Captain Heartbreaker (Havenbrook Book 4)

by Brighton Walsh

  “Even when he was deployed, he found ways. I remember one time—it was right after Lilah was born. He’d gotten leave for a couple weeks, and after he left, I had no idea how I was gonna handle two kids under four all by myself. He hadn’t even been gone for twenty-four hours when the first casserole showed up. Roseanne—you remember her? She used to live across the street when y’all were little. Anyway, she claimed friendliness, but when it happened every night for the next month—a different friend or neighbor deliverin’ food each time—I knew it was all him.”

  Hudson couldn’t even fathom how difficult it must’ve been for her to take on one hundred percent of the parenting and household responsibilities while his dad was deployed. And yet she’d done it. Without hesitation—or maybe there was hesitation…he wasn’t sure. But she did it, nonetheless. No doubt because she’d loved his dad.

  Would Kenna do the same for him?

  He cleared his throat, not yet willing to ask that question aloud. “So you’re sayin’ I should give her food.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m sayin’ you should give her what she needs.”

  “That’s the whole problem, Momma. I don’t know what she needs.”

  “Aw, come on now, Hudson. You’re an intelligent man. I’m quite certain you can figure it out.”

  No doubt his momma wasn’t suggesting he give Kenna orgasms, but he couldn’t deny that was the first thought that’d popped into his head. Orgasms, he could do. He’d give her five a day if she’d stick around long enough to receive them.

  But Kenna needed more than that. He racked his brain for any mention of things she’d said casually since he’d been there—small tasks he could do that might make her life a little bit easier to handle while she dove into this new role. That was when inspiration struck, and he leaned forward to kiss his mom on the cheek.

  “You’re a genius, Momma.” He stood and strode toward the back door. “Can I use your kitchen a little later? I’ve got a few things to do, then I have some pies to finish up.”

  “Of course, sweetheart. I’ll be home.”

  With a nod, he let himself out and headed to his truck. He typed out a quick text to Caleb as he walked.

  Change of plans. Bring CB and meet me at Kenna’s place.

  He texted Caleb the address, then tossed his phone on the passenger’s seat and started up his truck. The day during which he’d planned to spend shingling the cabin had suddenly taken a detour, though he couldn’t find it in himself to care.

  Kenna needed him, whether she vocalized that or not, and he’d be damned if he was going to let her down. While Kenna was busy taking care of everyone else, he’d make sure to take care of her.

  Mac didn’t know how the hell she was supposed to get anything done and take over for her daddy when everyone kept kicking her out of her damn office. Avery had stormed in a little after seven and demanded Mac stop working at once.

  Naturally, Mac had bestowed upon her friend the only gesture that seemed appropriate—she’d flipped her off and continued sorting through the piles that she couldn’t make heads or tails of.

  “You’re doing a lot better than you’re giving yourself credit for. And you’ve done more work in a week than your daddy usually does in a month,” Avery had said. “And when have you ever known me to blow smoke up your ass?”

  True, that’d been never, but still, Mac hadn’t believed her. Eventually, they’d come to an agreement—Avery would sit with Mac and help her work through everything, while at the same time giving some impromptu and much-needed training.

  While, true, her daddy had been the mayor most of her life—ironically, taking the seat after his daddy had died of a heart attack—Mac had no idea what that truly entailed.

  After her crash course, she’d just been getting the hang of it and had really started to make some progress. And then Will had begged Mac to head to the hospital and bring Momma what she’d been asking for because Will didn’t have a break in her schedule for hours.

  Mac had tried—and failed—not to dwell on the fact that her momma hadn’t reached out to her to ask for it. The events of the past few weeks had shone a light on how her family saw her and what they thought—or didn’t think—of her.

  And she was getting really fucking sick of it.

  She ground her teeth together as she sped down the interstate toward Memphis. Frustrated that no one seemed to think of her for anything and irritated that she didn’t automatically know how to do the job she’d been tasked with, she’d taken off without a word to anyone.

