4. Penny
FOUR
PENNY
I’d been in New Haven for a week and was falling more in love with the town by the day. A friendly smile welcomed me at every store and the Jumpin’ Beans coffee shop was adorable. Since I’d met some of the parents on Thursday night, word must have spread who the newcomer was to town because on Friday when I stopped by Millie’s Diner for a carryout order, I was greeted not only with a smile, but by my first name before I could offer it. Small town living was strange, where it truly seemed like everyone knew everyone, but there was a safety in it as well. These were neighbors who looked after one another.
It was also where neighbors would see you pulling into your driveway at night and stomp over with a scowl to apologize, and while Mr. Kelley’s apology had seemed authentic albeit completely unwarranted, he also didn’t seem too thrilled to be giving it. The entire encounter with him was contradictory, and yet I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him. The cut of his jaw, the anger in his eyes. His thick, dark hair and that scruff. The man had knocked the breath from my lungs when Josie yanked him forward in my classroom and so boldly declared she didn’t have a mom, only a dad.
It only made me more curious when he so succinctly snapped that Josie’s mom had taken off. Poor Josie, definitely. But poor Gavin. He must have had an incredible support network to be able to not only raise his daughter, but be so young. I was betting that at most, he was only three years older than me. That meant he was a young father. Had to have had her when he was a teenager.
Yeah, I had questions. Loads of them, and I was woman enough to admit when Faye invited me to Tom’s Saloon with her for a drink, I agreed in part to get some of those questions answered.
I told myself it was for Josie, so I could understand her more and be a better teacher.
I snorted as I took the shortcut through the square, past the gazebo that was lit up with solar powered twinkly lights. Yeah, right.
I wasn’t that much of a philanthropist or that selfless.
I wanted to know more about Gavin.
The air had a bite to it, the cold blowing in. It wasn’t that much different than this time of year in Kansas City, but after the hot summer months, the cold always took some getting used to. My denim jacket was lined, though, and once I ducked my head and headed toward the bar where Faye was waiting outside where she said she’d be, the wind was at least at my back, giving my cheeks and fingers a break from the cutting breeze.
“Hey!” she called, waving at me from the corner. “You made it! It’s cold, right?”
“So cold.” I shivered and crossed the street. “Thanks for inviting me. This was nice.”
“Please. The more the merrier, I always say, and like I said, I get my kids back tomorrow, so this is my last night to relax. Glad you could come.”
I scrubbed my hands together and warmed them as she pushed open the old-school, saloon-style swinging doors before we reached the main one. Built for design and not use, the swinging doors were still adorable and made it clear what this town used to be and what it still was. A small farming and ranching community, and they definitely appreciated the way things used to be.
“Dolly went inside to grab us a table, but be warned, it’s going to be a busy night, so if you thought you’d already met half the town this week, prepare to meet the rest.”
I chuckled. It didn’t seem so much a warning, but a pep talk, and I didn’t mind. There hadn’t been a person in town who hadn’t been friendly yet.
“If everyone is as nice as you’ve been, I think I’ll be okay.”
“About ninety percent. Five percent are so nasty Regina doesn’t let them walk through her doors.”
“And the other five?”
“Just bad enough she hasn’t had reason to permanently kick them out and since it’s Saturday, you’ve been warned.”
Awesome. Sounded fun.
“Got it.”
The bar was loud with a cacophony of sounds. From voices and laughter to music shouting through the speakers. There was the clinking of glasses and the slapping of tables. The lone, echoing crack of someone breaking the balls at the billiards table, and eruptions of cheers and arms thrown in the air when darts hit their targets. I took it all in. The space was large and open, with high-backed booths lining walls and round tables and bar height tables in the center. There wasn’t a stage for live music like in most Kansas City bars, but there was definitely a woodsy, pure country slash farm life feel to the place. But it was clean, and based on the crowd, definitely one of the top nightspots in town.
The bar was to the right, and a couple waitresses danced their way between groups of people standing around bar height tables with their round trays high in the hair.
“This way!” Faye shouted and grabbed my hand to pull me behind her. She weaved her way through the bar, much like the waitresses were doing, and raised her hand and shouted hellos to a handful of people as she finally reached a lone woman sitting at a booth near the pools at the back.
“This was the only table I could find,” Dolly said, scrunching her nose. “Out of the mayhem a little bit, though.”
“No worries,” Faye said and let go of my hand so she could gesture to me. “Dolly, meet Penny. Penny meet Dolly, my best friend since we were in diapers.”
