Home for Her Family (9781460341186)

by Carmichael, Virginia

  “Pretty car, Coach Jack!” Gabby cried. She rushed to it, ready to jump into the backseat.

  “Wait,” Sabrina called, hurrying to catch up. “Try to knock the dirt off your shoes. The parking lot is so muddy.” Sabrina decided she’d better get the girls situated and then carefully sit with the toolbox on her lap. If she got grease in Jack’s nice car, she’d never get over it.

  “Don’t worry about their shoes. I take this up to Wolf Mountain all the time. I’ve always got ski gear melting off in here and people with muddy boots.” He opened the back door and helped Gabby and Kassey up. “Buckle in, you two.”

  “Let’s put your box in the back,” Jack said, moving toward the rear hatch. He swung it open with an easy movement.

  “Good idea. There’s usually some grease on it. Do you have a towel I can use? Something to protect the carpet?” Sabrina peeked into the space.

  “Just set it in there. The carpet is black for a reason.” He smiled down at her. “I’ll strap it in with the cables.”

  “Strap it in?” Sabrina asked, hefting the box into the back.

  He pointed to heavy-duty straps that ran from each end. “It’s a safety thing. Keeps heavy items from flying toward the passengers in case of an accident.”

  “Great idea,” she said, watching him tie down the box. She laughed a bit, shaking her head. “You’re the perfect guy. Coaching kids, protecting young women, strapping down heavy items.”

  He tugged one more strap into place and glanced at her. He didn’t smile. “I’m not perfect.”

  “Huh.” Sabrina didn’t know why she was pushing the issue, but his denial made irritation flare up inside of her. “So, having a high-powered job, athletic ability, a great sense of humor and being gorgeous isn’t enough? We need something else? You must run in pretty competitive circles.” The kind of circles where someone like Sabrina wouldn’t even be hired as a secretary.

  He slowly straightened up. Looking down at her, he spoke softly, “I like the sound of all that, especially the being-gorgeous part.”

  Her face went hot and she looked down at her feet. She noticed for the first time that there was a small hole in the toe of one of her tennis shoes. The closer he got, the more she wanted to push him away. She had been alone for so long that it was hard to let anyone into her life.

  Reaching out, he lifted her chin with one warm finger. He met her gaze and his eyes were dark with emotion. “But we both know that perfection comes from above. I’m so far from perfect, Sabrina. I would trade all of the things you mentioned for being a better person.”

  They were inches apart, in the dark, the light from the SUV casting a glow around them. His hand was steady on her chin and for the merest second, his gaze dropped to her mouth.

  Then he dropped his hand and stepped back, reaching for the SUV hatch. “Let’s get you guys home.”

  She nodded, walking to the passenger side as he slammed the trunk closed. Why did she have to pick a fight every time they got close? Why couldn’t she just make small talk like a normal person? Probably because she never had been very good at small talk. Making friends wasn’t her area of expertise.

  Pulling herself up into the passenger seat, she put on her seat belt. The interior of the car was dark, but the dashboard was dimly lit, as if it was already prepared for the driver. She glanced back at the girls, who were busy giggling and bouncing in their seats.

  Jack angled into the driver’s seat. “You’ll have to give me directions,” he said. His voice was light, but there was a tightness around his mouth.

  Sabrina wished for the tenth time that she was a different girl. Someone who had the freedom to reach out to Jack and wipe the frown from his face.

  “We’re not too far from here,” she said, forcing the words past the lump in her throat. She gave him quick directions and settled into the seat, wishing they were already home.

  * * *

  Jack could smell Sabrina’s light perfume. Or maybe it was her shampoo. A weight had settled on his chest and he couldn’t seem to shift it. That kiss in the courtyard had been completely unplanned, and yet he had to admit he’d been wanting to kiss her since they’d met. But she’d let him know that a relationship was not going to happen, not right now.

