by Joan Kilby
Linda pressed food on him as if he was starving—which wasn’t far from the truth. He was in pretty good shape but working out at the gym was a far cry from a full day of physical labor. He filled his plate with pork chops, potatoes and salad, letting the dining table chatter wash over him, allowing himself to pretend just for tonight that he was part of the family.
Not that he was ignored. Everyone included him in the conversation. Will was interested in stock market advice, which at least he knew something about. Taylor wanted to know what was in fashion on the coast and Jodi asked about the music scene in Seattle. He was able to have an intelligent discussion with Will but regarding the finer points of women’s fashion and breakout groups like Macklemore he was less savvy.
Emma and Linda were engaged in a deep conversation about the logistics of Linda’s stall for the Cherry Festival but Emma caught his eye now and then and smiled. He liked her straightforward manner, no feminine mannerisms like touching her hair or batting her eyes. What you saw was what you got with Emma. She smiled easily and her sparkling green eyes lit whenever someone made a joke. If she did work for his firm he would have trusted her to not flirt to his face and then go behind his back and steal his accounts. Unlike Tanya.
Gradually Alex relaxed and forgot that he didn’t belong, asking Jodi about her tattoos, complimenting Taylor on the casserole and seeking Will’s advice on the best place in town for breakfast.
Finally he laid his fork down and pressed a hand to his groaning stomach. “Thanks, Linda. That was the best meal I’ve had in ages. I don’t get enough home cooking where I come from.”
“You’re welcome.” Linda smiled. “I hope you saved room for dessert. Emma, do you want to help me bring it out? Girls, can you clear the table, please?”
Taylor and Jodi started to stack dishes together to take them out to the kitchen. Alex would have helped but he was waved back to his chair.
“Relax,” Jodi said with an easy smile. “First meal you’re a guest of honor. Next time you eat with us you’ll be family and we’ll make you do the dishes.”
Alex smiled but inside he froze. If she knew the truth, that he was her half-brother by Robert’s de facto wife, would she be so welcoming? There wasn’t a single photo of him on their wall of family portraits. It was as though his father had wiped him out of his consciousness. And yet, Robert had remembered his birthday and sent a card, the first gesture in fifteen years of no contact. Did his father truly want to reconcile or was it just a belated guilty conscience?
“It’s true,” Will added easily. “I’m only let off the hook because it’s harvest time and I’ve been at work since before dawn.” He leaned his elbows on the table. “Tell me more about what you do when you’re not vacationing in Montana?”
A burst of feminine laughter from the kitchen disrupted his reply. “Never mind them,” Will said. “They’re always cooking up some surprise.”
“I’m a marketing account executive for a variety of companies—car dealerships, tech companies, you name it, really,” Alex said. “I’ve recently made partner in my firm.”
Will toyed with the salt shaker. “What made you come out to Cherry Lake for your vacation? I’d have thought a guy like you would head for bright lights or a resort.”
“A whim.” Alex shrugged. “I grew up north of here in Canada. My mother passed last year and I don’t know, I came looking for my roots.”
“Wouldn’t your roots be in Canada?”
“My father is from around these parts.” Alex could hear his own heartbeat. He hadn’t come here tonight intending to tell them who he was but these were good people and all of a sudden he didn’t want to lie to them, even by omission. His heart was clanging as if the truth was banging on his rib cage, trying to get out.
“I don’t know any Chernoffs,” Will said, frowning. “Mom might, though. Does he still live in Cherry Lake?”
“He does but I’m not staying with him,” Alex hedged. “His…living situation isn’t suitable for me to just drop in. I haven’t seen him yet.” Damn, he never should have gone down this track.
“Where does who live?” Jodi had entered the room in the middle of the conversation.
“Alex’s dad,” Will explained.
Alex wished he’d never said anything. Perspiration prickled his hairline. He resisted the urge to dab his forehead with his napkin, as if he was being cross-examined. If anyone should feel guilty, it was his father. “I—”
“Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you…” Linda sang as she entered the room carrying a cake blazing with candles, flanked by Emma and Taylor, all singing. “Happy Birthday, dear Alex, Happy Birthday to you.”
