Sarah Smile (Halos & Horns Read online

  Sarah Smile

  Halos & Horns: Book Two

  By

  LORI LEGER

  Copyright © 2013 Cajunflair Publishing (Lori Leger)

  ISBN: 978-1-940305-32-5

  Cajunflair Publishing Assigned

  (Smashwords Edition License Notes)

  This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  These stories are works of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  Jamaican Slang

  U.S. Marine Terminology

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Other Work by Author

  Series Poster 1

  Series Poster 2

  About the Author

  DEDICATION

  I dedicate this book to anyone who’s heard those terrifying words. “It’s cancer.” Even with my little bitty spot, it was traumatic to hear that over the phone. I can only imagine how horrifying a more serious case would have been.

  This is also dedicated to the medical staff that got me through the ordeal. So, a big, fat thank you to: My GP, Dr. Peggy Allemand in Kinder, who demands a yearly mammogram from me, to the mammo techs who caught it at such an early stage, to the doctor who performed the lumpectomy, to all my peeps at Dr. James Maze’s Radiation Oncology Clinic at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Dr. Maze and his crew were all so friendly and professional during the time I had my treatments there (2009). They made a difficult situation much easier to handle. You all, along with Dr. William Moss, comprise a great team and are much appreciated for all you’ve done as I pass the 5th anniversary of my tiny little cancer scare.

  To my wonderful husband, Michael…you will always be my hero. And to our grandchildren…from eighteen to under a year…you are all adored!

  ACKNOWLEDGMENT

  Special thanks to:

  Kim Killion of Hot Damn Designs and THE KILLION GROUP, INC

  for the fabulous cover design, yet again.

  Also to the two tiny book stores with big hearts who carried my books long before anyone else did:

  Sean and James Gayle of Patti’s Book Nook in

  My old home-town of Gueydan, LA

  and

  Christy Lepretre of Java Joltz in Jennings, LA

  JAMAICAN SLANG

  she grow mi – she raised me

  Jesum Piece. That’s a piece of work! He or She is something.

  Kyaan (Can’t)

  Yu lub har kyaan done. Your love for her cannot be undone. (You love her a lot)

  Rahtid (Damn!)

  Gweh – go away

  Sidung – sit down

  “Mi huk yup wid har?

  Sum’ady - somebody

  Fass-Nosey

  Dweet-Do it

  See you inna di lights. See you tomorrow.

  Mi naa jesta. I’m not joking or I’m serious.

  Si ‘ow yu stay? (Do you see how you are?)

  Stoosh – rich

  Mi live inna stoosh place. (I live in a rich place.)

  Nuh su-su pon mi bak. (Don’t gossip behind my back)

  Na mek mi vex, mon! (Don’t make me mad, man)

  “Mi huk yup wid har? You want me to introduce you to her? Want me to hook you up with her?

  U.S. MARINE TERMINOLOGY

  Check fire – order to stop firing due to a mistarget or error.

  Blooper OR Thump Gun - grenade launcher

  Back on the block – behaving like a civilian

  AHA – Ammunition Holding Area (where ammo is stored).

  Broke Dick – Marine off duty for medical reasons

  Call out OR Drop a dime– issue a challenge with incriminating evidence

  Civ div – return to civilian life

  C & S – Clean and sober

  D & D – drunk and disorderly

  DI – Drill Instructor

  EAS – end of active service or discharge

  GI shower – bathing with wipes or limited water

  Good to go – satisfactory

  Grab-ass – horse play

  HE – high explosives

  Head – bathroom

  Inkstick – pen

  Nuts to butts – standing in line extremely close

  O-dark thirty – very early hours before dawn

  OOB – Out of Bounds

  OM – Oscar Mike – On the move

  Pucker factor – high level of anxiety in stressful situations

  Rack or Sack – bed

  Sandbox – desert

  Scullery – where dishes are washed

  Secure – put away or lock up as in secure the area

  Secret squirrel – intelligence personnel or activities

  Shit-brick – useless or ignorant person

  Snot locker – nose

  SSDD – same shit different day

  Chapter 1

  Sarah Richard would have recognized that sinfully-sexy profile anywhere. Two months with no sign of Tanner Collins had lessened neither his good looks, nor her attraction to him—somewhat intense for your average, friendly crush. Then again, a person would be hard-pressed to describe Tanner in any way other than leaps and bounds above average.

  His bronzed arm looped the waist of his dinner guest, a glamorously gorgeous, model-thin type. Sarah had no problem imagining the leggy redhead leaving a Victoria’s Secret photo shoot to lunch with the handsome Dr. Collins.

  His gaze found hers immediately, acknowledging her with a slight nod and the barest hint of a smile in his brilliantly blue eyes. Her heart skittered for several seconds before resuming its normal rhythm.

  A voice, sharp with disapproval, resounded from the chair across from her to jolt her from her drooling.

  “Hmph, even I thought Tanner had better taste than that.”

  Sarah turned to her lunch partner, Annie LeBlanc. “Do you know her?” Annie’s derisive snort told her she did, but her further comments filled in the blanks.

