Sophie Oak - Sirens in Bliss

Well, Long-Haired Roger wasn’t. The rest…

Marie rolled her eyes. “Well, Rafe, if we didn’t put him in the deep freeze, he was going to start to smell. Or he would attract animals. I took a vow a long time ago to not allow another animal to take a chunk out of Hi. Oh, we were shit faced from Mel’s tonic at the time, but out here a vow means something. Why do you want to let a bear eat Hi? Or a deer?”

“A deer?” He wasn’t quite following the conversation, but Rafe found himself utterly fascinated to see what would happen next.

“Oh, are you one of those liberals who think deer are all like Bambi?” Marie asked, her eyes narrowing in accusation. “Don’t you believe it. You haven’t stared into those doe eyes and just known that if you lay there long enough, a deer will eat you, too. This is the wilderness, Kincaid. This ain’t some namby-pamby suburb where neighbors don’t watch out for each other. Do you know how embarrassed Hi would be if he was eaten by a deer?”

“More or less than having his body stuffed into a freezer?” Rafe asked.

“It’s a really comfortable freezer, Rafe,” Zane said as though that was a completely sensible thing to say. “So look, we’re kind of flying by the seat of our pants here. It was all a shock when Bambi called Polly up and told her Hi was dead.”

Maybe he was dreaming. That would explain it. He’d fallen asleep, and he was having the oddest dream. “So a deer did get Hi.”

Zane sent him a look that let Rafe know he was a dumbass for not following along. “No, Bambi is a hooker.”

Marie shrugged. “But I think she’d probably eat a person, too.”

Polly sent Marie a fierce frown. “For a woman of your persuasion, you are very intolerant of alternative lifestyles, Marie.”

“Hooking ain’t an alternative lifestyle. It’s just a way of spreading venereal diseases and body glitter all over the place.”

“Well, Bambi is one of my best customers and you are just showing your ignorance, Marie. Bambi wouldn’t be caught dead in body glitter. You’re thinking of the strippers from the club two towns over. No, Bambi is all about her nails. That girl has to hook just to pay for her nails.” Polly looked down at her own briefly. “So much bling on a couple of little nails. I swear when the lights hit her hands it’s like a disco club from the seventies just pops up all around her.”

“Wait. We have strip clubs?” Long-Haired Roger asked, his brows climbing up his face. “When the heck did that happen?”

“Roger, it’s a rural strip club. You do not want to go there. You can’t unsee that shit.” Zane leaned forward.

“Could someone explain what happened?” It was like dealing with a group of toddlers. They all chased the shiny objects.

Zane continued. “So Bambi calls and Hiram’s dead and Polly flips out.”

“I did not flip out, Zane Hollister.” Polly pointed her extremely long fingernail straight at Zane. “I had a perfectly reasonable and rational reaction to the world ending. You know damn well what’s going to happen. We’ve plotted and planned and it all went up in smoke and cheap, knockoff perfume because no one wanted to step up to the plate and Hiram was too stubborn. I swear that man thought he would live forever.”

Rafe held a hand up. “Did this particular Bambi—hooker Bambi—murder Hiram?”

Maybe she’d taken off and they needed Rafe to track her. It had been a while, but he could do it.

Stella gasped a little. “Rafe, Bambi is a pacifist. She would never be violent unless a client paid her to. You know you’re sounding a little intolerant, too. Maybe we should rethink this whole thing.”

It was Rafe’s turn to sigh. If he didn’t watch it, someone would tell Nell he wasn’t honoring all peoples’ rights and she would chant outside his door. “All right, so Bambi is a sweet woman who loves her nails and peace on earth and gives blow jobs for a living. What did she have to do with Hiram’s death?”

Zane tried valiantly not to smile. His lips kept tugging up and then he would force them down. “She was, uhm, working with Hi at the time of his death.”

“So the mayor of Bliss had a heart attack while screwing a hooker,” Rafe surmised.

Zane finally grinned. “Yeah, I bet it was a good way to go. You should have seen the smile on the old guy’s face.”

“You can, actually,” Long-Haired Roger offered. “We got him to the deep freeze before it was gone.”

“He really did look good,” Polly said.

“That smile made him look like he was eighty-six again,” Stella reminisced. “That was a good year for him.”

If he didn’t get them back on task, he would lose them again. “All right, so you put Hiram in the deep freeze to spare him the scandal of dying in the arms of a hooker.”

Polly shook her head. “Oh, he wasn’t in her arms. He was in a sex sling.”

Zane scratched his head. “Yeah, I don’t think he really knew how to use that thing.”

Rafe’s frustration was growing. “Could someone please explain why the hell you’re all telling me this? Shouldn’t you talk to Nate? Or Caleb. Caleb really needs to write out a death certificate and someone should contact Hiram’s family.”

“We can’t tell Caleb because Caleb would want to put down his actual time of death. We can’t have that. It’s exactly what we’re trying to avoid. Oh, and Hiram’s family tossed him out long ago,” Marie said. “They lived here before the hippies showed up. There were about five families living here full time back then. Once the hippies formed their commune, two of the families—the Joneses and Penningtons—tried to get them thrown off the land they bought. When it didn’t work, they moved. Hi was already in his forties back then, but he hadn’t married. He had ten brothers and five sisters and his daddy was a minister. When he found out Hiram was helping the hippies winterize their cabins, he gave Hi a choice. He could go with the family to a more godly place or stay in Colorado and go to Hell. They went to Idaho and Hi stayed here. He never saw them afterward.”

So Hiram had given up a lot for this town. “They never called or wrote?”

Stella shook her head. “No, though Hi did try to keep up with them. They rebuffed him. His momma and daddy never talked to him again. And he lost track of all those siblings.”

