Undeniable (14 page)

“What’s she doing with Lasko’s truck?”

“She needed a set of wheels. Josh told her to take it.”

Boone nodded, didn’t press. “So what did you tell her? About staying?”

“I gave her the okay, but say the word and I’ll lock the place and send her back to town.” He took a long pull on his brew then added, “She wants to clean up, go through Tess’s and Dave’s things.”

“Huh. Better her than me, I guess. It needs to be done.”

“I’ve been thinking the same. Thinking I’d really like to sleep on something that felt like a bed.”

“I can’t see Casper minding. Might as well let her have at it. As long as she doesn’t toss anything without running it by one of us first.”

“Fair enough.” He drank again, got back to looking at the wide-open spaces, the shifting shadows, the setting sun. “Fair enough.”

“Hard to see things this bad. Can’t imagine how it must’ve tore at Tess to even consider leasing the place.”

“I told Arwen earlier we needed some of her magic, the way she turned around Buck Akers old bar. Be nice to do the same here. Make Tess and Dave proud.”

“As long as we put in the work, I don’t think they’d hold it against us if things go south.”

“We’re almost to Mexico already. Not a lot of room left to travel.”

“I hear that, man.” Boone finished his beer and stepped back. “Think I’ll see about that cobbler. If Darcy’ll let me in the kitchen.”

“Good luck with that,” Dax said, picturing his sister standing up to Boone. Picturing his sister giving in to Boone. Picturing his sister alone with Boone… “Though cobbler does sound good. Think I’ll join you.”

“L
ET ME ASK
you something.” Arwen picked a grape tomato from her salad and popped it into her mouth, trying to gather the flurry of thoughts confusing her.

It was Sunday evening. Six o’clock. Four days since she’d taken the food to the ranch, and she hadn’t seen Dax since. Two hours from now he’d be at her house for their movie date, and her anxiety had reached epic proportions.

Every self-preservation instinct she’d honed over the years told her she was insane for bringing him into her life. Yet her body had hummed with her need for him all day, already anticipating the movie’s end and the yummy sex to follow.

Across from her, Faith Mitchell dragged a French fry wedge through a pool of ketchup, ate it, then another, before saying, “Shoot.”

Taking in the amount of food on her companion’s plate, Arwen
asked, “How do you eat like you do and manage to look like you do?”

Faith reached for her Coke. Not Diet Coke. Not Coke Zero. Straight up Coca-Cola Coke. Bubbles fizzed around the crushed ice as she drank and returned the glass to the table. “That’s what you wanted to ask me? About food?”

Everly Grant, the third of the group of girlfriends who’d managed to coordinate schedules for dinner, laughed. “It may not be what she wants to know, but I sure do. You eat more than most men I’ve had the dubious pleasure to dine with.”

“Metabolism, and haven’t we had this conversation before? I can’t do anything about it, and I’d gift it to every woman if I could, but I can’t. Don’t hate me because of my genes.” Finished with Everly, Faith gave the other woman a wink before turning back to Arwen. “Your turn. But I’ll be eating while you ask.”

Smiling at that, Arwen poked her fork into the bed of spring greens that she wasn’t the least bit hungry for. “Why do you stay in Crow Hill?”

“Because I live here. I work here.”

An echo of what she’d told Dax, so she understood the sentiment, but her situation growing up had been so disparate from Faith’s it was hard to reconcile any similarity between their decisions to call the small town home. “But why did you come back after getting your degree? Why didn’t you stay in Austin?”

“My family’s still here. I started at the bank, and I liked the work, and I love the people. I mean, I loved Austin when I was there, but a girl can only party for so long before the need for sleep catches up with her.” Another French fry. Another long swallow of Coke. “Why? Are you second-guessing making your life here? Because what you have done with the saloon is amazing. You should never second-guess this type of success.”

“She’s right.” Everly gave a nod toward Faith, pushing away her own plate and half-eaten club sandwich. “But then she usually is, which makes it a whole lot easier for me to run instead of staying to argue the same points.”

“You’re leaving?” Faith asked. “What, you’ve got a Sunday night editing emergency?”

“Very funny.” Everly got to her feet, straightened the white tuxedo shirt she wore under a man’s black vest and over a pair of skinny jeans, then retrieved her bag from where it hung on the back of the chair. “Seems this week’s edition can’t be put to bed without a letter to the editor from Patricia Campbell. I’ve got an appointment at the mansion on the hill since she can’t be arsed to actually write it.”

