Chapter Nine
By noon on Sunday, Emmett was starting to wonder what the girls were up to. They were definitely scheming, but he just couldn't figure out what their deal was. They'd both completed their chores in record time this morning and were being super helpful in the kitchen.
Maybe it was just because they were excited about Harper coming over, but it seemed like more than that.
"What can I do next, Dad?" Tanya asked.
"You should check to see what homework you still have."
"Oh, that's okay. I finished it all."
From the way she spoke so rapidly and dropped her gaze, he knew damn well that she hadn't.
"Tanya," he said in a stern voice.
She lifted her head but didn't look him in the eye.
"What's the issue with the homework? Do you have a problem? Do you need my help?"
Alana came to stand behind her sister. "It's okay, Dad.
It's just... She's going to do it, but I said I'd help her with it later.
It's some stuff that I struggled with too, when I was in seventh grade—pre-algebra.
It's not her fault she hasn't done it yet.
I had to do my own homework, and we were both excited about today, so I said we had to leave it until tonight. "
Emmett looked from her to her sister and back again, still sensing there was something off about the story they were telling, but he wasn't one hundred percent sure. And since whatever it was they were up to, they were in it together, he decided to let it go.
Even though he understood it, it saddened him that Alana was doing her own thing more and more lately.
He was hoping that they'd grow closer again once Tanya caught up, but lately, the gap between Alana as a young woman and Tanya as a little girl sometimes seemed so wide that it might never be bridged.
He leaned back against the counter and looked each of them in the eye. "So, what you're telling me is that you both still have homework to do, but you want to leave it until tonight?"
They nodded.
"Even though it's Sunday, and we only leave homework until Sunday night if we absolutely have to?"
They nodded again. And Tanya gave him a small smile. "But we absolutely have to this week, Dad, because Harper's coming for lunch."
He chuckled. "I'm not sure that counts as an absolute, but—"
"Oh, it does," Alana interrupted him.
"Okay, I'll let it ride this time, but don't let me down, girls."
"We won't," they assured him.
"Are you going to get changed, Dad?"
He gave Alana a puzzled look. "Do I need to?" He looked down at his shirt, wondering if he'd made a mess of himself without even noticing.
"You could wear that shirt I got you for Christmas," Tanya suggested.
He opened his mouth to ask why and then closed it again when it hit him. They wanted him to put a new shirt on because Harper was coming.
He sucked in a deep breath and blew it out slowly.
The four of them had a great time at the diner yesterday.
He'd enjoyed seeing the girls interact with Harper.
She got along so well with them. He could see that she was a lot of fun for them to be around, but she was good with them, too.
Not just fun, but... she guided them. He couldn't think of a better word, but it was something like that.
She was a good influence, and as he'd told her when he went to pick her up from the airport, they needed a woman in their lives whom they could look up to.
Tanya nodded at him eagerly. It wouldn't hurt to change his shirt, he guessed.
He turned to Alana. "Do you want to go set the cushions up on the outdoor furniture?"
"You could wear the nice blue one," she said.
"I'll go see what I can find." He turned to run upstairs before they could say anything else.
Alana's suggestion might have been innocent.
She might not remember, but he knew in his gut that she did.
She'd been with him when he bought the blue shirt.
He'd told her at the time that it was her mom's favorite color.
She told him that it suited him, that he looked handsome, and that she could see why her mom liked the color on him.
When he reached his bedroom, he closed the door behind him and sat down on the bed as he removed the perfectly fine shirt he was already wearing.
Was Alana trying to tell him something? Did she just want him to look good since Harper was coming over?
Was she implying something more meaningful by telling him to wear the color her mom loved—or was he just reading too much into the whole thing?
Probably that last one, he told himself as he got up and threw his shirt into the laundry hamper.
Standing in front of the closet, his hand hovered over the blue one, but no.
He reached for the green one Tanya had bought him for Christmas.
She'd be happy to see him wear it. If Alana had been trying to give him a message, she'd get his answer when she saw him in green.
Maybe one of these days he'd wear the blue one, but not this first time.
