The Fight for Us (8 page)

She knew exactly what her daughter was talking about, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to acknowledge that. “I’m sorry, who?” Joss tried for a quizzical expression, but the patronizing expression Harper returned said she wasn’t buying it.

“Oh, come on, Mom. I’ve seen the way you act around him. You get…weird.”

“What does that mean?” She threw the car in park once she’d pulled into the garage. She hit the remote, and the door started lowering as she climbed from the car.

“You have a crush on him. And by the way, Steph said the same thing when she picked me up from practice the other day, so don’t deny it. If Steph said it, then it’s true.”

“Remind me to kill Steph.” She muttered as she opened the side door into the breezeway. “So, he’s considered
handsome
—” she used her finger quotes on that word “—by people?”

“Duh,” was all she got in return to that question.

“And you? Do you think he’s handsome?”

“Eww! Of course not. He’s like eighty years old.”

“Nope. He’s not actually even close to that.” She hung her jacket up before tossing her purse on the kitchen counter.

“Well, whatever. He’s Natalie’s dad, and Natalie said he was some sort of cop or FBI agent or something. Probably why he’s a little scary.”

“Really?” Now Joss’s interest was piqued—not that it hadn’t been already.

“Well, no, not really. He seems pretty nice actually. I used to think he was a little sca—”

“No, I mean, he’s a cop?”

“Or, FBI, or Special Agent, or one of those kinds of people when they lived in Chicago.”

“Chicago…” She was fidgeting with the scar on her chin mindlessly as she leaned against the counter.

“You know, for having a crush on him, you’ve done a pretty lousy job of finding anything out about him.” Harper turned to her after fishing a juice box out of the fridge. “Tell me what you want to know, and I’ll ask Natalie—all covert like.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Joss harrumphed for a moment, but then she was picking at her scar again. “Well, you could find out if he’s divorced. I mean, I’m assuming, but you know…”

Harper’s mouth dropped open as she stared at Joss, but it wasn’t disdain or any reaction Joss would expect to see, it was surprise. “Mom, Natalie’s mother is dead.” It was Joss’s mouth that dropped then. “She died like a year, year and half ago maybe. I don’t know how. Maybe she was sick or something. Didn’t ask. Nat mentioned it one day when I was waiting with her after volleyball. I think it might even be why they moved away from Chicago. Or maybe not. I don’t know, but I know she’s dead.”

Joss sank into a kitchen chair then. She could feel the crease in her brow as she contemplated it. Dead. She’d not expected to hear that at all. Divorced, sure. Hell, separated even.

“Wow. I didn’t know.”

“Well, how would you? You’re lousy at this stalking business.” Harper watched her for a moment longer. “I have homework. I’m going upstairs.”

“Yeah…yeah, okay.” And then as an afterthought she threw out, “No T.V.! You’re still grounded.”

* * * *

Joss wasn’t sure what inspired her to pick up the phone and call Isaiah three nights later—only that she’d been thinking about him non-stop since the last time she’d seen him, and now that she wasn’t certain the man hated her, she didn’t suppose there was anything wrong with calling him. He was attracted to her after all, even if he didn’t want to be, and even if she knew she shouldn’t want him to be either. But then, his behavior at the volleyball match a few nights prior seemed to conflict just a bit with the “want to be” part of his statement. Never mind the fact
he
sat beside her of his own choosing, and he was definitely aware of just how close they’d been sitting.

The man was a widower. She was still trying to wrap her head around that one. He was too young to be a widower, but there it was. He was single for a reason—a rather sad reason she was guessing, and she was intrigued. She was sad for him too, but there was no getting around the intrigue of him.

“Hello.” He answered after three rings.

“Hi.”

It was silent for a moment, and her heart raced. “Hi.” Then more silence. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes.” She really should have figured out what the hell she wanted to talk about before calling the man. She was paying for her lack of planning now. “Umm… Hmm… How are you?” She gritted her teeth and grimaced at the stupidity of her behavior.

“I’m fine. What are you doing?”

“Just lying on my bed. And you?”

“The same, oddly enough. Though, I was watching T.V. Is there something you need?”

