A Reason to Love (6 page)

Melanie was already heading out the back door. He slung the strap of the pack over his shoulder and hurried after her. Outside, he stopped to think about what he did want. Hell, he had no idea. He ran his hands over his head in frustration and found the familiar feel of his military buzz cut soothing. “I’m not picky. Got any suggestions?”

“Yeah, actually I do.”

A set of keys came flying over her shoulder right at him. “What are these?”

“The keys to the housekeeper’s cottage. It has a separate driveway off the street that runs behind our property. It’s probably in need of a thorough cleaning, but it is furnished. You can stay there for as long as you want.”

He didn’t know what to say. “Are you sure, Melanie? How much is the rent?”

Not that it mattered. It didn’t sound as if he’d have many other choices here in town. She named a figure that had him shaking his head. “That’s not nearly enough, Melanie. I might not have lived in the area for a long time, but I do know rents are higher than that.”

She didn’t answer until they were both in the car. “Fine. I’ll drop you off at the bar and then run some errands. You check out the house and see what you think. If it will suit your needs, stop by later and make me an offer.”

“It’s a deal.”

Even sight unseen, he already knew he was going to take it. Just like she said, there were never many rental properties in Snowberry Creek. Even if he could find an apartment on such short notice, he’d have to spend a lot of time and money buying even the bare essentials to make the place livable. Part of getting his life back on track involved deciding if he could stand to live in the same town as Callie and his other former best friends.

Just thinking about Leif and Nick had him wanting to punch something. Yeah, the chances of making Snowberry Creek his permanent home seemed pretty slim. Renting the cottage from Melanie would be the perfect short-term answer.

Now if only he could find such easy answers to all of his other problems. Rather than dwell on things he couldn’t change, he turned his attention to studying the small business district that formed the core of his hometown. He smiled as they drove past the Creek Café. Some things never changed, including Frannie’s menu. Her prices might go up, but the food stayed the same. She never got any complaints about it, either.

There were a few new businesses, but the character of the town was the same. People waved, most likely at Melanie. He wasn’t sure if anyone recognized him, although he’d guess by now the news of his return had spread like wildfire.

At the next stoplight, she asked, “Did you ever think you’d end up back here?”

Interesting question. He gave it some thought. “I don’t know. Maybe eventually, but not this soon. I’d planned to stay in the army long enough to earn a pension. That’s not going to happen now, but I haven’t had enough time to make other plans.”

He glanced in her direction. “I guess neither of us meant to end up back in Snowberry Creek, but here we are.”

She grimaced. “Yeah, lucky us.”

Before he could think of how to respond, they’d reached the bar. Melanie looked around at the empty parking lot. “I didn’t think about it being Sunday or that the bar might not be open. I’ll wait to make sure Liam’s around so you can get your motorcycle back.”

Spence got out and headed for the door. Sure enough, it was locked. He pounded on it a few times with his fist. He waited a few seconds to see if there was any response and then tried again. This time, he heard someone on the other side of the door. Luck was with him, because it was Liam who opened the door.

“You survived, I see. I had my doubts.”

“So did I.” Spence laughed. “Thanks for taking my keys.”

“Anytime. I’ll go get them.”

While Liam disappeared back into the bar, Spence jogged back over to where Melanie was waiting for him. He leaned down to look at her. “He’s getting my keys, so you can go. Thanks again for everything, and I’ll let you know about the cottage this afternoon.”

“Sounds good. I should be home in a couple of hours.”

He patted the top of the car. “See you then.”

Spence started to walk away but immediately turned back. “If you don’t have plans for dinner, why don’t I pick up something for both of us? Do you have a preference?”

She didn’t even hesitate. “I’m not picky, especially when I don’t have to do the cooking.”

He’d made the offer on impulse, but it pleased him more than it should have that she accepted. “Okay, then. I’ll drop by around six.”

“See you then, Spence. Tell Liam hello for me.”

Spence stood back out of the way as she drove away, the whole time debating whether he’d actually deliver her message. He had no claim on Melanie. She was only being friendly, so there was no reason to be a jerk about it. It wasn’t as if this dump was the kind of place she’d start hanging out in on a nightly basis.

