Saved by the Bride (16 page)

The need to move, to do something, propelled him forward and he
ran hard and fast down to the dock. He untied the rope, jumped into the boat
and, gunning the engine, he roared out of the small cove, daring the wind to
tear every single feeling out of him.

Chapter Nine

According to John Ackerman, who Finn had spoken to when
he’d done the marketing, Finn had missed Annika by five minutes.

“She bought some crackers and tuna fish and said she was going
to the post office.”

Karen at the post office told him, “She used the yellow pages
and asked me to hold her mail. I don’t know where she went after that.”

Nicole was back in her salon cutting hair and had given him a
warm smile when he’d asked her about Annika. “She’s got a list a mile long so
she could be anywhere in town. The meeting went fantastic, and Annika says we
need a website so she’s looking into that. Thank you so much for the computers
and the wireless modem.”

“You’re welcome.” And he meant it. The few times he’d met
Nicole, he’d sensed a pervading sadness but it seemed to be tempered some when
she spoke about weddings. If a few computers helped her, then he was more than
happy to assist. He wondered at the fact Annika was taking on a website when
she’d insisted Whitetail needed more than weddings, but then again, she rarely
said no to anything. For some reason that bothered him far more than it
should.

After making an appointment to get his hair trimmed, he crossed
the street to the drugstore. “Have you seen Annika Jacobson, my P.A.?”

Randy Nuertsin, the pharmacist, said she hadn’t been in. That
slugged Finn with a burst of surprise. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that
she’d been in as much agony as him last night when they’d stopped on the cusp of
sex, so he’d been absolutely certain she’d have done the responsible adult thing
and gotten prepared. Apparently not. So he did it for her along with a huge
array of toiletries—most of which he didn’t need—in an attempt to camouflage the
point of the purchase.

The young sales associate flicked her gum as she scanned the
condoms. “Those ones are good. I like the cherry flavor.”

Finn tried not to choke as he handed over a fifty, grabbed the
bag and made a hasty exit. No one ever commented when he bought condoms in
Chicago, not that he’d bought many recently but still, the last thing he needed
was the town talking about what he and Annika were or weren’t doing. That was
something he planned to keep strictly between the two of them.

He scanned the street looking for the distinctive red truck but
couldn’t see it or Annika anywhere. How hard could it be to find someone in a
town that pretty much had all its businesses on the Main Street? He raised his
sunglasses and noticed Rory ticketing a motor home with out-of-state plates that
had been parked across the policeman’s driveway, blocking him in.

“Hey, Finn. Good to see you. I was pleased to hear you gave
Anni a job. She needs it more than she’ll ever admit.”

Finn shook the police officer’s hand, getting a strong parental
vibe. “Are you related to Annika?”

He shook his head. “No, but her father and I are good friends.
Ever since she moved back to town, she’s been busy looking out for
everyone.”

“And as her father isn’t here, you’re looking out for her.”

“Got it in one.”

Finn leaned against the side of the motor home and tried to
sound casual. “Any reason she didn’t move with her family?”

Rory ripped the ticket off the pad. “She left first when she
went to college and her folks moved after that. No one ever expected Anni would
choose to live in Whitetail again after living in Chicago for eight years and
making a name for herself there, but here she is.” Rory stuck the ticket under
the wiper with a practiced flick before giving Finn a look that said, “I’ve
talked enough.”

It effectively cut off the question, “Why did she move back?” A
question that teetered on Finn’s lips.
Making
a
name
for
herself
? He mentally added “Type Annika Jacobsen
into a search engine” to his to-do list.

“If you’re looking for Annika, she left ten minutes ago and
said she was heading back to Kylemore. You have a good day, Finn, and remember
the speed limit on the lake.” Rory moved off down the street as he spoke into
his radio making a request for the motor home to be towed.

Damn
it
. He’d talked to half the town and missed the one
person he’d come to see. He checked his watch. Even keeping well within the
waterway’s speed limit, he was certain he’d make it back to Kylemore before
Annika. He planned to be waiting in the circular driveway when she pulled in and
then they were going straight to the cabin.

