Chapter 17 Run In The Family
RUN IN THE FAMILY
“It’s almost too pretty,” Lexi said, her hands on her hips.
“I know, isn’t it?” Reenie asked.
The two women were chatting while they hung fairy lights over the bar. Lexi was more opinionated than she liked, but it wasn’t her call to say much more.
“I’m not sure this is what they are going for though,” Lexi said. “The event isn’t for a wedding. We should ask Clay and Ford.”
She didn’t want to overstep, but she thought the lights looked better being in a random pattern than a square like Lexi had them.
“We can do that,” she said.
“I’ll go get them,” Lexi said, jumping off the ladder.
“We can ask the guys here,” she said. “At least get their opinion.”
Lexi laughed as she looked over at the men helping today. Most of them were from the mill that Reenie had seen before, some others that worked the grounds in the distance.
There was so much going on around them here, and there were still animals and the crops to be cared for.
It was a beehive of activity that had her feeling content as if she lived on a compound.
Stupid too, to think that way, but it was a community and culture more than anything.
She was surrounded by people who shared her work ethic. She wouldn’t go so far as to say she trusted them, not when they were constantly looking into her. But she’d given them enough reasons to be suspicious, so she couldn’t really blame them.
And the only person she trusted was Ford. Even if he went through her stuff, she still trusted him.
She needed someone in her life she could count on.
“Sure, you do that,” Lexi said, waving her hand. “I’m going to ask the real men.”
“Hey, Rod and Pete,” Reenie shouted. “What are your thoughts of the lights? Like this or in a square framing the bar?”
“I like that better,” Rod said. “Lexi’s way was boring.”
“Were you watching us?” she asked. She didn’t like knowing anyone was watching her without her knowledge.
“Rod watches everyone,” Pete said. “He’s always been creepy that way.”
She knew she paled at those words, but Rod pushed Pete, and the two guys shoved each other until they laughed.
“Don’t listen to Pete,” Rod said. “He’s busting my ass because I didn’t say Lexi’s way was best. He’s got a thing for her, but she has a thing for someone else who doesn’t see her the way she wants.”
“That stinks for Pete and her, but I’m only concerned about the lights.”
“I like them that way better too,” Pete said. “See, it has nothing to do with Lexi.”
“We’ll see what Clay says.”
“The guys said they will be here in twenty minutes,” Lexi said, running back in. “The fence is almost done. It looks awesome out there too. I’m going to put a bunch of flowers in the beds. Clay left everything to be planted and said I could go ahead.”
“Do you need help?” Reenie asked.
“I’ve got it,” Lexi said, her voice more curt than normal. Then she seemed to catch herself. “I enjoy playing in the dirt.”
“She’s more a guy than a girl,” Rod said, smiling at her when Lexi was outside.
Reenie moved behind the bar and cleaned up any of the dust that fell when they were hanging the lights. Tables and chairs were moved around and spread out, stools along bars on the walls where people could sit or stand and place their drinks down.
“I like being basic too.”
In her mind, Lexi didn’t look much different than her.
They were both in jeans, a T-shirt, sneakers, their hair pulled back, no makeup on. Lexi had a ball cap on too, but that was about the only difference.
“I’m more of a basic guy myself,” Rod said. “Where are you from? I haven’t seen you around before until you worked here.”
“I’ve traveled a lot,” she said. “I’m going to clean the kitchen and get some things in order there.”
“Where’s Reenie?” she heard thirty minutes later.
“I think in the kitchen,” someone said. “Maybe. Rod was hitting on her and she took off.”
She turned when she heard footsteps. “Hey,” she said to Ford. He was in jeans and a black T-shirt. It wasn’t tucked in, but wasn’t long. Fitted to his body with his large biceps bulging. He’d gotten so much bigger in adulthood.
She’d seen right away he had a gun under it. There wasn’t one time he didn’t have one on him.
It didn’t make her nervous and she didn’t question why it was never not by his side.
His family and no one else did either and she wondered if that was his norm because of his job.
“Is Rod bothering you?”
“He’s harmless.”
“That’s not what I asked,” he said. “Is he bothering you?”
“No. I walked away from him. He hasn’t come in here to talk to me since I did. He didn’t talk to me before I asked them their opinions on the lighting.”
“Okay. I wasn’t sure if you were hiding in here.”
“No. Just cleaning it.”
“It looks nice.”
“Thanks. The whole place does. I offered to help Lexi plant outside, but she said she has it.”