The man in question reappeared. Liam tossed Spence his keys. “It’s in the garage in back. Come on, and I’ll unlock it for you.”

As he unfastened the old-fashioned padlock on the door, Liam gave Spence a sheepish look. “I have a confession to make. It’s been a while since I’ve been on a Harley that nice. I took it for a couple of laps around the block before I put it away.”

Spence wanted to be mad, but he owed the guy for how he’d treated both him and Melanie the night before. Liam had gone above and beyond for the two of them. “Not a problem. I would’ve done the same.”

He climbed on and started the engine. “Thanks again. And Melanie said to say hi.”

Liam nodded. “Your lady is good people. Stop in again sometime.”

“Will do.”

Spence revved the engine and headed back toward Melanie’s to check out the cottage. As he did, he realized he should’ve told Liam that Mel wasn’t his. Next time, maybe he’d do that. But then again, maybe not.

M
elanie let herself into the corner office, one of several that made up the second-floor interior balcony. It used to be her father’s, and it still felt strange to think of it as hers. It didn’t help that the factory down below was eerily quiet. During the workweek, a constant cacophony of machinery echoed throughout the two-story structure as the employees made the custom-order doors, cabinets, and other wood products that were the company’s mainstays. As a librarian, she was used to working in relatively quiet conditions. Here in the small millworks that had been in her family for generations, silence was a rarity.

Since taking over the company after her father’s death, Melanie had slowly become more accustomed to the endless racket made by power saws, nail guns, lathes, and forklifts, but some days it was still too much. Whenever she really needed to concentrate, she came in on weekends, when the crew was off.

At least today, she didn’t plan to stay long. The payroll report was finished, and Melanie just needed to review it before signing off so the paychecks could go out on Wednesday. It was one of the jobs she always saved for when she was alone. Reading the numbers always left her feeling a bit sick. No matter how many different ways she looked at them, they all added up to an ugly truth she could no longer deny. The time was coming when she was going to have to start laying off employees if she couldn’t create a better balance between the red ink and the black on the bottom line. Once that happened, it might be only a matter of time before Wolfe Millworks would have to close its doors for good.

“Dad, how could you have let it all get this out of hand?”

Her one-sided conversations with her father were the other reason she liked to be alone when she worked on the company’s books. She knew the downturn in the building industry wasn’t Edmond Wolfe’s fault. However, as far as she could tell, he’d ignored the harsh reality of the changing economy until it was far too late. That part was all on him.

She’d never bad-mouth her father in front of the employees, but in private she had plenty to say to him. Not only had he let the business nearly go broke, but he’d exhausted most of his personal savings and then borrowed against the family home in an effort to make ends meet.

The only reason she could continue to pay the bills at all was that he hadn’t been able to touch the trust fund that her grandmother had left her. If he’d asked, she would’ve given him the money, but all things considered, it was better that hadn’t happened. As much as she hated to say it, he would’ve run through it and still not gotten the business back on track.

All she could do was keep moving forward. There was no changing the past. With that bit of wisdom, she opened up the file Bertie had left for her. She didn’t bother double-checking the bookkeeper’s figures. Bertie might do everything the old-fashioned way, but she did it right. The only trouble was that her system was decades out of date, just another of the problems that Melanie needed to deal with.

Somehow the company had to be dragged into the twenty-first century, but it was slow going and not just because of the financial issues. The sudden death of Melanie’s father had come as a shock to everyone, especially the long-term employees. Most weren’t ready to accept Melanie as the new face of the company leadership. It didn’t help that a lot of them had watched her grow up.

Their attitude would have pissed her off, but she couldn’t really blame them. She was out of her comfort zone, and they all knew it. If there had been enough money, maybe she could’ve hired someone to step in to take over. Well, that wasn’t happening. No one worth having would work for the pittance she could afford to pay right now.

She scanned the report, initialed the paperwork, and then signed the stack of checks. The whole process took her less than an hour but left her right hand cramping from holding the pen too tightly. Tension did that to a person.

When she was finished with the last one, she gathered up all the papers and locked them in the safe. With that job out of the way, she reviewed the work orders they had lined up for the week and sighed with relief. There was enough to keep everyone busy, a welcome improvement over the winter months. The number of new jobs still wasn’t great, but it was definitely better.

