Broken Pieces (Healing Heart Book 1)

by Maxene Novak

  “You were alone?”

  “Yes, for a long time, but,” Clay stopped to clear his throat and wipe the tears away once more, “I fought hard and I was able to make something of myself, and now I’ve met Ms. Lorie and our friend Spencer. You remember him from earlier?”

  Paul nodded.

  “Well, they are pretty special and I have a feeling that they are going to make sure I’m never all alone again.” Clay smiled over at Lorie and she couldn’t stop the tears no matter how hard she tried. She knew he’d been through bad things, but knowing it and hearing it were two different things. Plus, she knew he’d given Paul the censored version. She could imagine the things he meant when he said that his foster dad hurt him; it made her sick to her stomach. How he had turned his life around all by himself and become the man he was sitting in front of her was nothing short of a miracle.

  Lorie watched as Paul climbed into Clay’s lap, wrapped his arms around his neck, and buried his face in Clay’s chest. “People hurt me, and then I was all alone. Do you think Ms. Lorie and Mr. Spencer will make sure I’m not alone again too?”

  Lorie couldn’t take it anymore. She made her way over to the bed and sat down beside the two of them. “Oh, honey,” she held her arms out to Paul hoping he would accept her invitation and when he did she broke down into a full-on cry for a minute. “You don’t have to worry about being alone again, and no one will hurt you either. I will make sure you are taken care of, and so will Mr. Clay and Mr. Spencer.”

  Clay reached for her hand and laced their fingers together. Lorie wasn’t sure how long they all sat there together. Her holding Paul and Clay holding her hand. After a while she heard Paul’s tummy start to growl and she held him out so that she could look at him. “Are you ready for something to eat?” As if it was answering for him Paul’s stomach growled again making the three of them laugh. “I’ll take that as a yes,” she said.

  Lorie stood up with Paul in her arms and Clay followed her lead. She thought he might be headed to try to leave again, but he followed the two of them when they went to the kitchen. It was two o’clock, so a little later than normal lunch time, but not yet dinner so Lorie pulled out some stuff for sandwiches. “What kind of sandwich would you like, Paul?”

  “Do you have peanut butter and jelly?” he asked.

  Lorie smiled and grabbed the jelly from the fridge then she walked over to the pantry to pull out the peanut butter. She cut the sandwich into four small squares before handing the plate to Paul. It was something her mother had always done for her when she was young, and it always seemed to make the sandwich taste a million times better when it was little triangles.

  Paul quickly picked up one of the triangles and bit into it. He licked the jelly that was left behind off of his bottom lip and looked up at Lorie. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome, honey,” she told him.

  Lorie made a sandwich for herself and Clay as well, and they sat down with Paul and ate quietly. After a few minutes Heather came into the kitchen. Standing back where Paul couldn’t see her she looked at Lorie and mouthed the words to ask if everything was okay. Lorie just nodded shortly in response, and Heather walked the rest of the way over to where they sat at the table. “Hey Paul, I was just outside and there is this really cool swing set out there. I was hoping you would come play with me for a little bit. It’s a lot more fun if I have a friend out there with me.”

  Paul looked at Lorie with bright, shining eyes. “Oh, Ms. Lorie, can I?”

  Lorie smiled at him. “Of course you can, honey. Just listen to Ms. Heather while you’re out there, okay.”

  Paul nodded his head repeatedly in agreement, and Heather pulled his chair out for him so that he could get down. Lorie and Clay sat in silence for a few minutes. She had no idea how he felt about her knowing the things that he told Paul earlier, but she hoped it wouldn’t end up with him trying to shut down or retreat back into himself.

  Clay broke the silence when he stood up and took both of their plates to the sink. “I should really be headed to the office.”

  “Are you sure?” Lorie didn’t want him to think he couldn’t handle his own emotions, but opening up the way he had with Paul for the first time was enough to make anyone a little emotionally distraught for a bit.

  “Lorie,” Clay shook his head, and his voice was low and detached like he was barely holding on. “I just need the rest of my day to be as normal as possible.”