  He turned onto the busy downtown road and headed west. He knew how to take rejection as well as any guy—not that he’d had that much practice with it. When she said she had too much on her plate, he understood completely. Sometimes the time just wasn’t right for two people to start that tightrope of a romantic relationship. His brain understood all of that perfectly well; it was his heart that was having a hard time. Every time he looked into those dark brown eyes, he wanted to show her that he could be the man she needed.

  Jack slowed for a red light, listening to the girls giggle in the backseat. Being a single parent was no laughing matter, and he admired her attitude of putting the girls first. It was true she really didn’t need a man in the mix, but he sure wished she did. Jack grimaced inwardly. How petty to wish that Sabrina would let him rush in and play the knight in shining armor. Having a little chat with some trash-talking teens was one thing. Stepping in to support a whole family was another. She was doing a good job and he needed to keep his ego from getting in her way.

  “Thank you for talking to those kids back there,” she said, almost as if she read his mind.

  Jack blinked. As the light turned green, he advanced slowly, watching the truck in front of him spew dark smoke from its rusted tailpipe. “I would have waited for a different moment, but I was thinking I probably wouldn’t find them again.” He chanced a glance at her. “I hope that didn’t make you uncomfortable. I wanted to remind them that they have to follow the rules at the mission and those rules include showing respect. They probably didn’t mean much by it, but there are women there who have suffered sexual assaults. That kind of behavior could make them feel very threatened.”

  “I agree. What is simply annoying to one person could cause a panic attack for someone else.” Sabrina looked at her hands. “It was nice. I don’t go in for the caveman type, but I appreciated what you did.”

  He almost choked. “Caveman type?”

  Her lips tugged up. “You know, the kind of guy who rushes around looking for a chance to show his muscles and protect his woman.”

  “Ah.” Jack nodded. “I know some of those, I guess.” His woman. Obviously she was just using a turn of phrase, but he couldn’t help smiling.

  They lapsed into silence and he was painfully aware of how close she was. There was a real difference between sitting at dinner, running around a gym and being in a small area like a front seat of a car. Minutes later, she pointed out a brick building perched on a darkened corner. It looked to be the sort of place where retirees might find themselves in if they didn’t have enough to move to a warmer climate. The walkway was tidy, but the two small bushes at the front door seemed out of place, as if put there as an afterthought. The lack of underground parking told him more than the sort of drab surroundings. This wasn’t an upscale neighborhood and this building wasn’t the sort of place any of his friends might live, whether just out of college or not.

  Sabrina reached for the handle of door. “Thank you for the ride. Just pop the trunk and I’ll grab my tools.”

  He pulled up at the curb and put the car in Park. “It’s late. I’ll walk you to the door.”

  “No, really...” She started to protest but Jack was already out of the car.

  Gabby and Kassey piled out of the back, still chattering, and ran for the front door. The dim light from the entryway wasn’t very welcoming. Jack glanced up and down the street on the way around to the trunk. There wasn’t a bus stop near. They must have to walk a few blocks even after catching the bus. He realized how much of a sacrifice she had made to allow them on the team.

  At the rear of the car
, he lifted out her toolbox. She reached for it and for a moment he wished she would just let him help. Why was it so hard to let him carry it, when it must weigh more than twenty pounds? He was taller, stronger and just wanted to help. But as he handed it over, he knew it was less about the weight of the toolbox and more about her independence. This was a woman who had worked hard for everything she had. She wasn’t one to accept help when she was perfectly capable of handling it herself.

  “Coach Jack, come on in and see my room,” Kassey called. She was standing by the door and waving him forward with a huge grin.

  “Thanks, Kassey, but I should let you guys get your homework done.”

  “I don’t have any,” Gabby said. “Do you, Kassey?”

  “Nope, not me,” the youngest girl said, her gap-toothed grin adding a little extra charm to her words.

  “It’s okay, you don’t have to come up,” Sabrina said, just as he knew she would. “Your car probably isn’t usually parked on the street, right?”

