Chapter Five

Maggie let her words sink in a minute, watching Candi with renewed interest. The other woman fidgeted with the clasp on her tennis bracelet. Even though her gaze was averted, Maggie could tell there was an expression of longing there. It certainly made sense. The guy was drop-dead gorgeous. But that wasn’t all. There was something about him that screamed bad boy. Danger. Maybe it was the clothes. Or maybe it was the look on his arrestingly handsome face. Whatever it was, she could see how someone could fall for him in such a way as to never really recover.

“Since the ninth grade?” Maggie asked quietly.

Candi nodded, her lashes forming dramatic black smudges beneath lowered eyes. “My home life wasn’t great. I got put into foster care after junior high. Zane and Koda’s aunt took me in.” She looked up. “Too much information for a coffee date?”

“No, it’s okay. You can tell me.”

“I haven’t talked about it in so long. Whenever I do, it kind of takes me by surprise. All those old feelings come up again.”

Maggie waited, feeling a surge of emotion for this woman whom she barely knew. There was pain here. And she identified with pain.

“The state bounced me around for a few months before Ara found me,” Candi said. “At that point I didn’t even know how to boil an egg. I was always dirty. I remember that. Aunt A, she took me out and bought me new clothes, showed me how to fix my hair and nails, cooked for me.”

Ara. Maggie blinked, thinking of the nice lady behind the counter at the Inn. You’ll need a jacket, honey. It’s cold out. This was the woman who had taken Candi in. And for a second, everything was clearer. Everybody in Wolfe Creek seemed connected somehow. They were like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that, when put together, formed a detailed picture of life in a very small town.

“She must have cared for you very much,” Maggie said.

“She’s the only mother I’ve ever known. The only real mother. Before I came to Ara, I was a pissed-off train wreck. Who knows if I’d have even made it to fifteen? She loved me so much, I don’t think I had any choice but to love her right back. She never agreed with the stripping later on, but it was the best I could do to help out with the bills.” Candi smiled. “Anyway, that’s when I met Zane and Koda. She was raising them, too. She’s had them since they were babies, barely old enough to crawl.”

“Are they twins?”

“Koda’s older, but only by a year. You’d never know it, though. He’s an old soul, always has been.”

Koda. The tall deputy with the striking features that made her toes curl. He’d looked serious and drawn when Maggie had met him that day. She’d chalked it up to a cop thing. But there was probably more there. Much more, by the sound of it.

“He’s always running around after Zane to keep him from making the next big mistake. Trying to keep him out of trouble. Koda got into a lot of fights at school over his baby brother.” Candi’s smile widened at this, and Maggie couldn’t help but smile, too. “You should have seen them. These two skinny Indian boys, one hell-bent on taking on the world, the other hell-bent on protecting him from it.”

“And you liked Zane? Right away?”

Candi looked at Maggie, her eyes twinkling, her earrings glinting merrily. “Who wouldn’t like Zane right away?”

Maggie kept her mouth shut.

“He’s kind of like…” She paused, looking past Maggie now, into the night beyond the foggy windowpane. “He’s kind of like this force to be reckoned with. He draws you in before you even know what’s happened. Or, at least, that’s how it was with me.”

“Did you…date?”

“Not sure you could call it that. It was the summer between our junior and senior years in high school. One day he just looked at me different. Out of the blue. He didn’t even have to work at getting me into bed. We couldn’t keep our hands off each other for months. We were joined at the hip.” She winked. “So to speak.”

“Have you been together since?”

“Oh, no. There’ve been others in between breakups and jail time. The most persistent is one of Koda’s cop friends, Alan. He asked me out just the other day, but I think he knows there’s no real chance. Someday Zane will straighten out and want to settle down. And when he does, I’ll be there.”

Maggie swallowed. “Jail time?”

“A long time ago, Zane’s trouble making caught up and Koda was too late to help.” Candi looked pensive. “He started changing after high school. He’d disappear for long stretches of time, never told anyone where he was going or when he’d be back. Drove poor A crazy with worry. Koda worse.” She paused, taking another sip of coffee. “I never understood how he could hurt us like that. Especially me.”

“Of course.”

“Then one day, we got word that he’d stabbed somebody up north in a bar fight. Zane says it was self-defense, and maybe it was. But the guy almost died. Zane did six years. Hard time.”

Maggie’s mouth went slack.

“When he came back, he was different. Really different.”

“Different, how?”

Candi frowned and leaned away.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t push.”

“No,” Candi said, running her fingers lightly across her cleavage, as if making sure it was still there. “I don’t mind. I like talking to you. It feels like I’ve known you forever.”

It was such an open, honest statement, that Maggie felt it tug at her heartstrings. “Me, too.” It wasn’t a lie. She felt a connection with Candi, though why, she had no idea. She’d never been the kind to believe in fate and chance encounters. She supposed her mother was responsible for that. Things were what they were. Period.

But she was comfortable around this woman with the makeup and big hair. She was more comfortable with her than she’d been with anyone for a long time. Though she’d be hard-pressed to admit it, it almost felt like moments of talking with Aimee. And again, there was the familiar, unrelenting ache.

Candi smiled, and the glow was back. “Good.” Crossing her long legs, she set her mug on the table and wiped the lipstick off the rim. “How long do you think you’ll be in Wolfe Creek, Maggie?”

Maggie knew she should be vague and distant just like she’d planned. But something about Candi made her want to confide in someone. A friend. She’d only been in town for a few days, but the remoteness was already wearing on her.

“As long as it takes.”

“Really?”

Maggie nodded.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how can you do that? Don’t you have responsibilities at home? A job, a family?”

