The Pursuit of Jesse Read online

  “Garrett’s brother went to jail? What did he do?”

  “I don’t know. Garrett’s leaving it to his brother to tell people, and when I asked Jesse, he refused to enlighten me.”

  “Sarah, you know Garrett wouldn’t let anyone dangerous work with you on your house. Jesse must have his own reasons for keeping his past to himself. It’s hard to say what those reasons might be, but I’m sure they’re good ones.”

  That was Missy. Always ready to give people the benefit of the doubt. Well, that wasn’t Sarah’s way. “That all depends on what Jesse did to land himself in prison, doesn’t it?”

  “I suppose,” Missy said. “But if you were immune to Jesse as a man that wouldn’t be a problem, would it?”

  But she wasn’t immune. Not even close. One walk on the wild side had almost ruined her life. What kind of damage could a second one do?

  THE PHOTOGRAPHS WERE ALWAYS the WORST, the hardest to look at on the entire website. Family positioned around Hank Bowman’s hospital bed. Hank forcing out a smile for the camera. His wife holding his hand. His mother looking at him, her eyes bright with unshed tears.

  Sitting on the bed with Garrett’s laptop in front of him, Jesse made himself face the images head-on. He forced himself to flip through every single photo and every single journal entry that had been loaded onto the website Hank’s sister had set up for their family and friends to keep track of Hank’s recovery.

  Hank had spent not only his birthday in the hospital, but also that first Christmas and New Year’s after the accident—assault was more like it. He’d had to go back into the hospital several times over the course of the next couple of years for more surgeries. In every single one of the pictures Hank looked pale and bruised, thin and sickly.

  Over the past four years, more than three thousand messages from friends and family expressing their best wishes for Hank’s recovery had accumulated and Jesse had read every single one of them at least once. Had even memorized a few.

  There were also newspaper articles about the trial, or lack thereof. There was even a picture of Jesse handcuffed and coming out of the county jail. Family members expressed not only their disdain but also outright hostility toward Jesse. He didn’t blame them in the slightest.

  There was only one bright spot in Hank’s entire ordeal. Hank had started a new career as a motivational speaker and already had released two successful self-help-type books. As far as Jesse was concerned the use of a man’s legs was too high a price to pay for financial success.

  Finally, Jesse closed down the laptop and stood, knowing he wouldn’t be able to sleep for a while yet. His throat dry from the winter air, he headed toward the kitchen. The moment the voices registered, quiet and intimate, he stopped and backed up.

  “Come here,” Garrett whispered.

  “Is that an order, Chief Taylor?”

  “Damn right it is.”

  So much for a glass of water. Jesse went to his bedroom and plopped down on the bed. Now they were moving around upstairs. One person went into the master bathroom. Then another. Then the sounds of water running. A shower. Together.

  The more Jesse tried not to listen, the more his ears trained to the sounds. Footsteps across the floor. More footsteps in chase. Quiet laughter. Jesse laid on his back in bed, his eyes wide-open, sleep nothing but a pipe dream. He glanced at the clock. Past midnight. He had to get out of this place, but where the hell could he go?

  More laughter.

  That was it. He couldn’t stand another second of it. Pulling a sleeping bag and pad out of the closet in his room, he packed a bag with a few things and quietly walked outside.

  Sarah’s house was empty. Hell, he spent most of the day there as it was. What difference would seven or eight more hours make whenever Erica and Garrett got a little too frisky upstairs? It’s not as if he’d make a regular habit out of sleeping at Sarah’s, so she’d never have to know.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “BRIAN, GO GET ME a Philips screwdriver.”

  Seemed as if no matter what Jesse said or did, the two boys stopped by here almost every day after school. He’d finally decided that if he was going to be stuck with them, he might as well make the most of it. Today Brian had come alone. Apparently, Zach had too much homework and would be by later.

  Brian came back with the wrong type of tool.

  “That’s what you call a standard screwdriver. See the flat head?” Jesse straightened and headed from the bathroom into the hall. “Come on. Let’s go have a lesson on tools, so you know what’s what.”

