All Consuming

by Burton, Jaci

  No, no, no. She had custody. That couldn’t happen. Stop panicking.

  “What are you doing here, Landon?”

  “I came to see my boy. I thought I’d pick him up tomorrow and we could hang out.”

  She kept her frustration buried deep. “He has school tomorrow.”

  Landon shrugged. “He can miss a day.”

  “No, he can’t. Oliver needs structure, and that includes making sure he goes to school every day. If you want to see him, we can make arrangements for Saturday.”

  Landon looked down at his feet. Whenever he avoided eye contact, that typically meant bad news. “Well, that’s the thing. You see, I’ve got this great business opportunity, so I’m moving to North Carolina. I’ve gotta get going and I don’t have a lot of time. Got all my stuff in my truck and I’m joinin’ up with a new crew.”

  Same old story, just a different state.

  “Uh-huh. So you thought you’d do a one-day drive by, mess up your son emotionally by saying hi and bye and blowing on out of his life once again? Come on, Landon. Can’t you see that’s not good for Oliver?”

  He gave her a pleading look. “He’s my son, too, Hannah.”

  “I know he is. And I know you love him. And because I know that I also know you want what’s best for him. Seeing his dad once or twice a year isn’t what’s best for him.”

  She saw the tears well in his eyes. “I miss him. How’s he doing?”

  She fought back her own tears, refusing to let Landon manipulate her with his emotional pleas. “I know you miss him. He’s good. He broke his wrist at school a few weeks ago. But he’s got a cast on and he’s handling it great.”

  “He did? Aww, poor kid. I’m sure he’s fine. He’s always been tough, like his dad.”

  “Yeah. Anyway, tell me about the job in North Carolina.”

  “It’s an auto repair store. Nothing too fancy or more than I can handle. It’s a franchise and these guys that are gonna run it with me are really good. They got a head for business. And I’ll handle the mechanical side.”

  Nothing she hadn’t heard before. “And you’re sure this one’s on the up-and-up? Do you have the capital to invest?”

  He nodded. “I’ve been working for people instead of trying to go out on my own. Got some money saved this time. I’m sure this is gonna work out.”

  He toed the gravel, then lifted his gaze to hers. “I met a woman, Hannah. She’s real nice and has her head on straight. Kind of like you. She keeps me on my toes and makes me save my money and tells me when I’m screwing up. She’s finishing up packing her things and she’s gonna drive out next week and meet me up there.”

  A new woman in his life. In theory she sounded good and just what he needed. If it was true. And for Landon’s sake, she hoped it was. “Good. I’m happy for you, Landon.”

  “Thanks. I’m tryin’ to do things right this time. And when I get it all lined out, and I’m workin’ steady and got money in the bank, maybe I can take some time and come visit Oliver.”

  This seemed to be a new side to Landon. Thinking things through. Planning for the future instead of just today. Maybe the new woman in his life who was helping him mature had made all the difference.

  Maybe. He still had some work to do. And she wouldn’t believe anything until he proved he could follow through.

  “You can see Oliver anytime you want, Landon. I’m just not pulling him out of school for you to do that. If you want to come over tonight after he gets out of school, you’re welcome to stay for dinner. I know he’d love to see you.”

  He mulled it over, ran his fingers through his hair. “I do wanna see him, but maybe you’re right. Maybe just a one-day thing will mess with his head. I wanna see him when I can spend a week with him, where we can go fishin’ and we can really hang out, ya know?”

  Now he was starting to think like an adult. “He’d really like that.”

  “Would it be okay if I started calling him, though? After I get up there and get settled?”

  “I’m sure he’d love that, too.”

  “Okay. As soon as I get up there I’ll give him a call. By next week for sure.”

  “You do that.”

  “Thanks, Hannah. You always knew what was best.”

  She walked him out, then came back inside to check on her client’s color. It was still processing, so she went into the back to take a long swallow of her iced tea while she went over what just happened.

