The Colonels' Texas Promise

by Caro Carson

  Evan turned around.

  Dad was... Dad.

  “Rob,” Juliet said under her breath. “Three years. Three damned years.”

  Matthew took off running and tackled Rob in a hug that would have made a tear come to Evan’s eye, if he’d thought there was the slightest chance Rob might deserve such a hero’s welcome.

  He and Juliet barely needed to glance at one another before they began walking toward Rob and Matthew. They didn’t speak; they both knew why Rob was here. Juliet was required to update Rob on his son’s location and living situation, including members of her son’s household. She’d had to send Evan’s name and address with the alimony check.

  They stopped close enough that Juliet could set her hand on Matthew’s shoulder as he hung on to his dad. She stared down Rob like the adversary he was. “You should have let us know you were coming.”

  “Juliet Jones, looking good. I assume so, anyway. Hard to tell under all that camouflage.” Rob moved to kiss her on the cheek, an awkward action with his son wrapped around his middle.

  Juliet pulled away before he reached her.

  Evan warned him off with a single word: “Don’t.”

  Rob smiled. “Well, well, well. If it isn’t my old pal, Evan Stephens. I didn’t expect to see you here. Or did I? Not much of a surprise, really.”

  Evan knew two things immediately.

  One: Rob had no idea how much his son worshipped him.

  Two: Evan was going to find out exactly what would happen if Juliet ever learned that he’d been the cause of everything bad in her life. Rob had come to make sure of it.

  So, make that three things: the honeymoon was over.

  “Did you see me play, Dad?” Matthew asked for the fifth time, as he kept his arms locked around his father.

  Juliet spoke through gritted teeth. “Rob. Your son is asking you a question.” Quit trying to stare down Evan. You can’t.

  Rob was probably glad for the excuse to look away from Evan. He patted Matthew on the shoulder while backing up to disengage himself. “Yeah, I saw the game. Some of it. I couldn’t find a parking space.”

  “Did you see the top of the fourth inning? I got an out. I caught a pop fly.”

  “Okay. Good. That’s what you’re supposed to do.”

  “Are you going to come to my games now?”

  Juliet died a little inside. She knew the real answer to that, and she knew Rob would just string Matthew along and then disappear without ever giving him a straight answer.

  “Well, hey.” Rob’s laugh sounded a little nervous. “I’m here now, aren’t I?”

  “Yeah!” Matthew threw his arms around him again and buried his face in Rob’s middle.

  Juliet felt sick. Matthew was going to be so hurt. The man he was hugging was going to abandon him again as surely as the sun rose, and she didn’t know what to do about it. She hated that Rob was putting her son through this.

  Evan put his arm around her shoulders. His arm was strong. He was strong, and he was on her side. She’d never been so grateful to have a uniform regulation broken in her life. His touch was just what she needed to keep from spiraling down into that awful, helpless feeling she’d felt around Rob so many times before.

  Rob was pushing Matthew away again. “All right, now. Enough of that. Let’s get a look at you. You’re a lot taller than last time I saw you.”

  “That’s because I’m in sixth grade now. You’re going to like my games. We have real pitchers.”

  “I don’t know if I’d call them pitchers. There were enough wild pitches that every runner could’ve stolen home, even the fat kid.”

  Matthew blinked. “You mean Josh?”

  “I don’t know his name. None of you even tried. Steal home next time, for fu—for God’s sake.” Rob must have finally noticed Matthew’s frown, because he stopped egging him on and patted his shoulder again, his one sign of affection so far. “But you did good. Good game.”

  “I would steal home if they would let me.”

  “If you’re anything like me, you’ll be great at it.” Rob turned Matthew around to face her. He stayed behind Matthew with his hands on his shoulders, all fatherly and protective. “You should let our son try. Don’t hold him back.”

  “No players are allowed to steal home in the middle-school leagues,” Juliet explained in her best motherly tone. “And we don’t describe our teammates as fat.”

