The Winter Berry House

by Caroline Flynn

  His friend shook his head. ‘First I’m hearing of it, I swear.’ He held up the hand with the coffee mug in it. ‘You know I would’ve called you on that kind of crap if I’d known.’

  Branch did know. Jason Forrester might have been known as a bit of a hellraiser in his younger days, but that label derived from getting caught with beer out at the Hansel and Gretel House, and shooting at stop signs on the backroads with pellet guns. Jason always had the utmost respect for women, and he made no bones about letting it be known he wouldn’t tolerate his friends being anything but good to their girlfriends. He adored his mother, and he was loyal to his friends. If Jason had caught so much as a sniff about Branch’s supposed infidelity, it would have been the first thing out of his mouth when he showed up at his front door, regardless of the time that had passed.

  ‘So, I’ve been in town three weeks, you’ve been here eleven years, and yet no one, not one person, has ever mentioned the rumor that I was cheating with Holly on the night of the accident, which everyone knows about?’ Branch wanted to see if his friend was on the same wavelength he was. ‘She was in the truck with me, Jay. It’s not adding up.’

  ‘In a small town where some folks thrive on rumors and gossip,’ Jason added. ‘Kind of hard to believe. Unless that rumor was meant for one person and one person only.’

  ‘Kait.’ Branch had a sick feeling rising in his stomach. His friend was definitely thinking the same thing he was. ‘So, Zach takes pictures of me getting Holly into my truck or something, then makes Kait believe the photos he has are proof enough that I’m up to no good. He deletes them after showing them to her, and Kait breaks things off with me the moment I show up at the hospital, believing I already knew what I’d done, and too humiliated by the entire thing to talk about it again. Until today, when Zach gave her supposed proof that I was selling the house and leaving town.’

  Jason set his coffee down and raked his hands through his hair. ‘It all sounds so crazy,’ he muttered. ‘But plausible, and that’s even crazier. Who knew secrets could actually be kept in Port Landon?’

  Branch clenched his jaw. ‘They can’t,’ he stated. ‘Kait said it earlier; secrets don’t stay secret forever. She just didn’t realize it wasn’t my secrets she was referring to.’

  ‘What are you going to do, Sterling?’

  Branch let a long breath out, then headed for the door. ‘The way I see it, if the secret was meant for only a few select people, then the truth can be, too. I’m not out to ruin anybody, Jay, I just want my name cleared.’ He turned, his hand on the door handle. ‘And I want my second chance. I want Kaitie.’

  The Northland Realty office was downtown, dangerously close to the diner, so Branch made sure he avoided passing by The Port’s front windows, taking Hemlock Street instead and bypassing the Main Street stretch all together. Navigating the Escape to the side of the street, he saw that he was in luck. The sporty BMW was parked out front, along with a few other more modest sedans.

  Normally he would argue that the people who worked there were just like everyone else, trying to make ends meet and get by. With regard to Zach, however, Branch was more inclined to believe there was no rest for the wicked.

  Having once been a residential home, the tall building with its long windows and elegant moldings held a lot of similarities to his grandparents’ house. The huge house had been renovated to become the Port Landon site of Northland Realty years ago, with its main office in North Springs, but the building looked shiny and new and modern despite its architectural history. The beauty of being in the real estate business, he assumed.

  He felt uncomfortable as soon as he walked in and an electronic buzzing sound announced his arrival. Not only because of the troubling reason he was there, but because the office was all stainless steel and dark wood and crisp colors that reeked of embellishment and professionalism. Branch held neither of those things in high regard. He worked hard, at a mining site, within a team of other men and women who did the same. A stuffy real estate office wasn’t in his comfort zone.

  ‘I’m here to see Zach,’ he advised the receptionist when she addressed him. ‘Zach Canton.’ He felt silly. How many Zachs could there be here? It was Port Landon.

  ‘Do you have an appointment?’

  He shook his head. ‘He’ll see me. Just tell him Branch Sterling is here.’

