Small-Town Mom

by Jean C. Gordon

  Jamie shifted over toward the door. “That’s what Liam told Myles.”

  “And that I refused to acknowledge him,” Eli finished for her. “Brett isn’t mine. Couldn’t be mine. Charlie wanted to use me as her ticket out of Paradox Lake. I don’t know, or care, what she thinks now.”

  “I told Myles not to repeat things he didn’t know were true.”

  “Answer a question for me. Did you think it was true?”

  She shrank down in the seat. A part of her had wondered. “I didn’t think you would do that. Or that your mother would have let you if you’d tried.”

  He released a humorless laugh. “You’re assigning my mother a whole lot more control over me than she had then.”

  “It’s none of my business. I only wanted to let you know there was talk at school.”

  “No, I want to get what everyone else in Paradox Lake already knows out front and center for you. When I came home on leave after basic training, Charlie was pregnant. We’d gone out a couple of times. Nothing serious on my part. Or on hers.”

  “You don’t have to explain.”

  “Yes.” His voice softened, sending a pulse radiating down her spine. “Yes, I do. When I denied Charlie’s accusations, my mother wanted me to take a paternity test. I told her that my word should be enough and that she and everyone else could believe whatever they wanted to believe.”

  Jamie reached over and touched his arm. “She was trying to protect you.”

  “Yeah, I realized that later, much later. While I was somewhat of a troublemaker, I didn’t lie to my mother—not about anything important. She should have known that.”

  Jamie pictured a seventeen-year-old Eli, back from basic training, full of himself and earnest in his righteousness. “For what it’s worth, I believe you.”

  “It’s worth a lot. A whole lot.”

  * * *

  Eli turned into the snowy school parking lot. The impact of Jamie’s statement and the force of his reply had surprised him. He looked at his office window and grimaced. He’d better put a stop to any lingering gossip at school tomorrow. It wasn’t good for Charlie’s kids, Myles or him. Across the parking lot, two cars sat parked near the school door, one snow covered and one fairly clean. “See, someone else is late, too.” His voice boomed in the quiet cab.

  Jamie smiled. “I’ll only be a couple of minutes.”

  He watched her cross in front of the truck and, head down against the wind, make her way up the sidewalk toward the school. Right before she reached the steps, her feet flew out from beneath her and she landed flat on her back on the walk. Eli’s heart stopped. He threw open the truck door and raced over.

  “Are you all right?”

  She propped herself up on one elbow and rubbed the back of her head. “I think so.”

  He offered his one hand and slipped the other under her elbow as she rose. They stood completely still, him looking down at her upturned face into the depths of her coffee-brown eyes. He tilted his head and leaned closer.

  “Seriously.” Charlie Russell stood at the top of the steps behind Jamie.

  Jamie spun around to face her. “I slipped on the ice.”

  He squeezed her elbow. She didn’t have to explain herself, them, to anyone, especially not Charlie.

  “Well, sure.” Charlie’s gaze flitted between him and Jamie as she dragged her daughter down the stairs. “Rose and Opal are the last ones left.”

  “We’d better go in, then.” Jamie looked back and gave him a heart-stopping smile—or what would have been a heart-stopping smile if it had reached her eyes and hadn’t had an icy quality that rivaled the snow pelting them.

  But, by the way Charlie huffed on her way to her car, all she had caught was the smile.

  She marched up the stairs, shoulders back, eyes straight ahead with a precision that would have done a drill instructor proud.

  “Jamie, you’re here,” the scout leader said as they entered the school cafeteria. “When you didn’t call, I was worried you’d had car trouble…” Her gaze moved past Jamie to Eli. “Or something.”

  Jamie stiffened. “I did have car trouble and couldn’t get a cell connection. Eli came along and gave me a lift.” She turned slightly toward him. “Have you met Eli Payton?”

  “No, but I’ve heard of him.”

  Eli bristled. What was that supposed to mean? He was standing right here. He looked at the scout leader hard and she started.

