by Dylann Crush
Scarlett
I waited at the entrance to the football field. Theo was supposed to meet me here so we could grab seats together. He’d been down in the cave with his dad all day, but said he’d be here in time. I was getting used to having him around. Maybe too used to it for my own good, but it felt right. And I was tired of being alone. Tired of being a single parent. Tired of having no one to go home to except Rodney, and even he wasn’t around much now that his social life had become busier than mine.
As I stood on tiptoe and glanced over the crowd congregating at the entrance, I spotted that familiar head of brown hair bobbing above the crowd. My heart did a little shiver thing when I saw him. I still wasn’t used to the idea that I, Scarlett Jarrett, self-professed lifelong single lady, had a boyfriend in the making.
He reached me and pulled me into his chest. I tilted my head back so I could meet his lips with mine.
“Hey there, beautiful.”
“Hey there, handsome.”
The crowd parted and flowed around us.
“Should we go in and grab a seat before the game starts?” I untangled myself from his embrace and threaded my fingers with his. “Rodney gets to do the coin toss tonight. I told him I’d get a picture.”
“Well what are we waiting for?” Theo pulled me toward the line for tickets.
By the time we got inside the gates, the stands had almost filled up. Wharton was a big rival and spending the evening under the Friday night lights was pretty much a requirement in a town the size of Swallow Springs.
“Scarlett!” Mom waved from a spot halfway up in the center of the stands.
“You up for spending another Friday night in the company of my mother?” I asked.
“Lead the way.”
I tugged Theo along behind me. He was such a good sport. As we reached the steps leading up the bleachers, April waved.
“Hi Scarlett. Hi Theo.” She held a red and white pom pom on a stick up over her head. “Enjoy the game.”
“You too,” I mumbled. I wasn’t quite ready to think of April as anything other than my sworn mortal enemy. Although, that wasn’t really fair. We had been friends once upon a time. Best friends. Maybe the time had come to bury the hatchet. But not tonight. Tonight was about Rodney.
We had to climb over a few people to settle in next to Mom. While she filled Theo in on what he’d missed out on in the happening community over the past week, I scanned the sideline, searching for my son. There he was. Number three, sitting on the bench.
My heart thudded. Why was Rodney on the bench? He should be warming up with the team. He should be taking the field for the coin toss. He should be wearing shoulder pads under his jersey.
I elbowed Theo in the side. “Why’s Rodney not in full uniform?”
Theo said something to my mom then leaned closer to me. “Where is he?”
“On the bench.” I squished Theo’s face in my hand and directed his gaze to the sideline. To the bench my baby’s bum was currently warming. “I thought he was supposed to start tonight.”
“He was.” Theo confirmed my suspicion. Judd had benched my son.
I struggled to stand. “If Judd thinks he can bench Rodney, just because—”
“Scarlett.” Theo tugged my hand, pulling me back down to the bleachers. “Do you want to do this now?”
“No.” I sank down next to him. “This isn’t fair though. What he’s doing, it’s wrong.”
“What’s wrong?” Mom leaned across Theo.
“Nothing. Judd’s just being an ass.”
“Nothing new there,” Mom commented.
Theo rested his forearm on my thigh. “Are you okay to stay?”
I nodded. I’d follow up with Judd after. He wasn’t going to get away with using his regrets to punish my son. Our son, I guess. The sooner I made peace with that, the easier it would be for everyone involved. But how could I forget and forgive the past fifteen years?
Theo and I waited for Rodney outside the locker room after the game. The parking lot had almost emptied. After not putting up much of a fight, the Swifties had folded and Wharton had come away with the victory, twenty-eight to seven. Rodney hadn’t played a single down. I leaned against the brick wall, my face a picture perfect mask of calmness while inside I raged.
If it hadn’t been for Theo, who had his arm wrapped around my shoulders, who kept trying to make me smile with bad jokes, I probably would have been face to face with Judd the giant douchebag by now.
