River's Bend

by JoAnn Ross

  The flood of reservations generated by the advance publicity would have warmed the heart of the most jaded New York restaurateur.

  Although she’d had her doubts when she’d first seen the building, and her confidence had admittedly faltered from time to time, the New Chance had become a dream come true.

  Everything was wonderful.

  Perfect.

  Except for one thing. Cooper wasn’t here to share it with her.

  Rachel sat alone in her empty café, drinking in the warm, inviting atmosphere as she studied the tan menu with the bold dark script that had been delivered from the Klamath Falls printer.

  Tomorrow the truck from food wholesalers would begin to make their first deliveries. The next day she and the staff she’d been training would run through a trial service for friends. Invitations had gone out to Cooper, Ryan, Dan, Mitzi, Cal and Hal Potter and their wives, Fred and his wife, Hank Young, Layla, Jenna, Austin, LuLuBelle, and Mrs. MacGregor. Unfortunately, Jake was still in jail, but Rachel planned to send a meal back to the sheriff’s office for him.

  Then, finally, giving her time to make any necessary tweaks, two days after that, the New Chance would reopen.

  Thinking back on the scene that had greeted her when she and Scott had arrived in town, it hardly seemed possible.

  She was imagining her café filled with the hum of conversation, the rattle of cutlery, the aromas of hearty food wafting out of the kitchen, when Scott burst through the door.

  “Hey, Mom! Guess what?”

  “You got an A on your arithmetic test.” They’d spent an hour last night unraveling the mysteries of long division.

  “Nah. Well, that, too,” he amended when she lifted a brow. “But this is something way cooler!” He was jumping up and down, looking as if he were about to burst.

  “I give up.”

  “We’re going to chop down a Christmas tree! Me and Cooper. And you, too,” he tacked on as an afterthought.

  “Cooper and I.” So he was finally back. Rachel felt her heart quicken and wondered what it was about the man that had her behaving like a besotted, lovesick teenager.

  “Yeah. All three of us,” Scott agreed impatiently. “Cooper says he knows where the fattest, tallest, most perfect trees grow.”

  Rachel glanced outside. The light snow falling from a slate gray sky made the warm flames crackling in Jake’s fireplace even more inviting. “I thought we’d buy a tree the way we do every year.”

  “In this part of the country, buying a tree when you can cut it yourself is viewed as heresy,” Cooper said as he stomped snow off his boots on the tile floor of the entry.

  Rachel felt something shift in her heart. He’d been gone three days. Seventy-two hours that had seemed like a lifetime. She was suddenly so very tired. Tired of trying to keep Cooper out of her thoughts. Out of her life.

  Because she loved him. Truly. Madly. Deeply.

  The revelation was thrilling. And terrifying.

  Her legs were trembling as she stood up.

  “It sounds wonderful. Just give me five minutes to pack a lunch for us to take along and I’ll be ready.”

  Cooper had expected an argument. All the way back from Salem, he’d tried to think up an answer for every pale excuse Rachel might try to offer. That she acquiesced so quickly gave him hope that the rest of the day—and his carefully planned night—would go as well.

  He looked down into that luminous face he hadn’t been about to get out of his mind during those increasingly frustrating and lonely nights in Salem.

  “Hey Scott,” he said, not taking his eyes from Rachel’s, “how about going out to the Jeep and keeping Hummer company while I help your mother fix lunch?”

  Scott’s answer proved that while he might be only nine years old, he was far from blind. “You’re gonna kiss her, huh?”

  “We’re going to make sandwiches,” Rachel answered quickly.

  “After I kiss your mother hello,” Cooper corrected. “You see, sport, I’ve missed your mom while I was gone. Missed her a lot.”

  “Mom’s missed you, too.”

  “Really?”

  Rachel turned toward her son. “Scott—”

  “Really,” Scott insisted over her planned rebuke. “She yelled at me when I tracked mud into the house. And she was grumpy a lot and when I got up to go to the bathroom last night, she was watching television and crying. At three in the morning,” he added significantly as he left the café.

