Lone Oak Feud (Harlequin Heartwarming) (8 page)

“Not so fast,” Zach said as he grabbed what remained of the leg. “I’ll take care of this.”

“You’re so good with him,” she said when Owen was out of earshot.

“Never mind, Salinger. My grandma and brother can take care of him fine.”

“I was just making conversation.”

He didn’t answer, just pretended to be completely absorbed by the art of eating turkey.

“So Josh is home then?”

He glared. “Not yet.”

“Then you’re getting lots of practice with Owen.” She grinned, knowing full well she was ticking him off.

He put down the turkey bone, mostly bare now, and wiped his chin with a napkin. Then he leveled his gaze at her. “There’s no way I’m adopting him, so drop it.”

She saw Owen waiting at the sink and stood. “I won’t say another word. Today.”

Zach shook his head. He was starting to believe she really did care about Owen. For some reason, that almost made Zach like her in spite of her incessant interfering.

Oh, who was he kidding? He’d always liked her. Too much.

He sat where he was, waiting for Owen to return, when a short, older woman approached Lindsey.

“Hello, Lindsey,” she said in a loud voice that seemed to fit her.

Owen headed back to Zach.

“Mrs. Seamore, hi... Grandma duty today, huh?” Lindsey looked toward the other end of the room, where two children sat across from each other eating watermelon.

“I’m giving Brynn a break. Who could pass up taking those two to a carnival?”

“They’re cute. First and third grade?”

She nodded. Then the woman’s voice got quieter, which, unfortunately, was still loud enough for Zach to hear. “I have to ask. What are you doing with Zach Rundle?”

She said
Rundle
the way she might say
prairie rattlesnake
. Zach didn’t want to hear her, didn’t want Owen to hear her, but he couldn’t drag himself away.

“I...” Lindsey cleared her throat, looking caught off guard. “Owen—the little boy. I’m trying to make him feel comfortable. He’s been through an awful lot.”

“So I’ve heard.” Mrs. Seamore’s tone conveyed no warmth. “I don’t think it’s proper after what Josh did to your family.”

“Come on, O, we’re outta here.” Zach pulled the child with him, wishing he’d left about five minutes sooner, knowing the boy had heard every word.

“What did my daddy do?” he asked as they left the classroom.

Zach wasn’t going there today. “Nothing you need to worry about, kiddo. I promise it has nothing to do with you. I’ll buy you six more tickets. What do you want to do?”

Lindsey glanced toward the door just as Zach led Owen out. They had to have heard Mrs. Seamore. She’d been one of her mom’s best friends—they’d grown up together in Layton and had both ended up settling in Lone Oak. Lindsey knew she meant well, but why couldn’t she just keep her mouth shut? She forced a smile and said, “Nice to see you again, Mrs. Seamore.” As she moved away, she prayed the woman wouldn’t get it in her head to call Lindsey’s dad with the latest on his disrespectful daughter.

The Rundles’ reputation had been shoddy for years, even before the accident. Josh and Zach had grown up with few if any friends and a laundry list of enemies. From the time they’d moved in with their grandma when their mom had reportedly deserted them, people had talked. Misfits from day one.

It appeared that Owen would be subjected to the same treatment as long as he stayed in this town.

For his sake, Lindsey wished there was an easy solution to the matter of his custody and care. Yeah, it’d be perfect if Josh surfaced and cleaned up his act in order to take over his role as father. But she seriously doubted that would happen anytime before Owen grew up and had kids of his own.

The more realistic solution was for Zach to step in and adopt him. Seeing him with his nephew today, she knew Zach could do it.

Growing up next door, Lindsey had had glimpses beyond the bad-boy facade. At least with Zach. She’d known long before the accident he wasn’t as bad as everyone wanted to believe. Wasn’t even as bad as
he
wanted everyone to believe.

He used to put on an act anytime he was in public—at school when he’d bothered to show up, at the convenience store where he’d bought cigarettes. He’d played up the anti-authority rebel flawlessly. Lindsey imagined that was part of who he was. But she’d been exposed to a different side of him.

