by Candi Wall
He shrugged easily, though a faint trace of a frown marred his mouth. “Can’t blame a guy for trying.”
Words escaped her. She couldn’t very well tell him her interest lay elsewhere. Better to keep that information to herself. “I’m sorry, Rand. I just don’t date—often.”
Rand nodded, his eyes on the field. “You know, he’s never let down his guard since Ellen and Jeremy died.”
Rand’s statement sent a jolt of anger through her. “That’s none of my business, nor yours to tell.”
He shrugged, a softness in his eyes. “Maybe. Maybe not. But I thought you should know before you got too close.”
She struggled with a reply, snapping her mouth shut when nothing came to mind. Why had Rand said that? Was it so obvious that something, however fleeting, had transpired between her and Brack?
Any response she would have concocted died in thought when an agonized scream gripped her attention. Kelsey lay on the ground near second base clutching her right knee. Abby ran to where the girl lay and dropped to the ground beside her. “What happened?”
Tears poured from Kelsey’s eyes. “It’s my knee. We were doing backflips, and I landed wrong.”
Rand knelt next to them. “Hold still, okay?” When Kelsey nodded, he turned to Abby. “Get the first-aid kit.”
Heart drumming, Abby ran for the first-aid kit and when she caught sight of Isabelle, she yelled, “Issy, grab my roster from the bag. I need the number for Kelsey’s parents.”
Issy pulled her cell phone from her bag. “I’ve got her mom’s cell number.”
“Good, call them. Tell them she hurt her leg.”
Abby rushed back to Rand with the kit. “What do you need?”
He held out a hand. “Scissors.”
She fumbled through the kit and handed over the scissors. With a few careful cuts, the uniform fell open to reveal a large bruise already formed to the right of her kneecap. Significant swelling was evident in the short span of time, and Rand spoke to her softly as he prodded her leg. “Tell me when it hurts.”
Kelsey all but screamed when he reached a spot under her kneecap. “Stop, please. It hurts.”
Rand snapped several ice packs and placed them around Kelsey’s knee before glancing at Abby. “Where are her parents?”
“Issy’s trying to get them now.”
He cursed under his breath. “Call 911. I think she’s done some serious damage and I don’t want to move her.”
“Sure.” She grabbed her phone. “I’ll get more ice.”
By the time Abby made the call and found more icepacks, the wail of the rescue siren sounded from the road. Abby’s heart finally left her throat. She immediately recognized Brack’s truck behind the rescue vehicle, and excitement lanced through her fear.
Sam and Linda climbed down from the first-response truck and hurried over to Kelsey. Abby shifted back to give them room, trying to control the need to look at Brack. He followed behind the others, stiff as he walked past her, his gaze barely acknowledging her presence.
A twinge of anger clenched her chest, but she pushed it aside. She’d asked for this.
He settled on the ground next to Kelsey. “Hey, Kels. What’d you go and do this for?”
For the first time since hurting her leg, Kelsey seemed to gain a tiny bit of color in her cheeks. “Clumsy, I guess. But it really hurts, Mr. Elliot.”
“I know.” His encouraging smile set waves of pleasure through Abby’s body. He was amazing in his element. “Just hold still. We’re going to get you ready for the ambulance, and we’ll be as gentle as possible, okay?”
Kelsey nodded, biting down on her bottom lip as Brack shifted her leg slightly to place a brace under the ice packs. “I know it hurts,” he encouraged. “Hang in there.” He passed the bandage around her knee a couple more times before clipping the end to her uniform. “There. All done.”
Kelsey sighed with obvious relief. “I think I hear the ambulance.”
Brack nodded and tucked her hair back from her face. “You sure do. And I promise I’ll let the EMTs know that you were braver than Sam was when he broke his leg.”
Sam smiled, his face crinkled with genuine humor. “You sure were, though I hate to admit it.”
Kelsey’s chuckle was immediately followed by a groan. “Sure.”
