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Cody and Blake hadn’t returned. Dani was worried, but Chase insisted that she calm down. “Every good fisherman knows that the best time to catch fish is just as the sun sets,” he said.
“But it’s after nine! And it’s been raining off and on all afternoon. And the wind—” As if to add emphasis to her words, the wind picked up and banged a branch of the apple tree against the back porch. “Oh, God,” she whispered, still pacing back and forth. “Something’s wrong. I can feel it.”
“Do you want me to go looking for them?”
“No—Yes—No, I don’t know what to do,” she moaned, running her fingers through her hair. “Damn!” Perching on the edge of a chair, she rested her chin on her hands and tried to ignore the worries nagging at her. “You know, before this all started, I used to be a competent woman—”
“I remember,” he said, smiling and glancing at the empty rifle hanging over the fireplace. “Look. Cody knows the way home. He’ll be back soon—”
Just then, they heard Runt’s familiar bark. Dani leaped out of the chair and opened the door to allow a drenched dog into the house. He ran into the kitchen, shook his coat and checked his bowl for dinner scraps.
Dani walked out to the back porch and though it was dark, she saw Cody running up to the house. Blake was several yards behind the boy.
“Thank God,” Dani whispered.
“Hey, Mom,” Cody cried jubilantly, “we caught a million fish!”
“A million?” she repeated.
“Well, maybe twelve or thirteen,” Cody corrected, pushing his hair out of his eyes and streaking his forehead with mud. Then he clomped onto the back porch and tried to knock the mud from his shoes. He set his pole and creel against the rail.
“I was worried about you,” Dani said softly.
“Aw, Mom—”
“Why?” Blake asked, finally catching up to the boy.
“It’s late and the storm—”
“Just a little rainshower, Dani. And it’s not that late—only a little after nine—”
“Nearly ten,” Dani corrected. “And Cody has school tomorrow.”
“He’ll make it, won’t ya, boy?” Blake asked, kicking off his boots as if he intended to stay, and then seeing Chase in the doorway, changed his mind. Swearing to himself, he put the boots back on his feet “So ya still got company, huh?”
“That’s right.”
Blake ran a hand over his beard-roughened chin. “I thought maybe you’d let me stay the night—” Then, seeing the fury blazing in Chase’s eyes and the way the man’s shoulders bunched, as if he’d like nothing better than to whip the tar out of one Blake Summers, Blake added, “On the couch of course.”
“Other plans?” Blake asked, eyeing Chase as he walked through the door and stood beside Dani.
“That’s enough, Summers,” Chase warned, his lips thinning menacingly.
Blake shivered and stood.
“Cody, I think you’d better go upstairs and get cleaned up and ready for bed,” Dani suggested, smelling the fight that was brewing between the two men.
The boy stood his ground, though he chewed anxiously on his lip. “But. Mom—”
“Now.”
Swallowing hard, Cody looked to his father, but Blake just slowly shook his head. “Listen to your ma, boy. It’s time I was shovin’ off anyway.” He stood and scowled darkly at Chase as he brushed his hands on his jeans.
“You can stay,” Cody blurted out, his boyish, confused eyes darting from one adult to another. “I have an extra bed in my room and—”
“Not tonight, son,” Blake said after reading the warning in Dani’s eyes and the set of determination in her jaw. “Another time, maybe.”
