Charlotte's Homecoming Read online

  Charlotte frowned. “No, I don’t think so. It’s just her nature to expect the best of anyone.” She made a face. “We may look alike, but that’s as far as our resemblance goes.”

  Some emotion flickered across his face, too quickly for her to read. They had reached the front of the barn and the hard-packed dirt parking lot, where his squad car waited. Charlotte dug the barn key out of her front pocket, since they had locked up earlier when they returned to the kitchen.

  Why lock the barn door once the horses have gotten out? she thought irreverently, but of course Faith had been right; they didn’t want customers to wander around unattended.

  A car was hesitating on the highway right now, the driver apparently drawn by the large hand-painted signs promising, Antiques! Fresh Produce! Plant Nursery! Local Arts & Crafts! Corn Maze! No, she reminded herself, the sign for the corn maze was covered for now.

  Wheeler cleared his throat. “This is a little bit unprofessional… Hell, probably a whole lot unprofessional. But I’m wondering if you’d consider having dinner with me.”

  Charlotte blinked in surprise and faced him again. She’d have sworn his gaze had lingered more on her sister’s face than hers, but who knew? Maybe Faith’s obvious shyness or unease or whatever it had been had scared him off. And, hey, they did look alike.

  He was a really sexy man.

  In a flash, she thought, If I start dating Ben Wheeler, I’ll be safe from Gray. And Ben was attractive; she could enjoy spending time with him, maybe even kissing him. Couldn’t she?

  “Sure.” She smiled at him. “That sounds like fun. When and where?”

  “Why not tonight? There’s a pretty good new restaurant right here in town. Not too fancy, but good food, if you like steaks.”

  “I like steaks.”

  They agreed on a time, and he left in the usual cloud of dust as the first customers of the day pulled in. Charlotte unlocked the barn, turned on the lights and welcomed the older couple, who advanced uncertainly into the cavernous interior of the barn.

  “Plants are outside,” she told them. “Let me just open those doors.” Seeing them both staring toward the burned side of the barn, she added, “Uh…we had a bit of excitement last night. I apologize for the mess. Probably local teenagers, but we’re mad as all get out.”

  Throwing open the side doors and letting in the sunshine, she mused, A date. Imagine that, and refused to let herself wonder what Gray Van Dusen had been about to say to her, right before Faith and Ben Wheeler had interrupted them.

  “DAD THINKS THEY’LL LET HIM come home on Monday, but he’s still going to be bedridden for a couple of weeks,” Charlotte said, while she used the steak knife to cut a bite of filet mignon.

  “Are you two going to be able to take care of him and run the business, too?” Ben Wheeler asked.

  They were in a booth at the River Fork Steakhouse, their dinners in front of them. They had already gotten the getting-to-know-each-other stuff out of the way. She’d learned that he had grown up in Los Angeles and been a lieutenant with the LAPD when he decided he’d like a different lifestyle and had looked around for a small town that needed an experienced cop to head its police department.

  “It’s a change,” he said, not sounding so sure the change was a good one. “I didn’t expect the politics.”

  “Politics?” she asked, surprised.

  “The city council. Some days, our esteemed councilors make me wish for a good old-fashioned liquor-store holdup.”

  Charlotte had laughed, but he’d looked as if he almost meant it. Small town policing must be considerably more aggravating than it had looked from afar.

  After hearing about what she did for a living and sympathizing about the layoff, he’d asked about her father and their plans for the farm.

  “Faith has thrown herself into this heart and soul,” she said. “But she’s a teacher, too. Kindergarten. In just a few weeks, she’ll be getting her classroom ready. I haven’t started looking for a job yet, but I can’t imagine staying past September, say. I don’t want to run an antique store slash produce market slash corn maze.”

  It was a cry from her heart. Helping out for a few weeks, sure, but she couldn’t imagine what made Faith want to do this long-term. And Dad, laconic at the best of times, was not a man made for retail work. But if they hired too much help, they’d pare their small profit down to nothing.

