Chapter 26
Ford
I’m driving home from watching Lexi while Rhys is at work—I love my niece to death, but he should seriously consider hiring a babysitter, since Nash and I aren’t always available—when my phone rings.
Since it’s connected to my car, the caller ID shows on the touch screen, and I frown when I see who it is.
“You okay, buddy?” I ask after accepting the call.
“Hey. So, um… I need a favor,” Joe starts, not sounding like his usual self. There’s a hint of fear in his voice, and some caution, too, that makes my internal alarms go off.
“Are you okay?” I insist. “Are you in trouble? Is Ivy okay?”
“I’m fine. I’m not in trouble. Ivy is at work,” he answers, still not easing my nerves.
“Okay. What do you need?”
He hesitates. “Can you pick me up?”
He rattles off the address of a grocery store that’s about twenty minutes away, outside of town.
“I’m on my way,” I tell him as I change lanes.
“Please don’t tell my sister,” he rushes out.
“I won’t if you will,” I say, sounding like my father used to when my brothers and I did something stupid—like sneaking out in the middle of the night to hang out with our friends—and he was disappointed in us. He never yelled, but his quiet authority and disapproval were always worse.
“I will when I get home,” the sixteen-year-old promises.
“You should call her so she doesn’t worry.”
“She’s still at work. We’ll get home before she does.”
I seriously doubt that.
“My phone is about to die anyway. It’s literally at 1 percent. I’m right by the old phone booth near the entrance.”
“Don’t move. I’ll be there in ten.”
By breaking a couple of traffic laws, maybe. But I’m not about to let a teenager, a pretty much defenseless boy with a dying phone, stand alone in a parking lot in another town for longer than strictly necessary.
During the drive there, a thousand questions swirl around in my mind. Such as, what the hell is Joe doing out so late, without telling his sister, no less? Is he in any kind of trouble? What will Ivy think if she gets home before us and can’t find Joe?
All the possibilities put me at risk of a couple of speeding tickets, but fortunately I don’t have any encounters with the sheriff by the time I pull into the parking lot of the grocery store.
The tension in my shoulders deflates when I spot the tall figure by the phone booth that hasn’t worked in nearly twenty years.
I pull up next to Joe, and he glances inside the car to check it’s me. He opens the passenger door, then stops.
“Joe?” I ask when the seconds pass and he still hasn’t climbed in. “Everything okay?”
His fingers start to shake. It’s a light tremble, barely there, but I notice. I don’t hesitate before turning off the engine and getting out of the car.
His gaze is lost somewhere in the passenger seat when I reach his side and put a hand on his shoulder. “Buddy.”
He shakes his head, sniffling. Is he crying?
“I’m fine. We can go.”
“No, Joe. I don’t think you’re fine.” He’s not crying, but his eyes are glassy. “What’s going on? I’m not here to scold you, all right? You can talk to me. I just want to understand what you’re doing here so late and why your hand is shaking.”
He glances down at his hand as if he hadn’t noticed the trembling until now, then balls it into a fist. He reminds me so much of me when I was younger, trying to show the world how strong I was when I was collapsing inside.
After a pause that feels eternal but lasts less than a minute, Joe rubs his eyes with the back of his hands and sighs, deep and tired.
Then he unzips his puffer jacket, revealing a polo shirt with the colors and the logo of the grocery store behind us.
Understanding passes between us without the need for words.
“Ivy doesn’t know,” I say, more of a statement than a question.
When he shakes his head, I glance away and internally curse. This is exactly what she didn’t want to happen.
“Okay,” I start slowly, knowing the last thing Joe needs is an enemy. I might not be happy that he went behind Ivy’s back and got a job, but I also don’t want to take sides. Not right now. “Let’s go home. We’ll talk about this later.”
He hesitates again, as if it pains him to get the words out. I understand this might be embarrassing for him, but—
“I can’t get in the car.”
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“O-Only if Ivy is driving.”
