Читать книгу Belong To The Night - Cynthia Eden - Страница 8

Up half the night worrying about his father, Tully finally decided to deal with the one thing he could actually manage at the moment…Jamie.

Okay. Maybe he couldn’t manage her, but she was definitely capable of keeping him distracted from what Buck Smith may be up to, and why he was coming back to the one town he’d been told never to return to. Although Tully didn’t know any man alive who didn’t have issues with his father, he knew his went deeper than most. After all these years the man still brought out Tully’s rage and fear. Rage because the bastard plucked his last nerve and fear because Tully worried he’d one day have to kill his own blood. It was the last thing he ever wanted to do, but there was something in Buck that never stopped. He pushed and he pushed. And unless something had changed about his father, Tully doubted any of that would be different.

But he’d done what he could. Bear and his deputies were notified. Tully had given his daddy a heads-up so he could find the best way to tell Tully’s momma, and the entire town was ready in case any attacks came. Other than sit around and uselessly worry, there was nothing more he could do.

Knowing that, he decided to track down Jamie. He found her, too. Having breakfast at the Smithville Diner. Considering the resort had a full breakfast menu, she’d be able to get her morning meal there for free. But he’d bet money she’d had another fight with her cousin. Rumor was the coven had stopped her over on Cardinal to talk after the Elder meeting. No one was sure what was said, but Jamie had left on her own.

If her own coven couldn’t get through to her, then Tully had no idea what the rest of them thought he could do. She was definitely a woman who didn’t let anyone get too close to her. Of course, the entire coven had been like that when they’d first arrived. Even Emma. But eventually, they’d begun finding their way, their own friends. Not Jamie, though. It was strange, too, because she was so friendly. She smiled, she chatted, but the walls were definitely there. She didn’t want anyone getting too close to her and they all knew it.

So, doing something he’d never done before in the ten months she’d been here, Tully sat down at the table with Jamie. She glanced up from the book she was reading, blinked at him, and went back to reading. He had to fight hard not to smile. What could he say? He admired her restraint to not even try and figure out why he was sitting down with her.

“Mornin’, Miss Jamie.”

“Hey.”

“How are you doing?”

Her eyes lifted from the book and focused on him. After a moment, she pushed the book away and relaxed back in her chair. “I’m doing fine. Would you like to join me for breakfast?”

“Why, that is mighty kind of you. I think I’ll do just that.” He motioned to the waitress and she came over. “Your morning special, darlin’. Easy on the grits, though.”

“Coffee?”

“Please. And juice.”

She smiled. “You’ve got it, Tully.”

The waitress walked off and Tully focused back on Jamie. She was still watching him, smirking.

Resting his arms on the table, he asked, “So what are you reading? Fiction or nonfiction?”

“Non. History.”

“About?”

Her smirk turned into a grin. “The Donner Party.”

“Those are the people who…”

“Ate each other. Yeah.”

“That’s what you read while you’re about to have breakfast?”

She shrugged. “I used to look at crime scene photos over a pastrami on rye at the diners back home. Doesn’t bother me.”

“All right then.”

The waitress returned and placed a mug next to Tully and poured him a cup of coffee before leaving the carafe.

“What else do you do when you’re not working?” he asked politely.

“Watch TV.”

Tully sipped his coffee after blowing on it. “I don’t even have a TV. Don’t see the purpose.” He placed his coffee down and for the first time since he’d met her, he saw a look of confusion and horror on her face.

“What’s wrong?”

“You don’t have a TV? How do you live without a TV?”

How do I live? “Easily. It’s never been a necessity to me.”

Jamie shook her head, her face conveying her disgust at his sentiment without her saying a word.

Tully laughed. “Of all the things that go on in this town, that’s the one that bothers you?”

“Yeah. Yeah, it does. That’s crazy talk.”

The waitress placed a plate of food down in front of Jamie. She immediately reached for the hot sauce and completely saturated her fried eggs with it.

“You know, I can’t help but notice you could be having this same breakfast at your hotel.”

“Yeah, but then I’d end up fighting with Mac rather than eating, and I really want to eat.”

“She’s fittin’ in nice,” Tully remarked as the waitress placed his food down in front of him. The special came on a platter and could easily feed two or three full-humans. But he wasn’t full-human and the elk he’d taken down last night had already worn off. “I see she’s coaching the girls’ softball league this season.”

