She picked up her sherry and took another sip. This time she didn’t put the glass down, instead holding it in her hands, stroking the sides with her fingers as if seeking comfort from it. “I took a walk into town today.”
A roll of thunder echoed in the distance, not loud, but ominous nevertheless.
“I was told you came to Rainbow Ranch with Fox Fordyce. The person who said that also said you lived with her a while before suddenly moving here.”
“That’s true.”
She waited a beat for Christopher to elaborate. When he didn’t, she drank the last of her sherry before continuing. Dutch courage it used to be called. But whatever its nationality, she could use some at the moment. “It made me wonder if you were one of those men who skips from woman to woman, never letting any one of them grow too close, never wanting to commit to a relationship.” She put the glass down. He picked his up. “Or whether it was the opposite. Had the two of you spent some time together traveling? Did you leave on your own? Or did she throw you out?”
She took a deep breath. “The thing is, you’re the kind of man who attracts women. You can have your pick. Just ask any of the women living here.” She flashed him an ironic smile. “I can’t quite imagine why you’ve decided I’m the one you want to spend time with.”
By the time she finished speaking, her head was throbbing with the pounding of her heart.
He finished his scotch. “Do you want another drink?”
“No. No, thank you.” Her mouth was dry as ashes.
“Well, I do. I’ll be right back.” He went inside, leaving her wondering.
Did he need time to make up a story? Or was he just composing his thoughts? A stroke of lightning spider-webbed the sky. The thunder was louder this time.
Christopher returned with a fresh drink and sat down. He’d removed his tie. “I suppose there was no hope of keeping my relationship with Mrs. Fordyce a secret. Small towns spread gossip faster than the Internet.”
That was certainly true.
The storm appeared to have cleared the mountains. Stars above them winked out as the clouds covered them.
“It’s not what you think. I met her in Aspen. Skiing. She’d come up from Denver for a week. It was the end of the season, and there weren’t many guests there. We seemed to run into one another everywhere. After a few days we gave in to the inevitable and met intentionally. Traveling alone enables you to meet many people. But you usually don’t become friends.
“Mrs. Fordyce and I became friends. She told me she intended on coming back to Rainbow Ranch. I told her I’d never seen Arizona. She asked if I’d like to go with her.”
Lilliana jumped as lightning struck close by, the thunder booming almost simultaneously. Big drops plopped on the surrounding terrain, got smaller and more frequent until the rain came down in torrents, punctuated by bolts of lightning and cracks of thunder.
“Mrs. Fordyce was not well.”
Lilliana had almost forgotten Christopher while caught up in the power of the storm. His voice surprised her.
“She’d broken many bones, had many injuries in her rodeo career. She put up a brave face, but she didn’t look forward to the long drive. Said her body ached when she sat still for very long. I agreed to come, take over half of the driving.”
During their softball practice, Fox had shown no signs of that kind of pain. Had she truly been injured—or exaggerating in order to convince Christopher to travel with her?
As the rain came down in sheets, the thunder and lightning came less frequently. Lilliana shivered. The temperature must have dropped twenty degrees in the last ten minutes.
He must have noticed the shiver. “Do you want to go inside?”
The wind shifted, blowing the rain in on the covered patio, just when she was about to tell him no. Instead she got up. “I think we’d better.”
Once inside, she realized there wasn’t anywhere to sit except the love seat. She sat at one end, snuggled in the corner, and held out her glass. “I think I’d like a little more sherry now.”
He took the glass, a mixture of regret and amusement in his eyes. He wasn’t gone very long before returning with her drink. She noticed he’d refilled his scotch again.
He sat on the other cushion, not too close, yet not too far away.
“When we got to Rainbow Ranch, she offered to let me stay with her. Since the only alternative was the hotel—unless I wanted to become a permanent resident—I accepted her offer. For a while, it worked out well for both of us. I helped her with getting settled. She gave me a place to stay.” He paused and stared at his glass, but he wasn’t seeing the glass from what Lilliana could tell. “One day she got something in the mail that upset her. She wouldn’t tell me what it was, but after that she started complaining that I was ‘mooching’ off her, and that I either had to start paying rent or move out.
