This was a bad idea.” Lucas hung back next to Lance’s pickup where no one else could see him.
“What’d you mean?” Levi asked, coming around the other side. “This is perfect. You help out with the fire mitigation for a while, show that you’re concerned for citizens of Topaz Falls, and you’re back in the fold. Simple as that.”
“Yeah. Simple.” Sometimes it appeared his younger brother actually grew up in Disneyland. Or maybe all that optimism was the result of everyone jumping in front of him to take on the brunt of the shit storm in his place.
“No one’s gonna say anything.” His father hauled a chain saw out of the truck bed. Never mind that the man had Parkinson’s. He wasn’t about to be left at home or leave the heavy lifting to his sons.
Lance took the chain saw away from their father before Lucas could get to it. “This is important work. They know we need all the help we can get.”
He had a point. They had a hell of a lot to do. With the dry spring and a hot start to the summer, most of the brush and dead trees on the outskirts of town would make great kindling. One spark and the whole mountain could go up in flames.
“There’s only one problem,” Lucas said to his brothers as he eyed the group standing near a familiar Land Cruiser. “Marshal Dobbins is here.” Didn’t make much sense to him why the man still held a grudge, but he’d made it known. In fact, Dobbins had made it known that he hated the entire Cortez family. Lucas suspected that Marshal had somehow discovered Luis had had an affair with his mother years ago. Back in the day, Luis Cortez had made a lot of mistakes, all of which he’d later owned up to.
“Dobbins is harmless,” Levi insisted, but Lance glared over at the man, eyes narrowed and dark. He’d been with Lucas a couple of months ago when they’d run into Marshal at the Tumble Inn. The man had been drunk and tried to start something, but in prison, Lucas had learned to walk away.
“That kid had a tough time after his dad left,” Luis reminded them, as if that excused him from everything.
“Time for him to get over it.” An insinuation hid in Lance’s tone. If Marshal didn’t get over it on his own, he would obviously be willing to help him out. But Lucas didn’t want to cause any trouble in town. Especially not today, when they were supposed to be helping. Especially not after the conversation he’d had with Naomi a few hours ago. The hope in her eyes when she’d asked if he was staying had burned into him. Levi was right—God help him for saying that—he had to get on the town’s good side if he wanted to stick around and prove to her they could make it work. Getting into a brawl while they were volunteering wouldn’t help his cause.
“Guess we should go over and get our assignment then,” Lucas said, heading to where Hank Green sat in a camp chair behind a plastic folding table. The man obviously wasn’t dressed to work, if his pressed gray slacks and sweater vest were any indication. Besides that, his wide girth didn’t exactly scream manual labor.
Lucas approached the table first, hoping Levi would keep their dad away. Luis and Hank Green had a hard time being civil to each other.
“Good of you to stop by,” Hank said, sounding as phony as if he’d suddenly stepped behind a pulpit. “But it would appear we have all the help we need for today.” The man’s watery eyes settled on Lucas and sent the message behind the words. He wasn’t welcome here.
“Bullshit.” Lance pushed past him. “You’re gonna turn down help that could make a difference for the town?” he demanded. “You’re a bigger moron than I thought.”
Green’s cheeks got all ruddy and it was everything Lucas could do not to laugh. That was exactly the way the man had looked when their father had proven they hadn’t stolen from his store in junior high.
“Last I checked this here was public land.” Lucas glanced around. Most of the crews were already heading out. Looked like Dobbins was gone. He stepped closer to the table and studied the map. “There’s a whole section on the east side that isn’t designated.” He pointed it out to Green. Likely because it was the steepest terrain. Nothing they couldn’t handle, though.
“Fine,” the man snipped. “You can take that. Just don’t make any trouble.”
“When are you gonna stop making trouble?” their dad called.
Lucas quickly slung an arm around Luis. “We’re here to help,” he said to both Green and his dad. “Seems to me when something’s threatening the town we can all put aside our differences and work together.”
Both men harrumphed. After another glance at the map, Lucas dragged his father back to the truck.
“He has no right to treat you that way,” Luis muttered.
