Chapter 11

Post-wedding letdown made Sunday breakfast at the Evans house a gloomy affair. Everyone missed Susan’s cheerful presence. Mrs. Evans snuffled as she fried the bacon; Dave and Billy tried to lighten the mood with some good-natured brotherly teasing, but their efforts fell flat. While Danny and Mr. Evans glowered at Mick, who gave back glower just as good as he was getting.

Heather sat between the warring factions and frowned at the centerpiece. The bouquet pressed upon her after the toss sat in a vase in the middle of the kitchen table. True to his word, Mick stayed out of her bedroom last night, but it didn’t seem to matter. His whole family had them married off anyway.

She couldn’t stand just sitting here in the middle of this angry staring contest. “Are you sure I can’t do anything to help, Carol? I make a mean piece of toast.”

Carol smiled over her shoulder. “You’re such a sweet, helpful girl, but no thanks. I’ve got cooking breakfast for my boys down to a science.”

“You’re a good kid,” Mr. Evans observed, as he continued to glare at Mick. “I bet you never did anything to go against your parents’ wishes, or to break your mama’s heart.”

“Don’t go to Vegas with that bet, Mr. Evans, you’d lose the house.”

Everyone gaped at her in shock, including Mick.

“I don’t believe it for a minute—you’re a doll!” Carol exclaimed.

Heather smiled at her. “Thanks, but it’s the truth. My dad passed away when I was just a kid, so he and I never fought. But there was a time, right after high school, when my mom and I had such a big argument about me going against her wishes we didn’t speak to each other for a good long while.”

She looked at Mick and saw it in his eyes as he realized it was during the time they’d known each other.

“I never knew about this,” Mick said. “That would’ve been when you were living in Portland.”

She blinked and looked down at her hands, which were busy shredding the paper napkin at her place setting. Telling Mick about this time in front of his whole family was not what she wanted. Why had she brought it up?

Oh yeah. It was in a misguided attempt to divert Mr. Evans from his angry sniping at Mick. Damn her protective instinct! Mick was a big boy, he could take care of himself, but she hated seeing the hurt in his eyes, even as he stared down his father across the breakfast table.

She cleared her throat and finally spoke. “Me living in Portland was at the root of our argument.”

“She didn’t want you living so far from home? I can understand, it would tear me up if Susan moved across the whole country. I miss her like anything already and she’s just moving across town,” Carol said as she added more bacon to the frying pan.

“It wasn’t the distance, so much as what I was doing there.”

Mick furrowed his brow. “You were helping your brother care for his baby daughter after his wife died. I can’t believe Joyce objected to what you were doing!”

“Oh, how sad,” Carol said.

There were a lot of circumstances around her late sister-in-law’s death Heather had no intention of sharing with the Evans family. Mick was there, and he knew the truth, but no one else here needed to know, so she didn’t reply directly to Carol’s statement. It was a sad situation, but not for the reasons Carol meant.

“My sister-in-law died in a car accident when my niece, Samantha, was just a baby. Jeff was in his first season with the Pintos, and all alone in Portland with Sam. They needed someone to help them. My mom had the farm to run, and my older sister was married with kids of her own, so I went.” Heather shrugged as if it were no big deal.

“Still not seeing why this caused such a huge rift between Joyce and you,” Mick said. “Jeff couldn’t leave Portland, and you’d just graduated from high school, so you were the obvious choice to help.”

“That’s how I felt,” Heather said with a small, sad smile. “But in order to go to Portland, I put off going to college.”

“But you took classes at the community college—I remember.”

“It wasn’t the same to my mom. To me either, really, but Jeff and Sam needed me. You see, I had a full scholarship to M.I.T. I turned it down to go to Portland to take care of Sam.”

Mick’s eyes bugged out of his head. “M.I.T.? The M.I.T.? The Massachusetts Institute of Technology?”

Heather stared at the remnants of her napkin. “Yep. Do you know another one?”

“No. Wow. That’s just…wow.”

Heather felt the corners of her lips tilt up at the sight of Mick’s dropped jaw. “Your blatant shock at the news I could get into M.I.T. is kind of insulting, Mick.”

“I’m sure he doesn’t mean anything by it,” Carol said in a soothing tone.

