Chapter 33
I’m sorry for your loss. What a terrible loss. So sorry for your loss. Such a loss, such a loss, such a loss . . .
If McKenna heard it once, she heard it a hundred times surrounding Momma J’s funeral.
Standing there in the receiving line, McKenna knew she couldn’t protect her little sister from feeling the pain of that loss.
But standing there in the receiving line, McKenna vowed to shield Bobbi as much as possible from any further loss by whatever means possible.
Which is why, twelve years later, after being held in an airport security room for over an hour, McKenna was now pacing back and forth in front of a B&B in Tennessee late on a Tuesday afternoon with chickens waddling around her as she promised her little sister nothing was wrong.
“Everything’s fine, Bobbi. Seriously, fine. ”
“Then why did Oliver just tell me that you’re on a secret trip across the country? You never go anywhere. Something’s going on.”
“Nothing’s going on. Why are you even awake right now? Isn’t it like, one o’clock in the morning your time?”
“Do I need to come home?”
“Stop being silly. Of course not. I just had a sudden yen to visit Tennessee and use up some of my vacation time that’s been building for the last, you know, twelve-plus years.
I only didn’t tell you that I’d be gone because you’re in Italy and wouldn’t even know I was gone, so why bother telling you that I was gone? ”
A long pause, then, “Something’s going on.”
McKenna swatted a mosquito away from her face, then turned to find the source of a faint bleating sound.
A trio of goats huddled together inside a small field surrounded by a wooden fence.
Cute. Out of habit she reached for her camera, then remembered it was still tucked inside her shoulder bag in the car.
“So Oliver’s home from the hospital?” Time to redirect the conversation.
“You can’t redirect this conversation. Tell me what’s going on.”
Ugh. “I’m not. I’m just . . . taking a little vacation.”
“You’re acting funny.”
“This is how I act when I’m on vacation.”
“You don’t like vacations.”
“Which is why I’m acting funny. Turns out I do like vacations. Isn’t that funny?”
“Do you have a secret lover?”
“What?” McKenna shouted. Then glanced over her shoulder to the B&B before lowering her voice because the same ladies from earlier were still inside griping about some lady named Lottie. “Stop,” McKenna said, lowering her voice. “Why would you even ask that?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because of that guy from the river? I had no idea you were even dating anyone and there you two were, having a secret rendezvous on the bridge.”
“That wasn’t a secret rendezvous. That was a . . .” Ludicrous and annoying encounter with a ludicrous and annoying stranger that McKenna didn’t exactly hate seeing again, which was even more ludicrous and annoying. “Date.”
“With kissing.”
“That doesn’t make us lovers,” McKenna said in a rush of words.
“So you running off to Tennessee has nothing to do with him?”
McKenna closed her eyes, tired of keeping secrets from her sister. But not quite ready to spill the beans either. “I did fly here to see that guy you met on the bridge.”
McKenna waited for the victorious I knew it! What she got was a low-key “Oh.”
“Why do you sound disappointed?”
“I guess part of me was sort of hoping Oliver was lying about you going to Tennessee, and that you were really sneaking around back home to help Oliver orchestrate a perfect proposal that I wouldn’t see coming because I was supposed to believe this outlandish story about you running off to Tennessee to meet your secret lover. Stupid, I know.”
“Not stupid. Not stupid at all.” Almost spot-on in an absurd roundabout way. Except for the secret lover part.
“So you and this guy, huh. What was his name again?”
“Nate.”
“Nate. Wow. Things must be getting serious then if you flew to Tennessee for him.”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“What would you say?”
Nothing at this point. Not until she had at least found the ring.
“Let’s just say we’re still in the figuring-it-out stage.
But I—” Her phone buzzed with another incoming call.
Oliver. “Have another call to take. Call you back? Actually, no. Go to sleep. Enjoy Italy. We’ll talk later.
” Hopefully after everything got straightened out.
McKenna tapped her screen and switched to the other call. “Oliver?”
“I think we’re in the clear with Bobbi,” he said with a slight cough. “You flying off to Tennessee to visit your secret lover turned out to be brilliant.”
“He’s not my secret lover.”
“Proud and public lover?”
“What do you want?”
“To say well done. You’ve completely thrown Bobbi off the proposal trail. She’d never think anything you’re doing there would have something to do with me wanting to propose to her here.”
McKenna made that strangled bird-monkey sound again that was supposed to be a laugh. “Right. Well done, me.”
“So after thinking it over, I’m wondering if I should go ahead and propose to her as soon as she gets back.
Maybe at the airport?” He coughed into the phone.
“Sorry. Still fighting a bit of a cough. Anyway, I could hold one of those signs like I’m a driver picking her up.
Only the sign will have Mrs. Oliver Campbell on it. Good idea, don’t you think?”
Now McKenna was coughing. “I like it.”
“One thing, though. Where did you put the ring? I know she’s not coming back for a few weeks, but I still want to have everything ready.”
“The ring?” McKenna coughed again. “It’s in my . . .” She coughed a few more times, unable to lie, but unable to work the truth past her throat either. “Sorry. Allergies must be really getting me. Are you sure you’ll need the ring?”
“For my proposal?”
“Right. Thing is, well, I sort of have it here.” In theory, at least.
“You took the ring with you to Tennessee?”
“I didn’t want to risk a chance of Bobbi finding it.”
“Bobbi, who’s in Italy for three weeks?”
“You can never be too careful when it comes to hiding a priceless ring.” Which is why she’d chosen a pocket with a zipper.
“Well . . .” Oliver coughed, then huffed in the phone. “When are you coming back?”
Good question. “Can’t honestly say right now. Kind of depends how things go here.”
“I see.” He sighed. “Actually, I don’t see. Perhaps this isn’t my business, but what exactly are you doing in Tennessee? Are you perhaps thinking of moving there? Making things more permanent with your lov—uh, secret male companion?”
McKenna gritted her teeth. “Can’t a girl just take a break from Nebraska?
I needed a change of pace, okay? New scenery.
A little excitement. A chance to—” Her breath caught as she spotted the goats.
Their rustic wooden shed. The rolling green acreage spread out for miles.
Even the B&B with all its wear and tear held a certain farmhouse level of charm.
Maybe coming here wasn’t just about finding a family heirloom to ensure her sister’s happiness. Maybe coming here was a chance to pave a path to her own desires as well. “Don’t say anything to Bobbi, but I’m bulking up my portfolio a bit.”
“For what?”
For a dream job in LA. A girl could hope anyway. So long as the ring turned up. “I’ll tell you more later, Oliver. In the meantime, just trust me. I’m exactly where I need to be.”