If Izzy Wanted to Go, Absolutely
Johnny
LATE THAT AFTERNOON, after returning to Izzy’s, Johnny stood in her backyard.
And he stared.
There was a long, wide wooden table under a tree. The table was covered with a filmy lace tablecloth. It had three little vases stuffed full of fluffy flowers and four squat glass things filled with little candles intermingled in a line down the middle.
At the end, surrounded by those squat glass things with candles, was a big tin bucket (with a dent in it) that was filled mostly with ice, some water, and in it there were three bottles of wine and six bottles of beer. A lacy-edged napkin dangled off the side. There was a bottle opener and a corkscrew discretely tucked at the back.
The table was surrounded by chairs with ruffled pads on all of them, some wood with their paint chipping off, some miracles of curlicue iron.
When he sat his ass down, he was going for a wooden one.
The tree over the table now had a ton of Christmas lights in its branches with long strings of clear beads with crystals at the ends dangling down from it.
Needless to say, while he was hanging with Brooks, the sisters had not given each other facials.
He felt her come up beside him and looked down at her to see she was carrying a stack of melamine plates that were green with pink flowers all over them, a stack of pink cloth napkins laid on the top.
In that moment there was one thing he was not annoyed about.
She was wearing the dress she’d worn at the festival.
And knowing there was a good possibility he’d be taking it off her that night was the only thing she had going for her right then.
“Where’d that table come from?” he asked.
“The legs unscrew. I keep it in the hay room and pull it out when I want an outdoor party.”
“How heavy is it?”
She cottoned on to the path of his questioning, gave him big eyes and pressed her lips together.
Right.
“The chairs?” he pushed.
“There’s a shed beyond the stables. You can’t see it from here. I keep the chairs there. And my Christmas decorations. My Halloween decorations. My Thanksgiving decorations and, um . . .” she faltered then rallied, “etcetera.”
That shed had to be maybe thirty, forty yards away.
Yes.
Annoyed.
“The lights?” he pressed on.
“I had the idea and got the lights and crystals weeks ago, I just haven’t had time to do it or the occasion to do it for. Today, Addie and I did it.”
“You couldn’t ask me to set that table up, bring out those chairs and get up in that tree with the lights before I took off?” he asked.
“I had Addie to help me. Normally I have to drag them out myself.”
He felt his jaw get tight.
She hurried on. “And sometimes Charlie and Deanna come over to lend a hand.”
He scowled down at her.
“You can help me take the table apart and put it all away,” she offered.
“Do we need to have another chat about the kind of guy I am?” he asked.
She gave him a look and muttered, “Not anymore.”
“Right,” he grunted. “What else needs done?”
“I know you’ve had Brooks all day but can you keep an eye on him inside while Addie and I bring out the rest to set the table?”
“Wrong answer,” he stated.
Immediately she adjusted her request.
“Can you bring out the rest to set the table while Addie and or I keep an eye on Brooks?”
“What do you need brought out?”
“It’s all on the countertop, honey.”
He turned on his boot and went inside.
On the counter he saw wineglasses, water glasses, cutlery and a pink milk glass pitcher with raised polka dots that was filled with ice and water.
He also saw, under a ribbed glass dome on a raised ribbed glass stand, a cake that was a miracle of rich, thick swirls of white frosting.
Addie was in the kitchen, Brooks in her arms, and she was cuddling him when Johnny came in, but her gaze was on Johnny when his went to her.
“This all the stuff that goes outside?” he asked, jerking his head to the things on the counter.
“Yep,” she answered.
“You sure there’s no unicorn statues, grenades rigged to explode glitter or nets of rose petals to hang to rain down on us when Iz pulls a cord?”
Her lips twitched but that was all he got from her before she said, “We didn’t have that much time.”
He nodded and set about taking the stuff to Izzy.
It took four trips to get it all out, and as he went back and forth with three canines dogging his steps, Izzy laid the table.
Addie wandered out with Brooks while Izzy was putting on the finishing touches and Johnny was opening a bottle of wine.
“If you’re pouring, I’m drinking,” Addie declared.
“I’m pouring,” he confirmed.
She nodded to him, her face mostly expressionless. Not a woman who was looking forward to a dinner party with friends. Not a woman who was looking forward to anything.
Then she looked to her sister.
“Queso dip is bubbling, Iz,” Addie told her. “I turned it down low and the skillet’s ready to brown it in the oven.”
“Thanks, doll,” Izzy replied just as the dogs took off toward the front, only Ranger barking.
Johnny saw Izzy’s eyes shift there and she visibly went from sure of herself, setting up an outdoor party, to flustered.
She was worried her friends wouldn’t like him.
He finished with the cork, shoved the bottle back in the ice water and moved to her to sling an arm around her shoulders.
He then started her moving, murmuring reassuringly, “Don’t worry, spätzchen. People like me.”
“You’re likable,” she said, her eyes glued down the wide open space covered in neatly cut grass at the side of her house. “But they’re family.”
