by Kristy Tate
Zach bit his lip, trying to decide what to say. Should he tell Charlie that Layla tried to kiss him once at the pond and then again at the grocery store?
“She came on to you, didn’t she?” Charlie asked. “You have to tell Kirk!”
Why? Because then Palmer would drop Layla and possibly try to pick up Charlie? The thought made him feel ill. Charlie was way too good for Palmer. Why couldn’t she see that?
“He needs to figure it out for himself,” Zach told her. “Do you want my opinion on Palmer?” Her scowl told him no, but it didn’t stop him. “You’re too good for him.”
“You don’t even know him.”
“But I know you.”
“He’s a solid guy. And she’s a skank. Why is she here? If she doesn’t like him, why did she come?” Charlie began to snip at the beans one at a time.
He thought about telling Charlie that a woman like her would never understand a woman like Layla. But then he decided he would much rather show Charlie how to cut up the beans than discuss Layla.
“Here,” he said. “Let me show you how it’s done.” He positioned himself behind her, brought his arms around her and placed his hand over hers.
“What? Your grandma has a secret way of bean cutting?”
“Yeah. Doesn’t yours?” He lined up the beans in rows and edged closer to breathe in Charlie’s warm scent. With his hand over hers, he showed her how to trim the beans with just a couple of strokes. “See?”
If he kissed her neck, what would she do?
CHAPTER 7
“Knock, knock!” Mrs. Palmer called as she breezed into the room.
“Mmm, smells good in here,” Mr. Palmer said as he trailed in after his wife.
Layla brought up the rear. “What is that thing you have on?” Layla scrunched up her nose as if she smelled something vile.
“It’s my Mainely apron,” Zach said with a wink. “Don’t you like it?”
“It’s ridiculous,” Layla said. She stomped into the kitchen and lined up the ingredients for her Oreo cake on the counter. “But you’re so handsome, anything—or nothing at all—would look good on you.”
Zach didn’t know how to respond to this, so he decided to ignore it. “I’m sorry if Layla gave you the wrong impression,” he told the Palmers. “Dinner won’t be ready for a while still.”
“No worries,” Mr. Palmer said. “That’s why I brought my cards.” He held up a Ziplock baggie full of playing cards.
“That looks like more than one deck,” Zach said.
“There’s a deck for each of us,” Mrs. Palmer said. “Do you know how to play Nertz?”
“Nerds? No, but it sounds like it’s right up my alley.”
“It’s like cooperative solitaire,” Charlie told him, sounding tired. “You can play in teams or individually, but five is tricky. There’re too many of us to play individually and we have an odd number for teams. So, you guys should play while I finish making dinner.”
Zach put his hand on his chest. “No way. I’m making dinner.”
“And I’m helping you,” Layla said. “I’m not interested in Nerds.”
“It’s Nertz,” Mr. Palmer said, sounding deeply offended. He settled down at the game table, separated his cards into four decks, and began to deal. “Now, who’s playing? Charlie?”
“Not me!” Layla said. “I’m helping Zach make dinner.”
“I’m almost done,” Zach said. “There’s really nothing much for you to do, except make your cake.”
“Then that’s what I’ll do!” Layla bustled into the kitchen and began opening and closing cupboard doors.
Whimpering came from the sofa.
Charlie perked up and went to Heath. “Hey, Heath Bar, did you wake up?”
Heath held out his arms for Charlie. “Mama?” he asked.
“She had to go with Ian to the hospital,” Charlie told him as she picked him up.
“Dada?” Heath asked.
“He had to go too, but they’ll both be home soon.”
“Ella?”
“Who’s Ella?” Layla asked. “Wow, there’s so many people in this family, I wonder how they can remember each other’s names.”
“Ella is his stuffed elephant,” Charlie told Layla. “But I can see how you would have a hard time keeping everyone’s names straight.”
“Ella!” Heath wailed right before he burst into tears.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Layla asked.
“It means, look for the elephant!” Mrs. Palmer said.
“Here.” Layla shoved a cookie in the baby’s face. “That should shut him up.”
