Big Sky Mountain Part 22

As soon as she was back inside the house, Daisy headed straight for Madison's room.

Kendra, a little too wired to sleep, tidied up the already tidy house, watered a few plants and finally retreated to her home office and logged on to the computer. She'd check her email, both business and personal, she decided, and then soak in a nice hot bath, a sort of preemptive strike against the saddle soreness she was bound to be feeling by morning.

She weeded out the junk mail-somehow some of it always got past the filter-and that left her with two messages, one from Tara and one from Joslyn. Both had attachments-forwards, no doubt.

She clicked on Joslyn's, expecting a cute picture of the new baby.

Instead she was confronted with a page from a major social-media site, a photo someone had snapped of her and Hutch running the three-legged race at the cemetery picnic the previous weekend. Both of them were laughing, pitching forward into the fall that sent them tumbling into the gra.s.s.

The caption was short and to the point. "Up to his old tricks," it read. "Already."

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

KENDRA STIFFENED IN her chair, staring at the computer monitor and the picture of her and Hutch, feeling as though she'd been slapped across the face. She clicked back to the main body of Joslyn's email and read, "Now they've gone too far. This means war."

The second message, from Tara, was similar.

The anti-Hutch campaign was one thing, as far as Kendra's two closest friends were concerned, but dragging her into it was one step over the line. Clearly they were prepared to do battle.

She sat back, drew a few long, deep breaths, releasing them slowly, and reminded herself that this wasn't such a big deal-the page was a petty outlet for people who apparently had too much free time on their hands, not a cross blazing on her front lawn or a brick hurled through her living room window.

She answered both Tara's and Joslyn's emails with a single response. "I'll handle it." Then, calmer but no less indignant at some stranger's invasion of her privacy, she printed out a copy of the webpage, folded it carefully into quarters and took it back to the kitchen, where she'd left her purse. She tucked the sheet of paper away in the very bottom, under her wallet and cosmetic case, looked in on her daughter once more and retreated to the bathroom for that long soak she'd promised herself.

The warm water soothed her, as did the two over-the-counter pain relievers she took before crawling into bed. She hadn't expected to sleep, but she did, deeply and dreamlessly, and the next thing she knew, sunlight was seeping, pink-orange, through her eyelids.

Her thighs and backside were sore from the horseback ride, but not sore enough to matter.

She threw herself into the morning routine-getting Madison up and dressed and fed, making sure Daisy went outside and then had fresh water and kibble. She skipped her usual coffee, though, and sipped herbal tea instead.

"You look pretty, Mommy," Madison said, taking in Kendra's crisp linen pantsuit. Lately, she'd been wearing jeans.

"Thank you," Kendra replied lightly, pausing to bend over Madison's chair at the breakfast table and kiss the top of her head. "I have an appointment this morning-a client is coming to see the other house-so hurry it up a little, will you?"

"About my boots," Madison began.

So, Kendra thought wryly, she'd been right to suspect that, while genuine, the compliment on her outfit had its purposes.

"There will be all sorts of vendors-people who sell things-at the rodeo this weekend. We'll check out the boots then."

Madison beamed, but then her face clouded over. "But I still have to say sorry to Miss Abbington and Becky," she recalled.

"Absolutely," Kendra said firmly. "Suppose Becky had taken your boots, without permission, and then refused to give them back. How would you feel?"

"Bad," Madison admitted.

"And so?" Kendra prompted.

"Becky felt bad," Madison said. Then something flashed in her eyes. "But I didn't wear Miss Abbington's shoes. Why do I have to say sorry to her?"

"Enough," Kendra said, softening the word with a smile. "You know darn well why you need to apologize to Miss Abbington."

"I do?" Madison echoed innocently.

Kendra simply waited.

"Because I was misruptive in cla.s.s," Madison finally conceded.

"Bingo," Kendra said.

AN HOUR LATER, with Madison at preschool and Daisy minding the office, Kendra showed the mansion to the second client, a representative of a large investment group with an eye to turning the place into an apartment complex.

Kendra knew right away that there would be no actual sale, but that didn't matter. The real estate business was all about showing places again and again, until the right buyer came along. Generally, she had to bait a lot of hooks before she caught a fish.

Work was the furthest thing from her mind anyway, with that printout of the webpage burning a hole in the bottom of her purse.

At lunchtime, she locked up the office, loaded the always adventuresome Daisy into the Volvo and headed for the neighboring town, Three Trees.