  “Her name’s Yvette. She used to be married to Dr. Daniels, an orthopedic surgeon from Lafayette General. Dr. Daniels taught my anatomy class at LSU, and he gave the best lectures. ‘Dan the Man’, as we called him, was always bragging about his beautiful wife, and saying how lucky he was to have her. They seemed happy until he got cancer.”

  “Oh no. Did he lose his battle to cancer?”

  “Not quite. While he was near death in the hospital, a nurse caught his wife screwing around with some musician, in a vacant room of the same wing. Yvette had the nerve to act put out at the interruption. Told the nurse to get the hell out and shut the door.”

  Sarah watched as the couple took their seats at their own table. “I’d hate to form an opinion on a rumor,” she said.

  “It’s no rum
or. My sister is the one who caught her. Some of the other personnel snapped some incriminating shots and video of them.”

  “Did anyone show her husband?”

  Annie nodded. “Doc Dan was a favorite among all the nurses. He kicked that tramp out and made the fastest recovery ever. He divorced her for adultery…said the cost of getting rid of her was worth every penny.”

  Sarah sent a furtive glance over at the couple. Was that the type of woman Tanner wanted? Someone he couldn’t trust? If that was the case, she needed to quit fantasizing about someone she could never have. “Do you think Tanner knows about it?” Annie’s laughter drew her attention.

  “Tanner may have been one of the guys sleeping around with her at the time.”

  Sarah pursed her lips as she swirled the water in her glass. “I’d have to hear him admit to something like that before I believed it. He’s a friend and I always give my friends the benefit of the doubt.”

  Annie shrugged before digging into her stuffed shrimp. “Just more proof that you’re much too nice of a person to be hanging with the likes of me.”

  “Oh right, like you’re so jaded.”

  “Only toward sex-on-the-brain-womanizers who haven’t proven they can do any better yet. I had a less than pleasant experience with Tanner when Tiffany was still with him.” She raised her hand when Tiffany opened her mouth to ask. “I’m not getting into details here—it’ll ruin my appetite, and I can’t remember the last time I ate food this good. Between the heartburn during pregnancy and two months of breastfeeding, it seems like forever since I’ve eaten anything seasoned or fried.”

  Sarah welcomed the change of subject. “No problems transitioning baby boy to the formula and bottle feeding?” She dug into her own creamy crawfish sauce over angel hair pasta, savoring every bite of the tasty Cajun dish. “God, this is so good.”

  “I know, right? This place has never failed me yet.” Annie dabbed at her mouth with her napkin. “Jake took to the bottle like a miniature hoover. Tiffany’s tips on weaning him off the breast over a week or so helped. How about your twins? Did they have trouble adjusting to formula?”

  “If you’ll remember, they didn’t have much of a choice. Their father made sure of that.” Her jaw clenched as she thought of that terror filled time. Sarah still had nightmares about the five days she and her baby girls had spent locked up in Troy’s bedroom. With no food to sustain her, she’d quit producing breast milk on the fourth day. By the time they were rescued, she’d dropped over ten pounds and her daughters were hungry enough to take to any formula.

  Annie’s hand flew to her mouth. “I’m so sorry, Sarah! I’m such a ditz sometimes. I’d forgotten—”

  Sarah waved her fork, interrupting her friend’s apology. “Don’t worry about it. Honestly, I hardly think about it at all. Besides, if it hadn’t happened, I would never have met any of you. Knowing you all has been such a blessing to my babies and me. I can’t get myself to regret any of it.” Even the death of my daughters’ father.

  She sent a silent plea for forgiveness at the thought, though she couldn’t help but remember Troy at his worst. The man was mean, controlling, dangerous, and damned near impossible to avoid. Even so, she hadn’t wanted him dead—just out of their lives. She often wondered if he regretted anything before he drowned on that stormy night in the Gulf of Mexico.

  “Earth to Sarah! Do you read?”

  Sarah blinked as Annie waved her hand in front of her face. “Sorry, guess my mind wandered off for a bit. Did I miss something?”

  “Only the fact that Mr. Collins, over there, keeps craning his neck to look in this direction every time his hussy date isn’t watching, and I know damn well it’s not to see me. You two don’t have something going on, do you?”

  “I’ve only spoken to him a few times. Angelique brought him over to meet me right before I went to work with her. During the visit, he discovered the twins had cut their first teeth.” She smiled as she remembered how excited he’d been. “He came back a week or so later to bring the girls a couple of adorable outfits.”

  “Was he alone when he brought them?”

  Sarah adjusted the napkin on her lap as their waitress refilled her tea. “Mm, I believe he was. Could you pass me the sugar, please?” She caught the look of amusement Annie sent her way. “What? He dropped off the clothes and left. End of story,” she said, sounding snarkier than she’d intended, even to her own ears.

  Annie’s brow rose as she lifted her glass of tea. “I didn’t say a thing.”

