by Lee Kilraine
“I didn’t expect you to make it to the gym after the shape you were in, but I heard you were here. We’ve got the tape to prove it.” Quinn grinned, flashing a dimple in one cheek.
Distracted by the dimple, she took a second to process what he’d said. “Hey, I did not start that. And I made it here because someone forced me to drink four glasses of water and a handful of aspirin.”
“You’re welcome. I can see aspirin isn’t the miracle pill doctors claim it is.”
“Bite me.” Delaney started walking past him. “Got any treadmills?”
“Yeah, back corner of—”
“Great. Thanks for the tour.” Delaney limped off to the back corner of the gym. “If you’re reporting back to Greer, make sure you tell her how nice and cooperative I was.”
Quinn shook his head at her retreating back. Huh. He had to admit, he was relieved to see Angry Delaney since Hopeless and Lost Delaney from D.C. had scared the hell out of him.
“Who’s that?” Gage Tierney joined him from his post at the front desk.
“Delaney Lyons,” Quinn said, still watching her get settled on a treadmill.
“The Delaney Lyons?” Gage swiveled his head, trying to get a good look. “Man, she’s changed.”
“Why do you say that?” Not that he hadn’t been thinking the same thing.
“She growled at me when I said hello.” Gage tried to look over casually without staring. “I remember her being a lot nicer in high school.”
Angry Delaney. Yeah, he’d met her too. “I think she’s just going through a bad time.”
“Who are we talking about?” Hawk Savage, a fellow cop and co-owner of the gym, walked over from the locker bay.
When the only large chain gym had closed its doors two years ago, Quinn, Gage, and Hawk had decided to turn the old long-boarded-up Woolworths into a gym. The twenty-four-hour schedule accommodated both police and fire and rescue. With the high school and college kids they hired, it wasn’t a big time commitment for any of them.
“We’re not. We’re not standing around talking about our clients,” Quinn said. “Because that would be unprofessional.”
“Delaney Lyons.” Gage tipped his head, directing Hawk’s attention toward the back of the gym.
Hawk’s gaze zeroed in on the back corner with the treadmills and rowers. “The Delaney Lyons?”
“Yeah. Remember how crazy Quinn was over her in high school?” Gage asked.
“Oh, yeah.” Hawk gave Quinn a light punch in the arm. “He couldn’t even talk if she was sharing the same airspace.”
“She’s changed a lot, wouldn’t you say?” Gage asked.
“How can you tell? Those sweats she has on would probably fit me.” Hawk was six-foot-four and looked like he ate cars for breakfast. He’d first gotten the nickname Hawk in high school because of his ability to spot the good-looking girls from a distance. But he’d more than earned the name with his sniper skills in Iraq. “And it seems to me we looked at her legs and her ass as much as we looked at her face and her—ow!” Hawk rubbed his arm where Quinn had jabbed him.
“Delaney is a client. She’s trying to recover from an accident,” Quinn explained. “Our job is to help her with her workouts.”
“You’re saying she’ll be in here a lot,” Gage said.
“Not if we stand around here staring at her. We treat our clientele with respect. We do not ogle the clients.” Quinn gave Delaney one last long look before turning back to his friends.
“Yeah, good luck with that.” Hawk aimed a pointed glance at him.
“This could be your chance to make your move.” Gage looked from Quinn to Delaney and back again.
Quinn shook his head. “Nope. Not going there. Besides, I moved on years ago.”
“Moved on, my ass. I saw that look.” Hawk pulled out his wallet. “I’ll bet money you break in less than two weeks.”
“I can be a damn Buddhist monk around Delaney, so bet away. Put it on the books in Vegas if you want.” Quinn decided the bet would give him incentive to keep his hormones in lockdown. Not that he needed it. He remembered too clearly carrying a torch for Delaney. You stood there holding it long enough, it frickin’ burned. “Put me down for twenty. I could use a few bucks in my beer fund.”
“Well, look at y’all,” the sugar-sweet drawl of Barbara Jewel ended the betting. “Conveniently rounded up like you knew I was hunting you down.”
“Oh, we know,” Hawk muttered.
“Hey, Barbara.” Gage managed to hit Hawk in the back with his clipboard.
