by Katie Lane
She slid her sandwich over to him. “You’ll always be my favorite nephew.”
He grinned. “Knew it.” He polished off her sandwich and followed it with an entire bag of nacho-flavored Doritos. As he munched on the chips and talked about school, she couldn’t help examining his features. She didn’t find any similarities to Cru. Clint looked like a younger version of her daddy—something that Evie refused to acknowledge—except with dark brown eyes with golden splashes in the irises.
When her father had learned Evie was pregnant, he’d wanted her to put the baby up for adoption. He’d made all the arrangements and sent Evie to Dallas when she first started to show. Evie had been a scared fifteen-year-old and had gone along with her father’s wishes. But all it had taken was Evie holding Clint one time for her to change her mind. Penny was so glad she had. She didn’t want to think about what life would be like without her sweet nephew.
“Do I have a booger hanging out of my nose, Aunt Pen?” Clint asked. “Why do you keep staring at me?”
“Sorry. It’s just been a while since I’ve seen that cute face.” She pinched his cheek. “Now get your homework done so your mom won’t yell at both of us when she gets home from work. While you’re working on it, I’ll figure out something to make for dinner.”
“I wish you’d let Mom make dinner. I still puke in my mouth when I think of your pork tacos.”
She jumped up from her barstool. “Oh, you’re going to pay with noogies for that, Mister.”
She soon figured out that it was a mistake to try and wrangle with her nephew now that he was bigger that she was. She might be a strong cowgirl from all the ranch work she did, but Clint was like a big lab puppy who didn’t know his own strength. She ended up being the one in the headlock getting hard noogies. She had to reach up and tickle his armpit to get him to release her.
“Hey, no fair,” he said.
She grinned. “Everything’s fair in war, baby boy.”
It turned out Clint was right about her cooking skills. The spaghetti she made was mushy and the sauce so garlicky she ended up tossing both out and ordering pizza delivery. But Evie didn’t seem to care about what was for dinner when she walked through the door and saw Penny.
“Pen!” She pulled her into a tight hug. “What are you doing here during the week?” She drew back with concerned eyes. “Is everything okay at the ranch?”
She pinned on a smile. “Everything’s fine. Can’t a girl miss her nephew and sis? Now stop being a worrywart and let’s eat the pizza before it gets cold.”
“Amen,” Clint said. “I’m starving.”
During dinner, Clint wasn’t as talkative about school with his mother as he had been with Penny. When Evie asked if he’d stayed away from Tommy that day, he shot a quick glance over at Penny before he vaguely answered. “He wanted to hang out after school, but I told him I had homework.”
Penny could’ve mentioned Tommy being there and the cigarette and alcohol. But since Clint had tried to get rid of Tommy, she kept her mouth shut. Obviously, her line between right and wrong was totally blurred.
After dinner, Clint headed to his room to play video games. Once he was gone, Evie got up from her chair and opened the broom closet. Penny was surprised when she pulled out the mop bucket.
“I get that you love to clean, Evie. But can you wait until I leave?”
“I’m not planning on mopping.” She pulled a bottle of wine out of the bucket.
Penny laughed. “That’s not exactly a great hiding place.”
“It is when your son hates to clean as much as Clint does. His room looks like a tornado hit it . . . twice.” Evie opened the bottle of wine and then took two wine glasses from the cupboard. “Let’s go out to the patio.”
Once they were sitting on the patio with a glass of merlot, Evie looked at her. “So what’s going on? And don’t tell me it’s nothing. I can tell by your face that something happened. Is it Daddy? Did you get in a fight? Or is it Lucas? Has his sprained ankle gotten worse?”
“I haven’t seen Lucas in a while.” She took a deep drink of wine and then wrinkled her nose. “Dang, I don’t know how you drink this stuff.” She set the glass down on the table.
Evie laughed. “Sorry, but six-packs of Bud are harder to hide. Now quit hedging and get to the reason you’re here.”
She swallowed hard. “Cru Cassidy is still at Lucas and Chester’s. I guess he’s been helping them.”
