On the Lam

by SUE FINEMAN

Dimpley fidgeted in his chair and exchanged several meaningful glances with his attorney. As he picked up the papers to begin reading again, Bo had an uneasy feeling that they’d changed something and didn’t want him to know about it. He leaned back in his chair, pushed his reading glasses on his nose, and read the next page, and the next. It was all standard legal contract jargon, nothing unusual.

  He found it on the last page of the last addendum. This jerk expected Bo to stay and manage the business for him for one year, and his salary would be based on the amount of business he brought in. At no time had anyone mentioned this condition, and he absolutely refused to sign it. He read on and discovered another condition. They expected Greg and Neen to work at least one weekend a month during that year as the featured entertainment.

  Bo put the addendum on the table in front of him and clicked his pen. “I’ll start with the last page.”

  Dimpley and his attorney smiled, until Bo put one angry diagonal slash across the page and another across the other direction. “I don’t intend to work for you, Mr. Dimpley, and if you want Greg and Neen, you’ll have to ask them.”

  “Then the deal is off,” he said.

  Bo stood, put his reading glasses in his pocket, and walked toward the door, swearing under his breath.

  “We’ll give you a salary and a percentage, if that’s what it takes,” said Mr. Dimpley.

  Bo turned back to face the two men. “My brother negotiated with you in good faith, and you verbally agreed to the conditions. I know damn well that my brother didn’t throw me into the deal. Either you stick to the agreed upon conditions or you can go straight to hell.”

  Mr. Dimpley’s face reddened and his lips pressed together tightly. Bo said, “Did you think you could trick us into working for you?”

  “We’ll negotiate,” said the attorney.

  “It’s already been negotiated,” Bo snapped back. “If you want the business as we agreed, fine, but my services are not part of the deal.”

  Neither man said anything, so Bo walked out the door. Not only was he saddled with the business, he had a dozen employees who expected to begin work in a few days.

  At this rate, he’d be stuck here forever.

  <>

  On the Wednesday after Bo left, Callie went to court and left with her divorce, the ranch and everything on it, and custody of her son. Tommy Ray didn’t get anything from her except what he’d already taken. The judge said her daddy’s life insurance money belonged to her, but the money was long gone. In her mind, it was payment for lessons learned, the price of getting Tommy Ray out of her life.

  She went through the days as if on auto-pilot, because a big part of her spirit was in Tacoma with Bo. Greg and Neen popped in and out, and Skeeter stayed close by. She appreciated their company, but she thought she’d die from missing Bo. Greg talked to him the other day, so she knew he’d gotten back all right, but Bo hadn’t called her even once since he left.

  Maybe he’d decided he didn’t want her any more, but she found that hard to believe. The love they shared was so intense, he had to be thinking about her.

  Then why didn’t he call?

  <>

  Two days later, the buyer made a new, lower offer on The Brothel. Bo told him if he signed the papers that day, he could get the business for the original deal. Each day he delayed, it would cost him ten thousand more. “I’m not fiddle-farting around any longer. Either you want the business or you don’t, and I’m not working for you. If I’m going to work at The Brothel, it’ll be because I own the business.”

  “Go to hell,” said Mr. Dimpley.

  Bo slammed the receiver down and took deep breaths to calm himself. He didn’t want to be here. He didn’t want the damn business or the building or any of the headaches that came with running a business he hated even before it opened. Greg could deal with it.

  The phone ran and he snatched it up, growling, sure the buyer was calling back to harass him.

  “If you don’t want to talk to me, it’s all right, Bo. I—”

  Callie’s sweet voice took the edge off his anger. “I’m sorry, honey. Yes, of course I want to talk to you. I thought you were someone else.” He sat on the side of his bed and sighed. “I have some problems here, but I’ll get them worked out.” Maybe.

  “Oh, I hope they’re not too serious.”