To his astonishment a three layer chocolate cake was set in front of him. The women clustered around to sing a second, nonsense verse of the birthday song.
Heat pricked his eyes and his chest squeezed tight. Even his friends in Seattle hadn’t gone to this much trouble over his birthday. He didn’t know if that said more about his choice of friends, or the kind of detached person he was, keeping people at arm’s length. He knew that about himself but he’d always seen not needing other people as a strength. Now it felt…isolating.
“Make a wish!” Emma cried, her hand warm on his shoulder. “Quick before the candles melt into the icing.”
I wish I was part of this family.
His eyes blurred and he scrunched them tight to damn up the moisture then blew as hard as he could.
“You blew them all out,” Emma said. “What did you wish for?”
“He can’t tell you,” Jodi said, “or it won’t come true.”
“He could give a hint,” Emma replied.
Alex touched a napkin to his eyes and then used it to blow his nose. “Darn smoke.”
“They’re smokeless candles,” Jodi pointed out. Emma nudged her and she subsided. “I guess they can still give off soot.”
“Cut the first piece,” Linda said, pressing a cake knife in his hand. “Then I’ll take over.”
He glanced up at her, trying to convey his gratitude without looking like a complete pansy ass. “Thank you, very much.”
“It’s nothing. We love birthdays, don’t we, kids?”
Even though the “kids” were all in their twenties there was a loud chorus of assent. Alex pushed the cake knife through the moist crumb, carving out a large wedge.
The front door opened and shut. A familiar but nearly forgotten voice boomed from the entrance to the dining room. “Hey, gang.”
The knife fell out of Alex’s hand and clattered on the cake plate.
“Honey, you’re home early!” Linda hurried to hug Robert, her anxious voice betraying her fears. “I thought you weren’t coming back until tomorrow. Don’t tell me you drove all this way after having the tests? I thought you were meeting the doctor tomorrow to discuss the results? You should have rested before making the trip back.”
“Don’t fuss, sweetheart,” Robert said gruffly. “The tests went fine. I can talk to the doctor on the phone. I couldn’t get out of that hospital fast enough. I missed you.” He left one arm around her waist and turned to the rest of the group. “I heard singing as I came in. What’s going on?”
“It’s Alex’s birthday,” Linda said. “He’s one of our new pickers. Alex, this is my husband, Robert.”
Slowly Alex looked up. He’d imagined this meeting for days—no, make that years—and what he would say to the man who’d abandoned him and his mother twenty-five years ago. The retribution, the recriminations…
His father’s eyes widened and his tanned face turned pale. He swallowed, his Adam’s apple visibly moving up and down. He made a sound in his throat but didn’t speak.
He’d aged, not surprising considering the amount of time that had passed. Still tall and hearty but less vigorous, with gray liberally threading his dark hair at the temples. Alex couldn’t say “Hi, Dad,” in front of everyone. His father might deserve to be confronted but Linda, Will, Taylor and Jodi didn’t deserve
the shock of finding out this way.
“Hello, Robert.” He rose and made himself hold out his hand as if to a complete stranger. “Nice to meet you.”
His father nodded, visibly shaken. His hand was limp and damp, almost cold even though it was a warm evening. His gaze locked with Alex’s, his eyes pleading. So, Robert wasn’t going to acknowledge him. Fine. This wasn’t the time, not with all his family around. He couldn’t even look at Emma but he felt her watching him.
“Robert? Are you all right? You’re so pale.” Linda put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him down into a chair. “You shouldn’t have driven all that way at night. Taylor, get your father a drink of water and some food. I bet you haven’t eaten a thing.”
“I should go.” Alex suddenly felt out of place. Odd that his father’s arrival should have precipitated a sense of being an outsider when moments ago he’d felt so accepted.
