Hometown Holiday Reunion (21 page)

Bree had a feeling that might be true, but her curiosity had been piqued. “So, what's his story?”

“Darren?” Stella shook her head and whispered, “I'll tell you later. Come for dinner?”

Imaginings of a sordid, operatic tale tickled her curiosity. Bree wanted to know more. She leaned close. “I'd love to.”

Stella wrapped her arm around Bree and squeezed. “You know my door's always open. Tonight we can cook up what we find.”

Bree giggled. Something she did little of but always with Stella. “Sounds like a good plan.”

“My plans are always good ones.” Stella winked and headed out the door.

Bree dashed back into the kitchen for a couple of plastic storage bags to gather up those morel mushrooms. The last one finally to leave the building, she squinted at the sudden brightness outside. Three in the afternoon on the last Tuesday in April and the weather was perfect. The sun finally shone between puffy white clouds after a couple of days of gray rain.

Bree noted that everyone had already loaded up and waited for her to get in the van. Her stomach clenched. Did DNR Darren mind that she'd held them up? He didn't look too pleased.

The only seat left was the front passenger seat, next to him. She climbed in and glanced his way, but he was busy counting heads.

When he finished, she asked, “So, where are we going?”

“State land not far out of town.” He didn't sound annoyed and concentrated on backing out.

Breathing easier, she asked more questions. “Do these black mushrooms grow out in the open?”

“In the woods.”

“Oh.” She glanced at her brand-new light gray flats and frowned.

Obviously she hadn't dressed right, but then, she wasn't an outdoorsy kind of gal. Her idea of a hike was walking the shoreline here or her parents' neighborhood in Royal Oak. It wasn't that she didn't like it outside, but living in Detroit didn't exactly invite running wild outdoors. She'd spent a lot of time inside practicing, where her imagination ran wild within the confines of a music room.

She noticed Darren's hands as he gripped the steering wheel. They were strong hands with scrapes and calluses. Nothing like the spotless manicured hands belonging to Philip. Darren was very different from the professionally polished man she'd dated far too long.

Another bomb she'd soon drop on her parents. She'd not only quit her position with the symphony to accept a music residency out west but also discarded her parents' chosen husband for her. The seemingly perfect man, but Bree knew better. He wasn't perfect for her.

The chatter and laughter behind them grew louder as they turned off a main road onto a dirt one. Bouncing along, Bree grabbed the handle on the door and glanced at Darren. His face looked carved out of stone. Obviously
he
wasn't having fun.

“Do you do this often?”

“What?”

“Give these kind of classes.”

“This is my first.” He drove slower and concentrated on the pathway ahead. He took another turn onto what couldn't really be called a road but had tracks proving vehicles had traveled it before.

Real chatty guy.

Bree bit her bottom lip and stared out the window. It was pretty here in the woods. The tender green leaves were just beginning to unfurl, way behind the spring growth downstate. She spotted a small tree with buds bursting into a white flower here and there. “What's that tree blooming over there?”

Darren looked where she pointed. “Juneberry tree.”

“Oh.”

“The fruit is edible.”

“So, where'd you learn all this?”

Darren shrugged as he took another turn. “My grandmother taught me what to look for when I was a kid.”

Bree melted when she thought of this big, gruff man as a small boy following his grandmother around, learning about wild food and where to find it. “Neat.”

He grunted agreement, slowed the van to a stop and turned in his seat toward the passengers in the back. “After you get out, please stay near the van for instructions.”

Amid grumbles from one of the elderly men, Bree peered through the windshield. They'd stopped in a small clearing surrounded by trees. The vehicle path went deeper into the woods, but evidently they were here, wherever here was. And it was bound to get interesting scouring the area with this group of rowdy seventy-year-olds.

Bree turned when she felt a pat on her shoulder. Looking into Stella's eyes, she chuckled when the elderly woman wiggled her eyebrows. As if she and Darren had hit it off. More like she'd made him angry, considering the way he barked orders.

She glanced at him, shocked to find him watching her. “What?”

“You getting out?”

Of course she was getting out. What did he think, after they'd come all this way she'd stay in the van? “Yes. Why?”

“No reason.” He shrugged and exited the vehicle.

Bree watched him walk around the front. He tapped lightly on the hood as if dreading this. She knew irritation when she saw it. What was his problem, anyway?

Bree pocketed her phone and grabbed her bag. Maybe she should try to find out.

Copyright © 2016 by Jenna Mindel

ISBN-13: 9781488007538

Hometown Holiday Reunion

Copyright © 2016 by Andrea Chermak

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