Larkspur Road (10 page)

Of course you did.
Erma wasn’t the first person to mention Travis’s return to her—she must be at least the seventh or eighth. Lonesome Way’s gossip hotline would have no trouble holding its own against TMZ.

“He always was a
mighty
handsome young man. But then, you’d know that better than I would. If I were a younger woman…” She winked at Brittany, then turned back to Mia. “Now, I know it was a long time ago, and far be it from me to stick my nose where it doesn’t belong, but everyone always said you two were the perfect coup—”

“I’m afraid we have to hurry, Erma, or Brittany’s going to be late for work.” With a wave and a smile, Mia made a beeline for the door and escaped onto Main Street before Erma could finish the sentence.

It was a warm, brilliant afternoon, and the sun glinted in a blinding dazzle off the long row of storefront windows. Behind her, Brittany slid her sunglasses down across the bridge of her nose.

A dozen or so people strolled along Main, enjoying the bright flowers planted in trim window boxes along the storefronts, the view of the park, the peaceful, picturesque atmosphere of the town set in the shadow of the mountains. A woman and two little boys about eight and five years old were sitting on the wooden bench outside of Benson’s Drugstore, licking ice cream cones. A gray-haired ranch hand in a plaid
shirt and faded jeans whistled as he loaded grain into the back of a pickup outside Tobe’s Mercantile. Inside the Cuttin’ Loose hair salon, Hannah Berg, owner of the day care center, was getting a manicure, while Martha Davies snipped away at her friend Dorothy Winston’s squirrel gray hair.

“Travis Tanner, hm?” Britt grinned at her as they walked across the street. “He’s your old boyfriend? Is he related to Aunt Sophie?”

“Yes, her husband’s brother. And once upon a time, way back in the Stone Age, he was my boyfriend. That’s the problem with small towns, Britt; people don’t ever forget anything about your life—ever.” Pausing, Mia held out a hand for the Top to Toe bag. “I’ll take this home for you. You’d better hustle back to the bakery or you’ll be late for the midafternoon rush.”

“I know—it got crazy in there yesterday. Sophie’s grandmother was the only one who stayed calm when that tour bus stopped in front on its way to the Half Moon Campground.” She shook her head. “We sold out of cinnamon buns and chocolate chunk cookies in ten minutes flat.” Britt thrust the shopping bag into Mia’s hand and started to turn away, then impulsively turned back and threw her arms around her aunt’s neck. “Thanks for the clothes, Aunt Mia,” she whispered. She squeezed tightly for a moment, as if reluctant to let go. “I’ll pay you back. Every single penny. For everything. I promise.”

A little worried at the thick emotion in her niece’s voice, Mia watched her race off toward A Bun in the Oven. Just as Britt was about to open the bakery’s door, it opened from the inside and a lanky, red-haired boy of about seventeen or eighteen appeared, to let her in. He grinned and said something to her that made her laugh.

Mia recognized him. Seth Dalton—one of Sophie’s most reliable teenaged employees. He’d rung up Mia’s order last month when it was her turn to bring scones to the Bits and Pieces meeting.

As she studied him, Seth glanced over and saw her.

“Hey, Miz Quinn. Guess what! I got an A on my English lit final this semester,” he called out.

“That’s great, Seth. I always knew you had it in you.”

“Well, my mom says it’s all because of you. You made me read books in fifth grade and I got hooked.”

“Tell your mom hello from me, will you?” she called.

“You bet!”

He turned back to Britt and Mia saw her niece reach up and brush his hair back from his eyes as they lingered, talking, in the doorway. Seth had been a challenging student in her English class. He’d clowned around most days, and she’d had to send him to the principal’s office at least once a week for talking out of turn during class. But he’d always been unfailingly polite and irresistibly likable, despite waiting until the last minute to do all of his assignments. He’d turned them in just under the bell and managed to pull an A every single time.

Seth was smart, and he’d grown into quite a responsible young man.

At least it looks like Britt has made a friend,
Mia thought with a tug of relief.

Her niece’s mood had improved considerably over the past few days. Perhaps Seth was the reason. Sometimes when she didn’t realize Mia was looking at her, Mia still caught that glimpse of worry in Britt’s eyes, and that nervous hunch of her shoulders Mia had never seen before, but overall, most of the time Britt seemed happier, even cheerful.

