“Oh, but I’d love for you to be there! Could you please think about it?”
Hit it, Carter thought. “Well, I’d have to talk to my girlfriend and see what she’s got planned.”
Penny’s face paled and her jaw dropped before she finally sputtered, “Your, your, your girlfriend?”
“Yep. I mean, I can’t go to a party unaccompanied and leave her behind.”
“Well, uh, I only have spots for, um, for so many people, and I, um, hadn’t planned―”
“Oh, that’s all right. Thanks for inviting me though. Maybe next time you can plan it so I can bring her.” It was all Carter could do to keep a straight face. He was dying from laughter on the inside, and he hoped she couldn’t see it in his eyes.
“Uh, yeah, okay. That’s, um, I can do that. So, uh, have a good evening and I’ll be seeing you, Sheriff Melton. You take care now.” He didn’t get a chance to say another word before she hustled herself out the front door and down the block.
“Well, fiddle-dee-dee. Invited and uninvited in under five minutes. Good work, Melton,” he told himself with glee. Now maybe that trouble on feet would stay away from him!
He hadn’t been home ten minutes when he heard a car in the drive. When he snapped the door open, Sharla stood there, her fist raised to rap on the door. Carter let out a laugh. “Gonna punch me in the nose?”
“No, silly.” She stepped inside and closed the door behind her. “If I were going to do that, you wouldn’t still be upright.” Then she gave him a quick peck on the lips.
“Oh, is that right?” Before she could answer, Carter grabbed her and locked his lips to hers. Their tongues had been thrashing around for a full minute when he pulled back. “As you can see, I’m terrified of you.”
“Absolutely terrified, and you should be. So how was your day?”
“Got a lecture from Cruz on playing well with others,” Carter said and pulled a beer out of the refrigerator. “Want one?”
“Please.” He popped the top on the one he was holding, handed it to her, and retrieved another for himself. Following her back into the living room, he waited until she’d dropped onto the sofa, and he followed her lead and plopped down beside her. “What was this lecture about?”
“Telling the other agencies that he’s here and working with us. I didn’t want to, but I will.”
She gave him a stern glare from under her brows. “You know that’s the right thing to do.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t want to. Guess that’s kinda childish, huh?”
“A little bit.”
“But he’s in Murray talking to the professor. I about halfway expect him to call at any minute. We’re also going to O’Fallon to look at the records of the two guys who were involved in the robbery with Taliq.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“And I called the prison to make sure we could visit if we think we need to.”
“Also a good idea.”
“And your day?”
“Dealing with a little lady who has pneumonia. Poor little thing. She’s like eighty-three and very weak. I helped her with some breathing treatments, but I’m afraid the evening shift won’t keep up with them and she won’t be any better in the morning.”
“That’s awful.”
Sharla nodded. “Yeah. She’s so sweet.”
“Get the kids back to school?”
“Yeah. They didn’t want to go, but I told them it was best to stay busy.”
“Yep. Probably.” His phone rang and he looked at the screen. “Cruz. Gotta take it. Hey, bud, any luck?”
“A little. Before you grill me, I recorded the whole conversation on my phone so you can listen to it. That way you might pick up on something I missed and vice versa. O’Fallon? Prison?”
“Yes and yes. Anytime we want.”
“Good and good. I’m on my way to Sam and Dahlia’s right now and we’re going to some buffet here that they like. Don’t know how late I’ll be.”
“That’s okay. Sharla’s here with me and she’s staying the night. Hope that doesn’t bother you.”
A snicker rolled out of the phone. “Bother me? The way I snore, I doubt I’d hear anything if you were tearing the house down!”
“I take it that’s a no!” Carter said, laughing.
“Your house, your girlfriend. You staying in?”
“Yeah, she’s begging to. We’re both exhausted.”
“I know. I could see that in your face. I’d hoped you’d have some fun, but you need the rest. Hang in there. It’s going to get better. Just wait until tomorrow. Today I went over your stuff. Tomorrow you go through mine.”
“Good!”
