“Yeah.” His nose wrinkled under the freckles.
“Did you tell Rowdy and his brother thanks?”
“Yeah.”
“Can you say anything but yeah?” I wanted to dig down inside J.T. and find the chatterbox who used to talk about dinosaur bones and snails he discovered in the dirt outside the riding arena and zoo animals he learned about on TV and how earthworms eat. These days, he didn’t say anything unless he had to, and he didn’t do anything but sit in front of the TV with his video games. Somehow during these last few years, he’d learned to make himself invisible, and I hadn’t even noticed the change. Between trying to keep things on an even keel with Trammel and the haze of pills that had started after the accident, I’d missed a lot.
“Mom, I was supposed to be on Zago Wars twenty minutes ago. I’m missing the battle!” J.T.’s favorite thing about the cottage wasn’t the beach just blocks away or the hiking trails of Buxton Woods nearby. It was the wireless Internet installed for vacationers and the video game system he’d crammed into his backpack when we left Trammel’s house.
“Oh, well, excuse me. I hope the zombies didn’t attack while you were gone.”
He smirked then, his big blue eyes twinkling with a hint of the little teddy bear he used to be. “It doesn’t have zombies.”
“I knew that,” I joked, and he rolled a doubtful look my way.
Zoey glared at him and huffed, “He hardly even did anything with Rowdy’s brother, he was so worried about stupid Zago Wars and whoever he’s playing with online. There’s a party down at the pier, but we had to leave to run the dorkface home. Next time, I’m not bringing him with us. Anyway, we’re going back down to the beach.”
“Who’s having a party at the pier?”
Zoey’s eyes flashed wide. She wasn’t used to me asking questions. She pretty much ran her own life, like another adult in the house. Zoey had been taking care of herself since before she was old enough for school. There was a deep-down part of me that knew it was because there were so many times she’d had to.
“Rowdy’s friends, okay?” A nervous look flicked toward the car, and she shifted her hips to one side to let me know she didn’t have time for this. She was already mad at me for not telling her when Iola Poole died. Three days had passed before she’d heard about it at school, and then she’d come home in a panic, worried that we’d be moving in with Ross. I’d lied to her and told her I had enough money for another month’s rent.
“Maybe y’all could just hang around here. . . .”
Her eyes went cold. When Zoey looked at me like that —like everything in her that cared about me had turned to mortar and stone —I wondered if I’d already lost her for good.
“We’ll be back later.” She started toward the car. “I’ve got a stupid biology test tomorrow, and dorkface there screwed up his math homework too. I’ll help him redo it when I get home.” She left without bothering to ask me to help J.T. with his math, and even that hurt a little. She knew I’d always been good with numbers.
Rowdy’s car pulled out of the driveway, and J.T. opened the screen door, his shoulders rounding forward as I followed him inside. He hated it when Zoey was mad at him.
“I could help you with your math.”
“Zoey knows how to do it.” The bits of driftwood decorating the cottage walls rattled slightly as he ran to the enclosed back porch, where he’d been sleeping on an old foldout sofa bed. It was the only room in the house with an extra TV where he could play his video games to his heart’s content.
“You want something for dinner?” My stomach was growling. I’d been skipping lunches to save a little on groceries. “A hot dog or mac ’n’ cheese or something?”
“I’m not hungry too much. We ate at the beach.” His answer came with the closing of the door.
I sat down on the flowered chair in the living room, let my eyes fall shut, and felt the walls closing in around me. Sometimes it seemed like no matter how far away we went or how much I tried, Zoey and J.T. would never let me back into the world they’d built, the place where the two of them huddled together as the storms went on around them.
The phone rang while I was sitting there trying to decide whether to get something to eat or just skip it for the night. I answered and Ross was on the other end, home from a week of delivering processed, pressure-treated Carolina pines. I loved it that he always called as soon as he was back home. Guys like that don’t come along every day. Especially guys who look like Ross. On top of the fact that his parents owned a lumber company and vacation rental houses all over the Banks, he was a competitive amateur surfer in his off time. What girl wouldn’t have her head turned by a guy who took on massive waves and made it look like art?
“So, c’mon over.” His invitation was smooth like the purr of a kitten. “I’m at one of the houses in Salvo for a couple days while it’s empty. It’s lonely around here.” The thick, seductive tone pulled a delicious, warm feeling from deep inside me. It felt good to know that a man like him could want me. After listening to Trammel for six years, I’d started to believe no one could.
I was off the sofa and on my way to the kitchen, giddy inside, before I even had time to think. The sound of laser guns and explosions in J.T.’s room caught my ear as I crossed the hallway. I groaned, “Ohhh . . . J.T.’s here and Zoey’s gone.”
“So what. He’s got his face in a video game so much, he probably won’t even notice you left. The kid’s old enough to stay by himself.” Ross’s answer was sharp enough that I stopped moving toward my shoes.
Ross was right, of course. J.T. kept to himself whenever he could. He’d probably be right there in front of Zago Wars all evening.
“I know, but there’s the whole thing about the cottage. If somebody shows up here and tells him we have to get out, he’ll be scared to death. He won’t have a clue what to do.”
“Bring him with you. He can watch TV here, same as home.” His tone conveyed that it was a big sacrifice. After just getting back, he probably wasn’t in the mood to have a boy underfoot. The video game noise drove him nuts, anyway.
“He has some kind of math homework to do tonight.”
“Well, I’m not helpin’ him with that.” Ross let out a rueful laugh. “I get enough math all day, dealing with orders and invoices. I just wanna kick back, crack open a cold one, and get close to my baby.” A low moan sifted through the phone, like he was already stretching out on the sofa in some rental house that was probably eye-popping gorgeous. I pictured him combing his fingers through his dark hair, his coffee-colored eyes falling closed. I wanted to be right there with him, curled up in his arms, knowing I didn’t have a thing to worry about because he would take care of me. Ross made me feel that way.
“Come on, darlin’, it’s been a long trip. Come hang out in the hot tub with me. Ocean view, and I need me some welcome home.”
A heady feeling wound around me in a way I couldn’t resist. Ross could fix so many things for the kids and me. He had a house, a family with money. At thirty-nine, he was only six years older than me, so unlike with Trammel, we had things in common. He made me feel good about myself, attractive and wanted. He’d come along like a knight in shining armor, just when I needed one.
Looking down the hall at J.T.’s door again, I tried to decide whether to take him along to Ross’s or leave him here to wait for Zoey. Ross would like it better if I let J.T. stay behind, and so would J.T. Evening was setting in. Surely no one would stop by about the house anymore tonight. . . .
The sound of boots on the porch outside broke up the thought. Maybe Brother Guilbeau had changed his mind.
“Ross, I have to go. Someone’s here.” I started toward the door.
“You know what, Tandi? If you don’t wanna come over, just be straight about it.” Ross was strangely touchy this evening, mad right away. “I’ll go down to Captain Jack’s and hang awhile.” Captain Jack’s was one of his favorite dives, a nothing-fancy place where local boys went to get a cold beer and shoot pool. One of Ross’s ex-girlfriends worked there. He knew I knew that, of course.
“Listen, I’m not making it up. There’s someone here. I have to —”
He didn’t even wait for me to get the rest of the sentence out. He just hung up.
I set the phone down and pulled in a breath, smoothing my hair back before going to the door. When I opened it, no one was there.
CHAPTER 3