Chapter 24 #3
Luke nodded, climbing into his cruiser without another word, the road welcome after the conversation.
Kell had a way about him, quietly self-assured, easy with a grin but hard to get close to.
All four kids in the family were doers, moving through time and space every day to earn a paycheck.
Kell was a tree guy, Luke a police officer, Colleen a nurse, and Dennis, well…
No one knew exactly what he did in the Special Forces, but he sure did move.
For Kell to bring up squishy emotions like love meant that Luke was a goner. It must be written all over his face. Being the subject of town gossip was bad enough, but he could roll his eyes and mock the busybodies.
His own brother? The one who walled himself off and deflected when the subject got too serious? Once he started talking about feelings, it must be bad.
“Bad,” Luke muttered, fishing in the console for a piece of gum. A pack of all-natural chicle-based crap Colleen insisted he try was all he could find. There was a picture of a fennel bulb on the box.
Who eats fennel-flavored gum?
His sister. That’s who.
“Looks like hamster food,” he said to himself as he shook three little pieces out and popped them in his mouth, surprised by the pleasant flavor. It reminded him of the seed and candy mixture he had once at Love You India, a local restaurant.
Maybe Colleen was on to something.
Every time he made the turn onto the long dirt road leading up to the camp, he grinned, a breath of pride filling his lungs.
Familiarity only made it better. Knowing he was about to own the very place where so many memories were made for him and his family and friends gave Luke a burst of adrenaline that stretched across time.
And then the inevitable tug of guilt kicked in.
Because he couldn’t have afforded it without Amber’s life insurance money.
Kell’s work truck ate the road like it was nothing, Luke’s cruiser steady and strong behind him, until they came to a stop at the main office building.
Turning the camp into a personal home base was a project he relished.
Mom and Dad had already laid claim to three of the smaller cabins, one to live in, one for Mom’s sewing, one for Dad’s woodworking.
Luke and Harriet got the main lodge. Colleen staked out the old camp director’s house, and Kell planned to build his own place.
Dennis? Who knew? He lived in Germany for now, but when he came back to Luview, Maine, he’d always have a home.
There was a comfort in numbers, in teamwork, in having a place for the family that would never change. In the aftermath of Amber’s death, he’d needed this. Clung to it. Nurtured the idea and ushered it through from dream to reality.
Now it was here.
Amber wasn’t, but Kylie was.
And that complicated things.
The two men got out of their respective vehicles, Kell bending down to drag a thick pine branch that had fallen from one of the tall soldiers in the center of the circular driveway. Twelve tall pines, planted carefully in a circle that formed a perimeter around a flagpole, now dwarfed Old Glory.
Or at least, the pole. No flag was flying right now, but it would be again.
Soon.
“Gotta say, I thought you were crazy when you told us your idea,” Kell said in a voice filled with reproach and happiness, a combo Luke struggled to reconcile. “But damn, this place is good. We’re going to have a fine life here.”
“Yep.”
Kell’s steady gaze unnerved him. “Are you bringing Kylie?”
“Bringing her where?” His heart sped up at the thought.
“Here.”
“She’s been here.”
“Duh. I know that. I meant… here.” Kell spread his arms. “Into your new life.”
“I told you, I can’t.”
“You know what, Luke? Maybe I kept my mouth a little too shut after Amber died.”
Luke shut his own mouth.
“You’re crazy. You know that? Crazy to buy the camp, maybe. Crazy not to date any of the women pouring all over you. But you’re craziest for keeping Kylie at arm’s length. You two were meant to be together.”
“Excuse me?”
“Cut it out, Luke. Quit playing dumb.”
“Not playing anything.”
“You couldn’t stop talking about her when she disappeared. Then suddenly, you did, because you were dating Amber. I know you loved Amber. Love her still. But there was always something special about Kylie, too. You can have both, you know.”
“Both?”
“You can love Amber for who she was, and also love Kylie for who she is. If you don’t do that, you’re a dumbass.”
“Hey!”
Kell shrugged. “Truth hurts.” He kicked a stick out of the path. “You bringing her to Christmas?”
Christmas. Right. That was soon.
“She’s probably going back to Indiana to visit her mom. Or to South Carolina with her dad.”
“For a guy who isn’t dating her, you know a lot about her life.”
“She’s my nanny. I have to know her situation.”
“She’s more than your nanny, dude. Stop ignoring fate.”
“Fate? When did you get all gushy like that? She’s only been back for a few weeks, and now you want to turn her into my soulmate?” Ignoring his thumping heart was impossible.
“Not gushy. Just pointing out the obvious. She’s in your life for a reason. How did you two meet again? Never heard that story.”
Uh oh. He’d promised not to tell anyone the truth about Kylie getting stuck in the donation bin.
“Ran into her at Deke’s.”
“Randomly? She was visiting?”
“She moved here last year. Her boyfriend was one of Nordicbeth sons.”
“Which one?”
“Perry.”
“That jerk?”
“Yeah.”
Kell made a face. “He was supposed to be in charge of a big tree project we did there a couple years ago. Insisted on all kinds of work that wasn’t in the contract.
He wasn’t even a facilities guy. Threw his weight around, went on about being vice president, asked us to violate OSHA laws.
It was a mess. Dad had to privately talk to Perry’s dad and it got ugly. ”
“You lost Nordicbeth business?”
“Nope. But Perry never ran a tree job again. Man, I can’t imagine her with him. What a strange couple.”
“I don’t know much about it. She said they moved up here from New York last year. She worked in children’s programming at Nordicbeth. Perry went on some trip to Thailand, started sleeping with someone there, and dumped her by phone.”
“What an asshole!”
“Right. Then he got her fired from her job.”
“Double asshole!”
“She’s licking her wounds, for sure.”
“And she never came to Luview to see people?”
“She was embarrassed. Between what happened with her dad – ”
“Not her fault.”
“Plus, Perry dumped her. You know.”
“Ouch.”
“Right. Last place you want to go after being dumped is the love capital of the world.”
“No kidding. Man, I didn’t know all that. Now you have to bring her to Christmas.”
“I do?”
Luke’s phone buzzed. So did Kell’s.
“Car in a ditch on Route 33,” Luke muttered.
“Tree branch sheared off a gutter and left a two-foot hole in the roof at a Fryeburg apartment complex,” Kell announced, the two shaking their heads at each other as if to say, Can you believe this?
Before Luke could climb in his car, Kell shouted, “INVITE HER, DUMBASS!” Gravel sprayed as he took off down the dirt road, stones kicking up like they were judging him.
Christmas, huh?
That wouldn’t violate Number 14, Part A, would it? It’s not like inviting her to a family gathering was the same as sleeping with her.
Not even close.
He sighed and followed Kell.
And then there was the mistletoe...