“Hi. Rough day?”
“I swear I’m going to line them all up and whack each of them with the wooden spoon. You can tell when it’s almost time to go home because there’s been too much together time and the bickering starts.”
“Whack them with a wooden spoon?”
Rosie shook her head. “She’s not talking about the children, Laney. She’s talking about the grown men.”
“The Kowalski men have thick skulls,” Mary added. “Trust me, sometimes the only way to get their attention is a quick thump with the spoon.”
“Speaking of men,” Rosie said. “How was dinner with Ben’s parents last night?”
Laney froze with the sandwich halfway to her mouth. The way Rosie asked the question—with obviously fake nonchalance—and Mary’s expectant look told her why she was being fed lunch today. The grapevine needed fertilizing.
“How do you know about that?”
Rosie gave her anoh, honeylook. “May was in the market and mentioned it to Fran. Then Fran had to run to the library to return some movies and she told Hailey. Hailey told Matt, who had to call Josh about something related to the club and he told him. And Josh told Sean while Andy was standing nearby. Andy told me.”
“Seriously? And all that happened this morning?”
“There’s not a lot to do in Whitford, in case you haven’t noticed. This is like a sport for us, really.”
“So, how was it?” Mary asked.
“It was good, I guess. The best Swedish meatballs I’ve ever had.” Both women looked as if they wanted to argue that point, so she kept talking. “His nephews are adorable. Maybe Johnny’s age and a little older.”
“I wasn’t asking how the meal was,” Mary said. “How did you get along with his parents?”
“Fine. They’re nice. His brother and his sister-in-law are nice. It wasn’t a big deal, really.”
Rosie looked skeptical. “When a man brings a woman home to his mother, it’s a big deal.”
Laney wanted to push back against that line of thinking, since she didn’twantit to be a big deal, but she suspected she’d be wasting her breath. Instead, she took a big bite of her sandwich and took her time chewing it.
When they got the hint she wasn’t going to say any more about dinner, the two women ate their own lunches. The talk turned to the daunting task of getting the belongings spread all over the campground back into the correct campers, the way they had come out.
Just as she was about to excuse herself, the back door opened again and Josh walked in. “Hey, Rosie, have you seen some papers rolled up with a rubber band on them?”
“When I find papers, I put them on your desk. Like I have been for years.”
“I’ll check there. Ben just drove up and I want to go over some maps with him. We’ve been marking every location he responds to, and we’ve got a remote cluster. We’ll never get permission to cut a road in from that many landowners, but one guy owns a big chunk and Matt suggested we approach him about cutting in a clearing for a helicopter. I want to get Ben’s take on it.”
He was walking as he talked and he was stepping out of the kitchen as he said the last words. Laney turned back to find both women staring at her and she didn’t have to guess why. But she wasn’t going to admit anything, either. “What?”
“Ben sure does spend a lot of time here,” Mary said.
“Because Sean and the others are here. And because he’s always talking to Josh and Andy about the trails. Plus, he said starting from here cuts down his response time, so he can visit you guys while still doing his job, instead of sitting in the fire station.” Laney got up and rinsed her plate. “I’m going to go check the laundry.”
“That dryer’s not done,” Rosie said. “I’ll check it in a bit and they can come haul their own clothes up the stairs.”
“Okay, then I’m going to go...do something.”
She had her hand on the door when Mary spoke. “Tell Ben we said hi.”
They were both laughing when she walked out in the hot sun, and she couldn’t help smiling. Yes, she wanted to see Ben. Maybe he had logical reasons for being there, but that didn’t stop her from remembering the way he’d looked at her when he’d said he’d be stopping by to see her. The intensity of it still made her shiver.
She spotted him right away, since he hadn’t made it as far as out back. He was leaning against the barn, talking to Andy, but as soon as he saw her, he stood up straight. His smile made Andy look over, and then he smiled, too.
“I think I might know where those papers are that Josh is looking for. I’ll be back in a minute.”
