Dodge the Bullet

by Christy Hayes

  “What kind of trouble? What’s he looking for?” Kevin moved into the kitchen to stare out the window.

  “He’s not sure, maybe nothing.” Sarah moved between her sons, touched their arms. “Why don’t you two go back to bed? I’m sure it’s nothing. There’s no sense in you two staying up all night.”

  “No,” they both said together.

  “Mom.” Kevin’s voice caught reminding her of the boy he’d been and the man he was becoming. “Whoever’s out there could be coming after us. I should be out there protecting us.”

  “What? No, absolutely not. Dodge is out there and he specifically asked us to stay put. No one leaves this house, do you understand me?”

  A spasm of irritation crossed Kevin’s face and his hands fisted at his sides. How many times since Todd’s death had she asked him to do something responsible because he was the man of the house? She should’ve known those words would come back to haunt her.

  They all turned to the window when Lyle announced someone had pulled up.

  “Stay here,” Sarah said and then ran down the steps to the garage. She waited by the closed door for a signal from him. She’d just begun to dial his cell number when she heard his voice above the pounding on the door. She undid the deadbolt and pulled his soaking wet body inside. She lunged into his arms. “Thank God. Are you ok?”

  Sarah felt Dodge ease her back when Lyle and Kevin reached the bottom of the staircase. “You guys okay?”

  They both nodded. Kevin stepped forward. “What’d you find?”

  “Nothing in this mess. I’ve got Miguel in his truck by the front entrance. I just wanted to check on you before I take position between here and the back road.”

  “What can we do?” Kevin asked.

  “Stay put and call me if you see or hear anything unusual. You should try to do shifts so you’re not all up at once.”

  Sarah felt relieved Dodge didn’t shut Kevin down or treat him like a kid.

  “I’ll keep a lookout,” Kevin said. “Don’t worry about things here.”

  Sarah clung to Dodge’s cold hands. “Can I make you some coffee or some food?”

  “A soda with caffeine would be fastest. I don’t want to be in here too long, but I needed to be sure you were okay.” He lifted a hand to her face and ran his thumb under her eye. Sarah saw Kevin nudge Lyle back up the stairs. “Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you or the boys. You have my word.”

  She wrapped her arms around his waist, under his jacket and pressed her face to his damp shirt. She wanted to burrow in and not let him go back outside. “You’ll call the police if you see anything, right? Don’t try to play the hero, Dodge.”

  He pulled back as she heard footsteps behind her. “Come back to me,” she whispered after Lyle brought him a coke and went back upstairs.

  He squeezed her hand, their fingers drifting away as he moved to open the door. “Lock this door and call me if you see anything.”

  ###

  Lyle waited as long as he could, the nervous energy from the danger and the tingling along his spine from something he couldn’t name tightened his insides into a fist. If he’d been forced to name his feelings, he’d have to call them confused. What the hell was going on between his mom and Dodge? And was he the only one who thought it was weird they were holding each other like…like his parents used to? It was all but killing him, the waiting to get Kevin alone and ask him questions.

  “Hey, can I talk to you a minute?” Lyle found Kevin poised near the side window in his room.

  “What is it?” Kevin didn’t look away from the stormy night. His head turned when Lyle clicked the door closed. “Where’s mom?”

  Lyle sat on the bed nearest the window facing the river. “She’s in the kitchen making coffee.” He absently linked his finger through a wayward string that’d come loose from the patchwork comforter. “Did you see the way mom was with Dodge? The way she was hugging him?” When Kevin didn’t turn, only raised a shoulder and continued to scan what little he could see through the rain Lyle pressed on. “Don’t you think that was weird, her being so touchy with him?”

  Kevin sighed, sounded annoyed. “They’ve got a thing going. Don’t tell me you hadn’t noticed.”

  Lyle felt his jaw drop and quickly pulled his lips together when Kevin turned. Lyle saw his superior smirk. “When…what do you mean a thing?”

