Keeping up Appearances
A Gass County Novel #4
By
Isabell Lawless
Published in the United States of America, 2017
Isabell Lawless, 2017
Dear Reader,
This summer, return to Gass County one last time, with the release of the last book in this series. Gass County books can be read as standalones, so you can jump in now without feeling lost. However, you do have time to catch up if you want to start the series at the beginning. Each book contains its own main, male character in a group of four friends. Book 1 is Burned Gasoline, book 2 is Once Upon a Killing, and book 3 is Behind the Pines. All books are available in paperback and ebook.
Every time I release a new book in print, I send several ecopies to my Review Crew—and there are always some open slots!
If you're one of the lucky readers who are chosen at random, I'll send you an ecopy of the latest book I am writing. To hold your spot, you must read the book and notify my assistant at [email protected] that you've posted at least two honest reviews prior to the deadline in the cover letter. As long as you continue to meet the deadlines, you'll keep receiving my ebooks for free.
I hope you’ll love Keeping up Appearances and once again, thank you so much for picking up this book!
Isabell
Praise for Keeping Up Appearances
“Isabell has a lovely gift of description. Authors don’t do enough of that.”
- Mary Crawford, Romance author of over 19 books
How does it feel to fall in love?
Almost like an avalanche,
you have to run for your life.
Child, 9 years old.
~ Chapter One ~
Have you ever wondered what makes it snow? Imagine a winter’s afternoon. It’s so cold that your breath turns to mist-clouds in the frosty air. Then softly, silently snowflakes start to fall. Soon, thousands of pretty snowflakes are dancing through the night. They settle gently on fields and trees and rooftops. By morning, the world is hidden beneath a white snowy blanket. Each step squashes the snow and leaves a footprint behind. Follow trails into the trees and you’ll find a quiet place. A family of sleepy squirrels snuggles up in a hollow, and nestled in a fir tree’s thick branches, a little bird is keeping warm away from the snow. The surface of the pond has frozen to a sheet of gleaming ice, yet life bubbles beneath. Later in the day the sun comes out and shines brightly in the sky, and as the snow gets warmer, it starts to melt, and little by little, the world begins to reappear. Perhaps by tomorrow the snow will be all gone. But as the snow slips down behind the trees the air grows cold again. In the moonlight, snowflakes whisper down once more and powder the ground, then covers all footprint and trails. Leaving a clean slate of nothing for what’s to come.
Bryce stared into the empty space that had once been called a culinary heaven in a Best Buy ad, but presently reminded him of something very boring, lonely, and cold. Like the scene he’d just witnessed outside the frosted window while leaning back in one of the recliners Marlene had left behind. He and the fridge shared the same life. The white and blue carton of milk showed a day passed best before date and the butter knife sticking up from the bottom scrap of dairy in the tub was about to tilt over, yet he contemplated feasting on both and looked around the kitchen for a piece of cracker or slice of bread he might have also neglected. The freezer didn’t have a more positive outlook and he slammed the doors shut then kicked the bottom of the refrigerator with irritation that it hadn’t somehow restocked itself with new inventory over night without his doing.
Now he had to go to the store. He hated the grocery store. He loved this town and everyone in it, almost, but socializing in his condition – fuck that. Small-talk and the fat chance of running into the person who’d not only stolen his heart, and made sure her always black stiletto heels had punctured it with a million small holes, but the expensive piece of engagement jewelry he’d once worked overtime out his butt over to afford. His heart and the shiny piece of jewelry was gone as well as she was. Marlene - damn that woman. It was because of her his fridge gaped empty. Her fault and nothing but. She could jump up her own ass and burn; he sure wouldn’t help ease the fire should the event actually happen. He’d let those ashes fly freely in the wind and gladly use a leaf blower powering the air in jet speed as far away from himself as possible.
