Manhunting

  Jessie shrugged. “Okay, you couldn’t, but somebody fun-loving and exciting could.” She leaned forward. “But the real killer is the golf course—even I’ve heard of it. Executives pay a fortune to play it. It’s like Outward Bound with martinis.” She sat back and grinned at Kate. “Personally, I wouldn’t be caught dead there, but I bet your Mr. Right is all over the place. Like shooting fish in a barrel.”

  “Well, it does sound... interesting, I guess,” Kate said, frowning at the ad. “But, I...”

  “It’s a goal and a plan,” Jessie said. “You’ve gotten everything else you’ve ever wanted in life. You can get this, too.”

  “What makes you think I’ve gotten everything I’ve wanted?” Kate said, stung.

  Jessie looked startled. “Well, you’ve...”

  “If I have everything I want, why am I still running so hard?” Kate felt the resentment well up again. “Listen, I know I’m doing well—”

  “Making four times your age with the same in blue chips,” Jessie murmured.

  “But I’m not happy. I want...I want a partnership with a man.”

  “A partnership is good,” Jessie said, nodding. “Go for it.”

  Kate warmed to her fantasy, seeing herself beside that distinguished man, building an empire together while holding hands. “I want to work with my husband to build a business. I want...”

  “A business!” Jessie was so disgusted she almost spat “Forget business. Think relationship.”

  “I can’t,” Kate said. “Business is the only thing I know.”

  “Wrong.” Jessie took a deep breath. “You’re warm and loving. You take care of people. Or at least you used to.” Jessie leaned over the table and grabbed Kate’s arm. “You’d love to work with real people full-time, but the pay for working with people sucks, so you work with a bunch of suits instead and you go home alone. It’s stupid, and you hate it.” Jessie let go and then leaned back in her chair and sighed again. “I can’t believe you’ve let money and success go to your head like this.”

  “Well, it’s been lovely having breakfast with you,” Kate said. “Leaving soon?”

  Jessie took a deep breath. “Kate, please listen to me. Go to The Cabins, find a nice guy who’s got all the things on your list and who can keep you with him forever, and be happy. All you have to do is choose to be happy. You can do it.”

  Jessie was so obviously concerned that Kate relented. “That’s all,” Kate said. “All I have to do is choose.”

  Jessie nodded once. “Yes.”

  Kate looked back down at the ad. Of course, the man in the picture was a model, but he was perfect. And she was due for a vacation before the summer was over, and since it was August she was definitely running out of summer. And she hadn’t golfed in years.

  And she was lonely. So lonely, sometimes she felt it in her bones.

  “All right,” she heard herself saying. “All right. I’ll go.”

  “Yes!” Jessie pointed to Kate’s French Provincial phone. “Go make your reservation now.”

  “I’ll call later,” Kate said. “Let me think about it for a while.”

  “No.” Jessie folded her arms and leaned back in her chair. “I’m not leaving here until you call.”

  “I said I’m going,” Kate said. “Don’t you trust me?”

  “No,” Jessie said. “I’m keeping my eye on you on this one, because if anybody can screw up a perfectly good shot at happiness, you can. Call. Now.”

  Two hundred miles away, Jake Templeton sat in an Adirondack chair on the back veranda of his brother’s Kentucky resort with his feet propped on the rustic wooden rail, watching the sun rise over the lake and trying to feel content. Hell, he did feel content. There was the slight nagging feeling that he got sometimes that he might be missing something, but he was good at ignoring nagging—his long-ago marriage had taught him how to do that. And after all, he lived in God’s country; he was free, he had no responsibilities aside from keeping a hundred acres of resort land mowed and watered, and no real worries. True, in the best of all possible worlds, his over-achieving younger brother would not have built a rustic resort on perfectly good farmland and would not have lured some of the biggest snobs in the East to play golf there. But the snobs did bring in a lot of money that kept the local population in food and shelter, and in general Jake didn’t have to deal with them.

  No. All in all, things were good. Jake pulled his big cream-colored cowboy hat down over his eyes and wallowed in his freedom. “I’ve got it made,” he said out loud.

