Chapter 5
“ T he middle of the country,” Sabina answered Ethan’s question about where she’d grown up.
She also flashed him a smile that let him—a native West Coaster—know she anticipated some reaction.
In her experience, those from the left or right coast couldn’t help but make some sort of comment about the fly-over states.
“Oh yeah? Where? I went to college in Ohio. I love it out there. Big sky country, wide-open spaces, and all that,” he answered.
Well shit, that wasn’t the response she usually got.
“Just a small town in Tennessee,” she answered.
Not the truth, but as close as she was going to get.
“What was it like growing up here?” she asked, hoping he’d jump on the topic as she made a mental note never to turn her phone to silent again.
If she hadn’t, she would have seen Ethan’s message and she would have known that the Warwick boys were in house at the Dirty Boom.
And if she’d known, she would have called and placed a to-go order, instead.
An order that she could have picked up from the serving window at the back of the kitchen.
Or maybe chosen a different place for dinner altogether.
It wasn’t that she didn’t like them, because she did—more than she should.
The Warwick boys were all easygoing, enjoyed one another’s company, and were close in a way that she’d read about in books but never experienced.
They were also easy on the eyes. Very easy.
She hadn’t met the youngest of the cousins yet, but she’d bet Joey and Charley were every bit as good-looking as their two brothers and six cousins.
But she couldn’t let herself get close to them.
The last time she’d allowed herself that luxury, bad things had happened.
She wasn’t willing to risk that again. Not that the Warwick cousins were in the same league as her ex-college boyfriend.
Nate had been gentle and just about the sweetest person she’d ever known.
The Warwicks were a bit more rough-and-tumble.
Several even had extensive combat experience.
But it wasn’t that experience that made them different from Nate.
They’d all grown up hiking, climbing, riding, hunting, skiing, camping, and generally running herd over this part of California.
They might be kind and they could be gentle, but no one would mistake them for an easy target.
Yet no one was invincible. Not even the Warwicks. And while Sabina acknowledged that everyone was mortal, she didn’t want to be the one that brought death to their door.
As she had with Nate.
Once was enough, thank you very much.
“It was good,” Ethan answered her question.
“There are eight of us boys only eight years apart, so we had a pretty good time growing up.” Of William and Genevieve Warwick’s three sons, the two eldest also had three sons each.
The third and youngest had two sons, and fourteen years after Ethan’s birth, the twin girls.
Sabina couldn’t imagine growing up in a family the size of the Warwicks.
Even harder was imagining having a family of that size and liking all of them in the way the Warwicks liked one another.
“What’s the story with the name of the town?” she asked. She’d done more research than she’d admit to into her new home, but she’d yet to discover why the town was named Mystery Lake.
Ethan shrugged in much the same way his cousin had when she’d asked Chad. “I don’t know why the founding fathers and mothers chose to name it that.”
“So there’s no actual mystery lake?” Sabina pressed.
Again, Ethan shrugged. “I don’t even know what a mystery lake is. Does it hold a mystery? Did it do something mysterious back in the day? Is it, itself, a mystery? Although it’s hard to see how a lake itself could be a mystery.”
“Maybe there’s a secret lake and they just liked the sound of ‘mystery’ better than ‘secret’?”
“Seems to me that if you have a lake that’s secret, you either keep it a secret—in which case, you don’t name a town after it. Or you don’t keep it a secret—in which case, it makes no sense to call it a secret. Or ‘mystery’ as the case may be.”
Sabina frowned and took a sip of her beer.
His logic was sound, but she’d grasped on to the mystery of the town’s name when she made the decision to move.
And no, it did not escape her notice that her interest was bordering on unhealthy.
But it gave her something to obsess about when she was alone in her apartment every night.
The three seconds it took to water Roger each day didn’t exactly occupy her time.
“Any Halloween plans?” Ethan asked. A cheer went up from the corner of the room where Josh and Chad were in a heated game of pool. Sabina looked over to see a woman, about Chad’s age, give him a high five.
She frowned. Was Chad seeing someone? The way her stomach churned at the thought didn’t come as a surprise. Although if he was dating, that shouldn’t come as a surprise either. Chad was a catch.
