Don't Cry. Beverly Barton

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      “Dawson is the one who needs help, but my father won’t help him.”

      “I see.” She glanced at J.D., a questioning look in her eyes. “And what do you expect your father to do?”

      “Get Dawson out of this mess,” Zoe replied. “My dad’s a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent. He could take care of this for Dawson if he wanted to, but he doesn’t like Dawson because he thinks I’m too young to have a boyfriend.”

      “How old are you?”

      “Fourteen.”

      “Hmm…I had a boyfriend when I was fourteen, and my father didn’t like him.”

      Zoe smiled at J.D. triumphantly. Great. Just what he needed. A damn female shrink who apparently agreed with his daughter.

      “Ryan, what are the charges against Dawson?” Audrey asked.

      Officer Karns rattled off a list of offenses, everything from reckless driving to resisting arrest, with half a dozen other complaints in between, including DUI, resisting stop and frisk, and reckless endangerment.

      “I see. I assume you’ve contacted his parents.”

      “Yes, ma’am.”

      “And is there anything Special Agent Cass can do for Dawson, any way he can take the boy with him when he and Zoe leave?”

      “No, ma’am. Dawson Cummings is going to be spending the night in juvenile tonight. Once his parents arrive and his bond is posted, he’ll be released into their custody.”

      “Zoe’s very concerned about Dawson,” Audrey told Officer Karns. “Can you give her some kind of reassurance that he’ll be well treated and no harm will come to him until his parents can arrange for his release?”

      J.D. watched and listened, completely dumbfounded by the way Zoe was reacting to Audrey Sherrod. Hadn’t he been saying pretty much the same things to her? Why was she paying attention to a stranger when all she’d done was scream at her own father?

      “Yes, ma’am.” The young policeman looked directly at Zoe. “I give you my word that Dawson will be okay until his parents can take him home. He’s drunk and belligerent and he’s mouthed off and, yes, he’s in big trouble. But his folks will get him a good lawyer and since this is his first arrest, he’ll probably wind up with nothing more than a slap on the wrist.”

      “There, Zoe, Officer Karns has given you his word.” Audrey placed her hand on Zoe’s shoulder. “I’m sure if you go home with your father now and apologize to him for some of the things you said to him, you and he will be able to come to an understanding about Dawson.” Audrey looked at J.D. “Isn’t that right, Special Agent Cass?”

      J.D. snorted. Damn her. She’d put him on the spot. He nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

      When Audrey turned to go, Zoe called, “Wait. Don’t leave.”

      Audrey paused and glanced over her shoulder.

      “Uh…J.D. and I, we don’t communicate all that well. We both always wind up saying the wrong things.” Zoe gazed pleadingly at Audrey. “Was it like that for you and your dad?”

      J.D. noted the slight hesitation and the quickly concealed odd expression as it crossed Audrey’s face.

      “Yes, Zoe, it was. My father and I had communication problems, too.”

      “Are all fathers like that? I mean, do all of them think you’re still a baby when you’re not? Do they all try to run your life and assume they know what’s best for you even when they’re wrong?”

      “Yes, to some extent all fathers are like that, so it’s up to daughters during their teen years to be patient and understanding and do their best not to give their fathers a heart attack. Of course, giving him a few gray hairs is a different matter. That’s a given.”

      Zoe looked at J.D., and she and Audrey laughed.

      Yeah, funny. He hadn’t missed the joke. His hair had already begun turning prematurely gray before Zoe came to live with him, but he had to admit that it was getting grayer every day.

      Zoe went over and stood in front of J.D. “If I apologize to you, will you let me say good-bye to Dawson before we leave?”

      Letting his daughter anywhere near that young hoodlum was the last thing J.D. wanted to do, but when he glanced at Audrey, she gave him a cautionary meet-your-child-halfway stare.

      “Yeah. Okay,” he said reluctantly.

      “I’m sorry I said all those awful things to you. I—I didn’t mean them.” Zoe gulped. “Well, I didn’t mean most of them.”

      J.D. nodded. At least she was truthful. That alone was a step in the right direction. “Apology accepted.”

      “Now, may I say bye to Dawson?”

      “Make it quick.”

      “I will.”

      Everything was going along just fine. Everybody was calm and rational, even Zoe. And J.D. managed to keep his resentment of Audrey Sherrod’s interference under control. Okay, so the woman had worked some kind of magic on Zoe, but she’d had no right to—

      God damn it. What the hell?

      Zoe stood on tiptoe, wrapped her arms around Dawson’s neck, and kissed him. Kissed him on the mouth. And both his mouth and hers were wide open!

      J.D. growled like the papa bear he was and felt like ripping Dawson apart, limb from limb. Just as he moved forward, intending to grab Zoe, Audrey reached out and clamped her hand over his forearm.

      “Don’t,” Audrey whispered. “It’s just a kiss. Give her that much.”

      J.D. snapped his head around and glared at Audrey. “She’s a child. My child.”

      “She’s a child on the verge of womanhood. And unless I miss my guess, your daughter is strong-minded and stubborn, and the more you object to something, the more appealing it is to her. The harder you push, the harder she’ll push back.”

      J.D. clenched his teeth. He wanted to tell Audrey Sherrod to go to hell. But he didn’t. As bad as he hated to admit it, she was right. Zoe was just like him, God help them both. She was as strong-willed and stubborn as he was, and she reacted just as he did to being issued orders.

      The kiss ended before J.D. could explode. And when Zoe came back to him and said, “I’m ready,” he noticed that Audrey’s long, slender fingers still circled his forearm.

      “You can let go now,” he told her.

      She jerked her hand away as her gaze flashed from his face to Zoe’s. “If you ever need someone to talk to, give me a call.”

      J.D. barely managed to keep from telling Audrey to back off and leave his daughter alone.

      “Thanks,” Zoe said. “I just might do that, Dr. Sherrod.”

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