Shadow of Doubt

by Abbie Zanders

  “Mkay,” she hummed and then drifted off to sleep.

  ~ * ~

  While Kate was in the shower the next morning, he texted Smoke, Sam, and Church and gave them a heads-up, so they wouldn’t be too surprised when Kate walked in with him.

  Sam was practically bouncing on her toes when they arrived. “Is it really true? You’d like to work here?”

  “I would,” Kate confirmed. “I realize I might not be too useful at first,” she said, holding up her cast, “but I’ll do what I can.”

  Church was somewhat wary of Kate’s sudden eagerness to come on board but agreed to consider it. Unsurprisingly, he called Mad Dog into the war room at one point, closing the door behind him.

  “Talk to me, man. What’s going on?”

  Mad Dog shrugged. “Kate hasn’t shared the details with me, but something went down with her family. She packed up her shit and called me to come get her.”

  He frowned. “Do you think it has anything to do with what we divulged?”

  “No. Not directly anyway. I don’t think she relayed anything we’d told her, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “So, the timing is just a happy coincidence?”

  “No. I think we opened her eyes and provided a different perspective, but that alone wouldn’t have had her packing her shit and walking away. Whatever happened, it’s far more personal.” Mad Dog leaned back, considering the little he did know. “She did tell me that her older sister and sister-in-law flew out three days earlier than expected. My guess? Lines were drawn in the sand, and Kate and Karyn chose to stand on their own side while everyone else stood on the other.”

  “I remember Karyn Handelmann,” Church said thoughtfully. “Very friendly and down-to-earth. A lot like Kate.”

  Mad Dog nodded. He’d thought the same thing. “So, how about it, Church? Can we make this happen or what?”

  Church’s lips quirked. “Since this morning, I’ve had Sam, Sandy, and Doc in here, telling me what a good idea it was to bring Kate on board.”

  Sam and Sandy, he’d expected. Doc, not so much.

  “Doc?”

  “He believes that, with her knowledge of the tunnels, she could be a valuable asset.” His lips curled into the semblance of a smile. “But if you ask me, he just wants to stay on her good side, so she agrees to let us keep the dogs.”

  Mad Dog chuckled. Doc had been researching training programs that would bring in therapy dogs for vets. They’d all thought it was a good idea, but after seeing the positive effect the animals had had on Justin in such a short time, the opportunity was too good not to consider.

  “True enough.”

  “My main concern is that Kate’s here because of a knee-jerk reaction to whatever went down, and once she cools off, she’ll have second thoughts.”

  “So?” he challenged even though he didn’t think that would happen. “We didn’t have a problem offering Sandy a place to stay until she figured things out.”

  “Heff was willing to assume total responsibility for Sandy. Are you willing to do the same for Kate?”

  “Abso-fucking-lutely. I want her here, with me.”

  Church grinned. “Yeah, I thought you’d say that.”

  “She’s it for me, man.”

  “This isn’t going to gain us any points with the locals,” Church said thoughtfully.

  “Since when do we give a shit?” he countered.

  “Things could get rocky, and Kate’s going to be right in the thick of it.”

  “She’s already in the thick of it—only now, she won’t be alone.”

  “No,” Church agreed, “she won’t. All right. We’ll take a vote, and it’s got to be unanimous.”

  “Works for me.”

  Mad Dog knew Smoke would vote yes because it would make Sam happy, and Heff would back him up because of Sandy. Cage was the only one he wasn’t sure about, but he couldn’t see him being a lone holdout.

  Church called everyone in. The vote took less than a minute. Kate was in.

  Now, all he had to do was make sure she wanted to stay.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Kate

  It was official. Kate had a new job in the Sanctuary kitchen, effective as soon as she was ready—which was immediately as far as she was concerned. She needed something to keep her mind and hands busy, so she didn’t dwell on her family situation.

  Her first choice of distracting activities involved getting Chris naked, but since he had a job to do, she could be reasonable, especially since she knew that she’d have him to herself all night. That was definitely worth waiting for.

