A Great Kisser

by Donna Kauffman

  “Yep. Interesting, but okay.”

  She frowned. “Okay. We’ll be right there.” Ruby Jean was also frowning now as Lauren closed her phone. “Your brother wants us both up at the school. Can you go?”

  “Sure. Want me to drive?”

  “I’ve got Jake’s Jeep. I can give you a lift.”

  Ruby Jean smiled again. “Why don’t I follow you up.” She walked to the door. “Then you won’t have to be giving me a lift back into town. You know, if you wanted to hang out up at the school. Or something.”

  Lauren scooped up her laptop and bag and grabbed the Jeep keys. “Did I mention how smart the McKennas are?” She was smiling as she followed Ruby Jean out the door.

  Chapter 23

  Jake paced to the open door of the hangar housing Betty Sue, then back to the plane.

  “You expecting Santa Claus or something, son?” This was from Freddy. He was one of Paddy’s old pals. He and four of the other guys had driven in earlier to start work on Betty Sue.

  Jake threw him a grin. “Better, really.” He’d been caught off guard by the news that his sister and Lauren had been becoming fast friends while he was struggling, trying to figure out if the puzzle pieces he was collecting amounted to a bigger picture worth assembling, or if he was just wasting his valuable time on nothing. He was glad they’d already met. Relieved, really. If they hadn’t already broached the whole “Arlen running for governor” thing, he hoped there would be no reason to hedge on it now.

  “What’s she look like?” This from Ace, who was even older than Freddy, who’d hit eighty-five earlier that month.

  “What makes you think it’s a woman?” Jake asked.

  “Man smiles like that…it’s always a woman.” All four men had finished that last part in unison. They all chuckled and Jake joined them.

  “You’ll meet her in a few minutes. She’s coming up with RJ. I’ll need to take a short break, go talk with them about something. But I’ll be back. Scooter radioed that he’d be flying in sometime after seven with the parts from Fort Collins.”

  “Good job.”

  “I’ve got rooms for you guys down the hill at Rosie’s—”

  “We brought our cots. We’re bunking out here with Betty Sue.”

  “Guys, no need. We’re well funded enough that you shouldn’t have to rough it like that. I can—”

  “You go spend time with the woman of your dreams,” Ace said, then glanced up at Betty Sue, whose propellers he was currently working on. “I’ll spend time with mine.” He gave a little burnish to one of the blades.

  The other men chuckled and Jake grinned. “Okay, but we’re catering in meals. And if you change your mind, or your back and knees change it for you, just let me know.”

  There was a bathroom and full shower facilities in the big hangar, which Paddy had put in back when he bunked at the school while building it into a functioning business. Had it been any other time of year, Jake would have insisted they take the rooms. “Just make sure to roll the doors shut and start the space heaters when the sun dips.” Jake heard his Jeep crunching gravel in the lot outside and walked to the door. “I don’t need any of you guys kicking the bucket this close to race time.”

  They all good-naturedly handed it right back to him. “Whaddya mean? We’re living forever, don’t you know?”

  “I’ll be the one delivering your eulogy, son,” Oscar chimed in, and they all laughed.

  “Keep an eye on them, Hank,” Jake said, still chuckling.

  The hound managed a single tail thump, then went back to sleep underneath Ace’s camp chair.

  Jake strolled outside, feeling a lot better about things on the race end now that the guys had started showing up. He’d be right alongside them tonight, working well toward the wee hours. But first, he needed to take care of this so he could get his focus back. And so he could get things fully back on track with Lauren.

  He hadn’t known what to expect from the Lauren–Ruby Jean summit meeting he’d missed, but RJ pulled in right behind Lauren and by the time he got across the tarmac to the parking area, they were already shoulder to shoulder, laughing and in deep conversation. He’d wanted them to hit it off, but seeing them like that had his steps slowing. And his heart filling. It had been important to him, but he hadn’t any idea how much it meant. Or would mean. To have the woman he wanted to spend his life with bond so truly to the only other love in his life. Between the funding for the Betty Sue, and now this, life was pretty damn sweet. “You are one very lucky man,” he murmured to himself, picking up the pace again as they spotted him and headed his way.

