Champagne & Chaps

by Cheyenne McCray

  “Details?” Carly asked.

  Sabrina grinned. “All I’m going to tell you is that he’s even better looking with no clothes on.”

  “Woohoo.” Carly high-fived Sabrina again. “What’s next for you two?”

  “I don’t know.” Sabrina settled back on the couch. “I’m going to Tucson tomorrow and we’re supposed to talk when I get back.”

  “When are you leaving?” Carly asked as she dipped a chip in salsa.

  “I have to call Derrick first.” Sabrina sipped her margarita.

  “That guy who helped you with your SUV?” Carly frowned. “Why would you need to call him?”

  “Yeah.” Sabrina nodded. “He asked me if I’d take a package to his sister who lives just off of I-10 in Tucson.”

  “That’s kind of weird.” Carly set her margarita aside. “Why doesn’t he just mail it?”

  Sabrina shrugged. “Cheaper this way. He did me a favor so I don’t mind doing one for him.”

  “I guess so.” Carly was still frowning. “You don’t suppose Wyatt is the jealous type, do you?”

  “He has nothing to be jealous of.” Sabrina picked up a chip. “Although when we went to dinner I mentioned that Derrick helped me. Wyatt told me that I need to stay away from Derrick. Something about him not being good people.”

  “That doesn’t sound good,” Carly said. “I can’t see Wyatt as the gossipy type who talks bad about people without a reason. I think this Derrick might be exactly what he’s saying.”

  “Not you, too.” It was Sabrina’s turn to frown. “Derrick was nice to me and I’m going to do this favor for him. I already agreed to it.”

  “Just watch yourself, okay?” Carly said.

  “Of course.” Sabrina decided to change the subject. “Now what about that Mike Sharpe guy we met along with Wyatt?”

  “We’ve talked a couple times on the phone.” Carly pushed her dark hair behind her ear. “I just don’t feel that same kind of connection that you have with Wyatt.”

  “You haven’t even tried.” Sabrina tilted her head to the side. “You know, I think that you’re more worried about having a relationship with a man than I am.”

  “Ha.” Carly waved away Sabrina’s comment. “I’ll know when it’s right. And when I do, that man better watch out.”

  Sabrina laughed. Yes, she could imagine that the man better do just that. Watch out for Carly Abbot.

  Chapter 8

  In the morning Sabrina called Derrick and he said he’d swing by Carly’s house and drop off the package. She’d suggested meeting him in front of the same convenience store where they’d met, but he said it would be better this way.

  Carly stayed in the house as Derrick drove up in his black truck and Sabrina went out to meet him. She could feel Carly’s disapproving frown and she knew her friend was standing at the window, her arms folded across her chest. She didn’t know why Derrick bothered Carly so much. She’d never even met the guy. She’d said it was a gut feeling, but that was silly as far as Sabrina was concerned.

  The rain-washed air smelled clean and fresh as she went out to meet him at his truck.

  “Hi.” She gave Derrick a smile.

  “I appreciate you taking this to Izzy.” he handed her an oblong package wrapped in brown paper but no name or address on it. Before she could ask, he handed her a piece of paper with directions and an address scrawled on it.

  “This looks easy enough to get to,” she said. She wasn’t really familiar with that part of town. South Tucson was rundown in most places so it probably wasn’t in a great neighborhood but she doubted Derrick would send her anywhere unsafe.

  “I’m real grateful.” Derrick smiled. “Oh. Izzy has a package that she’s going to send back with you.”

  “All right,” Sabrina said. She hadn’t expected to be an errand girl, but if she was going anyway, it really didn’t matter.

  “I wanted to ask you something,” he said.

  “What?” she asked.

  He cleared his throat. “When you get back I was wondering if you’d go out to dinner with me.”

  Mild surprise went through her. “On a date?”

  “There’s a good Italian place in Sonoita,” he said. “I’d like to take you.”

  Sabrina felt her skin go warm. “Thank you, Derrick, but I’m seeing someone so I don’t think it would be a good idea.”

  A flash of something went through his eyes, but his expression stayed calm. “I’d better let you get going,” he said, “You did say you wanted to leave early.”

