by Carol Finch
“Nate, you’re talking out of your head!” she said frantically.
“Am I? Maybe I finally got the in-your-face reality check I needed. You try crashing into a tree and lying there in the grass, listening to Lester laugh his head off from across the street and shout that he hoped I broke my good-for-nothing neck. If it isn’t Lester condemning me, it will be somebody else whispering that I’m nothing but a hoodlum, that I’ll never be good enough for you, that I don’t belong in this self-righteous damn town! Ouch!” Nate grated his teeth when pain slammed through his ribs and robbed him of breath.
“Nate, calm down. You’re only making your injuries worse by working yourself into—”
“Go home, Katy,” he interrupted with a growl. “And don’t bother coming back. I’ll be fine. In fact, I’d be better off back in Odessa. I’ll send someone else to manage the new offices. I don’t want anyone around here to know who really owns and operates Sunrise Oil. I’m sure the folks in town would only find another way to twist the truth and turn it against me.”
“You can’t leave,” Katy whispered, reaching for his hand, only to have him withdraw from her physically and emotionally. “You’ve done so much for this community—”
“And all the thanks I’ve gotten are repeated slaps in the face,” Nate broke in angrily. “How many times do you expect me to turn the other cheek? How many times am I supposed to wash the graffiti off my car and ignore my hate mail?”
With pained effort, he turned his back on her and squeezed his eyes shut against the agony, frustration and undeniable defeat. “Just go home and leave me alone.”
“I love you,” she whispered raggedly.
“Yeah well, you shouldn’t. All that loving me has ever done is bring you down and allow your father to take absolute control of your life. He didn’t do me any favors, either. He gave me a reputation that I’ll never be able to live down around here, no matter what I say or I do. You know as well as I do that small towns are notorious when it comes to knowing every last thing about a person’s background. Trying to redeem myself after a sixteen-year absence has proved impossible. I tried to come home again. I failed and I quit!”
“Now, you listen to me, Nate Channing,” Katy snapped as she surged to her feet. “You are not quitting. We can fight this together.”
“I’m through fighting,” Nate said dejectedly. “This town can have its fondest wish and so can your father. I’m leaving, and I don’t plan to come back again.”
“Don’t you trust me?” she asked suddenly.
“Trust you?” Befuddled, Nate glanced over his shoulder. “What has that got to do with anything?”
“Plenty!” she said in a huff. “It’s fine and dandy for you to blow back into town and turn my life around, but when you have trouble, you don’t trust me enough to be the shoulder you lean on! How do you think it makes me feel, knowing you don’t think I’ve got what it takes to lend you a helping hand?”
“It’s not—” he tried to protest, but Katy railed on.
“It is obvious to me that you don’t think I’m strong enough or competent enough to handle the job. But of course, Mr. Tough Guy doesn’t think he needs or deserves to ask for help from anyone else. You can’t bring yourself to ask for support. That would be too humiliating, wouldn’t it? If you can’t go it on your own, just as you did when you were a kid, then you’re outta here. Well, let me tell you something, Nathan Daniel—” Katy plowed on “—you aren’t going to turn my life around and then quit on me! I won’t let you. Do you hear me?”
“Who can’t?” he said, then grimaced. “Go yell somewhere else. My body is screaming in pain. No need for you to make it worse than it is. Just get out of here. Now!”
He heard her mutter a few curses that he didn’t ask her to repeat, heard her rush from his room, and he told himself it was for the best. He was damned sick and tired of fighting for the respect he would never get, tired of busting his ass to please and never being accepted and appreciated. At least not here, not in this town.
Nate was always going to be looked upon as the bad breed from the bad seed. All the money and generous donations in the world weren’t going to change anyone’s opinion of him. Thanks to Judge Bates, Nate’s fate had been sealed the night that stash of dope was planted in his pocket.
It was time that Nate stopped believing in unattainable dreams and accepted reality. Reality was that you couldn’t go home again, not when you left as a good-for-nothing kid who had been framed for a crime by the one man in town powerful and influential enough to control the direction of your life!
