CHAPTER THREE

      THE KIMBALL FAMILY Law Firm was in the same old brick building that Kyle remembered from his youth. Natalie’s father, Asa, had run the law firm back then. Now he was retired and spent the winters in Florida, leaving Natalie in charge.

      A receptionist in heavy-framed glasses met Kyle in the lobby and offered him water or coffee while he waited. Kyle chose water. The receptionist—Zena—settled him in an empty conference room at a glossy conference table so big a person could play Ping-Pong on it. Sun from a skylight lit up the room, and several large floor plants thrived. The walls were covered with framed postcards. Wallis Point in the past.

      Kyle had always wanted to be rooted, to belong somewhere, and this room gave him the feeling of history. His mom had grown up in Wallis Point, and even though there weren’t any close relatives left, it comforted him that there were people in town who remembered her. It had never sat well with him that Joe had, in effect, kicked him out of the rink and forced him to leave town as an eighteen-year-old.

      He was home now.

      He peeled at the label of the water bottle that Zena had given him. He opened it and took a long, refreshing swig.

      Natalie came into the room. Her heels clicked on the old wood floor, which had been restored to a bright sheen. Her hair was up and she wore a high-necked blouse under a gray business jacket. He might have been intimidated by the lawyer look except for the Disney Beauty and the Beast bandage she had wrapped around her thumb.

      She put a stack of folders on the table and sat at the corner beside him. “Thanks for coming in today.” She gave him a smile that helped the stiffness in his back relax a bit. “How are you doing?”

      “Fine,” he said politely, “m—” He choked back the word ma’am. He needed to remember this wasn’t the military.

      Natalie smiled gently at him. “Joe met with me several times over the past month. I got to know him better. I remember him from skating at the twin rinks as a kid, of course, but...” Natalie tapped the folders. “Kyle, he wanted you to have this.” She opened the top folder, and Kyle felt himself holding his breath.

      She slid a key across the table toward him. “This is the key to 18 Linden Lane.”

      Not the key to the rink. Kyle deflated. This was something he hadn’t expected at all.

      “Joe’s house,” he said. From the age of ten to almost eighteen, Kyle had lived there. He knew this key well. Somewhere, tucked away in a duffel bag in his apartment in Maryland, he had a copy.

      Natalie also took a letter from the folder and handed it to him. “This is from Joe, to you.”

      She’d mentioned it during her initial phone call, but Kyle had forgotten. Frowning, he placed the letter on the table, but he didn’t open it.

      His hands were shaking. He didn’t know how he felt about this. “If Joe was thinking about me so much, why didn’t he call me? You found me on the internet easily enough.”

      Natalie smiled sadly. “I don’t know, Kyle. I’m hoping he might have answered some of your questions in his letter. I don’t know for a fact because, of course, I didn’t read the letter—though I admit to wanting to.”

      “Why did you want to?”

      “Because Wallis Point is a small town. I care very much about what happens here. The rink is a community rink.”

      He glanced at the Disney bandage on her thumb. “You have kids?”

      Natalie nodded. “A daughter. She’s three. She’s in her princess stage. A future ice princess, she hopes.”

      “So...what about the rink?” he asked, his heart beating hard. “Where are the keys for that?”

      “That’s a good question.” Natalie sat up straighter, took in a breath. He got the impression she was struggling to keep the smile on her face.

      “Joe did want you to run the hockey rink...”

      But. There was a but there.

      “There’s a stipulation,” she added.

      He squeezed his palm around the thin metal house key. “What kind of stipulation?”

      Before she could answer, a commotion sounded outside. Both he and Natalie turned toward the open door. Zena’s loud voice was greeting people in the lobby.

      “Jessica’s here?” he asked.

      “Maybe.” Natalie got up and shut the door, then sat back down, facing him.

      “Isn’t she joining us for the will reading?” Kyle asked.

      “All things considered, I decided it’s best I talk with you both separately.”

      “Why?”

      “As I said, Joe did want you to run the hockey rink. I believe it was his intention that you come home permanently and take over ownership and management of the Wallis Point Twin Rinks.”

      “Yeah, that’s what I want, too. But what does that have to do with Jessica?”

      There was a soft knock on the door. “Come in,” Natalie called.

      Zena stuck her head in. “You’ve got a phone call you’ll want to take. Also, I’ve got Ms. Hughes and her friend settled in the small conference room.”

      And her friend. Hell, that has to be Sebastien.

      “Thank you,” Natalie said to Zena.

      Kyle was gripping the water bottle so hard it crumpled. After Zena left, he said, “Is Jessica part of the rink deal with me?”

      “Yes, she is,” Natalie said. “You see, it was Joe’s intention that you both work together to bring the rink back up to speed.”

      “You’ve got to be kidding.”

      “You might want to read Joe’s letter.”

      That was the last thing he wanted. If he could go beyond the grave to see Joe now, he would punch him.

      “Does she know about this?” Kyle asked.

      “No, not yet.”

      “I doubt she’ll go for it,” Kyle said matter-of-factly. The thought calmed him. Yeah, Jessica would definitely turn this down. He doubted she’d want to run the rink with him.

      He met Natalie’s gaze. “Can I make Jessica an offer and buy her out?” he asked. “It’s better that I do this on my own.”

      “Technically, you can’t. At least, not yet.”

      Kyle didn’t like the sounds of this. It wasn’t the lawyer’s fault that this deal was so insane—that was Joe’s doing. Likely, Natalie had no idea that Joe blamed Kyle for killing Jessica’s Olympic chances. “Give it to me straight and simple, no legal jargon, please.”

      “Before you can buy her out, both of you, together, need to put forth a good faith effort into restoring and running the twin rinks profitably for six months, at which point the facility will belong to you both equally. Then you can make your own agreement as to whether to buy or sell.”

      “Six months?” With Jessica? Cripes, he thought. “What if I don’t ever want to sell and she does?”

      “I’ll help you through those questions when the time comes.” Natalie leaned forward and tapped her papers. “But, Kyle, that’s not the part