1001 Dark Nights: Bundle Nine

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  “Son of a… Is this some kind of fix up?”

  “What’s wrong with that? What are you a homophobe or something?”

  “What’s wrong with it is that a good friend of mine is accusing me of lying about who I am. I’m not gay, Danny, and I’m not married to my ex-wife anymore ’cause we both moved on. It was a mutual decision, alright?”

  “And you both moved on ’cause you were never in love with her to begin with and apparently she wasn’t in love with you either. I guess that’s supposed to make sense?”

  “Danny, I’m fixin’ to add some Drano to that Heineken if you don’t shut up!”

  “Just hate to see you alone is all,” he says. He shakes his head with a faraway expression that says he’s thinking about his new fiancée. Again. Because these days, he doesn’t think about much else.

  “I get it. You meet the love of your life and suddenly you’re everybody’s matchmaker. You’re whipped, dude. That’s all.”

  “Frat boys called it whipped. Grown-ups call it engaged.”

  “Sounds like something Eliza told you.”

  “It is,” he says with a smile, as if his fiancée’s corrections feel as good as her shoulder rubs.

  “Serves you right for hooking up with one of your old teachers.”

  “Alright, now. Don’t up the creep factor. You’re sounding like one of the old gossips back home.”

  Danny’s hearty slug suggests the gossips back in Surrender are bothering him more than he cares to admit. Caleb isn’t surprised. In towns big and small, a ten-year age difference between lovers will make most people talk. But when the woman’s the senior partner, people tend to freak out even more.

  “Is it just talk or are y’all getting some real grief over it?” Caleb asks.

  “Oh, just the usual busybodies, claiming we got together when I was a teenager and she was my teacher.”

  “Did you?”

  “Hell, no. Back then, she pretty much wanted to chuck me out the window.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “’Cause I asked too many questions, apparently.”

  “You don’t say.”

  “Only reason I give a damn is ’cause Eliza seems to give a damn, and after everything she’s been through, I don’t want her to have to give a damn about much besides being happy.”

  Caleb knows only part of the story, the part where Eliza’s bastard ex got her involved with some nasty guys who didn't make it out of Surrender alive. There are about eighteen different versions of the story floating around Surrender. Every time he calls someone and tries to get the real scoop, he gets a totally different account. Whatever happened, Eliza and Danny survived without injury, and now they're in each other’s lives for good. That’s all that matters. More importantly, he’d rather get off the topic of their personal lives altogether before he has to answer any more questions about his own.

  “Have you tried bringing her an apple every day? Maybe that’ll cheer her up.”

  “Oh, that’s real original, cowboy. How ’bout you sing me some of that old Van Halen song while you’re at it?”

  “Just trying to make light of the situation. Small towns can be tough.”

  “Yeah, well, Surrender’s alright when the MacKenzies have your back!”

  The way Danny says it, he makes Surrender’s most beloved family sound like the mafia. They’re anything but. Thomas, the doctor of the family, is the only MacKenzie Caleb had ever spent much time with, probably because he’d been willing to drive out to Proby at a moment’s notice to treat even the first signs of an infection or a sprain among the ranch hands. If Thomas MacKenzie’s generous spirit ran in the family, no wonder most of Surrender thinks he and his brothers hung the moon.

  “Is that really why you came back to Dallas?” Danny says. “’Cause small towns can be tough?”

  “Got family here,” Caleb says. “Now I’ve got a family business, looks like.”

  “You never called this place your family business before.”

  “Danny, does Surrender have some intelligence agency that hires you to track down all the former ranch hands in the area and find out about their lives? ’Cause this is getting kinda intense, friend.”

  “Nah, I told you, Conference of Local Law Enforcement Agencies is at the Hyatt downtown this weekend and I’m representing my hometown.” Danny taps one closed fist against his heart as if there’s a shiny policeman’s badge there.

  “And you always like to kick off a conference by giving an old friend the third degree?”

  Danny sips his beer and stares at Caleb.

