by Carol Finch
During the uphill hike to the house, Katy recalled what Nate had said about confronting the tormenting past and getting on with life. Good advice, to be sure. But for Katy, it was easier said than done.
“Gosh, I wonder what’s burning?” Tammy clamped her hands on the edge of Katy’s bucket seat as Nate drove them back to town.
Katy came to immediate attention as they neared town. “Oh, no! It’s the grocery store!” she wailed in dismay.
Nate watched the cloud of thick, black smoke mushroom into the air, then roll north. He saw the crowd of bystanders closing in around the volunteer firemen, who were battling the blaze. Nate found the nearest parking space and maneuvered the car to the curb.
Katy was out of the car in a flash, limping hurriedly toward the mayor, who was standing on the sidewalk. “What happened?” she asked anxiously.
“Nobody knows for sure. The fire marshal is on his way to check things out,” Eugene Wilks replied, staring at the leaping flames with fanatical fascination. “Could have been anything from faulty electrical wiring to premeditated arson.”
While Katy was speaking to Eugene, Tammy hurried off to join her friends, who were clustered on the curb across the street, and Nate made a slow, deliberate sweep of the crowd. When he saw Millie Kendrick leaning heavily on her shopping cart, Nate made a beeline toward her. If anyone had a clue what had happened it would be Millie. She was an observer of life who was always on the sidelines, watching, contemplating situations.
Nate edged up beside Millie, who stood apart from the crowd. She tipped her head back to peer up at him. The plastic birds on her straw hat wobbled on their wire legs.
“You know what happened.” It wasn’t a question, merely a statement of fact. Although no one paid Millie much heed, Nate knew she had always been the eyes of this town.
“Yup, I do,” she confirmed, then turned her attention to the fire that consumed the building, despite the valiant efforts of the firefighters. “But I ain’t telling the sheriff, so don’t expect me to.”
“Wouldn’t expect you to,” Nate replied, following her gaze to the roaring blaze. “The way I see it, you and I are a lot alike, Millie. We always were. We were pretty much overlooked and written off by this town.”
“Yup.” She nodded her frizzy gray head. “More alike ’n ya think, boy.”
Nate glanced down to see a wry smile purse the old woman’s lips. That was Millie through and through—always talking in riddles, then smiling as if she were enjoying a private joke. Nate reckoned that habit was the reason most folks didn’t pay much attention to Millie. But there was something about the way Millie was staring up at him, the way her dark eyes gleamed, that prompted him to do what most people never did. Nate asked her to explain what she meant.
“How so, Millie?”
She snickered, leaving him dangling on the hook, as if checking to see if he had the patience to outwait her. Most folks didn’t. They just turned and walked off, mumbling that she was loony.
Nate never wanted to be like “most folks.” It must have been that rebel streak in him that he’d never quite been able to cure. “You gonna tell me, woman? Or just stand there grinning like a baked possum? Either fish or cut bait.”
“We’re blood kin, boy,” she cut in, delighting in shocking him. “That’s why we’re a lot alike.”
Nate’s jaw scraped his chest. “We are?” he tweeted like a sick sparrow.
She bobbed her Brillo-pad head. The plastic birds fluttered on her hat. “Yup. I’m your aunt, your ma’s sister. Who’d ya think left those little stashes of money in your kitchen cabinet when there was nothing between you and starvation? Wasn’t your mama. My baby sister never had her head on straight, from the time she was in training bras. Had a chip on her shoulder, too. Didn’t want anybody, least of all me, telling her what to do and how to do it. She wanted all the credit for what she did, and she gets it, too. She ruined her life, and darn near ruined yours, all by herself.”
Nate opened and closed his mouth, but words refused to come out. All these years he’d thought his mother had cared just enough to set aside a little money for groceries. All these years he’d given his mother more credit than she deserved. She had cared more about herself than about him.
As if she knew what thoughts were running through Nate’s mind, Millie smiled at him. “Couldn’t tell ya way back then. You were having a rough time of it, and Lil needed somebody to look after her. She didn’t want a thing to do with me, so that just left you to watch out for her, boy.”
