The Real Deal (It Started in Texas Book 4)

by Lee, Liz

  His days were filled with painful therapy intended to get him walking again. His evenings with the girl he didn’t really know.

  Once he’d yelled at her, told her to leave him the hell alone. They weren’t friends. They didn’t even know each other.

  When she left, he thought she was gone for good. The next day she showed up with school work for him. Math. From their class. He’d never been good enough for Patty, but she dogged him persistently. And then she dragged her parents up to the hospital to meet her new friend.

  Now he understood how difficult that must have been for them.

  When he kissed her prom night, he’d meant the physical contact to scare her away. Instead the all-encompassing passion had scared the crap out of him. From then on he set out to become someone worthy of her. And half the time he still felt lacking.

  Sam didn’t write down a single one of the words, but when Ida Mae walked back in the office, it was obvious she knew the whole story.

  “She chose you, Sam. She told me back then that your soul spoke to hers. She felt guilty for not talking to you in class when everything in her told her to say something, anything.”

  Sam started at her words. Something warm unfurled in his belly and heaviness lifted from his chest.

  “You knew Patty back then?”

  Ida Mae laughed. “Sure did. I was brand new on the circulation desk. I knew Patty was something special. I never imagined we’d be friends. Just like I never imagined she’d catch you. She did, though. Said you were something special. She was so proud of your success until it took you away from her.”

  The librarian’s words hurt yet soothed.

  “Damn, Ida Mae. I had no idea.”

  “Language, Sam. And the fact that you had no idea means Patty held that back from you. One thing I can promise you–until you are both completely honest, you don’t stand a chance of reclaiming a marriage. But that kind of honesty is the worst kind of terrifying. In the meantime I can tell you tonight’s dinner will go fine. You and Patty will make the right decision for Cadyn.”

  With Ida Mae’s surety Sam felt peace for the first time in forever. He wanted to laugh with the freedom of the emotion.

  “You should think about moving into a daytime talk show, Ida Mae. I think you’re a bit of a miracle worker.”

  Ida Mae stood. “Nonsense. But I do have a question.”

  “Anything,” Sam said standing also. When he did, the pain in his knees reminded him he wasn’t 100 percent just yet. He was so focused on the knees and shoulder he almost missed Ida Mae’s question.

  “Can you tell me why Patty missed our Monday night chat for the first time in over a year?”

  Sam blinked. “Monday night chat?”

  “We plan Saturday sessions on Monday night. Patty calls the chats with the area librarians power hours. She left me to do the talking for the first time since we started them more than three years ago.”

  “Uhm,” was all Sam could come up with. He couldn’t very well tell Ida Mae the truth. He also couldn’t stop the sheepish flush that covered his face. It’d been a lifetime since he felt guilty for making love with Patty.

  Ida Mae nailed him with an all-knowing gaze then smiled.

  “That’a boy, Sam Jackson. You might just have a chance with Patty after all.”

  Chapter 7

  Patty stared at her phone and tried to calm her fluttering nerves. She’d stopped by the grocery store and shopped the homestyle line for dinner, warmed it, then dished it all into her grandmother’s Pyrex where it now sat in the oven’s warming tray waiting for Cadyn to get home from cheer practice, Sam to show up for daddy duty, and The Boy.

  She put the phone back on the cabinet and started adding ice and sweet tea to the crystal glasses. She’d changed into a pair of black leggings, red tunic and brown riding boots. Nothing too formal.

  This farce of a family dinner was going to look good if nothing else.

  As if the words family and farce conjured him, the knock let her know Sam was at the door. The door where less than twenty-four hours earlier he had taken her with his mouth.

  She shivered and told herself she’d make sure Sam knew that kind of delicious torture was no longer part of their relationship.

  She opened the door and there he stood looking just as strong, just as assured and easy-going as ever.

  His Rush t-shirt and well-worn jeans made her smile. He’d fit in those jeans for more than ten years, and they molded to his backside like a second skin. The shirt showed off his muscles perfectly. His hair was a little shaggy, which only served to make him look hotter.

