best explain the situation. “Andrew, sometimes families have disagreements. That’s what happened with your dad and your grandparents. I’m working on patching things up, but it might take some time.”
He smiled, and his dimple appeared. “I knew you would.”
She lifted a brow at him as she turned into the church parking lot and searched for a vacant spot. “Knew I would what?”
The self-satisfied look on his face was at once adorable and disarming. “Try and make things better with my dad and Grandma and Grandpa Linden.”
“Yep. And I think Grandpa likes you.”
She knew she had at least one ally with Harold. Turning off the ignition, she asked, “And your grandma?”
He shrugged. “She doesn’t say much about you, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t like you.”
She reached across the console and gently ruffled his hair. “Well, you be sure to tell them both today that I think they’re wonderful grandparents.”
His eyes sparkled happily. “Okay.”
They got out of the car and started toward the church and the crowd of people visiting until the bells tolled. Andrew slipped his hand in hers and looked at her with liquid brown eyes full of worry.
“Do you think Dad’s okay at home?”
“I’m sure he’s fine.” The lie was necessary.
“Will you bake him cookies while I’m at Grandma’s?” Hope tinged his voice. “That’ll cheer him up for sure.”
Megan was desperate enough to try anything to reach Kane. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Megan wrapped the previous night’s leftover fried chicken in foil and placed it in a paper sack along with grapes and the fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies she’d baked when she returned from church. Completing the picnic was the bottle of wine she’d picked up at the grocery store on her way home.
Kane had left for town a little less than an hour ago, saying something about picking up some stuff being held at the hardware store for him. She couldn’t have planned this surprise picnic any more perfectly. Knowing he’d be home any moment and wanting to be gone when he did, she quickly wrote a note for him to meet her at the huge oak tree by the lake and signed the note, “I love you, Megan.” She placed the piece of paper on the counter by the back door, so he’d be sure to see it when he walked in.
She gathered up her goodies, walked the short trek to their meeting spot and spread out the blanket she’d brought, then unloaded their lunch. When that was done, she reclined on the blanket, unbuttoned the front of her dress to reveal the swells of her breasts, hiked her skirt to her thighs and affected a sultry, seductive pose. And waited.
Kane’s cool, distant attitude didn’t concern her. She’d decided that she was going to shower him with so much love he’d drown in it, whether he liked it or not. And if seducing him was the only way to shatter his emotional barriers, she’d gladly pay the price.
Seconds stretched into endless minutes as she continued to plan her seductive strategy. The leaves in the trees rustled gently and birds chirped overhead. The sky couldn’t have been bluer, the day more beautiful for sharing with someone she loved. Eventually, she succumbed to the cool spring breeze and the gentle lapping of water lulling her to sleep.
She woke from her nap with a start. Drowsily, she looked at her watch. Two hours had passed. Abruptly sitting up, she glanced around, expecting to see Kane. She was alone. Achingly, desperately, frustratingly alone.
Discouraged and stung by his rejection, she packed up the untouched picnic. The walk home seemed like a five-mile uphill climb. The entire way, she told herself there had to be a logical explanation, that most likely Kane had gotten held up in town and hadn’t come home yet. Surely he wouldn’t intentionally ignore her request?
Her excuses fizzled when she crested the knoll and saw his truck parked outside the barn. With every step closer to the house, her heart grew heavier. Her fervent vow to shower him with love mocked her. How could she accomplish her goal when Kane wasn’t the least bit willing or cooperative?
Angry at herself for believing in the impossible and at Kane for his selfish behavior, she strode into the barn and plunked the sack on his workbench. Kane. turned from his current project, eyeing the bag, and her, warily.
The pain inside her grew to startling proportions. “Here’s your lunch. It would have been real nice if we could have shared it together, but I guess you weren’t in the mood for company, which is nothing new around here.” Her words were cruel, but she couldn’t stop them.
A startled look resembling guilt passed over his features but was quickly masked by a practiced indifference. “What are you talking about?”
“The note, Kane,” she said, her throat raw and her emotions frayed. “The one in the kitchen asking you to meet me by the lake.”
He hesitated, then turned away. Taking off his plastic safety glasses, he tossed them aside. “I didn’t see any note.”
She wanted to scream at him to look at her so she could see the truth in his eyes. “How could you miss it? It’s right on the counter as you walk in the kitchen.”
Again he paused. Again he wouldn’t look at her. “I haven’t been up to the house.”
She honestly didn’t know whether or not to believe him. His answer was sensible, but feeling hurt and emotionally wounded, she held tight to her anger. “Since you only spend time in your workshop, I guess next time I ought to post the note on your workbench!”
He turned. That marble facade of his cracked a bit, giving her a glimpse of vulnerability she wasn’t in the frame of mind to dissect or understand. He stepped toward her. “Megan-”
She held up a hand to ward him off, in no disposition to be rational. “Forget it, Kane. Just forget it.” She damned the tears rushing forward and choking her voice. She damned him for breaking her heart when all she wanted to do was love him. She didn’t know what to do if he wouldn’t at least make an attempt to meet her halfway. “Let’s just chalk this up to a misunderstanding, and I won’t make the mistake again of expecting anything more from you than what you openly give.”
He stood unmoving, looking as miserable as she felt. The thought gave her no pleasure, just filled her with a sadness that went soul deep. He didn’t want her heart. He didn’t want her love. Who was she to force them on him?
She turned and left the barn before she broke down. As soon as she stepped outside, the sob lodged in her throat escaped and the tears she’d managed to hold at bay spilled over her lashes. The emptiness in her was all- consuming.
She heard him swear, then a loud crash as he threw something against the barn wall. She winced and forced herself to keep walking away. All she wanted to do at the moment was tear that damned note into a million pieces.
Swiping at her wet cheeks, she entered the kitchen and searched the counter for the note, then the floor, then the entire area, nearly turning the kitchen upside down with her urgent need to find that stupid piece of paper.
The note was nowhere to be found.
Megan separated the dirty clothes methodically, her mind numb and her heart battered and bruised. The only time she could remember experiencing such a horrible helplessness and loneliness was after her divorce.
She swallowed the growing knot in her throat, determined not to give in to the urge to cry any more tears than she already had in the past two days. Especially with Andrew in the other room doing his homework.
Biting her bottom lip and blinking back moisture, she grabbed a pair of Andrew’s jeans and checked the pockets. She found a gum wrapper, a quarter and a marble before tossing them into the dark clothes pile. She focused her mind on the chore, repeating the process with all his pants, then Kane’s, amazed, as always, at the different trinkets and the amount of change she discovered.
Reaching into the front pocket of Kane’s jeans, her fingers closed around a crumpled piece of paper and some loose change. She automatically dumped them on her growing pile and dropped the pants on top of the others. It took her mushy brain five seconds to register the significance of that piece of paper, and when it did, everything within her froze.
She stared at the balled up paper as if it were a poisonous insect. Her mind spun and her heart raced so fast
