Janice Johnson - All a Man Is

He couldn’t dismiss it altogether, though. Fanatics could be found anywhere. Frowning, he sat thinking about the call. He wasn’t worried about himself. He’d been a cop too long to ever be anything but wary. What he didn’t like was knowing that he now had an Achilles’ heel.

Three of them, to be precise. And, although his home address was and would stay unlisted, it wouldn’t be hard to follow him home. Or even just ask around. This small city more often felt like a small town to him. Everyone knew everyone. And anybody watching him would see quickly that the woman and children living on the other side of the duplex weren’t just renters.

But the caller hadn’t mentioned them, he reminded himself. Anyone in law enforcement got used to being threatened. This one hadn’t been atypical. He couldn’t deny that it had unsettled him, though.

Tell Julia?

No. All he’d do was upset her and make her overprotective, which wouldn’t go over well with Matt right now.

He swore aloud, disconcerted when he heard his voice. Damn it, he was overreacting.

One thing he could do was check with Noah Chandler and find out whether he’d had a similar call. Chandler wouldn’t be any more likely to give in to that kind of pressure than Alec was, but, like Alec, he had recently acquired an Achilles’ heel of his own. In fact, if Alec wasn’t mistaken, Chandler’s wedding to Colin McAllister’s sister was only a couple of weeks away. He had an invitation.

Alec wondered if any security had been planned for the wedding.

It was a good ten minutes before he could drag most of his attention back to his required-manpower projections for the city of Angel Butte.

CHAPTER THREE

TWO DAYS LATER, they were moved into the duplex, a huge relief to Julia after the aeon she and the kids had spent trapped together, first in the car and then the hotel room. At least with three bedrooms, each of them had a refuge. She would have been ashamed to admit to anyone else how grateful she was for the hours Matt usually spent holed up in his bedroom.

The one drawback was that the kids’ bikes arrived on the moving truck along with the furniture, and now that he had wheels, she couldn’t think of a good reason to forbid Matt from disappearing to who knew where.

Thank heavens for the positives she was able to cling to as the first week in their new home went on. Number one, of course, was Alec. He was there. Eating with them every evening, quietly interceding with Matt, teasing Liana, giving Julia a sounding board. He was everything she’d wanted Josh to be, and while making a comparison like that disturbed her, she was too grateful for Alec’s solid presence to let herself dwell on whether she was a dreadful person for contrasting him with Josh.

Second, Matt had yet to pull anything awful, like get drunk or be caught shoplifting, or even get into a fight. He wasn’t exactly a delight, but she was letting herself hope, if only a tiny bit. Could having Alec so much more involved in their lives be making a difference?

And then there was the fact that, despite her shyness, within a day Liana had made tentative inroads with a neighbor girl.

Bothered that the girl seemed to be home alone all day, Julia kept an eye out the front window near the end of the third day. When she saw a car turn into that driveway, she strolled over to meet Sophie’s mother, who introduced herself as Andrea Young. Obviously feeling a need to explain why her daughter was alone during the day, Andrea immediately started talking about her divorce and the fact that her ex had shortly thereafter moved to Texas. To her credit, she kept an eye on the girls to be sure her daughter wasn’t overhearing her. The ex called occasionally, Andrea said with some bitterness, and that was about it.

“I count my blessings he’s paying his child support so far.” She cocked her head. “You on your own, too?”

“I’m a widow.” Julia hated saying that, seeing the instant sympathy. “My husband was military. The blessing is that we do have death benefits, so I’m not as strapped financially as most single mothers. As soon as we’re settled in, I’ll be job hunting, though.” She explained about her relationship to Alec and said that they’d decided to move to a smaller town for the sake of the kids, without being specific about her troubled son.

Both women continued to watch the girls, who were playing hopscotch on the sidewalk, having drawn the squares with colored chalk Julia had provided. Sophie was apparently artistic, as she’d gotten Liana to help her decorate the sidewalk for several additional squares in each direction with elaborate, intertwined curlicues. They’d probably had more fun doing that than they were having now playing such a childish game, even though they kept making mistakes—seemingly on purpose—and then giggling madly.

Julia mentioned Liana’s upcoming birthday, when she’d turn eleven.

“Sophie’s twelve,” Andrea said, a slowness in her voice. “It’s legal to leave her alone now, but I’d rather not. Full-time day care is so expensive, though, and she begged not to have to do it, anyway. This in-between age is hard. She’ll be able to ride her bike to some of the Parks Department activities. I make her call me anytime she leaves the house.”

She sounded helpless and maybe hopeless, too. Julia sympathized. Both emotions had become familiar to her.

“I plan to sign my kids up for some of those activities, too. If she’s interested in any of the same things Liana is, I’ll be glad to chauffeur Sophie, too.”

When Andrea invited her in for a cup of coffee, Julia was happy to accept. The two mothers pored over the Parks & Recreation Department schedule. Then they called the girls in for a consultation.

The two-week horse day camp was a definite go, as were swim lessons. Sophie and Liana weren’t quite at the same level, but the advanced class took place right after the intermediate, and Julia insisted that it wouldn’t kill any of them to hang around the pool for an extra half hour one way or the other. Sophie wrinkled her freckled nose at the idea of ceramics class, but thought she might like tap dancing.

Studying the two girls, Julia was disconcerted to see that, only one year older, Sophie was developing a figure. She didn’t wear a bra yet, but she probably would be before she started back to school. Which, in her case, would be middle school here in Angel Butte. In L.A., Liana would have been starting middle school, too. Thank goodness she wasn’t here. The fact that the two girls would be separated for school in September would probably kill this budding friendship, but as far as Julia was concerned, if it lasted the summer, she’d be happy.

Now, if only there was a nice neighbor boy Matt’s age.

But she didn’t kid herself that Matt would want anything to do with a nice boy.

Which left her worrying about what he was doing when he rode away on his bike and didn’t return home for two or three hours at a time.

When she asked, he only glared at her. “There’s nothing to do around here. I’m just, like, riding my bike, okay?”

Her offer to help with Sophie was rewarded only a few days later, when Sophie shyly invited Liana to go to a movie with her on Friday night. The invitation included Matt, too, if he would like to see a blow-’em-up thriller that Andrea had noticed was also at the multiplex and running at close to the same time.

Guilt induced Julia to offer to go with Matt, which earned her a look that almost reminded her of the much more likable boy he’d once been.

“You’d hate that movie,” he said.

She grimaced. “Probably. Still, if you want company...”

He remembered he despised her and sneered, “Sure. My mother. Yeah, thanks but no thanks.”