Victor's Vow, page 2
"You can go by now, drop your stuff off, and pick a room.” She
moved to the rear of the shop for a moment, and came back, tossing him
some keys. “You go and settle in. I only have a couple more clients to
do, then I’m free for the rest of the day.” He turned, reached for the
handle, stopping as his sister spoke again. “She works at the diner.”
“Who?”
“The one you were just going to ask me about, and before you ask
anything else, no, she isn’t seeing anyone, and in my opinion she isn’t
doing that well, either. She only works part time. Not sure how she’s
making it. I’ve been trying to get her to come and stay with me, but she
won’t. The place she’s in is nothing but a damn dump, and don’t get me
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started on anything more with her right now, either.”
“On the shit list?”
“Some, but all will be forgiven if I know you’re going to help me
with her.”
“Are you trying to play matchmaker?”
Amanda waved him away. “Go. I’ve got work to do. We’ll talk
when I get home, and I’ll bring food.”
“Let me guess, still not cooking?”
“Who has time?”
Vinny chuckled, shaking his head as he left. He didn’t bother with
putting his sunglasses on as he walked back in the direction of the diner.
He walked in, and once more all eyes went straight at him. A few
watched him walk all the way to the back, to the last booth in the place.
Nothing had changed in the diner. The place still had an old time
feel to it, one he didn’t think would ever go away. Hell, the owner still
used the old time shake glasses and had the old signs up where the
shakes were only a quarter.
He waited for a few minutes, staring back at the people still brave
enough to stare, waiting for someone to come out and take his order. He
hoped like hell Charlie would be the one to serve him. When she came
around the corner, her head down to look at the tickets in her hand, his
gut turned in excitement.
Time had done wonders for her just as it had done for him. Her body
was filled out more. Her legs were long and shapely, and her hips had
more curves to them. He couldn’t make out much more of her body than
that, not with the dull pink uniform she had on, but he could see the nice
soft brown locks of hair pulled back in a ponytail.
“What can I get you?” she asked, her voice so sweet he wanted to
hear it desperately scream out his name as she climaxed around him.
Down boy!
“Hello, Charlie,” he said in what he prayed inside was a cool and
collected voice.
She stilled, her head slowly coming up, eyes wide open. Pale cheeks
instantly colored, dark green eyes sparkled some, and her mouth opened
ever so slightly, letting him get a very tiny view of her tongue. Oh yes,
without any doubt at all, this was the woman he wanted.
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“Vi-Vinny.” She gasped. “What are you doing here?”
He smiled big and leaned back in the booth, letting her get a view of
the width of his chest, just to see if it might affect her as it had with other
women he’d met in the past. It did. Her breathing increased, and she
squirmed from foot to foot. Her eyes also darted from his chest to his
face. Good, that meant she was interested in him. It was a start.
“Ordering,” he answered.
“No,” she replied with a frown and a shake of her head. “No, what I
mean is what are you doing back? I thought Mandy said not until
Christmas.”
“I had a change of plans.”
“What? Why?”
“We got orders piling up!” the cook yelled.
Shaking her head again, she turned away from him.
“Hey, coffee and some pie. Whatever kind you’ve got handy,” he
said quickly.
With her frown still in place, she nodded and went back to the
counter. He watched her pick up plates and take them to tables. In the far
end corner of the place, he spotted Levi talking to the sheriff. Surprise,
surprise.
Once Charlie had all her food served, she came back to him with a
cup of coffee and some cherry pie. She put them both down and started
to walk off, but he called her back.
“How have you been?” he asked, pouring some cream into his cup.
“I’m busy, Vinny. The boss doesn’t like for us to chat with the
customers.”
“Yeah, well, my gut tells me if it was Levi then you could talk all
day.”
“Don’t go there.” She ripped off some paper and put it down on the
table. “I’m not with him, and I’m not with you. Have a nice day.”
She walked away, and once more his eye caught Levi. The smug
bastard had a strange look on his face. Instead of staying, which he really
wanted to do, Vinny took a sip of his coffee, one bite out of the pie and
slid out of the booth. He reached into his pocket and brought out some
cash, tossed it to the table, and then walked out. He knew everyone was
watching him. With the kind of training he had over the years, he could
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feel eyes on his back.
* * * *
Memory gave him directions to the place Amanda told him she’d
bought. When he turned into the driveway he had to whistle at what he
saw. Sure enough, she’d redone the whole place. Instead of a rundown
dump, a beautiful cabin with new life and new trees all around greeted
him.
