Reunion Pass: An Eternity Springs novel (25 page)

Like any woman in similar circumstances, she went straight for the freezer and the Rocky Mountain Road. She went to bed that night feeling just a little sick to her stomach.

She slept fitfully and awoke the following morning to a bluebird summer sky and an appointment book filled to overflowing—of which she was glad. She didn’t need to obsess about last night’s interlude on the porch swing. Or the moment when it ended.

She woke up telling herself that Chase was her friend. That she shouldn’t worry about a momentary reaction. Muscle memory. That’s all it had been, right?

“Right.”

And the temperature would crack the century mark on New Year’s Day in Eternity Springs, too.

Lori did her best to put the events of last evening behind her as she went about her work the next morning, but off and on throughout the day, thoughts of Chase itched like a bug bite. She tried to distract herself with an inner debate over which of Eternity Springs’s canine residents she should take to the Rocking L and in what order. She decided to start with small and stylish—Sage Rafferty’s Snowdrop—and she made arrangements to pick up the bichon frise from Sage’s art gallery, Vistas, at lunchtime the following day.

With that decision behind her and the potential lineup settled, her thoughts kept straying back to Chase. Her distraction must have been obvious, too, because that evening when she joined the Callahan clan on the patio at Murphy’s Pub for a live music performance by a Callahan family friend, a singer/songwriter named Shaky Wells, she noticed that Brick kept giving her narrow-eyed looks.

She did her best to ignore him and have fun. The Texas-based contingent of the Callahan family had begun arriving for their annual summertime visit to Eternity Springs earlier in the week, and Lori appreciated the opportunity to catch up on family news. She liked Nic’s in-laws very much, having gotten to know them well while visiting their ranch during her undergrad years at Texas A&M. While they waited for the entertainment to begin, Brick’s aunts caught her up on recent events in Brazos Bend. At intermission, his father managed to quiz her subtly about his son’s life in Eternity Springs.

“I think he’s very happy,” she told Mark Callahan. “He speaks often about how much he likes the challenge of building something from the ground up. I think once word gets around about Stardance, he’ll be wildly successful.”

“But do you think—”

“Enough, Dad,” Brick interrupted as he moved up behind Lori. “Lori came here tonight to enjoy the music, not to be interrogated. Here.” He pulled out her chair. “Let me rescue you. I want to introduce you to Shaky.”

He cut her away from the herd as smoothly as a working cowboy.

“You shouldn’t have said that to your dad,” she scolded. “That was no interrogation. You should hear my dad. For a man who had no experience parenting me until I was in college, he can fire off nosy questions like nobody’s business.”

“It was just an excuse. My family has monopolized you and I wanted to get you off by myself,” he said, once he had her cornered by the side gate. “So what has you wound tighter than a corkscrew tonight?”

“I’m not wound tight.”

“Yeah. Right. And my grandfather’s favorite meal isn’t chicken-fried steak with cream gravy and fried okra.”

“Oh, wow. Cream gravy and fried okra. Sometimes I really miss Texas.”

“Branch still eats it twice a week.”

“He must have wheedled the location of the Fountain of Youth out of Celeste. My mom swears our resident angel knows where it is, and your grandfather seems to get younger every time I see him rather than vice versa.”

Brick wouldn’t be distracted. “Enough about Branch. Back to you. What has you so twitchy?

“I’m not twitchy.”

“I’ve heard rumors in town. It’s Timberlake, isn’t it? Is he giving you trouble?”

That depends on your definition of “trouble.”
She scowled at him over the top of her pint of beer. “Why would you think that?”

“Word around town is that his woman flew the coop. The wedding is off again. For good this time.”

“They’ve broken their engagement, but I don’t know that I’d put money on it being permanent.”

“Speculation is that the two of you might take up where you left off. He’s been seen in town—on your front porch.”

Lori closed her eyes and groaned.
Welcome to Eternity Springs—where everybody knows your business before you do.
It was the very worst part of small-town living. “Where did you hear that?”

“Well, let’s see.” He dragged his hand down his cheek. “I heard it when I bought a box of nails at the lumberyard. Got a whiff of it when I put gas in my truck at the Fill-U-Up. Margaret Rhodes about wore me out about it when I dropped off a sackful of donations for the library book sale.”

