It had taken Drake two days to find the perfect opening. He knew Mason would often pick up Billy after school and drive him to his sister’s diner to do his homework. Then she would drive him back home at night. This just required a little bit of planning. Step one was arranging it so his lieutenant had to stay late at work, which he had done.
“Mason, bummer about you having to redo the training manual. I don’t know how it could have gotten corrupted.” Mason looked up from the computer and gave Drake a hard look.
“Yeah, pretty weird.”
“Good news is I can go pick up Billy from school and drop him off with Sophia.” Mason’s frown cleared.
“Thanks, I was worried about that.”
“Not a problem. What are friends for?” Drake whistled to himself as he left the annex building.
Drake parked his truck across the street from the school, got out, and waited. He watched as Billy exited the school. Billy was with a girl, and he scanned the area. Drake liked the way the kid was aware of his surroundings. The girl was looking around like she was expecting a ride. Billy handed her his cell phone, and he could see how she reluctantly took it but finally made a call. It was obvious she got voicemail. She straightened her shoulders, gave Billy a fake smile, and started to walk away. Billy easily caught up and started to walk backwards in front of her, trying to convince her of something. Probably trying to get her to take a ride home. It looked like it was time for Uncle Drake to step in. He meandered over to the pair.
“Hey Billy.” Billy looked over, unsurprised to see him.
“Hey Drake, this is Rebecca. Rebecca, this is my friend Drake, he works with my brother.” Rebecca’s eyes got wide as she took in the width and breadth of him.
“You’re a soldier like Mason?” she asked quietly.
“A SEAL.” He held out his hand, and she placed her hand in his. He shook it gently. He saw Billy’s look of approval, and it made him feel good.
My how times were ‘a changing’.
“Do you need a ride, Rebecca? I have my truck right over there. I was going to take Billy to his sister’s for a piece of pie, and so he could start on his homework. Of course the pie is the most important part of the scenario.”
She gave a soft laugh. It was a pretty sound.
“It’s okay, I can walk home.”
“Rebecca, it’s five miles,” Billy protested.
“It’s not the first time.”
“I know, but it’s the first time I know about it ahead of time and can do something about it. Let Drake drive you. He’s trustworthy, I promise.”
Rebecca gave a quick look down to her shoes, if he hadn’t been concentrating on her so hard, Drake might have missed it. They didn’t fit right. They were too small. Dammit, they’d hurt walking all that way.
“Rebecca, I can’t have you walking all that way alone on my watch. It’s not allowed in the code book,” Drake said with a straight face.
“Code book?”
“Yep, there’s a code book SEALs have to live by, and leaving women and children in bad situations is not allowed. Seriously, I would have to turn myself in to my lieutenant for bad conduct if I didn’t take care of you.”
“You can’t possibly be serious?” She looked over at Billy for validation.
“My brother Mason is his lieutenant. He’d be upset. Look, it’d be the same thing if Mase were here. You should hear how he met my sister. He was living by the same code. It’s hard-wired.”
She still didn’t look convinced, but she grinned, but then it was wiped clean by a sad look.
“Rebecca, are you okay?”
“It’s just when they don’t answer they usually aren’t there, and I don’t have a key, but it’s okay, the porch is covered and has a really comfy chair to sit on.”
Oh hell no!
“Well do you have homework?”
She nodded.
“Do you like pie?
She nodded.
“I’m taking you and Billy to the diner.”
“They’ll be upset if I’m not there waiting for them when they get home.”
Upset, not worried.
“Fuck ‘em. Get in the truck. I’ll talk to them when I drive you home,” Drake assured her. He ushered her in front of him towards the truck, and Billy gave him the thumbs up sign.
When they got to the diner, there was a booth set aside for Billy. Sophia was busy with customers, so she didn’t have a chance to come over and ask questions.
“Hi kids. Drake.” Shirley handed them menus.
“Rebecca this is Shirley, she owns the diner.”
