Sisters, page 20
Speaking of, where was her older sister?
“Who are you looking for?” Grayson asked as they stopped to enjoy the jazz trio’s talents.
“Leigh Ann,” she answered. “I expected we might run into her by now.”
“In this crowd?”
Grayson was right. More people were showing up. So much so that when they finished listening and moved on down another aisle of booths, her shoulders bumped with someone else’s several times.
Karyn looked over at Grayson. “Thank you for agreeing to come with me today.”
“Wouldn’t have wanted to miss it.” His hand tightened around her own, as he paused in front of one of the booths. “Hey, these are nice.” He lifted a delicate necklace from a display rack. The piece of jewelry featured a tiny seed pearl charm and a little metal plate with the word Believe hanging at the end of a long gold chain.
The artist, a man with brown hair pulled back into a ponytail with a leather strap, stepped forward. “That particular design is hand-faceted.”
“May I?” Grayson bent his head in her direction.
The guy nodded. “Sure, go ahead.”
Karyn gave them both a bashful smile. She turned and lifted her long hair, allowing Grayson to place the pretty chain around her neck. His fingers brushed her skin as he fastened the chain, sending a tiny shiver across her shoulders.
“There,” he said, taking the hand mirror offered by the artist. “Take a look.”
She fingered the necklace as she admired the reflection. “It’s lovely. Really pretty.”
Grayson pulled his wallet from his back pocket. “We’ll take it.” He offered up his credit card.
“Oh, Grayson. You don’t have to do that.”
His eyes warmed. “I want to.”
As a sign of her gratitude, she lifted on her toes and brushed a light kiss across the surface of his cheek. As she pulled back, she paused—leveled a look at him.
His eyes met her own. They remained that way, staring intently, while the man rang up the sale.
Karyn felt his hands go to her waist. As if in a trance, she reacted and brought her fingers to his face, lightly followed the strong line of his jaw.
She realized he was going to kiss her. And she wanted him to.
He bent, his breath warm against her skin. With a low groan, he cradled her neck to capture her mouth with his own. His lips moved slowly into hers, deliberately, as he pulled her closer until their bodies met . . .
“Karyn?”
The woman’s terse voice sucked the breath from her lungs. She whirled.
There stood Dean’s parents.
31
Despite appearances, nothing was going right today. While on the surface everything was running smoothly, festival patrons were unaware of the behind-the-scenes chaos plaguing Leigh Ann’s organizational sensibilities.
“No, not there!” she barked at the uniformed man as he headed straight into the crowd with his large ice cart. “That area is reserved for attendees only. Read the posted signs. Deliveries are restricted to marked areas only.” She pointed to a narrow path between the outer booths.
Don’t these people ever stop to think for themselves? Or, at the very least, follow instructions?
First, the electricians had run wires across the designated footpath, which had to be corrected to keep someone from falling and suing. Now she had an idiot ready to bang a cart around in the crowd, running attendees over.
Yes, she was acting like a witch—but she couldn’t seem to help it.
She rubbed at her aching brow, wishing she’d gotten more sleep. These events were trying enough when she was at her best. Today, the effort was grueling.
Truth was, she’d barely been able to concentrate since her blow-up with Mark. How could she be expected to run an important two-day festival when she could barely think of anything but what had transpired between her and her husband, and that her life might soon crumble beneath her feet?
She snapped her clipboard from the top of a stack of water bottles, a tall pile that was obstructing view of a carefully placed container planted with daisies, geraniums and lobelia.
Not bothering to squelch an audible growl, she whipped around to a random passerby. “These people are going to be the death of me!”
“Leigh Ann?”
She glanced up, shocked to see her tattoo artist. “Mr. Magnum?”
“Please, it’s Thor.” He pulled back and studied her with those intense brown eyes. “You okay?”
Embarrassed, she stared at the anchor etched in ink on his muscular upper arm. She swallowed. “Uh, yes. Sure. I’m just a bit stressed. That’s all.”
His eyes narrowed. “I imagine this is quite an effort to manage.” His vision swept the festival activities. “Takes a lot of juggling, I suppose.”
He didn’t know the half of it. No one really did.
Her chin tilted slightly and she bit the inside of her lip to keep from showing the sudden emotion that engulfed her entire being.
Her first response was to shrink from his scrutiny, paste on a bright face and paint the situation with brightly-colored representations that would build her up in his eyes and make her feel esteemed. But she was too tired, far too vulnerable to pull it off.
Instead, she caved and admitted her struggle. At least in part.
“I—I haven’t been sleeping,” she confessed, anger continuing to build as her mind rehearsed the past couple of days.
What she didn’t say was why—that Mark had hounded her for a period of days with phone calls and texts that she’d allowed to go unanswered. That she’d kept herself behind a locked bedroom door each time he had the nerve to step inside the house he dared to still call their home. That when his pleas outside that door failed to move her to respond, she’d later returned from a planning meeting to find evidence he’d packed and left for Boise after all, just as he said he was going to. He’d left only a simple note on the counter:
I promise it’s not what you think.