  He got possibly the two best hugs of his life, then slung his arms around their shoulders and guided them toward the front school office.

  “So…what’s shaking, big brother?” RJ asked.

  “Let’s get inside,” he said, then turned toward Lauren and dropped a quick kiss on the side of her neck below her ear. “Damn, I’ve missed you,” he whispered in her ear.

  She turned and smiled directly into his gaze and, in that crystallized moment, there wasn’t a single doubt in his mind. He was in love with Lauren Matthews.

  “All right, you two,” RJ said, nudging him in the ribs with her girl weapon elbow.

  “Seriously, that thing is so pointy,” he said, ducking out of the way of another jab and bumping hips with Lauren.

  They stumbled together into the office, laughing and joking and he seriously debated whether or not to just chuck the whole Arlen issue out the window. Only he was RJ’s boss and Lauren’s stepfather…and the subject was just going to come up again and again until it was deliberated and discussed and finally put to rest. Might as well get it all out on the table now. Then he could focus on the race. He glanced at Lauren. And to do whatever he had to in order to convince this woman to stick around for, oh, the next sixty or seventy years.

  “So, I’ve been doing a little digging,” he said, motioning them toward the other office chairs as he spun his around and took a seat. He glanced at his sister. “Have you two talked about…you know?”

  She glanced at Lauren. “We were just about to when you called.”

  “You okay if we just proceed with everything on the table?”

  “Yeah,” she said, then smiled at Lauren. “I’m okay with it.”

  “Thank you,” Lauren said. “You can trust me.”

  RJ nodded, then looked back to Jake. “What have you been digging up? Anything having to do with that phone call to Lauren’s old coworker, by any chance?”

  Jake frowned. “No. Why, did you two find out anything?”

  “I talked to Daphne again,” Lauren said. “She back-tracked the number of the person who called about me. The number is local here.”

  “It’s my office number, Jake. But I didn’t make the call.”

  Jake looked between them. “Who do you think, then?”

  They both shrugged. “That’s what we were talking about.”

  “Daphne said it was a woman. So, could be his secretary.”

  “Melissa? I don’t know why she’d—”

  “If Arlen asked her to,” Ruby Jean said with a shrug.

  Jake leaned back. “Sure, okay, but why?”

  “We don’t know,” RJ said. “What did you find out?”

  “I took those papers back to the library,” he said to Lauren, “but before I did, I found a little blurb in one of the older ones about the fire that burned down Arlen’s house.”

  “That’s a very old issue. Why did you have old newspapers out?” Ruby Jean asked.

  “Part of that ‘researching the total stranger my mom married’ thing.”

  “Ah,” Ruby Jean said, clearly completely understanding.

  Jake looked between them and realized they’d bonded even more tightly, more swiftly than he’d realized. And while this made him very happy, he was also quickly realizing that this could give RJ an ally at times when he’d have liked to keep things more even. Ah well, the price one paid he supposed. And
was quite willing to make the sacrifice. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t whine a little about it.

  “What about the fire?” Lauren asked. “I’m assuming you mean the one that burned his house down forcing the rebuild?”

  “Yes, it was just a little blurb saying that the fire marshal couldn’t determine—conclusively—what had been the cause of the fire.”

  “I thought he said it was lightning.”

  “I know. Maybe that’s hard to prove, I don’t know. But when I took the papers back, I went ahead and dug a little farther back and found the original article about the fire. No mention there, either, about any storm or lightning strikes in the area. There was a mention that this fire took place just as he was finalizing his divorce from Paula.”

  RJ glanced at Lauren, who was looking at him. “Meaning?”

  Jake shrugged. “I’m not sure. I don’t even know why it caught my attention; it just did. I have the issue with me if you want to look at it.”

  “Do you think he was burning down the house as a way of keeping his soon-to-be ex from getting her hands on it?” RJ asked.

