Page 9 of Return to McCall

“Lily?” A husky voice behind her caught her off guard. She spun around to see Sam leaning out of her truck and squinting in her direction. “Is that you?”

Lily nodded, and Sam parked and ran to her, scooping her up in her arms. “What the hell are you doing here? Sara didn’t tell me you were coming!”

Lily looked into Sam’s dark eyes and hesitated, unsure of how to explain why she was there at all. She realized too late she wasn’t prepared to see Sam, and feelings she’d buried years ago rushed toward her like water. She’d never been in love with her, but she’d forgotten how handsome Sam Draper was in person. Even the scent of her, like fresh air, brought back memories of the last time they were together like a silent movie reel jerking to a shaky start in the background. “That’s because I didn’t tell anyone.” She paused, searching for words. Any words. “I mean, I don’t even know what I’m doing here. I haven’t been in McCall since your wedding. I’ve kept in touch with Sara, but—”

“She tells me all about your books,” Sam cut in. “I’m so glad you two have stayed close.”

“Honestly, she’s kept me sane for the last few years when I was struggling…” She paused. “With all the parts of being an author that have nothing to do with writing.”

Lily felt the tension in her shoulders return with the memory and rubbed her eyes with the pads of her fingers, trying to stave off a sudden headache. Sam pulled her into a hug again, her words gentle against Lily’s cheek. “She told me about the panic attacks. That’s got to be rough.”

Lily nodded, reluctantly thankful for Sam’s strong arms around her.

“I know you’re a hermit at heart. Fame was never what you wanted.” Sam let her go slowly and glanced in the direction of the lodge. “Tomorrow is the first day of our couples retreat. Did you bring someone with you?”

“Oh no.” Lily shook her head. The thought that the retreat might be for couples only hadn’t even crossed her mind. “I didn’t know it was just couples. You’re probably totally booked, and I should have called, but I just, I don’t know, I…”

Sam smiled. “Lily, you’re always welcome here. And Sara is going to be thrilled.” She paused, her voice thoughtful. “Actually, this might be perfect timing for her.” Lily smiled as Sam pulled the flashlight off her belt and shone it into the woods. “The bears have been relentless this year, though. They must have known you were coming.”

Lily smiled, falling into step behind Sam as she led them down to the lodge. The overhead lights lit up the evergreens with a Gothic mix of light and shadow, and a choir of owls cooed in the distance. Before she even knew one was close, it swooped down out of nowhere, almost close enough to touch, its feathers a thousand muted shades of ash and charcoal. She hovered above them for a long second, then glided to rest on the top of the flagpole, turning her head slowly to follow Lily with deep gold eyes.

Sam dropped her voice to a low whisper. “Still charming the locals, I see.”

Lily tilted her head to the right, and the owl followed suit, then pierced the air with a deep, resonant hoot as she extended her wings and took off toward the water. The air shifted, and Lily watched her disappear into the darkness before she finally looked toward the lodge door. “So who’s in there?”

Sam leaned in to peek through the window. “I have no idea. I’ve been down at the station all day, so it’s a crapshoot, really. Registration is over, but the retreat starts tomorrow, and we have a full house.” She turned on the light over the door as she spoke. “It’s late, though, way past dinner, so we might get lucky and miss most of them.” Sam winked as she opened the door. “But if not, you’ll be the only one in there with a personal bodyguard.”

Lily laughed and walked through the door Sam held open. The lodge’s central area was flooded with golden light and decorated in the same masculine style Lily remembered from the evenings she’d spent in front of the fire at Sam’s lake house. Supple leather couches and a sparkling antler chandelier gave the space a ski chalet vibe, along with the custom bookshelves that lined the walls and wide-plank floors creaking underfoot.

“You built all this on the property your dad left you?”

Sam nodded, stopping at an expansive walnut desk in the far corner, illuminated by an oiled bronze mica lamp standing behind it. “Yep, I realized I was never going to sell it, and it seemed a shame not to put it to good use somehow.” She searched the key cabinet behind the desk, then slipped two bronze keys onto a brass loop and dropped them into her pocket. She paused, peering out into the darkness through the window next to the desk. The lake shimmered just beyond the shore, and Sam’s voice dropped as if she didn’t realize she was speaking. “Something’s still missing, though. I love the idea of the retreat, but I want it to be more…meaningful, somehow. I just can’t figure out what that means to me.”

Lily looked around at the expansive main room. She’d gone to the Sundance Film Festival last year in Park City, Utah, and this lodge rivaled the understated luxury of the lodges and ski chalets she’d seen there. “How did you find the time to do all this? Sara told me you got promoted to chief, but I can tell from looking at this place that your style is all over it, so don’t even try to tell me you hired someone to do it for you.”

“Hey, I never said doing the interior design myself was a smart decision.” Sam winked and nodded toward the tall door to the right. “But enough about that, let’s figure out whether the chef ordered any decent beer this season.”

She closed the cabinet, and they walked through the swinging doors to the dining hall, where one long main table, lit up with mason jars of fresh herbs and fragrant mint, was surrounded by several mismatched smaller tables that reminded Lily of Sara’s diner. One end held a retro turquoise party bucket piled high with ice and bottles of beer, and Sam popped the top off an IPA with her hand and handed it to Lily. “Charlotte Tuttle is our activities director. You’ll meet her eventually. She must have left these here for any stragglers.”

“I can’t believe we’re the only ones here,” Lily said, looking around. “Where’s Sara?”

“She made a last-minute run with Mary down to Boise for some supplies, which usually means Mary was dying to go to Olive Garden.” Sam looked at her watch as she flicked the cap off her bottle of Sam Adams. “But she should be back soon.”

There was a small picnic basket with a red gingham cloth next to the beer. Lily realized too late she was staring at it, but by then, Sam had smiled and nodded in the direction of the basket.

“Go ahead and look. With any luck, she left

some snacks. I’m starving too.” Sam took a long swig of beer and pulled out one of the chairs for Lily and one for herself. “We had a little situation at Moxie Java today that I wasn’t expecting, so I haven’t had time to eat since breakfast.”

Lily unwrapped the cloth to reveal a basket of snacks: sandwiches wrapped in kraft paper and tied with white twine, each with a sprig of fresh rosemary tucked into the bow; brownies and lemon bars in clear cellophane tucked along the side; even a cloth bag of homemade potato chips. Or at least, that was what the hand-lettered denim label on the outside said they were.

“Oh my God. You weren’t kidding about having a chef. Look at this stuff. I feel like someone from the Food Network is about to pop out of the kitchen and hand me a cocktail.”

Sam laughed, running her hand through her hair as she leaned back in her chair, then unwrapping a fancy BLT the size of a deck of cards.

Lily and Sam had met five summers ago when Lily was assigned a temporary job placement as the receptionist at the Lake Patrol Headquarters. Lily was twenty-three that year, which made Sam exactly twenty years older than her and her boss, so they did their best to keep their attraction under wraps. It had worked for the most part because despite their fiery chemistry, it was never a love thing. They never talked about it; it was just an understanding.

Sam started on the second half of her sandwich and pulled the bag of chips out of Lily’s reach with a teasing look. Despite the silver hair at her temples that made her look, well, handsome, Sam looked exactly the same as the day they’d said good-bye.

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