Small-Town Girl

by Jessica Keller

  He obviously didn’t want to be reached. And he obviously didn’t want her.

  She’d slipped up. Fallen for him. That hadn’t been part of her plan. When it came to men, she’d always jetted before they had the chance, and this was why. Falling with no one waiting to catch her hurt. The pain now was different than when she was the little girl who had ached to know her father. Kendall felt a searing tear in her heart from loving a man who didn’t want her.

  She rubbed her thumb over the corduroy-like fabric on the armrest.

  Men abandoned. Hadn’t her mother drilled that into her head? Dad left, none of her mother’s boyfriends had stuck around long and none of the men Kendall had dated had ever fought to keep her. She had thought Brice was different. Kendall pressed her palm into the place near her heart that throbbed. But Brice wasn’t any different than the rest of them. When things got hard, she wasn’t worth staying for.

  Enough tears. She sucked in a shuddering breath. As long as Brice kept her partnership with Sesser a secret, she still had her business. And wasn’t that the whole reason why she’d moved to Goose Harbor to begin with? Kendall wasn’t made to be loved and cherished. She was gifted at helping others feel that way. Seeing the joy her planning brought to other people’s lives, that would have to be enough for her from now on.

  A knock sounded on her front door. Kendall had closed her office for the day, deciding to take a day or two to regroup, so she wasn’t expecting anyone. She rose to her feet, padded over to the mirror on the wall and tried to swipe away her smudged makeup. The bags under her eyes made her grimace, but it would have to do.

  She grabbed the door handle but then froze for a moment. What if it was Brice? No...she couldn’t get her hopes up. She had to move forward without thinking about him. He’d given her an ultimatum—cut ties with Sesser or cut ties with him—that wasn’t okay. Even if Brice returned, would she ever be able to trust him again? Believe that he wouldn’t just up and leave the next time they argued?

  She eased open the door. Not Brice. A middle-aged man with a graying widow’s peak, tan skin and a kind smile stood there. “Kenny?” His voice held a trace of awe.

  Weird. No one besides her mother called her Kenny. Was this a new boyfriend? A way for her mother to deliver a message without causing problems with the police? Kendall bristled and inched the door so it was open by only a foot.

  “I’m sorry—do I know you?” She started to close the door farther.

  He cocked his head, kind smile still in place. “You don’t remember me at all, do you?”

  “I have no idea who you are.”

  “You were so young.” He shook his head in a sad manner. “I’m your father, Kendall. It’s me.”

  She yanked the door open all the way. “My...what?”

  “I read about you in the paper. About your business.” He pulled a sheet of newspaper from his back pocket and unfolded it carefully. “I’ve been searching for you for so many years. I’d started to give up hope of ever finding you.” He passed her the news article.

  She took the page but didn’t look down at it. Her father? She didn’t know whether she should hug him or slam the door in his face. This was the man who had left her first. The man who had started the pattern of abandonment.

  “If you’re my father, I don’t know why you’re here.” With so much swirling in her mind, she didn’t have the ability to rein in her words. “You left us. You walked out on me.”

  “I wouldn’t have done that.” His gaze raked over her face as if he was trying to memorize all her features. “I was filing for full custody. I wanted you—wanted to raise you.”

  But it didn’t measure up. She narrowed her eyes. Her mother said he left. And he’d never returned—never come home or sought Kendall out before—so her mother had to be telling the truth, right? Then again, Mom wasn’t known for the whole truth and nothing but. Kendall wasn’t certain what to think.

  “That’s not true,” Kendall mumbled.

  “The day she took you...” His voice caught. He cleared his throat. “When I came home and found you, her and all your belongings gone...it felt like I was going to die.” He shuffled his feet. “I didn’t know where she took you, but I promise, I tried to find you. Even after the police closed the case and stopped searching. Even when my friends told me to move on. I’ve never stopped searching.”

  Kendall pressed her hand over her forehead. “Do you want to come in?” She motioned toward her small couch.

  They spent the next two hours catching up. He explained how he and her mom hadn’t even been dating when they found out they were expecting a baby. They tried to make a relationship work for her sake, but soon after Kendall was born, he caught her mother cheating on him. Since they were unmarried and hadn’t sorted custody out in court yet, when her mother took off with Kendall the authorities didn’t consider it kidnapping. It wasn’t a crime for a mother to move with her child. Not unless there were court documents stating the father’s visitation rights or granting full custody.

  He’d hired investigators, but he had assumed they’d stayed in the state. But her mother had moved them out of Utah—Kendall’s birth state—and they’d lived in ten different states in less than four years until they finally settled in the foothills of Kentucky when Kendall was five. Even then, they rarely stayed at the same address for long.

  No wonder her father hadn’t been able to track them.

  “I married a few years after you went missing,” her father said. “We moved to Ohio not long after that. It’s hard knowing you were only a state away that whole time.” He rocked forward, his elbows resting on his knees. “You have three siblings. They would really love to meet you.”

  Kendall had a family—people who had searched for her and longed to know her. “I have siblings?”

