by Lauren Dane
“That’s my sister.” Jacob, the youngest Murphy, whacked his friend.
“Your sister is freaking gorgeous.”
“And taken.” Joe stood and moved to her. She gave him a smile, one she never gave anyone else.
“Hello there, long, tall and handsome.”
He pulled her close. “Hello yourself. You’re going to cause an accident or something. Darlin’, you’re looking mighty fine tonight. I don’t want to be here at all. I want you all to myself.”
Her eyes shone with amusement. “I have on a new bra and panty set. Same color as the sweater.”
“Damn. You’re going to kill me.”
She laughed. “I’m all yours, Joe Harris. Don’t break me. Or my heart.”
The laugh died away as he realized the enormity of the moment, but before he could respond, everyone at the table called out their greetings, and he groaned, turning her to head over.
Lily gave Beth a raised brow and Beth shrugged.
“Hey all.”
Everyone greeted her as she got settled, snuggled into his side.
“I saw Polly today. She said she’d been showing up at your house to try and finagle a look at the dress.”
Lily laughed. “She has! She’s got great excuses and has taken to bringing baked goods to bribe me. But I keep telling her I won’t fit into the dress if I ate all the stuff she brought.”
“She’s a menace with all the baked goods. With Tate on one side, baking even more than usual because she’s pregnant, and Polly on the other, my jeans are all getting tight.”
Nathan shook his head. “Not really a chore to have women bake stuff for me though.”
Joe looked down at Beth. “Or to have a girlfriend with a connection to the font of baked goods.”
“Girlfriend?” Royal whistled. “Just watch out. Murphy women. Good Lord.”
Nathan thought that was hilarious.
“The one I have is pretty perfect.” Joe took her hand, accepting that she was real and his and maybe he should stop holding back.
“This is very true.” Lily gave him a look that said if he forgot it, he’d be sorry in more than one way.
Beth looked over the specials menu and hummed her delight. “Smothered pork chop night. Awesome.”
“Tate’s are better.”
“We’re not at Tate’s, Nathan.” Beth said it automatically, not even looking up. Joe liked the easy back and forth between Beth and her brother.
“You missed a really good dinner Sunday.” Nathan looked over to Joe. “Turkey, ham, macaroni and cheese, three different kinds of potatoes. Fresh bread. It was insane.”
He’d been with his parents. It hadn’t been a bad night, but there was the sense of watching and waiting. His father had been pretty quiet. No outbursts, but he’d had an air of sadness Joe couldn’t seem to get around.
“I’m gonna pop Dolly in the face if she doesn’t stop sending you looks.”
Joe had been busily pretending he wasn’t staring at Beth’s boobs. He started when she spoke. “What, darlin’?”
She laughed, looking up at him after she’d ordered her food.
“I said, I was going to punch Dolly for sending you all those come-hither looks.”
Truth be told Dolly had been relentlessly pursuing him. She showed up at the shop all the time. Buck growled at her, which Joe thought showed the dog’s good taste. Clearly, because he danced with joy every time he caught sight of Beth. He’d told Dolly many times that he wasn’t interested, that he was seeing Beth and to back off.
“There’s a thing between her and the Murphys.” Lily snorted, shooting Nathan a look.
Nathan put his hands up in surrender. “Why you looking at me like that? I never dated her.”
Lily snorted. “No, you were engaged to her bestie though. And Dolly and her cabal went after Tate for a while. She’s a nasty piece of work and it is no surprise she’s alone.”
Beth snickered. “A spinster.”
Lily started laughing. “All alone. Watching episodes of Hoarders and eating TV dinners. Maybe she’ll order up a Russian groom.”
“Great idea. One that doesn’t speak any English so he won’t know how full of it she is.”
Joe grinned, shaking his head as they kept on.
“Best to just stay out of their way when they get like this.” Nathan sipped his tea.
“I have zero interest in Dolly. Just sayin’.”
Beth looked his way. “Course you don’t. You have me. But she needs to keep her mitts and her eyes to herself. Sheesh.” She went back to laughing with Lily.
