Riverbend Road

“I told him that didn’t sound like a good idea to me,” McKenzie said. “I can word my opposition more strongly, if you want.”

“Heavens no! I don’t need my friends fighting my battle for me.”

“Your friend happens to be his boss, in a roundabout way.”

“All the more reason to keep your mouth shut. Please, Kenz.”

“It doesn’t seem right to me. You saved the lives of two boys and shouldn’t be punished for that.”

“I’m looking at it as a nice vacation,” she lied. “I’ll finally have the chance to catch up with things around here. Plus, it will give me more time to help Devin with the final plans for your bridal shower.”

“You two are taking this bridal shower way too seriously. It’s beginning to scare me.”

“Don’t worry. This is just practice. You and I can do the same for Dev and her sexy rancher when they tie the knot.”

“Good point,” McKenzie said and Wynona could hear the smile in her voice. In the background she heard someone else talking to her friend and a moment later, McKenzie came back on the line. “I’ve got to go. Somebody is here to make a special floral order.”

“No problem. I have to go too. Young Pete needs to go out again.”

“I’m just going to say this again. It’s time you dropped the descriptor. Young Pete has prostate issues, like other dudes of a certain age,” McKenzie muttered.

She smiled and hung up after exchanging goodbyes, deeply grateful for her friends. Yes, she had been a bridesmaid five times in the last two years—it would be six after Devin’s wedding in a few more months. She was getting a little tired of it, but she would be lost without her friends, who had lifted her through more than they even knew.

“You might not be young anymore,” she told Pete, “but you’re still worth a dozen puppies.”

He wagged his tail, still standing by the door, patiently waiting for her to open it.

“You know what we both need?” she decided on impulse. “A little walk to clear our heads. Somewhere out of cell range, preferably.”

Pete seemed to be in full agreement, especially when she slipped on her walking shoes and grabbed the little pack she always kept stocked with a flashlight, water bottle and granola bar.

She decided to head for their favorite walk, along the Mount Solace trail that would take them across the Hell’s Fury River and up into the mountains above town. The bridge that led to the trailhead was just on the other side of Cade’s house so she didn’t bother with Pete’s leash, though she brought it along and stuffed it in the pack.

The dog stayed by her side as they walked down the street with the sound of the river accompanying them. When they reached the little Craftsman, she saw a slight woman with auburn hair unpacking groceries from the minivan, aided by a little boy of about four and a girl a few years older.

Pete, ever friendly, wandered over to say hello with his tail wagging a hundred beats a minute. The boy let out a shriek and hid between his mother and the minivan.

Shoot. She should have used the leash. She forgot there were new people in the neighborhood who didn’t adore him yet like everybody else did.

“Pete, get back here,” she called. After a reluctant moment, the dog wandered back to meet her as she approached the little family and she gripped his collar tightly.

“Sorry about that,” she said. “He loves to meet new people and can be a little too friendly sometimes. Hi. I’m Wynona Bailey. I live just down the street in the stone house with the green shutters. Welcome to Haven Point.”

The woman didn’t answer her smile. Her features were closed, unapproachable, her green eyes arctic.

“Isn’t there some sort of leash law in Haven Point?” she asked in a stiff voice.

So. Not the friendliest of new neighbors. Too bad. The kids were adorable, with auburn hair like their mother’s. The boy’s was curly and the girl wore hers in two long, thick braids.

“Technically, yes,” she answered. “I’ve got a leash here. But since we were just walking from our house to the trailhead just up ahead, I decided not to use it.”

“My son is afraid of dogs. Especially big, ill-behaved, dangerous dogs.”

She had to blink at that. No one in his right mind could possibly call a big, furry sweet-tempered guy like Young Pete dangerous or ill-behaved. He only wanted to say hello, for heaven’s sake.

“Sorry again. I’ll try to keep him out of your way. Come on, Petey.” She grabbed the leash out of the pocket of the backpack and clipped it on him. The little boy had emerged from behind his mother and gave her a tentative smile and she couldn’t help smiling back.

“It was great to meet you all,” she said, even though she hadn’t really met them. Meeting someone implied an exchange of names, which the woman had quite pointedly not shared.

She waved at the children. The boy waved back and it looked like his sister wanted to, but at the last minute she stuck her hand in her pocket. Their mother had turned away to unpack groceries.

Wyn gave a mental shrug and headed past Cade’s log home to the beginning of the trailhead up into the mountains. As soon as she and Pete crossed the bridge, she unclipped his leash with a defiant look back at the family, but they had disappeared into the house.

CHAPTER FOUR (#ulink_d4a5a27a-29c2-52b5-9345-6cc767e166b9)

IT DIDN’T TAKE long for the sheer beauty of her surroundings to siphon away the unpleasantness of the encounter with her new neighbors.

She had grown up hiking the foothills all around Haven Point but this was indisputably her favorite walk. The trail to Mount Solace was an easy but steady climb through stands of fragrant pines and firs and a thick forest of aspens with leaves that fluttered and danced on the slightest breeze. Amid the trees were several wide meadows bursting with wildflowers this time of year—columbine and kittentails, Indian paintbrush and delicate Queen Anne’s lace.

She loved the solitude and the serenity she always found in the mountains and as she walked, she felt the tension in her shoulders begin to ease. Pete enjoyed it, too, sniffing from tree trunk to flower patch to granite boulder.

An hour later, she felt much more centered and calm. Yes, she had a close call today. Yes, it probably had been a mistake to run into that barn and especially to turn off her comm while she did it, but she would never regret rescuing Lucas and Caleb, no matter what Cade said.

The sun was beginning to slide behind the mountains and her stomach reminded her she still needed to think about dinner.

“What do you think? Should we go home, Petey?”

The dog’s ears perked up and he inclined his head down the trail, just in case she had forgotten the way back.

She had to smile. “Thanks. Lead on.”

The dog obediently took point and they made their way back down. She loved the uphill trail for the burn it gave her quads and thighs and the sense of accomplishment, but the real reward came from the walk back down, when she caught occasional glimpses through the trees of the lake and the silvery twist of river and the town she had sworn to serve and protect.

She had hiked higher than she intended, she realized, as the shadows lengthened and the temperatures began to drop. She picked up her pace. Just before she hit the relatively flat part of the trail that paralleled the river, she heard voices ahead of her—unhappy voices, by the sound of it. A couple of upset children.

Remembering her new neighbors, she called Pete over to her and clipped his leash onto his collar.

“Sorry, dude. Better safe than sorry, right?”

Pete huffed out a breath but he was so easygoing that he never minded the leash much. They continued walking along the trail that curved with the river, following those voices.

Finally, they rounded a bend where she discovered the new occupant of the cute Craftsman sitting on the trail with her right leg stretched out in front of her and her children hovering close.

Wyn did a quick situation assessment and saw the woman’s ankle was swollen and beginning to bruise. She had a vague sense of déjà vu. Apparently this was her designated day to deal with injured limbs.

Her children knelt beside her in the dirt. The little boy’s face was streaked with tears and the girl was holding her mother’s hand, though she also looked pale and frightened.

The woman caught sight of Wyn and her distressed features closed up.