East of Easy

by Linda Bleser

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and stretched up on tiptoe. “Can I get you a muffin, cowboy?”

  He nipped her bottom lip. “For now,” he said. “I’ve got my sights on something sweeter when we’re alone.”

  Her heart did a little jig. Only a week and a half and already she was addicted to him…morning, noon and night. They walked from the office hand in hand. Nellie did a quick double take then smiled and nodded her head, as if everything was finally falling into place.

  That evening Nellie sent her home from the Tea and Crumpet Shop with an entire apple streusel crumb cake. Kate figured she’d have to buy a whole new wardrobe if she stayed here much longer under Nellie’s protective culinary wing. She’d gotten no sympathy from Max, who said her city-slim figure needed a little filling out anyway.

  Just thinking of Max made her smile as she balanced the crumb cake in one hand and wiggled the key in the lock with the other. Sophie met her at the door, winding between her feet with a pitiful mewl, as if she’d been abandoned for weeks instead of hours.

  If Kate hadn’t looked down to avoid tripping over the cat, she might not have noticed the envelope someone had slipped under the door. Her name was scrawled across the front in block letters that reminded her of a ransom note. Her first instinct was to simply toss the envelope into the trash. Something told her that whatever was inside couldn’t be good.

  Ignoring her intuition, Kate bent over and picked up the envelope. It felt heavy, ominous, dense with sinister secrets. Following Sophie into the kitchen, Kate dropped both the coffeecake and envelope onto the counter. She waited for some comment from her mother but the teacup remained silent. The cat, however, had plenty to say and it all sounded like “Feed me…NOW!”

  “All right, all right. Hold your horses,” she said, reaching for the canister of dry fish-shaped kitty kibble. Yeah, that should fool the feline community, she thought. If it’s shaped like a fish, it obviously must be from the sea. Sophie sniffed at her bowl then gave Kate a plaintive look, not fooled for one second. Then, as if realizing this was the best she was getting, dug into her faux fish with something less than gusto.

  Kate glanced at the envelope on the counter, a feeling of dread rippling down her spine. Some sixth sense warned her not to open it. But like Pandora’s Box, it beckoned seductively. With a dismissive huff, Kate turned her back on the temptation.

  She puttered half-heartedly around the house. Sophie followed her nervous pacing, waiting for Kate to settle in one spot so she could curl up on a soft, warm lap. But Kate didn’t feel like sitting. And she didn’t feel like wandering around the house all alone with just a cat and a singing teacup for company.

  She wanted to be with Max.

  Kate heard a clattering sound in the kitchen. She looked around, but there was no sign of Sophie. Uh oh. She ran back into the kitchen and saw the cat on the counter, rubbing her whiskered cheek along the rim of the teacup. The cup wobbled on its saucer and Kate reached out just in time to save it from toppling over the edge.

  Lord only knew where her mother would turn up if her spirit was released from the cup.

  Kate shooed the cat off the counter and stored the cup safely inside the cupboard. Her gaze flicked back to the envelope. Despite her misgivings, she picked it up. She fought down a ripple of apprehension and chided herself. This was silly. It was probably a note from a neighbor requesting an extra order of crumpets in the morning or something.

  Before she could talk herself out of it, Kate tore open the envelope, surprised to find pictures inside. Her heart jumped when she recognized where the pictures had been taken. It was the ballroom where her life’s dream had ended and her personal nightmare had begun. The pageant. She gasped as memories came flooding back.

  The first picture was a close-up showing her on stage wearing her crown and sash and the infamous red dress. She winced seeing “Miss Easy” emblazoned across her chest. The words took on a double-edged significance in light of the incidents to follow.

  Kate stared at the picture, surprised she’d ever been that young, that happy. She flipped to the next picture and saw Max standing on the sidelines watching. He hadn’t told her he’d been there. She hadn’t known he’d been witness to what would soon become her darkest moment.

