by Alexa Davis
Slowly, my hands stopped their shaking, and I could think again. I brushed the char from the trailer and gravel dust from the parking lot off my pants and called out to Tucker and Tom, shuffling toward them painfully.
“Hey, guys, if the fire started right after we began feeling suspicious about the inventory, and caught someone on site…did they know the place was empty when they threw that? Was it to destroy evidence or scare us?” Tucker could only shrug in response.
“Let’s hope that it was calculated to happen when the office was empty,” Tom said. “I just can’t bear the thought that someone in my employ is a killer. Being a thief is bad enough, but to kill someone? That’s evil, and I can’t go there in my head and look at my guys with my stomach falling out my ass because I’m scared of my own boys. You feel me?” Tucker agreed.
“If someone wanted to hurt you, they’d have hit after dark while you were inside. No, there was an opportunity presented itself, and fired a warning shot over the bow.” Tucker thought for a moment before continuing, “I bet he didn’t even realize little Slink-dog had been left behind.” I looked at the men who were still hanging around, waiting for the foremen and Tom to finish up with the cops and force them to get back to work.
“Thank God for the yard guys who came running to help.” I looked at Tucker.
“Yeah, unless one of them was running away, instead of to, the fire.” Every face I looked at was a potential enemy.
I had wanted to solve the irregularities for Tom because I owed him, and for Callie, to prove I was more than a meathead or a grunt. Now, I had an actual mystery to solve, before whoever had roasted what they thought was the only evidence found out they’d missed or got desperate.
16. Callie
Slinky was attached to an oxygen tank, and I watched her chest gently rise and fall while the machine purred at her side. I’d called the store and told my manager, Tina, what had happened, and she assured me everything was hunky dory over there. I talked with my dad over the phone, and George, and even Daniel, the eldest Hargrave brother, had called to check in on us.
Everyone was worried, but they all agreed that the arsonist hadn’t realized little Slink was in the trailer at lunchtime, since the other times I’d been on site, I’d kept her with me.
I expected to be even more afraid than I was the night Nell had her scare, but I wasn’t. After all, twice now, when someone could have been hurt or killed, it hadn’t happened. Even so, arson was a violent crime, and I didn’t want anything else happening, to my dad or George.
So, when Daniel had called and offered for me and George to go stay on the ranch for a few days, I jumped at the offer. I hadn’t seen the family since Daniel’s wedding, and I was looking forward to a couple of days working from the safety of Lago Colina while getting to know his new wife Rachel a little better.
I called George and left a message with him to call back and settled in with the coffee the veterinary assistant had brought me to keep watch over my poor dog as she slept off the effects of smoke inhalation.
It was a little while before anyone came back in to see me, and when the door opened, I was surprised to see my mom. She poked her head in around the corner, then gave me a little smile and edged into the room and sat next to me.
“Hey, I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” I set down my now cold cup of coffee and reached out to touch Slinky like she was my touchstone.
“Well, someone had to come, and the men are all too busy playing detective right now. They don’t want a repeat, especially not if there’s a chance you might get hurt.” She gave me another wan smile. “No, they didn’t send me, if that’s what you’re thinking. You may be mad at me, but I’m still your mother.” I laughed shakily.
“I’m not mad.” She arched an eyebrow at me. “Okay, I’m a little mad, but I don’t hate you. I just wish you had been honest with me. When I saw you with that other guy, the doctor, I didn’t know you were separated. I didn’t know Dad had cheated on you. You should’ve told me, so I didn’t find out that way, looking like you were the cheater. I can’t unsee that, you know.”
“Well, I had an idea of what you had gone through with George. I didn’t want to upset you more. How was I to know your food tastes had matured from taco trucks to Parisian cuisine?”
She surprised a laugh out of me and Slinky woke up. She lifted her head off the table to look at me. I stroked her ears, and her tail weakly thumped against the metal table.
