The Ring of Fire: The Dragon Dream: Book Two

by Robin Janney

  “I can’t believe you still remember that,” muttered Craig. “It’s not like I didn’t order a new one.”

  Kevin didn’t acknowledge his comments. “What do you really feel pressured about Craig? Forgiving your stepmother, or being reconciled with her? Because those are two separate issues.”

  Sighing, he watched a jogger go by, the sweaty man checking his watch as he passed. Hadn’t he already passed through here? It was hard to tell. There were quite a few people out this afternoon, and Craig wasn’t really paying that close of attention. “Both,” he admitted to his friend on the phone. “When she asked for forgiveness, I couldn’t say the words. And when she asked if I could call her ‘Mom’ again, I told her I couldn’t. Things can’t go back to the way they were before.”

  “You’re right, they can’t. And I would advise against it even if you felt differently.”

  The two men sat in silence, one in a park centered in the bustling city, the other in the sleepy town of Tyler’s Grove.

  “What am I supposed to do?” Craig asked to end the silence. “Because I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place. I feel like I’m suffocating.”

  Kevin sighed audibly. “I wish I knew what to tell you Craig. You’ve already ruled out what I would advise, and that’s bringing your wife out to be with you.”

  Now Craig sighed. “I can’t do that anymore than I can go home yet.”

  “You’re not needed 24/7, are you?” asked Kevin.

  “No, I guess not. Dad did kick me out for hovering.” Craig laughed at himself. “I do have a few friends here in the city I could visit, as well as take a trip to see my brother. Other family. My cousin Pete’s been hounding me to go to a Mets game.”

  “Sounds like a plan. Just keep in touch with your old friends a little better?”

  “I’ll do that,” replied Craig. Rising from the bench he sat on, Craig bid his friend farewell and resumed his walk.

  K evin Rockwell set the phone receiver back in its cradle on his home desk. He had chosen to work from home this afternoon since he had no appointments and was glad he had done so. It had allowed him to make this phone call when he did.

  Placing his hand on his computer’s mouse, he moved it gently across the pad to awaken his computer from the screensaver. There on his screen was the email which had triggered his call to Craig.

  Hi Kevin! I hope you don’t mind my emailing you, I happened to pick up one of your business cards when Craig and I were there for graduation. This is the least intimidating way I can talk with you. Not because you were at my brother’s accident, but because your wife sends off ‘stay away’ vibes.

  Anyway, Craig’s been in New York City for a couple of weeks, his father was injured in a drive-by…and I’m worried about him Kevin. He just seems so anxious when we talk, but he doesn’t open up to me. Has he called and talked to you at all? I keep having dreams where he’s in danger, but Pat just laughs me off. Not literally, she’s very polite about it. Do you know if he’s had anymore Dragon Dreams since the first? I keep dreaming the same dream I had that night. On top of the other dreams I mean. I dream about being carried away by a tornado of red sand, like the kind Craig draws. I can’t sleep without dreams even when I take a sleeping pill. Kinda frustrating, and sometimes I feel there’s no point in trying to sleep.

  And to top it off, Cassie and her girlfriend will be here this weekend and I thought he’d be back home by then. He says he’ll fly me there if he’s still there by our July anniversary, but I’m not sure I believe him…he sounds almost panicky at the thought of my being there with him. I’ve thought about just flying myself out there anyway, but I don’t want to make him angry. I just don’t know what’s going on. ~Angela

  Part of him was surprised his friend’s wife had reached out to him for help, but – hadn’t she tried to reach out when they were here for Jared’s graduation? Why did she feel intimidated by his wife? Kevin hit the reply button and continued to stare blankly at the computer screen.

  He couldn’t shake the feeling that Angela was trying not to panic about something. It was hard to tell over an email, so it might be possible he was reading into her words. Had Craig been more communicative about the Dragon Dream he had just before the phone call which had taken him into another time zone from his wife, Kevin would have sided with his initial theory. But the Dragon Dreams had always caused Craig anxiety in the past, and the fact that he was all but ignoring this one bothered Kevin. Granted, it was the first negative one the other man had since marrying his wife.

