Chapter Six

“Fun’s over, Buster.” Reed scooped the hairball up off of the front seat—where the little shit had been licking the hell out of his window—and started toward Jose and Stella’s house. A quick trip around the backyard probably would’ve done the trick, but one look at those big brown eyes and Reed had been a goner. He brought the dog home for company on his nightly run.

“What are you doing on this side of town, Coach?” a familiar female voice called out behind him just as his feet hit the first porch step. He groaned, knowing immediately who the visitor was. Still, he turned.

“Hey, Sam.” He lifted a hand to the young, blonde barista from Cedar Street Brew. “Just bringing Buster home.”

Dressed in hot pink Lycra pants and a matching tank top, she smiled and jogged over from the sidewalk to pet the animal cradled in Reed’s arms. “Hey, cutie. Heard your dad isn’t doing so great.” She glanced up at Reed and unabashedly fluttered her eyelashes. “Awfully sweet of you to take care of this guy.”

Jaw clenched, Reed gave a brief nod. Sam was twenty at most. He’d coached her older brother the first two years he’d been back from Denver. The fact that she always made a point to flirt used to be flattering. A pretty young thing wanting to hop on his shit...hell, that was every man’s dream.

These days, Sam’s interest just made him sweat. She might be legal, but she was still practically a kid and that just wasn’t right. Even Reed Fletcher, River Bend’s consummate player, didn’t stoop that low. At least not anymore..

“Yeah, well, someone had to do it,” he murmured. “Look, I really should get go—”

His words were interrupted by tires crunching on the gravel as it turned into the driveway. A shiny white Lexus with tinted windows pulled to a stop behind his Camaro. He didn’t need to see the driver to know who sat behind the wheel.

Mia.

“Nice ride.” Sam whistled, and Reed quickly unlocked Jose and Stella’s door to let the dog inside, before he hurried down the steps toward the car.

“Reed?” Mia stepped out, frowning. Her dark hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun and she was dressed in a pale blue pantsuit with glitzy heels that matched the extravagance of her ride. The bloodshot eyes and splotchy face, however, were another story.

“Hey. You came.” He snagged her wrist and pulled her into his arms without a second thought. Yes, he had questions about what had happened between them and why she’d cut him off, but all of that could wait. Her father was a million times more important than his pride. “Have you been to the hospital yet?”

She nodded as his hand smoothed down over her hair. Her sweet, subtle scent tickled at his nose and he sucked in a deep breath. Damn, she smelled good. But first...her dad. 

“How’s Jose?” Rubbing his hands up and down her arms, he stepped back.

“Not good.” She bit her lip and stared down at his running shoes. “There’s weakness on his right side and he can’t talk.”

Fuck.

He pulled her close again and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “But he’s alive, M. He’s friggin’ alive.”

Mia nodded and let him hold her for a long minute. Finally, she pulled away and sniffed. “So, what are you doing here, anyway?”

“I let Buster out. My mom’s idea.”

“Oh. Well, thank you.” She tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear and glanced toward the house. “Your girlfriend?”

“Huh?” He followed her gaze to the girl now standing at the front of his car and frowned. “Sam? God, no.” The young woman’s flinch shouldn’t have given him pause. Hell, they weren’t even friends. She just made his coffee every now and then. Still, her disappointed expression made him feel like a prick. “Uh, Mia, this is Samantha Harris. Sam, Mia Carderas.”

Sam lifted a reluctant hand while Mia pinned him with a suspicious, raised-eyebrow glance. Finally, she cleared her throat and approached Sam. “Actually, we’ve met before. About seventeen years ago when I used to babysit for you and your brother.”

Sam’s face turned ten shades of red, but she opened her arms to Mia anyway. “God, that was a long time ago.”

Mia laughed. “Sure was. Imagine how old Reed and I feel.”  

The blonde smiled, but her eyes flicked back to Reed as she spoke. “I should get back to my walk. It was nice seeing you, Mia. I’m so sorry to hear about your dad.”

“Thank you. Please tell your parents I said hello.”

“My mother died four years ago,” Sam said casually, and Mia’s mouth dropped open as the two women stepped away from one another.

“Oh, honey, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“It’s fine. Anyway, Reed, you still have my number, right? Don’t be a stranger.” Winking, she shifted around Mia and let her fingers drag across Reed’s arm.

Reed didn’t have to look at Mia to know the expression he’d find on her face. He’d seen it a hundred times as a kid when he’d do something stupid and bring out Mia’s judgmental side. The one she seemed to reserve just for him.

