| |
I didn’t see that coming. The light in Melanie’s bedroom was on when I got in my truck. I didn’t know what to do or what to say to make it better. Should I have told her? Probably. But honestly, I didn’t think it was a big deal. I wasn’t going to kick her out; I wanted her to succeed and stay in Sunnydale, be with me. My truck started up with a roar as I headed to my cold and lonely house a few blocks away.
I sat in the dark for hours, thinking of Melanie. I dialed her number several times, but it went straight to voicemail. The picture of Stacey and Kevin sat in front of me, taunting me to be a better man.
“I messed up this time,” I said to the empty house. What was I going to do now? The clock read 11:00 PM, I couldn’t sleep, and it was too late to call anyone. “I’m going to check my cows.”
Gaston blinked at me with curiosity when I turned on the barn lights.
“Hey boy, let’s go for a ride."
I loaded my saddlebags with cattle cubes and slid my rifle into the scabbard before throwing my leg over the saddle. I never knew what kind of critters were out at this time of night. I gave Gaston his head as we ambled to the field that the cows were in.
It was one of our smaller pastures on the twenty acres. The west side ran next to the road, but the cows usually bedded down by the grove of trees in the middle of the pasture. We made our way over to the trees at first, riding by the light of the moon until I could make out the shapes of cows nestled in on their knees. The big black cow lurched to her feet.
“You want some cubes?”
She grabbed the cubes from my palm and munched them contently. Suddenly, her head flew up and her ears perked forward. The rest of the herd jumped to their feet. With a collective snort, they turned as one and bolted deeper into the stand.
I turned Gaston in the direction they’d been looking. A large truck pulled up to the western fence. A couple of deep voices drifted toward me on the breeze, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. Gaston backed warily into the trees; I crouched down over his neck to watch.
“Easy boy,” I soothed. “What do you think they are doing?”
His antics slowed when I rubbed his long neck under his mane. Then, spotlights from on top of the truck shone down on two men at my fence line. What were they doing? The wire twanged as the larger man sniped the top wire. Who were they? I eased Gaston out and around the trees. He cat-footed through the tall grass and nimbly leaped over the bubbling stream to bring us to the fence five hundred yards behind them. We walked toward the men until I pulled him up behind the truck. My rifle came up and the hammer cocked back with a click that shattered the night.
“Did you hear something?” The shorter man addressed the other.
“Nah, just keep working. We need to get this done so we can get paid.” Twang went the last wire.
“You boys, are sure making enough noise to raise the dead,” I said as Gaston stepped out of the shadows with a jingle of my spurs. The two men, dressed in all black, spun towards me with their hands in the air.
“Uh oh.” The shorter one shared a look with the big man.
“Run!” They dropped their tools and leaped into the truck. It peeled down the road into the darkness of the night.
I nudged Gaston closer to the brand-new hole in my fence.
“All five wires cut,” I muttered some curses under my breath as I searched for my fencing tool and some extra wire at the bottom of my saddlebags.
“You might as well catch a nibble. This is going to take me a while.” I spliced my spare wire to one cut end and stretched to the other to meet the spliced in piece. Sweat was pouring down me by the time I was done, burning my eyes as I wiped my face with my T-shirt.
“At least, that will hold until morning.” I stepped into the saddle and headed back to the barn. “We’ll have to move the cows in the morning,” as I petted his neck. He blew his nostrils out and shook his mane. Gaston picked up a trot when the barn came into sight.
#####
The next morning, I awoke early to move the cows into the barn lot. Luckily, the big black cow loved sweet feed and trotted right in, the rest following as easy as pie. They made a bit of noise as they jockeyed for positions at the feed trough.
“Girls, you’ll be in here for a while.” I chewed on my toothpick. “At least, until things settle down.”
I placed my hat on my head before turning my truck into town. Susie’s Café was the place to go for the latest gossip.
“Hey Pete, here for a cup of coffee?” Old George moved the newspaper out of the way. “How’s your nanna doing?”
“Sure am,” I straddled the stool next to him. Lindsay lifted the coffee pot as I nodded to her. “She’s busy as always.”
“That woman was a hard one to keep up with even when I was a much younger man.” He smiled a toothless smile before shaking half the container of sugar into his coffee.
“My cows are having trouble staying in my fences. They seem to fall a lot.” I sipped the black coffee, trying to appear nonchalant. “Have you heard anything?”
“More than they can jump over the moon?”
I nodded and glanced around the café. All the regulars were here, acting normal.
“Hmmm,” he scratched his beard. “I will keep my ears open.”
“Thanks.” I finished my cup of coffee, slid it across the counter with a five under it. I turned to leave.
“I did hear that there is trouble at the dressmaker’s shop.” Old George chuckled. “It seems you have several problems, my boy.”
“Thanks,” I said wearily as I headed out the door. Melanie’s place was already on my list of places to stop before going to work.
I stopped at the police station, filled out a report, confirmed Nanna’s hair appointment for tomorrow, and checked the local gossip ring at the Post Office. No one had heard a thing about people cutting fences.
