Chapter Six
AMARIE DIDN’T TRUST him. Was it funny that neither of them trusted the other? Eli contemplated the question while Hiccup ran around the backyard, his tail a proud banner waving in high praise of his athletic ability. Familiar with his routine, Eli started on his pal’s dinner bowl.
Only twenty minutes had passed since the women had departed, so he took his time reviewing Amarie’s text updates regarding Calvary Clinic. She’d ended each message with a different glowing, round-faced emoji. During his years in the Army, not one of his many tasks ended with a happy face. Eli shook his head. “Women.”
He took the shortcut across the Cattail Creek foot bridge into downtown Service. There wasn’t much to Main Street, just enough to have everything he needed after a hard day’s work—a cold beer, a hot meal, and fast music, the genre varied with his mood. Country to cool a hot head. Rhythm and blues to warm an empty bed. Hard rock to wake the dead for another day. The Black Bear provided all three. Didn’t matter if you lived uptown or downtown, when the work ended, family and friends gathered here Monday through Saturday. Sundays were reserved for the faith center. The owner, Gracie Lou, and her fiancé, Caleb, had an arrangement with the local minister. To facilitate the pews were full at the faith center, the pub opened after noon on the one day the community reserved for rest… and fishing.
Gracie Lou called to him from behind the bar where she filled glasses and mugs from the tap. “Eli, I hear you got yourself another fancy city girl. This one with a BMW.”
Like most folks native to these mountains, she elongated the last letter: B-M-dub-be-yay.
“You heard wrong,” he deadpanned, stepping up to the counter. All of five foot three in her signature red cowgirl boots, Gracie Lou Tyler had a skyscraper personality with a barn-red pixie cut visible in dense fog.
“Riiight,” she drawled. “You bringing her to see me and Caleb jump the broom?”
“Nope.” He grabbed the larger of the two from her hand, tipping his mug in thanks.
In Service, a wedding drew more people than a political rally from either party. Everyone pitched in to make the newlyweds’ day memorable. Cara had pooh-poohed the idea, opting for a country club wedding on the military base.
“She’s pretty. Nice, too. One of these other fellas is gonna lift his leg around your doorstep. Remember, snoozers are losers.”
Eli waved a hand acknowledging he’d heard the warning. But Eli didn’t consider Amarie his. With the bar at his back, the chatter increased in volume above the country music spewing from the vintage jukebox in the far corner. The center dance floor was empty for now, but the closer it got to sundown, the more freely the beer flowed and the faster the feet moved. He’d be home by then.
Prudence, the cashier at the General Trading Post and campground rental center, stepped in his path. Eli stopped on a dime, but his beer sloshed over the rim. Sudsy foam from the icy liquid flowed between his fingers to drip onto the floor.
“Dang it.” He frowned, switching the mug to his free hand, rubbing the excess on his jeans, a wearable sponge for on and off the job. Couldn’t say the same for the Army’s service uniform. “Prudence, didn’t see you there.”
“Oh.” She laughed. “It’s alright, Eli,” she said, her usually high-pitched voice soft and scratchy, like she had a case of laryngitis.
“You sound different. Need a drink of water or something?”
“No, silly. I plan to be plenty wet for you ’cause I’m the highest bidder on that there auction page.”
“There isn’t going to be an auction.”
“Don’t play coy, Eli.”
He’d always considered Prudence, with her thin frame and flat chestnut hair, to be a quiet slip of a woman. Her older brother, Dosier, and Eli had been classmates back in the day. But in bad cliché fashion, he’d lost touch when he left for college. Coming home on the holidays didn’t leave much time to kindle relationships from his youth. Eventually, his visits had slowed to a trickle. Cara had shunned small-town living after one visit, so the trickle evaporated to a once-a-day text message to start the day and a Sunday afternoon phone call. Tobias and Noah, especially Noah, had joked about him abandoning them to entertain all the single ladies in town. His parents had kept up pretenses for his sake, but his actions had hurt them all. Guilt still ate at him that he’d allowed a woman to separate him from his family. But he’d still received a hero’s welcome when he had returned with all his belongings in the back of his pickup truck.
“Believe you me, I’m not. Just sorry you wasted your money, Prudence.”
“Oh, don’t be sorry, honey biscuit. Be ready.” She winked and sashayed off like she had actually conducted a reasonable conversation with him. Honey. Biscuit. Eli shuddered at the visual. He needed to talk with his brothers before this foolishness got worse.
