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Chapter Two
“Maybe she’s on the lam from a shady business deal gone bad.” Cate dunked her hands back into the soapy sink to grab another dish.
“Really.” Derek took a plate from the dish rack to dry. Maybe he shouldn’t have told his sister about running into Kylie.
“Or she had an affair with her boss and needs to hide to raise their love child in peace.”
“You watch too much TV.”
“Why else would she be in town when it’s not Christmas?”
“She’s probably just visiting her parents or something.” Derek put the plate away.
“Well did she say anything to you?”
“Mostly she apologized for speeding then yelled at me when I gave her the ticket.”
“She’s lucky you didn’t throw her in jail.” She flicked dish water at him.
“Speeding isn’t exactly an indictable offense.”
“I’ve seen you throw folks in the cell for less. Someone endangering the citizens of Camden by driving like that?” She side-eyed him. “Are you going soft?”
“What? No.” He took another plate to dry.
“Wait, are you still sweet on her? It’s been like ten years.”
“Did you just say, ‘sweet on’? Am I eighteen again? No. She seems to be even more of a snob now than she was back in school.”
She huffed and fished around in the soapy sink for the cutlery.
“Besides she’s so…different. I didn’t even recognize her at first.”
“But she looked good, right?” She grinned and bumped her hip against his.
“She looked, well, like too much.”
“Uh huh.”
Derek loved living with Cate and Charlie. He loved being able to provide a home and stability for them. When he’d moved back to Camden for the O.P.P. position, he bought the house and invited her to move in with him. She had backup in raising Charlie, and since she loved cooking, he didn’t have to live off microwave dinners. It was a good arrangement all around.
“You should have given her a tougher fine then.”
“I gave her the toughest fine I could.” He picked up a glass to dry.
“I wonder how long she’ll be in town for,” she mused as she drained the grey water from the sink.
While Derek might have been curious to know what Kylie had been up to all these years, he certainly wasn’t about to tell his baby sister that. “Don’t worry, I’m sure she’ll be gone again in no time.”
~ * ~
Kylie drove down the hill leading into the valley which contained Camden and Camden Lake. The lake was sheltered enough to be calm most days, but large enough to provide for a lot of fishing, water skiing, and canoeing in the summer. The town wrapped around the narrow end of the lake and cottages and summer homes dotted the rest of the shoreline.
Passing the old limestone high school building, she entered the village proper. The town was quiet for such a beautiful day. On the football field nestled beside the lake, a couple played fetch with their golden retriever. Past the football field, was the newly renovated town library. In keeping with the local charm, when they’d built it, they added a deck on to the back of it overlooking the lake and furnished it with Muskoka chairs.
Turning right at the large grey limestone building that housed town hall and township offices, she came to her childhood home. Next door to the town hall, her parent’s two-story house had a steeply pitched roof and mauve siding. The trim and front door were painted dove grey, and two flower beds in the front were already boasting an impressive collection of white and yellow tulips. As Kylie pulled her rumbling car into the driveway, she breathed a sigh of relief.
It had been a hard week since she was fired, and subsequently lost her apartment. She’d packed up everything she could fit into her hatchback and sold off the rest of her stuff to pay for gas and food. The drive from Toronto to Camden had been long and dull, and the run in with Derek Carson had been the cherry on top of that particular sundae. She shuddered, remembering her mortification at getting caught speeding, by him of all people.
