Touch of Rain

by Teyla Branton

  Shaking my head, I drew myself back to the conversation.

  “Okay, then.” Tawnia was saying. “We’ll expect you around seven.”

  Ethan nodded. “Thank you. I’ll be there.” He swept up the ring from the counter and sauntered out the door.

  “What just happened?” I asked.

  “He’s coming to dinner.”

  “What? Are you crazy?”

  Tawnia shrugged. “He’s cute. Did you see those freckles? And the poor guy needs fattening up. He’s got muscles, but he’s far too thin.”

  “Tawnia, I’m not going out with him.” He hadn’t even noticed my eyes.

  “It’s not anything like that. Weren’t you listening?”

  “Not really. I sort of spaced off for a minute. That ring. It was intense.” I stifled a shiver.

  My sister’s expression became immediately solicitous. “Don’t worry. He just wanted to show you those items before he confronts the cult guy tomorrow. I told him you’d be at my house this evening and he could come there. It seemed impolite not to invite him to eat if he was going all that way.”

  “It’s not far from here.”

  “Yeah, but he lives in Woodburn, near Willamette University. That’s a thirty or forty-minute drive. He left his card, though, so I guess we can cancel if you’re not feeling up to it.”

  “No, it’s okay. I’d rather get it all behind me, anyway. If I have to do it at all.” Exhaustion abruptly fell over my entire body. Reading imprints was like that sometimes.

  Tawnia motioned to Thera, who was talking to a customer. Thera said something to the woman and came our way, her hazel eyes questioning.

  “I’m taking Autumn home,” Tawnia said. “Feed her a little dinner. Do you think you can handle things here?”

  “Sure. I’ll lock up when I leave.”

  “Thank you.”

  Tawnia went to gather her belongings in the back while I emptied the cash drawer of a check, a couple of twenties, and signed charge slips. As I squatted down to remove my bag from a cupboard under the counter, I spied the paper Tawnia had let fall earlier. I picked it up, turning it over. On the front was a rough sketch of the cartoon figure she had considered using for the underwear campaign. The face on the figure was Ethan’s.

  My jaw dropped, and sudden goose bumps made me shiver. Still squatting on the floor, I looked up as she returned with her briefcase and laptop. A soft sound escaped her mouth when she saw what was in my hand.

  I arose. “You never saw him before?”

  “No. I got the idea right after you left the back room. Can’t you see how rough the sketch is? If I didn’t know better, I’d guess I’m drawing things you see.”

  “Or maybe you’re seeing things before they happen. Or as they happen.”

  Her face paled. “I don’t have an ability like you do. It’s just our connection, the twin thing. That’s all.”

  I nodded but mostly because I didn’t want to make her more upset. That wasn’t good for the baby. I stuffed the paper into my bag. “I’d use another face,” I said lightly. “I get the feeling Ethan McConnell wouldn’t want to be an underwear king, even in cartoon form.”

  Tawnia laughed. “That’s advice I think I’ll take.”

  Before we left, I slipped my parents’ poetry book into the bag next to the day’s proceeds. I had no idea what other skeletons Ethan had in his closet, and I wanted the book close.

  I waved good-bye to Thera and steered my sister into the Herb Shoppe. Familiar smells assailed me, seemingly stronger with her by my side. I felt a sadness that she hadn’t grown up as I had, knowing the names of herbs, that she couldn’t relate the smells or tastes to the scenes from my gloriously carefree childhood with Winter and Summer. No matter how close we became, there would always be that bittersweet gap of time. Bittersweet for both of us because she also had wonderful childhood memories that didn’t include me.

  Jake came toward us, smiling a welcome. “Tawnia, I didn’t see you come in.” He took her hands and kissed one of her cheeks. “You look gorgeous today, as usual.”

  Which I supposed I could take as a compliment as well, since we were identical twins. But he never said such things to me. Or maybe he was referring to that mysterious glow pregnant women were supposed to radiate.

