18. Cale
18
CALE
I t’s been two whole weeks.
That’s long enough. My side is still a bit sore but I’m more than capable of hitting the road in my overdue rental car and getting back to business.
Before I can second guess myself, I send a message to Baines in Santa Fe to let him know the delay is over and he can expect to see me tomorrow. Then I call Richie to share the news that I’m back in action.
“I’ll be back in the city by Thursday,” I say. “All I need to do in Santa Fe is drop off a bag and extract a promise. We can catch up on current events when I return, unless you’ve got something that can’t wait.”
Richie started to cough while I was talking. Now he clears his throat. “Nah, you picked a good time for a break. Nothing but quiet around here.”
Richie can be sketchy at times when it comes to handing out information on the phone. And I have no idea who is in the room with him. Still, it’s odd that Bill Barone’s name has never come up.
It’s possible that there’s nothing more than a carjacking gone wrong, like the news articles said. Then again, there are also online articles describing how a gas station clerk in Arizona shot two local lowlifes during an armed robbery.
The truth, as I know firsthand, can be revised.
Or maybe I’m just fucking paranoid and my uncle has other shit on his mind.
“Come to the house when you’re back,” says Richie. “Donna will make her lasagna. And she’ll want to show you the six hundred pictures she took while we were down in Florida.”
FUCK. FUCK. FUCK.
Turns out the one who has had other shit on his mind is me. Somewhere between getting shot and winding up at Sadie’s front gate I forgot what my brother had told me about Richie taking our aunt on an anniversary trip to Florida.
I haven’t spoken to my brother. He has no clue about the shooting. I couldn’t tell him that. Or about why dealing with the police is something to be avoided.
“And how was the Florida trip?” I’m hoping Richie will answer that he didn’t have time to catch up with Luca.
“Meh, a little too warm for my taste but it was good to see the kid. Luca’s got a few more weeks left until his last exams and then he’s done. Don’t worry, when your name came up I didn’t tell him nothing bad. Just said you were taking a week off with your new wife. I think he liked hearing that. Couldn’t stop grinning and shaking his head and saying he couldn’t believe you’d settled down.”
“It’s the truth.” I don’t have a shred of guilt about lying to Richie but I’m deeply unsettled at the thought of him hanging out with my brother.
“Yeah, we were talking about her. We all agreed Sadie must be some kind of special girl. How long until you bring her back to New York with you for good?”
Flattening the last of my clothes in the suitcase, I zip it shut. “I’m working on it.”
“Keep working,” Richie says. “And bring your appetite for that lasagna.”
I pocket my phone and try to shake off the troubled shadows crowding my mind. Richie’s time in Florida was short and Luca is busy. They couldn’t have been in the same room for more than a couple of hours. I’m overreacting. My brother’s got a good head on his shoulders and he has plans of his own. Nothing that Richie whispers in his ear will make an impression.
Yanking the duffel bag of cash from beneath the bed and returning my gun to its holster feels like a heavy chore. Like I’m returning to the grey doom of an office cubicle after a sunny sea cruise.
This room, perpetually decorated like it’s the night before Halloween, looks as silly and over the top as it did when I arrived. I’ve left no trace of my stay, which should make Gus, the world’s only known Halloween-obsessed vet, quite happy.
I can’t figure out the feeling twisting around in my gut when I leave this room for the last time and carry my bags out to the car. If I didn’t know better, I’d say I’m sorry to leave.
There’s plenty of activity at Bright Hearts Ranch today. A group of dogs are enjoying playtime. Two of the horses are basking in the sunshine. Peggy is raking dirt in a small fenced in patch of land that’s probably a garden in the summer.
“Hey there, Mr. Wingate.” Jasper walks by with a large red bag of dogfood slung over his shoulder.
I’ve grown used to being greeted by the incorrect name every day. I’ll miss it a little.
“Have you seen Sadie?” I ask him.
He rolls the bag from his shoulder and thinks. “She was in the barn talking to Abby, the new vet tech, and then I think she was feeding the cats.”
“So she’s with the cats?”
“No, after that she was sitting at the desk inside The Doghouse, typing on a laptop and saying how much she hates paperwork.”
“I’ll go to The Doghouse then.”
“Wait, she said she had to run inside to put the laptop away.”
“And was that the end of her journey?”
He blinks. “I don’t know. It was like twenty minutes ago.”
“All right. Thanks, Jasper.”
“You bet, Mr. Wingate.” He picks up the bag of dog food.
To get to the house, I need to walk right past Peggy. Her white hair is loose. She wears a colorful yarn sweater that would probably look better as a blanket.
“You’re leaving,” she says. Not a question.
“Yes, I am. Thanks for all the tea and snacks.”
She leans on her garden hoe and gives me a penetrating look. “She’ll be sorry to see you go.”
Peggy can’t be talking about anyone other than Sadie.
“It’s better for her if I do go.”
“Probably,” she says. “But maybe not.”
Then she resumes stabbing the earth with her garden hoe, a sign that the conversation is over.
Inside the house, I call Sadie’s name but receive no answer. I jog up the stairs and find her bedroom door wide open. Zeus and Apollo are lounging on her bed. Their tails thump when they see me standing there and I don’t have the heart to walk out before petting each of their huge bony heads.
