The Bride Wore Denim (10 page)

“You keep forgetting I have a vested interest in this place,” Cole said.

“But no moral authority to make decisions.” Amelia’s voice wasn’t harsh, just firm.

“Of course not,” he replied. “But I have the right to fight for my own family heritage.”

Harper’s intention not to eavesdrop failed. He was making the case he’d made with her, and she pressed herself around the corner into the last stall on the aisle and waited to see why.

“You do. I know how hard it was to lose your ranch. I know everyone thinks I don’t feel anything for Paradise, but they’re wrong. This is excruciating. The trouble is, it’s all pure emotion around here right now. I’m only trying to be logical, but everyone thinks I’m the Wicked Bitch of the East.”

“They do not. You need to give your sisters a chance.”

“Joely? Believe me, I think she’s smart and brave, but our
father
was struggling. He was a genius. What makes you think she can do what he couldn’t? That’s nothing against her. None of us has the answers or the time to support Joely, so why leave Paradise as a source of constant guilt and worry in our lives?”

“So you’d go back to New York and wash your hands of it all?”

“Yes. No. I don’t mean that. Damn it, Cole, you’re doing the same thing the others are doing.”

“I’m only saying that Joely needs her chance before something irreversible is done with this place. And if she manages to hang on, Harper’s point about needing to decide the ranch’s overall philosophy on mineral rights is valid.”

Harper’s heart swelled with gratitude.

“Harper.” Mia’s derision came through clearly in one word. “Her take on this isn’t any more realistic than it’s ever been when it comes to running this place.”

“Harper cares about a lot of things, and she’s a smart woman.”

Harper pushed herself away from the wall. She didn’t need to hear her sister assassinate her character further. She wasn’t quick enough.

“What’s this little fascination you have going on with her anyway?”

“She’s a fascinating person. And while you’re wrong about what you’re insinuating, you really don’t have a say in my interests. Nor I in yours.”

“But my sister? Really, Cole?”

“You’re making up a relationship that isn’t there,” he said. “You have no cause to be jealous.”

“Jealousy isn’t the word. I have no regrets about you and me. I’ll always love you and our friendship, that’s all. It just tweaks a little to see you with Harper, I totally admit it.”

“But only because she’s your sister.”

“Yes.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Oh, probably, but it’s real. But you don’t even agree with her, and you don’t even dare tell her you work for her enemy.”

Harper froze again.
Her enemy?

“She’s emotional about the oil company. Why hurt her for nothing?”

He might as well have reached into her chest and squeezed her heart. Of all the people she loved, Cole was the one who’d never, ever made fun of her emotions. That aside—who was “the enemy”? She didn’t want to know. She eased out of the stall and got four steps toward the main door.

“Harpo?”

At his voice, tears stung her eyes, but anger allowed her to dry them before they fell. She took two more steps, but he caught up and stopped in front of her.

“Don’t talk to me,” she said. “You might spill a secret I can’t handle.”

“Aw, damn. What did you hear?”

“Okay, fine. What’s the big secret you’ve been keeping from fragile little me?” She punched the five fingers of her right hand into his chest. “I’m such a dumbass. I thought you were the one friend who kind of got me. Who kind of got everyone, actually. A cowboy with heart. Guess that’s the fanciful little artist in me—making crap up, as usual.”

“For cripe sakes, Harper. I didn’t say you were fragile or even too emotional. Don’t overreact.”

“As usual?”

“All right, knock off the self-righteous anger. You’re proving my point. You want the big secret? Fine. I do exactly what I’ve said I do, repair trucks and other mechanical machinery, but I work for UMI, Upper Midwest Industries, Oil Services—a subsidiary of Mountain Pacific. I don’t have anything to do directly with drilling, but the oil company writes my check. And I get paid a boatload of money, which is why I’m close to having enough to buy back the Double Diamond. And I didn’t tell you because I knew this would happen.”

“What would? I’d get angry because you lied to me for five days? You play the sweet and understanding compromiser, but the entire time you’ve already chosen your side.”

“I have no side.”

“You’ve made it clear you’re on the side of allowing Mountain Pacific in here to survey. Now I know exactly why.”

“If you’d used half the brains I know you have, you’d have
heard
me when I told you why I want to explore all the options. I don’t want Mia here to get her way and talk you all into selling either. I need this place to exist for another year.”

“It’s mercenary for you all the way. Get an in with the oil company and invite them to come save your old ranch at the expense of ours.”

“I found the North Dakota job in the goddamn want ads, Harper. After months of looking. I did not conspire against Paradise. Your father was nothing but fair to me.” He raised his arms and let them fall helplessly to his sides with a loud slap. “You see why I didn’t tell you?”

