She saw Roanne walk away from Charlie. "You should have more respect for yourself," she said to Gwen, and headed after her friend.
She caught up to her at the beer stand. As Roanne paid for a cup and started to turn away, Utah took the beer from her and put it on the counter. Hooking her arm with hers, she started toward the bleachers.
"I paid for that," Roanne protested.
"I'll give you money for it. I'm not letting you drink yourself silly every time Charlie upsets you. What'd he say anyway?"
Roanne sort of wilted beside her. "He said he never wanted to hurt me but he's been having second thoughts about the wedding for a while now."
"He's having trouble letting go of his bachelorhood."
"Maybe."
Utah stopped at the edge of the bleachers. Mason sat next to someone she didn't know, a huge man with black hair and light eyes. Mason wore a white T-shirt that showed off his tanned arms and jeans that hugged his thighs. And that crotch. Damn it, why couldn't he wear more baggie shorts or something? And did he have to look at her like that? If anyone noticed they'd think she was about to become his dinner.
She forced her feet to move again. Roanne was oblivious to the cause of her hesitation.
Mason grinned and patted the space beside him on the bench. Great. He looked sexy as hell and he was flirting with her again. This was going to be such a long summer.
"Utah, this is Keegan McLaird, a good friend of mine." He turned to Keegan. "I told you about Utah. Roanne Caliway is her friend."
Keegan stood and offered his hand. Utah shook it with a smile. "Mason mentioned you."
"He mentioned you, too. More than mentioned, actually."
Utah slid her eyes to see Mason, whose mouth went crooked with a grunt of dismissal. Was he downplaying what he'd said about her?
Keegan released her hand. "Talked about you all the time when I first met him."
"He did, huh?"
Mason looked uncomfortable, which Utah thought was interesting.
"Every time he talked to his dad, he asked about you. I kept telling him he should just go home and marry you. Man meets a woman he can't shut up about, it's a sure sign." Keegan moved in front of Roanne. Lifting her hand, he planted his lips just past her knuckles. "A pleasure to be sure."
That perked Roanne up. Her head straightened and her eyes brightened. Stepping aside, he let her sit beside Mason before sitting himself beside her. Utah had no choice but to sit on the other side of Mason.
The crowd on the bleachers became her main focus. That was better than all the prowling testosterone radiating off Mason. She couldn't stop wondering if he'd really talked about her as much as Keegan made it seem. If he'd been that affected, maybe it hadn't been as easy as she'd thought for him to leave. Maybe he cared more than it had seemed.
Someone looking their way caught her attention. It was Charlie. He was staring at Roanne and Keegan. Gwen sat beside him, her face a reflection of her awareness that she wasn't the one who held his interest so intently.
One of the kids slid home and Mason lifted his hands, sinewy, bare forearm brushing the side of her breast. Sensation spread from there to her core as he used his fingers to whistle at the kid. He wasn't aware of the contact. His thigh moved, pressing against hers. She was burning and he was enjoying the game.
Then he turned and saw her. Those green eyes changed to hungry awareness.
She jerked her head away and caught Tori craning her neck to look at her over her shoulder, then lean to say something in the ear of the woman next to her. That woman turned and Utah recognized Eddy's wife, Peggy. Utah embellished a coy wave. When would they get over it? So she married an old man. What did they care about it?
Sheldon's wife was watching her with Mason, too, disapproving eyes and lips, chin hanging but not wiggling as it usually did.
"They're just bored," Mason said.
"You noticed?"
"Why is it so terrible that I married a man like Arthur?"
"Because they think you did it for money and took what was rightfully his stepson's."
"I didn't even know about the will until after he was dead. And Arthur disowned Calvin years ago. If anyone was using him for money, it was his stepson."
"They don't know that."
"They refuse to believe it."
"That, too."
It was so refreshing to be with someone who didn't give a rats ass what people said about her. To be with someone who believed her. Understood her.
She had to be careful about how that warmed her. This was Mason, after all.
