Audrey's Promise (7 page)

“How far away is the rig?”

“Sixty miles north.”

“Butch Clearwater still working for you?”

Dad took another swig. “D’you really come all this way to talk about my job and Sally’s cousin?”

Audrey shrugged. “It’s clear you don’t want to talk about the other issue.”

“And you do?”

“It’s certainly on Adam’s mind.”

“Then tell him to get his butt in here and duke it out.”

“You know he stopped listening to me a long time ago.”

“Well, with a journalist in the house I figured it was the last thing you wanted to bring up.”

Audrey forced herself to take a deep breath. “I can’t change the past, Dad.”

“I know that.”

“That’s why I’m doing what I’m doing. Trying to devote my life to making things better for others.”

Finally, her father muted the television and looked her straight in the eye. “Is that what you’re doin’? You sure you’re not livin’ someone else’s life?”

Her feet looked so small in this room. Just as her voice always sounded so childish when she spoke to him. “Is that life so bad?”

“It ain’t, as long as it’s your own.”

“Well, I’m
making
it my own.”

Her father’s grunt proved just how much he believed her words. A little less than she believed them herself. A second later, he un-muted the television and leaned back in his La-Z-Boy.

Audrey always knew when she was dismissed from a conversation. The moment only one voice was speaking and not heard.

“Sweetie.” Her mother’s softened voice caught her attention. Myrna stood in the doorway, arms crossed and massaging her wrist. “Don’t mind Adam right now. You know how he gets when he’s grouchy.”

“It’s all right, Mom. I expected it.” Audrey stood and checked her watch. “If dinner is at four, I need to get Ethan checked in at the motel before then. We should head out.”

“Why would you do that?” Myrna sputtered. “We have Adam’s old room available. You don’t stick guests in a motel.” Audrey could tell the very thought of that went against all of her mother’s southern sensibilities.

“Mom, I’d rather he stay in the motel—”

“Moot point, Audrey. Motel’s full.” Her father interrupted without looking away from the TV.

“What?” Panic flushed through Audrey’s system.
Please tell me I heard him wrong.

“Motel’s full.”

“How?” This is the tiniest town for a hundred miles in either direction. The motel should barely have any guests, let alone be full.

“Hunting season.”

“But…it’s Thanksgiving. That doesn’t make sense.”

“More busy this year since the wildfires down south destroyed their game.”

“Well, isn’t that fitting?” Ethan’s gloating voice drifted from over Myrna’s shoulder. “Guess we don’t have a choice, Audrey.”

The way he stared at her, like a delicious meal and his arm braced against the hallway, made Audrey want to slap that smug smile off his face. Despite how gorgeous he looked. There’s no way she was going to sleep under the same roof as this sick opportunist.

“Well.” Audrey took a deep breath. “We’ll just go see if there’s space anyway. I’m sure we can find him a room.” She stared right back at the glimmer in his eye, ready to steal the light right out of it.

“Nonsense. Audrey, I know I raised you better than that.” Her mother’s face turned serious, resolute. “He’ll stay here for the weekend.”

“I promise to help with the dishes and take out the trash. I’ll be just like family.”

Audrey cringed inside. Both at the thought of him here, and his sultry pledge to be one of the family. “Mom, sorry. But there’s no Internet access here and I know Ethan will need it. The motel can service his needs better.” She threw a glare at Ethan.

“Moot point,” her father muttered once again.

“The library has some,” her mother claimed. “He can do his Internet stuff there. Problem solved.” Without skipping a beat, Ethan smiled victoriously behind Myrna.

Where’s an eraser when you need one? I can swipe that off his roguish face.

Her mother continued in one breath. “Now, can you please run to the store for me? I’m out of flour and sugar for the pumpkin cheesecake.”

Highly unlikely.
Her mother stockpiled baking items in her kitchen/bomb shelter. Before Audrey could open her mouth, Myrna turned around and started walking away.

“Oh, and take Addy with you. She’s been watchin’ TV too long this mornin’. You both can show Ethan around town a bit.”

Yeah. Give Adam a chance to cool down. And Ethan a chance to warm up.

