Essential Beginnings (8 page)

M
av had already
left the diner with his large cup of coffee to go and was currently gassing up his Jeep for the long drive home. He’d left Ernie up at the lodge, knowing he was expecting a guest today and would more than likely end up out on the lake with a fishing pole in his hand at some point. There wasn’t a need to say goodbye to Henley since she’d already made up her mind about his lack of character. It stung and maybe he’d address it when he came back to town to stay. Maybe he wouldn’t and he’d just leave her to her own devices. Either way, right now neither one of them would benefit from what he really wanted to say to her. He eased up on the lever of the fuel pump, letting the last drop fill his tank before he set the handle back into the cradle. The gas station was still quite old and didn’t take credit cards at the pump, so Mav lifted his shades and set them on his head before walking into the store and pulling out his wallet.

“Good morning, Mr. Bassett.” Mav snatched a pack of gum and set it down on the counter before looking over at the owner of Lost Summit’s gas station. There wasn’t even a convenience store attached to it, so the small square building was only big enough for a six-foot counter and a chair for Randy Bassett’s best friend, Jarrett Moore. Both men had spent their youth in Europe during the last world war and had seen healthier days. Each of them were the better part of eighty-five years of age, if not older. The two of them had been attached at the hip ever since they had moved here after the war and both of them spent their evenings playing chess outside the hardware store so they could see the comings and goings of the town. “Jarrett, how’s the heart this morning?”

“Still ticking, by some damn miracle,” Jarrett came back with his usual reply before spitting his tobacco into a red solo cup. “We heard you might be taking over for Felix when he decides to retire.”

“Sheriff Ramsey and I have discussed it,” Mav replied vaguely, not wanting to give away too many details. He’d told Tank of his plans last night and while it was easy to see he was pleased, it wasn’t enough to erase the worry of Mav heading back to Chicago this morning. Berke hadn’t called and any attempt to reach him went straight to voicemail. Considering it was still quite early in Texas, Mav would touch base with him during the drive home. He figured the call would yield nothing since no other activity had been noteworthy and even Ernie had reluctantly admitted that there wasn’t enough evidence of a major eruption to keep Mav there. Maybe now things could return to normal and they wouldn’t need to send Ernie in for a psych-eval. “When the sheriff is ready to retire he’ll let me know, I’m sure.”

Randy announced the total and Mav took out his wallet from the back of his jeans, pulling out enough cash to cover the gas and the pack of gum. He would have been more comfortable in his cargo pants, but he hadn’t gotten to leave yesterday and he’d spilled some steak sauce on them last night after grilling dinner. Denim and a faded black T-shirt was what he was stuck with until he returned home to wash some laundry. He wished it would be as easy to forget what happened on this trip as it was to dissolve the sauce stain in the fabric, but he doubted that would be the case.

“Marvin Jenkins mentioned that Tank sent Henley in for some supplies at the hardware store.” Jarrett spit in his cup again, his curious eyes never leaving Mav. It was as if the older man thought Mav was hiding some important information that only he and Ernie knew. “Something we need to know about or is Ernie being Ernie?”

“That earthquake at Yellowstone yesterday made Tank a little nervous, especially after what took place in Nepal earlier this year,” Mav replied nonchalantly, knowing full well whatever information he gave over would go directly to Stanley Ratliff. “He just wanted a few more items to round out his emergency stash, but now that things have quieted down…it’s business as usual. He has a new guest arriving at the lodge today, along with a large group in a couple of weeks. Spring sure has kicked off with a bang.”

“Rat has a group of hikers coming in next week as well. They’ll be down in town at the livery to rent horses before Wednesday’s trail ride up through Lost Mountain,” Randy boasted, handing over Mav’s change before taking a seat on the stool he’d positioned behind the counter. “It’ll be good for business here about.”

“Well, gentlemen, it was good to see you this trip.” Mav returned his change to his wallet and then slid the worn old trifold into his back pocket. “Maybe next time I’ll play a game of chess with one of you.”