“I decided to move out. Relationships aren’t static. They either grow closer or more distant. It was time to move on. And that’s the story of me and the redoubtable Fox Fordyce.” He took a long swallow of his drink.
She sipped her sherry. His story sounded reasonable. She wanted to believe there had been nothing romantic between Christopher and Fox. Needed to believe there hadn’t been. Which scared her. She decided to accept his version of the events. At least for now. “Would you play the piano for me?”
“I will if you promise you’ll sing.”
“Oh, I couldn’t sing. I’m not very good,” Lilliana protested.
“Your voice sounded lovely to me during the movie,” Christopher said.
“Well, I suppose...”
He took her hand, pulled her up off the love seat, and led her to the piano bench. Much to her surprise, he started playing “How Are Things in Glocca Morra.” She hadn’t expected him to know show tunes. She gladly started singing. He joined in with his rich baritone toward the end. Then he segued into “If This Isn’t Love,” a sprightly tune, and finished up with “Look to the Rainbow,” a song somehow appropriate for two people who lived in Rainbow Ranch. As he finished with an arpeggio, he lifted his hands off the keyboard, put them on her shoulders and pulled her toward him. She hesitated just for a second, then leaned into his kiss.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE next morning Lilliana got up early, despite the late night. She hummed to herself with a smile on her lips as she got dressed. After the kiss, Christopher had walked her back to her apartment. The rain had stopped by then, and she imagined had the sun been out, there would have been a rainbow. As it was, the Milky Way glowed overhead in the clear, dark sky.
She wanted to go see Esmeralda first thing this morning, before anyone was up. Especially Christopher. She was afraid if he saw her passing his casita, he’d either invite her in or ask to go hiking with her. She’d have to turn him down without explanation, which could possibly put him off. She didn’t want to ruin the way things had been between them last night.
She’d wait for tea until she got back. She’d miss her quiet morning cuppa, but it was imperative she leave as early as possible.
She gasped as she passed her kitchen. What had been a tidy little space the night before was now chaos. Cabinets stood open, with cans and jars and boxes spilled out all over the countertop. Sugar from the upturned sugar bowl covered her stove. The roll of paper towels had been unwound, white sheets trailing across the floor.
She had a feeling she knew the source of the problem. She didn’t take time to clean up the mess. She could do that after breakfast. Meanwhile, it was even more imperative that she get to Esmeralda this morning.
Christopher didn’t see her, but Frank waved from the rear of the last casita on the other end of the row of townhouses. She thought Frank would have given up smoking by now, but she could see the thin plume of smoke rising from the hand that held his morning cigarette. She waved back, wondering how early she’d have to start her hike to avoid him.
The air was still cool after last night’s rain, and she made good time ge
tting to the cave. Unfortunately, the entrance was particularly muddy for the same reason, but it couldn’t be helped.
“Lilliana,” Esmeralda exclaimed when she arrived in the cave room where the fairies lived. “I didn’t expect to see you so soon again.”
“Is it a bad time?” Lilliana asked. “I could come back tomorrow.”
“It wouldn’t be any better tomorrow,” Esmeralda said sadly.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m afraid Tam Lin is bored,” Esmeralda confided. “He doesn’t like being shut up in the cave all day. He’s used to the forests and fens of Scotland. He’s started playing tricks on the other fairies.”
She’d been right about the source of the problems. “He’s also started playing tricks on humans.”
“What do you mean?” Esmeralda asked.
She told her about the tricks Tam Lin had played, mentioning Willie’s wafers and the more serious situation with the children on the playground. At the end, she described the state of her kitchen. She tried to minimize the disarray, but that didn’t stop Esmeralda from being distraught.
“I’m so sorry, Lilliana. I’ve already scolded him, but it doesn’t seem to have done any good. I’ll talk to him again. I promise I’ll send the brownies every night to clean up your kitchen if he’s messed it again.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Lilliana said. “It’s not just the mischief. I’m afraid someone will catch on to the fact that it wasn’t done by humans. It wouldn’t do to have people come searching for you.”
