Chapter Six #2
dressed when they were trying to dress down. Jeans and an untucked
button-down shirt didn’t exactly scream casual when together she’d
peg their cost at over five hundred dollars. While the boots Walker
wore were scuffed and obviously well-worn, Vance’s were polished to
a gleam.
His expensive clothes wouldn’t bother
her if she didn’t know he’d done nothing to earn his wealth other
than be born into the right family. Recently, the local newspaper
had run several stories on the Norris family, reporting how they’d
diversified their business interests by acquiring a development
company. Land owned by the family at the south end of the valley
was now slated to be cleared to make way for a planned gated
community of high-end town houses with an eighteen-hole golf
course. Apple trees that’d been producing for decades were slotted
to be bulldozed. Beyond being heartbroken over the loss of the
orchards, Delaney was among many in the community who worried the
development jeopardized the area’s rural character and old-time
charm, which was centered around the apple industry.
Other than having a shade more polish,
Vance looked much the same as when he’d enrolled at Sierra High
School halfway through his junior year. Theirs had been a small
school and his arrival had made a splash. Since he’d attended local
schools through sixth grade many knew him, but then he’d gone off
to boarding school and returned wearing his entitled attitude like
a crown.
Rumors had circulated he’d gotten into
trouble involving a girl at his school in Monterey and had been
kicked out. His punishment, meted out by his parents, had been to
finish his last year and a half at the local public school. He’d
graduated in the class ahead of Delaney and Keeley.
The man with Vance looked like a
bodybuilder. He had bulging biceps and a neck so thick it appeared
to be the same width as his head. They paused inside the door, and
Vance scanned the room. He froze when he spotted Walker, then gave
the other man a nudge, nodding to where Walker was seated at the
bar watching the game on the TV.
The curvy brunette Mateo had been
talking with had left. Ignoring Walker, Vance crossed to where
Mateo sat at the bar, clapping him on the shoulder. Mateo tipped
back his hat, brows rising when Vance greeted him in an overly loud
voice. “Hey there, bro. Long time, no see.”
“Yeah, it’s been a while.”
Mateo sipped his beer.
“Hey, where you working,
man? You should come see me.” Delaney had a feeling Vance was
playing to the crowd as he scanned the room and seemed to gauge
whether the patrons were paying attention. He addressed Mateo
again. “I could use a guy like you. Let me hook you up with a good
gig.”
“Got a job,
thanks.”
Vance set a business card on the bar
in front of Mateo. “You want to move up in the world, don’t you?
Call me and I’ll see what I can do. Gotta keep the locals
happy.”
“Vance is so oblivious,”
Delaney muttered. “Mateo’s wearing a Sisters Fire Department hat,
for god’s sake. I bet he doesn’t even remember Mateo’s name or that
he slept with his girlfriend after prom.”
Keeley used the straw to stir her
drink. “Agreed. People don’t change. Vance thought he was god’s
gift in high school, and he still acts that way. He never
understood—no one was as impressed with him as he thought they
should’ve been.”
Delaney thought Keeley had hit the
nail on the head. As long as Delaney had known him, Vance Norris
always seemed to be working to project an image, one that didn’t
always jibe with his behavior. His insincerity made her distrust
him.
He continued his scan of the room
until his gaze landed on Delaney and stayed there. He gave a
crooked smile that looked as fake as his perfectly straight teeth.
She knew for a fact his top incisors were implants because Walker
had knocked out the originals in a fight. Someone across the room
called to Vance. He gave a brief wave in acknowledgment, then began
weaving his way through tables toward her and Keeley.
“Shit, he’s coming this
way.”
“No way,” Keeley hissed as
she glanced up. “Oh crap, he is. Do we have time to escape to the
bathroom?”
“No, dammit. Why didn’t I
come in with a hot muscley guy who’d squash him like a
bug?”
“Because we have each
other. Don’t worry. I can take him down for you.”
“You’re the best, Keel.”
She bumped shoulders with her friend. “I never got why he always
seemed interested in me.”
“Pfft. You’ve got this
serene beauty thing going on guys see as a challenge. Plus you have
gorgeous eyes, and you’re a good human being. But honestly? All
that’s only a side benefit. He’s gone for you because Walker went
for you. Whatever Walker had, he wanted.”
“I don’t know if I buy it.
Walker was already out of high school by the time Vance showed up,
and it was a couple years before Walker and I started dating, and
even then we were only together a few months.”
“Officially, yeah. But
when we were in high school, anyone with eyes in their heads knew
he had a thing for you. He picked you up every day from school and
gave you a ride home on the back of his motorcycle.”
“We both lived at the
farm. It was convenient.”
Keeley gave her a pitying look.
“Riiight. He arranged his schedule to be there when the final bell
rang. He was staking his claim. You may’ve been oblivious, but
everyone knew you were his. Vance saw that as a
challenge.”
