It Had to Be Love (An It Had to Be Novel) (23 page)

Tara stared at the contents of her fridge. She had all the ingredients to make a homemade pizza, but the thought of eating it alone when she’d planned to make it for Ryan as a surprise made her slam the door shut again. She’d lost her appetite.

Slumping down on the couch, she crossed her arms.

Alaska.

That’s where Bailey said he’d found a spot for her—a small town that desperately needed a dentist to service not only it but also many small towns for miles around. They’d be thrilled to have her. She’d leave on Saturday.

Alassssska. Where it was cold. And it stayed depressingly dark for months at a time. Yay.

She glanced down at her puppy, who stared up at her with such adoration in his eyes it shattered what was left of her broken heart. “I’m going to miss you so much, Sherlock.”

When he whimpered, she let her tears fall and gave his ears a rub. How did he always know when she was sad?

She wished she could bring Sherlock. He’d probably like Alaska. It’d make it less lonely for her. But the rules Bailey had e-mailed to her earlier said no pets.

A loud knock on her door startled her. Was it Ryan?

She hopped up and ran to open the door, but then forced herself to slow down. If it was Ryan, she had to send him away.

Stay strong. It’s the right thing to do.

She squinted through the peephole.

Eric. And Ryan’s grandmother with a wrapped plate in her hand.

No gun in sight, but Tara had been forewarned by Ruth about the consequences of breaking Ryan’s heart. Were the cookies laced with arsenic?

Ready to take her medicine, Tara opened the door. She might rather be shot or poisoned than go live in Alaska anyway.

H
i, guys. Come on in.” Tara opened the door wider for Eric and Ruth to pass by. Maybe Eric being there would save Tara from the wrath of Ryan’s grandmother.

“Hope we aren’t interrupting your dinner, Tara.” Mrs. Anderson held out a plate of chocolate chip cookies.

“Sorry there’s one missing.” Eric grinned. “They’re my favorite.”

And therefore probably safe to eat if Mrs. Anderson had given one to Eric.

Accepting the paper plate, Tara said, “I think
these
will be my dinner. Thank you. And how are you, Eric? Besides feeling not at all guilty for eating my cookies?”

“Sorry. But we’ve been busted.”

“Busted? What do you mean?” Tara led the way to the living room and held out a hand toward the couch. “Have a seat.”

Ryan’s grandmother hobbled to the couch and then dropped into it. “I saw Eric and Ryan digging on my land the other night. Got me a new pair of those night vision goggles off of Amazon just to catch trespassers. Eric came clean with the details. Now I’m trying to decide if I want to squeal on you or if I’m going to join you all.”

Tara chuckled at the thought of Mrs. Anderson peering through night vision goggles. But then, nothing the woman did surprised her anymore. “So in other words, you’re blackmailing us so you can be in on the hunt?”

“Yep. You could say that.”

Tara glanced at Eric. “Do you have any objections if she joins us?”

He quickly shook his head, clearly terrified of the woman. She couldn’t blame him.

She sampled a cookie so good, she had to have another. “I think we’re one down anyway. Ryan isn’t likely to help us from here on out; rather he’ll just ignore us so we can find the box. And I don’t mind if you want to help, but all the proceeds from this hunt have to belong to Eric, or we can’t let you join us.” Tara placed her hands on her hips the way she’d seen Mrs. Anderson do to appear more formidable.

Ruth waved a hand. “It’s not the money I’m after. It’s only right an Anderson be a part of finding the box. And I want to finally taste this so-called world-famous whiskey. It wasn’t polite for womenfolk to drink it back when I was young. Now I say,
PFFFT
to that!”

“Me too. Let’s polish off these cookies while we put our heads together. Ruth, maybe you can fill in a few blank spots in Anderson Butte history for me and Eric. Be right back.” She retrieved their research from her study, then plunked the box on the dining room table. “The answer has to be here somewhere.”

And she only had a few more days left, so they needed to hurry.

After Ruth, Eric, and Tara had chosen three more potential sites to dig, Tara reached deeper into the box for more archived newspapers. They were full of interesting facts.

She munched on her cookie dinner as she scanned the pages.

