Several minutes later they parked in a lot separating the government offices where Trevor worked and the Blue Dog Diner. After confirming that he’d be at the Hacienda at noon, Trevor left them at the entrance to the diner.
Stilted conversation made breakfast a somewhat tense affair. The short drive to the nearby shopping mall contained even less dialogue. They spent the next couple of hours exploring department stores and boutiques, trying on dresses and shoes. Over time, Ketra’s mood lightened. She’d forgotten how much she enjoyed spending time with her sister. Even Marco made good company. Despite the fact that they’d all ganged up on her and bamboozled her into this little adventure, she couldn’t fight long against the happiness emanating from the affianced.
To her surprise, Ketra found a dress she liked, a floor length, strapless, butter yellow gown, with an overlay of swishing chiffon. The dress hugged her curves and complimented her complexion, drawing attention to her eyes. The attendant at the dress shop suggested matching shoes. Kennedy paid for the entire ensemble with her credit card.
“Now we need to stop at a jewelry store,” Marco announced.
The sisters exchanged puzzled looks. Marco smiled and took the packages from Kennedy.
Half an hour later, Marco insisted on purchasing the sapphire necklace, earrings and bracelet adorning Ketra. Marco agreed with the sales clerk that the dark blue stones matched her eyes and urged her to try it all on. “Just for fun,” he’d said. After much debate and protesting, he produced a credit card and told the clerk to wrap everything up. Kennedy kissed him and promised a “proper thank you” later. Ketra stared at her soon-to-be brother-in-law.
Why is Marco buying me expensive jewelry?
In true gentleman fashion, Marco, bearing all packages, declared that it was time to meet Trevor for lunch. They returned to the car and stashed the packages in the trunk, careful to lay Ketra’s dress flat on top of the other bags. They funneled through the parking lot traffic to the Hacienda. Trevor’s huge black truck was parked in the spot closest to the front door. He greeted them in the lobby then located a semi-private table in a back corner.
They consulted menus and when their drinks arrived, Trevor asked, “So were you successful?”
“Yes.” Kennedy beamed. “But Ketra’s going to upstage me.”
“That’ll never happen,” Marco said. “She did look beautiful in that dress though.”
Ketra blushed, still wondering why Marco was making such an exaggerated effort to befriend her when she hadn’t done anything to earn his kindness. “You shouldn’t have bought the jewelry.”
Trevor raised his brows, “Jewelry, too?” The beginnings of a smile tugged at his lips.
“Expensive jewelry,” Kennedy said.
Marco darted a quick look at the ladies. “Your dad told me to buy something special for the wedding. ‘Whatever Ketra wants,’ he said.”
“He did?” Tears pooled in Ketra’s eyes.
Marco nodded. “I used his credit card at the jewelry store.”
Kennedy reached across the table and squeezed one of Ketra’s hands. “You’re his baby. Dad loves you so much. He wants this day to be special. For both of us.”
Ketra blinked back tears. The waitress delivered their food but Ketra barely touched her quesadilla. Marco’s admission about her Dad’s generosity set a tidal wave of homesickness so violent she feared she wouldn’t get through lunch without having a complete emotional breakdown.
“Well, I hate to say it, but we really should get going,” Marco said.
“I’ll take care of the tab,” Trevor said. “You guys can say your good-bye’s in private.” As he excused himself to pay the bill, the others gathered up their things. At Kennedy’s car, the sisters embraced. Marco stood a few steps away during the exchange.
“I’m so glad you came,” Ketra said through a film of tears.
“Me, too. You’re gonna be okay.”
Ketra swiped her knuckles across her cheeks.
“Listen to me,” Kennedy lowered her voice in volume and pitch, “you’ve got a good-looking, honest, trustworthy man right under your nose. He loves you. I don’t think he wants to, but he does. He cares a great deal about you. Listen to your heart on this. Give him a chance.”