“Yeah. I’ve got some stuff that you haven’t …” Carter was trying to listen, but the sound of keys in the lock startled him and he sat straight up. The door cracked open just a little and he heard something he never dreamed he’d hear.
“Hello? Carter? Son? It’s Mom. Are you here, honey?”
“Jesus, Cruz, sorry to interrupt, but I’ll have to talk to you later. Small emergency. Bye.” Shit! What is she doing here? Carter wanted to scream. “Mom?”
“Hi, honey! I cooked a bunch of chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy and … Well, hello! Who do we have here?” Wilda Fern asked, eyes wide and a huge casserole dish in her hands.
“Um, Mom, this is my friend, Sharla Barker. Sharla, this is my mother, Wilda Fern Melton.”
“Here, let me take that for you,” Sharla said and reached for the dish. Wilda Fern handed it off, that dumbfounded look still on her face, and watched silently as Sharla disappeared into the kitchen.
“Carter?”
“Mom, I didn’t want you to find out this way, but Sharla and I have been seeing each other for a little while now.”
“Oh. Well, you know how it is. The mom’s always the last to know,” Wilda Fern huffed.
“Don’t be like that. I just hadn’t had a chance to talk to you.”
“Did I miss anything?” Sharla asked as she rejoined them, a huge smile on her face.
“No, babe. I was just telling Mom that we’ve been seeing each other for a little while and I hadn’t had a chance to tell her yet.”
“Oh, yes, Mrs. Melton. Carter was just saying to me that he needed to introduce us.” Sharla held out a hand, which Wilda Fern took hesitantly. “It’s so good to meet you.”
Dear god, woman, if I loved you before, I love you ten times more now, Carter wanted to sing. She’d just saved his ass and said the absolute best thing she could’ve said. “That’s right, Mom. We decided we wanted to have some quiet, alone time tonight. Sharla lost a family member and she’s had a rough week.”
Wilda Fern tipped her head and frowned. “Oh, sweetie, I’m so sorry! I hope you’re doing okay.”
“Yes, ma’am, thank you. I am, thanks to this wonderful son of yours. You sure did a good job raising him.”
Oh my god, she’s going to send me to a commune and keep you! Carter was trying not to laugh. Boy, Sharla was pouring it on thick and his mother was lapping it up! He almost laughed out loud when Wilda Fern said, “Well, I did my best.”
The smile Sharla gave his mother was a mile wide. “You did good. Would you care for something to drink?”
“Um, no thanks. It never occurred to me that you might … What I meant was … If I’d known …” Wilda Fern fumbled for words, which made it even harder for Carter to keep a straight face.
He couldn’t help it―he had to poke the bear. “So is there enough for two, Mom? Because if not, I’m going to have to find something else for us to eat.”
“Oh, yes. I brought enough for you to eat for a couple of days, so there should be plenty. I’m sure glad I did this. You’ll enjoy it.” She stood there for a few seconds as though she didn’t know what to do before she said, “Well, okay, I’ll be going now. Y’all have a pleasant evening.”
“It was nice to meet you, Mrs. Melton.”
“Nice to meet you too, dear. Carter, honey, will you walk me out?”
“Sure, Mom.” Oh, hell. Here we go with the third degree, Carter’s inner child groused.
They’d no more than made it out the door before the questions started. “So, how did you two meet?”
“Through work.” That was a good-enough answer.
“And what does she do for a living?”
“She’s a respiratory therapist in Hopkinsville.”
“Oh!” She seemed genuinely surprised he hadn’t said she was an exotic dancer or prostitute or something, or at least that’s what Carter imagined. “So, is she divorced or widowed?”
“Divorced. For a long, long time.”
“Oh.”
It would be nice if she’d just stop there, but there’s no way she’s going to do that, Carter told himself, and he was right.
“Son, do you have protection?”
It took everything Carter had not to roll his eyes. “Mom, I’m forty-two years old. If I don’t know how to take care of myself by now, I never will.”
“Well, you can’t be too safe, you know.”
