Larkspur Road (21 page)

Not that he and Mia actually
had
a relationship.
Yet.

But he was working on it. He wasn’t exactly sure what it was, or where it was going…but they were feeling their way. He knew, though, that he could only afford to take things day by day for so long. Whatever happened, he didn’t want to hurt her ever again. He’d have to figure it all out soon—before one or both of them got in too deep.

He needed to give it
his
best shot.
If
they were starting over—and not just getting each other out of their systems once and for all….

As they moved up the aisle between the tables and booths, his attention shifted to the husky kid leaving the bakery. Travis watched him lope off down the street with a white pastry sack in his hand.

“We’ll take another peanut butter cookie to go,” Travis told Brittany, noting that she looked upset.

Her hand trembled as she reached for the cookie and stuffed it into a bag.

“You okay?” Travis asked. “You know that guy who just left here? Did he say something to upset you?”

Her eyes widened. “N-no. I’m just having a bad day. I
think I had too much caffeine or something.” Her smile looked forced. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

If you say so,
Travis thought. Something was off. He didn’t press her, though, not now, while she was at work. He made a mental note to mention it to Mia later when they had a moment alone.

If
they had a moment alone.

He hoped like hell they would. Actually, when it came right down to it, he hoped they’d have a whole lot more than a moment.

“I have to read this book by
when
?”

Mia pushed the copy of Louis Sachar’s
Holes
closer to Grady. She’d checked it out from the Lonesome Way library so he could get started right away.

“Next Monday. A week from today. And write a two-page book report on it.”

She couldn’t help but smile at the shocked expression on his face. Grady dragged a hand through his hair in a gesture so much like one she’d seen Travis use that she almost laughed out loud.

“Oh, man,” he groaned.

“According to your dad you used to love to read.”

“I did…I do. But now I like riding horses, too, and working in the barn and stuff.” He set his elbows on the table, his long-lashed green eyes intent. “Uncle Rafe’s going to teach me how to start a horse. I have to just watch for a while first. That means I need to spend a whole lot of time in the corral with him or Will so I can see how they do it—”
He broke off and peered at Mia with a hopeful smile. “Are you
sure
I have to finish the whole book by Monday?” he asked. “
And
do all that science homework?”

“Are you
sure
you want to pass that proficiency test?”

A slow grin spread across his face. “Positive.”

“Then I guess you know the answer to that question. How about some more lemonade?”

“Sure. I mean…thanks,” he added.

Mia moved to the counter and brought the lemonade pitcher to the kitchen table, refilling his glass as birds sang outside the open window, almost as loudly as the shouts coming from across the street. It was after four and Ellis Stone’s twin grandsons were playing catch in her front yard, laughing and hooting over every dropped ball or bad throw.

She’d found herself surprised when Travis dropped Grady off earlier. She’d seen little today of the lost-looking boy who’d barely glanced up the first time she met him at Sage Ranch. The boy Travis ushered into her house two hours ago was surprisingly pleasant—and more talkative than she’d expected. He’d asked her several rapid-fire questions about Samson after the dog raced over to him when he walked in the door. And he’d sat patiently, even attentively, at her kitchen table during the first hour as she’d reviewed with him the names and characteristics of all the planets—the first section of the core fifth-grade earth science curriculum he needed to master.

“Can I
see
any of these planets when I look at the sky?” he interrupted at one point.

“Several of them—if you look at the right times. Venus, Jupiter, and Mars are three of the brightest. You can also see Saturn and Mercury with the naked eye.”

Mia had smiled at the excitement in his face.

“Maybe your dad will show them to you one night. And if he doesn’t know where they are, I can point them out to both of you. But once you learn, you’ll always know how to find them in the sky.”

“Cool.” Grady’s eyes lit up. “You know what would be fun? To ride way up into the mountains one night and be really high up. You know, closer to the planets, and see them from there. With no buildings around, or other people or anything…just the sky.”

“That
would
be cool.” Mia smiled. Travis’s son might not have been born in Montana, but he had the soul of a cowboy. “I bet your dad would take you up into the mountains for a camping trip sometime if you asked him.”

“Yeah, he told me he would. He promised me we’d go camping before I have to go back to L.A.”

The face he made showed clearly what he thought of that idea.

“Do you miss your friends there and your mom?” Mia asked lightly.

He shrugged, looked down. “I don’t have that many friends and…yeah, I miss my mom sometimes. But I don’t see her too much anyway. Not like when we lived in Arizona. She’s always going out someplace with my stepdad—or getting
dressed
to go someplace. Or shopping for clothes to go someplace. We have a housekeeper, Mrs. Landen. She’s okay. She watches TV a lot in her room. So I just play video games or watch my own TV. I have a big flat-screen in my room—fifty inches.”

“That must be nice.” But a fifty-inch TV was no substitute for family time. Or attention, Mia thought.

Her heart went out to this little boy with the long eyelashes and an innate sense of curiosity. Grady had a love for horses and dogs and the outdoors. He was smart and sweet and just a little bit young for his age. There was a vulnerability about him that suddenly struck her like a dart to the chest and made her more determined than ever to ensure he passed that proficiency test.

Travis had better be able to talk his ex-wife out of sending Grady away. The boy loved the outdoors too much to be cooped up in a boarding school night and day, with corridors
full of other kids, and pranks and pressure, and little chance to just be a kid himself.

If Grady found out his mother and stepfather intended to send him away…

She closed her eyes a moment at the thought. Her throat ached imagining the effect it would have on him.

Travis was right. Grady wasn’t a child who didn’t want to learn. He was a child who’d flourish with the right guidance, someone taking the time to nurture him, encourage him. All he needed was someone to show an interest.

