Storming the Castle (Dale Series)

by Arianna Hart

  “She’s going to be fine. I swear. We’re on our way to the hospital and”

  “The hospital! Momma, what happened?”

  “I’m trying to tell you. One of the barn cats had kittens in the hayloft, and Piper was up there watching them. She wasn’t paying attention to the edge and fell off.”

  “My baby fell out of the hayloft?”

  “She’s fine, landed in a pile of straw. Heck, you kids used to jump off that very same loft, and you’re fine.”

  “Momma, please. Why are you going to the hospital?” Faith wanted to reach through the phone and drag the answers out of her mother.

  “She landed funny and broke her arm. The EMTs said she’ll be fine, but they wanted to bring her in the ambulance because of the risk of shock.”

  “Oh my God. I’m on my way. I put Piper’s insurance card in her bag. If they have any questions, have them call my cell. I’ll get there as fast as I can.” She shot to her feet and bolted to her room to throw some things in a bag. Her brain spun. All she knew was her baby was hurt, and it was at least a four-hour drive to her parents’, and that was if she didn’t hit traffic in Atlanta.

  “Don’t kill yourself getting here. She’s in good hands, and they were going to give her something for the pain in the ambulance. Your father rode with her, and I’m following them to the hospital. She won’t be alone.”

  “I won’t. I promise. Please, keep me posted so I don’t go nuts. I need to talk to her, to hear her voice.”

  “I understand, baby. I’ll let her use my phone as soon as I can.”

  “Tell her I’m on my way.” Faith hung up and threw a few toiletries in her duffle bag. She grabbed clothes at random and at the last second remembered to grab her phone charger.

  Sadie followed her on her frantic path around the house, getting underfoot and whimpering. “Go lay down, Sadie,” Faith growled at her as she tripped over the dog for the third time.

  Oh God, Sadie, she needed someone to take care of her. Her fingers shook as she scrolled through her numbers for Sam’s. “Please answer. Please don’t be so caught up you ignore the phone,” she begged. She could just run to the cottage, but that seemed like a waste of time, and all she wanted was to get on the road.

  “Hey babe, what’s up?” he answered.

  “Can you take care of Sadie? Piper fell. She broke her arm. She’s on her way to the hospital. I have to get to her.” Faith knew she wasn’t making sense, but she couldn’t slow her brain down enough to be more coherent.

  “What? Yeah, of course. I’ll be right over, anything you need.”

  “Thank you. You know where her food is. There are plenty of leftovers if you get hungry. I have things in the freezer, too.”

  “I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me.”

  Faith threw her bag and purse into the truck and shoved the key into the ignition. “I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. I’ll call you when I know more. Shit!” Faith pounded the steering wheel in frustration as the truck’s engine refused to turn over. She didn’t have time to fiddle around with it.

  “What? What is it? What’s wrong?”

  “My stupid truck won’t start. I don’t have time for this.”

  “Take mine. I’ll bring the keys. Just sit tight. I’m on my way.”

  Faith got out of the truck and kicked a rock in the driveway. She stuffed her phone in her back pocket before she chucked that, too.

  Sam jogged over to her and handed her the keys to the shiny SUV “Here, I think there’s more than half a tank of gas, but I don’t know for sure. Let me know what happens.”

  “I will. It’s a four-hour drive, so it’ll be a bit, but I’ll keep you posted. Thank you.”

  “It’s nothing. Go, get to your baby, but drive safely.”

  “I will.” He put her things in the back as she adjusted the seat for her much shorter legs. The console looked like something out of Star Trek, and she had a moment of panic as she tried to find the ignition.

  “Put your foot on the brake and press the button, you don’t have to put the key in the ignition. If you plug your phone into that cord, it’ll operate hands free.”

  “Great. I’ve got to go.”

  “Go, go. Just be careful.”

  “I will.” She leaned out the window and kissed him quickly before putting the truck in gear.

  …

  Sam watched as Faith drove just a bit too fast down the gravel driveway. The thought of Piper in pain and wanting her mom made his gut clench.

