“I can imagine,” Gabe said. “You were on the same flight as Nadia Ainsworth. Do you happen to know where she is now?”
Marty shook his head. “No, I don’t. She seemed nice. Any problem with her?”
“We used to work together.” Gabe decided that was enough. He motioned to the library entrance. “Russ and Kylie are inside if you want to surprise them.”
“Russ isn’t easy to surprise. He’ll know I’m here by now. Probably knew the minute my car crossed into Knights Bridge.” Marty sighed as his younger brother emerged from the library. “See?”
Gabe stepped aside as the two Coltons greeted each other. Russ seemed genuinely pleased that Marty had made the trip East for the party, but he’d obviously had an eye on the hired car and whoever was in it. The pair went inside, and Gabe resumed helping Felicity get the evening festivities set up.
“Kylie told me Marty didn’t make it to the wedding. Hates to fly,” Felicity said.
Gabe nodded. “He was severely injured in a helicopter crash in which his father died.”
“That’s terrible. I knew there was a reason, but it wasn’t the moment to ask for details. How did you find out? Did Russ tell you?”
“Shannon.”
“Ah. She could work security herself. Well, Russ seems thrilled Marty’s here now, and I know Kylie will be.”
Kylie’s sister arrived. She introduced Lila to Felicity and Gabe, no one awkward at the intermingling of personal and professional relationships, given Felicity’s role that evening. Gabe didn’t think he’d ever seen her so comfortable in her own skin—at ease with her work, herself, her place in her hometown. No way was he messing with that.
“Feeling cocky?” she asked him during a moment’s lull, after they’d finished setting up.
“About what?”
“That you were right about me. Aren’t you taking a little credit for my new life as an event manager?”
He grinned at her. “Let’s see if the badgers behave first.”
“A few aren’t tightly sewn. I hope their stuffing holds through the night.”
“I know the feeling.”
She laughed. “Don’t we all.”
“You don’t seem as nervous tonight as you did at the boot camp. Kylie’s well-known.”
“She is, but she’s not you, is she? She’s a friend. Not that you aren’t, but I hadn’t seen you in such a long time, and we’d had quite a parting of ways. I mean, it involved brownies.”
“It involved deception about brownies,” Gabe said lightly.
“I’m ignoring you. The boot camp was a first, too. A lot was at stake, not just for me but for people I care about—Dylan, Olivia, Maggie, Brandon, Noah, even Phoebe. Russ, too. And you.”
“You didn’t want to screw up.”
“Especially in front of you,” she added pointedly.
“I guess I can understand that.” He tilted his head sideways, eyeing her. “I could make an argument that skinny-dipping in the river helped relax you for tonight.”
“Oh, sure. That was very relaxing. Technically I wasn’t skinny-dipping, but it was madness.”
“But fun?”
She smiled. “Maybe.”
“You have to cut loose once in a while, Felicity.”
“I hear you, but you don’t have to tell me what I need to do or don’t need to do. I’m not looking to you for that, Gabe.”
“As if you ever did.”
Her smiled broadened. “Now you’re getting the idea.”
A stream of guests came through the main library doors, and she was off to do her thing.
Gabe went into fly-on-the-wall mode, but it didn’t last. The Sloan brothers in attendance spotted him. Eric, Justin and Christopher. Adam, a stonemason and the quietest of the lot, wasn’t there, and Brandon was still in the White Mountains with his adventure travelers. Justin was with Samantha, his pirate-expert bride and one of Kylie’s first friends in town.
“How’s it going, Gabe?” Justin asked.
“Just fine,” he said, meaning it as he watched Felicity direct guests. “Just fine.”
* * *
As far as Gabe could tell, the evening was a smashing success. He’d never been to a party for a children’s book author and illustrator. To any kind of book party, in fact.
He wandered outside while Felicity wrapped up with the last of the guests. He’d help her clean up and load the Rover. Nadia, thankfully, hadn’t turned up.
Justin and Samantha Sloan trotted down the library steps. Eric and Christopher had left already for their shifts as police officer and firefighter. Justin was a volunteer firefighter—he and Samantha had met when she’d ducked into an old cider mill he owned and it caught fire in a lightning strike. It occurred to Gabe that as little time as he spent in Knights Bridge, he did know a fair amount about its goings-on, mostly thanks to his brother—but he could have told Mark he wasn’t interested, and he never had.
Justin and Samantha said good-night and headed off, hand in hand, across South Main and the common, toward their rambling, ramshackle inn. If anyone could renovate Red Clover Inn and make it better than it ever had been, they and the rest of the Sloans could—and would.
Gabe stiffened, noticing the silhouette of a woman on the common.
Nadia.
He glanced behind him. A few stragglers chatted in front of the library. He debated alerting Russ, who was inside, but decided there was no need. Let Russ enjoy the rest of the celebration with his wife and his brother. Gabe had no reason to believe Nadia would cause trouble, at least any he couldn’t handle.
He crossed the quiet street and walked through the lush grass on the common. Nadia stood in front of a World War II monument. She didn’t glance at him as he approached her. “Imagine all the dead and maimed during those terrible years,” she said, staring at the names carved into the polished stone. “It seems like such a long time ago, but my grandfather served in the Pacific. He seldom talked about it. I found pictures after my grandmother died of the two of them. He was in his uniform. They were so young.” She turned to Gabe, her skin pale, colorless, in the dim light. “The march of time, huh?”
“What are you doing here, Nadia?”
“Resisting temptation.
