Return to Lone Oak (Harlequin Heartwarming) (15 page)

His offer was appealing,
really
appealing. Sitting around here for the whole evening might have her climbing the walls. But she couldn’t just walk out while her family dealt with a major problem. This was why she’d remained in Lone Oak. “I need to stay.”

As she spoke, the door opened behind her and she turned to see Lindsey and Allie. “We’re going to cook dinner,” Lindsey said. “I was going to ask if you two would join us, but it sounds like Noah just invited you out.”

“I’m staying,” Katie said.

“Go ahead and do it. The way I figure, you’re going to be on night duty since you’re sleeping here. I’ll make dinner and then get the kids into bed and you can take over later on. Someone will always be here if Savannah needs something.”

“I don’t need anything,” Savannah called from inside the house.

“Of course not,” Katie said dryly, as she exchanged a look with Lindsey. “You really don’t mind if I take a break?”

Lindsey shook her head. “Go. Enjoy it.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“
W
HERE
ARE
WE
GOING
?”
Katie asked a few minutes later. Noah was driving in the opposite direction from his new home.

“I need to pick up my parents’ lawn mower first. They’re letting me borrow it until I can buy one. It shouldn’t take long to retrieve it.”

They rode in silence the rest of the short trip. When Katie got out of the truck in the Fletchers’ driveway, Noah came around and took her hand in his, which was a little strange. If his parents saw this, it wouldn’t just be a short, friendly visit. It’d be
You’re dating our son, let’s talk.
Katie wasn’t prepared for that, even though she knew his father well from all those years of being one of his best patients. She wasn’t dressed for it, either, since she was still wearing her halter, shorts and flip-flops.

But she shouldn’t have worried. When they walked into the kitchen, she immediately felt at home. Noah introduced her and Dr. Ivan Fletcher jumped to his feet, smiling broadly.

“My goodness, you’re all grown up. And still into trouble, I see.” He motioned toward her wrist.

“But healing, thanks to the excellent medical care I’ve found in Lone Oak,” she said.

Dr. Fletcher came over and hugged her. “What are you doing with this guy? I thought you were a hotshot reporter, out gallivanting across the country.”

“They don’t think much of casts and stitches when we’re covering extreme sports,” Katie said. “I work for
Rush
magazine, so pretty much everything’s extreme.”

“I know where you work. You’ve written some dandy articles, my dear.”

“You’ve read them?”

“Of course, I have. We subscribe to the magazine at the clinic.”

“You kids have dinner plans?” Mrs. Fletcher asked.

“We kids don’t,” Noah said dryly. “I came to get the lawn mower and then we’ll grab something.”

“We’d love it if you’d join us,” Mrs. Fletcher said. “I was just about to start a stir-fry. I’ve got plenty of food.”

Noah glanced at Katie, his eyebrows raised in question.

“Sounds good to me,” she said.

“What can we do?” Noah asked.

“Go load the lawn mower. By the time you get finished and washed up, dinner will be just about ready.”

Half an hour later, Noah sat with Katie and his parents at the table, all of them chatting as if Katie had been joining the other three for dinner for a decade. It was all fine with Noah, except for the fact that his mother was taking pleasure in regaling Katie with stories from his childhood, as she probably would with a serious girlfriend or fiancée. He had made a point of explaining that Katie was only in town for a couple more weeks, but his mother was very persistent.

And she wasn’t being nearly as exasperating as his father was. They’d finished dinner and now his dad had dragged him out to the garage to show him which trimmer he could borrow. The man had four of the things, but then he’d always been overzealous about power tools—an interest Noah had never shared. He’d be grateful to have this one machine to make yard work faster and easier, though. He certainly didn’t have a lot of spare time—or desire—to do lawn maintenance.

“What is Katie Salinger doing with you?” the senior Dr. Fletcher asked with an annoying gleam in his eye.

“Doing? Having dinner, Dad. That’s all.”

“She’s special, son. I hope you treat her that way.”

“We’re not together. Not the way you think.”

“I may be close to retirement age, but I’m not dumb. I can see the interest. In both of you.”

“I like her. She’s fun to spend time with.”

“You’ll have to be careful with her. You can’t control her, the way you like to control everything. She was always an independent one.”

Noah stopped short as he was loading the trimmer. He set the thing down and turned to his father. “What are you carrying on about?”

“You’ve got control problems. I just don’t see an independent spirit like Katie Salinger taking that from a man.”

Noah chuckled, shaking his head. “Katie’s leaving town in two weeks. She and I are
not
involved the way you seem to think we are.” Not that his dad needed to know about, anyway.

