Chapter 32 #2
Jake and Darren drank half their beers, then headed for a darts board.
Kell and Rachel were talking about a squirrel’s nest he’d found in a tree.
Colleen reached across Moore and took a handful of sweet potato fries, settling back in her seat as he sipped on his beer and gave Kylie a nod.
Something that looked like knitting was resting on the table next to Colleen, until Kylie spotted a crochet hook.
Looked like a granny square in its infancy.
As she looked around the table, she smiled, knowing every single person here.
She flashed back to her years in New York, where avoiding eye contact was an art form.
If she had stayed in Luview, would this have been her life?
Hanging out with the same people she went to preschool, elementary, middle, and high school with?
Her entire life like a vine that starts with small shoots and climbs slowly, twisting with other vines as it blooms?
How different would she be as a person if she hadn’t been forced to leave?
“Hey! Moore! You remember Kylie, right?” Colleen said, the casual way she interacted with Moore making it clear they were good friends, but Kylie wondered if there was something deeper there.
“Of course,” he said with a smile, looking around the table. “All we need are Layla and Brewer and we’re one big camp reunion.”
“Luke said Brewer’s in Texas? And rich?” Kylie asked before sipping her drink again, Luke’s thigh snug against her own as he leaned forward on the table, reaching for some peppered fries from a basket.
“Yep. He swings by every few years,” Moore replied.
“Too good for us now,” Colleen sniffed.
“Just because someone leaves doesn’t mean anything like that,” Kylie said, regretting the words as they came out.
Colleen shot Luke a glance Kylie definitely noticed.
“That’s true,” Luke said softly. “Except Brewer told us he was too good for Luview.”
“What?” Kylie gasped. “No one’s ‘too good’ for this town!”
“I’ll drink to that,” Luke said, raising his glass, everyone else scrambling to join in the toast.
“To being good enough for Luview!” Colleen called out before Luke could say a word, the group bursting into laughter. Rachel caught Kylie’s eye and gave her a sympathetic nod.
That sense of comfort had diminished. Brewer had left. Kylie had left. Now they were talking about him.
What had they said about her? Her dad? Her family? Maybe her mom was right. Maybe leaving town before being the topic of gossip and living with prying eyes and shame hadn’t been so wrong after all.
Then again, she never said she was too good for Luview, Maine.
“What about Layla?” she asked as everyone filled their mouths with their drinks. She had to wait until they swallowed, all eyes on her.
“She moved to Boston,” Kell said. “Got her law degree. Her parents are still here, running the insurance agency.”
“It’s hard to think of these people I remember as teenagers being out in the world, living grown-up lives,” Kylie said as she looked around. “I always wanted to come back.”
“Why didn’t you? Until a month ago? Luke said you were living near Fixby Hills,” Kell asked.
“It’s embarrassing.”
“No,” Luke said firmly. “Embarrassing is having the entire town do a betting grid on when we’re going to sleep together.”
“That’s not embarrassing,” Colleen scoffed. “That’s entertainment.”
A low growl from the pool table made Luke half-stand in his chair, the sound entering Kylie’s awareness seconds after Luke began to react. A sharp sound, like a very hard hand slapping against wood, came from that huge, muscular guy clearly venting some anger.
“Sit down, Luke,” Kell said. “You’re off duty. Not your job.”
“Not your problem,” Moore joined in.
“Lyle Morgenstern’s not my job, but he’s definitely my problem.”
“We’ve got your back,” Kell said softly, earning an incredulous look from Luke, who wrapped his arm around Kylie’s shoulders, but his body was tense as a board.
“You think I want a bunch of guys brawling in Bilbee’s, Kell? Last thing I need is a group of friends taking someone like Lyle from bad to worse.”
“If he takes a swing at you, I’m not standing by and watching,” Kell said menacingly, earning a wide-eyed stare from Rachel.
“Brawl? What are you talking about?” she hissed in his ear. “You sound like a caveman!”
“No,” Kell said in a low, controlled voice. “Lyle’s the caveman. I’m just saying if he starts trouble here with Luke, Moore and I will help finish it.”
Colleen gave Moore an appreciative look.
“Why would he start trouble with Luke?” Kylie asked, heart racing with a spike of fear.
“Because Luke caught him breaking into Kendrill’s Market a year ago. Literally caught him red-handed stealing inventory out the back, plus nearly a grand in cash was missing. Luke arrested him, and Lyle did time. Just got out this week,” Colleen explained.
The drink in Kylie’s stomach started to churn.
“Oh.”
“He’s a mean old jerk, but he’s not stupid,” Moore said quietly. “Lyle might bark but he won’t bite.”
