The Time in Between

by Kristen Ashley

  When he first spoke, Kath knew that throat clearing was about something else.

  “Dad’s not here.”

  Kath immediately looked down to her plate as the dust again flew.

  Pat continued, “And every year we’re gonna feel it, Dad not being here, Gramps not being here.”

  Her husband’s voice was getting thick so Kath reached out a hand and rested it on his waist.

  She heard him draw in breath so she tipped her head back to gaze up at him again.

  “The years will pass but it’ll never be the same, not just Christmas, every day. But especially days like today,” Pat carried on. “I know this as much as I know Dad would hate that. He’d want us to celebrate with no sadness. But I say he earned that sadness by being the best dad there is, the best grandfather, the best father-in-law, so he earned us missing him now that he’s gone.”

  “Hear, hear,” Shannon whispered and the way she did, Kath knew the dust was flying for her too.

  She also knew it was flying for Bea when she heard her niece try to swallow a whimper.

  “So every year,” Pat went on, “before we tuck into Christmas dinner, I say we build a new tradition, raise a glass and take a moment to remember the finest man who ever walked this earth. Patrick Moreland.”

  He raised his glass.

  Everyone reached out, grabbed their glass and followed suit.

  All except Janie, who whispered loudly to her father, “Where is he?”

  “I’ll explain in a bit, honey,” Coert murmured, his own glass up.

  Coert Yeager sitting with Patrick Moreland’s family, lifting his glass in memory of the man.

  And, Kath thought, this proved, no matter how old you got, you could bear witness to Christmas miracles.

  There was silence and everyone took their own time thinking about Patrick before they brought their glasses to their lips and took a sip.

  Pat waited until they were all done but he didn’t sit down.

  He continued.

  “In life, you sometimes lose. If you’re lucky, more often you win. And even as you note the losses and try to move on, you should make sure to celebrate the wins. So this, our first Christmas without Dad, I’m pleased just because I’m pleased, but I’m more pleased because I know Dad would be pleased that we had to lay two more place settings. We’re down one but up two. It isn’t the same. It’s different. But it works great. So I’ll make my welcome formal, Coert . . . Janie. Thank you for joining our family.”

  “Hear, hear!” Kath exclaimed, breaking out into a teary-eyed smile and lifting her glass Coert and Janie’s way.

  “I second that emotion!” Verity chimed in.

  “Yay for Janie and Mr. Coert!” Ellie yelled.

  Looking confused, Janie turned to her father. “Are we being adopted?”

  Coert chuckled and bent to her, saying, “In a way, cupcake. I’ll explain that later too.”

  “Is Mommy gonna be adopted too?” Janie asked.

  Coert’s good humor took a hit but Cady leaned forward and said, “Maybe next year.”

  Janie sat back in her seat, crying, “Neat! Mommy loves family!”

  God, Kath hoped so.

  Pat smoothed over that by finishing.

  “Now let’s raise our glasses to Coert, Janie, family and another very merry Christmas!”

  Glasses were raised. Sips were taken.

  Pat sat down and ordered, “Now for the prayer.”

  Everyone bowed their heads.

  And more dust flew, because in years past, all of them when this family was this family, except the last one when he’d been too ill, Patrick said the prayer.

  So this year, Pat made quick work of it before there was a round of murmured amens, Pat lifted his head and encouraged, “Tuck in.”

  Food was passed, forks were raised and the Moreland family . . .

  No, the Moreland/Yeager family . . .

  Tucked in.

  Coert

  “So I bought it because of this,” Cady whispered.

  Coert took his eyes from the view where he and Cady were finally alone, cuddled together in the observation room in her lighthouse, and looked down at her head resting on his shoulder.

  He had one boot to the floor, one leg up on the built-in seat, Cady snuggled between them, half twisted, resting on his chest, her eyes aimed to the glass surrounding them.

  She had one arm wrapped around him.

  However, the other hand was up and fiddling with the diamond at her neck.

  “I can see that,” he replied.

  And he could. The minute she’d taken him and Janie on a tour after the cake was in the oven but before the dinner preparations heated up, and they’d climbed up to this room, he’d thought, if he’d had that kind of money, that was what would have done it for him too.

  And as unbelievably amazing as the lighthouse was, he was getting a sinking feeling about it.

  Their future was together.

  And their future included Janie.

  Further, he hoped their future included their own child, something at their ages they were going to have to discuss a lot sooner than would be normal in their circumstances.

  And if they both agreed, they’d have to see to that a lot sooner too.

  But more, he had Janie, they had Janie, but they had her in a way where they’d also have time to just have each other.

  Coert always wanted his daughter with him but that wasn’t the reality. And as much as it wasn’t the best situation, with Cady back in his life it worked in its way so they could have that time to relearn each other, share about what had happened in the time in between, build their life as a couple.

  In a perfect world, he’d take time to have that alone with Cady.

  In their world, which had never been perfect, they didn’t have that much time.

  That lighthouse, no matter how cool it was, it was not a place to raise a family. There not only wasn’t enough room, there would be no privacy, not for Janie, not for Coert and Cady.

  The studio might work, at a pinch, but it wouldn’t be optimal either.

