Page 66 of Everlasting Love

I grip his shoulder and pull him to a stop. “Watch who you’re talking to. Now, what’s going on?”

His eyes drop to the ground between us. “Nothin’.”

Hope joins us at the edge of the field. “What happened?”

“Evan pushed Ronald so hard he fell to his butt. I’m trying to find out what’s going on.”

Hope frowns at her son. “Do I need to take the privilege of playing soccer away from you as well as your computer games?”

What? Hope never has to take things away from Evan. What the hell is going on? I look at her questioningly and she shakes her head at me.

“No, Mom,” he says softly as he kicks the grass with the tip of his cleat.

“Say bye to Shane and get in the car. We’ll talk when we get home.”

Uh oh. He’s in trouble. We watch Evan walk to the car with slumped shoulders and I turn to Hope. “What’s going on?”

She releases a long sigh. “I had a police officer turn up at my door with Evan last Friday afternoon.”

“What the hell?”

“Yep. My thoughts exactly.”

“What? Why?” The Evan I know is so far removed from this boy.

She folds her arms and watches Evan climb into her car, then turns back to me. “He and his new friends thought it would be funny to steal stuff from the gas station. His friends took off when they were caught, leaving Evan to face the consequences on his own and he’s not prepared to tell the officer who he was with.” She runs her hand through her hair and the frustration is apparent in the creases across her forehead. “I don’t know what to do with him.” She huffs and looks back at her car. “I don’t know how to deal with a pre-teen boy who has an attitude the size of Texas.”

“Did the owner of the gas station press charges?”

She shakes her head. “Officer Taylor said the owner wanted to press charges but he suggested that since it was a first offense, a stern talking to and a ride in the police car should be enough of a deterrent from further misdemeanors.”

“Well, that’s something. Sounds like the officer is a decent guy.”

She swallows and looks up at me, then away quickly but I catch something in her eyes that looks a lot like guilt. “Yeah, he was really nice and he sat and talked to Evan for a while about what he’d done and where a life of crime, no matter how small, could lead him.”

I nod. “I can talk to him if you want.”

“I’m not sure what you could add at this point. I’ve grounded him except for school and soccer. I’ve also taken away his computer time unless he needs to research something for school. He’s not happy with me.” She sighs heavily. “I never signed up to be a single parent, you know. It’s harder than I thought it was gonna be.”

I wrap my arm around her shoulder and begin walking toward the parking lot. “I’m here for support whenever you need it. I’ve stayed away because that’s what you asked me to do, but if you need me, I’ll be there. I promised Wyatt that if anything happened to him, I’d keep my eye on you guys.”

She takes in a deep breath and blows it out. “I need you to stay away, Shane. I need to be able to handle everything on my own. I’ve relied on you too much, and that doesn’t help me or Evan. It doesn’t help you either.”

We make it to her car. “But I promised.”

She rests her hand on my arm. “I know you did. Wyatt promised me forever and look how that worked out,” she says flippantly, then opens the back door of her car and pulls out a casserole dish. “I made you dinner.” She offers it to me.

“I’m all right. I’ve already made dinner. I … uh … I’m staying with Toby’s sister-in-law for a month while my building is being renovated. I prepared dinner before I came out, so I’m not freeloading on them.” I’m not sure why I referred to Violet as Toby’s sister-in-law. She’s so much more than that.

Her eyes widen and her lips tip up. “You mean that gorgeous woman and her cute little girl?”

I nod and then push the casserole back into her hands. “I’d better get going. Let me know if you want me to talk to Evan.”

“I will.” I lean in to hug her goodbye. “And Shane.”

“Yeah?”

“It’s time you did something about Violet and Jasmine.” She raises her eyebrows at me, and her eyes sparkle with mischief. It’s a look I haven’t seen on her for a long time and it gives me hope that maybe one day she’ll think about moving forward.

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