Currant Creek Valley (8 page)

“That’s admirable. Not many men would give up their career to take care of their ailing wife. So do you like him?”

Entirely too much. And the more she talked about him—and thought about him—the more she liked him. Annoyance with herself and frustration with the situation made her tone sharper than she intended.

“Last I checked, we’re not in junior high anymore. I’m past the stage of handing you notes about the cute boy in my social studies class.”

Claire blinked but her gaze quickly sharpened and Alex could have kicked herself. She might be sweet and kind, but Claire was no idiot. If Alex acted touchy and hypersensitive about just the mention of Sam Delgado, Claire would quickly surmise there was more simmering between them than casual friendship.

She hurried to make amends. “Sorry. That was mean. I miss being in junior high with you.”

“Life certainly seems easier when a girl is twelve.”

In some respects, not all. Claire’s father had been murdered in a torrid love triangle when they were young, and even then her own father had had one foot out the door, though they had all been too blind to see it.

On impulse, she reached out and hugged Claire, pregnant belly, gardening gloves and all. She dearly loved all four of her actual sisters but Claire was her BFF. In their case, the
forever
really meant something.

“Sam is a nice guy but that’s all. He’s building my kitchen and I’m not going to do anything to screw that up.”

Claire pressed her cheek to hers. “Like break his heart, you mean?”

Or let him sneak close enough to break hers.

“Something like that.”

After a moment, she eased away. “I really do need to go. Sorry I can’t stay, but my shift is starting soon and I left a horrendous mess in my kitchen at home. Leo, come on. You and Chester can hang another time.”

She shepherded the dog into the backseat again, hugged Claire one last time, blew a kiss to Owen—busy now, untangling fishing line in the driveway—then drove away.

This was the important part of her life, she thought as she headed toward Currant Creek Valley. Her family, her friends, the people she cared about in town. She was perfectly happy with her life and didn’t need anything else—especially not a man with serious dark eyes and a mouth that tasted like heaven.

CHAPTER SIX

N
EARLY
A
WEEK
after that stunning kiss, Sam had reached the inescapable conclusion that Alexandra was avoiding him.

She seemed to have unerring instincts for visiting the restaurant to check their progress just as he stepped out for lunch or left to pick something up at the building supply store on the edge of town.

His crew all seemed to like her, even Silent Joe, and reported that she had told them all how much she loved the way her kitchen was coming together. To him, she had left only a quickly scribbled note the second time he had missed her, which read,
Looks great, Sam. You’re a genius with a hammer.

He might have resorted to stopping at her current restaurant up at the Silver Strike Resort just for an excuse to see her again, but every time he had considered making a reservation, he had decided against it.

After she had driven away so abruptly the other night without giving him an answer when he had asked point-blank to see her again, it had been easy enough to figure out that
was
her answer.

She obviously had her reasons for avoiding him. If that’s the way she wanted things, what the hell else could he do? He wasn’t some kind of creepy stalker guy. When a woman made it clear she wasn’t interested, he moved on.

That didn’t mean he had to be happy about it, especially after they shared a kiss that had rocked him to the core.

The gloomy, rainy morning matched his mood as he headed into her sister’s coffee place and bookstore for a midmorning caffeine jolt for his crew.

He just finished ordering for the guys from their complicated list—who knew Silent Joe liked café au lait, extra foamy?—when some gut instinct kicked in. It was probably the same sixth sense that had carried him to the other side of so many dangerous situations when he had been deployed.

He turned around and there she was a few spaces behind him in line at the coffee counter, talking with an older woman who shared the same green eyes behind trendy glasses.

He knew he shouldn’t be so happy to see her but he couldn’t ignore the delight that burst through him like the sun between those clouds outside.

He just liked looking at her, plain and simple. All that long, wavy blond hair, those deep jade eyes, the sweet curve of her mouth. Alexandra McKnight was one hell of an appealing package.

As if she felt the heat of his thoughts, she finally broke off her conversation with the woman and shifted her attention to him. When she saw him, something bright and glittery flashed in those eyes before she shifted her gaze down.

“Wow. Somebody must be thirsty,” Alexandra quipped.

He held up the carry tray with a half-dozen cups. “Making a coffee run for the whole crew this morning. Somebody’s got to do it.”

All he wanted to do was stand there holding the coffee and stare at her. He realized in that moment of seeing her again after all this time just exactly how much he had thought of her in the past week, half the time without even being fully aware.

Thoughts of her had been simmering under his consciousness since he had last seen her drive away on a darkened Hope’s Crossing street.

He had known the whole time he had worked at the restaurant that this was
her
kitchen. Did she prefer pull handles or knobs? Would she notice this or that extra little touch while she cooked in the kitchen? How could he make the space work best for her?

