Fan the Flames
Authors: Marie Rochelle
Roadside Strangers 4:
Fan the Flames
By
Marie Rochelle
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Fan the Flames
Copyright© 2013 Marie Rochelle
ISBN: 978-1-60088-845-8
Cover Artist: Fiona Jayde
Editor: Leanne Salter
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
Cobblestone Press, LLC
Dedication
To Julie,
Thanks for making our lunches so much fun.
I always have a good time talking to you.
Chapter One
Ja’Nael Haughton glanced at the
Welcome to
Market, Colorado
sign and tightened her grip around the steering wheel, trying to keep memories from consuming her. She had
never
wanted to step foot in this place again, but this was the only option for her.
During her senior year of high school, she’d worked a horrible job, dragging herself out of bed every morning and marking the days off her calendar, counting each second until this place would be in her rearview mirror. After graduating with honors, she spent the remainder of the month with her Aunt Beverly. The following month she packed up her belongings and moved away as fast as she could and headed to college, so she could get her teaching degree.
For the longest time, she hated living in such a small town. The entire community seemed to know everyone else’s business. But now, it was the perfect safe haven for her to return after the horrible incident at her previous job. Ja’Nael was actually thrilled to be back home and away from her old teaching position. The pain of everyone turning on her was still
so
deep she didn’t want to think about it, or them, anymore.
Why should she
?
What good would it do?
It was in the past, and that was where it would stay. They’d believed the lies the students told. So she’d packed up and moved back here without telling any of the so-called
friends
at that prep academy goodbye.
Ja’Nael sighed under her breath as she noticed the tank was almost on empty. She would definitely have to fill it up before heading to the house she was renting. She couldn’t get over the unbelievable deal she got. In New York she’d paid three times as much for the tiny loft she lived in.
Mr. Powers…no, Jacob, he’d asked her to call him, charged her less rent because of his love for her Aunt Beverly. This had been a true blessing, since his generosity gave her a chance to save up money from her new teaching job. This smaller school was paying her a fraction of what she earned at the private school back in New York. She prayed teaching three- and four-year-old preschoolers would be a lot easier than dealing with testy high students, but she wouldn’t know until she started. At least now she would be tallest one in class instead of being the shorter one most of the time. A slight advantage, she hoped.
Ja’Nael took the next exit and drove about another ten minutes before Shorty’s gas station came into view. Memories of her youth came rushing back to her.
She could still see the popular kids from her high school pulling into this place on Friday nights, laughing and kidding around with each other as they got ready have a great time without any other thoughts on their minds.
She’d been at Shorty’s for an entirely different reason. She worked the long hours there five days a week because she had to save up money for college. She had gotten a partial scholarship to her first choice, but she still needed money for books, clothes and other non-essential items since she wasn’t lucky enough to be born with a silver spoon in her mouth like the popular kids. She wasn’t even jealous of them, but they never knew how blessed they had been.
She doubted any of her former classmates worried about money. Their parents spoiled them and bought them anything and everything they wanted, no matter the price. Ja’Nael, however, had worked extremely hard and saved every single penny since her aunt had all the love in the world to give her, but not much else.
Ja’Nael pulled up to the pumps and blew out a deep breath before getting out of the car. She had to let the past stay buried. None of those people were giving her a thought now, and she shouldn’t give them the satisfaction of still giving them space in her head either.
Getting out of the car, she went over to the pump, grabbed the hose, and started filling up her car. She needed enough gas to last her for at least week, allowing herself the ability to get back and forth to work without any problems. With the gas prices being so expensive she didn’t have money to waste on driving around for nothing.
In addition, since the preschool was located in town and her house was almost in the woods, running out of gas wasn’t something she wanted to do.
After she was finished, Ja’Nael replaced the hose and turned on her heel to go inside to pay for it. The second she stepped through the front door, the smell of Mr. Shorty’s special blend made her pause in her tracks. She was stunned by how
nothing
had changed in all of the years she’d been away.
Moving slowly toward the front counter, Ja’Nael’s mouth fell open when she spotted Mr. Shorty standing behind there, wearing his favorite plaid shirt. He should have retired it at least three or four years ago. If she guessed correctly, he should be in his late seventies. Why was he still working in this place and not living the high life in Florida, relaxing on the beach in the sun?
