Chapter 12 #4
“It’s slow season until we shut down in the next couple of weeks.” It’s evident by her sudden, stiffening demeanor, there’s something more about this situation she’s unwilling to discuss. “Most of our customers just take what they need now and leave payment in the drawer if I’m not here.”
“An honor system? Were there not two girls who used to run this stand?”
Something in her expression hardens. “They were let go last year.” Vanna takes her son’s hand and walks with him past me to the picnic table. She helps him regather their gourds into the grapevine basket.
“There is much I wish to discuss with you.”
She doesn’t look at me, nor does she speak now.
She places the last pumpkin-shaped gourd into the basket and slips her arm through the handle.
After taking Ace by the hand again, she walks past me once more, in the direction of their home on the hill, beyond the greenhouses and pea-gravel parking lot.
“ Sweet one …” I press, catching up to her within a few strides.
“You need to speak with Dean. Until that happens, there isn’t anything for us to discuss,” she insists, continuing to avoid looking at me as I walk beside her. “We both know he’s going to be less than thrilled.”
“I only care what one person thinks…what one person feels , Vanna…and that person is not Dean Keegan.”
She walks a little faster. Even Ace glances up at her with a look of confusion as he hurries to keep up with his mother’s determined strides.
“I don’t know why,” she nearly whispers.
“ Yes, you do .” I know damn well she does. She can pretend otherwise all she wants. “I’m aware you both think I’m the Devil, but I meant what I said that night, Vanna… Nothing has changed.”
“And nothing will ever change.” This time when she looks at me, there’s a worry in her eyes she’s trying to hide behind her stern expression.
It halts me in my tracks, and I watch Vanna and her son make the rest of their hurried way up to the ranch-style home atop the hill.
“ D addy!” Ace squeals with delight, rushing up to me the moment I shut the front door. He wraps his arms around my leg, and I pat the top of his head. Vanna’s in the kitchen, pulling food from the fridge to prepare dinner.
“You’re home early.” She smiles, though there’s a slight tension in her expression, and for a moment, I wonder if she sees the cracks in my armor…the way those words have begun to erode my confidence. It’s bad enough she witnessed the sale of Betty earlier… now I’m home early again.
I try not to sound defeated, “Yeah, short day.”
“Well, at least there’s a silver lining,” Vanna says.
“As long as it isn’t in my hair.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing. What’s the silver lining, baby?”
“You get to come home for an hour or so for dinner and spend time with us before you head to the Twisted Throttle.”
“Yeah!” Ace agrees, following me over to the kitchen island.
“You’re both right. What have you two been up to today?” I ask, taking a seat on one of the barstools.
“Legend did magic fire fingers!” Ace excitedly replies, showing me his hands while Vanna nervously chuckles.
“ Who did magic what?” I glance at my wife.
She rinses her hands in the sink, then grabs a towel to dry them off.
“I think it’s time to wash up, little man,” Vanna says, placing the towel back before she walks around the island to scoop up Ace.
“Give Daddy a kiss and we’ll tell him all about our day over dinner, okay?
” She hoists Ace a little higher for him to get his arms around my neck.
I hug him back, placing a kiss against his temple, and continue to stare at his mother.
“I’m not going to like this, am I?”
“Nope,” she says simply, before walking down the hall toward Ace’s room. He gives me an adorable little wave over her shoulder.
I make my way to the fridge, grabbing a beer to help wash down whatever news she’s got to tell me, and maybe take the edge off the anxious feeling currently tightening my chest. I already fucking know this is going to be Legion-related.
As I make my way back to the barstool, I scan every surface within view for black roses…
My family returns a few moments later. Vanna sets Ace up in the living room with a movie before she rejoins me in the kitchen.
“We had a surprise visit,” she begins quietly, removing a knife from the block to rough chop the fresh vegetables she’d washed. “And before you go off, I told him he needed to speak with you.”
“Was this before or after the legendary…finger…fire… whatever the fuck ?” I take an agitated swig of beer.
“After. Ace got a splinter on the picnic table, and Legend did some tricks with his lighter to distract him and helped me pull it out with a pin.”
“He touched our kid?”
She gives me a glaring look of disapproval before transferring the vegetables into a roasting dish. “ Barely.” She grabs the bottle of olive oil and drizzles it over the top. “ And he’s not… that way.”
“Because you know him so fucking well?”
She frowns at me, going to town on those veggies with seasonings. “ Because he blew his brother’s brains out for it.”
“That doesn’t mean shit to me!” Realizing I just raised my voice, I clear my throat and compose myself before continuing.
I don’t want to draw Ace’s attention, especially not for getting loud with his mother.
That is not the example I wish to set for my son.
I take a moment to compose my rioting emotions before speaking, calmly this time.
“And we both know he blew his brother’s brains out for a multitude of reasons, which don’t mean shit to me either. I don’t want him near you or Ace.”
“Well, you can tell him that yourself,” she says, grabbing the tray and turning from me to place it into the oven.
“ Oh, I will .”
“Dean…he did save that girl,” she sighs, turning back to me.
“Interesting, don’t you think? How he knew where to find her?”
“It’s been three years… Would it have taken him this long if it were his doing? Would they have paid out the reward if she told authorities he was involved?”
“People don’t always speak up, Vanna. You know this.
She might not have any idea how he was connected to what happened to her.
Secondly, if he actually gave a fuck, beyond impressing you, why didn’t he do something about it when she first went missing?
” Of course, she doesn’t have an answer, and I take another gulp of beer before continuing, “Don’t let this piece of shit fool you into thinking he’s got any semblance of a conscience.
Anything Legion says or does is about Legion .
His motives. His twisted desires. Don’t lose sight of that. ” Please…
She only nods.
“And I don’t want him anywhere near you or Ace.”
“I understand…” She fidgets with her wedding band. “But he’s going to come looking for you.”
“He knows exactly where to find me. Let him come. I’ve been fucking waiting.”