On the second day of January, Chase sat in his rental car in front of his parents’ home on property near Heartache Falls above Eternity Springs and wondered what the heck was the matter with him. At the New Year’s Eve party in Aspen, Lana had told one of the financial backers of Thrillseekers, Inc., that Chase had never met a dare he wouldn’t take. He hadn’t argued the point. Nothing made him happier than going one-on-one against Mother Nature. He thrived on challenges and excelled on tests.
Why, then, was he scared to get out of this SUV and knock on his parents’ front door?
Because Mom is going to tear a strip off your hide when you tell her your news, that’s why.
He shivered, more at the thought of his mother’s wrath than from the bitter winter chill beginning to seep into the parked automobile. Snow fell heavily now, the flakes big as quarters. Another minute dragged by. He drummed his fingers against the steering wheel, his stare lingering on the Christmas tree visible through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the great room. Christmas at the Timberlakes’. Blinking lights. A hodgepodge of ornaments collected through the years. A fire in the hearth. Warmth. Family. Love.
Timberlake family tradition dictated that the house remain decorated until Epiphany. Chase liked a later start and finish to the Christmas season—no red and green before Thanksgiving for him—and he’d lobbied for it at the New York apartment he and Lana shared. She’d had different ideas. She’d had their tree down and out of the building by sundown on December 25.
It had been a damned lonely Christmas.
Chase had missed spending the day with his family, missed his mother’s traditional Christmas dinner and the boisterousness of the gift exchange with his siblings. Missed being in Eternity Springs.
He’d grown up in Denver, so this wasn’t the home of all his childhood Christmases. However, this log house with its spectacular view of five of Colorado’s “fourteeners”—peaks that rise more than fourteen thousand feet above sea level—had become the home of his heart from the moment his parents rolled out the architect’s plans in the yurt a short hike away from here where they’d been living at the time. The family had spent the past four—or was it five now?—Christmases here, and Chase hadn’t realized how much the holiday at Heartache Falls meant to him until he’d missed being part of it. Not that he hadn’t enjoyed the traditions that Lana had attempted to establish in its place, and he did appreciate that she’d tried.
Nor did he blame her for his dissatisfaction with the day. After all, remaining in New York for Christmas had been his idea. He’d felt that he owed her an opportunity to create traditions that suited them both, and with a Valentine’s Day wedding in Eternity Springs just around the corner, this had seemed like the perfect year to skip a holiday trip to Colorado. Mom always went a little batty at Christmas, anyway, and though she hid it well, Lana invariably went on the defensive when she got around the female members of his family.
He couldn’t blame her for that, either. Despite the fact that he’d never told his family just how serious his relationship with Lori had become while she was away at school, he knew that all the Timberlakes had harbored hopes that they’d eventually end up together. Caitlin, especially, wore her emotions on her sleeve, and she had made it clear to Lana at their very first meeting that she didn’t measure up. Since things were dicey enough as it was between the women in his life, he’d seen no sense in adding the baggage of holiday emotions into the mix.
Of course, then the last-minute command-performance party in Aspen had come up, so they’d made a Colorado trip after all, leaving Manhattan early on the morning of the twenty-seventh. Mom had cried at the happy surprise. “Wonder if I’ll make her cry tonight?” he murmured.
Focused on the blinking angel tree topper inside the house as he sat lost in thought, he didn’t notice movement coming up alongside the car. Knuckles rapped against the driver’s side window. Startled, Chase turned his head to see his dad.
Now in his fifties, Mac Timberlake had gone gray at the temples in a way that was fitting for a former federal judge turned small-town lawyer. His stare burned through the window, and as Mac made a rolling motion with his finger, Chase forced himself not to revert to childhood and squirm.
He thumbed the power window button. The glass slid down and bitter cold swept into the car along with the rush of falling water from nearby Heartache Falls. “Hey, Dad.”
“You planning to sit out here all night?” Mac asked. “Your mother says you’ve been here for at least twenty minutes. She’s worried you’re going to freeze to death.”
“Sorry. I … uh…” He gestured toward the cell phone lying on the seat beside him. It wasn’t a lie. He’d been finishing up a call with the airline when he’d arrived.
