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Carol looked like she was a long way from ready to go emotionally. But she knew better than to argue. Ginger might look vaguely like a retired supermodel who’d decided to go back to the country, but she’d raised two boys and she wasn’t likely to be swayed by any pleas. She lifted Carol’s suitcase into the trunk, then paused to give Ruth a hug as Carol trudged to the other side of the car.
“Hang in there,” she said quietly. “She’s had a good time here. Once you’re on the road, she should snap out of her funk.”
“I know. Thank you both.”
“No problem.” Ginger gave her a slightly teary smile. “I loved having her here. Send her back if you need to.”
For one wild moment, Ruth considered hiding Carol out with Brett and Ginger until David finally went away. But she had a feeling that wouldn’t work. “Thanks, anyway.”
Ginger waved through the car window. “Bye-bye, sweetheart. Be good to your mama now.”
Carol humphed, but Ruth had a feeling her heart wasn’t in it.
As they headed up the drive again, Carol pointed to the field with the goats. “That’s Sweetie and that’s Myrtle. Primrose is pregnant. Uncle Brett thinks it’s twins.”
“You helped take care of the goats?” Ruth didn’t think Brett had ever taken Carol into the goat barn before.
Carol nodded, her lips moving into a smile. “I helped get them set up with the milking machine. And Uncle Brett even showed me how to do it by hand, only that takes a lot longer.”
“Yes, it does.” Ruth remembered milking goats all too well. It was a miracle she’d gone on to make goat cheese. At one time she’d have said she never wanted to see a pail of goat milk again.
“Why did I have to come home early?” Carol folded her arms across her chest. “I was having fun. And I was helping.”
“I’m glad you were helping. And I’m sorry you had to come back early.” Ruth sighed. She’d tried to figure out a roundabout way to tell Carol what was going on, but she finally just did it. “Here’s the thing. Your father’s in town, and he wants to see you.”
Carol stared at her, her jaw dropping slightly. “What? Dad’s here?”
Ruth nodded. “He showed up yesterday. I didn’t know he was coming, or I would have planned better. He wants to spend time with you. I asked him to come to the house for dinner tomorrow night.”
“Why can’t he come tonight?” Carol blurted. “Why didn’t you call me and tell me he was here? I could have come back early.”
Ruth gritted her teeth. Carol had a right to be annoyed, given that they’d both been blindsided by her father. “I thought you were having a good time with your aunt and uncle. You were just complaining a minute ago that you didn’t want to come home. I wanted to give you another day since neither of us knew your father was coming.”
Carol scowled harder. Tough. Ruth wasn’t going to run anything on David’s timetable.
“I don’t know how long he’ll be here or what he has planned. But he needs to work with our schedule. Besides, we need to get the house cleaned up. If you want to show him your room, you need to clear out all the junk I’ve been telling you to get rid of for weeks.”
She glanced at her daughter again, only to catch a glimpse of a tear rolling down her cheek. Well, crap.
She pulled the car to the side of the road and leaned across the seat to hug her. “Come on, honey, it’ll all work out. You had a good time at the farm and now you can spend some time with your dad and show him Antero.” Assuming David wanted to see Antero rather than flying off to L.A. with his daughter in tow.
Carol leaned against her shoulder, then sat up again. “Can I go back to California with him?”
Ruth gritted her teeth. She’d known the question was going to come, after all.
“I’m not promising anything yet. I’ll discuss it with your father and see what he has planned and if it’ll work out. Plus, you need to get ready for school sometime. You need some new clothes.”
Carol grimaced. “I hate clothes shopping.”
Which would undoubtedly limit her interest in shopping with David’s PA. But that was a problem for another day. “Maybe we can go to Grand Junction and stay over. We could see a movie.”
