by Jamie Begley
Jessie got off the couch and went to the kitchen. Getting a glass, she made herself some iced tea.
As she was getting ice out of the freezer, she saw that Asher had taken the list off the door.
“I told you I’m not buying—”
Jessie slammed the plastic container of tea down on the counter, making Asher jump at the sound. “I’m not going into town just because you’re too embarrassed to buy tampons!” she shouted, seeing Asher take a step back from the counter. “Order the damn groceries online and go to the store and pick them up. I don’t care how you do it, just do it! Jesus—”
“I’ll go to the store. Calm down,” Holt interrupted, getting off the couch to get his truck keys.
“I’ll go.” Asher gave her a wary look, saddling around the counter to try to take the keys away from Holt.
“I already said I’d go.” Holt refusing to give the keys started a tugging match with Asher.
“Both of you, go.” Jessie took a steadying breath as she set the jug of tea back in the refrigerator.
“I don’t want you left alone. One of us needs to stay—”
Her flinty eyes narrowed on her brothers. “Don’t you think I can take care of myself anymore?”
They stopped fighting over the keys, staring at her like deer caught in headlights.
“That wasn’t what I was saying,” Holt began carefully. “It isn’t safe until we find out who—”
“Beat the ever-loving hell out of me? Raped me?” she screamed at him.
Asher and Holt went pale as they pressed against the front door for safety.
“Look around! There’re ten guns in this room alone. Anyone but you two tries to come through that door without me letting them in will get a load of buckshot through their privates.”
“You know, Holt, I think she’s good. We should both go. She could probably use the time alone.”
“You’re right about that,” Jessie muttered, carrying her tea to sit back down on the couch and fussily covering herself with the afghan again. “And don’t forget the chips.”
“Company’s coming,” Dustin warned Greer, resting his phone back down on the table as they closed the maps of Treepoint they were studying.
Dustin shoved the folded maps into the drawer of the old wooden buffet as Greer unlocked the shelf, taking two guns out. Dustin took his as Greer opened the door, meeting the Hayeses as they pulled their truck into the driveway, bringing it to a stuttering halt.
“Wonder what the fuck they want?” Greer muttered as Asher and Holt climbed out of the truck.
“Don’t know. Let me handle this.”
Dustin ignored his brother’s puzzled expression as they both went to the end of the porch to see what the Hayeses were taking out of the back of the truck cab.
Holt and Asher carried a bundle each, setting them on the porch next to their feet.
“That’s all the pot I stole from you. None of it is missing.” Asher’s face was poker red as Greer didn’t even try to hide how disgusted he was of the men.
“You brought it back. Now get your fucking asses off my property,” Greer growled between clenched teeth.
Observing Holt’s and Asher’s expressions, Dustin knew they had come for more than to return the weed. “Be quiet, Greer. You got something on your mind, Holt?”
“I do. Asher and I want to apologize not only for him not returning the pot but to you, Dustin.” Holt looked like he would rather shovel horse shit, but he kept talking. “I shouldn’t have made you leave the hospital when you wanted to stay, and I shouldn’t have had you removed from the hospital the four times when you tried to bring Jess flowers.”
Noticing that Greer went slack-jawed at the information he had been unaware of, Dustin played it down as if he hadn’t questioned his sanity for wanting to renew his friendship with Jessie.
Shrugging, Dustin let it show in his eyes, the numerous insults he had endured from the Hayeses over the years. “I’ve been treated worse by a Hayes.”
“Not anymore,” Asher rushed out, his usual attitude of contempt of every Porter missing.
Dustin darted a quick look over his shoulder to make sure another Hayes wasn’t about to sneak up behind him and Greer and stab them in the back during the friendly overture.
Rubbing his hand on the side of his jeans, Asher then held it out to him. “At the hospital, you reached a hand out. I’d like to take it now, and all of us want to let bygones be bygones and put an end to the feud between the Porters and Hayes.”
Dustin stared down at the hand, making no move to take it. “Quit wasting mine and Greer’s time. What do you really want?”
Asher dropped his hand back to his side. “You ask him, Holt.”
Clearing his throat, Holt took his turn. “We’d appreciate it if you would stop by the house and give Jess some company.”
“You’re shitting us, right?” Greer scowled. “You think my brother is stupid enough to walk into an ambush?”
Holt shook his head quickly. “No ambush. Jessie refuses to leave the house and won’t let any of the women from town stop by. She needs the company, and knowing how close you two were when you were kids, we’re hoping you could help get her out of the mood she’s in.”
“What kind of mood is she in?” His concern for Jessie overrode his loathing for her brothers.
“A mean one,” Asher confessed plaintively. “A man can’t walk out the door without being afraid his dick will be shot off when he comes back.”
“She opened our gun safes. Jessie has them by every window and door. Hell, I saw her put one under the pillow on the couch. I’m afraid to sit down without checking the cushions.”
“I don’t blame her. The bastard nearly succeeded in killing her.” Excusing her behavior, Dustin couldn’t bring himself to sympathize with the men.
“We don’t either,” Holt hastened to explain. “I just don’t want to be shot in the ass by mistake when the one who done it is getting away scot-free.”
