Chapter 19
CHAPTER 19
ELLE
“ W e need to talk.” His deep, familiar voice made me turn, and I wished I could be happy to see him, but since that incident at Parker’s school, I’d been waiting for this to happen. I hadn’t been avoiding him, but with my work schedule, I hadn’t made it a priority to talk to him about this.
“I can’t wait to hear this. What is it, Troy?” I asked as I walked away from the busy storefront.
“You moved in with a man?”
“I told you that.” It wasn’t like I’d moved us in without letting him know. Maybe I’d omitted a few details, but he knew.
“No, I thought you moved in with an old man.”
“Well, that was an assumption on your part now, wasn’t it.”
“Chanelle, stop walking away from me.” I bristled at the use of my real name. He was the only person who used it besides my mother, and he knew how much it irritated me.
“I couldn’t tell you who I was working with.” It was a lame excuse. There really wasn’t any reason I couldn’t have told him.
“Yeah, yeah, I know, privacy laws and all that bull shit. How do you know it’s safe for our son to be around him.” His frown line was deep between his brows. The sun was beating down on us as we stood on the asphalt between parked cars.
“That’s rich coming from you. Who’s the bimbo of the week at your place, Troy? From what I hear, it’s Starcie Steiner. She’s trouble, you know that?” I crossed my arms and glared at him.
He almost rolled his eyes out of his head. “You just have it out for her, and there’s nothing wrong with her.”
“Right, almost killing a patient and asking me to cover for her screams, nothing wrong.” I shook my head.
“If she’s so bad, why is she working at the school?” He crossed his arms and leaned against my truck, staring at me. The wind whipped around the cars, and a shiver ran down my spine.
Pulling open the door, I grabbed the groceries out of my cart, set them on the seat, and slammed it closed. “Trust me, as soon as I find out how that happened, I will end it.”
“Stay out of it, Elle.” He shook his head. “You’re always looking for a fight where there isn’t one.”
Stopping mid-step, I spun around to face him. “Then stay out of my life. You lost the right to question me when you walked away and found the comfort you were so desperately looking for in someone else’s bed.” He’d cheated, and I walked in on him.
That day was burned into my brain. He’d begged for Parker and me to come to a show he was doing in Wyoming. He was in the finals and guaranteed to win what would be his biggest payday ever. So, I packed up our toddler and drove the six hours to watch him. When I found the trailer, I also found him balls deep in a busty blond. I could still hear her voice telling me I had to wait my turn.
Tears had stung my eyes as I slammed the door. Before he could get his pants done up, I was back in the truck, heading back home. I’d called the divorce lawyer while I was on the road. He knew I wasn’t the turn a blind eye type. He’d ended our marriage the moment he took that woman to our trailer.
Seven years later, it was a low blow, but it was the truth. I watched him sag slightly, but he took a deep breath and moved to stand square in front of me. “Our son’s involved. I won’t stay out of it.”
Troy and I didn’t argue. We’d never fought and maybe that was part of our downfall. We tried to make sure life was perfect, but in reality we’d crumbled under the pressure of Parker losing his hearing, Troy being gone, and my lack of support while he was trying to figure it all out.
“Listen, Griff is a stand-up guy. He and Parker get along great, and he gave me a place to stay when we were kicked out of the other place. Speaking of the other place, how’s it treating you? Parker sure was surprised when you told him.” I’d started trying to be nice, but I’d once again let sarcasm win.
“I’m sorry for how all that went down. If I’d known it was where you were, I never would have agreed to it.” His eyes were filled with sadness, and I don’t believe he truly wanted to make things hard for me.
“Troy, I get your worry about Griff. I had it, too when he first made the offer. But I had a friend check him out, and I’ve had people I trust vouch for him. There’s no way I would have put Parker in danger. If you want to see the emails I got on the guy, I’ll send them to you.”
He gave me a half smile, and he chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. I did my own digging after I found out who he was.”
Reaching out I touched his arm, “So then what’s this really about?”
“Am I going to lose my son?” His eyes grew soft and hurt rose in them like water in a bathtub. My heart broke for the man whose love for his son was the most important thing in his life.
“Oh god, Troy, no, you will never lose him. No matter who comes into his life, you’re his dad, and you always will be. You’re the one person who nobody else can be. I hate that we couldn’t make this work, but we’re really good parents to our boy, even if we don’t love one another anymore. I will never let another man come between you two.” It was the truth. I wouldn’t ever stop Troy from being his dad.
“Thank you.” His voice caught in his throat.
We stood in silence for a few minutes and I watched him frown and bite the corner of his mouth. It’s what he did when he was trying to ask something. “Just ask,” I said as I threw my hands up at my sides.
“Are you and he?” He arched his brow but never finished the question.
“Sleeping together? No, we’re letting things play out naturally and see what happens. But nothing in front of Parker.” This was not a conversation I ever wanted to have with anyone let alone my ex-husband. He nodded and gave me half a smile.
“Starcie isn’t a thing, she’d like to be a thing, but she’s annoying as fuck.” I couldn’t control my laughter, and it bubbled out of me.
“You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that.” We laughed together, and for the first time in ages, I wasn’t uncomfortable around him. “But you deserve to be happy, and even if it was Starcie, I wouldn’t have said anything more about it.”
“I was happy once, but I fucked that up.” He reached up and moved a chunk of my hair that had blown over my face and tucked it behind my ear.
“No it wasn’t just you, and you know it.” There were a lot of things I could blame Troy for but the end of our marriage wasn’t on him alone.
Laughter from a few cars over broke the moment, and he cleared his throat. “I’m heading out of town next week, think I could get Parker a few nights this week?”
