“Thanks,” Kim said and turned away so he wouldn’ t see her grin. “Kitchen’ s this way .” “Kim, you don’ t need to feed me,” he said. “That you’re giving me a place to sle ep is enough. I can—” He stopped talking at the sight of her kitchen. It opened into the dining area, and all of it was warm and cozy . There was a big pink granite island, with copper pots hung along one wall. The dining table was big and old, with cut marks from hundreds of meals. “I like this,” he said. “Have you had this house long?” He knew the answer to that because he’d followed the sale every inch of the way . He’d even had Penny make a couple of calls to the bank where Kim was applying for a mortgage. He wanted to make sure everything went through smoothly . “Less than a year ,” she said. “And you made it look like this in that time?” “Jecca and I did it all. W e . . .” She shrugged. “You two are artists, so you knew what you were doing. What can I do to help with dinner?” “Nothing,” Kim said, but she wondered how he knew that Jecca was an artist. Had she told him? “Just sit down and I’ll get you something to eat.” He took a seat on a stool on the far side of the counter and watched her . Kim could feel his eyes on her as she started going through the refrigerator . She felt guilty that everything in there had been made by Dave and his catering crew , but there didn’ t seem to be any need to tell T ravis that. To say that she had a fairly regular boyfriend would be to assume that something could possibly happen between her and T ravis. Foot massage aside, he didn’ t seem to be interested in anything besides friendship. And he was looking at her as though she were still eight years old. She put a place mat on the counter in front of him, then a plate and the matching knife and fork. Her mother had tried to get Kim to save money by using her grandmother ’s dishes, but Kim had refused. “Y ou just want to get rid of the old things,” Kim had said, and her father had suppressed a laugh. In the end, her mother gave the whole set to Colin and Gemma Frazier for a wedding gift, and they’d loved them. “What’s that look for?” T ravis asked, and Kim told him. “Gemma is a historian and she knew the history of the company that made the dishes. She treated them like they were treasure.” “But not you?” T ravis asked. “I like new . What would you like to eat?”
“Anything,” he said. “I’m a pure omnivore.” She put spoons in each of the nearly dozen plastic bowls she’d taken from the fridge and let him help himself. She couldn’ t help sitting on the stool next to him and watching him. He ate European style, with his fork turned over in his left hand, his knife in his right. His manners were those of a prince. Without the sharp contrast between shadows and harsh white light on him, she could now see some of the angelic look that he’d had as a boy . In adulthood, his hair was midnight black, his eyes were as dark as obsidian, his cheekbones angular , and his jaw strong. It looked like he hadn’ t shaved in a day or so, and the whiskers further darkened the look of him. All in all, she thought she’d never seen a better looking man in her life. Travis saw the way she was leaning on her elbow and looking at him. If he didn’ t distract her he was going to put his hand on the back of her neck and kiss her . “Aren’ t you afraid of getting something on that dress?” “What? Oh yeah, sure.” She broke her trance of staring at him. “I guess I should put on something more comfortable.” Travis gave a little cough, as though he nearly choked on his food. “You okay?” “Yes,” he said. “I’ll just finish here while you . . .” Reluctantly , she got of f the stool. “Sure, of course.” She hurried down the hall to her bedroom and closed the door . “I am making a fool of myself,” she whispered aloud. It wasn’ t easy to reach the zipper in the back of her dress, and for a moment she thought of asking T ravis to unzip her . That thought made her giggle—which disgusted her . “You are eight years old,” she said aloud and began to undress. In the kitchen, T ravis breathed a sigh of relief. Kim, so beautiful in her low-cut dress and sitting there watching him, had been too much for him. Had he been in a normal situation, he would have given her looks to let her know how interested he was in her . He knew from experience that girls who looked at him as Kim did were an easy make. But then what would happen? he thought. W ould she start talking of their wedding? The truth was that T ravis didn’ t think he’d mind that. So far , everything around Kim had felt like he was coming home. Her , her house, even what he’d seen of her friends, had been pleasant and welcoming.
