Return to Lone Oak (Harlequin Heartwarming)

by Knupp, Amy

  “Sorry. Habit.”

  “You going to tell me where you’re going yet?”

  “I have an appointment in Topeka. Two-thirty.” Savannah took out a bag of trail mix, set it on the counter and slammed the cabinet door.

  “Ah, yes. So if I need something, I’ll just call the appointment place in Topeka.”

  “I have my cell phone, Katie.” She pointed to the info sheet. “Doctor’s office, poison control center, Dad and Claudia, my cell.”

  “Got it, Van. Everything but where you’re going.”

  “Good.” Savannah opened the back door. “Kids, I’m getting ready to leave. Aunt Katie’s here.”

  Katie heard Logan heading to give Savannah a hug and a shouted “Bye, Mom!” from Allie.

  When her exasperatingly secretive sister was gone, Katie went outside. Savannah had been her final hope for keeping the house in the family. She hadn’t been optimistic, exactly, but she’d thought Savannah and her husband might at least consider it. Of course that had been before she had any inkling they might be having problems.

  * * *

  KATIE STOOD, hands on her hips to help her balance, surveying the street below her. It’d been years since she’d climbed up here on the roof of the house and she tried to remember why it had been so long. Most likely because she never spent that much time in one place.

  She was well aware that her father hadn’t meant for her to come up here when he’d asked her—emphatically—to leave the house during his conversation with Noah. But she was out of the way and she had no plans to sabotage the offer her dad expected Noah to make on the house. Nothing would stop it.

  She’d tried to resign herself to it, but she couldn’t help the flood of emotions that rushed over her whenever she thought about losing her mother’s home. Sadness, definitely. Anger—at her dad, at his new wife. At the person buying it. Aka Noah. Why he thought he needed a four-bedroom house was beyond her, anyway. He was a bachelor.

  Speaking of Noah... Katie watched his battered Tahoe pull up at the curb and waited to see him emerge. She figured he wouldn’t even notice her up here, so she made no effort to hunker down and hide.

  On his way up the driveway, with a folder of papers in his hand, he glanced up and did a double take. “What are you doing up there?” he asked.

  “Hi to you, too.” Katie took two steps down the slope, closer to the edge.

  “Don’t move! I don’t want you to fall.”

  “I won’t fall. And if I do, yay, I have a doctor already on the scene.”

  The look he gave her told her several things. One, he thought she was a lunatic to be up there—especially with a cast and stitches, both of which he looked pointedly at. And two, she scared him. He couldn’t handle her penchant for physical risk. He actually looked a little green.

  That could be fun to exploit, she thought, allowing herself a wicked grin. A way to rattle the man-in-control.

  She took another step forward, then sat down on the edge of the roof, dangling her feet over the gutter. “I hear you’re putting an offer on the house.”

  “You heard correctly. Hopefully, I won’t need to make an addendum about roof repairs.”

  She laughed. “That was a joke, wasn’t it?”

  He didn’t show the slightest twitch of a smile. “You go out of your way to track down danger, don’t you?”

  “I like excitement,” she said simply. “Better hurry inside. My dad can’t stand tardiness.”

  He gave her one more assessing look, as if to calculate the likely damage when she landed on the pavement below.

  “Don’t worry,” she told him, pulling up her legs and crossing them. “I’ve been climbing on this roof since I was twelve.”

  He shook his head as if she were a significant menace to society and headed toward the front door.

  * * *

  “THANK YOU, MR. SALINGER,” Noah said as they both rose from the dining room table half an hour later.

  “Call me Wendell, son. Let’s cut the formalities. We’ve got ourselves a deal and now we can be friendly.”

  “You’ve got it.”

  “We’ll plan on being out of here in three weeks. The twentieth, then. Assuming we can arrange the closing that morning.”

  A clunk on the roof, above them, had them both looking upward.

  “What on earth?” Wendell said.

  “Your daughter, I believe. Katie? She was up there when I arrived.”

  “That girl.” He closed his eyes as he spoke. When he opened them, Noah saw an eerily familiar look of complete fear. “She’s my wild one. Always has been.”

  “I guessed as much when she showed up to have her stitches resewn.”

  “The more upset she is, the crazier the stunts she pulls. When she’s not injured, that is.”

  “Is that why she’s up there? She’s upset?” Noah asked, surprised and a little intrigued.

  Wendell sighed and nodded. “She doesn’t want me to sell the house. If I thought my wife would allow it, I’d go up there right now and try to talk her down. I know she’s hurting.”

  “How does she get up there?” Noah asked, not liking the idea that had just flitted into his mind.

  “She climbs up the tree in the backyard, inches out on the big branch, then hops over to the back roof.”

  Noah cringed at the thought. “Here I figured it was something simple, like crawling out an upstairs window.”

  “Oh, you can go that way, too. But Katie prefers the other. I’m gonna see if she’ll listen to me from down here.”

  “You could leave her there until she comes to her senses.”

  Wendell sized him up. “I like the way you think, son. But if I ignored her and something happened to her...” The look in his eyes troubled Noah.

