Captured In Ink (Art of Love Series) (18 page)

“Therapy doesn’t help anyone. I hate it,” Brian said.

“Why?” Shane asked. “I mean—you don’t have to tell me. I was just curious, since I may decide to practice someday.”

Brian shrugged. “I don’t need somebody constantly reminding me that I’m messed up. And I’m tired of talking about what I can’t change. My parents aren’t coming back. I’m tired of remembering. It doesn’t do any good.”

“Sometimes it does,” Shane said quietly, trying to reach past the pain to the nice kid still inside the angry boy.

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the picture of Reesa. He stood and handed it to Brian, watching the boy unfold it with care. When he saw who it was, Brian sat up.

“It’s Aunt Teresa,” he said. “She looks good like this.”

Shane laughed. “Yeah—I think so too. I didn’t know her real name when I drew that picture. She didn’t trust me enough to tell me who she was when we first met. She had a certain idea about me because of the way I looked.”

Brian laughed and looked at Shane’s holey jeans.

“Yes—you can skip the fashion critique. Your brother has already made fun of my clothes today,” Shane said, rolling his eyes, “anyway—my sister-in-law suggested I draw Reesa while she was fresh in mind. It was comforting. I have about forty or fifty drawings of her that I did in the two weeks I spent not knowing who she was.”

Brian shook his head. “You trying to tell me I should draw what I feel? Like I haven’t heard that before. Everyone says that, and then they talk you to death.”

“I’m not suggesting anything,” Shane said, holding out his hand for the picture, not missing Brian’s reluctance to give it back. “I’m just saying my art helped me, and I hope your art helps you. Drawing is good therapy. I don’t care how many other jobs I have in my life. I doubt anything is going to feel quite like drawing the
Winged Protector
.”

“So when is the next book coming out?” Brian asked.

“I guess when I get my head on straight about me and your Aunt Teresa and get to seriously working on it again,” Shane said, heading to the bedroom door. “You have a gift in your art, Brian. None of your siblings has that particular gift, though I have to say Princess Sara puts her guts into everything.”

“That because she’s ‘pecial,” Brian said, laughing and making fun of his little sister. He wasn’t ready to let Shane know how much his opinion mattered. He wondered if he could sneak into the living room for more paper without anyone catching him.

“I think you’re all special,” Shane told him, not joking in the least. He got that gut clenching reaction when Brian smiled and looked away. “Catch you later, dude.”

Then he walked out of Brian’s room before he got any more tempted to pick up the reluctant boy and hug him until he gave in to his need to be comforted.

***

Shane hung out the rest of the afternoon and ended up going to Zack’s basketball game that evening with them. Brian moved down several rows to sit with a boy he obviously knew from school. It was the most sociable Shane had seen him be in any setting.

He and Chelsea were sitting in the bleachers waiting for Reesa and Sara to return from the bathroom when he watched some good-looking, well-dressed guy stop Reesa to talk when she came back into the gym.

“Who’s the guy with his hand on your aunt?” Shane asked Chelsea, making her giggle at his tone and question.

“Zack’s coach,” Chelsea said smoothly.

“Oh,” Shane said, dialing back his initial reaction a notch, but he still didn’t like the man touching her. Or maybe he didn’t like Reesa not shaking him off.

“I think Coach wants to date her,” Chelsea said, watching Shane’s eyes narrow at the man. “Don’t worry—she hasn’t said yes. Zack says he asks about her all the time though. He says it’s embarrassing.”

“Is the guy a dweeb?” Shane asked.

“No—Coach is not a dweeb,” Chelsea said. “He’s just a coach. You know how they are.”

Not really
, Shane thought, but he was going to find out. “I think I’ll just go down and see what’s going on.”

Chelsea laughed beside him. “I’m learning a lot more about guys from you than I ever learned from Zack,” she said. “Are you jealous of Coach?”

“Of course not,” Shane denied quickly.

“Are you worried Aunt Teresa might go out with him?” Chelsea asked.

