Autumn Blue (35 page)

Alex scoffed. “The wilderness was my realm before it was his. Besides, I’m the fishing expert. We’re going to bring pack rods
so we can fly-fish the alpine lakes. It’s beautiful up there on the ridge. The views will take Ty’s breath away.”

“So you’ve been on this hike before?”

He nodded. “Pop took Ernesto and me when I was Ty’s age. Ernesto must have been seventeen.” His lips straightened. “We liked
each other back then.”

Her smile was sympathetic. Alex was apparently no closer to liking his brother, but he seemed determined to forgive Ernesto
for the atrocity he committed against him. “One day at a time,” she had heard him remind Ty. She too was struggling with wishing
the worst for Dodge, who was being held temporarily in a jail cell in Seattle awaiting trial.

“I think it changed my life somehow,” he said. “Standing on top of the world gave me a new perspective. I was so small and
the world was so big. I guess I realized I was a part of it, but not the center.”

She thought about that. “Is that why you want to take Ty up there? So he can get a new perspective?”

He nodded slightly, turning to gaze at her with intense eyes. He started to speak, but sighed instead.

“What?”

His hand brushed her cheek. “You’ve given me a new perspective.”

Her face automatically rolled into his strong hand, and he caressed her temple with his thumb. Without thinking, she let her
body melt against his, and his arms slid around her back. He smelled of spicy soap. She felt at home, though in his arms for
the first time. She had imagined this moment often, wondered if it would ever come.

“Sidney,” he whispered into her hair. “You know when I started falling in love with you? That day at Amilia’s when

I smashed my thumb.” He chuckled softly. “I heard you laugh. I love your giddy, spontaneous laugh, the way you cry at sad
songs. The honesty on your face. Anybody can read you like front-page news. I admire that.”

She wanted to tell him that she admired him, too. That her heart melted like butter every time he opened up to her, sharing
his private thoughts and feelings. She remembered Carmen’s comment after the funeral as she gazed tenderly at her wounded
brother:
He feels things deeply. He always has.
Jack was a good man, but he didn’t know how to recognize, let alone discuss, the soft, fleshy part of his soul. He had been
content to live as if he were only a shell. And he had expected Sidney to do the same. In her head she had believed that Jack
was perfect for her—for her family. But her heart had known differently. That was why his kiss had stirred nothing.

But as she looked up into Alex’s dark, passionate eyes and their lips finally touched, flurries of confetti and fireworks
burst through her soul.

M
OM, THEY’RE HOME!”
Rebecca called from the front yard.

Sidney tossed her dish towel to the counter and dashed to the front door as Alex’s silver pickup pulled into the drive. Ty
jumped out and soon Alex’s head popped out on the other side of the truck. The girls, sopping wet from a water fight, converged
on them, chattering excitedly.

Alex grinned over Rebecca’s head. He apparently had not shaved at all during the two weeks he and Ty had been hiking the Pacific
Crest Trail, and of course the girls had to run their fingers through his beard. He bent down to accommodate them. Sidney
patiently waited her turn.

She hugged Tyson. “I missed you. Mmmm, you smell good. Like campfire smoke and pine needles.”

“And trout. Mom, you wouldn’t believe how many fish we caught! And fighters, too. They’re all native fish.” He held out his
hands. “I got this one lunker; I swear it was this big. We had to cut it up to get it in the frying pan!”

Alex nodded. “This kid can fly-fish like a pro. I’ve never seen anyone learn so fast. He’s a natural.”

“Did you bring some fish home?” Sissy asked.

Ty shook his head. “Nah. We were hiking, Sis. We couldn’t exactly haul an ice chest up the mountain.”

“I wish I got to go.”

“Oh, no, you don’t. You would have wussed out the first day. It was all uphill in the hot sun.” Sidney had never seen her
son so vibrantly healthy, so tan. He must have grown an inch or two. Best of all was the glint of happiness in his eyes, more
brilliant than the late July sunshine.

Alex came around the car, slid his arms around her, and rubbed his beard against her cheek. “What do you think?” he asked
softly.

