Love Inspired May 2015 #2 (30 page)

“Sorry,” the woman said. “My daughter is waving to me to leave.”

Jared watched her scurry off. She'd probably find out soon enough that they weren't a family, nice or otherwise. He glanced sideways at Becca and the girls. But for a moment, he was going to let himself forget about all of the complications in his life and allow himself to pretend.

Chapter Ten

“C
ome on, guys, get a move on.” Becca herded the kids out to the car. It was her week to open The Kids' Place at six-forty-five to be ready for parents who had to drop their kids off at seven. Brendon dragged himself out and into the backseat, a stark contrast to Ari, who bounced out and chatted away as Becca checked the buckle on her booster seat.

“You're awful quiet this morning,” she said to her son. “Too early for you?”

“No.”

Becca glanced at the rearview mirror. He was staring out the side window. She knew he'd rather not have to go to day care with her every day. None of his friends did. But it was only one summer. Next year, God willing, her finances would be better and she'd be able to stay home with Brendon and Ari as she had other summers. She bit her lip. Unless Matt sued her successfully for joint custody and her child support payments were reduced.

“Mom,” Brendon said after she'd driven a couple of miles. “I think Dad wants us to come to his house next weekend.”

“Did he call you last night?” She tried to keep her voice nonchalant. Ever since Matt had given Brendon the cell phone, he and the Sheriff had been calling Brendon rather than her about arranging visits, in violation of their custody agreement. Usually, Brendon brought the phone right to her.

“He must have called after I fell asleep. He left a voice message. He sounds funny like before he left and he used to come home late and you guys would fight.”

Becca gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles were white. Brendon had been a toddler then. Her heart sunk. She'd had no idea he'd heard or remembered.

“Here, listen. He says something about coming to get us or Grandpa coming to get us on Friday and something about Florida.” Brendon played the message.

Matt was clearly drunk. As Brendon had said, Matt rambled on about coming to get the kids on Friday and, then, about the Sheriff and Debbie bringing Brendon and Ari to Connecticut on Friday. After that, he went off about Florida and his job and Disney World.

She swallowed the bile in her throat. “Does your father ever sound like that when you stay with him?”

“He did a little after the picnic he took us to.”

Her shoulders tensed. “Did he drive you home after the picnic?”

“No, Grandpa drove us. Dad and Crystal rode in their 370z. It only has two seats.”

“Promise me you won't get in the car with him or let Ari if you see that your father's been drinking beer or anything else with alcohol or if he sounds funny like that.”

“We always ride with Grandpa and Grandma. She says it's too much of a pain to move Ari's booster seat.” Brendon's voice dropped a couple decibels. “But I think she knows Dad drinks too much.”

The pain she felt for Brendon overshadowed her tension. “Promise me, anyway.”

“I promise. I'm not stupid. I've seen the TV commercials. So, do we have to go to Dad's or what? Grandpa says we have to go to Dad and Crystal's whenever they say. It's in some agreement you guys have.”

Now wasn't the time to explain her and Matt's agreement, but if Matt was going to start using his visitation rights, the kids, Brendon especially, were old enough to know the basic details. And, as sad as it made her, she needed to sit Ari down and talk with her in six-year-old terms about not riding with Matt if he'd been drinking.

“I'll talk to your dad and Grandma or Grandpa.”

“Tell them this weekend isn't good for me. Remember, it's Ian's birthday and they're having a campout party at the lake.”

“I remember.”

“I don't want to go, either,” Ari said. “Crystal doesn't like us and Daddy smells funny like he has bad breath.”

“I said I'd talk to your dad.” Old memories and fears made her voice sharper than she mean it to be. “We'll work something out.”

None of them said anything for the rest of the drive. She'd always honored their visitation agreement, which gave Matt the right to have the kids every other weekend. She'd generously given that right to the Nortons on many of the weekends in the past when Matt hadn't wanted them. She could honor the letter of the agreement, but she couldn't force the kids to
want
to spend time with their father. With the Sheriff pressuring her about her vote on Jared's racing school and his keeping tabs on her, now wasn't the time to tell Brendon and Ari they didn't have to go to their father's if they didn't want to. That would give Matt and the Nortons a legitimate reason to take her to Family Court, not that
she
didn't have one.