“Here, let’s put this under your head while we wait.” Brack took his jacket off and rolled it up. “You don’t need any rocks imbedded in your skull. Though if I remember correctly, when you were little, you used to eat rocks, and your mother—”
Kelsey gasped, glancing around to see who else might be listening. “Stop it. That’s not true.”
“Yes it is.” Brack teased. “I remember having to take you—”
Abby backed away. The conversation between the others faded as she neared the dugout. Her legs shook, and she sat down, rubbing absently at the scar on her leg. It ached. A visceral reaction to Kelsey’s pain. It happened every time she witnessed a leg injury. Sympathy pain. A mere memory of the agony of a snapped bone.
But the deep ache in her chest rivaled the pain. Brack’s compassion touched her. The innate kindness he’d displayed justified her reasons for loving him. He gave so easily. Without asking for anything in return. The confused expression on his handsome face flashed through her mind. She’d hurt him with her callous disregard for what they’d shared.
It shouldn’t have happened.
Asking him to let go, to give over his hard-developed safety vest of indifference, was unfair. Now, she realized how much. He’d given a portion of himself to her, and she’d tossed it away, claiming there was nothing more to her feelings than a night of sex.
The ambulance pulled onto the field, and she took a deep breath to steady her composure. When Kelsey was taken care of, she’d speak to him. She’d tell him—
What? What could she tell him that would make any of this better?
The ambulance pulled away, and Brack finally gave in to the impulse to look for Abby. She’d disappeared from the scene, which he found odd. He’d assumed she’d be right in the thick of helping.
He scanned the field and dugouts without luck and walked up the hill toward his truck. The bus came into sight first, and that was where he found her. She stood near the open door, her arms crossed over her chest as Jonathon loaded the bags into the back.
As he neared, he noticed Rand standing next to her, previously hidden by the bus’s angle. His brother’s smile irked Brack. Would he never give up? Abby hadn’t shown any interest, and still he scuttled around after her like a pup.
“Rand, please. I don’t need supper, or coffee, or a hug.” She turned to face him, her voice tense. “How in the world can you have so much energy after such a long, draining day?”
He reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “Just trying to put a smile on your face.”
If it hadn’t been for her slight shift away from the contact, Brack might have given in to the temptation to knock Rand’s head against the bus for touching her. Regardless of the ass he’d make out of himself in the process. As it was, he couldn’t be happier to see her disinterest.
“Maybe she’s just seriously annoyed with you,” he interrupted. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
Her entire body jolted when he spoke, and he had a hard time containing a smile. Why he gained such sadistic pleasure from keeping her off-balance escaped him. Maybe because she did the same to him with seemingly no effort.
But when she turned to face him, her eyes bright with emotion, the breath left his lungs in a shattered exhalation. “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head. “Nothing. I’m just tired.”
There was so much more in her expression, but he couldn’t begin to fathom the reasons for the sadness he detected there. And the ever-watchful Rand hovering like a protective watchdog didn’t help. Brack wanted a moment alone with her, even if she pushed him away again. “Are you headed back to school on the bus or do you need a ride?”
> She hesitated, her lips parting. “I—I need to ride with the girls. Is it okay if Jonathon rides back with us to help unload? You can meet us there.”
With a quick glance at the bus, he counted the girls. Seven. And she needed Jonathon? Or did he dare hope this was her way of finding them a moment to speak? “Sure. If he wants.”
Abby walked over to tap Jonathon on the shoulder. The moment she turned away, Rand let out a low growl. “For someone who’s not interested, you sure seem to want to spend time with her.”
“I never said I wasn’t interested.” Pulling his jacket on, Brack slapped Rand on the back. He didn’t care what his brother thought at the moment. Abby’s eyes met his over Jonathon’s head, and she nodded. It was just the confirmation he needed. He held her gaze until she looked away, certain now that she wanted to speak with him. The question was, what did she have to say?
He’d stayed away since the other night, though it’d nearly driven him insane. Wrong or right, what happened between them had happened. Letting it remain nothing more than a fling rubbed him wrong.
