Intent (14 page)

She puts our trophies in her bag before she picks up my shirt, holds it out to me, and watches as I pull it over my head. With a smile that says she’s won this battle, she grabs her shirt and pulls it over her head. Then she takes a pair of shorts from her bag and pulls them on. I had no idea she even had them in there. The triumph on her face when she meets my gaze says it all. She’d planned to be fully dressed the entire time, even before my insistence. Without a second thought, I thrust my arms around her waist and push her back up against the tree trunk.

“You constantly put me in my place,” I murmur against her lips. “And I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

“I can be myself when I’m with you. You accept me for who I really am,” she whispers back. “I wouldn’t change you for the world.”

Our lips meet, tenderly at first, matching the moment we just shared. Her hands slide up my arms, shoulders, and neck until she’s holding my face. Her lips part slightly and I seize the opportunity to fully claim her mouth when my tongue slides inside. Softly stroking her tongue with mine, I feel her entire body relax and meld with mine. The urge to say those three words has never been stronger. I don’t know if she’s really ready to hear it yet, but every cell in my body screams at me to tell her.

Tell her now, because the next second may be too late.

Tell her now, so she’ll want to stay past the end of summer.

Tell her now, because she deserves to hear it, feel it, and know it.

We’ve had the perfect day together and I don’t want anything to ruin it. What if she runs after I tell her? What if it scares her off after what her ex did to her? Doubts run through my mind and steal my words. The words that were just on the tip of my tongue before I gave them to her with a kiss.

“Hey, Ace,” a male voice I recognize all too well calls out from behind me. “Since you’re not busy, you mind helping us get all these floats out of the water?”

Laughter fills the air all around us and we break off our kiss. I turn to Justin and glower at him. The opportune moment is gone. I let it pass by because I wimped out on telling her exactly how I feel about her. If everyone was watching us before Justin so rudely interrupted, I was blissfully unaware. Now that I know everyone is watching and waiting to see what happens next, the intimacy has vanished like a vapor in the wind.

Layne reaches down to grab her bag and smiles sheepishly at me. “Go ahead and help them. I’ll be waiting at the swings with Lily, River, and Zoe.”

Justin deserves an ass-kicking for this. His shit-eating smirk pisses me off, but I don’t let it show as I approach him. He’s already changed into his dry clothes, but he’s standing in shin-high water, grabbing one tube after the other and tossing them onto the bank. When he pivots to grab another one, his balance shifts forward toward the water. With a little extra shove from behind, I help him reach the float.

The fact that he fell through the middle and is now soaked from head to toe is just a bonus.

L
ayne

O
ur trophies have
a prominent position on the mantle directly over the fireplace as a constant reminder of how quickly everything can change. In the past two weeks since the day of the race, every day has felt like I’m in a dream. My life changed drastically on that otherwise ordinary day. Nothing is set in stone yet, so I try to control my emotions, not get my hopes up, and keep myself grounded. Yet, I still have to pull myself out of my daydreams and focus on the task at hand every few minutes.

That day, while Ace helped the other guys remove the inner tubes from the water, deflate them, and load them into the county truck, I spent time with Zoe, Lily, and River on the playground. Lily and I seemed to click right away in one of those instant friendships that made me feel like I’d known her for years. If I lived here, I could easily see the two of us becoming the sister neither ever had.

As she pushed River on the swing, she chatted easily with me. “Looks like things are getting pretty serious between you and Ace.”

Her Southern accent and sweet demeanor made the conversation feel so natural that it didn’t bother me a near stranger was prying into my personal business. In New York, I’d always been on guard and suspicious of anyone who stuck their noses into subjects they had no business knowing. But I sensed there was no hidden agenda with Lily, no angle that she was trying to play. She genuinely liked me and she obviously loves her brother and niece.

“I wish I could tell the future,” I admitted, thinking of the amount of time that had already passed and how much time was left in the summer. “I’m crazy about him, but I don’t know what’ll happen at the end of the summer.”

“Why does that matter?” Zoe asked.

“This trip was a sabbatical for me, a chance to get away from the stressors in my life and get my mind settled. I have a job and an apartment waiting for me back home.”

Saying “home” conjured a different image with the mere mention of the word, though. Instead of my luxury Manhattan apartment in the city that never sleeps, my mind’s eye pictured a mountain cabin hideaway. A cozy home nestled in the rolling hills and mountains, surrounded by a river with clear, flowing water, and a back porch with a grill, homemade ice cream, and the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen. In the yard, a little blond-haired, blue-gray eyed girl plays with her toys, happy and content in the knowledge she’s safe and loved. In the pasture just a few feet away, a beautiful buckskin horse named Frankie grazes without an ounce of fear toward humans.

“Layne, where’d you go?” Lily asked.

“I’m sorry. Did you say something?” I replied and looked between Zoe and Lily. “What did I miss?”

Zoe laughed, her eyes sparkling with mirth. “Must have been a great daydream. Was Ace the star of it?”

“Zip it,” I retorted with a full smile.