The ballgame ended and people began to leave the bleachers.
Roanne leaned around Mason's muscular form. "Everyone's going to Bob's Pizza, why don't we go?"
Her face was so bright and happy, Utah couldn't find it in her to say no. Besides, hiding wouldn't win her respect, and Utah was no hider. If she wanted to prove her salt to the talkers of Timberline, she had to show she was strong.
"All right." She looked up at Mason, hoping he'd say he was busy.
"I'll drive you," he told her with a grin.
"Keegan's driving me." Roanne winked at Utah.
Dare she spend two more minutes with her teenage heartthrob?
"Chicken?" he teased.
And she laughed and stood up from the bench, stepping down to the ground. He walked beside her toward the gravel parking area, his nearness like heat radiating from hot pavement. But it was tantalizing.
She looked for his dad's truck but didn't see it. When she saw the Mustang from Screws Garage, she stopped walking. Mason did, too, grinning like the boy he used to be.
"Sheldon let me take her for a spin today." He went to the passenger door and opened it. "Hop in."
The top was down, just like the morning after she'd spent her first night alone with him. Utah remembered how giddy she'd felt waking up with him on her bed. She hadn't wanted to let him go, but also didn't want to get caught. She'd sneaked him out the door and he'd gotten into that Mustang, looking at her standing in the doorway a long time. How she must have looked to him, wearing only a long T-shirt after their first night spent naked in each other's arms. He'd revved the engine for her, then squealed tires driving away. She'd laughed because he couldn't have told her more clearly how good it had been for him, too.
As she sank onto the seat, a tiny thought nettled her that she might be headed for disaster. She ran her hands over the leather while he shut the door and strolled to the other side. Starting the engine, he gave it a rev with a crooked grin. She couldn't keep an answering smile from pushing up her mouth.
"You look better over there than I remember," he said.
A warm surge tickled her insides and made her heart feel like it skipped a beat. "You aren't getting lucky this time, so you might as well just drive."
He pulled the Mustang out into the street. Just a few minutes later, he parked near Bob's. She got out and headed up the street toward Bob's. He caught up to her and opened the door at the restaurant. Tori, Lulu, and Peggy all sat at one table, their eyes big and unblinking as they watched her and Mason enter. Andy was here. He sat with Keegan and Roanne. Utah took a seat across from Roanne, next to Andy, and Mason sat to her right.
"Marvin's going to have a crowd today," Andy said.
More people filed into the restaurant. A waitress brought glasses of water to their table and took their order. Pretty soon there were no more tables left and the clamor of voices filled the room.
Roanne laughed at something Keegan said. It was good to see her smile, even if it was just for tonight.
Utah stiffened when Mason leaned close, his breath warming the skin just below her ear. "The last time I was here, I was with you."
It was the night after they had sex the first time. Her mother was home and they had nowhere to go to be alone. She remembered giggling at the way he looked at her. Kind of like he was doing right now. Imagining what they couldn't do. Imagining how it felt when his skin rubbed against hers as he moved
inside her. Wanting to do it again, but unable to.
"We barely touched our pizza," Mason continued.
No. She remembered well that he'd led her by the hand out the back door. There was an ally that led to a parking lot behind Bob's. He'd pressed her against the brick wall and kissed her in the shadows. They'd come close to doing it right there. If it hadn't been for a car approaching, they might have.
"You were insatiable," she said, low enough for only him to hear, which wasn't hard in the loud restaurant.
"You made me that way." He leaned a little closer.
A waitress put a pizza in front of them. Utah's heart went from warm beats to a lurch of alarm at how easily he set her blood on fire. Mason took two slices and put them on his plate. She felt him looking at her.
When her pulse calmed, she put a slice of pizza on her plate. Across the table, Keegan fed Roanne a bite of his slice. She smiled and did the same to him.
Utah glanced at Mason. They'd done the same that last time they were here. Sharing everything had been so erotic. He looked down at the piece of pizza he held in his hand then at her.
