Genesis: A Harte's Peak Prequel (5 page)

“Sure.” No pressure. He'd think of something. Right. He walked back to the living room, and although he was no scientist, he would swear that there was suddenly far less oxygen in the room.

The panic started as it always did, rising up from somewhere beneath his chest and spreading until every cell in his body sat on edge. Maybe if he just stood and watched her, he could keep her out of harm's way. He leaned against the wall.

Lexi glared. “I'm not a baby. You can go do whatever you have to do. You don't need to watch me.”

Yeah, a likely story. Turn your back on a teen, and you may as well turn your back on the ocean. He took a breath. “Your mother wants me to talk to you.”

Lexi gave a deep sigh accompanied by a well-practiced eye roll. “What a surprise. Let me help you out. There's nothing wrong with me other than I have an uber-controlling mother.”

Jack didn't think her controlling enough, but he kept quiet. In his silence, she kept going.

“Once you get to know my mom you'll see she overreacts to everything. I guess because she grew up like some kind of angel in a Hallmark card. But I'm different. I'm like my dad.” She raised her chin, a hint of pride in her dark eyes.

“But—”

“So you can spare me your speech on how important it is to stay in school, stay away from drugs, don't accept rides from strangers, listen to your mother, and go to church.” She held one finger in the air with every item she recited.

“That's pretty good.” She'd covered almost everything he thought about for close to two hours, other than church. In some ways, this kid was impressive.

“It's not like I haven't heard it all a gazillion times before.” She shrugged.

Although, apparently, all the advice wasn't getting through to her. He'd done his job and could now try to relax a little. He picked up the plate of lasagna he'd placed on the desk.

“And since you're being nice enough to let me borrow your computer, I'll clue you in on a few things, too. First of all, my mom is not as great as you think she is.”

“What makes you think…?” he protested. Great, the kid had noticed the interest he thought he'd disguised.

Lexi held up a hand. “Save it. For one thing, she's controlling. I don't think guys like that. Second, she's a Jesus freak. And lastly, and most important to you, my mother can't cook.
At all
.” She glanced at the plate of food in his hands.

He'd been looking forward to the lasagna and wondered if the kid was messing with him. Anyone could see she wasn't her mother's greatest advocate, not to mention kids were picky eaters, last he'd heard. And there was also the fact that he was starving.

“But you're welcome to try.” She said with a smirk.

One thing for sure, he was hungry enough to take his chances. The lasagna was still warm as he carried it into the kitchen, grabbed a clean fork from the dishwasher and took a large bite. It was then that he discovered that Lexi Bradshaw might be a lot of things—precocious, smart, hostile—but she was certainly no liar.

 

 

 

 

4

 

Maggie hummed as she dipped carafes in the sudsy water.

“You've been perky all morning. Want to tell me why?” Vera asked.

“I've got some good news. That's all.”

“So go ahead and spill it. What's going on?” Vera cocked her head to one side.

“I met my new neighbor, and he's a cop. He seems nice, and he agreed to talk to Lexi.”

“You're letting a perfect stranger talk to Lexi? What's wrong with you? Who is this guy?”

“Only one of Harte's Peak's finest.” In more ways than one, she had to admit.

“What did happen with Lexi? You ran out of here so fast I never found out.”

“That's a funny story.” Funny in hindsight, anyway. In a few minutes, she'd explained the whole mess to Vera.

“I know all the deputies since they've each written me at least one speeding ticket. Which one is it?” Vera wiped the counter while they experienced their afternoon lull.

“Jack Butler.”

“Butler?” Vera stopped wiping.

“Yes, why?” Maggie asked.

“Nothing, he's come in here before with Ryan.” Vera rolled her eyes, her standard response when saying Ryan's name. “Well, Jack is all right. For a cop. He was pretty polite when he wrote me up for a ticket last week. Lots of integrity. He wouldn't budge, despite my flirting. Handsome, too, don't you think?”

