She started the car and turned down the main road, heading out of town. Charlie needed to get the camera back to Jake. She already knew she was not going to be able to resist the temptation of turning it on again, of diving even deeper into his personal life, finding out more she didn’t want to know about his past—about the fact that, clearly, she was not the only woman he took perfect photos of.
What she needed to do was salvage their friendship, and fast, Charlie told herself as she drove. Cass would be coming home to Starlight Peak soon, and Charlie would be heading back to L.A. There were still a few things she needed to do for her sister before that. And patching up Cass’s friendship with Jake was definitely one of them.
* * *
? ? ?
“Cassie! What a pleasant surprise!” Faye stepped back and opened her door wide, and Charlie was reminded of how fond she was of the older woman, a familiar figure from her childhood and youth—and how important it was to pretend she saw her all the time at the bakery. “But, if you’re here to see Jake,” Faye went on, “I’m afraid he’s not in. He’s off to the fire station already, and his shift lasts until tomorrow. Now, wait. Did he send you over here to check up on me? I told him it was fine for him to take those twenty-four-hour shifts, but he insisted he was going to call and check on me every few hours. I swear, that boy—”
“No, no,” Charlie said, holding out the camera. “He didn’t send me. But he was taking photos for me yesterday of the bakery, for a project I’m working on, and he left his camera behind. I’m just returning it.”
“That’s mighty kind of you,” Faye said. “He sure does love that camera of his. Did a whole photo session last week, of me and that fool dog of his. Thank goodness they allow dogs at the fire station, because she sure is a handful. Nothing like his last dog.” Now her bright blue eyes lost a touch of their sparkle. “But that’s not something he likes to discuss.” Faye had to be talking about the dog she had seen in the photos, the one with the beautiful woman—Jake’s ex, she assumed.
“Do you want to come in for some coffee and a bit of cake? And before you think I’ve been cheating on you with another bakery, I was cleaning out my deep freeze yesterday and found a bag of last summer’s rhubarb, so I decided to whip up a batch of rhubarb cake.”
“Oh, well, I should really get back to the bakery,” Charlie said. Still, she found herself stepping inside, Jake’s camera still in hand.
“I have a fresh pot on. I insist,” Faye said. “A little hospitality is the least I can offer you, considering how kind you always are to me.”
In the small, sun-filled kitchen with yellow gingham curtained windows—windows that faced the distant peaks the town was known for—Faye filled a mug （#1 GRANDMA） from a mismatched collection on a shelf.
“My Jake gave me that when he was just a little boy,” Faye told her. “He’d be embarrassed for me to tell you that, of course. I think he’s taken a shine to you, young lady. He’d be embarrassed by that, too, but he’s not here, is he?”
Charlie forced a smile she hoped wasn’t too wobbly. “Same here,” she said. “I enjoy our friendship very much.”
Faye poured herself a coffee, then walked over to the kitchen table and beckoned for Charlie to join her. “？‘Friendship,’？” Faye said. “You have seen the way he’s been looking at you lately, right? I’ll be honest, I’d been hoping for a match even though, yes, I am aware, you were supposedly engaged to that Realtor.” The way she said Realtor, Charlie immediately gathered that Faye was not a fan of Brett’s. Join the club, she wanted to say.
“But then I heard through the grapevine . . . Well, I don’t have to tell you. So I started to hope.” She shrugged, smiled. “I know I’m being quite direct here, but when you get to be my age, direct is really all you have time for.”
“Faye,” Charlie said. “I hate to disappoint you, I really do, but there’s nothing going on between us. We enjoy each other’s company.”
“Ah, well, I suppose I should allow you young people to take all the time you need, despite my own selfish wishes. And my grandson probably does need time to heal, after that mess in Colorado. The custody battle really took its toll on him. And Nadia . . . well. Let’s just say, she is nothing like you, Cass.”
Nadia. So that was her name. But, custody battle? Charlie needed a minute to process that. Except, of course, if she really was Jake’s good friend, she should know all about a custody battle. She nodded her head, hoping she appeared sage and knowing. “Indeed,” she said. “It really has been hard on him. It certainly isn’t the time for him to be jumping into any new relationships.”