Reason Is You (9781101576151) (7 page)

“Not bad for you.” He pointed at my car with a lip curl. I swear, I didn’t imagine that. “This car is two months old.”

I imagined it being born, slapped on the ass. “I understand. I’ll take care of it. I’ll call my insurance company—”

“Well, give me your information,” he said, pulling his wallet out. I noticed his hands were rough. The wallet was worn. Not like someone you’d expect to drive a white cushy car. “I have to go into Restin this morning, I’ll get an estimate.”

I went back for my bag as two other cars crept by.
Really? That interesting?
I prayed that I had the most updated card.

“Please, God, don’t let me be a dumbass,” I whispered. God answered me with favorable results and I breathed a sigh of relief as I handed it to him. “Okay, here you go.”

He took off the sunglasses and peered at it, then me. I proceeded to write his info on the back of an old receipt I’d pulled from the floorboard with my phone. He pulled out his cell phone, took a picture of my card, and handed it back to me.

Well. Okay then.

“I’ll be in touch,” he said and strode back to his chariot and pulled away.

“Great,” I muttered, looking down at my scribbles. “Fucking great.”

I went to work, stocked lures, fielded phone calls, posted tide information, told some guy that speckled trout were biting on Rat-L-Traps and buzz tail grubs, and hoped no one was around to hear and know that I pulled that out of my ass.

On my non-lunch break as I munched a bag of Cheetos, I called the insurance company to tell them I was an idiot and that a Jason Miller would contact them. He already had. Of course.

I went out on Captain Hank’s boat. I’d never seen the south end of the river, so it truly was a tour. I didn’t get a hat or a list or anything laminated. What I got was a play-by-play of everything Hank had ever caught, tried to catch, or wanted to catch, with eighty-five “sugars” in there to sweeten the pot. On the bright side,
the water was calm and flat and Hank was all about trolling the sides, so I did okay.

By the time we got back, I was grateful to check the bait vats and sweep the floors. I went in the back way and checked the critters first and came up through the hall. I rounded the corner through the beads, smack into a hard body in jeans, T-shirt—and aviator sunglasses.

“Oh!”

“Jesus,” he muttered as I stepped on his foot.

“What the—are you following me?” I exclaimed as he took off the glasses. “I told you I’d take care of it.” It unnerved me that he was behind the counter with me.

Hard green eyes glared at me. “I just got here. What the hell are you doing here, and coming up the back way?”

“I
work
here, asshole.” I walked toward him, hoping to be intimidating. “You want to get on the other side of the counter, please?”

But he stopped, very still. “You what?”

Just then, Bob wobbled in with his heavy side-to-side gait, grinning. “Hey, Dani. Hey, Mr. Miller.”

“Bob.” His face visibly softened to nod a sideways grin at him, and in that tiny instant when he wasn’t scowling, he struck me as good-looking.

“Got everything set for the night, Boss. I’m gonna head over.”

I felt my eyebrows raise. “Boss?”

He turned back to me, and the troll was back. He held a hand out, his face set in stone, his eyes not blinking. It was like looking at a cyborg.

“Jason Miller. Owner. Manager. Asshole. I believe we’ve met.”

Oh, just beat me with a fucking stick.

“Dani Shane.” I shook his hand. “Am I still employed?”

He let my hand go and turned to run a report on the register. “So far. If you work better than you drive.”

I closed my eyes and focused on breathing. Tried not to be swayed by the thoughts that descended upon me, saying,
You don’t need this. You are above this. You don’t have to take shit from this petty peon
.

Because I did. I wasn’t anymore. And I had to. End of story.
Move on, Dani, suck it up
.

“Okay,” was what I managed to say instead, and I grabbed the broom so I could take my frustrations out on the floor. We did our things in silence till I left. Then I said good-bye, as I swung the door open.

“See you tomorrow,” he responded without looking up.

I let the door close behind me and thought about jumping in the river.

L
ESS
extreme measures called for junk food. Tapioca pudding. Chicken and dumplings. Cheese. Ice cream. Not necessarily in that order, but I needed to go to the store. There’d be a bigger store or even Walmart in Restin, but I was not in the mood for a twenty-minute drive up the highway with no air. The Market would have to do.

The bell hanging at the top of the door jingled as I went in, making me wonder if those things were required door attire. What stopped me short was the sight of Riley behind the counter.

“Um, hey.”

