Small-Town Mom (12 page)

Certain the battery must be dead, she got out, opened the hood and checked the terminal connections. They were tight. She had jumper cables in the back. Maybe she could flag down the next car to come along and get a jump.
Or maybe not.
The alternator belt was missing. It must have broken and fallen off between here and the house.

She left the hood up and climbed back in the vehicle to call for a tow truck. Her old van had been in and out of the shop for service so many times last year that she had the number memorized.

“Hill’s Auto Repair.”

“Tom, it’s Jamie Glasser. I’m stuck at the end of my road.”

“Are you okay? Are you off the road? This storm is looking to be a real beast.”

“I’m fine. The car’s on the road. It stalled out. Looks like the alternator belt broke and the battery’s dead.”

“It may be a while. Jack has the truck out on another tow. I hate to make you sit there and wait. If the Longs are home, their boys could push your car into their driveway and give you a ride home.”

“That would work, except that I was on my way to pick up Rose and Opal from Scouts.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll call Eli. He was just here taking care of his mother’s repair bill. He’ll be going right by there.”

“You don’t have to do that.” A red pickup turned the corner and stopped parallel to her. “He’s already here.”

Eli knocked on the window and she opened the door a crack so he could hear her. “I can’t open the window. The car’s dead.”

He stepped back. “I can take a look at it. I have tools in the truck.”

“Thanks. But there’s nothing you can do.” She explained the situation.

Eli opened the door the rest of the way. “You must be cold. Get in the truck. I have a tow chain. I’ll pull your car into the Longs’ driveway. You can run up to the house and let them know it’s there, and we’ll pick up Opal and Rose.”

He offered his arm to help her across the slick pavement. She linked her arm around his elbow, feeling his strength beneath her hand. It had been a long time since she’d accepted anyone’s support.

He opened the door. “Watch your step.”

Jamie climbed in and settled into the heated leather seat. She hadn’t realized how cold she was until the heat of the cab hit her.

He joined her in the cab and pulled the truck across the road into the Longs’ driveway to turn around so that he could hook up her vehicle for the tow.

“While I get your car, see if one or both of the boys are around to help me push it into the turnaround so it’s not blocking the driveway.”

“I can help you.”

“I know, but why should you if we have free teenage labor to do it?”

She laughed. “Good point.”

Jamie and both of the Long boys were waiting in the turnaround when Eli got back. While she was up at the house, she’d tried to call the scout leader with no success. She’d had service on the road, but five hundred feet away at the house her cell phone had no service bars. And the Longs’ cable phone was out because of the storm.

Eli and the boys made quick work of detaching her vehicle and moving it into the turnaround so they could be back on their way.

“I tried to get Tom on the phone to let him know we moved the car, but I don’t have any reception.” He maneuvered the truck around and pulled onto the road.

“Me, neither. I just tried to call the girls’ scout leader.”

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“The school.” She checked the clock on the dashboard. “I wish I could have gotten through. I was supposed to have been there to pick them up a half hour ago.”

“Hey, you tried. You would have been early if you hadn’t had car trouble. And you can’t be the only parent delayed by the storm.”

She formed a steeple with her hands and pressed her fingertips to her lips. His ready encouragement gave her a glimpse of how Eli dealt with the kids as a guidance counselor and youth group leader. “I don’t want to wish anyone harm. But I wouldn’t mind if some of the others were late.”

She dropped her hands to her lap. Especially after last Saturday when the leader couldn’t get through to her about the early finish to the Fort Ticonderoga trip and Charlotte had brought Rose and Opal home.

Jamie studied Eli’s profile out of the corner of her eye. The aquiline nose, strong cheekbones. Charlotte’s oldest son, Brett, flashed in her mind. The college student had the same sandy brown hair as Eli. Did he have his other features, too?

“Don’t worry. I’ll get you there to pick up Rose and Opal.”

“Hmm?”

“Your expression. You looked concerned.”

“Not about that.” She pressed her lips together. “Myles told me something when he came home today. About something that happened at school.”

“He didn’t come in and talk with me about anything.”

“He wouldn’t have.”

Eli straightened and leaned back in the seat.

