Time felt as if it slowed, magnifying all the sounds coming through the phone in her hand. Giggling in the background. A squealed “Where’d you hide my panties this time?” A nervous chuckle from Drake.
“It’s not as bad as you’re imagining, lover. Really, it isn’t.”
It didn’t take too much imagination to figure out exactly what was going on.
“No? Then how bad is it… lover?”
“It’s not what you think. I just came over to help Cara with a leaky faucet. That’s all.”
“A leaky faucet,” Allie repeated, her voice echoing coldly in her own ears. “What part of the repair required hiding Cara’s underwear?”
“Listen to me, Al. I can explain everything. It was an accident. One thing led to another and it just sort of happened. I swear to God, it was only this one time. And only because you were gone and I was lonely. It’ll never happen again, I promise. I’ll come over when you get home and we’ll talk through this whole thing. We’ll get everything straightened out.”
No, they wouldn’t.
She wasn’t that stupid. What was happening there was exactly what it had sounded like. He’d confirmed it for her. She’d seen the signs for the last few months and had chosen to ignore them. But now, the time to ignore had come to an end. Betrayal of her trust was something she couldn’t forgive.
“I don’t think so, Drake. There’s nothing to straighten out. I don’t want to talk to you. Not about this or anything else. We’re done. Don’t bother coming over again.”
“But lover…”
“Seriously. Don’t bother.”
Allie ended the call and turned off her phone in case Drake tried to call her back. She waited for some sort of fury or pain to set in, but they didn’t come. She didn’t even feel surprise over Drake’s cheating. It was as if her emotions had gone into total hibernation.
She felt completely numb. A numbness that permeated her whole being, accompanied by something strangely like resignation.
She’d been wrong. Drake was no different from any other man. No different from her own father had been. He’d cheated on her just like her father had cheated on her mom. The only difference was that he’d started earlier and she’d found out now, before their relationship went any further. Unlike her mom, who put twenty years and two kids into a relationship without knowing what her husband was capable of doing behind her back. If his car hadn’t gone off the side of the mountain with his mistress sitting next to him, she might never have known.
It was better this way. Better to have his cheating ways out in the open before her heart had a chance to grow any more invested in him. In them.
Allie smoothed her hair away from her face with a shaking hand and pushed back through the glass doors in time to see the nurse hurrying down the hall in her direction. Pasting a smile on her face that she didn’t feel, she waited to be taken to see her wounded brother.
The world seemed determined to tell her something this week. Her job was likely to end in the next few months and her boyfriend was… well, he wasn’t much of a boyfriend, after all. So maybe she didn’t have as many reasons to stay in Waco as she’d thought.
Maybe it was time to get her priorities straight like her grandmother had advised. Maybe the time had come to consider going home.
* * *
Odetta Flynn stirred her coffee, staring out the kitchen window, her mind working feverishly. If she couldn’t even persuade her own grandchildren to return to Chance, what prospects for survival did her hometown have?
“Well?” Harley Flynn filled his cup from the coffeemaker and crossed to where his wife stood. “Any luck with that stubborn granddaughter of yours?”
“Mine? That girl is pure hardheaded Flynn.”
“I’m the hardheaded one?” Her husband of fifty-three years chuckled and leaned over to give her a quick kiss on the cheek. “You still make me laugh, Odie, you know it? That’s why I’ve kept you around for so long.”
“Who’s kept who around?” Odetta replied, gifting Harley with a smile. “Don’t you worry about our Allie. She’ll do the right thing. I could hear it in her voice.”
“In that case, maybe she is pure Flynn,” Harley said with a wink. “I know I can never resist your wheedling.”
“Hardly!” Odetta snorted, shaking her head. “Her stubborn streak comes from you, for a fact. But that practical bit, she got that from me.”
“Fair enough,” Harley answered, finishing up the last of his coffee. “If you’re right about her coming home, you’d best be working on a way to convince her to stay once she gets here.”
As if Odetta hadn’t already spent her share of sleepless nights worrying over exactly that challenge.
“I think I have that one figured out. With a little help from our girls, we should manage it just fine.” She rubbed her palm down her husband’s arm, ending with a pat to his hand. “As I told you last night, Papa, saving Chance is going to take more than just bringing Allie home. It’s past time we do whatever we can. We’ve sat back and waited for far too long for the rest of the town to wake up and do something.”
“And now it’s your special mission, is it?” Harley grinned and turned away, stopping to set his empty cup on the end of the counter. “Well, more power to you, woman. If you and Dot can’t revive Chance, then it’s a task beyond anyone’s doing. As for me, I’m headed into town. You need me to bring you anything?”
“No, thanks,” she answered absently, her mind already brooding over the problem at hand.
Unless someone did something—and soon—Chance was in danger of becoming one of those pitiful ghost towns that were no more than a footnote in some dusty old book. Though many of the old mining towns in the Colorado mountains struggled to stay alive as time passed, the real culprit in Chance’s demise could be pinpointed to a single year and a single man. It was the year that Daniel Reilly had used his millions to make sure the big highway detoured around Chance to cross through his family’s property, all but dumping tourists in the lap of their ski resort.
