by Dana Mentink
Chad was so relieved that she was alive, he almost whooped aloud. Grabbing her wrists, he began to pull her free when Danny shouted, “Stop!”
Immediately, he ceased.
Danny pointed a finger up toward the boulder.
The rock overhead moved, creaking and groaning.
They all went dead still, frozen, waiting for it to steady. Or...fall?
Chad squeezed Dory’s wrists and she, too, stopped moving. Breath held, Chad waited as the boulder shimmied above them.
Would it hold? Or would it plummet?
FIVE
Dory felt the hands gripping her go still. “Pull me out,” she wanted to shriek, but the pressure on her wrists increased to the point of pain. Wait, it seemed to say. So she counted the beats of her heart, stilling herself with an iron will she hadn’t known she possessed.
Without warning, the squeezing grip changed to pulling and she was yanked through earth that undulated around her. One moment, she was trapped in a shroud of dirt, and the next, Chad had pulled her free.
The elation was so sweet she could taste it. Her senses dizzied for a moment and she wanted to stay there on all fours, feeling the air on her face, the fresh, cool wind that spoke of the sea and grasslands. Instead she was being picked up, flopped over Chad’s shoulder.
“Let go,” she said against his back, but her words were drowned in the horrible din. From her head-down position, she saw the boulder shimmy loose of its temporary cradle and smash downward, obliterating anything in its path. Loose rock, a crooked tree, the rock face—everything showered downhill until it finally hit the bottom. The impact annihilated the space she’d occupied only three minutes prior.
The boom struck at her eardrums. Her body flopped helplessly as Chad flat-out sprinted to avoid the flying debris. When he finally slowed, he rolled her off his shoulder and set her on the nearest flat rock. Her vision whirled as she perched there, panting. The earth and her senses steadied in slow unison. Finally, the ground was still and she could discern up from down.
She saw a taller man with Chad. He had chiseled features and coppery hair. She guessed he was part of the clan she’d heard about that’d taken Chad under its wing when Rocky’s drinking got out of control. She’d met Gus and Ginny Knightly and Mitch Whitehorse, but not the others. Danny Patron was there, too, talking into his radio. She’d spoken to him in depth after the drowning, though it had been the Coast Guard that had actually arrested Rocky.
All three of them were staring at her.
“Ma’am,” said the taller man, his voice colored by a Southern drawl. “Name’s Liam Pike. I’m Chad’s brother, more or less. I was deployed for most of your... I mean, while you and Chad were...” He cleared his throat. “How are you feeling, if I may ask?”
She coughed and wiped dirt from her eyes. “Shaken up, but okay.” Another cough. “I think that lip of rock saved my life.”
He nodded, smiling. “Excellent. Would you mind if I checked you over real quick-like? I was a Green Beret medic back in the day.”
She allowed him to skim his fingers over her arms and legs for injury. He looked closely at her pupils and took her pulse.
“The ambulance is almost here, Miss Winslow,” Danny said, “but Liam’s the second-best thing in the meantime.”
“I’m never second-best at anything,” Liam shot over his shoulder, giving Dory a wink.
Chad did not take his eyes off her. “Could she be bleeding internally? Concussed?”
Liam straightened. “Hospital will make that determination.”
“I’m okay,” she said.
Chad started to speak again when a siren wail echoed off the canyon walls.
Liam glanced at Chad. “Siren?”
Chad nodded. She realized that Liam had some sort of hearing loss. A moment later, Liam acknowledged with a nod of his own as the sound became loud enough for him to detect. “That’d be the rest of the cavalry.”
“How did you know to come here?” Dory said.
Liam grinned. “Aww, it’s my job to keep my eye on little brother.” The strobing lights of the ambulance bathed them all in eerie colors that cut through the dusk.
“She needs to talk to you,” Chad said to Danny. “To fill you in on the guy she was tracking.”
