Currant Creek Valley

chapter TEN



SAM FOLLOWED ALEXANDRA and her dog into the warm, delicious-smelling kitchen, wondering just how he had managed to stay away so long.

He had missed her. A dozen times he had wanted to stop by and see her when he had driven past and seen lights on at her house, but he had reminded himself every time of that shock and dismay on her features when she had discovered he was moving permanently to Hope’s Crossing.

She didn’t want him here. She had made that much clear, so he had just figured he was better off not bothering her.

The dog hurried in ahead of them all and began licking his water dish, looking completely at home.

“Before you say anything, no, I haven’t found his owners yet. I’m beginning to think maybe he was dumped off here, although that doesn’t explain the collar.”

“Maybe he wandered into town from some far-off location and his owners don’t even know to look for him here.”

“It’s been known to happen,” she answered. “Hope’s Crossing has always been a haven for strays.”

That described him perfectly. A stray, somebody who didn’t have connections anywhere else. He wanted to make this a home for him and for Ethan.

“On the menu today was turkey cutlets, a really delicious apple-pear salad, pumpkin risotto and roasted artichokes. According to the reports, the risotto is not the best thing I’ve ever made but I actually thought it was quite tasty.”

“My dad was going to grill a couple of hot dogs later for us but he’s been too busy installing a new toilet,” Ethan announced. “I was helping him but eventually I got bored and went for a ride on my new bike.”

He made a face at his son for the overshare. “Plumbing. Always such a fascinating topic of discussion.”

She smiled even as she pulled plates out of the cupboard and began arranging food on them for him and Ethan.

“This looks delicious.”

“Thanks.”

“Guinea pigs eat really fancy food,” Ethan observed with a worried look. “I wonder if they like hot dogs and chicken nuggets, too.”

Alexandra laughed. “Guinea pigs actually have pretty special food. They would be sick if they ate any of this. I was teasing before. When I said you were my guinea pigs, that was only a figure of speech. It meant I was going to let you taste the food I fixed so we can tell whether you like it and if I should serve it in my restaurant.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Ethan took a nibble of the rice dish and then apparently liked it enough to try another and another. He didn’t touch the artichokes—a personal aversion—but ate all the turkey she set on his plate.

They ate at her little kitchen table in a bay that overlooked the wide patio and the river, and he wondered again why she didn’t have any furniture out there so she could sit and enjoy the sound of the rippling water.

It seemed to him a little like someone who lived by the ocean but kept the windows and doors closed against the soothing sight and sound of the waves.

She sat with them but didn’t eat anything. “I already had some with my guests,” she explained when Ethan asked her why she wasn’t eating her own food. “I’m pretty stuffed right now.”

To Sam’s surprise, she and Ethan seemed to hit it off brilliantly. The two of them talked about all sorts of topics, from LEGO creations to Harry Potter trivia to the scientific basis for how yeast acted to make bread rise.

It was the most pleasant hour Sam had enjoyed in weeks. Probably since the night he went hiking with her on Woodrose Mountain.

He hadn’t realized how hungry he had been when he walked inside but he had seconds of everything. When he finished, he pushed the plate away. “Fantastic. As always. Your restaurant is going to be a huge hit, Alexandra. Seriously.”

He wanted to bask in the warmth of her wide, bright smile.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice soft. “I don’t want you to think I’m constantly in need of approval but I’m not going to lie to you, right about now I really appreciate the vote of confidence.”

She was a contradiction of boldness and insecurity. One of the many things that fascinated him about Alexandra McKnight.

All his reasons for staying away from her seemed really ridiculous right now, especially as he sat here in her kitchen and realized how very much he had missed her.

What would it take to convince her to make a little room in her hectic life to see where things might develop between the two of them?

“I’m finished with my dinner. It was very good. I do still like hot dogs, especially the way my dad cooks them on the grill, but this was quite tasty, too. I ate everything except the artichokes. I wouldn’t have eaten those even if they had been dipped in ice cream. I just don’t like artichokes.”

“Good to know. I’ll keep that in mind next time,” she promised.

Sam wanted to believe she meant something by the words but he recognized polite conversation when he heard it. They likely wouldn’t have a next time, unless he figured out some way to persuade her otherwise.