But what happened when she found out more about him, about his past, about who his father was? He’d see the stars fall out of her eyes—and he couldn’ t bear that. No, it was better that he let her ke ep her ideas that he was noble, someone who had done only good deeds in his life. Better to never let her find out the truth. He’d finished eating by the time Kim returned wearing jeans and an old T-shirt. Unfortunately , Travis thought she looked even more desirable than before. It hit him that it had been a mistake to acc ept her invitation to stay at her house. He stood up. “Ready to go to bed?” she asked. Travis didn’ t dare answer that question. He just nodded, but when Kim started toward the back door , he halted. He wasn’ t going to be in the same room with her and a bed. “Why don’ t you give me the key and point me in the right direction?” “But I need to show you where things are.” “I’m sure I can find everything.” He smiled at her in a way that said he wouldn’ t take no for an answer . Kim handed him her key ring. There was an awkward moment at the back door when they parted. Kim bent forward, as though she meant to kiss him on the cheek, but he pulled back. For a moment she thought he was going to shake her hand, but then he gave her a brotherly pat on the shoulder and left the house. As Kim put away the leftovers, she couldn’ t help grimacing. She was the one who’d said they were friends, so she had no right to complain when Travis stuck to that. The next morning she awoke to the smell of cooking, and her only thought was Travis! She rapidly dressed and put on a bit too much eye makeup, but then her brows and lashes had always been too pale. She cursed herself for not having them dyed before the wedding. But then, she had an idea that T ravis liked women who could pull of f the no-makeup look. It took three shades of brown to achieve that look. She had on nice black slacks and a crisp linen shirt when she went into the kitchen. Pausing in the doorway , she saw T ravis with his back to her as he cooked something on her new W olf range. He had on jeans and a denim shirt. She wasn’ t sure, but he looked to have a truly magnificent body under his clothes. “Good morning,” she said.
Travis turned, skillet in hand, and smiled at her . She so badly wanted to put her arms around him. For a moment he seemed amenable to that idea, but then he broke eye contact. “It’s my turn to feed you,” he said and nodded toward the island that had one place setting. “You aren’ t eating?” “I got up a couple of hours ago and ate then. I hope you don’ t mind that I did laps in your pool.” Kim was very , very sorry that she’d missed seeing him in swim trunks. “I’m glad someone is using the pool. That was my only hesitation about buying this house. I liked the layout and I loved the three-car garage for my work, but I don’ t know how to take care of a swimming pool.” He slid an omelet onto her plate. “I thought maybe that was the case, so I did a little cleaning for you and checked the p H. There were some chemicals in a closet, so I used some of them. I hope I wasn’ t being presumptuous.” “Presume all you want,” Kim said as she looked at her plate. There was an omelet with p eppers and onions in it and two pieces of whole wheat toast. “I’ll put on weight eating like this,” she said, then waited for him to say something nice. But there was no way T ravis was going to comment on the state of Kim’ s body. She looked great! She’d grown taller than he’d expected; she was the perfect height for him. Her white blouse clung to her , and the black pants curved around her bottom half. His silence at her hint made her tell herself that T ravis really didn’ t know how to act around a woman. “So what are you planning to do today?” she asked. This morning, T ravis’s first thought had been to call his mother and tell her he was in Edilean. He should arrange to meet with her somewhere private where they could talk about the divorce, the man she wanted to marry, and what she planned to do with her life. He should then spend the next three weeks getting ready for the divorce case that would, no doubt, make all the newspapers. But as he looked at Kim, he tried to think of a reason to take as long as he could to postpone all the bad that was coming. “What were you going to do today?”
“Church if I got out of bed early enough.” She looked at the clock. She still had time to get ready and go, but that would mean leaving T ravis behind. She thought it was entirely possible that when she returned, he’d be gone. He’d probably talk to his mother , be reassured that Joe Layton was a good man, then T ravis would go back to . . . to wherever he lived. T o whomever he lived with but wasn’ t married to. She searched her mind for a reason to make him stay—and for her to be with him. “I’m sure you want to see your mother , but maybe you should see Mr. Layton’ s new hardware store before you do.” Travis smiled as though she’d said something brilliant. “I think that’ s a great idea. Y ou can tell a lot about a man when you see where he works.” Which is why T ravis’s office had no personal items in it, he thought but didn’t say. “Would you mind going with me? If you’re too busy to go, you could draw a map. I could—” “I would love to!” she said. “W e’ll take my car . Could you excuse me for a little bit? I have to make a phone call first, then I’ll be ready to go.” The minute Kim closed her bedroom door , she called Carla, her assistant. “Hello?” Carla asked, obviously half-asle ep. “It’s me,” Kim whispered as loudly as she could. “I need you to finish the Johnson rings today .” “What? I can’ t hear you.” Kim went into her closet and shut the door . “Carla, please wake up. I need you to finish a couple of rings for me today .” “Kim, it’ s Sunday . I was at the wedding until after midnight. I drank too much.” “I did too,” Kim said, “but those rings need to be done today . The wedding is tomorrow .” “But you were going to do those and—” “I know ,” Kim said. “I’m a rotten, lazy boss, but something’ s come up. An emer gency. I need for you to come over here to do them. They’ve been cast. They just need sanding and polishing.” Carla groaned. “That’ s hours of work, and it’ s Sunday .” “Time and a half.” Carla was silent. “Okay,” Kim said. “Double time. I just need them done today . All right?” “Sure. Fine,” Carla said. “But I want Friday the eighteenth of f and double time for today .”
