Corbin's Bend Season Two

by Livia Grant

  Speaking of the devil, Troy glances up to see the good doctor walking down the hall to join in the fray.

  After several minutes of catching snippets of conversations he wants to be part of, Troy loses his patience. He takes charge the only way he knows how… letting loose with a loud whistle. The kind his dad had taught him as a kid on a camping trip. It’s come in handy many times since.

  It works like a charm. There is dead silence in the room, short of Kayla playing quietly with her doll. Seven pairs of eyes point his direction.

  “I’m sorry if this seems rude, but I was hoping to hear all of the updates that are going on. So if you don’t mind, can we have one person talking at a time please?”

  Brent breaks out into a grin. “Damn. We could use a man like you on the board. You’re one bossy HoH if I ever saw one.”

  Troy isn’t sure if that’s a compliment or not. “Not quite yet.” Flashing a glance at his sister, he finishes that thought. “I’m working on it though.” He’s rewarded with her blush. “Anyway, officer, I’m sorry to make you repeat, but I am interested in finding out more about Hallie’s car.”

  Officer Leano clears his throat, not entirely comfortable being bossed around by the new guy in town, but complying with Troy’s request, nonetheless. “We found what we presume to be Miss Boudreaux’s older model car, slid off the road. It’s lodged in a rather deep ditch about one and a half miles outside of town. She’s lucky the car hit a tree, which prevented it from sliding even deeper into the gulch. Had that happened, I fear she would’ve been trapped with no way to get the doors open. The vehicle was completely out of gas so she would have found herself freezing before too long.”

  A pain akin to heartburn has started in Troy’s chest as he thinks of the panic Hallie must have felt being out there in those conditions alone. No wonder she was frozen to death by the time she arrived. How long would it take to march through deep snow one and a half miles, especially for a little thing like her?

  The policeman has continued on and Troy has to drag his thoughts back to pay attention. “The strange thing is that the car is not registered to Miss Boudreaux. The vehicle is registered to a…” He takes a small notebook out of his pocket, flipping pages to an entry before continuing on…” a Mr. Edward Kingston, Santa Monica, California.”

  Dr. Devon jumps in. “Her drivers license had her living in Santa Monica. Perhaps he’s her boyfriend.”

  The officer continues. “Well, I’ll get to the bottom of that when I interview Ms. Boudreaux. The car had traces of cannabis in the glove compartment. It’s too late now to run tests, but I want to find out if she was under the influence of drugs at the time of the accident.”

  Alarm bells are going off for Troy. “I was one of the first people to see Ms. Boudreaux after the accident. She didn’t look impaired to me. How about you, Trace?” Troy looks at his sister, sending her silent instructions to back him up.

  “I agree with my brother, officer. I would have detected if she were impaired in any way. She just looked exhausted and wet. And honestly, she did end up collapsing, but it was due to the concussion she sustained in the accident.”

  Leano looks back and forth between the brother and sister knowingly. He then looks at Brent who keeps a straight face before folding. “Fine. My report will show Ms. Boudreaux was not impaired. I do need to interview her, though, to understand how she found herself off the road. Do we know why she was heading into Corbin’s Bend that late on a Friday night, anyway?”

  The timing of their arrival couldn’t have been timed better. The policeman’s question hangs in the air when Gina Newberry crashes through the front door without knocking, ironically, exactly as her niece had done less than twelve hours before. She looks like she’s rushing out of a burning building she’s moving so fast. Her stocky husband is following at a more reasonable pace, stopping to close the door behind them. Gina’s eyes are flowing across everyone assembled in the room, trying to decide who to talk to first. She picks Traci.

  Gina rushes towards Traci. “I got your message. We were at the store when you called and I came as fast as I could. Is it true? My Hallie is really here?” The worry for her niece is evident.

  Troy is so proud of his sister. She’s so good at keeping everyone calm in a crisis. “Yes, Gina. Hallie is here and she’s doing well. She has a concussion and mild hypothermia, but Dr. Devon has been treating her and we’ve decided she doesn’t need to go to the hospital.”