“Yep.”

“While Seneca has become assistant coach for the junior and varsity cheerleading squads and Emma’s teaching that tax and accounting class over at the senior center.”

Jamie lifted her head, a piece of toast gripped in her hand. “Uh-huh.”

“And even Kenny has volunteered her time over at the library to help upgrade the computer systems and help the kids learn basic computing.”

“Your point?”

“I guess I was just noticing that you haven’t really involved yourself with the town.”

“Really?”

“Not that you have to, of course. Just sayin’ that sometimes it does a body good to know you’re helping others. And the more you help others, the more comfortable you’ll feel here.”

She raised her forefinger. “Hold that thought.” Then she leaned back in her chair, her arm reaching toward the table of males behind her. As soon as she moved toward them, they jerked back from her. They were cheetahs, used to bolting from bored lions and startled bears, so they moved really fast. Especially now.

Jamie pointed her finger. “Mind if I borrow the ketchup?”

The older male, watching her close the entire time, grabbed the ketchup from the table and carefully handed it over to her. Once she had her hand around the bottle’s neck, he snatched his hand back. They all waited until she’d turned back around before they settled back into their seats and went back to their conversation as if nothing had happened.

“So what were you saying about me feeling more comfortable around here?” she asked as she poured ketchup onto her hash browns.

Tully shook his head and went back to his meal. “Nothin’.”

Jamie walked down Main Street, her book tucked under her arm, which was actually the latest Stephen King novel but she’d held the faint hope her lie would make Smith go away—he didn’t.

What, exactly, is that dog up to?

For a good forty minutes, she’d watched him devour two platters of the diner’s special and go on and on about…she didn’t even know. People in the town. The town’s history. She had no idea why he was telling her all that nor did she care. She enjoyed not knowing these people’s business, shame they couldn’t seem to be the same way. But she did hope to lead by example.

Was he trying to get her to feel something specific? What did he think that would change? Would she make them less nervous if she were like Mac, helping their brats with their curveballs and chatting with the moms after practice? The thought made Jamie shiver in disgust. She loathed children. She’d loathed them when she was a child, and that feeling hadn’t changed in thirty-two years.

She was nearing her SUV when she walked right into someone. She immediately grabbed the person before they could hit the ground, but they lost control of their bags of groceries, apples rolling across the pavement.

“I’m sorry,” Jamie immediately apologized. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

“It’s just a little thing, sweetheart. Don’t worry.”

Jamie made sure the woman she had in her hands was not going to fall before she released her. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

Millie MacClancy smiled at her. “I’m fine, dear. Just fine. You’re such a little thing, I barely felt it.”

Okay. That was something she loved about this weird little town. Around here, Seneca and Emma were practically hobbits, Kenny was called “the short one,” Jamie was considered “petite,” and Mac was just average. It was definitely the best feeling, especially for the cousins who’d been called “big boned” enough times by their country cousins to have them only allowed to attend family reunions if they followed certain rules. The biggest one being, “No hitting.”

Millie started to crouch down to retrieve her bags and Jamie caught her arms again. “Don’t you dare. I’ll never hear the end of it from your son.”

Just the mention of Tully had the older woman smiling. “That boy. What’s he been up to now?”

“I wish I knew.” Jamie gave a little laugh before crouching and picking up all the fruits and vegetables that had flown out of the bags.

“So how are things going with you, sweetheart?” Miss Millie asked.

“Fine.” Jamie dropped the last of the apples and potatoes into the brown paper bag.

“Is the hotel doing well?”

“Yes. We’ve been really busy.” Jamie stood, the bags in her arms. “We’ve had to hire some new staff.”

“Good. I’m glad to hear that.”

Millie reached for the bags but Jamie held on to them. “No. I’ll take them to your car.” Jamie frowned. “Miss Millie? Are you all right?” The older woman had some strain on her face that Jamie had never seen before. “Do you need a ride?”

“No, no. Just some things on my mind. Nothing to worry about. The shopping helped.” She motioned down the street. “My car’s right there.

“Are you sure there’s nothing I can help you with?”

“No, sweetheart. But thank you for asking.”

Together they headed down the street. “I don’t understand, Miss Millie. Here you have this nice car and yet your son…”

Millie laughed. “What can I say? He likes to walk. Feels he finds out more about what’s going on in the town when he’s on two feet or four rather than when he’s driving.”

