Dax couldn’t take his eyes off Kendra. Kiley led them all around the place, moving in a kind of waddle that made you just want to hug her. And then maybe carry her the rest of the way. It was a heavy load she was hauling, and she was a little thing. He didn’t know how women did it, to be honest. Rob stayed close by, and he was watchful, careful, opening doors, pointing out hazards she might trip over, hovering near enough to catch her should she stumble. It was obvious that Kiley was both irritated and touched by the attention.
Kendra was pretty well focused on the place, though. And no wonder. It was where she’d spent her childhood, and very different now from the last time she’d seen it. The larger barn had been refitted with stables that lined both sides. The horses were outside grazing, but the place still smelled like them, and their molasses flavored grain and good straw bedding. He loved the smell of a stable.
Kendra seemed to like it, too. He noticed her inhaling nasally, closing her eyes for a second. She had the ability to savor life like no one he’d ever known, in those rare moments when she could get out of her head long enough. Sadly, she didn’t do that very often.
When she opened her eyes again, she caught him looking and plastered an unimpressed expression on her face.
They walked through, then out the other end and back around to the smaller barn, which had been completely converted, too. One part was sectioned off, and had a counter with a cash register. It was lined in pegged wallboards, every inch covered in items for sale. There were spinning racks and display shelves of all sorts. The merchandise changed with the seasons and ranged widely in value. In the summer, there’d been sparklers and full-sized flags and kits to hang them. Up to a couple of weeks ago, there’d been Jack-o-lantern carving kits with fancy patterns, all sorts of Halloween decorations, and a rack of costumes ten feet long. But Halloween had passed, and now the shop was filled with wreaths of orange and yellow maple leaves, and cornucopia shells, some filled to overflowing and some empty so you could fill them yourself. Lots of turkeys, lots of native Americans sitting down to feast with the newly arrived immigrant pilgrims.
“This is really… this is nice, Kiley,” Kendra said, and it was sincere. She moved through the shop, picking up a Thanksgiving-themed apron. It was white with russet piping, and had a bountiful table stitched together in a mosaic of different colored cloth, and quilted onto the front. The word “Grateful” was embroidered above it.
“Wow,” she said. She checked out the tiny, tight stitches and then the price tag. “Are you kidding me? Is this with a markup, Kiley?”
“Twenty-five percent,” Kiley said.
“Where did you find something this good for this price?”
“The town librarian makes them. Velma Scruggs, you remember her?”
“Velma is still the librarian?” Kendra met her sister’s eyes and smiled.
Dax stopped breathing. It was genuine, that smile. There was no calculation behind it, no motive. It was bubbling out from underneath the mask she wore. It looked the same, that mask. But it wasn’t real.
The real thing was almost blinding. And Dax knew the difference better than anyone else, except maybe Kiley.
“We turned the whole second level into a haunted house for September and October,” Kiley said, her pride and excitement in the bright resonance of her voice. “I swear, every kid in town went through ten times.”
“What did you charge them?”
“Not enough that you wouldn’t tell me to charge more,” she said. “I felt bad for the kids who came back over and over and just stopped charging them at all.”
Kendra lifted her brows. “You running a business or a non-profit?”
“We did fine,” Kiley said.
“Sure. Next year, sell season passes. Charge as little as you want, but getting something out of every visit is better than getting nothing out of some of them.” She looked around. “And get a handful of vending machines out here. Pop, snacks. You have teenagers, you’re gonna need snacks. Get machines instead of hiring staff to feed ‘em, and you’re immediately making more money without doing another thing.”
Kiley shot her husband an unspoken question. He replied with his eyes somehow. Dax saw the communication happening, but it was entirely private. That was amazing. Was every couple in love like that?
Kiley turned back to Kendra and said, “That’s a really good idea.”
“Of course it is. Knowing what people want and how to give it to them is the first lesson Jack ever taught us.” Something flashed in her eyes when she said her father’s name. Dax saw it and frowned and felt like the guy whose job it was to watch the skies, waiting for signs of alien life. Nothing, nothing, nothing, then suddenly something. And before you can even figure out what it was, you’re back to staring at nothing again and wondering if the something was anything at all.
