by Skye Taylor
Zoe turned to walk up across the lawn to her porch steps. Jake watched until she reached the top then he called after her. “Zoe?”
She stopped, hand on the rail, and looked down at him with her brows raised in a wordless question.
Jake strode quickly to the bottom of the stairs. “You need anything. I mean anything. You ask me. Got it?”
Zoe smiled, her broad, all-encompassing smile that worked its way into her eyes and lit up her whole face. “Seems like I’ve already gotten all the favors I should expect from the dad next door. Don’t you think?”
Chapter 28
ALTHOUGH IT WAS late when the phone rang, Zoe wasn’t in bed yet. She wasn’t even dressed for bed. She’d started reading a book Bree had loaned her and hadn’t been able to put it down, so she was still curled up in her oversized chair with the book on her lap, living a life a long way from Tide’s Way, North Carolina.
She jerked into action when the phone trilled a second time and hauled herself out of the chair with some difficulty, given her now tremendous girth. Should have brought the phone with me, she thought as she hurried toward the kitchen. But who knew anyone would be calling so late?
“Hello?”
“Zoe? Can you give me a ride home?”
“Ava?” Why is Ava calling me?
“Please? My—my ride’s not in any condition to be driving, and I can’t call Dad.”
“Why not?” Zoe was still trying to process the request. She stretched over to peer out the kitchen window. “He’s home, and all the lights are on, so I know he’s up. He’s probably waiting up for you.” Zoe glanced at the clock and realized it was after midnight. That meant all the lights should not be on at Jake’s. Unless something was wrong. Her heart sped up. “Ava? Where are you? What’s wrong?”
“I—I’m not where I told Dad I’d be. Everyone’s been drinking. And maybe worse. I just want to come home.” Ava’s voice rose on a note of panic.
“Give me the address.” Thank God for GPS! “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Ten minutes later, with the address Ava had provided punched into her navigation gadget, and the gadget snapped into the dash mount, Zoe turned onto Jolee Road and headed south. She’d considered calling Jake before she left, but then thought better of it. Besides the fact that he’d have had to wake the twins to go after Ava, Ava might have had some other reason for calling Zoe instead of her father.
So Zoe had waited until she was five minutes away before calling Jake to let him know where she was headed. He’d been worried sick and clearly upset that Ava hadn’t called him, but he’d heaved an audible sigh of relief. Zoe prayed that tonight’s little episode wouldn’t erode the growing trust between father and daughter.
“In five hundred yards, turn left onto Budding Road,” the female voice of Zoe’s GPS interrupted her thoughts. She turned her high beams on to better illuminate the road she was coming up on. As soon as she made the turn, both sides of the narrow road were lined with cars parked bumper to bumper with the street-side tires on the edge of the pavement and vehicles leaning precariously into the currently dry drainage culverts.
It wasn’t hard to pick out the party house. Lights were on everywhere, inside and out, spilling out over the lawn and into the road. Clusters of youngsters clutching cans of beer gathered, some on the lawn and some in the driveway. And here and there, among the shadows, couples kissed with varying degrees of passion and disregard for the lack of privacy. As she slowed, scanning the scene for a sight of Ava, Zoe noticed a girl sprawled backward across the trunk of a car. Her blond hair was spread across the dark painted surface, and her wisp of a skirt was hiked up to her waist. A vaguely familiar teenager stood between her thighs with his hands braced on the trunk lid while his naked buttocks bunched and plunged with unmistakable intent. Neither noticed Zoe’s noisy truck passing less than ten feet away.
Zoe jerked the truck to a stop, praying out loud that the blond hair didn’t belong to Ava. Then the passenger door opened, and Ava slid onto the seat beside her.
“Thanks for coming,” Ava said, falling back against the seat with obvious relief. “This party is way crazier than I thought it would be.”