“You Calvarys got all the primo land… now you corralling the women.” That comment came from Benjamin Buchanan. He scowled at Eli from his wallflower perch, a dark alcove near the unisex restroom.
“Not true, Bucky. Doing the best I can for my family. Getting a woman on my arm has got nothing to do with it.”
“That picture of you in the paper says different,” he rasped, stepping from the shadows. “And, uh, I don’t like it. Not one bit.”
Long and lanky in faded denims and a white T-shirt sagging with dirt stains, Bucky lived off the grid, preferring well water and kerosene heat to modern amenities. The men in that family courted their firearms more than the ladies. Frequent run-ins with the law for assault, trespassing, and disorderly conduct kept them off the streets most days.
Eli stood his ground. “I said my piece.”
His concave body retreated, but not before his tinny voice reached Eli’s ears. “Folks don’t take too kindly to you uptown types taking our women. But the way I hear it, in thirty days, the Pendletons will own you lock, stock, and waterfront view. I already signed up for the work crew,” he cackled, as if he visualized the bulldozers ripping through Calvary land. “They fixing to build a fancy Landing Falls–style resort where your cabin used to be.”
Eli stiffened. So the Pendletons already had a plan in place if he failed.
“Bucky, don’t count on that paycheck,” Eli gritted out, rattled by the mention of the predatory Pendleton family, more than his frustration at the nagging toothache the auction announcement had caused. “I’m done with this conversation and talk of the Pendletons. You?”
“I’m guessing so… for now,” he added.
“For—” Eli stopped himself from saying more. Wasting his time on a man who saw what he wanted was futile. The Pendletons had been a thorn in his father’s side. With Levi Calvary gone, they had a target on him. Eli walked off, scanning the tables for the Calvary men, more committed than ever to preserving their lands for future generations. The Pendletons’ plan for the resort raised the stakes. The time to tell his brothers the sordid details had arrived.
He found the face he was looking for. Tobias sat alone at one of the square tables farthest from the action. He never understood why his brother limited his contact with people. Underneath all that caution tape was a man of deep principle and thought.
Eli took the chair next to his brother, spinning it backward before taking his seat. “What’s up, brother?”
“Gas prices.” Tobias grimaced. “Cost me an eighth of a tank to drive to the station for a fill-up.” Eli amended his previous musings that Service had everything he needed. On the docket for the next council meeting was the reopening of a medical clinic along with a gas station that didn’t require a twenty-minute drive south into Landing Falls.
“Yeah,” Eli sighed, “I know.” Minimum wage had increased a few years back. In theory, it felt like a win for most of the folks trying to squeeze a living out of a town without any manufacturing plants or federal agencies close by. Retirees moving from high-cost surrounding states—Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland—drove the housing prices beyond the reach of most locals. To afford the monthly mortgage on the single-family homes going up in nearby Whynot, it would take triple the wages for half the square footage. Unbeknownst to his mother, he’d done some recognizance just in case he couldn’t sort out the mess with the bank.
“Saw you talking with Bucky.” Tobias waited for Eli to pick up the conversation. He didn’t. Instead, he sipped his beer, letting the chilly liquid spread through his mounting to-do list, ice crystals freezing the mass in place, a brief reprieve from the avalanche aimed at him.
“So,” Tobias gazed over at him, “how’d it go with Amarie?”
“Worse than I could ever imagine,” Eli said, studying his mug.
“Oh yeah?” Tobias’s voice rose a bit. “She was that bad?”
“Nope,” Eli said, shifting his ball cap further back on his head. “That good. And now Mom’s thinking she’s right about this bachelor auction.”
And that’s when he heard it. Amarie’s laughter. And why did his pulse rev like a V12 engine? Must be indigestion. Eli watched his mother and Amarie socializing with the people he’d known since birth, having a good time. Everybody in town had come to meet the new girl with the BMW he had yet to see.
“Look at them.”
Tobias glanced over his shoulder, the corner of his mouth lifted into a smile. The sound of his mother’s laughter eased the pressure around his heart, too. He was sure Tobias felt the same. With his father gone, they worried about her alone in that big house. It was one of the reasons at least one of them joined her for breakfast every morning.
“I see their inflated heads floating from here.” Eli smirked.
“Hmm.” Tobias sighed, taking another swallow of beer. “It was impressive what Amarie did with Adele. Dad used to call that ‘having the touch.’”