Guilt momentarily overtook her anger. “You’re right. That all came out of my mouth because I’m angry at you, and I’m sorry. It’s not the job. I have no right to tell you what you can or can’t do. But you didn’t trust me. I’m not fifteen. That’s what hurts.”

He stared her down for a silent second and then nodded. “I get that. Sorry.”

“Thanks for that anyway. Look, I have packing to do. I’ll leave you two to finish up your own argument. I’ll see you before I leave tomorrow afternoon.”

Amelia had been standing quietly in the doorway. Now she stepped into the aisle and touched Harper’s arm. “Harper, don’t be stupid. You can’t go away angry.”

“You know what, Mia? You’re telling me not to be stupid, but here you are talking about selling the ranch with all the fervor I have for not selling. I don’t know, I’d say we’re equally unrealistic about the way we look at things.” She spun away.

“Harper!” Cole called after her as she walked away.

“See you at dinner.” Harper didn’t turn around; instead, she pushed her anger firmly aside and forced herself to concentrate on how much she regretted the ride she wasn’t going to get today.

S
OMETIMES
S
KYLAR HATED
her mother. She didn’t know anyone else in the world who had as many rules that were all based around how important it was to be a Miss Goody Two-Shoes. Church on Wednesdays and Sundays, no sports where you might touch someone else or hurt them, no job in town until she was eighteen, no school in town because it was a bad influence, no friends because Paradise Ranch was too big and far away from town for anyone to come all the way out to hang with her.

And as of tonight? No art. No pictures. No camera.

Why, why, why had she told her mother the story about meeting Harper in the woods? When she’d said in passing she thought Harper might be mad at her, her mother had reached only one really stupid conclusion.

Skylar rapped on Rosecroft’s heavy front door, her ancient Minolta in its padded case under her arm. She loved the Crocketts’ huge log house. Its welcoming atmosphere always started on the sprawling front porch. Today there was the biggest wreath of sunflowers she’d ever seen on the front door. Four big wooden rocking chairs, with colorful yellow-and-blue cushions on their seats, stood in a semicircle like they were inviting someone to come sit in them. Five baskets of blooming flowers Skylar wished she knew the names of hung between the porch railing posts.

She fully expected Mrs. Crockett to answer the door. Or one of her daughters. What she didn’t expect was for Cole to open it and smile as if she were the best surprise
he’d
ever seen on a front porch.

“Skylar! You keep showing up where I least expect you.”

She embarrassed herself totally by losing her voice. He had on a dark blue T-shirt with the phrase “I have my reasons” in white letters across the chest. She couldn’t help but picture no shirt at all. From her hiding place the day she’d followed Cole and the Crocketts into the hills, she’d watched him strip after he’d done that weird rag doll dance. He’d totally made up for that dorkiness by exposing the most amazing muscles—better than she’d ever imagined. She could still see them. She’d dreamed about them for three nights. He’d looked like all the pictures of hot guys she’d ever seen, but she definitely had never seen a bare chest like his in person. Gawking at him had sent her sliding down the side of the hill.

Now here he was in front of her. And she couldn’t think of a single thing to say.

“Everything okay there?” He peered at her with eyes that were way more beautiful than even Liam’s from One Direction.

“Uh. Yeah. I want to . . . came to see Harper. Miss Harper.” Heat invaded her cheeks.

“She’s here somewhere. Want to come in while I find her?”

She nodded and followed him into the living room, kicking herself, hoping he hadn’t noticed she was a complete dork.

“I’ll tell her you’re here. I think she’s still packing. She’s leaving tomorrow.”

Skylar thought a shadow flickered through his eyes. “Already?”

“Went by super-fast, didn’t it?”

Skylar barely had time to nose around the gorgeous living room with its fieldstone fireplace and beautiful blue-and-white floral chairs and sofa before Cole returned.

“She said you should come up and talk in her room. Is that okay?”

“Yeah, sure.”

His smile was so friendly. More than it had been when they’d met three days ago. She’d been afraid he hadn’t liked her at all. The knots and butterflies inside started to loosen a little bit.

“You guys had to go back to school again?” he asked.

“Yeah, but our school is at home.”

“That’s kind of a cool deal, isn’t it?”

“
You
can try it if you want.”

She immediately regretted letting him hear the sarcasm. She didn’t always keep her foot out of her mouth when it came to school. Who liked having their mom for a teacher anyway? She had a couple of friends in the homeschool co-op whose parents had let them go to the middle school in Wolf Paw Pass once they’d finished with sixth grade. But not her mom. She was paranoid about everything. What did she think was going to happen anyway? Drug dealers or gay people or witches were going to appear and wipe away all the stuff she already believed in like she had no brains of her own?

