Chapter 8
Sky
I was confused as to why Kayla was moving me from her house.
She told me we were going to their parents’ house, which I knew was currently empty.
She had seemed a little bit uneasy, though previously we’d been laughing and joking and popping popcorn, and I’d sort of felt normal—at least as normal as a person could feel when they didn’t know anything about themselves.
Yet now, as we got in the car and headed back towards the lake, past the road that we would turn on to go to McCrae’s house, I felt the tension return.
We climbed up a hillside and eventually arrived at a gate. Kayla typed in a code and the gate opened. I could see a large beautiful, home with exposed wooden beams and large windows.
“Wow,” I said, feeling a bit of my breath go out of me. The home stood majestically against the backdrop of tall pines, with flower boxes under the windows.
She smiled. “My parents have lived here a long time. My dad actually won this land in a poker game, and then he got into developing land and buying land.”
I suddenly understood. “That’s why you’re the realtor.”
“That’s right. All of my brothers are with search and rescue or police enforcement. I actually do search and rescue as well, but I have made a go of being a realtor.”
I evaluated her as we parked in front of the house, the tires crunching on a gravel drive that seemed freshly raked. “Do you like it?”
She gave me a wide grin. “It suits me right now. We’re developing other parts of Refuge Falls on the outskirts.
We have some property that we’re putting cabins on.
We have a bigger property that’s a lodge that we rent out for conferences, and we have horse stalls.
We do canoe trips and hikes for our clients.
It’s fun, though. I do worry that we’re having too many out-of-towners move in here. ”
“Like me?” I asked, half kidding.
She got out of the car, the door closing with a solid thud.
I got out too.
“Well, not exactly like you. I mean, the out-of-towners who usually come to town are not like you at all. They know who they are.”
I had to laugh. “I guess they do.”
We walked toward the big house.
Kayla had had me bring my suitcase, but she hadn’t brought anything.
“Are you staying?” I questioned.
She nodded. “Oh yeah.” She looked at my bag. “But each of us has a room, and we always have things at my parents’ house, so I never need to bring anything.”
I was mystified by this big family that had this huge house. It was impressive that they cared so much for each other and also took in strangers like myself.
She was typing in a code at the door, but she turned to me. “What’s so funny?”
I shrugged. “I guess I’m just marveling at the fact that you guys just help people like me.”
Kayla’s face softened. After a moment, she put a tentative arm around me.
Her gesture made me feel even more vulnerable. “Thank you,” I said softly.
She pulled me in a full hug. “It’s just kind of what the Armstrongs like to do; help people,” she said casually. As if to demonstrate, she picked up my suitcase, taking it out of my hand, and gestured for me to follow her. “This way.”
We went up a flight of stairs made of polished pine. At the top was a long hallway with several rooms, far more than I’d expected them to have.
“Yes, my parents like to keep a room for everyone, like I said, but they also like to have extra rooms.”
“So I’m not going to stay at McCrae’s house?” I tried to ask it in a way that wouldn’t make her think I was too disappointed.
She paused in front of a room and turned to me. “You can go to his house another night, but we don’t know how long he’s going to be running security, and he just told me he wanted me to move you. That’s why we’re here.”
My mind spun cautiously as she led me through the door. The panic had started to bubble up inside of me again.
Kayla looked calm as she put the bag on the bed. The room was bright and painted in lavender colors. The green duvet was nice, with intricate stitching in a pattern of wildflowers. I sat on it, feeling the soft fabric under my fingers.
“Listen,” said Kayla, “I’ve learned to trust my brothers. They always have our best interests at heart, even though you might not understand. Consider what they do for a living—sometimes they have more information than we do.”
A million different situations started running through my mind. “I hope I’m not trouble to you guys,” I said quietly.
She gave me a look that told me she might have had the same thought. “You’re not.” She moved back towards the doorway. “Should we go finish our show?”
“Okay.” We’d been watching Sleepless in Seattle.
