The Family He Didn't Expect

by Shirley Jump

  She scanned the pink sheet, then read it again. Four Ds, no Fs, and one C in math. Attitude improved. Did all homework this week. Abby raised her gaze to her son. “You brought up your math grade?”

  Cody shrugged. “Dylan helped me with my homework. I finally get the Pythagorean theorem. It’s not really that hard. He just told me to think about it like building a house.”

  Abby stared at Cody. Was this the same son she’d been nagging a week ago to bring a book home once in a while? The same son who had told her he wanted to drop out? The same son who said math was pointless? “That’s...that’s great, Cody. Way to go. I’m really proud of you.”

  Cody toed at the floor. “Yeah, like I said, it was no big deal.”

  Before her son could escape, she drew him into a tight hug. Cody stood there, stiff, for a moment, then eased into his mother’s embrace. “Well, it’s a big deal to me, Cody. And I’m really, really proud.”

  Cody untangled himself and stepped back. “Yeah, well, I’m gonna go see what Ty has to eat.” Cody ambled off, and Abby had to choke back some tears when she got back in her car.

  Dylan was changing her son’s life. Redirecting her lost teenager. Bringing light into her world.

  And making it extremely hard for Abby to remember why she shouldn’t get involved with him.

  * * *

  Dylan had never been a man who was known for romantic gestures. That kind of thing had always befuddled him, and he’d usually opted for the easy way out, with a fast casual dinner in some chain restaurant. But tonight, with Abby, he wanted to make it special. To make her feel special.

  He’d debated all afternoon between some big grand gesture, a few smaller ones, or just eschewing the romantic part all together. But then he’d think of Abby and how hard she worked to raise her sons, to do her job and to help other people, and decided she deserved far more than a half-hearted effort on his part. Not to mention a part of him wanted to impress her, to see her smile light her eyes.

  At 6:29, he was standing on her doorstep, a thin bead of sweat on his forehead and a too-tight collar on his neck. He’d run around like a crazy man after he left the center and barely made it to her house in time. There was no music coming from inside, no dancing this afternoon. The boys, Dylan knew, were already at his uncle’s house. He’d stopped by there first, to make sure Ty had it under control, and was surprised to see his uncle sitting at the coffee table, playing Monopoly with Cody while Jake watched a cartoon movie about dinosaurs.

  Abby opened the door, and Dylan had to remind himself to breathe. She looked stunning, in hip-hugging dark jeans, a blue patterned V-neck shirt and a soft cream cardigan. Her hair was down, curling loosely around her shoulders, and she was wearing a soft red lipstick that begged him to kiss her.

  “Hi,” she said, her voice quiet and shy.

  “Hi.” It was like they hardly knew each other. He blamed it on the collared shirt, so foreign to Dylan that it might as well have been a straitjacket.

  “Nice shirt.” Abby smirked.

  “Figured I’d try to impress you.” He held out his hands. “Did it work?”

  “Well, to be honest, even though you look handsome—”

  He heard the handsome and figured that was worth this strangulation collar.

  “—what someone wears doesn’t impress me.” Abby grabbed her purse and pulled the door shut behind her. “Actions do.”

  It was a good policy. Dylan had always hired workers based on the way they handled the job, not on what color their hair was, how many piercings they had, or whether they had a sleeve of tattoos. But her words had him wondering if his actions had been the impressive type, because he was really starting to fall for this woman. “So how am I doing in the actions department?”

  The shy smile filled her face again. “Not bad, Dylan. Not bad at all.”

  Damn. When she looked at him like that, it took all he had not to run up the stairs with her and make love to her. He cleared his throat. “Are you ready to go?”

  She locked the door and pivoted toward him, nearly colliding. She caught her breath, her eyes wide and luminous in the dim light from the porch. “Am I, uh, dressed okay? You said to wear something comfortable.”

