Chapter 18
“He did you guys a favor.” Mabel felt her pulse throbbing in her neck. The blood was still rushing in her ears. She glanced again at the water commissioner, who was looking out over the scene of the flooding with disdain.
State Bureau of Land Management officials surrounded the area, a huge dredger scraped at the stream, and the cows were being loaded on a livestock trailer, looking very put out.
The county water commissioner lifted a worn baseball cap to scratch under his graying hair.
“Finding this thing? Yes. That was a big favor. Destroying it and infiltrating the area with sediment? Not good.” He tsked and glanced down at his tablet he’d been furiously typing into moments before. “Not good at all.”
She glanced back at Zane. If it weren’t such a gut-wrenching moment, where the water safety of the whole town had been compromised, Mabel would have been completely undone by the sweetness of the scene.
Zane sat on the tailgate of his truck, Styles asleep on his shoulder.
His jeans looked wet still, even though it had been over an hour since he’d been sitting in the bottom of the mud-choked stream.
As it was, Zane looked exhausted and humiliated. He was taking this kind of hard, and it tugged on Mabel’s heartstrings. Or maybe he was just angry about the whole thing. People who built illegal dams were a problem to the whole community.
Mack joined her as she began walking over to Zane’s truck. “Glad you were here to help him.” He nodded toward Zane. “I’ve heard of dams not much bigger than this one that become a drowning hazard when they break like that.”
Mabel shuddered. “That is so not cool to think about. I’m glad I was here too. But he feels awful about it. And Styles should really be taken back to Zane’s.”
“I know.” Mack shook his head. “I tried to tell Zane he could leave.”
He carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. He feels responsible for everything.
“I’m not surprised he’s still languishing here like a soldier unable to leave his unit.
” Mabel swallowed down a prickle of sadness at the thought.
Zane was like one of those guard dogs who felt the responsibility of the family’s well-being, whose very lives were all on his shoulders. It was a big burden.
“Hey, soldier,” Mack said to Zane as he leaned against the tailgate. Mabel noticed he leaned on the far edge, away from Zane. He probably didn’t want his clothes getting dirty.
Zane didn’t respond, but his mouth did twitch a little. Mabel guessed she could work with the mouth twitch better than pure silence.
“This isn’t your fault, Zane,” Mabel said, though even Mabel herself had a hard time looking at the destruction that lay in front of them.
She’d overheard that the city had to turn off the water to half the town while this got figured out.
The potential for contamination of drinking water is high, she’d overheard one of the officials say.
“Yeah, it’s the fault of the dimwit who built the dam in the first place.
The owner of the land insists he had no idea this dam even existed.
I’m calling his bluff, but there’s going to be an investigation either way.
” Mack rubbed his eyes. “I don’t want you worrying about it.
So we have the water shut off for a bit?
So what? And we have a boil order for a few days?
This is all par for the course. A day in the life of the most powerful man in town.
” Mack’s eyebrows bumped up a couple of times.
The ego of that man could make a monk in a vow of silence sing. Still, Mabel knew it was an act. Underneath it all, Mack was humbler than almost everyone.
“I shouldn’t have climbed up there to try to do anything about it, though.”
“Look, Zane. Let’s go home, okay?” Mabel’s chest burned when she thought of home with him. “Everything’s under control.” She wrinkled her nose and pushed against his shoulder. “Besides, you need a shower.” He was covered in mud, yes. But he was also still so dang hot.
“I’m good to stay here for a while longer.” He glanced at Mabel. “But if you’re getting tired, you can take my truck home. I’m sure Mr. Fancy Pants here could drop me off later.”
Mack smirked. “What? I like to dress better when I’m having meetings. Is there a problem?” He looked down at his burgundy dress shirt that had a small repeating white pattern on it and his tailored gray slacks. He picked off a little piece of lint.
“I like a man who can get dirty, though.” Mabel grinned, giving Zane a look. He needed someone on his side at a time like this.
“I can get dirty!” Mack lifted a shoe. “I’m pretty sure this is not just dirt on my sole. Smells a whole heck of a lot worse than dirt.”
Zane let out a little laugh. “You should have been born in the city.”
“I’m a Silver Plummer for life, and you know it,” Mack replied. “You should worry about Liam more than anyone, though. Now there are some fancy clothes.”
They nodded and then waved as the rancher who’d put his cows on the trailer drove away.