She paused. Ketra refused to look at her, fixing her gaze across the street instead. “He loves you. When you stop wallowing in self-pity, you’ll have to admit that you love him too.”
“It’s so easy for other people to say stuff like that. They’ve never been through hell.”
“It’s over, Ket. You’re through hell, not in it.” Kennedy wrapped her arms around her sister and rubbed her back. “This isn’t about Kyle any more, is it? This is about Trevor. You love him, don’t you? That’s why you’re afraid. You’re afraid to love him.”
Ketra turned her head. Trevor made his way toward them. “I don’t know.”
Kennedy smiled and winked. “You’re gonna be all right. Listen to your heart.”
“Let’s get Ketra’s pretty new things out of the trunk so we can get a move on,” Marco said.
“All ready then?” Trevor took the shopping bags from Marco.
Kennedy closed the gap between them and gave Trevor a quick hug. “Take care of my sister. Or I’ll have to hurt you.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Trevor said with a smile.
“Trevor,” Marco extended a palm and they managed to shake hands despite the shopping bags. “Good to meet you. We’ll see you again.”
“Vernazza.”
“And Arizona.”
“Arizona?” Ketra asked.
Kennedy nodded and joined hands with Marco. “We talked about it and decided that we’d take Uncle Rocky up on his offer to live at the ranch.”
“Really?” Ketra squealed.
“Yeah, really.”
“We have to live somewhere,” Marco said. “Your uncle’s outfit is perfect for Kennedy’s training. It’s even better than your ranch in Oklahoma.”
“That’s awesome,” Ketra said.
The sisters hugged again and said their good-byes. Kennedy promised to call as soon as they’d decided on a wedding date.
Trevor stood next to Ketra, waving as Marco backed the car up and turned onto the highway.
“Ready to go?”
Sniffing and blinking back tears she wanted to shed, both in sorrow and in joy, Ketra nodded. Refusing to watch the sedan get smaller in the distance, she focused instead on the asphalt between where they stood and Trevor’s truck. Placing one foot in the front of the other she made slow progress to the vehicle. Trevor held the passenger door while she hiked a foot up on the running board. He placed a hand on her rump and boosted her into the cab. He arranged the packages in the backseat, swung into the seat with the same familiar ease he used when mounting a horse, and started the engine. He clasped her hand in his larger one and drew her fingers to his lips.
“We’re taking a detour on the way home. I’ve got a surprise for you.”
She angled her head toward him but made no comment.
Raising his brows, he hunched a shoulder. “Aren’t you even a little bit curious?”
Chapter Forty
“Maybe a little.”
“There’s someplace I want to show you. A place very special to me.”
“Okay.”
As Phoenix dwindled to a dot behind them, wide open spaces of red dirt and juniper took its place. She stared at the patchwork of clouds in the brilliant blue sky.
“You’re awfully quiet. Something bothering you?”
She inhaled and slowly let the air squeeze past her pursed lips. “I miss my family.”
“Your dad seems like a really cool guy.”
“He is.”
She swallowed a few times, hoping to dislodge the yearning for home. She concentrated instead on her newfound desi
re to be half of a couple. To enjoy the intimacy Kennedy and Marco shared. She had no idea how to go about attaining that but vowed to give a relationship with Trevor a chance.
“Well, I have some interesting news.” Trevor’s voice broke her rumination.
“Oh, that’s right. I’m sorry. I forgot. What happened at your office?”
“I’ve been taken off administration leave. I report back to work the first part of next week.”
“Why not right now?”
“Trying to get rid of me?”
She stared at the landscape, replete with endless miles of dry red dirt and uninviting but tenacious vegetation too stubborn to grow anywhere else but the Sonoran Desert. Here was her chance to get the ball rolling on that conversation she wanted to have. “Not really.”
Before she could come up with something eloquent and romantic to follow up with, he asked, “You going to miss me?”
“Probably. But don’t go getting all big-headed over it.” Brilliant. She wanted to bang her palm against her forehead. That was neither eloquent or romantic.
