In Firefly Valley (2 page)

“If his characters are so good, why won't he show his face?”

He had no idea why it had happened. Blake Kendall paced the office that bore his name along with the string of initials he'd acquired as a financial consultant. Door to window, window to door. It did no good. The muse that had served him so faithfully for close to a decade, the same muse that had propelled his books to the top of the national bestseller lists, spawned a series of blockbuster movies, and made his name—correction, his pseudonym—a household word, had vanished, leaving him with a seemingly incurable case of writer's block.

He poured himself another cup of coffee. Perhaps an infusion of caffeine would help. When he'd drained half the cup, Blake settled back in the chair whose superb ergonomics ensured that he never suffered from back pain or excessive fatigue and positioned his hands over the keyboard. Nothing. Not even a glimmer of an idea. Why had he expected anything different?

He hadn't worried the first day. After all, everyone had bad days. But as the days turned to weeks, Blake had begun to wonder whether he would ever be able to write again. The inspiration well that had once required only light priming was now bone dry. He emptied the coffee cup and rose. There had to be something he could do.

After taking three long strides, he stood next to the window with its million-dollar view of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco Bay. The sight never failed to stir him, and it did not disappoint today. He could wax eloquent over the beauty of his adopted hometown. Perhaps he ought to begin writing tourist brochures, since it was clear that that was all he could do today. But tourist brochures were not what readers expected from Ken Blake. They wanted another thriller. They wanted to know what disaster Cliff Pearson would encounter, what clever way he would find to foil the evildoers. Unfortunately, Cliff Pearson's next adventure was nothing more than a blank sheet of paper, all because Blake's creativity was locked up tighter than Alcatraz's prisoners used to be.

Caffeine, walking, staring. Nothing was working. He had to find another stimulus. Blake sank into his chair and opened the
file drawer on the right side of his desk. He didn't expect to find inspiration there. That drawer held the files of his few remaining investment clients. While those clients provided a modest but steady source of income, he knew nothing in the files would trigger ideas for a new book.

He fingered the folders, stopping when he reached the last one. Vange, Gregory. The image of his former college roommate flashed before him. Maybe Greg was the answer. A glance at his watch told Blake he had enough time to get to Greg's office before noon. Why not?

He picked up the phone. “Greg Vange, please,” he said when the receptionist answered. With some luck, Greg would be free. If not, they could meet for an early dinner. Blake didn't delude himself into believing that his friend and client would have any ideas for the next foe Cliff would defeat, but perhaps all Blake needed was a change of scenery and a bit of friendly conversation.

“I'm sorry, sir. Mr. Vange is no longer with Sys=Simpl.”

He blinked in surprise. Had the earth suddenly stopped rotating around the sun? Sys=Simpl was the company Greg had founded when they'd still been at Stanford. Surely nothing less than an earthshaking event would have caused him to leave.

“Are you certain?”

“Yes, sir.”

Sensing that she would not provide details, Blake asked for Drew Carroll, Greg's former partner and another of Blake's college friends.

“Hey, Drew, it's Blake,” he said when they were connected. “I was trying to get ahold of Greg. The woman who answered the phone said he doesn't work there anymore.”

“It's true.” The unexpected terseness in Drew's voice made Blake suspect there was much he wanted to say but couldn't. “We sold the company, and Greg left.”

Without telling Blake. That was almost as odd as the fact that Greg had abandoned Sys=Simpl. Though they saw each other only
a couple times a year, Blake and Greg usually talked every quarter when Greg asked for a review of his investments.

Blake pulled out the file and frowned. They'd missed their second quarter review. How had he not noticed that? His frown deepened as he realized that the MIA muse had affected more than his writing.

“Where is he now?”

“I'm not sure.” This time there was no question. Drew was angry. “The last I knew, he was at the most pathetic excuse for a resort I've ever seen.”

That didn't sound like Greg. As far as Blake knew, he'd never taken a vacation. But then, Blake wouldn't have predicted that Greg would sell his firm. It had been his brainchild and, at least from what Blake had seen, the most important part of his life.

“Is the resort on the coast?” If so, perhaps Blake still had time to find Greg today.

“Nope. He was in the Texas Hill Country, if you can believe that. I haven't heard from him since Easter, but I can give you his cell number if you don't have it.” Blake heard a keyboard clacking and realized Drew was searching for the number. “I've got to warn you, though. There's no cell service there, so you'll probably get voice mail.”

Greg Vange, the man who believed in being connected 24/7, living in a place with no cell service. The story became stranger by the minute. “Do you remember the name of the resort?” Presumably they'd have a landline.

“Rainbow something. Trust me, Blake, you don't want to go there.”

But Blake wanted to talk to Greg. The urge he'd felt when he looked at the file had intensified. His friend had made a life-changing decision. Drew might not understand, but Blake wanted to find out what had happened and why.

