Secrets

by L. A. Fiore

  Sal grunted his agreeance before he took a pull from his beer.

  Arissa felt the tension in Hank; his muscles were rigid. His mother had one purpose coming here and that was to ruin the barbecue. For a mother who was overprotective, her behavior was fucking contrary. Arissa moved to Hank’s side, her hand moving around his waist. She looked up at him; saw the knot at his jaw. How he kept his cool, kept his head, when he was clearly pissed was pretty spectacular to watch, but Hank was only human and one of these days he was going to reach his limit. And seeing Hank lose it, the one who kept everything together, was going to be a pretty terrifying sight. “You okay?”

  “Yeah,” he said, the edginess in his voice said he wasn’t okay. His eyes stayed on his parents’ car that was disappearing down the driveway. Once they had turned onto the street, Hank turned to the group. “Party’s over.”

  Hya was the first one to move, grabbing the littered empty bottles. Arissa let Hank go. He walked to the barn and vanished inside. Hya moved to Arissa and whispered, “We’ve gotta fix this.”

  Arissa was looking at the barn, her heart aching. “My thoughts exactly.”

  Millie sided up to Hya and began taking the empty bottles from her hands. “Never have I seen her like that with Hank…” Both women looked at Millie when she added, “Ever.”

  Elmer and Sal didn’t say anything but started moving the chairs back up onto the deck. Maureen was already inside putting covers on the food. It wasn’t long before the rest of the crew joined her, all of them leaving Hank his time to decompress.

  18

  Hank shoved another bite of pancake in his mouth. “Fuck, these are good.”

  Arissa scooped up a forkful of the banana fosters pancakes. “Got the recipe from a woman during a shoot featuring home cooking the magazine did a few years back.” She studied Hank. It had been two days since his mother’s surprise visit. He shook it off, but it took longer than usual and there was that shadow behind his eyes that she didn’t like seeing. “If you could go one place on vacation, anywhere, where would you go?”

  Hank was just putting the last bite in his mouth when he raised his head and took in Arissa sitting across the table from him. Her hair was up in a messy bun, one of his shirts the only covering she had on. He liked the look. A lot. Too much. Hank thought about her question, tilted his head before he said, “Never really thought about it. What about you?”

  Arissa had been following the line of Hank’s arm, and how the cotton hugged the muscles of his bicep. Her gaze drifted back to his face. “I was really never one for vacations, I guess because of my work and going to so many locations, but now…” She held his stare, reached across the table and touched his hand, creating little circles with her finger. “Anywhere with you, alone, with no interruptions sounds like heaven.” She liked the heat that moved into his eyes, chasing away the shadow. “I know of a little cabin, tucked in the mountains of Colorado, anytime you want to go…just say the word.”

  “The word,” Hank said, and chuckled. But very soon him and Arissa would be in that cabin because the thought of them alone, rodents of Summerville thousands of miles away was fucking heaven. Hank looked at their hands, knowing he was going to be testing the waters. But hoping more that her answer matched his when he asked lowly, “We both have no siblings, what are your thoughts on having kids?”

  Warmth moved through Arissa at the thought of kids with Hank. “I never really gave them any thought to be honest, but I’ve thought about it more than a few times lately. Thinking of kids running around that backyard, your kids, I love that thought. What about you?”

  He didn’t answer her direct question but asked his own. “You say kids, estimate?” Then he tossed a whole sausage link into his mouth.

  His kids, shit, was there even a limit? “No less than three.”

  Hank’s lips slowly tipped up, his eyes drifted down getting as much of a view of Arissa as he could. “When do you wanna start?” He chuckled before lifting the glass of orange juice, draining the last of it. But only doing it to hide the honesty behind that question.

  Arissa didn’t answer at first, enjoying this lighter side of Hank and really fucking enjoying the topic. She then glanced at her wrist, even though she wasn’t wearing a watch, and said, “I’m free now.” She grinned but grew serious seeing the look that swept Hank’s face. “We fell into this pretty fast,” she whispered. “But I’m all in, Hank. All the way fucking in.”