Zoe glanced back at the shameless pair by the car, but the girl was already smoothing her skirt back into place. The boy had zipped up his shorts and was lighting a cigarette. He offered it to the girl who took a long drag before pressing herself against him and raising her face for another kiss. As distressed as their parents would be if they knew what their children had been up to, the act appeared to have been consensual. It was none of Zoe’s business and too late to put a stop to anyway. She was just glad it hadn’t been Ava and Travis.
“That’s Andrea,” Ava said as the blond girl sauntered past the truck with one arm draped around the boy’s neck. “And Travis,” she added with a sharp note of bitterness in her voice.
“Oh!” Zoe couldn’t think of a thing to say to that announcement. She put the truck in gear and began a three-point turn. No wonder the boy had looked familiar. She’d met him before—after dinner that first night at Jake’s house.
“I called your dad. Just to let him know you were okay. Why didn’t you tell him where you were going?”
“I did tell him where I was going. To start with, anyway. We went to my friend’s house. We were going to watch movies and stuff. But Travis—” Ava gulped back a sudden sob. “Travis said he was totally bored, and he wanted to come here instead.”
Zoe shot a look in Ava’s direction, but then had to pay attention to navigating around the cars crowding the edges of the street. Why was it that every heavy-duty conversation she got into lately happened while she was trying to concentrate on driving safely?
“Then what happened?” Zoe turned back onto Jolee, glad to leave the congested side street behind.
Ava stared out the window and didn’t speak for a few minutes.
“Ava?”
“I think Travis is into grass. Or maybe something worse. There was a lot of stuff around.”
“Did he ask you to try anything?”
Ava nodded. “He said blowing a little smoke would make me less uptight.” Her voice broke. “He said—he said it would get me in the mood.”
Zoe had no trouble figuring out what kind of mood Travis had in mind. The image of Andrea and Travis going at it with shameless abandon on the trunk of a car within sight of at least a dozen people replayed itself in her mind. They had certainly been in the mood. Jake would have a fit if he ever found out.
“I told him I didn’t want to get in the mood, and I asked him to bring me home. But he ditched me instead.” Tears streamed down Ava’s face, but Zoe had to concentrate on the road. Even though it was late, the streets weren’t deserted. Not on a Saturday night. She took one hand off the wheel to reach across and tuck a long strand of silky blond hair behind Ava’s ear, then gave the shoulder a squeeze.
“He just walked away and left me there.” Ava’s tears turned noisy. “He knew I had no way to get home, and he didn’t even care. Next thing I know, Andrea is sitting on his lap. He had one hand clamped around her breast and the other shoved up her skirt. His tongue had to be clear down to her tonsils.”
Considering how quickly Ava had slipped into the passenger seat of the truck, she had to have been close enough to watch the entire encounter play out in all its intimate details. The betrayal couldn’t have been more graphic or hurtful.
Ava gulped. “Daddy was right.”
“Fathers often are,” Zoe agreed soothingly. They were nearly home, and she knew Jake would be waiting at the door, ready to pounce. The last thing Ava needed right now was a lecture. She’d clearly learned a painful lesson, and Jake wouldn’t improve his relationship with his daughter by shouting at her.
Zoe turned the truck around and headed back the way she’d come. With summer
still in full gear, the ice cream and miniature golf place had been teeming with business when they’d passed it just moments ago. Zoe announced a sudden and unquenchable craving for a waffle cone filled with chocolate ice cream and topped with a cherry.
She patted Ava’s shoulder one more time and asked her what her favorite flavor was. As soon as they pulled into the brightly lit area around the busy ice cream stand, Ava excused herself and dashed to the ladies’ room. Zoe guessed she wanted to splash cold water on her face and remove the evidence of her tears. Zoe took out her phone and called Jake.