“Hey, girlie, momma’s here,” I spoke to her while my mom went to see if the vet could look at her, nonsense and baby-talk. She started to move around a bit, and I helped her to lift her head upright, so she was lying on her stomach and watching me. Her eyes had lost that glassy look, and she fought the mask still over her nose.
When the vet arrived, she declared the emergency over and took off the mask, but offered to keep her overnight for observation, which I turned down. I called George and told him my mother could drive me home, and asked if he was okay meeting me at my place. Mom took me through a drive through for a couple of burgers and sodas. When we got home, she even offered to stay, but I sent her to take care of Dad.
I packed a bag while I waited for George to arrive and set out the food I’d picked up. The smell of pastrami was driving Slinky crazy, and I slipped her a little bit from my burger to calm her down.
“You would be a terrible service dog, you know that, you crazy little thing?” She wiggled happily and whacked my leg with her tail, licking her chops after she licked the floor clean. I heard George knock at the door and warned Slinky to stay away from the table while I opened it for him.
“Hey there, handsome, did you come to visit me?” George started to answer, but I bent down and rubbed Xavier behind his ears and kissed his nose. “George, have you talked to Daniel recently?” George shook his head.
“I have a voicemail, but I hadn’t gotten to it yet. I figured he was just checking up on me, after the fire and all.”
“He invited us both to come up and spend a few days, while we figure out, you know. I want to go, do you mind? You don’t have to come up, but I don’t feel safe on my own right now.”
“Well, I was going to offer to stay on your couch if you needed it, but I think the ranch is even better. Am I permitted to come along?”
“It’s your family’s property, I can’t stop you.” I led the way into the living room, where Slinky was stoically keeping guard over the food on the high table.
“I’d rather not go if it’s too uncomfortable for you, but I would like to spend time up there while we wait for the police to figure out who we got mad.” We ate mostly in silence, slipping bits to the dogs and downing the large sodas like water.
“I can’t believe how hungry I was. I think all I’d had since we blew out of lunch was coffee at the vet. Now, I’m sloshing with soda and my pants feel tight.”
“At least they’re tight in all the right places.” George smirked.
“Just don’t try to touch. I can’t stop you from looking.”
At the sound of George laughing out loud, Xavi and Slinky both started wagging their behinds so hard it looked like their tails were shaking them. I cleaned up our mess and let George take the garbage out for me while I packed more food and treats for Slinky.
I locked up, double checked them, and after handing George the file of copies I’d made, I hopped up in the truck after the dogs. The drive was over an hour, in the dim light of the evening; there was a hush. I didn’t want to break the silence by being the first to talk, and with the puppies asleep in my lap, it almost felt like it had before everything had changed. It was the most peaceful time I’d spent with George in a long time.
Even in the looming dark, the gates to Lago Colina were an all-embracing welcome. As we turned up the drive, the house lit up like Christmas. I could see people piling out of the house and workers’ quarters. We were greeted by the whole crew, who had heard from Tucker earlier what had happened. Everybody seemed anxious to make s
ure we were all right.
It felt like a homecoming, after I’d been away on a really, really, long trip. Slinky quickly made friends with Rachel’s dog, Skipper, and we were ushered into the big kitchen where we were fed, even though we both declared stridently that we weren’t hungry, and George’s mom didn’t let up until we both swore we couldn’t squeeze in another bite.
Mr. Hargrave sent all his guys to bed, reminding them that not everyone was going to get to sleep in, come morning. Mrs. Hargrave hugged me tight and told me how glad she was to see me, promising me waffles for breakfast. My heart ached, knowing she remembered what I liked best after all that time.
I saw George watching me with his family and friends, and I could see the sadness in his eyes. For the first time, I thought maybe he understood what he could’ve had, possibly even wanted the reunion he was seeing to be real.
Daniel and Rachel showed me and Slinky to a guestroom inside the big house, bigger than my master bedroom back home, with a spa-like bathroom that begged for me to take a long bath. I sank into the bed with Slinky-dog beside me and sighed out loud.
