Beyond the Orange Moon (Mathews Family Book 2)

by Adrienne Frances

  At the sound of Charlie’s voice, Jackson stood and ran to his dad. “Da-yee!” he squealed as Charlie picked him up.

  “Are you torturing your uncles?” Charlie asked and nuzzled his son’s neck. “His diaper is dry. Good job, guys.”

  “We’re not total morons,” Hugh grumbled.

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Charlie retorted.

  Jackson held up the phone. “Ber,” he said, and flashed a toothy grin.

  “Angry Birds?” Charlie asked with his eyebrows raised. “Nice.”

  “Don’t judge us,” Jonah said through a yawn. “This is the first time all day that he sat still for ten minutes.”

  “Not judging.” Charlie laughed and set Jackson back on the floor. “How do you think I knew he’d buy a bunch of apps? That wasn’t just an assumption, man. That was from experience.”

  “I need to sleep.” Hugh stood up. “Thank you for the birth control lesson today. From this moment on, I wear two condoms.”

  “Good to know,” Charlie said, and took a seat on the couch. “Where’d Brandon go?”

  Jonah yawned again and stretched his arms. “Mom’s. He had a bunch of work to do and a conference call with the people who hired his firm to design that hotel. He couldn’t work with Jack bouncing all over the place.”

  “Why the hell did he even come into town then?” Charlie shook his head and leaned back. “I don’t think he’s ever been this busy. He should’ve stayed home.”

  “I asked him to come with me,” Jonah said. He sat up a little, an action that suggested there was more to the story.

  With one brow raised, Charlie glanced over at Jonah. “Do I even want to know?”

  “I quit school,” Jonah said, and looked away.

  “Jonah,” Charlie said, exasperated. He ran his hands over his face, and asked, “And your job?”

  Jonah leaned forward and stared down at Jackson, who was sitting with his back to them and working diligently on Hugh’s phone. “That too,” he said with a long sigh. “Cali’s not for me.”

  “What exactly is for you, Jonah?” Charlie asked, his voice practically a growl. “You need a job. You need to just pick something and stick with it. You’re twenty-four years old. Be a man, for Christ sake.”

  “And Hugh’s twenty-five! Do you tell him to be a man? He lives in a hotel!”

  “There’s a difference between you and Hugh.”

  Jonah sat there for a moment and then gestured for Charlie to elaborate.

  “Hugh doesn’t let Mom pay his bills; he makes his own way. He might not do it the way everyone wants him to, but he doesn’t expect help like you do.” Charlie stabbed a finger at Jonah. “You’ve always sat back and let Mom carry you. It’s bullshit and you know it.”

  Jonah stared at Charlie for a few moments. He gnawed on the inside of his cheek and slowly leaned back into the couch while he processed it all.

  “I’m sorry, Jonah, but damn.” Charlie rubbed the back of his neck while he thought about how to handle this.

  “I’ll figure this out, Charlie. I have a little money put aside and my lease is up now. I just need to decide how to tell Mom.”

  Charlie laughed to himself. “I’m sure she already knows something’s up, you dumbass. You don’t give her enough credit.”

  Jonah nodded in agreement. “You’re probably right. That doesn’t make it easier, though.”

  “Just … don’t make me regret this …” Charlie shook his head and looked up at the ceiling. “You can stay here while you figure out what you want to do. And don’t just tell me you’ll go to school. You’re going to get a job and help me out around here.”

  “A job? Here?” Jonah thought about that for a minute.

  Charlie nodded. “With me.”

  “Construction?” Jonah looked appalled. “Seriously?”

  “It’s not forever, Jonah.”

  “How long?”

  “As long as it takes for you to get your head out of your ass,” Charlie said, annoyed.

  Jonah smirked. “That could be forever.”

  “Just think it over. I’ll talk to Mike and see where we could put you.” Charlie shrugged. “Honestly, you have enough schooling that we could put you in the financial part of it all. I hate dealing with the payroll, taxes, and client bids. Mike does, too.”

  Jonah rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “That could actually be cool. I do have a few accounting and math credits under my belt.”

