Where You Least Expect It

by Tori Carrington

  Then again, she’d been there in plain sight all day. Except for a short while after ten when she’d gone to Mrs. O’Malley’s house to check on Mavis.

  She shook her head. Mavis. Would there come a time when the old woman wouldn’t surprise and shock her? She’d gone to the bed-and-breakfast expecting…well, she hadn’t known what to expect. But not anywhere on the list was finding her with Edith O’Malley, drinking coffee and demolishing cream puffs in the kitchen, laughing about something Penelope wasn’t privy to and wasn’t sure she wanted to be because it had something to do with the shape of the sweets they were eating and the male anatomy.

  She’d like to say that her grandmother looked normal. But normal wasn’t a word she would place in the same sentence as Mavis.

  Given what her grandmother had done to the house, she had half expected her to be taking apart Edith’s kitchen table, tossing her geraniums in the garbage or pounding holes in her walls. Instead she looked—Penelope reached for the right word—happy.

  She slowed her step. Is that what it was? Was her grandmother finding a stretch of happiness in a lonely life that she had questioned only the night before?

  If so, what did that mean for Penelope?

  She picked up her step again and turned the corner, caught up short when Max stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. She stared at him, puzzled.

  “What is it, Maxy boy?” she asked, crouching down to pat the dog.

  He growled, his eyes fixed straight ahead.

  Icy fear crept down Penelope’s back. Never once in the two years since she’d found Maximus abandoned on her front porch had she heard him growl.

  She anxiously scanned the street in front of him, wondering if he’d seen a squirrel or a cat other than Spot. She hoped for something, anything other than the possibility that Davin Dekker was lurking in the early evening shadows.

  No squirrel, no cat, not even a blowing leaf.

  Penelope swallowed hard. Then she stiffened and slowly stood. She didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. But that meant absolutely nothing. While Max hadn’t proven himself an exemplary watchdog, she trusted his instincts. If he thought there was a threat nearby, then there was. But she didn’t think that threat would materialize in the form of Davin Dekker standing directly before them. No. His advance would be more insidious.

  She checked for traffic, then tugged on Max’s leash to force him across the street with her to St. Joe’s. She concentrated on the way she moved, making her movements slow, normal, as she fastened his leash to the bike rack outside the gymnasium door. As she entered she left the door open so she could see—or at least hear—him when she went inside.

  The large room went silent as the people gathered around the table at the opposite side of the room looked at her.

  She held her breath. She’d completely forgotten that she was still little more than a stranger among these people she’d known all her life. That the last meeting had been her first and that they might not have expected her return. Or that with all that was going on in her life, the last place they expected to see her was there, casually taking part in arranging a holiday celebration.

  Perhaps she’d been wrong to come here. Maybe she should have gone straight home. Or stopped by Mrs. O’Malley’s to see if Mavis was still there.

  Or tried to find Aidan.

  A chair leg screeched against the polished wood floor, and suddenly everyone gathered at the table seemed to get up as one to approach her. Women hugged her, men greeted her, they all asked about Mavis’s condition, they all asked about Aidan. But foremost, they made her feel connected to each and every one of them in a way she’d never expected or experienced before. They included her as part of the community she’d voluntarily spent a lifetime on the fringes of.

  Mrs. Noonan loosely took her arm and led her toward the table. “We were all so sorry to hear about Mavis, Penelope. We trust she’s going to be all right?”

  “Define ‘all right.’“

  Mrs. Noonan gave her a surprised look, then laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  Penelope nodded. “Yes, she’s going to be all right.”

  “Have they caught the man who did it?” someone else asked.

  Penelope shook her head as she took the seat they’d kept open, only afterward realizing that it was the one Aidan had sat in at the previous meeting. “No, they haven’t. So I think everyone should be a little extra careful until they do.”

  Elva snorted from the far end of the table where she’d stayed put since Penelope entered the gymnasium. “I say Aidan Kendall is the only stranger in this town.”

  The room fell dead silent.

  Penelope quietly cleared her throat. “Mr. Kendall was not involved in the attack, Elva.”

  “How could you know that?” the crotchety woman demanded.

  Penelope lifted her chin. “Because he and I were together at the time of the break-in.”

  “Together as in…” someone else led.

  Penelope felt her face burn. “Together as in none-of-your-business together.”

  Again, silence.

  Penelope wondered if they would notice if she crawled under the table and stayed there for the remainder of the meeting.

  “Go, Penelope,” Jeanette said, punching the air with her fist.

  Penelope giggled. Something she’d never done until Aidan had touched her and transformed her life and her outlook.

  Avoiding everyone’s gazes, she shuffled through the notes she’d brought along with her from the last meeting. Only after she’d read the last one did she realize that no one was saying anything.

  She looked up to find them all staring at her.

  It took her a minute to realize that they weren’t focusing on her because her hair was messed up, or because she had a ginseng tea mustache or because they wanted detailed information on exactly what she and Aidan had been doing together last night. Rather, they expected her to lead the meeting.

  “Oh,” she whispered.

  Then, with a quiet clearing of her throat, she did just that.

