“Saw the sheriff’s car! Have they found who done it?”
“No, he was directing your mother out here. She’s in the living room. Give her a hug, then go get your friends something to drink. And for pity’s sake, wash your faces off. You look like savages.” Stank like them, too, but JD didn’t remind them of that. Short of lending them all his personal deodorant or hosing them down, he couldn’t think of an immediate solution to that problem.
“Mom?” With both dismay and surprise, Jackie turned and met his mother as she rushed to hug him.
Wishing he had a beer instead of the tea, JD watched as Nancy sensibly stopped short of hugging her malodorous son, tousling his hair instead and kissing his cheek. He supposed she would take the boy back now. JD didn’t know how he felt about that. He’d scarcely gotten to know Jackie. Hell, he’d scarcely had a chance to realize the boy was his. For fifteen years, he’d had a kid and never known about it. If he thought about it, he’d resent the hell out of missing all those little things like first words and baby steps and baseball games. But then, he’d have to remember what he’d been doing during those years and realize he’d have missed them anyway.
“I’ve got to get the guys something to drink. Miss Toon keeps Popsicles and things in the freezer for us. We’ll be back after we clean up.” Jackie tugged away from his mother’s affectionate gestures and herded his wide-eyed friends back down the hall, not giving JD a look either. JD figured Jackie was probably pretty confused by all this, too. Food and drink always eased confusion.
“Who precisely is this Miss Toon?” Nancy asked acerbically when JD returned to his chair.
“Teacher. Her aunt owns the place, but she’s in a nursing home. Nina’s visiting her right now. She’ll be sorry she missed you,” JD added quickly, showing his obvious hope for an early departure.
To his surprise, Nancy suddenly looked uncertain. She threw another anxious look in the direction Jackie had taken, then settled back in her chair. “He looks happy.” She didn’t sound thrilled by the news.
“He’s a good kid. You raised him right. We’ve got him and the others working off some of their energy, and paying them just enough for pizza and movies to keep them out of trouble. He’s learning to fish, and now that I have a little spare time, I’ll take him out on the lake so he can learn boating.”
JD didn’t think about what he said until he’d said it. If Nancy took the boy back, he wouldn’t be teaching him anything. He may have already blown his opportunity to know the boy better. He’d worked right through it. Damn, but he made a lousy father.
Jimmy’s head bobbed up at the mention of his having spare time, but JD couldn’t say anything in front of Nancy.
“I left Bob,” she said, apropos of nothing. She stared down at her hands. “I’ve gone back to my daddy’s place. I have a job with an insurance company making pretty good money. We’ll be able to get our own place shortly. I want to take Jackie back with me.”
JD definitely wanted something stronger than iced tea. Setting his glass down, he ran his hand down the back of his neck, striving desperately for the words that needed saying. To his relief, Jimmy wandered out of the room, leaving them alone.
“I owe you support for all those years,” he said awkwardly. “You should have told me about the boy.”
Nancy shrugged. “Daddy didn’t want you coming back and claiming him. We didn’t starve.”
“I could have given him a lot of little extras, even when I was in the marines. I didn’t make much, but I could have listed him for insurance and such. I owe you for those years, Nancy. And I can provide a lot more for him now. There’s college ahead. Cars. Computers. I can help.”
She looked mildly alarmed. “I want Jackie, not your money, JD. I won’t let you have him.”
Furious, but with no outlet for the fury, JD stalked to the big window overlooking the front lawn. “I can’t take him away from you. Boys need their mothers as well as fathers. But he does need a father, Nancy. Don’t fool yourself. Give me a chance.”
“How?” she asked mournfully. “We live in different worlds. I can’t trust you to bring him home when you’re supposed to. I haven’t even known where he was these past weeks. I’ve worried myself sick. I can’t go through that again, JD. I need him with me.”