Travis will convince Val not to do this.
He has to.

And at that moment she heard his Explorer pull up into the driveway.

Ever the faithful guard dog, Samson hurled himself toward the front door and Grady bolted from his chair. Boy and dog raced for the front door and, amused, Mia followed them.

Grady wasted no time flying across the lawn to greet his father.

“I’ve got tons of homework,” he announced. “But I’ll do it,” he added quickly, with a glance over his shoulder as the screen door banged shut behind Mia and, smiling, she walked across the porch.

“What’s going on at the cabin?” the boy asked as Samson dashed in circles around Travis, his tail wagging furiously. “We’re still moving in tomorrow, right, Dad?”

“If our beds and the new fridge get delivered on time.”

“All right!”

Travis grinned at his son’s enthusiasm, then his gaze shifted to Mia. He felt something clench in his heart at the sight of her in that sweetly sexy yellow sundress, her shoulders bare, her hair loosely twisted atop her head.

“How about the three of us going out to dinner?” he said.

Surprise flashed in Mia’s eyes but before she could reply, Samson began to bark again and two skinny figures bounded onto Mia’s front lawn.

Evan and Justin, Ellis’s twin grandsons, screeched to a halt. Evan threw himself to his knees in the soft grass to pet Samson while Justin said, “Hi, Ms. Quinn.”

“Hi, Justin. Hi, Evan.” She smiled as the boys eyed Grady with friendly curiosity. There weren’t any other kids their age on the street. She introduced Travis first, then his son.

“Want to come over to our grandma’s house and play ball?” Evan asked Grady as Samson licked his face, ears, and neck.

He turned eagerly to Travis. “Can I, Dad?”

“Is your grandmother at home?” Travis asked the boys.

“Yeah, she’s on her laptop, working on her blog,” Justin said.

“She likes us to play outside while she’s writing. So we’re out of her hair,” Evan added.

Travis turned back to Grady, saw the hopeful gleam in his eyes. He remembered that back home Grady said he had only one friend. Scott. One friend could be plenty if it was a good one, but right now he had a shot at two.

“Sure, go ahead. I’ll call you when it’s time to head out.” He was rewarded by a huge grin. An instant later all three boys were running back across the street, whooping just for the fun of it.

“How’d it go?” he asked Mia, coming up to join her on the porch. Somehow they ended up sitting side by side on the swing. Samson had looked like he wanted to run across the street with the kids, but in the end decided to chase a butterfly around the lilac bush instead.

“Not bad. Not bad at all. Grady was a little shell-shocked at the amount of homework, but he’s so smart, Travis. And very sweet. I contacted his English teacher and according to her, he was doing great in English all year long and only got that D because he didn’t turn in half of his assignments during the last month of school—and then there was that little matter of skipping class several times a week. Which in turn helped get him suspended. Up until that point, Mrs. Larson said he was pulling mostly A’s and a few B’s.”

“And earth science?”

She sighed. “I’m guessing he failed that class in part because he hated his teacher. He told me Mr. Fracken was so boring he could put a rock to sleep. I think I’ll be able to make things a little more exciting for him.”

A slow smile tugged at the corners of Travis’s lips. “You only have to look at me and I get excited.”

“Give me a break.”

“The lady thinks I’m kidding.” He captured her hand in his, closing his fingers snugly around hers.

His hand felt warm and strong.
Solid,
she thought.
A hand to hold on to
.

“I’ve never been more serious,” he insisted.

“And I’ve got a stake in a gold mine up in Wild Bull Basin I want to sell you,” she shot back.
Keep it light,
she told herself.
He’s flirting with you. It doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t have to mean anything.

And she didn’t want it to, she told herself. But it would be so much easier if she didn’t yearn to kiss him every time they were within a dozen yards of each other.

“Did you speak to Val yet? Or Drew?” She deliberately changed the subject.

The smile faded from his face. “Tried to, but it was a bust. For now. Val blew me off. Said they were still busy getting ready for this party they’re throwing, and claimed Drew was far too swamped to talk to me. She said it would have to wait. It sounded like she was on the verge of telling me something else, too, but then she seemed to change her mind.”

“I’m sorry.”

His booted foot absently pushed the swing. The gentle rhythmic movement felt relaxing as Travis held her hand in his and the sun sparkled across her daffodils and peonies.

“Don’t be. This is a battle that hasn’t even started yet. I’ll give her a few more days and then I’m going to get Drew on the line. But”—he grimaced—“it’s Val I don’t understand. For the life of me, I can’t figure out what’s gotten into her.
She seems to care more about her lifestyle now than her son. Val was an assistant manager at a temp agency when I met her. She was down-to-earth, hardworking. A bit nervous and, I guess, needy, after losing her husband, but she was a devoted mother. I mean, yeah, she always liked nice things, and she was maybe a little too into buying ‘stuff,’ just for the sake of buying it, but now…” He blew out a breath. “Now she acts like having that fancy mansion and lots of rich friends and being married to Mr. Corporate Hotshot are the most important things in her life. I don’t even recognize the woman I was married to.”

“Grady’s lucky to have
you
right now, Travis. And since you’re his father legally you have as much of a say as she does about his schooling. About everything.”

“That’s for damned sure.” His tone hardened. “I’ve already put in a call to a lawyer. And whether he likes it or not, I’m going to have a few choice words for Drew Baylor—even if it means I have to fly out there and crash their fancy party.” His eyes glinted the cool blue of mountain frost. “Think it would get his attention if I threw Mr. Big Shot into the swimming pool in front of all their guests?”