“You haven’t forgotten your promise, have you?” Kara’s cousin Lindi Bruce whispered from where she sat across the polished wooden table at Kit’s Lodge.
Kara drew her gaze from the window. The winter morning stood out in stark contrast to the warm, rustic interior of the lodging and eating establishment. Even with a sparse morning crowd, she was comfortable that their conversation wouldn’t be overheard above the breakfast chatter.
“I haven’t forgotten. There’s not a day that goes by when I’m back here that I’m not reminded of it.”
She studied her cousin. Unbelievably, they hadn’t talked about the promise since they were teenagers. Hadn’t discussed the morning a terrified Lindi appeared on her doorstep, confessing she’d accidentally caught the forest on fire. Begging Kara not to tell, not to get her in trouble with her grandfather—or the law.
By unspoken agreement, they’d attempted to bury it so deeply that for a time they could all but convince themselves it never happened. That they’d dreamed it. But it was still very much alive, like a giant gorilla stuffed in the closet of both their lives. And since Trey’s return, it rattled the bars of its cage with increasing frequency and forcefulness.
“How about you, Lindi? How often do you think about it?”
“Not much,” she admitted. “Until each time you come back to visit. And now Trey. Freaked me out when I saw you with him.”
“That’s why I wanted to talk to you.” Kara wet her lips. “He’s determined to clear his name.”
Lindi stiffened, her fork halfway to her mouth. “You haven’t told him anything, have you?”
“No.” Nor did she intend to mention that Trey asked her to advise him on what he called his investigation.
“What are we going to do?” Lindi set down her fork. “What if he puts two and two together? I was a smoker back then. At the very least I could be added to the list of suspects.”
“You honestly want to know what I think we should do?”
Lindi nodded, interest sparking in her eyes.
“Come clean.”
“What? Are you crazy?”
Kara met her cousin’s look of alarm with determination. It wouldn’t be easy to convince her, but there was no other way out. Even as she contemplated the difficult path ahead, a flutter of hope, the nearness of release, convinced her this was the right thing to do.
“We were both kids back then, Lin. Scared kids. Making that promise, keeping my mouth shut while Trey took the rap when they found his lighter—that you dropped—wasn’t the smartest decision I’ve ever made. In fact, it was flat-out wrong.”
The pitiful-little-girl look that had worked to Lindi’s advantage for too many years to count focused on her full force.
“Do you have any idea what the fallout would be for me?”
“There’s been fallout for Trey, too.”
Lips compressed, Lindi again picked up her fork and stabbed a pineapple wedge. “Grandpa would have a heart attack if this came out in the middle of the campaign.”
“Lindi—”
“It’s not just about me.” Her cousin cut a look around the room, then leaned forward. “If Jake Talford wins, he’ll turn this town on its head. He’s running on an economic growth platform that could destroy the way of life we’ve all come to love.”
That some had come to love.
But although she didn’t agree that Jake was such a danger to the community, she couldn’t argue with her. A revelation that the natural-resource-protection-touting Lindi Bruce had not only set the forest on fire but kept her mouth shut and let someone else take the fall for it would be just the edge Jake needed.
“I know you have the town’s best interests at heart, but—”
“What happened is in the past, Kara. What’s done is done.”
“There was a time when I wanted to believe that. But we can’t let this go on any longer.”
With shaking fingers, Lindi again set aside her fork, the pineapple still impaled on its tines. A fleeting cast of emotions flitted across her face. Indecision. Panic. Fear.
“There’s more at stake here,” she said, voice quavering, “than the city council spot.”
The muscles in Kara’s stomach tightened.
“James and I—” Lindi momentarily closed her eyes as if gathering courage. “Things are rocky, to say the least. Adding to it, he wants to take a job in Phoenix. But I don’t want to raise the kids in the fifth largest city in the country. If we can’t work things out, it will likely lead to divorce. And an ugly custody fight.”
An invisible rope tightened around Kara’s throat.
Lindi’s tear-filled eyes bored into hers. “Do you know what all this coming out right now would do to my chances of getting sole custody of Craig and Kirk? I could forget it, that’s what.”
With her cousin’s words, Kara’s hope of freedom from the decade-long deception crashed with reverberating finality.
“I’m sorry, Lindi. I didn’t know you were having marriage problems.” She leaned forward with a final desperate appeal. “But don’t you see? We can’t continue to let Trey be blamed.”
