Page 56 of Let Me Be the One
“In and out of her life. More out than in.” Thankfully. “There’s an uncle who moved back home and it seems that he takes pleasure in making her life more miserable.Strange that he’s her mother’s brother, but he’s a lot like her dad. Nell told me that there must be something about her that makes men feel that way.”
“You corrected her? I mean, I’m sure you did,” Callie said decisively, as if she didn’t have a single doubt. “You and Kam would treat her with respect.”
He nodded. “Respect, with a little guidance offered up. With her seventeenth birthday around the corner, Nell thinks she’s all grown up and can just take off on her own.” Much as he had at thirteen. Where he’d have ended up without Addie’s help, Tanner couldn’t say. All he knew was that he could do no less for Nell. “It takes some tricky juggling.”
“Firm but kind?”
Sounded like Callie actually got it. “For someone who already feels unwanted, who’s been treated badly most of her life, a single insult can overshadow a dozen compliments. One barb has a way of digging in.”
“And festering,” Callie said softly. “Is that what happened tonight?”
He sat back, already feeling better now that he was getting it off his chest. “The little fool hitchhiked out of town, but got dumped off at a restaurant.” Biting into a cookie gave him a second to tamp down his renewed worry—and to corral the anger that accompanied it. After a drink of milk, he said, “Two guys were coming on heavy and she got spooked.”
“Wow. I’m guessing she had the good sense to call you?”
Using both hands, he rubbed his face. “Yeah.” Fear had hit him first, followed by bone-deep frustration. “I have zero problems helping out, but it’s dicey becauseI’m a grown man and she’s an underage girl, so I can’t just put her in a car alone with me.”
“Not without possibly getting a lot of rumors started.”
“The Garmet brothers already say plenty about me, but if they slandered Nell…” He left that open-ended, because when it came to Dirk and Lang, he never quite knew what he’d do, only that he would absolutely act.
He’d been living with rumors his whole life. He didn’t want the same for Nell.
“I heard them,” she said, as she dunked a cookie into her milk, then ate half in one bite, followed by a drink of milk.
Her appetite amused him. The lady really did love her sugar. “You don’t seem concerned that I’m a murderer.”
“Not in the least.” With a fast smile, she moved past that without asking a single question. No, instead she just finished off her cookie.
Her easy attitude soothed him like a balm. “I went straight to her, of course. The second I walked in, the other men—and they were grown men, the bastards—took off. But then we had to wait for my friend at the halfway house where I…” Well hell. From the start, he should have known that this, too, would get around. Nothing much stayed private in Hoker, and definitely not in his life.
With Callie right next door, she was bound to notice a few things. Like teenagers helping out around the tree farm, and occasionally camping in the yard like a field trip. Educational seminars when he worked on trees. Seasonal outings.
Possibilities, he’d found, were endless when dealingwith young people who craved a little care and attention, as well as a positive outlet for complicated emotions.
“The halfway house where you help out? Where you sponsor?” She switched to the chair next to his so she could rest a hand on his forearm. “Full disclosure, I googled you that first night I was here.”
“I’m not on social media.” He dodged all that as much as he could.
“I know, but you put yourself out there helping others, especially kids, so others have info on you.” Her fingers curled over his arm, then slid down to his wrist. “I saw some photos.”
On occasion, he had to remind himself that Hoker wasn’t all bad. Addie and Kam lived here, and there were a score of other caring people who also stepped up to help kids who were struggling, boys and girls going through hard times in their lives or with their families. Kids who needed a friend. Someone who would listen.
Firming his mouth to keep from making more confessions, Tanner nodded. Beyond that, he wasn’t sure what to say.
“You got Nell somewhere safe?”
That was a question he could answer. “The halfway house for tonight—where she promised to stay until we can sort things out. I reminded her that she didn’t want her grandma upset, so she called her and told her where she was.”
“It’s happened before?”
“Let’s just say social services are aware.”
Callie bit her lip, then leaned in to give him a quick hug. “I’m so sorry. You’d already had that to deal with, then you ran smack dab into the Garmets and all their nonsense.”
What the Garmet brothers dealt out wasn’t nonsense. It was danger. Intrusion. Often a menacing combo of both. Dealing with them had been his pleasure, a way to release some tension. A good old-fashioned brawl would have been even better, but then Addie would have had a fit, and it would have scared Blu, and who knew what Callie would think about it.
So far, most of her reactions were unexpected. “Take my number.”
