Chapter 13 #2
Lark’s eyes went wide. Her hands dropped from my neck to my chest, and she backed away. Her cheeks were flushed, and her shirt had ridden up on one side where my hand had been.
“Oh my God.” She pulled the shirt down. Her hands went to her hair, then her face, then back to the shirt. “Of course. Of course Beckett just shows up right at this second.”
“Lark—”
“I need to go check on the animals. The animals need checking right now.” She ducked under my arm and headed for the kitchen. At the back door, she turned. “Tell Beckett I said hi. And that I hate him.”
“You don’t hate Beckett.”
“I hate his timing. Same difference.”
She was gone. The back door banged shut behind her.
I stood in the hallway and took a breath. Ran a hand through my hair. Straightened my shirt. Beckett was still pounding on the door. I rushed that way and opened it.
He had a toolbox in one hand and a small cardboard box under the other arm. “Brought a spare gas valve in case yours is shot. And some fittings I had lying around.”
That was how the man operated. I’d told him about the water heater problem in town, and now he was here to make sure it got fixed. If only Lark could see that there were others around who were willing to help her if she would just reach out and stop thinking of herself as being a burden.
“Thanks, man.”
“Show me what we’re working with,” he said.
We got into it. The utility closet was cramped in not nearly as sexy a way with two of us in there, but Beckett was good with his hands and we fell into a rhythm fast. I held the bracket while he tightened the thermocouple. He held the flashlight while I seated the heating element.
While we worked, his eyes moved around the space. He paused and glanced over his shoulder to the propane tank outside the window, then tracked back to the kitchen, where the air still carried a chill.
“How long has the propane been out?” he asked.
“A while.”
“And she didn’t tell anyone.”
I shrugged. “Not even me until yesterday. Lark’s good at making sure nobody knows her problems.”
“And yet she’s willing to help everyone else with theirs.” His hand gripped the wrench hard, each motion deliberate and controlled. “So that’s complete fucking bullshit.”
He wasn’t angry at me, and he wasn’t angry at Lark. He was angry at the situation: that a woman he owed more than he could repay had been going without, and the whole town, himself included, had missed it.
Neither of us had anywhere to put that, so we did what men do. We worked. The heater took shape under our hands, and after a while, the silence loosened enough for the conversation to drift.
“So what’s been keeping Warrior Security busy?” I asked. “You said Lachlan’s running you.”
“That same drug operation.” Beckett leaned in to check the pipe connection. “Still going on. They’re moving product through the county using back roads and rural properties. Setting up on land where the owners aren’t watching their far boundaries.”
“What kinds of properties?”
“Ranches, mostly. Bigger spreads east of town where there’s more space between neighbors. They move in, use the back edges for a few weeks, and by the time anyone notices something’s off, they’ve already pushed the product through and cleared out.”
I handed him the sealant without changing my expression.
Pawsitive wasn’t on the east side of town, but I thought about the fence I’d found cut clean with wire cutters on the back boundary and the tire tracks I’d come across on the access road during a walk at three in the morning.
I thought about the gate I’d latched that had been open when I came back to check.
“Have any leads?” I kept my voice even.
“A few. Nothing solid. Travis has been running surveillance, but these guys are careful. They don’t leave much behind.”
“How far east are we talking?” I asked.
“Pretty much everything past Highway 37. Those properties are perfect for it. Big acreage, long boundary lines, access roads that connect to county routes nobody patrols.” He finished the fitting and sat back. “Why?”
“Just curious.”
He accepted that and moved on. I let the conversation settle while I put away what he’d given me. We weren’t on the right side of town for what was happening, but I was going to walk Pawsitive’s back fence line again when I had the chance.
We finished the heater in another twenty minutes. I turned the gas supply back on, lit the pilot, and watched the flame hold steady through the sight glass.
“In about forty minutes, she’ll have hot water again, finally,” I said. “Thanks for your help, man.”
Beckett wiped his hands on his jeans and packed his toolbox, and we both headed to the kitchen. At the door, he stopped.
“Don’t let Lark brush stuff off. The propane, the rest of it, because I’m sure there’s more. She’ll make a joke and change the subject and convince you everything’s fine.”
“I know.”
“Somehow we’ve got to convince her that helping people goes both ways.”
“Trust me, I’m working on it.”
“Are you now?” He studied me for a long moment, obviously torn about whether to push or not. But he let it go. “Good. I’m glad you’re here. See you around, Stroud.”
He grabbed his toolbox and walked out. A minute later, his truck pulled out of the lot and the kitchen went still. The fiddle music had stopped at some point, and the only sound was the faint tick of the water heater, doing its job for the first time in weeks.
In less than an hour, the tank would be hot. Tonight, she’d walk into her own bathroom and turn the handle and have hot water for the first time since before I got here.
I cleaned up the utility closet. Put the old parts in the trash, wiped down the floor, put the tools back in order. Then I walked back to the kitchen.
Through the window, I could see Lark near the east paddock, leaning against the fence rail while Duchess nosed at her jacket pockets.
One of the dogs sat in the grass a few feet away, watching them both.
Lark pressed her forehead against Duchess’s nose, and even from here, I could see her shoulders drop, the tension leaving her body the way it only did when she thought nobody was looking.
I’d had her against the wall six feet from where I was standing. I could still feel her fingers in my hair and hear that sound she’d made when I pulled her in. If Beckett’s truck had shown up five minutes later, we wouldn’t have made it out of this hallway and he would’ve walked in on quite a show.
I was going to make sure he didn’t get the chance to interrupt twice.