Kim glared at the phone. Oh how she used to dream of being the boss, of setting her own hours, and having employees to follow her orders! “All right,” Kim said. “Y ou know where the key to the garage is, so come over here and get it done.” “Do you have a hot date?” Carla asked. “Dave planning to pop the question? Y ou design your own ring yet?” Kim wasn’ t about to tell Carla about T ravis. “I have to go. And remind me to order more rouge tomorrow .” “For your face or the jewelry?” Kim grimaced. Carla’ s humor often left people groaning. “See you tomorrow ,” she said, then hung up. Minutes later , she was in the living room. T ravis was in the big navy blue chair with the matching ottoman and reading the Sunday paper . Jecca had chosen that chair . “It’s for the man in your life,” she’d said. “Which one?” Kim had asked sarcastically . “The one that’ s going to come along and swe ep you of f your feet.” “Like T ris did to you at Reede’ s Welcome Home party?” “Yes,” Jecca had said with a dreamy sigh, and Kim knew she had managed to get the conversation away from her . Kim quietly sat down on the couch and picked up the Sunday magazine. Minutes later , he asked, “Ready?” without looking up. “Any time,” she answered, but she wasn’ t in a rush to leave. Usually on Sunday morning she was hurrying to get ready for church, answering the phone to her mother ’s calls, and thinking about the work that needed to be done that week. Sunday afternoons were quiet for her . Her past boyfriends, the ones with the normal jobs, would sometimes come over to visit, but Dave was always busy on weekends. Since she’d met him, her weekends had been solitary . “You look like you’re miles away ,” Travis said. She smiled at him. “I was thinking how I usually work on Sundays.” “That doesn’ t sound like fun,” he said. He was r epeating her words of long ago. “I can attest that it is no fun whatever ,” she said, quoting his response, and they laughed together . “Shall we go see what my mother is getting herself into?” “Since you don’ t want to be seen, how about if we take a back way? There’s an old forest road, but I don’ t know what shape it’ s in. I’ll try not to lose us in any potholes.”
Travis still had her keys from last night. “In that case, how about if I drive? And we’ll take my old car so we don’ t hurt your pretty new one.” “All right,” she said, but there was caution in her voice. The area around Edilean was rough. It was a wilderness preserve, maintained by the state of Virginia, but she knew that her cousins often took care of the trails. The question was whether anyone had looked at that particular road in the last few years. A few minutes later , she and T ravis were in his old Bimmer and sitting at the head of a trail that looked like it hadn’ t seen any traf fic in years. There were holes, ridges, fallen rocks, and a dead tree was taking up half the roadway . “Looks like we should turn around and go by the road,” Kim said. “I’ll tell Colin about this and he’ll get it fixed.” “Colin?” “The sherif f. You may have seen him at the wedding. He’ s big, dark hair.” “Pregnant wife?” “That’s him. Did you two meet?” “Sort of,” T ravis said, and he thought about the risks of what Kim was saying. The sherif f would ask why she wanted the road cleared, and how she’d discovered it was a mess. And then there was what would happen if they didn’ t go in this way . A ride through town with Kim seated beside a stranger was bound to cause comment—and he’d be damned if he’d hide in the back! “We could walk,” Kim said. “It’ s only about two miles to the building.” “Those are awfully pretty sandals you have on,” he said. “Thank you. I just bought them. They’re made by Børn and I love the soles. They’re—” She broke of f. “Oh right. They’d be destroyed walking through that.” “Kim . . .” he said slowly as he looked into her eyes. She could almost read his mind. He wanted to drive down that old road. If they went slowly and carefully , they might be able to do it. If it got to be too much for him to drive, they could walk—and maybe T ravis would give her a piggyback ride. She checked her seat belt to see if it was securely fastened. “Once I get going, I can’ t stop,” he said in warning. “This car isn’ t four- wheel drive, so if I slow down we’ll get stuck.”
