Angel's Lake Box Set: Books 1-3 (Angel's Lake Series) Read online

  They fell into an easy space of teasing and sharing, catching up and remembering, filling in the gaps for the time she’d been gone. Regardless of where Lucy was in the world, her family was her constant. Her north star. She didn’t need to tend to them or check on them; she’d known that they’d be there when she needed direction. She tried not to think too hard about the fact that she needed them but they were all just fine without her. They thought she was home to help Kate, but truthfully, this trip was going to go a long ways toward helping herself. She hoped.

  Alex pulled off his worn hoodie and tossed it onto the front seat of his truck. It was shaping up to be a warm day. He’d had to follow up on some phone calls in the morning, so he was later than he wanted to be, but he could see that Kate had no shortage of helpers for her community ‘pitch-in’ day.

  Once upon a time, long before Alex had arrived in town, the paint-chipped, battered recreation building had been a centerpiece of Angel’s Lake. After the new high school had been built, it was used less and less. Its parking lot saw more action than the actual building as a local teen hang out. The walls of the building had been tagged and uniquely decorated with both images and words that no one needed to see. Alex was glad the more colorful words were getting covered up today.

  He wandered through the groups of people—some he’d known most of his life—waving and nodding. There were some people he recognized but didn’t know, some newcomers, and some he wished he had never met. Being sheriff made him privy to secrets he would rather not know, pieces of their lives that weren’t shared with the general population but ended up being, in part, his problem.

  “Hey Sheriff!” The bank manager waved at Alex. As he waved back, he caught sight of Kate giving orders and directions, a clipboard in her hand. She pulled a pencil out of the knot of hair on her head and made notes as Lucy walked over to her with a bottle of water. All three of the Aaron sisters were beauties, but there was something about Lucy that made him feel like he’d swallowed his tongue.

  “Well hey there, Sheriff,” Lucy said. She smiled at him, her eyes playful, as she handed Kate the water. “Ladies.”

  “Hi Alex. Thanks for coming,” Kate greeted.

  She took a long swallow of her water and then passed it to Lucy, who did the same. Alex made himself look away so he wasn’t focused on Lucy with her head tipped back, her hair flowing down her back, and her eyes half closed.

  “Where do you want me?” he asked.

  He arched his eyebrows as Lucy sputtered on her water. A little drop escaped down her chin when she lifted her head. She promptly wiped it away with the heel of her hand.

  “You okay, Luce?” he asked, giving her a knowing wink. His chest filled with satisfaction. Maybe she wasn’t as immune as she’d always seemed. “She’s fine,” Kate assured, pursing her lips and giving Lucy a look that he couldn’t quite decipher.

  “How about you go help Sam. He was getting all of the rolling pans ready. I want the first coat on today,” Kate suggested, pointing in Sam’s direction. Alex saw Sam, his closest friend, on the other side of the lot. When his gaze went back to Lucy, her cheeks were still flushed, and locked his eyes on hers. She broke eye contact first. “I’m going to grab my camera and set up for some shots,” Lucy said.

  “Perfect. But don’t think that’ll get you out of the heavy lifting later.”

  “Yeah, yeah. When did you get so bossy?” Lucy grumbled, scrunching her eyebrows and frowning at her sister.

  Alex laughed at the look of indignation on Kate’s face. From the outside, it was easy to find the back and forth sniping amusing. He had always wondered what it would be like to have siblings. With the mutual glaring contest happening between the two, he thought it best not to mention that he thought they were lucky to have each other.

  “I’m off to find Sam. Play nice, ladies.” He smiled, tipped an imaginary cap, and strolled away.

  “He looks just as good walking away as he does walking toward you, huh?” Kate commented, her tone bland, her annoyingly ever-present clipboard at her side.

  “Do you have a thing for him?” Lucy asked, pulling her gaze away from Alex’s back. Which, indeed, looked pretty fine walking away.

  “A thing? No. He’s a sweetheart and I adore him, like most of the town, but no, I don’t have a thing for him.” Kate looked up from her list and pinned Lucy with a serious glare. “And you shouldn’t, either.”

