Love's Embers (Canon City Series) (4 page)

She walked back into the kitchen. “He has coffee. Are you happy Gran?”

Her grandmother turned from the stove and huffed at her. “Don’t act that way, young lady. Just be nice.” Gran scowled at her and turned back around.

Lark sat at the table and heard Charlie hang up the phone. He carried his cup into the kitchen. “Well, that’s one thing done.” He sat across from Lark and took a sip of coffee.

“Will someone come out today?” Gran asked.

“Yeah, they said there would be a repairman out sometime between three and four o’clock. I hope they can get the furnace started.”

Charlie and Gran chatted up a storm during lunch. Lark commented very little. The minute the soup and bread were finished, she excused herself and ran upstairs to her attic office. She claimed her work needed her attention. It did, but she found it difficult to concentrate. Her brain kept floating back to memories of her childhood and growing up with Charlie. She remembered the lanky kid who taught her to roller skate and ski. They rode their bikes all over Canon City and made their own adventures. They played cards and marbles and then Gran got her the first computer either one of them used and they’d discovered electronic games.

There were times, when Mr. Stone would be on one of his rampages, that Charlie climbed the cinderblock fence behind her house and showed up at her window. When they were young they had sleepovers and she always felt good about keeping him safe from his dad.

The one thing she’d always be grateful for was the way he defended her. For a while a couple of boys in their classes at school picked on her about being an orphan. No matter how they approached Lark, she’d always ended up in tears.

One Saturday, she’d gotten up and eaten breakfast really fast. She and Charlie planned to meet on the riverbank and come up with a new adventure. She raced out of the house and headed for the incline. She grabbed her stick, which she pretended was her light saber, and ran up the riverbank.

She found Charlie sweating up a storm and working on a new project. “Hey Ducky, what are you doing?” she asked and walked to where he did his work.

“I’m building a catapult.” He smiled.

Lark swung her tree branch. “So, we’re going to save the world from alien invaders in medieval times? Can I be a knight?”

“Lou, girls can’t be knights. You’ll have to be a princess,” he said and shoved a big rock toward his construction.

“If I were like Princess Leia, I could use my light saber.”

“No, you’ll have a sword. They didn’t have light sabers back then.”

“What if the light sabers somehow got to medieval times by time travel, like when we watched the Time Machine?”

“Lou, now you’re just being silly.”

“Do you get to be a knight?”

“No, I’m the king.” He stood up and grinned. “I need your help moving a big log.”

Lark set her stick on the ground and followed him into the woods. He stopped and pointed at a medium-sized tree branch about twenty-five feet long.

“Ducky, that’s really long. How are you going to get it to work?” She walked to the far end and figured out how to get it lifted into her arms.

“I’ve got an idea. It will be sort of like a teeter-totter.”

They struggled to get the log out of the woods and brought it to the work site. Lark and Charlie worked side by side to get a pile of rocks stable enough to hold the log.

She stood with her hands on her hips and watched him shove a rock into place. She suddenly realized she was being pelted with a bunch of pebbles. She turned around and saw three boys walk toward them.

“Ducky, we’ve got trouble,” she said.

Bobbie Reynolds and his two buddies, Dexter and Jamie, were walking down the incline. They’d picked on her since she first arrived in Canon City.

“Look guys, it’s the Orphan Metcalfe. Where are your parents? Did they dump you off with your granny?” Bobbie whined.

Charlie stood up and walked in front of Lark. “You assholes need to think of something different. You’ve had the same shit spill from your mouths for so long, it doesn’t bother us anymore.”

“Look guys, it’s the orphan’s shitty boyfriend. Do you think she sucks his dick?” The three boys all started to laugh and Bobbie grabbed his crotch. “Here’s a hot one for you, Orphan.”

This was a new phrase to Lark and she didn’t know what to say. She didn’t have any idea what they were talking about. “Let’s just leave, Ducky. They’re not worth it,” she whispered.

Lark saw Charlie close his hands into fists.

Bobbie walked up to him and stood inches from his nose.

“Hey asshole, I heard from your friends that your mamma and sisters suck you off all the time. Maybe they’d like something a little bigger than your puny cock,” Charlie said in a really low voice.

