Kelly’s heart stopped, and a tiny part of her wanted to slam the door shut.
“My car broke down,” Alicia said between chattering lips. “Phone isn’t getting reception. Can I use yours?”
“All right.” She stepped back as Alicia came into the room. “You’re soaked. How far did you walk?”
“About a mile. For a minute there, I didn’t think you were going to let me in.”
Kelly stared into the wary blue eyes of the woman who had once been her very best friend and knew that one thing hadn’t changed: they could still read each other like a book. “You need to dry off. You can use my bathroom. I still have the attic room.”
“Just the phone is fine.”
“Don’t be stupid, Alicia. You’ll get sick.”
“And you would care?” Alicia asked doubtfully.
“Well, Justin needs you to be healthy. And besides that, you’ll drip all over our floors. Go on upstairs and dry off. There’s a bathrobe hanging on the back of the bathroom door.”
“Thanks,” Alicia said as she left the room.
Kelly sank down onto a stool by the counter, suddenly weak in the knees. Just like the day before, she was ill prepared to deal with Alicia. There were so many things to be said and yet so many things that shouldn’t be said.
She could just let Alicia dry off on her own, use the phone, and get someone to pick her up. She didn’t have to get any further involved. She could hide out in the kitchen. No doubt Alicia would be happy to avoid her, too.
But five quiet, tense minutes later, she was on her feet, moving up the stairs. She entered the attic room just as Alicia was coming out of the bathroom in her pink floral bathrobe, squeezing her hair dry with a cherry-colored towel.
The sight shook Kelly to the core, taking her straight back to her teenage years, when she and Alicia had spent every second together. They’d been as close as sisters, sharing clothes and gossip, doing homework, watching television, sewing prom dresses, and painting posters for the school fund-raisers. They’d danced around the room, perfecting their sexiest moves. They’d laughed at late-night slasher movies, and they’d cried together when one of them was going through a breakup.
She’d been the first one Alicia had turned to when she found out she was pregnant. She’d held Alicia’s hand during labor, changed Justin’s first diaper, and held hands with Alicia as they watched Justin go to his first day of kindergarten.
And Alicia had been there for her, too. She’d sat with her all night when her dad died and had scoured five miles of countryside when her cat went missing. Alicia was the first one she’d told when Brian had asked her to marry him. Every event of her life had been shared with Alicia, and she’d known Alicia as well as she’d known herself. She’d thought she could count on her to always be there, until six months ago …
Her stomach turned over, and her heart actually ached with the memories.
Alicia wrapped the towel around her head turban-style. Her face was devoid of makeup, her blue eyes filled with uncertainty, sadness, maybe a wistful yearning.
“You don’t want me here,” Alicia said, not making it a question. “I knew it was a mistake to come upstairs, but I was really cold.”
Alicia was always cold. She was the first one to shiver when the sun went down, the first one to go looking for a blanket at a summer barbecue, and she’d moan through the winter months that she just couldn’t get warm. Kelly used to think it was Alicia’s mother’s leaving that had left Alicia so cold. It was as if she needed someone to wrap her up in their arms until she finally got warm. Unfortunately, the men she’d chosen for that job had fallen short, first Connor, then Gabe. Which reminded her …
“What were you doing with Gabe Ryder yesterday?”
A warm pink spread across Alicia’s cheeks. “Oh, he just showed up the other day. Rob apparently gave him his house.”
“Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know. Gabe made some promise to Rob about looking out for us.”
“Now he wants to look after you?”
“Yeah, crazy, huh?” Alicia sat on a chair by the desk. “When he left three years ago, he made it clear that he wasn’t coming back.”
“But you’re with someone else now, right? My mom said you were involved with a teacher.”
Alicia nodded. “Keith Andrews. He teaches at the high school. His son, David, is in Justin’s class, and Keith is a single parent, too. His wife died a few years ago. Justin and David are really close.”
“He sounds perfect,” she said.
Alicia gave her a hesitant look. “Do you want to talk, Kelly? Really talk?”
She hesitated. “A part of me does, and another part doesn’t.” Swallowing hard, she sat down on the edge of the bed, twisting her fingers in the material of her apron. “I’m sorry about Rob.”
Alicia’s lips tightened. “It was so unfair. He was going to be home for good in just six days. All those years I worried about him, and it was coming to an end. And then I’m out in the garden one day, and I see these two guys in uniform get out of their car and start walking toward the house. Even though I knew what was coming, I couldn’t believe it was happening.”
Kelly felt a wave of compassion as she looked at the pain in Alicia’s eyes. She knew how much Alicia loved her twin brother, how tight they were, and she was sorrier than she could say, because she knew what it meant to lose someone you loved.
“I loved Rob, too,” she said. “He wrote to me about a week before he died.”
“I didn’t know you were keeping in touch.”
“I was avoiding his e-mails, but for some reason, I opened that one.”
“What did he say?”
“That he couldn’t wait to get home.” She wasn’t about to tell Alicia the other things he’d said, his plea that she find a way to make up with his sister. “How’s Justin?” she asked, changing the subject.
