Ignite (27 page)

Dean hung up and pulled me back under the blankets.

“I’m still tired,” he said. “Callie’s taking care of it.”

I still felt guilty about having her take care of them for me, but she was their sister.

“She’s suspended,” Dean mumbled into my hair. “Not on vacation.”

I nodded as I contemplated the idea of how actual parents would treat this situation.

I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer, it was like Dean’s sleepiness was contagious. I snuggled down under the blanket and closer to him as I promptly fell back asleep.

We woke to his phone vibrating off the dresser. He reached for it and turned over to answer so he wasn’t screaming in my ear.

“Yes,” he said shortly after a moment. “See you soon.”

I wasn’t happy about whatever was dragging him away. I liked being in my dreamworld half on the edge of sleep. I felt like I was catching up on years of much needed rest, and with him gone I would have to wake up. The spell would be broken and we’d have to talk about last night rather than just letting it be what it was.

“Where are you going?” I asked sleepily when he hung up.

He rolled over, brushing my hair out of my face so he could see my eyes.

“I have to go do a consult,” he said, which made absolutely no sense. A consult for what?

“What do you mean? I thought you got all of your money from the lake.”

He nodded.

“Most of it.”

He leaned down and kissed my forehead.

“I’ll explain later,” he said. “I don’t want to go, but this is important.”

At least he didn’t want to go, that made me feel slightly less pathetic.

“Bye Dean,” I whispered, not wanting to leave the warm cocoon of blankets.

“Bye Lauren,” he said softly, shutting the door behind him.

I was finally forced out of bed when I heard a phone buzzing again. It was three in the afternoon before I even attempted to get up, and I decided that I deserved it.

It wasn’t my phone, and I realized he must have left it. Jenny’s name read across the caller ID, so I answered.

“Hello?” she seemed startled when I answered.

“Lauren?”

“Yeah, sorry,” I said, realizing how awkward this must be. “I think Dean left his phone here last night.”

I heard her breathe a sigh of relief.

“That’s good,” she said, “I was getting really worried.”

“Where is he?” I asked.

“I think he’s still up at the mine,” she said nonchalantly, giving me the information that I didn’t have before.

I nearly dropped the phone.

“Can you bring his phone back?” She asked.

“Sure,” I told her, “Give me a few.”

I rolled out of bed and showered, because I felt like I couldn’t wake up without one even though it was the middle of the day.

I walked down to Dean and Jenny’s house and knocked.

“Hey,” Jenny said as she opened the door. “Come on in.”

She led me to their beautifully crafted kitchen.

“Actually,” she said, “I was hoping you would take him lunch with his phone, I don’t think he brought any and he’s been up there for a long time.”

I nodded. “You want me to take it to the mine?”

“Yeah,” she said nonchalantly, handing me a paper bag. “He goes up there every once and a while to help them bar down and do safety checks. Not to mention he’s the best at knowing exactly where to dig.”

My heart fell and I swallowed, but tried not to betray my feelings in front of Jenny. How long had he been working up there, and why didn’t he said anything to me about it?

“I didn’t know he did that,” I told her.

She shrugged.

“He doesn’t really like it, after the accident a few years ago, but he still goes because those guys depend on him.”

I nodded again, feeling like that was the only gesture I was now capable of.

“Do you know where it is?” she asked, clearly oblivious to what happened to Josiah Lindsay. That made me sad, because I realized she wasn’t around because Dean wasn’t eighteen yet then. She was in foster care. My heart fell in my chest as I realized that was the fate I would be sending Callie, Chase, and Emma to if I left.

“Okay,” I said softly. “I’ll take it to him.”

“Awesome, thanks Lauren! I have to go back to school now, my off period is over,” she said, running up the stairs to grab her bag.

I let myself out and walked up the street to my car, wondering why Dean hadn’t told me. He said last night that he knew what happened to my dad. Is that why he wouldn’t tell me where he was going?

My engine wouldn’t turn over. No matter what I did, it was dead. I’d have to call Jed or have Dean look at it later, but in the meantime, he wasn’t getting his lunch.

I walked back down the street and knocked.

When Jenny answered, I explained that my car wasn’t working. To my surprise, she threw me the Range Rover keys.

“Take his car,” she told me. “He drove the truck.”

Since when did he have a truck?

I drove past Palmer Lake and up the familiar dirt road to the mine. I hadn’t been back since the accident, and I never thought I would be. I parked the car and got out, feeling uneasy as the wind whipped my hair.