  “Brother, you have everything under your belt.” Charlie smacked Jonah on the knee and chuckled. “And don’t get too excited. Mike will start you at the bottom, as a laborer first, if he even agrees to hire you.”

  “Don’t worry,” Jonah began. “I can assure you that I’m not excited.”

  “And he’s down for the count,” Charlie said and pointed at Jackson, who was sleeping in the fetal position on the floor and cuddling Hugh’s phone. “Thanks for wearing him out today. Perfect timing for my nap.”

  “That’s bullshit,” Jonah said, and covered himself with a blanket. “Don’t wake me up.”

  Charlie walked over and carefully scooped up Jackson, who remained in a deep sleep. He carried him back to his bedroom and placed him in his crib.

  He stared down at his son and watched as his little mouth moved with each breath he took. As he covered him with a blanket, he wondered long and hard if he would ever be capable of bringing another woman into his life. Who the hell would want to step into this muddy water, anyway? How would he even drop that bomb: Hey, I know it’s our first date, but are you ready to be a mother?

  “I owe you so much more than this,” he whispered, and gently rubbed Jackson’s tiny head.

  * * *

  Lucy was in her kitchen, stirring the batter in her mixing bowl. Wearing her favorite shorts from Victoria’s Secret, a PINK tank top, and fuzzy socks, she slid across the linoleum and bobbed her head to Katy Perry. She diced the remaining strawberries and added them to the bowl, then folded more sour cream in as well.

  When her door swung open, she wasn’t at all surprised to see her mother stomp into the dining room and toss her bag on the kitchen table. This was usually the time of night that she decided to drop in to tell her what a failure she was.

  “Hey, Mom,” Lucy forced herself to say, feigning happiness.

  Barbara Dalton stood by the table and took in the scene before her. She scrunched up her nose and gave a disapproving glare. “I remember the days when I would visit and find you sitting in front of your laptop, writing a paper or cramming for your next clinical.”

  Lucy poured the batter into the waiting cupcake liners. She grimaced, and said, “Bleh. Don’t remind me.”

  Barbara took a seat. “Are those Nana’s strawberry cupcakes?”

  Lucy nodded and smiled. “I’m going to dip the tops in chocolate after I frost them.”

  “Nana didn’t do that,” Barbara practically scolded.

  Lucy sighed. “I know that, Mom. I’m just trying something different.”

  “Why do you always have to be different? Why can’t you just do normal things like everyone else?” Her mother shook her head and put her face in her hands. “You are infuriating, Lucy Marina Dalton.”

  “Because I changed Nana’s recipe a little? Mom, get a grip.”

  “It’s not the recipe—”

  “God. Here we go,” Lucy grumbled.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Lucy set down the bowl and drummed her fingers on the counter. “The nurse speech. It’s been a week since we last discussed it, so I’m due for a lashing. Go ahead.”

  “No, Ms. Psychic, that’s not where I was going.” Barbara crossed her arms and glared. “I was actually going to tell you that I ran into Adam.”

  Lucy rolled her eyes. “Let it go, Mom.”

  “Honey, he just didn’t know how to handle everything. You completely shut him out.”

  “Well, it’s not like my phone is ringing off the hook with calls and messa
ges from him. And thank you for that lovely re-cap of my personal relationship.”

  “I told him he should give you a call.”

  “You only like him because he’s going to be a doctor.” Lucy closed her eyes and sighed. He wasn’t going to call and that was just fine with her. Grace was right: he was a waste of a good-looking man.

  “Also, since we’re on the topic of doctors, I ran into Dr. Ridges last night at the hospital. She asked about you.”

  Lucy spun around on her heel and pointed a chocolate-covered spatula in her mother’s direction. “Hah!” she said, and squinted one eye. “I knew it!”

  “Oh, stop.” Barbara folded her hands in front of her. “Anyway, she said that if you would just come back, as a favor to me, you could re-register and it would all be swept under the rug—gone and forgotten.”

  “I don’t want to do that, Mom.” Lucy put her cupcakes in the oven. She grabbed a towel and flipped the oven door closed with her foot. “I’m not meant to be a nurse. Why don’t you get that?”

