“Honoria doesn’t hold many happy memories for you, does it, Lucas? First your mother died and then your stepmother—my mother—humiliated the family by running off with another man. Dad was never particularly supportive of you. And then Roger Jennings died.... I don’t blame you for wanting to get as far away from this town as possible.”
She hadn’t mentioned the worst thing that had happened to him here, because she had never known about his relationship with Rachel. And he had no intention of telling her about it now. “Not all the memories are bad ones. I have a lot of good memories of you.”
She smiled at him. “That was a sweet thing to say.”
“Yeah, well, I’m just a sweet guy.”
She laughed. “Why, Lucas. I believe you just made a joke.”
Her laugh hadn’t changed in all this time, Lucas thought. It could still make him smile, could still bring some warmth to that cold place inside him.
The doorbell rang, causing Emily to jump to her feet. “That’s either Wade and Clay, or Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Caleb. I’ll let them in.”
Lucas rinsed out the coffee cups while Emily went to answer the door. He knew he was going to have to spend some time being sociable during the next few hours. But what he really wanted to do was go off by himself somewhere and give some more thought to the words Rachel had thrown at him that morning.
You were the one who broke my heart... I believed everything you said because I was in love with you.
When, exactly, had she stopped believing him? And why?
4
WADE WAS OBVIOUSLY surprised when Lucas walked into his office Wednesday morning, but he greeted him cordially enough.
“Hello, Lucas. How did you get past Mrs. Mosler? She never lets anyone in here without being announced.”
Lucas shrugged. “I didn’t need to be announced.”
A flustered-looking, fifty-something woman appeared in the doorway behind Lucas, glaring at him before turning to her boss. “I’m sorry, Chief. I was taking a telephone call and this man just walked right past me without even pausing.”
“That’s all right, Mrs. Mosler. This is my future brother-in-law, Lucas McBride. He’s probably here on family business.”
Lucas watched as the woman paled. “Lucas McBride?” she repeated almost involuntarily.
Lucas nodded coolly. He was tempted to lean into her face, and say “Boo.” She would probably faint if he did. As far as he remembered, he had never met this woman, but she had obviously heard of him.
“I’ll, um, leave you two to visit,” she said, hands fluttering. “Should I hold your calls, Chief?”
“I’ll take the important ones.” Wade waited until she had closed the door behind her, then waved Lucas toward a chair. “Have a seat. Want some coffee?”
“No, thanks.” Lucas took one of the three chairs grouped around Wade’s scarred and battered wooden desk—the same desk that had been there in Chief Packer’s time, Lucas suspected. There’d been a few superficial changes made in the Honoria police department building, but most of it was all too familiar.
Lucas had once vowed never to enter the place again. He should have remembered the title to the old James Bond movie. Never Say Never Again.
Wade leaned back in his chair, his elbows on the arm rests, his fingers steepled in front of him. “Is there something you want to discuss with me, or are you just visiting all your old haunts today?”
“Very funny.”
Wade chuckled. “I notice you didn’t have any trouble finding your way to my office without directions.”
“I probably know this place as well as you do. Seemed like every time I turned around, Packer was hauling me in for something.”
“According to your file, you were only officially arrested a couple of times. You seemed to have a knack for getting into fights.”
“They were never my fault.”
“You’d be surprised how often I’ve heard that.”
Lucas glanced at a somewhat shabby little artificial Christmas tree sitting on a table in one corner of Wade’s office, someone’s attempt at creating a festive atmosphere in the all-business environment. He would bet the nervous Mrs. Mosler had been responsible for the decorations.