Summer Angel

Chapter 2-2

He winced and turned to June. “How can he like me? I shot his father.”

“Maybe someday one of us will explain it,” June replied. The flicker of heartache that passed over her face startled him, but she smiled reassuringly. “Have a seat on the couch. We’ll be closing in a few minutes.”

“Uh, before you do, I need to get a room for the night.”

“No, you don’t. You’re coming home with us.”

“June….”

“Don’t argue.”

Ben obediently plopped on the couch facing the fireplace to wait. The boy band sang on in the background with both June and Luke singing along, and he watched them work as he too hummed along with the song and tried to quell the ache of anxiety. Had he made a mistake in coming back? No. Something felt right, even after facing the orphaned son of John McKindel. Perhaps because of it.

The bell on the door jingled, and he looked up to see a man with dark hair and warm brown eyes flicking it with his finger. He was only an inch or so taller than June’s five-foot-nine with a wiry frame and bowed legs. He flashed them all a friendly smile, and Ben noted how his gaze lingered for just a moment on June with longing and regret momentarily darkening his eyes.

“Evening, June, Luke,” the man greeted, stepping inside. “For the second time. Looks like it slowed down for you.”

“Hi, Pete,” June replied. “It did, and you’re just in time. Coffee?”

He nodded. “I need some for Andy and Jake, too.”

“It’s a little late for coffee, isn’t it?”

“It’s never too late. And I know that’s exactly why you have a pot on.”

There was a knock on the door, which was still open for ventilation. June looked up and rolled her eyes. Ben followed her gaze and saw another man, taller, with dark hair and shrewd brown eyes. He looked a bit like Pete, but there was an arrogance and a simmering anger about him that Ben instantly disliked. The scowl on June’s beautiful face confirmed and strengthened his aversion.

“Pete’ll be right out, Jake,” June said flatly.

“I only came in to see how Lukie is doing.”

“He’s fine.”

“Leave him alone, Jake,” Pete muttered.

“But I wouldn’t want him to feel unloved.”

“Trust me, Jake, I feel quite loved when you’re not around,” Luke replied without looking up from his task.

“How’s your father? Heard from him lately?”

Ben shot to his feet, horrified by the comment. Cold washed through him in wave upon wave of crashing guilt. He glanced between the two ranch hands, June, and Luke. The situation was so surreal that Ben wasn’t sure if he was actually standing in the Ramshorn Lodge with his old friend and the son of the man he’d killed or if this was just a wild and brutally real dream.

“Jake…” June warned. “Leave him—”

“Go to hell, Jake,” Luke said nonchalantly, “and ask him yourself.” He finally raised his eyes. “Takes one to know one, as they say.”

Tense though he was, the phrase he’d heard uttered many a time by June’s stepfather struck him as funny and made the scene that much more unreal. He had to be dreaming.

“What? No response?” Luke’s lips twitched. “I’m disappointed, Jake.”

Jake sputtered for a moment, clearly outwitted. Swearing, he stormed out. Despite the anxious memories Jake’s comment wrought from him, Ben wondered why Luke would say such a thing about his father.

June scowled after him, pausing for a moment in her task. Then she shook her head and pulled three to-go cups out from under the bar.

“The night isn’t getting any younger, Pete.”

The familiar voice yanked Ben’s gaze to the door. Striding inside with his well-worn black cowboy hat in its usual place on his head was Ben’s brother-in-law, Andy Epperson. He was dressed as his companions were in stained tan Carhartt work pants, a white t-shirt, and roper boots. Married life had been good to him, Ben mused, noting that Andy’s frame was thicker and more muscled than when he and Jane had first met. He was also glad to note that the injury that had almost ended Andy’s career as a ranch hand was now only a barely noticeable limp. When the older man spotted him, he stopped midstride.

“Ben? What are you doing here?”

“Coming for a visit. Just got here.”

“Well, I’ll be damned. It’s good to see you,” Andy said laughingly. He walked over and embraced Ben. “Jane and Becky will be thrilled. Are you heading up to the house?”

“No, he’s staying with us,” June replied before Ben could.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive. I have more room than you do, and besides, it sounds like he’s going to be staying a while, so you and Jane and Becky will have plenty of time with him.”

Turning to Ben again, Andy asked, “How long are you staying?”

“If everything works out, I won’t be leaving. It took me a long time to realize what my sister always knew, but better late than never, right?”

“I think you’ve always known it, but you got used to Poulsbo, so you stayed. That, and you’re not as hardheaded as my wife. I’d love to stay and chat, but like I said, it’s already getting late. Unless you’d care to join us for poker.”

“It’s been a long day and I’m wiped, but I appreciate the offer. Tell my sister and niece that I love them and I’ll be over to see them soon.”

“Will do. Welcome home, Ben.”

June interrupted their conversation when she reappeared from the kitchen with three to-go cups of coffee. “On the house tonight, boys.”