“Sophia is busy, and she might have to leave for a bit. I’m going to be taking care of you. Figure out what you want, and I’ll come back and take your orders.” Drake opened his mouth to say something.
“Avery, if you make one move towards your wallet, we’re going to have an issue. Am I clear?”
Drake laughed. “We’re clear.” Shirley moved to the next table to take an order.
Rebecca asked where the restroom was, so Drake and Billy had a couple of minutes alone.
“Okay, so what’s the scoopage? And give it to me fast kid.”
“What do you mean?”
“Why do her parents suck? Why are you having a hard time asking her to the dance when she’s a fucking doll? Why don’t her clothes fit? When did you grow up to be such a man? Those things.”
“She’s a foster kid, and the foster family only cares about the money they get from the state. They obviously don’t spend it on Rebecca. I already told Darius, he’s checking into it. I’m scared to ask her out, even though I really like her, because she’s turned down two other guys. And what do you mean I’ve grown up?”
“I’m going to help Dare to get her the fuck out of that fucking worthless house. You’re a man, because of how you treat her. I respect you Billy. You’re someone who I would want to serve with in a few years, and that’s fucking saying something. As for asking her out? Just fucking do it. I doubt you’ll get shot down, but if you do, keep her as a friend. She’s going to be worth the long haul. You can tell. She’s coming back.” Drake got out of the booth.
“Rebecca, I’ve got a couple of errands to run, I’ll be back in two hours to take you and Billy home. It was nice meeting you. Be kind to my friend here, he’s a good man.” Billy glared at him.
He could see Sophia motioning for him to come to the kitchen, so he went.
“Mason called, he said for you to check your voicemail, Drake.” He didn’t need to, he’d seen the missed calls. Mase must have figured out he’d been the one to dink with the training manuals.
“Anyway, thanks for driving Billy. Is that Rebecca?” Sophia asked as she peeked around him to get a better look at the girl.
“Yep.”
“How’d Billy talk her into coming here to study?”
“It’s a long story. Look, I have to go. I promised her pie, so you can go introduce yourself.” He watched Sophia grin. God, he liked Mason’s woman, she was such a sweetie.
“I’ll be back in two hours to take them home.”
“Are you sure?” Sophia took off her apron and put it up on a hook. “I have to meet with some folks at a gourmet shop who want to order some of my pies. I was going to come back to drive him home after I was done.” Sophia told him.
“Nope, I’ve already promised. Don’t want to break my promise to the girl after just meeting her.” Drake looked around the diner kitchen and saw what he wanted. “I’m going to see Frannie and Tony, can I get some cinnamon rolls to go?” He almost drooled as he watched Sophia drizzle on the icing. She closed the plastic container, and also put some muffins into a bag.
“What are these for?”
“They’re orange cranberry muffins especially made for Tony.” Drake looked into the bag with interest.
“They’re low carb and low fat. Hopefully he’ll eat these for a few days to make up for today’s cinnamon rolls.”
“Gotchya.” Drake grabbed
his bounty and headed for the front of the diner, as Sophia grabbed her coat and left out the back of the diner.
“See you guys in two hours.” He waved to the kids.
He drove down the couple of blocks to the food bank and parked the car. He pulled out his cell and dialed Darius.
“Dare, you know about this problem with Billy’s girl, right?” he demanded as soon as Darius answered. Drake was met by silence which made him crazy.
“Goddamit, answer me.”
“Billy who?”
“Don’t fuck with me, Lane. I know where you live.”
“Who clued you in on Billy’s love life?”
“I overheard Clint and Jack talking about it. I figured he could probably use my perspective as well. Hell, I’m the one with sisters coming out the wazoo.”
“If Mason wanted you to know about it, he would have told you, don’t you think?”
“Mason doesn’t have the sense God gave an ant. He doesn’t realize what a great resource I truly am. Luckily I was able to get some time alone with the kid, and meet Rebecca. She’s a doll. Billy has chosen well.”
