by Amy Reece
“Nonsense!” Claire practically dragged her in the house. “He’s just out for a run. He’ll be back soon. He made soup and will be upset if you don’t have some. Get down, Freddie! Stop jumping on her!”
Bernie followed her to the kitchen and allowed herself to be cosseted with a steaming bowl of chicken soup and a mug of hot tea. “Thanks, Mrs. Harris. This is great.”
“Call me Claire, please. ‘Mrs. Harris’ sounds so old. Josh said you weren’t feeling well?”
“Oh, it’s just a cold. More annoying than anything.” Bernie was a bit taken aback when Claire laid her forearm on Bernie’s forehead.
“Hmm. You’re running a slight fever.” She disappeared and returned a moment later with some Tylenol. “Take a couple of these.”
“Thanks. This soup is really good.”
“Everything Josh makes is good. And I’m not just saying that because he’s my son.” She smiled. “Well, not only because he’s my son. He has his father’s gift. Everything he touches turns into culinary magic.”
“Did his dad always like to cook? I mean, even when he was younger?” Bernie yearned to know more about this family that was so different from her own. Even though Josh and his mom had been through the worst sort of grief Bernie could imagine, they were still happy. They still stuck together.
“Yeah, Alec always loved to cook. He played sports, like both my boys, but cooking was his first love.” Claire got a faraway look as she reminisced. “Well, I was actually his first love. I guess cooking was his second. That is one thing I always knew for certain—how much that man loved me.” She wiped away a stray tear streaking down her cheek. “Sorry, Bernie. I know you don’t want to hear all this. I just get maudlin from time to time.”
“No, it’s fine. I’d love to hear how you met. If you don’t mind. I mean I don’t want to bring up bad memories or anything.” Bernie belatedly realized Claire might not want to talk about her dead husband.
“I don’t mind at all, if you don’t mind that I might cry some. They’re all good memories, you know. I met Alec when I was fifteen. He was sixteen and so gorgeous. Josh looks so much like him it hurts sometimes. Caleb looked much more like me. We were inseparable, much to the dismay of our parents. I got pregnant right after I turned sixteen.” She paused at the look of dismay on Bernie’s face. “Shocking, huh?”
“No! Of course not!” Bernie saw that Claire looked amused. “Well, sort of. I mean, my mom had me when she was sixteen, but you’re nothing like her! You seem so…normal.” Well-adjusted, socially acceptable, rich—that’s what Bernie wanted to say. “How did you manage it? You seem to have it all together now. How did you go from a teenage pregnancy to this?” Bernie gestured to the house at large.
“It wasn’t easy, but Alec and I worked hard. My parents were livid when they found out I was pregnant! They insisted I stop seeing Alec immediately and made plans for me to give the baby up for adoption.”
“But you didn’t go for that, huh?”
“I tried for a while. I was scared to death, of course, and thought it was the end of the world. I broke up with Alec and transferred to New Futures High.” She referred to the high school that catered specifically to unwed, underage mothers. “Alec went crazy. He refused to accept our breakup. He showed up every single day after school to try to talk to me. Well, of course I didn’t last long against that kind of devotion.”
“What happened?” Bernie leaned forward on her barstool, totally immersed in the love story.
“We got back together, of course. My parents kicked me out, and I moved in with Alec’s family. His parents were incredible. Alec and I both dropped out of school and got our GEDs. He went to culinary school, and I took business classes at the community college. I had the baby—Josh, of course—and we became a family. We got married on my eighteenth birthday. Caleb was born seven years later.”
“What about your parents? Did they ever speak to you again?”
“Of course. They got over it pretty quickly and helped us out. Once they realized Alec and I were fully committed to each other and our baby, they managed to deal with the fact that I got knocked up in the tenth grade.” She actually chuckled as she remembered. “Now that I have children of my own, I get it.” Then she seemed to remember she only had one child still living and choked up. “Sorry. I did warn you.”
“It’s okay. I’m sorry I made you remember,” Bernie whispered and looked down into her soup bowl.