“Doesn’t seem to stop most people.” He’d gotten used to it. Lucas unloaded another chain saw. But he was over it—the glares, the comments. He was done fighting them. The best thing he could do was go about his life. Eventually people would get tired of giving him a hard time and they’d move on to something else. They wouldn’t have a choice.
The four of them headed up the hill, crunching through the underbrush, Lucas and Lance carrying the chain saws.
“I’m warning you,” Green called after them. “If there’s any trouble, I’ve got Dev on speed dial. You so much as blink wrong I’ll have him up here.”
Lucas stopped and turned back to him. “I’m here because I want to be part of this town. Same as everyone else.” Best if Green knew that now.
The man stood so fast he knocked over his chair. “I heard you’re headed back down south.”
Of course he had. “Nothing’s set in stone yet.” He shot the man a nice big grin. “I’m thinking of sticking around for a while.” A long while if Naomi would let him.
Green didn’t seem to know what to say to that. Words fumbled on his lips, but Lucas didn’t give him a chance to get them out. “Anyway, don’t worry about a thing. We’ll take care of the east slope,” he said cheerfully. “You stay out of our way and we’ll stay out of yours.” With a tip of his hat, he ambled off to join his brothers.
Lance had already fired up the chain saw and was working on a dead plume of scrub oak while Levi piled up the gnarled fallen branches. When they saw him approach, his brother shut off the chain saw.
“He give you any shit?” his dad growled like a dog looking for a fight.
“Nah.” Hank Green was the least of his worries. Everyone knew he’d always had it out for their family. “I could give a shit about getting on his good side.” It was everyone else he had to win over. No one listened to Green anyway. The only reason he’d been elected as mayor last March was because Edward Collins, the man who’d served as mayor for seven years, had met a woman online and moved to Canada, which meant the town had to scramble to elect someone and Green was the only one who’d thrown in his hat.
“So how’s Naomi taking the news about Mark?” Lance asked, tossing over an armload of branches.
“She wasn’t taking it well.” He should’ve known better than to start kissing her last night. She was still in shock, too emotional.
“Can’t say I blame her.” Their father dragged over a fallen log, and Lucas quickly scrambled to lift the other side.
“What’s she gonna do?” Levi asked, tying a bundle of branches with twine.
“She’s gonna call Mark and invite him to the next family dinner so he can meet Gracie.” At least he thought so. They hadn’t exactly had time to confirm the plan when he’d left her place.
He and Luis set the log up so Lance could cut it.
“And what about you two?” His older brother didn’t turn on the chain saw. “You two get anything sorted out while I was forced to feed the horses?”
“I guess you could say that.” Though his brother and Jessa hadn’t quite given him enough time to make sure. “I told her I’d like to stick around. Give it my best shot.”
And the happiness that lit her eyes solidified his decision.
He didn’t care how much Hank Green badgered him. He wasn’t about to leave Topaz Falls unless Naomi told him to herself.
* * *
Naomi slipped on a pair of Jackie O sunglasses and pulled the straw fedora lower down over her forehead.
“You look like Lindsay Lohan leaving rehab,” Colton said, giving her a critical eye.
“I don’t want anyone to recognize me.” That was why, when Mark had asked her on the phone where they should meet, she’d picked this little diner an hour outside of town. The rumor buzz had only recently started to die down in Topaz Falls. At least people weren’t elbowing each other and whispering when she passed them in the grocery store anymore. She couldn’t afford to start it up again.
“A straw fedora and sunglasses is classic code for I’m hiding something,” Colton insisted, parking the Hummer as far away from the other cars in the parking lot as possible. “Trust me, you’re only drawing more attention to yourself.”
“Well, hopefully if anyone I know is in there, they won’t recognize me,” she snapped.
“You’ll be as inconspicuous as Elizabeth Taylor,” he muttered, getting out of the SUV. She got out, too, her annoyance with Colton somehow distracting her from the nerves that left her feeling fragile. That’s why she’d brought him. She needed a smart-ass to rile her up so she wouldn’t break down and cry. When she’d told Mark the test results over the phone, the whole situation had suddenly felt real. She would have to share Gracie with a complete stranger. She’d have to give up nights of tucking her in with five rounds of one more kiss. She might have to give up holidays…
“You know, you should’ve worn a trench coat, too,” Colton mused. “Preferably zebra print. Hot pink and black.”
