And Then He Kissed Me (5 page)

“It’s nothing,” Kieran said, stepping away from Audrey.

Fletch’s face was bunched with concentration, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. His gaze settled on Audrey.

“Did he hurt you?”

Audrey clutched the broken bustier to her chest. “No, of course not,” Kieran interjected. “It was just an accident.”

“I’m waiting for
her
to answer,” Fletch said.

Audrey’s knuckles whitened around her handful of clothing. Kieran realized right then that she held all the cards. Her hand trumped his.

She could take him down with a smattering of words, could pretend this had been more than it was, and put his job at risk. Kieran forced his breathing to be steady—in and out, calm like it wasn’t the last play of the game—and tried to remember that the woman he’d lost his heart to five years ago had a blazing white soul, the stark opposite of his black one. She wasn’t like him; she wasn’t always calculating how to turn the odds in her favor.

Audrey had been so kind, so willing to trust him and believe the best. But even her shining golden goodness—her love for her friends and family and her hometown, her faith in the people around her—couldn’t lighten the darkness inside him, though five years ago he’d wanted it to.

Underneath the makeup, Audrey’s face was pale. “No,” she said, “he didn’t hurt me. It’s just a misunderstanding.”

Kieran let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“But I’d appreciate it if you’d tell him that he can’t fire me. I need this job.”

Fletch’s face was slack with relief. “I’m glad this isn’t what it looked like. It’s Kieran’s call, though, about your job.”

Kieran’s throat was dry. “I think—” he began, but couldn’t put the rest of the sentence together. Thinking around Audrey Tanner had suddenly become downright difficult.

“Let her stay, Callaghan,” Fletch said. “The model we had lined up quit, and Audrey jumped in like a champ. She’s doing fine out there.”

There was a time when a situation like this—one that knotted his thoughts and tied up his insides—would have had him running to the betting table. There, he’d place his money with the dealer, again and again, until nothing remained in his brain except the game. Except winning.

Only, more often than not, he came out losing.

Those days were behind him, thank God. Yet, even if he let Audrey keep her job, he couldn’t allow her to think that being here was a good idea. Being around her was a reminder of a past he needed to forget. He had a new life to keep on building, and in order to do that, he had to get her gone. Even if it wasn’t today, it would have to be soon.

He pulled himself up to his full height—six foot three—and stared down at Audrey. Her hands shook as they held the broken leather tight against her chest. But, to his surprise, she didn’t back away from him. Instead, she lifted her chin and stared at him square on. Audrey might have the same goodness illuminating the inside of her, but she
was
different than the woman he knew five years ago.

“If you stay, then you stay out of my way,” he growled at her, working hard to sound intimidating. “Understand?”

“Or
you
can stay out of
my
way,” she replied, her brown eyes narrowing. “Last I recall, I was here first.”

Kieran was getting ready to dress her down with a lecture about still being her boss, but Fletch stepped in. “All right, you two. Enough. Let’s call it a truce. Audrey, you’re done for the day. Go on and head home. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

With a final glare at Kieran, Audrey walked away—one hand holding up her broken pants, and one hand gripping the broken bustier. She tilted her chin high enough to make him wonder what in the world had happened to the Audrey he knew—the fresh-faced gym teacher who had stolen his heart with her feet placed squarely in practical running shoes. Why she was now clad in makeup and leather at a Harley dealership was beyond him.

Apparently he had a lot to learn about the new Audrey Tanner.

Not that he would afford himself that luxury.

He clenched his fists and steeled his resolve. As much as he might want it to be different, the most important thing to know about Audrey Tanner was the simplest thing: He was going to have to stay as far away from her as possible.

C
HAPTER
THREE

A
udrey hung up her new clothes in the dealership’s back closet and felt a small pang as she walked away from them at the end of her shift.

She tried to push the emotions aside. It was silly to think that just changing your outside could change your insides.

But she couldn’t deny she felt different after a day of looking like someone else.

She slid into her car in the parking lot and stared at the beige interior. It seemed so dull after the glossy colors and shining chrome of the dealership. She wondered briefly about getting one of those mirror balls that hung from the rearview, but she could already hear her sister, Casey, telling her it was ridiculous. Inefficient. Excessive.

She couldn’t even imagine her sister’s reaction when she told her about the new job. She swallowed, figuring she’d just avoid that topic altogether for a while.

The image of clean-cut, handsome-as-ever Kieran filled her mind as she pulled away from the dealership. Her skin flamed at the memory of being carried off the dealership floor in his arms, and of her bustier flying open minutes later. Her stomach flipped at the raw power of being in his arms, of being close to him again.

Careful,
her brain cautioned. She took a calming breath. She wasn’t about to let five years of pain disintegrate like paper on a wet sidewalk. Kieran was an unhappy part of her past that didn’t vanish easily.

Good for me for calling him an asshole,
she thought. She giggled involuntarily. What had come over her? It was as if stepping into the clothes was stepping into someone else’s body. It was a person Audrey didn’t know very well, but someone with whom she was excited to become more acquainted.

A spring wind whipped through town as she headed into Lumberjack Grocery to get food for tonight’s Knots and Bolts recipe exchange. The crisp air snapped the American flag outside the library as she turned down Main Street. When she stepped out of the car, the wind pulled at Audrey’s already tousled hair.

She headed for the bakery, hoping to grab something prepared. She’d had plans to bake raspberry bars for tonight, but the unexpected turn of events today had meant all the baking ingredients were still intact at home.

Her thick-soled running shoes hardly made a sound on the grocery store’s tile. Her track pants didn’t pinch at all. She wondered suddenly what it would feel like to stride down the smooth floor on her stilettos, the fringe on her leather sleeve fluttering. She was so lost in thought that she nearly crashed into Evelyn Beauford head-on.

