A Forever Kind of Guy: The Braddock Brotherhood, Book 2

by Barbara Meyers

  Not yet, he answered silently. He shook his head, not trusting himself to speak.

  She laid her head down once more, her fingers playing idly against his chest.

  Around lunchtime, Ray heard Rick’s tow truck pull into the driveway. The engine cut and in seconds he heard the tromp of boots across the porch. The door opened and Rick’s head appeared. Spying Ray on the sofa, where he’d been flipping channels for the past two hours, he strode in, a bag from the convenience store deli in one hand and a tray with two cups in the other.

  “You sick?” he asked. He set the bag and tray down on the coffee table and took a good look at Ray.

  “Nah.”

  Rick crossed his arms over his chest and studied his twin. Ray refused to meet his gaze and stared moodily at the television. As if he’d discovered the root of the problem simply by looking at his brother, Rick relaxed after a minute and dropped into the seat at a right angle to Ray. “Well, if you’re not throwing up, I brought you a sub. If you are, don’t worry about it. I’ll eat it.”

  He handed Ray one of the drinks. Ray took it and set it on the end table next to him. Rick unwrapped his own sandwich and set the other one in front of Ray. He took a bite, swallowed, took a sip of soda. “Marlins/Braves should be on TBS about now.”

  Obligingly, Ray switched the channel, eyeing Rick’s sandwich. After Hayley had walked him home this morning he’d shooed her away, insisting he’d be fine on his own, not even letting her brew coffee for him when she offered. As a result, he hadn’t eaten. He’d barely moved from the sofa all morning. She’d wanted to stay, but of the two other instructors she’d normally call to take her classes, one was on vacation and the other had a stomach virus. She’d gotten his prescription for pain pills filled and raced in mid-morning to drop it off. After a quick hi-and-bye kiss and an assurance that he’d be okay, she went back to work.

  Carefully, he sat up, using the arm of the sofa as leverage and setting his feet carefully on the floor. Rick paused mid-chew and watched him. Ray unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite. He leaned back against the sofa and stared at a point above the entertainment center while he chewed.

  Before he took another bite he said, “Fletcher’s father showed up last night.”

  He glanced in Rick’s direction. Rick reached for the remote and hit the mute button. “I thought he was in jail.”

  “Me too. He was, actually. Tim called me this morning. Evidently, the charges against him were dropped. They upgraded the assault charge to manslaughter when the victim died, but the only witness to the assault suddenly refused to testify. Without it the D.A. didn’t have enough of a case. So he walked day before yesterday. Showed up here last night. Broke into Hayley’s place.”

  He told Rick the whole story, leaving out the part about waking up in bed with Hayley this morning and what had ensued afterward.

  When Ray finished, Rick said, “You want to go see Doc Sellers? Let him take a look at that?” He gestured to Ray’s side.

  “No. It’s just a scratch. Hurts like a sonofabitch, though.”

  Rick turned the volume back up on the game and let Ray finish his sandwich. During a commercial break he gathered up the discarded wrappings and stuffed them back in the bag.

  “So,” he ventured. “Anything new with you and Hayley? You talk her into staying?”

  Rick had read his mind. He’d bet a hundred dollars his twin knew exactly what his mood was about today, and that it had nothing to do with his massive headache or the pain emanating from the knife wound. “I don’t want to talk her into anything. If she stays, it has to be because it’s what she wants.”

  “Yeah, well,” Rick said thoughtfully, “people don’t always know what they want. Until they think they’ve lost it.”

  When Ray made no comment, Rick went on. “When I met Kaylee, she was on her way to Miami. I wanted her to stay, but I made her go ahead with her plans anyway. I sure as hell didn’t want to tie her down when she didn’t want to be after what happened with Brenda.

  “But the minute she left I knew I’d made a big mistake. I went looking for her and kicked myself six ways to Sunday when I couldn’t find her. Thought I’d lost her for good.”

  “But you’re together now,” Ray pointed out.