Furthermore, Nate couldn’t bring himself to ask for Katy’s help. It wasn’t just because he’d grown accustomed to going it alone, either, but he couldn’t explain that to her. It would upset her more than she already was.
“Aunt Katy? Are you okay?” Tammy asked as she halted at the kitchen door.
Katy slammed the skillet down on the stove and whipped the scrambled eggs until they begged for mercy. “I’m fine. Swell. Couldn’t be better.” She dumped the eggs in the hot skillet and heard them sizzle and pop.
They had nothing on Katy Bates.
“I studied really hard for my biology test last night,” Tammy ventured.
“Good.”
“Are you upset about something?”
“Upset?” Katy all but shouted in frustration. “If I were upset I’d be yelling! I am not upset, okay? Here, butter your toast.”
“You and Nate had a fight,” Tammy guessed as she caught the tray of butter Katy shoved across the counter.
“No, he had a fight, I listened,” Katy muttered sourly, then dumped the eggs on the plate and drowned them in ketchup.
“Whoa!” Tammy squawked. “I like eggs splattered with a little ketchup, not ketchup drowning the eggs.”
Katy blew out her breath, braced her hands on the counter and stared at the mess she had made of Tammy’s breakfast. Struggling mightily, Katy battled to get herself under control. She had been beating herself black and blue since she had confided what she knew about her father’s betrayal to Nate. She never should have told Nate, especially last night. What was she thinking? Talk about terrible timing!
Why, the poor man couldn’t even sit up, and she had sent him reeling with the emotional blow of discovering that her father had altered the course of Nate’s life, all because God Almighty Judge Bates didn’t think Katy’s boyfriend measured up to the Bates standards of excellence and prestige.
Damn it, Katy knew it would upset Nate to learn the truth. She hadn’t wanted to tell him, kept putting it off. But when she and Nate became so deeply involved, keeping silent felt like another form of betrayal.
And worse, Nate had thrown up his hands and given up on the two of them, on this town, on himself. He didn’t have faith in Katy to help him when he was down. That really stung!
“Um…I’ll be at the library as soon as school is out,” Tammy said as she picked at her ruined breakfast.
“No need.” Katy turned around, leaned against the counter and tilted her chin to a determined angle. Okay, she thought. She had screwed up by telling Nate the truth while he was down and out. It wasn’t the first mistake she’d ever made and probably wouldn’t be the last. She would find a way to talk sense into Nate. She refused to let him give up on himself, on them.
Nate hadn’t allowed her to wallow in self-pity and crawl back into her shell. He had drawn her out, built up her confidence. And by damned, she was going to do the same for him, whether he wanted her to or not!
“The library will be closed today,” Katy announced. “I’m declaring a holiday. In fact, I’m closing the place down for a couple of days. I’ll be home to fix our supper around six o’clock.”
“Okay.” Tammy grinned impishly. “We aren’t having ketchup soup for supper tonight, too, are we?”
Katy chuckled. “No.”
“Er…what’s the holiday?”
“Get Nate Channing’s Head Back on Straight Day,” Katy declar
ed.
“Did he suffer a concussion when he fell?” Tammy asked.
“No, but there’s a possibility that he might if he doesn’t come around to my way of thinking,” Katy vowed.
Tammy took a few more bites of her soupy scrambled eyes, then appraised her aunt. “I really like the new you.”
“So does Nate,” Katy muttered. “He just doesn’t know it yet.”
Tammy frowned, bemused. “What does that mean?”
“Get going,” Katy said, scooping up the textbooks. “Ace that test, kid. Do your auntie proud.”
When Tammy left for school, Katy cleaned up the kitchen. Nate thought he was going to quit? Give it up? Throw in the towel? Like hell, Katy fumed. Let Lester Brown win this battle? That would be a frosty day in hell!
