2. Chapter 2

One minute, I was making out with my girlfriend in my Pops' barn. The next, he was yelling at us to get out. Pops never yelled at anyone, least of all me, so it was a shock to my system. Then he made it sound like this might be a regular occurrence for me, and Cheyenne stiffened in my arms, her accusing eyes lifting to meet mine.

I was about to be disrespectful to my Pops for the first time in my life when I caught his eyes looking past where we were sitting in the hay that had been piled up. My eyes followed his line of sight, and I was shocked as hell to see there was a girl sitting there with her knees pulled up damn near to her chest. The only thing stopping those two parts of her body from meeting was a notebook.

She was familiar looking, though I couldn't place who she was or why she might be in my grandfather's barn. It didn't matter that she was a stranger. My heart lodged in my throat as I watched a single tear track down her face. The girl looked so fucking sad that I could feel it in my own soul. Her dark eyes shuttered closed for a moment as her head tilted down to shelter herself from being seen.

"You two need to go," Pops said, drawing my attention back to him.

"Shit." The word slipped free before I could pull it back. I got Cheyenne out of there before she even noticed that there was another person in the barn. There was no way to tell how she would have reacted to another girl being there, especially after what my Pops had said in anger. I jumped in my truck and started it up before I realized Cheyenne was just standing there staring at me like I'd grown two heads.

She huffed and then moved to the car that was parked on the other side of my truck. Fuck! That was going to go over like a ball of fucking lead. I forgot she met me here because she had to meet her parents in town later.

"Cheyenne," I called out to her as I hopped back out of my truck.

She flipped me off and left. That was going to require some groveling to fix later. Right then, curiosity got the better of me instead of worries about my girlfriend. I moved quietly back into the barn to observe whatever the fuck was going on with the stowaway in there. Pops had called the girl by name, so she wasn't just some random kid crashing in his barn.

I stuck to the shadows and creeped close enough to overhear what they were saying.

"What in the hell are you apologizing for?"

The girl removed her headphones as she shook her head, causing the dark brown locks to fall further into her face and obscure my view of her. "I didn't hear them come in. I came to get away and," her eyes dropped to the sketchpad in her lap, "try to forget."

"What did she do, Posie?"

What the hell could that mean? Cheyenne hadn't even known she was there. I was about to step in and tell Pops that before this little waif of a girl made up stories to go with her fake tears, but her head slowly did that back-and-forth motion again, almost as if she didn't even realize he was answering him that way.

"I'm sorry that I didn't say anything to them when I realized they were here, but they didn't see me, and by the time I noticed, it would have been embarrassing."

I watched as my grandfather pulled her into a hug, as if she was one of his own kin. It was weird to see, since I still didn't even know who the hell she was.

"No one ever really sees me, so I just stayed invisible, Jack."

Damn. I might not have known the girl, but once again, my heart ached for her. What the hell had she been through to make her feel that way? And who in the hell was she to my grandfather? I couldn't interrupt them to ask Pops, so I turned and left, knowing someone who might be able to tell me something. Unfortunately, I wasn't as stealthy on my way out because I tripped and the barn door ended up slamming shut, giving away the fact that I'd been there.

The whole way back to my house, I couldn't get the look of the girl's tearstained face out of my mind. The sadness seemed to weigh her down and make her appear smaller than she probably was. Then again, being all bunched up and hidden in the corner like that didn't help much.

"Dad!" I yelled the minute I got out of the truck. I'd seen him under the hood of my mom's car. There probably wasn't anything wrong with it. He just liked to tinker on engines. Still, his head popped up immediately and his grimy face offered up a bright smile in contrast as he flashed me his pearly whites.

"What's going on Max?"

"We need to talk about Pops," I stated.

The smile slipped from his face as he closed the hood of my mom's car and started wiping his hands on the rag he had hanging from his back jeans pocket. "What about Pops?" He asked. Then, as if an epiphany hit, he chuckled. "Let me guess? He caught you taking your girl to the barn?"

"How in the hell?" Was the old man psychic or what?

Dad kept right on chuckling. "Son, your fly is down, hair's a mess, and if I'm not mistaken, that's hay you have on your shirt."

