Circle of Secrets: Echo Forward

Echo Forward

Circle of Secrets

Rachel Emmerton

Published by: Echo Press on Amazon Kindle

Echo Forward, Circle of Secrets Series

Circle of Secrets: Echo Forward

She sat at her desk pondering the parchment before her. It wasn't the first time she'd put her thoughts to paper, but she could feel it was definitely drawing nearer to the close of such pastimes. The little things that had once been so enjoyable and simple to do now seemed insurmountable at times. She had never liked being a burden on others. She was adamant not to become one now.

What a mess such a small town like Bridgewater could be. It certainly didn't look like it to the casual observer or passing visitor, with its quaint homes and tidy parks and amicable neighborhoods. But it was.

Parts of the close-knit community were tightly knotted, each strand of the net hinging and hedging off the others. To break a strand would be to leave a gaping hole, a weakened spot in the loose yet knotted fabric. This was especially true of the past, and more importantly, of the pasts of several people she knew. She smoothed the edge of the stationery with a perfectly manicured fingernail, debating her next thoughts.

Who would think such a tangled web lay beneath the town's social waters that appeared so serene on the surface? She shook her head. Certainly not those few innocents caught in the tendrils of webbing, and certainly not those guilty parties that had gotten away.

Of course, this latter group didn't care about the wreckage they had left in their selfish pursuits.

And then there were the innocents who were still trapped in the far-reaching wisps of web who were now entrapped in other webs as well. She wondered if they struggled, if they sought out the truth to their origins. Perhaps they didn't care. Or better yet, didn't know.

She took the gold and enamel pen and wrote. Sleeping dogs have lain long enough. Old wounds have healed and scars have faded, she thought as she set the words on the paper. But the truth, well, that's still the truth.

She frowned before continuing, hesitating at her next pen strokes.

And of course, the truth may not matter. Maybe you have grown to become a bigger person than those who left...

* * *

On the trendy side of town, two teens were breaking up. It wasn't any different than a hundred other breakups, mirroring what happened between a boy and girl all across the country.

"I hate you."

He knew she would, expected it.

Maybe she should have seen it coming.

"We both know it isn't working," he said, neither taking nor placing the blame.

She wouldn't look at him. "I see you're already moving on."

A long silence followed, the only sound around them the rushing water of Miller's River.

She pulled at the door latch. "I should have quit you months ago."

"You did."

She pushed open the door.

He chuckled dryly. "You didn't think I noticed?"

She got out and slammed the door, glaring at him through the open window. "Your mind was never on me anyway!"

She hastened across the parking lot. He watched her go, let her go. Maybe he was supposed to follow.

But he knew he didn't want to.

* * * * *

Chapter 1

The wooden staircase of an estate on the six-acre parcel of land just outside Bridgewater echoed through four levels of rooms as Brandy Reese angrily stomped on each step. She'd already charged up the ornate first floor staircase to the second floor of the mammoth house and had every intention of slamming each door she passed, testing her sandals to their limits.

Men, she thought sourly, tossing a strand of brunette hair over her shoulder. It rebelled by sticking to her tear-stained cheek and she wiped it away again.

Barely a man, she added to that thought. "Nothing but a damn boy!"

She rushed down the landing on the second level and took the next corner of hallway to the third floor staircase. She nearly tripped running up it, her eyes tearing with thoughts of her boyfriend – ex-boyfriend – and his unexpected decision to be single for the summer.

She raced past the billowing ostrich feathers flowing over a cobalt blue vase against the antique white plastered wall and shoved her bedroom door open.

She slammed it behind her.

Every picture on her lavender walls shook. The framed glass of her with the volleyball team from the now gone high school senior year nearly fell off the wall. In it nineteen girls looked back at her, all smiles, among them she and her two closest friends.

Just seeing Danielle McGovern and Autumn Morgansen with their arms hooked around her in the photo brought new tears to Brandy's eyes.

"Damn them all!" She'd meant to scream it, but it came out as a whiny, pithy cry. "All of them..."

But she wasn't addressing the photo.

The pain of rejection settled in her chest, feeling like it was collapsing her lungs, making her dizzy and ache. Her eyes were too blurry with tears to focus, but she made straight for the bathroom across the room.

She slammed that door, too.

She blew her nose into a handful of tissues on the wide sink and sank onto the nearby dressing table stool. She slumped against the marble table, pushing aside brushes and hair trinkets, cosmetics and baubles.

How could she have been so stupid for so long?

She blew her nose again and looked around for her cell phone before recalling she'd left it in her car.

"Jerk," she mumbled into the tissue, throwing it in the general direction of the white wicker wastebasket. "Idiot jerk..."

She took a deep breath and tried to block out the words. Up until that afternoon, she'd loved the sound of Trent Bradford's voice, but now only the ugly words of finality were left ringing in her thoughts.

She leaned her elbows on the dressing table and looked into the rectangle mirror attached to it. Her reflection was half hidden behind puffy eyes and damp, reddened cheeks. Rarely was there ever a hair out of place, a smudge in her makeup, but now she was a far from the "Graduating Class Genuine Beauty" she'd been dubbed in the school yearbook two months ago. She mumbled and wiped her hair from her eyes. A few strands had fallen from her ponytail as she ran from Trent's car at the park. The day was hot and the short sprint and her pounding heart left her sagging and in disarray.

Trent had followed after her, trying to ease her pain, he'd said, but she'd jumped into her car at the park and drove away – nearly over his foot.

"Wallow in guilt," she muttered, plucking another tissue and dabbing at the mascara dotting her eyelid. A vacation brochure stuck to her damp forearm as she moved. She pushed away the tri-fold on hiking the great American West. "Just drown in it. Suck it all up, you pervy loser."

"Hey, you in there?" came Ethan's voice from the other side of the bathroom door. "What's up, Brandy?"

She groaned and closed her eyes, wiping the tissue over her lids for any other spots of mascara that had melted off. "Nothing!"

The door latch wiggled. It wasn't locked, but it was her brother's way of warning her that he was about to open it.

"Stay out," she said without any force.

