Dylan's Redemption (11 page)

“Yeah, well, you and everyone else. What does that have to do with you becoming a cop?”

“Everything. I realized you hung out with Brian and me because you hoped we’d protect you. Maybe we did in a way. If you were with us, you weren’t alone with Buddy. It isn’t enough to remember that’s all the help we gave you.”

He stared down at the grass. His need to say it all drove him on.

“The night of the prom, in the backseat of the car when you were naked, I saw the bruises on your ribs and back. I never thought twice about them. I dismissed them as nothing more than something that happened on the job. That’s what everyone thought. That’s what you wanted people to think.”

“You were thinking of other things that night.” She gave him a half smile to lighten things up and get him to stop talking about it. “What does it matter now?”

Serious, he refused to let her distract him. Finally allowing him to talk to her, he needed her to know she mattered. The past mattered.

He wished he could find the words to make Jessie understand she was everything. He had to make her see they could build a future together.

“When that guy showed me his bruises, well, they matched yours. I called your house to check on you. Buddy answered and told me you’d taken off. He wouldn’t give me any information and said you’d been gone for more than a week already. I tried Brian the next day, but he refused to talk to me. I lived in Georgia, tied to the military, I had no way to come back and try to find you. I called home. Mom confirmed you disappeared and told me about the rumors spreading through town, that almost everyone believed Buddy killed you.”

He downed the rest of the beer, trying to wash away the pain of living with the belief she was dead. “I thought I was too late. I wanted to believe you’d done what you said that night—you disappeared. You had every reason to after what that bastard did to you day in and day out. But the rumors and circumstantial evidence supported the reason for your father and brother’s silence. I tried to hold out hope that you were alive, I Googled you, checked the police databases, and found nothing. I believed he killed you, Jessie.”

“I’m sorry you thought I died. I tried to find you.”

She didn’t offer anything more, so he kept talking. “After the military, I worked as a police officer in Atlanta. The domestic abuse cases were the hardest. They reminded me of how I’d let you down.”

He wanted to tell her about his son, Will, but decided now wasn’t the time. A long, complicated story, they needed to put this subject to rest before they could move forward.

“I became a cop because I didn’t want anyone else to suffer like you’d suffered without anyone helping them, without me helping them. I couldn’t help you, but I thought I could help someone else.”

“I never asked for your help, Dylan. It’s been my experience people are more likely to turn a blind eye. They don’t want to make someone else’s problems theirs. I never expected you to do anything for me. Face it, when we were young, I had a wild crush on you.”

“And now?” He hoped she knew just how important her answer was to him.

“Now? For you and me, there is no now. There’s only a past I thought happened one way, but turned out to be a lie. I truly believed you didn’t care. Turns out you didn’t even know I tried to contact you. That hurts me more deeply than I can ever say.”

Jessie took a swallow of beer and stared out across the cemetery, remembering the time she buried their daughter alone. Pop and Greg had been there, but not Dylan. She wanted to believe if his mother hadn’t lied, he’d have stood beside her and grieved as deeply as she’d grieved.

“I’ve been angry with you for so long, I’m having a hard time getting used to not hating you.”

“I’m glad you don’t. I want you in my life again. I’ve missed you so damn much. There were days when all I thought about was you and nights you haunted me into my dreams.”

Every word held a wealth of hurt. He’d thought she was dead. No doubt, he cared. Jessie would have to account for what happened to Hope. Not today. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t bring herself to willingly hurt him. Maybe not knowing was better.

“It seems there hasn’t been a day I haven’t thought of you too.” She rolled to her feet and stepped away, needing the distance. He stood and came after her. She held up her hands and stepped back when he reached out to touch her. She couldn’t let him do that when he didn’t know the whole truth. “I have to go.” She grabbed her stuff and walked away.

“Jess, wait. Come back. Don’t leave like this. You can tell me anything.”

She turned back and faced him. The guilt and anguish threatened to swallow her whole and send her into a spiral down deep into the despair that had stolen months of her life after Hope died. “Maybe there’s a reason you didn’t get that last email. Some things are better left hidden in the shadows of the past. Please, Dylan, leave it alone. We’re done. Go back to your life. I’m going back to mine.”

