More of..

A Slice of Pie

This isn’t all for, and from, one Taco Tuesday. It’s part of the novella I’ve been working on when I have the time. I haven’t had a lot of time. You can read the first chapter here, and perhaps by next week I will have figured out what happens next! You can find out along with me, or give me suggestions in the comments.

Paid subscribers, you get six chapters. Everyone else only gets the first two, I’m afraid. It is too long for email otherwise.

Slice of Pie

A Bluehills Novella

Drive Away 

Dan slid his long legs into the low car and settled into the bucket seat. He gripped the steering wheel with both hands, until his knuckles gleamed white against his tanned skin. 

“Do not go there.” He said aloud, through clenched teeth. “Do. Not. It’s not for you. Decent girls like that would run screaming if...” He shut up. Too many years of silence. Some things you don’t say out loud, not even if you think you’re alone. 

He reached down and started the engine, feeling the cramping of muscles that protested his misuse of them. Pie and coffee had been a bad idea. Even if it had made him feel warm and homey. Perhaps because it had, and he’d let down his guard. Slowly, he pulled out of the lot, then onto the main road, before accelerating carefully under the speed limit out of the tiny town. 

He’d come to Bluehills at the suggestion of a friend, and he had few enough friends that he’d taken the advice. Now, though, he was beginning to seriously doubt whether he should have done it. It had been a long-ass drive, two days behind the wheel. Two days of stewing in his own mind with no way to escape, and music only made it worse. At the end of the road, he’d lost his nerve. Plum couldn’t take the last step. He’d been checked into the little courtyard motel for a week now, staring at the walls except for the brief respites he’d allowed himself. Those, he’d spent at the Diner, with his back to the wall. Watching. Learning. Adjusting to the culture of the people all around him now. 

Human nature is pretty well set. There’s universals in every society, Dan knew, and he’d seen many of them for himself. This place was no different in that. What was different than the last place he’d been - not home. He hadn’t had a home in more years than he wanted to count. 

He pressed gently on the accelerator and the little car responded with enthusiasm. It had been an indulgence, the car. He wasn’t regretting this one, though. Not like he was tonight’s pie.

It was time to finish his mission. He didn’t need to turn on navigation. He’d performed careful reconnaissance of his destination already. He knew exactly how to get there. 

It was what came after arrival that scared him spitless. He knew that he couldn’t go on as he had been. He didn’t want to consider what it meant, to talk to someone about it. Anyone. Even relative strangers. These people didn’t know him. They weren’t going to judge him... but they would. Everyone judges, he said aloud in the car, to the wind noise and the road. Everyone. 

Thing was, he couldn’t go back. He was on an indefinite leave, courtesy of his commander giving him enough rope to either ‘pull yourself out of that pit you’ve dug, or hang yourself. I’m done with you,’ and then the Old Man had turned away, staring out the window. Dan had stood there for an awkwardly long time before he’d finally blinked. He’d been the one to lose that game. He had been the one who had turned on his heel and headed for the clinic, where he’d run into Glenn. Glenn had sat with him while he talked himself dry. Then Glenn had gotten on the phone and started making calls. One of them had been to the place Dan had been avoiding, to arrange his visit for what wouldn’t be therapy that could show up on his official record. Just people who had seen the elephant, and would listen. Dan wondered if that would be enough. 

He almost drove past the driveway. It would be easy to say enough and just keep going. Go back to the life he’d put on hold, while he got his head straight. Forget about this crazy idea. At the last second, he hit the brakes and rode the fishtail into the gravel, snapping almost into a full spin before the tires grabbed traction again and he laughed out loud at the thrill of it.  He let off the accelerator and slowed the car to a more sedate pace. He felt alive again, and now, the nerves of what he was doing had receded far enough to let him look around objectively. 

The big barn, with the white farmhouse standing nearby, small only relative to it, was almost a half-mile off the road. The gravel drive led to it, at first, then he could see that there was a loop at the end, making the house accessible as well. A battered pickup was parked next to the house, and a newer SUV in the dry grass by the corral that connected to the barn. A tall man wearing a cowboy hat was leaning on the corral fence, but he turned as Dan approached with a crunch of tires and tail of dust kicked up from the road. 

