TWO
FOR OVER A WEEK, Tony stalked his grandparents’ house, looking for something to keep himself busy. How was he going to make it six weeks without going nuts? Or driving everyone around him nuts? More than once Abuela scolded him for moving around too much.
Tony decided that when Papa came home for lunch, he’d insist on returning to the hardware store with him for the afternoon. Papa was probably still using the same old cash register he’d had when Tony was in high school. Abuela couldn’t complain about him sitting on a stool and checking people out. It’s not as if the tiny store would be swamped with customers.
The thought of getting out of the house for a while lightened his dark mood. He stuck his head into the kitchen. “Can I set the table?”
Abuela flipped some frying potatoes. “That’d be just fine.”
Tony slipped behind her and gathered plates from the cabinet. When he’d first come to live with his grandparents, he thought it was odd that Abuela cooked her biggest meal at noon. The evening meal was lighter, usually leftovers.
He’d just finished placing the condiments on the table when Papa came in. Like clockwork, he closed the store every day at noon to come home and eat what his grandparents called dinner. Breakfast. Dinner. Supper.
“How are things going at the store?” Tony waited for Papa to sit down before pulling his own chair out.
“Good.” Papa never elaborated on work. “Robert Davis came in this morning.”
Tony almost dropped his fork. Sabrina’s dad. His heart kicked into overdrive. “Why’re you telling me?”
“He heard you was in town and he doesn’t want you getting any ideas about going out there and bothering Sabrina.” Papa’s words were clipped.
That meant Sabrina was in town. Her memory had haunted him for ten years. No way he was going to pass up an opportunity to make things right. He swallowed. “Nice to see Robert’s opinion of me hasn’t changed much.”
The platter Papa was holding hit the table with a thud. His eyes were hard as flint. “It’s got nothing to do with you. Or Robert. Sabrina hasn’t had it easy. Her fiancé was killed in Afghanistan, leaving her to raise her son alone. Robert only just convinced her to move back home where he could help her.”
Fiancé? Son? His racing heart plummeted. She’d moved on with her life, just like he’d wanted her to. So why did it bother him so much? “He told you all this today?”
Abuela piped up. “We heard about Sabrina’s fiancé years ago.”
“Years? When did this happen?” And more importantly, why hadn’t they told him?
“Let me think.” She pressed her lips together. “I guess it was about the same time you started at the police academy.”
Tony leaned back. Eighteen months. It’d taken her all of eighteen months to get over him and love someone else.
He had hurt her. On purpose. It was the only way to keep her from giving up her scholarship to follow him to Louisiana. The kicker was that he’d only accepted a job out of state so he could earn enough money to follow her to the university in Houston. But when he got to Houston, he couldn’t find her. She wasn’t in any of the student directories and none of their mutual friends knew where she was. If they did, they wouldn’t tell him. Now he knew why.
He shot a glance at Papa. “Why did Robert feel it necessary to send me a warning?”
“You know why.”
Silence filled the room. Yes, he knew why. Until he came along, Sabrina Davis had been Salt Creek’s brightest star. And he’d tarnished her.
Papa stood up. “Might as well come to the store with me. I need to get some inventory done if we have to go to Lampasas tomorrow morning.”
“Yes, sir.” Tony picked up his plate along with Papa’s and carried them to the sink.
The ten-minute ride to town was quiet. Tony expected another lecture from Papa about staying away from Sabrina, but nothing was said. His cell phone chimed as Papa parked his small truck in front of the hardware store he’d owned for decades.
Tony looked at the number and grinned as he answered. “Hello, David.”
“Are you still playing sick?”
“You’re just jealous.”
“Six weeks paid leave? Who wouldn’t be?” David laughed. “How close are you to Lampasas?”
“Twenty-two miles. Why?”
“Ashley’s dad is turning sixty-five this weekend. We’re heading to Hamilton tomorrow and have to go right through Lampasas.”
“Okay...” Did David want to stop by and see him?
“I thought I’d bring your SUV to you.”
Having his Dodge Durango would give him some measure of freedom. “That’d be great. I have a doctor’s appointment at ten in the morning, so I’ll already be in town. What time should I meet you?”
* * *
SABRINA WAS DUSTING THE mantel over the large fireplace again. She’d spent the better part of the last week deep-cleaning Dad’s house. There wasn’t much more to be done. She picked up one of the photographs perched on the ledge. A smiling woman with blond hair and laughing brown eyes grinned at her.
The screen door slammed shut as Levi tromped in from outside. “Who’s that?”
She traced the picture lightly as Levi came to stand beside her. “My mom.”
“She looks like you.” He took the picture from her. After staring at it for a moment, he let out a sigh. “I bet it would’ve been nice to have a grandma.”
The admission caught her off guard. She’d never thought about how much Levi had missed out on. “She would’ve been the best grandma ever.” She ran a hand over his back. “I really miss her.”
“She died when you were twelve?”
“Yes. She had breast cancer.”
He frowned. “At least you had two parents for twelve years.”
She sucked in her breath. She’d told him this one lie his whole life. What choice did she have? “I never thought about it like that. I guess I was lucky, in a way. But knowing her for twelve years makes me miss her that much more.”
Levi shoved the picture back at her. “What you’re really saying is it’s a good thing my dad died before I was born. Since I never knew him, it shouldn’t bother me, right?”
“That’s not what I meant at all.” She rubbed her temples. Constantly walking on eggshells around him was exhausting. Would he ever get rid of the chip on his shoulder?
His left dimple deepened as he pressed his lips together. Sabrina knew that look. He was deciding if he wanted to go into battle. His gaze darted around the room and stopped on the picture she still clutched in her hands.
Levi’s breath escaped like a deflated balloon. “Grandpa wants to know if you’re ready to go.”
She sighed in relief. His acts of defiance had diminished in the last couple of weeks. Especially when her dad was in the room. Looked like the school counselor was right—all Levi needed was a positive male role model. Why couldn’t she be enough?
“Run out to the barn and tell Grandpa I’ll be ready in five minutes.” They needed groceries, and at least Lampasas, twenty-two miles from Salt Creek, was big enough that she probably wouldn’t see anyone she knew. And by anyone, she meant Tony.
In a flash, her son bolted down the worn dirt path to the barn. A few minutes later, Levi and her dad ambled back to the house.
“Ready?”