Evie causally took a sip of her wine and shrugged. “Good for him. Maybe he’s not such a bad boy after all.”
Penny couldn’t keep Evie’s secret a second more. She leaned up and rested her forearms on the table. “Don’t you care that the father of your child has come back to Simple?”
Evie choked on her wine and Penny reached over and thumped her back until she caught her breath. “Who told you that?”
“No one had to tell me. He’s the only logical choice. Are you saying it was another Double Diamond boy?”
Evie fiddled with the stem of her glass. “I’m not telling you who Clint’s father is.”
“Why not? I realize why you didn’t tell me when I was thirteen and couldn’t keep a secret to save my soul. But I can keep a secret now.”
“It’s not so much about you keeping the secret. I just don’t want you to have to feel guilty about lying to Daddy, Clint, and the entire town. Believe me, I feel guilty enough.”
“Then why don’t you tell the truth, Evie? If not to Daddy and the town, then at least to Clint? I think he’s old enough to handle it.”
Evie blew out a breath. “You’re probably right. The other night he started questioning the story I gave him about his father.”
Penny rolled her eyes. “Anyone with half a brain would question the ridiculous story that his dad is a foreign exchange student you had one night of passion with before he headed back to Spain.”
Evie looked thoroughly offended. “It’s not a ridiculous story. I did date that cute foreign exchange student from Spain. And Daddy and the entire town of Simple believes Fernando was the one who got me pregnant.”
“Because it’s much easier to blame a foreigner than someone from their beloved Texas. But Clint isn’t as gullible. If he’s asking, you know it’s only a matter of time before he Googles Fernando and tries to contact him. The poor guy won’t know what’s going on if he should get an email from some American teenager claiming to be his son.”
“Fine. I’ll tell him, but I’m waiting until he gets through this belligerent teenage stage he’s going through. He already hates me enough as is. I don’t want him hating me any more.”
“Clint doesn’t hate you.” Penny reached across the table and squeezed her sister’s hand. “He loves you, Evie. He’ll forgive you. And I’ll be right there to make sure he understands how hard it was for a sixteen-year-old girl to become a mother and how scared you were of Daddy finding out it was a Double Diamond boy and doing something in retaliation.” She paused. “Do you still love . . . Clint’s father?”
Evie lifted her glass and stared down at her wine. “Your first love is hard to forget. Especially when he’s your son’s father.” She glanced up. “So that’s the only reason you came? You just wanted to tell me Cru Cassidy was still at Chester and Lucas’s?”
Penny should tell her about the kiss. There was little doubt that someone in Simple had witnessed it and the gossip was already spreading like wildfire. But how did you go about telling your sister you’d kissed her first love—not once, but twice? Before she could find the words, Evie spoke.
“Edward wants to get married in Cancun this fall and I’m thinking about saying ‘yes.’”
Penny forgot about the kiss and stared at her sister. “This fall?” When Evie had mentioned Edward’s proposals, Penny had assumed she’d have a good year to talk her sister out of it. But fall was less than six months away. And if Evie married Edward, she’d never come home. Edward wasn’t the small town type. He was the vice-president of a bank and loved his jo
b and the prestige that went with it.
“But you can’t get married,” she said before she remembered her sister was exactly like their father and hated being told what to do. “I mean you can’t get married in Cancun. You’re terrified of flying.”
“I’m not terrified. I just have a little anxiety.”
“A little? That’s not what I would call the major panic attacks you have. The flight crews and passengers are probably still talking about your complete meltdowns.”
“I’m not that bad. Besides, I’m not going to fly to Cancun. We’re driving to Florida and taking a cruise.”
“But you don’t love him, Evie.”
“And he knows that. He did the entire love thing with his first marriage and it turned out badly. He’s ready to have a marriage based on friendship and mutual interests. We have a lot in common.”
“Like what?”
“We both work at the bank. We both have sons who will soon go away to college. And I think we’re both worried about being lonely.”