“Oh, excuse me,” Audrey said as their shoulders bumped. “I’m not watching where I’m going.”

Evelyn’s eyes seemed to widen along with her smile. “Goodness, Audrey! I’m not sure I would have recognized you if we hadn’t collided. Have you done something new with…your hair?”

Audrey had changed her clothes, but apparently her hair and makeup on their own were enough to startle people. “Just trying out a different look.”

The creases in Evelyn’s lined face deepened. “Well, what perfect timing to see you here. I was hoping to bend your ear soon about the upcoming Good Shepherd Walk.”

Audrey groaned inwardly. The annual Good Shepherd Walk was a fund-raiser for the local Catholic church, and she somehow always found herself on the planning committee for it. Never mind that she wasn’t Catholic, and charity walks weren’t exactly her thing. Everyone just assumed they were because she taught P.E.

Or used to, anyway.

“This year, I thought we’d start down by the river and end at the church, instead of the other way around,” Evelyn said, her soft, powder-smelling hand reaching out to grasp Audrey’s.

Audrey stared down at Evelyn’s wrinkled skin, her insides knotting as she wondered for the seventh year in a row how to tell the older woman that she did not, in fact, want to help with the Good Shepherd charity walk.

“I—that is—this isn’t a good time for me,” Audrey stumbled. “As you probably know, I lost my job. Things are a little difficult.”

Evelyn nodded solemnly. “Of course. Which is why it’s more important than ever to give. When you’re in need, that’s when you serve the most. ‘Give and it shall be given to you.’” She smiled warmly, and Audrey’s heart sank.

How could she argue with this sweet, Bible-quoting old lady?

But that was the problem. Audrey wanted to argue. She wanted to tell Evelyn that she loved running, but not walking. That the crowds made her a little dizzy. That every year, she tried to make the registration process electronic, but the group insisted on paper forms and it was always a mess.

Only Audrey never said those things. Not to anyone. Not to her school’s principal when he’d insisted Audrey serve on the superintendent search committee, even though Audrey was already on the community outreach committee. Not to her hairdresser when Audrey had asked for bangs and her hairdresser had said they were out of fashion, no matter that it was Audrey’s choice. Not even to the waiter the other day when he brought her a roast beef sandwich instead of a turkey club, but Audrey ate it politely so she wouldn’t raise a fuss.

Maybe it was time for her to start speaking up. She pictured herself in the clothes from the dealership and tried to recall the boldness she’d felt in them.

“I just don’t think I can, Evelyn,” Audrey said. Her voice shook but she pressed forward. “Not this year. I’m very sorry.”

“Oh.” The old woman’s face fell. “We just need your help so badly.”

“I know, but—”

“I’m not sure we can have the walk without you, frankly.”

Guilt washed over her. She stared at her running shoes. She couldn’t leave them in the lurch like this. Could she?

“Perhaps I could find my replacement? Would that help?”

“Well, I suppose. How long do you need, dear?”

“A couple days. I’m sure I can find someone.”

“We hate to lose you. You’ve been such a blessing.”

“I’m sure I can find someone who is equally as…blessed,” Audrey bluffed. After chatting for a few more minutes about Evelyn’s tulips this spring, she waved good-bye to the older woman and headed for the bakery. She hadn’t gotten out of the Good Shepherd Walk entirely, but she felt a twinge of pride that she’d made some baby steps in that direction. It was a start, anyway.

The rich scent of bread and yeast had her stomach growling as she stared at multiple cakes and pies. She figured she ought to grab the apple pie because it was the dessert most people would enjoy. What Audrey wanted, however, was the twelve-pack of powdered-sugar donuts on the nearby shelf. They were like dusty soldiers all lined up in their plastic tray, ready to march into her mouth.

The pie would be more suitable. More people would like it.

But wasn’t it her dessert to bring?

“Come to Mama,” she whispered, and grabbed the donuts. She headed for the checkout before she could change her mind.

*  *  *

In the cozy back room of Knots and Bolts, Audrey sipped a velvety red wine, grateful to finally be gathered with her friends after the day she’d had. She sighed with contentment just as her friend Betty eyed her across the table.

“You look like a Minneapolis hooker,” Betty said. Her friend’s clear skin and rounded cheeks were nearly angelic in the warm light. Which was only appropriate, Audrey supposed, since Betty was now the wife of the local pastor.

Audrey put a self-conscious hand up to her face.

“Oh, leave her be,” Willa Masterson—now Olmstead—replied. Willa poured more red wine into Audrey’s glass. The splash of the liquid was a comfort, and Audrey smiled gratefully. Willa, the most recent addition to the weekly recipe exchange in the room at the back of Betty’s fabric store, had returned to White Pine recently after years in New York, and had opened up the White Pine Bed and Breakfast in her family’s old home on Oak Street. The charming B and B was thriving, and so was Willa’s marriage since she’d rekindled her romance with her high-school sweetheart—and one-time house contractor—Burk Olmstead.

Audrey felt a small twinge of jealousy as she studied her friend’s laughing green eyes, her radiant smile, and the sparkling ring on her left hand. She tried ignoring it, but the splinter of emotion just buried itself deeper: this feeling that Audrey had lived in White Pine her whole life, played by all the rules, and hadn’t found love, but Willa had managed to swoop in, find a guy,
and
start a business in a matter of months.

It’s because Willa takes risks,
Audrey thought, recalling how hard Willa had worked to change her attitude and open her heart to Burk. Not to mention learn how to fix up old furniture.

“Earth to Audrey,” Betty was saying, tapping the table with her finger.