Eli nodded tersely, but he still gave Harrison the eye.
Why can’t he let everyone have an opinion?
Makay wondered. It seemed odd for the man to have so much and be so concerned with stuff that in the end really didn’t matter for survival or happiness.
The conversation went on, and this time when Eli made any statement, no one refuted him. Harrison seemed even more withdrawn. “Were you going to show Nate the pool table?” she whispered. Sherry had found some books for Nate, and he was entertained for the time being, but Makay was already anxious to leave, and she didn’t want to disappoint him.
“Oh, yeah.” Harrison smiled, his melancholy slipping away. “Come on,” he said to Nate. “Let’s go have a game.” Nate jumped up and the two left together before Makay could protest.
Okay, not exactly what I wanted.
Being with his family alone wasn’t her idea of relaxation, though everyone had been nothing but polite and kind to her.
Eli stood. “I have a few phone calls to make. I’ll be back.” He spoke to no one in particular, but he nodded at Makay as he left, and she returned the gesture. When he was gone, the tension seemed to dissipate, but maybe that was only in Makay’s mind.
“So,” Sherry said, darting a glance at Eli’s retreating back, “Harrison tells me you’re taking care of your brother. How long has he lived with you?”
“Since he was two.”
“When your mother died?”
“Stepmother.”
“I’m so sorry.”
Makay shrugged. “We weren’t close. I only went there to take care of Nate. She was . . . not a good mother.”
“I see.” Sherry looked thoughtful. “It’s nice Nate has you then. Such a sweet child. You’ve done a good job with him. It’s not easy being a single mother.”
Rhonda and Tianna exchanged a glance, and Rhonda said, “Who’re we kidding? It’s hard to be a mother any time.”
“Yes, dear,” Sherry said. “But when you do it all alone, there’s never any break.” Shadows seemed to speak from her eyes, but Makay didn’t understand what they meant. Probably connected with the time before Sherry married Eli, when it had been just her and Harrison. Makay had little doubt as to why she’d married the guy in the first place, but obviously there was something good between them if their marriage had lasted so long.
“Anyway, I’m glad you came today, Makayla. Maybe having met you, Harrison will stick around.”
Tianna laughed. “That’s right, Mom, butter her up. I definitely want Harrison here when my baby comes. He’s our first choice for babysitting.” Spying the frown on her mother’s face, she added, “After you, of course.”
Taking advantage of the lull in the conversation, Makay said, “Do you think you can show me where Harrison and Nate are? I promised to beat them both at pool.”
Tianna jumped to her feet. “I’ll show you. I hope you really do beat Harrison. No one else can.”
She led Makay down a wide, carpeted hallway and up a flight of stairs to a second family room above what Makay thought must be the garage. Sherry and Rhonda followed, leaving behind Chad, who had dozed off on a couch, and Graham, who’d turned on the television, the baby still on his chest.
The game room had table tennis, a pool table, and double hoops where they could shoot mini basketballs. A round table with chairs sat near a shelf of games, and a long couch soaked up sun under a large, unshuttered window. It was all so foreign to Makay, seeing something like this inside a house, that for a moment she felt disoriented. Was this the type of house her birth mother lived in now? A hard little knot of anger formed in her chest.
“Makay!” Nate ran over to her. “I almost beat him! It’s fun. But I want to play ping pong now. Can I? Can I?”
Makay laughed. “Sure.”
“I’ll play with you, Tianna said. “You and me against my mom.”
“No fair,” Sherry said. “How about Nate and me against you?”
Nate giggled. “We can take turns.” Makay’s heart twisted at how much he seemed to be enjoying himself. It made her wonder what might have happened if her mother hadn’t died or if her father had held it together long enough to create a real family. What if she had a sister or brother who could help her make decisions for Nate, someone who loved him as much as she did?
Harrison came up behind Makay, his arms going around her. “He’s not half bad for a six-year-old. Whoever taught him did a good job. You ready for your lesson?” His breath was hot on her neck.
“That depends. Are you ready to get beaten?” There was a little more hardness in her voice than she intended, and he slid around her to look into her eyes.
