She was still reeling from that revelation when she sat down for the last session with Max. Usually she finished her portraits in the studio, but Max seemed to enjoy the process. He told her stories, which she listened to with half an ear tuned toward potential clues. They’d developed a happy rapport in the time she’d been painting him, and she realized that she was going to miss these sessions.
“Late again, are you?” he grumbled as she took her seat behind her easel.
Well, maybe there were some things she wouldn’t miss.
“You know me,” she said lightly. “Clocks and I have never gotten along very well.”
“That’s what Amanda always said too. Never did wear a watch. Claimed they didn’t work on her. They always died. She blamed her electromagnetic field or some baloney like that.”
Serena dipped her paintbrush in a spicy mustard color which she was using to create contrast for his white lion’s mane. “My father was the same way,” she murmured. “No sense of time, but he loved clocks as pieces of art. He knew how to service them. You know those old grandfather clocks with the pendulums? He learned how to fix them and make them run again. It’s a very specialized skill, you know.”
A choking sound from Max’s direction made her look up. He was staring at her with wild, faraway eyes, as if seeing something else.
“The clock repairman. Yes. He came here. That old clock. I put it away. Fired him.”
Serena dropped her paintbrush onto the table where her paints were spread out. “Do you remember his name? Was it Frank Riggs?”
He pointed a trembling finger at her. “Your father? That was him?”
Oh my God. This was it. A real clue. Max remembered him! Her hands shook and her stomach heaved. “Do you remember anything else about him?”
He slammed his cane on the ground. The shocking noise made her jump. “Get out.”
“What?”
“Get out,” he screamed. “I saw how he looked at her. At my Amanda. Get out!”
Uncertainly, she got to her feet. Was he serious? Holy shit. He’d always been gruff but respectful to her. Now he was shaking with rage.
She’d never seen this side of Mad Max before. Had never really imagined.
No wonder Griffin had spent all his time outdoors.
“Max, take it easy. You shouldn’t get upset like this.”
“It was him. They talked about fishing. Amanda loved the ocean. He stole her.” Max’s face had turned a frightening shade of red.
“Look, just…I’m leaving. Please calm down. I’m going to get Nicole.”
But should she just leave him like this? What if something was medically wrong? With trembling fingers, she texted Griffin. Max needs Nicole. ASAP.
Someone must have heard Max’s shouting, because footfalls raced down the corridor.
Nicole. Thank God.
She burst into the room and ran to Max’s side. He waved his cane in the air, still shouting at Serena. “Get her out of my house.”
Nicole glanced over at Serena, who was already backing away. She left her paints as they were, the portrait where it was. Nicole made a little face of sympathy at Serena, but she barely noticed. She just wanted to get out of there.
Once inside her guesthouse, she leaned against the door and put her hand over her heart. She felt starved for breath, as if she was hyperventilating. Her face was hot to the touch, her pulse hammering.
Max wanted her out of the lodge. Because her father had been here. He’d made a connection with Amanda. If Max was right, Amanda had been planning to meet her father the night she died. It was all confirmed.
But at a terrible cost, because now she had to leave. Even if Max calmed down, she couldn’t possibly stay and risk him having another fit like that. He had a heart condition, for God’s sake. The color in his face…she shuddered. She’d never forget that.
She had to leave. For Max and for her father.
It was surreal, but she couldn’t allow herself to feel anything. She had to just go.
She darted around the room gathering her things and tossing them into her suitcase. It was a good thing she traveled light. Griffin could send her paints and so forth later.
Griffin.
What was going to happen with Griffin?
She loved him so much that her heart wanted to burst with it. But she didn’t know how he felt. He’d never said “I love you.” He didn’t talk about that kind of thing. They’d always known that she would be leaving, going back to San Francisco. Max’s outburst was simply speeding things up.
She jumped at the sound of a tap on the door.
Griffin. She’d recognize his knock anywhere.