At the mention of Dax’s mother, Arwen felt the hair at her nape sizzle. “What’s going on with her?”

“Oh, something about emphasizing abstinence in what serves as Crow Hill’s school district’s sex education curriculum.” A roll of Everly’s eyes covered her opinion on the effectiveness of that. “Anyhow, I’ll see y’all next week? For lunch?”

“Sounds good,” Faith said, and Arwen returned Everly’s wave, watching the other woman wind her way through the saloon’s great room toward the swinging front doors. When Luck Summerlin crossed Arwen’s field of vision, she motioned her over.

“What’s up?” Luck leaned across the table, stacking the empty plates and gathering up utensils and napkins and Everly’s water glass.

“I’m getting ready to leave, but I’ll be back at midnight. You’ve got my cell number if you need me. I can be here in two minutes if you do.”

“Sure thing, but it’s First Baptist’s potluck night, so we’ll be lucky to do half our regular late supper business.”

Not that Arwen liked the loss of income, but a lighter crowd did make her feel better about leaving Luck in charge. “All right. Just give me a call if anything comes up.”

“Will do, but we’ll be fine. Enjoy your night.” Luck hefted up the dishes, looked at Faith. “A refill on your Coke?”

Faith nodded. “That would be great.”

“Okay then. Right back with it. And another iced tea for the boss.”

“Thanks,” Arwen said, feeling the heat of Faith’s gaze but waiting until Luck was out of earshot to ask, “What?”

“You’re asking me about staying in Crow Hill. You’ve hardly touched your food. And now you’re taking off work for at least part of an evening.” She paused as if waiting for Arwen to do the math then asked, “What’s going on?”

Arwen weighed how much she wanted to confess to Boone Mitchell’s sister. “I’ve got a date.”

Faith blinked, and blinked again. “You? A date?”

She didn’t have to make it sound like the end of the world. “Popcorn and a movie at my house. No big deal. I need to get back here to close up so can’t go far.”

“You’re worse about work than I am, you know.”

“It’s possible.”

“You need an assistant manager. Luck would be a good one.”

“Maybe.”

“No maybe. Do it. Your schedule’s as bad as mine, and mine drives me insane.”

“We’ll see.”

And then Faith finally asked the question Arwen had been waiting for. “Who’s taking you out? Or I guess that would be taking you in?”

“Dax Campbell,” Arwen said, stirring sweetener into the glass of iced tea Luck set in front of her.

Faith tossed her napkin from her lap to the table, collapsed against the back of her chair, and raised an artfully shaped brow. “You want to say that again?”

“Not really.”

“Since when does Dax Campbell date? Since when does he do anything but love ’em and leave ’em?”

Arwen grimaced. “Thanks, Faith. I really needed to hear that.”

“Obviously you do, because you don’t date either, so why in
hell
would you choose Dax Campbell to start with? Is this about the legend of the Dalton Gang? Because as much as I don’t want to think about my brother with his pants down, Boone would make a much better fuck buddy.”

“It’s a date, Faith. I didn’t say anything about pants down.”

“You said Dax Campbell. Same thing. You knew what he was like in high school. Do you really think he’s changed?”

That brought a smile to Arwen’s face. She’d seen how he’d changed, seen how he hadn’t, but that wasn’t for Faith to know. “I had a crush on him in high school.”

Faith’s eyes went wide. “Get out. You’re kidding me. You’re not kidding me. Why?”

She shook her head. “A mad crush. A bad crush. A soul-crushing crush. I honestly thought I would never get over his leaving town. And I’m not sure I know why.”

“Wow. I don’t even know what to say.”

“It was a long time ago, but yeah. When I heard he was back…” She let the sentence trail, hating that she’d admitted as much as she had. No one had ever known that her heart had been broken just like those he’d loved and left—and he hadn’t even known her name.

“When you heard he was back, you thought why not? You’re not the girl you were in high school. Why not prove he wasn’t
worth the time you spent drawing hearts with your initials and writing
Mrs. Dax Campbell
in your diary?”

Ouch. “That’s pretty close. Except I didn’t have a diary.”

“Doesn’t matter. We’re talking about Dax. He will hurt you. That’s who he is. That’s what he does.”

Something tingled along Arwen’s spine. “Did he hurt you?”

