Chapter Twenty-Six
Lynette struggled to open the backdoor to the lodge’s kitchen while also staying upright on crutches. She’d never mastered their use, despite being forced to use them in the past, thanks to her weak ankle.
The door swung inward. “Morning, Lynette. I thought I heard someone out here.”
“Hey there, Val! I wasn’t expecting to see you on a Thursday morning.” Lynette smiled appreciatively at Renee’s youngest sister, then hobbled through the open doorway. The delicious smell of bacon and coffee gave her spirits a kick. “But my stomach already says ‘thank you’ for making us breakfast. You’ve spoiled us throughout this whole vacation. My poor armpits can tell I’ve gained at least five extra pounds during my time at Whispering Pines.”
Val closed the door behind them and followed Lynette into the kitchen. “It’s my pleasure. I love cooking for big groups. Coffee?”
“Please!” Lynette looked around the empty kitchen. “Where is everyone? Renee left me a note saying to come to the lodge for breakfast before the guys head back out to fish again.”
“They’re setting up the table in the main room out there.”
Lynette couldn’t help but wonder whether Storm was still around, but she didn’t want to ask. She was embarrassed to see him after the previous night’s debacle. “How can I help?”
Val pointed to a nearby stool. “First, you can get off the crutches and give your sore arms a break. Renee told me what happened last night when she called this morning.”
Once settled, Lynette breathed a sigh of relief and stacked the borrowed crutches against the island. “These are Robbie’s, aren’t they? I sure appreciate that he thought to drop them off last night. I wouldn’t be able to get around without them. He has a few inches on me, so walking with them is a little difficult, even after I adjusted them. But enough about me. Tell me what you’ve been up to, Val.”
Val grinned as she pulled a pan of fresh caramel rolls from the oven. “I think I’d rather hear about your escapades. Renee might have let it slip that the big bald guy she introduced me to when I got here this morning not only rescued you last night, but that he used to be your high school sweetheart?”
Lynette choked on the coffee she’d just sipped. The hot liquid dribbled down her chin and onto the island. “I’m sorry. Toss me that towel, would you? There is no way Renee used the term ‘sweetheart’ when talking about Storm.”
“I might have improvised,” Val admitted. After placing the rolls on the island in front of Lynette, she handed her a towel.
The door between the kitchen and the rest of the lodge swung open and Renee’s son strode in. “Val, we need to eat and get back out on the water! Can I take the food in?”
“Why so impatient, Robbie? Relax and say hello to Lynette. I’ve never known you to pass on seconds on my caramel rolls.”
He moved to the pan of rolls and swiped his finger across the top before either Val or Lynette could catch him. “Shit!” he yelped, jumping in pain.
“See, I told you not to rush,” Val said, running a dishrag under water and handing it to her nephew. “Put this on your finger, go back out there, and tell everyone we’ll eat in five minutes. I need to pull the bacon off the griddle yet.”
The young man gave Lynette a quick smile and nod, then strode back out of the kitchen, mumbling under his breath.
After taking another sip of coffee and swallowing it this time, Lynette turned her attention back to Val. “Say, I’ve been meaning to ask you about your protein bars. Have you had any luck getting them into some of the larger grocers around Minnesota?”
Val shook her head as she scooped dripping slices of bacon off the griddle on a side counter. “Summer was crazy with the boys under foot, and now we’re getting ready for back-to-school. We’ve got four kids going to three different schools, from fifth grade up to a junior in high school. At least we don’t have a senior yet. I know how much work that last year of school can be. And I’ll get to do it four times! But I’m not complaining. I’ll start working on my business again in September. All I managed this summer, aside from feeding all of you, were a few craft shows. I have this great old Airstream camper that I use to sell our baked goods from, alongside my mom. We usually wrangle two of the boys to come along and help.”
Lynette shook her head in awe, watching as Val placed the sheet pan full of bacon next to the rolls and gave a large kettle of scrambled eggs on the stovetop one last stir. “You are certainly efficient. Hey, was that the camper you pulled out of the woods? We went for a walk and stumbled across an old campsite. Renee told us a little about it, but insisted she’d leave the telling of the full story up to you.”
Val brushed her hands together. “Yep, that’s where I found my camper. I’ll tell you what. I know we talked before about you giving me some pointers about product distribution. After I make it past back-to-school season, I’ll call you. We’ll talk all things bars and campers. How’s that sound?”
“Val?!”
The shout from the other room sounded like Robbie again.
“I hate to stand in the way of men and their fish,” Val said. “Let’s get the animals fed.”
The breakfast Val provided was delicious, but Lynette could only pick at hers after offering another blanket apology to everyone. She felt awful for worrying her friends and interrupting her rescuers’ fishing trip. After being so outspoken about not allowing any of the men to crash their girls’ trip, they ended up riding in to her rescue. What bothered her the most was how Matt and Storm had risked their own lives to go out on the lake on a dark and stormy night to look for her.
She avoided Storm’s gaze, even though she could sense him watching her from time to time.
Matt hadn’t joined them for breakfast. Lynette felt compelled to thank him in person. If not for his expertise, she might still be stuck on the edge of a lakeside cow pasture. Or worse.
After thanking the cook again, she made her slow and clumsy way to the front of the lodge and outside, to where Robbie said his stepfather was packing up more gear. Lynette suspected the white, extended-cab pickup was Matt’s. A large cooler, a few tackle boxes, and a pile of duffel bags next to it served as clues.
