Twenty-One
Felicity slipped out of bed early, without waking Gabe—or maybe he was pretending to be asleep, giving her a moment to process last night. He lay on his side, facing the window. They’d kicked off the covers hours ago, but sometime during the night he’d pulled the top sheet over them. It was now just over his hips, leaving his torso exposed in the milky light. She inhaled at the sight of the muscles in his arms and shoulders, his smooth skin, his tawny hair. Her own skin tingled, and her fingers twitched at the memory of touching him, holding him, feeling him inside her.
With no neighbors to worry about hearing them, they’d both cried out, more than once.
“Oh, Gabe,” she whispered now, still loose and warm from their lovemaking.
She grabbed a robe and slipped into it as she tiptoed down the hall to the kitchen. She put on coffee, standing by the counter while she waited for it to drip through the filter. Her entire body felt raw, exposed, satiated, as if he’d touched every inch her. Of course, he pretty much had. And she’d done the same with him. Neither of them had held back, as if they’d been building up to this moment for the past thirteen years and all the pent-up longing and need had burst, and they’d known exactly what they wanted. He’d pulled off her nightgown without a hint of tentativeness. She’d reached for him, pulled him to her with the same abandon, the same urgency.
“I want you inside me,” she’d whispered. “Now, Gabe.”
Even as she’d spoken those words, he’d thrust into her. She’d been ready. So ready.
They’d exploded in seconds, clawing at each other, crying out shamelessly.
Later, when they made love again, they’d taken time to explore each other’s bodies, to kiss, to nip, to lick, to tantalize. She still could feel his tongue between her legs. Her tongue on him. The way he’d parted her legs, entering her again, slowly, as if to make sure she felt every inch of him and would never forget that moment.
“No chance of that,” she whispered to herself, grabbing a mug and pouring coffee.
She took her coffee and a notepad and pen out to the deck and jotted a note for him:
Help yourself to breakfast. I’m off to pick wild blueberries. Taking today off (sort of).
Felicity
She didn’t specify where she’d be picking blueberries. Would he remember their favorite spot? Maybe, maybe not, but it wasn’t a test. She could very well be back before he got up. They could make blueberry pancakes together. That thought—the images that came with it—made her throat feel tight with emotions she didn’t want to explore, or didn’t dare to.
She finished her coffee, took her mug inside, left it in the sink and tiptoed back down the hall. She grabbed clothes, making as little noise as possible, and got dressed in the guest bathroom. Gabe hadn’t stirred by the time she emerged. She returned to the kitchen for insect repellent, a water bottle and a container with a cover. She left the note on the table where he couldn’t miss it and headed outside.
It was a gorgeous morning, the sort she’d be thinking about in a few months, on a cold winter day. In a few minutes, she parked at the Quabbin gate at the end of Carriage Hill Road. She took an old pre-reservoir road, or what was left of it, into the woods. She hadn’t been out this way since moving back to Knights Bridge, but she knew this part of the protected wilderness well. After about a hundred yards, she veered off the road onto a footpath that cut back toward the McCaffreys’ land. She could have parked at Dylan and Olivia’s new place or at the Farm at Carriage Hill, but it was so early—she didn’t want to disturb them.
She took in the early-morning sights and sounds. Birds, dew-soaked leaves, ferns and grasses, a cool breeze in the trees.
“I do love it here,” she said aloud.
Finally she came to the field behind Olivia’s antique house and made her way to a section by a stone wall where low wild blueberry bushes spread out before her, laden with their ripe and ripening fruit. She’d have no trouble filling her container. All she had to do was stay at it.
She started with the bushes in the sunlight, figuring she could switch to shade as the morning progressed and the sun grew hotter. She stepped past an anthill in the sandy soil and relished the sound of the first tiny berries plopping into the bottom of her container. As a kid, she’d use a coffee can, but she couldn’t remember the last time she’d bought coffee in a can.
After a while, she heard a rustling sound behind her. Not a squirrel. Bigger. A deer?
“The best spot in Knights Bridge for blueberry picking,” Gabe said, his shadow falling across her.
Felicity stood, feeling a pull in her lower back from her crouching. “I’ve been at it forever, and I only have half my container filled. Did it always take this long?”
“Wild blueberries are small.”
She laughed. “Thanks for that tidbit.”
“Goes faster with help.”
“Another useful tidbit.”
