A Fair of the Heart, Welcome To Redemption, Book1 (12 page)

“Yeah, she’s fine. She burned her fingers on
a lit cigarette. Some punk friend of Max’s flicked it into the
backyard, and Emma grabbed it before Max could stop her.” The
thought of what happened still caused Lauren’s pulse to quicken.
She accepted the large twist cone from the man behind the counter
and handed him two singles.

“Poor little girl.” Tara met Lauren’s gaze,
her eyes brimming with genuine concern. “And how awful for you,
too.”

“Not being able to take her pain away was the
worst part. I was such a wreck. I don’t know what I would’ve done
if Caleb hadn’t been there.”

Tara raised a brow. “Caleb?”

Before Lauren could reply, Emma cried,
“Momma, I’cream, I’cream!”

She knelt down and helped Emma grasp the cone
with her unbandaged hand. “Careful, honey. Don’t drop it.” Lauren
stood back up and pointed to where Max and Caleb were waiting in
line for funnel cakes. “Caleb.”

Tara looked him up and down. “Where have you
been hiding him? I didn’t know you were dating anyone.” Tara’s
attention suddenly shot to Sugar, and Lauren realized with a start
that Emma was about to share their ice cream with her.

“Oh, no, honey, don’t do that!” Tara
exclaimed. “She can’t have—” Sugar wolfed down the ice cream cone
so fast Lauren never had time to react.

Emma’s eyes grew round and red with tears.
Her lower lip trembled, and Lauren braced herself for the storm.
Sugar hadn’t touched Emma’s hand, so Lauren knew her cries were
simply over the loss of her treat.

“Sugar,” Tara scolded, giving the dog’s leash
a hard tug, yanking her back a few steps. She met Lauren’s gaze.
“I’m sorry.”

Lauren smiled reassuringly, then crouched
down and ruffled Emma’s hair. “It’s okay, baby, I’ll get us another
one.”

“Let me get it,” Tara offered.

“Sassy doggie,” Emma pouted, scowling at
Sugar.

“Really, Tara, it’s no big deal.” Lauren was
hard pressed not to laugh as Sugar licked her chops, tail thumping
the ground, no doubt ready for another treat.

Tara tossed some money to the guy at the
custard stand. “Actually, Charlie will pay me back, so I insist.”
She leaned down toward Emma. “Sorry about that, sweetie. We’ll go
now so she doesn’t try to steal the next one. I’ll see you later
for that trim, Lauren—and the full scoop on that one.” She grinned,
indicating Caleb with a jerk of her head. Lauren and Emma both
waved as Tara led Sugar away.

The vendor handed Lauren a second cone just
as Caleb and Max approached, munching away on their funnel
cakes.

“What happened?” Max asked. “We heard Emma
crying, but all I saw was Tara and Sugar.”

“Emma decided to share our ice cream with
Sugar, who wasn’t in the mood to share.” Lauren handed Emma the
replacement cone, and then gestured toward their funnel cakes. “How
are they?”

Caleb held his out to her. “Awesome, try a
bite.”

“Don’t mind if I do.” He seems back to his
normally cheerful self, she thought as she leaned in for a nibble.
“Mmm, delicious.”

Max chowed his down, then licked his fingers
clean of powdered sugar. “I’m still hungry. Can I go get an ice
cream cone, too?”

Lauren reached into her purse, but Caleb
stopped her. “Put your money away. Like I said, the day’s on me.”
He handed Max a five and grinned when the kid snatched it out of
his hand and took off like a rocket.

“You’re welcome!” Lauren shouted after him,
exasperated by his lack of manners. “Sorry,” she said to Caleb.

He waved it off. “He’s just excited. This is
probably the first time in a year he’s let himself have fun. The
kid’s too hard on himself.”

“Just wait until I ground him for the
smoking. I swear he won’t see the outside of his room for two
weeks.”

Caleb took another bite of his funnel cake
and looked off into the distance. “I realize I don’t have a say in
the matter, but I truly believe you might be better off just
letting it go. He’s not going to smoke anymore, he promised.”

Spoken like someone who doesn’t have kids.
Lauren let out a sigh. “Look, I realize you don’t have any
parenting experience, but you can’t honestly believe Max shouldn’t
be punished just because he promised to never do it again. What
else was he going to say?”

“I get it. I’m not his father and therefore
shouldn’t have an opinion.”

