by Kim Amos
Her stomach roiling, Audrey reached out and grasped Kieran’s arm for support. She didn’t want to enter the diner like this—unsteady in her glittering dress and clutching Kieran Callaghan—but in this case she had no choice. It was either that or topple over.
As the pair entered the diner, Audrey hoped it was her imagination that the clank of silverware and the murmur of conversation dropped off. What wasn’t her imagination, however, was the picture of Casey’s mortified face from a nearby booth—her open “O” of a mouth, and her eyes glazed with shock.
Lifting her chin, Audrey forced a smile and headed over. Kieran followed next to her, propping her up.
Audrey’s smile vanished when she realized Casey wasn’t alone. There was a man in the booth with her, wearing a smart charcoal suit and an asparagus-green tie. He looked up and his eyes visibly widened. Nevertheless, he stood to greet her.
Audrey glanced quizzically at her sister. Casey’s face had gone bleach white and her hands were trembling. “Audrey,” she managed to croak, “this is Kyle Williams, the principal at Eagan High School. Kyle, this is my sister, Audrey Tanner.”
“Hello, Audrey,” Kyle said politely. Nausea crested in the back of her throat. Audrey reached out to take Kyle’s hand.
“P—pleased to meet you,” she managed.
Casey looked like she was either going to faint or erupt. “I told Audrey you were coming when we chatted on the phone last Thursday,” Casey said through clenched teeth. “Perhaps she forgot.”
Audrey’s stomach sank. Last Thursday. The conversation at the county offices. The one where she’d barely been listening.
“I’m Kieran Callaghan,” came the deep voice from beside her. Audrey turned, grateful for the distraction. The two men shook hands.
“He’s a friend,” Audrey said quickly. “He’s…ah, helping me today. I’m entering the Asparagus Queen pageant. Thus, the dress.”
“Oh, I see,” Kyle said. Audrey noted he was in his fifties, with salt-and-pepper hair and kind, pale blue eyes. Guilt washed over her.
“I didn’t realize you…that this…” Audrey trailed off. Her foggy, asparagus-beer-coated brain didn’t know what other words to form.
“There’s clearly been a mix-up,” Kieran offered, somewhat unhelpfully. Casey narrowed her eyes at him.
“It’s no problem,” Kyle said graciously. “Perhaps we should just chat a different day then.”
Chat about what? Audrey wanted to ask. But of course she knew already. Casey had no doubt set up a pre-interview with Kyle to try to lure Audrey away to Eagan, to be their track coach. Never mind that Audrey didn’t know if she wanted the job. Never mind that she’d said as much. It was what Casey wanted, so she was pulling strings again.
Just like she did with Kieran.
Audrey fought the idea. She would not jump to conclusions.
“Kyle, I’m so sorry,” she said. “My sister had the best of intentions, but I clearly wasn’t tracking on them. I guess I got pretty wrapped up in the Asparagus Queen pageant.”
And I don’t want this job, she thought, but held her tongue.
“Certainly. Best of luck today,” Kyle said. “Take care.” With a final nod at Casey, he exited the diner.
Which left the three of them, bewildered and angry, all staring at one another.
“Sit down,” Casey hissed at her after a moment. “Right now. And get this loser out of here. I can’t believe you’d bring Kieran along! As if he hasn’t done enough to this family already.”
Audrey closed her eyes and willed herself to stay calm. Part of her wanted to agree with Casey and shove Kieran out the door, right behind Kyle Williams. But instead she sat, pulling Kieran into the booth next to her. “He stays,” she said evenly.
“You’re going to argue with me?” Casey cried. “After what you just did? Audrey Tanner, what has gotten into you? How could you show up looking like this? It’s bad enough on any day, but on the day when the principal of Eagan High was here to meet you for a job that y—”
“Shut up, Casey.”
Audrey squared her shoulders and placed both hands on the smooth, worn wood of their table.
The lines on Casey’s face deepened with anger. “Excuse me?”
“Please, just pipe down,” Audrey said. Next to her, Kieran relaxed slightly. For some reason, the motion gave her courage. It was as if Kieran knew she was finding her strength—or trying to—and he was more at ease because of it.
