Summer Reads Box Set: Volume 1

by Freethy, Barbara

  "I have lots of photos from last year's race week. Let me get my file."

  "Sure, take your time," Tyler said as she walked into her bedroom. He didn't really want any photos, but he needed a moment to think about how he could win her trust, and maybe look around a little. Surely this investigator who was communicating so avidly with Mark's attorney would be copying one of the McKenna sisters on what was happening.

  The coffee table didn't boast anything personal, so Tyler got up and walked over to the desk where Ashley's computer was located. His gaze caught on an envelope on top of a stack of bills with the return address Castleton Family Health. The envelope was open, so he pulled out the bill. It was dated a month ago, an office visit, patient Ashley McKenna, physician Dr. Myra Hanover. That didn't tell him much. He turned to the accompanying letter, which was much more interesting. In the letter, Dr. Hanover referred Ashley to two different psychiatrists specializing in anxiety and depression, both located in Seattle. That confirmed his earlier suspicion that she had mental health problems. He slipped the bill into his pocket, doubting she'd miss it, since she'd obviously already paid it, and he might just need it.

  Hearing Ashley, he turned away from the desk and returned to the middle of the room.

  She handed him a thick manila envelope. "You can have these from last year. I have to warn you, though, that they're not action shots. There's another guy in town, Nate Raffin, who takes shots out on the water. He might have better photographs. In fact, he's doing this year's races, so you might want to talk to him."

  "Thanks, I will." He took the envelope out of her hand. "How come you don't take the action shots? An experienced sailor like yourself, I can't imagine that anyone else could do a better job."

  She paled at his question. "I just don't."

  "Oh, that's right. You don't like to go out on the water anymore, do you?"

  He could see that she remembered their first meeting at Kate's house when she'd confided her inability to get on the boat and take a picture.

  "What happened to make you feel that way?" he asked, pressing deeper. He was running out of time, with Mark's threat to take Amelia and run hanging over his head.

  "I... It's a long story."

  "Was it the storm? Were you traumatized? Or was it something else? Someone you left behind, perhaps?"

  Her face turned completely white. "What do you know?" she whispered.

  His heart sped up. Maybe it was Ashley. Maybe she was Amelia's mother and she was traumatized because she'd left her baby behind.

  He started as the phone rang. Ashley hesitated. "Aren't you going to get that?" he asked.

  "I'm sure the machine..." Her voice trailed away as they listened to the message: Ashley, it's Kate. I'm at Caroline's. You need to call me or come here as soon as possible.

  Tyler frowned at the concern in Kate's voice.

  Ashley grabbed the phone. "Kate, are you there? What's wrong? Is Caroline okay?" She paused then said, "Why can't you just tell me now? Fine. I'll be there in a few minutes."

  She hung up the phone and turned to Tyler. "I have to go."

  "Is everything all right?"

  "I doubt it. Things haven't been all right in a long time."

  She picked up her purse and keys and headed toward the door. Tyler had no choice but to follow.

  "I'll bring these back later," he said. "Maybe we can finish our conversation then."

  "I won't be here later. Just leave them by the door. No one will take them." She hurried down the hall before he could say anything more. Short of running after her, there was nothing more he could do. Damn. He'd been so close to getting somewhere. Now he would have to wait.

  Unless he went over to Caroline's apartment. All three girls would be there. But they would undoubtedly form a united front, he realized. He would have more success when they were apart. He would simply have to divide and conquer, one sister at a time.

  * * *

  Kate had tidied up Caroline's apartment, put on some hot water for tea, and checked on her sister for the third time in a half hour when there was a knock on the door. Ashley, she thought with relief. Maybe it wasn't right to burden Ashley with this problem; she had enough to worry about. But Kate needed to share it with someone who would understand. Maybe someone who could tell her that it wasn't that obvious, that she had also been fooled by Caroline's behavior.

  Kate opened the door and let Ashley in. "Thanks for coming so fast."

  "What is it? What's wrong now?"

  "Caroline is..." How could she say it?

  "She's what? Is she sick?"

