by Dana Mason
“What was that about?” Johnny asked.
Ali fisted her hands in her hair and shook her head.
Johnny tugged on the sleeve of her robe, “Come here.” He gripped her arms and pulled her off the couch and into his arms. “Stop this okay. Go lie down and get some more sleep. I’ll sit with Micah.”
“I hate her . . . I really hate her.”
Johnny leaned back to look at her face. “Sweetheart, don’t say that. She’s your mother even when she’s not very nice to you.”
Ali crinkled her nose. “I know, but she’s so mean. Why does she do that to me?”
“It’s easy to see why you’re so down on yourself when you have her disapproving voice in your head.”
“Oh hell—” Ali dropped her head back down on his chest. “You didn’t hear what she said, did you?”
“Does it matter?”
Her head popped back up. “Yes! You weren’t listening, were you?”
“My entrance was strategic.”
Ali closed her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
“I’ve been called much worse.” He chuckled. “Hillbilly is almost a compliment.”
“I’m embarrassed . . . that wasn’t okay.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t blame you for what she said. Although, it was really cool to hear you stick up for me.” Johnny gripped the nape of her neck and tilted her head back up, pulling her mouth to his. When their lips met, it reminded Ali of the words she’d thought she heard just before drifting off to sleep. He pulled away slightly and said, “Go back to bed and I’ll bring breakfast up for you.”
“I can’t sleep now. It’s still early, let’s go out to breakfast and go shopping for your bed.”
Johnny’s smile broadened. “I can’t wait to have you and Micah over for the night. How about . . . you stay the first night I have a real bed.”
“I will if you get the bed before Mark and Sarah get back with Jamie. You have two weeks.”
He did a fist pump. “Done!”
Chapter Eleven
After showering, they stopped by Johnny’s place so he could change into clean clothes. When they arrived, Ali couldn’t believe how much progress he’d made. “How did you have time to unpack when you’ve been at my house so much?”
“I don’t have that much stuff.”
“This is a great little house. I see why Sarah loved it here.”
“She did a great job cleaning the place up. She showed me the pictures of how it looked before and you can’t even tell it’s the same house.”
While Johnny changed clothes, Ali looked around at his personal things. He didn’t have much though. The book shelf had a few fiction novels, but mostly non-fiction and police manuals. There were some old snapshots and family photos. The two largest were family portraits of two different families, yet Johnny sat in both portraits.
“You ready?”
Ali turned toward him and nearly lost her breath when she looked at him. The pristine white chambray shirt made his tan, and scruffy chin look like a fashion statement. Her mouth watered as she examined him, from cowboy boots, to the perfect fitting Levis, to his sparkling blue eyes, oh hell, she was in trouble.
“Goodnight . . .” she whispered and said, “Nice shirt.”
“Are you ready for breakfast?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”
Ali let him drive, trying not to giggle when he drove in circles, not sure where to go. He’d muttered to himself, making last minute turns, obviously forgetting that she’d lived in Santa Rosa her entire life and could easily give him directions.
“I wouldn’t have thought you were a fan of Crepes,” she said as they pulled into the driveway and parked. Crepes & More was a small restaurant in an old Victorian house near downtown.
Johnny gave her a crooked smile. “I told you I was full of surprises.”
He got out, removed Micah’s car seat from the rear and led her inside. “And they serve lots of things besides crepes.”
“Hey, Johnny Rhay,” the waitress said when they entered.
He gave her a little wave. “Mornin,’ Carrie.”
“Aw look at that sweet thing,” she said, peeking into Micah’s car seat.
“This is my friend, Micah, and this is his mother, Ali.”
“Hey,” Carrie said. “Have a seat and I’ll start you off with some coffee?”
When Carrie walked away, Ali looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “I wouldn’t have guessed you’d been here before, considering the roundabout way you drove here . . . but It’s nice to see you’re making friends.”
“Yeah, I don’t have much food at my place yet.”
