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“I want to.” His warm inviting smile suggested he truly did.
The Cozy Home Café was a mere half block down Harvester near Sixth Street. The Closed sign hung in the glass door but Kelsey jiggled the knob anyway. “She knew I was coming!”
Of course she must have known. But she hadn’t mentioned it to Ethan, or likely anyone else, for the news had only hit the streets yesterday. Like Sarah, Clare probably worried about the negative fallout. She had good reason to be a little jittery. To this day there were people who wouldn’t eat in her café because of the accident. Some because they were related to the kids who’d died, and others who merely hoped to please grief-stricken Lewis in return for a favor from his bank or newspaper. Ethan didn’t believe Lewis was still pressing anyone to avoid the Cozy Home after all these years, but he wasn’t openly endorsing the place either. Ethan had once offered to intervene with him on Clare’s behalf, and she’d become very indignant, claimed she had plenty of business. He’d let the issue lie after that.
“She’ll be right back,” he said quickly, sensing Kelsey’s dismay. “Look, there’s a note saying as much taped to the glass. In the meantime, let’s try not to leave a panic-stricken first impression.” He gently guided her out of the doorway into the sunshine.
“As if I’m guilty of something, you mean?”
“Well, yes.”
“So those scowls I’m spotting aren’t squints in the sunshine. People are still upset with me over the crash.”
He hesitated. “Not everybody.”
“How many? Give me a percentage.”
“I can’t, Kel. It’s not like there are town-hall meetings on the subject. I’m only suggesting you hold your chin up and smile, like a bright successful woman out for a walk with a bright successful man.”
“You mean you?”
He tapped the badge pinned to his shirt. “Sure, me.”
“Where will we go?” she asked bleakly.
“To the sheriff’s office.”
“Great. They’ll think you’re arresting me!”
That did it for Ethan. He busted out laughing.
“So you think that’s funny?” She swatted his arm.
“Uh-oh, striking an officer. Now I do have reason to arrest you.” He gently took her elbow. “Come along quietly and take your medicine. Which at the station, amounts to a very poor cup of coffee.”
The police station was part of the municipal complex that took up most of Seventh Street. Kelsey decided the historic limestone courthouse at the corner of Harvester, with later additions running the length of Seventh, looked much the same as it had a decade ago. It was best described as patchwork architecture, last brought up to date in the seventies. The newer station and county offices, made of aluminum, steel and red brick, were utilitarian one-level extensions, with a mutual basement housing file rooms and jail cells.
Kelsey had seen the inside of a jail cell only once.
After the accident she’d been hospitalized a week while doctors had tended her injuries—cracked ribs, severe skin abrasion, a broken arm, sprained ankle and a very nasty bruise to the head.
Sheriff Roger Norton, no doubt prodded hard by Lewis Cutler, haunted the hospital like a ghoul, taking every opportunity to pop in and interrogate her. Kelsey desperately wanted to help, but she simply couldn’t remember anything. It was a kindly nurse named Nancy Farr who finally advised Clare to hire her attorney husband, Jacob, after she overheard Norton and Lewis Cutler discussing manslaughter charges.
Clare didn’t believe they were serious until Sheriff Norton had tossed Kelsey in jail within an hour of her release from hospital. Clare had just gotten her tucked in bed with a bowl of hot soup and her TV remote when the doorbell rang.
He could hold Kelsey for twenty-four hours on suspicion of murder. It was up to her to start talking, confess to what she’d done.
That was when Clare phoned Jacob Farr. He oversaw Kelsey’s official statement, which described being picked up in Brad’s Jetta, stopping by the Cutlers’ for some home movies and attending the grand march with all their friends. The prom itself was completely lost to her, as were the two hours leading up to the accident. Try as she might, she couldn’t recapture those memories. The doctors concluded that, due to her head injury, she likely never would.
Kelsey was jailed the full twenty-four. Ultimately, the sheriff had no choice but to release or charge her. Meanwhile, her tough Madison attorney had badgered him and the county prosecutor to examine the plain hard facts on paper, and ignore Lewis Cutler’s thirst for vengeance. Even if Brad had been teaching Kelsey to drive a stick shift that spring, nobody had seen her behind the wheel of the Cutlers’ Jetta that night. While Kelsey had earned some speeding tickets driving her mother’s car, she’d never been cited for recklessness. Kelsey had been no wilder than her peers, no matter what the petty rumors had said. In the end, Jacob Farr had convinced them a judge would blast their case out of court.
Now, as Ethan escorted her into the lobby of the station, she averted her gaze from the scarred black steel door that led to the cells.