Fighting back an anguish he didn’t know he could feel, JD swung around. “Look, it’s been crazy these last few weeks, all right? I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. But it’s over now. I’ve got the job done, and Jimmy can take it back with him. I promised Jackie a real vacation. He’s happy here. Nina looks after him. She’s the one who made me call Jimmy and assure you everything was all right. She won’t let me do anything I shouldn’t. I’ll admit, I don’t know beans about kids, but she’ll keep me straight. You’ve had him all these years. Give me a chance with him. You have a new job. You don’t need to be worrying where he is all summer while you’re working.”
She hesitated for the longest time. JD wished he’d learned to be a persuasive talker. Until he’d spoken the words, he hadn’t realized how much he’d relied on Nina’s help. Maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned it.
“I think I’d like to meet this Miss Toon,” Nancy finally replied.
Ah, hell. Running his hand over his hair, JD nodded reluctantly. “You’ll like her. Why don’t you go out and check on the kids while I talk with Jimmy?”
He took a deep gulp of air when she nodded and wandered out. Maybe he could deal with women when they were reasonable. Maybe his luck was changing. Maybe a carnival could fit on a spoon, too.
JD found Jimmy at his computer, naturally. “You haven’t answered your e-mail.” He flung himself on the bed while Jimmy punched in his password to do just that.
“I’ve been on the run,” Jimmy replied absently, running through the list of senders for any important messages.
JD waited. “From what?” he growled when Jimmy didn’t explain.
“Damned if I know. Harry called, said something about someone having the program and they’re out to get you and they might come after me next. Hell of a thing to hear, let me tell you.”
JD sat upright. “Where’s Harry now?”
Jimmy swung around in his chair, finally facing JD. “That’s what I’m here to tell you. I think he’s in trouble.”
Chapter 21
Nina pulled up behind a red car she didn’t recognize, watched Jackie tackle one of his friends in the front yard, and climbed out to find a strange woman sitting on the front porch rocker. Maybe God was showing her what life would be like once she turned the farm into a tourist circus.
Resolutely, she carried her sack from the mall up the stairs, ignoring Helen trailing behind her. For some idiot reason, Nina had actually agreed when her mother asked to stop and pick up a few things before visiting Hattie. She didn’t go to Hopkinsville often, and the stores there offered a wide assortment of merchandise she couldn’t buy in Madrid. She’d actually come away with a new dress she’d bought on sale and thought JD would like. Stupid. Why should she care if JD liked it? And then she’d gone and bought one of those ribbon things for her hair. He’d know she was trying to impress him if she wore it. She didn’t want him thinking any such thing.
Her disgust with herself still didn’t distract her from the attractive woman rising from the porch rocker. The woman was taller than Nina by a head. She had lovely long hair that brushed her shoulders in a neat pageboy. She wore lipstick and smiled with teeth resembling a TV commercial for toothpaste. Nina hated her on sight.
“Miss Toon?” the stranger inquired, throwing a glance over Nina’s shoulder to Helen, then back again.
“Nina.” Not offering her hand, she stood there, waiting impatiently. It was well past noon, and after a morning in her mother’s company, she was starved, irritated, and hot.
“Nina.” The woman nodded politely. “I’m Nancy Walker, Jackie’s mother.”
That did it. That really blew it. JD’s wife, ex-wife, whatever. She should have know
n the woman would be a fashion model. “Fine, how are you?” Nina muttered and pushed past to enter the house. Maybe she could fry JD. She sure couldn’t take her temper out on an innocent bystander.
She didn’t care whether the Walker woman or her mother followed or not. The air outside had reached a hundred in the shade, with humidity to match. And the Toyota’s air-conditioning had given out. She needed ice, and lots of it. She might start by putting it under her collar.
Nina screeched to a halt as she entered the kitchen and discovered JD standing on her kitchen table, tinkering with a shiny new ceiling fan, while a strange man handed him tools and looked worried. He had a right to look worried. Dropping her sack on the floor, Nina proceeded toward the freezer. “I hope you removed the fuses before you started that project,” she threw over her shoulder as she passed.
“Why? I pulled the main one. That’s all it should take,” JD called down from his position near the ceiling.
