Taking Charge (2 page)

Cole looked at her,
seeming uncertain whether she was serious. Robyn laughed out loud
at his bewildered look.

“We have a complicated
relationship. Gum?” she offered, taking the packet from the pocket
of her jeans.

“No thanks,” Cole
replied.

“
So, you know
why
I’m
here…why are
you
going to Hicksville?” Robyn asked in a whisper.

“
I got a
job
there
,” Cole
informed.

“
Really? So you
must be able to
repair
boats.”

“No.”

“Cars?”

“No.”

“You’re not a cop, are you?”

“No.”

“Then you must be a realtor or a bartender, because
that’s all that’s left,” Robyn answered with a confident nod.

“Not exactly,” Cole answered.

“Can you work a bar?”

“Sure.”

“Then I might need your mobile number.”

“What?” Cole asked, confused.

“Sorry, I mean cell phone number. Nine years in
England and all my terminology is up the shoot,” Robyn told
him.

“I thought you had kind of a weird accent thing going
on,” Cole admitted.

“Yeah, this is what half English half American sounds
like. I need to practice getting my pronunciation of ‘water’
sounding right or no one is going to understand a word I say,”
Robyn said.

“So, why would you need a bartender?”

“My dad owns a roadhouse, and things aren’t going so
well. Pam…she’s my auntie…says there’s three regulars and a goat in
there most nights at the moment. I can’t see three people drinking
enough to pay the bills, and I don’t know enough about the drinking
habits of goats to comment on him…or her. I guess it could be a
her.” Robyn shrugged.

“So, what are you gonna do?” Cole inquired.

“I’m going to take charge, of course. Just need to
get a team together I can trust and get rid of the deadwood.
Apparently she goes by the name of Nancy, and has a tattoo on her
navel…hi there, here’s my ID and my ticket,” Robyn said as they
approached the American Airlines desk.

“Thank you, Ma’am…here’s your boarding pass, you’re
all set.”

“Thanks.”

Robyn turned her attention back to Cole. “Here, let
me take that. I’ll save you a seat,” she said, as she hauled her
backpack from Cole’s shoulder and headed off toward the boarding
gate.

“It’s over three hours
by car, you know. Three long hours. A thirty-minute plane hop like
this is so much more civilized, don’t you think?” Robyn said,
sipping from her can of Coke.

She was so close to
home now, it was both unnerving and exciting. Half of her couldn’t
wait to see Portage and all the places she had missed. The other
half of her was concerned being there again would bring back
memories of the past, and not all of them were good.

“I don’t know. I like
seeing new places. You know, little towns along the way you would
never normally see,” Cole replied.

“Three hours on I-94
and you’d change your mind. And there aren’t any little towns on
that route, just gas stations and branches of Bob Evans’ diners,”
Robyn answered.

“You’ve done it
before?”

“Yeah, when we left,”
Robyn replied as her mind traveled back.

Her dad had driven her
and her mother to Chicago O’Hare airport. Her parents had yelled at
each other most of the way, and the rest of the time Country Drive
FM was on at full volume.

“He shouted a lot and
sang Kenny Rogers,” Robyn said, thinking out loud.

“He sounds like quite a
character,” Cole answered.

“Sorry, I’m rabbiting
on, aren’t I? You don’t want to hear all about my messed up
family.”

“Rabbiting?” Cole
queried.

“Going on, talking too
much, hind leg, donkey,” Robyn replied.

“Maybe you’re nervous,”
Cole suggested to her.

“Nervous? Me! What do I
have to be nervous about?” Robyn exclaimed, taken aback by his
suggestion.

Scared to death was
probably closer to the truth, but she didn’t want a stranger
getting perceptive. Even a good-looking stranger.

“Seeing your dad again?
Taking control of the roadhouse?” Cole prodded.

“No, piece of cake! Now
the ice hockey team, that might be more of a challenge,” Robyn
answered, finishing her drink.

“Hockey?”