  “Honey, you saw something terrible and you lost it. We all have those moments.” Her mother exhaled and frowned. “I wish I could lie to you and say that it gets easier, but it doesn’t. But don’t you see: the good that nurses do outweighs the bad they see?”

  “I do see that, Mom. I think nurses are amazing, but I don’t want to be one. That’s your dream—not mine.” Lucy brought her dishes to the sink and turned on the faucet. “Besides, what I saw … I don’t ever want to experience that again. I held a baby while his mom died. I heard her husband—”

  “I know, okay? I know what happened.”

  Lucy rinsed out the mixing bowl and felt her chest tighten. She was almost back to feeling normal and these constant speeches always seemed to knock her back ten paces. “Please stop bringing this up.”

  “There was nothing you could do,” her mother went on, ignoring her. “Amniotic fluid embolisms are so rare, honey. There’s no way to detect them and there’s no way to stop them once they happen. She was a ticking time bomb after she gave birth.”

  Lucy spun around and glared at her mother. “I know! You have told me this—Grace has told me this! I know I didn’t kill that woman, for crying out loud! Why do you all insist on making me relive that nightmare? And today, even … I just want to forget.”

  “What happened today?”

  Grace’s face suddenly appeared around the corner. “Hi,” she said a little uneasily, knowing she had walked in on yet another argument.

  Barbara perked right up at the sight of Grace, the golden nurse. “Hi, Grace! How are you, sweetie? You’re not working tonight?”

  Grace smiled politely and shook her head. “I’m off tonight. I was just getting some laundry done.”

  “Aren’t we lucky to only work three shifts a week?” Barbara took the opportunity to ask. She spread her red lips into a smile, and added, “I just love my days off.”

  Grace’s eyes moved from very-pissed-off Lucy to Barbara’s fake smile, and she shrugged. “You bet,” she said, and quickly escaped into her room.

  About an hour later, Lucy was ecstatic to finally walk her mother to the door.

  “Ba-bye, Grace!” Barbara yelled. “You take care, sweetie!”

  Grace emerged from her bedroom with her pajamas on and relief all over her face. “It was nice seeing you, Barb!”

  Lucy closed the door and rolled her eyes. She placed her hands on her hips and blew her hair off her face. “That woman is going to make me crazy.”

  Grace curled up on the couch and gave an empathetic look. “Nursing speech?”

  “It’s, like, every other day, now,” Lucy said, and made her way to the kitchen. She slowly stirred a bit of canola oil into her melting chocolate.

  “What’s on tonight’s dessert menu?” Grace asked as she picked up a magazine. “It smells fucking glorious.”

  “Chocolate covered strawberry cupcakes.” Lucy smirked at Grace’s foul mouth. “If only my mother could hear you when you speak like a truck driver.” She stopped and thought for a minute. “Never mind. She’d just ask me why I don’t swear more, like Nurse Grace.”

  Grace stood up and walked over to the counter. She took a stool and watched as Lucy dipped her cupcakes into the melted chocolate. “So … did you want to talk about our little visitor today?”

  Lucy’s entire body went still. All day, she had tried to get Charlie Mathews out of her head. It would have been helpful if the man who had unknowingly changed her life weren’t the most gorgeous man she had ever laid eyes on. Each time she tried to push him out, his perfect finger swiped more frosting from her mouth. There was even a point when her imagination had allowed him to lick it off.

  “There was obviously some serious sexual tension in that room today, Lucy. You licked your lips fifty times and I think he undressed you with his eyes each time you spoke.”

  “He did not,” Lucy said. She slowly twirled a cupcake to make sure the chocolate wouldn’t drip, and set it on the rack to cool. She looked up at the wall and her shoulders fell. “I just wasn’t expecting to see him in there. And I really wasn’t expecting to be so …”

  “Turned on?” Grace asked. “Ready to pull him on the counter and rip his clothes off?”

  “Exactly,” Lucy said, smiling. She turned to see Grace’s accusing stare. “I’m just kidding. Stop looking at me like that.”

  “You’re blushing.”

  “You’re talking about me pulling him up on a counter! Of course I’m blushing!”