“He’s not going to get away scot-free,” Greer spoke up. “Knox and the state police are working the case.”
Dustin gave Greer a quelling look, not wanting him to disclose that they had been trying to find out who the person was who had tilted Jessie’s life upside down.
“They couldn’t be working on it too hard or they would’ve already made an arrest,” Holt muttered under his breath, looking away.
Do they really think that the whole town doesn’t know that the whole Hayes clan is searching high and low for the man who had hurt Jessie? Dustin thought to himself.
Not only were they badgering Knox and the state police with phone calls, demanding information on Jessie’s case, but they were using their family connections to find out pertinent facts of the case before Knox or the detectives could. They had no intention of letting the person who almost killed Jessie go to jail. He would be killed and buried before the authorities could find him. Dustin couldn’t blame them. The Porters had the same intention.
“They find out who the woman was who was killed yet?” Holt asked as if he didn’t know the answer.
“You tell me,” Greer hedged.
“It sure as shit isn’t Lisa West. You and Knox are wasting time waiting for the DNA to come back to match the body found.”
“No one has seen her lately.”
“Don’t care. I don’t know where the fuck she is, but it isn’t her.”
“I’ll tell him you said so. I’m sure he’ll really care what you think.” Greer hocked up a ball of spit, launching it at the dirt in front of Holt’s foot.
Seeing the look on Holt’s face at the insult, Dustin decided to defuse the building anger. “I’ll stop by to visit Jessie.”
“When?” Asher immediately asked.
Expecting the brothers to hightail it off their property once they got what they wanted, Dustin was surprised at how quickly Asher wanted the invitation they had extended accepted.
“I can go … now,” he said, trying not to laugh.
; Greer didn’t bother, snickering at his side.
“Now is good.” Asher’s head was practically bobbing on his shoulders.
Greer peered at them through narrowed eyes. “You sure this isn’t an ambush?”
“It’s not an ambush,” Asher answered testily. “Just trying to be neighborly. Told you we’re going to let bygones be bygones.”
“You keep saying that, yet somehow, Greer and I are having trouble believing it.” Ironically, Dustin didn’t believe the Hayeses as far as he could throw them. Somehow, Asher’s sincerity didn’t ring true.
“It’s true. Neighbors need to come together in their time of need.”
When Greer made a retching sound, Dustin gave him a speaking glance to make him stop.
“You must need us pretty damn bad to come here like this, eating crow, just to get me to visit Jessie. I told you I wasn’t the one who hurt her.”
“We know that. You, Tate, and Greer were the first ones in line when Knox asked the men in town to volunteer to give DNA samples,” Holt magnanimously admitted with an arrogant tilt of his head.
“I’m surprised you didn’t wait for the results—”
“We did. If we waited for Frankfort to send the information to Knox and the state police, we’d be old and gray.”
“How’d you find out?”
“That’s for us to know.”
“What happened to letting bygones be bygones?”
“That doesn’t mean we’re family, and only family needs to know.”
Dustin wanted to kick Holt in the ass for being an arrogant prick, but he was used to dealing with the biggest pricks in Kentucky, so he let it slide off his back.
Holt had turned to go back to the truck while Asher remained unmoving, staring him dead in the eyes. “I never meant for your boy to get hurt, Dustin. Said a lot of prayers that he didn’t. Any help you give to Jessie, we don’t deserve, but it would be much appreciated.”
For the first time, Dustin felt that Asher was sincere in his apology.
He and Greer watched as Asher walked to the truck, where Holt was waiting inside. Lifting himself into the cab, he poked his head up so he could be seen.
“By the way, make damn sure you’re careful when you go on the porch to knock. Jess is dying to shoot someone’s dick off.”
“You believe that?” Greer grunted.
Dustin knew Greer meant that the Hayes brothers had brought the pot back and asked for help. Deliberately misunderstanding him, though, Dustin reached to take Greer’s gun away. “I believe it. Bliss said she used to threaten to shoot you at least ten times a day in the balls.”
“Why? What’d I ever do to her?” Greer looked as if he was truly puzzled
“I don’t know, Greer. You’d have to ask her. Why don’t we take a stroll to her house and ask?”
12
After her brothers left, Jessie rewound her movie to the part she had missed while laying her head on the arm of the couch. She didn’t even know why she was rewinding the movie. She hadn’t been paying attention to it before they left. All she wanted to do was remember the night that had irrevocably changed her life.
Every minute and second of her time that she had spent since waking up in her hospital room had been centered on the elusive memories that remained out of reach. That another woman’s murderer was getting away because she couldn’t remember was like a festering sore.
It had her temper soaring that she was taking it out on her brothers. She hated herself when she did, which added another layer of guilt, overwhelming her to the point that she had asked Bliss if she wanted to buy the daycare. Mentally, she was on overload. It wasn’t fair to Bliss that she was managing the daycare smoothly without Jessie able to compensate her for the extra time she was working.
Feeling listless, she took a shower after the movie ended. Putting on a pair of loose navy sweatpants and one of Holt’s overlarge shirts, she sat on the end of her bed, lost in thought, when she heard a ping against the window behind her.
