Just Practicing (Hearts for Ransom Book 2)

  Just Practicing

  Georgia A Evans

  Coming Soon

  And in January

  Published by Georgia A Evans

  Beecher City, Illinois

  Copyright © 2015 Georgia A Evans

  All rights reserved.

  This book is dedicated to two very unique men—my dad, Leonard Stewart, and father-in-law, Raymond Evans.

  Dad has a crazy sense of humor, and passed his love of Chicago and the Cubs to me. He does things like pull his riding mower beside my small car and ask, “Wanna race?” The poor man is plagued with my mom’s famous “shortcuts,” one of which took them through Indianapolis and somehow landed them right where they started. He just rolls his eyes and mutters. He wants his own fishing show, too, but since he and Mom comprise approximately one-fifth of their village’s population, I don’t think Bill Dance will be knocking on his door and asking him to guest star anytime soon. Because of throat cancer, which they were able to remove—thank God, he can speak no louder than a hoarse whisper. Let me tell you, he is the only person on the face of the earth who can yell in a whisper.

  Raymond was taken from us way too soon, but somehow it seems like he’s still here. I see him in my husband, who minus the red hair, favors him greatly. I hear him in my sons’ sense of humor. He loved his grandchildren, and what I regret most is his great-grandchildren don’t know him. The ornerier the better, so he would have really enjoyed watching a few of them. And, I’ll never forget when he kept asking my son to tell him the name of the Houston baseball team. You can imagine what Astros sounds like coming from a two-year-old. He also shamelessly cheated at Pinochle and Monopoly. (You do NOT have to pay taxes to the owner of Boardwalk and Park Place, nor crossing fees at each railroad.)

  My characters Leonard and Raymond are loosely based on these two men. I imagined my dad as an old bachelor with the misconception he’s twenty-nine and h-o-t. And my Raymond grew old. He’s sweet, if a little befuddled, talking to fish and stuffed rabbits. And, he still cheats at cards.

  Also by Georgia A Evans

  Extended Family Series

  Book 1 – Making Memories

  Book 2 – Counting On It

  Book 3 – Because of Bob (October, 2015)

  Hearts for Ransom Series

  Book 1 – Counting On It

  Book 2 – Just Practicing

  Book 3 – Believe Me (November, 2015)

  Hearts for Ransom is different from all my others—published and unpublished. Usually, sequels evolve because I can’t leave a character behind. I intended Hearts to be a series from the beginning, though, with each book centered on a different Slammer.

  I have to admit Jesse was the character I intended the second book to be about. He quickly drifted to the background, though, as “Big Bo” Daniels kept popping up with his laconic “This bites.”

  And, when Seth showed up, the abused teen needed a strong role model to make him feel safe and show him all men weren’t cruel. Somehow, Bo seemed the natural choice. I was surprised to discover underneath the biting and muttered grumblings, Bo had a soft heart, especially when it came to Seth.

  While outlining Just Practicing, I realized Seth’s Aunt Jan was young and beautiful. She loved a nephew she hadn’t known existed, and with “big brother,” Bo, stepping in to take care of male issues, they were a happy, if hodgepodge, family.

  Of course, I had to throw obstacles in their path. Bo’s girlfriend, Liz, and Jan’s estranged, alcoholic mother both showed up to make things uncomfortable.

  But, more importantly, I explored what motivated these young adults to parent a boy nearly half their age. You may be surprised.

  Come along with Bo and Jan as they learn the true meaning of family and lengths to which a person will go to save it.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Nurses, aides, and

  other caregivers of the aged

  inspired Jan’s wonderful attitude

  toward her patients. It takes a special person

  to open your heart, knowing that soon, it may break.

  Also, the Big Brothers Big Sisters Program* is the basis

  of the organization in which Bo and Seth participated.

  *While they served as the basis of my fictional organization, Big Brothers Big Sisters is not connected with or depicted in this book.

