The Hearts We Mend (12 page)

Ron left shortly after they finished eating, clutching a container filled with leftover spaghetti. There was no television, so Nicki's children sprawled on the floor in front of the window and made houses from a deck of cards.

Evie helped Josh decipher one of Tennyson's poems while Bert and Jack washed the dishes. She experienced one moment of panic when a dog's mournful howl filtered through the window.

Diva would be ready for supper and a walk—

Except she wasn't waiting patiently for Evie to come home. Cody and Raine were taking care of her.

“Thanks, Mrs. Bennett.” Josh flashed a shy, slightly self-conscious smile as he shoved the textbook into his backpack.

“You did great.”

The thin cheeks flushed pink. “I still think algebra is easier.”

“Don't tell anyone”—Evie lowered her voice to a whisper—“but so did I.”

Jack walked Josh to the door, and even though Evie couldn't hear their conversation, she saw the grin that spread over the boy's face when Jack cuffed him on the shoulder.

All these people, pieces of the puzzle that was Jack. Evie wasn't sure where—or how—they fit.

She tucked a crocheted blanket around Grace, who'd fallen asleep beside her on the couch, and stashed her cell phone back inside her purse. Melanie had tried to call—twice—and Cody had left a text, letting Evie know that he and Raine wanted to help out at the picnic on Saturday
.

“Bert, do you mind holding down the fort for a minute? I'm going to walk Evie down to her car.”

“Not at all.” Before Evie could blink, Bert had reeled her in for another hug. “It was nice to meet you, Evie. I'm sure I'll see you again.”

“It was nice to meet you too,” Evie murmured into the bright-red hibiscus splashed across the woman's shoulder.

By the time Bert released her, Jack was already waiting in the hall. The unexpected shiver that skated down her spine left her feeling a little off-kilter.

“I parked right underneath the window. It isn't necessary for you to walk me to the car.”

“I wish that were true.” Jack followed her down the stairs.

“This is Banister Falls, not Chicago.”

“The size of the population doesn't matter. There are always people who are . . . willing to take advantage of a situation.”

The grim look on Jack's face hinted that he was personally acquainted with some of them.

Evie stepped out from the covered staircase and was immediately pelted with a burst of whistles and catcalls from the group of people loitering in the vacant lot across the street.

“Try not to let all that attention go to your head,” she whispered.

Jack's eyes went wide and then he grinned. “I won't.”

Evie couldn't explain why, but she had a feeling she'd surprised him too.

He walked around to the driver's-side door. “Thanks for playing chauffeur this afternoon. They're good kids, but put the four of them together and it's a little like herding cats.”

“Uncle Jack?” Lily's voice floated down to them through the screen. “Can I take Bitsy out of her cage for a while?”

“As long as you keep her away from Harley,” Jack called back.

“Okay!”

Evie stared up at him. “Lily is your . . . niece?”

Jack nodded. “My brother, Travis's, daughter. Trav and his wife rent a house on Brewster Street.”

Brewster Street. Some of the pieces began to fall into place. “The house—”

“You were lurking around that night.”

“We weren't
lurking.
” Blessing burglaries always took place after the sun went down, so the “burglars” could remain anonymous. That was kind of the whole point.

“It was dark. You had a paper bag—”

“With
groceries
in it.”

“I didn't know that right away. Some of Trav's neighbors prefer a liquid diet.”

It took a second for Evie to understand what Jack meant.

“But Gin and I were under the impression that
Nicki
lived on Brewster Street.”

“She did—at the time. Travis's wife, Cheryl, is Nicki's older sister. Nic had broken up with her boyfriend and needed a place to stay. She has her own place now.”

“But I thought—” Evie stopped. If she'd been wrong about Lily being Jack's daughter, was it possible she'd misinterpreted his relationship with Nicki too?

“Thought what?”

“That you and Nicki were . . . together.”

“Together.” Jack went completely still. “Why would you think that? Nic is . . . She's a
kid
.”

“She came to you when she needed help. And you seemed so comfortable with her children.”
With their mother.
“I assumed you were a couple.”

Some emotion Evie couldn't define skimmed through his eyes.

“Yeah,” Jack said softly. “I guess you would.”

C
HAPTER
16

W
here were you tonight, Trav?”

Jack waited until Lily went to her room to get ready for bed before he confronted his brother.

Cheryl was nowhere in sight, but Travis had been sitting on the couch, strumming his guitar, when Jack dropped Lily off.

Travis scowled. “Don't start on me, big brother.”

“Cheryl promised Nicki she would babysit.”

“Nic needs to find someone else to take care of her kids. We have a life too.”

Jack tried not to let his frustration show. “That's true, but she was counting on you.”

“Cheryl and I were only gone for a couple of hours. I wanted to take a drive. Clear my head.”

When it came to his brother, Jack had gotten pretty good at reading between the lines. “Did you lose your job at Leiderman?”

“Why do you even ask me things like that?”

So the answer was yes.

“What happened?”
This time.

“Someone stole an air compressor, and the shift supervisor figured it was me. He didn't even search our lockers. Anything turns up missing, blame it on the new guy, right?”

“Did you talk to him?”

“Why bother?”

“Because you have bills. A family who needs you.”

“Cheryl knows I didn't like working the line.” Trav shrugged. “You and I both know I could run that entire operation with my eyes closed. I'll find something else.”