Sadie isn’t upstairs at all and she isn’t in the living room. The next place worth checking is the room at the back of the house, which she and Peggy always refer to as the hospital.
No Sadie there either but my entrance is greeted by a low growl. The little dog who has been named Tinkerbell stands in front of her two puppies and keeps a fearful eye on me.
Copying the moves I’ve seen from Sadie, I approach Tinkerbell’s pen slowly and keep my voice low and soothing. “No one will hurt you,” I say. “Everything is fine.”
The dog gives me a doubtful look but when I extend my hand she doesn’t try to attack it. Her two puppies come galloping over to join in the fun and now the other hospital patients are starting to perk up and make noise. There’s some barking, lots of tail wagging and even the two cats appear eager for their share of attention.
“Sounds like I walked into a meeting of your fan club.” Sadie’s voice comes from the doorway.
I turn around and find her standing there. She’s wearing her typical jeans and boots but in place of a shapeless hooded sweatshirt there’s a light blue sweater with a V neckline and the material stretches in exactly the right places.
It’s a hell of an effort to drag my eyes upward to meet her face.
“I was actually looking for you,” I say.
“I know. Jasper told me.”
“I didn’t want to just take off without saying goodbye.”
She tilts her head and leans against the door frame. “So this is goodbye. Watch out for flying bullets.”
“Will do.”
“That’s good. Because I think next time Gus will demand hand to hand combat for rights to the Halloween room.”
“That’s not a fight I want to pick.”
She snorts and backs out of the doorway. The silver chain around her neck, the one that she hangs her wedding ring on, catches a spark of light streaming in from the window.
Sadie leads the way out of the house, which is fun because then I get an extended opportunity to stare at her ass. Those jeans of hers are flawlessly molded to her shape. The idea of peeling the damn things off and pumping her from behind is seriously fucking with my ability to think. I should have taken the time to jerk off in the shower this morning. At this rate I won’t be able to focus on the road.
“Wait here,” she says when we’re outside the garage. “I need to give you something.”
“It’s not a dog, is it?”
“No.”
“A cat?”
“No, you little wise guy.”
“I’m not a little anything, Sadie.”
Especially not right now. The zipper of my pants is ready to bust open. Good thing my blazer is long enough to cover the bulge.
But check out the sudden blush in Miss Sadie’s cheeks. She sucks in her lower lip and visibly wars with the urge to zero in on my crotch.
She doesn’t need to fight it. If she wants a better look all she needs to do is ask.
“Just don’t leave yet,” she says and runs back to the house.
She’s not gone for more than twenty seconds before the door swings open and she runs back out with a large flat object in her hands.
“Here,” she says, triumphant and breathless.
I turn the thing over in my hands. “Elton John’s Greatest Hits.”
“I keep a few extra copies around, just in case I run into someone who needs it. Tiny Dancer. Crocodile Rock. Candle in the Wind. Something for every mood.”
“This is a record album.”
“Very observant, Cale.”
“I don’t own a record player.”
“Now you have a good reason to buy one.”
The gift is sweet and it’s unique. Just like Sadie herself.
I toss it into the front seat. “Thanks. For this and for being cool when I barged in here.”
“Like I told you, Cale, you’re always welcome at Bright Hearts. I just hope next time you won’t be so…”
“Bloody?”
She smiles. “Yes.” Then her smile fades and her mouth pinches. “Seriously, promise you’ll take care of yourself.”
“I’ll commit to staying healthy long enough to be your wedding date next month.”
“Yikes, I get heartburn just thinking about the horrors that await. At least I’ll have one friend there.”
“Look on the bright side. At this wedding you won’t even need to kiss me.”
Her hand flies up to her face. Her fingertip traces her lower lip and her cheeks redden.
No wonder. That kiss in Vegas was fucking electric. Obviously I’m not the only one who keeps thinking about it.
I clear my throat so I don’t do something stupid. “I guess I’ll see you next month in New York.”
She nods and takes her hand away from her mouth. “I’ll be the one whose peach dress clashes with her hair.”
It feels like something else ought to happen, like a handshake or whatever.
While I’m still mulling this idea over, Sadie lunges and captures me in a hug. Her arms wrap around my torso and she rests her cheek against my chest.
“Goodbye, Cale,” she whispers.
Instantly, my arms form a cage around her soft body. I lower my head and breath in the sweet smell of her hair.
Normally I have the same kind of enthusiasm for a hug as I’d have for chocolate chips on pizza. Not my thing. Even with Luca, we usually stick to a fist bump or a back slap.
Yet there’s no doubt that I could hold this girl for hours. Days. Seasons.
Sadie lets go first. She drops her arms and takes a step back.
We’ve already said what we needed to see Anything else will be complicated. I climb behind the wheel of the rented Mustang and wait for Sadie to leave the garage before backing out.
She stands in the yard and waves before I roll slowly toward the open gate, leaving behind the idyllic scene of Bright Hearts Ranch.
My hands shift to ten and two on the steering wheel.
On the fourth finger of my left hand is my wedding ring.
The pinky ring given to me by my uncle as a reward for loyalty is on the right.
Hard to imagine two simple rings of metal being at odds but right now I could swear I’m staring at the dividing line of my soul.
I take one last look in the mirror to see if Sadie is still standing in the yard, watching me drive away.
She is.