Dan put the car in park and opened the door, watching the man walk towards him as he got out of the car slowly, letting his muscles and joints get used to moving again. By the time he was out, he was being greeted. 

“Took you long enough.” The man’s face was weathered like an old piece of leather. He’d pushed back the hat a bit, revealing short-cropped silver hair beneath it, which matched the white mustache that framed his thin lips. 

“I...” Dan shut his mouth, aware he’d looked like a landed fish for too long. “What?” 

The old man chuckled softly, not unkindly, then turned on his heel. “C’mon, then, you’ll want to see Irina.” 

Now, this was a name Dan recognized. It was unusual enough he didn’t think there would be two Irina’s in the tiny town, and this was the address where he’d been told he would find her. So he followed the other’s straight back towards the farmhouse. 

“Have a seat,” the old man gestured as they walked up onto the porch. “I’ll see if she’s around.” 

Dismissed, Dan looked at the cushioned furniture and chose a chair that faced out across the garden towards the main road he’d just come off of. There was a soft breeze that cut some of the heat of the day. The dust had settled, and there were birds singing in the trees that sheltered the house to the north. He was looking at them, thinking about how they were too close, a sniper could easily take potshots from their cover, when the door slammed open. 

He was up and out of the chair before he could control his reaction. Over his racing heart, he heard a woman’s voice. 

“Gray! The spring on this door needs to be replaced...” She came all the way out onto the porch, wiping her hands on a dishrag. “You must be Dan.” 

Dan blinked at her, far too slowly processing that the door had swung over too far as it was missing a spring, she knew his name, and he... 

“Yes.” 

“Jumpy, aren’t you? Glenn said you needed to take some time away from it all.” 

Dan contemplated this introduction. “Yes.” He didn’t know what else to say.” 

“You don’t have to talk if you don’t feel like it. We aren’t psychotherapists here. Just folks. Who may have some shared experiences.” She tucked the towel over the waist-tie of her big apron. Under it she was wearing a set of denim overalls and a white tee-shirt. The overalls were obviously a way to accommodate her very pregnant belly. “Mind if I sit?” She asked. 

“It’s your home.” Dan was starting to feel some of the unbearable tension dissipate. 

“True,” She sank into a chair opposite the one he’d been sitting in earlier. “But you’re wound tighter than a mesquite bean.” 

“I apologize.” Dan hesitated for a moment, looking at Irina. 

 She returned his gaze calmly. He knew what she was seeing, a wiry man, not above average height, with medium brown hair and eyes. She looked tired, but rosy-cheeked, and from the way she was resting her hand on her belly... 

“How much longer?” Came out of his mouth before he could stop it. He seemed to have lost all of his filters since that slice of pie in the diner. 

She gave him a wry smile. “Too long. Dev keeps making noises about hiring help for me.” 

“I’m not just makin’ noises.” 

Dev Macquire walked out onto the porch with a heavy limp, stooping to kiss his wife atop her blonde hair, which she was wearing pulled back into a ponytail. 

“Howdy, Dan. I’m Dev.” He stuck out a hand. 

Dan rose and shook it, appreciating the calluses and strength without a power play of crushing his own hand. “How is it everyone knows my name?” 

“Glenn gave us a heads-up with a rough timeline when you left base.” Irina stayed in her seat, while Dev grabbed a chair and swung it around to straddle it backwards, taking position next to his wife. He took her hand in one of his and they held hands casually, like it was something they did without even a second thought. “And Bluehills is small enough that a stranger is notable.” 

“Oh.” Dan hadn’t considered that. “I...” 

“Glenn said you needed help.” Irina looked at her husband, who met her eyes for a moment. “We might be able to help, but it won’t be therapy the way you’re thinking. You can talk when you’re ready. We won’t pry.” 

“I can help.” Dan gestured. “With... you said you were going to hire help?” 

“Can you cook?” Irina tilted her head slightly, her eyes narrowing. “And clean?” 