For once, justice was going to prevail, even if justice fell short of the mark when it came to political scandals that were ignored and murderers who walked scot-free because of legal technicalities. Well, maybe the rest of the world had a different set of ethics and values, but here in Coyote Flats, there was going to be some justice, and Katy Bates was going to dispense it!
Katy put on her tennis shoes and marched out the front door. Her first order of business was to indirectly let Nate Channing know that he couldn’t get rid of her easily. She loved that idiotic man. And she thought he loved her, too. Of course, since he had convinced himself that he would never be good enough for her, he wouldn’t say the words.
Furthermore, Katy had an inkling that Nate believed he was protecting her from damaging gossip by leaving Coyote Flats as soon as he was back on his feet. That sounded like something he’d do. Didn’t he think she could withstand gossip? Did he honestly believe that she gave a flip what Lester Brown and the rest of the nonthinkers around here thought?
There were a select few in this town whose opinion truly mattered to Katy. She cared what the people she loved thought, the ones she respected. Nate was at the top of the list, and he better give her some credit for her capabilities. She was going to take over for him until he recovered from his injuries, and she was going to whip this town into shape in her spare time!
Nate was on a first-name basis with pain for two endless days. It hurt to breathe, to eat, to sit up and lie down. It hurt worse to realize that he had come down on Katy like a ton of falling rock. That was the last thing he had ever wanted to do, and damned if he hadn’t done it.
Yet, he knew that if the anger, pain and sense of betrayal hadn’t been bearing down on him, he probably wouldn’t have done the sensible thing and sent her on her way.
It was for the best, Nate kept telling himself. Even if his methods left a lot to be desired.
Like clockwork, meals were being delivered to Nate’s room, along with the medication that allowed him to sleep off his misery. Fuzz and Mary Jane trod lightly around him. Must have been his menacing growls that scared them off. They came and went without much chitchat, not that Nate was in the mood to be social. He sure as hell wasn’t. He’d nearly bit off Fuzz’s buzzed head when he asked how Nate was feeling. Then Nate jumped down Mary Jane’s throat when she asked the same question.
Nate felt like hell warmed over a dim flame. He cursed himself a dozen times a day for the way he had treated Katy, then he invented a few more oaths to hurl at himself when the old curses lost their sting. He knew it was best if Katy got out of his life, but it hurt to lose her. Yet, what was the use of trying to make a place for himself in this town? Waste of time. Waste of Katy’s time. She needed to get on with her life…without him in it.
Inching sideways, Nate tried to reach the phone so he could make some business calls, before he drifted off into la-la land with the help of the sedatives. Might as well do something constructive, he told himself.
He frowned when he realized the phone had been unplugged and removed from his room. “Fuzz!” Nate winced when his barking voice ricocheted around his head and vibrated all the way down to his tender ribs.
Fuzz poked his head around the partially opened door. “You rang, Your Snippiness? If you want to chew on me, may I suggest some of Millie’s chocolate chip cookies instead.”
“I want the damn phone,” Nate muttered crossly.
“No can do.”
“Why the hell not?”
“I’ve been instructed to see that you have absolute rest.”
Nate frowned darkly. “By whom?”
When Fuzz didn’t respond immediately, Nate tossed him a glare. “Well?”
“The orders came from Madam Attila.”
“Who? Millie Kendrick?”
“Nope,” Fuzz replied.
“Mary Jane Calloway?”
“Wrong. Guess again.”
“I’m not in the mood for guessing games,” Nate said, then scowled.
“I have been instructed to inform you that your business is under control, and there is nothing for you to worry about. The contractors are being carefully supervised at the construction site, and the cleanup crew is keeping the grounds looking like a showplace. All of your business-related calls are being handled promptly and efficiently.”
“By whom?” Nate repeated impatiently. “And don’t give me that Madam Attila baloney again. Who took over my life? And it better not be Katy because I told her to go away and not come back.”
“Stupid thing to do,” Fuzz muttered. “Why’d you do it?”
“Because,” Nate growled obstinately. “You wouldn’t understand and neither would she.”
