Chapter Two
The next day Presley and her friend and business partner Eliza painted the walls of the main room in their new coffee house. With any luck, they’d be open in about a month. Worst case scenario, sixty days. There was still some carpentry that needed done, plus they were waiting on delivery of some of the equipment but it was slowly all coming together. She and Eliza were going to be business owners. It was a dream come true. Finally she was doing something more with her life than drifting from job to job with no real direction.
I have an amazing husband, two great kids, and now a coffee shop.
“I’m just saying it was weird,” Presley said to Eliza as they worked alongside each other. Eliza had paint in her dark hair and Presley’s shirt was covered in speckles. “Seth was acting very strange last night after we put the kids to bed. He kept smiling and humming. It was a little creepy.”
Eliza dipped her roller into the paint tray. “Wait a minute. Seth always looks happy around you.”
“This was different. It was…heck, I don’t know. It was like he was trying too hard, acting over the top. There was nothing out of the ordinary going on last night. We ate dinner, put the kids to bed, watched some television. But he was grinning like the Joker in one of Ben’s Batman cartoons.”
“That is creepy. Maybe he has some sort of surprise for you. Isn’t your birthday coming up?”
Presley snorted. “In a month. Since when has Seth Reilly planned a birthday celebration a full thirty days ahead? No, this is something else.”
“I think the paint fumes have made you paranoid,” Eliza laughed. “Your husband is happy and that makes you suspicious.”
Putting down the paint roller, Presley wiped her hands on an old rag before taking a sip from her water bottle. “Lately he’s been talking about how one of his deputies just bought a motorcycle and I could tell he was jealous. Maybe Seth spent our vacation money on a Harley and he’s afraid to tell me.”
“That would make him scared, not happy,” Eliza pointed out. “Unless he’s trying to cover up his fear that you’ll kill him.”
“I’m not sure I’d go that far but I would be surprised that he did it.”
Eliza put down her own roller and rubbed at her shoulders. “I’m sure it’s nothing that you’ll need to commit homicide over. I still think it might be something about your birthday. What did he do last year?”
Presley thought back to her last birthday and sighed. “We’d planned to go to Seattle for a long weekend but both Ben and Lulu got the stomach flu. Then of course Seth came down with it too. There wasn’t much celebrating going on for about a week.”
Eliza’s brows pinched together. “That’s terrible. But eventually you all got better, right?”
They had and Seth had tried to make it up to her but there just didn’t seem to be any time for just the two of them anymore. She wouldn’t trade her children for anything in the world though. She adored them with all of her being.
But just once she’d like to go to the bathroom by herself.
“We did recover and Seth brought home a birthday cake a few weeks later when we could all face food again.”
“So maybe he’s trying to make up for last year by planning something big this year. Something amazing…like Vegas.”
Sitting down on one of the metal folding chairs, Presley stretched out her tired legs. Every now and then she and Seth would sit around and dream about running away for a long weekend and Vegas would always be one of the places they wanted to visit. “I would love to go to Vegas but I doubt that’s going to happen.”
“Name two reasons why it couldn’t happen,” Eliza challenged, plopping into another chair across from Presley.
Two reasons? The truth was cruel.
Presley held up one finger. “One. Money. We’ve spent so much on the coffee shop there is no way that Seth would take me to Vegas. You know how cautious he is and hell, I’ve become just like him lately. Sure, we could absolutely afford to go but then we’d sit around and think of all the other uses that money would be. New kitchen cabinets. Snow tires. College funds. All the boring crap adults have to think about.”
“That’s one. What’s the second?”
The second was the worst. No more spontaneity. She had to be super organized to be able to get everything done every day that needed to be done.
Presley held up another finger. “And two? This one sucks. We’re not exciting anymore. We don’t do things on the spur of the moment. We plan and think things through. We only do things that make sense. We’re boring and stuck in a rut. No wait. I’m boring. I’m not exciting anymore. Seth is the way he’s always been. It’s me that’s changed and that’s probably the crux of all of this. He has to force himself to pretend he’s happy when he’s bored out of his gourd. He’s probably been trying not to fall asleep for a couple of years now.”
Eliza wore a scandalized expression. “There is no way that is true. Seth worships the ground you walk on, girl. You are not boring.”
Quirking an eyebrow, Presley almost choked on a gulp of water. “Really? Be honest. Am I the same person you met that first day in the diner?”
“Well…no,” Eliza conceded, her cheeks turning pink. “Of course everyone changes. But there’s a great deal about you that’s the same. That’s why we’re opening this coffee shop. People gravitate toward you. You make them feel welcome and at home wherever you are. That’s a wonderful quality to have.”
Presley leaned forward in her chair. “But am I exciting anymore?”
Eliza threw up her hands. “Define exciting.”
“I’ll take that as a no.” Presley slapped her forehead and groaned. “What am I doing? We shouldn’t be talking about me and my problems. We should be talking about you. You and your wonderful news. Did you tell Alex last night that you’re pregnant?”
Eliza had shown up at Presley’s door yesterday afternoon, nervous and almost in tears. After two years of infertility, she was late. Very late and she wanted to take a pregnancy test but she was scared after all the negative tests and all the disappointment. Presley had ushered her friend in and had been supportive while Eliza peed on three test sticks on the other side of the door. They’d all been positive and Presley was thrilled for her friend.
