Dodge the Bullet (5 page)

“That was very kind of you.”

Dodge shrugged. “I was hungry and it seemed
rude to show up empty handed.”

“Oh.” She sounded surprised. “I guess I can
light the grill.”

Dodge turned his attention back to Sarah.
She wore a pair of faded jeans, a button-down blouse that gaped
open with white tank top underneath. He noticed the small silver
medallion that hung from a leather rope cord around her neck. The
hair around her face was pulled back and the light from the
overhead fixture brought out the amber flecks in her green eyes.
She was pretty, too damn pretty to spend a cozy evening with and
walk without wanting more. Damn Thornton for getting him
involved.

He’d been worried about her ever since he
left her two days ago, all alone with no one to protect her. He
knew he should say no, he’d just take a quick look at the photos
and be on his way. But he hadn’t eaten all day and he knew she’d
have a thousand questions about anything he suggested. “Why don’t
you point me in the direction of the grill and I’ll light it for
you?”

When she smiled back at him, the relief he
saw in her eyes had the hair on the back of his neck tingling. He
had to remind himself that he wasn’t happy about being at her
ranch. He enjoyed being alone, or being alone around others like
when he ate almost every night at the diner in town. He was out
amongst the people but not mixing with them, just the way he liked
it.

Sarah led him to the deck and showed him the
grill. “I hope it still works.” She watched as he took the cover
off the grill and looked over the propane connection. He flipped a
switch after turning the dials to high and it fired right up.

“Good as new.” He looked out over the
railing to the view from the deck. “God, this is a beautiful piece
of property,” he said more to himself than to her. From the deck,
the river seemed only a few feet away and the sound the water made
cascading over the boulders and rocks of the riverbed was so
peaceful he had to fight the urge to close his eyes and rest his
tired bones in one of the deck’s many Adirondack chairs.

“Can I get you a beer?”

“That’d be great.” He didn’t look away from
the river and the mountains in the distance. She surprised him with
a good beer and a tray of assorted cheeses and crackers.

“Let me guess,” she said. “You don’t eat
cheese.”

“I eat cheese.” He smiled, took the tray
from her, and set it on the table next to his chair. “It’s been
awhile since any meal I’ve eaten was preceded by an appetizer.”

“I’d hardly call cheese and crackers and
appetizer, but if that’s your way of saying thank you, you’re
welcome.” Sarah took the seat opposite him, looking ready to jump
out of her skin.

Dodge sighed. It was the first time he’d had
a chance to sit down all day. “So tell me about your kids.”

When she grinned, Dodge watched her face
relax. “Well, Kevin’s 13, and according to my sister’s update this
morning, he now has a girlfriend.”

Dodge was glad to hear she had a son big
enough to keep her safe when others weren’t around. God knew he
would have killed someone who’d threatened his family when he was
13. “You don’t sound too happy about that.”

“It’ll obviously be short lived since he’ll
be living here in less than a week. But it seems weird to think of
him dating. I guess I never thought I’d have to go through this
kind of stuff alone.”

“You’ll be glad to know that the moment he
gets a girlfriend around here you’ll probably hear about it before
he gets home from school. You’re all going to have to get used to
the change.”

“I’m looking forward to the changes. Things
are complicated with Kevin. We don’t have the easiest relationship.
Jenny, my sister, she says we’re too much alike.”

“And you don’t agree?”

Sarah shrugged. “He knows how to push my
buttons and I know how to push his. Todd was always the one who
kept the peace, and now Lyle’s taken over his role.”

“Lyle?”

“He’s 11 going on 25.” Sarah beamed at him
as she sat back in the chair. “He’s Todd’s greatest legacy. I swear
that boy has none of me in him, but God help me, I’m so glad he’s
around to keep the peace between me and Kevin. Don’t get me wrong,
I love my sons equally. They’re very different and my relationship
with them isn’t the same.”

“So Kevin is like you and Lyle is like Todd,
who I’m guessing was your husband.”

