River's End (River's End Series, #1) (15 page)

Erin shut her eyes. Which was worse? Illiteracy or sluttiness? She deserved it. She knew that. She knew they all knew it too. But this? She did not want it discussed like this.

Jack finally stood up. “You can be a real little shit, Joey. She’s sitting right there. I know I’ve taught you better than to act like that. Or talk like that.”

“Oh, you mean how I talk around a lady? I know how to, Jack. I just don’t see any lady here.”

Joey glanced at her and slammed his fist down, then turned and marched out the door, letting it bang shut loudly behind him.

Erin couldn’t look around the room or even look up. She got to her feet and ran out the front door, down the porch steps, and straight into the trailer. She locked the door, shut all the shades, and fell down onto the couch and cried. She wept for the humiliation, for being stuck there, for Joey’s unkind words, and for deserving them, and worst of all, for having Jack, Ian and Shane witness her depravity and shame. She cried because she had no one left in the world, no place in the world, and her only hope was a family who still didn’t trust her, but would help her out of basic decency, which was far more than her own family ever showed toward her.

Jack stared at the shut door. Shit, that didn’t go very well. And there was far more wrong with Erin than he was prepared to deal with.

“What are we going to do?”

Jack glanced at Ian. “Do? Nothing. We don’t need the trailer. She’ll stay there. We’ll have to get her something to drive though, so she can get around.”

Ian’s body stiffened. “You’re going to just let her stay here?”

“I told you I checked the trailer. Chance is gone. There’s nothing in there. There were only her toiletries and a few boxes of food. She hasn’t been eating well. There wasn’t anything hidden in there. She’s as stranded as a newborn now. There’s no choice, Ian. Short of dropping her in the middle of the street somewhere.”

Ian sighed and Shane groaned. “This is a real shit storm situation. Now Joey’s gone from infatuated to hating her. Ben’s obviously got a raging crush, and here she sits.”

“Do you really think she can’t read?”

“I doubt she’d fake that,” Jack said dryly.

“I don’t like it. Not one bit. Chance was bad enough. But now his sister? What do you suppose she’s good for? Beyond doing, Joe, what good is she to us?”

Jack looked at his brothers. “Joey was there too. He did it as much as she did. Don’t for a second think I blame her without blaming Joey.”

Ian shifted under Jack’s gaze. “Why are you so calm about this? You hated her more than anyone else.”

“No. I just didn’t trust her before. Now, I know for a fact she isn’t lying.”

“She’s trouble, Jack, pure trouble.”

“I knew that the first time I laid eyes on her; now you finally believe me?” Jack said as he got up and headed out to work. There were still chores to be done. Erin Poletti could wait until this evening for him to deal with. It wasn’t like she could go anywhere.

****

The knock at the door woke Erin from her sleep. She finally cried herself out and fell asleep just to stop the aching burn of her swollen eyes. She was about to roll over and ignore whatever angry man was waiting for her reply when Ian yelled, “Someone’s on the phone for you.”

Sitting up quickly, Erin wiped her eyes as she pushed the blanket off. She stumbled to the door and opened it. Thanking Ian as she followed him to the house, he walked several paces in front of her, most likely to avoid having to talk to her.

She entered the house and found Charlie at the table, writing, while Ben was lying on the couch, watching TV. She spotted the cordless phone lying next to the kitchen sink. Puzzled, she picked it up.

She was delighted when she heard who was calling. She’d gotten a job! She nearly started doing somersaults before she hung up the phone. Of course, she knew why she’d been hired, and it wasn’t for her lame application. She was only glad she was hired. A coffee barista. She’d done it before and could get through it. She could count change and make the coffee. She could also wear the bikini that was required in this particular coffee establishment. So what? It wasn’t that big of a deal to her, and the tips would hopefully be good, or at least, decent. Then her heart dropped. She had no vehicle to drive the eleven-mile distance from the ranch to where the stand was located, just off the main highway.

She was hanging the phone up on the cradle when Jack came walking in from the utility room. She stopped short and didn’t realize he was inside. He stopped short too.