Zach cared more than anyone else would believe. He’d shown it earlier today in his own unsure-with-kids way. And he’d shown it years ago when Lindsey was maybe twelve years old and he’d saved her hide.

She’d been babysitting Katie, who was eight at the time, while her parents had taken Savannah somewhere—she didn’t remember where. Katie had been overtired and wound up the whole day. A shipping box full of foam peanuts had been at the heart of the battle between Lindsey and her monster sister. After cleaning the pieces up countless times, Lindsey had forbidden Katie to play with them again, and when she’d done it anyway, Lindsey took the box out to the trash can in the garage. Katie had locked the back porch door, leaving Lindsey out in twenty-degree weather. If her parents had found out she’d been careless enough to leave Katie alone in the house, even for two minutes.... Never mind that Katie was the one being the brat.

Lindsey had tried everything to get inside and had been reduced to yelling threats from outside. At the height of her frustration, Zach had appeared out of the shadows.

“You trying to wake up the whole neighborhood?” he’d asked as he’d strutted across her yard, hands shoved into his pockets.

Not only had she had no control over her tantrum-throwing sister but he’d walked up on her when she’d been in the middle of her own tirade.

“My bratty sister locked me out,” she’d explained. “If my parents get home and I’m out here, I’m in big trouble.”

Instead of laughing at her or just walking off as she’d expected, he’d come closer. “You need to get in the house?”

“My parents are supposed to get home any minute.”

He’d leaned against the outside wall of the porch, looking casual, in control, so much older. Something about fourteen had seemed so grown up, and the way he’d looked down at her had made her nervous.

“We could do this the easy way or we could do it the fun way.” His voice had sounded like an older boy’s, low, smooth.

He’d glanced around the darkening backyard and up at the ancient tree that sheltered the part of the yard closest to the house.

“Wait here,” he’d said as he jogged off to his grandma’s garage. Two minutes later, he’d returned with a rope. He’d tossed it over a sturdy-looking branch, then had held on to both ends and lifted his legs off the ground to make sure it supported his weight. “I’ll go first,” he’d said. “Watch what I do, then follow me up.”

Maybe she should’ve chosen the easy way.

Before she could answer, he had hoisted himself up the trunk, using the rope for his hands and the trunk for his feet.

“Your turn.” He’d kept his voice quiet, which she’d appreciated.

Taking a deep breath, she’d grabbed the rope ends he’d sent down for her. She hadn’t wanted him to see her as a little kid who was afraid to join the adventure he’d started to save her.

To her surprise, he’d encouraged her in a soothing voice from above. Finally, she’d reached the lowest branch, the one Zach straddled. He’d pulled her up next to him.

“Not bad, for a girl.”

She’d thought she saw a smile, but the last ounce of light had vanished from the sky. Lindsey remembered savoring the euphoria of being all the way up there, alone, with Zach.

“The branch that juts out to the porch roof by your window is right above us,” he’d said. “Let’s go.”

When she’d lowered herself to the top of the porch, he’d steadied her briefly, his hands on her waist.

The window had been tougher to raise than either of them had expected. Finally, they’d managed to lift it enough for her to crawl through, just as headlights had lit up the garage door.

“My parents are home!” Her heart had raced in a panic.

The corners of his mouth had turned up as if this new development made it all the more fun. He’d met her eyes with his beautiful brown ones. “They won’t know I’m here. Just go down and scare your bratty sister.”

She’d scrambled in the window and had briefly leaned back through it to thank him, then had slammed it shut and rushed downstairs.

Later, when Lindsey had run back up to her room, Zach had been gone. She’d searched the tree branches and the yard below and had seen no trace of him. Even the rope had disappeared.

She’d had a crush on him ever since, if she was honest.

Lindsey felt certain he could learn to be a parent to Owen now. If only he’d step out from behind his blind insistence that his grandma and brother were fine.

CHAPTER NINE

T
HE
TOWN
OF
E
LLINGTON
didn’t have a lot going for it. The buildings on the main drag were in need of repair and some general care. Lone Oak had never thrilled Zach, but compared to this burg, it was like living in luxury.