“No, I don’t,” Dory said. “I’m not done with my investigation yet.”
Chad fisted his hands on his hips. “You most certainly are done. You nearly got killed.”
“Because you interfered.”
“You call saving you interfering?”
“Yes. I would have ID’d him already if you hadn’t butted in.”
He glared at her and she glared right back.
Liam and Danny exchanged amused glances.
Liam’s mouth twisted in a grin. “Do y’all need half a minute?”
“No,” they both said at once.
“Uh-huh,” Liam said. “How’s about I just scoot along, call my wife, and track down Zephyr and Boss while you two sort out what you want to do next.”
“I’ll just scoot right along with you,” Danny said, “and get my officers sorted out. Back in a jiffy.”
Dory caught Liam’s low chuckle as he strolled away.
When they had a small cushion of privacy, she squared her shoulders. “This is my case.”
“This isn’t about you, Dory. This is about my dad and what happened to him.”
“If the cops show too strong a presence, Blaze will bolt and you’ll never find out the truth.”
“Danny’s a good man and a smart cop. He’ll know what to do.”
“It’s not your call to make.”
He thrust his chin out in that way. “Yes, it is. It was my family that got destroyed back then, Dory.”
Your family. Oh, how little he knew. She swallowed hard, biting back the avalanche of feelings as the medics hustled over.
* * *
Chad was full of so many emotions, he figured the best course of action was to stay quiet and watch Dory until she reconsidered and could be handed over to the hospital people. Hopefully, they would know what to do with her, because he hadn’t the vaguest notion.
He crossed his arms in front of his chest and tried to look elsewhere—at the canyon, at the settling dust, toward the ever-darkening sky—but could not keep from flat-out staring. If he hadn’t known who he was looking at, he wouldn’t have guessed his petite former girlfriend was perched in front of him. Her blond hair was completely brown with dirt, face streaked with grit. Her clothes were torn and caked with debris. Only the amber eyes were recognizable, but he thought there was something different about those, too.
The shock, no doubt.
He was reeling with it himself.
Waving off the paramedic who wanted to give him the once-over, he stood there feeling all kinds of awkward until Liam returned with Zephyr and Boss. Boss looked more relaxed. At least that had gone according to plan.
Danny approached Dory as the medic checked her blood pressure.
“I am going to be here awhile to secure the area. I’ll track you down to hear all the details of how you got to be at the bottom of that big pile of dirt,” he said with his customary smile. “Where can I find you?” He raised a hopeful brow. “The hospital?”
She shook her head. “I’ll get a room in town.”
“But you’re...” Chad hedged.
She went still. “I’m what?”
“Well, I mean...” Chad looked at his boots.
Liam chuckled. “I think Chad is trying to tactfully point out that you look like you just crawled out of the bottom of a coal bin. Folks might be...er, hesitant to rent you a room. How ’bout you come bunk at the ranch tonight? Saddlery’s got a cot and shower. Coffeepot even. My wife bunked there for a while before we were married.”
“Absolutely not. I’ll dri
ve to town and...uh...” She surveyed her ruined clothing with a sigh. “I guess I wouldn’t rent me a room, either. I’ll sleep in my car.”
Chad jammed his hands on his hips. “Come on, Dory. One night at the saddlery and a shower, and you’re gone in the morning. Why is that so hard to accept?” He knew the answer. Because you’re the one offering it. He figured he was the one who should be upset about the arrangement. She’d betrayed him and his father and there was no changing that, even if she had nearly gotten herself killed.
He watched her struggling to find a better answer.
Liam didn’t wait. “All right, then. It’s settled.” He handed a set of keys to Chad. “I’ll take the horses back and call Aunt Ginny. You can drive Dory in my truck. We’ll get someone to drive her car to the ranch. Meet you back there.”
Chad felt a surge of relief for his bullheaded brother who always knew when not to take no for an answer, but his stomach knotted at the notion of being alone with Dory.
