by Jodi Thomas
Luke slipped into the trees and zigzagged his way to his cabin. The place was still dark and cool, but welcoming in an old shirt kind of way. He removed his gun from his boot, locked the door, and flipped up into the loft. Within minutes, he was sound asleep.
The afternoon sun reflected off the lake and into his window when he awoke starving. All he’d eaten the two days he’d watched Sneezy, Skidder, and Tanker set up the meth lab was trail mix and bottled water. He needed food. Real food.
Without giving it much more thought, he crossed to Jefferson’s Crossing and slipped into the back door by the kitchen.
Nana looked up from molding a piecrust and said the same thing she always said when she saw him. “Hungry?”
“Starving,” he answered.
“How many eggs can you eat?”
“A dozen.”
She giggled.
He sat down and watched her scramble up a dozen eggs while she waited for the butter to melt atop bread she’d put beneath the broiler. Luke had been raised by his father and grandfather. Cooking around their house was limited to a can opener and the microwave. Her skill amazed him.
She stirred the eggs, flipped the broiler open just as the butter began to bubble atop thick slices of homemade bread. With a quick shake, she covered the butter with a cinnamon and sugar mixture and slipped the bread back inside.
A few minutes later, she passed him a plate of eggs and toast with a thin crust of heaven on top.
“Thanks.” He breathed deeply, tasting the food in his throat before he took a bite.
“I know how you like cinnamon and we ran out of the rolls before nine this morning. Hope the toast will hold you till supper. I made chicken potpies for everyone.”
“Great.” He took a bite, and by the time he’d finished chewing, a glass of milk sat beside his plate. “Nana, would you consider marrying me?” he said with a cinnamon-sparkled smile.
She shook her head. “I kind of like sleeping with a memory.”
He ate as she told him of her day. He’d learned over the weeks that Nana threaded the past into every day’s memory and once she’d called Allie by the name Carla, but he never corrected her.
After she finished and turned back to roll out another piecrust, Luke said, “It might rain tonight. Might be a few who don’t come for the dinner.”
Nana shook her head. “Nope. Rain or shine, they’ll come. We all agreed after the fire. A little storm didn’t stop them last week and it won’t this one.”
Luke agreed. The Nesters were forming a group as loyal as any supper club. If Nana cooked, they’d come.
When he crossed into the café, he found Allie putting fresh bandanas on all the tables. It took him a minute to realize something was different. “Two chairs per table,” he said, drawing her attention.
She smiled that open smile she’d started giving him. Dear God, he liked the way he felt when she smiled.
“A few of the reservations are for two tonight,” she said as if this were a fine restaurant that took reservations months in advance. “The Landry brothers said they’d come. I think mostly because Nana told them seconds were free. And Paul Madison said he and Mary Lynn would be sharing the same table.”
Luke shrugged. “I’m not surprised.”
“And…”
He laughed. “There is another ‘and.’ Now I am surprised.”
Allie laughed. “Mrs. Deals came in for her cookies yesterday and said she’d asked Timothy to sit with her. It seems she has a few computer questions for him.”
“She’ll drill him.”
“I told him as much, but he said he’d lived with barracudas all his life and Mrs. Deals was nothing more than a catfish-all mean-looking, but toothless.”
He laughed as he moved toward the door.
“Do I count you in for dinner tonight?”
“No,” he said, “but tell Nana to save me a piece of that chocolate pie.” Then he slipped out the door before she had time to ask any questions.
Chapter 23
The wind kicked up, rustling the dried leaves still clinging to the trees along the lake. Each time I opened the door to welcome a Nester, sticks and twigs marched in uninvited.
The mood of our diners had shifted. Tonight, everyone wanted to talk. Most had been interviewed, or interrogated as Timothy called it, by Sheriff Fletcher. As near as I could tell, no one except Mary Lynn had a nice thing to say about him. She commented that he always had his shirt starched stiff.
