She nodded, forced a smile that was totally unconvincing. “Sure, everything's good.” She glanced left and right, almost as if she was afraid to be seen talking to him.
“You're up bright and early,” he said with what he hoped was a reassuring smile.
Her shoulders hitched and dropped.
“You usually up so early?” He felt like a fool the moment the words left his mouth. What kind of lame ass thing was that to ask someone, especially a cute girl? As her face creased in a frown he hurried on. “I'm not. I hate early mornings as a rule. But I have to go to Kingsville today. Got to deal with some stuff about my dad.”
Cassie's face slipped through a few quick changes of expression, surprise to thoughtfulness to something like hope. She nodded again. “Long drive,” she said.
“Not as the crow flies but, with these winding roads, I figure a couple of hours, right?” There was suddenly something unsaid hanging in the air between them.
“About that,” Cassie said. “You know, I…” She thought better of it, stopped abruptly.
Grant's heart did a two-step with nerves and he took a leap. “You need anything in Kingsville? I'd be happy to pick something up for you.” Her eyebrows lifted, lips parted like she wanted to say something. “Or I could, you know, I could give you ride up there if you need it.” Was he being a complete douche? Who offered such a long ride to someone they hardly knew?
Cassie looked around again, furtively. She chewed at her lower lip for a moment, clearly trying to come to some decision. “Actually, yeah, that would be really good. I do need to do something in Kingsville and I hate making that drive on my own.”
Grant grinned, pleased with himself. Maybe there was something worthwhile in Wallen's Gap after all. He couldn't believe this cute girl had just agreed to a two hour each way trip with him. Suzanne’s angry face flitted through his mind and he pushed the thought away. She had left him, so he had no time for guilt. He gestured with his head towards the passenger side. “Great. Hop in.”
She hurried over and slipped into the seat beside him. “Thanks, this is nice of you,” she said with a tight smile. “I don't want to be any trouble.”
“No problem. Do we need to swing by your place to pick anything up?”
“No, let's just get going, okay?”
Grant's elation waned at her tense nervousness. She seemed strangely agitated. “Sure thing,” he said, trying to keep his voice light and casual.
He pulled away from the curb, wondering what else he could say to ease her tension. As he made the turn up towards the highway he glanced in the rearview mirror and saw the tall, gangly boyfriend, Carl, standing outside the still closed hardware store, staring after them. Carl did not look happy at all.
Chapter 7
Cassie's heart raced as Grant gunned the engine and they left Wallen's Gap and Carl behind. Carl was going to be mad. She looked down at a hole in the thigh of her jeans and plucked absently at the thread, trying to decide where to begin. Now that she was alone with Grant, she couldn't seem to summon the courage to be honest with him. From the corner of her eye she saw him looking at her. She told herself not to blush, but she could feel her cheeks heating. He was cute, and not at all like the losers who populated her town.
“Can I say something?” Grant broke the silence so suddenly that she jumped. “About your boyfriend or whoever he is to you?”
Cassie nodded, not eager to hear whatever he had to say. She knew she should dump Carl, and her inability to do so embarrassed her. He was like an unsightly blemish.
“I've tried to be cool because I don't want to cause trouble for you. But I'm tired, and I'm fed up with the creepy ass people in Wallen's Gap, and if he steps to me the wrong way, or lays a hand on you where I can see him, I'm going to beat his ass.”
Now she did look directly at him. She saw resolve in his eyes and, when he directed his gaze back toward the road, looked him up and down. Cassie almost felt like she was at a livestock show as she sized him up. He wasn't bulky, like Cliff Stallard, but he was tall and lean with whipcord muscles. He looked like he could handle himself.
“Why are you telling me? I'm not the one you want to beat up.”
“In case it's going to cause a problem between you and Carl. You could…” He cleared his throat. “If you needed somewhere safe to go, you could stay at my dad's place. I guess it's my place now. I've got room.”
“There's already plenty of problems between me and Carl. Your fists won't make it better or worse. Besides, he wouldn't fight you. It's the Stallards you need to worry about. Those boys love to brawl, and they don't fight fair.”
“I met those three yesterday afternoon. They dropped by the cabin, claiming they wanted to see if I needed any help, but they were up to something. It was weird. I could almost hear the banjos playing in the background.”
She giggled and he laughed too.
“Do you think all their ancestors were brother and sister, or just the last few generations?”
“Hey now!” she protested, still laughing. “We're not all inbred hillbillies, you know.”
“Just the Stallards.”
“Right.” The moment was gone as soon as it had come, and they lapsed back into silence. Then something Grant had said rang a bell. “Hold on. You said the Stallard boys came by your place yesterday afternoon?”
“Yep.”
“Cliff Stallard was back up there late last night. He said he was driving around and ran out of gas.”
Grant snapped his head around and gave her a sharp look. “What does he drive?” She described the truck and Grant spat a curse. “He was still there this morning. When I went to leave, somebody cranked up a truck and drove away. I only caught a glimpse, but it's got to be him.”
Cassie didn't know what to say. Clearly, Cliff had stayed there all night for some odd reason. What was he doing? Keeping people away, or keeping Grant in?
“Wait a minute.” Grant arched an eyebrow. “How do you know he was at my place late last night?”
There it was. Cassie might as well tell him the truth.
“I came up there to talk to you, and he turned me away. I wanted to ask you about the book.”
Grant flinched and his face went ashen. “You know about the book?”
“I saw you reading it at the Cup of Joe, remember?”
Grant's features relaxed. “Yeah, sure. What about it?”
Cassie wasn't buying it. She could tell when someone was hiding something. Perhaps it came from her childhood, when her daddy was still bothering to try to hide his drinking from her mother. Or perhaps it came from dating guys like Carl, for whom deceit was so ingrained in their character they no longer knew how to tell the truth. In any case, Grant wasn't being honest with her.
“What book did you think I meant?”
“What?”
“I want to play poker with you sometime. I'd have your money, your car, and every stitch of your clothes, cause you can't lie for shit.”
“That last part sounded pretty good. Maybe later on tonight? I think I saw a deck of cards in the cabin.” He was trying to keep things light, but she could tell he was rattled.
“You've got a secret, Grant Shipman.” She swallowed hard. “And so do I. I've got nobody else I can trust, so how about we both come clean, and maybe we can help each other?”
She watched as he chewed on that for a minute, his jaw working and his grip tightening and relaxing on the wheel. Finally, he nodded.
“Okay, but not here. After the attorney's office, we'll find somewhere quiet and I'll tell you everything.”
Grant left the attorney's office and made his way to the cafe he and Cassie had agreed on. He felt marginally better about his father's affairs now that everything official was taken care of or in process. Red tape and bureaucracy were infuriating, but better than the worry of leaving something unfinished or some obscure law unheeded. Cassie sat in a window booth, staring worriedly across the street, playing with the straw in a big, empty milkshake glass. She looked the other way, hadn't seen him yet as he stood across the street. She was cute, but troubled. A part of him really wanted to get to know her better, but another part, maybe his sane side, screamed at him to pack up his father's stuff and get the hell out of this redneck, backwater hole.