The Inn at Misty Lake: Book Two in the Misty Lake Series

by Margaret Standafer

  “Listen,” Jake hissed at Riley. He heard a woman yelling but couldn’t quite make out the words.

  Riley stilled and strained to hear anything that may give him an idea of where Susan was. The next time Lissa screamed, the words were clear.

  Jake pointed. “This way. You stay behind me. I’m not asking, Riley,” he said with a firm hand on Riley’s shoulder.

  Riley nodded, his face drained of all color, and followed Jake deeper into the woods.

  Susan didn’t know whether to follow Lissa’s orders or to try to stall. The fact that Lissa was waving a gun in her direction made it almost impossible to think. Just as she was about to start to make her way toward Lissa, she caught a flash of color off to Lissa’s right.

  “She has a gun, Jake.” Riley could barely get the words out, his fear was paralyzing. He could see Susan start to head in Lissa’s direction, moving slowly with her hands held up near her shoulders.

  Jake grabbed Riley’s arm and yanked him to the ground. “Stay down and let me handle this, Riley.” His tone left no room for negotiation.

  Swamped with utter helplessness, Riley watched Jake snake his way through the trees towards Lissa. He tasted salt as the sweat dripped off his forehead. Riley knew the moment Susan detected someone else in the woods. Her head shifted slightly in their direction before she focused her attention back on Lissa. What he didn’t know was whether she knew who else was in the woods. He ached to signal her somehow, to let her know she was going to be okay. Knowing Jake would probably want to kill him, he crouched low and started in the opposite direction Jake had gone, planning to circle around and come up behind Susan.

  The flash was there and then it was gone. Susan knew someone else was sneaking around in the woods but didn’t know who. Her thoughts wanted to focus on the threat Lissa had made about having someone ready to torch her inn, but she did her best to beat those thoughts down. She couldn’t let herself believe that Lissa had someone so close and ready to jump into action.

  Carefully, she started in Lissa’s direction, but walked at an angle away from Ryan’s hiding spot, forcing Lissa to turn slightly to keep Susan in sight and to keep the gun pointed at her.

  “Hurry up,” Lissa ordered. “We’re going to find Ryan and then you’re going to make that call. I’ve had enough of your stalling and, frankly, I’m getting tired of you all together. Dragging me out into the woods is making me very angry.”

  Lissa swiped at some leaves caught in her hair and looked disgusted as she swatted at a fly buzzing near her head. When she looked up to follow the fly’s path, she stumbled and nearly lost her balance. She reached out to catch herself on a tree trunk and the next thing Susan knew, the world exploded.

  Susan threw herself on the ground. Something hit her, but she was too frightened to try to figure out what. She stayed as still as she could, unsure what was happening since she couldn’t hear anything over the ringing in her ears.

  Lissa looked dazed when Jake reached her. She stood holding the gun limply in her hand, studying it as if trying to figure out what it was and how it had gotten there. Jake simply put one hand on her wrist and used the other to ease the gun from her grasp. She barely moved.

  When the shot sounded, Riley forgot all Jake’s warnings and began hurtling through the woods. There was no way he was going to wait in the background if Susan was in danger.

  Gingerly, Susan reached a hand to her shoulder where she had felt something strike her. Warm, sticky blood met her fingers as pain shot through her. Her only thought was that she must have been shot. She began to shake.

  Riley saw Jake take the gun away from Lissa but when he scanned the area, there was no sign of Susan.

  “Where is she? Where’s Susan?” he demanded. He was vaguely aware of the sounds of dogs barking somewhere behind him.

  His eyes locked on Lissa’s but she gave no indication she heard him. Riley lunged at her, half crazed and determined to get an answer out of her. Jake’s arm stopped him.

  “Riley! Enough,” Jake said.

  “She hurt her, Jake, I know she did. Make her tell us what she did!”

  “She didn’t shoot her, Riley. The gun went off when she stumbled. I think the bullet hit a tree.”

  “Then where is Susan?”