He would hate that job.
He hated the job he was facing right then, too. Caleb Montgomery, a local lawyer and Rob’s step-brother-in-law, had got him the name of an extremely discreet accountant. The fellow was already going over the track’s books.
Dax had to protect his mother from any legal fallout from his father’s behavior. So he couldn’t let the SRA anywhere near those books until he knew what was in them, and figured out how to protect his mother from being prosecuted for it. She’d been a silent partner, just collecting a check for her share every quarter, but Cal had assured him if anything illegal had gone on at the track, she would face charges anyway.
The lawyers were waiting for him to get back to them, to accept or refuse his inheritance. He needed to stall them and wasn’t sure he could.
The crew was heading back toward the house now. They’d asked Kendra to stay for lunch, and they’d included him in the invitation. So he headed to the house with the rest of them, and watched Kendra’s eyes as they walked through the kitchen with its rustic white cabinets and wrought-iron hardware, and its red and white checkerboard tiled backsplash and white granite countertop. He watched her as they went into the big, cozy living room with the sectional sofa all draped in shaggy, fringy, snuggly looking throws in brown and tan and burgundy and mustard. Throw pillows in the same shades, but not too many. And not those square, rock hard ones either. These were soft, made for resting your head on.
He’d rested his head on them more than once when he’d still been drinking. Right after Kendra left town sixteen months ago and three days ago. Not an excuse, just a fact.
Rob said, “I’m gonna order pizza. Any requests?”
“Ham and pineapple,” both twins said at once.
“And some wings on the side,” Kiley said. “And tell ‘em not to be stingy with the blue cheese.”
Kendra grinned, but snapped her mouth straight again.
Rob texted in the pizza order, then inclined his head toward the kitchen and Dax followed him out there. Rob poured tea from a glass pitcher shaped a lot like his wife, over ice in tall glasses. After he’d closed the fridge, he handed a glass to Dax.
“I’m gonna ask you a favor,” he said. “And it’s a big one.”
“And it has to do with Kendra,” Dax replied as his hand closed around the cold, dewy glass.
“Yeah.”
“I ever mention that my sponsor thinks I need to avoid her the way I avoid alcohol?”
“If there’s any chance this would push you off the wagon, Dax—”
“You don’t get pushed off the wagon, and you don’t fall off it either. You jump. It’s a choice, and it’s one I don’t intend on making.” He hadn’t had a drink since last December, and he was kind of excited about that first anniversary. “What do you want me to do?”
“Keep an eye on Kendra, that’s all.”
“Why not say what you really mean, Rob? You want me to pretend I’m into her again, and get close enough to find out what she’s up to.”
Rob made an exaggerated frown. “I’d never ask you to do anything dishonest. You know me better than that.”
It was true, Rob was probably the most honest man in town.
“But I think we both know you wouldn’t be pretending.”
“That’s a low blow, Rob.”
Rob nodded. “I don’t know why she’s here. Why now, with the baby due any time? And could it have anything to do with her father?”
“What would it have to do with him?” Dax asked.
Rob said, “She messed up his plan to swindle a half million from the townsfolk of Big Falls. Made her a local hero to them. Made her an enemy to him. And he’s not a nice man.”
“I don’t think even Jack Kellogg would hurt his own daughter,” Dax said. “And even if he did, there’s no way Kendra would help.” He took a long drink from the tall, dewy glass, then shook his head. “She might be bad to the bone, Rob, but she loves her sister.”
“But we both know Kiley isn’t why she’s here. Don’t we?”
Dax sighed. “I’m not gonna lie to her.” Then he shrugged. “But you’re right. I won’t have to. Truth is, I’m as curious as you are about what she’s doing back here.” He felt the craving for a stiff drink start writhing around in that spot above his stomach but below his ribs. That’s just my most deadly weakness waking up. I’m stronger than a weakness. And he changed the subject in his mind to the one most likely to distract him, Kendra. He now had a slightly more noble-feeling reason to be around her. Convenient how that ended the inner battle he’d been waging, with part of him telling himself to stay as far away from her as possible, and another part wanting to be with her as much as he could before she floated away again, like a dandelion seed on a summer breeze.