Lark was surprised. She’d heard Charlie cuss before, but nothing like this. Bobbie swung at Charlie and hit him in the nose. It was just hard enough to start a trickle of blood. Charlie didn’t move and laughed.

“That was a nice little love pat there, Bobbie. Maybe you’re queer and want to suck me off, too.” He tackled Bobbie around the stomach and landed on the ground on top of him. He grabbed the aggressor’s shirt and pulled him up. “Apologize, asshole!” Charlie shouted in the kids face.

Bobbie looked up at Charlie and grinned. “Yeah, I’ll apologize after I fuck her.”

Lark saw one of the other boys, Jamie, move up on Charlie. She pulled her stick up and swung it hard. She hit him on the arm; he landed on his butt and grabbed the spot she’d hit.

“Hey, that hurt,” he squawked.

  She looked at Dexter and pointed her stick at him. “I gave him the flat end of the stick. If you move, I might give you the pointy end. No gang-ups.” When she looked back at Charlie and Bobbie, who was crying, she smiled. Charlie apparently punched the kid a couple of times and was getting up.

He turned to Lark and held out his hand. “Come on, Lou. You’re right, they’re not worth it. Bobbie’s a pussy and has no backbone.”

They walked back to Lark’s house in silence and she helped him get his face cleaned off.

He sat on the toilet with his head tipped back and she walked in with a bag of ice.

“Gran wants to talk to us when your nose stops bleeding.” She pushed away his hand that held a tissue. “Let me see, Ducky.” She dabbed at it and then put the ice bag on his face. “You’re going to have a black eye.”

“No biggie. I’ve had them before and at least this time it wasn’t my dad. Is Gran mad at me?”

“I don’t think so, but I think she’s going to lecture us pretty good.” Lark sat on the laundry basket and crossed her arms over her chest. “Ducky, my ears almost melted off of my head out there. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you use such language and what does
sucking off
mean?” She grinned.

“Yeah, sorry about the bad stuff, but those jerks deserved it. The other thing I’ll explain on a day when Gran isn’t around. She probably doesn’t like that kind of talk.” He laughed.

“You’d better. I agree with you that Bobbie Reynolds is such an asshole.”

“Don’t let Gran hear you say that. She’ll have a fit. I liked when you popped Jamie in the arm with your sword. I bet he gets a really good bruise.”

“He acted like he was going to kick you. I couldn’t let him do that.”

“Thanks for watching my back, Lou.”

“Anytime. You know, I don’t think you should be king. I really think we need to knight you.”

“Well, you’re a princess. Can’t you knight me?”

“I don’t see why not.” She stood up and grabbed her hairbrush and tapped his shoulders. “I dub thee a knight of the Canon City realm. You fought honorably today.”

Charlie took her hand and kissed the back of it. “Thank you, m’lady.”

She looked at him and for the first time felt a little uncomfortable. “Ducky, Bobbie called you my boyfriend. Is that what you are?”

He moved the ice bag down to his chest and reached for her hand. “I’d like to be your boyfriend someday. Would you want to be my girlfriend?”

Lark blushed and giggled. “Maybe, someday. Come on, Sir Ducky. We have to go get lectured.” She took his hand and they walked down the stairs.

She smiled at the memory. That was one of their best days together. She really started to love him and couldn’t even remember how old they were.

Lark started her computer and after a while got down to business. She checked the incoming orders and signed off on over one hundred new ones, so the floor staff could start getting them out in the mail on Monday.

Her cell phone rang at six-thirty and she looked at the caller ID. It was Thomas and she didn’t really want to talk to him, but hit the answer button.

“Hey Thomas,” she said.

“Hello, my dear. What are you up to today?” he asked.

“I’m just getting some orders ready for Monday.”

“I understand you were in Denver last week. Why didn’t you come to the condo?”

“Nancy and I were in meetings all week. Most nights we didn’t get finished until late. I didn’t want to disturb you if you were resting.”

“It would have been nice to see you at least. I’ve missed you.”

