Page 25 of More Than Anything

“It’s MarjorieFowlkes. I just wanted to say that I don’t know what the hell’s going on between you and LydiaKinsey, but I don’t appreciate her calling here and chewing me out for selling you those cattle!”

Avery’s eyes went wide and his face started to burn. He glared at Lydia as she kept babbling at him and just said, “I’m sorry, Ms.Marjorie, but I’m going to take care of that right now.” As soon as Marjorie’s name was out of his lips, Lydia stopped yakking and gave him a hateful smile. “You won’t have to worry about that happening again, and I’m sorry she did that, but she’s about to learn a lesson in good manners. Goodbye,” he said, not even waiting to hear what Marjorie said in reply.

“Was that MarjorieFowlkes?” Lydia snipped. “Because I called her up and?—”

Avery stood and towered over Lydia, then pressed toward her and down into her face, glaring at her. “Okay, little girl, I’ve had enough. Play time’s over. You pull another stunt like that and I’ll whup your ass myself, you got that?”

“Oh, big bad guy gonna beat up a little bitty thing like me?” she cajoled, but her expression changed as Avery advanced on her, his chest pressed up against her, pushing her backward toward the diner door. “What do you think you’re doing?”

His finger came up and he pointed it into her face as he kept up his advancement, pressing her backward with every step. “You. Stay out of my life. Stay out of my hair. Leave the people I deal with alone. I’m none of your business. My life is none of your business. My business is none of your business. If you had any idea how pissed off I am at this very moment, you’d run like hell, because frankly, I’m not sure what’s going to happen in the next two minutes if you’re still standing here, but it won’t be good, I can promise you that.”

Lydia’s eyes were popping out and her face was pale. “Bridget,” she called to the woman who ran the diner, “call the sheriff, please.”

“Yes, Bridget,” Avery mocked, “call the sheriff. I’ve got some complaints I want to file against LydiaKinsey. I want her jailed. I want to press charges against her for harassment, stalking, terroristic threatening, anything else he might be able to come up with that would apply. I’ve had it. I’ve really, really had it.” He’d pressed Lydia back until her shoulders rested against the glass in the door. One more step and she’d be out the door and down the steps. “If you say one more word, I’m going to shut you up. I mean it,” he growled out.

“Oh, yeah? And how do you plan to?—”

Lydia never got the chance to finish the sentence. Avery bent down, took her face in his hands, and kissed her?hard. She struggled against him, but he wouldn’t turn loose. Every ounce of hatred toward her was poured into that kiss, and he could hear her trying to talk, but she couldn’t with his tongue down her throat. Her hands grabbed his biceps and pushed, but he was having none of that. He’d wanted to kiss her since the first time he’d seen her, and he was mad enough to make her take it. He couldn’t hear the whispers of, “Oh, my,” and “Would you look at that,” around them. All he heard was the swishing of the blood through his veins as he stood there, locked to her, pouring all that anger and frustration into that kiss. When he finally had enough, he turned loose and stared down into her eyes, watching all the confusion in them, all the hurt and anger.

Before he could speak, Lydia’s strangled voice said, “You… I don’t… you can’t… OH, I HATE YOU!” She drew back and slapped him as hard as she could, and the stinging made Avery smile. “I HATE YOU! Go to HELL!” she screamed, then turned and ran out so fast he barely saw her go.

An elderly couple in the booth right inside the door stared at Avery, and he turned to them and smiled. “I thought that went well, didn’t you?”

“I-I-I-I suppose so,” the old gent choked out.

“Bridget,” Avery called out as he strode back to his booth, “could you bring me another one of these breakfasts? I’m sure mine is cold now.”

“Coming right up,” Bridget called back through the silence in the diner.

Avery looked around at all the faces, their mouths hanging open, and started to laugh. “I hope y’all enjoyed the show!” he said, his whole body shaking with laughter. In seconds, Bridget brought his second plate and he devoured every bite while it was still hot.

Yep, he thought,it’s gonna be one helluva day!

“She’s saying you assaulted her,” FrankMartin told him. “And she wants to press charges.”

“I didn’t assault her,” Avery said, chuckling. “I kissed her. She was running her mouth and making all kinds of crazy threats. It was the only way I knew of to shut her up without hurting her.”

“I think you bruised up her pride,” Frank laughed.

“Most likely. But please, find a way to make her leave me alone. She’s driving me nuts. I have no peace. She tries to sabotage everything I do, tries to worm her way into all of my business, and keeps threatening me with all kinds of legal action. Did you know she’s wanting to contest the sale of the property by saying Sirus was suffering from dementia?”

“Oh good lord. I wish her luck with that. But seriously, if she gives you any more trouble, let me know. In the meantime, I’m going to call the sheriff’s office and see what kind of charges you can bring against her to make her leave you alone.”

“Good. I’ll be waiting to hear from you. Thanks.” Avery hit END and put the phone down. It rang again and he picked it up: Lydia’s number. He just hit DECLINE and dropped it again. She tried two more times, but he declined the call both times. He was waiting for the vet to come by when his phone rang again, and this time he was pretty sure it was Marjorie. “Hello?”

“Avery?”

“Yes, Ms.Marjorie. I’m sorry I hung up so abruptly the other day, but there was a problem standing right in front of me and I had to tackle it head on.”

She chuckled. “Or kiss it until it shut up?”

“So you heard about that, huh?” he asked, laughing.

“Sure did! The whole town’s buzzing about it. And guess what? I got a call from her apologizing for the things she said. It must’ve done some good.”

Avery snickered. “Must’ve. I’m glad that worked, because nothing else had.”

“Can I ask you a question?”

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