by Mia Ross
Because of the old barn wood and piles of pine shavings, the air smelled more like a campfire than a disaster. Thank God for small blessings, Drew thought as he angled his truck into a tight spot near the refreshment tables Lily, Abby and Parker were setting up.
“This is a nice spot,” he said approvingly as he brought in his first load. “Who picked it out?”
“I did,” Parker confided quietly. “I thought people would be cooler in the shade.”
That was the longest sentence he’d ever heard the kid say, and Drew rewarded his courage with a broad grin. “Great idea. Where would you like the drinks?”
The boy glanced timidly at Lily, who smiled at him. “It’s your call, Parker. You’re in charge.”
“Yeah?” Drew asked. “How’d you manage that?”
“We drew straws,” Abby informed him proudly. “Parker’s was the longest, so he gets to be the captain today.”
Over their heads, Drew met Lily’s eyes, and by the twinkle in them, he assumed the kindhearted teacher had devised a way to make sure Erin’s shy foster son got a turn in the spotlight.
“Maybe you can talk your daddy into doing that at the farm,” Drew said. “I wouldn’t mind being in charge once in a while.”
“You should tell him that,” Abby suggested in her fearless way.
“You think he’d listen?”
“Sure. If he doesn’t, you can tell Grammy. She’ll take care of it.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, cowgirl,” Drew agreed with a grin. “Thanks for the suggestion.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Man,” he muttered to Lily as she followed him to his truck. “Is it just me, or does she sound more grown-up every day?”
“It’s not just you,” his sister-in-law told him, casting an adoring look back at her stepdaughter. He handed her two light bags full of rolls, and she laughed. “I can carry more than that.”
“Not while I’m around.”
Tilting her head in the way that made him think she saw more than most people, she smiled. “Are you like this with Bekah, too?”
“Like what?” he asked, lifting two large hampers filled with sandwiches from the back of his truck.
“Protective. Considering all she’s been through, it must be comforting for her to know you’re there for her if she needs you.”
“I wouldn’t know,” he hedged, uncomfortable talking about Bekah with someone else. “I guess you’d have to ask her.”
Lily laughed quietly. “Judging by that deer-in-the-headlights look you’re wearing right now, you’d rather not have me discussing your relationship with her.”
“There’s nothing to discuss,” he insisted a little more forcefully than he’d intended. “We’re friends, and we both enjoy working with the animals here.”
Lily didn’t press, but there was no way he could miss the feminine smirk that came onto her face the second she turned to unbag the rolls and add them to the platters already on the tables. Since anything he might say now would only make the hole he was in deeper, Drew kept his mouth shut and unloaded the supplies as quickly as he could. On his last trip, he pivoted to find Bekah standing behind him with a cup of lemonade in each hand.
“I came over to get something to drink,” she explained, “and I thought you might be thirsty.”
“Thanks.”
He drained the paper cup and crushed it in his fist. Apparently, his brisk response didn’t sit right with her, and he felt terrible when she gave him that hesitant look she’d worn so often when she first arrived in town. “You’re welcome.”
She turned away, and he felt like a complete heel. His instinct was to reach out and catch her hand, but he knew folks were watching and didn’t want to do anything that might embarrass her.
“Bekah.” She glanced back, and he winced at the uncertainty clouding those beautiful eyes. Fighting the urge to take her in his arms, he stepped closer to make sure no one else could hear him. “It was real nice of you to think of me.”
“You’ve always been so good to me,” she pointed out in a hushed voice. “I wanted to do the same for you.”
“I appreciate that. I guess I’m a little out of sorts today.”
“All people can talk about is the fire and us,” she confided with a sigh. “The first one is understandable, but I don’t get the other.”
She’d given a voice to his own frustration, and her bewildered look made him chuckle. “Things are a little slow around town these days. Eventually, something else more interesting will happen, and they’ll forget all about us.”
She gave him a long, pensive look. “Is that what you want?”
For the second time that morning, he’d been asked a question that he didn’t have an easy answer for. Knowing she’d take it wrong if he stalled for too long, he punted. “How ’bout you?”
“I asked you first.”
She tipped her chin back with a defiant look, and it hit him that this was the first time he’d seen that kind of reaction from her. He wasn’t normally all that cautious when it came to women, but he decided it would be wise to tread carefully with this one. Very carefully. “Yeah, you did. To be honest, I’m not sure what I want.”
The hardness in her features eased a bit, giving way to a wry smile. “Neither am I. Where does that leave us?”
“You’re the brains, sweetheart,” he commented with a grin of his own. “I’m just the muscle.”
“I think you’re a lot smarter than you let on,” she said in an accusing tone. “You like for people to underestimate you, so they don’t expect too much.”
Wow, she’d nailed him but good. She had him dead to rights, and he figured he could either growl back like Mike would or laugh and give her credit. Since this was Bekah, he went for the second option. “You got me there. How’d you figure me out so fast?”
