by EMILIE ROSE
“I love the covered porch all the way across the front and the big pillars,” she offered to get the ball rolling.
Chastity lowered the window, showing interest for the first time. “I like the flowers and the porch swing and the white fence around the whole yard.” Then she frowned. “But there’s no driveway.”
Rachel had been too entranced to notice. The street was wide, but she wasn’t sure about parking a vehicle on it overnight. “This is a corner lot. Maybe it’s on the side. Why don’t you grab a brochure from the box, then we’ll check?”
Chastity did as Rachel asked without hesitation, and returned to the car. “It has four bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms and a bonus room,” Chastity read while Rachel drove around the corner. “Does that mean I could have a ping-pong table?”
Enthusiasm. Finally. “I didn’t know you like ping-pong.”
“Jess has a table. I’m pretty good.”
The picket fence led from the front yard to the driveway on the side, enclosing a decent-sized area that included a vegetable garden.
“Look at the sunflowers,” Chastity said. “They’re gigantic! They must be ten feet tall!”
Several rows of dinner-plate-sized blooms marked the border of the vegetable patch. The driveway led to a two-car garage. More fencing enclosed the backyard.
“There’s room for me to park my car when I get my license.” Rachel heard the smile in Chastity’s voice. “And the backyard’s big enough for a dog. Could we have one? I’ve always wanted a dog.”
So had Rachel. But her vagabond childhood hadn’t allowed for one. And since she volunteered so many hours and lived in the tiny apartment, she hadn’t felt it fair to the animal to get one now. “Maybe. Should we call for an appointment to see it?”
“Why can’t we just knock on the door?”
“The owners hired a real estate agent so strangers wouldn’t do that.”
An angst-laden sigh filled the car. “In Johnstonville we could knock. Call. I want to see it.”
Rachel punched in the number, spoke to the agent, then relayed the bad news. “We can’t see the house until tomorrow. The owners are having some kind of dinner party tonight. Want to keep looking until then?”
“I like this one.”
“Me, too, kiddo. But just in case the inside’s not as wonderful as the outside, let’s ride through the rest of the neighborhood. See what else there is around.”
“If we have to.” Rachel didn’t think she’d ever be able to keep up with Chastity’s mercurial attitude fluctuations.
They covered the final street, with Rachel pointing out her boss’s house, but none of the other homes appealed as much as the cottage. They rode past it one more time before heading for her apartment.
“I need to pick up some takeout.”
“Don’t you ever cook? Mom was a great cook.”
The barb hit home. “Yes, when I’m at home. But other than a couple cans of chicken noodle soup, I have no groceries in the apartment, and there’s no point in stocking up if we’re leaving soon. Besides, I like taking Bill and Fred something.”
“The homeless guys? Why?”
“Because you should help others when you can.” Something she hadn’t understood as a child. But she tried to do it with more moderation than her parents, who’d given up everything, and she tried to respect others’ choices—something her parents definitely had not done. “The guys, in turn, will help me by keeping an eye on things.”
“Don’t they have a shelter or something they can go to?”
“There are shelters, but some people aren’t comfortable around crowds. Bill and Fred prefer their alleys.”
“Why don’t they just get jobs?”
How did you explain homeless veterans to a teen? “They had jobs once. Then bad things happened in their lives, and they...didn’t recover from them.”
“Mom always said you’re never a loser until you quit trying.”
“And she was right.” Hope had been full of wisdom she’d gained from living around the globe with their parents—wisdom Rachel hadn’t been smart enough to absorb at the time. “But sometimes people run out of energy to keep trying.”
Had Hope?
They settled on Italian food, delivered the meals to Bill and Fred, and returned to Rachel’s to eat. Chastity took a big bite of her chicken Parmesan, then blurted with a full mouth, “If I have to go to a new school, I need to go to cheerleading camp.”
Rachel bit her tongue in vexation, her appetite wavering. Was everything going to be a battle? “Chastity—”
“No, really. If I make the cheerleading squad at my new school, I’ll have instant friends. I’ll fit in. I’ll be popular. Even the teachers will help me...adjust.”