“Oh, no, sweetie. I love remembering and talking about Alec and Caleb. I would give my right arm if I could have them back, but that’s not going to happen. I miss them more than I can say, but I don’t want to forget them.”
“How do you handle it so well? What’s your secret?” Bernie was desperate to know how Claire and Josh could handle such an awful thing with such maturity and grace while her mother completely unraveled when her father was sent to prison.
“Well, keep in mind you’re seeing us a full year later. I wasn’t this calm at first, believe me. Josh and I have had a lot of therapy and prescriptions to help get us through. But we had each other to lean on.”
Bernie wondered why she hadn’t been enough for her mom to lean on.
“I couldn’t bear to lose Josh too,” Claire whispered and reached for a tissue.
Josh came in from his run at that moment, cheeks flushed from the cold wind. “Bernie,” he said with a smile that made her stomach flip. “I’m glad you came by. How are you feeling?”
“She’s running a slight fever and I don’t like the sound of that cough,” Claire said.
“I’ve got some cough syrup in my bathroom.” Josh disappeared to retrieve it, and Bernie wondered why she wasn’t more annoyed at the way they spoke as if she wasn’t there. That kind of thing usually bugged the crap out of her; tonight she couldn’t work up the energy to complain much.
“I’m fine,” she said. “You guys don’t need to fuss.”
“I’m a mother. It’s what we do. Maybe I should call your mom before I give you any more medicine.”
“No. That’s not necessary. Seriously.” Besides, they hadn’t been able to afford a phone line for more than a year.
“Well, all right, but you should get home and get plenty of rest tonight. And stay home tomorrow if you don’t feel any better, okay?”
“Sure. Of course.” Bernie wondered what Claire would do if she found out Bernie was living out of her car. She couldn’t afford to let anyone find out. Surely she could hang on for a few more months! Her savings account was slowly growing, and she was fairly confident she would be able to afford a crappy apartment by her birthday in April.
“Okay, here we go.” Josh reappeared and poured Bernie a capful of thick, pink liquid and handed it to her. “Bottoms up.”
She looked at it, smelled it, and handed it back, shaking her head. “I think I’m allergic to cough syrup.”
He held his hands up, refusing to take it. “And I think you’re full of crap. Drink it, Princess,” Josh said sternly.
She narrowed her eyes at him but slugged it back and then tried to keep her gag reflex from bringing it back up again.
“Good girl,” he said, smirking. “Now drink your tea and eat your soup. I’ll make grilled cheese.”
She did as he ordered; it was nice to be taken care of for the first time in ages, it seemed. She sat back and watched as he washed up and began to prepare sandwiches for the three of them. She watched as he and Claire bantered back and forth, transfixed by the normalcy and…joy. It was the only name she could put to it. She realized she was staring when she caught Josh looking at her, concern evident in his frown. She smiled and shook her head.
They didn’t even make a pretense of doing homework. They ate and watched a movie, during which Bernie fell asleep. She woke up coughing violently and shivering, though she was covered with an afghan Josh must have tucked around her.
“What time is it?” she asked through her coughs.
“About eleven. I didn’t want to
wake you up. Sorry. Are you going to be in trouble? Do you need to call your parents?”
She couldn’t answer through her coughs, so she just shook her head.
Josh patted her back and then reached around to feel her forehead. “You’re burning up! Let me go get my mom.”
“No. I’m fine. I’ll just go.” She stopped to cough again.
“Bernie, you’re really sick. I’m not sure you should be driving. Why don’t you call your mom to come get you? Or let me drive you home.”
She shook her head while she gathered her bag and coat. “I’m fine. Don’t worry.” She wasn’t fine, but there was nothing Josh could do about it. She needed to get out of there and to her spot behind Walgreens so she could sleep. She was sure she’d feel better in the morning. She left quickly, deciding to stop by a twenty-four-hour Walmart to pick up some Tylenol and maybe some cough syrup, although she hated it. Back in her car, she took the Tylenol and choked down the disgusting cough syrup, following it with a few chugs from the bottle of water she also bought. She laid her head against the headrest and groaned. Crap. I haven’t felt this awful in a long time. Come on, girl! Get your ass in gear. You’ll sleep it off and feel better in the morning. She forced herself to sit up and drive to the Walgreens. She had just curled up under her quilt, hoping she’d be able to get some sleep when she was startled by a knock on her window. Heart pounding, she sat up to peer out the window, fearing it was a cop.