  “Yeah. Because she came back. And when she did it took me about six seconds to ask her to marry me.”

  “You always were a bit slow,” Ray told him affectionately, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

  Rick tossed the balled-up sack of sandwich wrappings and potato chip bags at him. Reflexively, Ray raised his hand to bat it away. “Ow. Ow. That hurt.”

  “Big baby.”

  After a bit Rick said, “Hayley knows you want her to stay, right?”

  “She knows.”

  “Then you leave it up to her. Could be she’s a little slow, like me. Or a little scared.”

  “Or a lot scared.”

  Rick shrugged. “Maybe. You know planes fly in both directions. It might take her leaving to figure out what she really wants.”

  “Gee, thanks. That makes me feel so much better.”

  Rick laughed and picked up the bag of trash from where it had rolled across the floor. “You know what they say… It ain’t over—”

  “’Til it’s over.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  When Hayley arrived home from the Y the next day, it was to find Ray sitting at her kitchen table supervising two other men. Gone was the sliding glass door that Carlos had so easily popped out of its frame to gain access to her unit the other night. The two men were finishing installation of new doors. “What’s all this?” she asked as she and Fletcher came toward him. She dropped her purse and her keys on the counter.

  Fletcher ran toward Ray and would have leapt on him, had Ray not held him away from his injured side. “Come around on this side, buddy.” He patted his thigh. Obediently Fletcher circled the chair and climbed up on Ray. Ray brushed his lips across Fletcher’s temple. “Did you have fun at school today?”

  Fletcher’s head bobbed up and down. He murmured something unintelligible in the back of his throat.

  “We’ll go let Oscar out in a little bit, okay?”

  Fletcher nodded again, then slid off Ray’s lap and went to turn on the TV.

  Hayley couldn’t decide if Fletcher and Ray had had an actual conversation right in front of her or if Ray was only guessing at whatever the sound Fletcher made meant.

  She looked toward the new doors and the workmen, who were now busy cleaning up the mess they’d made. “So what’s going on?”

  “Don’t I get a kiss?” Ray grinned up at her.

  She stepped forward and obliged, the peck she’d intended turning into something with more depth and meaning. When it ended, she gazed into his eyes and rubbed her thumb thoughtfully against his lips, realizing she’d temporarily lost her train of thought.

  “So what’s with the new doors?” she finally asked.

  She straightened to inspect them while Ray explained. “I’m replacing the ones in my unit as well. Those others were old and flimsy. These are sliders made to look like French doors. Top of the line, almost tamper-proof.” He got to his feet. The workmen had stepped outside and were loading their tools into a van parked in the alley. “They’ve got steel locking pins top and bottom.” Ray pointed them out to her. “Shatter resistant glass reinforced with the same coating they use on windows in war zones. There are shades built in between the glass. The screen slider locks, too.” He demonstrated for her and then stood back, waiting for her reaction.

  One of the men approached with a paper in his hand. Ray slid the door open and took it from him. “Thanks, Don.” The guy offered a half wave and returned to the van. Ray closed the door.

  “Ray, this really wasn’t necessary,” Hayley began.

  “Of course it was. I just didn’t realize it. Not like this is a high crime area, but—”

  “But Carlos targeted me. Because of Fletcher. That’s why you got hurt�
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  She turned away, wrapping her arms tightly around her middle. Ray eased up behind her. He dropped his hands on her shoulders. “Hey,” he said softly near her ear.

  “Carlos is in jail,” she reminded him. “You didn’t have to go to all this trouble and expense.”

  “I just want to keep you safe. You and Fletcher.”

  “But we’re not going to be here—”

  “Forever. Yeah, I know.”

  She turned around. “Ray, I—”

  “Forget it. This way I know you’ll be safe for however long you stay.”

  A few weeks later, after their evening together on the porch, after Hayley had finished the last of her wine, Ray kissed her good-bye and went home. Hayley no longer pressed him to stay. She had no right. But every night after he left she felt bereft. Fletcher’s adoption would be finalized tomorrow. Hayley had packed his things. Callie would arrive early to pick him up. He’d be gone, and there’d be nothing stopping her from moving forward with her plan to relocate to L.A. If she still wanted to go.

