Page 3 of Jonny’s Redemption

I was good friends with Jonny’s ex-sister-in-law, Macy. Thus I knew the scandalous story, all of it. Down to Doug being in debt up to his eyeballs with some seriously bad men, kidnapping Macy’s daughter Rory, Doug shooting and killing his father because Mr. Spencer wouldn’t give him money. And ultimately Jonny killing his brother.

Thankfully, Macy was now married to Alec Hall and he was nowhere near evil. As far as I was concerned, the man was a saint. I loved that Macy, Caleb, and Rory now had a good man in their lives. But I loved more that Alec and his daughter Jocelyn had them.

“I’m not sure why you’re telling me all of this. You know I know the story.”

“I don’t think you do,” Miss Lola returned. “I don’t think you know how responsible Jonny felt—still feels. Jonny was the younger brother but he was always taking care of Doug. As long as I can remember- it was Jonny protecting Doug, getting him out of trouble, feeling guilty for how badly Doug behaved. Worried about how folks were whispering behind his parents’ backs. There’s a reason that boy grew up to be police. Some people are just born with it, a need to protect. That’s Jonny all the way back when he was a kid trying to shield his brother, shield his family, shield his mamma from the heartbreak. His whole life Jonny’s been looking out for everyone around him. Time’s come, someone needs to shield him and that’s gonna be you, child.”

I gave up my contemplation of Miss Lola’s quiet street and I shifted in the wicker chair to look at the woman herself. Shrewd hazel eyes stared at me. Her once-blonde hair had long since turned silver. A look I’d spent time hoping I could pull off one day. But right then I wasn’t musing about what I’d look like in thirty years and if I could rock the silver the way Miss Lola did. No, I was squirming under the woman’s heavy examination.

“I’ve chewed on it awhile, thinkin’ on our boy, Jonny, and it has to be you.”

“Miss Lola, I think you have it all wrong.”

“Nope.” She popped the P in nope and shook her head. “Mullin’ on it, I realized that boy’s been waiting on you his whole life, he just don’t know it. But I do. And I bet you ask that Nixon Swagger or my girl’s Jameson they’ll tell you the same. You’re the one. Perfect for him in every way.”

I loved that Miss Lola thought that about me. Loved it with all my heart.

Unfortunately, she was wrong. I wasn’t perfect for him or Jonny would’ve already done something about it.

“I wish that were true but it’s not me—”

“You stop playing games, you’ll see I’m right.”

Me, playing games? I’d practically thrown myself at the man—twice. Once when I first met him and a second time after I’d…no, I wasn’t going to think about the second time. Not only was my ego still bruised but I never allowed myself to think about how close I’d come to dying on the floor of a dirty shack. How close Bent Bromley came to kidnapping Genevieve and killing Holden. How I still woke up in a cold sweat, scared, alone, and scared.

“I’m not playing a game,” I denied. “Jonny knows how I feel.”

Miss Lola made a disapproving clucking sound and I wondered how much she really saw. Probably too much. More than I wanted her to see. Hell, she’d paid more attention to me than my own mother did before she took off. Kathy Layne wasn’t a mom, she wasn’t a momma, and the last thing she had in her was the love of a mommy. Kathy was a mother and that was a loose description of the woman who’d birthed me. For as long as I could remember, she was more interested in a bottle of my daddy’s shine and going out. She hadn’t wanted to be a momma—she had big dreams after all. Big dreams of leaving Kentucky and making something of herself. She was going to leave that holler, and find what she’d been looking for. Not that I knew if she ever found it because she never came back to say.

“You might have everyone else fooled but you’re not fooling me.”

My spine went stiff and fear crept in. If she knew—really knew—who I was she wouldn’t like me for Jonny. But she didn’t know, no one knew. Not even Genevieve, and she was my best friend. And no one would ever know. I’d worked hard to hide who I really was, where I’d come from, who my kin were.

No, Miss Lola didn’t know.

Some of the tension started to ease but searing panic hit me hard when she continued.

“We all have secrets,” she whispered. “Some of us are better at hiding them than others. You hide yours well. But I see you, Roberta. You’re starving for something, girl.”

“Miss Lola—”

“That’s all. That’s all I gotta say about that so you can relax, child. Besides, I’m not the one you gotta talk to, Jonny is. You stop playing this game and open your heart you’ll see I’m right.”

There were a lot of things I’d wished for. They started when I was about five, with me wishing I were born into a different family. By the time I was ten, I’d wished I’d been born somewhere else. When I was fifteen, I’d wished I had no family at all. When I was eighteen, I’d wished I had a different life. There were a lot of wishes in between five and eighteen, loads of them. They never came true. Not a single one of them. So I knew wishing now was fruitless but I still did. And the thing I wished for the most was that Miss Lola was right—that somehow, someway I could help Jonny heal. That he’d open his eyes and finally see me.

I knew that would never, ever happen.

But I could be his friend. I was good at that. I was a good listener, a problem solver, loyal, and that was exactly what Jonny needed.

Yeah, I could be his friend.

God, why does that thought hurt so bad?

3

Jonny sat on the back balcony with his bare feet propped up on the railing, icy-cold beer in his hand, and watched as the last of the beachgoers packed up for the night.

The sun was low in the western sky; only streaks of pink were left over the horizon. This was his favorite time of the day. It was called something, maybe the golden hour, or maybe it was the magic hour. Whatever it was called, it was the time of day where everything seemed softer. The harshness of the bright sun had worn off, the heat had cooled, the day was winding down.