“We haven’t had your cake. But Robert needs to rest no matter what he says.” Torn between her husband and her hosting duties Linda looked to her oldest daughter. “Taylor, could you slice Alex and Emma a couple pieces of cake and put them in containers for them?” Taylor hurried into the kitchen to do as she’d been asked. “I’m so sorry, you two—”
“Don’t apologize,” Emma said before Alex could speak. “This isn’t a good time for guests.”
“Thanks again for dinner. I appreciate being included.” Alex cast his father a glance. Robert looked away.
Taylor cut large slices of cake and packed them into individual containers. “I’ll bring more to the orchard for lunch if there’s any left after Will and Jodi get through with it.”
As Emma passed Robert on her way out she leaned down and gave him a hug. “Take care.”
Alex followed, murmuring, “Good night.” He got no reply but then, he didn’t expect one. It hurt, dammit. But what hurt more was not being able to help somehow, although he didn’t know what he could do. He was confused, angry and worried all at the same time. Maybe his presence would be a detriment to his father’s health. He hadn’t considered that when he’d set off on this crazy trip to Montana.
Will walked them out to the wide porch and leaned a hand against a thick log upright supporting the overhanging roof. “Thanks again for your help today.”
“No problem. See you tomorrow.” Alex glanced at the sky as he walked to his car at the edge of the paved driveway. Clouds blanketed the stars and the moon but for all he knew about weather patterns in this part of the country it would blow over in an hour.
Emma lingered for a few quiet words with Will about Robert.
Alex leaned against his car and waited to offer Emma a lift. It was only across the street but he wanted a moment alone with her before they parted for the night. She knew his father better than he did. Things he couldn’t ask Linda, Will and the girls, he might be able to ask Emma.
Will went inside and closed the door. Emma came down the steps. “You didn’t have to wait. It’s only a few hundred yards.”
“Hop in.” He held the door open for her. Less than a minute later he’d pulled into her mother’s driveway across the road. He parked outside the circle of light cast by the security lamp over the porch and cut the engine. “Is Robert—”
“What was—” Emma said at the same time.
Alex gestured her to go first. And then wished he hadn’t.
“What was going on with you and Robert?” Emma asked. “He almost fainted when he saw you.”
Grateful his face was in shadow, Alex looked at the lake, a dark gray against the charcoal silhouettes of the pine trees. “Maybe he wasn’t feeling well. He’s sick, right? What were his tests about?”
“His heart, apparently. This is the first I’ve heard of a problem.” She worried at the hem of her sundress, pressing it flat against her knees. “Nate, his father, had heart trouble, too, years ago. I think he had an operation. I would have been, oh, about five years old. I remember Robert was living somewhere else at the time but he came home when Nate got sick.”
Robert hadn’t come home. His home back then was in Castlegar. Why had his mom broken up with him? Come to think of it, who had initiated the break, or was the separation mutual? All he knew was that after that trip to the cherry orchard Robert had moved the last of his clothes out of the closet and taken his toolbox from the garage. Whenever Alex tried to ask about his dad, she’d told him he wasn’t ever coming back to live with them. The few times Robert had visited after that his mother had stayed out of the room until he’d left.
“Your expression looked strained, too,” Emma persisted. “What is Robert to you?”
“I told you, we have—had—” Even though she’d been gone over a year he couldn’t get used to thinking of his mother as dead. “—A mutual acquaintance.” And he sure didn’t like referring to his mom as an acquaintance. “Actually, this person was a relation of mine. Since I was in the area, I wanted to look Robert up.”
“Or did you come to this area for the purpose of looking him up?”
“Who sounds like a lawyer now? It’s been a long day.” Alex rubbed his eyes with the tips of his fingers. “I need to get some sleep.”
He felt, rather than saw, her lips compress. She wasn’t happy with his evasiveness but that was too bad. He’d planned to kiss her goodnight to cement their closeness earlier by the lake. Now that seemed not only inappropriate but a new distance had sprung up between them. A good reminder, if he needed one, that starting something with her wasn’t smart when he was going through such a confusing time emotionally.
