Angel Fire (22 page)

Neil ran his hand along the skin of my cheek and made a shushing sound.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Somehow, I pulled
myself together and got ready for my shift manning the motel office. Neil offered to keep me company for the evening.

“I don’t have anything better to do,” he told me. But I thought keeping myself occupied with my daily duties and focusing on work would be the best therapy. I coaxed it out of him that Chief Hrzinski had invited him to spend the evening over at his place for dinner and to go over some work-related procedures, and I made him promise to go through with it.

“My head’s still swimming from all the paperwork this morning. I’m not sure I can take much more so soon,” he said. “Maybe I’ll just take a stroll around town, get my bearings.” With a smile, he left.

I was feeling sorry for myself, and while I was trying to figure out how to get anything other than sludge out of the office coffee machine, I heard the door open.

“Beth! What are you doing here?” I said with a sudden smile.

“Sorry I didn’t stop by yesterday to see how you were. John’s parents invited us over for Sunday dinner. I heard about Sheriff Burke. He was born an ass.”

“Yeah, but Uncle Edward gave him what for.”

“I know.” She laughed. “John howled when he found out. Ever since the sheriff gave him a parking ticket when he was idling outside the Fast & Friendly waiting for me to pick up diapers, he’s had a hate-on for our local constabulary.”

“Sounds like Sheriff Burke.” I smirked and shook my head. “You just doing a drive-by?”

“Yeah. Left John Jr. with John; I need some time without anyone screaming at me. Thought I’d drop by and see how my best girl is doing.”

“I’m all right.”

She looked concerned. “You don’t sound all right.”

“It’s tough, but I think I can get through it.”

“Good for you,” she said with a wink. “I’d hate for you to cut bait only a week in.”

I glanced up at Beth, wondering if she suspected that I had been about to do just that last Saturday night.

“You know me,” I told her, “stubborn as a mule.”

“Got that right.” She laughed. “Listen, I’m off to spin class, so I gotta book, but what I really wanted was to find out if you’ve got plans for tomorrow.”

I thought about Neil. When we parted, we never set anything in stone. “No, nothing really.”

“Great. We need to get shopping, girl. You look like you just stepped out of the last century. My mother’s taking the baby for the day. How about we head out to Scottsdale tomorrow and hit some of the malls?”

“I don’t know.”

“If we leave early enough, we’ll have time to have lunch there and we’ll be back before the start of your shift. Unless you’re too old to boogie all day and work all night.”

“Ass,” I told her, but I was smiling. “All right, fine. Sounds like a date.” Besides, my wardrobe had been cut down by the afternoon’s misadventures. Retail therapy might just be the answer to my woes.

* * *

Anytime I left town, I had to check in with the sheriff’s office. Early the next morning I went in to report my travel plans, and luck was on my side. Sheriff Burke was out at the McGregor Ranch hunting down a pack of coyotes that had killed two cattle the other night. Maisy Bell took down my information and Beth’s cell phone number and told me to have a fantastic day.

And I did.

* * *

When I came back later that afternoon, Neil was waiting in the office with Uncle Edward. He was sitting on a guest chair while my uncle shuffled some paperwork. It looked as if they were chatting about nothing in particular—just two guys talking about the weather, or sports, or whatever men talk about.

My heart skipped a beat and my stomach clenched at the same time. We hadn’t had an official date today, but I hadn’t bothered to even leave a note for him. Neil smiled when I stepped into the office, but I could see a touch of hurt in his eyes.

“Have fun?” he asked.

“It was good to get away for a bit,” I admitted. “And I’m back in time for my shift.” A quick glance toward Uncle Edward revealed nothing. He merely grunted and went back to tallying the day’s receipts.

I noticed the remains of lunch on the chair beside Neil—a half-eaten sandwich still in the wrapper.

“Oh, I must have forgotten about us today,” I said.

“Not at all. I don’t think we mentioned anything. But if you’re hungry…”

“I ate already, sorry.”

“No problems. Listen, I was just waiting around to let you know I have to head back to Denver tomorrow.”

“What?”

“Yeah. There’re some loose-ends I have to tie up—cancel my lease, that kind of stuff.”

“Oh. Are you going to be away long?”

