“Do you think we’ll be able to get past the stage?” I asked since the motel was on the other side.
“Yeah. Look.” Ryker pointed. “People are passing around the speakers on that side.”
“Well, let’s see what this is all about then. I think you were right, though. This does have something to do with ‘Mirror, Mirror.’”
“Looks that way.”
“Just think, we could be witnessing history.”
Ryker didn’t seem to share my enthusiasm. “I have my doubts.”
As we approached the stage, I saw a familiar face mingling with the local reporters’ camera crews. “Wendy!” I shouted.
“You know her?” asked Ryker.
“Yeah, we met on the trail on the way to Suches.” As the crowd became denser, I took Ryker’s hand. “Come on. Let’s go say hi.”
I wasn’t sure if Wendy would remember me. I’d found her a bit self-absorbed when we met back in Suches. But she might have been having a bad day, feet aching from the long hike she wasn’t accustomed to, hungry or tired or both. There was no shortage of valid excuses for her sour mood that day.
“Wendy,” I called again.
She turned her head, scanning the crowd. She saw me and beamed. I waved, and she waved back.
I was pleasantly surprised that she not only remembered me and my name, but she also remembered that I was documenting a charity active in the mountains. She seemed in much better spirits than she’d been back in Suches, and we talked like we were long lost friends.
“My, you look absolutely radiant,” she said. “Seems like the hike has agreed with you!”
“It most certainly has.” I beamed. “Wendy, I’d like you to meet Ryker. He’s a bit of a local.” I winked at him.
Wendy’s eyes went up and down Ryker a bit more slowly and thirstily than I would have cared for, but I figured she was only trying to pay him and me a compliment. “Well, hello, Ryker. Now I see why Holly’s looking so radiant. Pleased to meet you.” She extended her hand to him in an overly coquettish fashion and looked at me with a smile. “I see the hike has agreed with you, indeed.”
Ryker took her hand graciously and inclined toward her. “Pleasure to meet you, Wendy.”
“The pleasure is mine,” she said. Then turning back to me, she said, “We must catch up.”
“Yes, we must. What brings you to Franklin?”
She pointed to the stage. “This is big news. Corporate America comes to save the day. Half of my readers will love it. The other half will hate it so much they simply won’t be able not to read about it.” She fluttered her eyebrows.
Turning to Ryker, she asked, “Since you’re a local, maybe you’d like to tell me how you feel about this. Give me an inside scoop.”
She raised her eyebrows when she said “inside scoop” as if it were a well-understood sexual innuendo or a proposal. I almost choked fighting back my laughter.
“I’m not really a local,” Ryker said blushingly. “Holly’s exaggerating.”
“But Ryker was born here,” I added.
She looked him up and down again, suggestively. “Is that so?”
“But my brother’s coming by in a bit,” said Ryker. “He’s as local as they get. Maybe you could interview him. He’s a paramedic and a really smart guy.”
“Does he look as delicious as you?”
Ryker glanced nervously at me. He cleared his throat and tried to play it off like he didn’t get she was coming on to him. “Actually, I think we look a lot alike.” He turned to me. “Don’t you think so?”
I nodded enthusiastically. “A lot. And his brother’s got an identical twin, to boot.
Wendy’s wide eyes got even wider. “Intriguing. Very intriguing.”
“Say,” Ryker announced, “we’re having a party tonight. Why don’t you come?” He looked at me for approval.
It was too late for me not to agree. “Yes, you should come,” I said, and I was already warming to the idea. “They have a lovely little cottage.”
“A lovely big cottage,” Ryker corrected.
“Yeah, a big cottage. Anyway, you should come. I want to hear about what you’ve been up to.”
Wendy agreed though she did need to stay awhile to catch the press conference and try to get some interviews afterward. We gave her the address and stayed and chatted for a few minutes, but we could tell we were keeping her from her work, so we left. “See you later.”
“I’ll be there.” She waved at me and winked at Ryker.
We made our way around the speakers and past the stage. I said to Ryker, “That should be interesting.”
“Should I not have invited her?”
“No, no. I’m glad you did. The more, the merrier.”
It turned out we had more to celebrate than my going back on the trail. Will had gotten the DNA results back. And to no one’s surprise, Ryker was, in fact, their brother. Dennis, the adored young brother they thought they’d lost, was home again after over twenty years.