Town Darling (2 page)

T
he Boxcar Diner was always
busy at lunchtime with dine-in customers as well as business owners stopping by
for take-out.  It was one of the most chosen places among locals to meet and
even conduct business.  The restaurant was an old train dining car from the
1920’s, which was retired to Darwood Falls in the late 1940’s.  The wheels and
windows were all original, although it had been painted and looked new, in an
old-fashioned sort of way.  The Boxcar Diner had an addition built out the back
to accommodate the masses flooding the diner at lunchtime, but the old train
car still remained the main draw for most.  Casey, Catherine, and Brandon sat
at a booth next to the window in the dining car portion.  Most of the seats
were the original bench seats from one of the retired passenger cars.  The
galley had long since been converted into additional seating, with the modern
kitchen now operating from the addition.  Framed photos of the train in its
working condition from decades past hung on the walls, providing decoration as
well as conversation pieces.  An attractive, blonde waitress in her early
twenties, Dina Crawford, approached their table with coffee and iced tea.

“The usual, Mom--Dad?” Dina
asked.

Brandon eyed Catherine and
raised a curious brow.  “Did we have another child I don’t know about?”

Catherine ignored his
comment and smiled at Dina.  “Yes, we’ll have the usual.”

Dina then looked at Casey
and grinned.  “Are we on for tonight?”

“First round is on Grey.”

“Always good to hear,” Dina
announced, spun with a lively bounce, and walked away from their table.

Dina had been Casey’s best
friend since the day they’d met in kindergarten.  Their childhood years were
never-ending days of games on horseback, trail rides, and playing cowboys and
robbers, which sometimes involved Casey’s brother, when he had time for his
little sister.  All that changed when Dina’s father took off, supposedly with
the mayor’s secretary.  He was never heard from again, and her mother drank
herself senseless.  Dina’s life crashed after that, and she’d spent most of her
free time hanging out at the Remington’s farm with Casey.  Her mother never
abused her; she just resigned from being her mother.  At a young age, Dina took
on the responsibilities of not only cleaning the house and taking care of
herself, but she was burdened with paying the bills and being the only
responsible adult in the house.  It was too much to ask from a
fourteen-year-old.  She stuck it out through high school but moved out before
the ink was dry on her diploma.

“The tavern again?” Brandon
asked while shaking his head.

It was obvious he didn’t
approve of his daughter hanging out at the local bar, but with limited
entertainment in town, there was little else to do most evenings.

“We considered going cow
tipping, but Dina prefers cowboy tipping,” Casey teased.  “What else is there
to do in this town?”

Her father frowned his
displeasure.  “We need to have a serious talk about that place.”

“I know what sort of place
it is, Dad.”

Although Darwood Falls was
filled with mostly law-abiding, wonderful people, it had a dark, seedy
underbelly most refused to talk about.  As if on cue, a wealthy man in his late
forties, Ernest Harford, approached their table.  Ernest was part of that seedy
underbelly.  He was the richest man in town and imposed his wishes upon
everyone like some schoolyard bully.  His brother-in-law being the mayor
certainly didn’t help the town escape his clutches.  Catherine and Casey
avoided looking at Ernest.  Both shared the same opinion of him.  They were repulsed
by the sight of him.  Not that he was physically repulsive, but his arrogance
and iron-fisted tactics made him unappealing.  Despite his wife and daughter,
Brandon attempted to remain polite to the retched man.

“Good afternoon, Remington
clan,” Ernest announced cheerfully and paid special attention to Catherine, who
didn’t bother looking at him.  Although obviously captivated by her beauty, he
didn’t seem fazed by her disinterest.

“Hey, Ernest,” Brandon
replied, being the only one to even acknowledge him.

“I heard a rumor that you
might be running for mayor,” Ernest announced with a smile that almost mocked
him.  His directness was a form of control.  He liked catching people off
guard, believing they would show their true feelings.

Brandon faked a look of
surprise.  “Oh?” he said with a laugh.  “That’s news to me.” 

