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Emerson shook her head. “Nobody. Just a woman who helped out my mom. She’s nobody.”

That seemed to placate Claire. “I felt terrible that I wasn’t able to be here for your mother’s funeral,” she said, wrapping her arms around Emerson and pressing her cheek between Emerson’s shoulder blades. “Then I heard about that fiasco at McKinney Carr and thought you could use some support.” She stepped back and when Emerson turned to face her, she held her arms out from her sides. “Ta da! Here I am!”

Emerson forced a smile, then walked directly to the kitchen where a bottle of Cabernet stood open and breathing, a half empty glass with a lipstick smear standing next to it. “I see you found the wine.”

“I didn’t think you’d mind.”

Emerson didn’t speak. Instead, she poured herself a healthy glass and took it into the bedroom where she tried not to focus on Claire’s enormous suitcase now propped in a corner. She found her pills, shook one out, and downed it with a big gulp of the wine.

“You know, getting here was not easy,” Claire was saying as Emerson peeled off her clothes and changed into more comfortable flannel pants. She found a long-sleeved T-shirt in her mother’s drawer and pulled it over her head, smelling it as it slipped past her nose. “I didn’t realize I’d have to drive three hours from the airport. If I had, I’d have called you to pick me up.”

Emerson kept herself from scoffing aloud, thinking,
That would
not
have happened
. She then immediately felt guilty. Claire had come a long way to see her. Rearranging her work schedule wasn’t easy, and Emerson knew this.

“But I wanted to surprise you.” Claire was still talking. She body-blocked Emerson as she came out of the bedroom. “Aren’t you glad to see me?” Her bottom lip protruded in an expression she clearly assumed was endearing. Emerson tended to think it was childish.

With a deep sigh, she tried to relax and said, “Of course, I am.”

Claire took the wine glass from Emerson’s hand and set it on a dresser. Then she slid her hands up Emerson’s arms, and wrapped her own arms around Emerson’s neck. “Well, then, give me a real kiss, lover.”

Their mouths met, Claire projecting her desire in seconds, pushing her tongue against Emerson’s. Emerson forced herself to relax, to go with it. Behind her closed eyelids, Cassie’s face loomed, and Emerson’s heart rate kicked up a notch. She took Claire’s face in her hands and sank into the kiss, feeling Cassie’s skin against her palms, Cassie’s soft lips beneath hers, Cassie’s whimpers being swallowed by Emerson’s mouth.

When she remembered who she was kissing, she pulled back, dropping her hands from Claire’s face. Claire’s eyes were cloudy, her cheeks flushed, her chest heaving. “Now that’s what I’m talking about. Wow.”

Blinking until her vision cleared, Emerson took a step back, snatched her wine off the dresser, and headed into the living room. “I have to sit down,” she mumbled, her knee throbbing. She dropped onto the couch and propped her foot up on the coffee table, her entire body sighing with relief. She took a large sip of wine and held it in her mouth as she let her head fall back against the headrest and tried not to think about where her mind had just gone.

She hadn’t even been here for two weeks and this fucking town was messing with her head already.

“
I almost kissed her.
”

Jonathan sputtered, trying not to dribble his coffee down his chin and onto his very expensive Ralph Lauren sweater. “You did
what
?” he asked once he’d gotten himself under control.

“You heard me.” Cassie sat at her desk where she’d been most of the morning. She wasn’t sure why she’d told Jonathan about the previous night. She knew what his reaction would be. He didn’t disappoint.

“Jesus, Cassandra. What’s gotten into you? Her? The Ice Princess? Really?”

Cassie shook her head and gazed out the window at the steel gray sky. The first snowfall was predicted to arrive this week and for the first time in years, she wished it would hold off. The idea of curling up in front of her gas fireplace alone was less than appealing. “I wish you’d stop calling her that,” she said quietly.

“But it’s so fitting.”

“It’s really not.” Cassie dropped a hand onto Gordie’s head, pet him absently as she continued to stare into the distance.

Apparently, Jonathan agreed to disagree with her because he let that one go. “Well, she is stunningly good looking. At least I can see why you’d be attracted to her. And pray tell, why did you
not
kiss her?”

Cassie looked at him and tried to gauge whether he really wanted to know or he was just pacifying her. Surprisingly, she didn’t care. She needed to talk this out, and Jonathan was there. He’d do. “Her girlfriend showed up.”