His father looked at him hard. “When you left here the other day, you weren’t planning to return until February.”
“Right.”
When he didn’t elaborate, his father’s stare grew sharper. “Before we go inside, tell me one thing. Do you need a lawyer?”
“What? Oh. No. I’m fine. Everything’s good, actually.”
“Okay, then.”
Mac stepped away from the car and waited while Chase rolled up the window, pulled on his jacket, and joined him. The two men trudged toward the large log structure and entered through the back door. As Chase stomped the snow from his boots in the mudroom, the aroma of his mother’s red sauce simmering on the stove drifted from the kitchen. That smell more than anything told Chase he was home.
“Michael Chase Timberlake,” his mother said, a scold in her tone. “What are you doing here?”
“Begging supper, I hope.” He hung his coat on a hook and walked into the kitchen. “Lasagna?”
“Veal spiedini.” Ali Timberlake lifted her hand to touch his cheek, studying him intently with her blue-eyed gaze. “I fed you lasagna last week. And sent you away with leftovers.”
“I polished those off for breakfast on New Year’s. Veal spiedini is awesome, though.”
His father scowled at him. “Hey. Your mother didn’t plan for an extra mouth to feed tonight. Don’t think you’re getting any of my share.”
“Have you used the electric broom Dad gave you for Christmas, yet, Mom?”
“Smart-ass.” Mac dipped a spoon in Ali’s sauce and tasted it. “That’s spectacular, Alison. You’ve tweaked the spices again, haven’t you? And I don’t know why I’m catching so much grief over the broom. You said you wanted one.”
“You’re right. I did. I know I’ll enjoy it, too. Now, talk to us, Chase. I can see that something’s wrong. Why the surprise visit?”
“Nothing’s wrong. Everything is great, actually. Just a change in plans.”
His parents shared a look, then his father asked in a casual tone, “Wedding related?”
“Yes.” He met his mother’s gaze, gave her a crooked, bashful grin, and dropped his bombshell. “We need to postpone it.”
For a full half a minute, the only sound to be heard was the sizzle in his mother’s frying pan. Then Ali asked, “Postpone? You’re not canceling?”
Chase heard the hopeful note in her voice and tried not to feel annoyed. He knew his family thought he was making a mistake with Lana, but they didn’t know the real woman beneath the public façade. In time, they’d come to see her for the wonderful woman she was. Different from Mom—about a hundred eighty degrees different—but wonderful.
“No, we’re not canceling. Just pushing back the date.”
“And you just made this decision now?” his father asked.
“This date has been on the calendar for months,” Ali pointed out. “The invitations have already gone out.”
Chase’s gaze slid away from his mother’s. She’d done a ton of work to pull the wedding together, all at Lana’s request. The reality was that his bride would have been just as happy to elope to Las Vegas. She’d agreed to an Eternity Springs wedding for his sake. Since his mother was a pro when it came to social arrangements, turning arrangements over to her had seemed like the perfect solution. Now, Chase couldn’t help but feel guilty.
“I’m really sorry, Mom. You’ve put a ton of work into the wedding, and I feel like a schlub. The timing is unfortunate…” he began.
Mac Timberlake snorted softly.
“… but something has come up at work. It’s big, something Thrillseekers, Inc., has been working on for a long time.”
“Work? This is work related? Not relationship related?” His mother folded her arms, and her voice climbed an octave. “You’re canceling the wedding because of a cable TV show?”
“That cable TV show is my job, Mother,” Chase fired back. “It pays my bills. Very nicely, I might add.”
Mac warned, “Watch it there, boyo. Respect your mother.”
“Sorry.” Chase dragged his fingers through his hair. As a rule, he didn’t care what other people thought about his job, but his parents weren’t just other people.
And they were going to hate what he had to tell them.
So man up, Timberlake. Spit it out. Chase cleared his throat. “The government of Chizickstan has agreed to issue visas to Thrillseekers, Inc. We’ll film three episodes of the show there, and then…” He drew a deep breath and spoke the sentence he still didn’t believe was coming true. “Tibet. The monks of Kambantota Monastery have given us permission to film a white-water trip through Hidden River Gorge.”
