Page 13 of Defending Casey

And instead of speaking to her, Casey turned to look at him.

That’s when he first noticed her hazel eyes. Mostly brown like his, but with a faint halo of green around her irises. Even with her glasses on Casey was a beautiful girl.

“A bunch of people in her class call me Choo choo because of my name.”

Her voice was clear, but he could see the concentration it took her to keep her tone even with everyone staring. He knew what kind of courage that took.

“My dad named me Casey because he remembered that Casey Jones was a famous figure in American History. He just didn’t remember that the Casey he was thinking about was a train engineer who was killed in a fiery crash with a stalled train on the tracks.”

Claudia’s acrylic nails sounded like a jack hammer on the tabletop. “See?” she cackled. “She’s a total train wreck. Choo choo!”

He tried to stop Claudia from continuing on, but like a runaway train, the other girl just couldn’t stop herself.

“And really, look how it’s turned out,” she continued. “Now she’s a boring, bitter, bastard who we have to tolerate at school.”

“Bastard?” Casey stood and set both hands on the top of the table before he knew what was happening. He got to his feet too, ready to keep her safe from Claudia. “What are you talking about?”

With one hand combing through her curls and the other waving vaguely in the air, Claudia managed an answer. “Well, you don’t have a mother, stupid. Everyone knows that. So maybe that’s not what it’s called, but you’re practically an orphan and who wants to hang out with someone like that?”

He couldn’t remember if someone tried to shut her up at that point, or if everyone just stood by and watched her stuff her foot in her mouth, but he remembered the look on Claudia’s face when he looked her square in the eye and said, “I do.”

Like a large-mouthed bass flipping around on the dock, Claudia gulped in air like it was going out of style.

“And maybe you don’t remember it, Claudia, but my mom died around the same time Casey’s did. So I’m glad I don’t have to worry about you hanging out with a bastard like me.”

Later on, other students told him, in detail, what kind of a fit Claudia threw after he left, but he didn’t really care. What mattered to him was the way Casey walked out of the lunchroom at his side and shared her lunch under the cottonwood at the back of the building.

Turningoff the water in the shower, Hale grabbed his towel off the rack and dried off in a hurry.

He wasn’t sure of Casey’s schedule, but he had a feeling he could get to Mattie’s Diner in time to pick up breakfast for Casey, her dad, and Nora.

He might have left things on a sour note the day before, but he was determined to talk to Casey and figure out where they would go from there.

Because if there were two things he was absolutely certain of, it was that he was still in love with Casey and he was going to do what it took to put things back together with her so that he could have the family he’d been cheated out of for almost ten years.

* * *

When he arrived at the Jones’place, he was surprised to see that it hadn’t changed all that much.

There were a few things different from the last time he’d seen it, and he would have known something was up if he’d been brave enough to venture down this way while he’d been in town over the last few weeks. A swing was set up in the oak tree along the side of the house. It was definitely for someone of Nora’s size. Made for a child. A child he could have already been spending time with if it hadn’t been for his pride.

As he pulled into the drive, he parked off to the side next to a car which he guessed was Casey’s and a truck that he recognized from his time in Fool’s Gold. Her father’s truck was still in good condition as was the house.

David Jones had never had a surplus of money, but he knew how to take good care of what he had. Hale was sure that also carried over to Nora. No matter how angry he was to know that his daughter had been growing up without him, he knew without a doubt that Nora had been well cared for by her mother and grandfather.

At least one of her grandfathers.

He shook off the anger he felt for his father remembering how perceptive Nora had been even from their first meeting at the feed store. The last thing he wanted her to feel was how angry he was. He didn’t want it to affect her if he could help it.

Getting out of his truck, he walked around to the front walkway and smiled at the barely contained beds of wildflowers on either side of the flagstones. Bird feeders painted by an exuberant hand poked out of each square and a birdbath sat near the steps, surrounded by even more flowers.

It looked like Casey, or maybe Nora, had given up trying to plant specific blooms in the garden and let nature take its course. Either way, it was perfect. A rush of wild color that made him smile.

A rush like the little girl who threw open the front door and came running out with a yell.

“Daddy!”

She stole his breath away with just that one word and then threatened to stop his heart when she launched herself off the top step. The bag of breakfast sandwiches fell from his hand as he reached out to catch her.

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