Once and Again

chapter Four



Two weeks later, thoroughly angry, Lily drove through town until she found her quarry standing around the new convenience store a mile from the high school.

She whipped into a space and got out, heading straight for him. “In case you’ve forgotten, it’s a school day.”

He turned with a start and tried to act cool in front of his friends.

Taking her phone out, she videoed the little scene as she continued walking to them.

“You’re missing third period. I’m sure it’s an oversight. So get in the car and let’s go.”

“I was meaning to go.”

“Yeah? Well it looks like you really meant to be a loser and cut school to me. Congratulations. Top marks on that one. This isn’t a discussion. I am not seeking your input.” She turned her glare to the malcontents her brother had taken up with. “Do your parents know you’re also late to third period?”

“What’s it to you?” one of them, Paulie, if she remembered right, said as he smoked.

“You’re nothing to me actually. But he”—she grabbed Chris’s hand—“is everything. So, I guess, to be blunt, what I mean is, will your parents care that y’all are here when you’re supposed to be in school?”

Chris groaned. “Let’s go.”

“You don’t have to go with her. What’s she going to do, carry you?” Paulie sneered and she pitied his parents.

“Knock it off, Paulie.” There he was, the sweet kid she got to see a few times a day. The one she knew could make it if she pushed him. And she was going to, even if she had to pick him up and drag him.

He got in the car without another word.

“You know, Chris,” she said, pulling out of the lot and heading toward the school, “I was in the middle of a piece when the school called me. I told you they would. This bullshit is beneath you. Those dipshits you hang out with are too.”

“I just lost track of time.”

She sighed. “Don’t insult me. You can lie to your friends and even Mom, but don’t waste my time. I love you, kid. I think you are worth the effort.” She parked and got out, loving the look of panic on his face. “But we’re on my time now and you’ve broken your word. You didn’t lose track of time. You shouldn’t even be off campus to start with.”

“I just needed some caffeine. I’ll bring soda tomorrow. You don’t have to go in. I’m going. I promise.” He scampered toward the front doors.

“Unfortunately I do. Because I can’t trust you, and the state would frown on my kicking your ass. And, because the school has had it with you. Come on.”

“Other moms don’t use bad words around their kids,” he muttered.

“You’re fond of reminding me that I’m not your mother.” She hauled the door open and waited. “Also, dude, if the worst thing you ever did was say some bad words, we’d be ahead of the game.”

She signed him in at the front office and, to his horror, accompanied him to class where she sat in the back, ignored the curious looks and worked quietly while class went on.

By the time the bell rang, Chris seemed more than ready to get to his next class so she let him go without her escort, but she did watch to be sure he made it inside. She would laugh when she got into her car, but for that moment, it was enough to remember the horrified embarrassment on his face. If he was a smart kid, he’d not do it again. But if he did, she’d sit next to him.

“Hello there.”

Oh that voice.

She had been avoiding him all she could. Which wasn’t always easy because he had a way of turning up wherever she was.

Nothing to be done about that now. Though she wanted to turn and run, she faced him instead, catching Nathan Murphy standing in the doorway to his classroom. His unruly dark hair tousled around his face. A sinfully handsome face. Lush lips, an honest-to-God cleft in his chin, big hazel-brown eyes. He was tall and currently filling out black jeans, and a long-sleeved shirt hugged his upper body. Good grief he melted her butter.

Years later, she had more…developed sexual tastes, and still he did it for her. The teacher thing rang her bell like it was dinnertime, and even though she knew him, flaws and all, that click between them hadn’t died. Thick enough that it took work to shake herself free. Familiar enough that she didn’t entirely want to.

“Mr. Murphy.”

He quirked up that very talented mouth. “Nice to see you backing up your word.” He moved to her, and she felt that energy between them, warm and distracting.

She shrugged, and he thought, of course she did. She was precisely the kind of woman who kept her word.

“You received the first batch of his assignments?”

“I did. He and I talked about it yesterday. He told me he was nearly finished with the first extra-credit assignment too.”

