Ignite (14 page)

“Dean?” I asked quietly.

He turned down the radio and looked at me expectantly.

“This is a really weird question, but have we ever met before?”

His jaw twitched and he inhaled sharply, like he was trying to decide what to say.

After a while, he replied so softly I almost didn’t hear him.

“Yes.”

“Did you give me a flower?”

“Yes.”

I smiled weakly, feeling a strange twinge in my stomach as he admitted it.

“Thanks.”

He reached over and I thought he was going to grab my hand, but instead reached for the glove box. He pulled out a garage door opener and handed it to me.

“This goes to the house,” he said, pulling into the driveway. I pushed the button and sure enough, the garage opened.

Why would Dean have a garage door opener to Linda’s house? Also, why did Dean drive a Range Rover?

He helped me pull Emma out of the car and we walked inside.

He was certainly a man full of mysteries. Except somehow, I felt more at ease with him than I had with anyone in my life. But it was clear that I didn’t know him.

For the first time, I realized I hoped he would give me a chance to find out.

EVERYTHING HIT THE fan when we all got home. Mary and Jed walked in the front door, followed by a somber Callie and Chase.

I had just brought Emma upstairs to her room to rest and was coming down the stairway when I saw Jed pulling Dean back out the door. I started to protest, but Mary shook her head.

“Just let them talk, dear,” she assured me.

I was confused as to why a talk was even necessary. It wasn’t like I was dating Dean.

Then it seemed that Callie chose this moment to make me the subject of her rage.

“Why are you still here?” she all but screamed at me, crossing her arms. Chase and Mary looked at each other, and Mary suggested she and Chase go find a game upstairs. He agreed quickly and took the stairs two at a time to avoid the confrontation between his sister and me.

Smart kid.

“So?” she didn’t relent. “Why are you here? I know you hate us all anyway.”

I was speechless.

“Callie, please calm down.” I knew that wasn’t what I should have said, but I was at a loss. I didn’t know what to do in this situation.

She scoffed and smiled wickedly.

“Calm down? You want me to
calm down
. Let me just think about that for a second. Today I had to deal with my mom’s funeral. I don’t even get why you were there. You didn’t even look sad.”

“Callie,” I protested, trying to make the best of the situation. “I’m sorry. I didn’t really know your mom, I feel sad because I feel bad for you and Chase and Emma. But I’m not going to cry and fake it because I literally met her twice. My dad loved your mom, so she must have been amazing, but I. Didn’t. Know. Her.” I was even getting slightly worked up, as if her anger was rubbing off on me.

She looked livid.

“Oh there you go, bringing your dad into the situation. Because he was the saint who saved us all. So if my mom married him, she must have been worthy enough, am I right?”

I sighed.

“Callie, stop it. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I’m pretty sure you did. Now why don’t you just leave? It’s clear you’ve wanted to from day one. It’s just your stupid little infatuation with Dean Powell that’s keeping you here. Well, newsflash, Lauren. He’s not going to magically fall in love with you. He’s not going to fall in love with anyone, because he’s too much of a player for that. I get it, he’s pretty, but it’s not going to happen. So take your sick little sad puppy dog eyes and get out. We don’t need you here. We can take care of ourselves, and I don’t need my little sister crying all over you and Dean when I’m right here. You’re not her sister. I am. I can take care of my family.”

I was appalled. I didn’t remember the last time anyone had spoken to me like that. She’d crossed a line. She could insult me to my face, but she shouldn’t insult him, no matter how valid her statements were. I thought about my next words carefully, trying to be the adult in the situation even though I didn’t feel like one.

“Callie, I’m sorry about your mom. I really am. You’re too young for this to have happened to you, and I’m sorry if you feel like I’m making it worse. I fully believe that you’re capable of taking care of your family. However, the problem is that you are not eighteen yet, and there are some legal matters to attend to. Namely the fact that in your mother’s will, it was explicit that I would become your guardian. Not just yours, but Chase’s and Emma’s too.”

She looked like I had just hit her in the face with a burning frying pan.

“You?” she hissed. “My mom wanted
you
to be here with us?”

I wanted to laugh. I had no idea where she’d gotten her hatred. What had I ever done to her?

“Shocking, really.” I didn’t mean to be sarcastic because it actually was shocking, but it came out that way.

“What if I don’t want you to be my guardian?” Callie spat back at me. “Like I said, I can take care of myself.”

“Well, if that’s the case,” I said softly, not wanting to be the person to break this to her. “Then you’re going to have to go into the foster system, because there’s no one else.”

She gasped. “What about Emma and Chase?”

I looked at the floor.

“Them too.”

Her lip wobbled and tears started flowing freely from her eyes as she tore past me and up the stairway to her room.

Now I could definitely be in the running for the award for worst person of the day.

