by Alexa Davis
“We have been friends a long time. But I wasn’t always there for you when I should’ve been. After Andrew left,” I began, but she cut me off.
“When Andrew kicked me and Olivia out of our home, it was you and your brothers who did the heavy lifting for me. You even stocked my fridge, so I wouldn’t have to go shopping or worry about food while we were getting settled.”
“I left you alone after that.”
“Yes, you did. It sounds like you left Andrew alone, too.” She pressed my fingers closed over the ring and sighed heavily. “I’m not asking you to relocate blame for my behavior, Tuck. I’m trying to tell you, that even though I’ve blown every opportunity to settle into a great relationship with you, that I’d like you to consider giving it another chance.”
She clasped her hands in her lap again, and we sat in silence for a minute or two. I tucked the ring away in the safety of my jeans and put my arm around her, letting her collapse into my side and lay her head on my shoulder.
“I think I could give it a little attention, sure.” She sniffed, and I rubbed my hand over her arm, pulling her in closer.
“If you decide you want to attempt life with a screwed-up thing like me, I want to wear that ring. I won’t accept a substitute. If it’s just not what you want anymore, then I will take it back and put it back on my necklace, until Olivia is ready for it.”
“Or you get married to someone else.” She leaned away from me and I looked down into her eyes.
“That’s just it, Tucker. I won’t take a chance on anyone else. I don’t want to go through the mating ritual of dating and lying about myself until someone likes me, hoping I can still like them when I find them out. I already know you, and no one else will measure up. Living or dead.” She hugged her knees to her chest, and rubbed her upper arms.
“It’s getting chilly. Let’s get the horses stabled, and have a beer by the fire with the family.” I suggested, as I piled food back into the basket. She dumped the glasses of wine, and folded the blanket. I watched her, calm and resigned, and my chest unclenched a little, giving my heart room to beat a little harder, and faster. I felt the ring press against my thigh through my pocket as I moved about. The small circular shape seemed to hold a mountain of promise and hope for a future and the family I now knew I could still have.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Libby
I had asked Tucker to marry me. Well, almost asked him. I was too traditional and too big a coward to just come out and ask. But he hadn’t thrown my mother’s ring back in my face, and he’d been kind and affectionate when Olivia had joined us by the big outdoor fireplace. We’d sat and listened to her young chatter about the horses, and the new trick she and her new aunt Kristy had taught Kennedy the puppy. Every time I glanced over at him, he was staring at her, as enraptured as if she was his own child, completely entranced by her brilliance and charm.
We went to bed in separate rooms, or at least Tucker went to his room alone. I tucked Olivia into the queen bed alongside me and held her while she slept, my chin pressed to the top of her soft curly hair, her little back against my chest.
The sun wasn’t quite up when the sounds of men gathering for breakfast woke me. Olivia was horizontal under the covers, one ankle over my chest, the other foot inches from my face. I extricated myself from the bed and looked for Tucker, or Kristy, to watch over her for a few minutes so I could take a quick shower. Kristy was still in bed, and happily agreed to move to my room while I got ready for the day. She looked better than I’d ever seen her, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was possible for her to heal from the damage her husband and his mother had done to her more quickly, simply because he’d died before he could do too much damage.
When I was clean, dressed, and my hair dried and braided, Olivia was up and dressed, thanks to Kristy’s help. We all went down to breakfast together, a united female front among all those rough, work-hardened men, and I was grateful to see them give care to the fact that Olivia was there. I mentioned it to Rachel, Danny’s pretty wife, and she chuckled, agreeing that they were behaving better than they usually did.
“We’ll call it practice, for when the baby comes,” she scoffed, as the guys closest to us glanced up and looked away.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and reached up to place mine over Tucker’s, before he sat down next to me, making faces at Olivia across the table, where she’d chosen to sit with Kristy instead of with me. I felt a stab of jealousy watching them so happy and affectionate with each other. Tucker noticed, I was sure, because he put his hand on my knee and looked at me sideways.