No such luck. It was Josh.
Chapter Five
Josh
“Bernie? What the hell is going on?” He pressed his face against the window of her car and knocked on the glass. He had followed her home because he was worried she was too sick to drive and he had to make sure she got home safely. He’d waited patiently while she went in to Walmart to buy whatever she thought she needed at 11:30 p.m. He’d been confused when she pulled into the Walgreens parking lot and outright puzzled when she drove behind the store and parked between the dumpsters.
“What are you doing here, Josh?” Bernie opened the back passenger door, and Josh could see she’d made the seat into a bed of sorts.
“Why are you…my God, are you sleeping in your car?”
“Got it in one, Sherlock! Now go away. You’re letting all the heat escape.”
Hoping to penetrate her cranky defense mechanism, he crouched and took her freezing hands between his palms. “Bernie, what about your parents? Where are they?”
She sniffed and pulled her hands away. “My mom’s at home. My dad’s in prison. Is that what you want to hear?” She finished with a coughing fit.
Still cranky, apparently, but Josh was nothing if not persistent. He gently took her hand again. “I’m sorry, Bernie. Why aren’t you at home with your mom?”
“I can’t think of any reason why it would be your business.”
“I thought we were friends. I can’t leave my friend to sleep in her car by a dumpster. Isn’t that reason enough?” He had to find a way past her prickly defenses. Preferably before she froze to death in her car.
She shook her head. “Go away, Josh.”
“I can’t do that. Now that I know, I can’t just leave you here. Come on. What’s going on? Why aren’t you at home with your mom?”
The tears streaking down her cheeks broke his heart. “Her boyfriend tried to—” She didn’t need to finish. Josh pulled her into his arms and held her as she cried.
“God, Bernie. I’m so sorry.” Anger burned through his gut as he clenched his jaw. “He didn’t—?”
“I left before he could.” She shook her head against his chest and started coughing again.
“When was that? How long have you been living in your car?”
“Since July.”
Josh bit back a curse. “Okay, come on. Let’s get your stuff together.” He set her away from him.
“What?”
“Get your stuff together. You’re coming home with me.”
“No, I’m not. I’m fine. Go home, Josh. Please.” She crawled back into her car and reached to shut the door.
He grabbed the door before she could slam it on him. “You’re sick, Bernie. You need to be inside a house and in a bed, for God’s sake! You need medicine!”
“I got some on my way home. I’ll be fine. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.” She pushed him away from the door and closed it in his face.
Well, that explained why she’d stopped by Walmart. She is so damned stubborn! “Sorry to do this, Bernie, but you forced me to call in the big guns.” He dialed his phone as he spoke to the closed door. “Mom, I found her. She’s been sleeping in her car for four months. Of course I did. She refused. Yeah, I’ll get her.” He knocked on her window again.
She cracked the door open. “Josh, you’re really sweet but—”
He shoved the phone in the opening. “My mom wants to talk to you.”
If looks could kill, he’d drop dead where he stood. “I can’t believe you called her!” She managed to imbue her raspy whisper with an incredible amount of venom as she got out of her car.
“I’m not messing around, Bernie.” He pushed the phone into her hand and then stood with his arms crossed, waiting.
“Hi, Claire.” Bernie was apparently trying to sound perky. “Josh is overreacting—yes…yes, I have. Well, but—no, I can’t.” Silence as Claire obviously read her the riot act. “Okay, fine. I will, I promise.” She handed the phone back to Josh. “Your mom is scary sometimes. I can’t believe you ratted me out!”
“Whatever it takes. Get what you need. I’ll get my truck warmed up.”
