Already Gone

by Diane Benefiel

  “You close at three.” His voice had that slightly rusty quality, like he didn’t use it much. She wondered if he’d spoken to anyone since she’d left his cabin the day before.

  “That’s what the sign says.”

  “Good. I’ll wait for you.”

  “Nope, not a good idea.”

  “I need to talk to you.” He eased down to sit in a booth. The careful way he moved told her the gunshot wound still hurt.

  Despite the clock showing ten minutes until closing time, she went to the door and threw the deadbolt, flipping the sign to closed.

  She chewed on her bottom lip, trying to figure out how to get Logan out the door without him seeing Belen. Lord knew what he wanted.

  Lulu came out from the kitchen with the rolling bucket and a mop. At five feet, no inches, Lulu may have lacked stature, but she had more stamina than most people half her fifty years. She frowned at Logan, then shot a look at Maddy.

  “Lulu says you either move now, or stay put until the floor is dry. She doesn’t want your size twelves dirtying up her clean floor.”

  “That what she says?” Logan’s gaze narrowed at the gray-haired woman.

  “That’s what she says,” Maddy confirmed. “What’s it going to be?”

  Logan rose to his feet and approached the counter, and Lulu wrung out the mop to start at the back of the dining room. Maddy filled a to-go cup with the last of the coffee, handing it to him. “Here’s coffee. Now go.”

  He took the coffee but ignored the not-so-subtle push out the door. “Where can I wait until your crew clears out?”

  “Today’s not a good day, Logan.”

  “It’s going to have to be.”

  Maddy hardly ever swore, but right then she wanted to let loose with a few curse words. “No, it doesn’t have to be. I’m busy right now.”

  “Then I’ll come by your house this evening. Where are you living?”

  Panic flared at the thought of Logan in her house, her refuge. “No.” When he raised a brow at her emphatic rejection, she controlled her tone. “I can’t. I’m busy.”

  “The vet coming over?”

  “What? No.”

  “Then give me your address."

  “I am not giving you my address. Is this about Sophie? Jason said I can pick her up tomorrow.”

  “I already paid the bill, but no, it’s not about my dog.”

  She decided to deal with his proprietary comment about the dog later. “Look, Logan, I don’t—”

  The sound of voices speaking in rapid Spanish came from behind the swinging door to the kitchen. Drew poked his head through, then did a double take when he saw Logan. He pulled his head back and the conversation in Spanish muted, then he looked out again.

  “Sorry, boss. I thought we were empty.” His gaze darted from Maddy to Logan. “I gotta go. Laney has her eight-month checkup.” His gaze continued to skitter back and forth, and Maddy didn’t think he could look any more nervous. “I, um, I left the, you know, the stuff from my cabin in case, you know, you need it tonight.”

  “Okay, thanks, Drew. Tell Laney to come by tomorrow so she can tell me about the doctor’s visit.”

  “Will do.” He glanced at Logan again. “You okay here, boss?”

  “Yes. Drive safe, Drew.”

  Lulu finished with the dining room and stood, leaning on the mop handle, which was nearly as tall as she was.

  “Lulu says you need to leave so she can finish mopping.”

  “You communicate telepathically?”

  “Just about.”

  A muted conversation could still be heard from behind the door, and Maddy wanted Logan out of the building. “I need to finish closing so I can let my employees go.”

  Steel blue eyes narrowed in speculation, but he didn’t say anything about the attempt to get rid of him. “Meet me at the Brew Pub tonight. Eight o’clock.”

  “Look, Logan, I don’t want to meet you. I only checked on you yesterday because you were injured. It didn’t mean anything.”

  “I’m not trying to restart something between us, Madison. But I need to talk to you and that’s as good a place as any.”

  She crossed her arms in front of her. “Then you’ll leave me alone?”

  His expression turned inscrutable. “If that’s what you want.”

  “It is.” She swallowed hard. “I’ll meet you at the Brew Pub, but it will have to be earlier, like six. Bakers have to get up early.”

