Read Tequila And Tingles: Turtle Pine, Book 2 Online

Authors: Keri Ford

Tags: #single mother;single mom;Cinderella;younger man

Tequila And Tingles: Turtle Pine, Book 2 (14 page)

BOOK: Tequila And Tingles: Turtle Pine, Book 2
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Now the Olympics were over, maybe some of it was true. Guys who’d been his brothers had gone off in new directions like he had. They’d grown apart, and the weekly texts and emails had slowed to monthly. Then the texting swapped to occasionally liking posts on Facebook here and there. Part of life. People grew and changed.

He turned on Beth’s street and slid into the driveway in front of her house. The houses were all dark, as they should be since it was after ten on a weeknight. Beth’s was the only one on the block with a porch light on. As he stepped out of his car, the front door opened and she stood in the bright doorway, arms around her chest.

“I’m so sorry.” Her shoulders lowered as he got close.

“It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not.” She shook her head and backed into the foyer. “Come on in. The kids are asleep. We can go in the kitchen. It’s the room farthest away from them so we don’t wake them.”

“Are they both okay? Tina said Kent had fever?”

She smiled at that. “He’s cutting a tooth. With a little Tylenol and some love, he’s fine. And Katie’s settled down now. She’ll be fine. It was just crazy here. I’m sorry I didn’t message you sooner.”

This weight lifted off his chest. The ball of tension that had been knotted in him, just gone. “Good. I was worried about them.”

She tipped her head and her brows knit. “That’s sweet.”

He followed her around a corner and into a narrow kitchen. A small table was on the far end, and she sat. There was a mug with steam coming from it as though she’d been waiting for him. “Do you want anything?”

“I’m good.”

“Thank you for coming. This isn’t something I wanted to talk about over the phone.” Silence hung between them for a few moments, and she ran her finger around the top of her tea mug as one would do when making glasses sing. “So I told you that I divorced about a year ago. And that’s true. But it was a little more complicated than that.”

“Aren’t all divorces complicated?”

“Yes.” She leaned back in her chair, letting out a long breath as she did.

Chapter Fifteen

Of all the things she didn’t want, having this conversation was the biggest. The point of getting divorced was to leave all that crap in the past, wasn’t it? Yeah. That’s what she’d thought. It wasn’t working out that way. It seemed no matter how hard she tried, how far away she got away from him, her damn ex-husband was always showing up in her life. Somehow, without him even being here, he was still here. A ghost hanging on her shoulders. A ball and chain, yes—an old ball and chain she just couldn’t shake off.

“It was a Thursday.” She lifted her shoulder and abandoned her tea. “He had come home, just like any other normal day. We had supper. Meat loaf. I made mashed potatoes and gravy and peas because Kent was just starting on real foods.”

She laughed, not even sure all of this mattered, but it was how she remembered it. Every last little detail. Even the smell of the meat loaf and the way it filled the room. “Katie wanted corn. It’s always been her favorite, so I threw some corn on the cob in the in the microwave.”

Jason reached across the table and covered her hand with his. “It sounds like a nice day.”

“It started out as one.” His hand was so much larger than hers that it swallowed all of her fingers. His grip was strong yet comforting. Just a touch to let her know he was here, even though she wasn’t ever going to forget it. “He came home. We ate dinner together. It was one of the few times we were all together in the room at the same time. He’d been working late a lot. He had been for a long time. Anyway, he was getting cleaned up and doing his thing. I don’t know what. I was getting the kids in the bath and doing chores.” She didn’t like the way that sounded when it came out. Made it sound like Bill was a terrible dad and she’d never noticed. He’d been a fine dad, but busy. He wasn’t bad until he’d left. “I had just put the kids to bed and Bill said that he needed to run to the store. I told him to grab me a Snickers and I went up to shower. That was the last time I saw him.”

Jason’s brow lifted. “He left like that?”