“You bumped me!” Lyle shouted to the guy he was playing pool with, someone Kylie didn’t recognize. “No fair! I get a re-do.” The man’s words were slurred, and as he took a step around the pool table, he stumbled slightly, grabbing the hanging lamp over the middle of the table.
Light swung in strange, sinister arcs in that corner, making Kylie turn to her city instincts.
See nothing.
Pretend it’s not happening.
Be boring.
Don’t make eye contact.
Safety in numbers.
“Maybe we should go,” she said to Luke, whose jaw tightened in response.
“Hell, no. Lyle Morgenstern doesn’t scare me. And he certainly doesn’t get to force us to run off. We’re here to have fun. If he causes a disturbance, I’ll get him out of here.”
“You’d arrest him again?”
“I’ll do everything I can to avoid it. The guy’s had a hard life. But if he breaks the law, yes.”
Darren and Jake returned, questions in their eyes as they glanced at Lyle, then Luke.
“I know,” he said to them both. “I hear him. Drunk, right?”
“I went to the bathroom and walked past. It’s clear he was three sheets to the wind before he came in, and he’s kept Rider busy.”
“Rider’ll cut him off when it’s time,” Luke said. “He took his keys.”
“How do you know?” Kylie asked. “He didn’t ask for mine.”
“If you ask Rider to run a tab, which Lyle does, he wants your keys. It’s a smokescreen, though. He just wants the keys of anyone he thinks can’t drive home safely.”
“Did you have to hand over your keys?” she asked.
The table erupted into laughter.
“Luke doesn’t go anywhere,” Jake said with a grin. “Haven’t seen you hang with us in…”
“A while,” Luke snapped, clearly unhappy at being ribbed.
Colleen’s smile lit up the room as she looked at her brother. “It’s good to have you back. The handful of times you’ve come out, you looked so mopey.”
Luke squeezed Kylie’s knee. “No reason to be mopey anymore.”
“I SAID,” shouted Lyle from the bar, “GIVE ME MY DAMN KEYS!”
“Uh oh,” Luke muttered, shooting to his feet, Kell, Jake, and Moore standing as well, Darren watching carefully from his seat.
“Lyle,” Rider said, hands on his bar, splayed wide, his stance one that said Don’t mess with me, but also said, I’m giving you an out here.
“KEYS!”
“You’re too drunk. I already called Tabby.”
“You called my woman?” Lyle’s face turned red from anger. “She’s busy working. You better not cost her her shift. Just give me my damn keys. I’m fine, you little piece of – ”
“Hey, hey, now,” Luke said as Kylie watched helplessly from the table, Darren putting his hand on her forearm as she started to rise.
“Stay out of it,” Darren whispered in her ear.
“If anyone can diffuse this, it’s Luke.” Darren looked up at Kell, Jake, and Moore, raising his voice.
“And sit your asses down. You look like a flank of bouncers, and it’ll only anger Lyle more.
You can jump in and help when it’s really needed. Luke knows what he’s doing.”
“Lyle’s been in jail or prison for most of the last year, Darren,” Kell countered, clearly worried. “He bulked up.”
“Let the sworn law officer handle it, Kell. He’ll call for help when he needs it. Trust your brother.”
A string of profanities poured out of Lyle, all of it aimed at Luke.
“ – and get out of my face. You’re the one who put me in prison!”
“I’ve got no problem with you, man,” Luke said, standing a few steps behind Lyle, the bar a barrier between Lyle and Rider. Luke had no such luxury, and it terrified Kylie. She knew that one well-placed blow could seriously injure Luke.
Not that he wasn’t able to fight, if needed. His body was a study in control and power, feet wide enough apart to stabilize himself, but close enough together to pivot if needed.
Training had clearly made him ready for anything.
But Lyle was big, drunk, and mean. That combination was dangerous.
“I got a problem with you, though,” Lyle said menacingly, scowling at Luke, muttering more obscenities, one of them making Luke’s nostrils flare, but he didn’t escalate.
Kylie noticed Kell wrapping his arm around Rachel, eyes on the exits.
Luke said nothing.
“More of a problem with him, though,” he said, turning to Rider, who was in the same position, hands on the bar, leaning forward.
A cook in the kitchen stood in the doorway, white apron smeared with food, watching the front carefully, phone in hand.
He looked like Mark Faroni, a guy in Kylie’s grade, with a big head of curly brown hair and wide eyeglasses slipped halfway down his nose.
Now wasn’t the time for a quick catch up.
“I’ll drive you home if you need a ride,” Rider said. “Mikah’s on his way here. If Tabby can’t take time off, we can swing it.”
“I. Want. My. Keys.”
Lyle’s position was clear.
“No.”