Country Roads(89)

He handed her onto it and settled down beside her, stretching his long legs out and crossing them at the ankles of his heavy leather boots. He thrust his hands into his jacket pockets and looked straight ahead. “My brother, Jimmy, was twenty-two when he got Terri pregnant, so he did the honorable thing and married her. I don’t know if they loved each other or not, but they didn’t hate each other. They were just too young, I guess. Terri was only nineteen.”

“That is pretty young to have a baby.”

“I was graduating law school when Eric was born. I came home for the christening before I headed off to Atlanta to the partner-track job waiting for me.”

Julia wanted to touch him to offer comfort, but he’d put his hands off-limits and stroking his thigh seemed too sexual. She braced her palms on the tree trunk on either side of her hips.

“Jimmy had a good job at Walmart and was climbing his way toward management when he got fired. He won’t say why, and the Walmart people say it’s a personnel matter and therefore confidential.”

“Do you have any theories?”

“It had something to do with a woman who worked there too,” Paul said with a shrug. “The best light I can put on it is he tried to protect someone from sexual harassment and lost the battle.”

“Chivalry runs in the Taggart genes. I’d still be stranded beside the interstate if it didn’t.”

He glanced down at her with a half smile. “Sometimes good deeds pay dividends.” His gaze swung away. “Mostly though, they don’t go unpunished. Anyway, losing that job did something to him. He drank up all the money Terri made cleaning houses. Couldn’t hold any new job. Picked fights in bars and ended up in jail.

“Finally, he came home drunk one night and backhanded her across the face when she called him on it. She told him to leave and never come back. The only thing good I can say about the situation is he didn’t argue with her, he just went. He knew he’d crossed the line.”

He pulled his hands out of his pockets and locked them together. Julia covered his intertwined fingers with her hand. He let her.

“Long story short, Terri divorced Jimmy, and the judge gave her full custody of Eric. Whatever his faults—and he has many—my brother loves his son, so it was killing him not to be able to spend time with Eric, especially since they live in the same town. The drinking got worse.”

“So you came home.”

He nodded. “I negotiated a deal with Terri. I would stay in Sanctuary and act as the guarantor of Jimmy’s good behavior if she would agree to joint custody.”

It was Julia’s turn to stare off into the distance as she took in the magnitude of what Paul had done for his brother and his nephew.

He’d given up his dreams.

“So the night you had to leave after dinner…” Julia began.

“Jimmy got drunk at a bar and I had to go pick him up.” Paul looked down at their hands. “He’s been going to Alcoholics Anonymous, and I thought he was making progress.” He blew out a breath. “Truth is that was partly my fault.”

“Your fault?”

He turned one hand up to give hers a squeeze before he dropped his palms to his thighs. “I got a job offer in DC. He wanted to make sure I didn’t take it.”

“What was the job in DC?” Something Claire had said nagged at her. Something about Paul having a great idea people were interested in.

“Not worth talking about.” He uncrossed his legs and drew his feet in. “So that’s my story.”

“You did an incredible thing for your brother. And for Eric.”

He shook his head. “I’ve been lucky to be a part of Eric’s life. I forgot to say thank you for today. He couldn’t wait to show his father his portrait by the famous artist.”

She decided not to point out he’d been too angry to express his gratitude earlier. “I keep thinking that’s what you must have been like at age ten.” She raised her eyes to his, trying to communicate some of the emotion roiling around inside her.

“You don’t have to look at me like that,” he said, chucking her under the chin. “I’m not fishing for sympathy.”

Julia was still trying to fit all the things she knew about Paul into this new framework. “If your brother’s in AA, doesn’t he have a chance of getting better?”

He laced his fingers with hers. “You may believe that whisper horse of yours can be turned into a model citizen, but it’s my experience that people don’t change in significant ways. I want Eric to have his father, so I have to be around to make sure Jimmy stays on the straight and narrow.”