Missy's Moment (The West Series Book 4) (20 page)

His business was taking off, and he had a string of jobs waiting for him. He’d had to start taking bookings since he was losing track of all the jobs.

Missy had helped him organize his books and schedule. They had set up a small office for him in one of the bedrooms and had talked about getting him a laptop so he could do all his scheduling online.

He turned and watched her drive up in her new car, a four-door this time. He liked that it was a bigger car but wished she’d gone with a truck. She’d stuck to the smaller one for better gas mileage.

He waved to her and tied the horse he’d been working with to the fence. He hopped the fence and placed a kiss on her lips. “How was your day?”

She smiled up at him. “Good.” Then she frowned. “I heard from my friend in Houston.”

“Hmm?” He brushed her hair away from her face gently. He would never tire of touching it, of seeing her eyes melt when he did.

“About seeing your brother.”

He stilled then nodded.

“She told me that the police had showed up less than an hour after they’d moved man who had been shot to a private room, and they’d removed him.”

“What does that mean?”

She shrugged. “It could mean a couple things.”

He dropped his arms and took a few paces away from her.

“Did you get his name?”

She shook her head. “He hadn’t provided one. We had him down as John Doe. But I was right about the date and description. Some of us put our notes about noticeable details. Several of the nurses had written green eyes, brown hair, and a small scar above his left eye.”

He stopped pacing and turned to her. “Left eye?” She nodded and he felt his stomach turn. “Ryan.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” He closed his eyes and remembered his brother’s face. “I gave it to him.”

“Well, Carol—that’s the head nurse that works in Houston—she says that it was noted that the police came and took him away. They claimed he was dangerous.” She looked down at her hands, and he felt his world spin. His brother, his twin had turned out worse than their old man. No! He wouldn’t believe it until he saw it for himself.

“I think it’s time I hired someone to find him. I won’t believe it until I see it for myself.”

She smiled and nodded. “I was hoping you’d say that.” She pulled out a piece of paper from her purse. “Here.”

“What is it?” He looked down at it and frowned.

“It’s a receipt for hiring a private detective.” She smiled. “I talked to my father and he highly recommends this man. I guess he represented him a long time ago.” She waved her arm. “Anyway, dad swears he’s the best.”

“You hired a detective to find my brother?” When she nodded, he pulled her closer to him and kissed her. “You are the best.”

She smiled up at him. “I know.”

He laughed.

Holly was going mad. It had been two weeks since she’d shut down the old bookstore and moved. Two weeks of living in a strange place, in someone else’s apartment. Two weeks of the daily stress of coordinating and working with all the contractors and laborers. Two weeks without work. But, other than a sore back from sleeping in a strange bed, she was loving every minute of it.

She couldn’t stop herself from rushing down to the old brick building she’d known her entire life and seeing the work that was being done on it. Sure, currently it didn’t look much different than when the tornado had ripped through town over two years ago. But, if you looked closely, you could see a method to the madness.

There were two large dumpsters in the back alley behind what was going to be her new business. On several occasions, they had been full to the top and hauled away, replaced by two new empty ones.

As she stood in the middle of the building her mother and her had worked all their lives in, she couldn’t help but smile. It was an early Sunday morning in late fall and she knew the place would be quiet. She loved coming here when the workers weren’t banging around, making messing. She could actually see the vision she and Mr. Nolan had designed.

Who would have known that the old mayor had an architecture background? Not her, but when she finally built up enough nerve to ask him about updating his building, he’d not only jumped on board, but had fronted the entire cost himself. Sure, the building was his and he could do whatever he wanted with it, but she never expected him to include her tiny apartment upstairs in all the plans.

“Why not redo the whole place?” He’d said, walking around the downstairs. “In the last two years there’s been more repair on your apartment than down here. If we’re going in for a penny, why not a pound and do it all.”

She’d jumped at the chance, of course. He’d been right; her apartment was in dire need. The roof leaked during heavy storms and some of the old wood floorboards had come up. She’d covered them with rugs, but still she tended to stub her toes on them if she wasn’t careful. All of the plumbing and electric for the entire building was in dire need. She lost electricity more often due to not enough volts going through the breaker box.

So, Mr. Nolan and her had marched down to the bank and signed an agreement that the town’s lawyer, Grant Holton had written up. The next week she started receiving bids on the construction and moved everything out, including herself. At least until everything was completed and according to the latest news from her contractor wouldn’t be until sometime early spring.

She looked around and smiled. She didn’t mind all the mess and hassles her life was in right now, especially since she knew what it would look like afterwards. Her furniture and the bookstores inventory were in storage, tucked away until next spring when she could open Holly’s. The first bookstore slash coffeehouse slash wine bar to grace the small town of Fairplay Texas.

“Dreaming of what it will look like when it’s done?” She heard behind her, causing her to jump a little.

“Oh,” she rested her hand over her heart. “Mr. Nolan, I didn’t expect you.”

The older gentlemen stood in the doorway, his hands tucked into his pants, looking tired. She’d known Roy Nolan all of her life, he’d been the town’s mayor for as long as anyone could remember, that was until his wife of thirty plus years had gone plane nuts. Then he’d quietly stepped down as mayor and retreated into his large white home just a few blocks from there. His only child, Travis had left town the same night they had hauled his mother away to the state penitentiary. No one in town had heard from him since. All thought it was rumored that Savannah Douglas has visited him on several occasions in the past few months.