“I asked if there’s any way we can change your mind about leaving,” Zoe replied. “But it looks like we need to talk to Ace and get him to change your mind.”

“I never thought a man could ever make me second-guess what I’ve always been so intent to have for myself,” I replied wistfully.

“Until Ace,” Lily replied matter-of-factly.

“Until Ace,” I confirmed.

“The heart knows what it wants, regardless of what your brain tries to convince you,” Lily answered. “It’s up to you to figure out which one you’ll follow.”

When River started yawning, Lily decided it was time to take her home for a nap. Zoe and I sat at a picnic table under an open-air pavilion. She suddenly became distinctly quiet and sullen, her long face conveying her deep sadness. My heart broke for her and I wished I could help her.

“Zoe, what is it, sweetheart?” I asked her as I grasped her hand in mine.

“I’ve put it off and hid it for as long as I can. I have to tell my parents that I’m pregnant. Everyone else knows and someone will eventually say something to them. I’ve been waiting for it to happen every day when I walk in.”

“Do you want me to go with you? Be there with you when you tell them?” I offered because I was honestly afraid of how Zoe would take their reaction.

“You’d do that for me?” She sounded so surprised, so shocked that someone would actually be there for her and on her side. Tears sprang to her eyes, and I noticed her neck working overtime to swallow the tears before they could fall.

“Of course I will. Do you want to do it today and get it over with? The more you build it up in your mind, the larger the problem seems.”

“I’ve been thinking about something else I want to talk to you about first. You may need some time to think about it, though.” She wouldn’t make eye contact with me as she spoke. Her voice sounded so small and unsure, as if she were afraid I’d turn my back on her when she confessed what had been on her mind.

“Zoe, you can tell me or ask me anything. I won’t judge you, I promise.”

“Layne, I really want to get out of this town and go off to college. I’ve taken the ACT and my scores are really good. My GPA is, too. My guidance counselor said I can get into the University of Georgia if I wanted to go there.

“That’s my dream school, Layne. Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve heard people talk about the Dawgs and I’ve wanted to go there. But that can’t happen if I keep the baby. Jeremy won’t acknowledge this is his baby, so he won’t want it. I was hoping you’d think about adopting it. I’ve seen you with River, and I know you’d be a great mom. I wouldn’t worry about it ever being abused or neglected.”

“Zoe, this is a big decision for you to make. Are you sure you’ve given it enough thought?”

At that moment, I couldn’t think of another coherent response. My desire to have a baby had turned into an obsession and clouded my judgment. That was part of the reason why I needed to get away from my life in New York, to find out who I really am again. In a matter of weeks after arriving here, a young girl was offering me her unborn child to raise as my own. To say I was floored was the understatement of the year.

“I’ve known I’d put it up for adoption as soon as I realized Jeremy had no intentions of being with me, of being a family. The only person I’ve talked about it with is my doctor. She knows the whole story, and thankfully, she knows my parents well enough to know the truth about how they treat me, so she believes me. She said it’s my decision and she’d support me either way,” she replied. “I think you were meant to be here, Layne. Right now, during the hardest time of my life.

“It may sound selfish of me, especially since I got myself in this predicament, but I don’t want to throw away the rest of my life working for minimum wage in a grocery store. When I have a family, I want to be able to provide a better life for them. I hope you don’t think I’m a terrible person for saying that.”

My emotions stuck in my throat, bobbing up and down as I swung from one end of the spectrum to the other. On one hand, I’d wanted to be the one who was pregnant. To feel the life growing inside me. To give my love freely without expecting anything in return, only praying for a healthy baby.

On the other hand, Zoe hadn’t even started her senior year of high school yet. She was still merely a baby herself. She was also facing a lifetime of regret for a mistake she made because she put her trust in someone who didn’t deserve her. After only knowing me for a few short weeks, she’d connected with me enough to want me to have her baby, to raise it and love it as my own. She was asking me to give her baby a chance at a better life than she’d had herself.

Tears filled my eyes because I couldn’t imagine being in her shoes and facing that choice. A young and innocent girl was making the ultimate sacrifice to give her unborn baby, and her future children, the best chance at a full and happy life she knew how to provide.

I threw my arms around her neck and hugged her tightly to me. “I’d never think that about you, Zoe. What you’re doing is the bravest act I can imagine a mother doing for her child.” I released her and leaned back pointedly to get her attention. “I would be honored to adopt your baby. But if you change your mind while you’re in the delivery room, I need you to promise you’ll tell me. I may be disappointed, but I’d never be mad or blame you for that.”

She nodded and tears spilled over onto her cheeks. “I promise, Layne. I’ll tell you if I change my mind. But right now, I don’t see that happening. There’s no future for me here.”

The conversation with Zoe’s parents was pretty much as bad as Zoe expected it to be. Michael and Sherry Sullivan are without a doubt the worst parents I’ve ever met. They’re middle-class and fit the classic mold of the baby boomer generation—the “me” generation. It’s clear they had Zoe later in life than most of the other residents, which leads me to believe she wasn’t planned or wanted at all. However, they had to keep up appearances with their small, insignificant social circle, so they couldn’t shirk their responsibilities and show their true colors.