  Serious? The deal on the business fell through, his arm still hurt from the physical therapy today, and his mother sprained her ankle and couldn’t do her own shopping. Mia had made herself scarce and Chance lived too far away to help Mom with the everyday stuff. So Bo was right back where he’d been in high school, taking care of Mom. He didn’t mind doing his share, but he resented his siblings for expecting him to do it all. At least Mom didn’t have any extra kids around right now. She just had Katie.

  “Is your arm all right, Bo?”

  “It hurts today. I could really use one of your massages, honey. I miss you, Callie.”

  “Do you? I thought since I didn’t hear from you that—”

  “That I didn’t care? I should have called, but I’ve been swimming twice a day and trying to get things in order here. Greg didn’t finish everything before he left, and I don’t know if this deal will ever go through. On top of that, Mom sprained her ankle and can’t get around.”

  He had to return to Texas soon. He’d take Mom and Katie with him if necessary, but he couldn’t stay away from Callie. If he had to live on that rundown ranch to have her, so be it. “What’s going on there?”

  “Skeeter says we need to get the new barn up before winter, but we don’t know where to put it. The house is falling down around us and I want to get the pool in right away, but I don’t know where to put it, either.”

  “Would you like me to sketch a layout of the property?”

  “Oh, yes, please.”

  “Callie, I know you’ve lived there most of your life, but that old house isn’t worth fixing. It’ll cost less to build a new house than rebuild that one, and you’ll never get all that mold cleaned out. It’s in the attic and in the walls. It’s not healthy to live there, honey.”

  “I know. Are you coming back for good?” Her voice sounded hopeful.

  “We’ll talk about it when I get back.”

  “When?”

  “I don’t know yet. I have some problems with the business and I have to get that straightened out before I can go anywhere.”

  “Oh, I see.” He heard the tears in her voice, knew she must think he didn’t love her. He did love her, but he couldn’t say those words over the phone, not the first time.

  “Callie, I’ll call you as soon as I get something worked up. I don’t have a lot of time right now and—”

  “Then I won’t keep you. Goodbye, Bo.”

  And just like that, she hung up. Frustrated, Bo kicked a hole in the bedroom wall. He moved the bed to cover the hole, because he didn’t want to dig in another wall in this place and find another reason to stay. Of course, the way things were going, he wouldn’t get out of Tacoma until he was too old for it to matter.

  The next morning, Bo was on his way out the door when the attorney for the buyer called. “Mr. Dimpley accepts your original offer and will sign the papers today.”

  “Today it’s ten thousand more and tomorrow it’ll cost him twenty thousand more, as he and I discussed by phone yesterday.” Bo could be shooting himself in the foot, but this guy wouldn’t jerk him around again.

  The attorney hesitated a few seconds before saying, “Mr. Gregory, that’s acceptable to my client if you come down and sign the papers right now.”

  His swim could wait another hour. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” They could come up with something else at the last minute, so Bo reined in his excitement at unloading this white elephant until he saw the papers.

  Minutes later, Bo sat in the attorney’s office and read the papers thoroughly. They looked on the level this time. The purchase price had been raised ten thousand dollars, as he’d insisted. The
money would be deposited to his account in three days, the date the buyer would take possession.

  This time, Bo signed the papers. An enormous weight lifted from his shoulders when he walked out of the attorney’s office.

  Bo drove to the YMCA and worked out in the pool. As he swam, the tension in his muscles eased. He could stretch his arm all the way out now, something he couldn’t do before the surgery. Even though it wasn’t as strong as he wanted it to be, the water exercises and physical therapy kept it limber, and the deep pain he’d felt before his surgery had disappeared.

  The frustration he’d felt at not being given full use of his arm slowly left him. His mind still worked, and the rest of his body. He’d adjusted to the loss of hearing in his left ear, and he’d adjust to this, too. It would be foolish to let a weak arm rule his life. He could hire someone to do the grunt work on the ranch. Callie needed a business manager, and he could handle that. He had a lot to learn about breeding horses, but with Skeeter’s help, he could run a horse ranch.

  Why not?