Heath took the cookie, considered it, then threw it on the floor before resuming his cries.
“That’s a waste of a perfectly good Oreo,” Layla said.
“There’s no such thing as a perfectly good Oreo,” Charlie muttered as she left the room with Heath in her arms. The baby’s cries hushed as they headed for the basement.
“Kids,” Layla said with an eyeroll.
“You don’t like children?” Mr. Palmer asked.
Layla caught herself, momentarily frozen with indecision. Zach saw conflicting emotions chasing across her face as she debated between honesty and lies. “They can be cute.”
Charlie and Heath reappeared moments later. Heath carried a gray raggedy stuffed elephant in his arms while Charlie had a child’s snowsuit in one hand. “We’re going for a walk,” she said.
“But it’s freezing outside!” Mrs. Palmer exclaimed.
“I’m coming with you,” Zach said.
“But the game!” Mr. Palmer exclaimed.
“I’ll play with you, Daddy.” Mrs. Palmer patted her husband on the shoulder.
Once again, Layla looked torn.
“The cake?” Mrs. Palmer said with a lifted eyebrow.
“Right,” Layla said with a sigh and she ripped open the cake mix box and poured it into a bowl. Cake mix dust flew around in the air, making her sneeze.
“Here,” Zach said as he handed Charlie her coat. “Give him to me.” But when he tried to extract Heath from Charlie’s arms, the baby arched away from him.
“It’s okay,” Charlie said. “I can do this and hold Heath.” While Zach held the coat, she shrugged into it. “Now it’s your turn, dude,” she told Heath, and she deftly got him into his snowsuit.
Zach watched her as if she were a magician performing a sleight of hand trick. He shook himself from his stupor before grabbing his own jacket and following her outside.
The cold air took his breath. Without L.A.’s city lights to dim the stars, the night sky was dazzling. A memory hit him. He and Eva on a boat, the moon hanging over the sea. City lights blinking on a distant shore.
“You okay?” Charlie bumped his arm.
“Yeah, I just…remembered something.”
Her face lit up. “That’s good, right?”
“I’m not sure,” he said, following her. “Where are we going?”
“Just out. Heath likes to be outside.”
“Heath does, huh?”
She nodded. “All of the Monson men are outdoorsy types.”
Zach thought about answering then I should fit right in, but Charlie wasn’t asking him to fit into her family. She was in love with the odious Palmer and Zach was supposedly engaged to a woman he didn’t remember.
Couldn’t—or wouldn’t—remember?
Feeling depressed, he tucked his hands into his pockets to keep from reaching out to Charlie. He wanted to hold her, and her to hold him, and yet doing so violated his moral compass. His dad had been a cheater, and Zach had sworn he would never be like his dad. But how could he be faithful to a woman he couldn’t remember? Especially when Charlie was right here, right now, and looking so beautiful in the moonlight?
“Are you okay with going home first thing in the morning?” Charlie asked. “Just to get away from all the chaos?”
“I’m not scared of your brothers, Charlie,” Zach said.
“I’m no
t really either, but—”
“But what?”
“They’re a buzzkill.”
“So, we’re not running away, we’re just going home?”
“Well, I am. I think you should go someplace safe where no one can find you or hurt you.”
“No one’s trying to hurt me,” he said.
“We don’t know that,” she insisted.
He nodded. “I’ve been thinking of going to visit my mom.”
“Oh. That’s good, but—”
“But what?”
“So far away,” she added in a small voice. “I’ll miss you.” She slipped on a patch of ice.
Zach caught her elbow before she could fall. They stood in the moonlight, staring at each other, his hand on her arm, her hand on his chest.
Baby Heath broke the mood by gurgling something incomprehensible.
“Right. We should go,” Charlie said.
“Right,” Zach said, even though everything screamed that leaving now would be wrong.
Layla interrupted the moment by slamming out of the cabin. She stomped through the snow. “I’m going home!” she announced.
#
“Why? What happened?” Charlie asked.
