Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

I knew that Jackie had something on her mind when I’d caught her—for the third time—peeking at me and then immediately looking away when she realized she’d been caught.

We still hadn’t talked about the Kaden situation. We just kept on pretending like everything was the same, which it technically should be. She had already known from the beginning.

Now that I’d had time to think about it, I had a feeling that she hadn’t said anything to anyone because then Clara would find out that she’d snooped through her account. And I wasn’t willing to throw her under the bus and get her in trouble either. It really wasn’t that big of a deal to me.

So I was a little surprised when she eventually wandered over and asked slowly and very sweetly, “Aurora?”

“What’s going on?” I asked as I flipped through one of the fishing magazines that we sold in the store. There was an article about rainbow trout that I wanted to check out. The more I learned about them, the more I realized fish were pretty interesting, honestly.

“Amos’s birthday is coming up.”

What? “Really? When?”

“On Wednesday.”

“How old is he turning? Sixteen?”

“Yeah . . . and I was wondering . . .”

I looked at her and smiled, hopefully encouraging her.

She smiled back. “Could I use your oven to make him a birthday cake? I want to surprise him. He says he doesn’t like or want one, but it’s his first one without his mom, and I don’t want him to be sad. Or get mad at me. And I’d order one from the bakery but they’re expensive,” she shot off, wringing her hands. “I thought I could make it the day before and then give it to him after I get there, so he’s not expecting it.”

I didn’t even have to think about it. “Sure, Jackie. That sounds nice.” I thought about offering to buy him a cake, but she seemed kind of excited to make it and I didn’t want to ruin it.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Come over Tuesday. I’ll put it in the fridge until you’re ready to get it.”

She squealed. “Yes! Thanks, Aurora!”

“You’re welcome.”

She smiled briefly before glancing away.

I figured I was going to have to get this over with once and for all. Clara was in the back. “You know we’re good, right?”

Her eyes drifted back over, her smile staying small and tight too.

I touched her arm. “It’s okay that you know. It used to be a secret, but it’s not anymore. I just don’t like telling people unless I have to. I’m not mad at all. We’re fine, Jackie. Okay?”

She nodded quickly, then hesitated before asking, “Are you going to tell Amos?”

“I will one day, but I’d like to be the one to tell him. But if you do accidentally, or if you don’t feel comfortable keeping it a secret, I understand that too.”

She seemed to think about it. “No, it’s your business. I’m just sorry I didn’t tell you.”

“It’s okay.”

It looked like she had something on her mind still, so I waited.

I knew I was right. “Can I ask you something?”

I nodded.

She seemed shy all of a sudden. “Did you really write his songs for him?” she whispered.

And that wasn’t what I’d thought she would pull out. I thought maybe she’d ask if he was cute in person or why we’d broken up or anything else. Not . . . that.

But I told her the truth. “Most of them. Not the last two albums.” I wasn’t taking credit for those hot messes.

Her eyes went wide. “But those you wrote were his best albums!”

I shrugged but inside . . . well, it was nice.

“I wondered what happened with the last two, but now it makes so much sense,” she claimed. “They sucked.”

Maybe I cared less and less every day about him and his career and his mom. I hadn’t even thought about them in weeks. But . . .

I still got a real kick out of it.

Suckers.

Jackie stuck to her plan. Since school had just gotten back in session, she walked over to the shop afterward and rode home with me, so that we wouldn’t alert Amos that she was there. I snuck her in and out of the house. And we baked the two layers of cake on pans she’d brought over from Clara’s, let them sit out and cool for an hour while she helped me work on a new puzzle. Then we’d decorated the cake to look like a massive Oreo with thick vanilla frosting between the layers and sprinkled cookie crumbs over it.

It looked amazing.

Jackie took about a thousand pictures of it.

And when the time came, she asked me quietly if I could carry it down the stairs for her the next day, and I agreed.

The next evening, I stood at the corner of the building and peeked as she walked over to the main house so slowly balancing that cake, you’d figure she was carrying something priceless. I only went back inside when Rhodes opened the door for her, smiling to myself. Hoping Amos loved it because Jackie had made it with so much effort and excitement.

He was a good kid. I was sure he would.

Speaking of . . .

We’d seen each other a few days ago, and he hadn’t said a word about his birthday coming up, but I’d stopped and got him a card anyway. I’d sneak it to him the next time we talked.

I was just beginning to sign it when someone knocked.