"Don't even think about it," she warned.
He grinned and took a big bite.
"This time we're finishing the pizza," she added, catching how Andy watched them.
A silent reprimand passed between father and son. Mason ate another bite, dismissing it.
Did his father disapprove of his flirting? Because he knew Mason would leave at the end of summer?
"Mason helped the rec center repair their broken window this morning," Andy said. "They had a break-in last night."
Why was he bringing that up now?
Roanne turned from the pizza Keegan held in front of her mouth. "Really?"
Andy nodded with showy nonchalance. "Thanks to Mason here, we caught the robber today."
"What did you do?" Roanne asked, enthralled with his heroics.
"Dad," Mason protested.
"Don't be modest. What you did was commendable." Andy turned to each of their faces. "I was down at the trailer park responding to a domestic dispute call and Ramsey's on vacation so I asked Mason to go check it out. He found footprints and went to question Billie when she was closing at the library. She said she saw a blue blazer drive away about thirty minutes prior. Same blazer stopped at the gas station on the way out of town. Got a shot of his plates."
"And then you helped fix the window this morning?" Utah asked.
He turned a surly look to her.
"If he hadn't thought to question the librarian, we wouldn't have a plate number," Andy said, and then directly to Mason, "You'd make a fine sheriff in this town."
There. That was what Andy had been angling at.
Mason's mouth went stiff and his eyes grew angry. "I don't want to be sheriff."
"I'd vote for you," Roanne said.
Utah said nothing, but she found Mason's defensiveness intriguing. Had Andy broached the idea of being sheriff before now? She suspected so. Why else would Mason be annoyed? Andy was pushing him and he didn't like it because he refused to accept he belonged in Timberline just as much as anyone else who lived here.
"Be nice to retire while I can still get around," Andy leaned forward to see around Utah. "I'm getting older, you know. Who'll take over if you don't?"
Mason's scowl darkened as he met his father's gently scheming eyes.
Yep, Andy was pushing him all right. Utah sat back and looked from Andy to Mason.
"You and Utah seem to be getting closer," Andy said.
"So that means I should run for sheriff?" Mason shot back.
"Just saying, seems like the two of you are getting close."
"They are," Roanne said, and Utah was shocked. "You should see the way they look at each other some times."
"I have. Just a few minutes ago, in fact."
Utah wanted to disappear now. She should not be allowing Mason to affect her like this.
"Sheldon said he noticed something when they went to his garage, too."
"Roanne." Utah glanced at Mason to see how he was taking this. His brow was still low and he sat in brooding silence, his eyes moving from Roanne to his father, then meeting hers.
"Is it true you went golfing together?" Roanne asked. "I'm hurt you didn't tell me."
The gossip line was amazing in this town. "It was nothing," Utah said.
"Mason hates golf," Keegan pointed out.
"I bet he doesn't mind losing to Utah, though," Roanne smiled big.
"I don't hate golf," Mason retorted.
"You always got annoyed whenever it came up. Course, that was only when you were talking about Utah," Keegan said.
Golf and Utah were one, and the subject was sore to him. Utah saw Mason carefully avoid addressing that. The reminder of her had been painful. He had feelings, too. He'd suffered as much as she had. Her heart treaded dangerously close to falling for him all over again.
"That's because Utah would be good for him and he refused to admit it. She'd make him a good wife if he'd just stop being so shut off to the idea. Can't do special ops forever."
Utah sat in stunned speechlessness, unable to believe what Andy had just said. The table grew silent. Roanne stopped chewing a bite of pizza.
"Dad," Mason finally cautioned.
"You two aren't kids anymore," he went on. "When Utah was sixteen it was different. Now you're grown adults and you should know better."
Mason should know better than to lead Utah on if he planned to leave her again.
Andy turned to Utah. "Your mother talked about the two of you before she died, how she'd like to see you get back together. She ever tell you?"
A pang of grief stabbed her. "No." Why was Andy pressing this so hard?
