The River Valley Series

by Tess Thompson

  “No worries.” He steadied her with his hands on her upper arms. “You all right?” He searched her face. “You were crying again.”

  “No, I was just looking for you and Alder. The cake’s ready.”

  “He already found it. Probably gobbled half the pan by now.” He continued to look at her.

  She didn’t say anything, taking in a deep breath. Do not cry in front of him. Be strong.

  “I have some good news that’ll cheer you up, I think. I called my buddy, the police detective. Turns out he and his new wife are leaving for their honeymoon tomorrow. Driving the coastal highway down to Carmel. They’re going to pop in and give us some advice.” He said all this in a way that was supposed to make her feel reassured about the Marco situation. If he only knew. It’s you I’m crying about. Just you.

  He continued with the same reassuring quality in his voice. “We’ll get him. You’ll be safe soon. He’ll show up here and when he does we’ll take care of it.”

  She nodded, pretending like his words made her feel better when all she could think of, all she could feel, were his warm hands on her bare skin.

  “Come inside.” His hands moved down the length of her arms, his eyes drifting to her mouth. “Maybe have a piece of cake?”

  “I already ate.”

  “A boiled egg is not breakfast.”

  How did he know what she’d eaten?

  “I saw the shells in the sink,” he said, as if answering her.

  “I’m not hungry.”

  His gaze shifted to her eyes. “Only a truly beautiful woman looks this good after crying.” With his thumb, he brushed her left cheekbone. “If I could, I would make it so you never cried again.”

  “It’s an impossible thing to do. For anyone.”

  “I know. It’s a cruel world.” He moved away from her, turning towards the door.

  Despite the warm morning, she shivered. “Drake, the married guy called Bella.”

  He stopped at the door, his back muscles tense under his T-shirt. “What did he want?”

  “She’s been here for three weeks, right?”

  “Give or take.”

  “It may have occurred to him she really meant it this time. And he’s feeling desperate.”

  She relayed the entire episode between Bella and Ben to him.

  He walked to the edge of the deck, stuffing his hands in his pockets and shaking his head. “I knew it was just a matter of time until the bastard called her.” And, almost as an afterthought, he said under his breath, “And poor Ben.”

  She followed him to the edge of the deck. “He left for Seattle. I don’t know if he knew what was happening exactly but it was pretty obvious that whoever called her was someone important. A threat.”

  “Dammit.” He sighed, looking towards the sky. “This is when I miss my mother most.”

  Chapter 21

  The next morning Annie dreamt of Drake. In the dream she was asleep on her bed, curled up with her hands under her cheeks. He climbed into bed with her, his mouth on her neck and his hands reaching under her blouse, pressing into her. Then he unfastened the button of her jeans, unzipping and reaching his hand between her legs, gently teasing her, his mouth still on her neck. Then, suddenly, he pulled her over and kissed her on the mouth, until she was breathless. He pulled back, making her wait for it, slowly undressing her, stopping to run his tongue along her bare skin, collarbone, breasts, stomach, as he took off her blouse, loosening buttons, unfastening her bra, then tugging off her jeans.

  And then she was awake. She rolled over, staring at the ceiling. It was torture, she thought, knowing he was down the hall and she was here, boiling with this unquenched desire.

  There came the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. Her heart pounding, feeling as if Drake were still there on her skin, she sat up, looking about the room. The light peeking under the shade was bright. She went to the window. There was a black Mercedes parked near Annie’s car. The doorbell rang. She waited, wondering if Drake and Alder were awake yet. It rang again. She grabbed her robe and headed down the hall to the front door.

  As she fastened the bathrobe tie around her waist, she looked through the peephole. Standing there, looking distorted through the tiny hole, was a man she didn’t recognize. The married guy? It had to be. She unfastened the lock and opened the door a crack, peering up at a thirty-something man wearing dark sunglasses. He had thick, dark blond hair, strategically highlighted, and wore leisure clothes you might find in the most expensive shops.

