Teague (2 page)

She was upset. He could tell.

“Look, ah…”

She nailed him with a look that was cold as hell. “Sabrina.”

Right.
“Sabrina. I ah…your husband.” Wow. He was making a mess of this. “I’m sorry about…I didn’t know.”

Okay. He should just shut the hell up. Teague took a couple steps back and swore when he nearly fell over the side of the stupid Adirondack chair he’d vacated moments earlier.

He was tired. Anxious. More than a little on edge. And he sure as hell didn’t want to deal with any of this. Not the kids or their damn dog, and certainly not their mother. He glared across the deck at the invaders. He wanted to be alone. That was it. End of story.

Once more Sabrina Campbell nudged her kids in the opposite direction, but paused before following them around the side of the house and the down the stairs leading to ground level.

“I’ll make sure the kids don’t bother you again.”

“That’s not what I meant.” But his reply was weak and he knew it.

“Yes it was but it’s fine. I get that you’re going through stuff. I get that you need to be alone. I get that you don’t want to hear my kids or the dog. Trust me. I get it. I’ve been there. But you don’t have to be rude.”

She took another step away from him.

“Also? We wear clothes up here and those boxers don’t really cut it. I don’t need my daughter telling my mother-in-law about the half-naked man living beside us because if she comes up here, you’ll never get any of that peace and quiet you want.” She shook her head. “And neither will I.”

Sabrina disappeared from sight and for a few moments Teague was silent, his eyes staring into space before dropping down to the white sports briefs he wore.

With a sigh, he headed inside. Sabrina Campbell wasn’t a fan of his choice of underwear. Huh. For whatever reason that thought brought a ghost of a smile to his face.

Though the smile faded almost as soon as the thought fled. Teague stripped and walked into the shower, letting the water slide over him until it ran cold.

And for a few moments, he forgot about everything.

Sabrina Campbell’s head felt as if it was going to explode. Seriously. Could this day be over already? It was almost dinnertime and she’d just now made it to the grocery store. It had taken her more hours than she cared for to unpack and organize their things—partly because there was a lot, but mostly because she couldn’t seem to focus on any one thing.

With two energetic kids running around, focus was something she needed to work on. Good God, she’d had to tell Harry at least five times not to wander over to the cottage next door. Teague Simon was someone she had no desire to tangle with anytime soon and he’d made it more than clear that he wanted nothing to do with her or her kids.

She scowled at the thought and her cheeks flushed with anger. Who the hell did he think he was anyway? She’d only been doing his brother Jack a favor.

“Whatever,” she muttered.

“Can we get these?”

She glanced at her son and frowned, shaking her head and reaching for the bag of chips that he clutched in his hands.

“But, mommy they’re my favorite ones. I love pickles.” Harry’s fingers tightened around the bag and he stared up at her with eyes so much like Brent’s that it made her heart ache.. With long curls hanging over his left brow and a mouth that was full and rosy, he looked like an angel. “Daddy used to buy them for me.”

Daddy
. One word that could bring her to her knees. One word that still hurt like hell.

She paused, muscles tight across her shoulders, and had to take a few moments because she thought that just maybe she was going to lose it. And Sabrina Campbell couldn’t afford to lose it. No way. Especially not in the grocery store. Old Mrs. Leads still worked the express cash and all Sabrina needed was for the woman to report back to Sabrina’s mother-in-law. If that happened the peace she so desperately needed would be lost.

Hazards of a small resort town where everybody knew everyone.

“Harry,” she began calmly, smiling at an elderly man who nudged past them. “We already have enough junk food to last us weeks.”

“But I want these ones,” he said, thrusting out his chin.

“Fine,” she replied. “Then we’ll have to put something else back.”

“Okay.” Harry shrugged. “Let’s put back the Cheetos.”

That almost got a smile out of her. “But those are Morgan’s favorite.”

Harry shook his head. “Not really. She likes these ones too.”

With a sigh Sabrina rooted through the full shopping cart until she found the bag of plain potato chips. “Put these back Harry.”

“But I like those with the dip.”

Pain spliced across her forehead and she counted to three. “Harry,” she said softly—dangerously so.

“But—”

“Put the plain chips back or you get nothing.”