Dolly rolled her eyes and leaned over the table, smirking like she had a secret to share. “Her thighs were always chubbier.”
“Hey!” Faye slapped Dolly’s shoulder and they both took their seat across from me. “Not nice.”
“I wasn’t the one who was nicknamed Thunder Thighs.”
“Ouch,” Faye grumbled, but there was only laughter in her eyes. “Tell my new friend all the dirty secrets, why don’t you.” She turned to me as she pushed out of the booth. “I’m going to get a drink. It’ll be faster if I go find Regina. What would you like?”
“Oh, I can come with you.”
“Don’t worry about it. First round is on me.” She turned to Dolly. “Vodka soda?”
“You got it.” Dolly tipped her glass of clear liquid in Faye’s direction and then brought the red straw to her mouth and sipped.
“Sprite or 7Up is fine.”
I didn’t drink, and prepped myself for the questions that usually came. For some reason, many people couldn’t fathom you could have fun, be social, and be sober at the same time.
Faye’s eyes narrowed for a blink before she grinned. “Got it. Be back soon.” She shoved her finger in Dolly’s direction. “No more secrets about me until I get back.”
“Can I tell her secrets about everyone else?”
I chuckled, but gosh yes, please . That was what I wanted.
“I can’t stop that from happening. Be back,” she said again and disappeared into the madness behind us.
“We’ve been friends with Regina, the owner, for a long time. She won’t be gone long.”
“It’s no problem,” I told Dolly. “So you’ve grown up in New Haven, too?”
“Yep. I left to go to cosmetology school in Texas. Came straight back as fast as I could. Thought Texas would be an adventure, but there’s something about this place. The dirt digs its way into your soul if you’re lucky enough. I’m sure there are all sorts of small towns like this all over, but there was something about the city I never liked. A lost feeling. Here I’m settled, known. I think that’s important.”
“I think that makes perfect sense.” Part of why I couldn’t wait to get out of Kansas City when I had the chance. It wasn’t the largest city, and definitely not the smallest, but I was so unknown. Unseen. Even when Maize and I were little, there was no one who offered to lend a helping hand, and mostly, no one who saw all the trouble and danger we were usually in. Sure, I could have told teachers, but that would have meant DHS getting involved, us being taken, maybe separated. I didn’t want that.
But some help along the way would have been nice.
On the other hand, Maize loved being able to do her thing without anyone looking over their shoulder at her. She and I couldn’t be more different, and not only in looks since we had different sperm donors for fathers, but where she craved anonymity, I desired the intimacy that came from truly knowing someone.
“Do you work at a salon in town, then?”
“My aunt and I run it. It’s back behind the creamery if you’ve been there yet, a block up from Whiskey Mixer.”
I’d seen the Whiskey Mixer sign and the creamery but hadn’t been to either. “I’ll have to get on your books soon, then.”
“Damn straight you will. My aunt can handle trims and she’s excellent at haircutting and the old-school perms, but I’m the high and low light queen around here.”
Dolly took another sip of her drink, with a twinkle in her eyes. I liked her. She was bold, unabashedly herself. Her olive skin tone set off her light green eyes. Her hair was shorter than mine but thicker, and if she’d done her own highlights, she was definitely going to be doing my hair.
“Sounds good. So… what about all these secrets you were going to share?”
“Oh God,” Faye groaned and slipped into the booth. “First, I heard that, and I can’t believe Dolly didn’t jump into town gossip first, so good job, girl.”
“Give me my drink,” she muttered and grabbed her glass from the drinks Faye was setting on the table. “And be quiet.”
“No way. Jimmy’s here.”
“Shit,” Dolly cursed.
“Jimmy?”
“Jimmy Morton,” Faye answered and pushed my glass toward me. She had a bottle of a light beer in her hand and took a swig before setting it down. “He’s an ass. Handsome, until he speaks, and we all hate him.”
“Pretty sure there isn’t a woman in town he hasn’t harassed yet,” Dolly cut in.
“He’s in a white button-down, thin blue strips tonight, so stay clear,” Faye said. “Seriously. That dude is bad news and Regina keeps kicking him out, but he keeps coming back. Doesn’t think he needs to listen to women or some crap.”
“Ahhh... one of those,” I muttered. I knew them well. My apartment had been a revolving door of men who didn’t like listening to women or showing them any ounce of basic respect.
“Exactly,” Faye said.
“So town gossip. Who do we need to fill her in on first?” Dolly asked, nudging Faye.
“The Kelleys,” Faye answered without missing a beat. “Because if you haven’t heard about them yet, you’ll know everything in a week anyway.”
