Currant Creek Valley (15 page)

She slanted a look at Sam as if asking whether he minded. He shrugged a little. How could he discourage his son from showing initiative?

“Sure,” she answered. “If I haven’t found his owners by then, anyway.”

Ethan rubbed the dog’s head. “Why
can’t
you just keep him? He’s a really good dog. They must not have taken very good care of him if they let him run around wild.”

“But think how sad they must feel if they’ve been looking for him all this time? They’re probably lonely without him.”

“If you
do
find his owners, won’t you be the lonely one?” Ethan pressed. “You don’t even have a kid of your own.”

Sam winced at his son’s bluntness, especially when he saw her inhale sharply. Something dark and pained flashed in her gaze before she forced a smile.

“No kids here,” she agreed pleasantly enough. “But I do have a really big family with tons of nieces and nephews, and one more on the way in a few months. I spend a lot of time with my family and friends, and I’m very busy working most of the time. It’s hard to be lonely when you’re so busy.”

Did staying busy help stave off the loneliness for her the same way it had for him since Kelli had died?

“I think my dad is lonely when I’m not here,” Ethan offered. “He lives all by himself while I’m with my aunt and uncle and my cousins. I don’t see why I can’t just move here with him now.”

Ugh. He got so tired of rehashing the same argument. Ethan just couldn’t let it rest. “A few more weeks. School will be out before you know it and you’ll be coming here for good. Then you’ll be missing your life back in Denver.”

“We always want what we don’t have, Ethan,” Alexandra said. “Let that be a lesson for you. And here’s another one. Brownies always make everything better.”

She held out a plate where she had piled several more of those luscious people treats. As Sam took them from her, their hands brushed and that little sizzle of current arced between them. He didn’t miss the way she quickly slid her hand away and curled it against her leg.

They walked through the great room. When they reached the front door, Ethan rushed outside first and stood on her sidewalk, looking up at the stars beginning to appear in the twilight. They had spent far longer inside her house than he had intended, but it sure as hell beat fixing the plumbing.

“I meant to tell you, I’m coming Friday night to your restaurant opening,” he said. “Brodie invited me to join him and Evie.”

Something wild and a little panicky flickered briefly in her gaze and he was sorry he brought it up.

“Great,” she said in an overly cheerful voice. “The more the merrier, right? Oh, and you’ll have a chance to meet Claire and Maura and their husbands. We were just talking about it when they were here. They’re all sitting with Brodie. Are you taking anyone?”

The question came out of nowhere and it took him a moment to process it. A date? Did she really think he wanted to date anybody else while this inconvenient heat bubbled and seethed between them?

“I hadn’t planned on it, no.”

“You really should. You wouldn’t want to be the only one at the table without a date. Awkward.”

Evie and Brodie struck him as very warm and casual. He doubted anyone would make him feel like a loser for showing up alone at a social event like a restaurant opening.

“My wife has been gone for two years. It won’t be the first time I’ve spent an evening without a date. I’ll survive a little social anxiety.”

“Have you met my friend Charlotte yet? She runs the candy store in town. I think you would really like her.”

He glanced at Ethan, who was too busy trying to pick out constellations to pay them any attention. “Are you really trying to set me up with one of your friends?”

She tossed that mischievous strand of hair behind her ear again. “If you want to look at it that way.”

His rough laugh sounded strained, even to him. “How else am I supposed to look at it?”

“I just thought the two of you might get along, that’s all. Charlotte is really wonderful. Warm and kind and a little bit shy. She doesn’t date a lot. She’s made some amazing changes in her life lately and I’d like to see her go out a little more.”

“With me.”

After everything between them, she really wanted him to date one of her friends. If he needed further proof that she wanted to ignore this attraction, she had just handed it to him, served up as prettily as she arranged food on a plate.

He knew he shouldn’t find that so damn depressing.

“Forget I said anything. It was just a suggestion.” She sounded defensive, flustered, and he didn’t know whether he wanted to shake her or kiss her.

Okay, yes, he did. Kissing would always be the clear winner.

“I have no problem going by myself but if it makes you feel any better, I understand Brodie’s mother will be part of the party. She can be my unofficial date.”

