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“I know a little bit about your situation, Wyatt.” Her voice was low, soothing. Wyatt’s gaze locked with hers. “It’s okay.”
“Everyone knows.” Wyatt hung his head. “I guess you saw the pictures. Those guys were always sneaking around with their cameras. The whole world knows.”
“After a while, no one will care.” Compassion glowed from her eyes.
Drew squeezed Wyatt’s arm. “No reporters will take your picture here. That’s why we moved. We’re going to have a nice, quiet, normal life until...you move back in with your dad.”
Wyatt didn’t say anything, but he studied Lauren, which Drew took as a good sign. In high school, she had always seemed to be an open book. Straight-A student, prom queen, crusader against teen drinking and, of course, the captain of the cheerleading squad. And since he’d been the star quarterback, everyone had assumed they would make the perfect couple.
Not even close. They’d never dated. Not once.
Drew cleared his throat and leaned in. “So why did you move back?”
“I didn’t want to move, but I needed a change. And my family is here.”
“I didn’t want to move here, either. I want to go home,” Wyatt said. “Can’t we go back to Detroit?”
That made three of them not wanting to move back to Lake Endwell. Drew would have cracked a joke if the atmosphere wasn’t so tense.
“What’s in Detroit?” A trio of emotions sped across Lauren’s face—sympathy, sadness and wariness.
Wyatt hauled in a breath, his face full of animation for the first time in forever; then the joy slid away and he sighed, defeated. “Nothing, I guess.”
“There must be something.” Her voice lilted, coaxing Wyatt to talk, but silence won. “Never mind. You don’t have to answer. We all have things we’d prefer no one knew about.”
“My dad,” Wyatt whispered. “But he’s in jail.”
“My dad was in jail most of my life,” Lauren said. “He died a few years ago.”
Drew straightened. Why was she lying? Her dad had never been in jail. Bill Pierce was one of the most upstanding men the community had ever seen, and he was definitely still alive.
“Really?” Wyatt sounded skeptical and hopeful at the same time. “What did he do?”
“He murdered two men.” She rubbed her arm, not looking him in the eye.
“Oh.” He dropped his attention to the uneaten sundae melting into a puddle of brown and white. “But you’re so pretty.”
She laughed. “Thank you. I’m not sure that what I look like has anything to do with it, though.”
“Sorry.” Wyatt blushed. “I just meant... I guess I don’t know what I meant.”
“I think I do.” She scrunched her nose. “People who look like they have it all together have problems, too. Big problems. Like yours.”
He seemed to chew on the thought. Drew dug his nails into his jeans. Maybe he’d been all wrong about Lauren. Was she fabricating a sob story to make Wyatt trust her?
“Would you do me a favor, Wyatt?” Lauren asked. “Go inside and buy me a chocolate ice cream. In a cup, please.” She handed him a five-dollar bill. “If you don’t mind?”
He took the money. “You want sprinkles?”
“No, thanks.”
Drew waited until Wyatt was safely indoors before he turned back to Lauren. “Why did you lie to him?”
“I didn’t.” Those clear gray eyes held nothing but truth.
“But Bill—”
“Bill isn’t my real dad. I was adopted.”
“What do you mean, you were adopted?”
She shrugged. “Adopted. As in my parents adopted me.”
Of course she hadn’t lied. Relief spread through his chest, releasing the tension building inside. “Look, I need a babysitter. An adult to stay with him when I’m working at the fire station. Mom moved to Arizona last year or I’d ask her. I’ll be on twenty-four hours and off forty-eight, so it’s not every day. And I think we both know that not anyone will do in this situation.”
She was already shaking her head. “I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
“I’m not the right person.” She pushed her hands against the table as if preparing to leave.
“You’re exactly the right person.” Her brittle expression reminded him to be gentle. “Look, I’m sorry. I don’t blame you if you hold a grudge, but I’m not the same guy I was. I’ve changed. And you don’t owe me anything except maybe a slap in the head or a kick in the rear, but I’m not asking this for me.”
