Imagining Love on Willow Road (Island County Series Book 13)

by Karice Bolton

  “What if he changed? What if he’s sorry? If he has a good excuse?”

  “I don’t think there is a good excuse.”

  “You’re probably right.”

  Although, over the years, I’d often imagined different scenarios, like amnesia and falling ill, to explain the complete desertion.

  Instead of feeling free of the secrets, I felt heavy and burdened. I wanted to break free of all the unanswered questions. I wanted to free up my mind to imagine something worthwhile, the next stage in my life—not waste time wondering why he’d never asked.

  “I did find out that at the same time I was being accused of all that, Walker’s aunt had been having an affair on his uncle.”

  Shannon whistled and shook her head. “Well, that could explain things right there.”

  “I know. I guess that’s why I didn’t chase after him. He was seeing the worst violation of family unfold at the same he heard something like that about me.”

  “Maybe.” Shannon nodded. “And the kiss last night?”

  “It was even more incredible than I remembered.” I looked up to the sky and closed my eyes, feeling the sun wash over my skin. “I felt more emotion behind his lips last night than I ever had before.”

  She laughed. “Adds a bit of complication.”

  I waggled my finger at her. “Only if a person lets it, and I’m not up for complication.”

  “Maybe we don’t always have control.”

  “Possibly.”

  “Isn’t that Walker over there?” Shannon pointed in the direction of the ferry terminal where passengers could walk on. He was stepping off the ferry and making his way toward us.

  “You don’t think he’s seen us, do you?”

  “Doubt it. He seems to be staring at his phone pretty intently.”

  “Good. Let’s get out of here.”

  “And go where?” Shannon asked, hopping up.

  “Anywhere but here.”

  But just as we reached the crosswalk, I heard Walker’s voice booming behind me, calling out for me.

  “Wow. He even recognizes you from behind.”

  I laughed. “Apparently so.”

  We reached the sidewalk, and Shannon gave me a quick hug. “I’ll catch you around. You can fill me in on the next kiss.”

  I chuckled. “Did you not hear anything I told you?”

  “I heard it all loud and clear.” She winked at me as Walker walked up.

  He slid his phone into the back pocket of his dark jeans and slid his sunglasses onto his head.

  “I’m glad I ran into you.” He grinned, and my stomach clenched.

  All I could think about was our kiss last night.

  “Yeah.” I nodded and glanced toward the ferry.

  “Especially since you haven’t returned my calls or texts.”

  “I’ve been busy. I had to catch up a friend on last night.”

  He crossed his arms as his gaze fastened on mine. “What about last night?”

  “Just how busy the restaurant was.” I shrugged, smiling. “You know. Stuff like that.”

  “Really. Was that all you informed your friend on?”

  I laughed. “So, what were you doing in Seattle so bright and early this morning?”

  “Had a couple of business things to catch up on.”

  “Like what?” I asked, wondering exactly what it was that he did.

  “Well, I had to go to the bank to sign some papers.” He rocked back on his feet. “And I had to think about things.”

  “You’ve created a lot of thinking for me to do too.” I narrowed my eyes on him. “Do you realize how simple my life had become moving here? I finally got away from it all.”

  He smiled. “All what? What were you trying to escape?”

  “That’s easy. A bad lifestyle. Bad choices.”

  He nodded.

  “My only concern is that I’ll continue to make bad choices.” I flashed a wry grin.

  Walker laughed. “Are you talking about me?”

  I took a sip of tea. “You said it. I didn’t.”

  “It’s hard to get you off my mind,” he confessed.

  “For now.”

  He flinched like I’d sucker-punched him, and I guess I had.

  “Why are you here, Walker? What are you running from?”

  A low growl escaped his lips, which turned into laughter.

  “What? Do you have a stalker or something?” I teased.

  His expression changed into a grimace, and he nodded. “Kind of. Yeah.”

  I chuckled until I realized he was serious.

  “Really?” I was almost impressed. “Like bona fide or just a bit sketchy?”

  “Well, the police are handling it.”

  “Yikes.” I shook my head. “What did you do? You’re not that great of a kisser.”

  “Ouch.” His hand flew to his chest.

  “Kidding. You’re the best kisser I’ve ever met.”

  His eyes widened. “Really?”

  “But I don’t think this is an appropriate side conversation to have while we’re talking about a stalker who’s after you.”

  He glanced at his phone. “It’s almost lunchtime. Are you free? I heard the burger stand at the end of the street is pretty good.”

  I sucked on my lip as his gaze fell to my mouth, and I couldn’t help but see his eyes darken a shade, which made me smile.

  “Lunch couldn’t hurt.” I nodded. “It sounds like you have a lot you can catch me up on.”

  “Probably so.” Walker nodded, slipping his hand over mine. “And maybe you’ll begin to see that I have changed.”

  “Whatever you say, Walker Malone.” I rolled my eyes and hid a smile.

  Maybe I could be stronger this time.

  Maybe I didn’t have to love him back.

  Chapter Eleven

  The sunlight caught the turquoise in Walker’s eyes as we sat under a tree by the burger stand. The outdoor tables were close to the marina, and the burgers were deliciously greasy and cheesy, which were some of my favorite attributes when it came to burgers.