Luckily for him, he’d removed the screwdriver from the socket before answering. Electric sparks arced between the loose wires, startling JD into jumping backward, off the table and onto the floor.
Holding a frozen Popsicle still in its wrapper to her forehead, Nina leaned against the refrigerator. “Because the box is sixty years old and doesn’t work right, that’s why.”
JD leaned his elbows against the countertop and shook his head in amazement. Nina tried to fasten her attention on the gangly man with the broken glasses, but she had difficulty dragging her gaze from the tight shirt pulling across JD’s shoulders and chest. Maybe she should run the Popsicle down her front.
“How do you keep from frying yourself every time you plug something in?” JD asked with curiosity.
Nina shrugged. “I know when things aren’t working. Like the toaster. It’s about to go. I don’t plug things in where it feels dangerous.” She shouldn’t have said that, but she had a need to set him back a step or two. It felt too damned intimate standing here in her kitchen, exchanging mutually admiring glances in front of strangers. The man with the glasses would think the wrong things about their relationship.
Instead of regarding her weird statement with wariness, JD grinned. “How do you know the toaster is about to go?”
She jerked the wrapper off the Popsicle. “It hums, all right? Toasters shouldn’t hum.”
She could see him holding back his laughter. “Off-key or on? Does it hum a particular tune? Prefer rock to country?”
She flung an apple from the basket at him. JD caught it and munched a hole—while keeping his warm gaze on her. She could almost read his mind, envision where his thoughts had strayed, and the part of her anatomy his teeth might nibble. She thought she might scream in frustration.
At the sight of juice trickling temptingly down his chin, she hastily turned to the stranger. “Since Mr. Ape there won’t make the introductions, I’m Nina Toon. You really don’t have to electrocute yourself for my sake.”
The tall stranger almost blushed, then pushed his glasses back up his nose. “That’s okay. I’m just here to clean up the mess after JD fixes things. That’s my job. I’m Jimmy MacTavish, JD’s partner.”
Nina watched the grin disappear from JD’s face as they shook hands, but he offered no objection to the introduction. She wondered why JD was playing with her wiring while his drop-dead gorgeous ex-wife idled on the front porch, but she didn’t have the nerve to ask. She wasn’t much at complicated personal relationships.
“Glad to meet you, Mr. MacTavish. I don’t envy you your job. Does he fix things often?”
Jimmy coughed and sent JD’s implacable expression a nervous look. “He fixed the toaster. It doesn’t hum anymore.”
“Does it still work?” she asked dryly, but she knew it would. Somehow, she knew JD could fix almost anything he set his mind to. His self-satisfied air confirmed it.
“Seems to.” Jimmy cleared his throat again, then glanced from JD to Nina. “I’ll go down and remove the rest of the fuses.”
JD waited until he was gone before speaking. “I suppose you met Nancy coming in?”
Something around Nina’s heart pinched, but she nodded. “She seems nice enough. Is she taking Jackie back?”
“Unless I can persuade her to leave the boy with me for the rest of the summer. She wanted to meet you first. She doesn’t trust me.”
The heat in the kitchen was stifling. Nina licked the Popsicle, telling herself she was just overheated, that there was nothing in JD’s gaze to make her think he needed her help. A strong, confident man like JD didn’t need anyone. He certainly didn’t need a backwoods spinster.
He didn’t move a muscle, didn’t touch her in any way. He just leaned against the counter, arms crossed over his chest, giving out vibrations stronger than any damned toaster. Nina had the same feeling with him now as she did with a dangerous plug. If she ignored the warning, he wouldn’t just break, he’d explode.
He desperately wanted Jackie, and he needed her help to keep him.
Nodding acquiescence to the inevitable, Nina caved. “I like having Jackie around. This house gets lonely. But I thought you were taking him to the coast?”
Relief rose off JD in almost visible waves as he dug his hand through his hair. “He’s happy here. Nancy would feel better if she knew exactly where he was, and with whom. I never meant to impose on you for so long. If it will inconvenience you in any way...”
