Chapter 33
CHAPTER
THIRTY-THREE
“Yes, Momma,” Lark said. “Cash is going to be moving out this weekend.” She lifted the flap on one of her boxes and peered at the items inside.
She didn’t want to unpack any of this stuff, and she sighed and sank onto the end of her bed instead.
“It’s kind of a hard time to find an apartment, but his cousin works at Silver Sage Lodge, and we’re going out there later tonight to have dinner with him and his fiancée.
Cora owns the place, and she’s going to show Cash a couple of options. ”
“Silver Sage is quite the drive from our house,” her mother said.
Lark squeezed her eyes closed. “Yeah, I know,” she said. “But I can take care of the house until you and Daddy come home.”
“I just can’t believe you quit school, bug.” Daddy’s voice came through the speakerphone, obviously further away than her mother, but Lark didn’t detect any disappointment in it.
“It’s just not the right thing for me,” she said.
“Yes, dear, but it’s only four more months,” Momma said.
Lark did not want to have this conversation again. She’d already called her parents after church on Sunday, after the Spirit had chastised her greatly that she’d put it off.
“Maureen,” Daddy said, and Lark could just imagine them having a silent conversation on their end of the line.
Momma sighed. “Well, Jet says that Cash is a great guy, and that you two are really cute together.”
“I’m so glad he approves,” Lark said dryly, though she really was.
“And how’s Grammy?” Momma asked, employing her super-power of changing the topic naturally.
Lark sighed, because she’d been so convinced that her grandmother needed her here, and yet, most days went by without any mishaps or emergencies whatsoever.
For some reason, Lark needed some sort of validation that her decision to quit and move home was the right one, and having her grandmother forget things would do it.
“She’s great,” she said. “I go see her all the time to make sure she’s feeding the cats and is getting by in the winter.”
“Yeah, we’re really not missing the temperatures there,” Daddy said with a chuckle.
Lark really needed this conversation to end, and she said, “I have to go. I’m getting another call.”
“Love you, dear,” Momma said.
“Love you, bug,” Daddy called.
Lark told them she loved them and hung up the phone. She flopped back on the bed with a sigh, saying, “Forgive me, Lord. It was just a little white lie.”
Her momma’s first question after Lark had called them on Sunday was, “Well, what are you going to do now?”
She hadn’t known, but Lark had made the drive to Coral Canyon every day this week to look for a job.
Visiting Grammy happened while she was there, and if Lark didn’t mind working in food service, there was plenty of employment to be had.
But she had some secretarial skills from her time in school, and she felt like she could afford to wait a couple of weeks before she had to have a job.
After all, she was living here for free, and her mother paid all the utilities and bills on the house.
Lark needed gas in her car and food. She honestly had no idea what Cash would leave in the cupboards when he moved out that weekend, but no matter what, Lark still had a paycheck coming, and she’d be fine.
“It would be really great if either of the rooms at Silver Sage would work,” she prayed.
Cash couldn’t move onto his ranch, and he’d said he’d move into his daddy’s basement on Saturday if he couldn’t find somewhere.
He’d found a vacation rental starting in January, but there was still a ten-day period there where he needed somewhere to live.
Silver Sage was a luxury lodge, and while they were quite busy in the winter due to the skiing in the Tetons, they weren’t as close as some of the other resorts to the ski runs, and Cora’s ideas for where Cash could stay had sounded promising.
“He just needs this one piece to line up for him,” she added to her prayer.
Her guilt over dislodging him from this house he’d made his own, and the hot tub he loved, and being so close to her, had kept her awake at night, and Lark really needed God to come through with an ideal living situation for him.
“It would really help me to know that we’re doing the right thing.”
“You’re not working in here,” Cash said, and Lark sat straight up, enjoying the teasing quality of his voice.
She gestured for him to come in. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”
He wore a pair of dark jeans and a black T-shirt with a white outline of a Texas Longhorn on the front, and Lark sure could appreciate the width of his shoulders and the woodsy scent he brought with him.
“Can we just take a nap?” she asked, reaching for his hand.
“We’ve got to get ready to go out to the lodge,” he said. “We’re leavin’ in half an hour.”
“Well, then we can lay down for twenty minutes,” she said. “As part of getting ready.” He chuckled, and Lark used his strength to help her stand. “Please? I’m so tired.”
