“Sure.”
Alissa closed the door and thought of how Chet had warned her to carry a packet of salt in case she had to eat her words about Brad. The way this nightmare was playing itself out, Alissa was certain she wouldn’t have to worry about that. She would be doing well if Brad even spoke to her after this trip.
A few minutes later, the maid tapped on the door. Alissa answered and gratefully took the breakfast tray from her. It contained a vase with a big lavender hydrangea blossom in it, a cup of steaming water with several packets of tea and instant coffee beside it, orange juice, french toast, an egg in a china egg cup, and individual-sized salt and pepper shakers.
“This is great, thanks,” Alissa said to Jessica. “I’m sorry I don’t have my purse with me, but I’ll make sure you get a tip before we leave. What was your name again?”
Jessica gave her a quizzical look before saying, “It’s Jessica.” Then she laughed a soft, charming laugh as if Alissa had just made a joke.
She was still standing there when Alissa closed the door. It almost seemed to Alissa that this gentle maid wanted to come in and watch Alissa eat. From all her traveling, she was used to staying in fine hotels and tipping well for room service. Perhaps this small-town bed and breakfast wasn’t used to its guests being strong tippers.
The food was excellent, and it recharged Alissa. As she ate, she looked around the elegant room. Everything was in creams with subtle, pink rosebuds as the accent in little details like the teapot on the end table by the overstuffed chair. The room had a rich, classic look. By the overstuffed chair, which was covered in an ivory damask fabric, was a built-in bookshelf. It was angled in the corner and added to the room’s charm.
The adjacent bathroom was also decorated in creams and soft pink rosebuds. Alissa decided this would be a wonderful place to recommend to her clients. That is, if any of them had plans to go through the middle of nowhere, which is where Alissa felt she was.
She left her tray in the hallway and noticed how quiet the place was. There must not be any other guests, or else they were all out enjoying the gorgeous weather.
Lauren had included a pair of slip-on shorts and a top with the clothes she had offered Alissa when they arrived. She put them on, pleased that they fit, even though the label indicated they were a size smaller than she usually wore.
Alissa decided to go for a walk in the extensive backyard. She loved the huge trees and rolling green lawn that made this place so typical of Oregon. A swing hung from the large apple tree to the right, and on the left was a white hammock, inviting Alissa to surrender to its embrace. She slipped into it and instantly felt relaxed.
About ten minutes later, she heard a car pull up in front of the house. She watched to see if anyone would come around to the back and discover her there. A few minutes later she heard the screen door open, and Lauren came toward her, two glasses of iced water in her hands.
“How are you feeling?” Lauren asked.
“Fine,” Alissa said, taking the glass of water from her. “Thanks. I love this hammock.”
“I do, too. I have one at my new house. My old college roommate, Teri, used to rent the same house, and she put it up. I think Kenton is going to get one right away for his place, too.”
“They can be addicting,” Alissa said. “Are you all moved in? Sorry I didn’t help out this morning.”
“Oh, no problem. We had plenty of help. The guys are still over there. I told them I’d pick up some food. You want to go back over with me?”
Alissa wasn’t ready to face the world yet. The swelling had gone down considerably, and the lotion and medicine had taken care of the itch, but she was still red all over. Then it occurred to her that she couldn’t stay in hiding the whole weekend, so she reluctantly agreed. The two women hopped in Lauren’s Taurus and drove down the tree-lined streets.
“I appreciate your loaning me the clothes,” Alissa said.
“Sure. No problem. I’m thankful you were willing to come all the way up here with Brad. He thinks very highly of you.”
It could have been Alissa’s imagination, but Lauren’s delicate face seemed to take on a curious expression as she shot Alissa a sideways glance. Lauren’s hair was pulled back, exposing her fine features. Alissa decided Lauren didn’t look at all like Brad. She was fair, blond, and pretty. Alissa didn’t think she looked like Lauren either, but she remembered Brad saying Alissa reminded him of his sister.