  He held out his hand. “I’m Graham Rouse.”

  Rouse? Rhymes with louse. Perfect.

  “How did you get through the gate?” she asked.

  He pushed his sunglasses onto his head. Brown eyes stared back at her. His mouth turned up in a smile, teeth glowing white like a harvest moon in October. “Bella gave me the code when I talked with her last night.” He backed away slightly from the door, his hands in the air. “No worries. I’m a friend of hers.”

  “I know who you are.” She opened the door farther, shaking his hand. He had a tight grip and dry palms. This was a confident man with no sense of embarrassment. “Is Bella expecting you?”

  His smile dimmed slightly. He dropped his hand to his side. “Yes. Where is she?”

  Annie pointed towards Bella’s room. “She stays out there. Usually takes a run first thing in the morning. Did she know when you were arriving?”

  “I told her it would be late afternoon today but I ended up driving farther last night than I thought I would. Stayed just two hours from here.”

  “You drove up from Los Angeles?”

  “Actually from my place in Pebble Beach.” He plucked his sunglasses from his head and twirled them by the handles in a circle. His nails were shiny. Manicured. Of course.

  “Come on in. I’ll call Bella on her cell phone and let her know you’re here.”

  “Great,” he said, following her inside.

  She brought him into the kitchen, knowing she’d have to use the phone in there since Drake had her cell phone.

  There was a note on the counter.

  Annie, My police detective buddy and his wife are dropping in later this afternoon. I’m out searching for decent scotch. Peter Ball likes the good stuff. Alder is with Bella on a hike.

  —Drake

  P.S. I hope you slept well.

  P.P.S. Eat something.

  Holding the note in her hands, resisting the urge to trace his handwriting with the tips of her fingers, she said to Graham, “Well, this answers where everyone is. Bella’s on a hike with my son.” She took two cups from the cupboard. “You want coffee?”

  “Would give my left arm for it.” He smiled with his moon teeth again, setting his sunglasses on the counter.

  “Cream?”

  “God no. Dairy’s the devil. Don’t touch the stuff. Or gluten for that matter. Changed my life.”

  This guy was a first class ninny. Should she bother to tell him she was a chef, dedicated to making delectable food with both dairy and gluten? No, not worth it. Just give him the coffee. No reason to bother to get to know him or engage him in conversation. But she wanted him gone. Why did he have to come now and ruin everything? Now that he was here all the old feelings would come flooding back to Bella. She had not had enough time to get over this gluten-free, manicured slickster.

  Annie pushed a cup of coffee towards him and then reached for the phone. Bella picked up on the fourth ring.

  “You have a visitor,” said Annie, her eyes on Graham. He was making a circle with his index finger on the counter, taking sips of coffee and looking around the room. She could see him calculating what a house like this must cost. What was cute, feisty Bella doing with this guy?

  “He’s here? At the house?” Bella sounded breathless and, knowing what kind of shape Bella was in, Annie knew it wasn’t because of the hike.

  “Yep.” Apparently he drove all night to see you, all the way from the bed of his wife.

  “I told h
im to call me from town. Drake will freak if he knows he’s here.”

  “Well, he’s here now.”

  “Crap. Okay, tell him I’ll be right there. We’re about ten minutes away.”

  “Can you tell Alder to stay outside when you get back?”

  “Yeah. Sure.”

  She hung up, delivering the message to their unwanted guest. Sipping her coffee, she wondered what to do with the man until Bella showed up. She should offer him breakfast. That’s what she did, after all. Cook for people. But somehow the thought of feeding this gluten- and dairy-free, moon-toothed, married man stifled all her natural urges towards hospitality.

  “Bella’s brother here?” he asked her, startling her from her thoughts.

  “He’s out.”

  “I’d like to meet him. Bella talks about him constantly.”

  “They’re tight. He looks after her.” Because you’re certainly not going to do it.

  “If you say so.”

