The Hookup

by Kristen Ashley

  “Izzy has a certain style,” Johnny muttered.

  “Can’t miss that,” Toby replied, still grinning. “Didn’t miss that dress she had on either. I could handle crystals hanging from trees too if my woman wore a dress like that.”

  “You can’t miss her dress, but from here on out, how ’bout you keep your mouth shut about shit like that?” Johnny warned.

  Toby didn’t exactly heed his warning.

  He asked, “Then can we talk about you doing her against a wall?”

  “No,” Johnny growled.

  “You’re back,” Toby said, suddenly quiet.

  “What?” Johnny asked.

  “That’s what they said,” Toby shared. “At Home. They said you’re back and I see it. You care about something again. You care about her. You care about her sister. Thought you were gonna break that asshole’s neck. Since Dad died and Shandra left, you go to work, you do your job. You go home to the mill. You go fishing, mostly out of habit. You go camping just the same. But have you taken an ATV out in three years?”

  “Probably.”

  Toby shook his head. “Back before we lost Dad, then that woman knew you were already on your knees, and still . . . she gutted you, you worked hard, you played hard. You had plans to open more garages. You wanted to go back to Hawaii. You wanted to eat pizza in Italy. Have you left the state of Kentucky since Shandra took off?”

  “Yeah, to drive down to Tennessee to get your ass out of that sling when that woman stole your truck,” Johnny reminded him.

  Toby ignored that. “You gonna take this girl to Italy?”

  If Izzy wanted to go, absolutely.

  “She’s sweet, she’s shy, she’s funny—” Johnny started.

  “She’s got a flair with crystals and a way with wearing a dress,” Toby cut in to razz.

  This time Johnny ignored Toby and laid the big shit on him.

  “And Margot loves her.”

  “Holy Christ,” Toby said, his eyes widening. “It took Shandra two years to win over Margot. And she never liked a single woman I dated.”

  “Tobe, that’s because you don’t date. You sleep with women until they get bored of your inability to commit to something like, I don’t know . . . a date. Then they dump your ass and you move on like you haven’t just spent two, three, four months wasting their time. Like you haven’t just spent two, three, four months with them at all.”

  “None of them complained,” Toby returned.

  “Not in earshot,” Johnny informed him. “But in town you’re known as ‘Take ’Em and Leave ’Em Toby.’”

  “I didn’t make any woman any promise and I don’t hide how it is with me, so they got nothing to bitch about,” Toby shot back, no longer in a joking mood. “Now what I wanna know is, how are we talking about this when I had a brother who was so not over his ex he was never gonna get over his ex and now I’m hanging out in the backyard of a woman who’s stabling Ben’s horse, Ben being your best bud since second grade. And even Sally, whose sister was best friends with Shandra, and far’s I know still is, is talking about how awesome this Eliza is.”

  Johnny looked to the house, the table where Charlie and Deanna were sitting in the sun and back to his brother. “I’m falling in love with her, Tobe.”

  Toby gave him a look and then that look turned hard.

  “You better be.”

  Johnny’s head gave a sharp jerk. “Sorry?”

  “She’s spoken a handful of words to me and even I know you don’t dick around with a woman like that. You say Margot loves her, seals that deal. Now I hate to contradict the people who talk shit about me, but the bottom line is . . . you’re you. You’ve been hung up on Shandra for years. And even I know if just a little of that is still there, you should steer clear of any woman.”

  “Okay, right now what I want heard, Toby, is enough about Shandra. Shandra’s history. Everybody has got to get the fuck over Shandra because I have and I’m the only one who had to do it in the first place.”

  “You’ve blown through a few women, brother,” Toby replied carefully.

  “I made no promises and I didn’t hide how it was,” Johnny returned.

  Toby eyed him a beat before he said, “I hear that.”

  Johnny dug in his jeans pocket for his keys. “I’m staying tonight with the girls. You can stay at the mill.”

  Toby grinned. “Excellent.”