  “Of course,” Jamie said. “At the high school back-to-school night, but you didn’t get to meet him?”

  The scout leader hadn’t been at back-to-school night. There were few enough parents there that he’d remember seeing her. And from the satisfied expression on Jamie’s face, she knew the leader hadn’t been at back-to-school night. This was a side of Jamie that he’d only suspected before. He made a mental note to himself to avoid ever being on the strike side of her barbs.

  “Where are my manners? Eli, this is Sonja Hephlin. Sonja, Eli Payton.”

  They nodded to each other.

  “Come on, girls. Let’s go.” Jamie put an arm around each of the girls. “See you next week,” she threw over her shoulder to Sonja and walked away.

  “Nice to meet you,” Eli said, unable to escape his upbringing and years of training in personnel.

  “Same here.” Her sour expression belied her words and made him wonder what Charlie had said to her. Not that it mattered to him. But it might to Jamie, especially if Rose and Opal had overheard.

  He caught up with Jamie and the girls and opened the cab doors for them.

  Jamie slumped in the seat beside him.

  “You okay?”

  “Fine, although I’ll probably have a doozy of a bruise tomorrow.”

  He hadn’t meant her fall. He should let it drop. She wasn’t one of his students who needed him to draw out her problems and concerns. “I’ll take care of Charlie.”

  “Who’s Charlie?” Opal piped up.

  He winced. He’d forgotten about the little ears in the backseat.

  “I think he means Katy’s mother,” Rose answered.

  “Is she hurt or something? She looked okay to me, except kind of mad when she was talking to Ms. Hephlin.”

  Fatigue shadowed on Jamie’s porcelain-like face. “Opal, it’s not nice to talk about other people.”

  Which was only one of the reasons he was going to take care of Charlie whether Jamie wanted him to or not.

  Aside from the girls fidgeting in the back, they rode the rest of the way to Jamie’s house in silence.

  He pulled into the empty driveway. “Do you need to get into work tomorrow?”

  “No, I’m not scheduled in the office and Kelly or Autumn can swing by and pick me up if we have a birth.”

  “If you do need a car, call. I’m sure you could borrow Mom’s. She’s holed up in her studio working on a new project and probably wouldn’t even notice if it were gone.”

  “Thanks. I’ll call her if I do. But, hopefully, Tom will have mine fixed tomorrow.” She turned toward the backseat. “You guys go in. I want to talk with Mr. Payton for a minute.”

  Eli looked out the side window at the wind whipping the trees lining Jamie’s yard.

  “Grown-up stuff. Boring.” Opal scrunched her face and Rose rolled her eyes. “Bye, Mr. Payton.” They waved back at him as they trudged through the heavy snow.

  “You should get Myles out here to shovel the walk and driveway or no one will be able to get in tomorrow, if you need to go out.”

  She frowned. “We’ll take care of it.”

  Why couldn’t he keep his mouth shut? He fiddled with the truck keys.

  She cleared her throat. “I appreciate your offering to run interference for me with Charlotte. But please don’t.”

  He bit the side of his mouth to stop himself from blurting out, “Why not?”

  “Obviously she’s spreading gossip about you and me.” She eyed him. “For whatever reason.”

  Eli slapped the keys against
his thigh. It stung that she might think he’d done anything to intentionally cause Charlie’s viciousness. For the first time in years he thought about having the paternity test his mother had pushed when Charlie had made her initial accusations. Eli had been sober enough that night he and Charlie had spent at the Maple Shade Motel to know nothing had happened. But he’d begrudgingly give Charlie the benefit of the doubt that maybe she hadn’t been. If the test would shut the woman up, it might be worth doing.

  “I don’t know if I can stay out of it.”

  A muscle in Jamie’s cheek worked as if forming her next words.

  No! He palmed his thigh. This wasn’t about him and old grudges. It was about Jamie. Charlie’s stories hurt Jamie a lot more than him. “What do you want me to do?”

  She leaned toward him. “We need to avoid being seen together. If we don’t give Charlotte anything to talk about, she won’t have anything to say about us.”