She didn't know Brylee Parrish well-the two of them were barely acquainted, with a five-year gap in age, and they'd grown up in separate if closely linked communities-but she knew exactly where to find her. Brylee, with her flouris.h.i.+ng party-planning business, was the original Local Girl Makes Good-she had a large warehouse and offices just outside Three Trees.

During the drive, Kendra didn't rehea.r.s.e what she was going to say, because she didn't know, exactly. She doubted that Brylee personally was behind the webpage photo and the remark about Hutch being up to his old tricks, but she'd know who was.

Arriving at Brylee's company, Decor Galore, Kendra rolled down one of the car windows a little way, so Daisy would have air, and promised the dog she'd be back soon.

A receptionist greeted her with a stiff smile and several furtive glances stolen while she was buzzing the boss to let her know that Kendra Shepherd wanted to see her.

"She'll be here in a couple of minutes," the receptionist said, hanging up. Now, for all those sneak peeks, the young woman wouldn't look directly at Kendra. She nodded toward a small and tastefully decorated waiting area. "Have a seat."

"I'll stand, thank you," Kendra said politely.

When Brylee appeared, opening a side door and poking out her head, Kendra was immediately and oddly struck by how beautiful she was, with those huge hazel eyes and that glorious mane of chestnut-brown hair worn in a ponytail today.

"Come in," Brylee said, and her cheeks flared with color, then immediately went pale.

Kendra followed Brylee through a long corridor, through the busy, noisy warehouse and into a surprisingly plain office. The furniture-a desk, two chairs, some mismatched file cabinets and a single bookcase- looked as though it had come from an army surplus store. There were no pictures or other decorations on the walls, no knickknacks to be seen.

"Sit down-please," Brylee said, taking the chair behind her desk.

Kendra sat, opened her purse, dug out the folded sheet of paper and slid it across to Brylee.

Brylee swallowed visibly, and her unmanicured hands trembled ever so slightly as she unfolded the paper and smoothed it flat.

Kendra felt a brief stab of sympathy for her. After all, losing Hutch Carmody was a trauma she well understood, and it had probably been worse for Brylee, all dressed up in the wedding gown of her dreams, with all her friends and family there to witness the event.

Brylee, meanwhile, gave a deep sigh, closed her eyes and squeezed the bridge of her nose between one thumb and forefinger. Then, rallying, she squared her slender shoulders and looked directly at Kendra.

"I don't expect you to believe me," she said with dignity, "but I didn't know about this."

"I have no reason not to believe you," Kendra replied moderately. She drew in another deep breath, let it out and went on, feeling her way through her sentence word by word. "Some people-maybe a lot of them-would say it's just a harmless photograph and I ought to let it go at that. If this is as far as it goes-fine. I can deal with it. But I have a four-year-old daughter to think about, Ms. Parrish, and-"

Brylee put up a hand. She still looked wan, but a friendly sparkle flickered in her eyes. "Please," she interrupted. "Call me Brylee. We're not enemies, you and I-or, at least, I hope we're not-and I totally get why this bothers you." She paused, bit her lip, studying Kendra's face with a kind of broken curiosity. "Really, I do."

"Then we don't have a problem," Kendra said, wanting to be kind and at the same time picking up on just how much Brylee wanted to ask if she and Hutch had some kind of "thing" going. "Just ask whoever put this up on the web to take it down, please, and leave me alone."

Brylee arched one perfect eyebrow. "What about Hutch?"

"What about him?" Kendra countered mildly.

"Never mind," Brylee said miserably, looking away for a long moment.

Kendra was relieved when Brylee didn't press the point. What about Hutch? Indeed. She had no idea what, if anything, was happening between her and Hutch Carmody. Sure, he'd kissed her, and made her want him in the process, but he was on the rebound, after all. He must have cared for Brylee at some point or he'd never have asked her to marry him.

The realization struck her like a face full of cold water; she grew a little fl.u.s.tered and fumbled with her purse as she rose from her chair. "I'd better go-my dog is in the car and-"

Brylee stood, too, her smile sad but real. "I'm sorry, Kendra. About the webpage, I mean. It seemed pretty innocent at first-all my friends were mad at Hutch and so was I-but enough is enough. I'll see that they take the page down."

To Kendra's mind, Hutch was a big boy and he could fight his own battles; her only concern was that she'd been featured. "Thank you," she said.

Brylee walked her back along the corridor, through the reception area and out into the parking lot. She smiled when she saw Daisy poking her snout through the crack in the window, eager to join in any game that might be played, but Kendra felt edgy. She knew there was something else Brylee wanted to say to her.

