by Liz Isaacson
“You like me, right?”
She lifted herself up and looked at him, her eyes illuminated by the bright lights from the movie screen. “Of course, I do, Beau.”
He swallowed, his mouth suddenly so dry. “My last client…her name was Deirdre. I thought she liked me too.”
Lily sat all the way up, the movie clearly forgotten. “Go on.”
“Turned out, she didn’t. I mean, not really. Not as much as I liked her.” Beau had no idea what he was saying. “I mean, I’m not saying you need to like me as much as I like you, but I’m just wondering where you see this…us…going.” He gazed at her, determined to be strong and straightforward. Lily seemed to appreciate that more than beating around the bush.
“I honestly don’t know, Beau.”
He nodded, his worst fears manifesting themselves in those words. “I live here,” he said. “This is what I do. I know you travel and sing and tour….” As he spoke, he realized how hopeless a relationship with her was. And how big of a fool he’d been, falling for his client again.
At least he hadn’t kissed her yet. At least he wasn’t all the way in love with her. Yet.
Beau looked away, watched what was happening on the screen though it didn’t make sense to him. Not a whole lot did at the moment.
“I shouldn’t have—” he started, but as Lily traced her fingers up his arm to his face, his voice went mute.
“If I do ever get married again,” she said, her voice soft and absolutely piercing. “I’d want it to be with someone like you.”
Beau wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, but he did know that all of his fears fled with her words. And when she leaned toward him, closing her eyes as she neared, Beau’s heart and desire began firing like cannons.
The first touch of her mouth against his happened while his eyes were still halfway open, and as he realized that she’d kissed him, he brought his hands to her face and kissed her right on back.
And suddenly, things between them did make sense. No, not everything was worked out and planned for and ready to go.
But it didn’t matter. As he continued to kiss Lily, all the shouting voices in his head were silent. They had nothing to say, and everything felt absolutely right.
Fourteen
Lily wasn’t sure what she would do when her cases were settled, when it was time to leave Whiskey Mountain Lodge—leave Beau.
But it didn’t matter right then. With the flickering light from the movie playing on the back of her eyelids, and the spicy scent of Beau’s cologne in her nose, and the way his face seemed to fit in her hand, she didn’t want to be anywhere but with him, in this theater room, kissing.
He finally pulled away, leaving Lily breathless and wondering if she should’ve kissed him weeks ago. She sucked in a breath as he gave a low chuckle and said, “Well, I guess we don’t have to have everything figured out right now.”
She tucked herself back into his side and stared at the screen. “No, probably not.”
“You will be honest with me, though, right?” He pressed his lips to the top of her head. “Just tell me how you feel, okay? I’d rather know than wake up one day and find your bedroom empty.”
She shifted against him, turning her head to see his face. “Is that what Deirdre did, Beau?”
“Yeah, pretty much.” The sadness emanating from him made Lily wonder if he was even over his other client yet. “And she got a new phone, and I couldn’t reach her. When I finally tracked her down—I mean, I’m not a stalker, but I have ways of finding people—she said she just wanted to return to her ‘normal life’ in Colorado.”
Lily didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry,” she tried, but it didn’t sound quite adequate enough. “How long ago was that?”
“Last Christmas. Just after the New Year, we got all her cases settled, and she disappeared in the middle of the night.”
Almost a year, Lily thought. It seemed like enough time for him to be in another relationship, but she was still getting to know Beau Whittaker. She’d liked everything she’d seen from him, right down to how he marked his documents with blue post-it notes so she’d know where to read and then sign.
She liked this lodge, and the country way of life. It was slow, and steady, and peaceful, in a world where Lily had never experienced slow, steady, or peaceful. Her life had been one of glitz and glam, private drivers and all-nighters.
He kissed her again when the movie ended, and they went upstairs together to find the kitchen lights dim and the meatloaf sitting on the stovetop. Celia had left a note that she didn’t want to bother them, and that she was upstairs if they needed anything.