“I’m driving my car to your house.” She slammed her back door and reached for the driver’s handle.
Josh put his hand on the door, keeping it shut. “I’ll come back for your car. I promise.”
“No way! I’m not leaving my car here. It’s the only one I’ve got. I’ll follow you to your house.” She crossed her arms and set her chin.
“God, you’re stubborn! Fine, but I’ll follow you.”
“You don’t trust me?”
“It’s not that! I just want to make sure you don’t drive off the road while you’re hacking up a lung! Now let’s go! It’s freezing out here.”
“Bossy much?” he heard her mutter as she slammed her door and backed her car out of the small space near the dumpsters.
He couldn’t hold back the wry grin as he started his truck and followed her out of the parking lot. Even sick and freezing to death she had such a mouth! His grin disappeared as images of what she must have gone through the past months flashed across his mind. I’d sure like to get my hands on the son of a bitch who tried to rape her! She parked on the street in front of his house, and he opened her door, holding out his hand for her bag. She sighed and handed it to him.
Claire was waiting in the kitchen with a mug of hot tea for Bernie. “Oh, sweetie, your hands are freezing!” She put her palms on Bernie’s cheeks. “But you still feel warm.”
“I took some more Tylenol. And some cough syrup.”
“Good. Drink this tea while I get the bed made in the guest room.” Claire bustled away.
“Josh.”
“Yeah, Bernie?”
“Thanks. Sorry I was so awful to you. I just—”
“I know. It’s okay. Sorry I was so bossy. I couldn’t leave you there.”
“This is just until I feel a little better.” She stood up and took her half-empty mug to the sink.
“Let’s talk about it tomorrow, okay?”
“Bernie, honey.” Claire returned to the kitchen. “Let’s get you to bed. It’s late and you need your rest. If you still have a fever in the morning, I’m keeping you home. No argument.”
Bernie met Josh’s eyes and both smiled slightly at Claire’s mother-hen behavior. She followed Claire to the spare bedroom.
Josh made himself and his mom some herbal tea while he waited for her to return from settling Bernie in for the night.
“Well, she’s tucked in. I hope she get
s some good rest tonight. Oh, thank you, Josh.” Claire sipped at the tea, sweetened with a teaspoon of honey, as she preferred.
“How did you convince her?”
She blew on the tea to cool it before answering. “I threatened to call Child Protective Services. I took a chance that she’s not yet eighteen. It worked, but I feel pretty bad about it. Did she tell you why she’s been living in her car?”
“Her mom’s boyfriend tried to rape her.”
Josh had never heard such language from his gentle mother. “Well, she will be staying with us. That’s all there is to it.”
“Good luck with that. She already said she’s only staying until she feels better.”
“We’ll just see about that! Go to bed, Josh. Let me worry about Bernie. She’s not going anywhere.”
***
“I’m fine. I feel much better.” Bernie’s arms were crossed and her chin jutted out stubbornly.
Josh hid a smile and turned back to the stove to flip the bacon. Bernie was stubborn, but she had met her match in Claire.
“Oh, really? Well, let’s see what your temperature is. If it’s normal, you can go to school. If it’s not, you’re staying home and I’m taking you to the doctor.” Claire grabbed Bernie’s ear and inserted the thermometer. “One hundred and two.”
“But I can’t—”
“Yes, you can. No arguments, young lady.”
“Eat some breakfast.” Josh set a plate of bacon and eggs in front of her. “I’ll bring home your homework for you.” She still looked awful this morning with dark circles under her eyes and a decidedly pasty tinge to her dark complexion.
She picked at her food and finally pushed the plate away. “Sorry, Josh. It’s good, but I just don’t have much of an appetite.”
He took her plate and scraped the uneaten food into the garbage can, despite Freddie’s pleading look. “Sorry, buddy. No table scraps for you. Bernie, maybe I can tempt you with some of my chocolate pudding tonight, hmm?”
“Maybe.” She smiled slightly. “You do make really good pudding.”
