“It won’t, cross my heart. I won’t get any more tattoos, and I’ll let my hair go back to its natural color.”
“The hair and the tattoo aren’t the only problem.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She scowled at the floor. “I thought you were mad about the tattoo.”
“Oh, I am, but I’m equally upset you left town without telling me. I’m your mother. I need to know where you are all the time.”
“I promise I’ll tell you from now on.”
“I certainly hope so, but for a while you won’t be going anywhere with Rose. You’re not allowed to spend time with her until I say differently.”
“That’s not fair! Rose is my best friend.”
“She hasn’t always been. Why don’t you hang around with Amy or Natalie anymore?”
“Because they still act like kids. Rose doesn’t. Anyway, it’s not her fault I got a tattoo. I made my own choice.”
“You certainly did, and it was an extremely poor one. You used to have better judgment. Rose—”
“You can’t pick my friends for me, Mom.”
Rachel sighed, hating the defiance in her daughter’s eyes. “You’re right, I can’t. But I can choose who you spend your time with, and this summer it won’t be Rose.”
“All summer? You can’t do that!”
“If your choices improve over the next couple of months, we’ll re-evaluate when school starts.”
Lark’s eyes narrowed. “Dad would never have been this mean. I wish he hadn’t died. I wish...” She clamped her lips together.
“I wish he hadn’t either. I don’t like making these decisions on my own.”
“Is that all?” Lark’s chest heaved as she drew in a ragged breath.
Thinking about the camping trip, Rachel held her tongue. “It is for now. Why don’t you go get dressed? We need to leave in about an hour.”
“Am I allowed to talk to Rose at our graduation, or is that asking too much?” Sarcasm accompanied the defiance in her voice.
Rachel’s temper flared. Silently she counted to ten. “Of course you can talk to her. You just can’t go anywhere with her or with her brother.”
“Fine!” With one last icy glare, Lark stomped off.
Rachel collapsed against the back of the couch.
“Is the coast clear?” Grace stepped into the doorway.
“Gracie! I thought you weren’t going to be able to make it today.”
“I changed my work schedule. Rough day?”
“The worst.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Maybe later. I can’t face a rehash right now.”
“You can tell me all the gruesome details after dinner. I was planning to spend the night at Mom and Dad’s, but I’ll stay here instead.”
“You know you’re welcome. If we’re lucky, seeing her favorite aunt will improve Lark’s mood and make the evening bearable.”
“We can hope.” Grace smiled. “Come on, let’s go rally the troops.”
After the earlier theatrics, the eighth-grade graduation ceremony was anticlimactic—the only bit of drama created when Lark walked across the stage wearing a summer dress that bared her tattoo for the world to see. Rachel’s mother sagged in her seat, her gasp audible through the applause.
A short time later, Audrey Hanover entered the kitchen of her big, rambling farmhouse, still in a huff. “Neither of you would have gotten away with a stunt like that when you were teenagers.”
Though she’d grown plump over the years, and her red hair was mostly gray, she was still a beautiful woman—and a force to be reckoned with. She cast another dark look in her granddaughter’s direction.
“Believe me, Lark isn’t getting away with it either.” Rachel washed her hands and dried them on a dish towel. “Now, what can I do to help with dinner?”
Audrey ignored her daughter’s attempt to change the subject. “Then why wouldn’t you let me speak my mind when we were at the school?”
“Because I didn’t want a public scene. I’m handling the situation, and Lark is well aware of my displeasure. Please, can we just drop it for now?”
Grace took her mother’s sweater from her and hung it on the hook by the door. “Don’t worry, Mom. Lark is in serious trouble. Rachel let her have it earlier. Now, let’s get the ham out of the oven and eat. I’m starving.”
Her sister led their mother away, and Rachel reached up to massage her temples.
“Here.” Will handed her two aspirin and a glass of water. “You look like you could use these.”
“My savior.” She gulped down the tablets.
“Is Mom giving you grief?”
“She doesn’t bother me. It’s the situation in general. Lately I feel like my life is one disaster after another.”
“Keep your chin up, kid. You’ll survive.”
“If you say so.”
Dinner was eaten with the usual noise and confusion that accompanied a Hanover family gathering. Afterward, Grace followed Rachel home. When she came downstairs after changing into a pair of old sweats, her sister handed her a glass of wine.
“Are the kids asleep?” Grace leaned against the kitchen counter and tapped one polished nail on the granite surface.
“Jade and Ivy are. They were both exhausted. Lark is listening to her iPod and ignoring me.”
“She’ll get over it.”
“Maybe not after I throw her the next curve ball.” Rachel took a sip of wine then set down her glass to pull flour and sugar out of the pantry.
“What curve ball are you talking about?”
She set to work mixing up a batch of apple bran muffins. “The camping trip I’m planning. It’ll be easier to enforce the no Rose rule if they aren’t in the same town.”
Grace eyed her sister with raised brows. “This camping trip wouldn’t have anything to do with the retreat Kane Lafferty was talking about, would it?”
“It might. I booked a reservation for seven days starting next week.” Rachel cracked the last egg into the bowl then stirred vigorously.
“I knew it! I told Nolan you had a thing for his buddy. You could barely keep your eyes off him while we were having drinks.”
Rachel squirmed as she poured the batter into prepared tins. “I don’t have a thing for Kane. Sure, I think—thought he was attractive. Who wouldn’t? But it’s not like I ran off and jumped into bed with the man.”
“Are you sure?”
“Grace!” Rachel shut the oven door and turned to glare at her sister. “Of course I’m sure.”
“Just checking. Did he kiss you?”
“No, he walked me to my car and left. End of story.”
“Obviously not or you wouldn’t have planned this camping trip.”
“The trip isn’t about Kane. It’s about giving Jade and Ivy a great vacation