Loved Bayou (Martin Family Book 1)

by Brooke St. James

  "You think we should call Jacob?" I asked.

  "Did he say anybody else was supposed to come by?" Cole asked, reasonably.

  As I was racking my brain to try to remember that, I thought about Caleb Reeves. It was just like him to do something like this, and he had probably overheard me talking at Ty's. I should've just kept my mouth shut.

  "Alex are you there?" Cole asked, since I was lost in thought and had been quiet on the phone.

  "Caleb Reeves," I said.

  "He's supposed to come by there?" Cole asked sounding confused.

  "No, but I bet that's who did it. He was around when I was talking to Shonda at Ty's, and I bet he heard me say Jacob was out of town. I knew I should have kept my mouth shut."

  "Even if he is out of town, those boys have no right being out there on his property."

  "I know," I said. "I'll bet they tortured those chickens."

  Cole laughed on the other end like it caught him funny that I would think about the chickens. "So, you're out there now?" he asked.

  "Yeah. I'll get the eggs and feed the chickens, but I'm coming back here tonight to try to catch them if they come back."

  "I'll talk to Cam," he said. "We'll go out there with you. Do you think we should call Jacob?"

  "Let's see what happens tonight," I said. "I don't want to worry him unless we have to."

  Cole went by Jacob's that afternoon and confirmed that the ashes and cheap beer seemed like the works of teenage hooligans. He and Cam had plans to meet at Cole's that night at 10PM to go by there, but I got impatient, and by 9, I went out there by myself.

  "They're out there!" I said, breathing heavily from the run across Cole's yard and up to his steps to his house. "Those kids," I said. "I just went out there. There are two pickup trucks parked at his gate."

  "Did you go onto his property?" Cole asked, letting me inside.

  I shook my head. "No."

  "Good," he said. "They're probably armed."

  I sank my hands into my face and made a little whining sound like this was all too much.

  "They're not gonna try to hurt you," he said rubbing my shoulder. "But they probably have at least one gun out there if it's a bunch of boys, and you don't want to startle them."

  "I'm so mad at whoever's out there," I said. "What did Jacob ever do to them?"

  "It doesn't have to be personal," Cole said. "They probably just want somewhere to go party."

  "Well, they can't do it there," I said, stubbornly.

  "We'll go over there and tell them that," he said.

  "Can we right now?" I asked.

  He called Cam who came over right away. We considered bringing our dads since we weren't sure how many there would be, but we opted to check it out first, just us three.

  My cousins had these spotlight flashlights, and we brought them with us to surprise the uninvited guests. We parked at the gate and walked through the woods to the house, being careful to be quiet. They were being loud, and we could hear them laughing and yelling as we got closer. I got madder and madder with every step we took. Cole and Cam had small spotlights and I had a flashlight. We approached in total darkness so we could see what we were dealing with without being detected.

  "Who is it?" I whispered as we came to the clearing where we stopped walking to take in the scene.

  "There's six or eight of them," Cam said.

  "Y'all get behind a tree for a second, just in case," Cole said.

  "She can get behind a tree," Cam said. "I'm going with you."

  "I'm just gonna yell at 'em," Cole said. "Three of their dads work for us. They're not gonna do anything."

  "What if you scare them and they shoot a gun?" I asked.

  Cole shook his head. "I'll be fine," he said. "They won't." Seconds later, he stepped out into the open. "Get behind a tree," he whispered to me before turning and switching on his spotlight. He gave a sharp, shrill whistle that hurt my ears since I was standing so close. "I want all of you boys to stand up and put your hands in the air!" he yelled. His voice was deep and intimidating, and I watched from behind a tree as Cole and Cam shined lights on the boys and they stood up with horrified looks on their faces.

  My cousins crossed the yard, keeping the boys in their sights with the spotlights the whole time. I walked a few paces behind them, watching the boys for any sudden movements.

  "What are y'all doing out here?" Cole asked in that same impassive voice. "Connor Liggio," he said, shining the light directly into one boy's eyes. Connor squinted and shielded his face from the light.

