The Cowboy Who Strolled Into Town (62 page)

“Riley!” the man said, and came up to Riley, flinging his arms around him. Riley looked surprised but returned the gesture, and as Jenna looked at the man under the illumination of the streetlights she saw, to her surprise, that it was the same man she had served earlier in the store.

3

“What are you doing here?” Riley said flatly. The other man stepped backwards, still wearing a wide grin on his face. The two of them were of similar heights and ages, and Jenna felt dwarfed by them.

“I was in the area, thought I'd come and say hi to all my buddies, well, all the ones that I knew the addresses for anyway. I just came back from visiting Stevie. He's doing really well for himself, you were next on my list! I hope you don't mind me dropping in like this I just thought it would be nice to catch up.”

Riley didn't reply, he just kind of looked at his friend in an annoyed way. Jenna, feeling a little left out, prodded Riley in the ribs. He winced, and then introduced them. “Jenna, this is my old squad buddy Liam, Liam, this is Jenna.”

“It's nice to meet you Liam, please, come in,” she said, and led Liam into the house. Her father was already in bed but they kept to the kitchen, where Jenna made them all drinks. Riley glared at her and seemed distracted, but she wasn't sure why.

“So what have you been doing with yourself since you got out?” Liam asked, thanking Jenna for the drink when she handed it to him.

“Oh, you know, just came here with my mom and then I met Jenna. I've been helping her out with the store and then I've just been enjoying being at home really.”

“That's right,” Liam said, snapping his fingers, “you're the girl from the store!”

Riley looked at Jenna quizzically.

“He came in this afternoon,” Jenna explained, “Yeah, it's actually my father's store but he just had a stroke so I've been taking care of it. How long have you been out of the army?” she asked.

“Only a few weeks. I came back and realized that I didn't want to go back home I mean, leaving that place was why I got into the army in the first place. So I figured that it'd be nice to catch up with my old squad so yeah, and I'm going to see Buzz after this.”

“Buzz?” Riley questioned, looking surprised.

“Oh yeah. I felt bad about what happened and I wanted to go and see him, just to make sure there are no hard feelings.”

“Are you sure that's a good idea?” Riley asked.

“I have to try. I hate that there was bad blood between us. I just, I want to know that we're cool. Life's too short to hold grudges.”

“What happened? Who is Buzz?” Jenna asked.

“You mean he hasn't told you?” Liam asked, glancing between Jenna and Riley.

“He hasn't told me much of anything, I didn't even know about you,” she said. Liam looked shocked and ran his hand over his head.

“Oh my God, so when you saw me out there...damn, I'm sorry I didn't mean to come across as some creepy guy waiting for you. I just went to your place Riley and your mom told me that you'd probably be here. Didn't see that any of the lights were on so I just waited outside.”

“Yeah, my dad goes to bed pretty early now, he has to rest a lot. I'd love to hear more about you though, and your time with Riley.” As she said this Riley scowled. Liam seemed friendly though, and was about ready to launch into some tales of his and Riley's time together in the marines. However, just before he could Riley pulled at his arm and took him to the next room. Jenna went to listen but she couldn't hear anything, and was disappointed when Riley told her that he was going to take Liam back to his place where he could stay. Jenna bid them farewell and told Liam that they would have to get together again soon.

*

Once outside, Riley rounded on Liam.

“I don't know what your game is by coming here but don't think this changes anything between us. I want you gone soon.”

“Whoa, Riley, what's all this about?”

“You know very well what this is about. Stop your games Liam, I'm not in the mood for them.”

“Look, I just wanted to get together with the guys and relive some old times, that's all, it's nothing bad.”

“Well not all of us are interested in reliving those times. Not me, and certainly not Buzz, if you think he's going to be happy to see you then you're going to be in for a surprise.”

“We'll see. Seems like you have a nice life for yourself here. Got a pretty thing as well, does she know?”

“Of course she doesn't. And I plan to keep it that way so if you even try anything I will end you,” Riley said, jabbing a finger into Liam's chest. Liam merely stood there, wearing a smug smirk.

“You know I'd never do anything bad to you Riley. You're my friend. I don't hurt my friends. All I want is to spend some time with you. Is that such a bad thing?”

Riley bristled and growled.

“You can stay for a few days but then you're gone, you hear me? I want you to leave this town and never come back.”

“There's no need for such hostility Riley, don't you worry about a thing,” Liam said. The two of them got in the car and drove away.

*Jenna was about to get to sleep when she got a call from Riley. His relationship with Liam had been on her mind ever since they had left. She thought it was strange that Riley would treat an old friend that way, and she was surprised at how he had basically dragged Liam away. It only planted seeds of doubt about his past for it seemed like he was determined to hide things from her. Curiosity burned within and it was difficult to extinguish the flame, and when Riley called her she was feeling like she didn't want to talk to him. It was the first time since the two of them had met that this happened. But she still answered the phone and lay on her side with her eyes closed.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” she replied. Then all she could hear was his breathing for a while.

“Look I...I'm sorry about what happened earlier with Liam. He shouldn't have been there.”

