by Liz Isaacson
He shrugged one shoulder. “How are you feeling about Kent?”
Nervous energy radiated off of her, and Second to Caroline, the horse closest to him shuffled its hooves. “I think I may have done something stupid,” she said.
Beau took a step closer to her. “What’s that?”
“I called my grandparents,” she said, wringing her hands around and around one another. “They didn’t say my name, but Pops called me ‘Princess,’ and if Kent has been listening at all, he’ll know….”
Beau felt like he’d swallowed too much salt water. His stomach writhed as he took a few steps toward her. She advanced toward him too, and when they met a moment later, Beau simply took her hands in his.
“I guess we’ll deal with what we have to,” he said. “But there’s not much we can do about it today, is there?”
“Has your friend called you again?”
“No, but he said he would when he knew anything.” Beau stroked her hair off her face. “And I’ll keep working on these last two cases.” He wanted to promise her that they’d win, that this would all be over soon, but he didn’t know if that was true or not, so he said nothing of the sort.
They swayed together and he asked, “Did you want to help me with the Christmas tree this year? My family sort of has this lighting tradition, and we need to get a tree up and decorated in the foyer.”
“Sure,” she said. “But I need to finish the stained glass first.”
“How long do you have on that?” he asked.
“I think I can get it done this week.” She laid her cheek right against his chest, and all those doubts about their relationship dried right up. Beau wasn’t sure why he couldn’t believe Lily liked him. All of her actions seemed to indicate that she did. But so had Deirdre’s.
“Still no contact with your sisters?” Beau asked.
“No.”
“Anything else I should know?”
“I don’t think so. I just couldn’t help myself,” she said, pushing back and looking at him. “It’s Thanksgiving, and they don’t have anyone else.” She looked so earnest and sincere, and Beau’s heart squeezed a little bit more.
“It’s okay that you called,” he said. “I’ll make sure I get in touch with Paul Glamp in the morning and let him know. He’ll go by and talk to your grandparents, sweep their house for bugs, and then we’ll know.” He rubbed her back. “Okay?”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“Great, now unless you’re dyin’ to go for a ride, I think we should get back to the house. There’s this riveting game of Hearts going on in the dining room.”
Lily giggled, and Beau bent down to kiss her, taking the opportunity to do so before returning to the house full of people and the complete lack of privacy.
Beau shifted another piece of paper, trying to find some detail he’d overlooked. Kent had filed to have lifetime access to a portion of the royalties of the Everett Sisters albums that had been made during the time of his marriage to Lily, claiming that he’d put up with the long hours that Lily worked and all the travel and that the sacrifices he’d made for those albums should be rewarded.
This was a new filing to a case that had awarded him a lump sum five years ago for those albums.
“He can’t take a percentage off the top forever,” Beau said to himself. “But how do I get a judge to dismiss this completely?” He’d been planning to use some of the same arguments he had for the alimony case, but he wondered now if he needed more than that. Something a bit stronger.
So he went back to his notebook, scratching out notes and questions he needed to find out about Kent. About mid-morning, he called Sheriff Glamp and asked some questions and got Paul to send a couple of officers over to the Pettit’s house just to make sure everything was okay.
He heard Lily hammering away at something in the living room, and he got up and stretched his back. She wanted him to warn her when he came in while she was working, so he called, “Can I come in?” as he walked down the hall.
“Give me a minute,” she called back.
“Coffee?” he asked, taking a small peek into the living room. He couldn’t really see more than Lily standing on a ladder and holding a piece of green glass.
“I brought you coffee an hour ago,” she said, and Beau turned into the kitchen, wondering if that was really true. He hadn’t had a sip of coffee yet, nor had he seen Lily yet that morning.
Had he? He’d been so involved in the files and ideas that he hadn’t noticed much of anything.
The kitchen was empty, and the coffee in the pot was old. He washed it out and set a new pot to brew. He pulled open the fridge and pulled out leftover turkey and mashed potatoes. Returning for the gravy, he put together a breakfast of champions for the day after Thanksgiving, glad Celia hadn’t sent all the leftovers home with his brothers.
With a plate of food and a fresh cup of coffee, Beau settled at the bar and started eating. Five minutes later, Lily entered the kitchen, wiping her hands on a paper towel. “Morning,” he said and took another bite of potatoes.
“Good morning, times two,” she said. She collapsed onto the barstool next to him and leaned against his bicep. “You seemed pretty involved in your computer this morning.”
“Yeah,” he said, not wanting to admit he hadn’t even noticed her when she’d come in. “How’s the window coming along?”
“Great.” She smiled at him and got up and poured herself a cup of coffee.
“I think I’m going to go into town this morning,” he said.
“It’s almost lunchtime,” she said. “And it’s pouring rain. Snow in the forecast.”
“It would be a quick trip,” he said.
“Promise you won’t peek at the window when you drive up,” she said. “It’s almost done, and I don’t want you to see it.”
“I won’t,” he said.
She walked by him and swept a kiss along his temple and said, “Okay, I’m going to go shower then.”
