Everything She Needed (Cedar Valley Novel Book 2)

by Christina Butrum

  With a nod, Rosie motioned toward the swinging door and said, “I’d better get back to work. Are you going to put some goodies in the case out there?”

  “Of course,” Rachel said, grabbing the premade tray of cookies and bars she had made the other day, after Adam convinced her he was more than okay at home by himself. “Then I have to run somewhere, but I’ll be back after lunch.”

  Placing the goodies into the display case next to the register, Rachel tossed the empty tray into the basin of the sink and grabbed her keys. She had a whole day of baking scheduled, but first, she needed to thank the one who saved the love of her life.

  * * *

  Thanking Megan had been a challenge. Rachel found her words traveling in one ear and out the other, as Megan countered with an explanation that she was only doing what she was trained to do, nothing more than that.

  Her explanation hadn’t stopped Rachel from telling her how thankful she was, regardless if it was just her job or not. If it hadn’t been for Megan and her ability to shift gears, Adam might not be here today to recount the horrible details of the blast, which he seemed to remember more bits and pieces of day after day of recovery.

  23

  Having time off offered Adam a new perspective to the extra hours he had been putting in the last few months. That money was coming in handy now, since he’d be off on doctor’s orders for at least a few more weeks, or until his injuries were healed and the doctor declared him ready to go back to work.

  If he were honest, he enjoyed being home during the day with the kids, but he was more than ready to get back to the department. There was nothing more torturing than hearing the tones drop and being unable to go out and chase that adrenaline-filled call.

  The knock at the door interrupted his reminiscing of what he was missing each day he wasn’t on the trucks. Standing, taking a second or two to get his balance, he scooted toys out of his way as he made a path to the front door.

  Giving the door a slight tug against the resistance of the door jam, Adam opened the door to a man identical to that of his brother, standing on his porch with bags at his feet. More than surprised when he realized that it was, in fact, his brother, he pulled Conner in for a half-assed hug as he wrapped his uninjured arm around the broad shoulders of his brother.

  “What are you doing here?” His question was more of concern and surprise than one requesting an answer. “I thought you’d still be in Colorado.”

  Conner tossed his hands away from his sides, offering a subtle shrug before looking down at his packed bags. “I told y’all I was coming back, so... here I am,” he said, offering Adam a smirk as he shoved his sunglasses to the top of his head.

  Shoving the door, Adam held it open with his casted arm, allowing his brother time to gather the bags at his feet before stepping into the entryway. “Did you stop and see Mom and Dad yet?”

  Dropping his bags on the bench of the banister rail, Conner shook his head. “I just drove straight here. I wanted to make sure you were doing okay, before I ventured around town.”

  Adam cleared another section of Ava’s toys away from the front of the couch, including some of her favorite blocks, which she had stuffed inside the cushions. “Have a seat? Do you want anything to drink?”

  Conner shrugged before taking a seat. “Nah, I’m good. Besides, I know where your fridge is.”

  Adam grabbed what he could of Ava’s toys and tossed them into the bin next to the dining room. They would eventually take over the entire downstairs if he allowed it—which he had, until the night he stepped on a damned lego, then it was a whole different situation. Plus, there was no better time than now, while she was taking her afternoon nap, to clear the war zone of toys.

  “Yeah, go ahead and help yourself,” Adam motioned to the kitchen. “There’s some leftover pizza from the other night, too.”

  It hadn’t taken Conner a second time to hear the offer. He was up and headed for the kitchen in record time—less than two seconds.

  “The plates are in...” Adam called out, stopping mid-sentence once he heard the rattle of dishes and the microwave humming to life.

  Adam tossed the last of the toys into the bin just as Conner returned to the living room with a heaping pile of pizza on his plate. He sat down in the recliner and kicked his feet up, making himself right at home.

  “What the hell? Did they not have any places to eat along the way?”

  Conner absentmindedly took several more bites of food, followed up with a few quick swigs of beer. “Didn’t take time to stop at any of them. I filled up both tanks in the truck, packed a cooler of water, and headed out.”

  Conner had obviously fared well with the thirteen hour trip. The man was just hungry and needing a beer, or two—all that was left in the fridge.

  Placing his plate in the dishwasher, Conner came back to his spot, offering Adam a bottle of water. “You come here and drink all my beer, but I get offered a bottle of water?”

  Shrugging, Conner kicked back in the recliner, getting comfortable before saying, “It isn’t my fault you only had two beers in the fridge. Learn how to stock up.”

  Adam offered a smug grin in his brother’s direction. “So, what’s your plan of action here?”

  Conner must have known the talk was coming because he had prepared himself by putting the recliner down, sat forward, and was now resting his elbows on his knees. “I actually stopped here first to check on you and ask about a position at the department.”

  Adam rested his casted arm along the arm of the couch, propped up with a pillow. He had been looking forward to having this conversation with his brother. Unfortunately, it had taken him getting hurt in order for Conner to come back home. It was more of a jagged, double-edged sword, but Adam would take it.