When her hand landed on the last newspaper in the stack, she gently lifted the fragile, yellowed paper out. The front page showed a picture of a man holding a number under his chin. A mug shot. The picture was black and white, faded and dark, but the man who’d robbed the Anderson Butte Bank had haunting eyes.

She held out the page for Ruth to see. “Did you live here when this guy robbed the bank in town?”

The old woman glanced at the photo then huffed out a breath. “Yep. The one and only time we’ve had a bank robbery.”

Tara studied the picture more closely. “He’s seems too good-looking to be a bank robber. I wonder what color his eyes were.”

“As blue as the Mediterranean Sea. He was the most handsome man you’d ever lay eyes on. That’s my first husband.”

Eric’s eyes widened. “You married a bank robber?”

“Well, I didn’t know he was a bank robber when I married the man. We didn’t have the Internet and such to check people out like you kids do now.”

“Spill.” Tara leaned closer. “This is the most interesting thing I’ve heard since I moved here.”

Ruth took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. When she slipped them back on, she said, “It was one of the biggest scandals in town history. No one ever spoke of it in polite company. But now I guess it is kinda interesting and what do I care? My reputation is what it is.” She picked up the picture and stared at it. The slightest smile tilted her lips before she said, “Jake was the most charming man I’d ever met. When he rode into town that day, I knew my life would forever be changed.”

Eric slurped his milk then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Rode into town? Like on a horse? It was that long ago?”

Ruth laughed. “No. I meant in a car. A flashy red convertible to be exact. I’m not that old, Eric. This was in the fifties.”

“Oh.” Eric glanced at Tara and frowned. The fifties must still have been ancient history to Eric.

Ruth waved a hand. “Anyway. My father was the bank manager at the time. Worked directly for Ryan’s great-grandfather. He’d been disappointed that I wouldn’t accept the next Anderson in line’s marriage proposal. Believe it or not, Eric, I was a good-looking woman at one time. I had my share of beaus.”

Before Eric expressed out loud the shock that shone on his face, Tara quickly said, “I’m certain you were quite the catch. So, how long did you and Jake date before you were married?”

“Well, since back then we weren’t as loose with our,” she glanced Eric’s way and then back at Tara, “
milk
allowances, people tended to marry quicker. We dated for maybe four months before I accepted his proposal.”

That was about as long as she and Spencer had dated too. And shorter than her time with Ryan. Weirdly, she felt a little better that a smart and strong woman like Ruth had been fooled by the same type of deceitful man as she had. “So did he stay charming after you married him?”

“Nope.” Ruth pursed her lips and shook her head. “He turned out to be a real devil in disguise, that one. He only married me so he could get his hands on the keys to the bank. It wasn’t two months after we were married that he was in jail serving time for bank robbery. A few months after that he was shot and killed while trying to escape. I was all of nineteen at the time. People either laughed at me behind my back for my lack of judgment or pitied the poor young widow.”

“So, naturally you were afraid to be fooled by a man again, right?”

“Nope. Plug your ears, Eric.” After he complied, she said, “The things Jake could do in bed provided me with memories to live off of for the rest of my life. But I finally realized I’d been fooled by a no-good but extremely charming man. So I did the sensible thing and married a reliable man I’d known my whole life. I loved him, even though he could be a tad boring. But as steady as they came. He was the same in the sack too, but it was probably too much to ask for a man to be both reliable
and
exciting in bed.”

Ryan was both
.

Ruth tapped Eric’s arm. “You can unplug your ears now. The rest of the story is we eloped because his daddy, the mayor, wasn’t pleased his son was dating a tainted woman like me, but he got over it as soon as our first son was born.”

Tara shook her head in wonder. Ruth had gone through a lot, especially living in a small town where everyone knew her business. Probably explained her gruff nature. “That’s quite the story, Ruth. Glad it all turned out for the best.”

“Things usually do. Unless you do something dumb to mess it all up.” Ruth stared deeply into Tara’s eyes. “Just because one man doesn’t work out isn’t any reason to throw in the towel, Tara. There’s good ones out there and there’s bad ones. You throw out the bad and keep the good. It’s as simple as that. Plug your ears again, Eric.”