Audrey sighed and glared at the mistake she brought. Her mother and sister falling for Ethan’s city boy charms was inevitable, but Audrey wasn’t interested in only protecting herself. She had to protect her family. Dad would keep his mouth shut without altering from his normal routine. Mom loved to talk and flout her southern style, but she wasn’t a gossiper. It was Adam and Adelaide who concerned her most.

Besides, if Ethan intended on interviewing her siblings as well as the whole town, Audrey wanted to be there right beside him and monitor his ridiculous questions.
Make
him keep his promise. The story was on Audrey, no one else.

****

Adelaide’s constant chattering from the backseat was a relief for once as Audrey drove down Main Street. Spilling the beans to Ethan on her life in high school and pageant escapades meant Audrey could relax just a hair. But it was only a matter of time before Ethan asked the probing questions. Either way, Adelaide was a minor and he couldn’t quote her without her parents’ consent. Still, it would give him ammo for everyone else in town.

“What do you think of your sister running for senator?”

Yep, predictable as pumpkins in October.

Adelaide smiled at Audrey in the rearview mirror. “She’ll do great! The only one with enough guts to tell the president how to do his job the right way.”

Audrey bit back a laugh. “The governor, Addy. Senator for Texas Senate. I won’t be anywhere near D.C.”

Audrey threw a glance at Ethan, who strangely studied her with a weird grin. What she wouldn’t give to find out what thoughts ran through that sneaky mind of his.

“Oh. Well that’s a little less glamorous.” Adelaide’s dejected tone was hard to miss. “But she’ll kill the election anyway.”

The grocery store came up on their left, a few cars scattered in the parking lot for last minute Thanksgiving feast items. But Audrey kept driving.

“You haven’t been away that long to forget where the store is.” Adelaide laughed from the back seat.

“We’ll get there. First things first.”

“The only things out this way are the library and motel.”

Ethan started laughing. “I hope not in the same building. Disobeying your mother? Audrey, shame on you.”

“There’s no harm in asking.” Audrey shrugged and flipped on her blinker to turn into the small motel’s parking lot. Half of the modest two-story building was covered in tarp and flimsy construction platforms. The other half’s faded paint and rusted windows needed renovations as well.

“Mom will tan your hide with a belt if she hears you even thinking about putting Ethan in the motel. Besides, this place is shabby and Adam’s room is so much more comfortable.”

“You won’t be staying here, Addy. Just Ethan.”

“You wouldn’t want your precious hide tanned because of me,” Ethan mocked, leaning against the passenger door.

Audrey parked in the only available spot, as the rest were occupied by beat up pickups and dooleys. Her hopes for an open room dwindled, but she wouldn’t give up yet. Better a tanned hide from her mother than a shattered career from Ethan.

They all climbed out of the car. Ethan and Adelaide started to walk inside, but Audrey waited by the trunk. “You’ll need your suitcase.”

Ethan turned and shoved his hands in his coat pockets, wearing that conceited smile that became more irritating every second. “Not if they’re full.”

“They’ll have a room.”

“Let’s just check first.”

Everything started to itch. Her neck, arms, eyes, and throat as they battled each other with their stares. The undercurrent of heat from his laughing eyes hinted at other ideas probably probing around his brain, standing outside a motel. If she weren’t so struck by the glimmer in those gray irises and nonverbal challenge, she’d be offended. Adelaide stood next to Ethan, a ridiculous smile growing on her cheeks, clearly amused by their childish display.

“Fine.” Chin strong and high, Audrey tossed her hair over her shoulder and marched past them.

The motel lobby had seen better days, but knew nothing of contemporary furnishings. Floral wallpaper faded to a muted brown with paper-thin carpeting that made psychiatric hospitals more inviting. An occasional orange and yellow matted shag carpet broke up the dismal color scheme. The liveliest decorations in the room were the few stuffed quail and hawks mounted throughout the small dining area next to the check-in desk.

The town’s only motel didn’t require a concierge or bellman service. The clientele didn’t need them for their early morning hunting and fishing excursions, or their late night returns from the bar. The only other amenity they may have appreciated was a taxidermy service. Other than that, a decent mattress and a place to lock their guns were enough to consider this a five-star hotel.

Perfect lodging for Ethan.

The hotel clerk was as seasoned as the
National Geographic
magazines lying on the counter. Circa 1960s variety and just as worn.