  “Two brothers and a sister. They all live a few hours’ drive from here, at most.”

  “You searched for me?” Kendall repeated for the seventh time. It was hard to rewire her thinking. Hard to realize the foundation of her beliefs concerning herself and what she thought about men was a complete lie.

  “I’ve never stopped.” His wife had shown him an article about Love on a Dime, originally suggesting that Goose Harbor looked like a nice place to go for a long weekend. But Kendall’s name was mentioned in the article, and while her father knew there could be other women in the world named Kendall Mayes, he wasn’t going to rest until he knew one way or the other.

  “Kendall, I’ve loved you since the moment I knew you existed. So many years have been stolen from us, but if you’re willing, I’d like to be a part of your life now.”

  Kendall had never been abandoned. She’d always been wanted. And now a family waited to meet her and be a part of her life. She leaned back in her chair. It was almost too much to believe. But it was true.

  “I’d like that, Dad.” She tried out the word to see how it felt. A peace Kendall had never known before settled over her soul.

  * * *

  Usually being in the woods brought Brice peace, but not tonight. Not the night before either.

  He stirred the campfire until the flames crackled and the fingers of fire reached higher into the sky. Every time something had gone wrong in his life, he’d been able to escape into nature. Live alone for a couple days while his head cleared. The habit dated back to when he was nine years old and his father had come after him with the buckle side of a belt. Brice traced the scar on his cheek. He’d figured living in the wild was better than ever staying under his father’s roof again. But after a few days of getting rained on, and once he picked clean a berry bush and hunger attacked him, he’d slunk back home. Thankfully his father had already left for a gambling trip when he returned, but he’d been forced to endure comments from his mother for a week.

  Older now, Brice had brought provisions, so hunger pains wouldn�
��t be a problem for a few more days. Besides, it wasn’t the same as when he was a child because he wasn’t running away anymore. Just clearing his head. That was all. Wasn’t it? Brice ran his hand over his face as if he could brush away his tension. A grown man didn’t run and hide from his problems. Right?

  Bats circled around a nearby pine tree. Night was coming. He would bunk down for one more day. That was all he needed. One more day to get Kendall off his head. To remind himself that his life had progressed just fine before she was a part of it. Although it would take longer to clear her from his heart.

  He tucked his hands behind his head and lay back against the hard earth. Tents and sleeping bags weren’t his style. Through the pine tree canopy that lined the ravines near the dunes between his property and the land that made up the abandoned summer camp, Brice stared toward the last rays of light. Sunset. Their time.

  His gut clenched.

  One more day alone wouldn’t solve his problem. It never did, not really. The escapes bought him time or gave him opportunities to distance himself from people. Building walls to protect himself. He’d always considered that a good thing, but was it?

  Brice worked his jaw back and forth. He let out a loud huff.

  He and Kendall could never work. Not long term. Why not? He had to recite the same reasons he’d been repeating the past two days. Maybe if he said them enough, he’d convince himself. Not likely. But worth another try.

  Neither of them came from God-fearing families. That mattered, didn’t it? Brice pinched the bridge of his nose. If he had no example to follow, it would be beneficial if the woman he ended up with had been raised in a loving home and had a model she could copy.

  A thought niggled at the back of his mind. Wasn’t that the role of the church body—to mentor and shepherd each other? He could start a small group based out of the church and invite men like Caleb Beck, Kellen Ashby and Joel Palermo to join him. Guys his age in committed relationships who could learn together what it looked like to be husbands and leaders in their homes. An example didn’t have to come from a blood relation. He had plenty of Christian friends who would come alongside him and offer advice and support if he ever did marry.

  Brice groaned. He was supposed to be convincing himself that breaking things off with Kendall was the right course of action. He shook his head.

  She liked to be around people—came alive around large groups—and he would rather spend every weekend either on the lake or back at his cabin tucked away from the crowds. Sure, that hadn’t been a problem for them yet, but it would. At some point she’d decide he was a stick-in-the-mud or he’d get sick of going to town festivals. He never wanted to be responsible for holding her back. Not when he’d been accused of doing that in his mother’s life.

  Besides, Kendall had warned him from their first interaction that she was a serial dater. Told him she always left the guy she was dating. Why would he be any different? Sooner or later, she’d find a reason to cast him aside. She’d see they weren’t a good fit or find some reason to leave him. Might as well cut things off before they got to that point.

  Then again, they were already past that point, weren’t they? They were already to love. At some point between the walks on the beach and watching the sunset side by side, Brice had lost his heart to a woman who had placed herself in the care of the man he disliked the most. That alone meant he couldn’t be with her. No matter how much he cared about her.

  Brice squeezed his eyes shut. Sleep. He just needed sleep. Everything would sort itself out. He would listen to the crickets and frogs and he’d go to sleep and then go back to the life he’d had before he ever met Kendall. Run his shipping business, read his books and spend time with his siblings as if she didn’t even live in Goose Harbor.

