Seven #4
I would add this, silently, to the harm Caitlyn had done.
She’d broken the hearts of her kids, extinguished love in her husband’s heart, and alongside that, built up the hopes of her friend to slip seamlessly into her life, into Luke’s bed, and be on the receiving end of the adoration of Griff, Darwin, and Tatum.
Ready-made family, all hers for the taking.
She had been promised a lie, and it was terrible.
“Okay.” I exhaled and smiled. “What would you like me to do?”
“You need to go away, now, and put your keys in my hand, because Luke just told me my old set won’t work and?—”
“I don’t think you understand what I’m doing here.”
“You’re taking care of the kids and?—”
“No, ma’am. I’m here to protect them in case the men Caitlyn is testifying against try and pressure her by hurting them.”
She stared at me.
“I’m a fixer, and one of my roles is bodyguard. That’s why I’m here.”
Her mouth fell open, and then she quickly covered it with her hand. I waited because I wasn’t at all certain what was going through her head.
“Ohmygod,” she gasped. “I had no idea. You’re here for—I’m so sorry. I thought you were in my way or trying to take my—forgive me.”
“There’s nothing to forgive.”
“I have to go tell Luke that this coming Saturday is my mother’s funeral. I know he’ll want to come and bring the kids.”
I couldn’t speak to that.
“I had no idea you were the bodyguard. So then you don’t really care about these kids at all, do you? It’s just another job.”
She was missing the fixer part and my plan to leave this family better than I found it, because that was our commandment. “There’s a bit more to it than that, but yes, I will be going.”
“I see. So when do you think that will?—”
“Nash,” Tatum said, rushing up to me, leaning into my side, arms around my waist. “Griff said to tell you I want the tuna casserole for a late lunch, but I don’t actually want that. I want the yummy lasagna Griff promised.”
“Your brother’s a jerk, and you can go tell him I said so.”
She cackled evilly and ran to deliver the message.
“Griffin cooks?”
“Apparently for a while, but now he gets to show off for all of us.”
“But Caitlyn said I could take care of all of?—”
Griff suddenly burst out in an evil laugh on the other side of the room. I so wanted to flip him off, but I didn’t because I was an adult, keeping my focus on Shelly instead.
“In the meantime,” she was saying, “I should have a set of keys, don’t you think?”
“That’s Luke’s decision, not mine.”
“I—”
“Oh, sorry,” Tatum said, having returned. “Is it okay if I tell Nash one thing and then I’ll let you finish your talk?”
“Yes, my darling, of course,” Shelly said sweetly.
I looked at Tatum. “What?”
She grinned. “I changed the name of my Instagram from Me and My Mom to Tatum’s Take . What do you think?”
“ Tatum’s Take , huh? Like your take on everything?”
“Well, yeah, but mostly my crafts and all my favorite stuff. I was afraid to change it in case Mom would see it and be sad, but since she can’t do anything with her old life, I thought, well, we changed a lot of stuff, so I wanna change that too.”
“That’s awesome, and you should definitely tell your therapist about that when you see her tomorrow.”
“Are we going tomorrow since it’s a holiday?”
“Yes, ma’am. Dr. Marlowe can work or not when she wants and you and your brothers are on her schedule.”
She nodded, smiling, and then slammed into my side, hugging me tight.
“No,” Shelly snapped.
We both turned to her.
“Tatum, sweetie, I’m going to take that over with you. Your mother gave me the password, and I was excited to?—”
“That’s okay,” Tatum interrupted her, smiling, but I felt her little hand clutching the back of my henley. “I changed the password and the picture and everything, so it’s all good. I’m happy to start fresh like Griff said.”
“I take it back. Your brother’s not a jerk,” I said begrudgingly.
“No!” Shelly said loudly, almost shrilly. “Your mother promised me we would do that together. I mean, the boys are—but you and your father, I just can’t wait for us to be a family.”
Tatum tipped her head up to look at me. “I don’t?—”
“Love, go over to your father, all right?”
“No,” she said in a small voice. “I don’t wanna leave you.”
Scaring a kid in her own house? Hell no.
I picked her up then, threw her over my shoulder, which caused the squeal of delight I was hoping for, and charged over to Luke.
“I need to hear in lavish detail why tuna casserole is bad,” Luke teased me when I reached him.
“Take this sack of potatoes, will you?”
“I will,” he said with a grin that made his eyes sparkle as he took his daughter, who went limp in his arms. He held her like a princess. “Such a lovely sack of potatoes.”
When I turned, Shelly was right there, and instinctively, I stepped in front of Luke to shield him and Tatum.
