Praying for Daylight (3 page)

Cheyenne would say I looked like a complete clown if she saw me.

And that was exactly what I was going for.

“What can I get you?” The waitress snapped her gum loudly, leaning on the table of my booth.

“Buttermilk pancakes and bacon…and a hot chocolate.” I almost smiled, but then realized that I was a teenager an attitude problem. I was dressed like I didn’t give a damn, and needed to act like it. So I shrugged instead of saying thank you.

“Sure, kid.” She slunk back down the narrow aisle and shouted the orders to the cook. Hopefully, she didn’t spit in my drink.

My food came. It wasn’t anything to get excited about, but it filled me up. I paid in cash, and was out of the diner without anyone realizing that I was…well, me. The anonymity was refreshing, but also a little lonely. I did so well blending into the background it was almost depressing. Things would be a lot better once I got to McCree.

And I only had ten hours left of driving.

CHAPTER THREE

Dustin

“Slow down Dustin!” Tuck shouted.

I sped up my ATV.

“Damn, you’re insane.” He kept up though, following me as I tore across the field onto McCree land.

“Should have told me sooner,” I slowed a little, letting him come up beside me. “What made you think it was cool to keep this from me?”

“I don’t know…I just… It’s only been two days. I’m not a squealer.”

“How many people saw? How many people know?”

“Well…” Tuck trailed off. “Josh knows…so do the Hudson twins. Then…there’s the Donnellys, of course. It was all about Cullen Donnelly. Josh saw everything.”

“Hell, I’ve had it. I’m sick of this game playing and bull.”

“Don’t go flying off the handle man.”

I was so pissed I couldn’t see straight. I leapt off my ATV at the dock on the lake. It was a long, painful walk to the wide edge that sat out over the flat expanse of water. In the center of the dock were the girls of our group, Briar and Ellie. The third girl, Willa, was new, and not a permanent addition.

I marched right up to the girls and blocked their view of the lake.

“Something wrong Dustin?” Briar asked, pushing her wild honey-colored curls out of her eyes. She was Chase McCree’s girl, and I respected the hell out of her.

I nodded, eyeing Willa. Miss Innocent. Wouldn’t swear. Wouldn’t miss a day of church. Wouldn’t even kiss me on the first date.

Sweet, pretty Willa.

She was a cheater and liar.

“You wanna tell me what you were doing Saturday night?” I asked, staring down at the raven-haired snake. I’d never really liked her all that much. She was the one who insisted on going out. I figured I’d give it a shot. It wasn’t like she’d hurt me. I’d already had my heart ripped out and stepped on. It was the fact she’d made a fool out of me that stung.

Willa shrugged. “I went dancing at this new place in town with friends. You were busy helping your daddy, remember?”

My lip curled as I smiled. “Sure do.”

“Dustin,” she pouted. “What’s wrong?”

I was so frickin’ mad, I wanted to scream, but kept my temper in check. “I want you to tell me why you had your tongue shoved down Cullen Donnelly’s throat.”

She lifted a shoulder. “I think you heard wrong.”

Hell. Did she think I was stupid? “I heard you took Donnelly home.”

Willa jumped to her feet and shoved my chest. “You’re an asshole.”

“Me?” I stepped back. “I’m not kissing the enemy.”

“Oh please. This thing with you and the Donnelly boys has to stop.” She crossed her arms. “Just because I’m the preacher’s daughter, doesn’t mean I can’t have fun.” She headed up the dock. “Five dates isn’t enough to win my loyalty. Go find some other Pollyanna you can boss around.”

What? “Since when have I bossed you around?”

Willa spun around and glared. “Oh, since the first date. You don’t want me talking to other guys, or even looking at them. You might as well lock me in the church and throw away the key.”

Where in the hell had she gotten that idea? “I never did anything or said anything…Willa, just stop and talk to me for a second.”

“You’re a jerk!” she said. “I like it when a boy likes me being a little crazy and breaking the rules. I thought you were going to be exciting, but you’re more boring than my grandfather!”

I watched, stumped, as she marched up the dock.

“I thought I had problems…” Ellie reached out and patted my leg until I sank down beside her. “You know, you can do way better than her. I told you that the second you agreed to take her out she’d run around on you.”

