The First Kiss of Spring

by Emily March

  “Yeah?”

  “When is your sister planning to make her big announcement?”

  “Sometime tomorrow.” Chase glanced over his shoulder. “They expect her to arrive by mid-afternoon.”

  Tomorrow. Caitlin was coming to town tomorrow.

  It’s too soon.

  “When you see her, tell her I…” Josh’s voice trailed off. He hadn’t a clue as to what he’d intended to say.

  “Yes? You what?”

  Idiot. You’d be a fool to so much as crack that door open. “Nothing. Never mind.”

  A glimmer of amusement sparked in Chase’s eyes. “For the life of me, I don’t know why I ever thought Eternity Springs was boring. See you next week, Tarkington. If not sooner.”

  The sound of Chase’s laughter floated on the September breeze and caused a flutter of unease to work its way up Josh’s spine. The sensation only grew stronger when he heard Chase add, “This is gonna be fun.”

  Journal Entry

  I did—do, I guess—have family. Blood family, to use my mother’s term. I always thought she sounded venomous when she said it. Like she’d wanted to spill some blood where they were concerned. Understandable, to a point. My half sister, Amelia, is nine months older than me. My other half sister, Arabella, is six months younger than I am.

  Yeah, do the math.

  I’ve never met them. My mother and my father’s mistress were bitter enemies.

  My half brother is—was—six years older than me. His mother was my father’s first wife, a star on Broadway. Her son inherited her voice. He was the lead singer for a rock band that never quite made it. He used to show up on our doorstep from time to time and turn the charm on, thawing my mother’s frost. She always let him stay. She couldn’t turn him away. He took after our father, tall with black hair and the famous eyes. Movie-star handsome, of course.

  His name was Andrew Barrison Trammel, though everyone called him Drew-Bear. I had a big case of hero worship toward Drew-Bear. He liked me. He played with me. He paid attention to me. A healthy kind of attention.

  He hung a basketball hoop on our garage without even asking my mother, and we’d play Horse and Pig. One time he brought his baseball card collection and let me look through it. We spent hours and hours and hours talking baseball. Drew-Bear’s dream wasn’t to be a rock star. He wanted to play shortstop for the Dodgers. He had a big case of hero worship for Pee Wee Reese.

  When we weren’t shooting hoops or playing catch or studying stats, Drew-Bear played board games with me. Candy Land. Chutes and Ladders. Some marble game you played on a tin star. I remember trying to get him to play video games, but he wasn’t interested. He liked the old-fashioned stuff, he always said.

  He committed suicide when I was ten. I saw on the news that he’d overdosed with aspirin, of all things.

  He left me his baseball card collection.

  Maybe one of these days I’ll look at it.

  Chapter Five

  In the bedroom she used when she visited her parents at their home above Heartache Falls, Caitlin tried to will her brother’s Jeep into his customary parking spot on the driveway. She’d arrived twenty minutes ago, and she knew her time was running out. Her parents had a hot seat warmed up and waiting for her downstairs.

  It was a miracle she’d put them off this long. They’d tried their best to give her the third degree when she called to say she wanted to visit them. She’d managed to dodge their questions on the phone, and they hadn’t hit her with their queries the minute she arrived today, but she knew her parents. They wouldn’t let her hide upstairs for long.

  But Caitlin really, really wanted Chase here when she broke her news to her parents, so she’d called this morning and given him a heads-up about her intentions.

  He’d promised to do his best to be here when she arrived, but had warned her he had a dentist appointment that might delay him.

  “Nervy of you to have a toothache when I need you,” she’d teased him with only a little whine in her voice.

  “I’m definitely a nervy kind of guy today,” he’d responded.

  She’d caught a note in his voice that suggested he referred to something more than a toothache, but he’d ended the call before she could pursue the question.

  Caitlin turned away from the window when a knock sounded on her bedroom door. Her mother said, “Honey? Is everything all right?”

  “Yes. I’m fine. Just changing clothes. I’ll be down in a minute.”

  “Okay. I’ll put the kettle on. I have the turmeric-ginger tea you like.”

