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“Over the years, he’s gotten much worse. I’m beginning to wonder if he doesn’t have some kind of mental health problem in addition to his emphysema.”
“That would be a real shame with him living alone and all.”
Her father had changed, too, since he’d retired. Luckily, he had her mother to make sure he was all right. Mr. Berger had no one as far as she knew. His son Tim lived and worked in Racine.
Thinking she might interest her nieces in the kinds of cheeses and other foods she carried in the store, Priscilla realized her mistake as she looked at them—both were immersed in their cell phones. Great.
If she couldn’t figure a way to get them interested in other things happening around town, it would be a very long summer.
CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_5d1afc6b-cbcf-541f-8f8c-1879b9ad3ffd)
IT WAS GOING to be a very long summer. Alyssa nibbled at a few kinds of cheese and tasted her salad as the others chowed down. Soon her phone buzzed again. She ignored the disapproving look from her aunt Priscilla and slipped the phone from her pocket to read the new text. It was from Tisha. Luke was getting together with that new girl they’d seen at the coffee shop, plus Brad was angry and not speaking to anyone. Everything was going on and here Alyssa was stuck in a stupid, boring, small town out in the middle of Wisconsin! She heaved a big sigh that earned another snarky look from Aunt Priscilla, then she texted Tisha in return.
After lunch, they went upstairs to change their clothes, since Mia, the silly twit, couldn’t wait to ride the horses out on that farm they’d passed. In the bedroom she was sharing with her sister, Alyssa opened her suitcase but decided to wear the same jeggings. She removed her sandals, however, and slipped on a pair of over-the-knee high-heeled black suede boots. The day was a little warm so she also changed her T-shirt to a midriff-baring purple tank. She slashed on some bright lipstick and threw a beaded scarf around her neck, sighing anew at the idea of being isolated in Wisconsin. Why she and Mia couldn’t stay by themselves, she had no idea. She was only a year or two younger than the NYU students who populated their neighborhood, and they were getting along without their parents.
“It’s going to take her forever, you know,” Mia was saying as Alyssa came out into the living space of the apartment. She was sitting on the couch, still showing Grams the Furious Falcons game.
Grams looked up. “Oh, not forever. Here she is.” She rose to give Alyssa a hug. “You look so pretty!”
Alyssa hugged Grams in return. Grams and Gramps Ryan had always been nice to her. It wasn’t that she didn’t care about them. On the other hand, she hadn’t been around Aunt Priscilla all that much, and, so far, she seemed plenty annoying.
Right now, she was giving Alyssa a studied once-over. “Those boots are kind of fancy for riding, don’t you think?”
“Mia is the one who wants to ride. I’m just coming along.” No horse sweat for her! She suddenly wondered if she could get out of it. “Unless I can stay here...”
“No, no, I want to be with both my girls,” exclaimed Grams.
Alyssa assumed they were ready to go then, but Mia came off the couch, only to scrabble around on the floor. “I just had it.”
“What?” asked Aunt Priscilla.
“My stylus.” Mia tried to find it under the couch. “I was using it for my game. It’s got to be here somewhere. I don’t want to lose it.”
“A stylus?” Grams opened her large purse to rummage inside. “Don’t waste any more time looking for it. I think I have one.”
“Why would you have a stylus?” asked Aunt Priscilla. “You wouldn’t let me buy you an eReader for Christmas. You said you wanted to read books the old-fashioned way.”
“I always buy things when I see them on sale.” Grams finally looked up from her search, a small green pen-like item in her hand. “I saw these little things were a dollar each at FamilyMart.”
Aunt Priscilla laughed and shook her head. “Honestly, you have everything. I just hope no one ever needs a hand grenade.”
