Snowfall on Haven Point(70)

How the hell had that happened?

And what was he supposed to do about it now?

He was still reeling from that and trying to figure out a way out of the mess when another huge complication in his life showed up in the form of Louise and Herm Jacobs and their grandson.

His heart pounded at the sight of his son, who looked sullen and angry with a stocking cap pulled almost over his eyes.

“Sorry we’re so late,” Herm Jacobs said. He shook Mike’s hand and Louise kissed Charlene’s cheek. “Somebody didn’t come home when he was supposed to and didn’t answer his cell phone, either.”

“I was at a friend’s house,” Christopher snapped. “What’s the big deal? It’s not like we were shooting heroin or something. We were watching a movie.”

If Marshall had the right to step in, he would have said it was rude and disrespectful for Christopher not to let his grandparents know where he was and to ignore his phone when they tried to reach him. That was the thing he should say as the boy’s father—if he were in a position to step up, anyway.

His whole life suddenly felt like a tangled knot of Christmas lights wrapped around tinsel and tied up with fraying ribbon.

“You’re here now—that’s the important thing,” Marshall’s mother said with a cheery smile. “The parade has only been under way for about ten minutes, so there’s plenty more to see. Grab a chair. We’ve put warmers on all of them, so they should be a little more bearable.”

To make room, Andrea gestured for Chloe to come sit on her lap as well, tucking her in beside Will. As a result, Christopher ended up sitting next to Marshall.

“This is lame,” Christopher muttered. He slouched in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t get why everyone makes such a deal about sitting out in the cold and watching a bunch of stupid boats.”

“It’s more about the sense of community and being with friends and family.”

“I was with my friends, until the geezers showed up and dragged me away.”

It would be tough on any kid to lose his mother and be forced to move in with grandparents he apparently didn’t know well. That didn’t give him the right to be disrespectful.

“If you previously had plans with your grandparents,” he said mildly, “it was kind of lame to leave them hanging like that, worried about you and not knowing where you were.”

Christopher glowered at him. “I was going to call them,” he muttered.

Marshall hesitated. He didn’t want to risk the fledgling relationship he was starting to establish with Christopher, but he couldn’t stand by and let the kid mistreat the only two people who had his back right now.

“None of this is your grandparents’ fault. I know they make a convenient target for your grief and anger, but that’s not really fair, is it?”

Christopher glared at him. “Mind your own business, cop,” he snarled. “You don’t know anything about it.”

The kid slumped even farther in the chair and pointedly looked out at the water, every inch of him radiating pissed-off teenager.

Marshall sighed, thinking he should have kept his mouth shut. “You’re right. I don’t know how you feel. I lost my dad earlier this year and miss him like crazy, but I was an adult. It’s not the same thing at all.”

He thought of John Bailey and how his father would reach out to this hurting young man. He had no doubt whatsoever his father would try—of course he would. Just as he had stepped up to help Cade Emmett when Cade was about the same age as Christopher.

Marshall and Cade had been in the same grade, but he had hardly known the other boy. They certainly hadn’t been friends. Marsh had been a little afraid of him, actually.

The Emmetts were a wild, lawless bunch. Cade didn’t seem to have any respect for rules, for teachers, for other people’s property.

John had seen something in him—probably his devoted care to his younger brothers—and had enlisted Marshall to help him show Cade a different way. His father had somehow persuaded Marsh to invite Cade to their house to hang out after school one day and then the next and the next. Before he knew it, he and Cade had been inseparable and had formed a bond that endured to this day.

John would have tried to help this boy, too, whether Christopher was his acknowledged grandson or not. Marshall had to do the same. A paternity test might make things more clear-cut, but even without it, he still had to do what he could.

“You know, your grandparents are good people who love you.”

Christopher’s jaw jutted out. “Then maybe they should stop trying to tell me what to do every freaking minute of my life.”