Hidden Falls Page 3

  Quinn’s handwritten note.

  Ethan sighed just as he had the day he first opened the envelope. Quinn had the crisp open handwriting that served teachers well. No student could claim to be unable to read the comments on a paper or the assignment list on the blackboard, and parents knew precisely what Quinn intended to communicate in the notes he sent home when he had a concern.

  This note, however, confounded Ethan. The script was the same steady presentation as always, but this time Ethan did not understand Quinn’s meaning.

  Dear Ethan,

  Life is not always what we expect. We get caught in its vortex despite our best efforts. It may take generations to discover who we are meant to be. You and I are long overdue for a talk. Please come.

  Quinn

  Of all the people and places Ethan had walked away from over the years, Quinn was his greatest regret.

  No. Second greatest. Nicole would always be first.

  Quinn was more than a teacher. He was a neighbor, a friend, a protector, an encourager. Ethan could not imagine surviving his adolescence without Quinn. While he might have tossed the banquet invitation on the pile of junk mail on the corner of his desk because he did not enjoy most formal events, he couldn’t do that with Quinn’s note. Ethan hoped they could talk before the evening was out, or the next morning at the latest. He needed to get back to Columbus in time to be at the hospital for rounds at seven on Monday morning.

  Ethan rubbed his eyes. What he needed right now was food. He hadn’t eaten in the last twenty hours. And if he could find a motel bed, he would grab a nap before downing another pot of coffee to keep awake long enough to at least satisfy himself that Quinn was all right physically and did not need Ethan’s professional services. He stowed the envelopes back in the glove box, tugged his sunglasses off the top of his head, and pulled the Lexus out into the road. Main Street was two miles away. Ethan’s brain was already indexing the choice of small restaurants. If downtown was like everything else in Hidden Falls, the options wouldn’t have changed.

  He chose the family-style restaurant because he remembered the meat loaf made with a basil pesto. His car did not yet have any scratches on it, and Ethan planned to keep it that way by purposely parking in a manner that would discourage other drivers from squeezing in beside him. With his hand around the clicker, he exited the car, let the door fall closed, and pressed the lock button. When he raised his eyes from the pavement to glance toward the restaurant’s front window, Ethan blinked twice at the petite form of a woman whose gait reminded him of the way Nicole used to keep stride with his long legs.

  “Ethan?”

  He blinked again. It was Nicole.

  “I didn’t know you were coming.” She made no move toward him with affection or otherwise.

  Nicole was alone as far as Ethan could see. She still had the small mole below the outside corner of her left eye, and she still let her dark hair hang over that side of her face to obscure it. He fumbled for words.

  “I suppose nobody knew I was coming except the organizing committee,” he said. “I’ve been out of touch.”

  She could still make his heart race by doing nothing at all.

  “I heard you were in Columbus,” she said.

  He nodded. “And you?”

  “St. Louis. Investigative reporting.”

  “You had your heart set on journalism ever since junior high.”

  She laughed. “Thankfully I turned out to be pretty good at it.”

  “I never doubted you would be.” Ethan took a few tenuous steps toward her, relieved that she didn’t back away. He wanted to see those emerald-green eyes up close again—he’d taken them for granted all those years living next door to her. Even through five years of officially dating, he passed up too many opportunities to look into them.

  “It’s been a long time,” she said.

  “Longer than I ever meant.”

  “To be honest, Ethan, I never had a clue what you meant. It was sort of a breakup by default, wasn’t it? You stopped returning my calls or answering my e-mails. So I guess that was the end.”

  “I know.” Ethan put both hands in his pockets. “I handled things badly.”

  “I was a big girl by then. We were in college. You could have just told me you decided not to see me anymore.”

  The flaw in her argument was he never decided any such thing. “I’m sorry.”

  “Like I said, it’s been a long time and I’m a big girl.” She glanced down the sidewalk and back at him. “I’m glad you could come, for Quinn’s sake, but you don’t look so great, Ethan.”

  “I haven’t slept much lately. That happens sometimes in my line of work.”

  “Mine, too.”

  “I was just about to get something to eat. Are you hungry?”

  “You don’t have to do that, Ethan.”

  “Do what?” Ethan was not sure if the pounding of his heart was from his caffeine consumption or Nicole’s presence after ten years.

  “Buy me lunch. Chitchat. Any of it.”

  Her words stung, but Ethan could not blame her. “I’m sure you have other things to do.”

  “I hope you enjoy your visit to Hidden Falls.” Nicole paced away from him and did not look back.

  Ethan let out his pent-up breath for the second time in one afternoon.

  3:38 p.m.

  “So you didn’t pick up my dress at the dry cleaner? That’s what you’re saying?”

  Jack Parker’s gut burned. “I’m sorry. I forgot.”

  Gianna’s gray eyes clouded. “Jack, sometimes I wonder if you’re making an effort at all.”

  “I forgot one errand.” He tossed his keys on the table next to the front door in the hall. “I am trying to build a business, after all.”

  “It’s Saturday afternoon.” Gianna turned away. “Why were you even at the office? I hope this won’t be Memphis all over again.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I’m speaking English. Figure it out.”

