White Pines Summer

by Sherryl Woods

  Naturally, because he was the last person she wanted to see, her father was standing at the foot of the stairs, staring at her with a thoroughly bemused expression.

  “Bad day?” he inquired lightly.

  “You could say that.”

  “Want to talk about it?”

  “Not especially,” she said, then recalled her vow to fill her father in on the dinner she’d had with Chance. Now she had today’s encounter to add to the confession. She forced a rueful smile. “I take it back. Do you feel like going for a walk?”

  “Sure.”

  Jenny turned around and headed back outside, taming her pace to suit her father’s slower gait.

  “Where to?” he asked when they reached the bottom of the front steps.

  Jenny shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”

  “Then let’s head out to the stables. I want to take a look at the new broodmare Cody paid an arm and a leg for.”

  She slanted an amused look at him. “Cody’s throwing your money around again?”

  Her father chuckled. “There’s nothing he enjoys more. Not that he’s made a bad investment yet,” he conceded. “Just don’t tell him I said that.”

  “Don’t you think maybe it’s time to let him know you approve of the way he runs things around here?”

  Her father gave her a startled look. “You think he doesn’t know?”

  “I think it wouldn’t hurt to remind him every once in a while just in case he takes your constant grumbling to heart.”

  Harlan nodded slowly. “You could have a point,” he conceded. “Now why don’t you tell me what’s on your mind? Who’s been picking on you? Do I need to get out my shotgun and wave it around?”

  She looked at his fierce expression and smiled. “You would, too, wouldn’t you?”

  “If somebody hurt one of my kids or my grandbabies, you bet I would.”

  Impulsively Jenny stopped and hugged him, then planted a kiss on his weathered cheek. “Thank you.”

  He seemed startled by the gesture, but clearly it pleased him. “What was that for?”

  “For treating me like one of your kids.”

  “Great heavenly days, you are one of my kids, Jenny, my girl. I’ve never thought of you any other way.”

  His emphatic response warmed her heart, but it also deepened her fear she was the worst sort of traitor. “How would you feel if one of your kids betrayed you?” she asked, her tone barely above a whisper.

  This time he was the one who halted. He searched her face intently. “You think that’s what you’ve done?”

  “Some people in the family think I have.”

  “That’s not the same as you believing it, is it?”

  “No.”

  “Why don’t you just tell me what happened and let me decide for myself?”

  She forced a smile. “Easier said than done. I’m scared you’ll agree with them.”

  “And do what? Hate you? Disown you? It won’t happen, Jenny, my girl. You’re family. We’ll work it out. You being straight with me now will go a long way toward fixing things, assuming they even need repair in the first place.”

  Reassured by that promise, she described her dinner with Chance and all the events that had led up to it. “Then today, not two seconds after leaving Dani and Sharon Lynn, I ran smack into him again and there we were, in plain view of everyone, talking.”

  “Talking, huh? On a public sidewalk? To a man who happened along?” Her father’s eyes twinkled with amusement. “Now that is cause for concern. I declare, I’ve never heard such goings-on.”

  “You’re making fun of me,” she accused. “I’m serious.”

  “I can see that,” he said, his expression turning more somber. “But, darlin’ girl, I am not going to lose any sleep because you spent a little time with Chance Adams. The truth is, I’d like to meet the man myself.”

  Stunned, she stared at him. “You would?”

  “Don’t look so shocked. Of course I would. I might not agree with what he intends to do, but he’s my brother’s son. And that son of his, Petey, sounds like Luke and Cody when they were boys. Seems to me they’d both probably fit right in with the rest of us if we gave them the opportunity. Chance is the one who wants to turn White Pines into a battleground and me into the enemy. It’s not the other way around.”

  “But no matter which one starts it, isn’t it all the same in the end?” Jenny asked. “If he’s determined to claim what he thinks is his, then we are pitted against each other, like it or not.”

  “I suppose that depends on what you and the others determine is the right thing to do under the circumstances. I gave all of you the choice of how to handle this.”

  “Well, obviously Dani, at least, is gearing up for a fight. She must be getting that from Jordan.”

  He seemed surprised by her uncertainty over the views of the rest of the family. “Haven’t you talked to any of the others?”

  “Not since they were here for dinner.”

  “Maybe it’s time you all sat down and thrashed it out. We could get this settled once and for all.”

  “Maybe so,” she agreed with a sigh.

  He regarded her intently. “Let me ask you something. Aside from this battle over White Pines, what do you think of Chance?”

  She thought about the question, determined to answer it as honestly as she could. “He seems like a decent man. He’s a good father and, from what I gather, he’s a loyal son. He’s also arrogant and handsome and stubborn.”

  Her father chuckled. “Sound like anyone else you’ve ever met?”

  “Every Adams man on earth,” she conceded.

  “Then he can’t be all bad, can he?” Harlan pressed his callused palm to her cheek and gazed directly into her eyes. “Darlin’ girl, you make up your own mind about Chance Adams, and you decide what sort of relationship you want to have with him. Trust your own judgment.”

