The bell rang, and the students all launched to their feet, jamming notebooks in backpacks. But unlike the last time Jack was here, only a few charged for the door. The rest surrounded him, peppering him with questions.
Mei watched, amused and even a little touched. His ready smile and the flash of his dimples charmed her. His patience and thoughtful, intelligent answers spoke to his character.
In the face of her mother’s wrath yesterday, she’d resolved to keep her distance from Jack, just in the interest of peace. Upsetting Mom hadn’t seemed worth the unexpected opportunity of a friendship with the object of her teenage fantasies. But every time she encountered him, Jack seemed to reveal new depths, and she felt drawn to him all the more.
The last of the students finally cleared the room.
“You’re doing a wonderful job with this,” Mei said as she straightened the surface of her desk and pulled her purse from the bottom drawer. “The kids love having you here.”
“Thanks. I enjoy teaching, but knew I wouldn’t be happy confined indoors nine months of the year. My job is the best of all worlds, I guess—I’m outside a lot but have opportunities like this in the community.”
“Better be careful. At the rate you’re going, I think every one of these students will be after your job in the future.”
“That’s cool.” The corners of his eyes crinkled when he smiled. “I get the feeling I’m not doing a good job of impressing their teacher, though.”
“Of course you are. Like I said, you’re doing a great job with the class.”
“How’s your dog?”
“Fine. My mom actually relented last night. Unless he makes trouble, he can stay.” She gave a rueful laugh. “Though she probably changed her mind because I’d said I would look for a different place to live if he couldn’t stay, and it would reflect badly on her if I did.”
“I got the feeling that she wasn’t exactly pleased when I sat in your pew on Sunday.”
“There’s so much that I don’t understand about her now that I’m an adult.” Mei hesitated. “I’m really sorry if she hasn’t exactly been friendly to you and your family.”
“All of us have issues to work through now and then. Sometimes it takes a lot of work, time and prayer to get past all of that and move on.”
“And sometimes it just doesn’t happen.” Mei fingered the strap of her purse, debating.
She’d come back to her hometown to satisfy Grandpa George’s will, but she’d also wanted one more chance to become a close part of her adoptive family. To finally feel as if she finally, truly belonged. But her mother and most of her close relatives still viewed Jack as an unsavory jerk who had caused trouble with Vincent as a teenager and would likely do it again.
She’d already resolved to defend him and his brother if the subject came up with her relatives. She would not stand by and listen to the old gossip ever again without taking a stand. But did she dare risk openly flaunting her family’s opinion by going one step further?
Her head said no, but her heart…
“I really would like to be friends, Jack,” Mei said firmly. “I think my mom’s attitude is wrong. Maybe I can’t change it, but I don’t have to follow in her footsteps, either.”
His eyes twinkled. “Mei the rebel.”
“The grown-up,” she retorted with a smile. “One who would like very much to go for that cup of coffee.”
Chapter Twelve
The Cowboy Café was just as busy after school now as it had been when she was in high school. Now that she’d been back in town awhile, she was starting to recognize faces again, though a lot of the people here were strangers.
A slender waitress with a long auburn ponytail ushered Mei and Jack to a table in back, then waited, pencil poised over her order tablet. “Hey, Jack. Good to see you. What can I get you two to drink?”
“Just coffee for me, black.”
“Really?” She pulled an incredulous face. “There’s still a slice of Arabella’s lemon meringue pie in back, and it has your name on it.”
He grinned at her. “Sold.”
“I should hope so. And for you, miss?” She smiled expectantly at Mei, then did a double take. “Mei? Mei Clayton?”
The years fell away as Mei remembered her from school, though Erin had been three years younger. She’d matured into a beautiful young woman. “And you must be Erin Fields, right? It’s great to see you.”
“I never exactly dreamed of doing this, but dreams do change.” Erin smiled. “I own the café now.”
“That’s wonderful. This must be the busiest place in the county.”
