Page 12 of Steinbeck (The Minnesota Kingstons #5)

He had nothing. But he got out, and the smell of the lake, the stirring of the leaves in the trees, and the beauty of the King’s Inn in the early fall with the wide apron porch, the hanging baskets of flowers, and the serenity just caught him up.

This wasn’t going to end badly. He’d find Declan. They’d get Axiom. And somehow, they’d figure out how to save the world.

Then he’d disentangle himself from Miss Movie Quotes, and his life would go back to normal.

Stein walked up the steps, and the fragrance of something baking—maybe cookies this late in the day—filtered out through the screen door of the kitchen. Opening the door, he walked through the service entrance, into the pantry area, and followed the smells into the kitchen.

His mother wore a King’s Inn apron, a pair of yoga pants, and a T-shirt, her short blonde hair caught in a bandanna as she plated cookies.

And of all people, his sister Boo, back from Alaska, stood at the kitchen sink, elbows deep in suds. She looked over, grinned. “Seriously?” She shook out her hands, grabbed a towel.

His mother also looked up. “Stein. You’re back. Did you have a nice trip?”

And right then, Jack walked into the kitchen from the other door. “We finished washing the porch—hey, Stein.” But his gaze landed on the woman behind Stein, who walked in to stand beside him.

Jack grinned.

Boo’s gaze passed over Emberly too.

And his mother smiled, came over. “And who is this beautiful woman?”

He had nothing. Just... no words—the lie, the truth all snarled up together. Friend? Foe? Partner? Teammate? Spy? Thief?

But she slid her hand into his, wove her fingers through his, and said, “I’m Emberly, Stein’s girlfriend.”

* * *

She didn’t belong here.

In this convivial, embracive family.

Run .

She squelched the urge as she met his family, as Mama Em introduced herself, gave her a hug, scooped her up into preparations for dinner.

To her memory, Emberly had only experienced a family dinner like the Kingston family dinner once in her life. The entire family sat at the twelve-foot table located on the back porch of one of the stately Victorian homes—Stein called it the Norbert.

Twinkle lights hung from the porch ceiling, and a chandelier dropped golden puddles of light onto the dinner. Orange candles flickered in the center, and so much food—homemade rolls and a tossed salad and tiny smashed golden potatoes and a tomato salad and wild rice and glistening, buttery steaks.

Beyond the deck, the sun had started to slide past the horizon, casting rose gold through the trees and turning the lake a deep amber. A scant wind caught the scent of fresh-cut grass and the fragrance of the blooming chrysanthemums along the porch.

“So then, there I was, in my prom dress, Harper with me, trying to change the tire on the old Bronco...” Stein’s sister Boo talked with her hands, glancing across the table at her friend Harper.

Laughter.

Emberly sat in the midst of it, flanked on one side by Stein.

His older brother, Jack, sat next to him.

He’d given her a strange look back in the kitchen when she shook his hand.

Jack’s girlfriend, Harper, sat beside him, a cute blonde with a pixie cut, wearing a pair of wide-leg pants and a cropped tee, a sort of curious intensity about her when she met Emberly. Now, she was finishing Boo’s story.

Across from Harper sat Conrad, Stein’s hockey-star brother, and his girlfriend, Penny, her long dark hair cascading down her back, bearing a tan and wearing a diamond necklace with her casual pink sundress.

And next to them, Boo. Of course Emberly recognized the bride from the wedding she’d crashed eight months ago. Boo sat next to her country-superstar husband, Oaken, as she segued into a story about some recent rescue by their Air One team.

Their father sat at one end, a big guy, so that’s probably where the Kingston boys had gotten their height and impressive shoulders. Salt-and-pepper hair, a smile on his face, the king at the gate, listening.

Mama Em carried a pitcher of lemonade to the table. She set it down and Con got up to push in his mother’s chair at the other end.

The entire thing felt... provincial. And sweet. And what was she doing here?

Stein glanced over at her as Boo finished her story, smiled.

Oh yes. Girlfriend.

She could do this.

Today, Emberly was her disguise.

“We’re so glad you could make it for dinner, Emberly,” Stein’s dad—Grover, she remembered from the introduction—said. “Stein is usually pretty tight-lipped about his, um, girlfriends.”

“I knew about her,” Jack said, raising his hand. He glanced at Stein with a smile and a wink.

Who knew what that meant?

“Well, he’s never brought home a girl before, so this is a celebration,” said Mama Em, who reached out and patted Emberly’s hand.

What? The gesture left an unfamiliar warmth.

“And just in time to catch Boo and Oaken.” She cast a look at her daughter and the sandy-haired singer at the end.

“Let’s pray,” said Grover and held out his hand.