  They both looked again and this time spotted Susan lying on the ground, slowly lifting her head.

  As the ringing in her ears gradually subsided and Susan heard Riley’s voice, she started to get to her feet. She saw Jake handcuff Lissa who, for her part, barely seemed aware of what was happening around her. Susan looked at her hand and saw a smear of blood. Never one to handle the sight of blood very well, she wavered, but the sounds of the dogs barking had her refocusing. She had to get to Ryan. If he’d heard the gunshot, he had to be terrified.

  Ignoring the pain in her shoulder, she turned and ran in the direction of the fallen tree where she had left Ryan to hide.

  “Susan, wait!” Riley called after her.

  She didn’t stop. She’d told Ryan to hide. If he’d left his hiding place when he’d heard the shot, he could be anywhere. Fear had her tearing through the forest, oblivious to the branches scratching her face and arms.

  The barking got louder as she got closer to where she’d left Ryan. When she spotted the downed tree, she figured out why. Gusto and Rigi were standing side by side next to the tree, directly in front of the dugout area where she’d told Ryan to hide. When she looked closer, she spotted a small hand poking out from under the log, slowly stroking Gusto’s hind leg.

  Susan fell to her knees. All at once, relief engulfed her and, with her head in her hands, she began to sob.

  33

  The bandage on her shoulder prickled, the stitches itched, and the whole thing was driving Susan crazy. She’d been trying not to think about what had happened in the woods, but the wound was a constant reminder. Thankfully, it hadn’t been too serious. When Lissa’s gun had gone off and the bullet hit the tree next to her, a chunk had broken loose and connected with her shoulder. It had taken a good dose of painkillers and the doctor’s steady hand to remove the wood splinters and then to stitch her back together. The pain was mostly gone, but she was starting to think the healing was worse than the injury.

  Right now, though, she almost welcomed the annoyance as it provided a distraction from what was coming next. Susan stared out the window of her nearly completed bedroom but didn’t see anything. Riley would be there any minute and she didn’t know what to expect. They had spoken some on the phone, but Riley had been busy trying to straighten things out involving Lissa and Ryan and she had given him time. But they had things to straighten out, too.

  She jumped when she heard his footsteps.

  “Hi,” Riley said. He sounded stiff.

  “Hey. Everything settled with Lissa and Ryan?” She sounded just as stiff. She hated it.

  Riley sighed deeply and Susan noticed that the circles under his eyes hadn’t faded. In fact, they were probably darker.

  “I guess so. Lissa’s sister, with a little help from her father, I assume, managed to take care of the charges against Lissa and hustle both Lissa and Ryan out of town this afternoon. I had a chance to talk to her, she’s determined to get Lissa back into a treatment facility. She’s bringing Ryan back to live with her again.”

  “How is Ryan doing?” Susan hadn’t had time to do much other than make sure he was unharmed after he’d crawled out from under the tree before things had become fuzzy. Ryan had hugged the dogs, waved goodbye to her, and then Riley had whisked him away before he’d had any idea of what had happened with his mother. Marc, one of Jake’s deputies, had shown up by that time and had helped Susan out of the woods and to a waiting ambulance.

  “He’s a little confused, but he was happy to see Jenny. Thankfully, I don’t think he understands what’s going on. He just knows he’s going back home to California with Jenny. And she promised him a puppy so he’s been talking nonstop about colors and names. Right now, he’s thinking a
black dog named Gusto. Go figure.”

  Susan smiled at the image. “He really loved Gusto. And Rigi. I’m telling you, Riley, when I saw the two of them standing in front of that tree and his little hand reaching out petting Gusto, well…” She had to blink back the tears and swallow over the lump in her throat.

  “I know. I’ve tried not to think about what could have happened had he left his hiding spot. He could have gotten lost, he could have wandered back to the lake and out onto the thin ice, he could have been there when the shot was fired. Those dogs knew he needed them, didn’t they?”

  Susan nodded, still unable to talk.

