“We have to hear him out,” Pen said. “We don’t know what happened. Think about what Daddy did last night. The night Jackson left, I heard yelling from downstairs.”
“You did? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You were a kid. And I was afraid for him. You know how Daddy was then—he and Jackson already fought so much, even before Mama died. After that, they could hardly exchange a civil word. Then when the crash happened and Beth Butler died and Jackson had been drinking…” She rubbed at her chest, right over her heart. “I was terrified for him,” she whispered. “No one seemed to see how wrecked he was by it. He was close to taking his life, Rissa.”
“No.” Rissa’s head whipped her eyes. “He wouldn’t.”
“He was so alone, even I couldn’t get to him. All I could do was hold him in here.” She tapped her chest. “But he shut even me out.” She stared out the window. “He was getting farther and farther away from all of us, and then Dad—”
“Dad what?”
She looked at her sister. “Dad told him he wished Jackson had been the one to die. Can you imagine hearing that from your own father?” She stared out again. “I waited for him to come upstairs. I knew getting between them wouldn’t help—it never had before.” She went silent, caught in the uproar of that night, the stinging silence, the sound of blows. “But he slammed out the door. I stayed in his room all night, waiting, but he never came back. And I could tell in here that he was gone.” She had to pause as the pain returned. “I just never expected it to be forever.”
“Well, he’s back now, and he’s staying put. I’m going to insist.”
“He has a life…somewhere. We can’t know that he’ll stay.”
“I know it. You both left me once, but you are not getting away this time.” The determination was a woman’s, but the voice was a lost and lonely twelve-year-old girl’s.
Pen started to explain that she would have to leave soon, too. Surely Rissa didn’t think—
“There he is,” Rissa practically growled.
“Don’t yell at him. He’s been alone. We’ve had each other.”
The laughing Rissa cut her a scathing glance. “I haven’t had either one of you.” She jammed the truck into Park and leaped from her door.
Pen hurriedly followed, watching as Rissa covered the ground in seconds. Yanked open his door before he could. “Jackson, you—” She socked him in the shoulder again.
Then she burst into tears.
Jackson slid from his seat and gathered both of them in. “I’m sorry.” He pressed a kiss to Rissa’s red hair. “I’m sorry, Clary.”
She stiffened. “Mama called me that. I’m Rissa now, but…I guess you can call me whatever you want.” She lifted tearful brown eyes to him. “You bastard. How could you leave me with him?” Her face crumpled, and she hugged him harder, sobbing into his shoulder.
“You were there from the first,” Penny said, staring into the face at once so familiar and that of a stranger. “And then I had to learn to live without you.”
He met her gaze squarely. “I kept up with you. I’m proud of you.”
She faltered. “You might not be.” She looked away.
His brow furrowed. “Tell me what happened. Let me help.”
“I don’t want to talk about it now.” She gripped him tightly. “You won’t disappear again, will you?”
Rissa’s head rose at that. “I won’t let you. I know you’re alive now. I will hunt you down, Jackson. Count on it.”
A fond smile slid over his features. “When did you get to be such a warrior?”
Her eyes filled. “When you left me to deal with…everything.” In that moment Pen could see the little girl they’d both left behind, and she felt the shame of it.
“I couldn’t stay. I was so messed up, I didn’t realize…” He looked sick at heart. “I am so very sorry.” He looked over at Penny. “I shouldn’t have stayed away from you, either of you. I just didn’t—” He swallowed. “I was a scared kid, and it took a long time to find my way. He threw me out with nothing, and…” He shook his head. “I should have found a way, but by the time I started to get my feet under me, I didn’t know how to reach out.” He swore. “But I was wrong. I see that now. It was just…it would have killed me in those early days, to let myself remember. I was barely hanging on. But still…”
He looked lost and alone. “Sock me again,” he murmured to Rissa. “Maybe we’ll both feel better.”
A watery chuckle greeted him. “I’d rather make you crawl.”