  She blinked and shook her head. She would not think about words like hot where Sam was concerned. She fought the desire to fan her face and opened the door further to invite him in.

  Sam strolled inside like he belonged there, then held out a bouquet of flowers. Gerbera daisies. Her favorite.

  “Sam…”

  He didn’t let her finish, just leaned in for a quick kiss and then nearly brought her to her knees with his words.

  “I still taste you,” he whispered before smiling wickedly and touching a finger to her lips when she started to protest. “Just wanted you to know,” he said.

  She grabbed the flowers and escaped to the kitchen, prayed he’d give her space and time or she would spontaneously combust, and that would be a disaster since they had a major problem on their hands where Cadyn was concerned.

  Her hands shook as she filled the vase with water, and she fought disappointment when he respected her wishes by not following her.

  Patty had her hands under control when she walked back into the dining room, but the minute she neared him, her face flushed and memories from the night before bombarded her again.

  She needed to set boundaries. Make it clear that couldn’t happen again. Get her nipples under control. They seem to be en pointe aching for his touch, his kiss.

  She set the flowers on the table opposite the wall where he’d taken her. Her insides clinched in orgasmic memory.

  “Sam,” she started, but he interrupted.

  “I’m scared. I’m scared spitless, Patty.”

  Her heart melted a little at his admission. This. They could do this. She turned and tried not to think of him on his knees in front of her. This wasn’t about them or the lack thereof. This was about Cadyn. Cadyn and Nick Cannon.

  That took care of her out-of-control libido.

  “Me too, Sam. She’s always been so easy to raise. I don’t understand.”

  “Don’t you?” he asked. “She’s been under some pretty big stress and she’s almost sixteen. You remember that age, don’t you?”

  She did. She’d been innocent and driven to earn the top volunteer hours award in Pink Darlings. She listened to Top 40 and called in requests for hit songs and watched Saved by the Bell.

  A year later she and Sam were getting busy everywhere they could.

  “‘Dear God,” she said more terrified than ever, and Sam laughed.

  “You were the most incredible person I’d met,” Sam said, his husky voice telling her he remembered. “I was lost to you from the moment I saw you in the hospital room.”

  “Sam, please,” she said begging him not to continue.

  He sat silent, staring at her as if he were remembering those early years. As if he could take them back there with a simple gaze. Finally, he gave in to her wishes.

  “Tell me about this boy,” he said, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

  She didn’t get a chance to tell him about Nick, though. Because Cadyn and Nick walked in the door looking far too chummy for comfort.

  “Dad!” Cadyn said practically running to Sam.

  Her blonde hair was pulled up in a ponytail, her face makeup free since she’d spent the last two hours practicing stunts that scared the crap out of Patty but made her proud at the same time. Cadyn’s coltish legs looked longer today. Nick definitely noticed.

  Patty tried not to worry about that or about the fact th
at Cadyn and Nick had walked in together and what that could mean.

  Nick looked at Patty as if he knew exactly where her thoughts were. Cadyn grabbed his arm and tugged him over to meet Sam.

  “Dad, this is my friend Nick.”

  “Sir,” Nick said perfectly polite. “It’s nice to meet you.” And then Nick turned to her. “Thank you for inviting me to dinner, Ms. Jackson. I appreciate it.”

  She just bet.

  Cadyn washed her hands then brought the tea to the table, setting Sam’s down first then Nick’s. All without speaking a word to her. Wonderful.

  “Dad, the cheer competition is next week. Please say you’ll come.”

  Sam didn’t answer right away, and Patty latched back onto sanity. There it was. The reason she’d walked away. For Sam, the job always came first. He didn’t commit. Couldn’t. At least he was here for this–the war to save their daughter from making a mistake that could have forever consequences.

  “Cadyn’s one of the top tumblers on the junior team,” Nick said with too much pride, and Patty wondered how she’d missed this. She worked in Cadyn’s school. How did she not realize her daughter had caught the eye of the campus bad boy?