“Uncomfortable?” Ethan asked gently.
Kelsey realized she was shuddering from head to toe. “I’m fine,” she lied.
“Ready for some rotten coffee? Or maybe some water?”
“No thanks.”
Ethan grinned, removed the suitcase from her grip, and set both pieces out of the way near the water cooler. “Come and sit.”
Kelsey was about to take a chair near the clerk manning the front desk when Ethan protested, “Not there!”
The plump middle-aged blonde hung up the phone and glared at him. “What’s the matter? I suddenly got rabies?”
Ethan studied her keenly. “Who’d dare bite you? Just so happens we were about to do a little reminiscing in my office.”
“You can spare a minute.” She reached over her desk for a handshake. “I’m Monica Blair.”
“This is Kelsey Graham,” Ethan introduced. “Fresh off the bus.”
Kelsey took Monica’s hand, noting a trace of recognition, but detecting nothing mean or judgmental in the woman.
“What brings you to town, Monica?”
“As it happens, Loretta Evensen is my cousin. When she lost her husband to cancer a few years ago, she invited me to come stay awhile. I did and decided to make it permanent. I’m sure you’re wondering, why’d she leave the bright exciting city of San Francisco? Aside from the smog and high rent, I was lonely. Believe it or not, there are actually more straight middle-aged guys around here to choose from.”
“She says all that strictly for effect, Kel,” Ethan mocked. “She got here, spotted Mr. Hinkie, confirmed he owns the hardware store free and clear, then went straight back to Frisco to pack up her possessions.”
Monica grew haughty. “The locals never call it Frisco.”
Kelsey followed Ethan into his glass-enclosed office with some relief. No jarring memories for her in here. Sheriff Norton had kept this space mostly to himself during his tenure. Judging by the huge jar of red and white jelly beans on the steel-gray desk, the number of chairs stashed in every corner and the cork board full of kids’ crayon pictures of him performing various duties, it appeared Ethan was a friendlier lawman.
He now gestured to a nearby chair, a metal one with a molded red plastic seat and back. After her journey by both plane and bus, it didn’t look particularly inviting. But Ethan was now riding the front edge of his desk facing the chair, looking remarkably pleased with the arrangement. Fearful that any resistance would put their renewed alliance at risk, she sat down.
Clasping her hands in her lap, Kelsey smiled, taking her first close look at him. He’d certainly matured in the best possible way, lean and rugged, strong and sexy, his narrow mustache and neatly clipped brown hair adding to his good looks.
There were times…Times when she thought about Ethan, their lengthy history, their intimate knowledge of one another. Being next-door neighbors from birth left very little room for pretense. For a short while during their fifteenth summer, she had even figured Ethan could be the guy for her.
How fortunate that they hadn’t gotten too carried away. It would have made his ultimate brush-off degrading and unbearable. Not that the rejection hadn’t been painful. Suddenly their whole friendship had been devalued, their bond of trust weakened. Kelsey had managed to move on and soon ended up with Brad. But she had never forgotten how important it was to her to save intimacy for a truly solid relationship. Even with marriage plans in the works—for the summer after their freshman studies at UW–Madison—she’d made it clear to Brad they wouldn’t be consummating their love ahead of the vows.
“A penny for your thoughts, Kel.”
At the sound of Ethan’s smooth warm baritone, she straightened on the crummy chair and gave a faint grin. Would he think her memories worth a penny? Had he even thought of her over the years? She wasn’t emotionally prepared to handle fresh rejection, so she raised an entirely different issue.
“I was thinking about your career choice. You originally intended to major in business administration, didn’t you?”
“That was my major. Then I settled back here after college not sure which direction to take. I juggled different jobs for a few years to make the rent, did some bookkeeping, sold insurance policies at Dad’s agency, and worked evenings as a deputy under Roger Norton. When Norton announced his retirement near reelection time last year, it occurred to me that I liked the law-enforcement job a lot more than the others. So I ran for sheriff and won.”
“Are you happy?”
“I find the job very satisfying. I enjoy the contact with people and they seem to respond to me well.”
A small silence followed, both of them looking around as if not sure what to say next.
“Jelly bean?” Ethan abruptly swung his jar of red and white ones under her nose.
Realizing she hadn’t had more than an English muffin and yogurt all day, she took a handful and popped some into her mouth. “These taste like the gourmet ones your mother used to buy.”
“They are.”
“So, how are your parents doing? Mom wrote me when they moved to Phoenix a few years ago.”