Mr. Fletcher leaned against the side of the garage, crossed his legs at the ankle and chuckled. “Just be careful with her. I like her.”

Noah shot him one more aggravated look, then finished loading the trimmer and headed to the house.

He found the two women cleaning the kitchen together.

“Noah, you have to show me the rope swing by the river,” Katie said. “Your mom’s been telling me all about it and it sounds like a blast.”

“Not for people with casts, it isn’t.”

“I just want to see it. Maybe when you take this thing off we can come back and try it out.”

“You two take a walk, relax. Your dad and I have plans to watch a movie upstairs and retire early. Enjoy the evening.”

“Let’s go, then.”

Katie grabbed her purse and slung the long strap over her head and one shoulder, then smiled and preceded Noah out the door.

“Did you get all your manly toys sorted out?” Katie asked, as they made their way through the huge backyard toward the grove of trees that hid the swing and the old boathouse on the bank of the river.

“The mower and trimmer are ready to go, although I’ve never considered power tools ‘toys.’ That’s my dad’s domain.” He grimaced. “He just gave me some prime unsolicited advice.”

“Oh, no. Dare I ask what?”

“He told me to be careful with you. Not to try to control you.”

“Excellent advice.” She wrinkled her forehead. “Does he think we’re...together?”

“I assured him we’re not, at least not the way he’s thinking. You know, long-term.”

She sidled closer and he twined their hands together, trying to ignore the way his heart rate sped at her touch.

They walked the rest of the way to the riverbank without talking, Noah utterly absorbed in the moment. And maybe she was, too. He could only hope.

When they got to the bank, he dropped her hand—reluctantly—and headed to the fat trunk of the oak tree where the swing had been tied up for years. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d come out here to soar over the water.

The rope was brittle and a challenge to untie, but he finally released the swing from its hold and showed it to Katie. It had a simple plastic circular base with a hole in the middle of it and the rope knotted on the bottom.

“I love it! I want to give it a try.”

“Too bad you hang out with your doctor.”

A pouty look crossed her face. “Demonstrate. Please?”

How could he resist a plea from her? Besides, he was feeling just good enough to think a swing over the water sounded like the thing to do. Before she could ask him again, he took hold of the rope with both hands and hopped on, flying out far over the lazy river.

Katie whooped and hollered, moving onto the short dock to watch. He loved it when she was this happy. A childlike joy came over her face and he’d almost have thought she was the one floating back and forth through the air.

“One more week till this cast comes off. Then it’s my turn,” she said a few minutes later, after he’d expertly jumped from the swing onto solid ground beneath the tree.

Noah laughed. “You’ve jumped out of airplanes and off of mountains, and you still think a little river swing sounds exciting?”

“Sounds like the most exciting thing in Lone Oak, actually.” She made her way off the dock and back onto the patchy grass where he stood. “So do you normally jump into the water instead of swinging back to the bank?”

“No. I’m not sure I’ve ever tried that.”

“What? You’re kidding me. Clearly you’ve led a sheltered life.” She moved closer and ran her good hand up his chest, then curled both arms around his neck.

The swing dropped from Noah’s hand and he didn’t even glance at it as it swept back out over the water. There’d be no way to retrieve it without getting wet, but right now he didn’t care. He barely registered it at all as he leaned nearer to Katie’s lips, mesmerized by her spell, her scent, the mischievous gleam in her eyes.

“You let go of the swing,” she said in a breathy whisper.

“What swing?” He touched her waist and slid his hands around her back as his lips met hers.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

W
HEN
K
ATIE
SIGHED
and leaned into him
,
Noah let a groan escape. Something about kissing her felt like he’d been doing it forever, yet at the same time, it was completely new and exciting.

Maybe he just needed to get out more. Go on dates.

The thought was fleeting and immediately dismissed, because the only thing he really wanted was to hold Katie in his arms for the next, oh, three weeks or so.

This woman had him under a spell and all he could think about was being close to her. He’d never felt anything this overpowering from just a kiss.

It had never been like this before. The intensity, the sweetness, the laughter. He and Leah hadn’t had...this, exactly. He shouldn’t compare, but Katie had managed to dim the painful memories so much after only a couple of weeks.

Katie pressed her cheek to Noah’s chest, eyes closed, taking in the scent of him. An odd thought flitted through her hazy mind. Stability. Safety. Noah was both.

She knew she should run.

But somehow she couldn’t drag herself away from the contentment and security that enveloped her, right now.

