At Bluebonnet Lake (Texas Crossroads Book #1): A Novel (25 page)

And like Kate, she had seemed immune to Drew’s charm. When he’d announced that he wanted to get to know her better,
her refusal had been polite but firm, leaving no doubt that she would not change her mind.

“She ought to be a movie star,” Drew continued.

“From what I can see, she’s happy right here making boots.”

“It’s a waste. A real waste.” Drew looked up and down the street. Other than two women leaving the quilt shop, their bags overflowing with what appeared to be fabric, the sidewalks were empty.

“What other surprises do you have in store for me, or are you ready to help me?” Drew fixed his gaze on Greg. “You can’t convince me you don’t have some ideas for a new release. S-squared was your life for more than a decade. You can’t just turn that off overnight.”

But Greg had. Though a few ideas had flitted through his brain since Drew had made his demands, they were only wisps of concepts, nothing substantial enough to turn into a new software feature. Greg wondered if that was how Kate felt about her peanut butter campaign. The difference was, she was actively working, seeking a concept that would sell her client’s product, while he had deliberately distanced himself from Drew and everything else connected to Sys=Simpl.

“Mr. Greg! Mr. Greg!”

Greg almost groaned as Fiona Ahrens left her mother’s shop and scampered toward him, her face split by a huge grin.

“An admirer?” Drew’s crooked grin left no doubt that he found the idea amusing.

Before Greg could reply, Lauren appeared in the doorway. “Fiona, you know you’re not supposed to leave the store.”

The little girl turned. “But I had to talk to Mr. Greg. It’s important.”

Her pleading tone touched Greg. He crossed the street in a few long strides and crouched next to the child, biting back a smile at the sight of her mismatched socks. It appeared Lauren was
holding up her end of the bargain. He could only hope Fiona was doing the same and had stopped searching for a father.

“What is it, Fiona?”

She looked up at Drew standing at Greg’s side. “Who is he?”

“He’s Mr. Drew. He’s a friend of mine.” Unconcerned with the little girl, Drew was introducing himself to Lauren. “So what do you need to tell me?”

“I know a secret,” Fiona said, her lips curving in a grin.

“That’s nice, but you’re not supposed to tell secrets.”

Fiona nodded, setting her braids to swinging. “I know that. Mom said I couldn’t tell anyone, but you’re okay. You’re the secret.”

“I am?” The only secret Greg had was his connection to Sys=Simpl, and even if Lauren had discovered that, he couldn’t imagine her sharing it with Fiona.

“Yes. It’s a good one.” Fiona leaned closer, cupping her hands around her mouth. Though Greg suspected she was planning to whisper, her voice came out as little less than a shout. “Mama told me you can’t be my daddy because you’re gonna marry Miss Kate.”

D
o you want to go to Stonehenge?” Roy asked as he helped Sally into the truck. He’d invited her to join him for lunch again today, but she’d refused, claiming she needed to spend more time with Kate. And she did. Even though she knew that worrying accomplished nothing, Sally couldn’t help worrying about her granddaughter. Kate seemed happier than she’d ever seen her when she was with Greg, but the moment they were apart, the happiness disappeared, almost as if it were a shield that Kate removed at will, and it was replaced with frowns and worry lines. The reason, Sally was certain, was her job.

For what seemed like the millionth time, Sally wished Larry were still alive. Kate had always listened to him where work was concerned, but it seemed she’d only heard half the story. Larry had filled Kate’s head with stories of advertising, making it sound like the ideal profession. And it had been for him. He’d enjoyed the creative aspects, but he’d never let the job consume him. “It’s how I make a living,” he’d once told Sally, “but it’s not my life.” That was the part of the message Kate had missed.

When Kate had come to live with them, Larry had scaled back his hours so he’d have more time to spend with her. Both
he and Sally had known that meant the end of his dreams of becoming a partner, but neither had cared. Kate was more important than a title, a fancy office, and a fatter bank account. Unfortunately, either Larry hadn’t told his granddaughter that or she’d forgotten it.

“I’ve lived here all my life, and I’ve never seen Stonehenge.” Roy’s words brought Sally back to the present. Ashamed that she’d been so inattentive, Sally smiled. She wasn’t going to let happiness slip through her fingers. Instead, she was going to grab it with both hands the way she had clutched the pole on the carousel, and she wouldn’t let go.

