Keeping Guard Page 6

  Though Kylie said she hadn’t been to church in a while, she seemed comfortable and sang along with the songs with hardly a glance at the hymnal. Her hostility seemed to be gone, and for a little while, she even seemed halfway relaxed.

  Darlene and Harvey caught them after the service was over and gave them both a big hug. Kylie’s face lit up when she spotted them.

  “What are you two doing for lunch?” Darlene asked, still holding on to Kylie at arm’s length.

  “No plans.” Nate stole a glance at Kylie.

  “Come with us to get some barbecue. She’s got to have some of Hank’s while she’s here,” Darlene said. “It’s the best. The vinegar-based sauce just makes your mouth tingle before crying out for more.”

  Kylie nodded at him, her eyes brighter than they’d been all day. “Sounds good to me. I’m always up for some local cuisine.”

  “Let’s go then.” Nate extended his arm toward the church door.

  In his truck, Kylie pulled out her cell phone and the digital chimes indicated she’d turned it on. A moment later, her face went white.

  “Everything okay?” Nate asked.

  She turned her big eyes on him and Nate saw fear in their depths. “Would you do me a favor?”

  “Sure thing.”

  “Will you listen to my messages and tell me if there’s anything important?”

  He left his truck in Park. “Your voice mail messages?”

  She nodded. “There are ten. If it’s the man who’s been stalking me, I don’t think I can bear to hear his voice and I’m nearly certain these messages are from him.”

  He took the phone from her and pressed the OK button. A raspy voice came on the line. “You can run but you can’t hide, Kylie. Do you think I won’t find you?” A diabolical laugh followed.

  The next message was much of the same. “No one can hide from me, especially not you, Kylie Summers. The world is small and getting smaller by the moment.”

  Each of the messages featured the same gravelly voice. With each new voice mail message, the man sounded increasingly unstable. Nate could hear the anger rising in the pitch of the man’s voice, in the clipped syllables, in the emotion behind the words. The last message summed up his threat. “I will find you, Kylie. And when I do, you’ll be sorry you ever ran away.”

  Kylie watched Nate with wide eyes. Her hands trembled in her lap. “It’s not good. I can see it on your face.” Her voice sounded subdued, like she’d accepted the nightmare her life had become.

  He closed her phone, careful to save all the messages in case the police needed them as evidence once this guy was caught. Then he turned his gaze on Kylie, taking a deep breath as he carefully measured his words. “I’m glad you’re here, Kylie. This guy’s losing it. He’s cracking.”

  Kylie looked far off, like she was in some other place, some other time. Then she turned to Nate, her face expressionless. “What if he tracks me here?”

  “How would he do that?”

  She threw her hands in the air. “How did he do anything else that he’s done? He managed to break into my apartment without leaving a bit of trace evidence behind. He seems to know where I’ll be before I get there. He even knows how to terrorize me when I’m six hundred miles away.”

  Nate’s heart plunged. He had the urge to grab her hand, to try and offer her some comfort. But he didn’t. They barely knew each other. “Your brother is a good police officer. If he has even an inkling that you’re in trouble here, he’ll move you again.”

  Kylie’s face crumbled when he said, “He’ll move you again.”

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “I’m just tired of my life feeling like it’s in an upheaval. I want this guy arrested and behind bars and out of my life. I want things to be normal again.”

  “You do realize that even when this guy is caught, it’s still going to be a process, right? There will be a trial. He’ll hopefully be sentenced and be locked up for a long, long time. But that’s not always the case.”

  She drew in a deep breath, her gaze again focusing on something out the window. “Yeah, I do realize that. I just keep hoping for the best-case scenario. One person shouldn’t be allowed this much control in my life.”

  He put the truck into drive and pulled onto the highway. “What would you be doing on a normal Sunday back in Kentucky, Kylie?”

