RECLAIM MY HEART(41)

The tick in his jaw said differently.
Lucas let the subject drop. For now. It upset him to think that Tyne hadn’t talked with Zach about her upcoming marriage. It bothered him even more that her fiancé wasn’t more concerned with Zach. Granted, he’d only seen Rob Henderson twice. In the courtroom and just now at the house, but the man didn’t give Zach much attention either time. And after hearing his son’s point of view, Lucas could only conclude that Henderson wasn’t interested in forming any kind of real relationship with Zach. The situation troubled him. Should he try to talk to Tyne about it?
A group of teens were shooting baskets in the church parking lot when he and Zach crossed the grass, and they were happy to have more players join the game. Lucas tugged off his t-shirt and tossed it onto the ground.
“Nice tat.” Zach gave him a thumbs up.
Lucas automatically smoothed a palm over the dreamcatcher that covered his biceps.
Zach said, “I’d love to get a tattoo.” Then he snickered. “Something a little less girly than that, though.”
A good-natured chuckle erupted from Lucas. “Let’s just say I thought it was a good idea at the time.” Then he admitted, “Your mom picked it out.”
“She did?”
Lucas nodded. “I would have had a yellow ducky tattooed on my forehead if she’d have wanted it.” The look on Zach’s face made him grin. “She was going to get one too. On her eighteenth birthday, we were going to get matching tattoos.” He grinned. “But when she saw how much grimacing I did, she chickened out.” Again, he slid his fingers over the dreamcatcher. “Let’s just say I’ve done my best to wear this like a man.”
Zach laughed.
“You guys playing, or what?” one of the boys on the court called.
There were seven of them once Zach and Lucas joined in, so the group played two on two and swapped out after a set number of points had been made.
Competition s>Coas joinewas fierce from the get go. Although Lucas had several inches of height on all the boys, he lacked the stamina that came with their youth. He was further handicapped by the fact that he was trying to keep one eye on the road that ran alongside the church. The road that Tyne’s fiancé would have to take on his way out of town. Twenty minutes later, he begged a time out and plopped on the grass to rest. The boys continued trying to hog the ball and outshoot each other. No other group of humans had honed the fine art of jeering at each other as well as male teens.
Lucas stood, swiping his palms down the thighs of his shorts, and caught sight of Rob Henderson’s pale green sedan. The men’s gazes met. Henderson didn’t smile, didn’t lift his hand, didn’t slow the car. If anything, he gunned the engine as if he couldn’t get out of Wikweko fast enough.
Lucas ground his back teeth together. Henderson’s treatment of Zach was unacceptable, damn it. Even if he and Tyne were arguing, it wasn’t Zach’s fault. Henderson shouldn’t breeze into town with barely a hello to Zach and then leave without at least saying goodbye. It was plain wrong.
“Zach,” Lucas called toward the tussling players, “I’m going home for a bottle of water. You want one?”
Zach faked right, spun a full turn and jumped, stuffing the ball into the net with a grunt. He let out a yell, bumping sweaty shoulders with one of the boys. Then he turned to Lucas. “Water would be great. Thanks.” He moved toward the player who had possession of the ball. “I’ll hang out here ’til you get back.”
As he walked back to his house, Lucas marveled that he could feel both irritated with and concerned for Tyne at the same time.
The fact that she allowed her boyfriend to ignore Zach annoyed him. Why would she want to marry a man who didn’t seem to want anything to do with her son? It just didn’t make sense.
Henderson’s demeanor when he’d arrived had made Lucas uneasy, and the way he’d left town had only bugged him further. The knot in Lucas’s gut told him Tyne and her fiancé had fought about something. If that bastard hurt Tyne, Lucas would—
Would what?
Hell, what happened between Tyne and her lover was no business of his, damn it.
With the perfectly logical thought still ringing in his head, he jogged the last fifty yards to the house.
“Tyne,” he called. The living room was empty. So was the kitchen. He paused by the stove. Muffled sniffs and jerky breaths came from behind her closed bedroom door. He rapped twice on the jamb, turned the knob, and pushed open the door.
“Tyne?” He went to the bed where she sat, her back to him. “What is it? What happened?”
He knelt beside her, and when she didn’t respond to his questions, he scooped up her hand in his.
“Tyne, talk to me. Whatever he said, he probably didn’t mean it. Guys can be jerks, honey. We just can’t help it. You got to know that.”
Lucas was talking off the top of his head. The sound of her crying was ripping his heart to shreds. He’d say anything, do anything, to dry her tears and make her smile.
Finally, he reached up, touched his index finger to her chin and gently guided her face so he could look into her eyes.
Her nose was red and runny, and tears clung to her eyelashes, streaking wet trails of mascara down her cheeks. He remembered a time when they were teens when her father had found them together. The man had called him a slew of derogatory names. Tyne had been mortified. She’d cried bitterly and apologized at least a dozen times for the hurtful things her father had said. Lucas had thought no woman could ever be more beautiful, even with her red eyes and splotchy cheeks. All these years later, he still thought the same.