Always the Best Man

by Michelle Major

  She got up immediately and moved toward Jase’s dad.

  “Why the hell aren’t I up there with your fake family?” Declan yelled. “I’m part of this town, too. Or have you forgotten why you wanted to become such a do-gooder in the first place, Jase?”

  “Declan, don’t do this,” she said as she got closer. The smell of liquor coming off him hit her so hard she took a step back. She had to get him out of this meeting. “This isn’t you talking.” She tried to make her voice gentle. “It’s the alcohol. Jase needs you to get it under control. Now.”

  His bloodshot eyes tracked to her. “Oh, yeah, sweetheart. My son loves control. He can’t tolerate anything less than total perfection.” He motioned a shaky finger between himself and Emily. “The two of us are bound to disappoint him.”

  The words struck a nerve but she smiled and reached for his hand. “Then let’s get out of here.”

  She could see Sheriff Bennett moving around the edge of the room toward them. A glance over her shoulder showed Jase stepping out from behind the podium toward the edge of the stage. She shook her head, hoping to diffuse Declan’s alcohol-filled rant before it had a chance to gather steam.

  She took his arm just as she heard Davey cry out, “Mommy, my spaceship. It broke.” Her son’s voice was a keening cry. “It broke!”

  “I won’t be handled,” Declan yelled and tore his hand away from her grasp.

  But Emily’s attention was on Davey so instead of letting go she stumbled forward, plowing into Declan’s chest and sending them both into the edge of the chair at the end of the row.

  Edna Sharpe occupied the chair, and as it tipped, the three of them tumbled to the floor. Emily saw stars as her head slammed into the chair.

  All hell broke loose.

  People from the nearby rows surrounded them. Edna screamed and flailed at the bottom of the pile. “My ankle. You broke my ankle.”

  Declan moaned. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

  Emily scrambled to get out from under him but his thigh was pinning her down.

  “Mommy!” Davey screeched, his voice carrying over the din of noise to her. “I lost a piece to my spaceship.”

  She pushed at Declan, recognizing the mounting hysteria in Davey’s tone. Cole Bennett was there a second later, but it was too late. Jase’s father coughed, then threw up, the vile liquid hitting Emily’s shoulder as she tried to turn away.

  He was hauled off her then and she stood, the crowd surrounding them parting as she pushed her way through. One bonus to being puked on—it cleared a path quicker than anything else.

  Jase was trying to shoulder his way down the aisle, yelling at people as he moved.

  Davey had started shrieking now, and she knew a full-blown meltdown could last for several minutes to close to an hour. Meg met her gaze and whispered, “I’m sorry.” Meg picked a screaming Davey up and carried him out the side door of the meeting room.

  Emily shook her head as she followed. There was nothing her sweet mother could have done to prevent this moment. The responsibility was Emily’s. And she failed. Miserably.

  Jase was in front of her a second later. She expected understanding. Instead, he glared at her. “What the hell, Em? You tackled my dad. Is Edna really hurt? This is a mess.”

  She blinked, unable to process the accusation in his tone, let alone to respond. “I’ve got to get to Davey,” she whispered.

  His muffled screams echoed from the hall.

  Jase ran a hand through his hair. “Can you get control of him? The screaming is only making this disaster worse.”

  She reeled back as if he’d slapped her. A disaster. That’s how Jase saw her attempt at helping him. Her head was ringing from where she’d hit the corner of the chair. Her son was having a public meltdown. And she was covered in vomit.

  “We’ve got to pull out of this,” Jase said, searching her gaze as if he expected her to have a magic solution.

  “I’m going to my son,” she said, pushing at him. “He’s not part of a disaster. He’s a scared little boy who shouldn’t have been put in this situation in the first place.”

  “The sheriff has your dad out the door,” Liam called from where he stood on the stage. “I’m going to get everyone back to their seats.”

  Jase closed his eyes for a moment and his gaze was gentler when he opened them again. “I didn’t mean it like that. Em...”

  “No.” She pushed away. It was too late. She knew better. Davey was all that mattered, her only priority. “I’ve got to get him out of here. Take care of your image or your dad. I don’t care. I’m not your problem, Jase. We’re not yours.”

  She hurried down the row, bending to pick up a stray Lego piece as she walked. She found Davey and her mother at the end of the hallway, Davey standing stiffly in front of the wooden bench where her mother sat. She crouched in front of him. “I have the missing piece,” she said. He continued to scream, his eyes shut tight and his cheeks blotchy pink as he heaved breaths in and out between shrieks. “Davey, sweetie. Look at Mommy. I have the Lego piece. You can finish the spaceship.”

  His screaming subsided to an anxious whine as he looked at the small yellow brick she held in front of him. Emily held her breath. He hiccuped and reached for it, holding it gently between his first two fingers. “Thank you, Mommy.” He wiped at his cheeks with the back of his sleeve. “Can we go home now? You’re stinky.”

  She let out a ragged laugh. Or maybe it was a sob. Hard to tell with the emotions swirling inside her. “Yes, Wavy-Davey, we can go home now.”