Sally looked at Roy, trying to memorize the wrinkles and creases that made his face uniquely his. This was a man who’d lived, loved, and lost but who refused to be defeated.

“Stonehenge sounds interesting, but what I’d really like is to see more wildflowers,” she told Roy when he climbed into the truck. “We don’t have bluebonnets at home, and I can’t seem to get my fill of them.” The fact that April was peak bluebonnet season was the reason Sally had insisted on coming to Rainbow’s End then. And though there were some around the lake that bore their name, there weren’t the masses she longed to see.

Roy tipped his Stetson back a couple inches as he settled into his seat and switched on the engine. “If you want bluebonnets, you’ve come to the right place. Dupree isn’t just the heart of the hills,” he said, referring to the slogan on the partially faded sign at the town line. “It’s also the heart of the bluebonnets. If you don’t mind a little off-road driving, I know just the spot.”

Sally matched Roy’s grin. “That sounds like fun—a bit of adventure. Let’s go.” She was wearing jeans and her cowboy boots today, so there’d be no problem if they had to walk to reach Roy’s special spot. She’d even brought a hat to shield her face from the sun in case the afternoon included outdoor activities.

Though they spent most afternoons at the lodge, playing
chess or backgammon or simply sipping lemonade in the gazebo, yesterday Roy had said he wanted a change of pace. Sally suspected he also wanted to avoid Drew Carroll.

The man might be handsome, but something about him grated on Sally. She had read that people’s behavior sometimes changed dramatically when they were placed in uncomfortable situations—out of their comfort zone, the article had said. Perhaps that was the case with Drew. That made more sense than believing Greg had chosen to work with such a difficult man for more than a decade.

Pushing thoughts of Drew Carroll firmly to the side, Sally studied the man next to her. Each time they were together, she discovered a new facet of his personality. Today she learned that Roy was a careful driver, always stopping for pedestrians, never exceeding the speed limit. He slowed down a couple of times to greet friends as he drove through Dupree, seeming to take great pleasure in introducing Sally to them. Even if they didn’t see any wildflowers, Sally knew that this was an afternoon she’d remember, simply because she was spending it with Roy.

“It’s not too much farther,” Roy said when they reached the main highway. Turning south, Roy drove a couple of miles, then pulled onto a dirt track. The dirt didn’t surprise Sally. He’d told her there would be some off-road driving. What did surprise her was the barbed wire fence and the white gate with the “no trespassing” sign. Though this was obviously private property, Roy hopped down from the truck, opened the gate, pulled through, then closed it again and returned to the truck.

“Do you know the owners?” Sally couldn’t imagine this man who seemed so honorable intentionally breaking the law, and yet her discomfort with the situation forced her to ask.

Roy grinned and laid a hand on top of hers, as if to reassure her. “You could say that. This is my land. When we built the
house in town, Barb and I figured it was a starter house, so we bought this acreage a few years later. We always intended to build a bigger house here, but the boys liked being in town and close to friends. There didn’t seem much point in moving after they left home, and now . . .” Roy paused, his gray eyes serious as he gazed at Sally.

“It’s beautiful.” Though the terrain was similar to that around Rainbow’s End, she could see that this land had had minimal disturbance. The rutted road led over a small hill and into a clearing surrounded by oaks, hickory, and mesquite. It would have been a beautiful setting at any time of the year, but now that the clearing was filled with a magnificent spread of bluebonnets, it was breathtaking.

“Oh, Roy,” Sally said softly, not wanting to disturb the serenity of the scene.

Roy had no such compunctions. “Let’s look at those bluebonnets up close and personal. That’s why we came.” He helped her out of the truck and walked at her side, his arm around her waist, guiding her until they were in the middle of the patch. “Think these are enough flowers for you?”

“Oh yes.” Sally lowered herself to the ground, wanting to touch and smell the flowers, then bent forward to sniff the deep blue blossoms. The petals were tipped with white, while the palest of yellow centers provided a pleasing contrast to the vibrant blue.

