A Thousand Sunsets (Band of Sisters)

by Rice, Marianne

  “She didn’t pay you.”

  “I can keep an eye on your mom and any visitors. Maybe ask her a few questions about her dating life. As far as I know, she isn’t aware of... you and me. I’m the cook at Camp Illumination.”

  “I don’t know.” He backed out of her embrace and paced the kitchen.

  It was better than a hard no. She leaned against the counter and gave him time to process. He stood at the backdoor and stared into the night.

  “My father isn’t a good person. I don’t want him anywhere near you. If he hurts you...” He ran his hands across his face and lowered his head.

  Charlie came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his middle resting her hand on his stomach. She leaned her cheek against his back. “I’m an Army vet. I’ve been trained how to take down a two hundred-fifty-pound man with my bare hands. I can defend myself, Owen. I don’t think it will come to that though. I’ll keep my distance. I’m the hired help until June comes back.”

  While he was big and strong and warm, she wasn’t sure if he was able to find comfort in her. The flirty tease who had no future, no solid career choice, and her record in handling dysfunctional parents wasn’t the best.

  He turned in her arms with another deep sigh.

  “If I said no would you still go anyway?”

  A test. She could lie to him, but she respected him too much. With a sad smile she ran her hands up his stomach and rested them on his chest.

  “It’s the perfect solution. You can’t be everywhere at the same time. You need to work. I happen to have this week off. If it’s a win-win.”

  “Not exactly. It’s a win for Liv and me. What are you getting out of it?”

  Again, she kissed him. “Doing this for you and Olivia will make me feel better so I’d say it’s a completely selfish move.”

  “I’m not seeing the selfishness.” He drew her close so their bodies meshed together and lowered his mouth to hers. “I see a beautiful, caring, selfless woman who offered to do a wonderful thing for two people she barely knows.”

  She didn’t correct him on the last part. While they’d met less than a year ago and had only been... super friendly for the past month or so, she knew him well enough to have fallen way too deep for him. She kissed him deeply this time, falling into his musky scent and his gentle caresses.

  “You know,” she said a few minutes later when they’d come up for air. “I’ll expect some sort of payment from you.”

  “Of course. And I’ll pay you for the hours you worked a few weeks ago.”

  “Oh, I’ll gladly collect on that as well. But it’s not money I want.”

  “No?” He furrowed his brow in confusion.

  “No.” She brought his head down and nipped at his earlobe. “You can pay me with your body.”

  “You want me to prostitute myself out to you?”

  She nodded her head wildly, amusement in her eyes, and in his as well.

  He let out a long whistle. “I don’t know. It’s a pretty hefty price to pay.”

  “It’s the only payment I’ll accept from you.”

  “Okay.” He kissed her neck and now it was his turn to nibble on her earlobe. “But it will be more than just sex. A whole hellofalot more.”

  He didn’t need to elaborate. Shivers of awareness and excitement shot through her body as she offered her neck to his ministrations. When he trailed his kisses back to her mouth, she sunk into Owen.

  Never wanting to leave.

  ALLOWING CHARLIE TO work at the diner had him up all night.

  Allowing. Owen grunted as he rinsed his hair under the shower spray. The woman was as headstrong as she was sexy, part of her charm.

  He turned off the water and dried off, wrapping a towel around his waist. He stepped out of the shower and used a hand towel to wipe the steam off the window. The shower would have been a lot better last night with Charlie in it.

  She was right to not spend the night. It would have given Liv mixed signals about their relationship. She’d reminded him again that she only had nine days left before going back to the Kennebunk area.

  So instead of shower sex, morning sex, and breakfast with Charlie, he and Liv drove Charlie back to the camp last night.

  Gina and Brooke had been more than excited to have his sister tag along for the day. Chances were, they’d feel differently by the end of the day. For sure by the end of the week. But it wasn’t Liv who had him down with worry this morning, it was Charlie.