“He’s a good friend,” Alissa said. “If you’re wondering if any kind of a romance is going on, it isn’t.”
A little smile played across Lauren’s mouth as she turned the corner onto a street dotted with cute, one-story bungalows. “I know my brother,” Lauren said. “And in his book, you take up a whole chapter. No other woman has done that before.”
Alissa assumed she should be flattered. But she couldn’t imagine what she should say in response.
Lauren pulled up in front of an old house painted mint green with ivory trim. “The painters are coming next week,” Lauren said before Alissa could comment. “I can’t stand the color.”
“I’ve seen worse,” Alissa said. “It’s a cute place.”
“Beats all the apartments I’ve ever lived in,” Lauren said.
The guys stepped out of the house when they heard Lauren’s car. Kenton jogged over to her open window before she could get out. He was tall with dark hair like Kyle’s. The brothers resembled each other around the jawline, and they both had broad foreheads. Both were handsome men.
“We’re done here. We decided to go to Kyle’s where it’s cooler. I’ll come back with you tonight and help you unpack.”
“Okay,” Lauren said, reaching into the bag on the backseat. “You thirsty?” She handed him a can of 7-Up.
“Thanks, Wren.” He kissed her softly on the cheek and then looked over at Alissa. “Glad to see you’re feeling better. I heard about the poison oak and losing your cat.”
She smiled her acknowledgment of his sympathy. She couldn’t help but feel ridiculous, being covered with spots. At least Brad’s sister and all her friends were being nice to her regardless of her unappealing condition.
Brad came around to her side of the car and said, “How are you doing? You’re looking better.” She knew she didn’t really look better, but it was sweet of him to say that, especially in front of his sister and her boyfriend. “Do you want to ride back over with me in the truck?”
Alissa didn’t particularly want to, but she guessed it would leave the front seat of Lauren’s car available to Kenton, and he would probably appreciate that. She changed cars, and as they drove back, Alissa said, “Well?”
“Well, what?”
“Do you like him?”
“Kenton?”
“Of course, Kenton!” Alissa said.
Brad flipped his hair back from his face. “He’s perfect for her, and I can’t believe I’m admitting that to anyone.”
“So you think maybe she made a good choice?”
Brad nodded.
“Are you guys starving?” Alissa asked.
“Not too bad. How about you? Did you get any breakfast?”
“Yes, the maid brought it up.”
“The maid?” Brad repeated.
“I think her name was Jennifer. I told her we would tip her before we left.”
Brad looked at her incredulously. “You told Jessica we would tip her?”
“That was her name, Jessica. Could you do me a favor and give her five bucks for me? She was very kind.”
Brad looked at Alissa and then back at the road. Slowly and deliberately, he stated, “Jessica is Kyle’s wife. They live in that house. We are their humble guests. No, I will not slip her a five-spot.”
“Oh my!” Alissa felt her face turn redder than it had been, and she slumped against the door. “What an idiot I was.”
“You won’t hear any argument from me.”
“Can we just leave, and maybe they’ll forget I was ever here?”
; Jessica was sitting in the porch swing when they arrived at the house. Alissa went up to her and quietly said, “I’m so sorry about the way I treated you this morning. I was mixed up and—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Jessica said. “You didn’t know.”
Alissa was relieved that Jessica graciously didn’t explain to the others what the apology was about.
“You’re looking a lot better,” Kyle said, taking a seat next to his wife.
“Did you meet Kenton yet?”
“Yes, sort of,” Alissa said.
“And this is junior.” Kyle patted his wife’s tummy.
“You’re going to have a baby? That’s wonderful. Congratulations! When are you due?”
“March. Hopefully sometime after the nursery add-on is finished.”
“It’ll be done by Christmas,” Kyle said.
Jessica gave her husband a tender, teasing look that seemed to say she sure hoped so.
The rest of the afternoon the six of them sat on the wide, cool porch, visiting and rocking as if none of them had a care in the world. Alissa enjoyed the company of these two couples. But she found it hard not to see herself as part of a third couple, made up of Brad and Alissa. Lauren certainly seemed to view them as such.
