I Run to You (48 page)

When they emerged from the field, Coy was
seated on the shaded picnic table, smoking—looking as if he had
been observing them a long time.

Since Levi headed that way, saying, “He
chased a rabbit, Dad.” Brook walked with him, listening to the two
of them talk about “hunting” dogs.

Pup flopped down in the shade. Levi hooked
the leash so pup wouldn’t run into the road.

“I’ll go get him some water.” He loped off
and Brook saw him filling a container by the outdoor spigot. He
sloshed it coming back, but after setting it down, climbed up on
the table beside Coy.

“Sit up here with us.” He motioned beside
him.

Brook climbed up, meeting Coy’s eyes over
Levi’s head.

She looked away first.

Levi engaged them in several conversations.
Often amusing ones. Brook laughed as often as Coy. He had a Coburn
way about being able to tease too that made for some playful
razzing.

His eyes were turned to Brook when he said,
“Grandpa Jude is taking me and Remy and Jett on a trip.”

“Yeah, where?”

“Two whole weeks at six flags.”

Coy corrected, “You’re going several places,
but most of them will have water parks and you’ll end the trip in
six flags.”

“Yeah, that’s what I said.” Levi gave him a
duh look that made Brook snicker.

Eyes twinkling, Coy met hers again. Levi was
already talking about something else.

When the kid fell silent, distracted by
watching pup chase a bug under the tree, Brook combed her fingers
through his curls, her heart swelling as Levi gave her a quick
engaging grin before watching pup again.

This time when she regarded Coy, he drew his
eyes from watching her hand stroke his son’s hair. He’s crazy about
you, he mouthed.

She glanced away and then stood. “I’m going
to go see if Mom has any ice cream, wanna' come?”

“She does. She always buys ice cream.” Levi
hopped down. “Want some, Dad?”

Coy was last in line as they went round the
house and up the steps. This time Brook met Jude’s raised brow look
with a shrug. She went in. They had ice cream at the table.
Eventually, Levi ran off to play before it got dark.

Brook went to hang out with the women, Coy
out on the porch.

He left before she did that evening, saying
Levi had to get to bed. When she did walk down to her car, Mitch
walked with her.

“Have a good week.” He hugged her.

“I will. I’d tell you not to work too hard
but that’s impossible.”

He laughed and nodded, closing the door after
she got in. “Y’all look good together.”

She didn’t pretend not to know what he meant.
Casting him a glance before she pulled out, Brook said, “Tell Mom
I’ll call.”

“Will do.”

She drove home, tired. Once there, she
dressed for bed and crawled under the sheet and slept like the
dead.

Chapter 21

The family didn’t want to overwhelm Leigh, so
they didn’t get to meet her for the first days she was with
Jordan.

Some of the kids had; Levi, Jett, and Remy, a
few that were introduced to her, and hung out at Max’s, making her
feel welcome.

Brook knew via phone conversations that Max
had taken several pictures of her, and had them done into cute
cartoons on her walls.

He had waited to find out what she liked and
let her decorate the room that would be hers. He fell in love with
the child—just as he fallen in love with Jordan.

Brook would listen to him after her busy day
at work, going on and on about how smart she was, and how serious
she could be — though apparently she had a rather endearing and
quirky wit, which he said, helped Jordan not to be so tense and
nervous.

He told Brook, that Jordan sat and watched
her sleep that first night. She cried because she burnt the child’s
breakfast the next morning, but it turned out Leigh liked cereal.
They swam, went for ice cream, shopped for clothing, and toys for
her room.

Leigh was a bit cautious, didn’t ask for many
things, but Max had no doubt that despite the twisted lies her
grandmother told her, she wanted to love Jordan. She seemed, he
said, to be making up her own mind. Moreover, how often she wanted
to be near Jordan showed him that the bond was going to be
strong.

Since they would all meet her that Sunday,
Brook didn’t call often. She let them have their time. The rest of
the family was doing the same.

Midweek…. the string of thunderstorms
started. She tried to coax pup inside before heading to work, but
he had found himself a spot under the deck and just sighed at her
for disturbing his sleep.

