“A man can’t be too careful,” Calvin replied. “Especially when the visit is unexpected.”
West glanced at Smith. “Oh, yeah. I was gonna tell you to give Cal a call and let him know we were coming. Huh. I guess I forgot.”
Smith said nothing, only stared at Calvin with that carefully blank expression that more than one man he knew had learned to dread.
“What can I do for you?” he asked when they stopped in front of him. “Why are you here?”
“What? You aren’t going to ask us in?” West murmured.
“Maybe he doesn’t want us around his girl,” Smith supplied.
Calvin stayed silent, feeling slightly better about the situation. The men were prodding him on purpose, just to see what he was about. If they had wanted to hurt him or if they suspected him of snitching on them, he would already be in the car or bleeding on the sidewalk. Their boss liked them to be efficient in everything they did.
Slowly, West smiled as he took off his sunglasses. “Do you have a girl in there, Cal? You hiding her from our prying eyes?”
“Yes to both.”
Smith looked amused. “Come on, now. You know that we wouldn’t hurt her. We just want to see what she’s like. Is she pretty? Don’t you want to show her off?”
“She’s not that kind of girl.”
West slid his shades back on. “Oh, yeah? What kind of girl is she, then?”
“She’s no one.” He locked down his panic and eyed them both. “Why are you here?”
“Someone told Smith that maybe you weren’t just taking care of your brother while you were here. He thought maybe you had other business.” His voice got harder. “But now it’s obvious that this business is personal. Looks like you got yourself a honey in the country.” His voice hardened. “Or am I mistaken?”
Thinking quickly, Calvin realized that their suspicions about the girl actually were to his benefit. If they thought he was distracted by a woman, then they wouldn’t think that he was doing anything for the DEA.
“Her name is Alice,” he said slowly, taking care to keep as much to the truth as possible. “She’s Amish and shy. We, ah, used to know each other before I left. I guess there’s still something there.”
Though Smith was staring at him in disbelief, West nodded like he understood. “Makes sense to me. I had a girl like that once. Girls like that, nice girls who don’t want anything . . . well, they’re real hard to resist.”
“I’m not going to let her be a distraction.”
“Can you trust her?” Smith asked.
“She’s Amish,” West said. “She isn’t going to start texting her friends that Cal here is hiding out.”
“You’re right. She ain’t going to do any of that. And now that my brother is out of danger, I’ll come back for part of this week, too.”
West stared hard at him. “You know what? I think it might be better for you to hang out here another week or so. We’ve got a deal going down on Friday and the police have been trailing us around like we’re leaving them bread crumbs. If you show up to oversee the job, they’re going to think something’s up.”
“I understand.”
Some of the tension in West’s body eased. “Glad to hear that.” He pulled out an envelope. “Here’s your take for the week. I figured you might need it, with your family being here and all.”
“Thanks,” Calvin said as he shoved it in a back pocket. “I won’t let you down.”
West shoved his hands in the back pockets of his jeans. “I know you won’t. The Kings come first, right?”
“Always.” Calvin smiled tightly, hoping he didn’t look as sick as he suddenly felt inside.
Because there was no mistaking what West meant. Men who didn’t always put the Kings first learned to regret that decision.
He’d seen that happen more than once.
Chapter 10
Thursday evening, February 8
Irene Keim was a great many things, but a fool wasn’t one of them. At least, she hadn’t thought so until today.
Lost in thought in the back of Bill’s Diner, she kept replaying her recent conversation with Alice. Either she had completely misunderstood Alice’s story . . . or she had completely been wrong about Calvin.
If that was the case, then she’d been wrong about just about everything else that she knew to be true.
Alice had steadfastly ignored all her warnings about Calvin Fisher. First off, he came from a bad family—even worse than hers, and that was saying a lot. While her parents had been mean and verbally abusive, his parents had been blights on the whole community. They’d constantly ignored their church community’s rules while being first in line for handouts.
Then Calvin had taken off when he was fourteen and done who knew what. And though he was now helping his brother Mark, there were still lots of rumors around Hart County about him. They were disturbing rumors, too. Rumors that he not only had left the faith and considered himself English, but had taken up with dangerous people, too. Some whispered that they not only disobeyed the law, they carried weapons and dealt drugs. Why, any one of those things should have been reason enough for Alice to stay far away from Calvin.
Then there was his older brother Mark’s past. Oh, sure. He’d only been suspected of hurting Bethany Williams years ago. Another man had later been charged for that.
But didn’t it mean something that he’d even been suspected of such a thing? Irene felt pretty sure that a good man, a real man of honor, would never have garnered such a tarnished reputation.
All that was why Irene could hardly believe it when Alice told her yesterday that she had become friends with Calvin Fisher. Irene talked until she was blue in the face about the many reasons why she should keep her distance from the man. But instead of listening, Alice had only laughed off Irene’s fears and told her that she shouldn’t gossip so much.
“Irene, you going to gaze out the window all day or go wait on customers?” her boss, May, said.
