One Taste

by Cari Quinn

  “Not really.”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “I’m sure some of it isn’t.”

  Kendall’s eyes widened. “Are you serious with this?”

  Lily shrugged. “I’m here to talk if you need to.”

  Relieved that her mother didn’t seem to have anything else to add, she brought up the site. The entire top of the site was transformed into a winter landscape that would do a Hallmark card proud. The angle of the picture invited a visitor into the Web site, and the gallery showed all the new things Shane had added as well as updated photos that were a helluva lot more high quality than she’d been able to take with her camera.

  The rest of the information lay untouched, but the few changes were perfect. He really had come in and taken over in tiny ways. Not enough for her or her mother to take notice, but on the whole he’d done nothing but improve the Heron.

  He’d also added links to travel sites that now had them listed on their registries. That must have been how the Simmonses had found them.

  “Can I check my e-mail?”

  Kendall nodded at her mother’s request and stood. “I’m going to go find Shane.”

  “Okay. I’m going to run a couple loads of laundry and relax. We’ve got time before we have to pull all the rooms apart.”

  Kendall went out the back door and across the lawn before she noticed his truck was gone. Instead of returning inside, she brewed a mug of coffee from his Keurig, touched to see her flavored coffees in his stack of K-Cups, and brought it out to sit on the Adirondack chair.

  She curled into an oversize blanket from the small chest he’d built next to the pergola. The lake was too large to fully ice over, but this part of the inlet was good for fishing. Petey, ever the opportunist, swooped in and perched at the end of the dock. His blue and silvery feathers ruffled a few times before he folded his massive wings against his back.

  She wasn’t sure how long she was out there when she heard booted footfalls.

  Shane crouched next to her. “Nice to see you actually sitting for a change.” He leaned in, and it felt natural to lose herself in his sweet kiss. “At least the flavored crap you like tastes good this way.”

  Chuckling, she held out her empty mug. “It would taste even better with a refill.”

  “Only because I want a cup too.”

  She looked over her shoulder at his truly excellent backside, then cuddled back into her blanket. He returned a few minutes later and scooped her out of the chair. “Hey! I was all comfy.”

  He sat back down with her on his lap, and she situated herself, noticing the chair was indeed a little bigger than the average Adirondack chair. Not quite big enough for two, but he must have had this in mind when building it.

  The warm glow she’d been riding since last night grew.

  He set her mug in her hands, and both of them sat quietly. She didn’t realize she’d been looking for this all her life.

  Chapter Twenty

  Kendall dragged the two winterized loungers in next to the swing and her favorite chair to tarp against the wind coming off the lake. The forecast called for a hammer of a nor’easter, and she didn’t want them damaged in the icy mix that was headed their way.

  She heard the pop of tires over gravel and snapped her last bungee cord around the chairs, securing them to the pergola. The truck wasn’t one she recognized. Shane was out of town delivering the huge koa dining set he’d finally finished and wouldn’t be back until morning.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi.” Kendall jogged to the end of the dock. “Can I help you?”

  The man held out his hand. Kind brown eyes smiled down at her. “I’m Andrew Clark. A Shane Justice asked me to come out and survey the land for an appraisal.”

  The shock of his statement had her hand falling limply from his grasp. The wind picked up, slapping a gust along her back. “Of course. I didn’t know you were coming.”

  “I actually wasn’t due to come until next week, but I was in the area and hoped to get it out of the way if that was okay with you.”

  “Sure.” It felt like she was talking through half-frozen molasses. “Let me grab my jacket.” She walked woodenly to the main house. She and Shane had been getting along so well. The last week had been a dream—loving Shane through the night, both of them working on individual projects during the day.

  She’d even updated one of the bathrooms thanks to Kain’s generous tip. There had been no more talk of selling the Heron.

  “Kendall?” Her mother rushed forward. “What’s wrong?”

  “I…I can’t talk about it. I have to go outside and take the appraiser around the property.”

  “Appraiser? What for?”

  “Evidently Shane’s still interested in selling.”

  Lily shook her head firmly. “No. He’s worked too hard on everything to just sell it. We’ve worked too hard to sell it now.”

  The numbness coated her chest and flowed out until all she could think about was how cold she was. “I was wrong.” How could she have been so clueless? She’d thought they were working toward building a life at the Heron.

  She’d told him she loved him.

  But he hadn’t said it back, had he? He’d taken her in that rough, possessive way that had been a part of Shane since they met. But he’d never said the words.

  Kendall took her Carhartt jacket off the peg and pulled on her snow boots, gloves, and hat without thinking about matching. Just getting warm. She forced on a smile and met Mr. Clark at the end of the driveway.

  “Are you appraising the house as well?”

  “No, just the land for now. Mr. Justice wanted to see what the land was worth.”

  “The property is worth more than this entire operation, so you’re damn right I want to sell. I will be selling.”

  The memory of Shane’s words slapped at her.

  “Right. Well, let’s go see the property line.”

  “I have the town plans, but I need to make sure there are no issues. I’ll take some soil and water samples for a few tests and walk the property line.”

  She nodded.

  “You don’t need to come along if you have things to do.”

