This is the (barely edited) original version of Home Torn, and it’s for all those that fell in love with that version! Thank you to all those who read it on Fictionpress, Livejournal, my own website, and now finally in ebook format.
“Oh my god.”
It was whispered from behind and Dani turned around. She’d driven through town with mixed emotions. She wasn’t glad to be back in Craigstown and now she’d been spotted. It was the first of many, she was sure.
Of course. It had to be Kelley Lynn. She was the popular girl from Erica’s grade, Dani’s youngest sister. She wore the same blonde bombshell look with added highlights atop the same slender figure. Her clothes had upgraded from the too-tight tank-tops to the just-right cleavage underneath a trimming cashmere sweater. She still wore pink, everything had been pink, even the shoelaces…and she was holding a deposit bag.
“Is it…is it you?” She blinked. “Dani?”
“Hey, Kelley.” She flashed her perfect white teeth. “How are you? What are you up to now?”
“Oh my god. It’s you!” She wrapped her arms around her. Rocking back and forth, she exclaimed, “We all thought…we all thought you were dead. I mean…you didn’t come to Erica’s…we didn’t know what to think.”
“I was on location for my job. Julia and Aunt Kathryn hadn’t gotten a hold of me.”
She didn’t know if they would’ve, had they had the chance.
“You’re home? For good?” she asked, breathless, her hands still held her in place, as if she feared she would run away.
“For a while.”
“Well, hey! Me and Dave are grilling tonight. You should come! Julia’s bringing Jake. It’ll be the old gang.”
Julia and Jake? It had been Erica and Jake. “The old gang?”
“Oh.” Kelley flushed, “I’m sorry. We all kind of all regrouped you know, after Erica’s thing…Julia, me, Katrina Lloyds, Heather Carlile, and some of the others all formed a clique. Kind of like in high school, but all we really do is get together for dinners and have a few beers around the campfire. Sometimes the girls will all go shopping. It’d be great if you came!”
“I’ll think about it. First night and all, you know…”
They both knew she wouldn’t go.
“Oh. Okay.” Her smile lessened. “Well you’re welcome, you know that. I want you to know that. Gosh. Have you been home yet? Have you seen Julia and Kathy?”
“Not yet. I wanted to do some business first.”
“They’re going to be so excited. I just know it. Julia’s going to die happy tonight. They’ve all been missing you so much.”
“Well, they thought I was dead. So, there’s that.”
“Oh. Okay…I should get going. Dave needs all the steaks and brats before long. We have to start up the grill before the guests start arriving.” A few steps away, she stopped and turned back. “It really is great to see you, Dani. Really.”
“Thanks,” Dani murmured. She doubted it.
As one of the windows opened up, she moved forward and produced her checks.
Mrs. Gallows was the same and unlike Kelly Lynn, she did not look happy to see her. Her gray hair was in the same bun. She wore the same pressed pink sweater, and even the same flamingo brooch pinned to her left breast.
“Miss O’Hara, your account was closed three years ago. Your aunt emptied your accounts. We thought you were dead.”
“You can see, I’m not. My aunt was never given permission to have access to my savings account, so my account shouldn’t have been closed.”
“Nothing we can do about it now.”
Dani dropped her bag on the counter. “You can open another one and you can deposit my checks.”
Their eyes caught and held.
Dani didn’t blink. Mrs. Gallows did.
“Fine.” Mrs. Gallows sniffed, “But you need to cover the registration fee.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
“That’ll be fifty dollars for the registration fee.”
“Take it out of my checks.” Dani pushed them over.
As she counted each and every one, she saw her eyes widen with every check as she shifted it to the back. As she typed the amounts in, she then asked, “Would you like some cash or a bankcard, Miss O’Hara?”
“No. Just my receipt.”
She slid it over and spoke, “That’s $823, 932.46. Anything else for you, Miss O’Hara?”
There wasn’t. “Thank you, Mrs. Gallows. It’s so good to see you.”
Dani had learned the art of being fake. She’d grown up with the three masters of the town, but she needed to go see maybe the one person that would actually want to see her. The other aunt.
“Well, hell, the fucking cat dragged something in here worthwhile.” Mae slapped her bar towel over her shoulder as she leaned against the counter. Dani caught sight of her feet and smirked. Fifty-three and Aunt Mae still wore steel-toed boots to the bar. Everything else was the same too. Her silver-blonde hair pulled in a haphazard ponytail, a checkered button-up shirt showing a lacy tank top underneath, a tease of cleavage peeking out, and faded jeans.
Dani couldn’t hold back a grin. She had missed this aunt.
