by Barb Han
“What do you want?” His question wasn’t helping keep her emotions in check.
“Things I can’t have,” she said low and under her breath.
“What does that mean, Liv?”
She wanted to tell him, to be honest with him about the way she felt. What good would that do?
13
“We sure did one helluva job not ruining our friendship,” Liv said with a half-smile, and Corbin realized how quickly she was diverting the conversation away from the topic of her mother.
“I’m here for you no matter what or who you want to talk about. If you want to joke around, I’m around for that too.” He caught her gaze and held it. There was so much sadness behind those beautiful brown eyes. “But I don’t think you’re talking about the important stuff with anyone else now and haven’t in the past. Keeping it bottled up inside will only hurt more down the road. I wouldn’t be a real friend if I didn’t notice or warn you.”
“Real friends have been in short supply in my life recently,” she stated.
“And why is that?” he asked. “I just assumed you pushed me away because you’d fallen for him.” He couldn’t bring himself to say his cousin’s name.
“Is that what you think?” She seemed downright shocked.
“It was,” he admitted. “I didn’t have any evidence to the contrary.”
“I lost one of the most important people in my life, Corbin. I didn’t know which way to turn,” she stated. The look in her eyes said they’d only scratched the surface of why. There was a mix of hurt and regret embedded so deep she’d become an expert at glossing over them.
“It has taken me way too long to say this, but I’m here now, Liv.” His comment was met with a look of disbelief.
“But for how long?” she asked quietly.
She would ask the one question he didn’t have an answer to. His heart said forever but he couldn’t and wouldn’t make a promise he wasn’t one hundred percent certain he could keep.
“Talk to me about her,” he said, dodging the question and hoping she would let it slide.
Liv exhaled sharply. She dropped her gaze to the blanket and started toying with the edge.
He reached over to her, gently placing his finger underneath her chin to lift her face toward him.
“Hey. It’s okay. I’m right here,” he repeated as their gazes met. His heart took a hit staring into those brown eyes of hers.
“It’s hard, Corbin,” she said and there was so much bravery in her voice.
“I know,” he said, dropping his hand to meet hers.
“She was my world growing up, and I don’t even know if I told her how important she was to me.” Her chin quivered and a few tears rolled down her cheeks.
“The feeling was mutual,” he reminded. “It was so easy to tell in the way she looked at you in class or at home.”
“Yeah?” Her voice trembled.
“She loved you, Liv. You were everything to her,” he said. All she needed was a reminder of how close the two of them had been.
“Who was the first person you wanted to call when you got into UT?” he asked.
“My mom,” she said. “Because you were already standing next to me.”
“I happened to be at your house when you opened up the e-mail,” he pointed out. “You would have called me second.”
She shook her head. “I would have called you first.”
“I highly doubt it,” he countered.
“Not because I didn’t love my mother.” She cocked her head to one side. “The other day, you said something about taking the ones you love for granted. That describes my relationship with my mother to a T. I took her for granted and now she’s gone and I can’t tell her how important she was to me and I can’t hug her anymore…”
A sob escaped. He leaned in and looped his arms around her. She scooted toward him and buried her face in his chest. He whispered reassurances into her ear as she let go of all the pent-up emotion while in his arms.
Corbin had no idea how long the two of them sat there. He didn’t care either. The sun descended as he consoled her, offering all the comfort he could while hoping it was making a difference in some small way. Liv deserved the world and part of him wished he was the one who could give it to her.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Don’t be,” he said. “You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“I just wish I could tell my mom how I feel about her. The way we left things feels so unfinished,” she stated.
“Do you want to go there?” He referred to her mother’s burial site.
“I haven’t been there since…” She got quiet and he knew she meant since the funeral.
“We can go anytime you want,” he said, stroking her hair. “I’ll take you myself.”
“The thing is…she’s not there anymore,” she said. “It’s just a piece of stone placed in memory of her.”
Corbin realized that was true, but it also gave people a place to go. But Liv was right. Her mother wasn’t in a graveyard. There was one place he could think of where her mother’s spirit would be.
“I know where to go,” he said.
“Oh yeah?” She looked at him with red, puffy eyes and still managed to be the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
“It’s where her heart was when she wasn’t with her daughter,” he reassured. “Are you still hungry? Because it’ll wait until after you eat.”
“As a matter of fact, I’m starved. I feel like I can truly eat for the first time in a very long time,” she admitted, polishing off the meatball sandwich. There was a lightness to her now that he hadn’t seen in far too long.
“I’ll wait downstairs,” he said and heard the huskiness in his own voice. “That way, I can let Brax know the plan.”
He started to get up but she tugged him back down again. Before he could protest, she threw her arms around his neck.
“Thank you, Corbin,” she said. “Talking about her feels good and there’s no one else who understands how much she meant to me than you. It’s probably the reason I don’t talk about her with anyone else. I just don’t think they’d get it like you do. You know?”
Corbin nodded, and then he dipped his head, stopping himself before he pressed a kiss to her lips.