The next stop was to see Melanie. A sinking feeling settled in my gut when I pulled up. The windows to the shop were dark and the front door was locked. Not good. I walked around back to ring the doorbell for the apartment. No answer. I ran my hands through my hair and scratched the back of my head. There was a little garage in the back. I went in there to see if her car was there. It was gone. Maybe she was in San Antonio early this morning. I was going to be late if I didn’t get a move on. I promised myself, I would check on her later as I got into my truck to head toward the factory.
“OH, BABY GIRL,” MY mother screeched as I descended into the baggage claim. She ran up to me, balancing on spike heels, before wrapping me up in the tightest hug ever. Her silk blouse caught on the roughness of my eyelet tank. “Oh, how I missed you so much!”
“Mother, it has only been a couple of months.”
“But look at you! You look fabulous. Look at this tan.” She held out my arms to the side as she ran her gaze over me. She leaned in close. “Is it real or a spray-on?”
“It’s real. The sun shines really hot down there.” I tried not to roll my eyes. My mother and I had a strained relationship. We both wanted to be close but were as different as a guppy and a beta fish. You can guess who was the beta fish. Hint: It wasn’t me.
“Alright darling, grab your bag and let’s get a drink to celebrate your trip home.”
“I didn’t pack a bag.”
“What?” Her penciled eyebrows rose until I thought that they might get stuck in her blond bangs.
“I packed light. I was planning on packing up my things from Vance’s apartment.”
She sighed before turning to march to the large Yukon parked at the curb. A security guard was eyeing it suspiciously.
“You know, this is an unloading zone.” He said as he poised a pen over a pad of paper.
“So, what if it gets towed, I need a new one anyway.” She flipped her hair behind her ear and preened her way to the driver’s side.
She expertly maneuvered us out of the city to our New York country home. The tall trees and green rolling hills flew by until we pulled into the long-paved drive, lined by trees. A feeling of nostalgia hit me as I took in the well-manicured lawns and the large white house. A longtime had passed since I’d been home. She pulled the Yukon to a stop in front of the front door and got out. I climbed out slowly, taking in the details that I had forgotten.
“I am going to make a Cosmo. Do you want one?” She said as she led the way into a quaint study with a bar, a couple comfortable chairs, and a view of the pond. “Or did you give up drinking now that you are down south?” She eyed me with a smirk on her painted pink lips as she started compiling the ingredients.
“I will take a margarita.”
She threw her head back and laughed. “I bet you can get those anywhere down there.” She placed the rim in the salt and twisted it. “How have things been going?”
I gave her a quizzical look. “Since when are you interested in what is going on?”
“Just trying to be a mother. So, sue me.” She sipped her drink.
I caught her up with how the dress shop was doing, Vance coming to see me, and my feelings for both of them. “I found out from Vance that Pete owns the shop, not elderly Miss Elizabeth. He could take it from me at any time.” I licked the salt off of my glass. “I put all of my savings into supplies, rent, and business expenses. If I don’t make any profit, I’ll be back here.” Frustration filled me up.
She sipped her drink all the while watching me.
“Let me get this straight. You have two men wanting you but you don’t think you can trust either.”
“That’s about right. It’s all a mess.” I drained my glass in one gulp.
“That’s my girl.” Her grin showed all of her perfect white teeth. “Have some more.” She poured the rest of the pitcher into my glass. “For what it’s worth, I never liked Vance.”
My jaw dropped.
“I know he comes from the right pedigree, but he’s too self-involved.” She pushed the end of her nose up with a French manicured tip.
“But weren’t you excited for us to get engaged?”
“I was excited about the wedding. All the glitz and glamour. Can you just imagine the party it could’ve been? You would’ve made the social pages.” She set her empty glass down. “But I knew he never loved you. No one deserves that.” Her eyes got sad and she pulled into herself for a moment.
“Oh Mom,” I drew her into a hug, hoping to ease some of the pain of her own loveless marriage. She hiccupped, primly.
“Now this Pete, he sounds delish!” She licked her lips and winked at me; I couldn’t help but laugh.
“He’s very...” I looked at her shining eyes, “special.”
At that moment, the world went blank around me. All I could see was the way his eyes lit up when he smiled and how he would run his fingers through his hair. He was special. My heart pounded. Everything that he had done for me. All the feelings I had for him. “Mom, I think I love him,” I whispered. “But I made a mess of it all.”
“You did do a good job this time around.” She patted my hand before retreating to the bar for more provisions. “Tell me all about this shop of yours.”
Over the next hour or so, I told her all about my little place, my hopes, and my fears.
“I sunk all of my savings into remodeling and getting the business off the ground. What if I can’t make a profit and it’s all taken away? I don’t even have a name for it, yet.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to do this in New York?”
“Mom, I love Sunnydale. Everyone is so friendly, it’s warm and sunny, and I love being close to Delilah.”
“I can see that. Being in Texas has been good for your soul. You are positively beaming,” she winked at me. “Now, let’s go get your things from Vance’s. Don’t you worry about the money. Your daddy and I have a significant wedding fund that needs to be reallocated.”
I hugged her tightly. We have had our ups and downs, especially when I was a teenager, but she was still my mother.