“Don’t look at me like that; it’s been just the two of us for a long time.” I whispered.
“I think you do a great job at letting O have people in her life to support her. I hope you let them support you too.”
“Right now, Kristy needs my help more than I need hers. But yes, I’m trying. I asked if she wanted to work for me.” I smiled at his shock.
“You have a business now? Where have I been?”
“I don’t have a business yet. But thanks to Paul and Kristy, I put together a business plan. Just waiting on our court case to be done before I start talking to bankers. You know how it is.” He slid his thumb over my leg absently, oblivious to the effect his touch had on my body.
The laughter was raucous down at the far end of the table as the men fought over food like a pack of wolves fore they set out for the day. Tucker was in work clothes too, and I knew that if I wanted to find him, I’d have to go back out to the fences. Part of me was disappointed. I would’ve loved to spend more time with him, and explore his family’s land, away from the business of life and all the worries that made me so defensive.
I watched him redden and tried to pay attention to the teasing coming from his brother, but as soon as I looked at him, he stopped speaking and tucked into his breakfast, a wide grin on his face. Tucker sighed and squeezed my thigh.
“Sorry about that,” he muttered, leaning closer to me.
“I didn’t hear him, but if he was suggesting you take me out in the woods and have your way with me, then it just means I accidentally telegraphed my thoughts into his head.” Tucker laughed and his hand moved a little farther up my thigh, warming me at my core and stoking my desire for him.
“How about a compromise?” He asked. “I’ll help the guys finish those fence repairs so Danny doesn’t try to do it on his ankle brace, and then you and I can go out for a sunset ride.”
“I’d like that.” I looked across the table, and Kristy caught my eye and winked. I felt the blush creeping up my neck, and focused on getting Olivia to finish her breakfast, even though she was out of “Mom’s reach.” Even so, when Tucker put his hat back on and stood up from the table, I felt the cool creep over my leg where he’d been touching me like an ache. I watched him go, not caring what anyone thought. Before he disappeared through the garden, he looked back and tipped his hat, and my heart bumped and sped up, making me smile.
Breakfast was wrapping up, and I asked if Kristy would stay with Olivia while I helped Patty in the kitchen, when Hannah, Tucker’s mother, asked if she could take the girls for a ride. I was happy to stay behind and help Patty with clean up before spending time with Rachel, who couldn’t ride while she was pregnant. I gave Olivia permission to go, if she promised to behave herself and learn one new thing about horses to share with me when she got back.
Kristy and Olivia raced into the house to get light jackets and boots on, and I starting stacking plates on the cart that old Jake rolled up alongside the table. I was halfway through cleanup when my phone rang and I picked up to find Shaunte, panicked and upset, on the other end.
She told me that a man had been spotted looking in my windows, and that she wanted to make sure I had really left, and wasn’t possibly being held hostage. I assured her that I’d come straight to her place, and talk to the management and the police. My first thought was my neighbor, Sam, who Tucker had tangled with. If it was him poki
ng around my house, I didn’t want to show up without backup.
Kristy and Olivia had already taken off form the stables with Mrs. Hargrave when I ran out there, but Pete promised to give them the message that I’d left, and do the same for Tucker when he saw him. Rachel talked me out of packing and taking my things, since I was coming back anyway, and suggested that no matter who had been there, I needed to be on the ranch, where I was safe and untouchable.
I promised to call and let them know what was going on, and asked her to make sure Tucker, who might be the last to find out, had all the information, including where I was going, so he wouldn’t worry if I wasn’t back before he got back to the house.
I felt better about the fact that I was leaving Olivia behind with Tucker’s family. Kristy was sweet, and loveable, and she cooked, and I knew she’d never hurt a soul. But she’s also just come out of a psychological evaluation and was still in therapy for her attempted suicide. With Carl harassing her, I was worried that she might have a bad moment and hurt herself again. While I wanted to see her move on form the Peele family legacy of abuse, I couldn’t leave my baby with her, all alone.
