Homecoming Hearts Series Collection

by HJ Welch

  Reyse was good around his mom and aunt. They had a fancy damn breakfast out on the patio, just like Evangeline had suggested. Clementine really did seem to love cooking. Corey felt that was her easiest way to show affection when words failed. She made her son pancakes and eggs and bacon and doused it all in maple syrup. Corey felt honored to be a part of it.

  Evangeline kept the conversation going, mostly by talking about people and places in New York. Even though Corey had no idea about most of what she said, she was a gifted storyteller and managed to keep him, Reyse and Clementine laughing over these people they had never met.

  Yet again, Corey was roped into doing the dishes, which he didn’t mind, but Foofy kept running around his feet, barking. Why did he get the impression she was trying to snitch him up for hiding under Reyse’s bed earlier?

  Seeing as Evangeline couldn’t read minds, Corey didn’t worry about a bit of extra attention from her dog. She was a cute little thing, even if she did walk into table legs more often than was probably good for her small head.

  But once the dishwasher was loaded and the coffee pot rinsed out, Corey wasn’t sure what to do. At least breakfast had lasted so long it was pretty much midday. Corey killed some time making his bed and straightening up his suitcase. He was always in the habit of being ready to leave somewhere at the drop of a hat thanks to his unstable childhood. Then he checked his emails to see if he’d heard back from any of the crappy jobs he’d contacted. He hadn’t, and he couldn’t say he was disappointed.

  But then it was early afternoon and he couldn’t stop his thoughts drifting back to Reyse. He’d given him enough space now. Corey didn’t want Reyse thinking he was ignoring him. But he was aware of how close they’d been this morning.

  On one hand, he wasn’t sure if he should seek Reyse out. He didn’t want to smother him or give the game away. On the other, he was here for Reyse, as his buddy. Surely his mom and aunt wouldn’t think it was weird they were hanging out?

  It didn’t take long for Corey to locate Reyse. He was sitting in the deserted front room on the piano stool. The room looked much bigger without a couple dozen people loitering in it, tiring themselves out with showing just how concerned they were for Donny Hickson’s recovery. Corey sighed internally. Why did some rich people have to be so fake?

  Reyse didn’t even seem to notice Corey slip through the half open door. He was staring at the piano keys, his hands in his lap.

  “Do you play?” Corey asked as he approached. It was nice to genuinely not know something about Reyse Hickson from pop culture.

  Reyse blinked out of his reverie and looked over at Corey, then his face broke into a delighted smile. It made Corey’s heart trip up. There was nothing fake about that smile. Reyse was happy to see Corey simply because he liked him.

  Damn it. Corey liked Reyse, too. This was getting less simple by the day. When the time came to part ways, it was going to be hell.

  But for now, Corey sat himself beside Reyse on the long stool and raised his eyebrows, seeking an answer to his question.

  “Oh, yes,” Reyse said. “I love playing the piano. I started when I was really young. I think I was five or six when an old lady down the road started teaching me for five bucks an hour.” Reyse chuckled. “Gosh, I can’t even remember her name now. Isn’t that sad? I had so many music teachers and dance instructors through school, and then I started singing, too.” He shook his head. “There’s something incredible about playing and singing all by yourself. It’s…pure.”

  Corey loved the faraway happy glint in his eye when he talked about making music.

  “Play something for me,” Corey murmured.

  Reyse bit his lip. “I didn’t want to disturb the house,” he said sheepishly.

  Corey frowned. “Surely your mom and Evangeline won’t mind?” he asked.

  Reyse ran his fingers lightly over the white keys, not pressing any of them down. “It feels…raw. To just impose my music on them without asking. Does that make sense?”

  Not really, Corey couldn’t help but think. They could turn on any number of radio stations or music video channels and accidentally hear Reyse’s voice. Hell, they could search on the internet and see him anytime. But for some reason, Reyse making the music here and now was too much for him. Didn’t he feel proud of his accomplishments? Probably not, considering his dad seemed to think being a pop star was dumb. Like his son hadn’t changed the lives of millions of people for the better?

