by Kim Law
He couldn’t imagine someone like her ever being lost in the crowd.
“You’re friends with them?” he asked. He couldn’t believe he would even consider the idea. Yet he was.
She nodded. Her look was solemn. “Good friends. You hurt them before.”
He knew that. He’d seen it in their matching eyes when he’d tossed the bills on the table and rose to leave. But the other thing he’d seen was that the two of them were close. Even only knowing each other for a few months, they’d developed a bond. Zack didn’t see himself fitting inside of it.
“I treated them poorly that night,” he admitted. “That’s why I’m here. To make it right.”
But he still didn’t see himself going to a movie in the park.
“I’ll see you there, then?” she asked. There was something in her eyes other than the hope that he would show up, but he couldn’t quite pinpoint it. It looked lonely. Maybe a little sad.
He might have to disappoint her. “I’ll think about it.”
She nodded again. A soft smile settled on her face. Just slightly, but something about it eased the knot in his gut.
He turned and left the room before he allowed himself to think too much about that smile, or what it did to him.
Or the woman who came with it.
Chapter Five
Kyndall, honey, those shoes are just darling.” Holly rose from the blanket where she sat waiting for the movie to start as her niece skipped across the grass. Kyndall had come with her mother, who’d stopped several blankets over to talk with friends.
“Where’s your dad?” Holly squeezed her niece’s hands as she fawned over the girl’s lime-green flip-flops.
“He was just getting home when we were ready to leave.” Kyndall flipped her hair over her shoulder as if she were years older. Polish that matched her shoes flashed in the waning early evening light. “He had a hard day. People getting into areas they weren’t supposed to or something.” Rodney and Erika lived in the national park due to his job as a forest ranger. “So Mom and I came without him.”
Knowing her brother, he probably appreciated the quiet night. He worked hard, and he loved his wife and child, but he often preferred his recliner and a quiet house to just about everything else. The fact that he’d come over for her welcome-home party had meant a lot.
Holly and Kyndall turned to one of the two handmade quilts spread out on the ground, and as they sat, Holly glanced around, looking for her nephews. She’d come into town with Patrick and his family, and had offered to watch the boys until the movie started so their parents could enjoy a few minutes of grown-up time having dinner across the street. Zander, as the oldest, had taken Chance and Jason to the concession stand.
She caught sight of them weaving their way back through the crowd, then did a quick scan for Zack.
No sign of him yet. She hoped he would come.
She hadn’t been able to forget the look in his eyes when she’d brought up his brothers that morning. He’d seemed powerless. As if he hadn’t a clue where to start. But she had sensed that he wanted to.
As she perused the area, she set Zack on the back burner and returned to her recent resolution to find a man. If there was one to be found, he would probably be there tonight. Outdoor movies had become a town tradition over the years, starting when Holly had been only a kid. A theater wasn’t feasible with the town’s small population, but showing old movies on a big screen was.
Each Thursday between Memorial Day and Labor Day, most members of the community could be found right there, sitting on a blanket or in a lawn chair, with family and friends. Tourists loved it too. A couple of entrepreneurial locals had cashed in on this fact by renting out blankets and chairs.
The night was so popular, even the single guys came out.
Mostly in the hope that they’d get lucky with the single ladies.
Holly had a few of those guys in mind as potential dates, and looked around for them now. Keith Justice was nice. He was a volunteer firefighter and worked for Nick at his construction company. Keith had been married before, but he didn’t have any kids. From everything Holly had heard, he’d been a good husband. It just hadn’t worked out.
Then there was Sandy Brown. Sandy gave her a wink when her gaze landed on him.
He wasn’t a bad guy, but his brother Bubba drove her nuts. The guy thought he was a comedian, but mostly he was just a jerk. And a pervert.
Sandy could be on the if-all-else-fails list.
As she took in the other varied faces in the crowd, the families, the people who were obviously on dates, she noticed that more than one man gave her an odd look. It was a bit longer than a casual glance, but not exactly showing interest either. Just . . . odd.
Then there were two guys who went so far as to blatantly check her out, one shooting her a somewhat lecherous smile when he finished. It made her skin itch as if she’d developed a bad case of the hives.
Most of the guys looking her way she knew, but a couple nonlocals were also in the mix.
She was beginning to get a very strange feeling about tonight.
Miley Rogers got her attention a few blankets away by tilting her head subtly to the side as if motioning to something. Miley was the daughter of Jean, who worked over at Sam’s Foodmart, and had been a freshman in high school when Holly had been a senior. They’d been in the art club together.
Miley tilted her head again, the end of her cute bob swinging out from her face, and Holly followed the movement with her eyes. Johnny “Apple Pie” Simmons was giving her a wolfish grin.
What in the devil was going on?
Feeling more than a little uncomfortable now, she turned away from the crowd. As she did, she unobtrusively checked her outfit to make sure nothing was wrong. She’d worn a cute yellow-and-white checked sundress tonight and her ruby-red slippers. Everything appeared zipped and buttoned, with no inappropriate body parts hanging out.
