CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
-:- DALLAS -:-
Sitting on the couch with yet another Irish coffee, Cork knows that I’m not going to forget about his odd phone call. It’s great that he missed me, but I’m not stupid enough to think that would be the only reason he wanted to speak to me.
“If I decided to come out of the security business, what do you think I could do instead? There isn’t much call for cowboying around here, is there?” I feel him tense up before he answers.
“You could always be a full-time stay-at-home mommy. That’s a career I could help you with.”
“I’m being serious, Cork. I don’t want a career that will have us living like ships that pass in the night.
That would suck. What could I do that pays well but is more or less nine-to-five hours?
There has to be something.” I hope he takes this seriously and comes up with a suggestion.
“It’s not that I don’t like security, but the hours aren’t going to be conducive to a happy married life if we’re on opposite shifts half the time. ”
“I was being serious too, Dallas. If we find a place suitable to move in and start a family, I’m more than happy to do that.
Kids, yard, dogs, white picket fence. That sounds like heaven to me.
I’m not the typical Neanderthal biker that wants his woman home and chained either to the bed or the sink, but I am a big fan of family.
My early years were shit, and I don’t want that for our kids, no way.
Any time you want to quit work and get a baby in your belly, I’m all for it.
” This certainly gives me food for thought, although we’re talking kids and aren’t even hitched yet.
Getting back to my original train of thought…
“Oh, and talking of work. What was that weird phone call about earlier? Don’t give me some bullshit answer either. God’s honest truth, what was going on?”
“I was busy in the shop, and as I was near the window, I got the strangest feeling that I was being watched or something. It made all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I couldn’t find anything wrong near me, so I just wanted to check you were okay. That’s all it was.”
“Next time that happens, you tell me, you hear? Your instincts could be right, and there might be something I’ve missed.
You do whatever you feel is right, but let’s have less of this hiding thing and start sharing more.
Suppose you were right to be worried about me, didn’t share it and something happened to me?
Then how would you feel?” I give him a withering look and then snuggle back into him.
“I’ve been a pain in the butt to poor old Pryce. Missing you combined with his poor sense of humor has had me in some nasty moods. It’s a wonder he hasn’t asked me if I was suffering PMS!” Getting a squeeze from Cork tells me he missed me, too.
“It has been an odd few weeks from getting bashed over the head, waking up, seeing an angel, then falling in love with her, planning a marriage. Wow. Who would have thought, eh?” He sounds pleasantly surprised by it all.
“You thought I was an angel? How sweet is that?”
“You know what the man said…”
“What man?” I ask, puzzled.
“You look like an angel, but you’re the devil in disguise! Elvis, the King. That man. He must have thought of you when he wrote that.”
“Erm, a bit before my time, thank you very much, and I’ll give you a devil!
” A scuffle ensues as I try to show him who’s boss!
It doesn’t take much effort from him to have me subdued, and then he kisses the everlovin’ heck out of me.
When he lets me up for air, I’m all glassy-eyed and limp.
Scooping me up, he carries me to the bedroom where I show him just how much of a devil I can be.
Awake earlier than usual, I give Mom a quick phone call and see if there have been any more dreams that I should be aware of.
Everything is good at their end, and they are both excited about the wedding.
I feel they are planning on coming over to stay for a while both before and after the event.
It would be good if they did. I hadn’t realized how much I'd missed them until talking to them again.
Work goes by uneventfully. There was a moment when I thought we were being tailed, but I asked Pryce to pay attention to what was going on behind us and he spotted nothing. I think my bad feeling combined with Cork’s hackles has me seeing things.
I have an appointment after work at the gun range with Winter.
I like Winter, I’ve decided. She’s a badass with any weapon I’ve seen her with, and Raven told me she can handle anything anyone throws at her.
She teaches archery with both a bow and a crossbow, all types of firearms, throws Meat’s cleavers as though she was born with a silver one in her hand, and according to everyone, she’s on par with Target as a sniper.
Someone to aspire to be like and at the same time, someone you don’t want to piss off!