  Faith, Charlotte was very much afraid, had her finger in a dike that was going to crumble no matter what.

  “Well, we’ll see,” she said with a sigh.

  “Could be your sister didn’t want to spend too much time thinking after the divorce,” the man across the table from her observed. “This was one way of keeping busy.”

  “I suppose that’s possible.” Reluctantly she examined the idea. Faith had always clung to the familiar. She’d never considered going far away to college. To her, it had seemed completely natural, after graduating, to apply for a teaching job in her hometown, and marry a boy she’d known since high school. That was the life she’d always wanted. But then Mom died, Faith had to give up on her marriage, and Dad started talking about selling the farm. Too much change.

  She couldn’t save Mom or her marriage, but the farm was different. So she’d focused all her desperate need for a predictable life on this long shot. God knows, Charlotte admitted to herself, Faith had melded creativity and hard work to succeed to an astonishing extent. Just…not enough. Especially given that business was sure to become something between slow and nonexistent come winter.

  She reminded herself that somehow, Dad and Faith had eked through the last year.

  Uh-huh. On Faith’s paychecks from the school district.

  “You haven’t mentioned the fire,” Charlotte said, changing the subject. “Did you learn anything today?”

  “None of the neighbors saw a thing.”

  “I’m not surprised.”

  “No,” he agreed, and took a bite before adding, “I talked to Hardesty. He gave me an earful about you. Said of course you’d blame him.”

  “Jerk,” she muttered.

  “Insisted he loves Faith and knows how important the farm is to her.”

  Charlotte scoffed under her breath.

  “Yeah, that could be taken one of two ways, couldn’t it?” Ben remarked. “I’ll tell you, though, my gut feeling was that he didn’t do it.”

  Every instinct Charlotte had disagreed, but it was true that she was biased. “So now what?” she asked.

  “I couldn’t track Coffey down today. His mom says he’ll be home tomorrow.”

  Charlotte nodded.

  “Your sister ever considered getting a big dog?”

  “We had a dog when I was growing up, but the highway is a worry, and what good would a dog do if he was kenneled or in the house at night?”

  “Dogs bark. You’d have an early warning system.”

  “That’s true.” She thought about it for a moment before agreeing, “I’ll suggest it to Faith. She’s always loved animals.”

  “Just don’t let her bring home a cute puppy. You need a dog with some teeth right now.”

  He must share some of her unease, Charlotte thought, or they’d be talking about something else. Like their favorite music or how they felt about people who used the express checkout in the grocery store even though they had too many items. Whether they were morning people or night owls. The little stuff that mattered, when a man and woman were drawn enough to each other.

  “Was it Gray who hired you?” she heard herself ask, and cringed inwardly.

  Ben didn’t look surprised at her question. “I guess you could say so, although I had the impression the city council had a pretty strong voice.”

  “So you must be doing okay at politicking,” she pointed out.

  He sawed at his steak with unnecessary force. “They didn’t hate me then. You’re right about that. Their enthusiasm for me started to wane when I told them know how grossly understaffed and underequipped their
police department was. Asking them to open the checkbook was the equivalent of giving a woman a poison ivy bouquet on the first date.”

  Charlotte laughed. The smile was still lingering on her mouth when her gaze was drawn to a man walking into the restaurant. Gray, wearing the suit from earlier, although he’d now added the coat.

  He was scanning the restaurant as he walked in, just as she’d noticed Ben doing. Ben was probably assessing diners for their likelihood of turning violent, though, while Gray presumably had voters on his mind. No matter what he was thinking, what it meant was that he saw her as quickly as she saw him. His stride checked as he looked at her, then at Ben, who was turning his head to see what had caught her attention.

  Charlotte’s stomach knotted at the expression on Gray’s face. Shock, followed by… She wasn’t sure. Anger? Hurt? Something that darkened his eyes and made a muscle jump on his jaw.

  Someone called his name, and he very deliberately turned away to greet a couple at one of the tables with an easy smile. Charlotte looked away from him to find that Ben was contemplating her. He didn’t say anything, though, for which she was grateful.

