The Summer Sisters (Juniper Springs Book 2)

by Sara Richardson

  Ike helped her settle back into the chair, and then he knelt in front of her. “What happened? Did you get dizzy? Were you in pain?”

  “Stop worrying.” Sassy patted his cheek. “I’ve had a little headache today, that’s all. This old girl needs to get used to the altitude again.”

  The man didn’t look convinced—and neither was Dahlia. She glanced at her sister to get a read on what Rose thought.

  “Maybe you should drink some water,” Rose suggested. She hurried to the sink and filled up a glass.

  “Yes, that’s all I need,” their aunt agreed. “I might be a bit dehydrated after so much traveling.” She sipped from the glass Rose handed her and set it down. “Now let’s finish our dinner and have some cake. After that, I think I’ll go lie down and take a nap.”

  Throughout the rest of their meal, Dahlia kept a close eye on her aunt. Something wasn’t right, she was sure of it, and she could see the concern simmering in Ike’s eyes too. Colt and Sassy entertained them with tales from their travels, but Dahlia caught her aunt massaging her temples a couple of times as though she was in pain.

  Maya and Ollie rushed everyone through dinner and ate their cake in record time, but Sassy didn’t want any dessert.

  “I’m going to unpack and get to sleep early.” Her aunt pressed both of her hands into the table as she stood. “That way I can find all the treasures I brought you two kiddos and give them to you first thing tomorrow.”

  “Okay.” Thankfully Ollie didn’t bellyache about not getting his surprises tonight. He gave Sassy a hug, and then Maya took her turn.

  “Let me know if you need anything,” Dahlia told her aunt on her way out of the kitchen.

  “Don’t be silly. I’ll be fine.” Sassy squeezed her hand, but even that didn’t reassure Dahlia.

  “Hey kids, why don’t you walk Marigold down to the pond and throw a stick for her?” Rose opened the door to let the dog in. After Mari had cleared the table more than once when they’d turned their backs, she wasn’t allowed in the kitchen while they ate anymore.

  “Yes!” Maya hugged the dog. “Wanna go for a walk, girl?”

  Ollie had already made it halfway out the door. “Let’s go find a stick.”

  The dog bounded out after them, yipping with pure joy.

  After they left, Dahlia finally let her worry show. She, Ike, Colt, and Rose still sat at the table finishing their cake.

  “It’s not normal for Sassy to get dizzy.” She set down her fork. “I’ve never seen that happen before.” Her aunt had always been so lively and energetic.

  Rose cut herself another small sliver of the dessert. “It could be the altitude. She was traveling all over the country up until this morning.”

  Her aunt had also lived in Colorado for more than fifty years and had never had issues with the altitude before. “But it could be something else too.” She looked at Colt. “Did you notice anything off when you were on the trip?”

  He thought for a moment. “She seemed tired sometimes, I guess. Maybe she didn’t have as much energy.” The man shook his head. “But then other times she had more energy than me.”

  Her sister nodded. “Sassy looked a little tired when I first saw her again, but she did just get home from a long trip today.” Rose turned to Ike. “What do you think? Should we be concerned?”

  “Traveling can be exhausting.” He finished his cake and pushed away his plate. “And dehydration makes you much more susceptible to altitude sickness.” Even with those facts, there were still questions in his tone. “I think we should probably all keep an eye on her. Maybe it’s nothing, but it doesn’t hurt to pay attention. You three spend the most time with her. You’ll be able to tell if something’s off.”

  “We’ll do our best.” But with Sassy’s new career launching, Dahlia didn’t know how much they’d see her.

  “I’ll encourage her to come in for a checkup too.” Ike laughed. “Not sure if that’ll do any good. She pretty much stops by once a year for her annual physical, and that’s about it.”

  “We can all encourage her.” Colt stacked everyone’s plates and carted them to the sink. “But we all know Sassy won’t go in unless she wants to.”

  That’s what had her so worried. Dahlia got up to help Colt with the dishes, but Ike laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You two sit. Let us take care of the cleanup.”

  Dahlia paused before answering so he wouldn’t take his hand away. Oh, she’d missed his touch. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed the feel of his hand until right now. It made her warm all over. Warm and hopeful and hungry for something other than chocolate cake.

