Last Call (A Place to Call Home Book 3)

by Laura Browning

  "Rich kids?" Caleb scoffed. "I don't think our family is in quite the same league as the Richardsons...or Amanda Brown's family."

  Noah snorted. "You mean the nosy, know-nothing reporter for the Messenger?"

  "Little harsh there, aren't you? I don't think she has much to do with her family."

  "Whatever."

  Caleb let the conversation go as they turned into the parking lot at the nursery. It was the most conversation they'd had since Sunday. Hell, it might be the most conversation they'd had since Noah got back. As he shifted the SUV into park, he glanced at his brother. "I think it might be better if you stayed in the car."

  Noah looked chagrined. "I'm not high on her list anyway, and now even less likely to be."

  "I'm not going to lie. You've managed to screw things up big time, and you let your problems spill over so they've become our problems. However, now's not the time to get into it. Right now, I've got to deal with Leah and this whole situation with her parents."

  As he stepped onto the gravel lot, Leah opened the door, her gray eyes darting to Noah before coming to rest on him. "What's going on, Caleb?"

  Her tone was without emotion.

  "We need to talk inside. You have any customers?"

  "No, it's been pretty slow."

  He held the door and watched her precede him. She was in her usual attire of well-worn jeans, but with the weather getting cooler, she had on a long-sleeved T-shirt. As soon as the door shut behind him, she turned.

  "Jonah's okay? Where is he?"

  "My mom and dad have him this morning while I took Noah to see George Mathis."

  "Then what's up?" Her tone was guarded, cautious as she had been when he had first seen her again.

  "Like I said, I took Noah to see George Mathis this morning. While I was waiting, Betty Gatewood approached me." Leah's expression shut down. "She said she saw your parents coming out of the social services offices this morning and overheard them say they're filing a complaint against you."

  When Leah staggered back a step, Caleb threw his arm out to catch her in case she fell.

  "What? Why?" Her gaze slid past him to Noah still seated in the passenger seat of the SUV. "It's because of him. Noah."

  Caleb had never seen her angry. He'd seen her scared, on the defensive, worried about her son, but he had never seen her furious. Her hands were balled into fists at her sides.

  "Leah," he began, but she cut him off with a chopping motion of her hand.

  "Stop. I don't want to hear any more. Your brother has a lot to answer for Caleb." She laughed harshly. "I thought leaving my parents' house would bring an end to all of this, but it won't go away."

  "They won't get anywhere with it, Leah. The claim has no merit, and any person with a grain of intelligence will see that."

  "And if it weren't for Noah, we wouldn't be standing here discussing this!"

  Now Caleb was beginning to get angry. Sure, Noah had a lot to answer for, but it was unfair to heap the blame for everything squarely on the top of his head. The fact he was being forced into a position where he had to make a choice between defending his identical twin or defending Leah just royally pissed him off.

  "You think so? How long do you think your parents would have waited to do something similar once they figured out you're the new owner of Mountain Meadow Plants?"

  She took another step back. "Where did you hear that?"

  "I also ran into Mack this morning, who told me. Imagine what an idiot I felt like, not knowing the woman everyone believes is living with me, the woman who's the mother of my child hadn't even told me her boss had given her his fucking business!"

  "I didn't want to say anything until it was all finalized. I was going to tell you." Now she looked defensive.

  Fuck. Caleb squeezed the back of his neck with one hand, hoping to ease some of the tension. The silence between them lengthened. Leah looked like she was strung tighter than a bow. He sighed.

  "I didn't come here to argue with you. I came to offer my help."

  Chapter 26

  Leah swallowed around the lump in her throat. What were they doing? When had everything gotten so twisted they were now standing in the middle of the shop yelling at each other? When Caleb sighed as if the weight of the world were on his shoulders, Leah’s anger leached away, leaving behind a depressing fear she wouldn't be able to find a way to fix everything suddenly going wrong in her personal life, or save what was going right in her professional life.

