Chapter Fifteen – Haley

“This pizza smells wonderful.” Haley inhaled deeply as she balanced the pizza boxes on her lap. They were nearly home after a perfect afternoon exploring the area around their new home.

Okay, so the house wasn’t built yet, but Buck reckoned they would be living there by Christmas.

Marie lifted her own pizza box to her nose and breathed in the smell of cheese and pepperoni. “I don’t think I can wait until we get home. My mouth is watering.”

“Stop drooling. We’re like two minutes away,” Alicia told her.

“Two minutes is too long,” Marie moaned.

Haley laughed. “You can wait. It’ll be too hot anyway. And I’d like us to all eat together.”

“Okay,” Marie agreed with a sigh of resignation.

“Good girl.” Haley smiled as her daughter sat staring at the box. “I bet it’ll taste even better when you get to eat it.”

“It’s going to taste just wonderful.” Marie looked up and watched the road, eagerly waiting for them to reach home.

As Buck parked the truck outside, they all spilled out onto the sidewalk, buzzing with excitement. The girls went ahead, and Haley waited for Buck. “This has been the best day ever.”

Buck slipped his arm around her shoulders. “I agree.”

“Are you happy with the price you paid for the land?” Haley asked.

“I am, yes. Mike could have driven a harder bargain, but I think he was happy someone else was going to live his dream.” Buck looked over his shoulder as they reached the front door and Haley got her key out of her pocket and unlocked it.

“Is everything okay?” Haley asked, looking back toward the street, but she couldn’t see anything suspicious.

Buck rubbed the back of his neck. “Paranoid, that’s all.”

“About Harrison?” Haley went to the kitchen, where she put the pizza boxes on the counter.

While she got glasses from the cupboard and took a bottle of ice-cold lemonade from the fridge, Buck opened the boxes and took a piece of pizza out. “This is so good.”

“Come on, you can bring the pizza and I’ll bring the drinks.” They left the kitchen and went to the living room where Alicia had switched on the TV and was idly flicking through channels while she ate a slice of pizza. Marie was stretched out on the floor with her pizza box next to her.

“What do you want to watch?” Alicia asked. Not a question asked very often, usually, most arguments were over who got to watch what on TV.

“I don’t know. What kind of things do you like, Buck?” Haley asked as she placed the glasses on a small table and then sat down on the sofa next to her mate. She smiled a secret smile, she liked that word. Mate.

“Stranger Things?” Marie offered when Buck didn’t answer.

“I’ve never watched it,” Buck admitted.

Two faces swung around and looked at him. “You haven’t?”

“I don’t watch a lot of TV.” Buck shrugged as Alicia flicked the remote and the show started.

“We need to educate you in the best TV shows,” Marie said evenly as she took a big bite of pizza.

Haley chuckled as she ate her pizza. “It seems you are going to be brought right up to date with all the delights of our modern world.”

“Hey, I’m not that old,” Buck protested with a smile. “But I am outnumbered.”

Haley leaned closer to him and whispered, “So when we have a baby, you’ll be hoping for a boy?”

His eyes darkened with longing as he searched her face to see if she was joking. “I don’t care, boy or girl.” He swallowed hard, the emotion in his soft brown eyes brought tears to her eyes.

“I don’t know if I’m too old.” She shrugged. “But I’m willing to try.”

He leaned forward and kissed her lips. He tasted of peppers and onion, with a hint of garlic. “I love you, Haley.”

She gave him a crooked smile. “I suppose we can say that now that we’ve known each other more than twenty-four hours.”

“Does that mean I can propose now, too?” Buck murmured against her lips.

“Maybe we should finish our pizza first,” Haley suggested, although her appetite was in danger of disappearing. The look in Buck’s eyes signaled a hunger that food would never satisfy.

But that would have to wait. This was family time.

***

“Could a bear fight a Demogorgon?” Marie asked. The girls were about to go up to bed and her question was aimed at Buck as he collected the pizza boxes and carried them out to the kitchen.

“Of course not,” Alicia answered. “Did you see that thing?”

“Since when did you know everything about bears?” Marie asked. “Could your bear defeat one?”

“He’d try,” Buck answered.

“Okay, Demogorgons aren’t real. Bears are. So let’s not argue about it,” Haley said as she ushered the girls upstairs.

“Are you okay?” Buck asked as Haley walked into the kitchen and began cleaning up.

“Yes, I’m tired. And I don’t like to think of you and your bear getting hurt trying to protect us.” Haley unlocked the back door and took out a bag of trash.

When she came back in he held his arms open for her and she went to him. “The ceiling looks good.”

Haley looked up. “Is that your not so subtle way of changing the subject?”

“You saw right through me,” Buck said as she lifted her head and he kissed her lips.

He tasted of pizza and lemonade, an intoxicating mix. As soon as the girls were settled in bed, she would suggest an early night. However, before she could ask, a knock at the door made her jump.

“Who’s that?” It was a ridiculous question since Buck had no way of knowing. But fear gripped her. “What if it’s about the baby? What if Tiana has gone into labor?”

She pulled away from Buck and went to the door, with him close behind her. As she reached to open it, his hand covered hers. “Why don’t I answer it?”

She stepped back. He was right, if it was Harrison come looking for trouble, it was better if he met Buck face to face. With a nod of agreement, Buck opened the door. “Hello?”

“Hello.” There was a long silence. “I was looking for Haley.”

“What are you doing here?” Buck asked roughly.

“I came to…” Another pause.

Haley stepped out from behind Buck. “I’m Haley.”

“I’m…”

“Krella.” Buck looked at Haley with uncertainty.

Haley’s face paled. “What do you want?” It was bad enough Harrison was stirring up trouble, but now this woman, who had tried to ruin Buck all those years ago, was here on her doorstep.