He laughed. “Well, I’ll be around for a few more days. And if you start going through withdrawals, I can make myself available if you need a quick shot of awesomeness.”
“Oh please.”
“You’ll have to ask nicely though.”
“Shut up.” She swatted his bicep with the back of her hand. “So, was Brian Hamilton involved in your mess?”
“Yes. I have you to thank for that, too.”
“Me?”
“If you hadn’t told me about what happened between you and Kyle, I might not have put two and two together. Because you took a chance and trusted me that night, we were able to make that connection.”
“That was just a lucky, weird, happenstance.”
“It was an odd coincidence that’s for sure. But think about it, Ket, if you hadn’t decided to trust me, I’d still be on the hook for murder.”
Warmth enveloped her at the memory of the night she surrendered her sorrow, her body and her soul to him. The dam of pent up anger and fear had been broken that night, exposing her heart for the first time in very long time.
Neither spoke for a few minutes. Ketra wished she had more experience making small talk with men. Too many emotions vied for attention, clogging up the pathway to rational thought. What she wouldn’t give for one clever, witty statement to seal their fledgling trust. They both possessed a raw, vulnerable heart previously held captive by foregone incidents. One cataclysmic turn of events had planted a seed of hope that perhaps love might bloom again.
While she struggled to find the precise sentiment to unchain their bound-up hearts, he continued the cliff notes version of his meeting with his boss.
“We’d been suspicious of fraudulent bookkeeping practices at Southwestern Construction for a while. And it’s common knowledge that Brian Hamilton is a crook. But it was your unintentional tip that cracked this case wide open.”
Kennedy’s words rang in her mind like church bells in a hollow canyon on a quiet night. “You love him.” It hadn’t been a question, but a surefire statement spoken with conviction. Ketra fidgeted in the seat.
“Am I making you nervous with all of this?”
“No. Sorry, I was just…thinking.”
When she offered no insight into her innermost musings, he asked. “Well, penny for your thoughts then?”
Her throat seized up at the chance to spill her guts, beg his forgiveness, confess her love. Why is this so hard? “How was Brian Hamilton involved?” The words were out of her mouth before she even finished pondering her inability to express her emotions.
“It was exactly what we thought: he was paying prison guards to provide certain favors and protection for his son.”
“I knew it. He’s a world class piece of shit.”
Trevor snickered. “Well, he’s in a lot of trouble now. Byron Sanchez admitted, albeit under some pressure, that he was receiving money from Hamilton to watch over Kyle. Sanchez is hoping he’ll get off without prison time. He might if he cooperates with putting Hamilton behind bars.”
“So he admitted to extortion?”
“Can’t really call it extortion since Hamilton approached him and offered money in exchange for his services. Although this last pay-off could be. Sanchez demanded half a million dollars to ensure Kyle’s safety on his last two days in captivity.”
“That’s the money you were supposed to be intercepting?”
“Yes.”
“Glaskel was working for Brian Hamilton? Picking up the money for him?”
“No. Turns out, Glaskel was working for Sanchez.”
“The prison guard?”
“Sanchez didn’t trust Hamilton to follow through and actually bring the money. So he called in a favor to Glaskel. They worked together a number of years ago. Glaskel was supposed to go with Hamilton to make sure he brought the money.”
“Well, that was a good call.”
“What?”
“Not trusting Hamilton. Calling in Glaskel to ensure he got his money was smart.”
Trevor turned off the main highway onto a lesser used road heading west. The rugged landscape, deep ochre, red and brown mesas with variegated shades of green and gray vegetation rose to meet an azure sky interrupted by puffy white clouds. Scraggly pinons and cedars gripped the higher ridges, fighting for space with the Ponderosa pines and western soapberry. The scenery might have been idyllic had her emotions not been so tangled.
“Was Brian Hamilton there? That night?”