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  Caitlin opened her suitcase and pulled out yoga pants, a T-shirt, and sneakers and quickly changed her clothes. She stared at her reflection in the mirror, took a deep breath, then said, “You can do this. You’re an adult. It’s your life to live. Your decisions to make.”

  True, but this was the first time in her life she was going to purposefully disappoint her parents, which was why she felt like a nine-year-old going before the bad-report-card tribunal.

  They waited for her in the kitchen. Her mother had one of her favorite tea sets out, a fine, hand-painted porcelain set with yellow pansies on the teapot, teacups, and saucers. Her father sat at the kitchen table sipping what she guessed was scotch from a crystal highball glass. Seriously, Dad? In the middle of the afternoon? Why did they think she’d come home? To tell them she had cancer?

  She found out what her father thought the minute she took her seat.

  “You’re pregnant, aren’t you?” Mac set his glass down hard on the farmhouse kitchen table. “Was it that Oklahoma mechanic?”

  That’s what they think? That I’m pregnant? Caitlin was appalled not only by the accusation, but also by the scathing tone in her father’s voice when he referred to Josh. What did her dad have against Josh Tarkington?

  At the same moment, her mother snapped, “Oh, Mac.”

  “Well?” He flung up his hand. “Why not cut through all the BS? Why else would she make a middle-of-the-week trip home less than a month after her weekend with that … that … grease monkey. She’s in trouble.”

  “Dad!” Caitlin was flabbergasted. Who was this man and what had he done with her father? Mac Timberlake didn’t jump to conclusions. He was steady and deliberate and fair. He’d been a federal judge, for heaven’s sake. He never called people names.

  The only time she could remember his acting so out of character was when his own marriage was on the rocks.

  On the rocks. In trouble.

  Caitlin’s chin dropped. She darted a glance toward her mother, then back to her dad, then again to her mother. Oh no. Maybe Mac’s reaction had nothing to do with her …

  In trouble.

  Oh no oh no oh no.

  In that moment the years rolled away and she was a freshman in college once again, reliving the phone call from Mom dropping the bomb that she’d left Denver and Mac. As she recalled that pain, tears immediately welled in Caitlin’s eyes.

  “She’s crying.” Mac shoved to his feet, almost knocking his chair over in the process. “I’m right. Dammit. I knew it. I swear I’m going to kill that low-down long-haired, land-thieving carburetor-screwing scumbag pretty boy.”

  “What?” Caitlin pushed to her feet too. “What are you talking about? I’m not pregnant. I’m moving! Are you? Is that what’s going on here? Are you two splitting up again?”

  Now her mother rose to her feet. “Caitlin! You’re moving?”

  “You’re not pregnant?” her father asked.

  “Are you and Mom getting divorced?”

  “Divorced!” her parents exclaimed simultaneously.

  A new voice rose over the chaos. “What in the wide, weird world of Timberlake is going on here?”

  Chase strode into the kitchen, his expression curious, but calm. He chose a red apple from the fruit basket on the counter beside the subzero fridge and took a bite as Caitlin and her mother both exclaimed, “Chase!”

  Except for the day of his re
turn from Chizickstan, Caitlin had never in her life been so happy to see her brother.

  Her father asked, “What are you doing here?”

  “Well now, there’s a welcome.” Chase met Caitlin’s gaze and winked. “Bet he didn’t greet you like that. You’ve always been the favorite.”

  Caitlin offered her brother a weak smile and blinked back tears as her mother asked, “Is Lori with you?”

  “No, Mom. I’m afraid you’re limited to seeing only my ugly mug.”

  Mac twisted his head and met his wife’s gaze. “He’s in on this. He knows what’s going on.”

  Ali covered her hand with her mouth. “She needed backup. Oh, Mac. It’s worse than we thought.”

  “What is worse?” Chase asked. “I don’t know anything. What’s going on?”

  “Is their marriage in trouble again?” Caitlin demanded of her brother.

  “What?” Chase frowned in confusion. “No. Not from anything I’ve seen. Recently, I might add. Just yesterday. I can’t tell you how embarrassing it is to open the Yellow Kitchen’s supply closet and find your parents mugging down like teenagers.”

