Authors: Loree Lough
Aleesha leaned back. “You’re the best, Mom. The best mother, the best daughter, the best flower arranger ever. So
you
deserve
the best, and that ole criminal across the street sure ain’t it!”
Kasey grinned. “Criminal! Buddy isn’t a—”
“Just ’cause he ain’t been caught yet don’t mean he’s a good guy.”
Pressing both palms to her daughter’s cheeks, Kasey said, “You know that isn’t a very Christian thing to say, right?”
The girl returned to her homework. “When I say my prayers,” she began, “I include Buddy, just like you said I should.” Shrugging, she continued in a whisper-soft, uncertain voice, “But every time I do, I get this creepy-crawly feeling, like God’s trying to tell me Buddy needs prayers more’n just about anybody.” Absentmindedly, she tapped her pencil eraser on the tablet and shook her head. “I think we’d all be better off if ole Buddy would just up and move to…to Timbuktu or someplace.”
It was downright eerie the way Aleesha’s words echoed her own feelings, especially lately.
The image returned of the shadowy, sinister stare he’d shot at her as they sat in the front seat of his car.
Like a shroud, a chill wrapped around her. Kasey found herself testing the lock on the window above the sink, then looking over her shoulder to see if the deadbolt was in place. It was small satisfaction to know that all the hatches were battened.
She hoped Buddy hadn’t merely been making small talk when he told Aleesha he’d probably be too busy to stop by tonight.
Adam had gone home earlier than usual, changed into sweats and ordered an extra-large pizza, thinking to eat the leftovers for breakfast. Hopefully, an action-packed movie on TV would get his mind off Kasey and Buddy.
But distraction tactics hadn’t worked last night, hadn’t worked
any
night since he’d seen them together at Mi Casa—Buddy flexing his proprietary muscles, Kasey behaving a little too accustomed to it.
An old Second World War movie filled the screen. “Ironic,” he said to himself, “but right on target.”
When the doorbell rang, he fished his wallet out of the big wooden bowl on the foyer table, slid a twenty from it and threw open the door. He froze, one hand extending the money, the other on the doorknob. “What do you want?”
“Good to see you, too,” Travis kidded, grinning.
“Yeah,” Luke said, echoing Travis’s tone.
Grinning, Wade looked at the cash crumpled in Adam’s fist. “Doesn’t surprise me you hafta pay people to come visit, not if you greet ’em
that
way.”
Frowning around a grin, Adam stepped aside. “Thought you were the pizza.”
“Pepperoni and sausage,” Wade said to Travis and Luke. “Follow me.” He sauntered into the foyer, then pumped Adam’s arm up and down. “They call me the big cheese. Mind if we stick around a while?”
Laughing, the men headed for the family room.
“Whoa, I like what you’ve done with the place,” Travis said, glancing at stacks of dog-eared magazines and an ankle-high pile of newspapers on the floor. He shoved a basket of unfolded laundry aside, flopped onto the couch and nodded approvingly. “Very lived-in. Very down-to-earth.”
Luke removed a pair of running shoes from the seat cushion of an easy chair. “Yeah. What do you call this style?” he asked Wade. “Early Locker Room?”
“Good a guess as any. Only thing missing is the stink of sweaty socks.” He elbowed Adam in the ribs.
Masculine laughter filled the room as the lifelong friends made themselves comfortable.
Only Adam remained standing. “You guys want a soda? I could put on a pot of coffee….” May as well be hospitable, he thought, since it appeared the guys would be here a while.
“Maybe later,” Wade answered. “Have a seat, Adam.” He gestured to the well-worn recliner. “Make yourself at home.”
Perched on the edge of the chair, Adam rested his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands in the space between. He was almost afraid to ask “So what’s up?”
Luke spoke first. “Wade here tells us you’ve been seeing a lot of Kasey Delaney. We’re just lookin’ for assurances that she’s not out to even any old scores.”
“Yeah,” Travis put in. “There’s nothing to stop her from filing a civil action, not if she’s figured out who we are. There’s no statute of limitations on a thing like that, y’know.”
“Like I said in the office the other day,” Wade added, “we’ve all got a lot to lose. If there’s a lawsuit in the works, we gotta protect ourselves, and to do that, we oughta be considering legal—”
“Look,” Adam interrupted, none too politely, “I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again—Kasey isn’t that kind of woman. But just to satisfy what appears to be contagious paranoia, let me amend that.” He met each man’s eyes in turn. “Far as I can tell, she doesn’t have a clue who we are, or that any of us were involved in her father’s death.”