  Hank rose, walked around the table to her, bent and kissed her, his tongue gliding into hers, the taste of syrup lingering on her tongue. When he was done, he moved his head an inch back and whispered, “So am I.” Then he moved to the kitchen where he grabbed his holster belt. As he put it on, he told her. “Gonna marry you, so get ready, Sweetheart.”

  Arissa had started standing, but at those words she dropped back down in her chair.

  Hank saw that Arissa had lost her words; he winked then informed her. “Go to your place today, grab more of your things, yeah?”

  Her mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. She was hearing the words, but not entirely believing them. “Yeah,” she said, still looking like a deer in the headlights, but as the thought settled, that warmth grew stronger. A smile spread over her face. “Yeah, I’ll do that.”

  Hank gave her a grin, grabbed his travel mug filled with coffee that Arissa had ready for him and walked to the door. Turning, still seeing Arissa sitting at his table, he told her. “Love you…deep, Baby.” Not waiting for her reply, he moved over the threshold and walked to his truck, driving to work with a smile on his face the whole time.

  * * *

  After Hank had left earlier, Arissa had sat in that chair for a while, replaying the last few minutes of their conversation. And when she did finally move, she cleaned up Hank’s kitchen in record time because she had to pack up some of her shit to move it into his place. The idea of it had a smile on her face all morning.

  At her house, she had a few boxes in the living room that she was filling with her things. A part of her wanted to move completely in, put her place up for sale even only owning it for two months. Upside, at least that damn water valve was fixed for the next owner. She grinned at the thought. She didn’t pack everything now, though, just the essentials. As she worked, she thought how far they’d come in not too long a time. They were moving fast, but when you knew you knew. Her thoughts drifted to the spread she wanted to do. She hadn’t put the time into it, not with his mother’s shit, it just didn’t seem like the right time. And it was that thought which had her stopping the packing. Catherine would have something to say learning that Arissa was moving shit into Hank’s. It wasn’t avoidable because the town talked, Hank being one of their favorite topics. It pissed her off that Catherine was making it so difficult, particularly not understanding why she was.

  They weren’t changing their lives for her, though. Arissa intended to do the spread, it was going to be amazing, and she absolutely intended to move in with Hank, marry Hank and have his kids. Catherine needed to get on board or fuck off.

  It was thinking of Catherine that had Arissa pulling up her calendar. She was scheduled to meet with Harley Aldridge on Friday. The lawyer who had come around all those years ago. He was retired now and seemed to be a little forgetful. The likelihood that he even knew anything about Catherine was slim, but with no other direction to go, it couldn’t hurt to have a chat. For Hank, Arissa really wanted to make peace with Catherine so they could start their lives without that tension, which she knew was eating at Hank.

  The doorbell rang. Arissa wasn’t expecting company and the Belles wouldn’t ring. They’d just walk in. Reaching the door, she pulled it open and then cursed under her breath. She should have looked out the peephole when she saw Catherine standing on her stoop. Oh my fucking god, did she hear already that Arissa was moving shit to Hank’s? Did the woman have his place bugged? What the fuck. She w
as tempted to close the door in the older woman’s face, and even gripped the doorknob to the point of pain, because she was deliriously happy thinking about her future with Hank and didn’t want Catherine pissing on that. But instead of closing the door, she pasted a smile on her face and tried to sound cordial when she greeted, “Catherine, what a surprise.” And not a good one.

  Instead of the stink eye Arissa was growing used to from the woman, she actually looked contrite. “Do you have a minute to talk?”

  This was new. Was it another strategy, throw Arissa off balance and then go in for the kill? Arissa’s focus moved past Catherine to Maureen’s house, the woman in her driveway, offering backup. Arissa smiled, Maureen understood and started back inside.

  She held the door wider. “Sure.” Catherine stepped over the threshold, then waited for Arissa. “We can talk in the kitchen. Would you like some coffee?”

  “Please.”