  An hour and a half later, the last of the plans had been sewn up. Each of them had volunteered and been assigned a job to do tomorrow, to decorate Lucas Circle and get the play list to the high school band, and Penelope felt a hollow sense of satisfaction. During the entire ninety minutes her attention had constantly drifted to the open door, and Max had been sitting just beyond, on alert, his gaze fixed on something outside her line of vision. And with every sweep of the second hand on her watch, she was acutely aware that Aidan was out there somewhere, alone.

  Quiet conversation between the members ensued, making Penelope feel as if she’d stepped into a bizarre scene from the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Everything appeared so normal, mundane, when to her and Aidan things were anything but.

  She was stacking her notes neatly, not looking forward to the walk home, when a thought occurred to her. She looked around the table from one to another of her fellow board members…no, her neighbors, and quietly cleared her throat. One by one they turned their attention to her.

  “I want to ask a favor of you all,” she began. And she made her first plea ever for help from people outside her immediate family.

  Aidan sat in his car parked in the back corner of Dunwoody’s Used Cars lot, which had closed at five, his gaze focused unwaveringly on the door to St. Joe’s gymnasium. The skin of his neck prickled, as it had for the past hour and half when he’d followed Penelope there. He knew Davin was nearby. Knew it with everything in him.

  What he had yet to ascertain was whether his twin was following him or Penelope.

  Max’s barking jerked his gaze to the large canine that had sat at attention since the moment Penelope had gone inside the gymnasium. He’d never known the dog to bark. Not once. He watched as Penelope came outside with the rest of the group, each of them seeming to linger by her side before drifting off to go home.

  “Ask someone for a ride, Penelope,” he whispered.

/>   He glanced at the plum-colored sky on the western horizon where the sun had disappeared behind a bank of low-lying clouds. He didn’t like the thought of her walking on the unpaved shoulder all alone in the dark, especially under the circumstances. Because if something were to happen to her…

  She smiled and nodded at Mrs. Noonan, then followed the older woman to her car, Maximus in tow.

  Aidan closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh of relief. Thank God.

  All day he’d checked the local hotels and motels, asking personnel if he looked familiar to them, all the time avoiding detection from the law. There hadn’t been a single sign of recognition anywhere he went. Was Davin traveling with someone? He found the possibility unlikely. Davin had been consumed for so long with evening some fictional score between them that he’d never really lived his own life. He lived only to make his twin’s life a living hell.

  And he’d succeeded admirably.

  Aidan cursed under his breath. “Not anymore, little brother. Not anymore. You and me, we’re going to have this out, once and for all.”

  What remained was where and when. And the question of whether he’d be the one to determine that or if Davin would. Allowing, of course, that Sheriff Parker didn’t catch up with him first.

  He watched as Mrs. Noonan drove out of St. Joe’s parking lot, Penelope seated in front, Max in the back. Once they were out of sight, he reached down and switched on the ignition, then turned in the opposite direction, away from St. Joe’s…and Penelope’s house.

  Penelope had Mrs. Noonan leave her off at the old bridge spanning the Old Valley River, explaining that she wanted to exercise Max a bit before they got home or else he would keep her and Mavis up all night with ceaseless barking. An untruth to be sure, but she wanted these few moments to herself on the bridge before she went home to an empty house. Or worse, to a house that held an ever-changing Mavis.

  She waved as Mrs. Noonan made a U-turn and headed back to town. Then she crossed to the middle of the wood bridge, Max’s nails clicking against the surface as he walked next to her, still on alert.

  The sky was just light enough to reflect off the gurgling water disappearing under the bridge and coming out over an outcropping of rocks on the other side. She gripped the hand railing and leaned heavily against it, taking a deep breath of the cool air, the lush vegetation and everything that was reassuringly familiar to her.

  Max barked and strained against his leash, nearly pulling it from her hand. She tightened her grip and quietly shushed him. She just needed this one moment to gather her wits—

  “I’ve been waiting all day for an opportunity to see you again.”

  Penelope started, putting her free hand over her heart as she turned toward the sound of the voice she would recognize anywhere.

  “Aidan!” she breathed. He stood a couple of feet away, his hands in the pockets of his Dockers, his grin making her flush from head to foot. Then she rushed to embrace him. She’d been so afraid she wouldn’t see him again. So concerned that he would disappear and she would never know what had happened.

  Suddenly she remembered where they were and the danger of his being spotted. She pulled away.

  “Someone might see you.”

  He shook his head. “No. I made sure I wasn’t followed.”

  She smiled. “Good.”

  Max tugged on the leash she held, backing away from Aidan. She briefly considered the dog’s strange behavior, then stumbled back to Aidan. She turned toward the water, remembering the first time they’d met here. The first of many meetings that had turned her inside out and transformed her into a woman she no longer recognized in the mirror. The old Penelope had appeared older than her years, with pale skin, empty eyes and single-minded determination to make it through the day.

  Now…

  Now her hair seemed to shine more, her eyes were alive with love, and every moment of her day was filled with yearning for the man next to her, making her forget the time or what she should be doing…

  Max continued to strain against his leash, his barking dropping off to a low growl.