  They wound around two guys setting up a table saw, a couple of teens laying down painting tarps, and an older woman wearing an odd hat that resembled both a fedora and a sun visor setting up a food table for the volunteers. Lucy’s stomach rumbled even though she’d eaten her fair share of her mom’s oatmeal pancakes.

  “Why not? Is he taken?” She tried to keep her tone casual.

  “No. But he’s not for you,” Kate evaded, her eyes on her list. Lucy reached out and grabbed the clipboard from her sister. “Hey!”

  “Why did you say that?” Lucy demanded, her voice low. She held the clipboard out of Kate’s reach while her sister chewed on her bottom lip then frowned. “He’s long-term and you’re not. He’s forever, and you’re … for now,” Kate answered. With a huff, she held out her hand for the clipboard.

  “Well, don’t hold back.” Lucy gave Kate the board and turned away.

  It was the truth, and Lucy knew it. She didn’t understand why hearing it from her sister bothered her so much. She would grab her camera from Kate’s car, and lose herself in taking pictures of the events around her without having to take part. Another thing she did well.

  When Kate had asked her during a Skype session if there was any way she could come home and help with this project, it had been perfect timing. Vincent, the editor for the international magazine Everywhere Around Us had made it clear that the ladder to success would be a lot easier to climb if she were to sleep with him. When she had disagreed, vehemently, he had decided she didn’t belong on that particular assignment or on any other with the magazine.

  She snapped a picture of the woman with the fun hat as she shook thoughts of Vincent from her head.

  She was a good photographer; better than good. She had freelanced countless jobs and had her work featured in a number of top magazines. She’d photographed models and movie sets, architectural wonders, and indescribable landscapes. Still, she’d only ever been a “contributor,” and she now found herself wanting a more reliable income. Even when she was abroad, where costs were minimal, it was comforting to have a cushion, particularly since she never knew if the next job would be her last.

  “Hey, Lucy! Nice to see you,” a woman called out. Lucy turned. She recognized the woman but couldn’t remember her name. She was almost positive she was a friend or fan of her mother’s. Julie Aarons had many fans, especially locally. She used to come out and soak up the energy and feel good about seeing how her work affected people. It had surprised Lucy when her mom had insisted she needed to stay home today. Lucy gave a one-handed wave and snapped a photo in the woman’s direction. Perhaps she’d put together an album for Kate. Ideas played in her mind as she continued to take candid shots. This community was so different from the one she had just come home from, yet the core elements were the same.

  She had been on assignment in Kenya in a small village called Lwak. A clean drinking water project was making drastic differences in the lives of the people there, and Lucy had felt like she was a part of something special. It was certainly the longest-running feature she’d done. On other photo shoots, she was a background figure, like an extra in a cast of thousands. The size of Lwak, along with the nature of the job, forced an intimacy she hadn’t immediately recognized as familial.

  “Are you taking pictures of anything besides hot men?” a familiar voice asked sardonically. Lucy lowered her camera carefully, placing it back in the insulated bag hanging on her shoulder, a smile tugging hard as she bit her lip. She turned to look at her older sister, already leaning in for an embrace.

  “Why? Is your husban
d offering to pose?” Lucy teased as she wrapped herself around Charlotte in a hug that settled the upset inside of her.

  “He probably would if I let him, but he actually had to work today,” Charlotte laughed, pulling Lucy impossibly closer. “You’ve been gone too long this time.”

  Lucy bit her lip to keep from crying, but the tears fell anyway. She held tighter and hoped the pressure would alleviate the ache in her chest. “I stay away to make sure you appreciate me when I come back.”

  Charlotte leaned back and eyed Lucy with her critical, steely blue gaze. This close, she could see the odd strand of grey in her sister’s sharply bobbed, dark brown hair. Her narrow face and high cheek bones had always lent an elegance to her features that was matched by the way she presented herself. She could see the hint of late nights around Charlotte’s eyes. To Lucy, and most others, she was perfect. Something that Lucy would never be.

  “We appreciate you just fine. I’ll appreciate you even more when you get your butt in gear and do your share of this project Kate has us all slaving over,” she laughed, the seriousness in her eyes fading.