“Well . . . I guess we better go grocery shopping too,” she said and wished like hell it didn’t bother her that Johnny was on a first name basis with the waitress. He pointed to a booth and she slid in as he scooted in across from her.
He smiled at her. “Now who’s gettin’ jealous?”
Ali lifted her hands, palms up and said, “Just concerned with your eating habits. It can’t be good to eat all your meals in a restaurant.”
“Oh, well, thanks for your concern,” he mocked, then looked at Micah and smiled. “I think she’s full of it, little man. What do you think?”
“I do care about your eating habits,” she glanced up from the menu at his disbelieving face, “and I wish the waitress was a cow.”
Johnny laughed and reached over to unhook Micah from the car seat. “Come here, buddy,” Johnny said, bouncing Micah in the air. Micah’s smile widened as he moved up and down in the space above Johnny’s head. “Oh, you like that . . . did you see his smile, Mama?”
“I told you he likes you.”
Johnny put Micah down on the table with his legs hanging over the edge and held him with one hand and tickled his ribs with the other. Micah let out a loud gurgling laugh and scrunched his shoulders.
Johnny looked at Ali’s wide eyes. “Did you hear that?”
She slapped her hand to her mouth. “Oh my God, he’s never laughed.” Her sweet little Micah had just laughed for the first time. Her eyes filled with tears as she listened for another laugh. “Try to do it again.”
Johnny reached in and tickled him again. Micah wiggled and gargled out another laugh. It was contagious, she and Johnny giggled too, which made Micah stop abruptly.
Johnny turned Micah around so Ali could see his face.
“Watch—wait,” Johnny fought the wide smile. “Watch this . . . Micah, laugh for Mama,” he said, still trying to hold in his giggles. Johnny tickled him again and Micah’s sweet little face scrunched up and his shoulders moved up and down when he laughed.
They were still laughing when the waitress walked up to the table to deliver their coffee.
“Sorry, it’s our first laugh,” Ali said, wiping at the moisture in her eyes.
“Aw . . . what proud parents,” she said, glancing between them then down at Micah. “I’ll be right back to get your orders.”
Johnny’s smile widened, but Ali’s dropped from her face. The unintended reminder that she was Micah’s only parent hit her like a splash of cold water.
“Sorry,” Johnny said, his smile slipping.
She shook her head and tried to smile. The mood had been ruined and even Micah looked irritated now.
“I didn’t mean to make her assume . . .”
Ali waved him off. “It was an honest mistake. It’s obvious how much you care about Micah. There isn’t anything wrong with that.”
“I’m sorry,” Johnny said again.
“Stop, I should apologize to you. “
Johnny propped Micah in his left hand, facing the table then reached his other hand out for her. When she took it, he gave her a soft smile. “Is it so bad for someone to mistake me for Micah’s father?”
“I’m not—I didn’t—No.” She shook her head, again fighting tears. “I’m glad we were together the first time Micah laughed.”
“Me too.” He ex
haled heavily then smiled again. “I wasn’t expecting that when I tickled him.”
The thought of Johnny as a father reminded her of the photos at his place. Her mother was right about one thing, she didn’t know that much about him. She tilted her head, watching him with Micah and not at all confident she should ask, but facing life as a single mother had made her curious about mixed families. “Why were you raised by your aunt and uncle?”
He lifted his eyes from Micah to her. “You don’t already know?”
“No, how would I know?”
“I just thought you would have found out through Mark and Sarah.”
“Sarah is pretty respectful of other people’s privacy. I don’t think she would ever gossip about you, nor would Mark.”
“I guess that’s true,” he said. “My parents were killed when I was a kid, my younger brother too.” He turned to stare out the window. Ali sat quietly for a moment until Micah let out another gurgle, making Johnny laugh in spite of the conversation.
“I’m sorry, Johnny,” she said, when the laughing stopped.
“When they died I went to live with my daddy’s brother, my uncle Dale.”