She moved to wrap her arms more securely around his neck and knocked him in the chin with her cast.

“No fair using that thing as a weapon,” he said.

“Sorry.” She kissed his chin to make it better, then held up her arm. “Think it will be good as new when you take this thing off?”

“Your arm should be fine. We’ll check you out thoroughly before giving you the go-ahead.”

“But what are the chances of it not being strong enough?”

“Odds are low that you’ll have any problems.”

“I talked to my boss today. Found out one of my first assignments when I get cleared. A rock climb in Colorado, the weekend of the twenty-fifth.”

Noah would not allow himself to think about Katie rock climbing. “There’s a seminar on pediatric food allergies in Denver—I’m almost sure it’s the same week.”

“You going?”

“I don’t think so. Too much to do here.”

“Too bad. You could watch me climb.”

That was enough to set off the pressure in his head, the tension in his neck that had become so familiar to Noah. Watching Katie perform her daredevil antics was something he’d never be able to do. He’d grown to care far too much for her. He’d likely end up having an all-out anxiety attack just seeing her prep for the event.

“I don’t think so.”

“What are you so afraid of? Safety is my top priority when I’m on the job. I may get paid beans, but the magazine spares no expense when it comes to taking precautions.”

Noah pulled away slightly, looking down into Katie’s face. “We’re having fun until you leave. Nothing else. Right?”

She studied him, then nodded. “Right. No talk about the future.”

“No talk about you risking your life.”

“I’m going to be fine.”

“That’s the deal. I’m doing my best not to think too much—just to live in the moment.”

“Okay,” she said, seeming to relent. “No talk about the other half of my life. We’ll just pretend that Katie’s a dull girl.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“I know what you mean. It’s cool. Present only. No mention of the future.” She nodded again, nearly convincing him she meant it when she said it was “cool.” But there was a hint of irritation in her tone and he didn’t know what to do about it.

“We need to get you back to your sister’s.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “Back to reality.”

They made their way to his Tahoe, holding hands, kidding and tackling only light, safe topics. When he dropped her off at Savannah’s, she leaned across the seat and kissed him sweetly. Then she was gone.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

W
HEN
K
ATIE
WALKED
into Savannah’s kitchen, both her sisters stared at her wordlessly.

“What?” she asked.

“Have a nice dinner?” Lindsey asked.

“Yeah. Great dessert, too.”

Lindsey chuckled. “We were about to call out a search party for you.”

“I’m here now. You can go.”

“I don’t need a babysitter, guys. I’m fine,” Savannah said. “Well, all but my wrist.”

“How’s it feeling?” Katie pulled out the chair next to Savannah and glanced at the protective wrap around it.

“The pills are making me loopy, but they’re not actually killing the pain. I want a refund.”

“They’ll help you sleep, though.”

“I have to go,” Lindsey said. “Owen and Billy wait up for me even when they’re not supposed to. It’s a little late for seven-year-olds to be awake.” Lindsey grabbed her purse from the counter. She put her arms around Savannah.

“Linds, I’m okay.” Savannah scowled. “The bright side is, I get my own bed back tonight.” Her scowl faltered and Katie wondered for a moment if her hard-as-nails sister was going to start crying again.

“Night,” Katie said, hoping to hurry Lindsey out of there. Sometimes their doting older sister actually made things worse by being so...doting.

“I’ll call in the morning.” Lindsey looked back from the doorway.

“Not too early,” Katie and Savannah said at the same time, then smiled at each other.

“How are the kids?” Katie went to the fridge to find a drink.

“Shell-shocked.” A word that did a pretty good job of describing Savannah as well, from the look of her. “Bedtime was pretty awful.”

Katie frowned, her heart tying itself in a knot. She remembered how, after their mom had died, she’d always felt most alone at night, as she was drifting off to sleep. “Sorry I wasn’t here for that.”

“Yeah, um—” Savannah leaned forward, elbows on the table “—where were you, exactly?”

Katie pictured Noah swinging out over the river and smiled. “If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”

Savannah studied her with interest and a halfhearted smile. “Well, at least one of us had a good day.”

“Hard to call it good, after what happened here.”

“Are you guys getting serious?”

“No,” Katie answered without hesitation. “Definitely not. I go back to St. Louis in two more weeks.”

“That’s a lot of protesting.”

“I don’t do serious, remember? Frankly—” Katie leaned back and stretched her legs out on one of the empty chairs “—what you’re going through now is exactly why.”