She smiled. “Mr. Shorty. Do you remember me?”
Kind gray eyes stared at her for a few moments before his face lit up with recognition. “Ja’Nael Haughton, how could I forget my best employee, not to mention my favorite?” he answered in his raspy, weathered voice.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. “I haven’t seen you since you came from New York for your Aunt Beverly’s funeral. I still miss her a lot.”
Ja’Nael always thought Mr. Shorty and her aunt had a secret romance going on despite the fact that she was black and he was white. Of course, they constantly told her they were only friends, but she never believed any of that nonsense when she was younger. They went to Bingo together every weekend and played cards every Tuesday night. However, she respected their wishes and never argued with either one of them about it. If they wanted to have a little fun, who was she to drill them about their personal lives?
“I still miss her every day. She was a very special lady. I wish she was still here as well,” she said, holding back tears. Her Aunt Beverly was like a second mother to her. She took her into her home and raised her without a second thought after Ja’Nael’s mom died. She’d only been five years old, but her aunt hadn’t hesitated to take her in. “She believed in blood taking care of blood.”
“Yes, she did, and that is what made her so wonderful in my eyes. So are you come back here for a visit?” Mr. Shorty asked as he took the money she handed him.
She shook her head. “No, I’m back here to stay. I got a teaching job at Newton Preschool in town, and I’m renting a place from your nephew, Jacob.”
Mr. Shorty placed the money inside the cash register and closed the drawer. “Oh, he mentioned that he’d rented out that house he fixed up to some young woman. I didn’t have any idea it would be to you,” he said with a smile. “Now, if he gives you any trouble, you let me know and I’ll have a talk with him.”
Ja’Nael laughed. Mr. Shorty was just as feisty as she remembered. He never let the high school bully, Timothy Wagner, or any of his buddies, push him around back then, and if she guessed right that hadn’t changed. He was still a fighter, which was the reason he was probably still working at his age.
“I would love to stay and catch up with you some more, but I need to make a trip to the store and get some food before I get settled in for the night. I’m hoping the movers got all of my things put away. I paid them enough to do a good job.”
Reaching across the counter, Mr. Shorty grabbed her hand. “Ja’Nael, I’m so glad you finally came back. I know growing up here wasn’t the best experience for you. Timothy Wagner and his rich friends weren’t nice to you, and I hated how you never fought back. I know if you had giving him a good cussing out things would have changed.”
He’d never let Timothy push her around if he was within earshot of the put-downs.
“I always saw a beautiful young woman behind your weight and shyness. Now you’re standing here in front of me a gorgeous, intelligent woman, the person I always knew you would be, despite the way Timothy and his group of friends taunted you all the time. It’s no surprise that his life turned out the way it has. It serves him right that everything fell apart right after he got to college. Hell, I think he should have gotten more, but he didn’t.”
“Mr. Shorty, I did read about a small article in the newspaper about Timothy getting his scholarship taken away for taking sports enhancing drugs a few months after he got to college, but I wasn’t aware of what happened after that. To be honest, I didn’t care. He was their star player and should have known better. I had too many good things going on in my life then to let him take up anymore space in my head.”
Ja’Nael squeezed the older man’s hand fondly. She loved how he’d always had kind words for her when her classmates came in and bullied her for no damn good reason.
Coming back home was definitely a huge step for her since there wasn’t anything or anyone here besides fond memories of her wonderful aunt. Nothing else here in Market held any sort of special nostalgia for her. However, she wasn’t going to shy away from a golden opportunity when it came to her career.
So what if guys like Timothy Wagner, her biggest bully from high school, might still be living in the same town as her? If he didn’t know how to control his smartass mouth any better by now, she wouldn’t have a problem telling him where to shove his insults.
She had worked hard for the past ten years to get over this part in her life. No one was ever going to make her feel that insecure again. She wasn’t ever going to allow anyone to make her lay awake at night, wondering why she wasn’t a part of the
in
crowd.