The thought of having JD with her all summer made Nina dizzy, but whether with excitement or nervousness, she couldn’t tell. She wouldn’t have to deal with her mother alone. The idea of two men occupying the space that had previously held only Aunt Hattie didn’t terrify her as much as it had. If she froze up now, allowed fear to rule her decision, she might be giving up far more than the rent JD would pay her.
Resolutely, keeping things light so he wouldn’t read her the wrong way, Nina glanced at the wires hanging from the ceiling. “I don’t think it will be an inconvenience, just an experience.”
He chuckled, and before Nina knew he’d left the counter, JD gripped her elbows. His strength should alarm her, but somehow, it reassured instead. The kiss he pressed against her cheek sent shock waves through her system. The one he pressed against her mouth when she moved the Popsicle nearly melted her bones.
He licked her lips and tasted her tongue before he pulled away, his dark eyes sparkling with laughter. “Um, yum, grape.”
She should swat him for his presumption, but she still trembled too much to make such an assertive move. The hollowness opening inside her didn’t help her case any. She read things in his longing expression that shouldn’t be there.
“I’ll behave,” he promised. “I’ll be an angel of discretion. Just don’t wave too many of your boyfriends in front of me, or I’m likely to take them apart. I didn’t have any siblings, and I never learned to share.”
Nina did swat him then, but JD dodged and left the room, still chuckling. She never knew how to take his teasing. Nobody had ever teased her before.
Apparently her mother and Nancy had entertained one another on the porch until JD broke up the little gab fest. They came back chattering about hairdressers, depressing Nina even more. She hated hairdressers. She’d rather chop her own hair until it reached a stage beyond control than go to a salon. But Helen and Nancy were the kind of women who’d grown up having their hair done every week. Her inadequacies were piling up woefully.
Nina tried entering the conversation while they discussed dinner, but when they began exchanging recipes, she gave up. She didn’t have recipes. She just threw things in a pot and cooked. She felt like a stranger in her own kitchen as her mother and JD’s ex-wife rummaged through the refrigerator and pantry, exploring possibilities, ignoring Nina’s timid suggestions. Obviously intent on impressing the men, they debated a meal that would take an afternoon to cook. Nina had better things to do than play one-upmanship with professionals.
Jackie found her some time later in the greenhouse. The slowly rotating fans
created a small breeze, driving out some of the humidity, but perspiration still poured down Nina’s forehead as she fed fertilizer to the newly transplanted geraniums. She smiled at Jackie, feeling comfortable for the first time that day.
“You look wiped, kid. Sit in front of the fan and cool off.”
Jackie did as told, inching his skinny jean-clad bottom over a rough table to sit directly in front of one of the huge fans. “Is my Mom gonna let me stay?” he asked without preamble.
“I’m betting she’ll do almost anything you ask.” Nina smiled and handed Jackie a watering can. “While you’re up there, water that fern, will you? Do you want to stay?”
He clambered onto the table without complaint, reaching to water the granddaddy fern. “It’s a lot neater here than back at my grandfather’s. He never wants to do anything, and there’s no place fun to go.”
‘That’s because you’ve seen it all before and this is different. You’ll get bored here after a while, too. But JD will think of things you can do, I imagine.”
Jackie nodded eagerly. “He’s cool, isn’t he? I mean, for a dad and all. None of my friends have dads who ride motorcycles or play computer games.”
“Yeah, well, I imagine your friends’ dads have other advantages,” Nina replied dryly. ‘That’s enough water. When it starts dripping out the bottom, it’s wet clear through.”
Jackie jumped down again. “Who do you think that man was I found in the lake?”
The abrupt change of subject didn’t startle her. Teenage minds worked like the videos they watched on MTV, hopping around like Mexican jumping beans. She shrugged in answer. “Maybe some tourist fishing alone whose boat sank. Maybe a worker from one of the barges. It could be anyone.”
Jackie settled in front of the fan again. “Nah. He wore one of those long-sleeved white business shirts like my granddad wears to work. Tourists and bargemen don’t dress like that.”
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