Page 48 of Grit
“Yeah… not. Probably ever.”
“Right.” He rubbed his eyes. “When is Abby’s next weekend in Paso?”
“This one. Why?”
He tugged her hair. “Because I want to take you out on a friendly date, friend.”
Melissa blinked like the idea didn’t compute. “I…”
She was imagining the gossip. Imagining the tongues wagging and the whispers. They were inevitable in a town the size of Oakville. The fact that the entire town probably knew Cary was in love with her was not even on her radar. She was thinking about school-mom gossip.
“Just think about it,” he said. “We could go into Metlin.”
“Okay.” Her eyes were still cautious. “I’ll think about it.”
“Good.”
Chapter Eleven
Melissa grabbeda cup of coffee from the pot on the counter. She’d been out at dawn with Stu, but the herd was moved to the upper pasture and out of the worst of the heat. They’d checked the water pump in the north pasture, and it was still working fine. They’d tagged two sections of fence that needed mending, but Stu said he and Leigh would take care of it later since it wasn’t urgent.
And suddenly, at ten in the morning, Melissa had time to sit down across from her mom with a cup of coffee.
“Hi.”
Joan smiled. “Fancy seeing you here.”
“I know.” She sipped the coffee. “Stu’ll have lunch with Leigh and then they were going out to fix some fence. Said they didn’t need me though.”
“How about that?” Joan put down the newspaper. “What will you do with your life?”
Melissa blinked. “I have no idea. You need some help in the garden?”
“Nope. Weeding’s done and it’s too hot to do more today.”
“Have you checked the goat pens?”
“Goats are happy in their jail.”
“Are the accounts done?”
“Finished them yesterday. I told you. You don’t remember?”
“Huh.” Melissa drank more coffee. “What do people do in the middle of the day when they don’t have a million things to do?”
“Have lunch with their friends—remember when you had those? Quilt. Read a book. Day drink? I don’t know. Maybe you should take a nap.” Joan’s eyes were smiling. “You’ve been out late a few nights this week.”
“At the committee meetings?”
“I’m pretty sure there was at least one other night you were late.” Joan tapped on her chin. “Now where were you?”
“Mom, stop.”
“I’m just going to say… it’s about time.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Okay.” Joan opened her paper again. “Maybe I’ll head over to Rumi’s for lunch. See what’s up over at the Nakamura place.”
