The last part made him smile even though the text of the post had a headache sneaking up the back of his skull.
He could put her off a day or two, and put her off honestly. He couldn’t expect Fox to dump his scheduled clients or any court appearances at the snap of a finger, and she’d understand that. But if he were to use that, and his own schedule, he had to do it straight.
With some annoyance, he shot an e-mail to Fox, asking when he could clear time for the trip to the clearing. The annoyance increased when Fox answered back immediately.
Fri’s good. Morning’s clear, can clear full day if nec.
“Well, fuck.” Cal pushed on the ache at the back of his head. Since e-mail wasn’t bringing him any luck, he’d go see Quinn in person when he broke for lunch.
AS CAL PREPARED TO CLOSE OUT FOR THE MORNING, Bill Turner stopped in the office doorway.
“Ah, got that toilet fixed in the ladies’ room downstairs, and the leak in the freezer was just a hose needed replacing.”
“Thanks, Bill.” He swung his coat on as he spoke. “I’ve got a couple of things to do in town. Shouldn’t be above an hour.”
“Okay, then. I was wondering if, ah…” Bill rubbed a hand over his chin, let it drop. “I was wondering if you think Gage’ll be coming in, maybe the next day or two. Or if maybe I could, maybe I could run over to your place to have a word with him.”
Rock and a hard place, Cal thought, and bought himself some time by adjusting his jacket. “I don’t know if he’s thinking about dropping by, Bill. He hasn’t mentioned it. I think…Okay, look, I’d give him some time. I’d just give it some time before you made that first move. I know you want-”
“It’s okay. That’s okay. Appreciate it.”
“Shit,” Cal said under his breath as Bill walked away. Then, “Shit, shit, shit,” as he headed out himself.
He had to take Gage’s side in this, how could he not? He’d seen firsthand what Bill’s belt had done to Gage when they’d been kids. And yet, he’d also witnessed, firsthand, the dozens of ways Bill had turned himself around in the last few years.
And, hadn’t he just seen the pain, guilt, even the grief on Bill’s face just now? So either way he went, Cal knew he was going to feel guilty and annoyed.
He walked straight out and over to Quinn’s.
She pulled open the door, yanked him in. Before he could say a word her arms were locked around his neck and her mouth was very busy on his. “I was hoping that was you.”
“Good thing it was, because Greg, the UPS guy on this route, might get the wrong idea if you greeted him that way.”
“He is kind of cute. Come on back to the kitchen. I’d just come down to do a coffee run. We’re all working on various projects upstairs. Did you get my e-mail?”
“Yeah.”
“So, we’re all set for tomorrow?” She glanced back as she reached up for the coffee.
“No, tomorrow’s no good. Fox can’t clear his slate until Friday.”
“Oh.” Her lips moved into a pout, quickly gone. “Okay then, Friday it is. Meanwhile we’ll keep reading, researching, working. Cyb thinks she’s got a couple of good possibilities on…What?” she asked when she got a good look at his face. “What’s going on?”
“Okay.” He took a couple paces away, then back. “Okay, I’m just going to say it. I don’t want you going back in there. Just be quiet a minute, will you?” he said when he saw the retort forming. “I wish there was a way I could stop you from going, that there was a way I could ignore the fact that we all need to go. I know you’re a part of this, and I know you have to go back to the Pagan Stone. I know there’s going to be more you have to be a part of than I’d wish otherwise. But I can wish you weren’t part of this, Quinn, and that you were somewhere safe until this is over. I can want that, just as I know I can’t have what I want.
“If you want to be pissed off about that, you’ll have to be pissed off.”
She waited a beat. “Have you had lunch?”
“No. What does that have to do with anything?”
“I’m going to make you a sandwich-an offer I never make lightly.”
“Why are you making it now?”
“Because I love you. Take off your coat. I love that you’d say all that to me,” she began as she opened the refrigerator for fixings. “That you’d need to let me know how you felt about it. Now if you’d tried ordering me to stay out of it, if you’d lied or tried to do some sort of end-run around me, I’d feel different. I’d still love you, because that sort of thing sticks with me, but I’d be mad, and more, I’d be disappointed in you. As it is, Cal, I’m finding myself pretty damn pleased and a hell of a lot smug that my head and heart worked so well together and picked the perfect guy. The perfect guy for me.”
She cut the sandwich into two tidy triangles, offered it. “Do you want coffee or milk?”
“You don’t have milk, you have white water. Coffee’d be fine, thanks.” He took a bite of the turkey and Swiss with alfalfa on whole wheat. “Pretty good sandwich.”
“Don’t get used to the service.” She glanced over as she poured out coffee. “We should get an early start on Friday, don’t you think? Like dawn?”
“Yeah.” He touched her cheek with his free hand. “We’ll head in at first light.”
SINCE HE’D HAD GOOD LUCK WITH QUINN, AND gotten lunch out of it, Cal decided he was going to speak his mind to Gage next. The minute he and Lump stepped into the house, he smelled food. And when they wandered back, Cal found Gage in the kitchen, taking a pull off a beer as he stirred something in a pot.
“You made food.”
“Chili. I was hungry. Fox called. He tells me we’re taking the ladies for a hike Friday.”
“Yeah. First light.”
“Should be interesting.”
“Has to be done.” Cal dumped out food for Lump before getting a beer of his own. And so, he thought, did this have to be done. “I need to talk to you about your father.”
Cal saw Gage close off. Like a switch flipped, a finger snapped, his face simply blanked out. “He works for you; that’s your business. I’ve got nothing to say.”
“You’ve got every right to shut him out. I’m not saying different. I’m letting you know he asks about you. He wants to see you. Look, he’s been sober five years now, and if he’d been sober fifty it wouldn’t change the way he treated you. But this is a small town, Gage, and you can’t dodge him forever. My sense is he’s got things to say to you, and you may want to get it done, put it behind you. That’s it.”
There was a reason Gage made his living at poker. It showed now in a face, a voice, completely devoid of expression. “My sense is you should take yourself out of the middle. I haven’t asked you to stand there.”
Cal held up a hand for peace. “Fine.”
“Sounds like the old man’s stuck on Steps Eight and Nine with me. He can’t make amends on this, Cal. I don’t give a damn about his amends.”
“Okay. I’m not trying to convince you otherwise. Just letting you know.”
“Now I know.”
IT OCCURRED TO CAL WHEN HE STOOD AT THE window on Friday morning, watching the headlights cut through the dim predawn, that it had been almost a month exactly since Quinn had first driven up to his house.
How could so much have happened? How could so much have changed in such a short time?
It had been slightly less than that month since he’d led her into the woods the first time. When he’d led her to the Pagan Stone.
In those short weeks of the shortest month he’d learned it wasn’t only himself and his two blood brothers who were destined to face this threat. There were three women now, equally involved.
And he was completely in love with one of them.
He stood just as he was to watch her climb out of Fox’s truck. Her bright hair spilled out from under the dark watch cap. She wore a bold red jacket and scarred hiking boots. He could see the laugh on her face as she said something to Cybil, and her breath whisked out in clouds in the early morning chill.