“Really? That’s such a nice thing to do.” He stood up and leaned against his railing.
“Well, I happen to think your Gran is pretty wonderful. After all she’s done for us, I’d like to think I can do a little something for her. I’m so glad she gets to come back to her own house, thanks to you.”
“Well, it couldn’t have happened without Ray and Lainie coming back either. I just got the house ready. They’re the ones who’ll be here taking care of her.”
“Is your aunt any happier about that?”
“Not especially, and I think I’m beginning to wear out my welcome up there. I haven’t been around the ranch as much because of the house and basketball and stuff, so Uncle Joe Jr. has been making a pointed comment or two. And Aunt Nancy Jo really wanted Gran to come back to the ranch to live. She and my uncle have ruled the roost for quite a while now, and they don’t like having their edicts questioned.” He shrugged. “But this is what Gran wants, and I’m glad that Ray and I can give it to her.”
“Does that mean you have to leave? They won’t throw you out or anything?”
“Nah. I’m done with the house, and Ray will be here in a couple days. I’ll work hard and get back in Uncle Joe Jr.’s good graces, and once Aunt Nancy Jo sees that Gran is not only well taken care of but happy, she’ll be okay too. It’s only a few months till I leave for the academy, anyway.”
“Right. Just a few more months.” Kaitlyn had a funny look on her face that Steven couldn’t quite read, but at least it had a smile attached to it. “Do you have time to come in for a cup of coffee or something?”
“No time; I need to get to school.” He started down the walk, then turned around to see her still standing on the porch. “Shall I bring Livvy here after practice?”
“That would be great, thanks.”
He lifted his hand in a wave and headed to his truck. Not for the first time, he wondered what it might be like to have her standing on his porch, waving good-bye every morning.
22
By late Saturday afternoon everything was ready. Gran’s house was equipped for her new journey, and it was clean and stocked with groceries. Steven opened a bottle of Ray’s favorite grape soda and settled on the sofa to watch a golf tournament on TV and wait for Ray and Lainie to arrive.
“Hey you, heard anything yet?” Sarah opened the front door and slipped off her shoes before padding across the carpet to sit cross-legged in Elizabeth’s recliner.
“Yep, they called about an hour ago from San Ramon. They were going to stop in and see Gran, and then come on down. Should be here pretty soon.”
“Well, Mom called again, and I’m supposed to call her the minute they get here so she can know when to have dinner on the table.”
“They’re going to love that.” Steven picked up the remote and hit the Mute button. A lot of commentary wasn’t necessary to follow a golf tournament. “They’ve been traveling with all their stuff since this morning, and as soon as they get here, it’s back in the car for another trip.”
“Well, Mom’s got her heart set on a family dinner tonight, and the ranch isn’t all that far.” Sarah looked around. “Everything looks so nice, Steven. You really did a good job here.”
“This is all Kaitlyn’s doing. Do you really think I’d have thought to put flowers on the coffee table?”
“I’m not just talking about that, I’m talking about all the other stuff you did. You worked so hard. Gran can live here now, and I love you for that.”
Steven turned the sound back on. This was getting embarrassing.
“Hey, there they are!” Sarah headed for the door and barely stopped for her shoes before she ran across the porch and down Steven’s ramp.
By the time the fully loaded pickup pulling a small trailer had come to a complete stop, she was standing on the curb, reaching for the door handle. Steven followed, using the porch steps, and met his brother as he walked around the truck to the sidewalk.
“Hey, bro.” He drew him into a hug. “Welcome home.”
“Thanks. It’s good to be here.” He looked around. “Yep. Santa Fe’s a beautiful city. But Last Chance will always be home.”
When Sarah let go of Lainie, Steven swooped her up in a hug and planted a kiss on her cheek. “Everyone in town is looking forward to having you back. Maybe even more than him.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.” Ray hoisted a couple suitcases from the back of his pickup and set them on the sidewalk. “I got an earful from a lot of folks when I took her to Santa Fe with me. Maybe they’ll start speaking to me again now.”
