Jack’s legs churned, eating up the road that led to Mimi’s house. The rays of dawn flicked through the trees, making the asphalt glitter in the early morning light. Luanne was right, it had to be thirty degrees cooler here. It was considerably more pleasant to run under these conditions than the sweltering Texas heat. The brisk air heightened the dopamine coursing through his brain. Thankfully, he had his running shoes on when they’d been robbed, because the only thing that would calm his mind today was to run as far and as fast as he could.

His brain ached with the information it was trying to process. People he never knew existed had pictures of him plastered all over their walls. They loved him. How was that possible? His mother and Mitch had done this for him. Both had sacrificed their own happiness for his sake. What was he supposed to do with that?

Then there was Luanne. God, he’d wanted her more than air last night, but it would’ve been wrong to take her like that. He needed to buy Tallulah a can of tuna for stopping what he couldn’t. And that confused the hell out of him. He’d been out of control. He couldn’t have stopped the raging need for her any more than he could stop the next beat of his heart.

The feel of her still clung to his hands, the smell of her still filled his head, and the taste of her still tingled on his tongue. It had ruined him for the rest of his life. But he wouldn’t use her.

Fury chased him even now at how close he’d come to being no better than her horrible family. He pushed his body faster. Harder. His tough girl would’ve given herself to put light in the darkness of his heart. The next time would be when they were both on even footing, when it was her idea and not because he was about to fall apart.

The next time.

Would there even be a next time? She was skittish and afraid and oblivious to the abuse she’d suffered. Her family had fucked with her head and heart until she trusted no one except Scarlett. He wanted to pound the shit out of her father for the crap he’d dished out over the years. Until she could recognize what had been done to her and see he was nothing like that, they wouldn’t have a future She’d always wonder what his end game was.

“You’re my end game, Thumbelina,” he panted. Saying the words out loud gave him absolute clarity about his objective. No matter how his family’s lies, sacrifices, and secrets shook out for him, Luanne Price was going to be part of his future.

As the house came into view his chest refused to hold the cool morning air. He and Luanne had time to figure out their stuff. But his time with these people was limited, and he still had questions. Their answers would determine whether he continued this crazy road trip or not.

Mimi was sitting in a rocker on the porch with a cup of coffee. “You’re up with the chickens.”

He grabbed the porch rail and stretched the quads of his right leg. “I’m an early riser, even when I don’t have anywhere to be.”

“Mornin’s when I get my thinkin’ done.” She sipped from her cup.

He switched legs. “Me too.”

“I expect you’ve got a lot to think on.” The rocker creaked as she pushed off with her slippered foot.

He snorted. “Ya think?”

“Watch your smart mouth, boy. I missed a lot of years of washing your mouth out with soap that I could make up for right now.”

He watched her rocking with her eyes closed and a soft smile playing on her lips. “Yes, ma’am. My apologies.”

She nodded. “That’s better. So tell me what you’re trying to outrun.”

He sat on the step, then bent forward to stretch his hamstrings. “I’m not sure I can even put it all into words.”

“I’d say to start with the hardest part.”

“I get that he stayed away while I was growing up. It would’ve been hard on me. But why didn’t he ever try to help us?” Here it was, the down and dirty part of this reunion, and it pissed him off to discover how important her answer was to him. “Mimi, we lived in our car for a time. We never had anything. My dad tried, but he was a blue-collar worker doing the best he could. We were on government assistance. My mom had to take me to the free clinic when I was sick, for God’s sake.”

She picked at the rocking chair arm, and continued to rock. “Some of these questions you’ll have to ask him, but I can tell you that Robin wouldn’t take a dime from him. She respected your daddy too much to take another man’s handouts. Plus, by the time things got so bad she was in love with your papa. How would she have explained the money?”

Several stuttered breaths jumped around his chest and eased the ache there. However, with every answer came ten more questions. He followed the line of ants climbing up the porch rail. “How do you know so much about her? She never told me any of these things.”

