Heart of a Hero (New Beginnings Book 4)

by Margaret Daley

  * * *

  “That went pretty well,” Lisa murmured as Joey and Andy came off the court.

  “Yeah, but neither one needs to sit next to each other.” David watched the two as they talked with some of the players. “I was a little concerned when they both went up for the same ball.”

  “I visualized a tug-of-war that would end on the floor with them tumbling around in a big heap. I think number twenty-four had the same vibe. He snatched that ball from the air so fast the boys were stunned.”

  “I’ll have to thank him later. I did let the coach in on the situation just in case something happened.”

  “And he still let Andy and Joey practice with the team. I’m gonna have to give him a hug and kiss after the game.”

  As the boys approached, David whispered, “If we last that long.”

  Joey sat on the left side of David while she positioned herself between him and Andy. “Did you have fun?” she asked her son.

  “Yeah. They even invited me back for one of their practices during the week. Me, Mom.” He tapped his chest. “Can I?”

  The joy on her son’s face thrilled her. “We’ll work something out. Let me talk with David and make sure it’s all right with the coach. We’ll probably have to coordinate with Joey and his schedule at the refuge.”

  Andy peered around her at David and Joey. “Sure. I understand.”

  Then her son sat back and kept his gaze trained on the court, not saying a word to her through the whole first half. He leaped into the air and yelled at all the appropriate times, but some of the enthusiasm he’d had earlier deflated at the mention he might have to share the practice with Joey.

  By the time the half neared, all Lisa wanted to do was get her son alone and try to explain her reasons for desiring Joey participate in the practice, too. The invitation was probably extended to Joey, anyway. At least she hoped so. He needed some things to look forward to. From Mitch she’d discovered that their mother had left them when Joey was only four. She got the feeling both of them had never had a woman doting over them. Not that she wanted to be Joey’s mother, but he needed to know people cared about him. Watching him on the court with the Tigers and through the game, she’d realized that.

  The sound of the horn announcing halftime blared through the arena.

  Joey stood, wiggling. “I’ve got to go to the bathroom.”

  “Okay, I’ll come, too.” David started to rise.

  “I can’t even go to the bathroom by myself?” Joey’s jaw firmed in a challenge. “Where am I gonna go? It’s cold outside. You can hold my coat.”

  “Okay. The second half starts in twenty minutes.” David took the heavy jacket and pulled his wallet out. “Why don’t you get something to drink and eat while you’re up there?”

  Surprise widened Joey’s eyes. He stared at the ten-dollar bill David held out to him. After half a minute, he blinked, snatched the money and sidled toward the aisle. “Be back before half’s over.”

  After Joey was gone five minutes, Andy turned to Lisa. “I need to go, too.”

  “Fine. Do you want anything to drink or eat?”

  “Yeah, a drink. Can I bring you back something?” He leaned forward and spoke to David. “Or you?”

  “I’m good,” David said, glancing up the aisle.

  “So am I.” Lisa gave him some money.

  David stood as Andy left. “I want to trust Joey, but he hasn’t earned that yet. I’m gonna go to check and make sure everything is all right.”

  Have I earned it? Do you believe yet that I won’t ever go back to drugs? “I’ll go with you.”

  “I’m almost afraid to say this, but the first half went well.” David squeezed through a group coming down the stairs.

  “If by well you mean the thick silence between Andy and me, then yeah, it went well.”

  “I noticed. I didn’t want to say anything. I heard Joey’s name, so I figured it was about him.” David angled toward her, his gaze straying toward the entrance at the top of the stairs.

  “Yes and no. Did you know some of the players asked Andy to come to one of their practices during the week?”

  “I mentioned something to Coach Williams. I was hoping that was a possibility.”

  “Did Joey say anything to you?” Lisa asked, emerging out of the stands into the foyer that ringed the arena.

  “Nope, but then he wasn’t talking, either.”

  “Thankfully Andy and I are at least on speaking terms.”