  So – why wasn’t it bothering the other man more? It could just be an overload of anxiety pushing the Dragon Dream to the back. Even though that was the opposite of how it had affected him in the past.

  Shaking his head, Kevin typed a reply to his best friend’s wife.

  Hi Angela! No, I have no problem with you emailing me. In fact, if you ever feel the need to chat, my cell’s in my signature and should be on the card you picked up. I just talked to Craig on the phone and I hear what you mean. He does have a lot on his mind right now, between his father’s injury and his stepmother’s apology. In fact, I’m guessing Craig has more issues with his father’s injury than his father does! It’s not easy seeing the man you’ve looked up to for years suddenly crippled, regardless of whether it’s temporary or not. Though I’m not sure Craig would ever admit to idolizing his distant father. I’m sure you’re aware that father/son relationships are as complex as mother/daughter. But I’m sure everything will even out when he can come home or feels comfortable enough to bring you to the City. In the meantime, I’m sure you’ll be fine even with your extra visitors – I’m sure Nan will be her usual helpful self.

  Here Kevin looked back at her email before continuing to type:

  Don’t be alarmed at this request, but would you feel comfortable with me talking with your doctor about a few things? If so, please send me her contact info. Your friend, Kevin

  Hitting send before he could delete the last small paragraph, Kevin closed out the emails. Opening the file he kept for Craig, he began to make a few notations about the phone call he’d just had with the other man. Even though he had counseled his friend heavily in the months preceding his marriage and had tried to during his wife’s coma, Craig had never been an official patient. It hadn’t stopped Kevin from creating a file for him. After typing his few notes into the file, he closed it out and opened a new one. He didn’t know why, but he had this feeling he was going to want one for Angela as well.

  He hoped he was wrong.

  21

  K atie Davis-Miller wasn’t the only woman on a mission. Nikki Flynn sat deep in the heart of the Moore’s property. More accurately, she sat sequestered in their woods, far enough away from human eyes but close enough to keep the ranch’s main complex in her sights. She sat with her back against a tree, surrounded by thick brush, binoculars pressed gently to her face.

  In the amount of time she’d been watching the Moore ranch, ostentatiously named Starlight Ranch, Angela’s daily routine had begun to change slowly but surely. Nikki didn’t know the name of the contact on the ranch who’d given her Angela’s daily routine, didn’t want to know. Just knew he was reliable. Idly she wondered if Craig Moore was aware of just how many people had slipped through his tight security.

  The man tried so hard to protect his wife and was failing miserably. There were at least two moles she knew of. Her contact and one other who was Everett Crane’s spy; another man who tried protecting this woman and couldn’t. She didn’t know the identity of that one either, but it was one of the women. Her money would be on the black therapist; the two seemed to be good friends and what better position for a mole to have?

  The changes to Angela’s daily routing weren’t extreme, not yet, but it was enough for Nikki to notice. And if she noticed, she bet the staff Craig Moore had hired noticed as well. The other woman was spending more and more time indoors.

  It wouldn’t change the plans at all. When the time came, Nik
ki would have to come up with some way to get Angela away from the ranch. Away from those who would guard her. Preferably out here in the woods, if she could manage it without having one of the ranch hands follow her. The other woman was always shadowed. Even when she ventured out to the nearest town or city.

  As she watched Angela ride her black horse around the practice course of jumps, Nikki wondered how the other managed to live under such tight security. Was she even aware? Most of the time, Angela seemed completely self-absorbed and clueless. Unless it was an act. Unless it was the only way she could live after being kidnapped off her husband’s doorstep. Nikki could only hope the younger woman had been that traumatized by the events she had managed to orchestrate last time. Imagine what the future held. If she let the other woman live, that is.

