Desert Bound Page 3

  Willow didn’t look up, but continued sketching in the pad at her left as she drank her coffee.

  “Joe left Allie last night,” she said. “Took off right in the middle of dinner. What an asshole.”

  “I heard.”

  “Apparently, she was making meatloaf. And Allie’s meatloaf is great. So he’s a stupid asshole.”

  “Not gonna disagree with you.”

  She finally looked up when his chair scraped across the terra cotta tiles under the arbor. “How did you hear?”

  “Kevin called Jena, who came home from the bar. Jena called her mom to help watch the kids so they could go over to Ted’s. Kathy called Mom. I knew about it by the time I got home from the Cave.” He closed his eyes against the glaring light. “How did you know?”

  She shrugged. “Allie called me this morning.”

  “How’s she doing?”

  “She’s worried about the kids.”

  Joe was such an asshole.

  Alex helped himself to the extra mug his sister had set out and filled it from the bright blue carafe. He didn’t say anything. It was one of the benefits of hanging out with his sister. They didn’t really need to talk much. Thirty years being related made non-verbal communication a breeze. She passed him the milk and a sweet roll without even looking up from her drawing.

  “So,” she asked, “has anyone told Ollie?”

  Leave it to Willow, asking the one question that everyone was thinking and no one wanted to say.

  “I haven’t.”

  “Neither have I. I figure Joe deserves at least a day’s head start before we set Ollie loose on him. Anything less seems unfair.”

  Alex snorted. “What makes you think Ollie would track him down? I figure he’d just make sure Joe stayed gone.”

  Willow didn’t say anything for a while. She finally looked up from the sketch and gave him a sad smile. “He would if he thought Allie wanted him back.”

  “Does she?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t think so. She sounded sad but… relieved, I guess? I don’t think he was an easy guy to live with the past few years.”

  Alex frowned. “Did we miss something?”

  “Allie always puts the best face on stuff. You know that. I think Joe… said a lot of mean shit to her.”

  “Bad enough.”

  She nodded. “Bad enough.”

  They sat in silence for a few more minutes, before Alex asked the question he asked every week.

  “Please? I promise I’ll be quiet.”

  “No.”

  “Pretty please?”

  “I let you use my house as much as you want when I’m out of town. Don’t think I don’t see your messes, Alex. You are not moving in with me.”

  “Mom and Dad are going to drive me crazy.”

  “And you’d drive me crazy if you move in. You’re a big boy. Deal.”

  “I’ll be in a mental hospital and you’ll only have yourself to blame.”

  “You’re so full of shit. Why don’t you just get your own place? There’s not a lot, but there’s a few houses in town available. Marcie and Phil are moving. Why not rent their house?”

  “Because.”

  “That is not an answer.”

  Because…

  In the back of his mind, he’d always figured that he and Ted would be back together by now and he’d be with her, skipping the awkward “Should we move in together?” conversation because he’d be homeless and she’d take pity on him. His condo in Huntington was already rented out and providing a very nice extra income. Even with as much money as he had tied up in the resort, cost wasn’t the issue. If he rented or bought a place without Ted, then he’d be conceding defeat.

  Willow picked up her sketchbook again. “Just rent one of Jena’s trailers until you and Ted get back together.”

  Alex stayed silent and glared at her, but she didn’t notice.

  “You know, she’s more likely to think you’re actually staying in town if you buy a place.”

  He still said nothing.

  “So stubborn.” She sighed. “I can give you tips on groveling once you figure it out.”

  “You’re such a little shit sometimes.”

  Willow smiled. “I love you, too.”

  By Saturday afternoon, he felt better physically, but he was still pissed about Joe, couldn’t get ahold of Ollie—no matter how many times he called his house and the bar—and his foreman, Marcus Quinn, had called him to the job site to rework the plans he thought they’d already finalized so the guys could get to work right away on Monday.

  “I don’t get why we have to change the angle of the swimming pool that much.”