The two women and Mia continued talking as they went downstairs and left the store, Alyssa following. The dorky older guy Aunt Priscilla had introduced as her part-time employee told them to have a good time and continued sweeping the wide floorboards. The store’s interior was meant to look kind of country, yet sophisticated, with light paneling and barrels with butcher block tops to display the many kinds of cheeses for sale, along with some locally made sausage and other products. There were a few small tables and chairs off to one side where customers could taste cheeses or sit down for lunch or snack. Alyssa had to admit the place presented a pleasant atmosphere and the cheese board with crackers and a salad they’d had for lunch had been good. Her aunt obviously knew more about merchandising than she did fashion. Dressed in beige pants with a beige T-shirt and nondescript shoes, her red hair pinned back simply, as if to get it out of the way, Priscilla could easily pass for being ten years older than Alyssa knew she actually was.
Alyssa’s attention returned to her texts as they got in the car, dropped Grams off for some meeting, and headed for the horse ranch. Tish said there was a really hot guy hanging around in the hallway of her building and she got him to say “hi” to her. How could she get him into a longer conversation?
Alyssa was about to text a suggestion as they pulled into the parking lot of the “ranch” with its big, old white barn. A matching farmhouse sat a short way down the road. Suddenly the phone indicated there was no service. “Unbelievable!” Were the hills on either side cutting off reception?
“Wow, look at those horses!” Mia nearly burst out of the car in her enthusiasm.
But it was the young man saddling the mounts in the corral that drew Alyssa’s attention away from her useless phone. Slim but muscular, blondish hair feathering from beneath his straw cowboy hat, the guy had a killer smile and a square jaw. Alyssa loved square jaws.
Alyssa slipped the phone into the case she wore on a chain around her neck. At the moment she didn’t care about reception. Tish could take care of herself. She had her own encounter to enjoy.
“Which one of these horses is most spirited? I want to ride fast,” Mia was saying to the young guy as Alyssa approached.
“Hey, chill out. We’re just going on a trail ride this afternoon,” the guy told her, laughing. Then his smile seemed to freeze as he caught sight of Alyssa.
“Hi.” Alyssa adjusted her sunglasses. She wished she’d had time to freshen her lipstick. She put her hand out for a shake. “I’m Alyssa.”
“My sister,” added Mia with a disgust that Alyssa ignored.
“Logan.” The cute guy took Alyssa’s hand then released it more quickly than she would like. “Sisters. Hey, uh, great...you can both go on the trail ride.”
Alyssa posed carefully, hand on one hip, hoping her big city glamour would affect Logan. “I’m just here to hang out.”
“We don’t really have a hang-out spot around here but you’re welcome to wait until we get back,” Logan told her before turning to Mia. “I think you’ll like Cloud, the Pinto. She’s got a sweet temperament, along with some spice.”
Alyssa asked him, “You’re going on the trail ride, too?”
“I’m leading the group.” Then he walked away to introduce Mia to the spotted horse nearby.
Drat! Alyssa looked down at her beautiful boots. Guess she’d have to take the chance on getting them sweaty after all. “I’ve changed my mind. I need a horse, too.”
She’d had riding lessons for a short time when she was Mia’s age, before she’d lost interest. She could look pretty good on the back of a horse if she wanted to.
If that’s what she had to do to get next to a cute cowboy.
* * *
AT LEAST ALYSSA was enjoying something, Priscilla thought, hanging on to Gold Mine, the pretty Palomino Logan had saddled for her. She could let go of the tension she’d been feeling since the drive to her place from the airport. Her niece might be flirting with the young hand, but Alyssa was little more than a kid, and he was several years too old for her. Thankfully, she noted that Logan remained friendly but professional, nothing more.
Also thankfully, Sam was nowhere around, so she didn’t have to worry about running into him, after all.
“Aren’t you going to get on your horse, Aunt Priscilla?” Mia asked from atop a little Pinto mare named Cloud.
“I’m just waiting until the last minute,” Priscilla hedged. “We’ll be in the saddle long enough as it is.”
Besides, which, she’d only been riding a few times and not since she was a teenager. A far more experienced rider than she, Mia was already walking her mount around the corral adjacent to the barn, turning Cloud this way and that. A few other riders, strangers to Priscilla, were doing the same.