He gave her a squeeze. “It’s gonna be fine.”
He saw an African American couple emerging from a big, black truck that was a lot like his, except his was a Ram and theirs was a Ford.
They were vaguely familiar. He’d seen them around town.
The man was a good-looking guy, very tall, barrel-chested, hair cropped close at the sides, longer up top.
He was dressed like Johnny. Jeans. Nice button up. Boots.
The woman was top-heavy and coming out of her short skirt he saw she had legs that were nearly better than Izzy’s, but the dark skin was shining, this something that made them so attractive, he almost couldn’t move his eyes to her face. When he did, he saw she had strong, striking features under short hair that was artfully messy, with wisps of it hugging her cheeks and neck.
She was not dressed like Izzy. Her skirt, as he’d noted, was short. It was also tight and attached to the rest of a bright yellow dress that was loose up top and fell off one of her shoulders. She was wearing spiked heels with complicated ankle straps and walking through the grass without those heels sinking in, because he suspected she never wore anything but heels like those so she could walk anywhere in them.
Izzy’s friend Deanna didn’t hide she was sizing him up.
Her husband didn’t either.
He felt Addie coming up behind them, Izzy beginning to make a move to separate from him to greet her friends, and he saw Deanna beginning to open her mouth, when another vehicle turned into Izzy’s drive.
The dogs that were dancing around the newcomers looked that way then they headed that way, this time all three of them barking.
“Oh no,” Izzy whispered as Deanna and Charlie turned to watch a beat-up, rusted-out, criminally-not-cared for, old, light-blue Mustang come screeching to a halt by Charlie’s truck, kicking up the gravel of Izzy’s drive as well as a fair amount of dust.
He felt something from Izzy.
He felt something more beating at his back.
He twisted to look at Addie to see her face was pale, her eyes were glued to the Mustang and she was holding on to Brooks like someone was trying to tear him from her arms.
Instantly, Johnny let go of Izzy and prowled forward as a tall, lanky man with a mess of dark-brown hair and a scruff of beard, wearing faded jeans with both knees split, a rocker tee and a pair of black motorcycle boots, got out of the Mustang not hiding his movements were agitated and aggressive.
Addie’s husband.
Perry.
“You stupid fucking bitch!” he shouted, eyes on Addie.
Johnny felt Charlie come up beside him, but Perry was on the move and it was like the two men, both of them bigger than Perry, weren’t between him and his wife, blocking his path.
He also ignored the dogs who were holding back from him, but on the alert, a hostile alert, all three of them having bared their teeth and were growling.
Fuck.
“Ranger, down!” Johnny called. “Dempsey. Swirl. Back!”
The dogs minded, but didn’t.
They didn’t jump Perry.
But they did follow him, front shoulders crouched low.
“You stupid fucking bitch!” Perry repeated in a yell, advancing quickly.
“Stop moving,” Johnny growled, shifting quickly to block his advance.
Perry’s gaze cut up to his as he tried to adjust to the side to round Johnny. “Get outta my way, man.”
Johnny adjusted with him as Charlie flanked Addie’s angry husband.
“I said, stop moving,” Johnny warned.
Perry stopped and shouted in his face, “And I said, get outta my way, man!”
“You need to calm down,” Johnny told him.
“You need to fuck off,” Perry returned.
“Listen to me—” Johnny started.
“Kiss my ass,” Perry sneered.
Johnny went on like he didn’t speak. “You got one minute to turn around, get back in your car, go somewhere and cool off then make a meet with Addie when you’re in a different frame of mind.”
“And if I don’t?” Perry asked snidely.
“I’ll detain you while Eliza calls the police,” Johnny answered.
“Fuck you.” He shot to the side, yelling, “Addie!”
Johnny shot to the side and Charlie moved with him, both of the men crowding Perry and moving him back.
“Jesus, fuck off!” Perry shouted, bouncing his chest against Johnny’s.
A low, pissed noise rolled up Johnny’s throat and out his mouth.
“This is not the way this is gonna go.”
A new voice in the conversation made all the men still.
Addie rounded at their free side.
The good news was that she was no longer holding Brooks.
The bad news was that she’d rounded at their free side.
“Get back, sweetheart,” Johnny murmured, taking a step away from Perry but toward her.
“I’m fine, Johnny,” she returned, but her eyes were on her husband.
Perry launched right in.
“Are you fuckin’ serious with that fuckin’ shit you pulled?”
“Are you serious, asking me that crap?” she shot back.
“You didn’t give me a chance to explain,” he retorted.
“Explain? Explain how I came home from work with a migraine and found our son in his crib without even a toy to pass the time, fretting and freaked, and you in my bed with some skank, pumping away at her?” she asked.
Johnny felt himself go solid and he felt something new beating at him from all around.
He knew Izzy was close to her sister even if he couldn’t see her. Charlie was right there. But he had a feeling Deanna had disappeared with Brooks.
He didn’t look.
He stared at Addie, avoiding looking at Perry so he wouldn’t have the urge to break the man’s neck.