“Is it all right if I play with Leo for a while?” Ethan asked.

“I don’t mind, as long as it’s okay with your dad.”

He probably ought to excuse them both and take Ethan home. On the other hand, it seemed rude to sit here in her kitchen, eat her food and then rush out like a soldier who only had ten minutes for chow before report.

“Not too rough inside the house,” he told his son. “You wouldn’t want to break anything of Ms. McKnight’s.”

His son and her dog headed into the great room, leaving the two of them alone in the kitchen.

She was the first to break the silence left behind them. “So I hear you’re working on the new recreation center.”

“News travels.”

She smiled, tucking behind her ear a wavy blond curl that had slipped out of her loose ponytail, and he had an insane urge to tug the rest of it free, to unleash all that silkiness and dip his fingers in it, as he had done twice before.

“You’re moving to the wrong place if you want to keep any secrets around here,” she told him. “You may not know this but my mother is marrying Harry Lange.”

“So I hear.”

“She probably knew you were going to work on the recreation-center project before you were even asked. Harry has a well-earned reputation of not taking no for an answer. If he wants something, he won’t stop until he finds a way to get it. That’s not an exaggeration, by the way. It’s simple reality.”

“Good to know.”

“What does Harry have you doing at the rec center?”

“Same thing I did at the restaurant, just on a little bigger scale. Finish carpentry. That’s kind of my area of expertise. Apparently I’m picking up the slack for the same guy who was supposed to be wrapping up the work at Brazen.”

“Oh, right. The contractor with the family issues.”

“I hate taking the guy’s jobs since I know all about trying to work through family stuff, but somebody’s got to do it. People can’t wait around indefinitely.”

Through the doorway he could see Ethan on the floor, wrestling with her dog and looking as if he were having the time of his life. He was really going to have to think about adding a dog to their little family unit once things settled down. A chocolate Lab, maybe...

“So what’s the completion date for the recreation center?”

“It’s a rush job. The whole thing isn’t going to be finished by the end of the summer but we’re trying to get some of the main reception areas done by early June. Something about a special memorial event on that day. You probably know more about that than I do.”

“Aah. The annual Giving Hope Day.” Her mouth tightened, a shadow of sadness drifting over her features.

“Giving Hope. That sounds ambitious.”

“It’s actually in remembrance of my niece, Layla. My sister Maura’s daughter. She was killed a couple years ago in a car accident in the canyon—not very far from where you’re building the recreation center, actually.”

“Is that the same car accident where Brodie’s daughter, Taryn, was injured?”

“Yeah. The very one. A group of teenagers sort of went on a rampage, I guess you could say, causing trouble and just being stupid. Vandalism, breaking and entering, some petty theft. They were drinking. A few of them got high. The driver had a couple drinks in his system and rolled his pickup truck on the way down the canyon, trying to flee a police chase.”

Some of his surprise must have registered on his features because she nodded.

“I know. Shocking, right here in happy little Hope’s Crossing. If you moved here because you think of small-town life as this idyllic paradise where everything is perfect, you’re going to suffer a rude wake-up call.”

“I served three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. I do believe that’s the first time anybody has ever implied I’m naive.”

“I’m sorry if I gave that impression. I just hope you understand we’re not insulated here from the problems the rest of the world has to face. Hope’s Crossing isn’t perfect. We have our share of troubles. Teen pregnancies, suicides, drugs. Just like anyplace else.”

“Understood.”

“Maybe more so because we’re a tourist destination and that brings its own challenges. I guess the difference is that those of us who have chosen to make this our year-round home work really hard to build community. People care about each other here. Have you heard about our Angel of Hope?”

“A little. Just that somebody goes around secretly doing nice things for people,” he answered. “Sounds like a fine concept to me. And nobody knows who it is?”

“Rumors are always flying but no, we haven’t figured it out. At this point, I think the Angel has taken on a life of its own. Kind of a pay-it-forward kind of thing. People do nice things for others and let the Angel take the credit for it. Whoever started the whole thing is a genius. Because of the Angel, Hope’s Crossing has come together like never before.”

Her features glowed when she talked about her town and the people she loved. She looked so lovely, he just wanted to sit here and gaze at her.

