by Violet Duke
He didn’t like the thought of her in any sort of pain, even shoe-related one. “Why didn’t you just wear your leather boots? The black ones look pretty comfortable.” Seriously, women and shoes—he’d never understand.
She laughed incredulously. “My dress was a pale pink. I would’ve clashed a tiny bit.”
“Then I’ll get you new non-clashing shoes that don’t hurt. But not one of those ankle-breakers with the spike heels or anything.” Did leather boots come in pale pink? He’d have to ask Lia. Maybe he could paint a pair. “Can’t you just wear rubber flip-flops?” Zero chance of falling, and he’d definitely seen pink ones of those.
“Caine, is this slightly odd conversation going somewhere? Are we going somewhere?”
Oh, right. “I’ve got tickets to this thing for tomorrow night. I know it’s last minute, but if you and Kylie want to come, the food’s supposed to be pretty good.” Inviting Kylie made it casual, right? A ‘just friends’ sort of thing? Cripes, even thinking the term ‘just friends’ when it came to Addison gave him an ulcer. “You don’t even need to dress up if you don’t want to. You two can wear whatever, really.”
“No, no, it’ll be fun to wear the dress again. The only thing is, Kylie can’t come. She has a study date tomorrow night.”
“A what?” Talk about getting an ulcer. “What’s the kid’s name?” he demanded, searching his pockets in vain for his notebook. “Hang on, let me get a napkin to write on.”
“I’m not letting you do a background check on a teenage kid, Caine.” She was smiling, he could hear it. “He’s a nice boy from Kylie’s school who’s been nothing but respectful all semester. She’s just going to be having dinner with his family followed by some studying. On site. They have a big test they’re quizzing each other. Tonight and tomorrow night.”
He made a mental note to ask Alec about all the boys Kylie’s age at the complex. Drew had midterms, but he could be on standby if needed. “Is there going to be adult supervision?”
“Yes. And I’ve known his parents a while. They were actually one of our pilot families that I met with during construction, who moved into the complex before we officially opened. They’d all been seriously injured in a car accident where the other driver had been broke and uninsured. With both parents unable to work for a while, and all their hospital, surgical, and rehab bills piling up, they lost their home within a year and were never able to get ahead of their debt enough to recover. And now they’re on track to becoming our first success story. They’re good people, Caine. Humble, hard-working, and very sweet. Just like their three boys.”
Well that made disliking the kid a lot harder. But not impossible. “Did you tell him he has to come by to pick her up? He can’t punk out on being a gentleman just because they live in the same complex.”
“He actually offered. He’s coming by in a little bit to walk her over to his building.” Her voice was back to sounding terribly entertained.
What in the world was so funny?
“What time will he be there?” His shift at the station didn’t start for another hour…if he left now, he could be at the complex within—
“You are not coming by here to flash your gun at the kid.”
Huh, he could see now why Addison wasn’t a fan of his reading her mind all the time.
“Besides, I already had a firm chat with him the other day.”
Caine was sure she had. Addison was nothing if not fiercely protective of her siblings. But still. Sometimes teenage guys needed visual aids to help scare the stupid out of them. “Does Kylie keep the pepper spray I gave her on her keychain like I told her?”
“You mean the contraband item that would get her suspended from school if the administration figured out what it was? Yes, I believe she never leaves home without it. But you can tell your boy Alec that Kylie and I both thought the novelty taser he gave her would be a bit overkill to bring.”
Caine scowled, hating that he hadn’t thought of that first.
Addison’s amusement turned into outright chuckles. “You are unbelievably cute when you’re in protective papa bear mode, you know that right?”
Cute? Now he wanted to skip his shift altogether in favor of going over to supply her with a dozen other adjectives she could call him.
“If you’re done making yourself crazy, do you want to tell me more about this event you’re taking me to? Am I going to know anybody?”
Hell, he almost forgot the reason for his phone call to begin with.
“It’s one place I know even David wouldn’t be crazy enough to crash. And yeah, you’ll know a few people.”