Jonathan stared at her for a full five seconds before he spoke. “Wait. What? Her girlfriend is here? In Lake Henry?”

“Well, my regular friends don’t kiss me on the mouth in greeting, so I’m going to go with yes, it was her girlfriend, and she’s here.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah.”

“Was she pretty?”

Cassie cocked her head at him. “Really?”

He shrugged. “What? I’m curious.”

“She was beautiful,” Cassie said with a sigh as she thought back to the evening before and the woman who’d so rudely interrupted what had been an amazing night, surely about to get better. Chestnut brown hair that fell in waves around her shoulders, and light blue eyes that darted from Emerson to Cassie and back. An outfit that consisted of pricey tailored slacks and a light blue sweater that looked like it was meant only for her. Cassie shook the memory away and realized she was irritated with herself that it never occurred to her Emerson might have somebody. “Very put together. Pretty blue eyes. Gorgeous hair. Expensive clothes.”
The anti-Cassie
, she thought but refrained from saying aloud.

“Has she been here the whole time?”

“I don’t think so. Mary would’ve said something.” Cassie thought back to the previous night. “And you know what? Emerson seemed as shocked to see her as I was.”

“Oh, the surprise visit. Those are always fun. Not.”

“Right? Anyway, I have no idea what’s going on. It was all so weird. We had a fun night. She was surprisingly great with the kids. She got really cold at one point, but she never complained because…I think she was enjoying herself. I know I was.”

Jonathan nodded, studying her, and didn’t say anything for a long moment. Finally, he spoke. “You’re really starting to like her, huh?”

“She’s
nice,
Johnny. And she’s so damn sexy…” She let her voice trail off for a moment. “I have no clue if there’s much beyond that, but I do know that I had a really great night with a beautiful woman for the first time since the shit hit the fan with Vanessa. I spent the evening with a very attractive, intelligent, interesting woman who seemed to be enjoying my company. It felt good.”

“And there was enough chemistry that you wanted to kiss her.”

“And she wanted to kiss me. Don’t forget that part. She wasn’t exactly pushing me away.”

“Well. Maybe you need to do some research.”

Cassie furrowed her brows. “What do you mean?”

He stood, tossed his empty Starbucks cup into her wastebasket. “I mean talk to her. Ask her what the deal is. How else will you know?”

Cassie pinched the bridge of her nose. “Or I could just leave it alone. Things looked pretty cozy between them, and I’m probably just grabbing on to whatever I can since I’m single and hating it.” She looked down at Gordie’s eyes. “Right, Gordo?”

Jonathan shook his head and opened her office door. “You are such a girl.”

“But you love me anyway,” Cassie called out as he went into the hall.

“Lucky for you.” The door clicked shut.

Gordie wandered to his round dog bed in the corner, turned in a circle five or six times, then settled down with a happy groan. Cassie sipped from her coffee cup, making a mental note that she needed to bring coffee to Jonathan later, as he was three visits up on her. There was a mountain of paperwork that needed to be done, as well as a list of phone calls she needed to make, but all she could manage to do was gaze out the window at the lake and rehash every second of last night.

When she’d invited Emerson to join her and the kids, it had been fairly innocent. Cassie was smart enough to recognize when she found somebody physically attractive, but she’d kept that in check. Emerson wasn’t staying in Lake Henry. She’d made that abundantly clear more than once. So Cassie had been pretty sure she’d taken that attraction and shelved it. She had no idea when the switch had flipped, but she’d had a great time, and when Chris had shown up to get the kids, she wanted nothing more than to spend more time with Emerson. And the look in Emerson’s blue eyes had said the same thing.

Jesus, had she become a complete failure at reading people? At interpreting body language? They really couldn’t have been much closer on their walk. They’d strolled as slowly as possible so they wouldn’t get to the end of the journey so soon, and being up against her, having Emerson leaning on her… She shook her head slowly. She’d been so drawn to Emerson…and it seemed the feeling was mutual.

Why hadn’t Emerson mentioned having a girlfriend? She said she dated. Is that what she’d meant? That she was
dating
? Now? Currently?

Cassie remembered the woman’s eyes ping-ponging back and forth between her and Emerson. Had she known there was something there? Had she seen it? Did she have any idea that if she’d waited five more seconds to open the door, she’d have caught them with their mouths fused together?