  The boy followed him out into the main living area. One by one, he explained the name of every single tool Garrett had let him leave at Sarah’s house and how they were used. Then he explained the difference between the various type of screws and nails. “If you use too small of a screwdriver, you’ll strip the head off a screw.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “See these grooves?” Jesse pointed. “You’ll tear them right up if your tool doesn’t fit properly.”

  “You know a lot about construction,” Brian said. “How did you learn all this stuff?”

  “My dad.”

  “You’re lucky. I wish I had a dad to teach me things.”

  Jesse snorted. “You probably wouldn’t be saying that if you’d known my dad.”

  “Why?”

  “He wasn’t very nice. If any one of us four boys stepped out of line even the slightest, he’d whack us. He threw a shovel at me once and hit me in the back of the head just because I wasn’t moving fast enough after he’d told me to go get a hammer.”

  Brian’s eyes widened. “You’re lying.”

  “No, I’m not.” Jesse chuckled. “If we did anything really bad, then we got whipped with his leather belt.”

  “Where?”

  “On our butts. I’m telling you, he was mean.” Jesse could honestly say he’d never missed the son of a bitch a single day the man had been gone serving a prison term for manslaughter after he killed another man in a bar fight. It hadn’t mattered to Jesse that his father had come out of prison a much calmer, peaceful man. By then the damage to their relationship had been done. Garrett had probably been the only one of the four Taylor boys who’d shed a single tear when their dad died of cancer not long after he’d gotten out of jail.

  “Would you ever hit a kid?”

  Jesse stopped and glanced into the boy’s face. “No, Brian. I’ve never hit anyone.” At least not with his hands. “And I would never hit. Fighting doesn’t solve anything.”

  “That’s what Mom says.”

  The front door opened, letting in a burst of cold air, and Garrett stepped inside. “Brian. What are you sneaking over here for? You’re supposed to be up at our house, not bugging Jesse.”

  “I’m not bugging him,” Brian said.

  “Well, maybe you are, maybe you aren’t. Either way, you’re supposed to be where you tell your mom you’re going to be.”

  Brian hung his head. “Yeah, all right.”

  “So, go on. Head on up to our house.” Garrett pointed his thumb behind him. “Now.”

  Brian glanced up at Jesse, reluctantly shrugged on his coat and, God help him, but he thought he might actually miss the boy’s company. “You can come back again,” Jesse said. “So can Zach.” Had he really just invited them back?

  Brian smiled, making Jesse feel marginally better.

  “Bye, Jesse,” he called out as he ran out the front door.

  “Bye, Brian.”

  The front door closed and Garrett shook his head. “Are those boys bugging you?”

  “Not really.” Jesse picked up the screwdriver and went back down to the bathroom. “I spend a lot of time here alone, so it’s nice to have company every once in a while.”

  “How’s it going?” Garrett poked his head into the room and took a look around.

  Jesse finished screwing in a screw, picked up the drill and prepared himself for what would most assuredly be a very thorough big-brother cri
tique. “Things are moving along.”

  “You haven’t been around the house much.” Garrett looked under the sink and ran his hands along the pipes, not even bothering to disguise the fact that he was checking for leaks. “You working all those hours or hanging at the Nail?”

  “I think you know the answer to that question.” Nothing got past Garrett in a town this size. Jesse drilled a small hole in the wall, preparing to mount the mirror over the vanity.

  “Yeah, I guess I do.” Even so, he ran his fingers along the floor, making sure the tiles were level. “Tongues may be wagging about you, but all I have to do is look around to know you’ve been working hard.”

  “So give it a rest, huh? Four years behind bars didn’t turn me stupid.”

  “Don’t get all pissy on me. I recommended you to Sarah, so I have a responsibility to make sure you’re taking care of things around here.”

  “And the verdict is?”

  Garrett studied the grout lines and shook his head. “That you do a damned good job, little bro. I have to admit you are better than me.”