By Friday, she was wrapped in work again, a
boisterous band and a full house. She served the back, with Mike; a
college student, who knocked back Espressos and burned the candle
at both ends— and flirted a lot.

Brook enjoyed working with him, despite being
amused by his hyper gear.

All she found out up-to-date, was that Ashley
was going to move in with Rafe. A big step for the woman. However,
as she told Brook, they both worked a lot. It was not as if they
could date much with her hours—and they really, really, liked each
other.

Sunny was just the opposite.

He told her, “She won’t move in with me.”

In his office, Brook grinned at that. “How’d
you ask her?”

“I said, I think we’re falling in love, will
you move in?”

Brook could tell he was frustrated. “And she
said?”

“No. We need to date longer. See if it’s
going to work out?”

“Hmm. Smart.”

He grunted and got up walking to the window.
“I’m forty one.”

“You’re the age you feel, Sunny. How does she
make you feel?’

“Ageless. Excited.” He wiggled his brows.

“Go with the flow. She loves you.”

He stared at her, apparently shocked and yet
thrilled by that. “You think so?’

“I know.”

He did not press, but went into a muse, and
since it was so busy, she didn’t have time to linger either. She
got back to work.

Renee called mid shift to let her know the
fair they were booked to play had canceled. To be honest, Brook was
tired driving home, Friday. She was glad for a day of nothing.

Saturday, in her short PJ bottoms, a tank,
she did laundry, watching the flashes of lightening. In between
folding, she caught up with her friends overseas via e-mails and
chats. Sometime in the too dark gray afternoon, she heard a knock
and answered it.

Coy stood on her porch, dripping wet.

“Don’t Coburns believe in umbrellas either?”
She held the door wide.

“The women do.” He bent down and pulled off
shoes and socks.

Inside, she handed him one of the freshly
folded towels, looking over his dripping denim shirt and jeans.
“Come on, I’ll dry those.”

He walked with her to the little laundry
room, off from the bath, stripping down to his thigh length blue
briefs.

Closing the dryer, she regarded him.

He had wiped his body dry, and had finger
combed his hair.

“What are you doing out in this mess?”

“I had to see you.”

“I’ll be at Mom’s—”

“I needed… to see you.” He laid the towel in
a basket and cupped her face. “Can I hang out; help you do laundry,
whatever?”

She laughed. “In your underwear?”

He checked her out. “Those look like pajamas,
so we’re cool.”

When he dropped his hands, she shrugged.
“Sure.”

He helped himself to coffee in the kitchen,
and then came to the sofa where she was closing the laptop. As she
started folding towels, he set the coffee down and helped.

“There’s a TV in my room.”

Coy shook his head. “I’m fine.”

She put the laundry away, and was making her
bed with clean sheets, when he came in. He took the opposite side.
After the comforter was pulled up, she listened to the rain
pounding outside, looked at him, and then lay down. “Come
here.”

He lay with her, turned toward her, his arm
around her waist. The storm and rain went on.

“Hungry?”

He shook his head and sighed. “No.”

“Tough week.”

“Yep.” He rubbed her side. “I just want to
lay here with you.”

They did. Brook dozed, half-awake when the
dryer buzzed. But neither of them moved. Sometime he had moved them
under the covers. Arms and legs tangled, they slept until deep in
the night.

Brook awoke when he slipped out of the bed,
going to the bathroom. She waited her turn, refusing his attempt to
kiss her until she could brush her teeth.

He was dressed, raiding the fridge, when she
returned.

He wore his jeans. His shirt was over the
chair.

Coy fixed them a plate. They ate, sitting on
the sofa, watching the rain skating down the doors to the deck.
Afterwards, she curled against him. He sat against the arm, one
foot on the floor, the other on the couch.

His skin was warm, heart beating steady under
her ear.

He was lazily rubbing her in places,
sometimes under her shirt, circles on her stomach, though not so
much sexually—even though she could feel his hard sex through the
jeans.

“Tell me you love me,” he said above her
head.

A string of moments elapsed before she
whispered, “I do. But—”

“That’s enough.” His fingers gently covered
her lips. “I know the rest. I just needed to hear you say the first
part out loud.”

