Only Her

“So what is the problem? He’s Ava’s father. You two had something magical before.” Skylar sucked down half the bottle.

“Affected you that much?” He was staring at her half empty bottle in awe. She nodded her head.

“I can’t let him in again Brett.” He put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed her. She laid her head against his shoulder and he gave her another squeeze. “I wouldn’t survive if he walked away again.”

“Mom said he’s home for good. That was his plans before he found out about Ava. Now it is certain.”

She glanced up at him. Then she sat up straight and downed the rest of the bottle. “I need another.”

He opened the second bottle and traded with her. He put the empty in the carton and sipped on his beer. He had to drive. Not far but he still had to drive. She just had to drive across the field and be sure to not hit the house. Brett watched her down half the second bottle.

“Momma, you keep that up and I’ll be driving you home and carrying you in the house. What will Ava say?”

“She’ll be in bed.” She burped loudly.

“Now that was lady-like.” He rolled his eyes in disgust.

Skylar glared at Brett. “Like I have to be a lady with you.”

“Just relax. Avoid Luka if he makes you that crazy. Make it only about Ava.”

She stared at him for several seconds as if he had lost his mind. Finally, he said, “What?”

“You know Luka,” was all she said.

They were quiet again. Staring out over the pond. A place they had frequented since they were young kids. At eleven and twelve it was to fish. She didn’t even mind bating her own hook with the wiggly worms. She was thrilled when she caught a fish and he didn’t. They always had been competitive with each other.

At fourteen it was to hide from Jacob Shaw. He was in a drunken rage and Brett had shown up with more than one black eye or his backside covered in welts because he had beat him with his belt. She was shocked. Crushed. She had comforted Brett until Luka showed up looking for him.

People didn’t understand the relationship she had with Brett. Sometimes, even Luka had struggled with it. There was even talk that Ava was not Luka’s but Brett’s child and that is why Luka had left town. She hated all of it. Small town gossip mongers.

Skylar didn’t know why they had bonded but they had. More often when his Daddy wasn’t home she would go to his house so she could see his mom. She had always liked Luna. Jacob Shaw was abusive but John Bradford was aloof. Neither of them had great fathers.

John and Nancy Bradford were more interested in their country club, their horse shows and their friends than their four girls. She had heard on more than one occasion that they kept having kids hoping for a boy to carry on the Bradford name. John had finally given up when Chloe was born; his fourth daughter. Maybe her mother was tired of being a brood mare. Skylar didn’t know which.

So when she and Brett needed somebody they turned to each other. They did love each other but more as brother and sister. They had never crossed that line into anything more than friendship. Not once. Never.

He was her rock when Luka up and left, shattering her. The whole Shaw family had gotten behind her and supported her through her pregnancy. It was Luna who took her to her doctor’s appointments and paid for them telling her not to worry. She and Ava would always be taken care of. She had been by her side when Ava was born. Her mother had helped Luna throw a baby shower but otherwise Nancy Bradford had taken the stance that Skylar had made her bed.

Brett had held Ava first. Then the other brothers. Again, he tried to convince Skylar to tell Luka that he had a daughter. She had refused. She didn’t even want to hear his name then. The pain was still too fresh and too raw. She finished her second beer and handed him the empty. Her body felt warm and tingly. “Turn on the radio,” she requested.

He handed Skylar her third beer then hopped down and went to the truck’s cab. He turned on the popular dance music station that he knew she was looking for while he preferred country music himself. When he returned she had already finished half of the third beer.

“You need to slow down.”

She shook her head no. “Brett, I just want to forget.”

He hopped up beside her and settled in. “That isn’t the way.”

“Why not?”

He shook his head. He opened his second beer and sipped on it. He should have gotten a six pack instead of a twelve. She was going to be drunk if she kept downing beers the way she was. Skylar wasn’t used to drinking. She rarely if ever drank more than an occasional glass of wine.

“Why don’t you date?”

He chuckled. “Where the hell did that come from?”

“I worry about you,” she told him. “You don’t date.”