“Did Steven tell you the plans when you called him from San Ramon?” Sarah picked up one of the suitcases.
“What plans?” Ray looked at Steven.
“I didn’t know I was supposed to tell them, Sarah.” Steven returned Sarah’s irritated stare with one of his own. “Why don’t you bring them up to speed?”
“What plans?” This time Ray sounded a little irritated himself.
“Well, Mom wants us all to come to the ranch for dinner. She is so looking forward to seeing you. I know it’s a real inconvenience after your long trip, but the meal will be worth the trip, promise.”
Ray didn’t say anything, but Lainie, after only a second, smiled. “Of course we’d love to come. Let’s get the truck unloaded, and then we’ll take a few minutes to clean up and we’ll be ready to go.”
Steven looked in the truck bed. “Doesn’t look like you brought much.”
“No, not much. I have a box or two of kitchen things that I guess I can store back in Elizabeth’s garage, but other than that, it’s pretty much just our bed and clothes.”
“What about the trailer?” Steven gestured at the U-Haul with his chin.
“That’s Ray’s studio.” Lainie huffed a sigh. “Everything I own, you’ll notice, is open to the wind and the rain, but Ray’s precious paints are tucked away, safe and dry.”
“What rain?” Ray looked into the cloudless sky. “Everything in that trailer is what affords you the sumptuous lifestyle to which you have become accustomed, by the way.”
“Tell you what.” Steven put another suitcase and a couple boxes on the sidewalk. “Why don’t Ray and I put the bed together so you’ll have someplace to sleep when you get home tonight? You girls can bring in the boxes and just set them aside until later. If any are too heavy, just leave them and we’ll get to them when the bed’s done.”
Steven, with a mattress rail in each hand, nearly ran into Lainie when she stopped just inside the front door.
“Oh, it looks just the same, and it smells the same too.” She smiled over her shoulder at Steven. “Isn’t it funny how houses have their own smells? All it needs now is Elizabeth sitting right there in that rocker with her crocheting on her lap.”
Steven nodded and shifted the rails slightly in his hands. They weren’t particularly heavy, but they were each nearly six feet long and a little awkward. They took a few more steps before Lainie stopped again, and Steven was once more forced to pull up short.
“Here’s old Sammy!” The big gray tabby had launched off the back of the sofa and landed at her feet with his usual thud. Lainie knelt to scratch his chin and pet him. With every stroke down his back, Sam’s tail rose higher and higher until his back feet were practically leaving the ground. “I’m home, Sam, and I’ve brought us a new roommate too. You’ll like him.”
“Watch your head.” Steven stepped around Lainie and headed down the hall. It looked like this was going to take a while.
Ray, who had managed to get in the front door before Lainie, had propped the headboard against the wall.
“Where’s Lainie?” He moved out of the way as Steven put a rail on the floor at each end of the headboard. “We might as well find out exactly where she wants the bed now. Save us the trouble of moving it later.”
“I’m right here.” Lainie appeared in the doorway, cuddling Sam. “Oh, I’m so glad everything looks the same. I love this room.”
“Where do you want the bed?”
Ray stood ready to move the headboard, but Lainie was still basking in her homecoming.
“You know, when Elizabeth first showed me this room, I thought I had never seen anything so beautiful.” She put Sam down and ran her hand across the top of the dresser. “I couldn’t believe I was going to get to stay here.”
“The bed, Lainie. Where do you want the bed?”
Steven left them and went back to the truck for the footboard. Maybe they’d have it figured out by the time he got back. If not, well, there were still plenty of boxes to bring in, because Sarah wasn’t any more help than Lainie. She was on her phone.
“That was Mom.” Sarah followed him out the door. “I forgot to call her, so of course she called me. I told her dinner at 6:00. I think we can do that, don’t you?”
Steven grabbed a box from the truck, hefted it to determine its weight, and put it in Sarah’s arms. “If we get moving, we can.”
She put it on the sidewalk and went back to her phone. “I’ll give Chris a quick call and tell him when we’ll be by for them.”