When I brought the first of the coffee, Paul Madison was saying, “I don’t know what happened, but it wasn’t lightning.” He’d taken the seat across from Mary Lynn, but they still looked as mismatched as ever.
Willie agreed. “There wasn’t a cloud in the sky last night.”
When Nana and I brought in the potpies they were talking about how the lake wasn’t as safe as it used to be. Mrs.
Deals had lived here the longest. She told of a time when the folks had big cookouts and parties for every holiday.
“Time was,” Willie said, “the only thing stolen around here was off o’ trotlines.”
“Maybe we should think about locking our doors.” Mrs. Deals didn’t look like she liked her own suggestion.
“Or putting the gate back up,” Mary Lynn suggested. “I always liked it when I was a kid and came here. We’d have to stop and open that big, gold gate like we were stepping into heaven.”
The Landry brothers nodded, but didn’t stop eating.
About the time the conversation came around to organizing a way to communicate if there was trouble, Nana brought in dessert. She served each diner a slice of the pie of their choice and disappeared back into the kitchen.
Paul picked up where we’d all paused. “We need to get the phone company out here to run more line. I’m thinking of doing business from my place.” He didn’t have to say that he had nowhere in the city to live-we all knew. “If so, I’ll need a dependable phone and Internet up twenty-four hours a day.”
“Maybe we could find a dependable cell service,” Timothy added. “Half the time I think the sheriff stops by my place because my dad tells him to check up on me. If my folks could call that might end the visits.” He shrugged. “The whole family can’t understand why I don’t want to join the company. They all think I’m hiding out and will eventually come to my senses and become an accountant.” He laughed. “I’d rather die.”
Willie jumped in, as usual a few bars behind the chorus. “If trouble came again around here, I could circle the lake and flash a spotlight in everyone’s window. Jefferson always kept one out in the shed. I’m sure if we added new batteries it would work.”
Everyone talked about the advantages and disadvantages of each kind of warning system. We all agreed none was perfect. Mary Lynn even suggested we buy a bell. She said she’d always liked the sound of a bell ringing.
In the midst of the discussion, Nana brought in a tray of pies. “It’s time for dessert,” she sang with excitement.
The room fell silent.
“Doesn’t anyone want dessert?” Nana asked, the knife in her hand ready to cut.
I opened my mouth to tell her we’d already had pie. She must have forgotten. She’d had a busy day. She…How could I say anything without hurting her feelings?
“I’d love a piece,” Willie said as he moved his empty saucer aside. “I was hoping you made buttermilk tonight.”
I relaxed, seeing him look as excited about this piece as he had been about the last one.
Nana smiled. “I did, I did.” She cut him a big slice and handed it over. “Now if that ain’t enough, you just let me know.”
Willie took a bite and made the same sounds he’d made ten minutes before when she’d served him his first piece.
“I’ll take a chocolate, ma’am.” Paul stood and stepped to the counter to wait for his piece. “And I think Miss Mary Lynn would like one of those buttermilk slices.”
“A small one,” she said. “I’m full from the potpie.”
; One by one everyone ordered and said almost the same words they’d said before. I stared, meeting their eyes and hating what no one said. I’d been ignoring Nana’s lapses in memory for months. They didn’t have to tell me anything, I knew that I could turn a blind eye no longer. Nana’s mind was slipping.
A half hour later, when they all filed out, I hugged Nana so tightly, she asked me what was wrong.
“Nothing,” I lied. “I just think you are the best.”
“Ditto.” She giggled as if she were still a girl.
“How about we turn in and do the dishes tomorrow?”
Nana shook her head. “Luke’s in the kitchen eating. I thought I’d have a cup of tea and talk to him awhile, then call it a night. You go on up.”
I nodded, not wanting to face anyone else tonight. No one had said a word about Nana serving double dessert, but I knew it was only a matter of time before they did.
And once they did, I’d have to deal with it.