“Oh, you missed the best of it. She actually won over Mrs. Kline this morning.”
“No fooling?”
“It gets better,” Eli chuckled. “She managed to get all the ladies who usually wander into the office to squeeze my butt to pay for the pleasure.”
“Mom and Amarie. Sounds like you got yourself a dynamic duo.”
“Huh, guess I do,” he chuckled, but then the laughter stuck in Eli’s throat drier than a week-old dog biscuit. “But I don’t want a partner.” Not anymore.
“Wow. At least Amarie is working toward your goals. She’s not one of Mom’s plants trying to get you down the aisle.”
Tobias was right. Amarie wouldn’t spend a cent on him. Dang it, that irritating thought made him think about the auction. On that, he wouldn’t budge.
“It’s not ‘wow’ in the least,” he said, rapping his knuckles on the scarred wood table. “Would you just look at those two soaking up all this attention?”
“Not all of it.” Tobias faced Eli, his brows bunched. “Naomi, the day shift dispatch operator, turned the siren on when I walked in the ambulance bay this morning. She waved one of Mom’s pink flyers in my face, and then demanded I strut my stuff.”
“See,” Eli barked. “That’s my point. Me, you, and Noah, we’re laughingstocks.”
Tobias took a huge gulp from his half-empty mug. “Trust me when I tell you, Naomi wasn’t laughing. In fact, she growled at me twice before lunch.”
“What did you do?”
“Ate in my truck with the doors locked.”
“Smart man. Now, about Amarie.”
“I can see why you had your doubts. But is it really that bad, Eli? Having somebody on the staff who can maybe help share the load? She actually added to the bottom line.”
“Who do we know with a BMW and Louise Vuitton luggage, T? A woman like her won’t stick around.” His wife hadn’t.
“It’s Louis, not Louise. And yeah, you’re right about our lack of an affluent social network. But you know how Mrs. Kline gossips. It could be fake news.”
“Yeah, but she’s not that inventive.” Amarie was as polished and creative as she presented.
“You ain’t never lied.” Tobias polished off his beer, signaling the waitress for a second round.
“Exactly. And she mentioned some guy named Prince.”
“Think that’s her boyfriend?”
Eli studied his mug once more. “I don’t know who he is, but I already know she deserves better.”
“Do you now?” Tobias quizzed, not moving from the pointed question.
“Yep.”
“Got anybody in mind?”
And just like that, Noah came strolling up, beer bottle to his lips. He swallowed before asking, “What did I miss?”
The chair scraped against the rough plank floors, the sound jarring even in the chaos.
“Amarie’s a big hit in town,” Tobias whispered.
“A pretty little thang like that is bound to be taken soon. I know she said she wanted to have a talk with me, so I’m gonna mosey on over and—”
“Sit down,” Eli interjected. “I need to talk with you both.”
Noah dropped in the chair opposite Tobias. “Okay, big brother. What is it that you want to say? Make it quick. I don’t like to keep the ladies waiting.”
“First, don’t get close to Amarie. Neither of you. She won’t be here long.”
“Since when is that a problem?” Noah quizzed.
“The last time I trusted a woman I just met, I ended up divorced and I’m pretty sure close to destitute.”
“Yeah, but Amarie made you money from the women interested in the bachelor auction,” Tobias reminded.
“That’s cause enough to light my fire.” Noah grinned.
“It’s not,” Eli snapped.
“Can’t say I’d be complaining. It’s probably good for business to have a pretty woman around.”
“Really, keeping her around because she’s cute? Do you ever get tired of bad ideas, Noah?”
“Sometimes, it’s good to be confronted with your bad ideas on a daily basis, Eli. It improves a man’s disposition.”
“There’s a lesson to be learned in there, somewhere,” Tobias nodded.
“Yep. Don’t take relationship advice from a bull walrus.” Eli swore his baby brother had lust on the brain twenty-four seven.
“Hey,” Noah chided. “Quit with the vet metaphors neither one of us understands.”
“Walruses grab the attention of several females at once by making lots of noise.”
Noah shrugged, nonplussed by the comparison. “Want to be seen, got to be heard. Since when do you care who I talk with?”
“Since all your talking ends with pillow talk.” There was more bark than he intended. Why that was, he decided not to ponder.
“Did you see that smile she aimed my way yesterday? Dazzling.”
Noah grinned to himself like a man thinking his luck might hold for a chance to get to know Amarie better. Not going to happen on Eli’s watch.