“Yes. I’m aware. But I need to get in here and eat before it gets cold, right? That’s what you always say, isn’t it?”
“Well, um, yes, it is. Okay. So I’ll be going now. But I’ll call you, okay?”
“Okay, Mom. Thanks so much for the food. I know we’ll enjoy it. Bye.” He backed away, waving, and hoped she’d take the hint. Sure enough, she climbed into her car, waved, and drove away. Carter practically ran to the house and slammed the door closed behind himself. “Oh my god.”
Sharla stood in the kitchen doorway, laughing hysterically. “Okay, that was the most entertaining thing I’ve seen in a long, long time! She’s a hoot!”
“When we got outside, she asked me if I had protection.”
Sharla doubled over. “She did not! Oh my god, I can’t breathe!”
“I know, right?”
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her I’m forty-two years old and if I can’t take care of myself by now, there’s no hope.”
“Yeah, no shit. I hope you don’t mind, but I got out plates and filled them. The food’s ready to eat, and I have to say, it smells delicious.”
“My mom’s a lot of things, but one of the best ones is that she’s a great cook.”
They sat in the little kitchen and enjoyed the food. Wilda Fern had always been a spectacular cook. No, there were no exotic Indian or French dishes, and she’d never made a soufflé in her life, but she was the queen of good home cookin’, and Carter loved everything that came from her kitchen.
As they ate, he wanted desperately to ask Sharla about Imogen and Taliq, but he wasn’t sure how to go about it. They were, after all, supposed to be having a quiet evening. Then, out of the blue, she started the conversation, and Carter couldn’t believe how lucky he’d gotten with that.
“So you have no siblings?”
Carter shook his head. “No. Only child.”
“And your dad passed?”
“Yeah. About fifteen years ago. Cancer.”
“Oh, that’s rough, and I should know. Lost both of my parents to it.”
“That is rough,” Carter murmured.
“And my sister.”
“Even rougher.”
“Yeah. She was thirty-three. Two years older than me. Tamara was thirteen and Lionel was eleven. It was hard, taking two almost-grown kids and trying to be their mother, not to mention having one of my own who was nine.”
“I admire you greatly for that.”
“Don’t. I did what anybody else would’ve done.”
“Maybe not. That was hard. Taliq was killed when Tamara was three and Lionel wasn’t even one. Imogen was the problem child, always pushing the limits, always giving my parents fits. She told me once that the only reason she’d gotten involved with Taliq was because she knew our parents would be pissed when they found out she was seeing a person of another race. He came from a very nice family, and she said his parents had been kind to her and seemed to like her, but she had no idea why he turned out to be a no-good piece of shit from the get-go. Had nothing to do with his color and everything to do with his nasty personality. He beat on her, pushed her around, and she let him. We were lucky Tamara barely remembered him, and Lionel never knew him. But other than that, Imogen was a good mother. She loved those kids. All she worried about the whole time she was sick was what would happen to them, even though I assured her I’d take care of them, seeing as how our parents and Taliq’s were gone.”
“And that hasn’t been easy,” Carter said, smoothing her hair with a gentle hand, then cupping her jaw. “You’re an amazing woman.”
“Not really. I just worked. I got up every day and put one foot in front of the other. When the cancer became too advanced, she came to live with me because she couldn’t take care of herself or hold a job. That was really hard.”
“I guess Taliq left her with nothing, right?”
“You know, it’s funny you’d say that. He told her over and over that he had an insurance policy, but she never found anything. Nothing. So I have no idea what he was talking about. After she died, I went through all her personal stuff, thinking maybe I’d find something, but I never did.”
“Nothing?”
“Nope. But she kept journals, and it was nice to read some of the things she’d written. Some of it was hard, though, when she wrote about the things Taliq did to her, the beatings and how she felt so alone and helpless. Of course, she could’ve come to me or, until they died, our parents, but she wouldn’t.”
“That’s a shame.”
“Yes. It was. I loved my sister, but she was stubborn and hard-headed. God, she was so beautiful, but she was so conceited! I mean, I guess I’m okay looking, but Imogen was a knock-out.”
