Chapter Seven
Rob was sitting in a chair in the store, reading a book, when Brian walked in with Stella on his heels.
After moving his bookmark to his current page, he watched his brother grab a water from the fridge and plop in the other chair.
Stella got a drink from her bowl in the corner before stretching out on the floor and closing her eyes.
“You didn’t write down that water,” Rob pointed out. They were supposed to be keeping track because grabbing water bottles from the soda case was grabbing money out of the business. They all had tumblers to refill in the house, but this still felt like a losing battle.
“I will when I go over there.” Brian downed a third of it, and then sighed as if it had been days since he’d hydrated. “Twenty-nine’s back from her walk.”
“Hannah,” Rob muttered under his breath.
“I’m kind of curious about what she was up to.”
“She took a walk.” They’d known she planned to, but when he glanced over and saw Brian’s scowl as he stared out the window at nothing, his interest was piqued—even more than usual when Hannah was involved. “What are you stuck on?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I get wanting to go for a walk in the woods, especially since she doesn’t have an ATV. And you’ve been out there. There aren’t really walking trails, but it’s not tough terrain.”
“No, it’s not. As long as you keep track of where you’re at, they’re easy woods to explore.”
Brian nodded. “But I was changing the outside light at the bathhouse up the hill and saw her come back in. Mud up to her knees. Leaves and a twig or two in her ponytail. I think she even had a scratch on her face, which was a little red like she’d been exerting herself.”
That didn’t make sense to Rob. “She went way out back, then. The only spot still that muddy right now is a strip of low wetlands, and there are plenty of woods to roam around in on this side of it.”
“Exactly. Why would a woman on a casual stroll in the woods fight through that just to get to more woods on the other side?”
“Maybe there was a bird or something she wanted a closer look at?”
“Not that badly.”
“Okay, but if it was deliberate, what could the reason be?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” Brian gave him a questioning look, and Rob shrugged. “Do people still do that geocaching thing?”
“You think she pulled a camper all the way across the country and paid for three months in our campground to find a little fake treasure somebody buried?”
Brian snorted. “I was thinking maybe once she was here, she looked up any that might be in the area.”
“Maybe? I don’t know much about it, so I can’t say for sure if that makes sense.”
“Stella and I could probably retrace her steps.”
The dog, who was sprawled on the floor, opened her eyes but didn’t move, and Rob laughed. “I think you’re mistaking your dog for one with actual skills.”
“Do not insult my dog.”
“I love your dog, and you know it. You’re sensitive about it because Stella loves me more than she loves you.”
“Stella doesn’t love you. She just has a thing for guys who wipe bacon grease on their pants.” Brian chuckled. “And you’re just trying to distract me from what Hannah was up to in the woods.”
The way he stressed her name made it clear his brother had caught how referring to her by her site number had irritated Rob. “You could have just asked her. ‘Hey, what happened to you? Did you fall in?’ Or something casual and totally a typical thing to ask in the moment.”
“I was on a ladder. And by the time I registered just how rough she looked, she’d passed by, so it wouldn’t have been as casual as you think.” He smirked. “But I guess it’ll be another good reason for you to talk to her.”
“Hell no. I’m not going to go and demand to know what she was doing in our woods after we told her she could walk around in them if she wanted.”
“But you could bring it up, casually. Feel her out.”
Rob shook his head. “Oh, now you want me to talk to her.”
“I don’t care if you talk to her. You just can’t hook up with her.”
“That’s a dumb rule.”
“But it’s one we all agreed to.” Brian shrugged. “It makes sense, and you know it. If we start messing around with campers, there’s going to be drama, and I feel like there’s enough of that without adding sex into the mix.”
Rob knew his brother was speaking the truth. When they’d had the discussion before the closing, he hadn’t balked at all. Hands off the campers. But that was before he’d met Hannah.
There was no way he could have anticipated meeting a woman on day one who he definitely wanted to put his hands on.
“I mean it,” Brian said, using his slightly-older-brother voice.
“I know.” Rob nodded slowly and closed his book. “You know I won’t let you down.”
Hannah’s days fell into the familiar, low-key rhythm that she’d come to appreciate since arriving in New Hampshire almost a week before.
Wrapped in a thin flannel throw blanket to help ward off bugs and because it was a comfort fabric for her, she drank her first coffee sitting in her camp chair under her awning. Though she usually slept past sunrise, it was quiet and still early in the morning. Peaceful.
Of course, the Kowalski brothers were around.
Just Brian and Rob during the week, and Stella of course.
The dog visited her daily, sometimes just jogging over for a belly rub before moving on.
Other times, though, she’d stretch out on the camping rug under the awning and keep Hannah company while she read.
She was alone today, and after reading a few pages, she leaned her head back against the chair and closed her eyes, listening to the birds chirping.
As was often the case since she’d arrived in town, her thoughts wandered from a peaceful contemplation of the beauty of nature to a not-so-peaceful contemplation of her attraction to Rob Kowalski.
Sure, he was good-looking. And funny and kind.
Rob was definitely her type. She hadn’t seen him to speak to in several days, but she often saw him from a distance and he always waved if he spotted her.
He hadn’t stopped by her site at all, though, and she hadn’t been able to come up with a good reason to visit the store without being obvious.
