by Brenda Novak
“None of them concern me like the man who’s currently living under your roof.”
“I’ve told you not to worry about Levi.”
“It’s my job to worry. And he’s giving me plenty of reason.”
Slowing, she pulled to the side of the road. She didn’t want the stress of driving on top of having this conversation. “How?”
“He threatened Denny Seamans and Powell Barney.”
She wasn’t surprised. Not really. Levi wasn’t the type to sit by and allow Denny to behave the way he did without reacting. “Who told you that?”
“Denny just filed a complaint.”
“Are you going to arrest him?” she asked with a laugh that said doing so would be preposterous.
This seemed to take Stacy off guard. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because it’s his word against Levi’s!”
“Powell’s backing him up. Said he was there and heard the whole conversation.”
“But Powell would say anything Denny wants. And Denny’s a known liar.”
The volume of Stacy’s voice went up. “I think Levi’s been doing his share of lying, too, Callie. You heard what I told him at your place. My background search turned up zilch on a Levi McCloud from Seattle. No parking tickets, no speeding tickets, no military service, nothing.”
“So? There could be a mistake.”
“There’s no mistake. He’s not being straight with us. I’m convinced of it.”
She nibbled at her bottom lip while watching the other cars on the road. “Post-traumatic stress disorder affects a lot of our soldiers, makes them do things that might seem crazy to us.”
“Using a false name isn’t crazy. It’s a willful deception, an attempt to hide his past.”
“Maybe it’s nothing like what you’re thinking.”
“What else could it be?”
She’d already created an alternate scenario. She’d needed some way to justify continuing to associate with him. “I know he has an abusive father. Maybe he wanted to leave his past behind to prevent his father from ever contacting him.”
“Is that what he told you?”
“No. But it’s plausible.”
“If that was it, he would’ve said.”
Not necessarily. Levi wasn’t at all forthcoming. What she’d learned about him had come out in bits and pieces. “Everyone’s different. I think you’re missing the bigger point here.”
“Which is...”
Her friend Riley passed by with his son, Jacob. Under normal circumstances, she would’ve flagged him down so she could ask him whether or not he knew for sure when Phoenix would be getting out of prison. Callie realized that day would be difficult for him. It would be difficult for Phoenix, too. How would she ever make the transition to regular life, especially since she’d be returning to a community so united against her?
But Callie didn’t honk or wave. Instead, she hunkered down in her seat and hoped he wouldn’t notice her. Lately, she hadn’t been good about returning his calls, either, couldn’t cope with any more accusations of neglect and questions about what was wrong with her.
Fortunately, her car was a popular make and model, and there were enough tourists streaming through town. He drove by without even slowing.
“Denny lied about the night of the attack,” she said into the phone. “We know that for sure. We also know he blames me for the loss of his dog and that he’s been making noises about doing something to punish me for it. That leads me to believe he’s got to be the one who set fire to the barn. There isn’t anyone else who has it in for me. So...how does a liar and a possible arsonist have enough credibility to convince you that you need to arrest Levi?”
There was a long pause. “You won’t listen to me on this guy, will you?”
She didn’t respond to that directly. “Even if Levi did threaten Denny, you can’t blame him for wanting to defend himself.”
“Are you sleeping with him?”
This was the last question she’d expected from the chief of police. “Does that have anything to do with the barn-burning or anything else we were discussing?” she asked.
“It could explain your behavior, why you’re so blind when it comes to him.”
The air-conditioning was too cold. She adjusted the vents so they wouldn’t blow on her. “I think I’m seeing well enough, Chief. I know Levi has problems. But he’s a good person, someone who’s worth helping. I’ve already noticed how he’s begun to relax since he’s been here, that he isn’t walling everyone out anymore.”
She could’ve expounded on that statement, could’ve told him she didn’t know many people who would’ve taken care of a two-day acquaintance as well as he’d cared for her the night she was sick. He was also a man of his word, or he would’ve moved on the second his bike was fixed. Even with the barn burned, he was sticking around, trying to look out for her. He had a tender heart. What would he be like with consistent kindness and a stronger sense of safety and security? There was no telling. But she was afraid revealing all of that would only confirm what the police chief had already inferred—that she cared about him and, therefore, saw only the best.
“Callie, I’ve known you since we were kids,” Chief Stacy said. “Maybe I’ve got a few years on you, but we grew up together. I don’t want to see you hurt.”
She felt guilty for being so defensive. He was just trying to do his job, a job he was good at. “I appreciate the sentiment. Really, I do. But Denny is the only threat to me. If you really want to help, make sure he keeps his distance, okay?”
He spoke over the blare of a radio in the background. “I’ve got a cruiser going by your place every hour, starting at eight in the evening.”
Putting her X3 back in Drive, she waited for a break in the traffic streaming past her. “I’m grateful. Thank you.”
“I have to admit, though...”
“What?” she said when his words drifted off.
“I never expected you to fall for someone like Levi. A woman like you...you deserve more. A guy with a job, at least,” he added with a chuckle.
