This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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For the Lee Family

The Hearts of Haines Series

Book 1
-
Kiss Me Hard Before You Go

Book 2
-
Like All Things Beautiful

Book 3
-
This is Where We Begin

Chapter 1

June, 1978

The front door slammed shut downstairs. Evie opened her eyes wide and jolted up off of her pillow. Her heart hammered against her chest. Someone clomped around on her front porch, and the wood creaked with each and every step. She could hear shouting, but it was pouring buckets. The rain pelted against her house’s tin roof, muffling their conversation.

Her three-legged dog, Tripod, howled; his raspy bark echoed into the thick night air. Thunder rattled the loose glass windows, and lightning dashed across the sky like the crack of a whip.

She was too scared to move. Her mind told her to get her cowardly butt out of bed, but the rest of her body wouldn’t cooperate. She lay frozen stiff and her limbs wouldn’t budge an inch.

A beam of light quickly flashed into her room, and she knew that the warm glow wasn’t coming from the lone dim light on her porch. It was bright, and she swore she heard the roar of a truck engine.

She pulled her thin blanket over her head, feeling the warmth of her breath. Her body slightly shook, and her heart continued to beat wildly. She knew she couldn’t stay in that position forever.

The sound of a gun shot pierced the humid night air, and a bullet flew through her window. Glass shattered everywhere.

“What the hell!” she cried out, fearing the worst.

She quickly jumped off of the bed and hid underneath it. Her cool, damp skin stuck to the cold hardwood floors. She crouched, wrapping her arms around her legs and moving as close to the wall as she could. She breathed heavy and hard, wondering what had just happened and where the heck her dad was.

The door downstairs flew open, crashing against the wall. Loud, booming footsteps bolted up the stair case in a hurry.

He shoved the door open and turned the light switch on. She could see his wet boots. A puddle was forming, and water flowed toward her on the old house’s slanted wooden floor.

“Evie,” he said breathlessly.

“Down here,” she whispered to him.

Her dad, Gray, peered under the bed. He breathed a sigh of relief. His lips curled up just a tinge. “You all right?”

“No,” she said, answering him as if it should have been obvious.

“You can come out.” He motioned to her, nodding his head encouragingly.

She crawled out from under the bed. Her pulse was still haywire.

“What happened?” Her eyes darted to the broken window and then to the floor now covered in glass.

“We’ll fix it tomorrow,” he said.

“What happened?” she asked again.

He took off his red baseball cap and scratched at his scalp of bushy brown hair. He was drenched, and his sopping shirt clung to his big belly. “I heard a loud noise and went out to see what it was. When I got outside, all I could see were a few shadows moving around and a truck parked on our grass near the end of the drive. It was real dark, and their lights were blinding me. Don’t know what they were up to but makes me wonder if they’re the same jack holes that messed with our fence.”

“You shouldn’t have gone out there by yourself.”
If only I had been awake
, she thought. She would have gone out there with him and given a few strong choice words to these hooligans. It took a couple of days to repair the fence, and wrangling in the two cows that had escaped wasn’t much fun, either.

He placed his hand on her shoulder and gave her a warm, appreciative smile. “Ain’t nothing but some dumb teenaged kids. When they saw I had a rifle, they got scared.”

Evie looked at the broken window again and then at him. “But...?”

He sighed and tightened his lips. “It don’t matter,” he said.

She gave him a look.

He huffed. “I had my finger on the trigger and tripped over a dern rock.”

“You.” She laughed. “Tripped.” She laughed. “Over a rock,” she said and then placed her hand in front of mouth to silence her laughs.

“This ain’t funny,” he said. “You could’ve gotten hurt.”

“Yeah, well, I guess first thing tomorrow morning I better scoop up all the pebbles out of our driveway since they’re a hazard now,” she said and chuckled again. “So that’s why it was like the Battle of Gettysburg in here because you tripped over a stupid rock?” She shook her head in disbelief and smiled, thinking of the fact that she had crawled under her bed and crouched on the floor because she was frightened. “A rock,” she thought to herself.

She could see a hint of a smile forming on his lips.

She grew serious and said, “Daddy, I thought the worst.”

“Me too.” He touched her cheek with his damp palm and gave her a tired smile. “Go on back to sleep, Punkin. We’re gonna have to get up early tomorrow.”

“Oh, there’s no way. I can’t sleep now,” she said and headed out of her room.

“Where are you going?” he asked as he followed her.

She grabbed her sweater and put it on. “Downstairs for a Coke. You want one?”

