Serena Mckee's Back In Town

by Marie Ferrarella

  It had taken them over three hours to find the file. Dusty, tired and disgusted, not to mention a little light-headed from the stale air in the room, Cameron had been just about ready to call it a day. Serena had asked him to let her finish going through the box that she’d started on. Acquiescing, he’d thumbed through one last one himself.

  Murphy’s Law had placed the file they were looking for in the middle of the box, squashed so that it wasn’t aligned with the other files and was almost completely out of sight. He wouldn’t have noticed it at all if his nail hadn’t caught on the edge of the file before it.

  “You know,” he said, raising his voice in an attempt to get her attention, “my fingers still sting from when you ripped the file out of my hands.”

  He’d read the label twice before holding it aloft and calling out to her. Scrambling to her feet, Serena had launched herself at him and yanked the file out of his hand before he even had a chance to open it.

  “Poor baby,” she murmured. The carelessly uttered words registered and Serena jerked her head up, flustered. They weren’t on that kind of footing anymore. “I mean—”

  He waved away anything she might say, not wanting to hear her apologize for the thoughtlessly voiced endearment.

  “I know what you mean,” he said gruffly. “Don’t worry, I won’t hold you to anything you say while you’re distracted.”

  Feeling out of sorts, Cameron pulled up in the civic center parking lot. There was a motorcycle in his usual spot. Figured. Not in the mood to go hunting, he took someone else’s.

  At a little before one, the lot was crowded with cars belonging to people who came by to take care of business at the civic center during their lunch hour. He’d always thought it was a bad idea to have city hall right beside the police station.

  Cameron saw Olson coming down the front steps. He wasn’t quite sure what had possessed him, but he quickly took the file out of Serena’s hands and slid it inside his jacket. When she looked at him, her eyes wide, he placed a finger to his lips, then turned around just as Olson approached them. Stepping aside, Cameron waited for Serena to get out of the car.

  “I was beginning to think I had to put out an APB on you.” For Serena’s sake, Olson smiled. But his eyes hardened slightly as he looked at his errant detective. “Where were you?”

  Serena began to answer, but Cameron cut her short. “I decided to take half a day and show Serena around the new Bedford.” He looked properly chastised. “I guess I kind of lost track of time.”

  “I guess you did,” Olson agreed sternly. There wasn’t even a hint of his normal good humor as he added, “I’m still waiting for my reports.”

  “Right away,” Cameron promised. This time, he knew, he was going to have to make good on that to smooth things over.

  “Why did you lie to him?” Serena asked as soon as Olson was out of earshot, on his way to the other building.

  It seemed to Cameron that Olson was spending more and more time in the administration building. He wondered if there was any truth to the rumors that the chief intended to run for mayor when the present mayor’s term ran out.

  His hand at the small of her back, Cameron guided Serena toward her car. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I feel the less people who know you’re poking around, the safer you are.”

  Then he was starting to believe her, she thought. But what he was saying didn’t make any sense to her. “But you already asked Uncle Dan about the file. You said he gave his consent.”

  “Yeah, and after brunch today he figured you were satisfied that it had gone down the way it was written up.” It was easy to see that Olson hadn’t been happy that Serena still had reservations. It was obvious that he took it personally. There was no need to rattle cages until they knew they wanted them opened. “Let’s leave it at that for a while, okay?”

  She wasn’t sure she quite understood Cameron’s reasoning, but she saw no point in arguing. She nodded and opened her car door.

  Cameron caught her by the arm just before she sat down. “Six o’clock all right?”

  She blinked, confused. “For what?”

  “Dinner. With Rachel,” he enunciated slowly. “You promised.”

  And now she wanted to unpromise. She put out her hand, waiting for the file. “I said okay—”

  Taking it out, he tossed the file on the passenger side. “Same thing,” he said quickly, not giving her a chance to object. “Then it’s settled. I’ll be at your house at six.”

  “But—”

  He was already putting distance between them. “Gotta go. You heard the chief, he wants those reports.”