  Delilah walked back there. “That your ex?”

  “Yes.”

  “Was it bad?”

  “Sort of. He wanted to see Oliver. I talked him out of it.”

  Delilah leaned a hip against the washing machine and crossed her arms. “Do you have formal custody arrangements?”

  She nodded. “I have full custody. But I never stopped him from seeing Oliver and he never put up a fuss about me leaving Georgia after the divorce. He just never made an effort to see Oliver after I moved back here. But maybe things will change. I don’t know. We’ll see.”

  “I hope so, for your kid’s sake.”

  “Me, too, Delilah.”

  She went back to work on her client’s hair, but the rest of the day felt like a fog. By the time she got home she was exhausted. Only she couldn’t wind down because Kal was coming over for dinner. She got in the shower to rinse off, then climbed into leggings and a T-shirt.

  Oliver had finished his homework and was playing in his room, and when her mom got home she had gone to her room, which gave Hannah some quiet time to start dinner prep. When the doorbell rang, Oliver ran to open it and Kal came in.

  “Hey, buddy,” he said.

  “Hi, Kal. I had a pop quiz in math today and I got them all right. Got all my spelling words right, too.”

  “So, what you’re telling me is you’re the smartest kid in your class, right?”

  Oliver laughed. “Yup. That’s me.”

  Kal came into the kitchen and brushed his lips across hers. “Hi. How was your day?”

  “It was fine,” she murmured. “Yours?”

  “Good. Got some stuff done. Do you need help with anything?”

  “No, I’m good, thanks. Fix yourself something to drink.”

  He did, and then he and Oliver went into the living room, giving her breathing space again. She fixed the turkey burger patties, sliced sweet potatoes for fries, and made a salad. Her mom came in.

  “Need help?”

  “I’ve got it.”

  “You sure?”

  “I said I’ve got it.”

  She studied Hannah with a look of concern on her face. “Okay, you had a bad day.”

  “My day was fine. Go sit down and relax.”

  Her mother shot her another look, but made herself a glass of iced tea and disappeared into the living room.

  Hannah knew she was being short with everyone, but she couldn’t help herself. Landon’s sudden appearance today had reminded her that she wasn’t as in control over her life as she’d thought.

  Kal took the burgers outside to put them on the grill, while Oliver set the table and her mom made dressing.

  “Anything you want to talk about?” her mother asked her.

  “Not right now.”

  “You know I’m here for you, no matter what it is.”

  “Thanks.”

  Fortunately, her mom and Oliver and Kal had plenty of topics to discuss over dinner, giving Hannah the time to stay in her head. Kal tried to engage her in conversation, but she only gave him short answers. Thankfully, he didn’t press her in front of Oliver.

  After dinner, they all cleaned up and Oliver went to take a bath under her mother’s supervision, while Hannah put the dishes away.

  “Is there something bothering you?”

  “No, I’m fine.” She didn’t want to talk about it, to bring it up again, not when it felt so raw.

  But Kal wasn’t going to let her sweep it away. He turned her to face him.

  “Hannah. Talk to me.”

 
She looked around the corner to make sure the bathroom door was closed. She heard Oliver and her mother chatting away so she knew he couldn’t hear her.

  “Landon showed up at the salon today.”

  “Your ex.”

  “Yes.”

  He didn’t look angry or upset, just concerned. “What did he say?”

  She crossed her arms in front of her. “He wanted to see Oliver. At first he wanted to pull him out of school tomorrow to spend the day with him, but I talked him out of that. He’s moving to North Carolina. He has a new job, a new girlfriend. He appears to have his life on track, but I don’t know. That remains to be seen. He agreed with me that it was best not to see Oliver until he gets his life together. But he did say he’d start calling him on a regular basis.”

  “Do you believe him?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s made a lot of promises in the past that he hasn’t kept. All I can do is hope.”

  “That must have been a tough conversation. I’m sorry, Hannah.”

