Love Me Tender

by Wendy Vella

  The dog sniffed and wagged his tail at people they met, while Jack looked in stores. He had about an hour before meeting Joe, and helping him out with Bailey’s car. He’d been up since 5:00 a.m., and most of the stable work was done, so he could afford to take a few minutes. A tea set caught his eye; maybe Gracie might like that for Christmas? He saw no sign of Rory Haldane, thankfully.

  He heard different versions of Christmas carols as he passed shops. This time of year was a big deal in Ryker Falls, and secretly Jack enjoyed it too. He loved this town, and as he and his family now owned some of it in the form of the cafe, ranch, bar, and some other property, he felt part of Ryker Falls now. Once, he’d felt part of nothing.

  “Can you believe she’d have the cheek to come back here?” he heard outside one of the gift shops. This one specialized in knitwear. Mrs. Longkovsky, who owned it, stood in front of her window with a spray can and a chair while she talked with a passerby. Years of smoking had lined her face and given her a croaky voice, but the woman showed no signs of slowing down, even considering she’d been old as long as Jack could remember.

  “Oh, Jack. Be a dear and spray this in the top right corner for me.”

  “What am I doing with it?”

  “Blobs of snow.”

  “I’m not very artistic. Can’t someone who’s a professional do it for you, Mrs. L?” The kids in town had nicknamed her Mrs. L, as her name was too complicated.

  “That rogue Jenny Trent wants to charge me a hundred dollars to do it, so I’m giving it a go myself this year.”

  “Or I am, as it turns out.”

  He took the can and climbed on the chair. Blobs weren’t going to look good, so he did snowflakes in the shape of stars.

  “Oooh, Jack, that looks wonderful!” Mrs. L cried. “I’ll get another color and you can add to it next time you’re passing.”

  “Thanks, I’ve always wanted a career doing this kind of thing.” He handed the can back to her.

  “You need a new Christmas sweater, Jack, and I have some beauties this year.”

  “Make sure you save me a good one, because I’m winning the Santa race and that’s first prize, right?”

  “It is, and I’ll save you the perfect one, dear.”

  “Were you talking about Miss Haldane when I walked up, Mrs. L?”

  The lined face narrowed, almost folding in on itself.

  “I was, and can you believe she’d have the cheek to come back here after all this time?”

  “How’d you know it was her?”

  “The hair. One of the Roadies told me about what they’d overheard in Phil’s, and how she had the curls and was short. Plus, there’s the rip in the knee of her jeans.”

  The pink mouth was pursed tight in disapproval at the audacity of Aurora Haldane to go about in ripped jeans. Looking down his legs, Jack saw a tear, but didn’t comment.

  Someone had obviously gotten a good description of Rory and left the café fast to spread the word about a Haldane being back in town.

  “Where is she now, Mrs. L?”

  “Jessie told me she saw her in the grocery store. I tell you, Jack, I gave her a piece of my mind. We don’t need her sort back here. Those Haldanes are all bad, especially her daddy. He was our mayor, Jack—”

  “I know that, Mrs. L.”

  “Our mayor who betrayed us. I don’t want his blood back in Ryker!”

  “His mother lived here,” Jack pointed out.

  “Connie was never one of them.” The words were spat out.

  “And yet you forgave Joe for robbing your store when he was a teenager? And let’s not forget every last cent of that missing money was repaid, Mrs. L. The Feds eventually released it back to Ryker.”

  “Well sure, but that family’s bad, Jack.”

  “Like the Trainers were?”

  The surprise on her face was enough for Jack to move on. Christ only knew why he was championing Rory Haldane, and yet here he was doing exactly that. It was the guilt.

  Walking into the grocery store minutes later, after following the trail of outrage, he passed a huge Christmas tree decorated with groceries and found the owner of the store, Bit, looking harassed. Which was at odds with her apron that said “Santa only brings goodies for happy people.” Mary Yardly was her name, a tiny woman with a huge personality.

