RaeAnne Thayne Hope's Crossings Series Volume One: Blackberry Summer\Woodrose Mountain\Sweet Laurel Falls (68 page)

“Evie,” he began, not sure what he wanted to say to her, but she shook her head.

“Don't. We've got to stop doing this, Brodie.”

“Why? We're both adults. Neither of us is involved with someone else right now. We've got this heat that seems to spontaneously combust whenever we're together. We can't just ignore it.”

“You might not be able to but I can.”

He frowned. “Why do we have to?”

Jacques padded over to her—apparently done giving them the privacy Brodie was suddenly grateful for—and Evie dug her hands in the dog's short, wiry fur for a moment before she spoke. “You probably can't understand this because you have lived here all your life,” she went on, without waiting for an answer, “but…I need Hope's Crossing. I can't explain it very well, but this has become my home. I've found peace here. I have friends here and a life I love. But what happens if we give in to that heat and what we both want and make love?”

“I don't know, other than I have no doubt it would be incredible.”

She closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them, they were distant. “I know it would be. But it wouldn't last, Brodie. How could it? We're far too different. This heat is not enough. When things between us ended, as I have no doubt they would, where would I be? I wouldn't be able to stay here in this place I love. I would have to leave Hope's Crossing and I would hate that.”

“You're really choosing a town over what we could have?”

She shook her head. “That's a little too simplistic, don't you think? I'm choosing to protect myself.”

How could he argue with that? She was right. They
were
very different people. What had he once thought about her?
Color and chaos, passion and heat.
He already had a brain full of chaos and had struggled like hell as an adult to contain it. As drawn as he was to her, as much as his body ached for her, Evie could threaten everything he had worked so hard to overcome. Was he willing to pay the cost?

“So that's it,” he said.

“I'm sorry.”

“So am I,” he said roughly.

“I'll still try to talk to Taryn for you in the morning,” she said.

He was so messed up, it took him a minute to register what she meant and then he remembered. Right. That was the whole reason he had come here, to convince her to help him talk Taryn out of speaking at Charlie Beaumont's sentencing hearing.

“Don't,” he said. “If she wants to speak, I won't stop her. Like you said, she's earned it.”

Her lovely features softened and she opened her mouth to speak but he couldn't stay here any longer, not with this ache of hunger in his gut.

“Sorry I bothered you about Taryn and…everything else.”

“Brodie…”

He decided it would be wiser not to look at her right now or he would waver. “And thank you for your hard work with Taryn. You've done far more than I asked. I'll have my assistant send a check tomorrow to the Layla Parker fund, doubling the amount we talked about.”

“You don't have to do that,” she murmured.

“But I'm going to anyway,” he answered. “Good night, Evie.”

He headed for the door, but not before he heard her whispered goodbye behind him.

* * *

A
SLEEPLESS
NIGHT
following a long, arduous weekend, following an even
longer
week did not make a good combination.

Evie was gritty-eyed and exhausted the next morning when she arrived at the house for her last day with Taryn. She half feared she would see Brodie and wondered what she would possibly say after last night, but only Taryn's new therapist was in evidence.

Stephanie Kramer was young and clever and bubbled with energy. Already, she and Taryn seemed to have a rapport. A recent graduate from P.T. school, Stephanie had just finished her internship. Though she was taking a position at a clinic in Denver, they didn't need her until after Christmas, which made her perfect for the job of Taryn's full-time P.T. aide.

Everything would work out great, Evie knew, and Taryn could continue on her road to recovery.

One part of her was deeply relieved to turn over the responsibility to someone competent who would provide exactly what Taryn needed. At the same time, Evie was more than a little disconcerted by how sorry she was to put this time behind her.

She would miss Taryn. The lump that had been hovering in her throat all morning swelled a little bigger. Oh, this was exactly what she'd been afraid of when Brodie had dragged her into this. Deep in her heart, she had known she would struggle to walk away after all their hard work, to turn over both the responsibility and the satisfaction of the girl's progress to someone else.