  “Chunky, then. Whatever.” He shook Matthew by the shoulders to get him in on the joke. “Fluffy.”

  Matthew smiled a little as his father laughed, but the confusion on his face was obvious. An adult was making fun of fat kids. Was that okay?

  “How long are you going to be in town?” Evan asked.

  “As long as I want to. What does it matter to you?”

  Unemployed? Juliet wanted to ask snidely, but she wouldn’t while Rob had Matthew in his clutches.

  “I’m asking so we can set a visitation schedule.” Evan nodded toward Matthew. “Matthew and Juliet and I need to get going, but if you intended to be around this weekend, we could arrange to meet you tomorrow or Sunday.”

  “Dad just got here. We can’t leave.”

  “We have plans, honey.” She was so thankful Evan had reminded Rob that they had a custody agreement. Rob couldn’t just pop in whenever he felt like it.

  Rob smiled at her, sickeningly sweet. “What do you say, JuJu? You, me and Matty, some ice cream? A little family time.”

  He was such a bastard, manipulating her by using Matthew. He knew she would seem like an evil witch if she said no now.

  She said it. “No, thank you. Like Evan said, we’ll need to set up a visitation schedule.”

  Matthew didn’t understand the problem. “Dad and Evan are friends. We’ll all eat ice cream. It will be fun.”

  Rob jumped on that. “Good idea. You can ride with me, Matty.”

  “No.” She and Evan said it at the same time. The man couldn’t just show up after three years and take off with her child in his car. It was a bad idea on every level.

  Rob ignored her no and homed in on Evan’s. “Are you telling me I can’t drive my own kid in my own car?”

  Evan looked as he had while they were washing dishes and she’d told him too much about Rob’s infidelity. He looked perfectly calm, yet every muscle in his body looked perfectly tensed for action.

  “You’re on post. Children under twelve are not allowed in the front seat if the vehicle has a back seat, and they’re required to use a booster under a certain weight.”

  “Or else what? The MPs will arrest me?” He made a show out of checking out Evan’s uniform. “What are you now, the king of the MPs or something?”

  “He’s the battalion commander,” Matthew said, happy to provide the facts to his father.

  Rob’s eyes widened a fraction.

  Juliet felt a little rush of satisfaction. Rob had been enlisted for four years. He knew just how impressive Evan’s position was. He’s a little more than you bargained on, you weasel.

  “Battalion commander. Well, aren’t you just the big dog on campus?” Rob jerked his chin toward Evan’s hand on her shoulder. “No wonder you feel free to grope your wife while you’re in uniform.”

  Grope your wife? He did not just say that in front of Matthew, surely.

  But he had. And Juliet had had enough.

  “We’re done here. Come on, Matthew.” She stepped out of the safety of Evan’s arm and took her son’s arm.

  “Nooo,” he whined.

  “Yes.”

  “Go with your mother. Your father and I are going to talk.” Evan’s order was given with all the authority of a military police battalion commander, that was for sure, because Matthew stopped whining and Rob let go of his shoulders without another word.

  Juliet took her son by the hand an
d walked away, thinking, I hate Rob, I hate Rob, with every step. It was a familiar refrain.

  Then her heart refused to repeat it any longer, because now she could say, I love Evan, I love Evan, instead.

  She sat in the Lexus with Matthew and waited. She was, miraculously, not dealing with her ex-husband. Evan was doing so for her, because...

  Because he loved her.

  She smoothed her hands over the leather steering wheel, wondering at the sensation of having a partner in life. She wasn’t having to face the world alone anymore, because she’d made a pinkie promise on a college green once upon a time.

  She saw her fairy-tale prince walking toward her, all camouflage and silver aviator glasses—and felt a thrill that she was the princess who got to take all that off of him at night. She loved his heart and soul, but if that came wrapped in a layer of panty-dropping hotness, who was she to complain?

  She rolled down her window.

  “Everything okay?” she asked, a yes or no question because he wouldn’t be able to say much while Matthew whined in the back seat.