“Can I come in?” she asked, searching Buck’s face and then Haley’s. For what? “I’d rather not stand out here.”

Haley nodded, and a reluctant Buck moved to the side. Krella, five feet six, with dyed black hair, and a face that looked as if it had more cosmetic surgery than it needed, stepped inside. Haley looked up the stairs, she could hear the girls talking and didn’t want them to see their visitor. Or for their visitor to see them.

“In here.” She indicated the living room and walked behind Krella as she entered and then sat down on the sofa.

“I will be brief. Your ex-husband has been to see me. He wants me to go to the press about the incident.” Krella crossed her legs nervously.

“You mean the incident where you told the police that I beat you?” Buck asked savagely.

Krella ignored his attitude and nodded. “Yes.” Her voice had a hint of a foreign accent that Haley could not place.

“And what was your answer?” Haley asked, her stomach hollow. Was Krella here to demand money to keep quiet?

“I want you to stop him from asking such questions.” Her face was set firm.

“He’s not a dog on a leash,” Buck replied.

“He will be beaten like a dog if he does not stop.” Her threat carried a resolute tone.

“You’re threatening him?” Buck asked.

Krella stood up abruptly. “I am not the same person I was back then. It was a long time ago and I will not have the past raked up for all to see. If Harrison comes to see me again or speaks to anyone about what happened, he will be dealt with.”

“Why did you do it?” Haley asked suddenly. “Why did you lie about Buck?”

“I was paid to,” she admitted with a tilt of her chin that said she had no remorse for what she did.

“And now you want me to help you?” Buck asked.

She sighed and walked the length of the room. “I have a good marriage to a powerful man. A man who will crush your ex-husband with the heel of his shoe.” She ground her four-inch heel into the floor to make the point. “Whatever is between you and him, it does not concern me.”

“Then go to the police and tell them it wasn’t me.” Buck went to Krella. “I’ll go with you now, you tell the local sheriff you made a mistake and this all goes away.”

“You want me to admit I lied?” Krella asked in disgust.

“I want you to tell them you made a mistake. There is a difference.” Buck stood over Krella, but she was not intimidated by him. “You will free us both from the past.”

If only it could be that simple to free herself from the past, Haley thought as Krella nodded in agreement.

“I’ll be back soon.” Buck kissed Haley’s cheek and left the room, with Krella behind him.

As the front door closed, Haley reached out for the arm of the chair and sat down stiffly. What did Harrison think he was gaining by raking this all back up?

With a sigh, she got up and went to the kitchen. She needed to busy herself with something, anything to take her mind off Harrison and Krella.

“I didn’t expect her to come here.” Harrison stood in the middle of her kitchen, but he didn’t look as at home as he did before. Haley berated herself for not locking the back door, but perhaps it was good that Harrison had heard the conversation.

“She’s upset you went to see her.” Haley folded her arms and stood in the doorway, ready to fight him off if she had to. “You should watch yourself, Harrison. You might think you are a big man, but you aren’t.”

“I could take on that man of yours. I could beat him and take you back.” His fists clenched, and her heart rate quickened.

“Go away, Harrison.” She pointed to the door. “Go and get a life and leave us alone. Get yourself together, build a relationship with your kids. Before it’s too late. We’ve moved on. So should you.”

He took a step toward her, his face, the same face she had once been so scared of, a mask of seething anger. “Are you telling me what to do?”

“Mom, is everything okay?” Alicia appeared in the doorway. “Dad?”

“Hi, Alicia.” He put his hand up in a halfhearted wave. “You’ve grown up.”

“That’s what kids do,” Haley told him.

“If you’d been around you might know that,” Alicia said, her voice caught in her throat.

Harrison took a step back. “I’ve been…busy.”

“Doing what?” Alicia questioned, a challenge in her voice. Alicia had grown up in more ways than one.

“Getting my life back together.” Harrison nodded, looking for a way out. Here in front of his daughter’s gaze, he must see how he looked. Pathetic.

“And how is that going for you?” Alicia pressed for an answer, Harrison stepped toward the back door.

“Really good.” He nodded. “Really, really good.”

“Does that mean we can see you?” Alicia asked, and Haley’s heart hammered in her chest at the thought of her daughters with this man. But he’d never hurt them.

“Do you want to see me?” Harrison asked, genuinely surprised.

“You’re our dad,” Alicia said, as if it was obvious.

Harrison’s face went white. Despite everything, here was his daughter holding out a hand to him, offering him a relationship that he must have thought he’d burned to ashes. “I’ll figure something out.”

“Friday?” Alicia asked.

“Yes. Friday.” He nodded, his head bobbing up and down as if he didn’t know how to stop it.

“Don’t let us down.” Alicia walked toward him, hugged him briefly and then turned on her heel and walked back toward Haley. “Love you, Mom.” Haley hugged her mom and then left the room.

Haley let out a long breath, her knees weak. This wasn’t how she imagined the evening to end.

“You never turned them against me.” Harrison’s voice wavered.

“Why would I?” She put her hand over her mouth, swallowing down her tears. “They saw what you did. They lived through it. But they have choices and you are their father.”

He looked down at his feet and shuffled on the spot. “I thought they would hate me. And now you have this new man in your life…”

Haley burst out laughing. “You were jealous.”

“You’re my wife. They are my children.”

She walked toward him. “I was your wife. Now I’m not. Get over it.” She drew in a deep breath. “Now get out of my house. And if you ever let yourself in again, I will see you in court.” Squeezing past him, she yanked the door open. “I’m not in the mood for second chances.”

Harrison left. She didn’t meet his eye. She wanted to believe that he could change. And if he didn’t? Well, she wasn’t afraid of him anymore. She would not give him that power.