Emma hesitated, as if wondering herself if they would kiss. When he didn’t make a move, she got out of the car. She didn’t quite slam the door. “See you tomorrow.”
He waited until she’d walked the pebbly path to her front steps and the door closed behind her before driving away. One thing he knew amid all the turmoil. Tomorrow he would talk to his father and get some answers.
Chapter Five
‡
Emma woke to the sound of rain on the roof. With the summer blanket pulled up to her chin she listened. Not a pelting rain but not light drizzle, either. Steady rain, the kind that wet the leaves and the cherries and made picking impossible.
She stretched, feeling the stiffness in her sore shoulders and thigh muscles. A day off wouldn’t be such a bad thing from her point of view but she felt for Will having yet another delay to the harvest.
Reaching for her phone on the bedside table, she checked the local weather for the next few days. Good, the rain was passing and should clear up by this afternoon. A little wind, too. With luck Will wouldn’t have to get the helicopters in again.
Zoe’s red bikini was still hanging off the back of her desk chair where she’d thrown it yesterday, bringing her swim with Alex flooding back. She touched her lips, reliving the sensation of his mouth on hers. Her eyes closed as she imagined his big hands spanning her waist, smoothing up her rib cage to her breasts. She moved her palm over her nipple, feeling it pebble and warmth pool between her legs….
“Emma, time to get up!” her mom called, banging on her door.
Emma groaned. She’d asked her mother to knock when she got up to go to work. “It’s raining. We won’t be picking.”
“Oh, right. Go back to sleep.” Her mom’s slippers made a shuffling sound as she moved off down the hall.
Emma closed her eyes but thoughts of Alex crowded her mind. The past two days had been a roller coaster. Pretend road rage, flirtatious banter in the orchard, a kiss in the lake. Then what had started as a relaxed family dinner had ended in Robert’s dramatic return and Alex turning weird and evasive. Everyone had been focused on Robert when he had that funny turn. She’d been looking at Alex. He’d gone pale, too, the strain showing in the tightened lines around his eyes and mouth. And an expression she couldn’t read in his eyes. Anguish, or anger? Both?
If she was a soap opera buff she might think he was a long lost son come looking for his father. But that couldn’t be beca
use Robert would have had to have an affair and that didn’t make sense based on everything she knew and had observed about Robert and Linda’s relationship. They were still deeply in love after thirty-odd years. She wasn’t sure exactly how long they’d been together but it was impossible to imagine Robert cheating on Linda.
Alex had said his father lived around here. She’d never heard of any Chernoffs locally but Alex could have a different name from his father. Maybe Alex’s dad and Robert were old foes and that accounted for the animosity. Except it wasn’t exactly antagonism she’d seen on Robert’s face…more like shock. Maybe Robert had cheated Alex’s father out of some land and Alex had come back to take revenge….
Okay, now she was getting ridiculous. Robert was honest, a pillar of integrity. Throwing back the covers she got up and threw a wrap on over the tank top and panties she wore to sleep in. Her mother was in the kitchen having toast and coffee and reading the local newspaper before work.
“I’m glad you’re up,” her mother said. “Could you give me a ride to the motel? My starter motor finally crapped out. I’ll have to take it in to Reg’s service station to get fixed. He’s going to charge me an arm and a leg.”
“Why don’t you let Damon Brand fix it?” Emma poured herself coffee and popped bread in the toaster. “He could use the business.”
“Is he any good?”
“Of course he is.” She really had no idea but he’d always been smart, responsible and hard-working. Good with his hands, too, if the sculptures he used to make in art class were anything to go by. She searched the cupboard for the jar of honey. “Jess is working for him.”
“I heard she was in town.” Her mother’s eyebrows rose. “Are those two together?”
“I don’t think they’re a couple if that’s what you mean.” Although it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if they were. Jess needed someone steady like Damon and Jess would lighten him up. She liked Jess, maybe even more now than when they’d been in high school. She was a little more humble, a little less full of herself. Although she’d always been nice enough to Emma even though they traveled in different circles.
