Will walked in with Abby sitting on his forearm with her arms around his shoulders. Cassie walked in front of them with a pink diaper bag.
“Are you okay?” Beth asked Sharon.
Sharon’s eyes darted around the lobby. “Oh, yes, dear. Everything is fine.”
They both stood in silence as Will walked past Brendan without any acknowledgment. Brendan’s weight shifted.
Beth looked at Sharon, whose hand rested over her mouth.
Sharon’s short hair flipped out in different directions. Her hand flung to her chest. “Well, I hate it that two of my boys are fighting.”
Beth touched Sharon’s shoulder. She’d been through so much. It should have been a time for celebration after Sharon beat her battle against breast cancer. Sharon didn’t deserve this. She believed that Brendan really did want to make things better with his family, but maybe it would have been better if Brendan had never returned to Wyatt Bend. Everyone could have continued pretending they were over his disappearance from their lives, even Beth. “I’m sure it’s hard for you,” Beth said. “Hopefully they’ll figure out a way to work it out.” Or Brendan would eventually disappear on another big adventure, and they’d be able to move on with their lives.
Sharon’s eyelids fluttered, pushing back the tears in the corners of her eyes. Even a woman as strong as Sharon would shed some tears over the divide within her family. “It’s hard for me because I understand why Will is angry with Brendan. Brendan has hurt a lot of people.” Sharon’s eyes tilted up to Beth. “Including you.” Sharon’s shoulders rose higher. “And he liked you. I thought he might even be in love with you.”
Beth’s breath stopped in her throat. Beth may have loved Brendan, but he had never loved her back. He may have thought they shared some fun times during their summer together, but love had never been in Brendan’s vocabulary with Beth. “We did date for a summer, but I don’t know about love.”
Sharon’s hand waved through the air. “Mothers of teenagers don’t know as much as they’d like, but know a lot more than their kids think.”
Beth glanced back to Chase. If only that were true of her relationship with Chase. Beth didn’t know if Chase would ever let her in on the details of his life that he kept shut away from her.
Sharon pointed at her and smiled. “He used to keep a photo of you hidden under a book on his nightstand. I found it by accident, of course.”
It probably meant nothing, but that didn’t stop the smile from creeping onto Beth’s face. “That’s sweet, but it doesn’t mean he was in love with me.”
Sharon pursed her lips together. “Then the accident happened, and something changed inside of him. I knew it would be tough to bring the old Brendan back.”
The memories of the day of the wreck that summer twisted inside her. She’d been so afraid when she heard he’d been in an accident. She’d rushed to the hospital only to learn just family could see him. When she had returned to Nana’s house, she had cried so hard in her grandmother’s lap that she thought she’d never be able to shed another tear.
Sharon clutched her Bible near her heart. “That day changed a lot of lives.”
The people in the lobby began streaming through the sanctuary doors, but Sharon cupped Beth’s elbow and led her a couple of steps down the hallway leading to the Sunday school classrooms. “I know Brendan has hurt a lot of people. He has spent years pushing away the people he cares about the most. I watched him do it to you, and I’ve watched him do the same thing to his siblings.”
A thick knot stuck in Beth’s throat. “So why does he do it?” she whispered.
The edges of Sharon’s eyes softened. “Dear, Brendan is hurting, too. He does the things he does because after what happened, he doesn’t believe he deserves to be happy.”
After church Brendan gritted his teeth and swallowed the urge to hop on his motorcycle and speed away. Jimmy stood beside the same squad car Brendan had ridden in on Friday. He turned his back to Brendan and opened the car door.
“Hang on,” Brendan called out to him.
Jimmy squinted his eyes, his full cheeks sticking out on each side of his face. “I don’t have much time, Brendan. I’m about to be on duty, but it’s nice to see you found your way to church.”
Brendan needed to make nice with this guy, but Jimmy’s bad attitude made Brendan want to slug him. Brendan cleared his throat. “I heard you’re in charge of the youth group.”
