“If Hank shows up, I’m letting you explain to him about who fired that shot. Shit. Look at the yard.”
Unsurprised, Charity noted the white streamers of toilet paper hanging from the old oak trees as they walked out in their front yard to inspect the damage. When Justin aimed the flashlight at the house, she could see the egg shells littering the grass and sidewalk and the slimy mess running down the windows and siding.
“What the fuck?” Justin growled.
Charity grabbed a wad of the toilet paper and wiped most of the egg from his bulky chest and hair, and then swiped up the egg shell mess from their entryway and sighed. “Some things never change.”
“What?”
“Jealous girls.” She turned on the water faucet and directed a stream of water at the house, hoping to wash away the egg before it dried.
“I don’t understand,” he said as he handed her the flashlight and took the hose from her.
She pointed the light for him and he sprayed the walls as she explained. “I’ve thought something was up for the last few days.”
“With who?”
“Your daughter.”
“Justine? She was fine when she left with Beau earlier.”
“You haven’t noticed the way she moons around the house lately?”
“No.”
Charity chuckled. Men are so oblivious sometimes. “I’d bet my new leather jacket that a boy is interested in Justine.” She turned the flashlight toward the tree nearest her and began tugging at the toilet paper. “What a waste.” They’d papered the trees heavily before starting in with the eggs.
“Explain, please.”
“I think a boy may be interested in your daughter. This was a message from one of those girls. I’d bet money on it.” Teenaged girls could be every bit as possessive as their male counterparts.
“Justine isn’t the type to go after a boy…is she?” Justin turned his gaze to hers. The dismay on his face made Charity smile.
“No, babe. She’s not. She keeps her feelings hidden, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have them.”
His reply was a soft, “Oh.”
After shutting off the faucet, he turned to help her with the mess festooned in the trees and she said, “She’s seventeen, Justin.” What she didn’t say was that they’d dodged this bullet longer than some parents. “She’s the same age we were the first time we made love.”
“La-la-la-la-la-la. Can’t hear you,” he blurted and she snickered at the way he shuddered.
“Just sayin’.”
After a minute, he said, “She’s more beautiful every time I look at her. A boy likes her?”
“I think so.”
“Did she talk to you?”
“I’ve been working up to it,” she said, dodging a long streamer as it descended to the ground. “You have to be careful about how you approach Justine or she clams up. Sometimes she needs a push to get her to share what’s on her mind.”
Justin chuckled. “She’s like her mom in that regard…sometimes.”
Charity smacked his ass lightly, enjoying the firm bounce of his muscular butt cheek through the baggy knit pajama bottoms, and said, “Hey, I’ve gotten much better at voicing my needs over the years.”
He growled softly and replied, “And your wants, too. Although I think you still have a little work to do.”
Charity turned to him. “You know, you really are my fantasy come true, babe. I love you more than anything.”
He grabbed up piles of toilet paper and consolidated them into a big heap. “We’re both different people now and I just want to make sure you get what you want.”
Definitely different. She was older. Wiser. And her body was older, too. She was the mom of two teenagers and had been married for over twenty years. There was a reason some fantasies had to stay that way, because she doubted she’d find the kind of happiness that her sister, Grace, had with her men. Some men could share. Some could not. There was no way she’d risk the very real happiness and love she had in her marriage to Justin. He was it for her. She ignored the little voice in her head whispering that Grace and her men were proof that love multiplied. It didn’t divide.
Chapter Three
Val felt like hell, sitting next to his cousin, Ransome, at the bar in the Dancing Pony. Charity, Grace, and a number of their friends had arrived twenty minutes before. After greeting him and Ransome, she’d taken a seat with her friends and now they were all moving toward the dance floor as “I’m The Only One” by Melissa Etheridge began to play. One of the girls had to have special requested that from the DJ because he hadn’t heard that song in forever.