Beau gazed at the note, and Lily said, “How do you know Celia?”
“My brother hired her,” he said. “Years ago. She’s been cooking here for almost four years, for all of us actually, as we’ve all lived in this lodge for a time.”
“Are you going to stay here forever?” she asked.
Beau looked thoughtful for a moment, and then nodded. “Yeah. I sold my house in town. Gave up my practice. I think this is home for me now.” He glanced around. “I do love the lodge.”
Lily did too, but she kept the words beneath her tongue. “Do you like renting it out?”
“It’s not so bad,” he said. “The guests don’t bother me. Bree takes care of all of that, and we have a part-time housekeeper too. Her name’s Annie.”
“I like Bree. And Celia.”
Beau’s grip on her hand tightened. “I’m glad. I don’t think I’m hungry.” He released her hand and started opening drawers until he found the aluminum foil. Then he wrapped up the cool meatloaves and put them in a gallon-sized bag. “Don’t tell Celia, okay?” He gave her a sly grin, and she smiled back.
“Oh, you can’t keep anything from her,” Lily said. “But nice try.”
Beau laughed, and Lily joined in as they went down the hall toward their bedrooms. He paused outside his door, slid his hand up her arm, and grinned at her. “Pretty good ending to the day, though, right?”
“Definitely.”
Beau leaned down and kissed her again, really taking his time to let her know that he liked her. Lily liked him too, and by the time he slipped through his door and closed it, she wasn’t even sure she knew how to walk.
On Thanksgiving Day, Lily woke to an alarm so she could get to work on the pies before the turkey needed to go into the oven.
Celia had been teaching her the ins and outs of dough and fillings for a couple weeks, and Lily had agreed to make a pecan pie, as well as a pumpkin one. She wasn’t too fond of the last one, but it needed to bake the longest, so she flipped on the lights in the kitchen and got out all the ingredients she needed.
She’d given Beau a list, and he’d gone into town yesterday, barely making it back with his life, if he was to be believed. He’d claimed the grocery store was a madhouse, and Lily had enjoyed listening to him tell the story as well as use those big muscles to bring in loads and loads of groceries.
She lined up all the spices, cans, and other ingredients she needed and focused. She couldn’t be thinking about Beau, and Beau’s muscles, and kissing Beau when she needed to concentrate on a recipe to make sure everything got incorporated in the right order.
She started with the dough, which needed to chill while she made the filling. She measured and mixed, molded and formed, before sliding the pie tins into the oven.
“Well, look at you,” Celia said as she bustled into the kitchen. She moved right over to the stovetop, where two perfectly browned pie crusts cooled.
“Morning.” Lily finished drying her hands and scraped her hair into a ponytail. “I’ll have the pumpkin in the oven in a few minutes. It’ll be yours by nine, I promise.”
“These look great, Lily.” Celia gave her the kind of motherly smile Lily craved, and she basked in the compliment.
“Thanks.”
Celia opened the fridge and started pulling things out. Vegetables, and stock, and butter. She was making the
stuffing, and then she’d get everything ready for the turkey too. Apparently, Beau’s mother was bringing rolls, and Graham and Laney were bringing yams, while Andrew and Becca were supplying all the drinks.
A river of nerves poured through Lily as she added the eggs to her pumpkin mixture and got it ready to pour into the crust. She’d met Graham several times, and Laney once. Andrew and his wife had never made it to the lodge after that storm, and Beau’s mother, who he said visited often, had not come out once either.
She was supposed to, but something had come up. So this meal they’d be sharing at two o’clock this afternoon would be the first time she met a lot of the people in Beau’s family. She wasn’t sure what he’d told them about her, and she wanted to ask him about it so she could be prepared.
Instead, she plowed through making the pecan pie, adding it to the oven with forty-five minutes left on the timer for the pumpkin pie. She checked the clock and saw she was going to make her nine o’clock deadline for being out of the oven by at least thirty minutes.
