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“I haven’t got but a minute, but I wanted to see how things went,” Stevie said. “I’ve called Lucas like a dozen times, but every time it goes right to voice mail. I expect he’s talking to Sonny.”
Vada removed her coat and led the way to the kitchen. “How about a cup of hot tea or chocolate to warm up your bones?” A vision of Lucas’s smile popped into her head at the mention of bones. He’d said he could feel it in his bones—that Theron would want to come back to the ranch the next day.
“Don’t have time for that,” Stevie said. “I really do only have five minutes, so please talk fast. How did things go?”
“Shockingly well. Spectacular by Theron’s standards. He wants to go live on the ranch for a week.” Vada couldn’t believe the words were coming from her mouth. “That horse and dog did more in one day than all the therapists I’ve tried could do in all these years. I really think that he’s ready towanthelp.”
“That’s great!” Stevie said. “I’m so happy for him. Want me to talk to Lucas about Theron coming out to the ranch for a week?”
“No, I’ll call him,” Vada whispered, and shifted her eyes down the hallway to be sure Theron wasn’t eavesdropping, “but I told Theron that he has to ask Lucas himself before we even consider it. It’s a big step and a hard choice, but if he’s ever going to get any better…”
“I understand.” Stevie laid a hand on Vada’s shoulder. “Let me know if I can help inanyway.”
“Thank you.” Vada pulled out a chair and sank down into it. She still felt like she should pinch herself to be sure she wasn’t dreaming. The old Theron would never, ever—not in a thousand years—have done some of the things he had done that day.
She took her phone from her purse and shoved it into the hip pocket of her jeans and tiptoed down the hallway. That there was a light showing under his door was yet another surprise. When she reached the bathroom, she closed the door behind her and sat down on the vanity stool. Then she turned the water on in the sink and called Lucas.
“Hello,” Lucas said.
He might have traveled all over the world, but he still had a deep Texas drawl that she could listen to for days on end. She had always been intrigued by him back in high school, but seeing him at the ranch, there had been a little spark between them. It was wild to even think like that, and most likely the little jolt she’d gotten when she touched his arm came from the fact she hadn’t dated since her divorce.
“This is Vada,” she said.
“I figured it was either you or Theron, since your name came up on the caller ID,” Lucas said.
“Theron may change his mind tomorrow, but on the way home he told me that he wants to come to the ranch and stay a week,” she blurted out. “He hates any kind of change, so I’m shocked that he even said that.”
“It can be arranged and would be good for him to be here so he could go out to the corral anytime he wanted,” Lucas said. “When does he want to move in?”
Vada took a deep breath and let it out in a loud whoosh. “He has to ask you himself. We need to agree on a price. I feel bad at running you out of the bunkhouse,” she said.
The line was quiet for a long while, and then Lucas said, “That’s asking a lot of the little guy.”
“Maybe so, and I’m walking on new ground here, but…” She hesitated.
“I understand. You are his mother, and you know him well, so I’ll abide by whatever you think is best,” Lucas said. “But only if I can stay in the bunkhouse. It would crowd Jesse and Addie to have me in the ranch house, and Mama and Daddy only have one bedroom, so I’d be on the couch.”
“Is it all right if we come to the ranch at one o’clock tomorrow then even if he doesn’t make the call?” Vada asked.
“I’ll be waiting, and I hope he asks me, because I could use some company. I thought I wanted privacy, but I’d forgotten how lonely it can be to have a whole bunkhouse to myself,” Lucas told her. “I’ve been used to living with several other cowboys, and this one feels pretty danged empty.”
“You do realize I’ll be with him?” Vada was suddenly more than a little nervous about sharing a house with Lucas for a whole week.
“I was counting on it,” Lucas chuckled.
Chapter Four
Theron came out of his room on Tuesday morning wearing jeans, a black T-shirt with a bright colored symbol of an atom on it, and no hoodie. “Could we have waffles and sausage for breakfast, please?”
“Of course.” Vada still felt like she was living in a dream. “Hot tea or juice?”
“Milk,” Theron said. “I read that a growing person my age needs more calcium for the bones, and sunshine to get the D vitamin. I should have researched this before now.”
Vada popped a package of sausage links into the microwave and put two frozen waffles in the toaster. She tried to remember a time when her son had come out of his room two days in a row, but she couldn’t.
“I am ready to move to the ranch for one week,” Theron said. “I researched what I would need, and I have my things laid out on the bed. I need a duffel bag or a suitcase to put them in. After I eat, I will call Lucas and ask him if we can come today. I will need his phone number.”
To Vada’s knowledge, Theron had never used his cell phone for anything other than playing games or as a research tool, so she wasn’t sure he would even know how to use it to make a call.