  “After the game, I’ll ask Brad about the invitation and see which day is the best.”

  Andy tore through a crowd standing in line to use the restroom, almost knocking down a woman in his haste.

  “Andy, what are—”

  “Mom, Joey’s disappeared. I saw him with an older teen, I turned to pay for my drink and when I looked back maybe ten seconds later, he was gone from the other line.”

  David gaze fixed on the worry in Andy’s face. “Can you show me where you last saw him?” He scanned the multitude still in the arena foyer.

  Going against the stream of fans entering the seating area, Lisa followed David with Andy next to him. Near the concession stand close to their section, Andy pointed to the place where he’d last seen Joey. Their surroundings held only a few stragglers still in line for food.

  “Andy, you stay here in case Joey comes back. Your mom and I will circle the arena.” David gestured to his left. “Lisa, I’ll go this way. You—” he waved his hand toward the right “—go that way.”

  As Lisa hurried around the outside ring that circumvented the basketball court, she checked any place that Joey might be. Up ahead a teen about sixteen or seventeen kept scanning the area, then peer back behind him. The hairs on her neck rose. A lookout? She could remember that happening many times when she would make contact with her drug dealer. One of his minions would keep watch for the police while he made the transaction with her. She slowed her pace, digging around in her purse for her compact. After passing the teen, still standing in the same spot, looking up and down, she pretended to go toward a set of restrooms nearby.

  Flipping her powder open, she lifted the mirror and fluffed her hair while keeping an eye behind her. Out of the corner of her view she glimpsed Joey pinned up against a concrete wall while a bigger, brawnier teen had his arm across Joey’s chest. The fury in the older boy’s stance and gestures iced her blood. She snapped the compact closed, hiked her purse straps up higher on her shoulder and pivoted toward the lookout.

  “Hey, maybe you could help me.” She headed toward him while he backed away from where Joey and the other teen were. “I’m searching for my son. He’s got away from me, and I can’t find him. Have you seen a—”

  The older adolescent who had Joey trapped against the wall hurried from the dim alcove and away from his friend in the direction David would be coming. Lisa started backing toward the small hallway to check on Joey.

  “I can’t help you,” the lookout mumbled and scurried after his friend.

  Lisa didn’t see much of the other teen. He had a hoodie on, masking part of his face. She watched a few more seconds, then spun around and hurried toward the alcove. In the half-light Joey, his face pale, sat on the floor, his back pressed against the concrete as if he’d slid down the wall. His gaze riveted to hers, and he immediately wiped all the fear from his expression. But she’d seen it.

  “Who was that?” Lisa asked, hovering over the thirteen-year-old.

  “No one.” Joey shoved to his feet.

  “Joey, I know what’s happening here. Was that the person you got your drugs from?”

  He thinned his lips together and scowled at her.

  “You have people who care about what happens to you. Don’t let drugs destroy your life like they almost did mine. There were times I was so out of it I didn’t know it was night or day. I lived in a fog.” Telling him about her experience opened a fissure of pain that threatened to swallow her. But she wouldn’t stop if it would help Joey see the road
he was taking. “All I wanted to do was find any means to get my next fix. Is that the type of life you really want to live?”

  Joey shrugged away from the wall. “I’m not a user like you were. I’m smarter than that.” He started forward.

  The child’s words hurt, but she wasn’t going to let his anger defer her from her course. She would continue to try and help him or anyone who needed it concerning drugs. Then perhaps what she’d done years ago would be put to a good purpose. That was how she lived with herself.

  David came into the alcove, stopping Joey at its entrance. “What’s going on?” David asked, thunder in his voice, his expression fierce.

  Joey’s eyes became slits. “Is it a crime now to talk with a friend?”

  “Is that what you were doing? Why back here?”

  “Maybe ’cause I like privacy. I don’t have it at the pr—refuge.” Joey paused a few feet from David.

  “Privacy for what?”

  “Nuthin’.” Joey lowered his head.

