by Carol Finch
“And what about the rest of you young rascals?” Millie demanded.
“We’re helping, too,” Tyler, Richie and Will said in unison.
“And what if I said I don’t want your help?” she challenged.
“You don’t always get what you want, Millie,” Nate replied as he unscrewed another shutter. “Deal with it.”
Millie toddled around, hands planted on hips. “You think I don’t know that you’re the one who sneaked into my house yesterday afternoon while I was taking a walk and left that stash of money on my table?” She huffed and puffed. “I don’t need charity, you whippersnapper!”
“Wasn’t charity,” Nate said calmly while he worked. “I was only paying you back for the loans you gave me when I was a kid who was short on pocket change. One good turn deserves another.”
“I didn’t give you that money when you were a scrawny brat, expecting you to pay me back,” she snapped.
“I know you didn’t.”
“Then why are you doing this? Spiffying up my place and all?”
Nate turned to face her, knowing his charges were watching intently and awaiting his reply. “Because I feel like it, you sweet, lovable old woman. Because you deserve it. Any more questions? I’d like to get to work.”
Millie stared him down, then focused on every boy in the paint brigade. A wry smile pursed her lips as she pivoted in front of Nate, then waddled into her house.
“You think she appreciates this?” Chad asked. “She darn sure doesn’t act like it.”
“We’ll see. Maybe she’s one of those people who is a little long on pride and has to adjust to the idea of someone helping her out, just because we feel like it.”
Nate watched the boys chew on his food for thought while they worked. Slowly but surely, he realized he was getting through to these kids, that he had gotten hold of them before they became hopeless causes.
Of course, Millie, sly old biddy that she was, had helped Nate out by bringing up the fact that he was repaying her for a kindness done years ago, and by firing questions at the boys that made them think. If folks in this town would pay attention to Millie occasionally, they could learn a thing or three.
As Nate anticipated, Millie found a way to return the favor. She reappeared on the porch an hour later with fresh-baked cookies and lemonade. You’d have thought Nate’s young charges had never been catered to—and they probably hadn’t. With Katy, Millie and Nate providing positive examples, these boys were learning more than how to work. They were learning values to carry with them into adulthood. Nate never heard—hadn’t expected to hear—so many “Thank you, ma’ams” tossed around by these boys.
Nate was so deeply involved in conversation with the boys and Millie during their midmorning break that he hadn’t realized a crowd had gathered on the opposite side of the street. The enjoyable moment vanished when Lester Brown hiked up his sagging jeans and stepped front and center.
“Well, well, well. Isn’t this a touching scene,” he said, then smirked. “All the firebugs in town are trying to put on a show for us law-abiding citizens, trying to make us think you’re a bunch of do-gooders, instead of a tribe of thugs following the chief drug lord’s orders.”
Nate felt Jake tense beside him, saw the mutinous glare leveled on Loudmouth Lester. When Jake tried to vault to his feet, Nate clamped a hand on the kid’s rigid shoulder and forced him back down.
“Easy, Jake. Don’t let Lester antagonize you. That’s exactly what he wants, for you to lose your cool and prove what he is saying about us. He talks big when he has a crowd to protect him. That’s the way cowards operate. You can count on it.”
“That’s the same son of a bitch who was insulting you on the street yesterday morning,” Jake growled bitterly.
“There are a lot of Lester Browns in this world, kid,” Nate said. “Like it or not, you have to prove your worth to bitter old hounds like him. He holds a grudge against me, and I’m sorry that he’s taking it out on you.”
When Fuzz Havern picked the wrong time to pull up in his battered pickup, Nate silently cursed. No doubt, Fuzz’s arrival would fire up Lester.
Sure enough, it did.
“Well, whaddya know. Here comes the former sheriff, the one Nate has in his pocket,” Lester taunted unmercifully. “Running interference for the drug gang these days, are you, Fuzzy? What’s-a-matter? Your retirement pension not big enough? Had to turn to corruption and crime?”