She punched him in the shoulder and it made her smile.
He smiled back as he held open the door.
“Table for two?” the hostess asked when they stepped inside.
“Oh no,” her friend scoffed. “We’re not together. I’ll just take that table over there by the window. Is that the farthest one from the kitchen?” He leaned in closer to the poor woman. “The smell of grease makes me nauseous.”
Naomi moved in front of him and butted him out of the way. “I’m meeting someone else,” she said. Then added, “You can just put him at the table closest to the restrooms. He has irritable bowel syndrome.”
“Hey,” Colton said, feigning shock. But he reached over and squeezed her hand. “My work is done here. Go get ’em, tiger. Hold him to the promise that this is all on your terms.”
“Thank you.” She squeezed his hand back, then left him standing with the speechless hostess and made her way down the row of tables until she spotted Mark. He sat in a booth by the window.
He stood as she got close, and she still couldn’t get over how different he seemed, how the smile lines and the kind crinkles around his eyes made him look like a true gentleman. Instead of beating him down like she’d always assumed they would, the years seemed to have refined him, giving his face a softer quality and his eyes a wiser tint.
“Thanks for calling,” he said, standing awkwardly still, as though he wasn’t sure if he should shake her hand or lean in for a hug.
“Of course.” Without doing either, she sat, leaving the hat and sunglasses in place.
If he noticed the disguise, he didn’t mention it.
“I wasn’t sure you’d call.” He sat down across from her, folding his hands around a steaming mug of coffee. “After Lucas came to see me, I—”
“What?” The surprised gasp nearly throttled her. “Lucas came to see you?”
“Oh.” Mark sat up straighter. “I thought you knew.”
“Um, no.” He definitely hadn’t mentioned a meeting with Mark. “I wasn’t aware,” she said, doing her best to make it sound like it was no big deal.
“He wanted to make sure I didn’t get any ideas about being with you again.” He half laughed. “I told him not to worry. That wasn’t my purpose in coming back. You know that, right?”
Nodding, she tried to picture Lucas walking up to Mark’s door. That must’ve been fun for him. She probably should’ve mentioned that Mark was married.
“I know you never loved me,” Mark said. “We didn’t love each other. Not enough to make a lifetime work.”
A sad sigh slipped out. “I thought I could love you.” She’d been foolish enough to think she could force those feelings to develop.
“I didn’t expect you to. Everything happened so fast. And I regret a lot of things, but I don’t regret bringing Gracie into this world. I could never regret that.”
Yes. That was so true. Every moment of pain Naomi had experienced was worth it because it had given her the most amazing daughter in the world. But if that was how he felt, why hadn’t he contacted her sooner? “Why did you wait so long?” She figured she’d earned the right to ask.
A waitress chose that minute to swoop in with a coffee pot. “Hi there! What can I get you?” she asked Naomi, leaning over to refill Mark’s mug.
“Oh.” Naomi took a glance at the menu, but nothing sounded good. “Just some coffee, please.”
The waitress’s smile dimmed as she turned over Naomi’s mug and filled it. “Let me know if you want anything else.” She quickly scurried away, likely in search of bigger tips.
Mark ripped open a sugar packet and dumped the whole thing into his coffee. “I waited to get in touch with you because I was afraid,” he said simply.
“That’s not an excuse.” God, she was glad she’d brought Colton along. The whole ride there he’d built her confidence and now she wasn’t about to back down. Mark might be a different person, but that didn’t change the fact that he’d walked out on his daughter. She didn’t even care so much about him leaving her. She simply didn’t understand how a parent could abandon his child. “I was scared, too,” she reminded him. “But I loved her so much it didn’t matter.” Love could always trump fear. She’d learned that real fast.
“I know.” Mark didn’t seem surprised by the challenge in her tone. And he didn’t shy away from it, either. “I didn’t know how to love anyone. Except myself.” He continued to stare back at her as though willing to face up to all of it. “I knew I didn’t deserve a place in her life. For the two years after I left, I moved from apartment to apartment barely able to feed myself. Then I started working for a landscaper and he gave me a chance, taught me how to work hard. When he got sick, he let me buy his company and I’ve spent the last five years building it up.”