“Oh…! No. I just… No…” She was starting to regret this choice more with every passing second.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to suggest you needed a reason. It’s fine that you… I’m glad you called.”

Joss bit the side of her lip, finally feeling marginally better about her decision. “How are you?”

The warm chuckle that came back sent a pulse of warmth through her guts. “You already asked me that. But since I didn’t ask you, and you seem intent on this question, how about you answer?”

“I’m fine.”

“Hmm… So, apparently we’re both fine, and we’re both in bed at eight thirty at night, which might be a bit pathetic really.”

She laughed. Yes, it was a bit pathetic, but it was damn cold out, and it had been blustering and sleeting for hours. “My bed happens to be the warmest place in the house.” She didn’t intend for it to sound sexual, but the deep humming sound that Isaiah emitted turned her the hell on regardless.

“Is that so?” He chuckled again, and that warmth still circulating through her veins intensified instantly.

“Well, I’m guessing there’s a reason you’re in bed too?”

“It’s nothing nearly so hot as your bed apparently. Nat is watching some movie that is so nauseatingly brain numbing that I had to flee the living room. It’s a small house—limited places to go.”

“I see.” She stalled again, but the halts in the conversation were getting a little more comfortable and a little less terrifying. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Okay.” He groaned and sighed quietly, and then came the sound of rustling as he stretched out or moved on his bed.

She closed her eyes for a moment, imagining him in her bed, sprawled out beside her. She wouldn’t mind that in the least. “How old are you?”

“Forty-two. You?”

“Thirty-six.”

Another humming sound from Isaiah later and she was wriggling against the warmth that was now pooling in her groin.

“You were pretty young then when Harper was born.”

“I was. I got pregnant when I was a senior in college in Madison. I dropped out, returned to Bristol. I didn’t finish school until four years later when she was a toddler. Real estate gave me a way to work and take online classes so I could finish my education, but I also ended up loving it.”

“What about Harper’s father?”

She paused for a moment. She hated even the thought of him. “We married, but we ended up divorcing five years ago. He moved back to the mainland where he was from, and we don’t hear too much from him. He shows up occasionally, though it’s rarely to see his daughter. He’s not the most impressive man in the world or decent for that matter.”

“How so?”

This wasn’t a direction she was willing to let this conversation go. In fact, there was no chance in hell she’d be sharing just what a douchebag her ex was with this man. “He’s just not, that’s all.”

“Hmm…”

“Are you really a cop?”

He laughed for a moment. “Where’d you hear that?”

“Harper. She said Natalie told her.”

“I see. Well, I
was
a special agent with the FBI. I worked out of the Chicago field office until I resigned a year ago. Care to tell me what else my daughter has been telling yours?”

She wasn’t sure this was a good idea at all, but since Joss usually liked to worry about those things after the fact, she opened her mouth. “She said Natalie’s mother…your wife…passed away—a year or so ago?”

“A year and half ago, yes.” He was silent.

“I’m sorry.”

“Thanks.”

“Does that have something to do with why you don’t want to be attracted to me?” Now this one she was surely going to regret.

“It’s complicated.”

“Hmm… How did she die?”

“I’d rather not talk about it.”

His answers were becoming more obscure by the second, and with that response, the conversation seemed to fizzle. He was suddenly silent, and she couldn’t think of anything further to say to keep him talking.

“I guess I should go.” Her voice sounded unsure as she said it. “Good night, Isaiah.”

He was silent for a moment, but just as she started to pull the phone from her ear, giving up on hearing any appropriate response, he did speak. “Joss.”

She took a deep breath. “Yes?”

“Whether I want to be attracted to you or not seems to have no real effect on how fucking attracted to you I am.”

“Well, in that case, I’m sorry.” It was a rather sarcastic response, but she wasn’t entirely sure how else to respond.

He chuckled. It wasn’t nearly so easy as it had been minutes before though. “Good night, Joss. Enjoy your warm bed.”

“Good night.”