  You met "Big" Bo Daniels in Counting On It, but you don't know the real man. He loves his "little brother," Seth, and will do whatever it takes to keep him safe and happy. When Seth needs a father figure, Bo steps in--even spending a weekly family day with the teenager and his aunt. Although he has no time for his girlfriend and is so tired he makes a major mistake at work, Bo won't give Seth up.

  Jan Sellers didn't know she had a nephew until Child Services asked her to take him. Now, she can't imagine life without Seth. But, then Bo's girlfriend goes too far and verbally harms the boy, who suffered years of abuse before coming to his aunt. Jan is disappointed when Bo doesn't tell her, so there will be no more family time. What does it matter, anyway? After all, they were never a real family.

  Everything changes when Jan's mother, a recovering alcoholic, shows up. When the wealthy widow passes muster with child services and makes it clear she wants to raise her grandson, Jan panics. She can't lose him. So, she doesn't correct her mom's assumption that the man Seth constantly speaks of is Jan's boyfriend. And when Bo shows up, after a confusing kiss, he plays along.

  The two of them are a team again, and they'll do anything to keep the boy they love with Jan. Anything--even provide him with a two-parent home. A temporary marriage, just until Seth reaches 18.

  But, can a man and woman who enjoy those pretend kisses a little too much really keep their hearts out of the deal? And if they fall in love, to what lengths will Bo's girlfriend go in order to get back the man she never wanted to give up?

  They'll face off against anybody who tries to take Seth away from them, but some battles aren't possible to win. Even when love is involved.

  There are places in the heart you don’t even know exist until you love a child.

  – Author unknown

  Janet Sellers was standing in the middle of a war zone. Who would think working in the Senior Living unit of a nursing home should require hazard pay?

  At the moment, two women were squared off against each other, and Jan, fool that she was, had planted herself right between them. Gertrude had wandered into Mildred’s room one night several months earlier and accidentally knocked the other woman out of bed as she climbed in, resulting in Mildred having a broken arm. Now, Mildred couldn’t remember her own name ninety-nine percent of the time, but she remembered Gertrude had broken her arm.

  The two of them had been standing in line to walk to the cafeteria when Mildred turned and glared at Gertrude before loudly announcing, “I know you! You broke my arm!” She then raised her cane, her intent to bop Gertrude upside the head all too clear. Jan realized what was happening, and seeing no other options, stepped between them, facing Mildred.

  “Now, Mildred, you don’t want to do that.” The twenty-three-year-old LPN spoke soothingly.

  The old lady pulled back her cane, winding up for a good swing. “Oh, yes I do!”

  Gertrude, now cowering behind Jan, peeked over her shoulder. “I think she wants to hit me.”

  “Cat fight!” Leonard, who thought he was twenty-nine years old most of the time, produced a fist pump.

  “I had cats once,” Albert announced. “I think they lived in the alley. My dog ate them.”

  “Cat’s purr. Dogs bark,” Samuel stated.

  Jan braced herself, ready to put her five foot three, petite fram
e into keeping Mildred from striking anybody, even if she had to forcibly remove her cane.

  “Ouch!” she yelled. Somebody, undoubtedly Leonard, had snuck up behind Jan and pulled her hair. It was times like this when she almost wished she was brave enough to wear her hair short, instead of keeping it nearly waist-length. And, with the regulation ponytail, Leonard could really get a good grip on it.

  “Hands to yourself, Leonard!” she called over her shoulder, then quickly turned back to Mildred, who still seemed determined to use that cane. “Mildred, you need to put the cane down.”

  “Need some help?”

  Finally, Lance Walters had come to her rescue. He was the only male nurse on the staff in the Senior Living unit of Mercy House, and as a rule, the women usually responded to him better.

  Jan silently nodded, not shifting her focus from Mildred’s cane.

  “Mildred, sweetheart, if you break your cane, how are you and I going to dance tomorrow afternoon when the band comes to play?” Lance saw the highest risk, and zoned in on Mildred.