Thinking about Kristy and Carl, made me add him to my list of possible stalkers. He might have been a successful and wealthy man, but his appearance at the school was out of place, especially for someone in his fifties with a wife and a career to protect. Still, it seemed too “Twilight Zone” to think of Carl hauling his paunch around, trying to get up high enough to see in my windows, climbing my back fence. Despite my frayed nerves, or perhaps because of them, the image in my head made me laugh aloud as I sat behind the steering wheel, working to control my breathing and my shaking hands.
Tucker was right about me. I’d been through tough things in my life, and come out on top. I had no right to think I was the only one affected by the ugly realities of the world, and I absolutely could handle the likes of Carl, or Sam, or my former mother-in-law, or Mrs. Dunham. My hands stopped shaking as I started the car. I was done with letting the world decide my life, always reacting.
The drive home was one of the longest hours of my life. I’d had a lot of upheaval in my life since Andrew had abruptly decided he was done with family life. One thing I had to admit to myself, was that Andrew had controlled every aspect of our lives so tightly, I had lived years without anything resembling chaos. Now, I had to learn how to live with freedom, and the consequences of having choices.
I regretted fighting for Olivia’s trust. If I could have gone back in time, I would have simply made the choice to let it all go. Tucker and I wouldn’t have conflict at the core of whatever phase of our relationship it was. Olivia wouldn’t have been anywhere near Carl, and Kristy wouldn’t have attempted suicide over being emotionally manipulated by the people she depended on. Or at least, I wouldn’t have known about it until it was whispered over mimosas and made the gossip circuit.
For the first time in memory, I felt my resolve was strong, unwavering. Olivia’s health and happiness was my ultimate mission. My heart belonged to her, and to Tucker. We had spent our friendship ignoring the feelings we had for one another, and spent our relationship not talking about what either of us would want from the other. Now, Tucker had my grandmother’s ring, and if he chose to put it on my finger, I had to accept that I had a lot more choices to make with both him and Olivia in mind.
The coward in me wanted to give Tucker reasons to just hand the ring back over to me, and wash his hands of our whole affair. But Olivia loved him, and he treated her like the little queen she was. I loved him, too. He was stronger than Andrew, and in watching him and his brothers, I’d learned what loyalty and service really meant. He’d been Andrew’s best friend, but he had helped me pack and move, when my husband had refused to pay for movers. He and Danny had filled the refrigerator with kid-friendly snacks and ready-to-cook meals to make things easier while we settled into our new life.
Even the youngest Hargrave, Jackson, had pitched in for me, even though we’d never met. He had set up all my electronics, my computer, and brought a gift for Olivia: a child-safe tablet she could read or play games on. The Hargraves were the kind of people I hadn’t believed existed in the modern world, and even if they never knew it, I worked to be a better person because of their example. I didn’t just want to be a part of Tucker’s life, I wanted to be part of his family.
He was still on my mind when I pulled up in front of Shaunte and Dale’s home, as busy as always, with not only their children, but it seemed, every kid on their street, playing and wrestling on their little square of a front lawn, the action spilling over into the driveway and garage.
Shaunte was waiting for me, and opened the door before I reached it, ushering me inside and placing an iced tea in my hand before she offered me a seat. I tucked a leg under me and got comfortable while I waited for Shaunte to shoo more children out of her house. D’Ante was easily Olivia’s best friend and favorite kid-sized human, and as I watched him charm his mother on his way out the door, I was reminded of why. His dimples and huge, bright smile made him stand out, even among his peers.
