ClarenceBN (9 page)

Then he did grin down at her. She did that—she made him happy like that. It still felt like a foreign idea, that she could be enough for someone as good as Clarence.

He lowered himself back onto her. “I know what I’m hoping to unwrap on Christmas morning,” he murmured as he kissed her breasts, his hands moving over her body again.

She laughed, gripping his hair as his mouth moved lower and lower until his tongue was covering her clit and the tension began to wind her up again.

As he patiently brought her to the verge of another orgasm and then expertly pushed her over the edge, a new thought popped up in her head.
I love this man
. There was no ‘could,’ no ‘falling for.’ Just a fact that she was unequivocally realizing for the first time.
 

Christmas. She’d see how things went between now and Christmas. And then . . . the New Year was only another week away. A new year—a new start.
 

Then maybe they’d talk about something more.

For the first time in a very long time, Tammy was hopeful about the future.

*****

Clarence lifted Rosie Two Horses out of her wheelchair and onto the exam table, where he could check the diabetic sores on her legs and get her cleaned up.
 

Mentally, he was planning his trip into Rapid City after work. It was Thursday—not one of the nights he usually had dinner with Tammy and he had to make good use of his time. He was going to look at diamond rings. Christmas was six weeks off and he probably had enough money saved up for a nice ring, but he didn’t want to leave it to the last minute.
 

He hoped she’d say yes. He wanted to think she would—Halloween had gone off without a hitch, if he didn’t count Mikey getting hopped up on Pixie Stixs and pinballing around until he hit his head and gave himself a nice goose egg. If they could just make it through Thanksgiving . . .

But despite all the good things—the good times they spent together, both alone and as a family with Mikey—Clarence was worried about the proposal. He was going to be forty in less than three months.
 

Yeah, that worried him because Tammy was so focused on staying in the here and now—what happened when she really considered the future? He was practically an old man. Would she want more kids? Would she decide that, good as Clarence might be for right now, maybe he wasn’t the best choice for the future because he had such a head start on her?

That was the thought that kept him up at night. He wasn’t young and he was actively not getting any younger. He wanted to be what she needed for both now and forever, but he didn’t know if that was possible.

Only one way to find out. He was going to ask. And he was going to make damned sure he had a diamond in his hand when he did so.

Lost in thought and focused on his job, Clarence didn’t see the guy walk into the clinic. But he heard it when Tara said, “What the hell are you doing here?” in her meanest voice, which was usually enough to stop everyone from angry patients to would-be criminals in their tracks. Anyone who got through Tara had to go through him—or Nobody, if Clarence had already gone home.

“One second,” he said to Rosie as he ducked his head out through the dividing curtains. He didn’t recognize the guy standing in front of Tara—medium height, thin build, shoulder-length black hair that looked as if it’d been cut short and since had grown out. The guy had on a green army-style jacket and what might be combat boots under his jeans.
 

But he didn’t have that lean and hungry look that went with a junkie looking for a fix and the Clinic didn’t exactly operate with a flush of cash. In other words, he didn’t look dangerous—certainly not the kind of guy Clarence would have to set down the hard way. Maybe the kind of guy he’d have a beer with, one former military man with another, but that was it.
 

Clarence was on the verge of turning back to his patient when the guy said something to Tara and she all but exploded out of her chair. “No way in hell, Ezra.”

All the warning bells went off in Clarence’s head. Ezra?
The
Ezra—Tammy’s old flame and Mikey’s father? The
dickbag
himself—here, in the Clinic?

“You can’t just waltz in here and—” Whatever else Tara had been about to say died as Clarence plowed his way over to the reception desk.
 

“Problem?” he demanded as he glowered at Ezra the dickbag. Yeah, the kid—and so help him, the guy really did look like a kid that hadn’t finished growing up yet—probably had done a couple of tours. But Clarence had six inches and probably a hundred pounds on him. If there was a problem, Clarence was the solution.