  She straightened, meeting her mother’s worried gaze. “I’m so sorry,” Meg whispered.

  Emily shook her head. “No kind words, Mom. I need to keep it together until we get back to the farm.”

  Meg’s mouth thinned but she nodded. “You might want to take off the sweater.”

  Emily carefully pulled the nasty sweater over her head, gagging a little as the scent of vomit hit her again. It had been easy enough to ignore when adrenaline was fueling her. But now the reality of everything that had happened—in front of most of the town and everyone who mattered to her—made her want to curl up in a tiny ball. But she still had her son to take care of, which was the only thing keeping her going.

  She stuffed the sweater into a nearby trash can. The memories of this horrible evening would prevent her from ever wearing it again.

  “Let’s go home,” she said and her mother took her hand and led them toward the car.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Jase had returned to the stage after Emily left and Declan had been hauled away. He’d remained calm even though he’d wanted to walk to the front of that room and rip Charles Thompson to shreds. Everything he’d worked for had been destroyed, but he’d seen Aaron Thompson slip into the hallway as the door closed to the back of the meeting room. At that moment he realized how personal the Thompsons felt about his failure and what lengths they were willing to go to make sure he wasn’t elected mayor.

  None of that really mattered. All he cared about was the hurt in Emily’s eyes as he’d demanded she quiet Davey. It had been his shame talking. She didn’t deserve the pain he’d caused her. He’d wanted to follow her to the Crawfords’ farm right away, but there had been so much fallout to deal with after the scene his dad had caused.

  Jase publicly apologized for his dad’s behavior. He wanted to call out Charles Thompson, but he wouldn’t stoop to Thompson’s level or make excuses for Declan. It had been even more difficult to keep his temper in check when Charles complained as Liam officially ended the meeting and sent the crowd home.

  Several of Jase’s friends had offered words of encouragement and support, but he could barely hear them over the roar in his head. Jake Travers deemed Edna’s ankle on
ly a sprain but she insisted on going to the hospital for an X-ray, so Jase stayed with her until her daughter arrived to take her home. Cole offered to let Declan ride out his bender in one of the town’s holding cells.

  Jase didn’t bother to comment on the irony of his father in jail as he was trying to make a bid to lead the town. It was his worst nightmare come to life.

  At least he’d thought it was until arriving at the ranch. Meg had come to the door before he’d knocked.

  “I need to see her,” he said and opened the screen.

  Meg crossed her arms over her chest. “No, Jase.”

  “I only need a minute,” he pleaded, letting the emotions he’d tried to tamp down spill into his tone. “I’ll wait if she’s putting Davey to bed. Maybe I could—”

  “No.” Meg’s normally warm gaze was frigid as she met his. “She was trying to support you tonight even though it wasn’t what she wanted. You hurt her when things went bad.” She shook her head. “My daughter has been down that road before, and she’s only begun to recover from the pain of it. I won’t let her be treated that way again. She deserves better.”

  “I know.” He felt desperate in a way he hadn’t in years. He could feel the person he loved slipping away from him, only this time it was his own fault. “I let the moment get the best of me. I love her, Meg.”

  “You want her, Jase. You have for years. I get that, but it isn’t the same as love. What happened tonight wasn’t love.”

  “I made a mistake.”

  “You might not be the right man for her.”

  “You’re wrong.”

  “I hope I am, and if Emily decides to allow you back into her life, I won’t stop her. But for now she doesn’t want to see you. You have enough to deal with in your own life. Focus on that.”

  “I don’t care about anything else.” The words came out louder than he’d intended and he forced himself to take a calming breath. “At least tell her I was here. Tell her I’m sorry. Please, Meg.”

  After a moment she nodded. “You’re a good man, Jase. You don’t have anything to prove to this town but it’s time you start believing it.” She backed up and shut the door, leaving him alone on the porch.

  This house was the one place he’d always felt safe and welcome, and now he’d messed that up along with his relationship with Emily.

  It was close to midnight by the time Jase walked into the sheriff’s office. He would have been there earlier, but Cole had texted that his dad was sleeping and he’d alert Jase when Declan woke up. Jase had gone home after leaving the Crawfords’ and let Ruby into the yard. As the puppy chased shadows around in the porch light, Jase had sat on the top step and left messages for each of the town council members to apologize for the spectacle his father had created at the meeting.

  Declan was sitting on the bench in the holding cell when Jase walked into the office.

  “It isn’t locked,” Cole told him, getting up from his chair, “but he said he wouldn’t come out until you got here.” He patted Jase on the arm. “I’m going to give the two of you some time. I’ll be out front. Let me know if you need anything.”

  Jase walked forward, wrapped his fingers around the cool iron of the holding cell’s bars. “You ready, Dad?”

  Declan snorted. “That’s all you’ve got to say to me?”

  “If you’re looking for me to apologize,” Jase ground out, his temper sparking even through the numbness of his exhaustion, “forget it. Drying out in this cell was the safest place for you tonight. After the stunt you pulled—”

  “You shouldn’t be here.” His dad stood, paced from one end of the small cell to the other. “You don’t owe me anything, least of all an apology. Why the hell aren’t you with Emily?”

