Secret Blend (Bourbon Springs Book 1)

by Jennifer Bramseth

  What if Hannah won? Rachel would have to share offices with her instead of Brady. That could get, well, tiresome. She was the kind of friend you loved to death, but was best taken in small doses. Being around her every day during the workweek could get old.

  And what would happen to Brady? Could he get his job back at the Commonwealth Attorney’s office? Eleanor had hired a replacement for him, so Rachel doubted that returning to the prosecutor's office would be an option for him if he found himself voted off the bench.

  “Did you two ever get around to filling out those forms for Judicial College?” Sherry asked Rachel, rousing her from her worried thoughts.

  “Yes, and we actually managed to send them in, too. Brady and I both got reservation confirmations earlier this week by email.”

  “How long will you two be gone?”

  “Five days.”

  “That’s a long time.”

  “If you’re worried whether I can stand being around him all that time, don’t,” Rachel said, taking a sip of her iced tea.

  Sherry tucked her recently-trimmed blonde hair behind an ear and arched her eyebrow. “Rachel, you can’t fool me.”

  “What is it with everyone thinking that I don’t get along with Brady?” she said, replacing her cup on the table with a thud. Rachel was tired of the chatter. Granted, she hadn’t heard much more of that kind of talk after her conversation with CiCi and her parents, but Rachel was surprised that Sherry had hopped on the bandwagon as well.

  “That’s not what I think,” Sherry said in a low tone.

  Rachel’s mouth dropped open when she realized what Sherry was saying. She tried to pass off her shock as confusion and picked up her sandwich. “So what are you thinking?”

  “I think you and Judge Craft get along quite well. In fact, I’m pretty sure you two get along very, very well.”

  With trembling hands, Rachel put her sandwich down without taking a bite. “How’d you figure it out?” she whispered.

  “I’m not stupid, hon. I’ve seen the way you look at each other. The very air between you two burns. It’s right in front of me in the office. And I haven’t forgotten the hair-brushing incident.”

  Rachel felt her cheeks burn. “We weren’t together yet when that happened.”

  “I know. But I also knew what was likely to happen. And I don’t believe for a minute he just fixed your mailbox and left you in peace.”

  Rachel’s eyes widened, and then she had to suppress a giggle. “Can you use those superpowers of yours to read my mind to see what I want for dessert? Or can you see through my clothes and tell me what color underwear I’m wearing?”

  “The only power I have is the power of observation,” Sherry said, picking up her own sandwich and taking a big bite.

  “Was it really only that? Or did one of us say something? I want to know because we’re trying to keep this a secret, at least for the time being.”

  Sherry swallowed her bite. “Do you remember a few days ago when you had that horrible headache and curled up on your loveseat to rest?” Sherry asked, and Rachel nodded. “You probably don’t know this, but Brady came into your office to check on you. I was in the entrance behind him—he didn’t know it—and I saw him touch your cheek as you slept. You stirred, but you didn’t wake up. It was like you knew he was touching you and you didn’t mind in the least. In fact, you loved it.”

  “You’re right. I didn’t know that,” Rachel said. She looked around the deli. They were in a corner and away from most of the other patrons, but that didn’t mean they still couldn’t be overheard. Having the conversation in public made Rachel antsy.

  “You’re in love with him,” Sherry declared. It was a statement, not a question. “And he’s in love with you.”

  Rachel took in a long breath and continued to scan the area for any possible eavesdroppers. “We haven’t gone there yet,” Rachel whispered. “We’ve only—”

  “You mean you haven’t said it aloud? Because you definitely have gone there, whether you say it or not. Both of you have. You’ve known each other for years and it’s finally happened for you two.”

  “Please don’t bust us, Sherry,” Rachel begged.

  “I wouldn’t think of it. But I don’t understand why you’re hiding.”

  Rachel briefly explained keeping their relationship secret had been her idea to protect Brady’s reputation because of the judicial race.

  And then there was the Hannah factor.

  “She’d go nuts if she knew,” Rachel said.

  “But that’s bound to happen whenever she does find out,” said Sherry.

  “We know. But we think it better to tell her later rather than now.”

  “I’m not sure that’s sound reasoning, but if that’s your decision, you two need to be careful. Especially at the Judicial College. Lots of judges and attorneys will see you two. Don’t give them reason to suspect anything,” Sherry warned.

  “I promise we won’t act like lovesick teenagers. At least in public,” promised Rachel.

  “I meant be careful you don’t end up with a broken heart.”

  “But—”

  Sherry leaned closer to her. “Rachel, you’re not telling your best friend you’re in love with her campaign opponent! That’s risky, especially for you.”

  “Me?”

  “Yes, because if things go wrong, you could end up losing both of them.”

  Rachel told Brady later that day Sherry knew. He looked rattled, but said he appreciated that Sherry was willing to keep quiet. A part of her was happy at least someone knew, and Rachel was relieved they didn’t have to keep the secret from Sherry since they spent a large part of the workday together in the same office.

