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Mia sighed. “Talk to Alyssa.”
Priscilla went back to the living room, deciding she’d deal with the separate beds first, then the phone. She got the reluctant teenager to help her and Mia wheel the cot into the guest bedroom, but Alyssa was adamant about not turning off her phone.
“It’s bad for your rest!” Priscilla insisted. “You can’t sleep if you keep waking up to text.”
“I’m fine. And everybody does it.” Alyssa snapped, “My dad and mom bought me this phone and they think it’s okay.”
Was she going to have to call her brother? Priscilla wondered. She was sick of the debate and they’d only been going at it for a few minutes.
“If I have to stay in here with you, you’ll keep me awake,” complained Mia, sounding even more grouchy. She put her hands on her hips and faced her sister.
Alyssa gave the younger girl an evil stare. “Oh, okay, I’ll put my phone on vibrate, nerd. You won’t hear anything.” She looked at her aunt. “I have to know what’s going on. I can’t be out of the loop.”
Honestly, what on earth could be so important? Priscilla made the cot up with sheets and a pillow. “It’s not like the Department of Homeland Security will be calling you.”
Alyssa caught the sarcasm. Her eyes flashed. “My life is super important to me! I’m young and I don’t want to miss out. We already had to come to this stupid small town out in the middle of nowhere for the summer. Dad said...”
“Okay, okay,” Priscilla interrupted, trying not to feel insulted. The girl was only a teenager. And she simply didn’t want to make an international call over texting, for Pete’s sake. “Make sure you keep the phone on vibrate.”
“Yeah, you’d better,” grumbled Mia. “Or I’m going to be getting up and ramming the stupid thing down your throat!”
“Oh, you’re so tough!” Alyssa came back, looking ready to lunge.
“Whoa, whoa.” Priscilla grabbed Alyssa’s arm to intervene. She told Mia. “Your sister has promised to be quiet. You’re tired. Why don’t you get into your pajamas and climb into bed?”
Alyssa grumbled something before walking away and Mia went to her suitcase where she opened it on top of the dresser, rummaged around, and pulled out pink Hello Kitty pajamas. Priscilla would have to assure her mother that the garments were indeed being used.
After that, Priscilla returned to the living room but she wasn’t interested in TV. Disgruntled and out of sorts with all the upheaval, she went to her office to listen to some soothing music on headphones and play some computer solitaire until she felt calmer. Then she was able to place the orders she had planned and go over some invoices. When she decided it was time for bed, she came out to find that the TV was off and Alyssa was in the bathroom, a sliver of light seeping out from under the closed door.
Priscilla went to her own bedroom to change into her nightshirt. Then she peeped out into the hall, noting the apartment’s one bathroom was still closed. It might be closed for quite a while, too. She guessed she would have to grab her keys and go downstairs to use the bathroom in the store. With a teenager around, it would probably not be the first time. She only wished bathroom use would be the only problem her nieces presented. If they didn’t drive her crazy this summer, she would be lucky.
CHAPTER FIVE (#ulink_7bf91668-a338-5e4a-8c22-4ebc9573254c)
“COME ON, AUNT PRISCILLA,” called Mia, heading for the car. “I can’t wait to get on the back of a horse again!”
“You are the back of...” started Alyssa before a dirty look from Priscilla stopped her from completing the sentence.
The teenager clamped her mouth shut and got into the front seat, while Priscilla slid behind the steering wheel.
They were heading out to Sam’s ranch again, after a couple of days’ break while Mom had kept the girls busy running around Sparrow Lake. Though she felt guilty for admitting it, Priscilla had enjoyed taking time off from her nieces and working at the cheese shop. It was peaceful in comparison to the chaos upstairs. She was glad she had the business since the place had become her second home, especially at night, when the apartment’s bathroom was too often occupied and her office commandeered as a third bedroom. The cot in the guest bedroom hadn’t worked out, since Alyssa’s phone had been too noisy for Mia, even on vibrate. After the first night sleeping on the love seat—luckily, the sisters hadn’t come to blows—Mia had asked Priscilla if they could move the cot to the office. Priscilla had complied, but now there was no space left to use the computer or the desk in that room.
Today she was taking the girls back to the Larson Dude Ranch for that promised Western lesson. She felt on edge, though she wasn’t sure what made her more nervous, the possibility of her nieces getting into another argument or seeing Sam again.
She needn’t have worried about Sam, however. Once they got to the ranch and were saddling up horses, he barely seemed to notice her. He merely gave her a quick nod before turning his attention to Mia and Alyssa, and she couldn’t help feeling a little hurt. Then, watching him work with the girls, she realized he wasn’t acting like the Sam she knew at all today. Though he appeared totally professional and gave one hundred percent to the girls, he didn’t do so with that easy charm that had won her young heart.
