Chapter Thirty-Nine
Paige bit her thumbnail and peered out the truck window. One last errand, and it would be over. They pulled in front of a white brick building with a large front porch and two empty rockers. Above the porch a painted sign read Mike’s Drugstore. The place looked quaint, except for the sheriff’s car parked out front.
“He’s still here. Come on, Paige, this shouldn’t take long,” Sterling said.
“I’ll wait in the car.” They’d been gone two hours, and Paige worried Darryl was already there. She could imagine Linda waiting for them and wanted to hurry. Paige hadn’t told Sterling he was coming, but somehow felt it would be better if he didn’t know they had sort of arranged it. Besides, with his current attitude, it had to work out well. And if Darryl wasn’t open to forgiving Sterling, at least no one in the family could hold it against him. Rifts would be repaired, and Paige knew she could live with that.
Sterling opened her car door. “Please come. Coach Newell said he wanted to meet you. It will only be a second.”
“Fine.” Paige agreed against her will. She hadn’t actually refused but somehow knew she didn’t want to. As she drew closer to the drugstore, it wasn’t quite what it seemed. It had a sour smell to it, and the front door was banged up rather badly. Inside, there was a rack of yellowed greeting cards that looked as though they hadn’t been touched in years and a shelf of aspirin and personal items common to any gas station seemed equally ignored. On the far wall a counter ran the length of the store lined with padded stools. Behind the counter was an antique soda dispenser and a chest freezer with ice cream where a teenage girl talked on her cellphone.
A group of older men sat in folding chairs at a card table in the corner with cups of coffee in front of them. Rather than the happy Jimmy Stewart type of old men, these were the grumpy Walter Matthau kind. Paige didn’t want to have anything to do with them.
Sterling held out the key to the leader of the bunch, who wore a tan police officer’s uniform. “Thanks, Coach.”
The hardened man leered at her and winked at Sterling. “Hope you made good use of it.”
Sterling seemed oblivious to his innuendo. “Yes, sir. Paige is ready for the Pit tonight. We practiced all the best dances.”
“What about the mattress mambo?” one of the men said.
They all burst into harsh laughter, and Paige reddened.
Sterling seemed not to notice or care. “So, Coach, we’ll see you tonight.” He touched Paige’s arm ready to go, and she was grateful he was cutting the visit short.
The coach got to his feet. “Not so fast, son. We want to catch up. Take a seat.” He held out his chair for him.
“Sterling,” she whispered. “I think we should go.”
The garbled crackle of a police radio sounded through the room with an announcement. “10-91J that’s a 10-91J. Assistance required.” Newel reached into the center of the table and turned down the volume of his scanner.
“Don’t you need to get that?” Sterling asked.
Newell took him by the shoulder. “You’re more important, son. Now sit.”
Paige blew out a breath to calm herself. He promised not ten minutes ago that he’d listen to her. Now she felt invisible. It wasn’t that she wanted to control him, but she had a bad feeling about this guy. The fact that Mr. Newell caught up with Sterling by sharing news about divorces, job losses and suicides explained a lot. If he was the athletic coach when Sterling had all his problems, no wonder he was in such a competitive and angry place back then. And if Sterling was really over it, why would he even want to converse with someone who had added to the problem? All the confidence and safety that Paige felt in Sterling’s arms in the gym was rinsing away bit by bit.
Another explosion of laughter over a new teacher quitting after being hazed by the football team, and Paige had had enough. “I’m going to the car.”
Sterling didn’t even look her direction. “I’ll be there soon.”
Half an hour later he made his way back to the pickup, a broad grin plastered across his face. He sat in the driver’s seat and started the engine. “Sorry about that.”
“Are you?” Paige said and bit her tongue. She wasn’t going to lecture him, though she wanted to. Her Uncle Bill would have told him that when you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas.
“You know, you could get further away from me if you sit in the back of the truck,” Sterling said as they pulled onto the road.
She was pressed against the passenger side door and hadn’t noticed. Moving a little closer, as much as her seatbelt would permit, she swiveled to face him. “Fine, but I don’t ever want to be around that man again.”
“Paige, he was a big part of my life,” Sterling said.
“Which part?” Paige tried to see things his way but couldn’t. “Think about it.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I don’t understand?” Paige faced him. “It’s you, Sterling, who doesn’t get it. That man is not who you think he is. He’s just like Elaine, a bully, and every minute you spend with him makes you a worse person. He was part of the reason your family was almost destroyed. Why can’t you see that?” She folded her arms and stared forward.
Sterling didn’t reply. He was staring forward, too.
In the distance she could see a large cattle hauler and several police cars with their lights flashing in front of the Keller home. Her stomach lurched. Two more days, and they would have been in the clear. How could this have happened?
As Sterling pulled up to the curb in front of the house, Paige leapt out of the vehicle before it had even come to a stop.
Misty was talking to Sterling’s dad. Paige approached them and listened in. “We got the warrant less than an hour ago. Normally, we would have investigated first, but there was a special injunction. It’s out of my hands.”
Austin was at the barn, yelling at the men in navy jumpsuits loading the goats. Josh and Tyler huddled in a corner with the younger boy holding Daffodil in his arms.
At the corner of the yard, Linda was engaged in a heated conversation with a man that Paige assumed must be Darryl. His head was bowed, and his hat was in his clutched hands.
Linda’s volume trumped everyone else’s. “How could you do this to us? To the boys? You’re going to break their hearts all because you can’t let a stupid prank go. It’s not important anymore.”
“I didn’t call the cops, Linda. I swear,” he pled.
Paige didn’t care if he had. It had been unfair of her to force this good family to shoulder the burden of her problems when they had plenty of their own. Linda walked away from her husband who turned his back to Paige, as if in shame.
Linda shook her head. “Paige, I’m so sorry.”
“No, Linda, it’s okay. We knew this could happen. Don’t blame your husband.”
“But he led them here. The police cars were following his truck.” Tears welled at the corner of Linda’s eyes. “The boys were happy again. Now all that’s gone.”
“Maybe not.” Paige peered over her shoulder and saw a man loading King onto the truck. “Wait here.” She sprinted toward him. “Excuse me, sir, but that buck is not part of the herd.”
“I was told to take them all,” he said.
“Could you load the others first while I get this sorted out?” Paige made her voice as sweet as she could muster.
Austin had come up beside her. “Good job, boss. You tell them.”
“The animals don’t look mistreated. Go ahead.” The worker handed King’s lead to Austin and went for another goat.
Paige rushed to Misty’s side and found Sterling already there. Paige addressed the deputy. “Misty, I’m so sorry we didn’t tell you about this dispute, but I need to know if there is a list of the goats to be removed.”
“I think so.” She pointed to another police car where a huddle of uniformed men was talking. “The state troopers have the paperwork and say they’re in the lead on this.”
“Two of the goats
are not part of the herd. That white buck and the new kid the boys are holding. Can you make sure they don’t get touched?” Paige asked.
Misty considered the situation before agreeing. “Fair enough. Give me one minute.”
As Misty walked off to talk to the other officers, Sterling turned to Paige. “I’m so sorry about this.”
“I’m sorrier for your nephews.” Paige scanned the spectacle around them. With the lights and crowd, it looked like a circus. A handful neighbors had even come to watch. “Linda thinks Darryl called the cops.”
“That would be like him,” Sterling said.
“Even if he did, it’s his right. We broke the law and should have dealt with this legally from the beginning. Don’t blame him and destroy your family all over again. That’s more important than anything.” Paige stomped away. If she had a family like his, she’d be defending them, not tearing them down.
***