“We don’t know. But he did come up with money from some other source because Sanchez admitted to being paid the day before Kyle was released.”
“Where’d he get the money?”
“I’m guessing from campaign funds. IRS will find it eventually.”
The humming of the asphalt beneath the tires filled the cab with muted white noise. Trevor made another turn onto a private road snaking a path out of sight around a nearby hill. Barbed wire fence lined the sides of the road but there was no sign of livestock. Sporadic creosote and mesquite bushes cast tiny puddles of shade for lazy lizards, snakes, rabbits and other desert dwellers to lounge in.
Trevor glanced at her and flashed a mischievous grin. “Curious yet?”
“A little. Where are we?”
“We’re in the Verde Valley, near Sedona.”
Rocky told her that Trevor had a ranch in Sedona. Was he taking her to his house? Expectation flickered in the pit of her stomach, whispering for her to pay greater attention to her surroundings, an area uniquely beautiful and calming.
They rounded the curve, and a cluster of buildings obscured by a small grove of trees came into sight. Patches of green grass pushed up through the red dirt, indicating the presence of water. The grass became more abundant, and cottonwood trees and white oaks towered overhead as they approached the ranch, sprawled along a ribbon of glistening water. Willow and sycamores clung to the banks of the creek, offering respite from the harsh sun. Here was an oasis in the middle of a vast world of red rocks, scrub brush and knobby desert junipers.
“Wow,” she whispered when Trevor put the truck in park and quieted the engine. “This place is awesome.”
Trevor turned sideways in his seat and watched as she surveyed the ranch. He leaned his back against the cool glass of the driver’s window, his lips curved upward at her blatant admiration.
“I think so,” he drawled.
“Is this…?”
He nodded. “This is my real home. Not the place I stay in Phoenix when I’m working.”
“I don’t know how you can stand to leave.”
He unbuckled her seatbelt. “Get out. Look around.”
He joined her in front of the truck where she stopped, undecided which direction to investigate first. Her gaze followed the creek,
coming to rest on the large cedar-sided barn with two paddocks and adjoining round pen. On the opposite side, a log cabin ranch house was surrounded on all sides by an oversized porch. An unattached garage and two storage buildings completed the refuge.
“Let’s get something cold to drink, then I’ll show you around.” Trevor walked ahead of her up the stairs leading to the front door.
She followed, awestruck that such a haven existed in an apparent barren wilderness. She tried to remember everything Rocky had said about the place. Something about it being gifted from his parents, which meant they must live nearby. Although nearby is relative out here. Their spread could be miles away.
Trevor held the door open for her to precede him into the house. She stepped inside. Air fled her lungs. The interior, as inviting as the outside, could only be described as amazing. The cool and spacious great room was lit naturally from numerous windows and the open door. A massive stone fireplace dominated one entire end of the room. Cathedral, open-beamed ceilings drew her eyes to an upper balcony supported by huge tree trunks. To her right was the dining area with hardwood floors. A wagon wheel chandelier held court over a long oak trestle table and ladder-backed chairs. An equally impressive kitchen with Spanish tile floors, earth-toned granite countertops and stainless-steel appliances completed the right side of the house. French doors opened onto the glorious wraparound porch.
Trevor nudged her forward so he could close the door, then went to the refrigerator. Speechless, Ketra let her gaze roam the lower level of the house, never imagining he’d live in such a wondrous, well-cared for home.
“You want a soda, beer, water or some questionable orange juice?”
“I’ll pass on the orange juice,” she said, shaking off her astonishment. “What kind of soda?”
“Pepsi or Dr. Pepper. Sorry, no diet.”
“I’ll have Pepsi.”
He snapped open a can of Pepsi and a can of Dr. Pepper for himself. “Make yourself at home.” When she took the cold can, he swept his hand in a half circle indicating she should check out his house. “The bathroom’s down that hall if you need to use it.”
He pointed to a hallway she hadn’t noticed on her first visual trip around the house.
On Common Ground Page 27