  “I wanted to eat ice cream with Daaad.”

  Evan ducked his head in the window a little way to speak to Matthew. “We’re all going to eat ice cream together tomorrow, at our house, at two o’clock.”

  Then he kissed her, hard and swift, and walked away.

  Juliet followed the Corvette all the way back to their castle.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “I’ll be back in thirty minutes.”

  “Have a good run.” Juliet sent Evan off with a kiss, then shut the front door. She knew he ran during the week for the army. He ran on Saturdays for himself.

  When he got back, she might go for a run, too, just for the stress relief it would give her. In four hours, Rob Jones was going to be sitting at Evan’s kitchen table. They were all going to eat bowls of ice cream, and Rob was going to prove he could be civilized and find topics of conversation that were appropriate for an eleven-year-old to hear. If he could not, then she was going to go back to court to have their custody arrangement reviewed. Considering the way Rob had disappeared from Matthew’s life for three years, Rob couldn’t expect things to go well for him.

  Evan had done all of that for her, while she’d sat in her Lexus yesterday, falling more in love with him by the minute.

  Matthew came downstairs. “How much longer until Dad gets here?”

  “Not for four hours, honey. Still. Are you unpacking your books?” Their household goods had been delivered just the day before yesterday, so the house was currently a little crazy with two couches, two tables and two of just about everything wedged into one house. Today, she was just going to focus on unpacking the kitchen stuff.

  “I’m going to be in the kitchen. Evan’s out for a run.”

  Two songs on the radio later, she was waist deep in the white butcher paper she’d unwrapped from all her glassware, when a man’s familiar voice scared her to death.

  “Hi, JuJu.”

  She whirled around. “What are you doing here?”

  “Two didn’t work for me, after all. The hotel checkout time was ten, so I came over now. I wasn’t going to sit in my car until two.” He looked so smug, so sure of himself.

  “Who let you in?”

  “Our son. Who else?” He had his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “Relax, JuJu. Come on into the living room. I brought doughnuts.” He turned around to leave, completely casual, utterly calm.

  Why did she feel so alarmed?

  “Evan will be back in a few minutes.” She said it to his back.

  He turned back and shook his head at her, as if she was some sort of crazy woman. “So what? You know what he’ll see when he comes in? Matthew eating doughnuts with his mother and father.”

  Matthew was already in the living room. When she followed Rob in, she saw Matthew’s face light up like a Christmas tree. Her poor boy. He wanted love so badly from a man whose ability to give it was stunted.

  Rob knew how to pretend, though. He sat next to Matthew and ruffled his hair. He didn’t have Evan’s touch, a quick fluff and done. Rob really messed up Matthew’s hair, too hard, and didn’t stop until Matthew squirmed away. “Sorry, sorry. I forget kids today are wrapped in bubble wrap.” He pretended to poke air bubbles all around Matthew but never laid a finger on him. “Ooh, can’t touch you. Oh, no, I might hurt the pwecious wittle baby.”

  “Rob.”

  He patted Matthew’s knee and handed him the doughnut box. “Just kidding. You’re not a baby at all. Man, I can’t get over how big you’ve gotten. It’s amazing.” Rob turned to Juliet. “It really is amazing.”

  It was the first sincere thing he’d said, and for just a flash, when the expression on his face was genuine, she could see the man he’d been when she’d first married him. Maybe Evan was right, and she should be easier on her twenty-four-year-old self for not seeing the red flags.

  “He’s grown two inches just this school year,” she said.

  “Sixth grade, right?” He ruffled Matthew’s hair again. “When I was your age, I was raising hell.”

  “How did you raise hell?” Matthew asked.

  “Let’s not use that term. It will get Matthew in trouble at school.”

  Rob rolled his eyes at her correction and seemed to think Matthew ought to find that cool. “Moms. Am I right?”

  “Right. Moms.”

