Hometown Hope: A Small Town Romance Anthology

by Zoe York

  Sam ducked her head, but Kari didn’t miss the sparkle in her eye. She had the glow of a woman in love. There was no doubt. Kari had that. Just that morning when she’d stepped out of the shower and looked at her reflection, her cheeks were pinker, her eyes brighter. She was in love with Rhys. She’d been denying it to herself; after all, it was ridiculous to fall so fast. Right?

  It didn’t matter anyway, Kari thought with a sigh. Rhys obviously didn’t feel the same way. She’d ruined everything between them, simply by being too scared to be honest. Maybe Brice really had ruined her for anyone else. The thought was depressing, as Kari focused on Sam who, oblivious of Kari’s internal distraction, was telling her all about how she’d met Trent and they’d finally seen past their own stubbornness to be together.

  “So now he’s pressuring me to move in with him,” Sam finished.

  “That sounds great. What’s the trouble with that?”

  Sam shrugged and took a sip of her tea. “I have the Grizzly Paw. I need to be close, and he insists on staying at the Springs. Something about needing to be on site.”

  “Sounds alright to me.”

  “I know, but…it doesn’t matter right now anyway.” Sam looked at her watch. “Are you going to be okay here for a bit? I need to check on things at the Paw and relieve Kylie for an hour or so. She has some sort of appointment.”

  Kari nodded, but she didn’t feel okay. She’d managed to distract herself with Sam’s company for the last little bit, but she couldn’t ignore her reality for much longer. Brice hadn’t found her yet. But he would. He was probably at the Grizzly Paw at that very moment, asking about her. She could go with Sam, and face her fear. In the middle of a crowd, it wouldn’t be so bad. Besides, he wouldn’t really hurt her. Probably just yell at her and…

  “You’re sure?” Sam wrung her hands together. “You could come with—”

  “No.” She shook her head adamantly. “He’s going to go there first. Almost for sure. I’m just not ready to talk to him right now. Maybe in the morning. He won’t know I’m here. I’ll be fine.”

  “Okay,” Sam said slowly. “If you’re sure. I could phone Carmen but she hasn’t been feeling very well lately. What about Rhys?” It wasn’t the first time that Sam had suggested calling Rhys. She either hadn’t heard Kari when she’d explained the way he’d walked out on her, or she ignored it. “He is a police officer and I know he cares—”

  “No. He doesn’t.” Kari forced herself to sound matter-of-fact and keep the emotion from her voice. “He made that clear.” She stood and gave Sam a quick hug. “I’ll be fine. Honestly. I’m okay.”

  Sam eyed her warily.

  “If it’s okay with you, I’m going to take a bath and climb into bed. I’m going to need my rest if I’m going to stand up to Brice later.”

  “Yes,” Sam said. “You are. Help yourself to anything you need. I promise I’ll be back as quickly as I can and I’m just a phone call away, okay?”

  Kari’d never had anyone care so much about her wellbeing before and as unusual as it was, it was nice, too. She waited until Sam left and locked the door behind her. She hadn’t lied when she said she was exhausted. The day had taken its toll on her and although she’d finished crying hours earlier, she was totally spent.

  She took her tea mug with her into the bathroom and drew a hot bath, adding in some lavender bath salts she found on the shelf. The tub was an old cast-iron claw foot, and the second she set foot in the steaming water, she could feel her body relax. Kari forced herself to block out all thoughts of Rhys and what she was doing the last time she was in hot water. She’d been wrong about him, and the sooner she let that sink in, the better.

  The water wrapped itself around her body. Kari closed her eyes, and slid down into it. The relaxing smell of lavender filled her, allowing her to forget everything that was going on long enough to drift off.

  She woke with a start, sitting up so quickly water splashed over the edge of the tub onto the floor. With no idea how long she’d been asleep, or what had woke her, she looked around the room for some indication. A tree branch, whipping in the wind outside, slapped against the window and caused her to jump. That was probably it.

