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rush and pine trees in the foothills.
Chapter Ten
Chase noticed the lines of worry etching across Dani’s forehead and the way she chewed on her lower lip long after Cody and Blake had left. “Maybe you’d better tell me if you want me to stick around,” he suggested.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, turning her attention to him.
He was standing in the shade of the apple tree. Reaching upward, he picked an apple that was beginning to stripe red over green and tossed it in the air, catching it deftly. “Just that I don’t want to interfere—cause any more problems between you and Cody.”
“You aren’t.”
“I heard what he said.”
“I know, but he was angry with me, not you. He can’t seem to understand that what Blake and I shared is over. He thinks we should be able to resurrect it somehow.”
Chase shoved his hands deep into his pockets. “And what do you think?”
“Honestly?”
He nodded, his firm mouth turning down at the corners. “Honestly.”
“I wish he’d never come back. That he’d just leave us alone.”
Chase’s thick brows arched. “Well, once the newness of having his dad around wears off, maybe Cody won’t be so quick to champion Blake’s cause. Right now Blake’s come back for the boy and that makes him a hero in Cody’s eyes. But you’ve always been here for him. Cody’s a smart boy. He’ll come around.”
“I doubt it,” she said with a sigh as she walked back toward the house. “But I don’t suppose there’s any point in brooding. Blake’s back and that’s that. I’ll just have to learn how to deal with him.”
Chase grinned. “That’s the spirit.” He tossed the apple to her and she caught it. Smiling, she took a bite of the tart Gravenstein and then made a face. “I think you rushed this one,” she said, opening the screen door and waiting until Chase had walked inside.
“Meaning the apple?” he asked.
“I don’t know; I get a feeling you rush everything. Jump in feet first.”
“Sometimes.”
She straightened the afghan on the back of the couch before going into the kitchen. “Can I get you something? Coffee? Tea? Or—” she opened the refrigerator and peeked inside “—uh, we still have some orange juice, half a pitcher of lemonade and a few cans of beer that Blake hasn’t found.”
“Coffee’s fine.” He walked to the kitchen and leaned one shoulder against the arch separating the rooms as he watched her nervously pour the hot liquid into heavy ceramic mugs. “Try to relax.”
“Easier said than done,” she admitted.
“Great. Then I don’t suppose you want to hear what I found out while I was gone.”
Looking over her shoulder and seeing his grim countenance, she braced herself for the worst. “More bad news?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“I may as well hear it,” she said with a sigh and then forced a feeble grin. “Give it to me straight.” Handing him a cup of coffee, she took a sip from her mug and sat at the table.
“It looks as if Caleb put the drum of dioxin in the creek on purpose.”
“He admitted it?” she asked dubiously.
“No, but I managed to talk to the hand that actually did the dirty work, a guy by the name of Larry Cross. Shortly after Johnson asked Cross to puncture the lid and bury the drum in the creekbed, Caleb gave the guy his walking papers . . . along with quite a substantial amount of money to keep quiet.”
“So why did he talk to you?”
“Johnson’s money didn’t last long. And the man wasn’t opposed to making a few extra dollars on the deal.”