“So what does this have to do with me, except to make me an accessory after the fact?” Darius asked.
“The foster home where she is at is neglecting her. They didn’t arrange a ride to pick her up from school. Her shoes are too small to walk home. Then she told us when she was going to get home, nobody would be there, and she doesn’t have a key to get in.”
“Ah shit. I was afraid of something like that.”
“So you’re already on the case? If you are, what the fuck is taking so long? Shit man, this is neglect! Don’t you have friends in the San Diego Foster Care system?”
“Yes.”
“Then make this shit right!”
“It’s not that easy.”
“Make it that easy.”
“Fuck you, Avery!” Darius shouted.
“For real? We can’t get her yanked?” Drake felt the wind get knocked out of his sails. He’d been counting on Darius.
“Are you telling me in your world there have been unicorns plopping out ice cream turds, and belching out cotton candy?” Darius asked in a resigned voice.
“In the world I grew up in there weren’t such things as unicorns or rainbows. I was just hoping you might know of one. I’m sorry, Dare. I can’t stand seeing another little girl suffer. I can’t. We have to do something.”
“And we will, Drake, I promise.” Drake felt some of the tension drain from his chest.
“Do you want to come to San Clemente and meet her? She’s here at the diner.”
“I’m in the middle of something. I can’t.” Drake heard a note of frustrated pain in his friend’s voice.
“It’s Rylie, isn’t it? You’re trying to track her down. Look, I’ll help you after this settles.”
“Don’t think I won’t be working on this thing with Rebecca, because I am on it. I just can’t afford to come up to San Clemente at the moment. I’m running down a lead.”
“Understood. Good luck.” Drake hung up and looked at the container of cinnamon rolls. At least he wouldn’t have to give his up to Darius like he had thought he would.
Getting out of the car, he went in to see Frannie and Tony. He really hoped they might have an idea of what to do. They knew everybody in San Clemente and San Diego.
****
They’d just finished the treats Sophia had provided when a Drake took a call. He hung up, obviously upset.
“Was that your sister who called?” Frannie asked. Drake winced. He didn’t want to lie, but he didn’t want to have to explain either.
“Don’t bother lying to her boy. I invented lying, and she invented sniffing them out,” Tony DeLuca said as he hefted a bag of rice from a pallet onto the stainless steel kitchen island.
“Old man, you were supposed to let the youngster do the heavy lifting.”
“As soon as a twenty-five pound bag of rice is heavy lifting, I’m going to the old folk’s home,” Tony quipped. “He gets to lift the fifty pound bags.”
Drake kicked himself for not having gotten to the pallet before Tony.
“So was it your sister? The one with the three kids?”
“Four kids. Yeah, it was Maddie.” Drake wished he could keep the worry out of his tone, but he couldn’t.
“So when are you going back to Tennessee?”
“I’m not.”
“Why not?”
“It’s complicated. Right now my other sister is taking care of things. When she needs to call me in, she’s going to. For now, it’s better with me out of the picture,” Drake said in a frustrated tone.
“I don’t understand,” Frannie asked, perplexed.
“Let the boy be, love. If he wants to tell us what’s going on, he will.” Drake looked around the food bank, and smiled. It was clean, efficient, but also welcoming, and it was because of the two people in front of him.
“You know, back in Ferris Holler our Food Bank wasn’t nearly so well organized, and seeing as how half the town depended on it, you would have thought it would’ve been really well put together.”
Frannie and Tony looked at one another.
“Did you donate your time there too, Drake?”
“Oh hell no, the Averys went there every Saturday and Tuesday to load up.” Drake grinned. “You would have loved Miss Tilda, she ran the place. It might not have been organized, but the woman was a love to us kids.”
“So speaking of love, tell us about Billy’s girl. I want to be prepared. He’s invited her to come help out at the pantry, and I want to know what to expect,” Frannie said.