He rolled his eyes, then stood and headed for the back door. “Come on, Sherlock. Let’s go play ball outside until they’re done.”

Tara chuckled and waited for the back door to close. “Ryan told you about us, then, I take it?”

Ruth nodded. “I called him earlier about something else and he told me. Can’t quite figure out how the same woman who was so excited to make Ryan a meal one day could turn around and tell him to hit the road the next.”

“Circumstances changed. And it’s because I care about him that I want what’s best for him, Ruth. If Jake had asked you to go on the run with him after he’d robbed the bank, would you have gone?”

“I’ll tell you something I’ve never told anyone, Tara. He’d asked me to move away with him. Away from my family and friends and the only life I’d ever known. I was so infatuated with him I didn’t hesitate.” She shook her head and sighed. “Jake said he had an errand to run and to be ready to go. I had my bags packed, all ready to jump into his spiffy car, but he never came for me. He took off the opposite way so fast it broke my heart. He’d never planned to take me along. He’d just used me to get what he wanted and then he left me behind like yesterday’s trash on the side of the road. I found out later he’d had me pack because we’d been evicted for not paying the rent.”

“I’m sorry for that. But in the end, isn’t it better that he broke your heart and left you behind rather than endanger your life or your freedom?”

Ruth frowned. “Just what are we really talking about here with your circumstance, Tara? Surely nothing as bad as robbing banks?”

“As dangerous, but very different.” What would it hurt to say a little without specific details? She’d be gone for good in a few days anyway. “I have things going on I can’t share with you. But it wouldn’t be fair to saddle Ryan with my problems. Just like it wouldn’t have been right for Jake to take you with him.”

“We’ll never know, I guess, but maybe you should let Ryan decide if he wants to jump in the getaway car with you. Unless it’s really that
you’re
the one afraid to take a chance on another man and be brokenhearted again?”

She
was
scared she would fall for the wrong man again and get her heart broken. “It’s a little of both, I guess.”

“You already don’t look all that happy about the breakup to me, so maybe you should rethink that last part.” Ruth stood and leaned on her cane before she bellowed, “Eric, time to go!”

Eric and Sherlock quickly reappeared.

Ruth asked, “So, we still on for tomorrow night for the big dig? We’ll meet up at my house just before sunset. I might have a few more ideas by then. But I’ll leave you two to do the digging.”

Eric said, “I’m in!”

Ruth’s lips tilted into one of her rare smiles as she turned to Eric. “I have a good feeling about this. You ask anyone in town and they’ll tell you I’m always right—even when I’m not.” She winked at Tara and headed for the door. “Come on, Eric. Be a gentleman and walk an old lady to her doorstep.”

Tara beat them to the front door and held it open for them. Feeling like she was about to lose a best friend she said, “Ruth, thanks for everything. The stories you told tonight only confirm you’re the scariest and yet most amazing woman I’ve ever met.”

Ruth laughed. “I like the scariest part. I work on that, you know.” She suddenly stopped walking and glanced over her shoulder. “Wait a minute. That sounded an awful lot like a goodbye, Tara. You going somewhere?”

She hadn’t meant to tip her hand like that. Her emotions were getting the better of her.

Before she could reply, Eric said, “You never know when you might never see a person again. That’s why we made the deal. I’m taking Sherlock for Tara in case something happens to her, and she’s helping me look for the whiskey so I can pay my own way through college.”

Ruth’s eyes narrowed at Tara. “That’s some pretty detailed planning ahead, now isn’t it? Got your bags all packed waiting for the getaway car, Tara?”

“My parents don’t like pets, so I’d have no one to take Sherlock in, that’s all. And I was just thanking you for teaching me how to make dinner the other night. Ryan really loved it.”

Ruth slowly nodded. “Well, I hope you’re not planning to do something dumb, Tara. That always messes things up. So
will
I see you tomorrow?”

Dammit. Ruth saw right through her. Must be where Ryan got it from. “Yes. I can promise you’ll see me
tomorrow.
” But she couldn’t make any promises after that.

She hated to leave and have everyone think she didn’t care about them. She’d found her true home in Anderson Butte. It killed her to think of leaving it and everyone behind.

Especially Ryan.