“Exactly. Like candy. Yummy, delicious . . . but too much and it will make you fat and stunt your growth.”
September’s face twisted in a scowl. “That doesn’t sound appetizing.”
Zoe thought of how he’d walked away at the airport. Full of poise and confidence. The self-assured man she’d known in school. “Oh, he’s appetizing. His hair is always a little too long. Doesn’t like to shave on the weekends.” She touched her cheek, thinking of how that scruff on his face felt against hers when he’d kissed her. How had she forgotten how much she liked those kisses? “Broad shoulders and gorgeous blue eyes. I was the envy of all the girls back home.”
“So what happened?”
“I moved away.”
“College?” September asked.
“Kinda.” She sighed.
“So Mr. McHottie floated in like fog and kissed you after all these years?”
“Yes. Who does that?”
“Someone who knows what he wants and isn’t afraid of distracting you to get it.”
His parting words sang in her head like a tune. “Then he said, ‘I’ll be back.’ Like he’s the Terminator or something.”
September simply laughed.
Would he come back?
She could avoid him by not going home, but she couldn’t avoid him if he came to her.
And now that Mel was back in River Bend, and Miss Gina called every couple of weeks to ask how to cook something as simple as gumbo for her guests, Zoe wasn’t sure she wanted to stay away from the place where she grew up. She could visit more often, soak in the cooler weather during the warmest Texas months.
What was she thinking? She was setting roots in Dallas. Buying a home, for God’s sake.
One of the grips poked his head out the back door. “You’re wanted on set, Zoe.”
Right. On set . . . something River Bend didn’t have.
One week later Mel called, giggling like a schoolgirl and talking so fast Zoe could hardly make out her words.
Wyatt had popped the question.
A small engagement party was forthcoming and when could Zoe drop everything and fly in?
Three weeks after Jo and Luke’s visit, Zoe was driving out of Eugene, where she’d rented a car through Alamo—the irony didn’t escape her—and was taking the two-hour drive back home.
And unlike any time before, she did so with a smile and a little ray of hope.
Chapter Six
Miss Gina’s Bed-and-Breakfast looked exactly as it had when she’d last seen it. The throwback from the sixties VW van sat polished in the gravel drive, Miss Gina’s baby she’d kept in pristine condition for as long as Zoe could remember.
She no sooner parked her car and stepped out than the screen door on the inn slammed shut and Hope bounced from the steps with her energetic Labrador, Sir Knight, flying by her side.
“Auntie Zoe!”
She knelt down to capture the girl in a hug. “Look how big you are!” Melanie’s daughter was eight now, and Sir Knight was less than a year. A full-grown puppy, which meant he was big, bouncy, and uncoordinated.
“Mom and Uncle Wyatt are getting married!”
Zoe petted the dog while encouraging him to keep his overly large paws on the ground and not her slacks. “You’ll be calling him something other than Uncle Wyatt before you know it.”
Hope had her mother’s blonde hair and easy smile. “He says I can call him Dad now.”
“Do you?”
Hope shrugged.
Zoe didn’t get the opportunity to question her further before the screen door bounced against the frame a second time.
Miss Gina stayed behind on the porch while Mel ran down the stairs much like her daughter had moments before. “I’m getting married!”
She shoved her hand in Zoe’s face before offering a hug. “Look!”
It was sparkly and round and sat like a crown on Mel’s size six ring finger. “It’s about time.”
Mel squealed; the excitement in her voice had Sir Knight barking at their feet and running in circles.
“Can you believe it?”
“It would have been harder to believe if it didn’t happen.”
The wind whipped Mel’s hair in her face, which she swiped away in irritation. “Thanks for coming.”
“You couldn’t keep me away.”
Mel passed her a brief look of doubt before looping her arm through Zoe’s and walking them up the steps of the old Victorian that had been more of a home to both of them growing up than the ones they slept in as children.
In a tie-dye skirt and a billowing blouse that belonged with the car from the sixties, Miss Gina hugged her with more strength than most women her age. Not that she was old. Probably in her midsixties, but none of them had the guts to ask her. “What is this . . . three times in the past year you’ve been back? I’m starting to think we don’t suck anymore.”
“Bite me!” Zoe said without venom.
The floral scent of the parlor, or living room as it turned out, brought back a million childhood memories when Zoe stepped inside.
“Have you been by your mom’s yet?” Mel asked, leaving her small suitcase by the stairs leading to the rooms.
“No. Plenty of time for that later.”
“Probably good to have some of my lemonade before that visit,” Miss Gina said.
The red pitcher sat on a silver serving tray begging for attention. “Let me wash my hands.”
From the floral wallpaper to the scented soap she’d expected at the bed-and-breakfast, Zoe smiled into the feeling of home. No matter where she had landed in the past decade, nothing felt like Miss Gina’s.
She returned to the parlor and accepted the tall glass of “lemonade.” The vodka infused lemonade, or perhaps it was better to call it lemon infused vodka, tasted better than any cocktail at the fanciest restaurant in Dallas. “Is it me, or is this the best stuff ever?”
“It’s the best.” Mel toasted her glass. “I’m getting married!”
Zoe could see how the weekend was going to go.
“So what is the plan?”
Mel set her glass down. “Wyatt’s parents are flying in tomorrow. My dad is coming the night of the party.”
Zoe was a little surprised. “Have your parents met Wyatt?”
“We met my mom in Eugene at Christmastime, my dad was here for the . . .” Mel’s voice trailed off. She glanced at her daughter, who played with the dog, half listening to their conversation.
Mel mouthed the word trial.
The silence in the room became apparent, and Hope glanced up from playing with the dog to find the three of them staring at her. The man who had lured Hope away from the bed-and-breakfast and left her to die on the side of a cliff was standing trial for kidnapping, attempted murder, and murder charges for the death of Hope’s father. Zoe knew there had been a pretrial and also knew that it would probably be over a year before the courts knew what to do with the man. He was wanted in London, which was trying to extradite him back to his home country. The Oregon courts didn’t want to risk him going home and slipping through the British system. It helped that Wyatt’s father was a high-powered criminal attorney, usually on the defense, but in this case more than happy to switch teams and go for the dirtbag’s throat.
The three of them resumed the conversation, omitting any mention of the trial.