Jamie didn’t know how much the man could learn from slowly ambling around the town but she wouldn’t argue with Millie. There was something about the older woman that wasn’t like the others. Something really sweet and just…innocent. Even though in her late fifties, Jamie could well imagine what had caught eternally cranky Jack’s eye, but Jamie still couldn’t believe that Tully Smith was her son. Slow-moving, not-always-the-brightest, studies-every-female-as-if-he-has-or-will-fuck-her Tully.

Talk about falling far from the tree. Then again, more than once she’d heard a family friend of her parents remark about Jamie, “She may look like you, Mary. But other than that…”

Jamie waited for Millie to unlock her trunk and then she placed the grocery bags inside. She slammed the trunk closed and, as she always did, shook her head at the car Tully’s mother drove.

“Something wrong?”

“Not at all.” Jamie sighed longingly. “I know people who’d kill for this car, though.”

Millie’s pretty brown eyes grew wide. “Really?” She leaned in and whispered, “I guess as a police officer you would know people like that.”

“Former police officer, but yes.” She gazed at the vehicle. “You just don’t see a lot of ‘66 Camaros in this condition.”

“Really?” Millie asked again, barely glancing at the car. “I try and take good care of it. To quote my daddy, ‘You gotta be ready ’cause you never know when the Revenuers are gonna come.’”

Jamie nodded slowly. “I see…and the Revenuers are a big problem for you, Miss Millie?”

“Not anymore.” She winked and walked around to her driver’s side. She’d only just unlocked the door when Katie walked up to them, her gaze bouncing back and forth between Millie and Jamie underneath her annoyingly too-large Sheriff’s Department cap. Jamie would think they could afford a cap that fit the poor girl’s head. Gods knew, it wasn’t like she had a small head.

“Everything all right, Momma?” Katie asked, eyes narrowing on Jamie in obvious accusation. Boy, you give a girl a little nickname and she was a total schmuck about it forever after.

“Of course,” Millie said. “Why?”

“Just checking.” Katie forced a smile. “Jamie.”

“Snaggle.” Jamie saw a flash of fang before she turned to smile and wave at Millie. “Bye, Miss Millie.”

“Good-bye, dear.”

Jamie headed back up the street but laughed when she heard Millie tell Katie, “Stop snarling, pup. I’m sure she meant Snaggle endearingly.”

Tully was sitting in his parents’ kitchen, eating the last of the key lime pie someone had buried far back in the pantry under a bunch of paper bags and behind several cases of Coors, when his daddy walked in.

“That was mine,” the cat snarled before he’d even gotten past the doorway.

“Really?” Tully kept eating. “Don’t think I saw your name on it.”

Jack’s hand swiped the back of Tully’s head and Tully winced. “You know, the claws were unnecessary, Daddy.”

Before Jack could attack him again, Millie walked in with Katie.

“What’s going on?” his momma asked.

“Daddy started it.”

The feline hissed before taking one of the bags Millie held. “Get off your ass and help, boy,” he snarled.

“I’m eating.”

Katie quickly grabbed the bag. “I’ve got it.”

“He ate my pie,” Jack accused before carrying the bag into the pantry.

“Why do you torture him so?” Millie whispered to Tully.

“‘Because I can’ is just going to get me slapped in the head again, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed the top of his head. “How’s your morning been so far?”

“Fine.” He rubbed her arm. “And, Momma—”

“I don’t want you to fret about your father, pup.”

“I won’t let him come here and start anything. I won’t let him hurt you.”

“Sssh, pup.” She eased her palms across his shoulders. “It’s just a little thing.”

“Not really.”

“Don’t let Buck Smith do this to you. All you need to remember is that you’re my son. Understand?”

“Yes’m.”

“Good.” She kissed him again before stepping away while he poured himself another glass of milk.

“So I saw that sweet Jamie Meacham in town just a little while ago.”

“Sweet, my ass,” Jack growled from the pantry.

“I don’t know what you have against her, Jackie.”

“She’s the daughter of Satan. And when are we going to get a report back on her, Useless?”

Tully didn’t answer until a roll of foil slammed into the back of his head. “Ow!”

“I asked you a question, boy.”

“I’m working on it.”

Millie leaned against her kitchen counter. “What report?”

“Daddy wants me spying on Jamie.”

“Whatever for?”

“He thinks she’s up to something.”

