Chapter 9
Alison
She really wasn’t sure this was a good idea.
After Beckett walked out to his truck, Ali confronted the misgivings that had been plaguing her ever since she had come up
with this impulsive, ill-considered idea to have June stay here, purely as a way to lure her to The Painted Sky.
“I don’t feel great about you being here all alone,” she said. “You’ve only been out of the hospital two days.”
“And I spent those two days on my own at my apartment,” June reminded her.
Alison thought of that huge penthouse space that seemed far too grand to be called an apartment. It hadn’t at all resembled
the cramped quarters Ali had shared with two other law students for the past three years.
As large and as elegant as that Seattle penthouse had been, June had seemed lost there when Ali had taken her home from the
hospital.
“Why don’t I sleep on the sofa tonight to keep an eye on you?”
“Not necessary.” Some of the briskness in June’s manner that Ali had observed as her intern returned to her tone now. “Honestly,
I’ll be fine. I feel good. My ICD seems to be working well. I also have my cell phone. If there’s a problem, I can always
reach out to you.”
Ali didn’t want to point out that if June had a medical complication, she might not be in any position to make a cell phone
call. Only days earlier, she had been fine in one instant then not breathing the next.
“Okay. If you’re sure. I’ll check in on you every few hours. If you don’t text me back, I can be here in five minutes to make sure everything is okay.”
“Alison. Stop. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me but I’ll be fine. I’m used to being on my own.”
“Maybe so, but you also never had a cardiac arrest before. If you won’t agree to text me back, I’ll sleep on the couch. Which
do you prefer?”
June blinked, looking surprised at her firm tone. Ali couldn’t really blame her since she had been meek and gutless as an
intern.
After a pause, the other woman sighed. “Fine. I’ll try to text you back. If I don’t get right back to you, I might be napping,
though.”
“Then I will pop in to check on you quietly and disappear again,” Ali answered. “You won’t even know I’m here.”
June studied her, her head tilted as if Ali were some foreign creature. “I still don’t understand why you’re so concerned
about me. I wasn’t exactly easy on you when we were working together.”
Because we’re sisters. Because we share the same father. Because I almost lost you and the thought of that terrifies me, especially
before we have the chance to get to know each other.
She could not tell June any of that. Not yet.
“Maybe I’m just a very nice person. Even to a boss who makes Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada seem like a breeze.”
June made a face. “Come on. I wasn’t that bad.”
“You weren’t at all,” Ali agreed. “I was just teasing. You were very kind to me, especially since I was completely incompetent.”
“You weren’t that bad, either. I would like to try again with your internship after I return to work. And not only because
you’ve been so kind to me.”
Not in a million years. Ali had no desire at all to work in the corporate world.
“Beck’s waiting. I should go.”
She wanted to give June a hug, but their relationship wasn’t quite solid enough for that.
Yet.
“I will for sure see you in the morning.”
“Sounds good. Thank you again for everything.”
“You’re welcome. I’m glad you’re here.”
She slipped out the carved wooden door to the cabin before June could reply.
It was raining softly enough that she almost would have preferred to walk back to the ranch house. The air smelled delicious,
of wet pine needles and the flowering wild roses that grew along the creek.
Oh, how she missed Wyoming and The Painted Sky when she wasn’t here.
Choosing Salt Lake City to attend the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah had been a wise decision, though.
She wouldn’t have been able to survive somewhere back east.
Whenever she had been particularly homesick, she could take a short drive into Little or Big Cottonwood Canyons or drive farther
into the Wasatch Back to be surrounded by wild nature.
Sometimes taking a late-afternoon hike on a mountain trail was the only thing that saved her sanity after spending hours in
the classroom talking about tort law and jurisprudence.
Still, it wasn’t home. She had missed the ranch, her grandmother and most of all her father.
She missed him far more than she had missed the ranch. Since her mother’s death, Carson had been her only parent. Yes, her
grandmother had willingly stepped in to help, but her father had been the one Ali had gone to first whenever she had a skinned
knee, an academic disappointment or a broken heart.
