Chapter Four
Meredith watched Wade Hendricks approach with a sense of impending doom.
He looked like a hero from a disaster movie.
He’d removed his cowboy hat, along with the Carhartt jacket and safety vest he’d been wearing earlier.
Now he was clad in a formerly white T-shirt, jeans with one ripped knee, and heavy work boots.
His dark expression made it clear that he didn’t appreciate his mother’s choice of activity.
Meredith didn’t approve of it, either. First of all, Wynona didn’t need to be here.
Her home hadn’t sustained any damage in the tornado.
Second, it was highly insensitive to dance in the ashes of a natural disaster, next to displaced families.
Wynona was treating the event like a celebration.
Meredith had attempted to convince Wynona to leave, without success.
When she was having fun, she was unstoppable.
Wade strode forward, and Wynona finally noticed him. Her face didn’t show delight. Quite the opposite, in fact. She visibly recoiled, as if she feared him.
Meredith had reacted the same way to Tripp many times.
It made her wonder if Wade played the hero in public and the villain in private.
He’d shown no indication of a sinister bent during their single afternoon together.
He’d controlled his temper after she’d fired the shotgun.
But she hardly knew him, and her experiences had made her wary of men.
She rose to her feet and moved closer to Wynona in case things got ugly.
“Hello, Mother,” he said in a sardonic tone.
Wynona didn’t embrace her son or pretend it was nice to see him. She put her cup down, along with the tambourine, and picked up the bottle of Wild Turkey she’d brought with her. “Party’s over, boys. The law is here.”
Wade watched in stony silence as his mother gave a splash of whiskey to everyone in her vicinity, including Meredith.
Then she laughed with naughty glee, like a rebellious teenager acting out in front of a disapproving parent.
Her manner had changed so quickly Meredith wondered if she’d imagined the unease from a moment ago.
The quartet of old cowboys seemed entertained by the show.
“Can we speak privately?” Wade asked.
Wynona waggled the bottle, which was almost empty. “Why don’t you loosen up? Have a drink for once in your life.”
He took the bottle away from her and tossed it in a nearby trashcan. Meredith sensed that Wynona was about to lose her temper, so she stepped forward to make peace. “Let’s go outside and get some fresh air.”
Wynona blinked at her in annoyance.
“Please,” Meredith whispered. “These people need to rest.”
The woman glanced toward the row of cots, as if she’d forgotten about the evacuees. With a huffed breath, Wynona said goodbye to her drinking buddies and allowed Meredith to lead her toward the exit.
“Let’s sit in the car,” Meredith suggested.
Wynona wasn’t quite that cooperative. When they got near the car, she put on the brakes. “I want to sit with my friends.”
Wade spoke to her in a low voice. “It’s not a party, Mom. It’s an evacuation center. People lost their homes. They lost family members.”
“I’m cheering them up!” she said and whirled around. She stumbled on the blacktop and almost lost her balance.
Wade grasped his mother’s upper arm to prevent her from falling.
Instead of thanking him for the assistance, she cursed at him.
He held tight, his mouth grim, and Meredith knew they were in trouble.
Wynona wouldn’t hesitate to make a loud scene.
Wade was angry, and kind of scary, but he seemed the more sensible of the two.
Meredith put her hand on his shoulder in a silent plea.
Hard muscles shifted beneath her fingertips.
His pale brown eyes met hers. The color looked cold now, like frozen amber.
After a tense moment, he released Wynona’s arm. Meredith breathed a sigh of relief.
Wynona didn’t return to the cafeteria, as feared. Lips pursed, she looked back and forth between them. “What’s with you two?”
Wade crossed his arms over his chest. “We met earlier.”
“Well, she works for me,” Wynona said. “So, you can forget about recruiting her for your Boy Scout troupe.”
Meredith choked back a laugh. Wade gave her a dark look.
“What are you doing here, anyway?” Wynona asked.
“I’m part of the emergency response team. What are you doing here?”
“The power went out at the bar,” she said.
“It’s been a long day,” Wade said. “I’m scheduled to come back at six tomorrow, and I need a place to stay tonight.”
Wynona didn’t offer him a room at the ranch.
“I’d appreciate your hospitality,” he said through clenched teeth. “You open your door to every drifter and stray cat in town, so I don’t think it’s too much to ask.”
Insulting her was the wrong approach, of course. He might be an intelligent man, and diplomatic in most situations, but his mother clearly pushed his buttons. He couldn’t seem to summon patience with her.