Shane had to stop and think about that one. “No—I don’t think that’s it either,” he finally said. “It’s more like a dog’s instinct to mark its territory so other dogs will keep away.”

“Only a guy could make something romantic sound so gross,” Chelsea told him, disgusted. “And I don’t think Aunt Teresa would like a guy calling her his territory.”

“I’ll risk it,” Shane replied with a grin. “Want a soda and popcorn?”

At her smile and nod, Shane started down the bleachers taking them two at a time with his long strides. He pulled a five from his pocket, wadded it up, yelled at Brian, and threw it to him.

“Soda-get your own later,” he called, going on down.

When he got to Reesa and Sara, she lifted her arms to him.

“No, Sara,” Reesa told her. “You can walk. Shane doesn’t need to carry you.”

“Hey,” Shane said to Reesa, holding her gaze. “I’m heading for sodas and popcorn. Are you interested?”

“Sure. Sara and I can share. Any cola is fine,” she told him.

“Come on, Sara. Let’s get some popcorn. You have to walk though,” he told her, holding out his hand.

“Yea!” she said, taking Shane’s hand and jumping up and down. “I get to hold your hand.”

Shane looked at Reesa. “Want to go with us? You can hold my other hand and say yea in a really excited voice.”

Reesa laughed at his flirting, and Shane grinned at her. Then Shane looked at the man he’d been intentionally ignoring up to now.

“Hi. Chelsea said you were Zack’s coach. You teach him those great moves of his or is that all natural?” Shane asked, trying to show that he was in the kids’ lives in a way this man would get.

Elliot Conway looked at the giant man with the shaggy hair, eyebrow piercing, and torn jeans. Surely Reesa Callahan wasn’t dating this guy. That was practically laughable.

“Zack’s a natural. I’m just helping him focus. Elliot Conway,” he said, sticking out a hand.

Shane took Elliot’s hand in his and shook hard, squeezing the man’s fingers slightly. It was a cheap shot, but he wanted Conway to know he wasn’t just big. Shane knew how to use being big to his advantage, even though he rarely had to get physical. Since Conway was a coach, Shane knew physical was going to be the easiest way to get his point across.

“I’m Shane Larson. Nice to meet you,” Shane said pleasantly. “I better go get sodas, babe. Brian is four or five rows down talking to a friend in case he’s not back when you get to our seats.”

When Shane was out of sight and earshot, Elliot looked at Reesa. “Is Larson a friend?” he asked.

“Yes,” Reesa said, smiling at the sight of Sara looking straight up and talking loudly as Shane navigated them through the crowd. “We’re dating.”

“
Dating?
You’re kidding me,” Elliot said.

“No, why would you think I was kidding?” Reesa asked. “He’s a great guy.”

“If you’re into hoodlums,” Elliot countered sourly.

Reesa snorted. She’d had about enough of Elliot Conway’s superior attitude. “Actually, Shane is a doctor and will be working at UK soon.” She couldn’t help laughing outright at the shock on Elliot’s face.

“There is no way that guy is a doctor,” Elliot said firmly.

“Well, he’s also a graphic novelist. Does that make more sense?” Reesa asked snidely.

“He looks like an artsy type with the piercing and tattoo up his sleeve. I can buy that more than him being a doctor,” Elliot said.

“Shane is multi-talented,” Reesa said. “Talk to you later, Elliot.”

She walked towards the door and saw Shane walking very slowly behind Sara, who was working hard to carry a child size soda and popcorn. She was talking a mile a minute still, and Shane was looking a little frayed.

“Hey—I can help,” she said, smiling. “Shane, let me carry the sodas and popcorn, while you carry Sara. If you don’t, the game is going to be half over by the time we get to our seats.”

Shane passed over everything in his hands and picked up Sara, who was still clutching everything and talking. When she was in the air, she finally stopped talking to take a sip of her drink.

“April was a talker,” Reesa explained. “Sara is so her child.”

Shane laughed. “Well, royalty needs to develop great poise in public,” he said seriously.

