She’d scrambled to her feet. “Jack, it’s Katie.”

“I know who you are.”

His gruff words had not been the welcome she’d wanted. “I thought-” She motioned to the shack. “I found this a few weeks back. I’ve been spending my afternoons here.”

“Why?”

She’d stared at him, but hadn’t been able to tell what he was thinking. “Why are you mad at me? I didn’t hurt anything.”

His gaze flew to the tattered manila envelope that held the magazines of the almost-naked women. Katie blushed. When he remained silent and staring, she’d felt defeated.

“I just needed a place to go,” she said, carefully closing the book she’d been reading. “I didn’t think anyone would care that I’d been here. I’m sorry for trespassing.”

She’d walked toward the door, intent on leaving. But he hadn’t stepped out of her way. She raised her chin and glared. “I can’t get out with you standing there.”

“Did you know this was my place?” he asked.

She bit her lower lip. “I guessed it was. I didn’t know who else would be using it. But after you taught me to ride a bike and stuff, I didn’t think you’d mind me being here, too.”

He took a half step toward her and moved out of the shadows. She’d seen Jack at school, but she hadn’t been this close to him in three years. He was tall-much taller than her. While she was still more girl than woman, he’d made progress toward becoming a man. He had broad shoulders and long legs. He was still bony, but she could see the promise of his future in the skinny adolescent in front of her.

An odd kind of tension filled her chest. “I, ah, guess I never thanked you for that,” she mumbled. “Helping me learn to ride a bike, I mean. And I’m sorry about what happened after. I always wanted to tell you that but I knew my dad would kill me if he caught me talking to you again.”

“What about now? Isn’t he gonna be mad to find out you’re here?”

She shrugged. “I’m leaving and I don’t guess he’s gonna figure out I was here before.”

Jack studied her face. She knew she wasn’t very pretty-not like her sister Josie. She had freckles and she burned more than she tanned and she was short.

He held up a bag. “I have sandwiches,” he said gruffly. “You want one?”

It hadn’t been much of an invitation, but she’d clung to it all the same, accepting the food and sitting cross-legged on the cot while he’d taken the chair. She’d stayed with him that day. For the rest of the summer they’d spent their afternoons together. They’d talked and read books and talked some more. The following summer Jack had given her her first kiss in the line shack. By the time she turned fifteen, they were in love.

Katie shook her head and brought herself back to the present. Loving Jack had been one of the best parts of growing up, she thought. He’d been gentle and kind and supportive. Not to mention gorgeous. There’d been a time when she’d known everything about him. She’d thought they would be together always. Now, eleven years later, he was a stranger. A ghost from her past.

What had happened to change things, she wondered. Time? Distance? Different lives? Did it matter? She should let the past go. Or maybe just lay those ghosts to rest, she thought as she urged her horse forward and headed for the line shack.

Jack stood in the center of the single room. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been here, nor did he know why he’d come today. He had plenty of work waiting for him on the ranch, and stopping at the line shack was just a waste of time.

Still, he’d been drawn by forces he couldn’t explain. Was it knowing that Katie was going to be living at the house? Or was it that being around her had reminded him of the past?

He walked to the unfinished boards he’d nailed up for bookcases. As he touched the dusty spines of the books, he remembered each story. He heard echoes of conversation and laughter. As a teenager, this had been his sanctuary…and hers. Together they’d talked about hopes and dreams for the future. They’d fallen in love while having earnest conversations and gazing into each other’s eyes. On the battered old cot in the corner, he’d lain next to her and learned the feel of her body next to his. He’d discovered curves and scents, touching her through her clothing and once, only once, reaching under her shirt and stroking her bare breasts. They’d kissed and wanted and ached, but they’d never made love. Back then he would have assumed they would be each other’s first time-he would have been wrong.

A creak caught his attention. He turned and saw Katie standing in the doorway of the line shack. She was only a silhouette, but he recognized her shape. He waited, not saying anything. He wasn’t sure if he was pleased to see her or not. When she’d first returned to town he’d been confident that she would never be a part of his life. Now she was living at the ranch and invading his thoughts. He knew the danger of caring about her. How many times was he going to have learn that lesson before he got it right?