  He turned, frowning at the SUV. He hadn’t thought about his car. He parked wherever he needed to, but she must think he always chose a secure garage. “I’m not worried about the car.”

  “Well,” she said and then paused, as if unsure whether to finish her sentence. He almost spoke, telling her she didn’t need to invite him up, that he didn’t need any kind of payment for giving them a ride. She spoke before he could say what he was thinking. “Well, I’d love for you to come up and have some tea.” She glanced up, unsure, as if he might be somehow offended at the invitation. “Or coffee, if that’s what you like.”

  Jack was so surprised he just stared at her for a moment. They weren’t going to date, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t be friends, he supposed. He loved talking to her, laughing with her. He thought of her when she wasn’t around and looked forward to when he’d see her again. It might be a bad idea, but he couldn’t bring himself to say no. “That would be nice.”

  A smile spread over her face and she said, “I can’t promise it’s clean. I was on the phone when we left this morning so there might be dishes left out and—”

  “You’re talking to a twenty-seven-year-old bachelor who lives alone. I don’t think two small children and a grown woman can compete with the kind of clutter I leave around after a weekend up on the mountain.” He held out his hand for the toolbox. She couldn’t unlock the door and hold it at the same time. He was happy she didn’t object, but just grinned at him and passed it over.

  They walked into the small entryway, the worn carpet almost threadbare in places where the residents stopped to collect their mail from the wall of metal boxes. The smell of fresh paint was overwhelming and strips of painter’s tape still clung to the corners of the ceiling.

  “Coach Jack, I’ll get out the cookies. I can reach them if I bring a chair into the kitchen and stretch way up high.” Gabby was talking a mile a minute as she ran up the stairs, her pigtails flying out behind her. She disappeared around the turn of the stairwell and he could hear her footsteps heading up without a pause. Kassey was close behind, her short legs working hard to keep up.

  “You’re probably the most exciting thing to happen all month,” Sabrina said.

  “You don’t have many visitors?”

  They turned onto the second landing. Jack wondered for a moment if she lived at the very top. He didn’t remember seeing an elevator. He was in good shape but he could feel the muscles in his hand complaining from the weight of the toolbox.

  “Not really. I don’t have much time after work. Evening is usually homework and bedtime. There’s a girl upstairs who likes to hang out a bit and talk, but she’s younger than I am. Most of her conversation is about fashion or what cute guy is her current crush.”

  “Sounds fascinating,” he said. He shot her a look that said the opposite and she giggled. They reached the fourth landing and she reached for the door that opened to the hallway. Jack sent up a silent sigh of relief. His fingers were losing feeling.

  “I’m not saying I want to debate politics or discuss current events, but I could really care less about the hottest brands.”

  “You don’t need to.” She turned with a confused expression and he went on, “You don’t need to care about them. You’re effortlessly beautiful.”

  Her cheeks went pink. “I wasn’t fishing for compliments.”

  “I know.” They headed down the hallway, Gabby and Kassey dancing with excitement in front of a brown door at the very end. “Maybe I’m prejudiced from living with Evie. She’s always ignored fashion to the point of being hopelessly out of style. It drove our mother crazy. When Evie bought the paper, she decided to buy a nice wardrobe of office clothes.”

  “She looks lovely,” Sabrina said.

  “Well, she hired someone.” Jack chuckled. “She said she didn’t have time to fiddle with picking out clothes.”

  She laughed imagining Evie, so effortlessly put together on the outside and absolutely uninterested in her wardrobe on the inside. “Actually, I suppose I shouldn’t be so quick to say I’m not interested in fashion. Maybe if I had the money and needed the clothes, it might actually be fun. I’m just not sure.”

  “Sort of how I’ve always felt about sports that don’t include snow.”

  “But you coach soccer,” she protested, laughing. She put the key in the lock of the door and opened it wide.

