Zach exchanged a rueful smile with Susan. “Uh, yeah, he’s feeling better. He may get to go home in a couple of days.”
“Will you go with him?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh. I’ll miss you.”
The sadness in the little boy’s voice touched him. “Hey, buddy, we’ll still see each other.”
“We’ll talk about it later,” Susan said. “You close your eyes, or you’ll be too tired to play with Manuel tomorrow.” Then she glared at Zach.
Susan felt boxed in. She wanted to do the right thing for both Paul and Pete Lowery. But she didn’t see how she could meet both their needs.
As they climbed the stairs to their apartment, Zach right behind her, she continued to struggle with her decision.
When they reached the top step, she heard Rosa wailing. Pushing Paul toward Zach, along with her keys, she said, “Take him into the apartment. I have to see what’s wrong with Rosa.”
“Maybe Manny is sick?” Paul suggested anxiously as she knocked on the door.
Rosa, her eyes red, her cheeks tear-streaked, opened the door.
“Rosa, what’s wrong?”
“Pedro lost his job,” she said with a sob. “They’re going out of business. They’re not even going to pay him for this week’s work. He looked all afternoon for more work, but there was nothing. Oh, Susan, I don’t think the landlord will let us stay here.”
“Oh, no!” Susan exclaimed, hugging her friend. “Look, I have a little extra money this month—”
“No! We can’t take your money. We will—will find something. If not, we’ll move in with my mother-in-law.” Tears began to roll down her cheeks even as she said the words.
Susan knew how difficult life would be for Rosa in those circumstances, but she couldn’t think of anything to say.
“What kind of work does your husband do?”
That quiet question from Zach surprised both of them. Susan let Rosa answer.
“He’s a carpenter. And with winter coming—” Rosa stopped and buried her face in her apron.
“A carpenter? Is he home?”
“Yes,” Rosa said, “but he’s upset. I don’t think—”
“I may have a job for him,” Zach said calmly, as if he wasn’t offering something monumental.
Rosa and Susan stared at Zach and then at each other. Then Susan urged. “Get Pedro.”
As soon as Rosa disappeared, she turned back to Zach. “Pedro is a good worker. It would be wonderful if you have something for him.”
“We’ll see. It depends on his experience.”
Before she could question him, Rosa reappeared with Pedro at her side. He looked discouraged.
“Pedro? I’m Zach Lowery,” Zach said extending his hand. “Why don’t we go downstairs and discuss a job I have available that you might be interested in.”
Pedro silently followed Zach down the stairs. Rosa grabbed Susan’s hand and squeezed. “Oh, Susan, if only... Do you think he might hire him?”
“I don’t know, Rosa. We’ll have to wait and see.” She turned to Paul, still standing by their front door. “I’ve got to get Paul to bed. Is Manuel already asleep?”
“Yes. We tried not to let him know how bad things were, but he could tell something was wrong and was upset” Rosa wrung her hands. “I’m so afraid to hope.”
“I’ll put Paul to bed, then come back out Hang on for a few minutes more.”
She took her little brother inside and helped him get ready for bed, telling him not to worry. Then she tucked him in with one of his new books and closed the door behind her. She went back outside and settled on the top step with Rosa, putting her arm around her.
The two of them sat silently. There wasn’t anything to say. Both knew how important the conference going on down below was to Rosa’s future.
When the two men came into view, Rosa squeezed Susan’s hand so tightly, she thought it might fall off. Then Rosa sobbed as she stared at her husband. Susan, too, noted the change in his demeanor. His head was up, his shoulders squared. There was hope.
“Rosa, Mr. Lowery has offered me a job. But it would mean moving to his ranch. He said we could have a house—” Pedro said the word reverently “—I would be in charge of building corrals and sheds and general repairs. Mr. Lowery would provide all the tools and he’ll pay five hundred a week and all the beef we want to eat.”
Susan knew that amount was almost double Pedro’s last salary.