“We need to have words,” Perry decreed.
“We aren’t doing anything anymore,” Addie returned.
“You took my kid,” he stated.
“Sorry, let me explain this to you, Perry,” Addie began. “You see, when a sperm donor squirts, that’s the start and end of it.”
“I’m not a fuckin’ sperm donor,” Perry bit out right when Johnny sensed they had more company.
He looked to the drive to see another truck joining the fast-forming parking lot.
An old red Chevy with silver panels.
Johnny knew that truck.
Jesus Christ.
It was Toby.
He had no clue not only that Toby was coming to town but also how Toby knew where to find him.
At that moment, he couldn’t think about it either.
“You apparently aren’t a very good babysitter either,” Addie noted casually, either so tuned to what was happening with her husband she didn’t notice Toby arriving or so tuned to what was happening with Perry, she was determined to focus on it.
Perry was also either/or, proving this by replying, “I’m not a babysitter. I’m Brooklyn’s father.”
“A father bathes his child, Perry,” she educated him. “He gives him bottles. He rocks him to sleep. And oh, another thing, he pays at least a few bills.”
After Toby climbed out of his truck, Johnny gave him a short jerk of his head before he returned his attention to the situation at hand.
“You know I’ve been lookin’ for gigs,” Perry pointed out.
“I’m not sure how you’ll find gigs camped out on the couch with a six pack or humping some chick in my bed.”
“Addie, don’t lay this shit on me. You haven’t been giving it up for months.”
“That’s because I’m tired, Perry. I’m exhausted. I’m a single mother of a baby boy with a deadbeat dad who lives with me,” she fired back, and Johnny knew she was losing it by the tone of her voice turning scratchy.
“I love my kid,” Perry flung back.
“He’s a toy, like I was a toy before I wasn’t shiny and new anymore and life became a drag, but you didn’t give me away. You tossed me aside and looked for a new toy just like I know you’ll do with Brooklyn when he’s not fun anymore,” Addie replied.
Johnny saw Toby approach, not getting close but close enough to hear.
His brother’s eyebrows shot up.
Johnny gave him another short jerk of his head and again looked at Addie.
“That’s not true, baby,” Perry was now coaxing. “I love you. I love Brooklyn. You know that. It’s just been tough since the band broke up and—”
“God, spare me,” Addie drawled cuttingly. “You’re such a cliché and I’m such a moron for falling for it.”
“We got it good, we just gotta get that back,” Perry said.
“You had it good because you had someone paying your bills and doing all the grunt work taking care of your son so he’s nice and clean and fed when you feel like playing with him. I didn’t have it good. And even after sharing this about seven million times, it didn’t sink in that you might wanna give your wife and son better. I know this because nothing changed. I also know this because I walked in on you fucking another woman.”
“I’ll get in another band soon and then—”
“Do not try to feed me that again, Perry. I believed it two years ago. Do you honestly think I’ll believe it now?”
“So, right,” Perry clipped out, coaxing gone, he was back to pissed. “Now you get to make the decision we’re done then you clean out the apartment and the bank accounts and take off?”
Johnny’s eyes slid to Charlie and he grinned.
Charlie grinned back.
“You cheated on me and we were done so I moved, Perry. I took my stuff. I left yours. That stuff that’s mine includes what’s in the bank accounts since every penny in them I earned,” Addie explained.
“When I got back after you split, there was nothing in the place but my clothes,” he returned.
“Which is what you brought to our marriage and all you contributed to our marriage so that’s all you’ll get out of it.”
“It took me a week to get up here because I had to raise the cash for gas since you took it all and canceled our credit cards,” Perry complained.
“My credit cards. Your name was on them. I paid them.”
Perry suddenly raised his hand quickly to his forehead, slamming his fingers against it and then sending his hand flying out, stating, “Can you not see how totally fucked up it is some bitch cleans out an apartment and takes a man’s kid then takes off without even a fuckin’ note?”
Johnny braced to lock things down.
“You were inside her,” Addie whispered.
At that, Johnny instead shifted more toward Adeline.
Izzy became visible as she got up close to her sister’s back.
Toby even moved nearer.
“Baby, can we please talk about this without an audience?” Perry begged.
“She looked at me. You looked at me. You looked right in my eyes when you were connected to another woman,” Addie said, her voice filled with pain.
“I tried to come after you.”
“With your dick wet from another woman.”
Perry got quiet.
“This is how this is going to go,” she said softly. “I’m moving up here. I got a job in the grocery store. I start on Monday.”
Johnny cut his eyes to Izzy who cut hers to him.
That answered what she was doing when Izzy was at work.
He looked back to Addie when she kept talking.
“I’ve already contacted an attorney. She’s started divorce proceedings. You will pay child support. You will take financial responsibility for the child you very enjoyably had a hand in creating. We’ll see what part of his life you’ll play but that will be up to me. But he’ll be up here with me and Izzy. And you’ll be down there with your broken promises and your ridiculous dreams.”