  Making record time getting dressed, getting Liv out of bed, toasting a waffle for her and making a cup of coffee for himself, he’d dropped his energetic sis off at the camp and sped off to the construction site on the other end of town.

  If Charlie needed him, it would take over forty minutes to reach her. Thirty if he pushed it but it was hard to speed too much on the curvy, mountainside back roads.

  It wasn’t until after two when his phone vibrated.

  Het set down his level and took out his cell. “Charlie. You okay?”

  “Tired, but fine. I’m used to waking at the ass crack of dawn but having to drive out here and pretend to be a gracious waitress to ungrateful assholes wears on you.”

  “Who’s being ungrateful?” If it was his mother or if Roger got anywhere near her...

  “The regulars who aren’t happy about not having specials and having to wait longer than usual. The diner’s a happening place.”

  There weren’t many restaurants in the area and anytime he stopped by it was usually busy. For years he’d wondered where the profits were going. Not back into the place or into his mom’s home. Lately he’d had his suspicions about exactly who was benefiting from the business.

  “Nellie says fall and winter are actually the busiest months. Leaf peepers and skiers. I guess it makes sense. There’s not much to do around here except hike and be on the water, but there are closer places to the pond and lakes than the Black Fly Diner.”

  “You had a chance to talk with my mom?” Owen stepped away from the two-by-four he was measuring and paced the dirt lot of the new home he was building. “Did she say anything about Roger? Or a man she was seeing?”

  “We were pretty busy so not a lot of girl talk. I need to build a relationship with her before she tells me her dirty secrets. Sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “I know. I’m not a patient man, in case you couldn’t tell.”

  “I beg to differ. You’ve put your life on hold for the past eleven years and aren’t in any rush to toss your sister aside.”

  He was in a rush, but he didn’t have the luxury of showing it. By the time she was old enough to be on her own he’d be past his prime. And the ones who want a family would be married by then.

  Charlie wouldn’t want to wait that long, hell, she didn’t even want a long-distance relationship. Waiting eight more years for him was asking too much.

  “Please be safe,” he said to her.

  “I’ll feel much safer when I have your naked body on top of mine.”

  A smile formed on his lips. “I’ll follow through on my end. Dinner tonight?”

  “You want to get naked at dinner? Oh, you dirty boy. I like the way you think.”

  Laughing again, Owen switched his cell to his other hand and peered over his shoulder to make sure he was out of earshot of his crew.

  “I plan on having you for dessert.”

  “Mm. I like the sound of that. However, there will be an impressionable young one in the house. Speaking of, since your work site is a haul from camp, how about I bring Olivia back to your house later on. We’ll meet you there for dinner.”

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “I know. What time do you think you’ll be home? I don’t want to make dinner too early and have it be cold by the time you get there.”

  Coming home to a meal cooked by Charlie sounded like the best thing since... ever. “I can pick up takeout on the way home.”

  “Don’t ruin all our fun. I’m sure Olivia will love hel
ping me make dinner. She enjoyed herself last night. Unless you don’t feel comfortable having me in your home when you’re not there.”

  “Knowing your there is going to make me work a hell of a lot faster today.”

  “Aw shucks, you know how to make a girl blush.”

  “I like it when you blush.” This phone flirting thing seemed more intimate than the teasing they’d done before.

  “I like it when you make me blush,” her voice dropped a level, and he swore he heard her purr.

  Owen shifted himself in his jeans and let out a moan. “You’re killing me, Charlie.”

  “I’ll make up for it later.”

  He told her where the hidden key was and that he’d be home by six. The rest of the workday dragged on, even with the shit eating grin he couldn’t keep off his face.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Their week had turned into a routine with Charlie waking up before the sun to help Nellie open the diner at six, and Owen dropping off Olivia at the camp at seven before heading across town to his worksite.

  After a long day on her feet, Charlie loved floating in the water with Olivia, and then grocery shopping and cooking with her while they waited for Owen to come home.

  On her fourth day at the diner, while finishing the last of the dishes, Nellie finally opened up about the man she was seeing.

