The Good, the Bad, and the Pugly (An Alpine Grove Romantic Comedy Book 7)

by Susan C. Daffron

  Maren started to bawl loudly, and between hysterical breaths managed to sputter, “I…can’t….believe….this!” Turning to Maddie she said, “Let’s…get…out…of…here!”

  Brigid watched as the two women practically ran from the yard. She looked down at Lewis, who wagged his tail a few times. “I think it’s just you and me now, kid.”

  After she got home, Brigid called Sonia to let her know what had happened. Her friend was sympathetic and said it was the right thing to do, but Brigid wasn’t so sure.

  Mostly she wanted a hug and to talk to Clay. Getting up at the crack of dawn and driving back to town in the morning would be worth it if she got to spend the night snuggled up with him again. Cindy Ross was scheduled to do Lewis’s evening walk, so Brigid picked up Gypsy and carried her out to the Honda for the trip to the ranch.

  Very early the next morning, Brigid was lying alongside Clay with her ear pressed to his chest and the covers pulled over her head to block out the sun. It was so relaxing lying next to him listening to his heart beat. She didn’t want to get up and face the day yet. It was too early and he was so warm.

  The phone next to the bed jangled and both of them bolted upright, disentangling their limbs so Clay could reach over to grab the handset. As he grumbled, “Hello,” Brigid pulled the sheet back over her head.

  From underneath, she heard him say, “Why in heaven’s name are you calling so early?” After a pause, he said. “You know I don’t get the paper. I don’t want to be informed.”

  Brigid peeked out from under the sheet. Given the expression on his face, whatever Clay was hearing was not making him happy at all.

  “Fine. I’ll get a paper. Later. Right now, I’m going back to sleep.” He hung up the phone and turned to wrap his arms around Brigid. “Good morning.”

  “What was that all about?”

  “My sister had to report the morning news to me.”

  “Now? Does she do this kind of thing often?”

  “No.” He kissed her. “Apparently, you’re famous.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “There’s a less-than-flattering letter about you in the editorial section of the local newspaper.”

  “What does it say?”

  “Well, TJ says I need to pick up a paper and read it for myself. But I guess the gist of it is that you’re not looking out for the best interests of the homeless dogs of Alpine Grove.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “Nope.”

  “How can that be?”

  “Apparently, your association with me isn’t helping, given the cruel conditions we’ve subjected Judge to and all.”

  Brigid put her face in her palms. “Maren wrote it, didn’t she?”

  He pulled her hands down and hugged her tightly. “’Fraid so, honey.”

  “How can you be so calm?” Brigid moved away so she could look at him. “Don’t you see? This is terrible. Sonia and I were just about to start pulling together the fundraiser. She has everything all laid out. This will kill any hope of anyone ever wanting to attend, much less donate.”

  “It will be okay. These things always blow over. The paper doesn’t really have much else to do, so things like this end up in print. But it will be replaced tomorrow with the next cranky letter from some curmudgeon all bent out of shape about something else. Tomorrow some old coot will be carping about how people are driving too fast to get to the espresso stand or something.”

  “That’s not true. People never seem to forget anything around here.” Brigid gestured toward the window. “I keep hearing about how there’s something wrong with this ranch…and with you. I have no idea what they’re talking about, but the impression I get is that it’s all about stuff that happened years ago.”

  “Well, I told you that stories run rampant. And I’ve done some kind of stupid things. I think you already know about most of it though.” He shrugged. “But if there’s something you want to know, just ask.”

  “Maren said you were arrested for being a horse thief.”

  “More like a horse relocator. I wasn’t charged with anything.”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m even bringing this up.” Brigid hugged him. “I need to walk Judge then get back to town and deal with Lewis.”

  Brigid took Gypsy home, and as soon as she walked in the door, the phone was ringing. Sonia called to commiserate about the letter, and they agreed to meet later to talk about what the bad press meant to their upcoming plans. As soon as she hung up with Sonia, Judith called. She said, “I read Maren’s editorial in the paper this morning. I told you it’s imperative to get those dogs away from that ranch.”

