Lightning Only Strikes Twice (27 page)

Ignoring the NO TRESPASSING signs bearing the blue-and-white logo of Maxwell Development she continued through the entry and onto what was once her family’s land.

Maxwell Development heavy equipment and trucks were parked in the clearing. Tires and the crew’s boots had flattened the spring grasses. Mud oozed in places where the delicate wildflowers wouldn’t grow back this year, if ever.

Annie parked next to a pickup truck similar to the one Harry had driven when he took her home from the hospital.

She climbed out of her car.

“Hey, miss,” a man yelled. “You can’t be here.” He crossed the meadow with quick strides.

Annie shut the door and walked out to meet him. “I’m Annie Crawford,” she shouted. As he drew closer she added, “I was here Saturday with Mr. Maxwell and Mr. Wade.”

The man removed his hard hat. “I’m Mitch, the foreman on this project.” He held out his hand. “You’re the lady who sold Maxwell the property, aren’t you?”

Annie nodded and shook his hand. “Would you mind if I looked around?” She turned and pointed to the hillside. “Over by the mill—”

It was gone.

Annie gasped. Her legs started to quake as she stared slack-jawed at the empty hillside. The last link to her family had been demolished like an unwanted eyesore.

“Miss Crawford?” The foreman’s voice was filled with concern. “Are you all right?”

She nodded, not really hearing his words. “I can’t believe Luke tore down the mill.” After all it had meant to them…

Except it hadn’t meant anything to Luke. What had happened to her wasn’t real. She and Luke hadn’t been here together in 1891. Luke wouldn’t have destroyed the mill if the time travel had been real.

“Sorry, Miss Crawford. It had to come down.” The foreman gently took her arm. “You really shouldn’t be here.”

Numbly, Annie let him walk her to the car. She fished keys out her jacket pocket and opened the door. As she looked back at the hillside, everything drained from her. Something in her face must have betrayed her pain.

The foreman gave her a pitying look. “Will you be okay to drive home?” he said.

His words broke through her shock. She remembered the tree where she and Luke had carved their initials. Those initials would prove her experience was real.

She turned to the foreman. “There was a pine tree in the grove.”

He frowned, looking confused. “There are lots of pine trees in this area. Which one are you referring to?”

“In the middle of the aspen grove at the top of the hill behind the mill.” She blew out a quick breath. “Where the mill used to be.”

He scratched his head and looked toward the hillside. “Just one tree? Are you sure?”

Annie looked over the area. Rubble from the demolition littered the spot where the mill once stood.

“Can I look?” she asked. “Luke—Mr. Maxwell—said I could have part of that tree trunk as a souvenir.”

The foreman glanced at the hill again and shrugged. “I don’t suppose that’d be a problem.”

Annie gave him a grateful smile and closed the car door.

She’d only taken a couple of steps when he stopped her. “Wait a minute. I need to come with you. And you’ll have to wear one of these.” He tapped his hardhat. “Follow me.”

He led her to one of the pickup trucks. Retrieving a hat, he handed it to her.

She placed it on her head and together they walked toward the hillside.

It was uncanny how quickly she oriented to the area. The mountains hadn’t changed.

This is Main Street
, Annie thought.

If she closed her eyes, she could see the town...hear the children. A burst of vertigo swirled about her.

She stopped walking and let the sensation wash through her. Why would the vertigo hit now that she was back in her own time?

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

She opened her eyes to see the foreman giving her a strange look.

She smiled. “I’m just remembering something,” she offered. Thankfully, he didn’t press for an explanation.

They skirted the demolished mill and hiked up the small hillside. Annie followed a trail toward the center of the grove. Here, the grass was bent and trampled from their rescue.

They neared the center of the grove and the sweet scent of fresh pine grew stronger. The foreman stopped walking.

She stared at the spot where the lone pine had stood.

It was gone.

Fresh sawdust covered the ground. Only a stump at the base of the trunk remained as evidence it had been there at all.

