“Take a breath, kiddo.” Val kissed his cheek. “Why don’t you go inside? I’m sure your dad is dying to see you.”
“Oh my gosh, right?” Andy’s face lit up. “Okay.” He looked around for Vincent and Marie. “Grandma, Grandpa, I’m gonna go inside.”
“I’ll go with you.” Vincent put a hand on Andy’s shoulder and steered him toward the stairs. “Quite a story he’s going to have, huh?”
“Totally.”
Val turned to Jackson as Andy and her dad walked into the sheriff’s department. She held her arms out. “Hug. Now.”
Jackson rolled his eyes, but he walked into her arms. “You’re not the cool mom if you hug. You know that, right?”
“I do not care about being the cool mom.” Val wrapped her arms around her tall boy. “Go easy on him. I know you’re mad, but take a breath.”
“I know.”
“None of us are perfect,” Val said. “And hopefully, this will be a lesson learned.”
“He’s kind of old for that, don’t you think?”
“Hey.” She leaned back. “You’re never too old to stop learning.” She tweaked his ear. “Aren’t you the one who told me I didn’t have to do everything myself?”
“Yeah.” His cheeks flushed a little.
“So you should have seen me asking for help the past couple of days. I was asking for help all over the place. Sully, Robin, Mark, random forestry personnel…”
“Very funny, Mom.”
“Seriously.” She didn’t know if Josh had told the boys about Anderson trying to kill them, so she figured she’d wait and see. The less the boys knew about that, the better, in her opinion. “Go on.” She pushed him toward the doors. “Go see your dad. Try not to lecture him too much. He’s had a rough day.”
Val watched Jackson follow Andy and her dad up the stairs and into the sheriff’s department, slouching as he walked. Val leaned against her truck and took a deep breath.
Marie slid an arm around her waist. “Random forestry personnel?”
“Savannah Anderson’s husband tracked us up there and tried to take a few shots at us from a distance.”
Marie’s arm tightened around Val. “And?”
“Sully arrested him. Josh has a graze on his temple, but he’ll be okay. The medics checked him out.”
“So that man really did try to kill that sweet girl?”
“Yep.”
Marie shook her head. “My heart hurts for the world, Valerie Jean.”
“Just don’t let it hurt for Allan Anderson,” Val said. “He’ll probably get off with a slap on the wrist because he didn’t actually succeed in killing anyone.”
Marie shook her head. “I’m just glad that you’re safe, Josh is safe, and that woman isn’t going to be in danger anymore.”
Sully walked out of the office, shrugging into his jacket as he donned his hat and scanned the parking lot. He spotted Val and his gaze stopped.
She raised a hand and waved. “Hey.”
Without a word, he walked over to Val and Marie.
“Mrs. Costa.” He tipped his hat. “Val.”
“I just realized Josh’s truck is still up by the ranger station in Keane.”
“Yeah. He gave me his keys. I’ll have a couple of deputies head up there in the morning to pick it up. I called Bridger PD and filled them in. Mason is on the phone with his snowmobile buddy right now. I guess he did find the envelope with the money. It was in a pile of mail they thought was junk.”
“Crazy.”
“I know. Anyway, Bridger PD agreed he could drive down with me in the morning to officially turn himself in.”
“He still has to go through all that stuff?”
“The warrant doesn’t just disappear because everyone figures out the person making the complaint is a criminal. He’s going to have to go through the process.”
“And tonight?”
Sully shrugged. “He could sleep here at the station.”
Val grimaced. “Or… on my couch.” She sighed. “Ugh.” She couldn’t leave Josh to sleep on a broken couch or in a cell. Her boys would never forgive her.
Marie put her hand on Val’s shoulder. “Why doesn’t he sleep in our guest room?” She smiled. “It’s Josh. He may be a bit of a headache, but he’s Jackson and Andy’s father. At the end of the day, he’s still family, but you don’t have to do everything. Dad and I will take him tonight.”
Marie walked into the sheriff’s office, giving Val a curious look as Sully leaned on the truck next to her.