He let her see the sincerity in his eyes. Didn’t move. And he prayed. Lord, please don’t hold my foolishness and arrogance against me. Wyatt needs her. I feel it deep down in my gut.
She shook her head, and he clenched his jaw, trying to come up with something that would convince her. She’d been the most honest, upright person he’d ever met. Someone who would be a good influence on Wyatt.
He didn’t deserve someone like that. But Wyatt did.
“I can’t be there for him every hour,” Drew said. “I need to rely on someone I can trust. Someone with experience dealing with the kind of trauma he’s lived through. I wish my mom could help out, but she’s on the other side of the country. She told me you’re the one for Wyatt, and, frankly, Mom’s always right.”
“I’ll give you the number of a nice college student I know. He’d probably stay with Wyatt.”
“Or you could keep the guy’s number and make this easy on everyone.”
She tilted her chin up. “I don’t think you understand. My life is on hold.”
“What?” He tried to figure out what she was talking about but came up blank.
“I’m not the person for the job.”
* * *
Lauren watched as Drew processed her words. He was even better-looking now than he’d been in high school, if such a thing was possible. And a firefighter? Forget putting out the fires. More like igniting them. He could be the cover model for any fireman calendar.
Stupid hormones. Must be playing tricks on her. She’d never been attracted to him before. Not much, anyway.
Maybe a tad.
A person’s soul should match their appearance, and he didn’t have the integrity to round out the package.
She probably wasn’t being fair. The man in front of her seemed the polar opposite of the boy she’d gone to high school with. Back then he’d been a cocky jerk. It hadn’t been enough he’d been the most popular guy at Lake Endwell High—oh, no—he’d been the most popular guy in the whole town. Everyone had loved him. As the big-time quarterback, he’d taken the football team to two state championships. College coaches had scouted him for months. Parents had adored him. The town had revered him.
And she’d loathed him.
He and his friends had made it their mission to mock her. She had never been Lauren Pierce to them. She was “the prude,” “Miss Perfect,” “do-gooder” and, her personal favorite, “Prim Pierce.” They’d invited her to parties where there was beer, knowing full well she didn’t drink. Their girlfriends—always the most inappropriately dressed girls in school—looked down on her. The guys teased her for her modest clothes and made lewd comments about her bare legs when she wore her cheerleading uniform.
They’d made her feel like a leper the first two years of high school. By the time junior year had rolled around, her confidence had kicked in. She’d prayed for them, and their taunts might as well have bounced off a shield, because they’d no longer bothered her. In fact, she’d felt sorry for Drew and his crew.
“Are you getting married or something?”
She barked out a laugh. “No, nothing like that.”
“Then I think you are the person.” He tapped the table twice with his knuckles.
“You don’t know anything about me.” Oops. She’d let bitterness creep into her tone. Oh, well. Bitterness had crept into every cell of her body since last December. She’d failed Treyvon and Jay. Would she ever fall asleep at night without seeing their trusting faces?
“You’re right.” He ran his hand through his short, almost black hair. “But I know you have integrity and devoted your life to helping others. Back in school, I had an ego as long as the Mississippi and as deep as the Grand Canyon. I never thought about anyone but myself. I apologize for that. And I apologize for—”
“Look, we don’t have time for unnecessary apologies. Wyatt will be back soon. I want to help you out, but I can’t. I was a social worker, but I don’t work with troubled kids anymore.”
“What will it take for you to say yes?”
“Nothing.” She lifted her hands, palms up. “I give you credit for using your best weapon—Wyatt—to try to seal the deal, but no.”
His nostrils flared. “Do you have another job?”
“Yes.”
“Permanent?”
Ugh. He knew. Always knew people’s weak spots.
“I’m filling in at LE Fitness for Laney Mills. Maternity leave. She’ll be back next week.”
“There you go. The timing’s perfect. You need a job. I need help. I’ll pay you whatever you’re making there, plus ten percent.”
She fought irritation. This relentlessness was part of Drew’s personality, part of what had made him a winning football player. But, for real, the man needed to accept the word no. She didn’t owe him anything. “You can find someone else.”
“He needs you.”
That threw her off. Drew didn’t know her, not really. “How can you say that with a straight face?”