“Loneliness is not a good reason to get married. If you moved back to the ranch, you wouldn’t have to be lonely either. You’d have an entire town filled with people who would want to hang out with you. And me and Daddy.” Evie got an annoyed look on her face and Penny realized she wasn’t going to sway her by mentioning Daddy. “Fine, but you can’t get married in Cancun. What about all your friends and family who will want to attend the wedding?”
“They’ll all be invited.”
“You know that most folks in Simple can’t afford an expensive trip like that.” It was a bald-faced lie. Most of the townsfolk would jump at an excuse to vacation in Cancun. She threw down her trump card. “Besides, you have to get married at the ranch. You know Mama wanted both us girls to be married beneath the same rose arbor she and Daddy were married under.”
Evie’s eyes misted over. “I forgot about Mama’s arbor.” She sighed. “I’ll talk to Edward and see if he minds getting married at the ranch in the fall and going to Cancun for our honeymoon.”
“What about the spring? That will give you more time to plan.” And Penny more time to stop it. “You know how you love to plan, Evie.”
Before Evie could reply, the sliding glass door opened and Clint peeked his head out. “Your phone keeps ringing, Aunt Pen.”
“It’s probably Daddy. I forgot to call and tell him that I was coming to see you.”
Evie snorted. “And you say you’re not under his thumb.”
“I’m not.” She pushed back her chair and got up. “But he’ll be worried if I don’t call him back.”
Her father did sound worried. “Where are you?” he asked as soon as he answered the phone.
“I’m visiting Evie.”
He released his breath. “Thank God.”
His relief worried her. “What’s going on, Daddy? Did something happen at the ranch?”
“Not at our ranch. But I just got word the Double Diamond is on fire.”
Chapter Seven
“I ain’t stayin’ at no hospital so they can prod and poke me like some diseased calf.”
“They aren’t going to treat you like a diseased calf,” Cru snapped. He was usually a pretty patient guy, but he was exhausted and the stitches in his shoulder hurt like hell. He was completely out of patience for two old guys who wouldn’t listen to reason. “You’re going to take the doctor’s advice and stay the night.”
“Like hell I am.” Chester waved a hand. “Move out of the way, boy, so I can get up from this damned uncomfortable bed and go check on Lucas.”
“Your brother is fine, Mr. Diamond.” The doctor spoke to Chester in a much calmer voice than Cru had. “If you don’t want to stay, I certainly can’t force you. But you have to know that this is against my recommendation. You might not have any external injures from the explosion, but until we run tests, we won’t know about internal injuries.”
“My innards are just fine.” Chester sat up on the bed. “Now what did you do with Lucas?”
The doctor shook his head in defeat. “He’s down the hall getting fitted with a boot for his sprained ankle.”
Chester snorted and whispered to Cru loud enough for the doctor to hear. “That shows you who we’re dealing with here. Who puts a boot on a man with a sprained ankle? Now let’s go get Lucas and go home.”
“We can’t go home, Chester,” Cru said. “Are you forgetting about what happened to the house?”
Chester scowled. “I’m not senile. I know exactly what happened. Lucas turned on the stove then forgot to light it and blew the kitchen to smithereens.”
That was exactly what had happened. And as it had been doing all night, Cru’s stomach tightened sickeningly with the thought that all three of them could have been blown to smithereens right along with the kitchen. It was a miracle they hadn’t been.
Cru had always believed in God. Growing up in a Catholic orphanage, it was pretty much a given. But he’d viewed God as an old white-haired guy who sat on a cloud in heaven and laughed as He watched the antics of the humans He’d created. Cru had never thought of Him as a God who got too involved in day-to-day life. But he started to rethink this belief after he, Chester, and Lucas survived the gas explosion that burned down the house.
It had been close to seven o’clock when Misty had started raising a ruckus in the barn. Cru had gotten up to go check on her and Chester had insisted on going with him. When they got there, they couldn’t find any reason for the horse to be upset. They checked Misty over, then looked around the barn for a skunk or squirrel that might’ve wandered in. After finding nothing that would’ve spooked the horse, they’d headed back to the house and run into Lucas.
