22. Zach
22
ZACH
“ I am not your woman,” Blake insisted, staying behind me. “I’m not your anything, Rory.”
She wasn’t prone to fighting or welcoming confrontations. Kevin used to stand up for her. I was taking on more of that role now, when I was here. But her tone left nothing to the imagination. She was firm without sounding irrational or hysterical. She was bold without any meanness or cruelty. It sounded like she was just tired. Sick and tired and annoyed with repeating this message to this man.
“That’s what you think, you slut,” he sneered, pointing at her. Leaning to the side, he tried to face her as directly as possible, but I didn’t let him near her.
She didn’t react to his slur, but I did. Anger raced through me, heating up my blood so quickly I was an inch from smacking sense into him.
“You said we should take a break?—”
“I did not say that,” Blake argued, putting her hand on my back as Rory tried to reach her again. He stepped too hard on the floor, making the Christmas tree shake in its stand. Lights flickered with his angry gait as he tried to round an armchair and speak directly to her.
“I said I was breaking up with you while I took a break from men.”
“Not him, though? Huh?” Spittle flew from his mouth. “You just wanted to sleep around and fuck him instead.”
“What I do with my life isn’t any of your business,” she said.
“The hell it isn’t.” He lunged for her, and I held him back.
Blake could try to talk him down and wait for him to quit, but that wasn’t happening today. Rory was here spoiling for a fight, and I’d give him one to remember. Before I could, motion from behind Rory, on the front porch, caught my eye. Grandma Jenny entered, her eyes wide at the scene before her. George trailed in behind her, frowning at Rory.
“She’s with me,” Rory said, pointing at Blake. “She’s my girlfriend and we?—”
“No!” George pushed around to stand in front of Jenny. She kept a hand on his shoulder, glowering at Rory. “I hate you,” the quiet boy told him. “You’re mean and stupid and I don’t want you with my mommy ever again!”
Rory growled, raising his hand to smack George. He only got halfway there. Jenny tucked George to safety, turning and shielding him as I caught Rory’s hand midair. With the momentum of holding him in place, I pivoted to punch him. Right in the eye.
“What the—” he cried out in agony, stumbling back and bumping into a side table with a ceramic Christmas tree on it. It wobbled and careened toward the floor, but I caught it and let it drop onto the couch instead.
“You—”
I still didn’t give him a chance to finish. I gripped the front of his shirt, holding my hand fisted and ready to punch him again. “Get out of here,” I ordered. Aware of Blake behind me, her trembling fingers on my back, I tried to rein in the worst of my anger. George was watching now too. I didn’t want to traumatize him.
“Get out of here,” I warned Rory with a hard shove that made him fall back to the front door. “And never set foot on this property or near her again.”
He worked his jaw from side to side, cupping his face for damage control. “Oh, yeah? Who the hell do you think you are to say how it is around here? Huh, mother?—”
“That’s enough!” Grandma Jenny stepped forward, raising her voice and using all her authority to put this piece of scum in his place. “Get out! Now! You heard him. Leave her alone or else.”
No one fucked with my grandma when she used that tone.
Rory scowled, looking from her, to me, then to Blake hiding around my side. George didn’t flinch, glaring at him to leave. Volleying his gaze between the boy and me, Rory seemed to stall. It didn’t matter what he was rehearsing to say. I lost patience for his farewell. For his departure.
“Fuck,” he muttered, turning to wrench the door open, slam it shut, and storm off.
Without thinking about it, I turned to Blake and wrapped my arms around her. She trembled a little but kept her chin held up high.
“Thank you, Zachary,” George said as he walked over and hugged my legs. I told him at the kids’ tent that most people called me Zach, but when he noticed I signed my coloring paper with Zachary , he assumed that was the right way to address me.
Grandma Jenny looked at me as I held Blake and lowered my hand to put it on George’s back. A group hug wasn’t something I was used to, but this one made sense. It was all I wanted to do—comfort these two.
But as I did, I realized that Rory had a point. Who was I to be this defensive on their behalf? I hadn’t realized how much I’d been inserting myself into Blake’s life, into George’s life too. I’d only been here for a couple of weeks and already, I was invested in this mother-and-son pair like this was where I belonged.
