Passion in Bloom (Hometown Heartstrings #2)

Chapter 18

Roarke

T here wasn’t much I could do to salvage my home. Damn near everything was wet. Or damp. Or slightly sprayed upon that it would be hell to clean up.

Most of my clothes were a soggy mess, since my closet was close to the bathroom door. Ironically, I had one basket of clean laundry that I had procrastinated putting away, and those were dry and good to go.

My dresser was no help since there was a gap between the drawers and the frame, so many things folded and stored in there were wet too.

Heather’s cabin was smaller than mine, so it wouldn’t have made sense to bring over too much. Staying over at her place was a temporary fix, but I had no clue how temporary.

Things were shifting and changing between me and Heather at warp speed. Earlier, she’d seemed so peeved and ready to tell me off for interfering between her and David. Then we caved to have sex. And now I was moving in with her for the night. Or two.

There was absolutely no way my cabin would be dried out after forty-eight hours. I doubted it would be livable any time after that either. The wood would rot. The walls would mold. Carpet had to be hauled out. Subfloors would need to be aired out. Cabinets removed and replaced.

The list would go on and on. Even if Todd or any of the Grand River owners would want to replace this cabin with another, I was looking an extensive reno or rebuild.

I couldn’t expect Heather to put up me that long. I didn’t count on her to. I was still, as I shoved things into an old duffle bag, shocked that she’d stepped up to let me stay at her cabin instead of another empty one that was likely filthy.

This one-eighty that she showing me seemed like a dream coming true. That she was easing up and lowering her guard to not be so combative with me and eager to push me away.

But to just jump into living together? I strongly doubted that would happen.

I had realistic goals here. Having her kiss me was a good start. Falling into bed felt like another step in the right direction as well. But I had to keep my wits with this offer to stay at her place.

Once I got things as settled as I could at my drenched cabin, I left to go to hers. I locked up, smirking with a wry sense of ironic humor that my niece wouldn’t be trying to sneak in here. Nothing of value to steal. No dry couch to rest on. The damn fridge was toast, too, with an exposed wire getting wet behind it. The old appliance was unplugged for good, it seemed, too old to fix.

Shivering still, I got into my truck and drove the short distance to Heather’s cabin.

I hadn’t stalled and taken my time to pack some clothes and essentials that weren’t wet. I couldn’t delay getting to her place, not only because I was a lot happier in her company than I was out of it. But because my niece was there with her.

I wasn’t sure what to make of her looking ill. It was the season for germs to set in and cause issues. Nor was I sure what to make of her wanting to take Heather up on her offer to stay at her place when mine clearly wasn’t an option.

So when I showed up and saw her perky and smiling, standing up straight, I was confused.

She didn’t look ill. She wasn’t leaning over and looking like she’d gag or puke.

What gives?

Heather couldn’t have provided a magical cure-all.

I hadn’t seen Nevaeh look this perky and healthy, so happy and casual, in a long while. She often showed up cranky and upset, like she couldn’t handle all the stress of her life.

What’s going on?

“You look...well,” I commented.

She giggled. Giggled.

I furrowed my brow as she got up to leave. Heather caught my attention and shrugged, seeming confused as well.

“And your lips are turning blue.”

I dropped my duffle bag just inside the front door as Nevaeh started to exit. “Where are you going?”

“Well, I’m outta here. I don’t want to get in the way of you two.”

“Us two?” I asked.

“Um, yeah.” She smiled, too brightly for me to be convinced it was genuine. I hated to be this suspicious of her and think so poorly of her and what she was up to. I didn’t want to assume the worst of her. She was family. Yet, she had a pattern of acting shady.

“Nevaeh,” I said, trying to sound patient. “A half hour ago you looked like you were going to keel over and puke. Again. Where are you rushing off to now?”

She flicked her hand at me dismissively, walking toward her bike. “Oh, I feel fine.”

“You looked miserable before I went to shower,” Heather said.

“Nah. I wasn’t miserable. It was just something I ate that didn’t sit well with me.”

I hated this prickling sensation of skepticism. Something wasn’t adding up with her. Many things weren’t adding up with her. In all the times she’d waltzed in and out of my life, nothing added up. While I wasn’t so old-fashioned to count on her to have a “normal” life with the standard pieces like a job, income, and residence, her flakiness and lack of answers left a lot to wonder about. “Where are you going?” I asked again.

“Just out and about. I’m taking care of myself just fine, Uncie.”

There it was. That singsong nickname she only ever used when she was being sarcastic.

How was I supposed to be convinced that she was taking care of herself when she seldom looked well, when she came and went without rhyme or reason? It didn’t help when stole from me and broke int my place either.

“I feel fine.” Proving what she claimed, she got onto the bike with ease and started pedaling without difficulty.

Heather and I remained right where we were. Like stupefied sentinels. We stood at the front door, watching her until her blue and green streaked hair was gone.

Every other day, she seemed to have the means and funds to dye it.

How?

Where?

I’d never once found any hair coloring products at the cabin.

“What gives?” I asked. That seemed like the bluntest way to ask what was on my mind.

Heather shrugged, gesturing for me to come inside. “Your lips are blue. Go shower and warm up.”

“But what made her feel better like that?” I asked, glad to warm up in the shower.

“I have no clue. I’m just as confused as you are.”

I walked toward her bathroom, and she continued to talk while she tidied up in the kitchenette. All the while, she relayed what happened since Todd dropped her and Nevaeh off here. Her cabin was half the size of mine, only a studio with the bathroom attached, but it was such a small space that we could talk with the bathroom door open.