“She’s been running around the farm since she was a kid.”
“I hadn’t realized that. You grew up with her?”
“Her parents are friends with my parents. Or they were before they moved south several years ago.”
“Did she go to school with us?”
“No. She’s from Lake George. Though it’s a small area, she wasn’t there with us. No worries about her remembering you. But she worked here when she was a teen. She helped every year in the fall when it got busy and even in the cafe on weekends for a long time.”
“That’s nice.”
“She’s like an annoying little sister who is always around. When Clay was looking for help with the mill, she applied.”
“It’s nice he hired her.”
“She’s as good of a worker as the guys. Everyone here is a hard worker. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t last. It’s not a place to be lazy.”
“I hope no one thinks I am,” she said.
“Hardly that. I worry you’re working too hard. My mother thinks you are. It’s your day off.”
Reenie dipped her head. “Maybe I didn’t want to sit home if you were here.”
He smiled. A slow gradual movement of his lips spreading to his cheeks, the happiness reaching his eyes.
“What I want to hear. I wasn’t sure. You’ve been distant for a few days.”
“No.”
“Yes,” he argued. He moved closer so that he was almost in her personal space, then lowered his voice. “I didn’t know if you were upset over our talk earlier in the week.”
“No.”
“I’ve been busy and haven’t been out much. Other than Thursday when you saw me at lunch.”
“It’s fine,” she said. “I know you’re on call all the time. Your brother has a close eye on me. Your parents too. I had dinner with them last night.”
“I know. My mother told me. She said you baked a cake and my father hasn’t shut up over it. I think my mother is jealous.”
She smiled. “I highly doubt that. Your mother is a great baker. I asked her if I could cover the kitchen for her so she could have some time off. I wanted to show her I could bake my own things too.”
“My mother could use to have some time off. That was sweet of you to offer and show her you had what it took, but I’m positive she knows that.” He brushed a piece of hair away from her face and put it behind her ear. “She has a hard time letting go of things.”
“Must run in the family,” she mumbled.
“What does that mean?”
“Just a comment,” she said.
He was searching her face again for any signs of more information, but she wasn’t sharing. She didn’t even know why she said the words.
It could mean so many things or nothing at all.
His radio was going off, so he pulled it out. She didn’t know what was being said since it was all in code.
“I’ve got to go,” he said.
His body tensed, his face became more serious, the playful guy that she was opening up to was gone.
This was a man who had a sharp look in his eye.
“What’s going on?”
“Armed robbery.”
“You’re going to the scene?” she asked, following him out of the barn.
“I’m close by.”
She was walking with him, almost running to keep up with his longer stride, Clay appearing by their side.
Ford radioed he was on the way, then pulled a bulletproof vest out of the back of the sheriff’s SUV while tucking his shirt into his jeans.
She saw more guns in the back and her heart popped out of her chest along with the color in her face.
“Go,” Clay said. “I’ve got a handle on things.”
He got behind the wheel, started the SUV, flipped the sirens on and took off, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake.
She looked at Clay. “He’ll be okay, right?”
“He knows what he’s doing. Don’t worry.”
Yeah, right.
She followed Clay into the barn, but she wasn’t focused on her duties.
“Ford will be fine.”
She turned to Callum. These men all had a quiet walk and it drove her insane that she never heard any of them coming.
“I’m sure he will be,” she said.
“He’ll come back tonight,” Callum said. “Because he knows you’re worried and he won’t like that you are. Maybe send him a text you’ll have dinner for him. And another one of those cakes. A man would be nuts not to come for that cake.”
Reenie laughed. “I can do that. I just hate that he has so much on his mind and then has to worry about me. I hope he didn’t see that I was nervous.”
“No, he had his mind on other things,” Callum said. But she knew Ford’s father was lying.
“I think I’ve got a lead,” Oliver said.
“Seriously or pulling it out of your ass like always?” Randy said.
“Yesterday I talked to a few people Reenie worked with. It led me to some married couple she’d been seen with. They run a women’s shelter.”
“Dickhead,” Randy said. “That’s what you get for being too rough and scaring her. I told you that you went too far when you broke her arm.”
Oliver shoved his cousin a few feet. “Don’t get on my case. You’re the one who told me to take care of her that night for snooping around.”
He’d told Reenie to stop going through his things. Then questioning him on the damn pills.
Randy shrugged as if the shove hadn’t affected him. “Tell me what you know. We need to move fast.”