  “You had no business opening that door,” Allie snapped.

  “Hey, I heard noises! I thought you had a critter in the restaurant. I was trying to do a good thing.” Chase shifted his attention to his sister. “Why do you think they’re having problems?”

  Caitlin hesitated. How could she explain the conclusion to which she’d jumped? It was almost as stupid as what her father had decided. “People around here were jumping to conclusions so I thought I’d join in.”

  “He dropped the baby bomb, didn’t he?” Chase shot his father a disapproving look. “C’mon, Dad. I told you not to go there.”

  Caitlin’s eyes widened. “He rolled his theory by you? Gee, Dad. Did you take out an ad in the Eternity Times too?”

  Ali held up her hand. “Excuse me. Can we talk about this move? Have you been transferred, Caitlin? Is that what you’ve dreaded telling us? Where are they sending you? Paris? London? Rome? Or maybe Dublin! Irish textiles are fabulous. Is it a promotion? Surely it’s a promotion!”

  Caitlin shut her eyes and sighed. “I wasn’t transferred, Mom. I wasn’t promoted.” Shooting a glare at her dad, she added, “And for the last time, I’m not pregnant. I quit my job.”

  Ali’s eyes went as round as the saucer beneath her untouched teacup. “You quit? Why? A better job? You must have gotten a better job.”

  “Not exactly. I’m not going to look for another job.”

  A crunch sounded as Chase took a bite of his crisp red apple. Ali ignored the drink in front of her and reached for her husband’s scotch.

  “I’m lost,” Mac said. “Why did you quit your job and why did you ask your brother to show up within minutes of your arrival? What … oh, damn.” Blindly, Mac reached for Ali’s hand. “Are you sick, Pumpkin?”

  “I’m not sick. I’m not pregnant. I’m happy as a pup with two tails. I quit my job and I’m going to open a daycare center. In Eternity Springs.”

  For a long moment, nobody spoke. Nobody moved. Then abruptly, Ali tossed back the entire contents of Mac’s glass, then reached for the bottle to refill it. “A daycare center? You want to open a daycare center?”

  “Yes.”

  “A daycare.” Ali took a drink.

  “Yes, a daycare!” Caitlin snapped, frustration humming through her veins.

  Ali drummed her fingers on the tabletop and finally asked the questions Caitlin had expected and prepared to answer. “Why in the world would you do that?”

  “Because I want to live in Eternity Springs.”

  “I repeat, why? You’re a city girl, you’ve always been a city girl. Have I imagined all those times in the past ten years when you griped and complained about being bored here? I do believe you’re the one who coined the term ‘Boonieville’ when referring to Eternity Springs.”

  “That was a long time ago, Mother. I was angry at you for leaving Dad and Denver, and I didn’t see the appeal of small-town life. Especially not this small town. But things have changed since then. I’ve changed since then.”

  “She met a mechanic,” Mac grumbled.

  Both women ignored him. Ali said, “Yes, you have an education and an established career.”

  “And I can take what I’ve learned and apply it to my new occupation.”

  “Babysitting.”

  “Entrepreneurship.”

  “What do you know about running a business?”

  Caitlin’s foot started tapping. “As much as you knew when you started the Yellow Kitchen, I imagine.”

  Chase frowned. “C’mon, Caitlin. Don’t—”

  “Zip it, bro.” She folded her arms and glared at her mother. “I’m not an idiot, Mother. I’ve given this a lot of thought and analysis and preparation. Eternity Springs needs a daycare center. I can run a fabulous daycare center.”

  “How do you know? What qualifications do you have? You’ve never worked with children.”

  “Sure I have. Think, Mom. You know that my volunteer work has always been child centered, and I’ve won my company’s Community Outreach Volunteer of the Year award for three out of the past five years. On top of that, I’ve been teaching the preschool Sunday school class at my church for the past three years.”

  “I didn’t know about the awards,” Ali murmured.

  “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Mother.”

  Mac scowled at Caitlin and warned, “Don’t sass your mother, young lady.”

