Clearing his throat, he attempted a cool, unconcerned tone. “So, where’s Penny tonight?”
Eliza tilted her head, her eyes widening as though surprised he didn’t already know. “When I called to invite her, she said she needed to work on the article tonight, while the events of the weekend were still fresh in her mind.”
“Oh, that’s right.” As he took a slow, languid sip of water, a niggling voice in the back of his mind jeered,She probably declined to avoid being around you.
The accusation—real or imagined—weighed heavily on his heart, but he repressed the thought before it ruined the rest of the night.
“I still can’t believe Penny is writing an adventure article for the town guidebook.” Reed shook his head in incredulity. “She wouldn’t even swim in Willow Lake when we were kids.”
“Why not?” Cassie asked.
“Because of recreational water illnesses,” Luke explained, helping himself to more pilaf. “Usually from parasites. They can cause skin, ear, and eye infections, stomach cramps, vomiting, diarrh—”
“Luke,”—Cassie interrupted quickly—“I love you. But if you finish that sentence, I won’t be able to finish my dinner.”
“Does that mean I get your leftovers?” he teased.
She shot him a playful scowl as he leaned over to kiss her cheek.
“See, that’s my point,” Reed continued, still baffled. “Penny and adventures don’t exactly go together. Remember the time we built the ramp for our dirt bikes?” He directed his question to the guys. “Penny insisted we’d break our necks. And when we wouldn’t listen, she told her dad.”
“That’s right!” Jack slammed his enormous palm on the table, rattling his dinner plate. “He recited a bunch of statistics about bicycle-related injuries that scared all of us except Colt.”
Grant’s lavender-hued eyes danced with humor as he turned toward Colt. “I have to admit, I wasn’t sure you’d survive that jump.”
“He almost didn’t,” Reed chuckled. “I’ve never seen anyone take such a hard spill in all my life.”
“Hey!” Colt protested with a good-natured laugh. “I bet you’ve never seen anyone get that much air, either.”
“Until you crashed, skinning both your knees so badly you wore pants the rest of summer so Mom wouldn’t find out,” Luke reminded him.
Maggie gaped between her two sons, her horrified gaze landing on Colt. “That’swhy you refused to wear shorts?”
Colt threw Luke a glare for spilling his secret before turning a sheepish smile on his mother. “It wasn’t that bad, Mom. I promise.”
“I bet hereallywore pants so he wouldn’t have to admit Penny was right about the ramp,” Jack goaded.
“Possibly,” Colt admitted with an impish grin.
“Especially since you promised Mr. Heart you wouldn’t jump,” Reed added.
At Reed’s comment, Colt sensed an opening to ask a burning question. “What happened to him? Mr. Heart, I mean.”
“You don’t know?” Surprise flickered across Jack’s face. “The story is pretty epic. He rescued a drowning tourist from Pinedrop River before getting swept away in the current.”
“What?” Reed’s fork paused halfway to his mouth. “I thought he died from smoke inhalation after saving an entire family from a house fire.”
“No.” Eliza shook her head. “He got hypothermia when a deer broke through the ice at Willow Lake and he jumped in after it.”
“Actually,”—Beverly interjected softly—“it was gangrene. He got cut freeing a bear cub from a rusty trap.”
Silence fell across the table as everyone exchanged bewildered glances.
“I don’t understand.” Cassie frowned. “All of these stories can’t be true.”
“Sounds like a bunch of scuttlebutt, if you ask me,” Frank grumbled under his breath.
Colt scanned the group, noting the collective confusion. How was it possible no one knew how Penny’s father died? It didn’t make sense.