"I guess nothing gets by you," I tossed back, full of sarcasm. "Except maybe that Pops is keeping a sad little mouse of a girl in his barn."

"What did you just say?" My dad asked, obviously stunned by what I'd just thrown at him.

"She didn't even make a peep to let Cheyenne and me know she was there. Just watched us making out and…"

"And?"

"And she was crying." For some reason that admission made me feel equal parts guilty and responsible for those tears, even though it was in no way my fault that she was squatting in my Pops' barn.

"You didn't by chance catch the girl's name, did you?" My father asked, and for the first time, I realized he wasn't all that surprised.

"Pops called her Posie."

Dad nodded his head and started walking toward the porch. "Let's go sit down while I explain a few things to you."

I followed along, suddenly worried about having left Pops there alone with the girl. I wasn't worried he was being inappropriate, but maybe that she might be taking advantage of him.

"Do you remember Eric Gamble?"

"The guy that was killed in the combine accident on the farm across from Pops'?"

"That's the one." Dad stared at me, as if that should be answer enough to all the questions I had. When I didn't clue in, he sighed heavily. "He left behind a wife and daughter. Max…" Another heavy sigh blanketed the pause before he looked me directly in the eyes. "What I'm about to say is not fodder for school rumors, you hear?"

"Yeah." He waited a moment, assessing me, as if he didn't believe that I'd keep whatever he had to tell me quiet. The sincerity in my eyes must have finally swayed him because he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, after taking a seat in one of the chairs. He promptly set his chin on his fists, and then sighed again.

"Eric and I were good friends. We grew up across the street from one another and often helped out on one another's farms when it was required. We were best friends for a long time."

I didn't know that. "What happened?" I asked because Alex Cole was my dad's best friend since my earliest memories.

A small smile split his otherwise serious face for a minute. "Your mom happened."

"Mom?" A light started to dawn on the topic. Former best friends and my mom. "I'm guessing you won the battle for her heart?"

"There was never really a battle. We saw her at the same time, but she immediately gravitated toward me. I was, uh, sort of seeing someone at the time. So, Eric thought he had a shot with Sharon."

"You cheated on someone to get with Mom?" I asked, unable to believe it because my parents always preached to us about loyalty and staying true to the one you loved. I'd never been in love, so that hadn't ever been a lesson I did more than role my eyes at.

"No. I broke it off with Sue before I ever took your mom out. Honestly, Sue was a lot to handle, and we were already hell and far gone from a healthy relationship, if you could even call it that. We dated, she would throw wild, jealous fits if anyone else talked to me, even if it was innocent. Anyway, I broke it off with her and started seeing your mom. Eric didn't take it too well because he'd had a thing for Sue before she and I got together.

"Long story short, because it was the second girl I'd started dating that Eric was interested in, he thought I was doing it on purpose."

"That's dumb."

Dad shrugged his shoulders. "He had some pretty big voices in his ear back then, telling him that was the truth. One of those voices turned out to be Sue's. Son, you need to understand, what I thought was over-the-top jealousy from her was a lot more. Sue and Eric ended up getting married after he got her pregnant. It wasn't long after their son was born that he came to me and apologized for the accusations and causing damage to our friendship.

"It was a little too late at that point. I'd written him off, especially since he was with Sue. We remained cordial and friendly after that, but never really worked at putting a true friendship back together because Sue was dead set against it." Dad took a breather, and I sat there wondering what in the world all this history had to do with Pops and the girl in his barn.

"When their boy was two, he drowned in the bathtub while Eric was out working the fields. Sue claimed that she just left the baby for a minute to go get a towel, and that she slipped and hit her head, knocked herself out. Eric came home and found her on the floor and the baby in the tub. When they realized what happened, Sue supposedly lost it and was institutionalized."

"Supposedly?" I asked.

Dad nodded his head slowly. "Most people think she killed their baby and pretended to be injured, especially since she refused medical treatment and there weren't any visible injuries to suggest her story was true. No lump, no blood." He shrugged his shoulders. "I told you she struggled a lot, even more so after they had that baby. It wasn't a farfetched idea that she might have hurt him."

"That's wild."