He grinned at her, the sun on his face now. He’d obviously showered. He wore shorts and a faded Red Sox T-shirt. “I brought my own container,” he said, holding up a quart-size freezer container. “We can combine what we pick and have a blueberry feast.”
“Your favorite is cobbler, as I recall.”
“Now my mouth is watering.” He pointed his container toward the shade. “Why don’t I take a look over there and see how ripe the berries are? You haven’t been there yet, have you?”
“Not yet.”
He set off, picking his way through the low bushes, skirting the anthill. Felicity watched him, wondering if she looked as at ease out here as he did. It was familiar territory, but it had been years since either of them had picked wild blueberries.
“Do you know what to do?” she called to him.
He glanced up at her as he crouched by a cluster of low bushes. “Nothing to it.”
“I have bug spray if you need it.”
“So far, so good.”
But in five minutes, he’d attracted a mosquito, and she tossed him the repellent. The weather turned hot quickly, but they managed to get a quart and a half of ripe blueberries between the two of them. “Enough for cobbler, muffins and a small batch of pancakes,” she said.
“Can’t go wrong.”
He stood straight, stretching out his lower back and surveying the field. “It’s easy to forget how pretty it is out here. I haven’t hiked up Carriage Hill since high school.”
“You can see Quabbin from the top.”
“I remember. Have you hiked to the summit since you moved back here?”
She shook her head. “Not since high school, either. Want to go?”
“Sure, why not? Did you bring water?”
“I did. I noticed you didn’t, but I’ll share.”
They left the blueberries on a rock in the shade and headed across the field to a trail that would lead them up the hill, all the way to the top with its spectacular views. They’d done the hike many times as teenagers, and she’d done it with her parents and brother. There’d been times she’d wondered—hoped—there was more to life than a hike up a hill, but her attitude had softened since then. She knew it was being here with Gabe, too. For now, she wanted to let herself enjoy his company without propelling herself into the past or the future.
“I parked at Olivia’s place,” he said as they paused at a steep section of the trail. “Maggie was there. She’s waiting for Brandon to get back from the White Mountains with his adventure travel clients. She’s preparing lunch for everyone. She invited us.”
“You told her I was here?”
“She saw you pass by. She was already at the house.”
“I didn’t notice her vehicle.”
“She walked down from the barn. Olivia and Dylan are waiting there for the adventurers.” Gabe’s gaze settled on Felicity. “I’m seeing Dylan later on.”
“About what?”
He gave a slight grin. “I knew you’d ask.”
“Saying I’m nosey?”
“Interested. He and I have business to discuss.”
“Ah. Intriguing.”
“We’ll see.”
She thought he might continue with more information, but he didn’t. “You’re figuring out what’s next for you. You’re ready.”
“I am ready. You’re good at what you do, Felicity.”
“But it’s what I do,” she said. “It’s not who I am.”
He took a drink from her water bottle and handed it back to her. “Let’s go.”
They reached the top of Carriage Hill in another ten minutes. Breathing hard, sweating, Felicity stood atop a rounded boulder and looked out at the view of the valley, flooded decades ago to create the reservoir. The waters continued for miles out of sight, behind more hills.
“Hard to believe we’re supposed to get rain later today.”
“Perfect weather to make blueberry cobbler,” Gabe said next to her.
She glanced at him and noticed he didn’t look winded. Whatever he did day-to-day, his schedule had to include exercise. She wasn’t particularly winded, either, but she could feel the lack of sleep in her muscles.
They didn’t linger on the summit. For one thing, lunch beckoned. For another—Felicity couldn’t explain it. She wanted to be around him and didn’t want to. She knew he’d leave. She knew they couldn’t be friends the way they’d once been friends, not just because of last night. Because of everything. Swimming, talking, sitting by the fire, their families and friends, Knights Bridge itself, their memories of growing up there. She embraced all of it, without any of the anger and hurt of three years ago.
Gabe was quiet on the hike back down the hill. They fetched their blueberries, but he nodded toward the inn. “Shall we join Maggie and company for lunch?”
“I should get back.”
“You said in your note you’re taking today off.”
“Sort of. I added that in parentheses. Plus there’s cleaning and laundry and errands.”
“All right. I’ll meet you there and help.”
She tilted her head back and eyed him. “When’s the last time you cleaned and did laundry?”
He grinned. “Doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten how.”
But he’d called her bluff, and he knew it. Felicity smiled. “Lunch at Carriage Hill sounds great.”