“Huh.” The foreman tipped his hat back on his head. “Looks like someone cut it down. I didn’t realize anyone had been back in here.”

She swallowed at the sudden lump in her throat.

Everything was gone. The mill, the pine tree, her past…

“Do you know who did this?” she asked.

“Can’t say that I do.”

“Hey, Mitch, whatcha doing back here?”

Annie and the foreman turned as a younger man walked toward them.

“What happened to the pine tree that was here?” Mitch asked.

“We took that out this morning,” the other man answered. “Maxwell’s orders.”

Relief flooded her. Luke hadn’t forgotten. At least she’d have the tree he promised. “Will you deliver it to my house this week?” she asked.

The man frowned in confusion and shook his head. “We just had orders to remove it. Why would we take it to your place?”

“Luke…Mr. Maxwell told me I could have the tree.”

The man shrugged. “There wasn’t much left. It was charred all the way down to the ground. I’m not even sure why Mr. Maxwell wanted it.”

“Oh.” Disappointment curled inside her chest.

“So you cut the tree and sent it to Maxwell’s house?” the foreman asked.

“What was left of it. Believe me, it was pretty much gone.”

The foreman turned to Annie. “Sorry, Miss Crawford. I guess there’s nothing to see here.”

Annie averted her face. “You’re right,” she whispered. “There’s nothing at all.”

During the long drive home, Annie wondered what Luke wanted with the tree trunk. If it was that badly burned, remnants of her family’s initials wouldn’t show. The initials he’d carved would be gone too. The evidence she’d sought had simply vanished—as though it never existed.

As she neared Boise, the city lights glowed against the night sky and dimmed the brilliance of the stars.

In White Rock, she’d gazed for hours at the stars while in the grove with Luke by her side.

Except she hadn’t, had she?

How could a memory feel so genuine and not be true? Something had occurred to change her life—and not just a little. Dreams didn’t do that to a person.

There must be a way to prove she’d gone back in time—to explain all the things she believed had been an actual experience.

Maybe finding proof wouldn’t change things between her and Luke. Here, in the present, his life was different. He could walk away as though nothing happened. He’d never told her he loved her, so even if she could prove they’d lived in 1891, he had no obligation to her.

However, she needed answers and couldn’t rest until she found something that made sense of what had happened to her.

As she drove on toward her little home, a calm determination to find the truth replaced the emptiness, and gave her future purpose.

****

After work the next afternoon, Annie went to the library. There she found a secluded corner in the section on local history. She prowled the shelves for information about White Rock and the surrounding region. Almost three hours later, scouring ancient volumes gleaned little information of the exact period she sought.

She found several books about the silver strike, but the text skipped almost the entire decade before the fire of 1899 when most of the town was destroyed. There were footnotes about the mining accident and mention of residents moving on to better prospects after the veins ran dry.

Her breath caught when she found a short paragraph mentioning Paul Crawford as the owner of the mill, but no mention of his wife, Elizabeth, or their son, Richard.

Disappointed, Annie closed the book. This wasn’t evidence. All it proved was she had ancestors who had lived in the town. Information she already knew.

She rose from the reading table and crossed to the shelf to return the book. The smell of books, pages old and new, filled the library. It had been a long time since she’d visited.

When she was young, her grandfather insisted she keep a library card. She’d used it often while he could still drive. Then his heath failed and prohibited the fun outings. In later years, if they went out together at all, it was to the doctor.

A sudden longing for her grandfather caught her off guard. If he were here now, she could ask questions about Paul Crawford and Paul’s son, Richard. Instead, she only had her grandfather’s stories and her own memories.

Annie slid the book back in its place and headed toward the exit. She’d reached the end of the local section when a movement from a corner table caught her attention.

Luke Maxwell sat at a table, hunched over an open book, flipping through the pages.

She stopped. Her heart ached at the familiar sight of him. She wanted to rush over, but couldn’t quite muster the courage. What would she say?

As though he’d felt her stare, he glanced up.

Their gazes locked.