  "Not exactly." Kate closed the door behind Ashley.

  "Why are you being so mysterious?"

  "Because she's trying to find a nice way to say it, but there isn't any," Caroline said from the doorway of the bedroom.

  Caroline looked like she was feeling better. She'd changed into a pair of leggings and a T-shirt, and there was color in her cheeks now. But as she sat down on the sofa, Kate could see how thin her baby sister had gotten. Too much booze, not enough food—another sign she'd missed.

  "Does someone want to tell me what's going on?" Ashley asked.

  "I'll say it. I think I can do it." Caroline took a deep breath. "I'm an alcoholic, Ashley. There I did it again. It's getting easier."

  "You—you're what?" Ashley stumbled over her words.

  "An alcoholic. A drunk. A boozer. Whatever you want to call it."

  Ashley stared at Caroline for a long moment. "I don't understand."

  "Do you want me to spell it out for you?"

  "I understand what you're saying; I just don't understand how it happened." Ashley looked at Kate. "Did you know?"

  "Not until an hour ago. Although maybe I did notice but I just didn't want to see it.”

  "Well." Ashley sat down in the chair across from Caroline. "What do you want me to do?"

  "Nothing. Kate was the one to call you, not me."

  "We need to support one another," Kate said, sitting down on the couch. "We're still a family." A family that had given Caroline that first drink, Kate realized. How old had her sister been then? Fourteen, fifteen? "It was that champagne we opened the first day we set sail," she murmured. "Dad wanted to toast our trip. That was the first time you ever drank, wasn't it?"

  "Probably."

  "You liked it a lot," Ashley commented. "I remember you sneaked back into the galley and finished it off later that night."

  "Busted," Caroline said. "I guess you two are to blame for my bad habit."

  "Yes," Kate agreed.

  "I'm just kidding," Caroline said. "No one held my head and forced me to taste that champagne, and it's not like either of you turned into drunks because of it."

  No, but that had opened a door they'd never closed. It had been easy to get alcohol on their trip. When they'd hung out with their father, there had always been glasses left unattended and sailors eager to give you a taste of this or that. Caroline had loved to sit by their father's side and listen to him tell stories. She'd always been the closest to the booze, and to the boozers, for that matter.

  "You can't blame yourselves. This is my problem, and I'll fix it." Caroline stood up. "First I'm going to take a shower, then I'm going to work for a few hours and hope they won't kill me for blowing off this morning's appointments."

  "You're going in to work?" Kate asked in confusion. "I thought we could spend time together."

  "I need to work. So do you. Don't you have a bookstore to run?"

  "Theresa is there," Kate replied, but in truth she did need to get to work.

  "Look, I'll be okay. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but eventually. Mike said it will take awhile. In the meantime, I have to live as normally as I can. If you want to have dinner or something tonight, I guess we could do that, but oh, damn, I almost forgot, the charity picnic auction is tonight. I promised I'd put in a basket this year, and I don't have a thing in the refrigerator."

  "I promised as well." Kate added that to the rapidly gr
owing list of things she had to do. The annual picnic auction was a big fund-raiser for the local library. All of the eligible women on the island made up big baskets of food that were auctioned off to participating bachelors. The couples would then share a picnic supper together. Kate had always enjoyed the event, although some of her bachelors had been better than others. A shiver ran down her spine as she thought about Tyler. Would he come? Would he bid? Would their self-control be tested once again?

  "Kate?" Ashley asked.

  "What?" She suddenly realized she'd been daydreaming.

  "I said that I made extra chocolate cookies if you and Caroline want to put them in your baskets."

  "That sounds great." Kate looked at Caroline. "Do you think it's a good idea for you to go? It's usually traditional to include a bottle of wine in the basket."

  "I can't avoid every situation where there's alcohol, or I'll never go anywhere. I'll just clue Mike in and ask him to bid on my basket. That way I won't have to pretend with anyone else."

  Kate frowned, still not comfortable with the idea of her baby sister and this much older man. "Are you sure—"

  "He's really nice," Caroline said, cutting her off. "He has changed since he stopped drinking. He told me so. And he's been nothing but a gentleman. Really. I know how a guy acts when he wants sex from you. I'm not naive."

