"Ican almost guarantee you'll love it. Plus, it's not that far away; it's just a mile or so the other side of Moran State park."
Lily shuddered. "Been there."
Jessica glanced over at her blonde friend as she maneuvered the car out of town. "How did you end up going along with Zach last night, anyhow?"
Lily described her stowaway adventure in the back of Zach's Jeep as they drove to Olga. With self-deprecating humor, she detailed her stint in the woods, painting herself as a witless city girl.
But Jess was filled with admiration as she took her eyes off the road long enough to glance at her friend. "You are so brave."
Lily's mouth dropped open. "Are you crazy?" she demanded. "I was scared to death!"
"Of course you were. But you followed through anyway."
"And nearly got Zach's brains bashed in for my efforts."
Jess pulled into the parking lot of the Artworks, killed the engine, then turned to face her friend. "Who's to say he wouldn't have gotten hit on the head anyway?"
Lily just looked at her.
"Okay, so I can't actually see Zach letting that happen without a distraction, but Lily, still! It was very courageous of you to try to help."
Lily laughed and reached for the door handle. "I have a feeling Zach wouldn't agree with you, but since I love having you believe I'm so stouthearted, I'll just say thank you and leave it at that."
Jessica's lips curled with pleasure as she walked down the long porch of the old renovated strawberry packing plant that housed the Artworks. Opening the door, she held it for Lily. "This is my very favorite place on the entire island."
"Oh, my," Lily breathed as she stepped inside the beamed-ceilinged room. "I can see why."
The floors of the co-op were slightly uneven with their old hardwood planks, and windows spilled light into an interior crowded with fascinating goods. Straight ahead stood a display stand of multisized cubes holding pottery of various sizes and shapes. One exhibit led to another, from glass, to jewelry, to paintings, to a rack of wearable art, and Jess enjoyed watching Lily's delight every bit as much as she loved exploring herself. It was a crowded treasure chest filled with contributions from more than sixty-five artists, and there were always new things to discover.
She was trying on felt hats, admiring them with her new hairdo in a small mirror, when she saw Lily's reflection stop in front a display of small quilts that hung on one wall.
After several solemn, silent moments spent inspecting it, Lily turned to her. "You ought to be displaying your quilts here."
Instant delight suffused her, but accustomed as she was to downplaying her work as nothing more than a hobby, her instinctive response was to demur. Before she could say a word, however, a woman manning the central desk looked up with interest. "You make quilts?"
"Beautiful ones," Lily answered for her and walked over with a friendly smile. "They're quite different from these, but she's every bit as talented."
Face warm with both pleasure and embarrassment, Jessica joined them and found herself talking to the artist on duty about her work. Agreeing to submit some samples for consideration, she finally eased away and made her way down to the far end of the co-op, where she stood for a moment with one hand over her rapidly beating heart as she pretended to look at the handcrafted stationery and cards racked in front of her.
Once her pulse had settled down a bit, she walked over to peek into the cafe to check on the availability of a table. The silly smile, though, continued to play across her mouth.
It froze when she glanced toward the back corner of the cafe and saw Christopher seated at a small table near the door, talking intently to an unfamiliar woman.
Pain splintered through her with such ferocity she could barely catch her breath. Seeing him here when he'd specifically told her he'd be elsewhere, with a woman who was everything she wasn't, shouldn't have caught her by surprise. She'd known he was up to something— for weeks she had known that. Hell, sometimes it felt as if she'd been waiting for this very occurrence since the first night they'd met, yet nothing, she realized now, ever could have prepared her for seeing her worst fears realized. She numbly watched the single-minded attention her husband lavished on the other woman until Christopher's head started to lift. Then she scrambled backward, desperate not to be seen.
She would die if he saw her.
Lily glanced up as Jessica strode rapidly up the center aisle, and after one good look at her friend's face, frowned and went to meet her. "What is it?"
"I want to go now."
"Well, sure, but what's wrong. Are you sick?"
"Yes. All of a sudden I feel like I could die."
"You don't look so hot," she agreed. "Good Lord, Jess, you don't have a drop of color in your face." She took Jessica's arm and helped her out of the store, concerned when her friend leaned heavily in her grasp. "Give me your keys. Could you have food poisoning? Do you want me to take you to the clinic?"
"It's not food poisoning, Lily. I haven't had anything to eat since last night."
"Well, maybe that's it." She gestured back toward the cafe. "I could go get you—"
"No! I just want to go home."
"Are you sure?" Something about Jessica's stillness worried Lily, but when she gave a curt nod, Lily simply said, "Okay, then."
As she was settling Jessica in the passenger seat, she heard a car door close. She glanced up as she circled the hood to climb in the driver's side and froze for a moment as she saw the same young man she'd run into at the pharmacy.
The same young man, she suddenly remembered, that she'd seen before not in town, as she'd earlier assumed, but in a gas station parking lot on the other side of the state.
That was stretching coincidence way too far, and her heart began to thud anxiously. She had a bad feeling that something was very, very wrong here.
And suddenly she wanted to get back to the Beaumont estate every bit as much as Jessica did.
Chapter 19
NO ONE WAS AROUND WHEN THEY ARRIVED home, so Lily escorted Jessica up to her apartment. After assurances from her friend that some rest would perk her up, Lily helped her into bed and dampened a washcloth to drape across her eyes. Hating to leave her, but getting the distinct impression Jessica wanted to be alone, she finally let herself out of the apartment. She stood indecisively out in the hallway for a moment, then went looking for Zach.
She tracked him down in the parlor, where she found him pacing with long-legged strides between the French doors and the fireplace. As she paused in the doorway, he completed his circuit to the fireplace, swept a small objet d'art off the mantel, and restlessly tossed it from hand to hand without apparent thought for its value. Thinking he looked lonely and stressed, Lily walked into the room. "Where is everyone?"
His posture immediately stiffened and, snapping the knickknack out of the air, he replaced it on the mantel. Then one broad shoulder hitched as he turned to face her. "Beats the hell outta me. Blown to the four corners of the earth, maybe."
"No one's heard from the kidnapper, then?"
"Not a word."
"I'm sorry, Zach. I know that must be difficult." She closed the distance between them and peered up at him in concern. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, sure." Looking at her with those intense gray eyes, he ran his hand down her arm to her wrist, which he slowly circled with his fingers. He blew out a sigh and the tautness left his shoulders. "No, that's a lie. I'm frustrated as hell."
"I'm not surprised. Did you meet with your friends?"
"Yes." The faint smile tugging up the corner of his mouth told Lily that getting together with them had been good for him. He fiddled with her fingers. "We're ready to roll," he said, "if only the damn kidnapper would call."