  Sarah pushed past the restaurant door out into the midday mist and drizzle of the late winter’s day. Though spring was just around the corner, the unusually cooler temps weren’t quite ready to surrender to this area of southwest Louisiana. She pulled her sweater tightly around her, staring out at the dampened parking lot as she waited for Annie to join her. In seconds she heard the door opening behind her. “I am so ready for this dreary weather to end.”

  “It’s supposed to clear up and get warmer by tomorrow, I hear.”

  She spun around at the tantalizingly familiar sound of Tanner’s voice. Shocked speechless, she pressed her hand to her abdomen, her stomach churning with butterflies at the sight of him. She stared stupidly up at the man, unable to come up with a single comment to start a conversation. Thankfully, he wasn’t as dumbstruck.

  “How’ve you been, Sarah? Are the twins well?”

  The sound of a horn blast from behind jarred her from her stupor. “Fine! I’ve been fine, and so are the girls.”

  “Good, I bet they’ve grown a lot since I’ve seen them last.” He flashed a brilliant smile.

  “They’re growing so fast, trying to crawl. It won’t be long before they’ll be getting into everything.” She laughed nervously as he smiled down at her. “Is that a new girlfriend—I mean—how’ve you been?” She snapped her mouth shut, wishing she could materialize into one of those roly-poly pill bugs. That way she could close herself up and roll right on out of this conversation. She squeezed her eyes shut. “God, that was so rude of me. I’m sorry, Tanner.”

  He laughed and shook his head. “Not a girlfriend. She’s just an old acquaintance. I’ve been okay, busy at the hospital, of course.”

  “Of course, working medical miracles and saving lives.” She fidgeted and pushed her forever-escaping lock of hair behind her ear. Sadly, no type of mousse, gel, super-duper hold hairspray, clip, barrette, nor elastic band had been created that could keep that one stubborn strand from ruining an otherwise perfectly arranged hairdo. She glanced up as Tanner’s ‘acquaintance’ stepped through the doorway, perfectly arranged and not a hair out of place.

  The woman, obviously a master at multi-tasking, took no longer than two seconds to latch onto Tanner’s arm, thereby establishing possession. Her one critical glance in Sarah’s direction instantaneously judged her comparably dowdy presence, deemed her an unworthy opponent, and cast her aside without a second thought. It was a subtle, yet totally effective attack on Sarah’s already lacking self-esteem.

  Tanner gently detached the woman’s claws from his arm so he could place a hand on the small of her back. “Yvette, I’d like you to meet a friend of mine. This is—”

  “Tanner love, I really don’t have time for introductions. I told you, I’m in a rush. I’m meeting with my designer and Coco waits for no one. Ciao, darling.” Yvette locked her lips onto Tanner’s while running her perfectly manicured nails softly over his crotch area.

  He pushed at her hand and turned away, trying to escape the kiss. Sarah averted her gaze, embarrassed at the woman’s blatant attempt to ‘claim’ her territory.

  Tanner cleared his throat, obviously annoyed. “Wouldn’t want you to be late to that meeting, Yvette. I’ll be here, catching up with Sarah … a friend … a nice friend.” He waited until she walked away, gaining some distance between them. “Not that you’d recognize nice if it knocked you on your skinny little ass.”

  Sarah waited until he faced her to speak. “Lovely girl
, Tanner. Such nice manners.”

  “Sorry about that,” he gave his head a shake. “She’s always been a spiteful bitch, but it’s never bothered me—”

  “Until now?” she cut in.

  His gaze settled on her, and he smiled. Not one of those half smiles of convenience to throw people off, the kind she’d perfected during her years of living with an abusive ex-husband. No, Tanner’s smile allowed the sparkle to reach his gorgeous blue eyes.

  “Forget her,” he said with a wave of his hand. “Seriously, I don’t doubt your girls are thriving under your care, but how’ve you been, Sarah? No residual after effects from everything you went through? No bad dreams to haunt you?”

  She gave him a casual single shoulder shrug. “Comes with the territory, I guess. My shrink assures me it’ll go away with some time.”

  “I’m sure it will. You’re surrounded by good people.”

  She met his kind gaze. “You seem like good people, too.”

  Laughter rumbled deep in his chest. “Not quite, but I’m trying to be.”

  Sarah stared off into the direction of Yvette, pulling her BMW out of the parking space like she was being chased by the devil himself, with no heed to any other vehicle around her. She faced Tanner again. “You know, they say the first step to improvement is to surround yourself with nicer people.”

  He stared down at her, his intense gaze never wavering. “I’ve heard that also, and I was just thinking the same thing myself.”

  Chapter 2

  Tanner pulled out his phone and read the text. Dr. Collins, please report immediately to the ER.

  Tanner chugged the rest of his V-8 and threw the can in the recycling bin on his way out of the doctor’s lounge, hoping the ER case was nothing too serious.

  He entered the room to adrenaline pumping chaos: broken bones, severe cuts, and a toddler with all the signs of severe brain trauma. A family of four hit by a carload of drunken teenagers, driven by a slightly less inebriated designated driver who’d run a traffic light.