Chapter Six—Swayze

Swayze was sure the entire town was at Megan’s when they pulled up. There never seemed to be that many people there when she was actually trying to make money.

“Damn it,” she mumbled as they parked.

Mont turned to look at her, a grin crawling up his mouth. “You ready?”

“Maybe this isn’t a good idea,” she said.

Mont waved her off, pointing to the Sweenys’ BMW parked at the end of the parking lot. “If that isn’t reason enough to get out, I don’t know what is.”

Swayze felt childish getting out of the car, but a flood of excitement fueled her steps toward the door. Mont opened the door for her, and the clattering of silverware and mindless chatter halted when Swayze followed Mont toward the back booth, close to the Sweenys.

Mont slid into the booth, a huge cheesy smile hanging on his face and patted the seat next to him. She gave him a yeah right look as she slid into the seat opposite of him.

“This is nuts,” she whispered.

Mont smiled, raising his arm in the air to get Tonya’s attention. Tonya looked over at them but didn’t hide her eye roll as she walked over.

“Well, if it isn’t Ms. I’ll quit in the middle of the work week, so Tonya will have to pick up all of my shifts.”

Oh, here we go. Mont leaned forward, about to say something, when Swayze turned to face Tonya. “Well, if it isn’t I want to take all the good tables, so Swayze has no chance of making any tips to take care of her son.”

Tonya brought her pad and pen out in front of her. “Whatever. What can I get y’all?”

“Ah, we need a little time,” Mont said.

“You get the same thing every day.”

He shrugged leisurely and opened the menu slowly. “You can start by bringing us some coffee.”

Tonya let her pad fall against her side and walked back to the kitchen. Swayze noticed Oscar staring at her from the window and waved.

He gave her a thumbs up, which made her laugh.

“You got a thing for Oscar?” Mont asked.

Swayze cut her eyes at him. “No. I like ‘im though. He is funny.”

“He never talks.”

“Exactly.”

Mont pursed his lips. “Well, maybe I need to stop talkin’ so you’ll give me a chance.”

Swayze laughed. “Yeah, right. I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“You’re right,” Mont said. “It’d never work. How would I whisper naughty things in your ear if I didn’t talk?”

Swayze felt a rush of heat but brushed it off as she noticed Mrs. Sweeny staring at her from behind Mont’s head. “Wow, we have an audience.”

Mont glanced over his shoulder past Mr. Sweeny, who was doing a crossword puzzle, to Mrs. Sweeny, sitting with her hands in her lap and with a stern look focused on them. “Hi, Mrs. Sweeny, it’s nice to see you,” Mont said.

She turned her head, pretending not to notice them.

“Priceless,” Mont said. “She’s always been a stick in the mud.”

“You’ve known her all your life?”

Mont nodded. “Yeah, I used to date her daughter.”

“Ah,” Swayze said, taking a sip. “That explains why she hates me even more now.”

Mont grinned. “That was a long time ago.”

Tonya’s heavy footsteps stopped in front of their table, and she handed them both a cup of coffee. “What can I get y’all?”

Swayze went to grab her menu, but Mont reached over to close it. “The menu.”

“Excuse me?”

“The menu,” he said again.

Tonya let out a bitter laugh. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“No, I’m not.”

Tonya snatched the menus from the table and walked over to where Dobbs stood. Mont laughed as she waved her arms around and pointed, but Dobbs instructed her to go put it in.

“You’re bad,” Swayze finally said. “She’s gonna kill you one day.”

“Nah, I’d hear her coming with that cough.”

Swayze’s stomach tightened as she laughed, not caring that Mrs. Sweeny snarled at her, and Tonya plotted their deaths. It wasn’t until Tonya brought the first plate of food out to the table, and the smell warmed her soul, that she felt relief.

She needed to be brought here and shown that just because they talked about her didn’t mean she wasn’t important. And just because there were shitty people in the world didn’t mean she had to be one of them.

Mont looked at her from over the table full of food, a smile on his face. “Dig in. We’ll need to-go boxes shortly,” he said to Tonya.

