Zoey Allen maneuvered into the driveway leading to the house where she’d lived all her life and shut off the engine. It was Friday afternoon, and she was looking forward to the weekend where she did not have to adhere to the whims of the elderly woman who spent all day in the only air-cooled room in her home.
She had been assigned several clients since she’d started with a Mineral Springs agency hiring certified home health aides, but her current one was the most eccentric of any with whom she had worked. It was the end of July and West Virginia was experiencing record-breaking heat with near ninety-degree daytime temperatures that lingered beyond sunset. Mrs. Chambers spent all her time in her bedroom with a small window air-conditioning unit that barely cooled the space.
Her client refused to allow her to turn on a fan or a light during the daylight hours because she claimed her electric bill was much too high. When Zoey complained to the scheduling staffer at the agency, she was informed her placement would be a short one because Mrs. Chambers’s children were in the process of moving their mother to a Washington, DC, nursing home several miles from where they lived. Zoey had informed the agency that once that occurred, she was going to take a two-week vacation before accepting a subsequent assignment.
“Hello, neighbor.”
Zoey closed the door of her minivan and turned to find Sutton Reed smiling at her. Talk that he had returned to Wickham Falls after his retirement from baseball had spread like a lighted fuse attached to a stick of dynamite, and Zoey was slightly taken aback that he was standing less than ten feet away greeting her as his neighbor.
Seeing him up close made her aware that he was more breathtakingly handsome in person than in his photographs. His tall, powerfully built athletic body and large brown eyes, and balanced features in a complexion with shades ranging from rosewood to alizarin, had made him one of People magazine’s most beautiful people.
A nervous smile flitted over her parted lips. “Hello.”
Sutton came closer, extending his hand. “Sutton. I’ll be renting Sharon Williams’s house until after the new year.”
Zoey took his hand, feeling calluses on the palm. She was in her teens and her parents were still alive when Sutton Reed had become a first-round draft pick for the Atlanta Braves.
“Zoey Allen. And welcome home.”
Sharon Williams’s house had been vacant for several months, and she’d promised the woman she would keep a close eye on her property and alert the sheriff’s office if she witnessed any suspicious activity.
Sutton smiled, exhibiting a mouth filled with straight, white teeth. “Thank you.” His smile faded. “How’s your family?”
“Kyle enlisted in the corps, and Harper will be starting his junior year in a couple of weeks.”
He nodded. “It appears as if you’ve done a wonderful job raising your brothers.”
A wry smiled formed on her lips. “I’ve tried.”
Zoey wanted to tell Sutton that it hadn’t been easy, that she’d done the best she could to give her siblings what they needed, rather than merely what they wanted, to keep her family intact. Kyle hadn’t given her a problem, while Harper tended to make her life a living hell. Everything she proposed he challenged, and she was at her wit’s end when dealing with his ongoing defiance.
“I’ll be around if you need help with anything,” Sutton said, meeting her eyes.
Zoey nodded and smiled. “Thank you.”
She didn’t know if he’d made the offer because that’s what he thought she wanted to hear, or if he was sincere about helping her out. The residents of the Falls had been more than supportive following her family’s tragedy. The pastor and the church board had established a college scholarship fund for the Allen boys, and members of the chamber of commerce had arranged for local merchants to make house and auto repairs free of charge for two years.
“I suppose I’ll see you around now that we are neighbors. Even if it’s going to be only for a short time,” Sutton added.
Zoey wanted to tell Sutton that she wouldn’t mind having him as her neighbor as long as he didn’t host wild parties so loud that she would have to wear earplugs to get a restful night’s sleep. She already had to constantly tell Harper to lower the volume on his music when he opted not to wear his buds, which she believed he did just to annoy her.
“It’s nice meeting you, Sutton, and it goes double if I can help you out with anything.”
Zoey turned on her heel, walked up the stairs to the porch and unlocked the front door. She hadn’t realized how fast her heart had been beating until she felt slightly light-headed. During the short time she’d interacted with Sutton Reed, she had managed not to act like a starstruck fan coming face-to-face with a gorgeous famous athlete.
Sutton Reed had put Wickham Falls on the map when as a rookie first baseman he had become the most talked-about player in the league. And instead of his star dimming, it had continued to get brighter until it was apparent he would be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Zoey had caught only glimpses of Sutton whenever he’d return to the Falls, but those visits became less and less frequent as the years went on. Her brothers, like many of the young boys in town, regarded Sutton as their hero and role model, while she barely had time to sit and watch television because there were times when she’d felt completely overwhelmed taking care of the house and working part-time during the hours they were in school.
“I can’t believe this mess!”
Zoey groaned when she saw articles of clothing strewn on the floor and chairs in the living room. She’d warned Harper repeatedly to pick up after himself. However, threats seemed to go in one ear and out the other. She did not know whether he deliberately ignored her or whatever she said did not make a difference to him.
Dropping her tote on an armchair, Zoey gathered up the discarded garments and deposited them in the hamper in the laundry room off the kitchen, and then walked up the staircase to the second story and opened the door to Harper’s room. What greeted her made her roll her eyes upward. Clothes spilled out of open drawers, dirty socks littered the floor, and a plate with a half-eaten sandwich sat on the floor beside the bed.