His mother, of course, focused on the part he’d known she’d hate the most. “Chizickstan?” Ali threw a worried glance toward his dad. “A ‘stan’ country?”
“Where is that?” Mac asked.
“It shares a border with Afghanistan.”
Ali’s complexion went pale and her voice trembled as she asked, “You’re going to Afghanistan?”
“No, Mom. I’m going to Chizickstan. Two completely different countries.”
“But both war zones,” his father fired back.
“No. The part of Chizickstan we’re visiting isn’t a war zone.”
“But it is tribal territory.”
Chase nodded, conceding the point.
Mac asked, “How long will you be gone?”
“A couple months there. A couple months in Tibet.”
“If you ever get to Tibet,” Ali said, her tone bitter.
Mac touched the small of his wife’s back, offering silent support. Chase hated seeing his mother so shaken, and he was almost relieved when color flooded back into her face even though he knew from experience that her temper was about to blow.
Sure enough, anger flashed in her eyes. She lifted her chin and shot her words like bullets. “I thought the show’s producers said no more filming in areas of political unrest.”
“The shooting in Argentina could just as easily have happened on the streets of Atlanta,” he said defensively.
“At least there are hospitals in Atlanta.”
“A doctor travels with us, Mom. Our mobile medical unit is fully equipped.”
“That will give us so much comfort when you are captured by terrorists.”
“Mom…”
She picked up a wooden spoon and gave her sauce a vicious stir. It tore Chase up to see how he’d upset her. He loved his mother to distraction, and he knew she worried about him. Chase gave his father a pleading glance, but one look at the torque in his father’s chiseled jaw convinced him he’d find no ally in that quarter.
“So this was the reason behind the Aspen trip?” his father asked, having put the clues together.
“Yes. The producer got word on Christmas Day and made the announcement at the New Year’s Eve party.”
Ali looked at her husband. “You shouldn’t have turned down that job you were offered in New York, Mac. If Chase had grown up in New York he wouldn’t love mountain climbing and river riding so much. He’d be gambling with other people’s money on Wall Street instead of gambling with his life in a war zone.”
“Now, Mom—”
“No! Just no! I’ve been supportive of your adventures since you were a little boy, but after Argentina…” She drew a deep breath and exhaled harshly. “You promised me no more politically dicey areas, Michael Chase. You promised me.”
“I know, Mom. And I’m sorry, but this particular project predates my promise.” A note of entreaty entered his voice as he added, “It’s the most famous stretch of white water in the world. It hasn’t been filmed since the sixties. This is the opportunity of a lifetime. It’s my Everest, Mom. It’s the Hidden River Gorge!”
“Go there first then,” she fired back, a sheen of moisture in her eyes. “Go raft your way to Shangri-La. Don’t go to Hellistan.”
Chase closed his eyes. “I can’t, Mom. This is my job.”
The front doorbell rang, and Ali set down her wooden spoon hard before marching out of the kitchen. Chase dragged his fingers through his hair. “That went well.”
“She tries, Chase. I don’t think you can appreciate just how difficult it is to parent a child who walks on the wild side, so to speak.”
“I outgrew childhood a long time ago.”
“And when you’re in your seventies, you will still be your mother’s child, and she will continue to worry about you. No sense fighting it. It’s the price you pay for having such a spectacular mom.”
“I know she’s spectacular. I just wish she’d spread some of the worry wealth around. She doesn’t give Caitlin or Stephen as hard a time as she gives me.”
“Stephen is a corporate lawyer. The most dangerous thing he does is play pickup basketball at the Y on Saturday morning. As far as your sister goes … your mother worries about her plenty. The girl changes boyfriends as often as she changes jobs. However, emotional happiness and physical safety are two different beasts. Every time the phone rings showing a number we don’t recognize, we expect it to be someone calling with horrific news concerning your safety.”
