Caraleigh

 

“Mommy!” Luca calls out as we come out the back door. “Where were you?”

“Mr. Braxton was showing me some of the things that Nan did while he was gone last week.”

“Did you sees our playground?” he asks.

“Yes I did. Are you having a good time?”

Before he can answer, I hear Donna Jo’s voice saying, “I’m supposed to be meeting her here, you big lug!”

Turning, I see that one of the men, I think his name is Boothe, has his arm up to keep Donna Jo from coming any closer. “Braxton? That’s Donna Jo and her little girl, Ralynn.”

“She’s okay to come through, prospect,” he calls out. She gives him a dirty look before walking over to me.

“Over-protective much?” she asks Braxton before engulfing me in a hug.

“Sorry about that, but we don’t let just anyone on our property,” he tells her.

“DJ? This is Braxton Callahan, he’s the president of the MC,” I tell her.

Her raised eyebrow tells me I’ve got some explaining to do and I shake my head at her. Now’s not the time. “Did you have any problems finding it?” I ask.

“Nope. My new GPS system actually gets me from point A to point B,” she replies. “It’s nice to meet you,” she says, turning to Braxton.

“Aunt Cararee?” a little voice says. Looking down, I see Ralynn and I crouch to give her a hug. “Where’s Luca?”

“Oh, let me take you over to where he’s playing, okay, sweetie?” Taking her hand, I motion with my head for DJ to follow me and walk over to the play area. “Luca? Look who’s here!”

“Ralynn!” he screams out, jumping off the swing and running toward us. “You gots to meets my new friends who lives here!” he says, taking her by the hand and running back toward Lily and Tig.

“Paisley? This is my friend, Donna Jo or DJ. DJ? This is Paisley, she’s Twisted’s old lady and Tig’s mom.”

“Pleasure to meet you. So Tig is the other little boy running around?” DJ aks.

“He sure is, he and Luca hit it off right away, Luca also has a friend, Lily, who happens to be Braxton’s daughter.”

“Braxton huh...there’s a story I want to hear about,” DJ says to me. I know that there will be no sleep until there’s a bottle of wine consumed and the complete story of Braxton told. Only problem is, I don’t know exactly what to tell her where it comes to Braxton and myself.

“Later,” I tell her and turn to Paisley, only to see a smirk on her face. “What?” I ask her.

“Just curious.”

“About?” I put my hands on my hips, taking my mothers pose of, ‘don’t mess with me’ stance.

“Whether or not you're gonna tell the watered-down version you tried spewing to me, or if you’ll be real with your girl DJ here.”

“Oh, she’ll be real with me. She knows better, I will pull it out of her if I have to.”

“Wish you two wouldn’t talk about me as if I’m not even here. And hey,” I pinch DJ’s arm, “whose side are you on anyways?”

“Yours, Caraleigh, always yours. But you have to learn to be on your side as well.” What in the world does that mean I wonder. “Don’t look at me like that,” DJ says. “You know what I mean, you always take care of everyone else, would you like me to give examples?”

“No!” I blurt out, like I need all these strangers in my business.

“Oh, I see a girl’s night in our future,” Paisley blurts out.

“Umm…” I stammer.

“Hell yes!” DJ eagerly agrees. How come I get the feeling I’ll be the topic of conversation during this girls night out?

“We should set it up, how long are you in town for, DJ?” They carry on like I’m not even standing here.

“For an undetermined amount of time. I can work from anywhere and Ralynn is homeschooled.”

“Give me your number and we can set it up.” They exchange numbers and I’m still standing here like a deer caught in the headlights. I look over and see Braxton watching me, he lifts his eyebrows in a silent question wanting to know if I’m okay. I shrug my shoulders and give him a small timid smile, which he returns. Only his smile is bright and does things to me that make my body quiver in anticipation of what’s yet to come.

“Earth to Cara,” Paisley calls out to me.

“Hmm...what?” I turn my attention back to the girls.

“We were asking what day is good for you so I can set up a sitter for the kids.”

“A sitter, why?”

“So we can go out, what happened did your brain fry while looking at Mr. Hottie over there?” DJ, the smartass asks me. I stomp my foot in exasperation, I don’t do well with being the center of attention...well, not any more I don’t. I used to be the outgoing one, until my deceased husband and his parents got me in their line of fire.

“We’re going to have so much fun!” Paisley announces bouncing around on the balls of her feet. “I don’t have many girlfriends, so I’m really looking forward to this.”

