The drive from the airport to Alpine was longer than Tanner remembered, though the traffic was light, even for a Tuesday. As he finally turned in at his parents’ drive, he couldn’t keep from glancing between the trees at Heather’s house. Was she there waiting for him? He wished he could go there first, but he’d promised his dad and Mickelle that he’d stop by after his trip.
As he pulled up to the house, his little sister Belle came running from the front door, her long, dark brown hair streaming behind. “Tanner! Tanner!” she screamed.
He was obliged to forego the garage and stop the car. “Hi, Belle!”
She launched herself at him. “I’m so glad you’re home. I’ve missed you!”
He hugged her. “You, too. You look great!”
Her slightly rounded face dimpled. “You always say that.”
“That’s because you’re always pretty.” And she was. Only marginally slender, she was soft and beautiful. Every time she smiled, an adorable dimple appeared in each perfectly-formed cheek. Her brown hair curled gently halfway down her back, and her brown eyes with a hint of their father’s amber were the talk of the eighth grade.
“Is anyone else home?”
“Well, Dad and Mom are, and Jennie Anne. But Jeremy’s playing basketball, as usual, and I think even you’d remember that Bryan’s still in Paraguay. Like duh!” She giggled as he tickled her. “Okay, stop. I was just kidding—I know you know he’s in Paraguay. Stop!” She broke away from him and ran into the house.
Tanner glanced over his shoulder once more at Heather’s. There was no movement around the house, though he couldn’t see their backyard. Sighing, he followed his little sister inside.
His step-mother, Mickelle, greeted him profusely in the kitchen, and Tanner felt a rush of love for the woman who’d been his mother since he was fifteen. He didn’t call her “Mom” as Belle did—Belle had only been three when their mother died and didn’t remember her—but he loved Mickelle as much as he’d loved his own mother. She had been very good to him and Belle, and to their adopted sister Jennie Anne, offering them the same care and love she gave her own two sons.
“I’m so glad you’re home,” she said, her gray-blue eyes sparkling. “Thanks for dropping in.” Seeing her pleasure, Tanner was glad he had.
“Well, I’m taking Heather out to dinner tonight. So I had to come here anyway.”
“Aw, Heather.” Mickelle tucked a lock of her honey-blond hair behind her ear. “I really like that girl. I miss having her around so much. I miss having both of you around.” She shrugged. “I guess you can’t stop growing up just for me. But you might think about arranging me some grandchildren before long.”
Tanner laughed half-heartedly. Mickelle didn’t realize how close she’d come to his real feelings by mentioning Heather and grandchildren in practically the same breath. He felt an urge to confide in her but bit his tongue. There would be plenty of time tonight—especially if Heather returned his feelings.
“Oh, I thought I heard your voice.” Damon Wolfe entered the kitchen. “Hi, son.” He gave Tanner a bear hug. “So how’d it go?”
“Great. The sales people have added a new hospital chain, and I was able to find a really great new manager for the branch. I think it might cut down on my trips there.”
“It’s about time.”
“Good employees are hard to find—you know that.”
Damon nodded. “Yep. That’s why I hired you.”
Tanner looked behind his father to where his sister Jennie Anne had appeared silently. The fourteen-year-old was as thin and freckled as ever. She pushed back the mass of dark brown hair that refused to hold even the slightest curl and smiled shyly at him. When she smiled, her sharp features became softened, and her brown eyes—by far her best feature—seemed to grow two sizes.
“Hi Jennie Anne,” Tanner said. He’d never been as close to his adopted sister as he had with Belle—probably because he’d been so old before she’d joined their family, but there was a deep fondness between them. He gave her a hug and was rewarded with another shy smile.
“Dinner’s about ready,” Mickelle said, shutting the oven door. “Are you sure you won’t stay Tanner? There’s plenty. You could invite Heather. It would be nice to see her.”