“I think I do know,” he said when he pulled back because she was the first person he wanted to call when great news hit and the first he wanted to reach out to when his day had tanked.
“It’s good to talk,” she said and her eyes were glittery with need—need he couldn’t afford to think too much about when she was this vulnerable no matter how right it felt to claim those lips.
Liv changed into street clothes, and then stood at her dresser. Her mother had left behind a ladybug pin that had been worn by Liv’s grandmother. The pin had been handed to Liv’s mother after a rare bone disease claimed granny’s life. Liv’s mother explained it would one day belong to Liv. The pin was just this little thing, not much bigger than a tack, but it meant the world to Liv.
Until now, she hadn’t been able to pull it out of the drawer, much less wear it. She pinned it on her shirt, wishing her mother was here to be the one to wear it.
Talking to Corbin had helped Liv realize she hadn’t given herself permission to think about her mother in the past two years, let alone mourn her. Skye Holden had the most amazing smile. Liv got her eyes from her mother, or so she’d been told but her mother’s had always been somehow deeper, richer, more vibrant. She’d given up pretty much any sense of a social life to be there for Liv. Her mother was devoted to her students and loved her job. Teaching had been her calling, despite the relentless paperwork and long hours that came with the job. None of the burdens ever outweighed her passion for teaching.
While most complained about teenagers in general, Liv’s mother had always said that that was the time kids started to become more interesting people. They could hold a real conversation, and their penchant for debating and questioning everything
they’d ever known didn’t bother her. She used to smile and say teenagers were meant to be curious about the world, after all, they were so close to the age where they would inherit it.
Tears streamed down Liv’s face. Not tears from sadness but tears from the memories—and they were all good. If there was such a thing as saints on earth, Skye Holden would surely have qualified. Students loved her mother. She’d seen the tributes that had been placed on their walls on social media after the accident. Her mother had touched so many lives.
A sense of pride washed through Liv. She would always miss her mother and stopping to remember her somehow made her feel closer when all Liv expected to feel was the pain of losing her. She thought about all the pints of ice cream the two of them had shared on Friday night movie nights when they’d curl up in front of the TV to watch a show in their pajamas.
They might not have had everything, big house, expensive cars, and yet in many small ways, it felt like they did. They had each other. Beyond that, there was always food on the table and presents on holidays.
Liv felt a sense of shame for the high school years when she’d pushed her mother away, insisting she ride to school with Corbin when in truth she was embarrassed to show up with her mother. If she could take anything back…
Liv redeemed herself somewhat after going to college and realizing all the little things her mother did on a daily basis to make her life better. The care. The meals. The laundry.
When given a choice of all the degree plans she could have chosen, she’d followed in her mother’s footsteps. Turned out, an English degree didn’t do a whole lot of good unless she wanted to be a teacher where she’d worked at the same school as her mother. After the accident, Liv couldn’t go back to the same high school she’d worked when her mother was alive. There were too many memories there. She’d stayed long enough for the principal, Mrs. Bench, to replace two teachers after the devastating crash.
The unfairness of her mother dying when she was still so young and in such a senseless manner struck like a physical blow. The other driver was cutting through Lone Star Pass to avoid highway traffic on her way north to Waco. She’d been too tired to be behind the wheel in the first place, had dozed off before crossing over and striking Liv’s mother head-on.
Liv glanced down at the ladybug pin and smiled. Remembering dredged up old pain. But a warm feeling settled over her too. She freshened up in the mirror before hearing a vehicle approach. More of Corbin’s family?
It wouldn’t surprise her. The fact a couple of his brothers and his mother had stopped by earlier reminded her just how wonderful Corbin’s side of the family was. Trust her when she said the other side wasn’t nearly so kind. But then, they seemed to look at her as the enemy from day one and they were probably right in doing so.
“I wonder who that is,” she heard Corbin say as she reached the bottom of the stairs.
“This isn’t one of yours?” she asked.
Both Corbin and Brax shrugged.
“No one owns a white Suburban that I know of,” Corbin said. He looked to his brother.
“I’m drawing a blank too,” Brax said.
“Maybe you should stay inside while I investigate,” Corbin said to her.
Recognition dawned.
“That’s no buyer,” she stated. “It’s my Uncle Jody.”
“Jody Reiss?” Brax asked.
“That’s the one,” she said.
“I heard he moved away from here a long time ago,” Brax said. “Got into some trouble with the law in Galveston.”
“He called out of the blue to offer support the other day.” Liv sure didn’t remember giving him an invitation. “He mentioned something about checking on me again. I thought he was talking about a phone call.”
Uncle Jody climbed out of the driver’s seat of his SUV. He stopped at the driver’s door and she could see him reaching for something inside. He took a step back and closed the door. The object in his hand was a cane. He walked with a limp away from the older SUV, and seemed to rely heavily on the cane.
“I better go see what he wants,” she said, thinking at least he didn’t have a suitcase in the other hand.
“Mind if we join you?” Corbin asked and she could hear the protectiveness in his voice.
“I’ll stay back,” Brax said. “Mind if I put on a pot of coffee?”
