Romance Grows in Arcadia Valley (Arcadia Valley Romance Book 0)

by Mary Jane Hathaway

  Drew widened his eyes. “Oh. Okay.” He unrolled the plans he’d brought with him. “Your dad and I had several discussions about this. I have a general idea of what he wanted, but I guess you’ll be the one to make the final decisions now.”

  She was quiet for a moment. On the one hand she did want to get down to business and take care of the project, but on the other there were still some answers she needed. “Tell me about discussions with my dad. I’m still trying to understand how or why he reached out to you.”

  “You mean because he hated me so much?”

  “That’s putting it kind of mildly.” Kate studied his face. It was weird to see him this way. All these years, she’d imagined him as exactly the way she’d left him. But he wasn’t eighteen any longer. His dark hair was closer cropped and in a stylish cut, a far cry from the shoulder length style he’d worn in high school. Her dad hit the roof the first time “that long haired rocker dude” had shown up at their home to pick her up for a date.

  “I can’t say that I blame him. If some guy who looked and acted like I did started hanging around my daughter, I’d have a fit.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. “Your daughter? Do you have a child?” She didn’t know why she held her breath, hoping the answer was no.

  He burst out laughing. “No. I just meant if I did have one, I sure wouldn’t have wanted her out with a guy like me.”

  “You sell yourself short. You got good grades and weren’t a party animal like so many of our classmates. My dad just didn’t see those things.”

  “I think maybe he wanted you to go make something of yourself — not get tied up with someone who wasn’t going anywhere.”

  “But you did.” She willed herself not to get lost in those blue eyes. “Go somewhere I mean. Right?”

  “I went to college. Then I came back and started a company. Because I deal with historical renovations, I travel some. It’s a good life.”

  She nodded. “Sounds like it. What made you go into that?”

  “You know how I’ve always liked history. And I grew up working with my grandfather, building homes. I kind of just put the two together. There’s a lot of interesting things about a historic building or home.” He looked into her eyes as he spoke. “Some people want to throw away the past. Knock down the old building and build something brand new. Me, I prefer to invest in the past. The foundation is already there, it just needs some extra TLC.”

  Kate felt a flutter in her stomach she hadn’t felt in a very long time. “Sometimes though, aren’t they too damaged to be saved? I’m sure sometimes you have to just let some things go.”

  “In my experience, there’s very little that is so damaged at least part of it can’t be renovated. You just have to be willing to put in the work.” He smiled. “And I’m willing.”

  She nodded.

  “I know you want to get down to business,” he said. “But I feel like I’ve told you an awful lot of stuff about what my life’s been like these past years and yet I know almost nothing about yours. I think we should even that up a bit.”

  “There’s not that much to say.” She shook her head.

  He raised an eyebrow. “There has to be something. Don’t you think if we just get it all out now, working together will be easier?”

  She wasn’t sure anything about their situation could ever be considered easy.

  * * *

  Drew watched her and it seemed like he could actually see her weighing her options. Whether to share her story with him or shut him out. “Tell me,” he said softly.

  “What? What can I possibly say that will make this any less awkward?” Kate asked.

  “I’m not asking for that. I’m asking for the truth.”

  She sighed. “The truth is that by the time I left here, I was totally broken. And please don’t feel sorry for me about it or feel guilty for your part in it. It is what it is.”

  Guilty didn’t begin to cover how he felt. “Okay.”

  “Those first few years were tough. I missed my mom like crazy.” She lowered her head. “And you, too. Losing you and mom at nearly the same time was almost more than I could take.”

  He didn’t say anything. There were no words that could take away the pain from those years. Hearing that she’d missed him didn’t make him feel any better. In some ways, he wished she’d moved on years ago and could sit here now and tell him about her happy family and full life. But from what he knew of her situation — from the little her dad had shared, he knew that wasn’t true. And he was partly to blame.