“Katherine?” She laughed, looking enthralled by the idea, and he decided he would never understand her. “You might have competition there. Both of them try to play it cool but she and Charlotte’s dad, Dermot, have this funny little unspoken thing going between them.”

He could certainly relate to that. “Good to know. I’ll try to keep her from breaking my heart.”

“Well, if you change your mind, I can still give you Charlotte’s number.”

He just barely refrained from rolling his eyes. “Good night, Alexandra.”

“Good night, Samuel. See you, Ethan.”

His son waved cheerfully at her, then slid his hand in Sam’s and the two of them walked down the sidewalk toward home.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

F
OR
THE
FIRST
TIME
she could remember, her snug little house didn’t surround her with a calming peace when she arrived home Thursday night.

Usually any tension of her day started to seep away just from pulling into the driveway and seeing the warm welcome of those burnished logs.

If she had known how much she would love owning her own place, she would have purchased one years ago. Somehow it had always seemed so much trouble, with the yard work and home repairs and property taxes. She had managed to convince herself she enjoyed the freedom and flexibility of apartment living and didn’t need anything else.

Since buying this house, she had come to appreciate so many little things. The smell of fresh-mowed grass, the thwack against the door of the newspaper she rarely had time to read but still faithfully subscribed to, the satisfaction she found in fixing something inside the house herself instead of calling someone else to do it for her.

This time, as she turned off her engine and opened the door, that sense of welcoming peace remained hauntingly out of reach. The logs still glowed honey-gold in the porch light, and the night air smelled of the sweet lilac hedge just beginning to bloom and the tart pines rising into the night, but her mind was too tangled up to properly appreciate it.

In less than twenty-four hours, Brazen would open its doors for business. She was alternately consumed with excitement that this moment had finally arrived—everything she had dreamed of for so long within reach—and paralyzed by fear that she would fall on her face in front of her family and friends and everyone she held most dear.

Every single muscle in her body ached with exhaustion and she was physically as tired as she could ever remember. She had been working every waking moment all week long to make sure every detail was perfect. As tired as she was, she wasn’t sure how she would ever be able to settle down enough to sleep.

When she opened the door to her house, Leonidas raced to greet her and ran around her as if she had been gone for months. Guilt pinched at her. Poor neglected stray.

She hadn’t left him here alone all day. That morning, he had set out with her and spent part of the day in the little yard beside the restaurant. When she returned home at dinnertime to pick up some paperwork, she had brought him back to the house and left him here, but that had been five hours earlier and the poor thing had been alone ever since.

“This is why I can’t have a dog,” she informed him as she dropped her armload—bags, keys, phone—onto a console table in her entryway so she could love him up. “It’s a time thing. I’m sure you understand. It’s not you, it’s me.”

Leo cocked his head to one side and gazed at her out of those wise hazel eyes.

She sighed, still feeling guilty at neglecting a creature who depended on her. What was she going to do with him? She had decided by default to put off making a decision until after the restaurant opened but with another turn of the earth, that day would be here. She was going to have to give him away. One of her new servers had mentioned his kids wanted a dog. Or maybe she could find someone old and alone who could dote on him.

She wasn’t going to figure this out tonight. Right now she needed something to work these kinks out of her body. The sweetly scented spring air called to her. Combine that with a dog who needed attention and exercise and she knew instantly what she should do.

“Let’s go for a walk,” she said. “What do you say, hmm? Want to burn off some of that energy?”

Leo gave one of his low, happy barks and padded to the front door to wait for her. Smart thing.

“We won’t go far, only a little way up the Currant Creek trail, how does that sound? It’s eleven o’clock and I really do need to try to sleep if I can. People are counting on me to be awesome tomorrow.”

Leo tried to nudge open the door she had left ajar. She closed it firmly with a laugh. “Hold on. Give me a second. It’s not going to help my stress level if you take off without me tonight, trust me on that.”

She quickly grabbed a warm jacket out of the closet and her flashlight, as well as the can of bear spray she had taken to carrying since a few black bears had been seen recently on trails around town.

A few moments later, she hooked the leash on Leo and the two of them walked toward the bridge that would take her over Currant Creek to the trail that ran on the opposite side from the houses.

