Page 6 of Guarded Secrets
Keeley: Okay, sure. That’s great. Thank you. Can you tell the tow truck driver to take it to Lou’s Tires and to let me know when it gets there?
She pulled her purse off her nightstand, located her card to take a picture of it, and added it to the text.
Keeley: Here’s my AAA information. Thank you, again. I was planning on taking care of it, but now I don’t have to. Thanks.
She’d waited for the three dots to show he was responding. Nada. Owen’s conversational brevity apparently carried over to texting.
CHAPTER THREE
Keeley turned up the driveway to the big house, tires crunching over the thin layer of snow from the night before that had mostly melted, and parked her mother’s car. The “big house” was how everyone referred to the two-story farmhouse that was the heart of Cider Mill Farm. It was barely nine o’clock, but apparently everyone was up and around.
After breakfast, she’d texted Delaney, her bff since fifth grade, a brief message.
Keeley:I had a flat coming up the mountain last night and Owen came and gotme.
She figured when they actually talked, she’d fill in Delaney with the details. Which hadn’t accounted for the whole bff thing because her simple text set off a whole flurry of excited texts.
BFF: WHAT!!! Owen finally made his move?
Keeley: Umm, what move? Nvm. I need to make him thank-you pie.
BFF: Pie? This is more serious than I thought. Give me a minute.
Shortly after, in a group text that included Delaney’s sisters, Emery and Cam, Delaney called an emergency brunch meeting at the cabin she shared with her husband, Walker, at Cider Mill Farm.
Cam had responded, suggesting everyone come to the big house where she lived with her husband, Sawyer, telling Keeley she was welcome to use the larger kitchen to make Owen’s pie.
Keeley bit back a sigh. Without a doubt, she would be facing an inquisition.
So much had changed for Delaney in the past couple years. Her one-time love, the wild and broody Walker McGrath, had returned to Sisters at about the same time a predator from their past had resurfaced. The whole thing had been scary, but had also pushed them together.
Then there was the story of Delaney’s grandmother, Clara, searching for her lost granddaughters, Delaney’s half-sisters they’d never known existed.
That quest had resulted in Emery and Cam’s addition to the family.
Delaney’s family owned the rustic and charming Cider Mill Farm, which had been the perfect venue for a whole slew of recent weddings.
First had been Delaney and Walker’s. Walker had been so handsome in his suit, but still with a not-at-all-tamed look. Keeley’d had to choke back big, fat tears when her friend, escorted by her grandmother, had come down the aisle wearing a gorgeous off-shoulder dress.
Then last fall Emery married her hot cowboy, Shane Keller, from the nearby Lone Pine Ranch. That had been so much fun, especially with Emery’s twin brothers, the flaxen-haired teenagers who’d set up a treasure hunt on the farm for the younger guests.
Most recently Sawyer, Walker’s brother, had tied the knot with Cameron, having fallen fast and hard for her even when Cam had been living at the farm using a fake identity. Their wedding had been smaller and more intimate. Keeley thought Sawyer’d been close toditching the wedding entirely in lieu of whisking his bride off to his camper for their honeymoon trip to visit national parks in the West.
Her friends getting their happily-ever-afters had been the kick in the pants Keeley’d needed to make a dating profile and get herself out there. Her ovaries weren’t getting any younger, and her own HEA wasn’t gonna happen if she didn’t do something to find that special someone.
She wound her scarf around her neck and lugged her full grocery bags across the wide wraparound porch. She so wanted to be able to box up her winter clothes and put them in the garage.
The door opened before she could knock.
Cam, looking shabby chic in baggy pants and an oversize sweater, her blonde hair loose over her shoulders, held her tiny Morkie, Willa, under one arm and hooked one of the bags with the other. “Here, let me get that for you.” She looked inside and she gave a quick smile. “Seems strange to bring apples to the apple farm.”
“If apples were in season, I wouldn’t have dreamed of it.”
They put the bags on the island as Delaney, curly black hair in a messy bun on top of her head, rose from her stool to give Keeley a hug.
Keeley squeezed back. “Hey, I’m sorry about Callie.” The old pointer had died quietly in her sleep the previous week. “It’s strange for her not to be at the door.”
“I know. Walker and Sawyer buried her out back. There’s a little area surrounded by stones where family pets are buried. Callie lived a good life, and she’s resting in a good spot.” Delaney stepped back and sniffed back the tears. “Okay.” She cleared her throat and forced a smile. “I’m under Emery’s strict orders not to let you say anything until she gets here.”
