his eyes made her want to wrap her arms around both him and Rhett and make this whole night go away. “She’s safe. Sheriff Bennett is taking care of her.”
Erin wondered exactly how Jenna McCay was being cared for, and she hoped that whatever was happening Jenna was coherent enough to feel horrible about the situation she’d created for her son.
“It was loud,” Rhett said. “Mommy’s friends woke me up. I came out to tell her, but there were so many grown-ups and I couldn’t find her. Then everyone started yelling and I got scared and hid under the sink.”
“That was real smart of you,” David told the boy, his hand smoothing Rhett’s sleep-tousled hair.
After a moment Rhett tipped up his head to look at David. “When is Mommy coming home?”
“I’m not sure, buddy. But I’ll stay with you until she does, okay?”
Rhett chewed on his bottom lip for a few seconds, then nodded. After a knock at the door, Cole let in a gray-haired woman who appeared to be in her midfifties. She wore a plain white button-down shirt and dark pants and looked about as no-nonsense as they came.
The woman spoke to Cole in hushed tones for a few minutes, then they both approached.
“This is Becky Cramer from the county Human Services department,” Cole said.
Becky gave David a small nod, then bent to look at Rhett. “You’ve had quite a night,” she said gently.
“It was loud,” Rhett said, turning in David’s lap but not releasing his shirtfront.
“I’m David McCay.” David offered the woman his hand. “Rhett’s uncle. He’ll stay with me while we sort out things with Jenna.”
Becky shook his hand, then glanced at Erin.
“I’m Rhett’s kindergarten teacher, Erin MacDonald.” She saw a flash of surprise pass over Becky’s sharp features.
Right. How was she supposed to explain why she’d ended up on the couch with David and Rhett, caught up in the middle of family drama that had started long past regular school hours?
“Erin is a friend of mine,” David answered. Becky seemed to have no issue with that response, whereas Erin had trouble keeping her jaw from hitting the floor. Friends with David McCay? In what lifetime?
Men like David didn’t have boring kindergarten teachers as friends. Before he came to Crimson, he’d been a major-league baseball pitcher. He must be used to drop-dead gorgeous women who were exciting and sexy.
Erin knew she was boring. And ordinary. Not at all David’s type. She’d had a boyfriend last year—an accountant at a firm in town. He was quiet, average and exactly her type. Greg had broken up with her to date someone who was better than average, but that didn’t mean Erin could change the person she was on the inside. No matter how much she wanted to try.
David had been her unrequited crush since the moment she’d first seen him. It was a harmless fantasy with no chance of rejection. Never had she expected to get to know him, let alone be part of his life in this kind of personal way.
Her mind drifted to that moment in the car when he’d traced his thumb over her cheekbone. The simple touch had sent shock waves rippling through her and ignited a kind of flash-point desire Erin hadn’t realized she was capable of feeling.
“It’s important the school and the family work together,” Becky said, bringing Erin back to the current conversation with a jolt, “to keep the boy’s life as stable as possible during this time.”
She looked at Rhett, who had fallen asleep in David’s arms. “Let me put him to bed,” she whispered, “while you two finish talking.”
David relaxed his grip, allowing her to lift the boy into her arms. She made sure to take the stuffed dog, too. Rhett remained asleep as she tucked him back into bed, sighing when his head hit the pillow. Erin sat on the mattress for several minutes, rubbing the boy’s back to make sure he didn’t wake again. She couldn’t imagine how scared he must have been earlier, unable to find his mother and with the wild party in full swing.
She made a silent vow. She would keep him safe, no matter how far out of her comfort zone—and tangled up with David McCay—that led her.
* * *
It was almost two in the morning before David let himself into the apartment, exhausted and emotionally drained. Erin had agreed to stay while he went to see Jenna. Cole was keeping her overnight on possession charges but had agreed to drop them if she entered a rehab program.
David had helped his sister get clean once before, and it was a rough road. She swore that tonight’s tumble off the wagon was a onetime occurrence. David wanted to believe her, yet he’d heard so many excuses over the years. All he knew was he had to protect his nephew. There could be no repeats of what Rhett had gone through tonight.
It never should have happened in the first place, and he couldn’t stop blaming himself.
The apartment was quiet when he entered, and he found Erin asleep on the couch, curled on her side as if she didn’t want to take up too much space. It blew his mind that the buttoned-up schoolteacher had so willingly pitched in to help with his hot mess of a life. He understood that Rhett was her student. But David had never encountered a teacher like her.
Hell, he would have paid a lot more attention in school if he’d had someone like Erin MacDonald in his corner.
If possible, she looked more luminously beautiful asleep than she did awake. She was like a damn fairy-tale princess with her creamy skin, straight nose, rosy cheeks and the long, dark hair that fell over her face. It was easier to study her now than when those too-knowing bourbon-colored eyes were staring back at him.
He covered her with a blanket and went to check on Rhett. Unlike Erin, the boy was sprawled across the bed, arms and legs reaching out like a starfish. Jenna claimed she’d meant to have only her new boyfriend and a few of his buddies to the house to watch the Broncos play, but things had gotten out of hand. According to Cole, the boyfriend was serious bad news, having had more than a few run-ins with law enforcement over the years.
How the hell did Jenna manage to attract the biggest scumbags on the planet every time she found a new man? He would have asked her, wanted to rail and shout, but she’d looked so defeated sitting alone in the holding cell. She understood she’d messed up and he knew from experience that heaping on more condemnation would only put her on the defensive.
Fear and guilt had warred in his sister’s pale blue eyes, along with the remnants of a long-ago pain that she could hide from most of the world, but not from him. She’d agreed to check into a treatment program, so finding a place for her would be the first thing on his to-do list after getting Rhett to school in a few hours.
He lowered himself into the recliner next to the couch. Erin had cleaned the messy apartment, another debt of thanks he owed her. David hated owing people anything, had learned the hard way to only depend on himself. Yet he couldn’t help but be grateful for the chance to simply sit and rest for a few minutes.
His eyes drifted shut, although he didn’t intend to fall asleep. The next thing he knew, someone was shaking him awake. He blinked and found himself staring into Erin’s huge brown eyes.
“I