“Yes. Military taught me the latter. Mom taught me the first. None of hers left the house without learning to cook and do laundry, and she had nine of us.” Dan ran a hand over his head. “I’m the oldest. I did a lot of childcare.” 

“Deal.” Dev spoke softly. “I was about to tell Irina I’d gotten a hand, but, well, she’d not be great in the house. Less experience with that than with stock.” 

“Pattie said yes?” Irina perked up, grinning. “Oh goodie!” 

“Pattie?” Dan repeated, slowly. 

They both looked at him. Irina lifted her eyebrows. “I’ll have you know a woman can be a ranchhand. I was hired on as one, when I came here first.” 

“Not what I meant.” Dan shook his head firmly. “I’ve no doubt it’s possible. No, I met a Pattie earlier, at the diner.” 

“That’s her. There’s only one Pattie in town, since Patricia Wainworth passed.” Irina shook her head. “She was ninety-seven, and we all thought she’d live forever. Young Pattie is named for her, although they aren’t related.” 

Dan sat up straighter, his eyes snapping into a focus over her shoulder. Irina and Dev stiffened. Dev twisted around to see what had Dan’s attention. There was a vehicle, difficult to tell more than that with the dust, turning off the road and coming up the long drive. 

“That’ll be Drema.” Dev relaxed. 

“Drema, from the diner?” Dan suddenly realized that he’d introduced himself there with a fake name and these people knew better. He’d backed himself into a corner. 

Runaway 

Pattie braced her shoulders and reached for the door handle. It was half her house, be damned if she was going to knock like she was a stranger. She’d done her best, since their father had passed, to accommodate her sister-in-law. The breaking point had come some time ago, and now she was about to reveal just how far gone she was. Her brother didn’t seem to have an inkling. 

The door opened before she could finish her action. Her brother Aaron stared down at her as though he didn’t recognize her for a second before his eyes focused. 

“I need to talk to you.” Pattie told him, rocking back on her heels to put some space between them. 

“Now isn’t a good time,” He glanced back over his shoulder at something out of sight in the house.” 

“It needs to be now.” Pattie was done with being shoved out of sight and further away with every passing week. “You were going out. I’ll come with you and talk.” She could compromise, still. As long as the compromises went in the direction she needed at the moment. 

“Oh, er, sure?” He stepped all the way out onto the porch, pulling the door shut behind him like she was a stray cat that was going to dodge around him and dart inside. 

Pattie gritted her teeth and fought to keep the smile on her face. She followed him to the truck. Her own truck, parked over by the barn, was older than she was and it showed. His was... 

Aaron looked down at her boots and frowned. 

“I’ll knock the shit off them before I get in.” She managed to stop herself from rolling her eyes as she walked around to the passenger side, and made a big deal out of kicking the running board before she climbed up and into the big vehicle. It still smelled of new car on the interior even though it had to be a year old. “So, where are we going?” 

“Town.” He didn’t elaborate as he fired the truck up and maneuvered it out of the driveway. 

“Right. Fine.” Pattie found that for all she’d been gearing up for this moment, it was hard to get the words out. She looked at Aaron’s profile, seeing the knot of muscles at his jaw that meant he was annoyed. Somehow, that made it easier. “I’m moving out.” 

She’d barely been living at the ranch, anyway. For the last couple of years, since their father had died, it had been difficult. Even before that, it hadn’t been easy, but she’d managed. 

“What?” He actually glanced away from the road for a microsecond, but not enough to make eye contact. Pattie couldn’t remember the last time he’d made eye contact with her. 

“I’m moving out,” She repeated, and it was easier the second time. “I’ve accepted a job offer and I have to live in.” 

“What?” He said again, the wheel jerking in his hands. 

Pattie sighed silently. Her brother had been smart, once. She’d thought so, anyway. Then he went off to college and barely came home for years. Now, he was a stranger who seemed so far away even sitting at the other end of a bench seat. 

“I’m going to work.” She didn’t like how that sounded. “Elsewhere.” She’d been working hard enough the last seven years. Just now, she was going to be working for herself. Not him, his wife, and the family trust. 

