by Brynne Asher
He seems deep in thought. His handsome face is darker and broodier when lit by the flames of the fire. He’s leaning back in his chair with his fingers steepled in front of him looking out into the dark where my kids and his daughter just disappeared. He’s got his long, thick legs propped up on the stone of the hearth and his feet crossed at the ankle.
Having him here in my space—space that’s been mine and mine alone for almost two years now—is … strange. I’m trying hard not to let it make me nervous, but even more, I’m trying my damnedest not to like it. Liking him here will put a big kink in my plan to not date anyone, even though Asa explained earlier that he doesn’t date, so I guess it’s a moot point.
Still, trying to not like him here is hard.
He breaks into my muddled thoughts. “Can’t tell you how good it is to see Emma up and out of the house.”
Guilt pours over me. Here I am obsessing over myself and he’s worried about his daughter. I should know better than most what it’s like to worry about children. “I’ll have to apologize to Emma. My kids think everyone’s their best friend, we clearly need to work on boundaries. Saylor was climbing all over you like a jungle gym at dinner and Emma has become their newest toy. She’s a good sport.”
“She’s polite.” He looks back to me, his hazel eyes dark and somber. “That’s her mom’s doing. I’m lucky she did a good job with them. Up until I moved back to Virginia full-time, I had Emma and Levi a few days a month—maybe a week for a vacation here and there.”
I give him a small smile. “It sounds like you have a good relationship with your ex-wife. I don’t see that often—it’s great your kids have that. It makes a huge difference. I’m glad Emma got out to do something.”
He nods once and looks out into the darkness before over to the barn, and when he gazes back to me, changes the subject. “You’re on quite the piece of land here, Keelie.”
I sigh, looking out to where I hear the kids and see flashes of light in the woods. It took a long time, but I’m mostly okay with living here. I think it has more to do with the fact this is home for my kids. There’s no way I’d take it away from them now—no matter how tired I am of shoveling shit. “I guess. The land is why we’re here. Everything else is a work in progress. But that’s what you get when you buy a home that’s over ninety years old.”
He looks up at my house in back of us. “It’s a big house.”
“It is,” I agree. “Too big, but we’re here now. And like I said earlier, it’s slowly coming together. Even if the key word is slowly.”
He doesn’t take his eyes off me, but his voice is heavy when he states, “You doing it all on your own is a lot.”
I shrug and have nothing to say to that. It is, but I’m used to it. There’s no other choice.
He pins me with his eyes before slowly leaning up to rest his elbows on his knees. “Thanks for tonight.”
“Thank you for dinner.” As much as I argued, he insisted on getting the check.
“Tonight has been a distraction for Emma. It’s good for her, at least until I can figure out what made her sulk away from us to begin with.”
I give him a small smile and offer, “I’ll keep working on her case this week.”
He nods and stands, smoothly moving in front of me and holds out his hand. I stare at him a moment before taking his in mine and he instantly pulls me to a standing position. No sooner am I upright does he pull me the rest of the way, pressing my front to his.
He puts a firm hand to the middle of my back to keep me where I am—held tightly to his warm, very firm, muscular body. In my Converse, I barely come to his shoulders.
“I changed my mind,” he says.
Confused, I ask, “About what?”
“About dating. I’m taking you out—just us. I don’t care what you call it, but it’s happening. Soon.”
I push against his chest, trying not to let it sink in how good he feels under my touch. “Asa, I said—”
He shakes his head and interrupts me. “As much as I enjoyed being with our kids, I want time with you. Can you find someone to watch them tomorrow night?”
I shake my head. “No. I don’t have babysitters on standby. Plus, I told you—”
“Monday.” He gives me a squeeze and smirks. “Best day of the week, remember? You work on a sitter, I’ll figure out everything else.”
“But Monday’s a school night.” It’s lame, I know, but it’s the first excuse that popped into my mind.
His smirk spreads into a grin. “What, are you eighty?”
Oh shit. That reminds me of my dreaded early bird special date and really makes me want to go out on a Monday.
Without letting me respond, he brings his hand up to where he touched me earlier and cups my face with his big hand. When he brushes my jaw with his thumb, he murmurs, “I’ll call you.”
“I doubt I’ll be able to get anyone to watch them.” This is a lie. I have plenty of people I can call, namely my sister who demanded I shave my legs for pizza.
“Try,” he insists. “I’ll call you and we’ll work out the details.”
“But I don’t thin—”
He doesn’t let me finish and yells out into the darkness. “Emma, let’s get out of their hair.”
I don’t have a chance to refute him again when flashes of light come our way. This time when I push away, Asa lets me. Taking a step back, I watch Knox appear out of the darkness, right before Saylor and Emma follow.
“What do you all say to Mr. Hollingsworth for dinner and Emma for putting up with you?” I instruct my kids. Falling into mom-mode is way easier than dealing with Asa.
“Yeah, thanks,” Knox offers.
Of course, Saylor points out, “He told us to call him Asa, Mommy, and Emma likes us.”
I shake my head. Saylor thinks everyone loves her. I’m tired after a full day of painting and working around the house. I’ve been at it since before the kids got up this morning, so I can’t lie—a dinner out was nice. But now it’s late, and when I’m tired, I begin not to care about my kids’ manners.