  She should be ecstatically happy right now. Mack had given her the business she'd dreamed of owning. Her financial future was secured. She could do all the things she had ever dreamed of doing. Instead of feeling joy, though, emptiness gnawed inside her.

  "I better go," Caleb said. "I need to get Noah home. I'll bring Jonah by before I go into Last Call tonight."

  "Caleb, we still need to talk."

  His expression was filled with weariness. "Not now, Leah. Just don't talk to your parents or social services until we do talk. Not my advice. It’s straight from Noah's attorney. I'll see you later."

  Long after the door closed behind him, and he and Noah had left in Noah's SUV, Leah remained standing where she was, biting her lip. Caleb's bombshell about her parents was still swirling in her brain, but it didn't even begin to compare with the other thought spinning like a tornado. Despite everything, she was in love with Caleb. What she was supposed to do with that, she had no idea. They had never been more at odds than they were right now.

  When she had first discovered she was pregnant with Jonah, everything had seemed so simple. She would contact Caleb, he would whisk her away from her parents for a quickie wedding, then they would settle down and raise a family like so many other young couples in and around Mountain Meadow.

  But the reality wasn't anywhere close to that, and until they could clear up all the obstacles lying in their path, she didn't see any way forward for them.

  The bells over the door jingled, bringing her reverie to an abrupt halt. Over the next couple hours, customers came and went with regularity, giving her little time to think about what she was going to do about her newly discovered feelings. She managed to wolf down the sandwich she'd packed that morning just before the door jingled once again.

  This time it was Mack coming through the door, a smile on his face.

  "I brought all the paperwork for you to sign. You're welcome to have an attorney take a look at it."

  "I think I'll take you up on that, if you don't mind. My day hasn't been going well, and I want to make absolutely sure this is nailed down as tightly as possible. Are you sure you don't mind?"

  Mack set the manila envelope on the florist's table. "Not at all. It won't all be official until we have the documents done, but until you're satisfied, I still want you to treat the place as yours."

  No use telling Mack it's what she'd been doing for some time already out of necessity. He hadn't been the most attentive owner and boss the last couple years.

  "Thanks, Mack."

  He gave her a wave. "If you don't mind, I'm going to go ahead and box up my personal stuff in the office. That way you can move in."

  He was being so incredibly generous. After the day she'd been having so far, it made her tear up.

  "Hey," Mack said, patting her shoulder awkwardly. "Don't do that. Makes me nervous."

  She gave him a watery grin. "Sorry. Caleb was in earlier letting me know my parents have apparently filed a complaint against me with DSS."

  "Like hell they have," Mack said. "If anybody should have filed a complaint, it should have been you against them. I kept my mouth shut over the years 'cause I figured it wasn't my business, but your daddy is mean as a snake, and your mama's so scared of him it makes her as bad as him. You and Jonah are well outta there."

  "Let's hope the social services folks agree with you."

  "Well, I'll be happy to tell 'em so."

  "You're a good guy, Mack."

  He surprised her by blushing to the roots of hi
s hair. "I don't know about that. I better get my stuff together and get outta your way."

  As she watched his tall figure disappear into the office his daddy had used before him, Leah experienced a momentary sense of loss. As much as she had dreamed about owning Mountain Meadow Plants for herself, she had to admit she would miss Mack's laid back presence and his bouts of panic anytime he thought he might have to create some sort of floral arrangement.

  He might not believe it if she told him, but Mack had taught her a lot about the nursery business. His heart might not have been in it the way his father's had been, but Mack had picked up a lot of knowledge over the years, knowledge he had unstintingly shared with her.

  Sure, Leah had taught herself the floral end of the business once it became obvious Mountain Meadow had a need for it, and she had brought her own green thumb with her to start, but Mack was a better businessman than he gave himself credit. That knowledge would be invaluable as she moved forward.