  “I get that,” Lorie told him. “Just…just call me if you need me. Okay?”

  He just stared at her for a few minutes, and she was worried he was about to shut down. Finally he took a deep breath and agreed. “Okay.” When he gave her a kiss before leaving it helped to settle her worry for him a little bit, but not much. She watched him walk out the door, and prayed that she would see him again that evening like they had originally planned. Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, Lorie went to her office and began charting her notes from the day with Paul. The day had its good and bad moments, and Lorie couldn’t help but keep thinking over everything Clay told Paul and how it had been just as big of a day for him as it was for Paul.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Clay

  Clay rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands for what felt like the millionth time that day. His mind wouldn’t stop reeling knowing everything he had said to Paul in front of Lorie that morning. He didn’t regret that he had shared his past with Paul, or that Lorie had heard it. He was just worried that knowing his past would lead to her treating him differently and that was something he did not want. No. He knew better than that. He was worrying himself over nothing. She had been there when he lost it after hearing the details of Paul’s abuse and neglect and she stayed with him through it all. She didn’t treat him different then, and he knew that his reaction would have told her and Spencer that he must have had a less than stellar childhood himself. It wouldn’t have affected him so grievously otherwise.

  There was a knock at his office door, and Jemma walked in before he had the chance to acknowledge it. She walked right up to his desk and took a seat in one of the chairs across from him. “I know something is bothering you.” Clay was about to protest, but the second he opened his mouth to speak Jemma held her hand up to stop him. “I’m not asking you to talk to me about it. I do know that something is going on between you and the ex-detective so I am here to tell you to talk to him, or Lorie, or both. Either way, you clearly have some heavy stuff weighing on your mind and you need to get it out. I can’t think of a better way to do that than by talking to the person, or persons, who seem to care about you the most. I’ve already figured out that you care about them too, so don’t try to tell me I’m crazy and all of this is in my imagination. Just talk to them. Get whatever is bothering you out because I need my spunky boss back. Now, Spencer has been hanging out in his office pretending he needs to work late. I know he is waiting for you to leave, so do me a favor and put the guy out of his misery and get out of here already. The work will still be here when you come back tomorrow.”

  Clay stared at Jemma. He opened his mouth to say something then just shut it again. Jemma was always the one to give him her honest opinion about things, but that was usually always things that were work related. She had never said anything to him about his personal life before now. And spunky? Really, she thought he was spunky? That was one adjective he had never heard anyone use to describe him before. Jemma stood up and walked to the door. Just before she turned the knob she looked back at him again. “I’m going home now. I’ll let Spencer know that you’ll be right out.”

  She pulled the door open and Clay called out to her, “Jemma.” She turned around to look at him. “Thank you.” Jemma tipped her head in his direction and turned around to leave. She didn’t even bother to shut his door on her way out, which made Clay smile. He logged off of his computer, grabbed his keys, then made his way to Spencer’s office. “Hey, you ready to go?”

  Spencer looked up from his computer scr
een. “Yeah, just let me shut this down.”

  “Okay. You can ride with me if you’re okay with leaving your car here.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  When they got in the elevator Clay reached for Spencer’s hand and Spencer smiled at him before he laced their fingers together. “Have you talked to Lorie today?” Clay asked him.

  “I texted her a little while ago to ask how Paul was doing,” Spencer said. “She said that other than a nightmare earlier in the afternoon it was a good day.”

  “Yeah, it was pretty bad. Poor kid.” Spencer looked at Clay and raised an eyebrow. He had forgotten that Spencer wasn’t there when the whole nightmare incident took place. “I had gone back in because I forgot my phone in Lorie’s office, and we heard Paul screaming when we were in the entrance by the front door. He was reliving things.”

  Spencer’s face fell and Clay could see the understanding in his sad eyes. “I saw people like that way too often while I was a cop. What I could never understand was how social services could keep letting the kids go back to the families despite repeated proof that they would never truly change.”

  “Yeah. It took me a while to get him calmed down.”