One of the regulars looked up from his drink. “I didn’t know you had a cat, Mae?”
“I didn’t, dumbass. It’s a saying, Barney,” she snapped, but turned her pearly whites on Dani. “Christ’s sake, it’s about fucking time you got your skinny little behind back to these parts.”
The regular was frowning, studying Dani. “Who’s she, Mae?” Barney slurred, tightening his grasp on the mug. “She’s purrty.”
“And you have about the manners of my barn cat, Barney.” Mae rolled her eyes. “Now shut up, will ya?”
“Hi, Mae.”
“What’ll you have, baby? On the house!”
“You don’t have a barn, Mae. How’s can you have a barn cat?” Barney mumbled, dipping over his drink.
Sighing loudly, she turned and replied, “I got a barn. Why don’t you go look for it?”
He watched her, trying to make her out, but he asked, “Where’s it at abouts?”
“Right behind here, go take a look see. Tell me when you find me that barn cat of mine. I’d like him back someday.”
“Are you joshing me, Mae?”
“Barney,” she sounded tired, “when the hell do I ever josh you? You’d have to be sober for me to josh you. Now git and find me that damn barn cat of mine.”
“But Mae,” he sounded contrite, “I don’t know where your barn is and if I don’t know where your barn is, I can’t find you your barn cat.”
“Then you better find the barn first, Barney,” she explained.
“Mmkay, but if your barn cat scratches me and I have to get me some tetanus shots, you’re paying, Mae. Just laying the law down there.” He stumbled upright. He was a keen negotiator.
Shaking her head towards me, she murmured, “Fine. If you get scratched by my barn cat, I will pay for a tetanus shot.”
As he stumbled out the back, the buddy next to his vacated seat snorted, “Mae, that was cruel, even for you.”
“Shut up, Jeffries and drink your damn beer while I’m still giving it to you.”
“Shutting up.” He saluted and drank.
Chuckling to herself, she slapped a bottle before Dani and asked, “So what finally brought your ever-pretty mug back to these whereabouts?”
“Mae.” Dani shook her head.
Eyebrows arched, she whistled, “You ain’t getting off that easy, you know. You better start yapping that yap or your aunt Mae is going to get almighty pissed and Aunt Kathryn may be getting a phone call.”
“Still the same, Aunt Mae, aren’t you?” She took a sip.
Sobering, she said quieter, leaning closer
, “Seriously, girl, you were always my favorite even though Kathryn and Danielle thought I wasn’t fit to be a part of you girls’ lives, but I saw enough. I knew what was going on and I’m glad as hell that you’re back. About damn time, if you ask me.” Slapping a hand on the counter, she demanded, “Now you tell me how you’re going to break the news to that sister of yours because we both know that she’ll have some almighty words for you, especially since you missed your sister’s funeral.”
Dani’s hands paused at her words.
They were the first words spoken about Erica’s death.
She’d known, everyone had known, but it still wasn’t talked about. Not outright and point-blank.
Aunt Mae blew right through that, like she had always done.
Clearing her throat, Dani murmured, “I didn’t know about Erica’s death when it happened so I couldn’t come for the funeral. I’ll tell Julia that when I see her.”
“Not going to fly with that Miss Priss. She’s going to light into you because you didn’t tell anyone where you were and it’ll be your fault. They’ll turn everything on you. You know that, Dani.”
Yeah, she did. But she ceased caring five years ago.
“If they wanted me to know, they could’ve hired a P.I. They didn’t care to let me know.”
“And how did you find out?”
Dani shrugged and replied, guarded, “Just heard around, you know. What’s done is done.”
“That why you’re here?” Aunt Mae watched her niece intensely, studying and scrutinizing. Her niece had always been good at being invisible. If she didn’t want to be read, the girl was damn near impossible to even get a reaction out of her. She had that same look now. Her little protected niece, with a cement wall surrounding her, sure as hell didn’t want to be read about this.
“Just time to come back.” she evaded easily. “I’ll have a Coke and rum.”
“Ah hell, don’t go breaking your aunt’s heart. You’ll have a beer on tap, not some diet soda crap drink.”
Dani grinned and murmured, “I’ll take one of those then. Whatever you have on tap and need to get rid of.”
Sliding the drink across the bar, Mae said proudly, “That’s my girl.” A pause and a tap on the counter with her fingers, she spoke up, pursed lips, “So you going out to see that sister of yours after this?”
“Actually, I was wondering about a place to stay. I wouldn’t feel right about imposing on Julia and Aunt Kathryn.”