  “You know it’s yours as long as you want it,” he said, giving Conner a look that begged him to say he wasn’t joking. The department needed help, more now than ever with yet another few men short from injuries sustained during the job. Damned blast, anyway. It shouldn’t have happened the way it had. They should have planned better for that situation. Shrugging off the conversation with himself, Adam figured better luck next time, hoping to hell there wouldn’t ever be a next time, but knowing quite well the chance was always there, lurking in the shadows of every call. They never knew for sure what they were getting themselves into until they were face to face with whatever danger lurked.

  “I’d like to stay here until I’m on my feet,” Conner said, the certainty in his voice hadn’t quite masked the immaturity of the situation. Sure, he was back and ready to join the service, but he was still young and clueless as to what he had to deal with here—not that any of that was Adam’s business. That was all in the hands of their father and his brother.

  Adam knew his place was the only other option he had, aside from their parents’ place, but Adam also knew that it might do his brother good to stay there instead of in his place. That would most likely offer his father and brother little to no room to wade around their issue. They’d have to work it out one way or another before Conner got his own place.

  Knowing that would make things worse, especially right away, Adam guided his brother upstairs to the spare bedroom, making sure they were quiet enough to not wake Ava, who definitely needed this nap because she was working on those terrible twos lately.

  Laying the rules out for Conner as he checked them off on his fingers, he added, “No sneaking girls in and out of this house. We’ve got kids here and I’ll be damned if you teach Tyler bad habits.”

  Conner gave a deep throated chuckle, followed up with a shitty grin like the sucker had actually thought about it prior to coming over. If there was anything Adam could try to manage was how his son treated women—more than a piece of fresh meat for the taking.

  His brows furrowed as he gave a sharp stare at Conner. “I mean it.”

  “Okay, okay.”

  Conner held his hands up in defense as he backed himself away from Adam’s death s
tare. “Tyler’s of the age now where he’s going to be picking up on bad habits, and I don’t want him to learn them from you.”

  As though the statement had somehow offended him, Conner gave a raised look of innocence and said, “I wasn’t planning on being my nephew’s bad influence.” He chucked his bags into the closet for the time being and said, “Hell, I’m nowhere near a bad influence.”

  They both got a good laugh out of those words before they made their way down the hallway toward the stairs. “I’m just saying... I don’t want Tyler to get the idea that he can run away when things get hard.”

  If looks could kill, he’d be dead, but not until he reached the bottom of the stairs first. Turning back to face his brother on the landing, he met Conner—pissed off and ready to fight. Guarding himself with a busted up arm and one that wasn’t his dominant, Adam called for a truce.

  “Is that what you think I did?” his brother’s voice was full of anger and stubborness. “You think I just ran away and never looked back. You think it didn’t frustrate me that this place couldn’t offer me what I needed back then?”

  Confusion mixed with an indescribable heat came over Adam as he stood a few feet from his brother before lashing out. “What did you expect us to believe when you left? It wasn’t like you gave an explanation. If it was Dad, you could’ve stayed and worked it out instead of running off into the mountains of Colorado.”

  Pissed, Conner turned on his heel and made his way into the living room. “You think you have an idea, but you really have no clue, because yet again, everyone assumes what they don’t fucking know.”

  Ava’s voice broke through the madness in the living room. Adam turned to the stairs, and as he climbed, he looked at Conner. “This conversation isn’t over.”

  It pained him to be having this heated argument with his brother on his first day back home. And even though it wasn’t truly his business as to why Conner had left in the first place, it was his family, and some would say that Adam was the peacemaker. He couldn’t help wanting to solve whatever issue there had been, or was, between any of them. Their family was too good for fighting and not being close. It wasn’t like the Jacobsen’s to go this long with tension and fury separating them.

  Chauffeuring Ava into the potty room, he assisted her with using her potty chair. Some had said that she might be too young, but she was grasping the concept quite well.

  The last thing he wanted was for the kids to hear or see any of them arguing. He wasn’t sure how much Ava had heard or even when she had woken up. She hadn’t seemed too upset or concerned as they made their way to the stairs.

  “Uncle Conner is here,” he said, picking her up in order to carry her down the steep, carpeted stairs, which she wasn’t too great at walking down quite yet.

  “Unle Onner?”

  “Yep, he’s here to visit for a while,” Adam said, unsure of his own words, because a part of him still wasn’t sure if Conner would stay or leave, since the argument hadn’t been too promising.

  Rounding the banister, he set Ava on her feet and she went on a mission to find Uncle Conner. She didn’t need to venture far, because he was standing on the back deck with his phone pressed against his ear, and an angry look on his face. He turned in the opposite direction, at the sight of Adam. Adam held out his hand to Ava. “He’ll be in here soon. Let’s get Ava some food.”

  The mention of food was enough to distract Ava as she offered a slight fuss, but made her way into the kitchen. Her arms outstretched in front of the cereal cabinet. Knowing exactly what she wanted, Adam reached for the Cheerio container and poured her a bowlful. It hadn’t taken him longer than a few days at home with her to know what Ava wanted and didn’t want.