  Brigid wanted to tear her hair out. Judith might be a brilliant dog expert, but something about the woman’s personality had a way of getting on Brigid’s last nerve. “What on earth is your problem with Clay Hadley?”

  “Well you know he was arrested, don’t you?”

  “He’s not a horse thief, for heaven’s sake. Why is everyone harping on this?”

  “I certainly wouldn’t put stealing a horse past him, but that’s not what I meant. He was arrested for assault.”

  “Assault? You can’t be serious.”

  “It’s true. Perhaps you don’t know him as well as you think you do.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “Ask your friends at the police station then.”

  “Fine. I will.”

  “I wanted to let you know that my friend has agreed to adopt Nugget. She came to visit and fell in love with him. He will be moving to Lake Tahoe. They have a lovely home there. I’ll give the paperwork to Sonia later today.”

  “Thank you. That’s wonderful news.”

  “I may be able to foster another dog, but only if you agree to stop keeping dogs at the V Bar H ranch.”

  “Judge is still there while he’s undergoing treatment. I don’t suppose you’d like to foster a dog with mange, would you?”

  “No, I would not. I told you before—you absolutely must get him away from there.”

  “Thank you for your input. I’ll keep that in mind.”

  After Brigid hung up, she wanted to rip the phone out of the wall and heave it across the room. Fortunately, for her rental house, she had to go walk Lewis. Gypsy looked up at her with concern. “I’m sorry Gypsy, but that woman is such a know-it-all. She makes me crazy. Let me feed you so I can get out of here before the phone rings again.”

  Brigid went to the station, and walked Lewis, who really was a great little dog. Maybe Ed would be willing to foster him. She walked out though the station and Jake waved at her, “Boy, am I glad to see you!”

  Brigid wasn’t in the mood to talk to him, but she smiled politely. “You too. We had a couple of foster homes open up, so I hope one of them can take Lewis. In any case, he’ll be out of here soon.”

  “That’s great. But even better, thanks for getting rid of that crying chick. She was a total nut job.”

  “It turns out she’s quite a good writer too.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I guess there’s some terrible letter in the paper about me. Oh, and she hates Clay Hadley and the V Bar H ranch. It’s all really depressing.”

  “I’m sorry Brigid. I guess there was some trouble out there years ago, but I don’t know what that has to do with you.”

  “Nothing. I don’t suppose you know if Clay Hadley was arrested, do you?”

  “Well, not off-hand, but they hired a bunch of typists to load old records into our database, so we can look up more reports now. It goes way back. There aren’t details…those are all in the paper files, but I can look up a name and see a one-sentence description. I’ve hardly used it yet. Wanna try it out?”

  Brigid paused. She felt like she was violating some type of promise, but her curiosity got the better of her. “Sure, look up Clayton Hadley and see what you find.”

  Jake carefully pecked at the keys on the keyboard. His tongue stuck out of the corner
of his mouth as he concentrated on the screen. “Hey, look at that! It works. That’s so cool.”

  “What does it say?”

  “He was arrested twice for assault. Once in 1975 and once in 1976. Like I said, it doesn’t say what it was about though. Just an arrest.”

  A tightness gripped Brigid’s chest and she felt almost dizzy. “That’s fine. Thank you for looking it up. I need to go now.”

  Jake grinned at the computer. “I can’t believe it worked. Gotta love technology.”

  Brigid nodded and backed out of the office. “I’ll see you later.”

  She walked as quickly as she could through the residential streets back to her house, her mind ablaze with the information about Clay, swirling from one incendiary thought to the next. How could she possibly have been so stupid? Assault? That meant some type of physical attack. Probably violence related to anger. People weren’t arrested for no reason, after all. And certainly not twice.

