by Amy Vastine
“Don’t worry—I’m an ATV racing champion.”
Of course you are.
He hung their bows on a rack and secured them, then straddled the seat. She sat behind him. The hearty breakfast of country ham, eggs, grits and toast was flipping in her stomach. Her usual breakfast was a cup of coffee, but she’d eaten politely, even choked down the second helping Mrs. Hayes piled on her plate.
“You best hold me tight.” Dylan grinned. His boyish cuteness and obvious excitement warmed her heart. She swallowed the sour taste in her mouth and wrapped her arms around him. Despite the horrors of her childhood, there were a few things about her hometown that brought that kind of smile to her face, like her mother’s pastitcio. She wanted Dylan to have his hometown fun.
He revved the engine. She tightened her hold on him then felt the splatter of mud on her jeans and arms. The breeze whipped at her face. Elena smacked him hard on the shoulder.
“Stop the ATV!”
They lurched to a standstill. Elena was off the seat in a flash.
“Are you okay?” Dylan asked. She put a hand on a tree to steady herself.
“You know I’m not good at these things. You could’ve prepared me.” Her mouth was burning.
“Darlin’.” He put a hand on her shoulder and she brushed it away.
“I’m going to be sick.” She bent over and threw up. He rubbed her back, but it wasn’t helping. He offered her the canteen he had wrapped around his neck, and she washed her mouth then took several swigs.
“You wouldn’t have a breath mint, would you?”
He shook his head. “Are you gonna be okay? We still have a few more hours left in the hunt.”
A few more hours!
They were well into the woods, and he was scanning the trees, his eyes shining with excitement. He turned back to her and his face softened. “You don’t look so good, let’s go back, we don’t have to do this.”
Yes! Let’s go back and spend the day curled up in front of that nice stone fireplace in the living room. You can pull out the ring I hope you have in your luggage, then I can video chat with my father and watch his face light up when I tell him he’ll get to see my wedding.
She shook her head. If cowboy Dylan wanted to get this out of his system, she wanted to show him she could be a part of his life in every way. “I’ll be fine. Can we walk from here?”
He nodded, looking uncertain.
“It’s okay, Dylan, I’ve endured much worse.” If she could stand for hours in pinching high heels on a parade float and watch her classmates laugh at her, she could walk through a muddy forest searching for a turkey.
“Okay, if you’re sure. It’ll give us a chance to talk.”
Her heart soared. Maybe this whole crazy event was about a memorable proposal. Men were silly like that.
“Isn’t it amazing how everyone comes together as a community?”
Something in his voice made her stomach twist. She hoped she wasn’t going to be sick again. “Community events are highly overrated.”
“Oh, just give it a chance. This isn’t the same as what you went through.”
“Not exactly the same, but a different version. Besides, I thought you hated Bellhaven.”
He shrugged, picking his way through some thick brush. He parted it so she’d have an easier time getting through it. Her arm caught on a thorn and she tugged, creating a small tear in her blouse. Another casualty of this trip.
“I’ve never hated it, I just needed to get out of here when I was younger. But perspective changes as you get older.”
She stopped. What did he mean by that? How had his perspective changed? He turned and put a finger to his lips. She took a step forward and her bow caught in some low-hanging tree branches. She tried to right her footing while extracting the bow, but lost her balance instead, falling straight into a mud pit. Thankfully she didn’t land face-down; her knees broke the fall. Dylan held out his hand and she took it, disgusted with how dirty her own hand was. She saw a bird cackling, making a kee kee sound as it ran away from him on stick legs.
“Darn it, I could’ve broken the town record for fastest catch.”
And I could have broken a body part.
She retrieved her fallen bow and used a leaf to clean the mud on her hands, succeeding only in smearing it around. Her skin itched and she didn’t know if it was from bug bites or the wet, gritty earth that covered her. She missed the clean concrete of Chicago.
“So what’re we doing after this?” She hoped it involved a hot bath and quiet time with Dylan.
“There’s the post-hunt barbecue at the Leeland farm. The whole town will be there—you’ll get to meet everyone.”
