The Family Gathering (Sullivan's Crossing #3)(71)

“Thanks. Whatcha building over there?”

“I’m marinating flank steak that will go on the grill, corn on the cob and potatoes. There’s plenty.”

“Thanks but I’m going to head to town. Sid’s working. But I have to talk to you guys about something. When I first got to town I met two women right away and both of them hit on me. Alyssa at the beauty shop and some fancy woman named Neely, who happened into the bar.”

Connie and Sierra looked at each other with shocked expressions on their faces. “Oh, brother,” Connie said. And Sierra followed with, “Boy, can you pick ’em.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Dakota said. He proceeded to tell them the story from the beginning—Alyssa’s rather pitiful and hopeless pursuit, Neely’s crazy and almost scary pursuit, the flat tires, hair clippings, the garbage. Neely’s convoluted double message to the police chief, accusing Dakota of an assault.

“Garbage in your girlfriend’s car,” Sierra said. “A little obvious, isn’t it?”

“Is it?” Dakota asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Sierra said with a laugh. “You sure you want to hook up with a garbage man, sister?”

“No kidding,” he said. “That never crossed my mind!”

“Because you don’t know how to think crazy. Did you have a thing with one or both of them? Like a little fling?”

“Not even a little hand-holding. I didn’t encourage either one of them for one second.”

“Listen, Cody, we know both of those characters a little too well,” Sierra said.

“What do you mean?”

“I was engaged to Alyssa a few years ago,” Connie said. “A couple of years before I even knew Sierra. We lived together in this house. I came home from work in the middle of the day to find her in bed with one of my friends, ex-friends, having some afternoon delight.”

Dakota was speechless for a moment. “Tacky,” he finally said. “I’ve been known to use poor judgment from time to time, but even I never did anything like that. Your ex-friend still around?”

“A firefighter,” Connie said. “Married, couple of kids, still prowling around. We don’t talk. We don’t work together. As for Alyssa...” He shrugged. “Apparently she hasn’t found the right man yet. You made a narrow escape, that’s my opinion. Though maybe she’s changed her ways. It doesn’t matter to me anymore.” He wiped off his hands and picked up Sam, holding him on his hip. “I’m glad you settled on Sid. She’s cool.”

“I can’t wait to hear about Neely,” Dakota said.

“She’s a lot harder to explain,” Sierra said. “She made me a little bit uncomfortable with a rush to friendship. I’d known her for an hour when she suggested we take a trip together. A road trip. I’ll admit, she makes such a good first impression I wanted to be her friend. I was new in town—I didn’t have any friends yet. Then I caught her in a couple of lies. Not little ones, either. She made up a story about a big, fatal accident. It didn’t sound credible and I told Connie.”

“So I checked,” Connie said. “It’s a matter of public record. I just checked the computer for the highway patrol stats—not only wasn’t there a fatal accident, there wasn’t any accident in the vicinity she claimed. And I guess if you had a run-in with her, she’s not done with the lying.”

“Was that it? She invented an accident?” Dakota asked.

“Not quite,” Sierra said. “This dramatic story came up in the beauty shop and it was Alyssa who said she’d never heard of such a thing, a really bad accident happening without everyone in town talking about it. Then Neely also casually told Alyssa that I had wanted to take her on a trip. I didn’t say anything but that’s when I decided I’d be giving Neely a lot of space. That kind of thing creeps me out.”

“She need attention or something?” Dakota asked.

“I don’t have the first idea. Some people just lie all the time for the drama of it, I guess. We’ve all exaggerated. But after that accident story, saying a kid was killed? Saying she was sorry she hadn’t been in touch but she was at this dying boy’s bedside for days? I felt terrible for her. Is that the payoff? Pity? Now I’d never know what to believe from her.”

“You met her at the beauty shop?”

“Not exactly. I met her...” Sierra hesitated. “I met her through friends.”

“I thought you didn’t have any friends?” Dakota said.

“I didn’t have many and none I was close to. I was brand-new in town.”

“You met her at AA?” Dakota guessed.

“I didn’t say that,” she said.

“I know you take your promises seriously so I won’t push you to tell me, but just in case you think she’s sober, she’s not. At least, I know she drinks. I’ve never seen her drink alcohol, but she does. She kissed me, remember. I had to peel her off me. She’d definitely been drinking.”

The surprise on Sierra’s face said it all.

“You don’t have to say anything, Sierra,” Dakota said. Then he looked at Sam, who was busy chewing his fist and drooling all over his bib. He frowned slightly, then reached for the baby.