by Box Set
“What about my mother?” Her head whiplashed back to face him.
“Take her.” Why was she being so stubborn?
“Number one: I can’t quit my job to watch her, so I need my father to take care of her during the day. Number two: I have no way to support her in an assisted living home. The only decent one I found that would accept her has a one-year waiting list and even then, we’d have to sell the house to get her in. Where would my father go? Leave him on the street?”
The guy would be well taken care of in jail, but she wasn’t ready to hear that.
“Are you so sure that he takes care of her while you’re out?”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Of course he takes care of her. He gets mad at me, not her. I’ve never seen him lift a finger against her.”
“Trinity, don’t you understand, the more he drinks, the more he’ll act out. I can’t protect you if you remain at that house. Move in with me. I even have a room for your mother.”
“Oh, I see now. Instant girlfriend. That’s moving a bit too fast, don’t you think? We slept together once. Now we’re committed to each other for life?”
“Where did that come from? I just want to help you.” Maybe he was pushing things along too fast, but she needed help and he had the means to protect her.
“I’ve taken care of myself for a long, long time without any help from anyone. Don’t you dare think that one favor and a night of sex gives you the authority to run my life. I have a plan, and it’s a really solid plan. In one year, I’ll have my degree, and I’ll get a job that pays well, and I won’t have to worry about tuition anymore, and then I can take care of my parents. You’re going to mess everything up.”
“Mess everything up? If you haven’t looked in the mirror lately, let me remind you about the goose egg on your head. How can I make things worse?”
“Stay out of my business.”
“It’s impossible for me to remain passive when you’re turning black and blue before my eyes.”
“Please try.”
His phone buzzed. Since he had to be in contact with work most of the time, he pulled it out. It was a text message from Rayne McCoy, one of the few females that had hung around the ranch when he’d been there.
Rayne: John Stone had a stroke. In a coma. He might not come out of it.
His body, already worn out over his concern for Trinity, now shattered with the news about John, the cowboy at the ranch who had guided him from sullen teenager to a young man with a calling. The timing for this sucked. He couldn’t leave his argument with Trinity in the air, but what could he say? She did have the right to live at her house. “Think about what I said.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think you and I are going to work out after all. I’ll be cordial to you at the diner, but please don’t expect anything more. I have so much I need to accomplish, and you’re making everything more difficult.” Her eyes glistened as she spoke, but her resolute tone made him regret how he’d handled the entire situation. Maybe she was right. He didn’t have a say in her life. Perhaps if he backed off a bit, she’d be more willing to see him as more than a friend someday. The thought, however, strangled his mind with all the worst case scenarios.
He escorted her into the hospital, and they waited together in silence. His brain was spinning with John’s problems and Trinity’s issues and his own life falling apart as he watched Trinity refuse to save herself, just like his mother.
When her head was cleaned and stitched up, he took her home.
“We can’t function together like this. I have work and school and taking care of my mother. Let’s just go our separate ways with some really good memories.”
“If that’s what you want.” He wasn’t going to force himself on her. If she didn’t want to take a chance on him, then there was nothing he could do for her. “I’ve got to go away for a few days. Maybe we can be friends again when I get back.”
“Go? Go where?” A welcome look of concern passed through her misty eyes.
“Saddle Creek, Montana.”
Chapter 7
After taking personal leave, Griffin headed across the country to visit John Stone, his mentor, his teacher, his friend. It was raining when he arrived at the Billings airport. The gray skies and the constant hum of rain on the roof of the rental car added more shadows to the past twenty-four hours.
When he stepped inside the hospital room in Saddle Creek, he had to hold back tears. The man who had once appeared bigger than life to a group of pain-in-the-ass teenage boys seemed like an empty shell of his former self. His skin had a ghostly quality to it, as though it were translucent parchment paper over a too thin individual. Damn. Griffin had meant to visit him over the years, but with the pressures from his job and saving up to buy the house, he’d never taken the time. Regret punched him in the gut. He should have spared a few minutes for the man who had helped him through his mother’s death and his father’s incarceration.
He remained seated next to John for an hour or two and then headed to a place called Herbs near the hospital for a sandwich. Not quite the same as Indigo, but it was clean and smelled of freshly brewed coffee. The waitress there was no older than seventeen, rushing from table to table serving meals and refilling glasses. She wore dissatisfaction on her face and seemed to speak to her customers as though they were being tolerated, but only barely.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“Coffee, black, and a ham sandwich on rye.”
“Fries?”
“Sure.”
She wrote up the order and hurried behind the counter to talk to the kitchen and pour his coffee.
How could Trinity work such long hours, takes two classes each semester, help her mother through the night and into each morning, and dodge her father’s fists all while smiling as though the world had handed her a lottery ticket? It didn’t make sense.
“Griffin? Griffin Alexander?”
He turned to the voice speaking to him and saw Rayne. She looked great, but a bit tired. They hugged, sharing a common bond for an old man and miles of ranch land.
“I’m glad you could make it.”