“My dreams aren’t ridiculous,” he bit off, obviously stung, the selfish ass.
“You wanna be the lead singer of a rock ’n’ roll band and no, that’s not ridiculous. The ridiculous part is you think that’ll happen sitting on a couch, drinking beer.”
“You’re not going to take my son from me,” he threatened.
“Too late, I already did, but just saying, Perry, you never actually had him because you never actually claimed him.”
“We’ll see how this goes,” he snarled.
Johnny tensed when Addie got in his space.
“I know how it’ll go so listen up,” she hissed. “I’ll work until I drop to fight for what’s right for my son. I’ll sell my body if I need to, to give him not only what he needs but even just a little bit of what he wants. And I’ll bleed my last drop before I let you fuck him up. You know me, Perry,” she stressed. “You know what makes me. You know every word I say is true. And you know you don’t have what it takes to fight that. I’ll do whatever it takes to beat you, to give my son what he deserves. I was taught how, day in and day out by my mother so I know the way. And I’ll take it if you make me and I’ll die knowing I gave my boy happy.”
“You’re gonna have to fight it,” Perry hurled at her.
“Only because you’re intent on proving how big of an asshole you are and you’re gonna make me,” she returned.
Perry glared at his wife. He then glared at Izzy, Johnny, Charlie and he turned, stutter stepped when he saw Toby but recovered quickly and started to stalk off.
“Just to let you know,” Addie called after him. “My attorney already has three appointments to get sworn affidavits next week. And that bitch you were banging while my son was in the next room got served a subpoena, so she’s one of them.”
“Kiss my ass, Addie,” he yelled toward his car, not breaking stride.
“The time you get that from me, baby, is long gone,” she returned in a loud drawl.
They all watched him slam into his car, make it roar and then reverse and peel out in a shower of gravel and a cloud of dust.
“Addie—” Izzy started gently.
But Addie turned and raced down the side of the house, disappearing at the back.
Izzy raced after her.
Johnny looked to Charlie and then he looked to Toby.
“Welcome home, brother,” he said.
Inside his thick, black beard, Toby’s lips hitched.
“I’m Johnny,” Johnny said to Charlie.
“Charlie,” Charlie replied, lifting his hand.
Johnny shook it, let go and introduced, “This is my brother, Toby.”
“Toby,” Charlie said, offering his hand to Johnny’s brother.
“Charlie,” Toby replied, taking it.
When the two were done shaking, all three men hesitated, then when Johnny started down the side of the house, the two others trailed with only one dog trailing them seeing as Dempsey and Swirl had raced after Izzy.
They walked in the back door hearing Addie saying, “No, Iz. Just put the queso under the broiler and let’s get this party started.”
But her eyes hit Johnny when he entered then they went behind him after he cleared the door, and the two other men crowded with him into the small kitchen.
She was again holding Brooks tight to her but now she was hovering in a corner of the kitchen like Izzy and Deanna had her blocked in when they were both keeping a distance.
It was then Addie said, “Great. As if that drama being played out in front of Clubber McHotterson,” she indicated Charlie with a flick of a hand, “and Magnus McHotterson,” she indicated Johnny with a jerk of her head, “wasn’t bad enough, now we got Talon McHotterson here to enjoy the show.”
She was cracking jokes.
Johnny thought that was good.
“Maybe we should go upstairs and talk, baby girl,” Deanna said softly.
“About what?” Addie asked. “About how Johnny’s changed more of Brooklyn’s diapers after knowing him for a week than his father has after knowing him seven months?”
Deanna closed her mouth and looked to Izzy.
“Doll, how about you let Johnny and Charlie look after Brooks and we girls get a bottle of wine and—?” Izzy tried.
“I saw you two,” Addie said, her voice hoarse, and Johnny went on the alert. “In the stable. I saw Johnny doing you against the wall.”
“Oh Lord,” Deanna murmured.
“Shit,” Charlie muttered.
“Hell,” Toby mumbled.
Johnny just watched Addie closely.
“He never gave me that, what you two had in that moment,” Addie told her sister. “I could have walked right up to you and neither of you would have seen me. I didn’t exist, nothing existed. Nothing but him for you and you for him. He never gave me that, Iz. How did I never see that?”
And there they had the answer to why Adeline had been degenerating, outside of the fact that she’d learned without a doubt that her husband was a motherfucking pissant.
She’d had to watch while Johnny and Izzy built all they were building at the same time coming to understand she’d never had anything like that, no matter how new it was for Johnny and Izzy, or worse, precisely because of how new it was.
She’d not even come close.
“Addie, sweetie,” Izzy whispered.
“He gave me this.” She cuddled Brooks closer. “That’s all he ever gave me. But he gave it to me getting himself an orgasm and honest to God, that was all he was thinking about.”
“Addie, please, baby, let’s go upstairs,” Izzy coaxed.
Addie reared her head like a stubborn mare and snapped, “No. This is a party. We’re having a party.”