  With a curt nod, Logan unlocked the door and walked out, nodding to Dory as she walked in. Her friend did a classic double take, turning to watch Logan disappear down the boardwalk. Dressed in black knit pants and a coral fleece jacket, a matching headband holding back her long black hair and covering her ears, Dory looked as well-put-together as ever. When she turned to face Maddy, her eyebrows had made it to her hairline, and her mouth formed a perfect O.

  “Oh my god, that’s Logan Ross. He’s back?” Her expression shifted from surprise to concern in a heartbeat. She skirted the counter and put her hands on Maddy’s shoulders. “Are you okay, friend?”

  Maddy drew in a shaky breath. Dory and Maddy had known each other for years but had grown closer when Dory started working for Emma at the resort, back when Emma was new in town and had been busy falling in love with Maddy’s brother. Dory was one of the few people in the Loss who knew everything that had happened after Logan had dumped Maddy.

  She hated that Logan could still stir up her emotions. He thought she hated him, and she should hate him. In some ways, she did. Maybe more so because she realized he had the power to hurt her all over again. She let Dory pull her into a quick hug.

  “I’m okay. Thank you for coming, Dory. Belen is in the back.”

  Mariana called from the pass-through window. “I need to leave to pick up the kids, Maddy. See you tomorrow.”

  Maddy led Dory through the swinging door to the kitchen as Mariana disappeared out the back. Belen sat perched on a stool at the food prep counter, a sandwich made from thick slices of sourdough in her hands. Her eyes darted to Dory, then back to Maddy.

  “Belen, this is my friend I told you about.”

  Dory introduced herself, and the conversation took off in rapid Spanish. Belen set down her sandwich as she spoke, her expression drawn, gestures emphatic.

  As the conversation wound down, Dory sent Maddy a troubled look. “All she’ll tell me is that she wants to get to Sacramento. She has family there.”

  Lulu rolled the mop and bucket to the storeroom, then stood, hands on her hips, the backpack she was never without slung over a shoulder. Maddy had never asked, but figured it was her go bag, packed with the essentials in case she ever needed to run. “We’ll take care of her, Lu. Don’t worry.”

  With a jerky nod, she exited through the back door, leaving the three women alone in the café.

  Maddy spoke. “Belen didn’t say anything about how she got to be on the side of the road at five in the morning?”

  Dory shrugged. “She didn’t, but I think someone must be after her. She’s afraid. As in really afraid. She says if you’d give her food and water to take with her, she’ll be on her way.”

  “On her way? She knows how cold it gets at night. What’s she going to do? Hike over the mountain with a big storm coming?”

  “I think she would.”

  Belen picked up her sandwich to take another bite, chewing silently, determination evident in her tense posture.

  “Wait, let me think.” Maddy tapped her chin as a thought occurred. “I have an idea. Our delivery lady, Evelyn. She makes a run to Sacramento. I bet she’d take Belen if we ask her.”

  While Dory translated for Belen, Maddy made a call. Making the arrangement was amazingly simple. She disconnected the phone and uttered a quiet “Woo-hoo.”

  Both women regarded her with questioning expressions. “Evelyn said she has a run to Sacramento tomorrow, and she can take Belen, no questions asked. She’s making a delivery here at eight in the morning, so Belen needs
to be ready.”

  Dory translated for Belen, and the reserve shrouding the young woman crumpled and her dark eyes welled. In a surprising move, she gave Maddy a quick hug. She spoke in a hesitant voice, obviously struggling for the words. “I stay here? For tonight?”

  “You can stay at my house. I have a cabin outside of town.”

  Dory translated and Belen shook her head, adamant.

  “Here. I stay here.” She pointed to the storeroom. For whatever reason, the young woman felt safe at the café.

  “Yes, of course you can stay here, if here is where you feel safe.”

  Using Dory to translate, Maddy tried to convince Belen to at least come home with her for a couple hours so she could use the shower and rest, but Belen refused even that. She did use Maddy’s cell phone and made a tearful call. Whatever the woman’s journey had been, there were people who loved her at the end of it.