Maggie's cheeks burned. Leave it to Vera to have that be her first thought. “I hadn't noticed. He's just helping me hopefully straighten Lexi out. Anyway, you know I can't date right now.”

It was different for Vera, and not just because she was blonde, tall, and thin and looked like she should still be on a runway somewhere in Paris instead of the owner of a small town café.

“Your daughter is practically grown. And you can take care of Lexi, but who'll take care of you?” Vera asked.

Good question. “I guess I'll have to take care of myself right now.”

“That's no fun.”

“I wouldn't even have any idea how to act on a date. The last time I went out with someone, I'd just gotten my license. What do people do on dates these days?” Maggie was only half-kidding.

“Please, you sound like you're sixty years old instead of thirty-one. You have a lot of life left to live.”

“I know. I just don't know if Lexi will be OK with me living it.”

“Who's the parent?” Vera crossed her arms.

Maggie sighed. Vera didn't understand because she'd never been a parent or experienced putting herself last. Or even second.

“This is how you do it. You go out on a date and put the guy through his paces. Date him awhile, and if he's good material, then you allow him to meet the kid.” Vera spoke as though she were an expert on the subject.

She made it sound so easy, but Maggie had met Matt in high school. When he'd asked her out the first time, she didn't answer because the bell rang for fourth period and she didn't want to be late. Their romance was short -lived since she'd gotten pregnant with Lexi in her senior year, and both she and Matt left their youth behind at an early age.

“How do
you
know this stuff?” Maggie asked.

“Learned it from my sister, after she divorced her husband. It worked out fine, too. You're a rookie, but I'll help you out.” Vera flashed her runway model smile.

The difference was that Maggie had not divorced her husband, and even with all their problems, she doubted she ever would have. “Thanks, but I'm sure he's not interested in me. Even if I was interested in him. Which I'm not.”

“Whatever you say, Mags.”

Of course, Maggie had noticed his looks, but relationships were about so much more than that. Still.
OK, so the man is a hunk.
But a man was the last thing on her mind.

Vera wanted Maggie to get out there, start meeting people, live her life. But she was doing that now, finally reconnecting with her daughter, and readjusting her new definition of a family. It would be just the two of them now. The two of them and the Lord.

She certainly couldn't count on Lexi's grandparents anymore, even if they'd been the entire reason she'd moved back to California.

Maggie's cell phone rang, and she pulled it from her apron pocket. As she viewed the caller ID, her heart sank. “Vera, I'm taking a quick break.”

“Maggie? Is that you?” Paula Bradshaw's voice still grated on Maggie's nerves.
Please Lord, help me to be kinder. I know that I have to forgive her, and I already have. But it doesn't mean I have to like her, does it?

“Of course it's me, Paula.”

“We haven't seen Lexi in two weeks. We're the grandparents, or did you forget? Really, Maggie, must you be so selfish?”

“We've been busy.” Maggie wondered how long that excuse would satisfy them. Her guess was not much longer.

“We worry when we don't hear from you.”

“You don't have to worry. We're fine.” She could take care of her own daughter and resented Paula's implication that there was anything to worry about.

There was a pause on the other end of the line. “You say that now, but less than a year ago…”

Maggie cut her off. “I'm not interested in rehashing the past.”

“But we meant well. You were such a mess. And Lexi needs us, whether you like it or not.” Paula didn't know when to quit.

Seconds from hanging up on her, Maggie counted to twenty and remembered that Paula meant well and adored her only grandchild. “Why don't you come by tomorrow after church? But I'd like Richard to stay away. For now.”

“But what should I tell Richard?”

Maggie had a lot she personally wanted to tell Richard. Like the fact that he would never be able to hurt Lexi the way he'd hurt Matt. Not if Maggie had anything to do with it. “Tell him he can talk to Lexi over the phone. And ask him to stop mentioning the laptop. I won't let Lexi have unrestricted access to the Internet.”

“Richard was just trying to help. You have so many rules to follow.”