She forged past Izzy, by Johnny, straight to the door where Toby was standing.
“Out of the way, Talon,” she ordered.
“Name’s Toby,” Toby said gently, but he’d read the situation and didn’t move.
Addie had been staring at Johnny’s brother’s chest but her head jerked back. “You’re his brother, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, darlin’,” he replied.
“Of course. You’re perfect, so of course. You’re probably taken too, aren’t you?”
“I—”
“Not for me,” she cut him off. “Man like you. Man like Johnny. Man like Charlie. Not for me.”
“Honey,” Toby whispered. “How ’bout we get you—?”
She tossed her hair and looked over her shoulder at her sister. “I did it, Iz. I did it. What I swore to myself I’d never do. Not the same, but a version. I found Dad. I found a man who was good for nothin’ except to break my heart.”
And that was when her face dissolved and she started to go down.
“Tobe,” Johnny growled, on the move, but Toby was on it.
He caught her in his arms and sank down to the floor with her. Addie’s ass hit his inner thigh with Toby’s leg at a bad angle, and Johnny saw him wince but he didn’t do anything but put his arms around her and tuck her and Brooks close to his chest.
She sobbed into his neck.
Brooks fretted in her arms.
Toby lifted his gaze to Izzy. “Where you want her, babe?”
“My bedroom,” Izzy whispered. “Upstairs. I’ll show you the way.”
Toby nodded, got his feet under him and lifted Addie and Brooks cradled in his arms, walking behind Izzy as she hurried into the hall.
Johnny, Deanna and Charlie watched them go.
When they heard footfalls on the stairs, Johnny turned to Deanna.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Johnny Gamble and that was my brother Toby.”
She stared into his eyes.
And then, very slowly, she smiled.
Johnny sat in the wooden chair at the head of the table in Izzy’s backyard, staring up at the windows of Izzy’s bedroom.
“You need another beer, big man?” Deanna asked.
The one he’d cracked open two seconds after he’d opened one for Charlie while Charlie was pouring Deanna wine, and after he’d tossed one to Toby, was gone in about three gulps.
So yeah.
He needed another one.
He did not share that.
He looked to her. “He had to know. He had to know what they’d lived through. So what I wanna know is, how an asshole could know that and marry her, get her pregnant and then bang some bitch in her fucking bed.”
“I do not know the answer to that question, but I do know maybe you should have another beer, which might serve to help you calm down,” Deanna said soothingly, studying him closely.
“This is gonna go her way,” Johnny stated.
“In your mood, I’m gonna take that as a threat and share with you now that if the authorities ever question me, I heard you make no such threat, and then I’ll say again, calm, big man, so you don’t commit any felonies,” Deanna replied.
Johnny turned his gaze from her to his brother.
Toby was also in a wooden chair (Deanna was the only one in a curlicue one) and his eyes were also aimed at Izzy’s bedroom window.
Johnny looked from Deanna to Charlie, pushing out of his seat, asking, “Can you both excuse us a minute?”
Toby’s gaze came to him as Charlie murmured, “Not a problem.” And Deanna murmured, “Wine ain’t gonna cut it, I may need a martini,” which Johnny decided to take as a yes.
Toby pushed up and moved to walk beside Johnny as they made their way to a tree that was hopefully out of earshot.
As he took this short trek it hit him that he’d always seen it, but now he was noting that Izzy had an enormous lawn. Everywhere for fifty yards around her house was thick, lush grass mowed up to a line of trees that led to the forest that surrounded her house.
He hoped she had a riding lawnmower in that shed too.
He also hoped she didn’t give him too much shit when he shared it was his ass that was going to be on it from that point forward.
Johnny stopped and turned to his brother who’d stopped with him.
He then started.
“You know I’m glad to see you so I don’t have to say that. Though still wanna know why you’re here.”
“Bryce called. Told me Shandra was back in town,” his brother told him.
Not this shit.
“Tobe—” he began.
Toby shook his head. “Was just worried about you, Johnny. Her coming back, close to the anniversary of when we lost Dad, thought it’d be a nice surprise to come up and maybe take you fishing, make sure you were okay. Got to the mill, you weren’t there. Decided to go to Home and have a beer and some wings to give it some time before I went back. Hit Home, got an earful.”
Johnny bet he did.
“And they told you about Iz,” Johnny surmised.
Toby grinned. “Lotta people said a lot of things. Including telling me where she lived. Didn’t think I’d hit a drama. Thought I’d show and give you shit, and if you weren’t around, size up the new girl.”
Johnny sighed.
That was when Toby smiled before he asked, “Brother, is a wood nymph gonna materialize and do a dance for us later, or what?”
“Izzy has a certain style,” Johnny muttered.
“Can’t miss that,” Toby replied, still grinning. “Didn’t miss that dress she had on either. I could handle crystals hanging from trees too if my woman wore a dress like that.”
“You can’t miss her dress, but from here on out, how ’bout you keep your mouth shut about shit like that?” Johnny warned.
Toby didn’t exactly heed his warning.