“I used to be the same way. Thanks to you, I’m not anymore.”
With that, she pivoted on the heel of her work boot and dropped her cup into a trash can on her way toward the baby barn. Drew watched her for a few seconds, marveling at how the terrified runaway he’d met not long ago had evolved into this determined, self-confident woman capable of standing toe-to-toe with him without flinching.
As he strolled over to join the grimy work crew, he felt proud knowing that he’d had something to do with her metamorphosis. But in the next moment, that pride was dimmed by something completely unexpected.
Somehow, when he wasn’t paying attention, Bekah had snuck around his usual defenses and gotten firmly under his skin. With Colorado calling to him louder every day, he wasn’t in a position to get involved with anyone right now. Especially not someone as vulnerable as Bekah.
It figured, he groaned silently. Just when he was seriously considering leaving Oaks Crossing, he’d stumbled across another very personal reason to stay.
* * *
“All right, Bekah,” Erin announced after she’d been working for about an hour. “Break time.”
“I just got started,” she protested, her voice muffled by the dust mask the very practical Erin had insisted they all wear. “I can go for a little while longer.”
Their self-appointed foreman gave her a stern glare. “Not a chance. Normally, I appreciate your work-till-you-drop attitude, but in this case it could be hazardous to your health. The sooner you quit arguing with me and go, the sooner you’ll be back.”
Bekah had never been treated to this no-nonsense side of Drew’s petite sister. She was beginning to see why Erin’s three brothers did everything they could to avoid making her angry. “Okay. Half hour, right?”
“And not a minute less. I’m timing you,” she added, tapping the large face of a man’s analog watch that looked as if it had been through a lot over the years. Since she didn’t seem to have a choice in th
e matter, Bekah gave in and left the wrecked storage barn.
Stepping outside, she took off her mask and had to admit Erin was right about the change of scenery. Bekah didn’t realize how the soot and burned chaff had been choking her until she took in a lungful of the crisp autumn air and started coughing. Reaching into a huge tub full of ice and water bottles, she took one out and gratefully swallowed nearly half of it before stopping for a breath.
While she adjusted to the cleaner air, she looked around her at clusters of people who were doing a variety of jobs throughout the site. The pastor, his wife and three of their children were cleaning and refilling water troughs that had been set up outside the main building. Several men she now recognized from church were lugging pails of filthy water out from the main building to dump them into a nearby drainage ditch and fill them in the troughs. They paused just long enough to grab doughnuts from a nearby table, shoving them into their mouths whole before hauling their buckets back inside.
She poured some of her own water into her palm and scrubbed it over her face, grimacing at the diluted charcoal that came off her skin. When she was fairly sure she’d gotten the worst of it, she heard footsteps as someone came up behind her. “Excuse me?”
She turned to find a slender young man in khakis and a blue polo shirt approaching her. His wire-rimmed glasses made him look slightly owlish, and the notepad in his hand was a dead giveaway. “You must be the reporter we heard was coming. The clinic’s director, Sierra Walker, is around here somewhere. If you wait here, I’ll go find her for you.”
“Actually, I’d like to talk to you.” Offering a hand and his business card, he introduced himself. “Connor Wells. I cover human-interest stories for a small daily paper in Louisville, and we’re always looking for items that will touch our readers and also get some play online. This is exactly the kind of thing folks love to read about.”
“A fire that endangered the lives of dozens of helpless animals?” she demanded, furious that anyone would even consider leveraging this tragedy to sell a few newspapers or online ads.
“A possible tragedy that was averted by someone who cares very deeply for those helpless animals,” he corrected her with a smile. “From what I’ve been hearing, you’re a real hero.”
This was the last thing she needed, Bekah thought, her anger quickly turning to panic. While she felt safer in Oaks Crossing than she had anywhere else, that confidence depended heavily on her being just another resident of this sleepy bluegrass town. While her efforts to promote the clinic’s wildlife projects hadn’t been enough to alert Richie to where she was currently living, calling any more attention to herself wasn’t on her agenda right now. Maybe not ever.
But since Connor was intent on getting a story, she knew she needed to give him something else to snag the attention of his readers. “I did what anyone would have done if they’d been here, so you shouldn’t be wasting your time on me. The real news is all these people,” she explained, sweeping a hand at the groups of volunteers scattered around the property. “The Kinleys started this rescue center to rehabilitate injured wild animals and find homes for unwanted and abandoned pets. The entire town supports their efforts, and all these folks put their plans for today on hold to come and help us with the cleanup.”
“I understand you were the one who called in the alarm,” he went on, scribbling as he talked. “Do you live close by?”
You have no idea how close, she thought wryly. Her unusual living arrangements were absolutely none of his business, so she skirted around that detail and did her best to angle his attention back to Oaks Crossing in general. “Yes. I’m new in town, but I can tell you this is a community filled with generous, caring people who pitch in when their neighbors need a hand with something. In this me-first world, that’s a real find.”
