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Grandma. I already call her grandma in my own head.
But that’s what she is. She’s my grandmother, my father’s mother. The first living relative I’ve known in a decade. Even so, I have no right to question her neighbors, not when I am a virtual stranger to all of them. They are more her family than me, the long-lost granddaughter who has barely spent more than three hours on the phone with Katherine.
“Rose?”
“I’m coming!” I hurry to catch up, the waft of sugary sweetness guiding me through an interior as mangled as the outside.
But if Katherine will have me, maybe this could be my new home, the details of my long-term stay yet to be discussed. Our last conversation had been up in the air, no definitive plans made except for me to come to the ranch and sit down face-to-face with Katherine and see if we were a good fit.
I raise my head, eyes landing on Connor’s swagger beneath the curve of his worn jeans before my gaze darts toward Eli, already disappearing around the corner and away from the house as if he’s on fire. Only Hudson is missing from this very naughty picture I have formulating in my head, and I giggle to myself.
I feel like Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
Hopefully I won’t meet the same fate as Blondie did.
CHAPTER3
Eli
“Eli!” Miss Katherine yells after me, her aging voice barely able to keep the decibel of volume, but I don’t stop walking back toward my property, glad I can blame her feebleness if she calls me on it later.
I’m already breaking a sweat, my hands clammy and my stomach quivering as I move. I can’t explain to Katherine Winterbourne why I won’t be staying for her famous huckleberry pie, as much as I want to. I can’t spend another second in that house as long as Rose is present. I can’t keep looking into the face of her granddaughter who, by all accounts, looks exactly like Simone.
But she’s not Simone. Simone is dead,I remind myself curtly, flatly, harshly.She’s gone, and that woman is not her.
“Whoa, where’s the fire?” Hudson cracks as I almost collide with him, abruptly spinning around one of the pines, not seeing him as he returns to the Winterbourne property for his car, presumably. Balefully, I stare at him, and he immediately shoots me a look of contrition.
“Sorry. Bad joke,” he apologizes.
I grimace. My former job as a firefighter always seems to make for entertainment fodder amongst the boys.
“You met her?” Hudson prods.
“She’s kind of hard to miss,” I growl, sidestepping my neighbor. I pause, my intent to hide myself away in my house forgotten for a moment. Suddenly, I’m curious about his take on Rose. “What did you think of her?”
Hudson shrugs indifferently, his stoic expression difficult to read as usual. “We didn’t speak much. I’m not entirely sure about all this DNA, family tree bullshit. Who knows if that company is accurate or if this isn’t some kind of scam?”
That’s unsurprising. Hudson doesn’t often have much to say under normal circumstances, and suspicion runs deep in his blood. I can’t imagine what he would have to offer a perfect stranger who has materialized from the internet of all places.
“Miss Katherine found her,” I remind him, although I, too, had my doubts when I’d first heard about it. But Connor had apparently done research into both Rose Winterbourne and Family Tree Discovery.
After seeing the identical odd green of their laurel-colored eyes, I found myself believing in their lineage.
My thoughts turn back to my ex.As much as Rose shares the same features as Simone, those green eyes are Winterbournes. Simone’s eyes were blue.
“Why aren’t you in there eating up the pie?” Hudson asks, striding toward his car, twirling his keys in his hand. It’s clear he has no intention of joining the others in the house, and I hesitate, suddenly wanting to retreat into Miss Katherine’s place, if only to compare Rose to Simone again. Maybe I’d gotten more than the eye color wrong, too.
Don’t be stupid. They obviously aren’t the same person. You don’t need confirmation of that. Keep your distance before you get hurt.
“Why aren’tyoueating the pie?” I fire back with far more anger than I intended.
Hudson snorts but doesn’t answer. He pauses at the driver’s door. “Is her stuff out of my truck?”
He almost sounds annoyed that her things were in his vehicle to begin with, that he had been the one Katherine had asked to pick Rose up from the airport. No one could say no to the old woman who had lived on the failed ranch since our fathers and grandfathers had run our respective properties.
Without another word, Hudson climbs into his truck and backs out, leaving me on the driveway with a decision to make. A minute ago, I’d been determined to leave, but now, I want to know what they’re talking about in the house.
It’s none of my business,I tell myself.
