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Mayor Kelly slammed down his gavel as if relieved to have the opportunity at last to do so. “I think you’ll all agree that to follow that act would be folly,” he announced. “Meeting adjourned! I suggest you all go home and cogitate on the things that have been said here tonight.”
Thalia raised her brows. “That was sudden.”
“But not unwelcome. How about you and I—”
“I’m sorry,” she interrupted quickly, “there goes my mother, rushing for the door. I need to catch her.” Standing, she leaned across him and called, “Mother!”
“Huh? Oh!” Lorraine turned toward the sound of her daughter’s voice. “It’s you.”
“Of course, it’s me. Where are you heading in such a hurry?”
“I’ve got to talk to Four-Jay! I heard him say he was going over to the Watering Hole so—”
“What about me? I don’t want to go to a bar and listen to more of this Shangri-la stuff.”
“Oh.” Lorraine blinked, looked toward the door through which Four-Jay had now disappeared, looked back with a frown and finally brightened. “Luke can take you home, then. Can’t you, Luke.”
“Sure thing.” His smile was benign.
“In that case, I’m out of here. Don’t wait up, Thalia.”
Lorraine rushed on. Thalia sat back down, feeling grumpy. “Well, for goodness’ sake. That was some brush-off from my own mother.”
“Not to worry,” he said. “I’ll see you get home safe and sound.”
“I don’t seem to have much choice so…thank you.”
He laughed. “Gracious, as always.”
“Touché.” She smiled sheepishly. Together they rose and started toward the door. “I didn’t mean to be rude.” She looked around the rapidly emptying room. “Where are you parked? If you got here late, you must have had trouble finding a spot.”
“No problem at all. I’m parked in the driveway at home.”
“But—? What are you saying?”
“I walked.”
He lifted a foot and pointed to his jock shoe and for the first time it registered with her that he was wearing sweat pants and a T-shirt. She’d been so dazzled by the man that she hadn’t noticed the ensemble.
“Then why did you agree to drive me home?” she demanded.
“I didn’t. I said I’d take you home, which I will.”
“But—it must be two miles!”
“You look like a healthy woman to me. You can walk, can’t you? I noticed you had on sensible shoes and it’s a beautiful night, so what’s the problem?”
She considered. “I guess there is no problem,” she said at last. “A brisk walk will probably do me good.”
“That’s what I thought.” He held the door open for her. “Lead the way, Thalia.”
Taking a deep breath, she did.
THEY STROLLED THE STREETS of Shepherd’s Pass, through a business district that quickly gave way to homes. Streetlights and a nearly full moon illuminated their way; glowing windows lined their path. The night was quiet and peaceful and infinitely calm.
It was exactly as he’d hope it would be: Thalia at his side, crisp fall air filling his lungs, competition with no one and nothing for her attention. When he’d decided to walk to the meeting instead of drive, it had been a calculated risk with this in mind—even though he lived a good mile farther than she did from city hall.
“Do you like being a veterinarian?” she asked suddenly, her tone full of sincere interest.
“Yeah,” he said, “I do. A lot.”
“I was surprised when I heard.”
She looked both ways although there were no vehicles in sight, then stepped off the curb to cross a street. He took her elbow, feeling protective on general principles. She gave him a skeptical glance but didn’t object.
He remembered what she’d said then and asked, “You were surprised? Why?”
“I thought you were going to be a people doctor. That’s what you always said.”
“That was my plan. Fortunately, I discovered in time that I like animals better than people.”
Her smile was wry. “I see your point.”
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“You work for an insurance company, Lorraine said.”
“That’s right. I’m an executive at the national headquarters of Insurance World.”
“Do you like it?”
“Of course.” She sounded a bit touchy.
“Because you like business,” he prodded.
“Well, yes.”
“Thalia, I heard doubt in those two words.”
“No, you didn’t—not at all.” She gave him another annoyed glance. “I’m crazy about my job, I have an unlimited future, and I’ll be going back to it in a few weeks.”
“Why?”
“I just told you.”
“You certainly did not. You told me a lot of external stuff. What I want to know is why you want to go so far away when your mother and the people who care about you are here, in Colorado. There are jobs here, too—all kinds of businesses to choose from.”
“But—” She sucked in a deep, agitated breath. “You just don’t understand. I—I have a life there. I’m already established. Everything’s in order.”
“You’re established here, too.”
“I have friends there….”
“So? I didn’t say you didn’t have friends there. But old friends are the best, Thalia.”