  Grave’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not going to wait any longer for you to explain that whole park thing.”

  “Gah, okay.” Lucy’s shoulders collapsed. “I saw them at the park. He doesn’t remember me, obviously, so I didn’t think there was anything wrong with going back and watching his son. It makes me feel better, Grace. That little boy is really content and happy.”

  “Lucy, this is a terrible situation. If you keep seeing him, eventually, you’re going to have to tell him the truth. Do you really want to relive that whole thing?”

  “No, I don’t, and don’t say seeing him like that.” Lucy dipped her last cupcake.

  “You know what I mean,” Grace said, exasperated.

  “I didn’t know he’d come into the café. How could I know that?” She knew this was a losing battle; Grace was right at every turn.

  “Lucy, what nurses see—what you saw—is very intimate. We see people in their lowest moments. Whether we’re working on their bodies or watching them cry, it doesn’t get more private than that.”

  “Your point?” Lucy tossed a spoon in the sink. “You act like I don’t know this.”

  “No man wants to ever see the people who heard him cry and beg the way Charlie whatshisface did—”

  “Mathews.”

  “Whatever! As soon as he makes the connection—and he will—he’s going to be so … I honestly don’t even know what to call it. Distraught?”

  “So, you think I should tell him if he ever comes back in?”

  Grace shook her head. “Hell no. That’ll just make him relive the whole thing.”

  “Grace,” Lucy said between her teeth, “what the hell are you telling me to do?”

  “I have no idea,” Grace admitted, and slumped back onto her stool. “Now, give me a cupcake.”

  Chapter Four

  Charlie drove down Scottsdale Road on his way into work. It was just after sunrise, his favorite part of the day. The Arizona sun was rising and the air was just the perfect temperature for rolling down the windows. The red mountains sat in the distance, creating the perfect scene. He always found it strange that his sister, Dylan, had moved to a place where she could no longer see such a sight. It was something that most people in this area took for granted. Given the past year of his life, however, the one thing he had learned was to stop and admire the beauty around him; you never knew how long it would be there.

  It was quiet as he drove; he never listened to the radio anymore. The morning dr
ives were his time to clear his head—to make sense of the way his life had turned out. It was funny what fatherhood could do to a man. Peace and quiet came in small doses, so he took any opportunity to be alone with his thoughts.

  He looked down at his phone, vibrating on the passenger seat. It was Mike, which he found odd. Mike never called him in the morning. It had been three days since he snapped at him. However, by the next day, Mike had gone on as if they hadn’t skipped a beat, which wasn’t surprising. Mike tended to shy away from drama.

  “What’s up?” Charlie answered as he rolled up the window.

  “Where are you?” Mike asked.

  Charlie paused. He wasn’t late. “I’m heading in. Why?”

  “I didn’t ask what you were doing. I said, ‘Where are you?’”

  “Scottsdale Road,” Charlie answered, still confused.

  “North?”

  “Just about. Why?”

  “Stop and grab me a coffee and one of those banana muffins from Lydia’s,” he demanded.

  Charlie stayed silent for a few seconds. “Mike, what are you doing?” he finally asked.

  “Just waiting for my coffee and muffin, kid,” he said, as if Charlie was the dumbest person alive. “Banana,” he reminded, and then he hung up.

  Well, damn. Charlie pulled his phone from his ear and tossed it back on the passenger seat. He should never have told Mike about going in there.

  He pulled onto Fifth Avenue and parked his truck in the first spot he saw. He sat for a minute and tried to plot out the next fifteen minutes of his life. He needed to have it all thought out—every word and movement. That way, he wouldn’t have to worry about touching her face again. When he couldn’t come up with anything other than shoving his hands in his pockets, he opened the door and walked across the street.

  Inside, four people stood in line on a bright yellow rug. He stepped to the end and shifted to the side to get a good look at Lucy as she worked behind the counter.

  Her blonde hair was in a messy bun on top of her head, a few pieces hanging down to brush her lean collarbone and shoulders. Her pink shirt was cut a little bit lower than the one she had been wearing before, which only made Charlie remind himself again to look into her eyes when he spoke to her.