got to hand it to you, Matt,” Caleb said. “You have grilling skills.”
“He’s supposed to reveal the sauce recipe,” Amber said. “The promise of that is the only thing that lured me here tonight.”
“Ah,” Caleb said. “And here I thought it was the thrill of seeing me again.”
“In your dreams, Jenkins,” she said.
Caleb chuckled at that.
This she could handle, keeping it casual. The easy camaraderie in the room masked the awkwardness Amber felt around Paul.
Over a glass of cider, she studied the police chief. Without the uniform, he didn’t look nearly as intimidating as he had previously. Of course, he was still tall and broad-shouldered, but that made him look solid, the sort you could depend on in a crisis.
Like Kyle.
His gaze connected with hers. Caught staring, Amber blushed and averted her eyes. She cut a piece of steak, making careful work of slicing the meat just so. When she dared, she glanced up.
He was still looking at her. He smiled.
Amber’s pulse rate leaped.
“Anyone want more potatoes?” She hopped up from her seat.
“I do,” Paul said. “I’ll help you.”
“I’m closest,” Marnie said. “Sit down, both of you.”
Before either could object, Marnie disappeared and came back from the dining room with a tray of skewered roasted potatoes with red and green bell peppers. She offered the tray to everyone, sending—at least it seemed so to Amber—a brighter, longer smile in Chief Evans’s direction.
“So, what’s going on over at Community Christian these days?” Caleb asked.
“Camp. Camp and more camp,” Nancy said. “Forty-five kids this year. We have a good crop of seniors who’ve been with us and will serve as the teen counselors, but still I worry.”
“Don’t mind my wife,” Cliff said. “She’s the overall coordinator of our annual fall jamboree and things are just a little stressful right now.”
“That’s because it’s less than a week away, and I still have two weeks’ worth of work to do.”
Cliff placed a hand on her shoulder as he passed by with a refill from the dining room. “It all comes together beautifully each year. This year won’t be an exception.”
“We’re really blessed to have so many volunteers,” Haley said. “Everyone from the church pitches in and helps in some way. And with that community grant Kara got for us this year, we’re able to do a lot more.”
Amber let the conversation flow around her. She had nothing to say and wondered just how soon she could make her escape without seeming too obvious.
If, for some silly reason, she felt another nip or two from the green-eyed monster as she looked at Matt and Haley, and even at Cliff and Nancy Baines, the preacher and his wife, she let it slide. They looked so…happy.
It didn’t matter. She didn’t go to Community Christian or any other church—and had no intention of starting anytime soon. Plus, through the years she’d had enough church camp to last her not one or two, but several lifetimes.
Amber couldn’t remember the last time she could count herself truly happy. And she now knew she’d never really been in love. Not the way the Baineses were in love. She’d been part of a couple once. And all she had to say for the experience was good riddance.
“So, how are you finding Wayside?”
The question, directed to Paul from Nancy Baines, made Amber look up from her plate.
Paul swallowed a bite of food. “Just fine, Mrs. Baines. It’s a lot different from L.A.”
Amber’s throat constricted. “You’re from Los Angeles?”
He nodded. “I needed to get Sutton and Jon out of the big city environment.” He shook his head. “It wasn’t healthy for any of us. And, where I lived and how I used to work didn’t lend itself to fatherhood. At least, not the way they needed.”
“The children are just adorable,” Nancy said. “I have Sutton in my Sunday school class.”
“Yes, she really enjoys that,” Paul said. “I’m glad I found Community Christian. That was one thing I thought I might miss about Los Angeles. Even though I worked crazy hours, I had a church family that was devoted to the gospel and family values, both incongruous notions in L.A.”
Caleb helped himself to another kabob. “The chief here was on the LAPD for—what?—about twelve years, right Chief?”
Amber gasped. Her eyes widened and her fork clattered to her plate. She stood up so fast she almost lost her balance. “Excuse me.” And she left the room.
Matt and Haley shared a look.
Cliff put his plate down. “Maybe I should…”
Haley got up. “She’ll be all right. I’ll go check on her,” she said as she headed toward the kitchen.
“Was it something I said?” Paul asked.
“Uh, don’t worry about it. I’m sure it’s just something to do with setting out dessert,” Matt said, but his look was hardly reassuring.
Spending an evening with a room full of church people, even ones she knew, wasn’t Amber’s idea of a great time, but she’d found herself laughing at the byplay among Cliff, Nancy Baines, and even Caleb, and actually enjoying herself…until just now.
He was one of them.
“Amber, are you all right?”
She shook her head. “I have to leave.”
Haley wrapped an arm around her cousin’s shoulders. “I know. I’m sorry, Amber. I didn’t realize he was—”
“It’s not your fault.” Amber stopped her. “This is my bugaboo. I have to learn to live with it.”
Amber headed to the sliding glass doors that led to the deck and yard of Matt and Haley’s home.
“It’s still raining outside,” Haley said. “Let me get you an umbrella.”
“I’ll be fine. Sorry to break up your party.”
And then she escaped into the dark night—a night a lot like one she’d tried for a long time to banish from her memory.
“I think tonight was supposed to be a setup,” Marnie told Caleb Jenkins later.
He laughed. “So it wasn’t just me getting that vibe.”
“I think now that she’s happily married and starting a family, Haley has decided to play town matchmaker.”