It was a bittersweet acknowledgment because she wouldn’t even stay. She spoke about her goals to move for better pay and job opportunities. She didn’t plan to stay here, and it was bizarre to see how she was just as eager—if reluctantly eager—as I was to go.
Or is that a mistake?
I’d spent so much time concentrating on being in the military for a career that I hadn’t put much thought into what it would be like to stay put in Vernford.
“Blake, sweetie.” Grandma Jenny approached, seeming to join the group hug. “Are you all right?”
Blake stepped back to face her, smiling and nodding weakly.
George remained at my side, though, trusting me enough to linger and hug my leg. I rubbed his small back, touched that he could look up to me as a protector of him and his mom. I was a hero—as a soldier. But having George treat me like I hung the moon was something else.
“Yes, I’ll be…” Blake leaned into Grandma Jenny’s side hug. “I’ll be fine. Maybe he’ll listen and stop bothering me now.” As she lifted her gaze and searched my face, I wondered what she was looking for. A reassurance? A vote of confidence?
I wanted to give both to her.
“Maybe you should take tonight off. I can see if Tiff and Leo can make up for your absence.”
Blake shook her head. “No. No. I can’t afford taking another day off. I lost so much when George had strep after Halloween.”
“But Blake,” Grandma Jenny argued, rubbing her back, “you’re overwhelmed.”
Blake huffed, rubbing her arms in a self-hug. “Nothing new there?—”
George interrupted, bending over to gag.
“Whoa.” I knew that sound. Young or old, it was all the same. I reacted on instinct, rushing to the garbage can Blake and I had set out in the dining room for wrapping paper scraps. Just in the nick of time, I slid it under the boy as he puked. “There you go.”
“Oh, no,” Grandma Jenny said, cringing as Blake came close and joined me in having the boy sit on the couch with the small container in his lap.
“What’s wrong?” Blake asked, worried.
“He was fine and slept all night, but this morning, he and Amanda both said they didn’t feel so great. That’s why I drove him home so early. I figured they’d both caught something.”
Blake’s exasperated sigh was so heavy that I felt it in my soul.
“There’s always something going around. You poor thing, honey.” She held George close and brushed his hair back.
“No temp. Just a stomach thing, I think,” Grandma Jenny said. “Hopefully, just a twenty-four-bug.”
I quickly did the math. Grandma Jenny couldn’t care for him if there was a party to cater tonight. Amanda was out, sick as well. If Blake couldn’t miss any more work, even though Grandma Jenny insisted she take care of herself with all this stress and a sick child at home, then that left me.
“I can stay with him tonight.”
All three of them looked at me. Grandma Jenny smiled, like I was brilliant. George raised his brows, like he was excited at the idea. And Blake’s mouth hung open in shock. She quickly closed it. “What? No. He’s sick, Zach.”
I shrugged. “Not like I can’t handle that.”
Grandma Jenny nodded, almost amused. “He’s always had a robust immune system.”
“No, but…” Blake frowned. “I can’t ask you to…”
“You’re not asking,” I told her, hopeful she’d trust me to do this for her. “I’m offering.” I looked down at George, checking with his reaction to see if was overstepping. One evening at the holiday festival didn’t make us best buds. Sitting down with him and coloring was just the start of becoming familiar with each other.
What the fuck am I thinking? Babysit? Like I know anything about kids…
“Please, Mama?” George cozied against me, hugging the bucket. “Mr. Zachary can babysit me so you can work.”
She frowned at him, seeming near tears. I hated to see her so close to her breaking point, and knowing I could help her just by staying with George made me want to insist.
I bet she was torn between being here for her son and also providing for him. If she could take a leap of faith with me, I could ease her burden this much.
She gazed at me, her green eyes sheening with unshed tears. “You don’t mind?”
I shook my head. “I’d be glad to help, Blake.”
I was starting to wish I could be the one she turned to whenever she needed any support.
Because if I had to think about the thrill of being out in the big, bad world just to escape being confined in this small town in this outdated belief that something more important and better would be waiting for me out there…
I could see how wrong I’d been for so long.
Despite how quickly things were moving, being here for Blake and her son felt like one of the most important things I could ever task myself with.