Once they had the bed together and Lainie had completed her detailed inspection of the house, it really did not take long before the last box had been brought in the house or stored in the garage and the truck bed was empty.
“I guess that’s it.” Ray picked up the last suitcase and headed for the door. “We can leave the trailer. I’ll take it up tomorrow and unpack my studio.”
“Are you still going to be using your cabin at the ranch for your studio? Seems like a long way to go every day to paint.” Steven followed him up the walk.
“It’s not ideal, that’s for sure. But I don’t know what else to do at this point. I sure can’t work here. But when you get down to it, I love that cabin. The light’s perfect, and I’ve done some of my best work there.”
Sarah was helping Lainie make up the bed when Steven and Ray walked in with the last suitcase. “This takes care of it. I guess we can start the unpacking tomorrow.”
Lainie hit the bedspread with a few smoothing strokes and straightened up. “Steven, what happened to the patchwork quilt that was on the bed in here? I love that quilt.”
He thought a minute. “I think it’s up in the top of the closet there, isn’t it?”
“Ah, there it is.” She pulled it down. “I’ll just fold it at the foot of the bed.”
“Are we all ready to go get the Reeds and head to the ranch now?” Sarah was the only one who didn’t look tired, but then, why should she?
“Tell you what.” Steven put his hands on her shoulders and steered her toward the hall. “Why don’t you and I go over there now, and you and Chris can come back for Ray and Lainie while Kaitlyn, Livvy, and I head on up to the ranch?” He glanced over his shoulder at his brother. “I’m thinking you two could use a minute or two to unwind.”
“Hey, that sounds good.” Ray smiled his thanks. “Maybe a half hour?”
“You got it.” He gave Sarah a little nudge between her shoulder blades, and she turned around and swatted at his hand. “Come on, you. Let’s go get Chris and Kaitlyn.”
Kaitlyn grabbed the armrest with one hand and braced the other against the ceiling as Steven’s truck hit a pothole on the dirt road from the highway to the ranch house.
Steven didn’t even act like he noticed, but Kaitlyn noticed, all right, and truth be told, she did not remember this road as being so interminably long, or bumpy, or having so many turns.
“It is so dark. I’ve never seen it so dark.” Kaitlyn kept her eyes riveted forward, where the headlights were, in her opinion, doing an entirely inadequate job of illuminating the landscape.
“Yep, nothing but nighttime out here.” Steven terrified Kaitlyn even further by taking his eyes off the road to smile at her.
When they crested the final rise and the ranch house with warm light pouring from the windows appeared before them, Kaitlyn finally released her grip on the armrest and took a breath.
“Here we are.” Steven stopped the car in front of the house and cut the engine.
Olivia was already out of the truck and heading for the steps by the time Kaitlyn opened her door and stepped out. The wintry night air, fragrant with piñon smoke, cooled her cheeks and calmed her soul.
Steven came up behind her and slid his arms around her shoulders. “What are you looking at?”
She leaned back against him and pointed across the valley. “Look at that. The sky and all those stars, it seems to go on forever. It’s like we’re floating up here.”
He rested his chin on her shoulder. “Yep, that view will pretty much take your breath away any time of day, or season of the year, you look at it. Come on, let’s go on in. Livvy left the door open, and pretty soon someone is going to be asking if we were born in a barn.”
Nancy Jo came down the hall from the kitchen as they came in. “Good gracious, it’s cold in here. Shut that door, Steven. Were you born in a barn? Hello, Kaitlyn.” She gave Kaitlyn a quick kiss on the cheek and looked around. “Where are the others?”
“They’ll be here soon. Don’t worry, everyone knows dinner is at 6:00.”
“Well, take your coats off and come in. Kaitlyn, would you like to give me a hand in the kitchen?”
Steven gave Kaitlyn a knowing wink as he took her coat. Despite the heroic efforts of her daughters, notably Sarah, no one had been able to convince Nancy Jo that meal preparation was not a fun-filled communal activity to be enjoyed by all of the women and none of the men.