  “If you don’t mind me asking, why is she upset you’re selling? She doesn’t actually live in Lone Oak, does she?”

  Wendell shook his head. “She lives in St. Louis. Works for that extreme magazine. Wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when she told me she was majoring in journalism. She’s a real good writer, though.” He looked back at Noah as if he’d finally remembered the original question. “She still thinks of this as her mom’s house. Doesn’t want to let it go.”

  Noah looked at him blankly.

  “Her mom was killed in a drunk-driving accident fourteen years ago. Katie was thirteen. That was when she took the concept of daredevil to a new level, matter of fact.”

  Noah’s head throbbed as he imagined what a mother’s death could do to a young girl. He knew too much about loss himself. Spent every day plotting how to avoid experiencing it again. He was a psychiatrist’s dream because of it and he was thirty-six years old, not twelve.

  “I’m sorry to hear about that,” he said.

  “We’ve adjusted by now. Mostly.” His eyes rose toward the ceiling. “I worry about her, though. She’d have a fit if she knew how much.”

  “It seems like you worry with good reason.” He started toward the front door, then paused. “Would it help if I went up to talk to her?”

  Wendell crossed his arms and studied him again. “I’d be mighty grateful, Noah. Maybe you could infuse some sense into that brain of hers.”

  Not likely. Noah wasn’t sure what he could do, or what he was going to say to her. All he knew was that if he could do anything at all to alleviate this man’s concern right now, he would. Fear for those you loved was awful to live with.

  “You’d prefer the window route?” Wendell asked.

  “Please.” Noah never had been a tree climber, never mind the thought of trusting one single branch and then jumping the rest of the way.

  Wendell led him upstairs to one of the back bedrooms. He opened the door and Noah followed him in, stepping over pieces of clothing strewn
across the floor.

  “She obviously got the message we were done showing the place and no longer had to keep it neat,” Wendell said.

  “Katie?” Noah guessed.

  Wendell nodded. “She really is a good girl. Just has a few bad habits.”

  “Don’t we all?”

  Wendell went to the window and hoisted it up. “Be careful. She makes it look easier than it is.”

  Noah sat on the windowsill and wondered what on earth he was doing. Then he took another look at Wendell and swung his legs outside.

  “What I wouldn’t give to see her face,” the older man said.

  Noah climbed out nervously, gripping the roof and staying low. He looked around, hoping Katie was close by and he wouldn’t have to venture out too far.

  No such luck.

  She was apparently still up front. Noah would have to get himself to the peak of the roof in order to see her. Hopefully he could talk to her from there, because the thought of easing downward didn’t sit all that well with him.

  He took it slowly, testing each step before he put his weight down fully. By the time he reached the peak, sweat covered his forehead.

  The look she gave him when he said her name, though, made it worth the climb. Surprise, confusion and shock played upon her features.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, scrambling up the other side toward him, as if she’d seen a ghost.

  “Your dad wants you to come down.”

  “Of course he does.” An exaggerated wide-eyed crazy look came over her face. “He thinks I’m out of control.”

  “I’d have to agree.”

  “Why are you sweating? It’s a gorgeous day out here, not even eighty degrees yet.”

  He avoided looking down. “Climbing up on roofs isn’t something I normally do.”

  “I feel so...special.” Then her expression changed. “Oh, wow. You’re afraid of heights, aren’t you?”

  “I wouldn’t call it afraid, really. I’m just not wild about being up this high with nothing to catch me if I slip.”

  She stared at him as if he were nuts and he was beginning to think she might be right about that.

  “Forgive me for asking, but why in the world are you up here then?”

  Noah lifted one leg over the top of the roof, so that he was straddling it. That felt a little more secure. Then he took a long breath to steady himself. “I told you, your dad wants you to come down. I didn’t think it’d be good for him to climb up here. Also—” he looked into her expectant eyes “—he said you come up here when you’re upset about something.”

  “What would I have to be upset about?” she asked flippantly, and if Wendell hadn’t already told Noah about Katie’s problem, he might’ve believed she actually was carefree and just there for a better view of the neighbors.

  Katie walked along the top of the roof, hands out, using it like a balance beam. Just as he was about to ask her—nicely but firmly—to stop, she climbed onto the chimney, which rose another three feet.

  Noah closed his eyes in abject terror as she lifted herself to a full standing position. She was truly out of her mind.

  “Making you nervous?” she asked from above.

  “Are you insane? Get down from there before you wind up dead.”

  “Whoa!” she hollered, and he snapped his eyes open. “Gotcha.” She stood perfectly still, nicely balanced, watching him.

  “Katie...” He wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if someday he read a news article about someone wringing her neck.

  “Okay, okay. I’ll come down if it’ll make you feel better.”

  He closed his eyes again, but listened to her as she got back to the main roof and made her way closer to him. His teeth were clenched so tightly he barely noticed the pounding in his head anymore.

  She sat next to him and touched his hand. “You’re really white-knuckling it,” she said. “Are you sure you don’t want to go back down?”

