“Look at you, goofball,” she said. “Are you trying to trick me into believing you’re a tough cat? I think you’re a little faker.”
She scratched behind the dark ears and worked her way under the cat’s chin. A purr vibrated up through her fur.
David’s brows lifted. “In all this time that may be the longest anyone’s petted her.”
“That can’t be true.”
“You’ve usually got about thirty seconds before she turns on you. You must have some sort of touch.”
The little Halloween cat seemed to be melting under Rio’s fingers. She slid onto her side and closed her eyes.
“You’re making it up. I have no knowledge of cats. Am not a cat person at all. She seems perfectly sweet.”
“I’m telling you, it’s a miracle,” he teased, and went on to his next horse.
Rio picked up the cat, nuzzled it for a few seconds, and put it on the floor. “Go on, now.” She finished the next horse. Seconds later the little cat sprang back up on the cart. “Goodness, hello again. What’s this about?”
Two more attempts to get Thirty-one to stay on the ground failed. By the time Rio was done with the first row of stalls, her new friend was a permanent passenger. When all the feeding was finished, the cat trotted beside Rio like a dog. Something about that pleased her inordinately. She’d never had time or money for a pet even though she loved animals. The idea that maybe an animal might adopt her was another heady experience.
Like David’s kiss.
Dang. The floodgates opened again, and she looked to where David stood with Bonnie, discussing a horse over its stall door. Her stomach danced like one of her maternal ancestors’ Irish jigs. Usually a man who looked like David—tall, dark-haired, perpetually outdoorsy with a physique like a fine-tuned instrument, knew he was attractive. This man was sexy without trying.
And she was out of her element.
By the time Andy showed up at eight o’clock on the dot, the horses had been turned out and the cats fed. Thirty-one no longer followed Rio looking for food, and David had put muck forks in their hands and set them to work cleaning stalls.
Rio was busy reminding herself to watch what she wished for when Andy Manning, a fit, thirty-something man with a limp, a blond buzz cut, and slow, deliberate speech, greeted her cheerfully. He leaned over a stall door to watch her fork clods of manure clumsily into a wheelbarrow.
“Does this mean I can quit my job now?” He grinned.
“Please don’t,” Rio groaned, her muscles crying after just two stalls. “I’m so not good at this.”
“It takes time to get fast. But I’m kidding. You don’t have to do this as your job. David said he’s just letting you see how to run a barn.”
“Do you normally do all these stalls by yourself?”
Andy nodded. “Twenty-six stalls take me three or four hours depending. It’s good work. I like it.”
He spoke like a man with a slightly less-than-average IQ, yet his eyes were quick and intelligent.
“I’ve almost finished three, and I think if I had to clean this whole place by myself I’d finish at midnight and have to start right over again. You have my undying respect.”
He beamed as if she’d given him a medal and went on to talk to Bonnie. Rio heard her sister laugh and Andy tell her she was doing a fine job. He seemed like a nice guy, and he was easier on her equilibrium by far than David. She wasn’t sure where David had gone, but it was almost a relief to have him out of sight.
She’d finished five stalls by the time he showed up again. He startled her like Thirty-one had, but he with a silent, sudden presence, leaning casually against the open door of the stall she was finishing.
“My gosh,” she cried. “What are you, ninja barn owner?”
“Sorry.” The tightness from that morning was gone, yet he stared at her as if he’d never seen her before.
“What?” she demanded.
It was her turn to be less than cheery. Now any muscle that hadn’t hurt from riding screamed at her if she moved. She stank like horse poop, and she had stripped to the tank top she’d put under her T-shirt. Oddly enough, the horse smell didn’t bother her. The angry muscles, however, no longer felt like badges of accomplishment.
“They’re actually quite pretty, aren’t they?” A curious smoky veil faded out the blue of his eyes.
She stared back. “If I knew what you were talking about, I could agree or disagree.”
“The tattoos.”
“Oh!”
She stared down to where the delicate white, blue, and lavender-shaded feather along the inside of her right breast swooped up from beneath the rounded neckline of her tank top.
“I’m sorry.” He hesitated, measuring his words. “I was unkind yesterday.”
“It’s fine. You don’t have to like tattoos.”
“In the army I saw plenty of, how should I say it kindly? Unfortunate ones. It wasn’t fair to judge by those standards.”
“I was picky about mine. I knew I wanted beautiful art. They represent a lot of savings and, some would say, wastefulness.”
“How many do you have?”
She hesitated. “I have six.”
His eyebrows twitched a fraction higher, but he nodded and scratched his nose self-consciously. He looked positively cute in his awkwardness.
“Are they showable?”
She smiled and couldn’t help arching her own brow. “Not all of them.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed. Warmth flooded her cheeks.
“I expect that was a rude question considering my actions last night. I never apologized.”
She looked instinctively down the barn aisle.
“It’s all right,” he assured her. “I sent Bonnie back to the house to get something to drink. I wanted to say I’m sorry.”
“We’re adults. I didn’t exactly run screaming, David.”
“No. And I was glad you didn’t. Although tell me nothing happened during that kiss and I’ll feel a lot better.”