“Oh joy,” I mutter under my breath causing both of them to break out into laughter. I love being the object of attention...not!

“So, girl, tonight I want the whole story of how you met Mr. Hottie pants and explain those smoldering looks he keeps sending your way.”

“You're imagining things,” I tell her, “you’re seeing things where there is nothing to see.”

“Whatever you say, Cara,” Paisley says, “but I’m not buying that line of bullshit.”

“Whatever,” I say, because I can’t think of anything else to respond to that statement.

“Food’s ready,” we hear Braxton call out, giving me the perfect out to being the center of attention from my best friend, and her new partner in crime.

“Come on, ladies, let’s grab our kids and get their plates made,” Paisley says grabbing one of each of our hands and pulling us behind her. “You snooze you lose around here, it's first come first serve, and these guys are animals when it comes to food.”

“Hopefully it's not the only time they’re animalistic,” DJ says winking at me. I notice Hatchet walk up behind DJ, and I know he’s fixing to do something to set her ass on fire.

“Not the only time, darlin’,” I hear him whisper-shout in her ear, causing her to jump and screech. Everyone stops what they’re doing turning to look and see if there is danger in the area...I’m assuming.

“Asshole!” she screams at Hatchet causing him to laugh.

“Just answering your question, darlin’,” he replies with a wink.

“Well, considering I wasn’t asking you, maybe you should stay out of other people's conversations and mind your own business!” she huffs out. I can’t tell if she’s truly upset or not, she has the same look when she’s excited as she does when someone’s pissed in her cheerios.

“Don’t mind Hatchet,” Paisley tells DJ. “We don’t know what side of the funny farm he was raised on, he always has something smart to say.”

“That’s because I’m a smartass, darlin’,” he replies to Paisley.

“That you are...along with just plain being an asshole.”

Hatchet grabs his chest in a dramatic nature, “You wound me, darlin’, here I was thinking we were friends.”

“Ah,” Paisley moves her hand side-to-side, in a sorta gesture.

“Wounded, truly wounded, darlin’,” he says as he walks away.

“See, you just have’ta learn how to deal with these guys. You have to think on a five-year-old’s level.”

“Shouldn’t be too hard, since we have kids in that age range,” DJ tells her.

“Exactly.”

 

 

After we get in the long as hell line, get the kids and our plates made and get to the table, I’m utterly exhausted. It’s a workout in itself to get the kids wrangled, but when you add grown men who think they’re children, it's even more so. I’ve never met men of this age range that acted more like children than Luca. It’s a hard pill to swallow, even for me. The kids are sitting at the kids table and I’m sitting next to Braxton, whose hand has not left my leg since he took the seat to my right. On my left is DJ and next to her is Hatchet. I can hear his attempts at flirting, causing my friend to laugh, which makes me happy. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard her sound so carefree. Across from me are Paisley and Twisted, who has nibbled on her neck and ear as much as he has his food.

I want that someday, I want to experience that kind of deep devotion and love that he shows her...publically! Something I’ve never felt either. Public displays of affection were a big no-no in my previous marriage. I always felt so isolated and alone, other than Luca, of course. He was my saving grace, my reason to keep living and putting one foot in front of the other, so to speak. Graham, why couldn’t you have ever shown me that I meant something to you? There was a time that I would’ve done anything for that man, including losing who I was and who I wanted to be.

“Hey, beautiful, where’d you go to just now in that head of yours?” Busted! Damage control begins in... three...two...one.

“Oh, sorry. I was just thinking of how much I’m enjoying getting to know everyone. I love the vibe of family I’m getting off of everyone here. You guys really are one big happy group. Thank you for letting me, Luca, DJ and Ralynn be a part of this today,” I tell him hoping he’ll buy that bunch of malarkey I just laid in his lap.

“I’ll let you have that play for now,” he says as his hand squeezes my thigh. Damn, I thought I’d been pretty convincing personally. I look over to DJ and see she has a look of concern on her face, I must’ve let my thoughts show pretty drastically for her to be worried. She knows me better than anyone, so she most likely knows where my thoughts were regardless if I tell her the truth or not.

I nod my head at her letting her know I’m good, although it looks like our dreaded conversation tonight will deal with ghosts I’m not in the mood to face. Story of my life, go figure. I wish I could bury the past and keep it there, but the damn thing keeps resurfacing every time I turn around. I mean Graham is buried, why can’t I keep the memories dead with him and move on?