  He walked to the sink, taking her gaze with him. While they worked on the dishes, he and Colt talked about the whale-watching excursion Sassy and Colt had gone on in Alaska.

  “What’s going on?” Rose mouthed, nodding toward Ike’s back.

  Dahlia shook her head. They were not doing this now. “How’s the roof looking?” she asked instead.

  “It’s looking good.” Her sister got a mischievous gleam in her eyes that Dahlia recognized all too well. “But I left something up there.” Her sister popped out of her chair. “Colt, can you help me grab it?”

  Dahlia stood too. “What thing did you leave up on the roof?” She was onto Rose. Her sister was never subtle.

  “That tool. Remember Colt?” She grinned at the man. “That one tool I forgot to grab?” Her eyes were so wide and cajoling even Ollie would’ve picked up on her motivation to leave Dahlia alone with Ike.

  “Ohhhhh.” Colt nodded slowly and stashed the last glass into the dishwasher. “Right, the tool. We should get that tool off the roof before we forget.”

  “Yes, we should.” Rose winked at Dahlia and traipsed out the door with Colt not far behind.

  Well, great. That left her alone with Ike, and there weren’t even any dirty dishes left that she could use as a distraction.

  “I hope it’s okay that I came for dinner.” He wiped his hands on a towel and leaned back against the cabinet.

  The uncertainty in his guarded posture tugged at her heart. She hadn’t meant to make him feel unwelcome. “I’m glad you came.” It wasn’t Ike’s fault she didn’t know how to introduce the idea of her dating to her children. Her ex had had no problem introducing them to the woman he’d started dating after the divorce.

  Maya hadn’t seemed to hold Jeff to the same standards she held Dahlia to though. “I miss seeing you.” Dahlia missed kissing Ike. She missed sitting on his couch wrapped in his arms in front of a fire while they watched the snow fall. God, that seemed like a lifetime ago.

  “I miss seeing you too.”

  He stayed where he was, but Dahlia found it difficult to keep her distance. She moved within a foot of him but didn’t trust herself to go any closer. “I’ve been overwhelmed.” She hadn’t even admitted that to herself.

  “That’s completely understandable.” He closed the distance between them, his eyes genuine. “I know your kids need all of your attention right now. I know they’ve been through a lot. You can have as much space as you need to settle in, Dahlia. I don’t want you to step into a relationship before you feel ready.”

  Some moments she felt ready. Very ready. Like this moment. When he stood so close to her, and the hard pounding of her heart made her feel more alive. “I want to be ready,” she half whispered, bringing her hands to his broad shoulders. She wanted to skip forward six months to when there wasn’t so much change and to when things with Maya weren’t so hard. “I want—”

  The sound of the front door opening cut her off.

  “Yoo-hoo! Anyone home?”

  Dahlia froze where she was, her hands still on Ike’s shoulders. No. No way. Not now…

  Ike’s brow wrinkled in a question, but the back door crashed open before he said anything.

  Rose stumbled through out of breath. “Mom’s here,” she hissed.

  “Yeah.” Dahlia backed away from Ike. “I heard.”

  “Girls?�
� Their mother’s voice had gotten closer.

  “What is she doing here?” Rose paced across the kitchen. “Colt saw a car service drop her off and left. I don’t blame him—”

  “There you are. I knew you were home.” Lillian Buchanan paraded into the kitchen, her silk pashmina flowing behind her. “And Ike! How wonderful to see you again.”

  “Nice to see you as well, Ms. Buchanan,” he said politely and he grabbed a rag and started to wipe up the table, obviously giving the three of them space.

  Dahlia immediately stepped between the two of them before her mother could question him about their current relationship status. Her mom had briefly met Ike last Christmas when she’d ambushed them to try to convince Rose to go home to her fiancé, but Dahlia purposely hadn’t told her they’d kept in touch. “Wow, this is a surprise. What’re you doing here, Mom?”

  “I decided I would come for the grand reopening after all.” She slipped her arm around Rose, who visibly stiffened.

  While Dahlia and Magnolia had both moved away and started new lives outside of Savannah, Rose had stayed in the city where they’d grown up. After their father had passed away a few years back, her sister had taken the brunt of their mother’s social climbing and constant meddling up until she’d moved to Colorado.