There were a few miners standing outside by some equipment, and I didn’t like the looks they gave me when I approached carrying Dean’s lunch and phone.

I knew this was a bad idea. How was I ever going to find him? It’s not like they would let me in there.

“Miss Lindsay,” the oldest man said as I approached. “What can I do you for today?” He spoke with a light twang, just like my dad.

I swallowed.

“Is Dean Powell up here?”

He nodded.

“I have something for him, do you know where he is?”

“Well sure, sweetheart. He’s inside. Give me a sec.”

He reached down onto his belt and pressed a button on the radio that hung there.

“Get Canary out here,” he said. “Red’s here to see him.”

Canary? Red?

I rolled my eyes at the mention of the color of my hair. Of course I would make them uneasy. Women were bad omens around mines because they only came to collect their dead, and women with red hair were especially terrifying to miners because of old superstitions.

“I’ll be right there,” I heard Dean’s muffled voice over the radio.

I nodded to them in thanks and walked a few feet closer to the entrance, but not too close. I didn’t want to be here. I remembered the sirens and the dirt, and people crying and telling me how sorry they were. I remember the bulldozers taking all of the rock away as they dug out the cave to find my dad in whatever state they could.

The ghosts of the past disappeared as I saw a figure striding out of the mine. I knew it was Dean even though he was wearing coveralls, a helmet, boots, and gloves. This was ridiculous; he still looked good even with every inch of his exposed skin covered in mud.

“Hey,” he said as he came to stand in front of me.

“Hey yourself,” I repeated our earlier exchange from this morning in a much different context.

I handed him his phone and the paper bag that his sister had prepared.

“Jenny?” he asked, his eyes widening as he looked inside.

I nodded curtly.

His eyes met mine and I knew he understood what I was feeling. I shifted my feet uneasily and looked around at the ten or so men watching us out of the corners of their eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” he said softly. “You shouldn’t have had to come up here.”

I wanted him to pull me closer, but I knew he wouldn’t want to get dirt all over me.

“It’s okay,” I said. “It’s better than I thought it would be.”

His brow furrowed.

“Can we talk later?” he asked, looking around as if he were agitated at the peanut gallery.

I nodded and held up the keys.

“I hope you don’t mind that I drove your car,” I told him as he glanced over at the black Range Rover sitting next to all of the work trucks.

He shook his head.

“It’s yours any time you need it.”

He seemed like he couldn’t say any more in front of the other men, so I took it as my cue to leave.

“I’ll see you later,” I told him, turning to go.

I expected him to reach out, but he didn’t.
It’s the dirt,
I told myself even though I wasn't sure.
That’s why.

“Thank you,” he said genuinely, gesturing toward the bag as he turned to watch me leave.

I drove away with him still standing where I left him. He looked upset, which confused me even more. He had some serious explaining to do next time I saw him.

I MULLED AROUND the house cleaning for the rest of the day, anxious to talk to Dean about last night and earlier today. Well,
both
times earlier today. Waking up next to him wasn’t terrible by any stretch of the imagination, but the way he acted when it was time for me to take the kids to school was something I felt like we should talk about. I thought we’d crossed a few lines, and in my mind that warranted discussion.

Callie helped me make a salad and a homemade pizza for dinner. Dean wasn’t home yet, so Jenny came over.

“Jenny,” I asked her in between bites, “How long has Dean worked at the mine?”

She shrugged.

“As long as I can remember,” she said. “At least since he turned himself around and I came back into the picture. I don’t know about before that. I think he likes it though, despite what happened.”

“It’s pretty hot,” Callie mused casually.

I grimaced and Jenny choked on her water.

“That’s gross,” Chase added, and Emma just looked around.

“What’s hot?” She said. “The pizza isn’t hot anymore.”

“That’s good,” I told her. “It might burn you otherwise.”

“Yeah, we should all be careful about not getting burned, though,” Callie said.

She wasn’t looking at me, but I knew she wasn’t talking about pizza. She had been privy to that all-too-private moment between Dean and me when he came over last night to comfort me when I thought I saw the ghost of my dead father.

We cleared the table and the four kids decided to have a movie night. I popped some popcorn for them and told Jenny and Callie I was taking a walk down the street. Neither of them batted an eyelash; they would be grateful for the extra babysitting money on top of what Dean offered Callie this morning.