  “I’m glad Olivia’s been staying at her brother’s house this week.” Her wrinkles—too many and too deep for a woman her age—deepened when she smiled. “I haven’t had to sneak around at night. Finally, Roger and I can have some privacy. He’s living with a roommate who is a perv and doesn’t give us much privacy.”

  A sickening feeling churned in her gut. Roger. Olivia and Owen’s father. Swallowing the bitter taste in her mouth, she feigned a smile and prodded for more details.

  “How long have you been seeing... Roger you said his name was?”

  “Oh, we go way back. He’s had his share of trouble, but in the end, he always comes back to me. He loves me even though I don’t have anything to offer him.”

  “What do you mean? You own our own business and home, and you have two wonderful children.”

  “You know Owen?”

  Catching herself, she waved her hands in the air. “Olivia talks about him quite a bit.”

  “Yeah, she does.” Nellie rolled her eyes and tossed her apron in the laundry basket by the back door. “You’d think he walked on water. She’s too blinded by hero worship to see all his faults.”

  “Faults?”

  “Bossy as hell. Even to his mother. Was like that as a kid, too. No respect. His father tried to talk some sense into him, but he’d always rebel. Stole from him too. Owen was the one who ruined my marriage.”

  “How did he manage to ruin it?” She bit back the sudden anger she had toward Nellie. No wonder Owen was so closed off about his family.

  “Can you believe he called the cops on his father? I mean, we were having a dispute, couples do that when they’ve been married as long as we were, and Owen lied and said he saw something he didn’t. Next thing I know the cops are busting down my door. Pissed poor Roger off so much he accidentally hit me and then I... tripped over the coffee table. If Owen hadn’t set him off, nothin’ would’ve happened. They sent my husband off to jail for seven years.”

  Bile churned in her stomach and threatened to come up her throat. She forced it down and neatly folded the dish rag in her hand, setting it down on the sink.

  “Roger is your husband?”

  “Yeah.” The smile was supposed to reach her eyes, but Charlie could see a touch of wariness. “He came back for me but wants nothing to do with Owen. Can’t blame him. I promised Roger he’d never come between us again.”

  “What about Olivia? She’s his daughter?”

  Nellie dropped her gaze and shifted in her orthopedic shoes. “Roger’s a little... territorial. He’s afraid Olivia will come between us like Owen has.”

  “Has Olivia met him?”

  “Oh, no. He doesn’t want to have to deal with that.”

  Deal with that? As in deal with his own child? Her heart raced in rage. She bit her tongue so she wouldn’t lash out. What an asshole deadbeat to not want to even meet your daughter.

  And then she took a deep breath, processing what she’d just heard. Roger wanted nothing to do with Olivia, which was the best news in the entire world. No, him being run over by an eighteen-wheeler would top it, but for now, it was as good as it could get.

  Keeping her voice steady, she pushed for more. “What are you going to do? Olivia’s still quite young.”

  “I don’t know.” She sounded wary and her body sagged with exhaustion. “To be honest, I’m feeling my age. I don’t love the diner like I used to. I’ve been a mom for thirty-four years and am tired of the responsibility. I’m tired of Maine winters. And I’m tired of sneaking around with my husband.”

  Wow. That was more information than Charlie was expecting.

  “Having June and Al out these past few weeks must have added an extra stress on you.”

  “It has. Roger wants me to sell this place and move somewhere warm with him. Somewhere we can get a fresh start and people won’t judge him for the lies Owen has spread.”

  From what Owen had told her—and she whole-heartedly believed him—he’d spread nothing about his father, wanting no connection to him at all. Instead, he’d flown under the radar until his sister was born.

  Fear bubbled up inside her once again. He wouldn’t let Nellie and Roger to take off with Olivia. It was his worst fear; that she’d grow up in an abusive, neglectful household as well. He’d protect his little sister with his life.

  “Does Olivia know you’re planning on moving?”

