Chapter 9
“Should I go wake them up and—”
“Nah. It’s Saturday. Let them sleep in, if it’s okay with you.” Gina rested her forearms on Kyle’s shoulders and kissed him. “I’ve gotta get going. I’ll call midday and see if you guys are doing okay.”
Kyle gave her another peck on the lips. “I’m sure we’ll be fine. You just be careful going to work, okay?”
“Yes, my dear. I will. Love you. Bye.”
“Love you too.” He stood in the doorway and watched as she started her truck and pulled away from the house.
She’d no more than disappeared out the driveway when Kyle heard a little voice. “Daddy? Can I go out there with the big kids?”
Kyle turned and lifted Myla off the floor and into his arms. “No, cookie. Let them sleep. Want some mouse-shaped pancakes?”
“Yes! Yum! Can I help make ’em?”
“Of course. Get the bowl and the milk and I’ll get the other things we need.” Less than ten minutes later, a steaming stack of pancakes shaped like a famous mouse’s head lay stacked on a plate. The rest went onto a platter on the counter in hopes Gina’s kids would join them.
They finished breakfast, he cleaned up the kitchen, and already had loads of laundry going in the washer and the dryer when he heard someone coming in the back door. “Hadley?”
“Yeah. It’s me.”
“Pancakes,” Kyle said and pointed. “Just nuke ’em.”
“Thanks!” The young woman grabbed a plate and helped herself. In just a few minutes, Briley had stepped in, gotten a plate, and taken a seat at the table.
By early afternoon, the kids had been all over the farm with Myla acting as their guide. He could see them in the pasture right behind the house, running through the grass. Lord, they’d be covered in chiggers by evening, so he made a mental note for a bleach-water bath to stave those off.
The ringing of the phone startled him a little, and he smiled when he saw it was Gina. “Hey, babe!”
“Everybody doing okay?”
Kyle laughed. “Yeah, they’re doing great. Wandering all over the farm.”
“Good. I have a hard time getting them to go outdoors. I’m glad they’re doing that.”
“We have a little family cemetery half a mile back from the house, and I’m betting Myla showed them that.”
“Should I bring dinner when I come back?” she asked.
“Nah. I’ve got steaks here and plenty of fresh vegetables. Unless there’s something else you want.”
“Nope. Sounds good. And Kyle?”
“Yes, sweets?”
“Thanks.”
That made him laugh again. “You’re welcome! They’re keeping Myla entertained, and that’s worth it all!”
“Okay. Well, let me know if I need to pick something up.”
“Will do, babe. See you soon. Love you,” he threw in, smiling to himself.
“Love you too. Miss you.” She ended the call and Kyle stood there, holding the phone.
Love. It had found him. A lot of guys would’ve shied away from a woman with two teenagers, but he liked it.
A pre-made family. Not a bad thing, from where he sat.
And in a few years, they’d be grown and gone, so he and Gina would concentrate on Myla.
Regardless that she had the other women in the family, she needed a mom.
Gina was a good one, the best he could’ve hoped for.
He felt lucky. Blessed. Happy. And hopeful.
As long as something didn’t come along to screw it all up.
They were short an employee—Roger had wrenched his back—and she had to help out in both the front and the back.
After helping a guy carry twenty bags of grass seed for a lawn, she went back inside, only to find someone had ordered fifty bags of fertilizer.
Company policy had always dictated that customers could not help load purchases, but she was desperate, and the man didn’t seem to mind.
There was dirt all over her shirt and her hands when the bell on the door tinkled, and she called out, “Be right with you.” Washing her hands wasn’t an option—it was a necessity. Having that much dirt on them disgusted her.
She was more disgusted when she rounded the end of the aisle and said, “Can I help—”
“Hello, Regina.” The woman’s voice dripped honey, and Gina felt her stomach clench.
“What do you want?”
“Is that any way to talk to a customer? You should be ashamed.”
“And yet I’m not. If you want to buy something, get it and pay for it. Otherwise, get out.” Gina could feel her blood pressure shooting up, and she struggled with the urge to completely lose her temper. She couldn’t do that in the store, even though she’d be justified in it.
“How are my grandkids?” her ex-mother-in-law asked. God, Gina loathed her! She was the reason Nate was the way he was, Gina was sure. If Margie could tinker in it, she would. It would be good if she minded her own business, but it didn’t seem she was the least bit capable of that.
“Your grandkids are just fine now that they’re not having to watch their father beat their mother.”
“Well, you know, that was partially your fault. If you’d just—”
“Whoa! Stop right there.” Blaming her? It was the last straw for Gina—she had no intention of listening to another word of that.