  Things were getting better and better, Cooper decided as he walked toward Rachel. “Crying?”

  “I always cry when I watch Now, Voyager,” she insisted.

  “I’ll accept that. My mom did, too. The question is, what were you doing watching old movies at three in the morning?” he asked as he continued moving toward her.

  “I didn’t have anything else to do.”

  “Ever try sleeping?”

  “I couldn’t.” This time it was Rachel who moved closer. “You weren’t there.”

  “Three days,” he murmured. “But it seemed like freaking forever.”

  When she looked up at him, her emotions, no longer guarded, were in her eyes, on her smiling lips, in the trembling of her work-roughened hands as she framed his face between her palms.

  “Forever,” she agreed softly. “We’ll have to make up for lost time.”

  Cooper ran his hands down her back, around her waist, over her hips as he pulled her even closer. “Lady, that’s the best offer I’ve had all day.”

  He kissed her then, because it had been too long. “Tonight.”

  “Yes,” she whispered against his mouth.

  “I want to love you, Rachel. All night long.”

  “Yes.”

  “Until morning. After sunrise.”

  “Until morning.” She smiled, her heart shining in her eyes. “Play your cards right, sheriff, and I’ll even make you breakfast.”

  Cooper hadn’t realized he’d been holding his breath, waiting for her answer, until he blew it out. “We’ll make it together.”

  She wasn’t agreeing to forever. It was, Cooper allowed as he kissed her again, slower, deeper, only one night. But it was enough.

  For now.

  Besides, if everything went as planned, by tomorrow morning, Rachel would be his.

  Forever.

  42

  “I still can’t believe I hiked all over Modoc Mountain for a Christmas tree,” Rachel complained several hours later.

  “Not just any Christmas tree,” Cooper corrected with a grin. “The best Christmas tree in the county.”

  “It’s the best Christmas tree in the whole state,” Scott insisted. “The whole country. Probably the best in the whole entire world!”

  “I wouldn’t doubt if for a minute,” Cooper agreed.

  “Well, all I know is that my feet turned blue hours ago, my nose is a block of ice and I can’t even feel my ears.”

  Cooper looked over at her as he pulled up in front of her rental house. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were that uncomfortable. You should’ve said something, and we would’ve come home a long time ago.”

  The gentle concern in his gaze threatened to be her undoing. “It’s not that bad. I was exaggerating.”

  “You’ll probably feel better after a hot bath,” he suggested.

  “With bubbles,” Scott said. “Mom likes bubble baths,” he advised Cooper.

  “Does she now?” Cooper’s eyes were filled with wicked humor. It hadn’t been that long ago that he and Rachel had heated up the water considerably in a bubble bath. Later, when he’d shown up at the office smelling like flowers, he’d taken some ribbing from Cal, but it had definitely been worth it.

  Rachel felt the color rise in her chapped cheeks at the sensual memory. “A bath would be nice.” Another bath with Cooper would be even better, but that would have to wait.

  “Maybe you can wash her back, Cooper,” Scott said helpfully. “Dad used to do that sometimes. It made her real happy.”
r />   A small pool of silence settled over them. Rachel, fearing that Cooper would resent the mention of Alan, pretended a sudden interest in a pair of neighborhood children’s energetic effort to build a snowman.

  “I’d like to make your mother happy,” Cooper said. He kept his tone light, but Rachel could hear the wicked promise, along with a trace of laughter, in it as well.

  “You do,” she said softly.

  Scott’s gaze went from Rachel to Cooper, then back again. “Come on, Hummer,” he said, tugging at the leash with one hand and opening the back door of the Jeep with the other. “Let’s go help Warren and Jackie build that snowman.”

  “We’ll be having dinner soon,” Rachel warned.

  Scott looked momentarily surprised. “But—”

  “How about making it home by five-thirty,” Cooper suggested. “That’ll give you half an hour to finish up Frosty.” He glanced over at Rachel. “Okay?”

