“Maybe I have more of Dad in me than you think,” Joy had said, staring out the plane window.
Seth had snorted at that.
* * *
In truth, Joy thought as they left the quirky little town of Vulture’s Canyon behind them, she was worried herself. It alarmed her how much she looked forward to seeing Everett again. Just the thought of him touching her made her breathless. She had to ban herself from thinking about them making love—not that it worked.
Her nervous excitement mounted as Seth turned the car onto Eagle Perch Road. They began to ascend a steep hill as twilight fell. The sky was a golden fuchsia above the tops of the tall trees. She was glad Everett had suggested bringing some art supplies. The landscape was lovely.
It turned out that Everett was absolutely correct in saying they couldn’t miss the Pierce house. The country road they were on narrowed to a private drive, which curved into a circular turnabout in front of a large, attractive white farmhouse with a wraparound porch and light glowing warmly in the windows.
“Seth?” Joy said when her uncle parked the car in a turnabout behind three other vehicles.
“Yeah?” he asked, twisting the key out of the ignition.
“Don’t . . . don’t mention anything to Everett a
bout the cancer.”
From her peripheral vision, she saw Seth glance at her sharply.
“Why not? It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“I know that. It’s just personal, that’s all. Oh . . . it’s not a big deal,” she said, completely contradicting herself. “I’ll tell him if the topic should ever come up.”
“If I know you, that’ll be never. I’m shocked you brought it up just now.”
“Seth, please.” This conversation was entering territory she’d rather avoid.
“You never want to talk about it,” he persisted. “You’ve closed in on yourself ever since you were diagnosed. You’ve moved thousands of miles away from me and from your friends. Remember? I was there with you with everything that happened to Alice.”
“I know you were!” she said, stung. “How could I ever forget that?”
“I just mean that I know you’re scared, honey. I know you were scared about the cancer, and I know you’re terrified of it coming back. Why are you acting like I can’t handle it when you know firsthand I can?” he said, his rugged face tight with frustration.
She saw a flicker of movement from the house. The front door swung open. She focused on Seth, entreating quietly. “You’ve been my rock since I was twelve years old. I know you can handle it. But so can I.”
He shut his eyes briefly.
“Let’s just put this on hold for now,” Seth muttered. He gave her a small, apologetic smile, and she returned it. He squeezed her knee and turned to get out of the car. Katie stood on the front porch, waving at Seth and calling a greeting. A brown, doleful-looking basset hound sat just inches away from her ankle. Through the glass, Joy caught a glimpse through some curtains of a tall shadow moving toward the front door. It might be Rill . . .
Excitement shattered her anxiety when she saw Everett follow his sister onto the front porch. Joy got out of the car, breathless. She realized she was grinning like an idiot as she walked toward the house, but forgave herself when she saw Everett saunter down the front steps, smiling every bit as broadly as she was, his arms held out toward her.
* * *
Everett took a sip of his ginger ale—Katie had taken to making it herself. Much to his amusement, his cheeseburger-loving little sister had been converted by the hippy community of Vulture’s Canyon into a health food nut. His attention veered for the twentieth time from Rill and Seth’s discussion about setting, costume and makeup for Razor Pass to the hallway, where Joy had disappeared ten minutes ago with Katie. Dinner was over, and Everett sat with Rill and Seth at the enormous antique oak table in the kitchen. Seth’s concept drawings for body art and makeup were sprawled out before them. Everett figured he’d hung out long enough at the big house to be polite. Seth and Rill clearly didn’t need him.
He wanted to get Joy alone.
He’d wanted that ever since he’d reluctantly left her in her classroom earlier in the week. His desire to touch her had only grown exponentially since she had shown up earlier, looking fresh and sexy in a turquoise cotton skirt, a leather belt, a simple white tank top, a jacket and sandals. She’d taken off the jacket before dinner. The vision of the smooth, glowing skin of her shoulders and arms and the shape of her breasts in the snug top had left him distracted and vaguely irritable by the end of dinner. Not irritable at her or anyone in particular; he was agitated like a chained dog.
His cock twitched slightly and he sat up straighter when he heard female voices in the hallway. Rill did a double take, noticing his fractured attention. He glanced over his shoulder toward the hallway and gave Everett a patronizing, droll look. Everett scowled at his best friend.
Don’t get all high-and-mighty with me, mate, when you turn to mush whenever my sister walks into the room.
Everett and Rill had been friends since they’d been eighteen and nineteen respectively. They’d worked with each other on several films. They were pretty good at reading each other, as witnessed by Rill’s slightly sheepish expression, as if Everett had spoken his thought out loud.
Everett had been dubious when Rill and Katie had gotten together a year and a half ago. They’d all been good friends before then, even if Katie’d had a silent, unrequited crush on Rill since she was a girl. Rill had been too busy building his career and marrying another woman to notice Katie’s love for him, but when he’d discovered his wife’s infidelity and ran wounded to the hills of Vulture’s Canyon following her untimely death, it’d been Katie who had pulled him out from his dark hole and taught him the true meaning of loyalty and love. Now, like Rill, Everett couldn’t imagine why he’d never noticed his closest friend and sister were perfect for each other. She was the light to his shadow. He was the depth and intensity that Katie craved to make her whole.