The door opened and Ethan stepped in.

"Damn, you're a mess," he said, leaning against the frame side. "You walk home? Where's your car?"

"I didn't walk." She looked at him in the mirror. He stood with his arms crossed, frowning at her, trying to read her expression. She moved her head to block his view of her face in the mirror. "I didn't have car trouble."

A slight bristle came to his posture. "What then?"

She shook her head and took out her sagging ponytail. She pulled the hair-tie free and shook out her dark hair. It fell to the middle of her back, adding a layer of heat to her warm neck. She immediately brushed it out, ripping the brush through the tresses. "Just...nothing, okay?"

He watched the hasty brush strokes. "Easy, sis, or you'll go bald."

She glared at him in the mirror.

He shrugged. "Autumn and Danielle called about ten seconds apart, said you weren't picking up your calls."

She nodded, taking a deep breath as she tried to compose herself.

"Said you wanted to meet them at Stone's Throw."

She nodded again, which interrupted her brisk brushing.

An irritated groan came from him. "Well? You gonna talk about this or not?"

"I will with them."

"Fine, but tell me something, Brandy, okay? Who?"

She slowed the brush, considering Ethan. He was actually a good big brother, even at a half-brother, and he seemed to know well enough how to treat his girlfriends. She turned on the stool to face him. She almost smiled. With Ethan's athletic build and attitude toward physical altercations, she was tempted to share more than she should.

"Just boys in general," she said, turning back to the dressing table mirror. Even the partial view she had of Ethan was enough for her to know he'd went from curious older brother to brother bear stance.

"Bradford?" The name came out tight as Ethan took a few steps closer to the table. "What the hell did he do, Brandy?"

She cleared her throat as she pivoted to see him. "Where's Mom?"

"In her drawing room, waiting for her muse to inspire something. Now what the hell's going on?"

There was genuine concern in his tone and she had to smile a little more. Ethan never made the distinction of stepmother to mom, and her father's – their father's – very brief first marriage had been absorbed into the current Reese family lineage. Nearly twenty years of marriage would do that.

Which only made Brandy wonder how she and Trent weren't even able to last a full year together. She could see the impatient simmer cloud Ethan's features. He was guessing at the truth to her mood.

"I'll drive you to the Stone and you can spill your guts in the truck," he decided for her. "Put your face back together and meet me in the drive."

He was out the door before she could retort to his deft comment on her appearance.

She turned back to the mirror.

"I'll tell Mom we're leaving!"

Brandy nodded, wiping her eyes with a tissue with one hand while absently scouring the table for eyeliner with the other.

She wondered if Jasmine knew how lucky she was.

Chapter 2

The cafe wasn't far from Autumn Morgansen's house just outside Bridgewater. It took her only moments to get there, but her mother's Grand Am had seen faster days. She pulled into the parking lot behind the row of shops lining the main intersection and cut the engine.

The car rumbled and nearly backfired, but obediently stalled.

The vehicle's drawbacks didn't faze Autumn so much. Soon she'd be tooling around town in her own vehicle. She smiled as she looked into the rearview mirror at her damp face. Lack of air-conditioning and the early June heat were catching up. She tightened her auburn hair in the high ponytail behind her head and wiped a few straying tendrils from her eyes.

Brandy had sounded teary on the phone. The emergency meeting at Stone's Throw Cafe could mean any number of things – none of which should bring tears.

The summer was theirs; school was out for good and life could now begin. What was there to cry about?

She pulled at the door latch a few times before it opened and got out. She straightened her denim Capris and scanned the lot for any sign of Brandy's new Audi or Danielle's bike. Neither was in sight. She headed for the cafe.

Minutes later Autumn was seated in their favorite booth, smiling in relief at the cool interior of the eatery. It was a cozy spot, their go-to place for anything from egg rolls to pastries to breakfast everything. She'd already waved off the waitress who brought the standard three menus and had ordered lemon iced tea for them all.

"Oh my gosh, do you know what this is all about?" The rushed syllables came out of Danielle McGovern's mouth so fast they sounded like two very long words.

Autumn looked up as her blonde friend dropped into the booth across the table from her. Danielle grabbed a menu and fanned herself quickly, making her light hair lift from her perspiration-matted temples.

"It's so humid today," Danielle said, closing her eyes to the fanning, smiling blissfully.

"I would've picked you up. There's no air moving in the streets today." Autumn waited for the waitress, a woman known simply as Cagey to the patrons, to deposit their teas before she left again. "It's too hot to ride a bike."

"Yeah, well, I don't mind." Some of the redness had lessened from Danielle's face.

They looked to the door, expecting Brandy to waltz through. No Brandy.

"So what's her big news?" Danielle said, turning to her menu as she opened it. They both knew the selections by heart. "We know she got in to Central University, she's got the newest car in town, and her pool's not open yet. Oh, maybe she's going on a cruise or something. That'd be nice." There was a large bite of envy in her tone.

Autumn had tasted that bite often herself. It made her feel a little guilty. Despite her parents' literal millions, Brandy was as generous as a teen could be; she'd even passed on going to a private school when junior high had come into their future.

"Then I don't know why she'd sound so shaky." Autumn frowned. Brandy's typical cheerfulness had a flirty bend to it, but she'd always been the giddiest girl for three years of their high school volleyball teams. "It's not like her."

"She did sound down." Danielle's blue eyes fell along the columns of foods listed on one side of the menu page before moving to the next.

"...me to pound him, let me know," Ethan Reese's voice drifted to the table as there was a lull in the pop music coming through the cafe speakers. "Be my pleasure to."

Both girls looked up as Ethan's words reached them. Their gazes went past the few tables of diners to the short hallway at the other side of the restaurant. They just caught a glimpse of Brandy's brunette ponytail as she disappeared into the ladies' room. Ethan scowled back at them as he spotted their table.

Autumn and Danielle exchanged looks.

Danielle leaned slightly closer to Autumn. "That didn't sound too good."

Autumn shook her head, and was about to attempt a guess when Ethan appeared at their table and settled into the booth beside Danielle.

