Cheryl Harper - A Home Come True

A bad day, then. Grief had robbed his mother of some of her fire. Every day he wondered how to discuss the depression; understandable though it was, it scared him. The family needed Connie Hollister. He needed her.

Luke leaned a shoulder against the arched opening to the living room as Mari ran to her mother, tugged her hand and pointed in his direction.

“Ah, now you’ve done it. Luke is here.” Camila’s satisfaction at this rubbed him the wrong way. He wasn’t the father. They had no father anymore, not since Walter Hollister had died six months ago, but he seemed to be filling in more and more.

“What’s the problem?” he asked as he bent to press a kiss on his mother’s cheek. She was pale but her eyes were snapping with irritation, looking not unlike the four women he’d left across town.

“Joey hasn’t been doing his homework. One of his teachers called me today,” his mother explained.

“Joseph,” the boy said slowly. “My name is Joseph.”

Whatever his life had been before, it hadn’t broken Joseph Martinez. At fourteen, he was as annoying as any teenager could be.

Logic and reasoning were long-term strategies but they were all he had to work with.

“Go put away the bikes, Joseph.” Luke braced his hands on his hips, prepared for an argument. “The next time I find them like that, I’ll lock them away.” He pointed at Mari, who ducked her head and pursed her lips, as certain of her safety in this case as she was every other time he’d made the threat.

“Why am I the only one?” Joseph muttered as he reluctantly paused his game and then turned it off. He had to step over piles of Mari’s toys to slump next to the door. “I know my bike’s not the only one out there.”

“Nope, but you’re on your way to do your homework.” Luke leaned closer. “And Mari’s a baby who needs to get ready for bed.”

Joseph rolled his eyes and stepped outside.

Satisfied that the trick his older brother had used on him more than once still had power, Luke followed Joseph. The kid had picked up his own bike and slid into the seat to ride slow circles on the driveway. Luke bit his tongue and grabbed Mari’s bike and Renita’s.

“Where’s Renita?” At seventeen, his sister was doing her best to take control of her life. She would go to college on a scholarship and be anything she wanted to be.

“Babysitting. You need to go get her at ten.” Joseph rode in front of Luke. “I’ll be glad when I get a job. Then I can get a car, and get out of this hole. Go home.”

Luke opened the door to the garage and set both bikes inside before he tried to answer Joseph. At some point, the kid would settle down. They all did.

“It’s hard to change schools,” Luke said in his most patient voice. “Everybody’s got to adjust to a new town, but this is going to be good for you. Your old home was not.”

Joseph silently shoved his bike in the door and then slammed it shut. “Yeah. Sure. Good for me.”

Luke tilted his head back to study the sky. In the country, he could see the bright white lights instead of dull tiny pinpoints against a sky that never went completely dark. Amazing.

“You know at your old home it was only a matter of time, J.” As a police detective, Luke had learned to keep his mouth shut and his ears open at all times. Every little scrap of information he picked up might have value. Listening to the guys on the gang task force discuss troubles at Joseph’s middle school had been enough information for Luke. His mother wouldn’t make it through losing another kid to violence like that.

“Nah, I’m too smart to get caught in a mess,” Joseph said as he scraped a tennis shoe against the driveway.

“The wrong place at the wrong time is all it takes. Bullets don’t care how smart you are.” He’d seen that proven time and time again. Coming to Holly Heights, where he’d investigated the theft of bake sale money from an animal shelter, where not a single person was injured should be living the dream. Except this was so boring he was sleeping through it.

“They got bullets here, too, Luke. This is Texas.” Joseph’s grin was contagious. “Come on. That was a sweet one.” He held up his hand and Luke slapped it in a reluctant high five.

“If you ever wanted a fresh start, here’s your chance, kid.” Luke caught Joseph’s hand and held on. “Hear me. One way or another, you’re going to do your homework. Upsetting Mama right now? I won’t allow that. She needs peace and quiet.”

“Quiet? Around here? With so many of us? I want to see that.” Joseph tugged his hand. “I hate math. The rest is okay.”

Since he’d hated math, too, Luke found it hard to argue. “Do your best. That’s all she expects.” Joseph nodded and disappeared inside the house, which was closing in on Luke.

Luke walked slowly to his car and started it up. Instead of doing a U-turn and heading for freedom, he eased into the driveway and turned off the engine.

What would it be like to be living in Austin all by himself again?

He’d barely appreciated it for the time he’d had. Now he’d bask in every single second he had alone.

When his mother got stronger, he could reconsider what he wanted. Life in Austin had been too hectic to help her out with the family, and more than anything he wanted to give back. Whatever Connie Hollister needed, wanted or didn’t even know to ask for, he would do. She and Walt had saved him. For now, she thought small-town life would give her and her family what she dreamed of.

Luke missed his father. Walter Hollister would have talked her out of a move like this.

These nights, he wished he could turn to his older brother Alex for advice or to complain, but Alex was gone, too.

Luke had to keep it together.

And he was already exhausted. A trip into Austin to see his old desk, his old partner, his old chief and the case he’d dogged for months closed by someone else wasn’t high on his list of favorite day-off activities.

At this point, it didn’t matter. All he could do was what had to be done.

CHAPTER THREE

“WHAT DO YOU THINK?” Jen asked as she held up the drawing Cole had put together with suggestions for the landscaping outside her new house. “With the wrought iron fence. This place will be nice, right?” For their first day of work, the fencing guys seemed to be making good progress. They’d started as soon as the sun came up, so she’d missed out on her extra Saturday sleep, but it would be worth it. Posts would be finished along one side of her property by the end of the day.

Her mother snorted. “How much will that fence cost? There’s so much of it.”

Since she’d asked that about every single improvement Jen planned to the house, which was already almost three times larger than the home she’d grown up in, Jen snapped, “Forget that. Decorative fencing will add prestige to this place. How does it look?”

“Pretentious,” her mother drawled, standing in the driveway, scanning the area. “Like you don’t want anyone to visit. I mean, a fence like that with a gate? Who do you think you are? Royalty?” her mother scoffed. Working split shifts as a waitress had always kept her mom humble. “Do you think a fence with spikes at the top is necessary?”

“Most mothers would be happy their daughters were improving the security of their homes.” For a woman who could still remember the panic of being chased all the way home from the bus stop by a pack of kids who thought it was funny to watch a skinny redhead cry, this fence was a dream come true. Then, she’d wanted something else between her and the world besides a single flimsy door. Anyone who thought about coming over the top would be discouraged before even trying.

Once she was inside her fence and her house, she would have no worries anymore.