How It Has to Be

by T. S. Joyce

  “I don’t want to go with him anymore,” Tucker said with undeniable earnestness in his tone.

  Brick could kill the man before Trinity even had time to look this way.

  What? Jesus, he was losing his mind. Brick pulled the beanie over his head and made his way to the door. Just as he reached it, he felt a tug on his jacket.

  “Mister?” the boy said, staring up at him with those huge green eyes.

  “You can’t touch me, boy.”

  If his voice scared the kid, he didn’t show it. He handed him a piece of paper and said, “I made this for you.”

  “Come on!” his dad barked out, holding the door open.

  Brick rattled off a growl as he locked his eyes with the man. Whatever that stupid human saw on Brick’s face scared him. Brick could see it in his eyes.

  “Thank you for the pancakes,” the boy said as he walked to his dad, a little red and white backpack on his slim shoulders.

  Through the window, Brick watched them walk to a black Charger and get in. Trinity was standing by the door, still holding the pot of coffee as she watched them drive away.

  Brick wadded up the picture and made his way to the trashcan by the door, but just as he tried to throw it away, his fingers wouldn’t release the picture. He tried again, but his fist stayed clenched.

  Confused and more irritated than ever, he shoved the door open and strode outside into the cold wind. His boots crunched on the icy sidewalk as he made his way to his old red F-250 parked down the street.

  He got in, slammed the door, gripped the steering wheel with his empty hand, and glared at the pattern of the brick building in front of him.

  What was this feeling? What was this awful, strange, unfamiliar feeling in his chest? It was more than The Hollow right now. It was bigger than The Lonely. It was deeper than The Dark. It was something he’d never felt before and couldn’t for the life of him identify.

  Brick un-wadded the paper and froze when he saw the drawing.

  The boy had drawn a bear.

  Chapter Two

  Trinity Burnside was on autopilot. That always happened during the mid-morning rush. She was good at this job, even if her boss, Miranda, never gave her credit. She could handle all the tables in here and have no complaints all through the morning rush. She had a great memory and had served tables for so long, her time-management and efficiency couldn’t be matched in this town.

  Miranda liked to give her hell, but she wouldn’t find a better replacement.

  Trinity missed Tucker.

  Only two more days, only two more days, only two more tiny days.

  She refilled coffee at table six and turned to greet whoever just walked in the door. The mountain man from yesterday stood there, his head cocked, staring at her with those strange-colored eyes.

  The change in atmosphere wasn’t lost on her. Everyone stopped talking to look at him, and she understood.

  He was tall, and powerfully built. A logger, perhaps. He wore the same forest green jacket he had yesterday, with the hood up over his head. Today he wore a face shield that covered the bottom half of his face, but those eyes…bright gray. She’d never seen eyes like his.

  He had chiseled cheekbones, but he wasn’t skinny. He was so broad-shouldered, he had to walk sideways to get through the door. His hair was sandy brown. She could tell because some of it had fallen forward over his face. She couldn’t see it behind the face shield, but she remembered from yesterday that the man had an epic beard. He looked wild. Hell, he felt wild. And he was rude, but not-rude at the same time. Abrupt, perhaps, but he’d given Tucker his pancakes.

  She swallowed hard and gestured to an empty table in the corner. Something told her he wouldn’t like the one right in the middle of the diner.

  He gave her a curt nod and made his way to the corner. His strides were powerful, and deliberate, and long. Geez, he was enamoring. Everyone was staring right along with her.

  The whispers and murmurs picked up, but he didn’t seem to hear them. He sat down, his back to everyone, pulled down his face shield, and cracked his knuckles.

  He didn’t like her talking. She remembered that from yesterday, so she brought him coffee and a clean mug, poured it, and offered him a small smile when he nodded his thanks.

  “Same as yesterday,” he said. She’d never seen eyes like his, and she’d never heard a voice like his either. It was silk and gravel, with a deep timbre that was intimidating in and of itself.