  His brother backed out the door to join him carrying two steaming coffee mugs. Will was already in a suit, ready to meet his guests as they streamed in through the big carved-wood double doors of The Cabins. He looked at Jake in his tattered jeans and worn flannel shirt, and rolled his eyes; Jake looked up at his brother’s dress-for-success tailoring and laughed.

  “You’re disgusting,” Will said, looking down at him.

  “What did I do now?” Jake asked, not caring.

  “It’s what you don’t do.” Will passed him a mug of coffee and sat down beside him to stare out at the lake.

  “Hey, I keep this place looking good,” Jake said, pushing his hat back with one hand while he balanced his mug in the other. He looked at his brother with a total lack of concern. “The grass is cut, the weeds are pulled, the golf courses look like artificial turf, the stables are—”

  “I’m not talking about outdoor management,” Will said, shaking his head as he warmed his hands on his own coffee mug. “You are the king of the riding lawn mower. I’m talking about your life.”

  “I like my life. Stay out of it.” Jake turned back to look at the lake and sipped the hot coffee carefully.

  “You could be rich,” Will said, looking at him with disgust.

  “I was rich,” Jake said. “Then I gave it all to you and you built this place.” He shook his head. “That’s the last fortune I give you.”

  “If you gave it to me, why do you own half of this place?” Will asked.

  “So you’ll be forced to support me in my old age,” Jake said, grinning. “I’m not as dumb as I look.”

  Will shook his head again. “You’ve got a law degree. You were a tax attorney, for God’s sake. And you gave it all up to mow lawns for your little brother. You should be ashamed.”

  “I don’t actually mow the lawns,” Jake pointed out “I grab one of the college kids you hire for the season and say, ‘Kid, mow that lawn.’ It’s not—”

  “I don’t understand why you quit,” Will said.

  “They bitched about my mustache, and they wouldn’t let me wear my hat,” Jake said. He looked back out over the lake and relaxed a little more. “Helluva sunrise, isn’t it?”

  “The sunrise was hours ago,” Will said. “It’s nine.”

  “Well, it’s not all the way up yet,” Jake said, slumping a little farther down in his chair. “So it’s still rising. So it’s still sunrise.”

  “Knock it off. I’m worried about you.” Will frowned at him. “I think it’s great that you’re back home, and I couldn’t run this place without you, but let’s face it, you’re wasting yourself here.”

  “I’m considering my options,” Jake said lazily.

  “You’ve been considering your options for five years,” Will said bluntly. “And frankly, at the rate you’re going, you don’t have that many options to consider. It’s time you made something of yourself again. One lousy marriage and you’re down for the count.”

  Jake stared out at the lake and shook his head. “Boy, you sure don’t see sunrises like this very often.”

  Will glared at him. “You see sunrises like this every damn day here.”

  “I do,” Jake said, looking at him with equal disgust “You don’t. You’re too busy being Mr. Hotel. If I’d known you were going to take this resort stuff so seriously, I would never have given you that money. Hell, you’re going to have a heart attack any day now. Then I’ll have to run this place.”
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  “Well, somebody around here has to be an adult,” Will said.

  “And if you do croak on me, the first thing I’m going to do is blow up the golf courses.”

  “That’ll piss Dad off.”

  “I think it’s the clothes they wear that bother me the most,” Jake began.

  “We need to talk about this,” Will said.

  “No, we don’t.”

  “Damn it, Jake...”

  “Okay, okay. Get to the point. I’m missing a sunrise here.”

  Will shifted uneasily in his chair. “Look,” he said finally. “You’ve always been my...well...?”

  “Hero?” Jake suggested. “Idol?”

  “Let’s just stick with role model,” Will said. “I spent my formative years trying to be just like you. It got to be a habit after a while.” He looked over at his brother. “You were always the best. At everything.”

  “No, I wasn’t,” Jake said, irritated. “You just thought that because you were my younger brother.”

  “Jake, you haven’t done anything for five years,” Will said. “Nothing. Not since you moved back here to help me.” Jake started to speak and Will cut him off. “I know, you run the outdoor staff. But hell, you could do that without getting out of bed. In fact, that’s practically the way you do run it.”

