by Zoe York
He answered with a question of his own. “What’s wrong?”
Why did he immediately assume something was wrong? “I’m fine. I want you to know that first of all.”
“Uh huh.”
“And I don’t want to have to ask you for a favour. Especially if you’re busy.”
“I’m not.” He muttered to someone in the background. “What’s up?”
“I need—” She cut herself off and glanced back down the trail. No, there was no other option.
“What is it?” He already sounded annoyed.
“You can’t laugh.”
“I won’t.”
“I’m lost in the woods near Lion’s Head. Please don’t call Tom,” she added in a rush.
He didn’t say anything for a long moment, and the noise in the background got quieter.
“Will—“
He exhaled in her ear. “Okay, you’ve got a phone on you. That’s good. Roughly speaking, where are you?”
“I want you to know first of all, that I have lots of battery power on my phone left, and I have a power bank in my backpack, too.”
He sighed. “Mm hmm.”
“There's tons of daylight hours left still, too.”
“Good. Let’s not waste it. Where are you?”
“I don't know. If I knew that, then I wouldn't be lost, would I?” She closed her eyes. Snapping at her best choice for a rescue wasn’t smart. She should have called Yolanda.
Will made a sound suspiciously like a growl. She decided to think it was a laugh, although she wasn't sure if he would be laughing with her or at her. She was in a bit of a no-win situation so it didn't really matter.
He could laugh at her all he wanted given her predicament. He could growl, even. She’d have to tolerate that.
“Okay, tell me where you started, where you went, and what you know about where you are right now, starting with a general direction I can start driving in.”
“Can I just say, off the top, that this is the fault of those people who think parking should be restricted?”
He sighed. “Do I want to know the story there?”
No, probably not. “I’m south of town.”
She described where she parked her car and told him her estimated speed, how long she had been out for her destination and when she took the wrong turn.
“How about a GPS location? Can you pull that from your phone?”
“Yes!” Oh, she was so proud of herself for that. “I pinned where I parked.”
“Great. Any chance you have geo-location mapping on your photos, and did you take a selfie anywhere along the hike?”
She gasped. Yes, she took a picture of the darkening sky. Was that before she lost her data connection? “Hang on.”
After putting him on speaker, she went back to look at the time that she took that photo, then carefully read him the coordinates on it. “I’m about twenty-five minutes roughly north from that point.”
“How rough? Do you have the compass app?”
Oh she felt like an idiot, needing to be talked through how to use her phone to rescue herself. “Yes.”
“Head back the way you came a little bit. Not so much you’ll get yourself further lost, just enough to be sure of your direction of travel. Can you do that?”
“Yes, I can do that.”
“Okay. Do that and I'll stay on the line with you. I’m in the truck now.”
She fumbled her finger shaking through her phone, second and third guessing her thought that she could ever be on the search and rescue team, but she found the compass and let out a sigh of relief when it worked.
And then she realized it had GPS coordinates on it, too. She kept moving, back in the direction of the small rock cave, and the GPS updated again. “Will, I think I have new coordinates. I think this app is able to get enough of a signal.”
“That’s great. Text it to me.”
She hit send, but the message delivery bar moved so slowly, she feared it wouldn’t go through.
He told her that was fine, it didn’t matter, he was going to keep her on the phone until he found her. His voice was so calm. So collected, so tight, and so unlike the Will that she found so frustrating.
This must be what he was like to everyone else in his world. A calm, cool professional.
“How were drinks the other night? Did the whole team join you at the Hedgehog?”
She knew he was trying to distract her. “Most of them. We had a good time.” On the screen, the text message finally went through. “Will—”
“I’ve got it. I’ll get as close to those coordinates as I can in the truck. Don’t move from where you are right now, understood?”
She wanted to say a flippant yes, sir, but opted instead for a meek, appreciative acknowledgement. “Yes, thank you.”
“Tell me more about the pub.”
She did that, then she cracked some jokes. She even offered to sing him a song, which he laughed at harder than her jokes.
Finally, he cut her off. “Good news,” he said. “You’re not that far from a road.”
She heard his truck engine cut out over the phone, then the phone quality changed, and he told her she was on his bluetooth earpiece now. “I’m eight hundred metres away.”
It wasn’t long before she heard his voice—not over the phone—but actually echoing through the forest faintly and then not so faintly. And then he hung up the phone because he could see her.
She waved sheepishly, and ran in his direction.
He wasn’t dressed for a hike. He was in jeans and a t-shirt, and there were grease marks on the hand he raised in a wave.
“You were working on your car,” she said apologetically when she realized what she was looking at.
“It’s fine.” He gave her a curious look. “You know about my car?”
“It’s a small town, Will. Everyone knows about your car. Everyone has seen your car broken down on the side of the road at some point. That thing is a menace to our civil society.”
He smiled faintly. “Nice to see you, too.”
“Do I not sound grateful enough?” She batted her eyelashes at him. “Thank you, Mr. Kincaid. You saved me.”
