When Summer Comes (27 page)

“Who told you?”

“I got a call from Chief Stacy on my way home.”

A muscle flexed in his cheek. “Those bastards reported me?”

She nearly smiled again even though that wasn’t the appropriate response. She was just happy to see him. Somehow he helped her forget what she’d dealt with today. “You didn’t expect them to?”

“Actually, I did,” he admitted. “But what I said had to be said.” He shrugged as he got them both some utensils. “What’s Stacy going to do?”

“At this point, I don’t think he’s going to do anything.”

“Then why’d he call?”

She sipped the water he had waiting on the table. “To tell me that I shouldn’t be hanging out with you.”

He hesitated before taking his seat. “He still believes I’m dangerous?”

“He’s still concerned about your murky past.”

“Of course.”

“And...there might be a little more to it.”

His eyebrows arched in question.

“He hinted that he’d like to date me.”

That same muscle moved in his cheek. “He’s got to be over forty. There’s probably a fifteen-year age difference.”

“From me it’s only ten,” she pointed out.

“A decade’s significant.”

“It wouldn’t be if I was interested in him.”

He sat down across from her. “So what’d you tell him?”

“Nothing yet. He’s letting me ponder the fact that he has a good job.”

“Ah. One with a pension and everything. Tempting, huh?”

“Not really. A pension’s not what I need right now.”

He held his fork loosely in one hand. “What do you need?”

To get well,
she thought, but smiled to camouflage the gravity of her reality. “A tasty dinner.”

* * *

After washing up, they decided to watch a movie. They were both exhausted. But Levi couldn’t relax when he sat on one end of the couch and, instead of sitting on the other end, Callie chose a chair off to the side. He might not have cared, except the decision seemed so premeditated. He knew she couldn’t see the TV as well over there. She’d selected her seat with other considerations in mind, and he was fairly certain he could guess what those considerations were. No matter where he walked or sat or stood, she put distance between them.

“Still holding a grudge?” he asked.

She was combing her fingers through Rifle’s fur while waiting for the movie to start. “What do you mean?”

He thought about trying to get past the encounter that obviously loomed so large in her mind, but decided against it. Today, when he’d taken out the trash, he’d found a bunch of unopened condoms Callie must’ve thrown away. Judging from that, she’d accepted his limits. He should be glad. That was what he’d intended, right?

Of course. So why couldn’t he stop picturing her in that sexy lace-up number she’d bought from Victoria’s Secret? And why had he rescued those condoms and shoved them under one of the couch cushions?

He certainly wasn’t hoping to use them with anyone else.

“I met your father today,” he said.

She’d just leaned back, but at this she sat up straight. “He came by?”

“For a minute.”

“What’d he want?”

“To take a look at the barn.”

She grimaced. “Did it upset him?”

“Not too badly. I got the impression he doesn’t let anything get under his skin.”

“No,” she said with a wistful smile.

Levi studied her. “I liked him.”

Her smile broadened. “Everyone does.”

The movie started so they grew silent, but Levi couldn’t get drawn into what was happening on the screen. He was too aware of Callie trying to make herself comfortable in that straight-back chair. She’d pull her knees in and lean to one side. Then she’d drop her feet to the floor and shift to the other.

“Why don’t you come over here, where you can lie down?” he asked.

She acted surprised that he even mentioned it. “Why? I’m fine.”

“If
I
go over there, will you come over here?”

“That’s not it,” she said.

He stared at her disbelievingly. “Prove it.”

“Sure. No problem.” She got up, stepped around Rifle, who was on the floor, and walked to the couch, but she sat as far away from him as possible.

“That’s not so bad, is it?” he asked.

“Of course not,” she replied as if she hadn’t been avoiding him in the first place. It wasn’t until she started to fall asleep that she allowed him to lift her feet onto his lap.

19

T
he second Callie felt Levi’s hands on her she was tempted to withdraw. She knew letting him touch her, even in a nonsexual way, would only make her crave more contact. But the swirling motion of his thumbs felt so good on the arches of her feet. She’d had very few foot massages in her life, had no idea they could be so enjoyable—or so erotic.

