Before I rounded the hallway to the employee locker room, I heard Dakota’s voice. “Meadow.”
As I turned toward her, I gave the large wall clock a passing glance, keeping the time in mind. I was supposed to relieve Gloria and I didn’t want to keep her waiting. She was always so prickly and didn’t need any more ammunition.
“Yes?” Everybody around here called her Boss Lady but that sounded ridiculous to me. She was just my boss, lady or not.
“There’s a situation in the bathroom on the west wall.”
Not again. Those toilets continuously overflowed. Couldn’t she have asked somebody else?
“Gloria and Ken cleaned it up, but I’d like you to contact the plumbing company again and see if they can return to fix the main line?”
Sounded like she had consulted Gloria, but was relying on me to come up with a bigger solution. I was cool with that. Besides, I had developed a decent relationship with that company.
“You can use my office to make the call and then you can chat with us about taking on the nighttime management position?”
My heartbeat sped up. A promotion? I couldn’t manage the evening shift though, not as a single parent with a child. I wasn’t sure if Dakota got that. She’d understand once she married Shane and had a family of her own someday.
“I know it’s not ideal,” Dakota said, as if she’d read my thoughts. “As soon as a daytime position opens up, we’ll move you into it. We just . . . it’s time, Meadow. You’re excellent and reliable.”
Stuart nodded his agreement and though my chest bloomed with pride, it was quickly overwhelmed by disappointment because I had nobody to watch my child in the middle of night on a long-term basis. Nobody I trusted, that was for certain. The Blacks were getting up in age and there was no way I would place that responsibility on Jayden. She had her own pressures to deal with.
I shook my head. “Joaquin . . .”
She placed her hand on my arm. “I know . . . just think about it . . .”
Too bad I didn’t have a reliable partner or an intact family, like Dakota’s brother, Kai. I was certain his wife, Rachel, was still able to do whatever she loved, even with a newborn baby less than a year old. But there were plenty of impossibilities as a single parent.
There was a time I had a mad crush on Kai, like every other female on the reservation. I often wondered why I hadn’t chosen a man like him instead. I knew he and Rachel were right for each other; I only longed for somebody as supportive and consistent as him.
“I’ll think about it,” I said, bowing my head. “Thank you for the opportunity.”
I headed to the break room to slip on my work shirt before checking out the bathroom situation.
Gloria was bent over one of the benches, tying her shoelaces. “Hey Gloria, what’s up?”
No matter how cordial I was to her, she simply was not a likeable person. I stayed far away from her in high school, especially since she constantly taunted me about my friendship with Sparrow. But I was the one who’d gotten the short end of the stick, outside of Joaquin, so she could have the last laugh for all I cared. At least I wasn’t married to Sparrow.
“Why doesn’t this family ever get a reliable plumber?” she said as way of greeting.
“Not sure it’s their fault,” I said, because she was so negative about everything.
“You’ve always been their little mascot,” she said, tugging her bag out of her locker.
“I don’t understand you,” I said, shaking my head. “You should be on their side too. You work in a casino run by women, you could at least give them the respect they deserve.”
She ignored me as usual and got straight to her point. “You just want to be on Boss Lady’s good side. Probably vying for that manager job.”
“What?” I rolled my eyes. Little did she know it was practically being handed to me. Unfortunately, I would never be able to gloat because I wouldn’t be able to take the position.
Her faced pinched into her usual disapproving features. She’d better hope they didn’t freeze that way. “Don’t act so innocent.”
When things had been chaotic at the casino a few months back over the death of Mr. Nakos, I thought for sure Gloria would quit, might even join the protestors who had lined up across the street to harass this family. But as it turned out her bark was worse than her bite. She only liked to make her co-workers miserable I supposed.
Truth was that she was bitter about my child with her husband. She hated when he’d come over to spend time with him in the early years. I didn’t know if she’d ever let it go. But she was unpleasant about everything. I wasn’t sure what had gone so horribly wrong in her life to make her so full of venom.
I sighed. “Whatever you say, Gloria.”
“Wait,” she said, as I turned to leave.
“What is it?” I asked, not even attempting to keep the annoyance out of my voice.
She opened her bag, which she had placed on the bench. “I’ve got something for you.”
I didn’t know what she could possibly have for me, since our lives only connected tenuously at work.
She pulled out a medium sized envelope and handed it to me. “From Sparrow.”
My shoulders stiffened. We hadn’t spoken of him in recent years and he had never used her to deliver something to me. “How . . . how did you get this?”
A sneer planted firmly on her face. “I’m his wife. Is it a secret he gives you support money? You still think you were his one true love?”
“Obviously not.” My chest tightened painfully. I was sure that he was probably with plenty of women by now, but when we were first got together, I knew—I felt—he’d only wanted me.
It was a little girl’s dream. I was surprised by how much that boiled in my gut. How much pain he’d caused both women facing off right now. If only somehow we could meet someplace in the center. Why there had to be this derisiveness between us, I didn’t understand.
“Relax,” she said, her laugh laced with scorn. “You look like you might pop a blood vessel.”
