Storm Born

by Christine Pope

  In all, Jake and Addie spent almost three hours at Connor and Angela’s house, some of that time whiled away as she got acquainted with the nephew and nieces she’d never known she had. Ian and Emily, the twins, had gotten a reputation in both the Wilcox and McAllister clans for being a pair of hellions, but they were on their best behavior that afternoon, clearly determined to charm their young, pretty, and completely unexpected aunt. It probably helped that the twins and their little sister Miranda were all enchanted by Taffy, and wanted to spend as much time as possible petting her and throwing her ball for her when everyone went out into the yard to stretch their legs. The family had a dog named Blue, but he was a big shepherd mix, and having a dog more their size clearly made an impression on the children.

  Eventually, though, Jake and Addie were able to tear themselves away — albeit with promises that they’d be back to “play” once the family was up in Flagstaff for the summer. Taffy was pretty worn out by that point, and happily fell asleep on the back seat in the truck almost as soon as she lay down. Jake had planned to take Addie around Jerome and show her a little bit of the town, but even though the sun had begun to go down behind the mountain by that point, he thought it was a little warm to leave the dog in the vehicle. However, when they had to stop in the middle of Main Street to let someone back out of one of the parking spots in front of Grapes, Taffy perked up immediately, looking around as if ready for her next adventure.

  That seemed to decide things. “Want to wander a bit?” he asked Addie. “Jerome is a pretty cool little place.”

  Her gaze shifted to the back seat, where Taffy was standing up, tail wagging. “What about your dog?”

  “She can come with us,” he said. “Lots of people bring their dogs up here. If there’s a shop you want to go in, the two of us can wait outside.”

  For a second, it looked as though Addie might protest. But then her shoulders lifted a fraction, and a small smile touched her beautifully curved lips. “Okay. That sounds fun.”

  And it was. There was something satisfying about wandering down the uneven sidewalks with Addie at his side, the dog straining at the leash as they moved from spot to spot. Once or twice, she actually did go into a shop, but he could tell she was only looking around. He supposed she couldn’t do much else, since she didn’t have any money or credit cards.

  After the second shop, Jake said, “If you see something you like, let me get it for you.”

  Alarm flared in her eyes, and she shook her head. “Oh, I couldn’t let you do that.”

  “Sure you could,” he said with a smile, adding before she could protest, “I know you’re good for it. You can pay me back after Connor gets your bank accounts set up.”

  For a second, Addie stared at him, and then she flashed a lopsided smile. “Right. I’d almost forgotten about that. I suppose money isn’t really going to be a problem, is it?”

  “Not really,” he replied. “I mean, don’t go crazy. But it would be nice to have something to remember your first trip to Jerome and the day you met your brother, wouldn’t it?”

  She didn’t reply right away, but only stood there next to him on the sidewalk, gaze tracking to the golden, juniper-studded contours of the Verde Valley below, moving farther to the red rocks of Sedona beyond. Her chest moved as she appeared to pull in a breath, and then she nodded.

  “Yes…I would like something to remember all this.”

  They began to walk again, and a few minutes later, she went into a store that specialized in selling local wares — pottery, jewelry, handwoven textiles and rugs. She seemed to be inside that shop longer than the others she’d inspected, and when she came out, she was smiling.

  “I found something. The woman who owns the shop — she’s a witch, too, by the way — is holding it for me. I told her my friend would be in to pay for it.”

  “Great,” Jake said, relieved that Addie had allowed herself this one small indulgence. Or maybe it wasn’t so small; he hadn’t yet seen what she’d picked out for herself. However, he could already tell, based on the way she’d shopped in Las Vegas, that she wasn’t an extravagant person, and so he doubted she’d chosen anything terribly expensive.

  He handed her Taffy’s leash so he could go inside. The woman at the counter gave him a knowing smile, and he knew why — just as Addie had said, the owner of the shop was also a witch, clearly a McAllister, plump and with graying red hair.

  “Visiting Connor?” the woman asked, and Jake nodded.