He rubbed his large hand across the dark stubble coating his lower face and realized he didn’t only have some anger issues sitting deeper than expected, he might also have forgotten to shower and shave for a few days. How many exactly he couldn’t recall. In all honesty, he didn’t care. He should also have been at work today, but he’d called in sick. Childish, but fucking necessary.
Currently everyone had their shit together and his stomach tumbled like a cement mixer every time he had to politely smile over someone’s upcoming nuptials, a new baby, or just finding a new animal companion. Marlene hadn’t even left him that - his 70lb Golden Retriever, Gangster. She’d taken him as part of the household as much as she had the ring, their master bed, and just to really piss him off - the stereo surround system that had taken him days to hook up and install in the living room. They were all probably living out their days making any of Marlene’s new men happy. He had almost punched his fist through the wall when he noticed the house ransacked while he was away at work. For someone who said she’d been only contemplating seeing other people when she didn’t feel like she was his first priority sure moved out quickly, with assistance of hired people. Fuck Marlene. She could suck it. And she probably did. No, he wasn’t going there. She could do whoever she wanted, whenever she wanted to, he wasn’t even going to give her the thought.
“Open the door, Bryce-boy. I know you’re in there.”
“Not interested, Brody. Leave me alone.”
Keys scrambled and before he’d had a chance to grab the knob from inside Officer Brody Jensen, his childhood friend from elementary school and now the Sheriff of Primrose Valley, swung the door open and entered the house in full police uniform then slammed the door shut behind him, making Bryce’s late mother’s serving dish hung to the wall rattle in fear. Brody clipped his sunglasses to his chest pocket.
“Are you hibernating, Bryce-boy, is that what this is? You becoming a bear?” He grabbed Bryce by the shoulders and turned him so Bryce could face himself in the hallway mirror, making their two reflections stare back in annoyance.
Bryce shrugged and stepped out of Brody’s grip. “It’s my face, I do whatever the fuck I want with it. Grow a beard or keeping it clean like a baby’s butt, like yours.”
“Shut up, Bryce. You need to shake whatever this is off your shoulders and become your normal self.” Brody looked him up and down and shook his head. “Are you depressed? I get it. But I have people you can contact for support. Heck, I’ll be your support should you just let me in or take my calls.”
“I’m not . . . really, you know, depressed. It’s not like I’m ill. I just don’t feel like going to work. Or leaving the house. Period.”
“What, are you like four or something throwing a tantrum because you don’t feel like doing something that is necessary for your survival?” Brody took out a piece of white folded paper from his pant pocket and handed it over to Bryce. “From your sister. She came in to file a report on someone snooping around her trash cans at night and asked me to give you this, since you haven’t returned any of her million calls and text messages either.”
Bryce unfolded the paper as Brody leaned over to spell the message out for him before he had a chance to tuck it away from his ogling eyes
. “Stop moping. I love you, awe . . . that’s short but sweet, Bryce-boy.”
“Don’t you know it’s not polite to read other people’s mail?”
“Hardly a letter of large substance, yet, maybe it is. Stop moping shall we and get shaved for work. One or two more days and you’ll lose both your employment as well as your benefits. You know better than this.”
Bryce sighed and slumped his shoulders, letting himself get pushed down the hallway and into the closest bathroom.
“Don’t let Marlene win this game, Bryce. Shape up and get ready, I’ll come back in here to drag you out should my timer beep and you’re not out here. In five, four, three, two, one . . .” Bryce watched his friend set the timer on his wrist watch and shook his head knowing of Bryce’s Obsessive compulsive disorder before he pulled off his t-shirt and stepped into the warm steam pouring out from behind the shower curtain.
~ Chapter Two ~
“What about Sandy then?”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Bryce shook his head and drank a tall glass of water from the faucet, his hair still held some moisture to it after the shower and once in a while he felt a drop of water hit his back and he wiped it away with the towel he’d hung on his shoulder after he was done in the shower. That and a pair of board shorts Brody had found in his drawer and tossed into the bathroom when he’d heard the stream of water turn off.