Jimmy tilted his head and gave him a smug grin. “That’s right. I do the best I can to keep them out of trouble and give them something else to do.”
Pressure built up in Brendan’s chest. “Do you need another set of hands to help out?”
Jimmy’s mustache scrunched up against his nose. “I’m not sure where you’re going with this.”
The words clung to the roof of Brendan’s mouth. “I’ll be in town for several weeks, and I thought I could possibly help out with the group while I’m here.”
Jimmy pointed a thick finger at Brendan. “You?” He moved his finger toward the badge on his chest. “Want to help me with the youth group?”
Brendan focused on the people heading toward their cars to keep himself from saying something sarcastic. “That’s what I’m suggesting. One of the boys said the youth minister moved, and if you need an extra person, I’d like to help.”
Jimmy’s belly laugh vibrated against Brendan’s thin nerves. “I don’t know what’s funny about that.”
Jimmy adjusted the black belt on his tight uniform. “I appreciate your offer,” he said, drawing out his words. “But I can handle it.”
Brendan turned to see his mother and Connor watching them from the other side of the parking lot. His mom smiled and nodded like he was a kid riding his first bike. Brendan ran his thumb and forefinger across his eyes. Why had he opened his big mouth? Brendan took a deep breath to control his frustration. “Even if you don’t need my help, I’d love to get to know the kids, and I have extra time on my hands while I’m here,” he said with a forced smile on his lips. He truly did want to help the kids, but pleading with Jimmy to do it was painful.
Jimmy’s face changed. His eyes were serious. “If we have a need arise, I’ll let you know.” Jimmy turned and stepped to his car.
Brendan’s eye twitched. “Why don’t you tell me what this is really about, Jimmy? When I lived here, this church was begging for volunteers.”
Jimmy’s hand dropped from the door handle. “These kids need stability and positive role models.”
Brendan’s lungs burned with anger. “And I would be a bad influence. Is that what you’re saying?”
Jimmy’s big head fell backward, and he groaned. “All I know is I’ve been called out twice because of you.”
Brendan shook his arms to try to fling off the anger. “Those were misunderstandings, and you know it.”
Jimmy rubbed his fingers across his receding hairline. “Thanks for the offer, but I’m not interested.”
Brendan stood with his boots planted on the asphalt as Jimmy tipped his head at him and climbed into the driver’s seat. This wasn’t about Beth or Mr. Perkins. “Is this about things that happened fifteen years ago?”
Jimmy didn’t respond. The door to the squad car slammed, and the engine started. Every part of Brendan’s body screamed out in frustration. The window of the patrol car rolled down, and Jimmy’s shiny face stuck out of it. Jimmy pointed a thick finger at Brendan. “Aaron was my friend. Leave him out of this.”
Aaron’s name lingered in the air as the patrol car sped out of the parking lot and down the city street. “He was my friend, too,” Brendan said to the empty parking space.
Chapter 9
Brendan drove too fast toward the bridge at Bison Creek. As the road bent, the landscape of the site of the accident revealed itself to him. Brendan’s conversation with Jimmy left a need for Brendan to clear his head on the open road, but somehow he ended up at the place where he thought he’d never return. Despite his avoidance of this old meta
l bridge, he faced it often in the nightmares he had before waking from cold sweats in the middle of the night.
The memories sucked up all the air inside his helmet, and Brendan gasped for breath. He pulled his bike to the side of the road, not able to get his helmet off fast enough. He finally jerked it from his head. It bounced off the pavement as he bent over at the waist and gulped fresh oxygen into his lungs. When he captured his emotions and bottled them back up in that dark hole in his chest, he rolled himself back to standing.
The bridge looked the same as it did in his memories with its rusted rivets and trusses. A yellow sign that read NARROW BRIDGE now hung on a metal post by the railing. He forced his shaky legs to the edge and leaned toward the creek below. The haziness of his dreams gave way to the bright afternoon sun and the muddy water trickling beneath the bridge. A tangle of green vines and bushes covered the steep banks.