Gingerly, she stroked one of the petals, smiling when it proved to be as soft as she’d thought. “These are incredible,” she said. “I’ve dreamt about them for years. One year Kate found a calendar where every month had a picture of bluebonnets, but nothing compares to being here.” Though the flowers were spectacular, what made Sally’s heart beat faster was the fact that she was sharing them with Roy. Tears welled in her eyes at the sheer beauty of the scene.

Clearing her throat in an attempt to get her emotions under control, Sally pointed to a bright orange-red flower mixed in with the bluebonnets. “Is that Indian paintbrush?”

Roy nodded. His glasses had darkened in the sunlight, but Sally could see enough to know there were no telltale tears in his eyes. It was only she who was overcome by the beauty.

“Barb told me that if you look closely, you’ll see that only the tips of the petals are colored. I guess whoever named them thought they looked as if they’d been dipped in paint.” Roy fingered the brilliant flower. “I’ve heard there are other colors of paintbrush, including purple, but I’ve never seen them.”

Sally looked from the floral beauty to the man who was sharing it with her. When she and Larry had visited Rainbow’s End, it had been mid-June, and the bluebonnets were no longer in bloom, but other guests’ tales of the flowers’ magnificence had made Sally determined to return in the spring. Now she was here, and the flowers were even more beautiful than she’d expected. Or was it because she was seeing them with the most fascinating man she’d met since her husband? Roy was unlike Larry in many ways, and yet he shared one characteristic with her late husband: he made her feel beautiful.

It wasn’t anything he said, merely the way he looked at her that made Sally realize that the wrinkles and gray hair she saw in the mirror didn’t mean she was unattractive, at least not to this man. And that feeling was even better than the sight of bluebonnets, because unlike the flowers, it would not fade.

“What do you think about a house out here?” Roy asked as he helped Sally to her feet.

His voice was even, but her head was still spinning. Sally looked at the clearing and smiled. If Roy wanted to talk about houses, they would. If he wanted to talk about Mars, that was all right too. “I can’t imagine a prettier site.”

She turned around, studying the land. “You could put the
house itself just inside the forest. It would be cooler there, and you wouldn’t disturb too many of the bluebonnets.”

Sally envisioned a single-width drive leading to the house and garage, with only a small expanse of grass around the house. If the majority of the trees were left standing, the house would require minimal landscaping. Its beauty would come from the meadow and the trees.

Roy nodded slowly. “That’s what I was thinking too. The problem is, it’s a ways out of town. Would you feel isolated if you were here? It would take first responders awhile to arrive in case of an emergency.”

Studying his face, Sally tried to understand Roy’s question. Was he asking if she personally would be comfortable living here, or was he simply asking whether she thought someone—some unspecified woman—would feel isolated? She wished she knew.

“It would be more practical to stay in town,” she told him, “especially at our ages.” Thirty years ago she hadn’t considered ambulance response time. Now she did.

“That’s what I thought.” Though Roy nodded, Sally saw disappointment reflected in his eyes. She couldn’t let that remain.

“On the other hand, there are times when it makes sense to throw practicality to the winds.” Sally laid her hand on Roy’s arm and looked up at him. “I never used those words, but that’s what I told Kate. She can’t always be a planner. She needs to take chances and chase rainbows.”

“What about you?”

Sally took a deep breath, choosing her words carefully before she answered. “I’d love to live in a place like this.” Though she wanted to cry out “I’d love to live right here with you,” she wouldn’t. Telling Roy that was more than taking a chance. It was stepping off a cliff without knowing what was beneath.

“So you’d sell your home and move to Texas?”

This time there was no need to hesitate. “If it weren’t for
Kate, I’d do it in a heartbeat. I’m not sure how she’d react. She’s used to being only an hour’s flight away from me. It would be more difficult for her to visit me here, and that would be hard on her.” Sally looked at Roy, hoping he’d understand.

“What about you?” Roy wrapped his arm around Sally’s waist and began to walk toward the spot where she’d suggested locating the house. “Would living here make up for not seeing Kate so often?”

“It might.”

He stopped and smiled at her, his gray eyes once again reflecting enthusiasm. “That’s what I hoped you’d say. Now, tell me about the kind of house you think I ought to build.”

And so for the next hour, they discussed house plans. Plans for a house Roy might or might not build. But, though his smile warmed Sally’s heart and his touch on her arm and waist made her feel cherished, never once did he ask if she would share that house with him. Sally didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed.