by Freya Barker
After a frustrating conversation with the sheriff’s office where I was told we could come in on Monday to file a report, I find myself thinking about who might be behind this.
I left Arlene fuming in her office and now I’m puttering in the kitchen, coming to the realization that it may be time for me to talk to someone. Maybe Gus. If by any chance the person I’m most concerned about is behind this, then it will only get worse. I need some answers and Gus has the means to find them for me. This is exactly why I placed myself here almost a year ago to look out for Arlene, make sure no harm comes to her but now I can’t help but wonder if I should’ve come clean a long time ago. This is going to blow up in my face, I just know it.
CHAPTER SIX
I’m awake but I don’t want to open my eyes yet. I can feel the bright fall sun on my face so I just lie here, soaking it up.
I had been furious last night when Seb unilaterally decided we had to report the calls but I realized that most of that was knee-jerk reaction. To be honest, it felt nice to have a decision made for me by someone who wants to help at least with a decision like that. I’m just determined to stand on my own, although a bossy Seb can be very sexy.
A smile steals over my face thinking about the different side of him I’ve seen in the last week. From a fairly quiet and unassuming employee to someone who pushes every damn button I have, bad and good, and the good is so very good.
I can smell the coffee before I hear his voice.
“Smiling? You must still be asleep.”
I open my eyes to find Seb with a mug of coffee beside my bed and my body reacts to all the possibilities that represents.
“Stop being a smartass so early in the morning.” I grumble at him, wiping the sleep from my eyes and groping for my cup, half-blinded by the morning light. I squint up at him to see he has already showered and dressed.
“Up early?”
“The bed in your guestroom sucks.”
“You’re the one who insisted on not leaving me alone for the night, so suck it up.” I tease him.
“As long as you know I’ll be testing a different bed next time I’m here.”
“Oh yeah? Says who?”
Grabbing the cup from my hand and putting it on my nightstand, he sits on the bed beside me and forces me back into the pillows. I try to push myself up but the bastard grabs my hands and holds them over my head, leaning his elbows beside my head. His clean smell surrounds me and I can’t help but stick my nose in his neck to sniff, making him chuckle. He then proceeds to give me a hell of a good-morning kiss that ensures that absolutely every part of my body is fully awake.
“I say, and get your ass out of bed before I decide to keep you here indefinitely. We have a diner to open.”
He trails a finger down my nose and lets his eyes roam over my face. "I love these, you know."
"What?" I whisper, lost in the deep blue of his eyes.
"Your freckles… spots that make you unique." And with one last peck on my lips, he disappears from the room.
When I get downstairs about twenty minutes later, showered and dressed, he has French toast waiting for me. I should be irritated by how comfortable he makes himself in my kitchen but I’m not. Thinking back, he spent enough time here baby-sitting me immediately following my injury so I shouldn’t be surprised or bothered.
“Eat up. I’ll feed you properly at the diner.”
“This is plenty. In fact, more than my usual.”
“I know, I’m fattening you up.”
I almost choke on the piece of toast I just put in my mouth.
“You what?”
“You’ve lost a lot of weight so I’m making sure you put it back on.” He says with a shrug of his shoulders as if it’s the most normal thing in the world.
“Okay, hold on for a minute.” I’m trying hard not to overreact to that statement because, well, there is the rare occasion I might do that. “I work hard to lose weight, it never just happens. Once I finally start losing some on my own, you want to me to put it back on? That makes no sense at all.”
He turns to me as calmly says, “You were always fine. I always liked what I saw, always wanted my hands on it. Don’t want you to lose all that softness. It feels good against me.”
Oh good Lord. For lack of any sensible thing to say, I cut another piece off my French toast and stuff it in my mouth. When I look up and meet Seb’s eyes, they twinkle. Cocky bastard.
