people are like family to me.”
He looked instantly taken aback. “I would never.”
He probably wouldn’t.
A man like him would have impeccable manners.
He didn’t have to try to make most people feel inferior; it was a natural byproduct of being near someone who had been born with too much of…well, everything.
“Just try to look a little less- pompous.”
One eyebrow rose.
Before moving forward, Lil added, “Aaron isn’t like you. He’s…” she hesitated.
“Don’t stop there; I’m dying to know what he is that I’m not.”
“Sensitive.” Aaron would cringe if he heard her describe him that way, and perhaps the years had toughened his exterior, but to her he would always be the sixth grade boy whose pride had often been crushed when he’d been the last child chosen for a recess kickball team.
Just as he’d never let her live down how she’d once socked a boy in the nose for teasing him about not being athletic. Or how, despite Aaron trying to soften her position, she’d remained unrepentant even when brought before the Principal. Lil had always believed that bullies should get what they deserved- thus perpetuating what Abby called her inability to respect authority figures.
She did respect them; she just didn’t feel that they were infallible.
Sometimes requesting assistance from those in charge simply moved the abuse to somewhere more private. Some things were better addressed head on and handled yourself. That philosophy had gotten her suspended from school more than once and cost her several jobs.
It had also been why she’d been dubbed the “geek squad’s mascot” in the public high school she’d attended. She never understood why academic excellence had equated to social suicide in the very place where education should have been valued the most. Young men and women who would likely one day run their own companies had hidden in bathrooms instead of risking public degradation at the hands of those who worshipped good looks and huge biceps.
That’s how it had been until Lil’s freshman year when she’d had gone nose to nose with a beefed up hockey player over something he’d said about the Math Team winning a regional competition. Lil might not have intervened had the offender not accentuated his comment with a wet napkin assault to the other boy’s head as he passed his table.
When Lil suggested that he stop, he’d asked her why she cared and if she were sleeping with one of those man-girls.
And she’d slapped him clean across the face.
He’d leaned down and growled, “You’re lucky you’re a girl.”
She’d growled right back, “So are you.”
If only her moment of valor hadn’t been witnessed by two supervising teachers who’d cared only that she’d “laid her hands” on another student. The full story had also failed to impress either the Principal or Abby.
It had, however, inspired “the geek squad.”
If Lil could survive an altercation with the ruling Neanderthal, they could at least claim one table as their own in the cafeteria and hold that ground. And they had.
Abby remembered those years as Lil’s most difficult times.
Lil considered them a victorious battleground on which many lifelong friendships had been forged. With age, she’d learned to use her wit rather than her hands, but she’d never quite mastered keeping her opinion to herself, an affliction that she now saw came at a cost. She hadn’t been accepted to any of the art schools she’d applied to. Apparently, her noble intentions didn’t excuse repeated suspensions. She could have gone to a community college, but she’d been too proud.
Pride also came with a cost. It had left her in a frustrating limbo-neither working toward her dreams nor choosing new ones. A situation she’d accepted when it had been only her, but Colby deserved better. Luckily the administrative school she was now close to graduating from had decided to give her a chance to prove that she had changed.
“I have no intention of offending your friend.” Jake’s words jolted Lil back to the present. In truth, Jake had neither said nor done anything that suggested that he would.
Old protective habits die hard.
“Good, because he’s extremely intelligent and will make a fantastic lawyer when he finally gets a chance. His mom thinks this will help him.”
“He lives with his-”
Lil bristled and spat, “See, he doesn’t need that. Not everyone was born into money like you were. He had to work to pay his way through college. He has helped his mother pay the mortgage since his father passed away a few years ago. He’s been offered jobs that he hasn’t accepted because he doesn’t think she’ll be able to keep this house up on her own. He has nothing to be ashamed of.”
Jake inclined his head in concession to her point.
The door swung open and Mrs. Lawson came out onto the porch. She removed the apron from around her waist and laid it across the railing of the porch before reaching out to hug Lil. “Lil!” She swept Colby out of Lil’s arms even as she asked, “May I?”
Lil smiled. “That’s why I took her out of her seat. I knew you’d want to hold her.” Thankfully, some things hadn’t changed. Mrs. Lawson still dressed like a TV sitcom mother from the fifties. Her gray hair was perfectly styled in a loose bun and her makeup had been carefully applied even though she likely had nowhere to go that day.
She held Colby up to her face, made her laugh by making a few silly noises and announced, “She’s beautiful, Lil. I can’t believe how big she has gotten.” Then, not relinquishing the baby yet, she turned to Jake and offered her hand in greeting. Jake shook her hand and she said, “Hello, handsome, my name is Ester.” Then she smiled at Lil. “So, this is the reason you won’t marry my son? Can’t say I blame you.”
“Mrs. Lawson!”
“What?” She winked at Jake and said. “I’m sixty-seven, not dead.”
Jake charmed her with a smile he’d never shown Lil. “I would have guessed forty.”
“If I were forty, Lil would be a fool to introduce us. Men like you don’t come around every day.”
Lil groaned.
The last thing Jake’s ego needed was encouragement.
Mrs. Lawson said, “Oh, I’m just teasing. You should see your face, Lil. When did you get so serious? Come on in! Aaron is printing the document for you upstairs in his room. Go on up, I’ll show Colby our fish tank.”
Lil led the way, each step bringing back another memory from practically growing up in this house. Mrs. Lawson credited Lil with helping Aaron through high school, but the truth was that the same could be said in reverse. This home had been her safe haven when fights had escalated between Abby and her.
It wasn’t that Abby had ever done anything unforgivably wrong. Worse, it was how she’d always done everything perfectly right that had set sister against sister. No one could live up to her expectations. At least, Lil couldn’t. And when Lil had grown tired of trying to be right, she’d found temporary enjoyment in being blatantly wrong. Most of it had been for show, never more than an attitude or a friendship Abby didn’t approve of
He’d been a mistake Abby had warned her about from the first time she’d met him, but Lil hadn’t listened. She’d thought she was in love, but she saw now how little she’d really known about that condition.
Dirk had been all sex and no substance. He’d wanted her and to get her he’d been willing to say the four letter word that she’d longed to hear. He’d said it often and lavishly. He’d said it as much as it took to keep her coming back to him.
He just hadn’t said it the night she’d told him that she was pregnant.
No, that night he hadn’t said much of anything. Which was why pride and anger had spurred her to offer him an out; one that he’d taken and never looked back.
Jake was probably doing her a huge favor by not being attracted to her. The last thing she needed was a man right now. She needed to finish school, get a job, and focus on being a good mom.
Jake wasn’t a villain. In fact, when she’d needed him to get her to Abby’s side, he had helped her without