The other woman suddenly cleared her throat, and he realized Alexandra was staring right back at him, her glittery gaze fixed on his mouth. She had to be remembering that cataclysmic kiss.

And if it had affected her, too, why the hell was she avoiding him?

“Oh. Yes.” She looked away and he saw a hint of color climb her elegant cheekbones. “Mom, this is Sam Delgado. He’s finishing up the restaurant kitchen for Brodie. Sam, this is my mother, Mary Ella McKnight.”

He smiled, juggling the to-go container to his left arm so he could shake her hand. She had auburn hair where her daughter was blonde but they shared the same finely etched bone structure, the same slender build.

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. McKnight.”

“Hello, Sam. Alex was telling me how quickly the work is going at the restaurant. I do hope you’re enjoying your stay in Hope’s Crossing.”

“I’ve only been here a week or so, but so far everyone has been very kind. Your daughter even gave me a guided tour the other night.”

“Did she?” Mary Ella gave Alexandra a surprised look.

“You know me. Always doing my part to welcome visitors,” Alexandra murmured.

Mary Ella’s mouth tightened and he sensed some current between them he didn’t quite understand. He probably should be on his way but he was loath to leave now that she couldn’t avoid him, hot coffee notwithstanding.

“I saw the sign still up for Leonidas when I came in,” he said. “No luck finding his owner, then?”

She shook her head. “For now, I’ve still got company.”

“Leonidas? That’s the name of the dog you’ve been keeping?” her mother asked.

He probably shouldn’t enjoy sharing this little secret with her but he couldn’t help it.

“That’s what I’ve been calling him, anyway,” Alexandra answered. “Remember those Belgian chocolates I gave you for Mother’s Day last year?”

“How could I forget? I only let myself have one of them a week and savored them until Labor Day. This must be some dog.”

“He is pretty great. I still haven’t had any luck finding his home. Every day I call the two vet offices in town, the shelter, everywhere I can think of. I think they’re getting a little annoyed with me. So far, no one has reported a missing chocolate Labrador. It’s the weirdest thing. He had to come from
somewhere.
Someone certainly seems to have been taking good care of him, right? He was skinny but not starving.”

Ethan had hounded Sam again for a dog when he talked to him on the phone the night before. His son seemed to think adding a canine member to their family was a given once they finally settled into their own place, after all these years of moving around.

He didn’t have the heart to tell the kid they would be so busy settling in that a dog was somewhere far in the future.

At least he had made a little progress that morning finding somewhere to live. He was meeting with a real estate agent later, and Brodie Thorne had given him a lead on a couple places, including one house on the outskirts of town that needed some work but would be livable in the meantime. It was well within his budget.

He started to ask Alexandra if she knew anything about the neighborhood but she spoke before he could.

“My kitchen is looking fantastic.”

Her approval was gratifying, he had to admit. “I’m glad you think so. Maybe you ought to stop by when I’m there so I can show you a couple things.”

“Sure. I could do that,” she said slowly. “I’ve stopped by a few times but...I guess I’ve missed you.”

That color ratcheted up a notch or two, he noticed. He wasn’t the only one who picked up on it. Her mother was giving her a very curious look. He wanted to ask why she was avoiding him but he couldn’t very well do that with Mary Ella standing there.

“It would be good to have your input a little more directly. Could we arrange a time to...” He almost said
hook up
but didn’t want her to think he meant that in the sexual sense. “Meet up?” he quickly amended. “I can meet you after your shift at the restaurant, if that works for you. I’ve got plenty to keep me busy.”

“You’ve got the day off tomorrow, don’t you?” her mother said, quite helpfully, he thought.

Alexandra frowned just briefly but long enough for him to pick up that she didn’t appreciate her mother’s input nearly as much as he did. “Yes. Yes, I do. I guess I could swing by at some point in the day.”

“We should be there all day. Come over anytime that works for you.”

“I’ll do that.” After a bit of an awkward moment, she gestured to the coffee. “You probably should go, unless your crew likes cold coffee.”

“Right.” He had completely forgotten his objective. “See you later, Alexandra. Mrs. McKnight, it was a pleasure to meet you.”

Both women gave him smiles of varying warmth—Mary Ella’s looked welcoming and friendly while Alexandra’s struck him as guarded and wary.

Why? he wondered as he walked out of the bookstore and back to his truck, parked on a side street. They had a great time together, so why was she so determined to keep him at a distance now?

She obviously regretted their kiss. His ego might have been bruised by that if he didn’t remember her heated response, the way her mouth had softened under his and how she had held on to him as if she couldn’t bear to let him go.

He
did
remember those things, though, which made her reaction afterward all the more baffling.

