The Heartbreaker Page 5

  “Okay, let's hash this thing out before we get home. Sit up, I know you're not asleep.”

  Lucki waited a minute then J.J. finally pulled himself upright and angled his face toward her. It was difficult to see his eyes through the sunglasses. “I ain't going back there,” he said. Lucki turned to fully face him. “You most certainly are.”

  “No, I'm not.” J.J. looked out his window.

  “All right. Tell me what happened then, and I'll see if I can make some sense out of all this.”

  It took a couple of minutes before J.J. turned back to look at her. “I don't want to be your assistant.”

  Lucki dropped her head into a slow nod. “Okay. So you're not my assistant. What do you want to do then?”

  “I want to stay home the rest of the summer and hang out with Spud.”

  “You know Sam has put his foot down. That's not likely to happen.”

  J.J. snorted.

  “Tell me what happened.” Lucki waited.

  J.J. turned and faced her fully, angling his face more to his left. Slowly he reached up and removed first his sunglasses and then the cap. Lucki gasped.

  “My God! What happened to your eye?” Reaching out, Lucki attempted to smooth the pads of her fingers over the swollen, bruised eye and cheekbone. J.J. flinched and Lucki jerked her hand away.

  “I didn't see it coming.”

  “Who did this to you?”

  J.J. shrugged.

  Lucki narrowed her eyes. “I repeat, who did this to you?” She had the sneaking suspicion that she would never know. But it was one of her kids and she wanted to know who was responsible. J.J. looked away. “They said I was your flunky, your gopher. A wimp. They made fun of me when I was helping you set up the volleyball nets, especially when I got my feet tangled in one of them. And then they made nasty remarks about how I was playing. Can I help it if I've never played volleyball like that before?

  Last time I played was in fourth grade gym class, boys against the girls.”

  “But what about your eye?”

  J.J. heaved in a long breath then forced it out his mouth. “Like I told you, I didn't see it coming.”

  “What provoked this?”

  “They were making fun of me.”

  “And you didn't like that.”

  “No.”

  “So what did you do?”

  J.J. stared straight ahead for a minute, a slow grin meandered across his face. “I called the guy a. .” J.J. lowered his voice and whispered the words across the cab.

  Lucki jerked back and stared at him, her eyes wide. “And then what?”

  J.J. shrugged. “That's when he punched my lights out.”

  Lucki stared straight ahead and blew out a lengthy breath. Sam was going to kill her. “I don't suppose you could cover up that shiner for a day or two, could you?” After a minute of silence in the cab, she turned to J.J. “Naw, never mind. No use both of us getting into any more trouble than we're already in.”

  She faced the steering wheel and twisted the key in the ignition. “Guess there's nothing left to do but tell him the truth.” She heard J.J. groan and watched out of the corner of her eye as he replaced the sunglasses and ball cap.

  * * * *

  Sam waited on the porch. Lucki was a good twenty minutes late. When she didn't have activities at night, she was usually like clockwork, almost five o'clock on the dot when she'd pull into her driveway. It was fivetwenty. And they weren't home yet. Something was wrong.

  Why in the world had he let Lucki talk him into this hair-brained scheme of hers? It was just that he was at his wits end the other night. He'd needed some guidance and Lucki had damned near taken the problem off his hands. Only now, the problem was hers. How could he have let Lucki take on his responsibility of J.J. over the summer? It was too much for her to handle. He'd have to come up with another solution. Maybe he could find J.J. some work to do downtown to occupy his days this summer. The crunch of gravel alerted him to the fact that Lucki had pulled in the drive, stopping just short of his porch. Both she and J.J. slowly exited the cab of her mid-sized Chevy. Sam stood and met them near the porch steps. “Hey! How'd it go?”

  He watched the brief exchange of eye contact that took place between Lucki and J.J. It gave him a bad feeling. Damn.

  “Everything went pretty well, I'd say, wouldn't you J.J.?” Lucki pushed her hands in the pockets of her athletic shorts and smiled at Sam.

  “Sure, everything went pretty good,” J.J. echoed.

  Sam inhaled and stared at the two. “And both of you are full of hog manure.”