  Jack ran one hand through his wavy brown hair. He was supposed to get a haircut, too, and hadn’t done that either. “It’s not Memphis. This is going to be different.”

  “I hope so.”

  “It will be, Gianna. But we’ve only been here eight months. We’ve spent a fortune renovating this old house, and you’ve still got a long wish list.”

  Gianna scoffed. “Somehow you’ve managed to make me responsible for your failure to pick up my dress.”

  “That’s not what I meant. I’m just trying to make a living.”

  She met his eyes, unblinking. “Were any of the hours you spent at the office today billable?”

  Being married to a former paralegal exposed Jack to certain vulnerabilities. She knew too much about the business.

  “I don’t think it works that way here,” he said. “I have to build relationships.”

  “You bought a practice that is fifty years old. I thought that meant some clients.”

  “It was a father-and-son practice. Small-fry stuff. You know that, Gianna.”

  “They were lawyers, weren’t they?”

  “Yes, but there are other lawyers in the county. Birch Bend has several nice firms, and it’s not that far away. I have to get to know Hidden Falls and prove to people here they can trust me to do right by them.”

  “You thought you were doing right by that client in Memphis.”

  “You know it’s more complicated than that.” Jack loosened his tie and unbuttoned the neck of his shirt. “You used to work at that firm, too.”

  Jack’s transgression had been doing what one of the partners told him to do. Demanded that he do. And when everything was said and done, Jack’s name was all over the files with no trace of the partner’s bad judgment.

  Gianna set her jaw. “They should have given you a much bigger separation package for saving his skin.”

  “Well, they didn’t. You wanted to come here, and we came.”

  “Before Memphis, it was Atla
nta.”

  “That was completely different, and you know it.”

  How could Gianna hold him responsible because the practice sold out to a New York firm that let two-thirds of the attorneys go? Jack was weary of having the same conversation in untold iterations.

  Gianna yanked a sweater off the coat rack next to the front door. “I do know. What I mean is we can’t keep dragging this family through crisis. Our kids are teenagers. Colin will be off to college in a year. Eva and Brooke deserve some stability. I want a home they all want to come back to. Don’t you want that?”

  Jack swallowed his reply. They went around this same loop at least once a week. It felt like a trap every time. “I’ll go get your dress.”

  “Never mind. I’ll do it.”

  Gianna was out the front door before Jack could make a more convincing offer. He shuffled into the great room, where his seventeen-year-old son slouched in the red leather sofa with the remote in his hand and the big-screen television blaring a sci-fi station. Jack stood there moving his gaze between Colin and the television for a full minute before Colin glanced at him.

  “Hey, Dad.”

  “Star Trek?”

  Colin rolled his eyes. “Battlestar Galactica.”

  “Sorry.” Jack was tiring of apologizing to his family. Whatever the show was, it was from long before Colin’s time. What did he find so interesting about it?

  Colin said nothing.

  “Do you have homework?” The question seemed like one a conscientious parent would ask.

  “It’s Saturday.”

  “So?”

  “So I have all day tomorrow. I’m going out in a while.”

  “What about the girls?”

  Colin muted the sound. “Dad, they haven’t needed a babysitter in ages. Eva is a babysitter.”

  “I knew that. What about dinner?”

  “I guess they can get a pizza. I won’t be here.” Colin looked up at his father. “I thought Eva wanted to go to the banquet. She has Mr. Quinn and likes him.”

  Jack wracked his brain. What had Gianna said about this? “I’ll let you get back to your show.”

  He wandered out to the back porch to persuade himself he was not completely oblivious. Jack knew enough about Eva to know she enjoyed sitting out here with a good book. Though, what qualified as a good book in her opinion was a question he couldn’t answer under oath.

  “Hi,” he said.

  “Hi, Dad.” Eva glanced up but did not close her iPad.

  Jack did not remember the pink case around the device and hoped he would not be showing his ignorance by asking, “Did you get a new cover for your iPad?”

  She smiled. “The first thing I ever bought from Coach. I saved my babysitting money.”

  “Good for you.” He returned her smile, glad to get something right. “Are you looking forward to tonight?”

  “Yep.”

  He nodded. “Did you get a new dress to wear?”

  “I’d look silly in a dress, Dad. It’s a swimming party.”

  That’s right. Eva’s new best friend was turning sixteen. Her parents had reserved the pool in Birch Bend long before any invitations went out for the banquet. Melissa didn’t want to change her party even for Quinn, and if she had, her parents would have lost their deposit. It was all coming back to him. Gianna explained it all one night while he only wanted to brush his teeth in peace.

  “What time are you leaving?” Jack asked.

  “Five thirty.”

  “I hope you have a lot of fun.”

  “I will.” Eva went back to her book.

  Who else will be there? Do you like to go off the diving board? Are there going to be boys there? Do your friends drink? You’re not planning to wear a bikini, are you?

  Jack looked at his fifteen-year-old with her legs curled under a quilt and withheld the remainder of his interrogation. Maybe he was already supposed to know the answers to those questions. He was a good enough trial lawyer not to pursue a line of questioning that would expose his disadvantage. Jack did not remember that Eva had ever been a difficult child. Then again, he was rarely home for dinner until a few months ago, when Gianna put her foot down. He had never been to a parent-teacher conference for any of his children. He didn’t know what Eva did after school these days or how well his wife knew Melissa’s parents.