Lark didn’t know what to say to him. The sentiment he spoke was nice, but she didn’t believe he was sincere. In her opinion, the man didn’t know the meaning of the words that spilled from his mouth. Since a very horrible night in June, she hadn’t let him come near her and felt ill whenever she thought about being in the same room with him. The worst of it, though, was that he scared her and she was stuck on how to deal with him.

“I wouldn’t have been any fun for you. It was pretty exhausting.”

“Why don’t you plan on coming up next weekend? We could have a quiet night and relax before the big Christmas rush starts.”

“I’ll see how things go this week. It will be pretty busy.”

“Dear, are you all right? You don’t sound like yourself.”

“I’m fine, Thomas. I’ve just got a mountain of work to do. I’ll call you later this week.”

He said good night and hung up. Lark held the phone to her lips and wished she hadn’t answered. She sat back in her chair and looked at the ceiling.
Is this my future? What am I thinking?

She’d met Thomas five years earlier at a business meeting in Denver. She and Nancy were just getting the company off the ground and he gave her some good advice on advertising and marketing. He was an attractive man and impressed her with his knowledge of business and finances. They’d dated for two years and then bought a condo in Denver together. It was just after they’d moved into the dwelling that she’d become uncomfortable with some of his ideas of games to play. When he asked her to marry him two years ago, she’d agreed, but kept finding excuses to put off the wedding. He’d argued with her on several occasions and finally convinced her it would be in her best interests to give in and marry him.

Lark shook her head and wanted to stop thinking about Thomas. She tossed around the idea of getting some food, but decided she wasn’t all that hungry. She walked down the stairs and found Gran at the kitchen table going through her recipe book.

“Gran, I’m going to head over to the rink. There’s supposed to be a broom ball meet tonight. Do you want to go?”

“No, it’s too cold outside and I’d rather not sit by the rink where it’s just as cold. I’m getting my shopping list together for next week. I have pies to get ready for the festival.” She pumped her fist.

Lark laughed. “Okay, I’ll be back early.”

Chapter Six

When Lark arrived at the rink, she saw Nancy sat on the bleachers with her three kids around her. She was putting a piece of duct tape on the bottom of her oldest son’s tennis shoe. He’d need it to slide around on the ice during the game. She waved and started toward Nancy, but got sidetracked when she saw Jay Hager by the boards. His elbows were planted on the wood and he held a cup of coffee in his hands.

Like Charlie, Jay was tall. He stood six-foot-four inches and when he was still in high school, got drafted by a professional hockey team. He’d been sent to Portland to play on the pro-teams junior club and after his first year took a terrible hit during a game and broke his knee and leg. After five surgeries he’d given up the sport. That was the way he liked to put it. The team actually released him before a contract was signed. He’d been disappointed and depressed for a couple of months after, then went back to school and got his degree. He’d saved enough money to buy into the rink and turned the business around. He was doing really well. He and Charlie were friends in school and they often went on adventures with Jay as their third and some other friends.

“Hey, Mister.” She smiled and stood next to him.

“Hey, Miss. Are you going to play tonight?” He straightened up to his full height and

gave her a half-hug.

“Maybe, if you need extra people for the adult game. I don’t want to go out there with the kids. I nearly lost a knee-cap the last time I did that.”

“We always need extra people,” he said and watched the skaters move around the ice.

“I’ll need to borrow some duct tape.”

“No problem.”

“Jay, I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but Charlie Stone is back. He bought the old house next door to Gran’s.” She saw Jay’s head snap around to look at her and his eyebrows scrunched together.

“You’re pulling my sore leg.”

She shook her head and watched Jay turn back and put his elbows back on the boards.  “Did he say where he’s been all these years?

“I haven’t really talked to him much. Gran said he went into trucking after he got out of detention. He’s been all over the United States. Now he’s going to start veterinary school in the fall up in Fort Collin’s.”

“He always wanted to do that. Good for him. Is he staying at the old house?”

“Yes.”

“Holy shit, he must have some bad memories of that place. I can’t believe he went back there. Do you have any idea why?”

“Gran said it was cheap. I know it’s a real fixer-upper. Who knows, maybe he’s turned into a masochist.” She shrugged and shook her head.