  “Slaving. As if. You might chip a nail,” Kate interrupted. In her arms, she held Charlotte’s youngest daughter. Lucy didn’t think she was the squealing type, but that was what she did as she reached for the bundle of pink. “Let me have her,” she said when Kate took too long to pass Mia over.

  “This is your auntie Lucy, Mia. She’s a bit nutty and doesn’t stay in one place long, but we love her. She takes good pictures and makes the best scrambled eggs ever,” Kate cooed to the sleeping baby as she slowly shifted her from her own arms to Lucy’s.

  Lucy held Mia and stared down in awe at the wonderful mix of Charlotte and her husband, Luke. Some hidden pocket of longing slammed hard into her ribs, surprising her with its intensity. The Aarons nose and Donnelly lips stood proudly on smooth, porcelain skin. Her eyelids scrunched and fluttered, but didn’t open. Lucy beamed silently at her sisters and caught sight of her dad walking toward them with Carmen, Mia’s five-year-old sister, in tow.

  “She’s gorgeous, Char. She’s just perfect.” Lucy kissed Mia’s tiny forehead.

  “Obviously,” Charlotte laughed as Carmen walked in between them. Lucy thought she’d stayed close to everyone—she Skyped and Facebooked whenever possible. She’d talked to Carmen and sent birthday gifts, but just like with her dad last night, seeing her in person hit Lucy like a punch to the stomach. Carmen was carrying a book, talking steadily to her grandfather, who nodded thoughtfully. Lucy gently bounced her arms when Mia peeped then looked down at Carmen.

  “Hello there,” she said to the animated five-year-old. Carmen didn’t look away from her grandfather. “There are more than three hundred fifty types of sharks,” Carmen stated. Lucy’s dad nodded.

  Char touched Carmen’s shoulder to interrupt her, and when she looked up at her mom, Char said quietly to her daughter, “Your aunt said hello, Carmen. Can you say hello, please?”

  Carmen’s tiny face scrunched in uncertainty, or perhaps frustration from being interrupted. Looking back at her grandfather, she said, “Hello. Sharks hardly ever get tumors. That’s very different from humans.”

  Charlotte glanced at Lucy, gave a tight smile, then kneeled down and touched Carmen’s shoulder again.

  “Your aunt Lucy has photographed several sharks,” Charlotte shared. This caught the little girl’s attention, and she turned toward Lucy now, face serious.

  “Have you photographed a great white shark? Those are my favorite. They are known as the king of the sharks,” Carmen said, her tone very matter-of-fact. With her shoulder-length hair and serious nature, she reminded Lucy very much of Charlotte.

  Lucy kissed Mia’s soft forehead once more, breathing in the delicious combination of baby shampoo and powder, and then handed her to Charlotte. Standing to take the baby from her, Char’s lips turned down slightly. Lucy squatted down so she could meet Carmen’s eyes, but her niece looked beyond, her gaze darting everywhere but directly at Lucy.

  “I haven’t, no. But I did photograph a Porbeagle shark when I was in Chile,” Lucy answered. Carmen’s brown eyes widened even as her brows furrowed together. She opened her book, The Anatomy of Sharks, and looked through the index.

  “I haven’t read about that one. Do you have a picture?” Carmen asked, closing the book.

  “I do on my laptop. I could show it to you sometime.” Lucy weaved a little in her squatting position. She really had to work out more. Or do yoga. Or something.

  “You photographed it?”

  “I did. They’re known as a playful shark.” Lucy rested her hands on her thighs while Carmen looked her over.

  “You look different. Mommy says we met before,” Carmen announced. Lucy grinned at Charlotte’s mini-me and the abrupt shift in topic.

  “You look different, too. Bigger. But I was here when you were born, so we have met. You’re cuter now than then, though,” Lucy said. Carmen looked at Lucy for a moment, tilting her head to the side.

  “You are, too,” she replied solemnly, making her and her family laugh.

  The sound of everyone’s laughter reminded her that she was surrounded by almost all of the people she loved most in the world. The thought of what she’d missed out on twisted her stomach in opposing directions. She’d tried to cajole her mother into joining them this morning, but Julie had claimed she had a deadline that she couldn’t put off any longer. Her father and Kate had exchanged a strange glance at this, and Lucy had wondered if her mom had been pitching in at the center. She stood and offered her hand to Carmen.

