Redemption Bay_Contemporary Romance

by RaeAnne Thayne

  Apparently the coffee hadn’t taken the edge off his mental torpor. He tried to process the overload of information but couldn’t seem to make the pieces fit.

  He tried to filter through the salient points. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about. What sandbags? What crisis?”

  Warrick—he couldn’t think of him as his father yet—looked shocked. “You must not have had the radio or the TV on.”

  “No. I was on a conference call until a few moments ago.”

  “We’re facing heavy flooding along the river within the next few hours. An upriver dam is failing, though they’re trying their best to fix the situation. It’s all hands on deck right now, between helping with evacuations for those who will most likely be hit by floodwaters and sandbagging as much as we can to protect property. I fear it’s a losing battle, but Mayor Shaw is determined.”

  McKenzie. His heart twisted a little and he could almost picture her, right in the middle of the action, trying to save the town she loved.

  “I’m sure you understand that we have to cancel our dinner plans. For one thing, all the restaurants in town will be closed except to provide food to the relief workers and I wouldn’t feel good about leaving town for Shelter Springs in the midst of a crisis. I’m sorry. I was...looking forward to it, son.”

  Son. Ben couldn’t deal with the word, especially when he thought back over the years to how many times Warrick had called him that.

  “I understand,” he said.

  Warrick studied him, then spoke carefully. “I also wanted to warn you there’s a real chance the bridge on the way out of town might be under water by this evening, if the river crests like they’re afraid it might. If you leave now, you could make it out before the bridge is impassable. Otherwise, you might be stuck an extra day or two or have to drive hours out of your way in the other direction.”

  Again, he couldn’t think what to say. “Thanks for the information.”

  “All right. Well. I should go.” Doc Warrick rubbed at the back of his neck, a mannerism Ben suddenly realized was one he did frequently himself.

  “How are you doing with all this?”

  He didn’t need the doctor to explain what he meant. From that ball of emotions, the tenuous threads of their father-son relationship seemed to coil between and around them.

  “It’s been a shock,” he admitted. “I’m still having a tough time taking it in.”

  “Understandable.”

  Warrick’s kind eyes seemed to look right through Ben’s carefully calm facade. “This isn’t the time or place for it,” he said quietly, “but I wanted you to know, I loved your mother with all my heart, from the first time I met her. I made some mistakes along the way, I’ll be the first to admit, but I never stopped loving her. Even after she got married and I met and married—and loved—someone else, too, one part of my heart always belonged to Lydia. She’s an amazing woman who had some hard choices to make and did the best she could under the circumstances. I hope you fully appreciate that.”

  Ben wanted to bristle at what suddenly sounded like a fatherly lecture. He was a little too old for paternal discourse.

  On the other hand, he found it oddly refreshing, after so many years spent with a father who either belittled or ignored him.

  “I do. Thanks.”

  “If you do end up taking off today, God bless. Maybe your mother and I could drive to California in a few weeks for that dinner.”

  Driving to California just for dinner would be ridiculous, especially when he had a private jet. He was about to say so, when he remembered something. “I’ll be back in town in a month for Aidan and Eliza’s wedding. Perhaps we can reschedule during that time.”

  “Perfect. In that case, we’ll definitely see you then.”

  Before Ben realized what he intended, Doc Warrick reached out and embraced him, just briefly but enough to leave a peculiar warmth behind.

  “I know things are...awkward between us now. It’s only to be expected, but in time, I hope you can come to accept me. I’ve wanted to tell you the truth for a long, long time. I’m so happy that it’s finally out there, even though I know it can’t be easy for you.”

  An understatement.

  “I’ll see you soon,” Warrick promised. “Now I’d better go. Safe travels, son.”

  This time the word didn’t strike him nearly as odd.

  After the doctor left, Ben returned to the window, gazing at the lake and the Redemption Mountains. The Delphine bounced on the high water.

  He had no reason to stay now. McKenzie obviously didn’t want him here. He didn’t have to wait to meet his mother and Warrick for dinner. The town was in crisis and he ought to get out of the way and leave the people of Haven Point to deal with it.

  He looked out toward the little jewellike town that provided the only spots of color in the dreary rain. He couldn’t see the river from here but he could imagine it, frothing and wild. It wasn’t called the Hell’s Fury for nothing. Under certain conditions, it could rage through town to the lake, swollen with runoff and rain—and now, apparently, floodwaters from a dam breach.

  He pictured McKenzie in the middle of the action, trying desperately to save her town. He thought of all the people he had seen in action the night before—the little old lady quilting at her husband’s bedside, Eppie and Hazel, the teenage boys who had offered lawn-mowing services.

  His little fishing buddies, Caleb and Luke. Even the jackass he had decked at the Lake Haven Days barbecue, Jimmy Welch. He was somehow absolutely certain everybody was out in force, working together to help each other.

  How could he duck and run, even though he was no longer part of the town?

  Yeah. He wasn’t leaving.

