River's Return (River's End Series, #3) (12 page)

Shane quickly and efficiently brushed the two horses briefly before throwing blankets across their backs and saddling them. Allison grabbed any miscellaneous items she could find, trying to help. She followed Shane out into the afternoon sun, which was overly bright now after the gloom of the barn. Hoisting herself up onto the horse, she was glad Shane held the reins for her. With his oil-stained clothes and long hair, he didn’t fit into any ideal of a cowboy she’d ever seen. As she scooted around in the saddle and dug her heels into the stirrups, she tried to remember how to find her center of balance. There was no way to look very elegant while doing so. He nodded. “All good?”

“Yes, I think so.” She had enough equestrian experience to know she could handle the horse. Shane swung up onto his saddle and set the heels of his black shoes into the horse’s side before they were off. He rode in front, heading down the long driveway and then across the main dirt road before meandering into the hills above the ranch. They followed the road for a mile or so before he cut across an open meadow dotted with sparse pine trees. They rode along in companionable silence, he leading, she right behind. Sometimes, he looked back to see how she was doing, or to point out something of interest on the trail, or just a pretty view. Magnificent panoramas were everywhere in the mountains and farther off, where the tips of glaciers topped the Cascades. They rode for almost two hours before they returned to the ranch and dismounted. Allison grimaced, trying to refrain from rubbing her sore butt where she already felt the stiffness settling in.

Shane grinned. “Saddle sore?”

“Yes. After so many years.”

Shane hastily unsaddled and rubbed down both horses. He didn’t tarry around with any of the necessary protocol after riding. He wasn’t mean to them, not in the least, but he failed to have any other interest in them. He didn’t interact with them or talk to them. He acted like brushing them down was equivalent to washing a truck or car. They were just another means of travel to Shane. He took her because he wanted to please her. It kind of made her opinion of him rise.

They stood together, both leaning against the paddock after releasing the two horses into one of the pastures. The horses instantly ran off, frolicking and kicking their legs high like little kids let loose at recess. Allison grinned as she watched them. “I don’t know how anyone can miss their unique personalities and loyalty. But I’m glad you took me. I might have to ask Erin to take me more often.”

Shane turned from the horses to watching her. “You don’t have to ask Erin to ride. I’m perfectly capable of taking you whenever you want to go.”

“But you said you don’t—”

“I like ‘em well enough. I just don’t like everyone telling me I
have
to like them. You don’t tell me that. So it’s fine.” His answer was curt and almost grumpy.  He was scowling at her. She shut her lips tightly. Okay, then. She wasn’t sure what set his little tantrum off. But he seemed to like her company, and that was an interesting concept.

“Well, I still think it would make Erin feel better as a sort of payment for tutoring.”

“You don’t always have to make everyone else feel better.”

“What crawled up your leg and bit it?”

His eyebrows jutted up and he let out a sharp laugh. “Is that even an expression?”

“It’s
my
expression. Why did you get so grumpy?”

“I just think if you want to ride you can do so with me.” He shrugged and turned as if that were the end of the discussion. “So… what are you doing the rest of today?”

She sighed. “Well, my yard needs a good trim and mowing, but I spent so long here… I’ll probably have to get to it next weekend. I don’t know, just have dinner, do some reading. Things I’m sure you wouldn’t do for the evening.”

He grinned. “True. But I could mow the lawn for you. Seems only fair since you were here; and I don’t have anything set in stone to do tomorrow. How about it?”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I don’t mind. After all the flack I caused you with your neighbors… call it my way of making restitution.”

She bit her lip. It would be nice. She didn’t like mowing. And she had to work all day. So… sure, she’d let Shane mow the lawn.

“Okay, deal.”

Shane put his hand out. “Deal. See you then.”

Chapter Seven

GOOD TO HIS WORD, the next afternoon, Shane showed up to mow Allison’s lawn. She was still kind of shocked by his gesture. He handled the small mower around her yard like it was a pint-sized vacuum cleaner. He even raked the clippings and tossed them over the bank, which her land butted up against. She set out a cold beer for him and sat down while he finished tucking the mower back into her small garden shed. He walked up to where the beer sat with a little smile on his face. “You bought me some.”

He was so delighted, it reminded her of Charlie whenever she announced an extra recess. There was something endearing about how easily she could please him. Just a small effort from her, and he acted like she did something special for him. “It was the least I could do for you for doing my yard work.”

He shrugged and heaved himself into the chair, raising the beer to his lips with a little grin. “A yard this size? Not really work, more like a sneeze for me.”

“Yeah, when you’re six-foot-forever,” she grumbled.

“Yup. Six-foot-forever and
all man
,” he said with a leer. She rolled her eyes, but he spotted a grin on her lips. He was always so flirty; and she liked it. It made her feel like someone besides the town’s local elementary school teacher.

