Shauna turned toward her and hugged Cat. “I’m so glad to hear that. I was so worried you’d be upset.”

  “How can I be upset when you’re getting married? We’ll figure things out with the retreat. And I can deal with breakfast tomorrow as long as you can do the rest of the time.” She patted Shauna’s back and rolled her eyes in her uncle’s direction.

  Shauna pulled away and wiped her eyes. “I better get in the kitchen and get the muffins started. I’ll do a breakfast casserole and start some soup for your dinner tonight.”

  “I can feed myself, you know.” Cat smiled as Shauna stood and focused on her ring, again. “The ring is pretty.”

  “I know, right? For once, Kevin did good.” Shauna smiled and disappeared into the hallway.

  Uncle Pete and Cat sat on the couch, not talking for a few seconds. Then he shook his head. “That boy’s going to break her heart, you know that, right?”

  Cat nodded. “I’d lay money on it. But if he does, I’m going to make him pay.”

  Chapter 2

  Before Uncle Pete could lecture her about leaving things, especially relationships, alone, Cat heard the front door open. A strong female voice called out, “Hello? Is anyone here?”

  “Sounds like our guest is here.” Cat popped up and started walking to the front lobby.

  Uncle Pete caught up with her and put a hand on her arm, stopping her. “Cat, you need to let Shauna deal with this engagement. Good or bad, it’s her life.”

  Cat pressed her lips together and nodded. She didn’t like it, but her uncle was right. Nothing good would come of her trying to keep Shauna away from Kevin. She would just have to pick up the pieces once he blew up Shauna’s life and walked out the door. “I’ll be nice.”

  “I’ll believe that when I see it.” Uncle Pete released her arm. “Let’s go meet our new friend. I have a feeling she’s going to be very interesting.”

  Shirley Mann stood at the counter, her bags at her feet. She had steel-grey hair, cut shorter than Cat’s, and deep blue eyes that watched as Cat and Uncle Pete walked toward her. Cop’s eyes.

  “Looks like I’m in the right place. The cab driver didn’t realize there was even a bed-and-breakfast here in town.”

  “We’re not really a bed-and-breakfast—we’re only open for the writers’ retreat. I don’t know if I could deal with a house full of people all the time. I’d never get anything done.” Cat held out a hand. “Shirley? I’m Cat Latimer, and this is my uncle, Pete Edward.”

  They shook, and Shirley turned toward Uncle Pete. “I enjoyed talking with you last night. Thank you, again, for letting me visit your lovely town. I never want to just walk in without permission from the local law enforcement department. I would have expected the same courtesy when I was on the job.”

  “We do have a set of codes, don’t we? Anyway, I’d love to come visit Alaska someday. I never seem to take a vacation from the job though. You know how it is.” He leaned against the registration desk. “I’d like to take you to dinner tonight, if you’re feeling up to it. The place isn’t fancy, but it has good beer and an excellent steak dinner and we can talk about that cold case you’re looking into.”

  “That sounds perfect. I ate something at the airport in Salt Lake, but you know airport food. It all tastes the same.” Shirley focused back on Cat. “Do I need to do anything to check in?”

  Cat went through the registration process, ran Shirley’s card, and handed her a room key. Seth had brought someone in from Denver to set up the card key system when they’d opened the retreat. “The doors are locked at nine, but your key will open the front door at any hour.”

  “I don’t think we’ll be out that late, Cat.” Uncle Pete chuckled and pointed to Shirley’s luggage. “Can I help you with your bags?”

  “I can get them.” Shirley reached down and grabbed the two bags. “I’ll just freshen up and be back down here in ten minutes. Will that work?”

  “I’ll grab a cup of coffee and be in the living room. Don’t hurry on my account. My niece has some interesting books about the local area I’ve been meaning to peruse.” He waited for Shirley to disappear up the staircase to the guest rooms. “Well, at least you have one guest that’s not a flake.”

  “Most of my guests aren’t flakes. Writers are just an unusual bunch.” Cat put the registration stuff in a drawer for Shauna to deal with later. “Thanks for babysitting tonight. I wanted to get those boxes of books finished to have Seth deliver them to the library on Monday. It feels good to be moving on with this.”