She felt him get harder. His nipple in her
line of vision stood out. Since he was still touching her, she
murmured, “Wrong time of the month.”

“I know.”

Raising slightly, she gave him a doubtful
look. “How?”

He grinned. “Dad always said when a woman has
the tampons setting out instead of in the bottom of the sink or
hidden, it’s a universal signal—that the port is closed.”

She slapped his arm, laughing. “Did he
really?”

He nodded. “That, and the fact half of the
Coburns are women.” He pulled her back down. “I’d never turn down
sex with you. But I didn’t come here for that.”

When she’d settled, he said, “I can back off,
give you space, do whatever it is you need for us to do, so long as
It’s not just—all in my mind…So long as what I feel from you is
real. Not just my wishful thinking.”

Brook brushed her fingertips over his nipple,
hearing his heart thud deeper. “It was easier when we were younger.
We connected on many levels. I don’t know how to… plug into
that.”

He cupped her jaw, and then sifted his
fingers through her hair. “Can I call you? Take you out. Will you
come and hang out with me and Levi?”

“Yes.” She raised and sat up, smoothing her
hair.

He sat up too.

Brook looked toward the glass doors. “But I
don’t want Levi confused.”

“I talk to him, Brook. He’ll understand and
be easy with everything.”

She slanted a glance at him.

He turned to regard her.

“If it wasn’t raining like crazy, I’d take
you out tonight.”

Brook nodded. “If you want to come by Renee’s
on Wednesday…we can go out afterwards.”

“Okay.” Coy eyed the clock in the kitchen. “I
don’t want to go, but Ruby will be bringing Levi home soon.”

She walked him to the door, laughed— when he
grimaced putting on his wet shoes. “See you at Mom’s.”

He kissed her long and deep, and then
left.

~*~

Leigh was a beautiful little girl. Wavy black
hair that was very long and braided, a spattering of freckles over
her pixie nose. She had Jordan’s eyes.

Since it was still raining, there weren’t
that many Coburns there. Nor as many kids and teens. Brook sat on
the swing with Madeline and Mitch. Jason on the banisters. Max
carried her up the steps to keep from getting her white sneakers
muddy. When he put her on her feet, she took both his hand, and
Jordan’s, who was on the other side.

“That’s my mother, Madeline, and my Dad,
Mitch, and my sister, Brook. My brother, Jason.” Max pointed out as
they came close.

“Hi.” They each said and smiled.

Brook looked over her pink outfit. “I love
that outfit.”

“Thank you.” The girl leaned a bit into Max’s
leg, her eyes going over each of them.

Brook looked at Jordan as her mother and
Mitch talked to the girl, and she mouthed, “She’s beautiful.”

Jordan nodded, grinning. She took a seat. Max
sat on the banister when Madeline got up and asked Leigh if she
wanted juice. They walked inside together.

Mitch looked at Jordan. “She’s cute as a
button.”

“She is. A little nervous though.”

“Well, Jude, Ruby, and Coy, are in the den
with Jett and Remy and Levi. Everyone else is hanging round back
somewhere. Only G.W. Alvin, the usual. And no one expects her to
remember this bunch.”

He got up and put his arm around her. “I’m
glad Max found you. I’m so happy you’re in our family.”

Jordan flushed but hugged him. “Thank you.
That means a lot.”

After parting, he asked her about the
Nashville contact.

“They want me to come see some people next
month. Max is going with me.” She looked at Max who nodded. “If
this visit goes well, my Mom has agreed to split Leigh’s time.”

“How’d that go, the meeting?” Brook
asked.

“Strained. However, she has aged—seemed older
than I remember. I don’t think she would have given an inch were it
not the fact my father isn’t well, and taking care of him is a full
time job.”

Jordan sat on one of the chairs. Mitch joined
his son over on the banister.

“Sunny thinks eventually she’ll let me have
Leigh. She’s just a hard, judgmental, and bitter woman.” Jordan
shrugged. “I’ll never understand what she calls love. But I want
Leigh to have the kind she can thrive in.”

“She seems fine,” Jason observed.