A Place to Belong

by RaeAnne Thayne

  The front door of the inn was open and she called out a greeting to Paige as she entered the foyer. The sound of hammering had already started, and she hoped for her friend’s sake the construction project would finish soon.

  “Sienna, you’re back.” Paige rushed from the direction of the kitchen, curls bouncing.

  “No ‘walk of shame’ comments,” Sienna said with a dry laugh. “I’ve had enough—”

  “I have another guest,” Paige blurted. “She arrived this morning and insisted on taking the room across from yours. I told her she’d be more comfortable at one of the hotels in town, but—”

  “Where have you been and why are you dressed like that?”

  Sienna sucked in a breath, dropping the shoes she’d been holding to the wood floor with a thud. “Oh, no,” she whispered under her breath.

  “Oh, yes,” Paige answered in a similar whisper.

  “Mom, what are you doing here?”

  Dana Pierce came down the steps as if she was being presented at a debutante ball, shoulders straight, chin lifted, two fingers gingerly skimming the wooden handrail. As if Sienna’s mother needed support. Her blond hair was pulled back into a neat chignon, putting her elegant throat and the strand of pearls around her neck on full display. She wore an outfit Sienna had come to think of as her mother’s uniform—slim trousers and a crisp button-down shirt, slightly fitted, with the collar starched so that it stood stiff like a soldier at boot camp.

  Today’s shirt was a shade of pale green, perhaps as a nod to the pine forests that surrounded Crimson. Matching the occasion was sort of a thing for Dana. Pink for Valentine’s Day, yellow on Easter and a pattern of red and white stripes around the holidays. Festive but understated.

  “You haven’t called in several days,” Dana said, as if that explained everything.

  “So you flew to Colorado?” Sienna pressed a hand to her forehead.

  “Coffee?” Paige asked.

  Sienna nodded. “Yes, please.”

  “Mrs. Pierce?”

  “Half a cup with a tablespoon of creamer.” Dana pierced Paige with one of her laser-beam glares as she came to stand at the bottom of the stairs. “No more than a tablespoon.”

  “I’ll measure,” Paige offered quickly, then hurried toward the kitchen.

  “You could have just asked for light creamer,” Sienna said with an eye roll.

  “How do I know what that woman considers light?” Dana swept an arm toward the front room, which was crowded with the furniture and knickknacks Paige had moved so the guys could work on the floor. “I appreciate details, and it doesn’t seem like the innkeeper cares much for them. How does one expect to run a business like this?”

  “The floor had water damage. She’s having it repaired. Paige has done a great job refurbishing this place, and she’s a fantastic cook and generous hostess. The Bumblebee will succeed.” Sienna wasn’t sure why she felt the need to defend Paige, but it was easier than talking about her mother’s unexpected appearance.

  Dana sniffed. “I didn’t rearrange my schedule to come here and talk about a ramshackle bed-and-breakfast.”

  Sienna inclined her head to study her mother, thinking about her encounter with the woman on her way home from Cole’s. “What happened to you in Crimson?”

  “I don’t know what you mean. I arrived this morning and—”

  “When I was a kid,” Sienna clarified. “I’ve talked to several people who remember you and—”

  “I changed.”

  “That could be the understatement of the century. Going from brunette to redhead or having bangs cut is a change. You left Crimson a party girl and made yourself into some sort of Grace Kelly or Jackie O. wannabee.”

  “That’s ridiculous. I never wanted to be anyone but myself.”

  “Who are you really?” Sienna stepped closer, and her mother looked away.

  “I’m a woman who fell in love with the wrong man and wanted to take my children away from the mess of our lives.”

  “You walked away so easily. You never drink and your idea of a party is a string quartet and cucumber sandwiches.”

  “This is who I am.”

  “But not who you were. I didn’t realize the reputation you had here. I thought it was Dad.”

