“I have no trouble believing you’re smart, Sid. I knew that from the beginning. And I understand why you’re a commitmentphobe right now, after what you went through,” he said. “But I bet I’m not anything like him.”

She laughed. “There’s no question about it.”

“I do have secret ambitions, however,” he said.

“Oh? Do tell?”

“I’m having a good experience here, too. I don’t hate the garbage truck. I’ve had worse duty, believe me, and I love working with Lawrence. But I’m weighing some other options. Maybe the fire department. And I’m still interested in that teaching certificate.” He laughed. “Two important fields guaranteed to keep me from getting rich. Lucky for me, getting rich was never one of my major goals.” He pulled into the parking space at the soup kitchen. “We have lots of time, Sid. Would you like coffee and cake tonight when we’re done here?”

“I think so, yes,” she said. “You never asked me about my husband before.”

“We did a lot of our best talking while naked,” he reminded her. “I didn’t want to know anything about him then.”

“Wise,” she agreed.

* * *

Summer was full on the land as the Fourth of July weekend arrived. Dakota worked hard by day and had perfect evenings. He had dinner at the bar at least a couple of times a week, dinner with Cal, Maggie and Sully at least once a week, dropped in on Sierra a couple of times a week if he didn’t have dinner with her, and most nights Sid drove out to the cabin for the night. More and more of her personal items took up residence in his cabin: her shower gel, toothbrush, hairbrush, lotion, a few extra clothing items. He even drove back to Denver to briefly visit with Sedona in the hospital. She had wisely chosen to go back to the hospital where she had originally been diagnosed and was making progress.

His family was settled and he had a fantastic woman in his life. Things had not been this stable and hopeful in his memory. He’d even been kicking around the idea of a brief visit to Iowa to check on the folks, not so much because he thought they wanted him to visit, but it seemed like a good time to try to make peace with his childhood.

Then a very strange thing happened to remind him life was never uncomplicated. While he was in the bar having dinner, his car parked across the street right in front of the beauty shop, someone emptied a pile of hair clippings in the front seat. At first he couldn’t make out what it was but soon recognized it to be many colors of finely cut hair. By the time he discovered it, the salon was closed, lights off.

“Crazy,” he muttered. He suspected Alyssa, but he hadn’t seen her in weeks. Well, he saw her at a distance. He had no reason to think she was malicious, but who else had hair clippings to toss in a car?

He walked down the block and across the street to the police department. He found Officer Paul Castor holding down the fort. “How you doing, Paul?” he asked.

“Not bad,” he said.

“Let me ask you something—you have an issue with vandalism on the main street here?” Dakota said.

“Nah. It’s well lit, lots of business owners around, stores open. Why? You have a problem?”

He shook his head and laughed. “Someone dumped a pile of hair clippings on the driver’s seat of my car.”

Castor lifted his eyebrows.

“I know—pretty strange, isn’t it?”

“You have a fight with a barber?”

Dakota shook his head. “I guess you never heard that one before, huh?”

“Any damage?”

“No, just a slight mess. I’m going to have to take the car somewhere to get it vacuumed out.”

“You’re in luck. I have a rechargeable minivac I can loan you.”

“That would be great!”

Dakota took the minivac to his car, vacuumed the hair, then drove down to the police department to return it.

He didn’t say anything to Sid, though he weighed that decision heavily. It was that old nagging insecurity. He didn’t want to seem like he had a lot of trouble following him to a woman who was already trying to keep life simple. But he did go to the beauty shop immediately after work the next day.

“Alyssa?” Maria said. “She’s not here but we can fit you in for a trim.”

“Actually, I wanted to talk to her.”

Maria’s smile was instant and wide. “She’ll be so disappointed to have missed you! She’s on a little trip with a couple of girlfriends. She’ll be back on Monday morning.”

“But she was here last night?”

“She’s been gone since Tuesday night—a long weekend in Vegas. Girls’ trip.” She clicked her teeth, but smiled. “Nothing but trouble.”

“Then never mind—it’s nothing. I, ah, parked in front of the shop last night while I went to the bar across the street and someone got in there and went through my stuff. Glove box and console. Nothing was stolen. I just thought I’d ask her if she noticed anything. Anyone.”