  Arissa didn’t like the woman in her house. And she hated feeling that way because this was the mother of the man she loved, but she just didn’t like her. They reached the kitchen, Arissa gestured to the table. “Please have a seat.” She made herself busy putting on a fresh pot because heaven forbid she give the woman the pot from an hour ago. Once on, Arissa took a seat across from Catherine. “I imagine you’re here about Hank.” If she mentioned moving in or marriage, Arissa was having his house swept for bugs.

  Catherine’s gaze drifted down for a second before returning to Arissa. “Yes.” She exhaled. “I feel badly about the other day.”

  Arissa’s phone buzzed on the counter, likely a text from Hank. She wanted to read it, but not in front of Catherine. She glanced back at Catherine. She should feel badly, but it wasn’t Arissa the woman needed to apologize to.

  “I didn’t mean to overstep. It’s just we’ve always been so close and this town…everyone is always in everyone’s business.”

  Manners were manners regardless of where you lived. And since the woman had given shit to Arissa about manners during their first and hopefully only dinner, she should know better than to show up unannounced to her grown ass son’s house. Arissa said nothing, though, was going to make Catherine work for it.

  Catherine played with the line in the table and said, “Hank won’t take my calls.”

  Her cell buzzed again, another notification but this time email. The words were out before Arissa could stop them. “Can you blame him?”

  Catherine’s head snapped up, heat behind her eyes. Arissa added, “It wasn’t just friends, his deputies were there too. And you embarrassed him, Catherine. Sorry, but there’s no other way to say it. He’s a grown man and his mom embarrassed him.”

  Arissa watched the older woman, saw the expressions sweeping her face, the familiar look in her eyes but she didn’t attack or speak those thoughts and instead said, “I didn’t mean to embarrass him.”

  Bullshit. It was the only reason she was there. “This is a conversation you should be having with Hank.”

  There was more bite to her words, a tone Arissa was more familiar with. “Like I said, he won’t take my calls.”

  “You do know where he works,” Arissa bit back.

  “And that wouldn’t embarrass him?” She shot back.

  “If you’re there to apologize, no.” Arissa stood because what she wanted to do was tell the woman to get the fuck out of her house. She didn’t know what she was up to, but she was up to something. She poured the coffee into a mug and dropped it unceremoniously on the table in front of Catherine before retrieving the cream, sugar and a spoon. Arissa eyed the opened bottle of wine on her counter and wondered if it was too early to drink that.

  Catherine said nothing as she prepared her coffee and then she leveled hard eyes on Arissa. “I had hoped we could be adults about this.”

  “About what, exactly Catherine? What is it you want?”

  “He’s my son. He’ll always be my son and at the moment he wants you. We need to figure out a way to coexist.”

  Arissa bit her tongue so hard a metallic taste filled her mouth. She spoke her next words very slowly. “I’m not the one with the problem, Catherine. And I want Hank, not just for the moment. I want Hank, period. You need to get on board that we’re together because that’s the only way we’re going to coexist.”

  “He’s been here before,” she said, some of that bitchy coming through.

  There was no reasoning with this woman and as much as she didn’t want the tension for Hank, Arissa was never going to like Catherine. She knew Maureen would be watching from the window. On second thought, she wanted the backup. “Excuse me for a second,” Arissa said, disappearing from the kitchen, her hands fisting as she made her way to the front door, yanked it open and stepped outside. She saw the curtain across the street move, the front door opened shortly after.

  “I thought you’d want back up,” Maureen said, as she hurried up the driveway, a plate of fresh sweet buns in her hand. “What does she want anyway?”

  “She came under the guise of peace, but she’s not being particularly friendly.”

  Maureen huffed, “I don’t understand what’s gotten into her.”

  “Me,” Arissa said. “The woman doesn’t like me. If I was a better person, I’d back off, but I’m not going anywhere. She needs to fucking deal.”

  “Yeah, she does.”