It was the kind of place Josh would be drawn to, which was why Zach had cruised up and down the streets in search of his brother’s old blue rust-bucket for hours the other day. Today he headed for the Rat’s Nest first, hoping the guy who’d seen Josh before had more news for him.

He turned into the alley that ran behind the bar, then slowly pulled into one of the parking spots reserved for customers. It was more of an oversize pothole than a parking space. He got out and walked along the shabby brown brick exterior to the front entrance.

Inside, he stepped away from the door and let his eyes adjust to the darkness. There was nothing spectacular about this bar—it could be any one of a hundred small-town drinking dumps. Worn wood floor, dirty walls covered with beer and liquor signs, cheap tables and chairs.

Several tables were occupied, which said a lot about the town, considering it was just after four in the afternoon. Not lunch time, not happy hour, but plenty of drinkers. Who could blame them, living in a place like Ellington?

Zach glanced at each customer long enough to determine none were his brother. He hadn’t figured, but he’d hoped anyway.

Then he turned toward the bar and did a double take. Josh was behind the bar serving up drinks. Or actually wiping the bar dry right now. Josh’s eyes were on Zach instead of the towel.

Zach sauntered up to the bar and leaned on it. “What are you doing back there?”

“Fetching drinks. Want one?”

Zach hesitated, then asked for a Coke. “Been looking for you.”

“It’s your lucky day. You found me.” Josh filled a glass, then set it in front of Zach. “What do you want?”

Zach absently turned the glass in a circle on the counter, then slid onto a stool. He took a long drink before speaking. “Gram said you’d been working at Dow’s for nearly a year.”

“Yep.” Josh wasn’t really hostile, but he wasn’t friendly, either. No surprise there after their last contact in Gram’s backyard.

“Said you’d gotten a raise a couple months ago.”

“You need a loan or something?”

Zach chuckled halfheartedly. “Did you leave because of the kid?”

Josh didn’t answer, just watched Zach warily and glanced at the clock.

“Are you actually an employee here or what?” Zach asked.

“For the past two days. Temporary, while his day help is out recovering from surgery.”

“What time are you done?”

“Five.”

Zach nodded, encouraged that Josh was being civil. “Finding out I had a five-year-old boy would send me running, too.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Zach looked up sharply. “What’s that mean?”

“You’re the one with his life together. You wouldn’t run.”

“I’ve run before.”

“Guess that’s true.” Josh looked over his shoulder at the mirror behind the bar that Zach guessed was a one-way window. “What’d you come here for?”

“To find you.”

“I know that. What d’you want?”

“I got the impression the other night that you care about your son.”

“Yeah, I care about him. Why do you think I left?”

Zach felt an unfamiliar pang of sympathy. The two of them were about as dysfunctional as they came.

“Owen needs you.”

“Nah. He needs Granny. She knows what she’s doing.”

“He needs a man. A dad. Someone to play catch and whatever else it is normal families do.”

Josh laughed. “I’m no normal family. Come on, look at me. This ain’t what Owen needs.”

“You could do it, Josh.”

Josh glanced toward the tap. Was he longing for a drink? Zach would put money on it.

One of the men in the corner booth hollered out for two more bottles. Josh grabbed the order from the cooler as the guy ambled to the bar and put down several ones. “Keep the change.”

Josh shuffled through the bills and muttered that the extra fifty cents wouldn’t change his life. He took his time putting the cash away and Zach figured he wanted to avoid him. Tough.

“Why not give it a go?” Zach said to his back.

“Tried it. Didn’t work out.”

“Two weeks isn’t a fair trial. This is parenting, not riding a bike.”

Josh sighed and leaned his elbows on the counter, rubbing his scruffy face with both hands. “Granny said I was stinking up the whole thing.”

“Is that why you left?”

“She knows so much, she can take care of him.”

“She was trying to help you.”

The pensive look on Josh’s face made Zach think maybe he was getting somewhere. “You could probably get your job back. That boy is aching for a dad.”

