she took a sip of cider before setting down the mug “—if you want to make it to your wedding day alive, don’t even think of trying to set me up with him.”
“Vannie Quintero, the teen who works at my future father-in-law’s campground, is thrilled to be teamed up with an ex-cowboy.” Meg winked. “Maybe you would be, too.”
“Don’t count on it.” Kara gave in to a smile and tossed her ponytail over her shoulder. She’d hardly believed it when Meg had told her Trey agreed to mentor a high school kid. Or that no one, considering his own teenage track record, voiced objections. “Besides, there’s no such thing as an ex-cowboy.”
“You never can tell. With the right woman…” Meg gave her a mischievous poke in the arm. “Now that I’m going to be more than a temporary resident of Canyon Springs, I wish you’d move back, too. Think of all the fun we’d have.”
“Fun?” she countered with a grin of her own. “Like watching you and Joe cuddling up on the sofa, eyes glued to each other like at the New Year’s Eve party a couple of weekends ago?”
“Hook up with Trey,” Meg said, wiggling her eyebrows, “then go thou and do likewise.”
Kara shook a finger at her. “I’m warning you—”
Her friend had all but bubbled with happiness since she and Joe got engaged. Must be nice. Not that she resented her friend’s good fortune to find a guy like the ex-navy corpsman with a cute kid. Meg more than deserved a happily ever after. But if Kara had the misfortune to return permanently, she’d likely seldom see her old friend. With Meg’s full-time teaching job, a soon-to-be husband, new stepson—and probably future kids—that didn’t leave much time to hang out.
Besides, Canyon Springs wasn’t in her future. Never had been. Never would be.
She held up her hand, thumb and forefinger pressed together. “I’m this far from that promotion. And I’m sure my supervisor wouldn’t appreciate my ditching him right now. Not after he’s gone out of his way to cover for me while I’m checking in on Mom. I promised to be back in two more weeks, and I take my promises seriously.”
Her memory flickered to the last conversation she’d had with her supervisor and mentor, Spencer Alexander. He’d laughed, but not in a derogatory way, when she’d let it slip that her father had been a rodeo cowboy. He’d called her his “little cowgirl.”
“And don’t forget,” she continued. “I came back here for a few weeks last spring when that new medication got Mom’s system all out of whack. And when she fell last summer. Unpaid time off isn’t helping my professional reputation—or my savings account. I’m still covering my quarter of the rent and utilities on the apartment even when I’m not there. Making car payments, too.”
Meg gave an exaggerated sigh. “I’m thrilled you’re getting a chance to live your dream. But I can dream, too, can’t I?”
“Dream away. But don’t hold your breath.”
Meg glanced at her watch, then set her mug down before snatching her jacket off the back of a nearby chair. “Thanks for helping me load the boxes. I’d better get going. Have a few things to finish up before we start carting things over to the new place tonight. Joe’s dad let us store my Phoenix furniture at the RV park’s rec center until we got the house livable.”
With another twinge of unexpected envy, Kara recalled the cute little place Meg and Joe bought last month and where Meg would now be living prior to the wedding. She’d helped her spruce up the kitchen last week. A little paint and a lot of elbow grease. New floor tile laid and curtains hung.
“You’re still having a move-in party tonight? Even with the snow?”
“Yeah. It’ll be messy, which is why I want to cut up boxes to protect the hardwood floor.” Meg zipped her coat and dug gloves out of her pockets. “Joe starts official paramedic training Monday and he wants me settled in before he leaves.”
Kara motioned to the ceiling. “Even though you weren’t in the upstairs apartment for long, I’m going to miss you.”
“I’ll miss you, too. It was great not to have to spend the past six weeks in the RV. Your mom wouldn’t even take rent money—said to consider it an engagement gift. Can you believe it? But I’m sure she could use a paying tenant.”
“She wouldn’t have offered it if she’d needed the money.”
Meg’s smile widened. “Now I have a wedding to finish planning, don’t I? Spring break will be here before we know it. Speaking of which, Joe’s Aunt Rosa started sewing your maid of honor dress. Hopefully she’ll be far enough along for a final fitting before you leave.”
Bells above the store’s front door tinkled, sounding merrier than Kara felt, and the pair glanced at a bundled-up couple entering the welcoming warmth of the general store.
“Looks like I’d better let you get back to work.” Meg stepped forward to give her a hug. “Good luck on getting the leak fixed. See you tonight?”
Kara nodded, but it was with a heavy heart that she watched her friend out the door. Even though Meg didn’t seem to sense it, she didn’t like the invisible wall that reared itself between them with Trey’s return. But there was no way she’d attempt to explain to her what she’d done to him. Meg was so enthralled with Trey, she’d never understand. She’d certainly think far less of her college friend if she knew.
Already dreading an evening where Trey might show up, Kara grabbed a dust cloth and gave the checkout counter a swipe, then paused to gaze around the familiar expanse of the Warehouse. The paned windows. Plank floors. Well-stocked grocery items and other general merchandise. Displays of mountain country souvenirs and outdoor gear.
The knot in her stomach tightened. Why hadn’t her cousin Lindi alerted her to Trey’s return? Lindi. The reason she couldn’t tell Trey the truth. Beg his forgiveness. It was twelve years ago this very spring that her confused and scared, barely sixteen-year-old self had made the promise. Pledged that she wouldn’t tell a soul her best-friends-forever cousin had confessed to accidentally setting the forest on fire.
By the time she’d found out Trey had been accused…it was too late. She’d already made that impulsive vow that still reached out to haunt her. Just one more sign that while God may have set her world in motion, kept it spinning, he was most often off in another sector of the universe.
“Hey, Trey!” Meg grabbed his snow-covered, jacketed arm, hauling him and his nieces off the porch and into the house she and Joe would soon be calling home. “You’re just in time for pizza.”
He stepped onto the rug by the door, Missy in his arms and Mary clinging shyly to his leg. He gazed around a room full of people helping themselves to the savory, mouthwatering contents of cardboard delivery boxes. He glimpsed a few familiar faces—Meg’s fiancé and his dad and son. A dozen or two others he guessed to be church friends or teacher pals of Meg. Some of Joe’s buds.
Recognition flickered in the gazes of several guests. That was to be expected in a small town. Warm interest reflected in the smiles of a few of the younger women. That was usually to be expected as well—wherever.
But no Kara.
Thank you, Lord.
He almost hadn’t come,