Savannah shut her eyes briefly, then ran her thumb and forefinger from the outer corners of her lids to the bridge of her nose. After the past couple of days, the past couple of weeks even, Katie was starting to recognize something she hadn’t understood before. Ever. Savannah had feelings that ran deep, just like everyone else, even though she spent the majority of her life hiding them. Acting invincible. And for the first time, Katie understood she
wasn’t
invincible. It was all just that—an act.

“I shouldn’t have said that,” Katie said. “I’m sorry.”

Maybe it was because Katie was the youngest sister. She’d grown up buying into the facade Savannah presented, that she was never hurt or sad or lonely. When their mom died, Lindsey had turned into a mother hen. Katie had been determined to be self-sufficient. But Savannah... She’d acted as if it didn’t bother her. She’d turned into the rebellious one, the only one who dared to fight with their dad even when he was consumed with grief.

Katie realized now, she’d taken Savannah’s anger as invincibility. All these years.

“I need to go to bed,” Savannah said, pulling herself to her feet.

Katie stood, too, wrapping Savannah in a tight hug. “You’re going to get through this just fine. You’re a strong person, Van.”

When she loosened her hold on her sister and looked into her eyes, she saw doubt, fear.

“I don’t feel strong at all.” She swiped at a tear. “I hate this. I feel so... I’m just really tired of crying.”

Katie nodded. “If you can’t sleep and want to talk...or
not
talk, come downstairs and get me.”

Savannah nodded and they headed off in their separate directions.

“Katie.”

Katie paused on the landing at the top of the stairs and looked across the kitchen at Savannah.

“I’m glad you’re here. I don’t need a babysitter, but thanks for staying.”

Katie smiled sadly and headed downstairs, able to agree with her sister on one thing. She was glad she was here, too. Glad she could help today, even if all she’d been able to do was drive Savannah to the doctor and hold her hand when she needed it.

She was so used to putting distance between herself, her family and her former life here in Lone Oak that the realization threw her for a loop.

* * *

N
OAH
WALKED
OVER
to where Katie sprawled on the couch looking prettier than ever in a little tank top and shorts, her cheeks flushed and her lips swollen from his kisses.

The image would remain with him long after she left town.

The thought of her leaving roused a worry he’d been shutting down for the past few days, unable to think about anything post-Katie just yet. He’d taken living in the moment to a new high—out of necessity.

He was falling for her. Why couldn’t he just have fun, keep anything too deep out of the picture? He was frustrated with himself, as well as with the impossibility of a future with this woman.

“Hey,” she said, looking up at him. She had a magazine opened in front of her,
National Geographic,
if he wasn’t mistaken. “These guys amaze me.”

“What guys?” He sat on the edge of the couch, close to her.

“These people who climbed Everest. Did you read this?” She tapped the magazine pages. “They had just about everything that could go wrong, go wrong, but they still made it. To the top. Totally inspiring.”

“Sounds like a big game of chicken.”

“And they won! Can you imagine what it must feel like to finally make it to the top, especially after all the trials?” She sat up, animated.

“I can’t imagine why anyone would want to try.”

“Someday I’m going to. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, ever since ninth grade, when I had to write a report about Edmund Hillary.”

He narrowed his eyes, wondering if she was just goading him. “Why would you want to do that, Katie? Do you know how many people die trying?”

“One in eight. The point here is to not to be that one.”

The flippancy in her tone set his nerves on edge, made him want to shake some sense into her.

“The body isn’t meant to undergo something like that. Anyone who tries it deserves whatever he gets.”

“The spirit of adventure lives in Noah Fletcher,” she said dramatically.

“What do you think their families went through while they were climbing a mountain that was never meant to be climbed?”

“I’m sure they were worried, just like they would be if they took a plane somewhere or caught the flu.”

“Talk about a dumb, pointless endeavor that proves nothing but luck. You’re smarter than that, Katie. Tell me you’re not serious about this.”

Katie glared at him. “Oh, I’m serious about it. Like I said, it’s one of my dreams. And I can promise you no one will stand in the way of my doing it.” She got up and started gathering her things.

As irritated as Noah was, he didn’t want her to leave. Their time together was limited enough. “Don’t tell me you’re going home over this little dispute.”

“Little dispute? Do you have a dream, Noah? Anything you aspire to accomplish one day? Why don’t you tell me about it so I can stomp all over it?”

She stormed away, vanishing through the front door. Noah instantly regretted letting his fear get the better of him. Why bother fighting with her about something she might or might not do in the future? It wouldn’t be his business or his problem because he’d be long out of her life by then.