“Me-first world,” he echoed with a grin. “I like that. Do you mind if I use it?”
“Be my guest. Just don’t quote me, because your story should be about all of us, not one of us.”
“That’s a terrific attitude, Ms.—”
He trailed off, his questioning look making it clear he was expecting her to fill in the blank. But she wasn’t falling for that, and she forced a smile. “My name’s not important. The work this center does and the people who support that work are your real story. If you start singling a few of us out from the others, won’t that diminish the overall human-interest element for your readers?”
“Good point, but my editor’s going to ask who I talked to, and I have to be able to name my sources or she might scrap the whole article. It’s not just good exposure for us, but great press for a nonprofit endeavor like this. The more people who know about it, the more donations you’ll get to help you rebuild.”
She hadn’t thought of that. The center had been in dire straits even before the fire. Now, even if Animal Palooza was a raging success, some of that money would have to be used to replace the supplies that had been destroyed. That meant hiring the veterinarian the clinic so desperately needed would have to be delayed. Again.
While she was debating what to do, her newly activated phone chimed with a text alert, and on the screen she saw Drew’s name with the message Geek boy okay or should I run him off?
The sarcastic tone made her smile, and she quickly texted back, OK.
Trying to be subtle about it, she glanced around and noticed him not far away, chatting with Cam Stewart about something or other. When she caught Drew’s eye, he flashed her one of those cute little-boy grins she’d come to adore. Returning the smile, she screwed up her courage and faced the reporter again. “I’m Bekah Holloway. I’m the kennel assistant and web designer for the center.”
“Interesting combination. How do you like working here?”
“It’s the best job I’ve ever had.”
“From your earlier comments, I gather you’re not from around here. What’s it like living in such an out-of-the-way place?”
Lifesaving. Comforting. Fulfilling. All those answers flitted through her mind, but one in particular jumped ahead of them all. “Wonderful.”
He nodded, adding the detail to his notes. While he continued asking about the various animals housed there and how they were faring after their ordeal, she was only half listening to his questions. Because during the more personal section of his interview, she’d learned something about herself that hadn’t occurred to her before.
She wanted to stay in Oaks Crossing. Whether it made sense or not, she knew that was the right decision for her, not just for now but for the future. Because here, she’d be able to escape her past and begin building the kind of life she’d been longing for since striking out on her own after high school.
And she had Geek Boy to thank for her epiphany. Amazing.
Chapter Eight
Bekah had just finished cleaning the grime off the lobby windows when a cute yellow convertible pulled into the rescue center’s gravel parking lot. It had been a week since the fire, and she was finally getting to some of the tasks near the end of what she and Sierra had dubbed The Recovery List. It was slow going, but before long she hoped it would feel as if nothing bad had ever happened.
When Lily opened the driver’s door and stepped out, Bekah wasn’t surprised to find the cheery car belonged to the equally cheery teacher. Even after long days when most people would be grumpy, Lily was one of the most upbeat people she’d ever come across. With his more reserved personality, Mike didn’t seem like the best match for his perky wife.
Then again, Bekah thought as she went to greet her visitor, with her disastrous personal track record, she might not be the best judge of something like that.
“Hi there,” she said, opening the door for her. “How are you today?”
“Crazed. The kids always get a little zooey this time of year, with the holidays coming up soon and all.” The assessment was accompani
ed by a wan smile, but Bekah couldn’t help noticing it was still a smile. The woman was incredible.
“I’m sorry to hear that. Can I get you anything?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. Not food,” she clarified with a conspiratorial gleam in her blue yes. “A favor.”
Bekah couldn’t think of anything she wouldn’t do for the large, loving family that had taken her in when she needed them most. Nothing legal, anyway. “Shoot.”
Lily laughed. “That’s funny. You sounded like Drew just now.”
“No need to insult me,” she joked back, motioning for Lily to have a seat in one of the waiting room chairs. “What did you need?”
“I’m always trying to come up with ways to teach my students things without it coming off like a lesson out of a book. Six-year-olds respond much better to experiences than dry lectures.”
“Actually, so do most grown-ups,” Bekah pointed out. “How can I help?”
“They’ve all heard about the fire, and since they know I live at the farm, they keep asking me about it. Do you have any wild animals here now that you could bring into school so the kids can see one up close and learn a little bit about them? Most of them have pets, so I’m hoping to expose them to something they wouldn’t be able to keep at home.”
“Hmm...someone in a cage would probably work best for that. The kids wouldn’t be able to touch it, though.”
“That’s okay. The principal would prefer it that way, I’m sure. So would the parents.”
After sifting through her mental list of animals she cared for every day, Bekah hit on the one that had brought her here in the first place. “What about Rosie, our red-tailed hawk? She’s not very big, so her cage would be easy to manage.”
“That’s perfect,” Lily approved with a childlike enthusiasm Bekah envied. “When could you and Rosie come in?”