Travis had been let go from his last two jobs. Without a glowing recommendation from his employer, it would be difficult for his brother to find another job in a town the size of Banister Falls. The fear simmering behind Trav's forced bravado told Jack that he knew it too.

“You could always go back to Milwaukee.”

“And pound nails with you?”

“You wish. You have to work your way up the ladder, buddy. No pun intended.”

His brother grinned, and for a split second Jack saw a glimpse of the old Travis. And made the mistake of pushing.

“We could go back together. Coop has more than enough work for both—”

“That's your thing, not mine,” Travis interrupted. “So maybe you're the one who should go back to Milwaukee. There's nothing keeping you here.”

It sliced deep, knowing his brother actually believed that.

“Sorry. You're stuck with me awhile.” Jack strove to keep his tone light. “I have to finish the repairs so Phil can sell the building, and Hope Community Church needs a custodian for a few more weeks.”

“Church.” Trav plucked at the guitar strings, a sharp F chord harmonizing with his snort of disdain.

“They're having a picnic this Saturday. Free food and carnival games for the kids.”

“Sounds like fun.”

Jack let the sarcasm roll off him. “Lily would probably think so.”

“Now you're telling me how to raise my kid?” Travis went from smirking to surly in the blink of an eye.

“No, I'm telling you about something she would enjoy.”

Travis rolled to his feet. “I'm tired, bro.”

Jack took that as his cue to leave.

He let himself out through the back door that opened onto the porch. The breeze carried fragments of a muffled conversation in the alley. A raccoon raiding the trash can slipped through a hole in the fence and disappeared in the shadows as Jack walked to his truck.

He's tired? Well, I'm tired too, God. Tired of the accusations and the complaining and the anger and the indifference.

Tired of not
seeing
a difference.

Jack drove back to his apartment building, following the same route he'd taken earlier that afternoon. With Evie.

He'd sensed a change in her as the evening progressed
.
Moments when she'd seemed to accept the chaos even if she hadn't joined in.

But he and Nicki dating? Under any other circumstances, the thought would have made Jack laugh—if he hadn't realized Evie was completely serious.

That should have been a clue right there what she thought of him.

A shadow detached from the steps and took on the bulky form of the high school dropout who lived down the street.

“Hey, Zach.” The kid was probably Cody Bennett's age, but that was the only thing they had in common. Zach had a reputation for being a hothead. He knew the local police so well—Jack had heard him greet the officers by name when they cruised down the street.

“I wasn't sure you'd be back tonight.” Zach turned his head a fraction of an inch to the right and spit into the curb. “Looked to me like you had a hot date.”

A date. With Evie. Now Jack did laugh. “I'm too busy to date.”

“You working on that wall again tonight?” The question was thrown out casually, like he really didn't care, but Jack knew better. Over the past few months, he'd watched the number of guys in Zach's posse begin to dwindle. The neighbors weren't the only ones who'd been on the receiving end of Zach's hair-trigger temper.

But all Jack could see was the chip on Zach's shoulder.

The one that reminded him of Travis.

Zach had started hanging around when Jack was working on the first floor, the project he'd actually been hired to do. When Phil, Cheryl and Travis's landlord, had found out that Jack knew his way around a construction site, he'd hired Jack to renovate the first-floor storefront of a building he owned to make it more sellable.

What the guy had failed to mention was that there were people living in said building. People who'd started showing up at the door of Jack's second-floor apartment at all hours of the day and night. The list of needs would use up an entire block of Evie's Post-its. Mice. Leaky sinks. Hollow stomachs and empty hearts.

Keep your eyes open, Jack
, Coop had told him on more than one occasion.
God brings people into your life for a reason.

Jack just hadn't expected there to be so many of them.

What he really wanted to do was go upstairs, take a nice hot shower—if there
was
hot water—and crash.

Didn't you just hear me say a few minutes ago that I'm tired, Lord?

Waiting for God's answer, Jack felt a trickle of energy begin to flow through his veins.

And even though he hadn't known God as long as Coop, Jack had known him long enough to recognize the answer. Those moments when Jack felt like he had nothing left to give, God gave him just what he needed.

“I thought about taking a crowbar and knocking out a few walls. Want to help?”

A grin creased Zach's face, making him look about twelve years old. “Really?”

“Come on.”

Jack figured that busting out walls was better than busting windows. Or heads.

And it might be a really good way to forget that Travis had lost another job and tended to fill the gaps in his life with alcohol.

And maybe—if Jack tried really hard—he'd forget his last conversation with Evie too.

•

“Evie, thank goodness you're here! I was afraid you hadn't gotten my message.”

Actually, it had been six messages—and all within the space of an hour—but Evie smiled as she held up the tapestry overnight bag. “I've got it right here, Gertrude.”

Visiting members of Hope Community at local nursing homes and the hospital was something Evie did on a regular basis, but Gertrude Fielding held a special place in her heart. Gertrude had rocked Evie when she made her debut in the church nursery at the age of two weeks, and in spite of the forty-year gap between them, they'd been friends ever since.

Gertrude plucked at the sleeve of her robe. “I was advised never,
never
, to wear this shade of lavender. I'm a summer, you know. We look better in vibrant tones.”

Which explained why Gertrude's hair had matched the color of Dan's ladder truck for as long as Evie could remember.

Across the room, the young CNA in Minnie Mouse scrubs caught Evie's eye and winked. “I'll be back with your medication in a little while, Mrs. Fielding. Enjoy your visit.”