Lenora Worth - A Face in the Shadows

But it mattered to Kate. She glanced out the window to the street. She’d been lucky to find this little cottage in the older part of Magnolia Falls, not far from the college campus. Here the streets were lined with moss-draped live oaks, age-old magnolias and crape myrtles. But her backyard wasn’t really big enough to hold a birthday party, and her budget didn’t allow for having a party at the fun-filled pizza place out on the interstate. She debated asking her mom to host the party, but Grace Duncan did more than her share of babysitting when Kate had to work extra shifts or stay late at the hospital. And besides, Grace would turn what should be a fun time into some sort of formal, stuffy event.

“What we need is a big yard for your party,” Kate said. “Like a park or a nice garden, maybe.”

Brandon perked up at that, his eyes going bright. “Nana Grace says Mr. Parker Buchanan has the biggest yard in the county. She says his garden is supposed to be real pretty. I heard her talking ’bout it with Mrs. Welch from church. Maybe we could borrow his yard.”

Wishing her well-meaning but gossip-loving mother hadn’t spilled the news that the Patchman creator lived about eight miles from them, Kate looked down at her son. “Oh, honey, Mr. Buchanan is a very busy man. And he doesn’t like visitors on his estate.”

Which is why she’d hesitated even to try to track Parker down since the class reunion months ago. Each time his name came up amongst her friends, Kate tried to change the subject. By not getting back in touch, Parker had made it clear he didn’t want to be bothered. Not even by an old classmate. And not even a murder investigation could change that, since it had been rumored that he’d balked when everyone attending the reunion had had to submit statements to the police.

Parker Buchanan might live in Magnolia Falls, but he was apparently off-limits to everyone in town. He hadn’t even tried to call Kate after they’d reconnected at the reunion. But then, she hadn’t made any effort to keep in touch with him either. She told herself that was because she was a busy working mom and distracted by all the strange happenings around the college campus lately.

“If we asked nice though?” Brandon said, his eyes widening. “You always say to use manners.”

Kate had to smile at that. “Yes, manners are important, but asking someone for the use of their home isn’t very polite.”

“Even if we say please?”

Brandon’s innocence never ceased to amaze her. But she also worried that her son would get hurt if he got grand ideas about meeting the famous Parker Buchanan. Yet Parker had said at the reunion that he’d like to meet Brandon.

With all the scandal following the identity of the body buried on the campus grounds, everyone was a bit skittish. The media had tried to get comments from the entire class, including Parker. But she reminded herself again, he wasn’t talking to anyone, let alone the media, about his relationship with Josie.

Even though she hadn’t seen Parker again since that night, maybe now was not such a good time to get in touch with him. Or maybe it could be the best time, she couldn’t help thinking. Planning her son’s birthday party would help take Kate’s mind off that grisly discovery, at least. But what about Parker? Could he use a distraction, too? It just might work.

If she used her manners, of course.

“Tell you what,” she said as she placed Brandon on his feet. “You finish getting ready for school and I’ll see what I can do. I’ll try to find a special place for your party, I promise.”

“At Mr. Parker’s?”

“I didn’t say that. But we’ll have to see. Don’t get your hopes up, okay?”

Brandon nodded. “’Kay. But I’m gonna pray about it.”

Another of her mother’s phrases Brandon had picked up. Praying about things was a good idea, if you didn’t pray for the wrong things, of course.

“Dear God,” she said as she picked up Brandon’s empty cereal bowl, “if You can see fit to help me make my son’s ninth birthday special, I would so appreciate it.”

And in the meantime, Kate would give Parker a call. After all, another one of her mother’s phrases was “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, but I have to make the effort to be strong in Christ.” Kate certainly knew that particular piece of wisdom firsthand. She could only depend on God’s grace and her own strength to take care of her son.

Now, if only Parker Buchanan would see fit to make Brandon’s wish come true.

Parker stopped drawing to listen to the phone message once again. Just to torture himself a little bit more, he reasoned.

“Hi, uh…Parker, it’s Kate. Kate Brooks. You are one tough man to track down. I had to go through an agent and a publicist to get this number.”

Only because Parker had given his publicist permission to give it to her, he thought. Just out of curiosity, and not because of a keen need to see Kate again, he reasoned. He had no idea what she wanted, but he wasn’t ready to face her again. Not right now, just after he’d been hounded by the press and questioned briefly by the police about the latest developments in the murder case. He expected the police to question him again any day now, too.

“Anyway, I need to ask you a huge favor. Can you call me, please?”

Parker listened as Kate gave him her home number. He’d had it memorized since the message had come in yesterday, but he had yet to return her call. Or delete her message. His publicist didn’t know what it was about. Kate wouldn’t say. She just needed to talk to Parker.

A favor?

What kind of favor could she want?

Getting up to pour himself another cup of black coffee, Parker stared out into the night, his two loyal German shepherds, Patch and Daisy, following him across the spacious room. On the other side of his desk in the cozy sitting area, a fire crackled in the massive stone fireplace, warding off the last of the winter chill. His office was downstairs on the back of the house, overlooking the pool he’d had renovated this winter. The row of paned windows and doors across one entire wall gave him a stunning view of the sparkling water and the moonlit gardens. He could see the dazzling white of the dogwood blossoms just on the edge of the estate. Soon the magnolias and the moon vines would be blooming. The landscapers called it a moon garden, one where all the white-flowering blossoms shone luminous and ethereal in the moonlight.

The way Kate’s pretty dress had shimmered the night of the reunion last summer.

And why was he thinking of that instead of calling Kate back? The very thing he’d so often thought of—having a conversation with Kate Brooks—now stood as a symbol of all that had kept them apart. And how many times had he thought about her over the last few months since their brief encounter at the class reunion? Just about every day, almost every waking minute.

But, as he usually did when he didn’t want to face a problem, Parker poured his heart into his work. When he needed a break, he could take the dogs on a walk over his twenty-five acres, or go fishing down at the pond or just sit out by the pool, staring at nothing. Thinking of nothing.

Thinking of her.

“Okay,” he said out loud as he turned back to his storyboard. “Get her out of your mind, man.”

Kate Brooks came from a fine, hardworking middleclass family. Although she hadn’t been as wealthy as some of their classmates in college, she’d certainly been popular. And since she’d grown up here in Magnolia Falls, she’d been on the inside track with the uppity society crowd.

Parker, on the other hand, had moved here in his senior year of high school and had never managed to fit in. His family wasn’t rich. In fact, he’d lived in a house with his widowed mother and older sister on the wrong side of the tracks, so to speak. His mother had worked hard in the college cafeteria, but she’d insisted on Parker getting an education. So with money left over from his father’s insurance policy, she’d sent Parker to college. She’d died a year later.