  He’d come up here for a reason, or so he’d told himself. What was that reason? He tried to erase the fear she’d just put him through with her chimney stunt, in order to remember. Ah, yes. Her own feelings, which she seemed to be so willing to deny.

  Noah told himself to relax his body a notch or two and then sat up straighter. “Your dad said you didn’t want him to sell the house.”

  Her expression changed, the taunting twinkle that had been in her eyes disappearing and giving way to a look of such intense sadness that he almost felt bad for bringing it up. Almost, but not quite.

  “Yeah. So?”

  So she wasn’t the type to pour out her heart and soul. He could relate well to that and he didn’t necessarily consider it a bad trait. Just something to prolong his time forty feet above the ground. Come to think of it, maybe it was a bad trait.

  “He mentioned something about this being your mom’s house.”

  She locked her gaze with his. “Why does it matter if I’m upset? Who cares why I climb trees and roofs?”

  “Your dad, apparently.”

  “He’s used to it.”

  “Do you think anyone really ever gets used to someone they love taking insane risks?” His voice carried more anger than he intended.

  She stared at him. “I’m still trying to figure out why you thought it would be okay to come up here and tell me everything that’s wrong with my life.”

  He counted to ten, regretting his words. He’d meant what he said, but still... He barely knew her. “I’m sorry. I’ve messed this up.”

  “Messed what up?”

  “I have no idea.” He moved his left leg so he faced the backyard squarely now and, more importantly, the window that was his escape hatch. “I didn’t come up here to antagonize you. Let’s just pretend I shook your dad’s hand and walked out the door, straight to my SUV.”

  Noah inched his way toward the dormer window below. When he was halfway down, Katie stood straight up and walked by, nearly making him lose his grip as she passed. When she got to the dormer, she turned toward him. She stood there watching his every slow move, unnerving him.

  When he was a few feet from her, she stretched her good hand out to him. “Grab on.”

  “I’m fine,” he said and tried to speed up his descent until he, too, could hold on to the dormer.

  “Fine and stubborn,” she said, then crawled in through the window.

  Closing his eyes, he climbed in after her. Once both feet were on solid hardwood, he let out the breath he hadn’t known he was holding. He glanced at Katie, who was staring at him, and then started toward the door.

  “Noah,” she said, taking a couple steps closer. “I’m sorry I was rude. I don’t like to talk about my mom, or the house, or any of that. And yes, I’m angry he sold it.”

  “The rude, I can handle. It’s the stunts that age me ten years.”

  “You really are uptight, aren’t you?”

  “I like to call it sane.”

  “It was kind of brave of you to chase after me on the roof. Especially being afraid of heights and all...”

  He sighed, wishing he’d not followed whatever wild notion it was that had made him go on the roof in the first place. Who did he think he was? Some modern-day knight in shining armor? Even if he was, Katie did not need to be rescued. At least not from the roof. “I’ll never hear the end of it, will I?”

  “Not likely.” She walked to the door of the bedroom and opened it for him. “Tell my dad I’m fine.”

  “I think he’ll do better hearing it directly from you.”

  “Bossy,” he heard her mutter as she turned and closed herself in her room.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  NOAH PAUSED BEFORE opening the door to Katie’s examining room, bracing himself.

  He was supposed to see he
r as a woman with stitches that needed to come out and nothing more. But what he noticed first when he looked at her was the bright orange-flowered sundress that hugged her body just so, the way her hair looked silky as it cascaded over her shoulders and the gleam of mischief in her eyes as she smiled at him.

  “Good morning. Ready to get those stitches out...again?”

  “Like you wouldn’t believe. You can have the cast back, too, as far as I’m concerned.”

  “You’re out of luck there. Just a few more weeks though.”

  She looked at him as if to say, Easy for you to say.

  He glanced over the instruments laid out, making sure his nurse had prepared the ones he needed, and scrubbed his hands.

  Katie had been on his mind ever since he’d left her the day before, and that bothered him. He couldn’t stop thinking about the way she was still struggling with her mother’s death, so many years after it had happened. Would he still be battling Leah’s ghost fourteen years from now? He’d really hoped it would get easier.

  He had concluded she didn’t need someone to rescue her from the roof, but he sensed she needed something. Her daredevil acts seemed to him to be a call for help, however subtle, possibly even subconscious. Her dad had said she did something wild whenever she was upset.

  Noah wasn’t the one who could help her, by any means. But he could relate to the grief, the not knowing how to handle it. When he’d met her a week ago, he never would’ve guessed they might have anything in common, but now he thought he’d been wrong.

  “Are you feeling any better about moving?” he asked cautiously, as he helped her lie back on the table.

  “Nope.”

  “Is there anything that would make it easier for you?” He regretted the fact that his actions were adding to her problems, even though he’d told himself repeatedly that it wasn’t his concern.

  She looked at him without moving her head, since he was snipping the thread from her chin at the time. “Don’t buy it?”

  “If I don’t, someone else will.”

  Katie didn’t say anything, and Noah continued to snip and pull threads. The one remaining stitch was stubborn, didn’t want to come out. He leaned closer to her face and she closed her eyes.