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"Wait, how much did you say you'd pay me again?" Birdie asked, flipping her hair over her shoulder, looking up from the cell phone permanently glued to her hand.
"Uh, twenty bucks?"
"I get twelve dollars an hour," she said, raising her dark brows.
"You do know I'm a firefighter. We don't get paid much. And don't you have to do service hours or something anyway?"
Birdie made a face. She was a pretty girl who'd gone through a bratty stage last year, wearing black, dressing like a shadow, and giving her mother all kinds of fits. But thankfully she'd turned a corner. She'd grown several inches, stopped wearing dark eyeliner, and begrudgingly wore a dress every now and then. Still, Birdie had attitude in spades, and nothing got by her
“True. I'll take twelve dollars an hour for the first two hours and then the remainder of the time will be service hours. Deal?"
"Deal," he said as he pulled onto the highway.
Thursday night when he'd taken Clint to Ray-Ray's, he'd learned his friend planned on taking Eva and Charlie to the Peanut Festival in Fort Brantley. Something inside him had rattled around, banging on the steel bars encircling his heart, like some caged beast. And something ugly had propelled him to smile and say, "Hey, if you don't mind, I'll tag along."
Clint gave him a death stare, so Jake amended. "I'll bring a date."
Birdie was as good of a date as any, especially since she had her babysitting certification and could take Charlie to jump in the bounce houses and get his face painted.
A few minutes later they pulled up to the Cochran place. Biscuit bounded toward his truck, yipping happily. Birdie bailed out and dropped to her knees for doggy kisses. Abigail really needed to get the kid a dog. He'd never seen someone so crazy about animals as Birdie.
"Birdie!" Charlie crowed from the porch, hustling down toward the dog and thirteen-year-old girl. "Are you coming with us?"
Birdie nodded. "Sure, kid."
"Cool," Charlie said, bypassing Jake and heading straight to the girl.
"What am I? Chopped liver?" Jake muttered, leaving Charlie and Birdie with Biscuit to roll in the few leaves that had fallen from the sweetgum tree sitting beside the lake. Eva and Clint sat on the porch, watching him as he headed their way.
"I didn't know you were coming," Eva said from the large unfinished rocking chair.
"Yeah, I told Clint I'd like to go. I heard there's a guy at the festival who sells knives. Want to pick up a certain brand for my dad's birthday next month. That's okay, huh?"
"Sure."
"You said you were bringing a date," Clint muttered.
"I did. I brought Birdie. Figured Charlie would like hanging out with her.”
"How much did you have to pay her?" Clint drawled. His old friend knew Jake's niece well.
"Just twenty-four dollars. And she negotiated service hours."
Clint snorted. "I love that kid."
Eva stood. "Let's get going. I have to get back early because Charlie has homework. He's behind on a few things."
Clint hit the controls on his chair and rolled toward the ramp hidden on the side of the traditional Creole house. His friend looked a bit grumpy about Birdie being Jake's date... what was that about? Did Clint have a thing for Eva?
No, that's crazy. Clint and Eva were friends.
But so were she and Jake...and he'd seen her naked. Well, almost naked.
"Hey, is everything okay with Charlie? Did he see Macy?" A little nosy maybe, but he'd been there when Charlie had a meltdown. He'd seen the worry crowd Eva's eyes, seen the sheen of tears following.
"Yeah," she said, grabbing hold of the rough cypress railing, seemingly hesitating. "He's been having some power issues. That's what his therapist calls them. He lost control of his world, so he reacts by trying to exert control on others around him. With his classmates, he expresses it more physically. With me, he manipulates me emotionally. Macy says it's a natural process that almost all kids go through, but with kids who've been traumatized, it can be pronounced. I feel like he's getting good care, and I'm just trying to give him stability and not overreact to his manipulations. Raising a kid is hard. Why don't people know this going into it?"
Jake smiled. "Because no one would have them then."
