Heartsong Cottage (21 page)

Just as the sky went ablaze in shades of gold, orange, and red, the American flag atop a nearby pole began to whip. The formerly gentle breeze turned suddenly gusty, and beside him, Shannon said, “Oh, no!”

Daniel saw her floppy hat go sailing over the railing. It turned a pair of slow flips before landing in water below them. Though he was smarter than to say it to her, he thought to himself,
Good riddance.
He wanted to see her face. He loved looking at her.

Now, though, she looked a little distressed. He hated to see that. Ever the helpful companion, he reassured her, “Don't worry. The shops here stay open late. We can stop by after dinner and buy you another one.”

“Yes, let's do that.”

The subdued note in her voice surprised him. It was just an inexpensive hat. She'd paid seven dollars for it. Why act as if it'd cost a hundred?

Something didn't click. Daniel's cop's antenna twitched. Was she afraid of something? Someone?

Before he could pursue the thought, Soupy distracted him with a tug on her leash as a bulldog waddled over to her and the two dogs sniffed each other's butts.

“What a pretty silver girl,” said the man of around Daniel's father's age who held the bulldog's leash. “How old is she?”

“She'll be eleven in the spring.”

“I've always loved boxers. Our dog before Sergeant, here, was a boxer.”

While the two men talked dogs, Shannon kept her gaze focused on the sunset. Daniel listened to the bulldog's owner with divided attention. What was the deal with his date? When the bulldog and his owner moved on, Daniel prepared to confront her when the young blonde standing next to Shannon said, “Excuse me, miss? Would you mind taking our picture? We're on our honeymoon, and I'd love to have one picture that's not a selfie.”

“Oh. Sure. Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” the groom said, giving his bride a tender smile as she touched the camera app on her screen and handed Shannon her phone. “We're very happy.”

Shannon lifted the camera, then stepped backward a few paces. The crowd around her politely faded back and allowed the space Shannon needed to snap a picture of the honeymoon couple. “Beautiful. Let me try one more.”

The camera clicked. Shannon lowered the phone. The bride stepped toward her to take it.

A male voice said, “Chelsea?”

 

Chapter Ten

Shannon's blood drained toward her flip-flops.

“Chelsea Abbott? Is that really you?”

She stopped breathing as an icy hand closed around her heart.
Oh, God. Oh, God, no.

Time slowed to a crawl. She didn't need to turn to see who called her name. Her mouth went sour with fear as she recognized the voice. Not at all sinister, but one still a bit high-pitched for a man. A nerdy voice for a nerdy boy, he'd once told her. Not the one voice she feared most in this world—but a solid number two. Three, at the very least. Alden Findley. One of the Musketeers. One for all and all for one. Alden had been Athos to Ted's Porthos, and Russell's Aramis, charter members all of AnonyBytes, the hacker group organized by Russell that had grown to over fifteen members and caused her nothing but grief.

What do I do? Please, God. What on earth do I do?

She had a split second to decide between the only two choices that occurred. Run or try to brazen it out?

She flicked her gaze toward Daniel. He watched her with a mildly interested stare that suddenly flickered with interest.
Time has run out.

Pasting on a bright smile and hoping that nobody noticed the pounding pulse at her neck, she finally looked toward Alden. He wore a navy fishing shirt and cargo shorts and had lost most of his hair since the last time she'd seen him. Since Ted's funeral. Adding a breathy note to her voice in an effort to disguise it, she said, “Are you speaking to me? You've mistaken me for someone else. My name is Shannon.”

“Oh. Well. Wow.” He glanced toward Daniel, and then back toward her. “They say everyone has a doppelgänger. I went to college with yours.”

“You know, I've heard that before.” She exaggerated a gesture toward the western sky and effectively dismissed him by saying, “Enjoy your sunset.”

Then she turned her attention back toward Daniel, slipping her hand through the crook of his elbow—appreciating the support for her still weak knees—and led him beyond Alden's range of hearing. “It's good to know that Soupy is dog friendly,” she babbled. “It'll make life much easier for you in Eternity Springs since you can't walk down the street there without meeting someone out walking their dog.”