Riley lifted a hand lazily. “Hey.”

“Get bored at home?” Home. That just fell out of my mouth, and sounded so strange.

“Epically.” She looked around her. “Walked down here for some chips and ended up with a job.”

“You—really?”

At that moment a boy and girl appeared from around a corner.
She swiped quickly at her mouth as he fidgeted with his clothing and walked as if there were crawlies in his floppy jeans. The girl was blonde and pretty and probably perfectly figured, but it was hard to tell with the man’s overalls she had on.

“Hi, can I help you?” she asked, her voice soft and drawly.

I smiled. Or grimaced, maybe. “I’m good.”

“Why not?” Riley was answering. “Get some spending money. Not that there’s much to spend it on around here,” she added, nudging blonde girl so that she laughed as she took a seat next to Riley.

I stared at the girl, somewhat stunned into silence, then forced my attention back to Riley. “Okay.”

That’s all I could come up with. I stood rooted to the spot, not quite sure what to make of it. Not sure if it was a good thing. Money wasn’t a bad idea, but with Riley’s new bag of tricks, I wasn’t sure if being so
in public
was a good idea. Of course, not being such a chickenshit and telling her about it would have been a grand idea.

“I work noon to six every day but Sundays, so I’m almost off now.” She consulted her little black-and-white-checked watch. “Carmen’s been training me.”

Oh good. Blonde girl had a name and trained my Riley in what? Smiling? Fashion tips? How to blow the stock boy?

“Okay,” I repeated.

“So are you buying something, Mom?”

I felt the familiar prickle, and looked around. Nothing. No one.

“I—yeah. Chicken and dumplings tonight.”

“Cans are over there.” Carmen pointed to her right.

“Did I say in a can?”

Riley laughed. “Come on, Mom, really. Cans are over there.”

Ugh. I sucked. I rotted. I was the mother from hell. I snatched up a basket.

The store hadn’t changed much over the years. Low aisles you could almost see over. Odd organization of items, which when I was growing up, I didn’t realize was odd. I was amazed in my twenties to find out that chain grocery stores didn’t stock toilet paper next to the dairy items.

I grabbed chips, doughnuts, chocolate, ice cream, pudding, and every other kind of crap I could find. And finally the damn chicken and dumpling
cans
. And brought them up front just in time. To come eyeball to eyeball with the surprised snarky sideways smirk of Shelby Pruitt.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” she drawled. “Dani Lou Shane. I heard you were back.”

I had a quick thought that the day couldn’t get any worse, and I immediately shoved it away for fear that it might.
Nice thoughts. Nice thoughts
. I smiled, painfully aware of Riley’s gaze narrowing. She was too old, sometimes.

“Hey, Shelby. How are you?”

“Great. Married almost twenty years to Matty Sims. You remember Matty, right?”

Here we go again. I got a memory recall of Matty Sims and me in the nurse’s office. He was on the cot, and when she walked out, he pulled his dick out and wagged it at me. Wasn’t much to wag.

“Kinda.”

She chuckled the amused noise of someone who knows you’re lying. She was smarter than Lisa Lowe-whoever-she-was-now. Bitchier, too.

“So, what made you want to crawl back to Bethany?” she asked in her saccharin-sweet way. “Weren’t you some big shot somewhere?”

I scratched the back of my neck, that tingle still present, but there was no Alex or anyone else around.

“Yeah, well, I’m relocated now.”

“Relocated? At the Bait-n-Feed?” Then she giggled. I held on tight to my basket.

“Well, nice to see you again, Shelby,” I said as I moved forward. She looked down.

“Wow, a junk-food fest? I’m coming to your house.” Another giggle and an arm touch to show sister solidarity. Ya-ya. “Oh, that’d be your dad’s house, I mean.”

“That’s for me,” Riley chimed in, eyes ablaze.

I closed mine and prayed for that to go unnoticed. I loved her for catching on to the cattiness, but it wouldn’t go well. Shelby’s head swiveled to Riley and back to me. Ding! Ding! Ding!

“Oh wow, this is your daughter?”

“This is Riley.”

Shelby smiled at her then at me as if we were admiring a teapot. “She’s beautiful, Dani.”

I threw a glare at Riley, so she choked out, “Thank you. Nice to meet you.”

“Oh, you, too.” She looked at the counter with disdain and then lowered her voice. “Do you work here?”