For an instant, he looked almost embarrassed, then offered an encouraging smile.

Before she realized she was moving, she’d crossed the room until she stood next to the table.

“What brings you to the library, Mr. Maxwell?” She moistened her lips, pleased her voice sounded steady.

“I…uh…” He glanced at the pages he’d been studying, then closed the book.

She tilted her head to look at the title. “You’re reading about mining?”

“You caught me.” He looked guilty. “I’m looking through the history of White Rock.”

Her legs wobbled at the confession. Was he doing the same research she’d been doing?

Intrigued, she sat across from him. “Are you looking for something in particular? I seem to recall you weren’t interested in the past as much as building for the future.”

“I wasn’t,” Luke admitted. “Until I met you.”

She clutched the edge of the table as her stomach did a slow roll. She knew she shouldn’t read too much into the look he gave her. Yet, she’d seen it before. In the past. That deep, fathomless gaze where she’d lost herself.

Determined to keep her emotions in control, she formed her next words carefully. “I can’t imagine anything I said would change your mind.”

“Ah, that’s where you’re wrong. Your words this last weekend had a great deal of influence.”

“If memory serves, I was very rude to you before—” She stopped herself. She was about to say, before we went back in time, but what if it
was
all in her imagination?

“Before the accident?” Luke asked

She nodded. There it was again—the underlying reminder that everything they’d shared had only been in her mind.

“Your opinions caught my attention,” he continued. “In my position, I’m rarely contradicted.”

She chuckled nervously to hide her disappointment. “Well, I’m glad something I said was useful. Even if you haven’t changed your plans, I’ll know you’ve at least given it some thought.”

His gaze shifted to the book. “I’ve thought of little else.” He looked up with a speculative expression. “What makes you think my plans haven’t changed?”

Annie swallowed and stared down at her clenched hands. “I’m sure it was against some sort of policy, but I went out to the property yesterday. The mill was already demolished.”

Silence stretched until she thought she couldn’t stand it. There was so much she wanted to say. To ask why he’d torn apart their past. Her questions wouldn’t make sense to him.

“I wasn’t aware you’d been to the site,” he said slowly. “I’m sorry you had to see that. I know how much the mill meant to you.”

She glanced at him and shrugged in an attempt to appear nonchalant. “I sold you the property. It’s yours to do with as you please.”

Luke moved the book to one side and leaned forward on the table. His sleeves were rolled to just below his elbows. Dark hairs sprinkled his muscular forearms, reminding her of how they once held her tightly against his chest. Her entire body responded to the memory and thrummed with desire.

“I’m curious,” he said. “Why did you go out there?”

Unease settled around her heart. She’d never been a good liar. She couldn’t say she’d gone to find proof they’d been together in 1891. “I…I felt drawn there. I guess I wanted to see the place one last time before—” She paused, taking a moment to keep her voice from showing too much distress. “Before everything changed.”

Sympathy gleamed from his eyes. “I’d like you to understand something,” he said. “I had to tear down the mill. All toxic waste from the mining process must be removed to meet EPA regulations.”

“Oh, of course.” She smothered a sigh. He was right. It was the responsible thing to do. She should be grateful he hadn’t forced her to drop the price because of the extra costs involved in cleaning up the property.

Burying a desire to linger, she stood to leave. “I’ll let you get back to your research,” she said softly. “Good night.”

****

Luke glanced at the closed book and then to Annie as she headed toward the door. “Wait.” He couldn’t let her simply walk away.

She turned around.

He quickly made up his mind. The research could wait—this opportunity couldn’t. “I’d like to take you up on that invitation for coffee.”

Her gaze shifted nervously to the clock on the wall behind him.

“Only if you have time,” he added. He was afraid she’d disappear, and he’d never see her again.

He couldn’t ignore this undeniable connection to her. Maybe they hadn’t shared a journey to the past as he’d thought. Maybe it was all in his head. That didn’t mean he couldn’t get to know her. Here. In the present. Spending time with her now was more important than proving they’d traveled through time.