A good argument. “Even if I let you go to cheerleading camp, as a freshman there’s no guarantee you’d make the squad.”
“But I’d at least have a shot. Both schools have varsity and junior varsity cheerleading squads, so I’d have double the chance of making one of them. Pleeease, Aunt Rachel.”
Those big brown pleading eyes slayed her better judgment. “I’ll make you a deal. If you stay out of trouble and keep your grades up for the rest of the year, then I’ll let you go to camp.”
“Seriously?” Chastity bounced on her seat. “Really?”
“Really. But no trouble. None. Zilch. Nada. If I get called to school again—”
“You won’t. I promise. I’ll be good. I won’t even let bitches like Beth get to me.”
Rachel hiked an eyebrow at the curse word. Chastity grimaced. “Well, she was one.”
“I don’t doubt it. But you behave. Got it?”
Chastity grinned. “Got it.”
Rachel felt her excitement building. She’d never owned a home, and as far as she remembered, neither had her parents. To own one now and share it with Chastity was a long suppressed dream she’d never allowed herself to believe could come true.
Agreeing to camp meant more time in Johnstonville. But it would be worth it to have her daughter living under her roof.
* * *
PAM OPENED THE door to Matt Thursday evening. “What are you doing here?”
He wouldn’t let his sister’s lack of welcome deter him from his goal. Until thirty minutes ago, he’d planned to mow his lawn this evening, but then he’d run into his brother-in-law who mentioned that Rachel was coming to dinner. Mowing could wait.
“I saw Brad at the hardware store. He said he needed help with the car. I brought dessert.” He presented the cake he’d bought from Johnstonville’s only bakery.
“Amaretto cake with almond buttercream frosting? You know that’s my favorite.” She narrowed her eyes, then asked, “Even though you’re bribing your way into a dinner invitation, you are welcome to join us. C’mon in. I won’t even tell Mom you bought a store cake instead of asking her to bake one.”
“She doesn’t make Amaretto cake.”
“No. She doesn’t.” Pam carried the cake to the kitchen, opened the box and stole a finger swipe of icing. Her eyes rolled back in pleasure, then she patted his cheek. “Have I ever told you how much I love you, big brother?”
“Hmm. I’m not sure.”
Pam whacked him with a pot holder. “Rachel’s due any moment.”
“What has she said about Atlanta?”
“Nothing yet. That’s what tonight’s about. Chastity called Jessica a couple of hours ago raving about the trip. Jess ’bout cried her eyes out when she got off the phone. She doesn’t want her best friend to move away. So I invited Rachel and Chastity to dinner. You want her to stay, don’t you?”
The way Rachel unsettled him was too personal to share. So he stuck with his favorite coaching advice: show no fear. Admit no weakness. “I never said that.”
“You could ask her.”
So much for his sister not reading his defense. “I don’t even know if I’m interested in a relationship with her again.”
“Oh, please. You can’t keep your eyes off her.”
Pam wouldn’t quit until he gave her something. “There’s still chemistry between us, but I don’t know if it’s worth pursuing.”
“To quote you when you coach your team, ‘If you want something bad enough, you find a way. If you don’t, you find an excuse.’ We have to find a way to convince them to stay.”
He didn’t tell her he was already planning his offensive drive.
“Hey, you big goon, are you with me or not?”
“I’m in. For Jessica’s sake. And Mom’s. She loves that kid like she’s her own granddaughter.”
Pam snorted and rolled her eyes, clearly not buying his deflection. “Get out and let me finish dinner. Brad’s in the garage with his four-wheeled mistress.”
Matt joined his brother-in-law.
Minutes later Brad called out, “Earth to Matt.”
“What? Did I miss something?”
“The same request three times. If you’d told me you were more interested in seeing Rachel than helping with the timing belt, we could’ve been inside watching Sports Center and drinking a beer. No offense, man, but you’re useless with the wrench tonight.”
“Sorry.”
“Forget it. Let’s wash up. Dinner should be ready soon.”