“I all honesty, between you and me, I cannot stand that woman.”
“She has been nothing but sweet to you, how can you say that?”
“There is a lot of shit I’d like to say and do to her but can’t, downfall of living in a small town and having a job in the public eye. You know what I mean, we both wear similar uniforms and are likely to help people. ”
Brody shot him a look of death. Should his vision held blades Bryce realized he probably would have been divided in half by now. He watched Brody swallow and correct the top of his tie around his neck, fiddling with the knot, as he did when he had something to say. Out of annoyance. Or in this case, possible homicide.
“First, Bryce, our uniforms are nothing alike. I’m the Chief of Police, you’re a paramedic.” Bryce watched the muscle twitch in Brody’s cheek. “Secondly, and more important, we are not ‘likely’ to help people, we DO help people, all the time. That’s our job!” Brody placed his hands firmly at his hips and stared at his friend. “A life not saved, or a crime not solved, are failures and unacceptable.”
Bryce nodded and emptied the glass in his hand.
“Is this what this is?” Brody asked, softening his voice. “You don’t want to go back to work because you’re done with handling the ‘feelings’ if a patient cannot be saved?” Brody quoted in the air.
“No,” Bryce bit back. “I just think . . . or know that there must be more to life than . . . what I’ve live with so far and I want to change it.”
“Well,” Brody leaned back against the counter top next to Bryce. “You’re not a tree, if you don’t like where you’re at, move.”
Bryce scrunched his face. “That was a straight quote from your girlfriend, and honestly, don’t ever say that again.”
“Sorry, it just slipped out.”
The kitchen grew awkwardly silent until Brody walked to the back door, looking out the frosted glass and out to the backyard.
“So, again, Sandy?”
“No,” Bryce answered quickly.
“Then why on earth are you dating her right after Marlene left you and pulling her along, she and the rest of your friends thought you were about ready to move in together.”
“Oh, god no. Sandy paints her nails in soft pink, decorates her apartment with cute cat figurines and peonies, gives me what I want in bed, and calls me sugar, leaving out the last r.”
“Oh, boohoo, that must be hard, a woman wanting to do everything for you. Sucks to hear about it, really.”
“She has no energy man, no fight, nothing . . . it’s like she would jump in front of a train should I ever tell her to. Not that I would.”
“Either way, you need to clean yourself up and this house. If she’s not what you want then man up and move on.”
“I have no clue what I want with anything right now. I’ll figure it out, just let me mope one more day in my misery and I’ll be back, in some form, at the station tomorrow. Sgt. called, I have a night-shift under my wings.”
Brody left, stopping in his tracks a few times before closing the door behind him as he left. Bryce heard Brody’s large boots crush the gravel outside until the sound of a car door slammed hard and the engine to Brody’s cruiser ebbed out in silence.
He stood there in the kitchen for a while, attempting to look at his surroundings with the same eyes Brody had. He had been right about one thing: his place looked like two wild cats had been left to fend for themselves among pizza cartons, dried up fluid residue in glasses stacked at the back of the couch against the wall, and he was still in his gym outfit. From two days ago. And he hadn’t showered. The BO from his armpit told him so as he reached above his head to grab an almost empty cereal box from the top shelf in the cabinet.
He wasn’t ready to move on yet, heck, he didn’t even know where he’d move on to? Getting back with Sandy who was always sweet, polite, and wouldn’t hurt a fly? She was like a puffed pastry, sweet on the outside, hollow on the inside. There was just nothing there, no depth, no desire, just a nice little something to have on your arm while walking through town. Someone nice to show up to dinner with and someone who did whatever you might ask.
“Yuck,” he said, and placed the bowl of cereal in the sink, milk sloshing over its edge and down the drain. He felt as hot for Sandy as he did for the dish and grabbed for the stowaway in the back of the corner cabinet, a place he rarely visited as he was always on call for work. He unscrewed the top of the bottle and downed three gulps of amber before coughing, setting it hard on the counter.