Shaking her head in exasperation, she picked up the plate and took it downstairs to the kitchen. There was no way Zoey wanted to begin her weekend cleaning Harper’s bedroom. She knew he probably was hanging out with his friend Jabari, and she planned to wait for him to come home to read him the riot act. After a shower and a quick dinner, she would be ready to confront the teenager who seemed intent on not following her instructions.
* * *
Zoey sat up and reached for her cell phone when she heard the front door open. It was 12:10 a.m., two hours past Harper’s curfew. Once the school year ended, she had allowed him to stay out later and had given him a 10:00 p.m. curfew.
“Where do you think you’re going?” It was apparent she’d surprised her brother, who came to a complete stop at the staircase. She’d turned off the lights and lay on the sofa to confront his arrival, or he would’ve tried to convince her that he had come home hours earlier. She flicked on the table lamp. “Come over here and sit down.”
Harper Allen exhaled a groan. “Do I have to? I’m really tired and want to go to bed.”
Zoey pointed to the love seat. “Yes, you have to.” She waited for the tall, lanky sixteen-year-old to sit, hands sandwiched between his knees. Many people had mistaken Harper and Kyle for twins despite the two-year difference in their ages. Both had inherited their late mother’s golden-brown complexion, hazel eyes and black curly hair. It had taken them a while to realize although she was their sister, they did not have the same mother.
“I’m only going to say this once,” Zoey said in a low, controlled voice. “This is the last time you will break curfew, because the next time I’m going to court to take out a PINS and have you placed in a foster home or juvenile facility until you age out.”
Harper sat straight. “What the hell is a PINS?”
Zoey’s expression hardened. “What did I tell you about using that kind of language with me? I am not one of your friends.” She had enunciated each word. “A PINS is a ‘person in need of supervision’ petition. It means that a family court judge will mandate what you can and cannot do. And the fact that you were picked up for public intoxication does little to boost your defense that you’ve done nothing wrong.”
Harper pushed out his lip. “I’m not drinking anymore.”
She knew he wasn’t being truthful, because even with the space separating them Zoey could smell the beer on his breath. “I’m not a fool, Harper. Do you want me to call Sheriff Collier and have him send one of his deputies over with a Breathalyzer?”
Harper shook his head. “No.” He paused, the seconds ticking. “All right. I had a couple of beers.”
“Where?”
“Not at Triple Jay’s house. His father would kill him if he found him drinking.”
“And you thought I would go along with your underage drinking?”
He shook his head. “No.”
“Where were you drinking?” Zoey repeated.
“It was in Mineral Springs.”
“You left the Falls to get drunk in the Springs?”
“I have a friend who lives in the Springs and his older brother bought the beer for us.”
“I want you to listen to what I’m going to stay because I don’t intend to repeat it. This will be the last time you’ll go to Mineral Springs to drink anything. Not even water. And it is also the last time you will come into his house after ten. Once school begins, I want you home after your last class. The exception will be extracurricular activities. You are to keep your room clean, and I don’t want you eating in there again. We don’t need a vermin infestation. And there are going to be some new rules around here. You will have to earn your allowance. Beginning tomorrow, every Saturday you will get up early to mow the lawn and bag the garbage for the Monday pickup.”
Harper ran his fingers through a mane of curly hair. “Okay, Zoey, I hear you.”
She gritted her teeth. “You hear me, but are you listening, Harper?”
“Yes, I’m listening. I promise no more beer, I have to be in by ten, keep my room clean, and bag the garbage and clean the backyard on Saturdays.”
Zoey waved her hand in dismissal. She knew Harper was attempting to placate her. She had never been so embarrassed as when a local deputy discovered him urinating in the parking lot behind a row of stores in the business district. Rather than arrest him, Seth Collier called her to pick him up, with a stern warning that his next offense could possibly result in an arrest.
She watched Harper as he slowly made his way up the staircase, hoping and praying he would keep his promise. She did not like issuing threats, yet she was willing to do it if it meant preventing her brother from ruining his life. Harper had taken his mother’s death particularly hard.
Zoey suspected something was causing Harper to act out, and whenever she asked him if he wanted to talk to her, he gave her the pat answer that he was okay. He may have thought he was okay, while continuing with his rebellious behavior. It had been years since her youngest brother was in counseling, and she thought perhaps now it was time to talk to Harper as to whether he needed someone other than her to confide in.
Going from a family of five to three had been not only shocking but also traumatic, and Zoey had had to seek out a counselor help her adjust to becoming a teenage mother to a six-and eight-year-old. At eighteen she was cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, shopping for groceries and helping her siblings with homework in between working a part-time position at Ruthie’s, the local family-style buffet restaurant. Other girls her age were dating, holding down full-time jobs or enrolled in college, while she had become legal guardian and surrogate mother to two young boys who’d lost both parents at the same time.
It had taken her more than a year to adjust to caring for someone other than herself and have the Allen family settled into a routine that came as close to normal as it would have been if James and Charmaine were still alive. Pushing off the sofa, she turned off the lamp and made her way to the staircase and to her bedroom.
Zoey changed into a nightgown, adjusted the thermostat on the air conditioner, and got into bed. Although tired, she could not stop thinking about Harper flirting with the possibility of getting arrested. Her fear that he would end up with a criminal record kept her from a restful night’s sleep, and it was close to dawn when she finally fell into a deep, dreamless slumber.