Casey’s father wasn’t
easily played.  He knew how to handle men like Ernest.  He’d spent enough time
in the military to learn how to deal with all types of attitudes.  Ernest was
no different from higher-ranking officers who enjoyed pushing around enlisted
men.  He enjoyed the power.

“I sort of figured,” Ernest
remarked and laughed.  “You’d find that job tedious and boring.”

“I don’t know,” Brandon
teased while casually reclining in his seat.  “Pie judging sounds like one hell
of a perk.”

Casey’s father was just
playing with Ernest now, and, sadly, he had no idea.  Ernest may have been
wealthy, but he wasn’t very smart.

“Probably the only perk as
mayor in this hick town,” Ernest announced with a chuckle.  He appeared pleased
with Brandon’s response and was ready to move on to things of more importance. 
“You guys have a nice day.”  Ernest continued toward the cashier in the main
dining area with his check from lunch. 

Catherine glared at Brandon
with her loathe for Ernest evident in her eyes.  “That man makes my blood run
cold.”  Her mother’s claws were finally coming out.

Just once, Casey wanted to
see her mother verbally hand Ernest his head.  She could do it too.  She wasn’t
as sweet and innocent as she’d have people believe. 

“He thinks he owns the town
because he owns the mayor and the local law,” Casey said with a sneer while
adding her two cents.  She couldn’t let her mother have all the fun.

Brandon appeared
uncomfortable and shifted in his seat.  “Let’s be civil.  There are big changes
coming,” he announced.  Her father was oddly non-confrontational for a former
military man.  “Sheriff Wiley’s about to retire and our young deputies have
more enthusiasm for upholding the law.”

“Deputy Tucker, the town
stud, is next in line for sheriff,” Casey mocked.  “He’s dating the mayor’s
daughter.  That means he’s practically bought and paid for.”

“I hope Deputy Holt becomes
sheriff,” her mother announced, catching Casey’s attention.

“Tucker and Mitchell have
more seniority than Vaughn Holt,” Brandon informed his wife.  “Sheriff Wiley
isn’t going to pass the torch to him.”

“And I certainly don’t want
him as sheriff,” Casey remarked.  “He has it out for me.”

“He doesn’t have it out for
you,” Catherine scoffed.  “You just challenge his authority.”

“Yeah, because he has it
out for me--”

Catherine rolled her eyes. 
There was no winning with Casey.  She was almost as hardheaded as her father
was. 

“You certainly had no
problems with him when he was first hired a few years back,” her mother
reminded.

“Probably because I was
fifteen, and he looked good in his uniform,” Casey replied dryly.

“That’s an understatement,”
Catherine remarked and grinned teasingly.  “I seem to remember you having the
worst crush on him.”

“She did?” Brandon suddenly
asked.  “Where was I?”

“Tinkering on that piece of
junk in the garage,” she casually informed him.

“Hey, that piece of junk is
a 1969 Chevy Camaro Z/28 classic muscle car, I’ll have you know.”

His words went right over
them.  Catherine rolled her eyes and looked back at Casey, who shared the same
glare as her father.

“I hope you haven’t been
spreading those rumors around about that non-existent crush I
didn’t
have on Deputy Holt,” Casey scolded with a look of mayhem in her eyes.

“Of course not,” her mother
retorted.  “But maybe if you still felt that way about him, you two would get
along better.”  Catherine teased Casey with a lustful grin.

Casey glared at her mother
with a look of horror.  She couldn’t believe her mother was suggesting such a
thing.  “Ewe, you want me to hook-up with Deputy Holt?  That’s nasty,” she
remarked.  “He’s a surly bastard.”

“Casey,” her mother gasped
then glared at Brandon.  “This is what happens when you expose her to your
military friends.”

Her father appeared humored
and unruffled by the comment.  “You should hear yourself sometimes.  Get a few
drinks into you--”

“We weren’t discussing me,”
Catherine scoffed and shut down the entire conversation.