  “And if I’m being honest, I’ll tell you that I did some things during those years that I’m not proud of today. For many years, the last prayer I had uttered was on the day of Mom’s funeral. I didn’t talk to God again after that for a long, long time. All during college I just had this giant chip on my shoulder. I got out early because I took summer classes just so I’d have an excuse to stay busy. I moved to Atlanta after graduation because it was the total opposite of Arcadia Valley.”

  “Your mom has relatives there, right?”

  She nodded. “She has a cousin there who has kids of her own that are nearly my age. I didn’t spend a ton of time with them, but at least I had family on holidays if I wanted.”

  “That’s good.”

  “I was working for a small company doing web development and I had an appointment with this guy on a Sunday. We were meeting downtown at a coffee place to go over some of his ideas. I’ll never forget it because it was this perfect fall day. Summer in Atlanta is humid like you wouldn’t believe. And it was finally cooler. The leaves were changing and it was just gorgeous.” She smiled at the memory. “I happened to walk past a church and I could literally hear the singing from the sidewalk outside. The leader had this very soulful voice and they were singing What a Friend We Have in Jesus. It was totally unlike me, but I just walked right inside. I wasn’t even dressed for church or anything, but I couldn’t stop myself from walking in. I slid into the back row just as they started Amazing Grace. And I’m telling you — it was like God put His arm around me and said “Katherine Groves, you are going to be okay. But it’s time to grow up.” She grinned. “Those people in that church have no idea what they did for me that day. I never went back there, but I changed a lot after that. I found a good church near my apartment and I got involved in things. For the first time in a long time, I did things for other people. After that, I knew I needed to make amends with Dad.”

  “And you did?”

  “Not fast enough. I still dragged my feet for a while. But one day he called and instead of claiming to be right in the middle of something, I talked to him. We didn’t talk about anything major — just work and stuff like that. Sometimes we’d talk about books or movies. He’d bring me up to speed on what was going on in Arcadia Valley. And I’d fill him in on life in the city or tell him about a new restaurant I’d tried.” She paused. “We never, ever brought up the past. We never talked about Mom. We never uttered your name.”

  “But you feel like you two were in a good place?”

  “We were in a better place than we had been. Our relationship still wasn’t perfect. And in hindsight I wish we’d talked through the hard stuff. I always put off coming back here.” She frowned. “I put it off too long, as you know.”

  “I’m sorry.” And he was.

  “How about you? Did it not work out between you and that girl from your neighborhood?”

  He flinched. He’d hoped she wouldn’t bring Sarah up at all. “Nah.”

  “I’m surprised.” She looked at him expectantly. “I figured that if I ever saw you again, you guys would be married.”

  He should come clean now about everything. He knew that. But he just couldn’t. “Sarah and I just weren’t meant to be.” He fought the urge to reach out and touch her hair. He’d always loved her hair, long and red. Now that she wore it wavy, it was even prettier than he remembered.

  She nodded. “Fair enough.” She reached across the table and took some
of her dad’s notes from the pile. “You never finished telling me how this all came to be though. You and dad. Did he call you? Was he nice to you? Because frankly, it’s hard to imagine the two of you speaking civilly to one another.”

  “Believe it or not, your dad was nothing but nice. He hired me a while back to do some work on his office building. That went well and he seemed pleased with the work. When he contacted me this time, it was a little different than before. He took the time to talk to me about my life and how my business was going. I got the feeling he was trying to make amends with me.” He wondered how much to tell her. “And I guess there were things your mom always wanted done to the house and he felt like it was important to get those done.”

  “Like what?” she asked.

  “Nothing big. Just some little things. Add a pantry to the kitchen. Open up the wall between the living room and dining room. Add a separate tub and shower in the master bath.”

  Kate smiled. “I remember that. She wanted one of those soaking tubs.” She furrowed her brow. “But what I don’t get is why now? Why did he wait till the end to do this?”

  “He couldn’t bear to change anything while he was living here,” Drew said gently. “He told me that by leaving things the same it sometimes felt like you and your mom were still there. Like one of you would walk in at any moment.”