  Hayley went into the kitchen and put her wineglass in the dishwasher. Absently she leafed through the folder she’d put together for her meeting with Pablo tomorrow. She’d used one of the Y’s computers over the last couple of days to condense her notes into bullet points and printed out copies for both herself and Pablo. She’d tried to quell her excitement about putting the program together because she wasn’t at all sure she’d be around to see it come to fruition. At the moment she didn’t feel sure of anything. Every choice she’d made recently somehow seemed muddled and wrong.

  Hayley returned to her chair on the porch. Unhappiness seemed to ooze from her pores. It made no sense. She’d achieved exactly the outcome she’d hoped for. Fletcher would be adopted by a family he had no connection to. He’d be safe from Carlos forever. She’d done the right thing, kept her promise to Steffie, and now she could move on with her own life like she’d planned. Why then did she feel so miserable?

  Ray. That was the simple answer. She sat on the fence, afraid to choose. Ray was a forever kind of guy, he’d assured her, and he’d shown her he’d never let her down. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe him. The problem was she no longer believed in herself. The simple truth was she was scared. She hated that about herself, but she didn’t know how to get past it.

  While she contemplated the possibilities for her future, a car turned the corner and parked on the road in front of the house. The driver’s side door opened, and Hayley recognized Niko when the interior lights came on. She didn’t know why, but she welcomed his surprise visit. She’d begun to plan on him showing up when she least expected him. She’d discovered a message on her cell phone voice mail from him warning him about Carlos’s release. Somehow she had missed his call.

  He strode up the driveway and she rose to open the screen door. The candle she’d lit earlier gave off a soft glow. “Hi, Niko.”

  “How you doing, Hayley?”

  He glanced around before he came in and let the screen fall closed behind him.

  “Want to sit?” Hayley invited.

  “Mind if we go inside?”

  “No, not at all.”

  Hayley extinguished the candle and Niko followed her into the living room. “Can I get you something to drink?”

  “No. I’m not staying.”

  They sat on the sofa. Niko kept glancing around. He seemed nervous.

  “What’s going on, Niko?”

  He wiped the palms of his hands down the thighs of his jeans. “I wanted to ask you something.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I wanted to ask you if you could adopt Fletcher.”

  “What? Niko we talked about this. You told me what Carlos was capable of, what I needed to do to keep Fletcher safe. Specifically, Fletcher is better off the farther away from me he is.”

  “No, he’s not.”

  Hayley lifted her hands and let them fall. “I can’t take that chance.”

  “You’re scared. I get that.”

  Leave it to Niko to put it all concisely into a nutshell. Before she could say anything, he went on. “I been thinking a lot about this, about being scared. Not doing what’s right because I’m afraid.” His gaze captured hers, his dark eyes glittering. “Living in fear ain’t no way to live.”

  “I never thought you were afraid of anything. Not even Carlos. You were the only one I ever saw who stood up to him.”

  Niko’s fists clenched, before he forcibly relaxed them once again. “I put on a good show, huh? What I should have done was take them both and go far away, some place he couldn’t find us. But I was afraid. What would I do once I got there? What kind of life could I make for them? I don’t know anything except what I been doing my whole life. Running with Carlos.”

  He looked away for a moment and then back at Hayley as if gauging whether or not she understood what he was telling her.

  “It’s not too late,” she told him. “You can change your life, make new plans.”

  “That’s what I came to tell you. You don’t have to be afraid of Carlos anymore. He ain’t going nowhere but prison this time. I’m going to make sure of that.”

  “How? What are you going to do?”

  “What I should have done a long time ago.” Niko stood. “Living in fear? It ain’t no way to live.”

  Hayley stood as well, still trying to make sense of Niko’s cryptic words. He shifted from foot to foot as they faced each other. “Can I see him?”

