Chapter 34 Tanner
Tanner
“We’ve met before,” said Sam, giving Arlo a chin lift when they all pulled up by the park at the same time. His grin was as broad and easy as ever but it didn’t linger as he gripped Mats’s hand instead and tumbled straight into conversation with the big guy.
A group had already gathered over the far side of the large open space, and Tanner spotted Avery chatting with Bel, Drew, Leo, and Gemma as they got nearer.
She glanced over but made no move to stand up.
He’d been so excited to get the Jeep delivered but he already knew from the cold shoulder she was giving him that he’d made another misstep.
Driven half by the fear that his days of extravagant spending could be limited and half by Johnnie’s overheard words at the wedding, he’d forgotten what his mom had told him.
“It’s not love if you have to buy it.”
Maybe she had a point. It was certainly proving difficult to spoil his friends and family these days.
Sam seemed more delighted that he’d agreed to the game of softball than he was at having any of his bar bills paid, and Avery had shown a quieter pleasure in his offer to come pick up some furniture with her than she had at the arrival of the Jeep. When would he fucking learn?
“So, about this boat—” Arlo prompted, slumping onto the grass.
OK, so maybe not all his friends . . .
Sam snorted behind a hand. “You’re thinking of buying a boat? Have you forgotten you get sick as a dog on anything bigger than a surfboard?”
Tanner pulled a face. “Dude, when you throw up solidly for seven hours on a deep-sea fishing trip someone booked as a special treat, you don’t forget that shit easily.”
“None of us who were there have forgotten it either,” Kash admitted with a wince. It had been his twenty-fifth birthday present from Sam—and no one could say it wasn’t at least a memorable way to celebrate.
“Just because you two have the stomachs of Vikings, there’s no need to pick on us sensitive types,” Tanner said, rubbing his hand over a phantom cramp in his abdomen.
“So, no boat then, huh?” Arlo scowled.
“It’s not sounding likely.” Lips quirking briefly, Mats ran his gaze over their surroundings.
Another small group of ten sat close by, laughing together with the ease of old friends.
Covering the formalities for anyone who hadn’t yet met, Kash stepped forward to introduce Roman and Elenie Martinez, Milo and Caitlyn Walker, Dougie Taggart and his fiancée Summer, Thea and Luke, and Jackson and Leah.
Tanner greeted the police chief and his wife with particular interest.
“Hey, Sunshine!” Sam swept Leah into an extravagant hug.
“I’ve told you not to call me that,” grunted Jackson, dragging his girlfriend away with a muscled forearm and the barest glimmer of a smile.
Leah pushed a dark curl out of her face. “How’s work, Avery? Have you settled in at the farmhouse now?”
“Feet right under the table, aren’t they, Boo?” Arlo said lightly.
“Don’t be a dick,” Tanner muttered, elbowing him none too gently in the side.
“It’s going well—thanks to all the pieces Jackson’s asked for!” Avery ignored them both, her face brightening as she wrapped her arms around bent knees. “And the workshop is perfect for what I need, although I’m hoping Luke will be able to start my rebuild soon.”
As much as that thought unsettled Tanner, he was thrilled for her that Jackson was steering work in Avery’s direction.
“The farmhouse was a state when they bought it but Jax saw the potential. I could only smell the damp! The difference between then and now is amazing.” Leah rested her cheek against Jackson’s arm and Tanner saw his fingers flex on her waist.
“It was a fun project,” was all Jackson said in response, although he looked pleased.
“Decided what you’re going to do about renting or buying?” Sam asked Tanner with the quirk of an eyebrow.
“I’m seriously tempted to buy it. I’ll talk the finances over with Arlo while he’s here.” It would give him another reason to get up to speed on his financial position.
“Why don’t we all sit down together?” Sam suggested. “That way I can answer any questions that crop up.”
“Great idea. Let’s do it.” Tanner found his attention wandering as he spotted the opportunity to tease Bel out from the group while Avery chatted with Leah about her digital art.
“I need your advice because I keep fucking up,” he admitted quietly, close to Bel’s ear, and she heard him out as he explained his misjudgment with the Jeep.
“I wasn’t trying to be flash. I didn’t think it’d come off like I was being high-handed.
But her car’s on its last legs and I want her to be safe. ”
Bel’s eyes glittered when Tanner finished. “You haven’t fucked up—yet. You’re just not playing the right game for Avery. She’s not interested in your money, Ace Face.”
He was finally beginning to realize that. “I just want her to have nice things. Everyone likes nice things.”
“They do—and by all means keep on with the expensive gifts. Avery needs to learn to accept stuff that’s freely given as much as you need to remember that gift-giving is a love language best backed up with something else.