  “Sort of,” Corey said in response to Reyse’s question. “But…how about you just play for me? Forget anyone else is here. Even if they are, though, I bet they’ll love it.”

  Reyse thought about that for a second. “What would you like to hear?” he asked after a few moments.

  He stroked down the length of a couple of the raised black keys. The sight was mildly erotic and in the relative privacy of the living room, Corey felt a surge of daring. He slipped his arm around Reyse’s waist and beamed at him.

  “Whatever would make you happy to play,” he said.

  For a few breaths, Reyse just stared at Corey. Corey wondered if he was debating asking Corey to take his arm down. But then he gave him a shy smile and nodded. “Okay,” he said.

  All across the globe, people paid hundreds of dollars to hear Reyse Hickson sing live. But in the quiet of this living room in little Fort Ladrillo, Corey suddenly found himself privileged enough to get a live show, all to himself.

  Reyse started with a song Corey didn’t recognize, something about catching a chill in his heart. It was mournful. Corey wondered if it was an album track or something rarer. But Reyse came alive as the pitch-perfect notes soared from his mouth, filling the room with something impossibly beautiful.

  He segued flawlessly into a fun, upbeat Below Zero song that Corey had forgotten about but recognized as soon as the chorus hit. Then Reyse played a couple of his solo songs, his enthusiasm and confidence growing with each number. Then he mucked around, playing a couple of tracks by Britney Spears and Michael Jackson, encouraging Corey to join in, even though his voice ruined the performance. Reyse didn’t seem to mind about that, though, and Corey was having too much fun to care.

  Reyse’s fingers found their way back to the ice song, the one about his heart freezing over.

  “Without your love, you left me out in the cold,” he sang. His voice was stronger now it had warmed up. “I broke your heart, you broke my soul. Can we ever make this right?”

  He wandered his fingers up and down the keys for a few more notes, expertly petering off. “Beautiful,” Corey murmured.

  Reyse looked at him. Their faces were so close.

  “Oh, honey!”

  Corey and Reyse both jumped and Corey tried to slip his arm down from Reyse’s waist as subtly as he could. But Clementine didn’t seem to have noticed that.

  She had obviously slipped in at some point during Reyse’s impromptu performance and was perched on an arm of the sofa closest to the door, as if she were ready to bolt at any moment. But she hadn’t. She clasped her hands to her chest, tears clear in her eyes.

  “Sweetheart, that was just – oh – I don’t have the words!” She chuckled and wiped her eyes, careful not to smudge her makeup. “It’s so nice to hear you sing again.”

  Corey nudged a bashful-looking Reyse. “Told you,” he muttered with a wink.

  The moment was quite ruined as the door banged open and Reyse’s Uncle Dave strode inside the room. Corey hadn’t heard him come back from the hospital. He glanced down to note Dave hadn’t bothered to take his boots off as he traipsed all the way through Clementine’s house.

  “What the devil are you doing in here?” Dave demanded. “I was calling, but obviously you didn’t hear me over your little sing-along.”

  Anger flared through Corey. “Man, what crawled up your ass? Reyse was just playing the piano.” He was sure if Dave had really bellowed, they would have heard him. He was just being obtuse on purpose.

  “Yeah,” Dave said with a
raised eyebrow. “Making me come all the way through the house to tell you Donny woke up. Or don’t you care?”

  Clementine and Reyse both shot to their feet as shock jolted through Corey’s chest. “What?” Clementine cried. “The nurses said they would call me!”

  Dave shrugged. “Those ladies are busy. I said I’d come get you. I know you don’t like to drive,” he added in concern. Or at least, it sounded concerned. To Corey, it felt patronizing. Dave shook his head. “This is why I said you should have been there, Tina. But we can get going right now, if you want?”

  “Yes, yes,” Clementine said. She wrung her hands and looked between Dave and Reyse, who had gone as white as a sheet. Corey stood up next to him. “Was he okay?” Clementine asked. “Is everything all right?”

  Dave smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Yeah, honey. He’s pretty damn strong, that man. Nurses were pleased with his responses, said he was looking good. Why don’t you go get your purse and we’ll head over?”