  “I was going to fix you up with Eliza’s brother,” he finally says.

  “Danny!”

  “Well, if it means anything, I lost the bet.”

  “The bet with who?”

  “Eliza. I told her all about you and she’s sure you’re straight.”

  “She knows me better than you do, apparently.”

  “She also says your heart’s on lockdown ’cause you already met the woman you want to give it to and you’re convinced she won’t take it.”

  Way better apparently.

  “So who’s the girl who got away?” Danny asks. “Is she married?”

  If Annabelle hadn’t picked just that moment to set an armful of invoices and order forms down on the bar with a loud thunk, Caleb might have faked a seizure.

  “Here’s everything you asked for,” she says

  “Whoa, you might want to get a filing system there,” Danny says

  Annabelle gives Danny a long stare, then turns it on Caleb.

  “Who’s the child with the mouth?” she asks Caleb.

  “Old friend,” he answers. “Just ignore him.”

  He reaches out with both arms so he can draw the mountain of lose paperwork closer to him without spreading it across the bar.

  “Name’s Danny Patterson, ma’am, and it just so happens I’m an officer of the law.”

  “In Dallas?” she asks.

  “Nope. A beautiful little town in Montana called Surrender.”

  “Then shut up. You’re out of your jurisdiction.”

  Danny gives Caleb a broad smile and says, “I always forget Texas is the not nice part of the South.”

  “And I’m the not nice part of Texas,” Annabelle says. “So, Guy I Was Actually Talking To, this here’s about six months worth of invoices and orders from my amazing former employer. As you’ll be able to see, he forced us to use a cut-rate produce company even though every other batch they brought us was spoiled and also, he spent about seven thousand dollars on consultants to research”—she dug into the pile and read from the invoice in question—“the latest in jukebox technology. And by consultants, I mean members of his horrible band who Googled stuff about jukeboxes. Probably while hung over.”

  “I suppose I can’t get you to file all of this stuff,” Caleb asks.

  “You can. For about forty dollars an hour.”

  “Oof,” Danny says with a groan. “Pricey!”

  “You know, normally, it takes people more than fifteen seconds to get on my nerves,” she says.

  “Oh, I don’t believe that for a minute, Annabelle,” Caleb says with a smile.

  They just stare at each other while Danny looks back and forth between them like a kid expecting his parents to break out in a screaming match.

  “I don’t file, cowboy,” Annabelle finally says. “I’ve got about a dozen chicken fried steaks that need to be battered before we open for dinner. But I’d be happy to take you back to the dish cabinet where he stuffed all the invoices for the past two years.”

  “Lord,” Caleb groans.

  “Nobody said being a knight in shining armor was easy,” she says. Then, to Danny she adds, “Have a good one, Deputy Diaper. Enjoy those puppy dog eyes while you got ’em. I can already see the crow’s feet starting.”

  “I love a woman who can make me feel small,” Danny says after she’s gone.

  “You realize I’m calling you Deputy D
iaper forever now?”

  “Knew it the minute she said it.”

  “Want to do some filing?” Caleb asks.

  “No, thanks. Knight in shining armor? She made it sound like you came home to rescue a lady, not a bar.”

  Don’t look up. Don’t let him see your eyes. He’ll put two and two together and figure it out.

  “Danny, unless you want to help me do some filing, you need to get gone.”

  “I love filing!”

  “Danny, I was kidding. It was great to see you, buddy, but I need some time to pull things together here.”

  He’s hurt Danny’s feelings, and it makes him feel like crap. Truth is he’s got all the time in the world to file these stupid invoices. Well, all the time in the world until tax day. But Danny’s like a dog on a scent. Worse, he’s following the trail right to a place Caleb needs to stay buried, and there’s only one damn way Caleb can think of to stop him.

  “Alright, well,” his buddy says, sliding off his barstool. “Try to make some time to come down to the Hyatt this weekend so we can hang.”

  “Sure thing, buddy.”