“I should have come and visited sooner. I always had an excuse.”
“Don’t beat yourself up over it. Life gets busy, and I know you have big responsibilities now, Sergeant. I spoke with John about you a few weeks ago. He wanted to fly out to your promotion ceremony, but wasn’t feeling that great.”
“I still could have made it out here. I wish I did.” What kind of person abandoned the only person who had ever given a damn about him?
“Cut the guilt. It won’t change anything. Besides the doctors said John still has a chance of coming out of this and living long enough to wrangle more ornery boys like you into men.”
“He did a good job with me.”
“I remember. You had a habit of running away from your problems. Didn’t work too well, did it? John was proud of the way you went back to Pennsylvania and made a difference.”
“He wouldn’t be so proud of me now.”
“No?”
“I met someone. Trinity Estrada. She’s beautiful, and smart, and the hardest worker you’d ever meet, and I think I love her.”
Rayne raised her eyebrows, but remained quiet.
“Seriously. I’ve know her for years. She’s a friend. We sort of started dating last week, but her father” He didn’t know how to say it, how to say he was scared for her and her mother in the same way he’d been scared for his own mother and brother. Yet, the woman refused to leave her abuser. He didn’t want to lose her by forcing her to leave, but he didn’t want to see hurt anymore either. “It’s complicated.”
“Isn’t it always?”
“I want her out of an abusive relationship with her father. She refuses to leave. She’s free to make that decision, isn’t she?”
“Not always.” She grew quiet. “I had John, or I wouldn’t have been able to leave. And remember after your mother died? You tried to sho
ulder all of the blame.”
“I felt so bad about leaving, even though I wasn’t given the option to stay. With Trinity, though, she’ll never forgive me for getting involved.”
“How much do you love her?”
“Do you remember one early morning when five of us woke at dawn to watch Painter give birth to the cutest little foal?”
“That was amazing.”
“Multiply that feeling by one thousand and add a rainbow to the mix, and that’s how I feel when I’m near Trinity. I’m at the pathetically-in-love stage.”
“Wow. That’s very in love.” She tempered her smile. “Have you ever thought about what you’d sacrifice for her?”
He laughed. “What kind of answer are you expecting? That I’d climb the highest mountain, swim the biggest sea?”
“Think back … John’s rules.”
“The one warning us against dating your best friend’s sister?”
She rolled her eyes as though a teenager again. “Not quite. The one about how a real man always helps someone in need, especially when they can’t help themselves. You’re a man now, right?”
He threw up his hands. Rules were easier to say than live by. “I tried to help her. She doesn’t want it.”
“I guess then the question is what you’re willing to sacrifice in order to keep her safe?”
Sacrifice. Hadn’t he sacrificed enough when he’d tried to help his mother? Apparently, his life included a series of females who didn’t want a hero. He could live in Trinity’s delusions that everything was fine, even at the risk to her, or sacrifice their relationship in order to get her the help she desperately needed. He’d stood up against a bully in the past, and lost his entire family as a result. Was he willing to lose Trinity, too?
The waitress came back with his order, and he and Rayne shared old memories from the ranch, but his thoughts remained with Trinity and how he could convince her to leave.
“I’m headed up to see John, want to join me?”
“Sure. And then I need to get back on a plane and head home.”
She nodded. “I agree.”
“I just hope I’m not too late.
***
Trinity’s father had turned the corner as he always did after a meltdown. His drinking seemed to slow, and he treated everyone with kid gloves. She enjoyed the few days of peace, yet anticipated a reversal in his behavior sooner than later. Every spare dollar she earned, she deposited in her bank account and only carried the cash she promised to him for the household expenses and whatever she needed herself. If he felt the urge to peruse her backpack for more money, he wouldn’t find anything more than a few pennies and maybe a piece of candy or two.
Francisco had been gracious enough to give her extra shifts whenever her school schedule allowed. She took every single one. The constant pain in her head reminded her that her plans could end abruptly, so Mama and money became the main focus of her life.
Griffin had disappeared for the past few days. He’d mentioned that someone he knew a long time ago was sick in Montana. His absence had been expected after everything she’d said to him, but it hurt like a knife to the heart just the same. At another time, without the constant pressure to support her family, she’d love to see if Griffin and she had a chance at a future. Not now.
She hustled around the diner to fill the glasses of a new table and took a half hour break to look over her microbiology notes. Why was everything crashing down on her now? Couldn’t God give her a break and leave the chaos until after she graduated and could afford to take her mother with her?
Griffin arrived at Indigo as the last customers were finishing their meals. He was in his uniform, looking every bit the hero he wanted to be in her life. “Can I have a cup of coffee?”
“We close in five minutes.”
“I’ll drink it fast.”
She poured him a cup and then hustled around cleaning tables and refilling supplies.
When it was just the two of them left, he placed a ten-dollar bill on the counter and stood. “You okay?” His tone was laced with more emotion than she could handle right now.
“Yes.”
He scanned her head to toe as though looking for something that wasn’t okay. “Good.”