  “Yes, of course,” Clementine said, then turned to Reyse. “Reyse, you’re coming too, right?”

  It looked like Reyse took a second to shake himself back to his senses. “Yeah, absolutely. Corey, will you come too?”

  Panic flared inside Corey’s chest. Reyse wasn’t thinking straight. Corey couldn’t go with him. All it would take was one moment of upset and he might look at Corey in a vulnerable moment or, worse, reach for his hand, and they’d be caught. But he didn’t want Reyse to feel like Corey wasn’t supporting him.

  Corey grasped Reyse’s shoulder and smiled. “It’s cool, buddy,” he said firmly. “This is a family moment. I’ll be here when you get back.”

  “Well said, son,” Dave said. Perversely, Corey felt like he’d earned a sliver of respect from Dave for admitting he wasn’t part of the family. It made Corey grind his teeth in frustration. If Corey were Reyse’s girlfriend, he’d bet any money Dave wouldn’t talk to him like that. “Come on you two. Get your things. I’ll wait here,” Dave said fondly, as if they were a naughty couple of school kids.

  Reyse gave Corey a lingering look before following his mom out of the room. Dave stood by the door, waiting for them, but also kind of blocking the doorframe. Corey didn’t feel like pushing his way past him, so instead he sat back down at the piano and ran his fingers over the keys where Reyse had been playing.

  “You haven’t served, have you, son?” Corey looked up to confirm Dave was indeed talking to him.

  Corey cleared his throat. “In the military? No, sir. I thought about enlisting,” he told him truthfully. “Right out of high school.”

  “What stopped you?” Dave asked, folding his arms.

  Corey shrugged. He refused to feel any less of a man for this. “I’ve got too much respect for what you guys do,” he said, again, speaking the truth. “I can’t follow orders for shit. I couldn’t serve my country, not like that.”

  “No,” Dave agreed, nodding. “You couldn’t, could you?”

  Corey felt the sting of those words but refused to look up. Instead, he focused on the piano keys.

  “I don’t know how you wormed your way into my nephew’s life,” Dave continued regardless, “but that boy has been enough of a disappointment to Donny. He doesn’t need someone like you making him softer.”

  “Excuse me?” Corey asked, looking up with a scowl. “Reyse isn’t soft.” He didn’t give a shit what this jackass thought of him, but Corey didn’t like hearing someone that was supposed to be Reyse’s own blood, his family, talking smack about him like that.

  Dave scoffed, his arms folded. “All Donny wanted was a boy to carry on his legacy, to follow in his footsteps. Instead he got a namby-pamby.”

  “You do realize Reyse is an honest-to-god musical legend?” Corey asked in disbelief. “Like, I seriously have to check at this point in case you really didn’t know.”

  “And how does that help his country?” Dave asked. “How does that honor his dad?”

  Corey rose to his feet. “Maybe Reyse’s dad shouldn’t have such a fragile ego he only sees one way for his kid to honor him,” he snarled, clenching his fists, his heart racing.

  Dave laughed, which unfortunately only fueled Corey’s anger. “Oh, and what would you know about honoring your dad, huh? I bet your old man’s real proud of you, serving soup at some mobile kitchen – is that right?”

  Corey didn’t care about the dig at his job, because that was fake anyway. He’d never defined himself by his work. But, despite it being none of Dave’s damn business, Corey was going to set him straight on one thing.

  “I don’t have a dad,” he said, smirking and digging deep for the twisted pride he got from whenever he had to tell anyone this. “Or a mom. I cut my own damn way through the foster system and I stand on my own damn two feet. I don’t need to answer to anyone. Not some dad who only cares if I do the same job as him to validate him, and certainly not some stranger like you.”

  Dave shook his head. “I should have known,” he said with a scoff. “Someone like you ain’t worth keeping around. Seems Mommy and Daddy knew that right from the moment you came squalling into this world.” He curled his lip. “Still squalling now. Pathetic.”

  “Dave! We’re ready!” Clementine’s voice came floating from the other side of the door, accompanied by the sound of two pairs of hurried footsteps racing down the stairs.