  "And Caleb Reeves," Cam said, shining his light on Caleb's face.

  "Zack Crouch," Cole said, focusing on Zack's face as we got closer.

  "At least half of y'all have family who works for Martin Outfitters," he said.

  "Dude, we weren't hurting anything," Caleb said, like we were overreacting.

  "What'd you say Caleb?" Cam asked, moving forward to invade the boy's space. "Did you say you weren't hurting anything?"

  "Yes sir," Caleb said.

  I walked up behind my cousins, keeping an eye on the trespassers. I shined that light directly in Caleb's eyes, moving with him when he tried to shield himself. I felt violated for Jacob's sake that they were just sitting here on his property like it was theirs.

  "Why don't we call the cops and let them sort out whether or not you're hurting anything?" Cole said.

  All of the boys let out a moan or a whine at Cole's threat.

  "This is private property. We plan on protecting it like it's ours. You boys are lucky you didn’t get yourselves shot. I almost brought my shotgun when I heard we had visitors."

  "Which one of y'all lives here?" Caleb asked. It was as if he was waiting for us to say none of us, so that he could say we were trespassing as well.

  "Me!" I said.

  "It doesn't matter," Cam said. "What matters is that it's not your property, and the next time we catch you on it, we're not gonna be so nice."

  Chapter 18

  It was over a week later when I finally heard from Jacob. It was a Thursday evening at 9PM, and I was at home in my PJ's when my phone rang. I was lucky it was sitting in front of me because I had it silenced. If it weren't for me seeing his name flash across my screen, I would have missed it. I was so excited that I nearly dropped the phone as I was trying to answer it and get it to my ear.

  "Hello?" I said, finally getting it situated. I rushed to find the remote so I could turn down the volume on the TV and make sure I could hear him.

  "Alex Martin?" I heard his deep voice say on the other end.

  A smile spread across my face. "Jacob Fox?" I asked. I knew he could hear the giant smile in my voice, and I didn't even care. "Are you home?" I asked, hopefully.

  "No, but I was thinking I'd come back," he said.

  "When?"

  "I'll leave in the morning. I should be back Saturday night. I was thinking maybe you could come by Sunday if you want."

  "Are you coming back for good?" I asked. It might not have been the best choice of questions, but it was the first thing that crossed my mind.

  "I'd like to, if you're still feeling like—"

  "I am," I said before he could even finish his sentence.

  He let out a laugh. "You are what?" he asked, sounding amused.

  "I am feeling like I want you back—like I want you here."

  "I don't want you to be affected by people's perception of me, Alex."

  "I'm not worried about that," I said. "I know you for who you are. I'm not worried about what other people think. People are gonna forget about it just like they forget about everything else."

  "Just so you know, Alex. In matters of my parents' criminal activity, my conscious is clear."

  "I know it is," I said. "You don't have to tell me that."

  "And I straightened things out with God, too. I guess I couldn’t reconcile a loving Creator with everything I'd been through—and honestly, I didn't care to try. At least until you came along." I started to re
spond, but he continued before I could. "There was a man here in Maine. He's one of the only Christians I knew from my childhood who I thought was..." He paused and sighed. "Anyway, I thought maybe he could help me—answer the questions I had and sort of reconnect with God."

  "And did he?" I asked.

  "I'm calling you, aren't I? I didn't want to come back until I really felt for sure like I had straightened out some things within myself."

  "I wish Maine wasn't so far away," I said. I was chomping at the bit to see him now that I knew he was coming.

  "Larry does, too," he said. "He's sweating just thinking about riding in the truck for two days."

  I giggled. "Poor Larry," I said. "Tell him I said he can chase the chickens when you get home."

  "How are the chickens?" he asked.

  "They're fine. We caught a few of the neighborhood guys on your land, but Cam and Cole ran them off. They won't be back. I told them it was my house. Cam works directly with one of their dads—he made the boy right a note, apologizing."