  Relaxing, Jesse grinned. “That’s why boss lady pays me the big bucks.”

  “Boss lady.” Garrett chuckled. “Bet that goes over real well with Sarah.”

  “Come here a minute and hold this mirror in place.”

  Garrett grabbed the framed beveled glass. “You put some mounting adhesive on the back of this?”

  Once a big brother, always a big brother. “Yes, I did. Keep pressure on that while I finish here.” He zipped in a couple screws, stepped back and struck a pose. “There. Now I can check myself out.”

  “Like what you see?”

  “Not as much as Sarah does. My beautiful boss better be careful, or I just might have to file a sexual-harassment lawsuit against her.”

  “You’re so full of it.” Garrett shook his head. “By the way, where did you sleep last night?”

  Jesse bristled. “I thought I was out of prison.”

  “Don’t give me that shit.” Garrett shook his head. “David was up in the middle of the night. Erica threw in a load of laundry and happened to notice that your coat was gone.”

  Fair enough. “I slept here.” And when Garrett narrowed his eyes, Jesse added, “Alone. Unfortunately.”

  “Why?”

  “Let’s just say…it gets a little loud over my head at your house sometimes.”

  Garrett’s confused expression slowly cleared and his probing eyes turned apologetic. “We kept you up, didn’t we?”

  “It’s okay.”

  “No, it’s not. I’m sorry, Jesse—”

  “No, Garrett. Do not ever apologize for what you and Erica have.” He looked away. “You’re living every man’s dream.”

  Garrett smiled. “That I am.” Then he sighed and cocked his head toward the front door. “Come on. Why don’t you call it a day and take a break from the Nail for a change.”

  Jesse narrowed his gaze. “What do you got in mind?”

  “Wednesday-night b-ball game. We have a standing date for a pickup game. Same night a lot of the younger boys have practice, so it works out well.”

  “You mean at the community center?” Jesse’s stomach flipped at the thought of heading into a building full of people.

  “Yep. Believe it or not, we’ve got a pretty decent facility for an island our size.”

  “No thanks.” Jesse turned away. “I still got some work to do.” He started clearing the tools out of the bathroom and carrying them into the kitchen.

  “Then you’ll head to the Nail.” Garrett shook his head. “What the hell are you going there for, anyway? I’d have guessed you’d avoid bars altogether after what happened.”

  Good question. Except that he wasn’t sure he could find the words to explain how hard it was heading back to Garrett’s house at the end of a long day. Everything cozy. Warm feelings circulating in the air. It wasn’t just Garrett and Erica’s healthy marital relations that were a bit too much to bear. It was their entire life, but he sure didn’t want Garrett’s family making any apologies or compromises for him, even if the Nail was starting to lose a bit of its initial appeal.

  “I don’t know,” Jesse said. “I guess there’s something about the dim lights of a bar at night that seem comforting in some way.”

  “Come on, Jess. Come to the community center with me.” Garrett followed him. “You can spare a couple hours away from this place, and it’s time for you to meet a few more islanders.”

  “I want to have this vanity stained and the first coat of varnish applied before the end of the day.”

  “You’re ahead of Sarah’s schedule, so that can wait until tomorrow. Besides, you’ve been here a couple weeks already and you haven’t met anyone other than Herman and Renee at the police station. And Sarah.”

  As well as a couple folks at the Rusty Nail, but they hardly seemed worth mentioning. “Maybe that’s the way I want it.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “Wanna bet?”

  Garrett studied the ceramic-tile work in the shower and ran his hand along the surface. “You do beautiful work, man.”

  “Yeah, it did turn out pretty nice, didn’t it? Those mosaic glass accent tiles were a bitch. Took me a couple hours to get that line right.”

  “See, that’s my point. You’re working twelve-hour days. You need to take a break.”

  “I get breaks. At the Rusty Nail, as you so kindly pointed out. The rest of the time, I don’t mind working so many hours. I like what I’m doing.”