“Couple days at the most. I should be back by the weekend.”

“Oh,” I said again. In a way, I was more than a little disappointed. A day away from Middleton had given me time to get some perspective on my life; and on the trip back, as Beth nattered on endlessly about John Jr. and how much she missed him even after only a few hours, I realized that I also missed those I had left behind: Aunt Martha, Uncle Edward … and Neil.

No matter how confused my feelings were about him, and whether he even thought of me as anything other than a friend, I knew deep down that I wanted him in my life.

I asked, “What time are you going? I’ll get up and have coffee with you before you go.”

He shook his head. “No need. I’ll be up pretty early.”

“It’s no problem, really. I want to get up with you.”

“You sure?” he asked, his face lighting up.

Uncle Edward, annoyed by our prattling, cleared his throat and shot me a hairy eyeball.

I smiled at Neil. “Yeah. I’ll set my alarm right now. But I better get ready for my shift.”

Neil winked at me before he left, and I could feel my face flush when Uncle Edward harrumphed at me.

* * *

Once my afternoon duties were finished, I headed into the back office to use the microwave. Aunt Martha had left me a plate of spaghetti wrapped in plastic. I cooked it too long, and it was steaming hot. My stomach rumbled as I watched it cool.

When I took my first bite, the front door chimed. Wiping my mouth with a paper napkin, I hurried to the front office, a curse on my lips. I was surprised to see both Aunt Martha and Uncle Edward standing there.

“Evening, Darcy,” Aunt Martha said, her tone sounding unusually formal. “My, you certainly have cleaned this place up and organized it.”

“Wasn’t so bad before,” Uncle Edward began to protest, but shut his mouth when his wife shot him a dirty look.

“Thank you,” was all I could think to say.

“No,” Aunt Martha said. “I want to thank you for all the help you’ve given us this past week.”

I blushed. “I’m just glad to have a place to call home.”

“Oh, pish-posh. Anyway, I think you deserve an extra night off, at least a few hours extra. Your uncle and I are used to trading shifts, so what’s one more evening, hey?”

“I don’t know what to say.” I looked back and forth between the two. “Thank you. But really, it’s no problem. I’m glad you two have more time for each other now.” I saw Uncle Edward’s frown at that last statement, but politely ignored it.

“Here,” said Aunt Martha, “let me take over for the rest of the night.”

“Aunt Martha, I couldn’t, really.”

But she had already maneuvered her way behind the counter and pushed me out.

She added, “Before you go, your uncle has something he’d like to say to you.”

Uncle Edward and I stood a few paces apart, like gunslingers waiting for the other to flinch. Then he finally cleared his throat and spoke in a rasp. “Yeah. Uhm, I think you’re fitting in here real nice.”

That was all? “Oh, no problem,” I said. “I’m just happy to—”

He frowned. “Shut up a minute and let me finish, would you?”

“Shutting up, sir.”

Avoiding the daggers Aunt Martha shot at him with her eyes, Uncle Edward dropped his voice again and said what he had to say:

“Well, your aunt thinks we should offer you a stake in the business.”

That took me by surprise. “A stake? You mean—?”

“Just a small bit to start with,” he added. “You know, so you have some ownership.”

“A … partnership?”

“Junior partnership,” he corrected me.

Aunt Martha harrumphed, and Uncle Edward nodded to her. “Yes, yes,” he said, and waved his hand at her.

He turned to me. “We’re no spring chickens. And this is a young man’s game—er, woman’s. Whatever. I mean to say, we’ll start slow and, maybe, over time, you can build your stake in the motel until one day…” He glanced up at me. “We’d like to retire one day. You know.”

I put my hands together. “Oh, Aunt Martha! Uncle Edward! I don’t know what to say. I couldn’t possibly take the motel away from you!”

“I won’t hear another word,” Aunt Martha said. “We’ve made up our minds. Tomorrow, we’ll go down to Jenkins Law Office and make you the beneficiary on our insurance policy for starters.”

Overwhelmed by the gesture, I went around the counter to give Aunt Martha a fierce hug. When I finally released her and tried to hug Uncle Edward, he dodged my awkward attempt and instead held out his hand.

We shook to being future partners, and for the first time in ten years, I knew deep in my heart I was home.