  What Rachel didn’t mention was that Sherry had flat-out said they were in love with each other, and while Rachel knew that was how she felt about Brady, she wasn’t going to mention Sherry’s observation to him. She realized the time was coming when she would be ready to tell Brady she loved him, but it wasn’t now, it was still so early, and she didn’t want to do it by passing on the remarks of their secretary. That’s not how she wanted that special moment to unfold. Rachel also didn’t want to tell him because she didn’t want him to think she was pressuring him into saying those three words. That wouldn’t be love; that would be manipulation and Rachel wasn’t that insecure.

  Two weeks later, their secret still unrevealed, and with Sherry’s warnings about their behavior never far from the back of Rachel’s mind, the two of them set out one morning and headed to the annual state Judicial College. Both of them remembered Justice Nolan attending this event when they had clerked for her, and how she had talked about the experience with a mixture of anticipated boredom and eagerness to see colleagues. It wasn’t a complete boondoggle; the judges got the benefit of excellent legal education classes while they rubbed elbows with each other and other elected officials.

  After discussing the relative merits of their respective vehicles, they decided to take Brady’s SUV to Lake Pembroke State Resort Park, the site of the conference. Since there had been so many rumors of the two of them butting heads, Rachel suggested that they depart from the courthouse together so that as many people as possible could see them being perfectly friendly to each other as they hit the road. Rachel knew that the windows in the clerk’s office looked out onto the courthouse square, making it easy for the clerks to see the comings and goings of people. If the clerks saw something as interesting as Judge Richards and Judge Craft making nice, there was no doubt they would pass it on.

  Both of them looked forward to seeing Justice Nolan. Rachel said it had been at least two years since she’d seen her, and Brady confirmed that it had been about as long for him. They also discussed a few law school friends they knew had made it to the bench and figured they’d run into them at the conference.

  “Oh, Hannah asked me to say hello to some judge named Cassie Claiborne,” Rachel said. They were driving on the Western Kentucky Parkway. It was an overcast day, but the
rolling hills, mixed with more forested areas, offered an interesting change from the landscapes around Bourbon Springs. Every once in a while, they even came across a swampy area, which was rarely found in the more central part of the state.

  “She’s a judge?” Brady asked.

  “Yep, in eastern Kentucky.”

  “Is she a friend of yours?” he asked.

  “No, I have no idea who she is. Hannah said they went to school together at Northern. Why? You know her?”

  “Kind of. I often saw her at prosecutors’ conferences. And I guess since she’s not your friend I can say that I didn’t care for her.”

  “Explain.”

  “She was really political. Liked dropping names, patting backs and stuff like that. I always suspected she was looking for higher office,” Brady said.

  “Hannah said Cassie is looking to get an appointment on the Court of Appeals when a judge retires next year. If Cassie doesn’t get the appointment, she’s going to run for the seat, according to what Hannah told me.”

  Brady nodded, keeping his eyes on the road. “That figures. I wonder how close she is to Hannah. That Davenport name comes with money.”

  “Meaning?” asked Rachel.

  “Hannah’s a good person to know if you’re ever looking for campaign contributions.”

  “Well, I don’t think the friendship is quite that one-way, since Hannah was the one who asked me to say hi in the first instance.”

  “True enough,” Brady allowed. “By the way, what did Hannah say when you told her that we were driving up together?”

  “She felt sorry for me,” Rachel laughed. “She said that it wasn’t fair that we had to go together to save money.”

  “Is that the story you told her? That we’re going together as a cost-saving measure?”

  “Yep. Totally believable, although not totally truthful.”

  “I wish one of us could have gotten a cabin instead of a lodge room,” Brady said.

  “Why?”

  He gave her a duh look: the furrowed brow mixed with a smirk.

  “Privacy,” he answered.

  Rachel nodded and looked out onto the highway in front of them. The clouds were starting to dissipate and now and then rays of sunshine shot through and cast moving, flickering light on the earth below.

  “The walls in the state park lodges are notoriously thin,” he added.

  “Speaking from experience, are we?”

  “Yes,” he replied, causing Rachel to blink in surprise.

  “Oh, really? Do tell, Judge Craft.”

  “Yeah, one time I was at a prosecutors’ conference at General Butler State Resort Park. The people next to me had triplets. Babies. They screamed through the night.”

  “Poor little things.”

  “I wasn’t referring only to the babies. The parents were up yelling, too. They had to stay up to care for those kids.”

  With plenty of time to kill on the drive, and not being able to pass it in the way they would most prefer, Rachel and Brady began to talk about their childhoods after a short stop for lunch.

  “You did not get expelled from Vacation Bible School!” Rachel declared.

  “True story,” Brady said, and nodded.

  “Really?” she asked, giggling.

  “Really. In fact, I got kicked out twice.”

  “Twice?”

  “Once when I was four, and then when I was seven.”

  Rachel had taken the wheel for this portion of the trip. She tried to catch glimpses of his face to determine whether he was pulling her leg. But it seemed he was telling the truth, despite his smugness.

  “And how could I confirm this rather dubious yet hilarious story of yours?”

  “Ask Marie. She had to deal with me, bless her heart."

  “What did you do?”

  “Bit another kid.”

