who keeps backing away from this deal—not me!”
Tripp reeled away. Good God, she was right.
Silence hung in the still, cool room. Minutes dragged by while they contemplated each other. Finally, Tripp drew in a deep breath.
“So you intend to see this thing through?” he asked.
Kaitlin nodded confidently. “I’ll have my dream, Mr. Callihan, and not you, or Harvey Stutz, or a room full of cobwebs is going to stop me.”
She offered her hand. “So how about it? Is it a deal?”
Tripp gazed at her outstretched hand. God knows, he’d be crazy to accept an offer like this. The store was a losing proposition if he’d ever seen one. Hell, he’d be better off walking out the door now while he still could.
But Kaitlin…Kaitlin burned with determination. Kaitlin caused something to flicker inside him. That determination, surely.
Tripp grasped Kaitlin’s hand, soft, delicate, fragile. A knot jerked in his stomach.
“It’s a deal,” Tripp said, and wished to God he’d never touched her.
“A little more to the right. That’s it…just a little more. Stop. Perfect.”
Kaitlin nodded with satisfaction as Rudy Langley positioned her big oval mirror in the corner of her new bedroom. Not the biggest room in the world, or in the store, but it was perfect for her, situated off the kitchen in the back room of her new business enterprise.
“Thanks, Rudy.”
Isabelle’s harness-and-pregnancy-making brother nodded and glanced around the room. “I guess that’s everything.”
“Everything but a dose of good sense.” Isabelle pursed her lips as she opened the lid of Kaitlin’s trunk.
“Honestly, Isabelle, you worry too much.” Kaitlin grabbed a handful of pantalettes from her carpetbag and shoved them into the bureau drawer. “What can go wrong?”
“A thousand things!” Isabelle waved her arms wildly.
Kaitlin turned to Rudy. “Talk to your sister. Make her understand.”
He backed away. “I just came to drive the team and unload your things. You two can fight this out on your own.” Rudy disappeared out the door.
Kaitlin pushed more of her belongings into the bureau drawer. “Nothing will go wrong.”
“Kaitlin, listen to reason.” Isabelle followed her across the room. “You don’t know this man. What if he’s a murderer? What if he was in prison? What if he’s one of those men who…takes advantage of women?”
Kaitlin stopped at the armoire. “Mr. Callihan hardly seems the type. But if it will make you feel better, when he gets here I’ll ask him if he’s ever killed anyone.”
Isabelle shook her head frantically. “Please, be serious about this.”
“Listen, Isabelle, if Mr. Callihan were a criminal, he certainly wouldn’t have showed up in Sheriff Newell’s office to claim Harvey Stutz’s belongings, now would he?”
“Well, maybe not.” Isabelle eyes narrowed. “But how do you know he won’t run off with your money like Harvey Stutz did? Hmm? How do you know that?”
Kaitlin shook out the pink skirt she pulled from the trunk and hung it in the armoire. Tripp Callihan could have run off with everything—cash and deed—the night he’d left her in the hotel, but he hadn’t.
“He seems like an honest man. He gave me his word, and I believed him.”
“His word?” Isabelle rolled her eyes. “And I suppose you shook hands, too?”
A hot rush crackled through Kaitlin at the memory of Tripp’s big, strong hand, closing over hers. It had sealed their deal in a way she hadn’t expected.
Kaitlin turned quickly to the armoire again. “Isabelle, you worry too much.”
“Of course I worry too much!” Isabelle wrung her hands together. “Think about what you’re doing. A partnership with a man you hardly know—a man you’ll be living with here in this store, all alone. Kaitlin, what will the townspeople think of you? Have you considered that?”
Her hands stilled on the blue blouse she pulled from her trunk. Color stung her cheeks, but she forced it down.
“Mr. Callihan and I are business partners. That’s all. The townspeople will just have to accept it. And once they’ve been in the store and seen what’s going on, no one will think any differently.”
“People talk, Kaitlin.”
“Well, let them talk.” She closed the trunk. “This is what I must do to get my money back. And if things go as planned, I won’t be in town long enough to care what anyone thinks.”
“Kaitlin, please, think this over.”
Reaching out, Kaitlin took her friend’s hands. “Stop worrying, Isabelle. Everything will be fine.”
Isabelle’s shoulders slumped. “All right. But if you need anything, you let me know. Rudy and I will come right over. It’s only a few hours’ drive.”
Kaitlin smiled. Isabelle had been her friend since they were just girls. They’d been through a great deal together. She didn’t know how she would have managed the trip to Porter—and a lot of other things—without her help.
Rudy stepped into the doorway of the bedroom. “We’d better go. Need anything else before we leave, Kaitlin?”
She gazed at the bedroom. Since Isabelle and Rudy had driven her to Porter this morning, they’d spent most of the day cleaning. Now, filled with her brass bed, bureau, mirror and armoire, the room looked a little more like home.
“No, Rudy, you’d better go if you want to get back before dark.” Kaitlin stretched up and gave him a peck on the cheek. “Thanks for everything.”
Rudy ducked his head and grinned. “We’ll miss you.”
Kaitlin led the way through the kitchen—which they hadn’t touched yet—and out the back door. Across the little dirt alley stood a small barn and corral. Rudy’s wagon waited at the edge of the covered boardwalk.
“When is that Mr. Callihan supposed to get here?” Isabelle gazed down the alley, past the rear of the other businesses that faced Main Street.
“We agreed to meet here today. I’m sure he’s on his way.”
Isabelle’s eyes narrowed as if she doubted it.
“He’ll be here.” Kaitlin urged her toward the wagon and stepped back onto the boardwalk. “Goodbye. Thanks again.”
“Remember what I said,” Isabelle called as she settled into the wagon seat.
Rudy