  Spencer looked at him, but before he could say anything the elevator doors opened and Clay walked out, pulling Spencer along with him. As soon as they were in the car Spencer turned to face him. “So you had to calm Paul down?” He said it as a question instead of a statement. He knew why Spencer was surprised. He would be too. Lorie had years of experience dealing with traumatized children, so why would she need Clay to calm Paul down after a nightmare?

  “It isn’t necessarily that I had to. I am sure he would have calmed down with Lorie there with him after a while. I just thought that he might like to know that he wasn’t alone.” Clay cleared his throat. Spencer didn’t push him for more and after a few minutes he went on. “I thought it would help if I shared some of my own experiences with him. Give him someone to relate to so he would know that I understand.”

  Clay pulled into the parking lot at the children’s home. He didn’t wait for Spencer to react to what he’d just said before getting out of the car, but Spencer didn’t wait either. As soon as Clay walked around the front of the car Spencer was right there. He pulled Clay to him and kissed him hard. Clay was stiff for just a second, not expecting Spencer’s reaction, but Spencer kept his lips pressed to Clay’s and Clay melted into him after a few seconds. Spencer pulled back before they could get carried away. “Let’s go say hi to the kid.”

  “Yeah,” Clay agreed.

  When they walked in they were immediately greeted by a very enthusiastic little boy. Paul ran up to Clay with his arms spread wide. “Clay!”

  For the first time since he told Paul about himself, Clay smiled brightly as he bent to pick Paul up. He grabbed Paul under his arms and swung him around in circles a couple times, which left the little boy in a fit of laughter. “Have you been having fun this afternoon?” Clay asked him.

  “Yes. Ms. Heather and Ms. Lorie played hide and seek with me, and I got to swing!” Paul was so excited he was almost yelling as he told Clay about all of the fun he’d had that day.

  When Clay put him down, Paul didn’t waste a second before he was holding his arms up to Spencer, and Spencer quickly picked him up and gave him a nice bear hug. “Let’s go find Ms. Lorie,” Spencer told Paul while ruffling his blonde hair.

  Clay giggled and wiggled his little body until he escaped Spencer’s hold. “Okay.” Paul turned around and took off towards Lorie’s office.

  Spencer grabbed Clay’s hand again and the two of them laughed at Paul while they walked the short distance to Lorie’s office. Spencer knocked lightly on the door before they walked in. Lorie was talking with a couple of the Haven’s employees, and Clay assumed they were there for the night shift with Paul. “Sorry,” Clay said. “We didn’t mean to interrupt. We’ll just hang out with Paul until you’re ready.”

  The two people who Lorie was talking to turned around to see who had interrupted their meeting, and when they saw Clay both of them stood and greeted him.

  “Mr. Hale,” the young woman said, “it’s nice to see you. I don’t know if you remember, but I’m Amelia.”

  “And I’m Shawn.” Clay didn’t miss it when Shawn’s eyes caught on Clay and Spencer’s joined hands.

  Clay ignored it and held out his other hand to shake hands with both Amelia and Shawn. “I remember you both. It’s nice to see you again. You’ll be seeing a lot of me around here, so I’m sure we’ll get to know each other better.”

  “Great,” Amelia said. Her smile was genuine and Clay knew she was going to be great here.

  “This is Spencer Cole,” Clay nodded to Spencer, who also held his free hand out to shake Amelia’s and Shawn’s. He is the head of security for all of Hale Inc., so you will be seeing him around as well.”

  “It’s nice to meet both of you,” Spencer told them.

  “You too,” they both said.

  “Anyway,” Clay broke the introductions, “we didn’t mean to interrupt. We’ll be out there with Paul when you’re done, Lorie.”

  “Okay. We’re almost done here, and then I’ll be out.”

  Clay and Spencer walked back out and found Paul waiting at Lorie’s door. “Want some pizza?”

  Clay bent down in front of him. “Pizza, huh? I think that sounds great. How about you, Spencer?”

  “Yeah,” Spencer agreed. “Pizza’s one of my favorites.”

  The three of them went to the kitchen and found Heather standing in front of an open oven looking inside. She stood back up and closed the door. “Hey guys. What’s up?”

