space where his father’s recliner—the chair Jesse had always referred to as “the throne”—had stood. A golden retriever lazed in a puddle of sunlight near the playpens.
One thing was missing—something that made the most distinct difference, something he’d always associated with this room—his father’s cigarette smoke. This had been the room where Jesse had come face-to-face with his father for the first time, where he’d come frequently to have punishments meted out, where he’d confronted his father over Honey’s impending, disastrous marriage to Stan, her first husband, and where he’d seen his father for the last time. More than anything else, the absence of the smoke that had labeled the room as Frank Kingston’s erased his presence from the house.
“Dawg!” one of the twin girls shouted and pointed, yanking Jesse from the past.
As if on cue, the golden retriever stood, stretched and sauntered over to Jesse, then offered her ears to be scratched. As he obliged, he glanced at his family.
They have it all.
And what did he have? The house next door, a house he hadn’t been inside since long before he’d bought it on a whim to allow Emily to have this one. A family whose love and affection made him want to run. And enough guilt sitting on his shoulders to sink a battleship. Quite a summation of a man’s life.
“Uncle Jesse?”
He roused himself and looked down at his nephew. “Yes, Danny?”
“We’re having a welcome home barbecue for you tomorrow. Mom says so.” The boy made the declaration as if Honey’s word ranked right up there with the Pope’s.
Jesse looked at Honey, who smiled from her place at Matt’s side. Jesse didn’t have the heart to tell her that a family reunion wasn’t high on his to-do list. All he wanted was some time alone to come to terms with the mystery of his best friend’s death.
He laughed uncomfortably, then sobered and cleared his throat of a surprising surge of emotion. “You guys don’t have to do that.”
Emily came forward and touched his arm. “We want to. We missed you.” Then, as if realizing she was causing him discomfort, she stepped back and lightened her tone.
Jesse felt another nudge to his side. Again, it was Danny. “Mom says maybe you can even bring a date, if you want.”
Jesse’s thoughts flew immediately to a pair of brilliant green eyes and hair the color of buttercups at twilight. In a strange way, the image surprised him by easing the tension from his coiled nerves. But it didn’t make the idea of spending an entire day as the center of his family’s attention any easier to swallow.
His expression must have telegraphed his hesitation, and Kat caught it.
“Your sisters have worked all week preparing your favorite foods, so don’t think you can hide out there in the woods.” Kat gestured toward the thick forest bordering the back lawn, where Jesse had taken refuge as a child. “Old Goldie’s got a nose like a bloodhound and can find anyone.” Kat winked at Jesse, making light of the veiled warning not to disappoint his sisters.
Jesse looked around at their smiling faces, still amazed that they’d go to these lengths for him and that they even remembered what foods he liked.
“I guess I’d better show up, then.” Trying to make light of his hesitation, he winked at Kat. “There is one condition. Emily isn’t cooking, is she?”
Emily laughed, then stepped forward and raised her small fist as if she was going to punch him in the arm. Jesse instinctively pulled away. She dropped her hand and then shoved it in her pocket. Looking nervously at her husband, she moved into the circle of his arms. He held her loosely while she glanced back at Jesse.
The expression on Emily’s face, as though she’d run into an invisible brick wall, burned into Jesse’s mind. Was that how his sisters saw him, aloof and untouchable?
The next day, as Karen drove down Bristol’s main street, she inhaled the sweet scent of the flowers blanketing the square. The hum of people hurrying down the street toward the church lent life to the morning ambience of the small town. The sheer peace of the scene seeped into her tired body.
Having overslept and missed the eight o’clock B and B deadline for breakfast, Karen had opted to eat at the Diner. While she’d been eating, she’d asked the waitress for directions to Jesse Kingston’s. The waitress had told her that she was fairly new to the area and had no idea about Jesse’s residence, but she did know where Jesse’s sister Emily lived because she’d been there to buy one of Emily’s golden retriever puppies for her daughter.
With Emily Kingston’s address and directions lying on the passenger’s seat, Karen headed toward the outskirts of town. Passing down tree-lined streets with kids scattered everywhere engaging in a variety of Sunday activities, she touched her flat stomach and allowed the contentment of the place to calm her.
Oddly enough, with the calm came thoughts of Jesse Kingston. What was that bleakness she’d seen in his eyes? Why was a good-looking man like him sitting alone in the local eatery, looking lost and sporting the hair-trigger temper of a bull in heat? And why did she care?
Judging by Jesse’s rude behavior in the diner the day before, he was not going to be terribly forthcoming with information about Paul. But what she didn’t understand was why. Why refuse to talk to her about his best friend? And it hadn’t been just the refusal. The look on his face had almost dared her to push him, but to be ready to suffer the consequences.
Well, whatever his reason, she would not leave Bristol until he answered her questions. She gently caressed her tummy. “Don’t worry, little one. We’ll find your family. I promise.”
About fifteen minutes later, she pulled up to a beautiful old Victorian house. Several cars were parked in the driveway. Too many to belong to the small family the waitress had said Emily had. Not wanting to interrupt what looked like it might be some sort of family gathering, Karen reached for the key to start the car and leave.
“Hi, can I help you?”
Karen started and for a moment could only stare at the blond woman peeking in her open car window. Then as if someone had jabbed her in the ribs, she roused herself.
“Hi. I’m Karen Ellis. I’m looking for Jesse Kingston, and I was told I could find someone here who could tell me where he lives. I need to talk to him on an urgent matter.” She glanced around at the other vehicles. “But I don’t want to interrupt your party. I can come back another time.”
The strikingly lovely woman extended her hand. “I’m Honey Logan, Jesse’s sister. He’ll be here shortly. This is a welcome home party for him. And you’re here now, so why don’t you wait?”
“Oh, I don’t—”
“Please,” Honey said, opening the car door and beckoning for Karen to get out. “No sense in making an extra trip, and if it’s urgent, you’ll be wanting to see him sooner rather than later.”
Karen could have kissed her. “If you’re sure. I don’t want to spoil your party.”
“You won’t spoil anything, and if you knew me better, you’d know I don’t say anything unless I mean it,” Honey said. “Now, let me take you around back and introduce you to the mob.”
Almost