“Yeah, absolutely. Just let me know when, and I’ll let the bus driver know where to get him.”
“I’ll drive him. I might not be as big as Griffin Harp, but I don’t mind scaring some little shits so they leave our kid alone.” Protective Troy was pretty fierce, and I hated to think of what he and Griff would do together, given the chance.
“Sounds good. I better get going.”
“Sorry about all this.” He said as he followed me around to the driver’s side of the truck. Reaching around me, he opened the door, and I climbed in.
“Nothing to be sorry about.” I smiled. He walked to his truck, and I sat for a minute, thanking the stars that that went much better than I’d imagined.
My stomach growled, and I realized I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, so instead of heading back to the ranch, I swung into a parking spot in front of Steam ’n Sugar.
The bell chimed above the door, and Fred looked up from the till and smiled. “Well, I haven’t seen you in over a week. How’s things?” Now that I knew Nash, he was a spitting image of his father. I couldn’t believe over all this time, I hadn’t put two and two together.
“Crazy, strange, slightly terrifying, but I think really good.” I smiled at him before looking up at the menu.
“Heard you and Parker are on the Diamond now.” He beamed like it was his pride and joy.
“We are, yep.” I nodded, wondering where this conversation was going.
“That’s good. I’m glad you’re out of the Hays place. That was trouble waiting to happen. What can I get for you?” I wondered if he’d heard about the trouble I’d had, but I didn’t really want to bring it up in such a public setting.
“A white cranberry latte and a grilled ham and cheese, please.” I looked down the counter, and his fiancée turned and waved at me. Wanda was much younger than Fred, but any time I’d seen them together, I could tell they were perfect for one another. I smiled and waved back at her.
“How was girls’ night?” She called while she washed her hands.
“I had a great time.”
“Julie and I will catch the next one. We couldn’t miss our golf night.” She looked over at Fred, who almost snarled as he looked at her.
“Oh, we could have easily missed it,” Fred grumbled, as he pushed buttons on the coffee machine. Wanda dried her hands and moved him out of the way with a bump to his hip. Fred ran his hand along the top of her rear end as he let her take his spot. She smiled up at him and I couldn’t help but be slightly jealous of the obvious love they had for one another.
“We play on couple’s night with Julie and Phil. Let’s just say the men do the majority of the grumbling. Old man, what did you do to this machine?” She shook her head and reached behind it. All the lights went off, and Fred turned, giving me half of a smile.
“Have a seat, I’ll holler when it’s ready.”
I looked around the cafe and was surprised. I didn’t realize how many people were in here, but almost every table was occupied. “Elle, over here.” A voice called and I turned to see Mrs. Gordon’s smiling face.
“Thank you. Are you sure I’m not interrupting?”
“Nope, I was all by my lonesome. In fact, you being here saves me a trip to Griff’s to talk to you.” She raised her eyebrows and grinned like a goofball.
Just as I was about to ask what she meant, Fred set my coffee down in front of me. “Thank you.” I grinned up at the man, but he just nodded.
“So, what were you looking for me for?”
“We’re looking for a new nurse to help Jake. Phyllis is retiring. We haven’t advertised because we know who would apply, and I can’t have her in the clinic.” I already knew she was talking about Starcie. Not only would the patients be in danger, but it would also be open season for gossip about every person who walked through those doors. “We were wondering if you would like full-time hours working here in town? It would save you from having to go to the hospital, and if you wanted to pick up shifts there, your weekends would still be free.” She looked at me, her eyes wide with anticipation and excitement.
I loved working at the hospital. I never knew what my day would bring, and the adrenaline rush every time the ambulance bay opened was what I lived for. But being closer to home and no shift-work was so tempting.
“Can I have a few days to think about it?”
“Of course, take all the time you need, well, not all the time. Phyllis is done in four weeks. The pay will be better than what you were making at the hospital, too.” Like I needed an added bonus to help me make my decision.
“I’ll have an answer for you before the week’s over.” We talked for a bit more until Fred called my name.
“Well, I better get back to the office. Talk it over with Griff and Parker and see what they think.”
“Okay, I’ll see you later then.” She smiled and gave me a quick hug before she waved at Fred and ran down the street. I walked to the counter and waited for Fred.
“How much do I owe you?” I pulled my wallet out of my purse and grabbed a twenty.
He reached across the counter and put his hand on mine. “You’re a part of The Diamond now, you’re family, it’s on the house.”
“No, you’re running a business. I have to pay.”
“Put your money away. You’re basically a daughter now.” He reached over the counter and put his hand on mine until I lowered my arm.
“Thanks, Fred.” I tucked a twenty into the tip jar and he laughed.
“Drive safe,” Wanda called over her shoulder as she was busy making another sandwich.
The sweltering heat hit me as soon as I left the air-conditioned cafe. What kind of fool was I to get a latte to go on a day like this? There wasn’t a cloud in the sky to block the summer sun. I appreciated the shade from the canopy over the doors of the shops.
“Nursey, looking good.” A voice called from the opposite side of the street. I didn’t turn, or acknowledge that I’d heard him. “Sexy nursey, you know you want me.” Billy Hays’ voice was one I’d never forget. Its high pitch was almost ear-piercing and when he was yelling, it was even worse.
“I’ll come for you, just wait. You can’t get away from me.” He laughed, and I wanted to vomit into the plant pot that I’d just past.
Getting to my car, I climbed in and locked the doors immediately. Letting my head fall back against the seat, I’d never been so happy to hear the locking sound in my life. I needed to get home, to the safety of the ranch and quite possibly never leave again.