“Then you’d have to call a Frazier to get you out.” “A Frazier?” “The sherif f’s family . They know about cars.” “Do they?” From T ravis’s perspective, the road was easy . It would do some damage to the undercarriage of the car , but he might be able to avoid that. The question was whether or not a girl like Kim could stand it. “The sheriff would drive over that?” “Colin? Are you kidding? He’d drive up the mountainside. He’ s nearly always the first person to arrive if someone needs rescuing. I ke ep telling him what a great team he and Reede would be. My brother goes down on helicopter cables to save people. He—” Travis was looking at her in such an odd way that she stopped talking. “This is like the bicycle, isn’ t it? You need to do it even if you fall on your face.” He smiled at her because she understood so completely . On the other hand, her talk of what other men could do was crushing his ego. “I’m game if you are,” she said. “If we do this, you have to trust me,” he said, his face serious. “Didn’t I ride on your handlebars when you rode up that dirt hill?” He smiled at her in such a way that Kim wanted to kiss him. There was gratitude as well as pleasure in his eyes. “All right,” he said as he glanced out the windshield, his hand on the gearshift. “Put one hand on the armrest and one here and hold on. And don’ t scream. Screaming distracts me.” At that last, Kim’ s eyes widened and part of her wanted to say , Let me out of here! But she didn’ t. She put her hands where he told her , braced her feet on the floor , then nodded. She was ready . With a grin, T ravis put the car in low and took of f. To her shock, he started out going fast and he didn’ t slow down for anything. W ith lightning reflexes, he went around potholes, or straddled them precisely . When a fallen tree blocked the way , Travis went up onto the side of the road. The car banked left at what Kim was sure was a forty-five-degree angle, and he was heading straight for a giant oak. Kim wanted to scream. She wanted to warn him that they were about to crash, but she held her breath—and k ept her eyes open. Travis swerved to the left and missed the tree by no more than an inch. It was so close that Kim’ s intake of breath sounded like a mouse’ s squeak.
He never let up speed as he put the clutch to the floor and upshifted. When he hit a hillock made by years of over grown weeds and a rotten tree trunk, all four wheels left the ground. As they sailed through the air , Kim thought it could be the end of her life. She glanced at T ravis, the last person she’d ever see alive. He turned his head a bit, his dark eyes wildly alight—and he winked at her. If Kim hadn’ t been terrified, she would have laughed. When the car hit the ground, her body jolted hard—but he k ept going at what seemed to be warp speed. Travis took the car to the side again, riding on the bank, then twisting hard to the left, then to the right and back again. Finally, before them loomed the back of the huge building that used to be a brick factory . But Travis didn’ t slow down. He went around, over , and across three more big holes. The solid wall of the brick building was straight ahead and T ravis was flying toward it. When she saw a pile of dirt in their way , Kim again had to work not to scream. “Hold on, baby ,” Travis said, then hit the hill at full speed. They went through the air and landed hard on the other side, but they were still heading toward the building. He turned the steering wheel so hard to the left that he looked like he was about to wrench his shoulders out of their sockets. The car skidded to a halt so close to the building Kim could have put down the window and touched it. But she didn’ t move. She was frozen into place. Her body was rigid from what she’d just gone through. Travis turned of f the engine. “Not bad. Not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.” He looked at her . “Kim, are you all right?” She stayed where she was, eyes straight ahead, her hands white as they gripped the handholds. She doubted if her legs were ever going to work again. Travis got out and went around to her side to open the door . The building was so close that the edge of the door nearly scraped. Nearly . There was about a half inch of clearance. His parking had been precisely perfect. When he opened the door , Kim’s hand stayed on it and her arm was so stiff he couldn’ t get the door open all the way . Slowly , one by one, he pried
her fingers up. When he finally got the door open, he leaned across her and loosened her other hand, then unbuckled her seat belt. But she was still rigid in the seat. Bending, he slid one arm behind her back, the other under her knees, and lifted her out of the car . He carried her to the shade of a tree, sat down on an empty wooden spool, and held her on his lap. “I didn’ t mean to scare you,” he said as he put her head on his shoulder . “I thought—” At the moment he didn’ t know what he’d been thinking. He’d been around too many women who wanted nothing but thrills. Y et again, he’d screwed up. Kim was beginning to thaw out. But her first thought was that she didn’ t want Travis to put her down. She wanted to snuggle on his lap for as long as it took to get him to kiss her . “Should I take you to your brother?” he asked softly . She had no idea what he meant until she remembered that Reede was a doctor. “I’m fine,” she said. “You don’ t seem fine.” He pulled her head from his shoulder and looked at her. Her skin was pale and her eyes were wide. She looked like a shock victim—but at the same time there was something else de eper