  They were quiet for a few minutes, both lost in their thoughts. When Susan spoke again, she did so carefully.

  “How are you doing, Riley? Really doing. Have you come to terms with everything that happened over the past few weeks?”

  He turned and walked to the window. “Look how dark the ice is, it’s almost thawed. Ryan would have enjoyed watching it go out.” Then, focusing on her question, he said, “I think so. I don’t even know how to describe the range of emotions. I really cared about him, you know? I believed he was my son and I feel…empty. But at the same time, I feel like a fool…like I should have known he wasn’t mine. I had a hard time saying goodbye to him, but I’m not sure why.”

  Susan went to him, and placing her hands on his shoulders, began kneading at the tension. “You have a big heart, Riley. The fact that you let Ryan in never surprised me. It would have surprised me if you hadn’t.”

  Riley turned to face her. “Lissa played me for a fool. I let her.”

  The pain in Riley’s eyes had Susan reaching for him. “You choose to see the best in people, not the worst. That’s admirable. And you didn’t let her do anything. You made a choice to accept life-changing news and to figure out how to make it your new normal. She didn’t win, you did.”

  “I let her come between us. Whatever else I did that may have been right or wrong, that’s something I never should have done. I’m not sure how I let it happen and I’m not sure how to apologize to you.”

  “I’ve had a lot of time to think. Things may have gotten off track between us, but it wasn’t all your fault. I pulled away when I should have dug in. Someone very wise made me aware of my mistakes and I made a promise to try to correct them. I’d like to think I would have if things hadn’t come to a head the way they did.”

  “Aunt Rose,” Riley said knowingly.

  “She told you?”

  “Just this morning. I guess saying I was surprised is an understatement.”

  “I’ve had a little more time to get used to the idea but, yeah, it was quite a surprise. I can’t believe she’s Charlie’s Rosemary and she’s been living with that heartache for so many years. I talked to her yesterday. I told her I’d like to give her the journal. She said she’d think about it.”

  “The similarities are crazy.” Riley shook his head and gazed out the window again.

  “Did you have a chance to talk to Lissa? Do you know why she did what she did?”

  “I hardly talked to her, she really wasn’t in any shape to talk. I feel like a fool for not realizing she had a drug problem. I thought she was sick.”

  “She is sick, Riley. It’s a terrible sickness. I suspected from the start, but I’ve had experience with it. That’s another mistake I made. I should have said something about my suspicions.”

  A shadow passed over Susan’s eyes. The pain of losing her cousin to drugs would never completely go away. Riley reached out, took her hand, and held it tightly.

  “I did talk to her sister for a long time, though. She seems to be a good person and I know she’ll take care of Ryan…and do what she can for Lissa. Her best guess is that Lissa needed money and somehow convinced herself I was the answer to her problems. Jenny figures Lissa thought she could convince me to marry her and then she’d have access to anything that was mine.” Riley gave a helpless shrug.

  “Using her son as a pawn…she must have been desperate. I’m glad Ryan has Jenny.”

  “It was hard to say goodbye to him. I asked Jenny if she’d consider a visit to Misty Lake sometime down the road…I’d like to see him again. Do you think that’s weird?”

  “Of course not. It may have been only a few weeks, but you built a relationship with him. There’s nothing weird about wanting to see him again, wanting to make sure he’s doing all right.”

  Riley just nodded.

  “How are your parents doing?”

  “It’s been tough, so many highs and lows in such a short amount of time. They were thrilled with the idea of another grandchild and then…”

  “I think everyone who met him feels a sense of loss. He’s a pretty great kid.”

  Riley was quiet, lost in his thoughts for a moment, before his eyes suddenly brightened. “I almost forgot, she sent something for you.”

  “Who did?”

  “Jenny.”

  “Why?”

  “She insisted. When she heard the story of what happened with Ryan and how you did everything you could to keep him safe, she wanted to thank you.”

  “She doesn’t have to thank me,” Susan said emphatically.

