My mind goes blank. I don’t know what we are to each other. We are so much more than we should be, and so much less than what he shared with that random girl who just left.
“Nothing, we’re nothing. Just—don’t bring girls around while I’m here. Or be prepared for me to return the favor. You’ll see how crowded things can get.”
Chapter Thirteen
I pull up to the Sallees’ house, still annoyed at Tyler. He’s goading me, and it’s working. But I don’t wilt. He won’t win this.
I throw the car in park and peer at John tinkering in the four-car garage he uses for small wood projects. The rest of the house is a two-story, peaked Tahoe-style home with views of the forest. Located a block or so from the lake, their house is nice sized for Lake Tahoe, but not ostentatious.
John and Becky are wealthy, but you would never know it. They live and act like your average middle-class family. They have what they need and no more. The single-bedroom home Lewis recently built for himself is also modest. The Sallees are not about money—they’re about family and taking care of the people you care about. Which accentuates the problems I have and the family I come from, who’ve historically been selfish sons-of-bitches.
I step out of the car and breathe in the scent of Tahoe, and another essence unique to the Sallees’ property—a mix of pine needles, hot cement, and the oleander Becky planted on the side of the house. A wash of summer images fills my mind. Happier times and so darn simple.
Water-gun wars with Lewis and his friends were serious business when we were kids. They knew instinctively how to nail me right in the face, so I used sneak attacks and Becky as my safe zone. The guys wouldn’t get Becky wet, and if they did, she’d laugh and order them to knock it off. If I think back hard enough, I can smell Becky’s cocoa butter sunscreen, remember the worn tank top and shorts she used to wear while gardening or lounging on a chair watching us play. My best memories come from this house and family, not from the reservation where I was born.
Not that the reservation is a bad place. Some of John’s closest friends and coworkers live there. But like any place, there’s always a small subset that doesn’t conform, doesn’t try. That’s the group my mom hung out with, in addition to the crappy people she spent her time around when she was off the reservation. They were worse.
John’s back is to me, but I can tell he knows I’m here. For one, my truck is as loud as a lawnmower. Also, he stilled when I pulled up. He’s been waiting for me.
He turns and smiles as I approach. “Hi, darlin’. Was beginning to worry about you.”
I wrap my arms around his waist, and he plants a kiss on the top of my head. John is tall, though not as tall as Lewis. His eyes have deep grooves from the easy smile he throws around, but with high cheekbones and a strong jawline, he’s a handsome bugger.
As a younger man, John Sallee carved a swath through the ladies of Lake Tahoe and the reservation with his jet-black hair and killer smile, until Becky knocked him on his ass. John didn’t stand a chance with Becky. Almost thirty years later, she’s still stunning, and no pushover. Becky is the best of both worlds. She is beauty and grace, and strength. She would never let a man walk all over her. She would lay down her life for her family. She’s affectionate, confident, and smart. Everything I wish I was.
“I took a short drive before I came,” I tell him.
The full story is that I wanted to make certain no one followed me, so I took a detour to get here. A man dressed all in black was walking down the street away from Cali’s cabin when I left. I didn’t catch sight of his face, but his height and build looked familiar. Scarily familiar. He could have been anyone, but the chill I got at seeing him made me paranoid.
My injuries are healing well, but I haven’t forgotten what those men did to me. I’m sure the people I owe money to already know where my loved ones live, but I’m not going to point an arrow at them.
John’s face grows taut. “I’d like you to give me a call if you’re going to be late.”
I’m twenty-two, but he still worries. Like a dad. And because I’ve gone missing before with disastrous results.
When I was sixteen, I didn’t return from a visit with my mom when I said I would. Lewis found me at my mom’s place being beaten by one of her boyfriends. Since then, John and Becky assume the worst if I don’t show up somewhere on time.
They love me. Sometimes I don’t see it, because I’m afraid to look. Afraid it will disappear before my eyes.
I press my face to the collar of John’s shirt, as if to give him another squeeze, when really I’m pushing back that darn burning behind my eyes that seems to come and go often lately.
What’s gotten into me? I’m all sappy. It’s ridiculous. Of course John cares. He’s always cared. I’m off-kilter, my emotions close to the skin because Tyler’s back in town and pissing me off at every turn.
This reunion with Tyler isn’t what I thought would happen when I dreamt of us together in my high-school fantasies. He is not madly in love with me. He might actually be in hate with me. The chemistry I felt back then is still there, and super befuddling. But then, nothing was ever simple when it came to Tyler. He wasn’t what I expected the night I seduced him. He isn’t what I expect now.
I breathe in John’s calming scent. A mix of the laundry detergent Becky uses and the spiced aftershave he’s worn for as long as I can remember. Completely comforting, completely home.
I look up and smile. “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I’ll call next time.”
His face brightens. “Come on.” He tosses the yellow work rag in his hand on a stool, and we walk to the door that leads from the garage into the kitchen. “Lewis and Gen are already here. They’ll be happy to see you.”
My shoulders don’t tense the way they used to when Gen first started coming around. She is beautiful—like serious model material—tall and gorgeous, and something about her classic looks reminded me of the girls I went to high school with. I assumed she’d act like them too. Catty, bitchy. But she isn’t like that at all. And the more I’m around her, the more I realize it.
Despite my initial reaction, I like Gen. It scared me, the intensity Lewis showed toward her at first. He homed in on her like a laser. I thought I’d lose him to this girl. But I should have trusted my reserved, almost-brother’s instincts. Gen is great. To my surprise, I actually enjoy having her around.
Inside the house, Becky pulls something from the oven as John closes the door behind us. She baked, but not the good stuff. This looks like sliced goop with spices on top.
“Sweet, girl, there you are.” Becky smiles over at me. “Just in time for eggplant appetizers. Lots of vitamin B in these babies to keep us healthy and happy.”