Rodney was the first player to emerge. Since he hadn’t played, he probably didn’t need to shower after. As he came out of the door, I rushed over and wrapped him in my arms.
“Oh, honey, what happened? I’m so sorry you didn’t get to play tonight.” My motherly instinct to protect and soothe took over.
Rodney wiggled out of my arms. “I’m fine, Mom. Can we just get out of here?”
“Sure.” I glanced back at Theo who was already pulling his keys out of his pocket. “Of course.”
Rodney rode with me and Theo followed in his own truck. The ride home was silent, the low hum of the country station from Nevada provided backdrop noise to my inner thoughts. My heart ached for the disappointment I could feel rolling off of Rodney’s shoulders. He might put up a strong front, but he was hurting inside. A mom could always tell.
When we pulled into the drive, Rodney was out of the truck and through the front door before Theo had come to a complete stop. I made a move to go after him but Theo called out.
“Let him go. He’s probably embarrassed and just needs a few minutes to pull himself together.”
“Embarrassed by what? Judd’s the one who should be embarrassed. What was he thinking by keeping Rodney out of the game? Do you think this is his way of hurting me?”
“Why would he want to do that?” Theo tangled his fingers with mine.
“I don’t know. This whole thing has been…” I searched for the right word without success. There were no words to describe the way my heart hurt, or the way my head swam.
“It sucks.” Theo stared ahead.
“It does suck.” That pretty well summed it up. I shifted to lean against the front panel of my truck. “I know you didn’t bargain for all of this baggage.”
He swiveled his head to look at me. The lights on the front of the garage outlined his profile. Strong jaw, perfect nose. Heart of gold. This man was too good for me in every possible way.
“We’ve all got baggage.” His grip on my hand tightened.
“Yeah”—I shook my head—“but not all of us are over the weight limit with suitcases stuffed full of secret baby daddies.”
“You and Rodney are going to get through this. You’re both strong.”
“He’s going to hate me when he finds out. I just know it.” I let myself slump against Theo’s side.
He wrapped an arm around me and ran his hand over my shoulder. “It’s going to work out.”
“How do you know for sure?”
He glanced at me, something unfamiliar stirring in the depths of those brown eyes. I wanted him to tell me he had some secret way of telling the future. That he’d seen me, Rodney, and him, years from now and that we were all stronger because of everything we’d been through together.
“I don’t know it for sure. But I do know that your baggage doesn’t scare me.”
“Not even that it’s over the weight limit and splitting at the zipper?” I caught my lower lip in my teeth, wanting to believe that I wasn’t going to send him running for the hills.
“No.” His lips split into a grin. “Not even that. Especially if your overflowing suitcase has some of that hot fudge sauce in it. I meant to ask you the other night…are you really thinking about opening that ice cream shop you’ve mentioned?”
I took in a deep breath. It was time to come clean with Theo. “So, can I tell you something?”
“You can tell me anything.”
Looking at the way he looked at me, I believed him. “Remember when you asked why I wanted to go down i
n the caves? That first day we met at the Lovebird?”
“Yeah. You told me you used to go down there with your dad and that you’d been too scared to go on your own.”
“Well, that wasn’t the whole truth.” I couldn’t look at him while I admitted I’d told him a lie. “I wanted to go down in the cave for a different reason.”
“And you want to tell me about it?”
“My dad might have been short a few marbles, but he always believed there was something down there in those caves. Something valuable.” I glanced at Theo’s profile. His expression hadn’t changed. “He searched for it for years. I found a map in his stuff not that long ago and wanted to see if I could succeed where he’d failed.”
“You wanted to go down in the caves with me to search for buried treasure?” Theo’s lips quirked up in a lopsided smile like he thought I was joking.
“Sounds crazy, I know. But after we went down in the bat cave, I think I figured out my dad had been looking in the wrong place all along. If there really is something down there, and I find it, I can stop cutting hair. I can afford to finance the ice cream shop and start making my hot fudge sauce.”
