Page 180 of Love in Riverbend
“What?” My eyes open wide. “What stories?”
Justin reaches for my hand. “Come on, Kandace is waiting.”
“What stories?” I ask again as we walk to his truck.
Justin laughs.
Once we’re in the truck, I turn toward him. “Okay. Fair is fair. I’m going to ask Kandace for stories about you.”
Justin shrugs as he backs up his truck. “You’re going to find I am pretty boring. No big secrets in my closet.”
“My closet doesn’t have secrets. I don’t know what Ricky told you, but I’m going to say he made it up.”
Justin’s lopsided grin grows. “You’re saying you never had a panic attack on Pike’s Peak?”
Jeez.
I shake my head. “I did. That’s not embarrassing. It’s science. Less oxygen to the brain because of the altitude.”
“Science, okay.”
“It is,” I protest. “And I would have been fine if Dad and Ricky didn’t want to go to the edge.” I inhale. “Oh my God, thinking about it makes me queasy.”
“Don’t throw up in the truck,” Justin says with a snicker. “I heard about the trashcan outside the shop at the top of the mountain.”
“At least I made it to the trashcan. Some people didn’t.”
Justin reaches across the console to my leg. “Hey, it’s all good fun.”
I hum. “We’ll see what I can learn from your sister.” That reminds me. “Mom said she talked with your mom yesterday at the store, and she and your dad will be at Kandace’s too.”
His blue gaze comes my way and back to the road. “I didn’t know that.” He squeezes my knee. “Are you all right with that?”
“You’ve faced my family. Besides, Kandace spoke to me at the softball game.” I sit taller. “I’m excited to formally meet Molly.”
“She’s the best one of the family.”
Kandace and Dax live in a grand old home at the edge of Riverbend city limits. In lieu of bricks, the exterior is covered with stone. It’s one of those houses with a two-story middle and one-story wings to each side. The trim and two stately pillars on the front porch are yellow. When I was young, I always wondered what it looked like inside. I remember thinking it was a castle. Back then, it belonged to Dax’s grandparents, the original owners of Quintessential Treasures.
I’m older. The house is less like a castle, but I’m still anxious to see inside.
Chapter 29
Devan
As Justin pulls his truck into their driveway and around to the back of the house where the garages and a basketball goal are, I ask, “Does your sister like living in town after living out on the farm her whole life?”
“You can ask her.”
After opening my door, Justin takes my hand and leads me toward the back door near the garage.
“Should we go up front and ring the bell?”
Justin shakes his head. “Family doesn’t ring the bell.”
I think about that, about my parents’ house. The front door is rarely even used. Everyone comes and goes through the kitchen.
At Kandace and Dax’s house, the first door Justin takes me through leads into the garage. It’s big enough for three cars, but the first stall is filled with a lawn mower, tools, and an array of bikes and riding toys. Through the next door, we enter a breezeway with windows and a door to the side yard. Up a few steps is another door. As we approach, I hear the voices inside.
