Only In His Sweetest Dreams(41)

“And the condom broke?” she said, maintaining what little honor he was trying to salvage.

“Latex is no match for my little warriors.” He shook his head. “I wish we’d met five years ago when you were trying to get pregnant. Guaranteed results or your money back.” He stopped and brought her hand to his shoulder, left it against his neck so he could splay his hands around her waist.

She felt the corners of her mouth weighing down. “It infuriates me that it’s so easy for some people. Like my sister. Yet I was pretty much doomed from the get-go.”

“Oh, Merce, I want things to be different.” He closed his arms around her, pulling her tight against him.

She rested her forehead against his jaw, swallowing back the press of tears.

He squeezed the breath from her. “Come with me,” he said.

“I can’t. You know I can’t. Not with the kids. They’re confused enough. To uproot them again...”

He eased his hold on her and sighed. “And you won’t ask me to stay. Not again.”

“Do you want me to?” she asked, not sure what answer she wanted to hear.

L.C. chuckled softly and tucked her head beneath his chin again. “Don’t even tease me with that one, M. I want to be where I can see Lindsay every day. Of course I do. Deep down I always have. My staying away was Brit’s idea first and then it was just easier for me to be Lone Coyote Fogarty than it is to be Lyle Cock-up Fogarty.”

“You’re so hard on yourself.” She switched her arms to around his waist, tracing the indent of his spine through his T-shirt.

“You want to know what I’d say if you asked me to stay? I’d say you wouldn’t be able to live with a man who chose her over his daughter. Would you?”

She tucked her head against his chest, very close to admitting she would always love him, no matter what.

“No,” he said, as if she had agreed with him. “And the truth is, the way you’ve taken in Ayjia and Dayton, that’s one of the reasons—” His arms tightened and he said, “Ah, fuck it. I love you, M.”

“Oh.” The words went into her like a hook, hot and piercing, but sweet, too. Locking them together with something indelible.

“I’m a son of a bitch for saying it now, like this, when I’m leaving. But I can’t leave my own kid wondering where the hell her parent is when I see how hard it is on Dayton and Ayjia.”

She nodded, tightening the arms that were already squeezing his waist, holding onto him hard, so hard and long.

They stood like that for minutes, until her muscles protested, but she didn’t want to release him, didn’t want him to ease up his crushing embrace of hard arms around her.

Finally they had to, both letting out a pained hiss of a breath as they let the tension dissipate and just leaned against one another.

“Maybe when you finally sort things out with your sister, and the kids aren’t an issue, maybe then you’ll come see me?”

“Maybe,” she said, catching her breath as he squeezed her again, his hug so tight he lifted her off her feet. It hurt a little, crushing her ribs, but she didn’t care. She never wanted him to let her go.



“Is L.C. and Zack leaving?” Ayjia asked a few afternoons later.

L.C. and Dayton were due back from Mrs. Garvey’s any minute. Mercedes was chopping vegetables for a salad, but Ayjia’s question had her reaching for a tea towel to dry her hands.

Paige and Sterling had left the day after the big dinner, and even though Mercedes and L.C. hadn’t spoken a lot about his impending departure, the kids were too astute to miss it.

“Do you remember when I first brought you here, and we talked about how Zack had to work here because he and his friends had made some very bad choices? That it was kind of like he was in time out?”

“Uh, huh.” Her wide eyes tilted up, dark and serious.

“Well, Zack has finished his work. He’s finished being in his time out and he’s finished at school, so he’s going back to the town where he grew up, where his mom and Lindsay live. L.C. wants to go with him because he used to live there and he wants to be able to see Lindsay.”

“I like Lindsay,” Ayjia said, lowering her gaze while the corners of her mouth grew heavy.

“I like Lindsay, too. I like all of L.C.’s relatives.” Paige had called Mercedes once she’d reached home, apologizing again for any ‘awkwardness’ she might have caused. They had wound up talking for half an hour about everything and nothing.

Ayjia hiccupped and used the heel of her hand to scrub beneath her eye. “I don’t want them to go.”