  Dave chuckled cruelly. “See you around, kid,” he said, turning his back on Corey.

  Corey was too stunned to respond in any way. He just simply listened as Dave, Clementine and Reyse exited through the front door, slamming it behind them.

  Then Corey was left in the silence of the empty house. He wasn’t sure where Evangeline was, but she apparently hadn’t gone with the others, and Corey couldn’t hear her or Foofy now.

  He just stood by the piano that Reyse had used to bring him such joy only a few minutes ago. Now Corey felt hollow. Emptied out.

  Every day he told himself that he was his own man. That he may have been alone, but he was still standing and he was making something of his life.

  But all his words were just a house of cards, waiting for someone like Dave to come and speak stronger, bigger words out loud.

  Corey wasn’t worth anything. He was forgettable. His parents, whoever they were, hadn’t wanted him, and he’d been too difficult to ever adopt.

  Now Reyse was going to forget him too.

  He had to get out of here, just for a little while.

  17

  Reyse

  It was a short but tense drive to the hospital. Reyse sat in the back of Dave’s big, shiny four-by-four, letting his mom ride up front while Dave made quick work of navigating the streets of Fort Ladrillo.

  Reyse felt strangely small. His dad was okay, he was out of the woods. Yet Reyse was still scared stiff at the prospect of seeing him. What the hell was he going to say?

  Without anyone around to stop him, Reyse chewed on his perfectly manicured thumbnail. He wished so badly he could turn back time. Why the hell hadn’t he just swallowed his pride and visited before? The longer he’d left it, the worse he had made it.

  Deep down, he kind of knew a childish part of him had been hoping his dad would relent and come visit Reyse, to see the life he had made for himself. When it really came down to it, Reyse just wanted his dad to be proud of him.

  He knew his mom was. It had been such a joyous moment to realize she’d been listening to him play just now. But as usual, it had been cut short.

  Dave’s disapproval was rolling off him in waves as he drove. It was confusing, because he kept saying soothing things in soothing tones, about how great Reyse’s dad was doing and how thrilled he would be to see them. But then he’d tack a ‘finally’ onto that in the same concerned tone, not to mention his shoulders were so tense Reyse could practically see his frustration and irritation in the air.

  Reyse’s mom was visibly consumed with guilt for not being there the second his dad had woken up all the way. But what was
she supposed to do? Sleep in a place that wreaked havoc on her nerves and mental health when Reyse’s dad wouldn’t even know she was there? That wasn’t fair.

  But then…Reyse hadn’t been there for either of them for years. So who was he to talk, really?

  None of that mattered. It didn’t matter that things could be awkward or that Dave was being a bully or that a special moment between him and his mom had been interrupted. It didn’t even matter that he and Corey had been caught almost before they kissed.

  What mattered was that his dad was all right. That he’d come around and the nurses said he was doing well and if luck was on their side he would make a full recovery. Everything else paled into significance when Reyse reminded himself of that.

  All too soon they were pulling into the hospital parking lot. Reyse’s mom looked wrecked with nerves, but Dave rested one of his big hands on her back and smiled at her as he led her over the asphalt and into the main lobby. Reyse trailed behind them, keeping his head down.

  Shit. He really should have thought to wear a baseball cap or sunglasses. Or both. He’d been so eager to rush out of the house he hadn’t thought of any of his usual security measures.

  Instead, he pulled out his phone and wrote a quick text to his manager Kevin while following Dave through the maze of corridors. He obviously knew where he was going. Reyse studiously ignored all of Kevin’s emails and texts and voicemails, simply telling him his dad was awake and he was just about to see him. Then he put the cell on airplane mode and slipped it back into his pocket.

  The hospital itself was all very clean and airy, designed with lots of natural light pouring through large windows. Each department was marked with a large mural painted on the wall depicting multiple cultures in swirling effigies. Reyse had to say for a hospital, they had made the place as calming as possible.

  That was, until he rounded a corner and, despite being behind both his mom and uncle, almost ran into a young nurse in pale blue scrubs.