Chapter 6 Losing His Cool
LOSING HIS COOL
“That’s quite a story,” Callum Ridgeway said at five. His father was sitting in the living room while Ford told his parents and sister what was going on.
“Do you believe her?” Gale asked.
“Of course he does,” his mother said. “What kind of question is that? You can’t make this up.”
“I believe her,” he said. “I did some searching after I left. Nothing that can tie back. There is nothing anywhere about her disappearance.”
“Then maybe she is lying,” his father said.
“No. She’s not. I can tell.”
“There is no way,” his mother said. “That girl is scared. She’s trying really hard not to show it. She has more courage than she did when she was twelve. Even Clay didn’t scare her.”
“Oh, Clay scared her,” Ford said.
He talked to his brother a few hours ago to get an update on Reenie. It wasn’t until an hour ago he got the text from Reenie so he had her number.
Without Oliver’s last name, there wasn’t much he could do, but what he looked into couldn’t be traced back here.
“What did my oldest do?” his mother asked.
“Clay being Clay scares everyone,” Gale said, grinning. “You know that.”
“I’ll have to give that boy a piece of my mind when he gets here,” his mother said.
Speak of the devil when the backdoor opened. “What did I miss?”
“Just Mom ready to light into you for scaring Reenie.”
“I didn’t scare her,” Clay said. “She’s jumpy. Am I supposed to walk around on tiptoe and quietly lay wood on the floor?”
“Of course she’s jumpy,” his mother said. “Anyone would be after what she’s been through. Not just recently but her entire life. I knew there was something going on when she was a child. I’d asked around about her mother back then.”
“You never told me that,” Ford said. His mother knew how he felt about Reenie. Everyone did it seemed. “What did you find out?”
“You can’t expect your mother to remember that long ago,” his father said.
“I remember,” his mother said. “I’m fifty-six, not eighty-six.”
He laughed. His mother looked more like early forties. She was a strong, confident woman who knew what was going on around her.
She didn’t dress up in fancy clothes, wear a lot of makeup, or spend a ton of time doing her hair.
It was always long and in a ponytail or braid since she was in a kitchen every morning.
“What do you remember?” he asked.
“I don’t remember her mother’s name.” His father snorted and his mother sent him a squinted glare. “But she liked to drink. She worked at the hospital in Glens Falls.”
“Doing what?” Ford asked. “I hope to hell she wasn’t a nurse or some other medical professional.”
“No. She got the rooms ready or brought the food to patients. Things like that,” his mother said. “She drank a lot and had different guys all the time. There were complaints about her behavior with patients.”
“Not surprising.” Seemed like Reenie’s mother was a real piece of shit.
“I don’t know if I ever heard anything about Reenie’s father. Do you know who or where he is?” his mother asked.
“No. It never came up back then.” He wasn’t sure it mattered now either, but he’d ask when he had a chance.
“She’ll be here soon,” Gale said. “I’ll meet with her privately.”
“I want to be there.” He had to know everything there was.
“No,” Gale said. “If you want her to trust us, then you need to give her space. You know as well as I do, what she says to me, I don’t have to tell you. She’ll be my client.”
His fingers curled into his palm. “Don’t play games, Gale.”
“I’m not. You obey the law and so do I.”
Clay snorted. “Is he really obeying the law having her here?”
Ford took a step toward his brother, but his mother jumped between them. “Enough. Clay, you’re baiting him, why?”
“Because I want you all to see he’s losing his cool. He never loses his cool.”
Fuck. That was twice now.
“Your brother is right,” his father said. “You need to get a grip or you’re no good to her.”
“I’ll be fine,” he argued. “I only do it around you. I’ve never lost it with anyone else. Never on the job.”
It was one thing he prided himself on.
“Ford is right,” Gale said. “He’ll be fine. But it tells us you’ve got feelings for her still.”
“Puppy love,” Clay said.
He swung around. “Enough, Clay,” his mother said. “I mean it. I’m not sure what your problem is, but you’ll behave with Reenie around. She doesn’t need to think she’s causing family drama.”
“This isn’t drama,” Clay said. “This is how we always are.”
“When you were kids. You’re adults and haven’t acted like this since you’ve been home,” his father said. “What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing,” Clay said.
His brother crossed his arms. That was a sign he was shutting down.
Like he’d been for the eighteen months since he’d returned.
He’d have to get to the bottom of that at some point too.
His mother pulled the oven open. He saw the roast in there. Then she stirred the pot on the stove. Probably mashed potatoes. There’d be a vegetable too.
The memories of big family dinners and laughter-filled conversations around the kitchen table were etched into his mind, impossible to forget.
They’d always continue for years to come too.
“When will Reenie be here?” Gale asked.
“I told her six,” Clay said. “That it’d give us time to talk.”