“Dad, that’s—”
“Reality. Look, I’m not trying to bust your balls here. I just want to explain where your mother is coming from. Her emotions are especially volatile these days. This was the first Christmas since her father’s death, you didn’t make it home for Christmas Day, and your wedding is right around the corner. Or at least, it was right around the corner.”
“I love my job, Dad. I’m good at it. But I don’t like knowing that I disappoint you and Mom.”
“You don’t disappoint us, Chase. Don’t think that. We’re happy that you’ve found a career that suits your talents and interests and allows you to indulge your wanderlust. Honestly, we are. That said, having a thrill-seeking son with wanderlust is difficult for a parent. We can’t help but wish your path kept you a little closer to home—and out of certain parts of the world.”
“Dad, we hire security. We don’t take stupid chances. The show’s safety record is unparalleled. Remind Mom of that, would you?”
“I will. But you have to do your part, too. You can’t go weeks on end without checking in. When you’re off in some remote corner of the world and weeks pass without a word from you, our imaginations conjure up some unsettling scenarios.”
Rightfully so, Chase thought, recalling a certain gun battle in Argentina.
“You have to check in,” Mac continued. “Often.”
“I will. I promise.”
“Don’t break this promise.”
“I won’t, Dad.”
Both Timberlake men turned toward the kitchen door to see Ali return with their visitor, and Chase’s night went from bad to bad and awkward. Pasting on a smile, he lied, “Well, this is a nice surprise. Hello, Lori.”
* * *
She almost burst out laughing when Ali told her Chase was in the kitchen. Chase, alone, without his bride-to-be. Had she known that this was what she’d find at the Timberlakes’ home when she accepted Ali’s dinner invitation, she’d have brought a bottle of Scotch instead of a nice Chianti along with the lemon cream pie from Fresh that her mother said Ali particularly enjoyed.
She had exchanged a few words with Chase on a handful of occasions since their nonbreakup—always small talk, always when they both were part of a crowd, always when she’d anticipated his presence at an event and prepared herself to see him. Tonight was different.
Tonight he’d popped up unexpectedly like the clown in a child’s jack-in-the-box. She’d always found that particular toy scary. Pasting on what she hoped was a bright smile rather than a fake one, she said, “Hi, Chase. I thought you went to Vail.”
“No.” He stuck his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “Aspen.”
“Ah. That’s right. More TV people in Aspen than in Vail.”
“It’s nice to see you. We didn’t get a chance to speak at the bowl game party the other night.”
No, they hadn’t. She’d worked hard make it so. Not that he’d gone out of his way to try to talk to her, either. In fact, at the time she’d sensed that he worked as hard to avoid her as she had him. “Good parties are like that.”
She handed the bottle of wine to Mac who glanced at the label and said, “Nice. One of our favorites. Shall I open it?”
“Please.” Lori turned to Ali. “Dinner smells delicious. What can I do to help?”
Standing at the stove, Ali glanced over her shoulder. She looks a little pale, Lori thought. And her voice trembled slightly when she spoke. “The veal has a couple more minutes to go, but everything else is ready. We’re eating in the family room tonight. I wanted to enjoy the Christmas tree one more time before we take it down. Chase, you need to set a place for yourself.”
“All right.”
Judging by the clipped tone of his words and the misery on Ali’s face and tightness in Mac’s jaw, Lori had walked into a minefield. Wonderful. Just wonderful. This keeps getting better and better.
Ali’s gaze followed Chase as he left the kitchen, a plate and silverware in hand. The smile she turned toward Lori was genuine, but sad. “Actually, what I’d like most of all is to think about something positive. Why don’t you sit down and talk to me about what has brought you up the mountain to our home on this cold winter night. Your mother said you have a big decision to make?”
“I do. I am considering a number of fabulous offers, and one of them would mean a serious lifestyle change for me—relocating to a big city. Permanently.”
“You ready to become a big-city girl, Lori?” Mac asked.
“I don’t know. I’m still weighing my options. I told Mom I wanted to talk to you about your big-city experience since you still have your place in Denver, but that’s not really why I’m here today. I want to plan a special event, a surprise party, and I’m hoping you’ll help.”