The girl was lying, and Aunt Mae knew it. Dani wouldn’t step foot in that home if it were the last place habitable in the world. She was lying through her teeth about not wanting to impose. Julia and Kathryn would love it, give them ample time to tear into little Dani.
But Dani had grown some teeth. It was evident from the strong shoulders her favored niece now wore around. She looked good too. Damn good and that’d cause more problems. Her and little Jakey had been nice and tight, and he was nice and tight with the eldest O’Hara now.
Julia wouldn’t take a shining to having little gorgeous sis around nowadays.
There’d be fighting in that house again.
“You look good, girl,” Aunt Mae said approvingly. Proud. “You look damn good.”
Dani shrugged a slender shoulder and replied, guardedly, “How about a place to crash for a while?”
“There’s my place, you’re always welcome. But...if you’re looking for some privacy, the cabin’s always there for you.”
Nice and secluded. Dani had always loved it out there. A three bedroom log cabin on a corner of Loon Lake and protected by miles of woods on both sides. It was out in the middle of nowhere, but that’s what Dani wanted. What she’d been hoping for anyway. Aunt Mae had gotten it from Dani’s grandmother. Mae’s two sisters had thrown a fit over the decision. Aunt Mae held firm, stuck her chin up, and dared her two sisters to try to take that cabin away from her.
Aunt Mae won. And since then, the sisterhood had fallen apart. Much like Dani’s sisterhood with Erica and Julia, but they’d been doomed from the start. Dani thought so anyway.
“Sounds good. Thanks, Aunt Mae,” she said lightly, finishing her drink.
“Stay awhile, girl. You only got some fighting to look forward to right now.”
Put that way…Dani stayed sitting.
The settled atmosphere that ascended the bar was broken when the front door opened up, sending a ray of sunlight filtering through, alighting right atop Dani’s back. A second later, the door slammed back shut and darkness overcame everyone’s eyes for a moment.
“Mae, Mae, Mae. How about a drink to parch my thirst?” The voice was smooth and silky.
Jonah Barron.
Glancing from the corner of her eye, Dani saw he looked the same. Except he had a bit more recklessness built into the twitch of his jaw. His hands were tan and strong. Firm. A bit rough from working, but a person could tell the 3D anatomy sculpture was still there underneath those clothes. No matter the bulk of its cloth, Jonah’s infamous build couldn’t be hidden.
The only other difference she could see was that his ruffled curls so rich and thick before were shaven for a clean-cut buzzed look. It agreed with him.
Slapping some money on the counter, he hopped on a stool three down from Dani and said casually, “And while you’re at it, you can tell me who owns that delicious Mustang out in your parking lot.”
Aunt Mae reached for a bottle and glanced to Dani underneath her eyelids as she set it before him.
She waited a minute, studying her closed-off niece, and then commented, “No can do, Jonah. My loyalties lie elsewhere on that topic.”
“What?” he asked, startled, pausing in midair, the bottle held in the air suspended. “Are you kidding?”
She shook her head, “Nope. ‘Fraid not. I know for certain that owner won’t want you bothering him. Can’t tell you a thing.”
The backdoor slammed shut and a second later Barney stumbled back to the bar, holding a bleeding arm to his chest. “Mae, I don’t find no barn back there, but I’m pretty sure I found your barn cat. He didn’t take a likin’ to me. You might need to pay up on that tetanus shot you offered before, Mae.”
“You damn fool,” Mae cursed, grabbing his arm and yanking it over the counter. “I don’t have a barn cat, I was just joshing you.”
“You was joshing me?” He sounded like an insulted four year old. “But you said you weren’t joshing me.”
“That’s the whole point of joshing, you idiot. You don’t admit to it when you’re doing it.” She cursed again and yanked him farther over.
“Ouch, Mae! That hurt.”
“Oh shut it. We need to clean this so you don’t get an infection. Barrow, watch the bar for a while.”
A guy at the end of the counter lifted a hand and replied, “Sure thing, Mae.”
“Come on, Barney. Let’s clean this in the back.”
“You make sure that’s all you’re cleaning up.”
“Shut up, Jeffries,” Mae shouted over her shoulder.
“Shutting up.” He saluted and took another drink.
As they disappeared into a back area, Jonah turned to Barrow and asked, “Hey, Kevin, who owns that Mustang out front?”
Barrow shrugged and took a drink, “You got me there. I haven’t seen a vehicle like that around for a long time, not since Aunt Mae’s little niece took off.”
Jonah frowned, “You mean Erica and Julia’s sister? That niece?”
“That’s the one.”
Dani had yet to look up as she finished a second drink. She was situated perfectly in the dark, hidden from plain view.