” Bel squeezed his arm. “She’s had nice things before and they didn’t mean squat.
Her dad will still throw money at a problem if she catches him at the right moment, but the one thing he’s never given her is his time.
” The no-nonsense look in her eyes told Tanner he needed to listen up.
“What Ave needs most is someone who’s there.
Someone to lean on. Her parents let her down over and over.
She needs a partner who’ll put her first, even if she tells herself she doesn’t want one. ”
His throat felt thick. “I can do that.”
“I don’t doubt it, pumpkin.” Bel bumped his shoulder with hers. “In fact, I’m counting on it. The problem will be getting Avery to believe it, too.”
They were interrupted by Tanner’s phone vibrating in his pocket, and when he fished it out, the caller ID had a kink settling between his eyebrows. He shot a quick sideways glance toward Avery and said to Bel, “Back in a minute—I’m just going to take this.”
The mystery of what his old coach might be ringing for was solved as soon as he swiped to answer.
“Hello, gorgeous.”
It wasn’t his ex-coach.
“Mrs. Jenner.” Tanner found himself stuttering over the name. “Why—uh, what a surprise.”
Why the fuck are you ringing me? was what he had been about to say. And why ring me from your husband’s phone?
There was a throaty chuckle from the other end. “Mrs. Jenner—really? You’re still going with that?”
“Um . . .” Christ, this was awkward. He’d never have answered if he’d thought it was her. “What do you want?” Tanner avoided her question, turning away from the gathering of people and rubbing the back of his neck as he spoke into his cell.
“Maybe I just missed your voice,” she offered, and the inappropriate suggestion made his toes curl with discomfort.
“I’m with friends so I can’t talk,” he said gruffly, making one hundred percent sure not to say “I can’t talk now.” He didn’t want to leave her any reason to call again.
Bethany Jenner acted as if she hadn’t heard him. “I don’t know if you’ve heard but my husband and I are separating.”
Not fucking fast enough that you couldn’t borrow his phone! Tanner broke out in a sweat to think of his number being the last one dialed on the handset.
“Perhaps I could come and visit you sometime soon?” she pressed. “I’d like to see where you’re based now.”
Her willful ignorance of his lack of interest pissed him off.
Filled with relief to finally be able to speak freely without risk of reprisals, Tanner cleared his throat.
“No, I don’t think so. And I’d rather you didn’t call me again.
I don’t want this. Not now, not at all, Mrs. Jenner. Please respect that.”
Hanging up without waiting for a reply, he blew out a breath which tremored at the edges. His skin itching like he’d brushed through poison ivy, his shoulders hunched, Tanner rejoined the group to find everyone in the middle of a friendly argument.
“We’re not playing softball,” Bel said with unshakable conviction.
“You’ve got the Pine Springs High golden boy of baseball over there”—she jabbed a finger in the direction of Roman Martinez—“and the hand-eye coordination king right here.” This time Bel’s elbow hit Tanner in the gut, before she fixed Mats with a steely eye.
“And Bigfoot doesn’t look like he’d be too shabby with a bat either.
I’m not spending my afternoon watching a ball soar seventy feet over my head while I stand in the outfield like a vertically challenged goof. ”
Shoving Bethany Jenner and her unwelcome persistence to the back of his mind, Tanner summoned an empty smile.
Bel’s point was valid, although she’d overestimated his current threat.
“You’re forgetting I’d have to play left-handed,” he pointed out.
“I’ll be more of a hindrance than a help to anyone. ”
When Avery gave him a keen look as she lifted her hair from the back of her neck and pulled it into a ponytail, Tanner wondered what she could read on his face.
“Just like our early college days before you cut and ran,” said Arlo, lying back on the grass with a grin. “Rooming together was like majoring in distractions, with a minor in keeping you out of trouble.”
Already agitated, his words needled Tanner.
The way Arlo reminisced sometimes, he felt like they’d lived different realities.
He’d bust his gut to get noticed by the right people in his first year of college.
Already bruised from his near miss with the high school accident and feeling unworthy enough, he’d kept his head down and his nose clean. There’d been no trouble.
On edge and rattled, Tanner popped his knuckles one at a time and wished he could have five minutes in Avery’s company to recalibrate.
Even with all their ups and downs, she was the place of calm that he craved.
Despite Bel and Sam still talking across her, she continued to study him and Tanner knew some of that desperation showed on his face.
Avery’s chin tilted upward, her blue eyes widening as their temperature slowly changed from spring lake coolness to the warmth of summer rain. And that was all it took.
As he met her gaze, Tanner dragged in a long, deep breath, then let it escape, and every word that Bethany Jenner—and Arlo—had spoken became as insignificant as a singular blade of grass beneath his feet.