JAKE SAT ON the swing just beyond the reach of the porch light, waiting for Zoe and his daughter to return. He hadn’t been very happy when Zoe called a second time to advise him they were stopping for an ice cream, but he could see the wisdom of her decision now. He’d had time to calm down and think about the bare-bones report Zoe had given him while Ava was out of earshot. The only thing Ava was guilty of was trusting Travis and not remembering to call home to tell Jake about the change of venue. She hadn’t experimented with anything, and she had stuck to her guns when Travis tried to embarrass her into giving in. Then she’d had the wisdom to call Zoe for a ride home. All things considered, Ava had behaved with remarkable maturity and good sense.
He recalled Zoe’s words of advice, given all those months ago after the two had gone shopping together. Ava has a good head on her shoulders. You need to trust her to make some decisions on her own. And let her know you’re there for her anytime she needs backup.
Jake had a lot to thank Zoe for. Not just her willingness to listen to his problems and wade in to help whenever she could. And not just for heading out to pick Ava up in the middle of the night, either. But for thinking ahead and realizing he’d need to cool off before he confronted Ava about tonight’s fiasco.
He heard the truck before he saw it. It really needed a tune-up. Perhaps he’d find time this week to drag his toolbox over to her driveway and give the old heap a thorough check up.
Instead of pulling up out front, Zoe passed the house and turned into her own driveway before stopping. Neither Zoe nor Ava got out of the truck right away, so Jake waited, trying to be patient. Finally the doors opened, and Zoe slid awkwardly to the ground. Ava came around the truck and gave Zoe a hug, then turned and started slowly across the lawn. Zoe stood in her driveway, watching until Ava got to the bottom of the stairs and waved good night. Then she climbed her own stairs and disappeared into her house.
When Ava reached the porch and started across it to the front door, Jake spoke. “Hey, Ava.”
She jerked to a stop. Clearly, she hadn’t seen him sitting on the swing in the shadowy corner of the porch. “Hey, Daddy.” She turned and walked hesitantly toward him, then leaned back against the porch railing. “I guess Zoe told you everything.”
“Probably not everything, but enough. I’m proud of you.”
Jake wished he could see her face, but the sudden tightening of her posture seemed to indicate he’d taken her by surprise.
“You’re not mad?”
“I was worried when you missed your curfew. So I called Bethany’s house, and she told me you’d already left. Hours ago. Then I was really worried, and the longer you were gone, the more worried I got. You should have called.”
“I know, and I’m sorry.” Ava sounded chastened, but there was a hint of some deeper emotion she was keeping inside. Jake wondered what Zoe had not told him about the break up with Travis.
“Are you okay, Ava? Travis didn’t do anything to you, did he?” I’ll kill him if he did!
Jake saw her shake her head in the dim light.
“So, what’s the matter, kitten? I get the feeling there’s something more bothering you than a wild party you weren’t enjoying.”
Ava sniffed, shook her head, then sniffed harder. “You were right, Daddy. You were so right about Travis.”
“I hesitate to ask, but I’m not right all that often—”
“All he wanted was sex!” Her voice rose to a squeak. “He said he loved me, and I believed him. But he lied. He couldn’t possibly love me. Otherwise he wouldn’t have hooked up with Andrea less than ten minutes after I told him I didn’t want to smoke a joint and get in the mood. Daddy, why do boys have to act like that?”
Jake swallowed uncomfortably. How was a father supposed to answer that kind of question? He’d been a randy teenager eager to get laid, and not so long ago that he didn’t remember what it felt like. He knew how boys worked. If he had a son, he’d have told the kid in no uncertain terms to keep his pants zipped. But what was he supposed to tell Ava? He had to say something.
“It’s the way we’re wired, I’m afraid. When a boy gets into his teens, his body goes nuts. His voice drops an octave or two, he sprouts whiskers, and there’s a whole lot of testosterone pumping through his system. He wakes up one morning and realizes that the girls he despised just the day before are developing too. And they are looking pretty darned great, in fact. Then he gets brave, or desperate, and he tries kissing one. When he discovers how soft the girl is and how exciting it is to touch her, he just wants more. And if she’s willing, one thing leads to another, and suddenly they’re both doing things they never intended to do.”