“Thanks, but not tonight. Heather and I have other plans.” Tanner was relieved when they didn’t press. “I’d like to quickly use the shower first,” he added. “I didn’t stop at home. I have a change of clothes in my suitcase.”
“You go right ahead.”
Tanner retrieved his suitcase from the car and carried it into the house. He showered and dressed before quickly combing his dark hair. When he left the house, his family was just sitting down to dinner.
Damon’s amber eyes twinkled. “Say hello to Heath for me,” he called as Tanner headed for the door. Heath, his nickname for Heather, one that had never done her justice. “And give her a kiss for me, too.”
Tanner stopped walking in mid-step. Had his Dad figured out his real feelings for Heather?
“Oh, Daddy, you know they’re just friends,” Belle said with her bubbling laugh. “He’s like one of her brothers.”
“I know, I know. I was just kidding.” Damon picked up his fork. “Now is anyone going to thank the Lord for this food, or am I going to starve to death?”
Tanner took a deep breath and started walking again. Daring one last glance over his shoulder, he saw his step-mother looking after him thoughtfully.
* * *
Heather greeted Tanner at the front door with a wide smile, and he felt a ripple of excitement at seeing her. When had her odd freckles faded, giving her complexion that smooth, finished look? When had her light brown hair gained so many highlights? When had each soft line of her face become so precious to him?
“Hi,” he said, grinning like a schoolboy.
“Hi.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Mom, Tanner’s here. I’m leaving!” Before she finished speaking, her mother appeared in the entryway behind her.
“Tanner, how good to see you.” Her mother held out a hand, which she’d been drying with a dishcloth.
Tanner tore his gaze from Heather’s face. “Nice to see you, too.”
“You have fun. But don’t get her back too late. She has a lot to do in the morning before—”
“Don’t worry, Mom,” Heather interrupted. “It’s only dinner. I’ll be back in a few hours.”
Tanner certainly had no plans to get her back that soon, but he nodded anyway.
“Good-bye then.” Her mother shut the door behind them as they left.
Heather gave a soft laugh. “You did the right thing moving out when you did. As long as you live in their house, parents treat you like a child.”
“Mine still treat me like a child. Besides, you’ve never been able to find an apartment with good light like you have in that room.”
“You’re right. It has been good here.” There was a wistfulness in her voice that made Tanner look at her closely, but she smiled and headed for his car.
He opened the door to his new model VW Bug. His family teased him mercilessly about his choice—their favorites leaned more toward brands like Lexus and Mercedes—but he enjoyed the Blue Bug, as he called it. In fact, he had a special fondness for all VW Bugs. He still kept the classic one he had rebuilt as a youth and used throughout high school and college.
“You haven’t been home yet?” Heather asked, spying his suitcase in the backseat.
“Nope. Stopped at my parents’ to change, though.” Then he added with a smile, “And to shower.”
“Whew! Thank heaven for that.” They laughed together.
Their laughter didn’t last long. Usually, they were bursting with things to say, but today the conversation lagged almost from the beginning. Tanner wondered if it was just him, or if Heather was acting strangely. Her eyes didn’t quite seem to meet his when she spoke.
As he pulled onto Orem’s State Street, she asked, “So where are we going?”
<
br /> “It’s a surprise. In fact, you have to put on this.” He tossed her a blindfold.
“You’ve got to be kidding.” But she slipped it on.
He glanced at her and saw a slender hand steal up, one finger hooking a piece of hair near the nape of her neck and pulling it forward. She twisted the lock between her thumb and forefinger—a sure sign that she had something on her mind.
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
“Not wrong. No. Uh . . . I do have a . . . never mind—it can wait. Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.” He’d thought about taking her to his condo, but at the last minute had decided to use the company building instead. As planned, his assistant, Juliet, should have everything organized, including the meal she had ordered from a local restaurant—probably from Village Inn where her younger brother was the manager.
