it pretty clear he’d shoot first and ask questions later.” He grinned at the memory of the old guy.
“He didn’t like people?”
He leaned a hip against the hood of her car, leaving a good bit of space between them. “I guess he liked people okay. He just didn’t want anyone messing around up here. He must have liked people, because he’s making a big donation to the LSCL Boys Ranch.”
“He isn’t making it easy.”
“I guess that’s true. But we’ll work it out. Like most of us, Cyrus had baggage. I never knew he had a kid, let alone a granddaughter. I didn’t know he’d lived at the ranch.”
“There are several Avery Culpeppers in the area.”
It hadn’t taken her long to get started. He hadn’t even thought about where to start his search for Theo Linley. He doubted Gabriel would be much help.
“We’ll find them all,” he assured her. Or maybe he was hoping to assure himself.
They sat in silence looking at the big house with the pillared front porch. There were three wings. Plenty of space for kids to run and be kids. He’d looked over the will, and it said they could go ahead and begin moving. It would take weeks to get the process started. There would be supplies to purchase, as well as volunteers to organize. A place like this meant more of everything. More staff. More furniture. More food. More time. But it would be worth it.
It would be good to have the boys in this house so they could celebrate Christmas in their new home.
“I should be going.” She slid off the hood of her car.
“Me, too.” He paused, watching as she dug her keys out of her pocket. “Have you thought about what I asked you earlier? About reading to the boys?”
She glanced away from him, her hand going up to brush strands of blond hair from her face as the wind picked up a bit. “I don’t know.”
“Something troubling you?”
“No, not at all.” But the worried look in her green eyes said that something about the offer did worry her.
“It isn’t something you have to decide on today. The library as it is will be packed up and moved over here. We just got it put together. Now we’ll have to take it all apart and do it all over again.”
She moved to her car, and her hand settled on the door. “I can help with that, with getting things packed and then getting the new library organized.”
“That would be good. I hate to overwhelm you, since you’re new to the area, but you might have noticed if we get a willing volunteer, we use them.”
“I don’t scare easily. And I don’t mind helping.”
He reached past her to open the car door, the way Aunt May had taught him. A hint of something soft and floral, like wild roses on a spring day, caught and held him a little longer than was necessary or safe.
Chloe would have told him to stop living his life off a list he’d made twenty years ago. He couldn’t. That list had served him well. It had taken him from the gutter to the life he had now, and someday he’d find a woman to share that life with him.
He closed the car door and watched Macy drive away in her little economy car, and he smiled. She wasn’t at all the woman he was looking for. But something about her made him think about finding someone.
Macy juggled her purse, book bag and keys in order to get her front door unlocked. As much as she wanted to just crash, she had more work to do and she was going to need a cup of coffee to get her through the rest of the day. It had been a few days since the reading of Cyrus Culpepper’s will. She’d been substituting at the Haven high school, so she hadn’t had much time to think about finding Avery Culpepper or even going out to the Silver Star.
Entering the house, she was met by silence. It was peaceful. But lonely. Colby should be here. He should be running to the kitchen to grab a snack, plopping in front of the TV to watch his favorite afternoon shows.
But then, in a perfect world her brother and sister-in-law would be here to greet him. Macy would still be in Dallas. Maybe she’d even be planning her wedding.
Instead she was standing in her brother’s kitchen fighting the familiar doubts that had assailed her since she’d learned that he’d named her guardian of his son. In the beginning she’d believed they would make it, she and Colby. His anger had proved her wrong. It had proved she wasn’t a parent, or even something close to a parent. She was twenty-eight, single, and hadn’t even begun the process of thinking about kids.
Grant’s and Cynthia’s deaths had changed everything. For Colby. And for her.
It had amazed Macy that her brother had found his way to the small town of Haven. Their mother, Nora, had insisted he could do better if he stayed in the city. He would have moved up, made more, had a nicer home than the remodeled craftsman house with its large front porch, complete with porch swing.
Grant and Cynthia had been happy in Haven.
She worried that she didn’t have it in her to be the small-town librarian, mother of Colby.
She turned on the coffeemaker and found her favorite mug. As she waited for the water to heat, she stood at the window and looked out at the small but wooded lot behind the house. Not a high-rise in sight. No sirens in the distance. Not a sound could be heard.
She missed Colby.
The ready light flashed, and she put her mug under the spout and pushed the button. Coffee poured into her mug. She opened the book bag that she’d brought home from school, and as she pulled out her organizer she noticed another book. She tugged it out, trying to decide where she’d picked it up and when. Yes, she’d been distracted today. She didn’t think she’d been that distracted.
A note fell out of the book. She picked up the yellow piece of paper. A creepy, crawly feeling shivered down her spine.
The book was a middle grade book about a ranch. There was nothing remarkable about the title or the story. She set it down and turned her attention to the note. The feeling of apprehension eased.
Could you read this to the boys? Thanks, Tanner.
How in the world had the book gotten in her bag? Maybe when she’d stepped out of the room to make copies? But surely one of the students would have told her. She thought about the fifteen English literature students. No, they wouldn’t have told her. All that aside, why would Tanner Barstow have a sudden desire to get her involved with the boys at the ranch? She couldn’t even raise her own nephew.
Every single day she questioned why she was in Haven. She’d given up her career, her friends and her fiancé to be here for a little boy who only wanted his parents back.
She slid the note back into the book.
Maybe Tanner thought that if she spent more time with children, she would grow into the role of Colby’s mom. That made sense because Tanner seemed to be
