At Bluebonnet Lake (Texas Crossroads Book #1): A Novel (23 page)

They stood on the porch, letting their eyes adjust to the near darkness. In a moment they’d descend the ramp. In another moment, they’d be inside the vehicle, headed back to Rainbow’s End. The day had to end. Kate knew that, even as she wished it would go on forever.

Greg raised his hand to cup her chin and stared into Kate’s eyes. “I’m glad you enjoyed the meal, but I can think of a better
ending to our day.” Slowly and deliberately, he lowered his lips to hers.

It was wonderful. Kate’s perfume mingled with the scent of barbecue sauce and wood smoke. An owl’s hoot and the scurrying of a small rodent in the dried leaves told Greg dusk had arrived. Ordinary things made extraordinary by the fact that he held this woman in his arms and pressed his lips to hers.

It was wonderful. She was wonderful. Greg had known Kate less than two weeks, and yet he knew her better than anyone he’d ever met. She was sweet; she was strong. She was pretty; she was principled. She was vulnerable; she was victorious. Most of all, she was Kate.

Wonderful, wonderful Kate. The woman he loved.

S
ally had a secret. If it weren’t more than eight months until Christmas, Kate would have said that her grandmother had just found the perfect gift and was trying her best not to spoil the surprise. But since Sally was not an advance shopper, something else was responsible for that mysterious smile.

“Do you want to tell me about it?” Kate asked as she sweetened her coffee. When she’d seen the rain sliding down the windows this morning, Kate had offered to bring breakfast back for Sally, but her grandmother had refused, saying she wouldn’t melt, and so they’d both dodged puddles on the way to the dining room.

“Tell you about what?”

The innocent tone didn’t fool Kate. “About whatever is turning you into Mona Lisa. I know that smile. It’s the one you wore when you found that Barbie doll outfit that no one else had been able to get.”

Sally reached for the peach jam and took her time spreading it on a piece of toast. “No Barbie doll dresses this time,” she said slowly, “but I found something special for us. When I was
getting my hair done, Ruby mentioned a spa that just opened in Blytheville. It’s supposed to be the best one in the area, maybe in all of Texas.”

A spa? To Kate’s knowledge, her grandmother had never visited one.

“I’ve always been curious about them, and this one sounded so good that I knew it was time to find out what all the fuss was about.” The smile Sally gave Kate was one of triumph. “They’re normally booked up months in advance, so I didn’t think there was much chance we could get in, but I decided to try. When I called them that afternoon, they had just had two cancellations. That’s when I knew we were meant to go there.”

Sally grinned as she broke off another piece of toast. “We’re going to have the works, Kate: massage, facial, even a special pedicure with reflexology.” Her grin widened. “I can’t believe I’ve gone seventy-three years without a day at a spa, but now that it’s scheduled, I can’t wait.”

Kate had to admit that it sounded like a wonderful day. “When are we going?” She’d tell Greg that she couldn’t play tennis that day, and she’d make sure Heather knew not to expect her to work then.

“The Tuesday after Easter. Oh, Kate, I’m so excited. It’ll be fun to do this, just the two of us.”

“So this is where you’re hanging out.”

The hammer flew out of Greg’s hand as he turned, shocked by the sight of his former partner. Greg had been so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn’t heard anyone approaching. And now look what he’d done. The hammer had hit the porch step, making a small gouge. It wasn’t a structural problem; no one else would notice it, but it bothered Greg because it was more proof that his world had been turned upside down.

He loved Kate. The thought had kept him awake for most of the night. Greg had never believed in love at first sight, and yet he knew that what he felt for Kate was love. True love, the real deal—it didn’t matter what you called it. What Greg felt for Kate was genuine.

He’d spent the night and half of today trying to decide how and when to tell her. Thoughts of Kate filled his mind, even while he was repairing the loose porch railing for the new guest who was expected this afternoon. And now Drew was here. Drew, the man who considered himself an expert at love.