"Hey, outta school for good now, huh?" he said, a grin replacing his previous frown. He nudged Danielle's side with an elbow. "All graduated and ready for your last summer before college. What's on your agendas?"

Autumn pushed her menu to him. "You're back? How long have you been home?"

He shrugged. "'Bout a week."

Danielle scooted a few inches away to avoid another nudging. "What's wrong with Brandy?"

"She'll be all right."

Danielle glanced to the tiny restroom.

"Did you have your graduation party yet?" He directed it at Autumn, but before she could answer, he added, "Unless you went the smart route and opted for a good-riddance."

She forced a wry smile. "You mean cheap?"

A look of dread started over his dark features. "No... Not that, Autumn."

She had to admit, Ethan Reese wore chagrin better than anyone. She'd seen it enough on him in the seven years of being friends with Brandy to know. He shifted uncomfortably on the bench seat, fingers toying with the menu edge. His hair was as dark as Brandy's, cut shorter now for the summer, his skin already taking on a tan in the short time he'd gotten out in the sun.

He shrugged tensely, half meeting her brown eyes as she spoke.

"But yeah, I opted for money. Mom made up enough for me to get a Jeep." She smiled when the stiff scowl relaxed a bit on his face. She could see why Danielle and half of the girls in her class had had hopeless infatuations with him before he'd graduated a year ago.

"Still want the Jeep?" He grinned, not seeing the faint blush Danielle didn't hide.

Autumn figured that they'd both been exposed to enough of Ethan over the years to forego blushing at his sometimes disarmingly attractive looks, but the gender-laced hormones were still in force and showed no sign of letting up. She nodded, returning his stare as Danielle's pink cheeks faded. "I'm going to look at one for sale this weekend."

"All those hours piling ice cream cones and scrubbing propane tanks paid off." Danielle's tone was triumphant despite her dislike for driving. "You can take a Jeep anywhere, Autumn."

She nodded, eyes lighting at the prospect. "That's what scares my mom about it."

Ethan sat back in the booth and Autumn felt a large tennis shoe slip past her sandal beneath the table.

"Sorry," he mumbled, retracting his foot.

"So what's going on with Brandy?" she asked.

He nodded in the direction of the bathroom. "I'll let her tell you." He let a tight exhale sift out a few curse words. "Girl stuff."

It was all Danielle needed to hear. She pushed him back and nearly climbed over him before he knew what was happening. "Excuse me, Ethan, but I want to check on her."

"Yeah, not a – uh, watch it..." He leaned back more as she gracelessly crawled over him and vacated the booth, using his shoulder as leverage and thigh as a knee hold. "Damn," he muttered, running a hand through his hair her shoulder had mussed as she slid past.

Autumn debated following, but then decided against it. With three people in the restroom, it was a struggle to even shut the door.

Danielle wove between the tables and found the ladies' restroom. It was a two-stall, cramped restroom that was sorely undersized for the eatery, but was now empty aside from Brandy at the mirror. Danielle let the door squeeze shut behind her.

"Oh...Brandy, what happened?" Danielle could see the brunette girl's reflection in the mirror and it screamed been dumped. "What happened?"

"Suddenly I'm too young for Trent." A sob followed Brandy's confession and she ripped a bundle of paper towels from the dispenser on the wall. She carefully held the corner of one to her eye, checking for mascara meltdown. "Can you believe that? I wasn't too young last October."

"You can do better," Danielle said, pulling her into a loose embrace. "He's a terrible dresser and wears too much aftershave. He's definitely got confidence issues. Probably afraid to be around you fulltime this summer – can't handle a real girlfriend."

"You're a doll," Brandy said, trying to smile through her heartache. "Is Autumn here yet?"

Danielle nodded. "With Ethan at our booth."

Brandy tossed the towel. "I should turn him loose on Trent."

Danielle smiled wider. "You'd feel better."

Brandy leaned against the stall wall behind her. "I wasted my whole senior year waiting on Trent's trips home for a few days. Now I know why he was so eager to get back to study."

"Another girl?"

"He didn't say that, but he must have had some little tart on the side."

Danielle folded her arms across her chest. "You can do better. We'll start with a Moat."

Brandy instinctively brushed her hands along her hips feeling what the dessert would do to her figure.

"Don't worry," Danielle said, grabbing her arm and tugging gently. "No fat in sorrow."

Autumn watched Ethan try to regain his poise at being half-mauled by Danielle's hasty departure. She glanced to the restroom just as Danielle closed the door, then turned back to him. "Is it bad news, Ethan?"

His gaze flicked to each of her eyes as he half shrugged. "Nah..."

"Who do you want to pound on?"

"Oh, that." He sighed, glancing to the nearest table where a family's littlest boy was also listening in, munching on spaghetti. The child wore a Chicago Blackhawks jersey and Ethan grinned before looking back to Autumn. "You still taking a year off before going to college?"

She nodded. "But what about Brandy?"

He tucked the menu he held under hers. "Folks'll make it up to her. Don't worry about it, Autumn." He read the heightened inquiry on her face. "College guys and high school girls – it doesn't work. I'll just say that."

"Oh," she said slowly. She sent a hurt look to the opposite side of the room. "So that's it."

"Now this Jeep," he said, "what's it like? What year?"

"A few years old," she said. "Actually, about ten years."

"That's not so bad, not for a Jeep," he said knowingly. "You getting it looked at by a mechanic?"

"No."

"Why not?"

She frowned. "I'm just looking now. If I like it, I might see about an inspection." She watched his eyes go to the menus beneath her fingers. She pushed his back and then slid her iced tea to the center of the table. "Want some?"

"Diet lemon?"

She didn't know why, but at that moment she clearly saw the slight green in his eyes. Brandy had brilliantly green eyes, but Ethan's were blue with just a hint of green. In the lighting from the tiffany-style light dangling above them she could see the faint green to their blue depths. She blamed it on the turquoise panel in the hanging light shade. "Yeah, diet lemon."

"No thanks."