Her gaze lingered on him as he smiled and said something to the woman that made her laugh.
Whoever she was, she was tall and lean, and her dark hair was the kind of wavy that looked amazing all the time.
She wore black motorcycle boots, fitted jeans, a white shirt, and a red cardigan that fell to her knees.
Sabina wanted to dislike her, but she wasn’t really the kind of person to dislike someone on sight.
And to be fair, the woman looked like someone Sabina would want to know.
Chad glanced up and caught her eye. Their gazes held for a moment that felt an eternity, then Josh said something, and Chad broke away.
“That’s Jen Fisher,” Ethan said. Sabina returned her attention to the man sitting across the table from her. “She and Chad dated in high school. She moved to LA after school, became some big-time lawyer.”
“She back for a visit then?” Mystery Lake wasn’t close enough to LA for a day trip, but it was close enough for a long weekend.
Ethan shook his head. “Her dad’s health went downhill about a year ago. Right when her divorce finalized. She picked up the kids—she has two boys—and moved back. Now she and her brother run a small firm together here in town.”
Great, a divorced ex. Maybe Sabina hadn’t thought through this moving-to-California thing enough.
When Stella and Hunter had first asked her, she’d declined.
Her life in DC was stable and good and she needed that.
She’d known she was giving up seeing Chad regularly, but she’d figured they’d still be working together. She’d still see him on occasion.
But then the postcard had come and, uncharacteristically, she’d panicked.
At the time, the thought of moving to California and being closer to Chad had steadied and grounded her. Clearly, she hadn’t thought through all the implications of what it would be like to step into his life in his hometown.
“So, Halloween?” Ethan asked.
Sabina had lost count of the number of times in the past few weeks she’d forced a smile. It was draining, and no doubt, Chad saw through it. But hopefully Ethan wouldn’t. “No plans,” she answered, flashing her teeth. “Why? Should I have plans?”
Ethan grinned. “Grandad puts on a party to end all parties. Does it every year. There’s a haunted house for the kids and food and decorations like you wouldn’t believe.
When Josh’s son, Matt, and Joey and Charley hit their teenage years, he added a tent for them and their friends.
Loaded it with all sorts of old-school video games, music, the works.
” Ethan paused. Sabina didn’t know what memory was trickling through his mind, but for a moment, he was lost in the past. “Anyway, it’s a blast. It was my grandmother’s favorite holiday, and he’s kept the tradition up. ”
“Isn’t he in his nineties?” Sabina asked. The images Ethan’s descriptions evoked were elaborate and extravagant. Not something a man in his nineties should be taking on.
“He turned ninety a few months ago. A Fourth of July baby. We had a big party then, too. He’s kind of a party guy, although he prefers to host rather than attend. Are your grandparents alive?”
“How can he host such big parties?” she asked, rolling over Ethan’s question. “He must have help.”
Ethan chuckled. “He hires out the decorating and food. And also the teen tent. He’ll expect us to manage the haunted house. Unless you want to get conscripted into service, I’d avoid the cousins at all costs for the next month.”
“Kind of hard since I work with one of those cousins on a daily basis and another is currently building my server room.”
“Then it’s safe to say, your Halloween is spoken for.
” Ethan raised his glass and without thought, she did the same.
Everyone knew it was bad luck to raise a toast then not drink, so she took a sip then set her glass down, glancing around as she did.
Chad was still playing pool with Josh while Ethan’s brother, Asher, was chatting with Oscar, the owner of the Dirty Boom.
Jen Fisher and the other man who’d been at the pool table earlier had moved to the bar.
They looked similar enough that Sabina wondered if he was the brother Ethan had mentioned.
Mystery Lake wasn’t so small that everyone knew everyone, but it was small enough that it was easy to see that these people were a community .
She’d had a community—of sorts—in DC. She’d had her work friends, and, with the exception of Chad, they were a sociable bunch.
They went out on weekends, had cookouts, and even formed a softball team.
Not that she played. There were a lot of things she was good at; softball wasn’t one of them.
But here, she had none of that. Granted, it had only been a few weeks since she’d moved, but she had to start somewhere.
“Ethan?”
“Sabina.”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Can I ask for your help with something?”