She shared how Nevaeh wouldn’t really tell her anything. She even went so far as to say that she felt like she needed someone to worry about her. That could’ve been an insult for me, with her implying that I , Nevaeh’s uncle, didn’t care. Of course, I did. She was family. But I’d learned the hard way that I had to provide help in a way that didn’t train her to lean on me and be enabled either.

As I stood under the hot water, warming up from being soaked and in the cold, I interpreted Heather’s comments another way. That she thought Nevaeh had no one because she herself had experienced that—having no one and no support.

I hated that thought. I disliked the idea of anyone not providing for Heather, who would like have been strongly independent her whole life and not a mooch or thief like my niece.

It was too telling that Heather could insist on no help over and over, as though she perceived letting anyone close enough to help as a weakness or flaw. A mistake.

By the time I finished showering, I tried to put aside my worries and concerns—and my confusion—about Nevaeh. I had more immediate problems of my own to solve. If I wanted to be able to offer my niece food or shelter when she deemed it necessary, I wouldn’t even be able to. Sure, I could go to that other cabin. Staying here with Heather had to be a temporary, quickly-thought-of solution.

But I had to wrap my head around the idea of looking for another place to live.

That was how I found myself a half hour later. In bed with Heather, both of us clothed and pressed together to stay warm.

I’d started a search for properties, and that led to her telling me about how shady Jerry was about that apartment she was supposed to rent from him.

“He never bothered you about that, did he?” I asked.

“No. He knew he couldn’t expect me to pay for anything. That’s how Jerry is. All bluster and wanting someone else to make life easier. Unfortunately, he’s not the one in Burton who’s ever been like that.”

Are you speaking about your parents, too? It was hard not to think what Gavin told me about her past. Her mooching and lowlife parents.

“Small towns can look after their own, but some will abuse that generosity.” She frowned, keeping her attention on my phone as I scrolled for listings in the area.

“It that what you think of Nevaeh?”

She shrugged against me. “I feel like I don’t have the whole picture on her.”

So I told her. I opened up about my niece’s past. How she didn’t have great parents but avoided the system. That she was on her own as far as I knew. That she turned down and ignored every approach I took with giving her chances to be responsible. To get in programs for work, school, and housing.

“I never thought I’d be a parent,” I admitted.

“Really?” She looked at me. “Never? Not even when you were married?”

I shook my head. “Not really. Veronica never seemed to have strong opinions either way. She wasn’t the kind of girl to have baby fever. She didn’t care about planning for a family. If anything, I’d bet she never wanted a baby because it would ruin her body and cut into her ability to party and life up a good life.”

“And then she had a baby anyway...”

“Without me.” I grunted a weak laugh. It was odd that talking or thinking about my ex-wife and how she’d cruelly manipulated me didn’t burn so bad right now. With Heather next to me, I felt...safer to let the emotions seep through me and out. “The way she tried to con me about her pregnancy and affair made me less inclined to have a kid too.”

“I hear you. I can’t blame you.”

I glanced at her. “Do you want kids?”

She shrugged. “Well, I’m not old like you—” She laughed when I tickled her. “I’ve got time to think about it yet, but I’ve always thought I might not want to be a mom.”

“Because of your mom?”

She sobered, looking at me closely. “I’m guessing you’ve heard about the James lowlifes...”

I nodded. “A little. Gavin and Marty told me a little.”

She sat up more, focusing on my phone and the realty listing instead of making eye contact. “Yeah. So...yeah. They weren’t the best role models to make me want to have my own family.”

I felt like a quiet but stubborn but was hanging in the back of her mind about that though. I wasn’t going to push or ask. We were not anywhere near a stage to talk about having families. And like she said, she had time to figure out her life.

“Are they why you wanted to leave town so much?”

She nodded, and I felt like it was Christmas morning. Finally, finally , she was letting her guard down.

“I wanted to get away from their reputations. The criticism based on them. I read a lot when I was young, and that was a fictional escape. It wasn’t too hard to start daydreaming about just escaping. To places with new people, strangers to meet, different things to do and learn.”

“Not a lot of opportunity waiting around here,” I agreed.

“And you don’t mind being here?” she asked.

I slid closer to her, draping my arm around her shoulders. “No. I really like being here.” Right here.

She laughed and didn’t try to get away. Instead, she brushed her butt against my groin as she moved and I could spoon her. I kissed the side of her neck as I held my phone out for both of us to see. She dragged her finger on the screen to scroll, sighing and moving her neck to give me access.

I had to focus. I did need to find a place to stay. But with her willing and warm in my arms, I was easily distracted.

“You keep going back to this listing,” she said, stopping on a medium-sized house near Burton.

“Yeah. It catches my eye.”

“Lots of room.”

“Hmm-mmm.” I kissed her soft skin and let her hold the phone as I moved my hand down her side.

“You would just stay here. Work at the ranch, live in a house like that, and be happy?”

“I think I could be.” Especially if you hang around here. “Don’t knock my simple dreams. I don’t want to escape. I already did. I escaped with a shitty divorce and I’m fine with leaving that in my past.”

She sighed, arching her butt toward me as I slipped my hand under the band of her pajama pants. We’d only had sex earlier, for the first time, but it seemed it was the catalyst to make us ravenous for more. Despite the chaos of the flood and Nevaeh, and even this talk about the past, we were drawn to each other.

“The past should stay in the past,” she agreed softly as she put my phone down and rolled toward me.

I kissed her hard, and she tugged at my shirt.

“But I’m not in any position to plan for my future,” she added.

I shook my head, tugging her shirt off and feasting on the sight of her bare tits, those nipples already pebbling. “Then don’t. Haven’t you ever heard the advice to live in the present?”

She grinned, pulling me toward her so we could do just that.

All night long.