  “Sleeping together, I’d imagine.” Kevin hitched his shoulder again, nudged his brother to the window he’d abandoned and took Lyle’s place at the other. “I’m not sure.” Lyle stared at Kevin. “You’re not going to see anything if you don’t look out the window.”

  “Mom is having sex with Dodge and you didn’t tell me?”

  “Since you closed the door, I’m going to have to assume you don’t want mom to know what we’re talking about. If that’s the case, you’d better keep your voice down. Or you can always just ask her yourself.”

  Lyle turned from the window and stared at his brother. How could he be so nonchalant about their mom having sex with another man? “How do you know? I never saw this coming.”

  Kevin turned to face Lyle. “If you’ll keep your eyes out the window I’ll tell you.” Lyle hated when his brother ordered him around, but he wanted information more than he wanted to fight. When he obeyed, Kevin told him about what he’d seen in the barn and what his mom had said afterward.

  “And you’re okay with this, with her dating him?”

  “I don’t see as we have much choice,” Kevin said as he readjusted his position on the bed. “Mom’s young, Lyle. I’m sure she doesn’t want to spend the rest of her life alone. Besides, I like him. I didn’t want to, especially after I found out about him and mom, but… He doesn’t treat us like kids. He works hard and he isn’t exactly nosing around here all the time like you’d expect.” He turned to look at Lyle. “And she looks happy again. Have you noticed, in the last few days, how happy she seems?”

  Lyle felt sick. He didn’t want his mom dating anyone. He’d never even considered the idea. Now that it had happened, he wanted to bury his head in the dirt and pretend it was all just a bad dream. But he did want his mom to be happy. How could he not? “I don’t know,” is all he could say. “I’m going to lie down.”

  He left Kevin’s room and went into his own, threw himself on his bed and stared at the ceiling. When his eyes drifted over to the picture on his nightstand he picked it up. The four of them--his parents, him and Kevin--on a ski trip the winter before his dad died. They all looked so happy to be together. His dad stood behind them and held them in a protective hug, a smattering of snow caked into his goggles from an earlier fall. Lyle loved the picture because it reminded him of what his dad had been, the protector of the family, the one who held them all together.

  Now there was another man sitting alone in a truck on their property in the driving rain, putting himself between Lyle’s family and a threat. He didn’t know how to feel about it. Grateful, yes, but Dodge was also protecting his cows and his equipment. He thought of the way Dodge held his mother, the relief in his eyes when he’d seen they were all safe. He didn’t act like he only cared about himself and his stuff. He cared about them, all of them. And Kevin was right, his mom had seemed happy. She was writing again, cheerfully clicking away on her computer every day, humming along to her chores. She was hopeful. As much as he hated the cold hard truth, his dad wasn’t ever coming back.

  ###

  The ground was a soupy mixture of churned earth and standing water. The sucking sound Sarah’s boots made as she walked in the dawn light reminded her of the rhythmic licking of an animal grooming itself. The clear sky clear had turned a brilliant orange as the sun made its daily pilgrimage to its perch above the mountains. The fresh air filled her lungs and the chill of morning worked as well as a shower to lift the fog from her tired brain.

  She shifted the thermos of coffee between her hands as her eyes searched the landscape for Dodge’s truck. He’d said he’d be between t
he cabin and the side entrance to the property. As she made her way through rain clogged pastures, she questioned her decision to walk instead of taking her truck. She was just about to turn back when she came around a stand of old cottonwood trees and spotted the tail end of his bumper near the fence line that divided her property from the road beyond. It was a few feet more before she spotted him, crouched down by the gate, examining something on the ground with the intensity of a crime scene investigator. When he heard her footsteps, he rose.

  “I brought you some coffee.” Sarah felt a surge of relief at seeing him, although they’d talked on and off through the night. Dodge pulled her to him, clutched her tight against his still damp jacket, held her in an embrace that showed her the relief wasn’t one-sided. When he let her down, for he’d pulled her off her feet, she saw how exhausted he looked. There were dark circles under both of his eyes and anger beneath his stare. “What’re you looking at down there?” She motioned with the thermos to the spot he’d been eyeing.