“Love to.” Kaitlyn followed her back down the hall. Sarah may have been looking for a way out of kitchen duty since she was five, but the kitchen camaraderie that Sarah tried so hard to avoid was something Kaitlyn had never experienced. And honestly? She liked it.
“Something smells wonderful.” Kaitlyn accepted the apron Nancy Jo handed her. “Lasagna?”
“Close. It’s spaghetti and meatballs. Nothing fancy, but it was Ray’s favorite when he was a little boy, and my homemade French bread, which he also loved, and Caesar salad. Oh, and I made a chocolate cake for dessert. It’s not Italian, but there you have it.” She took a bundle from the crisper in the refrigerator and handed it to Kaitlyn. “Would you wash and dry this romaine? Use the paper towels right there, and then break it up and put it in that salad bowl.”
Kaitlyn took the lettuce to the sink and turned on the tap. Conversation on her part wasn’t really necessary, other than the occasional murmured response to show she was listening. Nancy Jo carried on very well without her.
“Well, I don’t know.” Nancy Jo looked at the clock with her hands on her hips. “If I bring that water back to the boil and put the spaghetti on to cook right now, we’ll be sitting down to the table at 6:00. But with the others not here yet . . .”
“I think they’ll be here in time.” Kaitlyn piled the romaine in the salad bowl. “Chris is driving and he is never late. Trust me, I know. And when it comes to respecting another cook’s meal, he’d be there even if it meant leaving the others behind.”
“I knew I loved that boy.” Nancy Jo smiled and tilted her head as the sound of an arriving vehicle reached them. “Speak of angels and you’ll hear the flutter of wings. Here they are.”
She headed off down the hall and Kaitlyn turned the fire up under the big pot of water on the back of the stove. She was glad Lainie had come back to Last Chance. They had only spent a little time together last Christmas day, right in this kitchen for the most part, but Lainie made her feel at home. It’s not that everyone else hadn’t gone out of their way to welcome her, because they had. But Lainie let her know, casually and naturally, that she had once been the outsider with the past, and Kaitlyn loved her for that.
“Here they are!” Nancy Jo ushered Sarah and Lainie into the kitchen. “Let’s get this dinner on the table and eat.”
“Hey there, Kaitlyn. It’s so good to see you again!” Lainie opened her arms, and Kaitlyn, who had hung back a little, walked into her embrace.
“Sarah, honey, will you put ice in the glasses? They’re already on the table.” Nancy Jo turned from the freezer with a bucket of ice, but Sarah had already taken advantage of the moment and disappeared. Nancy Jo sighed.
“I’ll do it.” Kaitlyn reached for the bucket.
“I’ll help you.” Lainie followed her out of the kitchen.
“Sarah, I need you,” Nancy Jo hollered down the hall.
“So how does it feel to be back in Last Chance?” Kaitlyn set the ice bucket in the middle of the table and started filling glasses as she moved down one side of the table.
“I’m so happy, I can’t even tell you.” Lainie took the other side. “I loved Santa Fe too, but Last Chance is my heart’s home, if that makes any sense. I guess you could say it’s where I stopped hating myself.”
Wow. What do you say to something like that? Do tell?
“Of course, the chance to help Elizabeth is one neither Ray nor I could pass up. If not for her, I don’t even know if I’d be alive today.”
Kaitlyn picked up the ice bucket. “I think I know what you mean. It will be so great to have her back home again.”
On their way to the kitchen, they met Nancy Jo and Sarah, each carrying a huge platter of spaghetti and meatballs.
“Lainie, would you go tell the men that dinner’s ready? And have Livvy wash her hands. She hasn’t put that dog down since she got here.” Nancy Jo put her platter at one end of the table. “Kaitlyn, go get the pitcher of tea and fill the glasses, will you please?”
When all were gathered around the table, Joe Jr. reached for Steven’s and Lainie’s hand, and one by one they all joined hands and bowed their heads. Kaitlyn had noticed that at the Cooley table, the saying of grace was never passed around, and tonight, as he always did, Joe Jr. lifted their thanks and asked God’s blessing on the meal and on the hands that prepared it.
At Home in Last Chance Page 22