  “I can’t bear the thought of everyone in the family thinking I’m betraying you. You’re the most important person in the world to me, besides mom.”

  “Well, when it comes to that, I’m the only one you have to worry about,” he reminded her. “And I’ve just told you where I stand. If anyone else wants to make a fuss, send ’em to me. I’ll set ’em straight.”

  “Somehow I don’t think even you will be able to appease Dani and the others.”

  “Then you do want to spend more time with the man?”

  “Yes,” she said impulsively, then promptly retracted it. “I mean no. It’s just... I’m sure we’re going to be thrown together from time to time because of Petey.”

  “Is that all you’re worried about?”

  “Yes,” she insisted.

  “Okay, then. You’re a teacher. It’s your job to deal with the parents of your students. You can’t treat Chance Adams any differently than you would any other parent in town. If anybody in the family questions you, just tell them that. Then tell ’em to go to blazes.”

  Jenny grinned. “Who’ll pick me up off the ground when they punch my lights out?”

  “I will.”

  “Thank you,” she said, hugging him again.

  Her father wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. Then he stood back and gazed warmly into her eyes. “If you should change your mind and decide that your interest in this man is personal, that would be okay, too,” he said quietly.

  When Jenny would have moved away to argue, he held her in place. “Just listen to me for once,” he commanded. “Real love’s a scarce commodity in this life. When it comes along, only a fool turns his back on it.”

  “I never said anything about love,” Jenny protested. She wasn’t in love with Chance. She still wasn’t sure if she even liked him very much.

  Her father chuckled. “You didn’t have to.”

  This time she d
id pull away. “Don’t you dare go getting any ideas about me and Chance Adams,” she ordered, realizing exactly where his thoughts were headed. “I am not going to become one of your little matchmaking projects.”

  “Of course not,” he said agreeably. “You’re a grown woman. You can pick and choose your own friends, settle on your own husband. I’m just saying, if you were to settle on Chance, it would be okay.”

  “Oh, for goodness’ sake,” she began, then decided to save the protest. He clearly wouldn’t believe anything she had to say about Chance meaning absolutely nothing to her. Once Harlan Adams’s romantic fantasies stirred to life, no one was more dedicated to the promotion of a good love story. Anything she said would only encourage him.

  “I’m going back to the house,” she said.

  “I’ll say it again, darlin’ girl. Don’t turn your back on your heart. Listen to what it has to say.”

  “I know exactly what my heart is saying,” she retorted. “And it is not saying anything about Chance Adams.”

  “Maybe it’s just not saying anything you want to hear.”

  “Pardon me for saying this, Daddy, but go to blazes.”

  He stared at her for an instant, then threw back his head and laughed. “Whoo-ee! It’s about to get real interesting around here.”

  As she walked away, Jenny realized it was the second time that day she had provided a man with so much entertainment. Adams men! Darned if they weren’t all alike.

  7

  Wilkie Rollins’s books were a disgrace. Chance had spent every evening for the past two months trying to untangle the mess the old man had made of his ranch finances. Wilkie claimed the details didn’t matter to him, as long as he had money in the bank at the end of the month.

  The disorder made Chance edgy. He’d insisted on setting them right so Wilkie would know how Chance’s management of the place was going.

  “Son, I can see the kind of job you’re doing by looking around,” Wilkie had countered. “I don’t need to see the books to get an answer.”

  Chance had been appalled. “Wilkie, you can’t run a ranch like that. How will you ever know if you’re being cheated?”

  His boss had looked him up and down. “You intend on cheating me?”

  Chance had waved off the ridiculous question. “No, of course not. If I’d intended to, I never would have brought up the books in the first place.”

  “Well, then, I don’t see that we’ve got a problem.”

  Chance had given up after that. He was still intent on straightening out the bookkeeping, but he was doing it more for his own satisfaction than for Wilkie’s. Besides, he liked making order out of chaos. He’d been doing that most of his life. Hank hadn’t exactly been a paragon of orderliness, and Chance’s mother had been more eager to please Hank than keep the household running smoothly.

  From the time he could reach the stove, Chance had done most of the cooking, albeit even then it had been limited mostly to frozen dinners and fresh vegetables. He’d also done a good bit of the cleaning, in addition to whatever chores Hank had allotted him. It had given him a sense of structure that hadn’t been forthcoming from his parents. He’d always prided himself on seeing that Petey had rules and routine, even if Hank had taken equal pride in seeing that his grandson broke most of them.

  Chance was trying to make sense of a column of receipts when he realized Petey was standing beside him. He glanced up from the accounting ledger into solemn blue eyes.

  “Hey, what’s up?”

  “You busy?” Petey asked.

  “It’s nothing that can’t wait. You got something on your mind?”

  “Sort of.”

  “What?”

  “It’s school.”

  One simple word—school—and Chance’s blood surged as if he’d been shown an album of erotica. Images of Miss Prim and Prissy looking all mussed and kissable lit up in his mind like neon.

  “Did something happen today?” he asked when he thought he could get the words out without sounding ridiculously breathless.

