Chapter 2 #2
Huck didn’t put her down until they were outside in the humid September night. Poppy started back inside, but he grabbed her arm.
“Get a grip, Pops! I don’t need to be thrown in jail right now.”
Poppy seemed to come to her senses because she jerked her arm away and sighed. “Fine. But now I understand why that guy has a big scar on his face. He’s an asshole.”
Huck lifted an eyebrow. “Because he was doing his job? How many times have we had to throw women out of the men’s bathroom? Or men out of the women’s?”
She huffed. “Still, he didn’t have to be so condescending about it. I’m not little, he’s just a giant. I bet he never has to throw a punch. He just has to glare with those glacier gray eyes.”
“Glacier gray eyes? You noticed his eye color?”
She shrugged. “It was hard not to when they were glaring right through me. But enough about Goliath when we have bigger problems to deal with.” She started pacing.
Poppy never could stay still for long. “Well, everything certainly makes sense now. I knew Mama would never leave her beloved dancehall to anyone but family. She fixed it so if we didn’t fulfill the will’s stipulation and renovate the dancehall, the bar would still go to a Hennessy.
Although how she expected a kid to run it is beyond me.
From what I hear, Camden is still in grade school. ”
Camden. Just hearing his son’s name made him feel like he was going to pass out. To keep from doing so, he bent over and gulped in air. Poppy thumped him hard on the back like she was trying to dislodge an object from his throat.
“You okay?”
His worst fears finally spilled out of his mouth. “I don’t know the first thing about being a daddy, Pops. I can’t take care of a kid. Hell, I can barely take care of myself.”
“I hate to point this out, but I don’t think Cadee wants your help taking care of Camden. Otherwise, she would have told you about him.”
That had his anger returning and he straightened. “No, she just thinks I should go about my life and pretend like I don’t have a kid.”
Poppy shrugged. “Wouldn’t that be easier for everyone? I mean it’s not like he’s not being taken care of, Huck. Unlike our family, the Stocktons grew up with loving parents who put their kids first. I’m sure Camden gets plenty of attention and has everything a kid needs to be happy.”
Everything except a father.
This thought had been circulating around in his head for weeks now and he couldn’t seem to shake it.
Probably because he knew what it was like to grow up without a father.
He’d lost his when he was only nine. He barely remembered Rory Hennessy.
Certainly not enough to miss him. And yet, there had always been this hole that opened inside him when he saw other boys playing catch with their fathers or being carried on their shoulders.
While he’d had his siblings, their love still had never been quite enough to fill that void.
Did Camden have that same void?
Even if he did, what made Huck think he could fill it?
Poppy was right. The Hennessys had proven they weren’t good parents while the Stocktons had proven they were.
He didn’t doubt for a second Cadee had followed in her mama’s footsteps.
She had mothered Huck since they were in kindergarten .
. . sharing her lunches and school supplies, bringing him coats and knit hats on cold days, getting after him for not finishing his homework.
Hell, she had even spit on her fingers and smoothed down his cowlick when he’d forget to comb his hair in the mornings.
Since he’d had such a horrible mama, Huck had basked in Cadee’s attention. A little too much. There had been a time when he’d confused his need for mothering with a much stronger emotion.
That emotion had caused him to make a big mistake.
A mistake that had returned to haunt him.
“Have you seen him?” Poppy kicked a crushed can at the dumpster.
“No.”
“Then how did you find out about him?”
“Dawson mentioned that Magnolia saw Camden in town and thought he was Dawson’s because of the way the Stockton brothers had treated him when they went out to the ranch. And because Camden has . . . our eyes.”
Poppy shook her head. “Hennessy gold. It is prevalent, isn’t—”
The ringing of her cellphone cut her off and she pulled it from her back pocket. She glanced at the screen and then at Huck.
“It’s Jaxon.” She tapped the screen and then pressed the phone to her ear. “Hey, Jax . . . yeah, I found him.” She shot a glance at Huck. “I’m not sure. You’ll have to ask him yourself.” She held the blue sparkly-cased phone out to Huck.
He took a deep breath before he accepted it. “Hey, Jax.”
His big brother’s voice boomed through the receiver. “You run off after only sending some suspicious-assed text about needing to take care of unfinished business and all you can say is ‘Hey, Jax?’ What the hell is going on, Huck? Are you in some kind of trouble?”
Trouble didn’t come close to describing what he’d gotten himself into, but he wasn’t yet ready to explain the details to the brother he idolized. “I guess you could say that.”
There was a long stretch of silence and Huck figured he was about to get his ass chewed out. Jaxon was good at chewing ass. Of course, with three troublemaking siblings, he’d had a lot of practice.
Jaxon was the closest thing to a parent the Hennessy kids had. Whenever they got into trouble—which was often—they had always run to Jaxon to help them get out of it. After he chewed them out, he’d always fixed it. That fix usually included taking the blame . . . and the punishment.
But tonight was different.
Jaxon didn’t cuss him out.
He just gave him a hard, cold fact.
“Whatever it is, running isn’t going to fix it, Huck.
I proved that. Leaving Promise Springs didn’t fix any of my problems. Only coming back and facing the past did.
So whatever you’re dealing with, you need to face it head on.
” Jaxon hesitated. “And you don’t have to do it alone. I’ll help you however I can.”
Poppy kicked the crushed can again. “Jax’s right. You can’t run from the truth. I tried to ignore Wylynn’s infatuation with our new slut keyboardist and look how that turned out. The truth always comes out in the end. Especially if there’s proof running around with the Hennessys’ hazel eyes.”
“What did Poppy say?” Jaxon asked.
Huck shot his sister an annoyed look. “It’s a long story, Jax.” He paused. “One that needs to be told face to face.”
“So you’re coming back?”
As much as he wanted to run and never look back, Poppy and Jaxon were right. He couldn’t run forever. The past always came back to bite you in the ass.
“Yeah, I’m coming home.”