  She asked him about juvenile crime in West Fork and whether drugs were getting to be a problem here, but didn’t hear his answer. She was too conscious of Gray, making his way around the restaurant, pausing at almost every table to shake hands and exchange a few words with people. She couldn’t seem to make herself take a bite. She felt sick and guilty, and mad because there wasn’t any reason in the world for her to feel either. She didn’t want to know what her face gave away when he reached their booth.

  “Ben. Charlotte.” He didn’t seem interested in shaking either of their hands.

  Humor in his voice, Ben said, “You stop by every Friday and Saturday night just to glad-hand?”

  “Actually, I’ve usually had enough of the good citizens of West Fork by dinner time. No offense,” he said politely to Charlotte. “I’m having dinner with Ed Tolman and Don Scheff.”

  Ben nodded, looking unsurprised.

  “City council members?” Charlotte ventured. She’d gone to school with a couple of the Tolman kids. Ed owned the hardware store in town.

  “Yeah.” Ben smiled at her. “Didn’t you see me sink down in the booth when they came in?”

  Why didn’t a smile that wicked make her heart go pitty-pat? Because I’m an idiot, she mourned.

  Gray’s eyes rested on her face, but she didn’t have the courage to meet them. After a moment he lightly rapped his knuckles on the table, said, “Have a good dinner,” and left them. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him join two older men in a booth that was close enough for her to hear the murmur of their voices but not what they said.

  Charlotte tried for all she was worth not to be lousy company, but despite her best efforts she kept catching herself straining to hear Gray’s voice, picturing his face, wondering what he was thinking.

  She hated responding so strongly to a man. She never had before. Faith used to tease her about being commitment phobic, which might have been true back then. No guy, she had always told herself fiercely, was keeping her in West Fork. But even later… Maybe she shied away whenever a man got too serious, or maybe she just hadn’t met the right one.

  All she knew was, she’d been desperate to escape her hometown, while Gray Van Dusen had chosen to make West Fork his life. She wasn’t going to be idiot enough to let herself be tempted by him.

  Which meant it was a good thing he’d seen her tonight having dinner with Ben Wheeler. That had been her plan, hadn’t it? She bet he wouldn’t be stopping by the Russell farm again anytime soon.

  She just wished she could forget the look of hurt on his face that he hadn’t been able to hide quite fast enough when he first saw her with Ben.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  FAITH WAS ASHAMED OF HERSELF to be so glad when Charlotte offered to grocery shop and departed, list in hand. In all the years of conflicted emotions toward her twin, she’d never been jealous before. Last night, she was.

  There wasn’t any good reason for it. Ben Wheeler had asked Charlotte out, not her; it was Charlotte who drew him, not her. And Char had no idea Faith had wished it was otherwise.

  And wasn’t that pathetic? She was twenty-nine years old, and she’d never in her life felt that twist of desire when setting her eyes on a man. The sight of a smile had never had her heart flopping in her chest like a trout hooked and tossed to shore. Faith had had boyfriends in high school, and then Rory, but her relationship with Rory had been a gradual settling into a contented belief that he was a man she could be happy with, a man who wanted the same kind of life she did. It hadn’t been like walking into a glass door, leaving her dazed but still able to see through to where she’d meant to go.

  Last night, she’d sat in the living room pretending to read while Char and Ben stayed outside in his SUV and talked or made out for a good fifteen minutes. By the time Char came in the kitchen door and the SUV turned in a circle and left, Faith had stiffly stood in one position so long her body felt locked. She’d thought she might crack when she had to turn her head to greet her sister. It hurt, damn it. She knew it wasn’t Char’s fault that Ben wanted her instead, but Faith figured she was entitled to a sulk anyway, and that’s what she was indulging in.

  Her brooding made this a lousy time for her to look out of the barn and see a squad car pull in and West Fork Police Chief Ben Wheeler get out. If Char had been here, Faith knew damn well she would have bolted for the house.

