Chapter Three
Leah rounded the end of the grocery store aisle and stopped with a jerk to avoid contact with the oncoming shopper near a tall display of cereal. “Sorry, I wasn’t watching where I . . . Mrs. Alexander!” Her gaze locked with familiar blue eyes beneath short silver hair as she smiled at Ryan’s mother. “It’s nice to see you.”
“My goodness, Leah, don’t you look pretty. I swear you haven’t aged a day since high school.”
“That’s sweet. A total lie, but sweet.”
Marion Alexander grinned. “I always enjoyed your sense of humor.” She maneuvered her cart in closer. “Is the rumor someone ripped up the patio behind the elementary school true?”
Leah nodded. “The popular theory is teenagers did it on some sort of dare.” She frowned. “I can’t imagine why, though. And what’s really strange is that’s where we originally buried our time capsule. Did you hear about our fifth-grade class reunion?”
“I did. I’ve been trying to talk Ryan into coming home for it.” She pressed her lips together. “He says he’s busy that weekend.” Reaching out, Marion pulled a box of cornflakes off the shelf and set it in her cart. “I wish he’d change his mind because I haven’t seen him in a few months.” She jerked her head up. “Wait a minute. What do you mean by ‘originally buried?’ ”
“When we were in high school, Ryan, Nina, and I relocated the box before they built the patio.”
“Huh. That is strange.” She moved out of the way as a harried-looking mother herded two toddlers toward the checkout stand. “Well, at least you’ll still be able to open your time capsule at the party.”
“I’m certainly happy about that. Nice talking to you, Mrs. Alexander.”
“You, too, dear.”
Relief lightened Leah’s steps as she browsed the produce section and picked out a shiny purple eggplant for dinner. Ryan wasn’t coming to the reunion. She’d be able to relax and enjoy herself without his presence as a constant reminder of past foolish choices. Still, a hint of regret niggled. They’d been inseparable before they took their relationship to the next level. Closer even than her friendship with Paige and Nina. Too late to return to that once comfortable platonic bond now. Even if she wanted to.
After paying for her groceries, Leah loaded them into her tote bag and headed out to the parking lot to retrieve her bike. A light rain fell, sending up a steamy aroma from the damp pavement. Pulling up the hood on her jacket, she waved to Marion as Ryan’s mother crossed toward an older-model Buick. Beside her, a compact car pulled out of a slot and rolled forward. When a muffled screech sounded from the rear seat, the driver glanced over her shoulder and reached back...
“Look out!”
Leah’s shouted warning came too late as the front bumper clipped the older woman and sent her sprawling on the asphalt. The paper sack filled with groceries hit the ground, and boxes and cans scattered while a carton of eggs smashed beneath the car’s tire.
Releasing her bike, Leah sprinted toward Ryan’s mother and dropped onto her knees beside her. “Are you okay?”
A scrape marred the side of Marion’s face, and her teeth clamped together on a moan. Her right arm twisted beneath her at an odd angle.
“Oh, my God. I’m so sorry.” The driver ran around the car to crouch beside them. “The twins were . . .” She broke off on a cry. “Oh, no. You’re hurt.”
Leah didn’t bother to look at her. “Mrs. Alexander, I’m calling for an ambulance. I think your arm is broken, so try not to move.”
“Good Lord, it hurts worse than childbirth.” She grimaced then glanced up at the sobbing woman. “Stop that. Accidents happen.”
“I feel horrible. What can I do?”
Leah pulled out her cell, not nearly as forgiving as Marion. “Move your car out of the way so the paramedics will have room to work when the ambulance gets here.”
Brushing away tears, the woman stood as a handful of people ran toward them. With a surge of relief, Leah recognized one bearded face with steady brown eyes.
“Dr. Carlton, thank heavens. I was just going to call nine-one-one.”
“I already did. Move aside, everyone.” The doctor knelt on the wet pavement with little regard for his slacks. “How’re you feeling, Marion? Let me take a look at that arm.”