  “Great burgers.” Walker smiled, taking another bite. “Not as good as yours, but still really good.”

  “No, I’d say they’re better than mine.” I grinned, wondering why these moments with Walker couldn’t be filled with awkward exchanges and stilted silence. “Now, spill the beans on your stalker.”

  “Where to begin . . .”

  I scratched my temple and laughed. “How about the beginning?”

  “I don’t even remember where that is any longer.”

  “It’s been going on that long?”

  “Off and on.” He nodded. “I figured it was my punishment for what I did to you. Karma and all.”

  “Well, thanks for taking one for the team, but I don’t think Karma works quite like that.”

  “We shall see.” He dipped a fry into ranch but didn’t eat it.

  “How’d you meet?” I asked again.

  “She was a receptionist we’d hired about six years ago.”

  I nodded. “We meaning . . .”

  “My partners and I invested in a small startup out of some kid’s garage, but what he had to offer was pretty amazing. Still is. Great product. We moved him and his team into an office space in San Jose, where my partners and I could meet with them more regularly and more comfortably.”

  “You live in California?”

  He nodded.

  Interesting. I never pictured Walker as a Californian. Maybe a New Yorker, but not a Californian. He seemed more edgy and raw than the surfer boys I’d known from there.

  “So, you hired this woman as a receptionist?” I prompted. “What was her name?”

  “Her name is Leila Harper.”

  “Want to give me height, weight, hair, and eye color too? You know, in case she starts snooping around?” I teased, but I was only half-kidding.

  “She’s about your height with dark hair, almost black.” He grinned. “She’s a slim build and ha
s hazel eyes and lips that have been filled with every possible substance imaginable.”

  I laughed. “Good to know.”

  “She looks pretty plastic. It’s not just her lips.” He glanced down at my chest and smiled before bringing his gaze back to mine. “She’s basically filled with lots of foreign substances.”

  “And you’d know this because . . . ?” My right brow arched.

  What I imagine happened with Walker Malone and Leila is that he flirted, took her out to drinks, they fooled around, and she wanted more. He didn’t, and this was payback.

  “You can just tell by looking. Before moving back up north, I’d been in Los Angeles long enough to spot certain things.”

  I laughed. “You’re saying you haven’t slept with her?”

  He looked horrified. “I’d never sleep with an employee.”

  “Really? My voice squeaked. “I kind of thought that a conference room romp would be right up your alley.”

  “Tell me how you really feel about me.” He smiled.

  “I just did.”

  He laughed and shook his head. “Needless to say, I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”

  “Hardee-har-har.” I rolled my eyes. “So, you did or didn’t? Because that just confuses things,” I teased.

  He chuckled. “I never did. She’s way too young, and as I said, I don’t mix business with pleasure.”

  “So, what happened then?”

  “She made it clear that she wanted to date me.” He let out a sigh. “I politely declined several times. I finally had to let our attorneys know what was going on.”

  “Really?” I couldn’t hide my surprise.

  “Yeah. I just didn’t want a sexual harassment suit coming at me when I was the one not interested.” He shrugged. “You know, you hear of that stuff.”

  I nodded.

  “Anyway, she quit, and I thought the worst was behind me. When I repeat this stuff out loud, it just sounds crazy.”

  “Keep going. You can’t stop now.”

  “The first oddity was a dead mouse on my doorstep. I thought a neighborhood cat had dropped one off.” He let out a deep sigh. “But the very next day, a dried-up rose was tossed on the doorstep.”

  “So weird, especially since you guys didn’t . . .”

  His brows raised. “Are you saying that I’m so good in bed that it would make a stalker out of any rational woman?”

  I laughed and shook my head. “I’m not saying that. Okay, maybe I am saying that.”

  “You’re one hard woman to read, Harmony.” His lips parted into a sincere smile, and he shook his head. “Honestly, I feel sorry for her. I think I was one of the few people who paid attention to her. Said hi to her in the mornings. Remembered to bring her a muffin when I brought them in for the team. Just little things that most people wouldn’t think twice about, but she did.”

  “Walker, just about anything you do with that smile of yours makes women think twice.”

  “Please.”

  “I’m serious. I’m not saying her actions are warranted or that you led her on. There’s absolutely no excuse for dead rodents and roses, but if she was searching for some sort of . . .” I shrugged. “I don’t know, attention or validation, all it might take is your blue eyes to smile at her.”

  “My eyes don’t smile.”

  “They do. I can tell when you’re smiling even when you’re expressionless. You’ve always been like that.” I cleared my throat, wishing I hadn’t revealed so much. “My point is that Leila is obviously disturbed and needs to be dealt with by authorities, but if she is unstable and accidentally mistook your kindness for something more, it’s a really dangerous situation to be in.”

  “It is.” He nodded. “It actually got worse. She set fire to my pool house in my backyard, and before that, she slashed my tires.”

  “Wow.”

  “Yeah.”

  “And she’s still out there, walking around?”

  Walker shook his head. “No, she’s been at a psychiatric facility. The problem is that she’s going to be released sooner than I thought. I needed some time away to think about things.”

