They started walking again. “Do you miss it a lot? The army, I mean.”
She appreciated the fact that Jack didn’t answer right away, instead giving the matter some thought before answering rather than just offering up some glib comment. “Yeah, I do miss it. I had planned to make it my career, to stay in at least another ten years, maybe even twenty. I was good at what I did, and our country needs men with my particular skill set.”
As he spoke, he guided them over to one of the big logs that were strewn along the beach. They sat down and stared across the water toward the islands in the Sound and the snowcapped Olympic Mountains in the distance. “I liked the sense of purpose the military gave me as well as the structure and control it provided.”
Then, to lighten the moment, he grinned just a little and added, “Not to mention how good I look in a uniform.”
“I’ve seen the pictures in your mom’s living room. You did look amazing.” She leaned her head against his shoulder. “I love how proud she is of you and your brothers.”
“All three of us know that the luckiest day in each of our lives was the one where she and Joe decided we were worth saving.”
That comment, however true it might have been, made her heart hurt. What kind of people would ever make a man like Jack doubt his self-worth? “You do know that Marlene feels the same way about the three of you, and so did Joe. You, Tino, and Mikhail aren’t just some kids they got paid a little to watch over for a while. You became their sons, the same as if they’d given birth to the three of you themselves.”
Jack kept his gaze pointed toward the expanse of water in front of them. “Like I said, my luckiest day.”
Finally, he glanced toward her. “You haven’t said much about your family.”
That was true enough. “My folks are both retired. Mom was a teacher, too. My dad was a mechanical engineer. Now they split their time between here and Arizona.”
“Any siblings?”
“Just one. An older brother named Jeremy. He’s an accountant and has never married. He came close a couple of years ago, but things didn’t work out. I’ve been thinking the two of you would get along great. He’s a huge sports fan, so you’d have that much in common.”
“I’d like to meet them sometime.”
“That’s mighty brave of you.”
Caitlyn meant it as a joke, but Jack didn’t take it that way. “Is there a reason you don’t want them to meet me?”
“Oh, no, not at all. If I was thinking anyone needed protecting, it was you. My dad is pretty easygoing for the most part, but Mom can be a holy terror when she wants something.”
“And what does she want?”
Might as well hit him with the hard truth. “She wants me married again. Mom is afraid that I’ll never give marriage another chance after the disaster my first one turned out to be. That I won’t trust my judgment when it comes to men.”
If Jack could share some hard truths, so could she. “Josh was both handsome and charming, at least at first. But the longer we were married, the more of a total jerk he turned out to be. He took great pleasure in belittling everything I ever did. According to him, I couldn’t dress right without his advice, I didn’t keep the house clean enough, I couldn’t cook as well as his mother, and on and on. After a while, I started to believe him.”
Enough of that. Even to her own ears, she sounded whiny and pathetic. “It got to the point I hardly recognized myself in the mirror anymore. One day, I realized I needed out if I was going to survive. Josh would tell you that he’s the one who filed for divorce, but I’d already been in touch with an attorney to do the same thing. Since then, I finished college, found a career that I’m proud of, and built a life for myself that is satisfying.”
She waited to see how Jack would react. By that point, he was sitting, leaning forward, and resting his elbows on his knees. Finally, he made a disgusted noise. “I swear, some men are just hardwired to be total assholes. You’re better off without him and were smart enough to figure that out. Look at everything you’ve managed to accomplish on your own.”
Then he gave her a thoughtful look. “Have you told your folks that you’re dating someone? That someone being me, of course.”
She winced. “Not yet. I’m supposed to have dinner with them this week, and I thought I’d mention it…mention you to them then. Jack, it’s not that I don’t want them to meet you. I wanted to see how things went between us first before throwing them into the mix.”
To her surprise, he grinned. “Boy, I get that. My mom is really jonesing for one of us to get married and have a bunch of grandbabies for her to spoil.”
He sat upright and shook his head. “I know she’s already made quilts as a present for each of our yet-to-be-named brides. Worse yet, I wouldn’t put it past her to already have a stash of baby quilts that she doesn’t want us to know about.”
The image of Jack holding a tiny redheaded baby wrapped up in one of Marlene’s beautiful quilts stabbed Caitlyn in the heart. She fought against the grief that sometimes still managed to knock her sideways if she wasn’t careful.
Needing an anchor against the emotions that threatened to buffet her like the wind that was stirring up whitecaps out on Puget Sound, she took Jack’s big hand in hers, entwining their fingers.
“So, my suggestion is that I’ll tell my folks about you and set up an opportunity for you to meet them if you want to. However, we don’t let my mom and your mom cross paths anytime soon.”
“Agreed.” Jack pretended to shudder. “Just the thought is scary. The last thing we need is for the pair of them ganging up on us.”
“So true. At least your mom just makes quilts. My folks bought me a gift certificate for a week at a resort with a friend. You know, the kind of place that caters to singles. I think they were hoping I’d meet the perfect guy there and bring him home.”
Jack’s eyes turned hard, his mouth a straight slash. “And when are you going on this trip?”
