Chapter 15
As she turned to see who the voice belonged to, she noticed the look of irritation that crossed Dakota’s face. Standing directly behind her, once again much too close in Lily’s opinion, was the heavily made-up, red-haired woman from Friday night.
“Trish. I’m surprised to see you up and about this early. I thought you usually slept till noon,” Dakota drawled.
“Why, Dakota darling, you’d almost think that you’d spent the night with me already, and I’m sure I’d remember that” she winked at him suggestively. “We could certainly arrange that anytime you wanted to, though.”
The innuendo was so blunt that Lily blushed for the woman. She couldn’t be for real.
The look of distaste on his face was undeniable. “I think I’ll take a hard pass on that one, Trish. Now, if you’ll excuse us, Lily and I have some business to discuss.”
Either Trish was undaunted or just in denial because she gave him one more suggestive smile and said, “Anytime you change your mind, just say the word, darling.” She then turned her attention to Lily and gushed, “Oh my, it absolutely has to be fate that I ran into you! Why, just a few minutes ago, I was thinking I just must talk to you about the juicy details of how you and Camellia were reunited. I still can’t believe she kept such a charming duo of ladies a secret. I’ve known Camellia since her early days riding the barrels, and I simply don’t recall any mention of her having any sisters.”
Lily threw a desperate look at Dakota, and he took her arm. “Unfortunately, fate and your curiosity will have to wait, Trish. Like I said, Lily and I have business to attend to.” Without giving Trish a chance to say anything more, Dakota steered Lily away from the offending woman and toward the parking lot.
“Where are we going?” Lily wanted to pull back, but she was just as afraid of the red-haired nuisance behind her as she was of getting into a car with her rescuer.
Dakota unlocked the door of his pickup truck and hustled her into the passenger seat. “If we go to the coffee shop up the street, she’s just going to follow us. That woman is relentless. We’re going to have to actually drive somewhere if we want to lose her.” Without waiting for a response, he closed the door, rounded the truck to the other side, and got in.
Sure enough, as they pulled out of the parking lot, Lily could see Trish standing on the corner, watching them leave. She could only hope that poor Camellia stayed buried in the clerk’s back office until Trish was done with whatever business she had left.
Lily glanced back at the man sitting next to her. “I don’t think I like that woman very much.”
“Not many people do,” he agreed. “It’s her money they like, and she knows how to throw enough of it around to make people put up with her.”
Lily frowned. “That’s actually kind of sad.” She looked at Dakota curiously. “It sounds like she’s known Camellia and Ray for a long time.”
“Everyone from the rodeo circuit around here has known each other for a long time. I imagine that’s why Trish was so irked when you and your sister appeared. She hates not being in the loop about things.” He glanced over. “I’m guessing you three are eventually going to have to come up with some kind of story to get her off your back.”
Lily looked at him curiously. “What do you know about it?”
“Ray’s my best friend. He tells me everything. Always has. He’s been a talker since the first day I met him,” Dakota said matter-of-factly.
“I see.” Lily wasn’t entirely comfortable with the idea that this surly cowboy knew her father had betrayed two families. Part of her was ashamed, and another part was embarrassed. But she didn’t know why, since she wasn’t the one who’d done any of the deceiving.
He pulled into a small winery tucked off the main road, then turned to look at her. “You don’t need to worry about me telling anyone anything. I’m not a talker.”
Lily rolled her eyes. “I would never have guessed.” Then she looked at the quaint establishment. “A winery?”
“It’s almost eleven, and this place offers lunch. You may be able to go without eating, but I can’t. My stomach wants food, and the wine is optional. You can have some or not; that’s up to you.”
He got out of the truck and walked over to open the door for her before she could protest. Lunch wasn’t exactly coffee, and he should have asked first, but she was starting to think Dakota never asked anyone for their opinions.
Once they were inside and seated, they sat in what appeared to be comfortable silence to Dakota, but that same lack of conversation had Lily on edge.
“How long have you known Ray and Camellia?” Lily sipped the wine Dakota had ordered for her, surprised to find that she was actually enjoying it, despite it barely being past morning.
“Ever since my dad moved us here when I was twelve.” Dakota was intently studying the lunch menu, and Lily suspected that unless she asked directly, there would be no more information coming from Dakota about his family.
“Us?” she queried. “So, you have siblings?”
When Dakota looked up from the menu, she wasn’t sure if his look of annoyance was for her or the lackluster menu the winery offered. “Us, as in my father, my mother, my brother, and me.”
Good grief, if every part of this conversation was going to be this difficult, then it would be a very long lunch indeed.
The waitress walked up, pen in hand, and Dakota said, “I guess we’ll just have the charcuterie board. Actually, you better make that two—I’m starved.” Then he looked around and asked, “What happened to the sandwiches you used to offer? That’s the only thing that set you apart from all the other places.”
Frowning, the waitress said, “You’re not the first to ask. I told the new owner they’d be foolish to do away with our menu, but he’s from New York, and of course, there’s no telling him anything.” She glanced over her shoulder. “He just stepped out to check out the competition. Tell you what, I’ll have the cook whip you up something decent to eat, if you like?”