  She turned to the next picture. Max had his back to the camera. He was talking to someone. He seemed to be gesturing, but Kate couldn’t tell who he was speaking to. She flipped to the next and last picture, taken from a different angle. And then she knew who Max was talking so intently with. It was Aubrey Carlisle, the pageant director. She’d been the one to privately inform Kate that they had to take her title away—probably only moments after talking to Max.

  It could simply be a coincidence. There was nothing unusual about Max talking to Aubrey. They could have been discussing anything at all. Still, the timing was suspicious.

  Kate tore at the envelope, looking for an explanation. Nothing. Then she noticed the words printed on the back of one of the pictures.

  “Who do you think turned you in?”

  Her heart sank, taking all her newfound hopes and dreams with it. No. It couldn’t be true. Not Max. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t. Maybe he’d believed the lies, but he would never do something so vindictive, so cruel, so mean. More than anyone else, he knew how much she’d depended on that scholarship. Even if he hated her, he wouldn’t have ripped her dream away. Would he?

  She didn’t want to doubt him, but pictures didn’t lie.

  Then she remembered who’d stepped in to take her place when she’d been stripped of her title. Sue Connors had been first runner-up. Max’s sister and Kate’s one-time friend. Growing up, Max had always been protective of Sue. They’d always been close—perhaps closer because they were twins—and had become even more dependent on each other after their mother died. Kate knew he’d do anything for her. Anything.

  Had Max sacrificed Kate for his sister?

  “Trust me,” he’d said. Was it only a few nights ago? “I promise I’ll never hurt you…again.” He’d said again. As if admitting he’d purposely hurt her once before. If that were true, he’d made a fool of her once more by allowing her to believe his empty promises.

  Kate felt as if someone had her heart in a two-fisted grip, squeezing and tugging in opposite directions. It hurt. It hurt more than she could say.

  Her first urge was to run—back to New York and her uncomplicated life there. Let Jeff worry about saving the shop. Let Max go back to his ranch and his lies.

  A rattling sound came from the cupboard and Kate lost it. “Shut up,” she screamed, pressing her hands over her ears. “Just shut up. I can’t take anymore!” Tears streamed down her face as she shouted at the cupboard. “First you get me back here under false pretenses, then you die without even giving me the chance to speak my mind, so I don’t know whether to hate you or miss you. And now you’re trying to run my life without giving me a clue as to what you’re trying to say. If you’re going to haunt me, either do it right or go away!”

  The rattling stopped.

  Kate exhaled a quivering sigh, drained from her outburst. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands then opened the cupboard, reaching in to tentatively grab the cup. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean it.” Her shoulders slumped. “I miss you so much and I don’t know who to trust anymore.”

  The cup thrummed in her hands like a living, breathing entity. Kate closed her eyes, her body still racked with sobs. She held the cup to her chest and for a brief moment could almost feel her mother’s arms around her, giving her strength, love and support.

  It might have been simply her imagination, but Kate clearly heard Lillian’s voice in her mind.

  “Don’t make the same mistake twice.”

  Hadn’t she said the same thing to herself? No, she had convinced herself she’d already made the same mistake twice by trusting Max. Her mother was telling her not to make the same mistake again. Deep down, Kate knew the difference. She’d dou
bted Max once without giving him a chance to defend himself. She’d believed the worst of him and wasted ten years of their lives because of it.

  Don’t make the same mistake twice.

  Kate took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. She knew what she had to do—what she should have done ten years ago. Running wasn’t the answer then and it wasn’t the answer now. She had to give Max a chance to explain. As hard as it would be, she had to confront him with this so-called proof. Maybe there was an explanation. God, she hoped he had an explanation. She wanted to trust him. She wanted to believe he was the man he said he was.

  But most of all, she wanted a reason to come back home for good.

  *

  When Kate pulled up to the ranch, Sue was standing on the porch. She got out of her car and, shielding her eyes from the sun’s glare, looked up and asked if Max was around.

  Sue stood where she was on the top porch step looking down. “Max isn’t here. I don’t expect him back for a few hours.” She wiped her hands on the dishrag in a dismissive gesture. “I’ll tell him you stopped by.”