Old, familiar tears started to fill at the corners of her eyes as she nodded. “Yep. I got out of the shower and I waited. I remember turning on the TV and pausing it. We watched, I can’t remember what it’s called now. Anyway, we always watched that show together, so I waited for him. And I kept on waiting. Ten minutes, then thirty. I called. No answer. I texted. I tried him on Messenger. I was getting worried and started pacing. I had on the news and just knew something terrible had happened. I thought he’d gotten in a car accident and had been killed. All night long, I kept texting and calling. More calling.” She rested an elbow on the table and leaned her head against her fist. “Finally, someone answered. But it wasn’t him.”

Jason’s thumb moved over her wrist. A comforting caress. She curled her fingers under his palm, clasping his hands to hers and holding on to him.

She sat up straight and shook her head. “It was his girlfriend.”

Jason’s eyes widened. “Sonofabitch.”

“Yeah. At the time, I didn’t know just how much of one he was. I don’t know if he wasn’t ever going to answer my calls, or if he just wasn’t going to right then. They were on their way to the Gulf Coast. He had stopped at a store to buy some coffee and she took pity on me. Next thing I knew, it was dawn and Katie wanted to know if she was going to preschool. I told her no. We packed our things and came here.”

“And you haven’t heard from him?”

She shook her head. “No. I filed divorce papers. I knew which lawyer he would use, so I contacted him. His lawyer made all the calls, spoke on his behalf, everything. I never saw him again. The kids never saw him again. Not a birthday card, not a Christmas present, not a phone call. Just gone. All his lawyer would tell me was that he says he isn’t a family man.”

“Christ, Beth. I’m so sorry.”

She nodded. “It took me a while to put together what was going on with Katie. Kent was so young he really didn’t notice a big difference. He was just cranky and fussy more. He could have been reacting to me. Goodness knows, my head wasn’t in the best place. Katie, though, she’s a different story. Bill was the light in Katie’s eyes. He was home late a lot, but they always had breakfast together, so they had their ways of getting close. When we came back here, I started unpacking her things. She had all this princess stuff in her bedroom. Comforters, castle lamps and more dolls than any kid could ever need. We brought her into her room and she flipped out. It was nothing like I had ever seen Katie do before. She was well behaved. Temper tantrums were rarely her thing, and she was in a full-blown tantrum over her bedroom. My brother Cade just picked her up and took her outside. I couldn’t deal with it. Kent was crying. My life was a wreck. Mom was wringing her hands. Peter was there in a blur. Cade took her and I’m so glad he did.”

Jason nodded. “I met your brothers the other day. I can see him doing that.”

Somehow Jason had managed to lighten the mood on the subject. Relief lifted off her chest as he spoke about her brother. “Yeah, he’s the baby in the family and he’s the bulldog. He took Katie for a ride in his truck. She loves his police sirens, and he let her turn them on and pull people over and give them tickets. Fake tickets.” She laughed, remembering how Katie had skipped back through the house with her brother’s hat on. “He finally got it out of her that she didn’t want princess things anymore. So he took her to the store and had her pick out new bedding, new toys, everything for her room.” She looked at the center of the bar. “The night her dad had left, he had rubbed the top of Katie’s head, messing up her hair a little bit. He told her, ‘Good night, Princess’. He had done that for I don’t remember how long. In the mornings, it was, ‘Have a good day, Princess’.”

Jason nodded, understanding coming into his eyes. “So now she associates everything princess-related back to him leaving.”

Beth nodded. “She does. I’m usually so diligent about warning people not to call her that. I should have told you on the first day of her first lesson. But when you walked in, and it was you, I forgot. I am so sorry. That was all me.”

“It’s okay. Don’t beat yourself up. Just tell me what to do to get back into her good graces.”

All she could do was blink at him. “I don’t know. She tends to shut down. I don’t know how to bring her out of it. I don’t know what to tell people when they make that slip.” She lifted her shoulder. “The best I know to tell you is to give her time and give her space.”

“What about lessons on Tuesday?”