“Hi, there. Do you have any rooms available for tonight and tomorrow?” Audrey asked with her most pleasant political voice and Peacemaker face.

“All booked up,” the clerk rasped out in a thick backwoods, East Texan accent, without glancing up from his newspaper. Cigar smoke trailed up from the ashtray resting behind the paper.

“Sorry, Audrey,” Adelaide called from behind. “Can we go to the store now? I need more lip gloss.”

Audrey ignored the sixteen-year-old beauty queen and lowered her voice. “Please, sir. It’s really important and you’d be doing us a huge favor. Could you just please check? Anything you have. I’ll pay double the going rate.”

The man raised his eyes with a recognition that sent squirms down Audrey’s spine. “We’re all full, Mizz Biddinger. Run on home now and take your campaign and big city reporter with you.”

Rough words from a rough man Audrey failed to recognize at first glance. Time hadn’t been kind to Mr. Packle’s face and voice, and neither had the cigar smoking. But neither had he been kind to her, even as a scrawny tomboy chasing her brother around the school fields he was in charge of maintaining back then.

He glared back into Audrey’s eyes with the condescending stare that every southerner seemed born with. Audrey merely smiled back, grabbing her keys from the counter. Before turning to leave, she looked in his stern eyes once more.

“Sorry for wasting your precious time, Mr. Packle.”

When she turned around, Adelaide’s frown matched her crossed arms and hip thrust to the side, whereas Ethan’s eyes flew wide to study Mr. Packle. Audrey closed the distance between them, polite defeat on her face.

“You want me to try and ask him?” Ethan whispered, not bothering to hide his amusement.

“I don’t think he’d be willing to give you an interview, big city reporter. Let’s go.”

Crawling back in the car felt like slipping underneath a rock to lick her wounds. If she were still seventeen, she’d have thrown back an insult at Mr. Packle and cared less of the repercussions. But things were different now. She was different. Some arguments weren’t worth fighting. But it still felt shitty to give up.

“That grump has had an attitude his whole life,” Adelaide defended from the back seat as she slammed the door. “He should have felt lucky to have a reporter stay at his motel. But that’s okay. Now Ethan can stay in Adam’s old room. I’m sure the bed is comfier.”

“I’m still reeling there’s another person in this town that the great Audrey Allen couldn’t sway.” Ethan’s dimples recessed into his face as his smile widened. Only a true cynic could gain that much entertainment from seeing her ego thrown into the Stone Age by a small-town curmudgeon. “He was all grins and giggles for you. Must be drinking the same whiskey as your brother.”

“Adam doesn’t drink whiskey,” Adelaide interjected.

“All military men drink whiskey.”

The tall pine and oak trees faded from Audrey’s view as she steered the last mile toward the grocery store. Adelaide and Ethan bantered like siblings. Harmless, relentless, and annoying all at once. Just like she and Adam used to be.

She missed it.

It was a good thing she couldn’t see Ethan’s face as he razzed with Adelaide. She didn’t want to watch the sparkle in his eyes or the charming smile of a not-so-straight-laced paparazzo. He had the perfect face for an artist’s model. Clean lines, strong features, easily shaded, and enough layers in his eyes to keep a sketcher occupied for days. But they were also the worst combination for any woman to keep her guard up. An artist’s greatest love was the politician’s worst enemy.

There was no doubt in Audrey’s mind which role she needed to play. Or at least which role took precedence over all others. Which is why her sketchbook sat on her windowsill back in Dallas.

The grocery store parking lot was even fuller than before and Audrey’s gut squirmed as she pulled into an empty space. Another deep breath and a struggled swallow helped steady her mind. Flour, sugar, and lip gloss. Then back to the quasi-sanctuary of home. What could be simpler?

“It’s just a Piggly Wiggly.”

Audrey looked out her window only to see it wasn’t there. Ethan leaned against the open door frame, smirking and waiting for her to step out. Was she really that distracted?

He held out his hand, casual and undemanding, much like the rest of his posture. But there was nothing casual about that gaze. Like he’d win the lottery if he could guess the exact number of freckles on her face.

Would it be so bad if a man paid that kind of attention to details?

Audrey swallowed again and shook her head.

“I’m trying to decide whether or not I want wine with dinner,” she lied.