His phone beeped and Bridey’s name came up on a message.
Mom
wants
some
Swedish
pastries
.
Buy
,
deliver
and
stay
for
coffee
.

His plans took a hit as he realized it was midafternoon
already, and he was on mother duty.

* * *

When Annika arrived back at the office, relief flowed
through her that Finn was nowhere to be seen. “Put off today what you don’t want
to do tomorrow” hadn’t always been her mantra but in many ways it had become one
when she’d moved back to Whitetail. She dropped her purse onto the desk and
grabbed a can of soda from the bar fridge, realizing she wasn’t only thirsty but
hungry and she’d left the crackers and tin of tuna fish in the truck. She’d been
so busy in town she’d missed lunch and, having stayed away longer than she’d
anticipated and not able to text Finn, she’d rushed straight back. She really
needed to pay her cell phone bill but the bulk of her first paycheck was
earmarked for back rent to Ellery and the rest she’d just spent on bedding. The
phone would have to wait.

As she put the soda can down on a coaster, she couldn’t miss
seeing the bright pink sticky note that was stuck smack-bang in the center of
her computer screen. Finn’s bold, black and unwavering script scrawled across
the fluorescent square of paper with the words
Am
at
guest
cottage
.
Come
immediately
.
Bring
file
.

File
? She had no clue what he
meant. So far in her job for Finn she’d done some word processing, pumped
numbers into a spreadsheet, filed, set up meetings and booked conference calls.
The rest of the time had been spent making calls and writing letters to other
companies about the warehouses. Did Finn mean that? Or was it something to do
with his mother? She checked the documents on the computer and rifled through
the filing cabinet, but nothing was marked
Kathleen
Callahan
so she picked up the only two file jackets
in her inbox and headed back down the stairs.

Turning at the bottom, she walked toward the side door, which
was her entrance and exit so she avoided the main part of the house and the
family. As she opened the mudroom door, she stopped so abruptly that she banged
her shoulder on the door. “Oh, I’m sorry, Dana. I didn’t know you were
here.”

On the few occasions she’d met the current Mrs. Callahan, Dana
had always looked as if she’d stepped straight out of the pages of a glossy
lifestyle magazine, complete with an air of aloofness that the very rich often
wore. Now she stood in rubber boots with a sunhat on her head and a pair of
gardening gloves in her hand.

She smiled at Annika. “Logan and Sean are fishing and as the
idea of touching bait makes me squeamish, I’ve been in the garden instead. I’m
encouraging my asters by fertilizing and talking to them so they’ll put on an
amazing late-summer show.”

Annika rubbed her bruised shoulder. “Is that enough?”

“I threw in some guilt for good measure by mentioning how
stunning the day lilies currently are with their myriad of colors.” She hung up
her hat and smoothed down her hair. “Are you interested in gardening?”

“Oh, I love gardens but I’m not a gardener. I’m more of a
potentilla girl. They’re so hardy they flower almost no matter how much you
ignore them.”

Dana laughed and for the first time Annika saw the warm and
friendly woman she’d previously missed. Sean’s wife nodded at the files in
Annika’s hand. “Finn’s visiting his mother. Are you heading over to the
cottage?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Would you mind taking over this fruit basket and these towels?
Esther’s tied up preparing dinner and I’d deliver them except Kathleen’s likely
to throw everything back at me and I don’t think we should waste perfectly good
fruit.” This time her smile was wry.

“Sure, I’d be happy to take it.”

“You’re probably wondering what you’ve walked into with this
family.”

“Not at all, I—”

“Just don’t judge us too harshly.” Dana’s usually soft voice
sounded strained. “I had stars in my eyes when I married Sean, thinking we’d be
one big happy family and a baby would be the glue to bring us closer. But Finn
was twenty-one and Bridey was seventeen, and it took me four years to conceive.
My biggest regret is for Logan.”

She pushed the basket abruptly into Annika’s hand and the
detached air zoomed back in, as if she regretted her disclosure. “Thank you for
doing this and enjoy the rest of your day.” She brushed past Annika and walked
into the house, closing the door behind her with a firm click that said, “Don’t
follow me.”