“I do. I do have all that. But I have a responsibility to Aimee, too.”

“And that stuff about writing something for the tourism bureau?”

“That was mostly for Gary’s benefit. Don’t think it worked, though. He might be smarter than he looks.”

“Doubt it.”

Maggie smiled. “It’s an interesting town, though. I didn’t lie about that. I came here prepared to hate everything about it. But it hasn’t exactly worked out that way. It’s strange.”

“This place grows on you,” Candi said. “If you really pay attention, you’ll see that most people here had a chance to leave at one point and make a life somewhere else. But they didn’t. And the ones who do end up leaving always seem to come back.”

Maggie looked up and noticed the barista watching them while wiping down the counter.

“I think someone’s listening,” Maggie whispered.

Candi looked over Maggie’s shoulder and wiggled her fingers. “Don’t worry about her,” she said under her breath. “But you’re gonna run into people who don’t like you, for no other reason than you’re from out of town.”

“You seem awfully friendly.”

“Well, I’m an ex-stripper who wears my heart on my sleeve. What can I say?”

Laughing, Maggie set her mug down. She was as full of coffee as she’d ever been. If she kept laughing, even a little, she was going to wet her pants. “Where’s the bathroom?”

“Down that hall, first door on the left.”

Maggie stood. “Be right back.”

The unisex bathroom was warm and cheerful. Small black-and-white photos of Paris and Rome hung on the walls and made it feel surprisingly exotic, as did a vase of dried flowers on the sink. But it was still a public restroom, and Maggie had developed a phobia of them since Aimee’s disappearance.

She dried her hands, tossed the paper towel in the garbage, and opened the door with her sleeve pulled over her fist, something her mother had taught her by the tender age of five. A rule of thumb when using the public potty that was right up there with “Don’t lick the walls.” It had stuck.

“Germaphobe?”

Startled, Maggie looked up to see Koda Wolfe leaning against the wall. The expression on his face was so like his brother’s that for a second she just stood there, caught off guard. His starched, long-sleeved uniform shirt fit like a glove and hinted at a nice physique underneath. The silver star on his chest practically glowed in the subdued light of the hallway, reminding her that he was in a position of universal power, no matter how small the town. She tried to think of something witty to say, but all that would come out was, “Uhh…”

His lips tilted. Not quite a smile, but not a frown, either. He looked different than he had at the café yesterday. Standing across from her now, close enough to reach out and touch if she’d wanted to, he almost seemed approachable. Almost.

“I was just using the bathroom,” she said. Brilliant.

“I see that. But I don’t think you want to go out there quite yet.”

His face was perfection. Had she noticed just how perfect yesterday? Maybe it was the way he was looking at her, like they were sharing some kind of private joke. Hesitant, she smiled up at him, drawn in by those dark eyes. By the way he seemed to be leaning toward her, just a little.

“I don’t?”

It wasn’t her imagination. He was leaning toward her. And all of a sudden, it was hard to take a full breath.

He reached out as if to put an arm around her waist. She could feel the heat of his breath against her face. What the…?

“Not unless you want to drag this along.”

He pulled something from the back of her jeans.

Maggie looked down to see a feathery strip of toilet paper in his hand. It took a second for this to sink in.

“Oh…my God.”

“Yeah.”

If there had been a hole anywhere near, she would have happily crawled in to die.

“Thank you,” she mumbled.

He stepped aside, letting her pass without another word. Which was just fine with her. She had no desire to make small talk with a man who’d just plucked Charmin from her jeans.

Maggie made it back to her chair with her cheeks still burning. She must have looked uptight because Candi frowned.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing. But I’d better get going.” The urge to leave the coffee shop at nothing less than a sprint was overwhelming.

“Why? Besides, Koda just came in. He’ll be back in a second. You can say hi.”

“I kind of already did. We bumped into each other in the bathroom.”

“Oh. That’s great, because you guys didn’t get off to the best start yesterday.”

Maggie looked at her shoes, not trusting herself with the toilet-paper story without laughing. Or crying. Or both.

“He’s not a bad guy,” Candi continued, mistaking the look on Maggie’s face for something else. “He’s really just a teddy bear underneath.”

Maggie wondered what else might be underneath before she could help it.

“Koda.” Candi glanced over Maggie’s shoulder and waved him over. She stood, adjusting the skirt, which had crept up her thighs. “Want to hang out for a minute?”

Maggie watched as Candi gave him a kiss on the cheek. She felt like an outsider. Which, of course she was.

“Can’t. I’m on patrol. But I’m glad I ran into you.” His gaze shifted toward Maggie.

“Yeah?”

“Aunt A is making dinner tomorrow. Wanted to see if you’d come.”

“Of course. Should I bring anything?”

“Just yourself.”

“You know,” Candi said, stepping back, “Maggie’s staying at the Inn. She doesn’t really know anyone in town yet. I’d love to bring her, if that’s okay.”

Horrified, Maggie stared at her. “Um…uh…I wouldn’t want to—”

Koda cut her off. “I really don’t think that’s a good idea.” His demeanor went rigid again. Formal. Apparently without toilet paper in the mix, he was going to be a tough nut to crack. “We wouldn’t want her to feel like a fifth wheel.”

Maggie shot him a look. It was one thing for her to say it. Another for him to. She wasn’t nearly as stubborn as her mother, but she’d never been one to back down from a challenge, either. And he was starting to represent a hell of one.

“Nonsense,” Candi said. “I know Aunt A wouldn’t mind. I’ll call her tonight.”

Frowning, he put a hand on the back of his neck and rubbed methodically. “I don’t think—”

“I’d love to,” Maggie said, and smiled sweetly.