“Come in!” I hollered, figuring it was Jackie.

But the sound of heavier than normal footsteps had me freezing, and when I heard them on the landing, I turned around to find Rhodes there. Not Jackie or Amos.

We had seen each other since the day he’d found me at the trail. In passing. I’d waved at him from upstairs. He’d come in the other day while Amos and I had been in the garage and he’d checked out my elbows and hands, then sat through another half hour of his child singing. Very, very shyly but singing in front of us, which was a miracle in itself. I guessed he had been serious about the talent show he’d brought up around Yuki. Things had been . . . good.

And I had tried not to be confused over the little comments he’d dropped along the way.

Specifically him calling me the B-word.

And saying that thing about “who said I don’t like you?”

Now, he was standing there mere feet away from me in jeans, another T-shirt, and black slippers. But it was his wide eyes that interested me the most. “What the hell happened in here?” he asked, eyeing the clothes I had thrown all over the place and the shoes I had kicked off at opposite ends of the room. I was pretty sure he was standing about a foot away from a pair of panties too, to top it off.

I hadn’t cleaned up in . . . a while.

I grimaced when his gaze met mine. “The wind blew everything around?” I offered.

Rhodes blinked. The edges of his mouth tightened for a second before they were back to normal and he glanced up at the ceiling then looked back at me and said, in that dry, bossy voice, “Come on.”

“Where?”

“To the house,” he answered calmly, watching me with those intense gray eyes.

“Why?”

His eyebrows went up. “Do you always ask this many questions when someone’s trying to invite you somewhere?”

I thought about it and smiled. “No.”

The man tipped his head to the side, and his full mouth went flat. Was he trying to hide a smile behind that? His hands went to his hips. “Come to the house to get some pizza and cake, Buddy.”

I hesitated for a second. “Are you sure?”

His tightened mouth melted away, and he just looked at me. For a second. For two. Then he murmured, almost softly, “Yes, Aurora. I’m sure.”

I smiled. Maybe I should’ve asked if he was really sure, but I didn’t want him to take back the offer. So I held up a finger and said, “One minute. I was actually just in the middle of signing his birthday card.”

Rhodes dipped that cute cleft chin before shifting his attention back to the disaster that was the garage apartment. It wasn’t that bad, but I’d been in his house enough to know our interpretations of “clean” were pretty different. I didn’t have a sink full of dishes or overflowing trash cans, but my clothes had slowly stopped finding their way to my suitcase at some point . . .

But I focused back on the card and scribbled my friend a little message.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMOS!

I’m so happy we’re friends. Your talent is only overshadowed by your good heart.

Hugs,

Ora

P.S. Diarrhea

Might as well take it back to the moment that started it all, or at least the second moment.

I cackled a little before stuffing bills between the folded card. Then I glanced back at my landlord, who hadn’t moved an inch, and said, “I’m ready. Thank you for inviting me.”

He just looked at me as we walked side by side toward his house.

“Did you have a good day today?” I asked him, taking a peek at his silhouette.

His attention was forward, but his eyebrows were knitted together like he was worried about something. “No.” He let out a heavy sigh before shaking his head. “There was an accident with a little girl and her dad while I was on my way to the office.”

“Was it really bad?”

Rhodes nodded, his attention forward, eyes glassy. “They had to LifeFlight both of them to Denver.”

“That’s terrible. I’m sorry,” I said, lightly touching his elbow.

His throat bobbed, and I had a feeling he hadn’t even registered my touch.

“That’s so rough. I hope they’re okay. I hope you’re okay too. I’m sure that’s hard to witness.”

He wrung his hands almost subconsciously, picturing or thinking about who knows what, before finally shaking his head and saying in a troubled voice that pierced at my heart, telling me exactly how deeply the accident had gotten under his skin, “It’s hard not to picture it being Am.”

“I’m sure.”

He finally glanced at me, and that glassy gaze was still there. So were the lines on his forehead. “It probably doesn’t help that it’s his birthday.”

I just nodded, unsure of what to say to reassure or comfort him. So I waited a second until I went with the first thing that came to mind. “When is your birthday?”

If he was surprised by my question, his face didn’t register it. “March.”

“March what?”

“Fourth.”

“How old are you turning?”

“Forty-three.”

Forty-three. I raised my eyebrows. Then processed the number again.

If it weren’t for all the silver in his hair, he might look a lot younger. Then again, he looked exactly like the hottest forty-two-year-old I’d ever seen, and that was not a bad thing. Not by far.