  “Tire tracks and footprints.” His voice sounded scratchy from no sleep. “They’re fresh, but filled with water. Best I can figure is some time after midnight but before I got out here around one-thirty.” He walked to the gate, bent down to explain his findings. “They’re too small to be from a truck, or at least a big one. The footprints are large, most likely a man’s. Somebody got out in the rain, walked to the gate and decided not to proceed, at least not through this entrance. You can see where he backed up and turned around there. Probably scrapped the whole thing with the rain what it was.” He stood, his knees cracked as he did, and took off his hat. He ran his hand through his hair before putting his hat back on. “Damn it, I wish I knew what he was planning.”

  “Has Miguel checked the front entrance for tracks and footprints?”

  “No, I sent him in for some shut eye. One of us needs to be able to function today.” He looked up at the sky as two geese honked overhead. “I was just going to check the perimeter on my way to the front.”

  “You need some shut eye, too.” Sarah walked with him to the truck. “Mind if I come with you? The boys are finally asleep and I’m keyed up on coffee.”

  “How are they doing?” Dodge started the engine and began a slow trek along the fence line. The truck bounced slowly along the grooved pasture.

  Sarah thought of her sons and their long, strange night together. “Kevin seemed almost excited by the danger. I swear he never took his eyes off the window.” She braced herself between the seat and the door as the truck pitched in a deep rut. “Lyle was really quiet all night. It’s not like him to hole up like he did. I’m not sure what he thinks or how he’s handling this. I’m going to let him sleep and then try to talk to him.”

  “And you?” Dodge asked.

  “I’m worried, and like you I wish I knew what to look for, what to expect.” She pulled the visor down as the truck turned directly into the path of the sun. “I think I’m going to call Todd’s parents and send the boys there for a visit.” Dodge looked at her but said nothing. “Kevin’s not going to like it, maybe not even Lyle, but I don’t want them in danger. If anything happened to them…”

  “I think that’s the best thing for everyone. Whoever was out here last night’s not through. I want them safe.” He glanced out the side window and then back at her face. “I think you ought to go too.”

  “What?” Sarah sat up in her seat. “No. I need to be here.”

  “No, you don’t. It’ll be a hell of a lot easier for me to concentrate on protecting this place without worrying about you. I want you safe, too.”

  “That’s ridiculous. Benji’s doing this to make me sell. If I’m not here, who’s to say he wouldn’t just wait until I got back?”

  “Because he’s out of time. He can do damage to the property whether you’re here or not. I’d prefer you not be here.”

  “I don’t give a damn what you’d prefer. I’m staying.”

  “Damn it, Sarah. I can’t guarantee your safety if you stay.”

  “Guarantee my safety?” She turned in the seat to face him and he stopped the truck. “My safety’s not your responsibility. We’ve already established that we’re not in a relationship.”

  “Do you honestly think I’d leave you to deal with this on your own?” He gripped the wheel tight between his fists before sighing and letting his hands fall to his lap. “Besides, he’s seriously fucking with my livelihood.”

  “Exactly, and as the landowner, you should be pissed I’m not able to guarantee the safety of your cattle and equipment.”

  “I am pissed, but not at you. We know he’s planning something but we don’t know what. We know it’ll be soon, but we don’t know when. And there are two of us, me and Miguel, to protect 1200 acres. We can’t go to the police with hearsay and innuendo and I’m not sure who we can trust to help. So yeah, I’m pissed. And I want you as far away from this as I can get you.”

  “I’m as upset about this as you are, but I’m not leaving. I’m getting the boys out of here, today if possible, and then we’re facing this together. You can’t talk me out of it.”

  “Sarah, you could get hurt if you stay, or worse. Your kids have already lost a father. They can’t lose you, too.”

  “Okay,” Sarah admitted. “You’re scaring me, which I suppose is what you’re trying to do. But you’re not thinking this through.” She took a breath, paused until he looked at her. “Benji won’t hurt me. The boys…maybe, and that’s why they have to leave. But me, no way.”

  “You sound awfully sure of yourself.”

