Homecoming Ranch (33 page)

She was peeling back the tin foil when Libby came in to the kitchen. “Want me to get the drinks?” she asked.

“That would be great,” Patti said. “Glasses are there.”

“There” was just above Madeline’s head, and she had no choice but to step back into the living room where Jackson and Leo were sitting together.

The two men abruptly stopped talking when they saw Madeline.

“Come in, Madeline,” Jackson said. He gestured to a chair on the other side of Leo. It was set slightly back; she wondered if she was supposed to pull it up and join the conversation.

She sat, looking at the back of Leo’s head, wondering how he’d found the strength to endure what he had. She turned her attention to the peeling wallpaper, and noticed a big framed collage of photos on the wall behind him. It was the only adornment in the room. They were various pictures of a happy family—a broad woman who looked like Patti, who Madeline assumed was Luke’s mother, Leo with a cane. Luke, Leo, his mother and father sitting on a picnic bench that she recognized from the west lawn at the ranch, laughing. Pictures of a happy family before their lives were decimated.

Jackson suddenly hopped up, interrupting Madeline’s thoughts. “I’m going to get another beer. Anything for you, Madeline?”

She glanced down at the beer she was holding. She’d taken one sip. “No, thank you.”

“I’ll be back,” he said, and walked out of the room, leaving her alone with Leo.

“Hey,” Leo said. “I can’t see you.” His chair suddenly lurched forward, then stopped and lurched backward, and again and again, until he had maneuvered it around to face her. He smiled crookedly at her. “You like football, right?”

“Ah… not really.”

“What, are you kidding? You have three professional teams in Florida! Dolphins, Buccaneers, Jaguars—you’ve gotta find
one
you like.”

“I never really got into football,” she said apologetically.

“Tragedy of the first order. Basketball? Baseball?” he asked hopefully.

Madeline shook her head. “Soccer.”

“Wow,” Leo said, wincing. “That is the
one
sport I could care less about. All that running around for a point?” He shook his head. “Okay, how about video games? I have a new game, ‘Hounds of Hell.’ It’s
dope,
man. You have to kills these giant dogs before they kill you. Come on, let’s play.”

“I don’t know how,” Madeline said quickly.

“You don’t have to know how,” he said. “You’re playing a guy with useless arms.” He grinned crookedly. “The controllers are over there.”

Madeline stood up and collected two controllers and placed one in his lap as he instructed. Leo did a quick little tutorial about how to work the controller as the game booted up. “Remember,” he said. “Kill the hounds. Ready?”

“I guess,” she said uncertainly.

The game started, and the hounds were released from their cages, galloping right at them. “Okay,
fire! Fire!
” Leo shouted. In a moment of panic, Madeline had to study her controller again, remembering which button was the Fire button. By the time she punched it, the hound had leaped at her.

“Oooh, you’re
dead,
” Leo said sympathetically, and somehow managed to fire and kill several of the beasts in the next minute. “I’ve never seen anyone die so
fast
,” he said, impressed. “You know what that means, right?”

“No, what?” Madeline asked.

“A guy with useless arms in a chair
beat
you.” He laughed gaily.

His laugh was infectious. Madeline grinned at him.

Leo moved his crippled hand from the controller. “So what do you like, Madeline? There has to be something you like.”

“Movies,” she said. “I like movies.”

“Now we’re cooking with grease! What kind? Sci-fi, thriller, dramedies, period films?”

“I lean more toward romantic comedies.”

“A fine genre and one that happens to be my favorite, too,” he said loudly. “Let me guess—you’re a
Love Actually
kind of girl.”

“Nope,” Madeline said, smiling. “More like a
Knocked Up
kind of girl.”

“Ack! That was going to be my second guess. Get this,
Knocked Up
is Luke’s favorite, too.”

Madeline must have looked as surprised as she felt because Leo said, “It’s a little known fact that Luke Kendrick loves a good
looooove
fest.” He waggled his brows at Madeline.

“You’re kidding me.”