Brendan’s soul ached as he couldn’t fight the memory of the car upside down in the shallow water. He’d only seen it in the black-and-white photograph on the front of the newspaper. He’d been unconscious when they removed him from the car and transported him to the hospital in the ambulance.
His family and the doctors had tried to keep his friend’s fate a secret from him, but somehow Brendan had already known. Maybe it was the glassy tears or the forced smiles so many had when they visited him. Eventually an unknowing orderly carried in a newspaper, and its headline confirmed Aaron had died at the scene.
Brendan fought to keep his legs from buckling underneath him. Aaron was such a good friend and a good person. He hadn’t deserved to die, especially in such a tragic way.
As the driver of the car, it was Brendan’s fault Aaron was gone. Rumors of an open bottle of alcohol in the car had flown through town, and Brendan didn’t dispute the lies. Even though the gossip was untrue, Brendan had been driving too fast and deserved anything that anyone said about him.
Brendan pushed down the emotions that moved up from the pit of his stomach. Aaron had been the kid everybody loved—a straight-A student, full of potential, and Brendan’s best friend. Brendan had tried to stay in Wyatt Bend after the accident, but every corner held memories that haunted him. No matter how far Brendan traveled or how fast he moved through life, he could never escape the fact that he had been driving the car.
God used people, and He might even use Brendan’s photography someday. But He couldn’t use him here in Wyatt Bend—not with Brendan’s past. Even if it meant leaving his family and his first love behind him, he couldn’t stay.
Somehow God had gotten this one wrong. He should have taken Brendan instead.
Brendan stared at the spot where the car had landed. His stomach clenched and threatened to empty on the side of the road. This bridge had drawn him back again, but he took one long look because he would never return to it.
Beth scooped her homemade vanilla ice cream into a Styrofoam cup as a splash and cheers came from the dunking booth next to her card table. The edges of the open tent fluttered in the evening breeze, and the Christmas lights strung over the walkway between the booths shone.
Every year the fall carnival in the park raised money for the school’s art program, and until she’d gotten too sick, Nana had manned the ice-cream booth.
Beth added a plastic spoon to the cup and handed it to a girl with a purple butterfly painted on her cheek and hot-pink bands on her pigtails. “You can pay Chase,” she said, pointing to her brother who sat in the folding chair at the end of the table.
He jerked the zipper on the money bag, and the girl handed him two quarters. “Why are you making me do this?” he asked Beth when the girl walked down the midway.
Beth stuck her ice-cream dipper into a cup of warm water. “Cheer up, Chase. It’s for a good cause.”
Tammy pulled a container of sherbet from the ice chest under the table. “He’s grouchy because that girl over there painting faces hasn’t come over here to talk to him,” she said, staring at Chase. Chase frowned at her, and Tammy let out a hoarse laugh.
A pretty brunette cheerleader with a ribbon tied on top of her head stood beside a table covered in paint bottles and plastic palettes. Beth tipped her head. “Really? You like her?”
Chase turned away but not before a second glance in the girl’s direction gave him away. Beth had been so wrapped up in her own situations that she hadn’t noticed Chase was dealing with girl trouble. Beth filled two cups with chocolate ice cream, wrapped napkins around the outside, and handed them to Chase.
He squinted his eyes. “Two?” He set one cup on the table and spooned a bite into his mouth.
Beth shrugged. She knew she should be stricter with him after what had happened at school, but Chase would return to school tomorrow. Besides, Beth was anxious to get a glimpse into the life he guarded from her. “Your friend over there looks hungry.”
Chase’s jaw dropped. Then he looked at the brunette and smiled. “I’ll be back later.”
She watched the back of Chase as he approached the table. The girl took the ice cream, and his lanky arm pointed out toward the walkway between the booths. As the kids in the inflatable jump house across from them squealed, Beth scanned the crowds of families and teenagers scattered through the park. When she spotted Brendan in the middle of the lane, her neck stiffened.