“I think it’s for the best that we skip it. It’s not what I want. The whole reason I put her in swim class was to get her used to being around other kids. She starts school in six weeks, and I’m afraid she’s going to struggle to make friends. She’s very untrusting, thanks to her dad. I wanted the swim lessons to get her over that hurdle. I hoped it would also give her a chance to get to know some of the kids before school started.”

His brows softened and he watched her. “If there was someone else who could teach the class, I would have them do it so she could come back.”

“I know you would.” She shook her head and rubbed her temples. “Tina thinks I should give her some tough love and make her go. She’s just been through so much already that I can’t do that to her.”

“You’re her mom, so you know best.”

“She’ll come around. She likes you, and Kent likes you. Let me give her a week off and then ask her before Sunday’s practice next week if she wants to go back and try again.”

“Is it okay if I send her some of her favorite cookies? Maybe to her nana’s house?”

He would be that sweet and amazing. Again, a natural. Must be in his genes since his sister was an elementary teacher and one of the best ones around here. “You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to.”

“I think she would really like that. Call Grandpa’s Cookie. My sister-in-law owns that, and she’ll know exactly what to pack and will take them for you.”

“I’ll do it tomorrow.”

“Thank you for being good to them. I know you don’t have to.”

“I want to. They’re sweet kids, and I know you’re worried about them getting attached to me in the event that I might leave, so I’ll keep my distance. Let her know I look forward to seeing her in class again.”

“I will.”

He stroked over the back of her knuckles and made no move to leave her kitchen. “Beth, I know there’s a lot about me you don’t know and that you’re not sure about, but I promise you, I will not just up and leave in the middle of the night.”

She smiled his way, more tears touching her eyes, but for different reasons. “Thank you.”

“And I don’t mean that just for you. No matter where I end up, I won’t drop out of your kids’ lives and disappear.”

“Thank you, Jason. I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything.” He stood, and for the first time since he’d touched her, he let her hand go. He rested his hand against the back of her chair, leaned down and left a quick but sweet kiss on her forehead. “I’m going to get out of your hair so that you can get some rest.”

“You’re not in my hair.” And she really wished he didn’t have to leave. She really just wanted to grab him by the shirt and pull him close to her. And hug him. And kiss him and feel his skin against hers. So maybe hugging would be the start. She really did wish that he could stay, even for a little while. He started to pull away and she grabbed his hand. “Can you stay for little bit?”

“I can stay as long as you want.”

Now that was a loaded statement. As long as she wanted him here? That would be a long time. Not the responsible answer, but that’s what she wanted. “Maybe long enough to watch a movie?”

“Sure. Let me send a message to my sister to let her know I’ll be a few hours.”

“I have a chick flick on the DVR. Maybe you want to know what it is before you agree?”

“Are you kidding? What man doesn’t love a good chick flick?”

She was going to have to watch herself with this one. “Takes care of drunk girls, likes kids, likes chick flicks. Jason, I can’t figure out how you’re not already taken.”

He chuckled. “Always been the wrong woman at the wrong time.”

Chapter Sixteen

“Momma, you’re late.” Katie stuck her balled fists on her little hips and stared up at her.

Beth scooped her daughter up and set her on her hip. “I’m late? I’m here at the same time I’m always here.” She snuggled her daughter against her chest and squeezed her tightly, planting kisses all over her. “Did you have a good day?”

Katie squealed and wiggled, escaping Beth’s tight hold. “I got a surprise today.”

“You did?” Beth followed Katie into her mom’s house and into the kitchen. Her mom was at the counter leaning over what looked like an intense game of Candy Land with Kent. Katie disappeared around the corner. “Hey, Mom. Any problems today?”

“Not a thing.” Her mom moved her man four squares and straightened. “We had a good day that was made better when Annie brought us a boxful of cookies.”

“That must be the surprise that Katie’s talking about. Where did she go?”

Her mom turned to the counter and pulled a cup down and fixed a glass of water. “She probably went after the box. The cookies were for her and Kent, so Katie took it upon herself to ration them out.”

