Long Road Home

by JoAnn Ross

  “No. He’s too young to understand. And maybe she was afraid she’d freak him out.”

  “But you weren’t afraid?” Austin wanted to be ready for any possible nightmares.

  “Not at all. Oh, she told me why she wore purple all year.”

  “Oh?” This was getting curiouser and curiouser.

  “Because it was Dad’s favorite color and she wanted him to notice her.”

  “I told her at the time that he’d notice her without that,” Austin said, even as goose bumps rose on her arms. How else could Sophie know what Heather had only shared with her? “But she was very determined.”

  “Mom’s that way,” Sophie said easily. “I’ll bet that’s why she got to come down to visit. Because she can talk anyone into anything once she puts her mind to it.”

  Austin laughed. “That’s definitely true.” And didn’t she have the tacky girl-in-the-country-song outlet mall outfit hanging in her closet to prove it?

  *

  AFTER STAYING HOME for two days, which she’d mostly spent grooming Misty and riding her around the corral, and then with Austin and Sawyer on the river trail, Sophie worried about going back to school. Would everyone stare at her, like she was some kind of freak? Or worse yet, would kids keep coming up to her to tell her how sorry they were and she’d have to keep telling everyone that she was doing okay?

  Which she sort of was, which was a major surprise. Maybe because, although it might be her imagination, she could still feel her mom. Not in some weird stalker way, watching every single thing Sophie did or listening to her thoughts, but more like she was somewhere out there—wherever there was—in case Sophie needed her.

  Ms. Taylor welcomed her back to her honors science class and an extra helping of warmth in her pretty Southern accent, but not a lot of fuss. She’d treated her as if she’d just been out with the flu or something. Which Sophie was grateful for. She hadn’t seen Madison yet, because Madison wasn’t in honors. Not because she wasn’t smart enough, because she probably was, but because, as she’d told Sophie, who’d been excited about being accepted, all that extra studying required would take time away from fun things. Like boys.

  Sophie had never minded the extra work her honors English and science classes entailed because except for sort of crushing on Parker Long—who could actually make constellations sound interesting—she wasn’t all that interested in boys. Although Parker wanted to be an astrophysicist when he grew up, and maybe an astronaut, he’d still told her, during their biology section, which was her favorite part, that it was way cool that she was planning to be a large-animal vet, like her dad.

  She usually passed Madison in the hall on her way to civics, but today she didn’t see her until lunch. She was sitting at their usual table with their crowd when Sophie came in carrying the lunch Winema had packed for her. Because, seriously, who’d want to eat the carb-heavy junk the cafeteria served?

  “Sophie!” Madison screeched, jumped up from the bench, and gave her a huge hug as if it’d been years instead of days since they’d been together. Sophie figured they’d probably heard her over in the high school a block away. “We were just talking about you! How are you?”

  “Okay, I guess. For someone who just buried her parents.”

  “Yeah. Like I told you when we texted, that sucks. Sorry about missing the funeral.”

  “No problem.” Sophie shrugged as if it hadn’t bothered her. Which, actually, it had. A lot. If Madison’s mom and dad had died, she would’ve been there for her. “We were kind of busy, anyway.”

  “And it was a school day,” Madison pointed out.

  “Which you ditched to go out to the lake with the gang,” Shelly Denny said with a giggle.

  “You went to the lake?” Okay. Now Sophie was getting majorly mad.

  “No one goes to class the last couple weeks of school,” Madison said defensively with a toss of her hair. “And it was such a great day.”

  “My brother took a bunch of us out on our family’s boat,” Shelly said.

  Her smirky smile suggested she was enjoying this. She and Sophie had never been friends. Madison was all they’d had in common. Madison also once confided that Mark Denny, who was three years older, had sexted her a picture of his penis and wanted her to Snapchat one of her bare boobs back to him. She’d denied doing it, but now Sophie wondered.