“Hey. I’m looking for Tammy Tall Trees and
she
,” he said, nodding at Tara, “doesn’t feel like helping me out today. You know where she’s at, buddy?”

Tara and Clarence shared a look, which was not something that happened every single day, but today? Yeah, today they were completely, totally, 100% on the same side.
 

He glanced at the clock. 1:37. Tammy was next door, putting kids down for a nap or doing the lunch dishes. “She’s not here.”
 

Ezra the dickbag’s smile tightened. “Okay, yeah—got that. Do you know where she’s at?”

Neither Clarence nor Tara responded.
 

At that moment, Melinda Mitchell stuck her head through and called out over the sound of a kid pitching an epic fit, “Wanda Bright Sky? Are you in here?” A woman with a hacking cough stood up and moved toward the door that divided the Clinic and the Child Care Center.
 

“Hey,” Ezra said to Melinda, “I’m looking for Tammy Tall Trees. Do you—”

“She’s putting the kids down,” Melinda said without looking up as she held the door for Wanda. “I’ll tell her you’re looking for her. I’m so sorry, Wanda, but he’s really upset . . .” Her voice trailed off as she led Wanda into the room.

Ezra turned back to where Clarence and Tara were. “Not here, huh?” He looked Clarence up and down. “You never did like me,” he told Tara.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Tara snapped. “I didn’t give a damn about you one way or the other until you knocked up my baby sister and then ran off like a dog with its tail tucked—”

“Yes?” Tammy’s head poked through the door. “I’m Tammy.” Her gaze met Clarence’s and at first she smiled, all happy to see him.
 

They hadn’t talked a lot about their pasts, beyond the fact that Ezra had made promises and not kept them. Clarence didn’t know if he should just get a jump on things and punch Ezra or if that would be the wrong way to handle this situation. The best he could do was give a little shake of his head in warning.

In that moment, Ezra turned around. “Whoa—Tammy? What the hell happened to you?”

“Ezra?” Tammy froze in place, her eyes wide in shock.

It didn’t last long, that frozen moment, mostly because Clarence had Ezra by the back of the neck and was bodily removing his sorry ass from the Clinic. “You will
not
talk to her that way,” he managed to growl in Ezra’s ear before he launched him across the dirt parking lot.
 

“Clarence!” Tammy appeared at his side.
 

“I won’t have him talk to you like that,” Clarence repeated, dusting his hands off as if he’d been touching something grimy. “He’s got no right. I won’t have it.”

Then, to his surprise, Tammy rushed over to where Ezra was sprawled out on the hard-pack dirt. “Are you okay?”

“Jesus, what the hell is
his
problem?” Tammy helped Ezra to his feet and even went so far as to help straighten his jacket for him.
 

Clarence could not begin to process what he was seeing. Tara had been right about this, at least—Ezra was a dickbag. What kind of man would ask the mother of his child—a woman he hadn’t seen in five damned years—about her weight? Just thinking about it made his blood boil.

And yet, Tammy was over there with Ezra, apologizing for Clarence’s behavior and generally being . . . nice? What the ever-loving hell? “I’m so sorry,” she was saying as she fixed his freaking collar. “Are you all right?”

“Um, Tammy?” That was as far as he got. He wanted to do a whole lot more than just throw Ezra but that seemed to be a not-good plan at the moment.

She threw him a warning glance. “Well,” she said in a too bright tone. “Ezra Johnson, this is Clarence Thunder. Clarence,” she went on as if this were a cocktail party and not a near brawl, “This is Ezra Johnson, Mikey’s father.”

“Yeah, we met,” Ezra said, not offering his hand or anything. Not that Clarence would have shaken it anyway.

“Ezra,” Tammy began in a tone that Clarence recognized as the one she used on kids who were spiraling out of control. “What are you doing here?”

“What—aren’t you happy to see me?” he asked, keeping a wary eye on Clarence.