“Kelleys, as in Josie, right?”
“Oh, sweet Josie,” Dolly said. “She’s the best. Says whatever is on her sweet little mind and you never know what’s going to come out of it. She’s a trip and a half.”
“Yeah, I met her and her dad the other night at parents’ night and the first thing she said to me was she didn’t have a mom.”
Faye chuckled.
Dolly scowled. “Her mom was one of our good friends in school. Now she’s a cunt. If she ever comes back, I think we’d grab all the horses in the county and run her back out or run her over.”
“No joke,” Faye said. “Which is why you should probably know about Gavin, too.”
Yes. This was what I wanted, but now that they were so easily dishing, it felt wrong. Too intrusive. Did I want to know why he seemed like he wore a perpetual angry face? Absolutely.
Was it any of my business? Not really…
“Um, maybe since he’s the father of one of my students I shouldn’t? But he did tell me her mom left when she was little.”
Faye’s eyes went round with surprise. “He mentioned Monica to you?”
An unsettling feeling slithered in my gut and I squirmed in my booth. “Yeah. After the parent night. He saw me, and …”
“Oh, you’re neighbors. I hadn’t realized that.” There was still surprise in her eyes. Maybe concern.
Before I could ask anything further, Dolly waved her hand in the air. “We’ll get to him later anyway, so here’s the deal. There are three main founding families. The Kelleys, the Havens, and the Tomlinsons. This bar, when it was built, never had a name. Everyone just said they were going to Tomlinson’s, but the story goes it became too hard to say after a few drinks, so it was shortened to Tom’s. The saloon part came later.”
“The swinging doors out front are original, though,” Faye cut in.
“Right. So there are the Havens, who still live here too. Lydia is a couple years older than us, but she’s a gem. She and her mom run the grocery store with some help from cousins, but they own a bunch of the buildings in town, too.”
“Her dad passed away not so long ago. Tragic. One second he was loading baked beans onto the shelves, the next second he was lying in the aisle, gone,” Faye said. Apparently, Dolly dished the dirt and Faye filled in the specifics. They spoke over and with each other like a well-oiled machine.
“Oh God. That’s horrific.”
“It was,” Faye whispered. “Lydia is a blast. She and her bestie, Ava, are usually here on weekends, but Ava might be with her boyfriend this weekend.”
“Who is Cameron Kelley,” Dolly cut in. “One of Gavin’s three older brothers.”
“He has three older brothers?” I tried picturing raising four boys and couldn’t.
“And a younger one, along with an older sister, but Meredith is in Nashville.”
My head was spinning. “Okay. Slow down and let’s start at the top. The Kelleys obviously helped found the town, but what else makes them important?”
On cue, like I’d told the best joke in the planet and won a spot on a Vegas headlining stage, both Faye and Dolly slapped their hands to the table and threw their heads back and laughed.
“I can’t believe you don’t know. Or haven’t heard.” Faye laughed so hard she snorted, which only made Dolly fall into her and cover her own mouth as the laughing persisted.
Once they were calm and Faye pulled out a mirror from her purse to wipe mascara and tears that had formed in her eyes, Dolly continued.
“The Kelley Family owns a ranch outside town. It’s one of the top three largest cattle ranches in the state, top ten in the country or something absurd like that. They’re not only well-loved in the ranching community, but they’re basically considered Colorado’s favorite family.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously,” Faye said. “Let’s run it down.”
My ears perked up as they started dishing out all the news on the Kelley Family; Dalton who was running the ranch with his dad; Cameron—Ava’s boyfriend—who played professional football; Caleb, who played pro hockey in Denver; and their sister Meredith. She wasn’t only married to an ex-teammate and one of Caleb’s best friends, they lived in Nashville where he played pro hockey, too. They mentioned Gavin, obviously Josie, and made an offhand comment about Gavin working construction in town, and then Bryce. The baby, who was working on making his own name for himself by opening a brewery near the ranch.
By the time Faye and Dolly were done with the stories and the background, jumping in and out of each other’s stories like jackrabbits, I was flabbergasted. I would not have guessed that a family that popular, that wealthy, or that well-known not only came from a town like this but stayed here.
“So they’re royalty,” I teased. “And everyone loves them. Do they deserve it?”
“Absolutely,” Faye said. “Swear to you. Some are rougher around the edges but go home and look them up. Kelleys are salt of the Earth people, damn good people. Thank goodness.”
“And they’re all so freaking hot it’s unreal,” Dolly muttered.
“Have either of you ever dated one of them?”
