As those first weeks passed, she didn’t let herself think of Cole much. Or look at the photos she’d taken of him on her phone. But just as she knew the photos were there, she also took Cole’s spirit with her everywhere she went. At some point, she realized that he was a part of her heart and would always be with her. And found a measure of peace, and a smile, as she accepted the truth.

  It was more difficult not to replay specific memories of Cole as she set up for her first art show, in Anaheim, early morning on a Saturday in September—exactly four weeks after the Project Forever Friends celebration. She watched people in charge of tents and thought of the moment when Cole brought her the clipboard with a form to sign that sealed the end of her time with him.

  Blinking back tears, she pulled a big easel from the back of her luxury SUV, set it up in the front right corner of her booth and carefully unwrapped the large canvas that would sit on it. A collection of feathers and pebbles, some twigs, a couple of jewels, various glitters and acrylics that she’d priced outrageously too high to ever sell. The picture of Lillie on the mountain, overlooking Shelter Valley, was hers. She just needed to display it. To show the world that very private part of her heart in the only way she could claim it. Through her art.

  Maybe because of Lillie, or maybe just because of Lindsay’s more ardent dedication to the Ms. Bohemian part of herself, the show was a huge success. She sold out of most of her merchandise and took orders for everything from jewelry to three-dimensional dog portraits. Had she truly been living on a Lindsay Warren budget, she’d have made enough in one day for a month’s worth of bills.

  She was donating every bit of the money, through Sierra’s Web, to Forever Friends.

  “I’d like to buy this.” The voice hit her in the gut as she was packing up the empty easels, of various sizes, at show’s end.

  Turning, she paled, stood in the back of her booth, way behind her mostly empty table, and stared. Her arms wrapped around her, her hands running up and down over biceps left bare by the red-and-white spaghetti-strap dress she wore with her favorite red flip-flops.

  Shivering, she looked around for the white sweater she’d had on that morning before the sun’s heat took the chill out of the air.

  Couldn’t find it.

  He’d asked what she’d do if he ever came to one of her shows.

  She hadn’t had an answer for him.

  Still didn’t.

  “It’s one hundred thousand dollars.” Not finding her sweater, she blurted the outrageous price on the tag.

  “I know.”

  “You don’t have that kind of money.”

  “I do actually. Just need to cash in some of my Elite Paper stock. For now, I’ve got a home equity line of credit that will cover it.” His green eyes brimmed with things he wasn’t saying as he stood there in beige shorts and a loose-fitting short-sleeved black shirt.

  In Anaheim. Not Shelter Valley.

  Drooling inside, Lindsay had no idea what to do.

  Lindsay Warren-Smythe had never been in such a situation.

  There was no plan.

  “It’s not for sale.”

  “It says it is. The price tag’s right here.”

  The advantage was all his. He’d known he was coming. “You’ve got her, Cole. That portrait is my only piece of Lillie.” She admitted defeat.

  Had no idea what she expected him to do with his victory, but bringing the portrait around the table to her was not it.

  Because he handed it out to her, she took it. Figured he wanted her to wrap it up. And she would. Just as soon as she quit shaking so badly.

  Setting the canvas down in the open hatch of her SUV, she stood with her back to the only person on earth who could make her come unglued.

  And felt his arms wrap around her waist, pulling her back against his hardness, as his head lowered down to the side of her neck.

  “Just let me hold you for a second, Lins. Let me smell your lavender-and-lilac scent. And I’ll go.”

  She didn’t want him to go!

  He couldn’t just show up there, and then leave her.

  But he did.

  He held on. Took some deep breaths as she closed her eyes, leaning back into his solid heat, savoring the seconds, and then, bracing her weight with his chest until she had her footing, he dropped his arms.

  Turned.

  And walked away.

  * * *

  The whole way to California Cole had been complacent about the trip. He’d needed to test the waters. To know, and let Lindsay know, that there was a way for them to see each other.

  Or some such half-formed mostly innocuous justification.

  Truth was, he’d been stalking Lindsay Warren’s website just to ease the pain of having lost her. To keep himself sane late at night when it ate at him that he didn’t even know her real name.

  To hold her close in the only way available to him.

  And when he’d seen the listing of new shows, it had been as though she’d been calling out to him. He’d had no choice but to go see her.

  He’d purposely waited until Saturday morning of the show to head out from Shelter Valley. Had driven across the desert instead of flying so he’d be in total control of his timing. Had scheduled his showing up at her table at the end of the show. It had been the only respectful thing to do.

  She was there for legitimate business and he had no right to interfere with that.

  But her complete stupefaction when she’d seen him, her inability to rally, her capitulation to his bantering over the portrait of Lillie—they’d hit him hard.

  Harder even than the first sight of that Lindsay Warren portrayal of his beloved canine companion.

  She’d captured the essence of Lillie.

