by Vella, Wendy
“We wanted to run through the hampers for the trip.”
“Sure. I have a list of the things I’m putting inside them here.” She thrust it at him. Ted’s fingers brushed hers as he took it.
“Relax,” he said so only she could hear. “No one here is a threat to you.”
“I know that, I’m just being professional.”
“No, you’re acting like a scared rabbit.” He looked over the list.
“I am not!”
“Problem?” Jack’s eyes went from Ted to Mandy
“No, we’re just talking,” Ted said smoothly.
No one spoke to Mandy like that… ever. Well, at least not since she’d lived in Ryker Falls.
Maybe that’s your problem? Was it? Had she lived in the shadows because no one had forced her out of them?
“Let me see that list, Ted.” Jake took the paper and scanned the page.
The men were all dressed casually. Ted wore a button-down pale blue shirt with darker blue shorts, and the sleeves were rolled up, exposing his forearms. After seeing his weights and the equipment in that gym, she understood why he was so well-built.
“This looks awesome and has most of my favorite things on it.”
“As it’s Cubby’s bachelor party, maybe it should be about him?” Jack drawled.
“Probably, but he eats anything and at the moment is still sleeping off last night, so he’ll just have to put up with whatever we choose.”
“You mind if we take up a table, Miss Marla?” Ted said, waving to the round one in the window. “I could do with a scone and coffee, now you’ve had the machine installed.”
“Of course, we can always fit in handsome men,” her aunt teased. “And today’s are apple and cinnamon. They’re just out of the oven.”
“God’s truth, if I knew you’d accept me I’d marry you today.”
“Oh hell no, you didn’t.” Jack looked pissed off. “I’ve been asking those two women to marry me for years, and they’ve refused. So shut it down, Teddy Bear.”
The coffee machine was something Mandy had pushed for, and her aunts had finally relented. Neither of them, however, would learn how to use it, which left her. She made her way behind it now as the men flirted with her aunts, who loved the attention.
“I’m not apologizing for what I just said, Mandy. You need shaking up and asked me to help.” Ted now stood across the counter from her.
“And that’s your way of helping?” She slapped the milk jug onto the counter.
He smiled, a wide, I-can-sell-you-anything, smile.
“Look at you getting all pissed off. How does it feel?”
Kind of good, actually, but she wasn’t admitting to anything, so she concentrated on the coffee.
“How’s that going? It looks like the one we have at the lodge, but smaller.” He spoke as if the last few minutes hadn’t happened. Two could play that game.
“Okay. I need more lessons, but so far no one has complained.”
“I could show you if you like. I make excellent coffee.”
One day she’d have an ego that would let her brag about being good at something.
“It’s okay. You’re a paying customer, we don’t expect you to make your own coffee.”
“I don’t mind.” He moved into the small space behind the machine and nudged her to one side.
“Personally, I think it’s best to buy the whole bean coffee and grind it yourself.”
“It’s not easy to source here.”
“If you like ours, I could order more, and you pay me?”
“Really? That would be great, thanks.”
“Do you have any syrups?”
Mandy shook her head.
“Okay, you need those, people enjoy them.”
He talked to her as he made the coffee, and Mandy watched and learned. She’d watched videos and read up on it as much as she could, but there was no substitute for learning on the job.
“Hello, darling, it’s lovely to meet you again.”
Mandy looked up as the large, handsome Texan who was with the bachelor party wandered in. She’d met him yesterday.
“Hello, Mr. Gelderman.”
“Ethan,” he said, giving her a killer smile. “I’m the most handsome in the Hawker party.”
The man who’d wandered in with him howled in outrage. Mandy remembered he was Buster Griffin. Joe had told her he was a cafe owner.
“That man was born with a silver tongue,” Ted muttered.
“He’s harmless and nice.”
“How do you know he’s harmless?” Ted looked at the milk he was frothing.
“You can just tell with some people, especially when you’ve spent a lot of time studying them. Plus, he’s friends with the others, and they’re good men.”
“So they don’t scare you?”
“Not everyone and everything scares me, Ted.” Mandy went for honesty. This man was helping her and giving up time to do that; she could give him a little bit of herself. But not the dark stuff. That stayed locked away.
“But lots of stuff does?”
She nodded, then moved back in front of the machine when he backed away to watch her. He offered instructions as she worked.
“Nice coffee,” Jake McBride said ten minutes later.
Ted didn’t say anything, just smiled and took his own cup back to the table.
“Mandy, love, coffee stat!” Fin Hudson was the local head ranger here in Ryker, and she knew he’d been working long hours over the last few weeks because her aunts pretty much knew everything that went on in town. He had brown hair and blue eyes and kept things on the mountains in order without raising his voice. He slumped into a chair with the others.
“I heard you make the best scones,” the Texan said.
“I don’t know about the best—”
“They are,” Ted confirmed.
“Edward?”
Mandy watched Ted’s eyes shoot to the door of Tea Total. A man stood there. Tall, with a rangy build, he wore a pale gray suit and blue shirt.
