Page 41 of Luke

"She'll be fine. It's a warm day. I'm sure she'll be out at the pool."

The pool was one of Kaitlyn's favorite spots. "True, and I'll have the wild boys on the hike with me, so I don't have to worry about them." She paused, seeing Shari rub her abdomen. "Everything okay?"

"Just a little twinge. I'm getting so big, and I still have another month to go."

"Which reminds me—we really need to hire another chef soon." She looked around the kitchen to make sure their part-time sous chef was not in the room. "I don't think Michelle is skilled enough to take over for you. She's a sweet girl, and she's learning quickly, but she can't run the kitchen."

"I know," Shari said wearily, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. "I thought I could train Michelle to be better faster, but while she's great at soups and stews and casseroles, she's a disaster with anything baked and she seems unable to grill meat with any kind of finesse. Plus, her time management skills are not the best."

"Let's get the ad up tomorrow wherever it needs to go."

Shari nodded. "I've got it written on my computer; I'll email it to you this afternoon. I want to take another look at it."

"Great."

"By the way, Brad is so excited about hanging out with Luke."

She smiled. "I saw the love in his eyes."

"Is that because you know what love for Luke looks like?" Shari teased.

"We were over a long time ago. I told you that."

"Sometimes love is better the second time around."

"Or sometimes it ends the exact same way—with a broken heart. No thanks. I have enough problems." She headed toward the door. "I'll check in with you when I get back."

"Have fun. I'm going to pack up some cookies for the hike."

"Now that makes me more excited about walking two miles up a hill."

After leaving the kitchen, she caught up with some paperwork, checked in with her staff on arriving and departing guests and then made her way upstairs a little before eleven to change her clothes.

On her way back downstairs, she checked on Kaitlyn, who was on her bed watching something on her computer.

"Hey," she said. "It's a nice day. Don't you want to be outside?"

Kaitlyn shrugged.

"Tom said you did a good job with the horses this morning." She moved closer to the bed. "Thanks for that."

"I didn't have a choice, did I?"

"You know, things don't have to be this hard, Kaitlyn." She thought for a moment, trying to choose her words carefully. "It's not wrong for you to have fun, to be happy."

"Then why are you always telling me not to have fun?" Kaitlyn challenged, giving her a stubborn look. "Every time I do something I want to do, you get pissed."

"That's because some of your choices are dangerous, honey. Going off with two boys who are older and bigger than you is not smart. Drinking alcohol leads to bad decisions. You're too young to know the kind of trouble you can get into. I'm trying to protect you."

"Why do you even bother? I'm supposed to be dead."

Her jaw dropped at her niece's words. "Why would you say that?"

"Because it's true. I was in the car. I should have died with them."

She licked her lips, her heart pounding, as she wrestled with the right response. Kaitlyn had said so very, very little about the crash that she didn't want to get this wrong. If her niece was opening up even a bit, it could be a breakthrough.

"Your mom would not want you to be dead, Kaitlyn. She would want you to lead a long and happy life."

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