He reached up and brushed her hair back off her face.
“All right, sweetheart,” he said, and he climbed onto her narrow twin bed first, laying on his side and opening his arms for her.
She sat down, her back to him, and then lay with her head against his arm.
He pulled the pillow down so they shared it, enveloping her in his embrace.
“All right?” he whispered.
“Yes.” Lark closed her eyes again, and this time, the guilt and unrest just melted away.
Cash really didn’t want to have to live with his parents, and Lark managed one more prayer that God would give him a good alternative before she dozed off.
Just one, Lord, she thought. Just one, just one, just one.
An hour later, she climbed to the third floor behind Cash, Boston, and Cora, her nerves rioting through her.
“No elevator?” Cash asked.
“We don’t have elevators in our staff quarters, no,” Cora said. “They come furnished, and the assumption is that you’re just bringing in clothing and a few personal items, like pots and pans.”
“The kitchen’s not furnished?” Cash asked.
“I mean, there’re a few things,” Cora said, her breath coming a little bit quicker as she rounded the corner. “This is on the top floor, which has a great view.”
“Well, I’ll get my steps in,” Cash said. “Between here and the gym.”
“It is farther from the amenities,” Cora said. “Which, of course, you’re welcome to use, Cash.”
Silver Sage had a couple of swimming pools and a full gym on-site, as well as Cash’s beloved hot tub.
It usually closed at nine p.m., but Cora had told him he’d be able to use it after hours, and she would give him his own code to get in.
Because it was after hours, he’d be able to sit in it alone, and Lark knew that would make him happy.
“It’s this one,” Cora said, stopping at the first apartment on the fourth floor.
“So everyone will have to walk by my door to get to their place,” Cash said, peering down the walkway that led to five other apartments on this level.
“Yes.” Cora tapped in a code, and the lock disengaged. She stepped out of the way and held the door open, gesturing for Cash to go first. Lark caught the concerned look on her face as she exchanged a glance with Boston, and then Cash’s cousin entered second.
Lark took her place at Cora’s side. “Thank you so much for this,” she said. “I really hope it works out.”
“Me too,” Cora said, and she gave Lark an encouraging smile. “Now, how are things between the two of you?”
Lark glanced into the apartment, which held a full-size couch that faced the wall, where a TV hung just inside the door.
Just beyond that sat the kitchen and a small dining room table for two in the corner.
She could see the whole living area with that one look, all the way to where Cash stood in the kitchen, opening one of the cupboards.
“Things are a little tense,” she whispered. “I feel so guilty that I’m making him move out, and he won’t be happy at his daddy’s. And I don’t know—everything feels like it’s just frozen over, and neither one of us can take a full step or we’ll fall into frigid water.”
“I’m sorry, Lark,” Cora said.
“I’m just praying one of these places meets his requirements.”
“You don’t have to gossip about me out on the deck,” Cash called, and Lark ducked her head and entered the apartment. She could go behind the couch, too, but she saw no reason to do so, and she joined her boyfriend in the kitchen.
“We weren’t gossiping. I was thanking her for showing us these places.”
Cash opened the fridge, and Lark caught sight of a single box of baking soda before he closed it.
“Just one bedroom,” Boston said. “It’s a queen, and the bathroom is across the hall.”
With their long cowboy legs, they took two or three steps and went through the door on the left for the bathroom and the one on the right for the bedroom. After they’d come out, Lark peered in for herself and found it functional, if not really nice.
“So there’s this,” Cora said from where she’d taken a seat on the couch. “It’s a little quieter out here. There are no guests, but you are much farther away, and while most employees walk to work, we definitely don’t encourage it in the winter.”
“I thought you said there wasn’t enough room for us to park over there,” Cash said, and Lark wondered if he was making his voice purposely guarded, or if he was really irritated. She couldn’t tell from his expression either, as he’d boxed everything up tight.
“There’s not,” Cora said. “We have a shuttle.”
“It comes every fifteen minutes,” Boston added, as he lived over here in the employee quarters.
Cash nodded and looked around the place again. “Well, I definitely think this will do, but I’d love to see a room.”
“Sure,” Cora said. “Now, this would be free. You’d only have to pay your own utilities here. Over at the lodge, there’s obviously no utilities, but I can only get you the room for half off.”
“I want to see it first,” Cash said. “So I can decide.”