Probably the only halfway smart business decision that useless wastrel had ever made, other than choosing Helen Maxwell as his bride. And even then, he’d only done it out of spite and revenge, not because he was smart enough to see the monetary advantage to the Last Chance Ski Resort.
“Lazy son of a bitch,” Odetta muttered. “May he rest in peace.”
She and her best friend, Dorothy O’Connor, had wrestled with the problem of what to do about their dying town for over a year now. Dot, to her credit, had seen some success in keeping her family in Chance. But after a generation-long exodus of their young people, simply keeping family here wasn’t enough. They needed to find a way to make Chance more attractive to outsiders.
As much as she hated to acknowledge what she needed to do, Odetta accepted that the time had come for more drastic action. She had no choice left but to take off the kid gloves and call in some long overdue favors.
She set down her cup and reached for the telephone, quickly punching in the numbers she hadn’t forgotten, not even after all these years.
“Helen Reilly,” she said into the receiver. “Just tell her it’s Odetta Flynn. She’ll take the call.”
CHAPTER TWO
Allie had never asked to be one of those superwomen who had it all. Deep down she suspected those women were a myth anyway, living only in the pages of the books she loved so much. She’d never asked for the perfect job, the perfect man, the perfect two-point-five children and the perfectly clean little house surrounded by a white picket fence. She was practical enough to accept that such a bounty of perfection was way beyond her reach.
But, honestly… shouldn’t a girl have the right to expect to end up with at least one out of four?
“Apparently not,” she muttered under her breath. “Not this girl, anyway.”
“Oh, this is primo.” Matt Flynn kept his eyes closed as he spoke, his head resting against the passenger-side window. “First I have to listen
to that crazy cat of yours howling nonstop across three states and now you’re talking to yourself. Out loud. I suppose next you’ll be answering yourself. This road trip with you is just getting better and better by the mile.”
“Chester isn’t howling.” Allie spared a quick look over her shoulder toward the puffed-up ball of fur her brother had disparaged before fixing her gaze back on the winding road ahead. “He’s only trying to communicate with us.”
To be fair, the cat had been communicating since they’d pulled away from Allie’s empty apartment yesterday before sunrise. She should have tried harder to find someone in Waco to adopt him, but Chester wasn’t the type of cat people warmed to easily. He came equipped with sharp claws and a seriously bad attitude. Most of the time, she wasn’t sure that she even liked him.
Not that liking him was necessary. She’d found him a year ago—a pitiful, starving kitten wandering downtown and, when no one claimed him, she’d made her decision. Fate had dropped him in her path so he was her responsibility. And responsibility was something Allie took very seriously.
“Only communicating with us, huh?” Matt shook his head, but kept his eyes closed. “You’re starting to sound as crazy as that cat of yours.”
Allie didn’t bother to respond. Matt’s assessment wasn’t that far off the mark. She felt as if she were indeed perched on the edge of Crazy Canyon right now, with one foot already dangling off the wrong side. Over the last several months, everything she’d found comfort in had been snatched away and her plans for her life had been turned completely upside down.
When she’d left her hometown of Chance, Colorado eight years ago, she’d sworn never to set foot in that gossip-filled little backwater again. But life had a way of taking your dreams and even your best-laid plans and crushing them to dust.
Her life did, anyway. And now, here she was, barreling toward Chance at sixty miles an hour as if she had good sense.
Which, obviously, she didn’t, or she wouldn’t be headed back there, no matter what the reason.
Beside her, Matt shifted in his seat, a movement that brought with it an involuntary grunt of pain. His face paled and his lips clamped in that same determined grimace he’d worn ever since she’d first visited him at the military hospital in San Antonio.
“Want to stop and stretch your legs for a bit? There’s a little town up ahead where we can pull off.”
“I’m okay. We’re only a couple of hours from home. I can make it.”
Matt’s words denied his need, but the pain etched in the lines of his face told another story. He needed to keep those muscles moving. She’d been sitting there when his doctor had told him so before he’d left the hospital.
Damn that stubborn Flynn pride of his for getting in the way of common sense again. She of all people should know. She suffered from the same problem too often not to recognize it when she saw it in her brother.
He might not be willing to admit what he viewed as a weakness, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t do what was necessary.
“Maybe the way you drive it’s only a couple of hours. But since I’m not up for any speeding tickets on this trip, it’s going to take us a little longer than that to get home. I’m stopping off.”
She headed down the next exit, toward a little town called Scarlet Springs. It turned out to be one of those classic old Colorado mining towns, its main street lined with eclectic buildings. Not so very different from Chance, really.
Though she’d filled up her tank before they’d left Boulder, she turned off into the Pump-N-Go gas station, pulling her old car up close to the first pump.
“What?” Matt opened his eyes and sat up, immediately alert. “Why are you stopping?”
“I told you,” she answered with as much patience as she could muster. “Why don’t you go inside and grab something for us to drink. I’ll do the honors out here.”
Matt stared at her for a moment before getting out of the car. His weary expression as he untangled his wooden cane from the handle of the cat’s cage served as all the proof she needed that her excuse to get him up and walking was completely transparent.