in her eyes. He leaned back and studied her . “You enjoyed yourself, didn’ t you?” “I’ve never done anything like that before,” she said. “It was . . .” She didn’ t have to say any more. He could see it all in her face. The ride down the old road had made her feel alive . It’s how he’d felt that first day when he’d ridden her bicycle. Smiling, T ravis stood her on the ground. “So how do we get inside this place?” He started walking away . Kim was still a bit dazed, her legs felt weak, and her mind was full of images of what had happened in the car . She could see the tree coming at them, then swerving just before they hit. T wice Travis had taken the car through the air , all four wheels of f the ground. “Is there an alarm system?” She had to blink to focus on him. “What?” “Do you know if there’ s an alarm system on the building?” “I have no idea.” As she walked toward him, she nearly fell once when her legs buckled, but she held her balance. “I’m going to look around,” he said. His eyes were twinkling, as though he knew something she didn’ t. “Stay here and I’ll be back in a few
minutes.” “Okay,” Kim said, “but if you need help, I’m here.” “I’ll ke ep that in mind.” Smiling, T ravis went around the side of the building. He’d seen how scared she was during the drive. It was the kind of thing he’d done a hundred times in his stunt work. He had to make the star look as though he could actually do things. But Kim hadn’ t screamed, even though he’d seen that at times she’d been terrified. If at any time he’d felt out of control he would have stopped, but he hadn’ t. He liked that she’d been brave. Most of all, he liked that she’d trusted him. Kim went back to the big wooden spool and sat down. “He seems to have learned how to do a lot of things since he rode my bike,” she said aloud. She was sitting there, looking at the old BMW , amazed that it wasn’ t in flames of protest, when a door in the building opened. She expected to see Mr. Layton, but T ravis st epped outside. “No alarm,” he said. “Come inside.” “How’d you get in?” she asked as she went to him. “He left a window open and I climbed in it. He needs better security .” Kim had only been in the old building once and that had been before the rebuilding had begun. Jecca said her dad had worked the men from New Jersey in shifts 24/7. Whatever he’d done, the transformation was stunning. They were in a big room with tall ceilings and all around them were boxes. From what was printed on the cartons they appeared to be full of equipment and tools. “Looks like he k ept some trucking companies busy .” Travis’s frown was de ep. “What’s that look for?” He hesitated. “We’re friends, remember? W e share secrets.” He smiled at her . “That’ s not easy for me to remember , but I’ll try . My mother . . . W ell, when she ran away from my father , she also took some money from him.” “Six or seven figures?” “Multiple seven.” “Yeow!” Kim suddenly realized why T ravis was frowning. “Y ou think maybe Mr . Layton used your mother ’s money for . . .” She waved her hand. “To buy all this?” “What hardware store owner do you know who could af ford this much?”
“I don’t know,” she said, but the truth was that Kim did know quite a bit about opening a business. Her little jewelry shop was a quarter the size of this room, and to get it she’d had to take out a mortgage, borrow from her father, and max out her credit cards. She’d only paid it all of f a year ago. She’d celebrated by putting herself back into debt by buying a house that was a bit more than she could af ford. At first the bank had said no to the mortgage, but then the bank president had personally called her and said they’d be happy to give her financing. No one ever said, but Kim was sure her father had arranged it. But Kim said none of this. Jecca was her best friend and this was her father they were talking about. She looked around the big room and noticed that way up in the top, high above the exposed steel rafters, was an open window . Everything else looked sealed shut. “Is that the window you came through?” Travis didn’ t glance up. “Y eah.” He was reading the labels on the boxes. Saws, hand tools, power equipment, garden implements. Even at wholesale prices this had cost a lot. Had his mother told this man Layton about the money she had hidden away? She knew T ravis had access to her account, so maybe she’d used it as collateral to buy the man’ s tools. “Travis?” Kim asked, getting his attention. “That window is at least twenty feet up. How did you get up to it from the outside and down from the inside?” “Climbed,” he said distractedly . “I’m going to look around.” She followed him into a smaller room that held two large restrooms. Travis went past them but Kim stopped. She knew that Jecca had sent her dad designs that the New Jersey workmen were to follow . In ke eping with the age of Edilean and the fact that the building used to be a factory to make bricks, Jecca had used a color palette of cream and Williamsbur g blue. She’d left the bricks exposed wherever she could, and trimmed them in that soft blue that the Colonials had so loved. Kim wasn’ t sure, but she’d be willing to bet that Lucy Cooper had made the curtains. Smiling, Kim went back out into the big hall to see that T ravis was gone. She found him standing in the next room, which had three of fices in it, with windows facing into the hall. He tried the doors, but they were locked. “I’d like to get into his computer and see his source of income for all this.” He looked at Kim as though asking her a question. “I don’t know how to hack into a computer .”