“Of course she didn’t. This was grown-up stuff, not kid stuff. We exchanged letters until you were about six or seven. After that she said she couldn’t do it anymore.”

He tried to engage the logical part of his brain to help sort through all that she was saying. Tried to find the part that had helped him navigate the treacherous social waters of high school, the part that knew exactly how much he could party in college without losing his 4.0 GPA, the part that he evoked when he was slogging away in law school, and the part that helped him separate emotion from fact when he struck out to represent clients on his own.

Logic failed him now. He was too raw, too hurt to understand how his mother could deceive him his whole life. “I’m sorry, Mimi, but I think they were both selfish, and did this whole secret thing to protect themselves.”

The rocking stopped and her lids snapped open. “Shame on you. You have no idea what it was like back then for gay men. Folks saying they carried the plague, that they were evil, degenerates who should be burned at the stake. Do you think either one of them wanted that for you? Selfish? Boy, you don’t know what you’re talking about. How do you think you got into and paid for that fancy college and law school?”

“What are you talking about? I got in because of my grades and I paid for it through scholarships, and what they didn’t cover, my parents paid with money they’d set aside for school…”

She gave him what he imagined was her steeliest stare.

Clink. Clink. Clink. The pieces snapped into place. He’d never really thought about how they had paid for all the extras. He’d assumed they’d saved up so he wouldn’t have to work extra jobs. He’d accepted the scholarship he hadn’t applied for but believed he deserved. He’d never thought to question a single thing. Clink, clink, clink.

“I didn’t know.” He could barely hear his own voice. “I never thought about it.”

“Of course you didn’t. You weren’t supposed to know. It was his gift to you. His way of showing his love for you, the only way he could. Were your parents perfect? No. But everything they did, they did because they loved you. Still love you.”

The revelations were coming too fast.

“Are you going to see him?” she asked quietly.

“I don’t know.” That was as honest an answer he could give.

She rocked, and neither of them spoke. He stared into the morning mist. In the distance someone started a tractor, a rooster crowed, and a critter rustled in the bushes. The hum of the country was all around them. It would’ve been nice if the explosion of his world going supernova wasn’t distracting him.

An old tom rubbed against his leg. He reached down and scratched its head. “I’m not sure what I’m going to do, Mimi. Do you mind if we stay here a couple of days until I figure it out?”

“Don’t wait too long to decide, Jack. He’s sick, really sick, and while we’re all praying he’ll get better there’s no guarantee he will.” She wiped a tear from her face. “You’ve come this far, shouldn’t you see it through to the end?”

He wanted to say something to make her feel better, but couldn’t. He didn’t have a clue what he was going to do.

“And you and your girl are welcome here as long as you like.”

He laughed. “She isn’t my girl.” Though after last night he was more determined than ever to make her want him for more than sex. “She’s only a friend.”

“Really? Then why did you say you only needed one room? Y’all aren’t those friends with benefits they talk about on those reality TV shows, are you?”

He nearly choked. “No. I was upset with her for butting into my business. She likes to do that a lot, so it was my way of getting her back. She slept on the sofa in the room.”

“That little thing? She must’ve been so uncomfortable.”

“I tried to get her to let me sleep there, but she’s stubborn.”

Mimi’s laugh filled the morning air. “Good, that’s probably just what you need.”

He laughed with her and thought of the feisty woman still asleep in his room. “I think you’re right, Mimi. I think you’re right.”

“Mama.” Leslie was standing behind the screen door.

“Yes, baby.”

“It’s all arranged. Everybody’s really excited Jack’s here.”

Everybody? Who the hell was everybody? An uneasy, itchy feeling began to gnaw at the back of his neck. “What’s going on?”

Mimi smiled, closed her eyes and began to rock again. “We’re havin’ a party, boy, and you’re the guest of honor.”

* * *

Luanne finger-combed her hair, and deemed it good enough. She’d been glad Jack was gone when she woke. She wasn’t ready to face him.