  “The pancakes, too?” she asked.

  “Yes.” He cleared his throat. “Please.”

  “I’ll bring the syrup on the side for you as well.”

  He didn’t look at her, just stared at the wall across from him and nodded.

  She kind of liked it. She didn’t have to talk or pretend she was overly happy to serve the semi-rude man. And he was very low maintenance.

  Trinity couldn’t keep her eyes off of him as she waited for his food to come up. Rare steak and eggs. Yeck. She liked hers cooked at least medium. Bright side though, it didn’t take the cook long to prepare it, so his plates came up in just a few minutes. She grabbed them from the warming window and bustled over to him, expecting no conversation. She was shocked when he muttered something under his breath.

  “I’m sorry, I missed that. What did you say?”

  He froze her into place with those silver eyes. “How’s the boy?”

  It took her a full five seconds to recover. “Um, he’s good. I think.” That wasn’t entirely true, so she admitted, “He misses me. He called me twice last night and once this morning.”

  “His dad seems like a prick.”

  She belted out a surprised laugh and clapped her hand over her mouth. “That’s…” She contained a giggle. “That’s actually a really accurate observation. He’s a bit of a prick.” She shrugged up a shoulder. “He only takes Tucker on his court ordered days so he doesn’t have to pay more child support. Which he doesn’t pay anyway. He’s a year behind. Oh my God, I don’t know why I just told you that.” Back away from this conversation! “Um, I’m going to get back to work.”

  “Your boss is glaring at you,” he told her.

  She glanced over at the counter, and sure enough, Miranda’s narrowed eyes were trained on her. Coffee, she mouthed, pointing to a table across the room.

  The man hadn’t looked at Miranda though, so how had he known her boss was staring at her?

  “I’m Trinity,” she said. “Which, I didn’t even have to tell you because it’s written on my name badge.” She looked down at her boob that definitely didn’t have her name badge on it. “Which I forgot to put on today, heh heh. Okie doke. Holler if you need anything. I’m just going to stop talking now. And go…over there.” She held up the pot of coffee in her hand that was getting cold. “To refill coffee.”

  His facial expression didn’t change one bit. She backed up a few steps and he pushed his hood back off his hair—which was long and messy like he’d just rolled out of bed looking this sexy, which was freaking awesome—and began cutting into his steak.

  Trinity tried to keep her mind off the man in the corner, but he seemed to take up every molecule of space in the diner. The air even felt heavier to breathe.

  He’d asked about Tucker. She didn’t know why, but that struck a chord with her. Tucker had handed him a piece of paper yesterday before he’d gone outside with his dad, and she’d been consumed with curiosity ever since. What had Tucker drawn for the grouchy man?

  When he was finished, in about four minutes flat, she came back to the table to clear his empty plates. This time she was very careful not to touch him after learning her lesson yesterday. She set his check on the edge of the table and, unable to help herself, she asked, “What did my son draw for you?”

  The man pulled out his wallet and threw a couple twenties down on top of the receipt. “Is he a crow?” the man asked.

  “Uuuuh, no. He’s a boy.”

  The man clasped his hands in front of his face and studied he
r. Even sitting down, he was so tall he was eye-level with her.

  “Is his father a crow?” he asked.

  Okay, so the mountain man had spent a little too much time away from town, and was about three pickles shy of a sandwich.

  “He’s a person.” She grabbed the receipt and money to go make change for him. “You have a good day.”

  “A bear.” The man stood to his full height, and she had to look up, up, up into those strange silver eyes. “He drew me a bear.”

  Utterly confused, Trinity shook her head and told him, “It was probably a monkey. Monkeys are his favorite animal. He’s never drawn a bear.”

  “He wrote the word ‘Beer’ across the top, and the animal had sharp teeth. Your kid needs to work on his spelling.” The man strode past her toward the door.

  “Wait, what about your change?” she called, holding up his money.

  “Keep it.”