“It's okay. I think it's nice that you have a friend that wants to visit you. Maybe it'd be good for you to hang out with him.”

“Liam is...Liam's an odd one.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can't tell you now, but he won't be staying for very long. Just a few days, then he'll be gone and we can get back to normal.”

“Riley, what is this about? Is he dangerous?”

“No, it's nothing like that. I just want you to know that it's under control and you don't have to worry about anything.” She wasn't worried before but now she was. Riley was acting strange, and Jenna didn't like it one bit.

4

During the following day, Jenna called up Riley and basically demanded that the two of them take Liam to dinner.

“This man has come all this way to visit you and you're just going to keep him hidden from me? He's your friend, and when you're in a relationship you get to meet each others' friends. That's just the way it works. Unless you can give me a solid reason why we shouldn't all have dinner together then it's going ahead. You're acting really oddly and I don't know why. I thought you would have liked to see an old friend.” Riley hadn't been able to give her a good reason, so he and Liam came to pick her up after work and they all went out to dinner together. Riley was on edge, and kept glancing to Liam. Riley winced whenever Liam spoke, but still Jenna couldn't figure out why. From what she could tell, Liam was a normal person, perhaps a little too quick to laugh and make stupid jokes, but there was nothing about him that set her alarm bells ringing.

It was notable, however, that the two of them avoided talking about anything to do with their time in the marines. As they waited for their starters to arrive Jenna pointed this out.

“I've told you that I just want to forget about it,” Riley said.

“Yeah, I've been forbidden from talking about it. I don't have as much of a problem as Riley here. It was just a part of life, you know, just something that happened. We shouldn't try to run from it, we have to accept it.”

“That's a good attitude to have,” Jenna said, glaring at Riley. Riley rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“I'd just prefer to look to the future, that's all, Liam, what are your plans after you visit everyone?” he asked. Liam swallowed the food he was chewing before answered.

“Well, I want to see all the guys and I figure that way I'll get to see a lot of the country as well. I'm going to see if there are any places that appeal to me, and if they are I might stay around them for a little while. If not I'll just carry on my way, drifting through town. I always liked those old stories, did you ever read Jack London? He wrote about them a lot. There's something romantic about the idea of just riding the rails and going from place to place. I'm sure the reality of it won't be as appealing as in the stories but it can't be any worse than what we went through over there...oops, I'm not supposed to mention that, was I?” Liam said, wearing a wicked smile. Riley shot him a warning glance while Jenna leaned forward.

“What do you mean? What happened over there?” she asked.

“Oh, you know, the usual thing. I shouldn't really say anything about it, and not just because Riley doesn't want me to talk about it. You see, the other plan I have is to eventually write a book about my experiences over there. That's another thing I wanted to ask you actually, and I have to admit seeing all the guys isn't just a matter of catching up, so let's get down to business. I would like to write about my experiences and to make them as truthful and as honest as possible I would prefer to use real names, so would you be willing to let me use your name? If you don't then I'll make something up but I'd really prefer it if you allowed me to use your name.”

“Out of the question,” Riley said immediately. Liam looked disheartened.

“Oh, don't be like that, I think that would be wonderful! Think of it, your name could be in print. You'd be famous! I've been trying to tell him that he should write a book as well, good for you Liam.”

“I'd rather not have people poking their nose into my affairs. If you want to write the book then go ahead, but I'd prefer it if you didn't use anything of me. I guess you have to use what happened but just leave my name out of it. I want to leave that place behind.” Riley leaned back in his chair. A dark cloud formed around his head and he glowered. Jenna and Liam glanced at each other, sharing a look of mutual awkwardness.

“I just thought I'd ask, but that's fine, that's the reason why I wanted to check. I'll leave your name out of it if that's what you truly want,” he said, “but if you do want to write a book eventually let me know, maybe we can collaborate? It'd probably be better than both of us competing with each other.”

“Don't worry, I'm not going to write a book it's just something that Jenna wants me to do. I've already told her I'm not doing it.” There was a sharp tone to his voice that Jenna didn't like, and she wasn't fond of the way he was talking about her. She didn't want to make a scene in front of Liam but she vowed to herself that she would have words with Riley when they had a chance to be alone. Ignoring him for the time being, she engaged with Liam further.

“What made you want to write a book?” she asked.

“I always wanted to but it was one of those things that I never got around to doing. I guess I didn't think I had anything interesting to write about but after everything that happened I thought people might want to know, especially from someone who was over there.”

“Have you started it already?”

Liam tapped his head. “Most of it is up here, but I have a few notes written down. I know what the general story is going to be as well, it's just a matter of getting people's permission and then I can get around to writing it.”

“Well you'll have to let me know when you finish it so I can read it!”

“I'll be sure to send you a copy, but it's still a long road ahead. To be honest I wouldn't even mind if it never got published, I just think the act of writing a book would be a good reward. I mean, loads of people always say they want to write one but how many actually do it? Seems like it would take a lot of discipline and time, and at least when I die I can say that I wrote a book.”