The smile on Dakota’s face was answer enough for her, and she hurried back to get the order out before her boss returned.
Lily looked at him curiously. “It looks like maybe you’re the one who has quite a way with people?”
Dakota shrugged. “I guess that depends on the people.”
Lily nodded. Strangely, she understood what he meant. Violet often accused her of being antisocial, but she got along just fine with the few people she considered friends. She just didn’t like wasting her time with insincere people, and unfortunately, she’d discovered that described much of society.
“So, how long do you plan on staying around here?” Dakota asked. “Ray mentioned something about you being divorced and then losing your apartment. That’s a tough one all at once.”
Lily smiled. Whoever said that men didn’t gossip had clearly never paid any attention. “Well, the answer is yes to both of your questions, but the divorce was almost two years ago, and I didn’t exactly lose my apartment. The landlord decided to make some much-needed upgrades and didn’t tell me until a day before they were scheduled to begin. That kind of left me in a short-term bind of where to stay.” She decided not to tell him that she’d also lost her job, or that her father had passed away not too long ago. She also didn’t think there was any need to point out that she’d had the bomb of a long-lost sister dropped on her recently. To say her life was in turmoil was an understatement, but she didn’t want to dump that on anyone, much less Dakota.
The waitress brought them both a huge sandwich, and after Lily thanked her, she began to dig in. She hadn’t realized just how hungry she was until she started to eat, and for a few minutes, they both sat quietly, chewing and seemingly lost in their own thoughts.
“It’s not a good place anyway,” Dakota suddenly said between bites.
She looked around. “Huh? What’s not a good place?” The little winery looked fine to her.
“The neighborhood you were in. If that’s where your apartment was, it’s not a good place to live.”
“Oh.” She was surprised he was still thinking about their earlier topic. “No, I guess it’s not the greatest neighborhood in San Francisco, but unfortunately, it’s the only one I can afford for now.”
“Then why stay in San Francisco at all?”
She stopped chewing and thought about it for a minute. “Well, I guess because that’s where I was working, and at the time of the divorce, Marcus—my son—still lived in the city. He’s since moved, but it’s still close enough to my ex’s new place that when he comes to visit, he can stay with him and still see us both. My place is too small for him, his wife, and two stepchildren to all fit comfortably, and since Scott bought a bigger condo, it just works better that way. I’m afraid if I move too far away, I won’t see him much at all.”
Dakota frowned but chewed in silence for a few more minutes until he was finished. “Seems like you kind of got the short end of that stick,” he finally said.
“You mean the divorce?” she asked. “Does anyone ever actually get a good deal in a divorce?”
He shrugged. “Looks to me like your husband did. He bought himself a new place, and you’re living in a dangerous neighborhood. It’s none of my business, but that doesn’t seem right.”
Her usual defensiveness of Scott automatically reared up again. “It’s not that simple. One of us had to have a place big enough for the kids to stay, and since he was planning to get remarried at the time and paying for our daughter’s school--while also helping Marcus launch his business, it just made sense for him to buy the bigger place. I don’t need that much, and my job at the bookstore almost covered the rent. He helps to cover the rest.”
He shook his head, clearly not buying her acceptance of the situation and how it had played out. “Like I said, it seems to me that he got the better end of the deal.” He looked at her quizzically and added, “It does kind of explain why you jumped in the way you did to help that girl, though.”
Somehow, it seemed to her that the comment wasn’t meant as a compliment, but as a criticism. “I helped the girl because it was the right thing to do,” she said. “Anyone would have done the same. Was I supposed to just stand there and let that thug drag her off?”
Dakota shook his head, set down his sandwich, and swallowed. “You could have called the police or even just called out and drawn attention to the situation. There were plenty of people around, and someone would have helped. There were a lot of things you could have done other than confront him personally and put yourself in danger.”
Thinking back, she guessed that any one of those things might have been more reasonable than confronting the man. But at the time, she couldn’t have known the man would pull out a knife, either, and if she were being honest, she hadn’t really thought it through before she jumped in.
“What about you? You put yourself in danger as well,” she countered.
He shook his head. “Naw, I knew I could handle him. I had the element of surprise on my side. I may be older now, but I’ve been in my share of fights over the course of my life. That kid was just a punk. I figured he’d crumble like a rag doll the minute he dealt with someone equal to him, and he did.”
Lily stuck out her chin defiantly. “Well, maybe it was the same for me. I saw he was a punk, and I figured I could scare him off.”
Dakota looked at her and shook his head. “No, he likely would have killed you or at least hurt you, and that’s what I’m still trying to figure out. Are you brave or just stupid?” There it was again.
Just as she was starting to think he might actually not be such a bad guy, he said something insulting. “I’m neither stupid nor brave. I reacted to help a young girl so she wouldn’t get hurt. It’s a human thing to do that anyone with any sort of empathy for others would have done. Maybe you’re the odd one if you can’t understand that?”
There, let him think about that for a minute.
But instead of being insulted, he just continued to look at her curiously. “You don’t value yourself the same as you do everyone else, do you? That would explain why you let everyone walk all over you.”
“That’s not true!” Lily started to argue, when she felt a sharp tap on her shoulder.