  He watched Lucki's eyes widen in surprise then slid his glance to J.J. He couldn't see a damned thing behind those dark glasses of his, or through the shadow his ball cap had thrown over his face.

  “What the heck are you talking about, Sam?”

  Sam chuckled. “Give it to me straight, Lucki. Something's not kosher here. What did J.J. do?”

  J.J. took a half-step forward. “I didn't do anything, did I Lucki!”

  Lucki reached out and grasped J.J.'s arm, pulling him closer to her; Sam still held her gaze. “He didn't do anything, Sam. Don't assume anything until you know what you're talking about.”

  “Then what am I talking about?”

  Lucki bit her lip and glanced at a silent J.J. “There was a slight skirmish, today.”

  Sam huffed, stepped back, shook his head. “A slight skirmish.”

  “It was no big deal. It's handled. It won't happen again. And it wasn't J.J.'s fault.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  Sam stared at the porch floor. Sure, it wasn't J.J.'s fault. It's never J.J.'s fault. He didn't feel Lucki's hands grasp his arms until she forced him to look at her.

  “What the hell do you think you're doing?” she hissed. Sam stared into her blue eyes. They were flaring with anger.

  “What am I doing? I'm facing reality here, Lucki. You need to face it, too. It was a bad idea. Let's think of something else.”

  Her fingernails bit into his upper arms. “No, Sam. You've got it all wrong. J.J. is not at fault here. And you're being just a little bit arrogant.”

  Sam huffed out a breath, then sensing J.J. walking off, he glanced his way.

  “Forget it Lucki,” the boy said, “Sam always thinks it's my fault.”

  Sam broke away and grasped his brother’s forearm, halting him. “Oh, no you don't. You're not going to stomp out of here this time.”

  Lucki pleaded from behind, “Sam, stop. You've got it all wrong. J.J. did nothing.”

  “Take off those sunglasses and that cap,” he directed to his brother, ignoring Lucki. “I hate talking to you when I can't even see your eyes.”

  After a instant's pause, J.J. ripped off the glasses and cap and sent them both flying. His eyes and actions defied Sam to do or say anything out of line. Sam took one look at his brother's face and felt nauseous.

  “Who in the hell hit you and what did you do to provoke it?”

  “Sam,” Lucki interjected, “I've been trying to tell you. He did nothing.”

  J.J. glared back into Sam's eyes. “Forget it, Lucki. He doesn't ever believe me.”

  “Well, he'd better start.”

  Sam whirled back to Lucki. “Stay out of my business, Lucki.”

  “This is my business, Sam. J.J. was with me today and what happened was not his fault.”

  “He's not going back with you. I'll figure out something else.” Sam paused at the pained expression that lanced over Lucki's face. Damn, why am I being such an ass?

  “You're making a mistake, Sam. J.J. needs to go back. He's got to get back on the horse and ride.” Lucki pinned him with her gaze.

  “Lose the cliché Lucki, he's staying here.”

  “Sam—”

  “The decision is made.”

  “No, it's not!” J.J. burst between his brother and Lucki, glancing from one to the other. After a minute, he turned to his older brother and said, “Lucki's right. I'm going back. I'm not going to take th
ose guys calling me a wimp and a flunky. I'm going back tomorrow, black eye and all, and you're not going to stop me!”

  When J.J. finished, he was almost in tears. Sam stared into the boy’s face and saw a brief reflection of himself, when he was thirteen, coming home with a shiner from fighting with Billy Martinni, when Billy had called him the teacher's pet. Suddenly that feeling washed all over him. He closed his eyes and tried to let the memory pass. Sometimes, there were just things a guy had to do. He guessed J.J. needed to go back. Prove a point.

  Sam knew he had to let this go. Apologize to everyone.

  He faced J.J. “So you really want to go back to Peabody?”

  “Yes, I do. I didn't think I did, but now I do.”

  Sam exhaled deeply. “All right. Go back.”

  He watched a slight grin form over J.J.'s lips.

  “And. .and I'm sorry I didn't believe you. I'm going to do better.”

  J.J. grinned fully and stepped on into the house. One small victory, Sam thought. When his eyes swung around to meet Lucki's, Sam knew he'd done the right thing. “I'm sorry, Lucki. I've been a bear's ass all day, thinking about how you two were getting along.”

