“Nope, and my folks are both gone. All that’s left of my family is me and Aunt Sugar. Daddy went with a heart attack when I was sixteen, and Mama . . .” She hesitated for several seconds. “Mama got addicted to pills and alcohol. She overdosed when I was twenty.” She headed out of the kitchen.
The pain in her voice mirrored what he felt when he thought about his precious Melanie. He could hear the hurt and pain in Jolene’s tone, and a fresh wave of guilt washed over him, but at least he wasn’t hurting anyone by his weekend binges.
“By blood, this place should be all yours.” Tucker followed her as they climbed the stairs.
“But by hard work and working as a fishing guide on the bayou in the lean years, Uncle Jasper should have the right to give half of it to his kin—even if I never did like Reuben and I’d still like to shoot him, it’s only fair.”
“Why didn’t you like Reuben?” Tucker picked up one end of the washstand.
“He always was arrogant, and he’s a sissy. He wouldn’t even bait his own hook when we went fishing. Besides, he pulled my ponytail every chance he got, blamed me if something got broken”—she hesitated—“and when I was twelve, he cornered me in the utility room and shoved his hand up under my skirt.”
“You didn’t kill him?” Tucker asked.
“Aunt Sugar took care of it, and we came to visit at different times from then on. Look, I think he’s insecure and angry because he can’t find his place in the world, but I still don’t like him.”
Should’ve offered him ten thousand less than I did, Tucker thought.
Chapter Six
Tucker arrived ten minutes early for the appointment that Friday, and Belinda motioned him on inside her office. She sat behind her desk with a stack of papers in front of her and nodded toward a guy who was already seated. “Tucker Malone, this is Reuben McKay. Reuben, this is Tucker. Are you both ready to get this deal finalized? Either one of you decide to back out?”
Reuben stood to his feet and stuck out his hand. “I’m ready to close this.”
“Same here.” Tucker had shaken hands with six-year-old boys who had a firmer grip.
Reuben sat back down, took off his glasses, and cleaned them with a fancy cloth he pulled out of his pocket. His eyes shifted all around the office as if he was afraid to look right at anyone. Tucker’s cop training kicked in, and he’d bet dollars to stale doughnuts that Reuben had been bullied when he was a kid. That would explain why he was so mean to Jolene—he’d been looking for someone that he could bully so he’d feel strong.
Tucker wanted to kick Reuben’s chair out from under him for being mean to Jolene. No one deserved to be bullied, but especially not Jolene. Tucker was a good judge of character, and that woman was kind, sweet, hardworking, easy to get along with, and a whole list of other accolades, including cute, kissable—
Whoa! Melanie’s my wife. Jolene’s a partner.
Belinda flipped open a folder and scanned through the pages. Tucker eased into a chair at the end of her desk where he could study Reuben to get his mind off Jolene. The man crossed his legs and kept a constant foot movement going. He was so nervous that he looked like he might bolt at any minute. Tucker had dealt with lots of men like that in interrogation, and the majority of the time, they were guilty of something—usually more than pestering a girl.
“Everything is in order,” Belinda said. “Reuben can go first. Sign beside the yellow tabs.” She shoved the set of papers over to him and turned to face Tucker. “I understand that you’ve moved your trailer out to the property, and you and Jolene have started some remodeling.”
Reuben chuckled and gave each of them a smug look.
Tucker’s hands knotted into fists. “What’s so funny?”
“Be careful of starting anything with that woman,” Reuben said.
Tucker’s hands relaxed. He leaned back in the chair and crossed an ankle over his knee. “Oh, really? Why?”
“She never has amounted to anything. Went to work in a bar soon as she was old enough, and her mama was a junkie with an alcohol problem, don’t you know?” Reuben spit out the words like they tasted nasty in his mouth. “The apple never falls far from the tree.”
It was Tucker’s turn to laugh.
Reuben stopped writing and glared at