  “I know, and I told her that’s what you’d say, but like I said, she insisted. She wanted to meet you to thank you in person but there wasn’t time.” Riley handed Susan an envelope.

  “What is it?”

  “I’m not sure, she didn’t tell me. Exactly.”

  Susan kept her narrowed gaze on Riley as she opened the envelope. Inside, she found a check along with a handwritten note. She glanced at the check and when she saw the amount, the check fell from her fingers and fluttered to the floor.

  “Oh, no. That’s ridiculous. She can’t give me a check like that.” Susan began backing away from it and shaking her head.

  Curious, Riley picked up the check and gave a low whistle. “Wow. I guessed it was a check, she mentioned something about a reward they were getting ready to offer for information on Lissa and Ryan, but she never mentioned an amount.”

  “You have to give that back to her. I can’t possibly accept something like that.”

  “Read the note,” Riley suggested.

  Again, Susan narrowed her eyes at Riley, suspecting he knew more than he was letting on, but she unfolded the note and began to read. When she finished, she threw up her hands in exasperation.

  “Well, now what am I supposed to do?”

  “What did she say?”

  “She thanked me for watching out for Ryan, said that Ryan kept talking about me and told her that I was nice and let him play with my dogs. I guess he told her how I had him hide in the woods and about how Gusto and Rigi ‘guarded’ him. She also mentioned hearing about the inn,” at this she raised a brow at Riley, “and that she hoped the money that was going to be used as a reward for the safe return of Lissa and Ryan would help me with the renovating costs. She said she’d be hurt if I didn’t accept it.”

  “I don’t think there’s much point in trying to argue with her, Susan. She’s a kind, good person but, I think, used to doing things her way. And in her circles, money talks. It’s her way of thanking you. Really.”

  “But this is too much,” Susan argued. “And I don’t need her charity.”

  “She’s not thinking of it as charity, that much I know. She was truly grateful for all that you did.”

  “What about you? You did more for Ryan than I did.”

  At this, Riley looked down and dragged his foot through the sawdust on the floor.

  “McCabe,” Susan said, her voice dangerously low, “she tried to give this to you, didn’t she? Didn’t she?” Susan said again when Riley didn’t answer.

  “Not really. I mean, she tried to give me something, I don’t know what she had in mind, but I sort of convinced her it should go to you.”

  Susan gaped at him. “You sort of convinced her?”

  “Well, I may have had an ulterior motive.”

  “What is th
at supposed to mean?”

  “Sit down, Red, this isn’t going at all like I’d planned.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’m not keeping this money if she wanted to give it to you…” Susan kept muttering as Riley led her to a scaffolding bench in the corner of the room.

  “Will you listen, for just a minute?”

  The quiet desperation in Riley’s voice—and the way he’d so easily used his nickname for her, something he hadn’t done in weeks—had her settling down and studying him.

  “I made some mistakes during the past few weeks. I can get past most of them, except the ones that involve you. I never wanted to hurt you. I managed to ruin your birthday and I barely apologized. I closed myself off. I let myself get too caught up in what was happening and spent too much time worrying about how it was going to affect me without giving near enough thought to how it was going to affect you.”

  The sadness on his face and the regret in his eyes tugged at Susan’s heart. She loved him, nothing had changed for her. “It was a lot to deal with, Riley. You did what you had to do.”

  “No. I made a mess of things. You have every right to be angry with me.”

  “Angry? No, I have no right, no reason, to be angry. I was, though, for a while, and that’s part of what I did wrong. I should have made more of an effort to support you, but I turned my back. I was busy feeling sorry for myself when, instead, I should have been talking with you and trying to help you. Help us.”

  Riley rested his forehead against Susan’s. “Let’s agree we both made some mistakes and try to put it behind us?”

  “Deal,” Susan smiled.

  Riley breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t been sure how Susan was going to react, but he realized he hadn’t given her enough credit. She was, in a word, amazing. And he needed to let her know.

  “So, back to that check,” Riley started.

  “I don’t want it. It’s yours.”