That Runaway Summer (14 page)

Chris’s golf partners were all boys she recognized from the trip to Hershey. They were talking and laughing among themselves while Chris silently went about the business of miniature golf, lining up his putts, slowing bringing back the club, stroking through the ball.

“What are you doing behind this tree?” a low voice asked.

Jill gasped. Her heartbeat sped up, her body jerked, her hand flying to her throat as she turned.

It was Dan.

“Sorry if I scared you,” he said.

She was over the shock. Her heartbeat, though, hadn’t slowed a tick. If anything, it had sped up.

She’d never seen him in so little clothing. He was dressed in a loose-fitting sleeveless T-shirt, running shorts and athletic shoes. Her eyes headed south to his legs before jerking upward.

“Shouldn’t you be at work?” she asked, although she knew the answer. The veterinarian’s office was open until noon every Saturday.

“We had some cancellations, so Stanley chased me out the door.” He wasn’t breathing hard, although he was obviously out for a run. “I’m glad he did. Otherwise I’d never have spotted you hiding in the bushes.”

“It’s not a bush,” she denied strongly before the ridiculousness of the situation struck her. She giggled. “It’s a tree, and I’m hiding so Chris doesn’t know I’m spying on him.”

“Makes perfect sense.” His eyes crinkled so they were smiling. “Why exactly are you spying on him?”

“I thought about standing at the fence and waving at him,” she said. “Except he’s probably at the age where he’d be mortified to have his big sister hovering over him.”

“That sounds right,” Dan said. “Except you still haven’t told me why his big sister is hovering over him.”

She winced. “To see how the party’s going. I could tell he was nervous about it this morning, so I got nervous, too.”

“How is it going?” Dan came forward so they were side by side. He was perspiring lightly, but smelled clean, like the outdoors.

“He’s in a group with three other boys. I haven’t been here long, but so far he hasn’t said a word to any of them.” Jill moved the branch aside once more to get a better view.

“Allow me,” Dan said, holding it in place for her.

Chris and the other members of his foursome had moved to the next hole, which involved directing the ball through a revolving windmill. Chris was up first, which meant he must have had the low score on the previous hole.

The other boys hung back talking and laughing while Chris set his bright yellow ball down on the rubber square. After careful consideration, which was how her brother did everything, he stroked through the ball.

The yellow sphere traveled over the green carpet, shot through an opening in the windmill and kept going in a straight line to the hole. It disappeared into the cup.

“Hole in one!” one of the boys in Chris’s foursome yelled, his voice carrying to their hiding place.

“Way to go, man!” yelled another.

The boys surrounded Chris, slapping him on the back and awarding him high fives. Jill and Dan were perhaps forty feet away, but Jill still saw her brother’s white teeth flash.

“I’d say he’s doing just fine,” Dan said, letting the branch fall back into place.

“He is, isn’t he?” Jill smiled. Finally, after more than a year on the run, her brother seemed to be on the verge of making friends his own age. He’d even stopped offering profuse apologies for every minor mistake. “I guess this means I can go.”

“I’m sort of surprised you’re still here in Indigo Springs,” Dan said. “Aren’t you submitting that proposal today?”

“I sure am,” Jill said. “It’s not a long drive—ninety minutes at most. I don’t have to leave until after lunch.”

She waited for him to repeat his offer to accompany her.

“Are you prepared?” he asked instead.

“No,” she said, “but I’ll muddle through it.”

He merely nodded in acknowledgment.

“Felicia let me practice on her this morning and she said I did fine,” Jill said.

He cocked his head. “Just
fine?
”

“She actually said I did terrific, except she’s biased,” Jill said. “Felicia’s teaching me how to cook some of her specialties. No matter how much I mess up, she always says the food tastes delicious.”

“We all need someone like that in our lives,” he said.

She could be that person in Dan’s life. The thought struck her like a bolt of lightning. She’d gushed about him to her mother, yet had guarded against letting him know how great a guy she thought he was.

She’d gone out of her way, in fact, to distance herself from him. Tuesday night was the latest example. Discounting the impulsive kiss she’d given him outside the bar, she’d been deliberately standoffish. All because of the revelation that her father was getting ready to call in the cops.

“I should be getting back to my run.” His eyes lingered on her the same way they always did, but his smile was almost impersonal. “Good luck with the presentation.”

He turned and left her, starting a slow jog that would take him farther and farther away.

“Wait!” she called, breaking into her own run, desperate to close the distance she’d created between them.