  Maddy added a foam pad to make the makeshift bed in the storeroom more comfortable and set the thermostat for the heater to stay on during the night. When Belen returned her phone, Maddy opened the refrigerator to show Belen a container of soup that could be heated in the microwave for dinner, and bagged up some baked goods she could take in the morning for her and Evelyn.

  After assuring herself that Belen would be fine overnight, Maddy locked the door and stood in the small parking lot with Dory.

  “How is it going at the cabins?” With Emma and Brad out of town, Dory was in charge of the cabin rental business Emma had inherited from her grandfather and now operated.

  “Good. We’re at half capacity, which is normal for this time of year. Things are running smoothly. But guess what?”

  “You’re pregnant?”

  “Of course not. Where did that come from?”

  “You asked me to guess, so I did.”

  “I’d need to have sex to get pregnant, and I am living a no-sex lifestyle. Don’t need it. Don’t want it. No, my amazing news is that my divorce papers came today. I’m finally completely free from Rodrigo.”

  This time Maddy pulled her friend into a hug. “That is amazing news,” she said as she let Dory go. “The best of all news. How is Adrian dealing with it?”

  A cloud came over Dory’s beautiful brown eyes. “He’s stopped asking about his father, but I found him playing with his plastic dinosaurs the other day, and he’d named the mean T-Rex Rodrigo, and T-Rex was beating up on the other dinosaurs.”

  “Oh, geez.” The troubled look on Dory’s face had Maddy throwing an arm around her friend’s shoulders. Dory knew more than any woman should about getting beat up on by someone physically stronger.

  “I’m thinking of changing my name back to Morales.”

  “Good. That’s a positive step.”

  “I think so, too. Except that Adrian’s last name is Calderon, and I don’t want my name to be different from his.”

  “So, change Adrian’s, too.”

  “Can I do that? Does Rodrigo have any legal right to have his son keep his name?”

  “I’m not sure. A lawyer could help you with that. It’s worth a try.”

  “It sure is. Thanks, Maddy.”

  “Come home with me, Dory. I’ll feed you wine and cheese and we can talk more.”

  “Nice offer. No, actually, it’s a great offer. But Adrian will be done with his after-school program in fifteen minutes so I need to pick him up. I want to get back to the cabins and make sure we’re all ready for the storm.”

  “Okay, another time then.”

  “You bet.”

  They hugged good-bye, and Maddy drove home, her mind bouncing between thoughts of Dory and thoughts of Belen, determinedly excluding Logan.

  Her friend was incredibly resilient, and had come so far since she’d left her abusive ex, Rodrigo. She had a steady job, and was raising her seven-year-old son with the help of her parents. But Maddy knew Dory experienced many lonely nights.

  Maddy didn’t know Belen’s story, or why she’d been on the road in the early hours of the morning. The temperature had been too cold to survive without warmer clothing, so it wasn’t likely she’d spent the entire night out of doors. Maybe, like Dory, she had suffered from an abusive husband and was getting herself out of a bad situation. It was probable she had crossed the border illegally and somehow ended up in the eastern Sierra.

  Regardless, the young woman was entitled to keep her story to herself. If Maddy could help her meet up with her family, then maybe she was doing a little good in the world.

  Chapter Four

  Maddy took the turn into the parking lot of Hangman’s Brew Pub. If Hangman’s Best Café and Bakery was the town hangout during the breakfast and lunch hours, the Brew Pub had the honors for the rest of the day. Selling several craft beers, including their own specialty lager, Hangman’s Best, and with a good bar menu, business remained steady throughout the week. A band and small dance floor brought in even more people on Friday and Saturday nights.

  Purse on her shoulder, she pushed open the heavy door and walked in to the sounds of people having a good time. Festive holiday lights adorned the windows, and couples and small groups sat at the bar and high-top tables; laughter and voices echoed through the building.

  A row of booths ran along the far side of the room for quieter conversation. Basketball players dribbled down the court on the big-screen TV to one side of the bar, thankfully with the sound muted. The yeasty smell of beer mixed with the crisp outside air that came in with her.

