by Pamela Stone
Richard glanced at Vince then took a step toward the back door. “I can pitch a few balls.”
Without missing a beat, Ashton grabbed Vince’s arm. “Thanks, Dad, but Vince knows how to throw curveballs.”
Closing her eyes a second, Hanna prayed Vince would just follow Ashton out and let her deal with Richard. When she opened her eyes, Vince was staring at her.
“Sounds like I’ve been drafted,” he said, rolling up his sleeves and following Ashton.
If looks could kill, Vince would be annihilated by Richard’s menacing glare. Without saying a word to her ex-husband, Hanna grabbed the plastic cups and tray of cookies and carted them out to the patio table. Richard followed her outside, slammed closed the ice chest one of the kids had left open and watched the game, hands on hips.
She deposited the stuff on the table and turned to make sure he wasn’t going to do anything to ruin Ashton’s birthday. She didn’t need the two men getting into a macho turf war over who threw the best curveball.
As she turned, Richard grabbed her arm. “Don’t try to tell me nothing’s going on between you and the cowboy.”
She sucked in a breath. “It’s not my plan to tell you anything.”
He stuffed his hands in his navy blue Dockers and narrowed his eyes at her. She held his stare. No way in hell was she discussing Vince Keegan with her ex-husband. Let him think whatever he wanted.
Slowly he dropped the stare and surveyed the ball game being laid out. “This is how you’re raising our son?”
A backyard party certainly hadn’t been the norm up until this year. It couldn’t compare to trips to the planetarium, laser tag or the gaming arcade that had cost more than she currently cleared in two weeks. But it had been what Ashton had requested and it fit her budget. “Ashton is settling in nicely here. He’s made friends. Experienced new things.”
She started to turn away, but Richard captured her hand. Obviously he was looking for anything to make his case that Ashton belonged in Dallas. “And education? How’s that going? Is he in honors classes? He said he isn’t in band. How are his grades?”
Gently she pulled her hand out of his grasp. “There’s more to education than just the right schools. There’s…”
Hanna risked a glance outside at Vince, then turned and found Richard waiting on her to finish her thought. “I mean, Ashton has come a long way. His three-week report was all A’s. Marble Falls has been good for him.”
Her gaze was drawn back to Vince and this time that intense blue gaze bored into hers.
Bully Baer put the bat on his shoulder. “You gonna pitch or what?”
Turning his attention back to the game, Vince wound up and threw a curveball over home plate.
Billy missed and put the bat back on his shoulder. “Toss me another one.”
“Why? You can’t hit worth a flip anyway,” Kenzie taunted from second base. Her ponytail was loose and the hair ribbon, no longer in a bow, hung down her back as she flashed her father a wide smile.
Ashton was covering first base. He bent at the waist, spat on his hands and wiped his palms on his jeans. “Let’s play ball.”
It wasn’t his improved athletic skills that touched Hanna, it was his confidence. His assurance. She grabbed her camera off the table and snapped a couple of pictures. His happiness and well-being were all that mattered.
Richard leaned over. “So that’s the infamous Mackenzie that I hear all these exaggerated tales about.”
“I assure you, tales about Mackenzie require no exaggeration.”
Billy made contact with the third ball and it bounced down the first-base line. Ashton rushed to grab it, but Billy raced past first and on toward second. Huffing, Ashton rescued the ball and tossed it to Kenzie, but Billy was halfway to third.
Kenzie tossed the ball to Vince in the pitcher’s box and Billy froze on third.
“You’ll never make it home, Bully Baer,” Kenzie taunted.
As Hanna fidgeted with the refreshment table, Richard frowned. “What if I paid Ashton’s tuition? Could you afford a place in Dallas? Put Ashton back in private school? Be closer so I could see him more?”
“Don’t start this. We’ve already uprooted him once this year. I’m not doing it again.”
He took her hand and stilled her so she had no choice but to look at him. “I’m no longer first in my own son’s life. I can’t believe I let this happen.”
Not exactly her perception. “Richard, you didn’t ‘let’ it happen, you had an affair. You demanded a divorce. You were the one who was unfaithful, yet you’re acting angry as though it was my fault.”