“Obviously not, since you won’t explain yourself.”
“Which I won’t,” Nate snapped.
Fuzz threw up his hands, clearly frustrated with Nate, who refused to confide where he was coming from. Fuzz didn’t have a clue. “Okay, fine. Be that way. I won’t tell you that Katy has taken charge of your business, if that makes you happy.”
“Fuzz!” Nate called when the retired sheriff wheeled around and headed for the door.
“Now what?” Fuzz muttered.
“Katy told me it was the judge who set me up the night you whizzed me out of town and told me I couldn’t come back.”
Fuzz sighed audibly, then ambled across the bedroom to drop into a chair. “So it was true, was it? I had my suspicions, but I didn’t have evidence.”
“That’s why you took me to Bud Thurston’s ranch and kept track of my progress,” Nate presumed.
Fuzz nodded somberly. “I thought you’d gotten the rotten end of the deal, and I believed you when you told me Sonny had stuffed the dope in your pocket to save himself from arrest. But it was difficult to go up against the judge, because he had a very personal interest in wanting you as far away from Katy as you could get. When I returned to town I tried to get Sonny to own up to drug possession, but he kept insisting it was your stash, not his.”
Rehashing the past put Nate’s emotions in turmoil. It hurt to realize that Sonny had not only been a sneaky coward who’d been looking to protect his own hide, but that he had also conspired to betray Nate and sold him down the river for a price. Yet, Nate felt the need to discuss the incident, to assure Fuzz that he hadn’t lied all those years ago. “According to Katy, Sonny was paid to stash the drugs in my pocket, then he blackmailed Judge Bates in exchange for silence.”
Fuzz’s eyes widened. “No kidding?” When Nate nodded, Fuzz shook his head in disgust. “So that’s why the judge ordered me to keep a close eye on Sonny’s activities. As soon as that rascal broke another law, the judge put him away with a stiff sentence. Damn it, I really hate it when a man puts himself above the law to see his will done. What little respect I had for Dave Bates is gone for good.”
So was Nate’s. Dave Bates had manipulated and destroyed too many lives.
“Now, bring me the phone, Fuzz,” Nate said in a no-nonsense tone. “I have to check in with my secretary and one of my field supervisors in New Mexico.”
“Nope,” Fuzz maintained stubbornly, rising from the chair. “Katy wants you to rest and so do I.”
“Well, I don’t
want to rest, damn it!” Nate roared.
“Too damn bad. In bed is where you’re going to stay, and I’m not letting you near a telephone.”
“Fuzz!” Nate grumbled when the ornery retired sheriff walked off and refused to return.
Nate glanced down to see Taz sprawled in the corner. Even the mutt had been lying low since Nate had been injured. Furthermore, it seemed to Nate that everybody was enjoying the fact that he was laid up in bed. No one would bring him a phone or the wheelchair so he could contact his office or leave his room. For crying out loud, he had things to do and places to go. He even had to drag himself into the bathroom when nature called, and he wore himself out when he tried to ease back into bed. He hated this feeling of vulnerability. He’d suffered from it too much as a kid.
Nate figured he had pissed off Katy royally when he unloaded on her two nights earlier. Surely she hadn’t gotten so irritated with him that she intended to ruin his business dealings just to punish him for doing what he knew was the right thing for the two of them.
No, Nate assured himself. Katy wasn’t that vindictive. If he could count on nothing else he could count on that. She went around doing good deeds for the unappreciative folks in this crummy town. Well, she was a better sport than he was. Must have been all her good breeding, he supposed. He and Taz were the outcast mongrels in this world. Two of a kind. A couple of mutts.
So, what was Katy doing to his oil business? he wondered. She was a librarian, not an oil executive. She’d have his business orders so screwed up it would take weeks to sort things out. He didn’t want to see her fail, wanted to prevent her from putting herself in a situation where she might fail and he would feel…Nate chopped off that tormenting thought and scowled. He wished he wasn’t tortured by that old hang-up from his childhood, but he was, damn it.