He watched her leave and then he finished his breakfast-slash-lunch. The drive down the canyon was filled with driving rain, which lessened the further into town he went. He stopped by his mother’s place first, a bit dismayed to see a car that wasn’t hers in the driveway.
He stayed in his SUV and watched the windows, thinking he should call first so he didn’t interrupt something that would embarrass either one of them. His phone chimed before he could get the call sent, and it was his mother.
I see you out there. You gonna come in?
Is Jason here? he sent back. I don’t want to interrupt anything.
It’s the grocery delivery.
The door opened, and a young man came bustling out, his hood up over his head. He ran down the sidewalk and practically leapt into his car. Beau copied him in reverse, bursting into the warmth of his mother’s house.
“Wow, it’s raining harder than it looks,” he said, shaking the water from his cowboy hat.
His mother stood in the kitchen, unloading her groceries. “What brings you down to town?”
Beau walked into the kitchen and sat at the bar. “Just wanted to see you, Mom.”
She gave him a narrow-eyed glance and pulled out a can of beans. “That’s not good.”
“What? I can’t come visit my mother?” He grinned at her and reached for the bag of tortilla chips she hadn’t put away yet.
“How are things with Lily?”
“The cases are going okay,” he said, not wanting to get into all the details of what he hadn’t been able to figure out yet.
“I meant your relationship with her.”
“I—we’re not—”
She rolled her eyes and said, “Oh, come on. Everyone knows you two are dating.”
“How?” Beau ripped open the chips and took out a handful.
“Well, for one, you invited Andrew and Becca up for movie night.”
“So?”
“So that wasn’t a date?”
“I don’t think anyone ever used the word
date,” Beau said immediately stuffing his mouth full of chips.
“But you are dating her.” She turned and put her canned goods in the pantry. “Right?”
When she looked him in the eye, Beau couldn’t lie to her. “Yes, all right? Yes, we’re dating. Sort of.”
His mom shook her head, a loving smile on her face. “Oh, Beau.”
“I’m an idiot, aren’t I?” He pushed the chips away.
“No,” she said but she didn’t add to it.
“Her ex is in Jackson,” Beau said. “I’m trying to keep her safe and win her cases.”
“And she’s doing a stained glass window for your house, and you’re falling for her.”
“I’m not, Mom.” Beau stood up. “Honestly, I’m not.” But he wasn’t sure if he was or not. He could be, but it was happening quite a bit slower than his fall with Deirdre. “She’s a big celebrity, and there’s no way she’s staying somewhere like Coral Canyon.”
He wished the truthfulness of his words didn’t echo quite so loudly in his ears or fill the rafters of the house.
“I have to go,” he said, heading for the front door. “I have some files at the courthouse I need to look at.”
Eighteen
Lily went right back to work on the stained glass window after she showered, though the smell of the solder was giving her a headache. She wanted to get this window done for some reason. Maybe it was because Beau had mentioned a big Christmas tree project, and she wanted to be available for that.
Or maybe she knew her time at the lodge was coming to an end and she didn’t want to leave her window unfinished.
She cut the blue cathedral glass to fit the triangle she needed for the middle of the E on the name Whittaker. She loved the logo she’d contracted through another email address with an artist. The last name was made of beautiful glass in an array of colors, and she’d finished those first.
The horseshoe had come together nicely, as had the rainbow. She just had the finishing touches to complete, and then she needed to go through the cleaning process to make sure when she revealed the design, the sun could truly illuminate each piece.
She liked the silence in the house, and she could tell Celia, Bree, and everyone else had gone home last night. When they were in the lodge, it had a different presence. Lily liked them both, but something was still unsettled inside her.
Beau hadn’t said anything about her grandparents, which Lily had assumed was a good thing. So she hadn’t asked. Rose and Violet had both emailed last night, and Lily thought through their messages as she fitted the glass into place and melted a piece of solder in exactly the right place.
She’d forgotten how much she enjoyed creating, as she hadn’t written a song or anything creative in a long time. Sure, she had lots of lines typed into her phone, but nothing had come together into a song in a while.
When she caught sight of Beau’s SUV coming through the parking lot, she hung the paper over the section she was working on and climbed down the ladder.
The garage door slammed the moment her foot hit the floor, and she wiped her hands down her thighs.
She watched him hang his keys on the hook and take off his hat. She’d forgotten how long his hair was on top, as she normally only saw the shaved sides outside of his cowboy hat.
“You got a haircut,” she said.
He turned and faced her, and he looked tired. “I sure did.” He took a few slow steps toward her. “And I spent a lot of time at the courthouse.”
A twinge of guilt hit her, but then she reminded herself that she was paying him to win her cases. “Learn anything good?”
“I got a couple of things,” he said generally, and Lily didn’t press for more. She’d learned that he kept his legal strategies mostly to himself and just told her what she needed to know, when she needed to know it.
He lifted a bag. “I brought lunch.”
“As if we don’t have enough food in the fridge.” She grinned at him. “The lodge is different with just the two of us here, don’t you think?”