“Listen to me.” Eli pronounced each word with emphasis. “She had no idea what she was agreeing to when she said she would talk with you later. This is Service. She doesn’t speak our language.”
“How do you know that?” Noah winked, leaning back in chair. “You don’t.”
Eli blew out a frustrated breath. “I worked with the woman. She’s nice. A little hyperactive, but in a sweet, busy bee kind of way. Trust me, she’s not the dine-and-dash type.”
“Hey, you’re the one who said city women are the best kind of corruption a man can experience. I’m willing to take one for the team.”
“Keep talking,” Eli warned. “I’m gonna take you to the mat.”
“If you’re going to bark every time a man shows interest in your new employee, you might want to invest in a muzzle. I heard talk all day about our bachelor auction and your new lady. News has traveled to both sides of the mountain, past Whynot last I checked.”
“You mean Lois Kline drove that beater of hers to the food market, spewing blue-haired gossip to every cashier within hearing distance with a smartphone.” No wonder Prudence had approached him with an indecent proposal.
Noah wiped foam from his lip with the back of his hand. “Probably has reached Landing Falls by now. Overheard Austin say he might stop by the clinic to give Amarie a good old-fashioned Service welcome.”
“You tell Mayor Austin don’t bother. The last thing I need is women and local politicians clogging up my waiting room.”
“Gracie Lou said Mrs. Kline told her Amarie had you on the computer?”
“Did not.”
“You gotta keep her, Eli. She’s a natural with people. Plus, she has a head for business. Does she have any idea how tight we Service folks can squeeze a penny?”
“She has no idea. Just asks for what she wants. People respond to her.” Eli did, too, his anatomy in particular, even though he kept his distance. “Can’t slow her down, either. Changing this. Rearranging that.”
“Amarie can handle herself with your frisky clientele. Why not let Mom have her fun with the bachelor auction?”
“That’s different.” Noah had experience with puppy love back in high school. He had no concept of a male ego blown to bits by heartache. Where women were concerned, old insecurities nipped at Eli’s confidence. Noah had never risked his heart, so how could he understand what it felt like when someone he trusted crushed every hope and dream?
“How is that not the same?” Noah quizzed. “Either way, they’re paying for service. This way you two might get dinner and a couple of kisses. With a wagonload of luck, maybe some long night conversations with a few ladies.”
“How many times do I have to tell you to shut up?” Eli barked. “Everything is not about getting in a woman’s underpants!”
“Don’t have to get into hers when she can get into mine, big brother. You need to get out more.”
“Look, Amarie’s a good worker, and,” he paused before spitting out the next part, “she has a fella. Name’s Prince, probably British. He drove her here.”
Noah burst out laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Eli scowled and Tobias waited for the punch line.
“There’s a purple BMW on the side of the road leading into town.”
The muscles along Eli’s back went rigid. “So, her and the boyfriend are going to be here in town?”
“No, Inspector Not-A-Clue. The car has District of Columbia plates.”
“Already know she’s from the city.”
“Yeah, but what you don’t know is the car’s custom plates bear the name PRINCE.”
“So, the woman’s car quit on her, and she didn’t think to mention that? That’s plum fool crazy.”
“You ain’t never lied,” Tobias said. “Why not ask for help?”
Probably the same reason Eli refused to admit he appreciated her allowing him to rest last night. Pride. Eli grabbed his phone, texting Kanaan. “I’ll take care of her car.”
His cousin, the town sheriff, had spent his life in Service, keeping the town’s auto repair shop up and running after his folks moved into a south Florida retirement village. His aunt had never been much for the West Virginia winters and Uncle Josiah couldn’t refuse her anything. Eli had been the same with Cara, only he didn’t get a lifetime of forevers. Less than a year of marriage… He abandoned his train of thought. It was water under the bridge, nasty water that left a foul taste he couldn’t rid from his system.
Tobias nodded in agreement. “Kannan?” he asked, gesturing to the phone Eli held.
“Yep. He can take a look under the hood. Give me an estimate.”
“Huh.” Noah tipped his chair back, balancing on the two rear legs. “I see what you’re doing. Barking at me to stay away while you fix her car and share her biscuit,” he accused.
“That’s not the reason why I want all of us to not fall prey to her pretty dimples.”
“It’s just one. The left cheek.” Noah grinned. “Are you going to hire her outright?”
