One More Last Chance

by Cathleen Armstrong

  “And you’re going to get to go over to her house every day after school. Won’t that be fun?” Juanita wasn’t about to let the fact that this was all her idea go unacknowledged.

  Olivia’s head whipped around and she glared at her uncle. “That’s what you think.”

  Both he and Sue jumped to amend Juanita’s statement.

  “We’re just talking about it,” Chris said.

  “We just stopped by to meet you since you’re going to be in Emma’s class,” Sue said, opening her purse and fishing out her sunglasses. “You’ll have to come over and play sometime.”

  Olivia, still staring at Chris in undisguised outrage, did not even look at Sue, much less answer her. Emma, who hadn’t said anything anyway, followed her mother out the door.

  Juanita watched them go. “That went well. I have absolutely no idea who we can get to watch Olivia after school now.” She grabbed up the two nearly untouched glasses of ice water and took them back to the kitchen.

  “I’m not going over to her house after school every day.” Olivia found her voice.

  “No, it doesn’t look like you are. But we do have to think of something. You can’t spend all your time in here.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s not good for you, that’s why. You need to spend time playing outside, or just doing things kids do.”

  “I don’t want to play with kids. I hate them and they hate me. I just want to stay in here with you.”

  Chris propped himself on a stool and lifted Olivia onto the stool next to him. “Kiddo, we’ve got to get that worked out. And it’s not going to happen with you just hanging out with me all the time. I’ll bet if you let them get to know you better, the kids would like you just fine. And you might even like them.”

  “Yeah, right.” Olivia slid off the stool. “I’m going to go hunt for lizards.”

  “Stay where I can see you.”

  Olivia gave him another withering look as she threw her weight against the heavy front door.

  Chris stretched his legs out in front of him and leaned his elbows on the counter. Kids should come with an operating manual. No two ways about it.

  “Chris, I’ve been thinking, and so far I haven’t come up with anyone who Olivia could stay with after school.” Juanita was back. “You can see what I mean about Sue being just the one to help polish some of those rough edges Olivia has, but I think that bridge has burned to the ground.”

  She waited for Chris to say something, but he went right on watching Olivia through the front window. “You can’t think Olivia made a good impression this afternoon.”

  Chris’s laugh sounded more like a bark. “No, I can’t say that.”

  “Well, for pity’s sake, why didn’t you do something? You heard how Sue did it. Never once did she say, ‘Now, Emma, you need to do it this way,’ but Emma got the message anyway.” Juanita was clearly exasperated with him, and truth be told, he was exasperated with himself, though not for the same reasons.

  He stood up and put his hand on her shoulder. “I thank you, I really do, for trying to help me. It doesn’t take a genius to see that I am in way, way over my head. But I’m doing the best I can.”

  He gave another glance at Olivia, who was wandering around the vacant lot next to his parking lot hitting at bushes with a stick she had found. He had no idea what he was doing, but he was going to have to figure it out.

  Sarah sat on her front porch and pulled off her boots before padding inside in her stocking feet. She had actually planned to go inside the diner and brag a bit on what a horsewoman Olivia was becoming. And since she didn’t think it would be a good idea to single out one student for so much out-of-class attention once school started, she had found another place Chris could take Olivia for riding lessons. She needed to talk to him about that too.

  But seeing Sue and Emma Anderson sitting in the window of the Dip ’n’ Dine when she drove up had changed her mind. She wasn’t exactly avoiding Sue Anderson. Sue was a parent, after all, and deserved the time and attention of her child’s teacher. But Sue had already taken the time to express her misgivings at Emma having a first-year teacher. Oh, she was nice enough about it, but if she had pointed the first two fingers of her right hand at her own eyes, then at Sarah’s, her message couldn’t have been clearer. I’m watching.

