The Keeping (26 page)

*****

Parking the car
outside the diner, Mel suddenly hesitated, her hand on the key.
Lucy would be inside, working. Damn! How could she have forgotten
her new friend? Double damn! Mel closed her eyes as guilt washed
over her; she’d had sex with Lucy’s man this morning and broken one
of her own basic rules: no poaching. What kind of a person was she,
to let something like that completely slip her mind? She almost hit
the steering wheel in frustration, but caught herself at the last
moment, not wanting a repeat of the ‘stuck horn’ incident. Instead,
she curled her hands into fists, her nails digging into her palms.
The pain was a welcome penance for her misdeeds.

Through the
window, she could see Lucy serving the various tables. The woman
was laughing at something one of the customers said, while
skillfully balancing a heavy tray of food in one hand and pouring
coffee with the other. Lucy really was something. Once you got past
the slightly ungrammatical speech, layers of makeup, bleached
blonde hair, and too tight tops, there was a warm, generous person
underneath. A person who willingly offered friendship to a
newcomer...and Mel had betrayed her.

Ryne and Lucy
were... Well, Mel wasn’t quite sure exactly what they were, but
they were something. And now she felt awful. Ryne was Lucy’s
property, despite what the woman might say otherwise. Who in their
right mind wouldn’t want Ryne? Lucy had seen him first and so it
should have been hands off. Mind you, Ryne laid his hands on Mel
first, but she didn’t do much protesting. Mel’s stomach clenched.
Why hadn’t she thought of this sooner? And what should she do about
it now? If she told Lucy, the woman would be hurt, yet if she
didn’t tell her, someone else might.

Would Ryne say
something to the waitress next time he saw her? No, he didn’t seem
like the kiss and tell type. But what about Daniel and Bryan? They
both knew something had gone on this morning, if their knowing
grins were any indication. Mel flushed remembering how Bryan had
looked at her and winked. Still, they probably wouldn’t mention the
matter to Lucy, either.

Okay. So the only
way Lucy would find out, would be if Mel told her and she certainly
wouldn’t do that, would she? But if she didn’t, it was lying by
omission and Mel didn’t like to lie to her friends. Yet the truth
might hurt more than the lie. Minutes passed while Mel wavered back
and forth. Finally, she huffed in exasperation at herself, got out
of the car and went inside, deciding to gently broach the subject
of having lunch with Ryne yesterday and gauge Lucy’s reaction. If
there was any spark of jealousy then...well...she wasn’t sure what
she’d do, but at least she’d have a better sense of Lucy’s
feelings.

Entering the
diner, Mel slid onto her usual chair, picked up the menu, and
studied it, all the while watching for Lucy out of the corner of
her eye. It was busy in the diner, no one apparently wanting to
cook on Sunday night. Good, Mel thought. Lucy would have less time
to spend chatting. Stiffening her spine, Mel made a selection and
waited, with only a minor sense of impending doom, for the waitress
to arrive.

“Hey, Mel! You
don’t usually come this late. Did you have a busy day?” Lucy
bustled up; a blonde curl bobbing up and down beside her ear was
the only evidence that the woman had been working hard this shift.
She leaned her hip against the table top as if she planned to stay
for a few minutes.

“Umm, yeah. I was
busy working on questions for my article.”

“The one with
Ryne? How did your meeting go with him?” Lucy’s eyes sparkled with
interest.

“Meeting?” Mel
could feel heat creeping up her neck. The meeting was what had
started the whole mess.

“Yeah—the one
Harley delivered the message for? Or did the big storm keep you
from going? I heard there were some trees down across the roads and
some power lines too.” She frowned and tucked the wayward curl
behind her ear.

Mel swallowed, but
forced herself to answer calmly. “No, the storm didn’t stop me from
going to Ryne’s house.” It only kept me from leaving, she added in
her head.

“Great. I’ve never
been to his place—oh damn! Table six wants more coffee. I’ve got to
go. Do you know what you want? The chicken parmesan is really
tasty.”

“That sounds
good.” Mel agreed not recalling what she’d previously selected,
just thankful Lucy had to leave before she asked any more
questions.

“Great. I’ll be
back in just a minute.” As she walked away, Lucy yelled Mel’s order
into the kitchen and the cook grunted in reply.