  “Something happened all right. That lady punished me!” Petey blurted, his little body radiating indignation. “I thought she was supposed to be your friend. I told you she wasn’t. I told you she was that bad man’s daughter and that made her bad, too, but you didn’t believe me.”

  Chance sighed. He should have known one dinner would not build a bridge between those two, not with Petey so determinedly loyal to his grandfather. He couldn’t help wondering why he’d heard none of this from Jenny herself this afternoon. Had her silence on the topic been deliberate or had she simply been distracted by her session with Dani and Sharon Lynn? Maybe she’d just been rattled by his presence. That possibility brought him a very large measure of satisfaction.

  “Dad,” Petey complained, “you’re not paying attention.”

  “Okay. Sorry. Why don’t you tell me exactly what happened?” he suggested, keeping his tone neutral.

  “She yelled at me in front of the whole class,” Petey began, then drew a deep breath as he gathered momentum. “And then she made me go into the hall and told me I was going to grow up and be ignorant.”

  Chance bristled on his son’s behalf, but reason told him Petey was only relaying part of the story. “Why did she yell at you in the first place?”

  Petey stared down at the floor. “I don’t know.”

  “Excuse me?” Chance said. “You have absolutely no idea why your teacher was yelling at you? Was it just out of the blue? Did she jump up and pick you out of a whole roomful of kids to humiliate?”

  “What’s humiliate?”

  “Never mind. The point is, I can’t help thinking that Ms. Adams must have had a good reason for yelling. I’m also thinking I’d rather hear that reason from you. You might prefer that as well, because if I get an explanation from her, it will probably irritate the dickens out of me and I might be inclined to yell at you, too.”

  Petey stared back at him with a wide innocent look. Tears pooled in the corners of his eyes. Chance felt like a louse, but he refused to back down. He was beginning to get an idea of just what Jenny was up against. He wasn’t quite ready to be sympathetic, but a few more incidents and he might be forced to shift his allegiance.

  “I’m waiting,” he said quietly.

  “It wasn’t anything really bad,” Petey said finally. “It wasn’t like I chopped off a girl’s braid or something.”

  “I’m relieved. What was it, then?”

  “I put some glue down,” he mumbled.

  Chance had a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach. Glue and Petey were a dangerous combination. He could tell already that he wasn’t going to like the rest of the story. “Where?”

  “On some papers.”

  “What papers?”

  “The math test papers.”

  Chance stared at his son in stunned disbelief. “You glued the math test papers together? Is that what you’re telling me?” he demanded, his voice climbing.

  “It’s not like she couldn’t make more copies,” Petey said defensively.

  “Then this was a test you hadn’t taken yet, correct?”

  “Yeah, I mean, it was just a joke. You can see that, can’t you?” Petey asked, his tone pleading. “She can always give the test tomorrow when she has more copies, right?”

  Chance was tempted to send Petey straight to his room and ground him until he reached puberty, but he figured there were a couple of additional things he needed to know first.

  “Why did you do this?”

  “What do you mean, why?”

  “I mean what the dickens were you thinking?” Chance shouted.

  Petey’s expression faltered. “Now you’re yelling at me, too.”

  “For good reason,” Chance said, but he managed to lower his voice. “Did you glue these papers together, by any chanc
e, because you hadn’t studied for the test?”

  “Not exactly. Besides, math’s my best subject. You know that. I could have passed it, anyway.”

  “Then why?” An idea began taking shape, an idea that made all too much sense. “Wait, let me guess. Timmy McPherson hadn’t studied for the math test, had he?”

  “Jeez, Dad, you know I can’t tell you that,” Petey exclaimed. “That would be, like, tattling.”

  “Okay, we’ll let that pass,” Chance said, concluding it would be a waste of time to deliver another lecture on the folly of protecting a kid who appeared to be dedicated to destroying Petey’s life. “I think I know the answer. Besides, the important thing here is that you did something you knew was wrong. Again,” he added. “What was Ms. Adams’s punishment?”

  “I told you, she made me go into the hall and she told me I was gonna grow up ignorant.”

  “I’d say she let you off lightly.” Chance looked directly into his son’s eyes, then added pointedly, “Way more lightly than I intend to let you off.”

  Petey stared back at him in horror. “You’re gonna punish me, too?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Chance said grimly. “You will get off the school bus every afternoon for the next week and go directly to your room. You will double your homework assignments. If Ms. Adams gives you five math problems, you’ll do ten. If she assigns ten pages in your history book, you will read twenty. I want her to send me a written list of your assignments so I can sign off that you’ve done the work. Got it?”

  “No way,” Petey said, clearly shaken. “I’ll be up all night.”

  “Missing a little sleep won’t hurt you. Besides, you’ll have all weekend to get ahead.”

  “What are you saying? I can’t even go outside this weekend?”

  “You’ve got it, pal.”

  Petey shot him a rebellious look. “Who’s gonna make me stay in my room?”

  “I will. If I’m not here, I’ll hire a babysitter.”

  Petey looked doubly horrified. “A babysitter? You can’t. I’m too old. I’ll never be able to show my face in school again if anyone finds out you’ve hired some girl to babysit me.”