  “Empty your pockets inside out.” After Joey complied, heated ice flowing off him in volumes, David said, “Lift your jeans.”

  After David checked to make sure Joey hadn’t hidden anything in his socks, the boy muttered, “Satisfied? I don’t have any drugs.”

  David nodded, allowing Joey to pass him. On the way back to their seats, Lisa and David hung back several feet from Joey. The adolescent went by Andy and mumbled something to her son she couldn’t hear.

  “What did he say to you?” she asked when she caught up with Andy.

  “Snitch.”

  “Good thing you were. I’m not sure that was an amiable meeting between two friends. Did you know either teen?”

  “No. Sorry, Mom. You think they were going to hurt Joey?”

  She let David go ahead. “Yeah, maybe. You did the right thing, hon.”

  As Lisa made her way down the stairs to the floor of the basketball court, she couldn’t shake the feeling that the teen with the hoodie had threatened Joey. She wished she’d gotten a better look at the adolescent’s face because his swagger as he’d walked away reminded her of one of her drug dealers who’d thought he owned the world and no one could touch him. He’d ended up in prison.

  After dropping both Andy and Joey at the refuge, David drove Lisa to her apartment. “Andy likes to stay out at the ranch.”

  “Yeah, it’s like a second home to him. He’s especially close with Hannah and Jacob, and of course, Gabe is his best friend.”

  “Too bad Gabe doesn’t play basketball. He’s really taken with tae kwon do.”

  “I’ve seen Andy practice in his room. He doesn’t think I know, but he does almost every night.”

  David pulled into the parking lot at her place. “How do you think this evening went?”

  “You know I expected Joey to be mad at Andy because he came and got us, but he was actually pretty civil the rest of the evening. He was scared. He wouldn’t admit it, but I saw the fear in his eyes.”

  “I saw the teen you describe pass me, but I couldn’t see his face, either. I wish I could ID him. He might be behind Joey selling the prescription drugs. I’ve never believed him when he told me he worked alone. I don’t think he did.”

  “I agree. Very suspicious.” She shifted toward him, the light from the building revealing the hard planes of his face. “Whoever he was, he went out of his way to hide his identity. Maybe I’ll talk with Mitch and see if he knows who it could be. I’ll describe his build. He might have come around to Joey’s place before.”

  “I did some more digging into Mitch. He really is trying to turn his life around.”

  “He’s always available to work when I need extra help. I can’t fault him as an employee, and he’s worried about his brother.” She put her hand on the handle. “Do you want to come up? I made some cookies—ginger snaps.”

  David perked up, straightening in the seat. “That’s my favorite.”

  “Yeah, I know. Kelli told me last weekend. I’ve had this recipe and thought I’d try making them. They aren’t too bad, according to my son.”

  “Then I’ve got to try one or maybe two or three.”

  She opened the door. “C’mon, then. Actually I wouldn’t mind a cup of decaf.” What he didn’t know was that she intended to get to know him better. While baking the cookies last night, she’d planned her strategy. She’d wow him with the delicious-tasting ginger snaps, then zap him with questions about his life in Dallas. She wanted to understand him, so she could help him.

  Yeah, right. That was the only reason she’d stayed up late baking the cookies. Or quizzing Kelli about what David liked. It wasn’t because she was interested in him as a man. Okay, I am very interested in David. And I know I’m setting myself up to be hurt.

  After she put the coffee on to brew, she retrieved the cookies and placed the plate on the kitchen table. “Have you gotten any good leads concerning that robbery gang that struck The Ultimate Pizzeria? I’ve read a few stories in the paper, but they didn’t tell me much.”

  “Yeah, they’re eager to point out the police’s lack of stopping this gang.”

  “Something will break on the case. Sit. I’ll pour us some coffee.”

  “There goes your Pollyanna outlook again.”

  “It’s better than being a Grinch.”

  “Ouch. I think that was pointed at me and my lack of enthusiasm for Christmas. Remember I’m helping you tomorrow with the tree. That should count for something.”