“Is that what happened with you and Mom?” Ava’s tone was carefully neutral.
Jake cleared his throat and decided on honesty. “Pretty much.”
Ava gasped as if she hadn’t expected the unvarnished truth. “And you regret it. I bet you wish I’d never been born.”
“I regret a lot of things, Ava, but you aren’t one of them. Not for a minute.” Jake reached across the space that separated them and found Ava’s hand. He tugged gently until she yielded and came away from the railing. He pulled her down onto his lap and wrapped his arms about her as if he could shield her from the harsh realities of life and growing up.
“Sometimes,” he began softly, then kissed her forehead. “Sometimes people ask, if I knew then what I know now, would I make different choices? But it’s not always that simple. Perhaps if I’d been wiser or better informed, I’d not have urged your mother to do something neither of us was really ready for. But the trouble is, the moment I held you in my arms I knew there was no way on earth I’d change a single thing.”
Jake felt Ava’s sobs begin, small at first, then growing until she trembled in his arms. He pulled her closer, kissing the top of her head and smoothing the silken tumble of hair that fell past her shoulders. When the crying subsided into a few ragged hiccoughs, Jake dug into his pocket to retrieve his handkerchief but discovered he didn’t have one. Instead, he yanked the bottom of his jersey free, lifted Ava’s chin, and wiped her eyes. She tried to smile, but the smile slid, and tears welled up again.
“I bet Mom would do it different.”
It felt like someone had stabbed Jake in the heart. Marsha most definitely would have chosen not to have Ava if she had it to do over again. Ava was too smart to fool with half-truths and platitudes.
“Maybe she would have,” he agreed, pulling Ava close again. “But I wouldn’t. Not in a million years.”
“I love you, Daddy.”
“I love you, too, kitten. More than you will ever know.” Now his eyes were filling with tears. Sweet Jesus! All this estrogen was turning him into a wuss.
JAKE SAT IN the swing a long time after Ava had hugged him for the last time and taken herself to bed. He stared across the shadowy lawn to Zoe’s now totally dark house and thought about all the things he would change if he could.
“I love you, too, Zoe. I should have told you so when I still had the chance,” he whispered into the quiet night.
Chapter 29
ZOE EXPECTED TO feel a little nervous as she approached Jake’s house with a bowl of cornbread salad in one hand and a pie-taker in the other. She hadn’t expected the mad scramble of butterflies currently ch
urning in her gut. Her footsteps slowed as she shut the gate behind her and crossed the lawn.
Jake’s driveway overflowed with vehicles: three pickup trucks, his aunt’s late model Buick, two minivans, and one low-slung, expensive-looking, sports car. Jake had asked her if she was serious about meeting the rest of his family when he invited her to his end-of-summer barbecue, but it wasn’t like this was an important job interview or meeting prospective in-laws for the first time. It was just Jake’s family, and she and Jake were just friends.
He wasn’t a talker, and she’d had to pry information out of him. His brief comments had made it clear he admired all three of his brothers, thought his sister was smart, pretty, and a lot of fun, and his parents were the best. What would they think of their son’s new neighbor? The unwed mother-to-be, who had claimed so much of Jake’s time of late and insinuated herself into every aspect of his family?
Two boys dashed past her with Taffy chasing after them. Must be the nephews Jake had mentioned. Zoe glanced back at the tree house and wondered if the twins and their girl cousins were up there hiding from the boys. A hum of voices came from the back yard, punctuated by an occasional shout of laughter. Zoe’s nervousness increased.
“Are you going to stand down there all afternoon, or are you coming up?”
Zoe’s gaze jerked toward Jake’s front porch. His Aunt Catherine stood at the top of the stairs, as elegant as ever, her eyebrows arched in question.
“I guess I better bring these in the house where it’s cool until it’s time to eat.” Zoe lifted the cornbread salad slightly, then began to climb the stairs, not an easy or graceful task with both hands full and her ungainly girth making the stairs seem endless.