“No need to get all bent out of shape, big guy. I’m not planning on going.” She kissed him on the cheek. “I told Mom that when she first told me what they’d done, and that was before you and I started seeing each other.”
“Glad to hear that.” Then a whole different expression lit up his handsome face, one laced with humor and a dash of heat. “But just out of curiosity, does the gift certificate specify if that friend has to be female?”
She really did like the way this man thought. “Why, no, it didn’t. Isn’t that interesting?”
Jack stood up and tugged her up into his arms. “I’m just saying that if you need someone to play the part of the perfect guy, I’m willing to give it my best shot.”
Caitlyn wrapped her arms around his neck, liking the surge of heat the full contact gave her. “Do you have any special talents that would qualify you for the role?”
His grin kicked it up another notch. “None I can demonstrate out here on the beach.”
He paused to glance around at the surroundings before making eye contact with her again. He was right. The beach was a favorite hangout for families and groups of teenagers. Not the most private place they could be.
“If you’re willing to go back to your place, I’d be glad to audition.” He nipped at her nose and then kissed her, his tongue darting in and out of her mouth in a rhythm that had her about to drag him down right there on the beach, crowds be damned.
Before her last drop of common sense evaporated in the heat they were generating, she broke off the kiss. “I’m willing, Jack. But before you do a formal audition, I think you should rehearse the part…maybe even several times.”
“Great! This could be the role of a lifetime.” Jack swept her up in his arms and swung her around, laughing as he spun them in circles.
Surely he was only kidding, or at least he didn’t mean that the way it sounded. Now wasn’t the time to worry about it. Instead, Caitlyn clung to his powerful arms and laughed with him. No matter what happened, she would enjoy the ride while it lasted.
—
“That’s it, kid, give it another good turn.”
Ricky gave the wrench another yank and then tested the fan belt the way Jack had showed him. “It feels tight enough to me.”
Tino reached around him to check it, too. “Yep, right on the money. Good job.”
He ruffled Ricky’s hair before stepping back. They’d already changed the oil and spark plugs. The two brothers had let Ricky do most of the actual work. They’d started him off checking the air in the tires and then moved on to the engine. He’d never helped with a tune-up before, but it was fun. When he put the wrench back in the tool chest, Jack handed him another package. “Next up, the air filter. All you have to do is take off that cover, remove the old filter, and then drop this one in.”
The job took two minutes start to finish. “That was easy.”
“Yeah, but it’s still important. A dirty air filter really screws up an engine’s performance.” Jack wiped his hands on a rag. “That should do it for now. The only thing left to do is make sure the engine is running better. You heard how it sounded when the spark plug was misfiring. Let’s see if we fixed the problem.”
He tossed the keys to Ricky. “Start it up and then come give it a listen.”
Okay, cool. Something else he’d never done. He’d been too little when his dad died, and his mom had given up the family car when she couldn’t afford either the insurance or gas to keep it running. He turned the key and gave the truck a little gas. It started on the first try. Once he was sure it would keep running, he joined Jack and Tino by the front fender.
Trying to sound as if he knew what he was talking about, he gave the engine a satisfied look. “It’s not missing anymore.”
“You did good, kid.” Jack bumped his shoulder into Ricky’s. Then he looked across at his brother. “How many hours did we spend out here with Dad working on this old truck?”
“More than I can count.” Tino ran his hand along the top of the fender. “He also taught all of us how to drive with this old beauty. I’d like to tell you that all these dents and dings came from Dad using it on the job, but that would be a lie.”
He pointed to a sizable dent on the fender. “I put that one in it the first time I tried to parallel park.”
Not to be outdone, Jack walked around to the tailgate, dragging Ricky in his wake. “That one happened when I backed into a telephone pole that jumped out and attacked me.”
Ricky grinned. “How did you miss seeing a phone pole?”
Jack wiggled his eyebrows up and down. “As I recall, I was busy looking at a girl wearing tight jeans and an even tighter T-shirt.”
They all laughed at that. “How about your other brother? Did he leave his mark on the truck, too?”
Tino smiled. “Yeah, he did. The first time Dad let Mikhail take the truck to his baseball game, he left it parked next to the fence by the outfield. A ball that got hit out of the park landed on the hood there and then cracked the windshield.”
Jack reached over to trace the dimple in the metal. “I’d forgotten about that. Dad was so proud.”
Okay, that made no sense. “Don’t you mean he was pissed?”
The two brothers grinned at each other. “You’d think, but he wasn’t. Not when Mikhail was the one who hit the three-run homer. Joe couldn’t very well ground the idiot when he was the hero who won the game for the home team.”
All of a sudden, Ricky didn’t want to hear any more of their family history. He couldn’t imagine a future where he’d be standing around with these two swapping funny stories. Right now, he didn’t have any siblings of his own, but his mother had made it clear that situation could change at any time. The thought left him queasy, but only because of who their father would be.
Not that it would matter. His mom had also said that Lawrence thought it was better that any children they had not be exposed to a troubled kid like Ricky. Yeah, right. Lawrence didn’t want anyone around who might stand up to him.
“Look, if we’re done here, I’ve got stuff to do.”