“I did and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him that happy,” Eliza sighed blissfully, then smiled and waggled her brows. “Needless to say, we celebrated.”
“That’s what got you in this situation in the first place.”
“Lucky me.” Eliza giggled but then turned serious. “Listen, why don’t you bring the kids over to my house on Friday night? Alex and I will watch them for the weekend and you and Seth can have some lovey-dovey couple time.”
“I couldn’t ask you to–”
Eliza waved Presley’s objections away. “I insist. We could use the parenting practice. What do you say?”
Time with Seth? Presley would never say no to that. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad for Eliza and Alex. Ben and Lulu often behaved better for other people than they did for Mom and Dad.
“I say yes and a huge thank you.”
She was already making plans. Not so boring plans. Lingerie. Champagne. Maybe even some candlelight. Forty-eight hours to make love to her husband. She wouldn’t waste a minute of it.
* * * *
The next morning, Deputy Hank stood next to Seth’s desk, a grim expression on his face.
“You got a minute? It’s important.”
Seth hadn’t even finished his first cup of coffee, made by Presley at home and poured lovingly into a to-go cup so he wouldn’t miss a drop of the delicious brew, but his senior deputy didn’t normally look like his dog had died.
“Sure, have a seat.”
The sheriff’s station didn’t have much privacy but they were the only two there except for Nina, the new administrative assistant, and she had earbuds in listening to music. Seth doubted that even if she could hear them speaking, she wouldn’t care to listen.
Settling into the chair across from Seth, Hank seemed to struggle with what to say.
“There’s been news and I’m going to tell you but I don’t want you to overreact.”
Carefully placing his cup on the desk, Seth nodded calmly. “You know those sorts of statements are exactly the kind that get people to overreact, right? Just saying don’t overreact can make people, in fact, overreact when they might not have otherwise.”
Hank winced. “Jesus, you sound like my wife.”
That made Seth chuckle. “Alyssa is a wise woman. Now what am I supposed to not get upset about? Are they trying to get me to run for mayor again because that shit is definitely not happening. That’s a thankless fucking job if I ever saw one.”
“No, the governor’s office called.”
“They want me to run for governor? Now that sounds a hell of a lot better, although the governor’s mansion is a bit small for my taste.”
Seth had been teasing but apparently this was no happy situation. Hank leaned forward, his lips a thin line. “You need to listen to me. The governor’s office called.”
Seth shut up this time and waited for the second part of the statement. He didn’t have to wait long.
“About Danny Harbaugh.”
Hank now had Seth’s complete and undivided attention. Danny Harbaugh was serving time for an attempted bank heist with his wife. A teller had been shot and killed along with Danny’s wife Lyndsey in the ensuing firefight.
“He still threatening revenge on me when he gets out?”
“Hard to say since Harbaugh was paroled day before yesterday but if I were to hazard a guess I’d say yes.”
Surely Seth hadn’t heard his deputy correctly. “Paroled? What the fuck are you talking about? There is no way Harbaugh could be paroled.”
“This is why I warned you not to get upset,” Hank said, exhaling noisily. “You need to keep a cool head on your shoulders with this guy on the outside.”
But Seth was still in denial. “I’m not following you at all. How on earth did he get parole? It’s insane. And how are we just finding out about this now?”
“He’s been a model fucking prisoner from all reports. He took classes and now has a certificate in airplane mechanics. He counseled new arrivals to help them transition.”
“Sounds like he’s been a ray of sunshine in that place,” Seth snarked. “And it’s all an act. He’s a goddamn narcissistic sociopath. You cannot reform a person like that.”
“You know how it is…budget cuts and pressure to lower prison population. He looked all shiny and new to the parole board. A reform story they can brag about, and they needed one after that other guy got out and slaughtered a family a few months ago.”
Seth still couldn’t wrap his head around it. Harbaugh had been quite vocal at his trial when he’d been dragged away. The minute he got out he was coming for Seth as retribution for Lyndsey’s death.
“To get parole a person normally has to take responsibility for their actions. I can’t see Harbaugh doing that.”
Hank sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know if he did or not. I asked the governor’s office to send us a transcript of the hearing and they said they would by email.”
A little light reading to make Seth’s day. Did that parole board even ask Harbaugh any questions or did they give him a Get Out of Jail Free card? Were they aware that Danny had a vendetta against a local sheriff? Obviously they had to be if the governor’s office saw fit to call this morning.
“Let me know when that transcript comes in,” Seth replied instead of asking all of the questions running through his head. Hank would only be frustrated that he didn’t have the answers. “I think I need to make a few calls.”
Seth could use some advice. And help, too.
Hank nodded and turned to go but then stopped. “Are you worried? He could be on his way here right now. Is there anything the guys need to do to keep you safe?”
“Just keep your eye out for Harbaugh and if you see him call for backup. Do not engage with him. He’s dangerous and not scared, a terrible combination.”
“So you’re not worried?”
Laughing, Seth smiled at Hank’s question. “You know the answer as well as I do. We’re lawmen and that means that every damn day somebody hates our guts and wants us dead. The only difference with Danny Harbaugh is that we know he’ll do it but honestly, anyone we come into contact could suddenly pull out a gun and shoot us. Every traffic stop, every domestic call, every unknown situation could be our last. Am I worried? For myself, no. For others around me, yes. I don’t need anyone hurt or killed in the crossfire.”
And that meant Presley and the kids. He’d do whatever it took to keep them safe.