“Me neither ,” he said, sounding as though his education were lax. “Nice to know there’ s something you can’ t do,” Kim muttered. So far he’d cleaned her pool, cooked breakfast, driven like something out of an action movie, and scaled a brick wall. She hurried after him. He was standing in a long, narrow room with windows that opened to the front. He had an expression on his face that she couldn’ t read. There was nothing in the room, no boxes, no desks, just the walls on three sides, the windows on the other . She waited, but he just k ept staring, saying nothing. “W ant to see the room Mr . Layton planned for Jecca to use? She likes to paint and she’ s quite good at it, so he was going to make her a studio. But Jecca said she’d never get any work done if she was so near her father . She said he’d bully her into working for him because, you see, Jecca knows how to take chain saws apart. She can put them back together too.” Travis was looking at the room as though he were in a trance and she didn’t think he’d heard a word she’d said. “But Jecca would rather raise pink unicorns, so she didn’ t take her dad up on his of fer.” “Where did she get a breeding pair?” “What?” “Of pink unicorns?” T ravis asked. “I thought you weren’ t listening.” “Didn’t I tell you that I’m a good listener?” They exchanged smiles. They had been children and it had only been for two weeks, but they both remembered every minute of that time. “Do you know what Layton plans to do with this room?” he asked. “I have no idea. Why?” Travis went to the windows to look out at the big parking lot. “Where do you buy your outdoor equipment around here?” “You mean like fishing gear?” Travis smiled. “I was thinking more of climbing paraphernalia and kayaks. Where do the local guides get their equipment?” Kim was blinking at him. “Guides?” she said at last. “Edilean is surrounded by some incredible wilderness. I saw online a place called Stirling Point.” “It’s the outdoor make-out point,” Kim said, but T ravis just looked at her . “The playhouse is the indoor and the—”
“I get it,” he said, his face serious. “I saw online that there’ s hiking, boating, your fishing, and some climbing in the preserve. Where do people buy their gear?” “I don’t know,” Kim said yet again in answer to his questions. “V irginia City, Norfolk, maybe Richmond. And W illiamsbur g must sell that stuf f.” “But nothing here in Edilean?” “No kayak store anywhere.” Travis didn’ t smile. “Interesting. So where is your friend’ s unicorn studio?” Kim opened the connecting door to a big, airy room, this time with the windows along the back, looking out into the woods. Like the other one, the room was empty . It had been restored and the floor rebuilt. All the windows were new , some with the Pella stickers still on them. “This is great,” T ravis said softly . “Really great.” Kim went to stand in front of him. “I want to know what’ s on your mind.” He turned away for a moment. “W ith every word I hear about Layton, the more concerned I am. Y ou said he’ s a bully . He—” “No,” Kim said. “I said he bullied Jecca. That’ s what parents do. They say it’s for our own good. My mother bullies me. Doesn’ t your father use anything he can to make you do what he wants you to?” “Incessantly ,” Travis said, “but that’ s beside the point. I don’ t know if I’ll get my mother to agree to this, but maybe I can rent these two rooms as a sports shop.” And get someone to run them, he thought. Kim’s heart instantly jumped into her throat. That would mean he’d stay in Edilean. But then she deflated. “Oh,” she said. “Y ou’d fake it. Y ou’d get your mother to lend you some money so you could pretend to open a store so you could be around Mr . Layton.” Travis was perplexed by what she’d said, especially about the money , until he thought of the car Penny had bought for him. T o tell Kim the truth would mean telling her about his father . He didn’ t want to do that and see her eyes change. “More or less,” he said. They heard a car door slam. “Stay here,” T ravis said as he went into the narrow room to look out the front windows. He came back to Kim seconds later . “It’s a man. He looks like a block of granite with a head on it.”
“That’s Mr. Layton,” Kim said. “A man that size with my little mother—” Shaking his head, he took a st ep forward, but he stopped and looked back at her . “Let’s go,” he said as he grabbed her hand and they ran out the back door . “He’s not real,” Kim said aloud to herself as she wiped down the kitchen counter . “He’s not real and he won’ t stay,” she added to make sure she heard herself. A few hours before, she and T ravis had run out the back of what was to become Layton Hardware and into the woods. “He’ll see your car ,” Kim said, out of breath as she leaned against a tree and looked at him. Travis was so big and so male . She still couldn’ t believe that the boy she’d thought about for so many years had grown into this great, virile being. His shirt clung to his chest and she could see the muscles. What did he do to be built like that? she wondered. Spend six hours a day in a gym? When he looked at her , she turned away . She didn’ t want to see that look of his that said she was a little girl. “Only if he goes out the back,” T ravis said, smiling at her . “Wait!” They listened and heard the sound of gravel crunching. “He’s leaving,” T ravis said. “Shall we return?” Kim looked about the woods. What she wanted to do was walk with him de ep, de ep into the forest and— “Kim?” “I’m coming,” she said and followed him the few feet to the back of the big brick building. T ravis held the car door open for her , then got into the driver’s side. “We go out the way we came in, right?” he said. “But this time I get to drive.” Travis laughed. “Maybe we’ll try the paved road.” “Coward!” she said and laughed with him. He’d driven her home, walked her to the door , unlocked it, but didn’ t follow her inside. “I need to see my mother ,” he said. “W e have some things we have to talk about.” “Of course,” she said as she went inside. She had no doubt that as soon as he returned he’d tell her he was leaving town, nice to have seen her again.