“And the Giving Hope Day?” he managed to ask, taking a sip of water.

“This is our third annual event. My friend Claire organized the first one as a way to honor Layla on what would have been her sixteenth birthday. It’s kind of grown beyond the original idea and now it’s a huge day of service where everybody comes out to do projects around town. Painting fences for senior citizens, yard cleanup for single mothers, reorganizing the shelves at the food bank. Anything we can do to make life better for someone else.”

She narrowed her gaze. “Come to think of it, you’re just the kind of man we need. A guy who has your mad skills with a hammer will definitely come in handy. I’ll have to remember to tell Claire she should put you to work.”

“Absolutely,” he answered without hesitation.

This was exactly what he wanted, for himself and for Ethan. A town with its own Angel of Hope and a day set aside to help each other. She might talk about all the problems Hope’s Crossing had, but from the perspective of an outsider, what he saw now was a place where he and his son could settle in and shove down roots to build a new life.

“Sign me up. I’m willing to do anything.”

She laughed. “You better not let Claire hear you say that or you’ll be working from before sunrise until midnight, straight through the gala auction and dance.”

“You didn’t tell me dancing was involved. That is not one of my mad skills.”

“Don’t worry. Plenty of people sit out the dancing part. I’m usually in the kitchen, for instance.”

“What a shame.”

He only meant he was sorry she had to miss the fun but somehow his words came out low, almost sensual.

For several long moments she blinked at him, her eyes wide and those soft lips slightly parted. He remembered the taste of them, sweet and lush, better than any triple-chocolate brownie.

He wanted to kiss her again, so badly he ached with it, but he knew he couldn’t. His son’s laughter rang out only a few yards away. He and the dog could race back into the kitchen any moment now.

Beyond that, she had made it clear she didn’t want him—though right now the heat waves shimmering between them would tend to contradict that.

Apparently he wasn’t very good at maintaining a friendship with a woman when he wanted more. He would just have to try harder to put his attraction to her on a shelf somewhere, tucked way out of sight and out of mind. Neither of them needed this awkwardness.

She was the first to break the tension. She folded her hands together on the table and cleared her throat. “I prefer the kitchen, actually. I’m not very good at dancing, either. I only end up pissed off when a man won’t let me lead.”

“Maybe you just haven’t found a man you find worth following, once in a while.”

Her laugh seemed to surprise her. “You could be right about that, soldier.”

Before he could answer, Ethan chose that moment to return to the kitchen.

“Can I give Leo a treat?”

Her smile to his son was bright and open. “Sure thing. See that big jar on the counter by the microwave? That’s where his goodies are.”

Leo apparently knew the drill. He planted his haunches on the tile floor and waited while Ethan shoved a hand in the jar and emerged with a treat.

“These are different. I’ve never seen a dog treat like this.” He held it up.

“Looks homemade,” Sam observed mildly.

Alexandra gave him a rueful look. “Yes, I made them, okay. I made homemade treats for a dog who doesn’t belong to me. I bake them up all the time for my friends’ dogs. Don’t read anything into it. It doesn’t mean I’m keeping him. I don’t have time for a dog.”

“I didn’t say otherwise,” he protested, but he was charmed nonetheless. She already loved Leo. He didn’t need to see the evidence of a jar full of homemade dog treats to be certain the dog had somehow wormed his way into that well-protected heart.

“We’d better go. Ethan, can you tell Ms. McKnight thank you for letting you walk her dog and for sharing her delicious food?”

“Thank you very much,” his son said promptly. “May I walk Leo for you again next weekend when I come back to stay with my dad?”

She slanted a look at Sam as if asking whether he minded. He shrugged a little. How could he discourage his son from showing initiative?

“Sure,” she answered. “If I haven’t found his owners by then, anyway.”

Ethan rubbed the dog’s head. “Why can’t you just keep him? He’s a really good dog. They must not have taken very good care of him if they let him run around wild.”

“But think how sad they must feel if they’ve been looking for him all this time? They’re probably lonely without him.”

“If you do find his owners, won’t you be the lonely one?” Ethan pressed. “You don’t even have a kid of your own.”