“Hannah?”
Her eyes flew open and she jerked straight up in her chair, almost dropping her book.
Rob was standing at the end of her camper, his hands in his pockets, and sure enough—zap—there it was.
And her face was probably flushed because she’d been thinking about being attracted to him and now here he was, as if she’d summoned him somehow.
“Hey,” she said, pushing herself to her feet. She took a second to open the screen door and toss the book inside because she had a bad tendency of forgetting them outside and then finding them swollen from rain or dew. “What’s up?”
“My dad called this morning to let us know that even though we’re super busy and two hours north and everybody knows that, my mom’s dropped some pretty strong hints she still expects us to be at her Mother’s Day brunch Sunday.
We’ll put a sign in the store, but since you’ll probably end up alone in the campground, I wanted to make sure you knew. ”
“Yeah, my sister sent me a text to remind me to call our mother Sunday because she knows it’s easy to lose track of the days when you’re camping.”
“I wish my mom would accept a phone call.” He shifted, leaning against her camper. She only had one chair, or she would have invited him to sit down. “Are your parents in California?”
“Yes, they are. My parents still live in the small town where I was born. My whole family does, including my uncles and their families. My sister’s the elementary school’s librarian and she’s married to a construction foreman.
They have two kids and they bought a duplex so our parents could live next door.
There’s a white fence around the property and they have a cocker spaniel. ”
“That all sounds very...stable. What do they think of you roaming the country alone with a camper?”
“I didn’t roam. I stuck faithfully to the route my dad mapped out for me, both on my phone and on an actual paper map. They don’t love the idea, though, and I heard more safety lectures than one person could ever remember.” She grinned. “But you know how us youngest kids can be.”
His laughter echoed through the trees. “Yeah, I sure do.”
“Thanks for letting me know you’ll be closed.”
He must have taken that as a sign to leave because he stood up straight. “No problem. I don’t mind the walk.”
When he hesitated, started to turn and then hesitated again, Hannah frowned. “Is there a problem?”
“A problem? No.” He smiled, but it wasn’t his usual high-wattage grin. And somehow, even as the corners of his lips turned up, his brow furrowed. “It’s just that...no. Nothing.”
“What?” she pushed. She definitely wanted to know what he was trying to say.
“Since you’ll be alone here Sunday, maybe you shouldn’t go walking out in the woods until we get back.”
Because she’d been hoping that awkwardness was a lead-up to maybe asking her a more personal question—like an invitation out for ice cream or something—she couldn’t quite hide the dismay, because he immediately looked embarrassed.
“We won’t be long,” he said. “I mean, we’ll actually be gone all day because it’s four hours of driving to eat pastries with my mother, but only the one day.”
He’d misunderstood her disappointment, and she let him. “I understand. I won’t go out back while you’re gone.”
“Thanks.” He exhaled slowly. “It sounds like you get pretty adventurous on your walks. Brian saw you after your last walk and he said you looked like it was a rough one.”
She laughed. “Yeah, I got a little muddy. Also got very well acquainted with the local insect population.”
He nodded slowly, and she could tell there was more on his mind. “We were surprised you went that far—like past the wetlands and all that.”
“By the time I realized it was probably a bad idea, I was already in it, so I kept going.”
“But...why? We can’t figure out why you’d work so hard at taking a walk in the woods.”
Understanding dawned and her hand failed to cover the bark of disbelieving laughter that burst from her. “You think I’m your statistical probability serial killer!”
“No!” He shook his head emphatically. “No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do. You think...what? That I was muddy because I was dragging a body through the woods to dispose of it?”
“No.” He paused. “Okay, Brian’s not so sure, but I don’t believe it for a second.”
Hannah knew she shouldn’t laugh. She should be absolutely horrified, but she couldn’t help it. The irony of having built a career around murders and serial killers, only to end up on vacation in a place where they were speculating about her was too much.
“It’s not me,” she said, her stomach already aching from laughing. This was the most ridiculous conversation she’d ever had.
He held his hands up, palms facing her. “I believe you.”
“It’s probably Dave,” she said, mostly joking. Sure, she could just tell him what she’d been looking for out there, but what fun would that be?
“It could be Sheila. I’d want to murder people if I lived with him for decades.”
She shook her head. “Since you’re all so obsessed with statistics, you should know your resident killer is more likely to be a man.”
“Really?”
“Sure. Female serial killers are a very small subset. Then you narrow that subset to New England, then New Hampshire and then this campground... I mean, it’s unlikely you even have a serial killer at all, but a female one is highly improbable.
Plus, if it was Sheila, she probably would have killed Dave years ago. ”
“Good point.” He nodded. “Okay, I have to get back because we’ve got deliveries coming in. Sorry we talked about you maybe being a killer and all.”
“I’m tempted to leave a shovel leaning against my truck and some rope on the ground just to freak Brian out.”
He laughed. “Please do.”
Hannah watched him walk away, which was why when he spun suddenly, he caught her looking. His eyes sparkled as her cheeks heated, and she lifted an eyebrow. “Something else?”
“Yeah. I still want to know what you think of the plot twist at the end of that book.”
Then he walked away and kept going, leaving Hannah with a silly smile on her face and an urge to grab her book and read straight through to the end.