Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Luke
The first girl he ever kissed was stuck inside a charity donation box and he just called her a prostitute.
Yet another horrible Thanksgiving for the record books.
Kylie Hood. What on earth was Kylie Hood doing back in town?
And stuck like a homeless person inside one of those containers?
Luke had twenty-seven minutes before he made it home to Harriet, the night clear, the drive simple, so he let his mind wander.
Wander back fifteen years.
To Kylie, him, a pier on Lake Wannacanhopa, and a kiss.
The best kiss ever.
Now, Amber and Luke had plenty of kisses that were extraordinary and that should have knocked that kiss with Kylie out of first place, but there’s nothing like your first kiss.
Nothing.
It’s the one that wires you forever, neurons firing, burning memories into flesh and bone.
And his flesh was responding to Kylie with a heat he found uncomfortably thrilling.
Protocol said he should call a deputy and have them drive over to Deke’s, rescue Kylie, and file a proper report with the sheriff’s office. All kinds of liability issues were at play in this situation, but the way she pleaded for privacy tugged on Luke’s heartstrings.
He got it. Small towns could be vicious when you made a mistake.
But why was she here? And what the hell was her ex-boyfriend up to, causing her to get stuck like that? Whoever he was, he was a dead man.
Not literally. He couldn’t run around killing people, of course. But he could make life hard for the guy, if he was the reason why poor Kylie was trapped in there.
The drive home flew by as his mind and heart took him back all those years, to a simpler stage of life, when the world revolved around Lake Wannacanhopa and the daily rhythm of summer camp in the mountains.
Polar Bear Plunges and morning songs, art time and No Talent shows, canoe rides and wilderness hikes.
Signing out rowboats and kayaks and playing tennis and horseshoes.
Every summer since he was ten and Kylie was eight, they’d spent ten glorious weeks together.
Seven years of fun.
And then one day, she disappeared.
“Disappeared” wasn’t exactly true, but it’s how it felt to a na?ve seventeen-year-old boy who’d just had his first real kiss. Kylie’s hastily scribbled letter, received three days after her mom moved them to Indiana, had broken his heart.
Still had the finger-worn letter and envelope somewhere in a box in his closet.
They’d stayed in touch for a few months, but MySpace friends didn’t cut it. When Facebook became more popular, he’d never been able to find her. She stopped answering emails.
And that had been that.
Until a half hour ago, when Kylie Hood looked up at him from the dark, like a ghost from his past, and smiled in relief at the sight of him.
Plenty of people expressed relief when he appeared to dig a car out of a ditch, transport a non-verbal stroke patient to the hospital, help get a woman in labor to the maternity ward (though he hadn’t actually delivered a baby, at least not yet), jump a dead battery, or break up a rare bar brawl, but finding a human being trapped in a donation box was a first for him.
And it was Kylie.
“What kind of day is this?” he muttered as he made the turn onto the long county road that took him home.
Cars were clustered in driveways and along the roadside in front of some houses, the big holiday still going strong in almost every home but his.
Two years and four hours ago, Amber had decided to go for a walk in the rain.
And he’d never been able to stomach turkey again.
“Colleen is never going to believe this,” he continued under his breath, pressing the accelerator a little out of his comfort zone for driving his own personal car. Time was of the essence. Kylie put on a brave front, but it was cold, and he knew it wasn’t comfortable in there.
Speaking of uncomfortable, he had a body and heart going haywire, nerves twanging louder and louder as he got closer to home.
Kylie lived around here now? And he didn’t know? He warmed at the memory of her. They’d been kids, fifteen and seventeen, when he’d taken the chance and gone for that kiss. Crossing the line from his own body to hers was like a polar bear plunge, only the stakes were higher.
She’d kissed him right back.
No icy shock there. No, sir. The surprise had been how soft her mouth was against his, how her hands went to the nape of his neck, fingers twisting in his shaggy, overgrown, end-of-summer waves.
Just the memory set his senses on fire.
Time seemed to have treated her well, though under the circumstances, it’d been hard to see her. Didn’t need to, though. He could feel her goodness, hear her sweet disposition in her voice, even through the panic.
Kylie Hood always had a sharp wit with a gentle smile attached, and a laugh that washed away all the negativity in the world.
His phone buzzed on the dash and he glanced quickly.
Colleen.
Have to be at my shift in forty minutes. I hate to rush you, but you know, the text read.
Yeah. He knew.
Colleen was a nurse. Luke was a police officer.
Dennis was in the army, working a job he couldn’t talk about, and Kell worked with their parents, helping to run the family tree business while expanding his own crazy hand-pulled poison ivy company.
The four Luview kids were a study in complementary skills.
Perfect for the family compound they were all buying together.
Twenty minutes later, he pulled into his own driveway, killed the engine, and looked at the big picture window, the glow of light illuminating his life.
Watching like this was a ritual of sorts; the half a minute he spent out here clearing his mind before turning his attention fully to his daughter was a needed transition.
Some days, he really did work with bad guys. No man needed to bring that kind of energy back home to a sensitive little girl. Harriet already knew more than she should about how cruel the world could be.
And she’d learned it at the tender age of four.
Luke climbed out of the car, the tip of his nose turning cold in the short walk between the car and house.
Kylie must be freezing.
He quickened his step.
“Hey! Whew!” Colleen called out. “Just in time.” Her expression softened. “You okay?”
“Yep. Thanks.” He didn’t want to process his feelings, especially because Kylie’s appearance had complicated those. “Harriet, how about we go on an errand?”
Colleen’s eyebrow quirked. “Errand? On Thanksgiving?”
Uh oh.
Should have waited until she was gone to bring it up.
“I was at Deke’s and saw a stray. Figured I’d go and see if I could help get it out of the cold,” he said, the words not technically a lie.
“Why not call Mel?” Mel Chassi ran a local animal sanctuary and had a heart that bled dog food.
“I can handle it.” He cut Colleen a glance. “Besides, I need to keep busy.”
Her guard dropped. Perfect response.
Also true.
“SURE!” Always up for an adventure, Harriet was already wriggling into her coat, stepping into her boots as well. “Can we get a candy bar at Deke’s?”
“It’s closed, honey.”
Harriet pouted. “Okay. I’ll still go, but it won’t be as much fun.”
Colleen was in her coat, purse on her shoulder, keys in hand.
“Talk to you tomorrow?”
“Right.”
She shook her head. “You’re allowed to have feelings, Luke.”
“Who says I don’t?”
Harriet lunged at Colleen’s midsection, giving her a huge, fierce hug. “See you on Tuesday, right?”
“What’s happening on Tuesday?” Luke asked.
“Library trip. Special sand-art project I signed us up for.”
Harriet peeled herself off her aunt and opened the door for her.
“You’re late for work, Aunt Colleen!” Harriet informed her, using some of Luke’s mannerisms as she exuded authority. “It’s disrespectful to be late.”
His sister disappeared into the cold night, the air holding her laughter.
Meanwhile, Luke grabbed bolt cutters, his daughter, and went on a rescue mission.