“What does that look mean?” Sully asked.
“It means she’s getting ideas.”
“About?”
“Us.”
“Good.” He handed Val his hat.
She took it, frowning. “Why are you giving me your hat?”
He wiggled his fingers. “I figured you could do your thing. Get the scoop on what’s going on with your ex.”
Val didn’t take her gloves off, but she smiled. “You’re giving me your hat so I can ‘do my thing’?”
“I figured it was more efficient for you to just… see what happened in there instead of me explaining everything.”
She fingered the brim of his hat. “Tempting. But no.”
“No?”
She smiled. “I don’t need to know everything. I don’t want to know everything. I trust you to tell me the important stuff.”
He angled his shoulders toward her, his arms crossed on his chest. “You mean that?”
“Definitely.” She wiggled her fingers. “You really think I like having this ability?”
“I figured you might have trouble trusting people,” Sully said. “I imagine a lot of what people say versus what they’re really doing or thinking doesn’t match up.”
She was shocked that he recognized it. Few people brought that aspect of her power up. “Yeah. I do have trouble trusting people,” Val said. “But not you.”
The corner of his mouth turned up. “No?”
“No. You don’t hide much. When you want something, you say so.”
He nodded. “Good.”
She handed him his hat. “Who you are on the outside matches up with the inside,” Val said. “As far as I can tell.”
“I’m too lazy to lie.” Sully put his hat on his head and angled the brim over his eyes. “Lying takes a lot of energy.”
“So it won’t bother you? Really?”
“Your thing?” He raised an eyebrow. “I mean, it might get annoying around Christmas and birthdays. Don’t push it.”
Val smiled. “I won’t.”
“Good.”
Sully’s broad shoulder was right there and Val was tired, so she leaned her head on it. It felt nice. Solid and warm.
“…maybe think about how I could add something. How being with me could add something to your life.”
Val smiled. “I like you, Sully Wescott.”
“I like you too, Valerie Costa. Want to go out?”
“Yeah. I think I do.”
Chapter 25
Two days after the shooting in Keane, Val watched on the news as Savannah Anderson left the hospital with Josh at her side. Andy and Jackson were sitting next to Val on the couch, eating popcorn and waiting for the news to end so they could switch to watching Friends.
Because apparently that was cool again?
Jackson said, “You think this one will last?”
“She looks nice,” Andy said. “Her smile is really pretty.”
And visible, Val thought. That was a definite change. Savannah Anderson might have looked like she was still recovering, but she also looked like a new woman. There was a brightness in her face and the smile she aimed at Josh…
“I really hope he doesn’t mess this up,” Val said.
Jackson muttered, “Well, it’s Josh, so who knows?”
Her oldest had taken to calling his father by his given name. Val honestly wasn’t sure what to think about it, but she decided that since Jackson was the more responsible
of the two of them, he could call his father what he wanted.
“I think she’ll be nice,” Andy said.
Of course you do. Val brushed Andy’s hair back from his forehead. “She seems like a nice person to me. I hope your dad is good for her.”
“Rachel was nice too,” Jackson said. “And so was Carrie. And Jess. And Melanie. I forget the one before Melanie, but Sarah—”
“He gets it.” Val put a hand on Jackson’s arm. “Just leave it, Jack.”
“Just saying.”
Hearing Jackson’s bitterness about Josh’s relationships made what she wanted to bring up even harder. Sully had asked her out on a date that weekend. While she knew that she didn’t have the same history as Josh—
“Mom, you should be the one getting a boyfriend,” Jackson said. “You deserve someone nice taking you out.”
Val blinked. Huh?
“Yeah,” Andy said. “Oscar’s mom got married again, and his stepdad is so cool and he goes to all Oscar’s robotics competitions. Oscar’s on the robotics team.”
Jackson said, “I just think you should have someone nice. You never go out or anything unless it’s with Robin and Monica. You should go out with someone fun.”
