Brandon lowered his expensive shades long enough to get a good look at her. “Hey, Jen. You’re looking fine as ever.”
Just what she needed to completely ruin her day. Over the past few months, Brandon had been making his presence known again - not hounding her, exactly, but becoming enough of a bother to annoy her. In high school, he’d pestered her relentlessly to go out with him, but there had always been something about him, something strange and a little disturbing. She’d always refused but he’d kept pursuing her - driving by her house countless times every day, sending her gifts and flowers, and pictures of himself taken in what he must have supposed where provocative stances. He’d chased off every guy who’d asked her out until she’d begun to feel like a pariah.
It had taken her the better part of a year to convince him to leave her alone. She was in no mood to start all that again.
She looked for a way out, wishing she had Brianna and Ethan with her, but she was stuck. “I was sorry to hear about your grandmother,” she said, because she’d honestly liked the friendly, silver-haired woman who’d sneaked her chocolates whenever her parents were invited over for one of the Stewarts’ garden parties. But also hoping to distract Brandon from getting any romantic ideas.
“What is that thing you’re driving?” he said, completely ignoring her condolences, and giving her car a derisive sneer.
She’d recently sold the BMW convertible her father had given her for college graduation, needing the cash. In its place, she’d bought an inexpensive and reliable compact, gently used, she’d been told by the salesman.
Obviously aware that she could barely afford to put gasoline in her car, let alone buy something to his standards, he suppressed a grin of satisfaction. “I heard you’re trying to sell your house but you’re not getting any offers. Hop in and let’s go for a drive. We have some business to discuss.”
“Business? What kind of business?”
“I know all about it, Jen. Your dad was living beyond his means and left you to deal with it. How many mortgages did he have? You’re making crap wages at that clerk job. What do you do there? File, answer phones, get coffee? Does your sister know she’s not going to college this fall? Because from what I hear she still thinks she’s headed to Vanderbilt.”
Jenna stared at him in disbelief. How could he know all these things? Had he been investigating her? Then she remembered that Brandon’s sister, Ally, was Brianna’s age. Brianna had just graduated high school and did still think she was going to college – Jenna just couldn’t bring herself to crush her sister’s dreams. Not yet. She tried to think of a way to answer Brandon and came up with nothing.
“You’re going under fast,” he continued, “and it’s getting ugly to watch. I feel bad for that kid of yours.”
“My life is none of your business,” she snapped. That was the best she could come up with.
“I’m making it my business, beautiful,” he said. “Hop in. Just a trip around the park. I have a career opportunity you need to take seriously.” When she held her ground, he perched his sunglasses on his head and met her gaze. The blond highlights in his brown hair shined in the sunlight. “I’m trying to do you a favor, Jen. Between old friends. You can’t afford to be stubborn anymore.”
They’d never been friends, their families had only run in the same circles, and she didn’t like that mischievous twinkle in his eyes. But something in his tone warned her not to disregard him now. He was right. She was drowning in debt. She couldn’t even afford stubbornness anymore.
***
Sam leaned against a parked SUV and watched the silver convertible glide across the parking lot, Jenna sitting in the passenger seat of that magnificent piece of machinery, holding her sparkling gold hair in a ponytail against the wind.
So she was back with her own kind. Explained her cold-as-ice attitude. For a moment, like a flash, a pang of jealousy, or defeat, darkened his mood.
Then he chuckled and turned back toward his family on the playing field. She hadn’t been wearing a wedding ring - he’d noticed that much within a minute of seeing her again.
She was still free.
And that was the only invitation he needed.
CHAPTER TWO
The next afternoon, while Ethan napped, Jenna stole a few minutes to sit down in the office and pay bills. She stared at her checkbook until the impossible numbers blurred. How could her father have put her in such an overwhelming situation? This question came to mind every time she sat down to face the dreaded finances. Though, she knew she was every bit as responsible for the state of her life.
