Page 13 of Haystacks and Hoaxes

Since she was already running late, she tossed the little brown box on the passenger seat. She was forever ordering heirloom seeds for her balcony garden. She also had a replacement order for her favorite herb and vitamin daily supplements on its way in the mail. Online shopping was one of her weaknesses. It was a weakness she was going to be able to afford a lot better, now that she was gainfully employed again.

On the short drive to her brother’s home, she kept getting the prickly feeling that she was being followed. She glanced repeatedly into her rearview mirror, but she didn’t see anything other than ordinary traffic. Since it was smack dab in the middle of rush hour, the usual gaggle of vehicles was on the road. However, rush hour in Heart Lake was nothing compared to rush hour in Dallas. There was no bumper-to-bumper stopping and going, no bottlenecks, and no sign of the white utility truck that had nearly run her off the road earlier. Even so, the feeling of being watched persisted.

She told herself she was probably being paranoid.Her emotions had swung from one end of the spectrum to the other all afternoon —unbelievable excitement about landing an interview with her number one choice of employers, fear for her safety on the road, a soul-crushing encounter with Decker, followed by a new level of hope during the actual interview, which had ultimately culminated in a too-good-to-be-true job offer.

That turned out to be oh so true!Her current heightened senses were probably to blame for why she was feeling so jumpy. She was soon driving up the paved road that curvedtoward Decker and Chanel’s mountain oasis. Though she’d never been inside their home, she’d driven past it a few times out of sheer curiosity. As usual, she was struck by the enormity of it.

It was a palatial two-story mansion made of beige stone and stucco, with arched windows and a brick-red tiled roof. A stone fountain with two tiers of cascading water anchored the circle driveway. Mila parked between the fountain and the stone steps leading to the front double doors.

The black sheep of the family has arrived.No doubt Deck and Chanel owned security cameras that had already warned them of her presence. She snickered beneath her breath as she reached for her purse and the rabbit. The fat red bow around his neck looked crooked. While she straightened it, her gaze landed on the brown square box. Wondering which one of her orders had arrived in the mail, she flipped it over to read the shipping label and discovered there wasn’t one.

That’s weird.Maybe it had fallen off in transit. If she hadn’t already been running late to dinner, she would’ve taken the time to open the box. Instead, she left it sitting in the passenger seat as she exited the Lexus and hurried up the porch steps with the fuzzy white rabbit clutched in her arms.

Before she could knock, the door on the right swung open. Decker stood there, looking ridiculously clean cut and handsome in gray slacks and a pale blue dress shirt. He was wearing it unbuttoned at the neck with no tie. The buzz cut he’d worn when they’d first become a blended family had been replaced by longer, wavier blonde hair on top. He still wore the sides short, though, just not as short as he used to.

“You made it.” His honey-gold eyes glinted with a cautious welcome as he ushered her inside.

“With a heart full of gratitude,” she declared playfully. He’d hired her despite their strained relationship. She was doing the lazy backstroke across a sea of thankfulness.

His expression softened, making it impossible for her to simply sail past him into his home.

“Thank you,” she muttered in a voice that trembled with emotion. Then she did something she’d never done before. She stepped right up to him and delivered a bear hug around his fancy-shmancy designer shirt, stuffed rabbit and all. His shirt probably cost more than her entire outfit, including her purse. Once upon a time, that might’ve bothered her, but not this evening.

Decker grew still at first. Then he hugged her back.

“Thank you for the job.” She stepped back, blinking rapidly. “And for the wildly gorgeous Lexus.”And for giving me a chance for once.She added the last part inside her head, not wanting to muck up her little speech with any negativity. His reasons for doing what he’d done for her today utterly baffled her, but she could happily live with that kind of bafflement.

Decker waggled his eyebrows at the stuffed rabbit she was still hugging while he shut the door behind them. “You impressed the socks off of Rock Hefner.”

“I tried.” She wrinkled her nose at the memory of how uptight she’d been at the beginning of the interview. However, he’d quickly put her at ease by making her feel like he was on her side. She was a little out of her element again this evening, trying not to gawk at her opulent surroundings. The entry foyer of her brother’s home was bigger than her entire apartment. A double set of curvedstaircases led to an equally grand balcony above their heads.

“You did more than try. You succeeded.” He gallantly waved her into the adjoining dining room.

Mila’s small, curly-haired niece ran squealing in their direction. She’d gotten a lot bigger since the last time Mila had seen her. And faster. “Daddeeeee,” she crowed, launching her chubby limbs into his arms.

He swept her into the air, giving her a noisy kiss on the cheek that made her giggle. She returned the favor with a noisy smooch on his lips. They engaged in a wrestling match next, trying to be the first to tweak each other’s noses.

Mila could tell by watching them that this was something they did often. She stood silently in the arched doorway to the massive dining room, soaking it all in and thinking about how cool it must be to have a dad at that age.

Gwen finally noticed her, leaning back in her dad’s arms to point at Mila. “Who dat?”

Decker cuddled her closer to nuzzle her cheek as he turned with her toward Mila. “That’s your Aunt Mila.”

“No ant.” Gwen shook her head, frowning fiercely as she made a crawling motion with two fingers down her dad’s arm.

“Mila,” Mila repeated, stepping up to them and pointing at herself. Then she pointed at her niece and said, “Gwen.” Afterward, she pointed at herself again and repeated her name.

Gwen watched her curiously without saying anything.

Mila pointed at the stuffed rabbit and said, “Rabbit.” Then she held out the toy to the little girl.

Gwen’s eyes grew wide. She glanced at her dad, as ifseeking his permission to take it. He nodded, and she joyfully leaned forward to close her arms around it. Since she was dressed in red velvet overalls and a long-sleeved white shirt, she and the rabbit made a matched set.

Gwen gave the new toy a sloppy kiss like the one she’d given her father. Then she pointed at Mila again. “Mila Rabbit,” she announced.

“Aunt Mila,” Decker corrected, raising another ferocious scowl from his daughter.

“Mila Rabbit,” the little girl repeated, raising her chin stubbornly.

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