Rob had become his best friend. Kiley could be in danger, and her baby, too. Jack Kellogg was a criminal who’d done serious time in a serious prison. And he was furious with his daughter. The good one.
Kendra had helped Kiley, though. In the end, she’d chosen the right side. Impossible to say whether she’d make the same choice again. She was angry at being kept in the dark about the impending arrival of her niece. The daughter of her twin, which seemed to make it even worse, somehow. He didn’t blame her for being pissed about that. But he knew Kendra Kellogg well enough to know, you can never really know Kendra Kellogg. Or what she might do if she felt like her back was to the wall.
If he had to walk the razor’s edge with Kendra to keep Rob’s two girls safe, then that’s what he was going to do. Get close to her again, only this time it would be him running a game on her. He was going to find out why she was really in town and what Jack Kellogg knew.
It would be like dancing with a bottle of fine Jim Beam and not taking a sip.
He couldn’t take even a little taste of Kendra, or he’d fall into that bottle of her headfirst. And he had a feeling he’d never get back out.
#
Kendra was pacing her corner room, surprised the noise from below was so muffled. Just a dull din, almost a hum. And yet The Long Branch was packed, mostly with tourists. It was after nine p.m. and the activity was on the upswing. More and more sets of headlights slowed and angled as cars filled the parking lot. Business must be booming.
Her room was at a back corner, so the headlights didn’t glare straight through into her eyes. She only saw them when gazing out the window.
Someone had redone the guest rooms since she’d been here last. They used to be plain bordering on Spartan. But this one, at least, was all dressed up in an old-time theme that fit with the old west motif downstairs. There were hurricane lamps and bed curtains, a washstand with an antique bowl and pitcher made of white porcelain with pink roses and gold edging, all spider-webbed with age. The wallpaper had roses too, vertical rows of them. Cream colored curtains hung in four windows with pink satin tiebacks hooked around brass holders. Each holder had a round inset, white ceramic with pink roses. Behind the curtains, there were window shades with lace edges, their color meant to look age-yellowed.
Portraits of times gone by graced the walls in antique frames with thick but spotless glass. Black and white prints, enlarged from the original tin types. A man with a moustache that drooped lower than his chin and solemn eyes. A cowboy posing beside his painted pony. His face was a stone mountain range, his scowl-for-the-camera, given away by the dimple pulling at one cheek.
It was a busy room. She’d like it a lot better with the lights off.
What was she going to do? Dax was fighting her too hard. Yes, he’d come along with her to Kiley’s place, but reluctantly, and he’d been keeping a minimum of three feet of space between them at all times. Sure, she’d win him over eventually, but she didn’t have that kind of time.
She stopped pacing and looked at the bed. Modern comforter, white with roses. If she had to look at one more rose, she’d puke. She yanked the comforter off the bed, wadded it up, and hurled it into a corner with a growl that sounded vaguely like gruck groses!
Knock knock knock. “You okay in there?” Dax called.
“It’s open.”
The knob turned, door opened. He stuck his head through and looked around. “You got a bear in here with you?”
She grinned. Then she laughed. He’d pulled the plug, and her frustration was draining away. “No bear.”
He came the rest of the way in, closed the door behind him, and looked around. “Wow. I’m really glad this isn’t the room they let me dry out in after my last bender.”
“You had a bender?”
He nodded. “I’d been drinking way too much for way too long. And I knew it. I was riding a train off a cliff and didn’t have the brains to get off before it went over. And then it did.”
She lowered her head. “After what I did to you.”
“A drunk can always find a reason to drink. You were mine, but if you hadn’t been, something else would have, sooner or later.”
“I’m sorry, you know. I never felt bad about a mark before, but you… I’d undo it if I could. But that would mean we’d never have had that time together.”
He lowered his head, not looking into her eyes. “That time together was you running a con.”