“How old were you?”
“Eight, old enough to remember them.” He shrugged. “But young enough to forget a lot. My Aunt and Uncle both passed a couple of years ago. It’s just me and my cousin Jerry now . . . and his wife and kids.”
She tried to hold in her emotions, she couldn’t imagine losing both parents at that age. Johnny looked up in time to see her wipe her eyes.
“Don’t, sweetheart.” He squeezed her hand. “I had a fine life with my aunt and uncle. Don’t feel sorry for me.”
“I can’t imagine going through that, losing both parents. That’s my biggest fear now that I’m a parent. I worry something will happen to me . . . leaving my children motherless.”
“You have to make provisions.”
“Jamie has Mark and Sarah, she’s going to be a great mother and she loves Jamie . . . but Micah”—she pursed her lips and shook her head—“Carl would be his rightful guardian—and that scares the hell out of me.”
“Then do something about it. Don’t put it off.”
“You’re right, but it feels like putting it down on paper would make it more real—or more likely.”
“Maybe you should ask Carl to give up his parental rights. Who would you leave him with, your mother?”
“No.” She looked down and focused on her cup of coffee. “I thought of asking Mark and Sarah to be his guardians so he could stay with Jamie, but I also have my sister.”
“You shouldn’t wait. Things happen and you don’t always get a second chance,” he said pointedly.
Ali remembered the conversation they’d had about second chances and it made more sense to her now. “May I ask . . .”
“House fire,” he said before she finished. “I was spending the night with a friend up the street.” He glanced down at their linked hands. “I heard the sirens, but didn’t pay any attention until my friend’s mother came to get me.”
“I lost my father at eight,” she said.
“You were eight?”
“Yeah.” She tried to hide the hurt with a smile. “I had my sister . . . we helped each other get through it.” Her phone chimed in her purse and that brought out a real smile.
“You gonna answer that?” he asked when she didn’t reach for her phone.
She shook her head and closed her eyes for a second. “It’s Melissa.”
“Your sister has a weird sense of timing.”
“A perfect sense of timing. She always knows when something is wrong . . . even when it isn’t.”
It took over an hour for Ali and Johnny to agree on a suitable bedroom set for his new house. She was a typical woman, debating everything before making a decision. He wouldn’t complain though, he’d sleep in a cot so long as she was next to him in it.
Johnny handed over his credit card to the sales clerk and said, “I’d like the bed delivered as soon as possible.” He looked over at Ali. “When is Jamie due back?”
She laughed at him. “May first.”
“Next Saturday okay, that’s the—” the sales clerk glanced at the delivery calendar. “April twenty-fifth.” She handed him the charge slip to sign. “Sometime between one pm and four pm.”
“You can’t do it sooner?”
“That’s the soonest available, sorry.”
“That’ll work fine.” He gave Ali a sly smile. “Do you carry any portable cribs?”
The clerk looked a little annoyed at the question. “No, sorry, sir.”
Johnny nodded a thank you and led Ali out of the store. He pushed the heavy glass exit door open for her and said, “That gives us five days to break the new bed in.”
“Portable crib?” she mocked.
He grinned. “Trying to be prepared.”
Ali stopped the stroller next to her black Lexus and pulled the keys out of her purse, handing them to Johnny. When tires squealed behind him, he turned to see a flash of silver coming toward them. Blood rushed to his head, but it only took a split second for him to react. He pushed the stroller between Ali’s car and the one parked to the left her of her car. Then he shoved her on the other side, trying to get them both out of the path of the speeding car. He couldn’t get out of the way fast enough and braced for impact as the massive blow struck his left side.
He squeezed his eyes closed as the car sent him flying forward several feet and skidding across the pavement. The air was knocked from his lungs when he hit the ground, but before he had time to register the pain, Ali’s scream sliced through him. He sat up, gasping for air and wiping blood off his face. His gaze raked the pavement for her broken body, but when she screamed for the baby, he panicked.