Jarrett barked out a laugh while Randy smiled, both men aware that Mav wasn’t a chess player. Now poker? That was a different story and when the crew got together on their annual trip, there wasn’t an evening that passed that someone didn’t win or lose a pot of money. Mav pulled down his cheap shades as he walked out the door, heading for his Jeep. He looked down the road and spotted Henley’s sun-weathered red truck and for a moment he paused before opening his door. Did he want to speak with her before leaving town?

“You’re a fool,” Mav muttered, shaking his head to try and get rid of the temptation to drive back over to the diner. “She made herself quite clear.”

There was no need to continue to make a fool of himself. The taste of her still lingered on his lips and he doubted it would wash off any time in the near future. Mav hadn’t been a Boy Scout and he’d dated his fair share of women, but he would gladly have thought about moving up his agenda of relocating if Henley had given him any indication that she’d wanted more between them than their connection through Ernie. The pull he had toward her was strong, but she obviously didn’t feel the same. If anything, she thought he was lower than dirt, but that wasn’t anything he hadn’t dealt with before. He was a fucking professional.

Mav opened his door and wedged his large frame behind his steering wheel. He’d left the keys in the ignition, so all he did was turn over the engine and then pull out of the gas station without a backward glance. As much as he loved visiting Tank, it was time to head home to the land of reality where burglaries, robberies, and murders were among the normal activities of his job. At least he knew what to expect there and how to handle it.

Mav had made it around a mile out of town when something caught his attention in the rearview mirror. What the hell? At first he thought Sheriff Ramsey might have been called to an accident on the outskirts of town, but then he recognized Henley’s old stake bed pick-up truck barreling down on him. He felt a spike of anger when he realized just how fast she was driving. He was astonished when she pulled into the left lane and brought her rusty heap of metal alongside his, motioning with her hand that he should pull over. She’d gone certifiably insane. He eventually pulled over and slammed the gearshift into park before pulling on the handle of the door. He slammed his shoulder against the side and was out of the Jeep just in time to see Henley pull in front of him.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Mav yelled as Henley hopped out of her truck like she hadn’t just been a menace to the roads. “You could have gotten us both killed. Sheriff Ramsey should ticket your ass up one side—”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, calm down,” Henley snapped with a wave of her hand as she walked closer. Mav was lucky the vein in his head didn’t explode and she was currently in a haze of red as the level of his rage rose. “It’s not like anyone really travels this road except either to leave or arrive, and the one person coming into town isn’t arriving for another half hour. I need to say something.”

“You…are you kidding me? You have something to add on to what you said last night? Trust me, sweetheart, your point got across so loud and clear that my eardrums are bleeding,” Mav gritted through his teeth, unable to accept that she didn’t see how dangerous it was to drive on the left hand side of the road. “What if Ernie’s customer arrived early? Did you think of that? Did it ever occur to you that someone could actually be driving through town in the lane they’re supposed to use before you foolishly decided to take your life in your own hands?”

“I needed to confirm something before you left and I didn’t want to wait until you returned,” Henley stated, as if that validated her reckless driving. Mav ran a hand through his hair in disbelief at her carelessness and then was astounded when she had the audacity to bring up last night. “Why did you have those magazines in your Jeep?”

“You’re asking me that now? I thought you already had that figured out.” Mav turned to walk away with every intention of getting back into his Jeep and driving away, but stopped himself short. He whipped his shades off and faced her. “Three years, Henley. You had three years to ask me that question and you chose to either ignore me or draw me into arguments that I couldn’t win. One snide comment after another for all that time and you need to ask me why? I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that you made assumptions about me based on your past experiences. Am I right?”

Henley appeared taken aback that he’d dove headfirst into the discussion she wanted to have. Either that or she actually expected an answer. He’d eventually give her one, but not until he had his say.