~ ~ ~
Harper loaded her freshly baked apple pie and a few other goodies onto the back seat before heading out.
She slowed the truck as she approached Jim's house, surprised to see him sitting out on the front porch.
He waved, and she pulled over, hoping that he wasn't all alone this afternoon. She'd hate to leave him if he was.
When she climbed out of her truck, he waved a hand at her. "Don't let me hold you up. I was only waving."
She ran up the porch steps and leaned in to kiss his cheek. "I couldn't just drive on by; I had to come say hello."
He chuckled. "Hello, there you go, it's done, now goodbye."
She gave him a wounded look. "Are you telling me you don't want me to stick around?"
"That's exactly what I'm telling you, young lady. You have somewhere far more important to be."
She let out a short laugh. "What makes you say that?"
"Now one of the things I like about you is that you're a straight shooter. Don't go trying to hide things from me. I know everything that goes on up and down this valley." He met her gaze. "And even at the diner in town."
"Oh."
He chuckled. "Yeah, don't go worrying yourself. Sounds like you and Emmett and the girls had yourselves a good time in there yesterday. And you probably never noticed a couple of grizzly old farts like me sitting in the corner, but they noticed you."
She had to laugh. She had noticed a couple of older ranchers sitting at the next table. She'd thought that they added character to the diner—which had been absolutely delightful.
Jim nodded at her. "If you don't know already, you should learn fast. Word travels up and down this valley quicker than wildfire. And it can do just as much damage."
She frowned. "Are you saying…? Wow, they overheard us making plans for today and reported back to you about it?"
"Aye."
She waited for him to go on, and when he didn’t, she had to ask, "Do you think there's any harm in it?"
"I sure don't. I reckon them girls will get nothing but good from having you around. And Emmett even more so. I don't mean to stick my nose into whatever you have going on. I don't even know what it is. But I hope that my buddies were right."
"Why, what did they say?"
"That the four of you out like that looked like a family. That Emmett looked happier than anyone's seen him in a long while. And that you might be a New Yorker, but you're all right."
She laughed at that last part, and he chuckled with her. "Aye, I told ‘em I didn't know anything about the rest of it just yet, but I can vouch for that last part."
"Aw, thanks, Jim."
"Nothing to thank me for, just tellin’ the truth." He made a big show of checking his watch. "And the truth is, if you're going over there for lunch, you'd better get a move on."
"Okay, but what about you?"
"What about me?"
"What are you doing for lunch?"
He smiled. "You've got nothing to worry about there. The boys aren't getting together this week."
"Oh, well then—"
"Let me finish, would ya? As soon as he heard about that, Cash said he was coming to pick me up and gave me the choice of going over to the big house for lunch with the MacFarlands, or taking me out to any steakhouse I wanted to go to."
She smiled at that. "So, you're going to the MacFarland place?"
Jim nodded happily. "No steakhouse around here can match young Tyler's cooking."
"I'd have to agree with you there. There aren't any in New York that can match him either. He'd make a fortune if he moved there."
Jim scowled, and she had to laugh. "I know, I know, I didn't mean it that way."
"I'll be happier when you stop even thinking that way. Don't worry, it'll wear off after you've been here a decade or two."
That made her smile. "You think you could see me fitting in and sticking around then?"
"I already do. Now, go on with you. You have somewhere to be. And I'd enjoy a bit of peace before Cash gets here."
"Okay, I'll stop in and see you when I get back. How about that?"
"How about you text me first? And if you don't get an answer, you'll know that I'm having a nap. Sleeping off my steak."
"Okay, I'll do that. And if I don't see you later, I'll see you tomorrow."
"Aye, I reckon you will."
Emmett's place was only a couple of miles up the road, and Harper enjoyed the ride. It was so beautiful here. The mountains were still capped with snow, but the valley was starting to come back to life.
When she turned into Emmett's driveway, she noticed for the first time that the trees that had been nothing but bare sticks all winter now showed the first signs of buds.
It made her feel hopeful, but then she immediately rolled her eyes at herself.
She was coming over to have Sunday lunch with Emmett and the girls, that was it.
She didn't need to go thinking about it as anything more than that.