“Oh, Brodie. That’s wonderful news!” For weeks, he had been wrangling with the town over possible sites to expand his business.
She hugged him and he wrapped his arms around her and turned her quick, happy kiss into a long, leisurely, delicious one that made her momentarily wish this was one of those sleepy mornings when they could pull the comforter over their heads and slide together.
“Okay. Can we get on with things now?” Taryn grumbled. Evie wrenched her mouth away and looked over in time to catch her stepdaughter rolling her eyes at them.
Evie knew it was all for show. Taryn had welcomed her into their family with delight and acceptance—as had Katherine, who couldn’t have been more thrilled when Brodie and Evie made their relationship public after Charlie’s sentencing hearing in September. At their March wedding, a quiet affair in the small church in town, Katherine had laughed and cried, joyfully welcoming Evie into their small family.
Brodie pulled away with that secret smile that made her toes tingle. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. We should probably move it. Can’t have the whole town waiting on us.”
He held the door open for Evie, then moved to the backseat to help Taryn—and Jacques—inside.
“This will be so great,” Taryn declared when her father climbed inside and started heading out of the driveway. “All my friends are still talking about how much fun it was last year. Hannah is meeting us at the community center. We wanted to go up the canyon to clean up garbage.”
“Having you there this year will be wonderful,” Evie said.
She knew the rest of the townspeople of Hope’s Crossing would be just as thrilled to see the girl participate in the day. Many saw Taryn’s recovery as nothing short of miraculous. The teenager had become a talisman of sorts to the town, a symbol of hope and healing after the tragedy of the car accident and the scars it had left in countless lives. Though Taryn had shouldered much of the blame for the accident at Charlie’s sentencing hearing, no one seemed inclined to hold her responsible.
Brodie reached across to squeeze Evie’s fingers and she saw the emotion in his eyes. How could she ever have thought him cold and heartless? she wondered. Yes, he was very good at containing his deepest feelings, but that made the moments when he let go all the more priceless to her.
They had just left the gates of Aspen Ridge when Evie spotted a bicyclist heading up the hill toward the neighborhood. Odd, since everyone else in town was heading toward the community center that was serving as the hub of the day’s events.
“Wait!” Taryn exclaimed. “Dad, stop!”
Brodie frowned in the rearview mirror. “T, we’re already running late.”
“I know. Just stop.”
He had barely braked the vehicle before Taryn thrust open her door and raced toward the bicyclist with only a slight stumble in her gait, Jacques on her heels.
A second later, the person pulled off his helmet and tossed it aside then caught Taryn when she would have plowed him over with enthusiasm. Evie inhaled sharply as she recognized him.
“Beaumont,” Brodie growled, and Evie cast a quick glance at him in time to see his hands tighten on the steering wheel. It was undoubtedly Charlie Beaumont, though his hair was a little longer and a little shaggier than it had been nine months ago when he had first entered the youth correctional facility in Denver.
“I guess the rumor mill had it right for once,” he muttered. “I’d heard he might be released soon.”
“And you didn’t tell us?”
“You know how unreliable the grapevine can be. I wanted to be sure before I mentioned it to Taryn. Didn’t want to get her hopes up.”
Though Taryn and Charlie had exchanged emails and letters and the occasional phone call—and even a few in-person visits when Brodie had reluctantly agreed to take his daughter to the correctional facility—Brodie still maintained a cool reserve toward the young man.
When he shut the engine off and opened his door to greet the boy, Evie decided she would be wise to follow, even if Brodie was much more calm about Charlie these days.
To her relief, he held out a hand as he approached the pair. Charlie, his left arm still around Taryn’s shoulders, shook it, and Evie couldn’t help noticing a new maturity about him. That air of troubled restlessness seemed to be gone.
“You should have called or something,” Taryn exclaimed, glowing with a bright happiness that was almost painful to see. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming home?”
Charlie scratched Jacques between the ears and the dog looked at him with just as much joy as Taryn. “I wasn’t sure myself. Everything’s been crazy the last few days. I wanted to be certain they would really give me an early release before I said anything.”
“You just sent me an email three days ago. You didn’t even mention the possibility!”
He shrugged. “It might have fallen through. I thought it would be better to wait.” He deftly changed the subject. “You look terrific, Taryn. Really terrific. And you’re getting around so well. Not even the cane anymore.”
Taryn cast a sidelong look toward her. “Evie’s a slave driver. She told me if I wanted to be her maid of honor I had to ditch the cane.”
“That’s right,” Evie said drily, playing along. “You know me. Bridezilla. Everything had to be perfect for my special day.”
“I’m sure it was. Congratulations on your wedding.”
Evie reached for Brodie’s hand. Even after three months, sometimes the happiness bubbled up inside her and she didn’t know how to contain it. “Thank you. We loved the serving platter you sent us. We used it just the other day. You obviously put a great deal of time into sanding and polishing the wood.”
He looked a little embarrassed. “Woodshop was one of the better ways to pass the time.”
“You’ll have to come to dinner some night soon and see how well it goes in the dining room.”