  All the insults Madison had ever thrown her way came flashing back, most recently making fun of her dress size, which was, by the way, not a fat size at all, and that heron neck thing. She’d also said Sophie was too old to like horses, because, like, Madison had given up reading those lame kind of books back in sixth grade after she’d discovered the Twilight ones. Which Sophie had never been able to get into, but she loved the Enchanted Forest series and had read every Harry Potter book as soon as it had come out. Another thing her supposed BFF had ragged her about. Because geek girls were so uncool.

  And getting back to horses, excuse me, Sophie thought, Austin was super cool and she had a lot of horses. Plus, she even bred them and trained them and had promised to let Sophie help deliver the next baby that was born.

  “You know what?”

  “What?” Madison asked.

  “You.” She jabbed a finger toward Madison, then turned to Shelly. “And you. Both of you are irrelevant.” In Sophie’s tween world, there was no worse insult. Okay, maybe slore, which was a blend of slut and whore. But she never would’ve said that. Especially in front of the entire class that now seemed to be watching.

  She spun around to walk away, belatedly realizing she didn’t have a clue where she was going. She could just march out and head home, but the teacher monitoring the door might catch her and stop her from leaving. Next time she did some big drama thing, she’d have to think it through better ahead of time.

  “Sophie!” She heard someone calling her name behind her and saw Becca Thomas, a girl from her science class, coming toward her. “I’m sorry about your mom and dad,” Becca said, her brown eyes looking genuinely sad behind her black-framed glasses.

  “Thanks.”

  “You want to come sit with us?”

  Sophie might be one of the school’s smart kids, but eating lunch at the nerd table? Seriously? Kill me now.

  Then she saw Parker Long. OMG! Smiling at her!

  “Yeah. That’d be cool. Thanks.”

  Maybe her mom was right, Sophie thought as she almost floated across the black-and-white tile floor. She had her own horse, who had the same name as her most favorite fictional horse ever. And Parker Long, a possible future astronaut from River’s Bend and the cutest boy in school, had just smiled at her.

  Not the kind of smile he’d shared when she’d helped him with the chapter assignment comparing and contrasting genetic engineering with selective breeding, which, to be honest, her dad had helped her with the night before. But like she’d seen boys smile at girls when they really, really liked them.

  Maybe, she thought as she shyly smiled back at Parker and felt her heart floating up to the rafters like one of those bubbles Jack and his friends had blown into the sky, her life really was going to be amazing.

  37

  THEY’D GOTTEN PAST the funeral, and the kids were back in school, seemingly doing well, especially Sophie, who seemed to have not one but two new best friends: Becca Thomas, whose single mom turned out to be the manager Rachel had hired for the New Chance, and Parker Long, whose parents were both teachers at Eaglecrest High. They’d been coming over after school to do homework together and learn to ride with Sophie.

  Becca was darling and sweet and, after some initial nervousness, had taken well to Ginger, one of the older trail horses who’d retired from herding work. Parker was not only impossibly cute, something Sophie had obviously noticed for herself, but he was also a natural-born athlete. Which, she thought, would probably come in handy if he were to stick to the goal of achieving Ryan Murphy’s initial plan of becoming the town’s first astronaut.

  When Jack had learne
d that Scott was going to go to summer day camp, he’d announced that he didn’t want to play T-ball this year but wanted to attend camp, too.

  “Look at it this way,” Sawyer had said, when Austin dithered over what Heather and Tom would have wanted, “we just escaped being those people.”

  “What people?”

  “Those poor parents who live in kids’ sports chauffeur hell.”

  She’d laughed. “Good point.” Then signed the permission slip.

  With life seeming to become more normal again, at least a new normal, Austin and Sawyer began acting like the teenage lovers they’d never dared be. They kissed nearly all night long on the porch swing after everyone was asleep. They enjoyed sometimes hot and fast, sometimes slow and sweet nooners on the bed in his cabin, and once, in a moment of pure lust when he’d been grooming Duke and she’d been brushing Blue, they’d climbed into the hayloft and learned that Winema had been right about the fantasy versus the reality.

  “Not that it was bad,” Sawyer said, brushing straw off his bare butt. Being a gentleman, he’d willingly taken the bottom position.

