The First Kiss of Spring

by Emily March

  “No can do. Remember, cameras are off-limits in yoga class. However, why don’t I join you in the kitchen and you can boss me around while I help you get dinner started? Cooking relaxes you, and there’s no reason you can’t serve our chick her feed a little early so that we can make the couples class.”

  “You’re truly up to going?”

  “I am. I’m glad Celeste reminded us about it. I think we both can use a little Eternity Springs Zen tonight.”

  They walked hand in hand back into the kitchen. Armed with a knife and a cutting board, Mac sat at the table and sliced zucchinis, tomatoes, and garlic under his wife’s watchful eye.

  “A little thicker on the tomatoes, please. It’s for Caprese salad.”

  Mac shifted his knife. “Like this?”

  “Perfect.”

  They worked in comfortable silence for a time while Mac’s thoughts bounced from subject to subject, finally settling on his daughter. “So you really thought she had come home to tell us she was moving to Europe?”

  “I did. It’s the next logical step in her career.”

  “You had no inkling that she wanted to move home?”

  “Not at all. There’s nothing logical about her moving to Eternity Springs.”

  “Sure there is,” Mac grumbled. “He’s opened a garage on Sixth and Spruce.”

  “Mac, you need to zip your lips about Josh Tarkington when she comes home.”

  “I know. I will.” He sliced the tomato with a little too much zest.

  “Celeste had nothing but nice things to say about the man.”

  “Yeah well, Celeste never has anything bad to say about anyone.”

  “Now, that’s not true. She’s an excellent judge of character, and she’ll speak up if she believes it necessary.”

  Yeah well. Harrumph. “Is this enough tomatoes?”

  Ali eyed the cutting board. “One more. Lori loves Caprese.”

  Mac did too. But then, he loved almost everything his wife created in the kitchen. The only way he’d managed to avoid packing on the pounds after she’d begun cooking professionally was by embracing the active lifestyle made easy to achieve when semi-retired and living in the mountains.

  I miss that already.

  “Here come the kids,” Ali said.

  Mac rose from his seat and joined his wife at the kitchen’s big window that offered a breathtaking view of the San Juans. Love swelled within him as his gaze landed on his younger son and daughter who were making their way toward the house. His heart gave a little twist. Dear God, I’m not ready for this.

  “Mac…?” Ali spoke quietly and with a note of hesitance. “Maybe we should tell—”

  “No!” He fired out before she’d finished her sentence.

  “—them.”

  He repeated, “No. Not yet. Not until we hear what they have to say in Boston.”

  “But—”

  “Honey, I don’t need the drama and neither do you. Please. Let it go.”

  She sighed. “All right. It’s just … fair warning. Chase is your typical clueless guy when it comes to noticing undercurrents. Caitlin is more perceptive. If she’s living in Eternity Springs and around us all the time and we act out of character like we did earlier, she’s liable to figure out something’s up. And we don’t want a situation like Lili had with her parents. They kissed and made up, but the hurt was real and it did some damage.”

  “You have a point. I’ll be careful. I’m calm now.”

  Ali studied him closely, then nodded. “It’s the Celeste effect.”

  “True.” Mac gave her waist a little squeeze. “The bourbon didn’t hurt anything either.”

  When Caitlin and Chase entered the room a few minutes later, Ali stood in front of the stove. Mac was setting the table. The mother and father met their daughter’s gaze and all three spoke simultaneously. “I’m sorry.”

  The tension deflated somewhat. Mac motioned to the table. “Sweetheart, Mom and I want to start this over. Please, sit down and share the news you need to share. We won’t interrupt.” After a moment’s pause, he added, “If we can help it.”

  Caitlin’s eyes watered up. She blinked rapidly and swallowed hard. “Thank you.”

  Taking a deep breath, she added, “I know I could have handled this better. I’ve been afraid to be honest with you. But the truth is”—she shot her brother a quick, teasing grin “—it’s all Chase’s fault.”

  He snorted. “Some things never change.”

  “The truth is the truth,” their father observed.