The minute Brad opened the door from the garage to the laundry room Matt heard Chastity’s excited chatter. He subdued the urge to beeline to the kitchen and waited impatiently for his turn at the washroom sink before joining the gathering around the breakfast bar.
“The house is awesome!” Chastity was telling Pam and Jessica. “Aunt Rachel says I can have the whole upstairs to myself. There are two bedrooms, a bathroom and a bonus room up there. The bonus room is big enough for a ping-pong table and a home theater. Aunt Rachel’s bedroom and office would be downstairs. And the house has a fenced yard and a garden with sunflowers taller than my head and a screened porch and a huge patio with an outdoor fireplace.” She paused to gulp a deep breath. “It would be so cool to have parties there. Jess, you could come and stay and we could go to the aquarium and baseball games, and the Coke Museum and all kinds of stuff. Oh.” Chastity bounced in her chair. “And Aunt Rachel said I can get a dog.”
That was the most he’d heard Chastity say in all the years he’d known her. She wasn’t wearing her usual caked-on makeup, either, and her hair hung down her back in a shiny sheet instead of being teased into a tangled mess. She looked like a normal thirteen-year-old instead of a wrinkle-free thirty-year-old. It was a nice change—one he hoped stuck.
“If we get the house,” Rachel interjected, then her eyes met his, winding him. “The owners haven’t accepted our offer yet, Chastity.”
“They will. And then you’ll have your first house ever! And we can buy a car, too. I get to help pick it out.”
Everyone in the room was smiling at Chasity’s enthusiasm. Everyone but him. Matt’s gut churned, and his muscles quivered as if he’d overdosed on energy drinks. Rachel glanced up and caught his gaze. Every cell in his body snapped to attention. She looked good tonight in a white top and jeans that hugged her hips. And for the first time since her return, she looked rested, relaxed and happy.
He hoped the owners didn’t accept her offer. He didn’t want her to go. Not yet. There’d be other houses. Maybe closer to Johnstonville.
“Aaand...” Chastity paused for effect and drum-rolled her fingers on the table. “I can go to cheerleading camp.”
The girls’ shrieks of excitement nearly shattered Matt’s eardrums. At least the pain in his ears had the fringe benefit of distracting him from his crazy palm-sweating reaction to Rachel’s proximity, to the sparkle in her eyes and the healthy flush on her cheeks.
“I said you could go to camp if you stayed out of trouble and kept up your grades,” Rachel corrected. Then she flicked a glance at Matt from beneath thick lashes. For a moment he stared back into her dark eyes, and all he could think about was that kiss in his truck. How she’d tasted. The softness of her breasts pressed against him. Then her eyebrow hiked, and it hit him that she was seeking his approval of the way she’d handled the situation. He couldn’t manage more than a dip of his head because of his suddenly stiff neck. All his blood had drained into his jeans.
“I swear it, Aunt Rachel. I’m going to be as perfect as Mom.”
In an instant the mood in the room changed from jubilant to somber. Chastity’s lip wobbled. Rachel’s smile inverted. She reached across the counter to cover the teen’s fist. “Nobody expects you to be perfect. Because none of us are.”
Jessica slid off her bar stool. “Let’s go look at dogs on my computer. Maybe you can get one before you move, and I can help you train it.”
Rachel’s lips parted, but before she could comment, Chastity yanked her hand away and the girls raced from the room. Matt knew one thing for sure. Camp would keep Rachel here through July. Surely by then he’d know what he wanted from her? Was it just to scratch curiosity’s itch or more?
Pam slid a glass of wine in front of Rachel. “Those two will be miserable without each other. Have you considered looking for a job in or around Johnstonville?”
Rachel fiddled with the stem of the glass. “I love the job I have. And I miss it.”
“Maybe there’s something similar nearby?”
“My team is my family, and I don’t want to lose them. I feel bad enough sticking them with the extra duty while I’m here.”
Matt didn’t know how to describe the climb-out-of-his-skin desperate feeling her statement evoked. “Mom will miss her, too.”
Rachel’s gaze swung his way. “What do you mean?”
