“No.” She’d tried that already. Shortly after they first started dating, back before she knew he had a long history of getting fired for not showing up to work, Stevie had given him a job. He’d worked on Carlos’s crew for three days before he just didn’t show up. When she called to find out what happened, he told her he’d gotten a different job. She’d started noticing the pattern after that. Hence the reason Stevie had stopped thinking of him as relationship material and satisfied herself with the fact he was decent in bed.
Then, a little over a year ago, she’d learned he was living with a woman he met at a bar. She decided that was the perfect punctuation mark, using it to signify the end of a good run. Sadly, that woman had come to her senses, too, kicking Oscar out and inadvertently sending him running back in Stevie’s direction.
“Come on, Stevie. Give me another chance.”
“A chance? For what? A job? A place to live? Or a night in my bed?”
His smile was flirtatious. “Why not all three?”
“What’s in it for me?”
“An orgasm?”
She huffed a laugh and started down the steps. Her patience had run out. “No thanks. I’m quite capable of givin’ myself orgasms.”
Oscar stepped back, letting her pass. He knew better than to stand in her way. The last time he’d tried that, she’d punched him in the nose.
“Fine. But don’t come crawlin’ to me when you get tired of hand deliverin’ those orgasms.”
“I won’t,” she promised, not bothering to tell him that she’d gotten quite a few that had been delivered by her sexy roommate. Not recently, but still.
“Come on, Stevie. I was kiddin’. Please, baby.”
She spun around. “Donotcall me that!”
His eyes widened, and he held his hands up, palms forward. “Okay, okay.Gawd. Why does that word piss you off so bad?”
She ignored the question. “I gotta go, Oscar. Have a good life.”
Before he could say anything more, Stevie hopped in her Ford Bronco, grateful she’d already started the engine. She sank into the heated seat and clicked the button to lock the door.
She waited until Oscar got in his car and left. As she shifted intoreverse, she found herself smiling.
Nico would be proud of her for standing up to Oscar. Especially since she’d been on a dry spell for the past six weeks. Stevie would be the first to admit she enjoyed having a healthy sex life. And despite his flaws, Oscar had been decent in bed. Good enough to hold her attention for years. Granted, she also preferred monogamy, which limited her options. She didn’t hop from bed to bed by choice, which was the only reason she’d dangled the hook in front of Oscar for so long.
Perhaps she should consider giving him another chance. At the very least, it would relieve some of the pressure and reduce the risk of her making another bad decision. One that could potentially cost her everything she’d built for herself.
Eight
By 5:30 p.m., Stone was readyto pass out.
Unfortunately, before he could do that, he needed to run into town and pick up his truck and trailer. Reilly had driven it with the promise to bring it back. Only she called to tell him she had to take care of something at the store and she wouldn’t be able to come back until after eight.
Stone intended to be horizontal and well into his first REM cycle by eight.
So he offered to make the swap.
As he drove through town, he took it all in, letting the memories swarm him. He’d been back many times since he left fifteen years ago, but most of those visits involved him dropping in at his parents’ house and slipping out just as quickly. He wasn’t even sure he’d stopped by the General Store at all. Maybe once since Reilly took over, but if so, he couldn’t remember.
While the town looked different, it still had the same feel. Small-town living in the middle of areas that were booming. Coyote Ridge had defied the odds, maintaining its country charm while cookie-cutter subdivisions, fast food joints, and emergency clinics grew at a rapid pace all around them. Coyote Ridge wasn’t quite as rustic as the areas Stone had resided in over the years. Not anymore, anyway. Although large parcels of land were still used for farming and ranching, it was slowly being divided up, making it impossible to build something like the Double J. There simply wasn’t enough room.
Despite that, it was good to be back. And though he wasn’t sure what his plans were going forward, he knew whatever he decided to do, it would be here. In his hometown. He hadn’t run out of here because he wanted to get away. He loved Coyote Ridge, but it couldn’t offer him what he’d been looking for at the time. Stone wasn’t sure it could now, but as had been the case when he left, he was once again running. Only this time, he hoped to run toward something rather than away.
Once he reached downtown, he pulled around to the small lot behind the shopping center and parked Reilly’s truck beside his. She’d blocked half the lot with the trailer, but he squeezed into one of the open spots.
The sun was getting lower in the sky, the days still short. Winter and all. According to the weather report, they were about to feel the full brunt of it in the coming weeks. A chance for ice and possible snow was in the five-day forecast. Stone wasn’t looking forward to it.
When he came around the side of the building, the cold wind that had picked up since that morning blasted him. He tucked his head down and headed for the door. The bells overhead jingled when he walked in.