Over the two days they’d known each other, the only thing she’d grown slightly self-confident about was teasing him, and suddenly she couldn’t even do that. So much had happened during the kiss she didn’t dare open her mouth.
He nodded. “That’s what I thought.”
“It was a stupid thing for us to do.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I hate to call it stupid. Impulsive, yes.”
“It was that.”
“I meant what I said. I don’t make a habit of kissing women who didn’t ask to be kissed. I want you to think I took for granted I thought it was something I could do.”
“Thank you.”
What else could she say? That she wanted him to kiss her again, but even harder and more deeply? Because she did. Standing there alone it would have been easy for either of them to step forward. She could do it just as well as she could wish for him to do it . . .
For a long, anticipatory moment she held her breath.
He stepped back and the tension dissipated.
“I actually came to ask if you want to take Bonnie into town and show her around. She didn’t get a chance to get oriented yesterday.”
“Yeah, I guess. If we can move well enough to get there.”
“I’ll drop you at the pharmacy. You can hobble in and buy yourself some muscle rub.”
“You’re so thoughtful.”
“My middle name—as they say. Stop mucking now and let Andy finish. He’s bored.” He turned away, then back. “Rio?”
“Yes?”
“What I really wanted you to know is that you’re safe here. Bonnie is, too. I don’t want to have jeopardized that feeling on your first day.”
“Oh David. You didn’t.”
He nodded his thanks. “We can leave in half an hour if that’s enough time.”
“Sure.”
He walked away, leaving her heart wishing he’d left her feeling just a little less safe.
SENIOR CITIZENS WITH walkers could
have beaten her and Bonnie in a race up Main Street, Rio thought, as they limped past the small-town shop windows hoping nobody thought they were wounded homeless. They passed a yarn and fabric shop with gorgeous quilts in the window called Sew for Ewe. They spent a relaxing half hour in Grandy’s Book Store, right next to the boutique Rio had seen yesterday. She showed Bonnie the tattoo parlor, and they squinted through the window. There wasn’t much to see except one wall of tattoo art and a table with a pile of notebooks on it.
“I’m almost ready for another tat,” Bonnie said. “But I don’t know what I’d get.”
“Then wait. They need to mean something so you really love them.”
“I guess.”
“Ready to meet David and Chase at the café?” Rio asked.
“It would feel good to sit down.” She rubbed her hip.
“Still want to have our own barn?”
“I’d like to have this one. Holy crap—it’s gorgeous.”
“Yeah.”
“Kim says it’s impossible to make money boarding horses. She thinks even David struggles sometimes.”
Rio sighed as they approached The Loon Feather’s corner-facing door. She’d like to have David’s struggles. He didn’t have to tell Bonnie—very soon—that there’d be no money from the house with which to pursue a ranch. He didn’t have to tell Paul that because of his stupidity there was no place for him to live. No place for any of them to live even once Hector was no longer a threat.
They entered the cool, blue-and-green interior of the café, and a clear wolf whistle rang through the entryway. Bonnie glanced around herself, confused. Rio laughed.
“Check this out, it’s pretty cool,” she said.
They were cooing to the two cockatiels when the gray-haired woman Rio had met the day before greeted them.
“Rio! You’re just in time to beat the lunch rush. Welcome back.”
“Hi. Claudia, right?”
“Right. And this must be your sister?”
“I’m Bonnie.” Always gregarious, she stuck out her hand for Claudia to shake.
“Can I get you a table?”
“We’re meeting David. Along with Chase Preston.”
“Wonderful. Two handsome men dressing up the place. And good ones, too. That new doctor of ours is about the nicest man I know. And David? They just don’t come any more ethical or good-hearted. Or fun, for that matter.”
“They’ve helped us a lot,” Rio acknowledged.
Claudia led them to a table with a brightly colored cloth patterned in lighthouses. She took their drink orders and disappeared behind the counter.
“This is nicer than where you used to work,” Bonnie said. “Everything’s so clean.”
Rio laughed at the exact words she’d said to David yesterday. Slowly she relaxed. Long hours weren’t foreign to her, but work this physical was. It had hurt to sit in the chair at first, but she’d finally stopped feeling like she couldn’t even lift a fork.
She roamed the room with her eyes, and they lit on a printed sign beside the cash register across the room. The fine print wasn’t readable, but the “Help Wanted” across was clear. All the tension returned to Rio’s body.
It didn’t make any sense for her to think about a job here. She wasn’t going to be in Kennison Falls long enough to be a worthwhile employee, since there were only five weeks left until Bonnie needed to be back in school. Nonetheless, the idea of having at least a little seed money was as enticing as water to a desert traveler. What harm would there be in getting some information?
“Hullo, girls!”
David’s cheery, accented “gerls” snapped Rio back to attention. She smiled as David, Chase, and Jill trooped in and took seats. Claudia headed for them, too, a Diet Coke and a lemonade in hand.
“The gang’s all here,” she said. “Taking drink orders. What’ll you have?”
“So you really are pulling yeoman’s duty, Claudia,” Jill said. “I’m so sorry about Effie. Chase went to visit her this morning.”