“I’m sure she is,” Millie easily agreed. “But that don’t mean it’s not in the best interest of the town.”

“I doubt it,” Jack grumbled back.

“I had breakfast with her this morning,” Tully admitted. “She spent the whole time reading and ignoring my charm.”

“She must have better taste than that,” Millie said, winning a smile from her son.

“If I’m going to get any information on her, I guess I’ll have to follow her.”

“That’s one option,” Millie said. “Or you could try being friendly.”

“Why would he do that?” Jack walked out of the pantry and stared at her. “Aren’t you going to make me something to eat?”

“I just fed you.”

“That was hours ago!”

Shaking her head, she ignored her husband and stood next to her son. “Well?” she pushed.

“I don’t understand that word you used. Uh…frrrrrrrr…”

“Friendly,” she said while tugging his hair and laughing. “Unlike the rest of you people, I’ve actually talked to her. She’s ever so nice.”

“She calls me Snaggle,” Katie said.

Tully looked away from his sister and their daddy quickly went to the refrigerator to pull out the makings for a sandwich and hide his laughter all at the same time.

“She’s only teasing you, Katie.”

“Don’t sound like teasing to me.”

“Just try it, pup.” Millie gave Tully another hug. “If you want to get through to her…just be nice.”

Tully shrugged as he finished off the last of the milk. “I guess it’s worth a shot.”

Jamie’s eyes watered and she held up her hand. “I’m sorry. If you’ll just…I…” Shaking her head, she walked away from the front desk, through the dining room, and into the back kitchen where she found her coven.

“Someone needs to cover the front desk,” she announced to the entire room.

Mac didn’t even look up from her notes for that night’s menu. She’d taken over the Smithville Arms restaurant without even discussing it with the rest of them. Not that it really bothered Jamie, but she didn’t like when anyone was presumptuous. “I thought you were covering the front desk.”

“Hippie alert.”

Her cousin laughed. “What are they wearing? Rosewater or some obscure incense?”

“Patchouli oil.”

“Ohhhh!” her coven sisters said in unison.

“Not the kiss of death,” Kenny joked while she worked away on her extremely thin, extremely tiny laptop.

“You know I can’t tolerate that smell. You just know she’s into that whole earth mother crap with her hemp shoes and the too-long-for-her-age hair.”

“You are in rare form today.”

“I’m just saying. Ew.” She gave a pleading smile to Seneca. “Please?”

“All right, all right.” Seneca walked to the swinging door, took several deep breaths, then seemed to hold the last one. “I’m on it,” she said before charging off.

“Is she really going to hold her breath?” Mac asked.

“Maybe I should have told her the hippie was checking in a whole pack of people.”

“Don’t bother her with those little details,” Kenny suggested, probably hoping to find poor Sen passed out from lack of oxygen.

“Anyone we know?” Mac handed her menu over to her sous chef.

“Don’t think so.” Jamie walked to the back door. It was always open during the day, even in the winter because the kitchen would get so hot from the ovens. “Name she gave me was Wanda Pykes. After that I couldn’t stand around to hear anymore. Too funky. Besides, what coven would risk coming here?”

Jamie stepped out on the back porch and stared off. It still always amazed her. The pure beauty of this place.

“We’re going out tonight with Kyle and Emma. Wanna come?”

She shook her head at Mac’s question. “Can’t. Got a meeting.”

“Something else to freak out the populace?” Mac sat on the railing, her legs straddling the wood. “What else is going on with you?”

“Nothing. Why?”

“To be honest, you look…tired.”

“Thank you.”

“You sure being called a champion is worth all this?”

“It’s not. But it is worth the power it brings me.”

Mac took a breath, let it out. She only did that when she was around Jamie and trying not to get upset. “I don’t see why you need more than you have.”

“I know. That’s why having this conversation, yet again, is meaningless.”

“Can’t you just enjoy it here? I don’t know what more you want.”

“It’s that feeling you get, when untapped power flows through you for the first time. When you know, in that moment, you can do anything.”

“But how long before it’s too much?”

“It’s never too much.”

“Bullshit. We both know what happens to the ones who step over the line, Jamie.”

“That won’t be me.”

“What if you have no choice?”

“Nothing and no one can or will make me cross that line. Not now, not ever. And you should know that.”

Mac slid off the banister and headed back to the kitchen. “Yeah, right,” she tossed over her shoulder. “I should know that.”