“Whatever,” I said, biting the inside of my cheek. In the past, the envelope would show up in our mailbox and I never questioned it. But it seemed Sparrow thought that too risky now. “Why would he deliver it to you this time?”
“Maybe because he trusts me. I would never rat him out,” she said and it was like a warning of sorts, so I kept my mouth shut. Seemed she’d remain loyal to him until the end.
Since I wouldn’t give her any more ammunition, she walked out and I sagged against the bench in relief. Not wanting to open the envelope at the casino, I placed it in my locker, turned the combination to secure it, and got to work.
8
Alex
I’d been keeping my eye on this beat up black pickup truck as it drove methodically through tribal property. Just an hour ago the two men had played pool at Sparrow’s old haunt and I observed them arguing with somebody in the parking lot. That was my first indication that maybe they were looking for the same wanted man.
According to our sources, Sparrow was using another reservation in New Mexico to transport narcotics over the border and was keeping a large portion of the stash for himself.
The tribal police on that land were understaffed and some of the residents accepted payment to be a lookout for Sparrows’ men. Since that reservation was one of the neediest in the country, it was easy for tribe members make a fast buck with their silent participation.
Not unlike what we saw in our poorest communities in the nation—money talked when it came to putting food on the table. Which got me thinking about the cash Meadow had coming in from Sparrow and more than likely, Gloria too.
Meadow’s tribal nation had come a long way, as was evidenced by the new businesses and housing developments that had filled in the landscape along the municipal line. As I understood it, Chief Red Hawk had decided that individual ownership of property gave his residents something to maintain and find pride in. The casino being constructed added extra incentive.
Much like the poor urban community where I was raised, communal housing had been erected, and some residents had trouble feeling invested. Based on Meadow’s argument with me yesterday, she had probably remembered a time when there were dismal living conditions on this land. I wanted her to understand that she and I had more in common than she realized.
I waited for the truck to bypass me down the dirt road before I tailed them, maintaining a safe distance. I steadied my racing pulse and tamped down my protective instinct, when the car pulled into the trailer park where Meadow and Joaquin lived.
From a safe distance, I watched the two men speaking to Meadow, while my hand rested on my hip, close to my handgun. The dark headed guy was taller than me with a lean build and burly forearms, but I could still take him down if I needed to. The other man was short and meatier and had a trimmed crop of blond hair.
Meadow stood outside her home, looking over her shoulder into her house every few seconds, most likely concerned about Joaquin.
As she tugged shakily on her braid that was all the encouragement I needed to pull into the turn and head to her lot. When I exited the car, I noticed how her eyes briefly softened with relief before she set her jaw as if to repel those emotions.
“You ready for that ride to work?” I walked up with a casual gait like I was an old friend. Meadow’s eyes widened as the men’s gazes flew to her car parked in a space nearby. “Your battery still dead?”
“Yes, thank you.” She cleared her throat and glanced over at the rental car I was using for my time on the clock, leaving my flashier Jeep in the back lot of the motel. “I need to get going before I’m late.”
The two men backed away, throwing wary gazes my way. That offered me an opportunity to get a better look at them before they headed to their vehicle. I took in the brown eyes and light scar on the tall guy’s cheek. The dumbasses.
But they were probably here for the exact reason I was—to find Sparrow.
I needed to keep reminding myself of that. I wasn’t Meadow’s savior. She wouldn’t want me to be anyway. Except the way her shoulders relaxed when she saw me, I’d felt like a superhero coming to rescue her from some big ape on top of the Empire State Building.
Meadow and I were left standing in awkward silence as the men slid into their truck. Because I knew we still had an audience, I stepped forward. “Do you need a few minutes to get your things together?”
I threw her a stern look that snapped her out of her trance. She nodded and turned numbly toward the door. I waited outside to be sure the two men had pulled away, their eyes trained on me with intimidating stares. I ignored them and pretended to be in a hurry by looking at my watch every few seconds.
Once they were a ways down the dirt road, I pushed open her door and stepped inside. She was seated at her kitchen table with her head in her hands.
Without thinking, I strode over and knelt in front of her. “Hey.”
She looked up with watery eyes. “How did you know I had a shift at the casino?”
“I didn’t,” I said. “I was just trying to think of an excuse when I showed up. I’ve been watching those two and had a feeling they were headed your way.”
“Everything is such a mess,” she said as she swiped at her eye attempting to thwart one fat tear that had rolled down her cheek.
My hand automatically flew to her shoulder and squeezed for reassurance, which was a mistake. Because now I could smell her, like a storm rolling off the lake—fresh and earthy and warm. Fuck.
She hesitated briefly before pumping out a shuddery breath, her head lolling toward my shoulder. I could almost feel the whisper of her lips at my collarbone and I held in a shiver.
What I wouldn’t give to feel her mouth on my neck. But I needed to rein it in, because I was here for different reasons. Reasons that did not include Meadow and I ever having our bare skin next to each other.
Unexpectedly she pulled away from me and shook her head as if coming out of a strange dream. “God, what am I . . . I’m sorry.”