Oddly enough, Nate understood Millie’s reasoning. “I take it the two of you never got along well.”
Millie snorted. “Nope. After you were bustled off in the patrol car, she packed up and left town. To this day, I don’t know what became of her. She always steered clear of me, resented me for giving advice, for having a decent marriage, short though it turned out to be. Your uncle died in a farming accident.” Her lip quivered, and her eyes misted over. “I never got over it, sort of like you with that Bates girl.” Her gaze swung to Katy, who stood beneath the streetlight, talking to the mayor.
The information Millie imparted left Nate in an emotional tailspin. He recalled all the times he’d swaggered down Main Street, trying to look confident so folks would think he felt good about himself. Nothing could have been further from the truth. His demeanor had been an act. No one but Millie acknowledged him, paid him the slightest attention. Now Nate knew why. Millie had been the silent financial benefactor who made his misguided youth barely tolerable.
Millie was his aunt? He had one relative left in this world? The thought gave him a sense of belonging that he couldn’t remember feeling in decades.
“Pack of boys did it,” Millie said out of the blue. “Saw ’em bustling around the corner to that open lot behind the store. Smoking cigarettes and acting cool.
“Purely accidental is my guess. Must’ve neglected to snuff out the cigarette completely. Then the wind came up and blew the grass fire toward the building,” she added. “Not intentional arson, though that’s probably what the fire marshal will decide.” She gestured her head toward the five teenage boys who stood at a distance. “Every one of them reminds me of you, back in the old days. Lost, confused, and trying to find their way. They don’t need a charge of arson dumped on their heads. Got a rough time of it as it is.”
Nate’s heart dropped to the soles of his boots. He recognized Chad Parker immediately by his stance, by his downcast head. The kid’s hands were crammed in the pockets of his baggy jeans, and he shifted uneasily from one oversize tennis shoe to the other. Nate knew Katy was trying to reach Chad before he got into serious trouble. It would break her heart if one of her lost sheep went too far astray. Worse, Tammy and Chad had a mutual crush—just like he and Katy in the old days.
“Do you see yourself standing over there, boy?” Millie asked in a gravelly voice. “Whatcha gonna do about it? Tattle what you know to the new sheriff? Peterson is a good man, but he is too by-the-book to handle the problems these boys have. Somebody who understands them needs to intervene.”
Nate had made his decision long before Millie gave him the verbal nudge. He strode off—and got as far as the next streetlight before Lester Brown and his sidekick stepped up to block his path.
“Figured you’d return to the scene of your crime, No-Account Nate,” Lester jeered in a voice loud enough to catch the onlookers’ attention. “What did you do? Pay some of those thugs to set the fire? Trying to prove to the rest of us that you returned to take over this town, and you’ll burn it down around us if we don’t accept you?”
“Yeah,” John Jessup chimed in, his barrel-size chest thrust out, his pointed chin tipped upward. “Since we tried to run you outta town, you decided to destroy the grocery store, didn’t you?”
Nate’s hand balled into a tight fist. Brown and Jessup didn’t have a clue how close they’d come to receiving one-two knockout punches. Willfully, Nate restrained his irritation, then glanced around to ga
uge the crowd’s reaction. Looks of suspicion and condemnation focused on him.
“We know you’re dealing drugs,” Lester spouted. “You’re probably hanging around, waiting for that oil company to get itself in operation, so you can get yourself what looks to be a respectable job. But we know it’ll only be a front for transporting and distributing drugs.”
“Now wait just a blessed minute, Lester!”
Nate didn’t know whether to curse or applaud when Katy’s voice rang out. He didn’t turn around when he heard her storm forward—her limp gave her pelting footsteps a distinct staccato sound. Nate was pleased to see that Katy had regained some of her lost gumption, but he didn’t want her standing up for him and alienating herself from the citizens of Coyote Flats. She would be condemned by association.