There was no arguing that Barbara was a striking woman, but among the pool of available men in town, Barbara had earned the nickname the Barracuda. Her third divorce had been finalized six months ago, and most men knew she had started circling the waters, hunting for the next target to feed her voracious appetite. The guys at the gym tried to avoid sudden movements or smiles that might catch her attention.
“I’m selling tickets to the Climax Ladies Tenth Annual Bachelorette Auction,” Barbara said. “This year, the Simon sisters wanted the money to go to the library again. But the shelves are full. I checked. Of course I thought of you hard-working police officers, and we voted to make the Fallen Hero Fund our cause this year. In fact, I think it’s so important, I’ve decided to be a bachelorette myself.”
Hawk opened his mouth to talk. “Ow!” He scowled at Quinn as he lifted his size-twelve running shoe off Hawk’s equally large boot. “I didn’t even say anything.”
“Client.” Quinn coughed into his hand for only Hawk to hear. “Barbara, that’s a great cause. Make sure you tell Sergeant Farley. After thirty years in blue, he will definitely want to be in on this.”
“Oh, do you think he’ll want to bid on the bachelorettes?” Her voice pitched high at the thought. “Isn’t Sergeant Farley over ninety?”
Gage grinned. “Barbara, you don’t know what you’re missing if you haven’t danced with Sergeant Farley. He was the 1956 Climax Jitterbug Champion, and that was after he got shot in the tuchus.”
Barbara’s pink-glossed lips frowned. “But I wasn’t even born then.”
Hawk snorted. “I guess that’s the day the earth started revolv—Ow!” He frowned down at what was left of his toes. “I doubt he’ll hold that against you, Barbara.”
But Barbara wasn’t paying any attention by then.
“Well, look at that. Isn’t that Delaney Lyons?” Barbara threw so much drama into it, you’d think Delaney was shooting heroin. “I heard she was here yesterday morning.”
“What’s so hard to believe about Delaney being here?” Quinn asked.
“She ran out of town after college so fast, there were only whispers as to where she up and disappeared to.” Barbara cocked her head as her lips curled up at the corners. “But she’s landed right back here, hasn’t she?”
Quinn didn’t see the big deal. Lots of them had left town and come back. Quinn and Gage had headed off to college and then the police academy together. Hawk had enlisted in the Army out of high school. They’d all happily landed back here.
“Poor thing. Who would have thought we’d see her looking like this?” Barbara’s voice was soft with sympathy, but her eyes glittered like polished quartz stone.
“Hey, Barbara, she’s been through some hard times recently,” Quinn said. “Maybe you could give her some space, at least today?”
Barbara’s head swiveled sharply. “What kind of hard times?”
“An accident. I don’t know any details.” Quinn wouldn’t have said anything even if he did know, not with the way she was salivating for gossip. He didn’t have an inside scoop anyway.
“A couple months back there was a rumor going through the diner she had a run-in with a mountain lion,” Gage said.
Quinn stared at him. “And you believed it? Don’t you think it would have been in the papers or on the news if Delaney got attacked by a mountain lion?”
“Just last week at the bowling alley I heard she was stripping in Vegas an
d fell off her pole and . . . ahem . . . broke a lady part.” Hawk shrugged at the look on Quinn’s face. “Hey, I’m only saying what I heard.”
Gage smacked Hawk. “You can’t break a lady part, you idiot. Or, am I wrong about that, Barbara?”
“I wouldn’t put anything past Delaney. Hard times, huh? Bless her heart, those hard times are written all over her face,” Barbara said. “I wouldn’t dream of ignoring her. We were quite good friends in high school. I think I could offer her some encouraging words.”
“Right.” Gage threw a look at Quinn. They had been freshmen when Barbara and Delaney were seniors in high school, but in a small town, there were no secrets. They remembered a lot about the rivalry between the two as girls.
“Whoa, Barbara, slow down there,” Quinn said. “Can’t you see she’s in the middle of a workout?”
The group turned in unison to watch Delaney. She’d been working intently on the treadmill for over ten minutes. Sweat dripped down from her red face and formed a dark ring around the neck of her sweatshirt and down the middle of her back. She was staring directly at the clock high on the wall in front of her.