After dinner they all pitched in and unpacked boxes at Lauren’s two-bedroom home. Everything seemed to just fit, and Alissa got to admire the antique oak dresser with the beveled mirror.
“I bought it at a garage sale,” Lauren told Alissa. “I love to restore old things.”
“Is that why you fell for my brother?” Kyle teased her just as Kenton walked into the room.
“Did I miss something?” Kenton asked.
“We were just talking about Lauren’s dresser, here,” Kyle said with a wink at Lauren.
“I heard about this one,” Kenton said. “She did a great job fixing it up, don’t you think?”
“Definitely,” Kyle said. “Lauren is a restoration specialist in my book.”
Lauren and Alissa picked up on Kyle’s double meaning. Alissa didn’t know much about Lauren and Kenton’s relationship other than it was almost all by mail. It was clear, though, that his brother was pleased with the arrangement.
Alissa liked these people. She liked the way they were involved in each others’ lives and showed in tangible ways how much they cared. She realized the appeal of Glenbrooke and these friends had become as real to her as it must have been to Lauren. Alissa wanted a slice of this small-town life. She wanted to live in a house like this with restored antique furniture and to eat wild blackberries every morning. She wanted to be a permanent part of this small circle of genuine friends.
Chapter Twenty-One
Later that evening, after the majority of Lauren’s boxes were unpacked, Kyle and Jessica announced it was time for the six of them to take a dessert break. Kyle gave his wife a wink, and she smiled back.
Then Kyle led them to his truck and suggested that Jessica and Alissa sit in the cab with him. Lauren, Kenton, and Brad were offered the truck bed, which they shared with a large ice chest and a stack of woven Mexican blankets.
“I can drive my car,” Kenton offered.
“Not where we’re going,” Kyle said. “What’s wrong? You getting too old for a little adventure?”
“Never!” Kenton said, slipping his arm around Lauren’s shoulders. She wrapped her arm around Kenton’s middle, and Alissa noticed how nicely the two seemed to fit together.
Kyle turned to Alissa and said, “If you’re not up for this, I would understand. Your rash looks better, but I know it must still be bothering you.”
“I’m okay,” Alissa said. “Where are we going?”
“A secret little dining spot we found,” Jessica said as she climbed up into the truck. “I think you’ll like it.”
Alissa sat next to the window on a beach towel Kyle had brought along. He said it was so the seat’s upholstery wouldn’t irritate her, but Alissa thought it might be in case she was still contagious. She made sure she sat as far away from Jessica as she could and let Kyle open and close the door for her. They were all being kind and gracious about her poison oak, yet Alissa couldn’t help but feel like a leper.
Kyle drove to the edge of town and then turned, with a sudden bump, onto a dirt road. A wail of protest rose from the trio in the bed of the truck along with some friendly fist pounding on the back window.
“We found a waterfall back here,” Jessica confided to Alissa as the road grew bumpier. “It’s not more than a trickle this time of year, but you should see it in May when the wildflowers are blooming!”
The truck came to an abrupt halt, and the protesting threesome jumped out of the back. Alissa waited for Kyle to open her door, but it was Brad who opened it. She made note of his kind act and thought it was nice the way his sister’s friends were rubbing off on him.
“Hey, Kenton,” Kyle called out, “give me a hand with this ice chest.”
“This is no ice chest,” Kenton said. “This is a refrigerator with handles. Doesn’t it come with wheels? And where’s the espresso cart?”
“You’ll see,” Jessica said. She handed Brad and Alissa flashlights and slipped a thin sweater around her shoulders. Kyle grabbed a couple more flashlights and stacked the blankets on top of the ice chest.
“This is so fun!” Lauren said. She held her light up for Kenton as he and Kyle blazed their way along the worn trail into the forest.
“I hear water,” Brad said after they had walked about twenty yards.
“That’s Heather Creek,” Kyle said. “Over this way. There’s a place I cleared.”