“Why haven’t you talked to him? You two used to be thick as thieves.” Jay looked at her with his brown eyes.

“I’ve tried, but he can’t seem to communicate well with others. I ask a question and he stares at me. It’s like he has post traumatic stress disorder or something.”

“Lark, what happened between you two? You guys were always so close,” Jay asked.

She looked at him and smirked. “Jay, why did you and Mandy Parker break up?”

He stood up straight again and looked annoyed at her. “You don’t want to go there. Ever.”

She raised her eyebrows and held her hands out with a silent question.

“Okay, point taken. There’s nothing we need to discuss.” He frowned and looked back at the ice.

Lark wished she knew what the problem with Charlie was, but she couldn’t even begin to guess and really didn’t feel the need to talk to him. “I’m going to go sit. If you need a player, let me know.”

She went over to the bleachers and smiled at Nancy. Her four-year-old son, Jacob, waved at her. “Hi, Auntie Lark.”

“Hi there, Jake. How’s it going big boy?” She sat down and gave him a hug.

“It’s okay, I don’t get to play tonight because I’m too little. It sucks,” he said and gave her a raspberry.

“Well, you can keep your mom and me company, all right?” She smiled as he nodded at her.

“The kids are playing first tonight, then the adults,” Nancy said and cradled her nine- month-old in her arms.

“I doubt I’ll play. I just needed to get out of the house for a bit.” Lark put her elbows on her knees and watched the kids run around on the rink.

“Is everything all right on the home front?” Nancy nudged her shoulder.

“Yeah, all is good.” Lark rubbed her eyes.

“Gee, the tone of your voice says different.”

Lark looked at her and shook her head. “Do you remember Charlie Stone?”
“Should I?” Nancy asked.

Larked needed to remember Nancy was a couple years ahead of her in school and they didn’t know each other until they were in college. “Charlie was my age and we grew up next door to each other. He accidently killed his father when he was fifteen and wound up in detention.”

“Oh right.” She nodded. “I do remember that. I didn’t know he was your neighbor.”

Lark decided she didn’t want to go into the whole story tonight with Nancy. “It’s not important.”

“Liar.” Nancy looked at her and rocked the baby.

“We’ll talk about it later.”

She stayed at the rink until after eight o’clock and then headed home before the adult game started. She pulled into the driveway and got out of her Bronco. As she looked up at the house, she decided to go for a walk. She was too wound up to talk to Gran and didn’t want to sit in front of her computer.

      ****

As Charlie approached his front door, after he took Breaker for a walk, he heard a car door slam next door at Gran’s. He turned and saw Lark walk through the snow toward the river.

She’d changed so much over the years, but in a way she’d stayed the same. He could still read the emotions that ran through her head, just by the look on her face. Her eyes were different though. He saw anger and fear when she’d looked at him and he realized the innocence she’d had as a young girl was gone. She was so beautiful, though. He found it difficult to think straight when she stood anywhere near him.

He saw she’d put on a jacket with a lamb’s wool collar, a hat and her boots. She stomped across Gran’s yard toward the incline.

Breaker woofed, focused his attention on her and took off toward the incline. “Hey, Breaker, get back here,” Charlie called and followed the wolf. “Breaker, to me, now!” he shouted.

Charlie went down the incline toward the river bed and stepped carefully. There was a lot of snow and ice in the area. He looked to his right and saw Lark and Breaker in a stare down. She’d picked up a good-sized rock and didn’t take her eyes off the wolf. He would have worried except Breaker’s tail wagged.

“Charlie, get your stupid dog away from me. I can still hit what I throw a rock at,” she threatened.

“Breaker sit,” Charlie ordered and walked up next to the wolf. The animal sat and looked up at him. “He doesn’t want to hurt you Lark, he just wants someone to play with.”

She looked up at Charlie with a smirk on her face. “Right, we’ll leave that to you. Why are you back?”

Charlie felt his heart drop an inch and twist with pain in his chest. He wondered if she had an alternate meaning tagged to what she’d just said. He didn’t want to play games. “I’m starting vet’s college next fall. Didn’t Gran tell you?”