  “Alex, I know you want the bungalows to face the water, but how much do we want to fight nature? If you want the creek to run down this way, then the natural course of the water…”

  Alex let his mind drift as Marcus went into details. He knew at the end of the day, he’d end up agreeing with him. Marcus Quinn might have been born to a slightly shady clan of reptile shifters—his natural form was a king snake—but that hadn’t stopped him from being one of the best contractors around. He’d started with a surveying company, but had quickly expanded. He’d gone into partnership with his wife’s brother a few years ago, and their business had grown to include landscape and general engineering contracting, too.

  Like most of the shifters from the Springs, Marcus married away. Josie was a hairdresser from Vegas, who seemed to take the knowledge that their three kids would eventually sprout scales in stride. Their oldest was almost ten, and Alex knew they were talking about moving back to the Springs full time.

  “So, if you want the hot spring to feed into the lake we’re digging here—” He pointed at the plans spread out on Alex’s tailgate. “—then the slope needs to start here. Which means the swimming pool is going to have to angle southeast a little more. That’s going to block some of your afternoon sun, but we’re talking about the hottest part of the day. I don’t think guests are going to complain much.”

  “No, you’re right.” And this was why he’d hired Marcus. The man was bright enough to see the big picture. “Go for it. Can you tweak it before Monday?”

  “Yeah, it’s minor. And doing that is going to cut back on time, too. Because we’ll be working with the natural slope.”

  “Plus, it’ll just look better.”

  “If you’re going for a natural landscape, yeah.”

  “We are.”

  Marcus rolled up the plans and slid them into a cardboard tube before he tossed them in the cab of his pickup. “It’s going to be something, man.”

  “You think?” Some days, Alex had his doubts.

  Marcus slapped his shoulder. “It’s gonna be great. This place needs it. Plus, having a resort here is making it a lot easier to convince Josie to leave Vegas.”

  Alex smiled. “Glad I could help.”

  “Hey, she needs to work, too.”

  “Does she still have blue hair? Not sure how many of the girls here are into blue hair.”

  Marcus grinned. “My woman works the blue.”

  Alex had to admit the man was right. He’s only met the woman once, but she’d made an impression, and it hadn’t been a bad one.

  “Plus,” Marcus continued, “she’s managing that entire salon now. Doing the hair and all the admin.”

  “Be good to have you guys in town,” he said.

  “This place is gonna change a lot.” Marcus walked around to the side of his pickup. “For the good, Alex. It’s gonna be amazing. Big picture, remember?”

  “Yeah. I’ll see you Monday.”

  “See you.”

  A cloud of dust followed the pickup while Alex sat on his tail gate at the edge of Springs Park, looking over the staked and leveled ground he’d bought from Old Joe Quinn and his own father. Resting at the base of the sandstone cliffs, the seven springs that gave the town its name bubbled steadily, as they had for centuries.

  It had been his own ancest
or, Robert McCann the first, who began the trek that started East of the Mississippi, in the Great Smoky Mountains, and had led West, gathering others who were looking for a fresh start. Led by Thomas Crowe’s vision, they came to the desert, and it was Andrew McCann, the first water witch of Cambio Springs, who found the bubbling mineral waters and the hidden oasis, a fresh spring that provided the travelers drinking water.

  The same spring that kept them alive also gave those first settlers the magic that let them shift into the animals that surrounded them. No one knew why. Alex had stopped asking when he figured out none of the grownups had a clue, either. It just was.

  He walked the perimeter of the property, the wolf in him happy to be checking the boundaries of his new territory. The reception building and office areas would border the existing city park. Placing the buildings there would allow for an attractive entrance to the resort and draw attention to the shops on Main Street, which the city was already cleaning, updating, and landscaping. Walls carefully concealed with palms and bougainvillea would give the resort guests and the town residents the privacy both craved.