“Some days it is, and for that I’m more than grateful. So what can I get you?”
“Just coffee. Cream and sugar.”
Erin nodded, and moments later she was back with their order. She lingered for a moment, fidgeting with the worn class ring on her hand. “I’m so sorry to hear about your brother, Mei. Have you heard anything yet?”
Lucas was never far from her thoughts, and now a fresh surge of worry crawled through her. “Not a word. Zach says the police and a P.I. are trying to find him, but I just can’t understand why it’s taking so long.”
Erin bit her lower lip. “There are a lot of people praying for him. We all hope to hear good news soon.”
The waitress drifted away toward the lunch counter. Jack took a slow sip of coffee, then started on his truly monumental slice of lemon pie.
“They must really like you here,” Mei teased.
“They do.” The corners of his eyes crinkled. “Erin operates a horse rescue in her spare time. Some visitors left a gate unlocked a while back, and a half dozen horses turned up miles away. I helped catch the escapees out on the highway.”
“Exciting day.”
“It was—with semi horns blaring and the horses running back and forth across the asphalt. They sure stopped traffic for a while.” He speared another bite of pie with his fork. “Erin said she was giving me free pie for life after that, but I always add the entire cost to my tip.”
“You are quite a hero.”
He winked at her. “If it involves Arabella’s pie, I’ll go to any lengths. Believe me.”
A warm feeling came over Mei as she studied him across the table. How could her family have been so wrong about a man like him?
“Did I hear my name?” Arabella eased sideways past two full tables of teenagers and paused at their seats. “Nice to see you both.” She gave Jack and Mei a curious look. “Together.”
“He says he loves your pie,” Mei said. “Want to join us?”
“Can’t. I’m just here delivering dinner rolls for the supper rush, and I need to get back home to the girls because Jasmine wants to spend the evening with Cade. Imagine that.” She rested a hand on Mei’s shoulder. “It was good to see you on Sunday, Mei. I’m so glad you and your mother agreed to join the Church Care Committee.”
A swallow of coffee went down the wrong way, and Mei leaned forward, coughing. She dabbed at her eyes with the edge of her napkin. “About that—I’m not sure I should have spoken for my Mom. She seemed a little upset with me on the way home.”
Arabella laughed. “You could’ve fooled me. I saw her and Maude Miller at the church an hour ago working on some food pantry baskets to take to our shut-ins.”
Mei’s mouth dropped open.
“It’s true.” Arabella’s eyes danced. “Maude took me aside and said she stopped by your mom’s place and took her by surprise. When it comes to Maude, people don’t often know what hit them until they find themselves knee-deep in work at the church.”
“Did…did my mom look upset when you saw her?”
“Actually, she’d already started giving other people orders about how to fill the deliveries. If I didn’t know her better, I’d say she was having a great time.”
“That’s amazing.”
“Oh, and speaking of that, we could really use you for a couple hours tomorrow, Mei. One of the people on our schedule can’t spend time with Macy P
erry after school tomorrow, and we need someone from four until eight. Are you available?”
“Of course. No problem.”
Arabella pulled a pen from her purse and wrote the directions on a napkin. “Here you go. It’s outside of town but not hard to find.”
After school the next day Mei read the directions Arabella had written on the back of a Cowboy Café napkin and followed them to a forlorn little farmhouse out in the country.
It stood alone, the barns and corral long gone, on a little rise surrounded by winter-bare trees. An old windmill with missing blades still stood at the back of the yard, creaking in the icy wind.
Still, the house had been painted not long ago, and the drive was freshly plowed. The work of the Church Care Committee, maybe?
She could see the bumper of an old Mercury parked in a crumbling shed. The only other vehicle in sight was a newer sedan parked by the back door of the house. Another one of the volunteers probably.
She drove in, parked by the shed and went to knock on the back door. When no one answered, she tried to peer through the window in the door. The house appeared dark inside, silent and foreboding, and despite its bright blue paint and white trim, it emanated a sense of hopelessness.