  At her father’s quip, Caitlin’s tension visibly eased. “Seriously, though. This did all begin when Chase went missing. Those horrible weeks brought home to me just how short life is. It made me want to make every single day count. You understand that, don’t you?”

  Mac’s gaze flicked toward his wife. Oh hell. Caitlin couldn’t have made a comment more certain to bring on the waterworks if she’d tried.

  Two big fat tears overflowed Ali’s eyes and rolled down her cheeks. “Yes. We understand.”

  “Oh, don’t cry, Mom.” Caitlin impulsively stood and reached for her mother and hugged her. “Please, don’t cry. I know I’ve disappointed you and that rips me in two.”

  “That’s not … oh … don’t mind me, honey. I’m just hormonal these days. Continue with your explanation, please. Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes. Chase, I texted Lori to let her know we’ll be eating a little early tonight.”

  “Will she be able to get away from the clinic?”

  “She said she’d be here. Caitlin, please go on.”

  Caitlin exhaled a heavy breath, then said, “I’m glad I went to New York and lived that experience. It was fabulous and exciting and I’m proud of what I accomplished. But I’ve been there, done that, and I dream of something else now. I’m ready for the next step.”

  She faced her father, and met and held his gaze. “Dad, I’ll tell you one more time that I’m not pregnant. However, I want to be. I’m ready to be. That’s my new dream. I want children, a house full of kids—the mess and the mayhem and the pandemonium. I want to drive a carpool and bring homemade snacks to Little League games. I want to read bedtime stories and quiz spelling words.”

  Mac raised his hand. “I’m sorry. I just … I know I’m not supposed to interrupt, but I have this one question…”

  “Yes, Dad. I want to have a husband too. A husband first.”

  “Okay. Good. That’s good. I’ll shut up now.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and added, “Except … don’t you think the odds are better for that somewhere other than Eternity Springs?”

  Caitlin smiled and shrugged. “Actually, I don’t. From what I’ve seen, Eternity Springs is the happy marriage capital of Colorado. Besides, that’s the other part of my dream. I want to share the mess and mayhem and pandemonium with my family. I want you to be part of it. I want my babies to have grandparents and uncles and aunts and cousins who are an intimate part of their lives, not just people they see on holidays and vacations. That’s a lot more important to me than designing pretty sheets and visiting Rockefeller Center at Christmas.”

  His daughter’s heartfelt declaration brought Mac to the verge of tears. He was thankful when Chase lightened the moment by saying, “You do make awfully pretty sheets, though, Goober.”

  “Thank you.”

  Ali glanced up from the pan of risotto she stirred and cut to the heart of the matter. “Are you serious about Josh Tarkington?”

  Caitlin obviously chose her words carefully when she responded. “I haven’t known Josh long enough to be serious, Mom. But I am seriously going to see if I can be serious about him.”

  Mac opened his mouth, Ali shot him a warning look, and he caught his words just in time. “Want me to fill the water glasses, Alison?”

  “Please.”

  He’d give himself an extra big glass. Maybe he could swallow the wrong way and drown himself. Just solve all his problems here and now.

  Ali said, “You
’ve told me you work from home quite a bit. Is it possible that you could arrange a long-distance position? Do your designing here then travel to New York when it’s necessary?”

  “I couldn’t do that with my current job, but I could freelance. But Mom, that’s not what I want to do. I want to work with children.”

  “But—”

  “Please, Mom. Listen to me. Believe me, this wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I wanted to be now that I’ve finally grown up. I made a lot of lists. I want to work with children and I want to operate a daycare. Eternity Springs desperately needs a daycare and I’m going to establish a fabulous one. I’m already at work on the licensing and I’m counting on you to help me with other legal stuff, Dad. Will you do that?”

  “Of course.”

  Caitlin shared her plans about renting a place in town and her thoughts about the empty lot on Aspen. Under other circumstances, Mac would have suggested she move back home, but that wasn’t doable with their current situation. He exchanged a long look with Ali, silently communicating in that way of long-time partners, and she nodded her agreement.

  Caitlin glanced curiously between them, but continued, “If the lot doesn’t work out, I plan to ask Celeste if she has any properties that might suit. I’d try to coax Jax Lancaster into doing renovations for me.”

  “Jax does great work,” Chase said. “You’ll need good luck to get him away from that baby of his and Claire’s. In a town of doting fathers, he’s one of the dotingest.”

  “Is that a word?” Caitlin asked.

  Chase shrugged. “I dunno. It suits.”

  Just then Mac’s old dog, Gus, lifted his head from his bed in the mudroom, perked his ears, and thumped his tail. “Lori must be here,” observed Mac. “The only time Gus gets that enthused anymore is when Captain comes up to play.”

  Chase pushed away from the pantry door where he’d been leaning. “So, are we done here? Goober, do you have any more grenades you plan to launch?”

  “I’ve pretty much said what I wanted to say. Mom? Dad?”

  Mac arched a brow toward Ali, silently giving her the floor. She said, “It’s your life, Caitlin. You have to live it. If this is what you want … I won’t say I totally understand it … but your Dad and I will support you.”

  “She wants what you had, Alison,” Mac said gently. “What you created.”

  Ali instinctively pulled back. The shock in her expression both amused Mac and frustrated him. Even after all this time, after the undeniable success of their family as a unit, Ali didn’t appreciate what she meant to the Timberlake clan. For some inexplicable reason, she had never valued her value to the family.

  “Dad is right. You are my hero, Mom. If I can do half as good a job at being a wife and a mother and a businesswoman and a friend and a community supporter as you are, I’ll be thrilled.”

  Ali shut her eyes, but that didn’t prevent the tears from trailing down her cheeks again. Mac’s heart twisted. As a rule, Ali wasn’t a crier, but these days, tears hovered constantly at the ready.

  Chase opened the back door and Captain galloped in, making a stop at everyone’s feet to be scratched, petted, and loved on for a moment. Then he escaped with Gus to create their usual havoc with the dog toy box just as Lori entered the house, a wide smile on her face as she called, “Caitlin! Welcome home!”

  Once again, Mac and Ali shared a long look, silently communicating their hopes and fears, their worries and concerns, and their regrets. Ali nodded and Mac spoke the words he should have said earlier that day, but had withheld. “Yes, Caitlin our love. Welcome home.”

  Journal Entry

  I ended up at the Christophers’ house by dumb luck. Good luck, I guess. One of the few times in my life that I’d say luck fell that way for me.

  It was the last movie I made. I played the part of ten-year-old burn victim turned psychopath in a thriller filming three months on location in Oklahoma City. We worked mostly at night so I’d get to bed really late, sleep to mid-afternoon, then do a few hours of school. Listen to my mom’s crazy emotional phone calls with the drummer—it was an ugly breakup. Go to work again. Makeup took forever. Mainly I remember feeling exhausted.

  The night of the wrap party, Mom attempted suicide.

  Someone found her in time to revive her, but she went into the hospital and I got shuffled into the system. I went a little bit crazy myself then. I was still just a kid and I’d had a lot of suicide in my life. My dad, my brother, now my mom—gave me a bit of a complex. What was wrong with me that people in my life kept offing themselves?

  Then a social worker introduced me to Paul and Cindy Christopher. We used my mother’s surname instead of my own, and my whole first name instead of my initials. Out with J.B. Trammel and in with Joshua Tarkington.

  Mr. and Mrs. Christopher took me home with them to suburbia.

  I thought I’d landed in outer space. They had a half dozen bicycles in the garage, a trampoline in the backyard, and kids everywhere I looked. At six o’clock sharp when the cuckoo clock in the family room started chirping, you’d damn well better be sitting in your seat for family dinner. They said grace before eating.

  Like I said … outer space.

  Paul and Cindy knew about my California life, but they didn’t share it with the other kids. I was just one of them, a regular kid. I had the same rules to follow. The same chores to do. Paul and Cindy didn’t treat me one bit different.

  Outer space. Oklahoma.

  The closest place to heaven that existed on earth.