A small smile. “Mackey know you’re so bloodthirsty?”
She lifted her head. “Freak you out that we’re together?”
“A little,” he admitted. “Don’t even tell me you’ve had sex.” He shuddered dramatically. “I’ll have to beat his ass.”
She smiled, mischief in her eyes. “I could provide details.”
“Find some other way to torment me, would you? You’re my baby sister.” Another shudder. “Stop. I’ll have nightmares…or I’ll have to kill him.”
She grinned even as tears fell once more. “He’s wonderful to me. I love him so much. And he’s so great with Eric—you’ll come to Eric’s surprise birthday party tonight, right?”
“Eric?”
“Our son—at least he will be. Long story.”
“Wow. How did that happen?”
“Like I said. Long story. You can buy me breakfast—oh, crap!”
“What? What is it?”
“I have to finish his cake! I tore out of the house before I frosted it. I gotta go!” She rose to her toes and kissed his cheek. “Don’t you dare leave town. There’s no place for you to hide if you try.” One more smacking kiss, and a glance to Pen. “Come help me?”
She was torn after watching Rissa’s earlier meltdown. “Scarlett said she’d help.”
Rissa’s jaw went tight. “I said I’d make his cake myself, and I’m going to. Mackey?” she shouted as she charged toward her truck. “Give Ian your keys. I need you!”
“She’s a nervous wreck about that stupid cake,” Pen told Jackson. “But she adores that boy. She saved his life, and he worships the ground she walks on. I think she could face a firing squad easier than cook, though. She’s been up for hours, but I’m not sure it’s safe to eat, actually, and the kitchen was a wreck.” She chuckled. “Still, she’s one plucky soul.”
Jackson watched her closely as Rissa and Mackey roared away. Too closely. “Talk to me. Tell me what hurts.”
She couldn’t load that on him, too, after all the emotion he’d walked into, coming back. “Not yet, okay? I…I just need some time to figure things out.”
“Promise me you’ll talk to me when you’re ready? Penny, I know I’ve done you wrong, intentional or not, but you never left me. We share a heart, you know that.”
“I do.” Or at least she wanted to.
“Then will you let me take you to Ruby’s for breakfast at least?”
“I guess.”
He kept one arm around her as they turned and walked toward Ian. “Let’s go meet your woman.”
Aunt Ruby was one sneaky woman, Pen thought later that day. You couldn’t watch her closely enough.
But it was this or help Rissa muck stalls, so here she was in the courthouse kitchen with Scarlett, testing out recipes.
“You have to be thrilled to have Jackson back,” Scarlett said. “I really like him.”
“I am…” Pen had to swallow past the ball of mingled resentment and heartache over how much she’d missed her twin. How abandoned she’d felt.
“But…?”
Pen shrugged. “It’s complicated.”
“I don’t know how it couldn’t be. Veronica’s a dear friend, and she won’t even talk about it yet.”
“You know about the two of them? I didn’t realize anyone did.”
“I don’t know anything for certain, but I’ve never seen her behave that way. And she’s never shut me out before now. She’s not talking to anyon
e, and Jackson gets this look when her name is mentioned…” She paused. “I don’t want to see her hurt, and somehow his being back upsets her.” Scarlett eyed Pen. “Hurts you, too, doesn’t it? Even Cousin Crankypants is unsettled, but Ian says Jackson had a really hard time of it after he left here. Being rich as Croesus now doesn’t change that kind of pain.”
That had been a stunning revelation, learning that Jackson was a seriously wealthy man, a giant in the video gaming industry, though a very reclusive one, so low-profile that few knew who was the real power in his company. “I guess not. I just—I wish things had been different.”
“He seems to very much wish the same. It sure takes nerve to walk back into such an emotional situation.”
“I don’t know if he’ll stick around, despite what he says.”
“He seems sincere. Is it amazing, being a twin?” Scarlett sighed. “I would have given anything for siblings, and twins always seem to have a special relationship.”
“I thought we did, too.”