She heard soft footsteps inside and saw a young face bob upward to peer through the glass. There were muffled voices inside. Then the heavy storm door creaked open and Macy stood before her, her cheerful pink eyeglasses at odds with her pale face. Her blue eyes were dulled with sadness.
“You’re Mei,” she said flatly. “My mama says to come in.”
Another person emerged from the gloom inside. Mei recognized her as one of the brunette, middle-aged women who had served at the church coffee hour last weekend.
“I’m Carla,” she said in a quiet voice. “I’m so glad you could come today. Arabella said you were going to take Macy out for supper and then to your place. She’ll like that.” She rested a gentle hand on Macy’s shoulder. “Won’t you, honey? This is the lady who has a giant fluffy dog as big as an elk. Or so I’ve heard.”
Macy nodded, her expression somber.
“Go get your things then, Macy.” Carla waited until Macy disappeared into the house, then lowered her voice. “Arabella probably told you that between the volunteers and hospice, people are here around the clock now. Darlene has failed so much in the past week or two that no one knows how much longer she has.”
“How awful for Macy.”
“She’s slipping into organ failure related to her end-stage lupus, and there’s nothing more that can be done.”
“I’m so, so sorry.”
“Macy doesn’t like to leave her mom, but we try to get her out for a while several times a week. Otherwise, we try to have someone here after school and on weekends to help her with homework, play games or just sit with her and talk. If…anything changes while you’re gone, we have your cell number.”
Macy appeared with a coat on and her backpack hooked on one shoulder. She looked up at Mei. “Mama wants to see you first. She doesn’t like me going with anyone she doesn’t know.”
“It sounds like she’s a very good mom, Macy. Can you take me to her?”
The child nodded and turned on her heel, then led the way through the kitchen to a small living room where a hospital bed was set up against a wall. A table at the head of the bed was filled with dozens of prescription bottles, packages of gauze and medical supplies that overflowed onto a coffee table.
The television mounted above the fireplace was turned on to a channel with cartoons, the colorful glow from the screen casting a garish watercolor effect across the darkened room. The sound was barely audible.
The room was clean, yet the odors of medicine and dressings and end-stage disease permeated the air, making it difficult to draw a deep breath.
Macy stepped aside, but her gaze was riveted on Mei, as if she were hovering and ready to protect her mother.
The woman in the bed might have melted away into the mattress for what little evidence there was of her body beneath the sheet and blankets. She raised a bony arm and motioned, then her arm dropped limply across the blankets.
She weakly rolled her head toward Mei, her thin auburn hair fanning across pillows. “You’re one of the Clayton cousins?”
Her voice was so whisper-soft that Mei leaned over the rail to hear better over the alternating humming and puffing sounds from the oxygen compressor. “That’s right. I’ve been teaching high school in San Francisco, but now I’m teaching here for the next year.” She rested her hand lightly on Darlene’s skeletal wrist and smiled. “I’m Vern and Lisette’s daughter. Do you remember them?”
Darlene silently looked up at her, her breathing ragged.
“My brother is Lucas,” Mei said, speaking louder. “My cousins are Brooke, Zach, Arabella and Vivienne.”
“I…I know them. They’ve all…been so kind.”
“I came out to take your daughter into town for supper, and then I thought she could come to my place for a while. We can work on her homework or she can play with my dog, and she and I can talk. Is that all right?”
Darlene’s eyes, so large and vacant in her gaunt face, searched Mei’s for a long moment. “It…it’s good for her to get away. Thank…you.”
Mei smiled down at her, her heart breaking. Despite the ravages of her disease she could see that Darlene had once been a lovely woman. And even though she appeared to have little time left in this world, she was still struggling to put her daughter first. How could life be so cruel, to take away a loving mother when her daughter was still so young?