Dropping her hand, he looked away. “I felt like an ass, but I couldn’t accept that I was to blame, so I lashed out at you. The ‘If you’d only been more attentive’ defense.”
She watched the other team take the field and Ashton’s team line up to bat. Clouds were rolling in, but she hoped they’d hold off for a couple of more hours.
Turning back to Richard, she tried to sort out what she was hearing. “You couldn’t have just been honest and said that you’d found someone else?”
Now he wanted to have his cake and eat it, too. He wanted his new young girlfriend, but he wanted Ashton and Hanna close by so he could be a part of Ashton’s life.
Squeezing her shoulder, Richard shrugged. “I handled the situation badly. I admit it. But look around. You’re too classy for this nowhere town. Ashton doesn’t belong here. What if I help you get a bookstore started in Dallas? You’d generate more business than here.”
Of all the nerve. “I love my little bookstore here in Marble Falls. And frankly, I have no desire to disrupt my life to make yours easier. You made your choice. Pardon me if I don’t really give a shit whether you get to see Ashton.”
“What? Now I don’t even get to see Dad?”
She hadn’t realized Ashton had walked up. How much had he overheard?
“First you moved me to Marble Falls away from him, and now I don’t get to see him at all?” Ashton’s voice rose with each syllable.
“Ashton…”
“All you two do is yell and fight. You don’t care about me at all, just yourselves. Well, fine. I hate you both!”
Ashton’s shrill voice silenced the yard. Mackenzie pushed her way through the other kids to her friend and Vince followed.
“You’re ruining my life. I was happy in Dallas before the divorce. You said nothing would change, but then you moved me here and said it’d be cool. I was miserable until we met the Keegans and then you tried to forbid me from playing with Kenzie. And you said not to worry, that I could always see Dad, and now you even lied about that.”
“Son, calm down,” Richard said, reaching for Ashton’s shoulder.
“Just leave me alone! I hate you for divorcing us for another woman. And I hate not having a home. And I hate my whole stupid life.” Jerking away, Ashton took off down the hall and slammed his bedroom door.
“Ashton!” Hanna raced after him, but he was leaning against the door, preventing her from opening it.
“Go away! I don’t want to talk to you.”
Hanna’s insides were wound so tightly, she wasn’t even sure how she could move. “Okay. We can talk later when you aren’t so angry.”
She turned back toward the living room and found a roomful of little eyes on her. What now? She tried to smile, but her eyes were full of tears.
“Okay, teams.” Vince motioned toward the patio door. “Everyone back outside. There are drinks in the cooler and snacks on the table. Five-minute break then get back to the game. Hopefully Ashton will be out shortly.”
Hanna flashed him a grateful look.
Mackenzie’s eyes were as round as half dollars. She looked at Hanna. “Let me talk to him. Maybe he still likes me okay.”
Hanna nodded and Kenzie disappeared down the hall. Vince herded the other kids back toward the yard and closed them outside. Hanna exchanged looks with Vince. If Ashton would listen to anyone, it was Vince’s daughter.
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“I’ll take care of him.” Richard took a step.
Vince touched his shoulder. “Might want to let him simmer down a little first. Don’t think you’re going to get too far right now.”
Richard spun on him. “Don’t tell me how to handle my son. My son. And my wife, who, no doubt, you’ve been sleeping with.”
Hanna couldn’t just let that one pass. “Ex-wife. And whatever does or does not happen between Vince and me is not your concern.”
“It certainly is my concern when it involves my son being subjected to his mother’s sordid affair with his friend’s father.” It took a lot to make Richard lose his cool, but Vince had managed it without even breaking a sweat.
The front door opened and Hanna’s mother walked in. She looked between the three angry faces and froze. “Uh, Anne Haythorn volunteered to watch the shop for a couple hours so I could come home and see Ashton blow out his candles. Did I miss it?”
Hanna shook her head. “No, Mom. We haven’t brought out the cake yet.”
“I obviously missed something.”