Chapter Eleven

J
AMES CAME INTO
the trailer that served as the office for the construction site. Jessie sat behind her desk poring over papers and ignoring the ringing phone. Half past six in the morning, she’d been up for hours already. She couldn’t sleep with her mind replaying the scene at the cemetery and Dylan calling after her, begging her to stay and talk to him.

“Get in early today, boss?”

Surprised to see James standing in front of her desk and not out getting the guys started on the jobsite, she refocused on the task in front of her. She scanned the contracts for her supply orders and verified due dates and delivery times. She changed the dates on some of the orders because a few of the foundations hadn’t been poured, delayed by several days of rain.

“I got here before five. I have a lot of calls to make today and wanted to have everything set up for the cement guys. I knew they’d show up early.”

“They always do,” they said in unison and laughed together.

“What’s up, James? Why aren’t you out checking crews?”

“I came in to tell you Brian showed up on time and sober. I’ve got him over on ten framing. I put him with Bucky and Andrew. They should keep him busy and kick him into shape by the end of the day.”

Bucky and Andrew were a lot like her. On the clock, they worked. No small talk or pleasantries. Put a hammer in their hands and they hammered until break time, lunchtime, or quitting time. Either way, they’d work a man to death who wasn’t used to keeping pace. Brian would have a hard day, but it would do him good.

“Send him in here at lunch to sign all his paperwork with Paula. He’ll need his pay and benefits set up.”

“You sure about putting him on the crew? You don’t usually hire guys who have a history of drinking. He’s your brother and all, but he could be a problem.”

“I’ll see to it personally that he’s not. If you catch him drinking on the job, or he shows up half in the bag, I want to know about it immediately. Then, I’ll put him on my work detail.”

“Oh, God. You make Bucky and Andrew look lazy.”

“Don’t you forget it.”

“How can I? I’ve worked with you a few times when you’ve been pissed off about something. You’re ruthless.”

She didn’t think she acted that bad, but she could have a single-minded determination at times that some of the guys found hard to handle.

“I guess I can be a little demanding.”

“Yeah, and sugar is just a little sweet. Kind of like you, J.T. You’re a little sweet and a little sassy.”

“Are you flirting with me, James?” She smiled at the big man. In his fifties, her right-hand man on the jobsite, he oversaw every aspect of the larger jobs she took on. If she had a question about where a crew was, if they were running on time, and how the supplies were holding up, bet on James to know. She trusted his judgment and his opinion. If he’d had the business skill and the money, she had no doubt he’d own his own construction company. A hands-on kind of guy, James liked to do the job. Although he coordinated things for her, more often than not she found him swinging a hammer or sawing a board.

A hard worker, who took no guff from anyone on the site, he was also married to a petite woman who could put him in his place with a look. Whenever his three daughters smiled at their daddy, he melted. She loved those things about him.

James’s flirting with her was his way of coaxing her to stop being so hard-core into her work and have fun. In his opinion, she didn’t have any fun in her life. Maybe he was right. At twenty-four, she didn’t go out with friends; she didn’t really have any but Greg. She didn’t have a fun hobby, unless you counted making furniture, and that was more work than fun. Only when she completed a piece and stood back and admired the finished product did she feel any kind of satisfaction.

“I wish I weren’t the only one flirting with you. Have you ever been out on a date?”

He’d been working for her for the last four years and knew she didn’t go out with any men. If one of the guys on the crew asked her out, she politely told him she didn’t date people who worked with her. She’d change the subject, so as not to make them uncomfortable, and go on with business. For Jessie, it was all about business. Maybe too much.

“You asking me out on a date, James? You know that pretty wife of yours will tan your hide if you start stepping out on her. Not to mention, I’m not taking the chance she doesn’t sneak up behind me and fill me full of buckshot.”

“Trudy loves you, J.T. She’d love to set you up with some friend of hers.”

“Just what I need, your wife playing matchmaker. No way. Not going to happen.”