She’d fallen asleep on the wave of his words that rocked her to her core. I won’t be another person who uses you. How had he known that was her secret pain? It was part of his voodoo power. Somehow, he could see and slip past her defenses.

Case in point, what almost happened last night. Incredible didn’t begin to describe it, but to have gone any farther would’ve been disastrous because she still didn’t know if she knew the real Jack. Was he the charming sweet talker, the arrogant ass, or the good guy who’d let two senior citizens steal his prized car because he knew they were in trouble?

She smeared on the lip stain she’d bought at the drugstore. She hadn’t worn drugstore lipstick since she was in junior high. She’d grown up with the finer things in life, for sure, but everything she’d ever been given came with a price. The first thing she ever remembered getting was a pretty pink dress when she was about four. But her mother made sure she knew that it was for when her daddy visited.

You can have this pretty thing, but only when your daddy comes to see you.

She wore it once. By the time it her daddy came back to see her again, the dress was two sizes too small.

When she got braces at twelve, it was because Gigi thought her daddy would like her better if she didn’t have “that god-awful overbite.” She started getting cosmetics from department stores because Gigi said her daddy didn’t like the smell of cheap makeup.

The best education money could buy was hers, if she went to Marcus’s alma mater. He’d even pay for graduate school, but only if she went to law school.

Her father would love her and show his care as long as she married a man he picked. The list went on and on. And on. And on.

Shame crawled over her like a big black centipede. Who would complain about such a pampered life? She was spoiled and ungrateful, like Gigi and her father always said.

She examined her reflection in the mirror. No. She wasn’t spoiled. She would’ve traded every gift she’d ever received, worn hand-me-down clothes, and gone to junior college for one lousy day with her father where there was no other reason for him to be there except that he loved her.

Jack’s phone rang. The display said Gavin. “Hey, Scarlett.”

“Don’t you hey me. I’ve been worried sick. Where are you?” Her friend’s voice was approaching a decibel that only dogs could hear.

“Calm down. I’m fine. I’m still with Jack and we’re in West Virginia visiting some of his…um…relatives.”

“What? Luanne, none of this makes any sense. I get home from our trip and Honey says you called, but didn’t leave a message, then nothin’.”

“Jack and I got robbed and I needed some help, but it’s all fine now.”

“Robbed! Good Lord, Lou. What have you gotten yourself into?”

Luanne chuckled and went back into the bathroom to put her meager belongings away. “Can you do me a huge favor?”

“Of course.”

“I need you to go to my house and get my purse and my phone and send them to me. Hang on, let me get the address.” She retrieved the letter with Mimi’s address on it, and gave Scarlett the information.

“Okay, I’ll go today.”

“Great. I knew I could count on you.” She chewed on her thumbnail and glanced at herself in the mirror. “Um, what’s happening with Tank’s nether regions?”

Scarlett snorted. “He’s fine and unfortunately for the rest of humanity, he’ll be able to procreate.”

A weight rolled off Luanne’s shoulders. Doing permanent harm had never been her intent. She ran her little finger under her eye to get rid of a mascara smudge. “Well, that’s good. So what’s going to happen to Honey’s Tots for Tank’s Testicles campaign?”

“Oh, good gosh. Can you believe that? She’s of course heartbroken that he’s going to be fine. When we got home she’d already hand-made some signs to put up around town. Can you imagine the faces of the Baptist women’s group if they ever got a load of those posters?”

They both laughed, and it was the release Luanne needed to let go of some of the tension between her shoulder blades. “Thanks again.”

“You’re welcome. How are things with Jack?” Scarlett asked the question casually, but Luanne knew there was nothing casual about her interest.

Luanne paced around the bathroom. “Things are…interesting and kind of screwed up. I’ll tell you about it when I get home.”

“Interesting and screwed up, sounds about right for anything to do with Jack.”