Rosa gasped. “H-how much for the house?” she whispered. She had shared her hope for a house with Susan many times.
Zach smiled. “The house comes with the job. It’s part of the salary. But I was afraid you might have an objection to living out in the country. The shopping there isn’t so great.”
“W-we don’t have a car. Is there a bus I can take to the store?” Rosa asked. Susan could hear the burgeoning hope in her voice.
“No, but Pedro can drive you into town every once in a while, or you can catch a ride with Hester. In fact, if you can drive, you could take Hester. Her eyesight’s not what it used to be. If you want to work, too, Hester could use a little help in the house.”
“Oh!” Rosa dragged out her sigh, unable to believe their good fortune. “Yes, that would be wonderful. Thank you so much. I can’t tell you—”
“You and Pedro will be doing me a favor. I’m going to need more help around the ranch now that Gramp needs to slow down. And Hester is over sixty. You’re going to find a lot to do.”
Pedro grabbed his hand to shake it again. “When shall we start?” he asked anxiously.
“How long will it take you to get ready to move?”
“Our rent is paid through Friday,” Rosa said, which was only two days away.
“I can have a couple of hands bring some trucks and help you move on Friday, if that’s okay?” As he spoke, Zach reached inside his coat pocket and drew out a checkbook. “I’ll pay for the move. Here’s a week’s salary to take care of whatever else you may need to get ready to move.”
Both Rosa and Pedro expressed their thanks over and over again.
“Maybe you’d better wait until you see the house, Rosa,” Zach said with a rueful smile. “It’s only three bedrooms.”
“Three? Three! That’s wonderful.”
Zach took Susan’s hand and backed toward her apartment. “I’m glad you’re happy. I’ll let you know what time the guys will be here Friday.”
“Good night, Pedro, Rosa,” Susan said, correctly interpreting Zach’s body language. “I’ll send Paul over in the—” Suddenly Susan discovered the downside to Rosa and Pedro’s good news. Her childcare had disappeared. What was she going to do with Paul?
“Oh, Susan! I hadn’t realized!” Rosa wailed.
“What’s wrong now?” Zach asked.
“Who will take care of little Paul? I won’t be here,” Rosa explained.
“Don’t worry,” Susan said, faring a smile. “I’ll find someone. Everything will be fine.”
Zach reached behind her and opened the door to her apartment. “I may have a solution to that problem, too, Rosa. Don’t worry.”
Once they were inside the apartment. Susan pulled her hand free from Zach’s and crossed her arms over her chest. Rosa had been taking care of Paul, and keeping an eye on Megan after school, too, at one time, since they’d moved there four years ago.
“I do have a solution,” Zach said quietly. “One that would thrill Paul.”
“Moving to the ranch?”
He nodded. “He and Manuel would still live close to each other. Rosa can keep an eye on him, along with Hester. The only one to suffer would be you because you’d have to drive fifty miles to work each day...if you want to keep working.”
“Of course I’d keep working!” she exclaimed. “I wouldn’t be able to save any money if I wasn’t working.”
“As my wife, you’d receive a...an allowance.”
Her chin came up. “No, I wouldn’t.”
He didn’t argue, but
he stared back at her. “So. are you coming to the ranch?”
She turned her back. “I don’t know. Can I at least have until tomorrow morning to decide?”
His hands settled on her shoulders and he turned her around. “Yeah. Will you come with me in the morning for Gramp’s surgery?”
“Yes. I told Kate I would be late in the morning. I need to tell Rosa I’ll have to bring Paul over early.” Her neighbor’s name reminded her of Zach’s gener osity, and a flood of gratitude coursed through her. “Oh, Zach, whatever I decide, thanks so much for what you did for Pedro and Rosa. That was wonderful!”
“Even if it robbed you of a sitter?”
She felt like she’d been slapped. “You think I would stand in the way of an opportunity for them so I could keep Rosa as a sitter?”
His hands left her shoulders and slid down her arms leaving a pleasant tingling sensation in their wake. “Hey, I was only teasing. I may not know you well, but I do know your character better than that.”