He walked away without giving Jack or Tino a chance to stop him. Once he was in his room, he locked the door and flopped on the bed. Burying his face in the pillow didn’t help; rolling over on his back wasn’t much better, but at least he could look out the window. From his room, he could see the treetops in the backyard and just the corner of the garage roof.
By now, Jack and Tino were probably back over there, sharing a beer and yucking it up over all their adventures. No doubt Jack thought Ricky owed them an apology for charging off without helping them clean up the mess they’d made working on the truck.
Too bad. He had his own problems to deal with right now. First off, he’d dial his mother’s number again. A few seconds later, he tossed the phone aside in disgust.
“Why did I even bother?”
There was no good answer to that question. Maybe some little part of him still hoped that he mattered to her. Maybe he’d really wanted to believe that it was only a system glitch that kept him from being able to reach out to her from the safety of his room here in Jack’s house. And maybe it didn’t matter at all why he wanted to think there was still hope that somehow the two of them could go back to how things were before his dad had died, and she still loved him.
Come tomorrow, he’d settle the matter one way or another and then get on with his life.
Chapter 18
“Mom, have you seen Ricky this morning? I thought he was going out on the job with me today.”
Marlene popped her head out of the kitchen. “No, I haven’t seen him since right after dinner last night. Are you sure he’s not up in his room?”
Damn, Jack had a bad feeling about this. “I knocked a couple of times, but he didn’t answer. Have you heard him at all?”
By now, his mother was looking worried, too. “Yes, I heard him moving around early this morning around five or five thirty. You know, like he’d had to use the bathroom. As far as I know, he went back to his room afterward.”
Jack checked the time. If he didn’t leave soon, he’d be late. “Maybe he’s a little under the weather or something. Let him sleep in. If he wakes up and wants to come hang out with me, tell him to give me a call.”
Tino wandered in. “Or I can run him over to the site when he finally rolls out of the sack. Better yet, I’ll come with you. It’s been awhile since I gave Dad a hand on the job, but I haven’t forgotten how. Okay?”
Working with his brother would feel like old times. “Yeah, I could use the help. Besides, you’ll be a lot more fun to boss around than Ricky. I already made enough lunch for two, so we should be good to go.”
Tino headed for the back door. “I’ll run over to the annex and change into my old jeans and dig my work boots out of the closet.”
Jack grabbed the cooler and carried it outside to stow in the back of the truck. As he waited for his brother, he stared up at the second floor of the house. Should he go back upstairs and pound on the kid’s door one more time? Ricky didn’t go with him every day, but he did show up when he said he would.
Of course, they’d talked about him tagging along today while they’d been working on the truck yesterday. They’d all enjoyed the time they’d spent with their heads under the hood, or at least he and Tino had. Right up until those last few minutes, Jack would’ve sworn that Ricky was having fun, too. There’d been something off about him when he’d abruptly taken off, leaving them staring at his back.
“Something wrong?”
Jack glanced over at Tino. “I’m not sure. I’m thinking Ricky and I will be having a talk when I get back home. One that’s long overdue.”
Tino held off responding until they both were inside the truck. “You’re worried because the cast is off his arm.”
“Yeah, I am.”
“Has he said anything about leaving? Because, from what I can see, the kid is pretty happy right where he is.”
When Jack stopped for a red light, he glanced toward Tino. “Yesterda
y, he was doing fine helping us on the truck, and then it was like a switch got flipped right before he walked away. Granted, he is a teenager, so his mood can change in an instant. I’m not so old that I don’t remember what it was like to ride that particular roller coaster.”
“But?”
When the light changed, Jack gunned the engine harder than he should have. Tino snapped a hand out to brace himself as they shot across the intersection. “Oops, sorry about that.”
As usual, Tino never missed a chance to give him grief. “Not a problem. You always were a crappy driver.”
Jack shot his brother a wry look and patted the dashboard. “I was apologizing to the truck, asshole. This old girl deserves to be treated better than that. You, not so much.”
Tino laughed, but then his smile faded. “So back to Ricky.”
“God knows I’m playing all of this by ear, but I’ve had this feeling all along that he was hiding out with us until his arm healed. I shouldn’t freak out just because the kid decided to sleep in.”
His brother finished the thought for him. “But you would’ve felt better if he’d told you he’d changed his mind about coming today.”
“Yeah, I would.” He paused to double-check the address he was looking for. “The other thing is that my friend Gabe might have another job coming up for me. Not sure how long I’d have to be gone, but it’s usually bodyguard duty while babysitting American businesspeople on overseas trips. I like the work, because it lets me use my military training. However, I’m not sure I should take the assignment this time.”
“Can’t Mom keep an eye on Ricky for you?”
“She did the last time I left on a job, and it went okay. However, she made it clear when I asked her to let Ricky come live with us that he was my responsibility. I’d feel better about leaving if I knew for sure what was going on in that thick skull of his.”
They’d reached the site. As they unloaded the equipment they needed to build the toolshed in the backyard, Tino asked, “It’s not like I know any more about how to handle a teenager than you do, but have you tried asking the kid what he wants? If he’s happy living there with you and Mom?”
Always for You: Jack (Sergeant Joe's Boys #1) Page 20
