Love in a Nutshell

TWENTY

Kate awakened slowly. She was lying on a freezing cold, rotted plywood floor that was gritty with dirt. She touched her fingertips to the side of her head and they came away sticky with blood. Kate fought a wave of nausea.

Harley Bagger stood over her. “You’re heavier than you look,” he said.

She scoped out her surroundings. “And you’re meaner than you look.”

The shack smelled decayed, and its narrow doorway and window slits didn’t let in much air. She’d bet she was in an old deer blind that had fallen to the ground. Not a helpful clue, since deer blinds dotted the woods for miles around.

“You made me do this,” Harley said.

“Made you? How do you figure that?”

“You shouldn’t have come back for the stupid dog. I coulda gotten away, except for you. I could have been in and out that window I jimmied.” He glared at her. “You messed up my work.”

Kate’s heart turned over at the thought of poor, sweet Chuck. The dog had gone back in to fetch Harley and had probably paid with his life. But she couldn’t think about that now, or she’d break down. She braced her hands against the floor and sat up.

Harley pointed a gun at her. “You stay right there.”

“What are you doing, Harley? Do you really think that’s going to help matters?”

He wiped the sweat off his forehead. “Not for you, maybe.”

“What have I ever done to you?” She inched her hand toward her front right pocket and her cell phone.

“Don’t bother. I threw the phone into the pond in back of his house. Do you think I’m stupid?”

Honesty wasn’t always the best policy. Kate kept her mouth closed.

“It’s Culhane. All Culhane. He’s ruining me,” Harley said.

She closed her eyes for a second, trying to push back the pain. “How?”

“He’s got all the business in town.”

“When you fired me, you’d let that keg of his beer go flat, hadn’t you?”

Harley paced back and forth. “It wasn’t about you. It was about messing with his reputation a little.”

“And after that you started messing with Matt, too.”

“Prove it,” he said.

“Not that it matters at this point, but I can. The morning you left all the taps opel tt, &n at Matt’s place, I found a replacement wick to one of your lighters on the floor. And I even know who gave you the keys to get in… Laila.”

“Wh-what do you mean, Laila?”

“I know you two are an item. She was using one of your vintage lighters before Shay VanAntwerp’s party. From what I’ve learned cruising around on my computer, that crystal number is far too valuable to toss to a buddy.”

“Well, it’s none of your business. But just so you know, she had nothing to do with this. I copied her keys without her knowing.”

“Do you love her?” If she softened him up, maybe he’d let her go.

Harley nodded. “We’ve been keepin’ it quiet-like, since she’s still collecting a pension from her last husband that’ll go away if we get married. All we want are winters in Florida and good food, but I spent my savings when business dropped.”

“That’s not Matt’s fault.”

The gun shook in his hand. “The hell it’s not. I’m the victim here, not him! All I wanted was Depot Brewing down for a while so people would come back to my place. But that boy is like that battery rabbit on television. No matter what I do, he just keeps on going and going and going. And then he’s got the nerve to ask me if I need a loan. I made him-not the other way around!”

Kate kept calm, figuring it was all she had left. “I’m sorry all of this has happened. But maybe it should all just stop now. Maybe we should just walk out of here.”

“I can’t. And don’t you see? I had no choice in any of this. I’m getting too far along in years. Laila and I shoulda stayed away from the casinos. All we were looking for was some money for retirement.”

She’d been nearly boiled and now kidnapped so Bonnie and Clyde could go to dog races and jai alai and eat grouper?

Hell, no!

Harley’s hand had stopped shaking. He had made a decision. “I’m not gonna go to jail. No way!”

Kate didn’t like the calm that had replaced his anger. “Serving even more time for murder doesn’t make much sense. Think you could put that thing away?”

“At my age, murder and arson are both life sentences. Why should I go to jail for either when if I finish you off, there’s no witness left?”

She wouldn’t have thought until today that Harley had a murder in him, but then again, she also would have said that arson was out of his range, and he had already tried to drown her in the brewhouse. “Don’t get carried away, Harley,” she said. “Relax and let’s decide what to do next. Why don’t you sit down?”

“No! Shut up and let me think!”

Kate realized Harley had crossed the line into crazy land. She was going to have to find a way to run.

MATT HAD ten miles of tight road before he reached Keene’s Harbor. That was ten miles too many with a slow-moving rusty red tractor in front of him. He needed to talk to Kate while he had all this love stuff straight in his head. It had taken him damn long enough to get it that way. He spotted a break, passed the farmer, and put his foot to the floor.

Another mile down the road, Matt’s cell phone rang.

“Matt, it’s Ella.”

He smiled. He liked Ella. Hell, he loved her for being Kate’s first friend in Keene’s Harbor.

“Hey, how are you doing?”

“Are you in town?”

Something about her usually cheerful tone was off, he thought. “No, I’m just outside it, on my way back from T.C. Why?”