“Don’t say that. He’s going through a bad time right now.”

“Oh, really? So bad that you’re defending him. This must be the screwed-up part.”

She rested a hip against the bathroom counter. “Yeah, well…”

“Never mind, I’ll let you off the hook for now. Oh, my gosh, I almost forgot to tell you. Charlotte Kline is back in town.”

Luanne held the phone between her cheek and shoulder while she folded the hand towel on the counter and affected an announcer’s voice. “Star of TV and film, Charlie Kay?”

Scarlett laughed. “The one and only.”

“Really?” An errant hair refused to lay down, and she twisted it back in place. “Why is she in town?”

“Her grandfather had a car accident, and she’s come to take care of him.”

That damn hair would not cooperate. She wet a comb under the faucet and ran it over the stubborn spot. “Wow. What was she, three years younger than us?”

“Four. I used to babysit her before she and her mother went to Hollywood.”

“If half the things they say she’s done are true, it ought to be interesting having her among the citizens of Zachsville again.”

“I know. Hey, gotta go. Aiden just dragged Gavin’s guitar into the living room. If I don’t save Patsy, my husband will never speak to me again. Oh, my gosh, he’s strumming it and singing. It’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. I’ll send a video.”

“Alright—” But her friend was already gone. A few minutes later the phone dinged with an incoming text. It was the video of Aiden, and she had to admit it was the cutest thing she’d ever seen too.

Fast, heavy footsteps pounded across the bedroom floor, letting her know Jack was back about a nanosecond before he burst into the bathroom. “Luanne.” He was white as a sheet and looked like he wanted to jump out of his skin.

She dropped the comb. “What is it?”

He swiped his hand across his mouth. “Shit. Shit. Shit.”

“Tell me what is going on.”

“They’ve invited the family to a party…in my honor. They’ll be here in a few hours.”

She would’ve laughed at the horror on his face if he hadn’t been so serious. “I’m sure it will be fine, Jack. They’re excited you’re here.”

He ran both hands through his hair and began to pace. “This is more than I counted on, Lou.” He pointed to the door. “Those people think they know me, and I don’t know any of them and don’t know if I want to. What the fuck have you gotten me into?”

“Me?” Her attempt at indignation fell flat when he gave her a yeah, you look. “Fine, but how was I to know they’d have a big family reunion once you showed up?”

The color drained from his face. “A family reunion? You think that’s what this is?”

She took his arm and led him to the chair in front of the vanity.

“Sit.”

He sat.

“Breathe.”

He breathed.

“Relax.”

He re—well, he tried to relax.

She got behind him and rubbed his shoulders like a coach with his fighter who was losing the round. “Listen to me. You’re Jack Avery. You can handle anything and charm the skin off a snake.”

He nodded as she spoke, absorbing her words.

“Now, repeat after me. I’m the shit. Say it.”

“Luanne, I really—”

“Say it!”

“I’m the shit.”

“I’m Jack Badass Avery.”

“I’m Jack Badass Avery.”

“Who’s sometimes a pussy-man.”

“Who’s sometimes a—hey.”

She dug her nails into the flesh she was kneading. “Say it.”

“Sometimes I’m a pussy-man.”

She slapped his head. “Now get over yourself and get ready to meet your family. They clearly love you, or at least the idea of you. That’s more than most people get in their whole lives.”

“Fuuuuuuuck, I feel like the guest star on the Jerry Springer Show.”

She laughed. “Don’t be so dramatic.”

He let out three quick breaths. “You’re right.”

“I’m going to see if Leslie and Mimi need any help with the party prep. You take a shower. You have a few hours to get your mind right, joins us when you’re ready.” She made him look her in the eye. “Alright.”

“Alright. I can do this. But you’ll be with me, right?”

“Right beside you.”

He nodded and went into the bathroom.

He was about to meet a family he never knew, but who couldn’t wait to meet him. She wasn’t sure she’d ever been so jealous of another person in her whole life.