Maybe her makeup was smeared.
She peeked around once more as she dug out her mirror, and yes, men were still watching her. This time she got a couple more smiles.
The guys were cute so she smiled back.
Ignoring the attention again, she quickly checked her face. All seemed fine. She turned and focused on Kyndall, asking what the girl had been up to the last few days, but found it difficult to keep her mind on the conversation. She kept wondering what was going on that she wasn’t aware of. She hadn’t been in town during the day today. Had she missed some important piece of gossip?
Was it about her?
“So then Mom said that if I saved up my allowance, she’d take me to the craft store,” Kyndall rattled. “I want to make things like you do.”
Pride filled Holly’s chest at the same time a fist carved a hole deep inside her stomach. She loved that Kyndall wanted to be like her. She just worried about her niece dreaming too big.
At the same time, it killed Holly to think that she’d had to scale back her own plans.
“What kind of things do you want to make?” she asked Kyndall.
“Something unique,” the girl said with clear determination. “I don’t want to be like everyone else. Maybe flowerpots with rhinestones on them or something.”
“Flowerpots with rhinestones sounds nice.” The last thing Holly would ever do was discourage the need to be different. “I’m sure whatever you do, it’ll be beautiful.”
Kyndall wrapped her arm around Holly’s waist suddenly, and leaned her head on Holly’s shoulder. “I really did miss you while you were gone, Aunt Holly. I’m glad you’re back.”
Holly’s throat grew tight. She’d really missed her niece too.
And her brothers, her sisters-in-law, and even her rowdy nephews.
She’d missed the whole darned town.
She just wished she’d gotten the opportunity to prove herself. At lea
st once. Her disappointment over the way things had turned out was thick enough to suffocate her.
“I’m glad to be home,” she told Kyndall. The words didn’t just sound right, they felt right. She was glad to be home.
Yes, she’d wanted to be a success in Chicago. She’d believed she could make a name for herself. Instead, she’d not only been called a small-town hick—she’d been laughed out of the city.
At least here, everyone loved her.
Case in point, a clump of people passed by and yelled out to her, tossing out friendly waves. The men in the crowd studied her as if weighing their options.
“How does everyone know you?” Kyndall asked.
Erika joined them at that moment, dropping her purse to the quilt. “Duh, because Holly’s the best.” She winked. “Plus, she’s a Marshall. Everyone knows all the Marshalls.”
“Does that mean they know you too?” Kyndall asked her mom. She scooted over so Erika could sit between them.
“They do. But mostly they know your dad.” She tapped her daughter on the tip of her nose. “They know you too.”
Holly smiled at the closeness between the two of them, then swallowed her tongue when her sister-in-law turned to her and said, “So tell me about you getting married.”
Kyndall gasped. “You’re getting married?” Her shocked words rang through the park.
This brought the heads of pretty much everyone in their vicinity around to look at Holly. Bubba Brown waggled his eyebrows suggestively at her.
“Sheesh,” Holly mumbled. She brought a hand up to shield her from view of the crowd. “No. Where did you hear that?”
Had her mother said something? But then, her mother only thought she needed a man. She didn’t know Holly was in the market.
Erika motioned to her friends. “Katy told me. It’s all over town that you’re on the hunt.”
“How in the world . . .”
Holly’s words stopped as her gaze landed on Cody and Lee Ann a few rows up. Lee Ann had glanced back at her with the shouted question. Her brows were drawn in tight. Had she told everyone? Had Cody?
That didn’t feel right. Her friends wouldn’t do that to her.
But then . . .
Holly’s heart pounded with embarrassment. Who had done this?
Before she could think to ask any more questions, Erika jabbed her in the side. “Oh my.” She moaned the words.
“What now?” Holly whispered, terrified to look.
Erika was staring off into the distance as if in shock. With Holly’s luck, someone had probably shown up with a bribe, thinking he could buy her. Good thing her mom and dad weren’t there. They’d form a line to accept bids.
Yes, Holly wanted a man. But she hadn’t wanted to be paraded through town as if she were a prime side of beef.
She had some pride, after all.
“I’d heard a rumor that he was in town,” Erika whispered. Relief immediately gushed through Holly. She knew who that someone would be.
Aside from the apparent rumors of her desire for nuptials, Zack had also been the talk of the town. Ever since he’d driven through the square the day before.
Everyone now knew that he was Cody and Nick’s brother. They knew that the twins had gone to Atlanta to meet him. And they knew that he’d wanted nothing to do with them. The facts had been gathered, and the community had banded together in support of their own.
They disliked Zack on principle.
Holly turned her head in the same direction the rest of the people around her were now slowly turning. At least they were no longer staring at her.
Standing just past the ticket booth was Zack.