“I know what you’re thinking,” he began, rubbing a hand around the back of his neck. “But it’s not like that. She’s just a kid with a crush.”

“A kid? Those boobs do not belong to a kid. Surely you’ve noticed.”

He blinked like a deer caught in the headlights and Mia rolled her eyes.

“Whatever, Reed. Not my business anyway.” Brushing past him, she hit the fob on her key ring and opened her trunk.

Jose aside, the timing would have been perfect to bring up her blow-off and the car he’d seen in her driveway, but she’d just come back to River Bend. He didn’t want to send her packing before she’d even removed her luggage from the car.

“Let me carry that for you.” He took the suitcase from her hand and reached for the overnight bag, too.

“I’m plenty capable,” she muttered, and he grinned.

“I know you’re a tough cookie, M, but humor me, yeah?”

She narrowed her eyes, locked up her car, and led the way to the house. “I don’t have a lot of time. I just came to change and grab some different clothes for Mom. They’re moving Dad to a rehab center in Grand Island first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Understood.” He set the bags down in the clean, but older kitchen. The oak cupboards seemed to have darkened with age and the linoleum on the floor was still the same pattern Mia used to play Hopscotch on as a kid. “Damn, this place hasn’t changed one bit, has it?”

Mia’s response was an instantaneous, garbled sob followed by her purse hitting the floor. 

“What’s wrong?” He was at her side in an instant, hands on her shoulders just like they had been outside. “Talk to me, M.”

Hands covering her face, she shook her head and ducked into his chest, burying her tears.

“It’s okay,” he murmured against the top of her head. “It’s all going to be okay.”

“How?” The vibration of her voice and the warmth of her breath tickled through his T-shirt. “How can it ever be okay? I stayed away for years because I was a coward. I missed so much time with my parents and now this.”

“Mia.” Curling his hands around her jaw, he tipped her face up to his while rivulets of emotion streamed from her eyes to his fingers and palms. “You couldn’t have known.”

“That doesn’t matter. I should’ve been here, Reed. Damn it, I should have been here.”

“You’re here now.”

“And it’s too late.”

“You don’t know that. Your old man’s a fighter. Just like you.”

Her eyes fluttered open and locked on his, and his chest ached at the sight of all the pain and regret swimming in those dark pools. All the years of torment and ridicule she’d sustained as a kid growing up in this small, uncultured town. All the self-loathing she’d endured then and now. Having grown up poor and without a father, he understood some of her struggle. But being a bastard in a small, mostly white town was a hell of a lot easier to deal with than being the daughter of a Mexican immigrant.

“I won’t be able to forgive myself for what I’ve done,” she whispered with trembling lips. “How can I expect him to?”

Damn it, he didn’t have an answer for that. He knew how badly it hurt Stella and Jose that Mia had seldom come home in the last twelve years. That they knew so little about what their only child had been doing with her life on the other side of the state. Hell, he’d felt guilty himself when he’d come home from Omaha, having spent the night with her. He’d wanted to tell her folks how well she was doing, despite the way she’d landed the job, but it was hardly his place.

Just like it wasn’t his place to blow smoke up her ass and tell her that being home now would be enough, but he didn’t know that for sure and he wasn’t about to pretend that he did.

So he pulled her close and promised her the only thing he could.

“I’ll do whatever I can to help, Mia. I love your parents like my own and you know I care about you, too.”

She stiffened and balled her hands into fists against the sides of his waist. “I treated you like shit. You shouldn’t even want to talk to me right now.”

He gave a short laugh. “You mean the blow-off? Ah, M, we both know I had that coming.”

Mia leaned back enough to meet his gaze and frowned. “You’re not upset?”

“Upset? Nah. Just disappointed. I thought we had a good time.”

Her cheeks flushed softly as she glanced away. “I thought we did, too. I just...”

He shook his head and tipped her face back to his. “You and I run deeper than one night in the sack, M. We’ll be fine.”

Her pearly white teeth clasped around her plump bottom lip. “You’re awfully forgiving.”

“Ah, well, you’ve been gone long enough to miss the worse of my fuck-ups, but I give this town two days to catch you up. You’ll understand then.” He winked and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

Sighing, she lifted her hands softly to his chest. “I really need to get back to the hospital.”

“You want me to come with?”

“No.” She began to shake her head, but stopped suddenly, still working on her bottom lip. “Actually, if you wouldn’t mind, it might be helpful to have another set of ears when the doctor comes in tonight.”

“Of course. I meant it when I said anything, M. You need something, just yell.” Brushing strands of hair behind her ears, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I need to grab my mom from the diner, and then I can meet you. Sound okay?”