“I’ve been better, Arlen.” Her gaze was slightly unfocused as she looked beyond the doctor. “Leah, will you call Ryan and tell him what happened?”
“Of course.” When a siren sounded in the distance, she stepped back. “I’ll stop by the hospital later to check on you. Hang in there, Mrs. A.”
Marion smiled at the old nickname, but her voice was shaky when she spoke. “Takes more than a ton of metal to keep me down.”
Leah walked back toward the store to get out of the rain as an ambulance and a police cruiser pulled into the lot. With an unsteady hand, she gripped her phone and pulled up the contact list for the reunion Paige had shared with her, found Ryan’s cell number and dialed, then hoped he’d pick up.
A voice she remembered all too well answered in a cautious tone.
“Hello.”
“Hi, Ryan. It’s Leah.” When he didn’t respond, she cleared the hitch out of her throat. “Leah Grayson.”
“This is . . . unexpected. How are you?”
“I’m fine.” She drew in a breath. “I’m calling because your mom was hit by a car.”
“What?” His voice was sharp. Urgent.
“She’s okay, well mostly. An ambulance is taking her to the hospital, and Doctor Carlton was on hand when the accident happened. She has some scrapes and a broken arm. At least it looked like it was broken to me. She asked me to call you.”
He was quiet for several long seconds. “Why you?”
“I was in the parking lot at the store where she was hit. I promised to stop by and check on her later, once they admit her. I’m afraid I don’t have any more information.”
“I’ll leave here as soon as I pack a bag. Will you tell my mom I’ll see her just as soon as I can get there?”
“Of course.”
“Thank you, Leah.”
Tears pressed against her eyelids. He sounded hesitant, a little lost. In her mind, Ryan was the boy he’d been all those years ago, unwilling to admit the name-calling from the class bully cut deep. “You’re welcome. Drive carefully.”
“I will.” The connection went dead.
Leah pocketed her phone, then ran over as the EMT loaded Marion into the back of the ambulance on a stretcher. “Mrs. A?”
She lifted her head. “Leah?”
“Ryan will be at the hospital just as soon as he can. I’ll stop by to visit you once they have you settled into a room.”
“Thank you, dear.”
A female medic stepped into the vehicle beside her patient, while her male partner slammed the doors shut and hurried around to the front. A moment later the ambulance pulled away.
Leah stared after it.
“Ms. Grayson, I’m Officer Long. I’ll need to get a witness statement from you.”
Turning, she faced the cop who’d been talking to the driver and smiled. “I remember you from high school. Your younger sister and I were in the same grade.”
She glanced toward the car where both kids were still crying in the back. Their mother sat on the edge of the driver’s seat with the door open and looked about ready to collapse onto the pavement. Sympathy stirred as she met the woman’s fearful gaze.
Leah turned back to the officer. “It was an accident, a single moment of distraction that ended badly.”
“Maybe I could get a few more details, but we can have this conversation over near the store entrance out of the drizzle.”
She nodded and followed him across the lot.
Once they reached shelter, he pulled out a notepad. “First, your contact information and relationship to the victim.”
Leah reeled off her name, address, and phone number then hesitated. “Uh, Mrs. Alexander is an old friend. I used to date her son back in high school. Since then, we’ve run into each other now and then.” She winced. “Poor choice of words, under the circumstances.”
His lips quivered beneath a neatly trimmed moustache. “All right, let’s hear the sequence of events from your perspective.”
“Mrs. Alexander was crossing the lot to her car when the woman over there”—she pointed toward the compact car—“pulled out of her parking spot. One of the kids in the back seat let out a yell I could hear through the closed window, and the driver glanced back as she rolled forward. I shouted, but Mrs. A didn’t have time to move out of the way before the car hit her.”
Officer Long closed his notebook. “Thanks for your help.”
Leah picked up the tote bag full of groceries she’d dropped beside her bike, then glanced back at the young mother slumped in the seat of her car. “I feel bad for her but worse for Mrs. Alexander. What’s going to happen to the woman?”