“Here you go.” Cole cut through her thoughts.

She blinked and belatedly heard the echoes of words he’d said while she’d been whining in her head. “Sorry, what?”

“Here’s Harper’s room.”

“No, before. I was thinking about something else.”

Why was she blathering around him?

“I said it sounds like maybe you’re a typical ranch kid. None of us liked school when it was still nice enough outside to do cooler things there.”

She blinked again. He almost had it right. She wanted to tell him the ranch wasn’t the only place that had cool stuff to do, although it was true she’d rather help with the calving than ever do math. She sighed, and kept her toes out of her mouth and herself out of trouble. “Yeah, I guess.”

“You can go on in.” He smiled. Her tummy tumbled in response. “I’ll see you around.”

He left her staring after him, wishing he’d at least told Harper she was there. Squaring her shoulders, she pushed on the unlatched door and entered a wonderland.

Harper stood beside a suitcase lying open on a double bed frame made of white-washed pine and covered in a quilt that had so many colors in it Skylar could have spent all day looking at the beautiful, intricate fabrics. She tore her eyes from it and took in the ceiling, sloped in two angles where the roof gables met. Each slope held its own huge quilt, unlike anything Skylar had ever seen. They were like pictures painted with fabric—one a profusion of flowers, the other a galloping horse with a mountain in the background. It looked so much like Wolf Paw that Skylar squinted and took a step forward to study it before she realized she’d moved.

“Hi,” Harper said.

“Hi, Miss Harper, sorry to bother you.” Her mother’s drilled-in manners came out automatically as she continued to stare.

“You don’t have to call me ‘Miss,’ honest.” She smiled.

“Sorry.”

“No, don’t be sorry either. My mom made me learn to be polite, too, but you don’t need to be formal. I heard you came especially to see me? I’m honored. And you’re just in time.”

That drew Skylar’s focus from the rest of the bright paintings on the walls, the beautiful purply-blue-and-white curtains at the windows that matched a super full dust ruffle around the bed, and the amazing easel in the corner.

Honored?
Nobody said that about a random visit from a neighbor kid. Skylar didn’t have a lot of experience dropping in on people, but she knew that much. And in time for what?

“I . . . I have something to give back to you.”

“Oh?”

Skylar remembered all at once why she really didn’t want to be there. It was stupid to get upset over a camera that literally cost her money every time she used it, but a tiny lump formed in her throat when she tried to say what her mother had sent her to say.

She took the strap of the camera bag off her shoulder and held it out. “This,” she managed.

True incomprehension filled Harper’s face. “What is it?”

“Your dad’s camera. It really should stay in the family.”

Harper’s reaction was 100 percent not what Skylar had expected. She covered her mouth with one hand and began to cry.

“Oh, Skylar, no. No, you can’t give it away. I’m so sorry I made you feel like you had to give it to me.”

She didn’t bawl or anything. She just had tears running down her cheeks. Even so, it made Skylar want to cry, too. It made her miss Mr. Crockett even more. It made her not know at all what to do.

“It’s okay,” she said lamely. “My mom is right. He probably only meant for me to borrow it.”

“No,” Harper repeated, and wiped her nose with a snuffle. She turned and pulled a tissue from a box on the nightstand. After she wiped her eyes she turned back. “Come here and sit for a second.”

She shoved the suitcase over and patted the quilt over the mattress. Skylar forced her legs to obey. When she sat uneasily on the bed, Harper joined her. “I need to tell you something.”

“Okay.”

“I was jealous that my dad gave you the camera.”

“I know.” Skylar surprised herself by saying so and rubbed her own nose self-consciously. Harper smiled even though her eyes were still shiny.

“But it’s not because I want it. That’s the truth. I was jealous because I never believed my dad cared about my art. He never told me he liked what I did and always seemed to think it was kind of silly. When you said he thought you had talent, I wanted him back for just long enough that he could tell me, too.”

Skylar felt like she shouldn’t be hearing this, and yet she was a little flattered, too, like Harper trusted her with something important.

“He talked about you.” It was all she could think of to say.

“I’m glad to hear that.” Harper’s voice was calm but her eyes got a little wide. “I don’t know why I told you this, because it sounds like you and my dad were friends, and I’m glad you were. I’m not trying to make you feel bad about him or me.”

“Okay.”

“I want you to believe me when I say I don’t want you to give me the camera, and for you to believe me I needed to tell you the truth. I’m not a photographer anyway, I wouldn’t ever use his camera, but you will. Right?”