The counters were spotless, but Trinity continued to wipe them down until her arm was circling the same spot over and over. He remained standing near her, observing her and making her feel like a heel for being so rude.
“I’m sorry for being so difficult to you,” she said. “But I have everything under control.”
He shook his head, disappointment darkened his eyes. “You never have to admit that he threw the mug at you, but I’m not an idiot. Mugs don’t fly through the air without someone helping them along. He’s escalating. It’s classic abuse. He’s frustrated about your mother’s illness and maybe about the loss of his freedom. It doesn’t matter what’s driving his anger. I can’t stand by and see you hurt again.” He didn’t seem the type to like liars, and that’s all she did with him. He’d figured out every con she’d been telling, including how her father had pitched that mug straight at her head, full wind-up and everything. When she’d hit the ground, her father hadn’t worried about her, but was furious that blood had dripped onto the floor.
“I really like you, Griffin, but I’m everything to my family. You’ll survive without me.”
“This isn’t about me or you. It’s about your mother.” Her mother?
“What are you talking about? I just left her. She’s doing great. We have a follow up with her physician in two days.”
“I’m not taking about her health. It’s your father. Is he really capable of handling her?”
“Of course.” Her words didn’t feel convincing. Would her father harm her mother?
“I’m worried not only about whether she’s getting proper food and medical care from him, but I also need to know if he’s ever hurt her in any way.”
“Hurt her? You are way out of line. He’s never hurt her. Ever. I wouldn’t leave her with him if I thought he wasn’t taking care of her. That’s low. Go away, Griffin.”
“Part of you believes me. Stop denying it. I understand that this degree is important, and I understand how hard you’re working, but there has to be a better way.” Griffin paced up to her, but halted a few feet back.
“She’s fine. Go away.”
“My job is to keep people safe. You and your mother. If you don’t want a relationship with me, I’ll hate it, but I’ll survive. I’d rather you’re safe.”
Something deep in her heart squeezed until her chest hurt. That sounded worse than a break up. She’d see him, but wouldn’t be with him. “Please don’t get involved. I don’t need a boyfriend or a guardian. He doesn’t think I’ve ever dated anyone. He’ll go ballistic if he thinks we’re involved.”
When she was seventeen, her father had caught her with Jim Denton on the back of his motorcycle. She’d been grounded for eight weeks after that. By the time she was free, Jim had moved on to Fiona McGee. Even now, her father didn’t see her as a grown twenty-six-year-old, instead she was a daughter who had family obligations.
“My whole personal life has been a secret. If a guy gets too close to me, my father causes lots of problems.”
“He won’t have a clue that I’m crazy about you. You, however, need to get it through your head that I love you.”
His statement came out of nowhere and hit her harder than the mug had. “You love me after a one-night stand?”
“It wasn’t a one-night stand.” He leaned against the counter. “The week I arrived in town, I watched you sneak a small kitten found by the dumpster into the diner. Before the end of the night, Mrs. Pena had a new pet to ease some of the pain of losing her husband a few months before. You’d created magic that night. A month ago, you’d decided to help Francisco cook up a hamburger. Remember? You almost burned down the kitchen.”
“I don’t do so well on the big grill.”
He laughed. �
�No one cared. Half the firehouse was there to help out and then you handed out cookies to everyone to make up for the smoke alarm. Customers adore you. And me? I fell for you somewhere between those two events and a thousand cups of coffee. You’re amazing. The sex was just icing on an already kickass cake.”
He kissed her then, as though he’d care for her forever. The taste of him on her lips caused all her thoughts to scramble. She needed him like air, but what of her mother?
She slammed her eyes shut, pulled back from his embrace, and tried to ignore his sweet words screwing with her resolve.
“I contacted the Elderly Abuse Advocacy Center. They can help you.” This was a group that could push for guardianship when a family was deemed unfit to care for someone. Would the take her mother away from her? Like a mugger snatching her last dollar, Griffin’s announcement severed anything she’d felt for him.
“Seriously? How could you? Stay away from me and my family.” Her mother needed the family intact, or everything would spiral out of control. “If you so much as knock on the door looking for donations for the Police Retirement Fund, I’ll go to court and get a restraining order.”
“You think you can just kick me out of your life? You have options. Better options.”
She pointed to the door, fighting her tears and hoping he’d never learn how much she cared for him, too. “We’re closed now, Sergeant. You need to leave.”
Without another word, he turned and walked out the door.
Chapter 8
The next day, Griffin dominated Trinity’s thoughts despite her attempts at focusing on the lab report she needed to write. He didn’t understand that this was not a black and white issue. She’d tried to find her mother a decent placement, but her mother was happy at home. She hated being in strange environments. Even the short stay in the hospital made her angry and confused.
Griffin never came into the diner that night. The loss of him in her life blackened her mood. She tried to smile through it all, as she always did, but twice she hid in the bathroom to wait out the tears that refused to stop falling. When she finally arrived home, her mother was alone on the couch, crying. “Mama? What’s wrong?”