This time her tone was sharp and when his bottom lip trembled a bit, she felt like crap, but dammit, was it too much to ask for them to get through their grocery order quickly so she could get back to the cottage? All she wanted was a quiet night on the sofa with a book she’d pretend to read and a glass of wine to calm her nerves.

She watched Harry march across the aisle and place the plain potato chips back on the shelf before returning to her side and putting his precious dill pickle chips on top of everything else.

“Are we done?” he asked, eyes downcast. “I’m hungry.”

She blew out a long breath, tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and ran a critical eye over her cart. “I think so.” If she forgot anything, a quick trip back to town in the morning was a better idea than spending one more minute here tonight.

“Let’s go.”

Sabrina glanced behind her and then darted a look back to Harry. “Where’s your sister?”

He looked behind Sabrina and pointed. “She was right there looking at the cookies.”

Irritated, tired, and now a little anxious, Sabrina pushed her cart forward. “Let’s find her and go home. I’ll get takeout from Burger Mania. Sound good?”

Harry said something, but Sabrina wasn’t exactly sure what it was because as she rounded the end of the aisle and went down the next one, her anxiety mounted. Morgan was nowhere in sight. She continued past the rice and pasta aisle and turned down the next one. Again, no Morgan.

Trying not to panic, she increased her speed, whispering fiercely at Harry to keep up. Her heart was beating erratically, like a drum—thump, thump, thump—and as a wash of heat rolled over her, she leaned into her grocery cart because she felt dizzy.

Oh my god! Where is she?

Sabrina squeezed her eyes shut for a second, desperately trying to blot out the nightmare she’d been having off and on since Brent passed away. The fear of losing her children—the fear of being alone—made her gag and with a strangled grunt she broke out into a jog and pushed her cart toward the dairy aisle, eyes wild as she continued forward.

What if someone had snatched her precious Morgan while she was arguing with Harry over a stupid bag of chips?

“Morgan,” she whispered fiercely, eyeing a young couple a few feet away. “Have you seen a little girl? Dark braids and blue eyes?” she asked. “She’s wearing a Spiderman T-shirt?” They shook their heads and she didn’t bother to reply as she raced toward the produce aisle. If Morgan wasn’t there, she didn’t know what the hell she’d do.

“Mommy,” Harry shouted, trying to keep up.

“Not now,” she snapped.

The elderly man she’d seen earlier was bent over a bushel of tomatoes and a bunch of teenagers were nearby, gathered around the apples and oranges. A couple of the girls kept glancing to their right, elbowing each other and giggling. Sabrina followed their gaze and spied Teague Simon.

He’d shaved and showered—that much was obvious—was dressed in faded khaki shorts, an old Rolling Stones T-shirt, and flip flops. A Yankee ball cap kept half of his face hidden, but the generous mouth and masculine jaw was unmistakable. His height, broad shoulders, and tattoos gave him an air of danger so she got the girls interest.

But she didn’t care about any of that. All she cared about was…

The little dark-haired girl who was talking animatedly and staring up at him with a look Sabrina knew all to well. Her daughter was on a mission and what that mission happened to be, Sabrina had no idea. But Morgan was in the thick of it.

Her daughter’s hands were on her hips and her little mouth moved a mile a minute. Any other time, Sabrina would have taken a second to enjoy the spunkiness of her mini-me. But right now, the panic of nearly losing her was all too real and she moved forward, a heavy frown in place when she brought her cart to a halt.

“Morgan Anderson Campbell,” she said, the words strangled a bit because she could barely catch her breath. “How many times have I warned you never to wander away?
Jesus
.” Sabrina ran her hands across her forehead. “You had me scared silly.”

Morgan’s eyes widened, immediately filling with tears. “Mommy, I’m sorry. I was following Tigger and—“

“Tigger?” Sabrina asked.

Morgan nodded and pointed at Teague. “I wanted to say sorry for sneaking up on him in his underwear.”

“She’s pretty adamant about wanting to let me know how sorry she is.”

Teague’s deep, raspy voice caught her attention and she glanced up at him, a frown still firmly in place. His eyes were in shadow and she couldn’t get a read on him, but his body language was much more relaxed than it had been this morning.