She was glad that twilight was falling fast. Otherwise he might see the guilt that rippled through her eyes.

“Shannon—” he began.

She interrupted as if she hadn't heard him and put her arms around his neck. Her fingers naturally found the short, crisp hair at his nape. She'd discovered the previous night how much she'd liked the feel of his thick hair against her fingers. “This has been a truly wonderful trip. I badly needed a vacation, and I don't think I even realized it. Thank you so much for inviting me.”

His hands settled around her waist, and he pulled her against him as she went up on her tiptoes and kissed him. She'd intended it to be a short thank-you kiss on his firm lips, but his mouth was hot and minty and masculine and compelled her to linger.

As did the fact that his broad shoulders shielded her and his powerful arms cradled her, his solid strength a safe, protective port in her storm. If she could stay here forever, she would.

To think that not two minutes before Alden said her name, she'd seriously considered telling Daniel about the baby tonight. It would have been a risk. If he didn't take the news well, the trip home tomorrow could have been awkward. But these past couple of days had been so wonderful, and she'd felt so encouraged and hopeful and, well, guilty over keeping the news to herself. She'd almost … almost … been ready to tell him.

Being seen by Alden changed all of that.

What a fool she'd been to come here. She'd feared photographs and face recognition software. She'd not seriously worried about actually coming face-to-face with someone who knew Chelsea Abbott. Panic flooded through her once again. Her heart thudded painfully. She'd have to run now. Wouldn't she?

She didn't know. She needed to think, and she had trouble thinking at all when he kissed her. What was the best thing to do for the baby? The baby came first.

His mouth released hers and his lips trailed across her jaw toward her ear. “Better stop that. Otherwise I'm liable to throw you over my shoulder and cart you back to the house. I need dinner first.”

“Oh, yeah?” she asked lightly. “I think I'm insulted.”

“Don't be. Fuel for a long night ahead.”

“Ahh.” She went for a smile, but she knew what she managed was shaky.

The rest of the evening didn't go much better. Walking along Duvall, she caught herself glancing over her shoulder too often and yammering on too much. She feared Daniel would pick up on her nervousness.

Of course he'll pick up on my nervousness. The man's a detective!

Sure enough, over dinner she noticed him watching her with narrowed, speculative eyes, so she knew she had a problem. Better head it off now.

You could always tell him about the baby.

Maybe that's what she should do. As distractions went, she probably couldn't do any better.

Over the years she'd become adept at lying, but she found the thought of lying outright to Daniel even more distasteful than lying to her friends in Eternity Springs. So she told him a truth. Not
the
truth, but a truth. She shared an event that actually happened. “I'm sorry if I'm not good company tonight. That guy made me nervous.”

“The man who called you Chelsea?”

Hearing her name on his lips made her stomach do a slow flip. Of course he'd remembered it. Her luck wouldn't allow anything else. “A few years ago some guy mistook me for a friend of his wife's who he blamed for his divorce. He followed me when I left work and cornered me at my car.”

Daniel went momentarily still, then slowly lowered his fork. “Oh? Did he hurt you?”

“An openhanded slap, but I felt it for a week afterward.”

His lips tightened. “I hope you pressed charges.”

“In hindsight, I should have. But I was young, and I let his lawyer talk me out of it.” The money the attorney had given her made the decision easy. She'd been broke as a church mouse at that point. “At the time I just wanted to forget the whole thing. Ever since then I'm a little weird about being approached the way that guy did. So, distract me, Mr. Garrett. You've known the Romanos longer than I have. Tell me something about one of them that I don't know.”

“You want to spend our last night in Key West gossiping?”

“No…” She made a show of plucking the maraschino cherry from the top of her virgin piña colada and sucking it suggestively. “But you haven't finished refueling yet.”

Daniel eyed the surf and turf on his plate and picked up his steak knife and fork. “Mind if we skip dessert?”