  “You’re perfect, Abby. Absolutely perfect.” The words hung in the tense, heavy air between them. He wanted to say more but was afraid the words would trip in his throat, make promises he couldn’t keep.

  A blush filled her cheeks. She held his gaze for a moment, then looked away. “We should probably get going. I don’t want to leave the boys at Ty’s too late.”

  He led her down to his Jeep, opening the door for her before coming around to the driver’s side. He’d taken it to the car wash early this morning, scrubbing down almost every surface inside and out until the leather and glass resembled its much-former new self. As he drove, they exchanged small talk about the center, the nice weather Stone Gap had been enjoying all week, Jake’s newest toy dinosaur.

  “So, you grew up here?” Abby asked.

  “Yup. Born and raised.”

  “Did you like Stone Gap when you were a kid?”

  Dylan thought about that for a moment. “I guess I did when I was little. The town, anyway. My school. My friends. My brother. It wasn’t until I got older, high school age, that my mind changed.”

  She shifted in the seat to face him. “So what happened? I’m not trying to pry, I’m just...trying to understand my own son.”

  “Because you see a lot of Cody in me?”

  “In who you used to be,” she said.

  Who he used to be. Had he really changed all that much? He thought of what Della had said, about how he was only running away again. Was he really? Or was he just moving on to the next opportunity?

  He liked to think he had grown up, changed, evolved. But he was in his thirties and had yet to put down roots or even have a relationship that lasted longer than a few months. He’d never really fallen in love, never really connected with anyone too much. His entire life, it seemed, was transitory. For years, he’d liked that, but now, admitting it out loud made it all sound...sad.

  “It was gradual,” Dylan said. “I was always close to Sam, and he made life here good. We’d go fishing, build forts in the woods, stay up too late watching movies and eating junk food. Then my brother grew up, got a car and his own life. My dad was never much of a father, especially to me. I think he resented having a second child because it meant he had to work more, you know? Sam was always the one who could do no wrong, and when Sam was gone, my father laid into me twice as hard. So instead of trying harder, I rebelled. Flunking out of school, committed a string of petty crimes, that kind of thing.”

  “A rebel without a cause?”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, I guess that’s how you could describe it. But really, I spent more time with the truant officer and talking to the Stone Gap cops than anyone should. I guess I just felt like Stone Gap had all these rules and restrictions, and I just wanted to escape them.”

  “Like you wanted to with your father,” Abby said softly.

  He’d never thought of it that way. When he’d run away, he’d told everyone it was because he was sick of being held down, of being told what to do, of being in trouble. He’d thought he was escaping the town that seemed to judge his every move, the neighbors who shied away because they thought he was trouble. The brother who had rejected him.

  He’d never seen it as an escape from his father.

  “I understand that,” Abby said. “I was so anxious to get out on my own and get away from my parents that I married the first guy who asked. I’d say it was the biggest mistake of my life, but I was blessed with two sons from that relationship so... I guess it had its pluses.”

  “Everything in life has an up and a down side.” Dylan shook his head. “Now I sound like some fortune cookie philosopher.”

  It was being ar
ound Abby and her boys that had him thinking like that. Had him questioning his choices, decisions. Made him wonder how his life would have been different if he had followed the same route as Sam. Would he be married to a woman like Abby? Raising a couple of boys? Maybe a little girl?

  Speculation, that’s all that was. His life was what it was, and he liked it. He wasn’t lacking for anything. And he certainly wasn’t cut from the same cloth as Sam, who seemed made for the role of family man.

  But as he glanced at the beautiful woman beside him, he had to wonder if he was fooling himself.

  They wound their way through the town and at last Dylan turned onto a dirt road that led to the edge of Stone Gap Lake, away from the few private homes on the lake and the dock where Ty’s pontoon was parked, and down to the western side of the lake. The Jeep bounced a little on the rough surface, sending Abby’s arm crashing into his. He didn’t complain.

