“The ranch house was a lot smaller than this in the beginning,” Carson informed them.
“You’re sure lucky to live here,” Sam uttered.
“We’re lucky you came to visit.”
Carson always knew the right thing to say to make everyone feel good.
“To my regret, something’s come up and I won’t be able to join you this afternoon, but Ross is an expert and will show all of you where to catch the biggest fish. When you bring them in, we’ll ask the cook to fix them for your dinner. There’s no better-tasting trout than a German brown.”
“He ought to know,” Ross interjected. “He was fishing the Snake with his grandpa when he was just a toddler.”
Everyone laughed except Johnny, who’d become exceptionally quiet.
“Enjoy your day. See you later,” Carson said. His glance included Tracy and Johnny before he hurried out of the dining room.
“Where’s he going?” her son whispered.
“I don’t know, honey.” Something had come up. Though he’d shown nothing tangible, she’d felt his tension. “He runs this ranch with his friends and has a lot of other things to do.” Thank heaven.
“Do we have to go fishing?” He’d only eaten half of his grilled cheese and didn’t touch the green salad, which was no surprise.
“Yes.” Her automatic instinct had been to say no, because she was afraid to push him too hard. But right now she decided to take the psychologist’s advice and practice a little tough love. “It’ll be fun for both of us. I’ve never been fly fishing and want to try it.”
“Okay,” he finally muttered. At least he hadn’t fought her on it. “But I bet I don’t catch one.”
“I bet you do. Think how fun it will be to phone your grandparents tonight and tell them everything.”
This was the way their vacation was supposed to be. Doing all sorts of activities with different people. Unfortunately, Carson had gotten there first and had spoiled her son. Nothing and no one was more exciting than he was, even Tracy recognized that.
Ross got up from the table. “I’ll bring the van in front and we’ll go.” He came around to her side. “Is everything all right?” He’d assumed there’d been a hard moment at the table for Johnny. He’d assumed correctly, but for the wrong reason. She couldn’t tell Ross what was really going on inside Johnny, not when these wonderful marines were doing everything in their power to bring her son some happiness.
She smiled at him. For once this wasn’t about Tony, or Johnny’s sensitivity to a child’s question. This was about Carson. “Everything’s fine. Honestly. See you in a minute.”
Sam got out of his chair and came over to Johnny, who was putting another roll of caps into his mustang. “Where did you get that cap gun?”
“In Jackson. Carson took us.”
He turned to his parents. “Can we go into town and buy one?”
“I want one, too,” Rachel chimed in.
Their mother gave Tracy that “what are you going to do?” look. Tracy liked her. “Maybe after we’re through fishing.”
Tracy took her son aside. “Why don’t you go out front and let them shoot your gun for a minute?”
“Do I have to?”
“No, but it’s a good way to make friends, don’t you think?”
A big sigh escaped. “I guess.” He turned to Sam. “Do you guys want to try shooting some caps outside?”
“Heck, yes!”
They both ran out and Rachel followed. Tracy walked over to the parents who thanked her.
“I’m glad Johnny has someone to play with. After dinner we could all drive into town and take you to the Boot Corral. You can get a cap gun and cowboy hats there, in fact, everything Western.”
“That’s a wonderful idea!”
“I’m afraid my son would sleep in all his gear and new cowboy boots if I let him.”
Both Harrises grinned as they headed out of the dining room for the foyer. “This is a fabulous place,” Ralph commented. “I wish we could stay a month.”
Tracy understood how he felt. She was grateful his children would be here for Johnny. If she could drum up enough activities that included them until they flew home, maybe a talk with Carson wasn’t necessary. She needed to let things play out naturally before she got paranoid. No doubt other families with children would be staying here, too, and her worries would go away.
The next time Johnny brought up Carson’s name, she’d impress upon him that the owner of the ranch had too many responsibilities to be on hand all hours of the day.
Unfortunately, his name surfaced after their wonderful trout dinner when they’d all decided to go into town and do some shopping.
“I don’t want to go, Mom. Carson’s going to give me another lesson on Goldie.”
“But he’s not here, honey. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow. Tell you what. After we get back from town, you and the kids can go swimming. How does that sound?”
He thought about it for a minute before he said, “Okay.” Convincing him was like pulling teeth, but he liked the Harris children well enough to give in.
As it turned out, once they were back from town loaded with hats, guns and more ammo than they could use in a week, they realized it was too cool outside to swim. Monica suggested they play Ping-Pong in the game room off the dining room.
Tracy agreed and told Johnny to go along with them. She’d come back to the ranch house as soon as she’d freshened up. When she walked in the bedroom for their jackets, her cell phone rang. She checked the caller ID. It had to be her mother-in-law calling.
“Hello, Sylvia?”
“No, it’s Natalie. We came over for dinner before we leave on our trip in the morning. I’m using her phone to call because I can’t find mine. How are you doing by now? Or, more to the point, how’s Giovanni? Is he begging to go back home? I’ve wondered how he would handle things. I guess you realize our father-in-law is worried about him.”
That was no news. Since Tony’s death, his father had tried to step in as father and grandfather.
“If you want to know the truth, things are going so well it’s got me scared.”
“What do you mean?”
“Mr. Lundgren might be a former marine, but he’s the owner of this ranch and is this amazing cowboy who’s showing Johnny the time of his life. My son has a new hero.”
“Already?”
“I’m afraid so. You wouldn’t recognize him.”
“Why afraid?”
“That was a wrong choice of words.”
“I don’t think so. How old is this guy?”
Natalie always got to the crux. “Maybe twenty-nine, thirty. I don’t know.”
“Is he a hunk?”
“Nat—”
“He is!”
“Listen. I’d love to talk more, but I don’t have time. This nice couple with two children is watching out for Johnny in the game room and he’s