They stared at each other. What now? She didn’t know. She had no idea what to do now, or say, or how to act. His eyes followed her hands hanging up the phone.

“You don’t have a phone, do you? I assumed all this time you used a cell phone.”

She shook her head no.

He scoffed as he passed around her. “If I needed proof of your situation, this would be it. What person in this day and age goes over a month without speaking on the phone?”

She didn’t answer since she wasn’t sure what to say. She rarely made friends in her attempts to conceal her illiteracy. She spent all her time pushing everyone away. That was why, when her mother died and she was stuck with Brian, there was nowhere else for her to go. She’d spent so long hiding her shameful secret that she’d never cultivated the normal friendships and acquaintances that most people did.

He nodded towards the phone. “Is the news good enough to ask if your brother was found?”

“No. I-I got one of the jobs I applied for.”

He turned to her and the surprise on his face was so obvious, she felt offended. “Where?”

“Coffee stand.”

“Oh. Those seem like a waste of money to me. But I guess they do well, even on this side of the mountain.”

“Uh, they… I mean, I can start tomorrow.”

“Good.”

“That is, if… well, if I can get a ride there.”

“Right. Yeah. What time?”

Ben’s headed popped up. “I can drive her, Dad.”

“You don’t have your license yet, Ben.”

“I have my permit. And she’s an adult.”

“She doesn’t have her license so it doesn’t count. No. One of us will take you. What time?”

“Early. Four.”

He nodded. “Fine.”

“That’s fine? Leaving here at like three-thirty?”

He shrugged. “I get up early too, Erin. Not much else we can do, is there?”

She shut her mouth. Of course, there was nothing else to do. She was stranded there. “Jack, I’m sorry. For all this. For earlier. For what this is doing to everyone. For being stuck here. For tomorrow. For Joey.”

He nodded. “I know.”

“Oh. Okay then, I’ll just go.”

“Go to the trailer to eat some boxed noodles? Sit. You can stay for dinner.”

She shook her head. “Thank you. But no. That’s not a good idea. Not for any of us. Especially Joey. He doesn’t need me here. It’s bad enough I have the trailer. Do you need the trailer, Jack? For anyone else?”

“It’s for temporary workers. We don’t need it though; we have other ones. We will, however, be hiring a decent ranch hand, now that shit-face is gone.”

“Shit-face being my brother?”

“Yeah. Exactly him.”

She stepped back and turned. “Okay, then I’ll be ready at three-thirty.”

“Someone will be there. Get some rest, Erin; you look like shit.”

She turned in surprise at his comment. She shouldn’t laugh. And should have been offended. But she wasn’t. Instead, she appreciated seeing the smile that lifted one side of Jack’s mouth before she spun around and hid inside her trailer.

****

Shane got the job of driving her to work and didn’t look too thrilled about it. He growled at her when she said good morning and didn’t speak the rest of the way to town. She felt bad; but also thought he could be a smidgeon more graceful about her situation. It wasn’t like she was disturbing Shane’s industrious life. Of all the brothers, he worked the least. He was usually off in his murky shop, rebuilding a machine of one kind or another.

When they pulled into the coffee stand, Shane noticed the sign,
Bikini Babes Barista
, but he merely raised his eyebrows, and gratefully for her, didn’t comment. She jumped out of the truck and waved him off, then waited for the manager to show up. After he opened the stand, he would have to provide her with a uniform to wear. She explained that everything she owned burned up in a fire when asked why she lacked a swimming suit. The manager was a guy in his fifties with a protruding belly and a bald head. He looked her over, just as he did when she turned in her application. She knew then, after assessing how much extra in tips her body could bring in, as well as repeat customers that this stand was her best option for a job.

Luckily, she’d done it before. It didn’t take much for her to learn the drinks. She’d just take home the menu and memorize the prices. She’d have to fake it through today and hope no one noticed that she couldn’t read one drink from another.

She also had to figure out a way to get there each day. She couldn’t rely on one of the Rydell brothers to cart her there and back to the ranch each day. It was ridiculous.

The job worked out. She faked her way through all the awkward moments, and flirted to increase her tips. She needed any money she could get. If that came from sticking her chest out a little further or wiggling her ass a little wider, so be it. She had to do something to fix her life.