  And the snarl in his voice silenced the diner once again. No one said a word until the bell above the door dinged and the giant disappeared.

  He’d left her another twenty-dollar bill.

  He was the most confusing, but also the most interesting, man she’d ever met in her life.

  As she made her way to the window to watch him get inside his humongous old red pickup truck, a little piece of her hoped he would come back again tomorrow. Not because of the big tips, but because he was a beautiful distraction while she waited for Tucker to come home.

  Chapter Three

  The man came back the next day at seven in the morning. He arrived before the rush and didn’t even look at her as he made his way to the back corner. He was limping deeply and his face looked pained as he sat heavily on the booth seat. When he caught her staring at him, he told her, “I’ll have the same.” He gritted his teeth and looked terrifying for a split-second before he muttered, “Please.”

  He seemed in an even grumpier mood than usual, so she was careful not to talk to him or get anywhere close to touching him as she brought him the usual. And when he was done, he put way too much cash on the receipt again and stood to leave.

  She must’ve done something to upset him, or something.

  She didn’t like it and in a moment of desperation, she told him as he passed, “I get my son back tomorrow.”

  The man came to a halt and parted his lips like he wanted to say something, but then changed his mind. He just stood there for a few seconds and then said, “My name is Brick.”

  And then he left—left the diner, and left her just a little more interested than she’d been yesterday.

  And again, she hoped he came back tomorrow.

  A few hours later, she wiped down her last table and nodded her hello to the other waitress who worked here walking through the door.

  “Miranda, I’m taking off,” she called to the woman going through a stack of receipts behind the counter.

  “Mmm,” her boss said without looking up.

  “Thank you so much for covering me this morning,” Bree said low to her as she hurried to tie her apron on. “I owe you. Next time you need a shift picked up, I will take it as a personal insult if you don’t call me.”

  Trinity giggled and gave her a nod. “Oh, no worries at all. I didn’t really have anything planned for today anyway.” She offered a little wave as she headed for her purse behind the counter. “See you tomorrow.”

  Truth be told, she hadn’t minded at all when Bree called her this morning and asked her to cover the morning shift. Trinity was already wide awake and wondering if the man—Brick—would come to the diner. What if she wasn’t there and he stopped coming in? Or what if she wasn’t there and he liked Bree serving his steak and eggs better? A little territorial part of her didn’t like that. He was her…customer.

  Trinity pulled her keys from her purse and did her little ritual before she climbed in her old Jeep Cherokee she’d lovingly named Clyde. Like Bonnie and Clyde because he had been her getaway driver the day she’d taken Tucker in the middle of the night and left her ex, Archer.

  The ritual was to chant, “please start,” three times, because three was her lucky number.

  Clyde sure tried. She turned the engine over and over but it just wouldn’t catch this morning. “No, no, no, come on,” she murmured, trying again. It still wouldn’t start. “Crap,” she murmured, defeated as she slammed her back against the seat.

  So much had piled up on her lately. Her plumbing had gone kaput, and she was trying to catch up on paying the two-thousand-dollar bill for a plumber to come dig up her pipes and replace a bunch of root-filled busted ones. Her other bills were all a week late because of it. She hadn’t been able to afford many groceries this month and property tax time was around the corner. Not to mention Tucker jumped off the hood of her car last week and busted his butt on the pavement. She’d thought he’d broken his arm, and even though he was just bruised up, thank the Lord, she was waiting on his doctor’s bills to come in any day now.

  She was alone with it all. Alone with no outlet, no breaks, no moment where she could just feel good and actually catch her breath.

  And now she would have to pay to have her car towed to the mechanic and for it to be fixed, and God only knew how much that would cost her. She was sitting here with a stack of late bills ready to mail off in her front seat, taunting her, and the second she caught up, she had more looming over her.

  Right here, parked on the street in front of the diner, she did something she never allowed herself to do. Her eyes filled with tears, and she allowed two of them to trickle down her cheeks before she quickly dashed them away with the back of her hand.