He had been her confidant, her cheerleader, her best friend.
She thought she would have forever to enjoy his steady support, his quiet calm. But fate was vicious and unrelenting and had taken him far too soon, robbing her of her beloved father and the world of his awe-inspiring talent.
She sighed as she slipped into the passenger seat of Beckett Hunter’s pickup truck.
“That sounds like you’re carrying the weight of the world, Al.”
“Not quite. Just missing my dad.”
He gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze. “Same here. The world doesn’t feel quite right without him in it.”
Beckett understood. He and her father had become close friends over the past five years, since Beck had moved to Wyoming.
Carson had respected and liked the younger man and had offered friendship and compassion to a man who had come here broken
and grieving.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing, bringing Juniper Connelly home with you?” he asked as he turned around and headed
back toward the house.
All of her misgivings rushed back. “No. I’m not sure of anything. But what else was I supposed to do? I didn’t feel right
about leaving her in Seattle by herself, and I had no good reason to stay there after losing my internship.”
“I don’t expect she will appreciate that you brought her here under false circumstances.”
“Not false. I told her I had the space for her to stay and that I thought she would find it peaceful. None of that is a lie.”
“It’s not the whole truth, though. What if she’s angry with you for not telling her all of it?”
“That’s a risk I have to take. She’s not in any position right now to handle the shock of finding a long-lost sister and a
father she didn’t know existed.”
She didn’t like thinking about her father having a love life at all before he met Ali’s mother, Sarah.
DNA didn’t lie, though.
“So what is your plan now that you’re home?” Beck asked as he drove toward the main house. “Are you ready for the bar exam
in September? Have you been studying?”
Ali gazed out the windshield as the wipers beat away the afternoon storm. Something else she didn’t want to think about.
“Working on it. I still have a few months. I want to take the chance to enjoy the summer and to help Grandma with the ranch
and the bookstore.”
“The ranch itself is a pretty well-oiled machine. Pat and Jo have always done a good job of keeping things running around
here.”
“I know. I don’t plan to get in anybody’s way.”
“It’s your ranch now. It’s good for you to know the inner workings. You won’t be in the way. But you can’t lose sight of taking
the bar, either. Why do all that work and not cross the finish line?”
She sighed. “I know. I feel like the past six months have been a total blur. Losing Dad so unexpectedly, then still having
to power through so I could finish my classes when I was numb with grief. And on top of that, I found out about Juniper. It’s
been a roller coaster on steroids. I could really use a moment to catch my breath, you know?”
“I get it. But you can’t spend so much time catching your breath that you throw away all your hard work. Your dad would never
forgive either of us if I don’t push you to follow through.”
She knew he was right. Her father had been thrilled when she was accepted into law school and never let a conversation go
by without telling her he was proud of her.
“I’ll study, I promise,” she said as Beck pulled up in front of the house.
“In other words, stop nagging.”
She shot him a grin. “Something like that.” She opened the door to the pickup truck. “Thanks again for the airport run. I
know it’s not your favorite duty, but I really appreciate it. And thanks also for not telling Juniper she’s my half sister.
I’ll tell her when the time feels right.”
He shook his head. “I hope you know what you’re doing, but I will respect your wishes. I’ll let you break the news in your own time.”
“Thanks, Beck. You are the actual best.” She gave him a hug across the seat then waved goodbye before hopping out of the truck
and hurrying into the house.
When she walked inside, the only creature who came to greet her was one of the Siberian cats her father had loved.
Hemingway had his famous polydactyl cats, whose six-toed descendants still wandered around Key West. Carson Wells had his
Siberians, with their unique coats and blue eyes.
“Hi there, Chaucer,” she said. He was named after one of her father’s characters, as were all the ranch cats. Not that her
father necessarily approved, but Ali and her grandmother—and Ali’s mother, Sarah, before that—had picked the names of the
three cats who lived in the house and the half dozen more in the barn and other outbuildings.
