Don't Catch Me

by Lorhainne Eckhart

  Billy Jo didn’t wait for him to figure out what to say. “No biggie if you don’t want us there cramping your style.”

  He picked up the attitude that still cropped up in her voice every now and then, but he was starting to see now that it was all an act to cover up how she truly felt. “Look, it’s just that I’m not sure what we’ll be walking in on. My dad… How can I explain this?”

  There was silence in the car, and he didn’t have to look over to Rose or glance back to Billy Jo to know they would wait all day for him to explain. Neither understood how to make things easier on him.

  “My family isn’t perfect. They’re far from it. My dad is a reformed gambler who lost every dime we had growing up, and my mom walked out and abandoned us when the bank account hit zero. Now she’s back, and apparently they’ve been dating, and my dad is freaking out because he’s just found out he has a daughter, a biological daughter, one he never thought he could have.”

  “You’ve told us this already,” Billy Jo said in her smartass way that gave him nothing.

  “Seriously, you want to tag along and see the mess he’s in? No, I don’t want you to see how irresponsible he is. He might be an emotional train wreck right now. I don’t know his state of mind. Maybe I just want to protect you from that and take you over there after I’ve had a chance to determine what I need to do to bring some sanity back to this entire situation.” He glanced to Rose, who watched him, her eyebrows raised, before she glanced into the back seat.

  “Okay, that’s all you had to say,” Billy Jo said as if it made perfect sense. “Is Aaron going to be there?”

  Aaron had left the day before, and Chase hoped he had already stepped in to calm everyone down. “Yeah, he’s already down there. So is my brother Luc.”

  “But not your older brother?” Billy Jo asked.

  Rose had yet to ask anything. She seemed content to just be there for the ride, and he hoped she was taking some time to really consider some of the things they’d talked over the night before, like her divorce.

  “Vic’s not coming,” Chase said. Vic had no time for their father, and he’d walked away from all of them, as well. Chase knew Vic had cleaned up their father’s mess once, but he was done with all of that. He’d said as much when Chase had stopped in to see him on his way to Henderson, before he’d walked into that gas station and stopped the robbery. Here he was, a week later, on his way to Henderson, with a family of sorts. He should call Vic, fill him in before he found out from someone else.

  Billy Jo said nothing else.

  “You’ll like the hotel I booked, the M. It’s got everything—pools, a spa, great food. It’ll be comfortable. Aaron and Luc are both staying there, as well. We’ll have dinner together tonight.” The M was where they all stayed when they went back to Henderson, and it was far away from their dad.

  She said nothing to that. Maybe that was all he was going to get. He glanced into the rear-view mirror again and saw that Billy Jo had closed her eyes and was leaning against her jacket as if she were asleep again. Old habits, he guessed.

  “You haven’t said anything,” he said to Rose, who seemed relaxed, gazing out the window.

  She turned her head and stared over to him. “Your explanation is reasonable. Is that what you want to hear? I understand you’re worried and you’re trying to protect us. You seem to think it’s up to you to fix everyone’s problems.” She said it so matter of factly.

  “I’m a problem solver. Someone’s in trouble, I fix it. It’s what I do. It’s not a big deal.”

  She moved in her seat, and the leather rustled. “It is a big deal, because normal people don’t fix everyone else’s problems.”

  He didn’t know what to say to that. “There’s also your divorce. We need to take care of that. I have the papers drawn, ready to go.”

  She said nothing.

  “Rose.”

  She turned her head. “See? There you go again, fixing. You’re going to take care of all my problems, too, make my ex disappear. But let me ask you this, Chase. When is it your turn? When does someone get to look after you?”

  He saw the sign for Henderson, thirty-eight miles away, and he just stared right ahead. How could he explain that no one looked after him, ever? He was the one who always looked after everyone else.

  Chapter 28

  Seeing the M through the eyes of a child, namely the eyes of a tough street kid who was nearly sixteen but had never had anything nice, made Rose take a moment—not because she wasn’t used to luxurious places but because she’d taken them for granted. She’d had the best of the best, being married to a senator. Granted, her marriage was going to be a thing of the past soon, but fine things had been, at one time, a way of life for her.