  She checked her phone again for messages—no voice mail, no text. Understandable, she supposed, since it was his first week at the new job. But Brandon had texted her whenever he stopped for gas on his trip east, and he had called her nightly. At first she had been apprehensive when her phone signaled another communiqué from him, but all the messages had been breezy and the phone conversations light and friendly. “DFILY” had not made another appearance, and she found she actually looked forward to hearing from him.

  When the phone did ring a few minutes later, she snatched it from the table where she had left it. But it was only Gran.

  “Hi, darlin’. I just saw you drive by. How did it go this afternoon?”

  Sarah settled into her chair. She had no doubt that Gran had a reason for calling, and she had just as little doubt that Gran would get around to it in her own sweet time. Finally, after discussions about the welfare of folks at the ranch, Olivia’s equestrian progress, and Sarah’s readiness for school to start, she did.

  “At church last Sunday I invited Chris and Olivia over for a light supper tonight. Why don’t you come join us?”

  Sarah took a deep breath, but before she could say a word, Elizabeth jumped back in. “I know, I know. You think I’m matchmaking, but I’m not. I know how things stand with you and Brandon. I just want a little party, that’s all. And it’s only dinner.”

  “Sure. Why not? What time should I come?” Sarah had answered before she realized it and surprised herself.

  She was not the only one surprised. A long silence followed. “Well. How does 7:00 sound? It’s a little late, I know, but that’s about as early as they can get here.”

  “Okay, see you then. Can I bring anything?”

  “Just your own sweet self.” Pleasure had replaced the surprise in Elizabeth’s voice. Sarah smiled as she headed off to the shower. It didn’t take much to please her grandmother. Just do whatever she said.

  Two things occurred to Sarah as she sat down to dinner across the table from Chris and right next to Olivia. One, Gran had absolutely no concept of a light supper, and two, if Gran had read even one of the missives put out by nutritionists in the last thirty years, she had immediately dismissed it as nonsense. The table held fried chicken, mashed potatoes with cream gravy, green beans long-simmered with bacon, and piles of fluffy white biscuits with homemade plum jam. A cake, plenty tall enough for three layers and covered with white frosting and coconut, waited on the sideboard.

  “This tastes so much better than the stuff you fix.” Olivia, with one elbow firmly planted on the table, waved her drumstick at her uncle. “Why don’t you cook this?”

  Chris tried to catch her eye while making subtle signs with his own elbow. If Olivia saw it, she ignored it.

  “I’m just so happy you like it.” Elizabeth smiled. “Here, let me pass those biscuits to you so you don’t have to reach.”

  “I see you met Emma this afternoon.” Sarah moved the mashed potatoes a little closer to Olivia. If Gran could ignore the manners of a guest, so could she. “She’s going to be in our class too.”

  “She told me.” Olivia turned her attention to her plate, clearly disinterested in the direction the conversation was headed.

  Sarah raised an inquisitive eyebrow at Chris, who shrugged. “I’ve been considering after-school options for Livvy, and Juanita thought Sue Anderson might . . .” His voice trailed away.

  “I’m not going there after school. And you can’t make me.” Olivia put down her fork and glowered at her uncle.

  Sarah shot a look at her grandmother, expecting crashes of thunder, flashes of lightning, and the earth to open up. No one talked back in Gran’s house.
It had never happened. But Gran acted as if she didn’t even notice.

  “No, I can see how that might not be the best plan. But what about here?” She looked at Chris. “Why doesn’t Olivia come here after school and spend the afternoon with me? You can pick her up on the way home after you close up.”

  Neither Sarah nor Chris said a word, but Olivia brightened. “That would be cool. You said I couldn’t hang around the restaurant all the time. I can come here.”

  Finally Chris found his voice. “I don’t know, Miss Elizabeth. She’s such a handful.”

  “That’s right, Gran.” Sarah chimed in. “This would be a huge undertaking. Don’t you need some time to think this through?”

  “Oh, shoot, you two. You’re just trying to figure out a way to remind me how old I am. Well, you don’t think I know how old I am? And I say Olivia and I will get along just fine.” She turned to the little girl who was following the conversation like a spectator at a tennis match. “Won’t we, Olivia?”