“How did you find me?” Greg demanded, rising to glare at Drew. Dressed in what passed for business casual at the S-squared offices, Drew looked as out of place as Kate had her first day. The difference was, Kate had adapted. Greg doubted Drew would. “What on earth are you doing here?” If there was anyone who didn’t belong at Rainbow’s End, it was Drew Carroll.

A self-satisfied smile was Drew’s answer. He waited for a moment before he said, “You slipped up when you called me. There’s GPS on your cell phone.”

Of course there was. All cell phones had that. “That’s not public information.”

Drew shrugged. “True, but the sweet little thing I’ve been dating just happens to work for your carrier. She was more than willing to bend a few rules to help me track you down when I told her that your mother was on her deathbed.”

Tamping back the anger that was starting to bubble up inside him, Greg gave Drew a long hard stare as he stepped off the porch. Though being two steps higher than Drew might be considered a power position, Greg had no desire to play the game. All he wanted was for Drew to leave.

“I would say I can’t believe you told anyone a story like that, but I can.” Drew had always maintained that his willingness
to embellish the truth was what made him so successful. He’d derided Greg’s belief in honesty, insisting that life wasn’t as black-and-white as Greg seemed to believe.

Drew’s only answer was another shrug. “All right,” Greg said, recognizing the futility of changing anything about Drew, “now that you’re here, what do you want?”

“To take you back to your mother’s bedside or, more precisely,” Drew said with the grin that many found charming, “to the S-squared offices.”

So this was the reason for Drew’s texts and voice mails. It was no wonder he’d told Greg they had to meet. Drew must have known there was no way Greg would agree if he’d raised the subject in a phone call, so he’d hoped that the personal touch would be more persuasive. He was mistaken.

“That’s not gonna happen. I told you that the day I left.” Though Greg had protested, the new owners had insisted on throwing a farewell party, and there had been more than one reference to the possibility of Greg rejoining the company in a new capacity. When Drew had predicted that Greg would return by the end of the month, Greg had simply shaken his head, feeling freer than he had in years. Though his future had been and still was uncertain, he knew that his resignation was permanent.

“That was months ago,” Drew said, giving Greg’s tool belt a disdainful look. “People change their minds.”

“I don’t.” Seeing Drew again had only reinforced Greg’s belief that he’d done the right thing when he’d left Silicon Valley. The changes he’d made in his life had been positive. Though some might call his work at Rainbow’s End menial labor, it gave Greg satisfaction. More importantly, coming here had brought Kate into his life. He didn’t need Drew, who had seemingly majored in flirting when they’d been in college, trying to charm her.

“The least you can do is help me.”

Greg kept his expression impassive, though he cringed inwardly, wondering how often he’d heard that particular refrain. “What do you need now?” If it was something easy, he might agree, simply to get Drew to leave, but Greg didn’t hold out much hope for that. If it had been easy, Drew wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of tracking him down.

Drew sank onto the top step and looked up at Greg, his lips curving into a half smile. “Ideas for a new release. Serge and Lisa want the next big thing.”

Greg wasn’t surprised. Though he’d been content to release one upgrade a year, when Serge and Lisa had taken over the company, they’d promised stockholders and current customers quarterly releases. What did surprise him was that they expected Drew to design the release. Though Greg had thought that Serge and Lisa understood Drew’s role in the old S-squared, it seemed that his former partner had oversold his part in the creative process.

“Let me guess,” he said, not bothering to hide his sarcasm, “you promised you’d give it to them when? Tomorrow?”

“Close enough. I thought I could do it. I did all the things you and I used to when we were brainstorming, but nothing worked. I’m fresh out of ideas. You’ve got to help me.”

And let him take all the credit. As had happened so often in the past two weeks, images of Kate rushed through Greg’s head. These were different from the memories of the time they’d spent together and the kisses they’d shared. This time Greg envisioned her staring at a jar of peanut butter, her brow furrowed with concentration. Kate was having a problem similar to Drew’s, but she wouldn’t pass off someone else’s ideas as her own.