“And you didn’t tell me about the treasure because you thought I would steal it from you or what?” His brow furrowed.
“No. I thought you’d think I was as crazy as everyone always thought my dad was.”
He smiled at me. “I’d never think you’re crazy, Scarlett.”
“Where did you come from? You perfect man?” I nestled into him, content to lean against my truck forever, or at least until every crisis currently plaguing me died down.
“I’m far from perfect.” His lips brushed my temple.
“Well, you’re perfect for me.” There, I’d said it. Not one to wear her heart on her sleeve, I wasn’t known for being overly emotional or very forthcoming with my feelings.
“I feel the same way about you.” He shifted so I could snuggle even closer.
“What does that make us? Crazy? Naive?”
“I think it means we might be falling for each other.” His voice came out just above a whisper.
Falling. Falling for each other. I tested the phrase in my head. Just thinking it made me feel tingly inside. Was I falling for Theo Wilder? No, that didn’t seem quite right. “I don’t think so, Theo.”
“What?” He scooted back a few inches.
I gazed up at him and wound my arm around his neck. “I’m pretty sure I’ve already fallen.”
His expression changed as he processed what I was trying to say. Confusion gave way to a warm smile. “Oh yeah?”
Nodding into his chest, I tightened my grip on his shoulder. “Oh yeah.”
“Can I tell you a secret then?” He put a finger under my chin and nudged it up so our gazes met. “I’m pretty sure I’ve already fallen, too.”
My cheeks prickled with heat. Grateful he couldn’t see them in the darkness, I pulled his head closer to mine.
35
Theo
I felt like shit for not telling Scarlett about the exchange between Rodney and Judd. And I felt even worse when I thought about how much faith she’d put in me by revealing her feelings last night. I should have told her. But Rodney had asked me not to. Did I risk a budding relationship with her son to protect the relationship I had going with her? Or did I prove she could trust me and risk turning her son against me forever?
Feeling like I was caught between a rock and…well, a bigger rock, I didn’t know which would be the lesser evil. Either way, I was screwed. Further adding to the screwage, my dad had confirmed the existence of the hibernating colony of Indiana bats, which should have made me ecstatic. Earning his admiration and praise had been the sole focus for most of my life.
But along with the discovery came the realization that he was going to make sure nothing disturbed the bats. And that meant putting a bat gate on the cave. I’d promised Scarlett it wouldn’t come to that. Now she’d know I’d lied. And with her finally telling me about the treasure, she’d have every reason to get down there and try to find it before they sealed up the cave. If I let her, I’d be risking her disturbing the bat colony.
As I drove back to her place, I tried to figure out how to move forward. Dad and his team would wrap up their quick study and be gone by morning. I’d have to leave soon after since I had another week of spreading the word about bats ahead of me. But with the prospect of an empty apartment waiting for me, I tried to imagine what it might be like to come home to someone every night. Someone like Scarlett.
Picturing her waiting for me at the end of every day, not some cheap motel on a back country road, made me wish things were different. Once the discovery of the new bat colony went wide, I might be able to work my way into a better job. If the Alliance didn’t have room for me to move up, I was pretty sure another organization would. Especially when Dad shared the colony was my find.
But that might require moving even farther away. Besides the Alliance, the other conservation groups that were bigger were based overseas. Things with Scarlett were still so new. I couldn’t be making career decisions based on a couple of weeks of good conversation and great sex.
That wasn’t fair. The conversation was just as good as the sex. And in my mind, maybe even more important to a potential relationship.
I could find decent sex pretty much anywhere. But finding a woman who I could talk to about anything and everything…that was a rare discovery.
The more I tried to sort things out, the more convoluted they became. By the time I pulled into the drive, I was more confused than clear about what I ought to do. I knocked on the front door a few times but no one answered, although Scarlett’s truck sat in the drive.