  Tawnia laughed. “Thank you. You were busy, or I would have stopped to say hi when I came in. I’m taking Autumn to my place to eat—and you know what I mean when I say that. Only Autumn can eat as much as me these days. I’d planned to invite you, but she says you have class tonight.”

  “Ah, but what Autumn doesn’t know is that my class was canceled. If the invitation is still open . . .” He looked at us hopefully.

  “Consider yourself invited,” Tawnia said.

  “Great. What time?”

  “You can come anytime, but we’ll probably eat at seven.”

  I cleared my throat. “That means come early so you can help me cook.”

  “Are you going with Tawnia? Because if you are, I can give you a lift home.” He made motions with his hands, as though revving the engine on his motorbike. “We’ll take the long way. Should be a nice night for a spin.”

  I pondered his invitation. We lived only a block apart and often gave each other rides to work. In fact, he’d come by for me this morning. Tonight I preferred to drive myself so I could be in control of my unruly feelings toward him, but the opportunity to put my arms around him was too tempting.

  “Sure,” I agreed. “But that doesn’t get you out of helping me with dinner.”

  “I’ll be there as soon as I lock up.” Jake winked at me. “I’ll double check your door, too, on my way out.”

  “Great.” His wink made me feel as if I’d swallowed a handful of live spiders. It was easier back when that hadn’t happened, before the idea of Jake as a possible love interest had wormed its way into my mind.

  Tawnia headed toward the door, but Jake stopped me, his strong fingers warm on the bare skin of my arm. “Who was that guy that was here earlier? He didn’t look like a customer.” His tone had gone serious, and I wondered if he’d seen me arguing with Ethan. No, if he had, he would have come running. But that he’d noticed made me feel both protected and annoyed all at once.

  “He’s a private investigator hired by the Fullmers, but he’s really a math teacher. He became a PI last year when his sister disappeared. He thinks she may be with the same group that took Victoria.” I shrugged. “He wants me to read some of her stuff and see if I can learn anything.”

  “He teaches math and he believes you?”

  “He does now.” I shuddered, remembering the agony that was too private to share. And yet, only by sharing it could one really come back to the world. I’d found that out the hard way when Winter died. It was too easy to fall into your own space and let the world pass by. Easier, but not at all emotionally healthy.

  Being left too much on her own might have been what had attracted Marcie to Harmony Farms in the first place. They would have offered constant love and affirmation without the need to come to terms with anything, no need to live in the real world. With as much money as Marcie had in her assets and accounts, they might be content to let her simply sit in a corner for years, if that was what she wanted.

  Jake studied me with his dark eyes, rendering me suddenly self-conscious. His smooth face was already showing signs of new beard growth, darkening his brown skin further in those spots. His locs made him seem tough, and the muscles straining across the front of his short-sleeved polo supported the notion. Yet I had seen Jake tenderly nurse sick animals back to health. I’d seen him spend long minutes helping old ladies who didn’t know what herb they were searching for. He’d been more than supportive after my father died, being insistent with me when I needed it or letting me cry on his shoulder when I simply couldn’t take any more. He and Tawnia had been my salvation during that terrible time.

  “Jake.” My voice caught in my throat, coming out all husky.

  “Yes?” H
is face tilted down close to mine to hear me better.

  I had the sudden urge to kiss him, to feel his lips against mine, to rub my face against his cheeks. “I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me since Winter . . . died. I don’t know if I ever told you how much that meant to me.”

  His smiled faded into an enigmatic look more appropriate to my statement. “You have, but you’ve always given me much more in return. I value your friendship more than I can say.”

  Friendship. The word was like a slap in the face, and I stepped back quickly before I made a fool of myself. “I’ll see you later.”

  Puzzlement creased his brow, but I certainly wasn’t going to explain my behavior. If he had any sense—and I knew he did—he could figure it out. Of course, since it was scientifically proven that men and women are completely different, he might come to an erroneous conclusion.

  All the better for me. I didn’t want his pity. On the other hand, I did want and need his friendship, even if that was all he could offer.