“We’ll be back in a few hours, so don’t you worry a bit. She’s in good hands, I promise.”
Macy had barely spoken through her supper at the Cowboy Café and just picked at her cheeseburger, fries and strawberry malt, so the waitress fixed to-go containers and Mei brought them back to her cottage for later.
As soon as Macy walked in the door of the cottage, her face brightened and she stared at Moose in awe. “He’s yours? He’s really yours?”
“He sort of found me a while back,” Mei said as she pulled a leash from the coat hooks by the door. “I need to take him outside for a few minutes. Do you want to eat your supper while it’s still warm?”
Macy shook her head. “I want to come along. He’s like…he’s like a pony!”
“That was my first thought exactly.”
They stepped back out in the darkness. The wind had finally calmed and the sky was clear, revealing a thick blanket of stars.
“Where I live now—or did, anyway—there are so many lights that you can barely see any stars,” Mei said as they started down the lane. “I’d forgotten just how breathtaking this is.”
Moose walked on one side, and Macy walked silently on the other, looking upward.
“My mama says I should name a star after her. Then I can always see her watching over me from up there, no matter what.” Her voice broke. “Sh-she’ll be in heaven, but I won’t be able to see her there.”
“How are you feeling about all of this, sweetheart? I know it must be very hard.”
Macy batted at her cheeks with her mittens. “It isn’t fair. I don’t want her to be sick. I want her to be here with me.”
Mei wrapped an arm around the girl’s shoulders and gave her a comforting hug. “I know you do.”
“But she says everyone has a time to die, and we don’t get to choose. And she says she’ll love me forever and ever, even if she can’t live here anymore.”
“Of course she will.”
“But when I get old, I’ll be in heaven with her, and it will be a wonderful time.” A faraway look filled Macy’s eyes. “She’ll be there with the biggest hug in the whole world.”
“She’s a wonderful mom.”
Macy sniffled and wiped at her face again. “I try to be brave and not cry. I don’t want her to feel bad about leaving me ’cause she can’t help it. But it’s h-hard.” Her voice grew more subdued. ’Specially ’cause I nev
er had a dad. He died before I was born.”
Mei’s heart twisted over the suffering this poor, sweet girl was enduring. “But you’ll always have all of us to love you forever and ever. And way back when she first got sick, your mom made sure that you’d have a wonderful home. Right?”
“With Brooke and Gabe.” Macy’s lower lip trembled. “They promised.”
Relief flooded through Mei. Brooke was a sweetheart and would be a wonderful mom. With Brooke’s upcoming marriage to Gabe, Macy also would gain a new daddy and a brother.
“Would you like to hold the leash?”
“Really?” Macy’s eyes widened as she took another look at Moose. “What if he runs away?”
“Believe me, he doesn’t seem to go anywhere very fast. I think his favorite speed is ‘whoa.’”
Macy sputtered, then choked out a laugh—a rusty sound that surely had seen little use during all the time she’d sat by her dying mother.
Mei swooped down to give her a big hug, wishing she could take away all that sorrow, then she handed the leash over. “Here you go, Macy. You now hold the reins to the slowest pony Colorado has ever seen.”
Chapter Thirteen
“Okay, kids,” Jack called out to the environmental science students. “Remember what we talked about on Wednesday?”
The students milled impatiently around the campsite.
“Let’s hear it, folks,” he said, his voice louder. “Outdoor safety.”
“Bears.”
“Mountain lions.”
Gina affected a bored look, as usual. “Try not to disappear or get killed.”
“Just to get our bearings again, the trail past the latrines takes you back to the school bus. It’s just an easy quarter-mile down to the parking lot. There’s a map in your packet, exactly like the one you see on the bulletin board at the head of each trail radiating from this point.” His voice rang with authority as he addressed the students. “You are to stay within a hundred-yard radius of this campsite on any one of the three marked trails. You are to go no farther than the red flags I placed on each trail. Understood?”
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