What would Claude be like now? Would he remember the two of them in the woods that night? She felt her pulse tick up at just the thought of seeing him again. If this invitation was real...
She’d studied the invitation as if the answer to her future was subliminally printed on the card stock. Last chance before the hotel was demolished... So Casey Crenshaw really was going to raze the old place, just as Jen had heard?
She’d checked the return address. The postmark was San Francisco. Jen had heard that Anna had died out there recently. So that meant her granddaughter, Casey, must have sent the invitation. She remembered the timid, redheaded kid that Megan had given such a hard time. Why would Casey want to remember Megan any more than Jen did?
She tapped the edge of the invitation card on her front teeth and thought. Did she care who had sent it to her? She cared more about who would be there and what she was going to wear. Pulling out her phone, she called her cousin to tell her.
“That sounds ghastly,” Tina Mullen said. “Surely you aren’t going?”
“Why not?”
“You hated Megan. You threatened to kill her, as I recall.”
“That was just between us. Anyway, everyone who knew her wanted her dead. Besides, remember that boy I told you about?”
Her cousin sighed. “I should have known that’s what this is about.”
“I’m thinking he might be there. It might be fate.” She rushed on before Tina could argue. “By the way, the hotel is going to be razed. It’s not just a rumor. That’s why the reunion is being held, because it’s the last chance before the place is gone.”
“Mother is going to have a fit.” Jen’s aunt, Vi Mullen, had tried to get the locals to chip in to buy the place and failed.
Not that Jen had cared. “I need to borrow something to wear. Since you can’t fit into any of your cool clothes...” Her cousin was pregnant and hadn’t been able to fit into anything for months. “I need something...sexy.” She thought of Megan and felt her stomach roil. “Just in case I run into Megan’s ghost, I want to look really good. I have a final score to settle with that bitch.”
“I’d be careful talking like that. People will think you really did kill her.”
CASEY REALIZED THAT she had needed the fresh air as much as the short walk into town to the café. The hotel was only a couple of blocks outside the city limits. The cool evening spring air felt good against her sunburned face. She caught the familiar scents of Buckhorn. They reminded her of better days when she and her grandmother would wander in on an evening. Anna loved this town, and the residents had loved her.
A few people glanced in her direction as they reached town, but she didn’t recognize anyone she knew. The busload of tourists were already scurrying about town as if having money to burn before nightfall. She noticed that the bakery, candy shop and ice-cream parlor were all busy, and so was the general store down the block.
With a start, she saw that they’d reached the café. Like a perfectly normal gentleman, Finn held the door open for her, and she stepped in. She stopped just inside the door. Earl Ray looked up from where he sat at the counter. He was a welcome fixture in Buckhorn and the nicest man Casey had ever met. He’d always been kind to her and her grandmother and was dearly loved by anyone who knew him.
His blue eyes brightened at the sight of her as he got to his feet. At mid-to-late fifties, he was still spry and athletically built with thick salt-and-pepper hair. He was smiling as he pulled her into a hug, saying, “It is so good to see you. I was so sorry about Anna.” As he drew back, he met her gaze. “She will be missed.”
Casey could only nod as she looked into the man’s open face. There was true caring in his expression.
“If you need anything, anything at all, let me know.” Earl Ray shifted his gaze to Finn. She saw the moment of surprise, but Earl Ray hid it well as he smiled and held out his hand to Finn. “Good to see you. Wasn’t sure you’d still be with us.” The older man’s gaze came back to her. “Hope you’re staying for a while.”
“Thank you.” It was all she could say since she wasn’t staying. But he and the rest of Buckhorn’s residents would know that soon enough—if they didn’t already. After all, Finn had seemed to know her schedule.
Finn said goodbye to Earl Ray and then, putting one large, warm hand in the small of her back, ushered her toward a booth away from everyone else. She’d felt an electric shock at his touch and hoped he hadn’t felt her reaction. “Nice guy,” he said of Earl Ray as they took seats across from each other.
Casey nodded distractedly. What was she doing here with this man who unsettled her? Worse, she hated to admit that he was right. The moment she walked into the café, she could tell that word had gotten out about her—and the sale. While it had been ten years since she’d been here, people had recognized her. Probably the hair. Eyebrows had shot up at the sight of her. The sight of her with Finn added even more disapproval to their expressions.
“This may have been a mistake,” she whispered. Of course this was a mistake. Coming back to