“Guess so. I can’t right sleep either. Too stirred up. My heart’s still racing a mile a minute,” he said.

She turned to face him, a look of concern filled her face. “Maybe you should sit down.”

“I ain’t the one who had a bullet fly at them,” he said. “Lawd have mercy, I nearly soiled my britches when I heard that bullet crash through your window. Fastest I’ve run since my football playing days in high school.”

“I know,” she said. “I heard you coming up the steps.”

A trail of water and mud followed her father as they made their way downstairs. The front door was still wide open, and the rain continued to gush from the sky. Tripod sat in front of the door, wagging his tail, acting as if nothing had happened.

“Looks like he’s recovered,” Evie said. “Must be nice living in the land of oblivion.”

“He’s still a good watch dog, ain’t you boy?” Gray patted him on the head before closing the door.

Evie turned on the kitchen light and opened the refrigerator, taking out two glass bottles of Coke. She picked up a bottle opener and peeled off the caps, handing a bottle to her dad. She took a swig as she sat down across from him.

“It’s getting worse,” she finally said.

“What’s that?” he asked, feigning ignorance, but she knew he knew exactly what she was talking about.

She raised her eyebrow.

“Like I say, they’re just some dumb kids messing around is all.”

“They must be really dumb because they’ve come back more than once. Think we should call the Sheriff?”

“Nah. Ain’t nothing to call about. Winton wouldn’t do nothing no how,” he said. “Don’t you worry. They ain’t gonna come back.”

“They might, since they saw you can’t shoot straight,” she said with a smile. Deep down she tried to believe him but suspected this might not be the last time they showed up on their land.

Chapter 2

The rooster crowed, waking Evie. She stretched her arms above her head and let out a long-winded yawn. It had been one hell of a night, and the few hours of sleep she managed to get weren’t enough. She forced herself out of bed and shuffled to her dresser, pulling out a pair of denim overalls and a faded green John Deere Tractor t-shirt.

She glanced around the room, the puddle of watery mud had been cleaned, and the shattered glass had been scooped. A piece of cardboard was taped over the window. She tiptoed carefully, knowing that she could have missed a few sharp pieces of glass in her haste to get back to sleep. After slipping into a pair of stark white, over bleached socks, she dragged herself downstairs.

The hardwood floors moaned as Gray moved around in the kitchen. The scent of bacon and burnt toast filled the room. The bitter aroma went straight into Evie’s nose and stuck to the top of her tongue. Gray had tried his hand at cooking but had failed miserably. Once again. Evie never understood why he even bothered to try. It wasn’t his specialty, and as much as he tried, it never would be. She appreciated the effort but hated the aftermath – dirty dishes that needed to be scrubbed clean and ridden of crusty attached food.

She scrunched her face at the blackened toast and peered over at the bacon, thankful it wasn’t scorched too.

“Morning, Punkin,” Gray said, kissing her lightly on the forehead. “I thought I’d make breakfast today.”

Evie gave him a grateful smile and said, “That’s okay, Daddy. I’ve got it. How about I make us some new toast?”

She placed two fresh slices into their toaster and grabbed the other charred pieces of bread, throwing them in the trash. She glanced at the coffee in the coffee pot, noticing it was light brown, looking almost like iced tea and not the usual dark brown color. “How many grounds did you add?”

“A few teaspoons,” he answered.

“That’s not enough,” she said and poured the full pot down the sink. It baffled her how a 45 year-old man could go through his whole life without ever learning how to make a simple pot of coffee.

“I thought it tasted like water,” he said, laughing at his ineptness.

“What kind of water have you been drinking?” she teased as she added several heaps of coffee grounds to the empty coffee filter and poured water into the machine, starting it up again. “It’ll be a few minutes.” She motioned to the pot and turned off the stove, so the frying bacon wouldn’t burn.

The toast popped up and she placed the slices on plates, slathering butter liberally on all of them. She grabbed a few pieces of bacon and plopped them down on the plates. “Here,” she said, sliding a plate in front of him. He looked down at it and back up at her, giving her an appreciative smile—the kind of smile that spoke the words “what would I do without you,” at least that’s how Evie read it.

“Is everything okay?” she asked, gesturing with her head to the outside of their house.

He nodded. “Seems to be. I think they were just some drunk kids trying to have a roll in the hay.” He snickered at his humor.

“In the rain?” Evie pointed out.

“Not in the literal sense. There’s plenty of ‘Inspiration Points’ around here,” he said and raised his eyebrows up and down.

BOOK: Kiss Me Hard Before You Go

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