  Kari almost laughed at herself and her ridiculous paranoia, and slipped back into the water that was just starting to cool. She wouldn’t be able to fall asleep again, but she was still reluctant to get out.

  She closed her eyes. “Just a few more minutes,” she muttered to herself.

  “I don’t know,” a deep voice said. Kari’s eyes snapped open. “I think you’re done.”

  Chapter 12

  Rhys accepted the bottle of beer Dylan handed him and with a flick of his wrist, popped the cap. After everything that went down with Kari, he needed some guy time and clearly their women had filled them in. Because Trent, Dylan, and Archer had no problem abandoning what they were doing to come over and let him vent. Beer and buddies: that’s what he needed.

  Although after two beers and a few hours with his buddies, he didn’t feel any better.

  “Okay.” Trent dropped a bag of chips in the center of the table and sat across from Rhys. “I’m not an expert or anything, and I sure as hell didn’t do everything right with Samantha, but I get it.”

  “You get what?” Archer grabbed a handful of chips and stuffed them in his mouth.

  “I get that he’s pissed.”

  “That’s stupid,” Archer managed to mumble through a full mouth. He took a swig of beer and swallowed. “Love doesn’t work like that.”

  “And what do you know about love?” Dylan challenged. “I thought Mr. Single over here didn’t believe in love.”

  Archer waved his hand and shrugged. “It’s not that I don’t believe in love. Quite the opposite. But I definitely don’t believe love is always as black and white as Officer Anderson here is making it out to be.”

  Rhys tensed and glared at his buddy. “It is black and white. There can’t be love without honesty.” He slammed his beer bottle down on the table.

  “I have to agree with him,” Dylan said. “Honesty’s pretty important.”

  Archer bit into another chip and took his time chewing. “Look,” he said finally, “the way I see it is Kari was being honest.” Three heads turned and stared at him. “As honest as she could be,” he continued. “She is who she is. And right now, from what I’ve seen, that’s a scared, confused version of herself. But she’s living as honestly as she knows how.”

  Rhys tried to absorb what Archer said and let his words roll around his head.

  “How the hell did you get to be so smart?”

  “It’s going to go to his head,” Dylan replied to Trent.

  Archer shrugged and reached for another beer. He popped the top off and stared directly at Rhys. “Right or not, what I can’t figure out is why you’re sitting here with us when the woman you love is—”

  “What do you know about love?” Rhys snapped.

  “You’d be surprised.” Archer grinned. “Besides, am I wrong?”

  Was he wrong? Did Rhys love her? Twenty-four hours ago, he would have said, without question, that he was falling in love with her. But that was when he thought the woman he was falling for was Kari Fox. Now that she was really Karina Callahan and a completely different person than he thought she was, he was dealing with a very different situation. One he struggled to understand. A talk with the boys was supposed to help. It was supposed to make things clearer. Validate his decision to walk away. He needed honesty in a relationship. His buddies were supposed to back him up on that.

  “Well?” Archer pushed. “Am I wrong?”

  Dammit. They were not helping. He told them as much. “You’re supposed to tell me women are a waste of time, and I’m better off without them.” He looked at his friends in turn. Two of them already stupidly in love and Archer…well, he was Archer. Rhys ran a hand roughly through his hair and took a long pull on his bottle of beer. “This isn’t working.”

  Before he could go ov
er it yet again, Rhys nodded and answered. “I do.” He dropped his head in his hands. “God help me, I do. Despite everything.”

  “Well then,” Trent raised his bottle in a toast, “there’s your answer.”

  Rhys shook his head. “No. It’s not that simple. I thought I loved her. But now…I don’t know her, man. I thought I did.” He remembered the way she’d looked at him as he made love to her. Her eyes clear, open, staring right through him into his soul. There’s no way she could’ve been lying to him.

  But she was.

  “What do we know about this husband of hers?” Trent reclined in his chair, one leg crossed over the other, oblivious of the inner turmoil of his friend. “Why did Kari come to Cedar Springs in the first place? I mean, why here, and why a new name?”