Sure enough, there was.

"I don't think Hutch ever really got over you," Brylee said quietly, and without malice. "I should have paid more attention to the signs-he called me by your name once or twice, for instance-but I guess I was just too crazy about him to see what was happening."

Kendra felt another tug of sympathy, even as all the old defenses rose up inside her. "Thanks again," she said, and climbed into her car.

Daisy whimpered in the backseat, either because she needed to squat in the gra.s.s or because she'd taken a liking to Brylee, or both, but the dog was going to have to wait. No way was Kendra going to let Daisy christen Brylee's parking lot right in front of the woman-it might seem, well, like a symbolic gesture.

Brylee waved, watching as Kendra drove away and Kendra waved back.

Thoughts a.s.sailed her as she pulled onto the highway leading home to Parable; she heard Brylee's words, over and over again. I don't think Hutch ever really got over you-he called me by your name once or twice- "Stop it," Kendra told herself, right out loud.

Daisy whimpered again, more urgently this time.

Kendra pulled over when she came to a wide spot in the road, got out of the car, leaned into the backseat to hook Daisy's leash to her collar and took the dog for a short walk in the gra.s.s.

By the time they were on their way again, she was starting to feel foolish for confronting Brylee with that printout at all. She'd probably overreacted.

Before pulling back onto the highway, Kendra got out her cell phone and called Joslyn.

"Were you asleep?" she asked, first thing.

Joslyn laughed. "I'm a new mother," she said. "We don't sleep."

Kendra laughed, too. "Is your mom still visiting?"

"She left this morning," Joslyn answered. "Mom was a lot of help-Callie has been, too-but it's time things got back to normal around here. Besides, Slade and Shea are great with the baby."

"Good," Kendra said.

"You called to find out if I was sleeping?" Joslyn teased. "Is this about that stupid webpage? Five minutes after I hit Send, I wished I hadn't just sprung the thing on you like that. Tara feels the same way."

"It's all right," Kendra said, watching as cars and trucks zipped by on the highway. "But, yeah, that's the reason I called. I've just been to see Brylee."

"Come right over," Joslyn commanded cheerfully. "Immediately, if not sooner. I want to hear all about it."

"Nothing happened," Kendra put in lamely. It wasn't as if she and Brylee had gotten into a hair-pulling match or anything; they weren't a pair of junior high schoolers fighting over a boy.

"Be that as it may," Joslyn replied, "you obviously need some BFF time or you wouldn't have called. Come over."

"I'll be there in twenty minutes," Kendra capitulated, grateful.

"Good," Joslyn answered.

When Kendra and Daisy arrived at Windfall Ranch, Tara's sports car was parked alongside the main house, next to Joslyn's nondescript compact. Slade's truck was nowhere in sight-maybe he'd driven his mother-in-law to the airport.

Joslyn and Tara both appeared on the back porch as Kendra got out of the car and freed Daisy from the confines of the backseat. Lucy, Tara's dog, was on hand to greet her and the pair frolicked, overjoyed at their reunion.

Joslyn smiled and waved, but Tara looked worried.

"Have I just made a world-cla.s.s fool of myself or what?" Kendra fretted as she approached the porch. By now, of course, Joslyn would have told Tara about the visit to Brylee's office.

Tara finally smiled. "I'm not sure," she joked. "Come inside, and we'll figure it out over coffee and pastry."

They all trooped into Joslyn's recently remodeled kitchen, including Lucy and Daisy, who greeted Jasper, Slade's dog, and were roundly snubbed by Joslyn's cat.

Baby Trace lay in his ba.s.sinet, gurgling, his feet and hands busy as he tried to grab hold of a beam of sunlight coming in through a nearby window.

Joslyn smiled, tucked his blanket in around him, and bent to plant a smacking kiss on his downy head. "I love you, little cowboy," she said softly.

The backs of Kendra's eyes scalded a little, in the wake of a rush of happiness for her friend. Joslyn had built a successful software company on her own, sold it for a fortune and righted an old wrong that wasn't even hers in the first place. But this-Slade, his stepdaughter, Shea, the baby, the ranch, all of it-was her dream come true.

And it had been by no means a sure thing.

Now, though, she absolutely shone with fulfillment.

Tara, following Kendra's gaze, smiled and said quietly, "There she is, the world's happiest woman."

Kendra nodded and blinked a couple of times, and they all sat down to enjoy the tea Joslyn must have brewed in advance. There were doughnuts with sprinkles waiting, too.