  Billy Jo, though, was a kid who’d seen too much of the rough and tough side of life. She’d never once been part of a family, never once stayed anyplace nice. Rose could see it in the way she hung back, taking in the massive lobby and the people passing by, wearing all manner of dressy casual clothes. She shoved on the pink-rimmed sunglasses Chase had bought her and said nothing.

  “Okay, I got us a suite,” Chase said. “Aaron and Luc are on the same floor, and there’s a gift shop that sells swimsuits. Rose can take you to get one, Billy Jo, and maybe you two can check out the pool while I’m gone.” Chase was looking at Rose, and Billy Jo said nothing, her hand on a small white suitcase on wheels by her side. It was part of a matching set Rose had, and she was using the other larger one. Chase had a small duffle with the clothes he’d arrived at her place in. He sighed.

  “Sure, why don’t we head up?” Rose said. “Billy Jo and I’ll hang here, check out everything. Maybe we can order room service or something down by the pool,” she added as they walked to the elevator. Chase jabbed the button, and the doors opened, and he held them as Billy Jo went in first and Rose followed.

  Billy Jo still said nothing as Chase slid the key card into the slot in the elevator and jabbed the seventh-floor button. He held out a card to Rose and then one to Billy Jo. “Your key card,” he said. “You’ll need it to get to the pool. You haven’t said two words since we arrived here, Billy Jo.”

  The elevator dinged and slowed, opening to their floor. They stepped out and followed Chase to a room at the end.

  “So how many nights are we staying?” Rose asked as he opened the door to a suite, and they stepped into an open living room with a dark kitchenette and double doors that opened to a large master bedroom. There were two bathrooms and two TVs.

  “I only booked us for two. Then I wanted to have a chance to talk with you about what’s next,” he said. He was wearing blue jeans today, fitted ones, with a green T-shirt that really brought out his eyes.

  Billy Jo flopped down on the sofa and lifted the remote, pointing it at the TV. Chase reached for it and took it from her hands. “I always know when something is off with you,” he said, and instantly Billy Jo took on a hard-done-by teenage look. “I’m talking,” Chase said. “Please listen and show some respect.”

  “Fine,” she huffed out.

  Rose wasn’t sure where to look, wondering what Chase was going to get to next in whatever he’d planned for everyone today. He was about to walk out the door and see his dad, and then she’d have to somehow soothe Billy Jo’s ruffled feathers.

  “What do you mean ‘next’?” Rose asked, because Chase was throwing things out as if he were planning something else, and she couldn’t help wondering what the curveball was.

  “I have a place in Massachusetts,” he said. “I have to close it up, ship my stuff down. Your divorce papers are ready. I just need your signature. Was thinking it would be a good time to serve Travis. That will give me a chance to sit down with the man face to face.” He jabbed his hand toward Billy Jo. “And you, we need to talk about school.”

  Rose didn’t know what to say. She knew she was dragging her feet. Yes, she’d told him about Travis. Yes, she’d agreed to file for divorce. Even though she believed Chase would protect
her from Travis following through on his threat to kill her, she couldn’t shake the sense that it was best to let sleeping dogs lie. Chase was still staring at her.

  “You want to go get a bathing suit?” she said to Billy Jo.

  “Yeah,” Billy Jo said, and Rose didn’t miss the hardened look Chase leveled her way.

  “You go take care of your dad. We’ll go shop and for a swim. See you for…?”

  “Dinner. I’ll be back for dinner,” Chase said before he leaned in and kissed Rose, just a brief kiss, and she wondered whether she’d ever get past the giddiness and the way her knees softened. He was so damn handsome, and every part of him was so good. They were together, and she was having a hard time getting used to the idea of something so special.

  Billy Jo was already at the door. Rose started past Chase, but he reached out and touched her arm, stopping her in front of him. “Seriously, Rose, you’re avoiding something that needs to be resolved. The divorce. Don’t think I haven’t realized that not answering is your way of avoiding things, same as Billy Jo over there. This has to be settled.” His meaning was there in the way he looked down at her.