“Thanks, June,” Pete replied. “Appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome.”

Andy and Pete left, and June locked the door behind them, then flipped the open sign to closed.

“Who were those guys with Andy?” Ben inquired.

June sighed and rolled her eyes. “Pete Landers and Jake Sterling. I dated Pete for a while before Luke came to live with me and was stupid enough to let Jake take me on a date once. It’s a longer story than I feel like telling right now, so if you’ll excuse me, I’ll get back to work so we can get out of here.”

Luke finished wiping off the rest of the tables and closed and counted the register while June vacuumed the floor. They worked effortlessly as a team, and before Ben knew it, they were done.

“It’s good to be back,” he murmured, unable to pull his eyes away from June. He’d forgotten how naturally graceful she was and felt a bit like a dehydrated man drinking in the beauty and gentleness that radiated from her.

June smiled at him as she pulled a backpack up from behind the front desk and plopped it on the counter. She pulled the CD from the stereo before she turned it off, and once the disc was secure in its case, she stuffed it in her bag, then she reached behind the counter again and pulled out two helmets, one blue, one black. She tossed the blue one to Luke, who caught it and put it on. The other she jammed on her head.

“Uh, June, I brought my dog with me,” Ben said. “That’s not a problem is it?”

“Not so long as he gets along with our golden, Cheyenne.” She turned to him as she tightened the helmet strap. One eyebrow was raised, and her lips twitched with amusement. “I take it you’re planning on staying a while. Good. We have five years to catch up on.”

June eyed Ben as she tightened the strap of her helmet, not quite able to believe he was here. He had changed some. His hair was darker, and he had definitely filled into his height since she’d seen him last, she noted appreciatively, but there were other differences, and they concerned her. His eyes were still the same intriguing gray she remembered, but they weren’t quite as quick to smile, and a trace of weariness dimmed their brilliance. He had the look of a man struggling in a battle he knew he couldn’t win.

She smiled sadly when he looked at her for a moment. The shooting had taken a toll on him, and she’d known it, but seeing the proof with her own eyes drove it home. He’d had been through counseling, but it hadn’t helped, and she remembered too clearly when Bill had told her with tears thick in his voice that Ben had found it too difficult to continue what had been a promising career he loved in law enforcement. June’s heart ached for him like it did for Luke when she saw things in his eyes that shouldn’t be there, but perhaps meeting Luke and seeing that he’d come through that traumatic experience all right would do what nothing and no one else had been able.

She pushed Ben and Luke outside, shut off the lights and locked the door behind her. Luke was already starting his dirt bike by the time June got to hers. She inhaled, drawing the cooling air deep into her lungs.

When she had spent her first two weeks up at Aelissm’s cabin with her family, everything she’d once wanted in life had shifted. She’d never had so much fun. She’d learned how to ride a dirt bike, hunted for crystals at Crystal Park, watched the talented Virginia City Players, hiked to Sawtooth Lake, and peeked into the old buildings of the nearby ghost towns. Ben and Aelissm had prepped her to love Northstar long before that summer, but she’d fallen irrevocably in love when she’d first glimpsed the Northstar Mountains, and she had understood what it was to be home, to be utterly complete in a way that still amazed her. That single moment had revealed everything about her.

Her parents had divorced when she was only four, and the tension that had plagued her since evaporated, and as that incredible peace settled over her, so had understanding. Everything in her life had led her here, to this point. Without her stepfather, Dan, she wouldn’t have met his Navy buddy Bill Granger or Bill’s niece Aelissm, and without her and her family, she probably wouldn’t have ever had a reason to come to Northstar. And without that and Bill’s meddling, she wouldn’t have Luke. She glanced at the teenager, who waited patiently for her to get moving. He was, by far, the greatest thing in her life, and as much as she loved her home, she would give it all up in a moment for him.

“I assume you can follow us?” she called to Ben, who nodded.

Untying her flannel and tugging it from her waist, she stuffed her arms into the sleeves. She and Luke buzzed along the gravel road, checking behind every so often to make sure Ben didn’t mistakenly take one of many wrong turns. June’s cabin was almost five miles up the side of Comet Mountain on a twisting, rock-pocked length of dirt road, and there were numerous, unmarked trails on which he could get lost. Fortunately, he kept pace, and they reached the gate to Aelissm’s grandparents’ property without incident. June pulled her bike to the side out of the way and swung the gate open.

“Follow Luke, and I’ll catch up,” June called over the dirt bikes and the low grumble of the truck.

Luke sped up the hill with Ben trundling along behind. After she closed the gate, June jumped on her dirt bike and took off up the road. When she got to her cabin, Luke had opened the door and let Ben in, and they stood in the living room. Cheyenne bounced outside, tail waving enthusiastically as she welcomed Luke home and greeted her masters’ guest. June parked her dirt bike beside Luke’s and trotted inside to find Ben staring up at the vaulted ceiling with an awed smile.