Brandon laughed softly. 
Casey just rolled her eyes.  She’d be more concerned about her parents’ bouts
of banter if they didn’t cuddle and act like teenagers on the couch in the
evening.  The way they went at it was almost embarrassing.  They were an old
married couple.  It wasn’t right.  Dina approached their table and glanced at
Casey with a sympathetic look on her face.

“I hate to be the bearer of
bad news, Casey,” Dina announced timidly, “but Deputy Holt is issuing you a
parking ticket.”

Casey quickly turned to
look out the window, appeared shocked, and forced her mother out of the booth
so she could get up.  “He is unbelievable!”

“Be nice, Casey!” her
father scolded even though he didn’t bother to stand and stop her.

“Oh, I will,” she announced
while turning toward her father.  “I’ll smile while I give him the verbal
lashing of his life.”  Casey hurried away from the table. 

Catherine eyed Brandon
while sitting back in her seat.  “Yep, she’s your daughter.”

“Are you kidding?  That
girl has Catherine written all over her,” Brandon replied.

“Oh, please,” Catherine
snapped.  “I
never
acted that way.”

Brandon stared at her with
a surprised look as his mouth hung open.  “Have you met you?”

Catherine glared sharply at
him.  He smiled and chuckled at her look.  She hid her smile and looked away. 
Casey hurried from the diner and crossed the street toward the parking spot
where her gray horse was tied.  A ruggedly handsome, dark-haired deputy in his
late twenties, Deputy Vaughn Holt, stood next to the parking meter with Casey’s
horse tied to it and wrote on his pad.  Casey approached him and her horse,
stood near the horse’s head, and glared at Vaughn.  He didn’t bother
acknowledging her.

“Deputy--”

He briefly eyed her with
little emotion and continued to write the ticket.  “Casey--”

“What do you think you’re
doing?” she calmly asked despite her obvious raging temper.

Vaughn casually pointed at
the invalid meter with his pen and gave her an innocent look with those dark
eyes of his.  “Issuing you a parking ticket.”

“To a horse?”

He returned his attention
to his ticket pad and showed little reaction.  “Nope, to the owner of the
horse.”

As she stared at his
handsome profile, she wondered what she ever found appealing about him.  Vaughn
ripped off the ticket, folded it, and casually stuck it between the horse’s
bridle and its ear.  Casey pulled the ticket out and allowed her hostility to
boil over.

“You can’t ticket a horse
for a parking violation,” she suddenly growled.

“I believe I just did.”

Casey waved the ticket with
annoyance while glaring at him.  “
This
is harassment.”

“No,
that
is a
ticket.”  Vaughn indicated the meter with a cleverly raised brow.  “And
that
is an expired meter.”

Casey indicated Vaughn
while sneering.  “And
that
is an arrogant asshole.”

He didn’t appear the least
bit affected by her insult and almost welcomed the challenge.  “You may be the
town darling, but that won’t get anywhere with me.”

Casey was stunned and
moderately offended by his comment as she stared at him.  “Town darling?  Since
when?”

The sheriff’s blazer pulled
up to the curb near them.  A plump, older man in a policeman’s uniform, Sheriff
Wiley, got out of the car and approached them.  Wiley was a small-town sheriff
stereotype.  He’d obviously had too many doughnuts, indicated by the tautness
of his shirt buttons over his mid-section, and spent too much time sleeping in
his cruiser over the years.  The sheriff looked at both and appeared curious.

“What’s going on here?”
Sheriff Wiley asked.

“Your deputy gave me a
parking ticket for
my horse
.”

Wiley looked at Vaughn and
appeared almost stunned.  “Seriously, Vaughn?”

The deputy immediately
became defensive.  “The meter is expired, there’s horse excrement all over, and
she know she’s not supposed to ride her horse in town,” Vaughn reminded him.

The sheriff shook his head
with shame.  “I know you’re fairly new here, Deputy, but she’s been riding her
horses into town since she was in kindergarten.”  Wiley took the ticket from
Casey, tore it, and placed it in Vaughn’s hand.  “I’m sure you have more
important things to do than write parking tickets to the pretty girls of
Darwood Falls.”