Page 19 of All Roads Lead to You

“Hey wait!” Beth called. “What about Evan?”

But he didn’t pause, going straight through the door and out into the warm summer night.

It wasn’t dark yet—it didn’t get dark till after nine—and a dusky twilight lay over the town.

He paused on the veranda, staring out across the lake and the mountains beyond, the snow-capped peaks tinged gold and pink in the light of the setting sun. From out in the bush somewhere, he could hear the distinctive call of a ruru, a native owl also called a “morepork.” Early for a ruru, but the sound set off some memories…

He used to love this time of night in summer, sitting with Sheri on the deck of their house. Relaxing with a beer after a hard day’s work and talking about nothing. Talking about everything. Their future, their dreams, their plans, children…

Muttering a curse under his breath, Finn shoved a hand through his hair and tried to pull himself together.

He didn’t want to be thinking about this, not about Sheri. She’d been gone for years. Not that she was ever very far away from his thoughts; it was more that he’d stopped thinking about her every day.

Initially she’d been the first thing he’d thought about every morning when he woke up.

Then she’d become the second.

Now, he sometimes went a whole day without thinking of her, which was progress of a sort, but not the kind of progress he wanted. Not thinking about Sheri, forgetting her, wasn’t something he was willing to do.

She’d meant too much to him and she deserved to be remembered.

Finn stood on the veranda knowing he should go back inside and celebrate with his brother, since he really was happy for Chase. If anyone deserved a chance at happiness, it was him. It had been Chase who’d brought Finn up after their mother had died and their father had drowned his grief at the pub.

Chase who’d dedicated himself to the Brightwater community and worked hard for it.

Chase who’d tried to make his own marriage work and, when it hadn’t, had done all he could for his daughter.

And now that Chase had found happiness with Izzy, Finn couldn’t be more pleased for him. But he didn’t feel like being in the pub with everyone around, toasting the happy couple and smiling and laughing.

He wanted to be alone, where there was silence and no one bothering or watching him, no one being concerned for him. And best of all, no Bethany Grant distracting him with her fake smile and her big green eyes, her pretty cotton-candy hair and her pale-moonlight skin.

Finn went down the steps and was just stepping onto the gravel when a highly irritated feminine voice came from behind him.

“Seriously? You drink your beer then up and leave? Without a word?”

Of course it was Bethany. And of course he couldn’t have a few moments to himself tonight. She was doing what she always did, which was get in his face when he least wanted her to.

Which meant he should be angry that she’d followed him and definitely not feeling as if he’d been shocked, every muscle in his body going tight with anticipation.

He stopped in his tracks, trying to relax, get himself under control, because his physical reaction every time she got near was ludicrous and he was tired of it.

So? Do something about it then. You’re thirty-two. You can’t stay celibate forever.

Yeah, and that’s not what he wanted to be thinking about right now, not at all.

“Finn,” Beth said. “Come on. You can’t just leave me sitting there.”

He gave himself a moment, then he turned to face her.

She was standing on the wide veranda, the setting sun painting her in tones of rose and gold and orange and red. She had her hands on her hips, and for a change she wasn’t smiling. Which sadly didn’t make her any less attractive.

You are so screwed.

“What?” He ignored both the thought and the inevitable pulse of heat that went through him every time she was near. “I said thanks for the beer.”

“Yeah, then you walked out. We were going to talk about Evan.”

“Can we talk about that another night?” He tried to keep his voice level. “I’ve got a couple of other things to do.”

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