I’m so toast.
“It’s a blessing that my parents are on vacation.”

“When are they due back?”

“A week from Saturday.”

“So you’ve got a little time to come up with a story for them. On the other hand, as your friend and the person who listened during a certain late-night drunken sobfest on a recent trip to Durango, I want an answer now. What the hell are you doing, Murphy?”

She tossed back a sip of beer as if it were a shot of rotgut whisky. “I thought you were going to introduce me to the singer.”

“I will. Later.” He pushed open the gate and ushered her outside. “I didn’t spend three hours letting you cry on my shoulder to ignore this.”

“I didn’t cry on your shoulder.”

“Trust me. After the second bottle of wine, you absolutely did.”

She scowled at him. “Whatever.”

Brick slung his arm around her shoulders and led her around to the side of the building and down the street to the garden area outside of the Catholic church and the park bench that offered a nice view of Sinner’s Prayer Pass. “Allow me to quote you. ‘It’s all my father’s fault. If he hadn’t run off, then I would have trusted that Chase would wait.’ Now, I’m not exactly sure what all of that was supposed to mean—your sloshed little self wasn’t making tons of sense—but I can connect the obvious dots. You’re vulnerable to him and I know your history, so I’m concerned for you. I care about you.”

“I care about you too, Brick, and I appreciate your concern. But you don’t need to worry because here’s the bottom line. Chase is my friend. He’s in a bad place right now, and I won’t let our past stop me from being the friend he needs, but I would have to be an idiot to let myself fall for him again.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, gee. I don’t know.” Sarcasm dripped from her voice. “Maybe I don’t like the idea of being rebound girl?”

Brick shook his head. “You’re not. The TV chick was the rebound girl. Hasn’t he been with her since the two of you broke up? Technically, you’d be the bounce-back girl. You’re the one who got away.”

Lana had said that to her one time, too. Lori didn’t believe it then, and she didn’t believe it today.

“So what’s the problem?” Brick continued. “Are you scared off because Timberlake has gone crackers?”

“He hasn’t gone crackers!” Lori was quick to defend him. “He’s mourning his friends and recovering from a horrible experience and he’s probably dealing with some depression and maybe even post-traumatic stress. If he comes and sits on my porch swing, it’s just because he finds some comfort there.”

“I’ll just bet he does.”

“Come on, Brick. It’s totally innocent.”

“I think the lady doth protest too much. Therefore, I intend to nurse my broken heart with another beer. You want one?”

“Oh, stop it, Brick. You’re not in love with me.”

The teasing light in his eyes faded, and a new note of sincerity cued Lori to the fact that he spoke the truth. “No, I think it could have gone that way, but I knew better than to let myself fall. I didn’t want to be rebound guy any more than you want to be rebound girl. Been there, done that. It sucks.”

Brick had told Lori enough about his relationship history to know that he’d had his heart stomped by a woman before moving to Eternity Springs.

“At any rate, I haven’t been in a rush. I figured it didn’t hurt to wait around and see what happened with you. I thought once Timberlake actually settled, you might have been ready to move on and we might have a chance.”

Lori placed her hand atop his and gave it a squeeze. “I appreciate the thought, Brick, but despite what you like to tell yourself, my confusion about Chase hasn’t been the only thing keeping us apart.”

“Oh?”

“You pay lip service to moving on, my friend, but this is a pot/kettle situation. You’re still in love with your ex.”

Now it was his turn to scowl. He glanced over his shoulder as if to make sure that his family hadn’t overheard. “You’re one to talk.”

“No, I love him, but I’m not in love with him. I’m not ‘involved’ with him.”

“Yet.”

“No ‘yet’ about it. Maybe I could take that fall, but I’d be stupid to let it happen. I’m his friend and friendship is all it can be.”

“Why?”

“Because the problem that broke us up before hasn’t gone away. I have roots. Chase has wings. They might be a bit beat-up and broken right now, but as soon as he heals, he’ll fly away. That’s what he does.”

Brick studied her for a long moment. “Seems to me that you’re jumping the gun. So the guy wanted to see the world. He’s done that. Maybe he’s ready to settle down now. It happens, you know. Hell, he’s camped out in a yurt and from what I hear, he’s not inclined to leave it.”

