That Thing Called Love by Susan Andersen Read Free Book Online

on leave when she hit town.”
    That caught Jake’s attention, but his brother immediately gave the air a negligent swipe with one big-knuckled hand.
    “Not her scandal. It was her old man’s. He’d been all over the news because of some big swindle that crashed down around his ears and landed him in Monroe. Jenny came here with her mother.” Max’s face hardened. “Who, as far as I could tell, planted her skinny socialite ass in bed from the shame of it all, while her underage kid kept the two of them off the streets by doing housekeeping at The Brothers after school and on weekends.”
    “And Emmett and Kathy just invited two strangers with a questionable past to move into their home?” In a way it sounded like something they’d do. But in other ways, it wasn’t like them at all, especially in light of Kari’s death, which couldn’t have been more than a year or two before that time.
    Max shook his head. “That was a while later. When they first got here, Jenny and her mother rented the Bakers’ little place.”
    “Christ.” He shifted uncomfortably. “That old rehabbed chicken coop?”
    “Yeah. Where her mom just curled up and died. I’m talking literally. From what I heard, the woman couldn’t live with her loss of status and just willed herself to die. But it took her a while. By the time she passed, Jenny was a senior and had been working for the Pierces almost two years.”
    “So—what? They just replaced Kari with her?” Even as the words left his mouth, he knew he was the last person with any room for righteous indignation.
    But somehow that didn’t stop him from feeling it.
    Max gave him a look that suggested he was thinking the same thing. But he merely said, “The one time I went to their house to see Austin, I was strongly discouraged, so I’m hardly an expert on their mind-set.”
    That sidetracked Jake. “You wanted to see Austin?”
    “I thought I should meet my nephew.”
    He simply stared at Max for a moment before admitting, “It never occurred to me you were his uncle. But you are, aren’t you?”
    “Not as far as Emmett and Kathy were concerned,” Max said drily. “They said considering my background with you and the fact that the little dude didn’t know me from Adam, they didn’t see the point in my spending time with him—that he’d only be confused.” He shrugged. “They were probably right. I mean, you and I never acted like real brothers. Why should my relationship with your get be any different? But I always wondered if maybe I shouldn’t have pressed them a little harder. Done more. Hell, I put more effort into getting to know the boys over at Cedar Village,” he added, naming the home for delinquent boys on Orilla Road outside town.
    Then he shook his head. “That’s not what we were talking about, though. Because one thing I do know about the Pierces is that they sure as hell mourned Kari. So I doubt replacing her with Jenny entered into the equation. I think they saw a hardworking girl who was the age their daughter had been when she died and who was struggling to make ends meet—and thought they could help. In the end, I believe they came to think of Jenny as the next best thing to a daughter.”
    “What about her? What did she get out of the relationship, besides the obvious?”
    Max’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t like what you’re implying, bro.”
    “She went from the Bakers’ chicken coop to the Pierces’ big Craftsman.”
    “Where she refused every enticement to live a life of leisure.” Max looked him in the eyes. “And you know she could have. But Jenny kept working at the inn and, after graduating, put herself through college. With no help from the Pierces, from everything I’ve ever heard. She earned her promotions with good, old-fashioned hard work. And she moved out of that big Craftsman. Bought the little cabin she lives in from Emmett.” Max gave him a hard look. “So, you don’t want to be calling that kettle black,