Ha, wasn’t that what the straying husband always claimed? She was not stupid. She saw the texts on his phone from that woman.
Leigh Ann looked over at Thor, remembered the afternoon in his studio—the way he’d acted toward her, flirting even. While flattering, she’d been too focused on reigniting her marriage at the time to give the handsome stranger any consideration.
That was before Mark refused to cooperate and change his mind, before he’d moved ahead with his plan to decimate her life.
Unexpectedly, the stopper that held back her emotions came unplugged. Tears filled her eyes.
She tried to smile, to assure the man standing before her that she was doing fine, but it was too late. Her distress flowed openly.
Thor reached in his back pocket and pulled out a folded napkin. He handed it to her. “You’re not a very good liar.”
She stood up straight, nodded and wiped her tears.
“Want me to leave you alone?” he offered, no doubt sensing her reluctance to let him see her fall apart.
“No. I want you to invite me to get out of here with you.” This time, she managed a weak smile.
Thor hesitated briefly, then finally nodded. “Sure. Let’s go.”
After letting one of her staff know she’d be gone for a bit, she ignored the confused look on the gal’s face and followed Thor to his car, not caring who might see. Or, that the entire festival might leave the tracks without her carefully steering the course of things.
When they arrived at his vehicle, Leigh Ann was surprised to find he drove a vintage red and white Corvette. Today he had the top down on the rare, and expensive convertible.
“Nice,” she remarked. “Needles and ink must be lucrative.”
He helped her inside. “Pays the power bill,” he said, closing the door. He moved to the other side of the car and got in, stopping first to retrieve two cans from a cooler in the trunk.
She couldn’t help but notice that he’d freshly showered. She could still smell the soap. It was also impossible not to notice Thor’s tightly muscled body beneath the gray t-shirt.
She averted her eyes uneasily, before remembering why she was with him in the first place. She relented and shed her nagging reservations. Instead, she purposely cast a provocative smile in his direction.
“Thirsty?” he asked, handing her a can of beer.
She took the offered drink, wondering if he intended to drive after drinking alcohol—another thought she had to force from her already cluttered mind. His drinking habits were the least dangerous aspect of this whole thing. Somehow, that excited her.
Everyone else got to act crazy on occasion. Why shouldn’t she? She was tired of making sense, always doing the right thing. Her whole life she’d acted appropriately. Likely, she was the only girl in all of Sun Valley who’d never had a one-night stand before she married.
Her conscience pricked.
That’s a bad thing?
Ha! How would she know? She’d never let herself find out. Now she was getting tossed aside like a half-eaten cookie.
What was that popular quote? What was good for the goose was also good for the gander!
Thor popped the top of his beer, turned up the can and drank deeply of it, then looked around at the crowded parking area, the people mingling in the distance, the full-leafed maple trees silhouetted against a cloudless blue sky. “You gonna drink that?”
She squelched her nerves, nodded and popped her can—tipped it and drank. The ice-cold beer burned on the way down her throat. Even so, the alcohol eased her tension almost immediately.
“Pretty out here, huh?” She casually let her finger glide over his jeans, dangerously close to forbidden territory. It was as if her hand, and her mind, belonged to another. To someone who wasn’t a wife, a mother, a pillar of the community. Deep inside, she wished to shed all those well-practiced roles and trade for a carefree identity, even if only for a little while. Maybe then she wouldn’t hurt so bad.
She only hoped he wouldn’t notice that her hands were trembling.
A small voice inside warned this was a big mistake. It occurred to her she was now trying to do the hurting. But that was stupid. How could she possibly erase her own pain by inflicting the same on—who, Mark?
He was likely in a hotel room in the arms of that woman at this very moment, or would be very soon.
Thor’s eyes followed the trail of her fingers. As if he could read her conflicted mind, he clutched her hand before she reached the danger zone. “Your husband know you’re here?”
His question was like an electric charge, unexpected and unwelcome. Leigh Ann pulled her hand back from his grasp. She pushed her head back against the leather of the seat and stared up at the sky. “Not sure he’d care if he did.”
Thor nearly snorted. He finished his beer and tossed the can. “Hope not. I’m not into getting my ass kicked when he finds out.”
Her eyes stung with humiliation. She blinked, biting at her lip. After several long seconds, she dared to look at him.
Thor took her shoulder. “Look, Leigh Ann—don’t get me wrong. I want to, but somehow I think you’re going to regret this.” Then he added, “A life of regret isn’t worth living.”
At that moment, she heard a noise. The car door flew open and Mark stood there, glaring.
Her husband grabbed Thor’s shoulders and yanked him from the seat and onto the ground. She stared open-mouthed as Mark jabbed his finger at the tattoo artist’s surprised face.
“You put one more move on my wife, Big Guy, and I’ll make you wish you weren’t living.”
32
“Karyn?”
Her former mother-in-law’s voice caused her to pull back from Grayson’s embrace. “Aggie?”
“What are you doing?” Aggie puffed up, a marshmallow roasted over a hot flame.
Karyn’s resolve melted in response. “Uh, I’m not sure.” It was a stupid thing to say, she knew.