“So, you show up ten months early, buy a house and get in good with the neighbors. Why are you really back?” She leveled her eyes at him.

“That’s why I’m really back. I’m starting school in the fall. What do you want me to say? I’m sorry I hurt you. Okay, I said it.” He realized his feet moved, on their own accord, straight toward her. “Do you want me to say I was an idiot, and I was too stupid to realize I’d hurt the people I loved the most? Does that help ease your hurt? Does that make it better for you?”

He found himself standing in front of her and shouted in her face. He could feel her hot breath on his chin and suddenly wanted to wrap his arms around her and never let go. She closed her eyes and he could tell she was scared. “I screwed up Lark,” he said, quieter. “I got help, but found out when I got released from detention that it was too late. Does that make it better?”

Lark looked up at him with tears pooled in her eyes and then took a step back from him. “Yeah, all better,” she said in a sarcastic voice. She turned away and started down the riverbed. She then turned back to him. “I only have one question, Charlie. What did I do to you that made you send that letter? How did I screw up?”

He looked at her and found his tongue wouldn’t budge. He watched her turn and start away again.

“Great, no answer.” She stopped and faced him, again. “When you grow a pair and can speak again, let me know. That’s all I want to know Charlie. How did I screw up our friendship?” She started down the river and passed the stump they’d once sat on. Breaker whined and woofed and stood back up. Charlie could tell the wolf wanted to follow her and so did he.

***

Lark followed the riverbed for two hours and then stopped in her tracks. The cold penetrated her thermal tights under her jeans and her gloves. She jammed her hands into her pockets and turned back. She didn’t think it would be good to be found frozen on the river bank. It surprised her when she looked at her watch and it was after ten o’clock.

When she got back, Gran had already turned in for the night. She quietly made her way up to her room, put on her fleece pajama’s and crawled under her warm comforter. She lay with her eyes open and remembered she needed to brush her teeth. She got up and noticed her cell phone blinked. She put in her code and listened to the message. It was from Thomas.

“Hi, babe. I just wanted to make sure you are okay. You didn’t sound like yourself earlier and I just want to hear that you really are fine. I’ll be out tonight, but I’ll have my phone. Call me when you get the chance. Love you.”

Lark hit the memory button with his number and listened to his answering message. When the buzz came she started, “Hey Thomas. I’m sorry I missed your call. I’m just in work mode too much, but all is well. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” She cut it off and threw the phone onto her bed.

When she’d first started to go out with Thomas, he seemed like a nice man. He was five years older than she and when he gave her advice about starting a new business, he acted as though he cared for her. After six months, things changed. Thomas’s weird tastes began to rear up. His bedroom games were sort of fun at first, but then he wanted to handcuff her to the bed or behind her back and strange sex toys began to appear. It interested her at first. She’d only slept with one other guy when she was in college, so she didn’t have much experience.

One evening, he’d started talking about going out to sex clubs, and that was when she put her foot down. She didn’t want to experience anything with a bunch of strangers standing around and watching. He’d let it go for a while, but the subject came up from time to time.

As the last year started, Lark felt more and more uncomfortable with his antics and started making excuses to not see him when she’d travel to Denver. When he’d proposed marriage, she was happy, but always felt a nagging pain in her head that said this wasn’t a good idea. They’d been engaged for two years and finally agreed to have the wedding on New Year’s Eve.

In June, she’d experienced the most horrible night of her life. It haunted her dreams and she’d withdrawn into herself around her grandmother and friends. She knew she couldn’t marry that man, but now felt scared of him and how he might react.

After she brushed her teeth, she crawled back under the covers and tried to settle down. She thought about the evening’s events. She felt, logically, that Charlie’s apology should be accepted and she should let the past go. She should be able to let all the old feelings go and think about how she was going to deal with Thomas. She found she couldn’t bring herself to move on, though and didn’t know how to let go of the hurt she’d felt for so long. She just wanted her question answered. What had she done to make him write that hateful letter?