Done for the day, she locked up and headed downstairs and out to the parking lot. At least it was sunny outside. At this time of the year, the rain the Pacific Northwest was famous for could blow in with no warning. She’d been planning on working out in the yard that afternoon.

And now there was something else to look forward to: Spence was bringing dinner. Even before her father’s death, her social life had been pretty much nonexistent. She’d been dating a nice guy, but a year ago he had been transferred to another state. They’d kept in touch for a while, but their relationship hadn’t been strong enough to survive the separation.

Since coming back to Snowberry Creek, she’d been happy to renew her friendships with Callie and Bridey, getting to know one another again after living in different states for the past few years. However, both of them had new men in their lives. Other than the wedding shower for Callie a couple of weeks ago, Melanie hadn’t had a night out with her friends in ages. All in all, she was in sore need of some fun.

Granted, the debacle in the parking lot after the wedding hadn’t been any picnic, but hanging out at the bar with Spence had had its moments. His smile had definitely been the same, but it rarely banished the weariness in his eyes. She knew that look. The cause might be different, but she saw the same tired expression in her own gaze every morning when she put on her business suit and headed off to another day at the office. Pretending everything was okay was exhausting.

Other than seeing a few close friends, she did her best to avoid most people in town. All of their questions and comments might be well meant, but they’d quickly grown tiresome. She spent far too much time saying the same things over and over.
My mother is fine. Yes, it was a shame about my father. No, the company isn’t for sale. No, I don’t know how long I’ll be in town. Yada yada yada.

At first, she’d appreciated the concern. Now she really wished they’d leave her alone. Bad attitude and all that, but it was how she felt.

She suspected Spence would run into the same thing once people found out he was back. They’d all want to know every little detail, even those he didn’t want to share. Maybe especially those. If anyone found out that she’d spent the evening at the bar with him, they’d be after her, too. Well, they wouldn’t learn anything from her. It was Spence’s story to tell or not tell; his choice, not hers, and definitely not theirs.

It had even been a bit risky going to Something’s Brewing that morning to pick up muffins. However, since Bridey had been Callie’s maid of honor at the wedding last night, it was a safe bet Bridey would have arranged for her assistant to cover the shop. Earlier, Melanie had discovered she had a voice mail from Callie. Evidently, she’d called during the time Melanie was at the bar, and asked why she hadn’t shown up at the reception. In return, Melanie left a brief message for Callie apologizing for not being there, but keeping the details vague. The happy couple would already have left on their honeymoon in Hawaii, but at least Callie would know Melanie had tried to return her call.

She hoped no one asked that question again, because she didn’t have a good answer. But rather than dwell on things she couldn’t control, she planned to finish her errands and then go home to work in the garden. The flower beds had always been her mother’s joy. Keeping them weeded and watered took time Melanie didn’t really have to spend, but to give up on the gardens felt like giving up on the idea that her mother would ever come home.

She gripped the steering wheel hard enough to make her joints ache. Here she was, a grown woman, one who had held down a well-paying job and lived a life independent of her parents. Now all she could think about was having her mother come back home and be the adult in the family. Shoving that idea back into the dark recesses of her mind, she concentrated on happier thoughts.

Like spending more time with Spence. Yeah, he was only coming over because she’d offered him a place to live and maybe out of gratitude for making sure he’d had a place to sleep last night. That didn’t change a thing. Regardless of his reasons, she was looking forward to the evening.

On the way back to the house, she stopped at the store and picked up milk, bread, some soft drinks, a few other things. After a moment’s hesitation, she went back and added a six-pack of the same beer that Spence had been drinking at the bar. After all he’d consumed last night, she couldn’t imagine him wanting more. If he didn’t want it tonight, maybe he would the next time.

Twenty minutes later, she turned down her street to see her father’s truck parked on the street in front of the house. She hit the brakes and waited for her pulse to slow down. In her head, she knew he’d sold that red pickup right before he died. But for a few seconds, her heart had forgotten. She’d spent so much time talking to his memory, it was as if her father was really back.