What a f*cking delight it had been to hear the rumor about Chris’s older sister sitting in on his class and to have it be true. To have her standing right there before him cool and collected, while still managing to look as if she was ready to slay dragons and kick ass on her brother’s behalf. It was ridiculously hot.

That morning she wore a pretty sundress, navy blue with white polka dots. Her hair was away from her face, held back by a pretty flower clip just below her right ear. She looked effortlessly fashionable and definitely feminine.

She sped his pulse, hardened his cock and made him fist his hands to keep from touching what was once his.

“Okay then. Have a nice day.” She spun, the hem of her skirt swaying in time with her ass as she walked away.

He followed her out. “I have a free period. You want to grab a cup of coffee with me?”

She paused at her car door. “No, Nathan, I don’t.”

“We used to be friends. I’d like that again.”

He wanted more than that. Had accepted that he really wanted to kiss her again, wanted to taste her and feel her skin bare and warm, against his own. But they could start at friends.

“We used to be a lot of things. I’m not that girl anymore.” She opened her car door and suppressed a growl of frustration. Even managed to stay casual.

“And I’m not that guy anymore. I’m sorry, Lily. I’m sorry for a lot of things.”

She paused, emotion washing over her face for a brief moment and hope surged. It wasn’t over. There was a chance to still make something with her if he handled it right.

“I don’t have the time for any of this. I don’t need your apology nearly seven years later.”

He put a hand on her door. “Maybe I need to give you one.”

She breathed out long and slow. “I hope it works out for you. Wish you’d felt that way when it meant something.” She sent him a raised brow as she got into the car, yanking to get his hand loose, but not hard enough she would have harmed him if he hadn’t let go.

Damn it all, the harder she tried to resist what they had, still, between them only made him hotter. There was something wrong with him.

“Goodbye, Nathan.”

He stepped back and waved. “Be seeing you around, Ms. Travis.”

He realized as she drove away just how much he wanted her. Thankfully, he had an entire team behind him who’d help. He’d known the Chases long enough to have heard how the entire family backed each one of their sons when they found the woman they wanted. He had seven brothers and sisters and the Chases too. She didn’t stand a chance.

Grinning, he headed back into the school.





Not even a week later, Lily came back in from dropping Chris off at school and found her mother having a heated conversation with her father while Nancy looked on. The girlfriend was also there.

“I don’t see why you can’t just sell the house and give me half. It’s my half, after all.”

“I live here. Your son lives here! It’s not bad enough that you left the way you did? Not enough that you cleared out the bank accounts and stole the electronics in the house? Not bad enough you humiliated me for years and then you do this? You want to sell my home out from under me so you can buy more stuff for her? Get out, Rodger. I’ve had enough.”

“You two can live in a condo. They’re nice. You don’t need this big house. Heck, we can take part of the money and send Chris to military school to straighten his ass out.”

Nancy nodded. Uncharitably, Lily wondered if their father had promised her some money for helping.

“This house belonged to my grandparents. I’m not selling it so you can go to Mexico with your whore.” Her words were slurred, but Lily was so relieved her mother was showing some spine that she didn’t interrupt.

“You’re holding things up to push our wedding back,” the girlfriend whimpered. “You lost him. Just let it go! You don’t need this place. We want to start a family and our place is too small for it.”

At that, her mother burst into tears, and the girlfriend sent a smug look toward Lily.

“Enough. You.” She pointed to the girlfriend. “It’s not necessary for you to be here. This is my mother’s house, and you’ve got no right to make her cry again.”

“You’ll not talk to my future wife that way,” her father stuttered out.

“I’m sorry, it’s just… I can’t take you seriously when you’re walking around with this baby on your arm. I have T-shirts older than she is. Your future wife? Really? You’re here trying to push my mother out of the home she’s lived in most of her life so you and your little friend can have more money. Money you’re not even entitled to.” Yes, she’d taken the opportunity to run her mother over to Edward Chase’s office, and they’d declared the trust the house was in as valid. Rodger Travis had no right to it. Lily’s great-grandmother hadn’t ever liked Rodger, but she’d been close with Lily. She placed the house in a trust before she died, deeding it over to Lily when she turned twenty-five. The house was actually hers, though she had no immediate plans to claim it and undo the trust.