He asked, “Then can we talk about you doing her against a wall?”
“No,” Johnny growled.
“You’re back,” Toby said, suddenly quiet.
“What?” Johnny asked.
“That’s what they said,” Toby shared. “At Home. They said you’re back and I see it. You care about something again. You care about her. You care about her sister. Thought you were gonna break that asshole’s neck. Since Dad died and Shandra left, you go to work, you do your job. You go home to the mill. You go fishing, mostly out of habit. You go camping just the same. But have you taken an ATV out in three years?”
“Probably.”
Toby shook his head. “Back before we lost Dad, then that woman knew you were already on your knees, and still . . . she gutted you, you worked hard, you played hard. You had plans to open more garages. You wanted to go back to Hawaii. You wanted to eat pizza in Italy. Have you left the state of Kentucky since Shandra took off?”
“Yeah, to drive down to Tennessee to get your ass out of that sling when that woman stole your truck,” Johnny reminded him.
Toby ignored that. “You gonna take this girl to Italy?”
If Izzy wanted to go, absolutely.
“She’s sweet, she’s shy, she’s funny—” Johnny started.
“She’s got a flair with crystals and a way with wearing a dress,” Toby cut in to razz.
This time Johnny ignored Toby and laid the big shit on him.
“And Margot loves her.”
“Holy Christ,” Toby said, his eyes widening. “It took Shandra two years to win over Margot. And she never liked a single woman I dated.”
“Tobe, that’s because you don’t date. You sleep with women until they get bored of your inability to commit to something like, I don’t know . . . a date. Then they dump your ass and you move on like you haven’t just spent two, three, four months wasting their time. Like you haven’t just spent two, three, four months with them at all.”
“None of them complained,” Toby returned.
“Not in earshot,” Johnny informed him. “But in town you’re known as ‘Take ’Em and Leave ’Em Toby.’”
“I didn’t make any woman any promise and I don’t hide how it is with me, so they got nothing to bitch about,” Toby shot back, no longer in a joking mood. “Now what I wanna know is, how are we talking about this when I had a brother who was so not over his ex he was never gonna get over his ex and now I’m hanging out in the backyard of a woman who’s stabling Ben’s horse, Ben being your best bud since second grade. And even Sally, whose sister was best friends with Shandra, and far’s I know still is, is talking about how awesome this Eliza is.”
Johnny looked to the house, the table where Charlie and Deanna were sitting in the sun and back to his brother. “I’m falling in love with her, Tobe.”
Toby gave him a look and then that look turned hard.
“You better be.”
Johnny’s head gave a sharp jerk. “Sorry?”
“She’s spoken a handful of words to me and even I know you don’t dick around with a woman like that. You say Margot loves her, seals that deal. Now I hate to contradict the people who talk shit about me, but the bottom line is . . . you’re you. You’ve been hung up on Shandra for years. And even I know if just a little of that is still there, you should steer clear of any woman.”
“Okay, right now what I want heard, Toby, is enough about Shandra. Shandra’s history. Everybody has got to get the fuck over Shandra because I have and I’m the only one who had to do it in the first place.”
“You’ve blown through a few women, brother,” Toby replied carefully.
“I made no promises and I didn’t hide how it was,” Johnny returned.
Toby eyed him a beat before he said, “I hear that.”
Johnny dug in his jeans pocket for his keys. “I’m staying tonight with the girls. You can stay at the mill.”
Toby grinned. “Excellent.”
Johnny twisted his house key off and suggested, “While you’re here, you might wanna go out to the shack and see if it’s still standing.”
His brother was pocketing the key and his grin disappeared. “I thought you were looking after it.”
“I am but it’s forty miles out so I can’t go out there every day.”
“I’ll head out there,” Toby muttered.
Johnny looked to the house when he sensed movement and he saw Izzy coming through the screen door. Her dogs ran to greet her. Ranger lay in the grass where he’d camped out five feet from Johnny and Toby and he didn’t twitch.
He watched as she looked for him, found him and he gave her a jerk of his chin.
Then he looked back to Toby.
“Not thinking this is a good time for you to crash a party, Tobe.”
“I get that,” Toby agreed. “Just hanging around to meet her, say hey and make sure her sister’s okay. I’ll say that hey and take off.”
Johnny nodded before he curled his lips up. “I’ll end this saying what I know I don’t have to say. It’s good to have you home, brother.”
Toby smiled back. They moved in, bumped shoulders then moved away and both of them turned to head back to the table.
He saw that Deanna and Charlie were up, doing something, and Izzy was heading toward them.
Her smile on his brother was bright but it still didn’t hide the worry.
“Toby, right?” she asked, lifting a hand toward Toby before she got to them. “I’m so happy to meet you and I’m so happy you’re here,” she said when she stopped, and Toby took her hand. She then went on to babble, “I mean, obviously, what played out with Addie and Perry was unfortunate for all concerned, especially Addie, and I’m sorry you had to witness it. But my sister is my sister. She’s bounced back. She’s gonna clean up her face and join us. I hope you will too.”