  Shit, kids broke stuff all the time. When he’d been into skateboarding, he’d broken his wrist, dislocated a shoulder, and knocked out two teethall in the same day. He’d turned out relatively okay.

  He remembered how his father refused to buy him another skateboard after that incident. Half his face had been scraped up, too, if he remembered correctly. By the time his old man had come to the infirmary, his head had been bandaged up like a mummy and the only thing showing were his two rapidly swelling black eyes.

  The drill sergeant had lost his shit about carelessness and not thinking through the consequences. He’d thought he’d been mad about the broken skateboard and that he’d had to leave work to rescue his irresponsible son again.

  Maybe the old man had been just as scared as Faith to hear his kid was injured. He hadn’t considered that before. It was too easy to paint his dad as an uncaring bastard. Before he could overthink it, he shot off a quick text to his father.

  Hey, Dad, remember when I broke my skateboard slamming into the neighbor’s tree?

  He waited until he saw that the message was delivered before putting the phone away. If his dad was on duty, he couldn’t have his phone on him. When his old man got the chance, he’d text back. He shook his head, still amazed that his father even knew how to text.

  Sam’s phone buzzed seconds later.

  Remember? It scared ten years off my life. I hated that damn skateboard. I’m still surprised you survived to adulthood some days. You okay?

  I’m good. In Georgia right now, don’t believe the tabloids.

  Never do.

  Huh, how about that? He’d always thought his father couldn’t wait to believe the worst about him. But then again, he’d also thought his old man didn’t give a crap about him, and apparently that was wrong, too. Maybe he’d try to get together with him before he headed back to L.A.

  Sadie barked from inside the house and he jogged up the porch steps to open the door. “Hey, girl, you want to hang with me today?”

  The dog whined and lay down on the foyer floor.

  “What is it? Are you worried about Faith? She’ll be fine. Come on, let me get you a treat.”

  Her ears perked up at the word treat, and she led him into the kitchen. The smell of fresh-baked heaven hit him as soon as he set foot in the house, and his stomach growled.

  A pan of still-warm brownies sat on the counter, ever so conveniently right next to the treat canister. He considered it a sign that he needed comfort food, too.

  After giving Sadie two treats, he poured a giant glass of milk and cut into the brownies. Except they weren’t just brownies. They were like brownies on steroids. There were Oreos and a layer of what looked like chocolate chip cookies underneath.

  He snagged a paper towel to catch the crumbs as he bit into the super-brownie over the sink.

  Holy fucking deliciousness, Batman.

  Taking a sip of the cool milk to balance the oral orgasm of chocolate overload, he leaned against the counter and contemplated how long he’d have to run if he had a second helping. He’d almost decided it was worth it when Sadie let out her warning bark. He wiped his mouth and discarded the paper towel before heading to the door to see who was coming up the drive.

  Recognizing the green mini-van, he opened the door as the van rocked to a stop. Mary Ellen burst out and bounced up the steps.

  “Good morning, handsome. Where’s Faith? I hope you left her wiped out and boneless from good sex.”

  Dam
n.

  “Uh, no. She had to run to her parents’ house. Piper broke her arm.” How long had it been since he’d felt embarrassed about anything?

  “What? Is she okay? Does she need anything? When is she coming back? I know when Hunter broke his arm, he was a bear for the first few days when the doctor said to take it easy.”

  He tried to remember all the questions she shot at him. “I don’t think she knows anything yet. Someone called her, and she shot out of here like a bat out of hell. She said something about it being a four-hour drive.”

  “Her truck is still here,” Mary Ellen said.

  “It wouldn’t start. I let her borrow mine. It’s not like I’m going anywhere anyway.”

  “That’s good. Her old truck is barely road worthy. I’ll wait until tonight to give her a call. Oh, the layered brownies. I wonder if she had time to finish making them.”

  “Layered brownies? Would those be brownie, Oreo, chocolate chip cookie bar things?”

  “Yup. She makes them for me to sell at the store, and I sell out of those suckers by one o’clock every day. That woman could make a fortune if she marketed herself.”