  He doubted that. But Jamie looked so serious. Too serious.

  “Ah.” He controlled the grin tugging at his lips. “So we should sneak around so no one sees us.”

  Her eyes went blank. Then, a blush rose on her cheeks, kicking his protective instincts into full force. Jamie was an intriguing puzzle of independence and vulnerability.

  “No!” She laughed and raised her hand as if to swat him, then dropped it. “I like being with you.”

  He pressed his shoulders back into the seat.

  “As a friend,” she finished. “But Charlotte’s gossip isn’t good for the kids.” Her voice dropped. “Or for me. Rose doesn’t understand why Katy can’t come over anymore. And Myles is angry and hurt. He thinks I…we’re betraying his father somehow.”

  “Myles is a teenage boy who’s trying to be the man of the house. He’d think that about any man you were seeing.”

  “But I’m not seeing you.”

  That sliced his ego in half. “So, what, we avoid each other?”

  She released a sigh, making him feel like a petulant child. “We limit our contact to a guidance counselor/parent relationship.”

  “I can do that.” But he wasn’t going to like it. “So, I’ll look for an opening in one of the other bowling leagues.”

  “Of course not. I’m the newbie. I’ll drop out.”

  “Come on. You don’t want to do that.”

  She scrunched her face in an expression that was a mirror image of Opal’s earlier one. He waited for her argument.

  “You’re right. I don’t want to quit.” She grinned. “At least not before I beat you. We’ll set some rules.”

  He took that to mean she’d set some rules.

  “You don’t walk me to my car. No buying me the cheeseburger special. Nothing that would lead anyone to think we’re anything but teammates. Because we’re not.”

  He got it. She’d already hit the strike zone with that pitch.

  The curtain at the living room window moved. “Don’t look now, but we’re being watched,” he said.

  “Add no sitting in the car and talking to the list.” She made an invisible check in the air. “Seriously, I should be going in.”

  Eli reached for his door handle.

  “You don’t need to walk me in.”

  He got out of the truck and walked around to open her door. “I’ll wait until you get to the door.”

  Her lips parted and snapped shut as if she were going to tell him that wasn’t necessary, either, but decided not to.

  She climbed out. “Thanks. For everything. I’m sure you had better things you could have been doing.”

  “No problem.” He stood by the truck watching Jamie walk to the house, head down against the wind. She waved as she closed the front door behind her.

  Right now, he couldn’t think of anything he’d rather have been doing than spending time with Jamie—except spending time with Jamie and protecting her from Charlie Russell. But he’d promised Jamie he wouldn’t step in between her and Charlie unless it was on Jamie’s terms. Terms that weren’t going to be easy to honor.

  Chapter Nine

  “Eli. Brett Russell is here to see you. Are you available?”

  While it wasn’t like her to make a mistake, Thelma Woods, the school office manager, must have meant Liam—Brett had graduated last year. Eli eyed the reports piled up on his desk. “Yes, send him down.” His job was to counsel students, not push paper.

  The door opened slowly and the young man entered the office.

  Eli snapped the pencil he was holding. He couldn’t believe Charlie would stoop this low, using her own child.

  “Mr. Payton, I’m Brett Russell.” He offered his hand.

  Eli rose, letting the pencil piece in his hand fall to the desk, and walked around the desk to shake Brett’s hand. “Have a seat.” Eli motioned to the chair next to his desk and returned to his seat. “What can I do for you?”

  Brett kept his gaze lowered. “My mother…”

  Eli tensed.

  “She says that she’s going to hit you with a paternity suit to pay for my college.”

  “She sent you here to tell me that?”

  Brett’s head shot up. “No! She doesn’t know I’m here. I came to ask you a favor.”

  The kid was as brash as his mother.

  Brett shook his head. “I have no right to ask anything of you after my mother’s behavior toward you.”

  “I’m not your father.” Might as well get that right out front.