The music ended and there was a pause before the next tune picked up. She saw Ethan's attention go back to the little boy. "Brandy said you played hockey for Northern at school. I didn't know you were that good."

"I'm not." He chuckled at her confusion. "I didn't play college hockey; if I did, I'd send tickets for Brandy and you all. Nah, just intramural team stuff. Still fun."

She nodded, watching his shoulder move as his hand shifted the silverware on the placemat. She'd seen him enough to know that whoever he wanted to pound for his sister's sake would likely feel it. She glanced at his dark gray t-shirt with the Northern University logo centered at his chest. He didn't look rich. No one would ever guess by just looking at Ethan that the Reeses were the wealthiest family in four counties. Brandy, she decided, wore the money more openly. "You were good in high school," she said, recalling the few practices she'd seen when she was a sophomore and he a junior. "I doubt that's changed."

He eyed the tall glass of iced tea, reconsidering the lemon factor.

She inched the iced tea closer to his side with a finger. "Go ahead. I haven't had any yet. And they've got regular, too."

"Yeah, I know." He chuckled, focusing on her lips. "I'm not afraid of your cooties, Autumn." He grabbed a straw still in its paper wrapping and tapped the end on the table until it was shucked free. "Did you run through all the grad parties?"

"Enough, I guess." She felt like she was ten again at the juvenile word for germs, which brought up another set of memories. "Brandy said she wanted to wait until the Fourth of July for a big bash." She sat back and looked to the bathrooms. Still no sign of her friends.

Ethan stuck the straw in the glass of tea. "Have you celebrated your graduation? You know, something special?"

"Mark took me out for dinner." Her attention returned, resting on the straw in the glass.

"Mark?" he asked sharply. "Who Mark?"

"Mark who. From Rockport. Mark Stevens."

"Brandy said something about a guy you were seeing." He absently tied the straw wrapper into a knot. "How long you been seeing him?"

"Since about...April." She tried to recall Ethan's girlfriend's name. Before she could begin a round of guessing, Danielle and Brandy joined them. Brandy's green eyes were now red and watery, tears still brimming.

Danielle patted her shoulder. "Have a seat, Brandy. Tell us all about it."

On cue, Ethan stood and stepped back to give his sister a clear path to the booth bench. "You all right now?"

Brandy didn't look at him, instead sliding across the vinyl seat smoothly, folding her short skirt beneath her legs as she made room for Danielle. "Yes, fine, Ethan. Thanks for driving me."

Danielle sat beside her, pushing a menu to her placemat. "Something high-carb, hon. Let's get loaded."

Ethan glanced to Autumn who was scooting farther into the booth. "I'm not staying. Give me a time and I'll be back to take you home."

He'd said it to Brandy, but she was already leafing through the menu to the ice cream section at the back. "I'm going to have one of each of these," she said, gaze bouncing between ice cream options, "so I'll be a while."

He didn't quite stifle his annoyed groan.

"I can take her home," Autumn offered.

He nodded. "You sure?"

"Sure." She watched Brandy wipe a small tear from her perfectly blackened eyelashes. Not only was Brandy rich and slender, she was shockingly pretty, and tearing up hadn't diminished her alluring beauty. Autumn rested her forearms on the table, staring at Brandy. "We'll take care of her."

Ethan nodded and pulled his wallet from his back jeans pocket. "Comfort food's on me." He dropped a few bills on the table. "Eat up."

It took two sundaes, four shakes, and a large sharing-size Frozen Moat – the cafe's specialty – to get the whole story out of Brandy.

Ethan had hinted correctly; Brandy's boyfriend of a whole year, a freshman at Southern Central University, had dumped her upon classes letting out that summer.

Brandy was way past blubbering by the time she was balancing a spoonful of half-melted strawberry supreme ice cream. "Get that? I'm older than last year but now I'm just some kid."

"He sucks," Danielle said, pushing the remaining third-full glass of mocha delight shake to her. "Don't let him waste any more of your time."

Brandy took a big bite of the slushy, melted Frozen Moat that sat on the table between the three of them. It had once been a mound of assorted ice cream scoops assembled in the center of a large salsa serving platter, but now all the colors of frozen dessert had melted into the sunken rim, making a dairy moat.

Autumn sat back and watched Brandy shovel the slurpy ice cream into her mouth. Gone were the tears, replaced with resentment. "At least he's out of your life for the summer."

Brandy looked sheepishly to Danielle. "It's kind of worse, Autumn. Trent's spending June with his mom, so he'll be here in Bridgewater for a few weeks."

Danielle's spoon lowered from her lips, still full of melted dessert. "Here? Oh, gawd, how awful!"

Autumn shook her head. "Well, maybe you can avoid him."

They all knew Bridgewater was too small of a town to hide anyone for long.

Brandy sighed. "I don't want to risk running into him at all. And so," she added with a tinge of guilt, "I moved up my trip out West this summer."

Danielle's mouth dropped open. "What? You mean before July fifth?"

Autumn frowned. "But all your plans, Brandy..."

"I know, I know," Brandy said, biting her lower lip a bit. "I just extended it before my actual trip. I'm leaving early." She tried to brighten some. "I can get more photos this way, and maybe even capture some of the wild flowers in earlier stages."

"But we're not done with you yet." Danielle rolled her eyes at the clumsy wording. "We just graduated. We have to do stuff, Brandy. We've got three days together yet."

Brandy looked to her. "And then you're going off to Camp Don't-Eat-That, and—"

"It' Camp Shi-Ma-Di," Danielle hurriedly corrected.

Autumn smiled, nodding to Danielle. "You better eat up; no dairy or waffle cones at camp for you."

Danielle scooped up a large spoon of ice cream, wistfulness in her eyes. "It's not all dietary restrictions. Some campers are coming for other lifestyle changes."

Brandy stirred her shake with a long spoon. "Well, yes, and Autumn's got her job at the paper now, so I thought getting out of town early would be better for me. For a while."

Autumn and Danielle didn't like the sudden change. Brandy looked to each of them, trying to word her next phrase best.

Danielle noted the dark-haired girl's hesitation. "How early? When do you leave?"

"Tomorrow."

