Lumber Jacked Read online

  He was so well endowed that the shorts scarcely covered what was beneath.

  He walked carelessly to the coffee machine and poured two cups.

  “Here,” he said, handing her a cup of fresh coffee.

  She looked into his face to avoid looking at his crotch.

  “Thanks.”

  “I can take Destiny out for a little exploration while you get dressed,” he said. “Give you some privacy.”

  “Okay,” she said, glad to be getting the room to herself while she dressed.

  They drank their coffee together, neither of them saying much, but Autumn felt a strange sense of intimacy between them. It was what she imagined a morning after might feel like, if she’d ever had a morning after.

  They were a little like a couple, sipping their coffee in various forms of undress, him sitting next to her on the empty side of the bed.

  “How was the armchair?” she said.

  “I’ve slept on worse.”

  “You should have slept on the bed next to me,” she said. “I could trust you to keep your hands to yourself.”

  “Could you?” he said, a cheeky grin crossing his face.

  She hit him playfully on the arm and he laughed.

  After the coffee he finished getting dressed and went out to the motel lobby with Destiny, taking his bag with him.

  Autumn took the chance to get ready properly, having a hot bath, putting on the new makeup they’d picked up, trying on the underwear and clothing. It wasn’t anything fancy but it did the job.

  She gathered her things and met Grady out front. He was watching the local news channel on the lobby television and playing with Destiny.

  “You hungry?” he said.

  She nodded and they drove to a diner next to the Italian place they’d had dinner in. They each ordered eggs and bacon and washed it all down with coffee.

  “I could get used to sharing meals with you,” Grady said while they ate.

  She looked up at him.

  “Why’s that?”

  “You have a nice way about you.”

  “A nice way?”

  “You know, you make conversation but you don’t talk nonstop. You say nice things, or interesting things. You don’t complain about the food. You’re just good company.”

  She smiled at him.

  He got the bill and she noticed he left the waiter a twenty dollar tip. She liked that he was generous with his money. She’d never cared about being with a rich man, but she’d always known she didn’t want to be with someone who was stingy.

  After that, they were back on the road for a few hours until they started to get back to the familiar territory of her childhood.

  “That’s my high school,” Autumn said as they passed the brick building she’d spent so many days of her life in.

  “I love it,” Grady said.

  “And that’s the bakery I worked in,” she said as they made their way down Main Street.

  Grady pulled over and stepped out of the car. He came back a minute later with a big, pink cakebox.

  “What’s that?” she said.

  “What does your mother think of strawberry shortcake?”

  “She loves it,” Autumn said, amazed at how thoughtful Grady was.

  “Now, where’s the hospital?”

  She directed him to the edge of town where the hospital was and they parked by the visitor entrance.

  Autumn hesitated before leaving the car and Grady noticed that she was nervous.

  “Don’t worry about a thing,” he said. “I can already tell that your mother loves you more than anything.”

  “Oh, you can?”

  “Yes, and she’ll be so happy to see you.”

  “What if she’s hurt that I never sent the money?”

  “She’ll understand, Autumn,” Grady said, taking Destiny from the carseat and walking her to the entrance of the hospital.

  “I guess I should leave you here for a while,” Grady said. “Me and the baby can entertain ourselves for a few hours.”

  “No,” Autumn said a little loudly. “She’ll want to meet you.”

  “Me?” Grady said.

  “Yes, the man who paid for us to be here. The man who drove me all the way here from Montana.”

  Grady nodded and they went to the waiting room. Autumn spoke to the nurse and was told they could visit her mother.

  She led the way, Grady following behind her, and she was surprised at how much comfort she got from his presence. This was her home. She was visiting her own mother. But having Grady there, a man she still didn’t really know, gave her the confidence and sense of security she needed to go through with it.

  When they reached her mother’s room, Grady waited in the corridor.

  Autumn entered without him and when she saw her mother lying in the bed she burst into tears.

  “Mom,” she cried.

  “Oh, baby,” her mother said, crying too.

  Autumn leapt onto the bed and hugged her mother so tightly she made her laugh.

  “How I missed you, my sweet,” her mother said.

  “I was so scared I’d never be able to see you again, mom.”

  Her mother laughed. Autumn had scarcely been gone a month.

  Despite the brief amount of time that had passed, her mother had aged.

  “What did they do to you?” she said, looking at her mother’s face more closely for the first time.

  “I’m not that bad, am I?”

  “Oh, sorry,” Autumn said. “No, I mean, you look really great, mom.”

  Her mother laughed.

  “I know, I know. You don’t have to sugarcoat it.”

  “I can’t believe they sent you back to the clinic.”

  “Well, when I couldn’t pay the bills.”

  Autumn looked into her mother’s eyes and teared up.

  “That was my fault,” she said.

  “Oh, never say that, you dear girl.”

  “I thought they were sending you the pay checks.”

  “I know you did, sweetie.”

  “Aunt Shirley thought I was keeping the money.”