“Matt?” she said, hoping Renee’s husband was close by. When there was no reply, she repeated herself, only louder this time.
“Yeah?” Matt’s head popped into view from the other side of the truck. “Oh, hey, Lynette. Give me a second, will you?”
She waited. Were her hot cheeks red with embarrassment? A light breeze blew off the lake toward the lodge and she turned into it, hoping to cool her face. There was no one on the sand or dock. It was still early.
“How’s the ankle? And the head?” Matt said from behind her.
She turned, careful to maintain her balance on the too-tall crutches. “My ankle will be fine. Unfortunately, despite lots of physical therapy, it goes out on me. My head is surprisingly clear this morning, if that was your subtle way of asking whether I’m painfully hungover after that fiasco.”
He grinned at her. “It was, but that probably wasn’t a very professional thing for me to say.”
She returned his smile with a tentative one of her own. “Lucky for me, you aren’t acting in your professional capacity this morning. If you were, you’d probably slap me with a charge for boating under the influence or something. I’d prefer it if you stayed in sassy, best-friend’s-husband mode.”
His smirk told her the thought might have at least crossed his mind, too.
Lynette broke eye contact with him and studied the sidewalk between them. She noticed the chalk outline of a butterfly. A child at the resort must have drawn it. The butterfly reminded her it was possible to rise again after getting mired down in a mess.
She looked back up. “Listen, Matt . . . I don’t know how I can ever repay you for what you did for me last night. I hate that I put you in danger with my stupidity. Please know how sorry I am about all of it.”
Matt nodded, then crossed his arms over his chest. “That type of thing is all in a day’s work for me, and I had help. But you did scare my wife. For that reason only, I might be open to some kind of payback. Renee tells me you are quite the business tycoon. If the day ever comes when she needs some business advice, we might come to you for guidance. Then we’ll be square again. How’s that sound?”
Lynette laughed, checked her balance, and held a hand out to Matt, careful not to drop a crutch. “That sounds like you’re letting me off too easy, because you know I’d help Renee regardless.”
When Matt leaned in to clasp her hand, Lynette glanced over his shoulder at a second, larger pickup she hadn’t noticed earlier. The unique color and size of it looked vaguely familiar.
Just as Matt’s hand encircled her own, her mind flashed back to the morning Annie and Relic stopped by to help her haul away the pile of pine clippings. An expensive-looking truck much like this one had slowly driven by, not once but twice. She’d thought it odd but chalked it up to residual paranoia from city life.
“You feeling all right, Lynette? You seem a little wobbly on those crutches.”
She pulled her hand from Matt’s to grasp the crutch handle under her right arm. She steadied herself and forced a laugh. “You’d think I’d be more stable on these things by now. Say, Matt, is this white truck yours?”
“Yep,” he said, waving a hand at the piles of gear beside it. “How did you guess?”
“Whose truck is that burgundy-colored one, then?”
Matt looked over his shoulder at the second pickup. “The maroon one? Sadly, that one’s not mine. Isn’t she a beauty?”
“I suppose,” Lynette replied, sure now that it was the same truck she’d spotted in her neighborhood.
“That one is Taran’s. Robbie begged him to let him drive it back to camp this morning. It has all the bells and whistles money can buy.”
“Taran?”
Matt chuckled. “Oh. That’s right. Renee said Taran went by the name Storm when you guys were kids.”
The front door of the lodge opened, and the man in question strode out.
“He’s always been Storm to me,” Lynette said, shifting to fully face the owner of the fancy truck.
“Hey, Lynette,” Storm said, after a quick nod to Matt. “Is he going to slip the cuffs on you now for that stunt you pulled last night?”
Lynette ignored the jab. “Have you been stalking me?”
Storm pulled up short. “What?”
“That truck over there,” she said, pointing. “Is that yours?”
“Yeah . . . ?” He drew the single word out slowly, as if trying to figure out what Lynette was getting at.
“I’ve seen that exact truck drive by my house more than once. I know you’ve been spending time at Owen’s, so that puts you in the neighborhood, but whoever kept driving by my house in that truck always went by real slow. Like a stalker.”
Storm threw his head back and let out a hearty laugh.
Even after thirty years, this near-stranger still knew exactly how to push her buttons.
“I’m serious, Storm. I saw you. It was creepy.”
The lodge door opened again and Owen, Henry, and Robbie all joined the trio on the front sidewalk.
“Who’s ready to get back out on the water?” Robbie yelled. He bounced over to the pile of gear and started loading it into the back of Matt’s truck.
Storm glanced between Lynette and Robbie, then looked at Matt. “You got room for Owen and Robbie? I need a few minutes with Lynette, and I don’t want to hold you guys up. Robbie can drive my truck later.”
“Sure,” Matt said, walking over to help Robbie finish loading things.
“Actually, I wanted to catch Jackie, too,” Owen said. He took a couple of backward steps toward the lodge that he’d just exited. “That all right with you, Taran?”
“Fine,” Storm replied, but he didn’t look away from Lynette.
“No wonder you two have such terrible luck fishing that lake over by Ruby Shores,” Robbie said to Storm and Owen. “You obviously have commitment issues. To fishing, I mean.”
The young man laughed as he slammed the back of Matt’s truck and climbed into the backseat with a wave. “I’m going to hold you to your promise to let me drive, Taran!”
Henry, who had watched them all with interest, held up his cell phone toward Owen. “Call us when you get back over to camp and we’ll meet up again on the water.”