  “I’m sure you do. But you need a change of pace. As it is, you work here, come home, say at best two words to me and Erica if we’re still awake and then close yourself up in your room. What kind of existence is that?”

  The kind he was shooting for.

  “I’m doing fine, Garrett. Don’t worry about me. I’m on the outside. That’s all I need.”

  Not to mention the fact that Sarah had paid him for a bunch of hours, and even after replenishing groceries at the Taylor house and ordering some clothes online he still had a nice chunk of change tucked away. It wasn’t enough to get him as far south as he wanted, but he was making some headway.

  Garrett studied him. “Has Sarah been back here at the house at all?”

  “Only once when I was here.” Jesse flashed back on the day she’d told him to get the job done and hit the road. He should’ve been angry at her for the way she’d spoken to him that day, but he couldn’t really blame her. If he’d been a parent, he’d have kept his kid away from the likes of him, too.

  Since then, she’d been avoiding him. “But she’s stopped by a couple times to check on progress. Left me a couple notes on things.” She’d been terse and to the point, but Jesse didn’t expect anything different. It was the expectation of more that got a man in trouble.

  “You two getting along okay?”

  “Oh, sure. Like cake and ice cream,” he said, a little more sarcastically than he’d planned. He grinned, trying to cover the slip.

  “As in she’s frosty cold to your gooey and sweet?”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “Tell me what happened.”

  “Nothing. Everything’s fine.”

  “That’s it. You’re coming with me.” Garrett took the toolbox out of Jesse’s hand and set it on the kitchen floor. “Part of you reintegrating yourself into society involves actually trying to reintegrate.”

  “I’m doing fine all on my own.”

  “No, you’re not. Big brother here is pulling rank on you.” Garrett tapped his own chest. “Now get your coat. We’re going.”

  He supposed this moment had been inevitable. Might as well get it over with. “You might be older, big bro, but these days I could likely take you with one hand tied behind my back.”

  “I’d like to see you try.”

  Jesse put on his game face along with his coat and boots, but as they walked down the hill, his heart started racing. He didn’t want to meet Garrett’s friends. He didn
’t want to face the questions and comments. The inquisitive or judgmental looks.

  Although, now that he thought about it, he had to admit, he’d been heading to Sarah’s before sunrise and heading back to Garrett’s well after sunset. Seeing the light of day, even though it was dusky, felt good.

  They walked through the residential streets down the hill and into a vast clearing dotted with massive oaks and other hardwoods. The community center was situated between a school and an outdoor ice rink flooded with overhead lighting where a group of teenage boys and girls were playing a fairly loud hockey game. They walked up a cleanly shoveled sidewalk to a two-story redbrick building. It was bigger than Jesse had expected, but no less institutional looking. A green metal roof curved over the entryway, creating the only interesting architectural detail to the otherwise nondescript square structure.

  When they stepped inside, he was taken aback. For a cold and seemingly deserted island, this place happened to be loud and crawling with people, although no one was stationed at the front reception desk.

  On the way through the building, Jesse managed to get a pretty good idea about the layout of the place. One side of the building was dominated by basketball courts separated by floor-to-ceiling mesh walls. The exterior wall at one end of the courts was covered with a man-made climbing wall, and the other end housed a couple mirrored exercise rooms. On the opposite side of the building was an indoor swimming pool separated from the rest of the facility by a wall of thick glass. There appeared to be swim lanes for adults and waterslides for kids.

  “What’s upstairs?” Jesse asked.

  “An indoor jungle gym for the young kids.” He chuckled. “David loves that thing. There’s a workout facility with aerobic equipment, weight machines and free weights. A day-care facility, and some meeting rooms for parties and community-ed classes.”

  A complete state-of-the-art facility. “Do I need to pay a fee or something?”

  “Nope.” Garrett shook his head. “These facilities are free for residents.”

  “How can an island as small as Mirabelle afford this place?”

  “We live charmed lives. That, and we have a lovely and very wealthy benefactor in our own Missy Abel. She’s Sarah’s best friend.”