* * *
Brandon Sloan arrived at the Farm at Carriage Hill in time for lunch. He looked sweaty, rugged and happy—not just to see his wife and their sons, Felicity knew, but because he’d been off doing something he loved. He’d walked down to the antique house after seeing his adventure travelers off, on their way back home to their jobs and lives.
“How are the White Mountains?” Maggie asked him as she set out a simple meal of salads, cold meat, rolls and ginger cookies.
“Gorgeous. I found a great spot to take you and the boys.”
“Oh, my favorite thing, climbing tall mountains with my food spoiling and my clothes sticking to my back, no bathroom, no—”
“It’s an inn we can use as a base for day hikes.”
She grinned at her husband. “Now you’re talking. But I’d hike with you. You know that.”
“Only because you know I’d carry your pack,” Brandon said, clearly amused. “The inn’s nice, but it’s not as grand as where I stayed with Noah and Dylan after our big hike last summer.”
“It doesn’t have to be grand if it has running water and a flush toilet,” Maggie said.
Her husband winked at her. “That’s my roughing-it Maggie.” He turned to Gabe and Felicity. “How ’bout you two?”
“We just hiked up Carriage Hill,” Felicity said.
“You could always pitch a tent up there,” Brandon said. “It’s not on Quabbin land.”
Gabe sat at the terrace table. “Mark and I used to camp out in the woods out here. He liked sleeping under the stars better than I did, which is funny considering he became an architect. We never noticed mosquitoes. I probably would now.”
“Spoiled by life in the city,” Maggie said with a grin.
Gabe laughed. “I’d at least want a tent now.”
“What about you, Felicity?” Brandon asked. “Tempted by adventure travel?”
“When you do inn-to-inn tours, let me know.”
“We’re planning one in Scotland. Newfoundland’s up next later this summer. I’m leaving that one to someone else. We’re getting started on construction at Red Clover Inn, and I want to take Aidan and Tyler camping. They’ll be happy pitching a tent out at Heather and Brody’s land on Echo Lake.”
“They’d love it,” Maggie said.
Felicity was aware Maggie and Brandon had been separated last summer but had worked out the problems in their marriage after he, Dylan and Noah had hiked up Mount Washington together. She didn’t know what had precipitated their near breakup or what compromises had been involved in their reunion, just that they were renovating a house off Knights Bridge common and clearly happy with each other and their lives, separately and together.
After lunch, Aidan and Tyler whisked Brandon off to show him some discovery in the backyard.
“He’s never happier than when he’s slept on rocks and roots,” Maggie said with a laugh, watching her husband. She turned to Felicity. “Kylie’s book launch worked out well. She’ll be happy to return to her routines. The fairy-tale books she’s doing are amazing. I’m glad there were no incidents.”
Meaning Nadia. Felicity nodded. “Everything worked out great.”
If Maggie wanted to ask about Nadia, she didn’t. “Well, you deserve a quiet day.”
Gray clouds to the west and a rumble of thunder reminded Felicity of the impending turn in the weather. “My Rover’s down the road,” she said. “I’ll get going. Thanks for lunch.”
“Anytime,” Maggie said.
Felicity thanked her and headed out with her wild blueberries. Gabe stayed to meet with Dylan, whatever that was about. She’d resisted asking. Dylan likely still had more connections in San Diego, even now, than he did to Knights Bridge, and Gabe had just spent two months in Southern California.
When she reached the isolated spot where she’d parked, Felicity was surprised when she spotted another car. Nadia was shutting the driver’s door. “I didn’t expect to find you here,” she said. “I’m off for a walk to clear my head.”
“Alone?”
“Mmm. I left a note on the windshield in case I get lost or trip on a rock or something, but I’m not worried. I’m not going far. I have a cell phone, but I know coverage can be spotty.” She pointed at Felicity’s container. “Blueberries?”
“Wild ones,” she said.
“Yummy. What are you making?”
“Cobbler, I think.”
“Gabe’s favorite.” She held up a hand. “Just something I know by accident. It’s not some crazy stalker comment. I’m really sorry I’ve been acting weird—I went overboard trying not to look like a stalker. Look, enjoy your blueberries. I’m off. It looks as if it’s a pretty good walk to reach the water. My dad used to love to fish on the reservoir, before we moved West. I went with him once or twice—I couldn’t have been more than five or six. He told me about the lost towns. I remember thinking there were houses and people under our boat. Little kid logic, huh?”