Sundays at the diner are always a family affair. People we don’t see all week long come in for a breakfast or lunch, and usually with the entire household. The parking lot is overflowing and between Beth, Julie and I, we are scrambling to keep up with the tables. Seb usually has one of us giving him a hand in the kitchen when need be, but mostly we try to stay out of his way. With both grills on and an oversized electrical skillet for pancakes on the counter, he’s able to manage feeding half the town. Every now and then when one of us appear in his line of vision, he’ll holler for more eggs or potatoes and we’ll grab it for him so he can keep his eyes on the food. Good thing we close after lunch on Sundays because all of us are worn to the bone from the long week by then.
I’m just cashing out some customers when I hear my name yelled out from the kitchen. Quickly finishing up at the register, I wash my hands and I’m wiping them on my apron when I walk into the kitchen.
“What can I get you?” I ask Seb, watching him turn from the grill and give me a long lingering scan up and down my body, sending prickles of awareness everywhere.
“Can you see if we have any more Swiss cheese in the cold storage? Those Swiss and mushroom burgers are flying out of here today.”
“It’s because you put it on the special with the red roasted pepper soup. You know when the weather gets colder everyone goes after your soups, whatever they come with,” I remind him. “I’ll go check.”
We have a freezer the size of a decent broom closet, but next to it is the cold storage. This room is like a walk-in closet, with shelves on both sides and the far end. It’s kept at a cool temperature, between 35 and 38 degrees Fahrenheit and I love going in there on busy days like this. It’s quiet and refreshing when you’ve been out in the constant chaos and on your feet all day.
When I pull open the door and kick the wedge in place so the door doesn’t close on me, I stop and let the cold envelop me, just for a minute. All of a sudden, I’m shoved in causing me to stumble further inside. I swing around to see Seb standing with his arms resting on the shelves, blocking the exit with the tiniest of tilts to his mouth.
“What are you doing?”
“This.” He says as he leans forward and teases my mouth with his lips, testing me for a response. When I relax into his body he releases one hand to grab me by the back of my head and the mood of the kiss changes instantly from easy to voraciously hungry. A groan escapes him as he takes long sweeps with his tongue and I can feel heat collecting just under my skin. Not even the frigid temperature of the space can cool me down − from cold to blistering hot in an instant. I forget everything; food, diner, and customers. All I know is the mouth that’s possessing mine, the hand twisting in my short hair and the racing heartbeat in the hard chest I press myself up against.
When Beth’s voice filters in through the crack in the door looking for Seb, he pulls back slowly, tucks my head in his neck and kisses my hair.
“I’d better get out there before I set the kitchen on fire.”
“You almost did that in here.” I point out, making him smile. Damn. He is beautiful when he smiles but it’s rare, and when he does, it makes my heart stutter a little.
“Good to know. Thanks, I needed that.” Then he disappears back into the kitchen.
“What was that all about?”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about. What was what all about?”
Beth had her hawk-eyes on me the moment I was back behind the counter. I managed to avoid her by keeping busy, but that wasn’t working so well anymore with the crowds thinning
out.
"I'm not blind, Arlene. I know you and Seb were both in the cool storage room. Not only that, don't think I haven't noticed how you two have been circling each other over the last half year. I may not be the sharpest knife in the block, but I can still see just fine." Hands perched on her hips, she stares me down, waiting for and answer.
"Fine. We've had some… run-ins, but it's nothing."
"Uh huh. Nothing? I’m calling bullshit, sister. I've never seen you blush but I gotta say, red's a pretty color on ya." Beth turns her back and makes her way to clear off her section, cackling like an old hen. She passes by Emma and Gus who just walk in the door, giving her an odd look. Sidling up to the counter, Emma immediately turns her attention to me.
"So what is Beth all on about?"
"Oh nothing. She's being a pain in my ass." But that doesn't deter Emma. With a tilt of her head and her eyes squinted to slits, she silently observes me.
"If it's nothing then how come you look like you’re overheating when it is almost below freezing outside? You're beet red, woman."