Lark was the type of person who wanted all the details from start to finish. Charlie didn’t say what the problem was back then and that became a needle that stabbed her in the neck. She wanted him to explain what happened and make it clear to her, but she found it hard to consider being in the same room with him long enough for any explanations. When she looked at him all she wanted to do was cry over the lost time.

Around two in the morning, Lark woke up from a terrible nightmare. She found herself upright in her bed with tears rolling down her cheeks. She’d had these dreams off and on over the last six months, but not like this one. Charlie appeared in the dream and he laughed at her and said something, but she couldn’t remember what came from his lips. It was impossible for him to be in these dreams, he wasn’t here in June. She gave up the notion of getting any sleep and got up. She felt exhausted, but couldn’t get her brain to shut off.

She went down to the kitchen and put the kettle on the stove to warm water for tea. She got a decaffeinated bag out of a cupboard and waited to catch the kettle before the whistle blew. Her stomach rumbled and she remembered she didn’t eat dinner. She opened the refrigerator and pulled out the cheddar cheese. She put it on a plate and found some crackers in the cupboard.

She carried the plate and crackers to the kitchen table and saw the photo album that her Gran put together. After she put hot water in her cup, she carried it to the table and sat in front of the book. 

She debated about looking at it and finally opened to the first pictures. She huffed and thought
Where on earth did Gran get a baby picture of Charlie?
She looked at the page with her and Charlie’s baby pictures side by side. Gran had pasted their names and birthdates under the pictures.

As Lark flipped through the pictures, and found Gran took more of them than she remembered. Some of the shots she could remember and others, she couldn’t place. Gran marked the days on the pages to help remind her of the reason for the picture. She turned to the back of the album and the final pictures were taken on that great and terrible day.

Charlie was celebrating the fact he was finally taller than Lark. He’d had a growth spurt over the summer. It was a week before their freshman year in high school started and they were both fifteen years old.

They’d ridden their bikes out to Hirsh Ranch where Charlie’s horse, Fox, was kept. Lark packed a picnic lunch and they were going to ride Fox into the foothills to their favorite pasture and have a fun day. They’d brought a small, travel-size checkerboard with them and a deck of cards.

Fox was a beautiful, big black horse that Charlie won as a prize when he was thirteen.

He’d worked very hard throughout the year to be the best newspaper delivery boy on the planet. His customers on his route felt he’d done an outstanding job and the newspaper gave him the prize of a young, black colt. Charlie found the Hirsh Ranch to stable his horse and in trade, did work for them, cleaning stalls, grooming horses and making sure the horses got enough food. It was then that he decided to be a large animal veterinarian.

They rode Fox into the mountains all the time, but this would be the last weekday they’d be able to do it until spring. Gran didn’t like for them to ride during the winter. She was afraid they’d get lost in the mountains and freeze to death.

After eating lunch, they played a long game of War that seemed to go on and on. They laughed and threw cards at each other and then watched quietly as Fox made his way around the field finding grasses to munch on.

Charlie leaned on Lark. “You know, I’m worried about starting ninth grade.”

“Why?” Lark asked as she pulled apart an Aspen Daisy.

“We’re going to be in different classes. There will be new people at the school from around the county.”

“That doesn’t matter. We still have the same lunch hour and I’ll need your help with algebra. And, we live next door to each other. It’s not like you’ll never see me.” She threw the stem aside and looked down at him. “What’s going on, Ducky?”

He brought his head up and looked her in the eye. “Lou, have you ever kissed a boy?”

“What? No. Why?” She frowned and moved away from him. She remembered seeing something in his eyes and for the first time since they’d been friends, she found him cute. “Ducky, do you want to kiss me?”

The color on his cheeks started to get rosy and he nodded. “I mean, if it’s okay with you. I just thought...we’ve been friends for so long and...We did talk about being boyfriend-girlfriend once. It’s just I think you’re pretty and you’ve always been right there...” he went silent and continued to watch her.

“What kind of kiss do you mean?” she asked and saw a confused look on his face. “You know, like we see on TV? Do you want just a quick kiss, like you’re the husband leaving for work or one of those open mouth things we saw in that movie when the man and woman on the beach started kissing?”

Charlie’s brow folded. “I don’t know. Which do you think would be best?”