Drew was right. The call to Greg's cell went to voice mail, but a quick Google search revealed a resort in the Texas Hill Country called Rainbow's End. It had to be the one.

“I'm trying to reach Greg Vange,” Blake said when a teenager answered the phone. “Is he by any chance still a guest?”

“Not exactly.” Blake heard a peal of laughter in the distance as the girl called out, “Greg! Phone for you.”

A second later, a familiar voice said, “Greg Vange speaking. How can I help you?”

“Blake Kendall here.” He matched his friend's formality, then chuckled, more relieved than he'd expected that he'd been able to reach Greg. “What on earth are you doing in Texas?”

“You won't believe it.” Greg took a deep breath and exhaled slowly in a technique Blake had seen him use when he wanted to increase the suspense. “You'd better sit down for this. Ready?” When Blake assured him that he was prepared for whatever Greg was going to send his way, Greg said, “I bought a resort, and I'm getting married in four days and three hours.”

Though he'd been leaning back in his chair, Blake bolted upright. “You what?” He'd never thought Greg would leave his company, but to buy a run-down resort in the middle of Texas was even more incomprehensible. And then there was the almost casual announcement that he was getting married . . . this Saturday. To the best of Blake's knowledge, Greg had never dated seriously. He'd been too busy making Sys=Simpl one of the most successful companies of its kind to have time for dating and falling in love.

Though he felt like the world had indeed spun off its axis, Blake knew he owed his friend a response. “It seems congratulations are in order.”

“Thanks, pal.” If Greg heard the shock in Blake's voice, he gave no sign. “It all happened pretty fast. Now, what can I do for you?”

“I was hoping to buy you lunch, but I guess that won't happen unless . . .” The appeal of sitting down with Greg, even if it was only for a couple hours, to learn what had caused him to reinvent his life continued to grow. “You say you own a resort. Any chance you have a room for an old buddy?”

The hesitation, though only momentary, told Blake his question
was unexpected. “We're in the middle of renovations. The grand opening is in a month.”

“I can't wait a month.” Seeing Greg wasn't guaranteed to break through his writer's block, but Blake had to try. And, though he hadn't thought it possible, he found himself excited by the prospect of visiting the Hill Country. It was supposed to be beautiful and very different from California. Perhaps that was what he needed to jump-start his imagination. “Can you recommend someplace else?”

Greg did not hesitate. “Carmen will probably kill me for this, but you can have my cabin starting Saturday. Kate and I'll be on our honeymoon for two weeks, and we're moving into the owners' suite when we return.” Greg chuckled. “In case you were wondering, Carmen's our cook, and Kate is the wonderful woman who agreed to take a chance on me.” The happiness radiating from his voice left no doubt that whatever had happened to Greg at Rainbow's End, it had been good.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Something tells me you need Rainbow's End right now.”

Blake did indeed. After he'd gotten directions to Greg's new home and made his plane reservations, he called Drew.

“Why didn't you tell me?” he demanded when Drew answered.

“Tell you what?”

“That Greg's getting married. I thought he was a confirmed bachelor like me.” Drew had always been one step from the altar, but Greg and Blake had, for different reasons, steered clear of matrimony.

“So he's really doing it. This is something I've got to see.”

“Me too.”

M
om was right. The place had changed. Marisa braked to make the right turn into Rainbow's End. The last time she'd been here, everything from the sign on the front gate to the cabins had been dilapidated. Now the wrought iron was freshly painted, and the gate boasted a new sign. Like the old one, it featured a rainbow with Noah's ark replacing the fabled pot of gold at its end, but now, instead of animals peering from the windows, the ark bore a heart with a cross in its center. It had new lettering too, the crisp font proclaiming that this was Rainbow's End, the Heart and Soul of the Hill Country.

Marisa smiled at what had to have been Kate's work. Mom had described her as a hotshot advertising exec. Though Marisa had no idea what other work Kate had done, this was inspired. Marisa admired the choice of a tagline that linked the resort to Dupree, which proclaimed itself the Heart of the Hills, at the same time that it left no doubt of Rainbow's End's Christian focus. With a single image and a few words, Kate had captured the essence of the resort. If the entrance was any indication, Rainbow's End had indeed changed and for the better now that Kate Sherwood and Greg Vange were running it.

Marisa's smile broadened as she drove toward the resort's office,
noting that her car no longer bumped and jolted as it had on previous visits. Perhaps being back here wouldn't be as bad as she'd expected. The road was now smooth and surfaced with gravel. Not ordinary gravel, either, but costly multicolored stones. It appeared that Kate and Greg were taking the rainbow theme seriously.

