Page 42 of Single Mom's Mountain Men
“Where were you anyway?” I ask him. "We cannot afford to slack off right now. With Banker sniffing around, it's even more important that we work hard to get ourselves back in the green. Then we can get more employees and have more presence around here."
“I was busy” is all Charlie says and then he turns to Patty. “You okay?’ he nods.
“Yeah.” She glances at me out of the corner of her eye, and once more I regret losing my temper. I hope I didn't scare her.
“Do you know him?" Wes asks. She’d previously indicated that she didn’t know anyone in this city but Banker sincerely looked perplexed at her appearance.
Patty shakes her head and then she asks, “What did he mean when he called you guys biker trash?"
We share a look. I suppose we haven’t explained our reputation to her yet, and it’s only fair that we do, since she lives and works here.
"I guess there's something we need to tell you," I say.
CHAPTER 15
Patty
All the men fall instantly silent and a stab of concern shoots through me.
I glance around at their faces, wondering at their solemn expressions. Wes and Charlie in particular share a look that I can’t quite describe, although it makes me think that whatever they have to say is alarming, even more alarming than Mitch being about to fight someone.
“What is it?” I ask in the ensuing silence. “What do you have to tell me?”
Mitch sighs and rubs his scalp. His expression is still tense, although it's softer than it was just seconds ago when he faced down that man.
When Wes announced that Mitchell was about to fight someone, I thought maybe Wes was joking or exaggerating at the very least. Mitchell has always seemed to be the most in control out of the three brothers and the least likely of the three of them to get ruffled.
Even during meals, where Wes likes to make a game out of bothering his brothers, he never manages to get a rise out of Mitchell. He can annoy a snapped word out of thetypically calm Charlie, but all he gets from Mitch is a droll look.
So after Charlie left with Wes, I crept out and followed them to the shed, expecting that I would simply see Mitch calmly telling the man to get off his property in his commanding drill sergeant way.
Instead, I got my first look at an angry Mitch.
And I can't lie, he really did look like he was about to wail on the little guy.
But just one look at this Banker person, and I knew he almost certainly deserved even worse than a wailing.
Do I know you?He’d said before he left.
I try to remember if I’ve ever seen him before but I’m drawing a blank. My initial paranoid instinct is to think that maybe he knows Keegan, but we’re far enough away from Chicago that I doubt that’s the case. Most likely I only look like someone he knows. I’ve been told I have one of those familiar-looking faces, and perhaps he’s mistaking me for someone else.
“Let’s go to the kitchen,” Mitchell says finally. “We can talk there.”
“Um…okay.” I'm so confused by all this mystery, but there's nothing to do except follow as Mitch leads the way out of the workhouse. The sun is high in the sky and the yard is quiet, with the girls still at daycare.
It's their first full day without me waiting in a parking lot for them, and while part of me is anxious about not having them close, the other part knows that this change is necessary. One step in the direction of normalcy.
I was torn about the daycare thing for days, but my conversation with Mrs. Weatherby was what allowed me to take the chance. I laid it all out, choosing to trust her because we shared a similar past. There was also something refreshinglyhonest about the woman, something inherently trustworthy. I wonder if I would have noticed without Wes' vote of confidence.
But in any case, I told Mrs. Weatherby that I was on the run from my abusive husband and I didn’t want him to find me or my kids. I didn't give any other details, but it turns out that was the right choice because she didn’t even ask any further questions after that, simply agreed to take my girls. She held my hands and said, "Thank you for trusting me. I swear to you we'll keep them safe." And I believe her.
Her eyes also held a silent offer, that she was ready to listen to me if I was willing to share more but I wasn't ready to share my full story yet. Maybe in the future, but not now when everything was still up in the air. The second thing that convinced me to try the daycare was that I thought it might be a good idea to start making some new friends in this town. I have no other family, and Keegan alienated me from all of my other friends. In case Keegan ever does track me down here and the unspeakable happens, I want someone to watch after my girls when I'm gone.
The kitchen door creaks a little as Mitch pulls it open. He pauses to frown at it. “Wes make sure you get some oil on the hinges when you get time,” he says.
“Aye aye captain,” Wes responds sarcastically but Mitch ignores him. The words leave an odd tension in the air, so thick you could cut it with a knife.
“Is it really that bad?” I ask as I walk in taking a seat at the dining table.