“Everything needs to be how it was,” Shelly yelled, sounding a bit scary. “I was going to change this room, and do things with Tatum, and?—”
“I’m sorry?” Luke asked, leaning around me. “What’s going?—”
“Ladies,” I said to her friends, who were both looking Shelly oddly. “I think Shelly needs to go home and rest. I suspect she’s not herself.”
“Yeah, Shel,” the taller blonde said, a fake smile plastered on her face. “Let’s go back to your place. There’s wine and movies waiting for us.”
“I need the keys first. That’s all.”
“We’ll get them later,” her other friend, a brunette with a pixie cut, told her. “Right now you need to veg with us, or we can go to my house. I know the kids would love to see you.”
“These are my kids!” she shrieked. “Caitlyn gave me her word!”
I spoke over my shoulder to Luke. “I need you to take Tatum upstairs right now.”
He didn’t hesitate, didn’t argue with me and say he’d take the kids to his room, which was right there on the other side of the wall. Instead, he simply moved. I heard him going up the stairs a moment later.
“No! I need to talk to him!” Shelly wailed.
“Guys,” I called over to Darwin and Griff, who were back in the kitchen. “Go upstairs with your dad, all right?”
“I don’t want her to hurt you,” Darwin said, on the verge of tears.
“No, buddy, she’s not gonna hurt me,” I stated, meeting Griff’s gaze.
He took hold of his brother’s shoulder, and walked him out of the room.
“You’re ruining everything,” Shelly screamed then, and sank to the floor.
I called to her friends. “Did you know Caitlyn promised Shelly her family when she left?”
Both women shook their heads.
Squatting beside Shelly, I asked if I could take her to the couch. She nodded like she was in a trance.
Scooping her up off the floor, I carried her to the couch and put her down gently. I then asked her friends if perhaps her doctor had prescribed anything for her.
“He did, yes,” the blonde spoke up, and ran to the kitchen.
“I’m Kara,” Pixie Cut said, “and that’s Veronica—Ronnie.”
“Pleasure,” I said and shook her hand.
Ronnie returned with a glass of water and a pill. I put it in Shelly’s hand, gently pushed her hair out of her face, as it had fallen forward and covered her eyes, and smiled at her. After a moment, she exhaled.
“I’m so sorry I scared Tatum.”
“Your mother just died,” I reminded her, taking her hand and placing the sedative in her palm. “You shouldn’t even be here. You should be taking care of yourself.”
She watched me as Ronnie passed me the glass and I gave it to Shelly.
“When you feel better, you and I can talk. I’ll give both your friends my number, so when you’re ready, all right?”
She nodded before she took the pill and drank all the water.
“You’re a nice man.”
“I’m a fixer,” I soothed her, smiling. “It’s the job.”
She smiled back.
I had Ronnie give me her car keys, and then I ran outside into the pouring rain, pulled the Jeep out, parked it on the street, and moved her Toyota Sequoia in, getting wet in the process even with the use of an umbrella.
Once that was done, I went back inside, knelt in front of Shelly, and asked her if she could walk.
She was barely able to shake her head no.
Scooping her up again, I carried her to the car, put her in the back seat, and belted her in. After I closed the door, I turned to Ronnie and Kara.
“Do you need me to follow you so I can carry her into her house?”
“No,” Kara replied, “but it is so nice of you to suggest. I live next door to her, and my husband’s home, so he can carry her in.”
“Okay.”
“What you said earlier,” Ronnie began, crossing her arms, “about Caitlyn offering up her family to Shelly… I can see her doing that to make herself feel better about running off with Marcello. She would want them to have a mother around, and normally, Shelly’s the best. She …
she’s always wanted a little girl, and she’s always carried a torch for Luke. ”
“I really hope,” Kara said, “that once all this is over—I mean, once she buries her mother—she can leave and see the world. She’s a very talented illustrator, and she’s always wanted to live in Paris. Now she can.”
Ronnie was nodding. “Yes. She can fly away like we all want to.”
Kara chuckled. “Bite your tongue. I like my husband.”
I enjoyed seeing Ronnie squint.
“Fine, I like him most of the time.”
“Remind her, please, when she wakes up, that no one thinks any less of her, but that she does need to give Luke a minute.”
“Yes,” Kara agreed, patting my soggy bicep. “Thank you, Nash. I’m glad you’re here watching over the family.”
I waved to them as they backed out of the garage into a monsoon, and then I darted back to the Jeep and drove it in. When I stepped into the mudroom, Luke was there.
I grinned at him. “I feel like we keep having all our grown-up conversations in here.”
“Yeah, I—no,” he said sharply, walking over to me with a towel in his hands. When I reached for it, he shook his head. “Come here.”
“I can dry my?—”
“Now,” he demanded, and it was stupid how fast the roll of electricity went through me as I leaned forward into his hands.