“I haven’t thought about any of them in years,” Ja’Nael said honestly. “I moved away to get my dream job and luckily I landed it. After a while, I wasn’t happy with it anymore, so I decided I needed a change.”
“Well, it’s good to see you,” he said, giving her hand a surprisingly strong squeeze before letting go of it. “Don’t be a stranger. I could always use another partner for Bingo. It’s never really fun going alone or with Jacob. He has no patience at all when it comes to games.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I won’t. I might even let you talk me into going to a Bingo game or two with you,” she said with a smile before heading toward the front door.
Just as she was about to open it, a tall, blond, extremely attractive man did it for her from the outside. “Here you go,” he said, smiling at her.
“Thank you,” she replied, going past him, getting a quick whiff of his cologne.
“You’re more than welcome,” he answered in a rich voice that sent a chill of awareness through her body.
Ja’Nael pushed down the driving need to look back at him. Instead, she got into her car, but just before she drove off, she glanced in the direction of the door, and there he stood, all six foot plus of him, staring at her. A shiver raced down her spine, and she decided the best course of action was to get out of there.
Chapter Two
“Mr. Powers, I want to thank you again for taking time out of your busy schedule to let the movers in while I was finishing up everything in New York,” Ja’Nael said, taking the house keys from his outstretched fingers.
When she first met Jacob for the walk through of the place a few months back, she couldn’t get over how much he looked like a true mountain man with his long hair that brushed the top of his wide shoulders.
He had even been wearing a plaid shirt to complete the picture. Nothing about Mr. Powers’ wilderness personality and towering six foot plus frame would have lasted a day in New York City; he would have left back out on the next available plane.
“It wasn’t a problem at all since I live so close. I’m just glad someone is renting it who loved it as much as I do. Several people came to a few open houses and showed interest in it after I flipped it, but none of them ever made an offer, and I think it has to do with the location. The property is pretty far from town.”
She waved off his comment. How could anyone not love the beautiful serenity of this house? It was truly stunning, and all hers. She could barely keep from jumping for joy. Maybe coming back home wouldn’t be so bad after all.
“I’m used to living out here, surrounded by nature. My aunt’s house was secluded like this,” she answered. “I loved it when I was a kid. I played by myself for hours and hours in the woods, doing my own investigating. She always thought I would go so far and get lost, but I never did. I knew my way home and found my way back every single time.”
Jacob smiled at her warmly. “Yeah, I remember your Aunt Beverly. The whole town loved her cherry cobblers. They were legendary. Anytime she made them for the annual fair, I swear they would sell out in a matter of minutes. People would get into arguments over them. The time I brought one home to Sienna when she was pregnant, I almost didn’t get a slice, she loved it so much.”
Ja’Nael remembered the local fairs, one of the few times her aunt would allow her to stay up late. “My aunt was one of the best cooks I’d ever known. She knew her way around a kitchen like no ones business. I swear she could have been a professional chef. Julia Child wouldn’t have a thing on her.”
“Did you inherit any of her culinary skills?” Jacob asked, watching her closely.
Smiling, she nodded. “Yes, I did. My aunt always said that you weren’t going to be a Haughton woman and not know how to fix a good meal. Cooking ran in our blood, and she made sure I kept the tradition going.”
“God, don’t let my wife know anything about it, or you will be getting weekly phone calls for a Chess pie. Your aunt made her one after our son was born, and Sienna loved that one more than the Cherry. She’ll be here knocking on your door, begging you to fix one for her next
Sexy
as Sin
shoe launching party.”
She adored Jacob’s wife’s shoe line. They even made a plus-sized woman like herself feel sexier even on her worst days. The high heels were cute, comfortable, and hot all rolled up into one five-inch heel. She had gotten more than one compliment on them back in New York.
“Tell her if she invites me to her next sneak preview, I’ll be more than happy to bring her a warm Chess pie with me as a thank-you gift.”
Laughing, Jacob’s rich chocolate brown eyes shined at her as he touched her on the shoulder. “I should give you fair warning that you don’t know what you’re asking for, but I’ll tell Sienna what you said and see what happens. Do you need help with anything before I leave? I need to get home. It’s almost bedtime, and I want to play with my oldest son before he goes to sleep and feed my youngest son before Sienna put him down for the night.”