  “Even if you don’t really know what happened to Michael?” Uncle Pete didn’t look at her as he walked with her to the kitchen.

  “Maybe I’ll never know. No matter what, I need to put that part of my life to bed. I’ll clean out his office, go through his papers, and see if there’s anything there. If not, at least I tried.” Cat pushed the kitchen door open. And if she was honest with herself, she felt good about finally setting the past aside. She’d loved Michael, then she’d hated him, and now, her emotional state was somewhere in between. “Besides, I have a whole two weeks before I have to start another book. It will give me something to do.”

  Shauna was just putting a batch of muffins in the oven. Cat noticed she’d put her ring on the nose of an elephant statue she had at the kitchen sink. Shauna always took her rings off while she was cooking. A habit she’d gotten from her mother after the woman had lost her wedding ring down the sink drain one too many times.

  “Hey, Cat, I’m heating up some clam chowder. What kind of sandwich do you want to go with it?” She stirred the pot on the stove. “And what about you, Pete? I can whip up something for you and the guest so you don’t have to go out.”

  “No, we’re good. I’m going to enjoy spending some time with a woman who understands my job for once.” He poured a cup of coffee and then started to leave the kitchen. He paused at the door, apparently amused at the two women’s expressions. “What? You both are great, but I can’t really talk about my job, now, can I?”

  After he left, Cat poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down with a pad and pen at the table. “You have Seth set up for the rest of the airport runs? When will the first—I mean, second—guest arrive?”

  “I just called him and left a message. The first run should be here tomorrow at two. So besides setting out breakfast, that should be all you need to do. I’ll be back bright and early. Kevin’s not really happy with me leaving without Sunday brunch, but he’ll get over it. He has a job—he’s going to have to realize that I do too.” Shauna wiped her hands on a kitchen towel. “I’ll get the breakfast casserole ready, and all you have to do is pop it in the oven at seven. She can get coffee from the kitchen if she’s an early bird. Which I assume she is.”

  “I’ll hold down the fort, but don’t stay away too long. People come to the retreat for your mad cooking skills as well as time to write.” Cat tapped her pen on the paper. “Can we go over the schedule for the rest of the week while you get that ready?”

  By the time Shauna put on her coat and left for her dinner with Kevin, Cat felt like they had everything under control. She ate her soup and sandwich at the kitchen table while she read a mystery novel she’d been holding off starting until she finished writing her latest novel. Then, glancing at the clock, she rinsed her dishes and put them into the dishwasher. It was nine, and Uncle Pete and Shirley were still out. How long was dinner going to take?

  She turned off the kitchen lights and left the entry area lights on so Shirley could find her way when they did decide to return. Cat pocketed her cell phone, just in case someone needed her, and went upstairs to get ready for bed. Shauna typically was downstairs at five, getting breakfast ready for the group. Cat thought with just one guest, she might get away with going down at six. But even that meant less sleep than she was used to getting.

  Not for the first time, she wondered if opening the retreat had been that great of an idea. Especially if she was now going to be handling it on her own. Shauna said she wanted to keep working, but who knew what would really happen if she and Kevin got married. Especially if they started having kids. Shauna would be too busy with her brood to come cook for a group of writers for a week.

  “Not today’s problem,” Cat reminded herself as she climbed the stairs to her room. Today, all she needed was some sleep. She’d deal with tomorrow at 06:00. And she’d deal with someday when it arrived.

  Her alarm woke her and she, bleary-eyed, peered at the clock on her night side table. Five-thirty. Why on earth had she set her alarm so early? Then she remembered. She had a casserole to get into the oven and coffee to be made. She pulled herself out of bed and then stood in the shower under the warm water until her eyes started to open. When she’d finished drying off, she had only a few minutes to get dressed and get downstairs.

  The first thing she did was put the casserole in the oven and set the timer. Then she poured herself a cup of coffee from the waiting pot and poured the rest into the dining room carafe. It took her only twenty minutes to set up the breakfast room with muffins, coffee, hot water for tea, and a plate of cookies, just in case.