Autumn nearly choked on her iced tea. "What?"

Danielle was shocked. "Tomorrow, Brandy?"

With a long sigh, Brandy nodded. "Yes. Tomorrow I leave for the great Wild West."

The rich desserts caught up with Danielle as the news soured her stomach. "...I think I'm going to be sick."

Autumn stared at Brandy's heartbroken expression. "Well...maybe you'll meet someone to take your mind off things. Ooh, maybe a cowboy."

Brandy smiled hopefully. "I hope so."

Chapter 3

Six a.m. came too early for Danielle and Autumn the next morning. They met Brandy at the enormous Reese residence as the lawn was still gleaming from dew and said their farewells for the next two weeks.

This time Danielle had accepted Autumn's invitation to pick her up rather than bike there. The Reese house towered over them as they stood in the driveway at Brandy's mother's Jaguar, hugging each other in turn and promising to text and call whenever they could. The early sun shone off the sleek gray car's finish, making them blink at times when the glare was too much.

Tempted to pack into the car and see Brandy on her drive to the airport, both Autumn and Danielle resisted; Brandy's mom and Ethan were already going and Brandy was no light packer. The trunk was full and a few bags were stuffed into the backseat.

Ethan came out of the three-car garage attached to the house and shook his head at the huddle of girls half-sobbing their goodbyes. "Mom's on her way down, Brandy," he said when he found a break in the farewelling. "You ready?"

"Yes." Brandy gave Danielle and then Autumn a last hug and opened the back door of the Jaguar. "Promise to tell me everything when I get back!"

"Every mosquito bite," Danielle said in a somewhat teary tone.

Autumn nodded. "I won't have anything interesting to report, but yes, you'll get every boring detail of town while you're gone."

Ethan opened the front passenger door as Candice Reese came out one of the double doors at the house's veranda and immediately snapped a pair of sunglasses on. He waited while she got to the car, watching the near twist of her ankle as she stepped off the tile walkway and to the driveway.

"Bye!" Autumn called as she and Danielle started for the Grand Am parked in the curved driveway. "Have fun, too!"

Brandy waved at them from the backseat.

Candice waved at the girls as they got in the Grand Am and then seated herself in the Jaguar's passenger seat. Ethan closed the door and went around to the driver's side.

Inside the Grand Am, Autumn watched the sports car's brake lights flash on. "Well, this is it, Danielle," she said, putting her car into drive. "You're leaving for camp and I'm stuck here with Ms. Feydey at that ancient hole we call a town newspaper."

"That's not so bad," Danielle said lightly.

Ethan pulled away and the Jaguar took the circular driveway to the road and turned right.

Autumn followed, but made a left at the road. "You don't know the Bridgewater Crier. Everything is old."

Danielle couldn't think of anything to say to help. Everyone knew Beulah Feydey hadn't upgraded much at the newspaper shop. She watched the Jaguar take the turn on the road behind them in the side view mirror, where the sports car disappeared from sight.

Autumn was watching, too, in the rearview mirror. She sighed, focusing on the road ahead of them. "You know she still uses sticky-copy to paste up newspaper pages?"

Danielle shook her head, lost on the subject. Her high school yearbook experience wasn't helping any.

"It's like archaic," Autumn said, rolling her window all the way down as the sun rose higher in the east.

"At least it's some job training."

Autumn nodded slowly. "I guess... And now we have only two days until you leave."

Danielle looked to the houses on her side of the road as they began to clump into tighter neighborhoods. "Then let's do breakfast now."

Autumn gave her a quick glance. "We're having lunch at one, remember?"

Danielle nodded. "Let's just do both. We'll go to Horton's and then to the Circle O for donuts and then on to lunch. I'll be surrounded by kids all summer and you'll be stuck with frumpy Feydey. We'll pig out."

Autumn smiled. "You're on."

Danielle laughed, but it turned to a hollow sound. The smile dimmed on her face. "I heard from my dad."

"Your...your dad?" Autumn was stunned. "Not your step-dad, but your dad?"

Danielle gave a tremulous smile that quickly faded. "Yeah. Dad."

Autumn shook her head. "I don't know what I'd do if my dad dropped back into my life. So, what are you going to do?"

Danielle smiled ruefully. "I've got my summer planned and there's no room in it for change."

Too soon the few days were gone and the trio of friends had dwindled from two to solos. Danielle had finished her packing and set off to make her own trip to Western Michigan that weekend.

She didn't like driving, but the nearly three-hour trip along Lake Michigan was cool and picturesque and it distracted her from thoughts of family ties. She needed that now. Why her father wanted to step back into her life now was bewildering and infuriating. She was surprised he remembered he even had her as a daughter, much less recalled that she was graduating that year.

Much as being behind the wheel of a car made her nervous, she was glad to have her own transportation while being so far from home. Driving always took all her attention, leaving no time to search for memories she didn't recall or want to summon. Some bones were better left buried.

Camp Shi-Ma-Di evolved from the mature pine trees half an hour away from Michigan's west coast along Lake Michigan, just south of the Sleeping Bear Dunes. Danielle could see the white caps of mammoth sand mounds as she turned right off the highway that snaked up the lake drive.

The car turned into the heavily-treed forest where a pine-framed sign read "Camp Shi-Ma-Di, a gluten-free, lactose-free camper's delight."

"Well, it's a definite selling point," Danielle murmured as the tan Camry was enveloped into the thick woods. Intermittent sunshine shot down through the canopy of tall trees, playing tricks of light over the two-lane dirt road she followed.

She smiled as she carefully let the car weave among the colorful pines mingled with birch and darker hardwoods. For the next ten weeks, the 250 acres that made up the specialty summer camp was hers with only one weekend trip home for the Fourth of July. Life as a second-tier prep cook was about to begin.

Danielle rounded the last stand of trees and caught her breath. Before her were the camp's main commons buildings, all of log cabin design, with the check-in kiosk and flag pole circle flanking the group meeting lodge. Beyond, the dirt trails split off into the more sparsely dotted forest where the camper cabins took shelter beneath the thick overhead branches of leaves. To the far left was a wooden fence that divided off a small gravel parking lot.