Startled, she went to the window and looked out, seeing Dustin mischievously grinning at her. She lifted the window open.
“Huh? What are you doing?”
“Trying to get your attention. It took four rocks to get you to come to the window.”
“You could have just come to the door.”
“That’s no fun. You want to go for a walk?”
“I haven’t seen you since I was in the emergency room, and suddenly you’re showing up here to ask me to go for a walk?”
“Yeah. You want to go?”
“No.” Jessie started to push the window back down.
“Come on, Jess. Walk with me.”
Jessie released a huff of air. “Fine.”
Closing and locking the window, she put on her tennis shoes before going to the front door.
“I don’t want to talk about what happened—”
Dustin held his hands up in surrender. “I just thought we could take a stroll through the woods and look at how pretty the leaves are.”
Jessie nodded as she stepped off the porch, him automatically following in step.
“I love this time of year. The humidity is gone, and the breeze feels good.”
“Yes, it does.” Jessie raised her head, feeling the cool breeze against her face. “Did Logan pick out his Halloween costume yet?”
“He’s going to be a nicecrow—a scarecrow with a smile.”
Jessie didn’t laugh, but a smile did lift her lips. “Logan is very empathic. He hates it when someone is hurt or scared.”
“Don’t I know it? I’ve had to go to the school several times for him defending the younger students.”
“Like who?”
“Like Darcy a couple of times and Anna.”
“Anna Pierce?”
“Yes.”
“Logan was in my daycare when they started. He used to play with the younger children when he was bored with what the ones his own age were doing. I used to let him be my helper—passing out drinks and snacks. It’s only natural that he’d be protective of them. I hope he didn’t get in too much trouble.” She had recognized that Logan was sensitive to other children’s emotions and had been worried about him when he left for school. The world could be a cruel place, and with Logan being more perceptive than most children his age, she worried that he would have difficulties adjusting.
“He’s doing better. He switched to another classroom with a different teacher. So far, I haven’t been called into another meeting.”
“I want him to like school. Logan is very smart.”
“Too smart for his own good.” Dustin raised a broken branch for her to duck under as they continued walking.
As she gave him a small smile of thanks, their eyes met. His laughing brown ones turned serious.
“He’s been wanting to see you. He’s going to be mad that I didn’t wait for him to get out of school before coming over.”
Jessie frowned. “I thought today was Sunday.”
“It’s Tuesday.”
“Oh.” Her frown deepened at her losing track of days. “Why aren’t you at work?”
“Greer was off, so we decided to spend the day hunting.”
“If you were spending the day with Greer, why are you here?”
“A little of Greer goes a long way,” he said wryly.
“Don’t I know it?”
Reaching the fence that had been built to separate the two properties, he held his hands out. “May I?”
Blushing, she let him help her over the fence. Once they were both over, they walked in silence for several minutes. Jessie mindlessly kicked clumps of leaves while Dustin strolled aimlessly next her.
She paused when she recognized where they were. The tree that Dustin had climbed to put the tiny bird back in its nest was standing taller and stronger than it had years before.
“Do you ever think about that?”
“I try not to,” he answered.
“My father wasn’t a nice person.”
“Mine wasn’t either.”
Jessie started to continue walking, but Dustin reached out to take her hand.
“I shouldn’t have been mean to you that day at the bus stop. It was my fault that Duke was on your property that night. He was chasing a fox down. If I shot it instead of letting it get away, it wouldn’t have happened.”
Jessie gaped at him, taking her hand out of his grasp. “It wasn’t your fault. It was mine. If I hadn’t been feeding him scraps to keep him from barking when I came onto your property, he wouldn’t have run toward me when I was standing on the porch. Pa thought he was trying to attack me. I tried to tell you that day, but you wouldn’t let me. It happened so fast. Pa shot Duke before I could stop him and tell him about why he jumped on me. Then you and your family showed up. I told him after you left when Pa wanted to press charges on your pa with the sheriff.”
“The sheriff didn’t come to our house that night.”
“My pa didn’t want to press charges after I told him. The feud’s been all my fault.”
“The feud had nothing to do with what we did or didn’t do. They were miserable sons of bitches.”
Jessie nodded in agreement. “Yes, they were.”
She walked around the front of the tree, running her hand over the initials that had been carved into the bark. Smiling sadly, she dropped her hand. “When you were going with Sam, I kept expecting to show up here one day to find yours and hers initials carved here.”
“You knew about Sam before it hit the papers?”
“I saw her sneaking into the movie theater with you. Holt told me he had seen you a couple of times together at the lookout.”
“Why would Holt tell you?”
“Because he knew I was in love you,” she said simply. “It almost broke my heart. I cried for a good two weeks.”
“Jessie—”
She raised her hand to stop whatever he was about to say. “I’ve spent most of my life loving you, Dustin Porter. Please don’t act like you didn’t know.”
She could see the mixed emotions on his face. Logan was a lot like his father. Sam couldn’t have cared less about hurting anyone’s feelings. That part of Logan’s character was pure Dustin.