“The poor thing is one of those unfortunate girls who actually sweats instead of glows.” Barbara shook her head. “It’s not a good look for her.”
“Could be those heavy sweats she has on. Or that she’s actually here to work out, not to be the center of attenti—” Hawk took an elbow to the ribs from Gage. “Shutting up.”
“Why, it’s my duty as a friend to offer her advice.” Barbara stalked off toward Delaney, calling, “Delaney Lyons, what a surprise to see you back in town!” Barbara leaned forward, waving her hand into Delaney’s line of sight. “Yoo-hoo, Delaney.”
Delaney glanced over at her, then refocused her eyes back on the clock. She kept on walking for another minute before she stopped the treadmill and finally rested her legs.
“Delaney Lyons, how are you?” Barbara asked.
“Hello, Barbara.” Delaney grabbed the small white towel she’d hooked on the handrail and wiped the sweat from her face. She stepped off the treadmill and looked over at Barbara. “I’ve been better.”
“I can see that.” She looked Delaney up and down.
“And I’ve been worse.”
“Really?” Barbara sounded doubtful. “I can’t imagine.”
Be nice. Be nice. Be nice. Delaney closed her eyes and took a swallow from her water bottle. She didn’t have the energy for this. She just wanted to get through this day, so she could go curl up in bed and pretend the last year had never happened. Was that too much to ask? Although, truth be told, that plan hadn’t been working for her so far.
Be nice. She could be nice for the five minutes it would take her to finish talking to Barbara and then leave. Right?
“Hey, Barbara, how about we forget the past? Let’s put high school behind us and agree to get along.” Delaney looked toward the front entrance, trying to judge the distance to the door. She couldn’t see past Quinn Cates and his friends. How long had they been standing there? Focused on her promise to Greer, she’d just wanted to get through the workout and leave. “We haven’t seen each other in eight years. Surely we’ve moved on.”
Barbara pursed her lips as if considering. “You know what? I don’t think so. I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed not hearing your pitiful life being trotted out by the Grapevine for the last eight years.”
“That makes two of us. Honest, Barbara, I’m planning to leave town as soon as I can, and you’ll have all the attention you want.”
“I hate how you say that like you’re the star and I’m the understudy. Just like you made sure it was in high school too.”
“Barbara, I don’t control the gossip around here any more than I control the tides of the ocean.”
“Yet it always seems to revolve around you. Hmm. Maybe you coming home isn’t such a bad thing after all; people can finally see I’m more successful than you are. Lord knows I’ve kept up with my looks better than you have. You just want to quit now that I’m finally winning.”
Delaney closed her eyes and counted to ten. She bent over and shoved her towel and water bottle into her gym bag. When she straightened up to throw her gym bag over her shoulder, Barbara was still standing there. “You’re right, Barbara. You won. You’ve got the golden ticket. I bow to your greatness. Now can we bury the hatchet? I don’t have the energy for this.”
“Ha! You’re afraid of walking in my shadow. Or should I say limping? Well, get used to it, since you made me do it all those years in high school. Eat. My. Dust.”
Delaney looked at Barbara, watching all that pink Lycra quivering in indignation and excitement. She had been so close to letting this go, making Greer proud by walking away. But then Barbara had to go and throw her injury in her face. She looked into Barbara’s smug face, then over at Quinn and his gang, who moved ten feet closer every time she looked toward them. Damn rubberneckers.
She stepped up as close as she could to Barbara and stared into her pretty hazel eyes until Barbara started fidgeting. Leaning in, she moved her head until she could talk directly into Barbara’s ear so no one else could hear. “Since you’re dragging up the past, you and I both know how you won homecoming and prom queen, don’t we? I saw the whole thing. Now, I never said anything back then because I didn’t care, but now I’m wondering if I’ll feel better coming clean, you know?”
Barbara swiftly inhaled a breath and stepped back, glancing around furtively. “Looks like the kitten’s grown some claws. What do you want?”
“I’ll be in here regularly for the next few weeks, and I want you to stay away from me. You can even ignore me, for all I care. But do not get in my face again. Deal?” Delaney raised an eyebrow at her.