“I would
not
kid about something as unmanly as that. He also cries at baby and puppy commercials, too. Loves the little buggers.”

Madeline laughed. “I don’t believe you. I don’t think he has time to watch movies.”

“Well maybe not in Denver. But when he comes here, we watch a lot of tearjerkers, believe me.”

“Does he come to Pine River a lot?” she asked.

“Probably a whole lot more than he wants to. I mean, it’s not hard to figure out that Luke is the Kendricks’ go-to guy.”

She nodded. “I can see that.”

“Yep. I’ll let you in on a family secret. Dad and I aren’t the most efficient team in the world. If it weren’t for Luke, we would have either killed each other by now or be living on the streets with our pet monkey. Luke’s always pulling our bacon out of the grease, you know? And the great news is, he’s a good sport about it. I mean, think about it—it took him about six years to finish his architecture degree because he had to keep dropping classes to come home and fix this or that problem. Yep, that’s my brother. He comes home to save the day, then he watches movies with me and plays ‘Hounds of Hell.’ And he’s
way
better at it than you.”

Madeline smiled. She liked Leo, very much. He had a great personality, and he was a straight shooter, which she appreciated. “He
must
be good if he’s better than me.”

Leo laughed. “I think I like you, Madeline from Orlando. And in case Luke hasn’t said it to you, he likes you, too.”

“Leo, Madeline, time for dinner!” Patti called, popping her head into the living room.

Luke squeezed around his aunt into the living room. “Okay, genius,” he said to Leo. “Time to strap on the feed bag.” He smiled at Madeline as he stepped up behind Leo’s chair. “He hasn’t told you any wild and unbelievable tales, has he?”

“Not a single one,” she said honestly.

“That’s because I haven’t even
begun
to talk,” Leo said as Luke took hold of his chair.

“He’s not kidding,” Luke said. “Consider yourself forewarned. We’ll meet you out back.” To Leo, he said, “No hot-rodding, buddy.”

Madeline watched him roll Leo out. She stood up and walked to the collage of pictures that hung on the wall. Yes, it was plain to see that Luke was the cog in this family wheel, trying to right his dad’s mistake, taking care of his brother. He was a good man, Madeline thought, and she felt a yearning unlike any she’d ever felt in her life—for that. For family. For a hero.

When Luke and Leo were kids, the whole family would come out to the ranch, and beneath the Chinese lanterns his mother hung on the trees, they would have big dinners on one long table. His mother had always dressed it up with a tablecloth, flowers, and fancy dishes. The kids would play on the lawn while the meal was prepared, and again, afterward, when the adults would sit around with their homemade pie and coffee.

Tonight, they were missing the backdrop of the mountains and the fancy dishes, but Patti had put up Chinese lanterns and had brought her own tablecloth. And the lasagna was as good as anything Luke’s mother had ever made. It took him back to a simpler, happier time. Could it be like that again?

He looked at Madeline. To him, she was gorgeous. And tonight, so different from the woman he’d met up on Sometimes Pass. She was laughing at something Leo said, her eyes crinkling in the corners. They could be this, he thought. They could be this couple, living this life.

Leo was entertaining them all with his grand schemes to win tickets to a Denver football game. Patti was appalled—and rightfully so—that Leo had convinced his young friend Dante to try and get the tickets through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

“Come on, Aunt Patti,” Leo had scoffed as Marisol mashed up his lasagna to a pulp. “He thinks it’s pretty cool. He
wants
to go. And he wants to take me. But just in case that doesn’t fly, I am working on backup plans. I
will
see a game at Mile High Stadium if it’s the last thing I do!”

No one said anything for a long moment.

Leo laughed. “Okay, it won’t be the
last
thing I do. Better now?”

“I think it’s great,” Greg said, and pointed his fork at Patti. “You know Cathy always said this kid was going to be something someday,” he said, winking at Leo.

“I
am
something,” Leo said. “I’m a chick magnet. Just look how many I’ve got around me right now.” He grinned, trying to turn his head to look at Libby, Madeline, and Marisol.

