RaeAnne Thayne - Wild Iris Ridge

Lucy had never forgotten it. After she was able—in no small part thanks to Annabelle—to get her stuff together and move past that rebellious teen stage, she would sometimes stop into String Fever on trips back to Hope’s Crossing during college breaks to visit Annabelle.

Invariably, Katherine would greet her with a warm smile of welcome and insist on catching up on her most recent semester and how her studies were progressing.

She remembered the woman as a bright spot of kindness in a dark time.

Now, as Lucy listened to Katherine talk to Brendan about a new fire engine the city had recently purchased, she was impressed all over again. First the library board with Annabelle years ago, now the city council. Apparently Katherine worked hard to serve the people of Hope’s Crossing.

Dermot Caine approached them, his color a little more ruddy than usual, for reasons she didn’t understand.

“Your table is ready,” he said to Katherine. “Would you like to be seated or wait until the rest of your party arrives?”

The older woman made a face. “Oh. How rude of me. I’ve been monopolizing the conversation when you’re here to have breakfast together.”

“We’re not together,” Lucy said quickly, careful not to look at Brendan. “I mean, we’re here together, obviously, but we didn’t intend it. We both just kind of showed up at the same time. But not together, together.”

She sounded like an idiot, a point that was reinforced when all three of them stared at her.

Brendan cleared his throat. “You know you’re welcome to come over to the station and take a look at the new engine anytime. As hard as you worked to push the funding through, we ought to at least name it after you. Katherine. Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

“I’ve always thought so,” Dermot said, then appeared flustered when the city councilwoman smiled warmly at him.

“Thank you, but I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. We all knew you needed it—it was just a matter of squeezing the funds out of our tightfisted mayor.”

“Nobody squeezes William Beaumont better than you.”

“His daughter seems to do a pretty good job of it. And speaking of which, she’ll be one of my breakfast companions, along with Charlotte, Evie, Mary Ella and Janie Hamilton. Will you send them back to my table, Dermot? They should be arriving soon.”

“Of course. Of course.”

Katherine smiled, brushing her cheek against Lucy’s. “My dear. It was lovely to see you again. I hope we get the chance to catch up before you leave town again.”

“I’ll make sure of it,” she answered.

As soon as the woman left, Dermot seemed to find it necessary to retreat to the kitchen, leaving her and Brendan alone. Relatively alone, anyway, considering they were seated at a busy counter along with a half-dozen others, in a bustling diner filled with the pleasant sounds of clinking dishes and conversation.

She was still uncomfortably aware of him. Big surprise there, since she had the same reaction every time she was in the same room with him. His wife had been her best friend so, yes, that ridiculous awareness had led to some very awkward interactions over the years.

One stupid kiss more than a decade ago—a mere fifteen minutes out of her life—and sometimes, despite her very best efforts, she couldn’t manage to think about anything else.

She let out a breath. She just had to try harder. If she was going to be staying in Hope’s Crossing for a while, she would inevitably have to see Brendan. He lived down the street, and his children were two of her favorite humans on the planet.

She had to put that kiss a decade ago—and the subsequent weeks of confusion and heartache—completely out of her mind.

A moment later, he set his napkin down beside his plate and climbed off the round stool. “I guess I’ll probably see you later. If I’m going to catch a few hours of sleep before Carter and Faith get home from school, I should probably take off.”

“I can’t wait to see them. I’ve got a few gifts for them, things I brought with me that I haven’t gotten around to mailing. Could I drop them off sometime today?”

A muscle flexed in that strong jaw. “You know you don’t have to shower them with gifts. They would love you, anyway, trinkets or not.”

He made no secret that it annoyed him when she sent little toys or books to the children—or delivered them in person when she came to town. She was honest enough with herself to admit that might have been part of the reason she went to the trouble. She genuinely enjoyed picking out things for the children, but she considered needling Brendan a bonus side effect.

Yes, she was a horrible person.

If he had never flirted with her that long-ago night, never kissed her, never inspired such silly dreams—and never fallen hard for her best friend just a few weeks later and ended up marrying Jessie—their relationship might have been a much more comfortable one.

“I know I don’t have to give them gifts, but I enjoy it. And who knows? Now that I’m unemployed, this might be the last time I can afford to bring them anything.”

That was as close to a joke about the catastrophe her life had become as she had yet been able to manage. That had to be progress, right?

He studied her a moment, an unreadable expression on his features. He looked tired, his eyes a little red-rimmed and his hair slightly mussed, probably from taking off that helmet he’d worn at Iris House during the fire. He had crinkles at the corners of his eyes she didn’t remember seeing before and a few little gray strands hidden in all that thick dark hair.

But he was still far too gorgeous for her peace of mind.

“The kids both have baseball practice this evening. We won’t be home until later and then they’ll have homework and their daily reading for school to do. Another day would be better.”

She didn’t need him to spell it out. He was clearly telling her that even though she was back in Hope’s Crossing and living just up the street, he wasn’t going to allow unfettered access to Faith and Carter.

The few bites of really delicious strawberry-and-almond sprinkled French toast she had managed to eat around her nerves seemed to congeal in her stomach. “Sure. I’ll try to connect with you another day, then. I’m anxious to see them but I can certainly wait.”

“I’ll let you know.”

He waved to his father, nodded to a couple other people in the diner then headed out without another word to her.

After he left, she spent a minute or two more picking at her breakfast, mainly because she didn’t want to hurt Dermot’s feelings by not savoring the meal he had prepared especially for her.

Why had she opened her big mouth and told Brendan about being fired? Of all the people in town, he was the one person whose reaction she had dreaded.

He had really been surprisingly decent about it. She had expected some kind of snide comment, but he actually had seemed sympathetic. Sometimes she didn’t know what went on in his head. She only knew their encounters were usually so awkward and tense, she couldn’t wait for them to be over.

How would she survive living in Hope’s Crossing, where she was bound to run into him often?

The bells on the door suddenly chimed. She glanced up at the big mirror above the counter as a couple of women about her age walked in, laughing at something with their heads close together. Her heart gave a sharp, familiar ache at their friendship. Jessie had been her best friend most of her life, and Lucy missed her every single day.

She didn’t have many other female friends, at least none that reached the level of closeness she had shared with Jess. Since she’d graduated from college and started working for NexGen, she had been so focused on her career, on climbing further and faster, she hadn’t put nearly enough effort into building healthy relationships in other aspects of her life.