“Go soak your head in a washtub,” Millie Kendrick trumpeted, hands planted firmly on her broad hips. “Don’t see you getting off your lazy duff to do any good deeds around this town. You couldn’t raise your own no-account son up right, so don’t be poking fun at my boys!”
When Lester’s sunken chest puffed up like an inflated bagpipe, Nate groaned. He appreciated Millie’s attempt to leap to his defense, but she was antagonizing Lester. The man was primed and ready to spout off at the source of his grievances.
Lester’s face turned the color of raw hamburger meat as he thrust out his arm to wag a stubby finger at Nate. “Here is the reason my good boy went to the bad!” he shouted. “Nate Channing taught Sonny the meaning of trouble and disrespect. Sonny was a fine boy until Nate sank in those devil’s claws of his. That’s exactly what’s gonna happen to these here boys, too. He’ll teach ’em to lie, cheat, steal and deceive. And Lord knows what else! Do us a favor, Nate. Pack up and get out of town. We don’t want you here. Never did, never will!”
Five young faces turned to Nate, expecting him to fight back, to leave Lester in a bloody pile beside the curb. Oh, yeah, Nate would have delighted in accommodating the boys and himself. But that had been his answer to anger and insults sixteen years ago. It hadn’t solved the problems then, and it wouldn’t help redeem his reputation now.
“Break’s over, guys,” Nate announced, climbing to his feet. “Thanks for the cookies, Millie. They were delicious. We better get back to work.”
“Why?” Lester jeered sarcastically. “Are you putting a little spit and polish on Millie’s house so you can use it as a drop-off for your drugs?” He wheeled toward the silent crowd. “Don’t let your kids hang around here. Old Millie will be doctoring cookies with dope. She’s one of them now.”
“Lester, you never did outgrow being a jackass,” Millie spouted. “Now, skedaddle, you braying mule. Some folks around here got work to do. You don’t know the meaning of the word!”
“You tell him, Millie,” Chad muttered.
“You see that, boy?” Millie said, hissing between her clamped teeth. “That’s an example of what not to be when you grow up.” She flapped her arms at the crowd. “Now, all of you go on about your business. Take that lazy windbag with you!”
The crowd dispersed, and Lester had no choice but to galumph away. Without the protection of the crowd behind him, he had nothing more to say.
“What’d I tell ya, boys,” Millie said, then snorted in disgust. “Lester is just a rooster crowing in the wind. You don’t see him over here helping, now, do you?”
Fuzz darted Nate a glance when the boys picked up their rollers and paintbrushes and went to work. “How long has this been going on?”
Nate knew Fuzz was referring to Lester’s harassment. “Every blessed day, regular as clockwork. I think he’s found his true calling in life.”
“Got that right,” Fuzz grunted. “Gimme a brush. I have a hankering to do some painting.”
Fuzz’s presence allowed Nate to set aside his frustration. He knew he was going to have to do something about Lester soon. But what? Nate decided to worry about that later. He had a house to paint and an official dinner date with Katy. And by damned, nothing was going to spoil his anticipation of spending the evening with her. Not even that blowhard, Lester Brown, was going to ruin the moment. The man just wasn’t worth the trouble. If the citizens of Coyote Flats weren’t smart enough to figure out what Lester was doing, then Nate plain felt sorry for the whole bunch of them.
Chapter Eight
Katy stepped back to survey the candlelit table in the formal dining room. Maybe it was too formal an atmosphere for leftover hot beef sandwiches. Maybe she should serve supper in the kitchen where she and Tammy ate their meals. Maybe Nate would take one look at the dimly lit table and think she was setting him up for seduction.
Katy rolled her eyes and shook her head in dismay. Never once in her adult life had she invited a date to her home. She had been issued orders and demands from men for as long as she could remember. Offering invitations was out of her league.
How was a woman supposed to know what kind of signal she was sending out? How was a woman supposed to behave in order to send the message: I want to be with you, but I’m uncertain how far I can go before I freeze up solid and run screaming from the house.
“This is so ridiculous,” Katy muttered as she limped to the kitchen to ensure the brown gravy wasn’t bubbling over the saucepan.