“You should already. She’s good at everything you need,” Tobias chimed in.
“If I do decide to bring her on full-time, permanent, we can’t afford to mess things up by thinking with the little head.”
“Speak for yourself.” Noah jabbed at his arm in jest.
“I’m not joking,” Eli muttered. “There’s a chance we could lose the house and the land.”
Noah jerked upright. The chair’s legs slammed against the wood floor. An ear-splitting scrape of metal on wood had Eli wincing. Patrons in the vicinity glared in their direction.
“Say that again?” Tobias gulped.
“We need more money flowing into the clinic to stave off a foreclosure. The house. Clinic. Our cabins. The land.”
“Since when?” Noah demanded.
“I’ve been making partial payments since Dad—Dad died.” Eli swallowed the rising bile, a bitter reminder of his struggle to accept the loss. “With me still carrying the mortgage on the house Cara and I built and the decrease in income, I can’t get the loan refinanced.”
There. He’d gotten it all out.
“Why are we just hearing this, Eli?” He didn’t miss the accusation in Noah’s voice.
“How bad is it?” Tobias asked. “Does Mom know?”
“Bad, and yeah, she does,” he sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face.
“Are we too low in the ranking order to be trusted with family business?” Noah snapped.
His brother’s accusation rubbed. Eli deserved it and more. Tobias had inherited Mom’s academic excellence. Noah, a former high school jock, had crushed their father’s records on the football field and aced his fire science curriculum. Eli, well, straddled the middle of the road with books and balls.
“Noah… come on. I’ve been putting off telling you this not because I don’t trust you. It’s a responsibility Dad wanted me to handle.” Eli had been a good son, reliable. He never gave his folks a reason to worry. Then he’d met Cara. Learned something new about himself: he wanted to be the best husband to one woman. Follow in his father’s footsteps, leave a legacy for his wife and children. He’d failed at one. Now his brothers knew he was about to lose the other. Huh, what a fool.
“Whatever you need, Eli.” Tobias nodded. “You got it from me.”
“Yeah.” Noah took another draw from the long neck. “Whatever.”
Eli scrubbed a chilled hand over his face. Steeling his pride, he uttered the monetary figure of his failure. “I need eighteen thousand dollars or the Pendletons are going to take the land.”
“Pendletons.” Noah choked and sputtered. “Well, ain’t that a kerosene can in a five-alarm fire.”
Tobias grimaced, his expression drawn in concern. “You ain’t never lied. That family…” He stopped himself when the waitress deposited a frosted mug of amber brew in front of him.
“Any more buzzkill news, Eli?” Noah’s question penetrated his skin, biting through their kinship, daring him to confess another secret.
“That’s it.”
“We don’t have that kind of money.” A confession Eli knew without Noah offering.
“Ain’t that the truth,” Tobias lamented. “One question for you, though. If Dad had money troubles, why did he give you the down payment for a house?”
Eli willed his body to remain relaxed. This question was one he never wanted to answer. A man’s pride, like an army battalion, could withstand repeated attacks, but none crippled as much as not being capable of providing for those under your care. Eli couldn’t meet his brother’s intense scrutiny.
“Guess he wanted to sow a seed in my future.” Eli managed to push the words around the rise of bile at the rush of memories, the betrayal.
“Paying for your education. My emergency medical services training. Noah’s fire science degree. Pop did his best for the three of us,” Tobias defended. But Eli didn’t need a reminder of the man his father had been. If ever a son idolized a father, he did.
“I agree.” Eli cleared his throat. “Dad thought different.”
Noah bounced one finger against his beer bottle. “We about as worthless as two left shoes in a greyhound race, Eli.”
“Never, little brother.” Eli had limited options, but bottomless hope. He refused to let life take his father’s dream for their land.
“Oh, I like that grin on your face.” Noah relaxed, some of the anger seeping from his face. “What are you thinking?”
“We need another plan besides this cockamamie bachelor auction to raise the money. You in?”
“When has Noah Calvary ever walked away from a challenge?” his baby brother asked in a loud voice. To which everyone in the Black Bear shouted, “Never!”
“Count me in, big brother.”
“Me too,” Tobias offered.
They all agreed, raising their mugs in solidarity. Eli downed his beer and ordered another round. Between the three of them, they would come up with a plan that didn’t involve dating and other disasters that would be sure to follow if it depended on him keeping a woman happy who called him honey and biscuit in the same sentence.