Was it his imagination, or had his friends simultaneously winced at the mention of the word
death
?
“I’ve sunk everything I have into our medical practice,” Wade added.
Luke spoke up. “Yeah, and the Howard County fire mar
shal is retiring next spring. I’m on the shortlist of replacements.”
“I’d high-five you,” Adam said, grinning, “if I wasn’t too lazy to come over there.”
Travis cleared his throat. “And I’m going to make a run for police chief.”
“Congrats, Travis,” Adam said. He focused on Luke. “And good for you, man. The county needs guys like you at the helm.” He stared at the floor, clenching and unclenching his jaw muscles. “The three of you know me better than anyone, so you know I wouldn’t feed you a line of bunk. Kasey’s an okay gal. I’d stake my life on this. Even if she knew—” he shrugged one shoulder “—about
that,
she’s not the type to file a lawsuit.”
Wade rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. “Okay, pal, if you say so.”
“I say so.”
The moment of companionable silence was interrupted by the doorbell.
Luke headed for the door. “Pizza, anybody?”
“Count me in,” Travis said.
Wade hollered, “It’s on me.” Then he hooked an arm around Adam’s neck and playfully smacked his head. “I hope you ordered extra large, ’cause it looks like our conversation gave the boys an appetite.”
“Only extra-large thing around here,” Adam retorted, laughing as he reversed the hold on Wade, “is your big yap.”
“Hey, Wade, you said the pizza’s on you, right?”
Wade uttered a muffled “Mmm-hmm.”
“Then, you owe me $17.57.” Luke plopped the pizza box on the coffee table. “Adam, where d’you keep the paper plates?”
“Kitchen,” he growled, snickering as he struggled to maintain the half-nelson, “cupboard beside the sink.”
Travis shook his head, feigned a weary, disgusted look as he took in his friends, wrestling on the family room carpet like a couple of rowdy pups. “The more things change, the more they stay the same, eh?”
How true,
Adam thought, releasing Wade.
Wade had already taken a bite of pizza before Luke returned with the paper plates.
The more things change,
he repeated mentally.
But was that a curse…or a blessing?
Kasey sat beside her mother, third row from the altar and on the center aisle, to assure herself a clear view when Aleesha got up to sing her choir solo. Heart pounding with maternal pride, she double-checked the camera. Yes, the flash was working, and no, she hadn’t forgotten to load the film.
Pat leaned closer and whispered, “Easy, Kasey. She’s going to do fine, just fine.”
“I know, Mom,” Kasey said, slinging an arm around the older woman’s shoulders.
“You’re not surprised by all this, are you?”
“Not really.” Aleesha had done such a beautiful rendition of “Amazing Grace” that it would have surprised her more if Pastor Hill
hadn’t
asked the girl to sing another solo.
“Is there room for one more in this row?” asked a familiar voice.
Kasey looked up, unable to believe her eyes. “Adam,” she gasped. “What are you doing here?”
“Aleesha called yesterday, asked me to come hear what she called her ‘very unique version’ of ‘I Believe.”’ He
smiled. “Couldn’t very well refuse an invitation like that, now could I?”
Her gaze went directly to the altar, where Aleesha sat, waving. Waving at
Adam,
Kasey realized, a fact that made her smile.
“Scoot in a bit, Kasey,” Pat instructed, sliding left on the wooden bench, “so Dr. Thorne can sit down.”
“Adam,” he gently corrected.
Pat returned his smile. “All right, then, Adam.” She patted the empty space beside her. “We’d love it if you’d join us.”
Gingerly, he stepped over Kasey’s high-heeled shoes and took his place between mother and daughter.
“You look positively dashing in that tie,” Pat said.
Kasey could almost feel the heat of his blush, though he’d made sure to leave a good six inches between her left thigh and his right one. She had to agree with her mother, though: Adam did look handsome in that slate-gray suit. But then, he’d looked gorgeous in sweats, in blue jeans…
“So, how have you been?” she asked him.
“Fine.” He nodded emphatically. “Real good.”
“Working too hard, though, I’ll bet.”
He leaned forward, just enough to look into her face. “What makes you say that?”
She’d noticed right away that he looked haggard, especially around the eyes. “Just a hunch.”