She checked her watch for the umpteenth time. Nate should arrive in a half hour. Should she change into one of the dresses she had hemmed last night? Or should she keep things casual by wearing jeans and a knit top?
And how, Katy wondered nervously, was she supposed to keep her blood pressure and heart rate within the normal range when hounded by these uneasy questions and feelings of inadequacy? Geez, maybe this supper invitation hadn’t been a good idea, after all.
The phone jingled, jostling Katy from her musings. She jerked up the receiver after the first ring. If Nate was calling to cancel, maybe that was for the best.
“Aunt Katy? It’s me.”
Katy slumped against the kitchen counter. “Hi, Tam. How is your dad?”
“Just like he always is after a marathon business trip. He’s vegetating on the couch in front of the TV. I guess he’s exhausted after his nonstop, two-week work schedule. I asked him twice if I could go out on a date tonight, and he didn’t hear me.”
Katy sighed in disappointment. James was turning out to be a lousy father, a workaholic who rarely communicated with his daughter. Katy had mentioned that fact to him a few times, but he got defensive. She had the feeling Tammy’s appearance reminded James too much of his two-timing wife. But at least James had a child, Katy thought to herself. She didn’t. The prospect of having children of her own was looking bleak.
At thirty-two, Katy had convinced herself that raising Tammy completed her. It had, to some extent, yet…
“I just called to tell you that Chad was kind of upset about what happened at Millie Kendrick’s house today.”
Katy frowned. “What happened?”
“That Lester Brown person showed up with a crowd to poke fun at Nate and the guys who were painting Millie’s house and doing repair work. Chad and the other guys were ready to take on Lester, because of the hateful things he said and for insisting that they were just putting up a front for their drug gang.”
“What!” Katy howled in outrage.
“Yeah,” Tammy grumbled. “Chad and the guys really like Nate. I think he’s worked wonders with all of them. You know, giving them some pride in themselves and their work, like you say is important. But Nate didn’t stand up for himself in front of that loudmouth. Chad can’t figure out why.”
Tammy switched topics to inform Katy that she and Chad had another Coke date and Katy responded with her customary “Have fun. Be careful. Wear your seat belt.”
Katy hung up the phone a few minutes later, silently smoldering. Lester’s bad publicity infuriated her. She wanted to bust Lester in the chops. That stupid old goat! Why couldn’t he leave Nate alone?
For one hour—just one!—Katy would have liked to revert to a sixteen-year-old’s mentality and seek revenge. She would slit the man’s tires, toilet-paper his ratty lawn, spray-paint graffiti on the exterior of his run-down house and…heave a blueberry pie in his face! Lester would never get the stains out of his dingy shirt.
Lester’s crusade to destroy Nate’s reputation and turn the whole town against him made Katy furious enough to retaliate!
When Katy simmered down she tried to view the situation from Nate’s perspective. He was trying, she was certain, not to revert to bad habits, trying not to add fuel to the fire blazing off Lester’s tongue. Nate wanted to project a new image. Cramming his fist down Lester’s throat would only verify the point that old coot was itching to make—that Nate hadn’t changed and never would.
Yes, Katy could understand Nate’s reasoning, but damn it all, she didn’t want Lester to destroy Nate’s confidence and pride. Nate had worked hard to make something of himself. He could have established a branch office of Sunrise Oil anywhere in the county. Yet, he chose to do it here. He was trying to help this ungrateful town, but no one gave him the benefit of the doubt. No one gave him a chance to prove himself—hadn’t given him a chance way back when, either.
The rap at the door put Katy in motion. She moved at an uneven pace and found Nate standing on the porch, smiling past the exhaustion that showed in the lines of his face. She knew he was knocking himself out, ramrodding his community projects, handling business dealings and overseeing the building construction. It showed. He definitely needed to kick back and relax.
“Come in, Nate. You’re right on time.”
When he walked in, the enticing scent of his cologne wrapped itself around Katy’s senses. His brand-spanking-new blue jeans and bright yellow polo shirt accentuated his dark complexion, his broad shoulders and his lean hips. There was a splatter of white in his hair that looked suspiciously like dried paint.