“Anthony?”
She heard the scrape of a chair, and then Ted was in front of the man.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
The silence in the small shop was suddenly absolute. No clink of a cup settling in a saucer, nothing. All eyes were on the two men. The tension between them was so thick, Mandy could feel it from behind the counter.
“I need to speak with you.”
“Outside.” Ted nodded to the door, and the men walked out, closing it behind them.
“Who the hell is that?” Jack asked.
“I’d take a guess and suggest it’s someone from our Teddy Bear’s past. And not a someone he’s too keen to reconnect with,” Fin added.
Mandy agreed.
Chapter 5
It took a lot to unsettle Ted. He’d encountered and coped with a great deal in his lifetime, but the appearance of a member of his family was enough to make him run for cover.
“What are you doing here, Anthony?”
“I need to talk to you about something.”
Anthony was nervous. The middle Hosking brother, he’d been the loudest and most driven. From the start he’d let Ted know he believed that he should have been born first. That Ted did not have what it took to live up to being the firstborn son of Senator Edward Hosking, Sr.
Dressed as if he was about to enter a business meeting, Anthony’s hair was immaculate, and he wore that expression Ted had always loathed. He’d labeled it smug once.
“They have these things called phones these days. Email also. There’s plenty of ways you could have got hold of me without coming here.”
“No, I needed to speak with you in person.”
“You came here to speak with me dressed in a suit? Your shorts at the cleaners?” Ted liked to annoy Anthony on the rare occasion they met, because no one else did.
“Just because you’ve let your standards slip doesn’t mean I have to.”
Ted snor
ted.
“Good morning.” Anthony smiled to someone behind him.
“Put your sleaze away, brother, no one here will be voting for you.”
“It’s called being polite,” Anthony snapped.
“Whatever. Now tell me what you’re doing here?”
“I can’t just come to visit you?”
He was slick, charming, and Ted would trust a snake oil salesman more.
“Cut the BS and tell me why you’re here, Anthony. You’re not really the drop-in-to-visit-big-brother type, like Toby.”
“Neither are you.”
True.
“I’m running for senate and I want your support.”
He’d followed his brother’s career, known he was rising through the political ranks over the last few years. But that didn’t mean he wanted any involvement in his life. He’d been there while his father pursued his ambitions and been paraded in front of the press. He never wanted to be a part of that again.
“No.”
“That’s all you’re going to say to me after six years? No?”
“You’ve known where I am; if you’d wanted to see me, you could have. Dad’s been here a few times with Toby.”
Anthony had the grace to look slightly ashamed.
“You never came back home either.”
“I told you I was never going back there.”
“Look, I didn’t come here to argue with you, Edward.”
“Ted.”
“I just want your support. They will start looking into my background, and your name will be part of that. I just want to know you’ll say the right things when they ask. I want to know you’re on board.”
“On board how?” He felt the anger inside him start to smolder. Seeing this brother always made that happen. The helpless rage he’d felt back when Emily had been kidnapped and no one had done anything to save her.
The rational side of his nature told him her murder was no one’s fault but the killer’s, but seeing his family made him irrational. Actually, his mother and middle brother did that. His youngest brother and father, he could handle. But the other two were everything about his old life he’d hated. Fake. He went back to that dark ugly place her death had plunged him into when he saw them.
“Come to a few rallies and do some interviews. You’ve done well with the lodge; a few of my acquaintances have even been here.”
“So what? I’m acceptable now that I’m a success?”
“Look, Edward—”
“Ted, and I don’t want anything to do with it, Anthony. I won’t lie if anyone asks if we’re related, but I’m not campaigning for you.”
“Morning.”
“Mr. Goldhirsh.” Ted nodded to the elderly man who was jogging by. He’d been running for as long as Ted had been here. He had endless energy and a wise head on his shoulders.
“Mr. Goldhirsh.” He stuck out a hand, and Anthony took it with a polished smile that made Ted’s teeth snap together. His mother had a smile like that.
“Anthony—”
“He’s an old friend,” Ted cut him off. He didn’t need the questions.
Ted had kept his family connections out of Ryker Falls. No one knew he was a senator’s son or that he came from money. He’d liked it that way, and no one had pushed him to speak about his past.
“Actually—”
“He’s just passing through,” Ted interrupted Anthony again.
Mr. Goldhirsh wore lime-green running shorts and a matching shirt, and yet another new pair of running shoes. The man had endless energy and put the younger residents to shame.
“You staying up at the lodge?”
“No,” Ted said.
“Yes.”
The Hosking brothers replied simultaneously. Once they’d been close enough to laugh over that, but not now. Now, he and the man before him were strangers.
“Well, which is it?” Mr. Goldhirsh’s wiry gray brows rose.
“We haven’t worked out the details,” Anthony said, his smile still in place. Ted kept quiet. “But I want to spend a few days here getting to know the place Ted has chosen to call home.”
Ted had never been able to turn on the charm with the practiced ease his younger brother could.