  Kate realized Caroline was probably less naive than she was where men were concerned, so she supposed she'd have to let her do what she wanted. She probably couldn't stop her, anyway.

  "Speaking of men who want things..." Caroline cast Ashley a curious look. "I saw you and Sean last night riding on his motorcycle. I couldn't believe it. When did you decide to take a walk on the wild side?"

  "It was just a ride."

  "And?"

  "It was nice," Ashley admitted with a guilty smile. "We went down Sorenson's Hill at about a hundred miles an hour. Okay, maybe not that fast, but it felt like we were flying. I can't remember the last time I did anything that thrilling or risky. I felt so alive."

  Now Kate had something else to worry about. "Are you sure it's wise to get involved with Sean again?"

  "I didn't tell him anything," Ashley said. "But—"

  "No buts," Kate replied sharply. "Not now, not ever. If you think you can be with him and keep the past locked away, then fine, but if you can't, you shouldn't start something you can't finish."

  "I really like him," Ashley said quietly. "And I've missed him. I've missed who I am when I'm with him. I'm not sure I can say good-bye to him again." She sighed. "But it may not be my choice. He's still planning to race in the Castleton and on to Hawaii."

  "That might be the best thing," Caroline chimed in. "It will be easier for you if he's not here."

  "That's what I thought when he left eight years ago. But I was wrong. I think this might be my last chance with him, and I'm really tempted to take it." Ashley turned to Kate. "By the way, Tyler stopped by my apartment. In fact, he was there when you called."

  Kate tensed. "What did he want?"

  "Some photos of us from the race. I told him they were all in storage."

  "But he told me that he dropped the article idea about us. He's working on a new angle for a story."

  "Are you sure? He asked me some rather probing questions about my fear of the water and what might have happened to cause it. I didn't get the feeling he'd given up on the story at all."

  Kate's heart sank. Tyler had lied to her. Why? Why was it so important for him to do a story on them?

  "I gave him some photos from last year's Castleton Invitational," Ashley continued. "Maybe he'll find something interesting in there to build a story around. In fact, maybe we should think of a new angle for him, since he seems to be having trouble coming up with one of his own."

  "That's a good idea," Caroline said. "Why don't you introduce Tyler to Ronnie Burns? He can tell Tyler about that shipwreck he discovered off the coast of Oregon last year."

  Kate nodded, knowing it was a good idea, but her mind was still wrestling with the fact that Tyler had gone to Ashley behind her back.

  "Maybe I misunderstood Tyler," Ashley said. "Maybe he was just making conversation. You should ask him about it."

  "Believe me, I intend to." And this time she would force herself to listen with her head instead of her heart.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Hokey, silly, stupid, corny, old-fashioned. Tyler could think of a hundred adjectives to describe the auction taking place in Castleton's town square. But none of those adjectives would adequately describe the excitement of the crowd. There were more than thirty picnic baskets up for auction and at least a hundred people milling about, preparing to make their bids.

  "Mr. Jamison, are you bidding on a basket tonight?" a woman named Margaret asked him. Margaret was in her mid-fifties and worked the front desk of the hotel where he was staying.

  "I'm not sure yet. They look good, though. I'm starting to get hungry."

  "Mine has a big pink bow," she said with a wink. "If you like crab sandwiches, check it out."

  Tyler smiled as she disappeared into the crowd. Crab sandwiches didn't sound bad, but he was more interested in finding a McKenna sister, one in particular, to share a picnic supper with. He hadn't seen Kate all day, and he very much wanted to.

  His cell phone rang, and he dug it out of his pocket with irritation. Mark was probably calling him for another update, another reminder that time was running out, that if he didn't get an answer soon, he would disappear with Amelia. He did not want Amelia to live the life he had led. There had to be another solution. He would simply have to find it.

  He was relieved to see a different number on his screen, that of one of the editors he frequently worked for, Kenny Weinman.

  "Hi, Kenny," he said. "What's up?"