“If you’re old enough to have sex and get pregnant, you’re old enough to be out on your own,” Michael chastised.

“When I tell the women in my book club what you’ve done, they’ll never shop at that grocery store again. They’ll drive the twenty miles to the next town,” Sherry added.

“I’m sorry,” Zoe replied glumly, her chin nearly touching her chest and her eyes downcast.

“Your daughter made a mistake. One I’d wager the two of you made yourselves,” I blurted out when I couldn’t take it anymore. “I’d go so far to say that you’re both jealous that your teenage daughter has the guts to make the choice you both wish you’d made about seventeen years ago.”

They both stared at me for several long minutes in shock, tongue-tied and unsure of themselves around the crazy, rude Northerner sitting in their living room. My usual bravado was out in full force, and I maintained my glare until they looked away first.

“Zoe, it’s time for you to pack your things,” Michael announced. “There’s nothing else either of you can say that will change my mind.”

Zoe and I packed her clothes in the suitcase I’d borrowed from Marcia’s cabin. Zoe suggested I bring it when we first made the arrangements because she knew that would be the outcome. She’s a bright girl and she knew she wasn’t wanted at home. Her pregnancy was the perfect excuse they needed to finally be rid of her.

Sherry, her mother, knew she could get mountains of attention and sympathy from her group of brainless, follow-the-leader friends over how her child had turned out, through no fault of her own, of course. She’d relish in the popularity it would automatically guarantee her. Michael, her father, could stick his head in the sand and pretend none of it happened, none of it mattered, and he could go on with his life in his own selfish, self-absorbed bubble.

As much as their betrayal hurt her, Zoe has finally accepted that she’s better off without them in her life. She’s staying with me in Marcia’s enormous vacation cabin. When I explained the situation to Marcia over the phone, she responded in typical Marcia fashion. She made some vague references to roofies, shaved heads, and genitals glued to embarrassing objects that would be impossible to explain to the paramedics. Nothing that hadn’t already crossed my mind to do myself, or that I’d ever admit to in a court of law.

Of course, Marcia also insisted that Zoe is welcome to live in the cabin as long as she needs to, even when I go back to New York. When I relayed that to Zoe, she was stunned at first because no one had been so kind and concerned about her welfare before. Then she realized she’d live in the house alone during her senior year of high school and sorrow clouded her face.

“We’ll figure something out, Zoe,” I consoled her. “It’ll be okay, don’t worry.”

“Today is my birthday,” she replied solemnly. “Happy big one-eight to me.”

“Happy birthday! I wish I’d known that before now so I could’ve found you a real birthday present. How about, for now, I take you out to eat and we’ll grab an ice cream cone afterward?”

“That sounds perfect.” She smiled. “Thank you, Layne.”

T
oday
, as I spend time with River and think about that conversation with Zoe from a couple of weeks ago, I realize how different our perspectives are. Zoe sees a dismal existence in her future if she stays in Oak Grove, and I see a dismal existence in my future if I leave here. More and more, I find myself falling in love with this small town and most of the people in it.

Ace pulls into the driveway after his workday and draws me out of my memories. River runs to greet him, covered in mud from our mud pie baking session on the riverbank, and he scoops her up in his arms. He saunters toward me, my mouth watering from watching his naturally confident stride, but he’s completely oblivious to it as he gives his attention to his daughter’s detailed report of what she’s done today.

When he reaches me, he leans in and his full, sexy lips connect with mine. A swipe of his tongue against my lips sends shivers down my spine and I consciously withhold a moan.

He puts River down and turns his attention to me. “And how was your day, beautiful?”

“It’s been a great day. Sunny, warm, not a cloud in sight, and River and I had so much fun exploring.”

“Yeah, Daddy, we found a salamander! It was under the rock in the river,” River adds excitedly.

Ace shakes his head and chuckles. “My little tomboy. Are you ready to go in and cook some supper?”

“Me and Laynie already cooked,” River replies.

“Laynie and I,” I correct her. “Not me and Laynie.”

“Oh, yeah. Laynie and
I
,” she amends.

Ace looks at us quizzically and I explain. “I hope you don’t mind. She’s just so smart, so I’ve started working with her for a little while every day to give her a head start before she starts Pre-K this fall.”

“No, I don’t mind at all. I really appreciate it. Thank you, Layne,” he replies sincerely. “You cooked supper, too?”

“Yeah,” I admit reluctantly. “You work hard all day so I thought I’d save you the hassle today. It’s not a big deal.”

The sound of another car catches my attention, and I look up in time to see Zoe pulling into the driveway of our cabin. I start looking for my cell phone to invite her over to eat with us. Ace knows the whole story of how her parents reacted, but I haven’t told him about the adoption yet. I’m not sure how it’ll affect our relationship, but my plan is to tell him tonight as soon as River falls asleep.