  “She was just confused, Autumn. She didn’t know what to think. Besides, you know she’s always been prone to jumping to conclusions.”

  Autumn nodded.

  “But tell me,” her mother said, “how on earth did you manage to take care of all the bills so quickly? Did the Hildegards give you what they owed?”

  “No they did not,” Autumn said, unable to hide the anger in her voice. “It was someone else.”

  “Who?”

  Autumn looked at her mother a little shyly.

  “Autumn?” her mother said.

  Autumn went to the door and opened it. Grady was standing in the corridor holding Destiny. Autumn beckoned for him to enter the room.

  He came in and Autumn watched her mother’s reaction with amusement.

  “My, my, my,” her mother said.

  “Mom, this is Grady Cole. Grady, this is my mother.”

  “It’s a pleasure, Mrs. Lane,” Grady said.

  He stepped forward chivalrously and took her hand, kissing it gently.

  “Oh my,” Autumn’s mom said again.

  “Mom, Grady, I mean, Mr. Cole, he’s the one who paid the hospital bills.”

  “Mr. Cole, I owe you more than you can ever know.”

  “Oh, think nothing of it,” Grady said.

  “Not just for paying the bills, but more importantly, for bringing my little girl home to me. You have no idea how worried I’ve been about her.”

  Grady nodded.

  “Well, Mrs. Lane, your daughter has been like a ray of sunshine in my life. And in my daughter’s. I was glad to be able to do something for her.”

  Autumn’s mother looked at her, her eyebrows arched inquisitively.

  “Grady, Mr. Cole I mean, was a guest at the hotel, mom.”

  “Was he?” her mother said.

  “Yes, mom.”

  Autumn felt herself begi
nning to blush. She knew exactly what her mother was thinking, and when she looked at Grady, the smirk on his face did nothing to ease the situation.

  “Well, Grady, I mean Mr. Cole,” Autumn stammered, “I imagine you’d like to go wait in the cafeteria.”

  Autumn was desperate to explain things to her mother before she got too much of the wrong idea. She’d never been with a man in her life and her mother was what you might safely call conservative in her views on how a man and woman should court. She didn’t want her mother thinking she’d fallen into bed with the first man who looked her way.

  “I’m fine here,” Grady said, purposely making the situation more awkward.

  “No, no,” Autumn insisted. “The cafeteria is excellent.” Then, under her breath she added, “go, now.”

  Her mother watched everything with a look of extreme bemusement and Autumn felt herself blushing terribly.

  “All right,” Grady said, raising a hand. “Mrs. Lane, it’s been a pleasure.”

  He bowed courteously to her before leaving the room.

  Autumn watched the door behind him, making sure he wasn’t coming back.

  “Autumn,” her mother said when the door shut. “Explain.”

  Autumn was surprised when she looked back at her mother. She wasn’t angry at all, as she’d expected, but rather enjoying the situation, and her daughter’s obvious embarrassment.

  “Mom, it’s not at all what you think.”

  “And how do you know what I think?” her mother said.

  “Because I know how it looks.”

  “And how is that?”

  “It looks like he’s my… my…”

  “Your?”

  “Lover?” Autumn said, making it more of a question than a statement.

  “And is he?”

  Autumn shook her head emphatically, terrified her mother wouldn’t believe her.

  But when her mother spoke, it was Autumn’s turn to be incredulous.

  “That’s a shame,” she said.

  “What?”

  “You could do a lot worse than a man like that.”

  “Mother!”

  “Well, Autumn honey, look at him.”

  Autumn couldn’t believe it. She’d never heard her mother speak like that in her life.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You know exactly what I mean, young lady.”

  “You’ve never spoken about a boy I liked like that before.”

  “This isn’t a boy though, is it. It’s a man.”

  Autumn nodded.

  “All man,” her mother continued.

  “Mom, I get it.”

  “Autumn honey, if I was twenty years younger.”

  “Mom! Gross.”

  “Oh, give me that much,” her mother said, laughing. “The nurses and doctors here seemed determined to take everything pleasurable away from me.”

  “But you never speak like this,” Autumn said.

  “You never heard me speak like this. That doesn’t mean it never happened.”

  “Why is it happening now?”

  “Because, my dear, now we’re two women, and this is the way women talk.”

  Autumn had been feeling emotional since stepping into the room, but now the tears returned to her eyes and fell over her cheeks. It was the first time her mother had ever referred to her as a woman.

  “Really?”

  Her mother nodded. “I’m proud of you, Autumn. You went to work for those strange people and you kept your word.”

  “It didn’t do much good.”

  “That wasn’t your fault. You did your part, and I’m proud of you for that. Prouder than you’ll ever know.”

  Autumn got back on the bed and hugged her mother.

  “I just pray they can get you healthy again, now that you’re back here. You were doing so well before I left.”

