“I’m booked up getting this place in order the next couple of days, but after that, I’ll give you a call.”
“Anytime,” Priscilla said.
The idea of spending time with Sam, even if it was just business, sent such warmth shooting through her that nothing could spoil her good mood.
* * *
PRISCILLA’S MOOD WAS soon tested on the ride back to town.
“Alyssa and Logan, sittin’ in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g...” Mia sing-songed from the backseat.
“Shut up, Mia! That’s dumb!”
“Make me!”
Alyssa unsnapped her seat belt and turned toward her little sister so fast that a startled Priscilla swerved the car.
“Sit down!” she yelled, her heart pounding. “Now! And put that seat belt back on!”
Alyssa huffed but did as she said, while Mia snickered from the backseat.
“And you, Mia, stop instigating trouble if you want to come back out here to ride!”
“Well, it’s true!”
“I didn’t kiss him,” grumbled Alyssa. She tossed her head. “But maybe I will.”
“No, you won’t,” Priscilla said.
Her niece gave her a dirty look. “Why not? I can kiss him. He’s really cute.”
“And too old for you.”
“I’m not a baby!”
“You’re sixteen, Alyssa. A teenager. Logan is a young man. Probably twenty, maybe older.”
“So what? Back in New York, I date older men.”
Mia snorted and widened her eyes. “Oh, yeah? When? Who? Where?”
“Shut up!”
“I’m gonna tell Dad!”
When Alyssa started to turn toward the backseat again, Priscilla raised her voice, “All right, enough, both of you!”
Thankful that they both went silent for the moment, Priscilla took a big breath. Surely they wouldn’t snipe at each other the whole time they stayed with her. More than anything, she hated confrontation. Hated the fact that she’d yelled at the nieces she loved. She’d avoided mean-spirited sniping since she was a kid. As unbelievable as it seemed, she wished one of Alyssa’s friends would text her so the girls would leave each other alone. Checking the rearview mirror, she realized that Mia had pulled out her cell phone and was already involved in playing some game.
“So what is it with you and that guy?” Alyssa suddenly asked.
“That guy...Sam? What do you mean?”
“You were into him on the whole ride.”
Priscilla squirmed a bit. That might be true, but how had Alyssa even noticed when she’d been so into Logan?
“Sam and I went to high school together. We were just catching up.”
“On what?”
“On what we’ve been doing with our lives.”
“You live in the same town.”
“We do now, but Sam was gone for a lot of years. He just moved back recently. I didn’t even know he was here.”
“But you’re glad to see him, right?”
“Well, sure. It’s always nice to see old friends.”
“Looked like he was more than a friend, Aunt Priscilla. Was he your boyfriend?”
Priscilla felt her face grow warm. How ridiculous. “No...well, we had one date, but that was fifteen years ago.” And she didn’t have to explain it to a sixteen-year old.
Though she couldn’t help but remember that toe-tingling kiss they’d shared after the prom. And Sam’s declaration that he wanted her to be his girl.
“Then you broke up?” Alyssa probed.
“Uh, we weren’t exactly...together. He left town.”
“Just like that?”
“Uh-huh.” The day after the date, Sam had been gone. Hadn’t even said goodbye. Worse, she’d learned that the only reason Sam had asked her was because a couple of his football player friends bet he couldn’t get her to venture out from behind her thick glasses and give him a good time.
“I wouldn’t let some guy like that get away,” Alyssa said.
“I didn’t exactly have a choice.”
“He’s pretty cool,” Mia said, leaning forward. “A real cowboy. You are going to let me take those lessons with him, aren’t you?”
“I said we would talk about it. I want to make sure we do things that both of you enjoy. And your grandmother may have some ideas about your activities. She wants to see a lot of you while you’re here.”
“I want to go back to the ranch, too,” Alyssa said. “I love riding.”
Mia snorted. “Since when? You said it was boring.”
“I was bored doing the same thing all the time. But going out to the ranch is different.”
Right, Priscilla thought. The ranch had Logan. That fact, as well as going back into Sam’s territory made her more than a little nervous. Logan had been friendly, but not too friendly. Surely he realized Alyssa was too young for him. She couldn’t fault him for her niece’s new crush. She could still fault Sam...but she could handle anything, including him.
She hoped.
“Well, Grams and Gramps will want to spend all day tomorrow with the two of you,” Priscilla said. “But I’ll see about making arrangements for later in the week.”
“Yay!” Mia said.
Alyssa simply grinned.
Making Priscilla want to roll her eyes. Whatever made her think having a teenager as her responsibility for half the summer was going to be a piece of cake?
SAM’S CELL BUZZED in his back pocket. It was after supper and he was alone doing dishes and thinking about how nice it had been to see Priscilla again. Maybe it was someone calling about lessons or rides for the next day, so he pulled the phone free with some excitement.
Pop.
He answered, “Yeah, Pop, what’s up?”
“You need to get over here, right away.”
“Are you okay?” Sam’s pulse rushed. “You didn’t fall again?”
“Don’t worry, I’m still on my feet. I got a bone to pick with you, Sam.”
Sam let out a breath. He didn’t know why he bothered worrying about the old man. So Pop had a bone to pick with him. Well, when didn’t he?
“Yeah, I’ll come by as soon as I’m done here.”
“Now, boy!”
That familiar, imperious tone made Sam’s gut clench. He took a really deep breath and told himself to stay calm. “All right. Be there in a few.”
“You’d better be!”
What was wrong this time?
Leaving the cabin, Sam climbed into the truck and headed for the main house a half mile down the road. Pop was always demanding his presence, never to have his company,