Looking like this? She stifled the sigh bubbling in her chest. “Can we stop at a store so I can get myself in order?”
“Oh, don’t worry about it darlin’. We’ll hose off.”
Hose off? He made sure not a single hair on his head was out of place when he went to work. He wanted to show up to a town event looking like this? Where was her Chicago Dylan, and how long did this cowboy plan to stick around? The knot in her stomach twisted painfully. Was this the Dylan she wanted to marry?
Before she could pick her jaw off the muddy ground, he went deeper into the forest and she followed with a sense of resignation.
They spotted a few other townspeople in the distance. “There was a time when this forest was so thick, we wouldn’t see anyone else for the whole hunt,” Dylan said wistfully. “With all the development around here, not much is left. Mr. Leeland’s been fighting the county on allowing a developer to take ten percent of this forest. I told him I’d stop by and look at his papers. He doesn’t have money to hire a lawyer.”
“It’s nice of you to offer to help.”
“That’s what being a part of a community is all ‘bout.”
She opened her mouth to ask him where he was going with all this when her mother’s voice filled her head. “Men are different around their mothers. Remember your daddy when your grandmother came over?” As much as she hated to admit it, her mother was right. Her powerful, intimidating father cowered when his mother showed up. Once Dylan was back home in Chicago, he’d be back to his old self. He’d be back to the Dylan she knew. Or so she hoped.
“Stay here,” Dylan said suddenly. “I have to take care of business.”
“What business?”
He smiled, showing off his broad, perfect grin. The one she’d first fallen victim to two years ago when they were sitting across from each other in a conference room, negotiating a merger. They had worked together nearly every day for three months. At the end of the deal, she’d expected him to ask her out. He didn’t. He shook her hand and wished her luck.
She’d stalked him on Facebook and found out he didn’t have a steady girlfriend. She knew from the way he’d looked at her that he was interested, so what was it? Four months later, she ran into him again. This time he was moving into the apartment across from her. That day, she asked him out, unwilling to take the chance that they’d become friends and never get out of that zone. They went out to dinner and he insisted on paying. They celebrated that date every year as their anniversary. Hopefully they’d have a more formal anniversary to celebrate soon.
“I need to go,” he said with the impish cuteness of a toddler.
She looked around. “You don’t mean…”
“When nature calls, nature provides.”
She rolled her eyes and turned to give him some privacy. Chicago Dylan didn’t even like using public restrooms. She bit her lip. What if this was the real Dylan? What if the one she knew in Chicago wasn’t his true self? No, it couldn’t be. She’d spent two years with him, surely she knew him by now. She ignored the tiny prod of her subconscious reminding her of all the new things she’d discovered since their arrival in Bellhaven.
Then she saw it. A turkey. It let out a high-pitched call. She put her bow on the ground and crouched down. “Here, little turkey,” she said softly. “Come to m
e.” She scanned her surroundings. What did turkeys eat? She grabbed some clover and held it out. The turkey eyed her outstretched hand and stepped elegantly forward, her mouth moving underneath a sharp beak. Elena kept still. She remembered chasing chickens when she was a little girl. She’d hold out corn and they’d come eat out of her hands.
The turkey bent its head and nipped the clover, her beak jabbing Elena’s palm. Elena petted her prickly soft feathers. The hen clucked loudly. Elena wrapped her arm around her body and picked her up like a small dog. The turkey let out a squeal but stayed put.
“You are unbelievable.”
Elena turned to see Dylan standing with his bow pointing at them, the arrow loaded.
“Oh, don’t shoot her, she’s a good girl,” Elena said in a singsong voice. She didn’t want to spook the bird.
He grinned and shook his head, securing the arrow and shouldering the bow. He took out his phone and texted Jolene. They walked back, Elena petting the turkey to keep it calm. Dylan carried both their bows. “I had no idea you knew how to catch turkeys.”
She smiled. “Turns out it’s not that different from catching chickens.”
“Where in Chicago were you catching chickens?”