Josh closed his eyes. His silence was a positive sign. If he had a complaint or an argument, he sure wouldn’t hold it in.

“Gram will be there. A built-in babysitter...”

“I don’t know. I don’t want to mess him up.”

Zach understood all too well. “I’ll stick around for a couple of weeks, until you get your bearings. I’m no role model but we can figure it out. Gram and I talked. We both want to help you do this.”

“How are you gonna help me?”

“I’ll just be around. I found a group for single dads. They meet, shoot the breeze, talk about stuff. They’re all going through the same thing as you.”

Josh looked like he was honestly considering it.

“Think what it’d be like to know your son, to see him grow up. Just to be a part of his life, man.”

Josh nodded with a look of fear on his face.

Fear was good. That meant he took the responsibility seriously, and that gave Zach hope.

“He’s a great kid, Josh. He deserves to have a dad.”

Josh looked at the clock again, and just as he did, a tall woman flew in from the back office. “I’m here. Sorry I’m late.”

Josh didn’t say a word. He went back to the office, then reappeared a minute later. Zach wondered if he was going to take off, but Josh took the stool next to him. “Let me have one drink while I think about it. Cool?”

Zach nodded and asked the woman for another Coke.

It was two bourbons and a couple of burgers later, but Zach finally got Josh to agree to come home.

Part one of the battle was over. Zach only hoped that was the hardest part.

* * *

L
INDSEY
PULLED
INTO
HER
dad’s driveway. She climbed out, then leaned back inside to yank her bag from the passenger side, where it was stuck on the lever underneath the seat. She straightened to find Owen standing inches away from her, making her drop her bag.

“Owen! What are you doing here, sweetie?” Trying to sound normal when her heart was in her throat was a challenge.

“Wanna play?”

She looked across the backyards, expecting to see either Zach or his grandma bearing down on them, but there was no one in sight. Had he snuck out again?

“Where’s your uncle Zach?”

Owen shrugged. “He left.”

“Back to Wichita?” She hated that she felt a smidge of disappointment.

“I dunno where he went.”

“Does your grandma know you’re outside?”

“I dunno.” Confusion crossed his face.

“Is something wrong, Owen?”

He hesitated, then shook his head.

“Well.” What to do. Her dad would be lurking inside, hungry for dinner. But Lindsey was curious about Mrs. Rundle. Maybe it was nothing. But maybe it wasn’t...once again.

She set her purse and shoulder bag full of work down on the driveway next to the porch. “How about if we play follow the leader for a couple minutes before I take you home?”

“Okay! I’m the leader.”

She smiled and groaned at the same time as Owen headed off into the yard at a full gallop. Heels in marshy grass. Bad combination. She followed him, trying to put all her weight on her toes.

Owen ran circles around her dad’s backyard, arms out like an airplane with audio to match. Lindsey followed suit, trying not to laugh.

She intended to give him a minute or so to be the leader, then when her turn came, she’d lead him toward his own back door. A minute turned out to be too long, though.

Just as they were marching past the back porch, Lindsey caught a glimpse of a face in the kitchen window. Her dad.

She groaned.

Her instinct was to run inside and explain why she was with Owen, but in truth it would make no difference. Her dad would nod and try to act like it was okay, but the look on his face would give away his sadness, anger, disappointment, whatever it was churning inside him at the moment.

She waved but got no response.

“Okay, Owen, time to get you home.”

Giggling, thankfully unaware of her dad’s disapproval, Owen trotted ahead of her to his back door.

No one answered when they knocked. Lindsey waited and then pounded on the door again.

“Your grandma was home when you left?”

Owen nodded. Lindsey glanced at the open garage. Her Buick was parked inside.

Tentatively, Lindsey opened the door. “Hello?”

No one answered, so she took Owen’s hand and crept inside. Walking into the house uninvited was disquieting, to say the least. So was the vague fear of what she might find.

They searched the rooms on the main level but didn’t find Mrs. Rundle. Before heading up the stairs, Lindsey called again. No one answered, but she thought she heard a noise.

Her heart pounded as they climbed. What if she found her dead or something? Unconscious?