“I’ll be right back.” She left Celia in the kitchen, slicing celery, and headed down the hall to the office. Surely Beau would do a little bit of work even though it was a holiday. He started every day in the office, seven days a week.
But he wasn’t there when she poked her head inside. His laptop sat closed, and she turned away from the office. After facing his door, she stalled. She wasn’t going to go in there, and she didn’t even want to knock that badly.
He’d come out soon enough, so she went back to the kitchen and asked Celia, “What do you need me to do?”
“Can you grab that bread we cubed yesterday? I put it in the garage.”
“Sure, yeah.” Lily went down the hall the opposite way this time and pulled open the door to the garage. Something clanged as metal hit cement, and Beau muttered something under his breath.
“There you are,” she said. “Celia said the bread for the stuffing was out here.”
Beau looked up from under the hood of a car she hadn’t seen before. Lily was once again reminded that Beau had a life beyond this lodge, while she did not. “Bread?” He stepped away from the car and reached for a blue mechanic’s rag.
He approached her, looking handsome and rugged with the beard and cowboy hat he normally wore, along with all that grease on his hands. Lily licked her lips, and said, “We’re making Thanksgiving dinner while you play around out here, I’ll have you know.”
Beau simply laughed, wiped his hands, and came up the stairs to take her into his arms. “I’m not playing around. I’m trying to make this car run.”
“Why?” Lily held onto his upper arms, enjoying the adrenaline rush flowing through her veins. “You have that SUV, and it works great.”
“Yeah, but this is a Corvette,” he said. “Come see.” But he never got to the car, instead taking advantage of the privacy of the garage to kiss her.
She kissed him back but jerked away when she heard the squeak of the garage door.
“Can’t find it?” Celia asked, and Lily ducked her head as if her face would show what she and Beau had been doing.
“Um,” she said.
“It’s over on the deep freezer.” Celia pointed toward the front far corner, and Lily got her feet moving in that direction.
“And Beau, your phone keeps going off.” Celia turned and went back into the house, leaving Lily and Beau alone in the garage again. Lily collected the tray of bread cubes and started to head back into the house.
Beau preceded her and held the door while she squeezed past with the tray. She veered into the kitchen while he continued on to the office. She continued to work with Celia, and the whole lodge filled with the delicious smells of Thanksgiving. Pumpkin pie, roasted turkey, and butter, as Celia put more of the dairy product in the vat of mashed potatoes she made than Lily had ever seen.
She never saw Beau again, and then the front door opened, and a woman called, “Hello?” startling Lily.
“Who’s that?” she hissed as Celia tossed a towel onto the counter.
“That’s Beau’s mother,” she said. “Amanda.”
In the next moment, a beautiful woman entered the kitchen carrying a few bags of rolls in her hand. A man came behind her, also bringing in more bread.
And that was when Lily realized this would not be a simple meal.
Fifteen
Beau stewed in his office, though he knew his mother and her boyfriend had arrived. He couldn’t tell Lily about the phone call from the Sheriff in Jackson Hole, not on Thanksgiving.
He’d seen Kent the previous evening, but by the time he’d gotten home, it was too late to call Beau.
Sheriff Glamp hadn’t seemed too concerned about Kent, and apparently he’d only been in town for a day or two. Perhaps he was visiting the area for the holidays. The Sheriff said he’d keep an eye on things and see if he could question Kent to know the true intent of his presence in Jackson Hole.
But Beau knew the reason. Kent had somehow tracked Lily to the area, and it was only a matter of time before he came to Coral Canyon.
His heart beat heavily beneath his ribs, and Beau turned toward his laptop to try to figure a few things out just as his mother appeared in his doorway. “Hey, baby.”
“Mom.” Beau remembered it was Thanksgiving, and he was about to have a lodge-full of company for dinner. Not only that, but Lily would be meeting most of them for the first time. It was not the first time he’d had a client at a holiday meal, and his family was great.
More noise came down the hall, indicating someone else had arrived. By the sound of things, it was Graham and Laney and their kids.
He gave his mother a hug, and said, “Did you bring Jason?”