“Me? Oh, hell no. Even if I’d been interested, Boone wouldn’t have let him get near me. No, my mad, bad, soul-crushing crush was on Casper Jayne.”

“Oh my God. I’ll bet Boone didn’t like that at all.”

“I’m not even sure Casper let himself believe it for fear of Boone’s fists landing in his beautiful face.” Faith breathed deeply. “And, God if he isn’t even more gorgeous now. Those shoulders and thighs, and why am I even thinking about him? I do not need his recklessness in my life.”

“They’re all beautiful, you know. Their cheekbones. Their eyes. Their mouths.” She shivered. Pictured Dax naked and shivered again. “I think back to high school, and wow did they ever fulfill their potential. Hard enough to resist all that oozing charm when you’re sixteen years old, but now?”

“Uh-uh,” Faith said, shaking her head. “Don’t fall for him, Arwen. Have fun if you must, but don’t let him get to you. And if he’s the reason you’re wondering if you did the right thing staying here—”

“He’s not. I promise,” she said, not quite sure she was telling the truth, but less certain if she was telling a lie. “It’s just… the Dalton Gang coming back got me to thinking about growing up here, who left and why—”

“And who stayed and why.”

She nodded. “Sometimes I wonder if I’m still here only to prove a point.”

“Point being that you’re not your father?”

“That’s not exactly what I was thinking.” And why was that the first place Faith had gone? “I’m not a drunk who lives in a bar, so not sure there’s anything to prove.”

“You’re the daughter of the drunk and you own said bar. There had to be more to buying and remodeling the place than you just wanting to open a restaurant. You could’ve done that from the ground up.”

“Most of this is from the ground up.”

“What about the booth in your kitchen at home?”

Arwen looked down, stabbed at her salad. “I spent a lot of time in that booth.”

“Exactly.” Faith reached for her Coke but didn’t lift the glass. “Here’s a question for you. If you
had
left Crow Hill and opened a restaurant somewhere else, would you still have furniture from the Buck Off Bar in your house?”

“The booth fits the space and I like it.”

“And you keeping it has nothing to do with where it came from.”

“Well, sure.” Arwen gestured with her fork before setting it down, her salad wasted, her appetite desiring Dax. “It reminds me of what I had to work with, what I’ve done with it, how far I’ve come.”

“That’s it?”

She wasn’t liking the tone of this conversation. “You’ve obviously put a lot more thought into this than I ever did.”

“If you say so.”

“C’mon, Faith. It’s a kitschy keepsake that just happened to have come out of Buck Akers’s old bar.”

“I said I believe you.”

“No, you said, ‘If you say so,’ and those don’t mean the same thing at all.” Enough. This wasn’t getting her anywhere. “Anyway, I need to get home and change.”

“Into something more comfortable?”

“Into something that doesn’t smell like a hamburger.”

“All the better to keep Dax from gobbling you up?” When Arwen delivered a withering look, Faith held up both hands. “I’m sorry. Truly. I just can’t help caring and not wanting to see you get hurt.”

“I know. But it’s not going to happen. I promise.” Arwen leaned over to give her friend a hug, adding once she’d sat back, “Besides, a hundred bucks says he’ll be gone in six months.”

“I’ll see that and raise you another hundred that it’ll be sooner if it looks like they can’t make a go of the ranch. Think about it. The only thing he’s done long term is stay away from Crow Hill.”

“Trust me. That thought is never far from my mind. He’s good for the here and now, but until I meet a man who’s middle name is Stable and last name is Secure, no one’s getting to me.”

D
AX STOOD ON
Arwen’s front porch trying to remember the last time he’d gone on a date. He didn’t want to remember the last woman he’d tumbled across his pickup’s front seat, or the last one he’d taken against the wall in a bar bathroom, or who it was he’d last bent over a stack of hay bales in a barn, but his last real date.

He was having a hard time.

Even in high school he hadn’t done much of what could be called dating. He’d never had a steady girlfriend, not then, not since, but like his two Dalton Gang compadres he’d been more of a mind to sample every sweet young thing he could.

Hell, he’d planned to do the same once he got back to Crow Hill. Then he’d seen Arwen at Lasko’s and forgotten all about his plans.

He kept telling himself it was the ease of it all. He wanted sex.
Arwen wanted sex. They had sex. How simple and perfect was that?