"Geeze Ems. It's been busy, okay? We've been busy running around is all." A loud snort from behind me tells me Beth has returned to overhear my excuse and she feels it necessary to blow my excuse out of the water.
"Right, but only two here have been busy enough to make steam come out of the cold storage, and I can tell you that Julie and I were nowhere near it." I whip around to pin her with my death glare only to watch her walk off throwing me a big smirk over her shoulder.
"I’m still your boss, Beth." I bite off, knowing it's already too late to put the cat back in the bag.
"Oh. I’m intrigued." Emma coos. "Pray tell, Arlene. We're dying here."
"Shut up." Is the best I can do, especially after seeing the self-satisfied smirks on both Emma and Gus' faces. Just then I feel an arm snake around my waist from behind and a familiar dark voice speaks so close to my ear I can feel the breath from his lips. Damn the man.
"You in for lunch?" Seb wants to know.
Frozen in place, I notice the lack of surprise when Gus answers. Probably means Seb has been standing behind me for a bit. Lovely.
"Yes." Gus says. "Just a quick one before I take Emma into Cortez for some shopping."
Eager to change the subject, I jump on that. "Shopping? What are you shopping for, Ems?"
"Christmas decorations. I left most of mine behind in Boston when I moved out here and I want to set up the tree tomorrow night when we get back from our tree-cutting expedition. You guys still coming?"
Shit. I totally forgot. I never even mentioned it to Seb.
"Yeah, sure."
Without hesitation, Seb adds from behind me, as if he had known all along. "What time are we leaving?"
"Why don't you guys come over for breakfast to our place for a change at about nine and we'll take it from there?" Emma waves Beth and Julie over as well. "You girls up to going tree-cutting tomorrow?"
Both of them are staring at Seb who still has his arm firmly around me and with his chin almost on my shoulder. Beth with a big grin on her smug face and Julie just looks surprised.
"I'm game." Beth turns to Julie. "I can come pick you and the little guy up if you want, Julie."
"Uh… no. Tomorrow isn’t a good day for me. I'm gonna have to pass." She says turning back to her tables.
Beth and I exchange a questioning look. I can leave it to Beth to figure out what that was about.
"Well now that we have that sorted, I'll get on your lunch. Gus, do you have a minute?" Seb squeezes my side and walks into the kitchen with Gus close behind.
The instant they’re out of sight, Emma turns to me. "Spill."
Beth laughs and says, "Busted," before turning to Emma. "Arlene and Seb were nowhere to be found, the door to the cold storage was open a crack and steam was coming out."
"Buzz off, old woman." I tell her, waving her off. Knowing when I'm beat, I tell Emma the entire story, minus one or two details I'd rather keep to myself, including the middle of the night appearance by Seb in my doorway which has her laughing out loud.
"Finally. Now don't mess it up," is the only response I get before Gus is back and helps Emma to their favorite booth.
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
CHAPTER SEVEN
It's 8:45 am when I pull up to Arlene's front door. Her house is an older, small two-story log home on the outskirts of town on a quiet street with five other houses. Her neighbors are a few retired folks that frequent the diner for meals, but other than that you don't often see them out and about. Of course I'm mostly stuck at the diner so I'm not out and about much myself, either.
A good frost settled in overnight and the morning sun is trying to burn off the white residue that remains visible on every surface. It's gonna be a cold trek in the mountains today. Good thing I dressed in layers, I'm looking forward to some outdoor time. It's been too long.