“Hey, Allison. I haven’t seen you in forever. How are you?” She froze as she heard the voice behind her. It was Jett and she instantly recognized him without turning around. Her palms started to sweat and she had to press her lips together to hold back the groan of discomfort. No. Just no. Jett could not be talking to her while Shane sat right there. She raised her eyes to his and noticed Shane too appeared frozen in shock. He lowered the beer bottle from his lips and set it down, holding her gaze, his eyes curious. Swallowing her nerves with a large gulp, she turned toward Jett who was wearing grass-stained pants and old shoes, looking as though he, too, was about to mow his yard.

“Uh, hey, Jett. No. You’ve been gone a lot. And no yard work for the winter. You starting on yours too?”

He smiled and nodded, but his gaze went directly to Shane. “Yup,” he replied while his eyes remained on Shane. “Hey, Shane. You two are dating, huh? I’ve heard that around town. Surprised me some, but I’ve noticed your vehicles around here a bit more of late.”

Allison was sure her entire face was beet red. She lowered her eyes to hide her embarrassment. Actually, Jett had not ‘heard that around town.’ Celia told him. Biting the inside of her cheek, she tried to hold in the sarcastic tongue-lashing she really wanted to give Shane. How dare he put her in this situation?

“Uh… we’re friends. Yes. We are friends.” She wasn’t lying, at least. If only because of Erin’s struggles and Allison’s solutions, she could definitely consider them friendly. But being questioned about Shane by his lover’s husband? That was so not okay with Allison. She retained the deep burning shade of crimson and the heat made her loose sweater suddenly feel unbearably tight. It was all Shane’s fault. He was the true source of her extreme discomfort.

Shane merely nodded his endorsement. Jett stood there for a pronounced second, his gaze switching from Shane to Allison before he finally nodded. “Well, hell, why don’t you two come over for dinner tonight? I usually leave to head back to the city for the rest of the week, but tomorrow’s meeting convenes later, so I’m not leaving until the morning.”

Allison had to consciously keep her eyelids from shutting and held her face totally neutral, as she strove to mask the revulsion Jett’s suggestion caused inside of her.
No! Ick! Gross!
How could she sit through a dinner as Shane’s date while his married lover and her husband sat across from them?

But they were right here already. “Uh… well, we were going to the ranch for dinner,” Shane mumbled when she suddenly appeared to be stricken mute.

Jett nodded. “Oh, I understand. No problem. I just wanted to extend the olive branch. To be honest, when I heard your bike was parked near my place a few weeks back, and Celia said you two were dating… I found it hard to swallow.” Suddenly turning bright red, as if he realized he was insulting them indirectly, Jett paused. Allison was sheer millimeters from kicking Shane’s shin sharply underneath the table. How could he let the man ramble on like that? “But… I see it now. I mean, you must be, right? If he’s mowing your lawn… Anyway, just hope there’s no hard feelings.”

Shane looked a little ill. His face was paler than usual and lines of stress bracketed his mouth.

“Yes, well, glad to know Celia cleared all that up. We were just leaving. Have a safe trip back tomorrow, Jett.” Standing up abruptly, her eyes were wide as she tacitly demanded that Shane do the same.

Jett nodded. “Oh, oh sure. Thanks. And again, sorry for the… you know, the confusion, Allison.”

Allison could hardly stand it. “Oh, no, Jett. You have no reason to be sorry.”

After nearly diving through her sliding glass door, Allison started pacing her living room. Shane was slower to enter. She noticed his movements were deliberate and measured. He watched her like she was an uncaged tiger, about to pounce, and she really felt like one too.

The silence thickened between them.

“How can you do that?” she finally hissed, stopping dead. “I just don’t know how you can do that to him. Or to me. What kind of decent person could stand there and face the man he’s totally humiliating behind his back? I don’t understand you. I thought I could, well, almost, and I mean I
almost
liked you these past few weeks. But the whole premise for you being here is all of that stuff with Celia.”

Shane usually responded with exaggerated swagger and bluster. But this time, his head bent down and he just sat staring at his fingers, which he interlaced. Clearing his throat, he barely lifted his head and replied, “I’ve never had something like this happen. I’m sorry. Really, Allison. It never occurred to me he’d actually come over and invite us to his house for
dinner.
”

“Yeah, and he’s the problem here. Just for being neighborly and inviting us to dinner. Meanwhile, he’s probably starting to feel pretty good since he thinks his wife is
not
having an affair with you. But, oh yeah; she actually is. Now, that Jett thinks you’re with me, he falsely believes his wife is safe from you. I mean, that’s just cruel. How can you stand there and not feel for that man?”

Shane kind of swiped his foot back and forth before shrugging and scratching his head. “I never… well, hell, I
do
feel awful, okay? I’ve never been confronted like that before. It’s happened, sure, some husbands or boyfriends found out. But they usually came at me for a fight and I just got angry when they started calling me names. I normally leave town for a while. I never had this happen… where the guy looked so joyful that we were together and I was…”

“Not screwing his wife?”