  Her mother’s mouth pressed into a thin line. “Declan Crenshaw is your father by biology only. Do not call him Dad to me.” She practically spit the word. “It’s disrespectful to your stepfather, who’s taken care of you all these years.”

  “Financially,” Sienna muttered.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Craig Pierce has taken care of me financially, and I’m grateful to him. I always will be. But neither of us should pretend he has any real affection for me. He wanted you, and I was part of the package.”

  “That’s not...” Her mother broke off because it was the truth and they both knew it. “Declan doesn’t care about you either.”

  “He does,” Sienna argued. “Jase, too. I was just never allowed to believe it.”

  “You don’t know everything, Sienna.”

  “Because you’d never tell me anything. Dad has talked to me plenty, and he’s apologized for the mistakes he made.”

  Dana let out a derisive laugh. “He hasn’t told you the truth then.”

  Sienna threw up her hands. “Are you going to enlighten me?”

  “I’m here to take you home.” Her mother clasped her hands together in front of her chest. “We had dinner with Kevin the other night. He told us you’d moved your things out of the condo.”

  “I had Jennie do it. She’s keeping them in her parents’ garage until I get back.”

  “It was a hasty decision. Kevin wants another chance.”

  “He cheated on me,” Sienna shouted. “Then blamed me for not being able to keep his junk in his pants.”

  “Don’t be crude.”

  “You know what I discovered? It’s not me. I’m not frigid. In fact, I had the best sex of my life just this morning and a big, fat...” She made the shape of an O with her fingers. “I had no complaints about my part in things.”

  “Sienna.”

  “It wasn’t my fault,” she yelled, then pressed a hand to her mouth. The hammering from the other room had stopped. Color flooded her cheeks as she imagined the workers listening to her outburst.

  Paige breezed into the room, smiling widely but looking about as uncomfortable as Sienna felt at the moment. “Who’s ready for coffee?” she asked brightly. “One tablespoon of creamer.” She held out a mug to Sienna’s mother. “Not a drop more.”

  Dana didn’t take the mug. “I’m going to return to my room and gather my things,” she said, her lips barely moving. “Paige, I believe you were correct in your assessment that I’d be better suited to a hotel in town. Sienna, we’ll talk when you’ve calmed down. This behavior is unbecoming and not like you. Crimson has a bad effect on the women in our family. We leave for Denver the day after tomorrow. I’ll have my travel agent make the flight arrangements.”

  Sienna clenched her hands into fists, focusing on drawing air in and out of her lungs. The hammering resumed, and her mother turned and walked up the stairs.

  “Okay then,” Paige said cheerily, moving into Sienna’s line of sight. “I think that went well.”

  Chapter 16

  The following morning, Cole sped along the winding road that led to Crimson’s abandoned ski resort, the Jeep’s lights flashing but its sirens silent. He was checking on a call the station had received that shots were being fired on the ski mountain.

  It wasn’t anywhere near ski season, not to mention no one in town had rights to be on that land anyway. Cole couldn’t imagine the resort’s new owner would want to hear about some crazy person popping off multiple rounds on private land.

  Since the road was all but deserted this time of day,
Cole kept the Jeep’s siren off. If someone was trespassing or worse on resort property, he didn’t want to warn them of his approach.

  He parked in the lot, empty except for a gleaming black Porsche SUV near the far end. As he approached the vehicle, the distant sound of music wafted toward him. He shined his flashlight into the tinted windows, but the Porsche was empty.

  He followed the sound of music—and more specifically The Piña Colada Song—up the stairs that led to the lodge’s wraparound patio.

  The ski resort had closed in the early nineties due to a bankruptcy filing and family disputes by the long-time owners. Some of the older deputies had shared that it used to be a popular spot for local teens right after it was abandoned, but that had changed in the ensuing years. Nowadays, he had someone check the property on a routine basis but not many people ventured out this way other than hikers or tourists who’d taken a wrong turn.

  Beer cans lined the patio’s wide rail, and Cole automatically put a hand on his weapon as he came around the corner.