  Kate was already familiar with the kitchen; there wasn’t much of a learning curve. She and Sam did an inventory to give her an idea of what she had to work with in terms of ingredients and whatnot. She couldn’t wait to get started.

  “What’s the plan?” she asked Sam, slipping an apron over her head.

  Sam laughed, helping her by tying the strings in the back. “Plan? There is no plan. Matt has given us free rein. Our only objective is to create something edible for these guys. Believe me, it’s not hard. They’ll eat just about anything.”

  That might be the case, but Kate wanted to do better than just provide them something edible.

  “Any allergies we need to be aware of? Gluten? Peanut?”

  “Not that anyone’s told me,” Sam replied.

  That meant the kitchen was basically an open canvas. Kate was excited and a little nervous, too. Cooking for herself was one thing. Cooking for others was quite another, as she’d discovered by volunteering at the fire hall. Plus, this was her first real job outside of Handelmann’s, and she didn’t want to let anyone down, especially Chris and Sam.

  “Relax,” Sam told her. “You’re overthinking it.”

  “I just don’t want to screw this up.”

  “You won’t.”

  Kate appreciated her faith and drew some much-needed courage from it. “Got anything in mind for tonight?”

  Sam shrugged. “I have chicken defrosting in the fridge. I haven’t gotten much further than that.”

  She thought back to how much Chris had enjoyed her pot pie. It was hot, hearty, and relatively easy. “How about chicken pot pie?”

  “Mmm. I haven’t had homemade pot pie since my grandparents passed. Let’s do that!”

  “And maybe some double-fudge brownies for dessert?”

  “I knew hiring you was a good idea!” Sam grinned.

  They got to work. Sam let her take the lead and was a most excellent assistant. Before long, the kitchen was filled with the heavenly aromas of pot pies and brownies baking.

  “Last time I made these was for Meals on Wheels,” Kate told her as they cleaned up some of the mess they’d made.

  Her grandmother used to say, “The bigger the mess, the better the meal,” and she’d found that to be eerily accurate.

  Her mother, on the other hand, didn’t adhere to the same philosophy. Kate could still remember the horror on her mother’s face when she had just been learning how to cook and made her first strudel. There was flour and oil and butter everywhere, and she ruined one of her mother’s good sets of sheets in the process. Her grandmother’s recipe called for dough stretched so thin that they needed bleached white linens to roll it up. From that point on, any recipe with dough had had to be made at her oma’s.

  “Who’s doing your route now?” Sam asked.

  “I don’t know. The woman who was covering for me flew out to be with her new grandchild, and I think the Ladies Auxiliary has been tapping the volunteer firemen to do the deliveries. I was hoping to get back to it after my father got out of the hospital, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen anytime soon.”

  “Why not?”

  “Well, as much as I’d like to think I could drive my stick shift with this”—she raised her cast—“I’m not sure I can. Plus, I’m here now, so ...”

  “So? Don’t let that stop you. Ask Mad Dog to drive you. I’m sur
e he wouldn’t mind.”

  “Oh, I couldn’t do that. He’s done so much for me already.”

  “Couldn’t do what?” Chris asked, entering the kitchen with Smoke. “It smells amazing in here, ladies. Kate, is that your pot pie?”

  She smiled at the hopeful look in his eyes. “It is.”

  “We were talking about Kate’s Meals on Wheels route,” Sam answered, “and I said she should ask you to drive her around.”

  “Sure, I’m down for that.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, why not? Doc’s been chomping at the bit to talk to that guy you were telling him about, too. He could tag along. You could do the intros and leave them to it while we take care of everyone else.”

  Her heart swelled. “I love that idea! Mr. O’Farrell was so excited when I told him someone wanted to visit.” And she just knew some of the ladies on her route would love to meet Chris.

  “Then, consider it a done deal. Now, when can we eat?” he asked, rubbing his stomach. “I’m starving.”