Whatever. He might be her big brother, but if he wasn’t going to do for himself what he needed to, it was up to her to see it done. Those damaged leg muscles weren’t going to get any relief with him all cramped up in the front seat of her little car.
She went through the motions, not surprised when it took less than five dollars to fill her tank. She really hadn’t needed gas. But, since Matt hadn’t yet returned, she had accomplished what she’d wanted. He was up and moving around.
Inside the building she spotted him immediately, hunched over the racks of junk food, hunting his favorites. If he were hungry, maybe she could keep him out of the car even longer.
The clerk smiled a welcome as she approached the counter with her cans of soda.
“Afternoon, ma’am. How can I help you?”
Without being aware of exactly when it had happened, somewhere in the last couple of years she’d managed to transform from a miss to a ma’am. Considering that she felt like the most ancient twenty-five-year-old on the face of the planet today, the greeting fit.
“Is there a restaurant you can recommend somewhere nearby? Maybe within walking distance?”
“Everything in Scarlet Springs is pretty much within walking distance.” The young man behind the counter grinned. “Your best bet is Caribou Joe’s. You can’t miss it if you head down that way. Looks like a log cabin. And if you’re hanging out until later tonight, they always have some sort of live entertainment. I know that’s where I’ll be after I get off work.”
“We’re not here to hang out,” Matt growled, suddenly standing at her side. “Just passing through, Romeo, so you can save the charm.” He dumped an armful of cellophane packages on the counter and turned from the clerk to her. “Jerky bonanza,” he explained, with the first real smile she’d seen in days.
“I guess this means you don’t want to stop for a sit-down lunch?” she asked, handing over her much-used credit card to the red-faced clerk.
“That’s right,” Matt confirmed as he ripped into one of the bags. “All I want is to get home in time to get rested up for tomorrow.”
As if his words had reminded him of what awaited them when they reached their destination, his smile faded and he headed back outside, leaning heavily on his cane.
The clerk refused to make eye contact as he handed back her card.
“Sorry about my brother,” she muttered, her own cheeks feeling much warmer than they had been when she’d walked into the store. It hardly seemed enough to make up for Matt’s comment, but it was the best she had to offer.
By the time Allie joined him in the car, Matt had his earphones in place and his tunes cranked up so loud she could hear a tinny thread of sound pulsing from his side of the car. Though his eyes were closed, the steady movement of his jaw as he chewed the jerky assured her he wasn’t sleeping. He simply didn’t want to talk.
Not that she could blame him. Having to face everyone they’d ever known in Chance tomorrow morning at the dedication of the new community center was a daunting enough prospect for her. It had to be a hundred times worse for Matt. Add that worry to the frustrations he’d wrestled today when they’d visited Fort Logan military cemetery in Denver, and it was little wonder he was seeking escape. He had a lot on his mind.
Back on the highway, Allie’s thoughts drifted over the path that had led her brother to this moment.
Matt, Danny Collins and Logan O’Connor had been known as the Three Amigos since they’d become best friends in first grade. They’d done everything together, including going off to Boulder after they graduated from high school to attend college. But two years later, when Matt’s money ran out, Danny decided they should all drop out of school and join the Army. Only Logan remained behind to finish his education while Matt and Danny headed off to war.
And now Danny was dead.
Had Matt hopped out of that truck a
step ahead of Danny to assist those wounded soldiers, they might be naming the community center after him tomorrow.
Just thinking about the possibility made Allie’s stomach roll.
She tightened her grip on the steering wheel to stop herself from reaching over to touch her brother’s arm to reassure herself that he indeed sat in the front seat of her little car, safe and whole.
They’d come so close to losing him.
These last few months had taught her how important her family was to her. Much more important than losing her job or a boyfriend who couldn’t be trusted the second she turned her back. Family was even more important than being forced to face down her own personal demons in order to move back to Chance to look after her mother.
It didn’t matter that she’d have to see him again. It didn’t matter that he would be married now, after eight long years, and likely have a houseful of kids. It didn’t even matter that every time they saw each other she’d have to live with his knowing that she’d tricked his younger brother into dating her for the sole purpose of getting close to him.
None of that mattered because she was totally and completely over Logan O’Connor. She was over all men. None of them could be trusted as far as she could throw them.
A quick glance from the road to her passenger brought a smile to her face. Her brother might be the one exception to that rule. She admired him more than anybody she’d ever known.
Matt had endured five long months of hospitals, multiple operations, and what had to have been an unimaginable degree of pain. In spite of it all, he was here beside her, headed back to Chance to face the loss of his friend, Danny. Matt had survived and was doing what he had to do.
Just like Matt, she was doing what she had to do.
Her family was her biggest responsibility and she was determined to see to their welfare, both Matt’s and her mother’s.
Allie rolled her shoulders and leaned forward to squint at the sign ahead. After three hours of driving with no conversation save Chester’s constant complaints, the big green sign overhead announced her turnoff in a quarter of a mile. She followed the arrows, leaving the highway behind to pick up a small mountain road. Several more minutes and the little town of Chance lay stretched out before her, looking as if time had passed it by.
TAKE A CHANCE (Chance Colorado Series) Page 2