“Mr. Daniels,” Bryce stared at the bottle on the counter. “Tonight there will be just you and me in this house.” He grabbed the bottle and held it to his lips. “You lead the way, Jack.”
Morning arrived with thunder and pain to his skull. If he made it out of bed today he’d be happy, yet he had to and remembered he’d sent an email last night and needed to sober up some for what was coming.
So, here he was, waiting impatiently for the cars to arrive outside. Pacing the rooms as he did. Then he heard them.
Bryce held the necks of three Sierra Madre Pale Ale ready to distribute as he watched his three friends enter the front door, filling the otherwise quiet house with chatter. Brody hung his sheriff hat on the hook Bryce had previously reserved for the dog’s leash and held the door open for Jefferson and Wayne occupied in what seemed a heated discussion about the reason behind Bryce’s impromptu invitation.
“We’re 50/50 you’re either telling us you proposed to Sandy, or maybe was a dumbass and took Marlene back, or even that you are coming out as gay, in love with either one of us. And to make it all clear, we’re all taken.”
Bryce took a deep breath and handed each of them a bottle to stop Wayne’s mouth from spreading anymore bullshit. “Neither. Please come in.”
“Just say it,” Wayne demanded, inhaling his beer in less than ten seconds. “I hate waiting for it. Rip it off like a sticky band-aid. The truth will hurt, but so will it be listening to you.”
“Fine,” Bryce took a deep breath. “I bought four non-refundable, full-price plane tickets to Brazil when I was drunk last night and we are all going. Tomorrow morning.” The room fell silent. They stared at him, surprised by his response.
“I did not expect that,” Jefferson sighed and took a sip if his beer, making himself more comfortable on the armrest of the sofa. “Are you sure you’re not gay? Because that would be totally fine if you were.”
“I’m not gay. End of discussion.”
~ Chapter Three ~
Bryce had to bundle up to keep warm against the crisp autumn day. He walked into the towering cornstalks t
hat rattled and swayed in the breeze. He’d parked his car along one of many fields around town. This one was particularly popular with families tracking their kids, high on sugar from the caramel apples, through the corn maze during Halloween. Bryce stared up at the clear autumn sky, his eyes catching a few rays of tired, mellow rays of sunshine among the fluffy clouds floating above. He thought he had always known what he wanted, but now he wasn’t too sure.
As the dried leaves and hay crunched under his feet he wondered why none of his ideas were working; he hadn’t manage to change Sandy’s mind about not getting back together because a few times a week her name still appeared on the caller id and every time he ignored it the same, which in reality was everything he really wanted – a woman. He hadn’t managed to get more than a sexual encounter with a girl from out of town, and his depressing attitude hadn’t made him successfulat work. The lanes of the maze were long and narrow, and made it confusing to know which way to go—so many choices, and some dead ends. Much too similar to his life at the moment. Then he heard a noise behind him and turned to meet whatever was coming his way. The shadow of three men haunted his view until they fully appeared.
“We’re all going, but you should know Raylyn is not happy about this.” Jefferson pushed his hands into the pocket of his jeans while Brody and Wayne flanked him nodding in agreement.
“We’re packed and ready to roll this awesome idea all the way to Buenos Aires!” Wayne exclaimed and pumped his fist high in the air.
“That’s in Argentina, Wayne,” Brody replied and shook his head. “We’re going to Brazil, Rio de Janeiro.”
“Huh, I’ll be damned. Even at this age I learn new things.”
“I bet you are, bro. I bet you are,” Jefferson answered and with a hand on Bryce’s back he moved the group out from the cornstalks and into Brody’s shiny white squad car, red and blue lights blinking in the early morning light.
Keeping Up Appearances (A Gass County Novel Book 4) Page 1