  But the thought of returning to life before Kendall brought him no comfort.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The bells tinkled as Laura Daniels ducked into Kendall’s office. The young woman tucked her hair behind her ears. “Are you and my brother fighting?”

  Kendall allowed herself a minute to figure out how she should answer. Technically she and Brice weren’t fighting—they had fought once, three days ago. Perhaps it was best to redirect the conversation away from the argument. “What makes you say that?”

  “None of us can get in touch with him.” Laura shrugged. “He never answers his phone, so whatever, but all the other times he at least leaves a message letting us know what’s going on.”

  He hadn’t even spoken to his beloved little sister? That alarmed Kendall, but she didn’t want to worry Laura. Kendall tucked her pen into the top desk drawer. “I asked Evan about it earlier. He said taking off isn’t abnormal for Brice.”

  “This time feels different.” Laura folded her arms over her chest. “You know, if you guys are fighting, you should go after him.”

  “Oh, I should, should I?” Kendall locked her desk and shut down her computer. She’d been at the office for only two hours, but work wasn’t going to happen today. “What if your brother doesn’t want to be found?”

  Laura’s brow furrowed. “Everyone wants to be found.”

  “Maybe so, but how he and I left things... I don’t believe it’s me he wants finding him.”

  Laura shook her head. “You know, I thought you were different.” Her eyes narrowed, but it looked as if she was holding in tears more than anger. “I thought you’d be good for him and not just another person who would end up hurting him.”

  Laura was too young; she didn’t understand. Kendall sighed. “Believe me, hurting him is the last thing I ever want to do.”

  “After everything he’s been through, Brice needs someone who’s willing to fight for him.”

  That made Kendall pause.

  Someone who’s willing to fight for him.

  For so many years, that had been her desire. She’d never turned it around, though. Never let a man know he was worth sticking through the bad for. She’d spent years waiting for someone to be her champion, but what if it was her turn to be the white knight in someone’s life? A message from a church service so many weeks ago flooded back into her mind. She was called to love people. She wasn’t called to turn inward at the first sign of possible heartache. And she loved Brice. So she’d fight for him.

  Kendall got to her feet. “You’re right, Laura. I can’t believe I didn’t see that before.”

  Evan offered to go with her to locate Brice, but she felt that, after everything, this was something she needed to do on her own. After Laura, Evan and Kendall piled into Evan’s car, Kendall dialed her father’s number and let him know they were heading to Evan’s house. Her father had rented a room in town for the next week so they could spend time together.

  “For all we know, he may be back at his cabin. We’re going to stop there first to see. Laura checked this morning and his cabin was still locked up. But he might have gotten back in the last few hours.”

  “And if he’s not back?” her father asked.

  “Then I’m going to go find him. Evan knows his favorite camping spots. He offered to draw a map.”

  “Please be safe, honey.”

  “I’ll have my cell phone on at all times. I’ll be fine.”

  She gave him both Brice’s and Evan’s addresses. Laura and Evan invited him to wait with them at Evan’s house while Kendall went out searching. If she hadn’t returned by nightfall, or if she got lost, she was under strict instructions to stay wherever she was and Evan would come find her. Evan might have been the town flirt, but it turned out he was just as skilled an outdoorsman as his older brother.

  With a backpack full of water bottles, granola bars and a few first-aid supplies, Kendall set out a little after noon. Brice and Evan both owned acres and acres of land, and their land backed up to the property that used to serve as a sleepaway summer camp, which was now shut d
own. Evan had explained that Brice often crossed onto the old camp’s property because it was remote and had some of the best fishing for miles. The camp property spanned over six hundred acres of forestland.

  Kendall gulped down one of her water bottles and checked Evan’s map. She’d stopped at the first two possible spots and hadn’t found any sign of Brice. There were two more spots to check, but both looked far away, deep into the camp property.

  It was closing on four in the afternoon when Kendall reached a large ravine. Using branches for handholds, she started to make her way down the steep incline. She’d have to get to the bottom, cross a small stream and then head back up the other side. There didn’t look like any other option. Her calves and thigh muscles shook and her lungs ached. Forget workout videos—after this experience, she’d take up hiking to stay in shape.

  A low growl of thunder made her stop halfway down. She craned her neck, trying to get a sense for how near the storm was. When she left Evan’s home there hadn’t been a cloud in sight, but gray blanketed the sky now.

  She took her backpack off, set it on the ground and fished out her cell phone. The signal was low, but she pulled up her weather app to check on the storm. A large mass of swirling clouds showed a fast progression over Lake Michigan, and Goose Harbor was directly in its path. Lightning flashed nearby, so bright and close, Kendall jumped. Simultaneously the cell phone slipped from her hand and she lost her footing.

  Kendall screamed. She crashed forward, down the steep incline, rocks and branches smashing against her hands, her knees, her back, her ankles. Reaching out desperately, she tried to grab on to something to slow her progression. Her right leg crunched loudly as it caught and twisted in a copse of trees. Her bag tumbled down the hill after her and landed with a loud slosh into the stream.