A heavy weight drops into the pit of my stomach as I remember every time I’ve offered to drive him somewhere and he declined. I knew there was a reason, damn it. I knew it.
“I was….” Joe takes a deep breath through his nose, a puff of air coming out of his mouth when he exhales. “When my dad got a DUI and hit a police officer, then crashed while on the run, I was there. Inside the car with him.”
A kind of anger I’ve never known until now courses through my body.
I’ve never been a violent man, but beating the fuck out of Joe and Ivy’s father sounds like a great plan right now. Getting behind the wheel while high as fuck is already dangerous and stupid enough, but having your son inside the car with you?
I take a deep breath to calm myself down. This isn’t about me.
“I’m so damn sorry, Joe. That should’ve never happened.”
“I didn’t get hurt. Not badly anyway. My neck was a little sore, but I didn’t have to spend the night at the hospital or anything,” he explains, as if that would mitigate the shit he’s been through at such a young age.
“But I just… I’m not a huge fan of cars right now.
I’m used to Ivy’s driving, but with everyone else, I… I don’t know.”
“How did you get here for your shifts?” I ask him.
“The bus. But I had to stay a little longer tonight and missed the last one,” he explains. “My manager offered to drive me home, but….”
But he called me instead.
“I trust you,” he declares, making my chest burst with pride despite the circumstances.
Just like I’ve become protective of Ivy, I’ve also become protective of her brother—just in different ways.
“I’ll drive slow,” I promise. “We can stop if you get overwhelmed. Whatever you need. You’re the boss.”
He doesn’t look so upset anymore, but he’s still not the Joe I’ve gotten to know the past few months. It breaks my heart that his own father, someone who’s supposed to keep him safe above all, has failed him in such a fucked-up way.
Silently, Joe sits in the passenger seat. When I get behind the wheel, he’s shaking his right leg.
“Ready?” I ask.
“Can you put on some music? It helps distract me.”
“Whatever you need.”
A rock song fills the silence between us as I drive back to Harmony Hills, this time well below the speed limit. It’s not until we’re entering the town boundary and driving past the firehouse that he speaks again.
“Do you think Ivy will be mad?”
“Yes.” There’s no point in denying the obvious. “She’ll be disappointed that you got a job behind her back.”
He doesn’t say anything to that. And mere seconds after I pull into my driveway, Ivy yanks her front door open and sprints to my car, the anxious look on her face so haunting, I don’t ever want to see it again.
“Joe,” she calls out. “What are you doing? What’s going on?”
The boy in question opens the car door. “I can explain.”
When Ivy’s eyes connect with mine, and I see the tears spilling down her cheeks, my heart shatters.
She turns to her brother, more agitated than I’ve ever seen her.
“I came home, and you weren’t here. I had to call Ethan’s mom, only to find out you haven’t been studying at their house like you said you were.
You lied to me, Joe. Again. You lied to me and made me think something terrible had happened to you. ”
I can’t stand seeing her crying and so hurt because she doesn’t deserve it. Risking her rejection, I get out of the car and start toward her.
“Where were you?” she demands of her brother, who’s looking at her like he’s never seen her before.
I don’t blame him. Ivy is the picture of a calm and understanding sister, someone who always has everything under control and never loses her temper. But I also don’t blame her for tipping over the edge tonight. If something could make her snap, it was always going to be this.
Joe’s throat bobs with a swallow. “I meant to tell you.”
“Where were you?” she yells.
“At work,” he says, dropping the bomb on her.
Ivy’s body locks into place.
“Work,” she repeats, quietly this time. A whisper.
Just like he did with me, Joe opens his jacket to show her the polo he’s wearing underneath. When Ivy doesn’t say anything, he explains, “It’s a part-time thing. I work at the register. It’s easy, and they pay me well. The manager is nice. He’s Kyle’s uncle; he goes to school with me.”
I place a hand on the small of her back when she starts shaking, knowing it’s not from the cold. She doesn’t acknowledge me, and I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing.