“Of course I’ll help,” Ali said, her expression brightening. Actually, it more than brightened. Lori got the sense that she’d thrown the other woman a lifeline. “I assume this is a surprise party for your folks?”
“Not exactly.” Lori smiled her thanks when Mac set a glass of wine in front of her. “When I graduate in May, it will be due in large part to the efforts of two people—Mom and Nic Callahan. I want to do something special to thank them and recognize them and show them how much I appreciate all they’ve done for me. Nobody plans a party better than you, Ali, but you are also one of the busiest women I’ve ever met. Between the traveling you and Mac do and running the restaurant and all of your volunteer work—I’m sure your calendar stays booked.”
Ali’s gaze drifted toward the family room doorway, and Lori thought she detected a hint of bitterness in her voice when she said, “Oh, you’d be surprised about how dates can open up.”
Then she gave her head a visible shake and continued, “What sort of party are you thinking about and when would you like to have it?”
“I’d like to do a dinner party. My first choice is to have it at your restaurant—you know how much I love the Yellow Kitchen—but I’m afraid I might have waited too late to make my reservation for a Saturday night in May.”
“You want the private dining room?”
“Actually, I’m afraid that wouldn’t be enough room.” Lori smiled bashfully and added, “Once I started my guest list, I quickly realized everyone I want to invite won’t fit in the private dining room. What I’d like to do is give you my budget and guest list and turn all the arrangements over to you. I’ve been saving my pennies.”
“A surprise party for Nic and Sarah,” Ali said, a smile playing on her lips. “I can’t tell you how much the idea appeals to me right now.” Lifting her voice, she called, “Chase, would you please bring me my tablet off my desk?”
“Sure, Mom.” A moment later he returned to the kitchen and handed Ali her iPad. She pulled up a calendar and asked, “When’s graduation?”
“The fifth.”
“So you are looking at the seventh?”
“Yes.”
Ali pursed her lips. “Hmm … that’s right about the time the Garretts’ baby is due. I may have to juggle a few things, but yes, I think we could make it happen.”
“Wonderful!”
Ali made a note on her tablet, then tucked it into a drawer. Five minutes later, the four of them sat down at the Timberlakes’ dining table where, unfortunately, Lori was seated directly across from Chase. For the first few minutes, the conversation centered around the party. Then it turned to Ali’s veal spiedini recipe. Throughout it all, Chase never said a word, and Ali never once looked at her son.
What the heck was going on here? Did the tension have something to do with the missing bride? Lori didn’t think Chase had come home to announce a broken engagement. Ali would be in comforting mode, not firing off verbal barbs and shooting dagger looks.
Once they’d exhausted the topic of the seriously delicious meal, conversation lagged. Ali’s eyes grew teary, Chase looked miserable, and Mac’s jaw turned to granite. Lori wondered how soon she could graciously leave.
Mac made an effort. “So, tell us more about this decision you need to make, Lori. Your father told me not long ago that you were considering a specialization in veterinary ophthalmology.”
Lori hesitated. She wasn’t at all certain that she wanted to discuss her decision in front of Chase. And yet, a part of her wanted nothing more than to show him that she, too, had choices in life. She, too, had dreams and desires and goals to achieve. She wanted him to know that she most happily had roots ready to sink.
No wanderlust coating my heels. I don’t need French Riviera sand. My roots are sunk deep into Colorado dirt.
The thought triggered a memory of the moment she realized that she and Chase were well and truly done. It began in her mother’s kitchen. Sarah, Nic Callahan, Sage Rafferty, Ali Timberlake, and Celeste Blessing had been meeting in the living room discussing plans for the annual arts festival. Home from college to share her big news about receiving her vet school acceptance letter from Colorado State, Lori had been snatching a chocolate chip cookie from the cookie jar when she’d heard Chase’s name mentioned.
“He’s where?” her mother asked.
“Thailand,” Ali repeated. “He landed a job with a production company shooting a pilot for a cable TV sports show.”
Ali moved closer as Nic Callahan asked the question running through Lori’s mind. “He’s working as a river guide?”
“A photographer. It’s his first professional photography job. Mac and I are proud of him, but I won’t deny that I’d rather he found work closer to home.”