“In Syracuse, when I was a little girl. Friends of the family owned a farm.” All of a sudden, the vision of that farm, with its whitewashed walls, cornfields, and tractor rides filled her mind. The farm used to belong to her best friend, the only Greek kid who was kind to her. It was one of the few fond memories from her childhood.
He smiled at her. “What do you know, you remember life before Chicago.”
It wasn’t a matter of remembering or not. She recalled bits and pieces of Athens—her family moved to the States when she was six—but she had vivid memories of Syracuse. A small community full of children who taunted her. She just preferred not to think about that time.
Chicago was home. She was good at her job, had friends who valued her, and the only things that made her stand out were her accomplishments.
“There’s a lot about me you’ve yet to learn,” she said coyly. He stopped and turned towards her.
“Yeah, our lives are so busy in Chicago, we haven’t really had quality time together.” His voice was strangely quiet. Her nerves twitched. What did he mean they didn’t have quality time? They had dinner together nearly every night. Granted, it was usually takeout because they both worked long hours, but they talked. They spent weekends together. What was he trying to say? He knew exactly who she was. If anything, she was the one being confronted with a brand new ATV-racing, turkey-hunting, cowboy-boot-wearing Dylan.
She stepped up to him and stared into his honey-colored eyes. He was still her Dylan, right? He placed his forehead on hers, a familiar gesture that eased her tense muscles. How did he do this to her? How did his one touch make her feel like she could deal with the troubles of the world?
The turkey wiggled in her arms and broke the spell.
“We better get that turkey to the butcher table before we lose it.”
“You’re going to kill Claudia?”
“You named it? Tell me you’re kidding. You do know the entire point of the hunt is to get a turkey for the Thanksgiving meal, right?”
She petted Claudia. “I do. Besides, our building doesn’t allow pets.”
Suddenly, they heard familiar voices.
“You can’t break his heart like that.”
“Momma!”
Elena stopped. It was Mrs. Hayes and Jolene. She didn’t want to intrude, but Dylan walked right over to them. “You’re breaking up with Jake?” His voice was full of disbelief.
Whoa, drama. Jake was Jolene’s long-time boyfriend and recent fiancé.
Jolene nodded. “I can’t take it anymore. He never wants to leave Hell’s Bells. I’m sick of this town—I need to get out.”
Hell’s Bells was a nickname for Bellhaven. Elena knew there was a story behind that, but Dylan hadn’t gotten around to telling her.
“This town is home.” Dylan stared down his sister.
Elena was out of clover, and Claudia wasn’t that into her anymore. She clucked impatiently and everyone turned her way.
“That’s just a hen. Couldn’t you catch a tom? And why didn’t you shoot it?” Mrs. Hayes’s impatient voice was the last straw for Claudia. With a loud screech, the turkey flapped her wings. Elena caught a feather in her eye and the bird shook out of her grasp.
“Shoot her!” Mrs. Hayes screamed.
“No!” Elena said involuntarily.
Dylan pivoted between his mother and Elena and fumbled with the bow. The brief hesitation gave Claudia the chance she needed to run away.
“Ugh!” Dylan’s mom slapped her hips and glared at Elena as if it was all her fault.
Elena dug her fingernails into her palms. She couldn’t hold back anymore. “It’s just a stupid bird. Why can’t you just get a frozen one like normal people?” Everyone was silent, gawking at her.
“Momma, she’s right,” Jolene said wearily.
Mrs. Hayes’s expression said it all. Even Elena didn’t need translation.
Jolene and Dylan exchanged a look.
“C’mon, Momma. Shouldn’t we go home and talk about Jolene’s situation?”
Elena widened her eyes at Dylan. Why was he interfering in Jolene’s private life? He himself had told her he hated the way the townspeople inserted themselves into everybody’s business. Maybe she really didn’t know Cowboy Dylan.
“There’s no situation to discuss,” came the annoyed response from Jolene.
“Yes there is, Jo! How can you leave now?”
Jolene stepped up to her brother. “Just `cause you’ve decided to be the good son and move back home doesn’t mean you get to guilt me into stayin’.”