  “It couldn’t ever be bad,” Austin said as she pulled her shirt over the new lacy bra she’d ordered online. “But I have to admit that I was a bit worried at first about mice.”

  “That’s what those fat barn cats are for,” he said. “You didn’t seem too concerned.”

  She leaned up and touched her reddened, kiss-swollen lips to his. “That’s because you’re so good at distracting me.”

  “You’re the distraction,” he said. Then pulled her into his arms for a deeper, longer, definitely Olympic gold medal kiss.

  *

  TO MAKE ROOM for all the family and friends, Mountain View Middle School’s graduation was held in the high school gym. A temporary stage had been set up for the students, who were sitting in metal folding chairs on the basketball court. The immediate families sat behind them, while other friends and well-wishers took to the bleachers.

  The Murphys and Merrills took up the entire first row. The Murphys were represented by Sawyer, Ryan, Rachel, Cooper, Scott, Dan, Mitzi, and the Murphy brothers’ grandparents, Betty and Mike. The Merrill contingent consisted of Austin, Jack, Buck, and Winema, who’d scored a family ticket without a word of complaint from the PTA volunteers who’d organized the event.

  “Kira Taylor wasn’t kidding when she said Sophie was going to win some awards,” Austin murmured to Sawyer the third time the girl, clad in a burgundy cap and gown, climbed the stairs to the stage.

  “She’s one smart cookie,” Sawyer said. “And so far, after an understandably bumpy start, pretty easy.” He flashed Sophie two thumbs up as she caught his eye on the way back to her seat in the honors section between Becca and Parker. “And have you noticed that we haven’t heard a certain former BFF’s name called once?”

  “I noticed,” Austin murmured. “And I’m not sure it’s seemly for adults to gloat about a child’s lack of achievement.”

  “She stood Sophie up at her parents’ funeral,” he reminded her. “To go out on the lake with boys.” Who, he’d learned from Cooper, had gotten a citation for speeding the ski boat too close to the little kids’ shorefront wading zone.

  “Good point,” she decided. “I’m giving myself permission to gloat.”

  He took her hand in his and laced their fingers together in that easy, familiar way he had. “We’ll keep it to ourselves,” he promised.

  Afterwards, in the New Chance’s private dining rooms that Brody had finished just in time for the celebration, they talked about what to do about the most surprising award Sophie had received. A week’s scholarship to Sea Camp on the coast in Shelter Bay.

  “I thought you wanted to grow up and take care of horses like Dad,” Jack said.

  “I do,” Sophie said. “But this is the coolest biology camp, where I’d get to go out on boats and study whales and puffins and tide pools and all sorts of coastal environment. The seas and the land and sky are all connected. We need healthy land, like the Murphys and Merrills are doing with their ranches, to have healthy seas, and we need healthy seas to protect our land. Parker said his older brother went a couple years ago and it’s really, really cool. But I never expected to win it! I didn’t even know Ms. Taylor had nominated me.”

  “That’s so exciting, and we’re all really proud of you, sweetie,” Austin said. “But your birthday comes during those two weeks. What about your party?”

  “I honestly never wanted that tea thing, anyway,” she admitted. “Not that it wouldn’t be fun, I guess. But I really was doing it for Mom.” There was a momentary sheen in her eyes she blinked away. “But Mom told me I’d do amazing things, and this is really, really amazing.”

  “It is,” Sawyer agreed. “I knew a kid in my ranch management class who’d gone to it in high school. By the time we graduated, he’d switched majors and is now working studying orcas up in Puget Sound.”

  “That would be so cool,” Sophie said. “Except I’m going to be a vet.”

  “You’ve plenty of time to decide,” Austin said, trying not to feel guilty for the flood of relief that she’d escape the tea-hat-making challenge.

  “It’s best to leave your options open,” Ryan said. “If I’d stuck with my first goal, I wouldn’t have ended up back here doing what I love.”

  “This is an exciting time for you, Sophie,” Cooper added. “And a terrific experience.”

  “Though we’ll miss you,” Austin admitted.

