by Cindy Kirk
“I don’t know,” Stella heard Krista tell one of the boys. “Let me ask him.”
“Kenny,” she called out. “The boys want to know if you and Norma will be at the program tonight.”
Kenny slipped out from behind the counter and strolled over to their table.
“Norma isn’t feeling up to par, so I’m afraid she won’t be there.”
The look of pain that skittered across Kenny’s face was gone in an instant, but it had been there long enough to have Stella’s heart clenching tight. She wondered whether there was anything she could do for the woman who’d been so kind to her.
Kenny shifted his gaze from Krista to her sons. “Did you know Santa Claus will be serving cookies in the gym after the program?”
“Yay!” One of the boys shot a clenched fist up in the air.
“We can’t have cookies if they have red frosting,” his brother said. “Mom says it makes us hyper.”
Kenny shot Krista an understanding look. “The cookies are coming from Dough See Dough, and there will be a good assortment of ones with dye-free frosting. As well as gluten free.”
“The boys just have issues with dye, but it’s nice to know that those kids—and adults—who can’t tolerate gluten will have options.”
The comment made Stella realize that, despite being located far from any major metropolitan area, this small town was progressive. No wonder people loved living here. Because of the strong sense of community, this was the perfect place to raise a family and to grow old around people who cared.
It was easy for Stella to see herself living here. Spending time with friends and cuddled up in front of a roaring fire with Sam . . .
Stella shook her head, trying to banish the compelling image of her and Sam kissing on the couch, his fingers toying with the buttons on her shirt . . .
“Can I get you a refill?”
Stella didn’t know what surprised her more. That Kenny had been able to cross to her table without her realizing it or that just the thought of Sam had need all but erupting in her.
She must have been staring blankly because the older man gestured to her cup.
“Thanks for asking, but I’m fine.”
When he started to turn away, Stella reached out. “Kenny.”
He turned, and his lips, tucked inside that white beard, lifted in a smile. “Changed your mind already?”
She shook her head. “It’s about Norma. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I heard you mention to Krista she wasn’t feeling well. Is there anything I can do?”
The sorrow that she’d only caught glimpses of before now filled his eyes.
Stella’s gut clenched when the older man pulled out a chair and sat down as if he was too exhausted to stand for another second. It was obvious that whatever was going on with Norma wasn’t as simple as a bad winter’s cold.
“Norma has cancer.” Just saying the word had Kenny’s voice thickening with emotion. “The doctor says she has a good chance of beating it because we caught it early. He said it was low grade, whatever that means, and that it had stayed in the bladder.”
“Cancer.” Stella found herself repeating the word. A shiver of dread traveled up her spine. “Will she have to have chemotherapy?”
“Not the kind of chemo you’re probably thinking of.” Kenny’s hands, resting on the tabletop began to shake, and he placed them in his lap. “Last month, Norma had surgery. The doctor cleaned the cancer out of her bladder, then washed it out with this chemo drug. I forget the name. She goes in once a week to get the drug.”
“Does the drug make her sick?”
“No and her hair hasn’t fallen out, not yet anyway. It does make her really tired. Right before Christmas, they’ll do a scope again and check for new tumors. Then she’ll have two or three months to rest. At least I think that’s the plan.”
Kenny scrubbed a hand across his face, looking ten years older than he had only minutes before. This time, when he dropped the hand to the table, she covered it with his.
“She’ll be okay.”
“I hope so.” He offered a wobbly smile. “I don’t know how I can go on without her.”
Stella met his gaze head on. “I worked with someone at the Sun Times who was diagnosed with bladder cancer fifteen years ago. Jim is still going strong.”
“The doctor in Burlington at the cancer center told us most people with bladder cancer die of something else. And, like I said, we caught it early.”
“So why is she not feeling well today?” Stella didn’t mean to press, but she was sincere in her desire to help the couple. If there was anything she could do to lighten their load, she wanted to do it.
“She got a bladder infection, which they say isn’t uncommon. Once the antibiotics kick in, she’ll start feeling better.” He offered a watery smile. “I hope so anyway.”
Stella met his gaze. “What can I do to help?”
“There isn’t anything—”
“While Norma is under the weather, I’d be happy to fill in behind the counter, either taking orders or filling them.” When she saw the refusal poised on his lips, she raised a hand. “I worked as a barista in college. Though that was nearly ten years ago, I still remember.”
His hesitation gave her the impetus to push.
“How about you orient me now?”
“You have your own work to do.”
“True,” she acknowledged. “But as long as I’m not at an event, I’m available.”
“I couldn’t pay you much—”
She held up a hand. “You won’t pay me at all.”
“But—”
“You and Norma have been so good to me.” This time it was Stella’s voice that thickened with emotion. “I won’t take a dime for helping you, so don’t even offer.”
“Thank you.” His eyes filled with tears and her own followed suit. “You’re a wonderful woman, Stella. I’m pleased to call you my friend.”
Stella thought of the notes she’d placed in her work file about Kenny. When guilt wrapped its tentacles around her heart and squeezed, she told herself she hadn’t written the article yet.