  “Correction. I coach kids at the mission because Gavin asked me. The soccer is really secondary.”

  The girls ran through the door and split off in different directions. Sabrina looked around, her face going pink. “I’m sorry it’s such a mess. I probably shouldn’t have asked you up here.”

  “It looks like you’re packing. Can I help at all?” The living room was small and littered with a few half-filled boxes. Bright red pillows were piled on the brown flowered couch. It was clean but shabby. He set the toolbox near the front door and took off his jacket. It was cool in the apartment.

  Sabrina went to turn up the thermostat but didn’t take off her sweater. “Thank you, but we don’t have much to pack. Come on into the kitchen,” she said.

  The white walls should have made it seem bigger than it was, but the area was truly tiny. A square table sat in the middle, three battered chairs around it. Sabrina took a kettle from the stove and filled it with water.

  “Have a seat,” she said, motioning to the chairs. She seemed a little nervous, brushing her hair from her eyes and glancing at him.

  Jack settled into a chair and stretched his legs out under the small table. The walls were bare except for a small photo of the girls with their arms around a young woman. Her hair was curlier than Sabrina’s, but they shared the same heart-shaped face and large brown eyes.

  “Is that your sister?”

  She nodded without turning from where she stood at the stove, twisting the knob of the burner to high. “I thought it might help the girls if I kept a picture of their mom around.”

  “I thought you were trying to get permanent custody.”

  Sliding into the chair opposite him, she said, “Yes, but she’ll always be their mom.”

  Jack thought of how he was struggling to make his way in the world without reacting to his own childhood and sighed. “It’s strange how we never seem to get over the need for our parents’ love. It’s ingrained. It can’t be explained away.”

  Leaning forward, her eyes wide with sincerity, she said, “Exactly. And if it can’t be changed, I want them to have whatever peace they can. I don’t want them to wonder. Growing up, I knew plenty of kids whose parents left them when they were too young to remember, and it seemed worse than what I went through. The not knowing was a constant torture.”

  Looking at the tiny scratched tabletop, Jack felt shame rise up in him. He had fought so hard to distance himself from his father. A lot of people wished they k
new something, anything, about their parents.

  “I drew you a picture,” Gabby cried, running at full speed into the kitchen. She waved a sheet of paper at Jack’s head.

  “Thank you.” Taking the sheet, he examined it closely. Stick figures stood next to a house with a triangle roof. There was a medium figure with a ponytail and a square box attached to one hand. This must be Sabrina. Two small figures held hands and sported matching triangle skirts and giant smiles. The next figure was twice as tall and held both arms up, with small bumps at the biceps.

  Jack started to laugh and then saw Gabby’s eyes narrow. He choked back his amusement and pointed to the tall figure. “This is me, right?”

  “Of course. See how strong you are?”

  “I do.” He glanced up at Sabrina, expecting to see laughter dancing in her eyes. Instead, her face was bright pink and she jumped up to check the teakettle.

  “I’m going to draw another,” Gabby said and ran off to the bedroom.

  There was an awkward pause and Sabrina cleared her throat. “Sorry about that.”

  “You don’t like our family portrait?” He chuckled. “It’s great. I love it.”

  She turned and shot him a look, as if she didn’t quite believe him. “Guys usually run away when they see things like that.”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know why they would. That kind of picture tells me how much she likes me and I’m honored.” Sabrina didn’t seem quite convinced. “When I was little, I drew a family portrait at school that had my mom, my dad, my sister, me and the garbage man. I thought he was the coolest man on the planet because he drove such a big truck. My parents were not amused, and it didn’t get hung on the fridge, obviously.”

  She giggled. “Kassey loves the plumber. He comes by pretty often and she says he’s got better tools than I do.”

  As quickly as it had come, the awkwardness was gone. Jack watched her retrieve two mugs from the cabinet and let the muscles in his shoulders relax a bit. It had been a long day at work, with not much accomplished, but this moment was like a balm to his psyche.