“Guess she told you.” Trey grinned.
“My sisters don’t mess around.” Jacob chuckled.
Royal heaved a sigh. “No kidding.”
“Man comes to a point in his life when that’s what he needs and he’s not too proud to admit it. I like a feisty woman.” Joe grinned.
“Ha. Good thing since this family doesn’t seem to make any other kind.” Nathan winked at Beth.
“Jacob, I bumped into Heather yesterday.” Beth turned her attention to her baby brother. “She didn’t know you’d moved back to Petal.”
“Heather is engaged. My living situation isn’t her concern.”
“Well, now. There’s a story here. Do tell.” Joe waggled his brows.
“Jacob and Heather were inseparable in high school,” Beth explained.
“And then I went to college. And she moved on. She’s going to marry someone else.”
Beth shrugged. “She sure seemed interested.”
“Leave it be, Beth. How’d you feel if Steffie’s friends were plotting to break up Nathan’s engagement?”
Stefanie was Nathan’s ex. A sort of crazy woman who’d apparently taken it upon herself to announce their engagement without telling Nathan. And then she’d capped it by showing up at Nathan’s place with wedding invitations.
Beth rolled her eyes. “First of all, Steffie is a dingus. However, I didn’t give Heather a key to your apartment and tell her to get in your bed naked. She came in for a haircut. We chatted. She asked after you. I told her you and Trey had a place here in town and that you were splitting your time between Joe’s shop and Tim’s plumbing business. That’s hardly plotting—”
A loud crash interrupted the good-natured teasing, grabbing the attention of just about everyone in the place.
Murmurs began to get louder as everyone turned toward the side doors leading out to the other end of the street, right off the alley.
“What on Earth is going on?”
“It’s Friday night. Probably some spillover from Buck a Bud night at the Pumphouse.” Nathan shrugged.
The yelling got more distinct, and Beth turned to Joe as it hit him just who it was.
“You’re part of it! Get the hell out of my way or I’ll make you.”
Joe’s stomach dropped as he stood. He put a restraining hand on Beth’s shoulder. “Stay here.” He rushed toward the sounds of the fray. Voices rising. More voices joining in.
Beth followed. He turned. “I said stay back. He’s not in his right mind and I don’t want you hurt.”
She took his hand. “Be quiet. Go deal with him.”
“I mean it, Beth. Back off.” He took his hand back and jogged over, leaving her in his wake.
His dad stood in the alley swinging a lead pipe, screaming at one of the cooks. His hair stuck up in patches. His eyes were wild, leaving behind any hope of calm any time soon. His clothes were disheveled and his left forearm had a cut that was bleeding pretty heavily.
“Carl, calm down,” the cook reasoned. “There ain’t no need for this. Someone’s gonna call the cops.”
“Go on ahead and call ’em. Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to!” He moved in with that pipe, swinging it at the cook’s head.
Joe stepped between them, grabbing the pipe and yanking. His father stumbled back as he lost his grip and then he rushed Joe, head down, straight into his belly.
They burst
into the restaurant as people dived from the way. The moment was eerily similar to some of the experiences he’d had in Iraq, and his world, the then and the now, shifted slightly, sending him off balance in more ways than one.
But he didn’t have time for any of it. He had to deal with this before it got any worse.
Nathan and Royal approached, ready to help. Joe couldn’t think about where Beth was or what she thought. His father was already bleeding. Joe had no idea if he was injured in any other way.
Carl went sprawling backward as Joe was able to get his feet, to stop the movement of his dad’s attack.
People tried to help, but it only made things worse as his father’s panic seemed to grow and grow.
The yelling, punctuated by a scream here and there made Joe’s head hurt.
“Dad. Stop.” He kept his voice calm, his hands open. Trying to get his father to focus on him, to see it was all right to let go of this rage.
Then sirens sounded in the background, and his father’s eyes glazed again as he lunged, trying to punch someone nearby. Joe grabbed the back of his dad’s shirt to haul him away. Calm-talk time was gone.