“What are you?” he asked out of nowhere. “Twenty-six?”

I grinned at the same time he happened to glance down. “Thirty-three.”

That amazing silver head jerked. “No, you’re not.”

I winked. “Promise I am. Your kid has a copy of my driver’s license.”

Those gray eyes roamed my face for a moment before flicking even lower. The lines on his forehead were back. “You’re thirty-three?” he asked in what sounded like total disbelief.

“Thirty-four in May,” I confirmed.

He looked at me again, and I was pretty certain his gaze hung on my chest for a second longer than before. A very long extra second. Huh.

We were both quiet as we went up the deck and into the house. Johnny was standing in the kitchen, holding a can of beer with his eyes glued to the TV. On the couch, Amos and Jackie were sitting together, watching TV too. Some action movie was playing. There were three boxes of pizza sitting on the kitchen island.

And all three heads swiveled to look at me—and Rhodes by default—the second we stopped between the kitchen and the living room.

“Hi, birthday boy,” I called out, a little more shyly than I would’ve expected. “Hi, Jackie. Hi, Johnny.”

“Hi, Ora,” the teenager called out as Jackie hopped off the couch and came over to hug me, Johnny’s greeting ringing out too.

We were good together, but she had never really hugged me before, probably because of the awkwardness. Secrets and lies could do that to people.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Amos got to his feet and headed over too, looking like he wasn’t totally on board with the idea but resigned. I was winning this kid over slowly but surely. Just as Jackie pulled away, he gave me one of those little half smiles that I could only guess he’d learned from his dad and said, “Thanks for helping with the cake.”

“You’re welcome,” I told him. “Want a birthday hug?”

He hunched his shoulders, and I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around him, feeling his thin ones go up too, patting me on the back gently and awkwardly.

He was too precious.

When he stepped back, I thrust the card at him. “This was the best I could do on short notice, but happy birthday.”

He didn’t even really look at the card before taking it after glancing at Jackie. He opened it, his gaze moved across the inside of it, and his gray eyes flicked up to me. Then he surprised the shit out of me.

He smiled.

And I knew in that moment that the second he hit his next growth spurt, this kid was going to have the same effect his father did on humanity.

Someone was going to need to protect him from the sexual vultures.

Then again, if he developed his dad’s scowl, maybe not.

He was just a sweet kid for now.

And that smile stayed on his face as he pulled out the wad of fives and ones. Then he said, “Hold on,” went to his room, and came back empty-handed. His lips were pinched, but his words were clear. “Thanks, Aurora.”

“You’re welcome.”

“What? I don’t get to see it?” his uncle asked.

“No,” Amos replied.

I snickered and another glance at Rhodes showed me his mouth was twisting.

“Why?” the uncle asked.

“Because it’s mine.”

“Can I see it?” Jackie asked, bouncing on her tiptoes.

“Later.”

Johnny snickered. “Rude.”

“Now that Ora’s here, can we eat?” the birthday boy asked.

Apparently, the answer was yes. There was a stack of plates on the counter waiting already. I took one and moved, going to stand next to Johnny, who looked down at me and smiled.

“Hey,” he greeted.

“Hey,” I answered. “How are you?”

“Great, you?”

“Pretty great too. Did you go out with that waitress after all?”

He chuckled. “No. She never called me back.”

“Did you check out someone else’s butt on your date or . . . ?”

He started laughing.

“If you two are done flirting, what kind of pizza do you want, Buddy?” Rhodes’s voice came sharp.

We were flirting? Was he serious? I was just joking. Johnny made his eyes go wide, and I lifted my shoulders, helplessly. Okay.

And it wouldn’t hit me until much later that no one else had reacted to the “Buddy.” Only me.

Grabbing two slices of supreme pizza, I sprinkled some parmesan on it before heading to the table where the kids were. I sat next to Jackie, and then Johnny sat on my other side with Rhodes taking a seat beside his son.

Where the extra chairs had come from, I didn’t know.

Jackie was in the middle of asking Amos if his grandpa was coming over this weekend or next, and the next thing I knew, the birthday boy focused on me and asked, “Are you doing any more hikes before it snows?”

I had just stuck a huge slice of pizza into my mouth and had to chew through it fast before I got out, “Yeah, but I need to start checking the weather.”

“What are your options?” That was Rhodes who asked.