“You must let me know if it happens again,” Esmeralda said.
Lilliana paused. “I’m not sure how often I can come to you now. People have started to notice how I take early morning hikes. I’m not sure if they’ve noticed my muddy clothes on return, but it would make those who did suspicious.”
“Then we’ll have to come to you,” Esmeralda said. “I’ll send Uaine in the morning to check on things.”
“She’ll have to be careful not to be seen.”
“She will. Her green blends in with nature, so people are less apt to notice her.”
“I’d better get back,” Lilliana said. People other than Frank were likely to be stirring about by now. “I’ll tell Uaine if anything more untoward happens.”
“I do apologize, Lilliana. Please be careful.”
“I will.”
CATHY gave Lilliana and Jaclyn a big smile when they walked in the door before hurrying over to escort them to a booth.
“Haven’t seen you in a while,” she said to Lilliana.
A pang of grief pricked her heart. She hadn’t been back to Cathy’s Café since Ted died. Subconsciously there must have been too many memories of meals shared with him here. It was only fitting that she reacquaint herself with the restaurant in the company of his great-granddaughter. She forced a smile to her lips. “The absence will only make your good food taste better.”
They slid into opposite sides of a booth near the window. Lilliana picked up the menu. It was unchanged, save for a sheet of paper labeled “Specials” clipped to the inside. The featured offering was liver and onions. That wasn’t something served in the dining room at the retirement home very often. In fact, she doubted it would ever be served there, even though she was sure many of the residents, being of a generation used to eating meals other than chicken and hamburgers, would appreciate it. But liver tended to be an acquired taste. One which Lilliana had acquired long ago, and she decided that’s what she’d order.
Jaclyn, like her great-grandfather before her, had apparently memorized the menu from eating so many meals here. She didn’t even bother to pick it up, much less open it.
Cathy saw Lilliana put her menu down and hurried over, order pad in hand. “What can I get you?” She wrote down Lilliana’s order, then queried Jaclyn. “The special?”
Jaclyn nodded.
“How does she know which special?” Lilliana had noticed five choices on the Specials menu.
Jaclyn laughed. “It’s my special. I almost always get a burger and fries for lunch.”
The café was crowded for a weekday lunch. Most of the residents of Rainbow Ranch commuted to Bisbee or Benson or even Tucson during the work week, so fewer people ate there at midday than at breakfast and dinner. The hum of conversation filled the air as diners chatted over their meals—until one female voice yapped like an angry Pomeranian.
“Is that why you asked me to lunch? To pump me for information about poor Mrs. Gardner?”
Lilliana recognized the voice and searched the tables for its owner until she spotted the clinic nurse from the retirement home sitting with Biff Buckley at a booth in the back. Kirstie, rider of Harley-Davidson motorcycles and wearer of tattoos, wasn’t a woman to be trifled with. Her face hardened and her eyes narrowed as she faced off against the television reporter.
Buckley, his back to Lilliana and Jaclyn, spoke too softly for them to hear his response, but she imagined it was conciliatory by the way Kirstie reacted. That was not good news, as far as Lilliana was concerned.
She had a different match in mind for Kirstie, had tried to encourage her to consider Chief Cartwright, but Kirstie had had other ideas. So had the chief. Now she wondered...
Cathy brought their meals, Jaclyn’s a plate holding a huge burger on a bun and a mountain of french fries, Lilliana’s a slice of sautéed liver with two strips of bacon and fried onions on top, accompanied by mashed potatoes and a serving of peas. She cut a slice off and ate it while Jaclyn took a large bite out of her burger. The girl must have inherited her great-grandfather’s metabolism if she ate that every day. Lilliana was pleased that the liver was perfectly cooked and tender. It didn’t have any of the nasty tendons in it that liver sometimes did, and didn’t taste at all bitter. Of course, Cathy bought quality ingredients, and her chef obviously knew how to cook them. Lilliana settled back to enjoy her meal.