“I did, in fact.” He grinned and pointed her in the direction of what she now realized was Josh’s tow truck. “Come on, I’ll drive you back to your car.”
Once they were on the road, though, he brought up the question she was hoping he’d just…not. “Why were you hiking alone?”
She rolled her eyes. “Because I’m a grown woman.”
“Who got lost.”
“And had a fully charged phone, plus a spare battery pack. And a plan.”
“It’s better to hike with a friend.”
“I understand that getting this lecture is the price of being rescued, so I hear you and I accept what you’re saying. But have you ever considered turning off the principal thing?”
He swallowed visibly, his gaze locked on the road ahead of them. Then he rocked his jaw back and forth.
All right, maybe that had been too far. “Sor—”
“I don’t turn it off, no.” He shifted in his seat. “Generally don’t get a lot of complaints about that.”
“Not to your face.”
“How about you, then? Do you ever turn off the Little Miss Charming act?”
“It’s not an act!”
“But you don’t have any friends to go hiking with.”
“Ouch, a direct blow. I have friends,” she pointed out hotly. “But I enjoy my solitude.”
“So no close friends, then?”
“Wow.” She could point out that she had more close friends than he did, but that seemed rude after he rescued her. “Okay, let’s try this. I am genuinely thankful that you were able to come and pick me up. I really appreciate it.”
He shrugged. “Don’t overthink it. I figure I owe you one because I wasn’t great at replying to your emails.”
It was a lie and they both knew it. His ability to reply to emails
was just fine when he had something to say. Prompt, efficient. Cutting. His silence to her offer to help with the business club had been a clear message, too.
But he had come to pick her up, and nobody else would know she’d put herself in danger. “Communication may not be your strong suit. You can put it in the same category as…” She glanced at the grease on his forearm. A black, sticky smear that made the corded muscles and visible veins look like they came from honest work instead of hours in a gym.
Not that she knew anything about Will’s workout routine.
She really had to stop noticing how hard his body was. It was annoying.
When she lifted her gaze to his face, he had an eyebrow cocked. “As what?”
“Communication and car repair,” she said. “Not your strengths.”
He smirked. “Never stop putting me in my place, Catie.” He parked next to her car. “Have a safe drive home.”
“I will.”
“Great.”
“Good.” She opened the passenger door, full of righteously annoyed heat. Which was the wrong tone to leave this encounter on, because he had saved her butt, after all. “And…thank you. Again.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s our secret.” His expression was a careful mask, unreadable and confusing. Made all the more confusing when, as she got into her car, it occurred to her that Will had no reason to keep her misadventure a secret.
It was a pretty good story. And he got nothing out of protecting her. He’d done her a solid favour, as requested.
Had he somehow figured out she’d be mortified if anyone found out?
Will tried not to watch Catie as she got settled in the driver’s seat of her car. She didn’t leave right away. She sat very still for a few moments behind the wheel, then pulled something out of her bag.
A chocolate bar.
He grinned as she took a big bite, then dropped her head back against the seat. He liked to think she was groaning in appreciation. He’d like to hear that, too, but no dice. All he got was the silent show, through the windows of two vehicles—and from an angle, because he was trying not to stare.
Trying, failing… He put the tow truck into reverse and carefully backed out onto the road.
That was enough of playing the white knight.
He needed to get his brother’s tow truck back to the garage, but he wasn’t ready to explain why he’d demanded to take it—in a scrawled Sharpie hostage note, no less.
He’d driven his car to the garage, and it wasn’t in any shape to stage a rescue all the way across the peninsula. It was barely roadworthy to get from his house to the garage and back.
When he got back to the highway, where the Pine Harbour Emergency Services building sat, he decided to make a stop there first and see if any of the first responders inside ready to leap to the rescue were either of his brothers.
He pulled into the parking lot and fired off a group text message.
Will: Are either of you at work?
Adam: We both are. I’m sitting in Owen’s office right now, in fact.
And then before he got out of the truck another message rolled in from Josh.
Josh: Any ETA on the return of my stolen tow truck? The Howe sisters have invited us over for dinner.
Will: Just dropping in on Owen and Adam at work. I’ll raid their ice cream freezer and bring treats for the kids.
Josh: And the tow truck owner…
Will: And that guy, too.
Now he felt a bit ridiculous delaying his return. Josh had already moved on from wondering why Will tore out of the garage like a bat out of hell, and was focused on dinner. But he’d announced himself to the brothers inside the building.
Maybe he could blow it off as just catching up—as long as they didn’t look outside and see the vehicle he arrived in. Maybe if you stopped acting like a weirdo, people wouldn’t ask you why you were acting like a weirdo.
He knew this building well. For a long time, Will had volunteered there as well, but when Adam joined the fire department, he gave up his position on the volunteer fire brigade that supported the small Pine Harbour full-time firefighters.
The fire department claimed most of the second floor. The paramedics worked on the main floor, and the previously empty third storey was now home to the town library.
