Page 4 of Trophy

A couple of hours later Allison was so exhausted she could barely move.

She’d unpacked her summer clothes, leaving her winter clothes in boxes since she didn’t have room for them anyway. She’d put away all the stuff she’d bought from the store, and she’d hauled up a chair, a couple of side tables, a bed frame, and a mattress from the basement.

The bed had been the hardest. It was just a full size, not even a queen, but she’d almost killed herself getting it up the steep basement stairs by herself. But after Rob had been so patronizing about it, she had to prove she could do it on her own.

She took a long shower and put on a simple light green sundress, since she still needed to go out to get something to eat.

She’d bought a few staples from Walmart, but she didn’t have anything easy to eat. She didn’t have the energy to make something anyway.

There was a restaurant in the small downtown section of Fielding. It was only a mile away. She’d get a sandwich there tonight and then go grocery shopping tomorrow.

She’d learned how to drive as a teenager, and Arthur had bought her a car, but she’d never driven very much, since she’d always used Arthur’s car service. She was out of practice. Plus, her father’s car was a tank, and she was very uncomfortable maneuvering it on the road.

She drove very slowly, relieved when she saw a parking space next to the restaurant that wasn’t too difficult to fit the car into.

The restaurant was called Dora’s Café, but it was really more like a diner, with several stools in front of a bar counter and two rows of booths that looked very uncomfortable.

There were about ten customers in the restaurant when Allison walked in, and all of them turned to stare at her as she entered.

Maybe it was only natural observation of who had just entered. Maybe it wasn’t as blatant as it felt. But she was very self-conscious as she walked up to the counter. They were watching her like she was some kind of alien.

“What can I get you, honey?” a tired waitress with fake red hair asked her, pulling out a pad of paper.

No one had offered her any sort of menu. She imagined most people who ate here already knew what was available. “Do you have a club sandwich?” she asked, trying to think of something most restaurants served.

“Sure thing. White or wheat?”

“Wheat. Thank you. And I’ll take it to go, please.” Allison had been thinking about eating in the restaurant, just to get out of the house, but with so many people looking at her, she decided she’d enjoy her meal more by herself.

She perched on a stool at the counter and tried to avoid the eyes of the large man beside her in the dirty T-shirt and camouflage ball cap.

“You lost, sweetheart?” he asked after a minute of staring at her.

She cleared her throat and gave him a small smile without meeting his eyes. “No. I’m not. Thank you.”

“You just passing through, then?”

He obviously didn’t think she looked like she belonged in this town.

He was right. At the moment, she had a comfortable dress on, with her hair pulled back in a low ponytail and no jewelry on and very little makeup.

Arthur would have thought her barely appropriate to be seen in public like this, but she felt way overdressed compared to everyone else in the diner.

“No,” she said quietly, looking down at the counter. “I’m not.”

“She’s Chris and Sharon’s girl,” a familiar voice said from farther down the counter. “Helen Davies’ granddaughter.”

Allison sucked in a breath and leaned over far enough to see Rob sitting four stools down, finishing off a hamburger.

Great. Just her luck. She couldn’t get away from him.

“Oh yeah?” the greasy guy next to her said. “You selling their house?”

“No. I’m moving in.” She didn’t like to share her business with strangers—and the entire restaurant appeared to be listening—but she was going to live in this town and she didn’t want to alienate everyone immediately. They were probably already predisposed to assume she was some kind of city snob.

Maybe she was.

“No kidding!” The guy leaned over to look at Rob. “So you got a pretty new neighbor, West? How come you get all the luck?”

When Rob didn’t answer, Allison couldn’t help but look over at him, although she’d been trying to ignore him.

He’d stood up and was swallowing the last of his water. After he’d put the glass down, he pulled out a billfold and laid a twenty on the counter without waiting for change.

He gave the man next to him a soft punch on the shoulder and then gave Allison a polite nod, with just a hint of a smile still on his lips, as if he were still a little amused by her unwillingness to let him help earlier. “See y’all later.”

Allison wasn’t exactly sure who he was talking to. Maybe it was everyone, since nearly everyone in the room either mumbled or called out a farewell.

Either everyone knew everyone else in this town, or else everyone knew Rob.

He eased out the door with a relaxed swagger that showed he was comfortable in this place and in his own skin.

Allison was not comfortable. She hoped her sandwich would be done soon so she could get back to the privacy of her home.

She didn’t regret divorcing Arthur. In fact, it was the best thing she’d ever done. But she couldn’t help but wonder if she’d made a mistake by moving to this rural town.

She wasn’t likely to ever fit in here.

Fifteen minutes later Rob West was leaning against his pickup truck, talking to his friend Keith, whom he’d run into on leaving Dora’s.