“Yes indeedie, boys and girls,” Kenton teased. “There’s no need to fear when fire fighter Kyle is here.”
Alissa followed them into a clearing surrounded by huge ferns. Straight ahead was a ten-foot waterfall trickling into a small, dark pool edged with rocks. She flashed her light around the rocks and could see where the pool let out into Heather Creek, which was a hushed brook.
“This is incredible,” Lauren said. “How did you guys ever find this place? I want to build a house right here.”
Kyle put down the huge ice chest as Jessica began to spread out the blankets for them to sit on. He took a deep breath and said, “We bought it.”
“How do you buy a waterfall?” Brad said.
“The property. We bought forty-three acres along this creek. We’d like to develop it into a camp someday. We were eager to show it to you guys, but when it’s hot like this, the bugs are pretty bad during the day. Jess and I like coming here for midnight picnics.” Kyle lowered his voice and tilted up his head. “Look up there.”
Alissa followed his glance, up past the towering pines into the deep night sky. A thousand glittering stars returned her gaze. To the right, the moon, as round and bright as a beach ball, seemed to be balanced on the pointed nose of the tallest pine tree.
“It’s beautiful,” Lauren said. She moved next to Kenton and wrapped her arms around him. Kyle sat on top of the ice chest and patted his knee, inviting Jessica to sit and watch the night sky with him.
Alissa and Brad stood about six feet apart. They awkwardly turned and looked at each other at the same moment. Alissa wished he would move closer. He didn’t have to hold her hand or take her in his arms. After all, she was still covered with an unappealing rash. All he had to do was move one step closer.
But he didn’t. Instead he stood his ground and turned his gaze up into the sky, checking out his sister and her boyfriend out of the corner of his eye.
See? Alissa told herself. There’s nothing between us. The attraction I feel for him is not mutual. I have no reason to feel so drawn toward him.
She convinced herself that the moments she felt attracted to Brad were temporary feelings. He didn’t have those feelings for her. He treated her like a chum, one of the guys. Not at all like someone who was close to his heart.
“Anyone interested in a little dessert?” Kyle asked as he and Jessica got up to open the
ice chest. On one side a freezer-like compartment was packed with ice. The other side was dry with two large thermoses, six stoneware coffee mugs and a plastic bag full of spoons, sugar packets, coffee flavorings, and creamer. Alissa also noticed several tea bags marked “Irish Breakfast.”
“What a great idea!” Brad said. “Hot and cold to go. You know, Wren, I’m beginning to like your friends more and more.”
Lauren gave Kenton a squeeze, and looking up into his admiring eyes she said, “I knew you would, Brad.”
“We have tea and coffee,” Jessica offered. “Also marionberry pie and, of course, DoveBars.”
“This is becoming a serious addiction for you, isn’t it?” Kenton teased. “Aren’t you afraid your child will come out refusing to eat anything but chocolate-coated ice cream bars?”
Jessica blushed slightly in the glow of the flashlights and pulled out candles of varying sizes. She placed them on a flat rock behind them and began to light the wax sticks of soft light.
The forest was transformed into a secret place of celebration. Alissa settled herself on the edge of the blanket, allowing the warmth of the moment to envelop her.
Brad offered to help Jessica by cutting the pie. Lauren set about making two cups of tea, then served one to Kenton with a kiss on his cheek. Alissa felt wistful. Even if she hadn’t found love, at least it was nurturing for her to be around people who had.
As Kyle handed her a mug of hot coffee, Alissa thought of Chloe and fought back the urge to sink into depression.
“So,” Brad said, settling on the blanket with his slab of pie and pointing his fork at Kenton, “exactly what are your intentions toward my sister?”
“Radley!” Lauren snapped. “Stop with the Father-Knows-Best imitation.”
“The way I see it, this guy convinced you to move all the way out here. So I have every right to ask his intentions.”
“I didn’t convince her of anything,” Kenton said, his words smooth and even. “She was offered a teaching position at the high school. It just so happened that I had bought the town newspaper before I even had met her.”
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