Page 11 of About Yesterday (Foothills #5)

“It was rough for a while. He snuck out every night, and…” She snorted a laugh as she remembered her father’s terrible advice, but it had gone a long way toward earning Cole’s trust. “Dad told him that if he was going to get arrested, just make sure crabby Old Chief Larson didn’t catch him, as Dad was friends with most of the other cops in town, and they’d just drive him right back home.

Said he knew everyone in town, and if any cars were stolen or damaged, we couldn’t afford to replace them, so please don’t steal anything locally.

Drugs weren’t a problem, as Cole didn’t want to turn out like his mom.

Violence against anyone undeserving wouldn’t be tolerated, but it wouldn’t get him kicked out either, as he wouldn’t learn anything with that sort of attitude.

Instead, he’d have to make them apology gifts in the form of needlepoint pillowcases. ”

“And did he do any of those things?”

“He got more than a few rides home, but he steered clear of Old Chief Larson, so his record stayed clear. I remember Dad sleeping on his bedroom floor so many nights early on. Mom would bribe Cole awake with peanut butter chocolate chip cookies when he refused to go to school.”

Haley picked up her wine glass, set it down again, and brushed her thumb around the base of it as she looked down at the table. “How long did he stay? I thought your parents only fostered transitionally, like a few months or so at a time.”

“That was the plan, at first. He lasted an hour at the next house, the one that was supposed to be permanent. The social worker called my dad when the cops came and wanted to take him in for assault, but, from what I gather, the oldest boy at the house liked to maintain a pecking order, and didn’t take kindly to being hit back. ”

“So Jeremy went back for him?”

“Yup. You know me, I was supposed to be upstairs sleeping, but I remember sitting on the landing, just out of sight, listening as my parents cleaned him up at the kitchen table and told him exactly how it was going to be. That this was his home. Told him how special he was and that he mattered, and that we were his family now. That dinner would be on the table every night at six, but he’d have to take a day in the rotation and we’d be counting on him when it was his night to cook.

That he’d always have his own bedroom, his space would be his own and he’d get privacy, but he’d have to do his own laundry and chores, just like I did.

They set an allowance for him if he kept up on all his chores, just like they did for me. ”

“Oh my god. I can’t even imagine. So he stayed.”

She plucked up her wine, gulping another sip and realized she was draining it so fast her head was spinning and they hadn’t even ordered yet.

“He was handy to have around,” she said, lifting her glass as she let the first few months flutter in her memory.

“One night, it was super icy out. Not quite as well practiced at sneaking out, I hadn’t read the weather reports and it was like, two in the morning when I got home.

My favorite tree branch was frozen solid and snapped the moment I put my weight on it. ”

Their server finally made it back around to their table and took their dinner orders, and brought a second round of drinks.

“I, uh, didn’t dare try the front door.”

“That door has an awful squeak.”

“Sometimes I think they intentionally never oil it. Like an alarm. Anyway, so I went to call Cole, thinking he was in his bedroom and could come help me in.”

“He came to the rescue?”

“I was about to hit send, and I still remember the shit-eating grin on his face as he strolled up behind me and asked what I’d done to his branch.”

“Oh no.”

“We agreed to keep each other’s secrets in exchange for helping each other out.

” The air had been twenty freaking degrees, and everything was coated in a sheet of ice after the prior day’s rain.

They’d pulled a patio chair over, and Cole had stood on the chair, laced his hands together to make a stirrup, and hoisted her up.

She’d climbed over the gutter and laid flat on her belly on the roof.

She reached a hand to help him, but he had shaken his head.

They both knew damn well she wasn’t going to be able to pull him up.

So he used the patio chairs to jump to a different branch, swung, and launched toward the roof.

So damn slick, he slipped at the last second and caught the gutter instead.

It sliced his hand open, but he managed to swing himself up.

They’d made it back in and washed him up, and he’d trusted her with the awful makeshift bandage.

Of course, the next morning when her parents saw it, they took him straight to urgent care and had him patched up.

That was the first time she’d taken his stitches out.

Her parents had to have known what caused the bowed gutter, but they never mentioned it, nor did they ever fix it.

