“Dr. Moore wrote a letter to the school board for Levi. The principal agreed to let him start school. Dad’s grilling steaks to celebrate. Levi wanted to invite you over.”
Sabrina had avoided him for the last week, so Tony never stuck around her place after dropping Levi off. No way would he miss out on a chance to spend the evening with her and Levi. Even if it was under the watchful eyes of her father. “What time can I be there?”
* * *
SABRINA’S HANDS SHOOK when she got back in her car. Levi’s explosions had become a thing of the past. Until this afternoon. He accused her of making Tony feel unwelcome because Tony left as soon as he saw Sabrina. She’d promised Levi she would invite Tony to dinner again.
To outsiders, Levi seemed to be content and happy. When Tony or her father was around, he was on his best behavior. But when they were alone, his anger seeped through and showed itself not through outbursts, but disrespect.
Whenever she told him to do something, he ignored her. A couple of days before, he’d told her he’d done something when she knew he hadn’t. When she’d confronted him, he shrugged and said, “I lied. I thought that’s how we did things now.” Trying to discipline him had turned into a battle of wills. She was now the bad guy and Levi picked Tony at every turn. And she hated it.
Her dad told her not to take it too personally. Levi was going through a lot of changes and needed time to adjust. Of course, Levi was on his best behavior in front of her father. Every night she’d go in to her son’s room to say good-night and he’d roll over to face the wall and pretend to be asleep. It was tearing her up inside. She was trying to be patient, but she wasn’t sure how much more she could take.
Tony still hadn’t told Levi that their daily visits were only temporary. It was the end of July. At the end of August, Tony would go back to San Antonio. If he thought he was going to leave it to her to tell Levi, he had another think coming.
Tonight she was going to get some answers from him. Mainly, when was he going to tell Levi he was going back to San Antonio? And what would happen when he did go back? Did he want to see Levi every other weekend? Or just when he had time? Would Levi be okay with seeing him only on the occasional weekend? Every time she broached the subject, Tony would shrug and tell her not to worry. He couldn’t wait until the last minute to tell Levi.
Sabrina turned off the farm-to-market road and followed the dirt road leading to the farm. She topped the last hill before home and stopped. Acres of waving prairie grass stretched as far as the eye could see. Cattle dotted the landscape and fields of alfalfa, and corn rose up at the edge of the rolling hills. She got out of the car and leaned against the hood.
One hundred and fifty years ago, a broken wagon wheel had interrupted her great-grandfather’s journey to California. By the time he got the wheel fixed, his wife had fallen in love with the area and refused to leave. What else could he do but build her a house?
In the distance, the same house stood on the skyline. Only now, an addition with wood siding nestled up against the flagstone structure. It was Sabrina’s sign that she was where she was supposed to be. Why couldn’t Tony feel the same way about this place? If only he loved Salt Creek like she did.
After their first kiss he’d told her, “I don’t stay in one place very long.” The last words he’d said to her before he left were “I told you I don’t stay in one place very long.” She was under no illusions that he was here to stay in Salt Creek. She wouldn’t even ask him to. Especially not with a promotion waiting for him in San Antonio. She knew he would always be there for Levi. If only she knew how he planned to juggle his job and Levi. And could she handle the dangers his job put him through?
She’d never quit loving him. Even when she hated him, she loved him. How did he feel about her? Before he left the first time, she’d been sure of his love. After he left, she’d convinced herself that his love had been a lie. But lately she caught him looking at her in a way that made goose bumps dance across her skin. The one kiss they’d shared replayed itself in her dreams every night.
Often, while lying in her bed listening to the crickets chirp outside her window, she wondered if they could ever be a family. But even when she finished the nursing program, she had no desire to return to Houston, or any other city. So what if she couldn’t make as much money here as she could in a larger town? Life was about more than money.
