“Pretty much. Actually, that’s exactly right. Please? I won’t be any bother. I’ll carry your umbrella, and who are the Turner Twins?”
Terri made a face as though she was contemplating his request. “I don’t carry an umbrella and they’re double boyfriends. They’ll be here for Widiwick.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask what that means.”
“You get a wish.”
“Like right now I wish the very kind and caring and really beautiful Terri Rayburn would let me go with her and not leave me alone with a bunch of half-naked women? That kind of wish?” Her eyes widened at his words. “I think I’m an imbecile. Give me a ride back to the clubhouse, will you?”
Terri laughed. “On the behalf of my former schoolmate, Stacy Hartman, you’re going with me. Do you always get your way?”
“Mostly.” Nate was grinning. “So where do we go first?”
“The Mortons leave homemade cookies in the freezer for me.”
“Yeah? Any game birds anywhere? I invited some people over for Saturday next and I thought I’d stuff a few quail or maybe Cornish hens and grill them.”
She drew in her breath. “How many people did you invite?” There was horror in her voice.
He went to the front door and opened a coat closet. “Think Gary would mind if I borrow his rain gear?”
“It’s Greg, and how many people?”
“Just three adults and three kids.” He put on rain gear and held Terri’s coat for her. “You see, I have this plan. I’ve found some very interesting retired people here. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my travels, it’s that old people and young ones belong together. I saw a kid was playing with a toy airplane so I want him to meet—”
“Hugh Evans,” Terri said. “Former pilot.”
“Yes. Sound like a good idea?”
“A great one.” Terri was very serious. “But if the word party is spread around, everyone at the lake will show up.”
Nate opened the door. “We’ve got over a week to plan. How about if we cook something Egyptian? You can help. Or is what your dad said about your cooking true?”
Terri still wasn’t smiling. “We need to stop this evil word from spreading.”
“What word?”
“Party. That’s all these people do. And I’m sure they’re dying to meet you.” She could tell that she wasn’t scaring him off.
“As you so wisely ascertained, I was in a fraternity. Think I should order some kegs?”
“How about the Clydesdales pulling a loaded beer wagon?”
Nate grinned so wide it looked like his face might crack open. “I like it already. Mind if we go where the cookies are first? I need sustenance.”
“You just ate a whole pizza.”
“What can I say? I’m a growing boy.”
Terri smacked her hand against his hard stomach. “This is what’s going to grow.” She’d meant it as a teasing gesture, but the feel of his flesh under her hand made her hesitate. Hand still in place, she looked up into his eyes. The laughter was gone and he was staring at her in puzzlement.
He gave a quick frown, then ran outside into the rain. When he was several feet away, he turned back and he’d regained his laughter. “Come on! I’m hungry!”
Terri locked the door, then ran after Nate and got into her boat with him.
Chapter 5
“What’s going on with our girl?” Sheriff Frank asked as he entered Brody’s office. He didn’t bother with preliminary greetings. They’d known each other too long, been through too much together, to do anything other than say what they meant. “I hear she’s living with some guy. Cousin of Dr. Jamie.”
Brody was looking through a file cabinet. “They’re roommates, that’s all. They’ve been working together.”
“Oh.” Frank plopped down in a chair. He was a short, muscular man in a brown uniform. His badge picked up the light and reflected it. “Della told me about him.”
Brody groaned. “And you listened to her?”
“Little old lady snoops are law enforcement’s best friends, and she keeps me well-informed. I guess you know that Dr. Kyle put her in the hospital in Richmond for some tests.”
“She’s not even here, but she’s telling you about Nate?” Brody put some files on his desk and sat down to look at them.
“She did, and she told me about the entire hospital staff. I think maybe what goes on there is worse than what’s on TV. Everybody jumping into bed with each other. It’s a wonder they have time to hand out all those lovely pills.”
Brody’s head shot up. “You aren’t...?”
“Back on the drugs?” Frank said good-naturedly. “Yeah. I stole six orange bottles while I was there. I had a real happy night.”
Brody gave him a look to cut it out and returned to the papers.
Frank was frowning. “What’s made you so mad? You haven’t had any break-ins, have you?”
When Brody looked up, his eyes were bleak. “Does my daughter’s heart being stolen count?”
“You can’t keep her all to yourself forever,” Frank said in a patronizing voice. “Someday Terri’s going to meet a nice young man and get married and give us grandkids.”
Brody grimaced. “Too bad you didn’t listen to Della’s gossip. I want to show you something.” He went out the door, through Anna’s office, to the outside.
It was a beautiful day and there were several kids playing soccer on the lawn. They were being coached by a man with a limp and sparse gray hair.
“I’ve seen him before,” Frank said.
“How about photos in Life magazine? He coached the US soccer team in the Olympics.”
“Does he live here?”
“He’s spent ten summers here, but no one asked him what he did before he retired.”
“So who...? Ah,” Frank said. “This guy Nate asked?”
“He did. I swear that in the week Nate Taggert has been here he’s learned more about the residents than I know after a lifetime here.”