  "When'd all that go down?"

  "Right after you left. We didn't tell you about it because we took care of it."

  "Did you say you told them it was your house?" he asked.

  I giggled nervously since I hadn't even meant to mention that part of what I said. "I told him that because I didn't want him to think the house was empty."

  "You sound good living there," he said with a smile in his voice.

  "I look good over there, too," I said, teasing him. "…Throwing chicken feed out like Martha Washington."

  "Was Martha Washington famous for feeding chickens? I didn't know that," he said, making me laugh.

  "I don't know," I said, "but it sounds like something she'd do."

  "I'll bet you look better than Martha Washington."

  "I'll bet you look better than George," I said.

  "I don't know about all that. I've been out in the woods. I haven't shaved in two weeks. You'll probably be wishing I looked like George Washington when I get back."

  "I wish you look like Jacob Fox," I said.

  He let out a little laugh. "Well, that's good, because I look almost just like him."

  "Like him with a shaggy beard?" I asked.

  "Not too shaggy," he said. I imagined that he was rubbing his jaw as he said it to gauge just how 'shaggy' it was. I smiled at the thought, feeling like I wanted to kiss his cheek right where he was theoretically rubbing it.

  "I'm excited for Sunday," I said.

  "Me too," he said. "I'll see you then."

  "I can't wait."

  I hung up with Jacob and proceeded to clean my whole kitchen even though it was late. I was so pumped about him coming home that I could have cleaned the whole house three times. I told myself that I had the whole next day to worry about things like that. I'd even have time to go by Jacob's and make sure everything looked welcoming for his return.

  That thought made me get out some poster board. I happened to have poster board and decorating supplies from the year before when I helped Amelia with a homecoming parade float. That night before I went to bed, I decorated a poster that said "Bienvenue Jacob!" written inside the shape of Louisiana. I also looked up pictures on the internet and drew crawfish and gumbo pots and other random Cajun things. I wasn't a professional artist, so it took me almost two hours, but I loved it, and thought he would, too.

  I hung it on his front door the next afternoon. I had been helping my mom clean out some things in my sister's room earlier in the day. Amelia had been there for a couple of hours with us. I was close to my family, so it was only natural that I caught them up on what was going on. I told them about Jacob coming back. I said that I liked him and he liked me, and that we were probably gonna be spending time together.

  Moms and sisters are the best for this type of information—at least mine were. We laughed like a bunch of teenagers, which was understandable for Amelia since she was one. I told them the whole story about how I pushed myself onto his property and into his life and we giggled about me not taking no for an answer, and having a big crush.

  I left there at 4PM, and went by Jacob's to hang the sign on my way home. I walked through the yard after I got finished just to make sure everything was in order. I was so excited about him coming home that I smiled the entire time. I wondered when exactly I'd see him again. I hadn't made plans to meet up with him the next day. I was still letting him contact me when he was ready, and this seemed to be working out for us.

  Cam had recently started dating a girl from New Orleans, and apparently she was in town for dinner with his parents. He texted me after they ate, asking if I wanted to go out on the boat with them. I agreed because Cam always liked the females in his family to check out his new lady friends. He would bring them by to get our opinion the second he started dating them. Cole, on the other hand, would date a girl for months before he would bring her around to meet his parents. He was definitely the more guarded of the two brothers.

  Cam agreed to pull up to my dock at 7:30, which would put us on the water at sunset. I smiled when I saw that Aunt Debbie was on the boat with them when they picked me up. So, it was an official interview, I thought, but didn't say out loud.

  "Where are y'all going?" I asked as I stepped onto the boat and hugged Aunt Debbie. I reached out to give Cam's date a hug, which she returned.

  "Just to drive around a little bit. Jolene never gets out on the water, and she wanted to check it out."

  "You must be Jolene," I said, extending a hand to shake hers even though I had already hugged her. She agreed and we spent a minute or so making introductions and talking about how our houses all backed up to the same waterway before Cam fired up the boat and we took off.