  And as he’d stood there, holding her, he’d felt as though he’d stolen hers.

  The woman loved him. Heart and soul. He knew what it had cost him when she’d left, but had given little thought to what her leaving had cost her.

  Not just him, or a broken heart, but a father. A family of her own.

  And she’d gone anyway.

  In spite of the agonizing pain.

  Because she wouldn’t take her own happiness at the risk of ruining the lives of others.

  His mind had grasped it all from the beginning.

  But it hadn’t been until he’d felt her collapse against him that he’d really understood. His being there wasn’t a respite, a breath of air. It was making it harder for her to do what she had to do.

  And for that, he’d be forever sorry.

  Head high, back straight, Cole walked away from Lindsay’s booth, from the art fair and out of her life.

  He got in his SUV, set course for Shelter Valley and went home.

  For her.

  For good. He wouldn’t be going back.

  Because he was in love with her that completely.

  And as bad as that hurt, he was still glad that he’d known her.

  * * *

  Cole had come!

  Energized in a way she hadn’t been since she’d left Shelter Valley, Lindsay was grinning the entire time she packed up the rest of her product and supplies, signed out and left the art fair.

  She caught herself smiling as she drove south to San Diego, and grinned at herself in the mirror when she got home.

  Cole had come to see her!

  He was showing her that it wasn’t over.

  That while the answers weren’t currently clear, at some point, in the future, they’d see each other again.

  Maybe just at art shows. Spending nights in hotel rooms after each one.

  At least until one or the other of them met someone who could become a permanent part of their life.

  It wasn’t ideal, but very little about life was perfect.

  To the contrary, it was messy. Imperfect.

  Which was why grabbing and cherishing those perfect moments made so much more sense.

  Clearly Cole had already figured all that out.

  In his totally Cole way, he was showing her a way to make it work.

  Giving her time to get it.

  She had no doubt he’d be back, maybe even at the following week’s show.

  Maybe the one after that.

  Didn’t matter which one he chose to appear at.

  Next time, she’d be ready for him.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Three Fridays after he’d been to see Lindsay, Cole turned down Brent’s invitation to movie night. The older man hadn’t said a word about Lindsay Warren since Cole had delivered Lindsay’s resignation letter, but after Cole’s overreaction to Brent’s first ever invitation to bring a guest to movie night, Brent had to have had a thought or two about his mentee’s state of heart.

  The fact that Cole had done all he could to avoid the man over the past month and a half, to give himself time to chill out from the whole thing, would have Brent concerned, too.

  He got it.

  But for once, Shelter Valley’s open arms, and the Wilson family’s in particular, weren’t going to help him.

  If anything, Shelter Valley life, and the Wilsons’ lives in particular, were salt in his wound, as they showed him what he most wanted, but would likely never have.

  And still, he didn’t regret having known Lindsay. No matter how much it hurt, no way he’d have given up on the chance to have it all.

  Even if just for such a short time.

  As he was telling Lillie over his beer sitting on his back porch waiting for their steak to get done that Friday evening. Instead of movie night he was dining in with his girl, and drinking as much beer as it took to numb him a bit. He had nothing going in the morning.

  Could sleep in.

  And could afford one night a year of overconsumption.

  Adding up the years without that one night he figured he’d accumulated eight of them. But, so far, was only planning to use up the one.

  He told Lillie that, too.

  Whether the girl got it or not, the straight calm look she gave him satisfied him enough to move on from that particular subject.

  He’d just reached into his small outdoor refrigerator for his second can when Lillie jumped down and ran into the house, barking.

  And his text pinged.

  Glancing at his smartwatch as he opened the beer, he frowned.

  Brent was there?

  He turned down the heat on the steak, left his beer on the tiled outdoor counter and headed inside.

  Whatever had happened, it had to be bad for Brent to be showing up unannounced on movie night. He’d need Cole sober.

  “What’s up?” he asked, swinging his door wide the second he got to it.

  Still in dress pants and short-sleeved shirt and tie, the older man’s serious expression gave Cole pause, but calmed the panic shooting through him. If there’d been some kind of emergency, Brent would be more agitated.

  “I’d like to talk to you, if you’ve got a minute.” The successful businessman looked him in the eye, but without his usual confidence.

  Had Brent done something wrong? No way he’d have been unfaithful to Emily. And the man didn’t drink so a DUI was out.

  Movie night wasn’t happening so it must have been something substantial.

  Feeling like he should be in lawyerly clothes, not the sweat shorts and T-shirt he’d pulled on when he got home, Cole said, “Of course.” And showed Brent out to the misting patio.

  With the vibes Brent was sending, fresh air and mountain views seemed better than being closed up in a living room.

  Lillie followed Brent straight to a wooden rocker, and Cole watched as the older man’s hand settled on the old girl’s head, petting her slowly.