“I don’t care about your job.” Didn’t he get that? “You could work at a gas station and it wouldn’t matter as long as you loved Gracie, as long as you could take care of her.” That was it, what wrecked her the most. “I don’t trust you, Mark. I don’t trust that you won’t work your way back into her life just to make yourself feel like a good person and then abandon her again. I have to protect her from that. Before you spend one minute with her, you’ll have to convince me that you won’t walk away again.” Because it would destroy her.
“That’s fair.” He leaned in with a look of complete sincerity. “I already told you I’ll do anything. This can be on your terms. When I get to spend time with Gracie—”
“If,” she corrected. “If you get to spend time with her.”
He nodded. “If I get to spend time with her, I promise you I won’t take it for granted. I’ll be there for as long as she’ll let me.”
Naomi didn’t acknowledge the emotion behind his words. Right now, this wasn’t about emotion for her. It was about protecting Gracie.
“I’m going to leave this decision up to her.” She lifted the mug to her lips and took a long sip of coffee. “I want her to meet you. We can schedule a big dinner at Lance and Jessa’s place so she’s comfortable. And after that, she’ll be the one to decide if she wants to have anything to do with you.”
“Understood,” Mark said automatically. “I think that’s a great idea. Name the day and I’ll be there.”
Naomi set down her mug, but she couldn’t seem to let go of it. The warmth brought comfort in the midst of uncertainty. Mark seemed so nice and accommodating, but she still had to find a way to help Gracie understand all of this. She still had to help her navigate this monumental change in their lives. She couldn’t plan the dinner until she’d told her. “I’ll let you know.” She’d have to tell Gracie about Mark, then schedule something with Jessa. “I’d like to do it within the next couple of weeks.” As tempting as it was, she couldn’t drag this out.
“Sounds good.” Mark’s head tilted as he looked at her. “I hope I didn’t mess anything up by telling you Lucas came to see me.”
“Oh. No.” She wasn’t sure there was something to mess up. “Things with Lucas are a little complicated right now.”
“Doesn’t seem too complicated to me,” he offered. “It’s so crazy. After all these years, all you two have been through, the man would still do anything for you. Don’t hear that too often. High school sweethearts making it through all that.”
They hadn’t made it through anything, yet. She was still trying to process what it meant that he wanted to stay in Topaz Falls. And even though she was thrilled at the prospect, she also feared how Gracie would handle all of these changes. No matter what, she had to make her daughter her first priority. Which meant she and Lucas would have to take things slow. Not that she wanted to have this conversation with Mark, of all people. “I should get going.” She stood and threw a few dollars on the table to cover the coffee. “Thanks for coming up,” she said distantly. “I’ll let you know when we can schedule a dinner.”
“Okay. Sure.” He stood, too. “Thanks again, Naomi. I really appreciate all of this.”
Technically he shouldn’t be thanking her for anything yet. “We’ll be in touch,” she said, then turned away and walked calmly to Colton’s table.
He was busy picking at a pile of lettuce greens with a fork. “I thought I ordered a chef’s salad, not what they fed the barnyard animals yesterday.”
She shook her head. “Come on. Let’s go get you some real food.”
He threw down a twenty and bolted out of the booth as if he’d been waiting for that invitation for an hour. “So how’d it go?” he asked as they walked out the door.
“Good.” She realized how much lighter she felt now. Almost buoyant. It hadn’t been nearly as hard as she’d thought it would be to face Mark. “I told him there was no excuse for walking out on his daughter. And then I told him I didn’t trust him.”
Colton raised his hand for a high five. “You’re a total badass.”
“Ha,” she said, but slapped his hand anyway. She didn’t care about being a badass. But somehow in the midst of the confusion and uncertainty of the past few days, she was finding herself—rediscovering her courage and her confidence. Maybe she really could be the brave girl Lucas had once loved. Only older and wiser and ready for something far more than she would’ve been at eighteen. The thought chased out a smile.
Maybe this really was their time.