  Gina looks relieved before she lets her own confusion add to that of the rest of the room. “What happened to her? Why didn’t she call and tell me she was on the way?”

  Leano answers. “That’s what I’m trying to get to the bottom of. So Ms. Boudreaux is your niece?”

  Gina turns her attention to the officer in the room, but it’s her husband Adam who steps up to answer the question. Troy recognizes him taking over the questioning now that the police are involved. “Yes, sir. She is the daughter of my wife’s sister, Julie. I’m afraid Julie passed away just over three years ago and we’ve lost touch with our niece somewhat. We’ve been praying she would come to us for help if she needed it. It looks like our prayers have been answered.”

  Troy is relieved for Hallie. Knowing her family loves her and is happy to have her in Corbin’s Bend with them will help her recover from whatever has her on the run in the first place. She hasn’t fooled Troy. He knows there is much they don’t know about Hallie’s story.

  With the arrival of two additional occupants, the room has once again deteriorated into controlled chaos. Giving up on organizing the discussions, Troy glances down the hall just in time to see Hallie herself ducking into his sister’s office, the room closest to the kitchen. The little sneak is trying to get close enough to find out what’s going on without having to announce herself. Taking a last look at the crowd all talking at the same time, Troy can’t say he blames her.

  He’s sure no one notices when he backs out of the space, heading to his sister’s office. Hallie’s waiting just inside the door, her eyes widen when she realizes she’s been caught eavesdropping.

  Troy tries to put her at ease. “Mind if I hide in here with you? It’s chaos out there.”

  She gives him a nervous look and he can see tears pooling, threatening to spill down her cheek. “I said I was sorry for breaking in here. Did you have to call the damn cops on me?”

  Troy can see the panic rising in her eyes and he moves closer, reaching out to take her hand to keep her from bolting. He catches her before she steps out of reach. Her hand feels small and warm, with the slightest tremor of fear. “Oh no, Hallie. We didn’t call the police. At least not the way you think. The police found your car in the ditch. They were worried about what happened to you.”

  “Oh. Thank goodness.” The relief is short. True terror fills her eyes.

  “Hallie? What’s wrong?” Troy tries to get her to answer, but she’s frozen in fear. He moves to catch her as she looks like she might collapse. “Hey… what’s this? You should be happy. Your aunt and uncle just arrived. They can’t wait to see you.”

  Instead of cheering her up, he hears a sob escape instead. Troy is surprised when she hugs him tightly as if he might be her lifeline. He hates to see her in distress, but can’t help but like how she feels in his arms, so warm and feminine. Her head tucks neatly under his chin and her scent stirs inappropriate feelings under the circumstances.

  He holds her until she calms. Reaching to the box of tissues on Traci’s desk, he grabs a few and helps wipe at her tears. In spite of their red rims, her green eyes are intoxicating.

  Her nose is running courtesy of her crying jag. Troy grabs another tissue and holds it out to her. “Here you go. Blow for me.” She blushes, embarrassed, yet she grabs the tissue to comply. “Good girl.” It’s in that second Troy knows how important praise is to Hallie, making him suspect she hasn’t received much of it in her twenty-three years. He watches her relax under his simple compliment.

  “Now, why d
on’t you tell me what has you so upset? Don’t you want to see your aunt and uncle?”

  Her answer is quiet. “Yes, of course I do.”

  “So why the tears?” She tries to look away. He suspects she’s remembering how they’d met the night before as she tries to yank out of his grasp. He lets her step back, but remains close enough to gently tilt her chin to look up into his eyes. “Please don’t be afraid of me, Hallie. I know we got off to a bit of a rough start, but I promise you. No one, including me, is going to hurt you.”

  She hesitates before answering softly. “Okay.” It’s not much, but it’s a start.

  “Why the tears?”

  “It’s not my car I was driving.”

  “Yes, the police said it belonged to an Edward somebody. Is he a friend or something?”

  “Or something.” Yep, there’s a story there.