Though the oaks and cypresses that lined the entrance road hadn't changed, the Tyrolean-style building that housed the office sported new paint, and the live plants in its window boxes were a definite improvement over the faded plastic ones the last owners had chosen. The source of all the changes was readily evident in the number of trucks parked near the office and the bevy of workers practically swarming the grounds. It appeared that when Greg and Kate did something, they spared no expense. Her own salary was proof of that. While less than she'd earned in Atlanta, it was more than generous for the work she was expected to perform here. As Kate had said when she'd hired her, Marisa was overqualified for the position. Overqualified and, although Marisa would never admit it to Kate, desperate.

“I'm glad you're here,” Olivia, the teenager who was manning the front desk, said when she greeted Marisa. She made a face at the computer screen. “We need all the help we can get, especially with this dinosaur.”

“I'm sure you're doing fine.”

Olivia's lip curled in disgust. “That makes one of us. This reservation system is impossible. People tell me they've been here before, and they want the same cabin they had the last time, but I can't find the records. I don't want to disappoint anyone, but what can I do? I can't manufacture something that's not there.”

Marisa tried not to frown. From all accounts, Greg was a software genius. Surely he could have found a better system for Rainbow's End. “I'll see what I can do.” Part of her agreement with him and Kate had been that as business manager, Marisa would handle the computer systems. It sounded as if that was going to be more of a challenge than she'd expected. But perhaps that was good.
There was nothing worse than boredom. She'd had a lifetime's worth of that during the past four months.

“I'd better see my mom,” she told Olivia, filing a mental note to spend some time experimenting with the reservation system.

“Yes, you'd better. If she finds out that I waylaid you here, she will cut me off from dessert tonight.” With a faux shudder, Olivia grinned. “That's a fate worse than death.”

It was only a mild exaggeration. Carmen St. George's meals were the one thing about Rainbow's End that everyone agreed needed no improvement. Growing up, Marisa hadn't realized how fortunate she was to have superbly cooked meals and had never dreamt that her mother's culinary skills would finance her college education, but for the past seven and a half years, feeding Rainbow's End's guests had provided Mom's only source of income. And though Mom had earned only a modest wage, she'd done everything she could to ensure that Marisa did not need a college loan. Between Mom's contribution, two scholarships, and her own part-time jobs, Marisa had come out of college debt-free.

She entered the well-appointed industrial kitchen and called out to her mother, who was busily chopping parsley. From this perspective, Mom looked the same as she had when Marisa had spent Christmas with her. Her dark brown hair, pulled back into a severe bun, revealed no threads of gray. Since Mom was only fifty-three, that sign of aging should be a few years away yet, but Marisa had long suspected that the trials her mother had endured would result in premature graying. It was a relief to see that it hadn't occurred yet. Today Mom was clad in the Rainbow's End uniform of navy polo and khaki pants, with a blue gingham apron added in deference to her role.

“Marisa,
mi hija
!” She spun around, a huge smile and open arms accompanying her greeting. Marisa returned the smile as she ran into her mother's arms, knowing that Mom lapsed into her native language only when she was excited. Marisa might not be thrilled by her return to Dupree, but there was no doubt that her mother was.

“I'm so glad you're here.” Mom used the same words Olivia had, only with far more intensity. After another quick hug, she held Marisa at arm's length and studied her. “Look at you. You haven't been eating well.” That, too, was a familiar refrain. Just because Marisa wasn't short and plump like her mother didn't mean she was on the verge of starvation. She'd been short of funds in Atlanta, but never to the extent of not eating.

“I'm perfectly healthy.” Marisa performed her own inspection. The lines that had bracketed Mom's mouth for as long as Marisa could recall had deepened, but her brown eyes were filled with happiness.

Her mother shook her head and drew herself up to her full five feet two inches, the precursor to another pronouncement. “You need more padding on those bones.”

“Mom! I'm here to work, not get fat.” And if she'd been able to find a job anywhere else, she wouldn't even be here.

“I know. I know.” Mom gave Marisa another hug. “It's just that having you here is the answer to prayer. Now, let's get you settled in the cabin. Then I'll introduce you to Kate and Greg. You couldn't ask for nicer bosses. They're wonderful.”

Marisa had thought her last bosses were wonderful too, until the day they announced the elimination of both her job and the bonus she'd been counting on to pay off her debts. She hoped Kate and Greg treated their employees better than that, especially since both she and Mom depended on them.

Recognizing the futility of arguing that she could do it herself, Marisa led her mother to her car and grabbed the largest suitcase from the trunk.

“This is all you brought?” Mom frowned. “I thought you'd have a rental truck.”

Marisa shook her head. “I sold the furniture.”