  His house was not large but it did have three bedrooms. He’d renovated the whole thing himself over the ten years he’d had it. He was only five years from paying it off. He had a good deal of equity in it.

  It’d cut Cady to move from this place.

  But for the readymade family he had to offer her, they’d need Cady to move from this place.

  He felt her head leave his shoulder as she pulled slightly away from him and also pulled him away from his thoughts.

  “You don’t look happy,” she observed.

  Her hand was still at her pendant so he didn’t share his thoughts, not then, that was for later.

  Instead, he asked, “You like your diamond?”

  “Of course I like my diamond,” she answered.

  It was one carat.

  Moreland could probably have afforded to give her one that was four.

  But it was becoming apparent that that wasn’t what Moreland had been about.

  Coert was beginning to realize the man lived in a big house because he had a big family that just got bigger.

  From their clothes and their manner, the Moreland family wasn’t about four-carat diamonds.

  They were about love and family and humor and togetherness and baking cakes.

  “Why would you ask that?” she queried quietly, and she did that studying him closely.

  “I wanted to give you something like that the Christmas we had together. I didn’t want to give you perfume. I wanted to give you something like that,” he shared.

  He saw her face grow gentle and she melted back into him. “Well then, now it’s even more special and it was already amazing.”

  “What I didn’t want to do was give you something, if you hated me after, that you’d hate and get rid of because it brought back ugly memories.”

  The gentleness went out of her face and sadness washed in.

  “Coert,” s
he whispered.

  “It totally sucks, how awesome this is, at the same time it’s a reminder we gotta run so hard to catch up.”

  She lifted her hand to rest it at the base of his throat. “That’s because it’s fresh. We’ll settle in and that will fade away.”

  He hoped so.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t get you a present,” she said, and he knew she was changing the subject. “And it wasn’t me who bought those things for Janie. The girls went shopping while I was at your place Christmas Eve. All I could think about was the pie,” she admitted.

  When she admitted that, suddenly Coert felt like laughing.

  “You do know that for birthdays, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, whatever, all you ever gotta do is make me a pie,” he shared.

  She grinned at him, noticeably pleased she’d taken him out of his mood. “I probably should have gotten that message when I gave you the last one and you dragged me up the stairs and ravaged me.”

  He grinned back, bent his neck and touched his mouth to hers before pulling away and agreeing, “Yeah. And Janie thinks Santa rained that goodness on her. So it’s all cool.”

  “’Kay,” she said softly.

  He drew her deeper into him, murmuring, “Your family’s been great, honey.”

  “As ever,” she replied, her eyes bright. “You’ll see.”

  He might see more but he’d already seen. Janie especially had been folded into the clan with no hesitation. And, except for Mike, who was being unapproachable, they’d done the same with Coert.

  “We need to think about me . . . meeting Kim,” Cady noted hesitantly.

  “Yeah,” he said. “That’ll be good, but for Kim, she’s hanging in there, she’s adjusting, she’s supportive, but we gotta give her time. This all went fast. Now we gotta slow it down, only for her, but that has to happen.”

  She nodded.

  “And it’s late,” he told her. “So my girl needs to be closer to her bed. So I need to find a way to extricate her from your family, most notably your dog, and get her home.”

  She nodded again, but even with his tease about Midnight, she looked a lot less happy about that.

  Coert understood that feeling.

  He pulled her up and more fully around before he continued, “I gotta work tomorrow and tonight’s mine with Janie, but she goes back to her mom and regularly scheduled programming tomorrow. You need to be with your family. But wanna meet me in town for a drink after dinner or something?”

  Another nod, this one a lot more enthusiastic.

  He smiled.

  Then he dipped in and kissed her.

  Cady kissed him back.

  They necked for a while with the sea and the lights and forest of Magdalene all around.

  When Coert ended it, he lifted his head and said quietly, “Best Christmas of my life.”

  Her eyes, those green eyes warm from his kiss, got wet as she breathed, “Coert.”

  “Best Christmas Eve too, and it only had a little bit to do with the fact I didn’t have to wrap all Janie’s presents,” he teased.

  She got hold of the wet in her eyes in order to smile at him.

  He kissed her again.

  Yeah.

  Best Christmas in his life.

  Then, unfortunately, Coert had to guide Cady down the stairs through her bedroom to the family room and hang with his daughter while she and her “new cousins” finished watching The Muppet Christmas Carol.

  This had benefits, since Janie fell asleep before the end.

  So it was gently that he carried his daughter downstairs and pulled her jacket, hat and mittens on with Cady helping. And it was quietly he carried her falling-back-to-sleep body to his truck with Cady and half her family following, saying goodnight and their last Merry Christmases. The women (with Cady being the last) laid kisses on Janie’s cheek then stretched up to do the same with Coert (this allowing Cady to do it too, after a day where they’d been careful with displays of affection in front of his daughter), before he strapped her in his truck.

  But the others drifted away and it was only Cady standing outside in her jacket, her gloves on, a long scarf wrapped round and round her neck, waving as he drove to the gate Daly had opened for them.

  Leaving Cady behind.

  On Christmas.