He walked to his truck, more eager to get back to the school than he’d ever imagined possible. Hell, it really shouldn’t be a surprise. She’d filled every waking moment of his thoughts. He’d worked in the shop only to find himself staring off in the distance, the memory of her breathy sigh or soft laugh so real he had to look to see if she was there. And he’d rolled the night they’d shared around in his head until he could retrace it flawlessly. Every word, every touch, even the taste of her skin.
Now she wanted to talk, or so it seemed. About that night, maybe. Or the fact that he hadn’t bothered to call. Maybe she wanted more from their time together than she’d stated. But if that was true, could he offer more?
Ellen and their boys had been his life. Losing the love of his life and Jeremy had nearly broken him. Caring like that again had never crossed his mind, even in his loneliest hours.
Until now.
The bus pulled out of the parking lot, and he followed. Uncertainty dulled the excitement he’d experienced at the thought of talking to her. If she asked for more… If he chose to see where they could go… It would mean letting go of his past.
The loud beep of his cell phone drew is attention. He glanced at the screen, his fingers tightening on the phone when he recognized Meg’s number. Why now? If he didn’t know better, he’d swear the woman had a microscope in his thoughts.
How she always managed to call when his thoughts turned to Ellen remained a mystery. His mother-in-law was determined to make sure he never forgot Ellen or his part in her death. As if the memory would ever fade.
With a fortifying breath, he flipped it open. “Hello, Meg.”
“Hi, Brack.” Her voice hadn’t lost the sliver of disgust ever present since her daughter’s and grandson’s deaths. “We just got back from Spain and I got your message. How’s Jonathon?”
Brack pulled into the parking lot to the high school and slammed the truck into park. “Great, actually. He started at Elmont a few weeks ago, and we’ve seen an incredible improvement.”
“Really? Elmont wasn’t where Ellen wanted him to go.”
Her condescending tone irked him to distraction. “I know that, Meg. But I didn’t have much choice, and it seems to be working well despite what Ellen and I had planned.”
A heavy sigh slipped through the phone. “Well, you’re his father. I guess you’ll decide what’s best for him.”
“Exactly.” The anger that raced through his veins nearly made him hang up, but he managed to resist.
“Well, we’d like to take Jonathon for spring break, if that’s acceptable to you.”
“I don’t have a problem with it,” he lied. “But we’ll have to see what Jonathon wants to do. He’s dating a girl from school, so he may want to stay here.”
“A girlfriend? Really?” A slight catch marred her voice. “It doesn’t seem like he’s old enough for that.”
“He’s sixteen, Meg.” Adding that Jonathon had decided he was old enough to have sex would have been a sweet little shocker, but he kept the temptation to share in check. “And she’s a good kid.”
“He’s just growing too quickly, and I feel like we never get to see him.”
There were so many responses he wanted to hurl her way. Meg and Lou had left less than a week after Ellen and Jeremy died. No more than two weeks had passed before they’d taken back to their lives of travel and high living. He and Jonathon could have used their support, but they’d done nothing more than call occasionally. Usually with a reason for why they weren’t going to make it for Jonathon’s birthday or other significant holidays.
“You know where we live.” Frustration made him bite the words. He sighed, adding more carefully, “And you’re both welcome here anytime.”
“Of course. That’s very kind of you.” With a small sniff, she went on. “Please have Jonathon contact us this evening and let us know what he wants to do. If he doesn’t want to come we’ll plan something else.”
In other words, they wanted a backup plan for their precious time. “I’ll tell him you called.”
It didn’t take long to get off the phone after that, and by the time he stepped from the truck, Jonathon was skidding across the parking lot. He signed away as he neared. “Dad, can I go bowling with Lynette and her sister?”
The thought of letting him go anywhere without an adult still gave him a headache, but he squashed the immediate “no” response. He had to make an effort. Jonathon had stuck to his end of the bargain thus far and stayed out of trouble. “How are you getting there?”
