“Oh my God,” my father says.
“Well, it seems that our apartment was broken into,” Olivia says, and her hands start to shake. “According to the detective, walls were damaged. Every single drawer was thrown on the floor. It was a mess. Every single thing we had there was broken or vandalized.”
“Holy shit,” I say, sitting up. “What do you mean everything?”
“Well, he sent me an email with pictures, and it’s horrible,” she says, handing me the phone so I can see the pictures. Our couches are shredded like people thought we were hiding something in it. The television is shattered. The kitchen cabinets are empty with all the plates on the floor in little pieces. The fridge was tipped over, my bedroom destroyed. They slashed my bed with the same knife as the couch. My drawers are thrown everywhere, and then I swipe to Olivia’s, and I gasp. “It’s everything I have ever had.”
“It’s in shreds,” I say, but then I see the writing on the wall.
You’ll get what’s owed to you.
“What does that mean?” I ask Olivia, who now has tears streaming down her face. That’s the straw that broke Casey’s back because he storms over and grabs the phone from my hands to look at the pictures.
“Oh, fuck no,” he says and then looks at my father. “We need to lock it down.” My father just nods at him, and I’m about to ask him what he’s talking about when there’s a knock on the door.
My father looks at Casey, who grabs his shotgun and walks to the front door. He glances at my father, who is standing with his own gun in his hand, before he looks out the peephole. “Jesus fuck, what is with this day?” he says and opens the door, and for the second time today, I come face-to-face with the man I ran away from eight years ago.
Chapter Nine
Jacob
I don’t know why I get tense when we walk into the grocery store. I don’t even know why I do a sweep of the room, spotting a new blonde standing by the organic section. Right away, you know she’s not from here.
“I have a couple of things to get, so I’ll come find you when I’m done.” my mother says, and she takes off. I try not to eye the blonde and think to myself maybe I can date her. She looks like she’s new here, and she has no idea about my history in this town. No idea about the cloud that follows me. It’s better now, but in the beginning, they would shake their heads when I would walk down the street. It got better when Ethan was born, and then when I took over as sheriff, it was all back to normal. Now, don’t get me wrong. Some of the old timers still leer at me.
I push the cart down the aisles and avoid eye contact because each time I do look up, I have to have a ten-minute conversation with someone. And now that Kallie is back, I’m sure all the talk is going to be asking about what I am going to do. And then they will give me sad smiles and say, “That’s okay, dear.” I can’t take it, and when I turn the corner, I spot the scene right away. Turning around, I see that everyone has stopped, and now I see why.
The showdown that everyone was probably waiting for. The showdown that will be spread all around town by the time dinner is served.
Kallie doesn’t see me as I approach, and it gives me a couple of minutes to take her in. I want to say she looks the same, but she doesn’t. I want to say her beauty doesn’t blow me away, but I would be lying. I want to say my heart doesn’t speed up just looking at her, but you can’t mistake the galloping in my chest.
“How would we? She never thought to tell anyone,” my mother hisses, and I look at Charlotte who has tears.
“Tell you?” Kallie says, her words coming out in almost a whisper. “I needed to tell you how your son destroyed me?” The words cut me off at the knees.
“She wasn’t the one who changed anything, Crissy,” Charlotte says to her, using my mother’s nickname. The two of them were the best of friends, and then the rift started. “I lost my daughter that day. You still have your son. Your son who is always around. You have your son and your grandson.” I see Kallie close her eyes when her mother says grandson. “So don’t even think you got the short end of the stick.”
“What the hell?” I say, cutting this off before it gets even uglier. Kallie’s eyes come to mine, and I get lost in them just like I did every single time. I watch her movement as she turns to her mother, I watch her hands that I used to hold and kiss. When she slumps her shoulders, I want to grab her and put her over my shoulder and tell her everything. I want to tell her everything, and then suddenly, the anger from her leaving me comes in. The blonde from before comes down the aisle, and she is frantic and shaking. I look around, and I hear the two words that breaks me out of my trance. “The detective.”
“Let’s go,” her mother says, and my hand shoots out even before I can stop myself. I grab her arm, and the whole store sounds like it gasps in shock. Kallie doesn’t turn around; the only thing she does is move her head down, looking at my hand on her arm. Her arm that feels different, smaller, frail.
“What detective?” I finally ask, looking around to see if I see anything out of place. It happens in slow motion, or at least it feels like that. She turns around, and now that she is so close, I can smell her again. I can see the little freckles on her nose.
“This doesn’t concern you,” she says. “Nothing about me or my life concerns you.” I swear it’s like she slaps me in the face, and I take a step back and watch her walk out of the store.
“I can’t believe she is back to bring all this havoc to everyone,” my mother says, but I look down at my hand that touched her, ignoring the tingling I feel. “Eight years and she just waltzes back into town.”
“Mom.” I say her name, and she looks at me. “That’s enough.” I look around, and everyone looks away, pretending that they just didn’t watch the shitshow that went downhill. “Let’s go, Mom.”