Reesa smiled at his kind words not laced with a single complaint.

When they were heading up the bleachers and standing in line behind others trying to do the same thing, Reesa turned around and saw Conway’s questioning gaze on them.

Time to nip that fantasy off completely
, Reesa decided. Stopping two steps above Shane, she turned around and grabbed a handful of his T-shirt.

“Thanks for always being a good sport,” Reesa said, leaning down and into Shane for a quick kiss that didn’t seem to surprise him nearly as much as she thought it might.

“Me too,” Sara yelled. “I want a kiss.”

Reesa turned and kissed her niece as demanded.

“Yuck—salty popcorn kisses,” Reesa protested, making a face that had Sara giggling. “I liked Shane’s better.”

“Was Conway checking us out?” Shane asked, tucking this away as the first time Reesa kissed him voluntarily in public.

Reesa raised an eyebrow. “How did you know?”

“I’m very wise,” Shane said, grinning. “Also, I’m a guy. He’s a guy. Were you planning to date him? He was really interested in you.”

Reesa snorted. “Please—the man is a dweeb. He’s definitely not my type.”

Shane’s unrestrained laughter as they climbed got a bit more attention than Reesa had planned for, but Brian and Chelsea just looked at them and smiled unconcerned. They really were great kids, Reesa thought, knowing April and Jackson would be very proud of the way the kids were dealing with all that had happened.

Happily, Zack played the best game he’d played in months. Training before the season started had gone so poorly that even Reesa had been worried. At half time, Zack had looked up in the stands and waved to them as he’d headed to the locker room.

Normality, Reesa thought. That was really all she was trying to give them. She knew she was never going to be an adequate replacement for April and Jackson, but she wanted to be at least a supportive substitute. It was fortunate that she had been familiar with the family routines. Now she considered it a blessing that Brent had made her come alone to visit her sister most of the time.

She looked at Chelsea sitting contentedly by Shane, then getting excited when a friend showed up to scoot in next to her. The girl was like Jillian’s twin at times. Reesa had really noticed it in the last six months.

What would it be like if Zack and Chelsea weren’t around all the time? Could she make that work in any way that made sense? Her mind couldn’t wrap itself around such a reality. Reesa closed her eyes and prayed it wouldn’t come to that.

“What’s wrong?” Shane asked, looking for answers in her face.

“Ask me later,” Reesa told him, shaking her head. “I’ll tell you if you really want to know.”

Shane nodded. “I really want to know.”

Reesa reached over and took his hand, holding it tightly in hers.

Shane thought of what he’d said about wanting a normal girlfriend. This was a bit more complicated than what he’d envisioned at the time, but it still worked for him.

He just hoped Reesa thought it worked too.

Chapter 11

When the kids had gone to sleep that night, Shane and Reesa sat in the living room talking.

“I’m probably going to lose custody of Zack and Chelsea to their grandparents,” Reesa began. “That’s what I was so upset about when I came to see you last week.”

“What do you mean?” Shane asked, not understanding.

“By the terms of their will, I am the guardian of choice,” Reesa said firmly. “Jackson’s parents challenged that part of the will.”

“On what grounds?” Shane asked.

“I don’t have enough income. What I have doesn’t look like enough on paper to take care of four kids. The only money I haven’t touched is a small college fund of theirs, but I’m going to have to use that too starting in January. I need a job, but I can’t have a job just yet. I can barely keep everything going around here while I’m not working. Brian’s and Sara’s grief counseling fees are high, but I feel like they need them still.”

“Why don’t the grandparents just give you money and let you take care of the kids? That’s the best answer, isn’t it?” Shane asked.

“To me and you, and to the kids, but not to their only remaining set of grandparents,” Reesa said. “When our parents died, April and I split the money they left us. She created a college fund with her share. I bought a car and paid cash for it. I sold the car right after I moved in here, but it only brought about half what I paid for it five years ago. I invested well when I was working, but I’m blowing through that pretty fast even though the house is mortgage free now. I’m out of ideas for how to make things any better, which is so not like me.”