Something Sparked-nook (15 page)

She smiled at their pet name for her. Sure, it was a simple, common term of endearment, but it was the only nickname anyone had ever given her besides that damn Nervous Nettie one. She much preferred to be called angel.

“How about some breakfast?”

Luc perked up at the mention of food, but Diego didn’t take the bait, didn’t let her escape so easily.

Diego patted the mattress. “Why don’t you come back to bed? I think we have a few things to talk about first.”

Jeannette’s stomach lurched. “I’m sort of hungry.” It was a lie. She suspected any food she put in her mouth right now would taste like sawdust.

Diego sat up, determination rife in the lines on his face. “Jeannette, baby. You can’t keep running away from us whenever things get too serious for you.”

Actually, she could. She was a better escape artist than Harry Houdini. She feigned an easy-going grin and tried to minimalize the situation. “I’m only
running
to the kitchen, Diego. It’s not like I’m packing a bag and racing off to Aruba or anything.”

Luc didn’t bother to intercede or join the debate. Regardless, she knew he was in Diego’s camp. Both men wanted to know why she’d pulled away from them last night and it didn’t look like they were going to give her any more byes.

“Please.” With just one word, Diego managed to cut her to the core.

It was on the tip of her tongue to ask for more time, but she couldn’t. She’d spent years trying to get these words out. They still wouldn’t come. Wouldn’t form or take shape.

She even opened her mouth just to see if any sound would come out. She thought the words in her head, over and over. Willing them to be heard.

Sex scares me
.

Sex hurts.

And then she forced herself to think the truth.

He raped me.

She closed her eyes against the last, trying to drive it out once more. Neither man spoke as she had this entire insane conversation in her head. When she lifted her eyelids, she saw the concern on Luc’s face. He was worried about her.

However, Diego’s expression registered something more. Awareness. And anger.

Before she could respond to any of it, there was a knock on the door.

None of them moved. A few moments passed. Then the knock came again. This time, whatever spell they’d been under broke.

She stood slowly and tugged on the new pajamas and robe Macie had given her. Luc rose as well and pulled on his lounge pants.

Diego was the last to move. He threw on his pants, then headed out of the room with great reluctance. The three of them had just reached the living room when there was another knock. Diego halted at the front door, making no move to open it.

“This conversation isn’t over, Jeannette.”

“I know.” Her reprieve would be short-lived. Maybe somewhere between now and the moment of truth, she’d find a way to speak over the roaring in her ears.

Diego answered the door, and then stepped aside as Evan and Tyson entered.

“Does anyone in the Sparks family own a clock?” Diego asked. “Because I have to tell you, where I’m from, nobody knocks on anyone else’s door at this time of the morning unless it’s an emergency.”

Evan scowled, but Tyson chuckled. “The Sparks family is sort of prone to drama, so basically everything is an emergency.”

Tyson stepped over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Morning, sleepyhead.”

She grinned. “Why aren’t you and Evan at the restaurant for your morning coffee?”

Tyson shrugged. “We started there, but a couple of things came up and we decided to move our morning meeting over here.”

Tyson and Evan had a standing Thursday breakfast date at the restaurant. A tradition they’d upheld for years. Whatever had prompted them to break the routine clearly must’ve fallen into Diego’s emergency column.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“Any chance I can talk to you alone first?” Tyson asked quietly.

Now her curiosity was piqued. “Sure.” She started to lead him to the kitchen, but Tyson placed his hand on her back and propelled her farther down the hall. Luc and Diego’s house wasn’t big. It was a small rancher positioned right next door to the firehouse. The house was part of their benefits package. As the only two full-time firefighters, they needed to be close to the station. To keep up the appearance of platonic roommates, they each had a bedroom, though Diego’s was the only room that was used for sleep. Luc’s doubled as an office, so Jeannette took Tyson there.

She tilted her head when he closed the door behind them.

“What’s going on, Ty?”

“Before I say this, I’m just going to say I’m here at Macie and Sydney’s request.”

“Um…okay?” God. This couldn’t be good. Tyson actually looked like he was blushing. Her cousin never got ruffled or embarrassed.