  “It’s only two weeks,” Sophie assured her. “And maybe we can have a barbecue party at the ranch when I get back.”

  “Absolutely,” Austin said. “For family and friends.”

  “I’d like that.” Then the girl’s face suddenly fell. “But what about Misty?”

  “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of her,” Sawyer and Austin said together.

  “Aren’t you going to come home every night?” Jack asked.

  “No.” She didn’t tack on “idiot child,” but the tone was back, making Austin smile. She shared a look with Sawyer and knew yet again they were on the same wavelength. Sophie Campbell was getting her spunk back. “It’s too far away. That’s why it’s called a sleep-away camp.”

  “I’m going to camp, too,” Jack piped up, not wanting to be left out of the conversation. “It’s not a sleep-away. But it’s still going to be cool. We’re going to study beaver dams and swim and row boats and do crafts with bark and stuff and even go up to the top of Modoc Mountain.”

  “You’re going to climb a mountain?” Sophie challenged.

  “Well, not exactly climb,” he admitted. “But even better, we’re going to ride the ski chairlift.”

  “But not all the way to the top,” Winema entered the conversation. “Because that’s reserved for my people.”

  “Really?” His freckled brow furrowed. “Why?”

  “Because it’s holy land. Like a church. Or a shrine. We believe our ancestors’ spirits live among the clouds around the top of the mountain. So, we go there to collect herbs for ceremonies. And to talk, and pray to our ancestors.”

  “Really?” Jack’s eyes widened.

  “Really,” she said. “For thousands of years it’s where the spirits dwell in harmony with nature and man.” She glanced over at Sophie. “It’s all very interconnected, as you pointed out with your sea and land analogy.”

  “Do you pray to your ancestors?” Jack asked.

  “Every year on the summer solstice,” she said. “And other times. Just when I need to talk to them.”

  “You’re really lucky,” Jack said, “that you can talk to them whenever you want.”

  Winema smiled. “I am,” she agreed.

  Austin glanced over at Sophie, whose expression revealed that she was remembering that special conversation with her mother before the funeral. Then the conversation moved on, to the plans for the Fourth of July rodeo and August’s Gold Dust Days, celebrating the commemoration of River’s Bend’s founding by Malach
y Murphy.

  To which Jack vowed that this year he was going to find the “biggest gold nugget ever!” Which was actually fool’s gold seeded along the river bank so everyone panning could find some, but not a person in the room was about to share the ploy.

  As the sheet cake decorated with a mortarboard, Congratulations, and Sophie’s name created with royal icing Austin had made for the occasion was brought out from the kitchen, Austin looked around the table and realized how all these people, with so many interwoven connections, had, in a very special way, created the big family she’d always dreamed of.

  38

  “IT SEEMS STRANGE without Sophie here,” Austin said as she and Sawyer worked out in the corral with the colt. She appreciated his help since, although the colt was accustomed to her, it was good to get him used to being around strangers. Especially since the Flying Goose still took their cows up into the mountains for the summer, moved them around up there, then brought them back down, which involved a lot of different people and horses.

  Being adaptable was especially important in this case, since the rancher planned to have the colt ridden by a swing rider, a cowboy who rides along the main body of the herd, keeping them bunched together and moving. Personally, Austin thought the Bar M’s and Sawyer’s way of just moving pastures was a great deal easier, especially since it had been proven better for the cattle, but she wasn’t one to tell others how to run their businesses. Unless it involved mistreating her horses.

  “It’s also quiet during the day without Jack,” he said. “I saw Buck driving out when I came back from town.”

  “He’s off to the VFW. He’s got it in his head that the ranch needs a new website, now that we’re out of the stock business. It’s long overdue,” she admitted. “But I’ve been so busy. So, he’s going to see if Dalton Osborne would be willing to take on the job.”

  “He updated the Bar M’s last fall.”

  “So Dan told Dad. I guess he’s also done Fred Wiley’s Feed and Seed and the New Chance.”

  “Rachel says he’s better than the guy she hired to do the one for her catering business back east.”