  Caleb returned at the end of the afternoon as she was locking up. Leah tried to talk to him again, tried to apologize, but he shook his head.

  "I'm not ready for a conversation with you."

  She crossed her arms over her chest. "When will you be? I don't think the social services people will wait too long before they call or knock on the door."

  Caleb's brows slammed down. "I need some time to think. We can talk in the morning. I'll be there in plenty of time so we can figure out what it is we need to do."

  After the door shut behind him for the second time that day, Leah stared after him yet again, the wheels turning. She had moved into his house reluctantly. Now she had to find a way to get him to move back in.

  One thing she was sure of. They would never be able to solve their problems if he was living over his parents' barn, and she was living in his house with only Jonah for company. Truth be told, she had gotten used to awakening in his arms, used to the instant heat they'd generated. There was something to be said for sex.

  Now she'd like to try it with love as part of the equation.

  "Mama, look."

  Jonah was holding up a car.

  "Is that new?"

  He nodded with a big grin. "Paw Paw gived it to me."

  "Did you have a nice time with them today?"

  "Yep. I'm hungry."

  She tousled his hair. "Hang on. I need to finish putting things away, and then we can go home and make some dinner."

  Later that evening, after she had Jonah in bed, Leah pulled out the paperwork and began reading through it. Everything appeared pretty straightforward, but she did want someone else to go over it. Caleb would have been the logical choice if everything was going smoothly. After all, he had experience in owning his own business.

  Leah lifted her gaze from the paperwork to stare around the cozy living area with its large screen TV and comfortable over-sized chairs. It was a great house but too big for her and Jonah. Without Caleb's presence, she was alone...and lonely.

  There was a part of her that wanted to dismiss what had happened with Noah, but she couldn't. After fighting so hard with Jonah's asthma, she couldn't let go the fact Caleb's twin had put their son in the car with him knowing he had been drinking.

  Leah hated feeling like the bitch who had turned him in. While her head knew she'd made the right choice, her heart was sick over it. That was the other problem with being here by herself. Once Jonah was in bed, it left her way too much time to think.

  It also made getting sleep at night difficult. Sheer exhaustion was the only reason she finally got any sleep at all. To say she was not at her best the next morning when Caleb arrived was sheer understatement.

  As though he had picked up on her weariness, Jonah had been whiny since she'd roused him from sleep. His lower lip was stuck firmly out as he stared at the scrambled egg and wedges of buttered toast in front of him.

  "I want pancakes."

  "I don't have time to do pancakes during the week. We can have them on the weekend."

  "Daddy make them." His lip protruded even more.

  "Daddy's not here right now."

  As soon as the words left her mouth, the doorbell rang. Leah leveled a hard look at Jonah. "Eat up."

  He grabbed his glass of milk and took a big sip while he continued to scowl.

  Leah hurried to the front door. Sure enough, Caleb was standing on the other side, which further depressed her. Had they really gotten to the point he was ringing the bell to his own house?

  She unlocked the door and swung the wooden panel wide. Caleb remained standing on the small front stoop, his green gaze somber. From the kitchen came the sounds of Jonah banging his spoon on the table, chanting, "Pancakes, pancakes!"

  Caleb's brow arched. "Rough morning?"

  Leah sighed and rolled her eyes. "What's it sound like?"

  He stepped inside. "Why don't you let me deal with Jonah while you finish getting ready? Then we'll put him in the living room to watch some cartoons while we talk."

  The relief at having someone else to step in for a few minutes made her feel teary and guilty all at the same time. "Thanks, Caleb."

  He dug his hands inside his pants pockets. "Go. I'll handle this."

  Leah fled upstairs, plopping down on the side of the bed for a moment and letting her shoulders sag. She didn't want this estrangement, but it was so hard to screw up the courage to say so. She had spent so many years placating her father or lying to make things easier, that it was hard to know what to do.