“He’s sad about Rob, but he’s bouncing back. I don’t think it feels real to him. Rob was gone so much; he was used to him being away. But there are moments when he realizes the truth, and he just bursts into tears. I think about all the things that Rob is going to miss, and the relationship I wanted Justin to have with his uncle is gone now.”
Silence descended between them.
“I wanted to come back for the funeral, Alicia, but I thought there might be too much drama if I did, and I didn’t want to complicate things.”
“Was that the real reason, Kell? Or do you just hate me too much?”
Alicia’s blunt words shouldn’t have taken her by surprise. Her best friend had never been one to beat around the bush. Her directness was one of her best traits. Which was why it had driven her crazy that Alicia wouldn’t take responsibility for what had happened to Brian. She prided herself on honesty, but when it came to that truth, Alicia couldn’t tell it.
“I just don’t understand,” she said, “why you couldn’t own up to what happened.”
“What do you think happened, Kelly? Because it’s obviously different from what I know,” Alicia said, her voice laced with frustration.
She drew in a breath. “I think you got distracted when your father flipped his boat. You took your eyes off the water, off the guys in your raft, and that lack of concentration was the reason your raft flipped over.” She paused. “Russell also believes that the rafts were underinflated, and that’s why they flipped. I know they found a small tear after the accident.”
“That could have been caused when the raft hit the rocks.”
“I know you were short on money. You were cutting corners.”
“Not those kinds of corners. I was careful. I did all the checks, and so did my dad. How can you doubt that, Kelly? You’ve been out on the river with us. You know we don’t take chances.”
“That’s not true. Your dad takes more and more chances every year. He likes to show people a thrilling time, and he was feeling the heat from Wild River Tours. He wanted to impress the guys that day.”
“My father didn’t do anything wrong. It was an accident, a terrible, tragic accident. Unless you can prove to me otherwise, I don’t know what to say.”
“I don’t have to prove it to you. You need to prove it to me. I’ve heard stories from everyone who was there.”
“Most of whom were in the water, myself included,” Alicia pointed out. “We were struggling to survive. It was impossible to see or hear anything but the rushing water.”
Kelly wished they hadn’t started this conversation, because the idea of Brian drowning was so hard to bear. “You’re making excuses. You have been for months.”
Alicia stared back at her. “I am so unbelievably sorry for what happened, Kelly, and I have asked myself a million times if I could have done something differently. I have gone over and over that day in my mind.”
“And now you want to go back out there and relive that? It’s all over town that you’re opening the business again. The Farrs are out of their minds about it.”
“It’s not my first choice, but it’s our livelihood.”
“Maybe you should find a new way to make money.”
“You think that would be easy to do in this small town?”
“You could leave, go somewhere else. I did.”
“And take Justin away from the only home he’s ever known? And my father wouldn’t leave. He’s going to die by that river. You know that, Kelly. You know him. You know me.”
She did. Their families had been connected for years. But that didn’t mean she didn’t see George’s flaws, and his competitiveness was well known.
“Well, I guess you’ll do what you have to do,” she said finally.
“What about you, Kell? What are you doing? Are you happy in Sacramento?”
“I’m not sure happy is the word, but it’s a good change. I’m glad to be away from the memories. I don’t see Brian around every corner. I don’t run into the Farrs—or you.”
Alicia sucked in a quick breath. “I hate what’s happened.”
“Me, too.”
“I wish you’d come back. I know your family misses you.”
“My mom does, but I don’t know about Ian. He thinks I’m a pain in the ass, and maybe I am. I’ve always worried about him, and it’s hard to stop.”
“I saw him earlier at the carnival. He was in the barn having an argument with someone. I didn’t see who it was.”
Kelly didn’t like the sound of that. “What was he saying?” Maybe that’s why her brother had been so pissed off when he’d entered the inn.
“Something about he was done, and he wanted to be left alone.”
“I hope he’s not gambling again. He promised my mother he would never go near another poker game, but Nora said she heard he was up at the Indian casino last week.”
“I thought he was away at school.”
“He took a quarter off, because his grades were horrible and he needed to regroup. I guess you haven’t seen him around town.”
“I don’t go into town that much, and when I do, I try to leave as quickly as possible. You’re not the only one who hates me, Kell.”
She resisted the urge to say that she didn’t hate Alicia, because she felt so conflicted. “I have some clothes you can put on. I don’t think your things will be dry for a while.” She reached into her dresser drawers and pulled out some leggings and a sweater. “Will these work?”
Alicia smiled as she took the red sweater. “I remember this—your lucky sweater. You wore it once to get Dan Wiggins to kiss you and the other time to try to get Larry Cader to ask you to prom. Are you sure you want to lend it to me?”
“As I recall, it wasn’t that lucky. Dan Wiggins’s kiss was disgusting, and Larry disappeared halfway through the prom to make out with that slutty Marla Hodgkins.”
“Which I could never understand. Marla wasn’t even pretty.”
“Yeah, but she was way more fun than I was.” Kelly stiffened, realizing she was letting down her guard. She had to be loyal to Brian, to the Farrs. “Get dressed and make your call. Where is your car, anyway?”
“Spring Road. It’s the weirdest thing. I filled up two days ago, but the gas gauge said it was empty.”