  Instead of answering, she patted his hand. “Go visit your father.”

  He sighed and stepped back, studying her shrewdly. It was a distance she didn’t like, a distance she’d put there, but pushing away was a natural reaction to keep her safe that she’d hung on to for so long that she didn’t think she could do anything else.

  Chase walked away, past Billy Jo at the door. He said something to her before giving one last look to Rose. Then he left.

  As soon as the door closed, Billy Jo faced Rose. “He doesn’t like you blowing him off.”

  Rose reached for her purse on the sofa and lifted it over her shoulder as Billy Jo pulled the door open. “Could say the same goes for you,” she said. As the door closed, she looked up to see Chase at the elevator with Aaron and another man, not as tall but handsome, with light hair shaved close to his head. All three of them turned their way. Rose glanced once to Billy Jo as she started to the elevator.

  “Rose, Billy Jo, this is Luc,” Chase said as he turned to them.

  Luc was quiet as he reached out and shook her hand, taking in her and then Billy Jo. He seemed distracted, a deep thinker. He said nothing else. Great, so he wasn’t the chatty type.

  Then the elevator dinged and they all stepped in. She could feel Chase watching her unnervingly. She knew he was trying to piece together whatever was going through her head.

  As soon as the elevator reached the lobby, she stepped out with Billy Jo, and Chase and his brothers said a quick goodbye. Rose watched as the three brothers left together, and she realized she had only a few hours from now until dinner, when Chase would press her again about the divorce, to figure out a way to come to terms with her fear and procrastination.

  Chapter 29

  “Nice girl. Cute woman,” Luc said. That was the only comment he’d made to Chase about Rose and Billy Jo from where he sat in the passenger side of Aaron’s four-door pickup. Chase was in back.

  There had been only a moment’s debate about who was driving, considering Aaron had a need for control that exceeded Chase’s. There were times Aaron would become so quiet, and Chase understood some of the demons haunting him. He also knew his brother wasn’t interested in discussing or debating issues, and he definitely wasn’t about to share whatever was weighing on him. Driving controlled this aspect of the situation. Aaron couldn’t be swayed on anything and always had to be doing something.

  “She is. They are,” Chase added when Luc didn’t turn back to him but instead slid on a pair of shades and kept his gaze averted, looking straight ahead through the windshield.

  There was silence.

  “So, Luc, fill me in on Mom and Dad. You saw them. What’s going on?”

  Luc was shaking his head. “Didn’t see them after all. When you didn’t show and then Aaron fucked off to that border town where you decided to step in and fix someone else’s problems, I took a side trip over to Reno. Got here just before you did.”

  He took in Aaron in the rear-view mirror. He was glancing back to Chase as if he knew something Chase didn’t. What the hell was going on with his brothers?

  “Okay, so anyone talk to Dad?” He’d basically fallen off the radar, he was positive, as far as his dad was concerned. He had left a voicemail saying he had to take care of a few things and would be in touch in a few days, but over a week later, his dad hadn’t called him back.

  Aaron was shaking his head, saying about as much as he ever did.

  Luc glanced out the passenger window. “Nope,” he said so matter of factly.

  “Oh,” Chase said, wondering a whole lot about everything and nothing specific at the same time. Where exactly would that put them with this little reunion?

  “Maybe Dad decided to take care of his own problems. What do they say, no news is good news?” Aaron added as he flicked his signal light and turned left down a busy street only blocks from where their dad lived in the small two-bedroom house Chase and Aaron had bought for him just the year before.

  “Really?” Luc said with a heavy dose of sarcasm. He was sounding pessimistic. “That’d be a first.”

  “Luc, how’s the job?” Chase said—or maybe he was still having trouble in the romance department.

  “Great. Probably about as good as yours.” There he went again. Sarcasm.