“I told you everything I know,” he said. “I’m going to get her and check in to see if she’s okay.”
And to make sure she was still there.
There was still this doubt in his mind, a worry that she might run on him.
He was going to be as honest as he could with her and hoped she did the same.
“Dinner will be ready in thirty minutes,” his mother said. “Gale will talk to Reenie alone, but during dinner the only conversation about Reenie’s situation will be what she’d like to do to help. Nothing more, do you hear me?”
“Yes.” He knew better than to argue with her.
Ford left and climbed into his SUV and drove down the road, turning into Reenie’s driveway. He didn’t see her car.
He slammed on the brakes, hopped out without shutting the door and ran up the porch steps.
The front door was locked. He banged on it with his fist. “Reenie! Reenie, are you there?”
When he heard the locks turn, his heart rate slowed several beats and allowed him to regain his composure.
If she thought he couldn’t handle this, she’d be gone the first chance she had.
“I’m right here,” she said, swinging it open. She was in shorts and a T-shirt, her hair on top of her head, her face the color of a tomato picked from his mother’s garden.
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked.
“Nothing, why?”
“Are you sick? You look flush and your face is damp.”
There were a few droplets coming down her temple.
“No. I’m cleaning.”
“It’s hotter than hell in here,” he said. “Why didn’t you adjust the wood stove?”
“I didn’t know how,” she said. “But I shut it off the way Clay told me about ten minutes ago. I was tempted to open the windows, but I thought it’d be nice and toasty all night to sleep.”
He opened the wood stove and saw the fire out, just some embers glowing and he shut the door.
“If you adjust the air flow and damper, then you control the heat better.”
“Wish I knew that. Your brother showed me how to light it and put the fire out. I didn’t think about anything else until I felt sweat running down my back. It’s fine now. I’ll know for next time.”
“I’ll show you how after dinner,” he said. “I came to pick you up.”
She looked at her watch. “Clay said six. I’ve got twenty-five minutes.”
He closed one eye at her. “Do you always follow everything to the letter?”
It’d be better for him if she did.
“Yes. I learned it’s easier that way.”
She turned her back on him and walked to the sink to fill a glass with water and drink it. One thing they had to figure out was getting her food here. He knew his mother was sending a few things over.
“I’d like you to listen to me, but I don’t want you to feel as if you’ve got no control.”
He remembered the young girl who followed every rule without question. It took months for her to express some of the real her. She only ever did it when he brought her here to hang out.
“It doesn’t seem as if I’ve got much of it now unless I want to go out on my own. I’ve spent the afternoon thinking it over while I cleaned. Not sure how long it’s going to take, but I need to be free in my life. I need to leave and do what I want when the time is right. When I can.”
Having her walk out of his life a second time wasn’t an option he wanted to accept.
He couldn’t let her know he felt that way. The last thing she needed was another controlling man in her life.
“Then we’ll make sure we can get you there,” he said. “The place looks great.”
There wasn’t a speck of dust that he could see. The smell of lemons hit him hard now that he wasn’t focusing on the fact Reenie might have left him or that she was sick.
“Elbow grease will do that. I like things clean and organized.”
“Me too.”
“Do I have time to take a shower? Your mother dropped off sheets and towels and a few other necessities for me earlier.”
“Go ahead.” He’d try not to think of her in the next room naked.
She walked out of the living room, into the bedroom, he heard the drawer open and close, then she came out with a change of clothes in her hands and moved to the bathroom.
When the water was running, he looked around to see if there was anything personal of Reenie’s out.
The kitchen had everything in it that Clay used when he’d stayed here over the years when he was on leave.
Ford had lived here for a stint when he’d come back from college. It gave him his space that cost nothing.
He popped his head into the bedroom and looked around, but there wasn’t anything to see.
The bed was made, and there was a laptop plugged in next to it. As much as he wanted to look at it, he was positive he wouldn’t get far without knowing a password.
He walked in and opened the closet door. There were some clothes hanging, so that told him she was planning on staying for the moment.
When Reenie came out a few minutes later with damp hair, he realized she probably didn’t have a hair dryer.
“Why don’t you make a list of the items you need and I’ll pick them up tonight? A hair dryer for one.”
A slow smile filled her face. “I’ve been making one. I can order stuff and have it delivered here, right?”
“Don’t use your name,” he said. “Put it in my mother’s name. You’re using prepaid credit cards, right?”
“Yes. No paper trails. Cash or them.”
He nodded his head. “That’s good. We’ll talk more at dinner. My mother made a big roast. Hope you’re hungry. There will be plenty.”
“I’m starving,” she said. “I ate lunch, but I’m positive I burned through it cleaning. I’m going to sleep like a rock tonight. I hope.”
“I hope you do too.”
At least one of them would.