“You really haven’t changed. Amazing.”
I’d explained the elven blood before and that it might cause me to live longer—if I could keep from being chomped on by a dragon—so I didn’t bring it up.
“You haven’t changed that much either. Same wardrobe.” I smirked and plucked at his T-shirt.
He grinned, then glanced toward the deck and hastily dropped his hands and stepped back. A woman had come out of the house, curly red hair, curvy, and in her mid-thirties. A new girlfriend?
Thanks to keeping tabs on Amber’s social-media pages, I knew there had been a few over the years but Thad hadn’t remarried. If he worked as many hours a week as he had when I’d known him, that wasn’t surprising. Even if he didn’t realize it, he’d always put his career first too. I’d worried—and felt guilty—from time to time that Amber didn’t have a parent around that much, but I’d always believed she’d been better off with Thad than with me. At least he came home every night, and covered in printer ink, not blood.
“Hey, honey.” Thad lifted a hand and waved for the woman to come down. “This is Val. Val, this is Shauna. We’re, uhm, seeing each other.”
Shauna looked me up and down a lot more brazenly than Thad had, then gave me a scathing smile as she walked up and slid a possessive arm around his waist. I’d gotten similar looks from women before, whether I was standing next to their boyfriends or not, so I didn’t immediately dismiss her as a bitch, but I couldn’t manage a cordial return smile. I had zero interest in interacting with her.
“That’s nice. Is Amber here?”
Thad looked out toward the water. “She’s out there with her friend Myung-sook from their swim team. The house has kayaks and a paddleboat. They’re doing the paddleboat, so they shouldn’t be far, but, uhm…” He frowned uncertainly back at me.
Did that mean he’d told Amber we might meet this week and that Amber had said she didn’t want to see me? My heart shriveled.
“Should I take my stuff inside?” Mom asked into what was turning into an awkward silence.
“Oh, yes. Please, Sigrid.” Thad waved her toward the door. “I’ll help you in a minute, but there are a bunch of unclaimed bedrooms upstairs. Take whichever one you like.” He looked at me again. “Did you say you’re stuck at the campground? We have room if—”
“No, thanks,” I hurried to say, anticipating Shauna’s rejection and not wanting to impose, regardless. If Amber didn’t want to see me, I didn’t want to force my way into their vacation.
Red heat flushed Shauna’s cheeks. Her mouth was open—she’d definitely been on the verge of objecting.
She turned it into a whisper that I might not have heard if my ears weren’t sharper than average.
“You didn’t say she was coming here.”
“I didn’t know,” Thad murmured back.
“It was good to see you.” I lifted my hands and stepped back, not wanting to intrude, but I couldn’t keep from looking out to the lake, to where a blue paddleboat bobbed along near the shoreline. All I could see were the backs of Amber’s blonde head and her friend’s black-haired head, but longing and regret and more emotions I struggled to name wrestled for dominance in my heart. “I’ll get back to my walk.”
“Wait,” Thad blurted as I backed up the driveway and turned toward the trail. He extricated himself from Shauna.
“Don’t go after her.” This time, Shauna’s whisper wasn’t that soft, and there was a note of warning in it.
Despite my vow to reserve judgment—I was sure she saw me as the Other Woman and some kind of threat—I found myself hoping their relationship didn’t last and that Amber didn’t get a new step-mother inflicted on her. Not this woman, anyway. If Thad found Carol Brady or June Cleaver to love and support him and Amber, I’d cheer for the wedding.
“I’ll only be a minute,” Thad called. “I just want to make sure she’s all right.”
“She’s fine,” Shauna said in exasperation.
Thad caught me at the trail. I stuck my hands in my pockets so Shauna, who, standing with her arms over her chest and clearly intending to watch, wouldn’t have any fodder to misinterpret.
“Are you really okay staying in a tent?” Thad’s brow furrowed. “Or do you have an RV or something?”
The last thing I needed was another vehicle for a dragon to destroy.
“It’s a tent, but it’s fine. It’s summer. I camp out all the time on missions.”