“Well, if you need to run while you’re here, we have a group, or I’d be happy to take you out.”
“Oh well, that’s very kind of you,” Anthony said, and Ted could see the surprise on his face. He wasn’t used to random people offering him things.
“You all good there, Ted?”
“Sure, Mr. Goldhirsh. See you round.”
“We have a reading tonight, and I think you’ll enjoy it.”
“I’ll try and get there then.”
They watched Mr. Goldhirsh jog away.
“A strange man.”
“No, he’s an intelligent, good man,” Ted said. “Now back to why you’re here. I want nothing to do with you running for senate, or any campaign. Dad’s there, he’s done it, so he can help and rally support.”
“Are you ever going to forgive us?” The words were spoken softly, but Ted heard them as if they’d been roared.
“Go home, Anthony.” Ted turned to leave, but a hand on his arm stopped him.
“Emily has gone, and we all have to live with that. None of us could have done anything to change what happened, Edward.”
Inhale, exhale. Ted did it several more times before the cloud of rage eased. Talking, thinking, even hearing his little sister’s name made him irrational.
“I don’t want to talk about her, or that time. My life is here now, and far away from you. Now leave, Anthony…, please,” he added.
“You’re my brother, surely that counts for something? I can’t believe you’d turn your back on me when I need you.”
Anthony had always been good at piling on the guilt. Ted turned to face him again.
“Are you in any trouble?”
“Of course not!”
“Are you sick?”
“No!”
“Then there’s nothing further we have to say to each other. Good luck with your campaign.” Ted walked away.
He didn’t go back into Tea Total, instead heading around the rear to get rid of the tension inside him. He didn’t need anyone asking him about Anthony or why he was angry.
He saw the Robbins sisters’ car and a few others. Making for the row of trash cans, he kicked the first one hard. It made a satisfying sound, which had him doing it again.
“Ted?”
“Go back inside, Mandy.” He didn’t look at her.
“Are you angry?”
She’d closed the door and was walking toward him, worry on her face.
“What gave me away?”
“That dent in my trash can.”
“I’ll replace it.”
“It’s a trash can, I don’t think it felt that kick.”
Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he looked up at the sky.
“You ever just want to run and not look back, Mandy?”
“Ha ha, that’s funny. I’m scared of most things. No way am I brave enough to leave my aunts.”
“That’s bullshit, but you know that, right?” He looked at her. She stood her ground, and he couldn’t see any fear in her eyes. “Nobody in Ryker would hurt you, and you’ve been here long enough to figure that out by now.”
“I can’t help how I feel, Ted.”
“Of course you can. You’ve allowed what happened in your past to define you.”
“You don’t know anything about me. How could you know anything about my past?”
The green dress she wore was loose and covered in daisies.
“That’s an ugly dress.” He was still riled. Clearly kicking the trash can had not done its job.
“I like it.” She folded her arms, now looking pissed off. At least it was a real emotion.
“Because it hangs on you like a sack. You have a nice body, why hide it?”
He was looking for a fight and shouldn’t have c
hosen her, but she was close.
“Don’t be mean.”
“Go back inside, Mandy. As you can see, I’m not in the mood to play nice.”
“What happened? Who was the man?”
“No questions, remember?”
She studied him in a way that made his toes clench inside his shoes.
“I’m sorry that man upset you.”
She walked away, leaving him even more unsettled than he’d already been, but in a different way.
Disgusted with himself and pretty much the world as a whole, Ted thought about leaving, but as he’d brought McBride and the smarmy Texan with him. He couldn’t.
“You doing okay there, Teddy Bear?”
The name didn’t bother him; he’d even admitted to liking it—silently—because when he first heard it, it meant they’d accepted him as one of theirs here in Ryker.
“Sure, Fin. How you doing?”
“Been better. Body feels like it’s been run over by a large earthmoving vehicle, but that too will pass, Yoda.”
Ted liked Fin Hudson. Like him, he’d grown up away from Ryker but made it his home. Fin was one of those rare breeds of people who actually said what they meant and rarely rubbed anyone up the wrong way. Except the fiery redhead, Maggie Winters. Ted had noticed Fin and she were usually arguing.
“I just happened to overhear you and Mandy—”
“Just happened to overhear? What were you doing, hiding behind one of the cars?”
“Something’s got your panty elastic twisted. Let’s have it.” Fin rotated a wrist.
“I’m not really a spill my guts kind of guy, so we’ll leave it there,” Ted said.
“None of us are to begin with, and then you meet the Trainers. Those guys.” Fin shook his head. “Yammering on about shit until you want to gag them.”
“Yammering? What the hell does that mean?”
“To yammer,” Fin said, “talk constantly without stopping to breathe.”
“Ah, so that’s what it’s called. There’s a few people in this town afflicted with that.”
He felt the tension inside him slowly ease. The guy friends he’d made in Ryker could do that to him. Playing ball, or just hanging out and talking crap; it was all part of recharging for Ted.
“And then some. But those Trainers, they just wear you down until you tell them what they want to hear so they’ll shut up.”