She took a deep breath. The air tasted of water, smelled of pine and wild flowers. "Well, Brandy, Autumn," she said to her friends in spirit, "bring on the bug bites."

"Hey!" a male voice called out as Danielle let the car idle. "Are you staff?"

She turned to see a blond man in his early twenties wave as he jogged over to her. He was wearing the camp's staff colors of khaki and burgundy in a t-shirt with long jean shorts. She smiled, seeing an easy grin cross his face. "Hi. Yes."

His smile grew as he met the car, bringing with him a weak waft of aftershave and bug repellent as he leaned down to see her. "Hey, yeah? Great. I'm Eddie Parker, boat-boy extraordinaire. Actually, boat-man extraordinaire, but that sounds a little tacky."

"I'm Danielle McGovern, kitchen help." She blamed the afternoon sun beating in through the windshield for the touch of blush on her cheeks as Eddie's gaze went over her yellow tank top and khaki shorts.

"...you think I've considered that?" a woman's shrill tone broke from the meeting lodge. "I've made the assignments and we're using them! Don't lecture me on..."

Danielle glanced to the large log building. She saw nothing through the tall glass windows except the slant of reflected trees. A second woman's voice answered the first in a more controlled manner, but the words were indistinct. Danielle slowly looked to Eddie.

He shrugged, nodding to the lodge. "All the chiefs are powwowing and butting heads. You know, the Shi and Ma in Shi-Ma-Di."

She nodded slowly. "I see..."

"Most everyone's still running around learning their craft, so I can show you to the staff lodge," he said. "Don't want you to get lost on your first day."

A flicker of confusion went over her features.

He read it instantly. "Just kidding, but we're talking about a couple of hundred acres here, and that's a lot of trees. Anyway, you've got to park over there in the staff lot," he said, pointing to the small gravel area by the fence that had three other cars in it already. "And you've got to carry your stuff to the lodges, so I can mule it for you, if you want the guided tour."

She nodded, letting her minute qualms abate. "Okay."

He stepped back and flashed a grin. "Meet you there, Danielle."

Chapter 4

The three-hour flight from Bridgewater to Salt Lake City, Utah, should have given Brandy the chance to put some tears between her and the heartbreak she'd left in her hometown.

Not so.

She spent most of the flight avoiding the man in the seat across the aisle's attempt at small talk – small flirty, suggestive talk, at that. Between low-key disgust and mild amusement, she hadn't had time for a proper farewell-to-Trent cry while in the air, and by the time the plane touched down in Salt Lake City the shuttle bus to Diamond Head Adventure Resort was waiting.

She sighed into the dry heat of the air as her fellow travelers disembarked the airport with their luggage and pushed past her. She carried all her bags, which consisted of several very washable outfits, and searched out the steward who was stowing luggage above the bus. The shuttle itself was an eyeful.

Painted in dust colors with a mural of rattlesnakes and boulders on the side, Brandy felt a squeamish rumble start in her stomach. Maybe she'd moved her trip up too soon. Now she had three weeks to kill before her previously scheduled reservations at the resort would begin.

"Hello! Can I help you with your bags?"

Brandy turned to see the male voice's owner.

He was in khaki from neck to knee, a grin on his face as he extended a hand. He wore a canvas desert camouflage bucket hat and mirrored glasses that reflected the bright sunlight.

"Are you with the shuttle?" she asked.

"Oh, yes." He tilted his head so that she could see the tan patch on his hat that blended into the beige and olive green design. "Diamond Head Adventure Resort welcomes you to dusty Utah."

She held out one of her garment bags and hitched her camera bag strap better over her shoulder with the other hand. "Thank you."

"You're...let me guess," he said, hefting her bag and reaching for her other carryon at her side, "Cynthia Myers?"

"No. Brandy Reese," she said, and then immediately wished she hadn't been so quick to share her details. Usually Ethan stopped her from spouting off.

"Oh, yes, you're the early bird." He nodded and began walking for the bus. "Come on. Let's get you on the shuttle and settled at the resort."

Brandy followed him and the rest of the tourists and vacationers to the wildly colored bus. It was a menagerie of couples and trios mostly, but a few individual like herself also straggled along. The shuttle was spacious and lively, with safari music piped in and the occasional rattle of snakes, which was always accompanied by a resounding slap that stopped the rattle, only to resume the safari tune again.

She sat down in a window seat and looked around. No sooner had she made her camera bag comfortable on her lap than a tall woman with sweeping coco-brown hair sat beside her and gave her a wide "Hiya!"

"Hi," Brandy returned.

The woman was a few years older than her, laughing infectiously as she crossed her gangly legs until her knees rubbed the seat in front of them. "I'm Cynthia," she said as she smoothed her pale pink cargo shorts. "You traveling alone?"

Brandy nodded. "You?"

Cynthia sighed, emitting a waft of schnapps-laced breath into their seat. "Very alone. Hoping to fix that soon. I'm going to climb every damn mountain in the canyon until I find a real man this time."

Brandy smiled, a conspiratorial camaraderie surfacing in her mind. She laughed and looked to the tall pine trees of Bryce Canyon National Park that overlooked the airport and the Diamond Head Resorts. "That's a lot of hiking." She turned back to the taller woman. "I'm Brandy. This is my summer fling after high school and I've recently let a loser go myself."

Cynthia pressed her back into the seat, a shine to her eyes as she gave her a perceptive smirk. "Yeah, well, looks like we're both in the same canoe. Maybe there's luck enough in them logs and hills to put a real smile on us, huh?"

Unsure if it was the remnants of liquor talking or genuine Cynthia, Brandy only nodded. "I could do with a smile."

The Diamond Head Resorts consisted of adventure, family, corporate, and mingles vacation packages and offered a variety of camping and lodging options. The shuttle wound its way up the forested road nestled among the tall fir and pines and came to a stop at the main check-in center of the sprawling resort.