  I nodded. “Well, geez. That makes my wild time in Portland seem a lot less exotic.”

  Walker smiled. “Well, I always had a flair for the dramatic, but so did you.”

  “Maybe.” I shrugged. “My idea of drama now is a good thriller as I soak in a tub full of bubbles.”

  “And God, do I wish I could be there for that.” His dimple showed up, and I quickly looked away.

  “I set myself up for that one.”

  “Can you blame me?”

  I grinned. “You always knew how to flirt.”

  “But you’re the only one who falls for it.”

  “Doubtful, Walker Malone.”

  He grinned. “I’m glad I came to Fireweed.”

  I drew a deep breath and nodded slowly, bringing my gaze to his. “I’m glad you did too.”

  “But I’m even happier that you’re here, Harmony.”

  I didn’t say anything. Instead, I swallowed down the uncertainty that crept into my mind.

  Seeing Walker Malone sit across from me in the middle of Fireweed was nothing short of surreal.

  I’d imagined this day for so long that I thought I knew what I’d say to him, how I’d put him in his place and attempt to make him hurt like I had.

  But I couldn’t do that to Walker.

  There was something that pulled us together when we were young, and by some mysterious force in the world, we were meeting again on a remote island where nobody should ever run into one another.

  “Walker?”

  He brought his eyes to mine.

  “Why didn’t you ask me if it were true?”

  Walker licked his lips and looked away. Sadness etched his expression before he brought his gaze back to mine.

  “Because I knew it wasn’t.”

  My heart cracked a million times over. I’d been right. He’d left me because he’d wanted to leave me.

  Tears sprang to my eyes, and I quickly stood.

  Why did I ask the question?

  Why did I care?

  “It’s not what you think, though.” Walker was standing next to me, trying to calm me down.

  “Then what is it, Walker? What could you possibly say to make that okay?”

  Walker shook his head. “There’s nothing I can say to make any of it okay. I thought I was doing you a favor. I didn’t want to get in the way of your dreams.”

  “How handy,” I said wryly.

  “You want the truth, and I’m telling you what drove me to do what I did.” He drew a breath. “I knew if I stayed with you, you’d stay stuck in that small town flipping pancakes on Saturday mornings for kids. You wouldn’t have pushed yourself, Harmony. You would have been fine to put your dreams on hold. I couldn’t do that to you.”

  “How noble.”

  “It was the hardest decision of my life.”

  “I’m sure.” I rolled my eyes.

  “If we’d gotten married and I started a business to line up next to your father’s law firm, and you started looking for work as a cook—not a chef—while popping out babies . . .”

  I stared at Walker, and fury ran through me. “What if that was what I wanted, Walker? You didn’t give me a choice. Do you think I enjoyed drinking myself to death alone in some random city where I had to make all-new friends? Never hearing from my family or the man I thought loved me? How was that my choice? You gave me dreams, but you took just as many away.”

  Walker opened his mouth to say something, but he quickly closed it when I spun around and marched away from the man who’d given me everything and nothing at all.

  And expected me to pick up the pieces.

  Chapter Twelve

  By the time I’d gotten home from the grocery store, where I’d poured my heart out by buying up the baking section, I felt exhausted. I had one more bag to unload before I reached out to a real estate age
nt. I’d noticed on the way home that there was a home that just went for sale up the street, and I liked this street. The houses were nicely kept, and the lot sizes were manageable.

  Plus, it would be a lot easier to move down the street versus across town.

  I let out a sigh and put the milk away before dipping into a box of donuts. I took a couple of quick bites before I dialed the broker’s number.

  “This is Pam,” the realtor greeted.

  “Hi, my name is Harmony Badel, and I rent a house down the street on Willow Road and am interested in seeing the home you recently listed.”

  “Oh, absolutely.” She perked right up. “Are you working with an agent?”

  “Not really, no . . . but I know my lease is ending soon, and I’d better get on it.” I laughed nervously.

  “No problem. Would you like to see it this afternoon? I’m headed there now to drop off some pamphlets.”

  My heart skipped a beat. Was I really thinking about making permanent roots on Fireweed Island?

  “That would be great. Thanks.”

  “Absolutely. I’ll text when I arrive there.”

  “Great. Thanks.” I smiled into the phone as I hung up and wandered to my office.

  I sat down and turned on my laptop.

  Why in the world would Walker think it’s okay to pretend that abandoning me was for the good of mankind?

  The truth was that there were too many college girls running around his dorm, and maybe he felt he was missing out, which I would actually understand more than his holier-than-thou explanation.

  I rolled my eyes and logged onto my email.

  I always hoped I’d see an email from my parents waiting for me. They didn’t like to text, and my phone calls were rarely answered or returned, so my inbox always offered a glimmer of hope.

  But not today.

  My mind wandered back to Walker.

  He did look sincere. Maybe he believed his own spin on things. That would be truly terrifying.

  Regardless, the one thing I knew was that I needed to be on the lookout for Leila.

  I quickly typed her name online and saw an image immediately pop up that appeared to match Walker’s description. I thought he might have been exaggerating about the number of substances this woman had injected, but he wasn’t.