  Her eyes filled with tears.

  “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  She shook her head. “No. It’s okay. I’m beginning to think there’s a lot I didn’t know. Or a lot that I didn’t want to know.” She met his gaze. “Did Dad ever apologize to you? You know. For how he treated you?”

  The million dollar question. “Your dad and I made peace.”

  “Why didn’t he tell me you were the one he’d hired?”

  He’d expected that question to come up. And he didn’t have an answer. “Your guess is as good as mine. I promise you that when he hired me he never once mentioned that you’d be working on it with me. We met several times, once even when he was first in the hospital. You must have been on your way.” He shrugged. “I guess he didn’t want either of us to try and get out of it.”

  “That sounds about right.” She peered at him. “Would you have?”

  “Would I have what?”

  “Gotten out of it if you’d known you were going to have to work with me?”

  He thought carefully before he spoke. “Katie or Katherine or Kate or whatever you want me to call you now... No. I wouldn’t have gotten out of it. Either way, I’d still be right here.”

  Chapter 5

  Saturday morning, the alarm went off and Kate pulled the covers over her head. She’d slept fitfully on the couch again, and she wasn’t ready to face the world this morning.

  Ever since her meeting with Drew, she’d kept to herself. Even though she knew she had things she needed to handle, she mostly just wanted to hole up on the couch. Riley and Brooke had attempted to get her out of the house yesterday for dinner but she’d declined. She had zero energy even though there were many things she needed to tackle.

  Her cell phone buzzed next to her on the couch. She opened one eye to see who was on the other end.

  Riley.

  She burrowed deeper under the comforter. Didn’t she deserve another day of vegging out? Next week the house would be full of workers as the renovations began. She’d also need to turn her attention to the farmers market soon to see what all needed to be done.

  But for today, she just wanted to ignore the world and forget about her responsibilities.

  There was a thud at the back door, but she still didn’t budge. It was probably a neighbor’s cat or a gust of wind.

  Then she heard it.

  Unmistakable panting.

  She uncovered one eye and stared into the face of a big yellow dog.

  He promptly licked as much of her face as he could reach.

  “Hey, now!” She sat up. “How’d you get in here?”

  A giggle came from the kitchen. Riley peeked into the living room. “Kate, meet Sam.”

  Sam sat down in front of Kate and stared at her expectantly.

  The doorbell rang and for a moment Sam looked puzzled. Then he stood up, let out one short bark, and sat back down at Kate’s feet.

  “I’ll get it,” Riley muttered. “I know who it is.”

  Brooke stood in the doorway holding a casserole dish. “Is she mad?” She looked at Kate. “Are you mad?”

  Kate sighed. “I’m not sure yet. I’ll tell you after I’ve had a cup of coffee.”

  “Oh, good!” Riley clapped her hands. “You’re one of us.” She nodded toward Brooke. “This one can’t even make a complete sentence till she has hers.”

  Kate couldn’t help but smile. “Good to know.”

  Sam seemed to sense Kate was about to stand up so he put his big head on her leg and looked up at her.

  “Is he yours?” Kate asked Riley. “Because he seems awfully needy.” She gave his head a pat and managed to move her leg and stand up. He followed her into the kitchen and sprawled out next to the back door.

  “Let’s get that coffee first, then we’ll talk about Sam.” Riley opened cabinets till she found coffee mugs while Kate started the coffee maker.

  Once the three of them were settled at the table, she looked from Riley to Brooke. “Spill it, you guys. I may have been away for a long time, but I can tell when you’re up to something.”

  Riley put her mug down on the table. “I’m looking for a foster home for Sam.” She held her hand up. “Don’t say a word. Just hear me out.”

  Kate took another sip of coffee.

  “Sam’s owner passed away about six months ago. He was the sweetest old man, and he outlived his wife and kids. He always said Sam was his family. The two of them were inseparable. Before he passed away, he came to see me at the shelter and he made me promise I’d find a good home for Sam if something ever happened to him.”

