Forever's Promises (Forever In Luck Series Book 1) (8 page)

“I’m
headed over there after I’m done eating, so I’ll talk to him then,” Nate
answered. “He should’ve called my phone, he has the number.”

“He
did, a number of times,” she responded.

“Really?
My phone didn’t ring?”

“Yeah,
we’re kind of thinking it’s on mute,” she added.

He
sighed in irritation. “It is. I silenced it when I went in for my appointment,
and forgot to turn it back on. Damn. What did he want?”

Lifting
a shoulder, she said, “Well, there’s been some happenings around town today,
and he wanted to touch base with you.”

Dread
filled him. “Happening’s? Like what?”

“Like
Naomi renting a duplex a few blocks away, so she and Mikey could be closer to
you, and telling that and more, to Linnie, when they ran into each other at the
gas station. You know, just routine stuff.”

Nate
stood up so fast, his chair fell back against the wall. Grabbing his phone and
wallet, he headed for his keys.

“Nate,”
his mother called.

“Not
now, Mama, I got to go.”

“Nate!
Stop!” his mother yelled.

Irritated,
he turned back. “What?”

She
looked at him with sadness. “She’s gone, honey. I’m sorry.”

All
the air in his lungs whooshed out of him, as his knees went weak, and his heart
stilled. Using the kitchen counter to hold himself up, he kept himself from
falling. Just deadness everywhere, except for the buzzing in his ears. Closing
his eyes, he raged and seethed within. Fucking Naomi. She knew about Linnie.
She knew what Linnie meant to him. Everyone who knew the two of them did. Hell,
Nate and Linnie
, they were an institution
around here. Fucking Naomi. Just who the hell did she think she was, naming
that child after him? Oh man, that had to of about killed Linnie. She’d wanted
that name for their son. He shook his head at the thought. Fucking Naomi. He
hoped he never laid eyes on that bitch again. Grabbing his keys, he stormed out
of the house. Getting in the truck, he texted Jake, “Bon Ton”

Jake
hit him back, “In ten.”

Walking
in, the Bon Ton was hopping. It was Friday night, and it appeared people had
money to spend. Nate weaved his way to the bar, and ordered a pitcher of beer.
Jake walked in just as he found a table, and they each poured a glass. “Jake,
that sister of yours…” he couldn’t finish, so he just shook his head.

Jake
didn’t respond, just sat there drinking his beer, staring at nothing.

Emptying
his glass, Nate filled it again, then took a big breath, bracing himself.
“Alright, tell me what happened.” He really wished he could put his head down
on the table for this.

“Well,
the best I can piece together from multiple sources is she went to water aerobics
and had a great time. When it was over, she went to relax in the hot tub, at
which point some guy started hustling her, and wouldn’t leave her alone. Wendy Peltner
ran interference and broke it up. She left in a rush, headed to Holiday, where
she ran into Naomi and Mikey, who, according to Linnie, has blond hair and
green eyes. Apparently, Naomi told her they were moving here to be closer to
you, and that she thought it best Linnie not be here now that you’re declaring
paternity.”
 

“I’m
not declaring paternity! I’m fighting for DNA tests to prove I’m not the
father. The two are not one in the same, they’re completely different.” Screw
it. Nate pushed his chair back and put his head on the table. This had been one
hell of a week. He’d had like, all of twelve hours of normal with her. Those
results couldn’t come back fast enough. Why had he ever gone to that party?
Hell, he should’ve just stayed home and played with himself. Fucking Naomi. He
couldn’t stand her. If he never saw her again, it would be too soon. He had to
find Linnie. Where would she have gone? Lifting his head, he asked, “Do you
think she went back to Chicago?”

Finishing
his beer, Jake answered, “Probably.”

“Do
you know where that friend of hers lives, or have her number, or something?”

“Nope.
When Linnie moved in with Purdy, Jules moved too, not wanting a roommate
anymore, and we’ve tried calling Linnie numerous times. She’s not answering.”

