The Summer He Came Home (Bad Boys of Crystal Lake 1)

The sun set in a blaze of reds, oranges, and gold. Cain settled back and enjoyed the view. He’d seen the same sun set hundreds of times and had never given it another thought. But tonight, here with Maggie and her son, he thought that it was pretty much perfect.

Chapter 13

“You’ve got a weird look on your face. Is everything all right?”

Maggie busied herself with the small stickers she held and ignored Raine’s question.

“Or does the weird look have anything to do with the fact that you and Cain spent the night together.”

“We didn’t…” Maggie began and shot her a dark look. “We did not spend the night together.”

“Whatever,” Raine teased as she followed behind and priced the goods Maggie had stickered. The two of them had volunteered to help out with a massive garage sale organized by the football team. It was one of several money drives that were in place in order to raise funds for the new stadium that had been proposed for the local high school. It was being held along the banks of the river that ran through town, and at the moment the entire area resembled a country fair, with booths set up and displays everywhere.

The event had been organized weeks earlier, and Maggie was happy not only that Raine had come out to participate, but that her mood was light.

“That’s not what I heard.”

Actually, Maggie could do without the teasing.

“Well I don’t know what you heard, but whatever it was is wrong. Cain and I had dinner together, but that’s it.” She made a face. “And how could you hear anything anyway? It’s been less than eight hours since I saw him.”

“Lady, you don’t understand the network that exists in this town. Someone sees something and tells someone else, and then next thing you know it’s on the front page of the Lake Herald.” At Maggie’s look of panic, Raine giggled. “Well, maybe not the front page.”

Raine held up a large velvet painting of a half-naked woman lounging underneath a tree on an equally gaudy chaise. She made a face. “My God, this is like a bad version of Rose’s portrait in Titanic.” She giggled. “Free?” She wrote something on the sticker and moved on to the next item. “So you did spend the night with Cain.”

Maggie bit her lip. Stay in your good place.

She flipped a braid behind her shoulder and bent over to place a sticker on a box of stuffed animals. They were near the north end, not far from the dam, two of a slew of volunteers. Though it was just past six in the morning, the air was already sticky. It was going to be a hot, humid day.

“We had dinner at my house. That’s it.”

“All right, I believe you, but I just thought you should know what the rest of Crystal Lake thinks.”

“Maggie!”

She glanced up as Lori Jonesberg jogged toward them.

“Here she comes! Quick, run while you still can!” Raine whispered, and then busied herself with a stack of books.

Lori was an attractive brunette—for the moment. As owner of A Cut Above, the local salon, her hair color changed frequently. She was a few years older than Maggie, and her family had lived in Crystal Lake for generations. Her husband was the fire chief, her childre

n the local sports superstars, and she herself was like a tornado in human form.

Maggie groaned as she straightened and pasted a smile to her mouth that she so did not feel.

Lori paused in front of them, her face split wide in a grin. “My God, girl, you need to spill. I heard you and Cain Black are an item?”

Maggie glanced at Raine, who smiled wickedly and turned back to whatever it was she was pricing.

Lori’s salon was the hub of Crystal Lake, and she was very much the queen bee. It was gossip central. If you wanted to know who was sleeping with whom or who was having money problems or whose so and so had passed, you made an appointment for a haircut. Guaranteed, you’d leave the salon with lighter pockets, but your head would be filled with all the latest news.

Maggie smoothed her tank top and pretended to pick some lint from her shorts. Anything to avoid the probing brown eyes that stared at her with rabid glee.

It was pretty bad that Lori already had the scoop and her salon hadn’t even opened for business yet. Too bad her information was wrong.

“Lori,” Maggie said carefully, “I don’t know what you heard, but—”

“Oh my God, Maggie. It’s all right. Snagging someone like Cain isn’t anything to be ashamed of. Lord knows you’ve been a nun since you arrived in our little town. No one can blame you for wanting a little of what he’s got going on.” The woman winked as if they were sharing a secret or a confidence that she was privy to.