  Her cellphone vibrated in her pocket and she suppressed a sigh. Lowering her binoculars, she pulled the phone out of her jeans and flipped it open to read the text message. So, phase one had begun, and she was supposed to be ready at a moment’s notice, was she?

  “Uppity bitch,” she muttered as she sent a polite confirming text.

  Replacing the phone and raising the binoculars, Nikki smiled smugly. She couldn’t wait to prove to the other woman just who had the upper hand. Catching sight of Angela and her horse sailing over a high jump, she amended her thought to include both women.

  A ngela slid down from Belle’s back. That had been a terrible landing on her part!

  “I’m sorry, girl,” she told the horse as she patted Belle’s neck. The horse nickered in response.

  “Done already?” Toni asked from where she stood at the fence.

  Gary stood next to the other woman, but he said nothing. He just looked at her with the same stern look he’d been wearing since she’d had the trouble with Buster. Princess was seated on her haunches between the two.

  Leading Belle over to them, Angela answered, “I might as well be. I can’t seem to focus and there’s no point in wearing Belle out when it’s not her fault.”

  “You haven’t been riding her as much as usual,” remarked Toni.

  “If anything, you haven’t been riding her enough,” said Gary gruffly.

  Princess circled around the humans, making sure to keep her distance from the horse.

  Angela sighed. She seemed to be doing a lot of that recently. Still, she thought as she unbuckled her safety helmet, sighing was better than crying. “I’m done for the day.”

  “Fine.” Gary threw his hands up in surrender.

  Leaving the two of them standing there, Angela walked away and led Belle into the stables.

  Princess followed, keeping to her boundaries. The stables were one area the dog kept her distance from her human charge. The horses, angelic or equine in nature, had hooves, and the dog didn’t want to get stepped on by accident.

  As she cared for her horse, removing Belle’s saddle and accessories before brushing the animal down, Angela was surprised when she finished without Toni having followed her. This once, Angela didn’t mind because she welcomed the illusion of solitude it gave her. She was able to whisper her thoughts and her worries to Belle without interruption, the horse answering back with the occasion nicker or nuzzle.

  Setting the sleek horse out to pasture with the rest of her kind, Angela retraced her steps and found Toni still standing at the same spot along the fence. She slowed her pace when she realized the other woman was on her cellphone. Princess rubbed against her legs, and she bent long enough to give the dog a quick pat on her side. Waiting at a distance, Angela looked around to see if she could spot Gary, but he was nowhere to be seen.

  Which was just as well really. Ever since she had mishandled Buster, Gary had been hard pressed to speak civilly to her. Whether it had more to do with her ineptness that day or the rough manner Craig had spoken to him, Angela didn’t know. The other man had never outright told her his problem with her and she wasn’t about to ask.

  When Toni put her phone away, Angela started her feet again and approached her friend with a smile. “I was wondering why you hadn’t followed after me like usual.”

  Toni returned her smile with a brilliant display of crooked white teeth. “I talked with Gary for a bit and then a client called to reschedule.”

  “Oh crap,” breathed Angela. She knew what it meant when the two conferred. “Am I in trouble?”

  The other woman laughed. “No, of course not! We’re just worried about you. You usually ride more often when Craig’s away, not less.”

  Angela shrugged uneasily. The feeling of being watched had not vanished upon returning to her home. As much as she desired solitude these days, even then she felt unseen eyes boring into her. Perhaps she should ask her husband if he’d turned the internal security cameras on? She assumed he had, had thought a few times she’d felt his gaze upon her in the middle of the night.

  “I don’t know what it is,” she finally admitted to her friend. “I just feel safer indoors.”

  Toni nodded. “I almost thought you’d use Jared as an excuse.”

  Shaking her head, even knowing her friend was teasing, Angela replied, “That was my reason at first, and being grounded with the concussion. But something isn’t right, and I can’t put my finger on what it is. I even felt this way in Tyler’s Grove. It’s a feeling I’ve felt before. I just don’t remember specifics.”

