The Summer Sisters (Juniper Springs Book 2)

by Sara Richardson

  “I’m sure.” She may have earned a few scrapes on her leg, but nothing serious, thanks to the jeans.

  “What’s going on, you two?” Sassy’s voice sounded closer. “Do I need to come up there?”

  “No.” She and Colt said it at the same time, and despite the throb of embarrassment in her heart, she smiled at him.

  He smiled back, causing her heart to break out into another gymnastics routine. What was the matter with her? This was Colt.

  “We’re coming down now.” Rose quickly sat up and inched her way to the ladder. “I’ll get the supplies later,” she mumbled, withdrawing the crowbar from the gutter and setting it aside before she started the climb down.

  To Colt’s credit, he didn’t ask any questions or demand an explanation for why she was on the roof in the first place. He simply hovered behind her, waiting until she’d made it to the ground before climbing down himself.

  “There’s my girl.” The second she turned to face her aunt, Sassy wrapped her in one of those calming, world-righting hugs. “Oh, I missed you.”

  “I missed you too.” A sheen of tears blurred her eyes again. She couldn’t help it. With Dahlia consumed by moving and settling in, these last two months she’d been on her own, more or less, and she hadn’t realized how lonely it had been until Sassy hugged her.

  “Aren’t you a sight?” Her aunt pulled back and seemed to admire the jeans with amusement flickering in her eyes. “You’re looking more and more like a mountain girl every day.”

  Ha! If only her aunt could’ve seen her yesterday in her white designer capris. Sassy would’ve given her the same look Tony had. “I hope you don’t mind that I borrowed these old jeans.”

  “Of course not. This place belongs to you. Use anything you like.” Her aunt beamed that typical joyous smile, but something on her face made Rose study her closer. Her red hair looked perfectly styled, and her lipstick was firmly intact like always, but Sassy’s eyes didn’t seem as bright. Maybe it was simply all the traveling she’d done. “Welcome home. I’ll bet you’re exhausted.”

  Her aunt brushed the words off with a shrug. “Who has time to be tired?” She panned her gaze around to the different cabins. “This place looks amazing, Rose. Simply amazing!”

  Rose held a death grip on her smile and avoided Colt’s lingering glance. “It does, doesn’t it? Tony and his team have done a great job.” No matter that they were way behind schedule for the grand reopening celebration. No matter that there was a brand-new hole in the roof of the cabin they stood beside. “We still have some work to do.” She’d added on a couple more hours with the repair debacle.

  “I’m sure everything will turn out perfectly.” Her aunt squeezed both of her hands. “What were you doing up on the roof anyway?”

  “Oh, you know…” She snuck a peek at Colt. His lips had folded as though he was trying—unsuccessfully—to hide a grin. “Just some minor repairs on the shingles.” Or major structural damage to the roof.

  “You’re a marvel, my dear.” Sassy hugged her again. “I’m proud of you. I can’t imagine how hard you’ve been working.”

  Not hard enough, Rose wanted to tell her.

  “Why don’t you go inside and make some tea?” Colt suggested, gently directing her aunt toward the main house. “I’ll help Rose finish up out here, and then I’ll bring in your luggage and we’ll join you.”

  “What a great idea.” Her aunt traipsed across the driveway. “It’s hard to find good tea at the airport. It’s terribly weak and bland.” She continued to discuss good tea with herself all the way until she disappeared into the house.

  “Those are my pants.” Colt posted his hands on his hips and gave her an amused look that made her feel young and defensive. No matter what, the man always seemed to draw a reaction out of her.

  “You want them back?” Rose started to undo her belt in a fit of righteous indignation.

  Colt threw back his head and laughed, shocking her hands to stillness. He never laughed that easily. Or that loudly and carefree. She watched him with her jaw hinged open.

  “What?” he asked, the smile on his face hardly fading.

  She couldn’t answer him. While she’d noticed a subtle difference in her aunt—a tiredness, maybe—the differences in Colt were much more obvious. Before he’d left on that trip, he’d typically held his face in a pensive expression, as though he was always analyzing everything. Now, though, he had no lines of contemplation in his forehead. His broad cheeks were relaxed and tanned. And that smile. Crooked and easy. It had the power to change his eyes.