Charm he hadn’t lost if measured by their meeting the other day.
Something must be wrong.
“Where’s Logan?” asked Alyssa.
“He’ll be around later.”
“Okay.” With a look of resignation, Alyssa mounted her horse, not making too much of a fuss over the real reason she had probably come out to the dude ranch. At least the lack of reception for her phone meant she had to do something else besides text.
Sitting on the fence, her legs dangling into the corral, Priscilla watched the riding lesson closely. When it ended, Sam instructed the girls to remove tack, to brush down their horses’ backs with towels to dry them, then to check their feet and clean their hooves if necessary before bringing them out to the pasture.
As the girls got busy, he seemed as if he was trying to make up his mind as to what to do next—leave or stay. In the end, he walked over to Priscilla and climbed up on the fence to sit next to her. His arm brushed hers, making her catch her breath. She steeled herself against the sensation.
Clearing her throat, she asked, “You’re going to let them work on their own?”
“I can see them from here. Besides, they’re not beginners. They know what they’re doing.”
“They seem to,” Priscilla agreed, surprised that Alyssa took as much care with her horse as Mia did.
And Sam was still in that down mood. His brow was drawn and his mouth was pulled into a straight line instead of the teasing smile that always got to her. She wondered what was going on with him, but she wasn’t about to ask. She didn’t have to. Apparently he needed someone to talk to.
“I only wish I knew what I was doing,” Sam said.
“In what respect?”
“I’m worried about the future of the farm.”
Apparently, he was taking all the responsibility for the land on his shoulders despite the fact that his father had intended to sell the place.
“You’re just getting started, Sam. Take it easy. You just need a little patience.”
She felt like patting his hand or something for encouragement, but, not wanting to touch him, she kept her distance.
Sam sounded even more depressed when he said, “What I need is luck. I nearly lost some horses the other night when they mysteriously got out of the pasture.”
The way he said that made her ask, “And you think someone did it on purpose?”
“Logan swore the gate was locked when he finished. And the horses didn’t just wander out calmly. They were a little freaked, like someone purposely spooked them.”
“Oh, Sam, that’s terrible.”
“It could have been worse if one of them had wandered onto the highway. And that’s not all.”
“What else happened?” This didn’t sound good.
“The other day, after the ride, while I was at my cabin having supper, someone scattered boards with big nails in the parking lot. Loose nails and screws, too. If I hadn’t cleaned it up, some of my customers would have had ruined tires. That probably would have been it for them. They wouldn’t have come back.”
Priscilla frowned. “I haven’t heard about any kids messing around on people’s property, not since Brian Lange and his buddies were caught playing pranks and straightened out doing some community service. That happened a couple of summers ago. I wasn’t here at the time, but I heard all about it from his sister Kristen. You remember her, right? My best friend in high school?”
“Vaguely. Smart. Ambitious. Couldn’t wait to graduate to get out of Dodge.”
“She did that, but she came home to Sparrow Lake, too. Now she manages her aunt’s quilting shop.”
“You’d think there was some magic about this area, pulling us all back.”
“Not everyone. My brother doesn’t even visit more than once every couple of years.”
“A big-shot lawyer has innumerable choices about what to do with his life.”
Though obviously not enough time to discipline teenagers, Priscilla thought glumly, thinking again about the problems with Alyssa.
But she was being selfish. Sam’s woes were far more pressing. Furthermore, she had the feeling that his mood had to do with more than loose horses and boards with nails. With more than fearing his business would fail. He’d said rodeo was a young man’s game, but she was pretty certain many competitors were in their forties and even fifties. Maybe there was another reason he couldn’t or didn’t want to go back. And maybe he’d been doing one thing for so long, he didn’t think he had any other viable choices. She wished she knew more so she could be supportive, but she hesitated asking him more directly. If he wanted her to know what had happened, surely he would tell her.
He suddenly asked, “You haven’t heard about anyone in Sparrow Lake having it in for me, have you?”
“No. I didn’t even know you were back in town until we showed up for the trail ride. I’ll keep an ear open and ask around, though. Mom seems to know what’s going on with everyone.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.” His grim expression lightened a bit, as if having her on his side made a difference. “I asked around about the Main Street Cheese Shop. I hear you’re all the rage these days.”
“I’m doing okay. It usually takes a business about three years to really succeed, but I’m making pretty encouraging progress.”
“You’ll have to tell me how you did it.”
“Sure. It’s not a secret. Just a lot of hard work.”
“I’ve never been afraid of hard work. Maybe we can have dinner and talk about what you did more specifically. I could use some pointers.”
Despite her reservations about getting too involved with Sam, Priscilla agreed. “Right. I told you I thought that was a good idea.”
