a very matter-of-fact way, he handed her a big beach towel. “I don’t think it’ll be too difficult to get your car out once this rain lets up. It looks like you went into an existing rut, meaning plenty of other people have ended up in that same spot, too.”
With the edge of the towel held to her dripping face, she peeked over at her car. If others had gone off the driveway in that same spot, she wouldn’t have to feel like such a dolt. “I see.”
“It wouldn’t hurt for Corbin and me to put more gravel there. I’ll ask him about it when I see him again.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem. Warm enough?”
God, he was so nice and so casual about everything that it just naturally helped her relax. “Yes, thank you.” While drying herself, she tried to think of something to say. Very little came to mind. “I really do appreciate this. I wasn’t sure what to do.”
“Hey.” He started to reach toward her, but pulled back again right away. “Call me anytime, okay?”
She nodded, but that led to another thought. “How long will you be here?”
“With Corbin?” He shrugged. “A while. Long enough to really get to know Justin and to make sure my brother is okay.”
“Why wouldn’t he be?”
“You can’t know, Hope.” He stared out at the storm, then fixed his gaze on her. “A guy finding out he’s a dad, and not of an infant but a kid who’s been around for ten years? That’s a tough one. Like this tsunami of emotion, compounded with guilt and anger. Corbin’s working it out. He’s a great dad already but I can tell he’s still struggling with his thoughts and feelings, like trying to find some footing in the whole single-parent routine.”
As dry as she could get, she folded the towel and put it on her lap. “You two are close.”
“Corbin and me? Yeah, we are.” Some distant memory put a grin on his face. “We always got along, even when he was a pain in the ass, but after Dad died...” The humor faded. “I think we teamed up to make Mom feel better. And since Mom was working to make us feel better, it was like this dysfunctional love fest for a while there, with each of us trying to put a happy face on our situation.”
“I’m sure that had to be difficult.”
“Losing Dad was the pits.” His voice lowered, grew a little rough. “He and my mom... They epitomized the perfect couple in so many ways. Losing him was really hard on her. At fifteen, I felt like I had to be the man of the family.”
“That’s awfully young.”
He snorted. “Especially with my mom. It took her no time at all to realize what I was thinking, and she set me straight real fast.”
Forgetting that she was alone with a man for the first time in four years, Hope refastened her seat belt and asked, “How’d she do that?”
“She sat Corbin and me both down and we talked it out. She made it clear she was still the boss—and the woman does like to be bossy, let me tell ya. She said she appreciated our help, and she loved us for being so considerate, but that she wanted us to go on being our usual selves, meaning into mischief and sometimes messy and nowhere perfect, and she’d go on correcting us, and we’d all just have to make do with our grief because that’s what would’ve made my dad happy.”
What a wonderful way to tackle sorrow. “I can almost picture that, your mother talking to her sons and the love you all feel for each other.”
He put the truck in gear and rolled forward down the drive. “Don’t think it was all roses, okay? As boys, Corbin and I were loud, rambunctious, argumentative little knuckleheads who got into too many scuffles. But that’s most kids, I think.”
“Sounds like you two know what to expect with Justin.” This was nice. More than nice. Other than Ivey, she hadn’t had such a long, detailed conversation in a very long time, at least, not about anything other than a client’s pet.
“Maybe, but so far Justin has been different. Not really sullen, but often more subdued than I’d like. I think he’s buried some pretty big worries down deep inside him.”
Surprised by that observation, she said, “You think?” To her, Justin appeared to be a very sweet boy who smiled often.
As he pulled onto the main road, Lang rolled