“It’s understandable.”
“Your grandfather was from one of the towns, wasn’t he?”
Felicity nodded. “Prescott.”
“It was a small farming community. What a hardscrabble existence for most people, but your family—the MacGregors were bankers even then, weren’t they?”
“A family tradition. I should get these blueberries home. We’re getting bad weather. You know that, right?”
“That’s how Justin Sloan and Samantha Bennett met. In a thunderstorm. Maybe I’ll get lucky and meet some hunky guy. My weather app says I’ve got about ninety minutes before any real weather gets here. That’s plenty of time for this city girl to take a walk in the woods.”
Feeling somewhat hesitant and ill at ease, Felicity wished Nadia well and got in her car. She had lousy cell coverage and waited to text Gabe when she turned off Carriage Hill Road toward town. Nadia on walk in Quabbin by gate.
You saw her?
Just now. On my way home.
Good.
She’s alone.
Thanks for letting me know.
By the time Felicity reached her house, the sky had darkened with ominous-looking clouds. The radar on Felicity’s phone showed storms approaching but not overhead. She took her blueberries inside and set them on the kitchen counter. Had Nadia spotted her Land Rover and decided on the Quabbin walk? Had she followed Gabe? Whatever she was up to, Felicity didn’t like the idea of her being out in unfamiliar woods with severe weather on the way.
But wasn’t that the whole point? Nadia wanted people thinking about her.
Specifically, Gabe.
It might not be romantic jealousy at work, but it wasn’t anything good.
She let Russ know and wasn’t surprised Gabe hadn’t been in touch. Maybe he was leaving Nadia to her own devices—not getting sucked into her drama—or was handling her on his own. Either way, Russ promised to investigate.
“I hope I’m not meddling,” Felicity said.
“You’re not, but meddling makes sense when you’re dealing with someone off her stride like this woman is.”
“Russ, if she went on this hike with the idea of hurting herself—”
“You said she left a note on her windshield?”
“That’s what she told me.”
“I’ll take a look. Kylie’s deep into her work, but you can save me some cobbler.”
“This is what happens when you tell people you’re making blueberry cobbler.”
But her attempt at levity was short-lived, and when she hung up, Felicity had to work at focusing on cobbler. She started by picking over the blueberries, getting rid of stems, bits of leaves and two tiny ants. She washed them and spread them on towels to dry. She could have worked on the dry ingredients, but she took her laptop out to the deck. Thunder rumbled in the distance but she took a few minutes to check her email. It wasn’t too bad, considering she’d been off-line all day.
A text came in from Russ Colton: All clear. She found a tick crawling on her and beelined to her car. Off to her grandmother’s house.
A tick would do the trick for most of us.
Yep.
Felicity debated a moment but decided not to ask if Gabe was with him. Felicity put Nadia out of her mind and dove into answering her emails. She hadn’t anticipated making cobbler alone, but there was no going back now that she had a taste for it. If Gabe didn’t return before she finished her email dash, she’d get started.
* * *
Gabe saw Nadia on her way and was grateful for Russ’s intervention with her. Russ had the patience and professional distance Gabe was having increasing difficulty summoning, given Nadia’s intrusions. Fortunately he had his meeting with Dylan, following up a preliminary meeting in San Diego. This one took them into Knights Bridge village. They stood outside the old Sanderson house, a sprawling Victorian built by George Sanderson about the same time he spearheaded the construction of the library where his portrait hung above the mantel. The grand house abutted the small cottage where Phoebe O’Dunn—soon to be married to Noah Kendrick—had lived when she was the library director. The quietest and eldest of the four O’Dunn sisters, Phoebe had discounted marriage for herself. Then she’d met Noah at a costume charity ball in Boston, and both of their lives changed. Gabe had gotten the story from his sister-in-law. He’d been surprised at his growing interest in townspeople, whether ones he’d grown up with, like the O’Dunns, or newcomers, like Dylan, Noah, Samantha, Russ and Kylie.
“The house needs work,” Dylan said. “That’s not uncommon in this town.”
“A lot of old buildings here,” Gabe said.
“No shortage of them, that’s for sure.”
Gabe ran his toe across overgrown grass. “Knights Bridge has its charms. You grew up in Southern California. Miss it?”
“The weather sometimes but Olivia and I still have a place in Coronado. I bought it before I knew her. She’s added color. She says everything can’t be cappuccino. Her word. I just say it’s neutral.”
