Chapter 11

Elle

Elle was sitting close to the warmth of the fire in Harry’s bar with Kelly the next afternoon. Gracie had let them shut the diner early because it was dead. Gracie liked to keep the hours as consistent as possible, but given the enormously long shifts the girls pulled for her, she was happy to let them go home early when it wouldn’t affect business too much. Today was also a special day, because Grace was taking Luke to the zoo. They would be gone all day, and it meant Kelly could get out for a drink again, for the second night in a row. That was a rare treat for her.

“You didn’t have a hang over last night, did you?” Elle asked Kelly.

“No, not at all. Did you?”

“No, but I think I had a few nightmares about that story Harry told us.”

“I know what you mean,” Kelly said.

Elle picked up her glass and as she was about to take her first sip, Kelly nudged her on the arm.

“What?” Elle said.

“Over there.”

“Where?”

“Look,” Kelly said, pointing.

Elle looked over to the door, and sure enough, the man from the day before was entering. If Harry was right about him, his name was Forrester Snow. Elle caught herself staring at him and had to force herself to look away.

He looked different than he had the day before, dressed in an impeccably tailored black suit with leather shoes and an expensive cotton shirt. If it wasn’t for the tattoos peeking out at the cuffs and collar, he’d have fit right in in any executive boardroom in the country. To say he was dashing was the understatement of the century. He was positively ravishing.

Elle and Kelly watched his every move as he came up to the bar and sat on the other side of it, facing them directly. The bar made a large U-shape, with the space inside reserved for Harry. Forrester was across from them, about twelve feet from Elle’s eyes, and she took the opportunity to drink in the sight of him, every raw detail of his physique. She was under a spell, at least until Kelly kicked her on the shin.

“Ow,” she said.

“Well, let him have a drink without you drooling all over it.”

“I’m not drooling.”

“Elle, you’re practically leaning over the bar. If you try to get any closer to him you’ll fall over.”

Forrester ordered a beer and a shot of whiskey and only then looked around at his surroundings. Elle froze when he looked in her direction. She felt the blood rushing to her cheeks in an obvious blush of embarrassment. She felt suddenly hot.

“Hi,” Kelly said casually with a little wave.

“Afternoon, ladies,” Forrester said, and Elle let out a silent sigh of longing at the sound of his voice.

She prayed he didn’t look at her, because if he did, she was afraid she’d swoon and fall off her stool. But then he did look at her.

“Hey,” he said. “Thanks for last night. I was a lot more comfortable in the hotel than I was in my truck.”

Elle smiled. She tried to get her breathing and her galloping heart beat under control.

“No problem,” she said, and instantly thought her voice sounded weird. She was trying to think of something else to say to avoid any awkward silence when the door opened and more people entered the bar. Her heart sank when she saw that it was the same four troublemaker boys who’d harassed her and Kelly in the diner the day before.

“Oh, great,” Kelly said under her breath. “Here we go.”

“They won’t bother us in here, will they?” Elle said.

As if to answer her question, one of the boys came over to them and placed himself right between them. He put an arm around each girl.

“What are two beautiful girls like yourselves doing alone on a night like this?”

“Nothing,” Kelly said.

“And who’s your friend here? Sweet cheeks? Hot lips?”

“Her name’s Elle. Now, leave us alone, creep.”

“Creep?” the boy said. “Come on, Kelly. That’s not what you were calling me the other night.”

“Get lost, Phil,” Kelly said.

“You were begging me for more the other night. Now you don’t want to even look at me.”

“If you don’t get your hand off me and my friend in three seconds, I’m calling Harry.”

Harry was in the kitchen behind the bar and didn’t know that the boys had come into his peaceful establishment yet.

“What’s Harry going to do?” Phil said, making a face toward his other three friends. “He knows my daddy’s the mayor of this town. He knows what will happen to his liquor license if he so much as raises his voice to me.”

Kelly sighed, and Elle suddenly realized that the boy’s threat might be real. Maybe Harry was afraid of these boys, or more accurately their politician fathers.

“Harry,” she called. If this town was under the thumb of some spoiled, stuck up, asshole boys, she wanted to know that sooner rather than later. “Harry, could I get another drink?”

No answer. She knew Harry was back there somewhere, but he was avoiding a confrontation with the boys. So it was true. These boys had free reign it seemed.