  “But then it wouldn’t be fun anymore.”

  “I see you’ve told her the same thing.”

  “Her chili is amazing.”

  “She wins the chili cook-off on Founders’ Day every year. I told her she should set up a catering business on the side for when the lodge isn’t full. I shouldn’t complain, with her home, I always have a babysitter on back up. If she was out working all the time, I’d be out of luck.”

  “I may have sampled the brownies. I’m sorry, I didn’t realize she was making them for someone else. She’s always baking something for me.”

  “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. But don’t worry about it, she usually cuts them up and wraps them individually, so it’s not like anyone will notice. C’mon, I’ll wrap them up and you can keep me company. You can tell me how rock and roll’s bad boy ended up in Dale.”

  He stood in the foyer, stunned as Mary Ellen brushed past him and made her way to the kitchen. He shut the door and followed her

  “How did you know? Faith swore she didn’t tell anyone.”

  “Please. I may be blond, but I’m not stupid. I own a general store. We sell magazines and tabloids. You looked familiar the first time I saw you, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Last week, I was rotating the old issues out and putting in the new ones, and I saw a picture of you wrapped around some swizzle stick of a woman. I have to say, I like the long hair better. There’s something sexy as sin about a man with hair you can hold onto.”

  “News must be slow if they’re finding old pictures of me to put on the cover of magazines.”

  “Well, it wasn’t exactly on the cover. I may have flipped through the pages a bit. Quality control, you know.”

  “So you’ve known all this time and haven’t said anything to anyone?”

  “I can keep quiet if I have to. I just don’t enjoy it. Besides, if my best friends didn’t think they could trust me to hold my tongue, then they deserved to feel uncomfortable about keeping things from me.”

  “Don’t blame Faith, I asked her not to tell anyone. I needed to get away from everything, everyone. I made it part of the deal when my manager rented the place.”

  “Fine, but Nadya’s been my best friend since birth, she should know me better.” Mary Ellen let out a big, booming laugh. “Shoot, she does know me, which is why she kept her mouth shut. I do love me some gossip.” She paused in wrapping the brownies. “You know, since I’m cutting these up anyway, it wouldn’t hurt to have another one. I’m all about quality control. Do you want another?”

  “Is the Pope Catholic?”

  Mary Ellen snickered and got out two plates and forks. Sam helped himself to another class of milk. “Do you want some milk to go with it?”

  “God, no.” She mock shuddered. “I haven’t had any since I had Emily. I hate the stuff. I’ll finish up the coffee and clean the pot.”

  He started in on his second helping of the brownie masterpiece. It was just as good as the first. He’d have to ask her to make him a bunch for when he went back to L.A.

  As if she could read his mind, she asked him, “So, Bill said you are thinking of staying on a few more weeks. What are your plans for after that?”

  “Ahh, I hadn’t really thought that far ahead. Once I finish writing the album, I have to get in the studio and record it. After that, there’ll be prep work for a new tour, promo spots, doing the rounds of the clubs and parties to get the word out, stuff like that.”

  “Sounds fun. I bet you run into all sorts of famous folks at those parties. Have you ever met Blake Shelton? That man revs my engine.”

  “We don’t exactly move in the same circles.”

  “Too bad. Anyway, it sounds like once you leave here, you’ll be busy. Too busy to think of all of us in Dale.”

  “I’ll be slammed, sure, but there’s no way I could forget Faith.”

  “That’s what you say now.”

  “I mean it.”

  “I’m sure you do. In this moment, but what about in a month? Faith hasn’t so much as looked at another man since that skunk of a husband of hers died. It would be very easy for her to fall in love with you. Women do that, you know. You may think it’s only sex, mutual rocks gotten off, no harm, no foul, but I know Faith. Despite all my nagging, she wouldn’t have slept with you unless she felt something for you.”

  “I’ve never lied to her. She knows I’m leaving in August.”

  “Of course she does. She’s probably even told herself she’s fine and this is only scratching an itch. Knowing her, she’ll offer to pack your suitcase and make you snacks for the trip home, but she’ll be dying inside.”