  “He’s asleep, but sure.”

  Niko followed her to the hallway. She turned on the light and opened Fletcher’s bedroom door and stepped back. Fletcher was on his back, his limbs flung every which way except for one arm curled around his bear. The covers were tangled around his legs.

  Hayley backed away and let Niko enter. She was more sure than ever that Niko and not Carlos was Fletcher’s father, even though he’d never come right out and said so. Like her, Niko wanted what was best for Fletcher. However, Niko hadn’t convinced her that she was what was best for him.

  A few minutes later Niko reappeared. Hayley followed him to the door. “Think about it, okay? It’s not too late.”

  It was, but she saw no point in telling Niko that. “It was good to see you, Niko. Take care.”

  She closed and locked the door behind him then leaned against it. She couldn’t imagine how Niko planned to eliminate Carlos as a threat but it was indeed too little and much too late.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Midmorning the following day, Hayley dragged her feet to the end of the driveway. She’d slept badly, tossing and turning with images of Ray and Fletcher and Niko haunting her along with snippets of conversation replaying through her head.

  She hadn’t collected her mail for a couple of days. All that ever arrived was junk mail and bills. Forms from the state. But those would cease now that she no longer had custody of Fletcher.

  It had happened so fast, Hayley could barely comprehend how quickly Fletcher had vanished from her life. A short time ago, he’d gone to his first meet and greet with prospective adoptive parents, and today he was being signed, sealed and delivered to his adoptive family.

  She had no idea who had adopted him. She hadn’t felt she had the right to ask. Callie had assured her Fletcher would be loved and well-taken care of for the rest of his life, and since she trusted Callie, she had to comfort herself with that.

  She brushed aside the useless tears. They kept sneaking up on her. She knew she’d done the right thing. God knew she’d agonized over it for weeks. As attached as she’d become to Fletcher, she knew in her heart she was in no position to parent him alone. He deserved more than he’d gotten in his short life. Now Fletcher would have a good home surrounded by people who would love him and take care of him the way he deserved to be.

  But still, she felt sad and empty. She told herself she’d get over it. Once she moved, she wouldn’t have to look at Fletcher’s empty room every day and be reminded of him.
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br />   Her relationship with Ray would certainly change now that Fletcher was gone. Ray loved that little boy. Giving him up would not only leave a hole in Hayley’s life, but in Ray’s as well.

  Plus, she’d be living several thousand miles away. Probably such a long distance relationship wouldn’t last long. Ray had made it clear what he wanted. He wanted her to stay. He wanted her to keep Fletcher. She didn’t see how she could do either. Nor, probably, should she, just to please him. She had to do what was right for her. Even if she was becoming less sure with each passing day exactly what that was.

  She yanked the door of the mailbox open, scolding herself for continuing to dwell on the outcome of a decision she couldn’t reverse. She’d done what she thought was best for everyone concerned, but mostly for Fletcher. She had no choice but to live with it.

  The mailbox was half-filled with flyers and advertisements and envelopes containing requests for charitable contributions and offers for credit cards. Hayley sorted through it absently as she started back to the house. Most of it could go directly into the recycling bin. But there was one thick envelope with a return address she recognized. She held the heavy vellum in her hand and got that sick feeling in her stomach. The same one she got every time she saw mail from Trey’s attorney.

  On the porch she sank into a chair and set the other mail on the table. The divorce had been finalized months and months ago. She and Trey had nothing more to say to each other. She had nothing he would want, nothing he could take he hadn’t already taken. Why now should she receive correspondence from his attorney?

  Bracing herself, she ripped the envelope open with one finger under the flap, leaving an ugly jagged tear across the expensive stationery. Several thick sheets of paper fell out into her lap and a lighter, narrower piece of paper fluttered to the floor. It looked like a check.

  Hayley picked it up and stared at her name and at all the zeroes after the first number. This had to be a mistake.

  She shuffled through the papers, righting them, and began to read a handwritten letter from Trey himself.