Thailand. The cookie jar lid rattled as she replaced it. Chase was on the other side of the world—and she hadn’t known about it.
“Whatever happened between him and Lori?” Sage asked.
Lori stared down at the cookie in her hand. Her mother had baked it, of course, using her special recipe—the one she’d shared with Lori as part of a Christmas gift. Lori had baked chocolate chip cookies for Chase on one of his visits to College Station. They hadn’t been from scratch, but the refrigerated-dough variety. Chase hadn’t seemed to mind. They’d eaten the cookies warm from the oven and chocolate had melted all over her fingers. He’d licked it off. Slowly.
Thailand.
A little sob escaped her, and blindly, she rushed from the kitchen and into her mother’s backyard. She sank onto the back stoop and tried valiantly to fight back the tears. When Daisy, one of her mother’s golden retrievers, wandered over to say hello, Lori wrapped her arms around the dog’s neck and hugged her close.
He’s gone. He’s really gone. Grief wrapped a band of steel around her chest and squeezed.
“Sweetheart.” Celeste’s voice floated over her like the brush of angel wings. Gentle hands gave her thigh a comforting pat. “Don’t despair.”
“I don’t know how we got here.”
“You and Chase?”
“There is no me and Chase! He’s gone to Thailand.”
“He didn’t move to Thailand, my dear. He’ll be back.”
Her voice broke as she said, “Yes, but not to me. Not to stay.”
“There, there.” Celeste clicked her tongue, and when Daisy impatiently wiggled out of Lori’s arms, the older woman enveloped Lori in hers. “My darling girl, if I may quote the Good Book. ‘To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven … a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.’ It is not Chase’s time to plant.”
“I know. That’s the problem. It’s always been the problem. He’s a tumbleweed who is happiest when a gale wind is blowing, Celeste. That’s just not me. I’m a weed with roots that I can’t get rid of. I don’t want to get rid of them.”
“Of course you don’t, and you shouldn’t. It’s your roots that will give you your wings.”
With Celeste’s words echoing in her mind, Lori answered Mac’s question. Talking about her opportunities reminded Lori of how happy she truly was, which in turn reassured her that she and Chase had made the right call. She was living the life she was meant to live. One day, she’d find a man who shared her dreams, just like Chase had found a woman to fly beside him as he soared around the world.
Yes, the what-ifs and if-onlys made her heart hurt a little sometimes, but for the most part, she was happy. Chase was happy.
Well, except for tonight. Tonight he didn’t appear to be a happy camper at all.
When Ali rose to serve dessert, Lori started to stand and clear her plate, but Chase stopped her with the first words he’d spoken since dinner began. “No. You’re a guest. I’ve got the dishes.” Once both mother and son had disappeared into the kitchen, Lori softly asked Mac, “Did something happen with Chase?”
He sighed and topped off his wine. “He has a new assignment. His mother isn’t taking it well.”
Neither are you, Lori thought. She wanted to ask for more details, but Mac’s closed expression didn’t encourage them. Instead, she made small talk until Chase and Ali rejoined them, bringing coffee and pie and renewed tension between mother and son.
Mac sighed again, then did everyone a favor by launching into a story about the recent antics of the Cicero family’s puppy that managed to lighten the mood and even coaxed a genuine smile from his wife. Chase followed up the dog tale with one about his neighbor’s pair of parakeets that actually got a laugh from his mother. Chase answered with the flash of a familiar grin, then said, “Dinner was great, Mom. How about you let me clean up the kitchen. I promise I’ll hand-wash your knives.”
“That’s a deal.”
“The meal was wonderful, Ali,” Lori said after Ali suggested they finish their coffee over by the fireplace. “It’s one of my favorites.”
“Thank you. I always enjoy cooking for you, Lori, and I was so happy to have a little time with you. We miss you here in Eternity Springs.”
“I miss being here,” Lori said as she took a seat on the Timberlakes’ sofa.
Ali gave her a sly look. “Nic will be glad to hear that.”
