by Dylann Crush
I rolled to a seated position as he walked to the kitchen.
“What’s wrong, Mom?”
My heart pitched in my chest at the thought of something happening to his mother. Those dizzy spells had been coming more and more often. Without wanting to intrude, I tiptoed to the doorway.
“No, don’t call the police. I’ll be home in a few minutes. Just stay inside.” He stopped at the edge of the table and ran a hand through his hair. Even in the urgency of the situation, I couldn’t help but warm inside as my gaze ran over his chiseled, naked body.
He clicked his phone off and walked across the kitchen to the bedroom.
“Everything okay?” I reached for him, putting a soothing hand on his arm as he passed me on his way into the bedroom.
“I don’t know.” He tossed the phone on the bed and shoved a leg into his jeans. “Some assholes are messing around at the end of the driveway. Woke up my mom and she panicked when she couldn’t find me.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
The T-shirt went over his head and he thrust his arms through the holes. Any softness he’d let show during the night had disappeared. He was all hard angles and tension. “No. You stay here. I’ll call you once I figure out what’s going on.”
He was down the hall and in the front room before I had a chance to follow. “Hey.”
“Sorry. I’ve got to go.” Keys in hand, he opened the door.
“I get it. I hope everything is okay with your mom.” I walked to him and pressed a quick kiss against his mouth. “Be safe.”
He wrapped me in a fast hug, already distracted by what might lie ahead. “Go back to bed.”
Then he was gone. The darkness behind him swallowed him up, making me wonder if he’d ever really even been there at all.
28
Dustin
Having to leave Harmony pissed me off. The one night we’d finally managed to spend together and some asshole had to go and blow it for me. By the time I pulled off the main road and onto the dirt road that would take me home, I’d worked myself into such a foul mood I might have had steam coming out of my ears.
Mom was right. Sure enough, some jerk in a half-ton truck had pulled off the driveway onto the side. As my headlights swept over them, a couple of people scrambled behind the truck. I stopped, wishing for the crowbar I usually kept under the front seat. Never knew when you’d need that out in LA. Around here I’d let down my guard.
I stepped onto the running board and looked out over the scene ahead. Buckets and shovels scattered over a stretch of mud. What the hell was going on?
“This is private property,” I shouted into the darkness. “You’ve got five seconds to tell me what you’re doing before I get Sherriff Sampson over here.”
Nothing but silence.
I started to count. “Five. Four.”
“Hey, no need for that, neighbor.” Lou, one of the regulars at the café, stepped out from behind the truck.
“What are you doing here? You’ve got my mom scared half to death.” Seeing a familiar face sent my pulse down a notch, but I was still worked up over getting interrupted in the middle of the night.
He shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry, Dustin. It’s the mud. My wife heard that new waitress down at the café spouting off about this healing mud she’d found.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Yeah, she said it fixed up her son’s head. Even worked on an animal.” He leaned on the handle of his shovel. “You know we’ve got that cow who’s about to split in two. I tried some on that heifer and it works better than bag balm. The missus sent me over for more.”
“Wait.” I put my hand to my forehead. Maybe I’d hit my head or mom’s dizzy spells were wearing off on me. “You’re stealing mud?”
“It’s supposed to help with wrinkles, too.” Another man stepped out from behind the other side of the truck. “When Lou said he used it on his cow, I figured I’d pick some up for my wife. She’s been bitchin’ about wanting some of that pricey wrinkle cream. Why spring for that when we’ve got miracle mud, right here in Swallow Springs?”
“Where did y’all hear about this again?”
“That new gal, Harmony.” Lou leaned on his shovel. “She said something about it at the café. You want us to pay you for it?”
“No.” I waved a hand at the two men. “Take what you want, just be quiet about it, okay?”
“Sorry, we didn’t mean to cause a fuss.”
“Why didn’t you just ask? Why sneak over here in the middle of the night?” Mom would have gladly let them take what they wanted. Why’d they have to ruin my night?
“I don’t know. I guess I figured if it’s a miracle mud like that gal said, you might be charging a pretty penny for it.” Lou lifted his shovel. “We’ll be done here in a bit.”
I shook my head. Wait until Mom heard about this. I left the men to their mud harvesting and drove the rest of the way to the house. Mom met me on the porch. I felt a little bit like a kid who’d gotten caught sneaking out.
“What’s going on?” She clutched her hands to her heart. “All I could hear was clanging and laughing. Like someone was having a heyday down the drive. I figured it was some drunk teenagers celebrating the last day of school.”
I followed her into the kitchen where she already had a pot of coffee going. “Worse than that.”
“What?”
“It’s Lou and one of his buddies.”
“Good heavens, what are they doing out at this hour? And causing such a ruckus?”
“They’re stealing your mud.” I grabbed onto the back of a chair. It still hadn’t quite sunk in. How did I go from holding Harmony in my arms to talking about miracle mud at three o’clock in the morning with my mom?
“Whatever for?” She snagged two mugs from the cupboard and poured us both a cup of coffee.