  She probably should’ve told Hudson, but that would mean she’d have to talk to him, and she wasn’t in the right headspace to do so. She had too much else on her mind to dissect what last night with him had meant. How, while he’d been inside her, she’d wished, more than anything, that he could be there to love on her every time she needed a little extra push to fall asleep.

  But that was nothing but a futile hope, and allowing her thoughts down that path of make-believe wasn’t good for anyone, least of all her.

  Shaking her head, she gripped the steering wheel as she turned into the hospital parking lot. She’d have preferred she come here again on her terms and when she was ready to walk into the lion’s den—not knowing how her daddy was gonna react to her being gone while he’d been taken in, or her taking over for him while he was off for many weeks. No doubt, he’d find some way to take her absence as a sign she wasn’t ready for the job she’d been reluctantly given.

  But, dammit, she could do this. If only everyone would start taking her seriously.

  With a bag in hand, she strode down the ICU corridor toward her daddy’s room, psyching herself up for whatever awaited her behind the door. She knocked once and waited for her momma’s soft, “Come in,” before she stepped foot into the room.

  Her momma sat in the chair next to the bed—it looked like it belonged across the room beneath the window, but Mac had no doubt Caroline Haven had rearranged things until they were to her liking. And after the talk she’d given all of them last night, Mac figured that meant she’d slept in that chair all night, holding her husband’s hand.

  “Hey, sweetheart,” Momma said, her voice not much more than a whisper.

  She shot her mom a smile, then darted her eyes to her daddy. Even though she knew he was in the ICU and that he’d had major surgery…even though she’d prepared herself for what he might look like, none of that helped the reality of what was in front of her.

  Her proud and boisterous father was reduced to a pale, fragile-looking man hooked up to all kinds of machines. His eyes were closed, his breathing slow and steady, and she felt a knot form in her throat.

  God, they’d almost lost him. He was a stubborn pain in her ass, and they’d never seen eye to eye for as long as Mac could remember. But hell if the thought of never being able to argue with him again didn’t send a wave of panic through her.

  “Will said you needed some things?” She held up the bag before setting it on the windowsill.

  “I did, thank you for bringin’ that stuff up. Nat forgot this mornin’. I swear that girl would leave her head behind if it wasn’t attached.”

  “Where is she?”

  “She, Gran, and Asher went to grab something to eat.” She held out the hand that wasn’t encased in her husband’s and beckoned Mac closer. “Did you get some lunch?”

  No, she hadn’t—who could eat when she had all this shit weighing on her mind?—but she nodded anyway. Her momma didn’t need another thing to worry about, and Mac was perfectly capable of feeding herself.

  “Why don’t you come sit with me?” Momma patted the chair next to her—the space Gran had no doubt been perched in all morning, while Nat and Asher hung out in the waiting room in case they were needed.

  Mac did as she was asked. Although, the last thing she wanted was to sit down. If she sat in this room, with the incessant beeping and her daddy looking too close to death’s door for her liking, then it’d all be real. Everything
that had happened would be real, and she wasn’t sure she could take that.

  After several long moments where her tongue felt like a lead balloon in her mouth, intrusive and unmoving, she finally swallowed back her fears to ask the question she’d been unable to bring herself to until now. “How’s Daddy doin’?”

  “At least have the decency to ask me instead of your momma,” Daddy said, his voice low and so unlike the usual bark, she startled. “I’m right here.”

  “Daddy.” Mac swallowed down her unease and leaned closer to her father, her eyes tracking over every inch of his face. “How’re you doin’?”

  “I’d be doin’ a lot better if I wasn’t so damn hungry all the time…” he grumbled.

  “Richard, we’ve talked about this.” Momma’s tone was firm, brooking no argument. “You’ve got a lot of food still left over from lunch.”

  “You call that food?” He gestured to the plate on his tray, filled with a mostly untouched meal of chicken and vegetables. It looked like the only thing he actually ate was the Jell-O. “Maybe if you’re a rabbit. Which, in case you weren’t aware, I’m not.”