“Yeah, my dad manages
the local team, the Portage Panthers. My dad’s friend, Grant, has
been looking after things while Dad’s been ill and results have
taken a real nosedive. I haven’t been able to do that much checking
up in England, but Pam taped a couple of games and sent them to me.
They were dire,” Robyn informed.

Dire was actually
verging on the optimistic side. It was so awful, she’d sat in her
flat at home, viewing the game through her hands. The team seemed
to have forgotten how to play. They lost the puck constantly,
couldn’t seem to stand up to the slightest challenge, and as for
actually netting anything—well it seemed beyond them.

“So what are you gonna
do?” Cole inquired.

“I’m going to take
charge, obviously. Aren’t you getting the whole theme of my visit
yet?” Robyn asked.

“I should have guessed.
But do you know anything about managing an ice hockey team?” Cole
asked.

“About managing? No,
absolutely nothing. Apart from what my dad does. That’s basically
scream a lot and bang his fists against the Perspex. I play
though…well I used to play,” Robyn said.

“Really?”

“You didn’t try very
hard to keep the patronizingly surprised tone out of your voice. I
think you need some practice with that,” Robyn said.

“Whoa! Are you trying
to say I’m sexist?” Cole asked.

“Aren’t you?” Robyn
asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

“No,” Cole
insisted.

“Not convincing me,”
Robyn said.

She looked out of the
window and saw Lake Michigan slip out of view and Kalamazoo County
come into sight. Familiarity tugged at her. She was nearly
home.

“So where are you
staying?” Cole asked.

“With Pam and my Uncle
Bob. Nancy, with the decorated navel, lives with Dad now,
apparently. She’s probably turned the house into a piercing parlor
or a dope den or something,” Robyn answered.

“You don’t have a very
high opinion of her,” Cole stated.

“I’ve never met her,
but in the last nine years, my dad’s had a succession of unsuitable
women. I can’t imagine someone called Nancy with tattoos and
piercings is going to be any different,” Robyn said.

“You need a ride
anywhere? I’m picking up a car,” Cole told her.

“No thanks, I’m good.
Anyway, here’s you knowing all about me and my character of a
father…I still want to speak to your mother. I need reassurance
that she isn’t decomposing in a cellar,” Robyn reminded him.

“She was very much
alive when she was bear-hugging me at the airport and ordering me
to vacuum at least twice a week,” Cole assured her.

“Twice a week, huh? She
has high expectations.”

“And what did your mom
say to you before you left?” Cole wanted to know.

Her mom. It sounded
strange someone referring to her mother. She hadn’t thought about
her for years, hadn’t seen her for longer. She was like someone who
had been there in name only. Then, when Robyn hit eighteen, she
considered her role had come to an end and she terminated the part
like an employment contract.

“We’re not in contact.
She married husband number three and they moved. Wales, I think,
but who knows? She could be in Vegas or somewhere. That would be
right up her alley.”

“Oh man, sorry, I just
assumed…” Cole began to apologize.

“It’s fine. I don’t
need anyone to tell me how many times to hoover,” Robyn replied
with a smile.

He smiled back at
her.

“You’re cute. Are you
married?” Robyn asked bluntly, looking at Cole and noticing again
the dark eyes and wide mouth.

“Married? No!” Cole
said, laughing.

“What’s so funny?”
Robyn wanted to know.

“Well, because I’m only
twenty-five and…well, I’ve never really thought about it,” Cole
answered.

“Everyone thinks about
it.”

“Girls maybe, not
guys.”

“My friend, Sarah, she
talked about it all the time in high school. She even had a folder
with magazine cuttings of potential dresses and some silver tuxedo
gross out thing she wanted her groom dressed in. Ugh!”

“
So that must
mean
you
think about
it.”

“Yeah, I think about
it. I think how glad I am I’m never going to go down that road.
What a ridiculous situation to be in…tying yourself to someone else
forever. Besides, it never works.” Robyn scoffed.

Cole smiled at her.

“Girlfriend, then? I
mean, you can’t look like you do and not have a girlfriend,” Robyn
said, still absorbing the firm jaw and well-built shoulders.

“No. Not at the
moment.”

“Ah, so you’ve just
broken up with someone.”