Their food arrived, and Trace dug into the carbonara, perfectly al dente and extra bacon-y.

As she was, apparently, still patching him up, she probably ought to take a more detailed first aid class than what had been required for work.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, and Trace realized they’d spent most of dinner with her rambling on about her adventures with Cole.

Haley scooped in a bite of her lasagna and patted her napkin at the corners of her mouth before lowering it back to her lap.

“And now your partner in crime is back. For someone who claims she is boring, you have quite a history to claim the opposite. Only this evening, I walked in on you with your arms around a half-naked guy.”

Trace realized she had half a glass of wine to go and set down her fork to finish. She leaned back in her chair and nodded to Haley. “We’re supposed to be talking about your wedding.”

“What? Instead of your sexy sort-of-brother? This is way more interesting than a wedding.”

Wine halfway down her throat, Trace choked and coughed incessantly. She managed to find the ability to breathe again and wiped the corner of her mouth. “No. Don’t go there. Creepy.”

“I see. So it’s mutual,” Haley said as she twirled her empty glass on the table.

“Mutual? What?” She took a gulp of water in a foolish attempt to end the choking. Too late, as the wine seemed to have flooded her lungs, and the cough was going to haunt her until morning.

Haley swirled her glass in her hands, eyeing Trace suspiciously over the table. “I saw how he was looking at you. Although, I’m pretty sure he thinks you and I are having a romantic sort of date.”

Worse, the gulp of ice water shot straight into her lungs as she inhaled sharply. The entire restaurant was staring, and she started laughing at the image, while Haley was completely unhelpful and laughed at her, too.

“Don’t be so offended. We’d be a lovely couple.”

“That would add another level of triangularity to our absurd history.” Finally balancing out her ability to breathe again, Trace didn’t dare take another sip until she knew she was safe. “Although, maybe I should let him think that.”

“After that sexy suture removal? At least give the guy a chance,” Haley said as she taunted Trace beyond safety.

Trace puffed out her cheeks and nodded vaguely.

Her moment came. Ready to strike back.

Haley lifted her glass to her mouth and began to sip.

Trace waited, waited, until the swallow began. “I saw his penis a few days ago. He’s built quite nicely everywhere.”

Snorting, laughing, wine successfully ignited mid-swallow, Haley coughed and covered her mouth, flashing Trace an evil eye over the table as she calmed it. Finally, Haley seemed to get control and growled. “I can’t believe you just did that to me.”

“Whatever do you mean?” she asked innocently, fanning her hand over her chest. “I walked in on him in the bathroom, then helped him get dressed.”

Haley giggled and shook her head. At this point, the entire restaurant was tuned in on their inappropriate conversation. Keeping her voice low, Haley whispered, “Are you his nurse?”

“No, but…” Trace nodded for the check, more than ready to bail on this lovely restaurant, where neither of them was well enough behaved to be able to dine again.

Ever. They’d probably have their pictures posted behind the hostess podium with slashes over their faces to let everyone know they couldn’t be allowed back.

“You saw him. Cole is hurting, and I’m not just talking about the physical hell he went through that made him come back.

Seriously, I can’t even imagine how bad it must have been, for him to have said enough is enough. ”

They split the check and strolled out, the crisp fall air hinting that summer was finally ending. Leaving Haley’s car where it was parked, they walked up the hill toward Halseth’s.

L ike a goddamn balloon swelling in his head, Cole’s concussion screamed at him. He’d only tried to read a book. A piece of fluff, that’s all. Get his mind off of… everything.

Too awake to sleep, too woozy from the concussion and the anemia to do anything, and too wired after whatever the hell that had been with Trace.

His sixteen-year-old self had thought he’d died and gone to heaven, landing in an angel’s house.

Not one for religion, he weirded even himself out with the comparison, but there was an ethereal quality to her.

A comparison she would kick his ass for.

Maybe a fairy or a Valkyrie instead. Rocking the look of either, plus the attitude to match? Raised by two of the most genuinely sweet, generous people on the planet, she kept the fire tempered, but he loved it when she let it roar.

Cole snapped the paperback shut and tossed it on the coffee table. Fucking christ, couldn’t even play on his phone, turn on a movie. Even thinking hurt.