After dragging a deep breath into her lungs, she wiped her sweaty palms on her slacks and drove the rest of the way down the block. She had heard Leif Brevik had bought the used truck, so it meant he was waiting to see her.

She spotted him leaning on the railing at the far end of the porch. Normally, she liked the man, but today he looked pretty grim. No surprise after what had happened last night. Having Spence show up unannounced must have thrown him for a loop, not to mention Nick and Callie. Some wedding gift that was!

He’d spotted her and straightened up. There was no way to avoid him now, but this was not going to be any fun. She waved as she drove past the house to park in front of the detached garage in back. She figured Leif would follow her around to the patio. If not, she’d let him in the front door after she got the groceries inside. She grabbed the bags out of the trunk and started toward the house.

Leif was waiting for her by the bottom of the steps. “Here, let me take those for you.”

She handed off the bags and led the way up the stairs and into the house. “Just set it all on the counter. Help yourself to a beer if you’d like one.”

She made quick work of putting the perishables away and then fixed herself a glass of iced tea while Leif stood at the window, staring out into the yard. “Want to sit out on the front porch?”

He turned to face her, his dark eyes flat and his usual smile missing. “Sure. I stopped by because—”

She cut him off. “You’ve got questions about Spence and want to know if I have answers.”

“Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.”

The chairs on the patio out back were more comfortable, but she chose the front porch to give Spence some warning if he were to show up early. He might not be ready to face his friend again.

As she and Leif walked through the house, she was uncomfortably aware of the unhappy man walking right behind her, the sound of his footsteps uneven as he favored his left leg. From what she understood, he’d almost lost it at the same time Spence went missing. All three men carried scars from their time in the army.

Outside, she plopped down in the closest chair and motioned him toward the other one. Instead, Leif leaned against the railing right in front of her. He stared down at her for several seconds before twisting the cap off his beer. After taking a quick swig, he set it on the railing and crossed his arms over his chest.

“How long have you known Spence was alive?”

He packed a lot of suppressed pain and more than a hint of angry accusation into that one question. She understood how he felt, but none of this was her fault.

“I didn’t, not before last night. I was at the cemetery to take a picture of my father’s headstone for my mother. She wanted to make sure it had been done right. She’s still at her sister’s in Portland and was worried about it. I e-mailed it to her.”

Okay, she was babbling. Leif didn’t care about any of that. “I was about to leave for the wedding when I spotted a soldier standing over where Mr. and Mrs. Lang are buried. I thought he might be another member of your squad in town for the wedding who had stopped at the cemetery to pay his respects to Spence. I walked up behind him and offered to show him the way to the church.”

“Son of a bitch!” Leif winced. “Wheels saw his own headstone?”

Assuming Wheels was a nickname for Spence, she nodded. “Yeah, he did.”

And she’d nearly fainted once he turned around and she recognized him. Luckily, Spence had caught her in his arms and held her close until her head cleared, but that would be their little secret. “God, Leif, I can’t imagine what that was like for him. What I don’t get is why wouldn’t the army have told someone that Spence was alive? If they did, why wasn’t the headstone immediately removed?”

Leif’s face looked as if it had been carved out of stone. “The army would have bent over backward to make sure the next of kin was notified.”

Then he let loose with a string of curses. “I’m betting they did let Spence’s uncle know, and the old bastard couldn’t be bothered to tell anyone else. I know for a fact that he didn’t say anything to his son, because Austin has been staying at Spence’s house with us. A while back, Vince caused some real trouble for the kid, and Gage Logan, the chief of police, intervened. Gage told him to stay the hell away from the kid or else.”

That matched up with what Spence had said. Back in high school, Callie had hated the way Vince treated Spence after he became his guardian. Vince had no use for him then, and it sounded as though that hadn’t changed.

Even if it made sense, it only added to her confusion. Spence knew better than to trust Vince to do the right thing and let everyone know the good news. At the very least, she would have expected him to call Callie. The two of them had been close since they were kids. She knew for a fact that he often spent his leave time from the military visiting Callie wherever she was working at the time.

“You never made it to the reception last night. Callie was looking for you, but you didn’t answer your phone.”