*   *   *

Daniel drove to Texas for his work there the following week, so it was no problem to bring Soupy along. When he finished in Dallas, he traveled west to the Callahans' place in Brazos Bend because they'd insisted on sending him and his dog to Portland on their private plane. “We're dog people, Daniel,” Mark had said. “It's too soon after your reunion for you two to be separated, and I don't like the thought of her riding in the cargo on a commercial plane. Take the Cessna. It's only right. You're doing us a solid.”

“As you did me with the Key West flight.”

“Piece of advice. Don't argue with a Callahan when we're set on something. It's a waste of breath. Besides, I'm trying to lure you into the fold. Let me dangle my perks. I'll be cranky otherwise.”

So he and Soupy flew in the private jet to Oregon and stayed in a pet-friendly hotel. The conference was interesting. His presentation went great, the information he shared was well received, and he fielded questions long past his allotted time. Afterward, the conference organizers asked him to sit in on a panel scheduled for the last afternoon of the conference, so it was late Friday night before he returned home.

Home. Funny how right the term felt. Except for the years away at college, he'd lived in the Boston area all his life. Why did this little valley now seem like it was where he belonged? Why did he awake humming with a positive energy that he almost didn't recognize when he opened his eyes in Eternity Springs?

Daniel thought he might be flirting with the idea of being happy.

Eternity Springs had some powerful mojo.

So did Shannon O'Toole.

They'd spoken twice on the phone while he was gone. Their date tomorrow for the school festival remained on the schedule, after which she'd offered to cook dinner. He couldn't wait.

He knocked on Shannon's front door at precisely ten o'clock. She opened the door and smiled first at Daniel, then her gaze dropped to his dog. “Seriously, Daniel?”

“Hey, don't blame me.” He followed the path of her gaze to the dog, who wore a princess costume, complete with a tutu of turquoise blue net. “I'm humiliated on Soup's behalf.”

“I take it she's entered in the pet beauty pageant?”

“Holly's idea. I can't say no to that girl. Apparently there's a senior division.”

“Well, turquoise is a good color on her.”

“I voted for red, but Soupy thought it made her look slutty. You ready to go?”

“I am. Let me grab my purse and the cake I made for the cake walk.”

“Cake walk?”

“Musical chairs with cakes for prizes. You should plan to participate in the final round of the night. I'm told it's become quite a traditional battle between the men in town. And Gabi. Everyone is glad she'll miss it this year because of her honeymoon. She apparently fights dirtier than anybody. The prize is her mother's Italian cream cake.”

“Is it now?” he said with interest. “It's well worth fighting for.”

They dropped Shannon's cake off at the school and continued on to the scene of the day's outdoor events, Davenport Park. Daniel felt a little better once he spied the ridiculous costumes some of the other pets wore. “People really get into the spirit of this sort of thing, don't they?”

“In small towns, schools and churches tend to be at the center of residents' social lives. This is the largest fund-raiser of the fall, so people like to support it. It's also one of the few festivals in town that are primarily for locals, rather than aimed at bringing in tourists. So, locals aren't busy working the event as much as they are participating in it, which makes for a more relaxed atmosphere. Today is all about fun—fun and a new HVAC system for the school.”

“I can support that. Soup is ready to do her part. Holly told me to have her at the baseball diamond at ten-thirty. Luckily for me, she volunteered to handle the leash during the competition.”

“I think the pet beauty pageant is like a stock show presentation,” Shannon said. “Children always present the animals.”

“Ah.”

They arrived at the baseball diamond to see a collection of their friends and their pets, including Cam Murphy's devil dog, a Boston terrier named Mortimer. “They are seriously entering that dog in a beauty pageant?”

“Not this year. I do believe Cam and the PTA reached an agreement that Mortimer wouldn't defend his title again this year.”

“His title?”

“He's the defending champion. Two years running.”

Daniel shot her a doubting look. Shannon shrugged. “People like underdogs. What can I say? Though he didn't win any friends when he ate his trophy.”