  She held the package to her chest. “I just need to grab my purse and keys and I’ll be out of here.”

  He gave a nod. “I’ll be seeing you around. Thanks again.”

  “No problem.” She watched as he climbed in his truck then turned around and climbed up the stairs into Carly’s house then closed the door behind her. The house smelled of the chocolate chip cookies her friend had baked that morning for Sabrina’s mom.

  Carly took the package from Sabrina and shook it.

  “Hey, something might be fragile in there.” Sabrina retrieved the package.

  “It’s just weird that he asked you to do this,” Carly said as she gave up the package.

  Sabrina rolled her eyes. “Derrick asked me out to dinner,” she said.

  Carly frowned. “You didn’t say yes, did you?”

  “Of course not.” Sabrina grabbed her purse and keys in her free hand. “I told him I was seeing someone.”

  “Good,” Carly said. “How did he take it?”

  “He seemed fine.” Sabrina shrugged. “I gotta go.” She gave Carly a kiss on her cheek. “I’ll be back before dark.”

  “Don’t forget to give this to Tessa.” Carly handed Sabrina a plastic container filled with cookies and she balanced it on top of Derrick’s package.

  Carly stood on the porch while Sabrina climbed into her SUV and put the package and the cookies on the floorboard of the passenger seat. Just in case she had to make a sudden stop she didn’t want the stuff to go flying. She started the vehicle, waved to Carly, and headed out of Patagonia.

  Outside Sonoita, Sabrina passed through a Border Patrol checkpoint. The agent waved her on after glancing through the window of her SUV to make sure she didn’t have anyone in the back seats. Checkpoints were set up on several main highways in the southwest to make sure undocumented aliens weren’t being taken through illegally. Often they even had dogs to sniff out drugs and human cargo.

  The hour and fifteen-minute drive went by quick enough. When she was on the road alone she always listened to an audiobook, which helped to pass the time. This one was by Elizabeth Peters, The Last Camel Died at Noon, from the Amelia Peabody mysteries. The woman who narrated the book was absolutely amazing, the author incredible.

  She kept losing her place, her mind wandering as she thought of yesterday and the amazing time she’d spent with Wyatt.

  When she reached the Ajo Way exit off of the I-10, it didn’t take too long to head to Park Avenue and then south on Park to find the address. She’d expected apartments, but it was a trailer park. She turned off her audiobook as she drove through the park, the number on the address obviously a space number and not an apartment number like she’d thought. She found the rundown trailer with number eighty-one on a faded metal sign. The whole trailer park was in disrepair for that matter.

  After she parked behind the trailer, she grabbed the package off of the floorboard. Even though she wasn’t going to be far from her SUV, she locked it. She didn’t like the look of the neighborhood at all.

  She walked under a porch shade, around rusted chairs and junk stacked everywhere. Nerves twisted in her belly. She felt a tingling up and down her spine, as if she was being watched. Then she noticed curtains fluttering at the window by the door and realized someone had been looking out it.

  By the time she reached the bottom of the shaky wooden steps, the door was open. A stick-thin man with a scraggly shadow of a beard stood in the doorway. He
had a glazed look to his blue eyes. “What do you want?”

  Taken aback, she paused for a moment. “I’m looking for Izzy.”

  “Ain’t no such person here.” The man slammed the door shut.

  For one moment she stood there. A creepy feeling ran up and down her spine. She was sure she being watched and she shivered. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

  She hurried back to her SUV, unlocked the vehicle, climbed in, and locked the doors again. After she put the package back on the floorboard, she looked at the slip of paper with the address and frowned. It said eighty-one, the same as the number on the sign. Maybe Derrick had written down the wrong number. She pulled out her cell phone and looked at the recent calls screen and pressed the one for Derrick. She held her phone up to her ear. Rather than hearing a dial tone, she heard a beeping sound, like there was a bad connection.

  After trying three times, she stuffed her cell phone into her purse and started her SUV. She didn’t feel safe until she was out of the trailer park, back on Ajo Way, and headed out of there.