  The woman immediately lowered her cane and turned to Lance, giggling like a schoolgirl. “I won’t need my cane if you hold me up.”

  He turned her around and escorted her to the front of the line, putting the other five residents between her and Gertrude. “We’ll need it if we want do any spins, darlin’. I can’t hold you up and twirl you around at the same time, can I?”

  “No.” Giggle, giggle.

  Jan breathed a sigh of relief and walked beside the line of residents as they followed Lance and Mildred. She was feeling much better about everything until Leonard surreptitiously goosed her.

  “Hands to yourself, Leonard,” she ordered him again.

  “You got a great tush.” His bushy, gray eyebrows waggled.

  “She wanted to hit me.” Gertrude seemed to be talking to herself. Or she could have been talking to one of her visitors nobody else could see.

  “Singin’ in the rain.” Claudia gave a little skip and almost lost her balance.

  “Better save the dancing until tomorrow, Claudia.” Jan held onto the good-natured lady’s arm until she was firmly on her feet.

  “I like to sing,” Many times on overcast days like this one, Claudia decided she was in a Broadway musical, and “sang” everything.

  “I know you do.”

  With Lance’s help, and Jan dodging Leonard’s hand, all seven of their residents were soon seated at the table with their meals in front of them. She was thankful each of them were able to eat on their own, which wasn’t always the case with older patients.

  “You okay?” Lance asked as he walked up beside her.

  She nodded. “I’m just glad you got back from lunch when you did.”

  He frowned at her. “They really need to send an aide over here while I’m at lunch. It’s asking too much for you to handle all seven of them on your own.”

  “You do it while I’m gone,” she observed. “It shouldn’t be any different.”

  The buff, six foot two man looked her up and down. “I’m a little bigger than you are, Jan.”

  She almost told him he was a little easier on the eyes, too. With his collar length, sun-streaked blonde hair and perpetually tanned skin, he could have stepped off the pages of a magazine. But she couldn’t say something like that. They worked together.

  “You’re thinking about us, aren’t you?” He winked.

  She felt herself blush. Lance had asked her out too many times to count. It wasn’t that she wasn’t interested in him. Lance was a very good-looking, compassionate, funny man, and she couldn’t help but be pleased that he showed such a keen interest in her.

  It was just they had been on this shift together for almost two years and developed an extremely good working relationship. If they tried dating and didn’t work out as a couple, it would ruin everything.

  And there was Seth. Her nephew, who she had been sole guardian of for the past year, was her first priority. There simply wasn’t room in her life for romance.

  “Why don’t you go ahead and take your lunch?” Lance asked. “I’ve got this covered.”

  Jan usually waited until the residents were finished eating and back in the rec room of the Senior Living unit before she went to lunch, but the morning had been pretty hectic.

  “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

  “Go. I’ll dance with Mildred all the way back to the unit if I have to.” He chuckled.

  She smiled at him as she turned to leave. He really was a good guy.

  A few minutes later, she sat down at the picnic table under a shade tree and opened her lunch box. Jan smiled as she pulled out the peanut butter and jelly sandwich Seth fixed for her that morning. It was his favorite food, so in his eyes, he had given her a treat.

  Seth Lyle Stephens. Just a little over a year ago she hadn’t even known of his existence, and now she couldn’t imagine life without him. His mom was her older sister, Peggy, who Jan hadn’t seen since Peggy left home when Jan was barely thirteen. All Jan knew about Seth’s dad was that his name was Carl, which was actually more than she cared to know about the sad excuse for a man.

  Last June, Vanessa Tate, a caseworker from children’s protective services, contacted Jan to ask if she would consider assuming guardianship of her twelve-year-old nephew. After recovering from the shock of discovering she was an aunt, she still had serious reservations, not the least of which why anybody would want a woman her age to try to raise a teenager.

