Chapter 7

7

HAWK

E mery hadn’t left any specific instructions about what to feed the kids today. In my books, that meant they could have as many treats as they wanted.

Shelling out cotton candy to my nephews, I felt like a freaking superhero at the massive grins on their faces. Snacks in hand, they ran off. Sutton would be back with the food soon, but I let them go. They could always eat later.

Just as I turned to see where she’d gone off to, I heard a familiar voice calling my name and I grimaced, really not in the mood for this right now. I was intent on ignoring her until she appeared right in front of me.

Hailey James—though I was sure she had a different last name now judging by the size of the rock on her left ring finger—was beaming as she waved at me. “Hawk! Didn’t you hear me calling you? How are you? God, this is a surprise. I heard you were back in town, but I wasn’t sure if I believed it.”

“Here I am,” I said humorlessly, glancing up at the blonde I’d taken to prom years ago.

She was just as pretty as she used to be, with her platinum blonde hair as smooth and shiny as ever and her green eyes sparkling like precious gems. Her narrow hips were clad in light pink jeans and her white cardigan clung to her frame—and boobs that were at least double the size I remembered them being.

Yeah, she’s definitely had some work done.

After looking her over, I glanced at the little girl who was with her and smiled. “Who’s this?”

“Oh. Clancy. My daughter,” Hailey said without even looking at the little girl who was dressed rather fancy for a dirty, slightly rainy day at the carnival.

Her dress was frilly and lacy, a light pink that matched her mother’s jeans. Internally, I shook my head at the choice of outfit for a kid who looked to be about the twins’ age, wondering if she could even play in that thing.

Happily, though, it wasn’t my problem. I glanced back at her mother. “It was good to see you, Hailey.”

I hoped she would take off, but she planted herself on the bench beside me instead, sitting much closer than necessary—and definitely closer than she should’ve considering that she was clearly a married woman now.

“I’ve heard you’re in California. Gold Star Shipping is yours, right? Are you really doing as well as people say?” She leaned in a little closer, her knee grazing against my hip. “There’s a rumor doing the rounds that you’re a billionaire. Is that true?”

She whispered the word, seeming ridiculously pleased that I was possibly rich. The sickly sweet scent of her perfume pervaded my nostrils and I nearly gagged. Trying to be subtle, I slid over a couple inches on the bench in an attempt to escape.

“Gold Star is mine, yeah,” I said, ignoring the rest of the questions she’d peppered me with. “Are you here with your husband?”

She giggled and dropped into gossiping about everyone in town rather than answering the only question I’d asked. “Have you heard about Shelby Moore? She’s having an affair with Jake Reynolds, and he’s married to that little nerdy girl. Not Sutton. The other one. Her friend? What was her name? Oh, Rachel. Right. Rachel, and speaking of the nerdy girls, I just ran into Sutton. Have you seen her?”

Strangely, I found myself getting defensive when she mentioned Sutton, especially in that context. “I have seen her. Our families are friends. I’m sure you remember.”

Hailey shrugged a shoulder, flipping her blonde hair over it before shooting me a smile she definitely should not have been giving anyone but her husband. “Of course, I remember. She always looked at you in such an inappropriate, creepy way. Like she wanted you. Or wanted to eat you. I was never sure. As if she ever had a shot. Anyway, do you know about her situation, then? My mom heard from her mom at the hairdresser than she’s getting a divorce .”

“Yeah. I heard that.” I got up, deciding that I didn’t need to be sitting here with her if she still got a kick out of gossip and belittling Sutton. “I’ll see you later, Hailey. You guys have fun.”

“Wait,” she said, stopping me before I could walk away. “Do you want to have a drink later? We’re all going to Hen’s Bar. Everyone’s starting to trickle into town to visit for Thanksgiving and all our old friends should be there.”

“Maybe.” I glanced at the little girl again, noticing the sour look on her face. “Bye, Clancy. It was nice meeting you.”

She didn’t respond, so I turned and left, heading over to where my nephews were playing on a bouncy house nearby. Sutton and Winnie came back to bring the boys some food, then begged off.