Grayson blinked and pulled back from her, looking as unsettled as she felt. He quickly discarded his confusion and stepped forward, extended a hand. “I’m Grayson Chandler. Karyn’s—uh, I’m Karyn’s friend.”
Aggie eyed them with suspicion. Her eyebrows came together in a deep frown. “Looks like a bit more than friends,” she huffed, tears already pooling.
Bert placed his hand on his wife’s shoulder. In an unspoken message, he let his palm remain there as he took Grayson’s hand and shook. “I’m Bertrand Macadam. This is my wife, Agatha. We’re her in-laws. Actually, former in-laws.”
“Dean’s parents,” Karyn unnecessarily added for clarification, trying to make her voice light. She forced a smile. “Are you enjoying the festival?”
Aggie wasn’t having any of it. She wiped at her eyes. “Yes, we were.” The past tense remark hung in the air like rotting bananas, so heavy the comment bent her spirit under its weight.
Dean’s mother’s eyes dropped to her bare ring finger. Anyone standing within fifty feet could hear the air leave her lungs.
Karyn could almost imagine Dean looking down on the scene. No doubt he’d find humor in the situation and chuckle at what he deemed humorous.
But none of this was funny.
She’d been cruel. Unforgivably so.
Dean’s dad restrained himself from showing the scar she’d just carved in his heart, while his mother was a bit more candid with the blow she’d suffered. Without meaning to, she’d hurt his parents deeply.
She could just shake herself for the insensitivity she’d shown these people. How could she not have given them a heads up about her decision to begin dating again and allow them to stumble onto their son’s wife kissing another man?
“I’m sorry,” she said solemnly. And she meant it. “I should have told you.”
“Yes, yes—I think you should have.” Tears sprouted yet again in Aggie’s eyes. “I know you have every right to move on,” Dean’s mother conceded, her voice trembling. “It’s just—well, I—” Her voice faded. She turned to her husband. “Bert, please. Let’s just go.”
He took his wife’s elbow. “I’m sorry. Yes, I think that’s best.”
Karyn didn’t have any option but to watch as her former in-laws walked away and disappeared into the crowd.
Grayson rubbed at the back of his neck. “Well, that was—”
“—awful,” she finished, fingering the chain at her neck.
“So, what do you want to do now?”
“I need to—” She looked at him miserably. “Oh, I’m not even sure what I need to do. But I think you’d better take me home. I need to make this up to them. The sooner, the better.”
Grayson left Karyn at her door with a heavy heart. Crestfallen, he dragged himself to his car, pondering all that had just transpired.
Certainly, that was not how he’d imagined their first kiss.
And he hadn’t imagined driving Karyn home from their date in near silence.
“Are you mad at me?” he’d finally asked.
She’d let out a tired, grown-up sigh. “Of course not, Grayson. I’m mad at myself.”
“I don’t get it.” He shook his head. “You’re trying to be happy again. That’s a bad thing?”
That’s when she’d looked at him like he had three heads. His only response—the only reaction that wouldn’t be open to the possibility for him to step in it further—was to quietly reach across the seat for her hand.
On the way to her front door, he took another chance and turned to her. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Karyn. You’re young and life didn’t end when your husband died. Surely Dean’s parents didn’t think you would remain single.”
She stared back at him with a blank expression. “I’m not sure you understand.”
He moved to her, took her in his arms. She didn’t hug him back, but she didn’t pull away either. When he let her go, she wiped at her eyes and looked at him. “I’m all they have left, Grayson.”
He wasn’t sure he agreed with her. While losing a son was indeed tragic, turning his widow into a human memorial wasn’t in anyone’s best interest. Most especially hers.
The burden to carry their sorrow didn’t rest at Karyn’s feet.
He paused, his hand on the car door handle, the occasional trill of wild birds nestled in the rocky bluffs bordering the golf course the only sound to disturb the late-afternoon stillness.
He inhaled fragrant, fresh air and tried to let go of the rigid tension suddenly building between his shoulders, knowing one major question remained.
Would he be enough for her to come to that realization?
33
Joie stood in front of Room 23, staring nervously at the patterned carpet while waiting for the door to open.
Following the bar convention, Andrew elected to stay in Sun Valley for a few days to spend time with her. But that time had come to an end and he would be leaving later tonight.
She’d spent every available moment with him, reconnecting and forging this new relationship. One free of the notion he was married, and the guilt that had choked the life out of their chance at a genuine relationship.
They’d spent nearly all their time within the confines of this room, taking special care not to be seen by Karyn.
While she was anxious to introduce him to her family, she’d been a bit nervous about the notion. They’d have questions, Leigh Ann especially. It was her intent to keep a tight lid on how they’d first connected and the circumstances that initially drove them apart. The judgment would be too much to bear.
That was why, in the end, she’d elected to make a quick solo appearance at the Wine and Arts Festival and wait to introduce Andrew at a more opportune time, maybe to her dad first and then her sisters.
Sound came from behind the hotel door. A smile slowly pulled at the corners of her lips as she waited for Andrew to unlock the latch.
