“You’re a wicked man…and I love that about you. I’m taking Justine for a little treat after I pick her up at school. Beau will be home after practice. See you soon.”
“Can’t wait. I packed extra lube.”
Charity’s whole body quivered with anticipation as she started her car, pondering what evil uses he’d need extra lube for.
She turned off of Main Street onto the main entrance of Divine High School, home of the Divine Vikings. The line of cars picking up students had begun to dwindle, but there were still plenty of kids milling around the pickup area that was set up with benches and tables. She spotted her dark-haired daughter easily because her nose was buried in a thick book, studying no doubt.
Charity smiled, pride filling her. Justine had plans to one day be an interpreter and planned to learn as many languages as she could while she went to college. She had major goals and she pushed herself hard to achieve them.
Charity smiled again when she saw Beau get up from the table Justine sat at, along with a fellow classmate of his, evidently having spotted her car. Justine looked up for a moment, smiled at them, and nodded before quickly burying her nose in the text again. Beau was protective of Justine and would’ve sat with her while she waited for their mom before heading over to basketball practice. He’d always been protective of his bookish little sister and would’ve stayed with her, despite the fact she was studying.
Beau and his friend were talking and Charity removed her sunglasses and squinted, trying to get a good look at who he was associating with because she didn’t recognize the tall teenager.
“Who in the heck is that?”
He was tall and tan, had longish dark hair that nearly reached his shoulders and wore a baseball cap. He turned back to Justine at the last second, said something to her, and grinned before loping off on extraordinarily long, muscular legs after Beau.
“Good lord. Is he a teacher or a coach?”
He turned one last time and yelled something at her as he pulled his cap off to smooth his jet-black hair back before yanking it back on his head. He laughed when she buried her nose even deeper in the book and waved at him without looking. Beau frowned at him and whacked him in the chest when he drew close to him. The guy just grinned and Charity saw the smile Justine hid after a second.
“Wait a minute!” She knew that grin. She knew that kid. “Holy
crap
!” she shouted, startling herself with how loud she sounded, and was glad the windows weren’t down. “That’s Noah Cassidy? Fu—fudge!”
She took out her phone and dialed Grace’s cell phone and got voice mail. “Hey, sis. It’s me. It finally happened. I’m a dirty cougar. That’s all. Have a great evening!”
Noah Cassidy had been coming over to their house since he and Beau were in kindergarten. He’d gone on camping trips with their family, spent the night at their house, and helped build the outgrown treehouse in their backyard.
“When did he grow up? And why didn’t I recognize him?” She glanced in the mirror, noting the crow’s feet and laugh lines, and groaned. “Damn, I feel old.”
Her gaze was drawn to Justine again as a group of girls dressed in cheerleader uniforms descended on the table she sat at. A different sort of noise erupted from her that time, more of a mama bear growl.
She made herself stay in her vehicle as the line of cars snaked forward and watched as one girl in particular, with long blonde hair, leaned forward and stuck her finger in Justine’s face and spoke threateningly, judging by her body language. It’d been a while but Charity recognized Maggie Olson, who’d given Justine a hard time since they were little. The other girls were lookouts, evidently shielding Maggie from the view of the monitors as she actually poked Justine in the breast bone hard enough to make her flinch. A hand flashed out and shoved the large textbook Justine had been reading hard into her chest.
Justine caught the book before it could fall on the ground and stood so she was eye-to-eye with Maggie. Firming her jaw, Justine made a biting reply, then glared at the girl, not backing down. Maggie finally bobbled her head and sashayed her bony ass away with her friends in her wake, their ponytails swinging in the breeze.
She thought she’d heard Justine say a while back that Noah had been dating Maggie. That answered who had paid a visit to their house several weeks before. It also answered why they’d papered and egged the house. Noah Cassidy, evidently the hottest boy in school, must be interested in Justine.
Charity clucked maternally as she watched Justine gather her things together to come stand at the sidewalk. High color filled her cheeks and her lips were pressed together in a firm line. She dumped her backpack in the trunk and slid into the passenger seat. A huge sigh of relief burst from her as she buckled up, directed her gaze at the car stereo, and gave a slight smile. She turned up the stereo volume as Charity drove forward.
Charity chuckled as the windows vibrated with each beat of the music and, because there was no way Justine could hear her at the moment, said to herself, “Good thing I’m a Shinedown fan.”
When they reached the Dairy Queen on Crockett Street, she and Justine decided to split a brownie sundae with extra hot fudge and marshmallow cream. Justine groaned as she slid a bite of the hot fudge into her mouth.
Pride filled Charity as she considered Justine’s measured reaction to Maggie earlier. Charity knew her daughter could hold her own in a physical confrontation. Grace and Charity had coerced her into taking self-defense classes with them that Hank had been teaching. “I admire your self-discipline, sweetie. I watched Maggie poke you in the chest and had to fight the urge to take my earrings off and kick some skank ass.”
Justine snorted and looked at her with a mixture of amusement and gratitude in her eyes. “Thanks, Mom. She’s so not worth it.”
“What did she tell you?” Charity asked, already able to guess.
“That Noah Cassidy is her property and I’d better stay the hell away from him.” She took another bite of the ice cream and rolled her eyes. “They knew Beau and Noah came and sat
with me
at the picnic tables. I didn’t seek them out to sit with them. But that didn’t matter. In the animal world I think that was the equivalent of a cat pissing on a tire.”
Charity choked on her bite of brownie and ice cream and Justine gave her a wry laugh. After swallowing, she said “Are they the ones who papered and egged the house?”
“I’m sure they are. That’s the second time she’s approached me at school like that. I’ve been avoiding Noah, but I can’t do anything about it if he and Beau sit with me. But neither am I going to walk away from them. That would be rude to the guys and I’m not her little bitch. It’s not Noah’s fault Maggie Olson is a crazy-ass mean girl. They aren’t even together anymore.”