The woman was a puzzle. A beautiful, funny, complicated puzzle.

One he very much wanted to figure out.

* * *

A
FTER
S
AM
WALKED
OUT
of Books & Brew, taking all that masculine strength with him, the fine tension that had clenched Alex’s shoulders when she saw him standing there began to seep away.

She inhaled deeply, ridiculously aware that she had been holding her breath during the conversation, on edge and off balance.

Drat the man! He had no business bursting into her life right now and messing with her head and her hormones, not when she was so close to grabbing for everything she had ever wanted.

“I’m so glad you could meet me for coffee this morning,” Mary Ella said. “I know you were working late last night.”

She focused on her mother instead of this jittery mess of nerves in her stomach. “I love Maura’s coffee.”

“Your sister runs a fine shop, doesn’t she?”

The pride in Mary Ella’s voice made her smile. “She does indeed. Remarkably well, and all while raising the most beautiful baby in the world.”

“Our Henry isn’t that much of a baby anymore.” Her mother’s expression was soft, as it was when she talked about any of her children or grandchildren. “He’s going to be a year old in June. Maura said he’s been trying to take a few steps along the furniture.”

“The time is just flying by. Any day now he’s going to start growing a beard.”

Mary Ella made a face. “Okay, he’s still a baby for a while now. But the older I get, the faster time seems to spin.”

They reached the front of the line and placed their orders, then found a couple padded chairs in one of the conversation nooks Maura had placed throughout her store for the convenience and enjoyment of her customers.

They chatted about Maura and Jack and Sage, just finishing her third year of undergraduate work at the University of Colorado in Boulder, then moved on to talk about Riley and Claire’s upcoming happy event.

Throughout the conversation, Alex became aware that she wasn’t the only one who seemed unsettled this morning. Mary Ella—usually calm as Silver Strike Reservoir on a summer morning—fidgeted in her chair as if she couldn’t quite find a comfortable spot, and her fingers drummed with impatience on the padded armrest as they awaited their order.

When their drinks arrived, Mary Ella took a single sip of her tea and set the cup back on the saucer so abruptly some sloshed over the side and onto her lap.

Worry blossomed inside Alex like a noxious weed in Caroline’s garden. This was
not
like her mother, usually the epitome of easy grace. Something was up.

“What’s going on? You’re acting like you’ve already had about a dozen cups of tea this morning.”

Mary Ella set her tea—cup, saucer and all—onto the small table between them and tucked a strand of tastefully colored auburn hair behind her ear with fingers that trembled. “This is hard. Harder than I thought it would be.”

That noxious weed of worry grew into a bristly, towering stalk. Something was seriously wrong.
Cancer
was the first thing that came to mind, maybe because of Caroline or because she had just seen Sam, who had tragically lost his young wife to the devil disease, though she didn’t really have confirmation of that yet.

“What is it? Are you ill?” How would she bear it if she lost her mother? Mary Ella was in her sixties, yes, but she was healthier than the rest of them and still walked four miles every morning and lifted weights at the gym three times a week.

“I’m trying to talk to each of you children separately. I’ve already called and spoken with Lila and Rose. I had a moment last night to talk to Maura and Angie and I’m going over to Riley’s after I talk to you. It doesn’t get easier, I can tell you that.”

Panic fluttered inside her, dark and ugly, and she thought she just might be sick herself. “Is it cancer? If it is, I’ll be there for you every minute. You know I will. I’ll drive you to the chemo, I’ll fix you anything that sounds good that you think you might be able to eat. I’ll even shave my head when your hair falls out.”

Mary Ella’s eyes had gone wide during this little speech and if Alex wasn’t mistaken, sudden tears swam in them. Her mother gave a shocked little laugh and reached for her hand.

Those fingers trembling in hers didn’t set her mind at ease. “Oh, darling. I don’t have cancer, but if I did, I would absolutely want you at my back. You have always been such a wonderful daughter. I couldn’t ask for better children. All of you.”

For a time in those rough teen years, she hadn’t treated her mother very well and the memory still ate at her.

“Okay. Okay. You don’t have cancer.” Relief flooded through the panic. “What’s this about, then?”

“I feel silly, especially now after that little side trip into terrible possibilities. I don’t have cancer, I promise. Everything’s fine. Better than fine, actually.”

Mary Ella’s throat worked as she swallowed hard. “It’s just... I don’t know quite how to say this but...I’m getting married.”

She stared for several long seconds as the words soaked into her brain, not quite sure how to react.

The news wasn’t really unexpected. Mary Ella had been in a relationship for a year now, but accepting something as an inevitable outcome in the abstract was far different from being faced with the blunt reality of it.