“No, the rest of my personal items are arriving late tomorrow,” she answered, remembering seeing Jacob’s adorable son at his house. She had stopped by to sign the paperwork there while Sienna had been out running errands with their oldest. So, she had only gotten to see the baby, but he had been too cute for words.
He smiled at her. “Not a problem. If you think of anything at all, call me and I’ll see what I can do for you. Welcome back home, Ja’Nael.” He quietly closed the door behind him as he left.
Going over to it, she locked it behind him and then pressed her forehead against the cool metal. She took a deep breath, wondering if she had truly made a right decision about leaving her old job and coming home.
She loved living in the city and probably could have gotten another job after a while, but staying wasn’t an option. She wouldn’t want to see the people who’d turned against her. She only had one good friend at work, and Kelcie Justin had been overseas, celebrating her parents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary, when everything had blown up.
Her best friend had wanted to quit when she came back home and learned about the fiasco, but Ja’Nael talked Kelcie out of it. There was no reason for both of them to be searching for a home and job. It was her decision to leave, and nothing would have made her stay there, no matter how much Kelcie tried talking her out of it.
Coming back home to Market was the best thing for her. Having second thoughts about her decision now wouldn’t change anything.
Stepping away from the front door, she slowly made her way toward the kitchen so she could finish putting away the bags of groceries. While she was in there, she might as well get everything together to make her aunt’s stuffed pork chops so there would be enough left over for her to carry for lunch tomorrow. She wasn’t sure how the day was going to turn out, so after supper she might watch a little television and then head to bed for a good night’s sleep. One thing she learned being a teacher over the years was that something always happened when she wasn’t expecting.
It never failed.
* * * * *
Washing the last of the dinner plates, Brody Wagner placed it inside of the rack on the other side of the sink and let the soapy water out. Since he wasn’t schedule to work at the fire station today or tonight, he decided to actually cook supper for his nephew instead of ordering Reid’s favorite pizza.
He hadn’t tasted much of anything that touched his lips, though, since he couldn’t get the stunning woman he saw at Shorty’s out of his mind. He hadn’t been able to get over how much she looked like a grown-up Ja’Nael Haughton, but that wasn’t possible. Ja’Nael had moved away from Market two weeks after graduation to attend college in New York.
Ja’Nael first came into his life because of his brother, Timothy. He constantly laughed about how he and his friends teased the fat girl working at Shorty’s. More than once Brody had warned his brother to leave Ja’Nael alone, but as with any teenager, it went in one ear and out the other. Actually, he believed it might have gotten worse for her, but Timothy constantly lied to his face or shot him down anytime he brought up her name.
One Friday night, his brother’s bullying toward Ja’Nael had gotten so out of hand, Mr. Shorty called him at work, demanding that he come and handle it. If he didn’t show up, he was going to call the police and have Timothy and his friends arrested for trespassing.
His brother couldn’t afford to get into any trouble and keep the basketball scholarship he just got awarded two weeks before. Brody had begged Mr. Shorty to give him twenty minutes to get there to take care of everything.
As soon as he walked through the gas station’s front door, Brody caught the tail end of something cruel Timothy had shouted at a pretty, young African American girl standing behind the counter. She was trying to hold back her tears, but he still saw them glistening in her beautiful eyes. Something about seeing those tears had set his blood on fire.
Brody remembered fighting down the urge to yank his brother out the door and let him have it for being so cruel to another person. Instead, he took a deep breath and got himself under control before he did something that he couldn’t take back.
The second Timothy’s friends spotted him standing behind them, they took off and left his brother there all alone, but that didn’t stop him from throwing out more hurtful cracks. Brody practically dragged his brother out the door by his arm to get him to leave Ja’Nael alone.
Being popular hadn’t given Timothy the best decision-making skills, which sadly lead right into his adult life, and it was the main reason why Brody now had full custody of his nephew, Reid. Timothy was still off wandering around God knows where, trying to make his mark in the world.
He had always remembered the look of utter relief that passed across Ja’Nael’s pretty young face as he shoved Timothy out the door. He had tried going back inside to apologize to her personally, but Mr. Shorty blocked his path, making sure he understood Timothy was no longer welcomed there.