“Well, I was here and I didn’t see a thing,” Maria said. “It was light until after closing. That’s a nervy thing to do in broad daylight.”

“Kids, probably,” he said.

“Kids around here aren’t perfect, but they’re not dumb. If they go through a car, they usually find something to take. Did you have CDs or anything in there?”

He just smiled. “That’s the point—there wasn’t anything to take. Unless they were interested in my AAA packet and an owner’s manual. No worries. But thanks. I appreciate it.”

The whole family spent the Fourth of July at the Crossing with Sully and a full park of campers. Elizabeth and Sam were content in their swings in the shade by the lake, Cal and Dakota grilled the food, Connie threw the ball for Molly and Sully’s dog, Beau. The only person missing for dinner was Sid. She was with her brother and nephews because the bar was open. She worked until six and then left the bar in the hands of one of the other managers to go home for a backyard picnic with Rob and the boys. At nine she brought the boys to the Crossing to watch the fireworks at the lake. The dogs were a hit with Sid’s nephews and Dakota thought a couple of dogs in the family might help him reel in the boys.

Later that week, Dakota walked Sid out to her car first thing in the morning. She’d spent the night even though he had an early shift on the garbage truck. When she opened her car door they both jumped back in shock. The entire front seat—driver’s seat and passenger seat—was heaped with garbage. Smelly garbage. Not recyclable paper or plastic but degrading, rotting, wet food.

“Oh my God!” Sid exclaimed. “Who would do such a thing?”

“I never heard a car,” he said. “I never heard a sound. I’m pretty sensitive to out of place sounds after a few war zones. Little things, like a click, can be a matter of life and death. Whoever did this didn’t drive up to the car. I’m calling Stan. I’ll call work and explain that I can’t start until later. You can take my car and I’ll see that yours is cleaned up.”

“How will you manage that?”

“I have lots of resources. Cal, Sierra, Sully. I can do it.”

My son, may you be happier than your father.

—SOPHOCLES

14

SIERRA WAS ALREADY home from the diner on Tuesday afternoon when Dakota finished his shift and dropped in. Connie had the day off and had been home with Sam. The door was open and through the screen door Dakota could see Connie was cooking dinner, Sam was propped up in his walker, though still so small he couldn’t make any headway, and Sierra sat at the breakfast bar folding little clothes. He tapped at the door, announced himself and walked in. Molly barked at him, then jumped on him for good measure, and Sam squealed and raised his little arms; Sierra yelled at the dog to get down. All in all a lovely domestic scene.

“Look what the cat dragged in,” Sierra said. “Can you stay for dinner?”

“Probably not, I have errands,” he said. “But I have to talk to you about something very weird.”

“I specialize in weirdness,” she said. “How’s Sid?”

“Oh, she’s great, considering.”

“Considering what?” Sierra demanded. “Did you do something stupid?”

“I’m completely blameless,” he said, squatting in front of Sam. He made a couple of playful sounds and asinine faces and the baby giggled like mad. Helpless, Dakota kept it up for a while, then kissed the baby on his head before rising. “This is the happiest baby I have ever seen. He has no idea all he’s been through.”

“He’s amazing, isn’t he? I bet if we had one of our own, he or she would be a holy terror.”

“I doubt it,” Dakota said. “You’re both so frickin’ sweet. Hey, any chance you have a cold beer?”

“A very limited supply that I’m willing to share with you,” Connie said.

“Thanks. Whatcha building over there?”

“I’m marinating flank steak that will go on the grill, corn on the cob and potatoes. There’s plenty.”

“Thanks but I’m going to head to town. Sid’s working. But I have to talk to you guys about something. When I first got to town I met two women right away and both of them hit on me. Alyssa at the beauty shop and some fancy woman named Neely, who happened into the bar.”

Connie and Sierra looked at each other with shocked expressions on their faces. “Oh, brother,” Connie said. And Sierra followed with, “Boy, can you pick ’em.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Dakota said. He proceeded to tell them the story from the beginning—Alyssa’s rather pitiful and hopeless pursuit, Neely’s crazy and almost scary pursuit, the flat tires, hair clippings, the garbage. Neely’s convoluted double message to the police chief, accusing Dakota of an assault.

“Garbage in your girlfriend’s car,” Sierra said. “A little obvious, isn’t it?”