  Following her into the living room, he set the bowl in front of her and turned on Sesame Street, a show she had to watch after naptime every day, no matter what. If he wasn’t planning on going back to work soon, he would have programmed her favorite shows into the television according to her schedule.

  The creak of the sliding door caught her attention, and before Adam could save the Cheerios, they spilled as she stood in order to race toward Uncle Conner with her arms outstretched, requesting to be picked up. Adam knelt down on the floor and did his best to gather the scattered cereal off the floor.

  “Hey, I just got off the phone with Megan and she mentioned that I could talk with Liam about crashing above Levy’s.”

  Standing from the floor, Adam carried the bowl to the garbage and emptied it. “Why? You’ve got a place here.”

  A pang of guilt struck Adam as he watched his brother’s face twist with what looked like hurt and bent pride. Their argument hadn’t been all that bad—it could have been a lot worse. Hell, they had grown up beating the hell out of one another, tossing in a few choice words when they had the opportunity between blows.

  “I mean it.”

  Conner stood in front of him, holding Ava who was clinging tightly to the collar of his shirt—stretching it out with just the grip of her fist. “I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it.”

  “Come on, there’s nothing to think about,” Adam offered a fresh bowl of Cheerios to Ava, who now insisted Conner put her down. He placed her in front of the television, where Ernie was singing to his rubber duck. Adam placed the bowl in front of her and turned back to Conner, who was now leaning against the frame of the sliding doors. “I’m not looking to fight about anything.”

  A quizzical look crossed Conner’s face, and Adam knew he was recalling what had happened prior to Ava waking up. “Well, aside from that.”

  A shrug was always Conner’s first response to anything he wasn’t sure about. Adam knew him like the back of his hand. They had the same attitude when it came down to it. Probably the reason they had fought all the time. “I’ll think about it.”

  Ignoring his brother’s words, Adam said, “When are you thinking about starting on the squad?”

  Pushing off the wall, Conner grabbed a chair at the table and slid it out. “As soon as I can, but I know there’s orientation and what not, so...”

  “You know the place inside and out. You won’t need the extensive training the other newbies get.”

  “Okay, then,” Conner said, clasping his hands together. “Looks like I’ll be good to go whenever you give the word.”

  “I’ll make some calls and set it up,” Adam said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He knew the guys would be happy to hear they had more help coming, along with someone who would be knowledgeable and worth a damn—at least, Adam hoped his brother would live up to those expectations and not run when things didn’t go his way.

  Conner turned in his chair and faced him with a look of unease before saying, “I wish I had been here sooner, ya know?”

  Adam knew what he was referring to. The day of the explosion, Conner had mentioned to Rachel that he felt he owed something to Adam for not being there.

  “It should’ve been me pulling you away from death, not some girl,” Conner said, oblivious that he was laughing at his own joke, which Adam found no humor in.

  “Megan’s damned good at what she does,” Adam said, admitting that she was probably the best one they had on the team, when it came to doing what needed done and not thinking twice.

  Conner swallowed hard, choking on words as he stammered his way through an explanation of what he had meant to say. Adam held a hand up, not caring to hear exactly how his brother had meant to make a strike against the one who had saved his life. Regardless of how many people were on standby for medical, it had been Megan who had switched gears and kicked ass to do what she did best. He wasn’t going to allow anyone, including his brother, say anything different, regardless of guilt or hurt pride or whatever his brother was feeling for not being there.

  24

  Offering vanilla cupcakes with pink filled frosting and extravagant sprinkles on top, Rachel carried in two boxes and placed them on the pink clothed fold out tables near the back of the room.

  Rac
hel smiled at the sight of Leah waddling over to her. The woman was ready to pop, like an overinflated balloon waiting for the right moment to surprise everyone.

  “They look amazing, Rach,” Leah said, standing next to the table as she pried open a lid in order to grab one out. “I’ve been dying to try one since mentioning them. Granny Mae is lucky I didn’t break into the café last night to rob the freezer.”

  Laughing along with her, Rachel offered her a napkin from nearby and said, “I think we’re all lucky that didn’t happen.”

  Leah held the cupcake out to the side as she hugged Rachel. They had put off the baby shower until today. A Saturday that promised nothing but pink ribbons and gift bags to welcome the new little Spencer girl—whose name would be Willow Mae, and who would be surrounded by love from all around.

  “I have to run out and grab my gift,” Rachel said, making sure that Leah wouldn’t open any gifts until she was back. Ava reached for the container of cupcakes, wanting another one even though she’d had more than enough already. Leah shooed Rachel off in the direction of the door before giving Ava exactly what she wanted.

  Rachel had no choice but to chuckle as she made her way out to the parking lot. Of course, Auntie Lee would give her little girl everything and anything she wanted. Ava had her wrapped around those little fingers of hers.

  She had Leah’s gift wrapped and tucked inside a bag, just to be sure there’d be no peaking beforehand. Having a little girl of her own, she knew how important keepsakes were and keeping track of their firsts. She carried the bag into the room and set it down next to Leah, who was coercing Ava to hand her gifts in exchange for a bite of a cupcake. Leave it to Leah to bribe a child with more sweets than the child’s tummy could possibly handle.