  Johnny twisted his house key off and suggested, “While you’re here, you might wanna go out to the shack and see if it’s still standing.”

  His brother was pocketing the key and his grin disappeared. “I thought you were looking after it.”

  “I am but it’s forty miles out so I can’t go out there every day.”

  “I’ll head out there,” Toby muttered.

  Johnny looked to the house when he sensed movement and he saw Izzy coming through the screen door. Her dogs ran to greet her. Ranger lay in the grass where he’d camped out five feet from Johnny and Toby and he didn’t twitch.

  He watched as she looked for him, found him and he gave her a jerk of his chin.

  Then he looked back to Toby.

  “Not thinking this is a good time for you to crash a party, Tobe.”

  “I get that,” Toby agreed. “Just hanging around to meet her, say hey and make sure her sister’s okay. I’ll say that hey and take off.”

  Johnny nodded before he curled his lips up. “I’ll end this saying what I know I don’t have to say. It’s good to have you home, brother.”

  Toby smiled back. They moved in, bumped shoulders then moved away and both of them turned to head back to the table.

  He saw that Deanna and Charlie were up, doing something, and Izzy was heading toward them.

  Her smile on his brother was bright but it still didn’t hide the worry.

  “Toby, right?” she asked, lifting a hand toward Toby before she got to them. “I’m so happy to meet you and I’m so happy you’re here,” she said when she stopped, and Toby took her hand. She then went on to babble, “I mean, obviously, what played out with Addie and Perry was unfortunate for all concerned, especially Addie, and I’m sorry you had to witness it. But my sister is my sister. She’s bounced back. She’s gonna clean up her face and join us. I hope you will too.”

  “I don’t wanna impose,” Toby said, squeezing her hand and letting it go.

  It was then Johnny moved to her side, slid an arm around her shoulders and claimed her.

  He saw his brother’s eyes flare with humor at the maneuver but fortunately that was it.

  “Family’s never an imposition,” she replied.

  Like she would know. As far as Johnny could tell, she only had two members of hers worth dick, and with the way things were, they needed each other to survive and stop themselves from becoming bitter and twisted.

  “Things were kinda dramatic,” Toby said softly. “It’s really cool if I go and some time later we get together and share a beer or something.”

  “We can share one now. Honestly,” Izzy assured. “Addie got it out and she’s fine. That’s the way we Forrester women are. Shove us to our knees, we just get back up and keep going.”

  He felt his jaw get hard at her words and Toby’s eyes cut to Johnny’s then right back to Iz.

  “Really, stay,” she continued, throwing an arm out behind her toward the table. “The only thing that would upset Addie now is if you didn’t stay because you thought she’d be uncomfortable.” She shot him a smile. “And I’m a good cook.”

  “She’s absolutely that,” Johnny put in.

  Toby looked again to his older brother, assessing if that was Johnny’s go ahead to accept the invitation.

  When he read correctly it was, he turned his attention back to Izzy. “Then thanks. I’d love to try your cooking.”

  Izzy beamed.

  That was when Johnny gave him a look that told him to take off so he could have a word with his woman.

  Toby read that one too, smiled at Iz and then moved
toward the table.

  Izzy started to make a move too but Johnny held her back.

  “Is she really all good?” he asked when she looked up at him.

  “Apparently, the dastardly deed was walked in on two weeks ago. Addie and Brooks stayed with some friends while Addie made plans and talked to an attorney. When all was in place, she had her friends show up, clear out their apartment, store her stuff in a variety of different garages, sheds and attics and she came up here.”

  “She always intending to stay up here?” Johnny asked.

  Iz shook her head. “She just needed a break and to be away from there to make some decisions. She got up here and that was her decision but she couldn’t exactly make it unless she had a way to feed herself and her son. So she got a job and got Brooks in daycare in town and she does, actually, start Monday.”

  “Margot can take care of Brooks and she’d be offended if Addie tried to pay,” Johnny told her, but she shook her head.

