Rebel in a Small Town

by Kristina Knight

  She checked the wall clock. Just after three. She’d already put in the order for the new surveillance cameras for both the interior and exterior of the store. Once the cameras arrived, she would oversee the installation. The new locks had already been installed. Everything was on track, and there wasn’t much more to do today. If she left now, she could spend an hour or so with Zeke before meeting James and the others at the Slope.

  It would be their first public outing, and the thought made the butterflies in her stomach swarm to life. Dinner at his house didn’t count because the only people who had been around were their friends and her relatives. And his parents, but Jonathan hadn’t given her too many dirty looks. By the time the group sat down to eat, the older man had been playing with his grandson as if they’d never been apart. Jonathan’s seeming approval meant a lot, but it didn’t mean the rest of the town would fall in line.

  Despite James’s statements the night before, he needed the town’s approval to become sheriff. If being with her meant he wouldn’t get that approval, she would have to leave, no matter how strongly her heart protested. She couldn’t be the reason someone else became sheriff; the job meant too much to James. It was part of his identity.

  Eventually, no matter what he said now, her costing him the sheriff position would turn him against her.

  Mara shut down her computer and put her laptop in her bag. Downstairs, she saw CarlaAnn at the register, chewing gum. She was on her cell phone, and the usual teenage bagger was nowhere to be seen.

  “And that is when I knew it was that Tyler girl,” she was saying. She paused, listening to whoever was on the other end of the line. “Well, I can’t help that that isn’t what you heard. That’s the way it happened, Viola,” she said.

  Mara waited at the door, unashamed to be eavesdropping on CarlaAnn’s half of the conversation.

  “You know precisely why she hasn’t been arrested or charged with anything. The Calhouns are covering for her. Again.”

  That did it. Sheriff Calhoun hadn’t covered for Mara even once. He had questioned her, but had never been able to prove anything because she and the guys had been smart enough to cover their tracks. Mara folded her arms across her chest, and her gaze fell on the new electronic security pad she had installed at the employee’s entrance.

  She shouldn’t do it. It was childish. She was an adult.

  “And you know that little bastard of hers is going to wind up just the same as she—”

  Mara whirled around. She would listen to the gossip about her; after all, most of it was true. But for CarlaAnn to bring Zeke into it... That was hitting below the belt.

  She booted her computer back up, opened the security protocol for the employee door and began tapping keys on the computer.

  It only took a couple of minutes to make the changes, and CarlaAnn was still on the phone when she left the security office once more.

  “Well, the same to you, then,” the older woman said and stabbed her finger against the phone’s screen.

  Mara pasted a smile on her face. “See you tomorrow,” she called out as she passed the register.

  “You don’t work Saturdays.”

  “I’m expecting one of the cameras to arrive tomorrow. No rest for the wicked,” she said, with a careless shrug of her shoulder.

  “Hmmpf,” CarlaAnn mumbled.

  Mara shook her head and continued out the door. She wasn’t going to let the CarlaAnns of Slippery Rock ruin her day. She’d had great sex last night, had a good day at work today, and now she was going home to play with her son. There was nothing to complain about with that kind of day.

  Besides, CarlaAnn was going to get a little surprise in the morning, and despite the fact that she knew it was childish, the anticipation made Mara giddy.

  She was home within twenty minutes, and Zeke met her at the door.

  “Ma, ma, ma,” he chanted, pushing his little fists against the screen. Mara picked him up.

  “Hey, little man. I like these words you’re learning,” she said and pressed a kiss to his forehead. She set him on the floor and dropped her laptop bag onto a chair as she slipped off her shoes.

  Zeke toddled off to his building blocks and began making a tower. She poked her head into the kitchen and saw Gran standing before the open refrigerator door.

  “What are you doing?” she asked on a laugh.

  “I was helping Amanda in the berry garden. It gave me hot flashes, and I’m using the fridge to cool down.”

  Mara shook her head. “You’re nuts.”

  “I’m old. Give me a break.”

  “How was Zeke today?”

  “Busy. We read a book and he decided to help Amanda in the berry garden—how he stayed so cool and I got so hot I have no idea. I think I’ll go take a cold shower, see if that’ll help me cool off.”

  “Do you want us to take him tonight?” It surprised her how easily the us slipped off her tongue. She kind of liked how it felt. Us. She and James. It was nice.

  “You are not taking that sweet baby to a bar.”

  “They serve food, so technically it’s a bar and grill.”

  “I wouldn’t call what Merle passes off as food as actual food.”

  “But it is edible,” Mara pointed out.

  “All the same. Give me a half hour to shower and I’ll be fine.”

  “We aren’t meeting until seven, so take your time.”

  She rejoined Zeke in the living room and added a block to the tower. The little boy watched the tower for a long minute, then picked up another block from the floor. He considered it for a moment, then dropped it. His pudgy hand reached for a block in the center of the tower, and the whole thing tumbled down.

  Mara shook her head and chuckled. “You know, when you pull the blocks from the tower, it always falls over.”

  Zeke didn’t seem to mind. He simply picked up a couple of new blocks and began building again. Mara handed him a block. He examined it and let it drop. While he built, Mara talked.