Casey pressed her thin lips together. Clearly her sister had words, but she held them back. Audrey took the opportunity to flag down Pauline for a cup of coffee. “And bacon. And hash browns.” Anything greasy sounded like heaven. Kieran got coffee as well. Casey stuck with water.
Audrey took a moment to collect her thoughts. She wrapped her hands around the ceramic mug Pauline brought her and watched the steam rise from the hot coffee.
“I need to ask you some questions,” Audrey said finally. She met her sister’s gaze firmly.
“What questions?”
“Questions about what happened five years ago. When Kieran and I first met.”
Casey’s already pale face whitened even more. “What about it?”
“Did you give Kieran money? And did you give it to him on the condition that he leave and never see me again?”
Casey laughed, but it was a hollow, terrible sound. “No. Of course not. No. Did he tell you that?”
Audrey nodded, watching her sister closely. She could remember when they were kids and Casey had taken ten dollars from their aunt Lodi’s purse. It was so the two of them could go see a movie together, which their aunt never would have allowed normally. After they returned from the matinee, Lodi had noticed the missing cash and confronted them both. Audrey had clammed up in terror, but Casey had lied convincingly, smoothly. Only Audrey had noticed what gave the lies away: how her sister repeated certain words.
“So you and Kieran have never talked privately?” Audrey asked. “You’ve never discussed the topic of, say, me when I haven’t been in the room?”
Casey gave an exasperated sigh. “Audrey, this is ridiculous. I don’t want to have to defend myself against this. It’s ridiculous.”
Curious. “Which means,” Audrey pressed on, “that your bank records wouldn’t show payments from Kieran over the past five years, reimbursing you for the thousands you’d given him?”
“Audrey, you’ve gone mad. I can’t believe this. No. You’re mad to ask such a thing. Mad.”
She wasn’t imagining it. Audrey could feel tears stinging her eyes. Or maybe it was just exhaustion. Or the fact that the awful truth she suspected was erupting to the surface of her life.
She looked at Kieran. She didn’t know what she’d see in his pale green eyes—victory or maybe even vindication—but she was startled by the compassion there. By the layers of emotions. The love. The loss. He knew Casey was lying, too. And his heart was breaking right along with Audrey’s.
Audrey took a deep, shuddery breath. Her whole body was sore—a feeling like she’d been dragged through rocks and mud. Her sister had manipulated the course of the last five years of Audrey’s life.
“Casey,” Audrey said, searching to find the right words, fighting to make them mean something, “I don’t believe you. I believe Kieran.”
Casey huffed. “Then you’re making a terrible mistake if you trust that lying, gambling man before your own sister.”
Kieran stiffened, but remained silent. Anger knotted Audrey’s stomach at the insult. A hot wave of intense fury, and then her mind went blank with sudden realization. “How did you know he was a gambler?”
“What do you mean know? Of course I know. Everyone knows.”
“I didn’t,” Audrey said softly. “Not until recently.”
Casey opened her mouth, then closed it.
“But you knew,” Audrey said, hating the terrible, true words, “because of the deal you made.”
“To help you!” her sister cried. “To protect you f
rom him.”
Audrey swallowed back tears. She wanted her sister to take it all back, to undo the terrible rip she was creating between them. Instead, Audrey pressed ahead, willing Casey to hear her, to understand and to apologize. “But I didn’t need you to. Not like that, anyway. Not without talking to me.”
Casey’s body went rigid. “Anyone could see that this man was no good. He was a risk. And you were foolish. Honestly, you should be thanking me. I saved you.”
“Saved me from what, exactly?”
“From the world, Audrey. A huge, hurtful world that would have crushed you if I hadn’t been there. You being on the track team, you getting into college—all because of me. There were days growing up that you wouldn’t have eaten because of me. So don’t you dare sit there and say that suddenly you don’t need me.”
Audrey’s heart sank. Casey had always been her protector. She’d sacrificed so much just so Audrey would have a decent chance in life. Audrey could still remember the feel of her sister’s arms around her at night, comforting her while Audrey sobbed, wondering what would become of them without their parents.