  "Where the hell are you, Ty?" Kenny asked. "I've been calling your apartment for days and get nothing but your damn machine. Finally dug up your cell phone number from that cute blonde in the lifestyle section that you dated last year."

  "Jenny?"

  "Julie," Kenny said with a laugh. "Jesus, you haven't changed. Love 'em and leave 'em Jamison.”

  "Why are you calling me, exactly?" Tyler asked, somewhat annoyed with the analysis.

  "I've got an article that only you can write," Kenny said. "But you have to get to Paris by Friday.”

  "I can't do it," Tyler said automatically.

  "I haven't even told you what it is yet."

  "I'm taking some time off. Family business."

  "You have a family?" Kenny asked in surprise. "I didn't know that."

  "Yes, I have a family," Tyler snapped. "And I'm taking care of them at the moment. I'll be in touch when I'm free."

  "I'll pay you triple your usual fee. This is Paris, Ty. You'll love it."

  "Send someone else."

  "I can't believe I'm hearing this. You never turn down jobs."

  "I'm turning this one down," Tyler said and hung up the phone. He could hardly believe he'd actually done it. Maybe Kenny was right. Maybe he had changed. When had that happened? When Mark had gotten hurt? Or when he'd met a woman he wanted to get to know a lot better? Shit! That was a frightening thought.

  The microphone on the stage crackled as the auctioneer made the last call for baskets. Tyler looked around, hoping to see Kate. Sure enough, there she was, setting a dark brown basket on the table. He noted the silver ribbon hanging from the handle. Reaching into his pocket for his wallet this time, he checked his cash. He might have to hit an ATM machine before the auction started. There was no way anyone would outbid him for Kate's basket.

  * * *

  "Tyler is over there," Caroline said to Kate as they put their baskets down.

  "Where?" Kate couldn't help asking as she took a quick look around.

  "At the back of the crowd. Oh, he's gone now.”

  "He'll be back," Kate said with certainty. "He's like a bad penny; he keeps showing up."

  "And you like him," Caroline said wit
h a knowing smile.

  "It's not like that.”

  "It's exactly like that. And it's not a crime, you know. He's a hot guy. And you're a normal red-blooded female with—"

  "Please, don't say urges."

  "Feelings and desires. It's been a long time since you've looked at a man the way you look at Tyler. It's long overdue.”

  "It's crazy. And I'm going to ignore those feelings and especially those desires from here on out."

  "Good luck," Caroline said with a laugh. "Tyler seems to be a man who gets what he wants.”

  Kate decided to change the subject. "Before I forget, I meant to tell you that I had a chat with both Dad and K.C. earlier. Dad bet our portrait against the Moon Dancer."

  Caroline raised an eyebrow in surprise. "No way. He wouldn't do that. He knows you love it."

  "He would, and he did," she said flatly. "So much for me being the favorite child. Although I have to admit, it made me think twice about racing with him, not to help him, but to protect that portrait from K.C."

  Caroline stared at her. "Would you do it, Kate? Could you race again?"

  "I'm not sure. But I realize now that there was more between Dad and K.C. than we ever knew."

  "Like what?"

  "It's a long story. The auction is starting. I'll tell you later."

  The auction began and grew more lively with each competitive bid.

  "Look, there's Ashley's basket," Caroline said a few minutes later. They watched in amazement as the bidding flew around the crowd fast and furiously, until only one bidder was left.

  "Sean," Kate murmured, not really surprised. "I think I liked it better when Ashley was afraid of her own shadow."

  "I didn't. I missed the old Ashley," Caroline said. "The one who would jump into the water with fearless abandon."

  Kate nodded, remembering all the times they'd sunbathed on the boat then jumped into the water to cool off. Ashley had always loved to swim and snorkel. She'd even taken a deep-sea diving class the year before they'd started racing. "You're right," she said slowly. "I've missed her, too. And I think she might be back." For there was Ashley, greeting Sean with an exuberant hug and an ear-to-ear grin. They walked off, arms linked, as if they were daring anyone to part them ever again. "I hope she doesn't tell him anything she shouldn't."