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She went back to the kitchen to organize more coffee. She decided to make an early start on the cookies because she didn’t have any to offer her sudden influx of unexpected guests. She had a strong suspicion that it wasn’t Auntie Linda who’d been gossiping, but someone else entirely, and she needed time to work out what she thought about that.
As the oven was already at temperature, she had the first batch of cookies in before her mom reappeared in the kitchen doorway.
“I’m glad to see that you haven’t made many changes.” Isla sat at the table. She’d allowed her naturally blond hair to fade to an elegant silver gray that she wore in a bun on the back of her head. She’d kept her maiden name of Smith and Lucy had followed suit in honor of her grandmother. “I’ve been dreading coming back here.”
Lucy looked hard at her mother. “You have?”
“I’ve definitely been putting it off. I spent my childhood here just like you did.” She looked around the room. “Some of my memories are quite painful whereas others are pure gold. I guess we all feel like that about the places and people we grew up with.”
“I always got the feeling you didn’t like the place,” Lucy remarked as she checked the cookies weren’t burning.
“Mainly because your gran wanted me to stay here forever and I wanted to see the world. As you might imagine, that caused a lot of friction between us.”
“Seems to be a family tradition.” Lucy got the rest of the dough out of the refrigerator. “You wanted me to settle in Seattle.”
“Which, now that I think about it, was remarkably hypocritical of me, wasn’t it?” Isla half smiled. “I didn’t want this life, so I assumed you wouldn’t want it either. I tried to stop you even trying it, but you did it anyway. I’m proud of you for that.”
“I never got that impression.” Lucy took the cookies out and set them on the cooling rack while she dealt with the remaining dough.
“Which is one of the reasons why I’m here.” Isla took a quick breath. “You’ve made this place a success without any support from us, and that’s . . . admirable. I was wrong to try and stop you, and I apologize unreservedly.”
“You’re not dying or anything, are you?” Lucy asked suspiciously.
“Not immediately, if that’s what you’re worrying about.”
“No one paid you to say nice things about me?”
“Why would anyone need to do that?” Isla opened her eyes wide and looked guilty as hell.
“Because Caleb Erickson has some weird ideas sometimes,” Lucy said grimly as she went to look out of the window. “Is he lurking around somewhere because I’dreallylike to talk to him.”
“Caleb? Dan’s friend?”
Lucy turned back to her mom. “You’re almost as terrible a liar as I am.” She walked over and picked up her cell. “I’m going to text him right now.”
“There’s no need, darling,” her mother said quickly. “We’ve been invited up to the ranch for dinner. We’ll see him and his father then.”
“What about Auntie Linda?” Lucy asked. “She’s expecting me.”
“She knows you’re no longer attending,” Isla said airily. “Don’t worry about a thing.”
“But what if I don’t want to go to the Ericksons’?” Lucy knew she probably sounded like a teenager, but she wasn’t onboard with everyone messing with her life. “Perhaps I want to hang out with my cousins.”
Isla’s expression and eloquent sigh reminded Lucy forcibly of being sixteen when she and her mom had started to disagree on everything.
“I’m sure Mr. Erickson would be totally okay with Linda and her family coming to the ranch, too,” Isla finally said. “If it will make you happy, Lucy, I’ll make a phone call and check. Excuse me for just a minute!”
Lucy held up her hand. She wasn’t being fair and this time it wasn’t her mom’s fault.
“It’s fine, really. I just hate surprises. Of course, I’m happy to go. I left half my holiday dinner in their freezers anyway.”
“Then that’s settled.” Isla paused. “As you seem rather upset by all this upheaval, I suppose I should mention that Dan might turn up at any moment.”
“He’s already here.” Lucy pointed upward. “Room ten at the back.”
Isla’s chuckle was enough to make Lucy smile back at her.
“Typical.” She turned toward the door. “I’ll make sure he’s ready to leave in an hour and that he’s presentable.”
