Her lips moved upwards. He saw she was wavering, watched as she battled to keep her mouth from tilting up.
“Get in, Katie, you know you want to.”
She loved the water like him, and had swum, kayaked, and water-skied this lake whenever the chance presented itself. She’d once told him that water balanced her. It calmed her when she needed calming, cleared her head when it needed clearing.
She looked at him, then to the front seat in the kayak. Her feet started moving, and he was pretty sure she wasn’t even aware of it. She didn’t speak, just climbed in. She was agile and barely rocked the little vessel, and then she was seated before him.
Cubby pushed off the bank and paddled slowly away from town. She didn’t talk and he didn’t push it, knowing she needed this, the peace the lake gave her. Her good hand trailed in the water, each finger causing a small wake. She lifted them to her face, touching her cheek, and he could almost feel her cool touch on his skin.
“Shouldn’t you be sheriffing somewhere?”
“Everyone needs a break sometime, and I find my best sheriffing gets done between 11:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.”
“Ha.”
Katie’s head turned from side to side as she took everything in.
“I missed this to begin with, and then I told myself I didn’t, but the longing used to sneak up on me when my defenses were down.”
Maybe it was because she wasn’t looking him in the eye that she found it easier to talk. Whatever the reason, Cubby was just glad she was talking and not angry.
“My grandpa told me once this place was filled with magic. He said it was everywhere. In the redwoods, the lake, the people… well, most of them,” Cubby said, thinking of the Finlay brothers. “He thought that it would always call to those born here if they left.”
She turned her head to listen and he saw the curve of her ear and the delicate pink shell. A gentle breeze ruffled the curls beneath her cap and to him, she looked small and vulnerable and he hoped he could keep her safe. Even before she had a bounty on her head, Cubby had always reacted this way to Katie McBride. She’d made him mush inside. He’d told himself she was like a sister to him, and he’d wanted to protect her and beat the shit out of anyone who got close to her, but this, now that she was really hurting, was far worse. She made him think about things he could never have… not with her.
The swish of his paddle was the only sound as he moved them closer to the looming mountain range beyond. The lake was big and surrounded by wilderness, the rugged beauty breathtaking, even for Howlers, as the locals were termed.
“Do you regret coming back, Cubby?”
“At least twice a week, and then three times on the weekend.”
“For real?”
“I’m good at what I do, Katie, and when I was in California they had me down to rise through the ranks. I would have done it too, so coming back because Dad got sick sticks in my craw occasionally, but Mom needed me after my father died and Leigh was only in his first year of law school, and then the sheriff position came up so I stayed.”
He’d wanted to go, but his mom was a vulnerable mess after her husband died. Cubby’s younger brother would have come if he’d asked it of him, because they were close for all the miles between them, but he’d said no. So it fell to him to step up and take care of their mother until she was strong enough to do so herself. Did he sometimes begrudge losing what he had always wanted? Hell yes, but he laid that anger on his father, along with all the other shit he hated the man for. Cubby didn’t have time for regrets, or those who banged on about them. Life was about choices and when you headed in a particular direction, you made it work for you.
“Life is there to be lived, right?”
“Did I tell you that?”
Katie nodded.
“I can be a sanctimonious bastard sometimes.”
“True.”
“Getting some of your sass back, princess?”
“I owe you an apology and a thank-you.”
“Probably,” Cubby said, turning them to head back to town.
“First off, I’m sorry I embarrassed you with that silly declaration of love before I left to go to the Police Academy.”
“It wasn’t silly.” It had been the surprise that had thrown Cubby. He hadn’t expected to walk into his house and find Katie there.
“Whatever it was, you can rest assured I’m over it now.”