I bent down to pick up the key from under the mat and let myself in. The sound of someone singing came from down the hall. Scarlett was in the shower. We still had an hour before we’d agreed to head to Mrs. Cahill’s for dinner. That was plenty of time for me to join her. She’d told me Rodney was staying over at his uncle’s tonight since she’d be going out and didn’t trust him home alone. That meant it was just her and me and nothing but sixty minutes to fill.
She hit a high note as I stripped off my jeans and shirt. The woman had special talents, quite a few, but singing was definitely not one of them. I bounced back and forth between wanting to cover my ears and laugh out loud. Not wanting to lose the element of surprise, I covered my ears to keep from laughing.
Naked, I inched the door open. A cloud of steam floated into the hallway. She must have been in there for a long time already. The mirror had fogged up and it felt like walking through the steam room at my old gym.
As I made it to the edge of the tub, I reached out to grab hold of the shower curtain. “Hey, Scarlett!”
I’m not entirely sure what happened next. Something hard hit me across the nose then the whole shower curtain, rod and all, came tumbling down. I fell back. My ass thudded against the vinyl floor and Scarlett landed on top of me, a mass of limbs tangled up in the shower curtain. Her scream could have peeled the wallpaper right off the wall.
“Hey, it’s me, Theo.”
Her arms stopped flailing long enough for me to find her underneath the shower curtain. “What the hell? Why did you try to scare me?”
I brushed chunks of sopping wet hair away from her face. “I’m so sorry. I wanted to surprise you and join you in the shower.”
She scrambled up and reached for the faucet. The shower spray stopped.
I let out a combination laugh-turned-into-sigh. “Are you okay?”
Turning to me, she shrieked. “Your face. Oh crap. Are you okay?”
My nose throbbed. I traced my finger along the edge. “What did you hit me with?”
Biting her lip, she scanned the small room. “My loofah on a stick. I use it to scrub my back.” She stepped over me and grabbed something from behind the toilet. “See?”
I winced as my fingers prodded the space under my eye. “It’s swelling, isn’t it?”
Scarlett nodded. “I’m going to get you some ice.”
“You’ve still got soap in your hair, babe.” I dragged myself up to rest on the lid of the toilet. My ankle twinged, my nose pulsed in pain. This woman was hell on my body.
“Here.” She handed me a bag of frozen green beans. French style. “This is all I have. I’m sorry. Your nose. Your eye. Do you think we need to go to the doctor?”
I got up and leaned against the counter. Scarlett grabbed a towel and swiped at the mirror. As she rubbed away the condensation, I could make out the outline of my face. Then my hair, my cheeks, the bulge where my nose used to be and the purple smudge under one eye.
Scarlett’s gaze met mine in the mirror. Suds covered the top of her head. “I beat you up.”
Snorting, I faced myself. “You didn’t beat me up. It was an accident. I’ll be fine.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t expect you back so early.” She stood behind me, wrapped her arms around my middle and rested her head against my arm.
“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have tried to surprise you.”
She rolled her eyes at me in the mirror. “Do you want to cancel dinner with Mrs. Cahill? I’m sure she’d understand.”
“My stomach would never forgive me.” I held the beans against my nose. “Let’s get the shower curtain back in place so you can rinse off and then maybe you can make it up to me later when we get back from dinner. Rodney’s staying at Dustin’s all night, right?”
“That’s right.” She dropped her towel and pressed against my back. Even in pain, I couldn’t help but respond to the feel of her skin against mine. “I promise I’ll make it up to you later. And about your nose? I don’t even think they’ll notice.”
They noticed. We’d barely exited the truck when Mrs. Cahill rushed out to see what had happened. I gave her the condensed, PG version of events, leaving out the bit about the shower and the nudity and the quick make up blow job Scarlett had given me as a promise of things to come.
“You need ice.” Mrs. Cahill insisted on having me sit in the recliner with a hospital-grade ice pack on my face while she finished dinner preparations. Scarlett offered to help her in the kitchen so I was left in the living room on my own with just Dorothy, Mrs. Cahill’s sister, to keep me company.