“We can’t? Or you can’t?” Lindi pulled a tissue from her handbag and dabbed at her eyes. “You probably had a thing for him in high school, didn’t you? All the girls did.”
Kara’s throat tightened. She pushed back her plate. “We were friends.”
“But finding him here again, you’d like it to be more than friends, wouldn’t you?”
“I’m leaving town a week from Monday,” she said, ignoring the probing question. “Seeing Trey again—realizing how what we did is still affecting his life—well, it’s killing me.”
“Then run off to your big-city fantasyland and forget about it. This isn’t your home now. Stop dwelling on the past.”
“Believe me, I’ve tried.”
Balling the tissue in her hand, Lindi lowered her voice to an almost inaudible level. “You know, don’t you, that we could wind up in jail? At the least, he’d probably sue me. You, too.”
They’d been well under eighteen. Minors. What was the statute of limitations on covering up a crime?
Lindi’s eyes narrowed with a speculative gleam. “And what do you think this out-of-the-blue revelation would do to your mother’s fragile state of health?”
Kara thrust the alarming thought of her mother aside. “I want to be free, Lindi. I’d like your permission to tell Trey the truth.”
“Well, you’re not getting it. Haven’t you been listening to anything I’ve said? What this could do to me?” Her friend pulled the napkin from her lap and slapped it down beside her plate. “You’re not even thinking straight. You’re letting a slow, lazy smile and flirty blue eyes trip you up.”
“I can tell him without your permission, you know.”
“No, I don’t think you will.” Tear-wet eyes triumphant, Lindi’s trembling lips formed a faint smile. “You made a promise. And you don’t want to be like your old man who couldn’t keep one.”
As she parked in the Canyon Springs Christian Church lot late that afternoon, a troubled Kara continued to mull over Lindi’s words. The waitress at Kit’s Lodge had stepped up just as Lindi had risen from her seat, so the breakfast conversation was terminated abruptly. Lindi even stuck her with the tab. How had their friendship deteriorated to this? All because of that stupid adolescent promise.
She dashed across the tree-lined street to the parsonage, then slowed down. This wasn’t a Chicago thoroughfare where she had to dodge packs of pedestrians and impatient drivers. No reason to hurry around here, that was for certain.
Maneuvering around an SUV in the driveway as well as a car she recognized as Meg’s, she entered the open garage door of the ranch-style house. A week or so ago her college friend, who was serving on the parsonage makeover committee, had brought her here for input on ideas she thought Reyna might like. They brainstormed together, did sketches, took measurements. So this is where she’d most likely left her tape measure.
But the missing device was the least of her problems. What was she going to do about Lindi? Yes, she could defy her cousin, break her promise and tell Trey the truth so he’d call a halt to his investigation. But that still seemed wrong. How well did she really know the grown-up Trey? What if he wouldn’t keep silent? Wouldn’t protect Lindi at the expense of his own reputation? The potential loss of the council seat didn’t much matter to her, but could Lindi land in jail? Lose custody of her kids?
The door connecting the garage to the house was unlocked, so she slipped through the laundry room and into the kitchen. A radio in an adjoining room belted out an old toe-tapping country tune she hadn’t heard in years. A night out at the symphony had become the preferred melodic choice. Still, she caught herself humming along to the familiar rhythm.
“Yoo hoo, Bryce! Meg! It’s me, Kara.”
She gazed around the kitchen in appreciation of Meg’s earlier efforts. It was coming along nicely. Appliances had arrived since her last visit. Glass-fronted cabinets were now installed. Matching oak trimmed the granite countertop.
It reminded her of her mother’s house, not so much because of the layout or color scheme, but the atmosphere. So cheery with sunlight spilling in the windows, playing across a caramel-colored accent wall. Cozy. Made you want to sit down at the as-yet-nonexistent table in the roomy new bay window and have a cup of coffee. A chat with a friend. Your spouse.
The image of Trey seated for breakfast flashed through her mind. Long, jeans-clad legs stretched out under the table. Booted feet. Broad shoulders squared as he brought a steaming mug of coffee to his lips…
With considerable effort, she refocused on the space around her. Unlike the palace-size interiors she’d helped design or decorate, this one was people-size. People-friendly. For more families than she cared to think about, the decision to build or buy seemed based on ensuring more than enough rooms to keep family members as far apart as possible. The economic slump might not be good for the design and construction business, but downsizing might do wonders for family dynamics. Not, of course, that a cute and cozy house had made one ounce of difference in her own family’s case.