She had a chance to merge onto the highway, but the chief’s words—or rather, the telltale self-consciousness in his voice—shocked her so badly that she missed it. “I’m flattered,” she said. “I really am.”
“My divorce will be final soon.”
Where was he going with this? If it was what she thought, what any woman would think, she regretted saying she was flattered.
“Will you keep that in mind?” he asked before she could respond to the divorce statement.
Callie shoved her transmission back in Park. Was he serious? So what if he had a steady job? She’d never looked at him as a possible love interest. He seemed much older, had been married since she was in high school. But the divorce changed nothing on her part. She didn’t find him remotely attractive.
Since when had he decided he’d like to date her? Was it just because he’d recently become more aware of her, thanks to the dog attack and Levi?
Obviously, he assumed that if she’d be interested in a vagrant, he should have a much better chance.
Intending to let him down easy, she opened her mouth to say that she appreciated the kind of person he was. It was the beginning of her own version of the clichéd “I just want to be friends” speech. But then she realized she might not need to state her feelings one way or the other. If she didn’t get a liver soon, dating anyone would be a moot point.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she promised.
* * *
The first thing Callie saw when she arrived home was a worn leather jacket tossed over Levi’s bike, which was parked out front instead of in the back, as usual.
He’d been over to Denny’s, all right. He must’ve found his jacket there. She couldn’t see any blood on it, but the dirt ground into one sleeve suggested it’d been in a ditch or a field.
“Hello?” she called when she entered the house. “Anyone home?”
A tantalizin
g aroma drifted out of the kitchen.
“Hey!” Levi answered as Rifle trotted into the living room to greet her. “It’s about time you got here. Dinner’s almost ready.”
“Smells great.”
“You hungry?”
“Famished.” She’d skipped lunch for fear it would make her nauseous. She was afraid of eating, but her hunger prevented her from avoiding it now.
“Come on, then.”
“Be right there.” First she wanted to hide the advanced directive she’d printed off the internet when she stopped by the studio after Baxter’s. Since Tina had finished getting the slide shows of her recent shoots ready for the clients who were coming in tomorrow, Callie’d had the place to herself. Her doctor had advised her to fill out a directive several weeks ago, but she hadn’t been able to make herself face the decisions involved. What did she want her parents to do if she ended up on life support? At what point should they pull the plug? What other decisions would she want them to make if she could no longer decide for herself?
At thirty-two it seemed macabre to even consider those questions. The panic she felt at the thought of losing control over such basic things, even to people she trusted as much as her parents, nearly made her break into a cold sweat. But she figured she should be clear about her wishes while she had the chance, otherwise, she’d leave herself vulnerable to having no one in control.
“Can I pour you a glass of wine?” he called.
“No, thanks.” She dropped her purse on her bed, slipped the directive into her top drawer and hurried to the kitchen to see that he’d grilled salmon, steamed asparagus and prepared wild rice. “Wow, fancy.”
“Healthy. That’s how you eat, right?”
She wondered if he’d added any salt. Because of her liver problems, she had to be careful not to build up ascites, or excess abdominal fluids. She didn’t want to have to get a shunt to drain her abdominal cavity. She’d been warned about the danger. The excess fluid invited infection, which made it doubly bad. “You didn’t use much salt, did you?”
“No. Why?”
“I avoid it as much as possible.” She could rinse her asparagus and scrape off the fish....
“I went easy,” he assured her.
“Great. Thanks.”
He carried two plates to the table. “Anything exciting happen today?”
She smiled at how domestic it felt to have him cooking in her kitchen and serving her dinner. “Not really. I hear yours was eventful, though.”
“Who told you?”
“I got a call from Chief Stacy on my way home.”
A muscle flexed in his cheek. “Those bastards reported me?”
She nearly smiled again even though that wasn’t the appropriate response. She was just happy to see him. Somehow he helped her forget what she’d dealt with today. “You didn’t expect them to?”
“Actually, I did,” he admitted. “But what I said had to be said.” He shrugged as he got them both some utensils. “What’s Stacy going to do?”
“At this point, I don’t think he’s going to do anything.”
“Then why’d he call?”
She sipped the water he had waiting on the table. “To tell me that I shouldn’t be hanging out with you.”
He hesitated before taking his seat. “He still believes I’m dangerous?”
“He’s still concerned about your murky past.”
“Of course.”
“And...there might be a little more to it.”
His eyebrows arched in question.
“He hinted that he’d like to date me.”
That same muscle moved in his cheek. “He’s got to be over forty. There’s probably a fifteen-year age difference.”
“From me it’s only ten,” she pointed out.
“A decade’s significant.”
“It wouldn’t be if I was interested in him.”
He sat down across from her. “So what’d you tell him?”
“Nothing yet. He’s letting me ponder the fact that he has a good job.”
“Ah. One with a pension and everything. Tempting, huh?”
“Not really. A pension’s not what I need right now.”
