At Peace

by Kristen Ashley

  “Um… all of it.”

  “First thing,” he said.

  “First thing?”

  “Right now, first thing that comes to you, what is it?”

  “Mel.”

  His brows drew together. “Mel?”

  “She’s… I know what she’s feeling, Joe, I’ve been there and I’m worried about her.”

  His hand squeezed hers. “Buddy –”

  “And she doesn’t even have kids to make it easier.”

  “Then give them to her,” Cal said and a surprised laugh came from her.

  “I can’t give her kids, Joe, it’s anatomically impossible,” she teased.

  “You got two with phones and you got a car, honey.”

  Her face turned startled and she whispered, “You’re right.”

  “Helps both ways. The girls and you call her regular, you get her regular. Go up to see her, get her to come down here.”

  “I don’t think I can go up there, Joe, not by myself.”

  “Didn’t say you’re goin’ by yourself, wouldn’t let you go by yourself.”

  Her hands spasmed in his and she whispered, “Joe –”

  “What else you got?”

  “Joe –”

  He leaned in again. “What else’s in your head, baby?”

  She tugged her hand from his, lifted it and curled her fingers around his neck.

  “Thank you,” she whispered and he saw tears trembling at the bottoms of her eyes.

  “For what?” he asked softly, his eyes glued to her tears and her hand gave him a squeeze as he watched one slide down her face.

  Before he could do a thing about it her head came forward and veered to his left.

  In his ear, she whispered, “For not wastin’ time showin’ me I made the right decision.”

  There it was. Vi didn’t make him work at it long, it took less than thirty minutes.

  Cal felt a twinge pierce the left side of his chest and he lifted his hand to her neck too, sliding it back and up into her hair, he bent his neck in order to kiss hers and she turned her head and kissed the hinge of his jaw.

  He’d never had a sweeter kiss. Not in his life.

  His hand fisted in her hair and he lifted his head, positioning hers so he could kiss her.

  “Burger!” Elaine announced, a plate crashed to the table and Vi jumped as Cal lifted his head. “Reuben!” she went on as Cal twisted his neck to look up at her, leaving his hand in Vi’s hair. “You got cheddar. Surprise,” she told Cal, smiled huge and walked away.

  Vi giggled.

  Cal let his woman go and turned to his food.

  Vi squirted ketchup in a pile by her fries and noted, “One good thing about you movin’ in…”

  Cal left his burger suspended halfway to his mouth and looked at Violet, brows raised when she didn’t finish.

  “Don’t think Dane’ll have any ideas, you’re in the house.”

  “He gets ‘em, I break his neck,” Cal muttered and took a bite of his burger then looked back at Vi to see now she had a fry loaded with ketchup suspended halfway to her mouth, her eyes wide, her face back to pale. He chewed, swallowed then assured her, “Relax, baby, I wouldn’t actually do it.”

  “Don’t threaten it either. You’ll scare the shit out of him.”

  “Scare him enough not to get ideas?”

  “Joe!” she snapped.

  He grinned at her and repeated, “Relax.”

  “You can’t go around threatening everyone.”

  “Sure I can.”

  “Joe!”

  He put his burger down, turned to her and said seriously, “Baby, relax.”

  “Telling me to relax doesn’t actually mean I’ll relax, Joe.”

  “It should.”

  “Why?”

  He turned and hooked a hand around her neck, pulled her to him and up to his face.

  “Because the time when your head is filled with shit and you gotta worry about everything and everyone is over. The time when you can relax is now. So, I’ll say it one last time, buddy, relax.”

  Her eyes moved over his face then he saw them change. In fact, her whole face changed. That look settled on her features that he’d seen once before when she was on his couch talking to Sam. Affection, plain as day, love shining in her eyes, all of it focused on him and he felt his left chest contract so powerfully, the feeling radiated throughout his frame and his hand tightened on her neck.

  Before he could process this, she leaned up, touched her mouth to his, moved slightly back and whispered, “Eat, Joe.”

  Then she pulled away and turned to her plate.

  Cal took his hand from her neck and turned to his.

  He’d been ambivalent about the concept of God his young life, something that sent Aunt Theresa into a tizzy. But you lose your Mom at a young age that shit’s bound to happen.

  He lost his ambivalence when he lost his Dad who was a shit Dad but Cal knew he’d once been a good one, a great husband and a decent man and he lost his son the same day.

  Now he reckoned, Vi moving in next door, maybe finally someone was looking out for him.

  Or his luck had changed.

  Whatever, he was grateful.

  Sitting next to Violet in a booth in a damn fine greasy spoon, Joe Callahan lifted Frank’s Indiana-wide famous burger to his mouth and took a bite.

  * * * * *

  “Joe,” I breathed, my head arched back.

  “In my mouth, buddy.”

  My head tipped forward, my hands went to his jaws, I rode him harder because I couldn’t help it. His strong fingers were digging into my hips, pulling me up and pounding me down.

  “Joe,” I whispered into his mouth as I felt it coming.

  His hand lifted to my hair, fisting, twisting and he growled, “Say it.”

  “I’m coming, baby,” I whispered.

  “Say it,” he demanded.