“I don’t wanna impose,” Toby said, squeezing her hand and letting it go.
It was then Johnny moved to her side, slid an arm around her shoulders and claimed her.
He saw his brother’s eyes flare with humor at the maneuver but fortunately that was it.
“Family’s never an imposition,” she replied.
Like she would know. As far as Johnny could tell, she only had two members of hers worth dick, and with the way things were, they needed each other to survive and stop themselves from becoming bitter and twisted.
“Things were kinda dramatic,” Toby said softly. “It’s really cool if I go and some time later we get together and share a beer or something.”
“We can share one now. Honestly,” Izzy assured. “Addie got it out and she’s fine. That’s the way we Forrester women are. Shove us to our knees, we just get back up and keep going.”
He felt his jaw get hard at her words and Toby’s eyes cut to Johnny’s then right back to Iz.
“Really, stay,” she continued, throwing an arm out behind her toward the table. “The only thing that would upset Addie now is if you didn’t stay because you thought she’d be uncomfortable.” She shot him a smile. “And I’m a good cook.”
“She’s absolutely that,” Johnny put in.
Toby looked again to his older brother, assessing if that was Johnny’s go ahead to accept the invitation.
When he read correctly it was, he turned his attention back to Izzy. “Then thanks. I’d love to try your cooking.”
Izzy beamed.
That was when Johnny gave him a look that told him to take off so he could have a word with his woman.
Toby read that one too, smiled at Iz and then moved toward the table.
Izzy started to make a move too but Johnny held her back.
“Is she really all good?” he asked when she looked up at him.
“Apparently, the dastardly deed was walked in on two weeks ago. Addie and Brooks stayed with some friends while Addie made plans and talked to an attorney. When all was in place, she had her friends show up, clear out their apartment, store her stuff in a variety of different garages, sheds and attics and she came up here.”
“She always intending to stay up here?” Johnny asked.
Iz shook her head. “She just needed a break and to be away from there to make some decisions. She got up here and that was her decision but she couldn’t exactly make it unless she had a way to feed herself and her son. So she got a job and got Brooks in daycare in town and she does, actually, start Monday.”
“Margot can take care of Brooks and she’d be offended if Addie tried to pay,” Johnny told her, but she shook her head.
“She’d probably love it if Margot looked after him but she’d never let that happen for free.”
“And Margot would lose her mind if Addie put him in daycare when she’s got nothing to do all day but plan coven meetings and boss Dave around, and she’d lose her mind only a little less if Addie tried to pay.”
“Johnny—”
He used his arm around her shoulders to curl her into his front. “Let me talk to her to see if I’m even right and she’s willing to do it. Then we can take it from there. But at the very least, until Addie gets on her feet, she should consider letting someone with a kind heart lend a helping hand.”
She nodded before she told him hesitantly, “She’s gonna stay with me for the foreseeable future.”
This was not optimal and Johnny knew it was a dick thing to think, and it wasn’t even close to the same circumstances, but when he finally found another woman who he wanted in his life and his bed in what could be a permanent way, he wished she didn’t have a troubled sibling that took her time and attention from what they were building.
“I’m sorry, I see that—” she began, looking at him worriedly.
Johnny cut her off. “Nothing to be sorry about.”
“It’s just that, she has a little money saved but the attorney is going to cost a lot, and the grocery store doesn’t pay as much as she made in tips so she’s going to need a little help.”
She was going to get help.
This being Johnny paying for her attorney, if he could manage it, straight up. If she couldn’t hack that, then through a no-interest, pay-it-when-you-can loan. He was also putting her and Brooks in one of his properties when a tenant left. He had two small, nice, rental homes in town, closer to the grocery store, big enough for Brooks to grow up in, and when that happened they’d both have their own space.
But that wasn’t for now. They’d have that discussion later when there wasn’t queso dip to broil.
“She’s your sister, babe, and she got burned and bad. Do I want you all to myself? Yeah. Do I get it?” He pulled her closer and dipped his face to hers. “Yeah.”
She stared into his eyes and hers were filled with gratitude. “Thanks, Johnny.”
“Don’t mention it, Iz,” he muttered, going in to touch his lips to hers before he pulled away and started to curl her back around but stopped when both her hands that were resting at his waist started to grip him hard.
“Thank you too, for going in . . . I mean, when Perry showed, you went right up to him and—”
He interrupted her. “Don’t mention that either.”
“I . . . Johnny, that meant a lot. You didn’t even know who he was. You just felt the vibe and waded in. So it really meant a lot, honey. To both me and Addie.”
“I’m glad but I hope you paid attention, Iz, because I’m that guy too. For you and for Addie.”
Her eyes went round.
Then they started blinking.
“Oh no, I think I might cry,” she whispered, and true to her words, her eyes were getting bright with tears.
He pulled her even closer and whispered back, “Don’t cry. There’s queso dip to broil, wine to drink, my brother to charm and your friends here for me to make love me like everyone else does.”