Yeah, buddy
, Clarence thought.
You
should
be worried
. He flexed his shoulders.

“It’s just—it’s been a long time. If you were going to stop by, you could have called. I don’t—this will be—I didn’t have the chance to prepare Mikey, that’s all,” she said, stumbling over her words.

In that moment, Clarence didn’t regret throwing the rat out. In fact, he’d really enjoy another chance to do it again because once again, Ezra was making Tammy’s life harder simply by existing.

He cracked his knuckles in warning.

“You call him Mikey? That’s—” He caught the movement of Clarence taking a step toward him.
 

Say something about the boy
, Clarence mentally challenged him.
Say one thing
.
 

“Yeah, okay there, man. That’s fine, okay?” Ezra took a step back, putting Tammy in between him and Clarence.
 

Clarence smiled. He had the upper hand here, even if he was almost old enough to be Ezra’s dad.
 

Which left him completely unprepared for when Tammy turned around and glared at him. “Clarence,” she said and he heard the nice tone start to fray. “Do you mind?”

“Yeah, actually, I do. A lot. You want me to get rid of him for you?”

“
Clarence
. I can handle this.” Behind her, Ezra gave Clarence a bratty look.
 

Clarence grabbed Tammy and pulled her aside. “Babe,” he said, pleading with her. “I don’t want him to jerk you around—you or Mikey.”

A look of doubt crossed her face. “I know, but he
is
Mikey’s father.”

“I don’t want him to hurt you again,” Clarence said, taking her hand in his. “I don’t want him to mess things up.” Things like engagement rings and wedding nights and growing old together. It was one thing if Tammy decided of her own free will that Clarence was already too old to spend the rest of her life with—but if Ezra somehow made it that Clarence shouldn’t be around Mikey—well, Tammy had made it plain. The boy had to come first.

She managed to curve her mouth into a strained smile, but then Ezra snorted behind them as if he could not believe what he was seeing.
 

“That’s
it
,” Clarence growled as he made a move toward Ezra.

“No!” Tammy shouted, but that’s not what stopped him.

“Mommy? Cwarence?” The sound of Mikey’s small voice cutting through the air caused all the adults to freeze. “What’s wrong?”

Chapter Eight

“Nothing, baby,” Tammy said, giving both Ezra a warning glare and pushing Clarence back. “Behave,” she hissed under her breath as Mikey looked from man to man, worry already making his lower lip tremble.

She hurried over and swept her boy into her arms. “Mikey, honey,” she said, knowing that she had to be the grown-up here—especially since Clarence seemed to have suddenly reverted back to being a headstrong teenager.
 

This was not how she wanted this to go. For years, she’d dreamed of Ezra coming back. In those early fantasies, often the product of sleepless nights and teething, Ezra would have realized the errors of his ways and come crawling back, begging her forgiveness for being such an ass. He’d propose and mean it this time and then, finally, they’d live happily ever after.

Maybe about the time Mikey had turned two, though, those dreams had faded under the crushing weight of reality. Ezra was not going to come crawling back. There would be no fairy-tale wedding and no happy ending. Not for her.

At least, not until Clarence.

She took a deep breath. She had to be strong for Mikey. “This is Ezra, baby. This is your daddy.”

“Hey there, squirt,” Ezra said.
 

Tammy forced herself not to glare at Ezra. How had she ever though she’d loved him? Despite the years that had passed, he still had a childish, almost sullen, attitude that she’d once thought was the height of cool and now she recognized as sheer immaturity.

And just like that, she felt foolish all over again. She’d fallen for
that
? Really?

Mikey, God bless his little heart, managed a perfectly polite, “Hi,” before burying his face in Tammy’s neck.
 

“Aren’t you glad to see your dad?” Ezra asked and for the first time, Tammy heard something else in his tone—hurt, maybe. As if he’d envisioned being this knight in shining armor, welcomed back with open and loving arms.