Irene jerked to her feet. To her embarrassment, during the last lull in customers, she’d hopped onto one of the red padded stools at the bar near the kitchen and allowed her mind to drift off. “I’m sorry.” Scanning the area, she noticed a pair of men sitting in the back booth. “I’ll go right over.”
May didn’t say anything, but Irene could feel her irritation. And no wonder! Irene had only been working at the diner a couple of weeks. She wasn’t going to be working here another two days if she didn’t pay more attention to her job.
After double-checking for her pad and pencil, she hustled over to them. Her footsteps slowed when she realized that the two English men were boldly watching her approach. Sure she was about to hear a slew of complaints, she spoke quickly. “I’m so sorry you were kept waiting. I don’t have any excuse, either,” she admitted, remembering how her mother had once told her it was best to be honest. “My mind drifted off.”
The skinnier, younger man snickered under his breath but said nothing.
Just as Irene felt her neck heat with embarrassment, the older man’s eyes warmed. “It ain’t a thing, sugar. We got time.”
She blinked, realizing that he might have been older than the skinny man, but he wasn’t old. Most likely he wasn’t much past thirty. The moment that thought entered her mind, she realized why she’d been thinking such a thing at all. She found him attractive.
It had to be his voice. It was dark and thick. Not scary, though. No, it was more like he didn’t talk a whole lot and his voice was out of use. Feeling relieved, she smiled at him, liking how his dark-brown eyes seemed to look at her like there was no one else worth paying attention to in the room.
“Are you ready to order? Oh! Would you like to hear about the special?” She couldn’t help her own hesitant tone of voice. This particular special was not her favorite, but a great many people seemed to like it.
“What is it?”
“Liver-and-onions.”
The younger, skinny man swore under his breath. But not
low enough that she didn’t hear him. And though she’d heard such cursing before, it did take her off guard to hear him saying such things in the middle of the diner.
His cursing, along with the appraising way he was looking at her, made her hand tremble a bit as she pulled out her little pad of paper. “Do you know what you would like to eat?” she asked, hoping to get out of his space.
“Yeah. Get me a burger and fries and sweet tea.”
She wrote that down. “And you, sir?” she asked the older man.
He was glaring at the skinny man but darted a look her way. “I’ll take the fried chicken with the potatoes and green beans. Is it any good?”
“It’s real good. Bill makes it fresh every morning.” She smiled.
His eyes—lovely and deep—warmed back again. “Good to know. How about you get me a tea, too?”
“Sweet?”
“Unsweetened. You got that?”
She nodded as she went through the motions of writing it down, though she had a feeling she’d remember their orders for the rest of the day. “I’ll be right back with your drinks.”
“No need to rush. We’re all right,” he said slowly and quietly. Then his voice hardened. “But wait a sec, ’kay? Smith here has something to say to you.”
Surprised, she looked at the other man. Gone was the smirk and the oily attitude. Instead, he looked, well, contrite. “I’m real sorry for offending you, miss.” After a darting look at the man across from him, Smith swallowed. “I won’t do it again.”
Irene was so stunned, she only nodded before turning on her heel and rushing back to fix the drinks and put in their orders.
“Burger and fries plus the chicken with beans and mashed potatoes, Bill,” she said as she handed him the ticket.
“Everything okay over there, Irene?” he asked as he slapped a beef patty on the grill.
“Yes.” She smiled tightly. Then got the drinks together.
When she returned to the men, the older one was watching her again. The younger one was tapping on his phone. “Here you are,” she said. “Unsweetened tea for you and sweetened tea for you. Oh! And straws!” She set them on the table with a little flourish.
Oh, brother, but she was acting the fool!
The brown-eyed man’s lips twitched like she’d amused him. “Thanks.”
For a second, she felt like he was waiting for her to start a conversation with him. But what was really strange was she actually was thinking about doing that.
Luckily, the door opened and two groups of customers entered. One was a family of six and the next was another pair of men. She pulled back a sigh as she watched May seat the family in Lora’s section and give her the men—and as she watched, she felt a little ball of dread inside.
These men, she knew.
They were Foster and Tim. They were Amish and had grown up near her. The men were best of friends, just as she was with Alice. Their school hadn’t been big, but the four of them had never been close.
Things took a turn for the worse when Tim tried to court her and she pushed him off, rather rudely. In front of other people, too. He hadn’t taken kindly to it and never let her forget it, either. Even though all that had been years ago, Tim still acted as if she’d gone out of her way to embarrass him just last week.
Stifling a sigh, she walked over to take their order. As luck would have it, May had placed them in the booth right next to the two Englishers.
“Look who’s here,” Tim said to Foster snidely. “Irene Keim.”
She schooled her expression and reminded herself that she only needed to serve the men, not have conversations with them.
“Hiya, Foster. Tim.” She said this as pleasantly as she was able. “Can I get you a drink while you look at the menus?”
“Water,” Foster said.
Tim didn’t even look up from his menu. “I’ll have a Coke.”
“Bill’s got liver-and-onions today, too.”
Foster nodded. “We need some time.”
The door opened again and still more people entered. May put the elderly couple in Lora’s station and seated three women about her age in the booth next to Foster and Tim.