“Adam,” Pat said, tapping his shoulder, then pointing at the altar, “Aleesha is waving at you.”
Smiling like a proud papa, he sent the girl a snappy salute.
“It was so nice of you to come all the way across town, just to hear her sing,” Kasey’s mother said. “I’m sure you have better things to do with your Sunday morning.”
“It’s only a ten-minute drive. Besides, I can’t think of anyplace I’d rather be.”
Either he’d meant it, or Hollywood was missing out on the greatest acting talent since Clark Gable, Kasey thought.
Just then, Edna O’Shea, seated on Pat’s other side, said in what she believed to be a whisper, “Who’s that man? Kasey’s new boyfriend?”
Pat held her hands out in an “I’m not sure” gesture.
Edna patted her cotton-white hair. “The dude is a
hunk.
”
Old Mrs. Madsen, who always arrived early enough to secure a seat in the front row, turned around and scowled at Pat and Edna. “Hush, you two.” She clucked her tongue. “‘Dude’ and ‘hunk’, indeed! Ladies, act your age, why don’t you!”
The instant Mrs. Madsen faced front again, Pat and Edna snickered. Kasey sat forward and, reaching around Adam, lay a hand on her mother’s knee. “Do I have to take you girls outside and give you a good talking-to?” she said around a smile.
The women sat up straight and folded their hands.
“No, dear,” Pat said.
And Edna added, “We’ll behave.”
Then the pair burst into another fit of girlish giggles.
Kasey looked at Adam, who expelled what she supposed he’d intended as a stern, fatherly sigh. She rolled her eyes, as if to say,
What am I going to do with her!
Kasey looked so adorable that he didn’t resist the impulse to reach out and take her hand. Its satiny warmth surprised him, made the breath catch in his throat.
For an instant, their eyes met and locked. Like an invisible current of electricity, the moment sizzled and popped, awakening a longing inside him like none he’d ever known. If only he’d mustered some courage that night fifteen years ago…!
Thankfully, strains of “Onward Christian Soldiers” throbbed from the church’s ancient organ bellows. The quiet rustle of fabric and the soft creak of wood harmonized with the instrument’s resonant notes, as congregants got to their feet.
All around him, paper crinkled as parishioners searched for the correct page in the hymnals. Throats cleared. A cough echoed from the tall stained-glass windows. Someone sneezed, and a whispered “Bless you” was punctuated by a quiet “Thanks!”
As the organist held onto a wailing C-chord—her signal that the first verse was about to begin—Adam regretfully let go of Kasey’s hand.
If he’d known how hard it would be, seeing her again, he’d never have agreed to come here. Being this near her was downright painful, and frankly, he hadn’t expected that. He’d spent a total of, what, twelve hours in her presence, so how much sense did these feelings make?
His memory did a quick rewind of Aleesha’s request. Almost immediately, his mind started whirling with possible excuses and semi-believable reasons to decline her invitation. Trouble was, he genuinely liked the kid. Liked her mother, too, more than he cared to admit, and way more than was healthy…or smart. And so he’d mumbled an agreeable yeah, okay, sure, love to come to church, hear the song.
Adam ground his molars together, realizing he’d been born with one major character flaw: the inability to say no. If he’d had the guts to say it that Halloween night, long ago, there’d be no regrets about saying yes to listening to Aleesha’s song.
And maybe he’d even have a chance at a future with the angelic beauty who stood beside him now, putting everything she had into her own off-key singing.
“So what did you think, Dr. Thorne?”
Kasey watched in quiet amazement as Adam tugged gently on one of Aleesha’s thick braids.
“Y’done good, kiddo. Real good.” He pulled her into a hug.
Seemed a shame, Kasey thought, for a man like that not to be a father; he had such a natural, easy way with children. She’d seen enough on Halloween night to know that was true.
“Thanks,” Aleesha said, beaming. “I practiced for
hours.
”
“And it shows.” Adam took what appeared to be a regretful step back. “So how’s the report coming?”
“Finished. It’s due tomorrow.” She looked up at him, blinking expectantly. “Would you take a look at it? Make sure I got everything right?”
Adam winced, then ran a hand through his hair. “I, uh, well, I’m not sure.” He held out his hands, palms up, in a helpless, awkward gesture. “I have patients at the hospital to check on, see, and paperwork that’s piling up at the office….”
Kasey didn’t get it. What had turned him from a calm, confident man into a bumbling, fidgeting wreck?