Still she had a rental agreement with her mother to keep them all covered in precisely this situation. Her father wasn’t going to harm her mother, at least not on this one issue.

“Also, Georgia isn’t a community property state. You aren’t entitled to half of anything. She stayed home with your children, hosted dinners for your work people, essentially lived her entire life for you. You can’t take her house and the law will say the same.”

“You keep out of it. You’re only stirring up problems. Your sister tells me what goes on here. I don’t approve.”

“You don’t approve of what? Me stepping in and doing your job ’cause you can’t keep your business in your drawers? Chris is your son, not that you act like it. If I hadn’t have come back to help, he’d be still failing his classes. As for whatever Nancy says, she’s not here unless it’s to borrow money so what does she know anyway? If you don’t approve of another person raising your child, you could do it yourself.”

“You’re my daughter. You will respect me.”

She shook her head slowly, wondering at what point it was where she finally saw him for the soulless, selfish a*shole he was. “You aren’t owed respect, you earn it. Take your whore and get out. The house is in a trust. It’s not community property. She’s not selling it, even if she could. You’ll just have to send teenage Barbie here out to get a job and learn to live on your retirement. You don’t even respect yourself, why should I respect you? You crap all over your family and pretend to be moral? Get out.”

“You can’t tell me to get out.”

“As it happens, I can. You want to beat up on defenseless women, you’ve got a young one right there. You want his kids? Good luck with that. I hope you can keep him interested long enough to make it happen. You need money, ask her parents. You went to high school with them anyway. Oh, wait, that was her grandparents.”

Her mother snorted a laugh through the tears. “She’s right. You need to leave, Rodger. Don’t come in again without knocking.”

“This is my house!”

“It isn’t. You know it’s not even in your name. There’s a trust the house is held in. It’s not Mom’s. It’s not yours either. Go back to Atlanta and get your own house in order. You’re not selling this house and that’s final.”

“We’ll just see what my lawyer thinks about that.” He grabbed Barbie’s hand and stormed out. Nancy sent a dirty look over her shoulder.

“You drive him away!”

“You’re too old to have daddy issues. Hit the road, Nancy. You might miss the gravy train if you don’t rush. Though, he’s got a lot less than you calculated. You and the girlfriend. Ha.”

She put an arm around her mother and steered her into the living room.

“Sit. Let me get you some tea.”

Nancy scampered to catch up, screeching to their father to wait for her.

“I’m so embarrassed.” Her mother took the tea.

“Why? He’s the one who’s done wrong here.”

“I took a lot. Chris probably saw things he shouldn’t have. I tell myself I should forgive your dad. That if I really loved him I would. He’s the father of my children after all. I loved him a long time. Maybe I still do. What if I’m making a mistake?”

“It is entirely possible to forgive something, to truly let go and wish that person well while at the same time making sure they can never get close enough to harm you again. Forgiveness is a gift, but it doesn’t need to make you stupid. I can’t tell you how to live your life, but if a man makes you cry on a regular basis, I can’t think you’re meant to love that man anymore.”

“I don’t know that I’m strong enough for this.”

Lily took her mother’s hands. “Let me help you a little. You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for.”

Her mother nodded and mopped her tears up. Lily wished she believed the nod meant her mother would try harder, but feared it would only get worse.





“Fancy seeing you here.”

Nathan barely held his smile back as he sauntered into the Honey Bear where Lily sat at a booth with a camera at her right hand and coffee at her left.

She looked up, smiled thinly and her attention shifted away just as quickly.

Gave him the time to send his brother William—a baker at the Honey Bear and the man who’d texted Nathan to say he should come on by the café to say hello to an old friend—a thankful tip of the chin.