“I’ll never know how I ended up with such a stick in the mud for a son,” Wynona said.
Wade flinched at the criticism. Meredith sensed there were layers of hurt between them, and a history of conflict.
“I was worried about you.”
“I texted you,” Wynona said.
“You didn’t say where you were.”
“I didn’t know you were here.”
The exchange brought them to an impasse. “It’s getting late,” Meredith said, directing Wynona toward the Subaru. “Let’s go.”
“Are you okay to drive?” he asked.
It dawned on Meredith that he thought she’d been boozing with the others. He assumed she was part of the entourage of enablers he’d mentioned earlier. This conclusion annoyed her, because she’d been working her ass off all day, helping people in need. She’d just helped him. “I’m fine.”
“See you there,” he said, and walked away.
Meredith climbed behind the wheel, her senses reeling.
She didn’t know if she’d done the right thing by helping Wade.
Her hands shook as she put the keys in the ignition.
Wynona slumped in the passenger seat. Meredith pulled out of the high school parking lot and followed Wade’s truck down the dark road.
“You didn’t tell me you had a son,” Meredith said.
“He’s not my son,” Wynona said.
“He’s not?”
She gestured toward his truck. “I disowned him.”
“For what?”
Wynona didn’t answer.
“Did he hurt you?”
She moved her gaze from Wade’s taillights to Meredith’s face. “No. He’s not like…” She left that statement unfinished. “He’s not that kind of man.”
Meredith believed her, but she also took this information with a grain of salt. Plenty of abusive men had mothers who were blind to their faults or defended them regardless. “What kind of man is he?”
“Rude and overbearing.”
“He said he was worried about you.”
“He acts like he’s the parent and I’m the child.”
Meredith let that drop. Wynona’s hard-partying ways would lead her to ruin, but Meredith couldn’t afford to alienate her. She needed this job, and she needed a place to stay. She felt safe at Nolan Ranch.
By the time they arrived, Wynona was passed out in the passenger seat. Meredith parked the Subaru in the driveway. Wade stood on the front porch, his hair dusty and disheveled. It was long enough to curl at the edge of his shirt collar.
“She’s asleep,” Meredith said, moving past him.
“Should I bring her in?”
Meredith shrugged. Wynona had slept in worse places.
Inside the house, the power was still off. She fumbled for the lantern and went down to the basement to get Chico. Daisy scrambled up the steps, while King climbed carefully on his giraffe-like legs. She sent them all outside for a break.
Wade rummaged through his bags on the porch while Meredith checked the freezer.
Two steaks had thawed nicely, and there was a bag of half-frozen corn.
She lit the burner to heat the cast-iron pan.
The sizzle, or maybe the smell, brought Wade in.
He held a flashlight that he must have brought from his truck.
“Hungry?” she asked.
“Starving.”
Meredith wasn’t going to deny him a hot meal after the hard work they’d done.
Her instincts told her to be polite, stay neutral, and keep her distance.
She expected him to sit and watch her cook, but he didn’t.
After washing his hands at the sink, he found a can of lemonade concentrate in the freezer and made a pitcher of the drink.
He set the table with the basics. Then he rifled around the storage cabinet for a candle, which he lit and placed in the center. Only then did he pull up a chair.
Meredith felt nervous about sitting across from him. The ambiance was oddly romantic. Now that he’d gone to the trouble, she couldn’t refuse. When the steaks were ready, she motioned for him to serve himself. She joined him after he filled a plate. Hunger warred with self-consciousness and won.
She didn’t try to make conversation as they ate. The meal was nothing fancy, but he seemed appreciative. He also finished every bite.
“Thank you,” he said. “That hit the spot.”
She nodded, sipping the cool lemonade. She’d switched off the lantern to save the battery. The last time she’d eaten by candlelight, she’d been in a Dallas restaurant with her ex. “How’s your head?”
“Better.”
“You said you’d signed on with the sheriff’s department.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell Wynona that?”
He drank from his own cup, contemplative. “She doesn’t want me here.”
“Since when?”
“We’ve never been close,” he admitted.
“What made you decide to come?”
He paused, and she thought he might decline to answer. Then he said, “The last time I visited, I found some pills in her purse. Hard stuff, not your typical painkillers.”
Meredith frowned at the news.
“She’s always been a heavy drinker. I worry about her … escalating.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “But I can’t do nothing.”