  She pulled the food out of the warmer and tried to focus on dinner instead of on the fact that Nick had an illegal—since he was not yet 17—tattoo of an eagle on the inside of his forearm and diamond studs in both ears. And his pants sagged enough that she could see the top of his boxers, which wasn’t much of a sag to be honest, more teen underwear model than gangster.

  Nick sipped his drink then nodded to her.

  “Great sweet tea,” he said trying to connect.

  She wanted to say it was from a mix, but she didn’t. Instead she said “thank you” then looked at Sam pointedly so he would understand–he was up.

  Like a partner who’d spent most of his life with her, Sam picked up on the tag team signal.

  “So Nick,” Sam said, “tell me a little about you.”

  Nick paused mid-meatloaf and smiled at Cadyn. She smiled back, encouraging and sweet. Patty wanted to order the boy out of her house now, before it was too late.

  “I’m a junior, and I play football and run track.”

  “Really?” Sam looked impressed. “I did, too.”

  “I told him, Dad,” Cadyn said proudly. “He knows all about you.”

  Of course. Patty looked at Sam accusingly, and he shrugged.

  “He’s also an honor roll student,” Cadyn said stabbing her with a stare. “And he volunteers at the Boys and Girls Club.”

  Patty wanted to say community service didn’t count as volunteering, but Nick beat her to it.

  “That just started, Cadyn, you know. I had to get it approved by the judge.”

  That wiped the approval off Sam’s face, and Patty felt vindicated.

  “The judge.” Sam’s words were a statement, not a question.

  Nick answered anyway. “Yes, sir,” he said meeting Sam’s eyes. “I made some stupid choices and paid the price.”

  “Stupid choices like…” Sam said putting down his fork and Cadyn crossed her arms and started to interrupt, but Nick held up a hand to stop her.

  “No, Cadyn. I need to answer that if your parents are going to trust me.”

  Nick looked at her and Sam, and Patty had to hand it to the boy. He knew how to rock the reformed kid role. He cleared his throat then terrified the hell out of her. “I robbed a convenience store. Organized a grab and run on cases of soda. And I organized the after hours robbery of a local sporting goods store with a friend who worked as a stocker. And I tried to illegally buy a handgun from a friend because I wanted to look like a bad a…bad news.”

  He let the truth hang there and Patty watched Sam’s face grow paler with each confession.

  Sam’s easy-going attitude turned hard, dangerous, and Patty actually felt sorry for Nick. “Son, I think this dinner is done,” Sam said so quickly Patty worried violence might follow.

  Nick nodded once, then stood.

  “I understand,” he said and set his napkin on the table.

  “Daddy,” Cadyn said looking at Sam like he’d grown two heads. “You can’t decide based on Nick’s past. Even the judge said he’s impressed by Nick’s change. He said Nick is proof the system works.”

  “Cadyn, it’s okay,” Nick said. Then he smiled at Patty as if to say she’d won.

  But what should have felt like a victory suddenly felt horribly wrong.

  Sam stared at the boy his daughter wanted to date and made sure he understood no way in hell was that happening. His eyes did his talking, and Nick understood loud and clear. He and this boy spoke the same language. It was a language Sam didn’t have to speak all that often these days, but he still knew the words, the actions, the way to make a promise that meant instant demise with nothing more than a look.

  Nick started to step away from the table and damn if Patty didn’t interfere.

  Cadyn was saying “Nick, wait!” and Nick was walking away like he needed to and Patty–dammit–put her hand on Nick’s arm and said, “Sit back down, Nick. We invited you to dinner not an interrogation.”

  And then she turned those naïve eyes on Sam and told him silently to back the hell off. He wanted to yell Dammit Patty, this kid’s a criminal. Instead he said “Cadyn’s mother is right. You were invited to dinner.”

  Which would simply give him more time to make it perfectly clear Nick Cannon would not be dating his little girl.

  Nick stopped. Stared at the door like he wanted nothing more than to run away. But then he turned to Cadyn and…holy hell there it was.