“Wh...” He managed not to ask it again, instead moving on to another question. “How am I going to manage without you?” 

“You’re the one with an ag degree.” Pattie snapped at him. “You figure it out. Hire someone. Pay them actual money. Like every other rancher, like the one who’s just hired me.” 

His knuckles were white on the wheel. Pattie crossed her arms over her chest and sat very upright in her seat. She was still wearing her hat, and didn’t feel like trying to relax in his presence anyway. They rolled down the road in stubborn silence. 

Pattie spoke when they were coming in to town. “Drop me at the diner, please.” 

“I’m going to the lawyer’s office.” He said out of the blue. 

Now it was Pattie’s turn to be flabbergasted. “Why?” 

“Dakota said I should find out the terms of the will.” 

“Dad’s been dead two years. The will has been probated. What more does she think she can get out of us?” 

That got a look from him, a glare in her direction as he slowed to a stop at the only light in town. “From us? She’s my wife. She’s family.” 

“Fine then. What does she want to get from me? As you married her, I didn’t. So if she wants more, it’s coming out of my hide, my share.” 

“That’s not what this is about.” 

“That’s exactly what this is about. She’s going to wring the ranch dry, get every cent out of you she can, and Aaron? She’s going to drop you like a hot rock.” 

He spluttered, and jerked the wheel over, stamping on the brakes. “Get out.” 

Pattie already had the door opened, and she got out of her seat belt and started to step down. “I’ll be back for my truck and gear. The lawyer will tell you what I’m telling you. There’s nothing more for Dakota to take. Thank God for the trust, so you can’t lose the ranch to that harpy.” 

“Get out.” He hissed through his teeth again. 

Pattie closed the truck door, and he lurched away from the shoulder of the road with a squeal of rubber. The deputy sheriff emerged from the diner and dashed for his SUV, taking off after her brother’s truck with a chirp of his siren. Pattie stood watching as Aaron pulled over two blocks up from her, a block short of his destination, and three blocks short of being out of town again. She could imagine that he was furious. She wasn’t real happy with herself. It didn’t actually feel good to finally say what she’d been thinking.

Not that she was going to admit that to her brother. She turned and headed for the diner. Drema was looking out the window, no doubt wondering what the deputy had lit out like his tail was on fire to do. Pattie waved, and the older woman waved back. 

“What was that about?” Drema had her hands on her hips when Pattie pushed open the door, making the little bells ring. 

“I pissed Aaron off.” Pattie wasn’t proud of herself, and her shoulders slumped. “I’m going to need a ride back to my house to get my truck and gear.” 

“I can’t leave, and you should get back there before him, if he just got himself a ticket being a hotheaded idiot. Hold on a mo.” Drema pursed her lips, then nodded as if she’d made a decision. She spun on her heel. “Dan!” 

Pattie hadn’t noticed the quiet man sitting in the corner, she’d been too wrapped up in her own woes. 

“You take Miss Pattie to her truck, and I’ll have the pie ready when you get back, y’hear?” 

“Yes’m.” He rose from the table where he’d been sitting. There was nothing on the table. 

“Oh, I don’t want to take you from your meal.” Pattie protested this high-handed move on Drema’s part. “Really it can wait a while.” 

“He wasn’t waiting on food.” Drema waved her hands, shooing them towards the door. “He can wait while he’s doin’ something.” 

Pattie found herself back outside the diner just that quick. She glanced up the road and saw that Aaron was still pulled over. 

“I’m sorry,” She told Dan. “I don’t know what got into Drema...” 

“It’ll be a pleasure to give you a ride,” His voice was deep and calm. “I guess since I’m working for the family, it’s her prerogative to send me to do things.”

“You’re working for... Drema?” Pattie stared up into his eyes, her jaw a little slack. 

“No, but she’s... dating? The paterfamilias of the spread I’m hired on to.” He opened the door and Pattie got into the low-slung car on autopilot, her heart sinking and mind racing. 

“You’re working for the Macquires.” She heard herself say, her tone leaden.