  ~ * ~

  It didn’t take Kate long to settle into a routine. Everyone was polite and friendly even if she did occasionally sense wariness. She didn’t blame them, especially not since she had a better understanding of the tension between Sanctuary and people she’d known her whole life. However, she was not the type to share secrets or tattle. Not on them, not on anyone. Hopefully, over time, she would earn their trust, and they would realize they had nothing to fear from her.

  She liked being at Sanctuary. The primary reason was Chris, of course, but she liked other things, too. The rustic beauty of the place. The sense of freedom and independence and purpose. They were doing something good here, and she was excited to be a part of it.

  Plus, her new job was amazing! So much so that it didn’t feel like a job at all. Basically, she was getting paid to do what she loved—play in the kitchen! And working with Sam was a lot of fun. She handled most of the morning stuff and was happy to hand over dinner-planning and prep to Kate. Lunch was generally a seek-and-forage kind of deal. They basically made sure there were plenty DIY and microwavable options readily available for anyone who wandered in midday.

  Kate enjoyed hanging out with Sam and Sandy when the guys were off doing their thing, too. Though they’d technically known each other for years, they’d never really been friends. As it turned out, they had something in common. While other girls had been out partying and dating and having fun, they’d spent most of their time working, as Kate had. That was probably one of the reasons they got along so well.

  Another reason: they understood and respected personal boundaries. They didn’t ask why Kate was there or details about what had happened, and she appreciated that.

  The closest either one of them had come was one morning after breakfast when they were lingering over coffee and Sandy said, “If you ever want to talk, we’re here.”

  Kate had thanked them for that and probably would confide in them eventually but not yet. She was still trying to make sense of things herself, and she had hopes that her family would come around.

  Bonus: she got to spend time taking care of and playing with the dogs, too. Over the course of the last few weeks, Duke had become Smoke’s shadow, and Mama Dog had taken a particular shine to Cage. Kate didn’t mind. They still had plenty of love for her and weren’t stingy about sharing it when she was around.

  And the pups! They were almost fully weaned, and she’d have to take them for shots soon. Doc talked to her again about keeping the dogs at Sanctuary permanently, and at that point, she couldn’t see a downside. Not only had they become a staple of the place, but Sanctuary was also willing to pay for their vet bills and any training costs to make them official service dogs. There was one organization in particular Doc had found that taught vets how to train the dogs that would ultimately become their service animals, and he was very excited about the possibilities.

  The quiet guy she’d met earlier—Justin—seemed perfect for that sort of thing. While he didn’t relate to people all that well, the same couldn’t be said about animals. In fact, they’d started calling him the Dog Whisperer. He still didn’t say much, but he did smile occasionally, which Doc thought was a sign of progress.

  The nights were her favorite, hands down. After dinner, she and Chris would go back to his trailer. They’d spend a lot of time talking, watching movies, and getting to know each other better. He told her more about his childhood in the Midwest and that he’d joined the Navy because it was a tradition. His father had been a Navy man along with his grandfather before him.

  For her part, Kate told him about growing up in Sumneyville as a tomboy and how she and Karyn used to sneak off to camp out in the woods to escape their mom’s dreaded Avon, Longaberger, and Pampered Chef parties.

  The rest of the time, she and Chris dedicated to more intimate explorations. Learning each other’s bodies. What they liked. What they didn’t like. What drove each other to the breaking point. They did that a lot.

  The more time she spent with him, the more in love she fell. He was everything she could ask for and nothing she’d thought she’d ever find.

  Life was good.

  Mostly.

  As wonderful as her time at Sanctuary was, there was a persistent shadow lurking at the back of her thoughts, one that grew darker as each day went by without a call or a text from her family. Sometimes, she wondered if they even realized she’d left.

  Perhaps that was why, when Sandy told her that she and Heff were driving into town to visit Franco’s, Kate asked Chris if they could tag along. She used the excuse of wanting to pick up a few things for the kitchen, which wasn’t exactly a lie but not the whole truth either.