Briar nodded, “My grandmother would say she’s trailer trash waiting to happen.”

“She cheated on her last two boyfriends. This should have been expected,” Tuck added.

I rubbed the back of my neck and glanced at him. He was standing by the edge of the dock. “Where the hell did you get a fishing pole?”

Tuck smirked, “I keep it hidden in the bush in case of emergencies.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, I got another one if you’re interested.”

“So,” Ellie smiled. “I bet you feel free now.”

“No, I feel like a fool. I should have known better.”

Briar laughed, zipping up her jacket to ward of a chilly gust of wind. It was April, and while not exactly freezing, she wasn’t used to the cold yet since she grew up in Florida. “It’s okay, Dustin. Everyone makes mistakes.”

I held out my hand until Tuck got the hint and handed me the extra fishing pole. Might as well occupy my mind with something else before I went crazy and jumped into the lake to cool off.

“O’Brian. I was going to ‘out’ Willa, but Tuck volunteered for the job.”

I glanced back to see Chase McCree walking up the dock toward Briar.

“It took him two days.” I glared at Tuck, but he was too busy fishing to care.

“She wasn’t for you.” Chase gave Briar a hand up. I wished I could find someone to look at me the way she looked at him. I thought I had found that person, but I was wrong. She’d been just like Willa; sweet on the outside and a viper on the inside.

But damn, I could forget Willa.

For some reason, I couldn’t forget Kate.

CHAPTER FOUR

Kate

I parked behind the old farmhouse. It’s faded yellow paint was glaring in the evening sun. It was so pretty, and sad looking, all at the same time. I thought I’d never see this place again. I’d had it in my mind I’d never again step foot on Montana soil. But here I was. Back where I didn’t want to be because of some creep who threatened my family.

I grabbed my bags and set them on the porch. It groaned and creaked from years of neglect as I crouched by the door. There was a key hidden under a loose board. It was dusty and dirty, but I opened the backdoor with a little muscle. The inside of the house seemed to beckon me with urgency.

I let the door swing shut behind me, and dropped my bags in the middle of the kitchen floor.

“Mom?” I don’t know why I called for her. She’d never answer. Still, part of me felt wrong not saying something. Every time I walked in and called her name, she’d come around and lean on the stair rail in the kitchen, a big smile on her face. She knew how to make everything better. Right now, I wished she was here to tell me what to do. Or just to hug me. I’d never felt so lost in my life.

“I miss you,” I whispered, fighting back tears. I didn’t want to be here. It was so hard. I wanted to run back out the door, lock this place up, and throw away the key.

I had nowhere else to go though, so I wandered the house in a daze. I pulled the sheets off the furniture, sending clouds of dust into the air. It was as if this place had been frozen in time. Nothing touched or changed.

When I went upstairs, I poked my head in the bedrooms. Mine was pink and frilly, and exactly how I’d left it. The curtains hung heavily over the windows, and a dollhouse I used to love, sat on a wooden table in the center of the room.

I backed out, and went to the last door.

“Mom?”

I opened the door and tears flooded my eyes.

I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t be in her room.

With a whimper I ran downstairs. I pulled out my phone and searched the internet until I found a cleaning service. Tomorrow morning I would have the house emptied and the contents put in storage. I would not be able to exist here otherwise. To even think about spending another minute, seeing the life that had been taken from me twelve years ago, was too hard.

It had to be done. We’d cleaned out the fridge and shut down the house, but going through our mother’s things, and doing what needed to be done, had been ignored by Cheyenne and me. Being so young, only six, and with Cheyenne barely sixteen, it wasn’t anything we wanted to undertake, and we didn’t want relatives going through our mother’s things. So the house was locked up and left alone. Cheyenne and I lived with the McCrees, then moved into a small apartment in town as soon as she was eighteen. We stayed in Montana until I got signed by a record label after someone heard me singing karaoke one night at the bowling alley.

The money that came with my newfound fame was going to help me close this chapter of my childhood for good. Once this was over I could leave Montana, with no obligation to come back. Ever.

