AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I didn’t mean—”
“I do understand. You deserve the best, and I’ll always be hoping you find it. No hard feelings, okay?”
Long after he was gone, Dana sat at her desk and stared out the window toward the hills, wishing she could have given him a different answer. But someday he’d find the right woman to win his heart.
* * * *
DURING THE NEXT FOUR days, Zach unpacked everything. Went to town to buy ruffled pink curtains and a bedspread covered with pink balloons. Found toys and a new doll and, with the help of a grandmotherly clerk, bought Katie new outfits and underwear and a light jacket. She’ll need it all later, he reasoned. When her mother shows up.
Through it all, Katie silently clung to his leg like a burr, that faded doll as much a part of her as her baby-soft hair and sad blue eyes. It was as if she already knew that her mother wasn’t coming back.
Now, while he stood out in the midafternoon sunshine, giving the exterior of his little rental house a fresh coat of paint, she played with her doll on the porch swing, where he knew she kept a close eye on his every move. She’s afraid I’ll disappear, too.
At the distant sound of hoofbeats, he stilled, looked across the rolling pastureland toward the Hathaway place and saw two riders approaching at a dead run. Dana’s kids, he realized after a moment. Riding bareback and racing to an impromptu finish line. A few hundred yards away, they slowed to a walk and Molly leaned over to give her horse a hug.
Katie stared at them in awe. “Ponies!” Her doll forgotten, she slid off the swing and stood at the porch railing.
Zach tapped the lid back on the paint can and dropped the brush into a jar filled with thinner, then put the jar up high where she couldn’t reach. “Would you like to pet the horses?”
Her vigorous nod made him smile as he scooped her up into his good arm and headed for the gate at the far side of the barn.
He’d come up with a long list of chores, well beyond what his lease agreement required, and it felt good to keep busy. He’d already replaced several window screens and scraped blistered paint from the weathered house. Now that his splint was off, he’d be able to make faster progress even though his wrist was still tender.
They stood along the split-rail fence as the Hathaways pulled to a stop on the other side.
“Hi, Katie!” Molly waved exuberantly.
Alex, his efforts at masculine reserve painfully obvious, nodded once and touched the brim of his hat. “Francie and Mom are grilling steaks tonight to celebrate the end of school. They...uh...wanted us to invite you over.”
“Can you come? Please?”
“What do you think, honey? Want to go visiting?”
“We’ve got puppies in our barn,” Molly cajoled. “And Mom has baby birds in the clinic.” Her voice rose dramatically. “I could even catch old Penelope, and see if she’ll give you a ride. She was Alex’s first pony, and mine, too. Supper is at seven, but can you come sooner?”
“We were supposed to ask you hours ago,” Alex said, giving Molly a long-suffering look. “But someone left the south pasture gate open. We had to round up over a hundred cows and calves heading down the highway.”
“It wasn’t me,” Molly retorted. “I didn’t even go through that gate this week. Honest.”
“Right. Like you didn’t leave the clinic’s back door unlocked after feeding the dogs yesterday—” Alex gave Zach an apologetic grin. “Sorry. You won’t want to come over if you have to listen to us.”
Zach glanced at his paint-spattered watch. “We’ll be there as soon as we can. Katie needs a quick bath, and I could use a shower first.”
“Perfect!” Molly beamed at him.
Katie watched with rapt attention as the two Hathaways turned their horses toward home. “Ponies,” she breathed.
Her bath done in record time, her eyes sparkling with anticipation, she was waiting at the door long before Zach had finished his shower and dressed.
“Just a second, sugar,” he said, pausing at the laptop he’d set up on the small desk in the living room.
Before leaving Dallas, he’d bought a pre-paid cell phone with cash at a discount store so no calls or texts could be traced to his own name.
Still cautious, he rarely accessed Jerry’s secure number at the DEA to check on whether or not there was news about Janet. And while his laptop had highly secure software for accessing the Internet, he still used it as little as possible.
It wasn’t a perfect system, but the best he could do under the circumstances.
Maybe today there’ll finally be some information about Janet.