  “No, that’s fine. I’d like to go with you.” She needed to walk the paths and see for herself just what the Heron was worth. Since obviously that was the only thing Shane really cared about.

  She’d know every detail.

  Later that night, with her hands around her third cup of tea, she stared out at the icicles forming off the eaves. The ice storm had come in with a vengeance, encrusting the steps, the drive, the dock—everything—in a hard shell of ice.

  There was nothing to do but sit and wait for it to stop.

  Mr. Clark had told her he would get back to them in a few days with the information.

  A few days to know what her heart was worth.

  “Honey, come sit down.”

  “I think I’m just going to go up and try to get some sleep.”

  “You don’t know what Shane’s thinking. Wait until tomorrow to think the worst of things.”

  Wait until tomorrow? Her brain hadn’t stopped whirling since the appraiser had shown up. “We have options. Maybe if we sell this place, we can move out to Utah. It really was the most beautiful place I’d ever seen besides Winchester Falls.”

  “Kendall…”

  She turned to her mother and set her mug down. “We could start over. Find a new place. Hell, the prices outside New York are amazingly different. We could probably buy a bigger place for half the money in Utah.”

  Lily stood and pulled Kendall into her arms. Kendall just stood there with her arms at her sides. She didn’t want her mother’s comfort. What she needed to do was figure out a plan. Kendall slipped away from her mother and picked up her cell.

  “I have a friend in Utah. I should call her. See if the offer still stands to come out there and live.”

  “Kendall, you’re not making any sense. Our friends are here. Why would
we leave? Why don’t you just call Shane and ask him?”

  “I’ll talk to him when he comes ho—when he gets back tomorrow.”

  “There are a million reasons to do an appraisal. You can’t make assumptions.”

  “The property is worth more than this entire operation, so you’re damn right I want to sell. I will be selling.”

  Kendall stopped, meeting her mother’s gaze. “Because he said it. I just didn’t choose to believe him.”

  “Are you sure?”

  How many times had that same line screamed in her head today?

  “The property is worth more than this entire operation, so you’re damn right I want to sell. I will be selling.”

  “I can’t be here. I don’t know how you stayed here after Lawrence left. How could you stand to be in the same places, see the same spots after loving him?” She slapped her hands over her mouth and saw the stricken look on her mother’s face. “I’m sorry, Mom. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to say that.”

  Lily blinked back a sheen of tears and sank onto the couch. “Because I loved your father more than he loved me. I didn’t have those kinds of memories. I made a home for Larry and tried to make this house perfect so he wouldn’t leave. I held on to him so tightly that I drove him away.”

  Kendall pushed away her own pain and locked it into a box. She was good at stuffing her emotions in boxes when she needed to. She sat next to her mother and curled an arm around her shoulders.

  “You never ask about Lawrence, so I just never talk about him.” Lily’s voice broke.

  “Anytime I asked when I was little, you would cry. I hated to see you cry.” She pressed her cheek to her mother’s. The familiar scent of lavender and vanilla closed around her.

  “Knowing a man doesn’t love you back is the worst feeling in the world.”

  Her mother’s whispered statement left Kendall raw. She had to agree. Funny how the next generation of Justice would shred the heart of yet another Proctor. Evidently the men were kryptonite to Proctor women.

  “I knew he was seeing someone. I felt him pulling away from me when you were really little. He stayed for you, you know. I got five years with Larry because you were the light of his life.”

  Kendall’s eyes burned. “Then why did he leave me without a backward glance? Why did he leave us?”

  “He fell in love with Shane’s mother. I didn’t know her name, but from what I pieced together, it had to be her. I broke them up, you know? For two years he tried to stay here, and I naively thought having his baby would be enough of a hold. I even tried to have another one, but he was careful. I told him that if he left, he’d have to leave you too. I don’t even recognize the woman I was then. I’d have done anything to get him to stay.”

  “Oh, Mom.” Kendall looked down as the first drops of tears splashed against her hand. Lily had loved her father so much. Maybe too much.

  “I’m sorry I took him away from you too. Part of our problem had always been how prideful Larry and I both were. Even when I wanted to let you back into his life. When I got over my own stupidity and contacted him, it was too late.”

  “He didn’t want me?” Kendall’s chest ached. How much was one fragile organ supposed to take in one day?

  “No, honey. He did, but his wife got sick. He had to worry about her, and time just slid by. We both agreed that it was best to leave well enough alone.”

  He’d actually wanted her? Kendall stood. All this time she’d thought her father had simply walked away. “You made the decision for me? Don’t you think I should have been in on that kind of discussion?”

  “You didn’t want to talk about him. I thought I was doing the right thing.”

  Kendall pushed her hair back. She searched for anger, for regret, but she couldn’t find either. Her mother had made a good life for her. A few conversations she and Shane had on the road trip finally made sense. Her father still had chosen Shane’s mother over his own daughter. But if Lily was telling the truth, she hadn’t given Lawrence much choice in the matter.

  She tried to reconcile the desperate and unreasonable woman her mother described and the mother she’d known all her life. Lily was bright and warm and sweet to everyone she met, but she rarely interacted with men. Kendall dashed away tears. “I understand. I wish you had found someone else instead of pining for Lawrence.”