  He pulled her into his arms and at first she resisted, but then she realized how comforting it felt to share the burden. And when Kal rubbed her back, some of that tension she’d been holding on to all day eased.

  “You’re not in this alone, you know,” he said. “We’ll figure this out.”

  That was the thing. Her relationship with Landon and Landon’s relationship with Oliver wasn’t a thing she could share with Kal or with anyone else.

  It was a problem she was going to have to deal with on her own. Maybe Landon really had changed. It would be good for Oliver to get to spend some time with his father. But only if it was quality time, and that it happened on a regular basis. The one thing she could count on with Landon was his inability to be dependable.

  So as far as him turning his life around and becoming the ideal father?

  That remained to be seen.

  In the meantime, it would go back to being life as usual for her and for Oliver. And for the next few weeks she’d wait to see if Landon followed through and actually called Oliver. And if not, then she’d deal with it. By herself. Like she’d always done before.

  CHAPTER 29

  “I WANTED TO TALK TO BOTH OF YOU ABOUT THE HOUSE.”

  Jackson looked up at Kal. “What house? This one?”

  “Yeah.”

  His brothers had all gotten together to do some painting at the house and had taken a break. They were sitting at the table eating amazing sandwiches that Rafe had brought from their favorite deli, and he figured now was as good a time as any, especially since it was a Saturday and Becks was at work. He wanted this time just with his brothers so they could work this out.

  Hannah had been tense and quiet the past few weeks, and Kal wasn’t sure what was going on. She kept telling him everything was fine, but he knew there was a lot on her mind. Maybe it was because the holidays were approaching and she was busier than usual at work. He didn’t really know, but he felt her tension every time they were together, like there was something she wasn’t telling him. They’d go out and she seemed to have a good time, but he knew she was holding back. She wasn’t as relaxed.

  He needed to fix that, wanted to do whatever he could to help her and Oliver feel more settled in their lives.

  It was time for him to make some plans, and the first part of that plan started here.

  “What about the house?” Rafe asked, absently petting the pup while they talked.

  “I’m trying to make some plans for the future. I was thinking, Jackson, that after you and Becks get married, you’ll probably want to stay here in the house.”

  “Oh.” Jackson scratched the side of his nose. “We’ve actually been talking about that. I was gonna bring it up with you guys.”

  Rafe leaned back in his chair. “Go ahead.”

  “Becks and I want to foster older kids, around the ages we were when Mom and Dad found us. We’ll probably adopt a few, depending on what the state permits us to do. You know, so kids who wouldn’t normally get a chance for a family would get one. Like we did.”

  Kal grinned. “That’s awesome.”

  Rafe smiled, too. “Love that idea.”

  “Yeah. So we were thinking this house would be ideal for something like that, with all the extra bedrooms and the pool and now that we have the dog and all.”

  Kal could already imagine Jackson and Becks being parents to some amazing kids. And he’d been making plans of his own, at least in his head. “This is such a great idea, Jackson. I’ll move out.”

  Jackson shot him a look. “We aren’t even married yet. You don’t have to leave right away.”

  “I know, but I’m making some plans of my own.”

  “Yeah?” Rafe sent him a questioning look. “Wanna share?”

  “Not yet. Hopefully soon. In the meantime, we should all talk to Mom about making this house permanently yours and Becks’s, Jackson.”

  “That’s not necessary. It’s a family house, since it belonged to Grandma.”

  “I agree with Kal,” Rafe said. “If you and Becks are going to raise your family here, then it should be your house.”

  Jackson shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know. We should all talk to Mom about it. We all put equity into this house with the renovation. If we buy it from Mom, we should all share in that equity. That’s what we always talked about.”

  “Hey, whatever you all decide, I’m good with it,” Rafe said.

  “Yeah, same here,” Kal said.

  Jackson nodded. “Like I said, we’ve got some time. So we’ll make a plan. In the meantime, don’t go running out of here, okay, Kal?”