Really? But Emberly put her hand into Stein’s and then Mama Em’s and listened as Grover thanked God for blessings and favor and prayed for the family who wasn’t present—she guessed that meant Austen and their son Doyle, back in Mariposa—and something about his low, humble voice unwound the coil in her gut.

Everything would be fine. She’d have a nice dinner, and then she and Stein would sneak out and find Declan.

And she’d leave, AI program in hand. Without Steinbeck, because he was a good man. The kind of man who showed up, protected, even if it got him hurt.

Suddenly it all makes sense.

He wasn’t a guy who stood on the sidelines. And his story about his brother only confirmed that.

Despite his former-SEAL skills, her world would eventually get him killed.

And she simply didn’t belong in his. Even in the guise of Emberly.

But for now, she’d laden her plate with potatoes and a gourmet steak off the grill and salad and she would enjoy her lemonade and her walkabout in the world of... normal.

“When did you get here, Boo?” This from Stein, who held out the basket of fluffy rolls to Emberly.

Yes, and amen. She took one and slathered it with creamy butter.

“A couple days ago. Oaken spent the day at the fairgrounds, rehearsing for tomorrow night’s show.”

“You’re performing at the fair?” This from Conrad. “How did I not know that?”

“You’re too busy with hockey camps,” Penny said. “He’s done four youth camps this summer for EmPowerPlay. The kids are crazy about him.”

By her grin at Conrad, Emberly guessed that the kids weren’t the only ones.

Conrad rolled his eyes. “Yeah, whatever. Besides, what was I going to do, say no after I signed a three-year deal with the Blue Ox?”

“Oh please,” Penny said. “You love it.”

He smiled down at her, and oh, the sap was heavy on that side of the table. Their laughter made it easy to fall into this family’s ambiance.

“I guess we’re going to have to go to the fair tomorrow,” said Conrad. “Do we get free tickets?”

Emberly hadn’t ever listened to an Oaken Fox album, but he definitely had rugged country star appeal, with his slow smile, the tenor of his voice. “Absolutely. I’ll leave them at will call.”

“The fair?” Emberly said. “You’re playing at a county fair?”

“The Minnesota State Fair. It’s the second largest fair in the country,” Stein said. “We go every year. This is the last weekend.”

“What, you go and check out the pigs?”

“And the cows and chickens and horses, and all the exhibits, and especially the cool food.” This from Penny. “I heard this year they have deep-fried Twinkies.”

“They’ve had those for years,” said Grover. “I’m interested in the chocolate-covered bacon.”

“And the bucket of cookies and fresh milk,” said Jack. “No offense, Mom.”

“None taken. I love the new Amish donut stand.” She wiped her mouth. “Although, I did bake up a batch of cookies, as a reminder before you decide to defect.”

“Never,” Conrad said, grinning.

“Oh please. I know you love that cookie place near your house,” his mother said.

“Ironclad Desserts? Poor substitute for the real thing.” He winked.

His mother smiled, clearly touched.

Emberly was in an episode of The Waltons . And that memory stirred up, bloomed through her.

“What are you smiling about?” Stein said, and she hadn’t realized she had settled into the past.

“Just... ‘The family is a haven in a heartless world.’”

He raised an eyebrow.

“John-Boy Walton.”

“You watched The Waltons ?”

“We had a DVD set that someone gave us. Some of the episodes were scratched, but my sister and I watched them endlessly.”

At one end of the table, Oaken talked with Grover and Jack about his summer tour, the state fair being one of the finale events.

At her end, Penny explained the latest crime in her podcast, a hunt for a serial killer in Alaska, who had committed crimes that spanned a decade.

Emberly ate her steak, listening, and the urge to run slowly diminished, the night turning easy.

Until Mama Em turned to her. “And what do you do, Emberly?”

She stared at the woman, all words leaving her. What— “Um...”

And just like that, she didn’t want to lie. Didn’t want to fabricate something that she’d have to perpetuate, building a layer of falsehoods?—

“She’s a procurer of all things rare and valuable.”

Stein. Emberly looked at him, frowned. He had taken her hand on the table and now squeezed.

What was happening?

“So, rare art?”

“Um. In... some cases,” Emberly said. She let go of Stein’s grip and reached for her lemonade.

“That’s cool,” Penny said. “What kind of things?”

“I once found the Scepter of Charles V of Spain,” she said. “It had gone missing from the royal palace of Madrid.”

Never mind that she’d been the one to steal it.

“So, artifacts and treasures—our sister Austen is a treasure hunter,” said Conrad. “Only, she’s a diver. Lives in the Keys.”

Yes, she knew Austen, but Emberly just nodded, gave a smile.

“Jack searches for missing people,” Harper said.