It was over with Griffin. There was no way Amanda’s son and Frank Riggs’s daughter could be together. It would cause too much pain for Max, and maybe for the whole family.
She drew in a deep breath, knowing what she had to do.
“Hi Griffin,” she said, opening the door. “I’m just packing. What’s up?”
His expression shifted at her distant tone. “What’s up? Jesus, Serena. Are you okay? I got your text, then ran to see Max, and he was freaking out.”
“Is he all right?”
“Yeah, yeah, Nicole’s got it under control. Sure is nice to have a nurse around. But what about you?”
“I’m good. I’m good. A big clue about my father came up. I need to go back to town and ask around about clock repairmen. He wasn’t here as a salesman, he was repairing clocks. It’s a specialized skill, did you know that?”
So surreal. No, unreal, as if it wasn’t actually happening. Max’s face. She couldn’t get it out of her mind, the pain, the fury.
“I’ll come with you.” Griffin came to her side and put his hand on hers. She shook it off and went to the dresser. The dresser? Why had she moved all her clothes into drawers as if she was actually going to stay here? Foolish, foolish…this place was like the Land of the Lotus Eaters, making her forget her primary mission here.
“I don’t need a bodyguard anymore. I need to get on with my life. And you need to be here finishing what you started.”
“I can take a break. We have a whole construction crew on the job.”
She whirled around to face him. “I. Don’t. Need. Your help. I’ve already stayed here too long. Besides, you have your own problems. You should worry about them, not mine.”
His eyes looked like dark chips of jade, glittering and hard. “So now I’m the bad guy around here?”
“No. Of course you’re not the bad guy. You’re just—I’m done hiding out, and you should be too.”
“I’m not hiding out. What are you talking about?”
“Hiding. Out.” She jabbed her finger into his chest, which was a mistake because its hard warmth was a tactile reminder of how wonderful Griffin was. “You haven’t even told your family about your hearing. You’re holed up here in this lodge where you don’t have to deal with reality. What are your plans? What are you going to do next? Knock down insulation for the rest of your life?”
His expression turned stony. “I don’t know yet. And why are you upset about that, exactly?”
“Because you…I…” She didn’t know, exactly. “Because this isn’t me. I’m an independent, self-sufficient, fend-for-myself kind of person and I always have been. I can’t get sidetracked.”
“You mean by those trolls? Or by me?”
“Both.”
Shock flashed across his face. “I’m sidetracking you? I thought I was protecting you.”
“You’re protecting yourself. You have so much to give, and you’re hiding up here with your tool belt, avoiding everything. And so am I. But not anymore.” She picked up a pile of folded clothes from a dresser drawer and dumped it into the suitcase.
“Serena, you’re obviously upset and I get it. Max can be a terror—”
She waved a hand at him as she swept a pile of jewelry into a Ziploc bag. “Forget Max. This is about me. I’m not meant to be in a relationship. I’m too difficu
lt, too ornery, too prickly, all the things people say about me. You’ll be more peaceful without me.”
Griffin stepped back as she brushed past him in search of her sketchbook. “Maybe I don’t want peace—”
“Doesn’t matter.” She shoved the sketchbook in her suitcase. “I need to go.”
She snapped the suitcase shut and turned to find Griffin blocking her way. “What about the senator? What about the trolls? The threatening notes?”
“I’ll take my chances.”
She tugged on her coat and grabbed the suitcase and her purse. This was what she’d brought with her, what she’d been traveling with all along, but somehow it felt more pathetic than before. As if her life had expanded and didn’t fit inside her luggage anymore.
“Goodbye, Griffin. Think about what I said.”
He didn’t say anything as she headed for the door.
“Tell everyone I said goodbye.”
Again, no response.
He watched her with burning eyes as she opened the door. In a daze, she stepped through it, then closed it behind her with a final-sounding click.
Swearing a million silent curses, she headed for her car. What had she just done? Burned down the best relationship with a man that she’d ever had? And for what? Why?
