Free Essential Beginnings by Kennedy Layne

his cargo pants, but he hadn’t gotten to leave yesterday and he’d spilled some steak sauce on them last night after grilling dinner. Denim and a faded black T-shirt was what he was stuck with until he returned home to wash some laundry. He wished it would be as easy to forget what happened on this trip as it was to dissolve the sauce stain in the fabric, but he doubted that would be the case.
    “Marvin Jenkins mentioned that Tank sent Henley in for some supplies at the hardware store.” Jarrett spit in his cup again, his curious eyes never leaving Mav. It was as if the older man thought Mav was hiding some important information that only he and Ernie knew. “Something we need to know about or is Ernie being Ernie?”
    “That earthquake at Yellowstone yesterday made Tank a little nervous, especially after what took place in Nepal earlier this year,” Mav replied nonchalantly, knowing full well whatever information he gave over would go directly to Stanley Ratliff. “He just wanted a few more items to round out his emergency stash, but now that things have quieted down…it’s business as usual. He has a new guest arriving at the lodge today, along with a large group in a couple of weeks. Spring sure has kicked off with a bang.”
    “Rat has a group of hikers coming in next week as well. They’ll be down in town at the livery to rent horses before Wednesday’s trail ride up through Lost Mountain,” Randy boasted, handing over Mav’s change before taking a seat on the stool he’d positioned behind the counter. “It’ll be good for business here about.”
    “Well, gentlemen, it was good to see you this trip.” Mav returned his change to his wallet and then slid the worn old trifold into his back pocket. “Maybe next time I’ll play a game of chess with one of you.”
    Jarrett barked out a laugh while Randy smiled, both men aware that Mav wasn’t a chess player. Now poker? That was a different story and when the crew got together on their annual trip, there wasn’t an evening that passed that someone didn’t win or lose a pot of money. Mav pulled down his cheap shades as he walked out the door, heading for his Jeep. He looked down the road and spotted Henley’s sun-weathered red truck and for a moment he paused before opening his door. Did he want to speak with her before leaving town?
    “You’re a fool,” Mav muttered, shaking his head to try and get rid of the temptation to drive back over to the diner. “She made herself quite clear.”
    There was no need to continue to make a fool of himself. The taste of her still lingered on his lips and he doubted it would wash off any time in the near future. Mav hadn’t been a Boy Scout and he’d dated his fair share of women, but he would gladly have thought about moving up his agenda of relocating if Henley had given him any indication that she’d wanted more between them than their connection through Ernie. The pull he had toward her was strong, but she obviously didn’t feel the same. If anything, she thought he was lower than dirt, but that wasn’t anything he hadn’t dealt with before. He was a fucking professional.
    Mav opened his door and wedged his large frame behind his steering wheel. He’d left the keys in the ignition, so all he did was turn over the engine and then pull out of the gas station without a backward glance. As much as he loved visiting Tank, it was time to head home to the land of reality where burglaries, robberies, and murders were among the normal activities of his job. At least he knew what to expect there and how to handle it.
    Mav had made it around a mile out of town when something caught his attention in the rearview mirror. What the hell? At first he thought Sheriff Ramsey might have been called to an accident on the outskirts of town, but then he recognized Henley’s old stake bed pick-up truck barreling down on him. He felt a spike of anger when he realized just how fast she was driving. He was astonished when she