Scarlett stroked her back. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought this up.”
Pen shrugged it off. Enough soul-baring. “What are you doing here today, anyway? Aren’t you supposed to be on your honeymoon?”
Scarlett snickered. “As if. That’ll come when this restaurant makes its first anniversary. I barely have time to take a nap before then. Thank you for helping me out, by the way. I’ll do most of the cooking for this restaurant, at least to begin with, but I can’t help Nana over there if I’m doing every bit of it here, so I have to strike a balance between the chef customers will expect to pay the prices I want to command here and not leaving Nana to do everything over there. Having you test these out will tell me if I’ve put everything down properly in these recipes so someone else could follow them.”
“There really isn’t enough of both of you to run two places, is there?”
“Not hardly. But Nana refuses to consider closing the diner.”
“The town would revolt, best I can tell.”
“You know it. Harley and his bunch would hang me from the highest tree.”
“I know a good lawyer,” Pen volunteered.
“Thanks. Didn’t think you handled criminal charges.”
“Never hurts to have a backup plan.”
Scarlett shot her a quizzical glance, but Pen didn’t respond.
Scarlett changed the subject. “Ian said Bridger and his guys were gone before sunup. I was hoping to at least cook them a good sendoff breakfast as a small thanks for all they did.”
So he was gone. No surprise, but he’d been nice to have around.
“He seemed to take a fancy to you.”
Pen snickered. “Nope, or only temporary at best. He’s got his eye on Suzy Homemaker and six kids.”
Scarlett’s eyebrows lifted. “Well, good luck with that.”
“Yeah. I offered Hayley.”
Scarlett burst out laughing. “You have a mean streak. I like that.”
“I do have to admit she was a big help getting things done for the wedding.”
“You mean she likes giving orders and watching good-looking men scramble to meet them.”
“Mrowr,” Pen said.
“She wasn’t after your man.” Scarlett pointed a knife at her. “You’d want to snatch her baldheaded, too.”
“She’s pretty annoying, all right. Sorta like Jeanette.”
A quick grin from Scarlett. “I have to completely rethink Jeanette after that stunning gown she made me.”
“Boy, no kidding. That was beyond gorgeous. And that she did it with no fittings…”
“The woman has no business waiting tables.”
“So why does she?”
“Well, for a long time it was because she was waiting for Ian.”
“Uh-oh. No wonder you and she have been oil and water.”
“Yeah. But anyone who can make this twelve-year-old boy’s body look feminine has a gift.”
“She definitely does. Say—” Pen couldn’t help grinning. “You could go the Hayley route and buy your boobs.”
“I knew it!” Scarlett crowed. “How did you find out?”
“Seriously? Nobody’s girls are that perky past sixteen. Speaking of which, I told Bridger he should just marry Brenda and train her to be his perfect wife.”
“You keep your mitts off Brenda. Bridger can’t steal her because I’ll lose Henry, and Henry learning to cook at the cafe is all that’s saving my bacon.”
“What are you going to do, long-term? Can you bring in someone?”
“I wish I could get Maddie and Boone to leave Morning Star and settle here. I’d make her a partner. She’s one fine chef herself, and she’s wasted on her little diner.”
“I really don’t think you want Aunt Ruby hearing you calling diner cooking a waste.”
“I don’t mean that. Heaven knows the world needs more good home cooking, and Nana’s is the best. I only meant…” She sighed. “I’ll call you a liar if you repeat this, but…I’m scared to death.”
“You? Of what?”
“Of letting Nana down. Of disappointing Ian and all the people around here who need my hare-brained scheme to work.”
“It does seem odd that a Paris-trained chef would pick Sweetgrass.”
“I didn’t pick Sweetgrass. It picked me—or the Lady did.”
“What?” Pen’s eyes sharpened. “You’ve seen her?”
“Have you?”
Pen hesitated.
“You have!” Scarlett crowed.
“No, well…probably not.”
Scarlett’s smile was smug. “You know what that means, right?”