Research notes were just thoughts until they made their way into an article, then into print.
She wasn’t a hack journalist out to bury anyone in innuendo and lies. That wasn’t the kind of woman her parents had raised. And she wouldn’t go down that path, even to regain her job.
Chapter Thirteen
“These are primo seats.” Derek made the pronouncement as if he were in the front row at a major concert instead of in a seat five rows back from a high school stage.
As the auditorium was nearly full and they had another thirty minutes before the program started, Sam guessed Derek must have arrived at some ungodly early hour to snag these seats.
Thankfully, he’d saved one next to him for Sam.
Sam fought to find a comfortable position in the unyielding wooden seat. He quickly discovered that comfort was nearly impossible for someone of his height. He’d had more legroom flying coach. “Why didn’t you pick the front row?”
At least there, Sam thought, no one would have been in front of them, and his knees wouldn’t be up against his chest.
“Too close,” Derek spoke with the assurance of a seasoned parent. “You don’t have a good view of the stage from that location.”
“Was Cam excited for tonight?”
“She’s in middle school. It’s not cool to be excited about something like this.” Derek’s lips quirked. “But she loves to sing, so yeah, I think she’s excited.”
“Do you ever wonder if Elin regrets her choice?”
“You mean her choice to walk away from her child?” Derek kept his voice even, but a hint of bitterness crept in. “Elin made it clear she didn’t want me or the baby.”
He blew out a breath. “It does no good to stay pissed about something that happened thirteen years ago. She could have had an abortion, and I couldn’t have stopped her. Instead, she chose to have the baby. I’
m grateful for that.”
“She planned to give the baby up for adoption.”
“Until I told her I wanted custody.” Derek gave a humorless chuckle. “She didn’t see that coming. She tried to say the baby would be better off with two parents. I told her this was my child, and he or she would be better off with me.”
Sam vividly remembered that time. If not for Rosie stepping up to help her son, Derek might have had to quit school. As it was, he’d dropped the football team and the rest of his extracurriculars. Every spare minute he wasn’t in school, he’d been caring for his child.
“I can’t believe she left Holly Pointe and never came back.”
“Her parents aren’t here anymore.” Derek shrugged. “Other than her grandmother, there’s nothing here for her.”
“Her daughter is here.”
“Elin gave up all rights to Camryn when she walked away.”
Sam let the subject drop, unsure why he’d brought it up in the first place. Unless maybe being with Stella had him thinking about what it would be like to have a family of his own.
“I heard she has some big, important job in Chicago. Or maybe it was in Denver.” Derek opened his mouth to say more, then shut it. After a moment he spoke again. “Speaking of career women, I see your favorite reporter picked up a second job.”
Sam narrowed his eyes. “Stella?”
“Do you know another reporter? Well, other than Kate, and she just does the reporting gig part time.”
“Forget about Kate.” Sam swiped a hand in the air. “Tell me about Stella.”
“I like seeing that predatory gleam in your eyes when you say her name.”
“Derek. If you don’t tell me—”
“I saw her working behind the counter at the Busy Bean.”
“Doing what?”
“Making drinks.”
“Making her own drink?”
“No.” Derek made an exasperated sound. “Making drinks for customers. It appeared she was helping Adriana and Reetha catch up, because while I was there, she switched back to helping Kenny work the counter.”
“Where was Norma?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see her. Maybe she was out shopping or something.”
“That doesn’t sound like Norma.”
“Like I said, the Bean was super busy, so it wasn’t like there was time to ask questions.” Derek cast her a speculative look. “You could ask the woman herself.”
“Norma?”
“No.” Disgust filled Derek’s voice. “Stella.”
Sam turned in the direction where Derek had cast a careless hand and saw Stella standing in the far aisle to his left. She looked festive in a red tunic top with black thigh-high heeled boots. Her hair was twisted at her neck in some kind of messy knot.
The style was probably stylish, but his fingers itched to pull the strands loose so they tumbled around her shoulders as they had in her apartment last night.
As if she could feel his eyes on her, Stella glanced around, and her eyes locked on his. He didn’t bother to pretend he hadn’t been staring or attempt to look away.
The truth was, he didn’t think he could look away. Their eye contact turned into something more, a tangible connection between the two of them.
He’d started to rise, to go to her, when the lights in the auditorium dimmed and the announcer gave the five-minute warning.
Sam sat back down.
“Later,” he mouthed.
Her red lips curved into a smile, and she nodded.
Feeling satisfied, Sam sat back, unable to stop the grin.
“There’s enough heat between the two of you to start a fire.” Derek elbowed him. “Heck, if we were still in scouts, I’d say forget about rubbing two sticks together. All we’d need was you and Stella and that smoldering look to start the campfire.”
Sam rolled his eyes. “Anyone ever tell you that you can be really lame?”
“You’re going to need to do better than that,” Derek told him. “I hear that all the time from Camryn.”
The second Stella spotted Sam, she wished she could forget her assignment and simply sit beside him and watch the program. But then the performance began, and she fell into work mode.