“Ration them?” Beth wasn’t sure she even wanted to know.

Her mom laughed. “Yeah. They were from Coach Jason. I guess she wants them to last. She allowed each of us to have one. So now there is one for each of y’all left for this evening.”

Beth’s heart melted a little bit. He’d remembered and sent them. When they hadn’t come yesterday, she’d wondered if maybe he’d changed his mind. Or worse, forgotten.

Katie bounced around the corner at that moment, carrying a little brown box that Annie used to pack cookies from the bakery. “See?”

“I do. Bring them here so I get a closer look. And maybe a taste.”

Katie tucked them in against her chest and hugged them tightly. “No. Not until after supper.”

Beth looked at her daughter, who suddenly sounded so grown up. “If you say so, but are you sure?”

Katie nodded.

Beth ruffled Kent’s hair and held out her arms. “You ready to go home, little man?”

“Cookie?” Kent pointed at Katie.

“After dinner. That’s what Katie says. Are you ready to go home and have dinner?”

He all but jumped into her arms. The stuff the kid would do for cookie, even leave Nana’s house in the middle of a board game. Beth smiled at her mom. “We’re going to get.” Her mom gathered up their bags and handed them over. “We’ll see you in the morning.”

The kids hollered their goodbyes and Beth drove them home. “What are we going to do this evening?”

“Eat cookies!” Kent yelled out.

“Besides eat cookies,” she added to the little boy in the rearview mirror, but he didn’t notice. He stared out the window instead. She glanced over to Katie, who leaned an elbow on the door. “What about you Katie? Do you have any ideas on what we should do this evening?”

Suddenly sullen, Katie just shrugged her tiny shoulders up to her ears and dropped them down. “No.”

“What about ideas for supper?”

“I don’t care.” Katie had changed from the excited little girl who had greeted Beth just a few minutes ago. She stared out the window, looking like she was wishing for all the world she could be somewhere else.

“Is something the matter?”

Katie shook her head and kept whatever was bothering her to herself. Beth continued home, driving them on through the last few turns of their neighborhood before pulling into her driveway. She briefly thought about going to Grandpa’s Cookie to pick up sandwiches for supper, but something was wrong with Katie, and Beth didn’t want to figure it out in the middle of a crowd. She got the kids inside and the car unloaded. Katie disappeared to her bedroom in less than two-point-five seconds.

Beth threw a frozen pizza in the oven and headed for her daughter’s room but was stopped short by the sight of the cookie box sitting on the counter. According to her mom, Katie hadn’t turned the box lose all day. Now there it sat.

She turned Kent’s favorite show on the TV, gave him a few extra toys and went after Katie. Katie sat in the floor of her bedroom, building a wall out of alphabet blocks.

“Are you building a fort?”

Katie only shrugged for an answer.

“Something seems to be bothering you. Do you want to talk about it?”

Another shrug.

Beth took a breath for patience and sat with her and added blocks to her wall. “Nana said you had a good day. You looked to be having a good time when I got there, but when we left you seemed upset. Were you not ready to leave Nana’s house?”

Katie held one of the blocks high over the pile she’d made and dropped it. The block landed on the others and destroyed the stack. “How come we didn’t go swimming?”

A knot filled the back of her throat. “I didn’t think you wanted to. I was going to give you a few days before taking you back.”

Katie pulled all the blocks to her lap and began her stacking again. “How come girls like to be called
princess
?”

Rapid change of subject. Beth breathed and considered her words carefully. Lots of
me
and
I
and calm tones. “I don’t know. It makes them feel nice, I guess.”

She stacked the blocks high and punched the middle of them. “Anytime someone calls me a princess, I don’t get to see them again.”

“Are you talking about Jason?”

She was silent for a moment. “And Dad.”