Sam winced at his son’s bluntness, especially when he saw her inhale sharply. Something dark and pained flashed in her gaze before she forced a smile.

“No kids here,” she agreed pleasantly enough. “But I do have a really big family with tons of nieces and nephews, and one more on the way in a few months. I spend a lot of time with my family and friends, and I’m very busy working most of the time. It’s hard to be lonely when you’re so busy.”

Did staying busy help stave off the loneliness for her the same way it had for him since Kelli had died?

“I think my dad is lonely when I’m not here,” Ethan offered. “He lives all by himself while I’m with my aunt and uncle and my cousins. I don’t see why I can’t just move here with him now.”

Ugh. He got so tired of rehashing the same argument. Ethan just couldn’t let it rest. “A few more weeks. School will be out before you know it and you’ll be coming here for good. Then you’ll be missing your life back in Denver.”

“We always want what we don’t have, Ethan,” Alexandra said. “Let that be a lesson for you. And here’s another one. Brownies always make everything better.”

She held out a plate where she had piled several more of those luscious people treats. As Sam took them from her, their hands brushed and that little sizzle of current arced between them. He didn’t miss the way she quickly slid her hand away and curled it against her leg.

They walked through the great room. When they reached the front door, Ethan rushed outside first and stood on her sidewalk, looking up at the stars beginning to appear in the twilight. They had spent far longer inside her house than he had intended, but it sure as hell beat fixing the plumbing.

“I meant to tell you, I’m coming Friday night to your restaurant opening,” he said. “Brodie invited me to join him and Evie.”

Something wild and a little panicky flickered briefly in her gaze and he was sorry he brought it up.

“Great,” she said in an overly cheerful voice. “The more the merrier, right? Oh, and you’ll have a chance to meet Claire and Maura and their husbands. We were just talking about it when they were here. They’re all sitting with Brodie. Are you taking anyone?”

The question came out of nowhere and it took him a moment to process it. A date? Did she really think he wanted to date anybody else while this inconvenient heat bubbled and seethed between them?

“I hadn’t planned on it, no.”

“You really should. You wouldn’t want to be the only one at the table without a date. Awkward.”

Evie and Brodie struck him as very warm and casual. He doubted anyone would make him feel like a loser for showing up alone at a social event like a restaurant opening.

“My wife has been gone for two years. It won’t be the first time I’ve spent an evening without a date. I’ll survive a little social anxiety.”

“Have you met my friend Charlotte yet? She runs the candy store in town. I think you would really like her.”

He glanced at Ethan, who was too busy trying to pick out constellations to pay them any attention. “Are you really trying to set me up with one of your friends?”

She tossed that mischievous strand of hair behind her ear again. “If you want to look at it that way.”

His rough laugh sounded strained, even to him. “How else am I supposed to look at it?”

“I just thought the two of you might get along, that’s all. Charlotte is really wonderful. Warm and kind and a little bit shy. She doesn’t date a lot. She’s made some amazing changes in her life lately and I’d like to see her go out a little more.”

“With me.”

After everything between them, she really wanted him to date one of her friends. If he needed further proof that she wanted to ignore this attraction, she had just handed it to him, served up as prettily as she arranged food on a plate.

He knew he shouldn’t find that so damn depressing.

“Forget I said anything. It was just a suggestion.” She sounded defensive, flustered, and he didn’t know whether he wanted to shake her or kiss her.

Okay, yes, he did. Kissing would always be the clear winner.

“I have no problem going by myself but if it makes you feel any better, I understand Brodie’s mother will be part of the party. She can be my unofficial date.”

“Katherine?” She laughed, looking enthralled by the idea, and he decided he would never understand her. “You might have competition there. Both of them try to play it cool but she and Charlotte’s dad, Dermot, have this funny little unspoken thing going between them.”

He could certainly relate to that. “Good to know. I’ll try to keep her from breaking my heart.”

“Well, if you change your mind, I can still give you Charlotte’s number.”

He just barely refrained from rolling his eyes. “Good night, Alexandra.”

“Good night, Samuel. See you, Ethan.”

His son waved cheerfully at her, then slid his hand in Sam’s and the two of them walked down the sidewalk toward home.