The men didn’t even acknowledge Norma, but continued to glare at one another. Richard looked angry enough, but Vince could halt an entire room given his current stance. Jaw set, hands in his jeans pockets.
“I’m going to see about Ashton and Mackenzie.” She left them standing in the living room and knocked on Ashton’s bedroom door. Not a sound. “Ashton.” Nada. She opened the door and peeped inside, but the window was wide open, curtain rustling as the wind picked up.
She raced back into the living room. “They’re gone!”
Chapter Nine
Vince blinked and bolted down the hall. Hanna wasn’t sure whether he thought she might have overlooked them hiding under the bed.
Thunder rumbled in the distance and the clouds overhead rolled across the sky. That spring storm the weatherman had predicted was moving in. Naturally, this would be the one time a weatherman was right.
Hanna raced after Vince as he ran for the pickup, digging his keys out of his pocket. “Where are you going?”
“Checking to see if the boat’s missing. When Kenzie needs to escape, that’s her method of choice.”
“Oh my God. The wind is picking up and the bottom is going to fall out of those clouds. Surely they wouldn’t go out on the lake.”
She grabbed his arm and turned, yelling over her shoulder. “Mom, can you get the other kids home safely?”
“I’ve got it. Just find Ashton,” Norma said.
Vince pulled away from Hanna and got in the pickup, but she jumped in beside him, and Richard pushed her over to the center and joined them.
“If anything happens to Ashton…” Richard started.
Hanna glared. “You’re right in the middle of this whole insanity, Richard. Don’t start making threats.”
How much of a head start did the kids have? How much time had they wasted arguing?
Vince took out his cell and dialed. “Kenzie’s not answering.” He dialed a second number and looked out at the sheet of rain as the clouds opened up. “Hey, Gray, where are you? The kids are missing.” Vince paused to listen. “Okay. Can you swing by the house and see if there’s any sign of them? Then maybe Bluebonnet Books.”
Vince nodded. “Yeah, I’m headed to the folks’ house to see if Kenzie’s boat is missing.” Heavy raindrops pelted the cab but didn’t slow Vince down.
Hanna glanced at Richard sitting helplessly beside her. The wipers swished at high speed and still couldn’t keep the windshield clear enough to see.
Vince pulled up to the Maguires’ dock and got out. The red bicycle. Hanna’s stomach plummeted. No kids. And no boat.
“Dammit!” Vince looked out across the lake. Heavy clouds hung low across the choppy water, limiting visibility. “I don’t see them.”
Bolting out the driver’s door, Hanna yelled, “Wouldn’t the Maguires have stopped them?”
“They’re in Fredericksburg at my brother-in-law’s for the week, watching his kids.”
Hanna stared across the lake. “I don’t think they’d take the boat out in this.”
“This moved in so fast, they probably didn’t think how bad it was going to get. Even ten minutes ago it didn’t look like this.” He pulled out the cell again. “Hey, Sheriff, this is Vince Keegan. We’ve got a problem.”
An old rattletrap pickup pulled up beside them, and Gray rolled down the window. “They’d been there. House is unlocked and Boo’s gone.”
“We wasted too much time,” Hanna said, climbing back into the truck cab.
“Two twelve-year-old kids and a big dog. My daughter’s small runabout is missing, and I’m figuring she and Ashton took it out on the lake. They were upset.” Vince slid behind the wheel and closed the door. He pushed his wet hair back, listening to the sheriff. “Okay. Headed downriver. If you get any reports, you have my cell.”
Gray waved. “I’ll wait here in case they circle back.”
Funny how Vince and Gray anticipated each other’s thoughts. Richard hadn’t opened his mouth since Hanna had shut him down.
“Where are we going?” Hanna asked as Vince pulled the truck back onto the highway.
“If they’re on the water, the wind and waves will take them in this direction. Just watch the lake.”
Hanna closed her eyes a second and offered up a prayer for their safety. This could not be happening.
As Vince crept along the lake road, Hanna and Richard kept their eyes peeled for anything on the water, but they could be only twenty feet away in this rain and she wasn’t sure they’d see them.