  “Is that cinnamon I can smell?” Jack sniffed the air.

  “Christmas candles.”

  “Yeah? They make candles out of that stuff?”

  “You Trainer males are hopeless, you know that, right?”

  “It’s a gift,” Jack said. “What’s up, Bit? You look pissed about something.”

  “Lots of us felt betrayed by what Mayor Haldane did, but hell, it wasn’t that little girl’s fault. I tried to break it up, but had to leave to serve as Milly’s off sick today. Get in there, Jack. It’s not Aurora May’s fault her father was rotten to the core.” She hurried away, leaving him to hunt down the trouble. He found it in aisle two.

  “You got no right to come back here, Miss Haldane. No right to make us remember what your father did.”

  An angry mob had gathered between the cookies and cakes. Not a bad place to gather, it had to be noted.

  “Now, Jed, that’s not fair. Miss Haldane is not responsible for her father’s actions. She has as much right to visit Ryker as anyone.”

  He could see Rory over the heads of those in front of him. She was standing her ground, chin raised, eyes on the people. Beside her was Mr. Goldhirsh. It was he who defended her.

  “I don’t care if she’s one of them, I say she goes. Bad blood,” Jed, aka Mr. Jefferson, said. “And she made my Jenny’s life hell in school.”

  “Going by that logic I should hate everyone who made me suffer? Don’t you have a German grandfather?”

  Mr. Goldhirsh had been in a concentration camp during the Second World War.

  “It’s different.”

  Rory stepped forward, putting a hand on Mr. Goldhirsh’s arm in a thank-you gesture. Her smile was gentle and, Jack had to admit, added a level of sweetness to her.

  “I’m sorry you all feel that way about me being back in Ryker Falls. And yes, what my father did was wrong, but the money has been returned. My brothers and I weren’t nice in school, and there’s nothing I can do to change that either, but I will add I’ve grown up and want no trouble for the brief time I’m here.”

  She spoke in a slow, clear voice, and kept her eyes on the people. She was scared though, Jack could tell because her hands were clenched in white-knuckled fists.

  “That’s as may be, but we still don’t want you in town. We trusted your daddy, and he betrayed us. We don’t need reminding of that.”

  “Excuse me.” Jack stepped through the people and joined Mr. Goldhirsh and Rory. “Come on now, Noelene, what happened was years ago, and she was a child. Are we going to persecute her because of her father’s actions?”

  “She and her brothers were horrible, spoiled brats. How do you think your aunt will feel having a Haldane back in Ryker? She was on the school committee at the time the money went missing.”

  “Aunt Jess will likely be upset to start with, Mrs. Carbine,” Jack said, stepping in front of Rory. “But she’s a good, fair-minded woman, and I know she won’t treat Miss Haldane any different than she would all of you. Now you go on about your business, and I don’t want to hear any of you were after her again. We’re not that kind of town. We welcome people, not send them running for the hills.”

  There were mutters, but they left reluctantly.

  “I don’t need you looking out for me, Jack Trainer, especially as I know your thoughts are the same as theirs.”

  Jack was subjected to a fierce look from Rory when she stepped around him.

  “A simple thank-you is all I need, Princess.”

  Ignoring him, she looked at Mr. Goldhirsh, which went a fair way to annoying Jack. Woman didn’t do that kind of thing to him. They fluttered their lashes and gave him wide smiles.

/>   “Thank you, sir. I don’t know why you said what you did, but I appreciate it.”

  “Well now, my dear, I have seen persecution in its ugliest forms, and there is nothing I abhor more. I’m Mr. Goldhirsh.”

  Jack watched Rory shake his hand.

  “Do you run, Miss Haldane?”

  “Say no.” Jack leaned in to whisper in her ear.

  “Sometimes, if I’m late to catch a bus, but I avoid it where possible.”

  “We’ll have to do something about that while you’re here.”

  Jack folded his arms and watched Mr. Goldhirsh work. The man had been manipulating people into joining his Ryker Roadies for years. Age unknown, he was fit and wiry and in love with Jack’s aunt Jess. He was a pillar of the Ryker Falls community, and often the voice of reason.