  A pair of long legs and expensive-looking sneakers came into view, and the next moment Cole let out a string of curses so vile it would have made his old army buddies blush. The man lounging in the chair was so similar to Cole in his features and build, it was almost like looking in a mirror. A mirror he wanted to punch with every fiber of his being.

  “Hey, bro. I was wondering when you’d get here.” Shep Bennett made a show of checking his watch, sun reflecting off the shiny face. “Twenty-four minutes from when I fired my first round. Not great response time, if you ask me.” He hit a button on his phone to turn off the music, then picked up a .22 handgun from the arm of the weathered lounge chair where he was sitting and aimed at the beer cans.

  “Don’t you dare—”

  Shep fired three shots and a trio of cans disappeared over the railing.

  “Put it down and explain what the hell you’re doing here.”

  Shep laughed as he placed the gun on the chair’s arm again. “I’m letting off a little steam is all. You remember fun, don’t you?”

  Anger flooded through Cole, engulfing the relief he felt at seeing Shep safe after all these years. He grabbed the gun, unloaded the magazine and took the bullet out of the chamber. He stepped directly in front of his brother, blocking his view of the ski mountain. “Why does your idea of fun always involve being an idiot?”

  Shep stood, walked to the patio’s railing. “Guess I take after dad,” he said and flicked the remaining beer can over the edge.

  “You’re going to clean all those up.” Cole moved forward to stand next to his brother. “Then you can drive away from here—back to wherever life has taken you.”

  “That’s a funny story,” Shep muttered.

  “Tell me you didn’t steal the Porsche.”

  Shep turned, leaning a hip on the rail. “Give me a break, Cole. It’s mine.”

  “Since when do you have that kind of money?”

  “A lot can happen in seven years.”

  “Like Mom’s funeral,” Cole shot back. He saw pain flare in his brother’s features before the smirk he remembered so well returned.

  “You had to go there.”

  It wasn’t just that Cole saw he’d upset Shep. He felt his brother’s emotional pain, courtesy of the unexplainable connection he had with his twin. Shep might pretend he didn’t care, but the truth was far more complicated.

  “Where were you?” Cole asked.

  Shep shrugged. “Arizona for a while. A few months in Mazatlán. Mainly I’ve been in California. The weather is—”

  “February 12,” Cole interrupted. “That was the day I buried her. By myself. It would have killed her how little you care.”

  “The heart attack beat me to it,” Shep ground out between clenched teeth. “You know I loved her. She knew it. I was down in Mexico when she died and couldn’t get back in time.”

  “You never even called.”

  “To say what?” Shep crossed his arms over his chest. “What did you want from me? Were we supposed to commiserate over our shared loss? As if being orphaned was going to bring us suddenly closer. Dad ruined all of our lives.”

  “She died of a broken heart,” Cole murmured.

  “There was nothing I could have done about it at the time.”

  “You could have helped me deal with things.”

  Shep barked out a harsh laugh. “Give me a break. You’ve never needed a moment’s help in your whole life. The stronger twin. The alpha. That’s what Mom always called you.”

  “Only so she’d have an excuse to baby you.”

  “Baby me? That’s rich.”

  Cole pushed away from the railing and paced along the edge of the patio. Shep exasperated him, but Cole didn’t want this kind of animosity. It did neither of them any good to fight. Cole prided himself on keeping his temper in check and blamed the shock of seeing his brother after so long on his behavior.

  His first instinct, after wanting to berate Shep for the business with the gun and beer cans, had been to rush forward and throw his arms around his twin. It felt like he’d stumbled upon an appendage he hadn’t realized he’d been missing. A part of him had come home.

  But Crimson wasn’t Shep’s home, and the fact that he’d shown up without warning, clearly ready to antagonize Cole, didn’t bode well for a brotherly reunion. Still, Cole felt like he had to try.

  “It’s good to see you despite everything.”

  “Liar.” Shep flashed a small smile. “You always were a horrible liar. Half the time that’s how Mom could tell us apart when we got into trouble.”