  “She’d probably love it if Margot looked after him but she’d never let that happen for free.”

  “And Margot would lose her mind if Addie put him in daycare when she’s got nothing to do all day but plan coven meetings and boss Dave around, and she’d lose her mind only a little less if Addie tried to pay.”

  “Johnny—”

  He used his arm around her shoulders to curl her into his front. “Let me talk to her to see if I’m even right and she’s willing to do it. Then we can take it from there. But at the very least, until Addie gets on her feet, she should consider letting someone with a kind heart lend a helping hand.”

  She nodded before she told him hesitantly, “She’s gonna stay with me for the foreseeable future.”

  This was not optimal and Johnny knew it was a dick thing to think, and it wasn’t even close to the same circumstances, but when he finally found another woman who he wanted in his life and his bed in what could be a permanent way, he wished she didn’t have a troubled sibling that took her time and attention from what they were building.

  “I’m sorry, I see that—” she began, looking at him worriedly.

  Johnny cut her off. “Nothing to be sorry about.”

  “It’s just that, she has a little money saved but the attorney is going to cost a lot, and the grocery store doesn’t pay as much as she made in tips so she’s going to need a little help.”

  She was going to get help.

  This being Johnny paying for her attorney, if he could manage it, straight up. If she couldn’t hack that, then through a no-interest, pay-it-when-you-can loan. He was also putting her and Brooks in one of his properties when a tenant left. He had two small, nice, rental homes in town, closer to the grocery store, big enough for Brooks to grow up in, and when that happened they’d both have their own space.

  But that wasn’t for now. They’d have that discussion later when there wasn’t queso dip to broil.

  “She’s your sister, babe, and she got burned and bad. Do I want you all to myself? Yeah. Do I get it?” He pulled her closer and dipped his face to hers. “Yeah.”

  She stared into his eyes and hers were filled with gratitude. “Thanks, Johnny.”

  “Don’t mention it, Iz,” he muttered, going in to touch his lips to hers before he pulled away and started to curl her back around but stopped when both her hands that were resting at his waist started to grip him hard.

  “Thank you too, for going in . . . I mean, when Perry showed, you went right up to him and—”

  He interrupted her. “Don’t mention that either.”

  “I . . . Johnny, that meant a lot. You didn’t even know who he was. You just felt the vibe and waded in. So it really meant a lot, honey. To both me and Addie.”

  “I’m glad but I hope you paid attention, Iz, because I’m that guy too. For you and for Addie.”

  Her eyes went round.

  Then they started blinking.

  “Oh no, I think I might cry,” she whispered, and true to her words, her eyes were getting bright with tears.

  He pulled her even closer and whispered back, “Don’t cry. There’s queso dip to broil, wine to drink, my brother to charm and your friends here for me to make love me like everyone else does.”

  He saw the bright leave as she started smiling.

  So he kept going.

  “It happened. It’s over. Like you said, baby, you Forrester women get shoved to your knees, you get right back up and keep on keeping on. It’s time to keep on keeping on with good company, food and booze, even if there’s a danger someone’s gonna get their eye poked out by a crystal.”

  Her head twisted and she gasped, “Oh no! Are they hanging too low?”

  He put his hand to her jaw to turn her back to him. “Teasing, spätzchen.”

  “Oh,” she breathed.

  He kissed her. Not the kiss he wanted to give her but it wasn’t a touch of the lips either.

  Then he turned her toward the table, but as Charlie and Deanna set it up for Toby to join them, Toby striding off toward the shed, probably to get himself a chair, Izzy and Johnny went into the house.

  Izzy put the queso dip under the broiler.

  Johnny grabbed another six pack from the fridge to take it outside and put the bottles on ice.

  “And then . . . then . . . then he said, ‘That’s the way of it when a badger is in the mix,’” Addie spluttered the end of her story through giggles and everyone burst out laughing.

  Including Johnny.

  “A badger in the mix!” Deanna hooted and the waning laughter waxed.