“You don’t need a job when you’ve been slacking at school,” she grits out, frustration slipping back into her voice.
“Not anymore,” he argues. “I haven’t failed any tests since that physics one.”
“Maybe not, but you will eventually if you keep going to school exhausted because you get off work late. I know a thing or two about that, Joe.” Another tear rolls down her cheek.
She doesn’t make a move to brush it off.
“You’re cutting back many hours that you need for homework and studying, which isn’t okay with me at all. ”
Joe groans. Not the right move, given how Ivy’s body stiffens under my touch.
“I just wanted a job. Is that so difficult to understand?” His voice rises. “I wanted to feel useful because all I do is leech off you.”
“I don’t know how many times I need to tell you that you’re not a leech. You’re my brother, and I love you, and I would do anything for you.”
“That’s the problem!”
Ivy jerks back as if slapped by his words.
“Don’t you see it?” Joe’s agitation grows.
“You’re so worried about me, you’re neglecting yourself.
Why else don’t you have any friends? Or go out?
You don’t do anything but work. It’s like…
like you enjoy being a martyr. I’ve asked you plenty of times to let me get a job.
This one may not pay much, but at least it’s something.
But you say no every time, then get sick because you’re stressed, and still tell me no. It’s not fair.
“I want to do the responsible thing, but you won’t let me.
You won’t let me make my own money despite knowing it will take a weight off your shoulders.
I’ll still get into flight school. Having a job won’t change that, and I know it’s true because I’ve been working for a month, and my grades haven’t been bad.
I’ve been turning in assignments on time and doing everything I normally do.
It’s just four hours, damn it! It’s not the end of the world.
You’re… you’re like a sergeant, telling me I can’t do this thing or the other when I’ve always been a good brother.
Don’t I deserve some trust? You’re my sister, not my mother! ”
I feel the shift then, the waves of anger and disappointment rolling off Ivy’s tense body.
She steps away from my touch. Not in an angry way, but like a ghost slipping out of a room no one noticed she’d entered.
“You lied to me not once, but twice.” Her voice is leveled, calm. Resigned. “That trust you’re talking about? You broke it.”
I fight the urge to touch her again, to let her know I’m here, but I don’t think that’s what she needs right now. I’m not sure I should even be hearing this conversation.
Joe’s shoulders are stiff, his voice serious. “You were stubborn and wouldn’t let me prove to you what I’m capable of. I’m not a baby anymore.”
“You’re right. You’re not a baby anymore.
” Her hands are shaking at her sides. “You’ve told me countless times that you wanted a job, and I should’ve listened.
I’m the adult and know better than to let my little brother take on a burden as big as a job when he has other urgent things to focus on.
But who cares, right? Like you said, I’m not Mom.
I’m only twenty-six, so I know nothing about taking care of a teen. ”
“That’s not what I meant,” he says firmly.
“I’ve tried. I’ve really tried, but it’s clear that I’m not the guardian you need.” Another tear falls, and I fight against my instincts to pull her against me. “I must be doing something wrong if you feel the need to lie and go behind my back.”
“You—”
“Maybe you should move to Boston with Aunt Sherry.”
A deafening silence falls over the driveway.
Joe’s fingers flex and curl against his palms, restless. The storm inside him has never looked this clear. “Yeah, maybe I should.”
“If that’s what you want.”
Betrayal passes through his eyes, but he doesn’t crack. “Maybe it is.”
Holding herself together in front of the world, like she always does, she sounds calm when she says, “I love you, and I will always be in your corner, but I don’t think I’m the best guardian for you.
I’ve tried, but I can’t give you the future you deserve—Aunt Sherry can.
If you agree, feel free to go with her.”
I put a hand on her back again and warn, “Ivy.”
She shakes her head and steps away from my touch. “You should call her in the morning.”
And with that, she walks back inside her house. She doesn’t look back at either of us, and when my eyes find Joe’s, we both come to the same silent conclusion.
There’s no coming back from this.