Mollified, she relaxed a little, only to tense again as he slid his arms around her.
“Shh,” he said, smiling down at her. “I just wanted to say thank you for tonight. I know it was hard not to say anything when Gramp talked about all of us moving back to the ranch. You’ve been terrific through everything.”
His rock-hard body was too tempting. Susan couldn’t prevent herself from laying her head on his chest, resting against his strength. “I’m trying to do the right thing, Zach,” she whispered “Only it’s hard to know what the right thing is here.”
His embrace tightened and he nuzzled her forehead. “I think Paul would benefit from some male companionship. It’s hard on boys to be around women exclusively.”
She jerked up her head. “I do the best I can!”
“Hey, I’m not criticizing you,” he said. Then, as if realizing a temptation too sweet to resist, he covered her lips with his.
Susan had both dreaded and longed for this moment Too many times she’d thought of the feelings that filled her when Zach Lowery touched her. Those kisses they’d shared had stunned her with their intensity, their electricity.
And it was happening again.
She slid her arms around his neck and pressed her body against his. In his arms, she felt more excitement than she’d ever experienced. Yet she also felt safe, secure...whole, something she’d never felt before.
Which was even more frightening.
Was this the way her mother had felt, each time she’d given herself to some man? Wanting a better life than her mother’s, Susan had decided long ago she would not seek completion with a man. She would be independent, strong.
She feared Zach made her weak.
Wrenching herself from his arms, she drew deep breaths as she stared out the window of her apartment. If she’d thought Zach would touch her again—or protest her withdrawal—she was wrong.
“I’ll need to pick you up at five-forty-five in the morning,” he said matter-of-factly, though his voice was somewhat huskier than usual. “I know it’s early, but they’ll take Gramp to surgery at six-thirty and I want to see him before they put him under the anesthetic.”
Susan turned around, staring at him. He sounded so composed. Had the kiss meant nothing to him?
Apparently not. His expression was grim, but then he was talking about a heart operation for his grandfather.
“No, that will be fine. I’ll be ready.”
“Then I’d better get out of here so you can get some rest.” Without another word, he strode from the apartment, pulling the door closed behind him.
Susan remained standing where he’d left her.
The apartment door opened again.
“Come lock the door, Susan.”
Like a zombie, she crossed the room. He bent down, brushed her lips oh-so-gently with his, then pulled the door closed again. “Lock it,” he called.
She shoved the dead bolt Josh had installed and leaned against the door. She hadn’t wanted Zach to leave. She hadn’t wanted him to stop kissing her. She hadn’t wanted to be alone.
But she had to be alone. Because her relationship with Zach already had an ending scheduled for next May.
She was not going to be her mother all over again.
Pete Lowery came through the operation like a man half his age. The doctor told Zach his grandfather would be ready to go home Saturday morning, if everything continued to go well.
After the doctor left the room, Zach hugged Susan, hiding his face in her silky hair. Her warmth eased the chill he’d felt inside him ever since they’d carted Gramp away.
And also reminded him of last night.
If she hadn’t pulled away, he would’ve made a colossal mistake the night before. He would’ve taken her to bed, made love to her until daylight. Because he wouldn’t have been able to help himself.
“Thanks for waiting with me,” he whispered in her ear.
She pulled back, reluctantly, he thought. “As soon as we see him, I’ll need to leave to go to work. He’ll understand, won’t he?”
“Sure. What about Paul? Did you talk to him this morning?”
“No. I carried him across to Rosa’s wrapped in a blanket, still in his pajamas. I hope he went back to sleep.”
“When he hears Manny is moving to the ranch, Paul is going to be upset,” he reminded her. He couldn’t help pushing her to agree to his request that she and Paul move to the ranch with him.
“I know. I—I thought I’d talk to him when I went to the apartment to pick up my car.”
“You’ve made up your mind?” He almost stopped breathing. As if her decision would determine his happiness. What a ridiculous idea, he told himself. It was for Gramp that he wanted Susan to come. For Gramp.