#####
THE APARTMENT WAS DARK and quiet when we got there the next day, the air had a musty closed up smell to it, and my potted plant had wilted and died. A cough came from my mother’s lips as she drew the curtains and clouds of dust descended on us.
“He must not be staying here.” I opened the refrigerator to find the apples growing hair.
“Makes it easy for us.”
“You mean me, right?”
She laughed and opened the liquor cabinet. She splashed two fingers of vodka in a tumbler. “Of course, darling, I can’t get dirt under these nails.”
“I’m going to get the mail. Make yourself at home.” I trotted down the steps to the mailbox. It was jammed with bills, bank statements, magazines, and junk. I threw the junk mail and magazines away before heading up to sort the bills and bank statements.
“That’s odd.” I was looking at a statement from our joint account.
“What, darling?” She reclined on the sofa surfing through channels.
“We have a joint account.”
She murmured in ascent.
“It was our emergency fund. I was the last one to use it, until last week. Vance drew out several grand from ATMs in San Antonio.”
“Maybe he needed the money.”
“No something is not right.” I waved another bank statement. “This is his own. It has his flight, rental car, hotel, food, gas, and other expenses when he was down visiting me this past week.”
“Why do you have that?”
“He’s too busy to balance his checkbook.” I rolled my eyes. “It’s a woman’s job.” I mimicked his snobby voice.
She huffed and stood to her feet. “If he wasn’t a lawyer, I would say let’s clean out his accounts, but your daddy wouldn’t approve.”
“Too much work anyway.”
I hauled up the boxes we had brought with us and packed up everything I wanted from the apartment. At last, I was finished. My heart broke at all the memories we had in this place, in New York, together, but the next chapter in my life was calling. I shut the door, locked it, and left the key in the drop box as I walked out of that life, forever.
THE FACTORY WHISTLE finished sounding when I pulled up to Melanie’s shop. It looked similar to this morning. The windows were dark, all the doors were locked, and no movement inside. I rubbed the back of my neck before pulling out my phone. First, I dialed Melanie. The phone went straight to voicemail.
“Interesting,” I muttered to myself. I leaned against the wall and typed in Dee’s phone number.
“Hey Pete, what’s up?” Monitors beeped in the background and the low hum of voices surrounded her.
“Do you know where Melanie is?”
The noise quieted as a door shut. “She went to New York. And before you ask, I don’t know why and I’m watching Benny until she gets back. She was a woman on a mission this morning.”
“Do you know when she will be back?”
“She didn’t say. I’ve got to go. Bye, Pete.” The click resounded in my ear.
What to do now? I stared into the windows, maybe there was a clue inside. Damien’s Mustang pulled up next to me. He leaned out the window.
“Hey, do you want to get a burger?” He shouted over the purr of his engine.
I nodded as I climbed into my truck to follow him to Cowboy’s Bar. We slid into our usual booth and ordered food. The burgers were large and greasy with fries piled high on the side with spicy ketchup to dip them in. My stomach rumbled as Lindsay set our burgers on the table. Damien dug into his, wolfing down his burger before coming up for air.
“I heard something interesting.” He set his elbows on the table. “Two men were seen coming in here late last night.”
“So?”
“Lindsay said that they were dressed in all black and very jumpy.” He steepled his fingers. “She got a copy of their ID’s.”
“Ok”
“You might have to ask her nicely.” He winked at me.
“I don’t want to be too nice to Lindsay. She might get the wrong idea.”
“I might get the wrong idea about what?” She stood at the end of our table tapping her foot.
“Lindsay, did you happen to get some ID’s on some strangers last night? Please?” I smiled at her.
“I did,” she set down a couple of beers. “I turned them over to the sheriff this morning. They didn’t pay their tab, and they gave me the creeps.”
“Did he say anything?”
She shook her head before turning towards the next table.
Damien’s phone buzzed. He reached to silence it and stared at the screen. He put a couple of bills on the table.
“I have to get going. Have a good night, Pete.”
“Wait,” I placed my hand on his arm. “Have you heard anything about Melanie?”
“Just that my sister is watching over the Beagle. Sorry.” A look of pity crossed his face before he turned to walk out the door. I picked up my phone and dialed Melanie’s number again. It went right to voicemail.
“Hey, Melanie. It’s me. Call me back, please.” I didn’t want to sound like I was whining but I was worried. I picked at my fries, dipping them into the spicy ketchup. The salt and grease were comforting. I licked the salt from my fingers when the door opened, and two men walked in, approaching the bar. As they settled on the barstool, the bigger man clapped the other one on the shoulder as he motioned for two beers. Lindsay tapped her fingers on the table as she walked past, nodding towards the men. I slid further into the booth to sit in the shadows. She brought me a beer and some onion rings. The men had a couple of beers, but they were too far away for me to hear them. Then, they got up and left without leaving a tip; a scowl darkened on the bartender’s face as he cleaned up the empty bottles. I walked to the window and watched the men get into the same large pickup that was at Nanna’s last night. I left a fifty-dollar bill on the table for Lindsay before heading over to the sheriff’s office.