  The way she looked at him, he wasn’t sure if she was affronted by his brisk response or if she knew him. He didn’t recognize her. Either way, the receptionist disappeared down a thin hallway and Branch heard murmuring. She reappeared a minute later, Zach following close behind.

  ‘Sterling, you changed your mind, I take it?’

  His smug grin made Branch want to go against everything he stood for and smack it off his face. ‘Something like that.’

  ‘Come into my office.’ He motioned down the hall. ‘We’ll get this figured out.’

  You’re right, we will.

  Branch followed, silent. Zach’s office was more of the same: stainless steel, dark wood, and an air of professionalism. There were also enough pictures of himself on the walls and shelves to give it an air of egotism, too. When he continued to move behind his desk and sit down without making a move to close the door behind him, Branch took it upon himself to do it for him.

  No one else needed to hear this.

  His move caught Zach’s attention, but the realtor played it cool, steepling his fingers in front of him and wearing that ridiculous grin. And that’s what it was, ridiculous. Because now that Branch had come to the conclusions he had, he could see beyond the facade. The man wasn’t as dignified and superior as he made himself out to be.

  ‘So, Sterling, you’re ready to take me up on my offer.’

  Branch disliked the way he said it, as though it wasn’t a question so much as a command. ‘Actually, no. But I’ve already told you that twice before.’

  ‘You don’t become a successful businessman without at least some persistence.’ He grinned wider.

  ‘You don’t become the one somebody loves by lying to them, either.’

  Finally, Zach’s smile faltered. Not completely, but the smug mask had been penetrated and Branch could see the questions in his eyes. ‘Excuse me?’

  ‘You heard me,’ he insisted. ‘I know you lied to Kait to make her hate me. Then, and now.’

  Zach shifted in his chair, chuckling. ‘You can’t blame me for your shortcomings when it comes to Kait, Sterling.’

  Branch set his jaw tightly. ‘Maybe not all of them, but I can think of a few things you’ve had a hand in. Let’s talk about the pictures on your phone, for starters.’

  He wouldn’t have seen it if he hadn’t been watching for it, but Zach’s face grew a slight shade paler. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’

  ‘Oh, so now Kait’s lying, too?’ Branch scoffed. ‘I know, Zach,’ he added. ‘I know what you did.’

  He saw the man’s jaw clench as he mulled over what to do next. His lies were only strong as long as the secrecy was maintained. If Branch walked out of here and managed to get Kait to explain what she knew, the foundation on which his deception was built would crumble. It already had.

  ‘Enlighten me.’ Zach leaned back in his chair, feigning comfort. His eyes betrayed him, however.

  ‘That night,’ Branch began, ‘Kait couldn’t go to the party with me because she had to work. But you didn’t know that.’ He watched him from across the desk, his eyes never deviating. ‘She didn’t want me to miss out, so she told me to go anyway, knowing I had friends who’d be there. So, I went. But I was sober, Zach. Stone cold sober. But you didn’t know that, either. I hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol that night. Haven’t touched it since, if I’m being honest.’

  So many folks in town had assumed alcohol had been a factor in what happened, because of the seriousness and because of his passenger’s intoxicated state. Branch couldn’t even smell the pungent scent without being transported back in time.

  ‘How nob
le of you,’ Zach muttered, his expression twisting slowly into a scowl.

  ‘I’d planned to tell Kait about my new job offer,’ Branch continued, ignoring his jab. ‘But I figured I’d do it after the party when I picked her up from the diner. So, I stayed as long as I could, celebrating with Jay and the guys, but it wasn’t as much fun without her. I decided to leave. That’s when I saw Holly Raynard practically passed out on the couch near the door, with a group of jocks from the football team dripping beer on her for fun. I was disgusted, so I decided I’d take her home. That was the good deed that helped you make me look guilty, wasn’t it?’

  Zach, surprisingly, stayed silent. Which was fine, because Branch didn’t need him to confirm or deny it. Just saying it out loud and watching his face fall with each accurate point in the story told him everything he needed to know.