His family had his back and they all loved Lily from when they were kids, so they were thrilled to help, and he was relieved to have it.

“This seat taken?” he asked as he took it anyway. She frowned at him momentarily and looked back down at the photos. “What’s that?”

“Work.”

He grinned and sipped. “What brings you out so early on a Saturday?”

“Work.” Less nonchalant and more annoyed. This pleased him for some sick reason.

“I had a run. Thanks for asking. After this I’m heading over to Tate and Matt’s for a barbecue later today. I’ve promised to be quizmaster. Beth said she invited you.”

She sighed and looked up, tapping her pen quickly. “Don’t let me keep you.”

“I like the glasses.” Ignoring her weak attempt to shoo him away, he raised his coffee in her direction. “Sexy.”

She tried not to smile, he saw her struggle and then she lost it, shaking her head. “She did invite me. I can’t because I’m taking Chris with me to Macon later today. I have some things I need to deliver to work.”

“He’s been showing improvement, Lil. You’re doing a good job.”

“Lily. And thank you. I hope so. Christ, the boy is going to make me start attending high school with him at this rate.”

He laughed. “He’s not cutting third period anymore I’m told.”

Snorting, she sipped her coffee. “For such a smart kid, he has no common sense at all. Drives me insane.”

“None of them do. I see it all day long. But the ones who get support from family snap out of it. They go to college and get good jobs. Start families. All the things you want for him. And because you care enough to sit in his class with him until he gets the message, he’ll make it too.”

She gathered her things. “I hope so. I’m off. Have a good day with your family.”

He would have offered to carry her things to her car, but she’d only say no and she didn’t have much anyway. She’d spoken with him, and not entirely about Chris, so things were moving in a positive direction at least.

She paused at the front door, turning back to face him. “Thank you. For all you’ve been doing for Chris. It makes a difference. A big one.”

He watched her leave. Loving those sexy little librarian glasses.

“She didn’t throw her coffee in your face.” William came out and dropped into the booth across from Nathan. “That’s a start.”

“Three weeks ago she would have left when I came in. Progress, bro, progress.”

“They don’t call you the bulldog for nothing.” William smiled at him over the rim of his mug.

“Oh God, I’d forgotten about that.” Tate started that one. When Nathan was a kid he’d scrapped when he needed something, worked and worked until he got it. She said he was like a bulldog when there was something he wanted.

And he wanted Lily.

William shrugged. “Big brothers never forget. Anyway, I’ll see you over at Tate’s later. I’m working here another hour or two and then I’ll get home. Cindy will have eleven thousand things she wants me to do in the yard before we go.”

Nathan adored William’s wife. Especially the way she handled his brother and accepted the insanity that came with being a Murphy.

“Thanks for the tip on Lily. Why don’t I stop over in a bit to help with the yard?”

“Damn, I’d have called you before today when she came in if I had any idea I’d be able to get some yard work out of you.”

William walked him out.

“It’s going to work. She already likes your family. We already like her. I’ve never known you not to get what you wanted.”

Nathan scratched his chin a moment. “I hope so. I hate that it’s my fault she doesn’t trust me.” Up until two weeks before, he’d only told Tate and Tim the specifics of what had happened. He hadn’t been proud of it. And he really hadn’t been happy when Anne and Beth had barged into his house early on a Saturday morning after they’d heard what he’d done the night before from Lily.

He’d been pissed she tattled until Beth smacked him upside the head and told him how the details had come out and that Lily had said he was a good man. And then his sisters had promised help on his plan to woo Lily back.

“It was years ago, Nate. A kiss. One. Not that you weren’t an ass, you were. But you’ve grown up and so has she. Take it slow. There’s no timer on it. Get to know her again and let her get to know you. She’ll see.” William clapped him on the back. “In the meantime, it’s awfully amusing to see you have to work for a woman. I’ll see you soon. Bring your gloves. I need to clear out some brush.”

Nathan groaned. “Fine. Thanks for the advice.”