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

She laughed. “At least this time you didn’t swear at me.”

He frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“The first time you found me here you wanted to know what the hell I was doing here. So there’s been an improvement. In time you might even be happy to find me here.”

He wanted to tell her that was never going to happen, but he was no longer sure about anything. “You didn’t answer my question. Why are you here?”

She stepped inside and closed the door behind her. “The same reason you are. I want to touch the past…maybe for the last time.” She walked around the small room, then moved next to him and, as he’d done, traced the spines of the books.

She wore jeans, a long-sleeved shirt and worn boots. Despite the two-inch heel on the latter, she barely came up to his shoulder. He could easily rest his chin on her head and feel her blond curls tickling his neck. How many times had he done so in the past? Fifty? A hundred? He would walk up behind her and put his arms around her. She would lean into him. She’d been small and feisty, and holding her had felt so damned right.

She looked at him, her blue eyes wide and expressive. “In some ways this feels like just last week or last month. It can’t have been eleven years since I was out here.”

“I don’t get out here much, either.”

“I’m not surprised. What had been an escape for you turned into our place. You wouldn’t have been comfortable here on your own. Too many memories.”

He wanted to protest. She wasn’t right about him. He hadn’t missed her when she’d left. Except he had. He’d missed her so much he hadn’t known how he was going to make it. Emotions battered at the wall around his heart. He shoved them back in place. No way was Katie going to get to him again.

She picked up a slender volume of poetry and smiled. “You were my best friend. And the best part of my life. You made growing up wonderful.”

He didn’t know what to say. He refused to admit the same, even though it was true.

“I’ve often thought one of the reasons we were drawn together was that we each lost a parent at a vulnerable time in our lives,” she continued as if she hadn’t expected him to comment. “Your dad disappeared, my mom died.” She paused and frowned. “In fact they both happened in June, but a year apart. I never thought about that before.”

He hadn’t, either. For some reason that seemed significant. “We didn’t become friends for another couple of years,” he said. “We were both over it by then.”

“No,” she told him, moving to the cot and taking a seat. He saw that she’d left plenty of room for him, but he didn’t join her.

“I’m still not over my mom’s death,” she said. “I’m not saying I can’t function without her or that I haven’t moved on, but I still miss her. I think of her every Christmas and I always remember her birthday.” She smiled sadly. “I wanted her to see Shane when he was born and to be around to call when life got really scary. Suzanne’s been great and I’m lucky to have had her in my life, but she’ll never be my mother.”

“Yeah, well, I got over my dad running off.” He crossed to the small, cracked window and stared out at the land that had belonged to his family for generations. He didn’t understand women’s desire to poke at the past. Some things were better left buried.

“It sounds good, Jack, but no one believes you. Least of all me. You can’t tell me you don’t still miss him from time to time.”

He turned to face her. She looked at him with the same innocence she’d shown at thirteen. All trusting and open, like a puppy who adored everyone. He reminded himself that she’d been the only one to provide him a safe haven. After his father had left, he’d been ashamed. He’d continued to do well in school and sports just to show the world it didn’t matter, but in his heart he’d felt hollow and small.

What kind of man walked out on his family with only a few scribbled lines of explanation? After Russell had disappeared, Jack had felt the stares, heard the questions. He’d seen people watching him, wondering how much of his father he had in him. But Katie had never done that. Around her he’d always been able to be himself. Even when they didn’t agree with each other, they’d been honest.

“Sometimes,” he said at last, “I think about him. I wonder what he’s doing or where he is. Sometimes I wonder if he’s still alive.”

“Do you want to find him?”

“No.” Jack spoke without hesitation. “Why would I want to be around a man who could do what he did?”

“Maybe he had a good reason.”

“There is no good reason. He got tired of being responsible, so he left.”

“Maybe it’s-”

He took a step toward her and shook his head. “You can’t make him innocent in all this, Katie. He left. He came back a couple of months later for a single night, got my mom pregnant, then left again. No one has heard from him since. He’s not someone I want in my life.”