Thanks, Dad.
“Hey, Kara.” Bryce Harding, who was supervising the remodel in his free time, stepped into the room. Like her, he’d grown up in Canyon Springs. But unlike her, he’d chosen to come back. “What brings you here today?”
She smiled at the bearded, lovable bear of a man in his mid-thirties. Hard to believe he’d managed to stay single for so long. “I may have left my tape measure when I was here last time.”
“Wondered where that came from.” He pointed to the top of a box in the far corner where the fist-size metal device rested.
“Ah ha. That’s it.” She stepped across the room and slipped the measuring tape into her jacket pocket. “Thanks.”
Bryce clapped his hands, then rubbed them together. “So, what do you think? Just the kind of place you’d like to raise your kids?”
“Looks great. Reyna and Jason will be thrilled.”
“Hope so. Took your suggestion to paint all the walls the same light color. Carpet’s set for delivery next week. Same shade throughout the house.”
Kara laughed. “Glad to know that there’s one man in the universe who can follow directions.”
Meg appeared behind him, arms laden with D-ringed fabric samples, Joe’s son Davy at her side. “You were right about the paint, Kara. It makes the whole place seem bigger, doesn’t it? Not so chopped up like before with different colors of paint and carpet in every room. I’m going to remember that when we fix up the second floor at our new place.”
“I get my own room,” Davy piped up, his dark eyes sparkling as he slipped his hand into that of his soon-to-be mom. From the look on her face, Meg loved every moment of her new life. Funny how her friend’s dream had always been to live in Canyon Springs—and her own had been to be anywhere but here.
Folding muscled arms across his broad chest, Bryce’s gaze settled on her. “You’re heading back to the big city, are you?”
“Week after next.”
“Everyone sure misses you, gal. Thought maybe you’d be stickin’ around this time. You know, considering.”
“Mom’s illness, you mean?”
“Mmm, not exactly.” His tone held a teasing note, his eyes twinkling.
“Considering what?” Meg demanded, giving him a punch in the arm. “If you’ve figured out a way to keep Kara in town, spill it, you big lug.”
“Oh, let’s just say…” Bryce chuckled, his friendly eyes still focused on her. “A reliable source saw Kara riding around town with Trey Kenton Sunday afternoon.”
Her heart jerked and a wave of heat pulsed through her. Meg’s pointed gaze questioned silently.
Bryce winked. “But my informant didn’t report if it was a case of sittin’ courtin’ close. Eh, Kara?”
With a deliberate show of banging the back door, Trey stepped out of the laundry room and into the kitchen. He shouldn’t have eavesdropped like that, letting a rockin’ country song cover the sounds of his entry. But when he’d heard Kara’s sweet voice and Bachelor Bryce flirtatiously chatting her up, he’d paused a little too long in making an entrance.
A startled Kara turned in his direction, her face flushing.
“Good afternoon, folks.” He nodded a greeting to Bryce, Meg and Davy, then focused on the pretty, flustered woman.
A nervous smile played over her lips. Probably wondering what he’d overheard. It did seem that small towns had eyes and ears open at all times. That would take some getting used to. But surely she couldn’t have missed the wistfulness in Bryce’s tone when he asked her if she’d be leaving town. Said “everyone” missed her. Any fool could hear the disappointment in his voice at her affirmative response.
Not surprising. Any single man in his right mind would find her departure disheartening news. Why was it, though, that every time he took a shine to a woman in this town, there was always a rival hovering in the wings? Whoa. A shine to Kara? Naw. Just the aftershocks of a teenage crush.
“Didn’t see your vehicle outside.” If he had, he’d have come back later.
“I parked at the church. Ran in to retrieve my measuring tape.” She pulled it from her pocket as proof. “So you’re working on the parsonage, too?”
“As often as I can.”
She turned to Bryce. “I need to run. Errands to finish. But it sure was good seeing you again.”
“Likewise. Get yourself back home more often. Don’t be such a stranger.”
She said her goodbyes to Meg and Davy, then glanced uncertainly at Trey. With a stiff smile she slipped past him, heading to the door, but he caught her upper arm and brought her to a halt. Startled eyes met his and he raised an inquiring brow.
“Have a minute to spare? We have a little business to discuss.”