  It had been a condition of the town council that the residents still be able to use the two largest mineral pools as they always had. Alex, who had grown up playing in Springs Park, agreed. Marcus’s plans gave the resort access to draw from the hot mineral water and use the mud pools that were on the edge of the park. Those would be enclosed in the resort property and used for cosmetic treatments and mud baths.

  The hot mineral water from the two largest pools would be fed into a man-made grotto, continually renewed by pipes carefully concealed beneath the ground. The runoff from the grotto would feed down into a cooler lake shaded by acacias and palms. Clusters of white bungalows would dot the property, following the traditional clean lines of Southwestern architecture that allowed the landscape and vistas to take center stage. The rock left over from clearing the land would be used to build winding paths interspersed with locally sourced tile. There would be hiking paths and yoga classes. Spa treatments in a beautiful building with views of the mesa. A restaurant that Alex and Jena both hoped would draw raves.

  It would be beautiful. It would provide jobs and opportunities for the town to grow.

  It might even make Alex some money, if they could stay on schedule.

  He wondered what Ted would think of it.

  Then he decided not to torture himself. He walked up the hill back to his truck and headed back to his parents’ house, deciding to go into the diner to speak to Jena about renting tomorrow.

  Chapter Three

  “Well, mamá, looks like you’re all clear.”

  Little Allie, sitting on the edge of Ted’s examining table, let out a sigh of relief. It hadn’t been the easiest conversation she’d ever had, broaching the subject of getting tested for STIs, but as Allie’s doctor, Ted couldn’t ignore the chance that Joe had been cheating on her and might have had unprotected sex that could infect his wife.

  It had set Allie off on yet another rant about her husband. She kept strict control around the kids, but when she had a moment alone with either Jena or Ted, the truth came out.

  “Well,” she said, dark humor coating her voice, “score one for me. One for me and ninety-nine for the asshole.”

  To say Joe had been emotionally abusive would be an understatement. The bright confident woman that had charmed the world was a very thin facade over a woman wracked with insecurities planted by a thousand cutting comments and cruel words. Ted berated herself for not looking closer. For not seeing the depression that was lurking beneath Allie’s happy smile.

  “You’re going to be okay. All this shit? It’s just going to make you stronger.”

  “I don’t have a choice, do I? The kids need at least one parent who doesn’t check out.”

  “You need to take care of yourself, too. Not just the kids. How are you sleeping?” Ted has slept like shit for a full year after she and Alex had broken up.

  Allie shrugged. “Okay, I guess.”

  “Don’t miss him?”

  “Not… not really. That’s sad isn’t it?”

  “I don’t know. Is it?”

  Allie blinked back tears. “Part of me is angry he left us, and the other part of me is glad he’s not making me miserable anymore. Then I feel guilty for being glad, because the kids are so torn up.”

  “He wasn’t an asshole to them. That seems pretty normal to me. Don’t feel guilty.”

  She sighed and closed her eyes, leaning back on the paper-covered exam table.

  “Know what I really want?”

  “What?” Ted smiled and began cleaning up her exam room. Allie was her last appointment before lunch.

  “I want to have really amazing sex, then shift to my fox and hide in a cozy den for about a month.”

  Ted blinked. “Um…”

  “He stopped touching me months ago,” she whispered.

  Ted said nothing. It was a special kind of torture to deny their animal natures that way. Foxes, especially, had voracious sexual appetites and were some of the most affectionate shifters in the Springs. So for Joe to deny his wife physical touch was cruel, and he would have known it.

  “That’s stupid, right?”

  Ted shook her head. “No, not stupid.”

  “I didn’t even like him, but I still missed being with him.”

  “If it was the only thing he gave you, then it’s not weird to miss it, Allie.”

  “I guess so.”

  “Don’t beat yourself up for being a normal woman. And a normal fox.” Ted nudged Allie off the table so she could clean up. “But maybe don’t go out and sleep with a random at the Cave, either, okay?”

  Or Ollie’s head will explode.