“If I get a boyfriend… or even date anyone, it’ll be because… I don’t know. They’re nice and responsible.” God, how boring did she sound? “And fun. Um… I might be going out with someone this weekend.” She shifted in her seat and picked up the remote. “Friends, right?”
“What?” Andy’s eyes were wide. “You have a date this weekend?”
Jackson had a sneaky smile on his face. “I know who it is.”
Andy was nearly screeching. “Who? Did she tell you? Who is it?”
Jackson smacked the back of Andy’s head. “Dude, calm down. You know.”
“Jack, don’t hit your brother.” Val was trying to ignore them and scrolling through the episodes. “Okay, I never watched this show. What episode are you on?”
“She’s totally trying to avoid the conversation.”
“I still don’t know who you’re talking about,” Andy said. “Jack, tell me!”
Jackson leaned over and whispered in his ear. Andy’s mouth formed a small O. “Is it Sheriff Sully?”
Jackson’s smile was bordering on smug. Val tossed the remote at him. “You think you’re so smart.”
“Is it?” Andy was nearly jumping. “Are you going out with Sheriff Sully? That’s so cool!”
Val felt like her face had to be the color of Andy’s red sweatshirt. “It’s just a date. We’re going out to dinner. It’s not a big deal.”
“Sure.” Jackson started an episode. “Whatever you say, Mom.”
“Sheriff Sully is cool, and he has a really awesome truck!” Andy had a huge smile on his face. “He’ll be a great boyfriend. I saw him open the car door for you like Grandpa Vincent always says we should do.”
“You do that for anyone,” Val said. “To be polite and helpful.”
“But that’s totally a boyfriend thing, right?”
Jackson shot Andy a killer look. “Dude. Be cool.”
“Andy, please do not tell all your friends at school that Sully is my boyfriend, okay?” She mussed his hair. “We’re not jumping into anything. We’re just going on a date.”
“Okay.” Andy tried his best to be calm. “That’s cool.”
“Yeah.” She turned her attention to the sitcom on the television. “He’s nice.”
* * *
Four months later…
At the end of the day, Allan Anderson got far more than a slap on the wrist. The district attorney was newly elected and more than happy to make an example of the privileged domestic abuser who’d cut his wife’s brake lines, tried to frame her lover, and then shot at law enforcement.
There was a slight media flurry for a month or so, with reporters coming in and out of Bridger City and Glimmer Lake. The story of the former Olympian, the beautiful and sad wife, and her dangerously handsome lover made for attractive cable-news fodder. Val had to shut the door on reporters more than one time, but after a month or so—by the time the real legal ramifications started to roll in—things had calmed down.
“Mom!” Andy barreled into Misfit after school. “Dad says he’s taking us up to the cabin with Savannah this weekend! Can we go?”
“Of course.” Val exchanged a look with JoJo, who was getting ready to shut down the espresso machine. “Sounds like fun. Is there still a little snow up there?”
“I think so.”
JoJo leaned over the counter. “What can I get you?”
Andy smiled innocently. “Double espresso?”
JoJo looked at Val with a dubious expression on their face.
“Not on your life,” Val said. “You and caffeine? Think again, kid.”
Andy sighed dramatically. “Vanilla cream frappé, please.”
“Coming right up.” JoJo poured milk into the blender and chatted with Andy, who yammered about his day at school like the ray of sunshine he was.
Since the accident, Josh hadn’t missed a weekend with the boys. He’d even taken them to Las Vegas for a boys’ weekend the month before. Val didn’t know if he was turning over a new leaf, feeling guilty for almost half-orphaning them with his bullshit, or taking cues from Savannah, who seemed to love having the kids around. But either way, Andy was ecstatic, Jackson was begrudgingly civil, and Val had a few weekends to herself.
Jackson slunk into the coffee shop a few minutes after Andy did, staring at his phone and avoiding Val’s eyes.
Uh-oh.
“What’s up?” she asked. It was finals week, which meant he’d only had one class that day and he’d had the rest of the day free. “Did your final go okay?”
Jackson looked up as if he’d just registered where he was. “Oh. Hey, Mom. Yeah, it went fine.”
Val leaned on the counter. “What’s up?”
Val didn’t need to be psychic to see his internal debate.
Should I tell her?
She won’t let up until I do.
She won’t get it.
Parents are such a pain in the ass.
“Just tell me what’s going on,” Val said. “And I’ll make you a macchiato.”
Andy’s head swung around. “How come he gets coffee?”
“Because he’s seventeen now and much taller than me, so I’m actively trying to stunt his growth.” Val scanned her son. He was being cagey. He was fidgeting with his left wrist. He was…
Val’s eyes went wide when she spotted the familiar bandage.
Her baby was tattooed.
Tattooed.
She snapped her fingers. “Come here.”
Jackson groaned. “Mom, it’s not a big deal.”
“Nah-uh.” She slapped her hand on the counter. “Come. Here.”
He sighed. “It’s not like you don’t have a ton of them! You just got two more—”
“I am forty-six!” She pointed to her chest. “You are seventeen! How did you get this? Did you go to someone unlicensed? Jack, so help me—”
“We drove to Nevada, okay!” Jackson sighed. “After the final. We just barely got back, okay? I drove to a place on the state line and got it. It was a regular tattoo parlor, okay? It had a bunch of reviews online. It was clean and I watched them unwrap the needles and it was totally safe, okay?”
Val wasn’t happy. Even though she’d done literally the same thing when she was sixteen. “Give me your wrist.”
Andy and JoJo were watching from the side in horror as Jackson approached his irate mother.
So help her, if her oldest child had marred the perfect skin she had created in her own womb with a cartoon character, girl’s name, or any of the stupid shit that teenage boys—
“See?” Jackson pulled up his sleeve and unpeeled the bandage. “It’s not a big deal.”
Val looked at the honeycomb-looking structures inked in fine lines on her son’s skin. “What is it?”
“It’s the chemic
al structure of dopamine and serotonin,” Jackson said. “Mood-regulating hormones.”
She looked up. “That’s… cool? Why?”
Jackson stared at the tattoo. “To remind me that moods are really just chemicals that come and go. Happy. Sad. Angry. They’re just chemicals in my brain. They don’t get to decide my life or make my decisions.” He looked up. “Think. Don’t just feel.”
Oh, her proud, determined kid. Val lifted his wrist and kissed just to the side of the healing skin. “You need both, kid. Head and heart.”
He smiled. “That’ll be my next one then.”
Val groaned. “He’s already an addict.”
“Hey.” He pointed at her. “Takes one to know one.”
The bell over the door rang again, and Val re-covered Jackson’s healing tattoo with the bandage. “Talk to me tonight about how to take care of it, okay? Do not use Neosporin.”
“Okay.” He bounced on his heels. “Do I get my macchiato?”
“No.”
“Mom!”
“Fine.” She nodded to the side. “Now shoo.”
Val smiled at Robin and Monica, who were walking toward the counter. “You guys know we’re closed, right?”
JoJo laughed as they pulled another shot of espresso. “Right.”
Val looked at them. “You know, we flip that sign over every afternoon and no one ever pays attention to it.”
“To be fair”—JoJo scrunched up their nose—“we keep making coffee for all the stragglers.”
“It’s like feeding bears,” Val whispered.
“I heard that!” Monica dropped her purse on a table and took out a folder. “We are here for business reasons, Ms. Costa.”
“Do you have the contract for Russell House?”
“Yep!” Monica grinned. “You ready to sign?”
“Is it the same as what Phil looked over last week?” Val was going out on a limb and setting up a coffee stand at Russell House like Monica and Robin had been pestering her to do, but she wasn’t doing it without someone smarter going over the contract.
“Yep,” Robin said. “We had our guy look at it, and Phil gave it his stamp of approval too. We’re both covered, and you’ll technically be renting space from us, so the insurance stuff will be taken care of like we’d already detailed in the previous contract.”
Semi-Psychic Life: Glimmer Lake Book Two Page 21