  Just be honest. It was what Caleb wanted, but damn, why did it have to be so hard?

  Chapter 27

  Caleb didn't let himself think about how worn out Leah looked as he cut through the living room to get to the kitchen. As soon as he walked in, Jonah's eyes widened, his spoon stopping in mid-air. Just as he'd thought. His son was catching on to how to take advantage of Leah's sometimes too patient nature.

  "Enough, Jonah," Caleb ordered quietly. "If you're not hungry, I'll take the plate, but what you have in front of you is what is for breakfast this morning.

  "Pancakes," Jonah said in a much quieter voice than before. Caleb looked at the buttered toast and eggs.

  "Tell you what, we can come to a compromise. I'll add some jelly to the toast, but there will be no pancakes this morning. So jelly on the toast, or no breakfast at all?"

  Jonah held his toast up. "Jelly."

  "Smart boy."

  While Jonah settled down to eat, Caleb started some coffee. From the short time they had spent together, he knew it was usually the first thing Leah made in the morning, so something must have happened to put her behind schedule. Hell, she looked exhausted, which was about the way he felt. He hadn't slept for shit since he'd walked out.

  He had just settled Jonah in front of the television with some of his toys when Leah came back downstairs. As always, she had on jeans, but her T-shirts had given way to a sweater that molded her slender curves. She had picked up some weight since he'd first seen her, but she didn't look much happier. Her gray eyes were shadowed, her brow furrowed.

  No doubt the news about her parents was upsetting her. It had pissed him off, but then Caleb knew his parents would never do such a thing in a million years.

  "Why don't we sit down in the kitchen? We can drink coffee and talk."

  When she started to open her mouth to say something, Caleb shook his head. He didn't want to have any of this discussion within Jonah's hearing. No matter how much her father might be a jerk, he was still Jonah's grandfather.

  Caleb pulled two mugs from the cabinet.

  "Not using the Keurig this morning?"

  He slid her a look over his shoulder. "I figured this discussion might be worthy of an entire pot."

  He slid the cup in front of her before leaning back against the counter and bringing his own mug to his lips.

  "I need to put something on the table this morning to get us started."

  Caleb paused in taking his first sip of java. He had figured getting Leah to discuss wh
at was going on was going to be like pulling teeth, but she surprised him.

  "What's that?"

  She had her hands wrapped around her mug as if it were a life line. Maybe it was. God only knew he was in serious need of some caffeine. Trying to juggle being a dad to Jonah while not living here, helping with Noah, and making sure he was overseeing Last Call was beginning to take a toll.

  "I owe you an apology. And Noah. You were right when you said my parents would have eventually got around to this, Noah or no Noah."

  "Did you find out anything more since then?"

  She shook her head. "No. I've had time to think. Too much time."

  "So do you think they really want Jonah, or what's the deal?" He needed to tread carefully here. While he was pretty sure Noah was close to the mark when he said her father's motivation was money, he wasn't bringing it up if Leah wasn't headed in that direction.

  "They don't want him. They never have."

  The sadness that colored her statement broke his heart. Caleb could never fathom saying something similar about his own parents. Hell, they treated Noelle, and even Holly's brother, Tyler, as if they were another one of the grandkids.

  "So why do it?"

  She met his gaze. "Only two reasons I can come up with. Just plain meanness, or somehow, my daddy thinks he's going to get some money out of this."

  "Well, that casts your new ownership of Mountain Plants in a slightly different light. If the motivation is money, won't it increase their incentive?"

  "Quite possibly." She toyed with the mug. "I'm also worried me having sole responsibility for the company might lead social services to think I don't spend enough time with Jonah."

  The thought he knew how to make this whole thing go away had wormed its way into Caleb's mind and wouldn't let go.

  He pulled out the chair cater-cornered to her and joined her at the table. "There's an easy way to make this all go away, Leah."

  She met his gaze, her eyes still dark with worry. "How?"