When Riley just smiled and nodded, she added, “How sweet. How old are you?”

“Sixteen.”

“So’s my daughter, Micah.”

Of course she was. Evidently, we all popped them out the same damn year. I saw Carmen nudge Riley.

“She’s on the varsity cheer squad. We’re so excited.”

“I’ll bet.”

She turned back to me. “And did I mention that Matty is the coach?”

Shook my head. Nope. But we got it now. I tried again to move on and put my basket on the counter.

“So who’s the lucky guy?” Shelby asked, leaning over to check
out my hand. “Oh,” she said then, lowering her voice. “This was a divorce move?”

I pasted a smile on. I knew damn good and well that she knew damn good and well that I wasn’t married. I may not have made the rounds every year, but if she knew I was a big shot somewhere, then she knew the rest.

“Good to see you again, Shelby,” I said as I pulled items onto the counter.

There was a snarky little sound, and then, “Yeah, welcome back.”

I looked Riley square in the face when I answered, “Uh-huh.”

“What a bitch,” Riley whispered when Shelby had moved out of earshot.

I stopped, mid-grab to my wallet. “Watch your mouth.”

“Micah’s just like her, too,” Carmen said. She cast her eyes down as I met her gaze, as if she didn’t mean to spew forth sound.

Riley took her time ringing me up, a snarky grin on her face as she handed me my change.

“Wow,” I said, holding up the bills. “There’s something new, you giving money back.”

The bell jingled again, and in walked Miss Olivia, sporting a white pantsuit with her straw hat.

“How goes it, Dani girl?” she asked as she rested her giant purse on the counter.

Riley sat back in her chair and looked amused. I took a breath and then just laughed. I had to.

“That good, huh?” she continued. “The job?”

“It’s okay.” I patted her arm. “It’s all okay.”

She did a double take when she saw the girls. “My God, you weren’t kiddin’. This girl looks twenty-one or more.”

Of course Riley beamed on that. “Hey, Miss O.”

“And how old would you be now?”

“I would be twenty-one or more.”

Miss Olivia guffawed at that, throwing her head back. “Oh yeah, girl, you are your momma’s offspring.”

We all laughed except Carmen, who sat there looking sweet and confused. Probably bummed that Riley wouldn’t be going to school with her now that she was suddenly an adult.

“Well, my nephew’ll be here in a few days, and he’s
only
seventeen, so try to go easy on him, all right?”

“You have a nephew my age?”

Miss Olivia opened one of her bags and tossed a few seeds in her mouth. “He’s my niece’s son. Just sounds less ‘old woman’ than great-nephew, don’t you think?” She threw the bags on the counter and dug for money as Riley rung her up and Carmen continued to smile pretty. “You two need to come over for supper when Grady gets here. I’ll call you.” And she was gone.

Riley looked at me. “Grady? Really?”

I gave her a look. “It’s after six; are you off?”

She looked at Carmen, who nodded and yawned. “I am, too, but I’ll wait for Mrs. Shumaker to come back and relieve me, go ahead. There’s nobody in here but Micah’s mom, anyway.”

“And the guy in the flip flops.”

Carmen frowned. “Who?”

“Blue shirt and flip-flops, beard, spiky hair.” Riley gestured to the back corner. “He was back there looking at magazines, probably still is.”

She shook her head and shrugged. “Never saw him. Oh well.”

Hello. My alert went up, and as we exited, I knew I was on borrowed time. That clock would become a bomb if I didn’t take some action.

And right on cue, there was my action. Alex strolled up as we approached my car, and my heart jumped so hard I felt the knock.

“Ladies,” he said softly, smiling that way of his that made me
sweat. This time the sweat was for a far different reason, as I whirled in place to see if we had an audience.

“Mom, what are you doing?”

“Nothing,” I breathed. “Alex, what are you doing here? Are you trying to kill me?”

“Not today.” He sat on the hood of my car with his shit-eating grin. Cute. He was in a playful mood. Groovy.

“You again?” Riley asked.

I ignored her. “Well, Shelby’s in there, so—”
So please take the hint and scram
.

“Shelby! Damn, that’s been a while.”

Riley looked from me to Alex and back again. “Please stop talking in code,” she said loudly, then gestured toward him. “And what, do you just really like that outfit?”

He gave her his full mischievous attention, eyes flashing. “Men don’t have
outfits
, sweetheart, but yes, I do, matter of fact. Do you?”