  She looked into the distance and the vague hint of a smile curled one side of her mouth. “I would have probably slept in. My producer, Larry, would probably call me, wanting me to work overtime. I would refuse, claiming I need—and deserve—at least one day of rest per week. Then I’d probably go out with my friend Dina to lunch and we’d spend the day chatting or shopping.”

  “It sounds like your producer is pretty pushy.”

  She shrugged. “He wants to take the show to ‘the next level.’” She rolled her eyes as her hands made air quotes around the last three words, indicating she’d heard them a million times before. “We have someone interested in taking the show national, and that’s been all Larry has talked about.”

  “What is your goal?”

  “To cook.” She turned a sheepish smile toward him. “I just love cooking and sharing what I’ve prepared with other people. It’s like sharing a piece of my heart with them.”

  Nate smiled and rubbed his chin, still smooth from the morning’s shave. “You would have liked my dad. You sound like him.”

  “There’s just something about coming around the table with other people and sharing food and conversation that makes everything balance out. All of your other worries go away, for at least an hour or two.”

  “You have a nice way of describing eating.”

  Kylie smiled. “Most men just think of eating in terms of food, of satisfying a grumbling stomach. There’s so much more to it, though. Food can be a way to show people how much you care for them.”

  Some strange emotion panged in his gut. He had the brief thought of having someone to take care of him, someone to delight in preparing his favorite meals and longing to hear about his day when he got home from work. Instead, he cooked meals for other people and went home to an empty apartment just in time to fall in bed every night. The thought weighed on him, but he shoved down the emotion.

  They pulled to a stop in front of a small restaurant nestled in the woods with a country road the only path leading there. The place itself looked like an old house that had been converted into a restaurant. But the appearance of Hank’s did nothing to affect its business. People came from miles around to eat the barbecue here.

  If only he could say the same about his restaurant.

  “It’s not much to look at, but the food is good.” Nate saw the doubt on her face.

  Harvey and Darlene waited on the porch, waving at them. Nate tried to put the voice mail messages out of his mind as they joined them by the front door. But the stalker’s voice wouldn’t leave his mind. He could only imagine what it was doing to Kylie.

  If that man found her here in Yorktown, there was no telling how he’d lash out. From what Nate understood, the man had never been violent with Kylie before. Nate would bet by the sound of those messages and the threats he’d given that the man would want to make sure Kylie never went off his radar again.

  “Nate?”

  He snapped away from his thoughts and saw Kylie staring at him, her eyebrows scrunched together in concern. She nodded toward the dining room. “They’re waiting to seat us.”

  He took her elbow and directed her behind Harvey and Darlene. “Let’s not keeping them waiting, then.”

  Despite the fact that he tried to appear nonchalant, he’d be keeping a closer eye on Kylie, making sure there was no one suspicious watching her from the shadows. Not on his watch.

  EIGHT

  Kylie enjoyed the pulled-pork barbecue, served on a bun with chunky coleslaw and lots of tangy hot sauce. Even the french fries, hand-cut and cooked in peanut oil, exceeded her expectations with a nice crunchy outside and warm moist inside.

  But even better than the food was the conversation. Harvey and Darlene kept her entertained with their banter and their good-natured ribbing of Nate. Nate took it well, smiling and laughing pleasantly. Maybe Kylie had misjudged Nate. When he stepped away from the restaurant, he actually seemed likable.

  “Ready to go?” Nate looked at her from across the table.

  Kylie nodded. “I am. The food was wonderful. I’m really glad you brought me here.”

  “You’re going to take her to see Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown while she’s here, aren’t you?” Darlene gave Nate a pointed look. “And, of course, she’s got to get a guided tour of Yorktown, the place where the Revolutionary War was won. It’s only the best little town in America. That’s my unbiased opinion.”

  Kylie could see Nate trying to come up with an excuse as to why he couldn’t be her tour guide. She put him out of his misery. “I’m sure I won’t have time. I won’t be in town long, and while I’m here I want to get all the experience I can at Nate’s restaurant.”