Nate
put his head back down. Now what? A private investigator maybe? Did her phone
have one of those GPS chips? Maybe they could locate her that way, or track her
credit card use. Hell, all those options took time, and he needed to find her
now. The waitress brought another pitcher of beer. Nate looked up and ordered a
couple shots, then sat up and took a long drink of his beer, topped it off, and
drank more. Hell, he should just forget the glass and go straight to the
pitcher.

“I
thought you talked to her,” Jake said quietly.

“Jake,”
he said exasperated. “I’ve been trying to talk to that woman for days. She
refuses to discuss what happened. When I pushed the matter, she said she didn’t
need to talk about. His shots came. Downing them one after the other, he ordered
two more, then polished off his beer, and poured another.

“Nate
is that you?”

He
looked over to see Shannon Benson, a former classmate coming towards him. “Hey,
Shannon.”

“It
is you!” she said with a squeal, then hopped, hopped, hopped, her way over to
him. “Wow! I can’t believe it!” Throwing her arms around him, she hugged him
with a full bodied wiggle. “First Linnie, then Naomi, and now you. I can’t
believe it. Your little one sure is a cutie, but man is he busy.”

Nate
was horrified. She did not just say that, did she? Holy hell.

“Hey,
Jenny, get over here, Nate and Jake are here!” Shannon yelled like a harpy over
the din.

Jenny
started squealing when she saw him. Then ran over, dropped onto his lap, and
threw her arms around his neck, while giving him a big, wet, sloppy kiss on the
cheek.

Well,
that was gross. He tried to politely wipe off his face with the back of his
hand, and didn’t want to rub it on his pants, but had to. The second round of
shots came, and he gulped them down, one after the other. This was bad, way
bad. Linnie never acted like this, loud and obnoxious, and that made her a
billion times more attractive than this pair.

“So
Nate, you a free agent, or what?” Jenny asked, wiggling and hopping on his lap.

Trying
to shove her off him gently, he couldn’t, because but she was on him tighter than
a tick. “No...I’m…not,” he said with a grunt, as he picked her up and set her
on her feet. He didn’t need another Naomi situation on his hands.

“Awwww,”
she said pouting, “you’re a party pooper.” Then she leaned way over, clearly
attempting to display her jiggling baubles, and whispered, “Call me if things
change, big boy. We could have a lotta fun.” Then she blew in his ear.

Unable
to help himself, he lunged away from her like she was the plague, and rubbed
his ear. Nasty! Where was his goddamn beer? Grabbing it, he chugged it down, as
he looked over to see Jake, actively trying to fend off Jenny, who was now trying
to run one of her fingers across his mouth. Oooh, that was—who the hell knew
where that thing had been? If he wasn’t such a man, he’d swear his dick just
shrank.

“Oh
look, there’s Bree! Breeeeee, over here,” Shannon screeched.

Bree
arrived in a rush, plopping down on a chair next to him. “Hey, Nate, how ya
doin? You’re looking good, waaay good,” she said, with a special twinkle in her
eye.

“I
am good,” he answered. Wait. Hell, did he just agree with her? He was frickin
buzzed.

“So,
I hear Naomi got a place over on Second. She’s psyched you’re home, and getting
involved with things. Gosh, we always thought it would be you and Linnie, but
SURPRISE, it was Naomi. We never saw that one comin. You got any more surprises
you wanna share?”

Is
this what Linnie had to put up with when he’d gone? No wonder she left and
never came home. Going for more beer, he emptied the glass. Ignoring the question,
he stood up and wobbled a bit. “Well, it’s been nice seeing you, but I gotta
go.” Jake was still trying to extricate himself from Jenny’s clutches.

“Say
hi to Naomi for me,” Bree said. “I’ll give it a few days, and then look you
guys up. I’ll make sure to call first though, just so I don’t interrupt
anything private. I know you’ve been gone awhile.”

Oh
hell no. This sucked, he thought. The whole town was talking about him and
Naomi, like they were something special. He was out of here. This was one hell of
a mess. “Jake.”

“Yep,
be…right…there,” he answered, as he pried Jenny’s arms from his neck.