  “You can keep the pants, Rose,” he said. “They look good on you.”

  “Right.” She finally found her voice again, lacing it with a good dose of sarcasm. “Well, you know, I was really hoping I could try out for the roofers pageant next year.”

  Colt laughed again. Not at her, but because of her. Not because he thought she was silly but because he seemed to actually think she was funny. Her heart lightened and she laughed too. It felt good to laugh.

  Colt edged closer to her, and yes even the man’s eyes seemed different than they had only a couple of months ago. “I wasn’t thrilled when Sassy said she wanted to cut the trip short because she was homesick. But I’m glad we did. I missed you.”

  Her heart did that little dropping trick again. “You missed me? Wh-wh-why?” Why was she finding it so hard to talk all of a sudden?

  “What do you mean, why?” He laughed again. “There’s never a dull moment when you’re around. You always liven things up.”

  Was he complimenting her? She couldn’t quite tell. Who the hell was this laid-back man, and what had he done with serious Colt?

  “How are things really going around here?” he asked as if the two of them were in cahoots.

  “Wh-why do you ask?” She really had to stop this stammering thing. It was just…this was all so weird. Colt smiling and laughing. Colt making her heart do little flips.

  The man called her out with a deadpan expression. “You were on the roof. You. On the roof. By yourself.”

  Yes, she realized now that had been a bad idea. But she couldn’t admit to him that things weren’t exactly going according to plan. They’d entrusted her with overseeing this project—he and Dally and Mags. They’d all had other things going on. And she wouldn’t let them down. She would figure this out. “There was a small leak, some damaged shingles,” she said as though it was no big deal. “We’re on a tight timeline to finish up before the Clearys get here next week. Tony’s got a lot going on, so I figured I would try to help. That’s all.” “Try” being the operative word.

  Colt graciously didn’t mention that she’d made the roof leak about ten times worse.

  “I can fix the roof.” Preferably before Tony showed up tomorrow. “It’ll be fine.” She had to say it out loud to convince herself.

  Colt must’ve detected a wobble in her tone because he gave her shoulder a pat. “I’ve got a ton of experience roofing. I can help you out.”

  “You don’t have to.” The words came automatically but there was absolutely no conviction behind them. Dear God, what she really wanted to do was throw her arms around the man in a sloppy hug.

  But Colt likely hadn’t changed that much. Traveling probably hadn’t increased his threshold for spontaneous hugs.

  “I want to help.” He turned and headed for his truck. “Go have tea with Sassy. I’ll grab some supplies and be back soon. We’ll have that roof fixed before dark.”

  Emotion surged through her, hot and fast and unexpected. She’d missed having help, having someone to lean on. “Right. Okay. Will do.”

  Rose watched him get into his truck and drive away, making sure the dust had cleared before the tears started to fall. With Colt and Sassy home, she wasn’t alone anymore.

  Chapter Five

  Sassy

  Well, well, well…It had been quite a while since she’d worn this getup.

  Sassy admired the matching skirt and blazer she�
�d managed to get herself into and button up—which was the real miracle. This outfit wasn’t your average boring old suit. No siree. She preferred hot pink to sensible black, naturally, and both the skirt and the jacket had a ruffle at the hem for good measure.

  This had been her town council suit once upon a time, back when she’d been a bit thinner. Now she happened to be older and wiser instead, which meant she wasn’t going to do this mayoring thing on Peg’s terms. It would be on her terms, thank you very much, and she most assuredly wasn’t going to let a museum president bully the town into giving up on the community garden.

  A clamoring downstairs made her rush to reapply her lipstick. That would be Dahlia and the kids, no doubt about it. She’d recognize Ollie and Maya’s giggles from a mile away. Quickly, Sassy shoved her feet into her patent pink Mary Janes and hurried out of her bedroom to meet her great-niece and great-nephew in the kitchen.