For the first time in a long time, my mother crossed my mind. I wondered if Carla Daniels would come home if she knew her mother needed her. Would she drive in, throw her arms around us, and say she’d help?
I knew the answer and was mad at myself for letting an old dream creep into my mind. The Landry brothers were more likely to help.
The memory of the two of them squeezed into the corner, their hats still on their heads, their forks always moving, made me smile. There was nothing I could do tonight to help Nana remember better, but I could draw. I grabbed my ledger and climbed the stairs. I’d sit by the window and feel the night cool while I tried to catch their likeness on paper.
The Landry brothers…who ordered seconds twice and ate every bite.
Chapter 24
2200 hours
Luke ate the last piece of chocolate pie. “That was great.”
“I know.” Nana smiled. “I’m better than Flo at baking, but we all say hers are good because no one wants to hurt poor Flo’s feelings, you know.”
“You said you had two brothers?”
“Frank and Charlie.”
He could almost see her mind moving back to the present. “They were both killed in the War.”
“And Flo?” Luke asked, testing to see if she’d been pulled into the present.
“She died before she had time to marry.” Nana looked up at him. “I still miss her, you know.”
Luke’s big hand covered her wrinkled fingers. “I know. I don’t have a single clear memory of my mother, but sometimes I miss her. Kind of like I know there’s a piece of me that would have been different if she’d lived. I think about what might have been.”
Nana looked younger when she smiled shyly. “I think about what might have been sometimes. It’s like there’s another life I’m living along a road I chose not to travel. When times get hard, I think about that other place and I go there in my mind.”
“I know what you mean,” Luke answered. When he’d been shot he’d thought about every time in his career when the path had split and how each time he’d taken the more dangerous way. He’d told himself it was because, unlike some of his friends, he had no family to mourn him, but maybe it was the other way around. Maybe he had no loved ones because he always took jobs involving the most risk. Even his apartment in Dallas, the address he called home, looked more like a hotel than a home.
When Nana stood and said good night, Luke said he’d wash up his plate before going.
She patted his arm and asked, “Could you lock up tonight? Allie went up to bed early.”
“She had a rough night Friday night with the fire across the lake,” he said. “She must have been beat.”
Nana shook her head. “I think she wanted to draw.” She laughed as if sharing a secret. “She’s drawing again. I’ve always loved her pictures. When she was little I used to put up postcard pictures of all the great artists and she’d spend hours looking at them. I’ll bet she’s drawing every detail of that fire.”
He walked Nana to the foot of the stairs, then watched her climb slowly. She could work all day, but her age crept in when she had to climb.
After locking up, Luke walked out to the dock and watched a storm moving in. The night chilled around him and fog moved like a shadow across the lake. If it rained tonight, there would be little evidence left from the fire. He’d thought of calling a team in to sift through the ashes earlier, but he knew there wouldn’t be much to find. He already knew there had been a drug lab set up in the cabin and he’d bet a month’s pay that the tag on that SUV was stolen. His best chance of catching those three was to stay low and wait until they relocated. If they thought no one was investigating, they’d be more likely to move in faster.
Drug dealers were a strange lot. They always wanted to produce more, faster. The longer they were in the business the sloppier they got. He’d make sure they didn’t get away the next time.
Standing at the far end of the dock, he began stripping off his clothes. In a few more weeks it would be too cold to swim the lake. His grandfather used to swear that he swam across year-round as a boy. He’d say, “Luke, the Navajo blood is too watered down for you to swim all the way across.”
Luke pushed himself for weeks, that summer, before his muscles and stamina developed enough to cross the lake. When he finally made it without stopping to rest, his grandfather hadn’t said a word, but Luke had seen the pride in his eyes.