“Do you think she finished making the cake?” Zach asked under his breath.
Layla sniffed. “When I agreed to come up here, I didn’t think I’d be hanging out with senior citizens and babysitting!”
“I’m sure Kirk will be back soon,” Charlie said, but she would have loved for Layla to go home.
“Are you trying to convince her to stay?” Zach whispered in her ear. His tone told her that if she was, she was making a mistake.
Charlie squeezed Zach’s hand, letting him know she knew what she was doing. She had worked with Layla for years. She knew how Layla operated.
“I’m not waiting for him!” Layla announced as she stomped toward them. “Zach, you don’t belong here anymore than me. Why don’t you drive me home?”
Zach stiffened and Charlie almost laughed at the shocked and scared look on his face.
“He can’t. I drove,” Charlie said.
Layla brightened. “This is perfect. Zach and I can take your car and you can ride home with Kirk!”
That did sound perfect to Charlie, but not, she knew, to Zach. While she waffled with the decision of uninterrupted alone time with Kirk versus the cruelty of abandoning Zach to Layla’s clutches, a sleek Maserati turned up the drive.
Now, Zach looked like a deer caught in the headlights.
“Clive…and that must be Eva,” Zach whispered.
Layla looked equally entranced.
“I wonder how they found you,” Charlie said.
Layla pressed her lips together and her cheeks flushed.
“I have no idea,” Zach said.
“I bet someone recognized you at the grocery store,” Layla said. “After all, your disappearance has caused a social media storm.”
“It has?” Zach asked.
“Oh yeah,” Layla said. “You didn’t know? There are all sorts of fake Zach Walden sightings! Ricardo Sanchez has posted a ten-thousand-dollar reward.”
“Am I wanted dead or alive?” Zach asked.
“I guess we’ll find out.” Charlie longed to protect him from his past, but she didn’t know how.
The car came to a stop a few feet away. Doors slammed as Eva—tall, dark, and beautiful—climbed from the car. She wore a black leather jacket, tight jeans tucked into thigh-high boots, and a bright red scarf around her neck. Bordello colors. Her feline-like grace reminded Charlie of her grandmother’s Siamese cat.
Clive, a few beats slower than Eva, followed.
Eva launched herself at Zach. He caught her in his arms and seconds later, extracted himself. He shook his head and mumbled, “I’m sorry. I don’t know you.”
Eva took possession of both of his hands. “You still haven’t regained your memory?”
Zach shook his head.
“This is tragical!” Eva moaned. “When will this nightmare end?”
“At least we found you,” Clive said, slapping Zach on the arm.
Maybe, Charlie thought, Layla could drive the Corolla home, Zach could go home, or somewhere, with his friends—assuming, of course, that they weren’t trying to kill him—and then Charlie could ride home with Kirk!
But she couldn’t abandon Zach. Not if his life was in danger. But as she watched Eva and Clive’s reunion with Zach, she found it hard to believe that either of them would try to harm anyone, let alone Zach. They seemed to really care about him. In fact, Eva had tears gathering in her eyes. But looks could be deceiving. And Eva was an actress—although not a very good one.
“Can we talk to you somewhere privately?” Clive asked.
But what if they led him into the woods and killed him there? Charlie couldn’t let that happen. “Take them inside,” Charlie blurted out, reasoning that they wouldn’t harm him while sharing the cabin with the Palmers. “You can talk in my room.”
Eva looked at her for the first time, her black eyes sweeping over her.
Charlie, trying to look harmless, smiled in return.
Zach led his fiancée and best friend into the cabin.
“Did you still want to borrow the Corolla?” Charlie asked Layla.
Layla narrowed her eyes at Charlie as if trying to read her.
One of her grandmother’s sayings floated in Charlie’s memory. A dishonest person can trust no one. “There’s so much craziness going on here, I can see why you’d like to leave.”
“You would like that, wouldn’t you?” Layla looked like she wanted to scratch Charlie’s eyes out.
“I’m just trying to help you out! You were the one who said you wanted to go.”
“With Zach!”
“What about Kirk?”