“Maybe.” He glanced at their vehicle and then back at the three of them. “I guess you’re probably on your way into town for the Giving Hope Day. I won’t keep you. I only wanted to say hey and let Taryn know I was back before she heard about it in town.”
“Why don’t you come with us?” Taryn said suddenly.
Charlie’s laugh wasn’t as harsh as it might have been nine months earlier. “I don’t think that would go over real well in town. Think about it, Taryn. The whole reason for the day is to remember and honor Layla. It’s her birthday, after all. I don’t belong there.”
“Of course you do,” she said fiercely. “You belong there as much as I do. Why shouldn’t you come and help us? Layla was your friend, too.”
“Come on, Taryn. You know why.”
A militant light sparked in her stepdaughter’s eyes. Evie knew that stubborn look. She’d seen it often enough over her months of working with Taryn to know the girl could be relentless when she set her mind to something.
“I want you to come with us. You need to do this, Charlie. Lock your bike up at our house and you can ride with us.”
“Taryn, let the kid make up his own mind.” Brodie spoke for the first time since they’d exited the SUV.
Charlie pointed. “See? Your dad knows it’s a mistake.”
“Don’t put words in my mouth,” Brodie said mildly. “Actually, I think it’s a great idea. I suspect word’s already going to be out that you’re home, and this way you’re facing down the whispers and stares all at once.”
“Gee, when you put it that way, why wouldn’t I want to come?”
Brodie gave him a steady look at the sarcastic tone. “You’re going to have to face people sooner or later. Might as well man up and do it now while you have the added benefit of being able to honor Layla’s memory at the same time. People might stare but nobody’s going to say anything—not if you’re there with us and with Taryn.”
/> Evie’s throat felt achy, tight, and she wondered how it was possible to love this man more with every passing day.
Charlie stared at him for a long moment, myriad emotions chasing across his features, then he finally sighed. “You’re probably right. Kind of like taking your medicine in one big gulp instead of spreading it out for weeks.”
Evie smiled through the haze of tears she refused to shed. “We can put your bike in the garage and give you a ride into town.”
“Yeah. Okay.”
As Charlie headed toward the house, the three of them climbed back into the SUV then followed behind him at a safe distance.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Brodie asked her quietly when they reached the house and Taryn went to help Charlie find a place for his bike. “He’s right. A few people won’t be happy he’s there. Some people can’t let go, even after the truth came out about what really happened that night.”
She nodded. “Charlie needs this. I think the whole town does. The healing process is usually messy and painful and rarely comfortable. I think we’ve all learned that these past months.”
To her delight, Brodie reached for her hand and brought it to his mouth, one of those spontaneous gestures that charmed her to her core. “I love you, Evie Thorne.”
“And doesn’t that make me the luckiest woman in Hope’s Crossing?” she murmured.
When the two young people slid into the backseat, Jacques perched happily between them, Brodie once more pulled out of the driveway and headed toward the town spread out below them.
Across the valley, warm morning sunshine glinted off the snow that still capped Woodrose Mountain. Evie wanted to bask in it—and in the certain knowledge that, storm clouds or not, her future here in Hope’s Crossing would be filled with light and joy and peace. She refused to have it any other way.
* * * * *
RaeAnne Thayne
CHAPTER ONE
FORGET CHRISTMAS VACATION. This year, Maura McKnight-Parker wanted a vacation from Christmas. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if she could just crawl into a warm cave somewhere and sleep through the holidays?
With a sigh, Maura took a final look around at the cozy nook where she had arranged several of the plump sofas and chairs normally scattered throughout her bookstore-slash-coffeehouse. Everything appeared ready for the Books and Bites book club Christmas party and gift exchange tonight.
Nibbles? Check. M&M’s, spiced nuts and popcorn mix waited in holiday-printed bowls, and she had even dragged out her Christmas china and coffee mugs for said nibbles.
Decorations? Check. Not much to do there, since the halls of Dog-Eared Books & Brew had already been decked the week before Thanksgiving with artificial Christmas trees adorned in elegant blues and whites and silver. Snowflakes and gleaming ornaments in the same color scheme dangled from the ceiling, lightly dancing in the currents of air whenever anybody opened the front door.
Gifts? Yes. She had set up a little tabletop tree with handmade blown-glass ornaments for each of the book club members that she had commissioned from an artist with a gallery in town.
In addition to that pretty bit of swag, she had spent the past few days scouring shelves and boxes in her office and had filled gift bags for all the book club members, brimming with coffee and tea samples and some of the promotional bookmarks, notepads and other tchotchkes authors and their publicists were always sending to the store.
Despite a deep-seated wish that she could just hole up in her house for Christmas like a fox in a cozy den, she had worked tirelessly for days to make this party a success. If she were a scam artist, she would have called this baiting her trap. She had to convince her dearest friends and family members that she was indeed trying to move forward with her life after the hell of the past year. To accomplish that, she needed to put on a convincing show for them.
Maybe then, everybody would back off and give her a little space to find her own way.