Charity was proud of the strong young woman Justine was becoming and knew the struggles she’d had with Maggie and other girls over the last several years. Being bookish and ultra-smart had meant she spent most of her time on the social periphery at school, labeled a nerd or a freak. The fact that she was beautiful and had been noticed by other guys just made the girls that much more jealous.
The saddest part for Charity was that Justine no longer complained that it wasn’t fair. Fair wasn’t even a part of the equation. It was all about pecking order. Justine seemed more resigned than actually upset and didn’t rage against the stupidity of one person thinking they could own another. She just curled her lip and rolled her eyes. “I’m so ready to be done with all that childish bullshit. I keep reminding myself that I graduate next May.”
“I wish that I’d called one of the guys to come pick you up. At least she’d know you have some badass guys in the family who watch out for you, besides your brother of course.”
“Now don’t go getting all wild on me, Mom. I’m handling things okay. I can endure anything until next May. Speaking of Val and Ransome, I like having them around.”
“Me, too, sweetie.” That was the total truth. She especially loved that they hung out in the evenings with the family.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure,” Charity replied as she scooped out a bite of marshmallow-cream-covered brownie.
“Aunt Gracie is really happy, isn’t she?”
“What do you mean?” She needed to proceed with caution regarding answering questions about Grace’s private life, since the answers might not be hers to give and she didn’t gossip about Grace.
Justine bit her lip and looked out the window at the cars passing by. “I’m not being nosy or anything. I just think that she seems like she’s super happy with Jack, and Adam, and Ethan. They’re so sweet to her and Rose Marie.”
Charity nodded, recalling a recent conversation with Ransome involving Grace and her men. “They are. I don’t think she could accomplish as much as she does in a day without their love and support.”
Justine nodded and was quiet for long seconds before glancing up at her mom. “I heard that Jack, Ethan, and Adam are cousins.”
Heat crept up in Charity’s cheeks because she had an idea of where the conversation was going. She’d never shied away from talking to her kids about the facts of life, which for them happened to include a ménage in the family. “Yes, they’re distant cousins. I think they have great-great-great-great-great-grandparents in common, or something like that.”
“I’ve grown up thinking of Val and Ransome as uncles more than second cousins.”
Charity nodded. “They’re like brothers to your dad, and always have been since they were all born so close to the same time. Did you want to ask me something?”
Justine grinned and shook her head. “No, I just noticed that they fit in to the family really well. There’s symmetry when they’re around…sort of like Aunt Grace has, um…symmetry.”
“Such as…”
“Well they don’t act like houseguests. They act like members of a family. They don’t just clean up after themselves, they help out, too. Like Val was doing laundry this morning.”
Charity suddenly sat up straight. “Laundry?
Which
laundry?”
Justine burst into laughter. “Don’t worry, Mom, he didn’t touch your stuff. I heard Dad warn him about doing that.”
Charity snickered, recalling early on in their marriage that he’d decided to be helpful and had done her laundry for her.
Once
. “What did your dad tell Val?”
Justine snorted with laughter and then adopted a deep voice, imitating her dad. “Don’t fuckin’ touch Charity’s shit. She will castrate your ass with a spoon. If it looks like something she’d wear, leave it the fuck alone.”
Charity burst into giggles and said, “Listen to your potty mouth. We’re such bad examples as parents.”
“Nah. You’re great. I can hardly speak like that with a straight face.”
“I know. Maybe that’s why it sounds so funny coming from you. I’m glad you feel close to them, though. They’re family.”
“Why didn’t the four of you ever get together?”
Charity blinked at Justine’s hastily asked question. “Um.”
“Mom,” Justine quietly said, reaching out to place her hand over her mom’s. “Maybe I’m like Aunt Grace, Rachel, and Veronica and I see romance everywhere I look. I don’t know. It just seems…”
“Seems what?” Her voice caught on the last word.
“Seems like the natural progression? Beau and I will be out of your hair before you know it. Empty nest and all. I don’t mean to stick my nose in your extremely private business, but it’s not like I’m really shocking your prudish sensibilities, am I?”
Well, hell. What do I say to that?
“Um. Well…there’s history there. Not
history
-history. It’s more complicated than it looks. Grace and I have different temperaments. And your dad…”
Justine stopped her with an upraised hand. “I was just curious. I just think the four of you look…” Justine’s words trailed off for a few seconds before she made eye contact with her and then glanced away. “…great together. That’s all I’m saying. I’ll shut up now. Sorry.”
“It’s okay, sweetie. I appreciate that you care about us. That kind of relationship isn’t in the cards for everyone. Remember, Grace and the guys are the great exception.”
“And Teresa and the guys…and Rosemary and the guys…and Maya and the guys…and...I just thought you could take your chance with us no longer underfoot.”
Charity shook her head. “Stop trying to empty my nest so fast. Your observation is noted, sweetie.”
Justine let out a slow breath and smiled at her. “Whew. That’s been on my mind.” At Charity’s arched eyebrow she raised her hands in surrender. “Dropping it.”
“So…Noah Cassidy has gotten…tall.”
Justine glanced up at her and a blush stained her cheeks. “I guess I earned that, huh?”
“Spill, sweetie.”
Justin tried to hide his grin as he led Charity by the hand into the entry of the large log cabin. She looked up at the rustic antler chandeliers and cast her gaze around the open floor plan which had been furnished with an emphasis on comfort and warmth. She smiled when she saw the crackling fireplace and the view out of the huge picture windows that faced Bowie Lake.
“Wow,” she whispered. “Where are the bedrooms?”
Justin gestured with his head and tugged her down the hallway. “There’s only one.”