Danny nodded. “When I get clear, I’ll come by the ranch to talk to you both.”
After Danny departed, Chad set his jaw and waited for the medics to finish before he led the way to Liam’s truck.
She was silent.
He was, too.
The short drive seemed endless. Each mile took him further back into the past to their last conversation.
I had to tell the truth. I’d seen him drinking the week before.
But not that day. You volunteered that. You sold out my father to please your own.
Her tears. His tortured breathing.
We can get past this, Chad.
And his answer.
No, we can’t. We’re done, Dory. I don’t ever want to see you again.
He’d left with the engagement ring in his pocket and his heart turned to stone.
Five years later, that lump of stone was still where his heart should be.
He checked his watch. Almost ten. He hadn’t called in at his father’s trailer to check on him. Though he wouldn’t admit it, he had scoured the dingy place while his dad had been out walking the beach the day before. He’d found no bottles. How would it affect his dad hearing that Blaze was alive?
Until Chad knew more, he’d do his best to keep the information to himself.
He pulled the truck onto Roughwater Ranch property and Aunt Ginny opened the saddlery door to meet them. She smiled at Dory, her silver pixie cut catching the light of the small lamp.
“Hello, Mrs. Knightly,” Dory said.
“I’m Ginny. Everyone calls me Aunt Ginny whether we’re related or not. Good to see you again.”
Dory offered her hand then seemed to notice the grime coating her skin. Aunt Ginny seized her palm anyway and shook her hand.
“I’m sorry to disturb you,” Dory said. “I would have been fine sleeping in my car.”
“My better half, Gus, is snoring fit to beat the band, so I was up anyway. I wouldn’t have anyone sleeping in a car when there’s a perfectly fine empty bed here.” She handed Dory a folded towel. “I put clean sheets on the bed and the coffeepot is set for six tomorrow morning. Breakfast is at seven in the main house after the men are back from morning chores.”
“But...” Dory said.
Aunt Ginny waved her off. “Better tell her about Meatball,” she said to Chad as she passed through the door.
Dory stood there with her mouth open for a few seconds. “Meatball?”
Chad was about to answer when Liam strolled through the open door, a wriggling bundle under his arm.
“Ma’am,” he said. “Sorry, I forgot to mention you’d have a bunkmate. I got my hands full with Jingles, the biggest mess of a ranch dog you’ve ever clapped eyes on. I can’t handle two mutts.” He thrust the animal into Chad’s arms. “Night, then.”
“Hey—” Chad started, but his brother was already gone. He sighed as Meatball yipped.
“So that’s Meatball?” Dory said with a slight quirk of a smile.
“Yeah. Jingles nosed him out onto the property. We figure he’s some kind of cross between an Australian shepherd and a hound.” Chad shifted the wiry blond dog and scratched behind his triangle ears. Meatball rewarded him with exuberant licks under his chin. “Someone dumped him, we figure, since he’s a tripod. Just a puppy still.” He showed Dory the place where Meatball’s back leg should be. “Gets along fine on three. Wants to be a ranch dog so bad, but he was emaciated when Jingles found him and vet says he should be sleeping indoors at night till he’s stronger.”
The silence set in as he tried to think about what to say next. There didn’t seem to be much more to discuss about the puppy. Should he grill her further about Blaze? Surely not while she was standing there filthy and tired. He still had some sense of decency, didn’t he?
When would Danny arrive to get their statements? What should he do in the meantime? Linger? Go sit in the truck? Go back to the bunkhouse?
“Come on,” she said, stretching out her arms.
He went hot and prickly at first, thinking she meant to hug him, until he realized she was waiting for him to hand her the dog. Meatball immediately nestled in her arms and began his tongue swab of her chin. She laughed. Her hearty chuckle zinged right to Chad’s core. He’d never laughed so hard with anyone but Dory. Probably never would again.