  <>

  Brady had sneezed steadily since they’d moved back to the ranch, and Callie’s nose ran constantly, yet they felt all right outside. And the ceiling in the kitchen sagged so much, she was afraid it would fall on her head. Bo was right. It wasn’t healthy to live in the house with all that mold. She’d have to find another place to live until she could get a new house built.

  She scanned the newspaper ads for houses to rent in town and found one on a street near Brady’s school. The rent was reasonable, and she could move in right away.

  She called the ad in the newspaper, and the woman said to come on by, so Skeeter drove her and Brady to town to look at it. It was cute and clean, and it didn’t smell musty like the ranch house.

  Greg and Skeeter helped Callie move, although she didn’t have much worth moving except Brady’s bedroom furniture and the new bed Greg bought for Callie’s room. Tobacco juice stained the old living room sofa, but they moved it anyway. She left Daddy’s old easy chair for Skeeter.

  Skeeter bought a used fifth-wheel trailer and the seller moved it to the ranch. He could live there until they got the house and barn built.

  Even though Tommy Ray had disappeared, Callie felt a little uncomfortable about living alone in town with Brady. Greg and Neen lived a block away, but it wouldn’t be close enough in an emergency. They hadn’t told anyone she’d moved to town, but someone would undoubtedly see her and word would get around.

  She didn’t tell Bo about the move because she didn’t want to worry him. He’d spent so much of his time and money taking care of her, and now he needed to take care of himself. She couldn’t expect him to come running halfway across the country to watch over her. She wanted to see him, to touch him and hold him again, but she didn’t want him to feel obligated to her. If he came back to Caledonia, she wanted it to be because he loved her and wanted to make a life with her.

  On moving day, Greg and Neen sat down with Callie in her new kitchen and told her they wanted to invest in her business. “In the business, not the property,” said Neen. “The land and house and buildings will still be yours. In exchange for our money, we’ll take a percentage of the profits.”

  “That’s right nice of you,” said Callie, “but I don’t expect any profits for a long time. It takes time to breed horses.”

  Neen shrugged. “Okay. When Bo gets back, we’ll work up a business plan and set things up with an attorney and an accountant.”

  “Like a real business,” Callie said mostly to herself. It was finally becoming real to her. She had enough money to build a new house and barn, Greg would buy the pool for Bo, and Neen and Greg were investing in the business. There was only one thing missing.

  Bo.

  <>

  After he confirmed the money from the sale of The Brothel had been deposited to his bank account, Bo packed the last of his personal belongings and drove away from his home of the past four years. The only piece of furniture he owned was the beat up recliner Greg had given him when he married Neen. He left it there. The new owner could cart it to the dump along with all the other old furniture in the place.

  Bo drove to his mother’s house to spend the night. Mom couldn’t get around with her sprained ankle, so Katie helped Bo cook dinner. He looked at Mom’s sweet face lined with age and framed by gray hair and knew he couldn’t leave her behind. Chance and his wife had three kids, but Mom didn’t see them often. Mia worked as a cop and danced on her days off. If she wasn’t on duty, she was practicing for another dance contest. He suspected she had something going with her partner, but he’d seen so little of her the past few months, he didn’t know.

  Bo waited until they finished dinner before asking, “Mom, how would you and Katie like to live in Texas?”

  Katie looked up with wide blue eyes. Mom said, “I wondered how long it would take you to ask.”

  He knew Greg had already talked to her about it. “What did Greg say, exactly?”

  “That you and Callie were building a new house and starting a new business, he was running for sheriff, and my newest grandbaby would too far away for me to hold.” She put her gnarled hand over his. “Bo, I love all my children, but there’s always been a special bond between us. If you’re going to live in Texas, then that’s where I want to be.”

  Katie grinned. She needed braces, but Mom couldn’t afford them. Did Caledonia have an orthodontist? No matter. They’d find a place for Katie to get her teeth fixed.

  “I always wanted to live in a small town,” said Mom. “I’ll find a little place near Greg and Neen, so I can help with the baby.”

  “You don’t want to live with us?”

  “Live with you? Heavens, no. I don’t want to live with any of my children.”