That night I slept in the SUV. I used Grandpa’s old outhouse to go to the bathroom, and did not step foot inside until the crew showed up the next morning. I gave them a list of things that I wanted left inside. The rest was to be carefully packed. I had everything lined up, and the storage container delivered to the house later that afternoon.

While the crew worked, I kept my disguise in place. No one seemed to realize who I was, which kept uncomfortable questions from being shot my way. I used the credit card to a private account that listed my middle name as my first. Leanne Kelly was just another client to them. I called to have internet and cable hooked up to the house, and then I called a local department store. I wanted the house furnished enough so I could live comfortably for however long I would be here.

The next day, as the new furniture was moved in, I felt the renewed sense that this been the right decision. I’d made the best choice for me, and Cheyenne would understand once she found out my reasoning.

The guestroom was set up for me with a new bed. I had the water and electricity turned on, and then a new couch and TV were delivered for the living room. That was all I needed. The rest of the house stayed empty. I spent the next few days gathering whatever I needed to live; towels, dishes and silverware, groceries for the fridge. It wasn’t cheap. In fact, I’d never spent so much money in one week in my life. Normally I saved, knowing I probably wouldn’t be famous forever. All of this was surreal, but I soldiered through it, feeling that each step I took was the right one.

I kept Cheyenne updated on how I was doing. She said she didn’t know where I was, but sometimes I got the feeling she suspected I’d gone back to Montana. It went unspoken between us that she shouldn’t try to guess.

I spent my days wandering the property, taking long walks, and eating at the local places, disguised as someone else. It was very lonely, but also peaceful. I’d forgotten what silence could feel like. The real kind. Not the artificial type where you shut yourself in a room- but the kind where you go outside and hear nothing but wind and birds and water rushing over rocks. The peace was too much to bear at first. To be at peace with the place I hated and dreaded startled me.

Despite how peaceful it was, it was still lonely. I couldn’t make myself stop calling Cheyenne. I’d speak to her, then to Ben, and Jake, if he was around. They all missed me, and I missed them terribly, but I had to keep strong and stick with my decision to stay away from them for their safety.

And as far as Death, I hadn’t heard a peep from him.

I knew he wasn’t going to forget about me. He might be crazy, but I knew he was smart. I also knew he wanted to make me worry, make me panicky, and wonder when I would get another call from him.

On one of my really difficult days, when I just had to have human contact, I went into town and had lunch at a diner. People were really friendly, and it even seemed like a few wanted to approach me. They were a little young, and we might not have anything in common, but it was so tempting to meet their stares from across the room. I wanted to act friendly to draw them near…but I forced myself to look the other way. To be unapproachable. It was for the best.

I left the diner, shoving my hands in the pockets of my jeans, and kicking at pebbles as I walked down the sidewalk. The town had a small movie theater. I figured I could zone out in front of the screen for a while. Maybe I wouldn’t feel so lonely.

I sat in the very back, twisting a strand of the red wig hair around my finger. It was itchy and uncomfortable, but I had to wear it. So far no one realized who I was, even a few people who I had recognized. Friends and parents. No one noticed me. Saw me. Hardly paid me any attention.

It was killing me.

This forced isolation was almost as painful as losing my mother.

“Hey.”

I glanced up at the soft voice. A girl was standing in the aisle with popcorn and a soda. She smile warmly, and tilted her head to the side.

“Uh, hi?” I said, wondering what she wanted.

She hesitated. “Are you okay?”

I blinked. “Yeah.”

“Well, you were crying…and I’m not trying to intrude or anything…I just wanted to see if you were okay.” She seemed genuinely concerned, and I felt bad lying to her.

“Allergies.”

“Right, how silly of me.” She sipped her drink and sighed. “You know, sometimes it feels good to cry. Let it all out. I cry when I’m happy, sad…pretty much any time I feel something super strong.”

So clearly she wasn’t stupid. “It’s really nice of you, but I think I’d prefer being alone.”

“That’s all you had to say.” She smiled brightly. “I’m Briar, by the way.”

Didn’t I just say I wanted to be alone? “Uh, Leanne.”

“I haven’t seen you around here before.” She plopped in the chair beside me, bouncing in her seat a little bit as if she was excited to meet me. It was kind of strange, since I was trying to repel people. “Are you new to town?”