Parking in the range lot, I take a moment to check myself in the mirror.
Ruffle my hair, check my makeup, etc. In reality, I’m scanning the area for anything untoward.
When I take notice of what I’m doing, I laugh at myself.
What the hell is going on with me? I need to take a chill pill and maybe have a couple of extra Irish coffees tonight.
Walking towards the entrance, I see Winter waiting for me. She scans the parking lot as I walk up to her, and she frowns at me. “What’s up, Dallas? I saw you pull in and then take a moment to have a good scout of the lot. Something wrong?”
“I think Cork and I are cracking up, that’s all.
” I spend the next few minutes telling her about my bad feeling and his hackles.
Far from being amused by it all, as I expected, she takes it all very seriously.
Selecting a few handguns, she has me trying them out for size, and those that I feel comfortable with she has me firing off a few rounds.
In the end I settled for a Springfield with a beautiful leather shoulder holster that held two spare magazines on the opposite shoulder. All very special, and Winter was sorting out the paperwork for me.
Getting back to weapons training, I have to dismantle and reassemble each weapon Winter has provided before I’m allowed to do the good stuff of firing them.
I love firing the rifles, but I get so excited I can’t hold steady enough to get a good result.
I hit the target every time, but none are what Winter calls a kill shot.
I made the mistake of trying to blame the tools, but Winter snatches the rifle from my hands and snaps off six shots, all hitting the center of the target.
She didn’t appear to aim at all, just threw it to her shoulder and banged out the shots.
“Nothing wrong with that tool, Dallas. Maybe the tool that is holding it?” Watching her grin, I blush.
“I haven’t heard much about this wedding of yours.
Are you sure he asked you? Most women would be gushing about it every chance they get.
You are being either very tight-lipped or you’re not as excited as you should be. ”
“I am excited to be getting married, but I know that my mom will have ideas or plans for the wedding, so whatever I try to set up now, she will derail as soon as she gets here. I mean that in the nicest way, not that she’s overbearing or domineering.
I’m an only child, so she will want everything to be perfect and ‘just so’.
I’m not going to take that away from her.
She’s been itching for this day since I was born.
” I don’t know what sort of wedding she’d plan.
Traditional, cowboy or something completely different.
I do know that she will put her heart and soul into it to make it my best day ever.
“Well, if there’s anything Target and I can do, just say the word. We’d be glad to help.” Winter smiles at me and without thinking I grab her into a big hug.
Driving home, my head is filled with what my mom will come up with for the wedding.
I need to speak to her again and nail down when they are coming and where they are going to stay.
Maybe Cork could get us a room at the clubhouse and then they could have the apartment above the shop?
That would work. Someone honking at me brings me back to earth. Seeing a green light, I move off.
Wait a minute. What green light? There are no lights on my way home.
Taking a good look around, I realize I am not on my way home.
Although this is familiar, it’s not my usual route.
I’ve been so busy woolgathering I’ve missed a turn.
I’m almost at the edge of town now, so I might as well wait and do a U-turn when the road is clear of town and the last buildings.
Leaving town, I see a drive that seems as good a place as any to spin my old truck around.
As I swing into the drive, I see an old wooden ‘For Sale’ sign nailed to the top bar of the fence.
Glancing down the drive, I don’t see a house, just a stand of trees.
I made one detour today, so another foray to be nosy won’t hurt.
Driving slowly down the access road, which essentially is what a drive is, I suppose, I see that the fences are in good condition but have been repaired beyond what a prosperous rancher would expect.
The grass looks good, so there must be a good water source on the property.
Passing the last of the trees, I stamp on the brakes.
Stepping out of my truck, I stand by the hood and stare at the most beautiful log ranch house I think I’ve ever seen.
Not only that, but there are stables and a gorgeous, though weathered, Dutch barn.
The trees that were hiding this place could not be a coincidence.
They were carefully planted to afford this place its seclusion and privacy.
Standing there and trying to take it all in, I don’t hear the horse that walks up to the fence behind me.