  He forged on, pacing in front of the realtor but watching him closely. ‘On my way outside, I ran into you. I was basically holding Holly up, arms draped around her to keep her standing. You asked about Kait, and I—’

  ‘And you went off on me like I had no right to be saying her name.’ Every word dripped with disdain.

  Branch winced. ‘I did,’ he agreed. ‘I was dragging a drunk girl out of a party, saving her from whatever those jerks inside were going to do, and you showed up out of nowhere, making no move to help me with Holly. You just wanted to know where Kait was. So, you’re right, I was rude about it.’

  He was putting it mildly, if he remembered correctly. In no uncertain terms, Branch had told him that if he was only there to follow Kait around like a lost puppy, and if he wasn’t going to be the least bit helpful, he needed to get the hell out of the way. He had felt guilty about his unwarranted outburst the entire way to his truck.

  ‘I didn’t deserve that,’ Zach replied briskly. ‘And you didn’t deserve Kait.’

  ‘You’re right on both accounts.’ He would never hear Branch argue with him on that. ‘I was a jerk to you, I know that. I was already frustrated and preoccupied, and considering the circumstances, I guess your questioning set me off.’

  A scoff from Zach was his only reply.

  ‘I’m not condoning what I said. But my unjustified blow-up must have set you off, too,’ Branch countered, ‘considering what you did next.’

  Zach’s eyes narrowed, silently daring him to say it out loud. But Branch didn’t need to be challenged. He had come too far not to say it, and too much was on the line.

  ‘I was distracted, pissed off at myself for chewing you out, and frustrated from trying to get Holly out of that house and into the truck. Once I got her into the seat and buckled in, I went around the back of the truck. The back, Zach. I know there was no one anywhere near that truck because I’d looked around to see if anybody was going to come and help me with Holly. No one was there.’

  Branch swallowed, a bad taste in his mouth. ‘I climbed in and turned the key, but Holly kept falling over to one side. Against me.’ He had stopped pacing, couldn’t move. Couldn’t do anything but let his gaze burn into Zach’s. ‘Those are the pictures you took, I’m sure of it. You stood behind my truck and used your phone to take photos of Holly flopping over against me, through the rear window of the cab.’ He could almost visualize what those pictures looked like, hazy and unclear thanks to the darkness of night and only the dashboard glow to illuminate their silhouettes. He cringed, thinking of what Kait must have thought when she saw them.

  ‘I’ll never forgive myself for not paying attention, Zach. For being so distracted and letting my mind get so flooded with my frustration regarding you, and about Holly, that I threw that truck in drive and slammed my foot down on the accelerator.’

  Something changed in Zach’s features. A sliver of surprise mixed with confusion. ‘You didn’t put the truck in drive.’

  Solemnly, Branch shook his head. ‘It was in reverse,’ he explained weakly. ‘And you were behind my truck, taking photos to ruin my life.’ His throat was thick, dry. He let his statement hang between them, thick and suffocating.

  Zach cleared his throat, visibly shaken. ‘Even if it was an accident, it happened, Sterling.’ But his bravado was gone, stolen along with his certainty. Branch wondered if Zach had repeated his lies so often that he had begun to believe them himself.

  ‘It did. Is that how you justify sitting in a hospital bed and still being so hell-bent on ruining my chances with Kait that you had to show her those pictures and spin your web of lies, all before I even managed to get to the hospital?’ A crack split in the foundation of Branch’s calm resolve. ‘I was at the police station, Zach, just trying to find out if you were okay, trying to make them see it was an accident. And the entire time, not even being hit by a truck could stop your quest to make her see that I was no good for her. I’ve spent eleven years feeling so goddamn guilty for what happened to you because of my negligence, and yet it never would have happened if you hadn’t been standing there, taking pictures to break Kait’s heart.’ He pointed a long finger at Zach. ‘And that was no accident.’

  Branch didn’t need to tell Zach any more. He had witnessed the rest himself, from the moment Branch sprinted into the hospital hallway just outside Zach’s room door, desperate to know if Zach was all right, to the moment Kait screamed at him, inconsolable, and yelled at him to leave and never come back.