She just nods, and we leave the basket in the middle of the store and walk out to my truck. My head is spinning. Why is a detective calling her? Why was the blonde shaking like a leaf? Why the fuck did Kallie really come home? I get in the truck and make my way back to my mother’s house, neither of us saying anything. Pulling into her driveway, I turn off the truck. She reaches to the handle of the truck, and I finally say something. “What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that life was finally good,” she tells me. “People were finally forgetting about what happened.”
“You think what you did in there helped anything at all?” I ask, and she looks down. “She was your best friend.”
“And now she isn’t.” She wipes away a tear. “I have you, and I have my grandson.”
“Mom.” She looks up at me. “Don’t do that again.”
“Jacob, you can’t be serious.” She shakes her head. “You still love her.”
“As much as I hate her,” I say, looking out my window at the house I grew up in, “a piece of me will always love her.” I swallow down the lump in my throat. “Can you get Ethan for me?”
“Of course,” she says. “Why don’t you do what you need to do and then come have dinner here?”
I nod, and she gets out of the truck. I pull out, and my car makes its way to Kallie’s house. I’m just doing my job, I tell myself. I’m just keeping my town safe. My stomach is in my throat the whole time I’m on my way there.
Pulling into the driveway, I ignore all the memories that come crashing back. I block them out just as fast as they came in, and when I get out of the truck, the crunch of the rocks under my feet alerts them I’m here. I ring the bell and brace myself for what is to come.
When I hear the locks turn, I wait for it, and I’m not surprised when I see Casey with his shotgun in his hand. I know he’d love nothing more than to shoot me in the ass, but he wouldn’t answer the door with it in his hand. Something is definitely going on.
“Not today,” he says, and he tries to shut the door, but my hand comes out, and I block it from slamming.
He shakes his head and turns around, letting me walk into the house. His father stands there, lee
ring at me with his own shotgun, and I have to think maybe coming into the enemy playpen was not the smartest idea I’ve ever had. “What the hell is going on?” I say, looking from Casey to Billy, and then I make the mistake of looking on the couch and seeing the blonde with tears running down her face. Kallie sits next to the blonde with her own tears in her eyes, and she looks away, wiping a tear away.
“It’s not your concern,” Casey says, and I shake my head. “Nothing that happens in this family is your concern.”
“Casey,” Billy says softly.
“You might not like me,” I say, “but I don’t like you either, so the feeling is mutual.”
“Well, at least we agree on something,” Casey says, smirking.
“What concerns me is what happens in my town,” I say. “So if this”—I motion with my finger to the girls on the couch—“is bringing shit into my town, I need to know about it.”
“We have it covered,” Casey is fast to say, and then I look at Billy.
“He does have a point,” Billy says, and now Kallie shoots off the couch.
“NO!” she shouts. She looks at me, and her tears are gone, and anger is there with something else. “I’m not having him do anything for me. We are going to leave.” She looks at Olivia who looks at her and then at Casey.
“You can’t leave,” Charlotte says, dabbing her eyes. “You just got here, and we can keep you safe.”
“You aren’t going anywhere,” Casey says, then looks at me.
Kallie walks to me, and I’m holding my breath. “This changes nothing,” she spews at me. “The less I have to see you—”
I cut her off. “Trust me.” I step toward her, and she doesn’t move. “We can agree on that and one other thing. The faster this is done, the faster you can hightail it out of town.” I look down, then up again, and I hope my look is that of hatred so she doesn’t see how much I still hurt. “You’re good at that.” I stare into her eyes and try not to get lost in them.
“This isn’t helping anyone,” Billy says, and Kallie turns away and walks to the bottle of whiskey on the table, taking a gulp. “You”—Billy points at her—“stop that.”
“If I have to do this,” Kallie says, using her fingers, “then I’m doing it drinking.”
“I want a shot,” the blonde says, and Casey speaks now.
“Darlin’.” She looks up at him, and I wonder what the fuck is going on.
“You aren’t the boss of the bottle,” she tells him and reaches for it. Kallie just takes another gulp, and I want to tell her that it’s enough.
“Oh, for the love of everything,” Charlotte says, getting up and taking the bottle from Kallie. “Sit,” she tells her and then looks at the blonde. “Olivia, honey, why don’t you start at the beginning?” Charlotte then looks at me. “Can I get you something to drink? Some tea maybe?”
“He isn’t going to be here long enough to drink anything,” Kallie says, sitting down, and I see that she’s wearing the same overalls she used to wear when we went riding. The same overalls I pulled down over her hips in the barn.
“Well, my ex-fiancé,” Olivia starts to talk, and I look at her and try not to make my eyes go to Kallie, “was just charged with insider trading, and he stole a fuck ton of money from investors.”
“Okay,” I say, not seeing the issue. “Well, he stole from people he shouldn’t steal from.” She looks at me, wiggling her eyebrows.
“I always knew he was shady,” Kallie says, and I avoid looking at her.
“Jesus,” Casey says, grabbing the bottle from his mother and taking his own gulp. “Why didn’t you tell us this?”
“How was I supposed to tell you guys this?” Kallie says. “Listen, they don’t know anything about me.”
