Reunion Pass: An Eternity Springs novel (3 page)

She had wanted nothing to do with her father when he returned to Eternity Springs with an adoptive son in tow after years of living the good life in Australia. She’d been angry at Cam and jealous of Devin. He’d had a relationship with her father—he’d had a
father
—when she had not. Then when her parents reconciled, she’d been forced to adjust to sharing the mother whom she’d had to herself for her entire life.

Baby Michael’s arrival had added more complexities to the mix. Lori loved her little brother desperately, but that didn’t prevent her from experiencing moments of sibling rivalry that made her feel more like a child than an adult. As Lori Reese, she’d known exactly where she fit in the family of two. Sometimes in Lori Murphy’s expanded family, she didn’t know her role.

Lori’s gaze drifted toward Chase’s sister and she thought about his mother. She’d admired Ali Timberlake ever since she met her. The woman was all class, and according to local gossip, she never said a word against her son’s choice of bride. But anyone who knew her could see she struggled with the idea of being mother-in-law to Lana Wilkerson. The age difference between Lana and Caitlin certainly didn’t make a “sisters” relationship any easier, either. Lori realized she actually felt a little bit sorry for Lana—emphasis on the “little.” Navigating Timberlake family dynamics would be a Black Diamond challenge for Chase’s wife.

With her nails now painted a subtle rose pink, Lori moved to the drying table. A few moments later, Caitlin took the seat on her right. The two friends chatted about their New Year’s plans, and Lori was almost dry and ready to leave when Lana took the seat opposite her. She slipped nails painted a tangerine orange beneath the ultraviolet light and beamed a friendly smile toward Lori. “I need to apologize. Your face is familiar so I’m sure we must have met on one of my previous visits to Eternity Springs, but I don’t remember. May we start over? I’m Lana Wilkerson, soon-to-be Timberlake.”

They had been introduced more than once, but Lori wasn’t going to let the lack of recognition bother her. Celebrities met so many people. “I’m Lori Murphy.”

“Oh. Of course.” The older woman winced prettily. “We have met before. You’re Chase’s Lori. His ‘one that got away.’”

The comment flabbergasted Lori and she fumbled for a response. Lana didn’t seem to notice. She bubbled on about the New Year’s Eve party she and Chase planned to attend at their producer’s vacation home in Aspen the following night. “I’m sorry we’re going to miss the party here, but our producer is bringing in some Hollywood movers and shakers, and he’s demanded our attendance. At least we’re not going to miss the bowl-game-watching party tonight at the community center. Chase is so looking forward to that. He loves watching college football with his dad. Family is so important to him. To us both.”

She flashed her perfect smile toward Caitlin and added, “I’ve always wanted a sister, and now I’ll have Caitlin.”

Caitlin’s smile went tight. Lana didn’t seem to notice.

Lori decided her nails had dried long enough. She stood, saying brightly, “I think I’m dry. It was nice to see you, Lana.”

“You, too, Lori. We will see you tonight at the party, won’t we? I know it’s going to be wonderful because Ali is in charge. She’s fabulous. I don’t know what I would have done without her to oversee wedding arrangements. She has everything organized perfectly. Chase is that way when it comes to work, you know. I depend on him for so much more than still photography.”

Lori’s gaze shifted to the stack of magazines where she’d buried the tabloid.
Yeah, like rubbing on sunscreen.

“Yes, I will be there,” Lori said, wondering if it was too late to change her plans. “The guy I’m dating is a serious college-football fan.”

“Wonderful. I know Chase is looking forward to catching up with people whom he hasn’t seen in a while, and I can’t wait to meet more of his friends.”

Lori recalled that comment later that evening as she carried a bowl of guacamole to one of the refreshment tables and saw that Chase had arrived while she’d been in the kitchen helping his mother. It was the first time Lori had seen him in person in months. She watched with a reluctant fascination as he introduced Lana around the room.

They did make a glamorous pair. In keeping with the collegiate theme of the night, they wore CU colors, Chase in black and Lana in a gold lamé dress and black and gold stilettos.

“She’s way overdressed.” A familiar hand swooped in to snag a spoonful of guacamole for a plate piled high with crudités. Lori smiled at her undergrad college roommate, Molly Malone, and her husband, Charlie, who carried a plate filled with chips and sour cream dip.

