In a voice that quivered and caught, Sophie said, “Maybe you won’t want us either.”
“Aww . . . Sophie-bug, it breaks my heart for you to even think that. I want you guys forever and ever. You’re the most precious people in my world, and I wish I could make things right for you. It’s going to be hard, putting things back together here at home without Mom, but I know we can do it. We need to make a plan.”
“Do you plan to keep shipping us off to Denver to stay with Aunt Jessie?” Angela asked.
“Angel, cut me some slack. Maybe that was a mistake, but I didn’t know what else to do. I thought you had a lot of things there to entertain you, and it would be a fun summer for you. We just don’t have much help here in Timber Creek, and I didn’t think it was fair to leave you guys with Grandma or here at home by yourselves all day. How boring would that be? And besides . . .”
Angela gave him a searching look.
“Well, besides, I thought maybe your mom would change her mind and come back by the end of the summer.”
Sophie took her thumb out of her mouth long enough to say, “Maybe she will.”
Miserable, Cole said, “No, little bit, the divorce is final. None of us should plan on your mom coming home.”
Sophie pressed her fingers into her eyes while Angela remained stone faced and silent.
Gently, Cole took Sophie’s hands from her face before she could damage herself and held them in his. They felt small and sticky.
“Let’s make some plans,” he said. “It feels lonely around here tonight without Aunt Jessie and Belle. Maybe we should think about getting a dog.”
“You can’t just pacify us with a dog, Dad. That won’t fix anything,” Angela said.
Sophie said, “I just want Belle.”
Cole kept himself from sighing. “Okay, let’s wait and discuss that again another time. Aunt Jessie plans to put an ad on the Internet and see if she can get us a housekeeper.”
Angela nodded, relaxing the stone face somewhat. “She told me that before she left. She said she wants to get someone to cook and clean for us, so I don’t have to do that and can still be a kid.”
Cole eyed her, thinking she was closer to being a young woman these days than a kid. “Are you on board with that?”
“Yeah. I don’t want to be one of those families where the oldest kid does all the work.”
“Yeah, I agree, but I’m still going to need you both to help out. Right? You’re still going to have to assume responsibilities here around the house. Don’t worry, I will, too. And I plan to be around a lot more than you’re used to. You might even get sick of me.” He tried a slight smile to see if it would bounce off unacknowledged, and he was gratified to see Angela’s expression ease and return it in a small way.
“You guys are going with me to the clinic in the morning. Tess is going to show you how to do some of the office work.” Cole saw a spark of interest animate Angela’s wan face. “But there’s always going to be emergencies in the early morning or at night, and we need a plan for that. Especially now, before we get some help. Angela, do you think you could watch your sister if I get called out?”
The two girls eyed one another. “Yeah,” Angela said. “Would I get paid?”
“I don’t need to be baby-sitted.”
“Sophie, you’re too young to be left alone for a long time, although I’m sure you’d be fine for a short spell. And yeah, Angie, we could arrange something. As long as you’re kind to your sister and you help her if she needs something. You know, do the right thing by her.”
Angie made a face at Sophie. “So that means I can’t torture her?”
Cole leaned over so he could see Sophie smile back at her sister, and it did his heart good to see that they could still be playful. “Right,” he said. “No funny business either. I expect you two to get along.”
“Sure, Dad,” Angela said and Sophie echoed.
Why did Cole feel like this wasn’t going to be that easy? Perhaps because he’d been around the house enough previously to know that things weren’t always peace and harmony between the two. At least the truce they’d had in force since returning home from Denver still seemed to be in place.
“Can we watch TV now?” Sophie asked, that whiny tone returning to her voice.
“We’ve had enough TV for one day. Maybe we should do something else together, like play a game.”
“Like what?”
Cole thought for a moment. “I could teach you guys how to play blackjack.”
Just then his cell phone jingled in his pocket. Good Lord, I hope it’s not an emergency. He glanced at the caller ID. “Just a minute, kids. This is Garrett Hartman. Let me see what he needs.”
“I hope Belle’s okay,” Sophie said. Both girls tuned in to his conversation.
He pressed the screen to accept the call. “Hello, Garrett. What can I do for you? Is Belle doing okay?”
“She seems fine, Cole. Physically. But she’s gone into Grace’s room and won’t come out. She won’t take anything to eat or drink since she came home. All she does is lie on the floor by Gracie’s bed and look at us with the saddest eyes you can imagine. We can’t stand it.”
“Oh, man . . .”
“Leslie and I’ve talked it over. She seemed to be doing okay at your house with your kids. We’d like them to have her if it’s okay with you. We think it would be best for us all.”
The kids couldn’t hear Garrett’s side of the conversation, and they looked worried as they watched, trying to determine what was being said, perhaps imagining the worst about Belle. Cole couldn’t wait to see their faces change when he told them the news.
“That would be great, Garrett,” he said. “We’ll come right out to get her.”
Chapter 21
Almost midnight. Moonlight streamed through the window, striking Mattie’s face. But that wasn’t the reason she couldn’t sleep.
The walls kept closing in on her.
She’d had this problem as long as she could recall, and sleeping with the window open usually helped. Even in winter, she would pile on quilts so that she could leave her window open a crack.
Nothing seemed to help tonight. Thoughts about Brody kept circling through her mind.
With a sigh, she pushed off her covers and sat up on the edge of the bed. From his dog cushion on the floor, Robo raised his head, alert.
“Want to go for a run?”
He was out of bed in a flash, toenails skittering on the wooden floor.
After putting on her running shorts and a white tank, Mattie strapped on a shoulder holster to carry her Smith & Wesson .38 revolver. She wasn’t in the habit of taking a weapon with her when she went out to run, but in light of the recent attempt on Robo’s life, she felt it necessary. She covered the handgun with a light sweatshirt that zipped up the front.
After pausing to stretch in the shadows on the porch, she opted to head out to the highway to run on its wide shoulder where the moon could light her path. She expected very little traffic this time of night.
Mattie stayed on the left side with Robo trotting beside her. It didn’t take long to warm up; despite the daytime heat, the night had turned cool, a sign that autumn was coming. She lengthened her stride, her feet pounding the asphalt in a rhythm she found soothing. She let her mind release and focused on her breath, feeling her muscles loosen and working out the knots that had formed in her shoulders.
While she was out, she might as well take another look at Brody’s house. There’d been no one at home when she’d driven by earlier in the evening. He lived in a white clapboard house with blue trim, the paint job looking tired and old, built close to the highway on the way out of town. Not much in the way of a yard: some tall, old spruce trees growing beside the driveway. Nothing fancy, but he kept the place tidy; there was very little clutter. For a single guy, he picked up after himself pretty well.