Chapter Eleven #3
When they reached Dylan’s two-story red brick house in the new neighborhood being built just inside the city limits, Carly rang the doorbell while Owen stayed in the truck with the teenagers.
After introducing herself, she explained what had happened.
Dylan’s parents thanked her for her help and for not contacting the police.
They insisted they would call Mason to apologize anddiscuss the issue with Dylan in the morning.
Then Owen and Dylan’s father got the teenager into his room.
A few minutes later Carly, Owen, and Ryder pulled up to her house. “Are you as done with dealing with this as I am?”
Owen laughed as he reached into his truck to get Ryder. “Who would’ve guessed a night of bowling could be so exhausting.”
With Owen holding Ryder up on one side and Carly on the other, they maneuvered him toward the house. By the time they reached the front door, her dad stood waiting.
“Mason called and told me what happened,” her father said, his hand shaking as he raked it through his salt-and-pepper hair standing on end.
Dressed in gray sweatpants and a wrinkled undershirt, he looked older and wearier as he glanced at her uncertainly.
“I laid down the law with Ryder the last time we talked. I swear, Carly.”
“I believe you.”
“This time I’m gonna follow through on what I said and take his truck. In fact, to make damn sure he can’t hot wire it, I’ll take the battery out.”
Carly stared at her father, then realized her mouth was hanging open, and snapped it shut.
Somehow while she’d been gone, her father grew a pair, and decided to become a parent.
Oh, Lord. Did that mean the world was ending?
Her father removed Ryder’s arm from around her shoulder.
“You get his bedroom door, and Owen and I will haul him upstairs.”
As she led the way to Ryder’s room, she said, “We probably should call his friend Dylan’s parents tomorrow to talk about what happened.”
“I’ve talked to his father a couple times at the feed store. I’ll call him in the morning. Maybe we can figure out what to do to straighten these kids out.”
Carly resisted the urge to run for cover for fear that Armageddon was upon them. Either that or aliens had taken control of her father because nothing else could explain his behavior.
“Thank the good Lord you two were there so he didn’t get hauled into jail.” Her father nodded toward his son hanging/stumbling between him and Owen. “This damn fool is too young and stupid to know how tonight could’ve screw up his life.”
After depositing Ryder on his bed, her father thanked Owen, and scooted out, leaving her and Owen there. “I should keep an eye on Ryder. Can you show yourself out?” she said.
Before he could answer, the screech of wood against wood echoed in the hallway. A second later, her father slid her mother’s rocker into the room and positioned it beside his son’s bed. “You two go on. I’ll watch to make sure he’s okay.”
Shaking her head, Carly stumbled from the room with Owen following her. “I don’t know who’s taken over my father’s body, and frankly I don’t care. I just hope he sticks around.”
That and he learned some accounting basics.
“Who says an old dog can’t learn new tricks?” Owen joked.
“But why now?”
He shrugged. “I guess the saying don’t look a gift horse in the mouth applies here.”
She groaned. “We’re so tired we’ve lost the ability to speak in anything but clichés. Isn’t it amazing what stress does to our bodies? But I don’t have to tell you that. You’re in one of the most stressful jobs there is.”
“Our running joke was the job’s filled with hours of boredom broken up with periods of brief terror.”
“People don’t realize how stressful monotony can be.” Having reached the front door, Carly opened it. When Owen stopped beside her, the familiarity of their situation bombarded her as her heart rate accelerated. Would he kiss her as he had countless times in this very spot years ago?
“Are you speaking from personal experience about the boredom?”
“No one would call my life exciting, except for tonight, but that wasn’t the good kind.”
He titled his head and his eyebrows rose.
“Don’t get me wrong. The first part of the night was fun, but the last bit was a little rough.
” Her hand holding the door open tightened.
“Did I thank you for what you did tonight? If not, thank you. I’m pretty sure I could’ve talked Dylan into letting us drive him home, but it was nice having backup if I needed it. I’ve never—”
Owen placed two fingers over her lips, stopping her nonstop nervous chatter.
“You were a damn fool to deal with those two alone. Drunk and high on hell knows what else makes anyone unpredictable. Mixing that with teenage stupidity and the anger I saw in Dylan’s eyes made him more dangerous.
I’ve seen that look before, and it’s never good.
Don’t ever confront anyone like that alone again. ”
Owen’s low voice wavered. His genuine concern for her reached inside her, warming her, thawing small corners of her she hadn’t realized had frozen.
He’d been worried about her? She couldn’t remember the last time someone had been concerned for her.
People expected her to cope, to manage, to be strong, and she always had been. But lately she’d grown weary.
His hand shook as he swiped it across his face. “I’ve never been that scared. If I’d been a minute later, you could’ve been out cold on the floor because Dylan decked you. The thought of that took five years off my life.”
Dylan’s face, lined with anger, his body rigid from the emotions coursing through him flashed in Carly’s mind. For the first time, fear over the situation rippled through her. She wrapped her arms around her middle to keep from shaking.
“I should’ve been more careful. I’ve been wanting some excitement in my life, but silly me, I didn’t specify the good kind,” she joked to ease her fears over how she’d naively confronted Dylan and what could’ve happened if not for Owen.
Finally harnessing her courage, she peered up at him. Desire for her, of an intensity she never dreamed of, had replaced the concern on his face. She couldn’t breathe. He stepped closer, and she couldn’t move. Didn’t want to.
“If you want excitement, I can give you that, and trust me it’ll be the good kind.”
She wanted Owen with a desperation that both scared and thrilled her. “Yes, please.”