  “Boyfriend?”

  She just nods her head, too afraid to speak.

  “Let me guess. He didn’t know you were taking the car, did he?”

  This time a slight shake of the head.

  “And he isn’t going to be happy to find it… and you… gone?”

  Several tears streaming down her face is his only answer. He hates the next question, but he has to ask. “Edward is the person who hurt you, isn’t he? Traci said she and the doctor found old bruises all over your body. Edward gave them to you, didn’t he?”

  He can detect her trembling and knows he’s put the pieces of her puzzle together. “Do you think he’s chasing you? Is that why you were running in the middle of the night?”

  She finally tries to speak. “I really don’t think he could give a shit about me, so no. I think he might miss the car though. It’s the gopher.”

  That was unexpected. “Gopher?”

  She’s wiping at her tears again, reaching for more tissues. “Yeah. Edward is Eddie. He’s the lead singer of The Kings. You’ve probably never heard of them before but…”

  “You mean the band The Kings that started out a few years ago in New Orleans and has been touring with several larger bands? I think they were the opening act out in DC when I went to see Matchbox 20.”

  Hallie’s face lights up. “Hey, I was at that concert. Isn’t it cool we were both there?”

  Troy isn’t as impressed. “I’ve heard some not so great things about his off-stage antics. I’m hoping it was all just gossip-rag shit.”

  “I doubt it. Eddie loved to call the paparazzi on himself. He used to say it was free advertising. It made him feel important.”

  “Sounds like a real smart guy… not.”

  “Well, his brains aren’t his best quality.” Hallie blushes beet red after she realizes what she’d said. Troy wants to punch something when he thinks of this young woman in the clutches of an asshole like Eddie Kingston.

  He tries to bring the conversation back to safer territory. “So Gopher?”

  “Right. We used the car when we needed to make short runs for supplies. It was a pain to have to drive the tour bus around town for stuff like groceries.”

  “Ah. Gopher. Well, he can call a fucking cab now.” Hallie looks surprised at his choice of words and Troy realizes he needs to rein his temper in. “So, you ready to go out and talk to everyone? The sooner you get through explaining what happened, the sooner you can get back to bed and get more rest.”

  “Do I have to?”

  “I’m afraid so. It won’t be so bad. We’ll all be there to help you.”

  She gets a reticent look on her face. “You too? I mean… you’ll be there?”

  Hallie’s long hair has fallen softly around her heart-shaped face. The winter sun illuminates the patch of light freckles that dot her cheeks. She looks so young and Troy hates the pang of vulnerability in her eyes. It makes him want to pound on his chest and drag her back to his mancave to protect her and…

  ‘Don’t go there, old man. She’s over ten years younger than you.’

  “I guess that’s up to you, Hallie. I don’t want to upset you… like last night.”

  The energy is charging between them as they each remember the odd circumstances of how they met less than twelve hours earlier. Troy worries she’s going to bolt from the room as she recalls the spanking she’d interrupted. He’s relieved with her quiet reply. “It won’t upset me… I mean, if you want to be there, that is.” Her voice betrays how emotionally frail she is.

  She needs a friend. He can be that. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  Troy holds out his hand as an official peace offering. She stands stock-still, staring at his open palm, a pensive look on her face. He’s amazed when Hallie slowly slides her hand into his. Based on the events of the previous twelve hours, Troy is surprised she’s not running from the room instead.

  They both stand and stare at how one hand so large, the other so small could fit each other so neatly, fingers intertwining together perfectly. Troy’s gaze moves to her face, waiting for her to look up and satisfied that when she does, he sees no fear in her green eyes. Progress has been made. “Let’s go get ‘em, shall we?”

  She rewards him with what he suspects might be a rare smile. He feels privileged to witness it.

  Troy leads Hallie from the room, down the hall and into the open living space. They must stand there for thirty seconds before they’re noticed in the craziness. Aunt Gina’s piercing scream of “Haaalllliieee!” manages to bring an end to all conversation.