“How’s she doing?” Claudia asked.
“She’s uncomfortable,” Chase said. “But you know Effie, she’s like you and your sister. Tough Norwegians the lot of you. She’ll do just fine after the hip replacement.”
“How are you doing with all these hours?” David asked. “You’ve got all your own projects at home.”
“Oh, we’re fine for now.” Claudia swung her long gray braid over her shoulder. “Gladdie did the supper shift yesterday so I could get my gardening done. Karla’s doing double duty. The kitchen’s okay with Vince and Bud cooking. I have to say, I don’t know how Effie does it. She must have the stamina of three Vikings. We’ve advertised for help. Karla only has three weeks left, and Gladdie can’t work as many hours because she watches her grandson two afternoons. It would be nice to have one more set of hands.”
“I could help.”
Five pairs of eyes turned to Rio, and she winced inwardly before turning to Claudia. The offer had simply slipped out.
“Rio, no, you don’t have to—” David began.
“I could use a job, you know that.”
“Are you serious about this, dear?” Claudia asked. “Do you have any experience?”
“Eight years at three different restaurants in Minneapolis. I’m not a chef, but I’ve worked on a couple of grill lines. I’ve waitressed, and I’ve handled the till.”
“Goodness me, we have an expert right under our noses.”
“Now hang on a sec, Claudia.” David stared at Rio, and she braced for a fight. But, though she expected condescension, she saw only concern. “It’s not my place to tell you what to do—”
“That’s right.”
“But I don’t want you to do this because you have some daft idea you need to pay to stay at my place.”
“That’s part of it,” she admitted. “But I have other reasons for needing to work. Besides, you just heard her say how they need an extra pair of hands right now. There’s one catch.” She turned to Claudia.
“Yes?”
“I honestly don’t know how long I’ll be here. And you probably want to know exactly what happened back in Minneapolis. If I’m not the best choice for this. I’d understand.”
“Sweetheart, if you could give us a week, just so we could get through next weekend’s library fund-raiser and interview someone who wants a more permanent position, we’d be grateful. Could you come back tomorrow and we’ll talk about details?”
“I . . .” She hesitated. “I think so. I’ll need to impose on someone to help me get my car. It’s in Minneapolis.”
“We’ll help you,” Jill said.
“You didn’t want to go into the cities,” David countered.
“I do now.” With a firm look she stopped any further protest and nodded at Claudia. “What time would you like me here?”
“Mid-morning between the breakfast and lunch rushes? I’ll talk to Effie, too, and let her know. You can meet Karla and Gladdie, as well.”
“All right. I’ll be here.”
“And just like that, Heaven has answered our prayer.” Claudia patted her on the shoulder. “For that, drinks are on the house.” She chuckled. “I’ve always wanted to say that. Too bad we aren’t talking whiskey.”
Chapter Twelve
* * *
AFTER LUNCH, FOR which David and Chase split the bill, Rio’s confidence flagged when she realized she had to face Chief Hewett and find out how to get her car back. David insisted on taking her, and he sent Bonnie back to the stable with Jill, who had to first drop Chase at his clinic. Rio’s head spun at all the finagling. She was used to making a decision and carrying it out. By herself. Depending on other people, and watching them have to change their plans because of her, made her feel like she’d lost all control.
All the more reason to suck it up and talk to Hewett, even though the man probably wouldn’t walk across the street to greet her unless she was in some kind of trouble.
The Kennison Falls Police D
epartment was far from ostentatious. A small, brick-front building housed a sixties-era lobby with two brown Naugahyde benches and a handful of uncomfortable-looking chairs. At a chest-high counter with a small array of monitoring devices behind her, sat a woman of about forty with a broad, cheerful face and curly black hair.
“Hey, Faith.” David greeted her. “Anything big going on today?”
“Somebody egged Miller’s barn last night. Two kids lit a handful of Black Cats in the Dumpster behind the grocery store. And Lillian kicked Ezra out again.”
David snorted. “Happens about once a month,” he explained. “Ezra is eighty-six and likes his boilermakers and Playboy magazines. Lillian is eighty and can handle the alcohol, but not when that brown-wrapped magazine is delivered. She sends him to the Motel 6 ten miles away and tells him to stay out.”
“That’s the police blotter? For real?”
Rio honestly couldn’t believe this was the sort of thing there was to discuss at a police station. At the precinct nearest her in Minneapolis, it would have been racially motivated graffiti, .38-caliber bullets, and a pimp selling a girl.
David touched her arm, his face full of empathy. She wondered what her face was saying and worked to make it blank even while she reveled in the warmth of his touch. She liked that his fingers imparted safety but not possession. When he dropped his hand, the spot felt empty. She cleared her throat.
“I’m here to see the chief.”
“I’m not surprised.” Chief Hewett appeared from around a corner with familiar toughness in his face but sans his bulky utility belt. “I heard you’ve already been over to the State Park office and talked to the ranger.”
“And you’d already beaten us there,” David replied. “But we’re here about an entirely different matter.”
“Oh?”
“I’ve decided I need my car after all,” Rio said. “I’m willing to pick it up, so I need to know what I have to do to get it today.”
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