  “I loved him. I didn’t want anyone else.”

  She folded her arms over her aching stomach. She could understand not wanting to love again. Who would ever want to feel this way?

  How could she be so wrong about Shane?

  She was tired of asking the same questions to her broken heart and muddled brain.

  “Why don’t we watch a movie, huh? Something with lots of violence and not a love story in sight.”

  Her mother looked up at her. “You look exhausted, honey. Why don’t you go up to bed?”

  “Because I’ll stare at the ceiling all night. At least if I watch bad guys blow up stuff, then I’m not thinking about… Well, I’m just not thinking.”

  Lily sighed. “How about The Expendables?”

  “Perfect.”

  SHANE CRAWLED HIS way up the winding road, his teeth jarring with each dip in the gravel. Ice coated every surface as far as the eye could see. The sun glared up off the molten snow encasement, giving him a headache. He’d left Connecticut early that morning, but the only reason he’d made it was because of the brand-new chains on his tires.

  A good tip from his customer. Parts of California had snow, but nothing like the Northeast.

  He frowned at Kendall’s missing Outback. He knew she was a skilled driver in these conditions, but no one should be on the road. The town had been buttoned down tight with only the plows and salt trucks hacking out a path in the deep freeze.

  He gathered the paperwork he’d picked up on his way out of town: loan applications and interest rate information from three different banks, a New York license as a preemptive strike to establish residency, and a list of ideas for renovations.

  Everything he’d need to talk to Kendall about refinancing and expanding the Heron.

  Sitting with her on the dock, looking out over the water with its flawless stillness had been a defining moment. Having her settle against him had allowed him to finally quiet his mind against all the questions he’d had about running the Heron with her.

  Making love with her in her tiny bedroom and seeing the love there just waiting for him had been the start of it. He knew that now, but that moment on the water on New Year’s Day had cemented everything.

  She was what he needed. It had always been Kendall. From the will reading to the endless stretch of miles leading him here, one thing had been a constant. Kendall and her optimistic smile, her warmth, and the unending passion between them—all of it was everything he’d ever wanted.

  And now he had the Heron that he could share with her and grow with her.

  Hell, he was going to marry her. If it took two days or two years, he’d convince her that forever was the only option.

  He climbed the steps, letting himself inside. Boxes for ornaments sat around the tree in the living room. He followed the clatter of dishes into the kitchen. Lily sat at the table wrapping Christmas dishes.

  “Hi, Lily. Where’s Kendall?”

  Lily didn’t say a word, just wrapped the next dish, placing it in the box at her feet.

  He stood in front of her. “Lily.”

  She looked up at him, her dark eyes flat and angry. “She’s gone to Bells’s place.”

  “Oh. In this?” Puzzled, he felt the short hairs of his nape rise in alarm.

  “She needed to get away from here for a little while.”

  “Why?”

  “Because she needed to think. She has plans to make too. You’re not the only one who has to think about the future.”

  At a loss, Shane rubbed the back of his head. “I know that.”

  “Really? Do you? I almost hope you’re just oblivious, because if you
hurt my daughter on purpose with that stunt yesterday, then I might be the one tying a rock around your chest and throwing you into the lake.”

  “Wait, what?”

  “Your Mr. Clark came by yesterday.”

  “My Mr. Clark?”

  “The appraiser?”

  The alarm bells got louder. “Fuck.” At her glare, he winced. “Sorry, Lily. He wasn’t supposed to be here until next week. I was supposed to have time to talk to her about that.”

  “About what? Would it hurt less if you actually manned up and told her you were still serious about selling the Heron out from under us? Maybe.”

  Surprised at her venom, he lifted the papers in his hand. “No. I’m not selling.”

  Lily stood up. “Then why on earth would you have an appraiser out? What are those, real estate papers?”

  “Loan papers. I was going to talk to Kendall about refinancing this place and putting on an addition.” He looked down at his future mother-in-law with her curling coffee-colored hair and Kendall’s dark eyes. “I wanted to talk to her about a place separate from the B and B for us. I want her to have a real bedroom, not a closet.”

  “Oh.” Her eyes welled up. “I told her to wait, to try not to jump to conclusions.” Lily stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I knew you wouldn’t break her heart.”

  Shane kissed the top of her head. The pretty floral scent that was always a part of Lily calmed a few of his jangling nerves. “I love her.”

  “I know you do. Anyone can see it. Well, anyone but Kendall.”

  “I’m not really good at saying it.”

  “You’re really good at showing it. The rest will catch up. I hate that Kendall has such a tiny place to sleep, but she wanted to use all the bedrooms for rental space.”

  “I understand. That’s why I want to build off the barn. Make a separate space for her. Maybe an in-law apartment for you.”

  Lily dabbed at her eyes but finally shook her head. “I have a perfect room at the back of the house that I love. But a separate space for you two and maybe room for grandbabies? I’d be all over that.”

  The breath in his lungs stalled. A little sunshine-haired girl that looked like Kendall? What a terrifying and amazing thought. “Let’s worry about babies after I convince her I’m not going anywhere.”