  “Auntie Sassy!” Ollie flew across the room and threw his arms around her waist, hugging her every bit as fiercely as she hugged him back.

  Maya joined them there right in front of the refrigerator, completing a little circle. She’d only met these two last Christmas, but they were already like the grandchildren she’d always dreamed of having. Seeing the children made her think of her sister. Their real grandmother. She’d been thinking of Lillian more often since she’d started getting the headaches. Her sister had shut her out, but she might not have much more time to make amends.

  She released the children and glanced at Dally. “Have you heard much from your mother?” she asked casually. “I thought she might come out for a visit after you moved.” Hope of reconciling with her sister was the only thing that seemed to grow stronger instead of weaker as she aged. Now that they shared a family again, Lillian would have to come for a visit sometime.

  “Oh.” Her niece seemed to look for an escape. They all seemed to walk on eggshells when it came to Sassy’s ruined relationship with their mother. “Um. Yes. We’ve talked with her some.” She found a watering can on the shelf near the door and filled it up in the sink. “It sounds like she’s doing great. She’s super busy. She’ll come sometime, I’m sure.” Her niece started to water the plants on the windowsill, quickly putting an end to the conversation.

  Knowing when to let things lie, Sassy turned her attention back to the children. “My, you two grew tall while I was gone.” She could nearly rest her chin on Ollie’s head now.

  “I think you’ve grown taller too.” The boy peered up at her, scrunching up one side of his mouth as though he was trying really hard to measure her.

  “She hasn’t grown taller,” Maya corrected. “Grown-ups don’t get taller, isn’t that right, Mom?”

  Dahlia finished watering the plants. That girl was always doing something helpful.

  “Grown-ups usually don’t get taller.” Dahlia took her turn for a hug. “Maybe she looks different because of the amazing suit. Where are you going, all snazzed up?”

  “I have a meeting in town.” She’d already decided not to say too much about her new role until the council had made it official.

  “Hot pink is my favorite color.” Maya snuck a few jellybeans from the candy jar next to the coffeepot.

  “Ah, yes.” Sassy made it her business to know these things. “Well, I brought home some gifts for you both in all shades of your favorite colors. But you’ll have to wait until I unpack to get them.” What fun she’d had collecting T-shirts and trinkets to bring home to her family. Her family! Not so long ago, Colt had been the only real family connection she’d had.

  “Woo-hoo! I love surprises!” Ollie shoved a handful of jellybeans into his mouth, earning a look of disapproval from his mother.

  “What?” The boy shot them both a colorful grin. “Dr. Ike said I’m super-duper healthy when we saw him today.”

  “Dr. Ike?” Sassy gave Dahlia her full attention. No surprise that her niece’s cheeks had a lovely rosy glow. “You saw Dr. Ike today, did you?” She’d wondered how much Dally had seen of the good doctor while she’d been gone.

  “Yes, and we saw Dr. Jolly too,” Maya informed her. Her great-niece went on to report all about their respective visits, but Sassy kept watching Dahlia. “Who’s Dr. Jolly?”

  Her niece wouldn’t meet her eyes. “That’s Ike’s new partner.”

  “She’s real pretty,” Maya added. “Like supermodel pretty.”

  Was she now? “I didn’t realize Ike was looking to hire anyone.” She had been gone for two months, but that was big news. Surprisingly, Dahlia hadn’t mentioned it in one of their phone conversations.

  “Um, yeah.” Dally busied herself with refilling the candy jar using the surplus of jellybeans Sassy kept in the cabinet. It looked like Rose had kept the tradition alive.

  That was it? Her niece wasn’t going to give her more information? “Well, is she nice?” Why did Dally suddenly seem to want to clam up?

  “She’s super-duper nice,” Ollie supplied. “Dr. Ike brought her a coffee, and she was really nice to him.”

  “Is that so?” Well, that was certainly an interesting tidbit. Last she knew, Ike and Dahlia were being really nice to each other. But, now that she thought about it, her niece hadn’t mentioned the doctor once when Sassy had talked to her on the phone. At first she’d thought her niece was being private about their budding relationship, but now she might have to dig deeper.