She paused. “I want you to pull to the side of the road, okay?”

This wasn’t going to be good.

He put the truck in park and threw on his flashers. “What’s up?”

“I’ve got some bad news. There was a fire in the main room at your house. Kate called it in, and we got it under control with as little damage as you could expect, all things considered.”

Which was the least of his worries. “But what about Kate? Did she and Chuck get out okay?”

“That’s why I asked Captain Norm if I could be the one to call you. Kate’s car is out front, but there’s no sign of her or your dog in the house.”

“Did you check the outbuildings?”

“All we found was Harley Bagger’s car parked behind your pole barn. The police, including your sister, are on the way, but I was kind of hoping you’d heard from Kate?”

“No.”

“Okay,” Ella said. “Well, let’s not worry before we have to. It could be that everything’s just fine.”

Matt’s gut was telling him otherwise.

Sunday, when he’d dropped in on Harley to offer him a loan, it had been a mess. Harley had been angry and insulted, and Matt had ended up feeling like a jerk. If Harley had come out to Matt’s place just to talk to him, he wouldn’t have parked behind the pole barn. And if he’d come to do something more, Kate might be in danger.

Again.

“Ella, I have to hang up now. I need you to find Clete and tell him I said that Harley is his man.”

“I’ll do that,” she said.

THE WIND was pushing through the woods. And Harley had taken to muttering to himself. Kate was trying to be a big, strong dog who could jump high, but she was scared. Very scared.

She needed to focus on the positive. Someone had to be looking for her by now. Her car had been right in front of Matt’s house. And she couldn’t be all that far away, either. She would be no easy drag for a man in Harley’s shape. Plus, with all her scrapes and aches, and all the grunge clinging to her, she had to have left a trail.

Harley sprang to attention, his voice shrill. “Did you hear that?”

She’d definitely liked it better when he’d been ignoring her. “Hear what?”

“That!”

Kate picked up the distant sound of underbrush crackling.

“It was a deer, maybe,” she said, though she was hoping for something better armed than Bambi. Say, like the police.

Harley moved to the blind’s doorway. He gripped his gun in two shaking hands and aimed. At what, she wasn’t sure.

“He has a gun,” Kate shouted.

Harley jumped, and a shot went off. Whatever was heading their way rolled on through the leaves.

“Woof!”

Kate laughed with relief. “It’s Chuck!”

Harley didn’t seem to have the same level of happiness. He lowered the gun and started muttering to himself again.

“Woof!”

Chuck clambered past Harley and went to Kate.

Kate wrapped her arms around the dog. “I’m so glad you’re alive.”

“Woof!”

Kate flinched. “I’m having sort of a headache issue. Could you keep it down?”

“Woof!”

Harley waved his gun at her. “Make that dog shut up!”

“If I could, I would,” she said.

“Woof!”

“Do it, now!”

“Woof! Woof!”

Harley swung his arm violently, waving the gun. “Get out of here, mutt!”

“Hey! Do not threaten the dog.” Kate got up on her knees and urged Chuck toward the doorway. “Just go on out there, dude. I’m right here, and pretty soon Matt will be here to take us to Stella.”

“Woof! Woof!”

Harley gave him a boot to the rear, and Chuck yelped.

Something inside Kate snapped, the same way it had when her ex admitted he’d dumped Stella.

“Nice, Harley. Kicking a three-legged dog. This is your day for proving just how low you can go, isn’t it?”

Chuck advanced on Harley. The dog’s cheerful bark had been replaced by a vicious growl. His hair stood up along his spine, and he eyed Harley as though he were a Porterhouse steak.

“Back off!” Harley screamed at the dog. He aimed the gun at Chuck.

As a former sensible city girl, Kate had taken a self-defense course. “Use your strongest weapons against his weakest targets,” her instructor had said. Kate’s strongest weapon was surprise. Or anger. It didn’t matter which, because Harley was about to get hammered by both.

Kate scrambled to her feet and went in low.

Cut him off at the knees, then go for the throat.

Together, they hit the cold earth outside the crumbling shack with a hard jolt. She heard the swoosh! of the wind being knocked from Harley. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the gun go skittering. No way was he getting near it again. Still on top of him, she took the flats of her palms and slammed them hard onto his ears.

Harley howled.

“I was just warming up,” she said. “Because you’re going down.”

UNTIL MATT had to cover sixty acres of dense woods at a dead run, the privacy of a big property had always seemed like a good thing. If nothing else, it gave him a buffer from the semi-militia types living on the other side of the trees. He’d heard his share of strange sounds out here, but never anything quite like this. And he knew it wasn’t coming from his arms-bearing neighbors. The howls he heard were Chuck exercising his right to free speech… plus something more. Matt picked up his pace.

“The deer blind’s just ahead,” he yelled to Clete and Lizzie, who were a stretch behind him.