“Stop it! Dad! You’re out of control.”
“Can’t you see? They’re all in on it. Are you too? Hell, maybe she is.”
His dad had indicated Beth as he wriggled from Joe’s grasp, rushing toward her.
Not Beth, damn it.
“No!” Time slowed as Joe moved to tackle him as several others did, which sent their balance out of whack and his dad kept going, right through one of the big windows, which shattered as Joe went through right with him, trying to protect his dad the best he could.
Two cops had arrived, one of them was Shane Chase, who helped Joe to his feet.
“What the hell? You okay?” Shane looked him over.
More sirens, and Joe hoped one of them was an ambulance because his father was bleeding profusely.
Beth rushed up, holding towels.
“Stay back, Beth!” Shane ordered. “Honey, there’s glass all over the place.”
“I’m aware. At least get these on Mr. Harris to stanch the bleeding.” Her voice was strangely calm. Her manner was matter-of-fact.
Joe didn’t want to look at her. Shame filled him. Warring with frustration, anger and exhaustion.
“Joe is bleeding too.”
“There’s an ambulance here now. They’ve got it.” Thankfully Shane kept her away. “Joe, you gotta get back. I need to get your dad in some cuffs. I’m sorry.”
“He’s having mental problems. He…he’s been on a new treatment. I guess it’s not working.” He scrubbed his hands over his face, jerking back when he realized he had tiny shards of glass all over his skin.
“Arrest me if you have to.” Beth shoved her way over. She thrust a wet hand towel at Joe. “Let me get your face cleaned up.”
She was everything that had been good in his life. Everything right and healthy and this…this thing with his father had gone and fucked it up.
He’d taken his attention away from his dad and put it toward Beth, and now he had to make a choice. The last thing she needed was for this mess to spill into her life. He couldn’t bear to look at her.
“Just leave me be, for God’s sake.”
She stepped back, and he made the mistake of glancing up, finding her bloody. But she appeared to be fine enough to narrow her eyes at him. “You’re bleeding. He’s not going anywhere but the hospital. You can take thirty seconds to stop that blood from getting into your eye.”
“Look, Beth.” He gazed around at the chaos. They had loaded his father onto a gurney and were cleaning him up and strapping him down. Joe lowered his voice. “I’m sorry, but this thing isn’t going to work.”
“What thing?” She moved closer, reaching up to brush his hair from his face but he stepped back. If she touched him he’d lose all his resolve.
“This thing. The you-and-me thing. Beth, I like you. But my life is a thousand kinds of fucked up right now. I don’t have the time or the energy to have a relationship of any kind.”
“You’re dumping me?”
“You can ride to the hospital with him if you like.” The paramedic tapped Joe’s shoulder.
Beth waved him on. “Go. I’ll check on you later.”
“Don’t. Beth, it’s over.” He turned his back on her and got into the back of the ambulance, careful not to look at her again.
Chapter Twelve
“Over my ass.” Beth watched as the ambulance pulled away.
“Honey, come away from all that glass.” Nathan put an arm around her, steering her from the mess.
A dude covered in blood had just dumped her.
Lily, eyes wide, took Beth’s hands, rubbing them between her own. “Sweetie, your hands are ice cold and you’ve got blood on you too. You were really close to the window when it broke. You’ve got bits of glass everywhere. Come on. Let’s get you home so you can clean up.”
She pulled away. “No.”
Nathan got that look around his mouth that said he was going to be stern. It usually made her feel better. Or at the very least, well enough to poke at him. But that’s not what she needed.
“Did you get hurt? You’re bleeding. Let us help.” He stepped closer.
Not physically. Nothing on the outside hurt.
“I need to be alone.”
Lily looked between them. “Honey?”
“I need to be by myself.” She started to walk away and Lily caught up.
“What the hell is going on?”
“He dumped me. I—” Tears began to well up and she couldn’t afford them just then.
“Let me help you. Please. I hate seeing you like this. He didn’t mean it. You know he didn’t.”
“What’s happening?” Jacob called out.