"When she came back to town, years later, around the time your mom was pregnant with you, I thought Eric would finally give her the divorce papers he'd had drawn up. I think he did at some point. Hell, he was dating another woman by then."

"He dated someone else while she was in the hospital?"

"It wasn't like that. No one begrudged him that. Eric was at the top of the list of people who thought Sue killed his son. He had to wait until she was of sound mind to take her to court for the divorce though. Everyone told him to wait, so it could be done properly, but no one wanted him to be stuck in limbo. Sue coming back made things hard on Eric's relationship. She did everything she could to sabotage them. Eventually, she even ended up pregnant again."

"Well, it takes two to get pregnant," I suggested.

"Yeah, it does, Max. It doesn't take two willing people though. Sue waited for his girlfriend to leave the morning after a party they'd been too. Eric had been drinking heavily. She, um, went inside and took advantage of the situation. Eric was heartbroken when he realized who was in his arms when he finally woke up. Hell, half the town was heartbroken for him because they all knew what happened. Eric deserved to be happy with his girl."

"Who was she?"

"Doesn't matter. The minute she found out; she dumped him because she couldn't take it anymore. It had been more than a year of putting up with Sue's antics by that point. Then, when Sue announced to the whole damn town that she was pregnant with Eric's child, his girl left town."

"Holy crap, Dad. That's insane. Why didn't anyone do anything?"

Dad's heavy exhale spoke volumes. "We tried. Hell, I think most of the town was in Eric's corner, wanting to prosecute Sue for what she did. It was rape, plain and simple. He kept her there, for the sake of the new baby on the way. When the girl was born, Eric took care of her. If he was in the fields, so was his baby girl. That child never was left alone with her mom. Eric allowed Sue to stay, to be a part of her daughter's life, because her doctor finally got her on some medications that helped with her issues, and he didn't want his daughter growing up without her mom."

"Seems like any kid would be better off without a mom than having one like that."

"You would think, but Sue was a good mom to her. It was obvious she loved her girl. The medication really did help."

"So, what does all this have to do with the girl in the barn."

My dad raised a brow at me, as if to ask if I was really that dumb that I hadn't put it together yet. I figured the girl was the one he was talking about, but that didn't explain much.

"Since Sue had so many issues before, certain contingencies were put into place, just in case anything ever happened to Eric. My father was named her guardian, and ready to step in, should Sue become incapable of caring for her daughter. Dad didn't think he needed to step in when Eric was killed because Sue had been doing so well. I'm guessing, if Posie was crying and hiding away in his barn, that all might be about to change."

"So, what? Pops will take her on as his own kid?" That seemed a little ridiculous to me, but after hearing the whole story, it was honestly all a bit much to swallow anyway.

"Yes, and if Pops isn't able to then I would step up, as I am next in line to take her if anything were to happen."

"You said you and Eric were no longer close."

"I did. When Sue was away, we were able to repair our relationship quite a bit. We were never as close as when we were kids, but our family was always someone Eric could trust and come to, no matter what. I was there when he put the legalities together and he asked that I step in for Posie if Pops was not here or unable to."

"Why Pops?"

"Eric's father left when he was in middle school. Your pops helped his mom figure out what to do with the farm until Eric could take over. He taught Eric everything he could, and he lives right across the street. The road literally splits their farms, so Pops was able to keep an eye on the place, and on Posie."

"Sounds like you dodged a bullet when Mom came into the picture."

Dad chuckled. "I tell that woman nearly every day that she saved me from crazy. Not that I was planning on sticking around with Sue, but if there was ever a woman who could scare even the craziest woman away, it's your mom."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Mom said as she joined us on the porch. The windows were open, so she'd probably been listening in the whole time. "I'm guessing things aren't going so well for Posie?" She asked my dad.

"I'll check in with Dad later," he assured her.

"If I need to get a room together, I can."

"I think the tough old coot has it covered, but I'll let him know we have a room here, in case he isn't up to it."

My parents were both amazing people, and maybe I didn't get the gene, because I silently hoped the sad girl who hadn't bothered to tell a couple she was there in the barn with them wouldn't be coming to stay with us. From what I'd seen, she might be crazy just like her mom.