Her cell rang as soon as she closed the door . “Miss me?” Dave asked. So much had happened in the last day and a half that she hardly recognized his voice. “Of course I did,” she answered. “What about you?” “I missed you a lot when you didn’ t answer any of my messages.” Kim pulled her phone from her ear and pushed a button. She had four voice mails. “I’m sorry ,” she said. “I’ve been so busy that I didn’ t check.” “I know . The Johnson wedding, right?” Oh no! Kim thought. The rings. Please, please let Carla have remembered her request to do them. She started toward the garage door . “Yes, the wedding,” she said. She flipped on the light. There on the workbench were two gold rings, their intricate surfaces perfectly polished. Thank you, she mouthed as she left her workroom. “What about you? Busy?” “If you’d listened to my messages—not that I’m complaining, of course —you would know that I’m swamped. But I’m trying hard to get away this weekend.” She turned of f the light and shut the door . “Oh?” “Kim!” Dave said. “Y ou sound like you for got. The weekend?” “Oh, right,” she said. She had completely for gotten. But then, the trip hadn’t been her idea, but one concocted by her friends and relatives. “You made the reservations, didn’ t you?” She took a few st eps to her desk in the corner of the kitchen and looked at the printout. One double room at the Sweet River B&B in Janes Creek, Maryland, for Friday , Saturday , and Sunday nights, this coming weekend. Carla had said she thought Dave was planning to propose to her while they were there. It was true that he’d pretty much invited himself to go with her . “I’ve only known him for six months,” Kim had said, frowning. “He asked to go with me because he wants some time of f from his catering business.” “Uh-huh,” Carla said. “Y ou’re for getting that I know his last girlfriend. He never took of f a weekend for her , and they were together for over two years.” Kim had said she needed to . . . She couldn’ t think of an excuse, but had just left the room. “Kim?” Dave asked. “Are you still there?”
“Yes. It’s just that a childhood friend of mine has shown up and is staying in my pool house.” “That must be nice for you,” Dave said, “but, Kim, no playdates this weekend. I want you all to myself. For our own playdate.” “Okay,” she said, and after a few more murmurings, Dave said he had to go, as thirty pounds of shrimp had just been delivered. She’d put her phone in her pocket and set about cleaning the kitchen— and looking at the clock. It didn’ t make any sense that she’d be nervous about how long T ravis was spending with his mother , but she was. An hour went by , then two. At the start of the third hour she was sure she’d never see him again. When he tapped on the back glass door , she jumped, then gave him her best smile. He didn’ t look to be in the best mood, which was confirmed when he sat down on a stool by the bar and said, “Y ou have any whiskey?” She poured him a shot of Mc T arvit single malt, a drink she k ept on hand for her male cousins. He downed it in one gulp. “You want to talk about it?” she asked gently . When he looked at her , she saw pain in his eyes. “You ever have a feeling that the thing you dread most in life is coming true?” She wanted to say that she feared being a fifty-year -old businesswoman with no private life, and so far , that’s where she was heading. “Y es,” she said. “Is that what you think is happening to you?” “My mother seems to think so.” She waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’ t say any more. When they were kids he’d always said as little as possible, and it had been her job to pull him out of himself. “So what are you planning to do tomorrow?” He looked at her for a moment and smiled. “Not what I’d like to do, but I’m open to alternate suggestions.” “What does that mean? That you can’ t do what you want to?” “Nothing,” he said. “What are you going to do tomorrow?” Kim felt the tension in her chest release. She’d been afraid that now that he’d seen his mother he’d say he was leaving. “W ork,” she said. “What I do every day . You’re the one with open plans. Did your mother tell you to leave town?”