I let out a huge breath and stepped out of my heels. I wanted to cry too, and looked up in an effort to keep them in my eyes. I was fanning my face when Dean and Jed came back in, but it was clear that I was t-minus two minutes from turning into a blubbery mess.

They had both heard the whole thing; it was written on their faces.

Dean looked strained, like he wanted to say something, but I had a feeling that Jed had just instilled the fear of God in him about something. Jed had that effect on people.

I sniffled.

“I’m going to go change,” I told them, my lip now quivering.

They both nodded in that way that men do when they’re speechless and have no idea what to say to rectify the situation. I had just reached my door when I realized I needed someone to unbutton my dress. There was a button just out of reach on my back, and there was no hope of getting out of it without tearing the dress without help.

I sucked it up as best I could and walked out into the hall. Dean had buttoned it this morning and it wasn’t a big deal, but with Jed standing right there, I wasn’t about to ask him to
unbutton
it. I passed them both without a word and went up the stairway to Chase’s room.

When I knocked on the door, Mary and Chase were sitting on the floor with a stack of cards in front of them.

“Hey,” I said softly. “Can I come in?”

“Sure dear,” Mary said kindly, giving me a sad smile.

I opened it enough to slip through and then quickly closed it again.

“Could you unbutton my dress, please?” I asked Mary. She patted her stack of cards, smiled at Chase, and then got up to help me.

As she undid the button so I could get the zipper down later, Chase just looked at his cards.

I felt bad that I hadn’t really gotten to know him yet, but he was a sweet kid.

“What are you guys playing?” I asked him.

Chase looked up, like he was surprised that I was talking to him. I felt even worse that I hadn’t made much of an effort.

“Old Maid,” he said quietly.

“I’ve never heard of that one,” I said, trying to force a smile. “Can you teach me sometime?”

He nodded and looked back at the cards.

“Thanks,” I said to Mary, and she patted my shoulder and turned back to Chase.

As I was leaving the room, I was startled when Chase said my name.

“Hey Lauren?”

“Yeah?”

“I really hope you stay.”

I smiled sadly at him. I didn’t know how much they’d heard from the Callie blowup, but apparently it was enough.

“Thanks buddy.”

NO ONE SAID anything substantial for days. We all walked around avoiding each other, co-existing in the same house without interacting. Even Emma was a mess.

I was cleaning up the milk she had spilled all over the kitchen table when the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it,” Callie said blithely, not looking up from her phone.

Chase was watching some leftover holiday movie on TV.

I sighed. I was kind of bummed that I had missed Christmas while I was in the hospital. I was even more bummed that my mom didn’t even call to wish me a Merry Christmas or to make sure I was okay after surviving a near death experience with an avalanche.

I put the rag in the sink and poured Emma a new glass.

“Be super careful this time,” I warned her as I double checked to make sure the lid was secure. She nodded and sullenly pulled the cup toward her.

I heard familiar boots down the hallway and looked up. Dean had become a fixture in the house lately, and I was more at ease than I ever thought I’d be.

“What’s up?” he asked. He sat down next to Emma, whose eyes immediately lit up when she saw him.

I shrugged.

“You know, same old same old.”

He smiled sadly.

Callie grabbed a water from the fridge and plopped down on the couch, still focused on her phone.

No one said anything for a minute and I was acutely aware of the silence.

“I’m so bored,” Chase said suddenly, turning off the TV and setting the remote loudly on the glass table in front of him. “Can we go somewhere?”

“Uh, sure,” I said, uneasily looking at Dean. “Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know.” He sighed. “Somewhere cool.”

I tapped my fingers on the counter while I thought of somewhere to go that we would all have at least a mild amount of fun. Dean, however, had his own ideas.

“Guys, go pack something,” he said suddenly.

Callie tore her gaze away from her phone.

“Why?” She didn’t hide the judgment in her voice.

“Yeah, why?” Emma said, looking at him with her huge eyes.

“It’s a surprise.”

I narrowed my eyes at him curiously, and Callie shot me a look, then flounced upstairs.

“I’ll call Jenny,” she called down to us.

Chase ran upstairs after her, and Emma was close behind, nearly knocking her cup all over me in the process. I gave Dean a look that encompassed the exasperation and relief I felt that I didn’t have to clean up spilled milk yet again.

I was left alone with the culprit, and he wasn’t very good at hiding the charming little grin on his face.

“What are you up to?”

“You’ll see,” he said, grinning even bigger as he leaned over and kissed me on the forehead, which caused me to shiver. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get used to the shock of that.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and walked out of the room.

“I’ll be right back,” he assured me.

I sighed. Dean Powell, man of mystery.

Thirty minutes later, we were all standing at the front door holding our bags. Well, I was holding Emma’s Tinker Bell backpack, and she was gripping my hand.