  “I know you’re not my father. Dad told me the whole story a long time ago. They were arguing in their room and I overheard Mom taunt Dad that he wasn’t my father. When Dad came out, I was still in the hall. Mom’s a very unhappy person. She’s gone kind of crazy since Dad left, talking about the past a lot and what she could have done, how she wouldn’t be working at a hardware store in a Podunk town if you hadn’t left her. I think she’s convinced herself that you are my father and owe her for ruining her life.”

  Eli’s compassion for Brett clashed with his anger at Charlie. His anger won. “She’s not going to collect on that. She’s hurt a lot of people.” People I care about.

  “I’m sorry. She’s so mad at Dad. She says she’s not taking anything from him and I shouldn’t, either. He’s been paying for my classes at North Country Community College and helping with my apartment in Ticonderoga.”

  “I don’t follow.” An edge crept into his voice. “What does any of this have to do with me, except in your mother’s mind?”

  Brett studied his fingers. “Nothing. I’m messing this up. Mom thinks she can force you to send me away to college. I’m so tired of hearing her rants about you and how you owe her big-time and about how none of her kids are going to get stuck in Paradox Lake.”

  Eli softened. The same way he was tired of hearing Charlie’s lies spread all over town.

  “I’ve come up with an idea that might stop her.”

  Eli frowned. He’d promised Jamie not to interfere, to let the gossip die of its own accord. But he had a personal stake in Charlie’s actions, too.

  “I wouldn’t blame you if you asked me to leave right now, but hear me out.”

  “All right.”

  “Mom keeps giving me all these college catalogs. When I graduated last year, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to go to college. I had good grades and all, but I didn’t know what I wanted to study. I thought about joining the service. She talked me out of that and compromised with my taking classes at the community college this year.”

  Eli interrupted. “I’m certainly not the person to change your mother’s mind, if that’s what you’re getting to.”

  “No, I doubt all four branches of the Armed Forces combined could do that.”

  Eli laughed. He couldn’t help himself.

  “I started looking at the service academies. I know most kids apply to start right out of high school. But online, it says the Air Force academy can accept students up to age twenty-three.”

  “The academy is a better way to go than the route I took.”<
br />
  “That’s kind of what my favor is about.”

  “I don’t think I can help you.”

  Brett’s face crumpled.

  “I’m just a retired Lt. Colonel. I don’t have the clout to recommend your appointment.”

  “I know. I need to contact our U.S. representative and senator.” Brett scuffed his boot on the floor. “My friend Seth says you’re a good guy, that you’d help me prep to apply. There’s this whole list of things online.”

  Eli studied the young man across from him. He had a lot of nerve after what Charlie had put Eli and his mother and now Jamie, through. But he was a kid. He probably didn’t know half of what his mother had done.

  A verse from his Bible in a Year online study group played in his mind: Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.

  “It could get my mother off my back and yours. You know, get her to drop the whole lawsuit thing.”

  Eli couldn’t ignore the plea in Brett’s eyes. Brett wasn’t responsible for his mother’s actions. It was up to God, not Eli, to judge and punish if punishment was needed. “Yes, I’ll do what I can.”

  “Thanks, sir.”

  Eli wondered whether the kid was brown-nosing him with the sir. It didn’t matter. “I’m free after church on Sunday to get together.”

  “What time would that be?”

  “One is good. We can meet at the North Country library. You have computer access there, right?”

  Brett nodded.

  “Fine.”

  Brett stood as if to leave but didn’t move.

  “Is there something else?”

  The young man’s gaze dropped. “I…my mother…never mind. Thanks again.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  He turned and left.

  As Eli had thought before, Brett had a lot of chutzpah to come here and ask a favor. But now that he’d talked with Brett, he could separate Brett from Charlie. And the kid’s plan just might work. That and another idea he had, if Brett would agree. Eli took a new pencil from the desk drawer and tapped it on the desk. He wouldn’t be going against his promise to Jamie. Not really.

  * * *

  Jamie’s heart pounded as she approached Hazardtown Community Church.