“Did one of you yahoos move my bag of popcorn? I looked in the freezer, but it’s not there.”
Chester had snorted. “You don’t store popcorn in the freezer, you old—” Before he could say coot, the night had lit up. The blast knocked Lucas into Cru’s arms. He’d turned to shelter both Lucas and Chester from flying debris and a shard of glass had struck him in the shoulder. But other than that, no one had been harmed. All because Misty had decided to throw a fit for no apparent reason and Lucas couldn’t find his popcorn. Of course, it would’ve been better if God had reminded Lucas to light the gas stove after turning it on. Or even kept the water heater from lighting and igniting the gas that had filled the kitchen. Then Chester and Lucas would still have their home.
“We can’t go back to a house that’s blown to smithereens,” Cru said. “We’ll have to stay in a hotel until you can figure out what you want to do. So you might as well stay here a night.”
“We can sleep in the barn. It won’t be the first time I’ve slept in one.”
“You’re not sleeping in a barn.” A woman stepped into the room. A pretty blond woman who looked vaguely familiar. Before Cru could place her, Chester helped him out.
“Evie!” He held out his arms and Evie walked straight into them and gave him a tight hug.
It looked like Evie had grown up. She still had a phenomenal body, but she wasn’t as beautiful as Cru remembered. Her hair was an ordinary blond—nothing like a fiery sunset of strawberry blond and reds. And she had no sun-kissed cheeks or sprinkling of freckles.
Now that he knew why Penny had been avoiding him, he planned to put his attraction to her behind him and move on. But for some reason, he couldn’t stop thinking about her and the kisses they’d shared. He’d never particularly cared for kissing. To him, it was just a means to an end. But with Penny, kissing was almost as good as the main event. He loved the way she felt in his arms and the way she tasted on his tongue and the way she followed every slow sip and deep slide. And damned if he didn’t wish he hadn’t been so boob crazy as a kid and gone after Evie. But it was too late for wishes. He’d already burned his bridges.
Evie drew back from Chester. “Are you okay? Penny and I have been so worried about you.”
“Fit as a fiddle. It will take more than a little fire to get rid
of this ornery old cowboy.”
Evie laughed. “Thank God for that. Although I wish we had known before we left Abilene. Penny drove like a maniac getting here. Even I had trouble following her and I’ve always had a lead foot.”
“Where is Penny?” Cru asked.
She glanced over at him. She didn’t look surprised to see him. Penny must’ve told her he was there. He couldn’t help wondering if she’d told her about the kisses they’d shared. If she had, Evie didn’t seem mad about it. Her tone held no emotions whatsoever. “Hey, Cru.”
Looking into her blue eyes, he thought he’d feel something—some leftover attraction from that summer so long ago. But all he felt was a slight amount of nostalgia.
“Hey, Evie. You grew up.”
“So did you. What happened to the scrawny boy who thought he was God’s gift to women?”
“Scrawny? And here I thought you’d been so impressed with my concave chest and non-existent biceps.”
Her blue eyes sparkled with humor. “Which is why you kept taking off your shirt.”
He laughed. “I did use any excuse to whip my shirt off and strut my stuff, didn’t I? Unlike Logan, who refused to take his shirt off for anything. Hell, he even swam in his t-shirt.”
Her smile faded as if he’d snuffed it out with a strong exhalation and she changed the subject. “Penny’s with Lucas. When I left he was giving an orderly a hard time about having to sit in a wheelchair.” She glanced at the doctor. “I’m going to make a bet that you’ve been getting the same treatment here.”
The doctor nodded. “I’d like both Mr. Diamond and his brother to stay overnight so I can run some tests, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
“They’ll stay overnight.” Penny wheeled Lucas into the room.
Cru didn’t know why he suddenly felt relieved. He tried to tell himself it had to do with her taking over some of the responsibility for Chester and Lucas, but deep down he knew there was more to it than that. There was something about her big blue eyes filled with such worry and concern that made him want to pull her into his arms. And what scared him was he didn’t know if it was to comfort her or himself.