Brandy had seen more than her share of resorts with her family, but this one had an aggressive feel to it none of the others had. She stood outside the shuttle and looked up at the mammoth log lodges and buildings surrounding her. She could smell pines and water and could see the dirt paths spidering out from the main building, each finger of trail slipping into themed resorts she recalled from the website and brochures.

"Where are you heading first?" Cynthia was beside her, donning a floppy, white broad-rimmed hat and dark glasses. She grunted as she hoisted three bags by their straps and sagged on her cork sandals. "Are you in a lodge or what?"

Brandy slipped on her sunglasses and nodded to The Brinks lodge that hung off the mountain. "I'm there for a while. How about you?"

Cynthia giggled an exuberant "Yes!" She started off toward the check-in building with the rest of the eager bus crowd. "Come on!"

Trudging her bags, Brandy let herself get caught up in the taller girl's enthusiasm.

After a quick check-in and sort through additional luggage, the two soon split up, however; each were on opposite ends of The Brinks. Brandy didn't let the moment dull her expectancy of the days ahead. She could find the tall woman easily enough if she wanted to. The whole shuttle ride had been spent detailing Cynthia's itinerary for the next three weeks.

She found The Brinks' entry, checked in at registration and confirmed that she was the Brandy Reese who'd moved up her stay, and then went in search of her room. The entire lodge was two levels and she was on the second, toward the valley side. The lodge was wrapped in a log exterior and extended the facade inside with log cabin motifs and moose head and mountain lion decorations at every turn of the hallways.

Room 246 was easy to find, and she opened the door to her new home for the next three weeks; after that she'd be moving into one of the small log cabin units for the adventure leg of her trip. With time to spare, she intended to take advantage of everything the resort boasted to offer. It made her a little guilty for not spending a full week with Danielle and Autumn, but they would still have a full month – a blistering August – to get sunburned together.

Although she'd left home early that morning, her mom had taken them out for a leisure brunch in Chicago and some last minute shopping before Ethan drove them to the airport. Usually Brandy enjoyed her mother's splurging, but this time it was bittersweet and she hadn't even bought much. Her mom seemed especially sad to see her leave early and it added another layer of guilt to her sudden flight.

She tried to put the moment behind her and smiled at the spacious room. The brochures were correct – she could live there without any chance of boredom, even when arriving early.

The queen-sized bed was draped in moss green and tan linens and straight across from the door was a sliding glass door before a balcony. She set her bags down and went to the glass door and pulled it open. A gentle breeze of warm air invaded the room, scents of mountain air and unseen flowering foliage making her smile. She stepped out onto the log balcony and looked out over the valley below.

Shades of umber and russet made shadows fall across the pine and broadleaf trees below, making the canyon seem almost menacingly dark compared to the bright pictures she'd seen on the resort's website.

"It's all in the lighting," she murmured, caught between grabbing her camera to capture the dark and spectacular beauty or chance missing the moment to simply stare at it. She stood at the balcony rail, breathing in the heady air filled with woody scents, eyes moving over the keep greens of the trees as evening folded over the valley.

She took a deep breath. Greens and browns, earth tones like tiger's eye and obsidian, shadows cutting and hiding what she knew should be well-lit nooks and ledges – she was missing the chance to photograph it all.

"Tomorrow," she said, nodding in promise to herself. "Tomorrow I'll shoot all of this, every moment, all day."

Her cell phone ringing muffled from her purse made her frown. She lingered for a moment longer watching the tawny shades of sunlight burn off on the canyon to the east as the sun descended before answering her phone.

She found her phone in her purse in an overstuffed bag and clicked on the call, her gaze still on the coppery canyon walls that faced the darker tones within the valley cliff shadows out the doorway.

"Hi, Ethan," she said into the phone, barely glancing at the number on the screen.

"Hey, you were supposed to call me when you got there," he said through the warbled sound of distance and steep terrain blockage.

"I just got here," she said in defense. She moved back to the balcony and frowned. The sun had sunken lower and taken with it most of the golden colors, leaving the thickening shade of nightfall in the valley view.

"How was...trip? ...problems?"

She stepped to the rail but only got a worse connection. "Fine. The reception here is sketchy," she said, circling the balcony for a better location. There was none. "You're kind of breaking up, Ethan."

"...break up, too... that way," he said in loose snatches of conversation. "Guess we're both...same spots."

"Don't be so dramatic," she said, giggling, trying to catch any glimpse of vivid orange light in the canyon. The sun had abandoned the valley, and cooler air of evening seeped through her light blouse. "I'll call you later. Tell Mom and Dad thanks and I love them."

"...will..."

There was silence on the phone and Brandy clicked it off.

She lowered the phone and watched the sky darken. She could suffer through a little less phone time if she could look at that sunset every day.

Chapter 5

The farmhouse just outside of town that Autumn and her mother lived in no longer owned the land around it. Once a grand farm with crops and fenced pastures, now the house was more lived-in than well-kept. Autumn's mother had gotten it at a less than decent price for back taxes when the last grown child of Widow Larsen had died. It was too much house for just the two of them, but they made it work.

Autumn didn't see the peeling, faded white paint or the dry rotted rail posts of the steps as she skipped down the front porch. The house was theirs and preferable to their dilapidated mobile home and shoddy apartment days. Now what they had was theirs.

"I need the car by four!" her mom called from the kitchen window.

Autumn nodded, waving to the coppery-haired woman who was looking out over the sink window. "I will! I promise!"

Ellen Morgansen was harried beyond her age and it showed in her face. What she lacked in beauty at her middle age, Autumn had decided long ago, she made up for in determination. It wasn't exactly a hard look on her mom; just the mirror of prolonged endurance that gave her the somewhat weary expression.

"Don't worry!" With another wave, Autumn turned to the dirt driveway and had just grabbed the Grand Am's loose door latch when a truck pulled up behind it.

She recognized Ethan's dark teal pickup immediately.

He stopped under the largest hickory tree that shaded the porch and driveway and got out. "Hey, I'm just in time!"

Autumn released the door latch and turned as he met her. "You are? For what?"

He watched her smooth a few loose hairs back to her ponytail. "To check out this Jeep with you." He made a pretense at mock insult. "You forgot?"

