The Promise (Neighbor from Hell #10)(75)

For the past two years, she’d been going out of her way to do whatever it took to get kicked out of school, something that he’d been afraid was coming, and now that she was one step closer…

“I won’t,” she whispered softly.

“I’m serious, Jen,” Reed said, noting the way that she absently nodded as she grabbed her bag and headed for the door, leaving him once again wondering what the hell was going on with her. When she reached the door, she cleared her throat and mumbled, “Please tell Dr. Lawson that I’m sorry,” before leaving.

“What the hell am I going to do with that kid?” Aaron asked, sighing heavily as he tossed the progress report back on Reed’s desk.

“Any idea where her mother is?” Reed asked, reluctantly reaching for the first form that needed to be filled out in triplicate.

“I told her not to come,” Aaron said as Reed grabbed a pen and began writing.

“Why not?”

“Because I’m taking custody of Jen,” Aaron said, drawing his attention to find Aaron watching Jen as she dropped down onto one of the chairs in the waiting area.

“What does Denise think about this?” Reed asked even though he had to admit that Jen would be better off with Aaron.

“Don’t really fucking care what she thinks,” Aaron said, sighing heavily as he got to his feet and headed for the door.

“Good luck,” Reed said because something told him that he was going to need it.

Chuckling, Aaron paused by the door to glance back at Reed and said, “Joey Lawson, huh?” as he shot him a wink and headed out the door, leaving Reed sitting there, chuckling as he set back to work.

Two hours later, he decided to call it a night.

He tossed the pen on the desk, grabbed his backpack and headed home, locking up and setting the alarm along the way. When he pulled into his driveway twenty minutes later and saw that every light in the house was out, he bit back his disappointment and threw his truck in park. He hadn’t realized until that moment just how much he’d been looking forward to ending the day holding Joey as she devoured another book.

At least, he could fall asleep with her in his arms, he told himself as he headed inside, careful not to make any noise as he closed the door behind him. Placing his bag by the door, he headed for the stairs only to pause when he heard a noise coming from the kitchen. Deciding that it was probably Matt raiding the kitchen, he headed up the stairs only to turn right back around when he heard, “That’s definitely going to leave a mark.”

Wondering what Joey was doing up, he headed down the back hallway and pushed open the door to find Joey rubbing her elbow as she leaned over and checked on something in the oven.

“What’s going on?” he asked, noting the way her face lit up when she saw him standing there.

“I was hoping to have this done by the time that you got home,” Joey said, already shifting her attention back to the oven.

“What’s that?” Reed asked absently as he tossed his cellphone on the counter and moved closer, unable to take his eyes off her.

“I figured you could use something decent to eat after today,” Joey said, pulling on a pair of oven mitts as he devoured the sight of her.

“I made your favorite earlier, but then I made the mistake of turning my back on the pan with your brother in the room,” she said with a wistful sigh and a sad shake of her head. “I know, rookie mistake. But I think it worked out for the best,” she said as she pulled out a pan of brownies from the oven and set them on the counter.

“I managed to make it to the grocery store before they closed and was able to get my hands on the last loaf of Italian bread and everything I needed to make your second favorite,” she said, smiling as she checked on the large pot sitting on the stove as he took in those baggy flannel pajama pants that he hated, his old Bradford Furniture tee shirt that he loved seeing her in, the messy ponytail, and realized that he was never going to be able to let her go.





Chapter 44

“So, who is it?” Matt asked while Joey sat there, struggling to stay awake.

“Who are we talking about?” she asked, giving up on trying to stay awake and folded her arms around the large book on ancient civilizations that she’d helped herself to from the school’s library and closed her eyes.

“Reed’s mystery woman.”

“There’s no mystery woman,” Joey mumbled into the book that she’d planned on reading to keep her mind off the fact that she wasn’t going on the field trip today. Not that she wanted to go on the field trip, because she didn’t, she told herself as she did her best not to pout.

She’d been looking forward to going on her first field trip but ended up having to change her mind when she found out that Shawn wouldn’t be able to go since his mother couldn’t get the day off. Joey volunteered to be his field trip buddy so that he could go, but there weren’t enough chaperones to make that possible. So, she’d decided to switch places with John so that Shawn wouldn’t have to stay behind alone.

“Then you do know who it is,” Matt said, sounding intrigued.

“Please don’t make me kill you,” Joey said with a pathetic whimper, wondering why he wouldn’t just let her sleep.

“At first, I thought it was some bar bunny, but then I remembered who we were talking about here and realized that there was something more to it,” he explained.