Karma (5 page)

“Faith was just telling us about her new job,” Kelly said.

“She’s on the Beautification Committee of Serendipity,” Ethan added, sounding proud of his wife.

“And I’m recruiting volunteers,” Faith said, her stare never wavering from Kelly’s.

Kelly ducked her head and concentrated on her food. “I’m a full-time paralegal and a newlywed. I don’t have time,” she said, without meeting Faith’s gaze.

“I’m sure your husband slash boss would give you time off to help your favorite sister-in-law.” Faith grinned.

To their credit, both Ethan and Nash, the respective husbands, didn’t say a word.

“I’ll help!” Tess said.

“And I’ll take you up on that. Thank you. At least someone in this family wants to help the
youth center
,” Faith said.

No doubt as she’d expected, everyone paid attention at that.

Dare was especially interested. “What does the youth center have to do with the Beautification Committee’s fund-raiser?” he asked.

All he knew of the committee was that they held a yearly formal gala where the upper crust of Serendipity turned out in tuxedos and fancy dresses, and the cops had to play traffic directors wherever they decided to hold the affair.

Ethan began a slow, steady cough.

Faith patted his back. “Are you okay, honey?”

“He’s fine. He just knows how pissed everyone’s gonna be when they find out,” Tess said, the glee in her voice unmistakable.

Uh-oh. “What is she talking about?” Dare asked. The youth center was his place.

He volunteered, knew the kids by name, and they knew him.

All the cops and firefighters broke their butts to raise money for the center, but it was never enough to really support the programs they needed.

“Faith’s having the gala here!” Tess jumped up from her seat in excitement. “And she said I could come. We all have to be there and she’s gonna buy me a new dress and everything.”

“Now she likes dresses,” Nash muttered to Kelly.

Dare shook his head. “Why is the gala here? And what does that have to do with the youth center?” He felt like he was lost in a tornado, not knowing which end was up.

Which was normal in this family, but still.

“Caroline Bretton asked me to chair the fund-raising
committee. You know she gave me my first real decorating job—”

Ethan cleared his throat.

“Sorry.” Leaning over, she kissed his cheek. “She gave me my second real decorating job.” This mansion had been her first, when Ethan had hired her. “I felt like I owed her.”

“Even though she was only offering you the position because it’s so much work nobody else wanted it and because she had an agenda. She wanted to hold it here and she knew I’d never go for it,” Ethan reminded his wife.

She nodded. “All true. She also knew you’d never say no to me.”

He leaned over and kissed her on the lips.

“Eew. No PDA! I told you two to go to your room when you want to…you know!” Tess said.

Again nobody paid her much attention. Everyone was used to her by now.

“So, since the event is here, I expect you all to attend. And thanks to my brilliant new assistant, we are going to push for this year’s proceeds to be donated to the youth center.” Faith picked up the thread of conversation without missing a beat. “Considering I’m lending the use of our home, I think they’ll come to see things my way.”

Or else was the implied threat, though Faith didn’t say as much specifically.

“Is she good or is she good?” Ethan asked, admiration filling his tone.

“She’s something, all right,” Nash muttered. “I hate black-tie affairs.”

Dare agreed.

Kelly wrapped her arm around her husband. “Suck it up, Nash. It’s for a good cause.”

He groaned and she leaned over and whispered something in his ear. Something that made Dare’s normally uptight brother flush.

Even Dare squirmed. “Now you two get a room.”

Faith tapped her glass with her fork. “The date is the Saturday night of Labor Day weekend, so mark your calendars. Is everyone excited?”

“As much as I’d be for a root canal,” Dare replied.

“How will you get everything organized in a little over a month?” Kelly asked.

“The committee knows the date a year in advance, so the caterer, the music, and decor person are all booked. All I have to do is choose specifics such as the menu, the events of the evening, and coordinate accordingly.” She cleared her throat. “Of course, another pair of hands would help.”

“Okay, okay, you made your point. Yell if you need me,” Kelly finally said, obviously resigned.

Faith grinned. “I knew you’d give in eventually. I’ll give my assistant your number. Her name is Liza McKnight.”