“The last few days have been rough for you. Everyone’s heard by now why you left Fallbrook. Most of us have known you for years, and we never knew the terrible circumstances.”

“Is that the polite way of saying you guys didn’t know my old man liked to knock me around for kicks?”

Jessie had seen James many times with his girls. A kind and caring man, he’d never think of raising his hand to one of them. For any reason.

“I’ve been in the construction business a long time. I knew Buddy Thompson by reputation. The kind of man you never dared cross. To think he’d unleash his explosive temper on you, Jessie, makes me furious.”

She wanted to get up and hug the big bear of a man. But that wasn’t her style, and she held herself back. Like she always did.

“I wondered how you’re doing this morning.” James waited for her answer, but she remained silent. “It occurred to me, no one looks after you.”

She couldn’t help it. It made her feel good to have this man come to check on her. Made her feel like one of his daughters. Unable to look right at her, shifting on his feet, completely out of his element, he cared enough to leave the crews to their work and come see her.

“I’m fine, James. I did what I had to do yesterday. I put the past behind me a long time ago. It’s time to move on.

“Speaking of moving on,” she said and focused her attention on Buddy’s old house. “Who can you spare from the crew? I need three guys to come with me to clear out a house. I had the Dumpster delivered this morning. We’ll gut the place, and I’ll need the guys to help me fix it up over the next week or two.”

“I’ll have the guys meet you at your truck.

“Would you like to come to dinner tonight? Trudy’s making her meatloaf and mashed potatoes. There’s nothing like my Trudy’s cooking.”

Right about that. The woman made being a wife and mother look like an art form.

Jessie went home every night to an empty house. Cooking for one had lost its shine the first month she’d lived in her new house. She barely used her spectacular kitchen to cook an actual meal. She usually threw together a can of soup and a sandwich, or went really wild and ate a bowl of cereal. What a shame. She should cook more often. Maybe if she did, she could invite someone to eat with her. Dylan’s face came to mind, both irritating and intriguing her. She wondered what he’d say if and when he found out where she lived.

Eating alone sucked, so she accepted the dinner invitation. “I’d love to come. What time?”

“Since you’ll be in Fallbrook, let’s make it seven.”

It would take her close to an hour to get back over to Solomon, but Trudy’s cooking was well worth the drive. “Sounds good. I’m going to talk to Brian before I leave. Round up my men.”

“They aren’t cattle, you know.

“Close enough.” She winked and scooped up the blueprints and other papers she needed before heading out the door.

Chapter Twelve

S
WEAT DRIPPED DOWN
Brian’s back. Not even seven in the morning and his muscles ached, his mind lagged. God, he needed a break. The guys working with him kept up a fast and steady pace. He tried his best not to fall too far behind. They didn’t talk, except to call out a measurement or ask for a tool. He wanted to sit down and take a breath without his muscles going into spasm. He hadn’t worked this hard in the last six months, and it had only been an hour since he arrived on the jobsite.

He hadn’t seen his sister, had no idea if she’d check on him like she’d threatened. On time for the first time in a long while, he wasn’t going to screw up this opportunity, so he ignored his screaming muscles and kept at it.

Marilee had made it clear: he needed to work hard, earn his pay, and make sure they had the medical coverage they depended on for her and the baby. If he didn’t, she would leave and take the baby with her. Time was running out on the pregnancy. Pretty soon there’d be a baby to take care of and feed. He needed this job.

No way would he make his sister look bad to whoever she’d had to beg to give him the job. He didn’t even know if she’d just gotten him the job with someone she knew, or if she worked for the company too. At the time, he hadn’t been clear of mind to ask any questions.

“Let’s lift this section into place. Brian, you secure the bottom and we’ll hold it in place.” Bucky gave the orders and expected him to obey. Brian understood that much about the quiet man and did as he asked.

“You’re moving a little slow,” Bucky chided with no real hint of a reprimand. “You’re trying hard though. That’s all I can ask from the new guy,” he said by way of encouragement. “We’ll have you up to speed soon enough.”