He saw the bright leave as she started smiling.
So he kept going.
“It happened. It’s over. Like you said, baby, you Forrester women get shoved to your knees, you get right back up and keep on keeping on. It’s time to keep on keeping on with good company, food and booze, even if there’s a danger someone’s gonna get their eye poked out by a crystal.”
Her head twisted and she gasped, “Oh no! Are they hanging too low?”
He put his hand to her jaw to turn her back to him. “Teasing, spätzchen.”
“Oh,” she breathed.
He kissed her. Not the kiss he wanted to give her but it wasn’t a touch of the lips either.
Then he turned her toward the table, but as Charlie and Deanna set it up for Toby to join them, Toby striding off toward the shed, probably to get himself a chair, Izzy and Johnny went into the house.
Izzy put the queso dip under the broiler.
Johnny grabbed another six pack from the fridge to take it outside and put the bottles on ice.
“And then . . . then . . . then he said, ‘That’s the way of it when a badger is in the mix,’” Addie spluttered the end of her story through giggles and everyone burst out laughing.
Including Johnny.
“A badger in the mix!” Deanna hooted and the waning laughter waxed.
But this time, not Johnny’s.
Because right then, it hit him like a boulder in the chest.
The sun had set.
The Christmas lights, candlelight and moonlight were dancing off the crystals. Charlie had hauled some curlicue plant stand out and put the drinks bucket on it so they had more room for the diners.
Whether it was because he sat there after the drama, or by design, which was more likely since it seemed Izzy, Deanna and Addie maneuvered him there, Johnny was at the head of the table. He was flanked by Iz and Toby. Charlie sat at the foot flanked by his wife and Addie.
The women had been through four bottles of wine and were on their fifth.
The men, two of them driving, were only on their third six-pack.
They’d been through queso dip, followed by four choices of street tacos with enough for leftovers, Mexican corn, black beans and a southwestern themed salad, and now the table was littered with little pink melamine plates with creamy lace designs on their edges covered in chocolate cake crumbs, vanilla frosting smears and ice cream residue.
The dogs were out dead, snoozing in the grass.
Brooks had fallen asleep in Deanna’s arms but was now up in his crib.
There were lightning bugs blinking in and out in the darkened periphery and soft candles were glowing in the screened porch but there was no glaring outside light to disturb the cocoon of friendship, food and magic that Izzy had created.
Johnny understood it all then.
It didn’t matter if there was a dent in the drinks tub.
It didn’t matter that Perry was somewhere out there, pissed and intent on making trouble for Addie.
Their mother had taught them this was it.
This was the beauty of life.
It wasn’t making do.
It was finding the joy in all you had and if you could give it a little sparkle with crystals dangling from trees or just lying side by side, staring at the stars, you did it.
On this thought, still softly giggling, Iz turned bright eyes to him. “I wish Margot and Dave were here.”
Yeah, it was finding the joy in all you had, gathering memories, filling them as full as you could, goofing off wearing cheap sandals in front of a horse or sitting under a canopy of Christmas lights and crystals.
“We can invite them next time, spätzchen,” he murmured.
She shot him a dazzling smile then looked back down the table when Charlie started talking.
Toby leaned his way and Johnny braced in order not to get ticked if his brother teased him verbally rather than just shooting him looks like he had from the first through the several that came after it when he’d called Izzy spätzchen.
Tobe knew Shandra never got that.
Toby, like Johnny, knew what it meant that Izzy did.
It had startled him the first time it had come out.
But from that first time, it came out easy.
He looked to his brother just as Toby said under his breath, “I wish Dad was here.”
They locked eyes.
There would be no end of the teasing Lance Gamble would dish out about crystals in trees.
But he loved chocolate cake.
And he thought there was no better time, not even fishing, than spending it with friends.
Last, it made him happy when his sons were happy.
“Me too,” Johnny muttered.
“ . . . so my Dee-Girl gets on her hands and knees . . .” Charlie was saying.
“I did not!” Deanna cried. “I just bent over!”
Johnny and Toby looked to the end of the table.
“ . . . in spiked heels and the littlest skirt you’ve ever seen . . .” Charlie talked over her.
“Charles!” she snapped.
“ . . . she whips out her phone, turns on her flashlight and shines it into the murk . . .”
“A lady would never get on her knees in the street. Especially in a skirt.”
“ . . . then she looks up at me . . .”
“Stop!”
“ . . . and says, ‘Baby, you gotta go after that,’ like I’m gonna be able to pull off a sewer grate and retrieve her freaking earring.”
“It was my favorite earring!” Deanna exclaimed through the audible mirth rolling around the table.
He looked to his wife. “How can you have favorites when you got two drawers full of them?”
“I don’t have two drawers full of them,” she denied.
He arched his brows.
“Okay, but they’re small drawers,” Deanna muttered.
Everyone again burst out laughing.
Johnny nabbed his cold beer, sat back in his chair at the head of the table and joined them.