“I can believe that,” Frank said. “But then, it was always Leslie who was the social one. She—” He stopped at the look Brody gave him. “Sorry. The forbidden subject. It’s just that she made friends. You and Terri are clones in being workhorses. So this guy helps around here and you said he’s stealing our Terri’s heart? What’s the problem? He’s old and ugly?”
“There he is, so what do you think?” Brody nodded toward the dock.
A big, good-looking young man put his hands on the waist of a heavy-set woman and easily swung her out of the boat onto the dock. She was smiling up at him like he was a rescuing knight.
“He’s built like Billy,” Frank said under his breath, then turned to Brody. “What’s the problem?”
“Nate’s engaged to Lew Hartman’s daughter.”
“Wonder why Della didn’t tell me that? But Stacy is a nice girl. She—”
Brody gave him a hard look, then walked away, Frank right behind him.
“This isn’t good, is it?” Frank said when they were inside Brody’s office. “How many boyfriends has our Terri had since she dumped Billy?”
“None that we know of. But then, any boy she looks at, you run through the system to see if he’s ever had so much as a parking ticket.”
“Give me the stats on this guy so I can find out about him.”
Brody gave a snort. “Since he worked for Kit Montgomery, you’d have to have the security clearance of the Secretary of Defense to find out about him.”
When Frank heard a laugh that he’d been hearing since Terri was a toddler, he went to the window to look out. He’d never been married and had no children, so Terri was as close as he was going to get to his own child. In his eyes, she was beautiful and smart and deserving of all the good in the world. Just his unbiased opinion.
She was sta
nding beside the big guy and watching the kids play soccer. They weren’t touching but were as close as two people could be without contact. Every once in a while, she glanced up at him with sparkling eyes full of laughter.
From what Frank could see, Terri was wearing her feelings in the open—and that made him frown. She was usually cautious around men. Over the years, he and Brody had shared laughter when they saw the young men come on to Terri. They tried every line ever created. They tried to impress her with tricks on water skis, on motorboats, with the size of Daddy’s cruiser.
None of them had succeeded. Frank and Brody had watched as Terri dumped pails of bait over their heads. She’d pushed four Enders off a dock. Mostly, she just froze them with a look and walked away.
But this guy... Frank had only seen Terri look at a boy like this once before—and that had been a long time ago.
Brody was standing beside him.
“You said they’re living together?” Frank asked softly.
“Yeah, but Terri says nothing is happening.”
“If circumstances were different, I’d wish she’d go after him. Put on a red dress and high heels and give cute little Stacy Hartman a run. May the best girl win the prize.”
“And what happens if she wins him?” Brody asked as he went back to his desk. “People add the breakup to my daughter’s résumé? The Hartman family is well liked in Summer Hill. Stacy is practically the town’s princess, while Terri is...is...” He couldn’t finish the sentence.
“I know.” Frank was still looking out the window. In the few minutes he’d been watching, Nate had never so much as glanced at Terri. He was beginning to think her interest was one-sided.
But just as Frank was about to look away, he saw Terri turn toward the kids, and Nate gazed down at her. Frank could see the caring in the man’s eyes. Caring, lust, even a kind of hunger was there. The man’s expression was so intense that it made him draw in his breath. “How long have they known each other?”
“Just over a week,” Brody said. “Sometimes, that’s all it takes.”
Neither of them said so, but they knew that six hours after Brody met Leslie, he’d said he’d found the woman he was going to marry.
“And how bad is it from his side?” Frank was hoping that he was wrong about what he’d seen.
Brody said that one day he saw Nate jump off the dock, fully clothed, after he’d wrestled with Terri on the soccer field as they fought for the ball. “The boy needed to cool off. I’m not sure he knows how much pain he’s in.”
“So maybe he’ll break off his engagement and...” Frank didn’t finish because both men knew what would happen. Terri already had two strikes against her. Add another one and she’d have to leave town. “The gossip here would be more than she could bear,” Frank said softly. “Terri would have to move to some big city where people don’t know each other. Then she’d be far away from...from us.” Frank collapsed onto a chair. “This is a problem.”
“Yeah,” Brody said. “A really big problem.”
* * *
Nate and Terri were closing the hooks on the life jackets of a couple of little boys. The kids’ parents were putting their gear into a rented boat, and Terri was giving them directions to Moonlight Beach.
“Moonlight?” the seven-year-old asked. “Doesn’t the sun shine there?”
This unintentional double entendre made his dad laugh and his wife elbowed him.
Nate and Terri exchanged looks. People on holiday! He nodded to something behind her back. “I think that man is trying to get your attention.”
Turning, she saw her father and Uncle Frank standing by the clubhouse.
“I take it he’s the sheriff?”
“Yeah,” Terri said, standing up. “I’m sure he’s here to find out all about you. Uh-oh.”
As Nate watched, the sheriff bunched his fingertips, kissed them, then flung his arm out. It was a gesture Nate had seen many times in Italy, but rarely at home. “I think he’s glad to see you.”
“No,” Terri said with a sigh as the boys ran to their parents. “I mean, yes, he is, but he means that I have to fix the kisses.” Looking at the sheriff, she raised a hand in question and he held up three fingers. “Damn it!” She looked at Nate. “I have a job that will take me about an hour and a half. I’ll meet you back here.” She headed to her boat.
