“What kind of air?”
She shoved hair away from her face. “Part rebel, part peacemaker. He didn’t make friends easily, but when he did, he was as loyal as they come. Girls were drawn to him. Maybe it was the I-don’t-need-anyone attitude. I don’t know, but they sought him out.” She sipped her coffee. “If Cade thought he was interested in someone, he stepped in and ruined it. Made a big deal about him being a foster kid, and a bad one at that. Had no qualms about making stuff up to reinforce his point. Went out of his way to humiliate him, provoke him.”
Sky simply couldn’t understand that. “Why?”
She lifted her shoulder in a half shrug. “Cade could buy anything he wanted except respect. Max had it in spades. Cade hated him for it.”
“Then why— I’m sorry, that’s none—”
“Why did I fall for him?” She inspected her fingernails.
“…Yes.”
Anna rubbed her forehead and expelled a long breath. “My folks were your basic working-class people. I was pretty enough, I guess, but shy and naïve.” She tore off a corner of a paper towel and put it in front of her. “Cade was the local heartthrob. Family had money, prestige. When he first started coming around, I was thrilled. The Cade Jackson actually spoke to me.” She pinched off another piece of the towel. “Then he started eating lunch with me, walked me to second period, hung around my locker.” She made a pile of the towel pieces, then moved it around with her finger. “Max tried to tell me, but I wouldn’t listen.” She cleared her throat again. “I accused him of being jealous, of not wanting me to have a life.”
She raised her head. “What’s the one thing women do when they fall for someone everyone says is no good for them?”
Sky leaned back in her chair. “Believes she’s the one who can change them,” she said softly.
“Bingo.” She smoothed down her slacks and rolled her shoulders. “I believed every lie he told me. When I discovered I was pregnant, I was ecstatic. I envisioned this whole scenario of how I’d tell him, and he’d be overjoyed. We’d be married and live happily ever after.”
Pity for Anna’s plight came unbidden. “I can’t imagine how horrid that was for you. And scary, too.”
“I don’t know what I would have done if not for Max. He even tried to talk to Cade, get him to do the right thing.”
“I can’t see that going well.”
She snorted. “It didn’t. Max ended up beating the crap out of him. Took three people to pull him off.” She lowered her head and toyed with the paper shreds. “I don’t know what he said to push Max that far.”
Silently, Sky waited for Anna to continue.
“Anyway, Cade’s family had money, his father was president of the school board, so Max was the bad guy. Got kicked out of school right before graduation. Thankfully, that didn’t keep him from getting his diploma, though Mr. Jackson did try and stop that, too. Max joined the Marines, and here we are, almost eighteen years later, dealing with the same crap all over again.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“This is a small town. Most of the people who were there then are still here.” She let Anna draw her own conclusions.
They both knew it was just a matter of time.
Anna’s voice cracked. “I know.” She tore up more paper. “All his life, I’ve preached about responsibility, respect, even abstinence.” Emerald eyes glistened with unshed tears. “He already thinks I’m a liar. Now, he’ll think I’m a hypocrite, too.”
Sky didn’t know what to say. She understood the difficulty of being a single parent, could even sympathize with Anna’s plight. But in the end, only Anna could decide what to do.
Sky took a breath. “Being a parent, especially a single one, is the hardest job in the world. We have to be perfect, always know the right answer, do the right thing. We aren’t allowed to make mistakes. We can’t be human.”
“Bill said you have a daughter?”
“Maddie. She’ll be eight on Christmas Eve.”
Anna chewed her bottom lip. “Her dad?”
“We divorced when Maddie was two and a half.” Sky read the unspoken question in Anna’s eyes. “He hasn’t been a part of her life since.”
“Does she…”
“Ask about him? She did recently, but it was the first time in a long time.” In an effort to bring some levity to the conversation, she continued. “She’s the reason Max and I are together.” By the time Sky finished the story, Anna was laughing.
“I’d like to meet her.”
“She’ll be here this afternoon and thrilled to have a roommate. She’ll talk your head off, though.”
Anna shook her head. “I called the hotel this morning, and they should have a room available later today. I won’t impose on your hospitality any longer.”
Further conversation ended with a knock on the door.
Sky opened it to find Logan standing there, his face tight and drawn.
He walked in without preamble and tossed a cell phone on the table. “You left your phone last night. That guy Cade Jackson has called twice. Said it’s important that you call him right away.” He shoved his hands in his front pockets. “It’s him, isn’t it? He’s my father.”
Max couldn’t remember the last time he woke so refreshed. No troubling dreams, no waking up a gazillion times, no tossing and turning waiting for sleep to come. Just wonderful, restful sleep. Evidently, a round of lovemaking with the most beautiful woman in the world was the secret.
A quick glance at the bedside clock said he had time to grab a cup of coffee with Sky before she left for work. If his houseguest was still asleep.
He peeked in the living room as he walked by, curbing his disappointment when he saw the empty couch.