  And with that, Cameron hurried up the stairs before she could say anything else.

  Her refusal would have to keep, she decided, getting into her car. When he arrived, she’d just tell him she’d changed her mind about going. It was his fault that he hadn’t let her talk.

  Besides, what could he do, drag her?

  When Cameron arrived at five to six, Serena was ready for him. Or thought she was.

  When she opened the door, there was a seductive warmth in the air, a warmth heavy with the perfume of flowers she could have sworn were not growing in the garden that she’d only begun to clear. Seeing him standing there in the doorway, the scent of roses and honeysuckle seeping into her consciousness, instantly brought another night to mind.

  The night he’d made love to her. And shown her that lovemaking was an interactive thing, not something that merely happened to her the way she’d been led to believe, but with her.

  “I—I have a headache,” she stammered, hating the fact that she was tripping on her tongue.

  God, but she was beautiful, Cameron thought. So beautiful, it hurt him just to look at her and know she wasn’t his.

  Somehow, though it wasn’t easy, he managed to keep his thoughts from registering on his face.

  “Small wonder, seeing where we were all morning. Rachel has aspirins. I’m sure she’ll let you have a couple, if you ask nicely.”

  She’d made up her mind, and she wasn’t going to let him talk her out of her decision. “I’d really rather just stay here—”

  “Sorry, arrangements have already been made. A few miles due north of here, there’s an oven with a pot roast in it with your name on it. You’re just going to have to make your peace with that.”

  Serena wasn’t sure she liked his tone. “Cameron—”

  Cameron sighed. She was going to be stubborn about it. Well, hell, so was he. Before she could say anything more, he picked her up in his arms.

  Stunned, Serena squirmed, trying to get down. His arms tightened around her. “What are you doing?”

  “Being forceful,” he answered. He glanced into the foyer. “Where’s your purse?”

  “In the house, but—”

  He didn’t have the time, or the inclination, to search for it. He’d done enough searching for one day. Besides, Rachel had said to be there by six-thirty. Cameron compromised. “Keys?”

  “They’re in my pocket. But—”

  That was good enough for him. The hell with her purse. Slamming the door behind him, he began to walk to his car. He rather enjoyed carrying her like this.

  “Cameron, I’m not dressed!” she cried.

  He glanced down at the woman in his arms. “Looks like clothes to me. Besides, Rachel doesn’t care what you’re wearing—she just wants to see you sitting at the table.”

  The air whooshed out of Serena as Cameron deposited her in his car with just a little more finesse than he would have used tossing in a sack of meal.

  Amusement and outrage warred for top position as she glared at him when he got in. “Is this how you get all your dinner guests?”

  “Only those who go back on their word.” He looked at her pointedly.

  Serena had the definite impression he wasn’t talking only about Rachel’s invitation. But what else? He was the one who had reneged all those years ago—not on anything he’d said out loud, but the promise hi
s heart had made to hers. She wasn’t guilty of that.

  Cameron turned his attention back to the road. He was afraid that if he continued looking at her, he was going to make a real jackass out of himself and kiss her. He had an uneasy feeling he was going to make a fool of himself soon enough, anyway, but he didn’t have to hurry the process.

  “If I said I was bringing you and turned up empty-handed, Rachel’d fillet me with her tongue.”

  Because it didn’t involve anything more serious than a glib exchange, she pretended to play along, waiting for her heart to stop pounding just because he’d held her.

  “That doesn’t sound like the Rachel I remember.”

  For lack of a comb, Serena dragged her fingers through her hair and hoped it would fall into some sort of style. She supposed she should be grateful that she had answered the door wearing her shoes.

  “The women of this town get gutsier as they get older,” Cameron commented.

  “Maybe we have to,” she answered quietly, staring straight ahead. Resigned to the kidnapping, she folded her hands in her lap.

  How long could dinner take, anyway?