  Chapter 5

  Jake, Bret, and I slaved in the small kitchen of Bret and Tawnia’s rented bungalow, while Tawnia sat contentedly at the round table, her feet up on a chair. As usual, she was sketching something.

  “Somehow, when I envisioned having guests over for dinner,” Bret told his wife, “that meant we’d feed them, not make them fix us dinner.”

  Tawnia laughed. “They know I’m no good at cooking. Besides, neither one of them would eat anything I’d make, anyway.”

  This was not strictly true. My sister had come a long way in the cooking department since our reunion nearly a year ago. Moreover, Jake and I were not as picky as she implied. We ate meat and eggs and milk and cheese like most people, as long as the products came from animals that were fed and housed the way nature intended. As for everything else, there were plenty of wholesome foods that didn’t contain preservatives.

  “We don’t mind,” I said. “I need to make sure my niece gets some healthy food before she’s born.”

  Bret snorted. “I can tell you, that’s a full-time job.”

  Normally serious and thoughtful to a fault, my brother-in-law had mellowed over the past months of marriage. He had straight blond hair and blue eyes in an oval face. He was slightly taller than average but leaner than he should be for his height, though he’d gained a few needed pounds lately—not from my sister’s cooking, of course. Probably from all the midnight ice cream feasts Tawnia had begun in her fourth month of pregnancy. Bret was handsome in a conservative way, not like the exotic Jake, who could trace his roots to Africa, or even the rugged, unruly-haired Ethan who, math teacher or no, might have missed his calling as a movie star.

  “Hey, I can’t help myself,” Tawnia protested. “This baby’s taken control of my taste buds, and he or she loves sweets.”

  “Especially chocolate milk.” Bret dropped a kiss on Tawnia’s head. To me he added, “Anything else I can do?”

  The pork chops were on the grill, the spinach and blue cheese salad chopped and ready to go, the whole wheat rolls in the oven, and the fruit and vegetable plate ready for munching.

  “You could stir this pudding,” I said.

  Tawnia loved banana pudding over fresh pound cake, but it had taken me a while to discover a recipe that satisfied both my nutritional requirements and her taste buds.

  I moved away from the pan, but Bret didn’t take the spoon. He was staring down at Tawnia’s newest sketch. “Hey, that looks like an engineer I hired today. Nice man. The nose is a little off, though.”

  Tawnia’s hand froze over the picture. Her eyes sought mine, their different colors prominent even from where I stood at the stove.

  I smiled encouragingly. “Do you think he’d mind being in an underwear ad?”

  “What are you talking about?” Bret asked.

  Tawnia and I laughed, but I sensed worry behind her smile. Something odd was going on.

  We were saved from further thought on the matter by the doorbell. “That must be Ethan.” Tawnia jumped to her feet and grabbed my hand. “Honey, take over on the pudding so Autumn can go with me to the door.”

  “I’m going too,” Jake said.

  Bret rolled his eyes. “That’s right, the engineer always gets the tough duty.”

  My hands felt suddenly sweaty. It was show time. I really hoped Ethan would wait until after I had food in my stomach before he started hauling out his sister’s possessions. I was still shaky from the little ring.

  To my disappointment, Ethan’s snug jeans and blazer were gone. He was now dressed similarly to Bret, with slacks and a gray, long-sleeved, button-down shirt. He’d probably bought them by the dozen when he was teaching. I noticed Jake eyeing him with unconcealed mistrust, his hands shoved into the large pockets of his off-white cargo pants.

  Besides the dress shirt, Ethan looked the part of a strong, capable, mysterious PI. He was as tall as Jake, which meant slightly shorter than Bret, and leaner than either of the other men. His intense blue eyes gave him the look of a man on the edge.

  The edge of what?

  I let Tawnia make the introductions, because this was her party, and watched her repeat the process after we joined Bret in the kitchen. He had the pudding off the stove now, and it was perfect. I smiled at him to show I was pleased.

  We left the food on the counter, filled our plates, and took them to the small table. It was a squeeze with five people, and I wasn’t sure where Tawnia had found a fifth chair. I sat between Jake and Ethan, instinctively shifting closer to Jake, bringing one bare foot up under me as I customarily did. Ethan eyed my foot but said nothing.