She remained silent for a couple of blocks, both of them striding along in near silence in their athletic shoes. At last she said, “What’s your point, Luke?”
“That there’s no place like home, Dorothy.”
Her laughter was sharp and incredulous. “My home is in California now.”
“No, it isn’t. Your career is in California. Your home is here.”
“My career is important. I’m serious about my career. I couldn’t just toss everything aside and relocate on a whim.”
“Honey, you’re serious about everything—too serious, if you ask me.”
“I didn’t.”
“So I volunteered an opinion.” Time to lighten the mood. He didn’t want to alienate her any further than she already was. “Feel free to ignore it.”
“Thank you. I will. Because to walk out on my job and my life and my career in California would be—it would be unforgivable.”
“I’d forgive you,” he said softly. “Your mother would forgive you. Emily would forgive you.”
“Maybe so, but I wouldn’t forgive—”
She bit off her words and glanced at him over her shoulder. It was too dark to read her expression but her tone said back off.
He couldn’t. “Forgive yourself, right? That’s what you were about to say.”
“So what? The bottom line is, I don’t want to come home—I mean back to Colorado. To stay I mean.”
“Aha!” He had her now. “I heard you the first time. You called this place home.”
“A mere slip of the tongue.”
“No way! You were born and raised here and it is home. I feel the same way. I never intended to practice here, but here I am. You, my girl, want to do the same thing. You’re just not ready to admit it quite yet, but you will.”
They turned right on Heavenly Lane automatically, engrossed in the conversation. She said, “You don’t know me well enough to be so sure about what I want. In fact, you don’t know me at all as an adult, just as a goofy kid.” She gave him a triumphant glance.
“You were never goofy,” he said with total conviction. “Trust me on that.”
“After what I did?”
“What you did was wonderful.” He spoke from the heart. “Your timing was goofy, not what you did.”
“Oh, Luke.” It was a helpless moan. “I made such a fool of myself and I hate looking foolish. I’ve regretted it ever since.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said. He stuffed his hands deep into his pant pockets to keep from touching her. “Everybody looks foolish at one time or another. Believe me, I’ve been there and done that. You had a great idea, honey, but—you know, yada yada.”
“Too young, too old, too you-name-it,” she recited.
“Right. But bad timing is no reason to treat me like a pariah. You’ve avoided me from that day to this.”
“I’ve hardly seen you from that day to this. I simply went on with my life and tried to forget it had ever happened. I went away to school, got married—”
“Got a divorce.”
“It happens.” She walked stiffly for half a block, then said, “At least I tried marriage. You didn’t even do that.”
“That’s true,” he agreed. “I was engaged, though. Fortunately, she came to her senses in time.”
“I should have been so lucky. The fact that my marriage didn’t work out—” All the bluff and fire went out of her. “The fact that it didn’t work nearly killed me. I tried, Lord knows I tried. He tried, too, but after three years it seemed wiser to cut our losses and call the whole thing off.”
“Was he a nice guy?”
“That’s a funny thing to ask.” She seemed to consider carefully. “Yes,” she said finally, “he was a very nice guy. He’s an attorney with an independent movie company. Loves his job, is good at it, works very hard. He worked hard at his marriage, too. We just grew in different directions, I guess.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “But I’m glad.”
“Glad? I must say, that’s the first time my tale of woe has met with that particular response.”
“That’s because I’m glad you came home, and you wouldn’t have if you were still married. Or if you did, you’d bring him and that would be a problem.”
“For whom?”
They’d reached Lorraine’s house, dark except for the soft glow of the porch light. They turned up the walk and halted at the foot of the steps, pine needles crunching beneath their feet.
He rocked back on his heels. “It would be a problem for me.”
“I don’t see why.”
“Sure you do.” Giving up the fight, he put a tentative hand on her shoulder. She stiffened but didn’t step away or otherwise react.
“I don’t.” She sounded slightly breathless, as if she’d been running. Which she hadn’t.
“Then I’ll spell it out.” He lifted his other hand to tilt her chin up. “Because if you’d come home with a husband, I couldn’t have done this with a clear conscience.”
And leaning forward, he pressed his lips to hers.
4
SHE COULDN’T BELIEVE he would kiss her, just like that.
She couldn’t believe she would kiss him back, either, which is exactly what she did. Flinging her arms around his neck, she pressed her body against his and kissed him with so much enthusiasm that it shocked her.