  “Not a rabbit, no, but definitely a jackass.”

  Mac couldn’t keep in her startled laugh, and she stared at her momma, slack-jawed. She’d never, in all her life, heard her momma talk to her daddy like that. She’d often wondered how someone so strong and opinionated could be married to a man like her daddy and not say a word to challenge him.

  “Oh, don’t look at me like that.” Momma waved a hand toward Mac. “It’s not as if you haven’t thought the same thing.”

  “It’s not that,” Mac said. “It’s just…you know. Um…a whole new side of you.”

  “A whole new side of me in your eyes, but not altogether. After this man’s fool-headed actions, I’ve decided I’m not waitin’ until we’re in private to call him out on his idiot behavior. No time for that anymore, because I intend to have him at my side for many years to come. So, if he wants to act like a jackass, I’m gonna tell him so. Regardless of who’s in earshot.”

  “You’re not gonna do that while any of the fellas are around, are you?”

  “Try me.”

  “Sweetheart,” her dad said, in a tone that could only be described as a whine.

  What in the hell was going on?

  “Don’t ‘sweetheart’ me. You’ll have nothing to worry about if you follow the doctor’s orders and do as you’re told.”

  “But they have me—” Daddy cut off at a sharp look from Momma, and Mac had to stifle another laugh.

  They were in uncharted territory now. As far as Mac knew, none of the Haven girls had ever been witness to anything like this. No wonder Nat had been able to stay at the hospital all morning. This was better entertainment than skydiving. Especially with Gran there giving Daddy the what for, too.

  “How’re things goin’ at town hall, honey?” Momma asked as she stroked Daddy’s hand.

  “They’re—I’m…figurin’ things out.”

  “Figurin’ things out at all hours, apparently. Spendin’ an awful lot of time there, if talk around town is to be believed.”

  Of course, her dad would take the extra hours she’d spent there learning the ropes and turn it into a negative. Because Mac was so dumb, she’d flunked out of college, so of course, she’d need extra time to do his work.

  “Not that much…” Mac mumbled, but her fire from earlier had all but evaporated.

  “That’s not what Gleaves told me. Said you’ve been gettin’ there before the sun comes up and not leavin’ until well after it’s set. That’s—” Daddy cut off and pressed his lips together, nodding to her. It took all her strength not to cringe in anticipation of what was coming. “Real impressive. I’m proud that you’re puttin’ in this work and not lettin’ town hall go to hell while I’m out.”

  Wait…what? Had she stepped into the freakin’ twilight zone? You could knock her over with a feather, she was so stunned at those words coming out of her daddy’s mouth. Though she was fairly certain praise from him had happened at least once in all her years, she couldn’t remember a single time.

  “Don’t look so shocked, Mac. ’Course I’d be askin’ folks to keep an eye on things while I’m gone. Can’t effectively run the town from a hospital bed if I don’t.”

  “That’s the whole point, dear. You don’t run the town. Mac does. And you said so yourself earlier today after your phone call—she’s doin’ a fine job of it. So, leave her to it.”

  Mac thought her shocks for the day were over, but apparently not. As her parents continued bickering quietly, she could only sit there, the outward appearance of utter calm. Meanwhile, inside, she was going crazy.

  She liked to pretend as if she didn’t give two shits about what people thought of her, but that just wasn’t true. And though years ago she’d stopped attempting to gain her parents’ approval, that didn’t mean she didn’t still desperately crave it. And they’d just handed it to her on a silver platter.

  She couldn’t deny the feeling of accomplishment that had settled over her at their words. Which was ridiculous—it should’ve been the acts that made her feel accomplished and not a couple well-timed sentences from her parents. Especially since she was a fully grown woman who didn’t need her parents’ approval for anything. She knew that, and yet…

  “How long are you gonna be stayin’ this afternoon?” Momma asked. “I know you must be so busy at town hall.” Her words were spoken with such pride, Mac couldn’t help but feel that swell in her chest.