Tony might agree with her about money, but he had a mission. While she was happy to stay in Salt Creek forever, his quest to put drug dealers behind bars wouldn’t allow him to be content here. His ambitions were driven by his mother’s death. Would he ever feel that he’d been redeemed? Probably never. If they got together, he would want her to move to San Antonio with him, where the dangers of his job would be front and center every day. At least in Salt Creek, she wasn’t inundated with reminders.
The smell of burning charcoal filled the air with a tantalizing aroma when Sabrina pulled into the driveway, but the yard was quiet. She picked up the paper bag full of groceries she’d bought in town and went inside. Levi sat on the floor in the living room. Her dad sat in his chair. Both of them leaned over the coffee table, studying the checkerboard between them.
“Hi, Mom.” Levi nodded to her before he turned his gaze back to the checkerboard. A smile tickled his lips as he made his move. The same move Sabrina had made a million times. She held her breath. Levi was competitive. When he first learned to play, she’d let him win the first few times. He was a sore loser, so now she beat him occasionally to try to teach him sportsmanship. Her father had never let her win when she was a child. He didn’t believe in it. How would Levi react to getting beaten by Dad?
Dad glanced at the checkerboard and back at Levi. Then he did something that surprised her. The easy move. The one that would leave his final two checkers vulnerable to Levi.
Grinning, Levi took advantage of the perceived weakness and eagerly jumped his checkers. “Yes! I win!” He reached over to give his grandpa a high five.
“Good job.” Robert nodded. “Winner gets to clean it up.”
Levi dumped the checkers into the box and tucked the board beneath his arm.
When he was out of the room, Sabrina walked over to her dad. “I never thought I’d live to see the day that someone beat you at checkers.”
He shrugged. “Levi’s good.”
With one arm wrapped around his neck in a quick hug, she whispered in his ear, “Don’t make a habit of letting him win.”
“I’m going to check on the charcoal.”
“Thanks. I’ll have the macaroni salad ready soon. It can chill while you grill the steaks.”
“Knock, knock,” an all-too-familiar voice called from the doorway. “Am I too early?”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THROUGH THE SCREEN DOOR, Tony saw Sabrina and Robert exchanges glances. He braced himself as Robert opened the door.
“No, you’re not too early. I was just about to check the grill.” Robert extended his hand to him.
Tony stared at it for a moment before gripping it in a handshake. “Is there something I can do to help?”
“Sure. The steaks are on a cutting board in the kitchen. When I whistle, bring ’em out to me.”
“Yes, sir.” He smiled at Sabrina as Robert walked past him outside. “How about you? Is there something I can do?”
She started to say something, then stopped and smiled. “Actually, you can wash some potatoes for me and wrap them in foil while I start on the macaroni salad.”
“Aye-aye.” He gave her a mini salute and followed her to the kitchen.
“Tony!” Levi bounded out of his bedroom. “You’re early. I’ll go get my checkerboard. I bet you can’t beat me.”
The sparkle in Levi’s eyes warmed him. His son seemed to be accepting him. He still wasn’t ready to call him dad, but he wasn’t av
oiding him, either.
“Sure. Right after I help your mom. Sabrina, is there anything Levi can do?”
Sabrina stiffened and gave her son a guarded smile. “Levi, why don’t you wash the asparagus?”
Levi gave her a defiant stare. “Because I don’t want to.”
She blushed and turned back to what she was doing. Did Sabrina always let him speak like that to her? Or was this a new development?
“Levi, your mother asked you to do something.”
The boy huffed and jerked the door to the refrigerator open. He splashed a couple of drops of water on the asparagus. “Here.”
Before Tony could say anything, Levi ran out the door. Sabrina’s back was to him, but her posture told him everything. Touching her shoulder, he turned her to face him. “Is this new? Is he always that disrespectful?”
Sabrina sniffed and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “It started last week. I thought he was adjusting fine and then he was angry at me all over again. He’ll never be able to forgive me for lying to him. And you.”
