Jinx snorts. “Dad, I graduated like five years ago.”
“That’s what I’m saying,” our old man mutters behind a mug of steaming coffee.
“Ah, actually...” Shit. I rub a hand around the back of my neck. “I think I borrowed them last summer for Sam’s bachelor party.”
“Great!” Ma grins. “Where’d you put them?”
“At Sam’s cabin.”
“Jesse Aaron!” Her smile flips to a frown. “Go get them. Now.”
Good thing I have a key to the place. “All right. Jett, you want to go for a ride?”
“No, thank you.” He’s too chill, all kicked back on the lawn chair, looking more like fourteen instead of four. “I wanna stay here with Grampy.”
“Really, kid? You get a couple extra days with me and suddenly I’m chopped liver?”
“Yup!”
I shake my head, half laughing, half ‘what the fucking’, all the way to my truck. Not that I’m actually complaining. Between the birthday party at the Foss’s last weekend and this extended visit, it feels like I’ve seen him more than I have in months. And I friggin’ love it.
He’s changing so much these days. It’s obvious when I only see him every couple of weeks, but it’s something special to watch it happen in slow motion, too. Little ticks of time across several days. Like a caterpillar to a cocoon and then a little yellow butterfly.
An ache burrows deep in my chest, knowing I have to take him back tomorrow, especially when I think about all the little moments I’ll miss while he’s away.
I’ve always envied Hayden for the extra time she gets with him, but I swallowed it down, because I know there’s nothing more important than the relationship between mother and child. I also didn’t want to make things harder on her than they already were, having a baby just out of college, and us trying to make this co-parenting thing work across so many miles. Her choice, but one I promised I’d respect.
We’ve grown up a lot since then, the three of us. And I’m starting to realize that my role in his life is just as important as hers, especially as he becomes a little man.
I’ve already decided to ask her for my two weeks this summer. Once I get a couple of new people on staff, I’m letting Jesus take the wheel while Jett and I take a long overdue vacation filled with fishing, four-wheeling, campfires, and all the chicken nuggets and root beer the two of us can handle.
Just the thought has me grinning like a fool as I turn the truck onto the lake road, which is busier than usual since it’s Memorial Day weekend. All of the cabin owners are up for the first big hurrah of the season, and I chuckle thinking about the good ol’ days, when this had been my favorite weekend of the year.
Nothing is better than summer in Cole Creek, especially when you’re young and single and your biggest concern is the kind of beer you’re going to drink and which girl you’re going to drink it with.
I’ve done my fair share of sipping and kissing and unzipping over the years, but there was only ever really one girl I wanted to do more with. Only one girl I wanted to share my blanket and my hoodie with, too.
I crank the wheel toward the white line around the sharp curve near the Foss cabin as a small caravan of vehicles with out-of-state plates takes it too wide and almost runs me off the damn road.
“Slow the hell down!” I yell for no one but myself as something catches my attention through the trees. A vehicle in the Foss’s driveway. A white vehicle. Just like Hayden’s.
When the last of the speeding cars flies by, I hit the gas again, only to slow at the end of the dirt driveway I haven’t been down in almost five years. A driveway I’d used dozens of times in the couple of weeks she’d worn my hoodie and drank my beer and gave me her body.
I can’t be sure it’s her car without pulling in and getting closer, and for all I know it’s her parents. She did say her dad had wanted to do some fishing soon.
But then I see her on the back porch. Bare legs in a pair of cut-off shorts, long hair blowing in the breeze...
I can’t see her face, but I know the second she sees my truck, because she freezes like a deer caught in the headlights.
Well, well, Miss Foss. What brings you back to town?
HAYDEN
Really, God? You couldn’t even give me an hour in Cole Creek? Not even one measly hour?
Then again, it’s always been like this, hasn’t it? Jesse showing up in my life when I least expect him has become his modus operandi.
Pulling in a deep breath, I try to pretend that his truck easing down the driveway doesn’t have my heart beating a mile a minute. That my hands aren’t already shaking as I pop the hatch and grab my suitcase. Like Jesse dropping by is as natural as an old, small-town friend coming to make polite chitchat with the summer visitor about the weather turning nice. Not like the guy who’s turned my life upside down and doesn’t even know it.
“A little far from home, aren’t you?” Jesse calls with a crooked smile as he slides out of his truck in a pair of jeans, a white T-shirt, and that dang beanie he loves so much. It’s Saturday, but the streak of grease on his forearm and across one of his thighs doesn’t surprise me.
“Hey!” I paste on a smile that actually hurts my swollen eyes. Dammit, where are my sunglasses when I need them? “You look like you were working.”
“Had to do an oil change on one of the rigs this morning. Jett came with.”
“I bet he liked that.” Loved it, actually, because that boy loves doing everything with Jesse. “I was going to text you later and let you know that I can grab him tomorrow instead since I’m here.”
“Okay.” His light eyes sweep toward the cabin. “Is Lane here, too? Your folks?”
“Nope, just me.”
“Ah.”
And if we could leave it at that, at least for now, I would be eternally grateful.
“Nice day for a drive.” He tucks his hands into his pockets and shifts from one boot to the other.
“Yep. Traffic was good, too.”
“So, you just got here then?”
“Uh huh. Just a few minutes ago.”
“Nice.”
I shift my gaze to the trees surrounding the house and separating our property from the cabins that flank it on each side. I can’t look at him and keep my act together, especially when I feel his gaze burning down on me. I can imagine the pulse in his shadowed jaw, too, as the questions roll around in his head.
“So, are we just going to stand here and pretend you’re not leaning against a suitcase the size of a dump truck? Or that your back seat isn’t full of shit, too?”
Dammit.
I push a shaky hand through my hair and laugh just as uneasily. “I haven’t been up here in a while. And Dad hasn’t had a chance to open the place up for the summer yet, either. Just thought I’d help.” And stay for a few days or however long it takes to figure out what the hell I’m doing. “Nothing serious.”
“Nothing serious? No offense, Hayden, but your face looks like a pink marshmallow right now. Either you’re allergic to something and I need to take you to the hospital, or you’ve been crying.”