  “That’s the question that’s been bothering me all day.”

  “You’re the detective, man.” Archer raised an eyebrow. “Why aren’t you detecting?”

  Because it had ruined everything once before, Rhys thought. He’d sworn after his ex, he’d never do it again. But he already had by asking Rex to dig into things for him. The email he’d read earlier crossed his mind. So what was the real reason he wasn’t trying to really figure out what was going on with Kari? “Dammit.” With a swing of his arm, he shoved the half empty bag of chips to the floor, sat up from the table and crashed his chair backwards.

  “What the hell?” Both Archer and Trent jumped to their feet.

  “Why would she come here?” he repeated Trent’s question. “To a small town in the middle of nowhere.” He spoke out loud to himself and ran through the very reasons he’d avoided since his talk with Doug and Rex’s email. “Why would a woman in a Mercedes, dressed the way she was, have no money or credit cards?”

  “Unless she just didn’t want to use the cards,” Archer offered.

  “That’s it exactly.” Rhys paced the small kitchen, his repressed detective instincts fully kicked in. “She changed her name,” he mused. “And she wouldn’t use a credit card.” There could be a million reasons a woman would do what Kari did: Avoiding trouble from the law. Escaping the boredom of being a housewife. A fight with a husband she was trying to teach a lesson to. He’d seen it all while he was on the force in the city.

  But none of those were the reason. Rhys knew the truth. He’d seen it in her eyes, the way she looked at him when they’d first met. The quiet, withdrawn woman she’d been before he’d drawn her out. He’d seen it in her when they were together, and she was lying sheltered in his arms beneath him.

  “Bastard.” Rhys’ fist came down so hard on the table, he felt the reverberation all the way through his arm, but he didn’t care. “He hurt her,” he said to his friends. “She’s scared of him.”

  In that instant, all the pieces Rhys had been trying so hard not to see came together in a crash that shook him to his center. “She was running away.”

  “What?” Dylan sat up straight. Trent jumped to his feet behind him.

  “And I left her,” Rhys said. “I walked away and I left her there.” He abandoned his beer and spun around. “Where are my keys? I have to go.”

  Trent was right in front of him. “Whoa. How much have you had to drink?”

  Rhys’ fists clenched at his sides. “You need to back off, Trent. Right now. I’m fine.”

  Dylan put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “I think he’s good, man. He only—”

  “I’m fine.” Rhys tried to soften his tone. “I need to see her. Find out about her ex. If he’s—”

  “She’s at the Grizzly Paw?” Dylan asked. “We’ll all go. I could use a burger anyway.”

  “I’m not cooking, man.” Archer held up his hands. “Night off.”

  “I have my—”

  “She’s not there,” Trent said. “At the Paw.”

  Rhys stared at his friend. Fear, like ice, flowed through him. “Where is she?”

  “Calm down, man.” Trent tried to smile but it fell from his face. “She’s with Sam,” he said quickly. “At least, she’s at Sam’s place. She’s going to stay there for a bit.”

  “So she didn’t leave?”

  Trent shook his head. “Nope. Not from what—”

  Rhys grabbed his keys, not bothering to wait for what Trent was going to say.

  Her heart raced and nearly exploded from her chest when Kari finally managed a breath and forced the air into her lungs. After what seemed like hours, but had to have been only seconds, she opened her mouth. “Brice.”

  It took her a minute to recover, but when she did, she realized she was naked in a bathtub. Vulnerable. She grabbed a towel and pulled it down to her at the same time she stood, trying her best to cover herself with the now half wet towel. “How did…why…” The questions died on her lips as she stepped out of the tub and moved to the far corner of the bathroom, as far away from him as possible in the small space.

  “You don’t seem very happy to see me.” The grin on his face wasn’t exactly malicious, but there was no way his visit would be a friendly one. “That hurts my feelings, Karina.”

  She shook her head. She refused to buy into his mind games and manipulations. That was before. That was Karina. “It’s Kari.”