“There is absolutely nothing a woman can do or not do that would justify a man hitting her. Nothing. And if you really think that, you’re worse off than I ever imagined.
Now, if you need something, get it, pay for it, and get out. Otherwise, just get out.”
“Regina, there are two sides to every story.”
“Yeah, mine and the cops’, which happened to agree with mine.”
“If you’d tried harder to understand the situation, maybe you would’ve—”
“Would’ve what? Been able to talk him out of hitting me? Been able to tolerate his drunken stupors, his days in bed because he couldn’t function, his complete and total neglect of his kids? Nope. I don’t understand that. I can’t understand that. And I won’t—ever. Now, as I said, you—”
“Margie?” The male voice that barked out from behind Gina startled her, but she’d never been happier to hear it in her whole life.
“What are you doing here? You need to get out of here. Now. I don’t want you in here and I don’t want to see you around.
Leave Gina and the kids alone. They’re doing just fine, and they certainly don’t need your influence.
” Miles Pritchard was one of those people who didn’t often take no for an answer, and Gina knew he wouldn’t be doing so in that moment.
“How are you, Miles?”
“I was fine until you darkened our door. Take a look at that,” Gina’s dad said and pointed at the entrance.
“There’s a sign on that door that says, ‘We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.’ Today, that ‘anyone’ is you.
So go. Now. Or I’ll have you removed.” Gina wanted to cheer.
Her dad was also someone who didn’t make idle threats, so if he said he’d have her removed, she’d be leaving there in a police cruiser if not of her own accord.
Margie had started to puff up like an old toad. “You have no cause to be so rude to me.”
“Yes. I do. Your no-good son beat my daughter until she had to be hospitalized, and he terrorized her children for years. So yes—I have just cause for telling you to get out of my store. Sabrina?” Miles called out.
“Yeah, Daddy. Is there something … Margie.” Sabrina had be-bopped through the door into the counter area but as soon as she saw Margie, she stopped dead. “What is she doing here?” she asked her dad.
“Leaving. Call the police and tell them we have someone here who’s not welcome on the property and won’t leave.”
Sabrina had already pulled her phone from her pocket when Margie cried out, “Okay! I’m leaving! Just wait until I tell everybody how rude you were to me!”
Miles smirked. “Go ahead. I’m betting they’ll come by and congratulate us. Now go, and don’t come back.”
“Fine!” She wheeled and stormed off toward the door, but not before she’d swept an arm down a shelf and sent jugs of insecticide and bags of flower fertilizer plummeting to the floor. She shoved the front door open but before she let it close, she spun and glared at Gina. “You’re such a bitch!”
As soon as she was out of sight, Gina slumped against the wall and stood there, exhausted. Dealing with Margie had always worn her out, but having to keep dealing with her was worse yet. Her dad’s soft voice cut through her ruminations. “Honey, why don’t you go on home?”
“But you’re not even supposed to be here today, and there’s work to be done, and—”
“Nothing your sister and I can’t handle.
I see what dealing with her does to you.
You look completely drained. Go home and try to relax.
It’s okay. We’ve got this.” He gripped her upper arms and leaned in to give her a kiss on the forehead.
“I love you and those kids, and I want you as far away from that woman as possible. Now go on.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll go. Thank you, Daddy.” He opened his arms and when Gina walked into them and they wrapped her up in a tight bear hug, the tears tumbled down her cheeks.
“Oh, honey! It’s okay. Go on now. Get some rest. I love you.”
“I love you too, Daddy. Thanks. Bye, Sab.”
“Bye, G. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
Of course, instead of going home, she went straight to Kyle’s.
She couldn’t wait to get there, feel his arms around her, sit and listen to the kids or watch TV.
Peace and quiet. At least twice as she drove she thought she saw a car following her, but she was sure she was mistaken.
Even Margie wasn’t that stupid. It was just her imagination.
She stepped into Kyle’s house to find it quiet. “Anybody home?”
“Yeah! Back here.”
Kyle stood at the side of the bed, folding clothes. “Hey!” His smile was huge, and it warmed her. After the way the workday had ended, she needed that feeling. “You’re here early!”
“Yeah. Dad told me to go ahead and leave.”
“What’s wrong?”
Damn it! Am I that transparent? She really hadn’t wanted Kyle to know about any of that shit, but it seemed it was going to dog her until she told him. “Nothing, really. Just … difficult customer.”
“Difficult customer? Called you names? What? What happened?”
It was obvious he wasn’t going to let it go. “It was my ex-mother-in-law.”