staying late so I could work in the shop. “Lord, I hadn’t thought of Mr. Nelson in years.”
“Your teacher?”
“Yeah. He retired while I was away at college, moved to Albuquerque to be near his sister. He was an old bachelor, you see. I stopped in to see him once when I was there on business…” My voice trailed away as I remembered that visit. How sorry I’d felt for the old man, living alone, no one but a sister nearby. All of a sudden I could see my own future, and it didn’t look much different.
I had Zach, I reminded myself. Some of the time, at least.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing.” We’d reached the front of the store. I headed for the nearest checkout. “I’m amazed that you let me get up here without buying anything else. Why is someone who calls herself a wanderer so interested in everything to do with houses?”
She shrugged. “The fascination of the exotic, perhaps. I’ve never rooted anywhere long enough to do much in the way of home improvement, so it seems novel and exciting. Does your interest in construction go back to that woodworking class?”
“Partly. Do you do that on purpose?”
“What?”
“Turn the conversation away from yourself and back on me. Annie tells me that all a woman has to do to appear fascinating to a man is to get him to talk about himself. Maybe that’s true. But I’d like to hear about you sometimes.”
A flush climbed the crest of her cheekbones. She gave me a teasing smile. “Does that mean it’s working? You think I’m fascinating?”
I’d have enjoyed her flirting a lot more if I hadn’t thought she was using it to duck the question. “Look, I don’t know—what is it?”
She’d gone dead pale. She was staring over my shoulder. I turned.
Someone was staring back. An old woman, every inch as tall as Seely but skinnier, like a dried-out string bean, had stopped a few feet away. She had a real lost-in-the-fifties look going, right down to the low heels and pearls. Her coat was dark-blue wool. Her gray hair had been permed, teased and sprayed into submission.
And her expression was venomous. “You! What are you doing here?”
“Buying lumber.” Seely’s voice was steady. Her face was blank and much too pale. “Why? What are you doing here?”
“Don’t you smart off to me! You’re not supposed to be here! You said you were leaving. You don’t belong here. We don’t want you here. Don’t think you’ll get a penny from me, whatever tricks you pull!”
“I don’t want your money. I never did.” Seely started to turn away.
“Nasty baggage! You’ll listen when I talk to you.” The woman started after her. “I won’t have you confusing John, making him miserable again—”
“Mrs. Lake,” I said loudly. “Do you realize how worried your daughter has been?”
She jolted. I don’t think she’d noticed me until that second, which says a lot about how focused she’d been on Seely. I’m not easy to overlook. Faded-blue eyes blinked behind her bifocals. “What? I’m not—”
“I know,” I said soothingly, and switched my walking stick to my right hand so I could take her arm. My shoulder twinged. “Not yourself these days, are you? But if you’d take your medication you’d feel better. You have to stop wandering off this way. Poor Melly is frantic.”
She stared up at me as if I were mad. “If you don’t take your hand off me this instant I will have you arrested.”
I leaned closer and muttered, “You’ve drawn quite a crowd. Maybe you like scenes. If so, go right ahead and screech some more.”
She looked around. People were staring, all right. The clerk had stopped ringing up her customer.
Color flooded the old woman’s scrawny neck.
Seely spoke from behind me. “I can handle this, Ben.”
“So? You don’t have to.”
The old woman drew herself up. “You’ll be sorry you interfered. I’ll tell the judge, and he’ll see to it. As for you…” She leaned around me, her eyes glittered with malice. “Devil child! You stay away from me and mine.”
She jerked her arm out of my grip and turned away with surprising dignity. I watched just long enough to make sure that she was really leaving, then looked at Seely.
Her lips were tight. There was a lost look about her eyes I didn’t like. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know…I didn’t expect to see her at a place like this. I wouldn’t have subjected you to that scene if I’d had any idea she might…” Her throat worked as she swallowed.
“Yeah, I’m all torn up about it.” I gripped her elbow and started for the doors. “Come on.”
“But—the wood! You can’t…Ben?”
“Give her the ticket.” I nodded at the clerk as we passed the checkout. The others in the line glared at me. “McClain Construction,” I told the clerk. “Charge it, save it, toss it, whatever. I’ll call.”
We went through the automatic doors at a better pace than I’d managed since falling off the mountain. No doubt my knee would complain later. I didn’t care. Seely needed to get out, away from all those curious eyes.
She didn’t mention my knee or my shoulder, either out loud or with her eyebrows. Which just confirmed how upset she was. She did say something about me being high-handed.
“You need to scream, cry or throw things. You don’t want to do that here, so we’re going home.”
“I am not going to cry.”
“Yeah, I figured you were more a thrower than a crier. Here we are.” I released her arm and opened the passenger door.
“Wait a minute. I’m driving.”
“No, you aren’t.” I headed around the front of the car. “Power steering, power brakes and my right leg and left arm work fine. I don’t know why I let you talk me into the passenger seat in the first place.”
“I’ve got the keys. You are not driving, Ben.”
“You’ve got a set of keys.” I used the ones in my hand to open my door, tossed my walking stick in the back seat, and lowered myself carefully behind the wheel. Damn. I’d been right about my knee. “You coming?”
She came. She slammed the door, but she came.
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