  A quartet of small cabins sat on either side of the road’s end. To the right, stacked logs formed a circle around a stone firepit. The rest of the buildings had fallen into disrepair, but these four still stood strong. Maybe they’d been built later or with better materials. Whatever the reason, he was glad they were still here. There were some things in Stone Gap that he liked to be able to count on. This place was one of them.

  “Where are we?” Abby asked.

  “It used to be a campground. I went here in the summers with my uncle, my brother and some of my friends. It was a group outing that Ty organized every year. The campground shut down about ten years ago when the owner died.”

  He had hundreds of happy memories from those years. When he and Sam had first started going to the Little Otter Summer Camp, Dylan had been only five, his brother almost ten. He and Sam had roomed together, staying up late long into the night talking or playing card games. Those were the years filled with swimming and boating and fishing and bonds Dylan was sure would never break.

  But just like the campground had fallen apart, so, too, had his relationship with Sam. I give up on you, Sam had said as the police left after Sam had gotten Dylan out of yet another scrape. You’re just going to let everyone down again.

  Dylan wasn’t that kid anymore. He’d cleaned up his act, stopped doing stupid things like knocking over mailboxes or spray-painting the sides of buildings. That night in the police station had been the wake-up call he’d needed. The problem? Sam didn’t see any of those changes in Dylan and probably never would. And until Sam stopped seeing him as the family screwup, their relationship was destined to be a failure.

  “This must have been a great place to camp,” Abby said. “What a view.”

  “It was. It’s one of my favorite places in Stone Gap.” He parked, shut off the car.

  The lake spread before them, blue and deep. The sun was setting, and the lake began to tint with purples and pinks. They got out of the car and Dylan came around to the passenger’s side. He took Abby’s hand and led her down the trail to the water’s edge and to the little tableau he’d set up earlier.

  He’d borrowed a thick blanket from Della and spread it on the grass. He’d set a cooler on one corner, then laid two wineglasses and a chilling bottle of white wine in the center, flanked by a spray of wildflowers. It was simple and rustic and he prayed she liked it.

  “Wow. This is really nice, Dylan.” Abby gave him a smile. “I love it.”

  The praise warmed him. He hadn’t realized until then that he’d been holding his breath, waiting for her reaction. All that told him that he was in too deep, but right now, in this place, with this woman, the first woman he’d ever taken here, Dylan didn’t care.

  “Thanks. I... I didn’t know what you liked so I got a few different things to eat.” He knelt on the blanket, pulled a book of matches out of his pocket and lit two candles sitting in mason jars. The gold light flickered over the blue patterned quilt. “There. Ambiance.”

  “Perfect.” Abby lowered herself into a sitting position on the blanket, then leaned back on her hands. “The lake is so quiet and still.”

  Dylan sat beside her. “This used to be my favorite time of day when I camped here in the summers. I’d sneak out after dinner started and sit here to eat. Most of the fishermen were gone, and the swimmers were out of the water, so it was just me, a few loons and the occasional fish jumping. I liked the quiet. I still do.”

  “Do you find a lot of that where you live?”

  “Yeah. When I’m not working, I’m doing the same thing. Either camping in the woods or fishing in a lake. I’ve always loved being outdoors.”

  “Me, too. Though I spend far too much time indoors. When I was a little girl, my grandpa would take me fishing. My dad was never much for that kind of thing, nor was my sister, so it was just me and my grandpa.” Abby smiled. “Whenever I visited him in Connecticut, I made sure to get at least one afternoon out on the water with him. He died five years ago, and I haven’t been fishing since you took us out on the water. I was so glad to share that with my boys, especially Jake, who has never gotten to do those things.”

  “Is that where you grew up? Connecticut?” He couldn’t imagine her in a place like Connecticut, which had always seemed so upper crust to him. Abby was more like...

  Well, more like Stone Gap. At least the good parts of it. The parts he used to love.