She’s a teenager—it’s normal for her to be stressed now and then. Here she is with a new job, in a new town, trying to make new friends, while her mom is half a world away with a new husband.

But still…

Something had made Brittany want to spend the summer in Lonesome Way, miles from her home and her friends.
And so far, Mia was no closer to finding out what that something might be.

Turning toward her car she noticed another boy—a young man actually, since he looked to be about twenty—also watching Britt. He was tall and burly, handsome in a tough kind of way, with short sandy hair, and he was standing outside of Ponderosa Earl’s Camping Outfitters at the far end of the block with a large bag of purchases, including, by the looks of it, a sleeping bag. But for a moment he stood stock-still, gazing toward the bakery—and Britt.

No surprise there, Mia thought, amused. Her niece was an extraordinarily pretty girl. It was only natural young men would take notice. She’d never seen this boy before and guessed he was a tourist passing through on his way to some campground or one of the national forests. As Seth grabbed Britt’s hand and pulled her inside and the bakery door swung closed, the young man started to turn away, then met Mia’s gaze, flashed her a friendly grin, and strode off in the opposite direction.

Mia forgot all about him as she heard a familiar voice call her name. Turning, she saw Lissie and Molly walking toward her from the park.

“Just the person I wanted to see.” Lissie looked as fresh and pretty as a scoop of sorbet, in a lemon yellow tee tucked into crisp khakis. “Molly, look who’s here—it’s Aunt Mia! Tell her where we’re going.”

Mia was already stooping down, holding her arms out to the little girl, and Molly rushed into them. “Badery!”

“Bakery,” Lissie corrected, but Mia laughed in delight and hugged the child.

“Are you going to eat a chocolate chip cookie?”

“
Two
cookie,” Molly said eagerly.

“One for now and one for tomorrow,” Lissie interjected firmly.

“Tomowwow.” The little girl nodded solemnly, then planted her chubby hands on Mia’s cheeks. “You cookie?”

“You eat one for me, okay?” Mia grinned, lightly tapped Molly’s nose with the tip of her finger, and stood. “What’s up?” she asked Lissie. “I heard Aiden’s all better.”

“He is. Sophie even got a solid night’s sleep the past two nights. So she’s ready to party. And after we pick up our cookies, Molly and I are headed to Benson’s for streamers, poster board, and markers.”

“You’re making an art project?” Mia glanced down at the little girl, who was studying Mia’s sandals and pink-polished toes intently. “Are you going to draw me a picture, angel?”

“Pixture for Daddy!”

“You forgot, didn’t you?” Lissie stared at her accusingly, shaking her head. “Tommy’s birthday party. Saturday night? At the Double Cross? Don’t even tell me you forgot!”

Mia’s eyes widened. She
had
forgotten. Completely. Lissie had told her about the party for her husband’s birthday weeks ago. But somehow she’d neglected to mark it in her calendar and what with Brittany turning up and Aunt Winny’s tumble down the steps and the Bits and Pieces meeting tonight—not to mention Travis showing up in town—it had totally slipped out of her brain.

“I confess. I’m a moron.” She held up a hand appeasingly.

“Mo-won,” Molly repeated, smiling up at her.

“That’s someone very silly.” Mia leaned down and smoothed the little girl’s curls back from her face. “I forgot about your daddy’s party.”

“You’re still coming, aren’t you?” Lissie had that determined gleam in her eyes that seemed to be a Tanner characteristic. All of her brothers had it and Lissie had inherited the identical gene.

“Big Billy told me I’m free to decorate the Double Cross all I want—and Ivy’s going to help us make Happy Birthday signs this afternoon.” Lissie’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t even think about not coming because of Travis.”

“I couldn’t care less about seeing Travis,” Mia retorted.

For all the good it did. Lissie’s slender brows rose and her face was a study in skepticism.

“Will he even be there?” Mia blurted out a second later, despite being nearly certain of the answer. It was most likely the primary reason she’d blocked Tommy’s party from her mind.

“He claims he wouldn’t miss it.” Lissie scooped Molly up into her arms. “You’re not going to chicken out, are you?”

“Of course not. Unless you need a babysitter?”

“Nice try. Ivy’s babysitting Molly.”

Rafe’s daughter by his first marriage had just turned thirteen. She was levelheaded, a good student, and responsible. So there went that excuse.