Gabe grinned. “That’s what you get, marrying a graphic designer.” And if he married a party planner? He put the thought aside.
“No more flying for me until the baby’s here.”
Gabe noticed the same about-to-be-a-dad tone in Dylan’s voice that he’d heard in his brother’s voice. He wondered if he’d ever hear it in his own voice. He pushed that thought aside and nodded to the house. “It’d make good offices. No problem with zoning?”
“None. We checked.”
We meant some combination of Dylan, Noah, the Frosts, the Sloans, probably Mark. The entrepreneurial boot camps, the adventure travel and the destination inn would keep Dylan and Olivia busy, but they needed office space. Olivia had a small office at her antique-house-turned-inn, but she planned to give it up when she and Maggie hired an innkeeper. Certainly there was space for her to work out of their new home, but Dylan and Noah wanted to get into venture capital. They needed to hire more staff and needed proper offices. They didn’t have enough office space at the barn. Knights Bridge was home base for Dylan and Olivia, but they would be on the go even after the baby. Noah and Phoebe planned to be part-time residents of Knights Bridge, dividing their time between the East Coast, the Kendrick winery on the Central California Coast and his home in San Diego. At eighteen, Gabe would never have predicted Olivia Frost and Phoebe O’Dunn would be married to two such men, but that didn’t mean it didn’t feel right—it absolutely did.
“You, Noah and I have had a lot of success at a relatively young age,” Dylan said. “There’s so much opportunity here. So much more to do.”
“Anyone else in mind to join us?”
“Yeah. We’re just getting started. We’re talking to a woman who just left the NAK board. She has more experience in this area than we do. We’d love to recruit her.”
“Will she be interested in life in Knights Bridge?”
Dylan grinned. “Not happening but she can work with us from wherever she wants. You can, too, Gabe, but...” He shrugged. “Your choice. Knights Bridge is your hometown.”
“Thanks, Dylan. I used to mow the yard here. Looks as if it could use me again.”
“You’ll think about joining us?”
“I will, very seriously.”
“Great. You look as if you’re in a hurry.”
“I’ve been thinking about wild blueberry cobbler for the past few hours.”
“Any kind of cobbler is irresistible as far as I’m concerned. Enjoy yourself.”
* * *
Gabe stopped at Moss Hill on his way to Felicity and cobbler. Russ met him in the main lobby. “Nadia called me earlier,” Russ said. “She knows she went too far and put people on alert, especially you and Felicity. She’s been in a self-destructive mode. She doesn’t want to end up getting a restraining order slapped on her. She said she knows feeling sorry for herself doesn’t justify acting out inappropriately.”
“She needs to pick up the pieces of her life and move on.”
“You’re not the one to help her do that. You know that, right?”
“Oh, yeah. I know.”
“I told her not to try to make amends to you and Felicity.”
“Do you think she’ll take your advice?”
Russ didn’t answer at once. Finally he shook his head. “No, I don’t, and I wouldn’t be surprised if her route to making amends will be inappropriate if not illegal. She’s got work to do to get her head screwed on straight.”
“Then again, don’t we all.”
But Russ didn’t smile. “When are you putting your place in Boston on the market?”
“I don’t know yet.” Gabe felt his hesitation and suspected Russ noticed. “I didn’t have a solid plan once I sold my company. That was a mistake, but I have options.”
“Including in Knights Bridge?”
Gabe hesitated but nodded without going further.
“I swear this town has a tractor beam,” Russ said. “It keeps pulling people in. I feel it. So does Kylie, and we aren’t from here. I can’t imagine what the pull would be with family in town.”
As if to emphasize that point, Mark came out of his office. Gabe chatted with him for a few minutes after Russ excused himself. Jess was feeling better today, hoping she was over the worst of her morning sickness. Mark, too, queried his brother about how long he’d be in town this trip. Gabe didn’t have an answer.
“The beauty of not having a nine-to-five job,” Mark said. “Heading back to Felicity’s place? Tell her hi for me.” He paused, eyes narrowed. “And behave, Gabe. Breaking her heart twice is two times too many.”
Twice? Felicity?
“I’ve never broken her heart at all.”
His brother didn’t bother to hide his skepticism, but he said nothing further.
Gabe, truly mystified, headed to his car. He saw a flash of lightning and heard a crack of thunder as he jumped behind the wheel.