Chapter 13
Chapter
Thirteen
A fter they’d given Tate the basic rundown, he nodded. “That’s all useful information if we get other school groups looking for outings. I’ve given the Littles and all the kids feedback forms to fill out. Those will help us tweak things another time, as well.” He tapped a bit more into his laptop before snapping it shut. “Thank you.”
Beside Weston, Paisley shot to her feet. “I need to check in with Cindy and see how things went with the other activities while we were away.”
Probably she was just in a rush to get away from him. But why? This was what Weston couldn’t figure out. She’d been in his face all last season and at the beginning of this one, sending all kinds of signals that she wanted to be friends. Or possibly more than that. He wouldn’t know for sure, because he’d done his best to deflect her at every turn.
He’d smiled at her like twice, and now she was running. Which was what he’d wanted all along, right? He should be happy she’d finally received the message he’d been sending .
Weston wandered into the lodge dining room where Mom directed her crew in dinner preparations. The meal was about an hour away, but the delectable aroma of barbecue pork already filled the air. Emma was feeding cabbage through the food processor, so coleslaw was likely on the menu.
Mom glanced over. “Weston!” She wiped her hands on her apron as she hurried over then wrapped her arms around him. “You’re back! Nobody starved to death, I hope?”
He patted her back and stepped away. “No one starved. In fact, there were no complaints about the food at all. Even a compliment or two.”
Mom beamed at him. “Susanna Little stopped in a few minutes ago and thanked the girls and me for having everything so well prepared.”
“Yeah, she took over the kitchen and did great. How were things back at the resort? Anything exciting happen?”
“Thankfully, no. A couple of teenagers tipped a canoe because they were trying to get all snuggly and weren’t being careful.”
Weston huffed a laugh. “Serves them right.”
Mom laughed. “Yes, the cold water seemed to douse their ardor a little. And there was a black bear wandering around Ladybug Lane a couple of nights ago, but Tate called the conservation officer, and they trapped him and hauled him off.”
“That’s the CO’s job, for sure. Better to relocate the bear than have him get accustomed to rummaging in the garbage.”
“Yes, thankfully the Smiths had already installed all those bear-proof dumpsters before Tate understood why they were necessary.”
Yeah, Tate hadn’t grown up in bear country, but he was learning quickly.
Weston glanced into the kitchen. “Dinner smells good.”
“Are you hungry? Do you need a snack?”
“Nah, I’m good. I can wait an hour and eat with everyone else.”
Mom smacked his arm. “And here I thought you’d welcome being able to avoid the noisy dining hall.”
To Weston’s surprise, that wasn’t at the top of his list today. “Maybe I’ve had enough quiet after a few days up the mountain.”
“With a dozen tweens,” Mom reminded him.
“But I’m no longer responsible for keeping them alive.”
“Oh… were there problems?”
He shrugged. “Only one mouthy kid, but it wasn’t too bad. I think they all had fun.”
“Oh, that’s good. I’m glad you got the chance to do what you always wanted to do when you were their age.”
Weston did a double take. “I what?”
“You know, getting other people to see the beauty in nature. You figured if people only got away from all the technology and busyness of life, they’d all be nicer. Treat each other better.”
“Huh. I don’t remember that being my dream.” Although… maybe? Somewhere in the deep recesses of his brain that memory might exist. What had happened to it? Bitterness had twisted its gnarly thorns around the dreams of a young boy. Had he done the same thing to Matthew? We ston sighed.
Mom squeezed him from the side. “Well, you’re there now.”
“What are your dreams, Mom?” He searched her face.
She bit her lip in thought. “The biggest one has come true: finding my father. I know that sort of situation doesn’t always work out well. I was shaking in my boots the day I marched into his office in Chicago with all the proof I thought I’d need to establish paternity, but I had no idea how he’d react. I’d looked him up, of course, and mostly saw a stern man with a reputation of taking no prisoners. Either his sons and grandsons feared for their lives if they left the family business, or he was a different man outside the public eye.”
“You were brave.” Weston had offered to go with her but been thankful when she declined. Good thing. He had no desire to get in a flying tin box. Jude could have planes all to himself.
“Determined, more than brave.”
“And Nana still hasn’t forgiven you.”
Mom shook her head. “I know she’s talked to Dad a couple of times since she came to the resort that time last summer. He’d be open to seeing more of her, but she’s still resisting.”
Maybe there was more of his grandmother in Weston than he’d noticed previously.
“Now she thinks I love Dad more than I love her, and that I’ve abandoned her.” Mom swiped a tear. “It’s more that she’s abandoned me.”
“She figures the past should stay in the past,” Weston guessed.
“Something like that. She’s not the one who didn’t know who her father was until she was 52 years old. I needed to know, even if he was a drug addict on the streets of Chicago. Even if he was a doctor in Boston. Even if he was deceased. I just needed to know.”
“I get it.” Weston had felt the missing branch of the family as a kid, too. Probably Mom’s doing. Kids tended to simply accept the way things were… although that didn’t seem to be true for his mother. Hmm.
“I never dreamed finding my father would turn out this well. Now if only James and Theodore…” She pinched her lips tight.
She didn’t need to finish the sentence. Weston knew that his Sullivan uncles did their best to pretend their half-sister didn’t exist. Theodore’s wife, Bridget — Graham’s mom — had been the one to stick the DNA tests in everyone’s Christmas stockings. Weston didn’t much like Bridget — Aunt Bridget, he supposed — because she was an attorney and treated the Kline branch like they were under suspicion. James and Maribel had been divorced for years, though Maribel still worked for Sullivan Enterprises from her home in Kansas. Maribel was the only one of that group who’d even tried to get to know Mom, and it was probably because it was one more way to stick it to her ex and his family.