  “Oh, he won’t let Olivia come with us. I’m sort of hoping Owen will keep her. She’s been staying with him more and more lately. They’re closer than she and I ever were, ever will be. I don’t think she’d care much.”

  While separating a child from her mother should not have put a smile in her heart, in this instance, it was appropriate. Keeping her tone neutral, she encouraged Nellie to talk with Owen.

  “Have you brought it up to your son? Maybe he wouldn’t mind Olivia living with him full time.”

  “I will, but...” Again, she averted her eyes as if ashamed. “Roger doesn’t have much money and neither do I. I’d need to sell this place and my home to have enough for us to leave.”

  Charlie had a feeling Owen would jump on the opportunity and work his magic to find a buyer. Anxious to see him and give him the news, she patted Nellie’s hand. “It’ll all work out for the best. You should talk with your son. Maybe he can help.”

  And then realization hit, and a wave of guilt washed over her body. Roger was an abusive man. Nellie shouldn’t be going anywhere with him. If she did, her life would be miserable, and possibly end worse than it was already.

  “Are you sure taking off with Roger will make you happy? Is he...is he good to you?”

  “He’s good to me. I came from nothing and he gave me a roof over my head and encouraged me to use my waitressing money to buy the diner. That was back before Owen was born and things didn’t cost as much.”

  “What did Roger do for work? What does he do now?”

  “Oh, he works odd jobs. He gets restless and doesn’t stick around at one place for too long. Part of why he wants to get us out of here.”

  Yeah. Total deadbeat.

  “Will you be... safe? If you ever needed anything, I’m sure Owen or other friends would help you if you got into trouble.”

  Nellie shook her head. “Nothin’ left for me around here. Roger’s the one for me. He gets me. I get him. We don’t belong around here no more.”

  “I wish you the best, Nellie.” In an uncharacteristic move, Charlie hugged her, lingering a little longer than customary. “I’m sure you’ll do what’s best for your children.”

  “A mother always does, doesn’t she?”

  Charlie almost lau
ghed out loud but read the seriousness in Nellie’s face. She truly believed she was doing what was best for her kids.

  On her drive back to camp, Charlie replayed Nellie’s words. While they didn’t ring true for her own mother, Nellie giving parental rights over to Owen would be in the best interest of both her children.

  Beneath the facade of I’m so happy in love with Roger, there was a dark sadness in Nelle’s eyes. But living so long believing the same lies, Charlie didn’t think there was anything she or Owen could do about it.

  She waited until Olivia had her shower and was tucked into bed before she told Owen everything she knew. With only a few days left with Owen and Olivia, she hoped they’d get it all worked out so they could start their new life together.

  Without her.

  “HOLY FUCK.” OWEN GRIPPED the top of his hair and paced his living room. “Shit.” He punched his fist into his palm and swore again. “I can’t believe he’s been lurking around here for God knows how long.”

  “Your mother is blinded by what she believes to be love,” Charlie said from the couch.

  “She never changes.” He rubbed his temples. A poor attempt to rub away the stress of the news Charlie dumped on him. “I can’t believe she told you all of that.”

  “Me either. I got the sense she doesn’t have anyone else to talk to. These past few weeks at the diner have paid a toll on her.”

  “And on Liv. And now you.” He crossed the room and sat on the battered coffee table across from her. Their knees bumped and he took her hands in his. “I appreciate all you’ve done. More than you can possibly know, but I don’t want to run the risk of Roger finding out about you. He may not have any interest in his daughter, but you’re a different story.”

  “You think he’ll attack me?”

  “Who knows. If he thinks you’ll get in the way of my mom taking off with him, then yeah.”

  “How do you feel about it? About having guardianship of Olivia?”

  He’d been doing it more or less since she was a toddler. More so lately as she’d gotten older and begun to realize how much her mother neglected her. Watching out for her until she was out on her own had been his plan anyway. Having her live under his roof three hundred sixty-five days would require more planning on his part, and less worry.