  But this time, not Johnny’s.

  Because right then, it hit him like a boulder in the chest.

  The sun had set.

  The Christmas lights, candlelight and moonlight were dancing off the crystals. Charlie had hauled some curlicue plant stand out and put the drinks bucket on it so they had more room for the diners.

  Whether it was because he sat there after the drama, or by design, which was more likely since it seemed Izzy, Deanna and Addie maneuvered him there, Johnny was at the head of the table. He was flanked by Iz and Toby. Charlie sat at the foot flanked by his wife and Addie.

  The women had been through four bottles of wine and were on their fifth.

  The men, two of them driving, were only on their third six-pack.

  They’d been through queso dip, followed by four choices of street tacos with enough for leftovers, Mexican corn, black beans and a southwestern themed salad, and now the table was littered with little pink melamine plates with creamy lace designs on their edges covered in chocolate cake crumbs, vanilla frosting smears and ice cream residue.

  The dogs were out dead, snoozing in the grass.

  Brooks had fallen asleep in Deanna’s arms but was now up in his crib.

  There were lightning bugs blinking in and out in the darkened periphery and soft candles were glowing in the screened porch but there was no glaring outside light to disturb the cocoon of friendship, food and magic that Izzy had created.

  Johnny understood it all then.

  It didn’t matter if there was a dent in the drinks tub.

  It didn’t matter that Perry was somewhere out there, pissed and intent on making trouble for Addie.

  Their mother had taught them this was it.

  This was the beauty of life.

  It wasn’t making do.

  It was finding the joy in all you had and if you could give it a little sparkle with crystals dangling from trees or just lying side by side, staring at the stars, you did it.

  On this thought, still softly giggling, Iz turned bright eyes to him. “I wish Margot and Dave were here.”

  Yeah, it was finding the joy in all you had, gathering memories, filling them as full as you could, goofing off wearing cheap sandals in front of a horse or sitting under a canopy of Christmas lights and crystals.

  “We can invite them next time, spätzchen,” he murmured.

  She shot him a dazzling smile then looked back down the table when Charlie sta
rted talking.

  Toby leaned his way and Johnny braced in order not to get ticked if his brother teased him verbally rather than just shooting him looks like he had from the first through the several that came after it when he’d called Izzy spätzchen.

  Tobe knew Shandra never got that.

  Toby, like Johnny, knew what it meant that Izzy did.

  It had startled him the first time it had come out.

  But from that first time, it came out easy.

  He looked to his brother just as Toby said under his breath, “I wish Dad was here.”

  They locked eyes.

  There would be no end of the teasing Lance Gamble would dish out about crystals in trees.

  But he loved chocolate cake.

  And he thought there was no better time, not even fishing, than spending it with friends.

  Last, it made him happy when his sons were happy.

  “Me too,” Johnny muttered.

  “ . . . so my Dee-Girl gets on her hands and knees . . .” Charlie was saying.

  “I did not!” Deanna cried. “I just bent over!”

  Johnny and Toby looked to the end of the table.

  “ . . . in spiked heels and the littlest skirt you’ve ever seen . . .” Charlie talked over her.

  “Charles!” she snapped.

  “ . . . she whips out her phone, turns on her flashlight and shines it into the murk . . .”

  “A lady would never get on her knees in the street. Especially in a skirt.”

  “ . . . then she looks up at me . . .”

  “Stop!”

  “ . . . and says, ‘Baby, you gotta go after that,’ like I’m gonna be able to pull off a sewer grate and retrieve her freaking earring.”

  “It was my favorite earring!” Deanna exclaimed through the audible mirth rolling around the table.

  He looked to his wife. “How can you have favorites when you got two drawers full of them?”

  “I don’t have two drawers full of them,” she denied.

  He arched his brows.

  “Okay, but they’re small drawers,” Deanna muttered.

  Everyone again burst out laughing.

  Johnny nabbed his cold beer, sat back in his chair at the head of the table and joined them.