I’d been enjoying the movie, although I hadn’t recognized the name when she’d first mentioned it.
The surprising part was that when she had me run through a list of shows, I had known a lot of the ones she’d suggested.
I hoped that was a good sign for my memory.
We didn’t stop and do a tour, which I kind of would have liked.
Instead, we went back down the stairs, which opened up to a dining area with a long cherrywood table surrounded by high-backed chairs.
She took me through the dining room, and then we went to the kitchen and what looked like a family room.
There was a big television facing a couch, which I could tell had been well used, and a series of reclining chairs helped to fill the space.
The walls were adorned with family photos in simple wooden frames.
“This is where we hang out most of the time,” she said with a laugh.
She gestured to the kitchen, which had a long, sprawling area with an island and lots of barstools against it, but it also had a larger kitchen table with a view of the television.
The smell of cinnamon and apples lingered in the air, suggesting that someone had been baking recently.
“This is nice.”
She moved to the fridge. “Are you hungry?”
I patted my stomach. “Sure.”
She started pulling stuff out to make a sandwich.
“Can I help?”
She gestured to a tomato and some lettuce she’d gotten out. “Sure. Why don’t you slice that up for us and pick what kind of cheese and ham you want?”
I had to smile as she kept getting stuff out of the refrigerator. “It looks like your parents are always ready to feed everyone too.”
Kayla grunted. “They are, and they do a lot, which sometimes I feel bad about. But then I tell myself not to feel bad, because Mom wants to do it.”
Once we finished making our sandwiches, we started eating together at the kitchen island. I took a bite of my sandwich and walked around the room, taking in all of the family pictures and random pictures of the kids from different ages.
Kayla followed me. She pointed at one photo where a handsome young man stood with his arm around a pretty blonde woman, both in formal attire.
“Yep, that’s Noah and Ella. He’s my oldest brother, and they were high school sweethearts.
There was crazy stuff that happened to him and her, but we won’t talk about all that now.
” She moved to another photo. “And there’s Damon and Isla. They’re just the cutest.”
The next photo made my breath catch—I could recognize a younger McCrae.
“McCrae used to date a girl named Rose Jones, but they were on again, off again, and then Rose left a couple years ago. It’s crazy, because Damon’s first wife did the same thing to him, but when she came back, he and Isla were back together.” She hesitated. “Lots of crazy romances in our family.”
I paused. “Is McCrae waiting for Rose to come back?”
“Maybe.” She shrugged and studied me. “But you know, different things happen in life, and sometimes we’re lead on a different life plan.”
The words left me with a weird feeling, and my heart raced.
I didn’t know if I should admit that I was actually pretty attracted to McCrae.
Who wouldn’t be attracted to him? The man was beautiful and funny.
He was quiet a little bit, but I could tell he liked to be around people.
At the pizza place, everyone had been joking around with him.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked softly.
I shook my head. “Nothing.” I gestured to a picture of a man in uniform, standing tall and proud. “Who’s that?” He didn’t look like he was related to the Armstrongs.
She sighed. “This? That’s Tommy Tomlinson. I guess you could say I was kind of hung up on him through high school.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I guess I’ll just tell you.
I had cancer, and he was there for me the whole time.
He was like that as we grew up, supporting me through all my battles with the cancer, the leukemia.
Now I’m in remission, but you never know.
After high school, Tommy joined the military, and man, it’s been three years since I’ve heard from him. ”
It took a minute for me to process all that information. I studied her the same way she’d studied me. “You love him still?”
She shrugged and pointed to herself. “Hey, I’m a lot to deal with. I don’t think I’d push that on anyone.”
That thought made me sad. “Come on, that’s not true.”
“That’s my role in the family. I’m just the one they all worry about. In fact, I’m actually surprised that McCrae let me take care of you.”
I had to smile. This spitfire of a woman also seemed pretty vulnerable. “Yes, you are the one taking care of me, and I’m grateful.”
She grinned back, but I never heard her reply, a shot sounded through the air from outside.