Even five years ago when Luke returned to recover from a wound he’d taken in the line of duty, he’d known he wouldn’t consider himself well until he was able to cross the lake. Those first few weeks he swam, Jefferson would follow in the boat with a spotlight tied to the front, ready to pick him up when he could push himself no farther. But each time he made a few more yards before he gave up and crawled into the boat. Swimming laps in a gym just didn’t bring him the satisfaction of crossing with the moon and proving his bloodline.
Tonight as he swam, he didn’t enjoy the movement of the water or the night. His thoughts were filled with Allie. She wasn’t like the women he usually met. With her there would be no casual affair. She wasn’t guarded, dishing out feelings in small doses. She led with her heart. If he had any sense, he’d stay away from her.
An hour later, when he climbed back on the dock, he sensed Allie even before he saw her standing in the shadows by the porch watching him.
Pulling on his clothes, he stepped into his boots and walked up the dock.
She didn’t move when he neared.
Maybe it was the night, all dark with rain hesitating just above him. Maybe it was the way his senses always felt stronger when he’d done something he knew the men of his lineage had done for hundreds of years. Maybe need just outweighed reason. But Luke didn’t stop to talk.
He walked up to her, lifted her up, pressed her back against the wall, and kissed her hard with need. To hell with having any sense. For one moment in his life, Luke just wanted to feel.
She almost buckled his knees when she kissed him back.
The need for her was something primal within him. Something he’d felt from the first day. She didn’t fit in the mold of women he occasionally dated. He liked them tall, sophisticated. The kind who played no games and made no hints about a future.
Allie wasn’t like that. She’d want more. Much more.
He could feel every curve of her body. He was half-drunk on her kiss. But he wasn’t ready to turn down a road he’d never traveled.
Without breaking the kiss until the last moment, he lowered her and pulled away.
He was gone before she had time to open her eyes or ask any questions.
Ten minutes later, when he lay in the total blackness of his cabin, he could still feel her body against his…still taste her…still want her.
Chapter 25
Distant thunder rumbled. The sound of rain tapping against the window lulled me near sleep but I couldn’t find the off button in my brain. Thoughts danced from one problem to another as if channel-surfing.
I de
cided I should stop worrying about Willie being a pervert and start worrying about Luke. He was like a phantom kisser. Every time he touched me I went all soft inside, and tonight I’d made it as plain as I knew how that I’d welcome a little more.
But he’d disappeared.
Maybe it was me. Maybe I had some kind of natural repellent when it came to men.
I closed my eyes. I knew little about him, except that he made my toes curl every time he kissed me. I think with men it’s not so much about knowing how to kiss, but more about knowing how a woman wants it. Problem is, a woman wants it different at different times. Tonight he got it right. Hard and hungry with need. I drifted to sleep remembering every detail.
When Nana called me I thought the roof must be leaking. All the years of growing up, no matter where we lived, the roof always seemed to leak. My job was usually to run around the house until I stepped in water. Nana always followed with the pots. Then, we’d go back to sleep with the sound of a tin-can band playing until the rain stopped.
“Allie,” Nana said again. “Get up. Someone’s at the door.”
I glanced at the rainy night beyond my window. “It’s too early to open.”
“I know, but they won’t quit knocking.”
I groaned and pulled on my flannel shirt. “I’ll see who it is.”
Nana waited. She had a few rules no one else seemed to follow. One was she never answered the door after dark. I’d heard her say many times that news coming at night is always bad.
It was a good rule, only problem was if she didn’t answer the door…that left only me to go.
I reached the ground level and switched on the twinkle lights so I could see my way to the door. All the bright-colored boxes of cookies and snacks sparkled at me, but they couldn’t help the fear growing like bindweed around my lungs. No one would come to my door at this hour unless there was a problem-a serious problem that couldn’t wait until daylight.
The wind did most of the opening when I turned the knob. Rain blew in as icy spikes against my skin. I stepped aside so Willie could rush in. Even in his parka and hat, I knew his smell. Only now it was a wet Willie odor-kind of like the smell of an old dishtowel and dirt. It would take more than one storm to wash that away.