“That will depend on whether Mrs. Alexander wants to press charges for negligent driving. Right now, I’ll let her get those kids home.”
“Oh.” She straddled the crossbar on her bike. “Can I leave now?”
“Sure. Have a nice evening.”
“You, too.”
Leah pedaled hard through the light rain, heading north out of town along the highway. Before long, she turned down the lengthy, rutted drive leading to her family home set on a bluff overlooking the ocean. Before she could get off her bike, Barney bounded over and almost knocked her down.
“Easy, boy. I’m glad to see you, too.” She rubbed the soft ears of her big mongrel and tried to avoid sloppy doggie kisses as she wheeled her bike into the carport beside her old Audi wagon. After a detour into the garden behind the house to pick the last of the ripe tomatoes and pinch off a few sprigs of oregano and basil, she headed straight into the kitchen through the back door and set her bag on the counter.
Shedding her wet coat, she toed off her boots and left them where they fell, then dug her phone out of her bag to call the hospital. After identifying herself to the receptionist on duty and requesting an update on Mrs. Alexander, she pried out a few sketchy details from the tight-lipped woman. Apparently, there were complications, whatever that meant. Marion was currently waiting to have her arm set and wasn’t expected to be available for visitors other than family until the following day.
Leah scowled as she set the phone on the blue-tiled countertop then glanced over at Barney, waiting by his food bowl. “I guess I’ll tell them I’m her niece. But first, dinner for you and me, both.”
An hour later, Barney dozed under the table while she ate eggplant with fresh tomatoes. When the phone rang, she reached for her cell, only to realize it was the house phone’s old-fashioned clamor, not her cell’s muted chime.
“What the heck?” No one called the landline except solicitors and, occasionally, her grandma. On the off chance it wasn’t someone trying to sell life insurance or new cable service, she pushed back her chair and hurried into the living room to grab the handset off the end table. “Hello.”
“Do you know where the box is?” The voice crackled and broke.
“Excuse me. You must have the wrong—”
“The time capsule.” The male voice faded in and out. “What’s the point in holding the reunion without the box?”
Word of the patio demolition must have spread. “Don’t worry, we still have it. Or, rather, we know where it’s currently buried. Who’s this?”
The dial tone droned in her ear.
“Huh? That was strange.”
When her dog strolled to the door and whined, she hung up and walked over to let him out. Stepping onto the long front porch, she braced her hands on the railing to gaze out across the ocean. The rain had stopped, and the sun was sinking through a thin layer of clouds, giving the sky a rosy glow above the three huge rocks in the cove.
The conversation had been weird. She wondered which of her old classmates had cared enough about the time capsule to call. Definitely a little odd. She shivered and rubbed her hands up and down her arms, then went back inside to finish her dinner.
By the time she’d washed the dishes then showered and changed, she felt fairly certain Marion must be settled into a room for the night. She’d promised to visit Ryan’s mother, and she intended to keep her word. Grabbing a long sweater off the hook by the door, she headed to the carport.
On the drive to the hospital, memories stirred. Building forts in the woods near the Alexanders’ home. Riding bikes through the neighborhood at dusk. Creating science experiments that, on one occasion, had nearly burned down the house. In her teen years, she’d hung out less frequently, mostly because she and Ryan had wanted more privacy by then. Ryan hadn’t been the only one who’d expected their relationship to end happily ever after . . . until their differences led to frequent arguments that left her aching and miserable.
Leah pulled into the visitor’s lot near the front entrance and parked, then leaned against the steering wheel. The least she owed Mrs. A was a visit to check on her welfare. Ryan’s mother would certainly do the same for her. She locked the car and hurried toward the glass doors that slid open at her approach. The young woman who manned the front desk glanced up and smiled.
“Hi, I’m here to see my aunt, Marion Alexander. She was admitted earlier with a broken arm.”