Nate felt the need to protect Katy, even though he was the one who was being verbally crucified in front of the whole cursed town. He wasn’t sure how to handle this situation. He didn’t want to become involved in a shouting match with these two troublemakers. Yet he didn’t want Katy to get into an argument with them in front of a captive audience. Well, hell!
“Lester,” Katy huffed as she approached. “I have tolerated all your snide, unfounded, slanderous remarks about as long as—”
“Come on, Katy, let me drive you and Tammy home,” Nate cut in as he steered her away from the confrontation.
“No, I—”
“It’s okay,” he whispered for her ears only.
“No, it’s not okay,” she muttered angrily. “For once I’ve worked up the nerve to say what I should have said to that spiteful windbag a week ago. Now you won’t let me at him!”
Nate grinned at her spunky display. Wow! Katy had really girded herself up for battle, hadn’t she? Now he could compute his progress of transforming Katy into her old self in whole inches. Maybe suffering through Lester’s damning insults and becoming his whipping boy was worth it. If the incident provided Katy with the incentive to revive her spirit, Nate would gladly make the personal sacrifice. However, Katy might damage her reputation in Coyote Flats if she stood up for him. Nate couldn’t let that happen.
“Tammy!” Nate flapped his arms to gain the girl’s attention. “Let’s go.”
Reluctantly, Tammy joined Katy and Nate on the street. Nate was quick to note the girl’s gaze darted toward the group of boys standing apart from the crowd—to Chad Parker in particular. Chad’s gaze swung momentarily to Tammy, then he dropped his head.
Well hell, thought Nate. If that kid was involved in the destructive fire, his future was sealed. Chad would be as condemned as Nate had been at the same age. Damn it, Nate felt as if history was repeating itself, and he had to do something to stop it!
Katy was bewildered by the flood of emotion coursing through her. One moment she had been speaking calmly to the mayor, discussing the fire and the possibility of receiving allocated funds for the library. And then, whammo! She had heard Lester and John verbally attacking Nate, and she had exploded into action, as if that was a natural reflex. Fact was, she hadn’t reacted so impulsively in years!
Katy had been truly amazed at herself when she stormed toward Brown and Jessup. Eight hours earlier she had hunched in her booth at the café and listened to Lester’s slanderous remarks without acting. This evening, she had come to Nate’s defense when Alice Phelps had behaved rudely, then she’d launched herself at Lester and John on a street filled with bystanders. She had just gotten wound up, prepared to let loose with two loaded barrels when Nate detoured her into the street and whisked her into his car to drive her home.
Without a word, Nate had left Katy and Tammy standing in the driveway and sped off into the darkness.
Hands still shaking with suppressed frustration, Katy poured herself a cup of tea, then attacked the box of chocolate pecan Turtles like a shark in a feeding frenzy.
“Are you okay, Aunt Katy?” Tammy questioned worriedly.
“No,” she grumbled between bites of chewy caramel. “Sometimes the folks around here make me ashamed to call this my hometown! What Lester and John said about Nate was untrue and totally uncalled for. You and I know perfectly well that Nate has been with us all evening. How could anyone possibly think he ignited that fire or coerced a bunch of kids into doing it as an act of spiteful retaliation!”
Tammy’s eyes popped. “Man, you’re really ticked off, aren’t you? I’ve never seen you get worked up like this before.” Tammy grinned in approval. “Really cool!”
Katy sucked in her breath, striving for hard-won control, then asked herself why she should crawl back behind her wall of self-reserve now. Or ever again. It suddenly dawned on her that if she didn’t stand her ground and show some gumption, she was essentially allowing Brad and her father to dictate to her from beyond the grave.
Withdrawing into herself had been her only means of survival against Dave Bates and Brad Butler. But they were gone, Katy reminded herself. If she continued on the same self-destructive course she had followed the past six years, then she would be allowing those two men to defeat her. By damned, she wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction!
Tonight, for one glorious moment, adrenaline had pumped through her and she’d felt like fighting back, needed to fight back, because Nate had simply stood there while Lester hammered him with insults. Since Nate hadn’t defended his honor and integrity, she had felt the compulsive need to do it for him.