She couldn't alter course now. For heaven's sake, her replacement had already been hired. She couldn't just suddenly announce,
Oh, excuse me, I've changed my mind. Go on about your business now.

Anyway, she wouldn't do that even if she could, especially after last night with Brodie. She needed to make a clean break before it became not simply difficult but utterly impossible to walk away.

“I guess that's everything. We've been through it all several times. I showed you the pool exercises, what we've been doing in here on the equipment and the schedule of other therapists who come in and out. Do you have any more questions?”

Stephanie shook her dark ponytail. “I don't think so. Your notes are amazingly clear. If I do have questions, I can always call you, right?”

“Yes. Of course. My cell number is right at the top of the notes and if you can't reach me there, you can always find me at the bead store in town.”

“Great. I'm superexcited about this. We're going to have so much
fun.
”

She would do a wonderful job, Evie told herself. “Make sure you bring Taryn into the store often so we can bead.”

“I'd like to make something for…Hannah.” Taryn spoke from the mat, where she was brushing a delighted Jacques and working her arm and shoulder muscles in the process.

“That is an excellent idea. Hannah will love it.”

“Can…Jacques still come to visit me?” she asked.

“I'm sure we can work something out.” Evie couldn't ignore the yearning in Taryn's eyes as she gazed at the dog. “Maybe your grandmother could bring him out to spend an afternoon with you. And of course you can always visit him at the store whenever you come in.”

“I'll miss him.” Taryn sighed a little and shifted on the mat.

“You'll still see him. Don't worry.”

Evie grabbed the box containing some beads, a book, a sweater—the last of her own things that had slowly migrated to the Thorne home over the course of her time here.

“I guess that's it.”

“Thank…you.” Taryn looked almost teary-eyed and that lump in Evie's own throat expanded.

“You're welcome, honey.”

Unable to leave with just a wave and goodbye, Evie set the box back down, then knelt on the mat beside Taryn. She folded the girl in her arms, thinking she already felt more sturdy and less fragile than she had nearly a month ago when she had first come home from the care center. Much to Evie's delight, Taryn returned the hug with a strength that hadn't been there even a week ago.

“You've rocked, Taryn,” she murmured. “Don't ever forget you did it all yourself.”

Taryn shook her head and sniffled a little. After a moment, Evie made herself rise to her feet and take Jacques's leash and walk out the door.

Mrs. Olafson met her at the door with a bag in her hand. “These are some of those oatmeal cookies you liked so well,” she said rather gruffly, and Evie couldn't help hugging her as well.

“Thank you, for what you did for our girl,” Mrs. O. said.

It wasn't me,
she wanted to protest once more but she decided to let it rest for once. Some part of Taryn's recovery
was
because of her. Yes, the girl had done the work but Evie had guided her path and she would forever be proud of that.

Jacques whimpered a little as he climbed into the backseat of her vehicle.

“I know, bud. I'm sad about it, too,” she said.

The dog continued to whine all the way down the hill, as if he understood they wouldn't be back. Hot tears burned in Evie's eyes but she blinked hard to keep them from taking over. After the short drive through town, she pulled up to her spot behind String Fever but Jacques was still whimpering.

Evie turned around and looked at her dog, who looked so morose, then she shifted her gaze to Woodrose Mountain, solid and peaceful in the afternoon sunlight.

Suddenly she knew what she had to do. It hurt like the devil but that didn't change the fact that it was the right thing to do for everyone involved.

Except her.

“Stay here,” she murmured to the dog. She rolled down both windows so he had plenty of air, then hurried into her apartment before she could change her mind. She dumped the contents of the box she had just brought from Brodie's house on the sofa and filled it with what she needed, then hurried back down the stairs, her chest tight and achy.