Money complicated the Sullivan clan. None of them strayed too far because they needed, or at least wanted, the income stream to keep flowing, but that didn’t mean they got along.
Grandfather might have been brilliant to keep his sons busy in the Chicago office and summoning the grandsons to Montana, where he was pushing them together. From what Weston could see, it was working. Graham was an only child, and it seemed he was getting along better with his cousins than he had been before. Jude and Max had hit it off.
And Weston? He hadn’t made friends. He’d been waiting for the day they decided the DNA results had been falsified and he was out on his ear. But the conclusion had been made that it was all legit. Grandfather admitted it. Nana did, too. So, what was still holding Weston back?
He didn’t know how to trust. Didn’t know what his dreams were.
“I should get back to work.” Mom stretched and pressed a kiss to Weston’s scruffy cheek. “It’s good to see you back. Anything you want to tell me about a pretty blonde who was on the same trip?”
Weston shook his head. “You never give up, huh? There’s nothing to tell.”
But he wasn’t as vehement as he’d been the last time she brought it up.
Paisley stuffed her clean clothes into drawers and on hangers. The dinner bell had gone ten minutes ago. Of course, she was late. Some things never changed.
“Are you coming?” Cadence called from the other room.
“Yup!” Paisley grabbed her phone from its charger and shoved it in her hip pocket before shrugging into a still-warm flannel shirt. She dashed into the main room where Cadence stood by the door. “I’m ready! ”
“Let’s go then.” Cadence shook her head and held the door for Paisley to precede her.
“No golf cart?” Paisley asked. “We have to hoof it?”
“Yep. We need to hurry.”
“You just want to see Graham.”
“Guilty as charged. Although I’m hungry, too. I was in the lodge earlier and it smelled delectable.”
“Even though I wasn’t in charge of the camp kitchen, I felt like everything was on me, you know? I’m so glad to just show up for a meal again and then leave, knowing other people are paid to cook and do dishes.”
“It’s a sweet gig, that’s for sure. And wasn’t Weston the one in charge?”
“Of his own stuff.” Paisley shrugged as they lengthened their strides. “But I planned all the activities, so a lot still fell on me.”
“But the other female chaperone ran the kitchen?”
“Yes, but what about ‘I still felt in charge’ are you missing? Someone had to oversee the whole thing. And don’t say Weston just because he’s a Sullivan or male.”
“Okay, I won’t.” Cadence giggled. “I kept hoping you’d come back all triumphant that you’d finally snagged your man.”
“As if.”
“Hey, where did your optimism go?”
“It took a deep dive in a mountain lake so cold the ice had barely melted.” Right along with Matthew Amstutz.
“That’s very specific.”
“It was a cold lake.” And she’d relished her hardiness at watering the horses until Weston blamed her for abetting Matthew’ s rebellion.
“You’ll have to share some photos of the trip with me to put on social media. Maybe we can get more groups requesting out-trips like that. What do you think?”
“My phone went dead almost immediately, so I don’t have many pictures. You’ll have to ask Weston or the Littles.”
Cadence glanced at her. “Theirs didn’t die?”
“Apparently not.” They might have started with topped-up batteries. Or remembered to turn their devices onto airplane mode. But Weston had actually used his phone quite a lot, even so. Hmm.
“I can’t imagine going without technology for days. What if something happened, and I didn’t know about it?”
“Nothing ever happens.” Not that Paisley had even checked her emails or messages since they’d returned. She’d stuck it on the charger then stayed busy with her reports and laundry. Now, as they neared the lodge, she pulled it from her pocket and turned it on. Not that anyone ever contacted?—
Whoa. A whole slew of messages from her sister filled the screen. Paisley frowned. What on earth did Kait want that desperately? They often went weeks without any contact.
She thumbed into the texting app and scanned the list. Her blood chilled, and she stopped in the middle of the road.
“You okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“My mom. She… My sister texted me…”
Cadence retraced her few steps back to where Paisley stood rooted in the road. “What happened to your mother? ”
“She OD’d.”
“Overdosed?” Cadence clutched Paisley’s arm. “But she was clean! Did she die?”
Paisley finished skimming the messages. “No. Kait says she’s in rough shape, though. I should probably go see her.”
“I thought you never wanted to see her again.”
“I know I said that. But… she’s still my mother.”
Cadence huffed. “I wish I didn’t understand that quite so well.”
Cadence’s mom was a piece of work who’d put the family through a lot in the past couple of years, too. Different from Paisley’s mom, but still.
“Let’s get dinner, and then you can call your sister and decide what to do. She’s waited a couple of days for you. She can wait another half hour.”
“You’re right.” Paisley started walking again. “I don’t want to take time off.”
“Mr. Sullivan would grant it, no problem.”
“I’m sure. But I already come across as flaky, and he probably doesn’t need to know my mother’s an addict.”
“You might need to see her to get closure.” Cadence held the lodge door open for Paisley.
Maybe, but this was a bad time with the summer just gearing up. Plus, there was all the stuff for the Independence Day celebrations to finalize.
The chatter of voices and the clatter of utensils filled the air, at least the molecules that weren’t filled with the delectable aromas of pulled pork.
Paisley’s stomach rumbled. That sad sandwich beside the river up the mountain had been a whole lot of hours ago. She required sustenance before dealing with Kait and Mom.
They rounded the corner at the edge of the dining room, and Weston straightened away from the wall he’d been leaning against nearby. His gaze flicked to Cadence then back to Paisley. “Can we talk?”
Cadence snickered and detoured around him to the food line, leaving Paisley standing there. “Um, maybe?”
But she needed sustenance before dealing with Weston Kline, as well.