He and Keith had gone through school together, and they’d married in the same month, when they’d both been eighteen.

But while Keith’s marriage had worked out and produced four kids, Rob’s had fallen apart within a few years.

Then his second marriage had imploded two years ago.

Fortunately he’d not had any kids of his own to deal with the fallout, although his former stepdaughter was more than enough.

Keith obviously knew something about marriage that Rob didn’t.

“Are you even listening to me?” Keith asked, blowing out a long puff of smoke from his cigarette.

Rob hadn’t been listening. He’d been thinking about a beautiful pair of brown eyes and a very fine, shapely body. “Not really.”

“Dee causing more problems?” Keith asked, his eyes focused on the cars that occasionally drove down Main Street.

“Nah. Not thinking about her. Thank God.” Dee was Rob’s second ex-wife. She still lived in town and was always calling him up with one sob story or another.

“One day you’re going to have to stop running to help her.”

Rob exhaled deeply. He knew it was true, but it was harder than it sounded. Dee always threw a fit if she didn’t get what she wanted, and it was easier to just help her than to put up with that kind of scene.

Besides, Rob liked to help people. He liked to be needed.

“One day,” Keith continued, as if he’d just read Rob’s mind, “you’re going to have to think through why you’re so set on helping everyone.”

There was a strangely significant timbre to the words for such a casual conversation. Rob narrowed his eyes at his friend. “What is that supposed to be mean?”

Keith blew out a puff of smoke. “I don’t know.”

“It sounded like you meant something by it.”

“Don’t get huffy. I don’t know even know what I meant. It was just somethin’ to say. I was—” Keith broke off as he got distracted by someone leaving Dora’s. He gave a soft whistle of appreciation.

Rob knew who he’d seen. Her name was Allison. He knew that because her folks had told him, not because she’d bothered to introduce herself. He tried not to stare as she carried her Styrofoam container down the sidewalk toward the parking lot, but he couldn’t drag his eyes away from her.

From the moment he’d seen her across the street, getting out of that Cadillac, he’d been mesmerized. She wasn’t just beautiful. She seemed so elegant, so different from all the girls he knew. And underneath her polished appearance was something delicate, vulnerable.

And she must have gotten divorced, since she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring anymore.

His eyes met hers as she drew nearer, and she gave him a nod without a smile. Just acknowledging his existence. Obviously not inviting any sort of acquaintance. She didn’t like him.

Rob wasn’t used to people not liking him. It was strange and frustrating.

She raised a hand to her face as she passed by then and turned her head slightly. When she was out of hearing distance, Keith muttered, “Who the hell is that?”

“She moved in across the street from me.”

“Lucky bastard.” Keith always talked like that, although everyone knew he was very happily married. “She doesn’t look too friendly, though.”

“I think the cigarette bothered her,” Rob said, wondering why he was offering an excuse for her.

She probably wasn’t very friendly. She probably thought she was too good for him, for any of them, for this town.

Her parents had always bragged about her, talking about the rich, important man she’d married.

There was no way in hell she would be interested in him.

Despite this self-evident conclusion, Rob found himself watching as she got into the car and drove away.

“You might as well get that look out of your eye,” Keith said, laughing.

“What look?”

“You know what look. I know all the girls in town think you’re God’s gift to shit, but you don’t have a shot in hell with that one. She’s way out of your league.”

Rob narrowed his eyes, immediately defensive, maybe because Keith had just verbalized the conclusion he’d come to himself. “You don’t know that.”

“Oh, yes, I do. She’d never go out with you.”

Rob was usually pretty easygoing, but he scowled at his friend. “I bet she would.”

He had no real reason to believe his words. He just wanted them to be true.

“Seriously? You want to bet on it?”

“No, I don’t want to bet.”

“See? Told you you couldn’t get her to go out with you.”

Rob let out a frustrated groan. “You really want to bet? On something so stupid?”

“Absolutely. A hundred bucks.” Keith was grinning now. “You’re always trying to help everyone else, so it’s time for you to start helping yourself. Or you can just admit that girl is way out of your league.”

Rob knew his friend was baiting him. He knew he shouldn’t fall for it.

But he kept thinking there might be a chance that Allison could warm up to him.

She might just need some time to get used to Fielding and the transition in her life.

He’d never had trouble getting women to go out with him.

He couldn’t remember the last time anyone had told him no.

“Fine,” he said at last. “It’s a bet. What’s the time line?”

“Three months. You’ve got to get her to go out with you in three months.”

“Easy.”

Rob didn’t actually believe it would be easy, but three months was a long time. She’d be living across the street from him, after all, and she’d probably need a lot of help. Help he could provide.

He felt excited for the first time in a really long time.