“The only thing you have around you now is flies,” Marisol said casually. “Just like the rear end of a horse.”

“You love me, Marisol,” Leo said cheerfully. “Just admit it. Come clean. We all know it and it’s embarrassing.”

“Do you boys remember the lasagna Cathy made for my Tyler’s birthday?” Patti asked.

Dad laughed. “That thing was a
brick.
Could have been the cornerstone of a new house.” The Kendricks laughed while Patti explained to their guests that Luke’s mother had overcooked the lasagna a wee bit.

Luke remembered that day very clearly. Mom had been beside herself—with fifteen people for dinner, the lasagna burned to a brick. Under the table, he put his hand on Madeline’s knee, and she turned a brilliantly warm smile to him. Yes, he could see her at this table for years to come. He could see them, dining under a Colorado sky, their children playing on the lawn while the two of them ate pie and drank coffee.

“Libby, you have a pretty big family, don’t you?” Patti asked.

“Me?” Libby said, looking surprised. “I have a lot of cousins. My mom has four sisters. There are a lot of them, but we don’t get together like this. It’s usually my mom, her husband, and my twin brothers.”

“What about you, Madeline?” Patti asked.

“Ah… it’s just me and my mother,” Madeline said politely, but Luke could feel her tensing.

“Where’s your mom, in Orlando?”

“Yes.”

“Well, this must have been a great surprise,” Patti said.

She was only making small talk like any good hostess would, but Luke knew Madeline well enough now to know how uncomfortable these questions would make her. Her fist curled in her lap, and she glanced at Luke. He smiled reassuringly. On some dusty, remote level, he understood the anxiety that she seemed to live with. In moments like this, he felt sorry for her. Madeline had not had an easy life.

Madeline suddenly sat up. “It was a huge surprise,” she said, and laughed a little, looking at Libby across the table. “Of all the things I imagined about my dad, this wasn’t it. Two sisters and a ranch? I was not expecting that.”

“I’m really glad you came out, Madeline,” Jackson said. “When are you heading back to Orlando?”

“Next week.” She said it without hesitation, so easily, that Luke realized her mind was made up.

“What?” Leo exclaimed. “But you can’t. You have to stay and redeem your piss-poor performance on ‘Hounds of Hell.’”

Madeline smiled warmly at Leo. “I would love to, but I have a lot of active listings. And my mom needs me.” She turned that warm smile to Luke.

He did not smile back, and he saw something flicker in her eyes. Guilt?

“Time for dessert!” Patti announced, and stood up. “Madeline, would you help me?”

“Of course!” she said, and hopped up, picking up hers and Luke’s plates.

Luke watched Madeline walk into the house behind Patti, looking pretty damn gorgeous in that yellow dress that hugged her hips. He thought of how her hair felt in his hands, how she felt beneath him, and he wondered if he was crazy for feeling like he did about her.

The woman had issues. Serious issues.

He wished he knew the first thing about how to fix those issues.

Madeline was assigned drying dishes while Patti washed. Patti chatted gregariously about life in Pine River. A new Applebee’s was going in on the Aspen Highway, which excited her because she’d heard they printed the Weight Watcher point values on their menus. She was sorry to see the Piedmont Tire Store close up in town, but it couldn’t be helped because old Mr. Piedmont had emphysema.

Marisol joined them, bringing in food to be put away, fitting it into a tiny little fridge that seemed absurdly small for three men.

“Did you hear?” Marisol said to Patti, pausing to bend sideways and look outside, where the men were now engaged in a game of poker. “Julie Daugherty has split from her husband.”

“Oh no,” Patti said. “I so hate to hear that. I thought she and Brandon were a cute couple. I mean, obviously I thought she and Luke were cuter, but if that couldn’t work out, I was happy to see her with a good man.”

“He is a dog,” Marisol said emphatically. “He has his thing in any woman who will bend to him.”

“Marisol!” Patti said, her face going bright red. She gave Madeline a sheepish look. “Sometimes, you just have to ignore her,” she said, with a pointed look at Marisol.