“Actually , just the opposite. Is there anything to eat? I burned of f a little energy after the mom-talk.” Kim had been so concerned that he was going to leave that she hadn’ t noticed that his shirt was torn and dirty , and there was a leaf in his hair . Just like when we were kids, she thought. “What in the world did you do?” she asked as she opened the fridge. “A little climbing. That’ s a nice clif f you have at Stirling Point.” “How’d you get so dirty going up that trail?” “Didn’t use the trail,” he said as he went to the cabinet and withdrew a couple of plates. She halted with a bowl in her hands. “But that’ s a sheer face.” Travis gave a half shrug. Kim didn’ t smile. “Y ou had no ropes, and you were alone. That was dangerous. Don’ t do it again,” she said sternly . “For fear of dismemberment?” he said, and something about the word made him grimace. He put potato salad on the plates. “So what did you do while I was out?” “Tried to form wax into moonlight.” He looked at her in curiosity . “What does that mean?” “Last night at the wedding I thought the moonlight was so beautiful I wondered if I could translate it into jewelry .” “What does that have to do with wax?” he asked as he began eating. Kim sat down next to him and took the plate he’d filled for her . It ran through her mind that the food had been cooked by Dave and she really ought to tell T ravis about him, but she didn’ t. “I make jewelry by construction, welding on a small scale, or the lost wax process.” “Lost wax? Didn’ t I see that on TV? Some mysterious method that had disappeared over the centuries.” Kim gave a derogatory snort. “Those idiots! It’ s called ‘lost wax’ not because the process was lost but because the wax melts and it flows out. The wax is lost in the making.” “You’ll have to show me. Maybe you could—” “Travis!” Kim said, “I want to know what’ s going on. Y ou said you needed my help and I’m sure it’ s not to give you a course in jewelry making.” He hesitated. “I have three weeks,” he said.
“Three weeks until what?” “Until I have to face my father with the news that his wife wants a divorce.” “Then what happens?” “Legal battles,” he said. “Dad will fight and I’ll fight him. It will be a war.” “But once it’ s done, will you be free?” she asked. “Yes,” he said. “I don’ t know what I’ll be free to do, but I will no longer have an obligation to either of my parents. Exc ept morally and ethically , and through af fection, and . . .” “But what are your plans for now? For these three weeks?” Kim asked. “Maybe I’ll harness some moonlight so you can put it in wax and lose it.” Kim smiled. “That would be nice. I need some new ideas. I’ve always been inspired by or ganic forms and I’ve pretty much run through the ones I know.” “What about those flowers you used to tie together?” “They grow from clover , and they’re considered weeds.” “I liked them,” he said softly and for a moment their eyes locked. But then Travis turned away and picked up the empty plates and put them in the dishwasher . “If you’re going to be here for three weeks we need to tell people who you are.” “People?” he asked. “Who would that be?” “Travis, this is a small town. I’m sure they are all talking about how I picked up some dark stranger and took him home with me.” “Has your mom called you yet?” he asked, smiling. “Last I heard she was in New Zealand so the news will take—I hope— another twenty-four hours to reach her . But my brother is here. And so is my cousin Colin.” “The town doctor and the sherif f. You are a well-connected young woman.” “What’s our story going to be? W ill you tell people Lucy Cooper is your mother?” “She asked for a week to break the news to Layton that she’ s married and has a kid.” “If she says it like that he’ll be expecting a nine-year -old.” “How old does your mother think you are?” T ravis asked.
“Five,” Kim answered, and they laughed. “What if we tell the truth but leave out that the lady who sews, Lucy Cooper , is the same as Mrs. Merritt? You visited as a child, we met, you grew up, and have now returned to Edilean for a three-week holiday .” Travis’s eyes lit up. “If I can get Mom to postpone telling Layton, I could get to know him before she tells who I am.” “I think we have a plan,” Kim said and they exchanged smiles. Oceanof PDF . com
Joe Layton unlocked his office and grimaced at the sight of the papers on his desk. Y et again he wondered what the hell he was doing starting over at his age. The old feeling of resentment welled up in him. He’d thought he was going to spend his life in New Jersey running the hardware store his grandfather had started. He’d never thought of it as wildly ambitious or something that anyone would covet. But then his son, Joey , got married, had kids, and his wife had seen Layton Hardware as a gold mine, something that she’d kill to have. If she hadn’ t wanted it all for Joe’ s grandkids he would have fought her with all he had. But Joe’ s heart wasn’ t in the battle. In fact he rather liked that the woman was ambitious for her children. When his daughter , Jecca, decided to marry some man in little Edilean, Virginia, Joe saw it as a way out of the whole mess. At the time, it had seemed simple. He had money in the bank, so he’d use that to open a store in Virginia. His daughter -in-law, Sheila, had screamed that Joe had “no right” to take what he’d earned over the years, that he should “leave” it for them. She spoke as though Joe’ s death was imminent. Joe had reached his limit of generosity . He knew his daughter -in-law wanted to buy one of those big houses in something called a “gated community .” “Gated?” he’d said with a smirk when he’d first heard the term. “Yeah!” Sheila had said with her usual belligerence. Unless she was trying to sell someone something, she let people know she was ready to fight. “W ith a guard out front. For protection.” “From what?” Joe asked in the same tone. “From all the photographers hounding you? They want a picture of Joe Layton’ s daughter -in-law?” Whenever Sheila and he got into it, Joey left the room. He refused to be drawn into their ar guments. But Joe knew his son wanted to run his own