  “Have you talked to Pat about it?”

  “Not in depth,” answered Angela. She motioned for the other to walk with her and they began to walk along the fence as it slanted away from the house and towards a small pond. Princess kept to her side, not bounding around like usual. See, thought Angela, even the dog knows something’s not right. It would also explain her recent clinginess. “Pat still wants to discuss things that happened in Tyler’s Grove. Things she feels aren’t paranoid delusion feelings.”

  “Really? Pat thinks you’re delusional?”

  “When it comes to this feeling of being watched, yes. Anyway, Pat’s more fixated on some of those other issues than I am. Mom is – mom. I’m not her biological child and I don’t think she’ll ever see me as such. We’ll never see eye to eye on everything and I’ll never be quite good enough.” Angela snorted softly, as the Carman bloodline was apt to do. “Even if I had tons of babies. And as for Sherry, well – I don’t think she’ll be trying anything like that again any time soon.”

  “That doesn’t mean the issues are resolved,” said Toni gently. “Denial…”

  Angela cut her off. “I’m not denying anything! I’m just choosing not to dwell on it. It’s over and done.”

  “That’s a form of denial, Angela. Downplaying the seriousness of what happened, especially with Sherry, doesn’t help you heal.”

  Letting several steps pass without speaking, Angela took deep breaths as she thought about how best to express herself. “I’m not downplaying anything. I just have too much going on right now, Toni. Between those issues and the new ones, Craig leaving for his father’s emergency and Cassie coming for a visit soon, there’s too much. It would be different if my husband were home for me to talk to, but he isn’t, and that’s part of the problem isn’t it? Some conversations shouldn’t be over a phone.”

  “I’m sure your sister would be willing to reschedule her visit if you explained it to her.”

  “No. I can’t do that. I won’t give into the stress. And besides, both girls have a busy summer, and this is the only weekend they both had available.” A note of pride crept into Angela’s voice as she talked about her sister. “And I know I’ll enjoy it once Cassie’s actually here! I’m just stressing out over stupid stuff as usual.” Angela shrugged, almost laughing at herself, but not quite.

  Worry marred Toni’s expression, even with a smile on her face.

  “And things will even out once Craig comes back home,” she continued as she turned their walk back towards the house and Toni’s pickup. Princess brushed against the side of her legs. “It feels like my husband’s been gone forever. I know we
talk every night on our laptops, but it’s just not the same. It doesn’t seem like the right place for the conversations I need to have with him. It’s so…impersonal. Maybe that’s why…”

  “Why what?” asked Toni when Angela trailed off.

  “Why Craig’s not opening up about his dad. I know it’s bothering him more than he’s admitting, but all he ever talks about is how Les is handling it, or not handling it. Or how great Veronica’s been. Never anything about how he’s handling it himself.”

  Toni stopped beside her truck, leaning against the door. “Have you thought of flying out there? Surprising him?”

  Shrugging, Angela felt her face warm in embarrassment. “I have. I’ve even priced the flights. If I do that, it won’t be until after Cassie flies back. It would be kinda rude to vanish halfway thru her visit.”

  Toni chuckled. “If you do, let me know so I won’t come all the way out here just to visit Gary.”

  Angela laughed. “I will. I promise.”

  The two women hugged each other and said their goodbyes.

  As Toni drove away, her truck backfiring once, Angela pulled out her smartphone and turned it back on. Waiting for it to boot up and update, she entered her home and wandered into the kitchen.

  Princess gave her some distance now that they were inside, but she continued to follow her charge. Outside was dangerous for her human right now, and she had no way to communicate this to her. While the woman wandered in her home, the dog sniffed around to make sure there were no strange scents like she had dealt with in their old home.

  Once again, Nan was nowhere in sight. She was probably tending to their large vegetable garden. Which reminded Angela – she hadn’t tended to her flowers in days. Even though Pat had chided her for that very thing earlier in the morning, it kept slipping her mind.