The night was beautiful, warmer than usual for May. If the weather held, the Brazen outdoor seating that had just arrived would be the perfect place to spend a pleasant May evening, especially with that lovely view down Main Street. She did have kerosene warmers ready but she would really prefer not to use them if she didn’t have to.

As they made their way up the trail accompanied by the burbling creek, just a silver ribbon in the moonlight, the tension in her shoulders began to ease, along with the steady throb of a headache.

Leo loved the excursion, sniffing at every rock and clump of growth.

No other creatures disturbed their walk except an owl hooting in the trees, and some kind of water inhabitant—a muskrat or beaver, maybe?—that splashed upstream.

They didn’t go far, only about a mile to the fence that marked the edge of the Forest Service land. Sometimes a walk amid the steady mountain beauty that surrounded her soothed her even more than yoga. By the time she turned around and headed back toward her house, her muscles were loose and relaxed.

She was so relaxed, she wasn’t paying much attention to her surroundings. If she had been, she might have noticed she wasn’t the only one awake in her neighborhood.

“You’re out late.”

The low words came completely out of nowhere and she shrieked and jumped about a half foot in the air.

What was the point in having a big dog if he didn’t warn her of that kind of stuff? She jerked her head around in the direction of the voice and saw a dark shape on Sam’s front porch.

“Not cool! You scared the life out of me!”

He gave a rueful-sounding laugh. “Sorry,” he said. “I forgot you couldn’t see me up here in the dark.”

The smart thing would be to just say good-night and keep on walking but she couldn’t seem to make herself do that. She was only being neighborly, she told herself. It seemed rude to just walk on by and she certainly couldn’t stand out here on the sidewalk and yell back and forth with him, not at this late hour. She would wake up Mr. Phillips, especially, on Sam’s other side, who liked to sleep with his bedroom window cracked even in the coldest weather.

She moved up his walk, assuring herself she would only stay a moment.

“Leo has been cooped up all day,” she explained. “We both needed to stretch our legs a little before bed.”

“Next time, grab me. I’ll go with you.”

As if she would have found
that
at all restful. “I was fine.”

“Maybe so, but it’s pretty foolish to go walking by yourself after dark. Anything could have happened to you. One slip and you could have fallen into the creek. And who knows what scary wild animals might be lurking out there?”

She was more concerned about the scary male lurking right here. “I was fine,” she repeated. “I had Leo with me and I’m sure he could be pretty fierce if the need arose. Besides that, I always carry bear spray.”

“Which wouldn’t have been particularly useful if you had fallen into the creek, unless a bear fell in at the same time.”

Okay, there was some truth to that, but she refused to live her life in fear. About exploring the Currant Creek backcountry, anyway.

“Nothing happened. Here I am, safe and sound.”

She always felt very protected in the mountains around Hope’s Crossing, though she knew that feeling was likely illusory. A woman on her own could never be completely complacent of her safety. Her brother could probably tell her stories that would raise the hair on the back of her neck.

“That’s good. But seriously, call me next time. Or at least send me a text letting me know where you’re going so we have a starting point for a search if you don’t come back.”

With all the stress in her life, this was one more thing she didn’t want to worry about right now so she quickly changed the subject. “I like your swing.”

He gave her a long look, obviously aware of her transparent conversational ploy. Apparently, he decided to let it stand.

“I’ve always wanted one,” he answered. “A porch swing just seems to represent home to me. Somehow in base housing the opportunity never arose to put one in, and then we moved into a condo near the hospital for Kelli’s treatments and didn’t have a good spot. This is the first time I’ve ever had a front porch. I saw this swing while I was shopping for new bathroom light fixtures today and I couldn’t resist.”

She knew she shouldn’t find that so blasted endearing but she couldn’t seem to help it. The man continually surprised her. She was also more than a little touched, given their history, that he would open up and share something so personal with her.

“Want to give it a trial run with me?” he asked.

“Now, that sounds like a line.”

His low laugh sizzled down her spine. “No. This is a line. I’ve always dreamed of sitting on a porch swing on a lovely May evening with an even lovelier woman.”

“Nice. A little cheesy, but surprisingly effective.”

She saw the gleam of his teeth in the night as he smiled. “Is it?”