“Yeah, that.” Shane shrugged and let his shoulders sag down. She felt a tiny crumb inside her that was melting despite her initial glacial response to him. He looked so confused and woebegone.

“You’ve really never felt bad about it before?”

“No, I really haven’t.” He let out a long sigh. “Perhaps all your talking and noticing those things have rubbed off on me. It’s all your fault that I feel so bad now.”

Despite the last ten minutes of misery and regret over her role of silence in her neighbors’ rocky marriage, a smile lifted one side of her mouth. “You deserve it. And good. You should listen to me. I’m right. And most people with any kind of conscience agree with me.”

“So you’re not mad?”

“Did you just say that so I wouldn’t be?”

“No, but I really don’t want you to be.”

His head was still hanging as he failed to realize how wretched he looked. All big and hulking Shane seemed more like a contrite, little boy idly fidgeting while he stared at his feet in clear discomfort. Allison was glad to know he cared about what she said. At first glance, he looked like someone who’d flip her off and her advice, let alone, listen to her views and even take them to heart.

“I am just sad for Jett. And it embarrasses me. Because I don’t like being a part of it. But you are my friend too, I guess. So I realize I have no right to tell you who to spend your time with. I just don’t want to be involved in it again.”

“I’ll tell Celia to tell him we are just friends now.”

“You mean, you plan to still see her?” Just when she assumed he learned something, or would abide by a code of ethics… but it was so much simpler than that. She really didn’t like knowing he
wanted
to still go and see Celia. And she most certainly didn’t want to examine her reasons for why that was.

He turned, shrugging. “Yeah. Small town. No choice. But I’ll be sure it doesn’t reflect on you again.”

“I would appreciate that.” Her tone contained the prissy crispness she first used with him when they met for a conference about Charlie.

He rocked on his heels and stuck his thumbs through his belt loops. “So… I guess I’ll let you go. Sorry, the night went so sour.”

“Yes, Shane, me too.” She cringed. Again with the school marm voice.
Damn it!
Why did she have to be so off-putting? So rude and so judgmental? It didn’t matter with him before. But now? He was kind enough to mow her lawn and thank her for helping out Erin. He also took her on a horse ride when he had absolutely no interest in doing so. She could no longer pretend that Shane was no more than the sleazy man cheating with Celia. She now knew he was far deeper than that. And… she liked his company.

If the truth were told, she really
did
like him. He was quick and sarcastic, easily returning her verbal sparring and just different enough to spark a pretty interesting dialogue that she would have liked to keep going. Plus… there was something about Shane’s way of embracing each day of his life that made her jealous. He just accepted people around him without any issues, taking everyone at face value and without judgment. She was also fascinated at his particular code of ethics and curious to know how far it extended. She wanted to know more about Shane, period. So what if they disagreed? Nothing new for them. Actually, that was probably what made their interactions so much more intriguing than the usual, boring, status quo bullshit. 

He nodded as he turned to leave. She almost called after him. But what was there to say?
Please stop having sex with my neighbor because it bothers me so much.
And what would be her reason? It offended her prudish sensibilities? Sure, at first. But now, it almost felt worse. She assumed in light of their newfound friendship, he would refrain from screwing her married neighbor, and thereby end her role in his cover-up.

But he came over strictly to mow her lawn. Not Celia’s lawn. There was no doubting that.

****

Shane never had that happen before: Jett asking them to dinner. Was he so relieved to find Shane with Allison because it meant that Celia was telling the truth about him? Obviously, Jett had to suspect something. Shane tore out of Allison’s way too fast and let the wind rush over his bare knuckles. Most of his body was covered by his helmet and black leather. The rush of air and speed and road zooming past him cleared his head.
He did nothing wrong
, he kept reminding himself over and over again. He cheated on no one, and lied to no one. Celia did those things. She chose to do them. Allison’s clear cut and very narrow sense of right and wrong was causing his freaking heart to jerk a little, making him feel… almost guilty. Almost sorry. Almost repentant for doing something wrong. He hated guilt and didn’t believe in it. It was a wasted emotion borne by people who denied responsibility for their own actions and behaviors. If you didn’t have the balls to stand up for whatever you did, then you shouldn’t be doing it. That was his old theory on life. And now? He was probably over sensitive because it happened in front of Allison, an elementary school teacher, of all people.

Of course, she didn’t understand his way of thinking and being; just as he found it difficult to comprehend hers. It didn’t mean they had the right to impose their own opinions on each other, which wasn’t very friendly, now was it?

He convinced himself by the time he returned to the ranch that he had done nothing wrong. Of course, he’d go and see Celia tomorrow. If nothing else, he did say he’d get her to tell Jett the truth about Allison and him. He was a man of his word, and therefore, he’d do it.

He stared for a few moments across the river at the little stone house perched there and wondered why he had ever ventured into the house next door to it.