He stopped and turned, a puzzled look on his face. “Did you want something?” She wanted
him,
which must have been evident outside the bar Tuesday night. Yet he’d made no move to follow up on that implicit invitation.

Wednesday had rolled around, turning into Thursday and then Friday with no word from him. Her days and nights had been filled with work, yes, but she could have at least fit in a lunch with him.

“Why haven’t you called?” she asked.

He shielded his eyes from the sun. “I thought it was obvious.”

She shook her head.

“This is me not pressuring you,” he said. “If it were up to me, we’d be moving at warp speed. But I meant what I said. I’m willing to go at your pace.”

She couldn’t imagine another man who’d been kissed the way she’d kissed Dan on Tuesday night being as understanding.

Then again, it became clearer to her by the day that in Dan she’d found someone special.

She’d told her mother she couldn’t afford to fall in love with him. The real question was whether she could pass up the chance to see where things between them might lead.

It didn’t have to end with her leaving town. Even if her father did go to the police, that didn’t mean the law would find them. She and Chris had been in Indigo Springs for almost a year. The town might be the best place to hide.

“What are you doing for the rest of the weekend?” she asked abruptly.

“Let’s see. After I finish my run, I was thinking about a shower.” He shrugged. “And that’s about the extent of my plans. Why?”

“If I can find someone to fill in for me tomorrow morning at Indigo River Rafters, what do you say to taking that weekend trip after all?”

“How soon would I need to be ready to go?” he asked.

“An hour,” she said. “Can you do that?”

“Just watch me.” He took off at a dead run, calling over his shoulder as he went, “Not that I’m too eager.”

She laughed, something breaking free inside her.

She realized it was hope.

Wayne grinned hugely. The sight was even more welcome than the view of Lake Wallenpaupack visible through the window of the meeting room. The Eagle Eye resort had lived up to its “luxury on the lake” billing, in no small part because a savvy architect had designed the building to showcase views of the lake. It was easy to see why the Poconos Challenge organizers had chosen the site to begin and end their event.

“Well done!” Wayne said. “That was our most entertaining proposal of the day.”

Jill had had a feeling things would go well when she’d arrived and verified that all three of the organizers were strangers. She’d known it was unlikely the tendrils of the racing community would extend from Georgia to a resort in the Poconos. Her anxiety hadn’t disappeared, however, until she’d confirmed that.

“Which part?” Jill asked. “When I couldn’t do the PowerPoint without help or the slide I snuck in of the pygmy goats?”

“All of it,” said the older of the two assistant directors, a balding man wearing a yellow racing jersey. “You made Indigo Springs sound like a fun destination.”

“Makes me wonder why I’ve never paid the town a visit,” added the only female member of the committee. She was small, soft-spoken and probably the woman who’d gone to pharmacy school with Chad Armstrong.

“If you choose our beautiful town as one of your lucky finalists, you can change that.” Jill sounded like a walking advertisement, which wasn’t her style. She consoled herself that she might be helping Chad further a romance. “Tell you what. Bring your bikes along, and I’ll lead a ride.”

“We’d love that,” Wayne said, lending credence to Charlie Bradford’s theory that cyclists related best to their own kind. Wayne stood up, and the other two did the same. “You can bet you’ll be hearing from us.”

“Great!” Jill went forward to shake their hands in turn. She took her time, although she really wanted to rush out of the room to share the news with Dan.

He’d suggested she run through the presentation during the drive from Indigo Springs, listening with a critical ear and giving her a major suggestion on how to improve it: get rid of the note cards and just talk.

She could hardly wait to tell him the casual approach had worked. To be truthful, she’d have been eager to join him even if it hadn’t.

He’d offered to check them in to the resort while she presented the case for Indigo Springs. Once she left this meeting room, the truly adventurous part of her weekend would start.

Someone rapped on the door, then flung it open. A woman about her age with a beautiful shade of red hair stuck her head into the room.

“Sorry.” The woman grimaced. “I was just checking to see if you were done with the room.”

“Don’t go, Sally,” Wayne called. “We’re just finishing up now. Come in and meet Jill Jacobi. She just submitted a proposal.”

The woman, beautifully dressed in a baby-blue linen business suit, stepped into the room. She was tall, thin—and shockingly familiar.

Jill’s heart came to a crashing stop. Or at least it felt as though it did. She wasn’t sure where she’d seen the woman before, but something about her long, thin nose and severely arched brows struck a chord.