His forehead furrow didn’t go away. “And that’s really what you’re here for? Don’t take this the wrong way, but when I got your email… Well, I thought it was a little, er, weird that you were going to be on an assignment in the same place we’re taking our vacation.” He glanced back at Shauna, who would start tapping her foot like a cartoon virago any second, and I wondered if she’d read that email over his shoulder and pointed out the unlikely coincidence. “I mean, it’s not a problem that you’re here. I just… if you want to see Amber, you could say so. She said she doesn’t want to see you, but I think she’s just… I don’t know. She’s fourteen now. I don’t understand much of what motivates her these days.” His fleeting smile seemed more genuine than forced, and I read between the lines that their relationship was probably fine and the problem was more me. “But maybe she would come along if we arranged to have lunch in town. If you want to.” He raised his eyebrows uncertainly.
“I don’t want to get in the way of your vacation. If she doesn’t want to see me, it’s okay.” The tightness in my throat would have told me that was a lie even if I lacked the perception to realize it. “And I hope you won’t take this the wrong way, but the government keeps an eye on you because of me. Colonel Willard—I’m a contractor for her office—asked if I wanted this mission because she knew you’d be here.” I spoke rapidly, well aware how Big Brother this sounded. “It’s always possible one of my many, many enemies could find out about you guys and that I care about you and try to use you against me. The fact that weird stuff happened to be going on in the town where you’re taking your vacation worried me.”
His expression changed at least five times while I spoke—he’d never been one to don a mask and hide his feelings. It settled on thoughtful concern. “I guess I’m encouraged to hear you admit you still care.”
I opened my mouth to say of course I cared and what kind of monster would I be if I didn’t, but I caught myself. The years of silence didn’t hint of someone who cared.
My therapist was right. I should have at least emailed over the years. I could have been careful and deleted the sent messages. It wasn’t as if the dark elves, orcs, and trolls that broke into my apartment were typically tech-savvy enough to hack into my computer and get all my contacts. But no contact had always seemed safer. Amber and Thad were still alive, but would they have been if I’d been in their lives?
Granted, I couldn’t truly know that they wouldn’t have been if I’d been there all those years. And that gnawed at me like a dog worrying a bone.
“I do care,” I said and left it at that. My voice was threatening to tighten up and betray how much I cared. Even my lungs were tight. How could they work fine when a dragon was eating my bicycle but squeeze up when I got the tiniest bit emotional? “Do me a favor and don’t go on any hikes in the woods, okay?”
“Because of the sasquatch?” Thad raised his brows.
Rocket wandered past, his nose to the ground. He was probably on the trail of a magical silver tiger.
“Someone’s plotting something against this town.” I thought about asking him to cancel his trip and go home, but a selfish part of me made me keep my mouth shut. Thad, at least, was open to having lunch somewhere, and if he could talk Amber into coming, it would be good to see her and talk for a minute. Even if she sat in sulky silence, I would have the opportunity to let her know that if she wanted to talk one day, I would figure out a way to make it work. And I would.
“We’re going to relax and stay on the property,” Thad said. “That’s it. Maybe go to dinner in town a couple of times. Shauna and Amber both said I work too much and that I need a tan.”
“You do and you do.” I smiled and glanced at the still glaring Shauna. I resolved to wrap this up so it wouldn’t put a strain between them, but curiosity rooted me to the pavement to ask, “Do they get along? Is everything good with you?”
Thad hesitated. “Amber hasn’t gotten along with anyone I’ve dated since she hit puberty—not that this represents a large number of women—” he smiled ruefully, “—but I think we’re doing okay. I know Shauna can be a little… jealous sometimes, and I’m not sure why, because it’s not like… well, you’re the first woman I’ve talked with for more than two minutes that wasn’t her, but anyway, they get along okay. And Shauna is nice one on one.”
What did that mean? That he couldn’t take her out in public?
“We’re still getting to know each other, but it’s good. We’re good.”
“Good.” Definitely an awkward conversation. I resisted the urge to advise him on a prenuptial agreement if things got serious. I was the last person who should give advice on relationships, but I hoped Shauna was into the geeky things he liked and not looking to bag a senior programmer with money socked away.
“Seriously, Val. How is it that you don’t look any different? I’m getting…” He grimaced and rubbed his graying temples. “Older.”
“The dragon aura keeps me young.”
He blinked. “What?”
“It’s a skin moisturizer. I think there’s a lot of Vitamin E in it. I better go. Email me if you and Amber want to do lunch, but no pressure. Have a good trip.”