“Fine.” Barbara stuck out her chin and then smoothed her hands down her curvaceous hips. “No great loss. I was just trying to be polite.”
“Really? Okay, then here’s your chance to be polite. In a loud, clear voice, I want you to say, ‘I have always admired you, Delaney Lyons, and I live for the day when you consider me your BFF.’ ”
If Barbara’s eyes could shoot lasers, Delaney would be a pile of ashes. Her lips formed a straight, tense line and her face flushed before she ground out the words in a loud, monotone voice. “I have always admired you, Delaney Lyons, and I live for the day when you consider me your BFF.”
That brought every head in the gym around.
“Why thank you, Barbara. That’s so sweet of you to say,” Delaney said for the whole gym to hear. In a quieter voice, just for Barbara, she said, “Consider the hatchet buried.”
“Delaney Lyons, you are no lady,” she huffed before stomping off to the locker room.
“You knew that in high school,” Delaney called after her.
Delaney looked over at Quinn and his friends. Pitiful. They were a bunch of first responders, for Pete’s sake. Working accidents and crime scenes was an everyday thing for them, and here they were mesmerized watching this train wreck. She gave Quinn the stink eye on her way by him.
“What? So, you and Barbara are finally BFFs?” Quinn asked. “I guess you can check that off your bucket list now.”
“Oh, bite me. I expect a discount on my gym membership,” Delaney said as she limped toward the front door. “Entertainment like that does not come cheap.” The door slammed closed behind her.
All three men stood looking at the front door.
Gage broke the silence with a drawn-out whistle.
“That was impressive.” Hawk rubbed his hands together and grinned. “And fun.”
Fun? Getting pulled back into Delaney’s orbit was not Quinn’s idea of “fun.” He remembered getting over Delaney years ago; there had been nothing fun about it. Hell, he knew not to travel that path again, yet there he stood, staring at the front door, wondering why his twenty-dollar bet suddenly felt like a sucker bet.
Chapter Four
Delaney couldn’t decide what hurt more, her arms, her legs, or he
r head. She wanted to crawl into bed, but she couldn’t because she knew Greer would talk to Quinn and then she’d be in trouble. Man, who knew nice was so hard? Especially around Barbara. And maybe she snapped at Quinn.
And his coworkers.
Okay, a little more effort toward the “be nice” decree might be needed. She used to be nice and even-tempered. She just couldn’t find that person lately, and this new person was unfamiliar and unpredictable.
She pulled her Jeep into the driveway of their little yellow house. Turning off the engine, she sat and looked at the house she and Greer had grown up in. It was such a cheerful-looking house; too bad it had years of sad memories inside. Yesterday, she had been so tired and hungover it had been easier to block out the house and the memories, which, today, were reaching out to suffocate her.
Lord, she didn’t know how Greer had been able to live in it all these years, save the time she’d spent away at college. Luckily, they had been able to rent the house out. It had almost covered the mortgage each month. Between the rent, her military salary, and a few odd jobs, they’d been able to keep the house and get Greer through college.
With a heavy sigh, she pulled herself out of the Jeep. Had it really been eight years since she’d been home? She could have gotten leave to come home for a visit. It wouldn’t have mattered though, since she’d lived paycheck to paycheck during those years. The choices had been easy back then. Books for Greer or head home? New tires for Greer’s car or head home? Bring Greer out to Italy to celebrate her college graduation or head home? That last had been the easiest of them all. They’d had a blast in Italy together.
Delaney grabbed the railing next to the cracked front steps and worked her way up one weathered grey step at a time. Ouch. She limped past the side door to sit on the porch swing hanging outside the kitchen window. She set the swing in motion with her right foot and closed her eyes, pushing the memories back by focusing on the now. Her whole body hurt, but her prosthesis had her injured leg throbbing. That’s what she got for hiding in her apartment for a month, not sleeping and watching endless episodes of Sesame Street. Jeez, you couldn’t schedule depression for a convenient time. Look what this bout had gotten her—one month behind on her recuperation, a sallow complexion, and a sister who was so scared, she’d stooped to kidnapping in order to play mother hen.