And with that thought, Cassie pictured it, as she had a hundred times last night as she tossed and turned in her lonely bed. Emerson had a great mouth. Those lips…

“Jesus Christ,” Cassie muttered, shoving back from her desk harder than necessary. “Come on, Gordie. I need distraction. Let’s go downstairs and sell some stuff. Wanna?”

The store was somewhat busy for a Tuesday mid-morning. The kids were in school, but a few tourists were still around. Not nearly as many as in summer and early fall, and not nearly as many as during ski season, but it was steady enough. This was the very tail end of the foliage season, or the season of the “leaf-lookers,” as the locals called it. People from parts of the country that didn’t have the amazing trees that changed color with the seasons flocked to the northeast just to see the leaves. And Cassie had to admit, it was beautiful. But it was just about over. Most of the trees had started to drop their leaves, and in another week or two, most of them would be bare. The landscape would go from blazing oranges, yellows, and reds to dull and boring brown.

She and Gordie headed down to the first floor to see how things were going. She checked in with Frannie, who nodded to her questions as she rang out a customer buying gloves. Then she sidled past a couple more customers in the aisle and headed down to the lower level to check in with her mom. Gordie found her first, zipping across the room to her. As Cassie headed toward the back door to peek out at the lake, she saw her mother making a weird face at her. Cassie squinted at her and held her arms out to the sides in a silent, “What?” Her mother gestured to her left with her eyes, then widened them. Cassie was confused, but when she looked in the direction her mother pointed, it all became clear.

Vanessa walked toward her.

“Shit,” Cassie muttered under her breath. Then, “Hey.”

Vanessa stopped next to her. She looked exhausted. Dark circles accented the undersides of her eyes and her normally glossy hair was dull and yanked back into a messy ponytail that looked like it had been done at the very last minute. “Hi.” Vanessa’s eyes darted around the room. Luckily, there were no customers on this level at the moment. Cassie sent up a silent thank you to the universe.

Cassie waited. When Vanessa said nothing more, she raised her eyebrows and turned her head slightly, an expectant look on her face.

“The kids’ costumes looked great,” Vanessa finally said, her voice quiet.

Cassie nodded. “Yeah, they did good.” After a beat, she made a face and asked, “When did you see them?”

“Last night.” Vanessa’s eyes finally met hers, and they were crackling with…something. “We walked right past you, but you didn’t see us.”

Cassie searched her memory banks, but came up empty.

“Well, you didn’t see me. The kids were busy knocking on doors.”

That made more sense to Cassie, but she felt a little pang of guilt. “I’m really sorry, V. You should have said something, gotten my attention.”

Vanessa barked a laugh that sounded inordinately loud in the quiet space as she glanced out the back windows. “No, I don’t think so.” She waited a beat, then turned her gaze back to Cassie. Her eyes were filled with unshed tears as she asked in almost a whisper, “Are you seeing her?”

Oh, Jesus,
Cassie thought, rubbing her forehead with her fingertips. That’s what this was about. “Vanessa,” she said, and Vanessa cringed, then lashed out, still quiet.

“
Don’t.
Don’t you say my name like that. Like you pity me. Please, Cassie. I can’t take that.”

Cassie grasped her arm and led her to the back corner of the lower level of the store. She kept her voice low, but imploring. “Vanessa. We cannot keep doing this. We can’t. You’ve got to stop.”

“I know. I know.” Tears tracked down her cheeks, but to Vanessa’s credit, she kept herself mostly under control. She looked back into Cassie’s eyes and said, “You didn’t answer my question.”

Cassie made a quiet guttural sound in her throat. “No. Okay? No, I am not seeing Emerson. She’s with somebody.”

Vanessa studied her face, and Cassie wanted to hide. She did her best to school her features, but Vanessa knew her better than anybody. “But you wish she wasn’t. You wish she wasn’t with somebody,” she stated simply. “Don’t you?”

Cassie clenched her teeth and looked away. “I am not going to do this with you.”

Vanessa looked down at her feet, and they were both quiet for a long moment. When Vanessa looked up, her eyes were clear and she was doing her best to look perfectly fine. If Cassie didn’t know her so well, she might not have realized how much pain she was hiding.