“Maybe you have a leak.”
“Maybe.” Alicia got to her feet. “Thanks, Kelly.”
“For what?”
“Opening the door.”
“What else could I do?” she asked helplessly.
“Slam it in my face.”
“That wouldn’t have been polite.”
“I miss you, Kelly. I’ve needed you more in the last year than any other year of my life. And you weren’t there.”
The moisture in Alicia’s gaze made Kelly’s own eyes tear up. “I needed you, too, Alicia, but Brian was my fiancé. And when I agreed to marry him, I made a promise to stand by him. Even though we never said our vows, I felt them in my heart. And I can’t be friends with the person who …” She couldn’t get the words out. “You should go.”
“I wish it didn’t have to be this way.”
“But it is,” Kelly said as she left the room.
Nine
Alicia put on the clothes Kelly had given her, feeling a bittersweet emotion as she pulled the familiar red sweater over her head. Being in Kelly’s room had brought back a lot of good memories. It was hard to believe that their friendship could be over. She’d never imagined that anything could tear them apart. But Kelly was resolute, determined to blame her and her father for Brian’s death, and they were never going to be able to get past that. She needed to stop hoping that they could.
She grabbed her wet clothes out of the bathroom and headed toward the door, pausing to look at the photograph on the desk. It had been taken at their high school graduation, and they were wearing their caps and gowns, beaming at the camera. Three best friends, she thought sadly, tracing the faces with her finger: Kelly, Jordan, and her.
But no more. Those days were gone.
With a sigh, she set down the photo and went downstairs.
The living room was beautiful and warm, with big picture windows and oversized sofas and reading chairs, the lamps casting a cozy glow against the dark day outside. There wasn’t anyone around. Perhaps the guests were still in town sitting out the storm, although it appeared that the rain had stopped.
She pulled out her phone and called Keith, but it went to voice-mail. He was probably busy with the boys. She debated her options. Her father was having dinner with Bill, and he couldn’t drive, anyway. Jordan was with her new husband. Who else could come rescue her?
Gabe. He’d put his number in her phone earlier, but she really didn’t want to call him. Still, what option did she have? She didn’t want to spend any more time at the inn, where it was clear she wasn’t wanted.
He answered on the first ring. “Alicia,” he said.
“Hi. My car broke down. I was wondering if you could pick me up.”
“Of course. Where are you?”
“The Blackberry Inn, four-ten Blackberry Lane. I can give you directions.”
“I’ve got GPS. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
“Thanks.” As she ended the call, the front door opened, and a man walked in, shaking raindrops off his yellow slicker.
Jared Donovan. She stiffened. Jared had been in her father’s boat the day of the accident. He was good friends with the Farrs and with Kelly. At one time, he’d been a friend of hers, but since the accident, they’d had little contact. She had seen him at Rob’s memorial service, but like so many others, he hadn’t come back to the house.
“Alicia,” he said. “I wasn’t sure you’d come here.”
“Because it’s enemy territory?” she asked dryly.
He tipped his head in acknowledgment. “I guess it feels that way.”
“My car broke down.”
“I saw it on the road. I had just finished jumping a battery on Elmwood Lane. I figured you were walking, but I wasn’t sure you’d come here.”
“It was raining p
retty hard.”
He nodded. “What’s wrong with the car?”
“My gas gauge says empty, but I filled it on Thursday, and I haven’t driven more than thirty miles since then. I don’t know what happened. It just died on me.”
“Well, I’ve got some gas in the truck. Let’s check it out.”
“Really? Kelly won’t like it.”
“Does she know you’re here?”
“Oh, yeah. These are her clothes. But after a very tense, awkward conversation, she disappeared into the kitchen. She always hid out there.”
Jared shook his head. “The two of you fighting just doesn’t seem right.”
“I know. I wish we could get past the accident, but I don’t know how.”
The kitchen door opened, and Kelly moved through the archway between the living room and the dining room. Kelly gave Jared a hard look. “What are you doing here?”
Alicia was surprised at the animosity in Kelly’s voice.
“I saw Alicia’s car on the side of the road a few blocks over and thought I might be able to help.”
“Seems like you should be at the car, then, and not here.”
“We were just leaving,” Alicia said.
“Then go,” Kelly said. “We’re opening for dinner soon, and I don’t need you two here.”
Alicia moved quickly to the front door and went out onto the porch. Jared said he’d be out in a minute. A part of her really wanted to eavesdrop, but that old adage about people never hearing good about themselves while eavesdropping would probably come true.
“What were you two talking about, Jared?” Kelly demanded.
“We were talking about how this sucks—the way things are between you and her, between all of us.”
“The rest of us are fine. And I can’t believe you went looking for her after you saw her car on the road.”
“I don’t hate Alicia. Sorry if that goes against the party line, but that’s the way it is. And I can’t believe you’re mad that I would try to help someone who’s in trouble. Didn’t you just criticize me the other day for not getting involved?”
She sighed. “I’m overreacting.”
“You think?”
“Why did you guys have to go rafting that day? Why couldn’t you have just gone to a bar and hired some strippers like everyone else does?”
The Way Back Home Page 12