Dream a Little Dream (Chicago Stars, #4)(16)

“I’ll get a job.”

“Not in Salvation. People here don’t appreciate anybody hidin’ behind the Lord’s name to make a fast buck. My wife wasn’t the only one who lost a big chunk of her savings. You’re foolin’ yourself if you think anybody’ll hire you.”

“Then I’ll go somewhere else.”

“Dragging your kid with you, I suppose.” A sly look came over his face. “Seems to me social services might have something to say about that.”

She went rigid. He’d spotted her fear, and he knew where she was most vulnerable. Edward’s free hand clutched her skirt, and she had to fight to keep her composure. “My son is just fine with me.”

“Maybe, maybe not. I’ll tell you what. You ride on into town with me, and I’ll give the child-welfare people a call. We’ll let them be the judge.”

“This isn’t any of your business!” She tightened her grip. “You’re not taking me in.”

“I do believe I am.”

She backed away, bringing Edward with her. “No. I won’t let you.”

“Now, Miz Snopes, I suggest you don’t add resistin’ arrest to everything else.”

An awful roaring sound surged through her head. “I haven’t done anything wrong, and I won’t let you do this!”

Edward made a soft sound of distress as Armstrong pulled a set of handcuffs from his belt. “It’s up to you, Miz Snopes. You comin’ willingly or not?”

She couldn’t let him arrest her. She wouldn’t, not when she knew they might take away her son. She hauled Edward up into her arms and braced herself to run.

Just then, Bonner stepped forward, his expression stony. “That won’t be necessary, Jake. She’s not a vagrant.”

Her hands tightened around Edward’s hips. He squirmed against her. Was this a trick?

Armstrong scowled, clearly unhappy with the interruption. “She’s got no place to live, no money, and no job.”

“She’s not a vagrant,” he repeated.

Armstrong switched the cuffs from one hand to the other. “Gabe, I know you was raised in Salvation, but you wasn’t around when G. Dwayne ripped the heart right out of this town, not to mention most of the county. You’d best let me take care of this.”

“I thought this was about Rachel being a vagrant, not about the past.”

“Stay out of it, Gabe.”

“She’s got a job. She works for me.”

“Since when?”

“Since yesterday morning.”

Rachel’s heart lodged in her throat as she watched the two men stare each other down. Bonner provided an imposing presence, and Armstrong finally turned away. Clearly unhappy about having his authority challenged, he slapped the handcuffs back on his belt.

“I’m gonna be checking up on you, Miz Snopes, and I’m warnin’ you right now that you’d better watch your step. Your husband broke nearly every law on the books and got away with it, but believe me when I tell you that you ain’t gonna be so lucky.”

She watched him walk off, and only when he had disappeared did she release her grip on Edward and let him slide to the ground. Now that the crisis had passed, her body betrayed her. She took several uneven steps and slumped against the trunk of a maple to support herself. Although she knew she owed Bonner her gratitude, the words stuck in her throat.

“You told me you were staying with a friend,” he said.

“I didn’t want you to know we were living in the car.”

“Get over to the drive-in right now.” He stalked away.



Gabe was furious. If he hadn’t interfered, she’d have run, and then Jake would have had the excuse he was looking for to arrest her. Now he wished he’d let it happen.

He heard her footsteps behind him as he strode back to the drive-in. The boy’s voice carried on a current of air.


“Now, Mommy? Now are we gonna die?”

Pain sliced through him. He’d been numb inside, just the way he wanted it, but the two of them were cutting him open all over again.

He walked faster. She had no right to barge into his life like this when all he wanted was to be left alone. That’s why he’d bought this damned drive-in in the first place. So he could go through the motions of living and still be left alone.

He made his way to his pickup, which sat in the sun next to the snack-shop door. The truck was unlocked and the windows rolled down. He jerked the door open and set the emergency brake, then turned to watch them approach.

As soon as she realized he was watching, her spine straightened, and she marched right toward him. But the boy was more cautious. He moved slower and slower, until he came to a stop.

She bent to reassure him, and her hair tumbled forward in a tangled flame curtain. A gust of wind shaped the worn fabric of her dress around her thin hips. Her legs looked frail in contrast to those big men’s shoes she was wearing. Despite that, his groin stirred unexpectedly, adding to his sense of self-loathing.

He shot his head toward the truck. “Get in, boy. You stay here and keep out of trouble while I talk to your mother.”

The boy’s bottom lip began to tremble, and pain clawed away inside him. He remembered another little boy who’d sometimes lost control of his bottom lip, and for a terrible moment he thought he was going to collapse.