“The truck broke down in Nevada and won’t be here until Monday.”
“Monday,” Charlene said.“You mean you’re in that big house next door without a stick of furniture?”
“We brought a few things with us,” Jane said.
“Not beds.Not food.”Billie swiveled on her stool.“Can we stay in a hotel with cable this time, Mom?I hate these channels with nothing good on.Do you know that in one place they didn’t have the sports channel?”
“You’re not going to a hotel,” Charlene said.“There are plenty of extra rooms right here.”
Adam glared at his aunt.“I’m sure they’d be more comfortable in a place of their own.”
“He’s right.We wouldn’t want to impose.”Jane spoke without facing him.
“Why?”Billie asked.“I like Adam and he likes us.Charlene can teach me to play poker.”
“Poker?”Jane stared at Charlene who was suddenly interested in slipping her bracelets back on.“Charlene, you can’t teach a child—”
“I never said that.It was Adam.He’s always accusing me of things that aren’t true.I might be a little unconventional—”
“A little,” Adam growled.“The town eccentric is more like it.”
“That’s not fair.Orchard is a backwater town.It’s not my fault if I’ve had more experiences than the average local citizen.”
“Experiences?Is that what you call it when you get on the CB and invite truckers to stop by and sample your—”
“Adam!”Charlene stood and straightened to her full height.She was barely over five feet.He wasn’t the least bit intimidated.“There are children present.”
“Just me,” Billie said.
“Why don’t you wait on the lawn?”Jane handed her daughter the softball.
“But I wanna listen.Youalwayssend me out when it gets good.”
“When you’re a grown-up, you can send your children from the room.It’s one of the privileges of adulthood.Now scoot.”
Billie pulled on her cap, then left the room.Her footsteps dragged audibly on the bare wood floor.
“I’m leaving,” she yelled from the foyer.“I’ll be outside.Alone.In the dark.”
“Have fun,” Jane called.“And stay away from the windows.”
“Don’t tell me,” Charlene said.
“Yup.We’re here five minutes and she’s already broken one.”
“Definitely takes after her father.”Charlene smiled.
“What does that mean?”Jane asked quickly.
She put her arm around Jane’s shoulders.“Only that you never broke windows when you were a girl.You were always too much of a lady.”
Jane opened her mouth, as if she was going to protest, then shook her head.“I give up.It’s late, we drove almost five hundred miles today.I adore you.”She kissed Charlene’s cheek.“But I can’t make heads or tails of anything right now.Do not, under any circumstances, teach my daughter to play poker.Adam.”She gave him a weary smile.“Thanks for the use of your phone.I’ll get you the money for the window and the—” she glanced at Charlene “—the other thing tomorrow.”
The overhead light cast shadows on her face and darkened the rings under her eyes.Lines of fatigue deepened the hollows of her cheeks.A few strands of hair had escaped from the braid.One wisp drifted near the corner of her mouth.He fought theurge to brush it away, to reach out and feel the silky smoothness of her skin.The anger was well under control, but the want—He’d always known it was the most dangerous emotion.
“I insist you stay here,” Charlene said.“And Adam agrees with me.”
Jane was looking at him.The need to punish her—hurt her as he had been hurt—boiled up inside.His silence would be telling enough.She would know he didn’t want her here.But he wouldn’t risk letting her think she still mattered.Better to let her stay.