  “When can we come?” asked Katie.

  “Maybe Christmas break, if we can get a house built by then. Is that all right with you, Mom? Would you like to be in Caledonia for Christmas or would you rather stay here?”

  “If we’re going, the sooner the better.”

  Katie and Mom chattered about moving, and Katie grinned and bounced around in her chair. Bo couldn’t remember ever seeing her so animated. When she’d first come to Mom, she’d been so traumatized by one of her mother’s boyfriends she didn’t speak for months. Thanks to Mom, she’d become a happy, healthy, well-adjusted girl who was about to become a teenager. A teenager who needed braces.

  He took a lot of things for granted. He knew Callie loved him, but how would she feel about another marriage after what she’d been through with her last one?

  What if she didn’t want to marry him?

  Bo settled in at Mom’s house for the night and called Greg. “Mom is happy about moving. I think she was afraid we’d leave her behind.”

  “Yeah, that’s what Neen said. Listen, someone saw Tommy Ray Caldwell near Austin yesterday, so he’s still around.”

  “Aw, shit. What about Callie?”

  “Not many people know she’s living in town, so I’m thinking if Tommy Ray comes back, he’ll head for the ranch. I tried to talk her into staying with me and Neen, but she’s an independent woman.”

  “Of course people know where she’s living. Everyone probably knew the day she moved to town. Did you find what we talked about?”

  “Oh, yeah, and he’s a beauty. Skeeter said it was a good deal, so we’re buying him.”

  “We?”

  Neen and I offered to buy into the business—not the ranch, but the business. She’ll own the rest free and clear, and she has enough money to pay for it now.”

  “How?”

  Greg chuckled. “You won’t believe it, bro. You know all those gold ingots she gave away? Well, people cashed them in and put the money in her account at the bank. She has enough to build her new house and barn, and we’ll match what she has left so we’ll each have an equal share of the business, if that’s all right with you.”

  “Sure. With more cash up front, the business will get off the g
round faster.” Bo smiled to himself. “I got an extra ten thou from the business.” He explained what happened.

  “Hey, it’s yours, Bo. Consider it a negotiating fee or something.”

  “Okay.” He’d earned it. “I knew the guy wanted the business, but after the way he tried to jerk me around, I wouldn’t give it to him for the original price.”

  “What if he’d waited another day?”

  “It would have cost him another ten thou, and he knew it.”

  Greg laughed out loud. “You are one tough dude. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

  “Yeah, well, I didn’t either, but he pushed me too far.” Bo plowed his hand through his hair. “I’m leaving in the morning after my swim, and I’ll be there in…say…four days. It’s two thousand miles and I can’t—”

  “Four days is fine. Or five. Don’t push it. Find motels with pools along the way. Too bad the motel in Caledonia doesn’t have a pool.”

  “I’ll have to drive to Austin or somewhere to swim. I don’t want the scar tissue to tighten up like it did before.” He was determined to prove the doctors wrong, to get back eighty or ninety percent usage in that arm.

  “We’ll wait to tear down the ranch house until you get here. I imagine it’ll be tough for Callie to watch.”

  “Yes, I expect it will be.”

  Bo worked on Callie’s house plan before he went to sleep that night. He wanted her to have a nice place to live, and he wanted their office to be in the house, where they could keep an eye on the kids and conduct business at the same time.

  He hoped she was serious about taking Katie, because he wanted to adopt her. Katie, with her big blue eyes and shy smile, had crawled into his heart. Mom took good care of her, but she needed a whole family, and Brady already loved her like a sister. She was a great kid, a good student, and she appreciated everything anyone did for her. If someone didn’t adopt her, she’d probably end up in the foster care system, and nobody wanted that to happen. Everyone in the family loved her, and they assumed Bo would adopt her. After all, he was the responsible brother, the one they all depended on to take care of them. But this time he didn’t mind, and he didn’t mind bringing Mom to Texas. If not for her and Dad, Bo and Greg would probably have been separated and lost in the system after their natural mother died.