  She wasn’t prepared for the warmth of the greeting. Or for being so overwhelmingly and so summarily absorbed even before she crossed the threshold into Kirk and Rachel’s house.

  From the moment the door opened, there was no awkward fumbling for words, no ceremonies to stand on, because time had changed everything and taken them in different directions. It was the strongest sensation of homecoming Serena had ever experienced, far greater than the one she’d felt when she returned to McKee Hill. Rachel allowed no outsiders into her home. Everyone who crossed the threshold instantly became part of her circle. Especially those who had been part of it once.

  Time made no difference at all.

  “I told Cameron not to show his face around here unless you were with him.” Rachel laughed, hugging Serena warmly. “Come, there are a couple of people here I really want you to meet.”

  Hooking her arm through Serena’s, Rachel brought her into the living room to meet her son, Ethan, and her baby daughter, Samantha.

  The heart that Serena could have sworn had hardened to stone years ago turned out to only be encased in ice. And that melted on contact with a tiny pair of baby-size lips applied moistly somewhere between her cheek and her nose.

  Cameron looked on as he only half listened to what Kirk was saying to him and forgot to tell himself not to react. It wouldn’t have helped. He could feel his heart quickening at the sight of Serena holding his niece.

  It made Serena both happy and sad to be included in the warm family scene going on around her. Amid the noise and laughter, she was reminded of all that she had been missing these long years. And all that she had never had, growing up.

  Her own life on privileged McKee Hill had never even come close to what she witnessed in the far less opulent surroundings of the Callaghan household. There had been no teasing interaction between her parents, the way there was between Kirk and Rachel, no unspoken camaraderie between parent and child, like what she saw between Kirk and Ethan.

  That, perhaps, amazed Serena most of all, because Ethan wasn’t Kirk’s own and because she remembered a far different Kirk Callaghan from the one she saw at dinner tonight.

  “You look as if you’re seeing ghosts,” Cameron murmured, coming up behind her in the dining room. “And they’re not living up to expectations.” He reached around her to get the gravy bowl on the table. His arm brushed against her side.

  She jerked before she could stop herself, startled by the feel of his breath along her cheek, his body touching hers. Startled even more by the ache she felt being born in their wake.

  “They’re not,” she said quickly, hastily trying to cover up her reaction. “I mean—” She wasn’t going to fumble like the awkward child she’d once been. Straightening, she continued in a far more subdued voice. “I can’t believe that’s Kirk. He’s doing dishes. And he’s whistling.”

  Turning, Cameron looked into the kitchen. Kirk had caught Rachel from behind and was just spinning her around to face him. Cameron grinned, enjoying them and the love they shared. All the people who meant anything to him were here, under one roof.

  Aware that he was standing much too close to her—and having feelings he shouldn’t be having—Cameron moved back.

  “People do a lot of things you don’t expect them to when they’re happy.” He nodded toward the kitchen. Rachel had just laced her arms around Kirk’s neck and was kissing him full on the mouth. Ethan was grimacing, making a face that had Samantha clapping her hands and laughing with glee. “Rachel makes him happy. And he makes Rachel happy. They both need to be needed. And to occasionally lean on someone. I’d say they were very good for each other.”

  “Yeah,” Kirk called out from the kitchen, overhearing Cameron. “We even don’t mind having him come over and mooch all the time.”

  “Hey, it’s not all the time,” Cameron said with umbrage. “Just once a week.”

  “Or so,” Rachel put in.

  He shrugged, taking no offense. “Can I help it if I can’t cook?”

  Together, Kirk and Rachel replied with a resounding “Yes,” then laughed when they heard their voices melding.

  The laughter, the feeling, was infectious and wonderful. And as much as Serena hadn’t wanted to come, that was how much she didn’t want to leave.

  But it was getting late, and she was afraid of overstaying her welcome. She very much wanted to come back, at least one more time, before she left Bedford again. Because this time she knew she would be leaving for good, to go on with the rest of her life.