Her dog flopped onto the top step of the porch. Again, that warning voice told her to just say good-night and go home, where she was safe.

This didn’t seem a night for making wise choices. Before she could talk herself out of it, she took the final steps to the swing and sat down.

The chains rattled softly as he set the swing in motion and they moved gently there in the darkness, Leo’s panting and the night creatures peeping and humming and the rustling of the leaves against the porch for company.

“In case you’re wondering,” he said after a moment, “I’m not going to ask the obvious. If you’re nervous about tomorrow night, I mean.”

She made a face, though she knew he couldn’t see it. “Thank you. I appreciate your forbearance.”

He laughed softly and the swing moved forward, backward, forward. He was right; this was the perfect spot for a swing, looking out at the mountains.

“In answer to your unasked question, yes. I believe I’ve moved past nervous to scared as hell, venturing into what-was-I-thinking territory. In fact, at this point I’m beginning to think jumping into Currant Creek teeming with bears—and me with no bear spray—would be less intimidating.”

“You’ll be great,” he answered. “I’ve tasted your food, remember. You’ve got the stuff, Alexandra.”

Warmth burst through like a bright sunbeam. “I appreciate the vote of confidence. It helps take me just south of panic.”

“I’m still planning to be there at the opening. I’m looking forward to it.”

“No Ethan tomorrow?”

“No. Nick and Cheri are bringing him up Saturday morning and I’ll drive him back Sunday night. Only two more weeks of school and then he can come permanently.”

“He seems to be excited for the move.”

“He complains about the separations during the week but I think he’s going to miss his cousins when Nicky and his family move to Europe.”

“What about you? Are you going to miss your brother and his family?”

“They’ve been incredibly supportive since Kelli died. I don’t know what I would have done without them these last few years. So, yeah. I’ll miss them but I guess it was time for all of us to make a change.”

“Why Hope’s Crossing? I’m not sure you’ve ever given me a straight answer on that. Colorado is a big state. A guy with your particular skill set probably could have landed anywhere.”

He was silent. “You’re going to think this sounds ridiculous.”

“Try me.”

“When Brodie first talked to me about taking over and finishing the work at Brazen, Ethan and I came out from Denver to see what needed to be done on the site. I remember, it was a Saturday afternoon in March, sunny and cool. After walking through the restaurant, we stopped for lunch at the pizza place in town.”

“They make a good pie. Certainly not worth uprooting your whole life for, though.”

“The food was good, yeah. But while we were eating, at least three different people stopped to say hello and ask if I needed directions anywhere.”

She smiled at the stunned note in his voice. “Yeah, we can all go a little crazy trying to help out lost tourists. It can be annoying.”

“I didn’t think it was annoying. I thought it was wonderful. I still do. I’ve never experienced that sense of community. I want Ethan to have what Nick and I didn’t, you know? Roots. Traditions. A place to belong.”

He was a loving father who would do anything for his child. “What about you?” she asked, mainly to avoid thinking about how sexy she found that. “What do you see in the stars for your future?”

“Same thing, I guess,” he said after a moment. “It will be nice to have my feet planted in one spot for a while.”

He was quiet while the swing continued its hypnotic movement. “I basically went from the chaos of our childhood straight into taking care of Nick and then into the military, and spent the next decade and a half going where I was sent. When Kelli was diagnosed, we were living in Germany. We both decided being near her family during her treatment was our best option. Not one of our smartest decisions, by the way.”

“They weren’t supportive?”

He sighed. “You don’t need to hear this ugly story tonight. Tomorrow’s a big day for you.”

“Distract me.”

“I could come up with far more interesting ways to distract you than talking about the mess I’m leaving in Denver.”

His words vibrated through the night and her insides quivered. She firmly ignored her instantaneous response.

“How about we stick with you telling me what happened with your wife’s family? Why are you leaving a mess?”

“Her father owns a big construction company. Tanner and Sons. A major player in the area. Despite the name, neither of his sons has much interest in construction. One is a teacher and one is an artist and neither stuck around Colorado. I think J.T., Kelli’s father, had some vague idea of eventually handing over the reins to me. He had been after me for a long time to quit the army and go into business with him.”