called to Muna as he shoved the truck into Reverse. “I’ve got to see that old friend one last time.”
Jared barely heard the two-word utterance from his grandmother that followed him on the breeze down the gravel driveway. But he sure felt it—like a bullet in the chest.
“Ava Thompson.”
Two
In the dusky-blue guest bedroom of the modest house her sister rented, Ava stared out the window at her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Lily, who was laughing and playing in the backyard with the lively elderly woman from next door and her two granddaughters. The three little girls were side by side, playing in the green plastic box Rita had filled with sand the day after they’d gotten there.
Ava felt her heart tug as she looked at her daughter. Lily loved the outdoors, loved to romp and play and make friends. But New York City wasn’t built to accommodate a little girl with wide open spaces and a truckload of animals on her mind. Nor was it the best place to make friends.
In playgroup and out, her daughter had had a hard time of it. She was different, strong minded and passionate. Someday soon, those wonderful characteristics would have her wondering who her daddy was—and where he was.
A fact which scared Ava, but she knew such a need was inevitable and that her daughter deserved to know the truth.
Lily’s cheeks glowed with health and happiness as she played. Long auburn hair, almond-shaped eyes and a sweet face with an upturned nose and a sprinkling of freckles. In many ways she was a miniature version of her mother. But there was her father in her, too: dark-gray eyes that looked straight through to your soul, long legs and a fiery temper when she was frustrated.
On a weary sigh, Ava turned away from the window and grabbed the phone book off the top of the little white shabby-chic dresser. She needed to find a different place to stay—somewhere where there wasn’t even the most remote possibility of Jared Redwolf stopping by.
“Hey. What are you doing?”
Ava glanced up to see her sister walk into the room, balancing a box of cookies under one arm and two glasses of milk in either hand. A still-shot flashed through her mind of a ten-year-old Rita bringing her cookies and milk on one of their mother’s antique trays. As they grew up, Rita never tired of attempting to raise Ava’s spirits when something went wrong, no matter if it was as minute as a put-down from their father, or as enormous as the horror in junior year when busty Tina White had flirted her way into the part of Laurie in their high school’s production of Oklahoma!
What was especially amusing—and endearing—to Ava was that Rita still believed that cookies and milk were a cure-all for the blues.
Where Rita was the dreamer, impulsive and romantic, Ava mused, smiling. She was the responsible one—practical and cautious. To their mother’s delight they were truly characters.
Ava had always loved to hear the story about her and Rita’s names. Their mother, Olivia Thompson, had been a stand-in for actresses Ava Gardner and Rita Hayworth during a brief stint in Hollywood. One summer, she met Ben Thompson at a convention in Las Vegas, fell head over heels in love with him and had left all the glamour and her friends behind. But for her mother, those days had never been never far away. While she’d dress Rita and Ava up in old costumes and powder their little noses, Olivia would tell them how much she missed the Hollywood life and all the exciting people.
It was only a few years later that her mother had died.
“So, who are you calling?” Rita asked, tugging Ava back from the past.
“I’m calling all the motels in town.”
Rita gasped. “You’re not going to abandon me in my hour of wedding need, are you? Besides, there’s only one motel in town now, and it’s full up with rodeo folk.” She set the milk and cookies on the bedside table. “’Course, there’s Carolyn’s Bed and Breakfast. But Carolyn’s not renting any rooms right now because of the flood.”
Ava’s brow furrowed. “Her rooms are on the top floor.”
“Not from the rain.” Rita popped a cookie into her mouth and grinned. “Waterbed incident.”
Ava put a hand up to stop Rita from saying anything more. “Got it.”
Rita reached out and took her sister’s hand. “Please don’t leave. I’m sorry about today. I was a horrible sister.”
“Not horrible. Just exasperating, interfering and a devious little pain in the—”
“Okay, okay.” Rita fell back onto the bed. “Look, I love you and I want to see you happy. What Dad did four years ago was so unbelievably wrong and unfair. I just thought maybe if you and Jared talked things over it would help the situation, maybe heal some old wounds.”
Ava smiled halfheartedly. “I appreciate that, little sister, I really do, but you saw how he looked at me today. The damage is done. It’s over.” She eyed her seriously. “And by the way, what Dad did wasn’t your fault.”
A stain of pink brushed Rita’s cheeks and she looked away. “I could’ve helped you.”
“No, you couldn’t have. You were too young.” Ava sighed. “There was no painless way out of that situation. If I had gone to Jared, he and his grandmother would’ve been out on the street. Dad promised me that. And I wasn’t going to let that happen.”
“They have a big house now, you know.” Her tone was leading and hopeful. “And no financial worries.”
“I know,” Ava said quietly, then pointed at the cookies. “Can I have one of those?”
Rita laughed and thrust the package toward her. “Have two.” She sobered momentarily. “Are you going to see Dad while you’re here?”
A flicker of apprehension coursed through Ava. “I don’t think so.”
“Maybe introduce him to his granddaughter?”
“He’s made his feelings about Lily all too clear.”
“He really changed when you left. Well, after his car accident. That bump on the head seemed to knock some sense into him and some understanding into his heart. I think he’d really like to see you, Ava. I think he has some regrets.”
Ava shook her head firmly. “I can’t take that chance. I won’t have Lily hurt. I have enough to deal with in Jared.” She nodded at the phone book. “That’s why I should find another place to stay.”
“Oh, c’mon. He said he wasn’t coming to the wedding, right?”
“Right.”
“So what are you worried about?”
Ava shrugged. Jared had promised not to come to the wedding, which meant he probably wasn’t stopping by for an invitation. “I guess I really shouldn’t be, huh?”
Companionably, they sat together on the bed, eating their cookies and drinking their milk.
Rita broke the silence. “He still has feelings for you.”
“Oh,