She thought perhaps she had been the one to name Chaucer, but she couldn’t precisely remember. She didn’t have time to give
the cat more than a quick pet when a tall, willowy older woman with trendy short gray hair and glasses walked into the foyer.
Her features lit up when she spotted Ali.
“Oh, my girl. There you are. I saw your luggage in the hall and couldn’t figure out why you didn’t seem to be with it. It’s
so good to have you home.”
Ali hugged her grandmother, feeling a little as if she were a lost and frightened teenager again after her mother died.
“We stopped about twenty minutes ago to drop off my suitcase and I assumed you were in town.”
“I was. I’ve only been home five minutes. I barely had time to start looking for you before I heard you come inside and start
talking to that silly cat.”
“He’s not a silly cat. He’s an amazing cat. Aren’t you, Chaucer?”
The cat purred loudly, rubbing his head against her leg. She smiled and reached down again to pet him as two other cats shot into the room, looking for attention, as well.
“Now you’ve done it,” Loretta said with a rueful smile. “You’ll be here all night being greeted by one cat after another.”
“I don’t mind. I love them all. Hi, Louie. Hi, Mabel.”
“Did you get your boss all settled at the cabin?”
Ali schooled her features into one of casual nonchalance. She had not told her grandmother yet about the genetic connection
she had found to June Connelly. She still wasn’t sure how Loretta would handle finding out she had a thirtysomething-year-old
granddaughter she had never known about.
What if she had known?
That might be one of the reasons Ali hadn’t brought it up with Loretta. She wasn’t sure she wanted to talk to her about it
yet. If her grandmother had known about Juniper, that would mean Carson had known he had another daughter.
“Yes. She’s settled.” She gave a bland smile. “Bringing her here to the ranch to recover seemed like a great idea at the time,
but I have to admit I’m not all that crazy about leaving her down there at the cabin all by herself.”
Concern furrowed her grandmother’s brow. “I hope she knows she’s welcome to stay here at the house. We have plenty of room.”
“I think she would be more comfortable on her own. She’s a pretty independent person and doesn’t like to be anyone’s responsibility.
And she was a big fan of Dad’s.”
“I’ll admit while I’m happy to have her here, I’m still not quite sure why you brought her back with you. I get that you saved
her life, but that does not mean the two of you are bonded for life.”
She deliberately didn’t meet her grandmother’s sharp-eyed gaze. She hated keeping the truth from her, but she suspected if
she did tell Loretta, she would instantly rush down to the cabin to smother her newfound granddaughter with love.
“It seemed like the right thing at the time. She doesn’t have anyone else and I feel like it’s something Dad would have wanted me to do.”
Loretta smiled with a trace of sadness. “My boy did tend to bring home strays, didn’t he?”
Their house had always been filled with struggling writers and artists, trying to find their way in the world.
“Yes. You can think of Juniper Connelly as one more stray.”
“This is your home. You can bring anybody to stay here that you want, honey.”
“I hear a big but in your voice.”
Loretta frowned. “But I still don’t understand why you invited her , even if you did save her life. From everything you said, I didn’t get the impression you loved your internship working with
her.”
That was definitely true. Thank heavens she didn’t have to go through that again.
“It’s not for long. Only two or three weeks while she rests and recovers. Before we know it, she’ll be heading back to Seattle
and will forget all about us and The Painted Sky.”
She truly hoped that wasn’t the case, though she was fully aware that June might not want a relationship with her at all when
she found out they were half sisters.
“We’ll make her as comfortable as we can during that time, then.”
“Thanks, Grandma.”
She hugged her grandmother again, feeling so very grateful for Loretta. After Sarah Wells died, Loretta had quit her job,
packed up her whole life in Wisconsin and had moved here to help her only son with his daughter.
She had been tough and loving and always there for her with supportive words and a warm embrace.
Alison hated keeping secrets from her but she reminded herself that for now she didn’t have any other choice.