  “I apologize.” Caitlin closed her eyes, summoned her patience, and tried to bury her hurt. Keeping her tone modulated, she said, “I’ve done my research on this. I know what I need to do to get licensed. I know the personnel and services requirements. I know what facilities I’ll need.”

  Mac rose from his seat and retrieved a second glass from the cabinet. “It’ll take money.”

  “I have my inheritance from Granddad.”

  Mac winced. Chase whistled silently. Ali gasped and said, “You can’t—”

  “Yes, I can. He told each of his grandchildren to use the money to finance our dreams. You don’t get to tell me what my dream is, Mom. Not anymore.”

  Ali looked away from Caitlin, but not before she spied the tears pooling in her mother’s eyes. The sight brought tears to her own eyes. She loved her mother. She didn’t like hurting her. But then, she didn’t like being hurt by her either.

  “I knew it,” Mac muttered as he poured another drink. “I knew the minute I set eyes on the way you were hanging off that free-handed mechanic that there’d be trouble.”

  Glad to have a different target for her ire, Caitlin whirled on him. “What do you have against Josh Tarkington? He’s a nice guy. He takes care of a crippled dog, for heaven’s sake!”

  “He’s from Oklahoma! He came out of the system!”

  “What system? What are you talking about, Dad?”

  “I asked around about him. He’s Brick Callahan’s foster brother. He grew up in the foster system.”

  “So?”

  “In Oklahoma!”

  “I repeat, so? You did too, Dad. You came out of the foster system in Oklahoma too.”

  He lifted his drink in a toast. “The defense rests.”

  Caitlin shot a frustrated look toward her brother. “I’m going to lose it. I knew they’d do this. I knew they wouldn’t understand.”

  “You’re doing a sorry job of explaining yourself,” Chase pointed out, punctuating his point with a shake of his apple.

  “I’ve tried. They won’t listen.”

  Mac snorted. “I don’t need to listen. I heard. You’re throwing away your life for a grease monkey.”

  It was the proverbial final straw. Caitlin fisted her hands, gritted her teeth, and released a screech. “I can’t do this. You two are making me feel like I’m a nine-year-old who failed a spelling test, but I’m twenty-nine and I’ve made a decision, and I’m sorry that you’re disappointed, but it’
s my life and I’m going to live it the way I see fit! Now I’m going for a walk before I say or do something that I’ll regret.”

  Fighting back tears, she rushed out of the kitchen and out of the house, slamming the door behind her like the time she’d left home in a snit because Dad had made her change her too-short shorts. That door slam had earned her a two-week grounding.

  “The way he’s acting, he’s liable to try that again,” she muttered to herself.

  The way she was acting—like a rebellious teenager rather than a mature adult—she’d probably allow him to do it.

  Without conscious thought, Caitlin took the path that led toward Heartache Falls. She’d gone maybe four hundred yards when she heard the roar of a motorcycle. Was it coming or going?

  Her dad had a bike. Was he leaving? Or was someone arriving? She slowed her footsteps and listened harder. Arriving. Well, good. She’d left just in time. She didn’t have it in her to make nice to neighbors.

  Another hundred yards or so later, she became aware of footsteps following her. Glancing over her shoulder, she spied her brother. Caitlin didn’t slow her pace. Her long-legged brother would catch up with her soon enough.

  He did, walking beside her when the width of the path allowed, falling behind when it didn’t. They didn’t speak, but Caitlin drew comfort from his presence.

  The fifteen-minute walk took Caitlin twelve today. She heard the roar of the falls first and her pace increased. When she broke from the trees, spied the frothing white water and breathed in the scent of mist-saturated air, a lump formed in her throat. She should have come here first for a little Zen moment before going to her parents’ house. Something about this spot brought her peace when nothing else did.

  She made her way down the slope toward the broad, flat rock that was the Timberlake family’s traditional water-watching spot, approximately ten feet from the bank and halfway between the top of the falls and its base. There, she sat cross-legged and stared at the water. Her brother sat beside her and, as was his habit, he scooped up a handful of pebbles and began throwing them one by one toward the falls.