  He glanced down at Hondo. “I have to take off for a while, dude. You can handle things here, right?”

  The dog barked in agreement and Ben hurried to grab his boots and his jacket before he headed off to see where he might be needed most.

  * * *

  IF ONLY THIS blasted rain would stop, they might have a chance to beat back the impending disaster.

  McKenzie gazed up at the sky as she drove from city hall to the parking lot of the elementary school to check on the sandbag operation. If anything, the clouds looked more ominous and ugly. Weather forecasters had been saying the clouds were supposed to lift, but before they did they were supposed to receive one more big thundershower—the last thing they needed.

  The weight of responsibility on her shoulders felt heavier than the Redemptions and for a moment, she could barely breathe. According to the latest update, the engineers working to restore the upriver dam’s integrity were down to their last option. If that failed, a vast amount of water would be pouring through her town, sweeping through everything in its path with its dangerous power.

  They were doing all they could to minimize the destruction. All residents of the houses along the river had been evacuated and dozens of volunteers had helped people remove their most valuable possessions. Emergency shelters had been set up for them at various churches, though most of the evacuated residents had friends or neighbors out of the danger zone who had gladly taken them in to wait out the potential disaster.

  While city hall was command central, the true epicenter of the action was the elementary school, where the sandbag effort was underway. As McKenzie pulled up, the scene in the parking lot almost made her burst into tears.

  It looked as if everyone in town was here working together, hundreds of people. In an effort to keep as dry as possible, people had brought little canvas pop-up shelters and set them up around the huge piles of sand. Others didn’t even bother, working with water streaming down their faces.

  From what she could see, children, teenagers, adults—even a few senior citizens in wheelchairs—were all working together to help each oth
er.

  Some were filling sandbags with shovels while still others were hauling those sandbags to a waiting flatbed trailer to be hauled to the river. She knew there were even more volunteers at the homes along the river, trying to build up the bank on both sides as high as possible.

  Oh, how she loved this town.

  She walked through, greeting friends and neighbors, taking a moment to offer her heartfelt thanks. She was looking for Dale to give him the latest update from the Corps when she spotted an astonishing sight.

  Under one of the canvas shelters, Ben was shoveling sand into a bag held open by little Caleb and Luke Keegan. His hair was plastered to his head; his T-shirt, straining over his bunched muscles, was drenched with either sweat or rain, she didn’t know.

  He had never looked more gorgeous to her.

  What was he doing there? He wasn’t part of the town. He didn’t even like it here. She wouldn’t have expected it in a thousand years, but here he was, working every bit as hard as those whose neighbors were threatened by the potential disaster.

  Oh, he was a hard man to resist.

  She watched the scene for only a few seconds—more than she could spare. Just as she was about to head off to look for Dale again, Ben turned as if he felt her watching him.

  He met her gaze for one supercharged moment while everything else seemed to slough away—the crisis and the town and all the people who needed her. She stood with rain pelting the hood of her raincoat, wishing she had time to speak with him, to thank him for his effort, but she had no time to even breathe.

  With a half smile she hoped conveyed at least a little of her gratitude, she turned away, just as an annoyingly perky young woman in a parka bearing the logo of one of the Boise television stations hurried toward her carrying a huge red umbrella that made her impossible to miss. She was followed by a man carrying an even larger camera.

  “Mayor Shaw. Mayor Shaw. What do you have to say about accusations from some citizens that your administration was caught unprepared for this situation?”

  What citizens? Probably Jimmy Welch, who lived in one of the houses along the river and was already talking about suing over being ordered out of his home.

  She didn’t have time for ridiculous made-up controversies or diplomacy right now, when her town was in trouble.

  “We had an emergency plan in place for high water levels and, as you can see, that is being implemented right now.”

  “Is it true that you had advance warning of the impending disaster and did nothing until this morning?”

  “We were notified at 6:30 a.m. By seven, the town’s emergency management protocol was operational, and before seven-thirty, we were filling the first sandbags. All people and animals have been safely evacuated and we are doing everything we can to minimize the possibility of property damage. Look around and you can see the tremendous outpouring of support. Only thirty homes are threatened along the river. The rest are safely removed from the flood zone. As you can see, nearly everyone in town is out here in the pouring rain because they want to help their neighbors. I would say that’s a pretty amazing response, wouldn’t you?”

  The young reporter didn’t seem to know what to say when the tables were turned. Her mouth opened a little and her gaze shifted away—and landed on something she apparently found far more interesting than any small-town mayor.

  “Oh, my word. Isn’t that Aidan Caine?”

  McKenzie followed her gaze and spotted Aidan working with his caretaker and a few other men. “Yes. Aidan has a home outside the boundaries of Haven Point.”

  “And Ben Kilpatrick is here, too?” she exclaimed with a reverent sort of look at him. “Any other Caine Tech executives out here shoveling sandbags?”

  “Not that I’m aware of, no,” McKenzie said as drily as she could manage, considering she was drenched, despite her raincoat.