She gave a small, tearful smile, then toed up to kiss his cheek. “Yes. Thank you.”

* * *

By the time she arrived back Cameron County Memorial, her father was fast asleep, just like the doctors had instructed to give his body the rest it needed. Still dressed in her diner attire, her mother’s eyes were closed, as well, as she curled up in a lounge chair beside the hospital bed.

“Hi,” Mia whispered when she entered the room, quietly closing the door behind her.

“Hey, honey.” Her mom sat up, rubbing her eyes and stifling a yawn. “Finally got him to sleep. God, he’s a stubborn man.”

Stubborn, but, as Reed had said, alive. “That’s good. He needs all the rest he can get.”

Her mother nodded and cast her eyes lovingly upon her husband. Both of Mia’s parents had dark hair and golden complexions, but her mother’s features were sharp and defined, fitting her slender build and Italian genes. Jose, on the other hand, was a big man with a round middle and softer Hispanic traits. Mia took on parts of both of them. The best parts, her mother had always said, though it was hard to believe that when she’d been taunted so ruthlessly as a kid.

Clearing her throat quietly, she took a seat beside her mother. “Sorry I took so long. Reed was at the house looking after Buster.”

“Oh, bless his heart. I didn’t even think of that.”

“Pam sent him over. In fact, I hope you don’t mind, but he’s on his way here. I thought it might be nice to have someone else hear what the doctors have to say tonight. In case...” She reached for her mother’s hand and squeezed. “In case we’re too emotional.”

Stella’s nostrils flared slightly, emotion already brewing. “That’s a good idea, sweetie. Thank you.”

Mia pressed her lips into a small, shaky smile. “I’m also sorry it took this for me to come home.”

A muffled sob sounded in her mother’s throat and she let go of Mia’s hand to press her fingers to her mouth. “Oh, baby, I’ve missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed you, too,” Mia whispered, soft tears spilling down her cheeks. “There’s so much I need to tell you.”

“Probably not as much as you think.” With trembling fingers, Stella brushed Mia’s hair behind her ear. “But I don’t want to talk about any of that now. It doesn’t matter anyway.”

“Only it does...” There was no real excuse for her behavior. She’d taken her hatred for a few mean classmates and she’d hidden herself away from River Bend. Then, she’d made herself feel better pretending to be something she wasn’t. Yes, the unscrupulous actions had also helped her youth charity, but the way she’d gone about making it successful went against everything her family believed in.

“We’ll work it out, Mia. We always do.” Stella leaned in and pressed her forehead to Mia’s. “Right now, we have to get your papi better.”

A hiccupy cry broke loose in Mia’s throat as the door to the hospital room opened and Reed appeared. He’d changed into jeans and a gray T-shirt, but he still wore the same pristine white running shoes, making him look like a coed all over again.

“Hey.” He dipped his chin to Mia, but quickly shifted his attention to Stella. “Mrs. Carderas, I’m so sorry.”

“Oh, honey.”

Mia watched in silence as her mother hurried across the room and wrapped Reed up in a hug, much like the one she’d greeted Mia with earlier. As kids, her parents’ affection for Reed had oftentimes made Mia jealous. In a way, he’d been like another child to them since he’s spent so much time at the diner with Pam. Mia’s dad had been the closest thing Reed had had to a father figure until he grew older and started spending more time with Josh and Dan and their father, Jack. In hindsight, she was glad that Reed had been close to her dad, and having him here felt right, even if it was hard to look at him and not think about a certain night in Omaha nine months ago.

“Can I get you anything?” Reed asked when her mother stepped away. “Coffee? Something to eat?”

Stella pressed her hand to her stomach as it growled over the beeping of Jose’s monitors. “Maybe?”

“I’ll go with.” Mia got to her feet and wrapped the long sides of her sweater tight around her middle. “As long as there’s time before the doctor comes back.”

Reed’s gaze met hers again, the faintest of smiles on his handsome face.

“Dr. Ambrose said he’d be back around nine o’clock,” her mother spoke up. “But I think the cafeteria is already closed.”

“Will Subway work? Or I can grab you something from The Lodge, though I’m sure that would piss off Jose.”

Stella laughed. The Lodge was the diner’s biggest competition in River Bend, though everyone knew Jose loved a juicy steak as much as he loved his own recipes.

“Subway would be great. Let me grab some money...” Her mom turned for her purse, but Mia stopped her.

“I got it, Mama. No worries.”

“You sure?”

Oh, you have no idea. “Definitely. Anything else?”

“A cookie?”

Mia and Reed chuckled at the same time. “We can handle a cookie.”