  “You’re in the Ryker Roadies is my guess. They warned me about you,” Rory said.

  Jack moved a few paces to the left so he could see her face as she talked. She was small; he could rest his chin on the top of her head if he wanted to... not that he ever would. Round nose and chin, and straight dark lashes. Weirdly, he felt that little jolt of something in his gut as he studied her again.

  Weird. Maybe he’d caught the tummy bug Grace had last week.

  “Do you like poetry, Miss Haldane?”

  “Some of it, Mr. Goldhirsh.”

  “Excellent, I’ll expect you on Sunday. I’ll drop my address into your letter box, dear. Must be off, I need to get home and take my protein shake.”

  And then he was alone with her, Rory Haldane from the most hated family to ever live in Ryker Falls.

  Chapter 5

  “You can go,” Rory said, acknowledging Jack Trainer.

  “That’s twice now, FYI.”

  “What?” Rory made herself look up at the tall, disturbing man. He was what her college friends would have called a hottie. Sexy green eyes, messy black hair, long enough to curl over his collar, and a face that was a series of angles and planes made up to rock a woman back on her heels. Not that she cared. Rory was done with men for a while, especially this type who knew the power they had over silly women. All lazy smiles and deep drawled words. It appeared natural, but in fact it was anything but.

  “I got your power and water going, and now I’ve saved you from the angry mob.”

  “Sure, and let’s not forget all that hospitality you and your cousin showed me earlier. Plus, someone clued in the angry mob as to what I looked like, and as I’ve only spoken to you and your cousin, it doesn’t take much to add two and two. So thanks again, bye.” Rory gripped her cart and turned away from him. Seconds later he fell in beside her, walking with a long-limbed, easy gait.

  “I didn’t clue people in. Someone overheard our conversation in Phil’s.”

  “Whatever. I don’t care, so go away. What’s with you, anyway? This morning you were right alongside them in loathing me.”

  “Someone pointed out the error of my thinking.”

  “And you listened?”

  “I’m an open kind of guy who—”

  “I’ll just bet you are.” Rory deliberately cut him off with her trolley and headed to the bread.

  “So, Princess, I think it would be in your best interests to leave town.”

  “I’m not leaving, and my name is Rory.”

  “I thought it was Princess Aurora May?”

  “Hilarious, now go away. Why are you talking to me anyway?”

  “As I have already explained,” he said slowly. “Someone pointed out I was wrong treating you as I did in the cafe.”

  She stopped and looked up at him. “You’re admitting you were wrong?”

  “It’s not something I make a habit of, but sure.”

  “Wow, it’s a growth day for you then.”

  “You have a smart mouth.”

  “Whatever.” She waved his words away, then reached for her favorite bread. “Thanks and bye.”

  “Considering you have no friends in this town, you really need to work on being nicer to the ones that will talk to you.”

  “We’re not friends.”

  She moved on, and this time he didn’t follow. When she reached the end of the aisle he was standing there watching her, head tilted slightly as if trying to work out what he was looking at. Rory quickly turned into the next one.

  The mob had caught her off guard. Word had spread fast she was in town, but how they’d realized she was Rory Haldane she could only put down to the Trainers, even though Mr. Hotpants denied it.

  She remembered that about small towns: news spread like wildfire.

  Christmas music kept her company as she sped up and down the aisles, then headed for the checkout. Ignoring the curious look from the young boy at the counter as she paid, Rory stayed focused. Her next mission was to find a heater. She wasn’t sure how long she’d be here, but there was no way she would be cold while she was.

  She kept her eyes down as she carried her shopping out to her car. No one approached her, thankfully. Lowering her bags to the sidewalk, she dug around for her car keys in her bag.

  “Need help with that?”

  A man stopped beside her. He was wearing a uniform of khaki trousers and a thick black jacket. On his head was a black wool hat with the words Ranger in gold on the front.