A week into her strange new career, she came out of her trailer to find Jack parked in the driveway. He waved her over. Despite their proximity, she rarely saw Jack, or Joey either, for that matter. She stuck to her trailer, or the beach, and now work. Shane drove her there and back, but said nothing to her; and that was the extent of her life. She knew, however, Shane didn’t approve of her, and now, neither did Ian. Strangely, it seemed now purely because of Jack that her presence was tolerated.

She ran over to Jack and he looked up when she walked around the hood of the nineties model truck. He was sitting half in, half out as he gunned the engine, listening to it.

Then he got out and threw her the keys. “This should get you around.”

Her mouth opened. “You’re giving me a truck? But why? Where did it come from?”

“It was parked out beyond Shane’s shop for a few years. I don’t remember where we got it. Anyway, Shane spent a few hours to get it running again.”

She didn’t know what to say. Thank you, yet again? It wasn’t enough. It was never enough. Jack looked at her face, then laughed, “Shane was tired of driving you; that’s all.”

She nodded and looked away as tears felt close to falling. Everyone was tired of her. She was even tired of her. Yet here she was, desperate to receive their continued charity and pity.

“How are you fixed for food?”

She looked back at Jack. He was leaning his arm along the top of the open truck door. His eyes were fixed on her face. “Fine. I got paid yesterday. I can shop for groceries today.”

His gaze ran over her. “Do you have enough to eat?”

“Sure.”

“Have you shopped since I was last in there?”

She shrugged, and avoided his eyes.

He nodded. “Just as I thought. Joey’s had a week to get over it. We all have. Just come to dinner from now on. It’s stupid you’re out there all alone with nothing to eat and nothing to do.”

She shook her head no, feeling adamant on this one issue. She would not be more of a burden than she already had to be. “I have been thinking though, Jack. I could do work around here. Or in the house, you know, to offset some of what I owe you.”

He shook his head. “Lynnie does the house, and makes most of the meals. She counts on the job, so I can’t dismiss her.”

“Perhaps I could help in the barn.”

His eyebrows rose. “The barn? Like with the horses? You don’t even know how to touch them.”

“I could learn. I mean, if you’d take just a little time to show me, I could learn. I could learn to do whatever you needed done. Like cleaning the stalls.”

“I don’t think you could clean the stalls.”

She looked up at him. “Please, Jack. I need to do something, anything to help earn my keep here. I can learn to do that. I’m not totally stupid.”

“I meant because you’re scared of the horses.”

“Maybe if you could teach me how to handle them, I wouldn’t be so scared. Besides, it does get boring in the trailer; it would give me something to look forward to.”

He tapped a finger against the truck door as he frowned at her. “All right. Okay. I can probably find something for you to do. Come out to the barn this afternoon.”

She smiled. If he’d been anyone else, she would have thrown her arms around him in gratitude. But since it was Jack, she settled for just smiling.

He moved away from the truck and she took his place, scooting the seat forward. She nearly sighed in happiness as she shifted it into gear and headed out of the property, alone and with a new sense of complete freedom.

****

Jack glanced up when he heard her. Erin was standing against the barn doors, dressed in jeans, a sweatshirt and her once white sneakers, were now brown from walking around the ranch. He set down the pitchfork he’d been using to pitch fresh straw into one of his mares’ stall. She was due to give birth at any time. Erin looked terrified, as usual. Was it him? Or the horses? He was never sure. He only knew the girl Erin became with him was a far cry from the comfortable, flirting Erin that first attracted Joey.

Jack walked up to her. “You sure about this?”

“I looked forward to it all day.”

Her eyes were bright and her cheeks were flushed. Was she telling the truth? Could she really want to work in the barn?

He touched her shoes with the tip of his boot. “Tomorrow, stop in town and buy some boots. You need proper cowboy boots.”

“Oh. These are fine.”

“No, they’re not okay. Get decent boots.”

“Okay.”

Money. He forgot. She had none. “I’ll lend you some money. Consider it an investment for your work here.”

She nodded, her eyes grateful.

“How’d the truck do?”