Tonya rolled her eyes, and it made Swayze laugh. “This is insane. I can’t believe you ordered the menu.”

Mont leaned back against the seat. “I figured you needed a laugh.”

She did. More than he knew. It made her worry about her bills and money evaporate for a short period of time at least.

He glanced over his shoulder at Mrs. Sweeny. “This is delicious,” he said through a mouthful of food.

Swayze smiled. “Thank you.”

Mont swallowed a mouth full of pancakes. “Anytime.”

***

Swayze had no idea what to wear. What do you wear as a receptionist for a ranch? Blue jeans and a cowboy hat, or business casual? She felt stupid in her small closet, worrying about something so unimportant. Even if she had all the clothes she’d left behind, she’d still be standing there clueless—it was a girl thing.

Ryker pulled at her long T-shirt she’d slept in. “Bite, Momma. I wanna bite.”

Swayze sighed, raking her hands through her matted bed hair. “Okay. Let’s get a honey bun.”

“Honey bunny!’ Ryker said, hopping around in his Batman PJs.

Swayze turned Mickey Mouse on her phone, through YouTube because she couldn’t afford cable, and sat Ryker at the living room table to watch it while he ate. She hurried to pack him a bag with backup pull-ups, extra clothes, his cup, and toys.

Bringing him along wasn’t her first choice, but hopefully it would all fall into place for her at the King Ranch. After his bag was packed, she pulled on the only nice pair of blue jeans she had with a simple, blue shirt with lace on the shoulders.

She’d gotten the shirt at Walmart and the jeans off a swap-shop during her brief stay in Tennessee. It wasn’t the best, but it would work for the day. Swayze wiped down the table after Ryker finished eating, chased him around the house to get him ready for the day, and finally sat on the couch when Mont knocked on the door.

Right on time, like any gentleman would be. He’d made her feel free for a brief time at the diner the day before. After leaving Oscar a hundred bucks for making the entire menu, he walked out without another look at the place, Swayze in front of him.

It felt nice to be carefree for a while.

She opened the door to him standing with one hand braced on the doorframe above their heads and the other resting in his jeans’ pocket. His work boots were covered in shredded hay, mud, and dirt, and for the first time, he had a cowboy hat on. Swayze cursed herself because he looked just as good with that one as he had in the baseball hat. His heavy, green eyes lifted to hers from underneath the rim, and her breath caught in her throat.

“Hat!” Ryker screamed.

Mont chuckled, taking it off immediately to put it on his head. Ryker squealed with excitement and started turning circles with the hat on.

Swayze caught Mont watching Ryker play, and felt her stomach tightened in worry at Ryker getting attached. But she couldn’t blame Ryker for craving a man’s attention.

Mont’s dark hair fell onto his forehead as he laughed at Ryker, and Swayze took the moment to examine the fades on each side of his head and avoid the temptation of running her fingers through it.

She could imagine herself doing much more with him, and running a palm over his tanned forearm, touching the strong muscle beneath it, made her fingers twitch. A pair of tan, leather work gloves was shoved into his pocket, and the smell of fresh-cut grass surrounded him. He was a calming Louisiana night all wrapped up in a package that no sane, straight woman could turn down.

“You’ve been up for a while?” she asked.

Mont looked up at her, causing somersaults in her stomach. “Yeah, since four o’clock. We’re early risers around the ranch.”

Swayze nodded. 4:00 a.m. was two hours before Ryker woke her up, and she would honestly love another two hours on top of that. Having children really changes your sleep schedule and your priorities.

“You ready to go?” Mont asked.

“Sure thing.”

Mont reached forward to grab Ryker’s bag and hiked Ryker up on his hip. “Yee-haw!” Ryker hollered, which made Mont laugh.

Ryker rode in Mont’s lap on the way to the ranch since Swayze didn’t have a car seat for him anymore. He never asked about it, but it wasn’t like the sheriff drove down back roads trying to get the Kings in trouble.

They pulled up to the ranch where Abigail waited on the porch with a sleepy Kathryn beside her.