  It took her another twenty minutes to get to her mom’s home just off of Ina Road and La Cholla. She lived in an area where she knew her neighbors and was close to shopping.

  When she reached the house, she pulled her SUV up to the brick house and parked under the shade of a tall mesquite trees. She grabbed her purse and picked the container of cookies up off the floorboard, climbed out, and locked the doors.

  It had apparently rained in Tucson last night, too. The air was sweet and the ground beneath the trees still damp. She loved the smell of rain in the desert. There was nothing quite like it. She held the cookies as she walked up the stone path to the front door and rang the doorbell.

  In moments the door opened and her mother stood in the doorway. She was wearing one of her many pretty scarfs around her head, baggy jeans, a loose blue cotton blouse, and brown moccasins.

  “Hi, Mom.” Sabrina hugged her.

  “Rina.” Her mom hugged her back, the plastic container between them. “What do you have here?” Tessa asked as she laughed and stepped back.

  “Carly made you her fantastic chocolate chip cookies.” Sabrina handed Tessa the container.

  “She just wants to fatten me up.” Tessa carried the cookies into the kitchen.

  “You could use a few, you know.” Sabrina followed and set her purse down on one of the stools at the breakfast bar. Her mother had gotten way too thin.

  “Do you want one?” Tessa held up a cookie.

  “I snuck a couple before I left.” Sabrina grinned as she sat on a stool and rested her elbow on the breakfast bar. “Don’t tell Carly.”

  “Promise.” Tessa took the milk out of the fridge, raised it in a gesture that asked if Sabrina wanted some. She shook her head and her mom poured herself a glass before putting the milk back and taking a cookie. “How was your drive here?”

  “Not bad.” Sabrina didn’t bother mentioning the detour to Derrick’s sister’s house. “How are you doing, Mom?”

  “Great.” Tessa smiled but Sabrina still saw a hint of pain in her mother’s smile. Tessa didn’t believe in complaining or even admitting she was ill.

  “How are you really doing?” Sabrina asked quietly.

  Tessa took off the scarf on her head. Her head was smooth, no trace of hair. “The days are gone when I was able to keep most of my hair like you did when you went through radiation.”

  “For not having any hair, you still look pretty sexy.” Sabrina kept her tone light. “A lot of guys think bald is hot.”

  Tessa laughed and wrapped the scarf back around her head. “You were smart to get the mastectomies instead of just lumpectomies,” she said. “If I’d made that choice I probably wouldn’t have gone through all of this again.”

  Sabrina swallowed down the ball that had formed in her throat. The return of her mother’s breast cancer was the reason Sabrina had chosen to get the mastectomies when the cancer was discovered during a routine mammogram. Her entire family history wasn’t good and even though the doctors thought they could more than likely get all of the cancer out, the “more than likely” was something she hadn’t want to take chances with.

  “Do they think they can get rid of it all?” Sabrina found herself holding her breath.

  Tessa set her cookie down, went to where Sabrina was sitting at the breakfast bar, and took her hands. “I’m doing fine. It’s gone into remission.”

  “Oh, Mom.” Sabrina hugged Tessa. “I’m so glad. I’ve been praying.”

  Tessa smiled as she drew away. “Now you can stop worrying about being out of town for the summer. I know that’s been bothering you.”

  Sabrina nodded. “It has. I still feel like I need to be closer.”

  “Don’t forget your three sisters are here and my sisters are here so I’m getting my fill of women.” Tessa had had four sisters before one had passed on from breast cancer. Fortunately Sabrina’s sisters and Tessa’s other sisters hadn’t developed it and were getting checked regularly and doing self-exams.

  Sabrina smiled at her mother’s teasing. “Are you sure you don’t need me here?”

  With a nod, Tessa said, “If you do come back, I’m going to kick your butt. Besides, you’re not much over an hour away.”

  Sabrina put her hands on her hips. “Well, I’m still visiting you once a week no matter what.”

  “You know I look forward to our day together.” Tessa smiled. “Between you and your three sisters and my three sisters, I think I’m covered.”

  “Good.” Sabrina kissed her mom’s cheek and couldn’t help hugging her again. “Want to go shopping now?”