  Vanessa explained that Peggy had spent most of the last ten years in and out of drug rehab programs. She surrendered all parental rights when Seth was barely three years old, claiming the stress of being a parent contributed to her drug abuse. And his dad—if one could even use that term when referring to the man who fathered Seth—had mentally and physically abused him for who knew how many years. It wasn’t until protective services intensified their investigation into the situation that he backed out and surrendered all parental rights, too.

  Since Jan’s parents were out of the picture—her mom was a neglectful, alcoholic parent who now couldn’t even be located, and her dad disappeared with the next door neighbor lady when Jan was a child—Seth had nobody except her. So she said yes.

  It turned out to be the best decision she had ever made. She took one look at the scrawny, red-headed, freckle-faced boy and fell in love. Seth was so easy to love. And he had taken to her like a duck to water, lapping up her attention like a starving child.

  Seth had flourished during the past year. He still required more attention and security than other kids his age, but for the most part he was now a healthy, happy thirteen-year-old young man. She was so proud of him. He stayed on the honor roll all the way through seventh grade and played baseball for Ransom Middle School, there in Ransom, Indiana—a town halfway between Evansville and the Illinois state line.

  Of course, Jan couldn’t take all the credit for her nephew’s achievements. When Vanessa first approached her, Jan was concerned because Seth was at the age when he needed one thing she couldn’t provide—a positive male role model. But that had already been taken care of before Seth was given to her.

  “Big Bo Daniels,” the six foot four giant of a first baseman for one of the best fast-pitch softball teams in the state, the Slammers, had been assigned to Seth as his “big brother” for a church-sponsored program out at Boone’s Sites campground. He and Seth bonded to the extent neither of them wanted their relationship to end after the two-week program was over. So, when Vanessa asked if Bo could continue to be an active part of Seth’s life, Jan was more than happy to agree.

  Bo was the one who took Seth fishing, talked to him about “boy” things, and rarely missed watching him play baseball. He had even gone to Seth’s parent-teacher conferences with Jan, so he could pitch in and help with any problems Seth might have.

  Thinking of the gentle giant of a man with his long, black hair and soulful, brown eyes brought a smile to Janet’s face. Without him, there would be a h
uge gap in Seth’s life that she would have no way to fill. She was thankful for Seth—and Bo.

  Bogard Daniels had been laying shingles since seven o’clock that morning, and there were still a good two hours until quitting time. Why had his boss and friend, Logan Taylor, sent his handyman to fetch him?

  “You know what’s going on?” he asked Gerald Ryman, who effortlessly kept his wheelchair beside Bo as he strode to the site management trailer.

  Gerald shrugged. “Sorry, Bo. Logan just said he wanted to talk to you.”

  When they were about ten feet from the trailer, Gerald turned right, calling over his shoulder, “I’ll see you later. I’m on my way to help Colton with some bricks.”

  What could Logan want, anyway? Bo planned on trying to catch a few minutes alone with him after he clocked out that afternoon. He planned to ask Logan and his wife, Emily, for some advice, but he would never think of stopping work to bother Logan. He didn’t abuse their friendship that way.

  A few moments later, he squinted as his eyes became adjusted to the dim interior of the trailer.

  That you, Bo?” Logan called from his office, which was the only other room in the small structure.

  Bo walked into the room, where Logan sat behind his desk. “I’m here. What do you need?”

  “Have a seat.” Logan’s brown eyes were clouded with concern.

  “I was layin’ those shingles…”

  “Please, Bo.” Logan’s voice was uncharacteristically firm. “Sit down.”

  Bo walked around the chair in front of Logan’s desk and sank onto it.

  “There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to say it.” Logan’s gaze didn’t waver. “Your work has been crap lately, Bo.”

  “What?” Bo was dumbfounded. He had shown up at seven o’clock on the dot every morning, and worked his tail off until quitting time at four, or even later, if Taylor Construction was running behind on a project.