Nothing compared to the ones that were invisible, the ones that were buried beneath his skin.
She cleared her throat and motioned to her kids. "We're here for the summer."
"The entire summer," he replied, not bothering to hide his displeasure.
Wariness crept into her eyes and he could tell that she didn't like his tone. "Is that a problem?" she asked, chin high as she gazed up at him.
Damn right it was.
"No," he said, glaring at the trio that now stared at him as if he had a third nipple or something.
"Oh. Well. That's a relief." Her sarcasm was heavy and Teague's scowl deepened. The whiskey was looking better and better.
"Look, I'm here for some R&R. That's all. So if you and your husband could keep a lid on your kids, I'd appreciate it. I don't think that's too much to ask."
"My daddy's in heaven," the little girl blurted.
His eyes darted to the kids. Shit.
Her brother nodded vigorously. "He's an angel and mommy says he watches over us all the time. Like every single second so he always knows when we do something we're not supposed to."
Startled, Teague didn't know what to say. He glanced back to the woman, unease settling in his gut as she gathered up her children and took the puppy from her daughter.
"Don't worry about me or Morgan and Harry," Sabrina said. "I only came over to check on you because Jack asked me to. I won't be back."
She was upset. He could tell.
"Look, ah … "
She nailed him with a look that was cold as hell. "Sabrina."
Right. "Sabrina. I ah … your husband." Wow. He was making a mess of this. "I'm sorry about … I didn't know."
Okay. He should just shut the hell up. Teague took a couple steps back and swore when he nearly fell over the side of the stupid Adirondack chair he'd vacated moments earlier.
He was tired. Anxious. More than a little on edge. And he sure as hell didn't want to deal with any of this. Not the kids or their damn dog, and certainly not their mother. He glared across the deck at the invaders. He wanted to be alone. That was it. End of story.
Once more Sabrina Campbell nudged her kids in the opposite direction, but paused before following them around the side of the house and the down the stairs leading to ground level.
"I'll make sure the kids don't bother you again."
"That's not what I meant." But his reply was weak and he knew it.
"Yes it was but it's fine. I get that you're going through stuff. I get that you need to be alone. I get that you don't want to hear my kids or the dog. Trust me. I get it. I've been there. But you don't have to be rude."
She took another step away from him.
"Also? We wear clothes up here and those boxers don't really cut it. I don't need my daughter telling my mother-in-law about the half-naked man living beside us because if she comes up here, you'll never get any of that peace and quiet you want." She shook her head. "And neither will I."
Sabrina disappeared from sight and for a few moments Teague was silent, his eyes staring into space before dropping down to the white sports briefs he wore.
With a sigh, he headed inside. Sabrina Campbell wasn't a fan of his choice of underwear. Huh. For whatever reason that thought brought a ghost of a smile to his face.
Though the smile faded almost as soon as the thought fled. Teague stripped and walked into the shower, letting the water slide over him until it ran cold.
And for a few moments, he forgot about everything.
Chapter Two
Sabrina Campbell's head felt as if it was going to explode. Seriously. Could this day be over already? It was almost dinnertime and she'd just now made it to the grocery store. It had taken her more hours than she cared for to unpack and organize their things-partly because there was a lot, but mostly because she couldn't seem to focus on any one thing.
With two energetic kids running around, focus was something she needed to work on. Good God, she'd had to tell Harry at least five times not to wander over to the cottage next door. Teague Simon was someone she had no desire to tangle with anytime soon and he'd made it more than clear that he wanted nothing to do with her or her kids.
She scowled at the thought and her cheeks flushed with anger. Who the hell did he think he was anyway? She'd only been doing his brother Jack a favor.
"Whatever," she muttered.
"Can we get these?"
She glanced at her son and frowned, shaking her head and reaching for the bag of chips that he clutched in his hands.
