The Calamity Janes. Sherryl Woods

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      “Took out the local columns that Ron had been running for years,” Matt groused.

      “Everybody around here already knew what everybody else was doing,” Martha argued. “We didn’t need to read about it in the paper.” She regarded her husband defiantly. “Besides, I think he’s gorgeous. It’s about time somebody exciting and available moved into town.”

      “Why do you care? You’re married to me,” Matt reminded her.

      Martha rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t mean I’m dead. Besides, a man like Ford Hamilton could be just what it takes to persuade Emma to move back here.”

      Emma held up a hand. “Whoa! Don’t even go there. I am not looking for a man and I am not coming back here. Don’t go getting any crazy ideas on that score, Martha—or any of the rest of you, either.”

      “Well, we can all dream,” her mother said. “I, for one, think it would be wonderful if you’d at least give the idea some thought.”

      “Don’t push the girl,” her father said. “She just walked in the door.”

      “Oh, be still. You’re just as anxious to have her back here as I am,” her mother retorted. “That’s what that pony is all about.”

      Emma stared at them. “What pony?”

      “That was the surprise,” Caitlyn said, her eyes glowing. “Grandpa got me a pony.”

      Emma’s father grinned at her. “That was supposed to be a secret till after lunch, cupcake.”

      Caitlyn’s face fell. “Oh, yeah. I forgot.”

      “That’s okay, sweetie. Somebody needed to tell me,” Emma said, giving her hand a squeeze, even as she shot a reproachful look at her father.

      “You had one when you were her age,” her father pointed out.

      “But I lived here,” she retorted, then let the subject drop. She was not going to ruin lunch by getting into an argument at the table.

      “Let’s get back to Ford Hamilton,” Martha suggested diplomatically.

      “Yes, let’s,” Lauren agreed. “If Emma’s not interested in a gorgeous, available newspaper editor, maybe I’ll check him out.”

      “Right,” Wayne scoffed. “As if you’d ever come back here to stay.”

      “You never know,” Lauren said so seriously that it drew stares from every adult at the table.

      “Lauren?” Emma said, regarding her curiously. This was the first she’d heard of any disenchantment Lauren felt with her glamorous lifestyle.

      “Oh, don’t mind me,” Lauren said, pushing back from the table. “I’ve got to run. I promised Karen I’d drive over to the ranch this afternoon and help with the horses.”

      “Now there’s a picture the tabloids would pay to have,” Emma’s father teased. “Millie, where’s my camera? I could probably make enough from this shot to pay for a couple of new bulls.”

      “You don’t want to do that, Dad,” Emma warned. “I’d have to advise Lauren to sue you.”

      “As if I could ever sue my favorite surrogate dad,” Lauren said, pressing a kiss to his cheek that made him blush.

      He shook his head. “Who knew that one of Emma’s friends would grow up to become one of the most famous beauties in the world? I remember when you wore your hair in pigtails and made mud pies in my backyard.”

      “Now that is a picture the tabloids would love,” Wayne said. “And I think I know where one is.”

      “In the scrapbook,” Matt said, grinning for the first time since Emma had arrived. “Shall I get it? We can split the profits.”

      “You do and you’re a dead man,” Emma warned. “I’m in that picture, too. If Lauren doesn’t kill you, I will.”

      She glanced across the table to see tears in her mother’s eyes. “Mom? What’s wrong?”

      “I’m just so happy to have all of you around this table again, squabbling the way you used to. You, too, Lauren. I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed having my whole family under one roof.”

      Guilt spread through Emma. “I’ll get home more often, Mom. I promise.”

      “You say that now, but once you’re back in Denver, you’ll be deluged with clients, and the next thing you know another two years will have slipped by.”

      “I won’t let that happen,” Emma vowed.

      But, of course, it would. She was powerless to stop it. Her career defined her. Being the best and brightest in her class had challenged her to become the best and brightest in the firm. She wanted to be the first lawyer people thought of when there was a high-profile case in Denver. She’d failed at marriage. She was a neglectful, if loving, mom and daughter. But she would be somebody when it came to her profession. Men made sacrifices for their careers all the time, and no one thought any less of them. Why should it be different for a woman? And at least she was setting an example for Caitlyn that a woman could achieve whatever she wanted to in a man’s world.

      But at what cost? some would ask. Emma even asked herself that from time to time in the dark of night. So far, though, she hadn’t come up with a satisfactory answer. She wondered if she ever would.

      Chapter 2

      Ford hadn’t intended to go anywhere near the Winding River High School class reunion. With no other reporter on staff, he’d assigned Teddy Taylor to cover it and given him a camera to take along. Teddy had been ecstatic.

      “Be sure you get a few shots of Lauren Winters,” he reminded the teenager. “Everyone’s going to want to see the big celebrity deigning to mingle with the small-town folks.”

      Ford’s sarcasm was unmistakable, even to Teddy. The boy had frowned. “I don’t think Lauren’s like that. Uncle Ryan says she’s great. She was the smartest kid in the class. He says she was real serious back then. Nobody expected her to wind up an actress.”

      “Whatever,” Ford said, dismissing the ardent defense. “Just get lots of pictures. You probably know who’s important better than I do.”

      “I hope so. I got a list from Uncle Ryan. He knows everybody. There’s a lady named Gina who has one of the hottest restaurants in New York—”

      “Gina Petrillo?” Ford asked, startled. “Owns a place called Café Tuscany?”

      Teddy glanced at his notes, then nodded. “Yeah, that’s it. You’ve heard of it?”

      “I’ve eaten there,” he said. The editors of a New York paper had taken him there when they’d been courting him, trying to steal him away СКАЧАТЬ