“What about him? It’s not as if we’re a package deal.”
Two for one. That would make her a cheap date. Charlie smiled at the thought.
“I don’t get you,” Layla said. “I’m giving you a chance at Kirk and you’re acting all suspicious.”
“Kirk isn’t a toy to be passed around,” Charlie told her.
“I think it’s fascinating that supposedly you’ve been in love with him all your life and suddenly, as soon as someone more exciting—and a lot wealthier!—shows up, you’re no longer interested in poor Kirk.”
“Wait a minute,” Charlie said. “Are we talking about me or you?”
“Ugh!” Layla grunted right before she stormed off.
Charlie watched her go.
In her arms, Heath stirred in his sleep and murmured something about Ella.
Charlie carried Heath into the cabin. The muted sounds of Zach’s conversation floated down the stairs. She caught a few words. Nurse. Blackmailer. Schemer. And it stunned and stung her when she realized they were talking about her.
But Zach knew that while she might be a nurse, she wasn’t either of those other things. She hadn’t come to the mountains with an ulterior motive…well, maybe she had, but her reason for coming to Big Bear had more to do with Kirk than with Zach. And it most certainly had nothing to do with Zach’s money. Feeling annoyed, she marched down the stairs to put the now-sleeping Heath in his porta-crib.
But her phone rang as she pulled a blanket over Heath. His eyes flew open. He gave her a wide-eyed, terrified stare before bursting into tears.
Charlie almost answered the phone with a swear word.
“Charles?” Dan’s voice came through the phone.
“Yes?” she asked, concern and curiosity over her nephew swallowing her irritation. “How’s it going?”
“Despite the sedation, he’s hysterical. They let Kirk stay for the surgery and he said it went as smoothly as clockwork. Jacob and Lisa asked if you would mind if they both stayed at the hospital tonight.”
“I can stay with Heath,” Charlie said.
Dan chuckled. “It doesn’t sound like it.”
“You woke him up. We’ll be
fine,” Charlie said, “but there’s usually only one bed for a visiting parent.”
“Right. They’re going to take turns sitting up with him.”
“What about you?”
“I’m going to drop Kirk off at the cabin and then head home. Steph’s computer has gone wonky and she’s working on a deadline.”
Heath stood in the center of his porta-crib, stretched out his arms in supplication, and upped his wailing.
“You better go, then,” Charlie said, knowing that Steph’s photography business depended on a well-oiled computer.
“You, too,” Dan responded. “Although I don’t think Heath really counts as a chaperon.”
“There’s nothing between me and Zach. You know that.”
Dan grunted before hanging up the phone.
Charlie pocketed her phone and collected her nephew into her arms. Heath quieted almost immediately and buried his face in her neck.
#
How had he ever been in love with this woman? She reminded him of a model from a perfume commercial—glistening but insubstantial. How had they met? What sorts of things did they do together? What had they talked about when they were alone? Did she laugh at his jokes? Did she even tell jokes? Sitting beside a Raggedy Ann doll on the crazy-quilt-draped twin bed tucked under the eaves, Eva looked ridiculously out of place—like a model from Vogue dropped into a Norman Rockwell painting.
Clive stood at the window, half-turned away, looking as if he were waiting for someone or something to arrive. Zach had known Clive most of his life. They’d been friends since high school, each of them working hard to secure the scholarships—Clive academic, Zach athletic—that would carry them out of the seedy L.A. neighborhood where they’d been raised.
The past seven years had been good to Clive. If anything, he looked better—healthier, stronger—than Zach could last remember.
Eva glanced at the empty stairwell before blurting out, “Where the hell have you been?”
“Here,” Zach said.
“With this woman you don’t even know?” Eva asked, her lips trembling.
“You’d be surprised at all the things I don’t know,” Zach said. Should he tell her that he didn’t remember her at all, or would that make her even more upset? She already looked like an emotional mess that he didn’t want to wallow in. Knowing he should be compassionate—but not feeling it—he sat on the other bed opposite Eva with his hands folded between his knees.