The kids' stepdad wouldn't go through with his threats to try and gain custody of Jess and Travis.
Stubbing out his cigarette, he slowly walked back inside to his life. A life that ticked inside of him like a bomb about ready to explode.
Chapter 2Joey
ANOTHER ENVELOPE DROPPED through the slot on the front door and landed on the floor. Joey reached over and turned on the boombox, needing some Whitesnake to clear her mind and muffle the outside noises. Even the slight click of the flap on the slot distracted her from adding the columns in the ledger.
She hated the end of the month. Every tenant waited until the thirtieth to walk by her apartment and pay their rent, which caused her to cram doing the records. Plus, the huge electricity and water bill for the complex was due tomorrow, and she'd need to finish tallying the income and drop off checks at the appropriate companies in the morning.
Once she had the small profit from owning the apartments in her savings, she could see how close she was to hiring a contractor to restore the four apartments in Unit C that were left unusable after a kitchen fire broke out six years ago.
But first, she would concentrate on earning enough money on her own to enter the Blackfoot Pool Tournament at the end of the year.
The ten-thousand-dollar entry fee was too hefty for her to save from her small income from the apartments. Besides, business and gambling should never mix.
She entered the pool games at the local bar every week in the chance she'd win the money, but that wasn't always possible. All it took was an off-night for her to lose.
Not wanting to get her hopes up in case she had a bad night and lost money instead of making her savings account fuller, she finished writing the rent payments in the book and got up to collect the one on the floor.
She bent over, and someone rang the doorbell. Peeking through the peephole, she spotted a young girl.
Opening the door, she smiled. "Hello?"
The girl held out a check. "My dad left a note telling me to bring this down to the manager. You're the manager, right?"
"I am." She glanced at the name on the check.
Wyatt Carr. Recognizing the name of the sexy man in B5 who rode a motorcycle and often had a toolbelt on when he came home in the evenings, she looked back at the girl. She had no idea he had a daughter. Or that he was married. Oops.
"I'm Joey." She smiled. "Does your dad want a receipt?"
"Um, I don't know."
Most tenants never waited for proof they'd paid, knowing they could see if the check returned with their statements instead. Curious about Wyatt Carr's daughter, she said, "How about I give you one in case he does? If not, he can toss it in the garbage."
"Okay."
"It'll only take a few seconds." She walked back to the table off of her kitchen, staying in view of the door. "You can come in or wait out there."
The girl walked inside, looking around the open room. "It looks the same as Dad's apartment."
"Except, I have three bedrooms." Seeing the girl crane her neck to look down the hall, she said, "You can peek if you want."
"No." The girl paused. "I'm Jess. Jessica Carr."
"It's nice to meet you. I go by a shortened version of my name, too. I'm really Joelynn, but everyone calls me Joey." She quickly wrote out a receipt and stood. "Here you go."
"Do you live here by yourself?" Jess's brown gaze flickered over to a picture on the wall.
"I do now." She looked at the photo of her at age six, standing beside her hero. "My grandpa owned the apartments until six months ago."
"What happened six months ago?"
"He passed away." A chill came over her, and she rubbed her arms.
The best times of her life were spent right here. Every summer, her mom allowed her to come to Montana and spend it helping her grandpa. It was a far cry from city life in Portland.
"My mom died four days ago," whispered Jess. "I live with my dad now."
Unsure if she heard her correctly, she lost her thought. Taking the time to grasp what Jess shared, Joey became aware of the sadness hanging on to the girl's expression. The brown eyes dulled by the swelling of her eyelids. The slight tremor of her chin, she tried hard to stop.
Her heart went out to the girl. She couldn't imagine losing her mom.
"I'm sorry," she said softly.
Jess shrugged and sniffed, trying to cover her pain. Tears flooded Joey's vision, and she blinked to keep herself from making matters worse for the girl.
"Jess!" A boy ran past the open door, backtracked, and barged in, yelling, "Where were you?"
"Right here," said Jess.
"You weren't supposed to leave me alone." The boy fisted his hands and glared. "Dad told you."
Taken aback by the uninvited company, she gawked. Not that she minded kids coming inside the apartment but that the boy was the spitting image of his dad. From the unruly dark hair hanging in the boy's eyes to the squared shoulders that hadn't reached their full size yet.
"Dad told me to pay the rent. That's what I was doing." Jess grabbed the boy's sleeve. "Come on."
Joey followed them to the door, watching them argue back and forth as she imagined siblings would do as they walked back to their dad's apartment. Leaning against the doorframe, she pressed her hand to her chest. They were so young to lose a parent.
Her heart went out to them. Losing her grandpa was her first and only experience she had to someone close to her dying. The sadness only softened by the fact her grandpa had reached eighty-three years old and had lived a full life. He'd died quickly from a heart attack. There was no suffering.
Once