  She paused to scan the scene and was about to grab a spot at the bar when she felt a hand on her arm. She should expect the jolt by now. But no, when her gaze fell on Logan Ross, her heart gave a faithless hitch. It was like the stupid organ recognized only Logan as belonging there.

  Maddy could admit to herself that she had never tried too hard to find someone else to give her heart to, but that was due entirely to self-preservation. A woman could only have her heart broken and shattered so many times, and Logan had been directly and indirectly responsible for the shattering happening twice. A third time and Maddy was sure she’d never be able to put together the pieces again.

  “You okay?”

  She moved away from his touch. “Of course. There are two seats at the bar, why don’t we sit there?”

  “I got us a booth.” He pointed to the booth in the farthest corner where a tall glass full of dark amber with a frothy head sat on the table. Exactly what she wanted to avoid, being alone with Logan. “It’ll be easier to have a quiet conversation away from the crowd.”

  With a sigh of acquiescence, Maddy followed Logan to the table. A waiter showed up almost immediately, and Maddy ordered the half-pint glass of the lager.

  “Huh. I’d have taken you for a wine drinker.”

  “I like wine. But I like beer, too.” She leaned back against the seat cushion. “How’s the injury?”

  “Mending.”

  He’d made an effort to clean up. His strong jaw had been shaved free of the dark scruff, and his unruly hair had been combed back from his forehead in dark waves—a look she couldn’t deny was insanely sexy. His color had returned, the blue-gray eyes a striking contrast to the tanned skin. And since she’d seen him without his shirt, she knew his body had filled out and lost the lankiness he’d had as a young man. He’d been twenty when they’d first started dating, and she’d thought him wildly handsome then. But now, holy smokes, his looks had aged well.

  Maddy pushed her menu away. When the waiter returned, she told him, “Nothing for me, thanks.”

  “Why aren’t you eating?”

  “This conversation shouldn’t take long.”

  Logan shrugged and turned to the waiter, ordering a cheeseburger and, with a glance at Maddy, a double order of onion rings.

  Maddy rolled her eyes. Onion rings were her Achilles’ heel, destined to foil any and all attempts to lose the sixteen pounds she’d gained in the year after Logan had left. She could withstand the pastries at the café, but put a plate of the Brew Pub’s onion
rings in front of her and it was like giving crack to an addict; she had no self-control. She narrowed her eyes. He knew her weakness.

  Maybe they could talk and she could get out of there before temptation arrived. “What was so important that we needed to meet?”

  Logan sat back, forearms resting on the table. A friend called to Maddy from the bar. She waved but didn’t beckon her over. She did notice the raised eyebrows and subtle nudge to the woman sitting next to her friend. Maddy Gallagher and Logan Ross meeting for dinner would not go unremarked in the Loss.

  He sipped his beer, gaze locked on her over the rim of the glass. “How’s your mom?”

  “You want to talk about my mom, that’s what you wanted to meet about?”

  “I’ll work my way to that, but first tell me how she is.”

  “You should go see her for yourself; you know she’s always had a sweet spot for you.”

  He ran a finger through the condensation on the outside of his glass. “I thought I’d screwed that up when we broke up.”

  “I don’t think there’s anything you could do that would make my mom dislike you. I should know.”

  His gaze narrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Nothing.” Could she just shut up? The last thing she needed was Logan Ross questioning the past. “She loves you like a son, and that won’t change.”

  She wasn’t used to Logan looking vulnerable, but for a moment it was there in the pensive expression.

  “Since she’s the only woman I remember loving like a mother, the feeling’s mutual. I’m glad she doesn’t hate me.”

  “Mom’s fine. There’s a new guy in town who owns that outdoor equipment rental place a few doors down from my café. His name is Landon Halloway. I think he’s got a thing for Mom.”

  “Does Brad know about him? We’ll have to check him out.”

  “Are you kidding me? What are you two going to do, give him the third degree and make sure his intentions are honorable?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Logan, what’s this about? As amazing as my mom is, I’m still going to guess we’re not here to talk about her.”