Authors: Michelle Love
Description
Understanding. Fury. Disaster.
Jude visits the daycare and gets to know Mercy’s nephew, Carter. He finds out everything she’s been hiding and gains a deeper understanding of the woman he’s in love with.
When Mercy finds Jude at the daycare, holding her nephew on his lap, she’s beyond furious at him. She takes the kids and tells Jude to leave her alone forever.
Jude feels awful then makes things even worse by talking to Mercy’s boss over the phone and letting him in on Mercy’s hidden life. Her boss takes it as she’s been lying to them for years and fires her.
Mercy, unaware that she’s been fired, sits at home with the kids and finds a sudden storm has their electricity off and her and the children alone in the dark house as she fears the worst when the tornado warnings begin.
Jude manages to get to her place in time and everything turns out fine. Mercy changes her tune completely and is looking at him as her hero.
But can it last? Can Mercy really give all of herself to Jude? And is that a thing Jude even really wants now that he seems to have it?
JUDE
Carrying a box full of children’s books, I ring the bell outside of the daycare and find a young, dark haired woman answering the door. She’s all smiles as she looks at me through the glass window then I hear a buzzer and the door opens. “You have to be Mr. Hurst.”
“I am,” I say as I go inside. “And you are?”
“The kids call me, Miss Abigail,” she says as she leads me down the hallway. “Follow me. I have the older kids in the reading room and they’re pretty excited about the new books.”
As we walk into the room, the kids jump up and down and cheer as if I was carrying in toys for them all. But all I can do is scan them all for the little boy who has on a Spiderman shirt and a pair of khaki shorts and short blonde hair. The one I saw with Mercy early this morning.
It would be great if I knew his name too as I see three little boys wearing similar outfits, all of them have short blonde hair too. Crap!
I did not see this coming. So I adjust my plan and place the box on the table the young lady is gesturing to. “Here you go,” I say as the kids rush to the box.
“Hold on kids,” Miss Abigail shouts. “First things first. What do we have to say to Mr. Hurst for giving you all these books?”
“Thank you, Mr. Hurst,” they all yell at the top of their lungs.
One of the little blonde, Spiderman shirt wearing boys hugs my leg and looks up at me. I run my hand over his head and see no resemblance to Mercy but give the kid a smile anyway.
“Thanks for the hug. What’s your name?” I ask as I pat his head like a dog and stop because that just seems wrong.
“Hank,” he says then lets me go. He points to the other two who also have on the shirts. “These are my best pals, Cody and Carter. We all wanted to match today.” He tugs at his shirt.
I wave at the other boys and ask, “So, who wants to pick out a book for me to read?”
The kid named Cody raises his hand and the kid named Carter takes a seat. His eyes are a little glassy and he has slightly dark circles underneath his little blue eyes.
Mercy has blue eyes and if she had that virus I bet her kids did too. So I ask the kid named Carter, “Hey, man. You feeling okay, buddy?”
He nods and looks down. He’s shy too and quiet and the way he moves his arms to cross over his chest reminds me of how Mercy does that all too often.
So I grab a book out of the box and go take the tiny chair next to him. “Do you like books about dogs, Carter?”
He nods and runs his hand over the cover that has a bloodhound puppy on it. “I like dogs,” he says.
“I happen to have me an old dog that looks like this guy on the cover,” I tell him then decide to add, “Have you been sick recently?”
He looks up at me with wide eyes. “Yes. How did you know? I threw up like crazy the other day.”
“I had a virus too the other day.” I run my hand over his little head. “It was awful. I can see it really took a lot out of you.”
He nods. “It did. Me and my little sister both had it. My Aunt Mercy took her to the hospital late at night then when we came home I got sick too. It was terrible. Aunt Mercy got sick the next day. It was a terrible way to start the week.”
And I have it all now. The kids are her niece and nephew. Now, why would she feel she had to hide that?
So I dig deeper. “I see. That does sound terrible. But why did your aunt take you instead of your mommy or your daddy?”
He looks down again and his arms go back to cross his little chest as he whispers, “They’re dead.”
My heart stops and I find the words coming out of my mouth even though I should shut the hell up. “Dead? They’re dead?”
Suddenly Miss Abigail is touching my shoulder. I turn to look at her and she motions for me to follow her. I get up and go to a corner of the room where she whispers, “That’s Carter and his parents died in a car wreck two years ago along with their mother’s parents. Their aunt took them over as her own. We don’t like to talk about it because it still upsets him. You understand, don’t you?”
I nod. “Sorry, yes. I won’t ask him anything else like that. How is his aunt handling all that? It has to be rough on her. Does she have anyone to help her?”
Miss Abigail shakes her head and looks sad. “No, she has no help and won’t allow any. She’s taken them all on her own and refuses to really talk to any of us. I have no idea about her personal life. But as far as the kids talk, they spend their time alone with her. No mention of friends or boyfriends or anything like that.”
I feel as if I’ve been punched in the stomach. My heart aches for Mercy and I’ve been a fucking asshole all this time.
But now, more than ever, I know I have to get her to let me into her real life. She really needs me!
Going back to the kids, I take the book Carter has and ask, “Would you like me to read this one, Carter?”
He nods and says, “Please.”
Such a nice kid!
So I sit down in a chair that Miss Abigail has pulled out from behind her desk so I don’t have to sit with my knees up around my ears in one of those tiny chairs and I hold out my hand to Carter. “Carter, would you like to sit on my lap and help me read this book to your friends?”
He nods and smiles and climbs right up on my lap and leans his back against me and I think I might just cry. A lump in my throat has me swallowing it down and I clear my throat to completely get rid of it then I start reading the story and wonder how I can get Mercy to let me in.