From that moment on, Brody tried keeping a closer watch on Timothy’s behavior in and out of school. Yet, it didn’t work out as he had planned, because his brother ended up taking drugs, getting kicked out of college and came back home about a year later with a huge chip on his shoulder.
A few years after working one dead-end job after another, Timothy ended up getting some random female pregnant. Two months after giving birth to a baby boy, the girl dropped off Reid at his house with legal documents giving custody to Timothy and left without looking back.
Not even a month later, Timothy signed over full custody of Reid to Brody and disappeared from town, only leaving him a note on the kitchen table. Now, three years later, he was still being a parent to his adorable yet overly clingy nephew. He never thought about raising a child until Reid came into his life. The little boy meant the world to him, and Brody would do anything to keep him safe and well taken care of.
He saw things totally different from the way he did before his nephew came into his life. He was getting a better understanding about struggles his mother went through before she married Timothy’s father when Brody was eight years old. He was the only child for a few more years before his brother was born.
As a kid, Timothy was never satisfied with what he had and always wanted more and more. He just never thought it would turn his little brother into such a mean, spiteful teenager and then adult.
Brody made sure everything was put away before leaving the kitchen and making his way down the hallway so he could check in on Reid. It was getting harder and harder for him to get his nephew in bed at night. For some reason, Reid thought if he went to sleep his Uncle Brody wouldn’t be there when he woke up. Brody couldn’t figure out where all of this anxiety came from since he had reassured his nephew more than once that he wouldn’t leave him like his mother and father.
Easing the door open his nephew’s door, Brody peeked inside and his heart stopped in the middle of his chest when he didn’t see Reid lying in his bed. He rushed into the room and turned on the light. He searched everywhere, including the closet and underneath the bed, but still no sign of Reid. Rushing out of the bedroom, Brody ran down the hallway.
“Reid, where are you, buddy?” he called. “This isn’t the time to play hide and seek with your uncle. I’ve warned you about this before, and I meant what I told you. You are going to be in a lot of trouble if you don’t come out.”
He continued racing through the house, checking all the doors and windows as he searched for his nephew, but he still hadn’t found him. Reaching into his back pocket to call the police, Brody felt nothing, and more panic set in.
Where in the fuck
is my
cell phone
?
Shi
t
!
He suddenly remembered that he had left it lying on his nightstand. He had placed it there so he wouldn’t be interrupted with phone calls during supper with Reid.
Spinning around, he raced out of the living room, taking off toward the opposite end of the house for his bedroom. All kinds of horrible thoughts crawled through his mind.
It was his fault Reid was missing. He hadn’t checked on his nephew like he usually did after they ate supper, took a bath and then read him a book until he fell asleep.
Brody raced into his room but stopped dead in his track when he saw a sleeping Reid. He was curled up on Brody’s bed, wearing his favorite Superman pajamas and holding a Sesame Street book. He could barely hold back his tears of joy as he rushed over to the bed.
Bending down, he brushed a lock of hair off his nephew’s forehead. Reid looked so much like Timothy with his jet black hair and gray eyes. It was such a shame his brother wasn’t man enough to step up and take care of his own son, but if Timothy wasn’t ready, he wouldn’t let him within touching distance of Reid.
Reid was a great little boy, except he was trying to give his old uncle a heart attack at only thirty-eight. He gently eased the book out of Reid’s small hands. Lying it down next to his cell phone, he picked his nephew up off of the bed.
Once he was able to get Reid asleep, his nephew was out to the world and nothing could wake him up. So he wasn’t worried about him going adventuring again after he was back in his own bed. Brody made his way out of his bedroom and back toward his nephew’s own room.
A few weeks ago, when one of the guys at the firehouse suggested he should think about signing Reid up for preschool, Brody hadn’t liked the idea since Reid didn’t do that well around strangers. Now, after what happened tonight, he was extremely glad he had taken his best friend’s advice.
Monday morning couldn’t come fast enough for him. Brody only hoped Reid would like being at preschool. His nephew seriously needed the time away from him.