“So, Kelly, you can expect to hear from Liza soon,” Faith said, continuing her conversation about the fund-raiser. “She can’t wait to get involved in planning the gala.”

Dare heard Liza’s name, swallowed wrong, and began coughing, his eyes tearing uncontrollably.

Ethan, starting to rise from his seat, eyed him warily.

“I’m fine,” Dare choked out before his brother could begin the Heimlich and break one of his ribs. Dare reached for the water, and a few minutes later he was breathing better.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Nash asked.

Dare nodded. “Something got caught in my throat.”

“Are you upset that I’m working with Liza?” Faith asked. “Because she’s Brian’s sister?”

Upset
was hardly the word Dare would use. He’d just been shocked to hear her name after seeing her not thirty minutes before.

As for Faith, Dare understood why she’d worry he’d be upset. The whole family had become aware of Dare’s deepest
secret. That he’d been at Brian’s party the night Stuart Rossman died. Such a stupid, tragic incident. One that could have been avoided or at least handled so much better than it had been, both at the party and then afterward.

Especially afterward.

Pain, regret, and suppressed anger gnawed at Dare then and still did today. Nobody had truly paid for Stuart Rossman’s death. Because Brian’s parents—Liza’s parents—were friends with the district attorney, Brian had only been charged with misdemeanor assault, assured youthful offender treatment, and spent no time in jail.

No one else had been charged with a crime.

It had been so easy to cover things up.
Too easy,
Dare thought. And once the wall of silence had gone up around the incident, nobody spoke of it again. But Dare suffered with the nightmare that had been his reality.

With no one to turn to and afraid to even admit the truth out loud, fifteen-year-old Dare buried the incident deep inside him, wrapping himself in the persona of the happy kid nobody could tie to the tragedy. But he lived with the knowledge that he’d run. No matter that he’d only been a kid himself at the time, he knew better.

Dare hadn’t forgiven himself yet. He didn’t know if he ever would.

“Hey, you okay?” Nash asked, concerned.

Dare nodded, then glanced at Faith. “Sorry. Of course I’m not upset you’re working with Liza. She’s not her brother.”

He might have equated her with him before, but five minutes in her company outside the police station and he knew she was different. Not innocent exactly but more open and honest in her emotions. And despite all sound judgment, she pulled at something deep inside him.

Suddenly that formal gala didn’t seem like something to dread after all.

“I’m glad,” Faith said. “She seems so excited about the
fund-raiser and I’d hate to cause upheaval here.” She glanced around the table and everyone knew what she meant.

They’d all come so far; nobody wanted to lose the family they’d managed to create. The rest of the meal passed in relative quiet, if one could consider any meal where Tess was instigating trouble quiet.

A couple of hours later, Dare had thanked Faith and Ethan for dinner and said his good-byes.

“Wait up,” Nash said, meeting him by the front door before he could leave. “What’s with your reaction to Faith working with Liza McKnight?”

“I choked,” Dare reminded his brother.

Nash smirked. “Tell that to someone who can’t read you like a book.”

Dare frowned, but his brother was right. Nobody read him like his middle sibling. Nash knew Dare. Hell, there’d been only one thing Dare had ever kept from Nash, and Dare had paid for the secret in spades. They’d gotten past the lie and Dare didn’t want to go back to the days when his middle brother had shut him out completely.

“So? You and Liza?” Nash pushed.

Dare closed his eyes, and a vision of Liza as he’d last seen her in tight spandex and wet handprints on her breasts flashed through his mind.

“She’s…interesting.” Dare met his brother’s gaze.

Nash cocked an eyebrow. “In other words, you’re hooked.” He grinned, arms folded across his chest. “How do you know her?”

“How do you think? She’s always at the station bailing her brother out of jail.” No reason to give Nash any more to needle him with. His brother was worse than Sam and Cara when it came to giving him a hard time.

“Does she know you’ve got a thing for her?” Nash asked.

Why bother denying the truth? Dare merely shook his head. “She thinks I’m a judgmental asshole.” At least she had. After their recent run-in, Dare had no idea what she thought of him.

Nash burst out laughing, catching Dare by surprise.

“What’s so damned funny?” he asked.