She nodded. “It was also the best time of my life.” She held up both hands when he shot her a look that was almost accusing. “No game. That’s the truth. I regret taking that money from you. I really do.”
He lowered his head. “Yeah, well, I’m not blameless. I mean, come on, a kidney transplant? Out of the blue like that? I wanted to believe you, even when I knew better. I knew when I handed you that cash. On some level, I knew.”
“You can’t take the blame for what I did.”
“I can at least admit that I was a willing participant.”
“So…” They were playing tag with their eyes and she was it. “Are you saying I’m forgiven?”
“Ninety-nine percent forgiven. I’m holding back a point for when you pay it back.”
She blinked and pulled in her chin. “You think I’m gonna pay it back?”
“I think it’s the right thing to do.”
“Uh-uh. No way. You just stood there and took the blame for being conned.”
“You said—” he countered, but she held up a hand.
“Fifty percent. I’m half to blame, you’re half to blame. Chalk your half up to a learning experience. I’ll pay you back my half. Eventually.” She turned her hand sideways. “Deal?”
“I like you when you’re being your legitimate self, you know that?”
She thrust her hand at him. “Deal?”
“Deal.” His hand enveloped hers completely in warmth and restrained power. She’d always loved Dax Russell’s big strong hands.
He closed his eyes, took a breath, and let go.
“So… now what?” she asked.
He looked at her, then at the bed. “I um…I don’t…”
“Not that kind of now what. I meant, why are you here, in my room?”
“Oh, right.” He smiled in what looked like real relief and said, “I thought you might want to see The Twig.”
She glanced at his zipper and said, “Is that what you’re calling it these days?” He was blushing before she gave him a wink to let him know she was kidding. “I knew what you meant. And yes, I’m dying to see what Joey’s got going out there.”
Fifteen minutes later, they were standing beside a carbon copy of The Long Branch, about a third the size of the original. Its overhead sign spelled out “The Twig” in the same western font. Dax opened a metal panel on the outside wall, flipped a lever, and the place lit up like Christmas, inside and out. Tall lights on poles aimed down from above, and he took her hand like it was an ordinary thing to do and tugged her a few trotting steps away from the building.
“Mini-golf course,” he said, pointing. The obstacles were bucking broncos and bad guys, saloon doors and a jailbreak scene. Everything cowboy.
She barely had time to see all that before he led her around to the back of the building, pointing out a wide area that looked like a ghost town. There were one-dimensional store fronts with fake broken windows and missing doors, broken fences, empty watering troughs, square bales of hay stacked here and there.
“Paintball course,” he told her. Then he kept going around to the right of the building, on the side nearest The Long Branch. It was a worn patch of dirt with a wide path winding around it. “Racetrack. There’s a fleet of little electric cars.” He pointed and she spotted eight mini-cars parked along one side of the track inside a locked paddock.
“Did you help Joey plan the racetrack?” she asked.
“No, no, he came up with it all himself. He and Emily. You have her to thank for all the roses in your room by the way. She’s very into decorating and themes.”
“Oh. Yeah, it’s uh…a lot of roses.”
“It is. She did a few rooms cowboy themed. They’re not as bad.”
He pulled out a keyring and started to unlock the door. She said, “I only asked if you planned the racetrack because of your years working at one. The one your father owns. Or owned, I guess.”
He paused in unlocking the door, blinked twice, then swallowed hard, finished unlocking it, and swung it open. “The big room on the left here,” he leaned in, flipped a light switch. “contains the ball pit and bounce house.” She looked past him, gave a nod. He turned that light off and moved on. “The whole back of the building is an arcade.” Again, he leaned in and flipped the light switch. Rows and rows of arcade games five deep and four wide, took up every bit of available space. He shut the light off. The room they were in held a service counter, and the space behind it, a walk-in cooler.
“This is where you rent your equipment for the games, buy tokens for the arcade, and get soft drinks and snacks, including soft-serve ice cream. Dips and sprinkles are extra.”