  Next Christmas, he’d wake up beside her.

  And as soon as Coert could manage it, that would happen every day.

  The Time In Between

  Coert

  Present day . . .

  COERT TORE HIS MOUTH FROM Cady’s, pulled her ass off the basin where he’d planted it and put her feet to the ground.

  He barely got her there before he turned her to face the sink, put his hands to her belt and started to undo it.

  His cock jerked when he heard her sharp gasp.

  Being quick in getting them undone, he yanked her jeans down to her thighs before he reached for his wallet.

  He’d tossed it in the basin and was pulling his own pants down when he heard Cady ask breathily, “Is it legal to have sex in the bathroom of a bar, Sheriff?”

  His eyes went to hers in the mirror and his hand went to his dick.

  She looked turned on, hot, bothered, and sexy as all hell with her face like that and her pants yanked down.

  “Anything’s legal if you don’t get caught, honey,” he answered. “So be quiet.”

  “I think it’s doubtful you’re going to say that at the next sheriff convention.”

  He fought a grin as he rolled the condom on and warned, “You’re not being quiet.”

  “Are there sheriff conventions?” she asked in a way he knew she was screwing with him because it was even breathier and her face was getting hotter and a lot more bothered.

  She wasn’t going to shut up.

  So he dipped his knees, slanted one arm across her chest, hand curling around her jaw, thumb gliding across her lower lip.

  Her tongue came out to touch it.

  He felt that touch drive through his balls, and he watched as he guided himself to her and drove inside at the same time he slid his thumb in her mouth.

  Her head fell back.

  And then Coert watched himself fuck her, gliding his other hand around her hip and honing in.

  She whimpered against his thumb when he hit his target.

  Jesus, she was spectacular.

  He fucked her harder while his finger circled her clit.

  Her eyes found his in the mirror and Cady sucked his thumb deeper.

  “Christ,” he bit out low, going faster.

  She got way up on her toes, angling her ass to get more of him and Coert gave more to her, staring at her taking him, front and back, in the mirror.

  He flattened his thumb against her tongue then slid it out, raking it across her bottom teeth, forcing her mouth open so he could hear her rasping breaths.

  She brought her top teeth down and nipped the pad of his thumb.

  “Christ,” he grunted, and watched as Cady took one of the hands she had braced against the basin and wound it behind them, grabbing on to his bared ass and holding tight.

  She turned her head and he lost the look on her face as she tucked it in his neck so he dropped his head and listened to her beg, “Fuck me, Coert.”

  “Again,” he growled.

  “Fuck me, honey.”

  He bowed his knees further and powered up, taking her off her toes and getting off on her abrupt gasp.

  “Yes, Coert, I’m . . . Coert.”

  He used his jaw and chin to force her head back and took her mouth right when she came. The whimper sounded soft and muted in the room but it tasted fucking phenomenal.

  She returned the favor, grasping his ass, taking his thrusts, wrapping her other arm around his head to hold his lips to hers. Pumping her tongue into his mouth in tandem with his drives, she muffled his grunts and swallowed his deep groan when everything disintegrated and his world became nothing but Cady’s hand at his ass, her tongue in his mouth, his cock bur
ied in her pussy.

  Coming down he glided inside awhile before he pulled out and away, steadying her as he did. When she had hold of the basin and was firm on her feet, he yanked his jeans up, helped her right hers and she finished doing them while he dealt with the condom and grabbed his wallet out of the sink.

  She leaned against the basin as Coert was washing his hands and she did it sharing, “That was the hottest thing we’ve ever done.”

  She was not wrong.

  They’d always run hot.

  But bathroom-in-a-bar sex?

  Nothing was that hot.

  Having squirted soap in his hands, he turned his head to her and grinned.

  She must have liked the way he did because her gaze dropped to his mouth and her face gentled but her eyes flared with heat.

  But her mouth kept moving.

  “Except, maybe, me attacking you on my couch.”

  Coert shook his head, and still grinning, he turned his attention to his hands.

  “Or when you dragged me up to your bed after I gave you a pie.”

  Coert continued grinning as he rinsed his soapy hands.

  “Or when you dragged me back to your bed not letting me finish my wine.”

  He turned off the faucet, leaned into her, and she didn’t move as he reached for some paper towel.

  “Then there was that time on the kitchen floor at Casey’s house,” she carried on. “And the time we didn’t make it up the stairs after we came home from that party at Lonnie and Maria’s. And that time we found that waterbed at, what were their names?” She didn’t wait for an answer. She said, “We need to find another water bed.”

  He twisted at the waist, brushing her with an arm, they were that close, and tossed the spent paper towels to the bin, refusing to burn brain cells thinking about how great it was they were at a place where these memories were hot and sweet and not hard and painful.

  Cady kept talking.

  “And under the Christmas tree. And in the bed of your truck. It was cold that night, but you kept me warm. And—”

  He hooked her with an arm and yanked her to his body, dropping his head and saying, “Baby, you want a drink?”

  “I think we should celebrate Sheriff Coert Yeager’s first unlawful act, so yes.”

  That was when he started laughing.

  But he’d barely started doing it before he dropped his head farther and kissed her right through it.