“Damn right.” Herb pointed his fork again. “You find out what you’re really made of when you haven’t seen daylight for twelve hours, and you’ve got a drill hammering in your ears, and the muck is clogging your nose and your eyes, and you’ve just found out you’re pulling a double shift.”
“Your family owned the mine,” Sean said. “You didn’t have to work in it.”
“I wanted to work,” said Herb. “I was glad to work. No catering for me.”
“Hell, I work—”
“Not according to your mom,” said Herb. “According to her, lately you do everything but. Out late with a bunch of jerks.”
“They’re my friends—”
“Some friends, according to your mom.”
“When the hell does she talk to you—”
“Take it easy, both of you,” said Colin. “Sean, clean up your language and speak to your great—speak to Herb with a little respect. And Herb... give Sean a break. He does have a job. Maybe it’s not the kind of work you’re used to—but it’s work.”
“Gee, thanks, Dad,” Sean said caustically.
Colin studied his son. The boy had a belligerent attitude, but there was also a strain to his features, and an unhappiness the boy couldn’t quite disguise. You shouldn’t look like that at fifteen. Colin wondered what was going on with his son—and acknowledged he’d better find out soon.
“You know, Sean,” he said, “you can kick back a little here. This is supposed to be a vacation for all three of us.”
“Right,” said Sean in a low voice. “Just the three of us. Sure.”
“Sean,” Colin said, “whatever trouble you’re having, it might do you good to talk about it.”
“Who says I’m having trouble?”
“Your mother, for one,” Colin said. “Not that she’d need to—it’s pretty obvious something’s bothering you. I’m a good listener, believe it or not. Herb’s a good listener, too, even though he’d like you to think otherwise.”
“I’ll listen to anything that makes sense,” Herb said gruffly, tossing Dusty, who sat at his feet, a bit of crusty roll.
“I didn’t want to come here,” Sean said.
“You think that’s a surprise?” Herb asked. “All you’ve done since you got here is mope. Maybe we don’t have enough fans asking for your autograph.”
Sean stood up. For just a second he wore an expression of pure misery. But then it was gone, replaced by the belligerence. “Hell,” he said to the room at large, and made his exit.
Colin and Herb watched him go. “You could let up on him a little,” Colin said.
Herb snorted. “Think your method’s any better? One minute you’re disciplining him, the next you’re making excuses for him. I’m just trying to rile him, get him to open up. Something’s bugging him big time, and he needs to let it out.”
Colin could agree on the last point. He just didn’t agree with Herb’s way of doing things. Of course, his way wasn’t proving any better.
He didn’t know how to get through to his own son.
CHAPTER THREE
MAIN STREET IN SOBRIETY, Idaho, consisted of several blocks of ornate, redbrick buildings, facing each other like proper Victorian ladies and gentlemen in an old-fashioned line dance. Alex wandered along, stopping occasionally to gaze through store windows at any number of knickknacks. She knew that when you were a tourist you took leave of your senses and bought silly refrigerator magnets, gaudy teacups and cheap sweatshirts. Of course, Alex wasn’t in Sobriety as a tourist, and so far she’d managed to restrain herself.
“Hey, Dr. Alex.”
The voice came from behind her, deep and easy. Colin’s voice. She turned around and faced him with at least the appearance of calm.
“Hello,” she said. “I’m surprised to see you, Colin. Our appointment isn’t for two hours.”
“Appointment... that’s such an official-sounding word. How about we make it a date, instead?”
She saw the humor in his eyes and knew she ought to say something repressive. But all she could do was stand there gazing at him, in the middle of the sidewalk. Today he wore jeans and a blue-gray polo shirt. He looked dangerously handsome.
Alex still felt humiliated over what had happened yesterday, the way she’d lost control and panicked at that video. Worst of all was knowing that Colin had seen her reaction. She’d been trying to prove how strong she was, how in control... and she’d proved just the opposite.
“Had a busy day?” he asked now.
“Yes,” she lied. She’d wanted to keep away from him until this evening. A little time alone, she’d told herself. Surely that was all she needed. But almost twenty-four hours had gone by since she’d last seen him and she still felt the same mixture of fascination and foreboding.
She started walking again, Colin keeping pace beside her. “I’ve had a very interesting day, in fact,” she said. “I’ve learned that the big news in Sobriety is the ghost at the mining museum, but you have to be there at midnight to have any hope of seeing it.”
Colin looked disgruntled. “Who’s spreading the ghost stories?”
“Let’s see...the lady at the drugstore.” Alex didn’t mention that she’d bought another mystery there. “And the man at the gas station. Oh, yes, and Denise at Maggie’s Diner. She was the first person who told me about it. Apparently the ghost is a miner who died in a cave-in back in 1902.”
Colin looked positively pained.
“What’s the matter?” she asked. “You don’t like ghost stories?”
“Depends on the ghost,” he said. “So, Alex...you haven’t told me whether you’re going out with me tonight.”
“Colin,” she said firmly, “I didn’t come all the way to Idaho so we could date.”
As they walked, he took her hand in his. “Sometimes things happen that you don’t expect. Like dating.”
“You’re just trying to get out of being part of my study,” she said.
“Are you sure?”
Right now she wasn’t sure of anything. Except that holding hands with the most attractive man she’d ever known was definitely not a good idea.
“Colin,” she said. “I’m not officially divorced yet.”
He twined his fingers through hers. “Okay, we won’t call it a date. We’ll just go out to dinner.”
At last she had the fortitude to pull away. “You know, if you cooperated a little,” she told him, “we could actually make some progress. The sooner that happens, the sooner you’ll be rid of me.”
Colin took her hand again and brought her to a stop. “What makes you think I want to get rid of you, Alex?”
She looked into his eyes and saw the humor still there. But she saw something else, something that sent a treacherous warmth all through her. When at last she wrenched her gaze from him, it did no good. Now she saw a reflection of her and Colin in a shop window. Saw the way she was leaning toward him just a bit, as if he were a magnet drawing her. She knew body language, and she knew what her body was saying now.
She pulled away from him a second time, taking a step back. “Colin, I’m not going on a date with you. Not only am I still a married woman, but I’m