She’d grown up never giving a thought to money, never worrying how the bills were paid, or what happened with the credit card once she tucked the smoking plastic back into her purse. Now money consumed her thoughts, when she wasn’t worried about Ethan and Brianna.
Or dreaming about Sam Strickland.
Or fuming over Sam Strickland’s betrayal.
Perhaps a greater shock than her father’s sudden death had been the state of his affairs - left for her to handle with no experience. And now, despite her best efforts, she would lose the house. There was no way around it, unless she won the lottery in the next few weeks. Her father had taken out two mortgages on the house and with the housing market the way it was, she wasn’t getting any serious offers. She owed more than the house was worth. He’d cashed in most of the life insurance and had only left her enough to stay afloat for a couple of months.
Now, she was running out of time. She’d have to break the news to Bri soon. She’d have to tell her sister her future was about to change. But every time she tried, she’d lose her nerve. Maybe there was still hope. She kept thinking that thought. Maybe…. She had one serious offer on the table, but it made her sick to think about it.
She was planning a massive garage sale for the next weekend, and then an estate sale for the furniture and other items worth more than she could get at a garage sale. She had her fingers crossed they would bring in enough to get the bank off her back for another month, or maybe two.
“Baby’s up,” Brianna mentioned, leaning in the doorway swinging a baton in her hand. “He’s all fussy.”
“I’ll be right there.”
“I need the phone again.”
“Later. I’m waiting on a call. I need to finish this,” Jenna said, giving her sister a look warning her not to start. “Can you check on Ethan, please?”
Brianna glared at her. “You canceled everything and you won’t even let me use the car because of the gas. What am I supposed to do? I’m sick of using your phone all the time.”
“Why don’t you read? You used to love to read.”
“I’m too bored,” Bri said with a groan. “I’m shut off from the world. I’m going crazy.”
Jenna leaned back in her father’s leather chair and rubbed her eyes. Soon, she’d be paying bills off the floor, because there wouldn’t be a stitch of furniture left in the house. Only Ethan’s bed, which she couldn’t stand to sell. “I need your help with Ethan today. I have to get things together for the garage sale.”
“I know we’re broke,” Bri said, letting the baton fall to her side. “You said we had to cut back but we’re like broke, broke. That’s what Ally Stewart’s telling everybody. So you might as well stop lying to me. You said we were selling the house to buy a smaller place, but, Ally, who I hate, said we’re gonna end up in a homeless shelter because Dad was a thief who was going to bankrupt the city if he hadn’t died first.”
Jenna stared at her sister, her pulse racing. “That’s not true.”
“If we’re so broke why can’t I get a job?”
“Because now that school’s out I need you to keep Ethan. I can’t afford daycare anymore.”
Brianna huffed off but quickly returned. “I can’t even go to college, can I?”
“I don’t know yet. Maybe. There’s still time to work things out.” Eight whole weeks before the first payments were due.
“You’re lying a
gain,” Bri said. “It’s worse not knowing what’s going on than knowing. You’re making me feel all whiny and grouchy and stupid. And I’m a delightful person,” she said, sounding anything but. “Just tell me the truth.”
Jenna groaned softly. Now was as good a time as any. “Dad spent all your college fund and what was left of mine. I’m sorry. I’m trying to….”
“I knew it,” Bri said, her face turning bright red. Tears came to her eyes and she ran off. “I knew it!”
Jenna had had plans, once, to get a law degree from Vanderbilt, then move to an exciting city, find a great job, a fabulous apartment, and live happily ever after. The plan had been so simple. The plan had been in the works since her freshman year of high school.
How one night of heavenly pleasure could have destroyed years of hard work seemed inconceivable. But she’d learned the hard way that an instant could destroy all life, all plans. Her mother had learned the same lesson the instant an artery in her brain ruptured. Her father, the instant his heart revolted and he drove his car straight into an oak tree.