It hadn't been worth much anyway. Other than the expensive suits that she'd needed to impress clients, Marisa had lived frugally, saving her money for the search for her father. And then she'd lost it all to a sweet-talking con man named Trent, who'd assured her
that he had sources the other investigators she'd hired did not. A month after Trent had disappeared with Marisa's savings, she'd lost her job. The rest was history.

“I never liked that furniture anyway,” Mom said as she led the way up the three steps to the fieldstone cabin that had been her home for as long as she'd worked at Rainbow's End. Though the other cabins were arranged in clusters, this one sat alone and was closer to the road than the others. Marisa had always wondered whether the solitary location was the reason the former owners had offered it to her mother, but Mom liked it and pointed out that as the only cabin with a kitchen, it was the one best suited for a permanent residence. “That chrome and leather might be stylish, but it's not your style, any more than that dark hair is.”

There was nothing to be gained by telling Mom that the furniture had been vinyl—not leather—and that its primary appeal had been the low price. Marisa didn't want to talk about furniture any more than she did about her hair color. That had been a point of contention since the day she had first dyed it. Mom didn't approve, and she probably never would.

Wordlessly, Marisa deposited her suitcase in the smaller of the bedrooms, then returned to the car to retrieve one of the three cartons of books she'd thought she might need at Rainbow's End. There was room for little more than that, because the cabin Marisa would share with her mother consisted of two bedrooms, a tiny living/dining room combination, and an even smaller kitchen.

Marisa gave the trunk a second slam, trying not to wince at the realization that a Lexus would not have needed to be slammed. The dream of a Lexus was gone, along with the rest of her former life. This was the new reality.

“I could have helped with that,” Mom said as Marisa deposited the carton in one corner of her bedroom.

“I'm fine.” Mom had already done enough; she didn't need to be hauling heavy boxes. One of the reasons Marisa had hesitated before she accepted Kate and Greg's offer was that she had feared
her being here would create more work for her mother, but there had been no alternative.

When she'd heard that Marisa was returning to Dupree, Lauren had invited her to stay with her and Fiona, but Marisa had refused, claiming she hadn't wanted to intrude on Lauren's privacy. The truth was, until she'd collected a few paychecks and started to make a dent in her credit card debt, Marisa couldn't afford to pay Lauren even her share of food and utilities. At Rainbow's End, both food and lodging were included. That made staying here an offer Marisa literally couldn't afford to refuse.

Living with Mom would have its difficult moments. Marisa knew that as surely as she knew that she would never again set foot in the house on Live Oak where she'd grown up. At least this place held no painful memories.

As she opened the closet door to hang her garment bag, she glanced at the floor. Of course there were no empty bottles in brown bags hidden behind shoe boxes. That part of her life had ended on graduation day.

“I'll unpack later,” Marisa said brusquely. It was an excuse. What she needed was to escape the memories that had followed her here. “Let's find Kate and Greg.”

Mom nodded and led the way to the resort's dining room, where Kate was working.

“My guess is this isn't the most impressive office you've ever seen,” Kate said, a smile lighting her face as she greeted Marisa. An inch or so shorter than Marisa, Kate Sherwood might not be a classic beauty, but the combination of her golden blonde hair and those striking brown eyes along with finely chiseled features and an almost palpable air of self-confidence made her a woman who attracted attention. She had commandeered one corner of the dining room and had blueprints, paint, and fabric swatches spread over three long folding tables, while file folders and reams of paper covered a fourth.

“If it works, that's all that matters.”

When she'd made the official offer of employment, Kate had
assured Marisa that she would have her own office. Apparently, Greg had decided that the contents of the storage room should be moved to the toolshed and that what had been the storage room could be turned into an office for Marisa. “It's small, but it's right next to the front desk area,” Kate had explained. “You'll be close to the action but still have privacy and quiet if you need that.”

Marisa did. Unlike Kate, who appeared to be thriving in what she would have termed disarray, Marisa needed a highly organized work environment.

“I hope you'll be as happy here as Greg and I are,” Kate continued.

“Did I hear my name?” The tall man with brown hair, green eyes, and a square chin grinned as he entered the room and extended his hand to Marisa. “Welcome to Rainbow's End. Kate and I are fortunate to have someone with your credentials as part of the team. Neither one of us could make much sense of the Sinclairs' records.”

Marisa nodded. She had dealt with clients who kept their receipts in shoe boxes and others who kept no receipts at all, expecting their suppliers to provide them with year-end summaries. Surely whatever the previous owners had done couldn't be that bad. And if it was, Marisa was trained to deal with that. The software issue was different. While Marisa was comfortable using standard accounting software, she had no experience with hotel reservations.

“Olivia said the reservation system is confusing.”

Kate shot Greg a look that said,
I told you so.
“That's a major understatement. We definitely need a new one.”

At least they'd recognized the need.

“I've got a stack of brochures from systems that look promising, but the decision is yours,” Greg told her.