AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Is Kara ready?”
Jim stood just inside the door in the kitchen and wondered what he’d done to make Vidalia Brand look as if she would like to skin him alive. Come to think of it, Maya had been acting oddly, too, when he’d dropped Tyler off a few minutes ago.
Vi opened her mouth to reply, but before she got a word out, Kara came into the room, and he took a moment to drink in the sight of her. She looked great, as she always did. Her hair was curly again tonight and it bounced when she moved. She wore a skirt that was long and loose and flowed like a floral-print breeze around her long legs, with a pale green sweater that only hinted at what hid beneath it. He thought she was wearing more makeup than usual. Especially around her eyes.
Her mother gaped at her, apparently too distracted by her to remember what she’d been about to say. “Don’t tell me you’re still going,” she blurted.
Kara squeezed her mother’s arm, met her eyes and passed some silent message to the woman. Vidalia pursed her lips, shook her head and spared Jim one last glare before she stomped to the door. “I’ve got to get back to the Corral,” she said. “We’ll talk in the morning, daughter.”
“Good night, Mom.”
Vi moved past him without a word and left the house.
Jim looked again at Kara, his eyebrows raised. “Is she angry with me for some reason?”
Kara lowered her head, not meeting his eyes. “Is it okay with you if we skip dinner tonight?”
He frowned at her. Something was wrong. “Whatever you want to do is okay with me, Kara. Did you have something else in mind?”
“Yeah. Something else.” She swallowed hard. “We need to talk, Jimmy.”
He bit his lip and moved closer to her. “Kara, what’s wrong? Clearly your mother is angry with me. And you... “ He frowned and touched her chin, lifting her face so he could verify what he thought he saw there. “You’ve been crying?”
She closed her eyes. “I thought I got rid of the evidence.”
“Tell me why.”
She met his eyes now. “Not here,” she said. “Too many people running in and out all the time.”
She was working up to something. Something big. Hell, he’d screwed up somewhere along the line and he’d better figure out how. And soon, so he could fix it.
“Come on, then.” He took her arm, led her out of the house.
“To where?”
“To dinner. Just as planned.”
“But I—”
“Trust me on this, Kara, okay?”
She sighed but nodded and let him help her into the pickup. He saw her noticing the picnic basket on the seat between them, the mini cooler in the back. But she remained silent—maybe brooding?—for the entire ten-minute drive.
When he pulled to a stop by the falls, she shot him a look.
“I’d planned a... special evening.” He got out of the truck and took the picnic basket with him. He noticed she didn’t get out right away, but he decided to give her a minute to gather her thoughts. He took the blanket and the ice chest from the back, spread the blanket on the ground. Then he took the bottle of wine from the picnic basket and stuck it into the ice he’d brought along. He hoped it wasn’t too chilly out here for her.
He heard the pickup door, looked up to see her coming toward him. She stood for a moment, staring out at the falls. So he walked up beside her, slid an arm around her shoulders and took in the view, as well.
“I never get enough of this spot,” she said. “There’s something about the sheer power of a waterfall. You can feel it thrumming right in the middle of your chest.”
“Can you?’
“Mmm. Close your eyes and try.”
He closed his eyes but only briefly. He was more interested in her than in the falls, beautiful though they were. She stood there, eyes closed, face turned toward the thundering cascade. Some of the mist gathered on her cheeks, dampening them as she seemed to inhale the scent and sound and feel of the place.
Then she opened them again and turned to look at him. “Mom had a visitor at the house today.” She drew a breath, seemed to square her shoulders before she went on. “A woman named Angela. Said she was your wife, Tyler’s mother.”