  They took Matt’s SUV, since it seated four more comfortably than Chris’s truck. “Where to first?” Chris asked, proving that he hadn’t been fooled.

  “Can we drive by the house? I should check the mail.”

  She rarely got any paper mail, but sometimes, some junk mail still managed to find its way into her mailbox.

  “Sure.”

  The house looked exactly as she’d left it. As she checked the mailbox, she couldn’t help looking across the street. The lights were on, and the store was open. Before she knew what she was doing, her feet were carrying her over there.

  Her father was sitting on a stool behind the front counter, talking with Ernest Mueller, the guy who ran the local bait-and-tackle shop. His eyes lifted at the sound of the bell. They widened slightly when he saw her there, but otherwise, he didn’t immediately acknowledge her presence.

  She roamed around the shop, taking some satisfaction in the fact that the shelves weren’t as tidy as they would have been if she’d been there and that there were even some bare spots where items hadn’t been properly restocked.

  When Ernest left a few minutes later, she made her way back to the counter.

  “Hey, Dad. How are you?”

  “As well as can be expected.” His tone didn’t hold its normal warmth, nor did his eyes. He was still angry.

  “Are you here by yourself?”

  “Until the new kid shows up.”

  “You hired someone?”

  He exhaled. “You didn’t leave me much of a choice, Katy-belle.”

  She perked up at the nickname and then wilted again when he shook his head, the disappointment in his eyes cutting through her chest like a dull blade.

  “I thought Kylie and Luther had it covered,” she commented, unable to completely keep the sourness out of her tone.

  His jaw clenched. “Sarcasm doesn’t suit you, Kate. Clearly, the people you’ve been choosing to spend time with are a bad influence.”

  For a moment, she was too stunned to speak.

  “They’re not bad people! They’ve been nothing but nice to me.”

  “Grow up, Kate, and stop being so naive.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means that not everyone who is nice to you is your friend. Sometimes, the
y’re just using you as a means to an end.”

  She threw her uncasted hand up. “You mean like the way Luther kisses up to you and Mom while he’s siphoning away your retirement fund?”

  He shook his head. “You don’t understand.”

  “Then, explain it to me, Dad. Explain to me how you can defend what he’s doing.”

  “That’s what family does. They support each other, especially in hard times.”

  “Luther is not my family, and he’s not yours either. I am. Why aren’t you supporting my choices? Or Karyn’s, for that matter?”

  His expression darkened. “Luther has this family’s best interests at heart.”

  “Are you saying I don’t?”

  “I’m saying, life isn’t easy despite what you might think. You can’t always get what you want. Sometimes, you have to suck it up and make the hard choices. That’s just the way it is.”

  She felt the tears building, even as her chest began to ache. “They’re not the ones asking me to make a choice, Dad.”

  “I don’t expect you to understand. You’ve had everything handed to you.”

  Each word was like salt in an open wound, burning until all she could feel was the pain. And she’d heard enough.

  She pulled the key to her house out of her pocket and slid it across the counter.

  “What’s this?”

  “The key to the house. You’re right, Dad. Sometimes, we do have to make the hard choices.”

  She held her head high as she walked away, but inside, she was devastated.

  Chris was leaning against the SUV when she exited the store, hastily swiping at her tears. He didn’t notice her at first, his eyes fixed on something in the Handelmann’s lot. She followed his gaze and saw Luther talking to someone in a big silver pickup truck, but she couldn’t make out who it was.

  She didn’t think much of it. She was just glad Luther hadn’t been in the store to witness what had just happened.

  As she got closer, Chris turned his gaze from the truck to her, his brow furrowing in concern. “You okay?”

  “Not really.”

  His eyes flicked back to the lot.

  “What is so fascinating?” she asked, but the answer was clear a moment later as the truck exited the lot and she got to see the vehicle from the front.