Nate looked so adorably handsome that Katy wanted to hug him, hold him…and hope that if something intimate happened between them that her reflexive reaction didn’t spoil the moment.
“Mmm, smells good,” Nate murmured, his gaze drifting over her.
“It’s the meat and gravy,” she informed him.
“No,” he said, looping his arms around her waist. “It’s you. Got any kisses to spare? It’s been one of those days.”
Katy tipped back her head in invitation and was rewarded with the tenderest of kisses. She wanted it to go on forever, and she was disappointed when Nate raised his head. There was a sadness in his expression that tormented her. She knew immediately that Lester’s negative propaganda was getting to him. There wasn’t much confidence in his smile, very little sparkle in his eyes.
“You realize, of course, that I am going to have to murder Lester Brown if he doesn’t straighten up pretty quick,” Katy announced.
Nate laid his forehead against hers and chuckled softly. “You’ll have to get in line. My work crew, headed by Millie Kendrick, wants a piece of him first.”
“Maybe you should let them have a piece of him,” Katy replied.
Nate shook his head. “That would prove what Lester is saying, that I’m the ringleader of a gang that does my dirty work for me. I’ve cautioned the boys about retaliating, and I’ve tried to make them understand why. But it’s not easy when the boys are accustomed to fighting injustice with their fists. They have to learn that the violence they’ve grown up with is part of the attitude I want them to leave behind.”
“You’re so very good for them, with them,” Katy assured him.
He looked terribly sad. “Am I? I wonder. I’m also wondering if the flak I caught this afternoon at the service station is going to bring trouble down on your head, too.”
“Now, what?” Katy demanded irritably.
“Word around town is that I’m preying on you because you inherited a considerable amount of money from your dad and large life insurance payments from your husband. Rumor has it that I’m paying attention to you so I can get my hands on your money.”
“Of all the ridiculous, insane…oh! That really does it!” Katy spluttered. “I’m going to have to shoot, poison and stab Lester Brown, then hang him high. Maybe even launch him off on the next NASA rocket!”
“That’d be just great,” Nate groaned. “Then the whole damn town will claim I’ve manipulated your thinking and turned you into my
hired assassin.”
Katy grabbed his hand and tugged him along behind her. “Come sit down and we’ll conspire over supper. Maybe I can come up with something a little more discreet. Say, accidentally running over Lester on the street. Considering all the mysteries I’ve read over the years, surely I can devise an untraceable, incredibly creative method of shutting him up permanently.”
“Hey.” Nate set his feet, then waited for Katy to turn back to him. He was getting giddy, just listening to the spirited tone of her voice, the bubble of energy radiating through her. Part of the woman she used to be was rising to the surface. Nate felt ten times better just being with her, pleased with the metamorphosis that was taking place. She could make him feel better about himself in nothing flat, just like in the old days.
“Hey what?” she asked when he just stood there, looking at her.
“Just thanks. I almost called for a rain check tonight, because I doubted I would be very good company. But…” He shrugged, leaving the word dangling between them.
“But planning a murder perked you up, right?” She patted his cheek playfully. Sliding into the role of comic cheerleader came easier than she expected. It was amazing what magic this man worked on her. For him, because of him, it seemed she was capable of anything.
Almost anything, at least.
“Now then, park your carcass in the dining room, and I’ll bring supper,” Katy insisted. “Maybe we’ll start working on Lester with teenage pranks. You know, short-sheet his bed. Stick globs of petroleum jelly on his doorknobs. You can get petroleum products at a reduced rate, can’t you? You being a hotshot oil tycoon and all.”
Chuckling, Nate held up both hands in defeat. “Enough. You’re starting to sound like Millie. She voted for tar and feathers…. And guess what? I found out a few days ago that Millie is actually my mother’s older sister.”
Katy pulled up short and spun around. “Really? No kidding?”
He nodded. “Actually, Millie was the one who planted cash in the house to feed me. My mother drank up her welfare checks.”