  “I have no idea. I was trying to reach you to see what you might know of that time. I know you were way too young to remember, but—”

  “Given my penchant for town gossip, you mean?” she said pointedly but with a laugh. “I prefer to think of it as collecting town lore and history, but yes, that kind of thing does interest me. However, if you’d asked me more than six months ago, I’d have said I got nothing. But since Arlen’s recent marriage—” she nodded with a smile toward Lauren—“the older citizens here have been replaying his first two marriages, and in some pretty great detail, given the way they both ended.”

  “And? Anything that might shed some light?”

  “Well…hmm, let me think. Paula was pretty well off, an heiress in her own right, if not actually in possession of her inheritance at the time of their marriage. She was due to inherit after her father passed, and she was a very late-in-life baby for him, so it wasn’t a distant future kind of thing. So I don’t know how badly she’d have wanted their house or property. She wasn’t from here and cut out of town before the ink was dry on the divorce documents. Doesn’t sound like someone after amassing assets here.”

  “Could have just been for spite. Was it an acrimonious split?”

  RJ shrugged. “Not as far as I’ve heard. From the stories being rehashed, it was more about their inability to procreate.”

  “Did Arlen want a family, too?” Lauren asked.

  “He never said he didn’t—wouldn’t play well to the voters, for one—but the consensus seems to indicate she was far more dedicated to the idea than he was.”

  “Why not adopt?”

  “I think it had something to do with her inheritance passing down only to blood relatives. I don’t know, but that was the rumor. Anyway, the split was fast and she was gone, never heard from again.”

  “The article said she’d been staying out at the house prior to the fire, but they didn’t know for sure if she was still living there when it burned or if she’d already left,” Jake told them. “There was no one at home at the time, and only Arlen stepped forward afterward. When asked, he said his ex had moved to an undisclosed location and wished to have her privacy respected. The divorce was final days later.”

  Neither RJ nor Lauren said anything for a few moments.

  “Like I said, I don’t know why the story mattered, but…”

  “His first wife died in a car crash, driving drunk, right?” Lauren asked.

  Ruby Jean nodded.

  “And he didn’t stand to get anything from her family, did he?”

  “Other than their goodwill and what he’d already gotten as their son-in-law, no. Not if you mean specific assets or anything.”

  “There was talk that he’d hoped her family would help him gain a more visible role in Denver politics and perhaps make a run for higher office. Then Cindy died, and that was that.” Jake looked at his sister, and she gave a little nod. “Until now,” he added.

  “Yes, until now,” RJ said. “Has your mother said anything to you about Arlen having political plans that might involve him making a run for a different office?”

  Lauren’s mouth dropped open, then snapped shut. “No. What office?”

  RJ leaned in. “This is strictly, strictly in confidence. He let it slip to me. No one, and I mean no one, knows. If this gets out, he’ll know it was me and I’ll lose my job. I don’t want to put you in an awkward spot with your mother, but—”

  “It’s okay. I’ll respect your privacy.”

  RJ glanced again at Jake, then looked at Lauren and said, “He’s supposedly putting together a team, and the financial backing, to make a push to get on the ticket for governor of Colorado next year.”

  If Lauren’s mouth had dropped open a moment ago, she appeared truly shocked this time.

  “That’s the complication,” Jake said, leaning forward and putting his hand on her knees. “I hope you understand why I had to—”

  “I do,” Lauren said. She covered his hand with her own. “I totally do.” She looked at RJ. “He just let this slip? No offense, but he doesn’t strike me as the type to let something as major as that slip by accident. Could he have ‘slipped’ it to you on purpose? And if so, any ideas why?”

  RJ wasn’t offended by the question. “Trust me, I’ve thought about that. It could have been a loyalty test. To see if I was trustworthy enough to be asked along on the ride. That’s the most logical.”

  “Do you think maybe that’s behind the calls about me to Washington? Just fact-finding to make sure he’s bulletproof from any surprises? Make sure I wasn’t fired for some unreported scandal?”

  “Could be, I suppose. He’s…well, he’s not paranoid by nature, but he’s a very cautious, very meticulous planner. He hates mistakes and hates things going wrong that he could have otherwise controlled.”

