22
Amy walked stealthily across the gravel from the house to the oval lawn. Not that she wanted to eavesdrop, but, well, she wanted to eavesdrop. She inwardly giggled, feeling like a naughty child, as she neared the glider. Neither Gabe nor AJ seemed aware she was sneaking up on them.
“Then we’re going to the lake for the fireworks,” AJ was saying. “We’d like you and Tess to spend the day with us, if you want.”
Yes! This was the conversation she wanted to hear. After all, it wouldn’t have done any good to ask AJ to repeat it later. She couldn’t depend on him to pick up on the nuances.
“Sounds fun,” Gabe said.
Another yes! With a gratified smile, Amy took another step closer.
“But we’ve already made plans.”
Amy stopped in her tracks, her smile melting.
“Sorry I didn’t ask sooner.” AJ took a long drink of his soda. “Amy will be disappointed.”
Oh, great. Thanks a lot, AJ.
“Amy?”
AJ took another drink. “She’d kill me if she knew I said that.”
“It was kind of her to think of us,” Gabe said. “But I invited Ellen to come visit. She’ll be alone without her kids.”
Amy’s mind reeled, and for a moment she thought she was going to be sick. He couldn’t be in love with someone else. He couldn’t. Not when he looked at her the way he did. In his eyes, she saw the boy who had touched her heart with his slow smile. And remembered the girl she’d once been.
“Bring her by if you get the chance,” AJ said. “We’d like to meet her.”
Amy shook her head in disbelief. How dense could AJ be?
Footsteps sounded behind her, and she made a conscious effort to relax her hands and her shoulders. With a disarming smile on her face, she looked over her shoulder. Shelby smiled back and Amy reached for her arm. At least now, AJ and Gabe wouldn’t know she’d been sneaking up on them.
The men turned, then stood.
“What are you two doing out here?” Amy asked.
“Enjoying the peace and quiet,” AJ said as he reached for Shelby’s hand. “Before we have to bribe the girls to go home.”
“Brett and Dani are giving them and Jonah the ten-minute warning,” Shelby said. “They’ll be around soon.”
AJ gave Amy a pitying look. Did he think she cared what Gabe did? Who he spent time with when she wasn’t around? She mustered as innocent a smile as she could.
“AJ, I wanted to ask you about the 4th of July plans.”
“You probably know as much as I do,” he said, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He glanced at Gabe then back at Amy and gave a slight shake of his head.
“I just wanted to know if it was okay for me to bring a date.”
“I . . . guess so.” AJ exchanged a nervous glance with Shelby. “Anyone I know?”
“I doubt it. His name is Logan Cassidy. I know him from my lobbyist days. He recently opened his own firm.”
Shelby opened her mouth as if to say something but must have thought better of it.
“I’d really like to introduce him to everyone.”
“Of course he’s welcome,” Shelby said. “We want to meet your friends, Amy.”
“He’s a little bit more than a friend.” Amy took Shelby by the arm and led her away. “Let’s go get the girls, and I’ll tell you all about him.”
She knew Gabe stared after her as sure as if she had eyes in the back of her head. But she’d succeeded in completely ignoring him. As hard as it had been, she hadn’t glanced at him for even a fraction of a second. She jutted her chin with pride, but the knot in her stomach only felt hollow and dull.
Maybe this hadn’t been such a good plan after all.
As they came beside the jutting bay window beyond the patio, Shelby pulled Amy to a stop. “What’s going on with you? Did you just make up a boyfriend?”
Unable to maintain her nonchalant air any longer, Amy bit her lip, then looked back toward the glider. AJ and Gabe stood near it as if uncertain whether or not they should have followed.
“Who is Ellen?” she hissed.
“Ellen who?”
“If I knew Ellen who, I wouldn’t be asking.”
“What are you talking about?”
Amy drew Shelby closer to the house. From the front yard, the sounds of the children playing some game filled the summer air.
“Gabe told AJ he invited someone named Ellen to spend the 4th with him and Tess. So she wouldn’t be alone. It sounded like AJ knew who Gabe was talking about.”
“Maybe AJ knows, but I’ve never heard of her.”