  Hallie shoots him a nervous glance as she squeezes his hand for moral support. She waits, glued to her spot, for her aunt to bowl her over. Gina scoops her up into her arms and Troy is forced to release Hallie’s hand as she’s pulled away.

  Adam isn’t far behind. Now that they’re closer, Troy vaguely remembers meeting the couple at the picnic last summer. His impression of them at the time was that they’re good people and for that, he’s relieved. The protective look in Adam’s eyes as he watches his wife and niece hugging tells Troy everything is going to be okay for Hallie.

  Gina is looking over her niece like she would were she about to buy a new car. She circles Hallie, tsking the whole while. Hallie throws an embarrassed glance Troy’s way and he gives her a supportive smile. In the end, Hallie handles the inspection with grace, even when her aunt starts talking about how she’s going to have to fatten Hallie up now that she’s going to be living with them.

  Troy doesn’t miss the concerned look passed between Brent, Jason and Lelo. He wonders what it’s about. He doesn’t have to wait long.

  Brent speaks first. “Adam, maybe we should convene an emergency Housing Board meeting to talk about this a bit later this afternoon.”

  Adam’s first reaction is of surprise, but he seems to catch on quickly. Troy wishes he did.

  Adam answers with a simple, “I understand. Let me get the girls home and then I’ll meet you at the community center.”

  Troy butts in. “What? What’s going on?”

  Brent is nice enough to humor him, considering he’s not an official member of the community. “We have strict rules in our co-op. Were Hallie a minor, there would be nothing to discuss. As a twenty-three year old niece, things are not that cut and dried. As an adult, she’ll need to apply to Corbin’s Bend and participate in the co-op if she wants to live here.”

  The room breaks out into multiple conversations until Troy injects and once again, everyone stops talking. “With all due respect, I think there are some extenuating circumstances. Not to mention, Christmas is less than two weeks away. I’d think you could defer any discussion on this point until after the holidays. Can’t you let Hallie and her family focus on their reunion and try to figure out what she wants to do before you make any decisions? She may decide she doesn’t want to stay in Corbin’s Bend, after all.”

  Aunt Gina gasps at that suggestion, clearly unhappy with the possibility Hallie may choose not to live with her family.

  Brent’s eyes are intense as he sizes Troy up. Finally breaking into a grin, he agrees with Troy’s
plan. “You’re right, Troy. There’s no rush. We’ll put this matter on our January agenda. That’s about three weeks from now. Would that be better?”

  For some curious reason, Brent’s looking to Troy for his approval, not the Newberrys. “I think that’s more than fair.” Glancing to Hallie, he can see relief on her face.

  “Great. Well Char, let’s get our little munchkin packed up and ready to go home. Adam, you’ll of course go through the co-op rules with your houseguest, right?“

  Adam has approached his friend to shake his hand. “You know I will, Brent and… well.. Thank you. This means a lot to Gina and me to give us time to get Hallie settled.”

  Brent smiles. “We’re a family here, Adam. Of course we’ll give Hallie some time to get settled. Just make sure she understands what being a guest in Corbin’s Bend entails before the weekend is over.”

  Troy moves to talk with Hallie, but he’s too late. She’s being whisked away by her aunt across the room to confer with Dr. Devon.

  Traci notices him standing on the sidelines and comes to talk. “Hey. You did good.”

  “Yeah. Well, I just want to give the kid some time to get it together, you know?”

  “I do. That’s why she’s gonna begin meeting with me a couple times a week starting Monday.”

  Troy looks down at his sister. “That’s great, Trace. I can tell she really likes you. I think you’re going to be able to help her.”

  “Thanks, but I can tell I’m not the only one she likes.”

  Troy thinks he knows where this is going. “Oh no you don’t. Don’t look at me like that. You’re forgetting she burst in here because she thought I was the devil incarnate, here to beat you to death.”

  “Yeah, well I set her straight on that this morning.”

  Troy hates how much that pleases him. “Thanks, sis. I appreciate you sticking up for me, even though sometimes I can be a pain in the ass.”