“Some of the kids…” She clasped her hands in her lap. “Liam Russell was taunting him about you and me.”

“That woman!” He stopped. “I take it Myles didn’t like the idea.”

“No. I set him straight that nothing is going on between us.”

He stared ahead, seemingly intent on his driving. “Good.”

His sharp tone slashed through the small distance separating them. She looked down at her hands. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Shoot.”

“You and Charlotte.”

His jaw tightened.

“Is…” She swallowed. “Is Brett yours?”

“No.” The single word reverberated off the close walls of the truck cab.

Jamie shifted over toward the door. “That’s what Liam told Myles.”

“And that I refused to acknowledge him,” Eli finished for her. “Brett isn’t mine. Couldn’t be mine. Charlie wanted to use me as her ticket out of Paradox Lake. I don’t know, or care, what she thinks now.”

“I told Myles not to repeat things he didn’t know were true.”

“Answer a question for me. Did you think it was true?”

She shrank down in the seat. A part of her had wondered. “I didn’t think you would do that. Or that your mother would have let you if you’d tried.”

He released a humorless laugh. “You’re assigning my mother a whole lot more control over me than she had then.”

“It’s none of my business. I only wanted to let you know there was talk at school.”

“No, I want to get what everyone else in Paradox Lake already knows out front and center for you. When I came home on leave after basic training, Charlie was pregnant. We’d gone out a couple of times. Nothing serious on my part. Or on hers.”

“You don’t have to explain.”

“Yes.” His voice softened, sending a pulse radiating down her spine. “Yes, I do. When I denied Charlie’s accusations, my mother wanted me to take a paternity test. I told her that my word should be enough and that she and everyone else could believe whatever they wanted to believe.”

Jamie reached over and touched his arm. “She was trying to protect you.”

“Yeah, I realized that later, much later. While I was somewhat of a troublemaker, I didn’t lie to my mother—not about anything important. She should have known that.”

Jamie pictured a seventeen-year-old Eli, back from basic training, full of himself and earnest in his righteousness. “For what it’s worth, I believe you.”

“It’s worth a lot. A whole lot.”

* * *

Eli turned into the snowy school parking lot. The impact of Jamie’s statement and the force of his reply had surprised him. He looked at his office window and grimaced. He’d better put a stop to any lingering gossip at school tomorrow. It wasn’t good for Charlie’s kids, Myles or him. Across the parking lot, two cars sat parked near the school door, one snow covered and one fairly clean. “See, someone else is late, too.” His voice boomed in the quiet cab.

Jamie smiled. “I’ll only be a couple of minutes.”

He watched her cross in front of the truck and, head down against the wind, make her way up the sidewalk toward the school. Right before she reached the steps, her feet flew out from beneath her and she landed flat on her back on the walk. Eli’s heart stopped. He threw open the truck door and raced over.

“Are you all right?”

She propped herself up on one elbow and rubbed the back of her head. “I think so.”

He offered his one hand and slipped the other under her elbow as she rose. They stood completely still, him looking down at her upturned face into the depths of her coffee-brown eyes. He tilted his head and leaned closer.

“Seriously.” Charlie Russell stood at the top of the steps behind Jamie.

Jamie spun around to face her. “I slipped on the ice.”

He squeezed her elbow. She didn’t have to explain herself, them, to anyone, especially not Charlie.

“Well, sure.” Charlie’s gaze flitted between him and Jamie as she dragged her daughter down the stairs. “Rose and Opal are the last ones left.”

“We’d better go in, then.” Jamie looked back and gave him a heart-stopping smile—or what would have been a heart-stopping smile if it had reached her eyes and hadn’t had an icy quality that rivaled the snow pelting them.

But, by the way Charlie huffed on her way to her car, all she had caught was the smile.

She marched up the stairs, shoulders back, eyes straight ahead with a precision that would have done a drill instructor proud.

“Jamie, you’re here,” the scout leader said as they entered the school cafeteria. “When you didn’t call, I was worried you’d had car trouble…” Her gaze moved past Jamie to Eli. “Or something.”

Jamie stiffened. “I did have car trouble and couldn’t get a cell connection. Eli came along and gave me a lift.” She turned slightly toward him. “Have you met Eli Payton?”