“How can you be so stupid?” I say, and all eyes swing to me. Casey looks like he’s going to charge me, and Billy looks like he is going to shoot me in the foot, but still. “You live with her?” I ask her, and she avoids my eyes. “Mature,” I mumble.
“You don’t know me,” Olivia says. “I’m Olivia.”
“Nice to meet you,” I say.
“Oh, I don’t like you,” she says, and I throw my hands up. “You aren’t a nice person.” Kallie sits beside her and laughs.
“They live together,” Casey then says.
“So if you live together, chances are people know your name,” I inform her. Kallie finally looks at me, and I see now it’s starting to click. “And if they know who you are, then they will know everything about you.”
I look at Billy and Casey. “If they know her name, they know where she grew up.”
“Fuck,” Casey says, “he’s right.”
“If they know where she is, they know where to find her.” I shake my head. “I’m going to get eyes on the ground.”
“She’s safe if she’s here,” Casey says. “I have the whole farm wired.”
“I’m going to get the boys to patrol the area more,” I say. “The good news is nothing happens in this town without someone seeing.”
“At least that works in our favor,” Charlotte says.
“I’m going to set up a couple of things,” I say. “I’ll call you later.”
“I’ll be waiting,” Casey says, and I nod, turning and walking out of the door. I’m almost to my truck when I hear the front door open and close. I don’t know why I think it’s Kallie, but I also don’t know why I’m disappointed when I turn around and see Casey walking toward me.
“What now?” I say.
“This going to be a problem for you?” he asks, and I wait for him to say something else. “You are too close.”
“I stopped caring when she cut me from her life,” I say. Opening the driver’s door to my truck, I get in, starting it, and then look at him. “I have a job to do, and if I have to protect her, I will. Not because I care, but because it’s my job.”
“Good to know,” he says and turns back and walks into the house. I pull out and feel eyes on my truck, but when I turn back, there is no one there.
Chapter Ten
Kallie
The door closes, and I finally get up and go upstairs. My father calls my name, but I ignore him and slam my door. I don’t want to do it, but I go to the window anyway, and I see him standing out there talking to Casey. I put my hand on my stomach and watch him get in the truck and leave. It’s the same look he had eight years ago when he followed me home, and Casey sent him away.
But he didn’t leave like he is now. No, instead he parked at the entrance of the farm and waited.
“You have to talk to him,” my mother said when she walked into the room. I was standing there in the dress I had picked out for prom. A dress I had taken extra care in picking out because I wanted Jacob to be blown away.
“Mom, I can’t,” I said and turned to look at her, my heart broken in my chest. The tears poured out of me even though I wanted them to stop. I kicked off my boots and slid into my bed. He’d snuck into my room last night and held me all night long, so his smell was everywhere. I laid in the bed and pulled the covers over me, letting myself fall into the darkness with his smell all around me.
When I opened my eyes, I saw the sun coming in, but I didn’t move. I only got up to go to the bathroom. I slipped out of my dress, tossing it into the trash bin in my room, then slipped into my pjs and let the darkness take me again over and over again. In my dreams, he told me it was going to be okay. In my dreams, I cried out from the pain I felt. In my dreams, I lost him over and over again. I’d wake with my pillow soaked with the tears I cried.
I heard whispers from the hallway, knowing it was my parents. I heard shouting, but my body didn’t allow me to get up.
I felt the bed dip, and my heart sped up, thinking it was him. I opened my eyes, and it was my mother with her own tears running down her face. “You need to eat something.”
“I can’t,” I whispered. “He’s having a baby, Momma,” I sobbed, the tears coming again. “He’s having a baby.”
“I
know, pretty girl.” She pushed back my hair.
“I can’t stay here,” I said between sobs. “I can’t watch him have a family without me.”
She only nodded and then got up and walked out of the room. When she came back, it was with a suitcase. I watched as she packed my stuff, and we made a plan to sneak out. “You have to hide in the back under a blanket.”
“Why?” I asked her.
“He hasn’t left the entrance in two days,” my mother whispered. “I’ll come to you in two days. Casey will stay with you until then.”
I snuck out of my house in the middle of the night like a thief in the night. I cried the whole way as I prayed he’d follow us, but when we parked and Casey opened the door, I saw it was just us.
The knock on the door makes me look back, and I come back to the here and now. “Yeah,” I say. The door opens, and it’s my mother.
“You have to come down and eat something please.” She begs me just as she did eight years ago. “We have to talk things out.”
“I will,” I say, and she walks to me and hugs me.
“Nothing is going to touch you here,” she says, and I breathe in her smell.
“Kallie!” Casey shouts my name up the stairs. “Get your ass back down here.”
“Well, then,” my mother says, trying not to laugh, and I shake my head.
“I should have finished the whole bottle of whiskey,” I mumble. When we walk back down, I see that Olivia is sitting on the couch with her feet tucked under her, and she is holding a teacup.
“Your father just handed me tea with whiskey,” she says, and she takes a small sip. “I could get used to this Southern thing.”
Southern Chance Page 6
