Page 20 of Found By You
“That’s right. All of my brothers are with search and rescue or police enforcement. I actually do search and rescue as well, but I have made a go of being a realtor.”
I evaluated her as we parked in front of the house, the tires crunching on a gravel drive that seemed freshly raked. “Do you like it?”
She gave me a wide grin. “It suits me right now. We’re developing other parts of Refuge Falls on the outskirts. We have some property that we’re putting cabins on. We have a bigger property that’s a lodge that we rent out for conferences, and we have horse stalls. We do canoe trips and hikes for our clients. It’s fun, though. I do worry that we’re having too many out-of-towners move in here.”
“Like me?” I asked, half kidding.
She got out of the car, the door closing with a solid thud.
I got out too.
“Well, not exactly like you. I mean, the out-of-towners who usually come to town are not like you at all. They know who they are.”
I had to laugh. “I guess they do.”
We walked toward the big house.
Kayla had had me bring my suitcase, but she hadn’t brought anything.
“Are you staying?” I questioned.
She nodded. “Oh yeah.” She looked at my bag. “But each of us has a room, and we always have things at my parents’ house, so I never need to bring anything.”
I was mystified by this big family that had this huge house. It was impressive that they cared so much for each other and also took in strangers like myself.
She was typing in a code at the door, but she turned to me. “What’s so funny?”
I shrugged. “I guess I’m just marveling at the fact that you guys just help people like me.”
Kayla’s face softened. After a moment, she put a tentative arm around me.
Her gesture made me feel even more vulnerable. “Thank you,” I said softly.
She pulled me in a full hug. “It’s just kind of what the Armstrongs like to do; help people,” she said casually. As if to demonstrate, she picked up my suitcase, taking it out of my hand, and gestured for me to follow her. “This way.”
We went up a flight of stairs made of polished pine. At the top was a long hallway with several rooms, far more than I’d expected them to have.
“Yes, my parents like to keep a room for everyone, like I said, but they also like to have extra rooms.”
“So I’m not going to stay at McCrae’s house?” I tried to ask it in a way that wouldn’t make her think I was too disappointed.
She paused in front of a room and turned to me. “You can go to his house another night, but we don’t know how long he’s going to be running security, and he just told me he wanted me to move you. That’s why we’re here.”
My mind spun cautiously as she led me through the door. The panic had started to bubble up inside of me again.
Kayla looked calm as she put the bag on the bed. The room was bright and painted in lavender colors. The green duvet was nice, with intricate stitching in a pattern of wildflowers. I sat on it, feeling the soft fabric under my fingers.
“Listen,” said Kayla, “I’ve learned to trust my brothers. They always have our best interests at heart, even though you might not understand. Consider what they do for a living—sometimes they have more information than we do.”
A million different situations started running through my mind. “I hope I’m not trouble to you guys,” I said quietly.
She gave me a look that told me she might have had the same thought. “You’re not.” She moved back towards the doorway. “Should we go finish our show?”
“Okay.” We’d been watchingSleepless in Seattle. I’d been enjoying the movie, although I hadn’t recognized the name when she’d first mentioned it. The surprising part was that when she had me run through a list of shows, I had known a lot of the ones she’d suggested. I hoped that was a good sign for my memory.
We didn’t stop and do a tour, which I kind of would have liked. Instead, we went back down the stairs, which opened up to a dining area with a long cherrywood table surrounded by high-backed chairs. She took me through the dining room, and then we went to the kitchen and what looked like a family room. There was a big television facing a couch, which I could tell had been well used, and a series of reclining chairs helped to fill the space. The walls were adorned with family photos in simple wooden frames.
“This is where we hang out most of the time,” she said with a laugh. She gestured to the kitchen, which had a long, sprawling area with an island and lots of barstools against it, but it also had a larger kitchen table with a view of the television. The smell of cinnamon and apples lingered in the air, suggesting that someone had been baking recently.