  None of us talked as he drove to an opening in the water that was about ten minutes away. "The sunset's pretty from over here," Cam yelled over the sound of the engine once he slowed down. He found an open spot, and let the boat idle while we had a conversation and waited for the sunset. Jolene was nice enough. It was hard to say, really, because even psycho weird-os behaved themselves on the first date sometimes, but my initial impression was that she didn't seem like such a bad catch.

  It was almost dark by the time we headed back home. We had to pass Jacob's place on the way to mine, and of course, I looked over there to see if I could see any lights. I did see lights. I saw lights that I knew meant Jacob was home. My heart started racing uncontrollably. I knew he was coming home tonight, but for some reason, it still shocked me to see lights on at his house.

  We were on the open water, and would soon speed past his house if I didn't do anything to stop the boat. I was close enough to Cam that I could reach him when I leaned over. I stretched out and punched his leg causing him to look at me curiously.

  "Slow down!" I yelled.

  Cam let off the throttle, and the boat not only slowed down, but also quieted down.

  "Do you have a flash light?" I asked Cam.

  "Why? You wanna show Jolene how to catch a frog?"

  "I was hoping to catch a Fox," I said, smiling at my own corny joke.

  "Is he back?" Cam asked when he saw me grinning toward Jacob's place.

  I nodded, and the next thing I knew, Aunt Debbie was thrusting a flashlight into my hands. It was one of those spotlights, and I smiled as I turned it on. I aimed it at Jacob's dock, hoping to catch him sitting on the end of it. I thought for sure he'd be there and that Cam would drive me over so I could run into his arms. The daydream played out in my mind the instant I turned on that flashlight and aimed it at the dock. But there was no Jacob. There was just an empty dock.

  I shined the light onto the grass near the dock just in case, but still no sign of Jacob. If only my light was bright enough to shine into his house.

  "Somebody's signaling you," Cam said.

  My head whipped around to see that Cam was staring straight toward Jacob's house, and he gestured to the shore. "Look right there," he said, pointing. "You'll see it."

  Sur
e enough, I saw a light blinking in the distance. "It's coming from up by the house," Cam said. "Flash it up there a couple of times."

  I did my best to flash the light in the right direction, turning it off and then on a couple of times since I thought that’s what he meant by flash. The light returned our pattern, flashing twice.

  I smiled. "Bring me over there," I said, feeling like that signal was invitation enough as I turned off the light and gave it to Aunt Debbie. I sat back, letting Cam know I was ready, and he revved the engine to bring us over to Jacob's dock.

  Jacob was walking down the dock by the time we got over there. I couldn’t see him, but I could see his flashlight swinging, and I knew who it was. As we got closer, I could see Jacob coming into the light at the end of the dock with Larry at his side. There was a light attached to a wooden pole, and Jacob stood under it, waiting for Cam to pull the boat closer. There might as well have been no one else in the boat. Jacob's gaze found mine, and we held eye contact the whole time our boat approached. I stared at the lines of his face and the way the shadows played off of them. I wanted so badly to be next to him.

  "I like my sign," he said with a half-smile directed at me. "I tried to text you a little while ago." He gestured to the waterway behind us. "I saw you guys heading out earlier, and I thought for sure you'd stop by."

  "I looked over here, but I couldn't tell if you were home," I said. "And I haven't looked at my phone," I added, patting my pocket to tell him where it had been.

  He smiled—a genuine, easy smile that made my heart happy. "Well, at least you're here now," he said.

  "I'm here now," I repeated.

  Jacob and I were so focused on each other that it startled me when Cam said, "Jacob, this is Jolene."

  Jacob shifted his attention to the girl and gave her a quick smile and wave.

  "Have you met my mom?" Cam asked.

  "We have, briefly," Aunt Debbie said.

  "Sorry for that," Jacob said, causing Aunt Debbie to smile and shake her head like he shouldn't feel the need to apologize.

  "Are you staying?" Jacob asked, looking at me.

  I stood up to exit the boat with no hesitation whatsoever.