  “Deal.” With that settled, they finished lunch and went back to their paint work. When Kal finished at the house, he showered, then met with a Realtor and told her what he was looking for. She said she’d get some places together for him to look at.

  Part one of his plan was coming together. Now all he had to do was wait.

  WHILE HANNAH WAITED FOR HER NEXT CLIENT TO ARRIVE, she flipped through her calendar, her irritation growing by the minute as she counted the days. Three weeks had gone by and Landon hadn’t called. Not once. Not even a text.

  She wasn’t at all surprised. But she was so disappointed, more in herself for believing for one second that her ex had changed. He’d sure made it sound as if he’d turned a corner, that he’d grown and matured.

  She should have known better.

  A leopard did not change its spots. And Landon’s were permanently affixed on his sorry ass. She was so grateful she hadn’t allowed him to see Oliver. A visit would only have built up his hopes, only to send them crashing down, once again.

  Why didn’t Landon love their son as much as she did? Oliver was bright and intelligent and fun. She would never understand a father who didn’t want to be with his own child. She took a swallow of water and swiped at the tears that welled in her eyes.

  Everything had been fine until Landon had showed up. She’d moved on, she had a plan for their future. And with one short visit Landon had totally screwed with her head, made her hope that he’d matured, that he could accept some responsibility.

  It proved to her that the only person she could trust was herself.

  Now the one thing she knew for sure was that Landon was never going to have contact with Oliver again.

  She’d make sure of it.

  CHAPTER 30

  “THANK YOU FOR CHRISTMAS SHOPPING WITH ME,” HANNAH said as they loaded bags in the back seat of his truck. “It’s hard to do this on my own.”

  Kal and Hannah had spent two hours at one of the large merchandise stores, which hadn’t been all that crowded considering it was a Tuesday night and there were still a few weeks until Christmas. He was thankful for that.

  “Hey, it was fun. And thanks for helping me pick out gifts for some of the homeless kids.”

  She leaned against him at the side of the truck. “You’re so sweet to do that.”

  “Jackson and Rafe and Becks and Carmen and
I all pitch in. We get toys and games for the kids, then we buy food and bring it out to the camp along with some clothes and necessary items for the adults. They should have a Christmas, too.”

  She sighed. “They won’t go to the shelters or the places that serve meals?”

  He shrugged. “Some of them will. Some won’t. The ones that won’t are those we want to make sure have a decent meal and a gift.”

  They climbed in the truck, Kal pausing to check his phone, then headed back toward Hannah’s house. Before they reached the block, however, he took a left.

  “You made the wrong turn, Kal,” she said.

  “I know. There’s someplace I want to show you.”

  He pulled to the curb in front of an unfamiliar house. Hannah frowned.

  “What’s this?”

  “It’s a house I’m looking at. Want to come with me?”

  She gave him a suspicious look, but nodded. “Okay.”

  The house was a one-story cream-colored stucco with a beautiful front porch and a tile roof.

  “This is really nice,” she said as they got out.

  It was dark out so she wouldn’t be able to get the full picture of how pretty it really was. But if she liked it, he’d bring her back during the day. “Come on. Naomi is waiting for us inside.”

  “Naomi being . . .” she said.

  “My Realtor.”

  “So you’re house shopping.”

  He grinned. “You could say that.”

  They walked through the front door. Naomi, a mid-forties dynamo who was all of five foot one, waited for them in the entry. She shook his hand. “Hi, Kal.”

  “Hey, Naomi. This is Hannah.”

  She held her hand out. “Nice to meet you, Hannah.”

  “You, too, Naomi. This house is lovely.”

  “Isn’t it? Go ahead and walk through. I’ll be waiting outside.”

  Kal led Hannah through the foyer and into the kitchen.

  “Wow,” Hannah said. “This is nice.”

  The kitchen was open to the dining and living area. The kitchen had tons of counter space and lots of cabinets, and the floor was a light travertine, which was amazing during the day. “There’s tons of light in here. Look at all the windows.”