“I’m sorry she bothered you again,” Sabrina said, motioning toward Morgan. “We’re done and we need to go so that I can get some dinner into you.”

“Burger Mania,” Harry shouted.

“But Mommy, I was just telling Tigger—“

For the love of Pete. Sabrina took a minute to calm herself. “His name is Teague.”

Morgan’s eyebrows furrowed and she turned back to the man in question. “But he said that I could call him Tigger. Like from Winnie the Pooh. It’s going to be his nickname and he tolded me that he doesn’t mind.”

“Morgan,” Sabrina bit out, but her daughter’s attention was on Teague.

“My great-granny says that nicknames are special. She likes hers. We call her Ninny. But I think it’s because she hates her real name.”

“And what’s that?” Teague asked, eyes on Morgan.

Morgan scrunched up her nose and giggled. “Enid.”

“Huh,” Teague replied, a small smile on his face as he tossed a bunch of bananas into his cart. “I guess that makes sense.”

He turned his attention back to Sabrina, pushing the brim of his hat up a bit. For one second their eyes met, and something strange happened. She became hyper aware as if all of her senses suddenly were on full alert. She felt the cool air circulating from the vents above her. Heard the old man rummaging through the vegetable bins. And those eyes of Teague’s were relentless. It felt as if he could see right through her and the sensation was disturbing.

Harry might have pulled on her arm. Morgan might have jumped up and down. Or maybe nothing happened at all because in that
moment,
a rush of something rolled through Sabrina. Whatever it was made her heart speed up. Her breathing quickened. Her stomach rolled painfully.

And she was hot.

Confused she glanced away, exhaling and trying to get her wits together. This day had been too long. She needed it to be over.

“Your daughter was just telling me that I should eat a banana every day.”

“Did she,” Sabrina managed to say, eyes on Morgan.

“I did Mommy. I told him that if he ate bananas and blueberries, he wouldn’t get the cancer because they’re good for you. Right Mommy?”

And there it was. The thing that she could never get away from. The ‘C’ word. Sabrina’s heart twisted. Her children had heard and seen so much in their short lives. Things they could never un-see or un-hear.

Their father weak from chemo and struggling just to walk. Or puking in a bowl while they watched television.

An awkward silence fell between them and then Harry yanked on Morgan’s arm. “Come on! Mommy’s taking us to Burger Mania and then she said we could watch a movie before bed. Like the whole movie until the end and everything.”

Morgan skipped toward Sabrina, the sweetest smile on her face when she looked over her shoulder at the man who stood watching them in silence.

“Goodbye Tigger,” she squealed, running after her brother.

Sabrina cleared her throat and turned the cart to follow her kids up to the cashier. “I’m sorry, she’s full of beans.”

His eyes were dark and direct and the gold flecks made them luminous. She saw something in them. Something she recognized and she swallowed, mouth suddenly dry. She was filled with the urge to run which was ridiculous. Sabrina was an adult. But Teague Simon was much too intense and she was way too tired to deal with him.

“I was an asshole this morning.”

Sabrina took a moment. In fact she took a couple before smoothing the front of her T-shirt and clearing her throat. She didn’t look up because she couldn’t. Because she didn’t want to.

“Yeah. You were.” She said no more because she had nothing else, and headed to the front of the store with her kids.

Hours later, she stood alone in the dark, eyes on the water. It was quiet with only a few stars to light the night sky, and she shivered, cold from the damp. She couldn’t shake the heaviness inside her, and damn, but it weighed a lot. It wrapped around her shoulders and settled in like an old friend.

It made her so weary; so tired of everything. And sometimes it made her tired of
life
. If it wasn’t for her kids…

Sabrina gave herself a mental shake and pushed back from the railing that ran the length of her deck. She couldn’t go down that road again. Not now. She knew that if she did, she would lose herself. Hell, she’d barely made it back the last time.

Instead she turned, but paused, catching the scent of tobacco—a cigar if she wasn’t mistaken. Eyes on the Simon cottage, she spied the soft glow from the tip of a cigar and the silhouette of a man.

She watched him draw from the cigar once more as he too faced the darkness and the lake, blowing lazy circles of smoke into the air. In the distance an owl hooted, it’s eerie cry echoing across the water.