  Chapter Seven

  Exiting his garage on a crisp October morning, Josh took a moment to drink in the beauty of the day. The soft breeze was crisp, the sky a brilliant blue. The mountains were on fire with the colors of autumn. He planned to take a hike this weekend up above Brick’s river camp. His brother had told him of a remote spot where the forest was a symphony of quaking aspen, burbling creeks, and warbling songbirds. He wanted to experience it himself.

  He wanted to go someplace where he knew without a doubt that he wouldn’t run into Caitlin Timberlake.

  Her brief visit home had turned his world upside down. Nobody knew for sure what big announcement she’d made that weekend, but the rumors were driving him nuts. Some people said she’d come home to tell her parents she’d quit her job. Others said she’d eloped with a professional athlete. The possibility that caused Josh the most grief was the tidbit he’d heard while standing in line to buy milk at the Trading Post. There was some speculation that she just might be planning to move home to Eternity Springs.

  Knowing his luck, that’s exactly what would happen.

  But nobody knew for sure what big announcement she’d made. Mac and Ali Timberlake had left town right after their daughter’s brief visit, and Chase hadn’t confirmed any of the rumors before departing on a second honeymoon trip with Lori.

  So Josh walked on eggshells every time he left the garage.

  Maybe he shouldn’t have worked so hard to avoid her during her September visit. Shoot, no maybe about it. Hadn’t he learned by now that the only way to beat your demons is to face them?

  He should have sought her out and said hello and put the first post-Telluride visit behind him. Maybe then he wouldn’t be seeing her in line at the post office or playing pool at Murphy’s or walking a dog down Spruce. The woman haunted him. The what-ifs haunted him. The might-have-beens left him sad and lonely and alone.

  Luckily for his cranky mood this morning, he wouldn’t be alone for long. He had a house call to make.

  Mechanics didn’t ordinarily make house calls, but his across-the-street neighbor’s pitiful excuse of a Buick sat stranded in her garage. It took less effort to haul the tools he’d need across the street than hook the Buick up and tow it over to his place.

  Besides, Harriet loved to love on Penny, and if he did his work in her garage, she’d bring him cookies hot from the oven. Harriet Rosenbaum could be counted on for that.
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br />   The 1981 Buick Skylark needed a Viking funeral. Instead, at Harriet’s insistence, he’d do his best to get the old junker running again. The starter was shot. He wouldn’t bet on the alternator. For Harriet’s safety and that of the people of Eternity Springs, a brake job was a priority. That was just the beginning of the list. When he’d first lifted the hood to give it a quick once-over last night, Harriet mentioned that she hadn’t had her car serviced since her husband passed a year and a half ago.

  He’d swallowed a groan. Josh understood the love of a great piece of machinery and the desire to keep it running at all costs. However, a 1981 mud brown Skylark didn’t qualify as great machinery.

  Josh lay on his wheeled creeper scowling up a hole in the Buick’s muffler when he heard the squeak of a screen door. Because he’d been smelling the aroma of baking cookies for the past ten minutes, like Pavlov’s dog, Josh began to salivate. He had a serious sweet tooth, and Harriet made one fine cookie.

  With a shove against the Buick’s underbelly, he rolled out from beneath the car. “Do I smell chocolate chips?”

  She carried a serving tray containing a plate piled high with steaming cookies, a second plate filled with dog treats, and two glasses of milk. “Oatmeal chocolate chip. Oatmeal is good for you, so I don’t feel quite so guilty when I indulge.”

  Harriet Rosenbaum was a tiny, spry woman in her early seventies. A former math teacher from Texas, she and her husband had retired to Eternity Springs seven years ago. As was her habit, she wore yoga pants and one of a dozen oversized T-shirts that advertised the national parks. She and her husband had been avid campers, and after making the acquaintance of members of the Tornado Alleycats, an all-female camping club who had camped at Stardance Ranch RV Resort the previous summer, she was toying with the notion of joining the organization.

  Josh hoped she’d do it. Based on her reminiscences about camping with her husband and his own knowledge of the welcoming nature of the Alleycats, Josh thought that glamping with the girls would be a great way for the active widow to occupy her time. She obviously wanted more to fill up her days than cookie baking—as wonderful as that was.