“It looks a mess now. Doesn’t it girlie?” He said, using her nickname for her as he walked into the empty room. All the walls were gone and the hardwood floor was completely ripped up, leaving only cement.

“I can still see the potential.” She turned and looked at him. “Especially with all the wonderful drawings you did.” She smiled.

He nodded. “Well, girlie, you had a wonderful idea for this place. I had big dreams for this town.” He sighed and looked out the large front windows towards Main Street.

She walked over and rested her hand on his arm. “This is a wonderful first step.”

He nodded. “I had hoped that…” He started and then shook his head.

“What?” She waited.

“I had hoped that Travis would come back. He loved this town. Everything I’ve worked so hard for…” He paused again and Holly felt his arm stiffen. “Everything I did was for that boy.”

She started to worry when he began shaking.

“Mr. Nolan? Are you alright?” She gripped his arm tighter, but he seemed to just look off into the distance.

When he hunched forward and started to fall, she gripped tighter, trying to hold him upright, but the man’s massive frame was no match for her tiny five-four. He hit the floor hard, causing her to land on her knees.

When she looked over, she saw that his face had gone completely white. Rushing up to him, she rolled him over onto his back and listened for a heartbeat. When she couldn’t find one, she rushed over to where she’d set her purse down and pulled out her cell phone and dialed 911 as she knelt beside him again.

“Hang on Mr. Nolan, help is on the way.” She reassured him, holding his hand in hers as a tear slipped down her face.

T
ravis stood in front of his old house and hated being there. It was too dark to see anything clearly, especially since all the lights in the massive place were out. Too many memories flooded his mind. He wanted to escape them, but he knew he couldn’t, not until all his business was done and he could start fresh.

It had been almost a month since he’d gotten word that his father had passed away from a massive heart attack. It had taken his father’s lawyer almost two weeks to track him down in Montana. The fact that the man was his ex-fiancée Alexis’ husband had just been the icing on the bitter cake he’d been eating for the last four years.

He grabbed his duffel bag from the rental car and started walking towards the house. But instead of heading to the big house, he circled around the back and climbed the sitars to his old apartment above the garage. It was just past midnight and his flight had been delayed due to a thunderstorm in Colorado. He was exhausted.

Dropping his bag inside the door, he took a few steps into the apartment and knew instantly that he wasn’t alone. Every muscle in his body tensed as he scanned the dark room. In the last two years, there had been plenty of fights and as he prepared his body for the blows, his mind refused to hear the signal his nose was sending to him.

The first blow skimmed his jaw, sending him back a few steps. When he reached out with his fist, he thought he’d connect with something. Instead, he hit only air. The next blow took him by surprise in his gut, forcing him to reach out and grab what he could of his attacker.

When he grabbed a hold of clothes, he stepped back to flip his assailant over, but tripped on his duffel bag and ended up on the ground. He’d taken his assaulter down with him so he rolled a few times until he ended up on top.

“What are you doing in my house?” He demanded at the same time a fist came up and connected with his left eye. He moaned with pain just as the body underneath him stilled.

“Your house?”

It was a woman’s voice, causing him to momentarily drop his guard.

She shoved his shoulder and leg hard until he fell off her. He landed on the floor holding his throbbing left eye.

Then the lights flipped on and there by the door to his apartment stood a warrior. Her long red hair flowed down past her breasts, which were covered nicely with a teal tank top and matching shorts.

“Travis?” She stood looking down at him.

He dropped his hand away from his face and looked at her with watery eyes. “Do I know you?”

She shook her head and put her hands on her hips. “Holly Bridles.” He just looked at her. “I run the bookstore.”

“Sure you do.” He said getting up off the ground. “That doesn’t explain what you’re doing in my house?”

She sighed. “I live here.” She looked around the apartment and for the first time he realized it was clean. Clean, cleaned. Everything of his was gone, except the furniture his parents had bought him when he’d moved out of the big house.

He groaned. “That’s just great.” He turned and looked at her again.

She was still standing by the front door and he wondered why his father would have rented the place out to a librarian.

“I guess I didn’t know he rented the place out.”

“He didn’t.” She said quickly. His eyebrows shot up. “I’m not renting the place.”

Well that cleared it up, he thought. It was bound to happen, after all the ink on his parents’ divorce had been dry for almost three years now. His father was bound to have moved on. He looked at the woman’s skimpy outfit and smiled a little. Way to go dad, he thought. Then he frowned as she stepped further into the light. What was a man in his late sixties doing with someone so young?

“I didn’t know you were going to be back.” She crossed her arms over her chest, no doubt because he’d been staring at those lovely tits of hers.

He blinked and stepped closer. Her hands dropped and rested by her sides in fists and he wondered how such a small package could pack such a big punch.

“I guess I’ll head over to the big house until we sort this all out.” He bent to pick up his duffel bag. When he stood back up, he noticed her biting her bottom lip with worry. He turned and walked out of his apartment without another word.

Okay, he told himself on the short walk towards the back door of the big house, new list. As he opened the back door of the massive house, he listed them off in his mind. Get rid of dad’s hussy, which was really too bad since he could have used the detraction while he was in town, sell the house, and get the hell out of Fairplay Texas.