For his own good.
Except it didn’t feel that way. Not at all.
She unlocked her car and heaved the suitcase onto the back seat. As she was closing it, an odd smell caught her attention. She stopped and sniffed, then recognized it as cigar smoke, probably drifting from the bench that overlooked the valley where cars wound their way up the road. Sometimes Max sat out there and smoked, since Gracie refused to let anyone smoke inside the lodge.
She loved that bench. Before she headed down the mountain, she wanted one more moment of peace on that bench.
Closing her car door again, she wandered over to the bench and took a seat. The snowy valley spread out in gentle white waves before her. She drew in a breath of crisp air and let it out in a puff of mist.
This was a terrible way to leave. She should say goodbye to Nicole and Gracie and Kai, and even Renata, who was finally starting to warm up to her. She should apologize to Max and explain that she’d never intended to upset him.
No, she shouldn’t. If she drew out these goodbyes, she’d never get on the road.
She sat for a long time, until her cheeks got numb from the cold. The sound of banging came from the lodge—Griffin was probably back at it, tearing out Sheetrock. Life would go on here at the lodge, but without her.
Finally she left the bench and slid into the driver’s seat of her car. Needing heat, she turned the key in the ignition.
But she still wasn’t ready to go.
She didn’t want to leave things with Griffin on such an awful final note.
She didn’t really want to leave Griffin at all.
She loved Griffin.
Tears sprang to her eyes as she thought about the look on his face while she’d lit into him. Why had she lashed out like that? He didn’t deserve any of that. Well, maybe the part about hiding out. But she meant that out of love, not out of scorn, and it hadn’t come out that way at all.
Forget it. She couldn’t leave like this. She pulled the key from the ignition and put her hand on the door handle, ready to exit.
And felt a hand settle over her mouth, and a cold piece of metal slide against her skin. “Drive,” said a muffled, hoarse voice. “Key back, foot on pedal. Now.”
27
“Griffin. Griffin!”
Griffin jerked to attention. After Serena had stormed off, he’d gone back to work ripping out walls, with a little extra enthusiasm. It felt good to hammer at the Sheetrock with the maul, then put his hands on it and rip it into pieces. Tossing it into the pile for the dumpster felt great too.
Hiding out? Screw that. He was doing a job. This Sheetrock wasn’t going to demolish itself.
A tap on his back brought a rush of hope. It was Serena, coming back to actually have a conversation instead of a hit-and-run.
He turned to find Gracie instead. He yanked off his ear protection and glared at her. “What?”
Taken aback, her eyes widened. “What jumped up your butt?”
“That is a disgusting phrase.”
“Thank you.” She preened, unbothered by his critique. “You know, you don’t have to actually murder that Sheetrock. It’s not going to fight back.”
“I wish it would,” he muttered. A good fight might be just what the doctor ordered. “What’s up, Gracie?”
“You forgot the family meeting. We’re supposed to decide about the fire station.”
Right. That was why Kai had gotten the old engine out of the garage and called in the firefighters from Rocky Peak. They all agreed that it could still function, but that some of the older gear ought to be switched out for more modern equipment. In a pinch, it could still transport water and firefighters where it was needed.
“Are we still doing that meeting? Is Max okay?”
“Yeah, he’s fine. He calmed down pretty fast, like always. I’m sorry Serena was in the line of fire that time. Is she okay?”
He didn’t answer that question. He wasn’t quite ready to talk about Serena yet. He’d been so sure she would come back instead of driving away.
Maybe he didn’t know her as well as he thought.
“Sorry. I vote yes.” He moved to put his headphones back on and get back to work, but she flipped one of them outwards, making it bang against his ear.
“Ow.”
“Sorry.” She didn’t look sorry. “You can’t vote in absentia. This is a mandatory family meeting.”
“That’s ridiculous. What if I miss it? Will I get fired from being a Rockwell? And if I did, is that a bad thing?”
