from across the small conference table. Professional. She’d stayed friends with his mother, so he heard about her every now and then. How she’d been promoted to senior producer at the local news station in Los Angeles, and how she wanted to get to a network position. Showing up in Fool’s Gold was an unexpected left turn in her career path.
Just as unanticipated had been the call from Mayor Marsha, inviting him to be a part of the town’s new publicity project. She’d phoned about fifteen minutes after he’d already decided he was coming home for the summer. The woman had mad skills.
“How about tomorrow?” Maya asked. “Why don’t you call me in the morning and we’ll set up a day and time?”
“Works for me.”
She gave him her cell number.
Mayor Marsha’s desk phone beeped.
“Excuse me,” the mayor said. “I need to take this call. I’ll leave you two to work out the details.”
They all rose. Del and Maya walked into the hallway. Once there, he half expected her to bolt, but she surprised him by pausing.
“When was the last time you were back?” she asked.
“It’s been a couple of years. You?”
“I came home to visit Zane and Chase a couple of months ago and never left.”
Her brothers, he thought. Technically her stepbrothers, but he knew they were the only family she had. While he’d grown up in a loud, close-knit, crazy family, Maya hadn’t had anyone but an indifferent mother. She’d made her own way in the world. Something he’d respected about her, until that trait had turned around and bit him on the ass.
“You’re a long way from Hollywood,” he said.
“You’re a long way from the Himalayas.”
“So neither of us belongs here.”
“Yet here we are.” She smiled. “It’s good to see you, Del.”
You, too.
He thought the words, but didn’t say them. Because it was good, damn her. And he didn’t want it to be. Maya was born trouble. At least she had been for him. Not that he would make that mistake again. He’d trusted her with everything he had and she’d thrown it back in his face. Lesson learned.
He nodded at her, then swung his backpack over his shoulder. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
Her smile faltered for a second before returning. “Yes, you will.”
He watched her go. When she was out of sight, he thought about going after her. Not that there was anything to say. Their last conversation, a decade ago, had made everything clear.
He told himself the past was the past. That he’d moved on and was long over her. He’d gone his way and she’d gone hers. Everything had worked out for the best.
He walked out of City Hall and toward the lakefront. There was a continuity to the town, he thought as he looked around and saw tourists and residents coexisting. City workers were changing the banners, taking down those celebrating the Dog Days of Summer Festival and hanging the ones proclaiming the Máa-zib Festival. This time last year, they’d been doing the same thing. And the year before and a year from now. While there were a handful of recent businesses opening, truth was the heart of the town never changed.
Brew-haha might be a new place to get coffee, but he knew that when he walked inside he would be greeted, very possibly by name. There would be a bulletin board advertising everything from dog-walking services to upcoming civic meetings. That while some of the friends he’d had in high school had moved on, most of them had stayed. Nearly all the girls he’d kissed as a kid were still around. Most of them married. This was their home and where they felt they belonged. Their kids would grow up to go to the same elementary school, middle and high school. Their kids would play in Pyrite Park and go to the same festivals. Here, life had a rhythm.
Once Del had thought he would be a part of it. That he would stick around and run the family business. Find the right girl, fall in love and—
Talk about a long time ago, he told himself. Talk about being a child himself. He could barely remember what it had been like back then. Before he’d left. When his dreams had been simple and he’d known that he was going to spend the rest of his life with Maya.
For a second he allowed himself to think of her. Of how in love he’d been. Back then he would have said they’d been in love, but she’d proved him wrong. At the time he’d been devastated, but now he was grateful. Because of her, he’d left Fool’s Gold. Because of her, he’d been free to leave and could return home the conquering hero.
He waited for the flush of pride. There wasn’t any. Maybe because in the past couple of months, he’d started to realize he had to figure out a new direction. Since selling his company, he’d been restless. Sure there were offers, but none that interested him. So he’d come back to where it all started. To see his family. To celebrate his dad’s sixtieth birthday. To figure out where he went from here.
For the second time in as many minutes, he thought about Maya. How nothing had ever been as beautiful as her green eyes when she smiled up at him. How—
Del hesitated for a nanosecond before crossing the street, then he brushed the memory away, as if it had never been. Maya was his past. He was moving forward. Mayor Marsha wanted them to work together, which was fine by him. He would enjoy the challenge, and then move on. That’s what he did these days. He moved on. Just as Maya had taught him.
* * *
WHILE THE MITCHELLS couldn’t claim to be one of the founding families of Fool’s Gold, they’d only missed that distinction by a single generation. They’d been around longer than most and had the interesting family history to prove it.
Maya had first met Elaine Mitchell over ten years before when she’d applied for a part-time job with Mitchell Fool’s Gold Tours. The friendly, outgoing woman had promised fair pay and flexible shifts. As Maya had been saving every penny for college, she’d been thrilled with the offer. There wasn’t going to be any help from her family, so it was up to her to get scholarships, grants and loans, then supplement the rest with whatever she could save.
Two unexpected things had happened that fateful summer. Maya had met and fallen in love with Del—Elaine’s oldest son. But she’d also made a friend in the Mitchell matriarch. Elaine was married to famous glass artist Ceallach Mitchell and was the mother of five boys. She’d been born and raised in Fool’s Gold. Her life was the best kind of chaos—one defined by a growing, happy family.
Maya had been the only child of an exotic dancer who had married for money and suffered the consequences. While Maya had felt badly for her mother, she had loved moving to Fool’s Gold and being a relatively normal teen for the first time ever.
On the surface the two women had little in common, Maya thought as she hurried out of City Hall and headed for her car. They were worlds and lifetimes apart. Yet they’d always seemed to have something to talk about and, despite how Maya’s relationship with Del had ended, she and Elaine had stayed in touch.
Now she got in her car and drove the six miles out of town toward the Mitchell family house. It stood on acres