  Instead, as she watched him saunter toward the counter, his narrowed gaze first scanning the barn and finally settling on her, she summoned an unruffled smile and said, “Chief Wheeler. I didn’t expect to see you today.”

  He raised his brows. “I told you I’d let you know what Coffey and Hardesty had to say.”

  “Char told me you don’t think Rory set the fire.”

  He leaned against the counter. “If he did, he’s a good liar.”

  “He can be,” she said with more restraint than she felt. She didn’t like remembering how, after hitting her, Rory would take her to the hospital and hover with such love and worry on his face, not a single doctor or nurse had ever questioned her broken bones or vicious purple bruises.

  “I’m a little less satisfied today,” the chief said. “I sat down with Sean Coffey an hour ago, and I’d have to say I agree with your assessment of him. He flushed a little when he insisted that the time you caught him was the first time he tried to steal from you, which tells me it wasn’t. But temptation overcame him because he wanted something real bad, and I think he was telling the truth when he said he was grateful you hadn’t called the police or his parents.”

  “What did he want so bad?” she asked.

  “Does it matter? Stealing wouldn’t have been a solution even if he’d been trying to pay for his sister’s chemotherapy.”

  Faith let out a gasp. “Laurel has cancer?”

  The amusement crinkling his dark eyes made her mouth go dry. “No, I was giving a for-example. I don’t even know if the boy has a sister.”

  She felt like an idiot, but stammered, “He does. But that was silly of me.”

  The amusement died, leaving something disturbing on his face. He quickly masked whatever he’d been thinking. “Not silly. I forget that everyone in this town knows everyone else, and cares. I’m sorry, Faith.”

  “No, it’s okay.” She exhaled, hoping he didn’t notice how ragged such a simple thing as breathing had become for her. “So where does this leave us?”

  He straightened away from the counter and moved his shoulders in a way she took for frustration. “Nowhere, unfortunately. My best guess is still teenagers, but we may never know unless our firebug has a big mouth and talks to the wrong person.”

  “Or comes back,” she said softly.

  His eyes seemed to darken. “Or comes back.”

  “Well.” Faith gave herself a shake. “I appreciate you trying. That’s all I can ask.” She was good at s
miling even when she was in turmoil, so that’s what she did now. “I hope you and Char had fun last night.”

  “Your sister is a nice woman.”

  “Yes, she is.”

  Over the top of her automatic agreement, he said pensively, “Neither of us went out with each other for the right reason.”

  “What…what do you mean?”

  “We were both thinking about someone else.”

  “Char?” Faith in astonishment. “She told me she isn’t dating anyone else. Are you saying she’s nursing a broken heart?”

  Was it possible? Char?

  “I think she’s got her eye elsewhere and doesn’t want it to be.” He shrugged. “And I shouldn’t have said that. She’ll tell you when she’s ready.”

  “We’re…” Her throat clogged. “We’re not close.”

  “That’s not the impression I got.”

  Her temper flared, and Faith snapped, “Then you were wrong.” She sighed. “I seem to be in a mood. I’m sorry.”

  “You don’t have to be.” His voice, rough enough to sound damaged, had inexplicably become gentle. “Faith…”

  She wanted to ask who he had been thinking about when he asked Char out, but of course she couldn’t. The way he was looking at her right now made her heart pound, which churned up panic. “What did Rory say about me?”

  Whatever she’d imagined she saw was gone, just like that. His expression was no more than courteous. “He said he respects you and wishes he hadn’t blown it. Said he’s mad at himself, not you. I suggested the best thing he could do for you is stay away, and he agreed.”

  “I wish he would. That’s not too much to ask, is it?” She hated how pathetic she sounded, but couldn’t help herself. Just thinking about Rory made this awful pressure build up in her chest until she could hardly bear it.

  “Charlotte is right,” Ben told her. “You call me if Hardesty steps foot on this property.”

  Her head bobbed without any conscious volition. “Yes. Okay. You’re both right. I’m a wimp.”

  “I didn’t say that.”