Too upset to focus on bills, she headed upstairs, toward the cries of her son and sister. Bri’s door was closed as Jenna went to the nursery. She almost stopped then decided to give her sister time to cool down. As she turned into the nursery, she saw her screaming son sprawled face down on the carpet as if he’d expended his last ounce of energy struggling to make it from the room, and was now left stranded and helpless.
His dramatics struck her as funny and instantly brightened her mood. One moment like this, one moment when she remembered all she truly possessed in her life, made all the fears and frustrations disappear. For a while.
As soon as he saw her feet in the doorway, he fell silent and didn’t move, playing dead.
“Oh, no,” she teased. “Poor Ethan. I guess I get to keep all his toys for myself now.”
He hopped up to his knees and held out his arms to her. “No!” he snapped, frowning at her. “Mine.”
“Well, I’ll be, there he is.” She picked him up and carried him to the changing table. “I guess you get to keep all your toys now.”
Her son, often as good-natured as his father could be, giggled and offered her his little dinosaur toy.
She accepted the gift and took a moment to really look at her child, at the beautiful face that changed by the day. One day soon, he’d need a father figure. He would also need a roof over his head, food in his mouth, clothes on his back, and the best education possible. It broke her heart to think of the struggling future she’d be able to offer him now.
With a happy child in her arms, she passed Bri’s door again and this time knocked. Bri swung the door open. Her face was still red but at least she’d stopped crying.
“What?”
“I’m sorry. I’m doing the best I can.”
“It’s Daddy’s fault. Not yours.” She slammed the door. “Now leave me alone!”
Jenna walked away on wobbly legs, checking her cell phone, wishing Brandon would hurry up and call and let her know if he’d been successful. She’d canceled the home phone, Bri’s phone, the cable and internet, but with a small child, she felt she needed to keep some kind of communication device in the house for emergencies. This time, it seemed, Brandon was honestly trying to do her a favor.
Though, what he wanted in return for such a favor made her feel sick. She hadn’t agreed yet, but she had to at least consider his offer. She was out of options.
Forcing herself not to get worked up in front of her son, she fed Ethan a snack, rubbed him down with sunscreen, found his cap, and took him outside to play in the backyard.
As soon as she stepped out the back door she knew whatever magic had brought Sam Strickland back into her life yesterday was over. The humid heat had returned, as stifling and oppressive as ever. Sam was probably well on his way back to his happy, carefree life, wherever he lived with his beloved wife and child.
It helped to stay busy, so she sat on the porch and shelled black-eyed peas for supper and watched Ethan play. He might grow up to be a musician like her mother, she often thought, listening to him sing his wonderful nonsense songs. There were times when he could almost carry a tune.
“All he needs now is a guitar,” a man said from the end of the porch.
The sound of that familiar, deep voice startled her so she kicked over the sack of hulls and almost lost control of the bowl in her lap.
“Sorry,” Sam said, chuckling, taking the steps up, smiling and looking so handsome Jenna could only stare. This was a hallucination, he wasn’t really there. It was the heat. “I knocked around front but you didn’t hear me,” he said, “then I heard the kid yell. Didn’t mean to scare ya.”
Wrong. He was there. Leaning against the porch post with his arms crossed over his chest, wearing a dark blue shirt that made his eyes seem like two sapphires sparkling at her.
“You didn’t,” she said, righting the sack of hulls and adjusting the bowl in her lap, continuing her work to have something to do besides gawk at him. She hoped he wouldn’t notice her shaking hands. “What are you doing here?”
“Thought I’d drop by for a visit,” he said. “See if you wanted to go out to the lake. My brothers and some friends are heading out later. My brother’s got a big boat. If you’re not too busy, it could be fun.”
She stopped working and looked at him. It was as if the past three years had vanished, and he had never left town, and nothing had changed. But something had changed, something alive and real, and the toddler came running from the sandbox to see who was visiting.