  “I’ve missed my girls.” Their mother planted a kiss on Rose’s cheek. “And since Sassy is off galivanting around the country, I figured it would be fine for me to stay.”

  That was the other thing about their mother. She certainly knew how to hold a grudge. She hadn’t spoken to Sassy in almost twenty years.

  “You can’t stay at the inn.” Panic raised Rose’s voice. “The cabins aren’t ready yet…”

  “Well, then I’ll stay in the house. With you.” Her mother gave her sister a squeeze, and Dally cringed for her. That would be a disaster. Especially with Sassy now home. Besides that, Rose had moved into the camping trailer they’d renovated for the summer.

  “There are plenty of extra rooms here, right?”

  “Well, sure, but…” Rose shot Dahlia a desperate look.

  “Why don’t you stay with us, Mom?” The invitation came out automatically. She’d always been the one to save the day.

  “Really?” Rose didn’t try to hide her shock.

  “Yeah.” Dahlia kept a sigh trapped. Just what she needed. One more thing keeping her from spending any time with Ike. “Then you could spend more time with the kids. We have an extra bedroom. There’s plenty of room.”

  “I suppose that would work.” She sent her sweetest smile in Ike’s direction. “As long as you don’t mind.”

  “Oh.” The poor man stood up straighter. “No. Um. Not at all—”

  “Ike doesn’t live with us, Mother.” And now, with her mother in town, he’d probably want to stay far, far away.

  Chapter Seven

  Rose

  You’re telling me you fixed this?” Tony inspected the drywall repair on the Mistletoe Cabin’s ceiling, his narrowed eyes obviously searching for imperfections.

  He wouldn’t find any. She and Colt had worked on the roof and ceiling all day, and in the course of working with him, she’d learned Colt was something of a perfectionist. “I fixed it with Colt’s help.” Okay, so maybe it had been the other way around, but Tony didn’t need to know that. “What do you think?”

  Tony climbed down off the stepladder, still a suspicious slant to his eyes. “I think Colt does good work, and maybe I need to hire him to be part of my crew.”

  “Hey.” She pretended to be offended but couldn’t hold back a laugh. “What about me? I do good work too.” She’d done a lot of the grunt work, once Colt had shown her how. He’d been extremely patient with her, explaining everything they needed to do and then showing her the right technique before letting her try it herself. She’d had no idea it would be so empowering to use tools.

  Tony eyed her with amusement. “You’re also the one who put the hole in the roof in the first place.”

  He had a point. “Well, it’s fixed up now. That’s what matters.” Thankfully. They could at least check one cabin off their never-ending list. “We should probably go over the schedule for the rest of the week.”

  Tony grunted an acknowledgment as he folded up his stepladder. “We need to finish up the kitchen installs in the Sugar Plum, Gingerbread, and Silver Bells Cabins.”

  “Right.” She recorded the notes in her book. “And all that’s left in the Reindeer, Candy Cane, and Holly Cabins are the trim and doors.”

  “That’s it, huh?” She might’ve missed the sarcasm if it hadn’t been for the man’s exaggerated frown.

  “Colt said he would be happy to help with whatever we need.” There went that subtle trilling in her chest again. It was wonderful to have the man home. Not only for his knowledge and expertise with the remodel, but…Well, she probably shouldn’t go there. Colt shouldn’t be making anything inside of her trill. She shouldn’t have let herself study his sturdy jawline or look so deeply into his eyes or brush his hand with hers yesterday either.

  “We could use his help, that’s for sure.” Tony opened the door, and they stepped out onto the Mistletoe Cabin’s front porch.

  “No problem,” she assured him. “He said he would stop by after he spent some time at the store this morning.” She whistled and clapped her hands at Marigold, who had found a nice pile of deer poop to roll in. “Come on, girl. I just gave you a bath two days ago.”

  The dog had the decency to let her ears droop with a guilty look and wagged her tail.

  Shaking her head, Rose turned back to Tony. “What can I do to help out this morning?”

  There went that little sarcastic rumple of his lips again. “You can wait until Colt gets here and team up with him again.”