  “They’ll do what they can do,” her mother said with the resignation of a woman who’d been in too many doctors’ offices and hospital beds to still put her hopes in the latest prognosis. “But let’s not talk about that. Let’s talk about you.”

  “What’s there to talk about with me? I’ve been making beds and vacuuming carpets.”

  “Oh, I think you’ve been doing more than that,” her mother said conspiratorially.

  “Mom!”

  “Well? You can’t just walk in here with a man like that, and a baby, and not offer up some sort of an explanation.”

  “He’s just a friend, mom.”

  “Autumn, take it from a woman who has a lot more experience, a man like that is never just a friend.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Well, he didn’t just drive you halfway across the country and pay your mother’s medical bills because he’s hoping you’ll become his babysitter.”

  “That’s exactly what he’s hoping,” Autumn said.

  “Oh, Autumn, please.”

  “Well, that’s what I’ve been. I play with the baby, feed her sometimes, give her the female touch.”

  “You’re more naive than I thought, my dear.”

  “I am not,” Autumn protested, knowing full well that was exactly what she was. “He hasn’t kissed me yet.”

  “That will come.”

  “He hasn’t so much as touched me.”

  “It’s called wooing, my dear.”

  “I thought wooing was a thing out of history books.”

  “Sadly, it is too often,” her mother said, “but it’s still alive and well if you find the right man.”

  “The right man?”

  “The kind of man who enjoys that kind of thing.”

  “What kind of thing?”

  “Drawing out the thrill of the chase, my dear.”

  “The thrill of the chase?”

  “Oh, honey, you have so much to learn.”

  “Then teach me. You sent me out into the world absolutely clueless.”

  “You weren’t ready to learn.”

  “Well I’m ready now.”

  Her mother looked at her and chuckled to herself. “So you are, my dear. So you are.”

  Autumn waited, eager for her mother to proceed.

  “Well, let me ask you this. Do you think Mr. Cole likes you?”

  Autumn shrugged.

  “Oh, please don’t be coy, sweetheart.”

  “Fine. Yes.”

  “So you think he’d like to kiss you?”

  Autumn nodded.

  “Then why do you think he hasn’t?”

  “How am I supposed to know?”

  “Humor me.”

  Autumn threw up her hands. “Because he’s shy?”

  Her mother smirked. “Sweetie, does he look shy?”

  Autumn shook her head. “Not really, but he did say he thought he was old enough to be my father.”

  “That was just to see what you’d say.”

  “I said he wasn’t. He’s only ten years older than me.”

  “So you gave him exactly what he wanted.”

  “I did?”

  “Yes.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “Permission, child. Permission.”

  Autumn rolled her eyes. “Mom, what are you even talking about?”

  Her mother put her hand on Autumn’s shoulder and looked into her eyes.

  “Oh, you’ll find out very soon, sweetheart. And when you do, it will be the greatest thing you’ve ever experienced in your entire life.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Grady

  Grady spent a few hours in the cafeteria with Destiny and by evening, they’d been joined by Autumn, Mrs. Lane, and Autumn’s aunt Shirley.

  The two older women fawned over him, asking him everything a person could possibly want to know about his childhood, becoming an orphan, being adopted and growing up with the Brotherhood in California, his relationship with Destiny’s mother, including every detail of its tragic end, and finally, the story of how he’d received a phone call out of the blue a few weeks
earlier notifying him he was a father.

  By the time he’d finished telling the story, he felt like he’d just been interviewed for some exposé in the newspaper.

  They all had dinner together in the cafeteria and Aunt Shirley noted that having Autumn back had given her mother the strength to leave her bed for dinner for the first time in weeks.

  After dinner, Autumn and Aunt Shirley took Destiny to go explore the maternity ward. They thought Destiny would get a kick out of seeing the other babies.

  It left Grady alone with Autumn’s mother for the first time.

  She said, “You have no idea how grateful I am to you.”

  “Please,” Grady said. “I did it because I wanted to.”

  “You did it because you’re a good man,” Mrs. Lane said, and then looked at him firmly. “Or at least, I hope you are.”

  Grady nodded. He knew all too well the reasons a man like him might help a girl like Autumn. He offered Mrs. Lane some coffee and she nodded. He got up and came back with two cups, cream, sugar and two slices of cake.

  “Well, despite being an orphan, you learned good manners somewhere along the way.”

  “I was lucky,” Grady said. “I was taken in by a good man and his daughter. He took in four of us, and raised us all like his own sons.”

  “That is lucky,” Mrs. Lane said.

  “It saved my life. I’m thankful for it every day.”

  “And I imagine going through something like that might put you in mind for returning the kindness.”

  Mrs. Lane indicated the expensive hospital they were in.

  “Oh,” Grady said. “Like I said. I wanted to help.”

  Mrs. Lane nodded. She was trying to get a read on Grady and he knew it. She was being a protective mother, and it was only right that she be that way, especially given what had happened to Autumn already. He also knew that there was only so much he could do in the short time he had with her to put her mind at ease.