  “No thanks, I got it.”

  “I know you do, but here’s the thing. It’d make me feel good to help a pretty lady, so how about you cut me a break.”

  “I really—”

  “Name’s Fin Hudson. And I know who you are. Public enemy number one, Rory Haldane.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Small town, plus there’s the hair. Medusa’s curls, they’re calling them.”

  “Whatever.” Her stomach ached from all the conflict, but the antacids she’d just purchased should help with that.

  “Not a tidy person, is my guess.”

  Rory looked in the trunk of her car, which she’d just opened.

  “It’s not something I excel at.”

  “Can’t have it all going on, I always say. Work with your strengths.”

  He picked up her groceries before she could stop him, then lowered them into the trunk.

  “Sure, and thanks for helping.”

  She’d forgotten about this kind of thing too. Since leaving Ryker she’d lived in big cities, and you tended to be invisible if you wanted to be. But not here; people were in your face whether or not you wanted that.

  “Snow’s coming,” he said, rocking back on his heels.

  “Looks like.” Rory slammed the door.

  “You need anything else?”

  “You’re new here, aren’t you?”

  “Not really.”

  “But after the Haldane affair is my guess?”

  He nodded.

  “Makes sense.”

  “What makes sense?”

  “You being polite to me.”

  “I’m always polite unless you piss me off, then I can be really mean.”

  He didn’t look like he had a mean bone in his body; in fact, he looked relaxed. Rory hadn’t been relaxed since her father had died.

  “Always handy to have both at your disposal,” Rory said. “Can I ask you something, Mr. Hudson?”

  His smile was nice and reached all the corners of his face. Handsome and nice, a lethal combination.

  “Sure, but only if you call me, Fin.”

  “Fin. Do you know where’s the best place to buy things like a mattress and a heater in Ryker Falls?”

  “Bas, from the garage, opened a warehouse next door to the garage just a few months ago. He’s turned it into a secondhand store, but I think he has some new stuff as well. If not there I think—”

  “Basil Owens?” Rory cut him off.

  “The very one. You know him?”

  Rory nodded. “Is the garage still in the same place? His dad used to....” Her words fell away as she remembered Bas’s father had been on the school committee too. Another person her father h
ad hurt.

  “You must have known there would be animosity coming back here, Miss Haldane—”

  “Rory.”

  “Some locals have gold medals in grudge holding, and really long memories. But given time, it’ll work itself out. The problem is whether you can ride out the wait until it does.”

  “I have done nothing wrong, Mr. Hudson, nor do I need the town to accept or forgive me.”

  “From what I gather, you weren’t exactly Miss Popularity in school and upset plenty of people.”

  “That about sums me up.” Rory felt the guilt again. She’d been a bitch.

  The ranger tilted his head slightly to study her, like Jack Trainer had, as if she was some kind of weird species needing closer scrutiny.

  “Okay, lay it on me, what’s the worst crime you’ve committed?”

  “What?”

  “Give me your nastiest moment and I’ll decide if I’m going to like you or not.” He then made a gesture with his fingers to urge her on.

  “You’re not serious? We don’t know each other. No way can you know if I’m a good person from a few words.”

  “Let’s hear it.”

  What the hell, Rory thought. This day was already weird, why not make it weirder.

  “My mom wouldn’t let me eat Lucky Charms for breakfast for a month because I broke her favorite necklace, so I stole some from the store.”

  “No pocket money?”

  “That was banned too.”

  “Total badass,” Fin Hudson said, and his smile was so sweet Rory felt her lips responding. She pulled them into a line. She didn’t need people to like her... or for her to like them. “But like I suspected, you’re harmless.”

  “I can be nasty when required,” Rory defended herself.

  “I’m sure you can.” He looked her up and down in a purely nonsexual way. “But as there’s not much to you, I’m guessing it’s in a nonphysical way.”

  “I’m leaving now because this is an odd conversation,” Rory muttered. “But thanks anyway.”

  “For?”