“Yes.” She let out a sad sigh. “Kevin’s
determined, stubborn and resistant to change. He’s loyal to a
fault, and if you earn his respect he’ll defend you to the end of
the earth. But he’s a hard nut to crack. And Lyle, well, he’s the
easiest kid you’ll ever meet. He has a thousand friends, all his
teachers love him and his older brother can do no wrong.”

“It must have been hard on them, and you,
when your husband died.”

“You have no idea how hard.” She stared out
into the sky. They both turned to watch three geese fly overhead.
Her eyes flew back to his. “I’m sorry, Dodge, you may know exactly
how hard. I don’t know a thing about you.”

“Not much to tell.” Dodge shifted in his
seat and filled his mouth with an unusual cheese he didn’t
recognize and enjoyed the way the flavor of it blended with his
beer. He’d been pleased when Sarah had handed him a microbrew from
Oregon instead of one of the light beers everyone seemed to drink.
His family teased him unmercifully about buying high dollar beer.
His dad said all his travels had made him too big for his britches
and his sister’s said he drank expensive beer just to prove he was
better than everyone else.

Truth was, he didn’t drink that much anymore
and when he did, he wanted a drink with flavor. All the guys he
knew who drank the cheap national brands still drank beer just to
get drunk. He looked up and saw Sarah studying him. “What?”

“I just gave you the unabridged description
of my family and all you have to say is ‘there’s not much to tell?’
Surely you can give me more than that.”

He didn’t like talking about himself. The
truth wasn’t pretty. He didn’t know her well enough to tell her the
whole sordid story of his checkered past in Hailey. But if he told
her the basics and left out the sordid part, when she heard it from
the locals, as she was bound to do, it would seem like he was
avoiding the truth and make him seem guilty.

But she was looking at him like she wasn’t
going to leave it alone so he decided to start with the basics and
let the inevitable gossip find it’s way to her on its own. “I was
born and raised here. My dad still ranches, although he’s sold most
of the land we grew up on. My sisters are scattered all over the
valley.”

“How many sisters do you have?”

“Six.”

Sarah’s eyes grew wide. “You have six
sisters? My God, seven children? Your poor mother.”

Dodge chuckled. “My poor mother loved having
babies. She probably would have had more if she hadn’t gotten sick
when I was little. She died when I was three.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. It was a long time ago and from
what I’ve been told, she had a great life up until the end.

“What was it like growing up in such a big
family?”

“It was loud.”

###

Dodge gave Sarah the impression that he
didn’t want to discuss himself any longer. He unfolded his lanky
body from the deck chair and sauntered over to the grill, a clear
signal that Sarah was to fetch the steaks.

As he monitored the grill and looked around
the property from the deck, Sarah busied herself setting two places
at the kitchen bar and putting together a salad from her sparse
collection of fresh food. She’d stocked up on canned goods and
things for the freezer, but had only bought a few fresh items since
she hadn’t expected dinner companions for another week. Before
joining him on the deck, she retrieved the photos and survey
materials she wanted to show Dodge and set them on the counter near
his seat.

The two place settings looked cozy, almost
date-like. She didn’t want there to be any confusion about her
motives for inviting him over. He was very attractive, in a rough
and tumble kind of way, and she hadn’t expected him to bring
dinner. Although he hadn’t given her any indication that he found
her anything other than annoying, if her kids walked in and saw
them, she’d feel uncomfortable.

She got another beer from the refrigerator
and went to the deck to join him, but stopped at the threshold of
the door and just stared. The sun had slipped behind the hills to
the west and daylight had faded to dusk. Dodge stood at the edge of
the deck, his big hands braced on the cedar rail. Sarah could tell
that his eyes were closed and he appeared to drink in the sounds of
the river. The peacefulness that the bubbling flow brought to his
face took years off his usually hardened expression.

His brown hair didn’t have even a hint of
gray and while it was short, it had the shaggy appearance of a man
who couldn’t be bothered with regular haircuts. And that was kind
of how she thought of Dodge, as someone who couldn’t be bothered by
much of life’s little inconveniences. Yet there he stood, ready to
grill steaks that he’d brought for dinner and help her plot out a
future for her ranch.