“Sally Tomlin, this is Jill Jacobi.” Wayne made the introductions while Jill tried to remember if she’d heard the name before. “Jill, Sally works in the resort’s marketing department. She’s a mountain biker, too, so she’s acting as liaison between her people and our people.”

Jill’s fears had come true. The woman was part of the cycling community. Yet Jill could be mistaken about recognizing her. She certainly would have remembered had she seen that particular shade of red before.

“Nice to meet you, Jill.” Sally stuck out a hand, her manner professional. Before Jill could take it, she cocked her head and narrowed her eyes. “Have we met before?”

Jill took the other woman’s hand, racking her brain, trying to figure out why the other woman seemed familiar. “Not that I can recall.”

“I know I’ve seen you before,” Sally said as they shook hands.

Jill swallowed. Was Sally from Atlanta? Jill thought she detected a slight rounding of the vowels that hinted she might be a native Southerner.

“Have you ever been to Indigo Springs?” Wayne asked. “Jill’s a bartender there.”

Sally snapped her slender fingers. “That must be it. I love that little town. My husband and I have been there a couple of times.”

Relief poured through Jill, and she felt as though her blood was circulating again. “There you go.”

Although she didn’t specifically remember Sally from the Blue Haven, that must be why she seemed familiar. Tourists came and tourists went, rotating through the bar as though it had a revolving door.

“I don’t mean to rush you,” Sally said, addressing the three men, “but I’m headed home. If you’re not through, you can ask someone at the front desk to lock up the meeting room.”

“Oh, no, no,” Wayne said. “We’re all finished here. I’m sure Jill is eager to get on with her day.”

Wayne had that right, Jill thought after she left the meeting, switched on her cell phone and saw a text from Dan that read Meet me in room 402.

She hurried through the plush resort, passing an indoor pool, sauna and fitness facility before she reached the lobby. A couple and their three children were waiting for the elevator. Jill bypassed them and took the steps, rushing up them so fast she nearly stumbled.

“Slow down,” she told herself between the third and fourth floors. She couldn’t seem to take her own advice, finding herself in front of room 402 in practically no time at all.

She didn’t hesitate, rapping lightly on the door. It swung open almost immediately. The elegant room didn’t take her breath away. Dan did. She’d already seen him that afternoon, of course, but was struck again by how good he looked. Unlike her, he was dressed in casual clothes—khaki shorts, sandals and a white shirt that made his black hair seem even darker.

“Well?” he asked, an expectant gleam in his eyes. “How did it go?”

“It went great,” she said. “They all but told me Indigo Springs would be one of the finalists.”

“See. All that worrying for nothing.”

She had a fleeting thought of the panic she’d felt upon meeting Sally Tomlin, then banished the woman from her mind. The mystery of why Sally seemed familiar had been solved.

“For nothing,” she repeated. She walked deeper into the beautifully appointed guest room, decorated in warm shades of peach coupled with mahogany furniture. A window seat overlooked the lake, its water still glistening even though there were only a few hours of daylight remaining. “This is gorgeous.”

She finally let her eyes rest on the focal point of the room, a king-size canopy bed with a lacy white bedspread.

Her heartbeat sped up.

She should be annoyed that he’d asked for a room with a king-size bed after he’d made a point of saying they’d move at her pace. Yet she was oddly excited.

“I have a surprise for you,” he said, “but first you have to change out of those clothes.”

She thought of the little black dress she’d packed, then the skimpy nightgown. Which one was he suggesting?

“You brought sneakers, right?” He didn’t wait for her acknowledgment. “Make sure you wear those. We don’t have much daylight left. Can you meet me in ten minutes?”

She wouldn’t feel comfortable getting undressed in front of him before they shared a bed, but she could change her clothes in the spacious bathroom.

“Meet you where?” she asked.

“Outside in the hall,” he said. “I’m next door in room 404. You can knock when you’re ready.”

“Seriously?” She felt her mouth drop open. “You got two rooms?”

He smiled, bent down, then kissed her open mouth, softly and sweetly. The kiss was over far too soon. He stroked her cheek.

“I told you I wouldn’t rush you.” He stepped away, and it took all her restraint not to grab for him and yank him back. “Ten minutes. Be ready.”

She was already ready, she realized after he left the room. When they’d left Indigo Springs she hadn’t been sure how far she’d let their relationship progress.

Now she was sure.

She was going to make love to him. Tonight.