“A black-tie police fundraiser.” Addison grinned. Yep, not even David would dare lock himself in a ballroom full of cops. “Caine, this is…” Officially her first night out where she wouldn’t have to look over her shoulder. “This is beautiful. Thank you for inviting me.”
Caine grabbed her a beer from the bar. “Alec mentioned you rarely go out. Aside from work meetings and occasional store runs.”
Of course he did. The traitor. “I just figure better to be safe than sorry.”
“And my blood pressure thanks you for that.”
She chuckled. “Glad my homebody ways please you.”
His smoldering dark eyes ran over her, head to toe, as he murmured for her ears only, “Sweetheart, everything about you pleases me.”
Oy, she’d walked right into that one.
“Except this.”
She blinked up at him in surprise.
“I hate that you’re afraid to go out. And that it’s because of a psycho that I haven’t been able to bring to custody yet.”
“Caine, it’s no big deal, really. I’m not missing much.” She took a sip of her beer to avoid his all-seeing gaze, realizing belatedly that it was her favorite brand. The man really was an expert at recon.
“You’re a crappy liar, babe.” A slow smile crinkled the corners of his eyes. “And there are a few folks here who want to help me prove it.”
He nodded over to a small cluster of folks coming toward them.
Puzzled, she turned.
And nearly dissolved into a puddle of tears on the spot.
Joe, Shirley, Aunt Bernadette, and even Marco.
Caine had brought her all her favorite people, her family back in Creek Hills who she hadn’t been able to contact all these years. To protect them as well as herself and the kids.
“How is your mascara not running?” complained Bernadette from a fast-approaching motorized senior scooter, packing what looked to be about ten mouthwatering Ziploc bags of Joe’s famous giant muffins in the front basket. “You’re crying as hard as I am and your eye make-up is still perfect.” Joe and Marco hopped out of the way to avoid getting their toes run over as she screeched to a stop ahead of the others to get to Addison first. “What are you waiting for, missy? Come here and give me a hug.”
Tears turned to laughter as she ran forward to do just that. Lordy, she’d missed the ole battle axe, in all her fabulous glory. “You look amazing, Bernadette.”
“That’s still Aunt Bernadette to you. I don’t care how grown you get.” She leaned back. “Now let me get a good look at you.” Nodding her approval, she fluffed her own short, stylish hairdo. “We almost match. I tell you, ever since I had my stylist accentuate my natural silver and add these blue highlights, I can’t keep the randy men at the senior center away. Is it the same for you too, dear?”
“Aunt Bernadette!” Addison’s new tears were full of mirth.
“I bet you get all the bad boys. Ooh, maybe I should get some tattoos, too.”
“Aaand that’s my cue to go grab another beer.” Caine leaned down to kiss Bernadette on the cheek. “Here I thought you were just a sweet little grandma when we first met.”
“That’s what all my gentleman callers say.”
Caine barked out a laugh and finished greeting the others while Addison did her best not to get all weepy again when Joe came up to her next. “You’ve gotten to
o skinny. Are you eating enough?” He frowned at Bernadette. “Stop with the inappropriate comments and hand over one of the muffins. I need to start feeding the girl again to put some meat back on her bones.”
Geez, waterproof or not, her mascara was never going to last. Addison threw her arms up and squeezed the stuffing out of the big, grumpy teddy bear.
“Guess I can just send the muffins home with you,” rumbled Joe, voice now a tiny bit wobbly. “Packed some of Kylie’s favorite mini chocolate strawberry poppy ones, too.”
Shirley stepped forward to show her a big beach tote with what had to be another ten muffin-filled Ziploc bags, before pushing past Joe to deliver a rib-bruising hug. “Crazy man’s been baking all day. I had to call in one of the other chefs to do the actual kitchen orders to cover.”
“Only ‘cause I told you too,” argued Joe. “You wanted to shut my whole diner down for the day.”
And they were off.