Jonathon pointed to a small red car at the head of the parking lot. “Her sister drives. We’ll be back by eleven. Jen’s got to work early tomorrow morning, so we won’t be any later than that.”
Jonathon’s eyes, so like Ellen’s, sparkled with his excitement. He’d never been able to say no to those eyes. “You’ll wear your seatbelt? And text if you get in a bad situation?”
He crossed his heart, glancing back at the girls. “Come on, Dad.”
Shit. He was going to have to say yes. “You can go, but no drinking, drugs, nothing you shouldn’t be doing. Understand?”
Jonathon shook his head with a tiny grin. He signed quickly and shuffled his feet impatiently.
Brack couldn’t wrap his mind around his son’s last statement and nodded his permission absently. He watched him run off. Abby would kill him? His son had signed that Abby would kill him if he did anything wrong?
He searched the bus and surroundings for the woman who’d managed to gain his son’s respect and wondered if she had any idea what effect she had on him. Probably not. Just as she had no idea the affect she was having on the kid’s normally proud-of-his-ability-to-control-himself father.
Normally. But not where Abby was concerned. And he had a funny feeling he was going to have to get used to it.
Chapter Thirteen
Abby met the huge smile Jonathon gave her as he approached, more than happy to have something besides the boy’s father to focus on. It didn’t seem to matter that he leaned against his truck across the parking lot, her eyes refused to behave. She dug through her limited signs for the words she needed when Jonathon skidded to a halt. “What are you so happy about?”
“I’m going bowling with Lynette and her sister.” He shook his head. “Still can’t believe Dad’s letting me go.”
“Excellent. I knew he’d come around.” She forced herself not to glance at the topic of their conversation and added, “Have a great time, but be safe.”
His smile grew, though it didn’t seem possible and he pointed to her hands. “You’re getting good.”
She spoke clearly so he could read any words she’d forgotten the signs for. “If you say so. It’ll probably take me until summer to be able to sign a complete sentence, then it’ll be time for me to leave.”
“You’re leaving?” His brows furrowed. “Why?”
If a simple explanation cou
ld be found, she’d yet to find it. And she’d searched for years. “I’ve always moved. Ever since I was a little girl.” She shrugged, “It’s just what I do. There’s always somewhere new to see, some place I’ve yet to discover.”
“Wow. I wish you weren’t leaving.” A slight nod lightened his features. He slowed down and acted out or spelled most of the words he wanted to share. “Actually, I wish I could go. I’ve never flown in a plane, never traveled farther than this state. When Mom and Jeremy were alive, she always wanted us to see the world. Dad won’t leave this place.”
Understanding for both parents’ ways of thinking ran through her mind. But only one remained now, and he was doing the best he could. And he loved his son so much. The deep ache constricting her throat made it difficult to concentrate on her signs. “He just wants to keep you safe.”
“He doesn’t get it, though.” Jonathon glanced back at his father. “I want to skydive, or swim with sharks. Something crazy and maybe dangerous. At this point I’d settle for riding a rollercoaster, but he doesn’t think anything is safe unless he controls it.”
Abby struggled to find the right words. She’d never understood her mother’s reasoning when they’d moved from place to place. As a child, the normalcy of constant change hadn’t bothered her. It wasn’t until early in her teens when she’d felt the first stirrings of resentment. She could relate to Jonathon’s frustration and confusion. “He’s scared of losing you. Both of you have been through so much. It’s his way of coping.”
“It’s his way of controlling.”
Apples and oranges again. “So why don’t you talk to him?”
The anger she’d sensed building deflated. He rolled his eyes. “Are we talking about the same man?”
“Okay—” his humor was infectious, “—I’ll admit that won’t be as easy as I made it sound, but maybe if you tell him what you want, and how you feel, he’ll meet you halfway.”
“I doubt that.”
“I didn’t say it would be easy.” She patted his arm to bolster his courage. “But you aren’t afraid of a challenge, are you?”