  She flinched. Was he as rude as he sounded? “I do say so.”

  “He busts on her a little too much for my taste.”

  She felt a prickle under her armpits. Brushing hair from her eyes, she stared at him in a way she hoped was intimidating. “That’s his job.”

  “How’s that now?”

  “He’s her big brother. And she needs someone to look after her.”

  “I disagree. She’s a big girl. Perfectly capable of deciding things for herself. He doesn’t give her enough credit.”

  She felt the sudden urge to punch him. How had he turned her towards violence in a matter of five minutes? “You have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.”

  He continued, completely oblivious, it seemed, to her anger. “She’s killer at her job. All the stars request her, but really, does she want to be a make-up artist the rest of her life?”

  “What’s wrong with that?”

  “Come on. Applying make-up to actresses? That’s not a job for a grownup. Been telling her for years to start her own make-up line. But she’s timid. No self-confidence.” He lowered his voice, as if Bella were near. “Self-esteem issues. Stems from childhood. Abandonment issues from her father leaving and then her mother dying when she was a teenager, matched with a controlling, super successful brother. Doesn’t take Freud to figure that one out.”

  Annie stared at him with her mouth open. “Bella isn’t timid. She’s sassy and mouthy and bold. And gorgeous. And badass.” Had she just used the word badass in a sentence? She paused. Graham was watching her as if she were amusing. “And let me tell you something else, Drake’s not controlling. He just worries about her. He’s all she has and vice versa in a world trying to bring us all to our knees every damn day. The people we love and who return that love by wanting to protect us and cheer us on despite their own self-serving interest is what a real relationship is about, not what you’re doing here with your whole one foot in your wife’s bed and the other in Bella’s, who I might add, is way too cool and pretty for someone like you. I don’t give two flying monkeys how rich you are. You’re an asshole. And I’m a chef who cooks with a lot of dairy and gluten so don’t bother coming into my restaurant.”

  Graham put his hands up as if in protest. “Hey now, no reason to go all postal on me. I love Bella. And she loves me. We’re not worried about convention.”

  “Well, you know what?” Annie came from behind the counter to where he was sitting at the counter. “We’re concerned with convention. Drake and me, that is. And Bella too. You really think she’s happy with this situation you’ve created? She came up here to get away from you and start a new life. And she was making progress. There’s even a man interested in her. Yeah, did you hear me? An available man. Also very successful. With eyes that laugh.” And normal teeth that don’t look like the moon.

  The front door slammed. Was it Drake home or Bella?

  “Jesus, woman. I’m starting to see why you’re in the mess you’re in.”

  Annie gasped. “What did you just say?”

  “If the shoe fits,” said Graham.

  The back door to the deck opened. It was Bella, practically running towards them. “Graham, you cannot be here. I’ll meet you in town. My brother’s on his way home. He’ll be here any minute.”

  “What is this, Bella? He have you in prison here or something?” He cocked his head, obviously taking in her hiking shorts and boots and sweaty T-shirt. “What the hell happened to you? You look like a mountain girl. And I can smell you from here.”

  And then, like he came from the sky, Drake was there, grabbing Graham by the collar. He lifted him from the chair and slammed him into the wall. “You son-of-a-bitch,” he said through clenched teeth. “You have no idea what Annie’s been through. It takes a weak little man to insinuate that she deserves it simply because she just told you the ugly truth. I want you out of my house. You hear me?”

  Graham’s face was purple. A vein popped at the side of his neck as he struggled against Drake’s strength. “Let go of me, you fucking nut.”

  Drake continued to hold Graham against the wall. “Shut up.”

  “What the hell, man, I’m not the enemy. I know you’ve got issues because of what happened to your family but this is no way to act.”

  “Don’t say a thing about my family.” With each word he slammed Graham harder into the wall. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Drake, please, stop,” sobbed Annie, pulling on his arm, all the moments of her past with Marco playing before her eyes. “Please, stop. Please.”