I told them the names of the two easy trails that were less than two miles round trip. Honestly, I was still a little traumatized. I had scars on my palms and knees, damn it. “Why? You want to go again? I was probably going to go on Saturday. Clara’s closing the shop at noon to get the carpets cleaned.”

“I want to go,” Jackie piped up.

Three heads turned to look at her.

She frowned. “What?”

“You get winded walking to the garage apartment,” Amos muttered.

“No, I don’t.”

“We went to do Piedra River, and you stopped half a mile in and refused to hike any more,” he kept going.

“Yeah, so?”

“One of the hikes is one mile round trip and the other is two,” Rhodes explained to her, carefully but firmly.

The girl grimaced, and I tried my best to bite back a smile. “I’ll let you know when I do a shorter one. If I do a shorter one. I guess if I’m still here next year.”

I was smiling when I made eye contact with Rhodes.

His jaw was tight. And out of the corner of my eye, I saw Amos was making a weird face. Why were they looking at me like that?

Before I could think about it too much, Jackie started talking about how unfair they were being because she used to hike all the time, and I focused on that for a while, at least until the urge to pee came at my bladder like a bomb.

“I’ll be right back, I need to use the bathroom,” I told them, pushing the chair back.

I headed straight for the half-bathroom I remembered seeing on my other visits over. I peed and started washing my hands, and it was when I reached for a towel that I happened to look down and saw something small and brown run across the floorboard. I froze.

Leaning over just a little, I peeked around the toilet and saw it again.

Two little eyes.

One bare tail.

About two inches long.

It darted off, disappearing around the trash can.

I wasn’t proud of myself . . . but I screamed. Not loud, but it was still a scream.

And then I got the hell out of there.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure I’d ever moved so fast going down the hall, thankful I’d seen him after I’d pulled my pants on and zipped them up, going as far away from the bathroom as possible.

Which ended up being the kitchen.

Rhodes was standing by the island, tearing paper towels off when he noticed me coming. A frown came over his face. “What’s—”

“There’s a mouse in the bathroom!” I squeaked and went past him, pretty much leaping onto the stool beside the counter, then jumping from there to the back of the couch with a frantic look toward the floor to make sure I hadn’t been followed.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Amos stood up so fast the chair he was in fell backward, and the next thing I knew, he’d leaped onto the couch and ended up beside me, his butt propped up on the back of it, legs dangling inches off the floor in the air. Johnny and Jackie either didn’t care or were so stunned by Amos and me that they hadn’t moved a single inch from the table.

“A rat?” Rhodes asked from the exact same spot he’d been in.

I shook my head at him, exhaling hard to try and bring my heart rate down. “No, a mouse.”

His eyebrows crept up about a half-inch, but I noticed it. “You’re screaming because of a mouse?” Did he have to ask so slowly?

I swallowed. “Yes!”

He blinked. Beside me, Amos suddenly snorted deep in his throat like he hadn’t knocked his chair over. Then I noticed that Rhodes’s chest was shaking.

“What?” I asked, eyeing the floor again.

His chest was shaking even more, and he barely managed to wheeze out, both eyes squeezing closed, “I . . . I didn’t know you were into parkour.”

Amos snorted again, lowering his legs and planting his feet.

“You backflipped onto the table . . .” Rhodes choked out.

He was wheezing. The son of a bitch was wheezing.

“No, I did not!” I argued, starting to feel just a little bit . . . foolish. I hadn’t. I didn’t know how to backflip.

“You jumped from the island to the couch,” Rhodes kept going, raising a fist to hold it right in front of his nose.

He could barely talk.

“Your face . . . Ora, it was so white,” Am started, bottom lip starting to tremble.

I pressed my lips together and stared at my favorite traitor. “My soul left my body for a second, Am. And you didn’t exactly walk over here either, okay?”

Rhodes, who decided that this was what he was going to find hilarious, barely choked out, “You looked like you saw a ghost.”

Amos burst out laughing.

Then Rhodes burst out laughing.

One quick glance confirmed that Johnny was chuckling too. Jackie was the only one giving me a smile. I was glad someone had a heart.

They were cracking up, totally and completely cracking up.

“You know, I hope it crawls into one of your mouths for being so mean to me,” I muttered, joking. Mostly.

Rhodes grinned so wide, he came over and slapped his son on the back while they both kept laughing.

At me.

But together.

And maybe I wasn’t going to be able to sleep tonight now, worried there might be a mouse next door, but it would be worth it.