Shirley crossed her arms and grumped, “If the other workers had found out we were getting to see Addison today without them, they would’ve thrown a fit.” Her cheeks turned a rosy color of miffed and mulish. “And since my pure heart doesn’t always do well with secrets, I just thought it’d be better if maybe we made everyone we know stay home.”
Joe rolled his eyes and gave Addison a droll look. “See, this is why I never told her about you living in the van, baby girl.”
Shirley gasped in outrage. “I would’ve taken that secret to my grave!”
His face softened then. “I know that. I just meant you would’ve probably bawled and blubbered every time you saw her and the kids or something.”
“Think you’ve got us confused there, buddy,” she huffed back, mumbling something that sounded a whole lot like, “big crying baby.”
Honest to God, the two bickered with each other more than they did their actual siblings. It was a borderline exhausting, crazy codependent friendship both of their spouses actually relied on to keep their home lives that much more pleasant.
And Addison had missed it all so dang much.
“I still can’t believe you didn’t tell me.” Shirley sounded more hurt now than anything else. “I would’ve helped.”
Joe exchanged a look with Bernadette. “That’s exactly why neither of us told anyone, Shirls. Because standing by and not helping was a constant struggle.”
Bernadette nodded. “He’s right. It was hard not to worry myself silly. Every time we had a freak cold front or lordy, that time the kids came down with the flu.” She wrung her hands and frowned. “Luckily for me, my oldest daughter had figured it out too, so I had someone to talk to.”
Addison looked at her in shock. “Heather knew too?”
“She knew before I did. Remember how she works as a clerk for the Sheriff’s station a few towns over? Well, she dug into your background a little more after I hired you and learned all about that good-for-nothing mother of yours.” Bernadette reached over to squeeze her hand. “You did good, sweetie. I know it was hard, and lonely, but just know you were never truly alone. We would’ve swooped in to help if ever you’d needed it.”
Even though those days were long behind her, it did mean a lot to know now that she’d had their support then. That someone would’ve been there to help the kids if she’d failed.
She turned to Joe. “Caine said you knew early on, too. How?”
“I have a small surveillance camera out back.”
How had she never noticed that?
“It only activates if the motion sensors are triggered.”
Addison sighed. “And thanks to Kylie’s small bladder, it probably caught us going back into the diner almost every night.”
“Yup. Truthfully, for the first few weeks, I kept expecting you to give up and come ask for help. Talked to Claudia about letting you and the kids stay in our spare room and everything. But you never did quit. Every day, you came back to work stronger and happier than the day before. The kids, too.” He nodded over at the bar, where Caine was talking to a bunch of officers…with his alpha-protective gaze fixed on her the entire time. “Caine was pissed as hell when he found out I hadn’t forced you to accept help from the beginning. But I didn’t want to spook you and have you take off altogether. At least this way, you had someone watching your back, even though you never needed it.”
He put a big Popeye sailor paw on her shoulder and told her firmly, “You did right by those kids. Don’t let anyone else tell you different. You fixed what your mama broke, gave them a childhood, built them a good, strong home—who cares that it was in a van, or on the run. Those kids grew up whole because of you.”
Addison hadn’t been expecting that at all. Suddenly, it felt like there was too much oxygen in the air. And she was definitely feeling some eye allergies coming on.
“Well, crap,” grumbled Shirley, as she reached into her purse for a twenty-dollar bill, which she handed over to Joe. “I can’t believe I broke first,” she sniffled, dabbing at her leaky tears. “How are you so insightful about all of this? When you’re about as deep as a puddle when it comes to making sense of simple things like why your wife is pissed at you?”
Joe shrugged. “Because I didn’t grow up whole.” A mask of deeply rooted pain clouded over him as he told them all brusquely, “My folks were angry drunks who made my kid years hell. They used to send me to bed with a beating the nights I didn’t catch enough mice for the local farmers to bring home more than spare change. Then when I’d be too sore the next morning for my paper route, they’d burn cigarettes into my legs until I’d get up, and then tell me I wouldn’t get another meal until I found a way to make up that lost money.”
