That meant he was either going to go apeshit on her, or try like hell to undermine her determination to work for Diver Downeast, making her head home with her tail between her legs.
The latter was a hard “no”, but the former…
Hmmm.A little vexation might be fun.
She dared voice her concerns to Ellen Sothard after Trask went outside to walk the dogs and retrieve her go-bag from his truck, as she and his mother headed for the kitchen.
“Why does Trask seem so…uptight all the time?” she asked as they began scraping and rinsing dishes to go in the dishwasher.
Maybe it was a question she shouldn’t ask of the man’s mother, but she figured if anyone had answers about Trask, it would be the matriarch of the family.
Ellen gave her a knowing smile. “I’m glad you asked. Trask is actually a very, very good man, but he’s extremely complicated. It’s my belief, however, that for the right person, he’ll be worth the effort in the end,” she offered with a lift of her brow.
Was Jett’s attraction to Trask that obvious?
Duh.
Jett had never been one to try and hide her true feelings.
“Okay. You got me,” she admitted. “But now I sense a story coming.”
“Indeed, you do,” Ellen began. “Here it is in a nutshell. When Trask was a little boy, he was very precocious. As an only child for the first seven years of his life, he got away with anything and everything. Guy and I were so enthralled with our handsome first-born, that we failed to curb his more…impulsive behaviors.
“He ran rampant. He spoke his mind. And I can’t count the number of times he got in trouble at school and we had to be called in. Someday, I’ll regale you with all the brilliant but naughty things he pulled.”
Jett would hold the woman to it.
“Then Vincent came along,” Ellen continued. “And a year later, Kyle arrived, followed quickly by Mason, Julian, Spencer, and Buck. Seifer, of course, was my surprise baby, ten years after the bulk of my brood… But I digress.”
“Take your time,” Jett told her. She was enjoying this.
Ellen regrouped. “Once Trask’s siblings started coming along, my precocious boy changed. Without being asked, he shouldered the role of big-brother-protector, and carried out those self-imposed duties, seriously. Don’t get me wrong. He still got himself into hot water every now and again, but as the baby-bathtub incident indicates, his hijinks had toned way down.
“He may have forgotten, but the real reason we grounded him for that incident, was because he’d walked his seven-year-old brother three miles to the water that day, then left him to his own devices while Trask attempted his shenanigans. Even though we knew Trask wouldn’t deliberately put Vince in harm’s way, that lapse was still unacceptable.
“If we’d known at the time that our punishment would alter Trask’s whole outlook on life; that he’d become so…vested in the ethics, truth, and honesty he felt he’d let lapse with his brother, we would have toned down the punishment. But as it was, we gave him far too long, alone at home, to contemplate his crime, and it skewed the way he approached everything from that point on.”
“That must have been tough to watch,” Jett empathized.
“It was, but it’s also where we failed him. We didn’t do anything to nip it in the bud. Mostly because I was overwhelmed with five other boys and pregnant with Buck at the time. It was our mistake, but his change of attitude actually seemed like a blessing at that juncture,” she recalled with a sigh.
“It wasn’t until a year later in high school that we began to see how overwhelmingly serious he’d become. He strove tobe perfect at everything he did. He not only took on more of a role of champion to all his brothers, but he became their chief disciplinarian when they did things of which we were not aware.”
“So he turned into an adult well before his time,” Jett speculated.
“He did. But as concerned as we were, when he told us he was joining the Marines, we knew that his moral compass and his dedication to the rules would serve him well,” she revealed.
“Unfortunately, he never softened at all after that. He became even more…regimented as he rose through the ranks, until we have the man you see today. Except now there areadditionalshadows behind his eyes, and I have no idea what those are.” She sighed. “My mischievous boy, much to my sadness, is long gone and nowhere to be found.”
Ellen turned solemn eyes to hers. “Can I be honest with you?”
“Of course.” Jett didn’t know whether Ellen was about to pull the rug out from under her where the offer of a room was concerned, but if she was, Jett understood. Still, if that were the case, she was determined to find another place to stay so she could take the job.
“I saw something in Trask tonight when he looked at you. Something I haven’t seen in him in years.”
Jett swallowed. Hard. Which way would this go?
“He seemed…intrigued, and more than a little off kilter.” She laughed, seemingly surprised. “And believe me, ‘off kilter’ is not a term I normally associate with my always-in-control son.”