“What do you think?” she asked April Herrera, who was taking a load of Books & Brew coffee mugs out of the small dishwasher behind the counter.
The assistant manager for the coffeehouse side of her business gazed at the setup with an enchanted look in her eyes that seemed at odds with her henna-colored hair, pencil-thin eyebrows and various diamond studs. The silk long-underwear shirt she wore underneath her barista shirt and apron hid the various tattoos Maura knew adorned her arms.
Judging only by appearances, April ought to be wild and cynical. Instead, she was just about the sweetest person Maura knew. More important, she was smart and hardworking and intuitive about her customers.
“It looks super in here. Just perfect. You guys are going to have such a great time.”
Maura tended to have a soft spot for rebellious girls, probably because she’d been one in another lifetime. “Are you sure you can’t stay?”
“I really wish I could. Your book club meetings are always a hoot. Your mom cracks me up every time she comes in, and it’s hilarious to watch Ruth and Claire together. Do they ever agree on a book?”
“Rarely,” she answered. Or anything else, for that matter. Ruth Tatum worked in the bookstore, and she and her daughter had what could best be described as a complicated relationship. “You should really stay. You know everyone would love to have you again. Your comments on the last book were really insightful.”
“I can’t. Sorry. I’ve really got to take off as soon as Josh gets here. This is my very first time night-skiing with the team.”
“How’s that going?” she asked.
“Excellent.” The young woman’s face lit up. “I think they’re ready to put me on the schedule on a regular basis.”
April was training for the ski patrol and also taking classes in hope of eventually becoming a paramedic. Maura didn’t know how she juggled work and class and her two-year-old son, especially on her own. Maybe that was another reason she had taken April under her wing—she could certainly relate to being a young single mother just trying to survive.
“That’s terrific. If you need me to make any adjustments to your work schedule here, just say the word. I’m flexible. And I’m happy to babysit Trek whenever you need.”
“Thanks, Maur.”
“Maybe you can come to the book club meeting in January, if it fits around all the plates you have spinning.”
“Definitely!” April started to add something else, but a customer at the coffee counter rang the little bell, and she gave Maura a “later” kind of wave and headed back to take the order.
Personally, Maura couldn’t wait for January, to finally turn that page of her calendar to a new year. Maybe once the holiday craziness was over, she could escape some of the pressure of trying to act as if everything was fine when she was frozen solid inside.
She grabbed one more bowl of spicy nuts and set it on a side table, then moved a bowl of plump, airy peppermints to another spot. Having dear friends and family members surrounding her in Hope’s Crossing was both a blessing and a curse. She knew they loved her and worried for her. While she understood their concern and tried to be grateful, mostly she just found it exhausting and overwhelming.
Sometimes that ever-present concern made her feel as if she had been buried alive under an avalanche. It pressed down on her, heavy and suffocating, until all she wanted to do was scramble for an air pocket.
Even her little bungalow on Mountain Laurel Road wouldn’t remain a haven for long. In a few days, her daughter Sage would be coming home from college for the holidays, bringing yet another pair of watchful eyes.
She could do it. A few more weeks of pretending, and then she could have the cold nig
hts of January to herself.
After one last look around, she suddenly remembered she’d meant to grab a couple extra copies of this month’s book club selection off the shelf, in case anybody forgot theirs and needed it for reference. She had several copies in the display near the front, she remembered, and hurried in that direction.
A light snow drifted past the front display window, the big, fluffy flakes reflecting the colorful Christmas lights on storefronts up and down Main Street. Hope’s Crossing was a true winter wonderland and local businesses worked hard to make the town glow with an old-fashioned, enticing charm. Nearly every store had some kind of light display. Hers were LED icicles that appeared to be dripping.
The effort seemed to be working. Her store bustled with customers and, judging by the pedestrian and vehicle traffic on a normally slow Thursday night, the other businesses on Main Street were enjoying the same success.
An SUV snagged the last parking space in front of the café across the street and a few stores down from her. A man in a leather jacket and Levi’s climbed out and snowflakes immediately landed on his wavy dark hair and the shoulders of his warm cocoa-colored coat. He looked sharp and put together.
Everyone would be arriving any second now and she should go put the finishing touches on the scene she had created, but for some reason she was drawn to the man she could still barely see.
Some indefinable aspect of him—the angle of his jaw or the way he moved—called to mind the image of her first love. Jackson Lange, sexy and dangerous, young, angry, ferociously smart.
She rarely thought about Jack anymore, except on the rare occasions when his unpleasant father came into the store. Why she would be wasting time wondering about him now when she had so much to do was a mystery.
The man walked around the other side of the vehicle to let someone out of the passenger side, a gesture she didn’t see enough these days. She was curious to see his companion, but before she could catch a glimpse of the woman, the front door of the shop opened and Claire and Evie burst through, bringing the scent of snow and Christmas. Their mingled laughter chimed more sweetly than carols.
RaeAnne Thayne Hope's Crossings Series Volume One: Blackberry SummerWoodrose MountainSweet Laurel Falls Page 57