  “How’s it going so far? Nate’s not working you too hard, is he?” Harvey leaned across the table on his elbows and suspended his shaggy eyebrows. “If he is, I’m going to have to have a little talk with him.” His raised his eyebrows higher in exaggerated anger.

  Kylie laughed. “No, he’s not. Besides, hard work is good for the soul.”

  Darlene winked at Nate. “I knew I liked this girl for some reason. She’s pretty and she likes to work hard. Now that’s a great combination.”

  They all chuckled as they stood and went outside to their cars. The sun felt warm on Kylie’s shoulders, even though the breeze had a slight chill to it.

  After Kylie had climbed into Nate’s truck, he turned to her. “Where to? Grocery st
ore? Mall? Drugstore?”

  “The grocery store is fine. I just need to pick up a few things to hold me over until I go back home.”

  Nate went inside the grocery store with her and Kylie didn’t miss how he scanned every aisle. Bruce had said she’d be safe with Nate, and apparently he was right. Nate never seemed to let down his guard. After Kylie paid for her groceries, they went back to the truck and started to Yorktown. Silence stretched between them as the truck rumbled down the road.

  Ten minutes into the trip, Nate finally spoke. “Listen, I was thinking that this might be your only opportunity while you’re here to see the town. What do you say we put these groceries away and go explore Yorktown? It’s nice outside. You never know around here. It could be snowing tomorrow.”

  Kylie wondered about his sudden change in plans. Earlier he’d seemed dead-set against showing her around town. What had changed his mind? “A tour of Yorktown sounds nice. But I don’t want impose on you.”

  “It would be my pleasure.”

  Were his words sincere? For the time being, she’d believe they were. Besides, spending the afternoon with Nate beat being cooped up in that apartment until the morning.

  After putting the groceries away, Kylie changed into jeans, a sweatshirt and sneakers. Nate promptly knocked on her door at the promised time. When Kylie saw him, she again had to suck in a breath. Even dressed in jeans and a casual, button-down shirt he made her heart race inexplicably. The last thing she needed from her visit here in Yorktown was to develop a crush on someone who already considered her a burden.

  She stepped out of her apartment, looking away from Nate in hopes of slowing her heart down.

  “You mind walking?” Nate asked as they walked down the stairs.

  “Some exercise would be nice.”

  She stuffed her hands into the pockets of her sweatshirt as they started toward the sandy beach across from the restaurant. As they walked, seagulls cried their sad songs as they circled overhead, looking for bread crumbs or any other food that the sparse crowd on the beach might offer. The sand cushioned Kylie’s feet and gentle waves lapped at the shore. A group of college kids played Frisbee in the distance and a young family picnicked on a blanket.

  Kylie noticed that despite the difference in their heights, her and Nate’s strides matched well. Colin had always been a fast walker, and she’d had to practically race to keep up with him. He’d had a brisk pace, while she enjoyed taking life at a more leisurely speed. She liked the fact that Nate walked with his hands casually stuffed into his jeans, looking as if he enjoyed simply being around the water.

  After walking around a rock jetty, Nate showed her an historic cave that nestled into the bluff. Cornwallis’s Cave, he’d said. Then they started down the pier that jutted out into the river. Several people fished off the side of the wooden structure, while others took pictures or simply looked at the beautiful river in front of them. Nate and Kylie walked to the end and leaned against the railing. Out in the river, three rubber-sided rescue boats skimmed the water.

  Nate pointed to them. “Those are Coast Guard boats. They’re doing training exercises. The Training Center isn’t too far from here, so you’ll see a lot of these exercises while you’re here.”

  “Bruce said you received a medal of honor from the government before you retired from the Coast Guard. He always spoke—speaks, I should say—highly of you.” Kylie watched Nate as his eyes focused on the crews out in the water. “Do you miss the Coast Guard?”