  “And, you know, sorry if I asked too many questions or if I talk too much.”

  “Nah, man. It’s work. That’s all. Just gotta get back to work here.”

  “Sure. Sure. I get it. Good luck, you know…with all of it, I guess.”

  All of it. Including the stuff you won’t talk to me about.

  Caleb nods.

  Danny nods.

  Then he’s out the door but not before giving Caleb a glimpse of his wounded smile.

  He just stands there for a while, feeling like a royal shit.

  He should have known this would be the hardest part. The questions. People noticing.

  He didn’t stay a loner for this long because he couldn’t control himself; he’d never do something stupid where Amber was concerned. His self-discipline’s always been good. Abel Watson, his only real father, is to thank for that. But his feelings and his anger about his feelings, those are another matter entirely. Making sure they stay hidden now that he’s back in Dallas, that’s going to be a lot harder than getting Watson’s books in order.

  Sometimes, when he’d had a few too many with the guys he’d worked with up in North Dakota, he’d mention the woman he couldn’t have, the one it would never work with, even though he wanted it to. Desperately. And if anyone pressed for more details, he’d just tell them the woman in question, the one he never named, had gone off and married someone else, which had been true then.

  It wasn’t true now. And if he’d known that, he might never have come home.

  This isn’t just fear squeezing his chest. It’s a kind of terror, the same terror he always feels when someone brushes the sand off that deep, buried place inside of himself.

  In his memory, he’s back on the side of a winding country road on that awful night when everything changed. Abel’s shaking him by both shoulders and asking him what he’d do to have a family. A real family. And then there’s darkness. Darkness and branches and a whole lot of other stuff he doesn’t want to think about.

  He doesn’t drink after people. It’s a rule. But panic attacks call for an exception to pretty much every rule, so he downs half of Danny’s abandoned beer in several swallows.

  It helps a little, but only a little.

  Maybe I should have let Danny believe I was gay, he thinks.

  If he’d had any gay friends, he’d have put the question to them. What’s harder, being gay or in love with the woman the State of Texas considers to be your sister?

  When his phone rings, it gives him the crazy sense that he’s been caught.

  It’s the woman the State of Texas considers his mother.

  “Miss Tina?”

  “We’re not having this conversation,” she says immediately.

  “Okay. You want me to hang up?”

  “No, no. I just… What I’m about to tell you, you need to act like you heard it from someone else.”

  “When?” he asks.

  “What?”

  “When do I need to act like I heard it from someone else? Right now or later?”

  “When you do something about it, that’s when.”

  “I’m real confused right now, Miss Tina”

  “Okay, well, let me unconfuse you. Amber’s about to do something crazy and I need you to stop her.”

  Chapter 6

  “Heroin?” Belinda asks.

  “What? No!” Amber answers.

  “Okay. What about cocaine?”

  “Oh my God. Never.”

  Brow furrowed, Belinda stares at Amber like she’s a cop and Amber’s a suspect who will crack at any second. But they’re not in an interrogation room. They’re in the dining room of Amber’s house and Belinda’s holding a wine glass, not a notepad.

  Next to them the wall is studded with bright spots where they just took down every picture featuring Joel. Or even a tiny piece of Joel. Amber tried to contest the removal of a big sky sunset over Chapel Springs on the grounds she wasn’t 100% sure the elbow in the bottom right corner actually belonged to her ex, but Belinda insisted.

  “Are you sure you went to college?” Belinda asks.

  “Yes, I’m sure.”

  “Not even one little bump at an office party?” Belinda asks.

  “I didn’t even know they were called bumps. And the only office parties I’ve been to are yours.”

  “That’s not an answer, honey.”

  “Belinda, I do not sniff cocaine!”

  “Alright, there’s my answer. No one calls it sniffing cocaine.”

  “I thought you came over to talk about The Desire Exchange.”

  “I did, and to erase all evidence that Joel Claire ever set foot in this house.”