“Help yourself,” she said, figuring they were going to need it to get through this visit. Her short-lived second wind at the thought of going to her mother’s favorite place waned at the sight of her uncle.
Shouldn’t she be more excited about a visit from family?
Maybe, but she didn’t know this man and he’d never visited much at all while she was growing up. When he did, it seemed like her mother’s nerves were set on edge.
Liv opened the door and Corbin reached over her head to hold it open. She led the way outside, and he was right behind her, reaching for her hand. With their fingers linked, she felt a whole lot better about facing Uncle Jody.
“Liv? Is that you?” The older man walked up to the porch, looking like it winded him to make the journey. “You’re all grown up.”
“Yes, I am.” She smiled but it was one hundred percent awkward to be staring at this man in person. She should probably say it was good to see him. Instead, she went with, “What made you decide to visit?”
“Heard there’s been a mess of trouble in town. Thought maybe you could use a little family support.” Uncle Jody was younger than her mother, so he was probably in his early fifties. He could best be described as thick with big arms. At first glance, he looked like the kind of guy who’d be sitting on the porch on a sofa, throwing back beers all day. There was something about his smile that didn’t sit well. She couldn’t quite put her finger on why.
“That’s really nice of you.” She motioned toward Corbin with her free hand. “As you can see, I have friends here.”
“Oh, well, I drove all this way for nothing then.” He took a couple of steps toward the porch. “I’ll just make the return trip to Corpus in the morning.”
She didn’t see how she could turn him away, especially considering it seemed to take great effort to walk from the SUV to the porch.
“Have you met my friend here?” She motioned toward Corbin.
“Corbin Firebrand.” He stuck his hand out toward Uncle Jody
Uncle Jody’s eyes widened when he heard the last name. He took the offering and shook. “Nice to meet you.”
“I was just about to say the same thing,” Corbin said, but his voice told another story and his expression said it all. Uncle Jody was up to something.
14
“Do you have an overnight bag I can get for you?” Corbin asked Liv’s uncle. The man had ties to the community and his recent out-of-the-blue call followed by this visit wasn’t sitting well. Not to mention in all the years he’d known Liv and her mother this uncle had rarely visited. On the rare chance he stopped by, Ms. Holden always seemed a little nervous about being alone in the house with him.
“There’s one in the backseat if you don’t mind.” Jody fished out a key fob from his pocket and unlocked the vehicle.
“Not at all.” Corbin walked over to the SUV as Liv ushered her uncle inside the house.
Corbin’s main motivation for the offer was to see if there were any indicators of the real reason for Jody’s visit. Was he there to spy for Uncle Keif? At this point, Corbin wasn’t ruling anything out. The fact his uncle could have orchestrated the ‘mystery’ offer to buy out Liv in the first place was more than frustrating. A man had lost his life, presumably because of this deal.
Ed Roberts hadn’t exactly been Corbin’s favorite person, But he didn’t trust this man as far as he could throw him. He opened the vehicle’s door and reached for the bag. The inside smelled like greasy fries. Fast food wrappers littered the floorboard and Corbin had half a mind to grab a pair of gloves from his truck so he didn’t have to touch anything. Plus, the sheriff could probably lift fin
gerprints from the handle.
Then again, the same could be said for the wheel and anything Jody touched while inside the home. So, Corbin decided to let it go and move on. He glanced at the front seat. On the passenger side, there were more wrappers and not much else unless something was buried underneath.
Corbin wouldn’t mind cracking open the suitcase but couldn’t risk being gone much longer or getting caught. If Uncle Jody was up to something and he suspected Corbin was onto him, the guy wouldn’t relax. He’d be more careful. Make fewer mistakes.
If there was a connection between Jody and Corbin’s family, he intended to find out. Corbin pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket and fired off a text to alert the sheriff to Jody’s arrival. He followed up asking if the sheriff knew where Jody lived and what his story was.
Lawler responded that he’d check into it.
Satisfied that he’d done as much as he could for the time being, he picked up the suitcase and headed inside. The trip he originally thought he’d be taking Liv on tonight to her mother’s former classroom and then the quarry would have to wait. His chest swelled with pride that Liv had opened up to him about missing her mother.
He wasn’t there for her two years ago in the way he should have been. It wasn’t too late to step up now.
Corbin headed inside and set the suitcase down beside the door.
“Hope that wasn’t too much trouble,” Jody said. He seemed pretty comfortable sitting in a lounger in the living room. Was it an act?
“I was just asking my uncle what he’s been up to the past few years,” Liv informed and her smile was strained. “Turns out, he’s been working a fishing boat in Galveston until he recently took a fall and rolled his ankle.”
“Doctor said it should be fine in a few weeks,” Jody said, waving it off.
Brax shot a look of distrust that Jody didn’t seem to pick up on. Corbin felt the same way. He wouldn’t believe a word that came out of this man’s mouth.
“And what brings you here?” Corbin asked, figuring he might get a different answer than Liv did a few minutes ago. Asking the same question from a different source or in a different way was something he’d observed Lawler do during recent investigations.