  Brent glanced over at him, almost hesitantly, and said, “You haven’t mentioned Lindsay Warren since she left...”

  The name slammed down on Cole and he picked up his beer. Angry with himself for missing whatever nuance should have warned him that Brent’s reluctance to speak was about Cole’s reaction to what Brent was there to do, not about something Brent had already done.

  After putting the name out there, Brent sat silent for a second, assessing Cole.

  “I don’t know what you want from me,” Cole told him, banking his anger while he faced the man honestly. Brent deserved as much. “Yeah, I probably fell in love with her. I think she fell for me, too. But there were things pulling her back to San Diego and my life is here—”

  “I have—”

  When Brent interrupted, Cole shook his head and continued. “She told me before we ever started anything up that she probably wouldn’t be staying. We agreed, mutually, to have a short-term thing and leave it at that.”

  Yeah, he was hurting. That only meant the time with Lindsay was real. Special.

  And the fact that Cole had driven over twelve hours, round trip, to hold the woman for less than a minute and leave her...well, that was his business.

  Brent didn’t look any less...bothered.

  In fact, if anything the lines marring his brow appeared to have grown.

  Had Cole been that obvious in his heartache? Was everyone in town sharing the man’s concern? Sending Brent to have a talk with him?

  Pursing his lips, Brent nodded once, as though making a final decision—or reading Cole’s mind—and then sat back, catching Cole’s gaze, and holding it.

  “I have...” he started again, and this time Cole didn’t interrupt. “I have a strong suspicion that I am the reason she left.”

  Cole heard the words. They made no sense.

  “She was perfectly happy at Elite, Brent. If anything, having to give up the job working for you made it harder for her to leave.”

  Brent shook his head. Put a finger to the knot of his tie, but didn’t loosen it. “I don’t think she came to Shelter Valley just to take the job at Elite.”

  Cole froze. Mentally and physically.

  “I think she was here to find me.”

  With a shaking hand, Cole set down his beer. Hard. Before he dropped it.

  Brent was...had...drugs?

  Brent?

  Abandoned.

  It didn’t make sense. “Why on earth would you think that?” He finally got his thoughts in order. Asked the obvious question.

  One he’d have come to immediately if he didn’t know Lindsay’s secrets.

  Ones she’d told to no one else.

  Had someone at Sierra’s Web...?

  He dismissed the thought before it even completed.

  “Because I’m her father.”

  Cole’s mouth dropped open.

  His heart raged.

  And Lillie jumped in his lap.

  * * *

  Heart pounding, Lindsay listened to the cell phone ring. Being stuck in traffic in LA on a Friday evening, on the way to a privately held small premiere, at five hundred a head, to raise money for a children’s organization, didn’t help her nerves any.

  “Pick up,” she implored, glancing at her in-dash screen to see that she’d indeed chosen to make the call from Lindsay Warren’s cell phone, not her own.

  Two shows. Cole hadn’t shown up for either. She’d been battling with herself all week on what to do about that. Worried that she’d somehow given him the impression that his impromptu visit had been the wrong choice.

  Needing him to at least know that she was willing to open that small door between them.

  Traffic started to move.

  Lindsay’s call went to voice mail.

  And she pushed to end the call without leaving a message.

  * * *

  Cole heard his phone. He’d left it in the kitchen after he’d collected the steak.

  The steak.

  It wasn’t going to be any good.

  At the moment, he wasn’t sure what was good.

  Brent was the man who’d been responsible for a young woman’s death, and had abandoned his own daughter, too?

  He couldn’t wrap his mind around the facts Lindsay had given him and the man sitting there with the word father still fresh on his lips.

  For a second he hated the guy. Wanted to stand up and spit on him.

  For a second.

  A flash of Lindsay, telling him she couldn’t be responsible for ruining lives, hurting innocent people, passed before his eyes.

  And with a sinking gut, he knew, not only what she’d meant, but that he’d been one of the people she’d been protecting.

  In the next second, he was angry all over again.

  She’d used him.

  Elite Paper...she’d been there because Sierra’s Web had told her Brent owned the company. It all fell into place.

  Sickening, gut-wrenching place.

  The barbecue. She’d seen how close he was to Brent.

  She hadn’t loved him.

  She’d been using him to find out about her father.

  Though...she’d never mentioned the man, or allowed talk of work when they were together...

  Minutes had passed, long ones, since Brent had dropped his bombshell. Because I’m her father. Cole finally formed a coherent sentence. “Does Emily know?”

  “Yes.”

  Okay. That felt right. And, “How is she?”

  “Worried about me. And you, too.”

  “Me? Whatever for?”

  The look Brent gave him had Cole glancing toward his beer, and taking a long sip. Before his thoughts turned back to Emily.

  “She’s worried about you? What about herself? Her kids? How could you do this to them?”