“Your brother shoulda moved back to Virginia with his baby girl,” Mr. Evans grumbled.

“And pass up playing in the NFL?” Billy asked with a snort.

“Yes!” Mr. Evans slammed his fist on the table, so hard the silverware rattled. “It’s just a damn game! Family should always come first.”

“Just a game that pays a whole, heck of a lot of money if you’re good at it, and Jeff was the best. That game allowed him to provide for his daughter in a way he never could have if he’d stayed in Rivers Bend. Our mom didn’t expect him to move home, she just didn’t want me to give up my scholarship to go to Portland. She wanted Jeff to hire a full-time nanny to watch Sam, or to send Sam back to Rivers Bend and my mom would take care of her, but he couldn’t stand to be separated from his little girl. So I went, but my mom didn’t like it one little bit, and she was angry at both Jeff and me for a long time.”

“She was right,” Mick said. “You shouldn’t have had to sacrifice your future for Jeff.”

“Heather understands how important family is—get off her ass!” Danny snapped.

“Language,” Carol warned.

Danny hung his head and muttered, “Sorry, Ma.”

“Sam was just a little baby, Mick, you were there, you remember, and she’d lost her mother.” For whatever her mother was worth, Heather added silently before continuing, “A nanny would’ve been okay, if there was no choice, but I wanted to be there for her, to surround her with love. Sure, I gave something up, but I got so much more in return. And when I see what a great kid Sam’s turned into, I don’t have any regrets.”

“Because you honored your family obligations, unlike my no-good son,” Mr. Evans said.

Okay, this plan had backfired, and enabled Mr. Evans to turn it back around to ragging on Mick. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath. “You sure I can’t make some toast, Carol?”

****

Mick lifted his index finger off the steering wheel to point at the sign for Braden Farm. “I bet you want to make a quick stop there to thank your family for not being insane.”

She rolled her eyes. “Your family is not insane.”

“After spending the weekend up close and personal with the Evans Clan, how can you say so with a straight face?”

“Because they’re not. Your dad and Danny are difficult…”

He cut her off with a derisive snort. “That’s putting it mildly.”

She went on as if he hadn’t interrupted, “But everyone else is great. Your mom and Susan are sweethearts, and Dave and Billy are a lot of fun. No family is perfect.”

He glanced at her, then turned back to watch the road. “Not even yours? Because from where I stand, y’all look pretty damned Norman Rockwell-ish.”

“Is that an insult?”

“No way. I have total Braden envy.”

“I did get pretty lucky in the family lottery, but we all have our quirks and flaws. And while your father might be a serious crick in the ass,” she paused and snuffled. “At least you still have him. And while you do, there’s always a chance for you two to reconnect; I don’t think you should take it for granted.”

He reached across the console to take her hand. “I’m sorry, Heather, I wasn’t thinking about the fact you’ve lost your father. I was being insensitive.”

“It’s okay. Can I just give you a piece of free advice?”

He signaled and turned Lola onto Main Street, which was deserted on a Sunday evening. “Sure.”

“Don’t lose touch with your family again. Grit your teeth and bear it when you’re with your dad and Danny, and enjoy your time with everyone else. You never know when any of them will be gone. And once they are, you can’t get the time back.”

He eased into a spot in front of the Nosh Pit, which was closed all day on Sunday.

She turned in her seat to face him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get all preachy on you, it’s just family is important to me. When my dad died, it brought all of us closer together. I’ve read death can drive some families apart, but it didn’t work that way with us. We all pulled together to look out for each other. It’s a great support system; we all know we’ll never be alone. And I want the same thing for you too.”

He cleared his throat, and when he spoke, his voice was thick. “But I am always alone. The original lone wolf, that’s me. I’m used to it.”

She squeezed his hand. “If you’re happy living your life alone, it’s all good. But if you’re not, don’t turn away people who care about you. You’ve got family and friends; you don’t have to be alone.”

He looked deep into her eyes, and she felt it burn all the way down to her toes. She shivered, even though the night was warm. She felt feverish, hot and cold at the same time.

Desire sparked in his whiskey colored eyes. His voice was deep as he asked, “How about tonight? Do I have to be alone tonight?”