  “Yes, we came down from Flagstaff for the afternoon.”

  “I could tell you were both Wilcoxes,” the woman said. “I’m Rachel — Angela is my niece.”

  “Oh — nice to meet you,” he responded. He’d vaguely known that Angela’s aunt owned a store in Jerome, but he’d never heard which one. Even though relations between the two clans had become much more relaxed over the past few years, it wasn’t as though members of the Wilcox family went out of their way to hang out in Jerome. This was only Jake’s second visit, although he’d been meaning to come back for a while.

  He could tell that Rachel was watching him with a speculative glint in her hazel eyes, probably wondering what business he’d had with Connor. Something important enough to make him drive all the way down to Jerome rather than waiting for the family to head up to Flagstaff for the summer, obviously, but Jake knew it wasn’t his place to talk about Addie’s true identity, or the reason why Connor had wanted to meet her right away. Most likely, Angela would let Rachel know soon enough, but that was between the two of them.

  “Your friend picked out one of Angela’s pieces,” Rachel said, adding with a smile, “She has good taste.”

  Jake had heard that Angela did some jewelry design on the side — a talent she’d picked up from her father, who was a silversmith of some renown — but he’d completely forgotten that she offered those items for sale in her aunt’s shop. Definitely a good choice for a keepsake, then, and he thought that Addie must have some good instincts, to select one of Angela’s pieces out of everything available in the store.

  “Did she?” he responded. “That’s pretty cool.”

  Still smiling, Rachel reached under the counter and brought out a cardboard jewelry box, then laid a silver pendant on the bed of cotton padding inside. It was an intricate piece, with a rough-hewn quartz crystal in the center surrounded by grass-green cabochon stones he thought might be tourmalines.

  “Does it come with a chain?” he asked, since he hadn’t seen one as she set down the pendant.

  “No. And I don’t sell silver chains, but I do have some nice thin leather cords for hanging pendants.”

  “Then put one of those in the box, too, please.”

  Rachel went to a different case, pulled out one of the cords in question, and then threaded the pendant onto it before she set it back in the box and closed the lid. “Ninety-five dollars,” she said.

  The damage could have been a lot worse. He still had a bunch of cash left over from his road trip, and so he laid two fifty-dollar bills on the counter and waited for the change. When he was done with the transaction, he tucked the receipt in his wallet, thanked Rachel, and picked up the box and went outside.

  Addie and Taffy had wandered a few paces down the sidewalk, to a spot where the buildings ended and there was a stretch of open walkway with an iron railing to protect pedestrians and sightseers from the steep hillside below. The dog was sitting patiently, tail wagging, as her temporary guardian stared out at the amazing vista beyond, with Sedona’s red rocks turning even redder thanks to the sun’s descent behind Mingus Mountain.

  “Here you go,” Jake said, handing Addie the box and taking Taffy’s leash from her. “That’s one of Angela’s pieces, you know.”

  Caught as she was just starting to open the box, Addie looked up at him, startled. “I didn’t know she made jewelry.”

  “It’s sort of a hobby, I guess.” Well, maybe more than a hobby, since she actually earned some money at it, but it wasn’t as though the
McAllister prima needed the cash.

  “Then this makes an even better keepsake than I thought it would,” Addie said. She pulled out the pendant on its thin black cord and lifted an eyebrow. “I didn’t think it came with a chain.”

  “It didn’t,” he said casually. “But Rachel had the cords, and I figured you’d want to wear it right away.”

  “I did. I mean, I do.” A faint flush tinged her cheekbones, but she didn’t say anything else, only undid the clasp on the cord and fastened it around her neck. The pendant snuggled into the hollow of her throat as though it had been designed to lie there. “Thanks. I’ll pay you back as soon as all the money stuff gets sorted out.”

  Right then, Jake mentally vowed not to take a penny for the pendant. He wanted it to be his own present for Addie, although he had a feeling she would probably argue that she hadn’t asked him to buy her anything.