  Olivia nodded and her face split in a grin, but Chris still looked as if he had his doubts.

  “Tell you what, Chris.” Elizabeth got up to pour more iced tea. “Let’s give it a month. You can keep looking if you want, and then if Olivia isn’t happy or it does turn out to be more than I can handle, well, we can just reconsider the whole thing. What do you say?”

  Chris looked from Elizabeth to Olivia, who was nodding like a dashboard cocker spaniel. “Well, I guess I say, let’s give it a try.”

  16

  Sarah knew one thing as she brushed her teeth and got ready for bed. She and Chris were going to have a talk. When he and Olivia had said good-bye shortly after dinner, he did not have the look of a man who still had a huge problem—namely, who was going to look after his niece after school. In fact, he looked happy and relieved. And Sarah intended to impress upon him just how unsuitable the arrangement was and to remind him that he needed to keep right on looking.

  She punched her pillows as she propped them up against her headboard before climbing into bed with her book. She felt bad for Chris. She really did. He hadn’t asked for this. And she felt bad for Olivia as well. But her concern was for Gran. Sarah found her place in the book and snuggled back against her pillows. She’d stop by the Dip ’n’ Dine tomorrow and offer her help in finding someone. After all, other than Chris himself, she knew Olivia better than anyone in Last Chance. And unlike Chris, she knew the rest of the folks in town too. There had to be someone besides Gran in Last Chance who could see a diamond in this little lump of coal. They just had to find her, that’s all.

  The book and the soft night wind ruffling her curtains had pretty much done their work a half hour later and Sarah was beginning to nod over the page when her ringing phone snapped her to wakefulness. She smiled as she answered.

  “Hey, you. What are you doing up so late?”

  “Is it late? I just got home, and I wanted to tell you good night.”

  Sarah glanced at her watch. “It’s nearly 1:00 where you are. That’s pretty late for someone who has to get up early tomorrow. What have you been up to?”

  She winced. Did she sound friendly and interested, or nosy and possessive? She certainly was not ready for Brandon to read anything more than casual friendship into their conversations.

  “Some of my co-workers took me out for dinner, sort of a welcome to the team. We finished up with drinks someplace else. I guess time just got away.”

  “How do you like your co-workers? It’s nice that they took you out.”

  “There are some really sharp people in the company. I’m not the smart kid in class anymore, that’s for sure. I just got there, but I think I’m going to love it.”

  “Tell me.” Sarah put her book down and snuggled back into her pillows as Brandon described his first day on the job and the people he had spent the evening with. She caught the names of at least a couple women and was surprised that they would jump out at her like that. Of course Brandon would be working with women. That’s just the way things are—and should be, for that matter.

  “Anyway, the restaurant where we ate was incredible.” Brandon was finishing his account of the evening. “I guarantee that you’ve never seen anything like it in your life. And I can’t wait to take you there when you come. Which brings me to the question: When are you coming to see me?”

  “Wow, Brandon, I don’t know. I guess I won’t really have any time off until Thanksgiving.”

  “Can’t you take some time? Isn’t that what subs are for?”

  “I can’t just get a substitute and go flying off to Chicago my first month of teaching. Get real, Brandon.”

  “Well then, I guess I’ll just have to come to you.” Brandon sounded cheerful, maybe even a bit tipsy. “Lemme check.”

  Sarah heard him humming to himself for a minute or two, and then he was back. “How’s the first weekend of October sound? I’ll fly out Thursday night, take a personal day Friday, and then take the red-eye back Sunday night.”

  Sarah smiled into the phone. “Perfect. That’s the weekend Chris is having that jazz and chile night at the Dip ’n’ Dine. I’ll get us tickets.”

  There was a long pause on Brandon’s end. “Sounds . . . great. Just what I had in mind.”

  “Oh, come on. Don’t be that way. It will be fun. There’s a jazz band coming down from Albuquerque, and Chris always has great food. Everyone’s coming.”