The shrill ringing of Vince’s cell phone broke the sound of the rain, and he pulled over to answer it. “Yeah. Okay. How long?” He’d already started moving again and turned up a side road along a cliff. “We’re close. See you in a minute.”
The truck bumped down a gravel road and Vince squinted through the struggling wipers. “Somebody reported two kids in a boat floating downstream. Watch the water and the shore.”
“Look,” Hanna screamed. “Isn’t that Boo?”
Pulling the truck off the road, Vince slammed it into Park, jumped out and grabbed the huge dog in a hug. “Where are they, boy? Come on.”
Ignoring the rain, Hanna raced after Vince as he ran after the dog. Hopefully there would be two wet but alive kids waiting.
“Quiet.” Vince put out his hand and stopped Hanna. “Listen.”
Richard raced up beside Hanna, but remained quiet.
“Help! Down here. Anybody!” The voice was faint, but obviously Mackenzie’s.
“Mackenzie, where are you?” Vince yelled.
Two voices joined in the noise. “Down here. Look over the ledge. Right below the tree.”
Vince lay down on his belly and eased out far enough to see over the granite ledge. “Are you both okay?”
“I am. Ash can’t walk on his ankle. We tried to climb out and he slipped.”
“Just stay where you are. I’ll come to you.” He went back to the truck and moved it closer, circling around so the back of the truck faced the cliff. He dug a rope out of the bed and tied it securely to the trailer hitch. Tossing the other end over the ledge, he looked at Hanna and Richard. “It’s only about a ten foot drop, but it’s straight up. I need one of you to get behind the wheel and the other to stand close to the ledge and relay whatever I tell you. When I say pull up, keep your foot on the brake and creep forward as slowly as you can.”
Richard jumped behind the wheel. Hanna moved closer to the edge. Please help Ashton not be hurt. “I’m here, Ashton. It’s going to be okay. You’ll be out of there in a minute.”
She hoped the two of them would hold it together, but Hanna couldn’t even breathe. She held on to the limb of a tree and leaned over so she could see.
Vince grabbed the rope and walked his way down the ledge, holding the rope.
He wrapped the bedraggled little girl in a quick hug and then pulled Ashton into the mix and hugged him. “You okay?�
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“Yeah, just my ankle hurts.”
“Okay. Hang tight. Kenzie, you’re first. I’m going to tie the rope around your waist, but I want you to hold it and walk your way up like you learned in Girl Scouts. Can you do that?”
There were a few grunts and groans as she made her way up, but soon she scrambled over the edge, then stretched out flat on her belly and peered down at Vince and Ashton. “I made it. But Ash can’t walk up with his ankle.”
Hanna tried to squelch her panic.
Boo sat beside Mackenzie and licked her face. Hanna rubbed the rain out of her eyes and looked down at Vince. His hair was plastered to his head, water dripping over his forehead.
“Toss the rope back down and stand back. I’m going to tie the rope around my waist, and Ashton is going to hang on to my chest while I walk up. With the extra weight, I need Richard to pull the truck forward very slowly when I say.”
Mackenzie untied the rope, dropped it back over and wrapped her arms around Boo.
Hanna’s silky pantsuit was muddy and wet, but who cared?
“Tell Richard to put the truck in Drive and ease forward. You and Kenzie stand back in case the rope snaps.”
Hanna relayed the message and pulled Mackenzie back.
Mackenzie nodded. “It’s not that far down. Dad will get him up.”
“He sure will,” Hanna said. “Everything is going to be fine.”
Don’t cry. That’ll embarrass Ashton. Hanna swiped at her tears, and realized tough little Mackenzie was doing the same as she leaned back against Hanna.
Inch by infinitely slow inch the rope creaked and popped as it strained against the cliff. She could hear Vince talking softly to Ashton, but she wasn’t sure what he was saying. It didn’t matter. They were in this together, and if there was anyone on Earth she trusted in a situation like this, it was Vince.
Hanna focused on the rope and the voices grew louder.
“Almost there. Now as I get to the top, you need to just lean back with me until you feel the ground. Okay?”