Phil was now allowing his hand to slide down lower around the girls’ shoulders, getting dangerously close to touching their breasts.

“Not so fast, dip shit,” Elle said. “If you move your hand one inch more, I’m going to kick your ass.”

That caused a huge uproar of laughter from Phil and his three pathetic friends. Elle lifted up her bottle of beer and thought about smashing it into the side of Phil’s ugly head. But she couldn’t do it. She knew she’d regret it. If Phil’s father was mayor, and the other boy’s father was sheriff, she knew she really had no options. She couldn’t afford to get in trouble like that.

The three boys found themselves a booth while Phil continued to harass Elle and Kelly. Elle remembered that Kelly had dated this numbskull, and shook her head at the thought. If this was the way the men in the town were, it was no wonder that Kelly was single.

“So you’re going to kick my ass?” Phil said.

“Just get away from us, creep,” Kelly said.

“All right, all right, I’m a gentleman. I know when I’m not wanted.”

“That’s right,” Elle said. “You’re not wanted.”

It was at that moment that Harry came out from the kitchen. He must have had about as much as he could tolerate because he came right over to Elle and Kelly and he looked like he was about to say something. Elle noticed Kelly shake her head at him.

“We’re fine,” she mouthed to Harry.

Harry nodded, and Elle noticed a look of relief in his face.

Phil strutted across the bar over to the booth with his friends and Harry followed him. Elle watched as Harry took their order for two pitchers of beer and four burgers.

“What was that about?” Elle said under her breath to Kelly, referring to the interaction with Harry.

Kelly sighed. “He would have stepped in to stick up for us,” she said. “I know he would have. He’s done it before. But it’s not good.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s best to let those boys do what they want. Last time Harry stepped in, the mayor closed down the bar for a month. Harry couldn’t pay his bills. He almost lost the place. Those boys, I know them all too well. You already know Phil. That one sitting next to him is Patrick. The other two, sitting across are Randy and Hal. Their dads are the mayor, the sheriff, the district attorney and the county judge. Imagine trying to run a business in this town once you get in trouble with people like that.”

“I see,” Elle said.

“That’s why I thought it was better just to let Phil have his fun and wait for him to get bored on his own. I’d never be able to forgive myself if Harry lost his livelihood over something that could be avoided. It’s all he’s got. It’s been in his family for generations.”

Elle nodded. She understood the situation. Just when she’d been starting to think Stone Peak was too good to be true, she found out that she’d have to contend with these four. She looked over at the boys. She knew their type. They would have gotten on well with her ex, Gris. They liked to have fun, and at no time were they having so much fun as when they were causing trouble for someone else.

She looked across the bar at Forrester. He was looking down at his drink, pretending he hadn’t noticed any of what had just happened. Elle felt her heart sink a little. She understood why a guy like him wouldn’t want to get into trouble, she could respect a man trying to avoid a fight, but there was a tiny part of her that would have hoped that Forrester was the kind of man who’d step in when he saw an injustice. She had to admit, she was disappointed. Maybe he wasn’t the man she’d built him up to be in her mind. Maybe being abused by his father as a child had taken the courage out of his heart.

Harry had served the boys their drinks and came back over to the girls.

“I’m really sorry about that, girls.”

“It’s all right, Harry,” Kelly said. “It’s not your fault.”

“It’s not right of me to stand by while a boy speaks to ladies like that in my establishment.”

“You know what happened last time, Harry. It’s not worth the trouble.”

Harry nodded, but Elle could tell he wasn’t in full agreement. The situation was eating at him and he didn’t like it.

Elle and Kelly sipped their drinks in silence. The boys at their booth were laughing and joking about something. Harry went about his work as conscientiously as before, but there was a cloud over him now. Elle kept stealing glances at Forrester but he only looked down at his drink. Eventually she’d had enough and hopped down from her seat.

“What are you doing?” Kelly said.

“I’m going to talk to that guy.”

Kelly’s eyebrow rose. “Be careful,” she said. “It’s the quiet ones that are the most dangerous.”

“We’ll see about that,” Elle said, and rounded the bar, her beer in hand.

As she approached Forrester, his presence seemed to grow, to expand and take up the space around him. She could tell he held power. He was the kind of guy who could change things. He was the kind of guy who could make a difference.

So why had he just sat there while Phil pestered her and Kelly?