Her breathing grew shallow as she fought against the deluge of awareness washing over her. She tried telling herself that this little television interlude and foot rub should affect her no more than a date with...with Chief Stacy! She couldn’t be with either man.

But some people were easier to refuse than others....

When his hands began to travel up her legs, to knead her calf muscles, she opened her eyes and watched him from beneath her lashes until she was sure she’d caught his attention.

“I can feel that,” she said.

His hands continued their soothing work. “I was hoping you could.”

Forcing herself to remove her feet from his lap, she sat up. “It’s late. We should get some sleep.”

Nothing. No response from him.

“See you in the morning.”

He reached for her when she got up, but let her slip from his grasp when she seemed intent on it.

“Good night,” she said.

* * *

Cheyenne Amos tapped her fingers on the table as she waited for her phone to ring.

“Aren’t you coming to bed?”

At the sound of her husband’s voice, which she heard over the TV he was watching, she walked to the doorway of her bedroom to see that he had Lucky, her three-legged dog, as well as his two dogs with him. He’d stacked some pillows behind his back and was wielding the remote. He slept in his underwear, so his chest was bare. She found that an appealing sight. He was eager enough to have her join him that the rest of him might be bare, too....

The possibility made the temptation to crawl in with him that much stronger. She loved nothing more than making love with Dylan, curling up and falling asleep together, then waking up and sharing another day with him. But she couldn’t succumb to the promise of what he offered just yet.

“There you are. What are you doing?” he asked when he saw her standing in the doorway.

She was just watching him, thinking about how happy she’d been since she’d met him, but she told him that often enough. “I’m expecting a call from Eve, Riley, Baxter and Noah. We’re getting Kyle on the phone, too. We’re worried about Callie. She’s been acting strange for a long time and we need to get to the bottom of it.”

“If anyone knows what’s going on, it’s Kyle.”

“Exactly.”

He was watching an MMA fight he’d recorded on their DVR. He’d once supported his younger brothers by getting in the ring and he still had a lot of interest in the sport. He usually watched the matches with his brothers. But since he’d bought her a two-bedroom home in town, complete with a white picket fence he’d built himself, he didn’t see his brothers after work quite as often as when they’d all been living down in the river bottoms.

“She wasn’t herself on Friday,” he said. “But what about Sophia? You didn’t mention her or Ted.”

Folding her arms, Cheyenne leaned against the doorjamb, her attention on the fight as they talked. “I’ve tried to reach Sophia. I can’t get her to pick up. I’m afraid she’s still upset by what Ted said to her. That wasn’t necessary.”

“You don’t think she was responsible for Scott’s crash?”

“I really can’t say. But who are we to punish her for it? Besides, it happened a long time ago.”

“Makes sense to me.” He scratched behind Lucky’s ears, and she whined her thanks. “And Ted’s not joining the call because...”

“We didn’t invite him. We’re a little ticked off by how he treated her. I love Ted, but he can be harsh.”

“He’s too damn smart for his own good. But you once told me he has reason to dislike her.”

Until he was forced to drop out, Dylan had gone to the same high school they had. He’d just been too busy raising hell to notice what was going on with their group. They hadn’t interacted with him much back then. Cheyenne might not have gotten to know him at all if her sister hadn’t started hanging out with him and his brothers. “He does,” she said, “but it’s time to get past old grievances. He knows she’s not happy. He’s seen the bruises on her arms and face. That should be punishment enough.”

“Maybe he still wants her. Maybe that hasn’t changed.”

“You might be right. Otherwise, he’d be able to let it go.”

He adjusted the blankets, and Lucky and the other two dogs shifted before settling down again. “Did you get the message that Presley called?”

“Yeah, I talked to her.”

“Everything okay?”

“Fine.” Cheyenne could hardly believe it, but her sister had been out of rehab for three months. That meant she’d been clean and sober for six—which was a relief on many counts but none more critical than the fact that she was almost seven months pregnant. The baby belonged to Aaron, Dylan’s younger brother, but no one besides Presley and Cheyenne knew that. Cheyenne hated keeping such a secret from her husband. She was afraid of how he might react if he found out, hoped that day never came because she had no choice in the deception. That baby was the only thing Presley had to cling to, the only reason powerful enough to get her to give up the drugs that had almost destroyed her life.