  “You were an expert,” Cole agreed. “Yet somehow we both got into the same amount of trouble. Out with it, Shep. What are you doing here?” He held out his hands. “Why the big production to get me to this place? A phone call or a text would have worked fine.”

  “I figured it was time I visit my new home.” Shep flashed a far too innocent smile. “Do you want to be the first person to welcome me to Crimson, Sheriff Bennett?”

  Cole swallowed, feeling like he’d just downed a handful of sawdust. He and Shep were like oil and water, and Cole had made Crimson his own. It was one thing for his brother to pay an unexpected visit, but the thought that Shep might be in Colorado permanently was too much.

  “Don’t mess with me.” He removed his sunglasses, made a show of cleaning them on his shirtfront. Trying to look casual. Trying to appear as if he wasn’t losing his mind. “Crimson isn’t your kind of place.”

  The town was Cole’s place. He and his brother had never been good at sharing. Whether toys or friends or later women, if one twin claimed something or someone, there was an unspoken rule that the other let it go.

  “I’m ready for a change.” Shep lifted his arms and spun in a slow circle. “A new challenge.”

  “A development company bought the resort,” Cole argued. “Even abandoned and in disrepair, the land is worth millions. Unless you’ve been running drugs for the past few years, there’s no way you could do this on your own.” He cursed, then added, “I sure as hell hope you’re not running drugs.”

  “Dude, you’ve been binge-watching too many shows,” Shep said, looking both amused and offended. “I’m the head of Trinity Development Company. Right after Dad died, I got lucky on a piece of land outside of Vegas. Turns out real estate development is a lot about luck.”

  “Our family never had much.”

  “Things change. I like to think it was the old man looking out for me from the great beyond.” He tapped a finger on his chin. “Do you think he’s upstairs or down below given the rat he turned out to be?”

  “Shut up, Shep.”

  “Down below. That’s what I think, too. But he’s still taking care of me.” He shrugged. “I only had to make half a deal with the devil in the process.”

  “What have you g
otten yourself mixed up in now?”

  “Success,” Shep said, pointing a finger at Cole. “You’re not the only one in this family who has something to offer.”

  “You know better than anyone that I’m no competition in the success game.” Cole blew out a breath, rubbed a hand over his jaw. “I’m sheriff in a small town in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. I walked away from a career in the army because I didn’t want to deal with Dad’s legacy haunting me every step of the way. It works for me, but there’s nothing about my life you need to envy.”

  “I don’t envy you,” Shep said tightly. “But those stupid two minutes you had on me at birth meant I had to spend my whole childhood in your shadow.”

  “Not tru—”

  “I’m here, Cole. I’m not leaving.”

  The ridiculous old Western movie phrase “this town ain’t big enough for the two of us” leaped into Cole’s mind. He felt like he was six years old again, arguing over who got first dibs with their favorite Lego set. But this was his brother. Cole had learned as a kid that all he had to do was wait and Shep would get bored and move on to the next shiny toy.

  Somehow Shep had gotten a burr up his backside to mess with Cole again, just when things were starting to feel like a decent fit. Cole wondered if it was that twin spidey sense at work. Shep had somehow recognized Cole’s contentment and decided it was high time to crash it.

  “Welcome to Crimson,” Cole said, making his tone casual. “Folks around here are thrilled the resort’s going to open again. It’ll mean more jobs for locals and an influx of tourist dollars that the town can always use. A lot of people will be counting on you.”

  Shep blanched but didn’t respond. He’d never been one for responsibility, and Cole knew it.

  “You still have my cell number?”

  “Yeah, I’ve got it.”

  “Give me a call later.” Cole flashed a quick smile. “I’ll introduce you to Jase Crenshaw, Crimson’s mayor. I’m sure he’ll want you involved in the local business owners’ association right away.”

  “Sure,” Shep agreed, but his voice wavered the tiniest bit.