Irene rushed around as best she could. She got the two Amish men their drinks and delivered the Englishers their meals.
The women were easy, ordering soup and fresh rolls. It was obvious that they were using the time to catch up. To her surprise, the Englishers ate slowly, too. Well, the older, kinder man did; the younger one ate, then returned to whatever he was doing on his phone.
But the problem came from Foster and Tim. They wanted more to drink. Then for her to take their orders. Then they changed their minds and ordered something else. Then, to her dismay, Tim said he didn’t like his and changed his order again.
Bill took it in stride but did look irritated.
When she brought Foster a fresh glass of soda, he glared at her. “When did you start working here?”
“A couple of weeks ago.”
“Do your parents know?”
He said it loudly enough for the Englishers to hear. What the Englishers didn’t know, of course, was that it served as an insult to her. Her parents were dead, and even if they’d been alive they wouldn’t have cared what she did.
They hadn’t cared about much she did, as long as she stayed out of their way. Now she lived by herself in a basement apartment in the town’s only apartment complex.
“You know the answer to that,” she said tightly.
“You’re still all alone.”
“I’m fine.”
“It didn’t have to be like that, you know. At one time, you could have gotten a husband. Before you lost your way. Now it’s likely that no one would have you if you begged. But we could give it a try. You feel like begging, Irene Keim?”
His voice drifted enough that one of the women gasped. Even the Englishers looked at the men in surprise.
Her embarrassment was complete. Keeping her head down, she forced herself to walk to the counter, grab the Englishers’ and the women’s checks, and Tim’s second meal.
After she delivered it all, May touched her shoulder. “I’ll finish up their bills, Irene. Why don’t you go take a little walk? It’s nice outside.”
She needed this job. No way was she going to “take a walk” just because someone spoke harshly to her. “I’ll be okay.”
“You aren’t in trouble. Go on now. I’ll put your tips in a safe place.”
Realizing that May wasn’t exactly giving her a choice, Irene nodded, grabbed her sweater from the hook by the door, and walked outside. Usually, she would have put on a coat. It was February, after all. But the temperature was in the upper thirties and the sun was out.
Actually, the brisk air felt good against her skin. Needing some space to get her bearings, she turned right and kept walking to the corner of a building on the opposite side of the diner’s main parking lot. Where hardly anyone ever parked their cars or buggies. It was her favorite place to take a break, though. It was so quiet and peaceful. Five or six pine trees dotted the corner.
Leaning against the building, she pressed her hands to her face and wondered if she was ever going to be able to outrun her past.
“You okay?”
She jerked her head up and saw that the older English man had caught up to her. His friend was nowhere to be seen.
Wariness filled her, especially now that she realized just how tall he was. Probably a couple of inches over six foot. And right on the heel of feeling wary, she thought of something else. He was standing only a few feet away from her. Slightly more than arm’s distance. But his brown eyes were kind. Not harsh like they’d been with his friend nor unamused like they’d been when she was late taking their order.
Yes, kind. Like he cared about her.
“I’m fine, thank you,” she said.
He didn’t look like he believed her. But that was no surprise, because she didn’t believe her words herself.
“Those men mean anyt
hing to you?” he asked.
She almost shook her head, but his grave concern felt so good, she told him the truth. “One of them wanted to date me a couple of years ago. I refused him. He took it hard.”
“He is still holding a grudge, huh?”
“It’s more than that. I . . . Well, for a time, I made some mistakes. Everyone found out. Those men enjoy bringing it up.”
“They sound like, ah . . . jerks.”
She laughed as she realized that he purposely cleaned up his words for her. “They are. They’ve always been.” When he smiled, she added, “Do you know anyone like that? Who always acts like a bully? Someone who never changes his spots, year after year?”
“Yeah. I do.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Want me to beat them up for you?”
He almost sounded serious. Smiling, she shook her head. “No, thank you.”
He stepped closer. Then, to her surprise, reached out and wiped off the tear that had escaped her eye. “You’re a pretty thing. Sweet, too. Don’t cry over men like that, ’kay? Trust me, they ain’t worth it.”
His touch had been gentle. The callous on his finger brushing against her skin felt soothing. “Thanks for coming over to check on me,” she said quietly. “It was nice of you.”
“You got someone who looks out for you now?”
Before she thought the better of it, she shook her head. When his eyes narrowed, she felt stupid. “I’ll be fine.”
“You won’t be fine for long, if that’s the kind of thing you’re putting up with.”
“Today was rough, but I’m usually a better waitress.” Remembering she wasn’t supposed to call herself a waitress, she gulped. “I mean server.”
“No offense, but I don’t think working at this diner is the right job for you.”
“I used to work in a warehouse for less money. So, this is a good job for me. I’ll get better.”
“Do you got a phone?”
She shook her head. “I’m Amish.”
“But there’s a phone here that you can use, right?”
She nodded.
“Okay, then.” He fished in a couple of pockets and pulled out a card. “This has my number on it,” he said, handing it to her. “If you ever need something and don’t know who to ask, call me, Irene.”
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