She sympathized with him having such trouble getting his business off the ground. From experience, she knew it was difficult enough to get a new business going successfully without the kind of setbacks he was having. But she didn’t just have herself to think about this summer.
“My parents want to take the girls to Lake Geneva for a day.” A beautiful little resort town with mansions facing a lake, boutiques for Alyssa and boat rides for Mia. “I’m not sure when they plan to do that, not as yet. Sometime in the next few days, I think. I’ll find out.”
He nodded. “Sounds good. Thanks, Prissy.” He covered her hand with his calloused one.
Despite her pulse fluttering at his touch, she would have to be cautious, not fool herself into thinking they could have something more personal going simply because she still felt attracted to him. After all, she didn’t know if she could trust Sam Larson with more than friendship after the way he’d simply left town right after he’d kissed her and told her he wanted her to be his girl.
No one knew why he’d left. That still bothered her. Not that she was going to ask. She didn’t want to get into an uncomfortable discussion. Anything to avoid that kind of tension. She remembered in high school, Sam was voted the most likely to end up dead by 30. Had he done something terrible? Was that why he’d left? Was whatever he had done somehow reflecting back on him now? If he had some big secret he was hiding, he wasn’t exactly being honest with her.
Again.
She’d gotten over him once—at least she’d convinced herself she had—and she didn’t need to go back there. They’d been just kids, then, really. Still, it had obviously had a lasting influence on her. Could it be that Sam’s disappointing her the way he had was part of the reason she’d never given herself fully to any other man? She’d had a serious boyfriend in Madison and a couple more in Milwaukee, but those relationships had never worked out. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride—that was the running joke she had with her girlfriends.
A joke based on the disappointing truth.
* * *
PRISCILLA TRIED NOT to think about Sam that evening. Mom had invited them for a barbeque, but when they arrived at her parents’ backyard, Mom was fuming.
“Supper will be a little late.” Mom’s eyes were narrowed behind her glasses. “Your father forgot to light the coals.”
He muttered, “I was distracted.”
“And then he fell asleep. You’re always sleeping, Roger.”
Priscilla didn’t say a word. Though her mother had a point, she wasn’t about to get in the middle of their ongoing argument.
“Didn’t you sleep last night, Gramps?” Mia asked.
“Oh, a little.”
Mia furrowed her brows. “Does Grams text, too?”
“Text?” he asked.
Mom laughed. “No, honey, old people like us don’t text all that much, though you’ve explained so much about it, I may take it up.”
“Text?” he repeated.
“You type on a little keyboard,” explained Priscilla, “on a phone.”
Dad merely grunted but Mom told Mia, “Gramps just likes to get some rest in his recliner before he comes to bed. You know, in front of the TV, with his eyes closed. Last night he did about six hours of ‘resting’ before he came to bed.”
“I wasn’t asleep,” Dad objected. “I was watching a program.”
“Watching what program?” Mom asked.
“Uh, well...something about history.”
Mom snorted. “Looked like an old basketball game to me, on the classic sports channel. You’d have remembered if you hadn’t been resting so hard.” She gestured toward the grill. “Let’s get those burgers on.”
“Okay, okay.”
Shutting out the bickering, which tended to get on her nerves, Priscilla stared around her at the pretty flowerbeds. Mom was some gardener. Too bad the big patio didn’t look as neat and pretty. Grass and weeds poked out between the irregular stones. One of the legs on the table loaded with platters of uncooked burgers and corn on the cob was held together with duct tape. And the chairs around it could use a new coat of paint. The patio was one of those projects Dad wasn’t doing that Mom kept complaining about.
“Aren’t those coals ready yet?”
“I don’t know, Helen.” Dad sounded down, like he didn’t really care. He looked as if he didn’t care about much. Sweat trickled down his balding head into his face, but he didn’t even bother to wipe it off. His shirttail hung out of his pants and the button holding it together at his waist looked ready to pop. “Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes.”
Mom made a sound of frustration and spun on her heel. “I’ll be inside.”
Priscilla followed her. “I’ll come with you.”
First she glanced over at the girls to see if they would come after her. Mia was standing by the grill next to Dad, her arm around his thick waist. His expression brightened a bit, and he gave her a one-armed hug. A tuned-out Alyssa was sprawled out in one of the lounge chairs, texting, as usual.
Sighing, Priscilla entered the kitchen where her mother was digging in the refrigerator. “Let me help you, Mom.”
She took a giant container of potato salad from her mother and then searched for a place to set it down. Every flat surface in the cramped, outdated kitchen seemed to be filled with something. Wow, this was worse than usual. Priscilla swept a bunch of Dad’s sports magazines to one side on the kitchen table and put the bowl down. Mom set a container of coleslaw next to it.
“Bad enough your father couldn’t get to fixing up the patio before the girls came from New York.”
“Right.”
