I’m finally revisiting the characters from The River City Chronicles nine years after their original timeline. I’ll be running the series weekly here on my blog, and then will release it in book form at the end of the run. Hope you enjoy catching up with all your faves and all their new secrets!
Today, Ben meets the Stranger, and finds out he’s been stalked…
< Read Chapter 41
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Chapter Forty-Two
I’m Not Alice
Ben hustled through the evening, making sure his staff had things well in hand, both in the front and back of house. Sunday nights at Zocalo in East Sac were usually calmer, but tonight the place was bustling, the game was on the TVs above the bar, and the margaritas were flowing like a river.
More than once during the evening, he’d had to step in between a couple of patrons before things came to blows. It was a rare thing—the place wasn’t a sports bar, after all—but some nights were just like that. And it wasn’t even a full moon—that was still a week-and-a-half away.
The whole time he thought about Loralei. He’d spilled his big, dark secret to her the night before, and she’d barely flinched. She was a remarkable woman, and they’d already made plans to see each other again the next week. His heart raced at the thought of her.
“He’s still there.” Maria found him checking the next week’s schedule at the host stand. Her voice carried a tinge of annoyance.
Ben glanced at the man who was seated at table one, the booth all the way in the corner, next the picture windows that looked out onto the lovely University Village parking lot. He was middle-aged, dressed in a light blue button-down shirt that was open far enough to show his hairy chest. He had on dark sunglasses, making him look like an out-of-work secret service man who’d lost his last client. True to the stereotype, he was nursing his third margarita, as if he was working up the courage for something. “Has he been rude to you?”
The waitress shrugged. “No. He’s real quiet. You know, like ‘he was always such a quiet man’ quiet. But he’s killing my turnover.”
Ben laughed. “He can’t be that bad. Why don’t you ask if he’d mind moving to the bar and offer him a free drink on the house?”
She smiled. “Will do, jefe.”
He watched her approach the man, wondering why he looked so familiar. Must have seen him around somewhere. Probably one of those customers who comes in every now and then, not quite often enough to be remembered, but enough so that they had that strange familiarity. He turned his attention back to the schedule. Angelica was out this week—
“He said no.” Maria was back, and she was pouting. “Says he wants to talk to Alice.”
Ben stiffened. Alice? It must be a coincidence. He turned to look at the man again, and found him staring back.
Maria bit her lip. “Will you talk to him? I need that table.”
“Of course.” Definitely a coincidence. “Let me just wrap up the schedule.” He turned back to the screen. Cynthia and Ruby could work Saturdays, but Marta hated weekends… “There. That should do it.” But she was already gone, on one of her other customers.
The man was staring at him intently. When he caught Ben’s gaze, he picked up his margarita and drained the glass, setting it back down next to the others.
Ben sighed. Best get this over with.
On his way over, he pulled Carlos aside. “Keep an eye on me with the customer at table one. He’s had a lot to drink.” Better safe than sorry. He didn’t need another black eye,
Carlos nodded. “You got it.”
He grabbed a basket of chips, some bean dip and some salsa. Best to come offering gifts and get the man to get some food in his stomach.
“Hi there. I’m Ben, one of the managers here.” He offered the man a broad grin and set down his peace offering. “Thought you might want some more chips and salsa. It’s a bit busy in here tonight, so I wonder if you wouldn’t mind moving—”
“Alice Hamil.”
The words were like a thunderbolt to Ben’s brain, and his world spun to a halt. “Where did you hear that name?”
The man blushed. He actually blushed. “Look, I’m sorry. I had to know, but that was a shit move.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He felt sick. Cold and clammy, but hot and sweaty too, and light-headed. Goosebumps sprang up on his arms, and his stomach flipped in his gut.
The man frowned. “Hey, dude, take a seat. You don’t look so good.”
“I’m not Alice.” Ben sank down into the booth seat, across from the stranger, staring at him.
“I know. And I hate deadnaming. My sister was trans, and if some asshole did that to her, I’d smack the words right out of his mouth, right quick.”
Ben stared at him. “Who the hell are you?”
“Everything okay here?” Carlos, bless his heart, appeared with a pitcher of water. He eyed the man warily.
Ben blinked. It most definitely is not. But he waved Carlos away anyhow. He needed to find out why the man was there. “I can take care of it. Thank you, Carlos.”
“Sure thing.” Carlos nodded and backed away, his gaze flickering between the two seated men.
