Chapter 2 - Calder
CALDER
“Bad life.” The admission hangs in the cold air between us, more vulnerable than she probably intended.
I don’t press, just nod like I understand that some things hurt too much to explain to strangers on highway shoulders. I know this. I hide in the mountains and face flames to pay for not being able to save a life. Running away from the past to find a future.
And I almost think that my future has run into me today. Kendry is curvy in all the right places, hips for days, bountiful chest from my dreams, and long red hair that I could wind in my hand and tug back to arch that plentiful booty.
I shake from my floating imagination. My mother always said I had a vivid one…
If she only knew…
She’d wash my mouth out with soap.
“Let me call for a tow. There’s a mechanic in Black Timber Peak— about ten minutes from here, place’s called Four Wheel Fix-It. Vernon can probably get to it, but I’ll be honest with you, parts for a car this old, especially this close to Christmas...” I trail off, hopefully the implication clear.
Kendry’s eyebrows raise. “How long are we talking?”
“Best case? Three days. Worst case? Week, maybe more if the parts have to be ordered and that’s if it’s even… fixable.”
She seems distant like she’s thinking everything over but is getting pulled under by the tidal wave of potentials and possibilities.
“Hey.” I face her head on and lift her chin so I can look into those gorgeous eyes. “You’re not stuck out in the cold. Black Timber’s got a decent inn, and the town goes all out for Christmas. There’s even a Christmas Market tonight in the town square. Could be worse places to be stranded.”
She tries for a smile, but it’s not quite there. I’ll make it my mission to see one.
“Is that the town motto? ‘Black Timber: Could Be Worse’?” Her brows rise.
Oh, my… she’s feisty.
And I like it.
I chuckle and she breaks into what’s a grin, but not quite a smile… yet.
I pull out my phone. “I’ll make the calls. You and snowflake—”
“Merry. This is Merry.”
I squat and scruffle the fur on the dog’s head. “Merry, you and my dog Bear will be good friends.”
I stand and she has to tip her head back to look up at me. She licks her lips and my eyes stay held to them. Soft pillows… that are blue.
“Yeah, you and Merry should get in my truck before the rest of turns blue like your lips.”
Her eyes widen. She rubs her lips and they brighten with flow of blood. “Shit. I have Smurf lips… great.”
She hustles back to my truck and Merry jumps into the back.
My Ford F-250 is immaculately clean except for a thermos in the cup holder and a dog leash coiled neatly on the seat for Bear.
Kendry climbs in the front and I watch as she adjusts the heat.
I like that she doesn’t ask and just does.
She watches as I pace the shoulder, phone pressed to my ear.
“You’ve reached Four Wheel Fix-It, we’re on holiday break until after January 1, probably come back on the second or third, maybe the fourth. Hell, might stay in Jamaica for the year.”
Well, that’s not going to be what she wants to hear.
I look back and give a soft smile. The answering machine still beeps. “Vern. Hey, it’s Calder Brennan. I have someone who really needs an emergency appointment. She’s really sweet and I think she’s having some sort of crisis. I really would like to get her—”
The line clicks like someone answers. “Hey, Calder, it’s Toby.”
Vernon’s son. This is good news.
“Hey, Toby. So, are you still in Black Timber?”
“Nope. I’m in Denver with my girlfriend and her family, but I’m monitoring the biz cell phone and I saw it was you. I’ll be back next week and I can get to it then.”
“Three days?”
“Or it could be never…”
Toby is too much like his moody father.
“Okay, I’ll let her know and then I’ll text you back.”
“I’ll send the tow truck out. Where’s this car at?”
I give directions and then spin and watch as she diverts her gaze quickly. I have to remember she seems emotionally compromised and I just want to be helpful. This is what people do in small towns— they help stranded people who drive cross-country in cars held together with prayer.
I grab her bags from the back of her car and jog back to the truck, bringing a gust of cold air with me as I open the back to place them on the floorboard and then climb into the driver’s seat.
I rub my hands together and hold them up to the heater. “So, I have good news and bad news… which do you want first?”
“Good news?” she says cautiously but making me think she’s probably a positive person.
“Tow truck’s on the way. Should be here in twenty.”
“And the bad news?”
“The mechanics are out of town and it’s going to be just us for a couple days.”
“Us?”
She didn’t freak out, but the way she says that word is like she’s confused.
“I’ll drive you into town, get you settled at the inn.
Then maybe we can go to the Christmas market.
You like glühwein?” I say every word like there are no other possible options, like I’m going to spend the afternoon shuttling a stranger around instead of whatever I’d been planning to do because somewhere inside of me, I know this is exactly what I want to do.
“I don’t know on the wine, but Calder, you don’t have to—”
“I know I don’t have to.” My gaze meets hers, steady and calm. “But I’m going to anyway. Besides, my dog’s going to love you and Merry.”
Kendry blinks. “What’s your dog’s name?”
“Bear. He’s at the station, but we live just outside town. Fair warning— he’s friendly to the point of being obnoxious, and he has no concept of personal space. Seventy-five pounds of poorly trained golden retriever who thinks he’s a lapdog. But God knows I love him.”
Despite everything she’s been through, Kendry relaxes into a smile. A real smile. “I love dogs, too.”
“Then you’ll get along great.” I pull back onto the highway, windshield wipers working against the increasing snowfall. “Merry your only pet?”
“No, we had a beta fish named Fins. But...” Kendry’s voice catches. “My fish’s with my ex. I got the car and Merry. He kept the apartment and he demanded the fish.” She sniffles.
I glance to her, trying to keep my eyes mostly on the road. “That’s rough, Kendry.”
“Yeah. I liked that fish and so did Merry. She would sit for hours watching her and I think Fins was watching back.” She swallows hard.
“We got Merry together three years ago. I picked her name— Merry, because I love Christmas. Derek did most of the training, but much to his annoyance, she bonded more with me, and it just made sense for her to go with me, even though he threw a fucking fit when I suggested it. But he got me back by demanding the fish when he knew they were besties. It’s like he wanted to hurt Merry, too. ”
“He doesn’t sound too great.”
To put it mildly.
“You can say that again.”
“He doesn’t sound too great,” I mumble.
She chuckles and her shoulders fall just a little, a little more stress falling away.
I continue, “But you don’t have to make sense of it for me. Even when it comes to a fish… loss is loss.”
It’s clearly not all about the fish.
It’s about the thought of losing what you thought was going to be forever.
It’s about the feeling of being lost.
It’s about… believing you’ll never love again.
I’ve been there but maybe…