  “Hey,” Jake said.

  “Listen, I need you here. You are a great help, and I will hate to see you go, but you’ve got to go back to the city.”

  “No,” Jake said.

  “You’re not doing anything with your life,” Will started, but this time Jake broke in.

  “And that’s the way I like it,” Jake said. “Don’t get the idea I’m sacrificing myself for you and this place. I’m not. I like it here. I’m staying.”

  Will tried another tack. “You ever think about getting married again?”

  “No,” Jake said. “Why are we talking about this?”

  “Because if you were going to find anybody to marry in Toby’s Corners, you would have married her by now,” Will said. “This is another good reason to go back to the city.”

  “I’m not going back to the city,” Jake said. “Now, will you please tell me what’s going on?”

  “Oh, hell.” Will slumped down in his chair and rubbed his hand across his forehead.

  “Just spit it out,” Jake said, kindly. “You’ll feel a lot better.”

  “Mom’s worried about you,” Will said. “And Valerie thinks I’m taking advantage of you.” He turned to face Jake. “You’ve really saved my life on this place. There are times when I look at the hell breaking loose inside the hotel and think, ‘Thank God, Jake’s got the outside under control.’ I mean it. You make a big difference.”

  “I know,” Jake said. “That’s another reason I’m not leaving. But the main reason is because I don’t want to.” Jake sipped his coffee. “So Valerie’s concerned for my welfare, huh?”

  Will shot him a glance. “Yeah. I thought that was a little strange myself.”

  “I wondered when she was gonna make her move,” Jake said.

  Will raised his eyebrows. “Want to cut me in on this?”

  “Valerie likes to think the hotel is a partnership deal.”

  “It is,” Will said, confused. “You and me.”

  “No,” Jake said. “You and her. I’m in the way.”

  “The way of what?” Will looked exasperated.

  “The way of the two of you becoming the Leona and Harry Helmsley of the Midwest.”

  “God forbid,” Will said. “You know, that woman is becoming a problem.”

  “Becoming?” Jake said. “I know she’s sharing your apartment, which probably clouds your judgment. I know she’s a great social director which, since you live and breathe this hotel, probably clouds your judgment even more, but she’s also been a major pain in the butt ever since she got here.”

  “Yeah, well, I think that problem’s about to be solved,” Will said. “In the meantime, there’s Mom. She’s worried about you. And me,” he added when Jake started to speak. “But mostly you. Because of your advanced age.”

  “Oh, hell,” Jake said. “What’s she want?”

  “She wants us to get married. She wants grandkids.”

  Jake shrugged. “So, you give her some.”

  “I’m not married,” Will said firmly. “And I’m not going to be.”

  Jake raised his eyebrows. “Valerie may have a different idea.”

  Will shook his head. “Valerie has plans for her future that do not include me, thank God.” He sipped some coffee and thought before he went on. “One of those big chains has been scouting her. They’re going to be offering her big bucks any day now to be social director of the East Coast or something, and she will be gone.”

  Jake looked at his brother curiously. “And you’re not concerned about this?”

  “I’m relieved. Valerie really is a terrific woman, and I appreciate everything she’s done for the resort, but she’s getting on my nerves. You know, I’m not even sure how we ended up living together.”

  “I am,” Jake said, turning back to the lake. “Sex. It’s a powerful force, my boy, and women use it.”

  “Is that why you gave them up?” Will asked, sympathetically. “Did paranoia drive you to celibacy?”

  “It’s not paranoia if they really are out to get you,” Jake said. “And frankly, I think Valerie’s got you. And I’ll bet Valerie thinks so, too.”

  “Nobody’s got me,” Will said. “I’m married to my job.”

  Jake looked at him as if he were demented.

  “Hey, some of us have careers,” Will protested. “Besides, I’m not ready for anything serious.”

  “Three years sharing a hotel suite isn’t serious?”