  Clay had never gotten angry when she was around him. Maybe he became violent. He said she knew everything there was to know about him, but it wasn’t true. She had no idea how he’d behave if he became completely furious about something. He was a physical person and it was only a matter of time before something set him off. Everyone got angry sooner or later and she was very sure she didn’t want to find out what that would be like in his case.

  Brigid was not going to jeopardize her physical and mental health again. That absolutely wasn’t going to happen because she wouldn’t let it. Judge’s skin was healed enough now that she could probably foster him herself now that he wouldn’t bleed all over the pretty furniture in her house. Given all the bad press, Clay would probably agree it was better this way. If they didn’t see each other every day, things would cool off, and he’d forget about her.

  She brushed a tear from her face as she opened the door to her house. Forgetting about Clay wasn’t going to be so easy. It would be impossible, in fact. But she’d just have to get over it. Memories faded, after all.

  Gypsy stood in the living room wagging her tail expectantly. Brigid took one look at the sweet furry brown dog and burst into tears. She picked up Gypsy and carried her to the sofa, hugging the dog’s stubby body to her chest as she wept. “Oh Gypsy, what have I done?”

  Chapter 9

  Consequences

  Brigid spent most of the afternoon crying, eating ice cream, and listening to her answering machine take calls. She did manage to leave a message with Sonia canceling their coffee date. The last thing Brigid wanted to do was talk about Maren’s letter. She was probably the only person left in Alpine Grove who hadn’t read the horrible missive, but she couldn’t stand to think about it anymore.

  By the time she needed to go walk Lewis again, she had pulled herself together enough to call Ed and ask about foster care. After his success with Layla, he seemed enthusiastic about the idea of taking Lewis, which was a relief. Now she just needed to get out to the ranch, talk to Clay, and take Judge home.

  While Brigid was out walking Lewis, Sonia left a message. They’d planned to do a big event at the community hall, but it turned out the building was booked through the fall. Brigid was too tired to deal with anything else today. She had to go get Judge. After saying goodbye to Gypsy, she went out to the Honda. Time to get this over with.

  When Brigid arrived at the ranch, everything looked the same, but she felt so different that it all seemed foreign and strange. She parked next to the barn, went inside, and put the leash Judge’s collar. He wagged in delight, ready for his walk.

  While Judge went through his evening routine, she slowly ambled down the driveway, trying not to think about the fact that she wouldn’t be coming here again. She’d miss the quiet and the scent of warm grass, horses, and wildflowers that filled the air.

  The door to the house opened and Clay walked down the steps from the porch. He glanced toward her car parked next to the barn and then waved at her and smiled. She raised her hand in greeting and started back toward the house with Judge.

  As they got closer, he squinted at her. “What happened to you? Are you okay?”

  “It’s been a long day.”

  He moved to take her hand and the look of surprise on his face as she pulled away made Brigid feel a little sick. She said, “I really need to talk to you.”

  “Okay. Do you want to come inside? I was just about to snack on some chips and salsa while I figure out what’s for dinner.”

  “No. It’s about Judge. I’m going to take him with me back to my house tonight.”

  “Did you find him a home?” He grinned. “Maybe that stupid letter backfired. They say all publicity is good publicity, right?”

  “I think it’s best if Judge doesn’t stay here.”

  “What? He’s fine. Same as ever.”

  “I’ll find other places for the dogs to stay from now on. You can have your barn back.”

  “Okay.” He pressed his lips together and stared at her for a moment. “This is about that letter, isn’t it?”

  “I haven’t read it, but Sonia gave me the highlights.”

  “Are you actually going to cave to the demands of that nutty crying woman? Really? I have the paper in the house. You should read what she said. She comes off like a bellyaching lunatic.”

  “I don’t know about that, but I found out that it’s true that you were arrested.”

  He crossed his arms across his chest. “I never said I wasn’t.”

  “Yes, you did.”

  “No, I said I wasn’t charged as a horse thief. And I wasn’t.”