“Of course, he is, too,” Charlie added, dipping a tortilla chip into the guacamole on his wife’s plate and popping it into his mouth.

Molly nodded. “Never thought I’d see your Chase wear a designer sport coat to a football-watching party and work a room like a politician.”

He’s not my Chase.
And Lori realized—a bit to her own surprise—that she was mostly okay with that. The photos Caitlin had shown her earlier had been a graphic demonstration of just how much he’d changed from the young man she’d known and loved. “It’s hard to see the river rat when he’s dressed like a model. You can certainly see her influence.”

Molly shrugged and wrinkled her nose. “I liked the old Chase better. I’ll never forget the Aggies-versus-Colorado game when he yelled himself hoarse during the Buffalos’ goal-line stand. This Chase is way too civilized and sophisticated for that much fun. What do you want to bet that he rides a polo pony? And goes on fox hunts.”

“When he’s not riding an Olympic athlete,” Charlie suggested, his tongue planted firmly in his cheek.

Molly elbowed him in the side. “What?” He arched a brow toward Lori. “Too soon?”

“No,” Lori replied with a fleeting smile. “Actually a little humor is just what I needed. Have I mentioned how glad I am that you two decided to spend your anniversary in Eternity Springs this year? You’re the only people I know who aren’t giving me ‘poor, pitiful Lori’ looks.”

“Always happy to provide moral support,” Charlie said.

“Not that you need it considering who you’re dating.” Molly patted her hand over her heart. “Brick Callahan. Capital Y-U-M in Wranglers and a cowboy hat. If I wasn’t a happily married woman…”

“Hey, now,” Charlie protested.

“You’re so easy to tease.” Molly flashed a grin and leaned over to kiss his cheek. To Lori, she said, “I don’t know why anyone would think that you’re pining away for Chase. It’s been years since the two of you dated. And you were the one who dumped him, not vice versa.”

“I didn’t dump him.” Lori shied away from the memory of the hurt, the mourning, she’d experienced when she’d realized he’d quit visiting. Quit calling. Quit e-mailing. As had she. “It was a mutual decision.”

She guessed that’s what it had been, anyway. She wasn’t all that sure. The months following the trip to Australia and her father’s return to Eternity Springs were a blur. She’d been an emotional wreck and physically and mentally exhausted due to challenges on the academic front. Chase had been … away.

He’d been traveling all over the world with George Overstreet and been nowhere around when she’d needed him the most. It had been all too easy for her to draw the parallel between Chase and Cam. Like she’d wanted anything to do with another man with wanderlust at that point in her life!

The ghost of remembered resentment fluttered through her. She gave her head a little shake to chase it away, then repeated her usual comment whenever asked about Chase. “We were young.”

“Well … apparently young isn’t something Chase worries about, is it?” Charlie observed. “What I want to know is, is he the trophy husband or is she the trophy wife?”

“Doesn’t matter. Chase is yesterday.” Molly motioned toward the door. “Mr. Today just walked in. Is he wearing shoulder pads beneath that maroon and white jersey?”

“No,” Lori said, her heart warming to see that despite his allegiance to another university, Brick wore Aggie gear in what she recognized as a silent show of support. “The man has Callahan shoulders. Broad as the plains of West Texas.”

And he’d come to offer her a little lean time. Broad shoulders, a lady-killer grin, and a heart of gold.

Too bad they’d never be more than good friends.

Chapter Three

On the second day of January, Chase sat in his rental car in front of his parents’ home on property near Heartache Falls above Eternity Springs and wondered what the heck was the matter with him. At the New Year’s Eve party in Aspen, Lana had told one of the financial backers of Thrillseekers, Inc., that Chase had never met a dare he wouldn’t take. He hadn’t argued the point. Nothing made him happier than going one-on-one against Mother Nature. He thrived on challenges and excelled on tests.

Why, then, was he scared to get out of this SUV and knock on his parents’ front door?

Because Mom is going to tear a strip off your hide when you tell her your news, that’s why.