  “Let me grab my purse and change into another blouse.” Tessa left the kitchen and disappeared into her bedroom.

  When Tessa returned, now wearing a bright pink shirt, pink and white athletic shoes, another pretty scarf on her head, and pink lipstick, they headed out together into the sunshine-bright day.

  Chapter 9

  It was late afternoon by the time Sabrina and her mom had returned from shopping and Sabrina was ready to head back to Patagonia. Before she backed out of the driveway, she pulled her cell phone out of her purse to call Carly to tell her she was on her way. There were six missed calls from Derrick’s number.

  Darn. He’d probably been calling about the package, although six calls seemed excessive. She hadn’t realized her phone was on vibrate.

  Before she had a chance to return his call, his number appeared on the screen as an incoming call.

  She answered, “Hi, Derrick.”

  “Where are you?” His words were sharp. “Where’s the package? Why didn’t you drop it off and pick up my package?”

  “I’m in Tucson.” She was taken aback by his harsh tone. “I did go there to drop it off but the guy told me he didn’t know an Izzy. I tried calling you but the call wouldn’t go through.”

  “Wouldn’t take the package?” He had a frown in his voice. “Where did you go?”

  She gave him the address and added, “I went straight to space eighty-one.”

  “It’s eighty-seven.” Derrick had a “dumb bitch” edge to his words. “I need you to get that package dropped off now and get the other package.”

  Anger made Sabrina’s temperature rise. She’d gone out of her way to help him and he was treating her like she’d done something wrong. Maybe Wyatt was right about the guy.

  “I’m on my way home from north Tucson,” she said. “I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.”

  It sounded like Derrick was taking a deep breath. “It’s really important it gets there and that I get the other one.”

  “It will.” She did her best to keep a snap out of her voice as she started backing out of the driveway. “Heading there now.”

  “Good,” he said and disconnected the call.

  Who did he think he was? She set her jaw and headed back to the trailer park with dread in her belly. She so did not want to go back into that neighborhood. It hadn’t felt safe at all.<
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  When she arrived in the trailer park the unsettled feeling grew even stronger. This time she went three spaces past eighty-one and reached eighty-seven. Gravel crunched beneath her tires as she parked next to an older model blue truck. Again she locked her SUV before she walked toward this trailer and again she felt as if she was being watched.

  This trailer was blue and white with a good dose of rust in places where sheets of metal had been added. A couple of old lawn chairs sat outside the front porch steps with a small table and an ashtray filled with cigarette butts and ashes.

  She climbed up the steps and rapped on the door with her knuckles, the door rattling as she knocked.

  It jerked open and a man stood in the doorway. He had on worn jeans and a sleeveless T-shirt, and he had a barbed wire tattoo around his right bicep. He had a dark look in his brown eyes and she had the urge to turn around and leave.

  “That the package for Izzy?” he said without any preamble.

  “Yes.” Another twist in her belly. She was desperately wishing for Carly to be with her right now.

  “You’re late.” The man snorted and held out his hand. “I’ll give it to the old lady.”

  Sabrina held back a frown. She’d expected to hand the package directly to Derrick’s sister, but apparently the guy had been expecting it. Maybe this man was Izzy’s husband or boyfriend.

  All she wanted to do was get out of this place. She handed the package to the man. When it was in his hands, he said, “I’ll get your package after I check this one.” He closed the door, leaving her on the porch steps. She looked around her, rubbing her arms as if she was cold even though it was summer. Something about this whole thing was giving her the chills.

  The door opened again and the man thrust out a manila envelope folded around whatever it was so that it was about the size of a brick. She took the package and the man shut the door in her face.

  A strong feeling, like she was in danger, came rushing over her. A part of her knew it was irrational, but all she wanted to do was get out of there.

  Gripping the package, she practically ran past the blue truck to her SUV, unlocking it before she reached it. She opened the door, jumped in, slamming the door behind her and locking it again. She threw the package on the floorboard, started the truck, and put it into reverse. The tires spun in the gravel and she took off, going faster than the posted fifteen mile per hour trailer park speed limit.