Past, Present and a Future (Going Back) Page 27

  “I love you, Gil,” she whispered. “I never stopped—not once—dreaming about you saying those things. Though I tried my best to make it seem otherwise,” she admitted with a shaky laugh.

  He pulled her toward him and kissed away a single drop of rain clinging to her forehead. “As soon as the other car gets here, I’m going to take you back to your hotel. And then we’ll have a nice hot shower and spend—”

  “The rest of our lives together?” she asked, drawing her head back enough to meet his eyes.

  “I dearly hope so,” he said and lowered his mouth to hers.

  “WHAT HAPPENED THEN?” Laura asked, her eyes wide with disbelief.

  They were sitting in the Kingsways’ kitchen with Dave, and Laura. Baby Emma cooed contentedly in her infant seat.

  “Carelli made a pathetic attempt to suggest Clare had an obsession about the Thomas case but by the time he was handcuffed and sitting in the back of the cruiser, he was already changing his story. Crying that the whole thing had been a tragic accident,” Gil said.

  “You must have been so scared,” Laura said, looking across the kitchen table at Clare.

  Clare could only nod, still shaken by the memory of Vince Carelli lunging toward her in the dark house. Gil drew her closer.

  Dave shook his head. “The whole story is bizarre. It sounds like Vince almost got away with it, too. If he hadn’t been a bit—”

  “Drunk?” Laura interjected. “God, Clare. I can’t believe you went over there. You’re usually so cautious.”

  “Not a good judgement call,” Clare admitted. “But others I’ve made in the last twenty-four hours have been right on.” She grinned at Gil.

  He bent to kiss her gently on the forehead. “Speaking of those decisions…” he murmured, letting his voice trail off into a meaningful silence.

  On cue, Clare turned to Laura and Dave. “We should be leaving soon. We’ve a long drive ahead of us.”

  “Not so soon,” Laura protested.

  But it was a weak objection, Clare noted. She smiled fondly at her friend. “We’ve been up most of the night, Laura, and have spent all morning at the police station. I have to be back in the city tomorrow and…frankly—” she paused, feeling a wave of exhaustion sweep over her “—I want to leave Twin Falls as soon as possible.” Gil draped an arm across her shoulders and gently squeezed.

  “I know, hon,” Laura murmured. “I…we just want you guys to know that our home is yours whenever you’re in Twin Falls.”

  Clare smiled, fighting the prickling of tears. “We do know that. And I’m afraid you’ll be hosting us in the very near future, when Vince goes to trial.”

  “But you haven’t explained why the Wolochuks got all fired up about Clare being back in Twin Falls,” Laura protested.

  “Both the Wolochuks believed that Helen had accidentally killed Rina. That was the real secret they’ve harbored all these years and what really got them scared when my book came out and all the publicity it generated.”

  “So Jason figured the book had something to do with his parents’ fear but didn’t exactly know why?” Dave asked.

  Gil nodded. “Yes. But without knowing all the facts, Stan misinterpreted what he’d read in the book about the bike rider. He assumed Clare was referring to Helen.”

  “That’s the part I find confusing,” Laura said. “I haven’t finished the book yet. One more time, please.”

  “Okay,” Clare said, stifling a sigh. She’d recounted the story several times since Vince was arrested. “In the book my heroine—Kenzie—last saw her best friend, Marianne, heading alone into the woods the day she died. Then on her way off school property, she met a boy in her class who said he was looking for Marianne. She pointed in the direction Marianne had gone and the boy took off. So you see, I blended both bike riders into one person for the sake of my plot. Probably—” she paused, recalling what she’d concluded since last night “—because I’d done the same thing in my memory.”

  “Hey, but what about that reporter? Withers?” Dave asked.

  Clare smiled. “He turned up in Hartford. Apparently he’d had a big fight with his girlfriend on the weekend and took off after her. So he really was on leave.”

  Laura frowned. “But didn’t you say he had a source of information about the case? I mean, how did he know about your mother?”

  “This is even weirder,” Clare said, almost laughing. “It turns out Withers’s aunt was working as a teller in the bank when my mother was accused of embezzlement. She told him about it after he interviewed me. So that was his big source. His talk about writing a book was all a bluff to get me to admit something he could use in a follow-up article.”

  No one spoke for a long time. Then Gil dropped his arm from Clare’s shoulder and pushed his chair back. “We do have to go, folks. Thanks again for the lunch.” He extended a hand to Clare and gently pulled her from her chair.

  She was so tired she felt as though she could sit in the Kingsway kitchen all day. But when her eyes met Gil’s, she knew that everything was going to be all right, just as he’d promised last night.