“Thanks for the s’mores, Ms. Lockhart. They were great,” Emma says quietly.
I smile. “It’s the least I could do. You’ve been sweet to entertain my kids tonight.”
“It’s okay. I don’t mind.” She offers me a small smirk before escaping to her dad’s truck.
I look down at my kids. “It’s time to get cleaned up. Get through the showers so you don’t smell like a goat.”
Saylor finally yawns as she heads to the house. I’ll be lucky if she doesn’t go straight to Knox’s floor and pass out.
When the patio door closes behind them, I turn back to Asa. But before I have a chance to say anything, his voice goes soft. “Saturday is over, Keelie. You can relax.”
I’m taken aback by his sweet statement and all excuses of putting him off escape my brain. He’s not being sarcastic or teasing. He was thoughtful and sounded like he truly wanted to make sure I was fine now that my Saturday is over.
Though I don’t want to, I nod and sigh. “Yeah. And Sunday is a whirlwind getting ready for the week, so it’s all good.”
“I’ll call you.”
“You really don’t need to call me.”
He raises a brow. “Then how will I know if your Sunday was a whirlwind and let you know what time to be ready Monday?”
I shake my head. “Asa—”
He stuffs his hands in his pockets. “Go get your kids to bed, Keelie. But watch this fire until it’s out.”
I frown. “I know to watch the fire.”
“I figured, but it makes me feel better telling you.” He grins.
I shake my head again. “Goodnight.”
“See you Monday.”
With that, he heads to his truck. I pull my phone out of my pocket and find five texts from Stephie demanding to know how it went with Mr. Sexy Eyes.
I shoot off a couple texts before finally telling her I’ll call her when the kids are settled.
There’s just too much to say, I don’t even know where to start.
*****
Asa
We’re on our way home and Emma is back to quiet.
“Thanks for hanging out tonight. It was good to see you out of the house.” I look over to her through the dark cab.
She nods and leans her head back.
I have to know so I start carefully. “What do you know about Keelie Lockhart?”
She looks over with a little frown. “What do you mean?”
I grip my steering wheel. “I mean, do you know why she’s single?”
When I look back over, Emma’s eyes go big and she looks almost like she did when I told her we were showing up to Keelie’s unannounced. She demands, “Tell me this isn’t happening.”
I frown. “What?”
She groans and faces forward in her seat, dramatically shaking her head. “I can’t believe you. We just barged our way into Ms. Lockhart’s, you demanded they go to dinner with us, and you don’t know?”
I raise my voice. “Know what?”
“Oh shit,” she exclaims.
“Watch it,” I warn. “Your mom’ll jump my ass if she hears you talking like that.”
“Dad,” she groans using more syllables than necessary. “Her husband is dead. D-E-A-D, dead! He was killed in a car accident. I don’t even know when it happened. Everyone knows this. Everyone! Well, everyone but you, apparently. I can’t believe you. We were there all night and you didn’t know?”
I exhale and shift in my seat as I pull into my driveway. “How was I supposed to know? She didn’t tell me and you certainly didn’t, either.”
“That’s because I assumed you knew.” When I pull into the garage and throw it into park, she starts to scramble out. “I hope you didn’t say anything embarrassing.”
Emma slams the door and hurries into the house, no doubt to resume her hibernation.
Well, I’m not sure if telling Keelie I want to fuck her after washing her hair would fall into the embarrassing category, but if so, then yeah. I probably didn’t handle that well.
But, fuck. I’ve never wanted anyone so much.
I pull my phone out of my pocket and bring up my text. When I scroll down to Carson, I send him Keelie’s full name and address. I need every bit of information I can get on her. Going in blind fucking sucks.
I don’t know how normal people do it.
Chapter 6
Bending the Rules
Keelie
My phone dings from across the kitchen where I’m making lunches for the kids. When I look at the screen, my stomach does a weird tightening thing.
Then, maybe a flip.
Fuck. I’m thirty-five. My stomach should not be flipping. But it’s after nine and the kids are asleep. It was a busy day of Sunday brunch with my family, catching up on school stuff, running errands, dealing with the animals, laundry, and finishing the trim in one of the top floor bedrooms.
Throughout all that, I wondered if he’d actually call. He never did. But he just texted asking if he could.
Dammit, that’s nice. And thoughtful.
I finish cleaning up the kitchen and go to the family room to snuggle up in my favorite spot before I finally text him back.
My phone rings almost immediately.
After I answer, his first words are, “How was your Sunday?”
I exhale and close my eyes, thankful he can’t see me. “Busy. How was yours?”
“I don’t have goats and a donkey, so I’m guessing not as busy as yours.”
I open my eyes and smile. “It’s not a competition, you know.”
“My house is brand new. I don’t even have anything to paint.”
I smile bigger. “That sounds like heaven.”
“I also don’t have your view of the hills, your forest, or your privacy. You win.” I hear his smile come across the phone and think about his dark hazel eyes. “Before we get to the good stuff, I’ve got some news.”