Casey was the one who had ensured everything turned out all right.
“I do need you,” Audrey whispered. “I always have. Just not like this. Not with you lying to me and trying to make my life into what you think it should be. It’s not your choice, Casey. It’s not your path.”
“It was always my path,” Casey said tightly, “because it was our path. You and me together.”
Two girls against the world. The memories of what they’d been through together crushed Audrey and had resentment burning through her at the same time. No matter the past, it wasn’t fair for Casey to take her options away before she could even consider them.
“But at a time when you needed to let me find my own way, you didn’t. That was a mistake.”
Casey’s eyes filled with hurt. But in an instant, she blinked it away. “The mistake here is yours, Audrey. Not mine.”
The offhand way Casey was able to dismiss her tore at the fiber of Audrey’s being. She could practically hear the tiny rips. She barely held back the sobs that wanted to break from her throat.
“Then I guess this conversation is over for now,” Audrey said, pushing past the pain. She stood. Kieran got to his feet, too.
Casey stared into her water glass, pretending not to notice that they were leaving. Audrey blinked back tears, wishing her sister would at least say good-bye—never mind sorry.
Just at that moment, Pauline brought their food “Breakfast is on her,” Audrey said, lifting her chin in her sister’s direction. And then she turned on her shabby heel and left.
* * *
Outside the diner, Audrey let her tears fall, ruining what was left of her mascara. Her shoulders rounded as she buried her face in her hands, sobbing next to Kieran’s motorcycle.
Hungover and bawling in a parking lot, she thought to herself. Perfect.
Dimly, she was aware of Kieran pulling her into his arms. She didn’t fight it. Her brain was such a jumble of thoughts she hardly knew where to begin. Especially with him. He’d taken money from her sister and left all those years ago.
But he came back and told her the truth.
And he said he still cared.
She wanted to close her eyes and just go to sleep to the sound of his heart. She’d sleep for days if she could against his strong form. Yet, when she opened her eyes, could she really be sure he’d still be there? He’d confessed his past, it was true, but how sure could she be that he’d changed and wouldn’t run out on her all over again?
There was another nagging thought at the edge of her mind as well. She pulled away and stared at Kieran. She was missing something. There was something she was supposed to be—
“Oh my God, the pageant!” she cried. “What time is it?”
Kieran pulled out his phone. “Five after one.”
“I’m late!”
Audrey slung her purse over her shoulder and immediately started walking toward the festival at the center of town, just a few short blocks away. Kieran fell into step beside her.
“Audrey, I don’t mean to rain on your parade here, but are you sure this is a good idea?”
Audrey quickened her pace. “Of course it’s a good idea. I entered. They’re expecting me.”
“Sweetheart,” he said softly, and she nearly faltered at the gentleness of the word on his lips. “You are hungover, and you just discovered your sister has been lying to you for five years. You are lovely, but right now, I have to say, you’re not at your best. Are you sure you want to do this?”
Audrey was trotting now, jogging as best she could in her tattered heels. “I am one hundred percent sure,” she said.
Kieran jogged next to her. To his credit, he didn’t argue further. But outside the pageant tent, amid crowds wearing asparagus crowns and drinking asparagus beer, he grasped her hand. “I’ll be watching. If you need anything, I’ll be there.”
She nodded, not sure what to say. Two children barreled past wearing green bath towels as capes. When no other words would come, she ducked inside the pageant tent, leaving Kieran staring after her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
This was the definition of the phrase train wreck.
Kieran threaded his way past all the festival-goers as tent flaps snapped and fluttered in the breeze, looking for any sign of Audrey’s friend. What was her name?
Willa.
He needed to find her—or, hell, find anyone who could help him pull Audrey off of the festival’s plywood stage. Women were already lining up, heels clacking on the wood, all as candidates for Asparagus Queen. A man in a dark blazer and dark pants was directing them where to stand.