  The boy was crazy about his daughter. Damn.

  He remembered back to when Patty had been his champion. The hounds of hell couldn’t have chased him away from her once he’d given in and accepted that she was right. Once they’d kissed it would have taken an act of God to make him give up on her. Somehow he’d screwed all that up. He shut down his mental walk through the memory lane. He needed to focus on Cadyn. On Nick who was warily taking his place at the table. Not on Patty and what wasn’t but still could be.

  “Wait,” Cadyn said. “We’re not eating ’til you and Mom hear the rest.”

  Sam wondered if the same scene had played out with Patty and her parents when she started dating him.

  God bless America.

  He nodded toward the boy and prayed he was putting the fear of God into him.

  “By all means,” he said through clenched teeth, “tell us the rest.”

  And Nick started to, but Cadyn jumped to the boy’s defense. Sam had to give the boy credit for courage, but courage didn’t cancel criminal.

  “He’s been asked to stay with the Boys and Girls Club, he’s mentoring junior high kids and….

  “I’m not an angel, Cadyn,” Nick said. “And the only part of that not currently court ordered is the job.”

  “And the grades,” Cadyn said, and Sam had heard enough.

  He was sure Patty would not fight him on this.

  “Son, you are welcome to eat dinner with us, but you are not welcome to date Cadyn. Not yet anyway. You can join us for dinner, and you can spend time with our family, and when she’s sixteen and you’ve finished your community service, if you’ve still got in mind to make a life change, we’ll talk again.

  “I’m not a baby, Dad,” Cadyn started at the same time Nick said, “I can agree to those terms, Sir.”

  Patty looked at him like he was some kind of hero. And Sam remembered a similar conversation he’d had with her father years earlier and look how that turned out.

  Dammit to hell. Sam didn’t want to sit and eat like all was right in their world, but if the kid could brave it, by God he could too.

  Chapter 8

  When dinner ended and Cadyn walked Nick to his truck, Patty let out a deep breath that told Sam she’d been as on edge as he had been.

  “Sam,” she said reaching out and touching his hand.

  Sam stared at her with terror in h
is eyes. How the hell had she let Cadyn get caught up with this kid?

  “You know that didn’t stop anything, Patty. Maybe for a week or two, but they’re teenagers. They don’t think.”

  “It’s their frontal lobes,” Patty said, going all scientific on him like her expertise in teen mental and emotional development had a damn thing to do with that boy and their daughter. “They’re not fully developed yet. It makes them impulsive, which leads them to dangerous situations sometimes.”

  Sam wanted to laugh, but this wasn’t funny.

  “Is that what made you take a chance on me?”

  Patty seemed to give the question serious thought before shrugging.

  “I don’t know, Sam. Maybe. I’m not sorry if it was.”

  How could she say that? Now after everything.

  My God this boy Cadyn had set her sights on–it was because of him. Sam had faced death and felt less afraid.

  “Have you had The Talk with her yet? Because if she starts dating that boy…”

  Patty stopped him. “Cadyn isn’t stupid, Sam. We’ve talked openly about sex and birth control and abstinence and other choices and being emotionally ready…”

  Could she be any more clueless?

  “And none of that matters if you’re kissing at midnight under the giant tree outside town on a hot summer night. Smart has nothing to do with that.”

  “Which is why your answer was perfect,” Patty said. “Let him get to know us and respect her.”

  “Patty, that wasn’t an original plan. I stole that talk from your father’s playbook.”

  Judging by the way she stared at the door, she finally understood what he was saying. “You better put the fear of God in him then.”

  Sam didn’t need to tell her fear only went so far.

  Cadyn walked in then, her cheeks rosy, and Sam fought the urge to go beat the shit out of Nick Cannon.

  “Nick’s not a bad guy,” Cadyn said as if she could read his mind. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him and Patty like they were the enemy. “You’ll both see.”

  She left them then, disappearing into her lacy pink bedroom that reminded him she was still part little girl.