I hadn’t planned on getting such an early start to my day, but it looked like I wasn’t going to have much of a choice. Wrapping my hands around the mug she offered, I leaned against the counter. “Evidently Harmony mentioned we have some sort of miracle mud on our property. Said it cured Liam’s cut and even helped with that crazy emu.”
“Mud?”
“Yep, just plain mud.” I didn’t get it. “You going to go back to bed?”
“Oh, I don’t think I can. All of this excitement, I don’t think I’ll be able to fall back asleep now. How about you? You can go catch a few winks before you drive me into town.”
“That’s okay. I need to get the truck packed up anyway. Today we start work on the studio space.” That’s what I should have been doing last night. But the need to see Harmony had pushed every other priority out of the way. Since when had I become so hung up on a woman that I couldn’t get her out of my mind?
“All right. I’m going to work on my cross-stitch for a bit before I get ready for work.”
I kissed my mom on the cheek then transferred my coffee to a giant travel mug. With more than packing the truck on my mind, I headed for the garage.
An hour later I’d put together some sort of demo kit. Today we’d tear out the existing cabinets and bust through a non-load-bearing wall. There were also a few larger pieces of furniture we’d need to get out of the space. On my way out of the garage I snagged the small handsaw off the shelf. No telling if we’d need to take stuff out in pieces or not.
With another hour before I could even think about leaving to get Mom to work, I decided to hit the shower. Part of me didn’t want to wash away the scent Harmony had left on my skin, but I needed something to wake me up. Seemed like I’d been walking around in a stupor since I’d found Lou and his friend digging in our front yard.
As I grabbed some work clothes out of the trailer to head in for a shower, I checked my phone. Damn. Two missed calls and three texts from Harmony, wondering if I was okay. I’d completely forgotten to let her know how things turned out. The last one had come through twenty minutes ago. I picked up the phone and called he
r back.
“Is everyone okay?” Her voice came out a little breathless.
“Yeah, it’s fine. Turns out it was just Lou and some other guy trying to steal some of your miracle mud from the end of the driveway.”
“What?”
I pictured her, woo-woo nightshirt back in place, worry causing her brow to wrinkle and making lines across that gorgeous face. “Yeah. I guess they heard you talking about it at the café.”
“Wow. I must have mentioned it. I swear, that mud must have been what healed Liam’s head so fast. And I slathered some on Magoo, too.”
“Who’s Magoo?” The idea of Harmony slathering anything on anyone besides me wasn’t so appealing, especially after the night we’d shared.
“The bird. We’re calling him Magoo since he can’t see anything.”
I let out a half-laugh. “That’s a good one.”
“You could have called. I’ve been worried about you. The way you left…I didn’t know what was going on.” An edge of hurt sliced through her words.
“I’m sorry. I got back and had to fill in my mom. Then she made coffee—”
“Your mom thinks coffee can heal just about anything, doesn’t she?”
“Usually, in her world, I guess it does. Have a fight? Make up over a pot of coffee. Get bad news? Discuss it over a cup of coffee.” If only life were that easy all the time. Fuck up on national television? Drink a gallon of coffee.
Harmony sighed. “Maybe I need to start actually drinking coffee.”
“Maybe you should figure out how to make it first.”
“What? I must still be dreaming because I know you didn’t just insult my coffee-making abilities.”
I smirked as I pictured her all worked up, that shirt bunched up around her hips. “Will I see you later on this morning?”
“Yes. Liam is supposed to be meeting you at the studio at eight. I’ll be at work before that, but maybe if you’re nice to me, I’ll bring over some lunch.”
“I was pretty nice to you last night.” Just thinking about tasting her again had me on the verge of a hard-on.
“Yes, you were. See? Even you can be sweet from time to time.”
“I’ll see you later then.”
“Sounds good. Oh, hey, will you do me a favor?”
“Sure.” At that moment, I probably would have done just about anything for Harmony Rogers.
“Bring me some of that miracle mud?”
Except that.
29
Harmony
I stood in the café, watching Liam, Rodney, and Dustin unload the back of the truck. I hoped my son was up for the full day of work he had ahead of him. I’d already been on the job for a couple of hours and that was after making the rounds and feeding all of the animals. We were going to have to figure out what to do with a few of the critters Dustin had saddled me with. Running a full-time animal rehabilitation clinic wasn’t in the cards for me.
Although, as I faced down the giant commercial coffee pot, maybe I’d be better at that than I was at waiting tables. Cassie came by, a full tray of breakfast platters in her hand. “Watch your back.”
I stepped out of the way. Too tired to mess with the monstrosity, I pretended like I didn’t notice it was out and made my way to the back to prep a fresh pot of instant. As I stepped to the sink with the carafe of hot water, Ryder caught my eye.
“You can’t keep doing that, Harmony. Someone’s going to find out sooner or later. They’re already talking about how the coffee tastes different when you’re around.”
“You keep your mouth shut if you want me to mix up those scented bath bombs for your girlfriend’s birthday.” I measured out several tablespoons of instant coffee and stirred them into the carafe. “Hopefully my coffee pouring days are limited now. I’ve given up on trying to master that monster of a machine.”
He laughed as he flipped a trio of flapjacks on the griddle. “I’m sure Cassie would go over it with you again.”