Only he hadn’t let her.
Why the hell not?
“Boy, Nate sure bustled us off in a hurry, didn’t he,” Tammy commented as she helped herself to the candy.
Katy frowned pensively. “I think he was trying to protect us from an ugly scene. When a disaster strikes, people have a bad habit of trying to lay the blame at someone’s feet, whether it belongs there or not.”
When Tammy squirmed uneasily, then stared at the refrigerator, as if it suddenly demanded all her attention, Katy frowned warily. “What’s wrong? You know something, don’t you, Tammy? What is it?”
Tammy shrugged noncommittally and chewed vigorously on the candy.
“Do you know who might have started that fire?” Kate grilled her.
“Not for sure. I just heard talk.”
Clearly, Tammy didn’t want to be drawn into a discussion on the subject. Well, tough. Katy was not going to allow Nate to be persecuted for something he didn’t do. Heaven knew he had been blamed for just about everything that went wrong in this town while he was a kid. Katy had always hated the way her influential father cast aspersions and made Nate the convenient scapegoat.
All because Katy showed an interest in him.
“Tammy…” Katy said softly. “Tell me what you heard.”
Tammy flopped back against the counter. Her breath gushed out sharply. “Please don’t make me tell you, Aunt Katy. I don’t want to rat on anybody, especially not him!”
A knot of apprehension coiled in Katy’s stomach. She had the unshakable feeling she knew who “him” referred to. Chad Parker, Tammy’s secret admirer, the object of her growing affection. Well damn, Katy had tried so hard to reach Chad before the gang who tried to include him in their circle poisoned his thinking and ruined what little reputation the kid had. Chad wanted something better, but he was battling the social prejudices that excluded him from the cliques that operated at the high school.
Katy knew all about those social dynamics, had stood firm against them as a teenager—for all the good it did her then. But now, the obstacle in her path was gone. Dave Bates wasn’t here to label teenagers he considered undesirable and prevent her from defending them. Katy knew as sure as the sun rose that Dave Bates would have refused to allow his one and only granddaughter to associate with the likes of Chad Parker. In Judge Bates’s eyes, the kid wouldn’t be good enough for Tammy. She deserved better, she was entitled to the best, because of her good breeding. That’s what the judge would say if he were here.
How many times had Katy heard that monotonous lecture while she was infa
tuated with Nate Channing? Too darn many to count, that was for sure.
“So you think Chad might have been involved,” Katy said belatedly.
Tammy ducked her head and gave the very slightest of nods. Tears clouded her eyes. “That’s what the other kids said tonight, but I refused to believe it. He’s not like the other guys who hang around him. I swear he isn’t. He’s nice and polite and friendly to me. He certainly treats me better than those cocky jocks who think they’re such ladies’ men!”
“I think Chad has great potential, too, Tammy,” Katy assured her.
When Tammy jerked up her head, her blond ponytail bobbed against her neck. “You do?”
“Yes, but Chad may have gotten involved unintentionally. Those other boys had been trying to draw him in, because there is safety in numbers. The more the better, according to their logic. Those boys lack security and they are trying to find it in one another. They are rebellious and eager for attention, even if it’s the negative variety. When kids aren’t noticed at home or school, when they don’t feel accepted, they crave notice of one kind or another.”
“Yeah,” Tammy said pensively. “Those other guys get into trouble at school and seem kind of proud of it. You must be right. They just want to be noticed by somebody. But Chad doesn’t call attention to himself in that way. He makes decent grades, and he doesn’t blow off homework assignments, even if his friends razz him and call him a bookworm.”
Here was yet another indication that Chad Parker was trying to break free of the stigma and make something of himself. But if he was arrested, even under suspicion of setting the fire, his chance of making a new start and getting the job as library janitor would be impossible. The city council would not approve of having a known arsonist working in the public library.
“You better finish your homework,” Katy insisted. “Besides, I need to be alone with my thoughts if I’m going to figure out how to help Chad through this crisis.”
Tammy peered intently at her aunt. “You’ll try to help him? Really?”