  “It's okay, Sam,” she returned softly. “Now that you've made the right decision.” She tossed him a wicked grin. “But a minute ago I would have called you a horse's ass, not a bear's.”

  Sam nodded. “And you would have been right.”

  When she stepped closer and put her arms around his neck and held him close, then planted a quick kiss on his cheek, Sam knew he'd won a small victory with Lucki today as well. But when she left his porch to put her truck in the garage, he felt the battle going on deep inside him raging up again. A battle he hadn't clearly defined, yet.

  And as far as that battle was concerned, he also knew he was a long way from final victory. He wouldn't even allow himself to consider the possibility of defeat.

  Chapter Five

  It was all Lucki could do to keep her eyes on the hymnal, her lips moving in sync to the upbeat hymn, and her feet from prancing nervously on the hard wood floor of the choir loft. At her left, Bess Johnson kept sidling her glances that warned her to quiet her tapping toes.

  Bess was fifty if she was a day: prim, proper, and head teller of the First National Bank of Freedom. She sat with her back as rigid and straight as the columns in her accounting books. She despised little children, sloppiness, and men in general. It was a good thing, Lucki couldn't imagine Bess ever having sex. Too messy.

  Bess laid a silencing hand on Lucki's knee. Lucki glanced at her peripherally and ceased the tapping. She couldn't help it. When she was angry she couldn't sit still. Her mother used to accuse her of having

  “anties in her panties.” And if her mother were here, she'd probably be giving her the evil eye from the sanctuary as she'd done so many times in her adolescence.

  But she and her Daddy were gone, off on another excursion with the Winnebago. So far, since her father had retired, they'd done Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon loop, and trekked down through Florida. Jim Stevenson was so disgusted with the retired mentality of half the state, he'd decided at sixty-two he was going to eke out the last of the dare-devil in him before he “kicked the bucket.” And he'd dragged her mother off with him. Although at fifty-eight, Elaine was as spry as the day she turned eighteen. She still ran three miles a day, did her yoga routine before bed every night, and consumed more vegetables than Birds-Eye.

  This time, they planned to white-water raft through some nearly unnavigable river in the Rockies, take a five-day pack trip into some long-forgotten gulch, and end up somewhere in New Mexico that advertised bungee jumping and ski-diving for the older set. Lord only knew what else they'd get into. Lucki prayed her parents would make their way back to Freedom in one piece, although she didn't expect to see them until late summer.

  The source of her aggravation, however, was not the fact that her parents were out trying to capture the last of their youth, it was the fact that Missy Hawkins couldn't seem to find an empty pew anywhere in the entire church, except for the seat next to Sam.

  Damn, I thought I'd gotten rid of that woman last week.

  Lucki immediately sent up a silent prayer. Forgive me Lord for saying such awful words in your house. Please. It's just that Missy. .

  Lucki shook her head and tapped her foot a little louder against her metal chair. She shouldn't be bothering God with her problem concerning Missy Hawkins.

  And just what is my problem with Missy Hawkins? she asked herself. Your problem, she answered, is that Missy is. .is. .is too darned attached to Sam Kirk. Your friend. Your neighbor. Your. .

  What the heck is Sam to me, anyway? And why do I even care if he sits in church with Missy Hawkins? Of if he dates her? Or even if he decides to take her to his. .

  Bed.

  Something cold traveled up inside Lucki as she realized where her thoughts were leading her. The tapping grew louder as she contemplated the thought of Sam. .and Missy. In compromising. .situations. The tapping echoed within the sanctuary walls.

  Bess nudged her hard into a rib and threw Lucki a scornful look. Lucki squealed then immediately slapped her hand over her mouth. Reverend Halcomb paused momentarily, glanced to the choir, and then resumed his monotone sermon.

  Her cheeks flamed.

  A few seconds later, she caught Missy Hawkins smirking at her from her seat next to Sam. Thoughts flew through Lucki's head the likes of which she had no business thinking in church.

  * * * *

  “So,” Lucki said hours later as she and Sam sat swinging on her front porch, “what's the deal with Missy anyway?”