MERCY
The whole day has gone by without a word from Jude. I’m not sure what to make of it. And I have to admit I’ve not only missed the sound of his voice, I’ve missed seeing him too.
The man has managed to grow on me very quickly. As I went to check out the empty space where his training facility will be, I found myself thinking about running into him around the spa. And maybe little secret sessions in my office and his.
It had my mind occupied all day long as I thought about us taking lunch together every day except Thursdays when I eat with the kids at their daycare. And I did think about letting him do some personal training on me. It had my pulse going faster with just the thought of it.
Since I’m on my way to pick the kids up, I think I should give him a call before I have them with me. So I make the call and find it goes straight to voicemail. Just like it has the other five times I’ve called him today.
Man, I can’t believe I’ve turned into one of those women!
I’m sure he’s just very busy today with something. Or someone.
Please don’t let him be with another woman!
I know I’ve been holding him back with a ten-foot pole. But the fact is I wouldn’t be if it wasn’t for the kids. I’d be all over that man if I didn’t have them to consider.
My phone rings and I jump as I see it’s him. “Hi!” I answer all fast and breathless. “I missed you today.”
Did that really just come out of my mouth?
“Good,” he says. “I’ve really missed you too. Wanna grab a bite to eat with me?”
“Damn it,” I say. “I can’t.”
“Oh?” he asks. “Well, that’s too bad. I guess I won’t see you until tomorrow then. I’m about to leave the place I’ve spent the day. I was hoping to take you to dinner but if you can’t then you can’t.”
“Wow, you took that awfully well, Jude.” I’m kind of surprised he isn’t asking me why I can’t go to dinner with him the way he usually does. “So where did you spend your day?”
“Just doing some community PR work for the company. You know how people love to hate oil companies. So from time to time we do things to reach out to the community to let them put a face to the company.” I hear a woman’s voice call out to him. “Honey, can I call you later?”
“Sure,” I say as he ends the call and I find myself feeling kind of lonely and sad. I do wish I could go out to dinner with him.
I wore this nice bra and panty set in hopes of him being at the spa today and I’ve been itching to feel his hands run all over my body like crazy. And now it seems he decided to spend the day with some other people, and at least one woman.
If I could let him in, I would. Why does this have to be so damn hard?
The daycare comes up on the right and I turn into the parking lot and get out of the suburban to go inside and get the kids. A melancholy feeling flows through me and I think I need to have a heart to heart with Jude later tonight.
Maybe I could let him in on the fact I’m getting pretty excited about seeing him at work every day. Maybe that will keep him interested in me. A fear is creeping in that if I keep being too distant he’ll move on and forget about me.
And I have to be honest with myself and say that thinking of never being in his arms again or feeling his lips on mine again is a thing I would miss more than I can even imagine.
As I go into Mrs. Jensen’s room to get Mia, I find her sitting in a corner of the little room designated for the two-year-olds, looking at a book. “Hey, Mia.”
She looks up and jumps off the chair, tossing the book on the floor, holding her arms out as she hollers, “I missed you, Aunt Mercy!”
Grabbing her up, I hug her tight. “I missed you too, Mia!” I give her chubby cheek a kiss then carry her over to gather her things into her backpack. “And how was school today?”
She giggles as she runs her hand along my ponytail. “It was pretty great. We got new books.”
“How nice,” I say.
The teacher’s chair turns around and I see it’s not Mrs. Jensen in it. “Hello,” the older woman says. “I’m Miss Daphne. The teacher got sick earlier and I came in to sub for her.”
“Is it that awful virus?” I ask. “Did it get her too?”
“I think so. They told me she hauled booty out of here. When I came in a couple of the other teachers were spraying disinfectant everywhere. I feel relatively safe.” She laughs and spins around in the chair like some kid would. “It was nice to be here today. I’m getting up there in age and my kids don’t come around much. I liked being around the kids today.”
“That’s nice. I’m glad you enjoyed your time with them instead of looking at it like a chore.” I gather up the filled backpack and head out to get Carter. “Bye. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you tomorrow. I had that virus the other day. It wipes you out.”
She waves at us as we leave the room. “Bye, Mia.”
Mia waves back as she looks over my shoulder then she says, “I like that lady. She’s very nice.”
“That’s good. I’m glad you liked her,” I say.
Then she wraps her arms around my neck and hugs me tight. “I really wuv you, Aunt Mercy.”
With a laugh, I hug her back and say, “I really wuv you too, Mia.”
Turning into Carter’s classroom, I see that it’s empty. I get his backpack and see a note on the desk saying they’re in the reading room so I head out with his things and go down the hallway.
“Do you know if Carter’s teacher got sick today too, Mia?” I ask as I’ve never had to go find any of the kids before.
“Nope. Some man brought the books and stayed all day. He’s very tall and I think he’s cute,” she says then giggles like crazy. “So the big kids went to the reading room to listen to him read. I heard one story when he came and read to us at nap time.”
“How nice,” I say as I turn into the door to the reading room. “Carter, I’m.”
When I see Carter and see him sitting on a man’s lap, I freeze. “Hi,” the man says.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I shriek.
Miss Abigail comes quickly toward me. “Miss Noland! Language!”
Mia turns her head and points at the man, I have already recognized. “That’s Mr. Hurts,” she says.
I correct her, “Mr. Hurst, baby. Carter, come on.”
My eyes stay glued on Jude’s as he smiles at me and Carter climbs off his lap. “You must be Carter’s aunt. He’s told me so much about you,” he says.
“How could you?” I ask as tears fill me eyes. “How could you do this?”
Carter comes to me and takes my hand. “What’s wrong with you?” Carter asks me.
I can’t even talk I feel so side-swiped by Jude. I just tug at Carter to come with me as I have to use everything in me to hold back the tears and rage I’m feeling.