Beth wished there was something she could do about their dad. She wished she could turn him into a different man, make him be the man she’d fallen in love with. The one who’d brought her dinner on his way home, left it on the counter and taken off to bed. To sleep. She straightened and flipped hair back. Because he’d been tired. Not dismissive.

Beth couldn’t make him into the man she wanted, and she wasn’t going to hurt her kids by trying to force him. As far as she was concerned, Bill could stay on whatever beach he flopped himself and never come back.

Jason, now he was a different story. A man who’d come into her life unexpectedly. Over the time she gotten to know him, he’d seemed more invested in her kids then their dad ever had been. “Do you want to see Jason again? I didn’t think you did.”

A shrug.

“He wants to see you. If you want to see him again, we can go to your next lesson. It’s in two days.”

Katie’s lip stuck out. “Can he come over today?”

Beth glanced to the clock. It was already five thirty. “Now?”

She lifted a shoulder but didn’t give an answer otherwise.

She kissed Katie’s head and pushed off the floor. “How about I call him and see if he can? Will that work? Maybe we can watch a movie.”

Katie grinned. “Popcorn?”

Beth dropped her forehead against Katie’s. “Can’t have a movie without popcorn.”

“I drew him a picture today.”

Beth stopped in her daughter’s doorway and turned to look back at her. “You drew Jason a picture?”

Katie jumped from her spot, ducked under Beth’s arm and ran to the living room. She dug in her bag that had come home from Nana’s and pulled out a piece of red construction paper. She opened the paper and showed off the
Thank You
written across it. Glitter was stuck to the paper along with smiley faces, stickers and macaroni. “Nana says when someone gives you a gift, you’re supposed to say thank you and write a note.”

Beth’s heart swelled and she lowered to her little girl and rubbed her arms. “Nana is right. When someone does something nice for you, you always say thank you.” She looked at her daughter a moment longer. “Do you want to call Coach Jason?”

Katie giggled, bit her lip and quickly shook her head. “You do it.”

Beth patted her bottom and sent her off to play with Kent while she checked on supper and gave Jason a call. Or, since he had twenty minutes to go before the swimming lesson ended, she sent him a text.

Before she could even get the pizza cut and onto their plates, Katie was already asking if he was coming over. “He’s still working right now, but I bet he’ll be here.”

Sweat peppered across her brow and Beth breathed through a sudden burst of nausea. At least, she hoped he would be here. She was putting her daughter’s dreams for the day in the hands of a man she’d only known a few weeks. She stopped. Or like six weeks. Where had the time gone? She hoped he’d meant what he said and wasn’t going to let them down. Beth didn’t know what she would do if for some reason he couldn’t make it. Probably call her brothers and beg them to come over.

The kids ate and she sent them outside to play before it got dark. Their laughter echoed through the streets, and her phone finally buzzed on the bar. She scooped it up and found he’d left her a message.

“I’m on my way.”

Relief flowed through her and Beth sank against a chair. Thank heavens. Nerves had her needing to keep her hands busy, and she got to work pulling out the air popper. He probably hadn’t eaten yet, and all the pizza was gone. She dug through the refrigerator and came out with sandwich things. The back door opened and closed and Katie came flying through the kitchen.

“He’s here!” Her hands were in the air as she ran, hair swishing out behind her in a way that only happened for little kids.

“He is? I didn’t hear him pull up.” Beth followed Katie’s path through the foyer and out the front door. Sure enough, Jason’s car was in the driveway.

Katie ran barefoot through the yard with excitement squealing out of her that rocked Beth back on her heels. Katie reached his side as he came around the front of the vehicle. In a quick move, he had her up on his hip, her arms around his neck and his hand patting her back. What was left of Beth’s confused heart went on and melted right then and there as Jason bounced her.

He walked with her to the house. Katie rambled about her day, about getting the cookies and how she saved him one. Beth backed up and let them inside the house, and that’s when Kent made it around the corner.

His arms were up. “Coach Jason.”

He reached for her boy as Katie wiggled down. “I almost forgot!”