“I love it. I take it everywhere.”

“Then it has the perfect home.”

“Do you mean it?” It was a stupid question. Harper wouldn’t tell her she meant it and then be mean and say she didn’t.

But Harper crying and the idea that Mr. Crockett hadn’t even ever said he liked her work . . . it was rattling her brain. She couldn’t believe someone else felt about their dad the way she felt about her mom.

“I do mean it, Skylar. I am sorry I was rude to you that day we met.”

“It’s all right.”

“You know what? I never tell people about my dad making me sad. Do you think it could be our secret?”

For a second Harper didn’t even seem like a grown-up. She seemed kind of sad but hopeful. Skylar had never had anyone ask her to keep secrets. Except Marcus who said he’d kick her butt if she told he had a Playboy magazine hidden in the barn. This was way different. This was a girlfriend secret.

“It’s our secret,” she said, and almost added that maybe Harper could keep her same secret, too. After all, she didn’t think her mom liked her all the time either. But she didn’t ask.

And then Harper stunned her again by leaning forward and giving her a hug. It was a nice, warm thank-you hug. Normally the only person who could hug her was Grandpa Leif, but Skylar didn’t pull away until Harper did.

“It was a really nice thing, you coming to try and give me the camera. Thank you.”

Skylar wanted to take the praise, but she knew she couldn’t. “No. I wasn’t the nice one. It was my mom who made me. She might not even believe me that you said I could keep it.”

“I know your mom. I’ll tell her. And you
were
nice. I’m sure it wasn’t easy to come. But I’m glad. We’re friends now, and I got to tell you I was sorry.”

Friends! They were friends?

The she looked at the suitcase and sobered. It didn’t matter. Harper was leaving tonight and she’d be gone. A stray thought came back to her.

“Why did you say before that I was just in time?”

“I was about to go to town. I have a couple of things I need before I leave for the airport. All I meant was that you had perfect timing.”

“I was trying to get my dad to go to town today or tonight.” Skylar stood and dug into the pocket of her jeans. She pulled out a yellow film cartridge. What she’d thought was her last roll of film from the Minolta.

“Is he going to take you?”

“Maybe tomorrow, he said. He’s still working on the hay baler.”

“Then come with me. We can go ask your mom, I’ll tell her about the camera, and we can drop your film at . . . Where do you drop it?”

“At Kloster’s Drug. They send it to the Walgreens in Jackson. Sometimes, if we go all the way to Jackson, Dad will take the film there himself.”

“Well if Kloster’s works for you, we can have it there in half an hour. Wanna go?”

Skylar smiled for the first time since knocking on Rosecroft’s door.

“I
S IT REALLY
true that your family used to own half this town?”

Harper smiled across the booth in the ice cream shop at Skylar’s unruly strawberry blonde hair and eager eyes. The teen was a completely different person than the somber, nervous girl who’d come timidly into Harper’s bedroom ninety minutes before. And what had started as an annoying interruption to her rotten day had turned into a blessing.

Skylar was nothing short of an enigma. Fourteen except for the moments when she acted twenty-one. Harper was piecing together a picture of a smart, lonely, scarily savvy girl who hinted that she hated being homeschooled but wouldn’t say it outright. And Skylar was beyond a great distraction when it came to Cole Wainwright.

Harper swallowed the sadness that rose every time she thought about him.

“The Crocketts haven’t owned much except the newspaper building and the feed mill since I’ve been around,” she said. “But it’s true my great-grandfather, Eli, helped build the town from the tiny little watering hole it was when he arrived from Kansas in 1916. Until my grandpa Sebastian sold most of the family’s businesses and holdings, this was sort of Crockettville.”

Skylar giggled. “What sounds weirder? Crockettville or Wolf Paw Pass for a town?”

“I don’t know. I like Wolf Paw Pass. It’s different. It sounds like the right name for a town between a big city like Jackson and a national park like Grand Teton.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“You look like you’re done. Was the Wolf Paw Chunk any good?” She winked knowing there wasn’t anyone in the world who wouldn’t think a flavor from Ina’s Ice Cream Emporium was fabulous.

“Dark chocolate and milk chocolate ice cream with hunks of dark chocolate and milk chocolate candy? Uh, it was okay.”

“Good to hear.”

There was no Ina anymore, and she’d never run the store, but she’d taught her family to make darn good ice cream. Now the store was run by Harper’s old schoolmate Bonnie McAllister, Ina’s granddaughter. The staff—made up of Bonnie’s husband and five siblings—had kept the tradition well alive. Quaint, homespun businesses like Ina’s were a staple in Wolf Paw.