“I'm her mother, in case you forgot.” She liked to refresh their memory every now and then because they seemed to need the reminder.

“We know that.” Paula sighed. “Thank you, Maggie. I'll be over tomorrow in the afternoon.”

Maggie had been talking to her pastor about it for weeks, and it was time to give a little. Trusting them again would be a battle, but she had to step out in faith. Her trust was now fully in the Lord, and he required her forgiveness.

Except that the thought of how they'd betrayed her at her weakest moment would be impossible to ever forget.

 

****

 

The nightmares returned with the little sleep he managed, and even though the dreams hardly made sense, Jack still woke up in a cold sweat. This time he made his way across a mud filled lake, and on the other side was his old partner, U.S. Marshal Robert Craig.

Jack knew instinctively how vital it was to reach the other side of the lake while the boy stood next to Craig saying nothing, a smirk on his face. Just inches from his destination, Jack lost his footing and fell into a deep crevice. His head under water, he struggled to swim in the dense, sludge-filled water while the boy's laughter echoed around him.

The nightmares were his reward for finally getting some sleep. More than once, he'd picked up the bottle of sleeping pills and opened it. Stared inside to make sure the pills were still there. Then he closed the top again.

And now for the first time in weeks, he dialed the number for Bridget Logan, his doctor in Virginia. She asked how he was doing, and he pictured her short salt and pepper hair and probing dark eyes.

I'm not doing OK. I'm drowning. Someone throw me a line.
But he never gave voice to the thoughts any more than he had months ago when he sat across from her, and she'd pinned him with her stare. “Fine. Still have trouble sleeping.”

She paused a moment. “The pills will help with that, but something tells me you haven't taken any of them.”

Sleep without nightmares would be even better. If only they had a pill for that.

He heard the rustling of a paper on the other end of the line. “Have you found a new therapist yet?”

“Not yet. Still looking. This is a small town.” He rubbed his forehead, where the headache was starting.

“There's nothing more I can do for you. I hate doing this, but I have to close your file. It's important that you talk to someone. You need to find another therapist. As I've already explained PTSD is not something you can just—”

“Good talking to you, doctor.” Jack cut her off in mid-sentence and hung up the phone.

His state of mind was just fine, although his attention span considerably worsened every time he was near Maggie. The problem was sleep. Somewhere he'd read that a man could exist on four hours of sleep a night as long as it was restful REM sleep. Of course, the article never said a man would be at his best on four hours a night, or what that man should do if he was plagued by constant nightmares.

Logan might have gone to school for ten years, and she had fancy diplomas on her wall, but no matter what she said, she didn't know what it was like to know that two people were dead because of you.

He'd pulled another shift from Ryan who had taken a girl away for the weekend. As soon as he could leave and stop staring at the four walls, he'd stop thinking about the bad cook next door. The beautiful one with green eyes and coconut-smelling hair. The one with the smart-alecky teenager he was supposed to somehow rescue. Yeah, right.

He would be paired with Sheriff Calhoun, so he'd take the opportunity to ask him about those youth programs. Then maybe Maggie would be happy and leave him alone. He'd done what he could with Lexi. She wouldn't exactly listen to him, and neither did he want to keep trying.

Fortunately for Jack, Calhoun was always in a pious mood on a Sunday because he hated to miss church. If Jack played his cards right, he'd have Calhoun taking his place and mentoring Lexi. He'd probably welcome the challenge.

After checking in with dispatch, Calhoun and Jack took the cruiser out. If Harte's Peak was quiet on a normal day, Sunday gave new meaning to the word monotonous.

“How's the new place?” Calhoun asked.

Just like that, the door was opened, and Jack walked right in. In a few minutes, he'd explained the entire situation to Calhoun.

“The Bradshaws? I know them. They're part of my church family.” Calhoun frowned. “I knew something was going on there. Lexi always seems so unhappy.”

“You heard her dad passed away?”

“Yes, and they've been on our prayer chain many times. It was rough there for a while.”