“Look, he’s been through a nightmare I wouldn’t wish on anyone, and he’s hurting. Withdrawn. I’m worried he’ll never be the same fun kid I’ve spent so much time with over the past ten years. I’m all he has.”
A nightmare... For eight years she’d worked with kids embroiled in nightmares. Chicago’s inner city had supplied a lifetime of them. She’d thought she could help. She’d been wrong. But Wyatt’s face when he’d admitted there was nothing for him in Detroit scratched at her heart. She knew exactly how he felt.
There’d been nothing for her anywhere the first seven years of her life.
Drew squared his shoulders. “I could find a babysitter or someone else with children where he can stay on my overnights, but he’s been through too much. You know how to handle kids like him. Know what he needs. I want someone who will come to our house. I want him to sleep in the same bed every night. Feel safe. Grow up as normal as possible.”
Kind of like the normal life her adoptive parents gave her. Uh-oh. He’d twisted the screw into her vulnerable spot.
“Even you have to admit he needs special care right now. He lost his mom. His dad’s in jail. He’s scared of photographers jumping out of the bushes. Please, Lauren.”
Yes was on the tip of her tongue, but the memory of last December’s phone call haunted her. “I can’t help. When I say I can’t, I mean I really can’t. Even if I agreed, I’d only be giving you false hope he’ll be okay. He’s not an easy fix, Drew.”
He opened his mouth to counter, but Wyatt came back, setting the ice cream and the change in front of Lauren.
“Thank you, Wyatt.” She smiled at him. Skinny with light brown hair and one of those cute faces destined to grow up handsome. She couldn’t halt the longing in her heart to help him. To take him under her wing and just let him be a kid. Help him adjust to life without his parents.
She’d had the same longing every day since she was sixteen years old. She’d thought she was meant to help kids like Wyatt—kids like her—ones with broken wings and matching spirits. But her efforts were for nothing. Worse than nothing. She’d given those two boys hope, and look where they’d ended up.
How had she been so wrong about her life? Her calling?
Her neck felt as though a noose was tightening around it. “Well, I’d better get going.”
“But you didn’t eat your ice cream,” Wyatt said.
She tried to smile, but his hazel eyes held a glimmer she recognized. It was a sliver of need, asking her if he was worth anything. Yes, Wyatt. You’re worth everything, but I’m not the one who can help you.
“I guess we’re even, then.” She pointed to his bowl. He blinked, and the glimmer vanished. Guilt compressed her chest until she could barely breathe. She darted a glance at Drew and wished she hadn’t. He looked unhappy.
Without a word, Wyatt pivoted and jogged away. Drew followed him.
The guilt squeezing her chest so tightly exploded. She’d made the sweet kid feel unwanted, and she did want to help him. Wanted to get to know him, to hear all about his little-boy day. She wanted him to know his parents had made bad choices, and none of it was his fault. She wanted to be part of his recovery.
But she wasn’t recovered herself.
One broken soul couldn’t fix another.
Lauren watched Drew draw near the boy. He crouched to his level and put his hand on his shoulder. The picture they presented radiated love. It didn’t take a degree in psychology to see Drew would do whatever was necessary to keep the boy safe and make him happy.
For the briefest moment, she wanted the same. For Drew to chase her and do whatever it took to keep her safe and make her happy.
Which proved how messed up she was.
She’d had her life planned out since she was sixteen. Devote her life to neglected kids, eventually get married, have a family of her own. That was the funny thing about life. Plans changed. Not always for the better.
Now what? She had no plan. Temporary jobs didn’t fulfill her. She wanted a new life purpose. Something to dig into. Something to make her feel alive again.
In the distance Drew rose and kept his arm around Wyatt. He pointed to a black truck. While Wyatt trudged to the passenger door, Drew marched back to her.
“That was my fault,” he said, head high. “I took a chance bringing you two together, and it blew up in my face. I’m sorry. But I’m still asking you to consider it. Don’t decide now. Give it a few days. I’ll call you.”
Please don’t.
He strode, tall and confident, back to the truck.