“I’m sorry, Drew. I can’t help you.”

Drew rose and glared at him. “Can’t or won’t?”

“I’m not sure there’s much of a difference. The result is the same. You might as well head back to California.”

“Not yet.” Drew glanced at the cabin as if seeing it for the first time. “I thought I’d spend a couple days here, just in case you change your mind. The woman I talked to seemed glad for the business.”

This was worse than Greg had feared. “So you’re the new guest.”

“Yeah. I wanted to see what the attraction was. So far I can’t imagine what’s keeping you here.”

And he probably never would. He would see Kate, and he would assume she was the reason Greg remained. Drew would not search for the other, less tangible attractions. Wishing he could convince the man to leave but knowing that was impossible, Greg sighed. He had known that he and Drew were different, but seeing his former partner here made Greg realize just how deep those differences were.

“It’s peaceful here,” he told him.

Drew looked around, then shrugged. “That’s a nice way of saying boring.”

The man always had to have the last word.

Kate had never thought she’d be happy about rain, but today she was. It had started overnight and hadn’t stopped until noon, which meant that the clay court was too wet for her and Greg to play tennis. And, as much as Kate wanted to spend more time with him, she knew this was for the best. One way or another, she needed to come up with a plan for Aunt Ivy’s All Organic Peanut Butter. At this point, the only way she knew was brute force. She needed to spend every possible minute thinking about the company, trying to find a creative way to convince customers that they needed—absolutely, positively needed—to buy it.

Unfortunately, the ideas were not flowing. Ideas about peanut
butter, that is. Instead, Kate found herself sketching Stonehenge and the restaurant where she and Greg had dined, devoting precious minutes to perfecting her drawing of the porch where they’d shared their second kiss, a kiss that somehow managed to surpass even the magic of the first.

And then there had been their good night kiss on another porch, the one to this cabin, just before Greg had wished her sweet dreams. Her dreams had been sweet. In them she’d pictured herself and Greg walking through a field of bluebonnets, riding a gondola in Venice, gazing up at the Eiffel Tower. The scenes had changed, but what had not was the fact that she and Greg were together.

The dreams hadn’t ended when she’d wakened. They’d simply changed to daydreams. The truth was, Kate was finding it difficult to think about anything other than Greg. Even Sally’s surprise announcement about what she was calling their girls’ day at the spa hadn’t kept her attention once breakfast had ended. Kate had a dozen different ways to tell the world how special Greg was but not one that would convince even a die-hard peanut butter fan that Aunt Ivy’s was somehow superior to every other brand.

“Oh, Kate. I didn’t know you’d be here.” Sally pressed her hand to her chest, obviously startled as she opened the door to their cabin and found Kate sitting on the floor, surrounded by piles of paper. “I just came back to get my e-reader to show Roy. Can you imagine? He’s never used one.”

When her breathing returned to normal, Sally eyed the papers. “Are you working again?” Her slightly accusatory tone left no doubt of her opinion.

Kate wouldn’t lie. “Maddox is pitching to a new client, and Heather asked me to help. You don’t need to worry. I’ll be done before our day at the spa. I’m looking forward to that as much as you are.” When Sally did not appear mollified, Kate continued.
“This is important. I wouldn’t be doing it otherwise. My promotion depends on landing this client.” Silence was the only response, leaving Kate feeling frustrated. It wasn’t as if she was giving up time with her grandmother. Sally was spending almost as much time with Roy as she was with Kate. “You know how much I want to be a partner. It’s what Grandpa Larry always wanted for me.”

“Is that what you think?”

Kate nodded. “It’s what I know.”

Sally said nothing more, but she was unusually quiet when they walked to supper, not responding when Kate pointed out a mockingbird perched in one of the tree limbs and a small lizard scurrying across the path. When they reached the dining room, it was clear they were not the first to arrive, for an unfamiliar car was parked near the door.