  “I’m going out with your daddy tonight. Your uncle Collin and Savannah will be there. And Savannah’s brother, Levi. It’s nice to be back here, to see everyone.” Zeke kept building, so Mara continued talking. “It’s different. Nice, but different. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed Slippery Rock, and now I can’t imagine not being here.”

  Zeke handed her a block, and Mara added it to the tower.

  “It isn’t as easy to build a life as it is to build a tower, but maybe it could be different here.” What was even sillier was thinking about building a life here after a single night with James Calhoun, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. “You and I could figure out a babysitting or nanny situation for when I’m working, and I could take the shorter jobs instead of always volunteering for the more difficult ones. I’m almost finished writing the program for Mallard’s, and it’s really only a couple of weeks since I’ve been on the job. My bosses at Cannon will like that. Between jobs, we could live here. Would you like that?”

  Zeke didn’t answer. He just kept stacking the blocks. He picked up the last one, which was barely as big as his palm. He examined it, turning it over in his hand a few times. Then he reached up on tiptoe and placed it on top of the other blocks. He looked at Mara triumphantly.

  She clapped her hands. “Good job, kiddo. You did it.”

  Zeke looked at his creation for a split second, then plucked a block from the middle of the stack, sending the whole thing toppling to the hardwood floor. He giggled, but instead of building another tower, he toddled off to grab the purple plush dinosaur.

  Mara began picking up the blocks, putting them in the plastic storage bin according to size.

  There was still a lot to work out with James. A lot to work out about Zeke, and a lot to work out with her job, too. With James’s, as well. If she saw
that her presence was having a bad influence on his future, no matter how badly she wanted to stay, she would go.

  But for now, what was the harm in doing a little planning?

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  BECAUSE IT WAS Friday night, the Slope was busy, with most tables occupied, and Juanita hustling to keep the mugs of beer and wineglasses filled. The seven of them—Levi, Collin and Savannah, Jenny and Adam, and James and Mara—shared a single booth near the back of the bar. Levi signaled Juanita for another bucket of beers when she hurried past.

  James watched as Mara aimed her dart and let it fly toward the board on the wall. It hit in the lower right quadrant. Not a bad shot overall. It would be better if she were playing on his team, though.

  “Nice shot!” Savannah high-fived Mara while Collin took position to make his next throw. They were playing girls versus guys, in deference to Levi, who was the lone single in their group.

  “Not bad for a girl,” Adam said. He sat in the wheelchair, peeling the label off the bottle of beer Jenny told him not to drink. He took a sip, and she shot a glare at him. “I could do better.”

  “You have to be able to stand to be able to shoot,” Jenny said, arms folded over her chest. She sat across the booth from James, Savannah sat beside Jenny.

  Mara looked from Adam to Jenny and back again. She handed her darts to Collin, who was up next, then slid into the booth next to James.

  “How are things going?” she asked, keeping her voice light and friendly.

  Adam spun the wheelchair around, working the wheels until he reached the jukebox.

  “I’m sorry,” Jenny said. “We shouldn’t have come tonight. I just...he needed to get out of the house, and my mom was willing to watch the kids. He’ll be okay. It’s all going to be okay.” Jenny didn’t sound so sure, but James didn’t know how to comfort the woman who had, until the tornado put Adam in the hospital, been one of the most positive people he’d known.

  “Have you heard from Aiden?” he asked, hoping a change of subject would release a little of the tension settling around the table.

  “He’ll be here after Founder’s Weekend. It was the earliest he could leave work.” Jenny shot a glance at her husband, who was paging through the song list on the juke. “Adam told him not to come, but I insisted. We need someone who can run the shop. Owen and Nancy are doing their best, but they seem to think nothing has changed at the shop since Adam and I bought it from them a few years ago. A lot has changed.” She eyed her husband who was still at the jukebox. “A lot has changed,” she repeated.

  “Anything we can do?” Collin asked from his position near the board.

  Jenny shook her head. “None of you are trained woodworkers, and the shop didn’t get hit with much damage. We’ll be okay. It’ll be okay,” she said. Those six words seemed to be a kind of mantra for her.

  Savannah and Mara both reached across the table, putting their hands on Jenny’s. The woman offered a wobbly smile. “I’m just...going to see if I can get him anything,” she said, rising from the booth. She said something to Adam, but he shook his head, turned the wheelchair toward the exit and left. Jenny followed.

  James shook his head. Not long ago, Adam had been the only one of them in a relationship, and now his relationship looked to be on rocky ground. The one relationship that should have been on rocky ground—James and Mara’s—seemed smooth. Almost steady. It was weird.

  Not that he could call what was going on with Mara a relationship, exactly. Not yet. Sharing a kid and sleeping together while not talking about the long term wasn’t the typical way relationships progressed. But, then, Mara was far from typical, and he didn’t mind that at all.

  Collin scored twenty during his round, but his score wasn’t enough to push them ahead of Mara and Savannah. James didn’t like to lose, not even a friendly game of darts, so he carefully took aim and let his dart fly. He hit just outside the bull’s-eye. Nice.

  He glanced behind him. “No high five?”

