His Hometown Girl

Even their temporary truce, called when they’d given in to their feelings, had ended badly. She’d disappeared from his life for ten years. And now she looked ready to quit again. It was what he wanted. So why, then, did he suddenly wish she’d stay?

He pressed his forehead to hers, but she jerked away. “Please believe me. I’m not out to get you. I meant it when I said this isn’t business, it’s personal. I’m fighting for my life. Mine and others’.”

Suddenly her face regained its composure. If anything, she looked stronger and more beautiful than ever. She took his breath away.

“So am I, Daniel,” she said after a long moment. “So am I.”

He started to ask her what she meant, whose life she fought for, but she held up a finger and the words dissolved on his tongue.

“You’re right. It isn’t just business. It’s personal. Like you said, this is war, and I’m in it for the long haul.”

And with that she grabbed her keys, unlocked her car and roared into the night, leaving him with thoughts and emotions as scrambled as the dust cloud she left behind.

Despite his turmoil, however, he grinned. The old Jodi was back. She drove him crazy, but he’d rather have a clean, honest fight with the firecracker he remembered than mince words with one of those polished suits he’d feared she’d become.

He stared down at the rose she’d left behind, then tossed it skyward. When it returned, he snatched it out of the air and tucked it into his pocket.

“Now, that’s my girl.”

CHAPTER FIVE

A DUCK CALL woke Jodi the next morning, her uneasy sleep clinging to her like the muggy air. She peered at the sunlight filtering in around the edges of the opaque window shade, then at her alarm clock.

It was 10:00 a.m.

She bolted upright, her quilted coverlet pooling in her lap. How could she have slept so late? Usually Tyler’s monitor sounded by six. But when she glanced at it, the light was off, the battery dead. She lunged to her feet and stumbled down the narrow hall lined with pictures of her father and Grace as kids and Grace’s wedding photo.

“Aunt Grace? Tyler?”

Her heart pounded as she peeked into Tyler’s room, then her aunt’s. Last night at the reunion, she’d broken down and admitted to Daniel that her fight wasn’t business. What he didn’t know was that her personal reason for returning to Cedar Bay was Tyler. Yet how noble was her fight to help her son if she couldn’t keep track of him?

She swerved into the kitchen and spotted a cartoon-patterned cereal bowl, a cup and a mug drying in the dish rack beside her aunt’s porcelain sink. Evidence that they’d eaten together. Jodi’s chest loosened and her breathing eased as she stood beside the potted geraniums lining her aunt’s open windows. Okay. So he was supervised. But where was he?

A distinct belly laugh followed another duck call outside. Tyler?

As she pushed out onto the back deck, a fifty-state spoon collection beside the kitchen door swung wildly.

“Tyler!” She lowered her cupped hands and squinted into the midmorning light. The slanted roof shaded much of the narrow back lawn, its shadow reaching to the uneven rock wall and the stone staircase that led to a wooden dock. Lake Champlain sparkled brighter than a sapphire and for a moment the reflective, rippling waves blinded her.

She clutched the rail and groped her way down the steps, blinking the spots out of her eyes.

“Jodi! We’re over here,” called Aunt Grace.

Relief filled her as she jogged to the dock where her aunt cradled her son on her lap, a familiar young woman with short dark hair and hazel eyes lounging nearby.

“Sue?” Amazement pulled her up short and the rough planks scraped against her bare feet, her sleep shirt flapping in the lake breeze. She hadn’t seen her since the day they’d bet on which egg would hatch first on her father’s farm.

Sue lifted a carved duck whistle and blew, making Tyler bring his hands close to his ears and laugh again.

Warmth radiated through her at the sight of her animated boy, his head swiveling every which way, his cheeks flushed and mouth parted in a smile as he chuckled. The moment rejuvenated her more than a cup of Mr. Williams’s espresso and eased the heaviness Daniel’s speech had put in her heart. Seeing Tyler like this convinced her that she was on the right path, no matter how many cuts and bruises she got along the way. Daniel may have won last night’s battle, but the war wasn’t over.

And her enemy’s sister was in her backyard. Coincidence?

“I heard you were in town and wanted to come over and say hi.” Sue’s wide smile made her look more pixie-like than Jodi recalled. Sue shoved her glasses higher on her delicate nose and peered up at Jodi. “How are you?”

Jodi swallowed. How much had she heard from her big brother?

“I’m fine. Tired, I suppose.” She laughed self-consciously and plucked at her sleepwear. “Good morning, Tyler, Aunt Grace.” She leaned down to kiss his cheek, and he turned and caught her on the lips instead.

Happiness filled her. Tyler loved her. He might not be able to say the words, but his actions spoke for him.

“Morning, sleepyhead.” Her aunt’s eyes crinkled. “That must have been some reunion.”

“Something like that.” Jodi avoided Sue’s assessing stare. “If you don’t mind waiting a minute, I’ll grab Tyler’s glasses, change and be right back.”

“Sounds good.” Sue blew the duck whistle again and the memory of Daniel whittling them chased Jodi to the house.

Inside, she leaned against the shut door, the glass knob digging into her spine. What was Sue’s real motive for being here? They’d grown up together, had been in the same 4-H groups and riding club. The two-year age difference meant they’d spent time hanging out, but had never been close friends. Was she the next weapon in Daniel’s arsenal?

Five minutes later, Jodi rejoined them on the pier, her tank top the same emerald as the Adirondack Mountains across the lake, her jean shorts practical in the rising heat. When she kneeled on the dock, she twisted her hair in a high ponytail, earning it a tug from Tyler when she pulled his eyeglasses band over his head.

“Hey!” She untangled his fingers, then lifted them to her lips before he could swat her. Prevention like that was pure autistic mother instinct. “Hands to ourselves, Ty.”

“Ah!” He kicked off his sneaker and it arced into the lake, where it bobbed on the surface. Jodi smothered a sigh and kept her face neutral as Tyler watched her. At least it wasn’t his glasses.

“Got it!” Sue slid onto her belly and snagged the shoe when it drifted close. She pointed the dripping sneaker at Tyler before handing it to Jodi. “Sneakers are for feet, not fish,” she said with a smile.

Tyler’s improbable, deep chuckle was infectious. His head pivoted on his shoulders, his eyes wide. When he reached for the band behind his head, Jodi tugged him into her arms. “Glasses don’t swim either, Ty.”

“Want to go in?” Sue lifted the hem of an open-stitch crochet half shirt to reveal a bathing suit underneath.