  “And I appreciate that, but why are you asking me about my drug history?”

  “I just need to know if you have any allergies.”

  “To cocaine?”

  “They’re just gonna give you a little something to relax you while you’re there.”

  “Belinda, I do not do drugs!”

  “Oh, come on. You never smoked a joint?”

  “Not one I liked. No.”

  “Well, as long as you keep an open mind, I guess.”

  “Why would I need to keep an open mind if they’re gonna drug me?”

  “You’ll have to have an open mind to take the drug, sweetie.”

  “I have a headache,” Amber groans.

  “Want a Percocet?”

  “No. I’ve had too much to drink today, thank you.”

  Amber can’t remember the last time she’s heard tires squealing on her quiet residential street. But that’s exactly what she hears now. Tires squealing.

  “So has someone else apparently,” Belinda mutters.

  Headlights swing across the front windows of her house, headlights belonging to a large pickup truck which pulls into her driveway so fast, the front bumper knocks over one of her trash cans.

  “Is that him?” Belinda asks. “Is that Joel? If it is, get my purse.”

  “Why?”

  “’Cause my gun’s in it.”

  The shadow that strides past the front windows is over six feet tall. But it’s missing its familiar cowboy hat.

  “It’s not Joel,” Amber says quietly.

  “Who is it?” Belinda calls after her as she heads for the front door.

  She opens it. Caleb lowers his hand. It’s curled into a tight fist and he had the side of it aimed at the door, not his knuckles. A polite knock wasn’t his plan. His sandy blond hair is mussed. His broad chest is heaving with big, fearful breaths. If she hadn’t just witnessed his hijinks with the truck, she would have assumed he ran clear across Dallas to get to her house.

  Gone is the confident guy who struck down Joel that afternoon. He’s forgotten whatever words he was practicing on the ride over, that much is clear. He looks fearful and boyish, and together, they make him look innocent. Over six-foot-four, cho
rded with muscle and somehow innocent. Dangerously innocent.

  “Oh, my,” Belinda says. “You weren’t cheating too, were you?”

  “Belinda, this is my brother. Caleb, this is my boss, Belinda Baxter.”

  There’s a second or two of shocked silence before Belinda says, “You have a brother?”

  “On paper,” Amber says.

  Caleb flinches. It sounded terrible, the way she said it. But she couldn’t think of another way to make the obvious chemistry between them seem less dirty and wrong.

  “I was afraid I wouldn’t catch you before you left,” Caleb says.

  “Oh my God. Momma told you?”

  “You told your mother?” Belinda cries.

  “Please don’t go,” Caleb says.

  The quiet authority of his request shoots through her bones. This isn’t the sauntering Caleb who can deliver a precise punch powerful enough to knock a man off his feet. This is the Caleb of fifteen years ago—needy, hungry.

  “Why not?” she asks before she can stop herself.

  He stares into her eyes. His lips part but nothing comes out.

  For a few seconds, the only two things in Amber’s world are the two of them and the years of unspoken feelings between them.

  “Miss Baxter, I don’t mean to be rude, but do you think I can have a moment alone with Amber?”

  “Of course,” Belinda says, grabbing her Gucci purse off the foyer table. “I’ll just, you know, take a walk into the middle of the nearest freeway now that Amber’s mother thinks I’m a freak.”

  Caleb steps aside to let Belinda pass, gives the woman a polite nod. Once she’s behind him, she gives Amber a look full of wide-eyed confusion. Then Caleb gently shuts the door with one hand. Now it’s just the two of them, alone together for the first time in years.

  “It’s a terrible idea,” he says.

  “Why did she tell you?”

  “Because she wants me to stop you.”

  “That’s not true. I talked to her this afternoon and she told me she wanted me to go.”

  “Well, she must have changed her mind,” he says.

  “Well, I haven’t changed mine.”

  “A sex club?” he bellows. “What are you? Crazy?”

  “Since when are you so full of judgment? I’ve never seen you in church!”