  “Let’s go home.”

  “I puked on her.”

  “Yep.”

  Declan rubbed a hand over his face. “I’m sorry.”

  “Emily is the one who’s owed an apology. Maybe she’ll talk to you.”

  “She won’t speak to you?”

  Jase shook his head. “Come on, Dad. I’m tired and done with this day.”

  His father lowered himself back down to the metal bench. “You see me here.”

  “I see you,” Jase said quietly, hating the memories the image conjured.

  “This is me in here, Jase. Not you. I did this to myself, like my dad and his dad before him. Our trouble is not your responsibility.”

  “It sure as hell felt like it when you barged into the town hall meeting drunk out of your mind.”

  “I slipped,” Declan said. “I let people get to me and I took one drink.”

  “One drink ended in the bottom of the bottle. I’ve seen it too many times, Dad. You can’t stop at one drink.”

  “I know, and I didn’t want to. I wanted to lose myself. To forget about everything for a little while.”

  “Aaron Thompson brought you to the meeting.”

  “It wasn’t his fault, even as much as I’d like it to be. I was at the bar when he found me. Yeah,” Declan admitted, “he said some things that set me off more.”

  “They wanted me to be humiliated.”

  “I brought tonight’s shame on you, Jase. Not the Thompsons. I’m the reason you can’t have a life of your own.”

  “I have a life,” Jase argued, but his voice sounded flat to his own ears. Because without Emily he had nothing. “I thought we agreed the town hall meeting was too much for you. If I knew—”

  “It wasn’t the meeting.” Declan stood, reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a small envelope. “Nearly twenty years later and she can still set me off.” He handed the envelope to Jase. “It’s a letter from your mom, son.”

  Jase stared at the loopy cursive on the front of the envelope, disbelief ripping through him. “Why didn’t she track down my email or cell number? No one sends letters anymore.”

  “Your mother was always an original.” Declan moved toward the door to the cell. “I don’t know what she wrote, but I hope whatever it is gives you some closure.”

  “Why after all this time?”

  “I don’t know.” He stopped, cupped his rough hand around Jase’s cheek. The smell of stale liquor seeped from his skin, both familiar and stomach churning. “What I hope she says is that leaving had nothing to do with you. That she regrets not taking you with her and giving you the life you deserve.” His smile was sad as he ruffled Jase’s hair. “That’s what I hope she says, but I don’t want to know. Bennett let me use the phone when I woke up. My AA sponsor is coming by the house in the morning. Whether you believe me or not, this was a one-time mistake.”

  Jase stood there staring at the envelope for a few more seconds, then turned. “Dad.”

  Declan turned back, his handle on the door to the outer office. “Yeah?”

  “I don’t regret staying with you.”

  * * *

  “Are you sure you won’t stay with Mom?” Noah pulled out from the farm’s driveway and started toward town. He and Katie had been home from their honeymoon for a few days so Emily had asked him to go apartment hunting with her.

  “I can’t keep hiding out there.” Emily read the address to the first building, which was in a new development on the far side of town. She watched the midday sun bounce off the snow-dusted peak at the top of Crimson Mountain. The weather was cooler now, and while there hadn’t been any snow yet in town, winter would be closing in soon.

  “That’s not how
she thinks of it.”

  “Doesn’t make it less true.” She shifted to look at her brother, still tan from his honeymoon on the beach. “I’m staying in Crimson, Noah. I need to start making a life for Davey and me.”

  “He still likes school?”

  She smiled. “He loves it. Since I’m now working in the elementary school front office, I can check in on him during the day.” The kindergarten teacher, Erin MacDonald, had made a visit to the farm when Emily kept Davey home from school the day after his public meltdown. While Davey had spent the day building Lego sets and baking cupcakes with his grandma, Emily’d barely been able to get out of bed.

  The teacher’s sensitivity to Davey’s outburst had made its way through Emily’s fragile defenses and she’d broken down with all the details of her messed-up life. Erin had immediately called the school principal. The new secretary he’d hired had quit after only two weeks. Emily had an interview the following afternoon and started work the next day. “Millie Travers told me Ms. MacDonald was a great teacher, but she’s more. She’s a great person.” She nudged her brother. “Turns out Crimson is full of great people. Davey is getting access to the resources he needs. He’s made a friend—”

  “In addition to Brooke?”

  “Brooke is his best friend,” Emily clarified. “But, yes, another boy who loves Lego building. They mainly play side by side, but it’s a start.”

  “Does Henry know how he’s doing?”

  “I sent him an email,” Emily admitted with a shrug. “I don’t know what I was hoping for, but he’s Davey’s father so I thought...” She sighed. “His assistant responded to it.”

  “The guy is a total idiot.”

  “Agreed. But we’re doing okay without him.”

  Noah turned onto the road that led into town. The aspen leaves were turning brilliant yellow, shimmering in the sunlight. It gave Emily a bright and shiny glow inside her.