  He’d never met a woman like her. He’d dated all kinds of women, but none had that calm centeredness mixed with sweet temptation that Abby had. It was a contradiction that intrigued him and attracted him in ways he’d never felt before.

  “I grew up in a little town much like this one,” Abby said. “I moved down here after I got divorced. I really wanted a small town for my kids to grow up in, and when I got the job offer at the marketing agency a couple towns over, I looked at a house here in Stone Gap and fell in love with the area. I’ve been here ever since.”

  He scoffed. He didn’t get people who said they fell in love with this sleepy North Carolina town. “All I wanted to do when I got older was leave this place. I can’t understand anyone who wants to stay.”

  “But why? Stone Gap is a great place. You have a job that can go anywhere. And you have family here—”

  “I’m only close to my uncle. My parents moved to Arizona a few years back and I rarely see them. That leaves just my brother, Sam, and my niece and nephew.”

  “Why not try to make amends with Sam?” Abby said. “I’ve met him, and he seems like a really nice guy.”

  You’re just going to let everyone down again.

  “My brother still sees me as the same headstrong foolish seventeen-year-old who dropped out of school and took off on his own.” The teenager who hit the road and never looked back. The adult who hadn’t been there when Sam’s wife died, or when Aunt Virginia died. The man who had let his family down too many times to count. If he could go back and make amends for all that, Dylan would. But life just didn’t work that way.

  “That’s...sad,” Abby said. “I don’t get along really well with my sister, but I am glad she’s part of my life. We talk a couple times a month. We can trade stories about my mom’s apple pie or what our uncle Sal is up to now. There’s no one else you can do that with but family.”

  Dylan turned and reached in the cooler. The topic of his family was a sore one for him, the kind that made him question all his life choices. Maybe if things had been different... But they hadn’t been, so dwelling on that didn’t do anyone any good.

  “So, I brought some roast chicken, a salad and this pasta thing that looked good at the market.”

  Abby laughed. “Change of subject?”

  “Yup.” He held up the container of chicken. “Do you want some?”

  “Let’s start with the wine and watch the sun set.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” Dylan pushed Play on his phone, sending a soft undertone of Sinatra into the air while he poured two glasses of wine. The m
usic calmed the tension in his chest, recentered him to the quiet of the setting, the beauty of the woman beside him. “To unforgettable evenings,” he said and clinked his glass against hers.

  “Sinatra? Wine? A sweet toast? You surprise me, Dylan Millwright.”

  “Good. That was my plan.” He was sure there were other men who could do something far more romantic and memorable, but when Abby settled against his shoulder, he figured he’d added just the right amount of romance. They sipped their wine and watched the world ease into dark while Frank Sinatra crooned in the background.

  Being with Abby was so enjoyable, unpressured, unhurried. He liked being around her, having her close. She was the kind of woman he didn’t feel he had to force conversation with. The silence between them felt...relaxed. A first for him on a date. At the same time, every inch of him was acutely aware of her, of the scent of her perfume, of how close she sat, close enough to be warmed by the heat from her body.

  “This is nice,” Abby said with a long, happy sigh. “Really nice. I can’t remember the last time I just...sat and enjoyed an evening.”

  “Me, either. Most days I’m too exhausted to do much more than eat and go to bed. The projects I get hired to work on are usually so time-consuming, I haven’t had too many weekends off.” He also hadn’t had the desire to have time off. Work kept him from thinking, kept him from dwelling on his choices, his life. Nor had he had a woman he wanted to spend time with as much as he wanted to be with Abby. He’d seen her every day since he arrived in Stone Gap, and still it didn’t feel like enough.

  She turned to him, her eyes bright in the moonlight. “You’re a good man, you know that?”

  The words took him by surprise, especially since Uncle Ty had said them just a few days ago. The praise didn’t feel as if it fit him, like an oversize suit. “What makes you say that?”

  “The way you pitched in with your uncle, how you led the teen group. And how you’re changing my boys’ lives.”