“I’m not telling you anything, Missy. You’re going to have to come to your own conclusions.” Drake turned to Tony with a bag. “Here are some special treats I almost stole to take home. However Sophia said she’d find out and beat me if I did.”
Tony rubbed his hands together and peeked in the bag.
“Oooh, I love these.” Frannie and Drake shared a smile.
****
Billy Anderson
Normally getting done with homework early was a good thing. Instead he found himself playing with his pie trying not to stare at Rebecca as she ate hers. Was a guy supposed to get turned on with the way a girl ate her food? She had ordered banana cream pie, and watching her lips part and savor the treat was making him ache. The only saving grace was she had no clue he was stealing glances.
“Did you say your sister baked this pie?”
“She bakes everything in this diner,” Billy said proudly. “Some gourmet stores in town want her to start producing baked goods for them as well. She’s trying to figure out how to make it happen.”
“Does she cook the food?”
“No, Peter does. She could, she’s a great cook, but she’s the waitress. To begin with she needed the tips so she could earn enough so I could come and live with her.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I told you I was in foster care.” Rebecca put down her fork and wiped her mouth with her napkin.
“I didn’t believe you. I thought you were saying it to make me feel better.”
“Rebecca, I would never lie to you.” Billy looked her squarely in the eye.
“Good. It made me think less of you,” she admitted. “Why were you in foster care?”
“My dad abandoned us when my mom got sick. When she got too sick to take care of me, I ended up in foster care. My sister worked herself to the bone to try to make enough to get a place good enough for me to come and live with her.”
“Oh, that’s a wonderful story.” Rebecca was beaming.
“Why are you in foster care?”
“My mom is dead. My dad...” her voice trailed off.
Billy didn’t say anything.
“They took me away from my dad when I was seven. I’ve been in and out ever since. He got me back once when I was ten. It didn’t work out.” He heard a wealth of pain in her voice.
“One family wanted
to adopt me but he refused to give up his rights. I’m hoping if I get good enough grades I can get a scholarship to college and go early. I want to petition to be an emancipated minor.”
Billy had never heard of someone so alone. That’s what made him blurt it out.
“Rebecca, would you go with me to the Valentine’s Day Dance.” He watched as her eyes lit up, and she grinned. His heart soared. Then her whole manner changed.
“I’m sorry, I can’t.”
Billy mulled over the words. He’d seen the way she’d turned down Eric, and she’d had a lot to say, and at no time had she said ‘she couldn’t’.
“Should I ask why?” Billy questioned softly.
“I wish you wouldn’t.”
“Well, okay then.” He reached out and held his hand up. It was the hardest thing he had ever done. But he got the feeling if ever someone needed a hug, or their hand held it was Rebecca Barnes.
She grabbed it and her grip was tight. She smiled at him. His heart soared again. He didn’t know why she couldn’t go, but it wasn’t because she didn’t like him. She did. And he got the distinct feeling it was more than as a friend. Jack and Clint had been right.
Chapter Eight
Sophia Anderson
Playing Call of Duty wasn’t her idea of a fun night, but she appreciated the fact both Mason and Billy always invited her to join their game. These days what was really taking up a lot of her bandwidth was figuring out how to market the pies outside of the diner. Currently four different gourmet shops in San Clemente had asked her to bake product for them.
She wanted to do it, she had to figure out how to keep up the quality, and not sacrifice her home life. That meant she was currently looking at more resumes from Craig’s list while listening to Mason and Billy.
“One of the guys I served with was an emancipated minor, it was a hard road. Rebecca has guts.” She heard Mason say. Sophia stopped scrolling through the listings and started to pay attention to what was being said in the living room.
“How old was he?”
“I’m not sure.”
“She says she wants to graduate from high school early and get a scholarship. I know her foster home isn’t good. It isn’t like being with the Bards,” Billy said.
“It doesn’t sound like you’re mad at her for turning you down.”
SEALED with a Kiss (Midnight Delta Book 4) Page 4