Walking
outside, Nate took a deep discouraging breath. He didn’t want this. He didn’t
want other women. He wanted one woman, one particular woman. Linnie, where are you?
Are you okay, love? I’m worried about you, sweetheart. If you only knew how
worried I am right now…

Jake
came out and stood by him. “Let me drive you home. I’ve only had two beers and
I don’t want you ruining my truck.”

“Jake?”
he said, in quiet despair.

“Yeah?”

“How
will I go on without her?”

CHAPTER
8

 
Nate woke with a start. Someone was knocking
on the front door. Looking at his watch, he saw that it was two in the
afternoon. Made sense, he’d been up late. He felt like someone was pounding a
gutter spike into his head. As he rolled over, he heard a child cry. No. No
way. She wouldn’t. No way! He was so over this scene. When was this going to
end? All the time he’d been with Linnie, life had been bliss, and every moment Naomi
had been in it, pure hell.

There
was a knock on his bedroom door.

“Just
a minute,” he said, quickly putting on some clothes and opening the door.

“Nate,”
his mother whispered, “Naomi’s here with Mikey. She’s asking to speak with
you.”

“Where’s
Dad?”

“Out
in the living room with Naomi. We were about to leave for the store, but we’ll
wait. I don’t think it’s wise for you to be here alone with them, just in case,
you know?”

He
nodded. “Thanks, I don’t want to be here alone with them either. I’ll be out, I
need a shower.”

She
gasped. “You’re not going to keep them waiting are you?”

“Yep,”
he answered with a clip. “She came over uninvited, she can wait. If not, then
she can leave.”

Letting
out a big sigh, she left.

Leaning
against the archway into the living room, with his arms crossed over his chest,
Nate refused to go any farther. He stood glaring at Naomi, and she was
justifiably uncomfortable.

“Hi
Nate,” she said nervously.

He
just stood there glaring, saying nothing.

Motioning
towards Mikey, she said, “I, ahhh, brought Mikey over for you to see.” Her
voice had lost some of its starch.

Glancing
at the child briefly, he looked away. No Sanders chin, no Sanders cowlick. All Sanders
men had them. That was not his child. Back to glaring at Naomi.

“Um,
gosh, it’s getting late,” Naomi said, looking at the time on her phone. “Mikey
still needs a nap. We better get going.” Standing, she looked over to him. “Nate,
ahh, maybe we could get together later and talk, like in private or something?”

More
glaring.

Taking
the child by the hand, Naomi led him out of the house and was gone. Thank God.
Going back to his room, he lay on his bed until late in the evening. He felt
like he couldn’t leave, or go anywhere, without running into someone, or
something, that would piss him off. He called Jake.

“Whatsup?”

“Any
word?”

“Nope,
not taking any of our calls.”

He
growled inside. “Jake, I can’t take it. I feel like a prisoner in my own home, like
I can’t go anywhere, or do anything, without it being fodder for the hungry and
bored around here. Naomi showed up at the house today, acting like we were going
to sit down and have tea or some shit.”

“No
way!”

“Yep,”
he snapped. “I need to get away from this, I’m about to go ballistic. Now, I
know what Linnie went through when I left. Any ideas?”

“Yeah.
Pack up however much stuff you want, and food to last, then call me when you’re
ready to head out tomorrow, we’ll go from there.”

The
next morning, Nate was heading north, pulling Jake’s ice fishing house behind
him. There wasn’t any ice on the lakes yet, but he’d bring it up and drop it
off at Jake’s favorite spot, then stick around for a while. Hell, this would be
a picnic compared to what he’d endured over the last five years. Settling in
for the drive, he watched as big, fat, fluffy snowflakes fell. They were
supposed to get some inches with this one, and the closer he got to Lake
Superior, the greater the lake effect would be on the snowfall. Perfect, just
what he wanted, no desert sand here. Taking a deep breath, he wondered where
she was. Where had she gone? Was she okay? This was his just desserts, for what
he’d done to her. Turning up the radio, he tried not to think about it. Then
laughed. Yeah, right.