Aaron wasn’t ready for a child, anyway. He hadn’t lasted in rehab, was
still
using. Dylan saw him at Amos Auto Body, the collision repair shop they owned, every day. He witnessed the results of Aaron’s actions and worried about him constantly.

“She tell you about the ultrasound?”

“No.” Cheyenne came forward to perch on the edge of the bed. “Did she tell
you
something about an ultrasound?”

“She knows the gender of the baby.”

That Dylan was the one who’d learned this surprised Cheyenne. Other than to say the father was some guy she met when she was in Phoenix at Christmas, Presley had been tight-lipped about the baby, especially with him. She didn’t want any of the details of her life leaking back to Aaron. She knew if he contacted her, she might break down and see him, and that would be the worst thing for her
and
the baby. “What is it?”

He grinned. “A boy.”

Of course it was a boy. That seemed to be all the Amoses could create, not that she was going to remark on it. “Oh, my gosh! I can’t believe she didn’t tell me! A boy! And...and did she say if everything looked...okay?”

Because the pregnancy had started out while Presley was drinking and doing drugs—and nearly ended in an abortion—they’d been concerned about how the fetus might be developing. Presley had enough challenges just fighting her addictions and keeping a steady job. Cheyenne feared she wouldn’t be able to cope with a child who had serious medical issues.

“Everything’s fine. Presley’s told you that before.”

She couldn’t help double-checking. “That’s great.”

He laughed. “God, I love that silly smile on your face.”

“What silly smile?” She grabbed one of the decorator pillows he’d pushed off to one side and threw it at him, which caused the dogs to scramble off the bed.

Catching it, he tossed it back, and Lucky barked at them both. “The one that says you couldn’t be happier.”

“It’s a miracle she’s reached this stage, Dyl. Those days after Anita died...when she took off and I thought I might never see her again... They were terrible. I’m thrilled that she’s doing so well.”

“It’s too bad she doesn’t live in Whiskey Creek anymore. Stockton’s a dive.”

“Not everyone thinks so. Anyway, it’s a bigger city, where she’s been able to find a cheap apartment and a decent job.”

“You call working at a thrift store a decent job?”

“She likes it.”

“You’d be more involved the pregnancy if she was here,” he pointed out.

But then she might fall back in with Aaron. Cheyenne knew Presley was still in love with him. The two of them couldn’t be in close proximity, or they’d start seeing each other again, and Presley would slide downhill. “It’s better if she’s not around her old friends.”

“You mean Aaron. I know that. He wouldn’t be a good influence.” He put the TV on pause and turned to look at her.

“What?” she said.

“Speaking of babies...”

Something in his expression made her cheeks flush with warmth. “Yes?”

He caught her by the wrist and pulled her toward him. “I was wondering if you might be interested in making a baby with me.”

Her heart lodged in her throat. She’d been waiting for him to ask. She knew if she brought it up, he’d say yes just to ensure that she wasn’t denied anything she really wanted. But it was important to her that
he
crave a child just as much. “You’ve raised your brothers,” she said. “Are you
sure
you’re ready to start a family? What about your father?”

“What about him?”

“He gets out of prison next year. We could hold off until after that...until he’s back and settled in, doing whatever he’s going to do with his life. Then you’ll feel more settled yourself.”

He smoothed the hair out of her face. “I’m not going to plan my life around his release. At this point, I don’t even know if we’ll have a relationship.”

“But you want a child.”

“Absolutely.”

“Because...”

“Because I love you.” He kissed her tenderly. “Get in bed. Let me show you how much.”

The phone rang. But Cheyenne ignored it. She’d have to catch up with her friends later because right now nothing mattered more than Dylan.

* * *

Baxter knew what this call was about and wasn’t entirely comfortable participating. He couldn’t break his word to Callie, but he didn’t want to lie to everyone, either.