want you to be Eli’s friend for a while and then disappear.”

“I won’t.”

“Why? He can’t get attached to another part-timer.”

Aidan leaned across the table, his elbow squeaking on the polished surface. “If I could walk away, I wouldn’t have told you what he said to Lucy. I am involved.”

“But will Eli have any say in deciding when you aren’t anymore?”

He came back before Aidan could answer. “I’ll go get the game. He can stay, can’t he, Mom? It’s not a school night.”

Beth stared from her son’s eager face to Aidan, frowning as if he resented her. Her need for control came from deep inside. She’d only managed to escape Campbell and his reckless debts and his refusal to be a parent because she’d taken control of her own life.

But she didn’t want to hurt her son by controlling the people he could talk to.

“Eli promised to teach me all about driving cars in a galaxy where gravity does not exist.” Aidan had softened his tone. “I just bought a new computer, and I may need a game, myself.”

Beth touched her son’s hair. He slid out from under her hand. “Sounds like fun,” she said. “How about if I watch you play?”

“I’ll bring my laptop down to the family room.” Eli disappeared, settling the matter.

“Please be careful,” Beth said without looking at Aidan.

“He’s a good kid. You don’t have to act like this.”

“I know.” She did know, really. It was just remembering that overheard phone call with Campbell and how dangerous it could be if Eli was unhappy right now. “We’d better watch him set up the game. He’s an impatient teacher.”

Aidan held the door to the hall for her. “I’m not
good with games. I use the same software all the time for work.”

“You’ll get it. It’s easy,” Eli said.

“I’ll check the kitchen. Mrs. Carleton will be here in the morning.” Beth went and wiped down the counters, steeling herself to act normally.

She’d once been arrogant enough to believe living with Campbell hadn’t affected her opinion of other men. She’d been wrong.

When she went to the family room, she found her son and Aidan sitting in front of the soft, wide ottoman Van used as a coffee table. Eli had his joystick and he was dancing with it, driving his car in unknown star systems.

“Whoa,” he shouted. “That Taxwinian hit my fuel tanks or I’d have made it. You think you can do it, Aidan?”

“Maybe.” The man grinned and looked good enough to make real magazine models weep.

Beth avoided his dark gaze and curled up on the sofa across from them. Again, manners would have suggested she sit up, but lack of willpower defeated her. In a little while Eli’s victory shout woke her. She must have fallen asleep.

Despite all her worst fears, she liked having Aidan near. It was one night, but she glimpsed the blessed safety of sharing worry and watching her son have fun with a responsible male.

Her eyes drifted shut. She tried to open them. But eventually gave up, not knowing she had.

Later, she woke to feel something soft sliding across her arms. She lifted her head, but Aidan’s voice shushed, and Eli choked off a laugh. Aidan’s hand lingered on her shoulders, as he smoothed a soft, warm blanket around her. In a dream world this wasn’t only one night.