Will wasn’t going very far into the building. As the EMS supervisor and the manager of the whole building, Owen’s office was halfway down the main hallway. The door was propped open, and Adam was lounging in a chair across from the eldest Kincaid brother. Will stopped in the doorway and leaned against the frame. “Afternoon.”
They nodded in return.
“I’m on an ice cream mission,” he said, which was now true. “Josh and I have been invited to the marina for dinner, and I want to bring a kid-friendly dessert. I’ll restock the freezer tomorrow.”
“Be our guest.” Owen jerked his head in the direction of the kitchenette down the hall.
Will didn’t move. He’d get there. It would be rude to rush. “How’s work going?”
“Slow day.” Adam kicked a stool over to him. “Sit down, stay a while.”
“Thanks.”
Owen gave him a curious look. “Something wrong? You seem edgy.”
“Yeah. I dunno. No, I’m fine.”
“You sound fine,” Adam said dryly.
Will made a face.
His brothers waited.
Then he sighed. “What I’m about to tell you cannot leave this room.”
Owen shrugged. “Sure.”
“I’m swearing you both to the highest of confidences.”
This time it was Adam who nodded. “Absolutely.”
“I think I have some complicated feelings when it comes to Catie.”
No response. Owen just looked at him. Adam just looked at him.
Will groaned and shook his head. “Pretend I didn’t say that.”
“Can’t do that.” Owen crossed his arms over his chest and rocked back.
Adam leaned forward and braced his arms on his knees. “You have to know this is not actually breaking news, right?”
Now it was Will’s turn to not say anything.
“How complicated are we talking?”
He shrugged.
Owen sighed. “Complicated feelings aren’t fair to her. Un-complicate them, or learn to hide them better.”
“Or talk to her about them.” Will recoiled at Adam’s very fair suggestion. His youngest brother laughed. “Not at the talking stage yet?”
“There is no talking stage with Catie. That’s part of what makes it complicated. We’re oil and water. It doesn’t matter what I say, she always has a quick retort.”
“Half of talking is listening,” Owen said.
Adam nodded. “At least. Seventy-thirty seems to be a good ratio in my house.”
They didn’t understand. They were talking about loving partners, and he was talking about a bossy nemesis. He just wanted to be Catie’s friend without the drama, her go-to guy when she got into a pinch like today—without the barbs about him not knowing how to fix a car.
Even if it was accurate. He changed the subject to the re-wiring work he was doing on the Duster.
Back at the garage, Will parked the tow truck, then walked across the road. When they were kids, the marina had been a busy place. But business had changed over the years, and other towns—with more vibrant restaurants and shopping options—had lured away a lot of the boating community.
August and January Howe had recently inherited the land and business after their father passed away.
January had a full-time job as a teacher. August was in the military, a single mom to two kids. Will didn’t understand why they hung on to the business. Nobody would blame them if they sold the land instead.
But they didn’t want to.
So now they were Josh’s neighbours, and it was like a jump back in time heading over to see what they were grilling.
Once upon a time, the five Kincaid boys
and the two Howe girls had gotten into a good amount of trouble—good trouble—while their parents had gossiped on the dock, waiting for dinner to prepare itself on the oversized outdoor barbeque.
Today it was August’s kids climbing high on the sprawling main building, and Josh, January, and August were the grown-ups getting dinner ready and having a few beers as the sun, low in the sky, glittered off the lake.
Josh was the one to see him first. “Crisis averted?”
Will nodded. “Yep.”
January frowned. “Josh said it was something at the school?”
Because when he lied to his brother, he didn’t expect his brother to then repeat that to one of his teachers. He winced. “Not exactly.”
That made Josh grin. “Ah. Catie.”
“What the hell, man? Can’t I have any secrets?”
“Not if you don’t keep them well,” January said with a wink. “Catie, huh? What kind of an emergency was this?”
“A none-of-your-business, but-it-was-outdoors kind of emergency.”
“Ah.” She wrinkled her nose. “That no-fun kind. Speaking of which, I mentioned the business club to her. We don’t have an advisor yet, right?”
Josh spread his arms wide. “I’m right here. How many times have I volunteered?”
“You can’t do it, you’re my brother. That’s a conflict of interest.” Will grabbed a chair and pulled up to the table. “What are we making for dinner?”
“Don’t change the subject. It wouldn’t be a conflict of interest for me to bring my business knowledge to help kids at the school.”
Will rolled his eyes. “Fine. I don’t think you’re the kind of role model we’re looking for. Is that what you want me to say?”
Josh pointed a pea shell at him, pausing his dinner prep task of shucking the fresh peas. “You’ve turned into quite the liar today, Principal Kincaid. What kind of an example is that setting?”
“There aren’t any kids here.”
“We’re up here,” Levi called out, drawing their attention to the roof. Summer waved from beside her brother. “Listening to everything.”
Will craned his neck. “Are either of you going to join the business club next year?”