When Alyssa asked Logan, “Aren’t you going to give me a leg up?” Priscilla whipped around to see what was going on.
Logan gave her niece a friendly grin. “If you can’t get off the ground on your own, we do have a mounting block—”
Alyssa made a sound of exasperation. “Never mind!” Then put a foot in the stirrup and bounced right up into the saddle.
Logan looked at Priscilla. “Do you need help, ma’am?”
Priscilla flushed. She couldn’t let her nieces outdo her. She placed her left foot into the stirrup and said, “I’ve got it.”
“Okay.” Logan moved back, probably to get his own horse.
The other riders were all looking at her. Waiting for her to mount Gold Mine. Hanging on to the reins and the horn on the saddle, Priscilla tried to hike herself up. But the saddle seemed to move and her stomach did a flip as she slammed back down on one foot.
“C’mon!” Mia yelled. “You can do it!”
Hands now sweating, face burning, Priscilla tried again and almost made it. Almost. On the third try, a strong pair of hands at her waist gave her a boost. The hands didn’t let go. They felt...too personal. Standing in one stirrup, she turned to ask Logan to let go. But Logan wasn’t hanging on to her. Sam was. Her eyes locked with his familiar gray ones, and her mouth gaped a bit as she got off balance again.
Keeping her from falling back into his arms, Sam grinned at her. “Well, some things don’t change. You’re looking good, Prissy!”
Hearing him call her by her high school nickname, Priscilla was struck nearly speechless. She’d hoped she would be prepared for this meeting, but she couldn’t keep from reacting to him. Yes, Sam was back in Sparrow Lake and still had the same effect on her. He’d been gorgeous as a youth and was equally gorgeous as a man, his handsome face tanned, his dark hair poking out from beneath his black Western hat to brush the collar of the work shirt that showed off some impressive muscles.
She tore her gaze away from him, muttering, “I’m not very athletic.”
“You’re on an easygoing horse, so you don’t have to worry.”
It wasn’t really the horse she was worried about. Heart pounding, she threw her right leg over the saddle and plopped into it.
“Not going to say a proper hello, Prissy?”
She frowned at him. “Sure I’m going to say hello. Why wouldn’t I?”
His grin widened. “Well?”
“Hello, Sam. Nice to see you after all these years! And my name is Priscilla, not Prissy.” She looked around wildly, saw the others lining up behind Logan, who was opening the corral gate. “Gotta go or I’ll get left behind.”
He grinned harder. “Right. Go.” He swatted her mare’s rump.
Gold Mine jerked forward and moved to the end of the line. Priscilla thump-thump-thumped in the saddle and hung on to the horn. Several riders ahead of her, Mia looked back, grinned and gave her a thumbs-up.
Just when Priscilla was regaining her breath, she realized she hadn’t left Sam behind, after all. He rode up next to her on a big dark bay so close she could see the small lines around his eyes. They gave his face a new maturity and added to his good looks, as did an air of world-weariness.
Weary or wary?
Priscilla wasn’t sure which.
“A little tip about getting on a horse,” he said, his familiar if more mature whiskey-smooth voice making her stomach curl. “Hold on to the reins in your left hand, then grab the horse’s mane instead of the saddle horn. That way you don’t pull the saddle over.”
Apparently the reason she’d had so much trouble getting up, Priscilla thought, as they followed Logan’s lead through a stand of trees. “Won’t that hurt the horse?”
“Nope, no pain involved. No nerve endings.”
“Oh.”
“I wouldn’t have expected you to know that,” he assured her.
“Same here. Last I remember, you rode a motorcycle out of town twelve years ago, not a horse.”
“Twelve years is a long time, Prissy, enough time for a man to learn all kinds of things.”
Prissy. Priscilla clenched her jaw. She’d thought she was done with that nickname. Obviously, Sam wasn’t going to let her forget it. But if she made a big deal of it, he undoubtedly would do the same just to tease her. Since they were entering a pretty, hilly area she’d never seen before, she decided to just relax and enjoy the ride as best as she could.