  Well, he’d deal with her protests when the time came.

  “Do you want to eat here, or head back to Flagstaff?” he asked, deciding not to respond to her comment.

  Her glance traveled to Taffy, who was still sitting patiently on the sidewalk by Jake’s feet, although he could tell the dog was starting to get a little antsy. “What about Taffy?”

  “They allow dogs on the patio at Grapes,” he replied, then pointed across the street to the restaurant in question. “It’s a nice warm evening — it’ll be fun.”

  She still looked unconvinced. “I’m not sure I want to go back along that dirt road after dark.”

  Actually, neither did Jake, but there was no reason for them to return to Flagstaff via the same route they’d taken to get to Jerome. “No worries. We can go home through Sedona — there won’t be nearly as much traffic leaving as there was coming in earlier today. Okay?”

  A pause, and then her shoulders lifted slightly. “Sure.”

  They crossed the street, and Jake asked Addie to hold Taffy’s leash while he went inside the restaurant and checked on the availability of a patio table. Luckily, a group had just left, so he headed back out to collect Addie and the dog while the table was being wiped down, and then they went onto the patio via the little gate in the fence that enclosed the area.

  As he’d assured Addie, it was a warm evening, more than comfortable for sitting outside and watching the setting sun paint Sedona redder and redder before the last of the day’s light bled away. Taffy, used to the drill, curled up on the ground next to the counter-height chair where Jake sat, and Addie took the seat opposite him. She looked a little tired, but far more relaxed than she’d been earlier in the day…and seemed even more relaxed after the waitress brought them a couple glasses of wine.

  “This doesn’t feel real,” she remarked as she took her first sip of pinot noir.

  “What doesn’t?” Jake responded, although he thought he had an idea of what she’d meant.

  “Any of this.” With her free hand, Addie gestured toward the street beyond, and Jerome as a whole. “That I met my brother today…and his wife, and their kids. Like I got this whole perfect prepackaged family in this funny little town that feels like something out of another century.”

  “It’s a lot to take in, I suppose,” he said. “But I told you that you had nothing to worry about.”

  She nodded, then lifted her glass of wine to take another sip. “I know. But after everything that’s happened….” Her head drooped a little, and she didn’t quite meet his eyes. “I guess I was just expecting the worst.”

  Right then, he wished she’d sat next to him, just so he could reach over and take her hand. Or maybe reaching out to her like that would be dangerous. He could feel the way he was beginning to react to Adara Grant, and he still hadn’t decided what in the world he should do about it. On the one hand, he thought this awakening attraction was a good sign, because for the past three years, he hadn’t believed he would ever care about such things again, that he’d be mourning Sarah for the rest of his life. Now, though, while he knew he would always love her, he wondered if it was time to move on.

  But Addie had suffered her own losses, and her wound was far more raw and new. Making any kind of move right now would be horribly insensitive, wouldn’t it?

  “I can understand that,” he said quietly. “I’m just glad everything went so well today.”

  “And you’re really not worried about Age — ” She stopped herself there, as if realizing that discussing the topic of Agent Lenz in a public place probably wasn’t the best idea.

  However, Jake figured he could reassure her without going into the kind of specifics that would give anything away to any nearby listening ears. “Not really. We have mechanisms in place for dealing with that kind of thing. I think the most important thing for the next few days is to just let yourself breathe and remember that you’re safe now.”

  “‘Safe,’” Addie repeated, as though trying to remind herself of what the word meant. “I’ll do my best.”

  The conversation was halted there for a moment as the waitress appeared with the pizzas they’d ordered earlier. They shared, each of them having a little of each other’s choice so they could try out the different kinds. Everything was good, although he supposed they should have maybe gotten a different entree.

  “Next time we go out for dinner, I’ll try to take you someplace that’s not pizza,” he joked, remembering their meal at California Pizza Kitchen in Las Vegas the evening before.

  However, she looked at him seriously, brows drawing together in the sort of frown that made him realize he’d completely blown it. “Oh…are you planning to take me out to dinner again?” she asked.