  “What about your rental car? Want some help with that?”

  “All taken care of,” Gil said, “but thanks anyway, Dave. Beth—the sheriff’s secretary—has arranged for it to be driven to the rental outlet in Hartford.”

  “Okay,” Laura said, heaving a dramatic sigh. “But I’m counting on you two to keep your word and make regular visits to Twin Falls to see Emma. Together,” she stressed.

  “Together,” Clare echoed, smiling at Gil. She insisted on carrying Emma to the front door where she bestowed a farewell kiss on the baby’s brow before handing her back to Laura.

  “I look forward to coming back now,” Clare assured Laura. Then she kissed Laura and Dave goodbye and followed Gil out the door.

  As they walked along the sidewalk to Gil’s car parked at the curb, Gil slung his arm around her. “Don’t you feel like we’ve been here longer than a couple of weeks?” he asked.

  Clare stopped to face him. “Know what it feels like? It almost feels like we never left. Like we’re seventeen again and starting all over.”

  Gil drew her to him, holding tight. “Yeah,” he said huskily. “But even better.” He tilted her face to his and kissed her. It was a long, sweet kiss that sealed every word and promise they’d made to each other in the wee hours of the morning, back in her hotel room.

  “Shall we go?” he asked, pulling away.

  Clare nodded and climbed into the car and Gil closed the door behind her. She glanced one last time at the Kingsway house. Dave and Laura, arm in arm, were waving from the front porch. Clare thought she caught a wink from Laura, but couldn’t be sure.

  Gil got behind the steering wheel and reached over to clasp her hand in his. “Ready?”

  “I’m more than ready, I’m eager.”

  Gil laughed. “Then let’s go.” He steered the Mercedes away from the curb and slowly headed for the intersection.

  “I’m glad we decided to stop on the way back,” Clare said, “though I felt a tad guilty about keeping that from Laura and Dave.”

  Gil looked her way. “I’m sure they suspect anyway. Dave asked if I was taking the long or short way to New York and he had a big smile on his face. He also reminded me that the fall colors in the Litchfield Hills will be spectacular.” He paused a beat. “Personally, I think I’ll still prefer the scenery inside the car.”

  His suggestive grin reminded her of last night at the hotel. They’d talked for hours. At first they replayed the scene at the Carelli house, with Gil filling in the gaps about his impromptu visit to Stan Wolochuk and later, meeting Fran Dutton at the hotel. Then, reinforced with a drink from her minibar, Clare broached the subject of Rina Thomas and most of all, the words she’d uttered in the park that night. Words that could not be taken back.

  But midway through her explanation, Gil had drawn her into his arms and gently kissed her eyes, brimming with tears. His kiss had been meant
to comfort her—and it had—but when she’d tilted her face up to his and given a wobbly smile, something had flared in his dark eyes. There was a sharp intake of breath just before he’d placed his lips firmly on hers. Then they’d sat, wrapped in each other’s arms, for what seemed like hours until he’d whispered, “I can’t tell you how frightened I was that I might lose you again.” His eyes were shining and his smile tenuous, as if uncertain of his next move—let alone his future.

  “I’m here to stay,” she’d answered. “Well—hopefully not in Twin Falls, but in your arms. With you.”

  They’d laughed together and for the first time in seventeen years, Clare felt a burden lifted and removed. There hadn’t been much talk after that, except for the low contented sounds of two people coming together at last.

  And the lovemaking, Clare thought as she sneaked a glance at Gil, steering the car out of town, had been spectacular. After she’d fallen, spent, back onto the pillows and lain staring up at the ceiling, basking in a glow that Clare knew would envelop her, like an aura, for weeks to come, Gil had leaned over and whispered, “That was even better than the last time.”

  Her husky laugh had rung throughout the room and was stilled only by his lips coming down on hers one more time.

  “Whatcha thinking?” Gil suddenly asking, cutting his eyes from the windshield to her.

  “About last night.”

  He groaned. “Don’t do that to me. I have to drive.”

  “Okay, I’ll wait. But I saw this pretty little bed-and-breakfast on my way here and it’s not very far.”

  His grin made her catch her breath. She wondered if either of them could wait even that long. When she spotted the Thanks For Visiting sign, she pointed to it.

  Gil winked. “The pleasure was all ours,” he joked.

  “At least now it is,” she added, reaching out to briefly clasp his hand.

  He smiled. “Now and always.” And together, they drove out of Twin Falls.

  ISBN: 978-1-4592-3190-0

  PAST, PRESENT AND A FUTURE

  Copyright © 2004 by Janice Hess.

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