Book 2: Bear Creek
Sophia closed her eyes and let the sweet music wash over her. She loved music, and she especially loved Christmas carols. She’d always been in choir in school and in church, and the Christmas carols and devotional songs by the classical composers had always been her favorites.
She began to sing and turn in a full circle, hoping the beauty of the swelling storm and the possibilities of this large, empty, historic building would wash away the frustration and sour taste of her encounter with her mom and Raoul. She knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep if she went home. She was too keyed up. So she’d come to the mill—the place where as kids, she and Riley had stood outside the sagging chain-link fence and dreamed of all the possible things the mill could become.
And now this was her go-to place to plan. A smile curved her mouth. Her family would come around. She didn’t want to hurt them. But she had to be true to herself. Enrique had taught her that: live up to your expectations, not others’. She would honor him and their love by chasing her dreams.
“Sophia?”
She squawked, eyelids flying open. She stared at the tall, dark figure standing in the partially opened barn-style door of the building. The voice was totally familiar, and the realization of who stood there filled her both with shock and something else she didn’t want to begin to identify.
“Killian?”
So stupid. She knew exactly who he was.
“What are you doing back in town?” she demanded breathlessly.
Dang it. She wanted to sound strong, unaffected.
He walked toward her. Long legs, athletic stride, broad shoulders squared off, and that jaw jut that took on the world. His walk still had the hint of a…prowl to it. A swagger. Riley had teased Killian about it in high school. She’d called it his babe-slayer saunter. The swagger twins had been Enrique and Hunter Hawkins—the two tight ends to Killian’s quarterback—and yes, those ends had been tight as Spanx.
“What are you doing here?” they both said at the same time.
“Happy to see me?” His full lips that she’d embarrassingly drawn obsessively in her sketch pad as a teen, curved up in a wry smile.
“Surprised.” She gulped. “Riley said nothing.”
“She doesn’t know yet.”
Sophia stared. Killian had left Bear Creek like wanted posters had been tacked to the post office bulletin board, before the ink was dry on his diploma. So had Enrique and Hunter. Riley had been confused and devastated, repeating over and over in a whisper that he said he wanted no part of being an electrician—none. He’d wanted to be “his own man,” and she’d looked at Sophia as if she could explain what that meant.
Sophia hadn’t understood as a rising high school sophomore, but she sure did now.
“You’re surprising her?” Her heart fluttered in her chest like a bird fighting an updraft.
“And apparently you.”
He was leaner. His features more hewn. His green eyes dark and mysterious in the glow of the Christmas lights. Riley had strung them around the canopy Sophia had sewn and mounted on the old Airstream trailer abandoned in the mill. She and Riley had cleaned out the Airstream and refurbished it using YouTube videos this past summer and fall. The hands-on work had been therapeutic and confidence building. Sophia thought the trailer could be used either as a building manager’s office or to house one of the fledging businesses she hoped would soon call the old mill home.
He walked closer, his eyes taking all of her in, and Sophia felt exposed. “It’s been a hot minute, Soph. How you holding up?”
She felt like he’d sloshed her with water. Like everyone else, he saw her as a victim of grief and circumstances, someone to worry about.
“Never better.” She winced. That sounded cold. And a lie, although in some ways it was true. “Killian, it’s good to see you.” Another partial truth because she couldn’t breathe properly anymore.
The last time she’d seen him was at Enrique’s funeral. She’d hugged him and hadn’t been able to let go until he’d disentangled her arms from his neck, and her brother had held her up while she’d shaken and had finally burst into tears.
“What are you’re doing back in Bear Creek?” He still hadn’t told her.
The Christmas season officially started after Thanksgiving this week. Surely he couldn’t take a month off work. Riley was his only family currently calling Bear Creek home. And she’d heard through friends that Hunter’s sister Lisa and her family were moving back to Bear Creek and that Hunter would follow after he mustered out of the army.
She caught her breath. “Is everything okay?” She took a step toward him, her hand out.
He took a step back.
Embarrassment pierced her. He’d never liked her. He’d always kept his distance when she’d tried to engage him in conversation and flirt a little in high school. And after Enrique had left the service to move home, she and Enrique had started dating, and Killian had barely looked at her or talked to her during his speedy and rare visits.
“’S good,” he said shortly. “Relatively speaking.” He finally looked away from her and instead focused on the thick beams and trestles holding up the timbered roof of the three-story building’s open floor plan.
He turned in a circle like she had done, his gaze intent. His expression was similar to how he’d looked when he’d been doing advanced calculus homework as a junior and she and Riley, eighth graders with big attitudes and little else to show for themselves, had been running wild in and out of the house, likely making it impossible for him to concentrate.
“This is a massive space and takes open floor plan to a whole new level,” he mused. “The building’s in much better shape than I’d expected for something that has been abandoned for decades.”
“Zhang hired a clean-up crew for the entire site,” she said. “And a structural engineer. This building’s passed inspection. It’s in the best shape, probably because it was used to store all the grain so it was built strong and tight.”
He nodded and took a few pictures with his phone.
That was odd.
“Repaired roof,” she continued, “seismically retrofitted to code, all new windows and everything pressure-washed. Some other repairs are ongoing.”
“It’s big. Empty.”
Why did he keep saying that? As an architect, shouldn’t the space inspire him? All Sophia saw was opportunity.
They stood in silence, each absorbing the space, and the music switched over to ‘Oh Holy Night’—her favorite.
“Bit early for Christmas carols,” he noted.
“I’ve always loved the classic carols. First day after Thanksgiving that’s all that’s playing in my shop.”
“You were always singing as a kid. Beautiful voi—” He broke off and looked down.
Really? Killian remembered that she liked to sing? He liked her voice?
Slow your roll. You aren’t in middle school anymore.
It was hard to know where to look because she craved to stare at him.
“Anyway, I’m back,” he said, stating the obvious. Again.
“Ta-daaa.” Sophia couldn’t help it. She did jazz hands, something his sister, Riley often did facetiously. “My question, not to be rude, is why.”
“Believe it or not, I’m here for work.”
His answer was so unexpected that she couldn’t even form her next question. She turned and stared at him, lips moving, no words.
“I’m the new Bear Creek city planner. Ta-daaa.” He jazz-handed her right back.