  “Micromanager?” Lauren asked.

  “In some ways. More a microplanner. Once he’s set on a path, he doesn’t mind delegating.”

  “So, if the call tied into his campaign prep in some way, and the call came from a woman in your office and that woman wasn’t you…the finger points toward Melissa,” Lauren said. “Do you think he’s let it ‘slip’ to her, too? That maybe she’s his secret campaign worker bee here on site?”

  That sat RJ back in her seat. “I’d have said no, but, you know…I guess it’s possible. I’m definitely his right hand and Melissa is kept pretty much to her secretarial role, but…” She trailed off.

  “But, what?” Jake asked. “Does she seem hungry for advancement? Do you think she has her sights set bigger?”

  RJ lifted a shoulder. “I’d have said she had her sights set on finding a man and getting out of the workforce altogether. She’s not a traditional, white picket fence and babies type, but I never got the sense she was in her job with an eye toward a long-term career. More just biding her time and enjoying the elevated awareness that being the mayor’s secretary brought to her, in terms of impressing her dates.”

  “Who does she date? Anyone special?”

  RJ smirked. “You mean after Jake dissed her?”

  “I didn’t diss her, I politely declined your attempts to match us up.”

  “She mostly dates out-of-towners,” RJ said. “Resort guests, especially the ones with deeper pockets.”

  “What’s her background?” Lauren asked. “She’s not from around here, is she?”

  RJ shook her head. “Came to town following her ski bum boyfriend, liked the resort town life. They broke up, she started seeing another instructor, got her own place, and they didn’t last—big shock; I could have told her never to cast her lot in that direction, confirmed bachelors and playboys, all—and she took the job with Arlen, and…here she still is.”

  “Is there any way that perhaps Arlen is positioning her for the transition team given she has no ties here?”

  Jake looked to his sist
er, who was clearly giving the question serious thought. “I’ve never thought about it that way,” he said. “Have you?”

  “No. He treats her, well, very stereotypically. She gets the coffee, runs errands, gets the phone, deals with the mail, coordinates his schedule with me. I’ve never seen him really treat her as a career woman, if you know what I mean. He’s very much a man of his generation. He stops short of calling her honey, but I’m pretty sure he thinks it.”

  Both the girls smiled at that and Jake was glad that he didn’t have to face half the crap they did in the workplace. He only had to put up with Hank. He looked to Lauren. “Do you think he’s talked to your mom?”

  Lauren’s smile faded and she lifted a shoulder and sighed. “I really don’t know. Given our talk yesterday, talking about my future and how much she loves it here…I’d have to say no.”

  “I can’t believe he’d be even considering something as huge as this without discussing it with his wife,” RJ said. “But…who knows?” She looked to Lauren. “I know this puts you in a very, very difficult position.”

  Lauren lifted her hand to stall her apologies. “I understand. And thank you,” she told Jake, “for trying to resolve this without putting me there. I do appreciate it. But I appreciate more being given the chance to help solve the problem.”

  They all sat there and stared at each other for a few long moments. Lauren finally broke the silence. “My mom knew, about my job. And she opted to wait until I was ready to tell her. I think, in this case, with nothing being imminent, or even certain—”

  “It’s certain,” Jake said. He looked ruefully at Lauren, feeling badly for piling on. “I put in some calls to the guys who are funding the sponsorship for the race. I knew they were also pretty politically active and thought they might know if there was any talk. I got a call back from Roger a little while ago. It’s no rumor. He’s definitely making inroads.”

  “With what?” Lauren asked, then lifted a hand. “I don’t mean that to sound so insulting, but he’s been tucked away a long time here. Has he really maintained, or fostered, the kind of connections he needs to be seriously considered? And where’s his war chest? That kind of campaign takes significant donors. Beyond even the Covingtons or the assorted business interests here. I know he has interests with some of the resort owners, but they’re partly Swiss-owned—I checked—so that’s not helping him out in any huge way. Do the Covingtons have the kind of pull that can sway other big pocket donors to get behind him?”