Only One (Reed Brothers)(11)

“Nothing,” Malone bites out. He flops onto the couch and flips the TV on.

Jackie follows me into my room and sits down on the edge of my bed.

“What did you do now?” I ask, as I pull my shirt over my head and walk toward the bathroom.

“He has his panties in a twist because he caught me talking to Dale.” She lies back and scoots up to put her head on my pillow.

I freeze. She went to see the douche? “Why were you talking to him?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know.” Her voice is small.

“After what he did to you last summer, you had better be smart enough to stay away from him.” I stand there and stare at her until she nods. She bites her lower lip and wipes tears from her eyes.

He really left her in a bad place. She was pregnant, and he didn’t care. I thought she’d learned her lesson, but I guess not. I was the one who held her hand through all that. I was the one who stayed up with her all night while she miscarried. I was the one who watched her blame herself for the way that it ended.

I start the shower, knowing she’s going to follow me in there in just a minute. As soon as I put my head under the spray, she starts to talk. “Dale went and talked to my dad.”

I push the curtain back. “And?”

“Dad likes him.” She sits down on the toilet lid.

“So?” Her dad isn’t a shining example of humanity’s finest.

“So, he suggested I go and get an ice cream with Dale. So I did. That’s what Malone saw. That’s all he saw. Nothing more.”

I heave a sigh. “If you let him back in, I’m not going to try to stop you this time.” I will, though. I always will. But I don’t want to.

“He was a douche. He’s still a douche. He even tried to grab my boob.”

“And what did you do?” I blow water from my lips and wait.

She doesn’t say anything, so I look out and find her wincing.

“What did you do?” I ask again.

“I kind of shoved my ice cream in his pants. I just grabbed his waistband and shoved it right down there. I think he thought I was going for his dick, but whatever.” She shrugs.

I turn the water off and reach my arm out, because I know she’ll be there with a towel. I feel it hit my hand and pull it into the shower with me. “I’m proud of you,” I say.

She grins when I step out of the shower. I love it when Jack’s happy. It doesn’t happen that often, but when it does, it’s so worth taking the time to enjoy it.

I shoo Jack out of my room and get dressed in some khaki shorts and a polo shirt, and I shake my head instead of brushing my hair. It works for me. I put on some flip-flops and press a kiss to Jack’s forehead. “You going to hang out here?”

She nods. “For a while.”

She looks at Malone, who is busy ignoring her on the couch. She shrugs at me. She’ll wait him out, and then they’ll talk. It’s how they work it out.

“Have fun tonight,” she calls. I wave at her and let myself out.

It’s a short walk to Carrie’s beach house.

I knock on the door, but no one comes to greet me. The back door is locked, and I know I could use my key, but I don’t want to walk in on her in her underwear again—

Scratch that. I want to see her in her underwear. I just don’t want to surprise her. I run around to the beach side and stop short when I see her sitting on the deck with the douchebag.

She jumps to her feet. “Nick,” she says, like she’s surprised to see me.

“Carrie,” I say. I nod to the douche. “Dale. Heard you got your nuts frozen off today,” I toss out. I step up beside Carrie onto the deck and take her hand in mine. She startles for a second, but she lets me tangle my fingers up in hers.

“Jackie has a big mouth,” Dale says. Then he grins. “But we already know how big everything she’s got is, don’t we?” he asks, his eyes narrowing as he challenges me.

I’m not going to answer that, so I tug on Carrie’s fingers and say, “Are you ready to go?”

She nods. But she’s looking curiously at me. And then at Dale. “It was nice to meet you,” she says.

“I’ll see you around,” he says, but he looks at me instead of her. He gets up and skips down the steps toward his own house.

“Is your mom here?” I ask.

She nods. “She came home a little while ago, but she wasn’t feeling well so she went to lie down.”

“I wanted to say hi.”

“Maybe tomorrow?” she prompts.

I wait a beat, and then I ask. “Is she going to be okay?”

She shakes her head. “No.” She finally meets my gaze. “She’s dying.” She looks away. “Can we talk about something else?”

I look out toward the ocean, because it has always been a peaceful place for me. I take a breath and try to move past the feeling I have. “I was thinking we could walk down to the pier and eat at the restaurant there.”

“Sounds great.”

“Do you need to tell your mom you’re leaving?”

She shakes her head. “No. I don’t need to check in with Patty about anything.”

We walk down the steps until we reach the sand, and she stops to slip her shoes off and hooks them in the fingertips of her free hand.