  “Enjoy your book,” he said. She already had her eyes glued back to the screen. How much trouble could a bookworm get into?

  Jack kicked off his shoes in the mudroom and padded into the kitchen. Thirteen-year-old Brooke had an art project spread across the kitchen table. Paints, butcher paper, brushes, colored pencils. He licked his lips. Was he supposed to know what this was about?

  “Hi, Daddy.”

  She was the only one of his children who still greeted him with a smile.

  “Hi, sweetheart.” Jack was starting to wonder what Brooke’s plans were for the evening if the rest of the family was going to be out. He was pretty sure Gianna would not want to leave her alone after dark. And that meant Gianna had a plan. The corollary of that truth was that she probably had told Jack what it was.

  “That’s pretty.” Jack stood behind Brooke and looked over her shoulders, still not sure if he was supposed to know what she was working on.

  “No it’s not.”

  He sighed.

  “But it will be!” Brooke’s tone brightened. “I’m making a map of my own fantasyland.”

  “A fantasyland?”

  “You know, like the Shire or Narnia.”

  He didn’t know, but Brooke was no doubt right that he was supposed to.

  Rapid clicking across the kitchen tiles reminded him to watch for the puppy. He didn’t remember agreeing to a puppy, but the creature had been there for a month now, so he wasn’t inclined to start a battle about it.

  Brooke pushed her chair back and patted her lap. “Here, Roxie.”

  The brown-and-black Airedale terrier jumped into the girl’s lap.

  “When are we going to take Roxie to puppy training?” Brooke asked.

  “Can’t we train her ourselves? When I was a kid, we did it with a rolled-up newspaper.”

  “Daddy! How could you hurt an animal?”

  “We’ll find a trainer.”

  “When?”

  “Soon.”

  “That’s what you always say.”

  “Soon, Brooke.”

  When had he promised to find a puppy trainer for a puppy he didn’t remember agreeing to own?

  Brooke stroked the puppy’s right ear, which always seemed to be sticking straight up. Jack turned to the sink and saw assorted lunch dishes piled against the extra-deep blue ceramic that Gianna had chosen. Next to it, the dishwasher’s green light announced that the load was clean. He unlatched the door and pulled out the bottom rack. Emptying the dishwasher would be a peace offering. They could still have a nice evening out if he took the edge off his wife’s wrath. Gianna would wear the deep purple dress that flattered her figure and the dangling gold earrings. She would turn heads, and he would be proud of the effort she made. He took her two favorite mugs from the rack and set them next to the Keurig.

  They both knew the night was important, and not only because Eva was Quinn’s student and she liked him better than any of her other teachers.

  It was Gianna’s idea to come to Hidden Falls. Jack would have started over again in Memphis, but as soon as he started talking about opening his own firm, she jabbered about finding a quiet little town where he could have his own firm and still have a family life. She wouldn’t let go. So he came. He found a practice in a town that met her approval, and he spent his separation package to buy it. Jack had a tough time picturing himself happy in a town like Hidden Falls over the long run, but despite their tensions he loved his wife. He loved his children, even if he didn’t know them very well. As long as he was here, he might as well give it his best effort. His practice didn’t have to remain a quiet, small-town series of dull real estate transactions
and unimaginative wills written off a template. Somewhere in this town there had to be something juicy, something that would make Jack glad he went to law school.

  It would be good for business to be seen at an event like a banquet honoring this Mr. Quinn. Jack would be sure to meet him, shake his hand, say something clever. If Quinn was as beloved and influential as everyone said he was, and if he liked Jack, he could throw some business Jack’s way.

  And one of those people would have an interesting problem that Jack could untangle.

  He just needed a break. One break. He could still turn this around.

  4:49 p.m.

  Lauren Nock wished she had put her dark blond hair in a ponytail before she left the house.

  She also wished she were taller. And not so nearsighted.

  At the moment, she could not change any of those circumstances. She would have to tolerate the hair falling in her line of sight as she studied her clipboard, push her glasses up on her nose, and hope that three-inch heels would give her the look she wanted for the banquet.

  No amount of afternoon coffee was going to make sense of the cryptic entries and empty spaces on the pages on the clipboard. Lauren left a huge tip in the café booth, crossed the street, and ducked into Waterfall Books and Gifts. The bell on the door announced her presence, and the woman behind the counter looked up.

  “Hello, Aunt Sylvia.” Lauren wove past a display of small ceramic figures to reach Sylvia and kiss her cheek.

  Sylvia glanced at the clipboard. “I thought you kept your to-do list on your iPhone.”

  “This is for the health fair next Saturday.” Lauren flashed the clipboard contents toward Sylvia. “The committee made up the list—well, mostly Quinn. I’m the one who proposed a community health fair, and now I feel like I don’t know much about what’s going on. I’ve been sitting in the café with this list, and I have no idea what to check off.”

  “Quinn offered to work on that, didn’t he?” Sylvia began to sort a stack of credit card charges.