* * *
HAPPY TO SEE the only person he’d regretted leaving behind when he’d fled Sparrow Lake, Sam smiled as he watched Prissy thump-thump in the saddle as Logan picked up the pace of the ride. They settled into a slow jog along the trail that Sam had created through several pastures and alongside a big patch of woods. Compared to a mountainside, the rolling, sometimes timbered hills were gentle, yet Priscilla was trying real hard to keep her seat. But she made no complaint. Just like old times. She rode out whatever might be bothering her. A quiet do-gooder, she’d been nice to everyone, but he remembered the guys on the football team making fun of her because she wasn’t one of the “cool” girls. She’d never seemed to care about fancy clothes or new hairstyles, she hadn’t worn eye makeup under those big, thick glasses she’d worn back then. She might not have heard the comments behind her back, but Sam was certain she’d known. He remembered how she’d always held her head up high when she’d passed them in the school hallway. He’d always given her credit that she’d had the guts to be herself.
And he remembered the night that had changed the way he’d felt about Priscilla Ryan, too. He’d asked the bespectacled, mousy librarian’s daughter to the prom on a bet with some of the guys on the team. Not that he hadn’t liked her, but she’d been quiet and hard to get to know. Truth be told, he’d felt sorry that his friends had been ragging on about a girl who’d never done anything or said a mean word to anyone, and he’d taken the bet knowing that, if he didn’t ask her to the prom, no other boy would.
What a surprise he’d had when she’d opened the door on prom night. He still remembered feeling gutshot just looking at her, all gussied up and without her thick glasses. Her long, bright red hair released from her usual ponytail swirled around surprisingly pretty green eyes and brushed the delicate green fabric surrounding her slim, silky shoulders. What a bigger surprise she’d been on the dance floor. It was as if the music had freed her, had allowed her to blossom. She’d simply glowed with happiness. He remembered joking with her. And laughing. And smiling more than he ever had with anyone. He hadn’t been sorry he’d taken that bet, not one bit.
It had been the best night of his teenage life.
A sappy smile curving his lips when he glanced over at her, he asked, “So how has life been treating you, Prissy? Do you have a house filled with kids?” He hadn’t missed that she’d brought a couple of girls with her. “Or is it just the two?”
Her brow puckered. “Two?”
Sunlight squeaking through the trees dappled the area they rode with bits of brightness, making her red hair glow as if on fire. Mesmerized, he simply stared at her.
“What are you talking about?” she asked, jerking him out of the moment.
He indicated the mounted girls both ahead of them, the older one in the crazy boots practically pressing her horse against Logan’s. “Those two. Your daughters.”
Appearing thunderstruck, she snorted. “Those are my nieces! They just flew in from New York this morning, and I brought them out here because Mia is horse crazy.”
Hmm. The little one had the same red hair, the reason he’d drawn that conclusion. “But you do have kids, right?”
“Uh, no.”
“Why not?” Interest he couldn’t quite define shot through him. “Did that biological clock of yours get stuck or something?”
Now she gave him an intent look that made the flesh skitter down his spine when she said, “Doesn’t matter when I’m not married.”
“Not married,” he echoed softly. “Really?”
“Really.”
Hard to believe no man had ever snapped her up. He eyed her tan jeans and T-shirt. She might not be flashy on the outside, but, as he remembered so well, she had hidden depths.
“Why ever not?” he asked.
“Maybe I never met a man I could stand long enough to take on full time.” She arched an eyebrow as if that included him.
His turn to snort. “Didn’t remember you had such a way with words.”
She simply shrugged.
He wanted to ask if there was any man in her life other than her father, but he figured he’d better stop being so direct or he might offend her. Besides she might not want to talk to him at all. Still, he really wanted to know more about her.
“So what have you been doing all these years if not starting a family?”