“I can’t with this right now. Please. Let me be.”
Lily’s eyes were full of emotion. She reached toward Beth. “There’s no way your brothers are going to let you just walk off in the dark after that scene. You know them.”
“I need to be alone!” She yelled it and then instantly felt awful. “I’m sorry.”
Lily’s bottom lip wobbled as she gave Beth a hug. “I’m sorry. I just want to make it better. Go. I’ll hold them off. You better pick up when I call you in an hour. You get an hour, Beth, and then your best friend is declaring make-it-better rights. Don’t make me come find you.”
She kissed Lily’s cheek and took off, glad she’d worn her flat boots that night.
Tate heard the knock on the door. “I’ll get it,” she called out to Matt, who was in the bathroom with the girls, monitoring their bath time.
She opened and nearly had a heart attack at the sight of Beth, weeping and covered in blood. “Good Lord!” She grabbed Beth, pulling her into the house and slamming the door in her wake, locking it. “What is it? Are you all right? Is there someone after you?”
Beth shook her head, speechless but for the crying.
Matt ran out, holding a soaking-wet baby. “What’s going on?”
Beth’s attention jerked to where he stood with the baby. “Oh God, I’m so sorry. I just didn’t know where else to go.” Beth kept crying, which alarmed Tate more than she wanted to say. Beth didn’t even cry when she was a baby. Their father had reacted to it with rage, even as babies they’d known to keep quiet to avoid his notice.
“There’s blood all over you.” Matt handed Lil Beth to Tate, who tucked the towel around her better so she wouldn’t get cold. He kept his voice level and calm. “Honey, let me see what’s wrong.”
Matt was trained as a paramedic, he’d make it better. Tate held Lil Beth as she tried to squirm out of her arms to get to her aunt.
Beth’s face, so pale, contrasted against the blood, showed pain and it made Tate’s stomach hurt.
“It’s not me. It’s not my outside that’s hurt.”
That brought tears to Tate’s eyes.
Matt moved slowly, so Beth could see exactly where he
was going and what he was doing. He brushed her hair back away from her forehead. “I can see glass in a few places. Come into the kitchen with me. I’ve got a first aid kit in there. Tate, why don’t you call Shane?”
“No!” Beth grabbed Matt’s arm. “It’s…they were already involved. Please.”
Matt sighed but since Beth allowed him to lead her into the kitchen, he didn’t say anything else.
Tate looked to Beth after shaking her head sharply at Matt. “I’ll be right back. I want to get Meg dried off and both girls dressed.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come. I don’t want to scare the girls.”
“Hush about that. They love you to pieces. This is going to sting a little.” Matt worked steadily, pulling glass out of her skin and cleaning up after that.
She looked off into the middle distance, knowing he was torn between his job and his responsibility to her as family. She needed to explain enough to make him feel better. “Joe’s dad went through the front window of the Sands. He rushed at me. Joe knocked him aside to protect me and they both went out the window.”
“Jesus.”
“He was crazy. I mean like really crazy. He came in starting fights with everyone in sight. Joe and one of the cooks tried to calm him down. And then the window. The cops came. An ambulance came and took Joe’s dad to the hospital. Joe went with him. I just…I shouldn’t have come. I’m sorry.”
Matt tipped her chin up, kissing the tip of her nose. “I said no more of that. Where else would you go but to Tate? Hmm? She’s your momma as sure as she’s Meg and Beth’s momma. You’re family, sweetheart. Of course you should have come.”
Matt washed his hands. “I’m going to go get the girls down. Tate will be out in a minute. You’re welcome here any time. Do you understand?”
She nodded, very close to crying again.
Tate came into the kitchen. “First, why don’t you take a shower? You have clothes here. Change into some sweats and warm socks and then you can have some whiskey with a tiny bit of tea and I can have some hot milk. Then you’ll tell me.”
Beth wanted to hug her, but she wasn’t sure if there was any glass left. So she obeyed, taking the clothes Tate had brought with her and then shuffled into the bathroom, closing the door in her wake.