  Brice raised an eyebrow. “Get dressed. It’s time to go.”

  She shook her head and steeled herself against him. It wasn’t long ago she’d been scared of him. Of what he could do, and say. The power he had over her. Not anymore. She tightened the towel and stood straight. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” He tipped his head, patronizing her. “It’s time to go home. Where you belong.”

  “I don’t belong there,” she said. “I belong here.”

  “In this small pissant town? You really expect me to believe that Karina Callahan, wife of Brice Callahan, owner of Callahan Shipping, would be happy in such a backwards place?” He laughed, but there was no humor in it.

  “I’m not your wife.” She looked him straight in the eyes when she spoke. “And I am happy here. I’m not leaving. Especially not with you.”

  He took a step toward her, his patience obviously waning thin. “You’re happy here, huh? What’s his name?”

  “What?” Kari instinctively took a step to the side, away from his approach.

  “His name. Who are you screwing?”

  Much to her annoyance, Kari’s first instinct was to bow her head and apologize to him. Old habits died hard. But she was not going to succumb to her old ways. She was different now and the man who’d suppressed her, put her down, and made her feel like less of herself no longer had power over her. She stopped her sideways retreat and instead stepped boldly toward Brice so she could look directly into his eyes. “What I do is none of your concern,” she said slowly. “Nothing about me is your concern.”

  His hand flew out so quickly, Kari didn’t even see it. Her head flung to the side; her cheek stung from the impact. She forced herself not to react. With a hard swallow, she blinked back the tears that threatened. She would no longer allow Brice to see her cry.

  Slowly, with effort, she straightened up, and readjusted the towel that had slipped.

  “Everything about you is my concern.” Brice spat out the words and grabbed her upper arm. His fingers dug painfully into her skin. She tried to pull away, but that only caused him to grip tighter. “I gave you your stupid divorce,” he said. “Despite the embarrassment it caused me. But you need to remember something.” He shook her a little and forced her to meet his dark gaze. “I own you. You are nothing without me. I made damn sure of that.”

  And he had. Everything she had. Her condo, the car, her credit cards were still tied to Brice or his company. And his influence ran deep. She couldn’t get a job and when she had, it didn’t last long; he’d made sure of that. Even in divorce, she’d been completely dependent on him. Until she’d left.

  “It’s not true.” Her voice sounded weak to her own ears, and she hated herself for it.

  “Not to menti
on, your mother,” he continued as if he hadn’t heard her. “I’d hate to think what would happen to your loving mommy if you don’t come home with me.”

  It was his choice of words that triggered something in Kari. “I don’t care.” The second she spoke the words, she knew they were true. “I’m done, Brice.”

  He tugged on her and pulled her to him with a violent jerk. His free arm pinned her to him. “Well, I’m not.” His mouth crushed hers, almost smothering her with his violent assault. He tasted of cinnamon and soda, and the combination caused her stomach to turn. Kari struggled against him, but she was no match for Brice’s strength.

  His mouth still on hers, his tongue probing her, barely allowed the opportunity to breathe, and Kari had to fight the urge to throw up as panic welled up within her. Brice had never forced himself on her. Surely he wouldn’t…

  Her thoughts dissolved as he backed her up against the counter. One hand ripped the towel from her body; the other grabbed both her hands in his. He loomed over her while he fumbled with his belt. “You’re mine, Karina. You need to remember that.”

  “Brice, no.” Kari tried to stay as calm as she could, but she was losing that battle, quickly. “Please,” she pleaded. “You don’t have to do this.” She jerked against his grip. She kicked her feet and tried desperately to get him to loosen his grip. “Let me go!”

  “I suggest you do as the lady says.”

  It took every bit of physical restraint Rhys could muster to keep from throwing himself at the animal that had his hands on Kari. When he saw the Mercedes—almost identical to the one Kari had been driving—parked in front of Sam’s house, he’d had a bad feeling. But nothing would have prepared him to see the fear in Kari’s eyes.