Tony pulled her close. She relaxed against him for a moment. Nothing he’d done since leaving Salt Creek felt as right as holding her in his arms.
“I’m sorry. I’ll go talk to him.”
“No.” Sabrina shook her head. “It’ll just make it worse. He’ll have to get over it on his own.”
Tony shook his head. “No matter how angry he is with you, it doesn’t excuse him behaving toward you that way. You are his mother. Put your foot down and demand his respect. It’s the only way you’ll get it.”
She glanced down. “That’s what my dad says, too.”
A shrill whistle pierced the air. Tony picked up the cutting board with steaks on it. “I’m being summoned.”
Robert’s whistle had Levi running toward the house. He vaulted over the low rock wall at the back of the yard. When he saw Tony he stopped, as if unsure what to do.
Tony grinned at him. “I’ll be ready for that checker challenge as soon as you go in and wash that asparagus correctly.”
Levi shifted back and forth for a moment. “Okay.”
Robert waited for Levi to disappear in the house. “Well done.”
“Thanks,” Tony said.
“You and Sabrina may not be a couple, but you have to be united in your expectations of Levi. I appreciate you backing her up.”
“I never wanted to make things hard for her.” Tony handed Robert the spatula from the end of the grill. “Even ten years ago. I swear, I thought she’d be better off without me. Otherwise, I’d never have left. I loved her.”
Loved. Past tense. Or was it? When he strolled back into the house, Levi had just finished washing the asparagus. He opened the checkerboard and set it up. They were almost finished with their second game when Robert whistled for a plate to put the steaks on.
During dinner, an easy silence stretched between Tony and Robert. Tony’s chest tightened. Why hadn’t they been able to do this ten years ago? He’d been too busy trying to prove to the world that nothing bothered him. Sabrina had seen right through him when no one else could. Everyone else found him cocky and belligerent. No wonder Robert had threatened to run him off his property with a shotgun on more than one occasion.
After dinner, Sabrina began to clear the dishes away. Tony stood to help.
“Want to play cards?” Levi got up without cleaning his place.
Tony shot Sabrina a look. She took a deep breath. “Levi, put your plate in the sink.”
“I have Go-Fish or Uno.” Levi didn’t even acknowledge her. He ran into his room and came out with several decks of cards.
Sabrina snatched the cards from his hand. “No dishes, no cards.”
Levi made a face, but he did as he was told. When he was done, she handed the cards back to him. “What game do you want to play?”
Tony took a deep breath. “Actually, Levi, I want you to finish the dishes so your mother and I can talk.”
Despite the open windows and the screen door, the air was thick with humidity. He opened the door and quietly walked out onto the porch. “Is there someplace we can talk alone?”
Sabrina’s lip quivered and she nodded. She opened the door and hollered inside. “Daddy, Tony and I are going for a walk out to the barn.”
The full moon cast an eerie light over the Texas landscape as they walked to the barn’s breezeway.
He stopped a few feet from her. The wind rustled in the pecan trees and somewhere in the depths of the barn, an owl hooted in the rafters.
As soon as Sabrina stopped walking, he pulled her into his arms. He rubbed his hands along her back. “I’ve been wanting to do this all day.”
Sabrina hugged him for a moment. “We need to talk, Tony.”
“I know. We have a lot to discuss.” He pulled her hands to his chest and pressed a kiss against her knuckles. “Give me the chance to make up for the mistakes I made. For our son. For us.”
She took a few steps away from him. “I accept that you want to spend time with Levi. But there is no us. Not anymore.”
“Why? Why won’t you give us a chance?”
She took a deep breath before looking him straight in the eye. “That’s the same question I asked you ten years ago.”
Tony’s nostrils flared. “So that’s it. That’s all I get?”
“That’s all I can give you.”
She was lying. He could feel it in the way her pulse raced beneath his hand. He stopped inches from her. “No. I need a reason.”