Mont chuckled. “She got up early to meet Ryker.”

Swayze smiled as they walked toward her.

“Hi, cutie!” Abigail said.

Ryker hid partially behind Swayze’s leg.

“Are you shy?”

Hell, no. Ryker laughed while starting a game of peek-a-boo with her. “This is Kathryn.” The toddlers looked at each other with weird expressions until Abigail broke it off with a laugh. “You can go ahead inside,” she said. “I’ve already finished breakfast for the guys and won’t start lunch until eleven o’clock. Mont suggested I start cooking lunch since you don’t work at Megan’s anymore.”

Swayze looked at Mont, who rolled his eyes. “What is wrong with your secret keeping skills, girl? You weren’t supposed to tell her that. Geez, she already thinks I’m crazy.”

Abigail blushed and shrugged. “I’ve never been good at that. Do you mind if I take them to look at the horses with Kaden?”

Swayze shrugged. “Sure, just watch ‘im because he’ll dart out of sight before you know it. I really appreciate it.”

She waved Swayze off while walking hand in hand with Ryker and Kathryn toward the back field. “Do you need your hat back?” Swayze asked. “I can get it—”

“Nah, I have tons. Let ‘im have it.”

Swayze nodded. “I guess I’ll go inside and start working.”

Mont leaned against the porch railing, watching carefully as Swayze walked inside toward the office. She sat down in the reclining chair, slipped off her worn Keds, and started filing through the depth of paperwork in front of her.

Three hours went by quickly, but she’d filed away all their receipts according to the dates and places, along with all of their bills that were paid and attached to the receipts.

She’d worked partially as a receptionist for her college’s arts center and had similar duties. But getting a job at a place like that made it very easy to track her down. Waitressing was a very easy job to get, and most of the time they didn’t ask questions as long as you showed up for your shift.

Someone knocked on the door, drawing her attention. Abigail stood with a napping Ryker on her shoulder.

How long had it been? “Oh my…” Swayze gasped. “He is seriously asleep?”

Abigail nodded. “I’m gonna lay him in with Kathryn, if that’s okay?”

“Thank you,” Swayze said. Ryker was not one to nap easily, and the fact that he was asleep without the embarrassment of trying to get him down was priceless.

“I see Little Man is asleep,” Mont said.

Swayze looked up from over the computer at him in the doorway. They must have been doing more work in the field because he was filthy from head to toe. The small undershirt was tight, leaving nothing to the imagination.

“Yeah, thankfully.”

“It’s looking good in here,” he said. “Are you hungry?”

She’d lie, but her rumbling stomach gave her away. “A bit.”

“Abigail is making fried chicken, if you want some. Or we can go to Megan’s and order the menu again.”

She smirked. “No,” she finally said. “I have so many leftovers. Chicken sounds great.”

“I finally made you laugh and not at my expense.”

Swayze immediately frowned. She didn’t want him to make her laugh or get close to her. Nothing had changed. A new job, but her past was still there—chasing her.

“Ah, and here goes the frowning again. I just can’t win for losing,” he said. “Now, get up. Come on. Abigail will be finished in a minute, and your hour lunch starts now.”

Swayze stood up, wrapping her hair up with a pony tail holder that was on her wrist. She avoided the way Montgomery stared at her, making her way past him toward the kitchen, but was stopped when he grabbed her wrist. “Have you seen any of the place yet?”

She slowly shook her head. “No.”

“Come on.”

Mont took her outside on the deck that overlooked their entire ranch. There were ponds, barns, a riding arena, and woods for miles. “Wow,” she whispered. “You grew up here?”

Mont braced his elbows against the back-porch railing, looking out at the field, and she found herself wondering what he thought. “Yeah, but I couldn’t live here after I graduated. I started building—”

“You don’t live here?” she asked.

“No, I built a house a few miles down the road.”

Swayze lifted an eyebrow. “A ranch hand, bull-rider, and a contractor?”

Mont grinned. “I’m a man of many talents.”

“Hmm,” she whispered to herself. “You’re very lucky to have had a family growing up.”