  My fingers went back and clenched in his hair. “I belong to you.”

  Then I came, slamming down, my back bowing, my moan escaping my mouth to be absorbed by his.

  I was astride Joe but he was sitting up which made it easier for him, mid-orgasm, to flip me to my back and drive in harder which he did until he came right in the middle of giving me a deep, brutal kiss.

  When he was done, his mouth left mine and slid to my neck and, as his cock glided in and out of me, my fingers moved through his hair.

  We kept doing this awhile before his tongue ran the length of my jaw and then he pulled out, rolled off, leaned down, yanked the covers over us and settled me into his side.

  Joe was silent, as usual.

  I couldn’t be silent, as usual.

  “School starts soon,” I whispered.

  Joe didn’t respond.

  “Back to school clothes,” I went on.

  The tips of Joe’s fingers slid randomly around my hip and ass but he didn’t speak.

  “You goin’ to the mall with us when we go shoppin’?”

  Finally, Joe spoke.

  “Hell no.”

  I smiled into his shoulder then my smile died.

  “What should we tell them?” I whispered.

  “The truth,” he answered, knowing I meant the girls.

  “That being?”

  “I’m here now.”

  I gave his waist a squeeze and informed him, “It’s not that easy.”

  “Only hard you make it hard.”

  “Joe –”

  “Vi, I told you, I walked outta your room and the girls didn’t blink.”

  “They were probably tired and they’re emotional.”

  “They know the way it is between us.”

  His words shocked me so much I lifted my head and looked at him. “They have no clue.”

  “Buddy, Keira invited me to the mall and Kate brought me a Coke while I fixed our garage door opener and offered me a sandwich and that was before the scene when your Dad and Mom came callin’. They know.”

  “They don’t.” />
  “They aren’t dumb.”

  “I know that.”

  “Okay, they don’t know we’re fuckin’, but they know we mean something to each other.”

  He was right, they knew this, I knew they did with the way they acted the second time Joe turned.

  Still, I stared at him and asked, “Do you think?”

  He grinned at me. “Baby, clue in, the whole block knows.”

  “That’s probably because Tina’s big mouth.”

  “It’s because I installed your system at no charge, I fixed your garage and your daughters used to come over daily to talk to me. Been livin’ here a long time, buddy, my whole life and haven’t done that kinda shit for anyone and no one came by to talk to me, ‘specially not two teenage girls.”

  I stared then asked, “They came over daily?”

  “Yeah, right before I fucked you over the second time.”

  I didn’t know that Kate and Keira did that.

  But I liked it.

  “Oh,” I whispered.

  “So they get home, I take Dane out, you sit ‘em down, tell ‘em I’m here now. Ask ‘em if they got questions, answer them. Done.”

  He thought it was that easy?

  Obviously, he hadn’t lived with the likes of Keira.

  However, by all accounts (including my own experience with her) Bonnie was far more unpleasant.

  “What if they don’t like it?” I asked.

  “We deal.”

  “How do we deal?” I pushed.

  His hand flattened on my ass. “How ‘bout we find out if they don’t like it before we get wound up about it?” he suggested.

  This sounded like good advice, simple, logical but totally impossible.

  If Joe thought that simple and logical was going to work, he was in for a world of hurt living for two months with three females.

  I didn’t share this with him and, since he was out of town most of the time, maybe he wouldn’t notice.

  I put my head to his shoulder and said, “Okay.”

  His fingertips went back to their random patterns and we were both quiet, me because I was in my head thinking about the million things there and Joe because he was Joe.

  Suddenly he said, “Don’t take the job.”

  I lifted my head again and looked at him. “What?”

  “Manager at the garden center, don’t take it.”

  I’d told him about Bobbie’s promotion at dinner. Obviously he’d been thinking about it.

  I pushed up to an elbow and looked down at him. “Why?”

  “Money’s the same as you’re gettin’ but it comes with headaches, headaches you don’t have now. You won’t be doin’ what you like to do, you’ll be doin’ shit you don’t like to do, workin’ the same hours, gettin’ the same pay. You want to advance, you ask her to make it worth your while. You like what you do, do what you do, fuck the promotion.”

  There it was again, simple, logical and, this time, doable.

  I smiled at him. “You’re right.”

  Joe didn’t reply verbally. His other hand came up, slid into my hair at the side of my head, pulled my mouth down to his for a light kiss then he pressed down until I came off my elbow and my cheek was to his shoulder again. Then he reached an arm out and switched off the light.

  But not before I saw the picture of Tim and me on my nightstand.

  I pulled in breath through my nose; Joe’s fingers came back to the side of my head to glide through my hair, pulling it back. He repeated this then his fingers slid behind my ear, down my jaw then his hand went away.

  I exhaled.

  “’Night, baby,” I whispered into his shoulder.

  His response was again nonverbal. His hand squeezed my ass then went back to its random patterns.

  This felt nice and it was amazingly relaxing. So much so, I didn’t realize that there weren’t a million things tumbling around in my head.

  Instead, I drifted right to sleep.

  * * * * *

  Cal woke when Vi’s body jolted violently.

  His eyes opened when he felt her go rock solid in his arms.