He parked in the driveway, grabbed his large camo duffle bag, and
walked up the front steps, put the key in the lock to open the door and
stepped inside. Typical log cabin walls, wooden floors, and she had
wooden furniture facing the fireplace with a flat screen TV overhead. A
stairway led upstairs between the kitchen and living room. In the kitchen
there were all wood cabinets and stainless steel appliances. Over all,
Vinny had to say he was impressed with everything Amanda had done
with the old house.
Dropping his bag by the stairs, he went into the kitchen and looked
in the fridge. Empty. Not really a surprise, so he made a mental note to
stock up on groceries. He wasn’t a take-out kind of guy. Once in a while
it was fine, but not every night. Having been away, he missed those
home cooked meals. Amanda could cook. She just never took the time,
putting all her energy into her shop.
Upstairs, a hallway wrapped around the house. He opened each
bedroom door to look inside. Amanda’s room was the first door he
opened. No doubt about it being hers, judging by the mess inside. The
sight of it had him smiling.
Each bedroom had its own bathroom. Vinny decided to take the
room farthest away from his sister. She didn’t need to hear things go
bump in the night, and he planned on doing some bumping soon. His
new room didn’t have much in the way of decorations, which was fine
with him. Simple always worked. What he found amazed him with how
his sister had kept her theme for the house. Each piece of furniture was
made out of the same logs used to build the cabin. Even the beds, which
were all queen size.
Vinny unpacked his things and made the room as much of his own
as he could. He placed a couple photos he had of his army buddies on the
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walls. Once he was finished putting his things away, he went back
downstairs to look the place over more.
Off to the back of the living room was a dining room with a table
and chairs. It seated six. A wash room/laundry room and a half bath were
attached to the kitchen. For the most part the place was simple, had a
homey feeling to it, and was kind of in the middle of nowhere. He
ventured out back and smiled again. Amanda had put in a pool. Oh, the
things he could do in that pool.
“Vinny!” Amanda’s voice rang out.
“Back here,” he called.
In seconds Amanda was at his side, still smiling. She wrapped her
arms around him and leaned her head onto his chest. “You don’t know
how good it is to finally have you home, and this is your home. You’re
not my guest, so get any of that crap out of that big head.”
“Yes, ma’am. Love the pool.”
“Yeah, it’s my sin, I must confess.” She sighed. “I don’t get to use it
that much. I’ve been so busy.”
“So what’d you bring?”
“Pizza and beer.”
“Okay, but the take-out stops. I’ll stock up tomorrow.”
“Don’t go spoiling me now.”
“Wouldn’t think of it.” They went back inside, into the kitchen.
He’d missed seeing the small table in the corner next to the window
when he’d walked through. He sat down with a sigh and rubbed his knee.
“So give me all the dirty.”
“It’s killing you, isn’t it?”
“Damn right.”
She laughed, handed him a plate, and flipped open the pizza box.
“What part do you want to know first?”
“Everything that has happened in the four years I’ve been gone.”
“Well, we got some new roads outside of town.” Vinny stopped
drinking his beer with the bottle at his lips and gave her a dirty look. She
laughed at him. “Okay. First off before we go into details and all, keep in
mind that Levi is still after her like a bitch in heat.”
“Figured that out for myself when I saw him at the diner.” He put
the beer down and took a slice of pizza. “Not the kind of place for him to
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have lunch.”
“Well, when she came back—”
“Whoa!” He interrupted. “Came back? Sounds like you’ve left a few
things out of your letters. Where the hell did she go?”
“After she graduated, she started college in the next county, but it
didn’t last. Ran out of money, so she came back. Dozer tried to help her,
but she wouldn’t take anything from him, either. I think she’s still pissed
he left her to deal with everything when their father died.”
“Do you blame her? He left and didn’t look back.”
“From the way that old bastard treated him, I’m on his side for
leaving. He just should’ve taken Charlie with him.”
“So what else?”
“I’ve been trying to give her a hand, but she’s being so damn
stubborn about letting me help. Hell, I’ve even been working on her to
come and stay here with me. I would love the company, but she says if
she can’t carry her own weight, she isn’t going to move in. I just know
Stan isn’t paying her more than minimum and her tips. She moved back
into the house, which needs a ton of work. I really don’t know how she’s
holding on.”
“Her old house?” She nodded. He grimaced. “Last time I saw the
place it needed a new roof. Who knows what else needs to be done after
all this time.”