  “Both times?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Sounds like you didn’t learn your lesson from getting kicked out that first time.”

  “Well, neither did the kid.”

  “Say what?” Rachel asked, shooting him a confused look as she passed a camper.

  “I bit the same kid. I didn’t like him, and he didn’t get the message that first time.”

  Chapter 20

  Arriving at the park in the late afternoon and under sunny skies, Rachel was a bit sad as they pulled under the canopy outside the lodge and parked. She realized that she and Brady probably wouldn’t have a chance to make love again—or maybe even hold hands—until the weekend after the conference was over. Although it had become routine in their almost-month-old romance for them to spend nights together at her house over the weekend, they usually managed to have at least one weeknight tryst.

  Rachel had been the one to pay the price most recently for their little slice of late-night fun. She’d had a trial early the next morning and hadn’t been able to go in late. She’d found it very hard to stay awake while on the bench and the only thing to drink in the courtroom was plain water; other drinks weren’t allowed, even for the judge. During the recesses in the morning, Rachel quickly consumed a few cups of coffee, but that had barely taken the edge off her fatigue. Sherry noticed Rachel’s grogginess and when Brady arrived after nine, she quickly put two and two together. During one of those morning breaks when Rachel was at her desk throwing down a cup of coffee and signing various orders, Sherry commented on Rachel’s obviously sleepy state.

  “Late night?” was all Sherry had said to make Rachel’s cheeks burn.

  After getting out of the SUV, they stretched and then walked up the stairs into the lodge. It looked like they’d either gotten there early or late; there weren’t a lot of people around, and only one other guest was at the desk checking in.

  To their amusement and dismay, they were given rooms right next to each other—they were neighbors. Rachel heard Brady asking whether any cabins were available (they were being assisted by different clerks), but those accommodations were all taken.

  “The justices took most of the cabins,” the clerk said. “And the rest were already booked by others.”

  Rachel and Brady stood away from the desk, looking at the map of the grounds and the brochures about activities the desk clerks had given them.

  “I think the gods are punishing us by giving us neighboring rooms,” he said, shaking his head and looking down at his keycard.

  Before she could respond, a raised voice at the check-in desk diverted their attention.

  “Are you sure there aren't any rooms left on the first floor?”

  A short, thin blonde with long straight hair was leaning on the counter. It looked like she was trying to get in the clerk’s face, and she was actually doing a pretty good job if that was her goal. The clerk, a young man who couldn’t have been more than twenty years old, leaned back and away from her. His brow was furrowed and his lips were moving but no sounds came out. Finally, another clerk came to the young man’s aid.

  “Is there a problem?” said an older woman.

  “I thought I’d reserved a room on the first floor,” the blonde huffed.

  “Well, we don’t take reservations for specific rooms,” the female clerk said. “And if you requested to have a room on a particular floor, we will give one to you if one’s available. But none are available right now.”

  “If we could please have your name again, ma’am, I’ll get you checked in,” the younger clerk offered.

  The blonde sighed irritably. “Cassie Claiborne.”

  Brady looked at Rachel as if to say told you so.

  Deciding to get the unpleasant introduction over with, Rachel lingered until Cassie got checked in, then went up and introduced herself. “Hi, I’m Rachel Richards,” she said, and put her hand out. Cassie took it and gave it a weak and disinterested shake as Rachel told her that she’d overheard her name at the desk. “I wanted to catch you. Hannah Davenport wanted me to say hello if I had the chance. And since the chance just presented itself, I didn
’t want to miss it.”

  “Oh, you’re Hannah’s bestie, aren’t you?” Cassie asked, immediately perking up at the mention of Hannah’s name.

  Her junior-high terminology made Rachel inwardly cringe and feel guilty; the things Sherry had warned her about seeped into her thoughts.

  Yep, I’m the best friend who doesn’t tell her best friend that I’m having a mad, passionate affair with her political opponent.

  “Well, any friend of Hannah’s and all that!” Cassie said, and gave Rachel a hug that wasn’t quite reciprocated by the recipient. “And who might this be?” Cassie asked and cast a ravenous look at Brady as her eyes wandered over his chest and down his body.

  “Oh, excuse me,” Rachel said, and backed away to allow Cassie and Brady to shake hands. “This is Judge Brady Craft. He’s the other circuit judge in Craig County.”

  Cassie’s smile vanished. She quickly shook Brady’s hand, dropped it, and returned her complete attention to Rachel.

  “Would you be interested in doing anything this afternoon?” Cassie asked. “There’s a short hiking trail, or we could check out the sauna.”

  “Uh—” Rachel hesitated.

  “We could grab dinner later, too, if you like,” Cassie said. “You’d be welcome, too, of course,” she said, addressing Brady in a less-than friendly manner. “But probably not in the women’s sauna.”

  “I think the sauna sounds great,” Rachel said. “Perfect to help me unwind after a long drive. But I promised Judge Craft I’d have dinner with him,” she said.

  Upon this pronouncement, Brady tilted his head, looking surprised and confused.

  Rachel turned to him. “We have to discuss that budget problem, remember?”