Cedar Cove Collection

The chill he’d experienced earlier became an icy blast that froze his blood. Bobby understood the message. Vladimir had expected him in Los Angeles, and Bobby’s efforts to thwart him hadn’t gone unnoticed. This was his way of telling Bobby that he could get to Teri whenever he wanted.

“Bobby, you’re not answering me.”

He couldn’t. Instead he passed the phone to James. The only option he had was to await further instructions. When the time came, he would do what was asked of him, even if it meant walking away a loser.

Sixteen

Linnette McAfee’s eyes stung as she pulled away from her parents’ home on Harbor Street. The farewell with her sister Gloria earlier in the afternoon had been just as hard. They’d all kept her with them as long as they could. Her mother, especially, didn’t want her to leave Cedar Cove, but in the end had accepted Linnette’s decision. It might be an unreasonable one, but it was hers to make.

Linnette had listened to all of her family’s arguments and she understood what they’d explained over and over again. Okay, so she was running away. Okay, so leaving town wouldn’t work, wouldn’t solve her problems. She didn’t care.

Linnette didn’t know anything about Will Jefferson other than that he was Charlotte Rhodes’s son and Olivia Griffin’s brother. Will had sublet her apartment and she’d felt like kissing him in gratitude. Even if he hadn’t taken over her lease, she would’ve left Cedar Cove. His opportune appearance meant she wouldn’t lose a chunk of her savings paying rent on a place she wasn’t living in.

What particularly distressed her parents was Linnette’s lack of a destination. She’d drive until she was tired of driving, tired of being on the road. As her mother had repeatedly pointed out, this was the most irresponsible action of her life.

Linnette agreed. But the thing no one seemed to grasp was how freeing that felt, how liberating it was not to answer to anyone. All her life she’d been Ms. Responsibility. She’d gone directly from high school into college and then into the physician assistant program. From the age of five, all she’d done was study and work. No big vacations, no time off for good grades—or good behavior. Nothing.

Beyond anything else, the painful breakup with Cal had taught her that this would continue to be her lot in life unless she did something drastic. So she had.

As Linnette entered Highway 16 past Olalla, her cell phone rang. Normally she wouldn’t have answered. She knew it was dangerous to drive and chat on her cell. At any other time she would’ve let voice mail catch the call. Not this afternoon.

“Hi. This is Linnette,” she sang out, doing her utmost to sound completely happy and carefree. She wasn’t, but there was a lot to be said for pretending.

“Linnette? You really did it, didn’t you?”

“Mack?” Of all people, she thought her brother would understand. He hadn’t been able to attend the farewell dinner at her parents’ because of training obligations and she was pleased to hear from him.

“I just got off the phone with Mom,” he said.

“Was she still bemoaning my decision?”

“Oh, yes.” He gave a wry chuckle. “You said you were packing up and heading out, but I didn’t really believe you’d do it.”

That was another problem. No one took her seriously. Even her family and close friends hadn’t believed she’d actually follow through. She knew why, too. Linnette McAfee had always been so darned conscientious and dependable. So goody-goody, so … predictable.

“Yup, I’m out of here,” she said, forcing a note of glee into her voice.

There was a short silence. “Mom says you don’t know where you’re going.”

“I don’t. I figure I’ll know when I get there.”

“That isn’t like you.”

“Which is exactly my point.”

“This sounds more like something I’d do.”

“Yes, it does.” She’d always envied her brother his individuality and his courage. He’d been a nonconformist from the time he was in grade school. For years there’d been trouble between Mack and their dad; only recently had father and son come to a mutual understanding. Linnette, for one, was relieved that they’d worked things out.

“Stop by and see me, will you?” Mack suggested. “I’d like to talk to you before you leave.”

“I thought you were at the Fire Training Academy in North Bend,” she said.

“This was our last day. Let’s celebrate—I’ll treat you to dinner.”

Mack treat her? That was a laugh. Her brother was constantly broke. Besides, she wasn’t even ten miles out of Cedar Cove and already her family was weighing her down, pulling her back. “I … I don’t think so.”

“Why not?” Mack demanded. “You weren’t on any schedule.”

“No, but …”

“Then what’s the problem?”

Linnette sighed. “All right, I’ll meet you—on one condition.”

“I’m serious, I’ll buy,” her brother insisted. “Then you’ll owe me.”

“Mack, if you say a single word about me leaving Cedar Cove or bring up Cal and Vicki, I swear to you I’ll walk out of the restaurant. Now, where should I meet you?” Since he’d offered to pay, he’d probably choose a fast-food joint.

“I promise not to say a single word about the impulsive nature of your decision.”

“Fine.” After a few minutes of discussion they decided to meet at a Chinese restaurant in old downtown Issaquah. Neither had dined there before, but Mack had heard good things about the food, which was said to be plentiful and cheap. Cheap being the operative word in this case.

Mack was sitting in a booth, sipping tea, when Linnette arrived. He saluted her with the cup when she entered. She looked forward to spending a couple of hours with her brother, but she meant what she’d said earlier. One word about her decision or Cal and she’d walk out.

Mack looked good, she had to admit. Better than just about any time in the past few years. He seemed genuinely happy, and she suspected that he’d finally found his real calling. After she’d studied the menu and they’d ordered, Mack told her about his training.

“You’re qualified to be a real fireman now?” she asked.

“So they tell me.”

Her brother had held any number of jobs through the years. He’d delivered mail, worked for a moving company, been an apartment manager, a bouncer and at one time, a painter.

“Do you have a line on a job?” she asked.

Mack smiled a bit sheepishly. “Dad told me there’s another opening in Cedar Cove.”

“Do you seriously want to be that close to Mom and Dad?” Although Mack and their father seemed to get along now, Linnette wasn’t convinced that living in such close vicinity was a smart idea.

“I don’t know,” her brother told her. “I’m putting in my application there and another in Lake Stevens and a third in Spokane.”

Spokane was on the other side of the state, which meant that both Linnette and her brother would no longer live near their parents.

“That’ll be good for Gloria, don’t you think?” Linnette said. The situation in their family was an unusual one. Since Gloria had grown up with adoptive parents, she didn’t have the same childhood experiences Linnette and Mack did, or the same memories; in effect, she’d been a stranger to them. The fact that Linnette was already friends with Gloria had only added to the sense of unreality. So much had happened in the past two years and now, with Cal, it all felt overwhelming.

“Gloria’s going to miss you, though.”

“I’m going to miss her, Mack. And Mom and Dad. And you …”