“We have different lives now.” She played with the ring on her finger. “Your future is in San Antonio and mine is here.”
“What do you have here that you can’t have in San Antonio? School? A job? If it’s your dad you’re worried about, we can visit every weekend. Don’t we owe it to Levi to try to be a real family?”
Sabrina took a deep breath. “I can’t walk on eggshells every day wondering if today is the day that your luck ran out and you won’t come home to me.”
“So that’s it? My job? I would never put my job over you and Levi.”
The phone is his pocket chirped. He opened it up to read the text message from Kyle. Trouble at the hardware store. Hurry.
Crap. “I’m sorry, Sabrina, but I have to go. We’ll talk about this later.”
* * *
THE KEYS WERE still in his pocket, so he didn’t need to go back to the house. No sense in bothering his grandparents. In a flash he sped into town and turned down a small back alley to cut across to the main street. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a light flash and disappear. A flashlight? Two streets over, he shut off his engine and crept toward where he’d seen the light.
A noise ahead stopped him in his tracks. He dropped to the ground, blending into the shadows of the alleyway. The back entrances to all the businesses on Main Street sat along the alley. Crawling, he managed to get close enough to the corner to hear the sound of someone trying to pry a door open, but couldn’t see which business they were trying to break into.
“Hurry up,” a whispered voice demanded.
“I’m trying. I’m not as good at this as the kid.” Scuffling noises drifted to Tony.
At the end of the alley, a third, louder voice joined the group. “What are you doing?”
“What’s it to you? You didn’t want a piece of the action.”
“I won’t let you do it.”
The first voice laughed. “You think you can stop me?”
Muffled curses followed some more scuffling. Tony eased his head around the corner to see what was happening.
One figure lay in a heap on the ground. Kyle had a larger boy pinned against the outside wall of the hardware store. “You’re not breaking into this store,” he said through gritted teeth and let the boy go.
/> “You’ll be sorry.” The other boy picked his companion up off the ground and they scurried away from Kyle to the road, right past Tony.
Kyle hollered at the retreating figures. “I’ll be here all night to make sure you don’t come back.”
Tony didn’t recognize the smaller boy, but when they ran by he’d gotten a good look at the bigger kid’s face. Nick Johnson. When they were gone, he stepped out of the shadows. “Looks like you didn’t need me, after all.”
“Why didn’t you text me back?” Kyle threw up his hands. “I thought I was on my own.”
“I’m sorry. I should have. Pretty brave for someone who thought they were working alone.” Tony patted him on the back. “Thanks for watching out for Papa’s store.”
“You’re not gonna try to make me talk to the police, are you?” Kyle followed him down the alley to his truck. “I won’t do it.”
“No.” Tony nodded to the truck. “Get in and I’ll give you a ride home. How did you get out of your cabin?”
“Martin put a sleeping pill in Mr. and Mrs. Cordova’s drinks after supper. When he left, I followed. They’re probably still out of it.”
Tony’s eyes narrowed. “Where did he get the pills?”
“I don’t know. He has lots of pills.” Kyle climbed in the SUV. “And don’t ask me anything about it. I don’t know, and even if I did, I’m not a rat.”
“You realize how dangerous it is to deal drugs.”
“My mom got hooked on drugs and took off with her dealer when I was little. I won’t have anything to do with them.”
Tony started the truck. “One more thing we have in common. But covering for a drug dealer is as bad as pushing them yourself. I hope you realize that.”
“Yeah, well, I also know what happens to narcs.” Kyle stared out the window, confirming Tony’s suspicions.
Someone was using the group home to run drugs. Nick? Martin? Mr. Anderson? It was only a matter of time until he found out.
* * *
SABRINA PULLED INTO the Montoya’s driveway when she got off work. Mr. Montoya and Levi sat on the porch, their legs hanging over the edge. Tony was on the porch swing, watching them. He stood up and met her at her car.
Her Texas Rebel Page 18