Page 315 of On A Manhunt: Complete Series

GEORGIA

The guy always seemed to be growling at me.

As if I drove him crazy, just like he’d said in his laundry room while he was kissing me for the first time.

We were in his truck, the interior warm.

He’d gotten off shift a little while ago and instead of going to sleep like I learned he did in the morning after he worked, he was driving me across town.

“Busy night?” I asked, trying to think of something neutral to talk about.

Clearly, my shoe choice angered him. I had to admit, snow boots sounded really cozy right about now.

It was cold. Like really cold. With flurries lingering in the air, the town was picture perfect, like a postcard.

The plows had been busy, but the roads were still covered. Everything was white.

“This isn’t too much snow, so people know how to drive, but we did have to pull one car out of a ditch. Not because of bad driving but because of a deer.”

This wasn’t too much snow? If it snowed like this in Georgia, the state would be shut down. The grocery store shelves would be bare. Havoc would ensue. Here, it was just another day.

“It’s, um, great your dad takes care of Andy like he does.”

The corner of his mouth tipped up. “Yeah, I couldn’t do it without him.”

“What happened to Andy’s mom?” I asked. Shit, bad thing to ask. Maybe it was a bad breakup. No, maybe she died. Lord, that would be horrible, and I just stirred up heartbreak. “Never mind. It’s none of my business.”

He shook his head as he glanced in the rearview mirror. “It’s okay. I’m actually not his dad. I’m his uncle. He’s my sister’s son.”

“You have a sister?” I wondered.

“Tracy. Four years younger.” I didn’t miss the way his fingers gripped the steering wheel.

“I… we… haven’t seen her since a week after Andy was born.

She’s a drug addict. Got pregnant by mistake and she somehow stayed clean for the pregnancy, pretty much because I had her on lockdown at my house, but ultimately couldn’t beat it.

We had an intervention, and she chose drugs over her own kid and–yeah. ”

Well, shit. That was awful. For all of them.

“I’m so sorry.”

With a shrug, he said, “I have full custody of Andy. He’s mine. So the three of us make do.”

He was quiet for a minute. I thought they were getting by just fine.

Andy was smart, funny and very well adjusted.

But I understood now why he was so crazy about me being his mom.

It wasn’t me specifically, I knew, but he was in a phase where any woman might fill that role.

He probably met and heard about other classmates’ mothers and felt like he was missing out.

“What about you? You have siblings?” he asked.

I smiled. Even though his dad asked me about this the other night over spaghetti and meatballs, I answered again. “Yes, sister. Sassy.”

“Sassy?” He glanced at me and grinned.

“Welcome to the South,” I said. “Her name’s actually Sue Ann but has always gone by Sassy. She’s two years older. Pretty. Perfect.”

“I doubt that,” he said with a huff.

I laughed. “Oh, she is. Or thinks she is. She was Miss Georgia about ten years ago.”

“Wow, impressive.” He braked at a stoplight and looked me over, as if he was seeing me differently. “That explains a lot, doesn’t it?”

I frowned. “What?”

“The other night, you said you were in pageants, too.”

“That’s right, but not to the same success.

” I rolled my eyes. “Some parents make their kids learn piano or play a sport. I thought I’d be pretty good at soccer, but my mom put us both in pageants.

To give us poise and countenance. Her words, not mine.

I tried to be as talented as my sister, but I don’t have the…

good southern daughter personality that does whatever her momma told her. ”

He grinned. “Oh, I believe that.”

I pursed my lips. “My momma and Sassy are two peas in a pod. I could never keep up with Sassy, no matter how hard I tried.” I looked down at my gloved hands. “I’m thirty-five years old and still failing.”

“Failing?” He slowly pulled through the snowy intersection.

“No Miss America sash for me,” I said, sounding a little dejected. While it had never been my dream, but Momma’s, it had been ingrained in me not to lose. “Not even Little Miss Calhan. No job. No husband.” No baby.

Out of all of those things, the baby was for me. He or she would be mine. Something everyone saw as an accomplishment, but I saw it as unconditional love. I didn’t seem to get it from the others in my life.

“No job? You said you quit because you worked with your ex and his new wife. Right?”

I nodded.

“Why the hell would you stay there and torture yourself?” He blinkered and turned into a parking lot.

“Why would I let myself go enough to lose him in the first place?” I countered.

He whipped his head toward me and his eyes widened in surprise. “Let yourself–”

Before he could say more, I took in where we were through the windshield. Gave him a pageant smile because… here? “Oh look, we’re… we’re getting boots at the Seed and Feed?”