Part II: His Fight

Chapter Eight

Isaiah didn’t expect his doorbell to ring the following Sunday afternoon, and what he didn’t expect even more was to see two pair of bright blue eyes peering at him as he opened the door. One belonged to a teen he’d derogatorily likened to a female dog the first time he was made acquainted with her antics, the other, he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about. Much of that thinking revolved around things he’d not allowed himself to think about for a very long time but that he was discovering he was suddenly obsessed with thinking about.

“Hi. What—” His head was shaking from side to side in confusion.

“Hi. Listen…”

His lips pulled up, and he cleared his throat to hide it from Joss.

She realized her slip instantly and rolled her eyes at herself while her daughter fidgeted beside her. “I mean…” She literally looked like she could barely contain the word that so wanted to come out. It was a habit he was guessing, perhaps a nervous one, but a habit nevertheless.

“It’s fine. You can say it if you must.” He smirked, and she took a deep breath, laughing nervously.

“I thought maybe our daughters could spend time together. You know get to know one another more. I thought—”

“That forcing our children to be friends was a good idea?”

He very intentionally furrowed his brow as he looked down at her, making it very clear just how crazy he thought she was, but she nodded her head anyway. The sudden insecurity on her face though gave away her unease. He was making her nervous, and he knew it damn well, but he held his eyes on her, enjoying the way she wriggled under his stare.

“Let me guess, you’ve been watching angsty teenage dramady movies this weekend featuring a strong, albeit disliked female student who may or may not have been befriended by a popular student for money, or a bet. Am I close?”

“No—” She sounded incredulous.

“She made me watch
Mean Girls
two times this weekend,” the short little version of her quipped beside her.

“That’s irrelevant.” Joss’s cheeks turned instantly pink as he watched.

His insides were stirring as he watched her, but it wasn’t the irritation that he used to get when he saw her, and the stir was just a bit too low to be his guts if he were being completely honest with himself.

“That’s a good movie.” Natalie was suddenly standing by his side, looking at Harper.

He loved that she didn’t carry resentment against Harper for how Harper had initially treated her, but he also worried that the forgiveness she seemed so capable of would kick her in the ass someday.

“Yeah.” The girls looked nervously back and forth between Joss and Isaiah as though they thought their parents might be a tad crazy.

Isaiah shook his head in amusement, and he pulled the door farther open as he stood back to let them enter. Joss kept glancing at him as she passed him, and when her top teeth clamped down on the side of her lower lip, he chuckled. Her eyes instantly flashed to him, and he shook his head again. She was just too fucking cute.

“Can I talk to you in the other room?”

Joss stilled as he spoke and then nodded.

“Nat, how about you show Harper into the living room? I’m sure you can find one of those fabulously warped movies to watch.” He watched the two girls head into the other room, and the moment they were gone, he nodded in the direction of the kitchen, and she followed him.

“Just out of curiosity, what was Harper’s punishment for how she treated Natalie earlier in the year?”

Her mouth suddenly dropped open, but he ignored her shock and pulled open the refrigerator door and grabbed a beer, offering her a second one.

“I can’t see how that’s your business—”

“It’s not my business. Doesn’t mean I don’t want to know.”

She glared for a moment, but eventually, she reached out and took the bottle of beer he was still trying to offer her. “She’s grounded for three months. No activities outside of school and volleyball, no cell phone, no phone.”

“I’m impressed.” He actually kind of was. “But is this not considered an
activity
?”

“Well, seeing as the
activity
revolves around appropriate behaviors, I’m making an exception.”

“Well, I must say, you know how to ground. You’re pretty severe.”

She offered a small smile as she bobbed her head to the side and gave him a quick curtsy. He finally relaxed enough to move to the table and sit down. She took the cue and did the same, taking the chair caddy corner from him. It put her close to him—very close in fact, and he could smell the very subtle scent of her perfume. Whatever the hell scent it was, he liked it—so much so, he instantly saw himself nuzzling against her neck and inhaling deeply with his nose and mouth to her skin.

“Why did you resign your job?”

“What?” His attention snapped up from her neck where it had apparently gone without his permission, and he realized he truly had no idea what the hell she’d just said. “I’m sorry…uh…what?”