  For just an instant Rachel thought she detected something pass between Cooper and Scott. Something that seemed strangely like a secret shared. Then, deciding that she’d imagined it (she’d heard hypothermia caused delusions), she nodded.

  “Five-thirty,” she agreed.

  Heaven. Rachel leaned back, luxuriating in the frothy bubbles, sipping on the Amaretto-laced coffee Cooper had prepared. The warm water soaked the chill out of her bones and the coffee spread a soothing warmth throughout her body, while Cooper’s amazing gaze, as he leaned against the sink, looking down at her, created a slow, simmering heat all its own. A trio of fir and cinnamon scented candles added to the holiday mood she’d been too busy and distracted to enjoy until today’s tree-hunting expedition.

  “How did it really go in Salem?” she asked. When she’d brought it up earlier, Cooper had merely shrugged and said that things might not be as bad as they seemed.

  “The situation may be looking up.”

  “I’m so glad.” Putting the mug on the floor, she picked up the bath sponge and began soaping her arms.

  Cooper knelt down beside the tub, took the sponge and ran it tantalizingly up her arm. “I finally found this woman, Karen Fairfield, in accounting, who’s willing to dig a bit deeper into Jake’s records.”

  “Do you think she’ll be able to locate his missing payment?” Rachel asked as his slow, intimate touch warmed her blood.

  “I sure as hell hope so.” He squeezed the sponge, causing rivulets of warm, fragrant water to flow over her breasts. “Meanwhile, Cal tells me that the word has gone out about the foreclosure auction. There’s not a rancher or farmer in the region will bid on Jake’s land or any of his equipment.”

  Rachel wasn’t as surprised by that as she would’ve been just a few months ago.

  “Have I happened to mention that I love you?” he changed the topic with exaggerated casualness.

  Cooper’s quiet declaration should not have come as a surprise. Later Rachel would admit to herself that she’d been expecting it for days. Weeks.

  At the moment, coming as it did out of a clear blue sky, it stunned.

  She drew in a sharp breath. “Cooper . . .”

  “No.” Abandoning the bath sponge, he pressed his fingers against her lips. “It doesn’t require an answer now, Rachel. I just wanted you to know.” He leaned forward and caressed the side of her face with his fingertips. “After all, we’ve got all night to talk . . . and whatever.”

  He’d only touched her cheek, yet her heart felt as if it would burst out of her chest. “All night,” she whispered, drowning in the depths of his gaze.

  The sound of the screen door banging captured their unwilling attention. “I’d better get out there,” Cooper said without enthusiasm.

  Rachel nodded. “Yes.”

  “I could always tell him I was washing your back.”

  She loved the way he always seemed to be able to lighten a topic. But this was something that had concerned her and couldn’t easily be teased away. “I’m sorry he brought up Alan.”

  “Hey, I’ve already told you that I’ve no problem with you having been married, Rachel. And since I hate the thought of you being unhappy, I’m glad your husband loved you. And that you loved him. Believe me, I know what a gift that is.”

  Although his expression had sobered, he grinned as they heard Scott banging around in the kitchen. “You’re just going to have to get it through that hard head of yours, Rachel Hathaway, that I’m crazy about you. And that I’m also crazy about your kid.”

  With that he gave her a swift, brief kiss, then left the bathroom.

  A moment later, Rachel heard Scott talking a mile a minute, something about Hummer and a snowball fight. When her son and Cooper shared a robust laugh, some small dark spot hidden deep inside her heart contracted.

  Pressing her hand against her chest, Rachel wondered how something as wonderful as love could be so painful.

  43

  “You’re just in time,” Cooper announced as Rachel entered the kitchen a few minutes later.

  “In time for what?”

  “Scott and I thought we’d take you out to dinner.”

  After spending the greater part of the day trudging through snow on Modoc Mountain’s forested slopes, the idea of going back outside in a snowstorm was less than appealing. Especially when that drive meant going to Klamath Falls, which would be the nearest restaurant.