Distraught, Amy pressed her hands against her stomach. But the feeling of having lost something precious only grew stronger.
“I need to go home,” she said. “To be alone.”
“Why don’t you come over in about an hour? The girls will be bathed and ready for bed by then. You can talk to AJ. Ask him what happened.”
“I know what happened. I overheard the entire conversation.”
“Then tell me.”
Amy recounted what she’d heard. “Doesn’t it sound like AJ knew who Gabe was talking about?”
“I agree. It does,” Shelby said. “But the only way to know for sure is to ask him. Do you want to come over?”
Amy considered for a moment, then shook her head. “It doesn’t really matter, does it? Gabe has his plans for the 4th and now, so do I.”
“With this Logan whatever-his-name-is?”
Amy took a deep, calming breath. “I think you’ll like him. In fact, I’m sure you will. If he’s able to come.”
“So you haven’t asked him yet?”
“He invited me to his place to watch the Red, White, and Boom fireworks. You can see them from his balcony.”
“You said yes?”
“I told him no. But there’s no reason he can’t come for the cookout. I just have to invite him.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I want to. We’ll do all the picnic stuff and then . . .”
“And then you’ll go to his place for the fireworks?”
“I guess so. It’s not like he can just ditch a houseful of guests to go to the lakefront.”
“I suppose not.” Shelby frowned with disappointment. “We’ll miss you coming with us. So will the kids.”
“Don’t do that to me, Shelby. It’s not fair.”
“I just hope you know what you’re doing.”
“I’m being realistic. And I’m facing the fact that some things just aren’t meant to be.”
“Why not? You like Gabe, don’t you? And I’m positive he thinks the world of you.”
Amy momentarily shut her eyes. This was what she got for thinking she could free her canopy memories. Instead, she had more memories to push inside—memories of Gabe painting her cabinet doors, of her riding shotgun beside him on the stagecoach, of exploring the carved initials on the engagement tree together.
“It’s been a long day,” she said. “I think I’ll go back to the cottage and maybe curl up with a good book.”
“The invitation to come over is still open if you change your mind.”
She wanted to say yes, but her heart wouldn’t let her. A bitter root grew there that she couldn’t seem to kill. As well-intentioned as Shelby’s invitation was, it galled Amy that she’d be going home with a man she loved with all her heart. To Gran’s home.
While Amy once again was going home alone.
“You have everything you could possibly want, Shelby. Congratulations.” Resentment poisoned her words, but she couldn’t hide it.
“What does that mean?” Shelby said sharply.
“Misty Willow is officially protected. You’ll never have to worry about someone like me again.”
Shelby opened her mouth, closed it, then jutted out her chin. “I haven’t worried about you in a long time.”
“All the more reason for me to leave.” Without another word, Amy rounded the front porch, entered the house, and found her bag. She was being childish. She knew it but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. All she knew was that she wanted to shut herself away in the cottage without talking to anyone else. Not to Shelby or AJ. And especially not to Gabe.
Her only concern now was whether it was too late to accept Logan’s invitation. She pulled out her phone and found his name.
“Hi, it’s me,” she said when he answered. “Plans have changed. I was wondering . . .”
Tess gave a contented sigh as Gabe drove her truck beneath the wrought-iron arch marking the entrance to their driveway. Home at last.
“Did you have a good time?” he asked.
“I did. What about you? It seems a shame you spent most of the day on that hay wagon.”
“I didn’t mind. Actually, it’s a nice way to meet people, to talk to them.” He pulled the truck beside the barn. “AJ invited us to spend July 4th with him and the Somers clan.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That we already had plans.” Gabe stared out the windshield, seemingly lost in his own thoughts.
“Do you regret asking Ellen to come visit?”
He hesitated a moment, then shook his head. “She deserves a special holiday. This is the first time I can be sure that happens.”
“You don’t think she’d have had a special holiday without you?”
He shrugged a little too carelessly. “I need to be there for her. However I can be.”
Tess nodded agreement, though she wasn’t sure Gabe was thinking clearly. Ellen was a lovely young woman, and she was probably lonely. If Gabe spent too much time “being there for her,” Ellen might suspect he had deeper motives. Perhaps he did, but Tess didn’t think so. She’d seen the way he looked at Amy, and she remembered how smitten he’d been with her when they were young teens.