But he’d let a knee-jerk reaction take over and push her away. Dumb move.

* * *

K
ATIE
MARCHED
UP
Savannah’s driveway toward the back of the house. She stopped, her hand on the doorknob, reconsidering. She was in no mood to act as if nothing was wrong, so she quietly let go of the screen door and took a seat at the patio table.

So much for a relaxing evening with Noah. She shuddered. What was with the relaxing evening stuff, anyway? That so wasn’t her. She and Noah had slipped into some kind of domestic make-believe world and Katie hadn’t even thought about it until now.

She’d spent the past few evenings at his house, although she always came back to Savannah’s place for the night. She’d let herself get far too comfortable at Noah’s place, something she never did. In fact, she usually made sure that the time spent with a man was on her terms, in her domain. But right now, she didn’t really have a domain other than her apartment in St. Louis. And Noah’s, well... It felt like hers. His territory was her former territory and somehow she’d let herself believe that getting comfortable there wasn’t a problem.

Good thing he’d prompted a reality check.

Katie heard the back door opening behind her and didn’t need to look to know who it was.

“I thought I heard someone out here,” Savannah said as she sat down next to Katie.

“I’m back. Sorry for being gone so much. Lapse in judgment.”

“What’s going on? What are you doing out here?”

“Beating myself up.”

“Oh, can I join?”

“Depends. Do you want to beat me up or yourself?”

Savannah shrugged. “I’ve beat myself up plenty lately. Might be interesting to branch out a bit. So what are we beating you up for?”

Katie snorted indelicately. “Being dumb.”

“Can you be a little more specific?”

“Noah and I had an argument.”

“Not good.”

“I told him that I want to climb Mt. Everest someday. He called it a stupid endeavor.”

Savannah just watched Katie.

“You don’t tell someone their dream is stupid.”

“Interesting,” Savannah said, settling back into her patio chair.

“What’s interesting?”

“Why do you care what Noah thinks?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“You care about him more than you want to. You’re not just mad he put down something important to you. You’re mad you care so much.”

“What he and I have is a temporary thing, just something to pass the time. We’re supposed to be having
fun
.”

Except obviously they weren’t. Not tonight. That realization stung, because what if Savannah was right? Katie hadn’t set out to care deeply. That wasn’t the way she operated.

“If I told you that climbing a mountain was a dumb idea, you’d laugh and walk away,” Savannah said.

Katie shook her head, denying it. “I’d be mad at you, too.”

“I don’t think so. Sure, you’d tell me off, but you wouldn’t stomp away, hurt. That’s the difference.”

“I’m not serious about Noah. If I have to not be upset at him to prove that, then fine, I’m no longer upset.”

“Right. Just like that.”

“Just like that.”

“Because you don’t do ‘getting close.’”

“Right.”

Her sister sat there quietly, making her fidget. “Why don’t you?” Savannah finally asked.

“You know why I don’t.”

“If I did, I wouldn’t ask.”

Katie sighed and looked up at the darkening sky, debating whether she really wanted to get into this now. “It’s best to just have a fun time without getting emotions involved. Someone always gets hurt when feelings come into play.”

“You sound like a man.”

“You’re the perfect example of what I’m talking about,” Katie said. “You cared. Now look what you’re going through.”

Savannah’s eyes widened. “I’m going through a divorce because I made a mess out of my marriage, Katie. It has nothing to do with caring.”

“Come on, Van, don’t try to tell me you don’t regret the whole relationship. You’re in so much pain right now. I hate to see it. Hate that you’re hurting so much.”

“As much as I’ve messed up, I do not regret for a minute getting involved with Michael all those years ago. You’re completely wrong about that.”

“Seriously? Savannah, you’re miserable. You wouldn’t have that problem if you hadn’t fallen in love.”

Savannah leaned forward, her eyes burning with feeling. “And I wouldn’t have my family. I wouldn’t be the same person. This is the craziest thing I’ve heard from you in a long time.”

“Why does not wanting to get hurt make me crazy?”

“No one wants to get hurt, Katie. No one.”

“Right. So it makes sense to play it smarter, does it not?”

“Have you never been in love?”

“I’ve never been in love.” Katie rolled the chain of her heart necklace between her fingers and stared back at Savannah, challenging her to prove otherwise.

“No one? You get so much male attention. You really never have been?”

“I don’t want to be. Therefore I haven’t. Simple as that.”

“Methinks the mighty may be falling, Katie.”

“Not me.” She stood and went inside, dismissing any notion of falling.