Talking to her ex-in-laws about Matt's drinking and her concern for the kids wasn't a real option, despite Debbie's possible realization that Matt had a problem. She'd tried before, and the Sheriff had dismissed her concerns, saying it was part of Matt's job to socialize. Becca wasn't at all sure Debbie would go against her husband, even for the kids. The one person she
would
talk with was her attorney to see if she had any recourse other than the one Becca wanted to spare the kids—Family Court.

She turned in to the church parking lot. It would help her if she could talk with someone who knew where she was coming from. Becca ran through her options. Her pastor was out. Although Connor had a firsthand understanding, he'd been one of her history students. It would be weird. The only other person she knew who would understand her fears and what the kids might be feeling was Jared. And she was trying her best not to let their relationship cross the line from casual friends to close personal friends.

* * *

Once the other day-care teachers began arriving, Becca left the parent greeting to them and went back to the office to try to catch Matt on the phone before he left for work.

“Hello,” Crystal answered in a jovial tone.

“Hi. It's Becca. Is Matt there?”

“No.” Crystal dropped the cheerfulness. “He's at the office.”

For a moment, Becca considered bypassing Matt altogether and telling Crystal that the kids couldn't come this weekend, like he and the Sheriff tried to sidestep her by calling Brendon.
No, that would be sinking to their level.

“Thanks, I'll call him there.” She hung up and punched in the other phone number.

“Good morning, Matt Norton.”

“Matt, we need to talk about the kids' visit next weekend. They won't be able to come. Brendon's best friend is having a birthday party campout on Saturday.”

“Mom and Dad are bringing the kids again?”

He didn't even remember calling Brendon. Becca grit her teeth. “You left a drunken message on Brendon's phone that seemed to say that.”

“Don't start,” he warned.

“Or what? You'll take me to Family Court for full custody?” Becca let her anger get the best of her.

Matt backed off. “This weekend is bad for us, too. And Crystal's complaining that it seems like Mom and Dad are bringing them down here every weekend.”

Every other weekend, as our custody agreement stipulates.
“Good,” she said. “I'll tell Brendon that he can go to the party. I've already talked with him about your drinking and not riding with you when you're drunk.”

“You what?”

“I talked with him about your drinking, and I'm going to talk with Ari. I won't have you putting them in danger.

“Come on.”

Becca cut him short. “We're done. Goodbye.” She hung up before he could go into one of his tirades and closed her eyes until she'd stopped shaking.

“Hey.” Jared's voice startled her. “I'm here to register Hope for day care. Karen said to come back and that she'd keep Hope with her class until I finished.”

“Come in. I'm glad you and your brothers decided to sign her up.”

He placed a manila folder on her desk and pulled a chair over. “We figure we can use all of the help we can get. Gram has been great. Hope's used to having a grandmother mother figure. But I'm out of my element.” He dropped his gaze. “You know my dad wasn't much of a father. Much of a man, really. I want to do what's right for Hope.”

Becca got up and closed the door for privacy. Any teachers or kids passing by in the hall didn't need to hear their conversation. She'd do the same for any parent enrolling his or her child.

“Thanks,” he said as she sat back down.

She reassured him. “You probably know more about parenting than you think. You used to take care of your brothers for your mother.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, Mom needed the help.”

“And you gave it to her. They've both grown into decent Christian men.”

“I'm not sure what part I had in that. I left home when Josh was fourteen and Connor was eleven, and Dad was getting worse. I wasn't there for them or Mom when they needed me.”

“You were eighteen, no older than the kids in my senior classes. You wanted to get on with your life.”

His voice dropped. “That's why I came back. For them, and to help other kids here like us, like Hope, and parents like Mom who need support with their kids. The only way I know to help is motocross racing. It's what I know. It's what helped me.”