  “Fine.” She could take a hint. “I have plenty to keep me busy.” She had to take inventory on the rest of the furniture sitting in the barn and make sure they had everything they needed once they were ready to move things back into the cabins. Then she would check in on their reservation system to see if they had any new bookings—

  Her phone started to blare Dahlia’s ringtone. Oh thank God. She’d tried to call her sister twice this morning to see how it was going with their mother. She shouldn’t have let Dahlia take on Lillian, but she’d panicked last night. She wanted nothing more than her aunt and her mom to reconcile, but this would take some serious finesse, and it would not happen with the two of them living in the same house.

  Right now, Rose didn’t even want Lillian to know Sassy was in town.

  She walked away from Tony, tsking at Marigold, who was now eating the deer poop. Seriously. Dogs were disgusting sometimes.

  When she’d made it out of earshot, she answered the phone on speaker. “Hey.”

  “I need backup,” Dally barked. “We’re at Grumpy’s. Get down here now.”

  The line clicked.

  All right then. That answered how things were going with Lillian. “Hey, Tony,” Rose called. “I have to run into town real quick. Be right back.”

  Marigold heard the word town and hotfooted it to Rose’s truck as though she didn’t want to be left behind.

  Tony simply waved her away, probably relieved she wouldn’t be around to put any more holes in anything.

  By the time Rose made it to her truck, Marigold had already jumped in through the open window. “Okay, you can come. But don’t you dare lick my face after eating deer poop.” She scooted in next to her dog and fired up the engine.

  The whole way to town, Marigold stuck her head out the window, ears flapping while she greeted everyone she saw with a happy bark.

  Rose found a parking spot two doors down from Grumpy’s and hurried along the sidewalk, admonishing her dog to behave.

  Marigold sprawled herself out under the awning’s wonderful shade while Rose ducked inside. She spotted Lillian at the ordering counter right away.

  “This is an outrage,” her mother was saying. “I’ve never been treated so p
oorly in any establishment. I’m going to give you a one-star review online.”

  Grumpy stood behind the old-school cash register with his arms crossed. “Go ahead, lady. Make sure to mention in there that you were acting crazier than a bag of cats.”

  “A bag of cats?” Lillian stomped her foot. “How dare you!”

  That was Rose’s cue. “Hey, Mom.” She rushed to the counter and gave Grumpy her most atoning smile. “What seems to be the problem?” And where the hell had Dahlia gone?

  “I’ll tell you the problem.” Her mother glared at Grumpy. “All I did was ask for a splash of almond milk in my Americano—”

  “Don’t got almond milk,” the man interrupted. “You know that full well, Rosie.”

  “Of course I know that.” She also knew that no one dared to ask Grumpy for any alternative milks—ever. He was a heavy cream guy through and through and didn’t believe in using that fake crap. His words, not hers. “But my mom doesn’t know that,” she said sweetly.

  His frown only deepened. “She wanted me to walk to the market and get some.” Grumpy’s voice always edged toward a growl, but now it got downright snarly.

  “Almond milk is much healthier.” Lillian posted her hands on her hips, a sure sign that an impassioned monologue was inevitable. “Have you checked the fat content of cream lately?” she asked Grumpy. “What about the cholesterol? That stuff will kill you!”

  “Lady, I’ve been drinking cream since I was a boy, and I still have the heart of a moose.” Grumpy leaned an elbow into the counter as though daring her to argue. “Now do you want the splash of cream or not? ’Cause I got other customers. And they ain’t annoying.”

  Her mother’s face turned the same shade of red as it used to when Rose would say something to embarrass her.

  “No cream,” Rose said before Lillian lost it. “We’ll just wait down there at the pickup area.” She dragged her mother to the end of the counter.

  “That man is awful,” Lillian huffed. “How he stays in business is beyond me.”

  “To be fair, the café is called Grumpy’s.” The man gave people fair warning before they walked in. “Besides, he’s a staple in Juniper Springs. Maybe he’s a little rough around the edges, but I know for a fact he gives free coffee to our police force and firefighters, and he takes all the leftover baked goods down to the assisted living facility the next town over every other day. So he has a good heart.” Not that her mother had ever paid too much attention to what hid beneath a person’s surface.