“Yes,” Henley answered with another wave of hand as if she was dismissing his fact, “you would be right, but—”

“Then you’ve made up your mind about the kind of man I am,” Mav said, cutting her off. He pointed toward her with one side of his sunglasses. “
You
made the choice to project other men’s actions on me. I chose to see you in a different light, regardless of your fame or the fact that you have men literally falling at your feet. You think you had it rough in your high-rise penthouse in Hollywood, schmoozing with the other models and actors getting paid more than ninety percent of the average middle class American? Try living in the projects with a mother hooked on crack who spent every dime on drugs instead of feeding her kid or making sure he had clothes on his back. When she wasn’t passed out on the floor, she was selling her body to the first man who’d line up with a ten-dollar bill. Do you think I judged you based on my past experiences? No, because you are your own individual person but in the end…it didn’t matter. Your opinion of me was no better than hers and I realized something last night—you
should
be living in Lost Summit where the population is limited because you have no faith in humanity. So go ahead and stay buried up in the mountains, Henley. It sure beats the hell out of actually getting your hands dirty and helping those who need it.”

Mav turned on the heel of his boot and marched back to his Jeep. He was literally nauseous at the information he’d just revealed, but she’d pushed him to the breaking point. Henley didn’t get the right to be judgmental and he sure as hell didn’t need to hear it. He opened the door without looking back and slipped his glasses back onto his face, not wanting her to see the vulnerability that had to be showing. He felt worse than when he’d been wounded during his first combat tour. It had been a relatively minor flesh wound at first, so the corpsman elected not to evacuate him with the rest of the casualties. A two-day long sandstorm had rolled in by the time it had become infected and prevented him from getting to the Cas-Evac Hospital. He had suffered from a one hundred and five degree temperature and slipped into shock before he’d arrived at the hospital. It was amazing that he’d survived at all. That had been a cakewalk in comparison.

Mav didn’t waste time jerking the steering wheel and pulling the Jeep back onto the road, but God help him if he was able to prevent himself from looking in the rearview mirror. Henley stood there with her arms hanging at her side with her shoulders slightly hunched. He couldn’t make out her facial features, but it didn’t really matter. She would now look upon him with pity when that was the last thing he wanted.

He pressed the gas pedal, rolled down the windows, and tried his damnedest to think of anything else except what had just taken place. He ignored the vibrant scenery on either side of him, focusing on the double yellow line that would lead him home—home being a relative term considering he had no family there. He’d been born and raised in Chicago, so it had been natural for him to go back there after he’d finished his eight years in the service. Maybe he should stay there after what had just taken place recently and rethink his plans to move to Lost Summit.

Mile after mile didn’t ease Mav’s frustration or embarrassment at his impromptu revealing of his childhood, so he was grateful when he was finally in the vicinity of a signal an hour later and his cell phone chimed. He shifted in his seat so that he could reach into his jeans. He glanced at the display. Berke was calling and Mav was able to answer on the fourth ring.

“You took your sweet time getting back to me,” Mav answered through the vehicle’s hands-free link to his phone that sat down in the console so that he would be able to concentrate on driving. Too many states had different rules pertaining to cell phones while driving and he didn’t want to take any chances. “I spent the night up at the lodge but hit the road first thing this morning. Nothing major occurred overnight so Tank’s just going to have to wait a while longer for his apocalypse to happen.”

“Turn around.”

Mav must have heard wrong. Either that or the signal coming from the nearest tower wasn’t as strong as he’d originally thought.

“Say again your last,” Mav ordered, taking his eyes off the road long enough to glance up at the blue sky. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary and that’s when he realized what must have happened. Berke had spoken to Henley and she said something about their encounter earlier. Son of a bitch. He certainly didn’t want to look like a tool in front his friends. “Look, this situation is between me and Henley. She made up her mind about me long ago and nothing I say or do will change that. Hell, I don’t want her to change her mind anymore.”

“Mav, I don’t know what you’re talking about but it won’t matter in a few short hours,” Berke said, cutting to the chase. Mav could hear the tension in his friend’s voice. “I called Paige like you wanted me to at the USGS. They aren’t telling the public what they need to know—per orders from higher-ups.”