  “And the kid’s gone home, I take it.”

  “Olivia? No, actually she’s staying. In fact, just this evening Gran said she’d watch her after school.”

  Sarah tugged her covers up to her chin and prepared to fill Brandon in on what had been going on in Last Chance since last they talked, but he spoke first.

  “Well, she’ll have her hands full. Listen, it is awful late. And I do have work in the morning. You take care, and I’ll call you soon.”

  She looked at the “Call Ended” message on her screen a moment before turning out the light. Brandon was right. It was awfully late, especially where he was. He needed to get to bed. Otherwise, he would have remembered to ask about her day. She was almost sure of it.

  “I had a long talk with Sue Anderson last night.” Juanita was talking before she got completely through the front door the next morning. “And we just may have your problems solved.”

  Chris indicated with a tip of his head that Olivia, who was eating scrambled eggs and biscuits at the counter, could hear her, but that did not slow Juanita for a moment.

  “No, Olivia needs to hear this too. And we should probably talk about it before the customers start coming in.”

  “What do we need to talk about, Juanita?” Chris’s voice was cool, but Juanita didn’t seem to notice.

  “What we talked about all day yesterday.” Juanita plopped down on a counter stool next to Olivia. “Where this child is going in the afternoons after school.”

  Olivia glared at Juanita and stabbed her sausage patty with a fork like it was trying to get away. She held it up and tore off a portion with her teeth.

  Chris shot her a warning glance before turning his attention to Juanita. “Actually, we got that all taken care of last night. But thanks anyway.”

  If Juanita even heard him, she gave no indication of it. “Sue’s still not at all sure it’s going to work, but I did manage to talk her into giving Olivia a trial run. But . . .” She paused for emphasis. “She only agreed to a trial, and she does have some conditions.”

  “Juanita . . .” Chris tried again.

  “First, you and she have to agree on some form of discipline. She does, and always has, run a tight ship. You can tell that just by being around Emma for five minutes. Second, if Olivia is to spend time at their house, she’s going to have to learn some basic manners. We all know it’s not Olivia’s fault that she’s had no upbringing, but that’s no reason to leave things as they are. Sue’s willing to take that on herself, but she needs to know you’ll back her up. Now, third . . .”

  “Juanita.
” Chris looked grim as he held up his hand. “Stop.”

  Juanita did stop. Her mouth got a pinched look when she shut it, and she seemed to swell up. Clearly, she did not appreciate being interrupted. Her eyebrows said, “Well?”

  “We have this covered.”

  Juanita waited.

  “Elizabeth Cooley has offered to have Olivia come to her house after school. So thank Sue for me, but we’ve made other arrangements.”

  It took a second, but Juanita found her voice. “Elizabeth? Do you have any idea how old that poor thing is? She’s eighty-five if she’s a day. There’s no way she’s up to riding herd on a child like Olivia.”

  Olivia was staring at her food, but Chris had no trouble reading her expression. It was time to end this conversation. “She and Olivia get along great. Thanks anyway.”

  “Do Joe Jr. and Nancy Jo know about this? You know they’re going to have a fit.”

  “Who?”

  “Elizabeth’s son and daughter-in-law. Sarah’s parents.”

  “I have no idea. That’s between them.” He gestured with his chin at a car that had just parked out front. “Customers. We need to shelve this conversation.”

  Olivia slid off her stool and ran through the kitchen and out the back door. Chris followed her, calling over his shoulder as he left the dining room, “And we need to keep it just between you and me.”

  Chris found Olivia sitting on the back step, elbows on knees, chin in hand. She wasn’t crying, but her face was as sad as he’d ever seen it. When he sat down next to her and tried to pull her close, it was like trying to cuddle a broom handle.

  “I want to go home.” Her voice was so low he had to bend to hear it.

  “I bet you do, Livvy. And you will someday. But right now you are going to be staying here with me. Is that so bad?”