“Come on out to the ranch again. We’ll … talk some more.”
“I’d like that.” Connor smiled.
“Excellent—but next week’s no good. Adele’s dragging me to Hawaii.” Caleb grunted. “Lately Adele’s got some idea that we should travel more. But how about a week from Monday? Dinner, seven-thirty?”
“I’ll be there, thanks.”
A minute or two later, Caleb and his wife moved on.
Next, Grant Clifton appeared with his pretty wife, Stephanie, and a Clifton cousin, Beauregard, who was known as Bo.
Bo was good-looking and talkative, a rancher by trade—and a salesman by nature. “I think we need some fresh ideas in this old town. And that’s why I’m running for mayor.”
Grant laughed. “Come on, Bo. Against Arthur?”
“Arthur Swinton is a staunch conservative,” Melanie explained for Connor’s benefit.
Russ said, “Been in town politics for years.”
Grant added, “Arthur’s on the city council and he’s running for mayor. It’s pretty much a given he’s going to win.”
Bo laughed. “Nothing’s a given, cousin.”
Russ suggested dryly, “Don’t forget death and taxes.”
“You’re right,” agreed Bo. “And for the sales tax we pay around here, we should get more for our money.” Bo went on to explain in detail all the projects he planned to fight for when he won the election.
When Grant and Stephanie finally dragged Bo away, Melanie suggested they start moving in the general direction of the Rib Shack. Connor turned for the wide arch that led through to the restaurant and almost ran into the woman standing behind him.
Slim, with short, wispy, strawberry-blond hair, the woman wore a snug summer dress splashed with vivid pink flowers. He couldn’t see her face. She was turned the other way.
“Tori, hey,” said Melanie, who apparently knew her.
The woman turned to smile at his sister. But the smile faded when she saw him. She gazed up at him warily, through big, bright hazel eyes.
He stifled a groan of embarrassment as he remembered where he’d seen her before.
Chapter Two
Connor felt like a jerk.
Probably because he’d behaved like one the other day.
“Hello,” the woman named Tori said coolly.
Jones, he thought, scouring his brain for the information CJ had reluctantly given up when Connor had grilled him after he got the kid home on Thursday. Her name was Tori Jones and she taught English at the high school. “How are you?” he asked, for lack of anything more original to say.
“Just fine, thank you.” And then, finally, she did smile—over his shoulder, at Melanie. “Hey.” She even smiled at Russ. And she had that teenage girl with her, the one CJ liked, whose name was Jerilyn.
The girl said, “Hi, Mr. McFarlane.”
He cleared his throat. “Uh. Hi, Jerilyn.”
“Is, um, CJ here, too?” Her pretty face was open, guileless. And heartbreakingly hopeful.
His sister said, “Ah. So you’ve met my big brother?”
“Yes, we have,” Tori Jones said sweetly. “Just the other day, as a matter of fact.”
Connor told the dark-haired girl, “CJ’s in the restaurant, with Ryan.”
And Melanie said, “Why don’t you two join us? We were just going in to eat.”
Jerilyn turned her hopeful gaze on the English teacher.
After a moment, Tori nodded. “Sure. Why not?”
So they all went together, easing their way through the crowd toward the packed Rib Shack.
As it turned out, Ryan and CJ had actually managed to save three chairs. CJ jumped up at the sight of Jerilyn. “Jerilyn! Hi.” Suddenly he was only too eager to scout out a couple more seats for the dark-haired girl and her teacher.
They went through the serving line and loaded their plates with ribs, barbecued chicken, fat white rolls and coleslaw. Back at the table, CJ worked it so that Jerilyn sat next to him. The girl seemed to glow with pleasure at CJ’s attention. And CJ behaved almost like his old self, suddenly—smiling and happy, his face animated as he and the girl whispered together.
Connor ended up with Melanie on one side and Tori Jones on the other. Through the meal, his sister and Tori talked around him—about the barbecue and what a success it was, about the resort and how nice it was to see it packed full of people again.
Since Russ had bought the first beers for the four adults, Connor did his bit and went over to the bar to get a second round. He eased in next to a blonde woman, sitting alone, nursing a white wine.
She smiled and leaned close to him. “I’m Erin. Erin Castro.”
Was she coming on to him?
He decided she wasn’t. There was no breathless smile, no fluttering eyelashes. Probably just being friendly. He gave her offered hand a quick shake. “Connor McFarlane.”
She seemed to study his face intently. “No relation to the Traubs, the Cliftons or the Cateses?” She had named the town’s three major families.
He laughed. “No, but they’re thick on the ground around here.”
“So I’ve been told.”
He paid the bartender, gathered up the four beers by their necks and headed back to the table, forgetting about the woman named Erin as soon as he turned away from her. Mostly, he was thinking about Tori Jones.
Thinking that he liked the cute spray of freckles across her nose and those big hazel eyes. Thinking that he owed her an apology for his behavior on Thursday. After all, he was trying to be a better man. And one of the things a better man did was to say he was sorry when an apology was called for.
Sometimes trying to be a better man could be a real pain in the ass.
At the table, he took the chair next to her again and set one of the beers in front of her. “Here you go.”
She met his eyes. “Thanks.”
“My pleasure.” Holding her gaze, he tried a smile. She didn’t smile back. And yet somehow that look they shared went on far too long.
She glanced away first.
He passed fresh ones down the table to Melanie and Russ and tried to think of how he could smoothly suggest that the schoolteacher give him a moment alone.
Smoothly. That was the key. But for some reason, he didn’t feel especially smooth. And that really bugged him. He ran a hotel chain, for pity’s sake. It was part of his job to be smooth when a situation required it.
After the meal, which included red velvet cake and coffee for dessert, DJ Traub got up with a microphone and thanked everyone for coming to his annual summer kickoff barbecue. He introduced his visiting Texas cousins, Dillon and Corey, after which he announced there would be dancing out on the patio. Everyone applauded as DJ left the mike.
CJ stood and pulled back Jerilyn’s chair for her.
Connor snapped to attention. “What’s up?”
His son stiffened. But then Jerilyn gave CJ a gentle look. That was all it took. CJ actually spoke in civil tone. “We were just going to hang around out in the lobby area.”
“If that’s