“No,” Cole denied.

Robyn raised her
eyebrow at him unconvinced. She could read him already, and the
eyes were honest, she was sure of that now.

“It was a few months
ago,” Cole admitted.

“Was it serious?” Robyn
asked.

There was something in
his tone that made her curious. There was definitely more to his
story.

“No, not really.”

“Did you live
together?” Robyn probed.

“No. Look…I’m not
really comfortable talking about it,” Cole said.

He looked flustered and
the easy manner and smile had almost evaporated. The girlfriend had
hurt him bad.

“Listen, who would you
rather? Me or Oprah?”

A hint of a smile
played on his lips.

“Anyways, I’ve been
good enough to tell you half my life story, why can’t you tell me
about your girlfriend? I mean, you carried my bag about a mile. In
my town, that makes us almost related.”

“It just wasn’t the
best break up,” Cole admitted as the plane came in to land.

“Who dumped who?” Robyn
continued, turning to him almost enthusiastically.

“It wasn’t that clear
cut.”

“
Well,
what
was
it
like?”

“
She was seeing
someone else,” Cole admitted. A sad expression and a heaviness
to
his
words told her
everything.

“
That’s low. Was
it someone you knew? Work colleague? I bet it was a work colleague,
wasn’t it?
Their
eyes
met over the boardroom table and they just couldn’t help
themselves.”

“
My brother,”
Cole
answered
, his eyes
meeting hers and locking there.

Not even Robyn could find the words to respond
straight away to that. She concentrated on looking out the window
and watched as the ground came closer and the wheels of the jet
touched down.

She talked too
much, that she knew, particularly when she was scared to death. It
was easy to focus on something else, in this case
someone
else. Taking the lead in conversation meant she could boss the
flow, leaving little space for anyone to direct the questioning at
her. She’d give a little but never everything. If she was honest,
she wouldn’t know where to start with
everything
.

“You know, I don’t know
your brother, but I can’t imagine he’s got more going for him than
you. I mean, you’re cute and you’re funny and you carried a
damsel’s bag. It doesn’t get any better than that in my opinion,”
Robyn finally spoke up as the plane taxied to a gate.

“Thanks,” Cole replied,
his smile returning.

“Did you fight?” Robyn
inquired suddenly.

“What?”

“You and your brother.
Did you have a scrap? You know, fisticuffs, slugging it out? Bit of
roughing?” Robyn asked, punching her arms forward to demonstrate.
She made the noises of someone sparring in a boxing ring and got a
few concerned looks from other passengers.

“Not really.”

“
Oh my God.
You
so
did. Who won?
You did, didn’t you! He begged for mercy and he cried! Oh God, he
so cried, didn’t he?” Robyn rambled on with a little too much
excitement.

“They’re going to open the doors,” Cole said as a
clear distraction as people stood up to remove their bags from the
overhead bins.

“
Don’t feel
guilty about it. Sometimes people need a bit of rough justice, even
family. What am I talking about?
Especially
family! They’re the worst. Think they can treat
you like crap whenever they feel like it, walk all over you, and
then ask for help when they need it. I’m not a fan of that way of
thinking myself. Tell it like it is and say what you think, I say.
There’s no time to fanny about around people,” Robyn said with a
nod.

“Fanny about?”

“Shit, I do need to
find the American in me, don’t I? I need to remember I want fries
with my steak, not chips. Chips over here are crisps in the UK and
a swede, well a swede is a rutabaga!” Robyn spoke as she almost
buckled under the weight of her bag.

“Are you sure you don’t
need a ride?” Cole offered, steadying her backpack for her.

“No, I’m good. Pam
should be waiting for me,” she said.

“Well, I guess I’ll see
you around, Robyn Matthers,” Cole said as they prepared to leave
the plane.

“Sure. Hey, Eddie’s
Roadhouse, it’s on Shaver Road if you fancy beer…or if you want to
ditch your job and work a bar,” Robyn told him.

“I might just drop by,”
Cole replied.

“Good. Then you can
tell me the full story about you and your brother,” Robyn
answered.