Beth blinked off tears at the sight of her kids happy to see someone new in their lives. “Aren’t you the popular one?”

He grinned as his gaze followed Katie around the corner at the end of the foyer. “Cookies are always a good thing.”

“Katie is planning on a night full of movies and popcorn.” She stepped to the side. “I hope you’re up for it.”

“You couldn’t stop me if you tried.”

She smiled and stepped backward, easing into the kitchen. “Have you had supper yet?”

He shook his head. “Not yet. I came straight here when I got your message.”

Beth didn’t want to address that secure feeling in her chest. “I can fix you a sandwich.”

“A sandwich would be perfect.”

Katie ran back around the corner and held up the red thank-you card. “I made this for you.” She looked to Kent and then back to Jason. “We both did.”

Jason unfolded the paper. Exaggerated excitement lifted his brows and widened his eyes. “This is the best card I have ever seen.”

Katie pointed at the glitter. “I did the words. Nana wrote them and I traced them. Kent put on the stickers.”

“And who did the macaroni?”

Kent giggled on his lap, and Katie grinned. “We both did that part.”

“It looks very nice. I will keep this forever.”

“I’m sorry I missed swim lessons tonight.” She pulled in a deep breath and kept her arms tightly by her side. Her chest lifted as she stared up at him. “And I’m sorry I got upset…” Her gaze stole off to the side, her brows pulled in as though she was trying to think. “That was not nice.”

Beth studied her daughter. “Did Nana teach you that?”

Katie’s grin widened as she eagerly nodded. Bless her mom.

Jason smiled at her. “It’s okay that you missed. Maybe, if your mom says it’s okay, you can come tomorrow night and swim. Just you and me.”

A pair of wide blue eyes turned to Beth and all she could do was laugh. “I think we can do that.” She finished making his sandwich. “Katie, why don’t you take Kent to play while Jason eats.”

Katie did as instructed and took Kent by the hand. “Come on, Kent, let’s go pick out a movie for tonight.” She pointed at her little brother. “But no silly little girl movies this time.”

Beth shook her head as the two went off together. “I can’t thank you enough for being so good with them.”

“Like I could say no to those two faces.”

Beth grabbed some chips and set them out next to his plate. He couldn’t say no to them, but somehow their dad had. Would Jason do the same thing one day? She wouldn’t go down that road. It was a pointless road to be on anyway. He wasn’t staying. This wasn’t long term, and she’d gone and entangled her kids with him, exactly how she hadn’t wanted to. She rubbed her face and pushed her hair back.

“Something the matter?”

She didn’t want to ruin the night, so she swallowed back her fears. When he decided it was time to leave Turtle Pine, she wasn’t sure whose heart was going to break the worst, hers or her kids’. She cleared her throat and started easing from the room. “When it’s quiet in a house with kids, they’re into something. Time for the fun part of catching them in the act.”

His low chuckle followed her through the room. They weren’t in the living room, so that was good news for her plants that had suffered a few buried treasures. Giggles came from the hall and she crept that way. Potential boat in the toilet, weathering a storm? New art for the walls?

Jason’s hand landed on her back, startling her into turning around. She covered her mouth and shook off the surprise rush and continued down the hall. Light escaped from under the bathroom door. Definitely not a good thing.

She eased the door open and found Kent naked in the bathtub. Katie stood over him, pouring baby shampoo over him in the empty tub. She just grinned. “Kent wanted a bubble bath.”

Beth nodded. “I can see that.”

Katie set the bottle aside and dusted her hands. “All he needs is water.” She skipped by, grabbed Jason by his hand and tugged him. “I want to show you my toys.”

Beth couldn’t bring herself to fuss at Katie for making a mess. Not with her looking so happy with a man who, a day ago, had her crushed into tears. Maybe she’d had it all wrong with her daughter for this last year. Maybe Katie needed someone new in her life who could be good for her and show her not everyone was a terrible human being.

BOOK: Tequila And Tingles: Turtle Pine, Book 2
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