“That’s not what I meant, I—”

Caleb held up a hand, his expression rueful.
“Christ, I’m sorry. Listen to me, acting as if I should have some
say in how you discipline your kids.”

“Caleb, you’re the first person to ever show
an interest in Max, and I appreciate your input more than I can
say. It’s just...after I found out what Max and his friends had
been up to, all I could think was, ‘My ten-year-old little boy’s
been smoking?’”

“Liar!” Max shouted from behind them. “You
swore you wouldn’t tell!”

Lauren and Caleb both swung around at Max’s
outraged accusation.

“Honey, it’s not what you think,” Lauren
tried to assure him, hating the thought of losing all of the
progress he and Caleb had made. Why couldn’t she have just kept her
mouth shut and let the subject drop, at least for tonight?

Caleb clasped Max’s shoulder. “I’m sorry,
buddy. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

Max twisted away from him, his eyes brimming
with hurt and anger. “I trusted you!” Before either of them could
respond, Max whipped his cone into the dirt and took off
running.

“Max!” Lauren yelled. She started after him,
but Caleb caught her by the arm.

“I’ll go find him. I don’t want you trying to
handle him in his present frame of mind. He needs to get his anger
out and cool down before he’s ready to listen, and I’d rather I be
his punching bag than you. Please,” he added when she opened her
mouth to argue.

Lauren gave a reluctant nod, feeling as if
her stomach had just dropped to her feet. She watched Caleb give
chase and wished she’d simply listened to the man instead of
assuming she knew best where Max was concerned. Okay, yeah, nobody
knew her son better than she did. But he was getting older,
crossing the threshold from little boy into young man, and mothers
weren’t exactly welcomed over that threshold. Max was at an age
where he couldn’t even conceive she’d be able to relate to anything
going on in his head.

Not that she could. And she hated that she
may very well have pushed Max back into his self-destructive
ways.

Twenty minutes went by with no appearance by
Max or Caleb. Lauren was about to push a very sleepy Emma home when
someone called her name. She glanced around until her gaze landed
on Tara’s brother, Charlie. He strode toward her, that killer smile
in place. Lauren adored Charlie. In fact, she secretly thought of
him as a big brother.

“Hey, beautiful, having a good time?” He
walked up and draped an arm around her shoulder.

“Not exactly,” she murmured, leaning slightly
into him.

“What’s wrong? Any chance I can help?”

Lauren smiled up at him, praying her eyes
didn’t betray her inner turmoil. Last thing she wanted to do was
burden Charlie with this, and she wasn’t exactly anxious to tell
anyone about Max and the smoking. “Thanks, but no. Just girl stuff.
I have cramps.” She added the latter with a teasing grin.

With an uncomfortable chuckle, Charlie
stepped back and turned to face her. “Listen, I was wondering,
would you want to catch a movie sometime, or maybe go out to
dinner?”

Lauren gaped at him in stunned silence. Was
Charlie asking her out on a date?

“I, uh—”

Two very possessive arms snaked around her,
trapping her against a warm, broad chest. “Yeah, I don’t see that
happening,” Caleb said. He tipped her chin up and kissed her, and
while his display of jealousy was flattering, she couldn’t help
feeling bad for Charlie, who looked surprisingly angry.

She tore free of Caleb’s arms and frowned at
him before turning to face Charlie. “I’m really sorry—”

Charlie held up a hand and spared her, the
smile on his face not quite reaching his eyes. “No, I’m sorry. I
didn’t realize you were seeing someone.” He dropped the smile and
met Caleb’s steely gaze in silent warning, then turned and strode
away.

Lauren pushed her frustration aside and
turned back to Caleb. “Did you find Max?”

Caleb propped his hands on his hips and gave
his head a quick shake. “Sorry. I think we should head back to your
place and check there. If he’s not home, you can stay and put Emma
to bed, and I’ll run back out to find him.”

“Fine. Let’s go.”

Lauren wheeled Emma’s stroller around to head
home when someone ran by and hollered, “Hey, there’s a kid hanging
from the top of the Ferris wheel! Someone call the fire
department!”

Lauren froze as a bad feeling settled in her
chest.

“My God, it can’t be...”

They both swung around, and Lauren cried out
when she spotted her son, legs swinging, arms wrapped around a
crossbar as he hung on for dear life.

“Holy shit!” Caleb raced off, and with a sob,
Lauren took off after him, struggling to push Emma’s stroller
across the rock and garbage-strewn dirt fairway. Caleb was talking
furiously with the ride operator when Lauren reached his side.