“Hey, did you find the funeral home?” she said to him as she approached.

He looked up at her from his whiskey and caught her in his gaze. Elle had to take a deep breath. He stared at her as if looking into her mind. She felt he could read her thoughts, and her main thought at that moment was that if he was so tough, if he was so hot and muscled and tattooed, then why couldn’t he stick up for her and Kelly?

“I found it,” Forrester said.

Elle waited, giving him an opportunity to elaborate on his father’s funeral, but he didn’t. He wasn’t much of a talker, Elle realized.

“How’s the burn?” she said.

Forrester smiled at the memory. “Again, I’m really sorry for acting like that yesterday. It was a weird day.”

Elle nodded. He pulled up the sleeve of his jacket and showed her the area the coffee had burned. The skin was red and tender, but it was nothing that wouldn’t heal in a day or two.

“It’s better already,” he said.

Elle didn’t hear what he said because she was so taken by what she saw. All along his arms were small, round cigarette burns.

“So it’s true,” she gasped, without thinking.

Instinctively, Forrester pulled down his sleeve.

“What’s true?” he said.

“Sorry,” Elle stammered, “nothing.”

“What’s true?” Forrester repeated. He wasn’t angry, more curious.

“I really shouldn’t say. It’s private.”

“What’s private?”

“It’s just,” Elle sighed, “I’m sorry, I know it’s none of my business, but you know how people talk.”

“About what?”

“I heard that you had cigarette burns on your arm. That’s all. I wasn’t sure whether or not to believe it, but now I see it’s true.”

“You heard that about me?” Forrester said.

“Yes. You know. Small town. People gossip.”

“I suppose they do,” Forrester said, almost amused that she’d heard something about him. He wasn’t used to it. He’d left Stone Peak when he was twelve years old. First he’d been in Billings, and later in California with Lacey and her father and the brothers. People in Stone Peak might have known his story, but by the time he arrived in California, he was just another kid with a past. He wasn’t used to people knowing his story. He’d never realized that everyone in Stone Peak might still remember him. He’d long forgotten all of them.

“I really shouldn’t have said anything,” Elle said, feeling awkward.

She glanced over at Kelly, who was watching the scene with a bemused look on her face.

To change the subject, Elle brought up the tattoos. “You like pit bulls?” she said. She was so flustered that she’d temporarily forgotten that the pit bulls played as integral a role in Forrester’s story as the cigarette burns. She just saw the tattoos that covered his arm, and brought them up.

“I guess I do,” Forrester said.

“How come?” Elle said, digging herself deeper and deeper.

Forrester thought for a moment. “I guess,” he said, “that they remind me that you can find kindness and love in the strangest of places. Sometimes it’s the very last place you expect, that you find the greatest treasure of all.”

“That’s a nice thought,” Elle said.

“Well, it’s just something I noticed growing up. It happened to me twice.”

“Really, when?”

Forrester laughed. “You have a lot of questions.”

“I guess I just find you interesting,” Elle said.

“And what about you? Maybe I have some questions of my own?”

“About me?” Elle said, surprised.

“Of course. It’s not every day I run into a girl that affects me the way you did.”

“I affected you?”

“You saw what happened,” Forrester said, fixing her in his powerful gaze. “You were pouring me coffee, and I just straight up reached out and touched your hand. That’s not exactly normal for me.”

“Have you ever done it before?”

“Of course not.”

“So why did you do it with me?”

Forrester shrugged. “I don’t know. A million reasons. Who can really say why any of us does any of the things we do?”

Elle was surprised at how comfortable she was starting to feel. She’d been so shy when she started talking to Forrester, she thought her nerves would have only gotten worse, especially because of the tone in which he was speaking to her. He was flirting with her. She was sure of it. But something about him put her at ease. She wanted to stay talking with him. She would have happily stayed there talking to him all night long, but it was at that moment that Kelly beckoned her back over.

Reluctantly, Elle acknowledged her.

“I think I’ve got to go back over to my friend,” Elle said.

The way Forrester looked back at her made her heart pound. He didn’t hold back a thing. He just looked straight at her, into her eyes, and even though she stared right back at him, he refused to look away. The moment lasted for seconds, but it felt like hours. Elle took a deep breath. She had no idea what she and Forrester might have communicated to each other in that moment.