As Eternity Springs’s veterinarian and her mentor, Nic had been trying for months to convince Lori to return home and join her practice. Lori held up her hand palm out. “Just because I miss home doesn’t mean I’m ready to move back. Like I said earlier, I’m still weighing my options.”
Ali took a seat beside Lori. “As well you should. Let me add one more thing, and then I promise it’ll be the last I say on the subject.”
“Okay.”
Ali’s gaze drifted toward the kitchen where Chase stood in their line of sight. “I don’t regret leaving Denver for Eternity Springs, but I do mourn the time I missed with my father, especially now that he’s gone. Family is a treasure. Don’t make short shrift of its value as you weigh your choices.”
“I won’t.” Lori allowed her gaze to follow the path of Ali’s stare and took the opportunity to study her ex for the first time in forever. He stood in front of Ali’s farmhouse sink with his sleeves rolled up and a frying pan in his hand. He’d matured into a ruggedly handsome man. All those hours invested in outdoor sports had filled out the frame of the young man she’d first met in the Trading Post grocery store almost a decade ago. His dark hair had sun streaks, but his eyes remained the warm, luscious brown of melted milk chocolate. He could work in front of the camera rather than behind it.
Though his frown might scare people off.
Lori finished her coffee and was about to stand to leave when two phones rang simultaneously—hers and Mac’s. “It’s Mom,” she said, checking the number.
“And Zach Turner,” Mac added.
The sheriff. Worry flared and Lori quickly answered the call. “Mom? Is everything okay?”
“It is now. I was worried about you. Are you still at Heartache Falls?”
“Yes. I was just getting ready to head home.”
“Don’t. A four-car pileup with injuries has the highway shut down between there and here. The sheriff’s department has their hands full, and they’ve asked for all nonemergency traffic to stay off the road. If that’s not bad enough, we’re getting a mix of sleet with the snow down here in the valley. It’s simply not safe for you to drive home tonight.”
Lori stifled a groan. Instinctively, her gaze shifted toward the kitchen where she saw Mac speaking to his son. Chase’s gaze met hers. He didn’t look any happier than she.
In her ear, her mom’s voice said, “I’m sure Mac and Ali won’t mind having an overnight guest.”
I hope not. Because it looks like they’re going to have two of them.
However, one of those guests hadn’t forgotten that she’d arrived in the midst of a family squabble, and her presence had delayed the settling of said squabble long enough. As soon as possible, she said her good-nights and retired upstairs to the bedroom suite Caitlin used when she visited.
She took a long, hot bath, then watched a movie, trying her best not to listen for the sound of footsteps traveling to the bedroom down the hall. Chase’s bedroom.
She fell asleep, trying her best not to dream about things that could not be.
She failed.
She dreamed she sat in the bow of a canoe on Hummingbird Lake watching a pair of hot-air balloons sail above. In tandem, the pilots of both balloons fired the burners, and behind her, two young voices roared in approval. Lori glanced over her shoulder to see a little boy, with dark hair and missing his two front teeth, staring upward with wide brown eyes. His younger sister and their golden retriever puppy also looked skyward. From his position at the stern, Chase met her gaze and grinned.
Lori awoke a little after two A.M. haunted by images of a life she’d never lead. For almost an hour she lay tossing and turning, unable to go back to sleep, until finally she switched on the lamp and reached for her phone, looking for the distraction of the Internet. Her phone wasn’t on the nightstand, and thinking back, she realized she’d left it on the mantel downstairs.
She hated the thought of leaving the warmth of the bed, but she desperately needed a distraction. Pulling on Caitlin’s slippers and robe, she quietly opened the bedroom door and made her way downstairs guided by the faint safety lights along the staircase. The darkness shrouding the first floor of the Timberlake home was broken only by a soft glow of a light above the cooktop in the kitchen and the glow of orange coals in the hearth.
The kitchen light and Ali’s admonition that she make herself at home beckoned, and she poured milk into a brown earthenware mug and warmed it in the microwave. She carried the steaming mug into the family room.
As she reached toward the mantel and her phone, a husky voice rumbled out of the darkness. “Want a shot of whisky in that milk, Glitterbug?”