  For a moment, he could only stare back at her and wonder how to respond without completely sticking his foot in it. Then her mouth quirked, and he realized she was teasing him.

  “You’ve got way too good a deadpan face, Addie,” he said, and the twitch at the corner of her mouth turned into an actual grin.

  “I suppose that comes from years of dodging gropers at the restaurants where I worked,” she replied, then picked up her slice of Greek pizza and took another bite. “You never want to let them see that they got to you, you know?”

  No, he didn’t know, because although he’d had odd jobs working for various Wilcox-owned businesses while he was in high school and college, he’d never waited tables. And even if he had, he doubted anyone would have tried to grab his ass.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t drop a tornado on their heads,” he told her, and her grin abruptly faded.

  “Thank God I didn’t,” she said quietly. “I don’t always know what’ll set me off. But I guess simple irritation isn’t major enough to set the wheels in motion.”

  Good to know, he thought, although he only said, “Well, you won’t have to worry about ‘gropers’ ever again. As for the rest….” He paused for a moment, told himself to be brave, and then went on, “I’d like to have dinner with you again, if that’s what you meant.”

  Her fingers tightened on her wine glass, but she affected a shrug as she said, “Are you asking me out on a date, Jake?”

  “I don’t think we need to be that official, do you?” he responded, doing his best to keep his tone light. Even so, he wanted to give himself a mental kick. This was way too soon. What the hell was he thinking? He was totally out of practice with this sort of thing, especially since a rough mental calculation told him it had been almost seven years since he’d asked anyone out on a date.

  “No,” Addie said after a long pause. “Let’s be extremely unofficial.” Her gaze met his, level, not flirtatious at all. Still, he thought he could see a certain warmth in her eyes, and guessed that the invitation hadn’t been as unwelcome as he’d feared. But was it true interest on her part, or only a way to distract herself from the grief she carried within her?

  He supposed he’d find out soon enough. “Sounds like a plan.”

  They went on with their meal after that, the discussion moving to light topics such as the places he’d like to show her in Flagstaff,
and Jake hoped he hadn’t done anything to upset the delicate trust she’d begun to have in him. But it would be dishonest to hide his interest, wouldn’t it? Anyway, if she’d shot him down, he would have accepted that she didn’t share the attraction, and gone on with his life.

  As it was…well, he supposed he’d just have to wait and see whether this was a good thing, or whether he’d thrown an unwelcome wrinkle into both their lives.

  Hotel rooms were plentiful in Las Vegas. Randall Lenz checked into Mandalay Bay, figuring it was as good a choice as anything else, then got out his laptop and attached his secure phone to it. A moment later, Agent Dawson’s face appeared on the screen. She looked both tired and cross, and he recalled that it was well past seven on the East Coast. Not that it really mattered; normal work hours were the exception at their agency, not the rule.

  “Anything?” he asked, not bothering with a greeting.

  Dawson tucked a stray strand of mousy hair behind one ear. “I don’t know.”

  “You ‘don’t know’?” he repeated. He scowled at the screen. “Either you found something or you didn’t. Which is it?”

  “I did get an image of a black Jeep Gladiator on an I-15 traffic cam passing the Cheyenne Avenue exit at approximately fifteen-thirty local time. However, when I attempted to continue tracking the vehicle at the next camera, the images were scrambled again, just as they’d been in Kanab.”

  Interesting. Lenz ran a hand over his chin, absently feeling the stubble there. He’d been so out of sorts that morning, he hadn’t even bothered to shave. Not that it probably mattered, but he still felt annoyed with himself for being so sloppy. Normally, he would never have slipped up in such a way. He needed to make sure it never happened again.

  “Where’s the scrambling coming from?”

  Dawson’s thin shoulders lifted slightly. “I can’t tell for sure. Our analysts aren’t finding any obvious intrusions into the traffic-cam systems, so if it’s deliberate, whoever’s doing it is damn good at hiding their tracks. But we haven’t given up.”