  Maureen took lead, heading into the house, her voice bright when they reached the kitchen in time to see Catherine moving back to her seat from the kitchen island. “Catherine, how lovely to see you,” Maureen said, pulling out the seat next to her. “You feeling okay, Sugar, you look a little pale.”

  Arissa’s focus was on the kitchen island and her phone. Crossing the room, she snatched up her phone, her gaze turning to Catherine in question before she dropped it in the drawer.

  “I’m not feeling so well,” Catherine said as she stood. “It must be the coffee. We’ll have to finish this conversation another time.”

  There wasn’t going to be another time. Arissa was done with this woman. “I’m sorry to see you go so soon,” Arissa said, already moving to the hallway and holding the door open.

  “Such hospitality,” Catherine said, too sweetly. She stepped over the threshold.

  “Have a good one, Catherine,” Arissa said, then closed the door in her face.

  She turned, leaned up against it and saw Maureen smiling. “You were nicer than I would have been.”

  They heard the sound of Catherine’s car. “I hate her,” Arissa confessed. “It pains me to say, but I hate her.”

  “I don’t blame you with the way she’s acting. Hopefully you’ll learn something on Friday,” Maureen offered, moving back to the kitchen right for the wine. She lifted it, met Arissa’s frustrated stare. “It’s five o’clock somewhere.”

  Arissa didn’t miss a beat. “I’ll get the glasses.”

  * * *

  Hank had just hung up the phone. Tossing the cell onto his desk with force. He gave in. He fucking gave in like always. Jesus. He ran a fucking town but hearing his mom cry on the phone had him taking a knee. He was pissed but more so at himself than at her. If he was going to change their relationship, cut the damn fucking cord his mother had securely around him, he had to grow some fucking balls. Sure he understood the dilemma his parents were dealing with, making their only child their sole focus in life only for that child to move on, he got it. It hurt. People got burned but he hated being the one always lighting the match.

  He looked at the clock above the door. Arissa should be back from her meeting with the lawyer and waiting for him at Dehlia’s. Standing, he snatched his phone and walked out of his office.

  “Ed called, Hilda’s on the loose again.” Jo told Hank, her focus never leaving the computer, her fingers not stopping as she typed.

  “Call him back, tell him he’s gotta deal with her today.”

&n
bsp; The clicking of keys on the keyboard stopped and Jo lifted her eyes and leveled them on Hank like he had just grown two heads…no, four. “Can you repeat that?”

  Hank rotated on his foot and told Jo, “Tell ‘em he’s gotta deal with it.”

  Jo smiled, trying to hide the huge grin that she wanted to show by tucking her lips between her teeth.

  “People gotta realize I’m not gonna be around forever, gotta start fixing their own shit,” Hank said to the window as he looked out.

  He didn’t see that Jo was nodding but he didn’t need to when she said, “I agree, I’ll call him now.”

  “Thanks,” Hank said and walked out the door to have lunch with Arissa. He moved through Dehlia’s like he always had with nods of hello to the patrons who called greetings to him. Sitting down in their saved booth, Hank eyed his woman knowing something wasn’t sitting well with her. “What’s the matter?”

  She glanced up, smiled absently before she shared, “He wasn’t there. The lawyer.” The truth was she was hoping the meeting was the cure all, that magically he had all the answers and the shit with Catherine would be fixed. She should have known better, it was a long shot to begin with. She studied Hank and added more softly, “I was just hoping to make things right.”

  Hank lifted the glass of sweet tea and took a hefty gulp before he offered, “You said he was forgetful so maybe he forgot.” Arissa tilted her head, clear frustration on her face. “Cheer up, we’ll figure it out.”

  That was what she thought too, he’d just forgotten but then that meant there was a good chance he wasn’t going to even remember coming to Summerville, let alone why. To Hank, she smiled because even being frustrated, just seeing him made her happy, ridiculously happy. “Yeah, we’ll figure it out.” Moving on from that she asked, “How’s your day going?”

  Hank leaned back in the booth, crossing his arms. “Well, you thought my mom would call the day after coming to your house. I thought she’d wait till the weekend. Well, she called today.”