  “Thanks guys,” she said. “But I was planning on fixing something simple here. How does spaghetti Marinara sound?”

  Cooper and Scott exchanged a brief look. Perhaps it was only her imagination, but Rachel thought her son’s expression revealed a momentary panic. Cooper’s expression was, as usual, calmly reassuring.

  “It sounds great,” he said. “But you’ll have to save it for another time. Tonight’s our treat.”

  Rachel didn’t know whether it was Cooper’s quiet insistence, or the fact that Scott seemed to be holding his breath, or that she was too tired to argue. Whatever, within minutes she found herself bundled into the front seat of the Jeep.

  “Where are we going?”

  “You’ll see,” Cooper said.

  “It’s a surprise,” Scott added, doing that bouncing in his seat thing. At least as much as his seatbelt would allow.

  Rachel was about to delve into this new mystery when Cooper pulled up in front of the New Chance. “What are we doing here?”

  “I forgot something the other day,” he said, cutting the ignition.

  “What?”

  Cooper didn’t answer. Instead he said, “It may take me a few minutes to find it. So, why don’t you and Scott come in with me so you won’t freeze sitting out here?”

  The snowstorm had picked up. Gusts of wind were blowing thick flakes against the windshield, making Rachel not eager to leave the warmth of the Jeep.

  “That’s okay. You can just leave the heater on.”

  “Sorry, but I can’t do that.”

  “Why not?”

  “I’m almost out of gas.”

  “You were going to drive out of town with an almost empty gas tank? In this weather?” That was not at all like him to be so careless.

  “Come on, Mom,” Scott complained. “We’re wasting time and I’m starving!”

  “All right.” Rachel sighed. “But if I catch pneumonia after all my time running around in the snow today, you two are going to have to open the New Chance by yourselves.”

  “It’s a deal,” Cooper said.

  “Totally,” Scott agreed. “Cooper could make chili dogs. And I know how to cook frozen waffles in the toaster.”

  “Chili dogs and waffles. What a splendid Christmas menu,” Rachel said dryly as she climbed down from the passenger seat. “I wonder why I didn’t think of it?”

  As she walked up to the building, Rachel experienced the now familiar burst of pride. It was really, truly hers. And she’d done it all by herself.

  Well, not really by herself; everyone in town had helped out. But she’d been the driving force behind the renovation. She
was the one who was now responsible for making a success of the restaurant, something she no longer had any doubts about doing.

  In the beginning, after Alan’s sudden death, faced with that mountain of debt, she’d acted on instinct, doing whatever was necessary to pay their many creditors. But the New Chance was something she’d planned. Something she’d worked hard for. Something she’d accomplished.

  The run down, smoke-filled café in this small Southern Oregon town had given her a great deal more than a new chance. It had renewed her self-confidence. In fact, even as a sleety snow blasted her face, at this frozen moment in time, she felt downright invincible.

  “Something funny?” Cooper asked.

  Rachel glanced up at him. “Funny?”

  “You were smiling.”

  “Was I?”

  “Yep.”

  “You sure were, Mom,” Scott agreed. “I saw you.”

  The smile she could now feel on her face widened. “I was thinking that I felt a bit like Wonder woman.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Cooper said. As he followed her into the darkened restaurant, he leaned down and murmured in her ear. “You wouldn’t happen to have the costume hidden away somewhere at home, would you?”

  “Sorry,” she said. “But that’s another fantasy I’m not going to be able to fulfill.”

  “Don’t worry.” He took her hand, linking their fingers together. “You’re all the fantasy I need.”

  Laughing, she turned on lights. Which was when the New Chance came to life with cheering people.

  As her stunned gaze swept the room, Rachel guessed nearly everyone in town must be present. Grizzled Johnny Mott, New Chance’s previous owner, was walking around, shaking his head in amazement, openly astounded by the transformation of the café he’d owned for so many decades. When she spotted Jake at the back of the room, Cooper assured her that he hadn’t escaped, but had been released on temporary parole for the evening.