Beth and Brendan had kept their distance from each other the past few days. Beth only saw him when he sat in the corner booth and ordered a slice of lemon meringue pie from Tammy or one of the other waitresses whom Beth sent to take his order. Every time he slipped in the kitchen to go upstairs, she hid in her office.
Brendan stopped in the middle of the crowd.
Her conversation with Sharon a few days ago had replayed over and over in her mind. Brendan was sabotaging his relationships because he was afraid. Under all the bravado, Brendan was still dealing with hurts from years ago, but Beth had her own hurts.
Beth wiped her hands on a dish towel. “Tammy, can you handle things here for a few minutes?”
Tammy’s laugh lines deepened as she smiled. She shooed Beth away with her hands. “Go.”
Beth untied her apron as she moved around the table, and Brendan walked toward her. She blew out a breath to soothe the jitters running through her. In front of a small stage, Beth and Brendan stood face-to-face.
His brown leather jacket was soft around his bent elbows. “Do you know where I can get some homemade ice cream?”
She turned around to see Tammy, hands on her hips, watching them. Beth bit her bottom lip, and it slid between her teeth. “Would you like some?”
Brendan put his hands out in front of him. “I better not. I’ve had too much pie over the last few days trying to get you to talk to me.”
Beth ducked her head. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I just …”
Brendan shook his head, but his light eyes looked into hers. “You don’t have to explain. I don’t blame you for dodging me.”
The energy between them and from the carnival around them hummed.
Brendan put his warm hand on her arm and stared directly into her eyes. “I’m sorry for everything.”
He froze.
“What’s wrong?” Beth asked.
He laughed. “I realized that I’ve probably apologized more in a single week than I have my entire life.”
She smiled. “How does it feel?”
“It feels pretty good.”
The tenderness in his face reminded her of the teenager she’d once known before everything had fallen apart.
The band on the little stage a few feet from them struck up a country song that rattled from the speakers above them. “Do you want to go for a walk?” Brendan shouted over the music.
Beth shifted her weight on the grass under her. “Sure,” she said, but the music drowned her out. The crowd had formed around them, trapping Beth and Brendan in front of the stage. Beth’s hand tingled when Brendan took it and led her through the maze of people. As they walked toward downtown, the music quieted b
ehind them. The light from the streetlamps led their path against the dark windows of the stores and offices around the town square.
Brendan stepped in front of her and walked backward. “Do you have some time away from the restaurant? I thought we could hang out sometime this week.”
Was he asking her on a date? “Hang out?”
He stepped beside her, but his face stayed turned to hers. “I want to make things up to you. We could get away from all the stress and spend the afternoon together.”
Beth looked up at the underside of the awning above their heads. “I was planning to catch up on some errands Friday afternoon, but—”
Brendan slapped his hands together. “Perfect. We’ll leave at three.”
Spending more time with Brendan could be a huge mistake, but right now on the perfect fall night with the lights of the carnival in the background, nothing else seemed to matter. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Where are you taking me?”
“You’ll see.”
Chapter 10
Beth punched the sale into the cash register and carried the change to the older couple huddled together in the corner booth. “Thanks for coming in.”
Jimmy sat at the counter, his back hunched over a cup of coffee. He’d finished his breakfast fifteen minutes ago, but he still sat on the bar stool, fidgeting with his phone and gripping his mug like it was his last dollar. Beth passed through the opening in the counter and picked up the coffeepot from the warmer. She filled Jimmy’s cup to the top. “Can I get you anything else, Jimmy?”
He leaned back and patted his protruding belly. “No thank you. I’m stuffed. I’m sure excited this place is open again.”
“I appreciate that.” She leaned to one side holding the hot pot of coffee away from her.
Jimmy’s ruddy cheeks were as round as saucers when he smiled. “You know, I’ve been planning to get out of town one evening this weekend and catch a movie. Would you like to come along? Maybe we could stop for dinner, too.”
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