Page 22 of Dangerous Secrets
“There were some whobelieved you.”She paused, then voiced a question that had botheredher since he’d been falsely accused.“Do you think that’s why youwere framed?They used the accusation to get you out of theway?”
He rubbed a hand over the back of hisneck, head tipped down like he was in deep thought.“Fetterly hatedmy guts.I still don’t know why.So who the hell knows why I wasframed.”
“Maybe Melanie does.I’vebeen searching on the internet trying to locate her.She left hereand went to Portland.She was there about eight months.After thatit’s like she dropped off the face of the earth.”She hadn’t meantto tell him what she she’d been doing.This whole conversation wasfeeling a bit too intimate.Like the light from the overhead lampcast them in their own bubble where sharing was easier.
He gave her a sharp look.“Leave italone.Stay out of this, Laney.If there’s any digging to do, I’lldo it.”
“Walker McGrath, aloneagainst the world again, is that right?”
“Fuck that.This is younot getting involved in my shit where you could gethurt.”
“I’m not getting involvedin your ‘shit.’I’m looking for a person who was my friend and hadsomething awful happen to her.I don’t see how that’s going to getme hurt.You didn’t rape her, but someone did, and that person gotaway with a horrible crime.It’s not right.”
Walker shook his head.“That’s exactlywhy you could be hurt.Avoiding prison is a big motivator forsomeone to keep you from meddling.Leave it.”His gaze held hers ashe said, “Tell me what else is going on around here.”
She had the fleeting thought he wastrying to draw out the conversation, but dismissed the notion asridiculous.Entertaining ideas he wanted to spend time with hermade her heart yearn, and was enough to stir her emotions into ajumbled mess.
Walker would disappear soon enough,and it could be another long stretch before she saw him again.Shewished the attraction, connection, chemistry—whatever the hell itwas—had faded.This evening proved it hadn’t.She needed to proceedwith caution.
She couldn’t risk getting involvedwith him and being shattered again when he moved on.She’d hadenough rejection in her life from men who didn’t stick around, andhad the scars to prove it.
She stepped back to give herselfdistance before addressing his question.“There’s been tension inthe valley between property owners who want to preserve thesmall-town nature of Sisters and keep the farms going, and otherswho are looking to cash in on rising property values.The Norrisfamily has a development company, and they’ve bought up severalparcels.
“We’re close enough toSacramento, and people are buying homes here and commuting to jobsin the city.Developers want to capitalize by building condos andhousing tracts, but most of the residents don’t want Sisters tobecome another Sacramento suburb.”She shrugged.“We want thecommunity to keep the rural feel with the apple farms and ranches.Many of us have invested in building up our businesses to appeal tovisitors who want a wholesome family experience.Some are offeringfield trip programs for schoolkids to teach them about growingapples and how everything from cider to jams and jellies aremade.”
“I saw you’d put inberries.”
She nodded.“Apple season starts onLabor Day, so we put in berries to bring visitors earlier in thesummer.It’s worked out well.”The breeze gusted and she gatheredWalker’s jacket more closely around her.“Recently, local citycouncil meetings have gotten ugly.There are passionate people onboth sides.”She studied the man in front of her.“You have naturalleadership skills, Walker.When things get stirred up like theyare, people will look to you to give them direction.I think that’swhy Mateo said what he did.”She dug her keys from her purse andslipped off his jacket.“Thanks.I’ll be fine with the heater in mytruck.”
He took the jacket.“My truck is inthe back row.I’ll follow you home.”
“Wow.I wonder how I’vesurvived without you.”
“I’m back, Laney.Get usedto it.”
***
While Walker followed Laney until thetaillights of her truck turned into the driveway in front of thebig house, his mind kept replaying her kiss.He couldn’t get it outof his head.It felt like she’d knocked him on his ass much likeshe’d done to the fucker Norris.She’d been making a statement anddidn’t intend for him to read more into it.He got that.He’d beendoing pretty good about walling off his emotions.His survivaldepended on it.But when she laid that kiss on him, he felt likeshe’d swung a wrecking ball through that wall.
He kept to the right at the fork andpulled to a stop in front of the cabin he’d lived in from age tenuntil he’d been sent to prison.His grandfather had always beenadding something to the place.At sixteen, Walker’d spent a hot,sweaty summer swinging a hammer and running the saw after James hadgotten it in his head to change the pitch of the roof and extend itout to cover a deep front porch, which also had to beconstructed.
Sawyer had gotten himself a summer jobbefore heading off to college so he’d been spared the carpentrywork.At the time, Walker’d bitched about it, but something abouthitting his thirties made him think about it differently.Now herealized how much he’d learned, and how much he’d needed thediscipline of work.Pop had known, and he wondered if the old manhad decided on the construction work more as a project for Walkerto learn from than anything else.
With the porchlight on and the gleamof the waning moon overhead, he studied the work he and hisgrandfather had done.The change had been a good one.An avalancheof memories were tied to this place and made him miss hisgrandfather even more.
Over the years, they’d called, hadvideo chats, and Pop and Sawyer had come to visit him a few times.But that didn’t make up for him not being in his grandfather’s lifewhen he should’ve been.
Regret had put a vise grip around hisheart that wouldn’t ease up, even more so when he learned Pop hadleft the cabin to him.The north orchard went to him and Sawyer,but the cabin and workshop were his.Sawyer had been more than okaywith the arrangement, saying Pop had helped him buy his place intown.
Walker navigated the flagstonewalkway, checking his stride when he saw the outline of a mansitting in one of the chairs in the deepest shadows of the porch.Not his grandfather waiting up for him.He breathed carefully toease the tightness in his throat.“Good way to get yourself shot,brother, sitting on a man’s porch in the dark.”
“You packing?”Sawyerasked.
“Not today.”
“Guess I’m safethen.”
Walker gave a grunt.“Didn’t see yourtruck.”