As they said their goodbyes, I couldn’t help running my gaze over Sutton’s tiny, curvy body again. I shouldn’t be looking at her like that anymore, but after Hailey had reminded me of how Sutton used to look at me, I kind of wanted her to do it again. I also didn’t really believe that Hailey hadn’t noticed me looking at Sutton the exact same way. I knew I’d looked at her like that. Like I wanted to eat her. Mostly because I had wanted to eat her.

Shit, making out with Sutton had been my favorite pastime for months .

Just the thought of it made me wonder if she still had that sexy, fiery streak behind closed doors that no other man had ever seen from her back then. I’d been her first—and only—boyfriend, and it still got me hard when I thought about all the other firsts she’d experienced with me.

“Uncle Hawk?” Sawyer said, and when I blinked, I realized that Sutton and Winnie were gone and all three boys were staring at me expectantly. “Sutton was right. It is probably going to start raining soon.”

“Right.” I blinked hard. “I didn’t hear her say that, but we should go.”

Gathering them up, we walked home and watched a couple kids walking together. I glanced at my phone and wondered how much longer Emery and Dad were going to be. As I thought it, my phone rang and my sister’s name popped onto the screen.

“Hey,” I said as I picked up. “How’s it going over there?”

“Not great,” she said, sounding exhausted. “We’re staying the night at the hospital, Hawk. Dad’s being difficult, so I can’t leave, but will you stay with the boys?”

“Of course,” I agreed immediately. “Is he okay?”

She sighed. “As okay as he can be. Let them call me at bedtime, alright?”

“You got it. Good luck.”

“Same to you,” she said before hanging up.

I’d wandered away from the living room to talk to her, but I strode back there now, wondering what kind of fresh hell it was going to be getting them to bed by myself. Back with them, I tried for an easy grin and looked into each of their eyes in turn.

“Mommy and Grandpa need to sleep at the hospital tonight, so how about pizza for dinner?”

The boys cheered and I placed an order. Then I sent them to get cleaned up. Two hours later, after I finally got them to bed, I seriously considered hiring a nanny for my sister. It was impossible to do all this stuff alone, and that was without everything else that she did all by herself.

At the thought, I realized that now was as good a time as any to start figuring out what was happening with the family business and what we should do with it. Emery really couldn’t handle it in its current form on top of all this.

No human being would’ve been able to.

Dad had been running tugboats in the port ever since we’d moved here from Alabama when I’d been six. Before that, he’d been a pilot for a major shipping company in the Gulf, but it’d taken him away from us for weeks at a time.

After Mom had died, he’d bought the tugboat company in Portsmouth so he didn’t have to do long gigs in the Gulf, the Panama Canal, and around the horn of Africa anymore. Until about eight years ago, the company had been doing really well, but then he’d turned down a contract that had wound up having ripple effects for the whole community.

A large shipping company, not unlike my own, had moved in and made it nearly impossible for anyone to operate privately out of the port, and Dad had worked himself to death staying afloat ever since.

Striding into his home office, I groaned when I got a load of what a mess it was. There would be no figuring anything out until I sorted through it, so I went to grab a beer and then got stuck in, eventually stumbling upon the old documents about that contract Dad had turned down.

I heaved myself into his chair, scanning through them to see if I could make out why exactly he’d made the decision he had. I knew he’d been worked up about how the new port contracts were screwing over private contractors, but after he’d turned it down, things had gotten exponentially worse for all the private tug operators and even tour boats at the port.

Dad had gone from having five boats in operation to only one or two, but if I could get behind what had been the problem initially, perhaps I could renegotiate a contract for him with these people. Of course, that would mean appointing someone to manage the business so Emery wouldn’t have to, but it was either that or sell it.

I knew my sister wanted to sell, but I had a feeling that would kill Dad almost as surely as putting him into a home. Ultimately, it might have to be done, but I really wanted to see if there was anything I could do besides that.

I leaned back in Dad’s desk chair and rubbed my eyes. Out the window, just down the street, the light was on in the little apartment above the Ashbury’s garage. Thoughts about Sutton entered my head unbidden and I sighed, wondering why it felt like she was already getting under my skin again when no other woman had ever even gotten close.