“Is it?” He veered into the kitchen and set the white paper bag on the counter. “Different good, or different bad?”
She stepped beside him and watched him pull out white Styrofoam containers that smelled very much like her favorite Chinese food. Her mouth watered, and her stomach reminded her that she had only drunk coffee for breakfast.
“Just…different.” She slipped her hand through his elbow, her heart thumping weirdly once and then settling down. She really liked Beau, and she wanted to talk to him about something.
“My sisters emailed last night.”
“Oh?” He flipped open the first container to reveal the Red China spicy chicken she loved, as well as ham fried rice.
She picked up one of the plastic forks and tugged the container toward her while he opened a second one, this time with an egg roll inside.
“This one’s yours,” he said, but he plucked the egg roll from his container and put it in her lid.
“Thank you,” she said. “Rose said Vi’s solo album isn’t going well, and the producers are asking when I’ll be back.”
Beau nodded. “Sorry about your sister’s album.”
“I’m sure it’s fine.” She didn’t need to explain all the different distinctions that were used to measure an album’s success. No, Vi hadn’t gone platinum, or even gold, but selling a hundred thousand records was nothing to sneeze at.
“What are you going to do?” he asked.
She looked at him, but he wouldn’t meet her gaze. She really wanted to look into his eyes, as if the answers to what she should do would be written there, in his dark depths.
When he never would focus on anything but his chicken, she looked away too. “I like writing songs,” she said. “I’m a creative person.”
Several seconds of silence went by. “I sense a but,” he said.
There was definitely a but. Problem was, Lily wasn’t sure she should say what came behind it. She felt like she was at a crossroads in her life and it was time to choose.
“But I really like it here,” she said, employing her bravery. “I like the horses. I like this lodge. I like you.”
That got him to look at her, and Lily shrugged, the honesty already flowing between them. “But—”
“I don’t want to hear what comes after this one,” Beau said, a sad and playful smile on his face.
“Ha ha.” Lily nudged him with her shoulder. “I just think maybe this isn’t where I’m supposed to be.”
“Why would you think that?”
“I don’t know. I’ve always lived near my sisters. We write songs, record them, and tour together. This is totally different than that.”
“I get that.”
He said he did, but Lily wasn’t sure he could get it.
“And I don’t want to put you in danger.”
“Lily,” he said, and something warm flowed through her blood at the tender, husky way he said her name. “I am not in danger because of you.”
“What if Kent comes here, and to get to me, he goes through Celia? Or your mother?” Lily didn’t have to look at his face to feel him flinch.
“I’m sure that won’t happen.”
“You’ve never met Kent.”
“Is he violent? You’ve never said that.”
“No, he’s proper,” Lily said. “But he’s not afraid to hire people who are below board.”
“But he has no money.”
Lily let the argument drop then, mostly because Beau was right. Maybe she was worrying about nothing.
“I didn’t answer either of my sisters,” she said. “I’m thinking of telling them about us.”
Beau met her eye again. “Is that right? What are you going to tell them?”
She grinned at him. “That I’m dating this really great guy, and we’re going to decorate a Christmas tree together.”
He groaned and said, “Don’t remind me.”
“That you’re great? Fine, I’ll never m
ention it again.”
He laughed, slung his arm around her, and said, “I think you’re pretty great too.”
She smiled and received his kiss willingly, glad she’d confessed some things to him and praying that when it came time to really make a decision, she could make the right one.
“All right, are you ready?” Lily perched on the ladder, her hand already positioned on the brown butcher paper she’d been using to keep the stained glass concealed. Bree, Celia, and Beau stood together near the doorway, as Lily had instructed them. That way they’d have the best view of the design.
Her stomach rioted against the idea of pulling down the tape, and she adjusted her fingers on the paper. She told herself over and over again that Beau would love it.
“We’re ready,” Beau said, an encouraging smile on his face. Lily took another moment to memorize him like that, his eyes bright and hopeful, that cowboy hat tipped back so he could see her near the ceiling.
“Okay.” She pushed out her breath and tugged on the paper, the tape nearest her coming loose instantly. She had to pull a little harder to get the piece way down on the other end to pop free, but when it did, the brown paper drifted down to reveal the window.
She’d used cathedral glass and standard gray solder to form the design over the existing window. It had a long, curved arch along the top, and she’d done most of the glass up there in shades of blue and green, which were calming.
Light splashed onto the floor below, but Lily couldn’t look away from Beau’s face. Wonder crossed it, and maybe something like pure awe. She wasn’t sure if he liked it or not.
The word WHITTAKER ran across the straight bottom of the window, with the rainbow over the curve of the R at the end, and the horseshoe hung on one of the points of the W at the beginning.
The letters were done in a shade of black that still let in plenty of light, and while Lily could see all the flaws in the window, Beau said, “Wow. It’s stunning.”
He came forward and extended his hand for her to hold as she made her way down the ladder, and he took her effortlessly into his arms once she’d reached the floor. He kissed her quickly, apparently not caring that they had onlookers, and said, “I love it.”