I bite my lip wondering what the good stuff entails. “What news?”
“Ritchie isn’t Ritchie. Ritchie is Raymond Wallace.”
“Really?” If the license plates were stolen, I wonder who his contacts are for him to get this kind of information. “You know this for sure?”
“I’m looking at his mug shot.” I hear paper rustling in the background and he keeps talking. “He’s got priors for dealing and has a warrant out for his arrest for violating his probation. He’s twenty-two.”
“Well, where is he?” I ask.
Asa’s smile comes back across the phone and he almost sounds amused when he lowers his voice. “One step at a time, baby. I only learned his real name twenty minutes ago.”
My breath catches at his endearment. It’s been a long time since anyone addressed me as anything besides Keelie, Mommy, or Ms. Lockhart, and Stephie addressing me as hey bitch definitely doesn’t count. It’s been way more than two years, that’s for sure.
“Oh, sorry.” I try to sound normal, but it’s a big, fat fail. And there goes my stomach again.
“Like I said, they’ve got a warrant out for his arrest. My guess, they’re not actively looking for this guy, but if they happen upon him, he’ll be locked up. First thing tomorrow morning, I’m calling his parole officer to see what I can find out.”
“Thank you. I know in a school the size of ours, we can’t expect every student to be completely clean, but with what happened last fall, we need to be extra vigilant.”
“The wreck?”
“Yes,” I confirm. “Do you know the details? The students are still reeling.”
It’s become known as the wreck, because any other way to describe it is just too morbid. Two seniors, Brandon Sutherby and Kyler Jakes, left school unexcused in the middle of the day, and after driving recklessly, lost control and swerved off a country road. No one knows if they survived the crash itself because the car burst into flames.
I’ve only been a school counselor for four years, but the death of those students was the worst thing I’ve ever dealt with in my job. I pray it never gets harder than that.
“I know all about it,” Asa answers. “The kids weren’t with me yet, but we were in the process of making that transition. Levi wasn’t exactly friends with them, but he knew them. Emma said she didn’t know the boys, but she was shaken up. I think it was an eye-opener for them all.”
I stare off into the room, thinking back on that dark time at our school when he calls for me, “Keelie?”
“I’m here.”
“He’s just a drug dealer, it’s not like we’re dealing with the cartel. Someone’ll find him.”
“I'll speak with my principal tomorrow morning. Maybe he can put some extra measures into effect this coming week.”
“That’s good.” Asa’s voice is low and smooth, and it causes me to sink down into my spot in the sofa, settling into the low timbre of his voice when he changes the subject. “Is seven o’clock too late to pick you up tomorrow night?”
I close my eyes and allow my head to sink into the cushions. “That sounds an awful lot like a date.”
“I agree.”
“I thought you said you don’t date,” I chide with a smile in my voice.
“There’s something about you that made me make an exception to the rule.”
I try not to laugh when I respond, “That makes me feel kind of special, I guess.”
“The more you get to know me, the more you’ll learn that I like to bend the rules.”
I do laugh at that. “Well, now I don’t feel special at all. Do you do a lot of rule-bending with the ladies?”
His voice changes immediately and I’ve been around him enough to know he’s not smiling anymore. He’s serious as shit when he says, “There haven’t been any ladies worth bending the rules for, Keelie, let alone ladies to not bend the rules for. You can be certain about that.”
“Oh.” His tone sobers me.
His voice dips again. “I see myself bending a lot of rules w
hen it comes to you. Just want you to know where I’m coming from.”
“You hardly know me,” I whisper. “And I’m a package deal. I come with two kids, a donkey, mutts, and a shitload of goats.”
“Took your kids to dinner. I’ve met your goats and your donkey. I’m still on the phone and I’m still picking you up tomorrow night. If the donkey didn’t scare me off, I’m not sure what will.” His voice is back to smooth, and even I admit, a little comforting.
But he doesn’t know about David, or the fact I’m not simply a single mom. “I’d imagine at some point there’s a rule you’ll stumble across that you’re not willing to bend.”
“I’m forty-three and you’re not even close to the scariest thing I’ve come across in all my days. Give me some credit.”
I open my eyes and look at a picture of Knox and Saylor with their dad. It was the last picture they have with him and I wasn’t even the one to take it.
“We’ll see.”
“You find someone to watch Knox and Saylor?” he asks.
I sigh into the phone. “My sister. She insisted.”
“Good, baby.” I can tell he’s smiling again. “Look who’s bending the rules now.”
“I guess,” I admit before adding, “but it’s only because you can change a tire.”
He chuckles into the phone. “I’ll let you go, even though I like the sound of your voice when you’re tired. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” I confirm, sealing the deal, at the same time wondering what the fuck I’m doing.
*****
It’s mid-morning, the students are in third period, and the entire school is on a Hold and Secure status.
All students are required to stay in their classrooms, but I’m in the commons with Tom Logan and Marcia Bradley with a walkie-talkie awaiting the results. I had no idea this was going to happen today, but the drug dogs have been brought in and are running the lockers.
They’ve hit two. Those students will be pulled into the office, and questioned by police and administrators. So far, one of the students doesn’t surprise me, but the other does.