“I have a feeling you’re going to tell me.”
“Ian saw her. I saw her. Mackey and Rissa did.”
“So?”
“Did all of these people fall in love? Why, yes they did.”
“That means nothing,” Pen scoffed.
“She’s still waiting for something, Nana says. We weren’t the right couples to bring her lover back, but maybe you and your lover will be.”
“I don’t have a lover—not now, anyway.”
“You will, bet on it.”
“You are insane.”
“We’ll see,” Scarlett said, waggling her eyebrows. “We’ll see.” Then she dusted her hands of the flour on them. “Let me taste that soup.”
Pen handed her a spoon, and Scarlett dipped, tasted, then let it sit on her tongue a second before swallowing.
Pen’s nerves tightened for no logical reason.
Then Scarlett smiled. “Want a job?”
I might need it, Pen thought. “Until I have to go back, I’m all yours.” It wasn’t like she had anything else going.
Scarlett smiled. “Then it’s a good day. Yay, me.” She winked. “And we’ll have some more time to see who your lover turns out to be.” She tapped her chin. “I’ll start compiling a list of candidates.”
“You don’t have time for that, busybody.”
“Get real. I make time for good gossip.”
Pen resisted a sigh.
Chapter Six
“Sweetgrass Springs is something else,” Larry Paulsen reported to the shift as they gathered for a long-delayed meal. The first day back at the firehouse had been unusually busy, with a car fire, a brush fire and not one but two heart attack calls for which they were the first responders. “Lotta good folks, more than a few characters, an honest-to-God movie star, the singer Walker-freaking-Roundtree and more gorgeous women than you can shake a stick at.”
“That little burg is, what, two thousand people, total?” asked the rookie, Dan Sampson. “And there were hotties?”
“Fifteen hundred, thereabouts, someone told me, and I swear we met every last one. They take community spirit real seriously.” Kyle grinned. “And then Doc here manages to find the one with legs that will stop your heart.”
Hoots arose as head shifted Bridger’s direction. He didn’t much like attention being lavished on Penelope
’s body.
Not that he hadn’t thought about it nearly constantly since he’d left her.
“She’s not the only one with excellent legs,” Larry added. “But her sister’s married, damn it. To Mackey, the lucky stiff.” Mackey had visited Bridger here once when he was filming in the Smokies. “But Legs…” He whistled.
“Enough.” Bridger snapped, barely holding off a growl. Not only did he not like the leering attention on her, he couldn’t help recalling Penelope’s heart breaking as she trembled in his arms.
Eyebrows rose, and looks were exchanged.
That’s not it, he wanted to explain. She’s not meant for me. She was high drama and flash, a city sophisticate all the way. Whatever was bothering her was only temporary. She’d go back to D.C. and he’d never see her again, anyway.
He’d forget her soon, too. No one had that kind of impact in only two days’ exposure.
He picked up his fork. Pushed her out of his head. Hell, maybe Larry was right. Maybe the legs had struck him so blind he’d lost his balance. Regardless, he was back at work, and Sweetgrass would soon be a distant memory, too—
The klaxon sounded and everyone leaped to their feet.
The disembodied dispatcher’s voice: “Four alarm fire, structure really rolling. Neighbor believes the three children and their mother are trapped inside.”
They were already stepping into turnout gear and racing for the trucks.
Burners were turned off, food abandoned where it sat.
“Kids, damn it,” muttered Calvin Robbins.
They all dreaded the calls where children were in danger.
No one more than Bridger.
But like everyone else, he focused on the details as they roared down the streets, every mind fixed on the duties to be performed, the intel they could get right now, the details that would only be available when they were onsite.
“Damn,” said the squad’s rookie.
“No emotions, kid. Just do your job so everyone makes it out alive,” Bridger snapped.
They spilled from the trucks and immediately swung into action, getting updated by command as the engine guys hooked up the water and Bridger and the truck guys grabbed ladders, axes and pry tools.
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