  “So, you’re a math teacher,” Jake said as we started eating.

  “It was the only thing I was good at,” Ethan confessed.

  I grinned. “If you were my high school math teacher, I certainly would have paid more attention.” So he didn’t have a chance to misconstrue my meaning, I added quickly, “Mine was bald and fat, and he took entirely too much pleasure in stumping us with impossible equations.”

  Everyone laughed, except Jake, who took my words seriously. “Well, you obviously learned enough math to do your books.”

  “Only because there was this really hot guy behind me who took pity on me. He explained everything.”

  Tawnia laughed, but the guys didn’t seem to find that funny.

  “And now you’re a private investigator?” Jake asked Ethan.

  “Only until I find my sister, and I’m almost certain she’s with the Harmony Farms people.”

  “Speaking of which,” I said. “Today a guy from Harmony Farms invited me to join their group.”

  Tawnia snorted. “As if.”

  Ethan looked thoughtful. “I’ve thought about disguising myself and trying to join them. It might be the only way to find my sister.” He paused before adding, looking first at me and then at Tawnia, “I just noticed your eyes. They’re different colors.”

  “We were born that way,” Tawnia said. She threw me a grin that said, “Ha, he noticed.” I smiled back.

  “Did you go to school to be a PI?” Jake asked Ethan. “I mean, is there a two-week course or something?”

  Knowing Jake as well as I did, I caught the derision. That wasn’t like him at all. “Why would you care about school?” I asked. “We’re both college dropouts.” I turned to Ethan. “We ended up taking only the classes that interested us, and believe me, general education wasn’t on the agenda.”

  Ethan didn’t seem to hear me. “I did take several courses,” he said to Jake, “but mostly I studied books about how to track people and how to follow a paper or electronic trail. On the whole, PI work is basically a lot of reading and research. I’m good at that. It’s methodical—like numbers.”

  “That counts me out,” I said. It counted Jake out, too, because as smart as he was, he didn’t read well, and I knew that was something he worked on privately. He’d dropped out of college because of the required reading, while I, who loved to read, had dr
opped out strictly from boredom. My parents had been good teachers my entire life, exposing me to people and ideas others my age couldn’t begin to fathom. Learning with students my own age had seemed slow and confining compared to what I could do on my own. Not to mention that I had trouble seeing the importance of tests; after all, wasn’t the knowledge itself the important thing?

  Fortunately, Winter had encouraged me to follow my dream to open Autumn’s Antiques. I wouldn’t be building a new house any time soon, like my college-educated sister and her husband, and maybe I never would, but I spoke proper English and I knew antiques and herbs better than anyone, even Jake.

  “I’m taking a botany class right now,” Jake said. “The professor is adequate. Mostly.”

  Another veiled insult toward our guest, who by profession was linked to the comment. What had come over Jake?

  “A teacher can only teach as well as a student is willing to learn,” Ethan shot back. “Far too often teaching is like talking to an empty room.”

  “Only if the teacher is boring, though, right?” Jake’s predatory smile belied his casual voice.

  “Well,” Tawnia said, coming to her feet before Ethan could respond, “I don’t know about you guys, but I need another helping of that wonderful brown rice.”

  “I’ll beat you to it.” Relieved at the distraction, I leaped up and scooped three large spoonfuls onto my plate, along with a second pork chop, though my first was only half-eaten.

  Ethan stared in amazement. “You can eat all that?”

  “She’s only just beginning.” Jake passed me the fruit plate.

  So the meal went on, with Tawnia and me competing to see who could eat the most and Jake and Ethan exchanging increasingly barbed comments. Bret, smiling widely, remained silent.

  Only when Bret helped me serve the dessert did he quirk an eye in the direction of the table and whisper, “Man, they’re at each other’s throats. Something tells me you have two admirers.”

  So I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed the tension. “Nothing to do with me,” I returned, flushing all the same. “They just didn’t hit it off.”