Krista and Dustin sat together several rows behind Derek and Sam. She snapped a couple of shots of them.
She noticed they didn’t touch. Was that what happened when you’d been married for a while? Did the smiles and little touches disappear? Then Stella thought of her parents and how her dad had held her mother’s hand as they stood by the car to tell her good-bye.
The kindergarteners came on stage, with Jaxon and Jett Bellamy center stage. Stella slanted a glance at their parents and saw Krista lean close to Dustin to say something to him. He smiled at his wife and gave her that dazzling smile that had made him the biggest catch in the NHL.
Some of the tension in Stella’s chest eased as she caught the moment on her camera. She wanted so much for Dustin and Krista’s family-friendly image to be the real deal. Not only for them and for their son’s sakes, but because she was a romantic at heart.
She loved movies where the couple ended up together as well as ones where good won out over evil. Each day she stayed in Holly Pointe had her hoping all her early speculations would be proven false.
Stella turned her attention back to the stage. The middle schoolers were doing a skit. Camryn Kelly had a lead role. She couldn’t believe Derek had a daughter that age. The girl had to have been born when he was still in high school.
There was definitely a story there, but thankfully nothing that would interest Jane Meyers.
Derek clapped loudly at the end of the performance and whistled between his fingers. From where Stella stood, she could read his lips clearly. “That’s my girl. Isn’t she great?”
Her mom and dad had been that kind of parents, always so supportive and proud. Since their deaths, she’d been on her own. She’d learned to cheer herself on when life felt like it was too much to handle.
Was it wrong to wish there was someone in her life who would stand on the sidelines and cheer for her?
When she shifted her gaze to Sam and found him staring, she smiled, then refocused on the stage. But the tingling that spread through her body at the knowledge that his eyes were on hers didn’t dissipate.
If anything, as the evening wore on, the tingling and the warmth only increased.
Stella liked Christmas songs, truly she did. And the skits were well done. But ninety minutes later, she was ready for the program to be over.
In order to get the best shots, she stood the entire time, moving closer to the stage and crouching down to get shots from a low vantage point, then going to the balcony and shooting downward.
Just like at the lake, it didn’t take her long to discover that there were only so many pictures of those in the audience and on stage that one could take.
Stella slipped out into the hall when the show was nearing completion, or at least she hoped that having the entire group assembled on stage signaled that the end was near.
Once everyone descended on the gym for cookies and punch, she’d be taking pictures there. Which meant that if she wanted something to drink, she needed to grab it now.
The time wouldn’t be wasted. While drinking a glass of punch, she’d update the town’s social media sites.
Stella had just reached the corner that led to the gym when she stopped short.
Kenny, dressed in his Santa Claus outfit, stood all alone at the end of the hallway. The slump of his shoulders had her heart rising to her throat. Though she didn’t want to intrude, she wanted to be there for him.
She opened her mouth to call out when she saw him pull out a mini bottle of alcohol that until now she’d only seen on airplanes. This bottle was colorless, so vodka would be her guess.
Good choice, Stella thought, if you don’t want liquor breath.
One of the reporters she’d worked with at the Sun Times had put vodka in water bottles. If h
e had a meeting, the guy would pop a stick or two of tropical-fruit gum. Management never had a clue.
As if on autopilot, Stella pulled out her phone. When Kenny tossed back his head and downed the entire bottle in one gulp, she got the shot. Her hands trembled as she shoved the phone back into her bag.
Taking a couple of silent steps backward, she concentrated on making as much noise as possible as she rounded the corner.
She forced a big smile as she strode down the hall, a big smile plastered on her lips. “Kenny. It’s good to see you.”
Before she reached him, he popped a stick of fruit-striped gum into his mouth. “I didn’t expect to see anyone come down that hallway so soon. I need to get into position in the gym. Is the performance over?”
As she drew closer, Stella noticed the sadness in his eyes, and her heart lurched. “Almost over. I thought I’d get a couple of shots in the gym before the hordes descend.”
“Good idea.” He smiled. “We can walk together.”
“How is Norma doing this evening?”
The smile that had never quite reached his eyes now disappeared from his lips as well. “Not well at all. Kate wanted to help out, but she’s overseeing everything in the gym this evening. Faith is staying with Norma while I’m here.”
“That’s nice of her.”
“Faith is a good woman.” Kenny gave a decisive nod. “Norma calls her a kind soul.”
A kind soul who would never secretly gather data on a friend.
“An apt description.” Stella kept her voice light. “What smells so good? Are you chewing Fruit Stripe?”
Kenny’s rouged cheeks turned even more red. “Yes.”
“It’s a favorite of mine. I’ve loved it since I was a kid.”
“I—I’d give you a piece but I’m out.”
A lie, Stella thought, as she’d seen the half-filled package before he stuffed it into his Santa suit. Obviously, Kenny felt he needed to keep the other pieces for himself.
They reached the cavernous gymnasium, and Kenny, always the gentleman, held the door open for her. Once she was inside, he opened the door wide so that it caught and stayed open, then did the same with the other door.