“Nah, Gavin and Bryce were younger, and Caleb and Cameron were older. We were closest with Meredith and were around them a lot, but I think too young for them to notice us much.”
“Besides,” Dolly said, “Faye fell in love with Max when she was like twelve.”
“Don’t remind me. Fat lot of good it did me.” She curled her lip and took a hefty swallow of her beer.
“Your ex-husband, I take it?” She’d mentioned she had kids, and they were with her dad, so it wasn’t a leap.
“Got divorced last year,” Faye said.
“I’m sorry.” Her smile and happiness disintegrated as soon as Dolly brought him up. Even she was looking sheepish, like Max wasn’t supposed to be mentioned.
“Me too,” Faye finally said and plastered on a fake smile. “Need another drink?”
“I’ll get them,” Dolly said and practically shoved Faye off the bench to get out. “You sit your ass down and remember to have fun tonight.”
“You don’t have to say anything, or tell me anything, if you don’t want,” I said once Dolly was gone.
“It’s not like everyone doesn’t know or you won’t hear. Fun times in a small town.” As she said it, she tossed back another drink from her beer. “Max and I were high school sweethearts. We went to Colorado State together and got married when we were twenty. I was actually pregnant, but we didn’t know that when we got married, so anyway, that was a scandal in itself.”
“That sounds like it would have been a lot.” I couldn’t imagine doing college, being married, and being pregnant or having a small baby.
“It wasn’t easy, but it was fun, and it worked.” She shrugged, scanned the crowd, and smiled at a few people she must have recognized before lowering her voice and leaning closer. “He went on a bachelor party trip last year to Vegas.”
Oh no. My heart sank. “I’m so sorry, Faye.”
“Yeah, well, so am I. And so was he because he wasn’t in the door five minutes after the trip before he told me everything.” She inhaled a shaky breath and pushed her lips to the side. “Said he got carried away, started hearing about all the guys talking about all the girls they’d been with, the difference between them and their wives, and he just lost his mind, got curious. Did something stupid. Regretted it instantly, but that didn’t matter much to me. All he left me with was a broken heart, feeling like I wasn’t good enough and he had to go exploring.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said again. I’d already said it, but what else was there to say?
“Thank you. It’s been rough, and I hate that I still love him, still want him, and I know if I told him I forgave him, he’d come back, too. Wants that more than me maybe. But how do I trust him? He made me feel like… so worthless. Anyway…it’s only been a year. Things will get better.” She straightened her spine and slapped on the fakest smile I’d ever seen.
I let her have it. But since she’d been so open, I couldn’t help but want to share my own secret.
“My sister, Maize, is four years younger than me and I’ve practically raised her. My mom was a mess. She loves us, and when we were young, she worked her butt off to raise us, but she didn’t always make good choices and eventually, it was a pretty toxic environment for us to live in. The thing I’ve learned is that life is messy and sometimes people suck, but things do always get better.”
A soft, sad smile curled her lips. “I’m sorry you had to live like that.”
“I’m sorry you’ve gone through what you have.”
She lifted her glass, and even though her smile was still sad, there was a glimmer in it too. “To new beginnings,” she said.
I clinked my glass against hers and as we waited for Dolly to return, Faye pointed out people she knew in the bar, gave me the rundown on who was who, who was dating, who was single.
“You know,” she said, “in case you’re looking to date.”
She wiggled her brows and I chuckled.
I wasn’t. Not yet at least. For the longest time I didn’t bother trying and then once I started, there hadn’t been anyone who entered my life that I felt like I could trust with the ugliest parts of me. If I couldn’t give everything to someone, I didn’t see the point in handing off only the pretty pieces.
Dolly returned and they kept filling me in on town gossip, and then both of them stalled when the Kelley brothers entered the bar. I recognized them immediately.
Gavin stood a head taller than almost all the rest, easy to catch sight of him in a long-sleeved gray Henley shirt and his dark, unshaven beard.
“That’s Bryce,” Dolly whispered. “The youngest. He’s a younger, spitting image of both Cameron and Caleb.”
They’d been right earlier. They were all drop dead gorgeous, but it wasn’t Bryce who made my heart race and my fingertips burn.
It was Gavin, the scowl on his face like he was forced to be there, the stretch of his shoulders as he stood proud and tall, and when our eyes met from across the room, it was the way he glared at me so deeply, my toes curled inside my faux leather ankle boots.
Gavin Kelley was trouble. I’d recognized that when he scowled at me at the school.
No one had ever made me feel so unsettled in a glance, and it wasn’t a bad kind of unsettled at all.
But it was still dangerous.