When they reached the door, LeForge pushed it aside so she could exit first. It was summertime so even at that late hour it wasn’t dark yet. They walked across the lot, and he asked, “Have you lived here all your life?”
“Born in Franklin. Moved to Chicago. Came back to Kansas a year ago. Where’s home for you?”
“Milwaukee. Living in Hays about five years now.”
She wondered why Hays? Not wanting to appear nosy, she didn’t ask. “Ah. My car’s over there.”
“And mine is on the other side of the building.” He stopped. “I’ll see you at the next class.”
Once again, they stood staring for a long moment, until he said softly, “Have a good weekend, Ms. Dahl.”
“Thanks. You do the same.”
Walking away, she felt his eyes follow her retreat. Don’t look back, she told herself. Inside the car, she started the engine. Feeling like a crushing teenager, she drove out of the lot and wondered where, if anywhere, this might be heading.
The next morning, Tamar and Eula shared a silent breakfast. Accustomed to having her home to herself, Tamar was a bit irritated with Eula’s presence, but knowing her cousin had nowhere else to go, she swallowed her pique along with her coffee.
“I know my being here isn’t easy for you, Tam.”
Tamar wondered when Eula had acquired mind-reading abilities. “It’s okay.”
“No, it isn’t, so thank you for your graciousness.”
“You’re welcome.”
“You probably don’t know this, but growing up, I always envied you.”
That was surprising. “Why?”
“Because you were so confident. You knew all the latest dances and you were so tall and gorgeous.”
Tamar looked up from her plate at the unexpected praise.
Eula smiled. “I know. I always acted like you and the others were beneath me, but it was to overcompensate for how intimidating your branch of the family was to me.”
“Meaning?”
“Here I was, an only child. A Nance. Even though Teresa was my great-gran, I was raised in Philly, far away from all the true Julys here. You and the other cousins knew each other intimately. You joked about things, talked trash about each other. And when I would come for the summers, I didn’t feel like I belonged.”
“I never knew that.”
“I sure as hell wasn’t going to admit it, so I threw my nose in the air and pretended I didn’t care, but I did. And as we grew older and my visits became less frequent, I convinced myself that I was indeed better and didn’t need you country Julys.”
Tamar sat back and let that soak in. The truth in Eula’s eyes showed just how honest she was attempting to be. Tamar’s respect rose as did her empathy. “You never acted like you wanted to belong.”
“I was scared.”
“Of?”
“For one thing, how many there were of you.”
Tamar smiled. She got that part. She and Thad were direct descendants of Neil and Olivia’s second child, Neil Griffin July, and his wife, Lacy Trenton. Add in the four descendants of Neil and Olivia’s only daughter, Teresa, the five children from the marriage of Neil’s brother Harper and his wife, Vivian, along with the first Diego children, and you had enough Julys to start their own town. Tamar never thought the numbers were intimidating but to an only child like Eula, they undoubtedly were. “We never knew you were scared. We just thought you were stuck up. Being as poor as we all were, you intimidated us with your nice clothes and proper speech. I remember Julia saying to me, ‘Damn, Tam. How many shoes does she have?’” And Tamar smiled at the memory. “We’d never been around anyone who had more than one pair of shoes, and you seemed to wear a different pair daily.”
“The Nances always had money.”
“We knew that but to actually see it left us intimidated as well.”
“Is Julia going to come to see me before I die?”
Tamar paused. She wanted to reassure her but couldn’t. “I don’t know, Eula. You hurt her pretty badly taking her to court like you did.”
“Hubris, pure and simple.”
“Maybe I can convince her to talk to you on Skype.”
“What’s Skype? I retired from teaching thirty-five years ago. I haven’t kept up with the technology.”
She explained Skype.
“My goodness. And you know how to use it?”
Tamar enjoyed the wonder in her voice. “I do. Amari, Trent, and the rest of the people here make sure I stay current.”
“You’re very blessed to have caring people around you.”
That Eula didn’t pulled at Tamar’s heart in ways she couldn’t have imagined before Eula showed up at her door.
“So, do you think Julia will speak to me so I can apologize?”
“All I can do is ask her. Do you want to do it now?”
“In a little while. I want to finish breakfast and get my thoughts together first.”
Tamar noticed she hadn’t eaten much of her eggs and grits and had taken only a few bites of her toast. “You need to eat more to keep your strength up.”
“Not much of an appetite these days. Probably because I’m at death’s doorway. No hunger in heaven. There might be in hell, though.”
“You might stick around longer than you think.”
“Nice of you to say, but I probably won’t.”
“The doctors could be wrong.”
“True, but First Tamar usually isn’t.”
Tamar stilled. “She visited you?”
Eula nodded. “In a dream, a few weeks back. Told me to go home. And since this is where Madison Nance and Teresa July began their married life together, I came here. To you.”
Tamar thought back on the odd dreams she’d been having lately. The woman she’d been named for had yet to show herself in them but Tamar sensed her presence. Because the family viewed the matriarch’s visits as a harbinger of death, Tamar didn’t really want to see her. In truth, she did though, as long as she didn’t die with the day’s following sunrise.