“And I only agreed because they assured me of two things. One, you wouldn’t ask for this on your own and two, you might actually really want it.”

She frowned. “What is it?”

Tyson walked over to the desk and opened the backpack he was carrying. When he turned around, she spotted the needle in his hand.

“A shot?” She tried to keep the alarm from her voice. She really hated getting shots. And Tyson knew it.

“It’s birth control.”

“Oh,” Jeannette replied, flames licking her cheeks.

“I’m not trying to pry into your personal life and I don’t want to know about your sex life. I
really
don’t want to know about it,” he stressed. “But the fact is you’re living with two guys right now and…shit. This was a mistake. If it had just been Macie asking, I swear to God, I would have ignored her, but Sydney…”

He didn’t finish the sentence. It wasn’t necessary. They both knew Sydney would never make such a request lightly. He started to put the shot away.

“Wait.” She raised her hand. “Give it to me.”

“Seriously?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yeah.”

Her unflappable cousin actually blushed. “Well, good.”

She laughed. “Good?”

He shrugged. “I like Diego and Luc. And birth control is a smart way to go. I figure it’s better than my dad’s advice for safe sex.”

“I’m afraid to ask. What did Uncle George say to you?”

Tyson lifted one shoulder. “Dad just looked at me and said, ‘Son, if you’re gonna tap it, wrap it,’ then he handed me a couple condoms and walked away.”

She giggled. “Oh my God. I think that would have traumatized me.”

“Yeah. I should probably be in therapy.”

Jeannette gritted his teeth as he walked closer. “I hate shots.”

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah. I know. You’re a big baby about it. Thought I was going to have to get my nurse to restrain you so I could give you that tetanus shot last year when you cut your foot on a nail at Evan’s boat dock. Close your eyes and it’ll be over within no time.”

She loved Tyson—for doing things that made him uncomfortable, for taking care of her, for being a completely cool guy.

Tyson had been nineteen and away at college when Jeannette’s parents died. She’d actually been given his room, which meant Tyson had been relegated to sleeping on the pullout couch in the living room when he came home for visits. He’d never complained, never made her feel as if she was an imposition. When they were younger, he had always been her older, fun-loving, constantly teasing cousin, but once she moved in, he took on the role of big brother, too.

“Thanks, Tyson.”

Tyson laughed. “Just do me a favor. Don’t tell Macie she was right. She’s unbearable when she’s right. Shove that robe off your arm and lift your sleeve.”

She did as he asked, looking away and holding her breath as the needle pierced her skin. Once he’d given her the shot, Tyson slapped a Band-Aid on.

She rolled her eyes as she glanced at the sore spot and saw the colorful Band-Aid. “SpongeBob?”

Tyson winked mischievously. Then he lifted his hand to reveal yet another surprise.

A loud burst of laughter filled the room as he gave her a lollipop. She took it from him, and then tugged her robe back on. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.” Tyson put a cap on the used needle and tucked it back into his backpack. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad you’re here with Diego and Luc. I never liked you living in that house alone.”

“I wasn’t alone. I had Penny.”

When he looked at her again, Jeannette was surprised to see such seriousness on his face. Tyson was rarely without a friendly smile. “I know things were hard for you after Uncle Doug and Aunt Katie died. Sixteen is a shitty age to lose your folks.”

She shrugged. “Any age is shitty.”

He nodded in agreement. “Sometimes I think having a big loving family is a curse.”

Jeannette frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m just saying we did a disservice to you, Jeannette.”

She didn’t agree. Hell, she didn’t even understand. “How?”

“We let you retreat into your shell because we didn’t want you to hurt anymore. We made excuses for your quiet nature. Said you needed time to get over your folks. Then, as more time went by, we stopped attributing your isolation to grief. We called it shyness. All we’ve ever wanted was to make sure you felt safe, felt our acceptance. Instead, what we did was leave you to deal with everything alone.”

Crying wasn’t an unusual occurrence for Jeannette these days. In fact, she had shed tears every single day since her house had burned down. The emotions she’d always been so good at suppressing weren’t so easily contained anymore, and they seemed to sneak up on her at odd, random times.