“Max, hold on, baby! Please, just hold on
tight! We’re going to have you down from there in no time, I
promise! No, don’t look down!” she added in a near screech.

Caleb ran over to her. “I’m climbing up there
myself. We don’t have time to wait for the fire truck, and if the
operator tries to bring the car down, it’s doubtful Max could hang
on with all the jerking.”

“Please,” she choked out, frightened out of
her mind. “Save my son.”

* * *

Caleb met her terrified gaze and gave a curt
nod. No way in hell would he do anything less.

He cupped a hand over his eyes and studied
the structure of the ride for a nanosecond, trying to figure out
the best route to the top. He gave an apologetic grimace to the
frightened couple in the bottom car before pulling himself up on
top of it. Nimbly, Caleb climbed one bar at a time. The chaos below
him faded to white noise as he continued to climb, his sole focus
on the boy who’d grown to mean more to him in just six days than he
ever could’ve imagined.

Too damn bad it took a possible life and
death situation for him to realize it.

When he was within five feet of touching
Max’s feet, he said, “Listen to me, Max. I’m going to get you down,
but I need you to stay calm, okay? Hang on tight and do exactly as
I tell you.”

He could just make out Max’s upper face, and
his heart broke over the stark fear in the kid’s eyes. Max was
smart, though. He stared straight ahead without looking down. Caleb
swallowed hard and reminded himself to focus. He’d never felt such
immense terror before, not even when under enemy fire overseas.

He managed to maneuver himself directly
beneath Max’s dangling feet. “All right, listen carefully, Max.
When I say so, I want you to slowly lower yourself until you’re
sitting on my shoulders. Once there, I can help you slide down
until your arms and legs are wrapped around me piggyback-style. Got
it?”

Max swallowed hard and gave a quick nod.
“I-I’m sorry. I wanted to get off, but the stupid guy wouldn’t
bring me down. So I-I tried to climb down.”

Jesus H. Christ. “We’ll talk about how
foolish that was later. What matters right now is getting you down
from here safe and sound.” Caleb steadied himself and made sure he
had a secure hold on the thick metal spoke. He had one foot braced
against the inner wheel, and his other leg wrapped around the same
spoke he held in a death grip. When he felt he had as secure a hold
as he could, he said, “Okay, Max, it’s time. Do exactly as I told
you to—and take your time.”

Max was quiet as a church mouse as he
tentatively lowered himself, one inch at a time. Caleb grasped his
ankle to help guide him; Max panicked and let out a choked cry.

“It’s okay, son. I’m not going to let you
fall. Just keep on—” Gears ground a split second before the Ferris
wheel jerked. Max screamed as his grip was torn loose and he fell.
Cries and shrieks from the crowd below rose up as Caleb caught Max
like a sack of potatoes only in reverse, as if Max had been sitting
on his shoulders and fell backward.

“I got you, buddy, you aren’t going anywhere.
Just close your eyes and breathe. Hear that siren? The fire truck
will be here any second.”

Caleb could feel Max’s heartbeat hammering
against his back. Please God, give me the strength to hold on until
the fire truck arrives.

And then it was there. The most welcome sight
Caleb had ever seen. He watched as the fire truck steered into
place, then several firemen climbed down and got to work.

In no time, an aerial ladder telescoped up to
them, and Caleb helped get Max safely into the firefighter’s arms.
By the time Caleb was safely on the ground, a sobbing Lauren had
Max crushed in her arms.

Caleb couldn’t even put words to the emotions
coursing through him. If he hadn’t been sure before, he had no
doubts now. He wanted Lauren, Max, and Emma in his life. And he
planned to stay in Redemption permanently. This was his home—always
had been in his heart, even if he’d been too angry for the past
twenty years to admit it.

Lauren reluctantly let Max go to be checked
for injuries, then rushed to Caleb’s side. Her beautiful face gazed
up at him, and all he could think about was how much he wanted to
kiss her.

“You saved my son’s life. I don’t even know
how to begin to pay you for that.”

Caleb reached out and cupped her cheek. “I’m
crazy about that boy. Emma, too.”

“And they’re crazy about you,” she countered,
her expression guarded.

He wondered if she was feeling as insecure
and vulnerable as he was right now. “Good to know. But what about
their mother? Any feelings of adoration there?”