“You’re the most mellow of the three of us. Most people like you best. So why in the hell would Liza think that?” Nash’s blue eyes, so like their mother’s, glittered with amusement.

But tonight’s encounter was still fresh in his mind, the feelings so new he had no desire to share them with his brother. “Because every time she shows up at the station, all I can think about is what a waste it is that someone so smart and beautiful continually enables her piece-of-shit brother.”

Nash’s lips quirked in a grin. “So, she’s beautiful, huh?”

“I’m leaving.” Dare reached for the door handle.

“I’ll call you tomorrow.” Nash turned and headed back toward the family room, laughing the entire way.

Liza stared at the flyer on her desk. Her assistant had left the blue paper for her this afternoon, along with the mail. The Police and Firefighters’ Festival was always the first weekend in August, a fun fairlike atmosphere held at the park next door to the youth center.

Most years, Liza donated to the cause but didn’t attend. No matter how much she admired the work they did, thanks to her brother, she’d never felt comfortable around the cops of Serendipity. Instead, she’d usually head out of town on the weekend of the fair, and her friends in Manhattan expected her this weekend.

The girls from her college days at NYU were her closest girl friends and they’d remained a tight group, she thought with a smile. But here at home, Liza had few friends. Most had gone to out-of-state schools and moved away. Others eventually distanced themselves when Brian’s behavior began to impact Liza’s social status among their peer group. Which was why, when she wanted to let loose and have fun,
she dressed in her edgier clothes and hit the New York club scene with her college friends.

It was easier to be herself in a big city where she wasn’t judged so harshly. She’d move there if not for the business and, of course, Brian. She just didn’t fit in with the wealthier people in Serendipity who had money or with the regular working people who were wary of her. She was somewhat of an oddity, Liza thought, which was why she’d felt so comfortable with Faith the other morning. They had more in common than Liza had with anyone else.

Except now, she looked at the flyer and thought of Dare Barron and his dinner invitation. He hadn’t looked at her like she was the strange woman with the troublemaking, alcoholic brother. At least not last night.

So instead of reaching for her checkbook and then dumping the flyer in the trash, she was actually reconsidering her weekend in New York.

She glanced up to see Jeff Montana, an architect she’d recently hired, waiting to talk to her. “Hi, Jeff. Come on in.”

He stepped inside and grabbed a seat in front of her desk. Jeff had moved to Serendipity from the Midwest. He’d been looking for a job in Manhattan, planning to commute by train since it was too expensive to live in the city. He’d been unsuccessful in his job hunt there, but Liza had been all too happy to snap up someone with his talent. He fit in here at the office and she liked him a lot.

“What can I do for you?” she asked.

“I just wanted to talk about the Mystic Building Project.” A project they were considering taking on in Connecticut.

She nodded. “Of course.”

“Are you going to the fair this weekend?” He pointed to the flyer still in her hand.

She frowned at the reminder. “I’m not sure. Are you?”

He shrugged. “Same. I don’t know too many folks here, so I thought it would be a way to meet people. On the other
hand, I don’t know too many people around here.” He treated her to an endearing smile.

“Have you been to Joe’s at all?” The main bar in town was also a good place to mingle.

Jeff shook his head. “Same reason,” he admitted, looking away.

His shyness was sweet. With his jet black hair and easy charm, he’d likely be snapped up by some single woman in Serendipity as soon as word got out about him.

He just needed to meet people. “Since we’re both on the fence about going, do you want to meet there? I’d be happy to introduce you around.”

And he could be her buffer. She wanted to see Dare, but she still wasn’t sure he’d want to see her. He’d asked her to dinner, but his demeanor was so at odds with the man she dealt with at the station, she couldn’t imagine why. He’d looked as shocked as she’d felt by the invitation.

“You’d do that for me?” Jeff asked.

She nodded.

She almost felt bad he didn’t know he’d be doing her a favor in return, but no way would she discuss something as personal as her own discomfort in her hometown with someone from work. Or with anyone at all.

Was it any wonder she was so alone?

She forced a more genuine smile at him. “It’ll be fun. Do you want to meet at…one o’clock?”