  “When we raised heck, we left our mark, I’ll tell you that much. Stole three stop signs one night. A screwdriver, a friend’s shoulders to sit on, it was a piece of cake.” He looked around the living room stuffed with extra furniture and moving boxes. “What did you do with my stop sign? Where is it?”

  “I have no idea what you did with your stolen stop sign after we got divorced.”

  Rob sat back and stretched his arms along the back of the couch. “Enjoy yourself now, Matty, my man. Those were the good old days. We broke into the school and tore that place up. Spray painted everything. It took them a week to clean it all up. We emptied, like, three cans of spray paint on that crap hole. Never got caught.”

  Juliet stood. “Okay, Rob. I think that’s enough. It’s time for you to go. You may come back at two o’clock, if you like.”

  He rolled his eyes again. “Mother, may I?”

  “Matthew, say goodbye and go back to unpacking your stuff in your bedroom, okay?”

  “Relax, Juliet. You’re acting like I’m some kind of monster. All I want is the chance to be part of my own family. Matthew is already so much like you, I can barely recognize myself in him. Now Evan’s in the picture. Matty’s going to turn into a little Evan instead of me. He’s halfway there already, little Goody Two-shoes, teacher’s pet, coach’s favorite, a little offshoot of you two. You know other kids are going to hate him, right?”

  Rob, you are an ass.

  “Matthew, honey, please go upstairs to your room. This is an adult conversation for adults only.”

  “But, Mom...”

  “Go.”

  She waited until his bedroom door shut with a slam. “You have visitation rights, Rob. You could use them. You could see Matthew every other weekend, if you wanted to.”

  “You expect me to move to Texas?”

  “If you want to be in your son’s life, then yes. I’m in the army. I can’t leave Fort Hood. You don’t have a job and you don’t have a permanent address. Why not look for something in Central Texas? If Matthew is really your priority, you will.”

  “Just like old times. Telling me how I should act, how I should treat my son, what kind of job I should get. Give it a goddamn rest. No man could live with your constant criticism.”

  It was like old times. She could feel him baiting her into an argument. She wasn’t going to go there. “We’re talking about Matthew. I don’t care what kind of job you get. You can keep living off yo
ur alimony. Use it to make your son happy. Live near him. Spend time with him.”

  “God, you’re bossy. Work there, live here, spend your money on that. I don’t need this.” Rob was running with his train of thought now, getting louder and louder. “I don’t need any of this. I give up. Go ahead and screw Evan every night.” He shouted it loudly enough to carry up the stairs.

  She kept her voice quiet. Her child did not need to hear any of this. “Get out of my house now.”

  “I’m here for Matthew. My son! You’re keeping my boy from me.”

  “Keep your voice down.”

  “I still have rights, you know, at least until you and Evan go to a judge and try to take them away from me. I get every other weekend.”

  “Then this is the wrong weekend.” She opened the front door.

  Rob walked up a little too close to her, invading her personal space. “I forgot how hot you look when you’re angry. I loved you, you know. We could have patched things up. We had a good run there for a few years, right? We could be that way again, but you decided to screw another man.”

  “He’s my husband.” Her voice broke on the word husband. “Quit trying to make it sound like I’m cheating on you.”

  “I forgive you. Come back to me.”

  The man was unhinged. How could she encourage him to reestablish any kind of relationship with Matthew? He could only confuse him with his bizarre, twisted logic.

  “Get out.”

  Rob...smiled.

  He ran one finger over her shoulder. “Make me.”

  Then he was no longer in front of her, but up against the door frame, arm twisted behind his back by Evan, who looked to her eyes like he’d come straight from heaven. He was hot and sweaty and furious, but he still hissed his words in a voice that would not carry up the stairs to a child’s room.

  “You touch my wife again, you come here and think about laying a finger on her, and I will break your arm.” He yanked up on Rob’s arm, and Rob grunted in pain. “Are we clear?”

  Rob’s face was smooshed against the door frame, so his words were mumbled. “You can’t stop me from seeing my son.”