  “What do you want me to do about it? I have a contract. And I highly doubt she wants to pick up and move to California.”

  “I’d move to California in a hot second.”

  “No, you wouldn’t. You have roots here. Your life is here. So is Faith’s.”

  Mary Ellen sighed and unwrapped one of the brownies she’d just wrapped up. “You’re right, but sometimes it’s nice to pretend I’d be wild and crazy if I’d had the chance. But this isn’t about me. This is about Faith. All I’m saying is, when the time comes for you to go, be kind. How you treat her is going to affect her future relationships. If you aren’t careful with her heart, she’ll retreat back into her shell and never give another man a chance. She has too much love in her to wall it off forever.”

  All the chocolate he’d consumed sat in his stomach like a rock. It had to be the overload of chocolate, not the thought of Faith loving another man, sleeping with some bastard.

  “I’ll be careful.”

  “You do that. Tell Faith to shoot me a text when she’s on her way home. I’ll make up a little care package for Pip. She’s going to need something quiet to do those first few days, and there’s only so many times you can watch Frozen before your brain turns to zucchini.”

  “I’ll tell her.”

  Mary Ellen put the individually wrapped brownies in a freezer bag and headed toward the door. “If you need anything, just give me a holler. I’ll be at the store for the rest of the day. The number’s on that magnet there,” she said pointing to the fridge.

  “Will do.”

  “Take care now,” she said with a cheery wave as if she hadn’t just destroyed his good mood.

  He grunted what could be taken for a reply, but she was already turning the van around to drive away.

  Shit, the urge to work on his next song was shot to hell. He might as well get back to work on Piper’s mural. She’d be coming home soon, probably tomorrow, and it would be a cool surprise if it was done.

  Too bad he couldn’t draw those fairies Faith wanted.

  “Come on, Sadie, let’s go make a masterpiece.” He headed up the stairs and gathered the paints and brushes he needed.

  When he walked into Piper
’s room, he could see how it would all come together. This was a perfect room for a kid. It was like an enchanted forest. Maybe he could do some vine like things in the corners, too. When the fairy stickers came in they could put some along the vines. First, he had to finish the tree.

  Cranking the radio, he set up the paints and got to work. He hadn’t painted anything in years, but the brush strokes and technique came back to him easily. Funny, he’d started doodling and painting after he’d crashed into the tree and had to take it easy. With his left arm in a cast he couldn’t play piano, and he’d needed an outlet for his overactive imagination so he’d started messing around with a sketch pad one of the neighbors had given him as a get-well present.

  Maybe he’d mess around with Faith’s truck and see if he could get it running so he could go into town and get Piper a sketch pad, a coloring book and some pencils, too. Although, he didn’t know which arm she’d broken. He’d wait until he heard from Faith before trying anything.

  As he went to work on the individual leaves, his mind wandered. There were a lot of freaking leaves on a tree this big and doing the same pattern over and over again got tedious. Even though he did his best to ignore it, Mary Ellen’s words replayed in his head.

  Damn it, what did she expect from him? The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Faith. She’d given him so much, but he couldn’t stay in Dale forever. The tour would take a while to arrange, but once it started, it was nonstop for a year or more. Hell, by the time he had another break, Piper would be in high school and Faith would be married to some redneck bastard who could come home to her every night.

  He pressed so hard on the paint brush, the leaf he was doing smeared into a green blob.

  Shit.

  The thought of someone else sleeping with Faith, eating her food, being there for her, pissed him off unreasonably. What the fuck was wrong with him? He’d seen Bridgette coming out of his guitarist’s hotel room the day after they’d split up—again—and it had barely registered on his give-a-shit meter. The only thing he’d thought at the time was it was good she would be someone else’s headache.

  The green blob looked awful. He had to do something with it or it would drive him nuts. He headed outside to the shed where he’d found the paints and brushes yesterday. Just as he stepped into the dim interior, his phone rang. Hoping it was Faith, he answered without looking at the display.