Mabel eased closer to Zane. “If you feel like you need to stay, then stay. But I’ll take Styles back to your place until your sister gets off, okay? It’s going to be a while, and I’m sure your arms feel like they’re going to fall off.”
Zane shifted where he was sitting and gently moved Styles over to his other side. “I told you, I’m good. But, please, if you need to leave, take my truck.”
“But then where would you sit?”
Just then a car pulled up, and even though it was almost dark, Mabel saw that it was Zane’s sister, Lorelei.
Styles stirred a little in the transferring process, but once they got him safely tucked into the back of his mom’s car, his head lolled to one side in sleep once more.
Lorelei squeezed Zane’s forearm. “You okay? This is a mess.” She gave a sympathetic chuckle. “As are you.”
He nodded. “Still waiting to hear what they’re going to do.”
“You don’t have to stay, do you?” Lorelei asked. “I mean, it’s not like they’re going to take you into custody for accidentally messing up a poorly built and illegal dam.”
No. But the state would open up an investigation on the dam. There would be paperwork to file. Mabel also knew it was going to be a big headache to clean up this sediment bar that now covered a large portion of the cow pasture.
Poor Zane. First the hospital’s investigation, and now this?
Zane shrugged. “I don’t feel like I can leave yet.” He turned to Mabel. “You don’t have to stay here. I know you have studying to do.”
“You trying to get rid of me?” She was teasing, but she couldn’t help the whisper of worry.
“Not at all. But nothing’s happening, and it’s not like we can keep working on the project.” He reached out to touch her arm but then drew his mud-dried hand away.
“I’d love to drop you off at your house, Mabel,” Lorelei said. “I’ll just be waiting in my car.”
Mabel thanked her and turned to Zane.
“What are your plans this weekend?” She gazed at him. “I’m hoping they’ll at some point involve me.”
He grinned, the mud cracking on his upper lip. The poor man. “Absolutely. I do have to go to an event in Bartlett, though.”
She raised her brows. “Event? I didn’t know Bartlett had such civilized things as events.”
“It’s tomorrow night. It’s…” He hesitated, chewing on the side of his lip. “…a formal dinner fundraiser thing. A man I treated the other day and his wife invited me.”
Zane at a formal event in a suit and tie? The thought was enough to make her jealous of any and all who would be attending.
“Will you come with me?” he asked.
“You want me to go? As your date?”
He stood and opened and closed his hands, looking at them with a question in his eyes. “If I weren’t so dirty, I’d pull you close and let you know just how much I do want you to come with me as my date.”
She gasped and stepped closer to him, easing herself next to him so that her hips and legs ran the length of his. Wrapping a hand around the back of his neck, a surge of wonder overtook her.
“Or I can cancel and we could spend some time together...just you and me.” His eyes blazed with heat.
“You gave them your word.” She pressed a kiss to his lips, and to be fair, it did taste slightly of dirt. But that didn’t matter. She wanted this man.
“I’ll be telling them no now,” he whispered faintly as he tried to stand from the tailgate and stumbled a bit at the force of her kiss.
She pressed a finger to his lips. “No. You should go.”
“And you can come with me?” His gaze swept over her, and he rubbed his thumb and forefinger on a lock of her hair.
She took a step back from him. “I really wish I could,” she said, taking another step back, but her gaze stayed on his.
She brushed off the front of her, glancing down to see the mud that had imprinted on her clothes from their close proximity.
Good. It was proof of where she’d been, like he’d branded her.
“But I’m busy all day. It’s that school gala I’ve been helping with. It will take up pretty much the entire day. But I’ll see you soon.”
She tilted her head to one side, memorizing this electricity between them, this look on his face that was pure desire mixed with care for her.
Something shifted, though, his eyes growing wide for a split second. “This is the date with the doctor.” It was a statement, not a question, and there was a seriousness to his tone.
“It’s not a date,” she protested. Her friends had jumped to conclusions.
He swallowed hard. “So now you’re messing with the semantics of it all?”
“I’m not messing with anything. I have to help with the food and décor all day, and then I’ll go to the event that night.
But not with Dallin Conforth. He’s asked for my help.
And, to be honest, he asked me to join him at a tasting the other night, but I told him I couldn’t.
” Her gaze dropped to the floor. “I’m really glad I didn’t go. ”
“The other night? In the middle of the road?”
She nodded. “KNO got the wrong idea. It’s not a date tomorrow. Just something I have to do for school.”
Skepticism crossed his face before he rearranged it into a smile.
She said goodbye and climbed into Lorelei’s car, giving him a quick wave.