Throat dry, he swallowed. They’d met over a dog, really. In high school, she’d been sent to detention for being late five days in a row. She’d been trying to track down a stray she’d seen sniffing around an empty lot as she’d walked to school. He’d been in detention for skipping school altogether to help his father on the boat.
School had never been his thing since he’d learned his mother had been having an affair with his freshman track coach. Though his mother had left and he and his father had moved to Driftwood in his junior year, the humiliation had clung to him. The new school hadn’t been much better, except no one knew him and he’d met Dory, the girl who had changed everything. He’d loved her right through his last two years of high school and the almost three years after their graduation, until everything went up in smoke.
Meatball continued with the dog kisses.
“I’m going to take a shower,” she said. “If my cell still works, I’ll text you when Danny gets here.”
Practical, always. They checked and found her phone operational. She didn’t ask for his number, so he figured she still had it. Hers was still in his phone, too. For some reason, he hadn’t gotten around in five years to deleting it.
“Come on, Meatball,” she said, putting the puppy in the box on the floor they’d set up for his bed.
The dog set into an immediate fuss, whining and turning agitated circles. She relented, bending to swoop him up again, a silver locket spilling free from her shirt.
Whose picture was in it? he wondered. A new man? Stomach churning, he discarded the thought.
“Okay, Meatball, I guess you can sit on a towel while I shower, but no whining,” Dory said, kissing the dog between the ears. She glanced at Chad—a quick look then away. “I’ll...see you later.”
The notion sent his nerves tumbling. See her again and do what? Talk to the woman who’d made him believe in himself just before she’d destroyed him? Thinking about it cinched knots into his gut. How had she turned up and upended his life in the space of a few hours?
He wanted to get on Zephyr and lose himself in the endless green pastures.
But if cooperating with Dory was what he had to do to clear his father’s name, then he’d somehow bear it.
With a silent nod, he strode out of the saddlery.
SIX
Dory was delighted to be clean. It had required all the hot water the shower could provide, but she was gloriously free of grit, from her hair to her toes. Meatball had taken his guard duties seriously, standing at attention inside the bathroom door the whole time.
Then he’d assisted in drying off her ankles with his tongue until she’d pulled on the clean clothes Aunt Ginny had left for her.
Out the small front window, she noticed someone had delivered her car and parked it under the trees alongside the wide front road.
The dog waggled his hind end when she looked at him.
“Meatball, I know someone who would love to meet you.” She sat in a beat-up leather chair and snuggled the dog. Her nearly five-year-old daughter Ivy’s bright eyes would light up at the sight of this happy puppy. Her throat thickened. Ivy would be tucked into bed now at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, a stuffed animal under each arm.
It was time to get a pet, she decided. It would have to be a small one, since they rented a tiny one-bedroom house they could barely afford and there was an upcoming move to Arizona in the offing. Her father would not agree, at first, but he would relent.
She was hit by a sudden pang of doubt. Was she doing what was best for Ivy, chasing down Blaze Turner?
Since she’d become a Christian, she’d been convicted in her soul that she should help Rocky Jaggert. If it was within her power, she wanted to undo the part she’d played in his arrest before she moved to Arizona. That was the person she wanted to show her daughter, a woman who tried to live a godly life, who took responsibility for her actions. She wanted Ivy to be proud of her mother.
But who would show the little girl what a father should look like?
We’re done, Dory. I don’t ever want to see you again.
She could have told Chad about Ivy. Lately her prayers had led her to the possibility that he had a right to know about his own child. But worse than losing Chad would be having him stick around out of guilt and duty. That she could not abide.
Swallowing a sudden lump in her throat, she laid Meatball in his box. “I need some rest,” she told him. “Things will be clearer when I’m not so tired.”
Body aching from dozens of scrapes, she climbed under the clean sheets, reveling in their softness. She laid the locket on the side table along with her phone, which was set to loud so she would not miss Danny Patron’s call.