  She cleared her throat from the tightness that was suddenly there. A tightness that had nothing to do with her daddy being in a hospital. “I’ve got a while. I was in late last night and again early this mornin’.”

  “Must’ve gotten that work ethic from your daddy,” he said.

  Never mind that she’d seen him skipping work more than actually doing it, but that was beside the point. He was showing her the kind of approval he usually reserved for Rory or sometimes Will. Never Nat. Never Mac.

  Now, she just had to figure out how to keep it. If anything, the stakes were even higher now, because she’d been given a taste of something she couldn’t ever remember having, and it was as addictive as a drug.

  It was time to buckle down as the acting mayor and make headway not waves. She’d sworn she was ready to sacrifice anything to prove her worth. And that included all the ideas she’d had for the town, like the entrepreneurial bonuses to entice newcomers to the area, or a dedicated search and rescue team for Havenbrook.

  Now wasn’t the time to broach those ideas or fight for any of it. Not when she needed to hold it together for her family. Not when her daddy was counting on her to not fuck up.

  So, for now, she could maintain the status quo. Besides, they’d gone without for this long—what was another couple months?

  Maybe, after her daddy came back to his role, he’d see her contribution as valuable and seek her out for advice or input—ask about her ideas. Maybe then she could broach some of those things. It’d no doubt be better received by the good old boys if the orders came from a good old boy, right?

  Until then, she just had to stay the course. Not rock the boat. And focus all of her attention on making sure she finally succeeded at something.

  Mac followed Asher’s SUV as it turned down the path leading to their homes, honking twice when they turned off at the main house and she continued on to hers.

  She’d wanted to go to town hall and get in a few more hours of work, but Avery must’ve put the word out, because Nat said she’d spill secrets to their momma—namely that the dent in their car when they’d been younger hadn’t been caused by a runaway cart but rather Mac running into a dumpster—if she so much as drove past there before tomorrow morning. And her sister was many things, but a liar wasn’t one of them.

  Despite the niggle in the back of her mind that she needed to be at work, she was looking forward to the time off to decompress. Finally allow herself the brainspac
e to think about what she’d been avoiding all day—namely Hudson and the handful of texts he’d sent her while she’d been at the hospital.

  He hadn’t asked where she was or what she was doing. Hadn’t pestered her or demanded her attention. He’d simply let her know he was thinking of her. Texting random, hilarious observations of people milling around the Square, or a picture of a tiger’s-eye marble he must’ve found at the gift shop, or of CB rolling around in a pile of leaves.

  She’d tried not to read too much into it. Mostly because she couldn’t. She didn’t have that luxury, because despite what she wanted, she knew she couldn’t make Hudson stay.

  He was leaving, whether she liked it or not. And besides, now wasn’t the time to start a relationship. Not when Havenbrook was resting on her shoulders. Not when her parents were counting on her. Finally believing in her.

  Two cars were parked in front of her house, and she froze, her Jeep coasting down the driveway without any instruction from her. Hudson’s old truck sat beside Lilah’s newer sedan. She was nowhere to be seen, but Hudson sat perched on the roof, cleaning out her gutters and tossing the dead leaves to the ground where Caleb was gathering them.

  And no. No. Her stomach absolutely should not be fluttering, nor should her heart be soaring. Not like this. Not because of a man who might as well be a ghost in Havenbrook. But, dammit, both were true.

  It was so easy to picture herself coming home to this. Something so utterly mundane, but she suddenly ached for it.

  It’d been a long time since she’d allowed herself such fantasies of a life with Hudson, but sometime since he’d been home, they’d crept in and taken up residence in her heart. A heart that skipped a beat when Hudson lifted his head and his eyes locked on hers.

  She parked her Jeep on the other side of his truck, gathered her things, and had one leg out her door when her phone went off. She’d been paranoid since the whole Ridge fiasco, so she pulled it out of her bag without a second thought and found a text from Edna.