“Micah! No—don’t take my baby! No!”
This last scream made Johnny’s blood curdle in his veins.
He staggered to his feet, his eyes locking on Ali. The silver car had her trapped between her car and the one to the right, adjacent to the stroller. She scrambled over the hood of her car trying to get to the stroller. Before she reached Micah, a woman picked him up and held him to her chest, slipping into the back seat of the silver car. Ali screamed again, stumbling over the stroller to reach for the door handle.
When the car sped away from Ali, it came at Johnny again. He jumped on the hood, holding on with both hands, facing the driver. He let go with his right hand to reach for his gun, but once he let go, he was airborne again.
Chapter Twelve
Johnny opened his eyes to a dark unfamiliar room. Without a doubt, his head had been split in two. It was the only explanation for the unmerciful headache he had. He twitched every limb to make sure he wasn’t actually dead. It appeared, not only was he alive, but everything still worked. His eyes traveled the room. To his right, a red light flashed on a monitor.
He inched forward and sat up, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness. When upright, he looked around for his phone, Ali’s scream reverberating in his head. He shifted, placing his feet on the floor, slow and easy, he stood while the aching in his head traveled down his entire body. Before he gained his balance, the door opened and the room filled with light. He dropped back down on the bed.
“Ah, come on.” He held his arm up to cover his eyes from the light.
“Sir—Mr. Bennett, you shouldn’t be up.”
“I have to leave.” His voice croaked when he talked, but he didn’t care.
“Lay back down please.”
“No, I’m fine. I need to get to Ali.” He looked down at his bare feet and gripped the hospital gown. “Where are my clothes?”
“You can’t leave in this condition. You have to wait for the effects of the sedatives to wear off.”
“Sedatives, what? No. I’m fine. I need to leave.” He looked around for a clock. “What time is it?”
“It’s ten-thirty.”
“Please get my clothes.”
“You can’t drive�
�“
“Fine. I’ll take a cab.” He tried to squeeze passed her, but she blocked his path to the door. “Get out of my way and give me my damn clothes!”
“Mr. Bennett?” Johnny looked up to a towering figure in the doorway. When the doctor stepped forward, Johnny recognized the lab coat. “I’m Doctor Caplin.”
“I need to leave.”
“You have a concussion and—“
“Whatever. I’ll live. Just let me out of here.”
“Detective Hammel instructed us to call him when you woke up.” Dr. Caplin came closer, facing Johnny. “I’ll have your release papers brought to you.”
“Where is Alison Hayes? Has she been admitted?”
“No. Paramedics treated Mrs. Hayes at her home. Sit tight, we’ll bring you some scrubs, your clothes were cut off you by the paramedics.”
Johnny sat back on the bed and waited. When the phone rang he lifted it off the receiver. “Yeah?”
“Bennett?” Brian asked.
“Yeah, Brian, what’s going on?”
“I’m sending someone over to pick you up and drive you to Sarah and Mark’s house. Sarah insists you stay until you’ve recovered from your injuries.”
“No. I’m fine.”
“Whatever—you have to work it out with them.”
“Where’s Ali? Where’s Micah?” He swallowed back the bile rising in his throat. “Are they okay?”
“I’ll give you an update later. I don’t have time now.”
“No! Tell me if they’re okay.” He stood up when the nurse came in with a folded pair of faded green hospital scrubs.
“Ali’s sleeping, her injuries are minor, but they had to sedate her. We don’t know about Micah yet. I gotta go. I’ll call you at Mark’s to give you an update.”
“Wait, Bri—” Brian hung up before Johnny got another word out.
Johnny dressed, wincing as he lifted the pants passed the road rash up his leg and hip. The other leg was black and purple and he wondered how he’d avoided any broken bones. He pulled on the scrub top and held his breath at the pain in his ribs and shoulder. The more he rushed, the more everything hurt and the more injuries he found. He thought about that car coming at them and prayed he got the worst of it.