He held his fork loosely in one hand. “What do you need?”
To get well, she thought, but smiled to camouflage the gravity of her reality. “A tasty dinner.”
* * *
After washing up, they decided to watch a movie. They were both exhausted. But Levi couldn’t relax when he sat on one end of the couch and, instead of sitting on the other end, Callie chose a chair off to the side. He might not have cared, except the decision seemed so premeditated. He knew she couldn’t see the TV as well over there. She’d selected her seat with other considerations in mind, and he was fairly certain he could guess what those considerations were. No matter where he walked or sat or stood, she put distance between them.
“Still holding a grudge?” he asked.
She was combing her fingers through Rifle’s fur while waiting for the movie to start. “What do you mean?”
He thought about trying to get past the encounter that obviously loomed so large in her mind, but decided against it. Today, when he’d taken out the trash, he’d found a bunch of unopened condoms Callie must’ve thrown away. Judging from that, she’d accepted his limits. He should be glad. That was what he’d intended, right?
Of course. So why couldn’t he stop picturing her in that sexy lace-up number she’d bought from Victoria’s Secret? And why had he rescued those condoms and shoved them under one of the couch cushions?
He certainly wasn’t hoping to use them with anyone else.
“I met your father today,” he said.
She’d just leaned back, but at this she sat up straight. “He came by?”
“For a minute.”
“What’d he want?”
“To take a look at the barn.”
She grimaced. “Did it upset him?”
“Not too badly. I got the impression he doesn’t let anything get under his skin.”
“No,” she said with a wistful smile.
Levi studied her. “I liked him.”
Her smile broadened. “Everyone does.”
The movie started so they grew silent, but Levi couldn’t get drawn into what was happening on the screen. He was too aware of Callie trying to make herself comfortable in that straight-back chair. She’d pull her knees in and lean to one side. Then she’d drop her feet to the floor and shift to the other.
“Why don’t you come over here, where you can lie down?” he asked.
She acted surprised that he even mentioned it. “Why? I’m fine.”
“If I go over there, will you come over here?”
“That’s not it,” she said.
He stared at her disbelievingly. “Prove it.”
“Sure. No problem.” She got up, stepped around Rifle, who was on the floor, and walked to the couch, but she sat as far away from him as possible.
“That’s not so bad, is it?” he asked.
“Of course not,” she replied as if she hadn’t been avoiding him in the first place. It wasn’t until she started to fall asleep that she allowed him to lift her feet onto his lap.
19
The second Callie felt Levi’s hands on her she was tempted to withdraw. She knew letting him touch her, even in a nonsexual way, would only make her crave more contact. But the swirling motion of his thumbs felt so good on the arches of her feet. She’d had very few foot massages in her life, had no idea they could be so enjoyable—or so erotic.
Her breathing grew shallow as she fought against the deluge of awareness washing over her. She tried telling herself that this little television interlude and foot rub should affect her no more than a date with...with Chief Stacy! She couldn’t be with either man.
But some people were easier to refuse than others....
When his hands began to travel up her legs, to knead her calf muscles, she opened her eyes and watched him from bene
ath her lashes until she was sure she’d caught his attention.
“I can feel that,” she said.
His hands continued their soothing work. “I was hoping you could.”
Forcing herself to remove her feet from his lap, she sat up. “It’s late. We should get some sleep.”
Nothing. No response from him.
“See you in the morning.”
He reached for her when she got up, but let her slip from his grasp when she seemed intent on it.
“Good night,” she said.
* * *
Cheyenne Amos tapped her fingers on the table as she waited for her phone to ring.
“Aren’t you coming to bed?”
At the sound of her husband’s voice, which she heard over the TV he was watching, she walked to the doorway of her bedroom to see that he had Lucky, her three-legged dog, as well as his two dogs with him. He’d stacked some pillows behind his back and was wielding the remote. He slept in his underwear, so his chest was bare. She found that an appealing sight. He was eager enough to have her join him that the rest of him might be bare, too....
The possibility made the temptation to crawl in with him that much stronger. She loved nothing more than making love with Dylan, curling up and falling asleep together, then waking up and sharing another day with him. But she couldn’t succumb to the promise of what he offered just yet.
“There you are. What are you doing?” he asked when he saw her standing in the doorway.
She was just watching him, thinking about how happy she’d been since she’d met him, but she told him that often enough. “I’m expecting a call from Eve, Riley, Baxter and Noah. We’re getting Kyle on the phone, too. We’re worried about Callie. She’s been acting strange for a long time and we need to get to the bottom of it.”
“If anyone knows what’s going on, it’s Kyle.”
“Exactly.”
He was watching an MMA fight he’d recorded on their DVR. He’d once supported his younger brothers by getting in the ring and he still had a lot of interest in the sport. He usually watched the matches with his brothers. But since he’d bought her a two-bedroom home in town, complete with a white picket fence he’d built himself, he didn’t see his brothers after work quite as often as when they’d all been living down in the river bottoms.