  He waited as he listened to her breathing heavily and was about to call to her when she slid out of his arms and across the bed.

  He watched her shadow move around the bed and he rolled to his back as she walked to her dresser. She opened and closed drawers, doing it quietly. She thought he was asleep.

  She closed a drawer and he watched her shadow again, this time she was pulling one of his tees over her head.

  Maybe he should go to the mall with her and the girls when they went back to school shopping. He didn’t, the way she was going, he’d run out of tees.

  This thought made him smile.

  She came to the bed, his side, and again he was about to call her name when she reached out a hand to the nightstand. Then he watched her shadow move out of the room into the study. She turned and disappeared.

  She’d been carrying something.

  The photo of her and her husband.

  Cal closed his eyes and opened them again when he heard her back in the room. He watched her shadow walk to the dresser and she stood at it, her hands lifted in front of her. He couldn’t see what she was doing but she was holding perfectly still.

  She stood that way awhile before she moved, her hand went to the top of the dresser and he heard her drop something that made a soft clink.

  Fuck.

  Her wedding rings.

  He’d noticed she still wore them. He’d seen them the first time he took her in fully in his living room when she was wearing those ridiculous boots and that sexy nightgown. Weeks after that, he’d thought Sam was her husband, a travelling man, the way she greeted him and he greeted her when he came to visit. He’d not thought much of her rings after their first time together but he noticed them and he didn’t like her wearing them. Never did. It might make him a dick, but he didn’t.

  Now he liked that she’d be with him in bed without them on which also might make him a dick but he didn’t give a fuck.

  Because now she really was all his.

  She walked back to the bed and carefully slid in, obviously still thinking he was asleep, she turned her back to him and curled up her legs.

  Cal rolled back to his side, his arm moved out, hooked her around the stomach and he pulled her into his body, feeling hers was tight.

  “I’m awake, buddy,” he whispered into her hair.

  “Sorry, did I wake you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I thought, while you were asleep, I’d –”

  He cut her off, not about to make her say it. “I know, honey.”

  She was quiet.

  Cal spoke. “You came awake hard, Vi.”

  She stayed quiet then said, “Nightmare.”

  “Sam?”

  “Yeah,” she whispered and her body started trembling.

  Cal curled his arm tighter.

  “Why is it harder in the dark?” Her voice was shaking like her body when she spoke.

  “Demons in the dark,” Joe replied.

  “Yeah.”

  She was quiet again and Cal held her until the tremors subsided then she called, “Joe?”

  “Yeah, buddy.”

  “I miss him.”

  His arm got tighter and he buried his face in her hair. “I know you do.”

  “Did you like him?” she asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “He liked you,” she whispered, Cal’s arm tensed then he forced himself to relax and she said, “Wish you could have known him better.”

  “If I did, figure I woulda liked him better.”

  “Yeah, you would.”

  “Tell me about him, baby.”

  She was silent then she asked, “Now?”

  “It’ll beat back the demons.”

  She again was quiet then she whispered, “You’re right.”

  Then she nestled her ass in his groin, slid her arm along his and linked their fingers.

 
Then she talked about her brother, sometimes laughing soft, sometimes crying softer and she did this, and Cal listened to it, until she trailed off to sleep.

  Cal held her tight even after she’d drifted off then his fingers slid from hers but curled around until his thumb found the naked base of her ring finger. It glided against her skin then he set her hand against her stomach and sighed into her hair, thinking, not for the first time, he really fucking liked the smell of Vi’s hair.

  Then he fell asleep.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I’m Yours

  I stood at the mirror in my bathroom gunking up my hair.

  I saw movement and turned to the right.

  Joe was there and I watched him lean his shoulder against the doorjamb, his eyes at my hands in my hair.

  For some reason known only to Joe, he’d gone with us to the mall back to school shopping and because of this, he was wearing a shirt Kate and Keira had bought for him. It wasn’t pink with flowers on it. It was black, tailored down his ribs, a straight hem and he wore it untucked but you could still see his heavy belt buckle which had caught at the bottom flap under the buttons. It looked good on him, making his shoulders seem broader, his midriff leaner, his hips narrower.

  My girls had an eye.

  His eyes came to mine and he said softly, “They’re here.”

  I pulled in both my lips.

  “They’re here!” We heard Keira shout.

  “Oh shit,” I whispered, Joe grinned, pushed away from the jamb and came to me.

  He positioned himself behind me and slid one arm along my belly, one across my chest. He pulled me to his body, dipped his head so his jaw was against my hair and he caught my eyes in the mirror.

  “Relax,” he said into my ear.

  “Right,” I said back.

  He kept grinning then he dropped his head, kissed my neck, let me go and walked out of the bathroom.

  Joe was quickly becoming accustomed to the fact that his ordering me to relax didn’t mean I would and, apparently, he was good with that.

  I looked back at myself in the mirror and took a deep breath.

  Then I washed my hands in preparation to go introduce my dead husband’s parents to the man who replaced their son.

  * * * * *

  I couldn’t say the last week with Joe in the house was uneventful.

  It was eventful.

  Very eventful.

  First up was telling the girls.