I winked at him as he passed the living room on his way out, and he waved and gave me a grin before his mother physically pushed him out the door, with a reminder not to go into the street. Shaunte finally rejoined me in her sitting room and settled into a recliner facing me. I sipped my tea, trying not to let my impatience get the better of me, while Shaunte seemed to gather her thoughts. Finally, I set my glass down and leaned forward, knees on my elbows, both feet planted on the floor.
“Shaunte, I proposed to Tucker last night, and now I’m here, after rushing out so fast, I didn’t tell him I was leaving. So, please tell me we have a picture, or a description, or that you’re going to tell me something about who told you about the stranger at my house.”
“You proposed?” She asked in reply.
“Basically. I handed him my grandmother’s ring and told him to propose to me if he ever felt like it.”
“You’re serious.” I nodded, and she moved on. “We will revisit that later.” She sighed and rubbed her palms over her eyes. “So, that cute neighbor of yours that Tucker tried to murder with his eyes the other day at the pool? He went to management and told them about an old guy, looking in your windows, circling your place.” She shrugged, and I sat back in my chair.
“Did you get to see the photos?” I asked. She shook her head, and I explained that he and Tucker had fought, and Tucker had worried that Sam was a stalker. “Doesn’t it seem a little unlikely that I’m being stalked at all?”
“I don’t know, Libby,” she admitted, “These days, it seems like being married is the only defense women have against the weird ones, and that isn’t even a hundred percent sure to protect them.” I nodded.
“Want to walk with me to the management office and look at some pictures?” She shouted for her eldest, Aria, and left the teen in charge while she visited the office with me. Just thinking that someone could have been casing my home made me view the community in a different light. To get to my house, the person would have to either live here, or have used a gate code they were given to get in. The whole point of my choosing the community in the first place, was that it was a safer place to raise Olivia, and now I was thinking of upgrading my home security system to include a camera, or even moving, just to feel that sense of safety and comfort again.
The pretty brunette who ran the office couldn’t stop singing my neighbor’s praises, pointing out how lucky I was that Sam was watching out for me, even while she was apologizing for how long it had taken security to show up.
“Usually, when they’re out on patrol, they can get anywhere in less than two minutes, you know?” She’d asked, and I shook my head no. I’d never had a reason to call security, and certainly no reason to time them. “Well, they are. But we had a little domestic issue, and both Ray and Kevin were all the way across the community, calming things down, when the call went through.”
She paused, and turned he
r computer screen so I could see the photo she had enlarged there for my consideration. My stomach wrenched, as I immediately recognized Carl’s puffy, pale face in the photo Sam had taken from his front window.
“I have a restraining order against that man that was supposed to go to court in… wow, in a few days, now. Please hang onto that, so I can talk to my lawyer and the police. I think they should get a warrant, or subpoena the photos to use them in court, and if he’s dangerous, I’d hate to be the reason he went free.” She nodded in agreement.
“We keep all footage of anything brought to our attention on the property. Corporate office has a copy, and we already gave one to the police.” She leaned over her desk towards Shaunte and me. “We certainly don’t want you to feel like Riverside isn’t a safe community.” I thanked her for her time and asked if I could give her card to the police. With said business card in hand, Shaunte and I walked back to her house, while she got more and more impatient with my uncharacteristic silence.
“I’d like to go back to when the worst thing that happened to me in a week, was taking a joke too far and getting really wet and embarrassed.” I told her as we reached her yard, where the kids were now seated in a large circle while Aria played her guitar for them. “Awww, music does tame the savage beast,” I joked as we passed by.
“So, you going to tell me who the guy in the pictures is?” I sighed and scrubbed at my face.
“It’s my husband’s old colleague, Kristy’s lawyer. His name is Carl Jameson, and aside from being weird and stalking Kristy because she told him ‘no,’ I think you could say he’s Tucker’s nemesis.”
“Like a comic book villain?”
“Yeah, something like that. Poor Kristy. I thought my world was going to get so much bigger after Andrew left, and I guess in ways, it has. But even as I meet more people, do different things, everyone seems connected.”