  “You were arrested for assault…twice! That means you attacked people.”

  “But not charged.” Clay stepped closer and held out his arms toward her. “You got the whole story on all this, didn’t you?”

  “I asked Jake to look it up in some database. It has a sentence about each arrest.” Brigid looked at the sky trying to will her eyes not to cry anymore. Today, she’d learned that being on horseback was definitely not a requirement for tears.

  He dropped his arms. “One sentence. Really?”

  Finally, she composed herself enough to say, “You have to know what the word assault means. And what it means to me. Why didn’t you say something?”

  “What do you want me to say? That I was arrested twenty years ago? Okay, I was. That’s not the kind of thing you tend to bring up in conversation.”

  “Maybe you should have, given that you’ve attacked people.”

  “I didn’t attack anyone. Obviously you didn’t bother to find out what actually happened or you’d know that.”

  “Well then tell me!”

  Clay started to speak, then stopped and looked into her eyes. “I can tell you, but I’m starting to think it won’t make any difference. You’re going to believe what you want to believe about me.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  He paused for a long moment and finally said in a low husky voice, “I’m not sure that anything I do or say is ever going to change your mind about who you think I am. If after all the time we’ve spent together, it helps you to believe that I beat up horses, women, children, and small animals, you can just go ahead and keep doing that. I give up.”

  “Clay, wait!”

  “What?”

  “I…I’m not sure. I just don’t want you to hate me.”

  The grim expression on his face softened slightly. “I don’t hate you, honey. You know that. But until you decide to trust me, at least a little, I think we’re done here.” He bent to give Judge a pat and glanced over at the horse barn. “I really have to leave now. Drive safely and take good care of this guy, okay? I’m going to miss him.”

  Brigid nodded. As he stalked away, she hurried over to collect Judge’s things before she burst into tears again. What had she just done? The dog trotted along next to her, oblivious to her mood and ready for whatever was next. She put him in his kennel one last time while she picked up the bowls and leashes and carried them out to the car.
It was getting late and it occurred to her to wonder where Clay was going.

  She opened the back door of the Honda and turned at the sound of a horse whinnying. Clay had retrieved Hank from the pasture and was riding down the driveway. He urged the horse to a gallop, which kicked up a trailing plume of dust until they veered off into the trees.

  Brigid stood motionless in the driveway as the dust settled back to the ground. How stupid was it to ride around in the dark? Horses didn’t have headlights. What if Clay got hurt? Was he doing something incredibly dangerous here or was riding around at night the type of thing he did all the time? She had no idea. Should she do something? Maybe she should call someone. Or maybe that would make him even more angry with her. He wanted her to trust him? Fine. She’d just have to trust that he’d been riding around those woods since childhood and he actually wasn’t going to kill himself.

  As she loaded Judge into the car and drove away, she thought maybe she’d call TJ when she got home, just in case.

  When Brigid got home, Judge and Gypsy had a happy reunion and chased each other around the house for a while until they collapsed into two furry heaps, panting heavily.

  Unable to think of an excuse to put it off any longer, Brigid looked up TJ’s number and said a silent plea that she would get the answering machine. It was Friday night. With any luck, she’d be out with her family doing something fun.

  As the automated voice suggested she leave a message after the beep, Brigid breathed a sigh of relief. But what should she say? After a small moment of panic, she blurted out, “TJ? Um, this is Brigid. I, uh, don’t know…well, is it dangerous to ride a horse at night? When I left the ranch, Clay rode off, and well, I don’t know. I thought I should let you know. Okay, well, that’s it. Talk to you later.”

  After hanging up the phone, Brigid covered her face with her hands. As if TJ didn’t already think she was a complete moron. At least her conscience was clear now. Time to feed the dogs and herself.

  Once she’d had dinner and copious amounts of ice cream for dessert, Brigid felt like she could face listening to the messages on her machine. The red light had been flashing at her like an irksome beacon since she got home.