  “Want to take some pictures with me, Shorty?”

  “My name is Carmen. I’m five. Can I use your camera?” Lucy bit back a smile at the serious tone and expression. “Do you drop things often?” Lucy put a protective hand on her camera bag.

  “I didn’t drop Mia.” She stared up at Lucy, one hand on her hip. “Good enough for me.”

  Carmen passed her book to her grandfather and took Lucy’s hand. Lucy squeezed it gently and smiled at her sisters and her dad. With Carmen and her favorite camera in tow, she waved to their family as they went to see what different groups of townsfolk were up to. Carmen tugged her hand.

  “What other sharks have you photographed?” she asked, making Lucy smile.

  “Why don’t you just toss the little jerkoffs into a cell?” Sam asked Alex as he held the board in place. They were putting together a portico that would apparently add character to the rundown building. Sam, an architect and carpenter, started to explain his vision, but Alex had insisted he just tell him where to stand and what to pass him when. He had done some repairs on his home, but he didn’t have anything close to Sam’s talent and capability. Which is why it came in handy that they were friends—Sam would be helping him make a few renovations over the summer.

  “Not that easy. For one thing, I don’t know how many I’m dealing with. I don’t want to nail the lackeys if someone is behind them. It seems like more than just stupid kid pranks. Something isn’t sitting right with any of this.”

  Sam took the triangular structure he had nailed together and put it to the side. Alex used the hem of his T-shirt to wipe the sweat dripping into his eyes. As he lowered his shirt, his gaze made contact with Lucy, who was strolling hand in hand with Carmen. She blushed when he caught her staring then went back to listening to whatever Carmen was saying. Charlotte and Luke’s oldest was cute and had a free spirit. Kind of like her aunt. But she also had rigid

  boundaries, and Alex suspected she might be on the autism spectrum. “You missed a spot of drool.” Sam said, swallowing back some water. “Huh?” Alex looked down at his shirt and then at Sam.

  Sam nodded toward the hem of Alex’s shirt that he was still holding.

  “You got the sweat, but now you’re drooling. Though I don’t really blame you. She’s smokin’ hot. Just like her sisters.” He waggled his eyebrows comically. Alex frowned and grabbed a water of his own, opened it up, and then watc
hed as Lucy showed Carmen how to point and shoot with her high-tech camera. He gave Sam a small shove. “Aren’t you getting married? To an extremely hot woman of your own?”

  Sam grinned, tossing his water bottle into a nearby bin already overflowing with empties. “That I am, my friend. That I am. But I’m not blind or dead, so it’d be hard not to notice the Aarons sisters,” Sam returned easily, picking up his hammer.

  “Fair enough. She’s never around long enough to do more than take a glance anyway,” Alex mumbled, grabbing the next piece of wood to attach to the triangular addition that he still couldn’t fully visualize.

  “You never know, man. Maybe she’ll stick around.”

  “Sure. And maybe the pain-in-the-ass kids that are messing up the town will turn themselves in and ask to repair all the damage.” Sam scoffed with a smile and the two of them returned to sweating and pounding nails in the Minnesota sun.

  By late afternoon, Alex needed a shower desperately. There was a BBQ over at the Kellys’ house, and Alex silently debated attending as he wandered around the side of the building. It backed up to a huge field that was surrounded by an array of forested hills. Alex heard the rushing of the nearby waterfall that had started to melt with the approach of summer. The entire center had received a fresh coat of paint today, which really made a difference. When he reached the back of the building, he smiled at the sight of the dumpster that still sat out back. He remembered, fondly, how at sixteen he’d tried to get Danielle Peterson to kiss him by the dumpster that still sat out back.

  At the sound of clicking, he turned his head and found himself staring down the barrel of a camera so big it almost covered Lucy’s face. “Hey, Sheriff. What’s the smile for?” She snapped another picture.

  “I was thinking about kissing Danielle Peterson right here in this spot,” he admitted, rocking back on his heels with his thumbs hooked in his pockets. He didn’t flinch when she kept snapping but wished she’d put the camera away. He wasn’t shy but he didn’t crave the spotlight.