“No problem,” I said, leaning back and then straightening myself. “So you don’t know those two men?”
“The one with the scar on his cheek had been around here before, a couple months back, looking for Sparrow. Guess he brought a friend,” she said, springing up from her seat. “What exactly do they want with him?”
So many things were on the tip of my tongue. If she only knew about all the shit he’d done, she wouldn’t look so concerned about him, but I kept my mouth shut. One thing I’d learned in this job was that the facts that you saw on paper rarely matched up to reality.
Because paper did not add up to feelings and connections and nostalgia—all the things that kept people loyal and devoted to one another. Had I been in Meadow’s place, would I have been able to give up one of my family members so easily?
All the times my brother had been strung out on prescription drugs, I was nervous for his safety as well as our own. He’d done some illegal things to get them, would I have been able to point a finger in his direction?
Just as I was about to expound on my thought, Joaquin breezed in from the other room. “Momma!”
“Ready to go?” Meadow asked, squatting down while he flew into her arms. She needed him right then as much as he needed her. The idea of what it might feel like to be included in their little circle hit me like a lightning bolt. Where the fuck did that thought come from?
I was content with my single life. Being in a relationship had its perks but only if it was solid. The idea of kids had never entered my brain, so maybe the kid simply had a way of getting under my skin with an innocent smile and an Oreo cookie.
“Hi Mr. Alex,” Joaquin said to me over his mother’s shoulder. She gave him one final kiss and then stood up.
“Hi buddy,” I said, attempting to shake my very domestic feelings right then.
“Do you want to see my dino—”
“It’s time for us to go,” she said, cutting him off. “Need to get your shoes on.”
“Mo—.”
“Now, Joaquin.”
When he ran to his bedroom no doubt in search of his shoes, she said, “Thanks for your help.”
“I’m going to guess that those two men will still be watching you,” I said closer to her ear. Her breath caught.
“So what do you propose?” she asked in a loud whisper.
Joaquin ran back in with his shoes on but the laces undone. He plopped down on the ground waiting for Meadow to help him tie them.
“That I drive you,” I said, shrugging. If I knew criminals, they were suspicious of everybody. So those guys might have waited to see if there was anything they could pin on me if I was lying about her car being broken down.
“That you do what?” she said, her hands on her hips, while Joaquin watched us closely from the floor. On impulse, I sank down to my knees and began tying his shoelaces. Nobody had asked me, it just felt natural and necessary, especially if they needed to get moving. Plus, it gave my hands something to do.
“I’ll drive you and pick you up,” I said, while she stared wide-eyed at me. I couldn’t tell if it was because of my suggestion or because of tying her child’s shoes, like it was expected of me. I had even shocked myself.
“I have to drop Joaquin at—”
“Not a problem,” I said.
“Momma says I’ll learn how to tie them myself soon. She makes a double knot so I don’t have to ask the teachers for help again later.”
It made sense, so I nodded and tied knots in both shoes.
“I don’t need you to pick me up I can—”
“Don’t even question it,” I rumbled as I stood up and moved to the door. What in the hell had gotten into me? Something sparked in her eyes, like a cross between shock and desire. Unless I was imagining it. “I’ll wait in my car.”
I sat tapping my knuckles on the steering wheel when she strode out the door with little Joaquin ambling behind her. She charged toward her car and at first I th
ought she was going to tell me to screw off. But as I watched, my jaw ticking, she opened the back door and grabbed what I suspected was Joaquin’s booster seat.
We were mostly silent as I drove to Joaquin’s day care center, outside of him rambling about different dinosaurs he collected. I spotted the same black Chevy truck in the convenience store parking lot but didn’t say a word. She probably noticed it too, if her intake of air gave anything away.
Her fingers continued to drum on the center console between us after she walked Joaquin into the building, which I noticed was secure and had a code inscribed in the door with a password for parents and staff. “Are you nervous about those men?”
Her wide eyes shot up to mine. “I hate to be away from my child while they’re around here . . .”
“The local authorities have been notified and I’ll keep my eye out today too,” I said. “The day care has their own security measures. It’ll be all right.”
She visibly relaxed.
After I drove her to the casino entrance she turned in her seat to thank me. “I’ll keep the booster so I can pick you both up.”
She opened her mouth to protest once more but then just nodded.
“Text me when you’re ready. You still have my card?”
“It’s in my wallet,” she mumbled as she exited the car and I couldn’t help the lump that had formed in my throat.
9
Meadow
The last hour of my life felt so surreal. Not only did a couple of rough looking men come to my home to ask me about Sparrow’s whereabouts, but then Alex showed up out of nowhere. He proceeded to intervene and then drive Joaquin to day care and me to work.
I’d admit I breathed a sigh of relief when I spotted him getting out of his car. I didn’t think the tribal police were anywhere around. Though they’d beefed up the force in the last few years, they had enough on their plate to deal with.
I went about my shift avoiding Gloria whenever I could because I did not need her negative energy in my life. Not when this was a job I depended on. From what I understood, we both did, since she helped take care of an ailing mother.
Three Sacred Words (Golden Arrow #2) Page 5