  Agreeing that the hour had gotten to be far later than he’d anticipated, Cameron went off to kiss his “best girl” good-night, then tuck his nephew in while Ethan was still young enough not to protest that kind of ritual.

  Taking Kirk with him, Cameron left Serena alone with Rachel.

  Tonight had been a night out of someone else’s book, Serena thought, and she would treasure it always. “He’s really good with them,” she commented to Rachel.

  Rachel heard the wistful note in Serena’s voice. Love wasn’t gone, Rachel thought. If anything, it had just taken a holiday.

  “Yes, he is. Cameron’s a family man at heart. He’ll make a wonderful father.” Her words were met with silence. Rachel squeezed Serena’s hand, drawing the other woman’s attention to her. Maybe she was going out on a limb, but that was how things eventually bloomed. “Listen, if you just need to talk—you know, girl talk, or something more serious—I’d like to think you’d pick the phone up and call me. Or come over.” She paused. “In the summer, I’m busier than ever, but never too busy to stop to talk to a friend.”

  Serena was shocked. They hadn’t seen each other in eleven years. “You consider me a friend?”

  They hadn’t been close, but Serena and Cameron had, and that was all Rachel needed. Whoever was important to Cameron was important to her, and she had only to look at the two of them to know it was only a matter of time before whatever had been lost between them was found again.

  “Time and distance aren’t things that can separate real friends, Serena. Only the heart can.” She heard Cameron approaching and quickly pressed a kiss to Serena’s cheek. “I’m making Hawaiian ham on Saturday. Come.”

  “That’s not an invitation, you realize,” Kirk said, joining them. “That’s a direct order. She just makes it sound friendly.”

  Swept away by the moment, Serena declared, “I’d love to come.”

  “Then you’d better show up,” Cameron told her as he walked Serena to his car a few minutes later. “Otherwise, she’ll make me come looking for you.”

  “And you’ll carry me to the car again?” she asked, humor playing on her lips.

  “If that’s what it takes.” He winked at her.

  It was silly, at her age, to savor something so tiny. And yet, she did.

  Night had completely enveloped the world, bringing out
crickets to conduct a symphony for anyone who chose to listen. The drive to her house would have been tranquil, if only he and she were in the car, but they were accompanied by the ghosts of feelings that had been betrayed.

  The silence began to turn a little edgy.

  “So, did you find what you were looking for?” It was his first opportunity to ask. On the way over, he’d had other things on his mind. Like the way she’d felt in his arms when he carried her to his car. “In the report?” he prodded.

  She shook her head, embarrassed that she should have momentarily forgotten. But being at Rachel’s house had made her forget almost everything. And being with him had all but erased the rest.

  She frowned now. “No. It said, using a great deal of technical language that took me a while to wade through, exactly what Uncle Dan had said in the restaurant.”

  “So, are you giving up?” Silence met his question, but it was an answer. “No, I didn’t think so.” Cameron sighed. For better or worse, he was throwing his lot in with her. “All right, what do you want me to do?”

  “Do?”

  “Yes, do. It’s an action verb, Serena, as in ‘What is he doing?’” This was going to take more patience than he’d thought, but she wasn’t going to push him away. Not anymore, not where her safety was concerned. “You can’t go this alone. You need someone in your corner.”

  She knew that, even though she didn’t want to admit it. “And that would be you?”

  “That would be me.” He left no room for argument.

  She wasn’t going to allow him any more space in her life than she thought she could properly handle. And if he was going to be there, she wanted to know his reasons, up front. “Why?”

  He shrugged. “Damned if I know.” He knew. He knew, all right, but he wasn’t about to spell it out for her. Not when she’d ripped his heart out once before.

  This time, he was going to keep his heart under wraps.

  Yeah, right.

  When he pulled up in the circular driveway, the house looked dark and forbidding. There never had been any warmth in here, he thought. He was filled with the exact same feeling he’d had once before—the desire to make it up to her. The desire to fill her life with warmth and love, the way she deserved.