Rodeo Rancher. Mary Sullivan

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СКАЧАТЬ after eight, Samantha sat on the sofa and rummaged in her big bag for something.

      Lily, in Michael’s arms, wriggled to be put down and went over to her. Apparently, the ice had really and truly been broken with that hair trick, because Lily leaned against Samantha’s thigh to look inside. “Want to see what I’m carrying, do you?”

      Samantha dumped the contents onto a sofa cushion. “There you go. I have everything in here but the kitchen sink.”

      At that moment, the phone rang.

      Michael answered. “Hello?”

      “Michael. You’re there.” It was Karen Enright and she sounded anxious.

      Michael bit back a sigh. Karen had been Lillian’s best friend. After Lillian’s death, Karen had become proprietorial where Michael was concerned. Her boundless earnest concern for him and his children smothered him. He’d never given her one iota of encouragement.

      “I’ve been worried.” Her breathless voice irritated him.

      The only woman he’d ever loved was dead. He wasn’t about to start loving someone else. Karen should understand that.

      He’d loved Lillian from the first moment he’d met her in high school. It had deepened when they’d begun dating at sixteen.

      Lightning had struck him once. It wasn’t likely to strike him a second time.

      “How are you and the children?” she asked. “Would you like me to come over and help take care of them?”

      Her deep earnestness chafed him.

      “In this weather? For God’s sake, Karen, stay put.” Honestly, he just wanted her to stop. “Like I said earlier, the kids and I will be fine.”

      “But what if the power goes out?”

      “We’ll do what we’ve always done. We’ll get by. Do not come over. It would be a fool’s errand.”

      Suddenly, the phone went dead and the lights went out.

      They’d lost their power, just as he’d thought they would.

      The living room had been plunged into darkness, save for the fire he’d been feeding before the phone rang.

      Damned cordless phone. He should have stuck with his old landline.

      Lily patted his leg. “Daddy? Okay?”

      “Yep. We’re good.”

      “We’ve got systems,” Mick said. “See, Lily? Right, Dad?” In the light of the fire, he pointed to the logs and the camping equipment.

      “We’ll be fine,” Michael said. “In the morning, I’ll start up the generator. We won’t need it for the night. Might as well head to bed.” Reluctant to give in to the intimacy of sleeping in the same room with strangers, he thought the bedrooms might stay warm enough until morning. He led the way down the hall with one of the lamps and tucked in his daughter and kissed his son.

      Samantha did the same with her two boys and then they were alone in the hallway.

      Her fingers twisted nervously.

      He stuck his hands into his pockets and raised his shoulders, not sure what to do with her. It was only nine o’clock and too early for bed.

      “You want a coffee or something?” he asked. “We can boil the water over the fire.”

      “Too much caffeine. Do you have herbal tea?”

      “Think so.”

      They wandered to the kitchen. The urge to keep his distance from her was stronger now that the house was hushed and felt even more intimate.

      She started to chatter again. He did his best to block it out. He couldn’t.

      “You don’t have to do that,” he said.

      She stilled. “Do what?”

      “Fill the silence.”

      For a moment she went deeply silent. He wondered whether he’d been too blunt. Again.

      She didn’t laugh this time. “It’s a habit of mine.”

      “I noticed.” He smiled to soften things in case he really had hurt her feelings.

      He found the herbal tea in the cupboard, Lillian’s chamomile. Toward the end it was the only thing that would settle her stomach.

      Lost in memories, he didn’t realize he was staring at the box, immobile until a light touch warmed his arm.

      “Are you okay?”

      “Yeah.” He sighed. “It was my wife’s tea.”

      “Is she—? Did she—?”

      “She’s gone.” He hated uttering the word dead. Every time he did, it made it real all over again.

      Samantha didn’t ask questions, but said, “You don’t have to give me her tea.”

      But he did. Lillian had been generous to everyone. She would have liked nothing better than to sit down with Samantha and talk about their kids or anything under the sun that caught her fancy.

      She would have wanted Samantha to enjoy what was left of the tea now.

      “Let me make you a cup. I want to.”

      She nodded and stepped away.

      They settled in the living room, her on the sofa and Michael keeping his distance in the armchair.

      He didn’t know what to say.

      Apparently, neither did she.

      She wasn’t rushing to fill the void even though her fingers moved constantly. Why was she so nervous? Sure, he was a stranger, but he thought he’d shown he was trustworthy. He wasn’t going to jump her. Maybe if he told her the truth about Lillian, she wouldn’t be afraid to be alone with him.

      “My wife didn’t leave us,” he blurted. “She died.”

      She gasped. “I’m sorry for your loss.” She looked it. “It must be hard for you and the children.”

      The unspoken question hung in the air until he answered it. “Cancer.”

      “So...not sudden.”

      “No. Might have been better if it had been.” Okay, enough. He couldn’t talk about it. It hurt. He didn’t often haul out his intestines without anesthesia and put them on display.

      A log popped on the fire and she startled.

      “The boys’ father?” he asked to change the subject. “Is he around?”

      “We’re СКАЧАТЬ