There were no further outbursts from the far corner of the café. Everyone had gone back to their food. But apparently, even though Kirstie and Buckley hadn’t disrupted the restaurant again, they still hadn’t settled their differences. Kirstie looked disgruntled as she and the reporter passed by on their way out.
“So how are things going with you and our handsome Chief of Police?” Lilliana asked Jaclyn in what she hoped was a casual tone of voice.
Jaclyn blushed. “I’m afraid that didn’t quite work out.”
Lilliana struggled hard to not blurt out “Good!” Last month, she had tried to play matchmaker. She thought Kirstie and the chief would make a much better pairing than Kirstie and Biff or Jaclyn and the Chief. “Is there anyone else?” she asked instead.
“Not at the moment. I’m really too busy with the store to have a love life right now.” Jaclyn sounded wistful. Then, with a mischievous look in her eyes, she asked, “How about you?”
Lilliana felt the hot blush turning her cheeks pink. That tactic had certainly backfired.
Jaclyn’s eyes widened. “No. Tell me! No, let me guess.” She stared off into space for a moment.
Lilliana put her fork down, her throat too tight to eat.
“I know! That man from the African Violet Club who grew those beautiful plants I saw at the show. Frank? It is Frank, isn’t it?”
Lilliana shook her head. “I don’t know why you think a woman my age would be involved in a romance.”
“What’s age got to do with it?” Jaclyn was genuinely surprised. “My great-grandfather and great-grandmother loved one another like Romeo and Juliet until the day she died. Even after that, my great-grandfather couldn’t think of getting involved with another woman.” Then, realizing who she was talking to, she added, “Until he met you, of course.”
“Oh, tosh. We never had a romantic relationship.” That was easier to deny since, technically, they hadn’t. She and Ted had become friends, had been on the verge of something, but hadn’t had time to find out what exactly that something was.
“But you do now,” Jaclyn insisted. She pi
cked up another french fry and chewed it thoughtfully. After she swallowed, she said, “It couldn’t be that guy who works out all the time.”
Lilliana knew she was referring to Lenny, who after retirement, had determined to be the Arnold Schwarzeneggar of the retirement set. She shook her head.
“Sam? I don’t think he’s a good choice,” Jaclyn said of the newspaperman. “He’s fairly set in his bachelor ways at this point.”
Lilliana picked up her glass of iced tea and examined the ice cubes as she took a slow sip. “No.”
She lifted her gaze from her study of the ice. Jaclyn looked as if she were on the verge of bouncing up and down in her seat.
“Don’t tell me it’s that distinguished Christopher MacAlistair?”
Her blush, which had started to fade with all the wrong guesses, set Lilliana’s cheeks on fire. Fortunately, most of the lunchtime crowd had left by now, so there were few people to see it.
“It is, isn’t it?” Jaclyn’s grin proverbially stretched from one ear to the other.
Lilliana started to shake her head, then stopped and nodded instead. “We’ve only had one date,” she explained. “I’m not sure that qualifies as a relationship yet.” But there had also been one kiss. Did that make it a relationship?
The grin faded, changed to a studious look. “I’m not sure I should tell you this, but someone has to.”
The tightness in Lilliana’s throat had eased. Now it was replaced by the clench of her gut. “Tell me what?” What could Jaclyn know that she didn’t? What secrets might Christopher be keeping from her?
“Mr. MacAlistair was living with Fox Fordyce up until a month ago,” Jaclyn said. “I heard she kicked him out. I never heard the reason, but there might be something about him that isn’t as nice as his looks.”
Lilliana was relieved. “Oh, that. Christopher explained all about that.”
Fortunately, when Lilliana didn’t disclose any further information, Jaclyn didn’t press for it. Lilliana resumed eating her liver, but it had turned cold and wasn’t as appealing as it had been just a few minutes ago. The taste reminded her of all the bad things people said about liver. She might have to agree with them in the future.
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