After
traveling north, east, than northeast, he stopped in Hayward, Wisconsin, for
groceries, before finishing the last leg of his journey north. Twenty minutes more
and he’d be at Bony Lake. The snow had really begun to come down, and there
were several inches on the ground. He didn’t mind it one bit. Dragging the cart
to the pickup, he loaded up the many Wisconsin delicacies he’d bought, along
with some big fat juicy steaks, chops, potatoes, and sweets. After the last
five years, he was ready for some downtime, and this was it. He planned to do
it big. On his way through the checkout, there’d been a nostalgic candy
display. How fitting, he thought, because right there in the middle, were bags
of Bit-O-Honey candies. Linnie’s favorite, she loved the taste of honey.
Grabbing several bags to have on hand, because they reminded him of how she
tasted, he wondered if he’d ever get to kiss her again. Opening a candy, he put
it in his mouth and headed north.

Three
hours since leaving home, and finally there, Nate drove down the service road
and into the woods. He’d stop and disconnect the icehouse, then head up the
hill to unload the rest of Jake’s stuff in the supply shed. After, he’d need to
make sure there was enough wood chopped to keep a fire going. Having unhitched
the icehouse, and about to get back in the pickup, he heard a strange noise.

Whap,
whap, whap…whap…whap, whap, whap…

Stopping
he listened, the acoustics around the lake distorting. It sounded like it was
coming from up the hill, but he couldn’t be sure. Using all his training, he
delicately picked his way through the brush and trees to the top of the hill,
the noise getting louder as he neared. Rounding the hill, and hiding within the
boughs of a hundred year old white pine, Nate was struck by the most beautiful
site. Smiling widely, he took a deep cleansing breath. There, on the shores of
Bony Lake, he’d just stumbled across his little bit-o-honey. She was snapping
her windshield wipers trying to get off the icy buildup.

Racing
down the hill, and leaping in the truck, he headed back the way he came. Out on
the road again, he sped around the perimeter of the property, and turned onto
the road leading to the cabin on the hill. She was there, scraping snow off the
stairs. She must’ve just arrived because there were fresh tracks in the snow.
Stopping at the supply shed, he quickly unloaded and drove over to the cabin,
pulling in next to her car. Getting out of the pickup, he bound up the stairs.
When he got to the top, she was standing in the open doorway of the cabin
looking at him, none too pleased, but he didn’t notice because he was so damn
glad to see her. As he neared the entrance, she promptly slammed the door in
his face. Coming to a screeching halt and nearly falling on his ass, he slid on
the icy decking. Damn it!

“Linnie,
open this door,” he yelled, as he pounded with his fist.

Nothing.

“Linnie,
damn it, open this door now!”

Nothing.

He
jiggled the handle. Locked. Damn her! Not a problem, he thought, he’d had hours
of training on how to penetrate and infiltrate hostile environments, this was
right up his alley. He tried one more time, “Linnie, open this goddamn door or
I’ll bust it down!”

Nothing.

Okay,
fine, he’d play her game. Turning, he headed for the shed. Forty minutes later,
he was folded like a pretzel, trying to crawl through the small bathroom window.
He’d decided it best to not piss off his future father in law by busting down
the door. So instead, he cased the place, and found he was able to slide the
lock on this window easily. Walking through the bedroom, he flung the door to
the living area open in a huff. There she was, cool as a cucumber, sitting in a
corner chair by the fire, reading a National Enquirer and eating chocolates. Counting
to ten before speaking, he said between gritted teeth, “We need to talk.”

“No,”
she promptly responded, then turned a page.

He
saw red. “
What
are you doing here?”
he ground out.

“Good
question, wrong person asking it,” she answered calmly, then put a chocolate in
her mouth while focusing on her news story.

How
can one person thrill and excite you, while pissing you off and making you
crazy at the same time, he wondered. That’s how it was with her, always, and he
was attracted to her like a moth to a flame. “Why didn’t you tell anyone where
you were going?” he demanded.

Reaching
over, she took a magazine off a pile of periodicals. Flipping through the pages,
she answered, “Your first mistake is in assuming I didn’t. Your second is in
assuming they would immediately tell you.”

His
heart sunk. This didn’t feel good at all, the moth had just been burned. “I
worried about you. I was out of my mind with worry.”