  Kate had never been much of an animal person, but she’d always appreciated Riley’s quests to rescue as many animals as possible. “That’s sad.”

  “The thing is, Sam’s been at the shelter for six months now. I take him to my house when I have room, but I don’t have much space these days.”

  Brooke nodded. “Her boarding business has really taken off. I think people just feel better about going out of town when they have someone reliable to care for their animals.”

  “Anyway, the bottom line is that I thought you might be the perfect foster for Sam. I know you don’t plan to be here for too long, but I thought Sam might provide you some companionship while you’re here. I notice that you’re sleeping on the couch. I’m sure it has to be hard to be in the house all alone. Sam could be good for you.”

  “But you’re not obligated,” Brooke said. “Along with all the goats and chickens at the farm, we have three rescue dogs and two cats. Believe me, I’ve learned to say ‘no’ when Riley is on a rescue mission. Otherwise my whole farm would be dogs and cats instead of goats and chickens.” She nudged her sister. “Right?”

  Riley smiled. “There may be some truth to that.” She turned to Kate. “Some people just don’t want the responsibility of a dog. If that’s you, I totally understand. I just kind of thought you and Sam were both grieving and could be good for each other.”

  Kate looked over at Sam. He was curled up in the floor just watching them. “He has sad eyes.”

  Brooke laughed. “Uh oh. That’s how it starts. First it’s the sad eyes, then he’ll reel you in and have you wrapped around his paw, buying him bones and cooking him steaks.”

  “I’ve never had a dog. I guess it could be kind of nice” She gestured toward the living room. “The house is very empty. It’s kind of like living in a haunted house. Maybe Sam will make it easier to be here alone.”

  “So he can stay?” Riley asked.

  “Sure.” Kate shrugged. She got up and walked over to Sam.

  He sat up and looked at her.

  She took h
is face in her hands. “What do you say, Sam? Do you want to stay with me?”

  He licked her on the hand and she laughed. “Why don’t you go check out your new back yard?” She opened the door and let him outside. Her parents had put a privacy fence up when she was small so she could play without wandering off. It would come in handy now. She watched as Sam sniffed the hedges. “He looks happy.”

  Riley came over and hugged her. “Thank you so much. An older dog like Sam almost always gets overlooked when families come for a pet. They all want a puppy. But he really has a lot to offer. He’s very low key and already housebroken. The main thing he wants is to be loved.” She smiled. “His water and food bowls are in my truck, along with a dog bed and some toys and treats. We’ll have to pick up some feed at Farm Supply later.”

  “Oh, I can take you there,” Brooke piped up. “It’s where I get the feed for all of our animals.”

  Kate wasn’t typically an emotional sort of person, but for some reason her cousins’ surprise visit got to her. Her emotional state seemed to waver between needing to have a good cry and wanting to have a good laugh. In some ways, Brooke and Riley provided both. “Thanks for coming over. I may not have gotten out of bed today if not for that.”

  The sisters exchanged a glance. “That’s kind of what we were afraid of,” Brooke finally said.

  “We thought you might want to learn a little more about the market. We could take you there now and show you around. Your dad gave me a key to give you.” Brooke held up her key chain.

  Her very own key. She’d have an office there now, too. Dad’s office. It was all still sinking in. “Thanks.” Her eyes filled with tears.

  “Actually, we don’t have to go to the market now. It can wait till later.” Riley gave her a concerned look.

  “Right,” Brooke sat back down at the table. “We can hang out here if you’d like. Maybe have another cup of coffee.” She smiled. “I’m always up for that.”

  Kate nodded. “I feel numb inside. That’s normal, right?”

  Riley led her to the table and motioned for her to sit down. “I can’t pretend to have ever been in a situation like you are in. But I think whatever you feel — whether it be anger or sorrow or even fear — is totally normal.”