Delaney remembered those exhilarating
rides, especially when they’d take a detour and Walker drove into
the hills. She’d been so young, thrilled to be sitting behind him,
glued to his back with her arms wrapped around his waist as they
roared through the rolling foothills of the Sierras as pine trees
and creeks whizzed past. She’d thought he’d been doing her
grandmother a favor picking her up from school. Looking back, she
wondered if Keeley was right.
A shriek and a chair scraping the
floor pulled Delaney back into the present. Cyndi Lomeli launched
herself from her seat and teetered to Vance on skinny heels then
threw her arms around him. Her blonde hair was in a poofy ponytail
at the top of her head, and she was killing the Daisy Duke look.
Short and curvy and with a bubbly personality, she was cheerful and
friendly to everyone, which made her the center of attention
whenever she was in a group. And predictable.
“Wait for it,” Delaney
muttered.
Cyndi sucked in a breath and squealed,
“Ooh, Vanny.”
Keeley snorted out a laugh. “You
called it. I can’t believe she still calls him Vanny. It makes him
sound like a kindergartner.”
Cyndi loosened her hug and Vance’s
gaze snagged on her cleavage. “Hey, gorgeous.”
“He probably forgot her
name too.” Delaney snickered at Keeley’s whispered
comment.
“Vanny, come sit with us
and we can catch up,” Cyndi gushed.
“Sure, we should do that.
Maybe later.”
He caught Delaney’s eye, extricated
himself from Cyndi’s embrace, and headed for their table. He looked
like a young Brad Pitt, his sun-streaked dark blond hair tousled
like he’d just stepped off a sailboat.
“Hello, beautiful.” He
reached their table and leaned over as if he intended to kiss her.
Delaney leaned back in her seat and he straightened with a
frown.
“Vance. You remember
Keeley Montaigne from high school, don’t you?”
“Of course. Nice to see
you again, Keeley.” He gave her a quick once-over, then returned
his attention to Delaney. “You ladies look smokin’ hot. I can’t
believe you’re here without your boyfriends.”
Delaney barely restrained an eye
roll.
“Girls’ night,” Keeley
quipped.
“Where’s the fun in that?”
Not waiting for an answer or an invitation, he hooked a vacant
chair from another table and sat, his back to the room. The man
he’d come in with drifted to the bar. Vance put his hand up to
signal the waitress. “I’ll have your best bourbon, neat,” he
ordered when she arrived. “And bring another round of whatever the
ladies are drinking, and put it on my tab.” He smiled.
Delaney thought about digging out her
sunglasses to cut the glare from his blindingly white
teeth.
She caught Keeley’s look, and said,
“Thanks, Vance, but we’re good.” She turned to the waitress. “I
wouldn’t mind ice water, though.”
Vance’s expression hardened, which
made Delaney remember everything about Vance was transactional. His
gestures of goodwill weren’t about goodwill, but were designed to
make people feel obligated.
He tipped his head, gaze traveling
over her and lingering on her breasts long enough to piss her off.
“How’s it going at the farm? Guess you’re busy.”
“We’re gearing up for the
summer season, so yes, we’re busy.”
“A seasonal operation is a
poor business model. It’s too hard to make ends meet that
way.”
“We operate our farm every
day of the year. Selling directly to the public is only part of our
business.”
“But most of your profits
come from late summer to Thanksgiving, right? Too many of our local
businesses are struggling because their operations depend on the
whims of tourists coming in during a relatively short period of the
year. The smart folks are already selling.”
“Maybe a few are, but
others are finding ways to expand the season. We’ve done that at
our farm by putting in boysenberries. They’re drawing in people for
u-pick berries a few months before apple season starts.”
He shrugged away her comment, leaning
back in his seat while the server set their glasses on the table.
“People with jobs in Sacramento are willing to live here and
commute to work. That’s driving up housing prices and making it a
good time to sell land that’s prime for development.”
He wasn’t telling her anything new.
She was a member of the Valley Apple-Growers Association, as well
as the local Chamber of Commerce. She went to the monthly meetings,
but the Norris family didn’t bother attending.
“We’re also close enough
for people from the Sacramento area to drive here for a day out.
Farms like ours offer them something unique and fun to do. They
also like to visit the shops in Sisters. If Payback Valley is
developed the same as every other place in California, with the
same kinds of housing and identical big-box stores, then nothing is
special and there won’t be a reason for people to visit.” She kept
her tone mild despite the irritation prickling her skin. Now she
was wondering if Vance had dropped by the bar and sought her out
with a specific purpose in mind. The upside was maybe his interest
wasn’t personal.
He sipped his bourbon, setting the
glass on the table before continuing. “I’m interested in acquiring
property in the valley that can be developed. Being close to the
highway, yours is prime. With the right motivation I could be
enticed to expand out your way. I’d offer you a tidy sum for your
little farm. I’ll be talking with some of your neighbors too, but
I’m willing to let you hear our offer and get in first.”
She smiled sweetly. “We sell over my
dead body.”