“Sophie’s mom and Mr. Hartigan are babysitting Aiden and Grady,” Lissie added with a smile. Sophie’s mother had married their former high school geometry teacher last year. “So please don’t even think about using that as an excuse.”

“I’ll be at the party, no fears.”

Her friend’s eyes suddenly softened with quick sympathy.

“There’s going to be a fairly big crowd. You probably won’t even run into him, much less have to talk to him.”

“I told you—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know what you told me.” Like Sophie, Lissie had been there all those years ago when Travis had dumped her. She’d been furious with her brother.

But it was all ancient history now. Why didn’t anyone get that?

“The party’s going to be a blast. I promise. Only…”

“What?” Mia saw the slight frown in her friend’s eyes.

“There’s just one more thing I need to warn you about.” This time Lissie really did sound regretful. “Deanna Mueller cornered me at Tobe’s yesterday—she heard me talking to Sophie on my cell about the party and…she sort of invited herself. And Zeke.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Can you believe it? She just suddenly burst out with a promise to drop in and wish Tommy a happy birthday. There was nothing I could do.”

“It’s not a problem.” Mia bit her lip. “Don’t worry about it.”

Great. Her love life really
did
sound like a disaster when her friends worried about her coming to a party and having to encounter both her ex-boyfriend
and
her ex-fiancé and his pregnant wife. But she hoped that had more to do with Deanna Mueller than with her.

In high school, Deanna had run against Mia two years in a row for the office of class secretary. Deanna had always gone after what she wanted, no holds barred, and if she didn’t get it, she was known for complaining about how it wasn’t fair and she’d been wrongly cheated out of what should have been rightfully hers—all of which was vociferously relayed to anyone and everyone who would listen.

She hadn’t taken it well when she’d lost to Mia not once, but twice. So maybe when Mia broke up with Zeke last year and Deanna snagged him for herself, she could be excused for telling everyone in town who would listen that Zeke had dumped Mia for her.

Deanna had been a freshman in high school when Zeke was a senior, and he’d barely noticed her, but that hadn’t stopped her from letting her crush on him become public knowledge. She’d stared at him in the halls, invited him to every school dance, and waited by her locker even after the bell rang for class, pretending to fidget with her lock just to be close to him when he walked by.

To his credit, he’d never laughed at her when his friends all did—but he’d always turned down Deanna’s dance invitations and ignored her stares and phone calls. Rumor had it he thought she had good taste but he’d been turned off by her whole stalker act.

They’d never dated in high school or after.

But a year and a half ago, shortly after Sophie and Rafe’s
wedding, Mia and Zeke had started seeing each other. They’d gone out to long, comfortable dinners, to drinks at the Lucky Punch Saloon, and to the movies over in Livingston. She’d invited him over for barbecued chicken and lasagna and Gram’s famous chocolate frosted brownies, and he’d taken her to the rodeo and to a quilt show in Bozeman. Zeke was easy to be around, honest, and dependable, not to mention blond, nice-looking, and flatteringly eager for her company.

Getting engaged to Zeke after a little more than six months had seemed to Mia like a good idea at the time. Her biological clock was ticking on overdrive and her friends all had husbands and babies, and she could see herself having a future with him: children and family dinners and good times. Zeke was solid and kind. He had a big sweetheart of a dog. And just because he laughed at jokes she didn’t find funny and her heart didn’t race when he walked into a room, that didn’t mean they couldn’t be happy together, did it?

But two months after she accepted Zeke’s ring, she handed it back. Something was missing. She knew with each passing day that the engagement was a mistake. It wasn’t a case of cold feet.

Just cold truth.

Much as she wanted to, she didn’t love Zeke. Not even a little.

Marrying him wouldn’t be fair—to either one of them.

He hadn’t taken it well. Not at first. But after a few weeks he’d come to terms with the fact that she wasn’t going to change her mind. And less than a month later, noticing Deanna having a drink at the Double Cross, he’d asked to join her. They’d started dating, and from that moment on, Deanna never missed an opportunity to crow to everyone in town that she’d snagged the man of her dreams, the man Mia Quinn couldn’t hold on to.

Mia had ignored her, unwilling to dignify any of it with a response—or to give the town gossips more to talk about. But Sophie had lost it once and told Deanna off in the middle
of the town library, and ever since then, the air had been frigid as the snow on the Crazy Mountains whenever Deanna Mueller and Mia Quinn found themselves in the same room.