I felt safer than I did in my own home, and it broke my heart to admit that to myself. Added to that, I missed George. I could almost feel him in the room next door, even though I had stopped hearing him move around a minute or two after we arrived. I thought I wouldn’t be able to sleep at all with the fire, my fight with George, and everything that was going on. But, my eyelids got too heavy to hold up any longer, and my brain slowed down until worrying was no longer an option.
I slept because we were safe for the night. Because Slinky was going to be fine, and George had held up through all the stress of the day and I hadn’t seen him crumble once. When I woke up, it would be another day, with more problems to solve than I cared to think about.
But, those were worries for later. My soft bed and warm quilt lulled me to sleep better than any lullaby.
17. George
I laid in my bed for a long time after we were shown our rooms. My old room was exactly as I’d left it, complete with WWE and NASCAR posters. I slid my hand into the narrow space in my headboard, where the small bookshelf above the pillows had separated slightly. I felt the smooth pages of a magazine, and laughed to myself, knowing my Hustler magazine had survived my lengthy absence.
I left it there. Maybe it would provide some shock effect someday to my mother when she finally cleared out my childhood effects to make room for more of her wealthy guests. But, knowing what I and my brothers had put her through growing up, there was little I could do to raise the bar on our adolescent shenanigans.
Besides, my fantasy was in the next room over. I listened for sounds of fitful sleep, but all was quiet up in the north wing. I was disappointed that I had no reason to invade her privacy, but grateful that she wasn’t afraid now that she was here.
I wished I hadn’t opened the can of worms that had led us to my parents’ house for sanctuary. I wanted to prove to myself and everyone around me, that even though I wasn’t as strong, or as fast, I could do something important. I’d screwed up Callie’s life. Again.
She hadn’t even had to hold me through my nightmares or lock the door so I couldn’t run out of my room in a panic with my knife in hand, ready to defend myself against her like she was the enemy. Those days seemed to be behind me. As if he knew what I was thinking about, Xavi pressed his nose against me through the blankets. Unfortunately, I had proven that I could mess up Callie’s whole world, without the aid of the PTSD that covered my life with dark clouds.
I sighed and rubbed my face with both hands. There was no way to stop the truth from pouring over me and no way to sleep knowing I had to leave Callie forever. Leave my job, leave Austin, if necessary. I dragged my aching left leg out of bed behind my right, and wandered down to the kitchen to grab a late-night snack and feel sorry for myself over a beer.
The kitchen light was a beacon to me as I made my way down the back stairs, and I heard movement around the corner that matched the shadows thrown up on the wall in front of me. I expected to find my mother waiting for me at the table with a plate of cookies and a soda, like she had so many times in my youth. To my surprise, it was Daniel who motioned for me to join him, handing me a cold bottle of beer as I gently lowered myself to the wooden chair across from him.
“I was pretty sure it was you I heard moving around, and I haven’t been sleeping much lately myself, so I thought I’d catch up a little.” He pushed a bowl of pub mix toward me, and I picked out the pretzels and rye bread pieces to munch on.
“Danny, have you ever messed up, ever, in your entire life? Because you seem to live a goddamn charmed life.” Daniel shook his head and took a long pull from his beer.
“You have no idea, G-man. You don’t think I’ve ever screwed up, you need to talk to Tucker. Seriously. He didn’t speak to me for a year, I messed up so bad.”
“Tuck wasn’t talking to you? Wow. That’s bad. Now I’m curious.”
“All I’ll say is it involved a woman.”
“One way or another, doesn’t it always?” I tipped back my beer and thought about the long legs and pale body I wished I was tangled up in, instead of sitting in the kitchen.
“Yeah, it seems to. And my screw-up ended up hurting Rachel, long after I thought it was behind me. So, whatever it is, I’m proof you can come back from it and still be happy.”
“You are happy, I can see that. She’s beautiful, too.”