Against his feeble protest, I hugged Uncle Edward anyway.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

I could barely
contain myself. After Aunt Martha shooed me out of the office, I practically flounced down the walkway along the row of doors until I reached Neil’s room and knocked. It was early, and I figured he would still be awake.

“Neil? You there?”

There was no reply, so I tried to peek through the windows, but the room was black. Maybe he’d gone out.

My joy ebbed more than a notch. What good was happy news if you didn’t have someone to share it with? I knocked again, this time with more urgency.

“Neil?”

Once more I knocked, and when I didn’t get a response, I tried the door handle. It was unlocked. I swung the door wide open. The room was pitch black.

I stepped inside and flicked on the light.

No one was there.

Disappointed, I took a step back out of the room, but something blocked my exit. Startled, I let out a little yelp and turned around.

Neil stood there, a big grin on his face. In his hand he held a bouquet of half a dozen roses.

“You scared the life out of me!” I told him, eyeing the flowers.

He laughed. “Sorry about that. I just stepped out to get these for you.”

“For me?” I could barely breathe out the question. “What for?”

He gestured to the inside of the room. “Mind if I come in?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah. It’s your room. Of course.” We went in and he closed the door. I took the flowers when he offered them to me and smelled them.

“They’re wonderful. Thank you.”

“Your aunt mentioned that you might have the evening off, if I wanted to spend some time with you. I thought we might go out to a late dinner or something. Just us.”

I gave him an uncertain glance. “I don’t know what to say. I thought—”

“Thought what?”

“Maybe you didn’t want to be—I mean—with me.”

A troubled look settled over his features. “I’m really sorry if I’ve been acting like an ass.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far, but you have been getting more and more distant the last day or so. I thought we’d made a connection on Sunday, and more than just through the power.”

He stood up. “It’s because of the power that I’m so distracted. It’s not you.”

“Oh?” I sat on the edge of the bed while Neil paced, searching for the words.

“I told you about this intuition which I’ve slowly developed over the past few years?”

I said, “Yeah.”

“Well, yesterday I got one of those … feelings. It wasn’t a good one. My gut cramped and I thought I was going to throw up.”

I asked, “Does that happen every time?”

“No. For example, when I heard about the job here in Middleton, there was a kind of tugging sensation low in my chest. It’s usually more subtle; like when I’m playing cards I get a tingling on my neck behind my ears when I should bluff, a tightening in my throat when I should fold.”

I asked, “So what does being sick to your stomach mean?”

“Nothing good,” he said, his voice low with foreboding. “I’ve never been that violently ill before. I don’t know, maybe something very bad is going to happen. I mean, there’s got to be a reason we have this power; you’ve asked me this exact question.”

I nodded. “We can find out together.”

He flashed me a smile, but I could tell he was still very concerned. “I would love that,” he admitted. “But what is bothering me is that whatever it is that’s supposed to happen might come faster than we realize.”

He let out a hollow laugh. “Listen to me, carrying on like some old soothsayer. Next thing you know, I’ll be reading fortunes in tea leaves.”

I laughed politely, but I didn’t find his joke very comforting. There had been enough adversity in my life. I just wanted to live as a normal person. Power? Curse? Gift? Whatever it was, I would trade it in a heartbeat if I could go back in time and erase all the heartache and pain. If Neil’s intuition was to be trusted, if there was something dreadful on the horizon, I wasn’t sure I wanted to face it.

Neil sat down beside me on the bed and put one arm around me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. Maybe it’s really just nothing. You know … a false alarm. Maybe those eggs I had for breakfast yesterday just didn’t agree with me.”

I looked up at him. “Yeah, maybe.” But I knew, somewhere deep inside me, that his initial gut instinct was probably right. There was some reason that we had these powers, and I knew I wasn’t ready for it … whatever it was.

“Hey, listen. Whatever happens, I want you to know that I plan on sticking around,” he said.

“Really?”

Neil nodded. “Of course. It feels right, being here. Like I belong.”

“With me?” I asked slowly, tentatively. Hopefully.

He looked into my eyes and nodded. “Yes.” Then, as if confirming it again for himself, he repeated, “Yes,” and held me tighter.