She swallowed hard against the thick lump in her throat, but she didn’t bother to stem or hide the tears sliding down her cheeks. “You’re wrong,” she said, when she could finally force her voice to work. “I pushed you all away. If I’d reached out, even just once, and asked for help, you would have been there for me. I know that. None of this was your fault. It was mine.”

Tyson shook his head, and then he reached out to hug her. As she soaked up the warmth of his embrace, she realized how many people had held her just like this in the past few weeks. Her cousins, her aunts and uncles, patrons in the restaurant, Luc and Diego. She’d been offered a million hugs and a ton of support. For most of her life, she’d thought of herself as being alone. She realized now she’d never been alone. Not once.

When Tyson released her, she didn’t feel the pervasive heaviness that had been pressing down on her lately anymore. She felt…lighter. She wasn’t entirely familiar with the concept, but she’d almost describe herself as carefree.

Tyson tilted his head and gave her a curious look. God only knew what he was thinking. “What’s that goofy smile about?”

His description made her laugh. “I have no idea.”

Tyson reached up and ruffled her hair the way he used to do when they were kids. She tried to push him away and for a minute it was like she was twelve again, her fifteen-year-old cousin Tyson trying to dunk her in the pool as they tussled and laughed.

“Truce,” Tyson declared at last. “We better get back out to the living room. Evan has a lead in the case he wants to talk to you about. He’s not the most patient of people these days.”

Jeannette knew exactly what Tyson meant. “He’s just determined to figure out who’s setting the fires.”

“Yeah. I know. I don’t think he’s slept more than a few hours at a time since the fire at your house. He’s worried as hell. We all are.”

She’d suffered that same terror right after the fire marshal had said arson, but she didn’t feel quite as frightened these days. In fact, she felt safer than she had in a very long time.

Jeannette walked to the door. “Then let’s see if we can put the clues together and catch the asshole.”

Luc glanced down the hall when he heard the door to his bedroom open. Tyson and Jeannette were smiling when they returned to the living room. Luc found it difficult to take his eyes off the pure, unadulterated joy in her eyes. A quick glance to the right confirmed Diego was as spellbound by it as he was. Luc wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Jeannette so happy.

What the hell did Tyson say to her?

Evan stood from the couch as they entered the room. “Finally.”

He’d said he had some new information regarding the case, but he wouldn’t say more than that, determined to wait until Jeannette returned so they could discuss it together.

Jeannette perched herself on the arm of the chair where Diego was sitting. “Tyson said you have a lead.”

“Yeah. I was in the restaurant last night after my shift. Uncle TJ and Macie were working, holding court like they do.”

Luc grinned. The fruit hadn’t fallen far from the tree. Macie was as big a character as her dad. They were born storytellers with amazing memories. It wasn’t unusual for quite a few regulars to make their way into Sparks for dessert and coffee or a beer, just to hang out with those two for a little while. He and Diego were guilty of doing just that more than a few times themselves.

“Jasper was there,” Evan continued.

“Oh, he’s back in town?” Jeannette asked. “How’s Violet doing? And the new baby? I’ve been meaning to send a gift, but I haven’t had a chance with everything that’s going on around here.”

Jasper Bush was one of Jeannette’s favorite neighbors and he had just become a first-time grandfather. He’d spoken of little else except the pending arrival of the baby since his daughter, Violet, announced she was pregnant. Violet had married and moved to San Antonio, and TJ had actually started a betting pool at the restaurant on how long it would take Jasper, a widower, to put his house on the market and move to be closer to the baby. Luc had money on two months and three weeks.

“For God’s sake, everybody is fine,” Evan said, somewhat impatiently. Luc suddenly spotted the dark circles under Evan’s eyes. It didn’t look like he’d been sleeping very well. Luc sympathized, but didn’t care for the way Evan was talking to Jeannette. His tone couldn’t be described as anything less that churlish, which was not normal for her typically kind cousin.

For a second, it looked as though Diego would call Evan on it, but then Evan said, “Sorry for snapping, Jeannette.”

“It’s okay,” she said with a sweet smile. “I think it’s safe to say we’re all tired.”