“You think something happened between him and Mary?” Tory asked.
“Wouldn’t he have the kids if that was the case?” His fingers tightened on the steering wheel. “There’s something going on. But we were talking about your mom, not mine. You sure you won’t regret keeping her at arm’s length?” Weren’t women supposed to like being close to their mothers?
“She hasn’t bothered to act like a mother. Now she wants to be friends? Where was she when times were hard?”
“My mom wants us to sell the ranch,” Liam reminded her. “She thinks we should all move to Ohio and buy a spa near where she lives. She wants to be our consultant.”
Tory shook her head ruefully. “God, they’re a pair. Our moms were friends when they were young. Did you know that?”
“No.” Liam couldn’t imagine it. He snuck another look Tory’s way. Her face was tight with anger. Or maybe it was frustration. Her problems with her mother had been a long time in the making.
“They definitely hung out together in high school. I saw a photo once tucked away in an old album. I recognized Mary. Mom nearly ripped it out of my hand.”
Liam kept driving, considering that. Mary and Enid friends? That didn’t sound likely.
“I could use a beer,” he said.
“Me, too.”
He pulled into a liquor store parking lot. “Wait here a minute?”
“Sure.”
When he returned, a twelve-pack under his arm, he was relieved to see Tory still sitting in the passenger seat. She’d found a tissue and was dabbing at her makeup, the vanity mirror down so she could see her reflection.
“This damn heat is melting my mascara,” she said when he got in the truck. “I don’t look like a raccoon, do I?”
“You look good.” She always did, far as he was concerned. When Tory’s mouth quirked into half a smile, Liam’s heart lifted. He got the truck running again and pulled out of the parking lot.
“Where are we headed, anyway?” she asked as they sped down a highway toward Silver Falls, a sleepy little quadrant of streets, shops and cafés surrounded by sinuous roads that wound into the hills.
“My secret hiding place.” He wasn’t sure when he’d decided to take her there, but he couldn’t seem to make himself drop her home. Tory was an intriguing woman—and for all he wanted to get away from his family, he didn’t really want to be alone, either.
Tory straightened. “Really? You have a secret hiding place?”
“Yep. I’ve got three siblings and an ornery great-uncle living with me. Sometimes I need to get away. We’ll have a bonfire. Drink a beer. Look up at the stars. Everything will seem better then.”
When the silence stretched out, he turned to find Tory studying him.
“What?” he asked.
“You’ve got hidden depths, don’t you?”
Liam laughed out loud. “I sincerely doubt it.”
“I think you do. I think you’re hiding in plain sight, Liam Turner.”
“Maybe,” he conceded and took the next right.
“Why do I know this place?” Tory leaned forward to peer out of the windshield at the rough road sloping downward ahead of them. It was lined with trees, and in the darkness it looked like the beginning to every horror movie Liam had ever watched.
“I bet you came out here once or twice as a kid. We did when they had their open house days.” He slowed down as the pavement ended and the road became a dirt track.
“Open house…” Tory huffed out a surprised breath. “Runaway Lake! Oh my goodness, I haven’t thought about this place since I left Montana.”
“No reason to. With the lodge being privately owned, it’s not like you could spend much time here.”
“Is it open to the public now?”
“Nope.” Liam turned to smile at her. “Which is why it’s my hiding place.”
Runaway Lake Lodge.
Tory couldn’t believe it, but Liam was steering the truck around a sharp corner, and now they were rumbling over the old bridge that crossed Runaway River and pulling up to the main parking area.
Memories spilled into her mind. Sunshine. Beach toys. Laughter. Splashing. Hot dogs roasted over a fire. Campfire songs.
Once a year, the weekend after Labor Day, when the tourists were gone but the wind hadn’t turned cold, the Hunts opened the beach and picnic area to the public for a day of activities. It had all been very tame—geared toward families with young children. Teenagers counted themselves far too old for such things, but she must have gone four or five times at least when she was young and her family was whole. This was the kind of entertainment the Coopers believed in: homegrown and cheap.
Tears stung her eyes, but Tory forced them back. She’d been in Chance Creek weeks already. There was no reason for nostalgia to hit her now. Maybe it was Lance’s wedding. She’d already lost Olivia to marriage. Now Lance was gone, too—both of them aligning with the Turners. It was like her childhood was officially over.
Which was silly. It had ended when she turned thirteen.
Lance parked the truck and grabbed the twelve-pack. “Coming?”
“What about the owners?”
“What about them?” He shrugged and tucked the beer under his arm as he bent to look back into the truck’s cab. “The Hunts have been gone for years. There’s a caretaker who looks in now and then, but I’ve never seen him.”
“I don’t want any trouble.” She undid her seat belt and rested her hand on the door.
“There won’t be any trouble.”
She had no idea why she believed him. In the dim moonlight, Liam looked a little dangerous. He wasn’t a friend; she hardly knew him, really, even if they’d been thrown together more often lately because of the merging of their families.
What if he’d brought her here to hurt her?
Tory rolled her eyes at the thought and got out of the truck. Liam wouldn’t hurt her. He knew Steel would put him six feet under if he tried. Her oldest brother was a force to be reckoned with.
Besides, she got the feeling Liam was—lonely.
Did he