"She hoped someday the two of you would cross paths again. You were too young when you met the first time, but there was something special there."
"She said that?"
Andy nodded. "She was sure proud of you. She wanted you to be happy." He eyed his son. "For some reason she thought Mason could do that for you."
Proud. Utah looked down at her half-eaten pizza as sorrow overwhelmed her. "My life was a mess when she died."
"She was proud of your passion for golf. She was proud that you were a survivor. That's why she told you about that land for sale. She knew you'd come around."
Utah gripped her hands in her lap, too aware of Mason sitting in silence beside her. Did he welcome this or did it smother him to the point of needing to flee?
"I don't need a man to be happy. I have my golf course."
"Can't go home to a golf course every night," Andy countered.
Enough talk about her and Mason. No matter how he felt, she couldn't risk another summer on him. "I'm not saying I won't find a man someday. But it doesn't have to be Mason."
Mason lifted his brow at her. Too bad. It was time to put this in perspective. If this conversation had shown her anything, it was that he needed to learn he couldn't flirt with her anymore. Not unless he meant it.
Roanne took her cue. "Burl's son asked about you the other day. He saw Mason kiss you at your mother's funeral and wondered if there was anything going on between the two of you. Most of the town is wondering that."
Burl's son was tall and blond. "What did you tell him?"
"That you weren't seeing Mason. I think he's going to ask you out."
"Hugh's been divorced three times and has three kids," Mason said.
Andy chuckled and leaned back against his chair, pleased with how this topic was affecting his son.
"Yeah, but he's cute," Roanne said.
"Got a good steady job at Burl's BBQ, too." Utah tore off a small piece of pizza, acting her part. "He'll inherit when his dad passes on."
Mason grunted and Andy's smile grew wily.
"Look! He's getting jealous," Roanne laughed with light amusement while Keegan eyed her strangely.
"Why are you picking on Mason?" he asked.
"I'm not jealous," Mason fended fo
r himself. "I just can't see Utah with a guy who can't hang on to a wife and pays child support for three young kids."
"He's got money," Roanne said simply.
"You like money?" Keegan asked, clearly lost to what was really going on here.
"That won't work on me," Mason countered Roanne's comment, "so you can quit the dramatics now. Utah wouldn't marry anyone for money."
"But he is cute. And he lives in Timberline and actually likes it here." Utah popped the piece of pizza in her mouth and chewed.
Mason grunted again. "He isn't your type."
"Who is? You?" She'd waited patiently for this part. And just as she anticipated, he flew into fleeing mode.
Tossing a few bills on the table, he pushed his chair back to stand. "I know this is entertaining for you all, but I've had enough." To Utah, he said, "You coming with me or catching a ride with someone else?"
Hiding her amusement, she stood. "See you all later." For reasons she refused to acknowledge right then, she'd much rather be with him than stay.
Grabbing her purse, she sent an apologetic smile to Andy and Roanne and followed Mason.
Outside, her cell phone began to ring. Up here, service was patchy. She didn't even know why she kept it with her all the time. Habit, maybe. Leftover from living in the city.
"Hello?"
No one spoke.
She checked the bar level and saw it was full. A perfect connection.
"Hello?" she repeated.
Was that breathing she heard? Utah checked the call again, this time checking the number.
Calvin.
She stopped walking and stared at the number. Why was he calling her? How had he found her number? She'd changed it before coming here.
"What's wrong?" Mason asked.
Disconnecting the call, she stuffed the phone back into her purse and started walking again. "Wrong number."
CHAPTER SEVEN
It was dark when Utah walked ahead of Mason toward the front door. He had driven her home just like when they were kids, except now they were grown adults with less uncertain futures. Utah's future was here. Mason's was anywhere but here. Things were the same and yet so different. She could set herself up for another end-of-summer heartbreak, and Mason seemed to be at a crossroad in his life. Once he came to terms with whatever haunted him, what would he do?
This Time in Timberline Page 10