“Wow,
ain’t that a bitch,” she said sarcastically. “A grand total of forty eight
hours. Try five years, then you and I can talk.” Putting another chocolate in
her mouth, she ripped something out of the magazine.

Okay,
he deserved that for everything he’d put her through. He hated this though, the
distance between them. He didn’t like her anger and hostility, but he was
responsible for it, and now he had to deal. “I’m sorry, I’ve already apologized,
and as much as I wish I could go back and change the past, I can’t. I didn’t
sleep with Naomi. If we could just talk about this—”

She
was up and out of the chair so fast, he stopped what he was saying. Throwing on
her jacket, she jammed her feet into a pair of boots, then stomped out of the cabin.
He was right behind her, hot on her heels. No way was she leaving. The trunk of
her car went up. Now what the hell was she doing? Rummaging through the trunk,
and grabbing various bags and belongings, she slammed the lid shut, and headed
back into the cabin. He followed her. As she crossed the threshold to the cabin,
she slammed the door shut again, nearly smacking him in the face.

“Damn
it, Linnie.” Quickly opening the door before she could lock it, he went after
her. She was putting food in the refrigerator, and cans in the cupboard.
Totally frustrated, he said “Come on, knock this shit off.”

“Get
out of my way,” she snapped. “I have things to do.”

“Oh
yeah, like what?” he challenged. “We’re in the middle of a blizzard, and there
isn’t exactly much to do here.”

She
snorted. “As a matter of fact, there is,” she replied confidently. “Now move, I
have a date, and I need to get ready.”

Nate
felt the last shred of his sanity snap. “If you think I’m letting you leave
here to go on a date, you’re out of your ever loving mind! Who? Who is it?” he
demanded, acting like a caveman. He was going to beat the shit out of anyone
who showed up at that door.

“Hmmm,
let’s see,” she said coyly. “If I remember correctly, their names are Ben a—”

“Over
my dead body! Not happening, Linnie, you’re not going on that date!” he yelled.

“Oooh,
really?” she said, narrowing her eyes on him. “Well you better start holding
your breath then, because I have a date tonight, and I plan on keeping it.” Sliding
past him, she grabbed some bags from the table, and went into the bedroom,
slamming the door on him in the process.

**********

Linnie
spent the afternoon pampering herself, soaking in the tub, shaving her legs,
doing her hair and makeup. Taking her time, she got ready for her “date.” Nate was
in a fit. He’d stormed outside when she'd gone into the bedroom, and started
hacking away at stumps of wood for the stove and fireplace. Needless to say, he
was so damn mad, that in the end, they had the equivalent of toothpicks instead
of firewood. He’d also backed Jake’s truck behind her car, so she couldn’t get
out if she decided to leave, and she wouldn’t be surprised if she found fifty
pounds of nails spread the length of the driveway. They’d received well over a
foot of snow and it was still coming. He’d plowed the yard and roadway, as well
as raked the eaves to prevent ice dams from forming.

Dressing
in a black turtleneck sweater and miniskirt, she slipped on some black hosiery
and knee high fashion boots, then grabbed her nail supplies. When she came out
of the bedroom, he was in the kitchen area eating a sandwich. Ignoring him, she
made her way to the chair in the corner. She didn’t have to look at him to know
he was a powder keg about to go off. Upon seeing her, he threw his sandwich in
the trash with a snap of the wrist, grabbed his duffel bag in a huff, then
stomped into the bedroom.

She
heard the shower running, and once done, he came out and went to the opposite
chair with a growl, sitting down abruptly. The chair creaked. Taking a deep
lungful of air, she could smell him, and he smelled good. Looked yummy too, in
his dress shirt and jeans. His hair had grown a lot in the week he’d been home.
Finishing filing her nails, she walked over and lingered at the window, then poured
herself a glass of chardonnay. Coming back to the chair, she sipped on her wine
as she polished her nails. Picking up her phone, she checked the time, then
carefully flipped through a magazine as her nails dried.

“You
may as well quit looking, because you’re not going on that date,” he ground
out.