  “Since I’m in the middle of a career change and researching what’s next for me, sounds like you’ve done something you haven’t shared,” Chase said. Of course, that was on top of relocating, fostering a girl, falling in love with a woman, and creating an unusual family that came with a shit load of problems.

  This time, Luc slid around, lifted his shades, and gave him a pointed look, one that was all attitude and screamed, Fuck off! “You ain’t fixing me, Chase. Save all this big brother psychological crap for Dad. I’m a big boy. I’ll handle all my own problems.” He slid back around, his shades back on, his hand tapping the door.

  Aaron was glancing back in the rear-view mirror to him again. He definitely knew more than Chase did.

  He turned the corner and pulled into the driveway of their dad’s house. The yellow paint was beginning to fade, and the white trim was peeling. A red Ford Escort, not their dad’s little pickup, was in the driveway. Chase climbed out, expecting the front door to open and his dad to appear, but there was nothing.

  Aaron was first to the side door, knocking. “Yo, Dad,” he called out, then pulled the screen door open, stepped in, and called out again. Chase heard voices, and he waited for Luc, who was looking around at the small yard, the single-car garage. Everything appeared neat and tidy.

  “Coming in?” he called out, though Luc didn’t look too interested in moving.

  Luc said nothing as he started walking to the door, and Chase held it open for him and then stepped inside the house to the small neat kitchen. Aaron was talking to someone in the living room, and then he heard his dad’s voice.

  There he was in the living room, sitting in an easy chair, glasses perched on the end of his nose, holding a book. Jerry’s white hair was short, appearing freshly cut. His blue eyes were watchful. “So you’re here,” he said as if this were no big deal and he hadn’t been freaking out not long ago.

  “Yeah, sorry. Had to make a few stops and got tied up,” Chase said, not wanting to explain to his dad about Billy Jo and Rose—not yet, anyway. “You seem calmer. Everything all right?” He took in the neat and tidy house. Considering his dad had never been much of a housekeeper, it seemed a little out of character.

  “Hey, Dad.” Luc stepped into the living room and sat on the light blue sofa. There were a few houseplants and a large potted fern in the corner.

  “Luc, great to see you. Aaron, you look ready for your next fight.” Their dad was smiling and seemed happy. Something was wrong, or right? He closed up his hardcover after slipping a bookmark in and rested it on a side table, then pulled of
f his glasses and set them on top of it. “Appreciate you boys coming,” he said, folding his hands into his lap, crossing his jean-clad legs. He was wearing a white polo shirt and wore his gold wedding ring on his finger, the one he’d never taken off. What was it about his dad that seemed different, other than the fact that he appeared polished, in control, and calm?

  He heard a creak and turned to see a woman with deep auburn hair, a trim figure, and worry in her light brown eyes. “Hello, Chase, Aaron, Luc. I wouldn’t have recognized you, I think, if your dad hadn’t shown me your pictures. You’ve turned out to be fine-looking men.”

  He didn’t know what to say as he stared at his mother, the woman who’d walked out on them how many years ago now?

  “Hi, Mom. Didn’t know you’d be here.” His throat was dry.

  She went to touch Chase but thought better of it as she squeezed her fist and stepped around him into the living room, looking to their dad, who was watching all of them.

  “A lot has happened since we spoke, Chase,” his dad said. “After your last message, I just figured you weren’t coming, and your mother and I had a chance to talk, to work through some things, for me to understand many things I didn’t.”

  “What things?” What was it about this situation that had all the hairs on the back of Chase’s neck standing up?

  Jerry was very matter of fact as he rose from his chair. He wasn’t a tall man, just average height, but he had a great build, and their mom walked toward him and took his hand.

  “Well, we have a surprise to share, and…” His dad smiled at his mom and actually laughed.

  Aaron turned his gaze to Chase, his sunglasses tucked in his shirtfront.

  Their mom was nervous, and she pulled her hand from their dad’s and wrung it with her other. The backdoor clattered, and Chase turned to see a teen about the same height as Billy Jo, with red hair, a face full of freckles, and eyes that seemed to have been taken from his mother and transplanted to her.