Not that Annika planned on following but that didn’t stop a
ripple of sadness running through her that Dana had shut her out.
My
biggest
regret
is
for
Logan
. She got exactly what Dana meant—in fact it
was exactly what she’d been talking to Finn about yesterday. As she made her way
across the lawn—balancing the towels, fruit basket and the files—she decided
that getting Finn more involved with his younger brother and family was
something she could do to help. After all, helping out was what she did
best.

* * *

It wasn’t that Finn didn’t love his mother; he did, very
much. From the moment his father had left her, he’d stepped up as protector and
now as an adult, he enjoyed her company. He regularly met her for afternoon tea
at Palmer House, and occasionally accompanied her to exhibition openings, but
Kathleen in pain and back at Kylemore was acerbic and out of sorts.

The coffee he’d made was too hot and too bitter, the pastries
he’d bought not the ones she’d wanted, and his attempt at arranging her flowers
under her precise instructions—“I said move the delphinium to the back, that’s a
stock”—had him biting his tongue. It had been a very long and patience-testing
forty minutes. Where the hell was Annika?

He heard a thump against the glass, followed by an “oof” and
his mother said, “Good heavens, it’s a walking fruit basket. Finn, go and
help.”

Pleased to be able to walk away from the floral arrangement
he’d seriously mangled, he stood up. Although he could only see a pair of legs
because the rest of the owner was hidden by a massive fruit basket and a tower
of toppling towels, he instantly knew it was Annika. He gave a silent chuckle.
She was deliciously clumsy and he was thrilled to see her. He’d been waiting a
long time for her to arrive—not just to give him a valid excuse to end his visit
before he said something to his mother he’d regret, but so they could take up
where they’d left off last night. Only this time it wouldn’t be on a rocky
beach, and it wouldn’t be stopped so abruptly that his balls would ache for
hours. No, this time they’d be in his bed with enough contraception to safely
keep them there until they chose to leave.

He caught the towels as they started to tumble off their
precarious position on the basket and whispered softly in her ear, “Hey, Legs.
What took you so long?”

Her body trembled but she didn’t reply. Instead she peered
around the other side of the huge basket before turning sharply, which sent a
melon rolling across the floor before she reached the safety of the table.
“Shall I put it here, Mrs. Callahan?”

“Yes, thank you. Can you pass me the card?” Kathleen looked
animated for the first time since he’d arrived.

Finn watched mesmerized as Annika’s fingers carefully eased the
card off the cellophane by peeling back the tape, and the memory of those
fingers touching him last night was so strong he could feel them kneading his
back. He wanted them touching him again. Now.

“Mom, this is Annika Jacobson, my P.A.” He wafted his arm out
in a gesture of introduction but his eyes stayed fixed on Annika. “Did you bring
those files I requested?”

Annika pushed the files across the table before handing
Kathleen the card. “How’s your ankle feeling, Mrs. Callahan?”

Kathleen glanced quickly at the card and smiled before tucking
it under her thigh. “It aches a lot. Please, call me Kathleen.”

Annika nodded with sympathy clear on her face. “Ice packs for
twenty-four hours and then applying heat really helps. So does keeping it up as
much as possible.”

“You sound just like my doctor.”

“I’ve had a bit of experience with ankles, wrists, knees.” Her
hands fluttered out in front of her. “Basically, I’ve pretty much sprained every
part of me.”

Interest flared on his mother’s face. “Do you do stunt
work?”

Annika burst into laughter and Finn cut across the
conversation, seizing the moment. “Sorry, Mom, but we have to go as I’ve got a
conference call booked for Mexico.” He picked up the folders he knew contained
Annika’s “Find a business for Whitetail” documents.

“Thanks for coming, darling.” Kathleen gave him a wave and
immediately swung her gaze back to Annika. “Can you stay, Annika?”

No
. No way was this happening.

But Annika had sat down without giving Finn a glance. “Oh,
Kathleen, are those pastries from Lundstrom’s?” She immediately countered with,
“I’m sorry, that was rude. It’s just I missed lunch.”