“Can you show me which room is your grandma’s?” she asked Owen.

Still holding her hand and looking more frightened by the second, he led her to the room at the far end of the hallway. The door was wide open and she knew before she could see that someone was in there.

“Mrs. Rundle?” she said as she peeked in.

“I can’t find the silly things anywhere.”

Well, at least she wasn’t dead.

She was bent over, rummaging through her closet, which was piled about two feet high with...junk. Shoes, boxes, plastic bags. It was no wonder something was lost.

Owen dropped Lindsey’s hand and rushed forward. “Hi, Grandma!”

The older woman looked at him distractedly. “I know I had them earlier.”

“What are you looking for?” Lindsey asked.

“House shoes.” She reached to the far corner of the closet, muttering something Lindsey couldn’t understand. She seemed way too distressed about her slippers.

“Have you looked everywhere else?”

“I keep my house shoes in my closet.” She said this in a tone that warned Lindsey not to argue.

Just then, Lindsey heard a door slam downstairs. She hoped it was Zach, for multiple reasons.

Mrs. Rundle was becoming more frustrated.

“Why don’t you sit down for a minute?” Lindsey said. When the woman ignored her, she gently took her by the elbow. “It’s okay. We’ll find them.”

“What’s going on? Lindsey? What are you doing here?” Zach stood at the doorway. “Gram? You okay?”

His grandma didn’t look at him.

“She says she can’t find her slippers,” Lindsey said, as if that could explain why his grandma was so flustered and upset.

Zach stepped into the room. “Slippers? Those?” He nodded toward the head of Mrs. Rundle’s bed and Lindsey saw a pair of yellow slippers poking halfway out from under the bed skirt.

Owen jumped over and picked them up. “Here they are, Grandma.” He handed them to her, clearly wanting to make her feel better.

Upon seeing the slippers, Mrs. Rundle took a deep breath, then hung her head. She looked close to tears. Zach glanced questioningly at Lindsey.

“Put these on, Gram. I’ll see Lindsey out.”

Resigned, his grandma slowly lowered herself to the edge of the bed and Owen climbed up next to her.

Zach and Lindsey left the room. At the top of the stairs, they stopped. “What on earth is going on?” he asked.

Lindsey explained how Owen had wandered over to her dad’s house and what they’d found when she brought him back home. “She was like that when we found her.”

Zach furrowed his brow. When Lindsey touched his forearm, he stiffened.

“She’ll be okay,” he said. “She’s probably just tired. She insisted on cleaning the whole house today.”

Lindsey suspected it was a lot more than tired. “Maybe you should go back to the doctor.”

“We’ll see what happens.”

She could tell he didn’t want to admit that was necessary, but she didn’t have time to argue right now.

“I need to get home. My dad is likely beside himself.”

“Because you’re here?”

“You got it.” She started down the stairs.

“Lindsey, wait. Josh is home.”

She stopped cold.

She’d seen him at a distance from time to time over the years, but the thought of facing him chilled her blood.

Zach caught up to her. “I’ll let you out the front door,” he said simply.

When she didn’t move, he touched her arm, urging her forward. Startled, she looked up at him. The empathy in his expression nearly undid her and for a weak moment she wanted to bury herself in his arms.

She could hear rustling from the other room—the click of a lamp switch, a glass clinking on a table, the buzz of the TV coming on. Everyday sounds.
His
life went on as usual while her mom would never take another drink, would never watch the TV again. Lindsey shuddered.

The door was directly in front of her. Lindsey descended the rest of the stairs and made a beeline out.

“Thanks for trying to calm Gram down,” Zach said when she was on the outside step.

She didn’t turn around, didn’t take the time to answer. She just put as much distance as she could between herself and Josh Rundle.

* * *

Z
ACH
TURNED
AFTER
SEEING
Lindsey out to find Owen hovering at the top of the stairs.

“I miss Lindsey,” the boy said.

“She just left, O. You can’t miss her yet.”

Owen frowned.

“Go get Gram and come downstairs. There’s someone here to see you.”