“Yes, he’s currently sampling the turkey to make sure it’s edible.” She laughed and pulled away. “I met Lily. She seems nice.”
“She is nice,” he said, wondering if he should treat Lily like the girlfriend she was or if he should pretend they had a purely professional relationship. They hadn’t had a chance to discuss any of that, so he went into the kitchen blindly.
Sure enough, Graham and Laney were both there, laughing with Celia about something. Lily stood off to the side, a smile stuck to her face in an odd way, and Beau made a beeline for her. “Did you meet everyone?”
“Sort of,” she said.
Beau turned back to the crowd, wondering if he should make a big announcement or just let her meet people more organically.
Andrew chose that moment to arrive, so Beau kept his mouth shut. Becca put down several bottles of sparkling cider, and she and Andrew came right over to Beau.
“Hey,” Andrew said. “We need to reschedule that movie night.” He cut a glance at Lily, his public relations smile in place. “I’m Andrew, Beau’s brother.”
Lily shook his hand, her grin becoming a bit more authentic. “Lily Everett.”
“This is my wife, Becca.” Andrew slung his arm around Becca, and Beau marveled at how far they’d come in such a short time. He knew Andrew’s path to the perfect romance hadn’t been easy, but still. He’d managed to complete it. Beau couldn’t seem to be able to take those final steps, with any of the women he’d dated over the years.
“All right,” Celia said in a loud voice. “It’s time to eat.”
Every eye fell on Beau, and he realized with a start that he was the man of Whiskey Mountain Lodge this year. He stepped away from Lily and said, “Welcome, everyone.” He glanced around. “Graham, did—?”
“Bailey put the place cards on the table,” Graham said.
Beau looked at it, somewhat surprised to find it perfectly laid out and ready for the meal. Celia really was a miracle worker.
“Right. So we’ll say grace, and then you can find your place at the table. Celia will tell us about the food, and Andrew, will you say the prayer?”
“Sure thing,” his brother said, folding his arms.
Beau swiped his cowboy hat from his head, adding his own mental plea to the Lor
d to keep Kent away from Coral Canyon and Lily until he could figure out what to do to Andrew’s vocalized prayer.
“Okay, so food is all here,” Celia said as soon as the group had said, “Amen,” together. “There’s plenty, so don’t be shy. Lily made the pies, and we’ll serve those with coffee in a couple of hours.”
All eyes flew to Lily, even Beau’s, but she seemed to take the extra attention fairly well. Before he could step away, she sidled up to him and touched his arm lightly. “Can we sit by each other?”
“Depends on where the cards are,” he said, watching as people walked over to the table, checked the spot, and picked up the plate there.
“They can’t be moved?”
Beau looked at her, realizing she was genuinely concerned about the seating arrangements. “We don’t normally move them, no.” He wanted to take her hand, squeeze it, comfort her. “But it’s a small group. I won’t be too far away.”
She drew in a deep breath, said, “Okay,” and walked away from him. He watched her go, the news that Kent was only a short hour away screaming through his mind.
You’re not telling her today, he told himself. She deserved a stress-free Thanksgiving. He followed her, and once everyone had loaded their plate with turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, and creamed corn, he said, “All right. Time for our gratitude share. Who wants to go first?”
“I will,” Jason said, surprising Beau. All eyes turned to him, and Beau caught the look of complete terror on Lily’s face from where she sat two places down from him. He hadn’t prepared her for this meal, and regret washed over him.
“I’m grateful to be here with your family,” Jason said with shining blue eyes. “It’s been a while for me since I’ve had this opportunity.”
Beau nodded, glad the man hadn’t said anything sappy about his mother. From there, the gratitude statements just went around, and when it was Lily’s turn, she said, “I’m glad to be eating a traditional Thanksgiving dinner this year.”
Everyone accepted her answer, but it made Beau wonder where she’d been last year. And the year before that. Or before that. Was she with her sisters or her grandparents? Or eating on the road with her crew?