  “It was my life, what I’d always wanted to do since I was a boy. I would come out here and watch practice exercises similar to these on the river. I knew that’s what I wanted. In high school, I took swim lessons and worked the summers as a lifeguard in Virginia Beach. Whatever I could do to get experience. After high school, I enlisted, went through training in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. I spent the rest of my career there as an aviation survival technician, also known as a helicopter rescue swimmer.”

  “Why did you get out when you did, then?” Kylie inhaled deeply as the scent of river water blew up with the breeze.

  He shrugged. “So I could take over the restaurant. You know what they say about the best-laid plans…”

  “I do. I really thought I wanted to play oboe for the symphony one day.”

  “What happened?”

  She sucked in a breath. “In high school, I got accepted into a national music program, one that would look great on my résumé. I thought my life was laid out in front of me.”

  “Your dad was a music teacher, right?”

  Kylie nodded. “Yes, and he was thrilled that I wanted to follow in his footsteps and pursue music. I think he’d always wanted to play music for a living instead of teach, but life didn’t work out that way for him.”

  “I have a feeling there’s a ‘but’ in here somewhere for you, too.” Nate glanced at her, his eyes showing he had truly taken an interest in the conversation.

  Kylie licked her lips, leaning still against the railing of the pier as she vividly remembered that time of her life. “A week before I was supposed to leave for the music program, I was diagnosed with lymphoma.”

  Nate’s eyes widened. “Cancer?”

  She nodded. “Yep. Cancer. At sixteen. It’s not a diagnosis you expect to hear.”

  “I can’t imagine.” His voice sounded soft, as if he really cared. “What happened?”

  That period of her life came back in a flash of vivid memories. “I decided not to go to the program. I had more important things to do, things like chemo. The cancer took a year to beat. But I did.” At just the mention of chemo, the scar from her medical port began to throb. It also reminded her of the obstacles she’d overcome in life.

  “How did this lead to you becoming a chef?”

  “I thought playing the oboe would help me through the tough days. But it didn’t. Cooking did. Whenever I wasn’t nauseous from treatments or medications, I cooked. Being in the kitchen helped me keep my sanity. That’s when I knew what I wanted to do.”

  She was already the youngest of four siblings in the family, prone to being babied. But when the lymphoma diagnosis had come, everyone had stepped it up to another level. Suddenly she was fragile, and somehow that translated into being incompetent to make her own decisions, as well. Her fight for independence had begun then. Her parents didn’t hover over her as much anymore—they’d retired to Florida. Her other siblings had also moved to various parts of the country, but Bruce still lived close and worried about her enough to make up for everyone else’s absence.

  “How have you been doing since the chemo ended?”

  “I’ve been cancer-free for twelve years.”

  “Praise God.”

  Kylie wished she could agree with him, but the scars from the disease had lasted longer than she’d anticipated. Praising God was the last thing she’d been doing since her diagnosis. A disease that had once pulled her closer to her Creator now pulled them apart. Once in remission, she’d begun to ask herself why—why had God chosen her to go through that whole ordeal? What had she done to deserve that punishment? She’d allowed those questions to cause a rift between her and God. She’d assumed the gap would close with time, that the questions would fade. Instead, she’d stepped further away from God. She’d never felt as far away as she did now.

  Nate vaguely remembered Bruce telling him about his sister’s illness. By the time he and Bruce had met, Kylie must have been in remission. Now that he thought about it, for as long as Nate had known Bruce, Bruce had been worried about his sister for one reason or another. Now he knew why.

  He stole another glance at Kylie, wishing he had some uninterrupted time to soak in her delicate profile. No wonder she was so stubborn. If she could beat cancer, she probably thought she could beat anything.

  They watched the Coast Guard crew perform a few more exercises before walking back to the beach and continuing down the shore. Nate felt sure Kylie’s stalker wasn’t here, but still he scanned the people out enjoying the day. He’d learned in the Coast Guard that you always had to be aware of your surroundings so you could search out any potential threats. He never would have thought he’d be using that training now to protect Kylie.