Not in a New York minute did Tess believe that Amy had forgotten Gabe and how much he’d meant to her. Maybe it had been a mistake to encourage Gabe to invite Ellen to stay, though in all fairness Tess had only wanted to be hospitable. The fireworks display wouldn’t be over until ten or so, and Ellen didn’t need to be driving home so late at night.
Tess didn’t want either of the young women to be hurt, but Gabe concerned her most of all. He needed to put his youthful infatuation with Amy behind him or she’d break his heart again.
“I’ll get the horses settled, then carry those in.” He gestured toward the totes in the backseat. They were packed with the various items, such as pans, utensils, and tablecloths, that Tess had lent to the celebration.
“I can manage.”
“Nothing too heavy, though. I won’t be long.” He handed her the set of keys, got out of the truck, and walked to the back of the trailer.
Tess selected one of the smaller totes and headed toward the house. She stuck the key in the lock, but it didn’t turn. She tried the knob and opened the door. Odd. She was sure she had locked the house that morning when they left.
She flipped on a light, then carried the tote inside and placed it on the kitchen counter. Her senses were on high alert as she scanned the room. Everything was as she remembered and yet something felt off-kilter. But what?
She wandered through the house, slowly opening doors. The one to her office creaked as she pushed it open and glanced inside. And froze.
Her desk, orderly and neat, had been searched. She couldn’t tell exactly how she knew, but she was certain of it. Maybe it was the way the file folders weren’t quite as neatly stacked in the holder. Or how the framed photograph of Rusty and Gabe beside that old Ford F-150 seemed slightly askew from its usual position. And her desk chair was several inches from the desk, its back angled as if someone had gotten up and left in a hurry. She always pushed it in, the back flush with the desk.
Someone had been here during their absence, a careless someone who hadn’t left things exactly the way they were before. Who hadn’t bothered to lock the kitchen door.
She opened her desk drawers, then opened the closet and bent down to examine the safe. The dial had been turned from the one, the number she always pointed it to after closing the door. She hurriedly rotated the knob using the correct combination, then pulled on the handle.
Everything looked the same, the papers untouched. She didn’t keep money there or jewels. Even the papers weren’t that important—those she kept in a safety-deposit box in town. She riffled through them. The rejected offer from Dylan Tapley, still in its envelope, was on top.
She closed the safe, pointed the dial to one, then wandered back into the kitchen.
Someone had been in her home. But why?
Nothing had been taken—not the computer or the TV. Her jewelry was still in her bedroom. Her revolver was still locked in the box in her nightstand.
What did she have that anyone would be interested in? She couldn’t even imagine.
She shook her head, not wanting to believe her intuition. She must have set the dial wrong last time she was in the safe. That was the only explanation. Still . . . she went through the rooms again with an even more critical eye, then sat at her desk and tried to remember if she’d left anything out that was no longer there. But she couldn’t think of a thing.
She accidentally touched her mouse, and the computer monitor lit up. An Excel worksheet filled the screen, and surprised shock raced up her spine. The display showed her financial records—the register she’d designed to track her monthly income and expenses. She hadn’t been in this particular file since recording her monthly income from the pasture lease last Thursday.
Now she knew for certain someone had been in the house. Not to steal but to snoop.
But she still couldn’t imagine why. No one would benefit from knowing her personal financial information. Or knowing how close she was to bankruptcy.
Except maybe for Tapley. But surely he wouldn’t do anything so stupid.
Anyone careless enough to leave the door unlocked and the worksheet open may have left fingerprints. Maybe she should call the police.
She returned to the kitchen to unpack the tote, her thoughts in a whirl of indecision.
The unlocked door. The photograph and the desk chair. The opened worksheet.
It wasn’t carelessness but something more sinister.
A shiver ran up her spine as the certainty of her thoughts assailed her.
The actions had been deliberate. Whoever had entered her home while she was gone had wanted her to know.
She was vulnerable. She wasn’t safe.
Was Tapley—or someone else—deliberately trying to frighten her? And what should she do about it?