Ethan’s legs weren’t quite long enough to take the steps at a run, and he stumbled and fell hard on his arms. Jenna jumped up but he’d fallen by Sam’s leg and was already being rescued.
“Whoa there, big fella,” Sam said, scooping Ethan up and setting him on his feet.
Ethan sniffled and whimpered, but didn’t quite give over to tears.
“C’mere, sweetie,” Jenna called, setting the bowl aside. “Let me see.”
He walked to her, dropping his bottom lip, raising a fist to his eye. She set him on her lap and checked the red spot on his chin and another one on his arm. By the time she’d kissed both Ethan was through being hurt and ready to get on with his life.
He wriggled from her lap, wanting to see about the big, strange man standing on his porch. “Who’s ‘at?” he chirped, pointing up at Sam.
Sam knelt down and shook Ethan’s little hand. “I’m Sam. Who are you?”
“Can you tell him who you are, Ethan?” Jenna prompted.
“No,” her son answered.
Sam chuckled at that.
After taking a long curious look at his natural father, Ethan lost interest and carefully took the stairs down, running across the yard yelling to Pepper, the family’s five-year-old black Lab.
Jenna watched closely for any signs of recognition, either from her son, or his father. But neither seemed to realize the significance of their first meeting. Ethan had already forgotten, and Sam rose to his feet grinning innocently. Startling her again by the beauty that seemed to shine more from within than from his near-perfect features. “That’s one handsome kid,” he said.
Lord, she’d loved him since she was fifteen years old, when he’d been like a god in high school, and completely unaware of her existence. Everyone had loved Sam, and loving him had been like loving the man in the moon - he was no more attainable. But she couldn’t have stopped. She’d attended all his home football games just to watch him play. She’d once paid twenty dollars for a picture of him leaving the football field after a game. She’d slept with that priceless photograph under her pillow for a year, dreaming of a day when he would finally notice her. Dreaming of a day when they would finally be together.
She’d never wanted anyone but Samuel Strickland.
She’d been a fool.
That familiar, comforting hardness settled over her, sheltering and protecting, blocking his powers of attraction.
; “So, you gotta babysit long?” he asked with that deep, melodic voice any singer would have envied.
She swallowed, forced up her nerve and met his gaze. “He’s mine. I’m not babysitting.”
“Oh.” Sam turned to look again at the child excitedly crawling on hands and knees around the base of the oak tree. “No kidding. So, you’re….”
She went still and looked at him, waiting for him to finish his sentence. “I’m what?”
“Married?” he guessed.
A stray string of emotion passed through her and she realized gossip had made her defensive. She’d been called a lot of things over the past few years, except married. “Are you moving back to town or just visiting?”
He had straightened, preparing to leave, and easily returned to his conversational stance, leaning against the post with his arms crossed. She’d been taught to offer guests a seat but decided he was just fine where he was, where she could keep an eye on him, and not feel too close.
“Just visiting,” he said. “My parents are celebrating their forty-fifth anniversary in a couple weeks. I’ve got a small ranch out in Texas. Feels good to be back in the Tennessee, though.” He smiled and sent her heartbeat fluttering. “Glad to see you again.”
Sure he was. So, he’d been in Texas? He had a ranch?
She’d wondered where he was and what he’d been doing. She knew his parents did something with horses, had a small horse farm, but still the news came as a surprise.
“It was my granddad’s place,” he said when she couldn’t seem to respond. “I went out there to take care of things when his health started going downhill.”
Her gaze traveled down his long jeans-clad legs and focused on the blue sneakers he wore. He didn’t look much like a cowboy. Though, she wasn’t sure she’d ever seen a real cowboy, except on TV. A strange sense of jealousy came over her. While she slaved away in an office, he got to ride horses every day.
Then another thought came to her. If he was married, with a child, what was he doing here, asking her out to the lake? She needed to know.
Bound to You Page 2