“That’s where she’s living, and now there’s some dipshit starting
fires in town.”
“Nice. Any clue who’s doing it?”
“Nope and he’s starting to cause a lot of damage around the town.
Only one more reason why I’d love to have Charlie come live with me.
You never know when this guy is going to strike again, and I don’t want
her getting caught in some nut’s fire all the way out in the middle of
nowhere.”
“I’ll fix that. It’ll be the first thing on my list.”
“You’ve got a list?”
“Oh, yeah.”
Amanda started to laugh. “Sucks to be her then.”
“What else?”
“You mean has she dated anyone?” Vinny nodded. “You’re not
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going to believe this. There was a rumor that she went out with Levi
again, but I don’t believe it, and she says not. However, no other guy
around town has asked her out. We did have Stan’s nephew visiting for a
few months, and he asked her out, but then I saw Levi talking to him,
and he was gone.”
“He’s acting like a dog that’s marked his territory and made a
claim,” Vinny said, slumping back in his chair. Amanda frowned at him,
and he rolled his eyes at her. “You know the ‘If I can’t have you I’ll
make damn sure no one else will either.’ High school shit guys used to
do.”
“Sounds childish to me.”
“It is, but when you’ve got money to back it up, you can pull it off.
Going to enjoy stopping that shit real fast.” He smiled at the idea
“Watch your back this time. You two aren’t kids, and this new
sheriff doesn’t put up with much.”
“From what I saw he looked like he was in Levi’s pocket.”
“That’s what I mean.”
“What else do I need to know?”
“This little plan of yours isn’t going to be easy to fulfill,” she told
him with a smirk. “I know my best friend. She isn’t going to come
crawling back to you.”
“Crawling back would imply that we were a couple, and we
weren’t.”
“Don’t try that shit with me. You know what I’m talking about.”
“No, I don’t think I do. Why don’t you spell it out for me?”
They stared at each other for a few moments before Amanda sighed.
“All games aside, Vinny, she’s still my best friend.”
“I know that.”
“I don’t want to see her get hurt. This isn’t a game. It’s her heart
you’re messing with.”
“I’m not messing with anything. I’m just going to, um, let’s say
show her we belong together.”
“Show her?” One eyebrow went up on Amanda’s sweet oval face.
“You don’t want to know.”
“You’re right; I don’t want to know. What I do want to know is why
after all this time you’re so interested in her? I know what happened that
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last night, but it’s been four years without a word to her. You don’t really
think it’s going to be easy to charm your way back to her good side, do
you?”
“I did write to her.”
Amanda stopped drinking her beer and glared at her brother.
“Excuse me?”
“I wrote to her a bunch. She never wrote back.”
“No, she’d have told me if you wrote to her. Neither did you.”
“Trust me, I did, and she didn’t answer one of them. The last letter I
sent was like six months ago telling her I was coming back for her.”
“Why the hell didn’t she tell me?”
Vinny shrugged his shoulders. “You think she even read them?”
“Maybe. I know a few times she was in a bad mood, so maybe that’s
a yes. Your letter must have pissed her off.”
“You have no faith in me.”
Amanda snorted. “I remember some of the past girls you’ve hurt.
That exchange student from where-the-hell-ever, staying with the
Nelsons that summer. The fling you had with her was the talk of the
town. She fell in love with you and thought you were going to marry her
after you slept with her.”
“Hey, for the record,” he held one finger up in the air, “she wasn’t a
virgin like she wanted the town to think. Second, she chased me down. I
just did what any normal guy would’ve done with raging hormones back
then. Oh, and to set the record straight, Charlie was the only virgin I’ve
ever had or plan to have.”
“TMI, more than I need to know! Hello!”
She tossed her pizza crust at him with a loud laugh. Vinny couldn’t
help the stupid smile that crept over his face at his sister’s words. He
raised both arms up and over his head, just smirking at her.
“Oh, I so hope she gives you hell and doesn’t make this easy for
you.”
“Not on my side?” He cocked his head to one side and tried to play
innocent with her.
She snorted. “Hell no.”
“Where’s the sisterly love?”
“I’ve seen what guys like you do.”
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“What do we do?”
“You chase and chase, get it, then toss it away. It’s all about the
chase.”
“This isn’t about the chase, Mandy. I really do care about Charlie.
She’s all I’ve thought about. I’m going to fix this. You just wait and
see.”
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Chapter Two