“Wherever Jess goes, Chastity usually follows. Chastity’s like an unofficial grandkid.”
Rachel’s gaze fell to a fisted hand. “I knew Carol watched them sometimes, but I didn’t realize it was that...often.”
“We’ll all miss her,” Pam added. “You know Brad and I are her godparents?”
Rachel’s eyes widened. “No. I didn’t.”
“We promised before God to love and protect her. We’re willing to adopt her if you don’t want—”
“No!” Rachel objected. “I want Chastity with me. I appreciate your offer, but no thank you. I’ve already petitioned the courts to legally make her mine.”
“We love her. We want what’s best for her,” Pam insisted.
Rachel straightened, her shoulders going back, her chin lifting and cheeks flushing. Matt recognized her going-to-battle posture even if his sister didn’t, and he wanted to warn Pam to back off before she scared Rachel away.
Rachel stood. “I want what’s best for Chastity, too, and I believe that’s a life with me. No one else will love her as much as I do. We are moving back to Atlanta. If you invited us to dinner to coerce me into doing otherwise, then we’ll go home now. I don’t want anyone making the transition any more difficult for her than it already is.”
An uncomfortable silence filled the room.
“I’m sorry, Rachel,” Pam said, capitulating. “I wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. She’s lost so much already. You both have. It’s just...we’re going to miss her. Please stay for dinner.”
Pam and Rachel’s gazes held. Rachel nodded.
Then the stove’s timer beeped. Pam bustled around the kitchen, draining the fettuccine, mixing it with her famous cream sauce and broccoli and putting the heaping pot in the center of the table. She rang the old brass dinner bell and Johnathan, Ben and the girls stormed in from somewhere in the house. Their excited conversations filled the silent room.
“Everybody sit. Dinner’s ready,” Pam announced with a tension in her face
and voice Matt hadn’t seen before.
Matt elbowed his nephew out of the way and seated himself directly across from Rachel. Admittedly, it hadn’t been a subtle maneuver. His brother-in-law coughed “Smooth” into his napkin. Matt’s neck heated. He tried to concentrate on being grateful as Brad blessed the food, but then his toes bumped Rachel’s under the table. Simultaneously, she startled, and static electricity shot up his leg.
How could she walk away from whatever they had without seeing if they were still as combustible as they’d been before? He couldn’t. He’d never felt more connected to anyone in his life, and he had to know if it was more here than nostalgia.
“Will you use Hope’s furniture?” Pam asked after all the plates had been loaded and the scrape of forks was the only sound filling the room.
“Some of it. It’s a big house, and I’ve been living in a one-bedroom apartment. I’ll let Chastity decide what to move and what to sell.”
“Moving is expensive. We’ll help you. Matt and Brad can lend muscle and their trucks. And Bill has an enclosed trailer.”
“I’m sure the guys appreciate you volunteering them without asking,” she added with a rueful smile. “Thanks. I’ll let you know if we need help when the time comes.”
But she wouldn’t call. He heard it in her distancing tone, and he knew without a doubt that if he let Rachel leave Johnstonville, he’d never see her again. A strange disquiet invaded him. He wasn’t in love with her this time, he assured himself. The devastation wouldn’t be the same.
Or would it?
“Rachel, I wish you’d reconsider. I’m sorry.” Pam held up a hand. “I know you said don’t try to change your mind, but Johnstonville’s a great place to raise children. My boss and I will put out feelers in the medical community to see if any of the hospitals are hiring helicopter nurses. And as mayor, my dad knows everybody and everything about the area. He’ll help. We will be a great family for you and Chastity if you’ll let us.”
Rachel gasped, then wheezed. Her eyes watered as she struggled to clear whatever she’d choked on. Matt rose to help—Heimlich, pat on the back, whatever she needed—but she waved him off, then dabbed her eyes with her napkin and cleared her throat. He waited for the explosion. Pam had violated her request. Would Rachel grab her niece and storm out of the house? The old Rachel would have. But the current Rachel didn’t look ready to explode. She looked...sad?