“Is something—oh, was it because I left you?” He glanced behind him at his mother and sister. “Was it awkward? I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
“That’s okay. You’ll pay soon enough.” She tried to make her voice light.
He laughed and the sound filled her with warmth. “Come on, then. You want to break?”
“Nope.” She shook her head. “Unless you want to sit this one out.”
“Really? That sure of yourself, huh? I want to see this. Go ahead and break.” He stepped to the rack on the wall and took out a cue, handing it to her.
Makay took it. “Piece of cake.” Her first breaking shot sent two solids and a stripe crashing into the pockets. “Just to make it fair,” she said, “I call stripes.”
“Hey, don’t do me any favors. I won’t go easy on you.”
She laughed. “You’re assuming you’ll get a chance to play.”
“Well, that was a pretty lucky break. If you’re that sure of yourself, why don’t we make a wager?”
“Oh?” She arched a brow.
“Loser makes the other one a nice dinner.”
“Okay. But two out of three.”
He laughed. “Ah, changing your tune already.”
“Just trying to make it more fair.” Makay loved it when people were so sure of their ability. It made the victory even sweeter. Of course maybe Harrison was that good, but somehow she didn’t think he’d ever played for food before, and she had more times than she could count.
She proceeded to beat him in only a few more shots, sometimes making exaggerated moves with her hips, just for fun. He watched her as much as her shots, and his gaze seared her. When she was finished, she handed him the cue and said sweetly. “I win.”
“Nice. I take it you’re the one who taught Nate?”
“Of course. We play every week.”
“I see.” Harrison broke and sank two balls, but he missed on his fourth shot, and she cleaned up the table.
“Three out of five?” he asked a little sheepishly.
“Sure.”
“Where’d you learn to play?”
“I hung out at the local bowling alley after my dad remarried. The place had a pool table.” She’d actually slept under one of them for weeks until she was discovered. “And one year I worked at a bar with a pool table. I used to beat all the patrons until my boss caught on and made me quit taking their money.” She’d been sixteen and working with a fake ID Lenny had given her for one of his blackmailing jobs. But the gig had ended when she’d been robbed at the cash register one night by a former employee she’d never met. With a split lip and choke marks on her neck, she’d barely eluded police and their nosy questions and had never returned to the bar, not even to say goodbye. Despite the traumatic ending, the place held some of her fondest childhood memories.
Harrison touched her left wrist. “What happened?”
“At the bar?”
“No. Your wrist. What happened? I noticed when your sleeve slipped up at dinner.”
She looked down at the mottled green and black marks that were mostly hidden by her blouse. It took her a moment to remember how Lenny had grabbed her in the hallway of her apartment building. She hadn’t realized the bruises were still so noticeable, though they explained the tenderness she felt in her wrist. Rubbing at the dark spots, she shrugged with practiced nonchalance. “Maybe it was those cans at Albertsons. I’ve had them since before Q Lounge. Guess you didn’t notice.” The nightclub had been dark, and she’d been wearing sweatshirts since then, so that wasn’t a big surprise.
“Cans.” He sounded doubtful and that meant it was time to change the subject.
“Another game?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Naw, let’s get out of here.”
“Good idea.”
It took them a while to get Nate out of the game room, but they were soon making their excuses.
Even Eli appeared to say goodbye, and to Makay’s surprise, he was holding his sleeping grandson, though why that should surprise her, she wasn’t sure. Maybe it was the way Harrison blinked when he saw him. Was he remembering when he was young and wanted to be held by his father? Memories of cuddling with her own dad when her mother was alive, even if they weren’t real, made her forgive him for what came after.
Sherry was the last to say goodbye, walking with them to the front door. She took Makay’s hand and said, “It was nice to meet you. You’re welcome here any time.” An understanding passed between them at that moment, something on a level Makay couldn’t explain but understood. One day Nate would grow up and bring someone home he was falling for, and she would share the same feelings Sherry was experiencing now—happiness and hope and also a bit of worry and longing for his childhood when she had been first in his life.
“Thank you,” Makay said.
“And you, too,” Sherry told Nate. “You can come to play any time.” She shook hands with Nate, which made him giggle.
As Harrison started down the walk, Sherry stepped outside the door and said, “You’ll take care of that business tonight, right?” She seemed small and fragile standing there, though her vantage point on the porch made her appear taller.