Yesterday afternoon, after we closed the diner for the day, Arlene had tried to find out what I had needed to discuss with Gus but that’s not something I intend to share with her for now. Knowing how pissed she can get when she feels someone is crowding in on her independence, and not quite prepared to share my personal knowledge with her yet, those confessions will have to wait for a better time. She was ticked enough that I had quite obviously staked a claim in front of everyone in the diner when I put my arm around her which almost had me laughing out loud when I felt her freeze under my touch, but now that I've snuck in, I'm not about to back away. I'm not gonna force myself on her, which is why I only followed her home last night to make sure her house was secure and she was locked in and safe. She didn't ask me to stay and I didn't push the issue, but if she thinks I've been scared off, she is in for a big surprise. She better get used to having me in her space. Besides, I first wanted to get a better handle on what we might be dealing with. Gus had seemed pretty disturbed when he heard about the phone calls and I told him a bit about her background. Emma had known a little and shared with him, but apparently not all. Arlene liked to play things close to her chest. Only thing I haven't told him yet is my connection with her ex. The middle of the kitchen at the diner with Arlene just steps away was not a good place for that. I'm thinking that conversation might end up being a bit of a challenge.
I'm hoping to catch Gus out in the open today, but as for Arlene, letting her know the full story is going to have to wait until I’m sure she’s getting herself some support. Right now it looks like I might be the only one who has a foot in the door and although I have a suspicion there’s a lot more that she isn't telling me, I don't want to risk losing that edge, especially if there’s no one else she can fall back on. Stubborn woman.
Just then she comes out the door and sees me waiting by my truck.
"What are you doing here?"
"Picking you up."
"Why? I was just gonna drive myself."
"No need. Hop in. We're both going to the same place."
With a dirty look and muttering under her breath she apparently decides it isn't worth arguing about. Big surprise.
The drive over to Emma's place is silent. I'm not a huge talker and prefer actions to words, but I guess Arlene is stewing inside her own head 'cause all I hear every now and then is huffing. Stubborn woman doesn't realize that attitude of hers only makes me want her more.
"Before you know it we'll have snow." Gus says as we’re trudging up a trail, looking for trees to cut. We followed a logging trail as deep as we could by car into the woods and set up a little base camp where we could build a contained fire. Beth and Arlene opted to hang out with Emma, whose mobility issues prevented her from going too far up any trails. They were gathering pine cones and cutting branches for decoration while Gus and I went off in search for trees.
"I hear up near Telluride already has some. They're predicting a stiff winter. Better get snow tires on the trucks."
"Trucks?" Gus wants to know.
"Mine and Arlene's."
&
nbsp; "So it's like that, huh?" I can feel him glaring at me.
"Yeah, it's like that." I say, deciding now's as good a time as ever. "Arlene doesn't know this yet, but with everything going on you should probably know that when I was in prison, I…"
"You were cellmates with her ex? Found that out last night, Seb. What the hell?" Gus stops in the middle of the trail and turns to me. "Had Neil pull up some background on that dick last night and I was about to pay you a visit when I found out that tidbit of information. Care to explain?"
Fuck me. Not how I wanted this to go down.
"Yes. He was my cellmate for a few months. Nasty piece of shit, that one. Always spouting off about an ex who got him in there and the revenge he was planning when he got out. Not something I deal with well, abusers. Reason I ended up in jail for assault in the first place. Had a neighbor with loose hands who thought it was okay to use his wife as punching bag. I snapped."
"Knew about that, too. Never bothered checking before, want you to know that. I have pretty good instincts and no flags ever went up around you, but when things went down two months ago, I had Neil pull your record. Standard procedure at that point given the circumstances."
"Hey, I get that."
"What it doesn't explain is why did you come here? Why not simply make Arlene aware, or the authorities for that matter? Why insert yourself into her life, and under false pretenses?"
Ah shit. I run my hands through my hair, stalling. These are answers I don't really have 'cause I'm damned if I even know why.
"Honestly? I don't know. Thought about it. He had this picture he kept waving around, and sure, she was attractive but that wasn't all. All the things he was so angry about; the fact that he thought he had her beaten down and yet she managed to turn on him from a hospital bed and land him in jail. The fact that she was strong enough to rebuild her life all by herself and make a go of it at a point in her life when things should've already been smooth sailing made me want to know her, and most of all that she did that not only after living with the hell he put her through, but also dealing with a chronic illness she never talks about. From what I can tell, very few people know about."