Ethan nodded. “They left mostly to escape the snowy Wisconsin winters. They love the desert climate, the rock-garden yards. I’m concerned about them, though. The highways there are always clogged and the drivers extremely aggressive. Nothing like this sleepy town.”
“But your dad spent years on the road selling insurance, so he’s probably comfortable with it.”
“So he says. Along with the reminder that they’re only in their fifties—like your mom.” Folding his arms across his chest he shook his head. “I’m probably overreacting but can’t seem to stop myself, and figure it’s just our turn to do the worrying. Some sort of karmic revenge.”
And worry Kelsey did about her mother. “Is Clare doing all right, Ethan? I mean, really all right?”
“What exactly are you asking me, Kel?”
“Are people kind to her?”
He hesitated slightly. “Like all of us, she has her allies.”
“Gee. I don’t remember it ever coming down to allies.”
“Nothing new, really. Kids just don’t see it.”
Of course. Adult life was all about friends and enemies.
“As far as I know, she’s getting along,” he assured kindly. “ I’m in there almost every day—”
“Really!” she rejoiced.
He looked startled then pleased. “My favorite place for morning break.”
Kelsey stared out the window, as if seeing a new ray of light on the horizon. “She claims to have her regulars, like she used to before the accident. But I’ve always been a little doubtful.”
“She appears content, that’s all I can be sure of.” He looked at the floor now, as if self-conscious. “So, are you okay? Are you happy in Philly?”
Suspecting she’d be questioned over and over by classmates at the reunion, she’d prepared a cheery stock response about her life. But sitting alone with this once-cherished friend was enough to bring the plain truth of her situation bubbling to the surface. The loneliness, the disappointments, the depressing realization that her college friends had gone on to fulfill their own dreams of marriage and children. While she…
But these were hardly confidences to share with the first guy to dump her! Her pride wouldn’t allow her to show dejection then, and still wouldn’t.
“What’s the matter?” he prodded. “The term Philly as offensive to you as Frisco is to Monica?”
“Nope. Philly’s fine all around.” She crossed her legs, mentally retrieving her original spiel. “My life is pretty hectic. I teach at a rather posh elementary school in the city and own a condo within walking distance. It’s a tiny place that would cost a fraction here in Maple, but the location is so convenient, I don’t even need a car. Great restaurants, parks and theaters are all within easy reach.”
“Sounds this side of perfect.”
She shrugged and smiled.
A surprising pinch of distress furrowed between his dark brows. But surely he’d wished her safe and well all this while. Hadn’t he?
She would never know for sure what was on his mind as he broke eye contact and reached over his desk to push a button on an old intercom. “Monica, call the café, see if Clare is there.”
As he released the button, Kelsey took him to task. “We could’ve called her ourselves.”
“Naw. Monica loves playing secretary. That was her career back in Frisco.”
The pair watched through the glass as the officious woman made the call. Hanging up the receiver she gave them a thumbs-up.
Kelsey rose to her feet. “Guess I’ll be getting back. Thanks for the beans and the chat.” When he levered himself off the edge of the desk, she added, “I’ve taken up enough of your time, but I’d like to keep my suitcases here for now though, if that’s all right.”
“No problem. In fact I’ll be making my rounds soon, so I can drop off them off at the house.”
“Great.” With a nod to Monica, she was out the door.
Chapter Four
Ethan rounded his desk to take a seat, aware that Monica was already in his doorway, wearing a bright smile and brimming with curiosity.
“So she’s the one, eh?”
With a rueful look, he pulled out his chair. “Why, oh, why did I ever confide my life story to you?”
“Because I’m one of the few ears in town who can give you impartial feedback. I’m also a good listener with a heart big as all outdoors. And your own ma is miles away.”
“Yeah, guess that’s why.”
“It must have been a shocker to confront her so abruptly. Did you have any warning she was coming in on today’s bus?”
“No,” he complained. “Sarah could have told me but she didn’t.”
“Sarah’s bound to be in a whirl, taking care of the baby, running the reunion. She probably doesn’t realize how much it would matter to you.”
“I’m not sure yet how much it does matter.” He turned his chair to stare pensively out the window. “Guess I’ve thought about Kelsey most after each time a relationship’s failed. Wondered if she could still possibly live up to my boyhood memories, if we’d be good together as adults.”
“She seems very pleasant and likable, pleased to be here.”
“I hope that sentiment lasts. She already caught some disapproving glares outside her mother’s café. Obviously they hurt, but that’s not to say she didn’t handle things like a champ. She always was strong.”
“You must be feeling pretty lucky all of sudden, having a second chance with the girl-next-door.”