She frowned. "Forgot what?"

He grinned, waving to her mom at the kitchen window. "You can't look at this Jeep by yourself, Autumn. That's when sellers do all their bullshitting. I'll go with you and see if it's sound. Hop in."

He'd already turned back to the truck before she moved. She found herself following.

"Jeez, Ethan, Brandy's only been gone a few days and you have to find someone else to big-brother around already?"

He looked at her through the driver's side window as she reached the opposite passenger door. "Why not? What's wrong with going with you to look at it?"

"Nothing..." She suddenly turned and saw her mom looking out the window. "I don't need the car, Mom! Ethan's giving me a lift!"

The wide smile was fully visible on her mom's face. "Thanks, Ethan!"

He gave her a quick wave and a nod.

A moment later, he and Autumn were in the cab. He started the ignition.

Autumn smiled as the rush of cool air blasted at her from the AC vent. She had little exposure to air conditioning. Their house had none and the car was without, leaving her wilted most summers.

Ethan grinned as he turned in the seat to back out and caught her revelry in the cooler air. "Supposed to be a scorcher of a summer. Got your fans out yet?"

She glanced to him, guilt accompanying her short laugh. "Yeah, all dusted off and ready to blow the paint off the walls."

The truck swung out of the half-acre-long driveway in reverse, missing the mailbox and narrow drainage ditch that ended the Morgansen front yard.

"At least your bedroom's on the shady side of the house," he said, sending a look at the tall walnut and hickory trees that hung over the farmhouse's west side. "That'll help."

She nodded as the pickup headed down the country road. Ethan didn't turn toward town, but instead to where the county road would join the highway.

"How do you know where we're going?" She meant to give him a stern look, but the cut of his profile dissolved her intentions. Every now and then, Ethan Reese's pulse-spiking good looks worked on her. She glanced quickly back to the road ahead.

"Brandy said the Jeep was somewhere just before Rockport, so I figured this would be the quickest route." He looked to her. "Right?"

She nodded. "Right."

"Plus, your mom said it was this way." He turned the radio on to an alternative rock station, but kept the volume low.

"You called my mom?"

"Kind of."

She knew there was no kind of about it; sometimes her mother could really keep a secret. Actually, a male set of eyes looking at an unknown vehicle with her wasn't such a bad idea. "Are you going to miss Brandy this summer?"

He shook his head, but said, "Yeah, guess so."

She leaned back in the seat, feeling a little cool in her Capris and lavender tank top. She'd overdressed a bit for the hot weather since she'd expected to meet what sounded like a 40-something year-old man at his house to look at the Jeep for sale, but now she was glad she'd worn more than her typical shorts. She rubbed her knee, straightening a turned hem on her white pant leg.

"You?"

"Yes," she said automatically. A twinge of remorse came with the word. "She's nice and doesn't deserve that rejection treatment."

"Yeah, she doesn't." His hands tightened on the steering wheel, his jaw setting at thoughts of his sister's recent breakup. "But she's doing what she loves. Always wanted to take pictures of everything pretty or shiny or colorful. She's just leaving early for it. Dad's bummed about it. He wanted to see her on the Fourth before she left. Looks like he won't get home until the third at earliest, so he's missed her. Mom tried to talk her into staying, but you know Brandy; she gets what she wants."

She knew it was true, but still didn't like the abruptness of the leave. She knew Brandy certainly hadn't wanted her recent heartbreak. "What are you doing this summer?"

"Well, first a road trip with the guys and then working at the subdivision going in on the other side of town. They need rough framers, so it's long hours and all outside. Good money, too."

She couldn't help but giggle a little. "You calling anything a summer construction job could pay good money; that's funny."

He shrugged as the pickup took a long, sweeping curve that put them between two stretches of farmland opening up from the township. "According to my old man I'm building character."

She'd seen Bernard Reese enough the last past ten years to know what character would mean to him. He was a self-made millionaire, but had foregone the hardnosed attitude that his type usually pushed on his children. "It sounds like something he'd say."

He glanced to her, then her shoulder and legs. He switched down the setting on the air conditioner. "Don't want to freeze you out."

She looked to the slight goosebumps along her outer calf. "Thanks."

"So," he said as an angst-ridden song finished playing on the radio, "how come this stud boyfriend of yours isn't checking out this Jeep for you?"

She shot him a scowl. "I was just going to look at it again, ask a few questions, you know; not actually buy it yet."

"Yeah, and then you'll get there and see ooh, how pretty it is, and then you'll want it," he said, doing his imitation of a female voice he usually reserved for Danielle's giddy excitement.

She didn't like how close he was to how she'd felt the first time she'd seen the hunter green Jeep sitting on the lawn of the stone house a mile away. She'd stopped to read the "For Sale" sign, and wanted to buy it on the spot, no questions asked. "Maybe."

He chuckled. "So? Where's this boyfriend of yours?"

"He's not quite boyfriend yet."

"No?"

"We've went on a few dates."

"How few?"

She gave him a piercing look that matched his own inquisitive tone. "Maybe five."

"Oh, so not boyfriend yet. Five dates since April." He nodded.

"Not quite at the stud level," she admitted, smiling more as the stone house came into sight ahead at the right of the road. The Jeep emerged from the row of ornamental crabapple trees as the pickup approached.

"No?" He slowed the truck, looking at the Jeep.

Autumn breathed a sigh that the Jeep was still there. A fond smile came to her lips as the pickup slowly turned into the driveway of the yard. The Jeep seemed to stare right into Autumn's window at her, as if awaiting her return. She lowered the glass, leaning an arm on the door. "There it is."

Ethan parked and turned off the engine. "You like that?"

She nodded, not looking to him.

"Let's go."

The Circle of Secrets Series Continues...

Thank you for reading, and be sure to watch for Brandy in Summer of the Umber Trail, Autumn in the Summer of Flames, and Danielle in Summer of the Setting Sun.

Acknowledgments:

Publisher: Echo Press

Editor: Ailee Banks

Design: B. Baines