They passed Juliet as they entered the building. Heather, of course, couldn’t see her with the blindfold. Tanner nodded silently at Juliet, and she gave him a thumbs-up sign. Tanner liked the way Heather clung to him, trusting him not to let her bump into anything, instead of holding out her hands out to feel her way.
“We’re almost there.” He put an arm around her, appreciating how the six-inch difference between their heights seemed to make them fit together perfectly.
“Okay, wait a minute.” He opened the conference room door and helped her through. Juliet had outdone herself with preparations, as he expected she might do. Tasteful decorations in gold and silver covered the candle-lit room. One end of the long table was laid out with nice china, excepting the plates, which had been placed in an electric warmer on the far end. A green salad and cups of chocolate mousse were on ice. Each detail had been accounted for, from the sparkling white grape juice in the wine glasses to the fresh warm rolls and real butter.
“Smells delicious,” Heather said. She lowered her voice. “Are other people here? I don’t want everyone looking at me.”
“It’s just us,” he assured her, reaching up to pull off the blindfold.
“Oh!” Heather stared at the room. “How wonderful. What’s it all for?”
“For us. We’re going to have dinner here.” Undisturbed, he added silently.
Heather regarded him a moment without speaking, her brow furrowed. She was obviously wondering why he’d gone to such lengths. Unprepared to answer that question yet, he pulled out one of the plush, black leather executive chairs and gestured for her to sit.
“Is it my birthday?” she asked suddenly, her eyes seeming even larger and more beautiful in the candlelight. “Or yours? I mean, I know I tend to forget things like that, but I’m pretty sure your birthday is in the same month as Thanksgiving, and I vaguely—only vaguely, mind you—remember something about being born in January. Although I could be confusing that with one of my siblings, so I would completely understand if you got the month mixed up. If you want, I could take my pick of their birthdays and trade.”
He grinned. “I didn’t mix up your birthday. I’m the one who reminds you every year that you’re even having a birthday.”
“Then what?”
He sighed inwardly. Heather knew him too well to let this go, and she never backed down. But he wasn’t ready yet to make his proposal. He wanted to talk about casual things first, to break down any barriers his two weeks away had created. He wanted time to let the soft music set the mood, to recall memories with her that would remind her how much they’d meant to each other over the years.
“Well, there’s been a lot of changes in life recently,” he hedged. Turning away from her, he flipped on the stereo and then retrieved their plates from the warmer. He set one in front of her, and the other at the head of table where he was to sit.
“Hmm, let’s see, I did graduate and then . . .” Abruptly she looked up, her face flushing. “Someone told you, didn’t they? Oh, I was saving it to tell you in person—really, I was. Though for some reason I was nervous about it.” She laughed self-consciously. To his surprise, she jumped out of her seat and hugged him fervently.
For a moment, he just stood there. Then at last his arms encircled her body.
“You really are the best friend ever! Here I was worrying about telling you about the grant and moving to Boston and you plan this lovely dinner to celebrate. I knew you’d be happy for me—it’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance.”
Tanner breathed in the lilac scent of her hair. What is she talking about? The heavy pit in his stomach told him that something had gone dreadfully wrong.
END OF SNEAK PEEK. If you would like to purchase Where I Belong, please visit your ebookstore. Don’t miss the bonus preview of Tell Me No Lies coming up next! To learn more about the author and her books, please continue to the About the Author section following the bonus preview.
Preview
Tell Me No Lies
by
RACHEL BRANTON
Chapter One
I blinked to hold back the tears, stunned by what I was hearing. No! I don’t believe it. But I did.
Hurt followed the disbelief, growing to an agony that urged me to physically lash out at Sadie, my best friend and bearer of the terrible news, but I was frozen in place, as though my heart had stopped pumping blood to my suddenly useless limbs.
Besides, it wasn’t Sadie’s fault.
Oh, Julian. How could you?