"But, mommy they're my favorite ones. I love pickles." Harry's fingers tightened around the bag and he stared up at her with eyes so much like Brent's that it made her heart ache.. With long curls hanging over his left brow and a mouth that was full and rosy, he looked like an angel. "Daddy used to buy them for me."
Daddy . One word that could bring her to her knees. One word that still hurt like hell.
She paused, muscles tight across her shoulders, and had to take a few moments because she thought that just maybe she was going to lose it. And Sabrina Campbell couldn't afford to lose it. No way. Especially not in the grocery store. Old Mrs. Leads still worked the express cash and all Sabrina needed was for the woman to report back to Sabrina's mother-in-law. If that happened the peace she so desperately needed would be lost.
Hazards of a small resort town where everybody knew everyone.
"Harry," she began calmly, smiling at an elderly man who nudged past them. "We already have enough junk food to last us weeks."
"But I want these ones," he said, thrusting out his chin.
"Fine," she replied. "Then we'll have to put something else back."
"Okay." Harry shrugged. "Let's put back the Cheetos."
That almost got a smile out of her. "But those are Morgan's favorite."
Harry shook his head. "Not really. She likes these ones too."
With a sigh Sabrina rooted through the full shopping cart until she found the bag of plain potato chips. "Put these back Harry."
"But I like those with the dip."
Pain spliced across her forehead and she counted to three. "Harry," she said softly-dangerously so.
"But-"
"Put the plain chips back or you get nothing."
This time her tone was sharp and when his bottom lip trembled a bit, she felt like crap, but dammit, was it too much to ask for them to get through their grocery order quickly so she could get back to the cottage? All she wanted was a quiet night on the sofa with a book she'd pretend to read and a glass of wine to calm her nerves.
She watched Harry march across the aisle and place the plain potato chips back on the shelf before returning to her side and putting his precious dill pickle chips on top of everything else.
"Are we done?" he asked, eyes downcast. "I'm hungry."
She blew out a long breath, tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and ran a critical eye over her cart. "I think so." If she forgot anything, a quick trip back to town in the morning was a better idea than spending one more minute here tonight.
"Let's go."
Sabrina glanced behind her and then darted a look back to Harry. "Where's your sister?"
He looked behind Sabrina and pointed. "She was right there looking at the cookies."
Irritated, tired, and now a little anxious, Sabrina pushed her cart forward. "Let's find her and go home. I'll get takeout from Burger Mania. Sound good?"
Harry said something, but Sabrina wasn't exactly sure what it was because as she rounded the end of the aisle and went down the next one, her anxiety mounted. Morgan was nowhere in sight. She continued past the rice and pasta aisle and turned down the next one. Again, no Morgan.
Trying not to panic, she increased her speed, whispering fiercely at Harry to keep up. Her heart was beating erratically, like a drum-thump, thump, thump-and as a wash of heat rolled over her, she leaned into her grocery cart because she felt dizzy.
Oh my god! Where is she?
Sabrina squeezed her eyes shut for a second, desperately trying to blot out the nightmare she'd been having off and on since Brent passed away. The fear of losing her children-the fear of being alone-made her gag and with a strangled grunt she broke out into a jog and pushed her cart toward the dairy aisle, eyes wild as she continued forward.
What if someone had snatched her precious Morgan while she was arguing with Harry over a stupid bag of chips?
"Morgan," she whispered fiercely, eyeing a young couple a few feet away. "Have you seen a little girl? Dark braids and blue eyes?" she asked. "She's wearing a Spiderman T-shirt?" They shook their heads and she didn't bother to reply as she raced toward the produce aisle. If Morgan wasn't there, she didn't know what the hell she'd do.
"Mommy," Harry shouted, trying to keep up.
"Not now," she snapped.
The elderly man she'd seen earlier was bent over a bushel of tomatoes and a bunch of teenagers were nearby, gathered around the apples and oranges. A couple of the girls kept glancing to their right, elbowing each other and giggling. Sabrina followed their gaze and spied Teague Simon.