  She turned to Sam sitting next to her, who stopped the swaying motion of the porch swing with one solid planting of his feet on the plank porch floor. “What do you mean, what's the deal with Missy?”

  “Well. .” Lucki shrugged her shoulders. “I just wondered how serious this thing is with her? I mean, I got the impression that you two were pretty close there for a while, and then after the fiasco at church last Sunday, I hadn't heard you mention her or, to be exact, I hadn't seen her hanging around, so I guess I thought she was out of the picture, but then this morning—”

  Sam cupped a palm over Lucki's mouth. “Will you just shut up about Missy Hawkins?”

  Lucki stared into Sam's eyes. It was difficult to read what she saw there. Confusion? Frustration?

  She attempted a nod. Sam slowly removed his hand. “I guess I just—”

  Sam clamped his hand back over her mouth. As he leaned closer, Lucki studied the intense expression of his eyes. “Listen to me,” he said rather curtly, “Missy Hawkins and I are not an item. I don't love Missy. I don't even want to date Missy anymore. I never really wanted anything serious to come of our relationship in the first place. She wanted it more than I did. .do.”

  Lucki continued to watch Sam's eyes as they slowly played over her face, watching as he lazily slid his palm from her mouth. His gaze settled on her lips and Lucki felt an extreme urgency to wet them with her tongue. Her chest lifted in a quick breath.

  “Is that right?” she asked quietly.

  “Yes.” Sam cleared his throat. “That's exactly right.”

  “Oh.”

  “Uh-huh,” Sam huskily returned.

  For a fleeting, crazy moment, Lucki thought that Sam was actually going to lean forward and kiss her on her lips. For another sinfully, desirous, stupid second or two, she wanted him to kiss her. On the lips. Then she came to her senses, jerking back into an upright position on her side of the swing.

  “Well, then I think you've made the right decision. I'm just not sure Missy is aware of that decision. Believe you me, Sam, that woman is nothing but trouble.” Quickly, she glanced off and stared into the night. Sensing Sam pull his posture erect, sitting on the right side of the swing, Lucki swung her feet and waited for him to make the next move. Repeatedly, she told herself that what she thought was going to happen a few minutes earlier, that Sam was going to ma
ke an attempt to kiss her, was the most bizarre, unheard of thing she'd ever contemplated in her entire life.

  Sam Kirk kiss me? How utterly insane. What a joke. Ha! Tell me another one. Sam cleared his throat. “So you think J.J. is going to do all right in Peabody?”

  Lucki, jerked out of her ridiculous musing about the possibility of Sam kissing her, turned abruptly toward him. “What?”

  Sam stared. “I asked you about J.J. So he really did okay the rest of the week?”

  Lucki nodded in agreement. “He did fine, Sam. By yesterday afternoon, he was spiking that volleyball in the faces of the opposing team. He's relentless. But they're all friends now. That's the way it is with kids this age. One minute they're fighting, the next they're best of friends.”

  Sam didn't look convinced.

  Smiling, Lucki poked him in the ribs. “Really, Sam. Everything is fine. I wouldn't lie to you.”

  After taking a deep breath and exhaling, Sam let his shoulders drop. Lucki could almost see the tension rolling off of them.

  “I can't tell you how much of a relief it is to hear that,” he said. “To tell you the truth, Lucki, I've been worried about him. I'm glad it's working out. The clinic is taking up so much of my time these days, my time with him would be so limited. I don't know how I'm going to repay you.”

  Lucki smirked. “I do.”

  Sam threw her a puzzled look. “What? How?”

  Facing him, Lucki playfully punched his shoulder. “Have you forgotten already, Sam Kirk? I need that date for the Peabody Parks Department Annual Fourth of July Picnic. You promised me you'd find someone. Well, have you?”

  The sheepish look on Sam's face registered with Lucki immediately. “I. .well, uh. . ”

  “You haven't, have you? Have you even tried?”

  Sam's eyes grew wide. “Oh, yeah. Really, I have, Lucki.”

  Narrowing her gaze, Lucki settled back into the corner of the swing and crossed her arms. “And I'm gonna sprout fairy wings and fly off to Never-Never Land.”

  Studying him, Lucki fully realized that Sam hadn't lifted a finger to help her out.