  Allie snorted. Then she broke into a full out belly laugh. Ted laughed too. Eventually, both women had tears running down their cheeks, and Ted’s belly was aching.

  “Can you even picture it?” Allie choked out. “I don’t think I know how to flirt with a man anymore.”

  “You’ll figure it out. If I recall, it came naturally when you were younger.”

  “Yeah, before four kids and all the stretch marks.”

  Ted frowned. “You have stretch marks?” It was unusual for shifters to scar at all, but Allie was very fair skinned. She’d gotten her light blond curls and blue eyes from her mom and had to slather on sunscreen in the desert sun.

  “Not many. I can’t complain. Human girls have it way worse.” Allie looked at her out of the corner of her eye. “You’re lucky. You have that gorgeous dark skin. Probably won’t get any when you and Alex finally figure things out.”

  “Shut up, Allie.”

  “Do you think you’ll have puppies or kittens?” Mischief lit her pixie face. “Or do you call ‘em cubs?”

  “Seriously.” Ted was getting annoyed. “I’m not talking about Alex.”

  “Why not? I’m tired of talking about me. I’d much rather talk about you and Alex avoiding the inevitable.”

  Ted slammed a drawer. “Why does everyone seem to think that we’re inevitable except me? You and Jena. Ollie. Alex, especially. Does it even occur to anyone that I…”

  Allie waited, a patient expression on her face. “What?” she finally asked. “You what? Still love him? And he loves you? You guys have always been like that, fighting what everyone around you could see. It’s kind of ridiculous.”

  “It’s not ridiculous!”

  “No… you’re right.” Allie’s eyes narrowed. “It’s not ridiculous. You know what it is? It’s wasteful.”

  Ted’s mouth snapped shut.

  “It’s wasteful, Ted. To have someone who loves you like that and hold them at arm’s length. All because you’re holding a grudge.”

  “I’m not holding a grudge!” She was totally holding a grudge.

  “I’ve never had anyone love me the way Alex loves you.”

  Yes, you do.

  It was on the tip of Ted’s tongue, but she bit it back. It was too soon for
that.

  “If I did, I’d grab onto it so fast.” Allie was still talking. “And you just throw it away.”

  “He’s never even apologized.” Ted tugged off the sweater she kept to combat the air conditioning. “Did you know that? He left me. Strung me along for years, interfered with every relationship I tried to have, and he never even apologized for it.”

  “Maybe he isn’t sorry. He did what he had to do.” Allie’s eyes narrowed. “At least he takes care of the people who depend on him, unlike some people.”

  “Fine, he doesn’t have to be sorry for leaving me to work in LA. But hurting me the way he did? Never giving me a straight answer?” Ted bit the inside of her lip to keep from crying. “He broke my heart, Allie. More than once. And I know he’s got you all convinced that he’s back to stay, but he hasn’t convinced me. I’ll believe it when the resort is finished and he still here in six months. As far as I’m concerned, this is just another project to him.”

  Allie’s face softened. “You’ll figure it out eventually.”

  “Figure what out?”

  “Why he’s done all this.”

  “I know why he’s done it.” She did. “I know he loves this place. I know it’s always been home to him.”

  “No.” Allie’s smile was wistful. “You’ve always been home to him. You. Not the town. Not his pack. You.”

  “Allie—”

  “Enough.” Allie’s quiet sigh stopped her. “I’m tired of fighting. Come on, doc. Let’s go to lunch. Jena expected us a half hour ago, and this fox is hungry.”

  Allie was sitting with Jena’s mom, Kathy, and her two youngest kids when Alex walked in. Ted heard the door, but didn’t turn. Jena looked up, then glanced at Ted. She said, “Hot wolf at seven o’clock, chica.”

  Caleb was sitting next to Ted. “Hey,” he said with a frown. “Who’s hot?”

  Jena leaned over the counter as far as her expanding belly would allow. “You are.”