picked up her glass and drank some of her iced tea.
Where was Gram? And what was taking Tuck so long on the phone?
Was he talking to Zach?
She took another sip of tea.
Reporters constantly asked her if she was in love with Hugh. But unfortunately for her, it wasn’t Hugh who came to mind at the mention of the word love. No, for her, love and Zach would always be tangled together like an impossible knot. Her chest tightened. She’d only felt that exquisitely painful rush of excitement once.
She never wanted to feel it again.
She’d been sixteen, and he nineteen, when their romance had ended in unbearable heartbreak. For a brief moment she allowed herself to remember New Orleans and the terrible, secret loss she’d suffered there, a loss that had shattered her youthful illusions forever, a loss that had taught her some mistakes could never be made right.
Zach was the reason why she almost never came home. Bonne Terre was a small, gossipy Cajun town. If she hadn’t forgotten her past, the town wouldn’t have forgotten it, either. Even if the town’s citizens didn’t ask her about him, she always felt him everywhere when she was home. She had too many painful memories and … secrets.
Here on this very porch he had kissed her that first time.
Just as she was remembering how her mouth had felt scorched after he’d brushed his lips against hers, her grandmother’s low, gravelly whisper interrupted her thoughts.
“You’re not the only person who loves to sit in that chair.”
The sly, mischievous note in her grandmother’s tone sent a frisson of alarm through Summer.
“Oh.” She didn’t turn and smile because her cheeks were still burning.
“Zach always sits there.”
Summer stiffened.
“I can’t believe you allow him to come over, much less allow him to sit in my chair. What if someone tips off the press about his visits to see my grandmother and this causes another nasty story to be published about us? And why is he developing in Bonne Terre anyway? In all these years he’s never once come back, until now.”
“When his uncle died back in the fall he came to visit Nick. When he saw the land prices, he started talking to people. He already has a casino in Vegas. One thing led to another. The city fathers decided to court him….”
When Summer noticed the ice cubes in her glass tinkling, she set the glass down with a harsh clink.
”Careful, dear, that’s your mama’s best crystal.” They paused, as they both reflected on the sweetness of Anna, Summer’s dear, departed mother, whom they would miss forever. “Zach’s bought up all that land across from our place.”
“I still can’t believe that with his history, with so many in this town set against him, Zach would come back here.”
“He says it’s time to set the record straight. He’s certainly winning the town over.”
How exactly did he intend to set the record straight? Summer thought of the one secret she’d kept from him and trembled. “He’s made a fortune in Houston. Isn’t that vindication enough? Why would he care what the people here think of him?”
“They nearly sent him to prison.”
Because of me, Summer thought with genuine regret.
“Old wounds run deep sometimes … and need healin’. He’s got everybody around here excited. His casino’s going to be a fancy riverboat.”
“Gambling? It’s a vicious, addictive sport.”
“Gaming will bring jobs…. And jobs will buy a lot of forgiveness. Bonne Terre’s fallen on really hard times of late.”
“Gram, you sound brainwashed. It makes me wonder how often Zach comes by.”
“Well, he dropped by the first time because he wanted to see if I’d sell this place to him.”
Summer would watch the swamp freeze over before she let that happen.
“Zach’s been by about once a week ever since. We have coffee and cookies. Chocolate chip are his favorite.”
Summer took great pains to center her glass in its condensation ring on the coaster. “I hope you didn’t tell Zach you might sell or that I was coming to see you about all this.”
Her grandmother hesitated. “I’m afraid I might have told him he could make me an offer. And … You know how I can never resist bragging about you. I’ve shown him my scrap-books.”
Summer frowned. “I can’t imagine I’m his favorite subject.”
“Well, like I said, he’s always ever-so polite. He’s been especially interested in your romance with Hugh.” Gram smiled. “Asked me whom I thought was more fun—Hugh or himself?
I said Hugh was a rich movie star, who probably wouldn’t waste his time on an old lady. I told Zach he had nothing to worry about.”
Summer squeezed her eyes shut and counted to ten.
Kneading the knot between her eyes, she said, “Did you or didn’t you tell him I was coming home because I’m upset about Tuck’s job?”
“It’s hard for me to remember exactly what I do or say these days, but if I did tell him, what can it matter? You said that what happened between you two was over a long time ago.”
Summer frowned. Yes, of course, it was over. So, why was she obsessing about him?
“I think Thurman had Zach all wrong. I told your stepfather he was too hard on the boy at the time, that you were just youngsters in love. But Thurman doesn’t ever listen to anybody.”
He hadn’t listened when Summer and her mother had begged him to drop the charges against Zach, and the stress of that time had ended her mother’s remission. Her mother’s death was just one of the reasons Summer was estranged from him. The other had to do with a tiny grave in New Orleans.
But Summer didn’t want to think about that. “Okay, back to selling this place to Zach. That can’t happen.”
“I can’t help it if I’m not averse to moving into a modern condo, if Zach comes up with some favorable financin’.”
“But I love this house,” Summer protested. “I can’t believe you’ve actually gone this far with a deal without once mentioning it to me. What’s his next move?”
“He said he’d put an offer together, but so far he’s been too busy.”
“Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll stay busy,” Summer muttered, squeezing her eyes shut.
Somehow she didn’t really think Zach, who could be relentless, would leave her grandmother alone until he got exactly what he wanted. Had he hired Tuck to win over Gram? So she’d