Like Rafe would. His brother lived on the East coast. They hadn’t been close before, but Rafe had enjoyed seeing Javier at their mother’s house for Christmas. Javier had recently gotten married. How long would it be before his brother had children? Rafe wouldn’t know his nieces or nephews and Sierra wouldn’t know she had cousins. “So Hiram didn’t have a family.”

Stella seemed a little startled. “Of course he did.”

“Do you know who named this town?” Long-Haired Roger asked.

“I thought the hippies came up with Bliss.” It sounded like a very hippie-type name.

Polly shook her head. “Oh, no, that was Hiram. He named the town Bliss because he always said this was where his happiness was. Hiram had a family. He had us.”

Stella had tears in her eyes. “Hiram was everyone’s uncle or brother in the beginning. He told me once that he’d fallen in love with one of those hippie girls, but she couldn’t love him back. He let his family go because loving her and watching over her was more important to him than a family that would leave him behind over their prejudice.”

Zane looked up, obviously interested in that little bit of history. “Really? Hiram was in love? Did the girl stay around?”

Long-Haired Roger’s mouth hung open just a little. “Hiram never told me, Stella. Wow. That explains how Rye got the job as deputy after his mom died and he and Max needed jobs to keep custody of Brooke.”

“So Hiram was in love with Max and Rye’s mom,” Zane said.

“Oh, yes, but he never tried to come between her and her husband. Not that Jimmy turned out so great. That man better never walk back into Bliss. No, after Margie died and Jimmy left and well, the rest of the town took over for them and Hiram organized it all. He’s been the beating heart of this town, and I don’t know what we’ll do without him.”

Rafe sat back, moved by the story. He’d only known the man for a brief period of time and he’d seemed larger than life, the way a lot of the citizens of Bliss seemed to be. He’d been a bit of a cartoon character, but any human was deeper than his surface. It was something he’d forgotten along the way. No matter how cheerful or odd a man could seem, there was a well of loss and love beneath the surface, a well that formed a human life.

Hiram had lost one family and found another. Had he truly been happy?

“Well, we have to figure out what we’re going to do without him or his entire legacy will be gone.” Long-Haired Roger seemed intent on playing up his Chicken Little syndrome.

“Can we not take a minute to mourn?” Stella asked.

“Not much more than a minute,” Zane replied. “Because I have a whole shipment of wings coming in Monday morning, and I’m going to have to clean the freezer out.”

They all started talking at once, arguing in loud voices.

“Stop it,” Rafe said in a low voice. It was the voice he used to use on the most obnoxious of informants.

Though he hadn’t really raised his voice, they all quieted and long looks passed between the five of them.

Polly finally gave Zane a nod. “All right. I won’t fight you on it. You’re right about him.”

Everyone else sighed and some amount of tension seemed to leave the room.

Zane had a shit-eating grin on his face when he turned back to Rafe. “Just use that tone of voice on everyone and you’ll be fine, Mr. Mayor.”

Shit. His day had just taken a turn for the worse.

Aidan, Lexi, and Lucas

Aidan took a long breath and looked out over the Circle G. The noonday air was warm but not hot. So unlike Texas. If he was home, the day would already be hotter than hell. It was beautiful country, so unlike the flat plains of Texas where he’d grown up and spent his life. Mountains surrounded him on every side, rising from the high plains like mammoth guardians, protecting the ranch and house and herd. He wondered what it would look like covered in snow.

He wondered what Lexi would look like in a cute little parka, frolicking in the snow with Lucas. They would playfully fight, tossing snowballs at each other. He loved to watch them play like they were kids without a care in the world. He longed for a time when he was enough for both of them.

Lucas was napping. Aidan had left him in their big bed but it had seemed so empty without Lexi there. Lucas had taken care of his body. However, now that he was alone again, he was thinking of his girl.

“It’s different here, isn’t it?” Trev McNamara was suddenly beside him. “Even the air feels different in Colorado. And the sky is so blue. I haven’t gotten used to it yet. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that my kids are going to be from Colorado and not Texas, you know? I always thought they would be Texans.”

God, he’d given Trev hell in the beginning. He hadn’t wanted anything to do with the ex-football-star-turned-drug-addict. Trev McNamara had been a friend to strippers and drug dealers until the day he’d turned his whole life around. Trev had managed to do what very few people did. He’d taken his second chance and made something of himself.

Aidan actually had a lot to say to the man who was his brother’s partner. “It is different, but there’s not a damn thing wrong with it. I love Texas, but I have to admit, it’s easy to see why you love it here. The land is gorgeous and the people are…unexpected. I like them. They’re a little crazy but a whole lot of honest. And hell, you don’t have to deal with the Deer Run city council. Bunch of assholes.”

Money-grubbing assholes were what they were, but he’d managed to force their hand. It would teach them to try to grab his land. It still made him angry thinking about what they had tried to do. Thank god he’d kept it from Lexi. He didn’t want her worrying about something like that.

Trev smiled as he looked out over the spread he shared with Jamie and Noah. “No, but there are some drawbacks. I find Nell Flanders sometimes trying to talk my cows into forming a union. She thinks all living creatures respond to compassionate political views. I don’t think she’s ever watched a nature documentary in her life.”

It was a weird place, but he might take some weirdness over the nasty politics of his hometown. They were only accepted because of the money the ranch brought the town. Hell, that really only meant they hadn’t been run out of town. He had no idea what he was going to do when his kids were old enough to go to school. He was just grateful he’d kept Lexi out of it. “Well, Bo’s really happy here it seems to me. Trev, I just wanted to tell you how glad I am that you took Bo under your wing. He’s a damn fine man and a happy one. You and Beth have done spectacular things with him.”