“No, but I’ve heard of him.”

Eli bristled. What was that supposed to mean? He was standing right here. He looked at the scout leader hard and she started.

“Of course,” Jamie said. “At the high school back-to-school night, but you didn’t get to meet him?”

The scout leader hadn’t been at back-to-school night. There were few enough parents there that he’d remember seeing her. And from the satisfied expression on Jamie’s face, she knew the leader hadn’t been at back-to-school night. This was a side of Jamie that he’d only suspected before. He made a mental note to himself to avoid ever being on the strike side of her barbs.

“Where are my manners? Eli, this is Sonja Hephlin. Sonja, Eli Payton.”

They nodded to each other.

“Come on, girls. Let’s go.” Jamie put an arm around each of the girls. “See you next week,” she threw over her shoulder to Sonja and walked away.

“Nice to meet you,” Eli said, unable to escape his upbringing and years of training in personnel.

“Same here.” Her sour expression belied her words and made him wonder what Charlie had said to her. Not that it mattered to him. But it might to Jamie, especially if Rose and Opal had overheard.

He caught up with Jamie and the girls and opened the cab doors for them.

Jamie slumped in the seat beside him.

“You okay?”

“Fine, although I’ll probably have a doozy of a bruise tomorrow.”

He hadn’t meant her fall. He should let it drop. She wasn’t one of his students who needed him to draw out her problems and concerns. “I’ll take care of Charlie.”

“Who’s Charlie?” Opal piped up.

He winced. He’d forgotten about the little ears in the backseat.

“I think he means Katy’s mother,” Rose answered.

“Is she hurt or something? She looked okay to me, except kind of mad when she was talking to Ms. Hephlin.”

Fatigue shadowed on Jamie’s porcelain-like face. “Opal, it’s not nice to talk about other people.”

Which was only one of the reasons he was going to take care of Charlie whether Jamie wanted him to or not.

Aside from the girls fidgeting in the back, they rode the rest of the way to Jamie’s house in silence.

He pulled into the empty driveway. “Do you need to get into work tomorrow?”

“No, I’m not scheduled in the office and Kelly or Autumn can swing by and pick me up if we have a birth.”

“If you do need a car, call. I’m sure you could borrow Mom’s. She’s holed up in her studio working on a new project and probably wouldn’t even notice if it were gone.”

“Thanks. I’ll call her if I do. But, hopefully, Tom will have mine fixed tomorrow.” She turned toward the backseat. “You guys go in. I want to talk with Mr. Payton for a minute.”

Eli looked out the side window at the wind whipping the trees lining Jamie’s yard.

“Grown-up stuff. Boring.” Opal scrunched her face and Rose rolled her eyes. “Bye, Mr. Payton.” They waved back at him as they trudged through the heavy snow.

“You should get Myles out here to shovel the walk and driveway or no one will be able to get in tomorrow, if you need to go out.”

She frowned. “We’ll take care of it.”

Why couldn’t he keep his mouth shut? He fiddled with the truck keys.

She cleared her throat. “I appreciate your offering to run interference for me with Charlotte. But please don’t.”

He bit the side of his mouth to stop himself from blurting out, “Why not?”

“Obviously she’s spreading gossip about you and me.” She eyed him. “For whatever reason.”

Eli slapped the keys against his thigh. It stung that she might think he’d done anything to intentionally cause Charlie’s viciousness. For the first time in years he thought about having the paternity test his mother had pushed when Charlie had made her initial accusations. Eli had been sober enough that night he and Charlie had spent at the Maple Shade Motel to know nothing had happened. But he’d begrudgingly give Charlie the benefit of the doubt that maybe she hadn’t been. If the test would shut the woman up, it might be worth doing.

“I don’t know if I can stay out of it.”

A muscle in Jamie’s cheek worked as if forming her next words.

No!
He palmed his thigh. This wasn’t about him and old grudges. It was about Jamie. Charlie’s stories hurt Jamie a lot more than him. “What do you want me to do?”

She leaned toward him. “We need to avoid being seen together. If we don’t give Charlotte anything to talk about, she won’t have anything to say about us.”

He doubted that. But Jamie looked so serious. Too serious.