“Oh, sweetie,” Mercedes said, kneeling beside her and pulling her little body into her lap. “I know.” Mercedes rocked her.

The door opened.

Dayton came in, L.C. leaning in behind him.

“What happened?” Dayton asked, while L.C.’s frown repeated the question.

“Ayjia’s feeling sad,” Mercedes said and half-smiled at L.C. Good thing she hadn’t become involved with him and made this hard on the kids.



At the sound of a knock on her door, a zing of near-panic shot through Edith’s veins. Edward was early and she was still dithering over what one should wear to a display of hand-made quilts.

She glanced down at the plebian sweater set and skirt she’d been wearing all day. It was perfectly serviceable, and it wasn’t as though she wanted to make more of this invitation than he may have intended. After all, he’d been almost apologetic when he’d suggested she accompany him.

“Patty’s best friend runs it,” he had said. “I’ve been helping sell raffle tickets for years. It means sitting at the desk for an hour. Maybe quilts aren’t your thing. I’ve noticed over the years, however, that most women seem to enjoy looking at them.”

Not much of a seamstress herself, Edith imagined temporary insanity had prompted her to agree. Now she wasn’t even ready on time.

However, it wasn’t Edward on the other side of the door.

“L.C.,” she said with surprise.

“Mrs. Garvey.” He held a wooden box of some sort. “A thank you gift, for all your lessons. I, uh, found a place where I can take the exam as soon as I get back home so I should have my GED within a few weeks.” He nodded at the box. “This is for your newspapers. You said you like to keep them a few days but don’t like them stacking up. I thought this might work in the corner behind the kitchen table.”

“That was weeks ago I said that.” She stood back to let him in, blushing because she had thought last night, as he was leaving with Dayton, that she would prepare a parting gift for him. Then Mr. Hilroy had come by to return a book and had issued his invitation. She had promptly forgotten about L.C.’s impending departure. How inconsiderate of her.

“It’s a little heavy,” L.C. apologized as he set the box in place. “But it’s all tricked out with twine. See?” He lifted the lid to show her. “You string it through before you fill it, then when it’s full, the twine’s already in place. You tie it off and pack out the papers.”

“How ingenious.”

He shrugged. “I printed the plans from a do-it-yourself site. If you decide it’s too bulky or whatever, Mercedes said she could use it in the lounge.”

“No, no, it’s quite suitable.” Suitable. Such a prudish word. No wonder people rolled their eyes at her. “I’m delighted, sir,” she said, clearing her throat of the very real emotion that suddenly clogged it. “And embarrassed. I intended to wrap this for you and walk it down last night, but I’ve been...” Twittering like a pre-teen.

She retrieved the style book that had belonged to her mother.

“Oh, no, really,” L.C. protested. “It’s a nice gesture, but not necessary. This was...” He waved at the newspaper box. “Well, I just wanted to say thank you. I’ve learned way more from you in the last month than I ever did in school.”

“Yes, well, you still have more to master. I’d like you to accept this.”

“No, really. That book’s really special to you.”

“It is. That’s why I’d like you to have it.” She continued to hold it out, even though her arm was growing tired. “I know we started off on the wrong foot, L.C., but you’ve taught me a few things as well. Please, take this book.”

His mouth pinched with sudden emotion. He lowered his gaze, gently accepting the book. “Thank you. I’ll take good care of it.”

“I know,” she said and wanted to tell him she would miss him and his stubborn determination to master language arts. “You’ve been an excellent pupil,” she said instead. “It’s been an honor to teach you.”



“Will you come see us?” Ayjia asked as L.C. and Zack finished packing the truck.

L.C. exchanged a look with Mercedes, wondering how she wanted him to answer that one. She didn’t say anything, so he went with honesty. “I’ll try, but Zack’s Uncle Sterling has a job for me, and I need to build a house for myself from scratch.”

“That means he has to start with plain land and buy the wood from the lumberyard, sweetie,” Mercedes said with a ruffle of the girl’s hair. “Instead of fixing a house that’s already built like this one was.”