  “Dr. Jolly seems great.” Dally’s smile had tightened. “We can’t wait for dinner so we can hear all about your trip.”

  The change in subject just about gave Sassy vertigo again. But that’s how it was with her niece. Dally wouldn’t want to talk about Ike now. Especially not in front of her children. “Yes, Colt and I have so many pictures to share with you.” If he and Rose ever came down from the roof, that was.

  Those two had gone back up there after a quick cup of tea and had been working on some project up there all afternoon. She peeked out the window at the Mistletoe Cabin further on down the hill. It looked like the two of them were taking a break from whatever it was they were working on, sitting side by side while they chatted. They’d been chatting every time she’d peeked out at them.

  And her dear Colt was not much of a chatter.

  After the rocky start Rose and Colt had last Christmas, it was nice to see them getting along. “I should be back from my meeting in an hour, and then we’ll get our family dinner started.” It would be the perfect opportunity to announce her new job, as long as the council approved her.

  Nerves rolled through her stomach, making her feel like she was back on one of those airplanes. She hadn’t even been this anxious about the takeoff and landing during her trips.

  “I’ll work on dinner while you’re gone,” Dally offered. Her niece liked to keep as busy as Sassy kept herself.

  “We can help.” Maya pulled Sassy’s favorite apron off a hook behind the door. “Can I wear this?”

  “Be my guest.” She planted a kiss on Maya’s forehead, and then on Ollie’s. Sweet little cherubs. How had she ever survived without them in her life?

  And how much more time would she get to spend with them?

  The headache that had accompanied her home had released its grip with the help of those over-the-counter meds, but she could never seem to predict when it would come back. Not tonight. She couldn’t let anything ruin tonight. “I’ll hurry home as soon as I can,” she promised.

  “Have fun.” Dahlia quirked her lips. “Must be an important meeting, huh?”

  “We’ll see.” Sassy bustled to the door and escaped before they could ask more questions. Maybe she should’ve told them now, but there was a chance Peg’s harebrained idea might not go through. Maybe someone else on the council would want to step in and take the job.

  She got into her car and started the engine. Maybe this was crazy. She was about to turn seventy years old, for goodness’ sake. Was this really the time to be launching a new career in politics? She’d always been active in the town’s decision-m
aking processes but had never been able to stick to one side or another when it came to her convictions. She’d rather put humans over politics, and there were plenty of people who wouldn’t take kindly to that approach.

  Nerves bunched her stomach again as she steered the car down the driveway and rolled to a stop in front of the Mistletoe Cabin, where she could see Rose and Colt. Why, wouldn’t they make a handsome couple? If Colt hadn’t set his heart on leaving town.

  Rose waved. Whatever they were doing up there, her niece sure seemed to be enjoying herself. That smile nearly stretched from one ear to the other.

  Sassy buzzed down her window. “I’ll be home soon, and we’re having a family dinner tonight,” she called.

  “Sounds great!” Rose set down the hammer she’d been holding. A hammer? She never thought she’d see the day when her designer-shoe-loving niece would be sitting atop a roof with a hammer in her hand. But there you had it. Since she’d shown up at the Juniper Inn last Christmas, Rose had completely reinvented herself. And wasn’t that what life was all about? The reinventing? Reimagining your dreams? Redefining your goals?

  Before these girls had come back into her life, Sassy had been stuck. The resort had become too much for her to keep up all by her lonesome, and truthfully, she’d lost her passion for running the place, especially with the decline in customers, who’d started to opt for luxury vacations instead of trips to a rustic mountain inn.

  But Rose and Dally and sweet Magnolia with her excitement for motherhood had inspired her. She didn’t know how much time she had left. No one could know. But even at this age, she had something to offer. She wasn’t obsolete.

  Sassy followed the speed limit signs all through town like a good mayor would. She parked at the back end of the town hall lot. The two-story painted brick Italianate structure had been there since 1883, when the town was founded. She’d always thought it was the prettiest building in Juniper Springs, with the carved stonework lining its windowsills, lintels, and the pediment above the bracketed cornice at the roofline.