  “I can handle the retreat by myself,” she announced to the shiny carafe as she admired her work. Then she grabbed the book she’d started reading last night and took it and her coffee to the living room. The only thing she needed to do was take the casserole out of the oven in an hour. She had plenty of time to relax and read.

  At seven-thirty, she pulled herself out of the book. Looking at her phone, she cursed. The alarm she’d tried to set hadn’t taken or she’d just ignored the noise. As she rushed into the kitchen, she realized she’d changed the cell phone a few days ago to vibrate only when she’d gone to the library to discuss the final details for the donation of Michael’s books with Miss Applebome, the head librarian. Hope filled her as soon as she walked into the kitchen. She didn’t smell burning casserole. Then she sniffed again. She didn’t smell the spicy sausage or the warm bread odors either. She opened the oven door, and the casserole sat, unbaked, on the rack.

  She froze, trying to remember her steps from earlier that morning. She’d put the casserole into the oven, shut the door, set the alarm, and then gone to make coffee. She slapped her hand on her head. She’d missed one crucial step. She hadn’t turned the oven on.

  The kitchen door opened behind her. “Hate to bother you, but I’m out of coffee out there.” Shirley walked in with the carafe Cat had filled earlier. “And will there be anything to eat besides the muffins? I’m on a low-sugar diet.”

  Cat grabbed the second casserole Shauna had made for tomorrow, turned the oven on, and then reset the alarm. This time, she was going to stay in the kitchen and wait for the casserole to finish. She turned to greet Shirley and take the carafe out of her hands. “I’ve just put the casserole in—we should be good in about an hour, maybe less.” Cat hoped the second, slightly smaller pan would cook faster. She could have just cooked the first one, but the thought of giving her guest food poisoning made her pause. Thank God Shauna had made two, or Cat would have been calling her to pick something up for Shirley at the diner on her way back to the house. “Let me fill this up for you.”

  She turned toward the coffeepot and realized it had turned itself off. She touched the pot—the coffee was cold. Cat spun back around and smiled at Shirley. “Where are you working? I’ll make a new pot and bring it to you.”

  Shirley flushed. “I saw you were in the living room, so I went looking for rooms and found a study on the first floor. I’m sure you’re doing some remodeling since there are boxes of books stacked in the room. If you want me to move, I will… .”

  Cat shook her head. “No worries if you don’t mind working in the middle of the chaos. Monday, the boxes will be taken to the library. It was my ex-husband’s study.” Cat frowned as she thought about how she’d left the desk. “I probably should come in and finish clearing out the desk sometime today.”

  “I’ll move to the living room.” Shirley put a hand up to stop Cat’s next words. “I was wrong by assuming I could just go looking for a place to write.”

  Cat wiped the frown off her face with a smile. She shook her head. “No, you were fine. The room will be available for use by everyone Monday There’s no reason you can’t use it now. I’ll clean out the desk later.”

  “If you’re sure?” Shirley glanced around the room. “Pete told me about your husband. I’m sorry for your loss.”

  Her loss had happened during the divorce, not when Michael had passed away. “Thank you, but we were divorced before he passed.”

  “Doesn’t mean that you didn’t care for him at one point in your life. My ex got killed by a bear a couple years ago. Totally messed me up, even though we’d been divorced for close to ten years.” Shirley rolled her shoulders. “I need to clear my head and run sometime today. Do you have a treadmill available for guests?”

  One of the amenities that Seth had been bugging her about providing, but she couldn’t see setting up a home gym in the basement. “Sorry. There’s a gym at the college you can use. I’ll show you how to get there on the map if you’d like.”

  “Works for me. And I get to burn more calories by walking there.” Shirley turned toward the door. “Let me know when the coffee’s ready. I’ll be in the study until after breakfast, then you can get whatever you need to get done without me hanging around.”

  Shirley was nice. Cat would have to ask her more about what she was working on. The woman was determined—that showed. She was here a day early and up before nine on a Sunday. Cat walked back to the living room and picked up the novel she was reading. Taking it back to the kitchen, she made coffee and read until the pot finished.