Brodie probably wouldn't like it, she thought as she drove back up the hill, but a little healthy annoyance wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Maybe if he was upset with her, he would be less likely to come around with more of those seductive, soul-stealing kisses. Not that he would after last night, but a contingency plan was always a good thing.

Mrs. O. looked surprised to see her when she rang the doorbell, Jacques padding along beside her. “Did you forget something?”

“Sort of.” She headed back to the therapy room, biting her lip hard to keep from sobbing out loud. This hurt more than she would ever have imagined but in her heart, she knew it was the right thing.

Taryn was still on the mat, her legs balanced on a small ball. She looked up, shocked, when Evie came back into the room with Jacques.

“Hi, again!”

Evie drew in a ragged breath that seemed to sear away the lining of her lungs. “Would you like to keep Jacques?”

Taryn's eyes widened and she stared at Evie and then the dog. “What? You mean…all the time?”

She nodded, clenching her hand on the leash so hard she could feel her nails digging into flesh. “Though he's been very understanding about it and I do try to walk him as often as I can, it's really not fair to a big dog like Jacques to keep him in just a small second-floor apartment and that little garden spot behind String Fever. It was never meant to be a permanent arrangement anyway. I was only supposed to be fostering him until I could find a good home for him. I think I finally have.”

She smiled while she felt her heart rip in two. What she said was all true. She
had
been temporarily fostering the dog, but after only a few days with him, she had fallen in love with the big, gentle lug and the temporary situation had stretched into weeks and then months.

“Here with you, he would have room to run and stretch, plus he could continue to help with your therapy.”

“Oh.” Taryn still looked stunned, as if she didn't quite know what else to say.

“If you don't want to take the responsibility, don't worry about it. We can just forget the whole thing. But if you think you and your d-dad could make him part of your family, I think he would be very happy here.”

Her voice broke a little on a few words and she could feel the quiver of her chin but she firmed it with ruthless resolve.

“Yes! Yes! Are you…are you sure? You love…Jacques.”

“I do. But you love him too and I can't help but think the two of you need each other.”

As if to illustrate her point, Jacques finally tugged the leash away from her and padded to Taryn, licking her cheek and nudging her face with his. The girl threw her arms around the dog and held on tightly and Evie knew she had to get out of there before she broke down completely.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“You're welcome.” With great effort, Evie forced a smile. “Your dad probably won't be thrilled about it, but if he says anything, you tell him for me that you've earned this, too.”

“Too?”

“He'll know what it means. I want to see you up out of that chair and taking Jacques for walks in a few weeks, got it? No slackers here.”

Taryn glowed as she hugged the dog. Most fifteen-year-old girls probably wouldn't get this excited about a dog, but Taryn and Jacques had bonded over the last few weeks. Evie had watched it happen. Perhaps some part of her had even known somewhere deep inside that this was inevitable.

“Won't you miss him?” Taryn asked.

More than she could ever say. Her apartment would seem deathly empty without him to greet her in the morning with a cold nose against her cheek or curling up beside her bed at night, just a comforting stretch of her arm away. She already dreaded it. Maybe she would have to move away from the ghost of him in every corner.

She might have to look into buying a little house somewhere, maybe up the canyon. Somewhere big enough for a dog, and wouldn't that be freaking ironic?

“I'll be fine,” she said firmly, more to herself than Taryn. “This is where he belongs.”

She could hardly see now for the blur of tears but she hugged Jacques hard, then Taryn. The dog looked confused at her for about ten seconds, then plopped down at Taryn's feet as if he, indeed, belonged exactly there.

After mumbling something that was probably incoherent to Stephanie she rushed out the door, brushing without a word past a startled Mrs. Olafson.

The Angel of Hope would approve, she thought as she climbed into her car. She sat behind the wheel and scrubbed at her eyes with the heels of her hands for a moment, then let out a heavy sigh and started the engine.

This was just the sort of thing the Angel would have been all over—reaching beyond your own interests to give somebody else exactly what he or she needed. Even when it hurt like hell.