“He will. He always does.”

“Maybe not this time.”

“Yes, well, I’m not ready to roll that particular pair of dice.” She’d survived being in love with Chase Timberlake once. She wasn’t at all certain she could do it a second time. “So, your third degree is almost reaching Cam Murphy status. Let’s go back to the patio, shall we? I still want to meet the songwriter.”

Brick held her gaze a long moment, then nodded. They returned to Murphy’s, but just before they reached the gate, she added, “Thank you for caring, Brick. And maybe you’ll listen to one piece of advice I have? If that slipknot you tied hitching your reins to your past is actually a square knot, sometimes the only way to get on down the road is to take a second run at the knot.”

“Lori Murphy, I think you’ve been spending too much time with Celeste Blessing. And I’ll see your advice and raise you. Real honest-to-God second chances don’t come along often in life. Don’t squander yours just because you’re afraid.”

“Now who has been spending too much time with Celeste.” Lori went up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek, then followed him onto the patio where he introduced her to Shaky Wells. It was the last they spoke about anybody’s past that evening.

Late the following morning, Lori picked up Snowdrop from the Raffertys’ and made the trip up to the Rocking L summer camp on Murphy Mountain.

Snowdrop was a hit with the children. Sage had dressed the dog in a fairy princess outfit and Nicholas did just fine with her. “Who can be afraid of a dog wearing fairy wings,” he explained.

Time passed and Lori’s days stayed full. She adjusted her work hours—opening early and staying late—to give herself time for an extra long lunch. One of the perks about being her own boss, she told her mother.

“Is it … smart … for you to spend so much time up at the Rocking L while you are getting your practice established in Eternity Springs?” her mother asked. “Someone else could take dogs up to visit that poor little boy.”

Lori recognized the question as not-so-subtle mother-speak that really asked, “Do you know what you’re letting yourself in for where Chase is concerned?”

As much as Sarah Murphy had wanted Chase and Lori to tie the knot once upon a time, she now harbored serious doubts that they should take up where they’d left off. She’d shared that viewpoint with Lori shortly after news of the broken engagement reached her ears. Lana’s words and actions toward Chase had made a positive impression on the Timberlake family friends following Chase’s return to Eternity Springs. Sarah wasn’t certain that this wedding postponement was permanent, and after having witnessed her daughter’s meltdown when Chase was missing, she feared that Lori would end up brokenhearted—again.

“I’m careful not to overextend myself, Mom,” she’d replied. “This session of summer camp will be over before we know it, Nicholas will go home, and I won’t have a reason to return to the Rocking L.” Daughter-speak for “I’m protecting my heart, Mom. Don’t worry.”

Her words mollified her mother somewhat. It didn’t help that Chase continued to come down out of the mountains more evenings than not to spend an hour or so on her porch swing. Lori knew tongues were wagging all over town, but she didn’t care. Chase seemed more at peace each time she saw him. If spending time on her front porch helped his heart to heal, that’s all that mattered.

And if she got a bit of a hormonal buzz every time she saw him interact with the Tadpoles or heard the creak of the porch swing then, well, that was her problem, wasn’t it? Chase certainly didn’t seem to be bothered by a similar reaction. In fact, so totally … companionable … was he that she began to understand that she must have misread the almost-kiss the night he brought ice cream.

Obviously, Chase thought of her as a friend. So much for Brick’s talk of second chances. Lori told herself that it was only natural for her to long for a time when the evening would have ended with a kiss between them. That was an old, familiar pattern. A comfortable pattern. That’s all. They weren’t the same two people who’d met at the Trading Post and carried on a secret affair in their early twenties. He was a friend. Just a friend. Period. She was glad that Chase didn’t have romance on the mind.

She almost believed it.

*   *   *

Chase dreamed of fireworks.

The thundering boom as a rocket launches. A high-pitched whistle rises, fading to a whir as the glittering trail of sparks climbs higher and higher. Anticipation builds. Tension grows. The pinprick of light has now all but disappeared.

Yearning …

The sky explodes. A dazzling starburst of colors burn brilliant and beautiful. Spears of red and orange and gold and silver slice across the midnight sky.