  “Only if you stay and help Andy and I decorate it.”

  His eyes widened. “Ms. Morgan, I do believe you’re blackmailing me.”

  She thumped her chest. “Who, me?”

  “Yes, ma’am, you.” He took a ginger snap and began chewing it. “Mmm. Very tasty. Better than my mom’s which is saying a lot.”

  Turning her back to him, she filled two mugs with the rich black liquid, its aroma wafting about her. She swept around to head to the table and nearly stumbled into David positioned right behind her with a cookie, one bite taken from it, in his hand. Quickly she steadied herself to keep from sloshing the coffee.

  David plucked one mug, then the other from her and set both of them on the counter along with the half-eaten cookie. “Why would Kelli tell you I love ginger snap cookies?”

  He was too close for her peace of mind. His familiar scent swirled about her, mingling with the smell of coffee that hung in the air. “It just came up in conversation.” She pretended a fascination with the mug nearest her.

  “It did? Why were you two discussing me?” He stepped even closer.

  Her heartbeat thumped against her chest. She finally looked into his eyes. “If you must know I wanted to know more about you.” There, she’d admitted her interest in him. “That’s something friends do. Get to know each other.”

  Another few inches closer. He framed her face. “So that’s what we are. I guess being friends is safer…” He let the rest of his sentence dissolve into silence.

  Slowly he bent toward her, giving her plenty of time to pull away if she chose. She didn’t. Her gaze fastened on his mouth as the thundering pounding of her heart drowned out all sounds. His lips settled over hers, his fingers slipping through her hair. Then he wound his arms around her and drew her against him. His kiss deepened as though he intended to wipe any memory of another man from her mind. And he was succeeding.

  When he parted, his breathing shallow, he still kept her caged against him. “This doesn’t feel like friends.” The huskiness of his voice demonstrated how affected he was by the kiss.

  It matched her reaction. “No,” she whispered, her voice barely working.

  That was what scared her. She’d been lousy at relationships in the past, and she wasn’t going to put Andy through a series of boyfriends ever again. And this particular relationship hadn’t been without its obstacles. Pushing back from him, she encountered the stove and moved to the side to put space between them.

  “I’d better go. We can arrange a
time for me to help you cut down your Christmas tree tomorrow at church.” He grabbed several cookies from the plate on the table. “Thanks for these. I haven’t had any in a while. It brings back fond memories of my childhood and the holidays.” Then without another word, he quickly made his way toward the front door.

  Grasping the plate of cookies, Lisa hurried after him, but he was halfway down the stairs to the parking lot before she reached the balcony outside. She’d wanted him to have them. Tomorrow she would make her feelings clearer to him. Her stepping away might have signaled to him her disinterest. The hard part was she needed to figure out between now and then what exactly she wanted from him.

  Chapter Ten

  “This is the biggest tree ever!” Andy held the top part of the pine while David gripped the trunk. Lisa rushed to unlock her front door and open it for them. “I hope it fits in the stand we have.” Andy peered back at David. “Mom’s gonna make some hot chocolate, and she baked a cake last night.”

  David arched an eyebrow. “Baking two nights in a row?”

  “I like to bake when I get the chance.”

  “She tells me she likes to when she needs to do some thinking.”

  Heat suffused her face at her son’s explanation, which was true. She’d spent a good part of the night before trying to figure out what she wanted in a relationship with David. She kept thinking about how perfect Hannah and Jacob’s relationship was. She wanted that and had never thought that would be a possibility. David revived that dream. He knew about her past and still kissed her last night. But what if it really didn’t mean anything to him? What if—

  “Mom—” Andy waved his hand in front of her face to get her attention “—where do you want the tree to go this year?”

  Her blush deepened, searing her cheeks. She whirled away from both of them and scanned her living room. “I guess over by the window so people can see the lights lit up at night.”

  David headed toward the spot she indicated. “Sounds like a good place to me. Where’s the stand?”