Mel nibbled on her
thumb nail and when she realized what she was doing, clutched her
hands together in her lap. She hardly ever chewed her nails
anymore, which just went to prove how guilty she was feeling over
Ryne. Hopefully all the customers in the diner would be very
demanding and leave Lucy no time for idle chatter. Squeezing her
eyes shut, she sent up a little prayer to that effect and then
slowly opened her eyes to check the results of her missive.

As per usual, it
had the exact opposite effect that she’d hoped for. A table of
eight diners were standing up preparing to leave and two smaller
parties were also showing signs of finishing their meal.

“Here you go, Mel.
Enjoy. I’ll be back later to chat.” Lucy breezed by and set a plate
of food in front of her.

With little
appetite left, Mel placed her napkin in her lap, and picked up her
utensils. Half-heartedly she began to cut the chicken into small
pieces, but only pushed them about her plate, making a show of
actually caring what was in front of her. Damn, damn, damn. Why had
she given in to Ryne this morning? If only she’d been stronger, if
only she’d thought before she’d acted...

“How’s that
dinner?” Al called out to her from the serving window between the
kitchen and dining area, causing Mel to start in surprise. She
looked at her plate. The food was now in small enough pieces that
even a baby could eat it.

“Delicious.” Mel
answered Al’s question, pasting a smile on her face, and popping a
piece of food into her mouth. She chewed with feigned enthusiasm.
It probably tasted wonderful, but at the moment she was sure
sawdust would have been just as palatable. Taking a sip of water,
Mel washed the chicken down then stared unseeing at the food in
front of her again. To tell Lucy or not to tell Lucy, that was the
question. Now, if she only knew the answer.

She ran through
the imaginary conversation in her head. “Hey, Lucy. I have
something to tell you. I’m really sorry. It wasn’t supposed to
happen, but... I had sex with Ryne this morning.”

“What was that,
Mel?”

Mel blinked and
realized Lucy was standing in front of her. Oh no! Had she really
spoken those words out loud? Surely not.

“You had sex with
who
this morning?” Lucy grinned, slid into the empty chair
opposite Mel, and leaned in close, resting her elbows on the table
top. She was obviously eager for a juicy bit of gossip.

“Er...no one.”

“You had sex with
no one? You mean you were...um...self-servicing?”

“No!” Mel felt
heat rising in her face at the assumption.

“Hey, no need to
be embarrassed. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. If you’re
all tensed up and—”

“Lucy!” Mel slunk
down a bit in her seat and hoped no one could overhear the
conversation.

“Then who? And
don’t give me any of that ‘no one’ business. I can see a love bite
on your neck.”

Mel clapped her
hand to her neck. She hadn’t notice that when she took a
shower!

Lucy giggled,
sounding immensely pleased with herself. “Gotcha! Relax, there’s
nothing there. I was just tricking you into revealing the truth.
You did have sex with someone, though. Now give. Which local stud
got lucky?”

With a sinking
feeling in her stomach, Mel stared down at the table and whispered
the truth. “I’m really sorry, Lucy. I hate to have to be the bearer
of bad news. I didn’t mean to but...I had sex with Ryne.” Mel
winced, waiting for the fallout. When none came, she hazarded a
peak up at her friend.

A quizzical look
graced the waitress’s face. “So...? What’s the bad news?”

“That I had sex
with Ryne.”

“You’re kidding
me, right? Sex with Ryne is never bad.” Lucy cocked her head to the
side and frowned.

Not sure why Lucy
wasn’t grasping the gravity of the situation, Mel explained again.
“The sex wasn’t bad. It was great. But it was with Ryne.
Your
Ryne.”

Lucy blinked.
“Well of course it would be with my Ryne. He’s the only Ryne around
here that I know of... Oh!” She gave an amused snort. “Did you
think I was going to be upset? Mel, I already told you we don’t
have that kind of relationship.”

“I know what you
said, but... I still thought that maybe you were just saying
that.”

“Mel, we’re just
‘friends with benefits.’ Ryne’s a nice guy, but he’s not the one
for me. Hell, he might not be ‘the one’ for anyone; he’s too much
of a player.” She shook her head and smiled reminiscently. “When I
first met him, I wondered if maybe he was the right guy, but he
isn’t. He’s a good man, but I want someone who’ll take me away from
all this.” She flourished her order pad and gestured around the
room. “Not some guy who’s planning on spending the rest of his life
in Stump River.”

“You don’t like it
here?” Mel furrowed her brow, trying to understand what the woman
was saying.