“Shh.” I tucked the instant coffee crystals back in my cubby. “No one will be the wiser, and I’ll make it through my shift without scalding myself. Win-win.”
“If you say so.” He went back to cracking eggs into a bowl to mix up another one of his omelets. My secret would be safe with Ryder. He was head over heels for his latest girlfriend and wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize the bath bombs I’d promised.
“More coffee?” I made my way down the counter, filling mugs as I went. As I reached the end closest to the window, I peered out at Dustin. He had on a regular T-shirt and faded blue jeans. Nothing special. A Swallow Springs baseball cap sat backward on his head. Even from this distance I could tell he hadn’t bothered to shave yet. My thighs rubbed together as I recalled the feel of those whiskers between my legs.
“Why don’t you go see how they’re doing?” Cassie gave me a gentle hip bump as she stepped beside me. “I can cover you for a few minutes.”
“I don’t want to get in the way.” I turned, making my way to the coffee machine where I nonchalantly slid the carafe into place, like that’s where it belonged. The truth was, I didn’t want to get in the way, but I also didn’t want to distract myself by spending more time with Dustin. Even knowing he’d be across the street all day was enough to put me on edge. I needed the perspective of some distance, even if it was only about fifty yards.
“Okay, then. Suit yourself.” Cassie pushed past me to enter the kitchen.
The rest of the morning passed so slowly that I could have sworn time was standing still. Frank stopped in. Based on a few comments he made, it sounded like he might have a little thing going for Dustin’s mom. I promised I wouldn’t say anything, although senior love was just about as cute as young love in my opinion. He blushed when I asked about Mrs. Jarrett, and mentioned that he’d been invited over for dinner the following Tuesday. For a moment I wondered if Dustin would be cooking again and if so, what he might make. Then I brushed that thought away and refocused on putting something together that Dustin and the boys could have for lunch.
By the time I took the box lunches across the street, I could barely suppress the tingly feeling that had plagued me all morning. I walked up the stairs, ready to be surprised by the amount of progress, only to find nothing much had happened. Liam and Rodney sat on two crates, tossing an orange back and forth between them.
“Hey, Mom.” Liam glanced up as I entered the space.
“Where’s Dustin?” I asked.
Rodney’s chin jutted to the back. “He’s talking to somebody back there.”
I set the lunches down on the counter and followed the sound of Dustin’s voice. Laced with frustration, he was arguing with someone about construction.
“So how long until we can get that taken care of?” he asked.
“I’ll have to check. Could be a couple of weeks. Or if we have to wait on a crew to come in from out of town, might take a couple of months.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
I caught a glimpse of Dustin’s backside as I rounded the corner. His arms crossed over his chest and his shoulders set tense and rigid.
“Hey, what’s going on?” At the sound of my voice, both men looked over.
“Oh, Harmony, you’re here.” Dustin gestured to a man holding a clipboard. He had on a helmet and protective goggles. A mask hung around his neck. “This is Sam from the City Inspector’s Office. Looks like we’ve hit a snag.”
“Already? You just started this morning.”
“Asbestos.” Sam checked something off on his clipboard. “Until we get it taken care of, we’re going to have to close up the building.”
“But—” I struggled to understand what that would mean for my potential business.
“But nothing.” Dustin moved my direction, spreading his arms wide as he came closer. “First wall we hit we came across some old asbestos insulation. They’ll have to bring in someone to remove it before we can do anything else.”
My vision went fuzzy at the edges, and I reached out
for something to grab onto to steady myself. All I could feel was Dustin latching onto my arm.
“You okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine.” I waved him off. “You’re saying we’re pretty much stuck now? Nobody can do anything until this asbestos is taken out, right?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.” Sam gave me an apologetic grin then glanced at Dustin. “Why is it the concept is so easily grasped by Ms. Rogers here and you’re having such a difficult time understanding?”
Dustin shook his head, gesturing widely with his hands. “I’m not having a hard time understanding, I’m having a hard time accepting the fact that you can’t tell me when we’ll be able to move forward. I’m only going to be around for a few more weeks. We need to get this project going so we can wrap it up.”
“I understand your concern. We’ll do what we can to try to move things along as quickly as possible.” He scribbled something else across the clipboard then looked back and forth from me to Dustin. “I’ll be in touch. Until then, I suggest you remove what you need from the space. I’ll have a crew come by to seal it up later on this afternoon.”
My hopes, my dreams, my escape from the Lovebird Café…it all came to a grinding halt in that moment. Dustin waited until we could hear Sam clambering down the steps before he met my gaze.
“Harmony…”
“It’s done, isn’t it?” With my heart free falling into my shoes, I moved back to the front room. “So much for keeping you boys away from the pig pen.”
“What?” Liam caught the orange Rodney tossed at him then stood. “What’s going on?”
“Asbestos.” Dustin came up behind me. I could feel him there, even though he kept his distance. “Inspector is sealing this place off until they can get a crew in here for asbestos removal.”
“Aw, shit.” Rodney whacked his hat on his knee.
“Hey,” Dustin said. “We’ll figure something out. I promise I’ll keep y’all away from the pigs.”