Sadie put a hand on my shoulder, but the sympathy in her eyes did little to comfort me. “I’m sorry, Tessa. I really am. I didn’t want to tell you, but . . .” She sighed and continued in a whisper, “I would want to know if it were me.”
Her words released me from my mute state. “I need to be alone.”
“Of course. I understand. Call me if you need me.” Sadie stepped close and hugged me while I stood without moving. I barely noticed her departure.
My eyes wandered the room of my childhood, only recently familiar again since I’d come home to Flagstaff to prepare for the wedding. Mother had insisted on dinners and celebrations, and because Julian and I planned to live in Flagstaff, where he would work in his family business, it only made sense for me to leave the job at my father’s factory in Phoenix several weeks early. I missed the job and my friends the minute I’d left, but Julian and I were ready to take the plunge into matrimony—or so I’d thought.
The door to my walk-in closet was open, and I could see the wedding dress I was to have worn in just over forty-eight hours. Bile rose in my throat, and a tear skidded down my cheek. I brushed it impatiently away. I wouldn’t cry for a man who had betrayed me.
Since tonight we were having the rehearsal dinner, last night had been Julian’s bachelor party. Sadie’s brother had been at the party and had told her all about Julian disappearing early with a woman whose hands had been altogether too familiar with a man who was about to be married.
I slumped on my bed, covered with the homemade quilt my grandmother had made, my eyes still locked on the white satin dress. Drenched in lace and small pearls, it had a sweetheart neckline and a gorgeous chapel train. The dress cost seventeen hundred dollars and had taken three weeks of daily shopping to find. My mother had been with me every one of those days, which had been a torture in itself.
I bit my lip until I tasted blood.
I’d met Julian Willis when I’d come home to visit for the Christmas holiday, though if the truth be told, my visit had more to do with my horse, Serenity, than seeing my parents. At my mother’s insistence, I’d tagged along on their invitation to attend a party thrown by the Willises. I hadn’t minded going, once I met Julian. If his blond good looks and toned physique hadn’t won me over, his attentiveness and charm would have. After countless trips to Phoenix on his part and numerous weekends home on mine, the inevitable had happened: we’d fallen in love. He asked me to marry him, and I said yes.
Two weeks later, my father and Julian’s had negotiated a business arrangement to take effect after the wedding. The Willis family owned a huge frozen food conglomerate, and my father produced
a line of breakfast cereals, where I managed the swing shift. With the help of the Willises, our business would expand to new markets my father had never before reached. I wasn’t sure what the Willises were getting out of the deal since our business was stable but not growing. Maybe they would simply have in-laws who were up to their standard of living.
Not that we’d ever been poor in my lifetime—thanks to my grandpa who’d worked himself into an early grave to create that first bowl of sugar-coated cereal. I still missed him terribly.
What am I going to do?
The awful thing was that a part of me wasn’t all that surprised. Julian was attractive, thoughtful, and a big flirt—a hit with ladies of every age. Half of the marriageable women in Flagstaff had chased him at one time or another, and before we’d met he’d had a bit of a reputation—one he’d assured me was complete fabrication.
I won’t marry a liar and a cheat. Every woman deserved better than that. I wondered if I’d purposely been blind or if he’d been good at hiding things. Perhaps his betrayal had been a momentary lapse, but if so, what did that say about our future? If I couldn’t trust him now, how could I trust him for the next sixty or more years?
Maybe it’s all a mistake. I latched onto the idea. Yet in the next minute I had to discard it. Sadie had been my best friend since kindergarten, and I’d trust her with my life. There was no way she would have spoken unless she was certain it was true. More likely she hadn’t told me everything she knew, not wanting to hurt me further.
A knock on the door startled me from my thoughts. “Who is it?”
“Your mother.”
“Come in.”
Elaine Crawford didn’t so much as enter a room as sweep into it. She was the epitome of grace and elegance. Even at eight o’clock on a Thursday morning, her hair was styled in an elaborate twist that was both attractive and left her beautiful neck bare.
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