  Kate nodded and turned to leave, then changed her mind. The longer she waited, the harder it would be. Straightening her shoulders, she turned around again. “Would you mind if I waited for him?”

  Sue gave her a long, hard stare. “Suit yourself,” she murmured, then turned and went back inside.

  Kate stood at the foot of the steps, watching Sue’s retreating back. Turning around had been one of the hardest things she’d ever done. Her first instinct had been to run. But if she’d learned anything these past weeks, it was that running from your problems didn’t solve anything. Problems and misunderstandings fed on being ignored, growing bigger and stronger and more toxic with time.

  Pursing her lips and mustering every ounce of courage she had, Kate followed Sue inside. She knew the old Kate wouldn’t have had the gumption to do that. Something inside her had changed over the course of the last several days.

  Acting braver than she felt, Kate pulled out a chair at the kitchen table and sat down. She looked around at the simple kitchen and realized that despite winning the pageant, Sue’s life hadn’t been easy or glamorous these past years. No wonder she seemed so bitter and resentful.

  “Where did you say Max went?” Kate asked, determined to break through the wall of silence.

  “I didn’t,” Sue replied curtly, turning her back on Kate. Water sloshed carelessly over the edge of the sink as Sue scrubbed the pots harder than seemed necessary.

  There was something else going on here, Kate realized. Sue was being more than rude. There was something suspicious in the way she wouldn’t—or couldn’t—meet Kate’s eyes.

  “You don’t think he went after Tate again, do you?”

  “It wouldn’t surprise me,” Sue said, keeping her back to Kate. “You’ve shaken things up since you’ve been back.”

  Kate blinked, surprised by the statement. “I didn’t mean to,” she said.

  Sue glanced over her shoulder. “Didn’t mean to come back, or didn’t mean to shake things up?”

  Kate shrugged. “Both, I guess.”

  Sue turned her attention back to the sink. “Maybe you shouldn’t have.” She sounded more resigned than angry.

  For a moment Kate wasn’t sure she’d heard right. Why should Sue care? She’d been the one person in town who’d directly benefited from Kate leaving. So where was all this anger coming from?

  As if answering the unspoken question, Sue turned to face Kate, shaking her head slowly. “I don’t know why you came back,” she said with a tired sigh. “Everything was fine before. Now Max is out for Tate’s blood and the whole town is all riled up.”

  “Maybe you’re right,” Kate replied. “Maybe I shouldn’t have come back.” Hadn’t she thought that herself often enough? “But I am back now. And there are things that I need to deal with while I’m here—things I should have dealt with a long time ago.”

  Sue only stared at her, eyes narrowed with suspicion. Or was it fear? “Easy was never good enough for you,” she sneered. “You always wanted something bigger and better.” Her voice rose, becoming shriller. “You turned your back on Easy once and you’ll do it again. So maybe you should just go on back to that city life you chose before someone gets hurt.”

  Kate was too shocked by Sue’s accusation to answer. Neither of them realized Max had come in until he cleared his throat.

  Sue gasped, her eyes widening with guilt when she realized Max had overheard her.

  Max didn’t say a word, just tipped his head and waited for an explanation.

  “It’s true!” Sue blustered in defense of her outburst. “I don’t want to see you hurt again, Max, that’s all.” She shot a hateful glare in Kate’s direction. “She broke your heart. The last time she left you were a wreck…wouldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep. You moped around here like you’d lost your best friend.”

  Kate’s heart skipped a beat. She stood and faced Max. “Is that true?” she whispered.

  Max swallowed hard and tipped his head in a slow nod.

  Sue continued, imploring her brother. “I just don’t want her to break your heart again.” Tears streamed down her face. “You were so hurt and I felt so guilty.”

  “Why should you feel guilty?” Max asked. “It wasn’t your fault.”

  As if catching herself, Sue nodded vigorously. “That’s right. It wasn’t my fault.” She pointed an accusing finger at Kate. “It was her fault! She’s the one who dumped you and left town, remember? And she’ll do it again. Just you wait and see.”