“Yes. I guess I have no choice. Now not only is it good for Gramp, but it will also be good for Paul.”
A disturbing thought occurred to him. “Susan, I swear I didn’t offer Pedro the job to force you to come to the ranch.”
“I know.”
A look passed between them that told Zach she trusted Mm—that far, at least. He couldn’t stop the sense of elation that began deep inside him and flooded his veins, making him momentarily lightheaded.
A nurse came into the room. “Mr. Lowery? Your grandfather is in Recovery and awakening, if you and your wife would like to visit with him.”
They arrived back at Susan’s apartment a little after ten. Anxious about Paul, she hurried up the stairs, Zach right behind her.
When the two boys opened the door to her call, she knew Paul was distraught. As soon as he saw her, he threw his arms around her waist, burying his face against her.
“Paul? Are you all right?”
“Manny’s moving away. To the ranch,” he sobbed against her.
Manuel stood staring at his friend, torn between the thrill of moving with his family to a neat place, and the agony of leaving his best friend behind.
“I think that’s a good thing,” Susan said, glad she’d made her decision.
Paul looked at her in shock. “You do?”
“Well, of course. You’ll have a good friend in school with you.”
“No, Susan, you don’t understand. Manny won’t be here. He’ll be on the ranch. Gramp’s ranch.”
“So will you, Paul,” she assured him soothingly, a smile on her face.
Paul stared first at her and then at Zach. “I’m going to live with Manny?” he asked, his voice quavering.
“And me and Zach and Gramp. We’re all going to live on the ranch this year.”
It was almost more than Paul could comprehend. But as he and Manuel figured out the most important thing, that they wouldn’t be separated, and the second most important thing, that they’d be on a genuine, honest-to-Pete ranch, they fell into each other’s arms with shrieks of excitement.
Rosa came running. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Oh, Mama, Susan and Paul are coming, to the ranch, too!” Manuel told his mother.
&nb
sp; Rosa asked a lot of questions, but her excitement, already at a fever pitch, kept up with the boys’.
Susan smiled and answered all the questions, but inside she was frightened at the new direction her life was suddenly taking.
“You will drive into the city every day?” Rosa asked.
As Susan nodded, Rosa asked another question. “Will your car hold up for that kind of drive?”
Susan caught Zach’s frown out of the corner of her eye, but she pasted a cheerful smile on her face. “I’m sure it will.”
“What kind of car do you have?” Zach asked.
“A compact.” Then she changed the subject “Don’t you need to get back to the hospital, Zach? I’ll be fine now. Give Gramp our love.”
“I will. But right now I want to see your car.”
“Why?”
He ignored her. “Paul, you want to come downstairs and point your sister’s car out to me?”
Delirious with happiness, the boy never hesitated. “Sure. Come on, Manny. Last one down’s a rotten egg!”
“That’s dirty pool, Zach Lowery,·· Susan pro. tested.
But he didn’t wait With a sly wink at Susan, he followed the boys out of Rosa’s apartment
Chapter Eight
Zach stared at the wreck of a car Paul was pointing to. It was practically an antique, an antique that had been badly mistreated.
He heard Susan behind him and turned around. “Do you ice-skate on those bald tires when it freezes over?”
“I’m going to get new tires with some of the money you gave me,” she said hurriedly, her chin coming up.
“New tires won’t solve all your problems,” he pointed out.
“True. I’ll still have to put up with you.”
“Don’t sass me, lady.”
“Don’t interfere with my business,” she returned.
“What’s the matter?” Paul asked, a worried look on his face.
Zach grinned as he watched Susan realize that she’d have to change her tune so as not to upset her beloved brother. She immediately assured Paul all was well.
“Or it will be when you get a new car.” Zach wasn’t going to back down on this decision. It would be criminal to let Susan drive fifty miles each way all winter in this jalopy.
A Ring for Cinderella Page 8