  “See, this is the kind of stuff I get from Mom.” Will narrowed his eyes at his brother. “Which brings me back to my point. I think Valerie and Mom are right.”

  “I hate this,” Jake said. “You feel guilty, so I get to suffer.”

  “You need some focus to your life, some goals, something to look forward to besides a sunrise.” Will looked stern. “If you don’t want to move back to the city, fine. But I think you should get married.”

  “I did,” Jake said, looking back at the lake. “I didn’t like it. It’s your turn to screw up your life. I did mine already.”

  “So you’re happy in your lonely little cabin at the end of that lonely little lane,” Will said. “All by yourself in that big cold bed.”

  “Don’t ever go into psychology,” Jake said. “You have the subtlety of a rock.”

  “Don’t you ever think about the perfect woman?” Will said.

  “Sure,” Jake said. “She’s about five foot two, somewhere between eighteen and twenty, dumb as a coot, and she thinks I’m God.”

  Will looked disgusted. “She’d have to be dumb as a coot to pull that last one off. I’m serious, here.”

  “The thing about women,” Jake said, “is that they got liberated too fast. They never learned to be straightforward about life because they had to sneak around for about a thousand years tricking men into doing things they wanted. So they manipulate you instead of telling you what they want, so you never know where the hell you are. And then they get mad at you and bitch.” He swallowed a mouthful of coffee and shook his head. “I have had it up to here with smart-mouthed, overly brainy, manipulative women.”

  “So don’t get married to Tiffany again,” Will said reasonably. “Find your moronic midget and marry her. And then get your life moving before you turn into a potted plant and the help starts watering you.”

  Jake ignored him and went on. “If I ever do hook up with anybody again—and I sincerely doubt that I will, so wipe that hopeful look off your face—it will be with someone who thinks that being with somebody who mows lawns is her idea of heaven on earth and who will do exactly what I tell her to do and love it.”

  “I think Donna Reed is dead,” Will said.

  Jake slid do
wn farther in his chair. “Well, then, I’m not getting married again. Over to you, bro.”

  “Now wait a minute,” Will began, but he stopped when he heard the reservations phone ringing inside the office.

  “Another sucker who wants to pay too much money to play vertical golf.” Jake shook his head. “I thought you were nuts when you had that course built on the hillside, but they do come running.”

  The phone rang again.

  “Concentrate on getting married and resuming your regularly scheduled life,” Will said on his way back inside. “Who knows? Maybe this is your future bride calling right now.”

  “Like hell,” Jake said and went back to the sunrise.

  Chapter Two

  Kate didn’t notice how lovely the little town was until she’d driven halfway through it. The four-hour drive down to the resort had been filled with thoughts of dread, panic, and the fancy underwear that Jessie had talked her into buying as inspiration. She was still trying to decide whether the best plan was to do a dignified sulk for the next two weeks or to wear the underwear and develop a better attitude, when she realized how charming everything around her was.

  The shady old streets were lined with thick-trunked trees and the antique storefronts were painted in faded roses and blues and yellows with gold-edged lettering in the windows. Cline’s Dry Goods. Dickerson’s Snack Shop. Beamis Hardware. Stores with family names that had probably been there for generations. The whole town of Toby’s Corners smelled of dust and honeysuckle, and Kate drove through it all and thought of Mary Jane shoes and ice-cream cones and football games and all the things she’d read about but never known.

  This would have been a lovely place to grow up, she thought. This would have felt like a home. Maybe my life would have been different if I’d started out in a place like Toby’s Corners—a place full of dusty sunlight and trees and possibilities.

  And then she shook her head. Pull yourself together, Kate, she told herself. You have a goal and a plan. Concentrate.

  She turned right at a low slung white building that said Nancy’s Place in pink neon over the double wood doors and slowed to look at it. It had to be a bar or a restaurant—the parking lot was the biggest she’d seen in the town so far—but it was the most low-key bar she’d ever seen, no signs for beer or ads for Wet-T-shirt Wednesdays, just an ancient handpainted “Welcome” sign in white on the knotty-pine doors. Even the bars in this town were clean and cute. She’d landed in Disneyland Kentucky.