  “That’s enough,” Max said, his voice dangerously quiet. “What I do is my business. And Kate had her reasons for leaving town.” He walked to Kate’s side and put an arm around her shoulder. “Now I think you should apologize,” he warned his sister.

  Sue looked shocked that Max would take Kate’s side. Her lower lip trembled and her cheeks flushed. “Max?” she pleaded. “I was just looking out for you.”

  “I’ve told you I can look out for myself.” His voice held a warning impossible to miss.

  Sue lowered her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled in Kate’s direction, then rushed by them and fled from the room.

  Kate felt suddenly shy alone in the room with Max. She’d been nursing her own grudge for so long that it was still hard to get used to the idea that Max had been hurt as well. That would make it even harder to ask him about the pictures she’d received. But she had to ask. She couldn’t let this suspicion fester below the surface.

  When she turned to face him, his arm stayed on her shoulder protectively, intimately, making her forget what she’d come to say. He drew her closer, shutting out the world around them. There was only the two of them, the way it was always meant to be.

  She whispered his name, her lips barely moving. He dipped his head until their lips met briefly, brushing hers in a soft caress. Just that simple touch made her knees weak and she leaned against his chest for support. His arms came around her, strong and gentle at the same time. She closed her eyes, letting her body mold to his. Her lips parted and she felt the warmth of his breath, the heat of his kiss.

  His arms tightened, lifting her and pulling her closer at the same time. He smelled fresh and real, like sun and wind and man. When he held her like this, she felt as if she’d truly come home. Home wasn’t a town or a place. Home was wherever Max was, and that’s where she was meant to be.

  The kiss ended as gently as it had begun. With a soft sigh, Max cradled her head against his shoulder. Kate closed her eyes, content to lean on him, secure in the shelter of his arms. She wanted nothing more than to stay like this forever. For a fleeting moment she thought she could. Then reality came crashing back.

  There was still the matter of the pictures. This time she wouldn’t jump to conclusions without talking to him first. But she had to be sure. “Max,” she said, her voice still husky with desire. She pressed a palm against his chest, gently putting some distance between them. “We ha
ve to talk.”

  His lips curled in a sexy smile. “I’d rather kiss.”

  Her heart gave a lazy little flip. The truth was she’d rather kiss him too. She could easily envision a lifetime of kissing Max. And more—much, much more. Her body tingled with desire and she knew that if she kissed him much longer the tingle would turn to a simmer, the simmer to a blaze.

  With a sigh of regret, she stepped out of his arms. “Max,” she said, “there’s something I have to talk to you about first.” She moved to the kitchen table where she’d left her purse and retrieved the envelope she’d found earlier today. A quick glance at the pictures was like a blast of ice water over the heat of her emotions. Not meeting his gaze, she turned and handed them to Max. “Someone slipped these under my door today.”

  Max studied the pictures, his brows pulled together in a puzzled frown. He looked up from the pictures and shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

  Kate chewed on her lower lip. “Someone…” Her voice cracked and trailed off. She cleared her throat and began again. “Someone complained to the Pageant Committee about my moral character ten years ago. Someone insisted that I wasn’t qualified to represent Easy County.” She reached for one of the pictures in his hand and turned it over, exposing the words on the back. “That someone,” she said again, emphasizing the word, “is the reason I lost the scholarship and left town in shame.”

  He nodded slowly, reading the accusation scrawled on the back of the photo. “And you believe it was me?” His face took on a hard, guarded look as he waited for her response.

  “Someone sure wants me to believe that,” she said.

  “I have an idea who, too.” His voice was a dangerous growl. When he looked at Kate, his voice softened. “I didn’t do this,” he assured her. “I would never do that to you. Believe me.”

  She wanted to. Oh, how she wanted to believe him. But it meant leaving her heart vulnerable…again. Those old feelings of insecurity and betrayal still churned below the surface, threatening to erupt.