She tapped her finger against her chin. “Hm, good point. I’ll submit your request to the board.”
He rolled his eyes, not in the mood for any teasing. Not only had Serena left him, but she’d tossed truth grenades at him in the process. Could he help it if his family lived in a remote location tucked into the mountains where no one would ever find him? That wasn’t hiding. That was just a coincidence. He was here to work. To salvage his legacy. To attend fucking family meetings.
With a sigh, he ripped off his ear protection and tossed the headphones onto the bucket of tools that sat near him. “Bring on the family meeting,” he grumbled. “Any chance there’s alcohol?”
She stared. “You don’t drink.”
“People can change, you know. Just because I haven’t been drinking in the past thirty years doesn’t mean I can’t start drinking now.” Now that he had a reason. Several good reasons. Maybe hiding out at the lodge wasn’t enough. Maybe he should hide in a bottle of Glenlivet.
“Seriously, what is up with you?”
“Nothing. Serena left.” Well, there it was. He tore off his work gloves and tossed them aside as well. “Let’s go.”
“Wait wait wait.” Gracie skipped to catch up with him. “What do you mean, she left? That can’t be right. We were working on this amazing plan for art classes—”
“You’ll have to figure it out on your own. She’s gone.”
“Then we should get her back.”
“Get her back? Jesus, Gracie, don’t be such a child. Sometimes shit just happens and it’s not going to magically get better. It’s over. Done. She’s gone.” He strode ahead of her, flinching at his own harsh words. “Sorry. I know you’re not a child.”
They were outside now, the cold settling around them like an icy cloak. His gaze automatically flew to the parking area, where sure enough, Serena’s Camry was nowhere to be seen.
Yup, she was definitely gone. He could hardly believe it. He’d been so sure that she would come back and talk to him. Serena had a stormy side, but usually those eruptions of emotion passed once she’d vented.
This one was obviously different. Whatever the two of them had together wasn’t enough to make her come b
ack and work things out. That was what hurt the most. That she would see him and their relationship as disposable—or worse, a hindrance to her life. A sidetrack.
Gracie stood next to him, also staring at the spot where Serena’s car was usually parked. “She really is gone,” she said softly. “Wow. I’m—I’m surprised. I’m sorry, Griffin.”
He nodded gruffly, not trusting his voice at the moment.
“It doesn’t make sense. Ever since she moved into that little cabin, I thought she’d find someone from around here—”
“Because of some silly legend? Honestly, Gracie.”
“Not because of the legend. Because she loved it so much. Serena thinks she’s a city girl, but she isn’t. She was perfectly happy puttering around enjoying the solitude. Oh, I nearly forgot!”
She pulled out her phone and skimmed through her photos with her thumb. “I took a picture of the view so I could keep painting it after she moved in. I was just looking at it the other day and I saw something weird.”
Passing him the phone, she pointed out a spot on the slope outside the big picture window facing the valley. “See that?”
Griffin peered at the shot. It took a while, but he finally saw it. Someone wearing a camouflage stocking cap lurked in the alders just past the house. All he could see was the curve of the cap, but it was a good assumption that a head was underneath it.
“When did you take this photo?”
“Hmm, soon after you came back. I used to clean it, and I always loved that view. I didn’t know Serena was living there until she surprised me in the midst of taking this shot.”
So someone had been spying on Serena back then? Before their trip to Santa Barbara? Before the senator had spotted her?
He sent the photo to his own phone so he could analyze it more later.
He should call Serena and let her know about this. It probably didn’t matter, since she hadn’t been living at that cabin for some time.
Unless the guy in the camo hat had followed her up here to spy on her. But wouldn’t he have made a move before now?
True, Serena was usually with other people. Painting Max, skiing with Isabelle, working on the website with Gracie, making love with him all night long. Maybe the dude just hadn’t found the perfect moment.
The Rogue Page 19