Hungover, rumpled, tear-stained, and emotionally fragile, Audrey was going to be a pageant mess. Not to mention that dress of hers was going to pose a problem.
Kieran loved it in theory. It was glittering and beautiful, elegant and polished when it was clean and crisp. But today, the dress was out of joint. It was rumpled from the motorcycle ride and stained with mascara-heavy tears. Audrey’s old, leather heels didn’t work with it at all. Next to the other women onstage, Audrey was going to look unkempt and undone.
Kieran stopped and stretched to his tiptoes, straining to see over the crowd. It was futile. He’d be lucky to recognize Willa one-on-one. In this throng, there was no way he’d find her.
Which meant it would be up to him to help Audrey.
But what could he do?
And who was to say she even wanted his help?
“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome!” The man on the stage had a microphone in his hand and was grinning at the crowd assembled in front of him. “Welcome to the thirteenth annual Asparagus Queen pageant! I’m Leif Jenssen, your emcee for the event. And also your friendly neighborhood mechanic, so remember to bring your car to Jenssen’s and we’ll give it attentions.”
The crowd cheered and Kieran swallowed. Blessed beads of the rosary, the whole town must be here. The whole town except Audrey.
He counted six women on the stage. None of them were her.
Where was she? Hope ballooned inside Kieran that perhaps she’d decided to forgo the whole affair entirely.
“As you know,” Leif said, pacing the stage in his dark suit, “we ask our contenders a series of five questions each. Our esteemed panel of community members will judge the answers based on city knowledge, civic pride, service ethics, and overall integrity.” He pointed to a folding table where four locals were smiling and waving at the crowd.
From behind Leif there was a thud and a shuffling noise. He turned, along with every set of eyes in the tent, to see Audrey struggling to find her footing on the makeshift steps off to the stage’s side. She was grasping the railing and trying to get her foot off the last step and up onto the plywood, a task made nearly impossible by the glittering hem of her dress.
“Well, looks like we have a late contender!” Leif said graciousl
y. He walked over to give Audrey a hand, which she accepted, sweating and huffing. Kieran held his breath as Leif pulled Audrey onto the stage. The crowd tittered as they took her in—hair askew, makeup a mess, sweaty and waxy looking. Not to mention in a rumpled, stained dress. Leif directed Audrey to her place on the stage, while Kieran glared at the people closest to him, daring anyone nearby to so much as exhale with amusement.
“We’ll start with our questions to ascertain city knowledge,” Leif said, continuing like a true professional. He pulled an index card out of his pocket. “And our first contender is Jeannie Swanson! Jeannie, come on forward.”
A thirty-something woman in a high-waisted teal satin dress—leftover bridesmaid’s attire, Kieran surmised—stepped next to Leif. Jeannie smiled at Leif, then the crowd.
“Now, we want to get to know all our contestants a bit. Also we want to make sure folks know we don’t discriminate when it comes to the title of Asparagus Queen. Women who wear the crown can be either married or single, and you’re the former, is that correct?”
Jeannie nodded. “I’m married to a wonderful man, Wilson, and we have two daughters, Brianne and Renee.”
“Wonderful. Now tell me, Jeannie, for your first question, how did White Pine get its name?”
“Oh, well that one’s easy. White pine was the kind of tree that the lumberjacks used to cut around here, then float on the Birch River down to the sawmills.”
Leif grinned. “That is one hundred percent correct! Well done. You can step back in line now.”
On and on they went, until finally Leif came to Audrey. She was blinking in the dim light, as if trying to stay focused, and she didn’t smile as she found her place next to Leif onstage.
“All right, Audrey Tanner. It says here you’re a former gym teacher but you are starting your own business. What business is that?”
Audrey licked her dry, lipstick-free lips. Kieran could see the wheels struggling to turn in her hungover brain. “I—uh—want to—uh—do prrmp trmunp,” she mumbled into the microphone. Kieran struggled to make sense of the words. What was she saying?
“Pole dancing!” Leif said, his eyebrows nearly shooting off his forehead in surprise. “Well, now that’s a first.” The crowd erupted into giggles of amusement and murmurs of disapproval.