Shirley and Addison cried out in unison, horrified.
“When they wanted me to start stealing, that’s when I ran away. I lived on the streets from middle school. Got my GED and worked a few jobs before eventually enlisting. Never did see my folks again.” He shot Addison a meaningful look. “I would’ve given anything to have a sister like you back then. I was rooting for you from the start. Helped in the best ways I could.”
Suddenly, a memory hit her. “You purposely spilled that cooler of fish on the sofa in your office didn’t you?”
“The old thing wasn’t big enough for both Kylie and Tanner to sleep on. So I stunk it up bad enough that you wouldn’t suspect nothing when I got a bigger one.”
Fresh tears welled in her eyes. “Wish I’d thanked you. There were some days in the summers the van stayed boiling hot long into the night. That couch was a lifesaver for the kids.”
“Thanks were never needed, baby girl. It was a privilege to watch you raise those kids right. Healed some of my own scars, I think.” Red-rimmed eyes met hers. “I was damn proud of you then, and words ain’t even been invented yet on how proud I am of you now.”
“Aw, crap,” muttered Marco who’d been uncharacteristically silent the entire time. “Now I’m ready to pay up twenty bucks.”
Her tab was running pretty high by then, too.
But eventually, the tears dried up, and merriment ensued. Grandkid photos were exchanged, along with seven years’ worth of stories that filled cracks in her heart she hadn’t even known were there until they were patched up.
Finally, nearly two hours later, Addison felt Caine before she saw him.
She spun around and just tucked herself against him, clinging jellyfish tight when his arms wrapped around her. “Don’t let go. Not just yet.”
“Not sure I could even if you asked me to, sweetheart.”
Caine meant that literally.
Being able to hold Addison like this—in public—was kicking up some serious possessive tendencies. He wasn’t anywhere near ready to let her out of his arms. “Are those pink shoes you’re wearing hurting your feet?”
Addison smiled up at him in surprise. “No. They’re good.”
“Then could I have this dance?”
She did a surprised double-take as if only just now realizing they were standing on a dance
floor. “I-I wasn’t kidding before. I don’t know how to dance.”
The reminder of how she’d missed out on every opportunity to learn in high school just made him hold her tighter. “We’ll do it junior high style and just sway side to side.” He studied her shy expression as she looked around at the dancing couples around them. “But we don’t have to, if you’re not comfortable.”
“Oh, just dance with the man,” interjected Joe, who was cutting across the dance floor like a jaywalker. “He’s the one who arranged for this dance floor at the last minute. The event organizers had to rush to reconfigure the entire ballroom to make it fit and everything.”
“Dammit, I told you that in confidence.”
Joe was unrepentant. “At this rate, you two will be my age before you get together. So dance with the poor putz. Before I get too old to walk you down the aisle.” With that, he veered off to the buffet line.
Addison took a step back, but didn’t let go. “You did all this for me?”
“He also got you this,” chimed in Shirley, appearing out of nowhere, carrying the casual gift he’d intended to give Addison later. Away from all their nosy spectators.
Pleasure, pure and simple, tugged the corners of her lips up as she surveyed the unique little corsage he’d had to get from a florist outside the city since no nearby could fill such an unusual order. “Cactus flowers and succulents?”
“Kylie may have mentioned those are your favorites.”
Lush lower lip trapped between her teeth, she slipped the corsage on her wrist and stared at it for a moment. “Can I tell you a secret?”
“Shoot.”
“I was a little jealous of Tanner’s Venus Flytrap and Kylie’s purple hydrangea.”
Not having had the chance to get Addison flowers back in Creek Hills was one of the things he’d regretted a lot, too.
Her fingertips pressed against his lips before he could apologize. “Don’t. This was better. Now my first dance and my first flowers are together in one memory.” She replaced her fingers with the briefest brush of her lips before resting her head against his chest.