Mont turned to look at her. “You didn’t? You grow up in foster care?”

“Single mom,” she laughed humorlessly. “I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, huh?”

Mont turned his back to the railing, crossing his large arms over his broad chest. “You weren’t always a single mom, were you? Where is Ryker’s dad?”

Swayze knew this would happen, someone would get curious and want to know her story, and she particularly knew most of the questions would come from Mont. Partly, she wanted to answer truthfully, tell him everything just to get it off her chest, but she couldn’t.

It wasn’t like she had married Ryker’s dad knowing what would happen. I’d been something that happened unexpectedly. She’d been his ride or die until the end—she just wished it hadn’t come so soon.

She’d prayed night after night that Ryker would turn out like his dad regardless that he wasn’t there for him growing up.

Before she knew it, those memories she’d blocked out of her chaotic life were sneaking back inside—taking over.

“You’re taking me to Rolando’s?”

Dylan smiled, running his mouth against my forehead, down my cheeks to my parted lips. It’d been a place I’d always wanted to go, but we could never afford it since Ryker had been born.

“It’s our anniversary,” he said. “Of course. Let’s go.”

Dylan walked with his arm around my shoulder, holding me close to his side. I’d fallen in love with Dylan quickly during college because there was a light that surrounded him. I loved that he didn’t come from money but worked for what he had. There was something about his humbleness that drove me up the wall. Not to mention he was six foot two and broad, with sandy hair and dark eyes.

He’d been my knight in shining armor after my mother died, but that’s when everything went south. My brother didn’t take it too well.

The line was short to get inside, and we were escorted through since Dylan had made reservations. I sucked in a deep breath when I saw the bar and sitting area. It was more gorgeous than I’d ever seen in my life. Bright lights, and wide-open floor plans. A set of stairs led us up to the second floor that overlooked the streets of Savannah.

Our waitress sat us toward the window where we could see, setting down my favorite bottle of wine. There were people I’d seen on the local news, wealthy businessmen that owned half of the town, sitting beside us.

I leaned forward. “Are you sure we can afford this?”

Dylan looked up from his fancy silverware and plate to wink at me. “I’ve got you, baby. I’ve been saving.”

I had thought some money was missing every paycheck but didn’t think too much of it. I smiled, looking up at the twinkling lights hanging above us. Nothing could bring me down.

We took silly selfies around the fancy environment, until our appetizers were brought out, waiting for the waitress to leave to devour them like we really wanted to.

“I need to see her!” someone shouted.

I didn’t need to look to know who stood there, fighting the guards at the front because his voice was embedded into my veins, my childhood. It was my brothe…and recently the sight of him had me on edge.

Since our mother died, he’d gone crazy. Calling me in the middle of the night and showing up at four o’clock in the morning, mumbling nonsense of moving in together.

“Ah, shit,” Dylan mumbled.

The guards settled him down enough for him to point us out. One of the waiters walked toward us, bending down to whisper, “Do you know him?”

All my senses told me to go talk to him, but everyone stared at us, all the influential people in the restaurant, mumbling underneath their breath.

My brother waved his arms above his head like I couldn’t see him. “Demi! It’s me! We have to leave.”

Turning to look at the waiter, I shook my head. “No, I don’t.”

“Swayze. You okay? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

She came back from her memory, blinking to see him closer than he was before. “You okay? I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Shaking her head, she stepped back toward the back door. “I’m fine—I just got lost in thought. It smells like the chicken is almost finished.”

Mont didn’t seem to buy it, his eyes showing concern, but he smiled nonetheless.

Swayze felt her stomach drop with each step. If being alive wasn’t enough of a reminder of Dylan, having Ryker was a constant reminder, seeing that he looked just like him. She’d raise Ryker the best she could so he’d turn out like his daddy.

Her real dream would be to be back in Savannah with Dylan and Ryker, living every day like it was their last. But that dream wouldn’t be coming true. So, she’d settle for living a life where she wasn’t afraid to go outside.

A life where her husband’s killer was dead.