“Okay? Babe, you’re beautiful. The first time I saw you I thought, wow, if I could just get to know that woman. I never dreamed you’d give me a second glance.”
“Give you a second glance? Carter, panties burst into flames when you walk past a lingerie department! Don’t you notice how women look at you?”
Carter was confused. “Women look at me?”
“Look at you? They leave a trail of drool behind them.”
He laughed aloud. “They do not!”
“Oh, yes, they do.”
Without even thinking, he whispered, “Penny Tadlock.”
“Who?”
“Oh, nobody. Just … nobody, really. But seriously, women don’t look at me that way.”
“Yes, Carter, they do. All the time.”
“Well, it won’t do them any good because I’m taken.” He grinned at her. “They can’t have me. I’m all yours.”
“If you’re all mine, then let’s get this kitchen cleaned up so I can enjoy what’s all mine, how’s about it, stud?” She wiggled her eyebrows and Carter laughed at her.
“Stud, huh? I’ll show you stud! We can clean up the kitchen in the morning! Get in that bedroom, woman!”
“No. We’ve got to clean up our mess and then we can make one in your bed. Come on. Help me out here,” she said, rising and taking dishes to the sink.
An hour later, as he stroked into her, Carter looked down into those big, luminous, blue eyes and smiled. “I love you, beautiful girl,” he whispered and leaned down to nip her lips before he dropped a kiss onto them.
“And I love you too, my hero.”
My hero. He wanted to be her hero, and he had a lot of work to do to get there. But he made himself a silent promise right that minute. She’d be safe, she and those two kids, sheltered from the pain of neglect and poverty. They’d never be hurt or abandoned again. They’d never be alone. He’d see to it.
Still, he’d never say that out loud to her. It was better not to make a promise if you weren’t sure you could keep it. At that point, everything was up for grabs. They had to get some kind of fruitful lead soon. He hoped lives didn’t depend on it.
“You didn’t tell me Cruz was staying here!” Sharla whis
pered as she slipped back into bed beside him.
Carter rolled toward her in the early-morning darkness. “I thought I did.”
“No. You didn’t. I went in the kitchen to get a bottle of water and ran right into him as he came out of the bathroom.”
That made him sit straight up in bed. “Oh, shit! You weren’t …” He threw the covers back―tee shirt. “Thank god you weren’t naked.”
“Yeah, no shit. That would’ve been awkward, to say the least.” She reached for him as he fell back into the pillows and he rolled to face her. Her fingers combed through his hair and she smiled. “I like this.” Snuggling down beside him, she threw an arm over him and he kissed the top of her head.
“I like it too. We’ve got tonight and then the kids will be home for the weekend, so we’ll have to … Wait. They know.” Carter grinned. “We don’t have to sneak around.”
“Yeah, but we can’t be having wild monkey sex with them in the house.”
“True.”
“So what’s on your agenda for today?”
“I don’t know, but I have this feeling Cruz is going to want to go to O’Fallon, which is fine with me.”
Sharla nodded against the pillow. “Okay. So don’t hold dinner. Is that the message there?”
“Probably.” He rested his cheek against the crown of her head and sighed. Here we go, he thought grimly. Pretty soon it’s going to be fussing about why I’m not home for dinner, why I have to work on Sunday, why we can’t have a holiday together. And then it’ll be over. He knew that. It was a surety. And yet there he was, trying to forge a relationship and believe Sharla would be different. It wasn’t about her being a woman. It was about her being a partner in a relationship where it seemed she was the only one giving anything, and that was exactly how she’d start to see it. It was simply a matter of time.
Just as he started to say something along those lines, the alarm clock went off. Saved by the bell, he told himself as he slapped the top of the damn thing. “Time to make the coffee. I sure hope you brought something to wear as bottoms.”
“Yoga pants.”
“Good. At least you can get around in the house without having to be fully dressed.” The coffee pot was calling him, and he left Sharla sitting in the bed, rubbing her eyes.
Shelter for Sharla Page 13