They finished breakfast and Tamar was loading their dishes in the dishwasher when a knock sounded on the door.
“It’s open,” she called.
In walked Mal.
They eyed each other silently.
Eula, having been told about yesterday’s incident at the diner, stood and said, “I’ll let you two have some privacy.”
Once she was gone, Tamar didn’t bother beating around the bush. “Why Vegas?”
He shrugged. “I have something I need to take care of.”
“Meaning what?”
“My business.”
It wasn’t what she wanted to hear but it had been expected. He’d always played his cards close to the vest, even when he’d been drinking—especially when he’d been drinking. She really wanted to know what was going on with him, but he was far too old to be sent to his room until he told her the truth and she got the sense that learning the truth was only going to make things worse.
“I’ll be back for the wedding.”
“Permanently?”
“We’ll see.”
She sighed with frustration. “Okay. Have you talked to Bernadine?”
“For a minute.”
“Did you at least explain to her what this is about?”
“No.”
“Mal?”
“Look, I didn’t come here for lectures, I came to let you know I’m leaving as a show of respect.”
“Thank you for that.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll see you at the wedding.”
“Okay.”
And he turned and strode out.
Holding in her anger, she put her hardheaded son out of her mind as best she could, and went back to filling the dishwasher.
Later that morning, she and Eula were watching The View when they heard what sounded like car engines revving outside. Sharing a look of confused curiosity, they walked to the front door and what they saw through the screen rendered Tamar speech
less. Roaring onto her land were pickup trucks, dune buggies, Jeeps, and motorcycles. Followed by more pickups, motorcycles, and cars of all make and in all conditions. Each vehicle was packed with men, young and old, all bearing the signature dark skin of the Julys. Knees weak, she stepped out onto the porch.
Eula followed and asked, “Are they who I think they are?”
“Yes.”
The Oklahoma Julys were doing wheelies in front of the porch, racing each other across the field, kicking up dust and clods of dirt and grass, and generally behaving like the coyote cubs that they were. The last time they’d visited, for Lily and Trent’s wedding, they’d entered the Dog like a raucous, chanting war party. There’d been drummers and dancing and singers. They’d caused such a commotion that Tamar had to fire her shotgun into the ceiling to bring the situation under control. She knew they’d be coming for Eula’s eventual funeral, but what were they doing in her front yard now—beside acting like the rodeo come to town. The last vehicle to pull up was a big silver and black RV that she assumed belonged to her brother. By then the other vehicles had cut their engines and the occupants were making their way to her side.
“Hey, Aunt Tammy,” they said, wearing her brother’s grin. Each gave her a peck on the cheek, and all she could do was smile and receive the tributes in the spirit in which they were given. Although the visit was bound to cause so much mischief Will Dalton and his deputies would be pulling out their hair, they were her family and she loved them even when she didn’t want to.
A panel on the side of the RV slowly opened and a whirring ramp descended. Seconds later, her brother, wearing a snow-white Stetson, powered his motorized wheelchair down the ramp. Behind him walked his half-Sioux grandson Griffin, who was also the father of Tamar’s great-grandson, Amari. Griffin was one of the few members of Thad’s clan with any sense.
“Hey Tammy,” Thad said as he rolled up and stopped at the foot of the porch steps.
“Hey, Thad.”
“Hey there, Eula.”
“Thaddeus.”
“Sorry to hear about what you’re facing.”
“Thanks, Thaddeus.”
Tamar said, “You didn’t tell me you were coming.”
“Because you would’ve just said don’t. Correct?”
“More than likely.”
“Exactly.”
“And you’re here, why?”
“To celebrate Eula’s life with a cookout, and some dancing and home brew, and who knows what else.”
“A cookout?”
“Brought our own meat, fixings, and grills. We’ll set up everything in the yard and have us an old-fashioned, August First wang-dang doodle, July style.”
“Lord,” she whispered.
“We’ll sleep in tents and in the vehicles.” He looked out at the open prairie. “Might take us a while to dance down all that grass so we can raise the tents, but it’ll be a full moon tonight. Should give us plenty of light.”
She turned her attention to Griffin. “I thought Amari was with you.”
“No, he’s still with my mother. I’ll ride up and get him when the family gets settled in here. This will be a fun gathering, Aunt Tam.”
“Uh-huh, okay. Get yourselves situated and I’ll call Trent and let him know you’re here. Calling Sheriff Will Dalton, too.”
Thad grabbed his chest. “You wound me, sister.”
“I’ll do more than that if you put your mitts on Olivia, again.”
He smiled like the coyote he was. His progeny from his three ex-wives did as well. Tamar shook her head. She and the stunned Eula went back inside.
While Tamar was texting Oklahoma July warning alerts, Eula asked, “Where are their wives?”
“Probably at home, happy the men are away. Most of Thad’s sons and grandsons are either divorced or single. Keeping wives is not a male July strong suit.”
Tamar looked down at Will’s responding text: Oh lord. Alerting my crews. Thx.
Trent: Your house still standing? Lily and I back later tonight.