He shivered, more at the thought of his mother’s wrath than from the bitter winter chill beginning to seep into the parked automobile. Snow fell heavily now, the flakes big as quarters. Another minute dragged by. He drummed his fingers against the steering wheel, his stare lingering on the Christmas tree visible through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the great room. Christmas at the Timberlakes’. Blinking lights. A hodgepodge of ornaments collected through the years. A fire in the hearth. Warmth. Family. Love.

Timberlake family tradition dictated that the house remain decorated until Epiphany. Chase liked a later start and finish to the Christmas season—no red and green before Thanksgiving for him—and he’d lobbied for it at the New York apartment he and Lana shared. She’d had different ideas. She’d had their tree down and out of the building by sundown on December 25.

It had been a damned lonely Christmas.

Chase had missed spending the day with his family, missed his mother’s traditional Christmas dinner and the boisterousness of the gift exchange with his siblings. Missed being in Eternity Springs.

He’d grown up in Denver, so this wasn’t the home of all his childhood Christmases. However, this log house with its spectacular view of five of Colorado’s “fourteeners”—peaks that rise more than fourteen thousand feet above sea level—had become the home of his heart from the moment his parents rolled out the architect’s plans in the yurt a short hike away from here where they’d been living at the time. The family had spent the past four—or was it five now?—Christmases here, and Chase hadn’t realized how much the holiday at Heartache Falls meant to him until he’d missed being part of it. Not that he hadn’t enjoyed the traditions that Lana had attempted to establish in its place, and he did appreciate that she’d tried.

Nor did he blame her for his dissatisfaction with the day. After all, remaining in New York for Christmas had been his idea. He’d felt that he owed her an opportunity to create traditions that suited them both, and with a Valentine’s Day wedding in Eternity Springs just around the corner, this had seemed like the perfect year to skip a holiday trip to Colorado. Mom always went a little batty at Christmas, anyway, and though she hid it well, Lana invariably went on the defensive when she got around the female members of his family.

He couldn’t blame her for that, either. Despite the fact that he’d never told his family just how serious his relationship with Lori had become while she was away at school, he knew that all the Timberlakes had harbored hopes that they’d eventually end up together. Caitlin, especially, wore her emotions on her sleeve, and she had made it clear to Lana at their very first meeting that she didn’t measure up. Since things were dicey enough as it was between the women in his life, he’d seen no sense in adding the baggage of holiday emotions into the mix.

Of course, then the last-minute command-performance party in Aspen had come up, so they’d made a Colorado trip after all, leaving Manhattan early on the morning of the twenty-seventh. Mom had cried at the happy surprise. “Wonder if I’ll make her cry tonight?” he murmured.

Focused on the blinking angel tree topper inside the house as he sat lost in thought, he didn’t notice movement coming up alongside the car. Knuckles rapped against the driver’s side window. Startled, Chase turned his head to see his dad.

Now in his fifties, Mac Timberlake had gone gray at the temples in a way that was fitting for a former federal judge turned small-town lawyer. His stare burned through the window, and as Mac made a rolling motion with his finger, Chase forced himself not to revert to childhood and squirm.

He thumbed the power window button. The glass slid down and bitter cold swept into the car along with the rush of falling water from nearby Heartache Falls. “Hey, Dad.”

“You planning to sit out here all night?” Mac asked. “Your mother says you’ve been here for at least twenty minutes. She’s worried you’re going to freeze to death.”

“Sorry. I … uh…” He gestured toward the cell phone lying on the seat beside him. It wasn’t a lie. He’d been finishing up a call with the airline when he’d arrived.

His father looked at him hard. “When you left here the other day, you weren’t planning to return until February.”

“Right.”

When he didn’t elaborate, his father’s stare grew sharper. “Before we go inside, tell me one thing. Do you need a lawyer?”

“What? Oh. No. I’m fine. Everything’s good, actually.”

“Okay, then.”

Mac stepped away from the car and waited while Chase rolled up the window, pulled on his jacket, and joined him. The two men trudged toward the large log structure and entered through the back door. As Chase stomped the snow from his boots in the mudroom, the aroma of his mother’s red sauce simmering on the stove drifted from the kitchen. That smell more than anything told Chase he was home.

“Michael Chase Timberlake,” his mother said, a scold in her tone. “What are you doing here?”

“Begging supper, I hope.” He hung his coat on a hook and walked into the kitchen. “Lasagna?”