Nate was right behind her. “So whose kisses do you have to fix? Are they French or regular?”
Terri laughed. “Neither. Unfortunately. It’s all three signs. I have to go get my car and drive around the lake to—”
“You can drive a car? I thought maybe you had webbed feet since you live on water. And I’m going with you.”
She’d already learned that no amount of persuasion kept Nate Taggert from doing whatever he wanted to do. He was like some great unmovable bear. When he said he was going to do something, he did it. “Not all of us are rich girls with fancy BMWs. I have a car in my garage.”
“I saw it.” His tone implied that the ancient vehicle didn’t deserve to be called an automobile.
She didn’t answer, but when she turned to her boat, she was smiling. Since she’d met Nate he’d become... What was he actually? Friend? Companion? Coworker? “Soul mate,” she whispered.
“What did you say?” Nate asked as he got into her boat and started the motor. Gradually, they had assigned themselves jobs and duties. Who did the laundry? Terri. Who cooked? Nate. Who went to the grocery? Together. Who controlled the remote? Nate. But then, Terri liked to read so she didn’t mind. Who lost things? Who found things? Who drove? Even who handled the banking? That was Nate.
On the fourth day, her father had tried to have a serious talk with her. “You’re getting too attached to him. How about if I move in with you and Nate stays in my apartment?”
“We’re doing fine,” Terri said. “I enjoy his company. He’s easy to live with. Did you order the extra beer for the party?”
“You two are never more than inches apart.”
“So? We’re friends.”
“When you see him say ‘I do’ to Stacy Hartman, are you going to smile and be happy for them?”
“Of course. Dad, it’s okay. Really, it is. I admit that I am attracted to him, but Nate has absolutely none of that boy-girl interest in me. He’s utterly and completely faithful to Stacy Hartman in body and mind.” She knew her father wasn’t convinced, but she wasn’t going to give up an excellent workmate for her dad’s worries.
Terri was in the boat with Nate and they were heading to their house. No, she corrected herself, to her house. Well, technically, it belonged to Aunt Aggie, but it seemed like it was theirs.
She and Nate were already so used to each other that they didn’t speak as they ran into the house and went to opposite ends. Bathroom break, then a quick run to the kitchen. Terri beat him to the fridge to get a couple of oranges and bottles of water. She knew he was always hungry. When Nate got there, he grabbed a handful of paper towels.
They were out the front door in minutes, then stopped. His silver-blue BMW was in the driveway. Her fifteen-year-old car was inside the closed garage.
“Which vehicle should we take?” Nate asked as though it were a real decision to be made.
She ignored his question. “Why’d you change shirts?”
“I thought maybe we’d have lunch in town.”
“In what state?”
“Colorado,” he answered as he opened the door to his car and got into the driver’s side.
In a familiar way, Terri sat beside him, spread paper towels on her lap and began peeling the oranges. “There’s a roadside stand nearby. Great tacos.”
“Nope. Sit-down restaurant in Summer Hill. Look, the whole town has seen us together. What’s wrong with a man and a woman being friends? Didn’t I see a bookstore somewhere? With the way you go through murder mysteries, I
’m sure you need new ones.”
She held up an orange slice, he opened his mouth and she put it inside. “I could use a few. Cale Anderson has a new one out.”
“Did you know that she’s Jamie’s mother?”
“No!”
“Which way?”
“Any way Cale Anderson wants to go, I’m with her. Her last one about PTSD made me cry. Is she really his mother? Do you think I could meet her someday?”
“Yes, of course. And Jamie can tell you where his mom got her inspiration for that book. But right now I don’t know where we’re going so I don’t know which way to turn.”
“Either way. We have to go around the whole lake. Uncle Frank said all three signs have been kissed.”
He turned right. “And we’re back to the kissing. What’s that all about?”
“I’ll have to show you.”
“I look forward to it.” He drove on the road that encircled the lake. The area had four entrance-exits, but otherwise the lake was a community unto itself.
“Here!” Terri said. “Pull over onto the gravel.”
As soon as he stopped, she got out. Behind the huge sign that welcomed people to Lake Kissel was a small metal storage unit that Terri went to.
Nate got out of the car and stood in the shade of a big oak tree eating orange slices and wondering what Terri was doing. When she came out of the shed with a canvas bag slung over her shoulder, and struggling with a ten-foot ladder, he ran to help. “What are you doing?”
“Set it up there, then step back and look at the sign.”
He opened the ladder, braced it, then walked to the edge of the road. Someone had put graffiti on the billboard. But it wasn’t the usual kind. The L of Kissel had been painted over with white to match the background, and a big red S was in its place. The sign now read Welcome to Lake Kisses. He couldn’t help laughing.
“If you think it’s so funny, you get to fix it.” Terri was holding up a long piece of red vinyl and two spray cans.
“You want me to block out kisses?” He sounded horrified. “But kisses are one of the greatest things ever invented. They’re—”
Met Her Match Page 6