“Bring me a water?”
“You got it, boss.” Carlos made a beeline to the kitchen, and Ben turned his attention back to the man.
The stranger leaned forward. “In answer to your question, I’m Edward Braxton the Third, PI, at your service. But my friends all call me Eddy.” He handed Ben a business card. “I’ve been looking for you for weeks, Mr. Hammond. You’re a hard man to track down.”
Ben narrowed his eyes. “It’s been a long time since anyone has used my deadname, Mr. Braxton, and I don’t take kindly to it.” He set the card down on the table and started to get up, though his shaky legs almost betrayed him. “Now if you’ll excuse me—”
“She wants to see you.” The pleading sound in Eddy’s voice brought him back down onto his seat.
“Who wants to see me?” But he had a sinking feeling that he already knew.
“Your mother.”
Ben’s laugh was bitter. “Nice try. My mother disowned me more than a decade ago, Mr. Braxton. Please let her know I have no desire to hear from her, let alone see her—”
“She’s dying.”
Ben stared at the PI, his mouth gone dry. “What?”
“She’s terminal. She wants to see you before she dies.”
He slammed back down onto the booth seat. “Holy fucking crap.” His mother was dying, Still, why should he care? She’d kicked him to the curb for being who he was, without a second thought.
Eddy put a big hand over his. “Look, I get it. You’re hurt, and you have every right to be. When Delia told me she was trans, I went apeshit. I tried to talk her out of it. I yelled at her. And then I did the stupidest thing in my whole fucking life. I cut her off for five long years. You know what it got me? Five years of pain and sadness and loneliness. And I was lucky, Mr. Hammond. I came to my senses, and I went to her and apologized on my knees. And she forgave me.” He was shaking, his eyes wet. “So look, your mother is dying, and she wants to see you. If you tell her no, you are going to regret it for the rest of your natural born life.” He pulled his arm away and sank back against the back of the booth, seeming to shrink before Ben’s eyes.
Ben shook his head. “I can’t. It’s too late—”
“It’s never too late. Until it is. I lost Delia three years ago now, but I thank God every day that I got right with her while she was still here.”
Ben took a deep breath. He was doing just fine without his mother in his life. Better than fine. He’d managed to build a life here. He had a great job, a side career as a novelist, and a circle of friends who loved him—his found family. Why let Emily Hamil ruin all of that?
She’s dying.
The words reverberated through his head. What kind of man would he be if he wouldn’t make his mother’s dying wish come true?
“Here’s the water, boss. Sorry it took so long. I got stuck on the patio—”
“It’s okay, Carlos.” He waved the waiter away, then took the water glass and drained it in one gulp, as if it were whiskey. Truth be told, he could have used some strong spirits right about then. He stared at the empty glass and sighed. “If I agree, and that’s a big if, when and where would I meet her?”
Eddy nodded. “Good man. How about tomorrow night? I can arrange a dinner for the two of you—”
“She’s in town?” Surprise after surprise. How like his mother to go on the offensive, to bring the fight to him.
He nodded. “She flew in the moment I identified you—”
“You were in my car the other day, weren’t you? That’s how you figured out it was me.”
Eddy laughed. “Very perceptive of you. What gave me away?”
“Things were out of order. I’m a bit of a neat freak.” It should have bothered him more, but having met the man, and knowing who he was and why he was here, took some of the sting out of it. He pulled out a pen and a business card and wrote his private number on the back. “Give her this. Have her call me tomorrow morning and I’ll arrange something myself.”
The PI took the card and nodded. “Very well.” He tucked it into his shirt pocket. “Mind if I stay and finish those chips? I had one margarita too many, I think. Need something in my stomach before I hit the road.”
“Stay as long as you like. Good day, Mr. Braxton.” This time he did get up, and turned his back on the bearer of bad news.
“Good luck, Ben. You’re doing the right thing.” The crunching of chips accompanied him on the way back to the host stand.
“Well?” Maria was waiting for him at the host stand, her eyebrow raised.
“I suspect he’ll leave soon enough.” But not without stirring up a shitstorm.
Her shoulders slumped. “So who’s Alice?”
Ben shook his head. “No one I know.” That much was true. He supposed he could say the same about Emily Hamil. “No one at all.”
< Read Chapter 41
Like what you read? if you haven’t tried it yet, check out book one, The River City Chronicles, here.