  As if her words brought him back to reality, he turned to look at her. His face softened. He let go of Graham, pulling Annie to him. “Don’t cry. I’m sorry I scared you.”

  Bella went to Graham, touching his shoulders and chest. “Are you all right?”

  “Your brother’s a lunatic.”

  “I told you not to come here.”

  Drake let go of Annie and glowered at his sister with a look so dark, so full of a sense of betrayal that it made her chest hurt. “Did you tell this piece of shit about my family?”

  “I tell him everything,” said Bella.

  “How could you?”

  “Because I need to talk about it, Drake. I need the people I’m close with in my life to know what happened. Don’t you think I loved them too?”

  “But him? Why him? Why are you giving your life away to this?” Drake shot him a withering look. “This bullshit coward of a man.”

  Bella didn’t answer. Her small shoulders drooped and her face crumpled in a way that made her look like a different person. A small, sad person. “I can’t explain it. You don’t choose who you love.”

  Well, that was the truth, thought Annie, feeling the heat from Drake’s arms around her as if they were still there.

  Bella’s eyes, glistening, turned to Annie. “I heard what you said about me. No one’s ever said anything like that about me before.”

  “It’s all true, Bella. You’re doing so well here.” She reached for Bella’s hand and held it like they were two young children on the playground. “Don’t blow it for empty promises.”

  “You’re right,” Bella whispered. She squared her shoulders, looking over at Graham. “It’s something about the river here, Graham, that teaches you your own name.”

  “What kind of hippie dippie talk is that?” asked Graham. “What is with you people in Oregon anyway?”

  Bella smiled—a sad, defeated smile. “My brother’s right. You shouldn’t have come up here. I’ve wasted too much time with you.”

  “I’ve left her,” said Graham, looking considerably desperate. “For good.”

  Bella stared at him as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Impossible. Not now. After three years?”

  “When you left, I realized what I’d lost. I mean it this time. Please, just come with me now. I’ll help you pack your things. We can be in California by tomorrow. Back to civilization.”

  “To Pebble Beach?” Bella’s v
oice lifted in a hopeful lilt. “You’ve never taken me there. You always said that was a place just for your family.”

  Graham looked to the ceiling and then back to Bella. “No, we can’t go there. She’s still there. Later, after she moves out maybe I can take you there.”

  Annie, in spite of her best intentions to keep her mouth shut, couldn’t hold it in. “You haven’t left her. You made the whole thing up to get Bella to go with you.”

  Graham flinched. “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I left her. Why would I lie about it?”

  “Hmmm…I don’t know,” said Annie in the most sarcastic tone of voice she could muster. “Because you’re a liar?”

  “I’m not lying. Bella, don’t listen to her. I’ve finally come to my senses. I realize life is short. I want to be with you. I’m choosing you.”

  “But what about your kids? Why is it suddenly okay to leave them?” asked Bella. “That was always the thing, wasn’t it?”

  “They’ll adjust. I need to be happy.” He gestured towards the door. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

  Bella looked over at them. Annie turned her gaze to the floor. She couldn’t watch this.

  “Graham, come on,” said Bella, holding out her hand. “Let’s talk.”

  Chapter 22

  Drake leaned over the counter, his back moving up and down as he took in deep breaths. Annie watched him carefully. Was this the beginning of an attack? But he lifted his head, turning so that his back was against the counter. “I was away at college, finishing my last year at Stanford when Bella called me in the middle of the night. Our mother was sick with the flu, running a high fever, and hallucinating. Should she take her to the emergency room? This was always the question about every sickness when we were kids, should we go to the doctor or not because we had no insurance. I told her yes, please, just take her. I’ll figure out how to pay for it later. So she drove her there in the middle of the night but it was too late. Her fever was high enough that it sent her into a coma. She died the next day. I was in shock for weeks. Could not get my head around how a perfectly healthy woman dies of the flu. But it happens, apparently. Bella took it really hard.”