  “I am. Benji’s not stupid.” She laughed when Dodge raised his brows. “He’s an imbecile, yes, but he’s not going to kill me because, think about it. If something happens to me, what happens to the ranch? It goes to the boys, who are minors. The estate would be handled by their legal guardian. And even if Jenny wanted to sell this place, she wouldn’t be able to do it for months, maybe longer assuming there’s no problem with probate. He’d never risk that kind of delay.”

  “That’s still not a good enough reason to leave you dangling in front of him like a carrot.”

  “Dodge.” She reached over to brush her fingers on his arm. “You don’t get it. The one dangling like a carrot is you. There’s nothing stopping him from hurting you. He hates you. Kimberly’s already confirmed you’re a thorn in his side.” She let her fingers fall and braced for another bounce when he started the truck along the fence line. “I’ll do whatever I can to keep you safe, and if that means sticking to you like glue, I will.”

  They sat in silence as he angled the truck toward the front pasture. “As soon as I check around the front entrance, I’m taking you home. You’ve got some calls to make and some explaining to do to Kevin and Lyle.”

  A faint smile formed on her lips. It was a small victory. He’d conceded he needed her and it felt good. But when she glanced at his profile, his jaw twitched with the gnashing of his teeth.

  Dodge caught her looking. “I hope like hell you’re still smiling when this is all over.”

  Chapter 20

  Everywhere Sarah glanced on the return trip from Denver, cows and horses grazed and aspen and spruce trees danced in the wind. Around every turn the view seemed more beautiful than the last. Thank God she and Todd had found the valley and river property before they’d ever made this drive. How could they have chosen just one place amongst such beauty? Slowly, with each mile toward home, she felt the tension of putting her kids on a plane by themselves seep out of her like a slow leak from a tire.

  The drive up had been a different story. Kevin sat silently fuming. He felt displaced by Dodge, despite her telling him it was at her insistence they leave. Lyle seemed confused and still so quiet and unsure. She needed to talk to him, ease him out from behind this weird wall he’d put up, but there hadn’t been time.

  Sarah had spent a fortune on the last minute tickets to Charlotte where Todd’s parents would meet them at the airport. Normally the kids would be thrilled with
a visit back east to the expansive lake front home of the Woodwards. Their grandparents would let them lounge on the two story dock eating junk food when they took a break from the countless hours they’d spend on the water.

  But this trip wasn’t a vacation, but a forced exile. Neither boy was happy to go. Sarah could only hope they’d be able to relax and forget about the battle going on back at the ranch. The voice from the driver’s seat startled her out of her thoughts.

  “Why don’t you lean that seat back and close your eyes for a little while?” Mary Beth McAlister spoke over the low hum of the radio. Sarah could only see a resemblance in the eyes, the slightly downward tilt of her eyes were the same as her brother. Mary Beth was seven years older than Dodge, a little wide in the middle, and much fairer skinned than her perpetually tanned brother.

  Mary Beth had volunteered to leave her teenaged kids for the afternoon and shut down her at-home bookkeeping business for the day to escort Sarah and the boys on their drive to Denver. It had been Dodge’s idea, of course, for someone to accompany them after what little sleep Sarah had had the night before. As Sarah’s eyes drooped with fatigue, she knew Dodge had been right. The only problem was that Mary Beth wasn’t someone she and the boys felt comfortable talking in front of. The whole ride to the airport, the tension between Sarah and her sons all but crackled in the air. Every few miles Mary Beth would make comments about the scenery or throw out some tidbit of history, but her presence just kept the hostility between them bottled up, sure to explode at another more private time.

  “Um,” Sarah cleared her throat. “I can’t sleep in the car. Never could.”

  “Isn’t it funny how that works for some people and doesn’t for others?” She tapped her fingers on the wheel to the beat of a soft rock tune. “I can sleep like a baby. So can A.J. Sometimes, when he was a baby, Mama would strap him in tight to Daddy’s truck and ride him around the property until he fell asleep. Only way he’d be still was when he was asleep.”