“We belong together. She might even be better with horses than you.” I felt the smile slide off my face.
“Well, I don’t know if I’ll ever ride again, so I guess I’m safe from having to put it to the test.” I drank my beer and avoided looking at my brother, so I didn’t have to see the pity in his eyes.
“Well, that’s the stupidest, most self-pitying thing I’ve ever heard you say. Of course, you can still ride.” I choked on my beer and looked up at him in shock. “I’ve seen guys who lost both legs run in those Olympics. You sure as hell can get back on a horse. Don’t be stupid.” I laughed and saluted him with my bottle.
“I can always depend on you to be a self-righteous asshole, Danny.” I rolled my eyes and clenched my jaw to stop before I said anything else.
“Well, I’m not used to this new, defeatist George, so you’ll have to forgive me. Man, I used to wish I was as confident and fearless as you. What happened?”
I didn’t know how to explain it. It wasn’t just one thing. It had taken almost eight years of losing brothers and sisters on the battlefield, and worse, the ones I lost when we weren’t trying to fight and our “allies” turned on us. It wasn’t when I got blown to hell that had fried my brain. It was the times up ‘til then, when I had survived and my friends hadn’t.
“I’ve lost a lot over the past few years, Danny. I can’t explain it, but I don’t know how to be normal anymore.” I paused. I didn’t want to tell anyone the worst thing I’d done, and I knew that Callie hadn’t told a soul.
“I almost hurt Cal, Danny. I grabbed a knife and tried to stab her. Oh, God,” I moaned and covered my eyes. “I was back in the Korengal valley. We’d, um, we’d been hemmed in and were under fire like twenty hours a day, for weeks. All I could hear was the gunfire and the moans of pain from the wounded.”
“Oh my God, George. I didn’t know.”
“I could have hurt her. I could have killed her.” I banged the beer bottle down on the table.
“No. You couldn’t have. Obviously, because you didn’t. If you didn’t stop yourself, what stopped you?”
“Callie did. She could’ve yelled, screamed at me. Instead, she somehow ninjaed the knife from me and held me while I sobbed like a child in her arms. The next day, I had to leave for my deployment. I told her not to wait for me.” Danny reached out and squeezed my shoulder.
“And, here you are. Damn, son.”
“Damn is right. Callie keeps trying to let me go and still be friends. I can’t be around her without it tearing me up, I wa
nt her so bad. I almost had her back. Then, I started this whole mess with her dad.”
“You said yourself there was no intent to harm anyone, just a little jobsite theft gone wrong. It’ll be fine. You just have to save the day now, take her home. Maybe carry her over the doorstep like you always planned.”
Danny finished his beer and dropped the empty in the trash with a thud. “Don’t give up on her, just because you think she’ll give up on you.” He thought for a moment and flashed me a grin. “Pretend she’s a feisty mare to be broken. There’s a challenge you’d love.” He clapped me on the back.
“You’re a dick. But, thanks for not dwelling on the really crappy bits.”
“You seem to do that enough, bro. I know you got it in you to get through this. Just not used to you questioning yourself like this.” He started to walk away, then turned back. “You might want to cut yourself some slack. Nobody blames you for being messed up. Callie wouldn’t have stuck around or hooked you up with your new fur-buddy if she didn’t believe in you.”
I nodded, and he walked off toward the office. I heard the beeping of a computer booting up and smiled to myself. He’d probably be up all night, being the responsible one. I took the swig from my bottle, tipping it almost straight up to drain the last few golden drops. Then I headed back to my old room and my Hustler magazine to help me get to sleep.
18. Callie
Slinky-dog frantically jumped at the bed and ran between me and the door, begging to be let out. I was afraid I’d overslept in the lovely darkness of the north wing, until I opened the door and the mouth-watering smells of bacon, fresh baked bread, pancakes, and sausage flooded my nostrils. I wiped the corner of my mouth and snickered at Slinky, who had her slender muzzle shoved as far through the crack between the door and frame as she could.