  ‘You used everything good in my life to ruin me. You overheard me at the party, I’m sure of it. So, my best guess is that you knew I hadn’t told her about my job offer yet. You knew I adored that girl, and that I’d just gotten myself a job that was going to help me build a good life for me and her. And still, you made her think I had some kind of secret life, with a job I was going to take and a girlfriend I’d been seeing behind her back. Am I close?’ Branch shook his head, sickened by the thought. It was one that had just come to him, but he believed it with every fiber of his being. ‘All because you loved her,’ he added. ‘Yet, by ruining my chances with her, by breaking my heart, you had to break hers, too. And you still did it,’ he choked out. ‘You broke Kait’s heart that night, Zach, not just mine.’ His chest was so constricted he fought to breathe. ‘And now you’re doing it again, all in the name of love.’

  ‘I do love her!’ The words burst from Zach’s mouth, offering up more emotion than Branch had ever seen him convey. ‘I’d do anything for her, don’t you see that?’

  He nodded. ‘Then, let her go,’ Branch whispered, defeated. ‘Let the idea of her go. You’ve got her friendship, and if that’s as strong as you think it is, then it’ll withstand the truth. But, Zach, if you love her half as much as you say you do, you’ve got to tell her the truth – the whole truth – and let her make her own decisions. About how she handles it, and about who she loves. Kait deserves that much.’

  ‘She’ll hate me.’ Zach’s shoulders were slumped, everything about him suddenly wilted and melancholy. Gone was the confident businessman. In that moment, only a ghost of the gangly, unrefined teenager remained.

  ‘Kait’s the most forgiving woman I’ve ever met,’ Branch replied, his breath coming out in short bursts. ‘Give her time. But, damn it, give her the truth.’

  ‘You’re not going to tell her?’

  ‘I never want to mention the events of that night again, and as long as you’re honest with her, Zach, we’ll never have to. You have to be the one to tell her. It’ll help your cause if it comes from you.’ He refused to mention the fact that Kait probably wouldn’t listen to what Branch had to say, anyway. ‘It’s time to let the past be just that – the past.’

  It could have been seconds or minutes or hours that passed as they stared at each other, the tragedy of another lifetime both dividing them and binding them together simultaneously.

  ‘I’ll talk to her.’

  Chapter 21

  Kait

  A month ago, the mention of Christmas had instilled a sense of childlike anticipation in Kait. As a kid, the events surrounding the holidays had never been huge and lavish in the Davenp
ort family, usually consisting of a few gifts under a scraggly artificial tree Kait’s mom had bought from a garage sale when she and Janna were still in elementary school and a precooked roasted chicken from the grocery store’s deli that they heated up in the microwave and paired with instant potatoes and canned cranberry sauce. Regardless, every year without fail, they spent it together. Their mother always managed to be sober and even a little bit fun on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, taking them to Addie’s house on Christmas Eve for the festive dinner that had become a household tradition in many families within their small town, then bringing home premade cookie dough that they baked while Christmas cartoons played on the television the entire day in a cheerful loop. As they grew older, Kait looked back on those days with fondness.

  The past couple years changed how Christmas was done, however. She and Janna had always taken their holiday decorating seriously, but once the twins were born, it became their mission to pull off the kind of Christmas season that the boys would hold dear when they someday looked back on it, too. Decorating began early, and their tabletop tree was lit up from the first of December through to New Year’s Eve. The boys couldn’t reach it, but they spent many an evening playing beneath its multi-colored glow, a sight that gave both Janna and Kait a heartwarming pause, then matching grins.

  Four stockings hung from the electric fireplace’s mantle, embroidered with initials of their names. She and Janna could be caught at any given moment humming or singing Christmas carols to the boys, much to their delight. They both baked – boy, did they bake! – as much as they could fit in the freezer, starting to make sporadic batches of cookies and fudge in November as they found the time to do it. There had been no Christmas Eve dinner held at Addie’s place last year, for the first time in Kait’s lifetime, but the year before, despite being only infants, Janna had stopped by Addie’s for a few minutes, just to introduce the boys to the woman who held more Christmas spirit than all of Port Landon combined.