  “Paul said there was pizza in here,” Spencer told her.

  “Yeah, he helped me make a couple homemade pizzas. They’ll be ready in about ten minutes.”

  Paul turned to face Clay and Spencer with a wide smile spread across his face; his dimples on full display. “Can we swing?”

  Clay looked over at Heather when she laughed. “I think he’s obsessed.”

  “Nonsense,” Spencer interjected. “What’s the point in having such an awesome swing set if you’re not going to play on it, right, bud?”

  “Right!” Paul was so excited and Clay was thrilled that he’d spared no expense in the home including the outside play area.

  Spencer bent down and picked Paul up, sitting him on top of his shoulders. Clay followed them out back and laughed at Spencer every time he saw Paul tug on his hair like he was riding a horse and Spencer’s hair was the reins. Clay and Spencer took turns pushing Paul on the swing and lost track of time. Paul had just convinced Spencer and Clay that they could fit on the swings, and they were trying to get their legs under them so they could actually push off of the ground when the sound of laughter came from behind them.

  It took them a minute to get themselves out of the small swings, and when they turned around they found Heather and Lorie arm in arm laughing at them like it was the funniest thing they’d ever seen. “Oh come on,” Clay threw his hands in the air, “it wasn’t that funny.”

  “It was pretty funny,” Lorie spouted out through her laughter.

  When he heard Paul laughing, Clay turned to look at him with his mouth opened like he was in shock. “Paul, I thought you were on our team,” Clay said as though he was offended.

  “I am, Clay.” Despite his declaration that he was on their team, Paul was still laughing.

  Spencer looked at Clay and crossed his arms. “I think we might need to teach him a lesson for laughing at his teammates. What do you think, Clay?”

  “Yeah, I think you might be right.”

  When Spencer unfolded his arms and started wiggling his fingers at Paul like the tickle monster Clay couldn’t hold back his own laughter. Paul squealed and laughed even louder when Spencer tickled him and threw him over his shoulder.

  “Alright, boys,” Lorie called. “It’s time to stop playing around and come eat some pizza.”

  “Yes,
mother,” Clay said and he laughed when Lorie stuck her tongue out at him.

  Spencer lifted Paul onto his shoulders again and carried him back inside. The pizza was sitting on the kitchen island and Clay smelled it as soon as he stepped inside. Spencer put Paul in a chair at the table and Lorie brought him a slice of pizza. When Clay sat down between Paul and Spencer it hit him that the three meals he’d eaten there today were the closest to family dinners he’d ever experienced.

  After dinner Lorie took Paul upstairs to take a bath and get ready for bed. After a little while Lorie came downstairs to get Clay. “Paul wants to know if you will tuck him in.”

  “Of course.” Clay headed upstairs and found Paul already sitting in his bed. “Hey, buddy. You ready to go to sleep?”

  On cue, Paul yawned, which made Clay smile. Clay sat down on the edge of the bed and held up the blanket for Paul to scoot underneath. “You comfy?” he asked Paul.

  “Yes,” Paul said. “Mr. Clay?”

  “Yeah, buddy?”

  “Thanks for tucking me in. I won’t have nightmares now.”

  Clay smiled brightly. He leaned down and gave Paul a hug. “Good night, buddy.”

  “Good night, Clay.”

  When he went downstairs he found Lorie and Spencer in her office waiting for him. “Is he okay?” Lorie asked.

  “Yeah. I got him all tucked in. I don’t think it will be long before he falls asleep.”

  “Good.”

  “Are you good to go here tonight?” he asked Lorie.

  “Yeah. Amelia said she will call me right away if anything happens.”

  “That’s good,” Clay said. “I want you both to stay with me again tonight. I, um, I have some things I want to share with you.”

  “I just need to take Heather home and get a change of clothes,” Lorie told him, “and then I can be right over.”

  “I can stay too,” Spencer agreed. “Like Lorie, I just need to get some clothes from my place first.”

  “Okay. So, I guess I’ll see you when you get there, Lorie. Spencer, I can run you by your house to grab a change of clothes.”