Joan Kilby - Homecoming Wife

Nate flipped a lever on the bike and lowered the seat. “I’m opening another store soon in Vancouver.” He gave her a wry smile. “Turns out I’m a lot better at business than I ever was at carpentry. Ironic, eh?”

Angela glanced away from the dry expression in his eyes, and the implied reproach for not believing in him.

Nate put a hand on her arm and guided her to the bike. “Put a leg across so I can check the stand-over height.”

Angela, still surprised by this new Nate, complied before she realized what she was doing. But when he crouched to inspect the gap between her and the silver steel tubing she hopped off. “I thought you were going to call me last night.”

He shot her a quick glance. “Sorry about that. Aidan came over and we had a few beers. I…lost track of time.”

He’d forgotten about her. Again, but so what? She’d been gone so long she couldn’t expect to be top of Nate’s list. Just as he wasn’t on top of hers. “How is your brother?”

“He’s…okay.” Nate added in an undertone, “Do you know about Charmaine?”

“Janice told me she lost her bearings on top of Whistler Mountain during a blizzard and fell to her death. I’m so sorry.”

“Aidan was with her.” Nate paused as if uncomfortable with what he had to say but compelled to go on. “People talked. There was a lot of rumor and speculation….”

She knew what he was trying to tell her and her heart went out to him, Aidan and their whole family. “Aidan adored Charmaine. He would have done everything in his power to save her.” Angela spoke with total conviction, squeezing his arm to emphasize her support.

Nate nodded, looking both relieved and grateful she’d taken that point of view. For a split second they were almost like a couple again. Then he set the bike to one side and said, “Let’s go find Ricky.”

Angela followed him across the store and around a partition to the workshop. Ricky was standing beside his upside-down bicycle watching Kevin, ultracool in silver-framed dark glasses and a choker made of links from a bike chain, adjust the brakes.

“I also teach the class basic repair and maintenance,” Nate told her. “Ricky will learn to do more than just careen down a hill.”

Angela nodded. Nate had always been fanatical about maintaining his bikes. “What about safety?”

“Mountain biking is about enjoying the outdoors and gaining confidence in your physical and mental abilities, not about breaking your neck doing kamikaze stunts.”

“Couldn’t have proved that by you when we first met,” she said dryly.

“I was young and foolish. Everybody grows up sooner or later.” His gaze raked over her. “Don’t they?”

She lifted her chin. “The smart ones do.”

“You learn to take calculated risks,” he went on. “With solid technique training and experience the kids in my classes push themselves beyond what they ever thought possible. If they’re really good they’ll get hooked on the whole mind-body fusion.”

“Zen and the art of mountain biking?” she said, eyebrows raised.

“More like Jedi-master training.” His dark eyes twinkled but she knew he wasn’t entirely joking. When he was cycling hard, deep in the zone, she knew he went to someplace she couldn’t follow, could hardly fathom.

Then his expression sobered and he jerked his head, motioning for her to follow as he moved a few paces away. Angela cast a glance back at Ricky as she did so, but he was fully absorbed in watching Kevin.

In a low voice Nate asked, “So what’s involved in a divorce?”

They were back to that. How quickly he’d leaped at the idea of making their split up permanent and legal. “I…I looked into the procedure. I’ve got all the documents ready. If I file—”

“If?”

She searched his eyes. Help me out here, Nate. Give me a reason not to do this. Seconds ticked by in silence. Nothing. “When,” she amended heavily. “You then have a couple of weeks in which to contest it. I’ve got to warn you, my lawyer told me you don’t have any grounds.”

“Don’t worry.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Life’s too short to try to win the same woman over and over again.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” she demanded.

“You figure it out.”

Dismissing his cryptic comments, she went on. “Once the appeal period is finished I file the actual petition for divorce and we wait for the judge to make a decision. That’s little more than a formality—we wouldn’t even have to go to court.”

“How very convenient.” For some inexplicable reason, that seemed to make him angry. “Easy come, easy go.”

“It is, isn’t it?” she said coldly. “A matter of weeks and it will all be over.” She paused and studied his set expression. “This doesn’t mean we have to end up enemies. Unless you enjoy battling me.”

Suddenly he gave a snort of genuine amusement. “Maybe I do. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a sparring partner of your caliber. You’re almost as much fun as an ex as you were when we were married.”

“I’m not sure that’s a compliment.” But she couldn’t suppress a reluctant smile. Good Lord. Their relationship hadn’t changed—it still had as many ups and downs as one of Nate’s precious bike trails, rolling swiftly from confrontation to humor and back again. No wonder it had taken her ten years to recover from the first time around—if this state of semiconstant agitation she felt when around him could be called recovery.

She glanced again at her nephew and changed the subject. “I’m not totally convinced this bike course is a good idea. If something happens to Ricky while he’s in my care I’ll never forgive myself. Janice will never forgive me. I’m going to worry the entire time he’s on the mountain.”

“Why do you think I got that bike out for you?” he said. “I know you’re concerned about Ricky’s safety. You can tag along with the class and make sure he’s okay.”

Angela uttered a short incredulous laugh. “Me, go mountain biking? You’re crazy.”

Nate shrugged. “If you don’t have the guts…”

Darn him. He knew she never backed away from a challenge. Well, two could play at that game. He hated having his integrity questioned. “Why would I need guts when you told me it’s not dangerous. Were you lying?”

“Maybe you’re afraid of more than physical danger,” he growled. “Maybe you’re afraid of spending time around me in case you find that what you really want is to have me back.”

Part of her had been hoping he would tease and cajole her into admitting she didn’t want to make their separation permanent. But this wasn’t good enough; he wasn’t giving away any of his own feelings. “You wish!”

Nate strode over to a filing cabinet against the far wall, whipped out an application form and placed it in front of her. His expression was a mixture of challenge and triumph. “Sign up, then.”

“Oh! You haven’t changed,” she said with an exasperated laugh. “You’re still the same arrogant bastard you always were. But I’ll do this to spend time with my nephew.” She scribbled her signature at the bottom of the sheet of paper and threw the form back at him, maddened and at the same time highly stimulated by the exchange. “There. Satisfied?”

One corner of Nate’s full mouth curled up. “For now.”

“CAN I RIDE OVER TO TIM’S HOUSE?” Ricky asked after lunch. “I want to tell him I signed up for the bike course.”

Angela rose to clear the dishes off the table. “Where does he live?”

“Toad Hollow.”

This was the fanciful name given to a quiet court in the Tapley estate, the older part of town where Nate’s parents, Jim and Leone, lived, and only a short walk away along the Valley Trail from Janice and Bob’s house in Whistler Cay.