He was a complete stranger. What had she
learned from him other than that he grew up in the valley and came
from a big family? Besides his cell number, she didn’t even know
where he lived or how to find him if she needed to. On some
instinctual level she trusted him. She still hadn’t researched
Tommy Thornton or his connection to Senator Burwick, and she
intended to. But the reticent man on her deck didn’t threaten her
and in some way his presence was oddly comforting.

Was Sarah attracted to him or was she lonely
all the way to her core? She never minded being alone, even before
Todd’s death. Unlike her sister, the family’s gregarious child, she
preferred solitude to the company of just anyone. Lately, quality
company was much harder to find.

Dodge opened his eyes and turned to see
Sarah staring at him. She felt her cheeks blush as she stepped onto
the deck.

“The steaks are almost ready.”

“Great.” Sarah could feel Dodge studying her
curiously. “I can tell you want to ask me something,” she said to
break his stare. “You may as well just spit it out. If I don’t want
to answer, I’ll tell you to mind your own business like you did a
few minutes ago when I asked about your family.” What was it about
him that made her so sassy? Why did talking to him without a
concern for what he thought feel so liberating?

“Are you sure you’re from the South?”

“Why do you ask?”

Dodge laughed and shook his head. “You’ve
just about ruined every stereotype I’ve ever had about southern
women.”

“Sorry to burst your bubble, but I’m a born
and bred southerner, although my family’s never owned a rebel flag.
Not everyone from the south has southern accents, you know.”

“You’ve got a little flavor to your voice,
but not much.”

“I’m from the suburbs. Metro Atlanta’s a
melting pot of northern subcultures.”

“So the south is full of yankee implants?
How delightful.”

“Spoken like a true southerner. Where’d you
get your southern state of mind?”

“I’ve traveled in the Northeast enough to
know I don’t ever want to live there.” Dodge moved to the
grill.

“You don’t like talking about yourself much
do you?” She noticed for the second time that he’d stopped talking
the moment the conversation moved in his direction.

“How do you like your steak?”

Sarah just stared at him. Why did he keep
everything so close to the vest?

“Too late for rare,” he said as he poked at
the smaller of the two. “I hope medium’s okay.”

“Medium’s fine.” She went inside to get a
plate for the steaks.

###

When Sarah turned her back and to go into
the cabin, Dodge let the smile he’d been trying to hide creep
across his face. Damn, that was one meddlesome woman. Most women
simply bored or annoyed him to death, but there was something her
he found very amusing. Maybe it was because he frustrated her so
much. She couldn’t seem to hide her displeasure with him and for
some reason he felt highly entertained by her reaction. He wasn’t
usually so ill-mannered with women, but she seemed to see right
through the malarkey he fed most people to keep them at a distance.
He’d gotten kind of used to being smarter than most of the people
around town. He needed to be on his toes around the alluring Mrs.
Woodward.

“I’m sorry,” she said as she emerged from
the cabin and handed him a plate, “for being rude to you.” Dodge
looked up but said nothing. “People at home have been patronizingly
nice to me since Todd’s death. I’ve gotten in the very bad habit of
being disrespectful to people to break through their pity.” She
fidgeted with her hands before shoving them in the back pockets of
her jeans. “Please don’t take my behavior as a personal
insult.”

Dodge smiled at her over the rim of his
beer. “Sarah, I’m pretty used to being talked down to by most of
the folks here in town. I don’t take any offense to the way you
talk. I’d much rather someone speak honest than sugar coat the
truth any day.” He ushered her inside the French doors and set the
plate brimming with steak down on the counter.

Sarah took the bar seat that Dodge pulled
out for her before taking his own seat. “Why do the people here
talk down to you?”

Damn, he shouldn’t have let that slip. He
needed to watch his tongue. “No reason in particular.” She’d hear
all about it soon enough and he was too hungry to ruin a good meal
with talk of his sordid past.

Sarah cut her steak into a fourth its
original size and placed the remainder on the platter. She did seem
to be enjoying what little was left on her plate. He looked down to
see he’d demolished most of his meal without much thought or
appreciation.