He cleared a cluster of trees and high brush and stopped just short of Kate and Harley. Harley was thrashing around on the ground, and Kate was whacking the bejeezus out of him.

t warm”0em” width=”1em” align=”justify”›Matt hauled Kate off Harley and hugged her to him. Harley started to rise and Chuck chomped into Harley’s pants leg. A beat later, Lizzie and Clete burst onto the scene.

Matt held Kate at arm’s length and looked at her. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. Except for my head.”

Matt took in the blood-caked blond hair and wondered if he could persuade Clete to let him take a shot at Harley.

Lizzie flipped Harley over and cuffed him. “Good dog,” she said to Chuck, scratching him behind his ear.

Matt cuddled Kate back against him and gave her a gentle kiss. “What happened here?”

“He was going to kill Chuck. And I love Chuck.”

“Chuck, huh?”

She nodded.

“Any chance you might love me, too?”

She nodded again.

“That’s good,” Matt said, “because I love you.”

Kate looked up at him. “You do?”

“I told you, sweetheart. When I’m in, I’m all in.”

And Matt was in. Forever.

KATE SAT on the edge of the emergency room’s triage cot. She could sum up her state as hurting and happy. She was going to have one heck of a headache, but she could handle it because she was in love. She’d tried to hold her heart safe from Matt, but it had opened anyway. Everything seemed brighter and better, though she supposed that could be from the pain meds, too.

“Are you ready to leave?” Matt asked her.

“Absolutely.”

He took her elbow while she stood. She smiled up at him. It wasn’t so bad, having a handsome guy’s occasional help.

Matt motioned to an envelope that had been left near her purse. “Don’t forget that.”

Kate opened the envelope. It contained a cashier’s check for twenty thousand dollars.

“You caught my stalker. You earned every penny,” he said. “I suppose I’m going to have to look for another place to build my restaurant.”

Kate felt herself starting to cry. “Maybe you’d rather be the part owner of a struggling B &B. I need a partner to help me, since I have a second job at this awesome brewery working with a guy I absolutely love.”

“I love you, too.”

“We should get me back to The Nutshell,” Kate said. “I know my mom and dad must be wondering where I am.”

Kate had called them from Matt’s cell phone on the way to the hospital and said she’d been a little delayed, but would be home soon. She figured this sort of story was better delivered in person. That way, everyone could see she was still in one piece.

Matt looked toward a set of double doors. “I should warn you that a whole lot of people are out there waiting for you.”

“Really? Why?”

He smiled. “It’s Keene’s Harbor. Word got out among the locals about what happened, and they want to be sure you’re okay.”

So this was what it felt like to belong. Kate never wanted to lose the feeling, even if she did have a couple of tears threatening to roll.

Everyone was there. Ella and Lizzie, the whole Culhane clan, Marcie Landon, Junior Greinwold, a horde from the Depot, Mayor and Missy Mortensen.

Kate waved Miss America style. “I’m fine,” she said.

Marcie made a clucking sound. “Not yet, you’re not.” She held out a brown paper bag. “No Keene’s Harbor local comes out of the hospital without getting some of my chicken noodle soup.”

Kate accepted the gift. “Thank you. That’s really sweet of you, Marcie, but you didn’t need to fuss.”

“You’re family, now. It’s no fuss.”

Kate sniffled. “Okay, now I’m going to cry. How uncool is that?” But, really, she thought this whole scene was cool, possibly the coolest thing ever.

Kate moved through her friends, accepting hugs and words of reassurance until she finally found herself face-to-face with Junior Greinwold.

Junior held out the blue cooler to Kate. “I feel really bad about the mess I made, what with all the bees and dooky. This is for you.”

Kate opened up the cooler. It was filled with Snickers bars and wadded-up hundred dollar bills. Enough to cover the cost of Kate’s repairs.

Junior leaned close to Kate so he could whisper in her ear. “Don’t tell anyone. I won the lottery a bunch of years ago, but I like being a handyman.”

Matt finally pulled her away from the crowd. “We’d better get you home.” Which was exactly how Keene’s Harbor now felt to her.

TWENTY MINUTES later, Kate and Matt sat in his truck, the last in line behind three luxury cars in The Nutshell’s driveway.

“So,” Matt said, “are you going to be okay in there?”

“About that…”

“Yes?”

Kate had thought this was going to be hard, but everything felt so right. “I was wondering if you’d like to come in and meet my family?”

“You’re not asking me just because you don’t feel like explaining what happened, are you?”

She laughed. “And if I were?”

He smiled. “You know I’d do it.”

“I’d love the help, but that’s not why I asked. I want them to meet you. I want them to see why I’ve fallen in love.” She unbuckled her seat belt and slid closer to Matt. “If I’m going to stay in Keene’s Harbor and put down some roots, this is where I want to start.” She leaned in until her lips met Matt’s. “Right here.”

And this time the kiss was perfect.