The receptionist checked her computer. “I’m not sure if Mrs. Alexander is out of surgery yet. You can wait up in the lounge on the second floor until the doctor has a chance to speak to her family.”
“Thank you.” Leah’s steps echoed on the stone floor as she crossed to the elevator and pushed the button. Worry niggled as the metal doors slid open. Wouldn’t a simple break have been attended to by now?
When the elevator rose to her floor and stopped, she stepped out into the hallway and turned left toward the waiting room. Only one other person occupied the area. A man stood facing the window overlooking the parking lot, hands planted on slim hips. A navy T-shirt stretched across a muscled back, and impressive biceps flexed each time he clenched and unclenched his fists. Her stomach fluttered. The hottie must be nervous, but then most people hanging out in a hospital probably were.
When Leah’s shoes squeaked on the linoleum, the man spun around. His gaze met hers, and blue eyes widened.
“Ryan?” Why had she made his name sound like a question? The steady blue eyes above a strong nose and wide lips definitely belonged to her old . . . pal. Boyfriend. One-time lover. The man facing her couldn’t be pigeonholed into a neat category. Nothing about their relationship had been simple after that first kiss, and he didn’t look much like the man she remembered. The ever-present glasses and shaggy, dark hair were gone. Not to mention he’d put on at least twenty pounds since she’d last seen him. All of it muscle. She struggled for composure, hoping she didn’t look like the proverbial deer in the headlights.
“Leah.” His gaze swept over her, from her hair pulled back in a French braid to hang past her waist, across the sweater belted over a pair of patterned leggings, to her feet encased in ballet flats. “You haven’t change at all.”
“You have.” The words were wrenched from her throat, and her cheeks heated.
“Lately, I spend less time staring at a computer screen and more time outside.” He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his cargo shorts. “It was nice of you to come out to check on my mom.”
“I was concerned. How is she?”
His eyes darkened. “I haven’t spoken to the doctor yet. I only arrived a few minutes ago.”
“You made good time from Portland.” The small talk felt awkward. Wrong. Still, she didn’t know what else to say.
“I don’t live in Portland anymore. I moved to Sisters after Crossroads no longer needed my attention twenty-four seven. I wanted to be close to the best rock climbing around.” He shrugged. “What’s the point in creating a successful company if you’re too busy to enjoy yourself?”
That explained all those muscles.
She pried her gaze away. “I didn’t know.”
“No reason why you should.” He glanced behind her, and suddenly the insecure boy she’d known so well broke through the new, ultra-confident veneer. The hands he pulled from his pockets weren’t quite steady. “Doctor, how’s my mom?”
Leah turned as a woman in blue scrubs approached. She stepped closer to Ryan and reached for his hand as they waited for the doctor to speak.
“I’m afraid the news is mixed.”
He stiffened beside her. “Let’s hear the bad first.”
Leah squeezed his fingers tight. Typical Ryan, saving the good for last. Facing the worst head-on.
“The break in her arm was a compound fracture. Healing will take longer and require quite a bit of therapy.” The doctor smiled. “But I expect she’ll make a full recovery in time. Your mother is a real trooper. You should be able to see her shortly.”
The tension drained out of him, and he swayed on his feet. “Thank you. I was worried.”
The emotion in his voice brought a lump to Leah’s throat. Without thinking, she slid an arm around him and hugged tight. His warmth encompassed her as he gathered her against his chest. Being in his arms felt familiar and odd at the same time. She welcomed the comfort, but a zing of electricity startled her. She jerked away.
Their gazes locked, his mirroring the same surprise currently twisting her insides into a knot. He stepped back.
“Thanks for coming, Leah. I’ll be sure to tell Mom you stopped by.”
She struggled to put more space between them. “Since you’re here to keep her company, I should probably go.”
He nodded. “It’s late. I imagine you have other things to do.”
Leah couldn’t think of anything, but she didn’t argue. He was right. It was late. A dozen years too late to change her mind about Ryan now.