“I don’t know yet. Let me try it out.” She kissed him. Oh, those two weeks had been long. The skin of his neck radiated warmth,
smelled salty, manly. She pulled back momentarily with a contemplative expression. “I’m not sure. I’d better try that again.”
The next kiss was longer.

“Hey, give us a break,” Ty said. Sidney noticed he was smirking. “Isn’t there something you want to say, Alex?”

Alex punched his arm playfully. “Get out of here.”

Ty snickered.

Sidney narrowed her eyes. “What? Don’t you two even try to keep secrets from me. What happened up there?”

Man and boy exchanged glances, Alex’s with a warning sign attached, Ty’s mischievous.

Ty glanced over his shoulder. Millard had come out his front door. “Millard!” he called. “We saw bears!” He scrambled through
things on the front seat of the truck, emerging with Alex’s digital camera and ran across the street. Sissy and Rebecca went
back to squirting each other with the hose.

Sidney turned back to Alex, running her hands over his solid brown forearms and up to the rounded biceps protruding from his
T-shirt. “So what’s this secret?”

He ran one hand through his hair. “It’s not really a secret. Just something I ran by Ty one night around the campfire.” He
raised one dark brow. “He seemed to think it was a good idea.”

She waited.

“Could you live in a house where you can hear the train clank past your backyard in the middle of the night?”

Her heart fluttered. “You mean your pop’s place?”

He nodded. “It has three bedrooms. Rebecca and Sissy would have to share a room, but they do that now. Ty could have the attic
bedroom. It’s pretty big. There’s an alcove where he could put a computer desk. I figure with your decorating skills you could
make the place look nice. Especially that big dining room. I’ll paint the walls any color you want. You could use the garage
to paint your furniture until we can get your own shop set up in town and—”

“Alex, you’re rambling.” She knew what he was getting at but she needed to hear it out loud. She had to be sure that there
was a good reason for the blood gushing through her veins like water surging through a hole in a dam. “Are you putting your
dad’s place up for rent?”

“My place now, you know.” He blew out a stream of air. “Have I mentioned lately that I’m in love with you? I can’t believe
I was so afraid of letting it happen, but now I’m more afraid of letting you slip away.”

She grinned, stepping closer. “Does that mean you’re going to cut me a sweet deal on the rent?” Her hand went to his face.
She loved the shallow grooves that had begun to appear on his forehead, the slight laugh lines at the corners of his eyes.
She rose on tiptoes and kissed him.

His arms closed around her. His kiss was so tender that it brought tears to her eyes. Eventually her heels sunk back to the
brittle summer grass but her heart hovered somewhere above her.

“I’m talking about a long-term lease,” Alex said, touching a tear from the corner of her eye. “A lifetime.”

She smiled. “Where do I sign?”

1. At the Harvest Fair, Sidney prays for a man to help her with her lost son. What lesson does she learn from the course of
events that follows?

2. What initially causes Millard Bradbury to take on the responsibility for a shaggy-haired, delinquent teenage boy?

3. Compare Millard at the beginning of the story to the man he is at the end. Discuss his journey.

4. Sidney believes that the one thing Tyson learned from school is that he is bad. Do you think this is a common problem for
children with ADD or other learning challenges? Is medication the answer?

5. Like Sidney, many women are raising children without a husband who is physically and/or emotionally
there
for them. How important is the father’s role in a child’s life? What should that role look like?

6. Can you think of people in a community or entities that might help compensate for the needs of a fatherless child?

7. Compare Millard’s relationship with his daughter to his relationship with Sidney.

8. Was Jack a good father figure for Tyson and the girls? Why or why not? What about Alex?

9. If Sidney had married Jack for the sake of her children, do you think they could ultimately have been a happy family? Why
or why not?

10. What are some of the factors contributing to Ty’s frustration and anger?

11. What traits do Deputy Sheriff Estrada and Tyson Walker have in common?

12. How does Millard’s relationship with his own son influence his relationship with Tyson throughout the course of the novel?

13. How and why do Tyson’s attitudes toward Alex Estrada change? Is there a single turning point, or does it seem to be a
gradual change?

14. Is it possible to forgive such devastating betrayals as those experienced by Alex and Ty? How might lack of forgiveness
affect their lives?

15. Would this story make a good movie? What was your favorite scene?