  True to her word, Shauna showed up just as the casserole was ready to come out of the oven. Cat hadn’t called her, but as she pulled the pan out of the oven, she snuck a peek at her friend. “So if I had let this set out, uncooked, for over an hour, would that be a problem?”

  Shauna hurried over and stared at the casserole. “You’re kidding me, right?”

  “I forgot to turn on the oven.”

  Shauna took a deep breath. “The only thing raw in the dish is the eggs, so I think we’ll be okay since you can leave them out for up to two hours, but seriously, Cat—you didn’t turn on the oven?”

  “Cooking’s not my strong point. Besides, I had to make coffee too. Don’t worry, I threw the first one out and cooked the second one you had in the fridge.” Cat’s gaze dropped to the novel. “I was a little distracted.”

  Shauna laughed and the sound filled the kitchen. Gentle and chirpy, like some bluebirds had escaped from a storybook and were hanging out in the warm room. “I promise I’ll be here for all the breakfasts this week. I can’t have you giving our guests food poisoning. “

  She went and washed her hands before inspecting the casserole. Cat laid the book on the table. “Shirley’s working in the study. She’s on a low-sugar diet.”

  “Well, it would have been nice for her to mention that ahead of time. Maybe we should add it to our application. Dietary needs?” Shauna had her hair up in a clip and was pulling out ingredients, bowls, spoons, and butter.

  “How was dinner?” Cat felt like something was different. “Wait—you aren’t wearing the ring. What happened?”

  “Oh, I still have it. Kevin just thought it might be prudent for me to hold off wearing it for a while.” Shauna didn’t turn to look at Cat when she spoke, her head bent toward the bowl and cookbook on the counter.

  “What? Is he insane?” Cat rushed over to her friend and put a hand on her back. “Are you okay with that?”

  Shauna turned, her eyes angry and red from crying. “Of course I’m not. He asked, I told him yes last night, now he’s all, ‘well, maybe we should slow down.’ We’re engaged, we’re not engaged. Why can’t the man make up his damn mind?”

  The kitchen went still as the door to the hallway opened slowly. Shirley peeked around the door, looking worried. “Sorry, but I’m starving. Is that casserole ready? And maybe some coffee?”

  Cat patted Shauna’s back one more time, then rushed to the stove. “I’m so sorry, Shirley. I should have brought this to you as soon as it finished.”

  “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

  Cat smiled, hoping the gesture covered the anger she felt toward Kevin. That man was playing with Shauna’s emotions. And it wasn’t fair. She took a plate out of the cabinet. “You didn’t interrupt. If you need something, just come on in and one of us will get it for you.”

  Shauna turned, her eyes still wet from tears. “I’m sorry. This is my fault. I’m having man issues.”

  “I can’t understand that. You’re so beautiful, any man would be lucky to have you.” Shirley didn’t come farther into the kitchen, shifting her weight from foot to foot.

  Shauna laughed. “I’ve learned one thing in my life—everyone can have the same issues. And everyone is carrying something that they probably should have set down years ago.”

  “Well said.” Shirley reached for the plate and filled cup Cat handed her. “I’ll go into the breakfast room with this.”

  “You can eat in here with us.” Cat motioned toward the table. “We’re a little cluttered, but there’s always another spot.”

  “I’m working on a project and I’d like to keep going, if you don’t mind.” Shirley held up the coffee cup in a good-bye wave. “I’m sure we’ll find time to talk during the retreat. I’m very interested in the history of your house. Maybe we could slot in some time before the rest of the guests arrive today?”

  “Of course.” Cat considered her day. Seth wouldn’t get back from Denver until after three, maybe three-thirty. “What if we do lunch in town? That way we’ll be out of Shauna’s hair as she gets everything ready.”

  “I can make you a better lunch here than what you’ll get at The Diner, you know.” Shauna threw a towel over her shoulders.

  “But you’ve got things to do.” Cat shook her head. “We can even bring you back something. That way, you don’t have to cook lunch at all.”