  “We don’t high-five the enemy,” Mara said, with a grin splitting her face. James rolled his eyes and took aim while Mara turned the conversation to Levi. “You sure you want to play with one of them and not with us?”

  “I have a feeling they’ll come back,” Levi said, muscled arms spread over the back of the booth. He’d been quiet most of the evening, and James wondered what was bugging him.

  “Are you going to shoot that dart or just caress it to death?” Mara asked, taking a sip from her daiquiri.

  James shrugged off the curiosity about Levi. If he wanted to talk, he would talk. Until then, it was time to play. James had another near miss with the bull’s-eye. Crap. James handed the darts to Savannah, who needed all of ten points to cement their win, and slid into the booth beside Mara. His thigh brushed against hers, warm despite the cool air-conditioning in the bar, and he took her hand in his, threading their fingers together. She sipped from her glass.

  “This is killing you, isn’t it?” she asked.

  “Losing a game of darts?” James shrugged. “It’s just a game.”

  She pressed her shoulder against his. “Liar.”

  “You forget that I was the one who didn’t care about football except as a way to get to college.”

  “Yeah, until you were on the field. Then it was game over for whoever was trying to guard you.”

  James looked at her for a long moment. “How did you know that?”

  “You don’t give me enough credit. I wasn’t just plotting our assaults on the student body, you know. I was also considering what a certain student body would look like without all those football pads covering it.”

  “Now who’s lying?”

  She held her hands up. “No lying here. I had a crush on you long before our encounter in Jefferson City.” Some emotion James couldn’t quite name made her blue eyes darken to an almost navy color.

  “God, between you two and my sister and Collin, it’s a syrup fest in here tonight.” Levi picked up his bottle and slid out of the booth. “I’ll be at the bar until the next round starts.” He stopped at the jukebox and slid a few quarters into it, then took the last stool at the bar.

  Mara squeezed James’s thigh. “As long as we’re playing it straight this time, no holding back, I figured I should let you in on that secret.”

  “We’re playing it straight?”

  She nodded, and despite the glint in her eyes and the grin on her face, James knew it was what she wanted. Which was good, because Mara was what he wanted. There had to be a way to make this work between them, and he was going to find it.

  “Definitely,” she said. “No secrets. No omissions. We see where this takes us.”

  “As long as we’re putting it all out there, I had a crush on you, too.”

  “I’m not an idiot,” she said, rolling her eyes. She finished her drink but didn’t signal for another.

  Savannah squealed, interrupting the conversation. One of her darts had landed dead center. Game over. He realized he didn’t care.

  Juanita arrived at the table with the new bucket of beers. “Whose tab tonight?”

  “Mine,” James said. He took his credit card from his wallet and handed it to her.

  “I’ll bring it right back,” she said, disappearing into the crowd.

  “How about a dance before the next round?” Savannah said. She’d locked arms with Collin, who leaned against the wall.

  “I don’t dance,” he said, but he followed her to the small open area near the jukebox when the next song started. It was a midtempo Keith Urban song, but the two of them fell into a slow, swaying motion.

  “Are you sure about this?” Mara asked, her voice quiet.

  “No,” he said.

  She shot her gaze to his.

  “We said honesty, right?” he said. “I’m not
being honest if I say I don’t wonder. I don’t know where this goes, and I don’t know how it works.”

  “It would be easier to go back to being friends, I think.” She squeezed his hand under the table, but didn’t let go.

  “Much, much easier.”

  She was quiet for a long time. James watched a few of the patrons. People he’d known all of his life. Thom, the mayor, was there. Bud had come in for a drink after shutting down his store at the marina. A few people he knew from high school were there—Mike Mallard with his wife. No one seemed to be paying any attention to the table in the corner.

  “I don’t want easy,” James said, and was surprised to realize the words rang true. Life had been easy for him. He loved being a cop, but he’d never really considered anything else because of who his father was. He loved Slippery Rock; no matter what other places he visited, this was the place that called to him, so it was an easy thing to buy a house and settle into small-town life. He’d worked hard to get where he was, but he could still recognize how easy most of his life decisions had been. Like checking off the box in a sports trivia quiz. “I’ve had easy. I’m tired of easy.”

  “I’ve never had easy. Not that my life has been filled with stepmothers and stepsisters who made me clean chimneys or anything. Figuring out who I am and what I want, though, has never been simple. I should want easy,” she said, and paused. “Why don’t I want easy?”

  James sipped his beer. “I could offer a few more meme quotes. ‘Nothing worth having comes easily.’”

  “‘Except ice cream—ice cream is always easy’,” she put in.

  James grinned. “‘All things are difficult before they are easy.’ There are a million of them.”

  “Let’s finish this conversation in private.”

  * * *

  “I’M GLAD I’M here now. With you.” Mara pulled his face to hers. They were at his house, on the back deck, watching the lake in the moonlight. “I know this isn’t the best timing, because of the situation with Zeke, and your job, and my job.” Want filled those clear blue eyes. Desire. “And I’m finished with the ‘I’m sorry about Zeke and Nashville’ conversations—at least for the rest of tonight. And tomorrow. You might have to remind me after that.”