  “Okay. Okay! Enough, self.” Trinity gripped the steering wheel. “You’re going to go pay your bills, and be all caught up, and tackle one thing at a time. Pay the bills, call the car shop, get the car running again, snuggle up tonight in your pajamas and watch four episodes of something cheesy on TV. Maybe do some laundry. Maybe even cook a microwave dinner, or perhaps some microwave noodles. By yourself. God this sounds like a pathetic night off.” She frowned at the brick wall in front of her. “I used to be fun. I used to have friends and go out. I used to have a life outside of just getting by.”

  Puffing out a frustrated breath, Trinity pulled the ponytail holder from her hair and untied the apron from her waist. She grabbed the stack of envelopes from the seat, already stamped and addressed, and shoved her door open. The rubber soles of her boots crunched in the melting snow as she made her way across the street toward the post office a few blocks away. At the next street light, she spied something familiar—Brick’s red truck.

  The sight of it had her locking her legs against any forward motion so fast, she nearly slid and busted her butt on the ice. She looked around at the stores in front of the truck to see where he might possibly be. She could maybe accidentally run into him.

  Flooring store, clothing boutique, barbershop, insurance office, liquor store. As she meandered her way nonchalantly toward Sammy’s Spirits, she rehearsed what she would say in her head. Fancy seeing you here. What a coincidence, I definitely didn’t stalk you. Would you like to take a stroll with me to the post office, because my freaking car broke down?

  The nerves took over and she veered off right before she went inside. She needed to leave that confusing man alone.

  “Stop.” A man said the word in such a demanding tone, she spun around to see who the heck would be so rude.

  It was Brick. Kind of. He was holding open the door of the barber shop. His beard had been trimmed shorter, his hair had been cut close to his scalp on the sides, and the longer top was mussed perfectly into place. His eyes were bright, and his cheekbones sharp, and his lips were set in a grim line. She’d never seen a more striking man.

  “You got a haircut,” she said over the sound of her pounding heartbeat. “It looks really good. I mean…” she dropped her gaze and fiddled with the stack of bills in her hand. “Not that it didn’t look good before but you look different…all cleaned up.”


  A frown pulled at his eyebrows and he cocked his head like a curious animal. “I’m going to pay.” He disappeared inside and the door swung closed on him.

  “Oh…okay.” She shook her head and hesitated there, unsure of what she was supposed to do. He was the king of dismissing her in the strangest ways.

  Blowing out a frozen breath, she turned and continued her short journey to the post office, but a block up, she dared a glance back to see if he’d gotten into his truck yet.

  Brick was walking toward her, his hands shoved in his pockets. He wasn’t wearing his jacket, but he’d pulled the face shield up to cover half of his face. The tight black long-sleeve shirt he wore did his body good, and she slowed and stopped.

  “Where are we going?” he asked.

  With a grin, Trinity held up the stack of bills. “I need to mail these off. You paid my phone bill this month with your generous tips. I’m catching up on all my late bills today. It’s an exciting moment.”

  He was staring intently at her smile.

  Brick looked around the street, but it was just them right now. Then he cast a glance up at the sky. When she followed his line of sight, she didn’t see anything. Just clouds that promised another storm later.

  He pulled his fabric face covering down to his neck and jerked his chin in the direction of the post office, then started walking. Okay, he was going to walk with her. Very fast, despite a slight limp. His long, powerful strides were hard to keep up with and she had to high-knee it to catch him.

  He was the most handsome man she’d ever seen. There was something so different and intoxicating about his chiseled features, especially now with his hair and beard all trimmed up.

  “You stare a lot,” he grumbled in that impossibly deep voice of his.

  “Oh, sorry.”

  “And you say sorry a lot.”

  “Sorry.”

  He cast her a frustrated glance. “Only apologize if you’ve done something wrong, Trinity.”

  The way his lips formed her name had her heart racing even faster. He was going to give her a damn heart attack!