“Oh, I like it
fine, but I also want to make a new start. Here, I’m just good old
Lucy. All the guys...er...know me, if you get my drift, but none of
them really want to settle down with me.” The server’s eyes
suddenly seemed lonely and a bit wistful. Mel reached across and
grabbed her hand, somehow knowing that behind her happy, carefree
facade Lucy had more than a few scars on her heart.

“Lucy, you’re a
wonderful person. Any man would—”

Shaking her head,
Lucy interrupted Mel’s attempt at offering comfort. “No, Mel, not
‘any man’ at least not here in Stump River. But someday, when I
save enough money, I’m going to move to a big city like Toronto or
Montreal and make a new start for myself. Find some guy who thinks
I’m more than just a roll in the hay.” She gave a determined smile.
“Don’t get me wrong. The people here are good to me, but I want
more. I
deserve
more.”

Mel looked at her
friend, taking in the tilt of her chin and her slightly narrowed
eyes. Her heart swelled with pride in the woman. Lucy
was
more than people thought she was. “You’re right, Lucy. You do
deserve more and if I can help...” She let the sentence trail off,
not sure exactly what she could do, but willing to offer her
services. The two women’s eyes met and Lucy nodded, obviously
understanding the sentiment.

She patted Mel’s
hand. “Now enough about me. It’s you I’m worried about. If you want
Ryne, you go for it, just don’t be expecting a lot more than
getting your teeth rattled. He wouldn’t purposely break your heart,
but he’s not into long term commitments. Keep that in mind.”

Mel brushed Lucy’s
concerns away. “It was a onetime thing. I’m here to interview
him—it’s a job, that’s all.”

“Nothing saying
you can’t enjoy your work.” Lucy stood up and winked.

“Well, maybe...but
I doubt it. All we’ve done so far is argue—well, except for this
morning. Besides, I’m pretty sure I’m not his type.”

Lucy gave her a
once over. “I don’t know... I’ve noticed him watching you on and
off this past week, when you weren’t looking. He’s had his eye on
you.”

“Really?” Mel felt
a ridiculous gush of happiness at the idea of Ryne taking notice of
her.

“Uh-huh. If you
play your cards right, you might just get lucky more than once.”
With another wink, Lucy went on her way.

Mel watched her
leave and mulled over the conversation. Lucy had basically told her
to go after Ryne and that Ryne might be interested in her. She
wasn’t really sure how she felt about that fact, but knew, from a
logical point of view, she shouldn’t even consider Ryne in any
light other than that of the subject for an article. But still,
fantasies were nice... Suddenly, her appetite came back in full
force and she began to eat with gusto. Al really did make good
chicken parmesan, she thought as she happily munched away.

Chapter
19

Ryne arrived late
at Miller’s Service Station on Monday morning. The kitchen cabinets
he’d ordered had arrived at the house just as he was leaving and
he’d stayed to double check that the order was correct. Ben
wouldn’t care that he’d been delayed, but Ryne hated being late. As
he climbed out of the truck and made his way to the service bay, he
decided he’d have to try to get in early or work a bit longer one
day this week to make up the time.

“Hey, Harley.” He
greeted the black lab that wiggled with joy at his appearance,
ruffling his fur and giving a quick scratch behind his ears before
sending him to tell Ben of his arrival. Harley was a good dog and
Ryne enjoyed the happy-go-lucky beast. When they’d first met,
Harley had whimpered and hidden whenever he came around, but once
the dog understood Ryne was a benevolent Alpha, they’d gotten along
just fine. Not that he could truly ‘talk’ to the dog, as the locals
were fond of saying, but he understood and used some universal
canine body language to communicate.

Sending the dog on
his way, Ryne headed for the office to check the day’s work orders.
Pulling out the buff coloured pages from his mail slot, a white
envelope tumbled to the ground. Bending over, he picked it up and
turned it over in his hands. Only his name appeared on the front.
Even as he tore the flap open, Ryne had a sneaking suspicion as to
what lay inside.

Yep. True to her
word, Melody—he would never be able to think of her as Mel—had left
him a list of interview questions. It had been too much to hope
that she’d forget the whole thing. As he scanned over the outline,
his face grew grim. Where was he born? Where did he grow up? Where
did he go to school? How many people were in his family? All those
questions had to be vetoed. He couldn’t take a chance that she’d
associate him with Kane’s pack. How he chose his subjects—that was
okay. Camera techniques—yep, he’d discuss those. Where he took his
pictures—no way. No one could ever discover the wolf picture had
been taken just outside Smythston, Oregon.