  “You should get sound bites from them,” her cameraman said. “That would make great footage. It might even go national. Billionaire tech executives aren’t too busy to help out flood-threatened small town.”

  “Yes!” An almost giddy look crossed the reporter’s perfectly made-up features and she immediately headed toward Aidan without even saying a polite goodbye to McKenzie.

  She didn’t care. Let Aidan and Ben handle all the media, if they wanted. They were both probably far more experienced at it than she was.

  She quickly dismissed the reporter from her mind and went in search of Dale.

  After relaying the information from the Corps of Engineers and discussing the latest threat assessment, she decided to spend the few minutes she had until she needed to return to city hall taking bottled water donated by the grocery store to as many volunteers as she could.

  Inevitably, it seemed, her path led to Ben and the boys.

  “Hi, Kenzie,” Caleb said. “We’re helping Ben.”

  “I can see that. Good work, guys. Need some water?”

  “I’m so thirsty I’m gonna die,” Luke declared.

  “We can’t have that. Here you go.”

  He took the bottle and took a few swallows, which were apparently all he needed to stave off perishing of dehydration.

  “Thanks,” Ben said, taking a bottle from her. “Not the way you expected to be spending the day, I imagine.”

  She shook her head. “Nor you. I’m surprised to see you.”

  He glanced down at the boys, who weren’t paying any attention to them.

  “I can see why you would be, me being a self-absorbed, walled-off billionaire and all.”

  Had she really said that to him? She winced, mortified at herself. She should probably apologize but this didn’t seem quite the time. Before she could figure out what to say, he gestured toward the reporter, still standing with her bright red umbrella, trying to get a comment out of Aidan.

  “Are you the one who sicced the media on him?”

  “No. She spotted him about thirty seconds before I did. It’s apparently big news when the Geek God deigns to walk among us mortal people.”

  “Don’t let him hear you call him that. He hates it.”

  She could imagine. Aidan was not only brilliant but gorgeous, in a nerdy way that made women swoon.

  Not her. Apparently she preferred the brooding Paul Newman sort to sexy intellectuals. Aidan had never done a thing for her, while Ben only had to crack that rare smile for her to turn into mush.

  Go figure.

  He gave her a careful look. “How are you holding up?”

  She gave her best publicly upbeat smile, the one that made her feel as if her teeth were going to fall out from the pressure of gritting them together. “Fine. Just fine.”

  “Really?”

  He had every reason to be furious with her after their ridiculous fight the night before but somehow here he was, exhibiting a soft compassion that seemed to work its way past all her defenses like water seeping through a wall of sandbags.

  “No. Not really. Right about now, I’m asking myself why I was ever crazy enough to agree to run for mayor. Everybody needs me for something, a hundred decisions about things I know nothing about. And whatever decision I end up making, somebody isn’t going to like it and will be ready to throw me into the Hell’s Fury.”

  He gave her a solemn look. “Being the one in charge is never comfortable, is it? You can’t keep everybody happy all the time, no matter what you do, so at some point you have to focus on making not the easy choice but the right one. Every leader has to face that truth at some point.”

  The words resounded in her mind and in her heart as the cold rain battered her.

  Hard decisions—like whether to evacuate now or wait until the threat seemed more imminent or whether to build a multi-million-dollar facility in Haven Point—weren’t easy.

  At some point, the hardest decis
ions had to be motivated by logic, not emotion, or the world would devolve into chaos. She had seen that amply demonstrated that difficult day.

  “You’re right,” she began, but before she could continue, her phone rang. She pulled it out and saw by the caller ID it was from Cade Emmett.

  “I need to take this. It’s Chief Emmett. I’m sorry.”

  He waved a hand. “I need to get back to supervising my team.”

  By team she assumed he meant Caleb and Luke Keegan, which she found rather adorable.

  “Thank you for helping, especially when you don’t have to.”

  “In this case, logic had nothing to do with it,” he said quietly, giving her that rare smile before turning back to the job.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  SHE WAS SO TIRED, she wanted to sink into her bed and not crawl out again for days.

  As McKenzie drove up to her house, the dashboard clock on her SUV read 12:56 a.m.

  The worst of the crisis had passed. They were calling it the July Miracle in the media. Twelve houses and four businesses sustained minor flooding but a combination of the sandbags, geography and a healthy dose of luck had kept it from being much, much worse.

  The Elkwood Dam had indeed failed—not completely but enough that other towns upriver from Haven Point were flooded before the Corps of Engineers was able to contain the situation and divert most of the flow through another channel.

  The Hell’s Fury was still running high and fast and probably would be for several days. Since the rain had finally stopped several hours ago, there was hope that most of the flow would run into the lake and then back through the Hell’s Fury outlet on the other side without causing significant damage along the way.

  She hadn’t wanted to leave the emergency command center at city hall but the overnight crew monitoring the situation had promised to contact her if the situation changed. Nobody expected it to but she intended to sleep with her cell phone on her pillow next to her, anyway.