He was wearing black slacks again, but he’d shed the white dress shirt for a light-gray pullover. It fit snug to his body, and Holly knew that if all the women around her weren’t busy whispering their indignation to their neighbor, they would be turning gooey inside. Just like Holly.
She raised a hand and waved it in the air without letting herself think about what she was doing, or what kind of additional attention she would be directing at herself. She’d told Zack she’d help him out. She’d been the one to suggest the movie.
She couldn’t just sit there and hide.
He didn’t immediately see her, so she stood, keeping her arm in the air. She felt, as well as saw, heads once again swivel her way. Of course, they probably assumed she was flagging him down as a potential suitor.
“What are you doing?” Erika whispered, while Kyndall followed with, “Oh my gawd. He’s so hot.”
Yes, he was. And her ten-year-old niece shouldn’t be so aware of that fact.
Tall, sculpted, and too hot to be standing in the middle of the park looking like a lost little boy. He did this thing with his hair, styling it slightly forward and lifted at the front, that made her want to muss it up. Then she wanted to nibble on his neck, just beneath his jawline.
She blinked the thought away. He was not her type. Too big city. Too temporary.
But he did look tasty.
He finally saw her and turned in her direction. He didn’t speak to anyone as he made his way through the crowd. And he didn’t look anywhere but at her. The intensity of his gaze was enough to take her breath away.
If she were in the market for a high-class player, she’d make a move on him in a heartbeat.
Not that she really thought she could get anywhere. She suspected his type wasn’t a small-town girl who cared more about being comfortable and having fun than she did about style and etiquette. Probably he dated money. And women who could keep it casual.
She didn’t particularly like casual.
Though he was just about enough to sway her that way.
“Who’s that?” Zander now stood at her side. Like his dad, he would be tall. He’d had a growth spurt within the last month and had outgrown Holly’s five-foot-five inches while she’d been out of town.
“That’s someone who doesn’t belong here.” This came from Patrick. He and Jillian had returned from dinner.
“What are you talking about?” Holly asked. “Zack has every right to be here.”
She turned back to watching the man in question as she spoke. His gaze was still glued to her.
“He’s a jerk, Hol. I know you heard about the way he treated his brothers.”
“And I know you know better than to judge someone before meeting them for yourself.” She broke eye contact with Zack and turned to her family.
“Hey, Jillian,” Holly greeted her sister-in-law. Jillian gave her a smile, and Holly didn’t miss the ohmygod look in her eyes when she checked out Zack. Because the man was oh. My. God.
“I heard about him too,” Zander said. “Uncle Brian said he was staying at Mema and Pop’s house.”
Good to know her family was gossiping about one of their guests. “At the bed-and-breakfast, yes,” Holly said. She nodded as she spoke. “He has a room rented for two weeks.”
“Uncle Brian also said he was a jerk,” Zander added.
“He is not a jerk,” Holly said softly. She glanced back at Zack—he was within ten feet of her now, and her blood raced through her veins. She was pretty sure he wasn’t a jerk. “And you’re both going to behave,” she added in a whisper. “He’s a guest. You know Mema will kick your behinds if she comes home to find out someone didn’t treat her guests right.”
Zack made it to her side and she smiled winningly up at him, hoping to make him feel relaxed and welcomed. What she got for her effort was an expressionless face and blank eyes.
Her insides wilted.
It didn’t help any when she caught snickers from several women who’d seen her blinding smile. She could guess what they were thinking. She couldn’t make it in the big city, thus she couldn’t handle a big-city guy. Not that she wanted to.
But they were probably right.
She introduced Jillian and Patrick, the latter giving him a hard stare. Then Zander, who looked at his father first, and gave Zack the same glare. And then Erika, whose jaw had come unhinged and was hanging about half-open. She murmured an unintelligible hello.
Next were Chance and Jason. The younger boys couldn’t care less about the man who had joined them.
And then she introduced Kyndall.
When Zack turned his gaze on the ten-year-old, Holly watched Kyndall suck in a breath and hold her stomach in tight. She smiled brightly, as if glowing in the light that was Zack.
Zack nodded a hello to each of them, but he held on tight to his politeness. Everywhere around them were whispers and stares. Enough that Holly almost turned and glared at all of them. They were better than this. There was no need to be so rude.
Before anyone could utter another word, the movie flickered to life.
Holly let out a sigh of relief.
“Let’s sit, Patrick,” Jillian said matter-of-factly. She tugged on his arm to make her point. “We’re in people’s way.”
Patrick shot Zack one last hard look, then planted the same expression on Holly. Holly merely gave him a smirk. She didn’t know what her brother’s problem was, but he needed to rein it in.
“Would you like to sit with us?” Holly asked Zack.
“I thought we were going to . . .” His words ran out as he refocused on her. The coldness was gone from his gaze now, replaced by a hint of a pleading look.
He was there to meet his brothers. For her to help him break the ice. Not to be the center of attention in the middle of everyone.