Becca's heart filled with warmth that he was letting her see inside him. She suspected it wasn't something he did often or lightly.

He stopped. “Sorry.”

“You don't have to be sorry for sharing with me.”

“No, about bringing up my project after Tom's talk with us the other night. I don't want to put you in a touchy position.”

“Telling me what's behind your wanting to build your track here won't cause a conflict of interest. In fact, it may help me clarify things and, when the time comes, make the best decision for everyone.”

“But that's not why I'm here. I'm here to register Hope.” His crooked smile spoke his embarrassment at making Becca privy to his private feelings.

“Move your chair around next to me, and I'll go over your application and our basic rules and objectives here at the center.”

Although her invitation had been no different than she would have given any parent registering a child, the office walls seemed to close in once Jared had moved his chair. Becca blocked out the faint scent of his woodsy aftershave and concentrated on reviewing the papers he'd brought and answering his questions.

“That should do it.” She placed his application and the other documentation the center needed in a pile on her desk and closed his folder. “Any other questions?”

She looked up to see him staring at her intently.

“No, I'm good. Thanks. For everything. Your and the VBS volunteers' acceptance of Hope means so much to me—and Connor and Josh.” He leaned toward her.

Her thoughts flitted to how he'd comforted her after dinner at her house, how she felt in his arms. She let his gaze draw her in and stilled as he lowered his head. So much for keeping her distance. He was going to kiss her. And against her better judgment, she was going to let him. She met his lips and he brushed them across hers. Calm rained over her, silencing the kernel of doubt that had started to say
good girls don't.

A sharp rap on the office door jerked them apart.

“Becca.” Leanne opened the door and glanced from her to Jared. “I didn't know you had someone with you.”

“Jared's registering Hope for day care.”
And pulling the foundation of my carefully controlled life out from under me.
“We just finished.”

Leanne continued to look at Jared. Did she suspect something? No, that was silly. What could she suspect? Becca always closed the door for parent interviews.

“What's up?” she asked.

“We're short on juice for snack. I wanted to get the debit card to run up to the store for some.”

Becca unlocked the top drawer of the desk, retrieved the card and handed it to Leanne.

“Thanks,” Leanne said and left.

Jared lifted the folder from the desk. “One more thing.”

Becca's heart constricted. He
wasn't
going to apologize for the kiss, say it was a mistake. She wouldn't let him. She could have stopped him. If she'd wanted to.

“I don't think I have Hope's booster seat fastened in my truck correctly. I was reading that seventy-five percent of kids' car seats are installed wrong or are the wrong size for the kid. I figured car seats would be something you'd know about.”

A laugh of relief bubbled out. Leave it to a man to look up and quote statistics. “Car seats
are
something I know about. The beginning of the summer, we had one of the sheriff deputies come and do an on-site inspection for any of our parents who wanted one.”

“Great. Can you check Hope's? I'll go get her.”

They walked to Karen Hill's classroom and Hope ran to the doorway to meet them.

“Are you done already? Mrs. Hill was going to read a story. Then we're going to draw pictures about the story and have juice and granola bars.”

“I am done, pumpkin,” Jared said. “You can come back tomorrow and stay all afternoon.”

Hope's face crumpled, then brightened. “If you let me stay, I'll do whatever Mrs. Hill says.”

Becca's throat ached.
Exactly like Ari—and me—always wanting to do things right.
No wonder Hope and Ari had become fast friends. Hope had had so much upheaval in her young life. Becca could understand her uncertainty and wanting to please others. But Ari had had a lot of constants in her life—her, the Nortons, Becca's parents and her brother and his family, even though they didn't live close by. A lot of constants until this summer, when all of a sudden Matt had decided he wanted his visitation time.

Becca stood on her toes to speak into Jared's ear so only he could hear, his clean masculine scent making her nearness to him feel more intimate than it was. “Since we have all of Hope's paperwork it would be all right for her to stay the rest of the day. I know Karen won't mind.”