Seated at her desk, Bernadine read the message from Tamar about the arrival of Thaddeus July and his Wild Bunch and smiled. There’d been no town-wide plans for a big August First celebration because they were focused on Rocky and Jack’s Labor Day wedding, but it wouldn’t hurt to liven things up, and she was sure Thad and his family would do just that. As for Mal, her pity party was over, or at least she’d convinced herself it was. No more moping, wondering, or angst. If he had something to do that needed doing, have at it. She had a town to run and a world to turn. With that in mind, she printed out the lease papers for the Millers. They’d sent her a text late last night to let her know they wanted the space in the hotel for their shop and she couldn’t be happier. As they’d discussed previously, it would be a few weeks before they’d be open for business, but she thought their coffee shop would be a plus for Henry Adams. They’d also be renting one of the upper apartments, and per their text, were hoping to move in as soon as possible. It was her hope that they’d be good neighbors to Crystal, now home getting the last of her packing done. Tomorrow was the big move-in day for her and for Kelly’s Liberian Ladies and Gents Salon. The name continued to amuse her because it was so perfect. She couldn’t wait to see the online website the kids were going to put up on the salon’s behalf.
“Bernadine.”
She looked up. It was Rocky. Bernadine paused because of what she saw on Rocky’s face. “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t log into the Dog’s payroll account.”
“Why not?”
“Password’s been changed.”
Bernadine stared back, confused.
“I can access the menus, the website, the vendor files, but not payroll, which means I can’t print out checks for the employees. Mal usually does it and I’ve had my hands full with him being gone so I forgot about today being a pay week until an hour or two ago.”
“Why would he change the password?”
“I don’t know. I had the kids write down the hours they worked and add them up. I can try and compute taxes and all that and pay them with checks out of my personal account, but I’ll need access to that payroll file eventually because the IRS will want their money.”
“Have you tried contacting him?”
“No reply to my texts or calls.”
Bernadine’s mind whirred with possible solutions. “Okay. You go ahead and pay your people and I’ll reimburse you. I’ll also call Lily and Trent, to let them know what’s going on. Maybe one of them knows of a firm that can hack their way in so we can figure out what the heck is going on.”
“I have a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.”
“Don’t go there. I’ll keep you posted.”
She exited, and Bernadine sat back against her chair. Lord, Mal. What does this mean? She returned to her laptop. Because she’d invested in the diner’s rehab, she had admin access to its financial records accounts. She keyed in her password but instead of being allowed in, a message in bold letters appeared on the screen: “Access denied. See admin for further assistance.” Eyes wide, she entered her password again, only to have the denial message reappear. Oh, my god! She tried a third time. Same result. The hair on the back of her neck stood up. She grabbed her phone and called Brain down in Florida.
He answered right away. “Hey, Ms. Bernadine. How are you? Is something wrong? My parents okay?”
“Everyone’s fine, but I have a quick question.”
“Okay.”
“Did you help OG change one of the passwords on the Dog’s computers?”
“Yep. He said he thought somebody had been trying to hack in and he wanted me and Leah to add another level of security.”
Bernadine almost fainted.
Brain, sounding worried, asked, “Did we do something wrong?”
“No, babe. Do you know what he changed the password to?”
“No.”
“Would you be able to go back in and undo the added level?”<
br />
He got real quiet. “No. We did do something wrong, didn’t we?”
“No, but he’s gone to Vegas and we can’t get into payroll. No biggie. We’ll just wait until he calls us back.”
“Oh, okay. You scared me, not going to lie.”
She spent a few more minutes asking how he was doing and if he was having a good time with his bio mom. He assured her that he was and she ended the call.
She ran shaking hands down her face. After drawing in a deep calming breath, she called Rocky and had her try and access the financial files as the account’s third administrator of record.
“It won’t let me in,” she said.
Bernadine related the conversation with Brain.
Rocky was quiet for a long moment before saying, “Tell me he hasn’t been embezzling? Oh, god, Bernadine.”
“I know. We’ll keep a good thought until we can get into the account and look around.”
“Jesus.”
After the call, Bernadine hated to think that the man she loved was guilty of embezzlement. There had to be a rational explanation. There just had to be.
Chapter 12
Lucas Herman was so exhausted he could barely keep his eyes open, but he had to get the dishes washed and then mop the kitchen floor before he’d be allowed to eat breakfast. He’d decided that Great-aunt Wanda was really Professor Dolores Umbridge from the Harry Potter series in disguise. Nice on the outside but hateful and mean on the inside. Since their arrival two days ago, she’d been working them nonstop—washing windows, sweeping floors, moving furniture, doing laundry—and if they didn’t do it fast enough or made a mistake, they were punished. Last night, he’d been washing their dinner dishes and while drying a plate it slipped out of his hands and broke on the floor. She screamed at him about the plate having originally belonged to her mother and slapped him so hard he wound up on the floor in the broken glass. His face still ached.
“Are you done in there?” she yelled from her spot in front of the TV. She watched TV a lot.
“Almost.”
“Hurry up. I need that floor mopped, too.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he whispered.
She entered the kitchen. She was wearing a gray sweatshirt and pants. “What did you say?”
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