River’s End

me out here.”
    David inclined his head. “You’re perceptive, Noah. I imagine that’s why you’re good at your work.” He set Olivia’s suitcase down, glanced toward the house. “You seem to have established some kind of rapport with Livvy.”
    “We’re beginning to understand each other.” Again, he thought. Or maybe it was at last. “Is that a problem for you?”
    “I have no idea.” In what might have been a gesture of peace, David spread his hands. “I don’t know you.”
    “Mr. Melbourne, I was under the impression you were supportive of the book I’m writing.”
    “I was.” David sighed out a breath. “I thought enough time had passed, enough healing had been done. And I believed that a writer of your caliber could do justice to the tragedy.”
    “I appreciate that. What changed your mind?”
    “I didn’t realize how much this would upset Val.” Concern clouded his eyes, and he slipped his hands into his pockets. “My mother-in-law. I feel partially responsible as I did support it, and that support certainly influenced Jamie into giving you her cooperation and then encouraged Livvy to do so. I lost my own mother when I was very young. Val’s one of the most important people in my life. I don’t want her hurt.”
    Protection, Noah mused. The family was a puzzle made up of pieces of protection and defense. “I’ve already given Liv my word that I won’t contact her grandmother or ask her to talk to me. I’ll keep her out of it as far as I’m able to.”
    “The book itself pulls her into it.” He held up a hand before Noah could speak. “I can’t expect you to turn your back on your work because the ripple effect of that work will hurt people I love. But I want you to be aware of it. And I want you to consider that a man who murders would hardly flinch at lying. Sam Tanner isn’t to be trusted, and my biggest regret is that he’ll have time to die outside of prison rather than in it.”
    “If you’re worried he’ll lie to me, if your feelings are that strong, you’d be smart to put them on record.”
    David laughed, shook his head. “Noah, personally, I’d love to sit down with you and tell you exactly what I feel, what I remember. I’m going to do my best to ease my mother-in-law’s feelings over it, then, if I can, I’ll talk to you. You’ll have to excuse me now.” He picked up the suitcase. “It’s the first time Livvy’s come to visit. I don’t want to miss any time with her.”
    Olivia loved the house and everything they’d done with it. She loved it for them—it was so obviously perfect for them with its elegance and pastels and soaring ceilings. But she preferred the rambling style and rooms soaked in colors of her grandparents’ home.
    She was glad she’d finally made herself come.
    By the time she crawled into bed, she was worn to the bone by the drive, the emotion, the elaborate dinner her aunt had arranged and the nonstop conversation as they’d caught up with one another.
    Still, her last thought before sleep sucked her under. It was of Noah standing on the deck of his pretty house, with his back to the sea.
    Olivia came to the conclusion very quickly that while southern California suited Jamie down to her pedicure, it wasn’t the town for Liv MacBride. She was sure of it halfway between the shopping expedition her aunt insisted on and the lunch at some trendy restaurant with a name she immediately forgot.
    The lunch portions were stingy, the wait staff glossy enough to glow in the dark and the prices so remarkably outrageous she could do nothing but gasp.
    “‘I had my stylist pencil in appointments later this afternoon,” Jamie began as she toyed with her field-green-and-wild-pepper salad. “Marco is a genius and an event in himself. We can squeeze in a manicure, maybe a paraffin treatment.”
    “Aunt Jamie.” Olivia sampled what had been billed as the nouveau-club and was in reality two pieces of bark bread cut into tiny triangles and filled with mysterious vegetables. She wondered if anyone ate real food in L.A. “You’re trying to make a girl out of me.”
    “No, I’m not.” Jamie pouted. “I’m just trying to give you a ... well, just one girl day. You should have let me buy you that little black dress.”
    “That little black dress was four thousand dollars and wouldn’t hold up through one hike.”
    “Every self-respecting female needs at least one killer black dress. I say we go back for it, and the lizard sandals,