  Penelope frowned. “Max!” She said to Aidan, “I don’t know what’s gotten into him. He’s been acting strange all night.”

  Aidan grinned. “That’s all right. Hey, boy, don’t you remember me?”

  Max snapped at Aidan, and he took a small leap back.

  “Whoa. I’d like to keep the hand if it’s all the same to you.”

  Penelope suddenly felt a twinge of uneasiness.

  “So, how did the meeting go tonight?” he asked.

  Tension seeped from her muscles. Only Aidan would know about the meeting. Unless…

  She shoved the thought from her mind.

  “It went well, actually. Everything’s done but, well, the doing.”

  “And your grandmother?”

  “Fine. She’s fine.” She gestured in the direction of the house, still a half mile or so down the road. “I expect she’s home now. That’s why I stopped here. You know, to grab a few minutes to myself before walking the rest of the way.” If she found it funny that before her life had been crammed with just such spare minutes, she wasn’t going to admit it. She was so glad to see that Aidan was doing well. And that he had obviously missed her as much as she’d missed him…if he’d risked capture to see her.

  She looked at the road behind him. “Where’s your car?”

  “My what?” He was staring at her face. “Oh. I parked it down the road a ways in an abandoned drive.”

  She nodded.

  “I was just thinking how beautiful you are.”

  No matter how many times he told her that, she didn’t think she would ever get used to it.

  “May I kiss you?”

  He’d never asked for permission before. He’d always just kissed her. Almost as if he were fighting an inner battle. On one side was the desire to touch her, on the other the need to lock her out. To keep himself and her safe.

  She smiled, feeling awkward. “I’d love it if you’d kiss me.”

  He took his hands out of his pockets and stepped closer. Max bared his teeth.

  Penelope gasped. “Max!” She yanked the leash hard. “Bad boy!” She pulled him back and fastened his lead to a support beam a couple of feet behind her. He barked in protest and she patted his head. “Easy, Maximus. It’s okay. It’s just Aidan.”

  Penelope turned to find him standing directly behind her, startling her for a second time.

  He quirked a brow.

  “I’m sorry. With everything going on, I guess I’m jumpy.”

  “Understandable.”

  He dropped his hands onto her shoulders and tugged her forward, nearly causing her to lose her balance. She laughed nervously. “Wow. I guess you have missed me.”

  “You have no idea…”

  He dropped his head and pressed his lips to hers.

  And Penelope’s heart stopped beating in her chest. Because in that instant she knew that it wasn’t Aidan she was kissing.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Aidan had never done anything more difficult in his life than watch Davin lean in to kiss Penelope. A sense of betrayal and acidy loathing coated his insides. The only saving grace was that he knew the exact moment when Penelope realized that the man she was kissing wasn’t him, but Davin. He watched as her fingers curled into fists and the way her spine snapped upright.

  He cursed, wishing he could have given her some sort of warning. But by the time he’d driven up near the bridge, Penelope had had her back to him and was tying Max to a beam, out of striking distance—

  when what she should have done was set the dog free to attack Davin.

  Aidan reached for the door handle, but froze when Davin appeared satisfied with the success of his bold move and drew away from Penelope, leaving her staring, puzzled, up at him.

  A mix of powerful emotions assaulted Aidan, freezing his hands to the steering wheel. At the first sight of his brother in fourteen months, snapshots from his life
clicked through his mind. He and Davin as kids, breaking the windows of an abandoned house with stones, each throw a competition that Aidan always won. Him holding his sobbing, broken brother as their house burned to the ground, their parents still inside. Blurred shots of his wife smiling, then crying as she shared the devastating news that the baby she carried was not his, but his brother’s. Roses pelting his wife’s casket along with the steady rain…

  And now, the image of Davin once again pretending to be him and making a move on Penelope.

  Enraged, Aidan had to yank on the door handle several times before it finally gave, the jerky movement nearly spitting him out onto the pavement. He struggled to regain his balance as he ran for the bridge, his vision filled with the present and the past and his brain unable to register that Penelope was untying Maximus and waving goodbye to his brother. All he could think of was how much he wanted to kill the man who had stolen so much from him.

  The thought should have caught him up short, should have made him think that perhaps contacting the authorities might be the better move. But with his heart thudding angrily against his rib cage, all he could think about was exacting his own type of revenge against the man who looked so much like him, but was nothing like him. His brother, his blood, his enemy.

  He heard a roar, but didn’t immediately identify it as coming from his own throat until he slammed against Davin’s back, the move knocking them both to the wood planks of the bridge.

  “Aidan!” He heard Penelope’s gasp from somewhere beyond the white fog that crowded his head.

  “Go! Get out of here, Penelope!” he shouted, hauling a fist back and burying it in his twin’s face. “Call the sheriff’s office. Now!”

  Aidan’s arm hovered in the air, ready to come down again. Davin’s unconcerned expression as he stared up at him made his stomach turn. No emotion lurked there in those brown eyes. No guilt for having done what he had. No remorse for wreaking such havoc. Not even hate. Merely indifference.