Elena’s heart stopped. Dylan flinched and glanced at her quickly before glowering at his sister. “Be quiet, Jo,” he said through clenched teeth.
Jolene made a frustrated sound and followed her mother, who had stalked off into the forest. Dylan held out his hand to Elena, but she shook her head.
She tried to breathe, but her chest was too tight. “That’s why you wanted to talk?” She sputtered. “That’s what this trip is all about?” She turned and ran.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Dylan swore under his breath and ran after her. This was not how he planned to ask Elena to move to Bellhaven with him. He caught up to her and put a hand on her arm.
“Elena, please let me explain.”
She whirled, her eyes blazing.
“When were you going to tell me?”
He took a breath and pulled her close, wanting her to feel the connection he felt every time they touched. She was stiff in his arms. “I wanted you to see the town, get to know people first.”
“And what did you think would happen? I’d fall in love with the town and agree to move here with you?” Her voice was choked and it stung his heart. He knew how hard her life in Syracuse had been, the ridicule of the other children, the difficulty assimilating. That’s why he wanted her to see how Bellhaven would embrace her.
“Chicago is my home, Dylan.”
“Hell’s Bells is my home.”
She untangled herself and stepped away from him. He went cold.
“I’ve worked for years to get to this point in my career. That promotion could be mine. How could you not consider how this would impact my life?”
She was now more than an arm’s length away. He wanted to touch her but the closer he stepped, the more distance she put between them.
“Why haven’t you talked to me about this?” Her voice was raw and throaty, her eyes shining.
“It’s complicated, Elena. Can’t you understand—”
“No I can’t, Dylan. We share everything. We’ve talked the future, about buying a penthouse together…in Chicago. I’ve been killing myself trying to get your family—and this ridiculous town—to like me. I’ve been doing it all for you. I was expecting a proposal this weekend, not som
e half-baked plan to move here. Where is this coming from?”
He ran his fingers through his hair. “I have been thinking about our future, and when I thought about us starting a family, I realized I don’t want to raise our kids in a place where you have to put them on a leash just to take them to the park. Where dinner is always takeout, and I’m selling my soul with every new assignment. I wanna be here for my mom, I wanna run the family farm, do stuff for the community. I…” He stepped forward and took her hand. “We can have a different life here.”
“And you didn’t think to mention this to me before? I don’t even know who you are anymore. My life is in Chicago. I thought our life was in Chicago. It’s the only place I’ve ever belonged.” Maybe springing this on her had been a bad idea. He knew it would be a tough sell, which was why he waited until he could bring her here and let her experience the town.
“I belong here, Elena. This is my home, and I’m ready to come back. Besides, I don’t have a life in Chicago anymore. I quit my job.”
She opened her mouth then shut it. “I don’t know what to say. You didn’t even talk to me about it. How could you?”
“Don’t you see? I’m doing this for us. I want us to have a different life.”
“And what about what I want? I thought the man I loved would have cared about that.” She opened her mouth to say more then covered it with her hand. Tears fell down her cheeks.
A vise gripped his heart. Nothing was turning out like he planned. He reached for her, he needed to let her know that they would work it out somehow but she wouldn’t come to him.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“At least have a glass of moonshine before you go.”
Elena stared at Mrs. Hayes. The woman was looking at her with such sympathetic eyes that she nodded reluctantly. Mrs. Hayes was still mad they hadn’t caught a turkey, but her fury was now directed at Dylan and Jolene.
Elena took stock of her clothes. What did it matter, anyway, if the town saw her all muddy and disheveled? She was never coming back here.
As advertised, there was a water hose near the tent that people were using to wash their hands and faces. Dylan gave her his rain slicker to wear over her torn blouse. It fit like a tent on her, but at least she was decent. She joined the crowd and let the cold water soothe her itchy skin. Her mother would be mortified if she saw her now, without any makeup, twigs sticking out of her hair. In her community, every young girl was judged for her appearance. It had been exhausting getting ready for events there, making sure every stray hair was plucked, her face beautifully painted, her dress perfect.