She nodded her approval. “Nobody spends money like a parent,” she said. “This is gonna be a goldmine. Hell, between what Joe’s doing here and Holiday Ranch, Big Falls is going to start being a destination for low-key, kid-friendly fun.”
“Not to mention the birthday party business,” Dax said. “Joey put a lot into it, but I think it’ll pay off, if he figured out how to promote it properly.”
She nodded, and this time as they went back outside, him turning off lights on the way, she took hold of his hand as he locked the door behind them. “Seems like Joey’s found his calling,” she said softly. “Kiley and Rob, too.” She tugged him around the building, found the control panel, turned the lever off, and closed the lid. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Have you found your calling?”
“Working with horses. Training them. That’s what I love doing best.”
“And what about the track? Your dad’s business. It’s yours now, isn’t it?” She searched his face as he stood there, stone silent. Then she widened her eyes and said, “He didn’t disinherit you, did he? Because of me?”
So her visit wasn’t about Kiley at all. It was about the track and the fortune that came with it. Dax stood there, trying to work out the best answer, but it was impossible, because he was reeling. He shouldn’t be. He knew her. He’d figured she was here for a reason. He’d just been hoping he was wrong.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”
He’d believed the emotion in her eyes when she’d been with her sister, and the empathy in them when she talked about his father’s death. But her mention of the track just blew the cover off her lies.
In a kneejerk reaction, he decided to repay deception with deception and said, “Yes. He disinherited me.”
She frowned as if that didn’t quite compute, and then plastered on a look of sympathy. “I’m so sorry, Dax.”
“I’m not. I don’t mind at all. I like my life just fine.” And he did. And he figured that probably answered the question that had been plaguing him ever since he’d watched his old man die. What to do about the inheritance. Now he knew. He’d meant what he’d said. He didn’t want it, and it was a load off his mind to know that for sure. He still couldn’t refuse it until he’d found whatever surprises were hiding in the books and figured out a way to protect his mother from the repercussions of them. But at least he knew for sure that he didn’t want it.
She lowered her head. He thought he saw disappointment in her eyes, but she was so good at hiding her feelings that he didn’t get a long enough glimpse of it to be sure. When she lifted it again, her eyes were bright and her smile was counterfeit. She changed the subject with ease. “It’s odd being back home again. My sister being a pillar of the community now. Me, too, by extension. That’s just…it’s weird.”
“I meant to ask about that. You’re using your own name now. Last time you were here, you were pretending to be dead.”
“Oh, that. Yeah, that’s all cleared up.”
“Cleared up? They made faking your own death legal, and I missed the memo?”
She nodded. “Dad convinced the cop on the case that it was an accident. That I’d run away from the halfway house before the fire and wasn’t aware one of the bodies had been identified as my own.”
“And the cop believed it?”
“No, but Dad also had photos of him in some pretty compromising positions with a whore, so…” She shrugged.
God, that family of hers.
“Kiley said that if you were pretending to be dead, you must have had a good reason. She suspected someone dangerous was after you.”
She shrugged. “Mmm.”
“Mmm? What kind of an answer is that?”
She shrugged. “I dated a guy who turned all stalker on me, and I got scared. Whatever, it’s history now. You know what I’d like? I’d like to go riding. Here I am in Big Falls with a brother-in-law who has a whole herd of horses and a…friend…who’s an expert trainer. I almost have to go riding, don’t I?”
“You almost have to,” he agreed.
“Will you take me?” She tipped her head up and made her eyes as Disney princess as possible.
His internal reaction was to go warm and gooey. His brain was the only part of him still onto her lies. “You really want me to take you riding, even now that you know I’m not gonna inherit a nickel?”
Her smile died. Her eyes turned wounded. “I guess I deserved that.” She looked at the ground. “I’m sure Rob will take me if I ask.” Heaving a gigantic sigh, she started back toward The Long Branch. “Thanks for showing me this. I’ll see you around.”
She walked away.
And he let her go.
For about a hundred steps. He counted them. And then he ran to catch up to her and said, “I’m heading out to the ranch anyway in the morning. Come out around eight?”
Her smile was as bright as a supernova. “I can’t wait.”