Harrison’s step faltered. “I’ll get it started. Don’t worry.”
“Thanks, son.” Her mien clearly said that she would worry regardless of the reassurance.
Makay felt Sherry’s eyes following them, but when she reached the car and turned around, Sherry had already gone back inside.
What is that about?
“Your mother’s nice,” she said to Harrison as Nate scrambled into the backseat with a picture book Sherry had given him to take home. “And the rest of your family. I like them.”
“Even Eli?”
She glanced at the house before saying, “I see what you mean about him, but given a choice between him and my father, I’d choose Eli.”
“He’s always right,” Harrison said. “Even when he’s not, and if you don’t agree, it’s like you’re against him personally.” He sighed. “For the most part, we let it slide. It’s easier. But sometimes I wish he . . . well, accepted us as adults with valid opinions and wouldn’t see each of our opposing views as a personal affront. Or any mistake we make, for that matter. Everything reflects on him.”
“Is this about your mother?”
He looked at her with the same expression on his face as when he’d seen Eli holding the baby. “Is it that obvious?”
“Kind of. What’s going on?” She’d reached for her door, but now she let her hand drop and turned to face him fully. He stepped closer, pinning her between his body and the car. “I mean, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want.” Her hands slipped around his neck.
Harrison bent to kiss her, long and deep. Electricity zipped deliciously along her body. “I’ve been waiting hours to do that,” he whispered.
“So have I.” Night hadn’t yet begun to fall, and she should feel exposed on this street, but she didn’t care who saw them. She felt changed. In fact, there was so much emotion inside her that she almost didn’t know what to do with it. Who cared about her birth mother or anything Lenny could throw her way when Harrison was here?
“I’m not putting you off, by the way,” Harrison said, lifting his head but keeping his arms around her and his body nestled against hers. She could see the small mole on his right cheek. “In fact, I’d like to talk to someone about it. Normally, I’d talk to Rhonda because she’s so level-headed, but my mother doesn’t want her to know. She doesn’t want anyone to know. But I feel like exploding with it.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair, making the blond locks stand on end.
She twisted slightly to glance inside the car, but Nate was entertained with his book. “Is it Eli?” Maybe Sherry was planning to leave her husband.
“No.” Harrison sighed. “Well, in a way it’s
because
of him that there’s a problem. My mother had another child besides me before she married him. A little girl. I was three and I don’t remember anything except the day my mom was crying and went to the hospital.”
“The baby died?” Makay’s heart made an odd jump in her chest.
He shook his head. “That actually might have been easier for my mother in the long run—at least with what’s going on now. She placed the baby for adoption, which was a good thing seeing as she was having trouble supporting me, but she never told Eli that she had a daughter.” He leaned closer to Makay. “And now someone claiming to be the child is blackmailing my mother. We pay or whoever it is will tell everyone about the baby.”
Makay’s already erratic heartbeat seemed to stop entirely.
Lenny
, she thought. There was more, much more, tumbling about in her brain, but none of it coherent enough to understand. The implications and what they might mean for her attraction to Harrison were huge. It felt like the world ripping apart.
“If Eli wasn’t the way he is, it wouldn’t be a problem,” Harrison went on. “I think we should just meet her, but my mother loves Eli and she’s sure her entire world will end if he learns the truth.” His voice lowered as he added, “She’s probably right.”
“How do you feel about this girl?” The words were the hardest Makay had ever spoken.
He gave a mirthless laugh. “Ever since I realized I had another sister, I’ve kept wondering if she’s okay. Who was there to help her ride her first bike? Who chased off the bully at school? Maybe she didn’t have anyone and that’s why she’s doing this. Another part of me is really angry at my mother for keeping this secret—and for still wanting to keep it. I mean, if this girl is so desperate that she’s blackmailing my mom, maybe we can help her.” He straightened suddenly. “But then, we don’t really know if it’s my sister who’s writing the notes. I mean, what kind of a person does something like this? Whoever it is has been planning this for some time. They know how Eli would react and that the rest of us didn’t know about the baby.” Anger entered his voice, an anger that turned Makay’s blood to ice.