LITMIR.BIZ

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Butch I’m on my way.” Trace shoved his phone into his pocket and headed to his cruiser.

      Gripping Zack’s hand, Jenn hurried away from Trace and the feelings he awakened in her.

      For so long she had tried not to think about him or any of the memories that went with him, but seeing his concern for her son brought those unwanted emotions flooding back. She tried to push them away into the back of her mind where she’d locked them. They didn’t seem to fit any longer.

      Zack made a growling noise tugged and tugged free of her grasp. “Are you angry with me?” he signed.

      She shook her head. “No. Why do you think that?”

      He rubbed the hand she’d been holding. “Because you were smashing my hand.”

      In her agitation she’d had too strong a hold on him. She scooped him up, reveling in the little-boy smell of him. He wiggled out of her grasp as she set him down again. “I’m not angry at you.” But she was furious at Kelly. Jenn had given her niece strict instructions to keep an eye on Zack.

      Zack signed again. “The man was angry.”

      “He was frightened for you.”

      Zack shook his head in disbelief. “Policemen don’t get scared.”

      She nodded, amused by Zack’s childlike view of the world, and took him more gently by the hand. She didn’t want to talk about Trace. Or why, if Trace was angry at anyone, it was her. Instead, she walked Zack back to the pigpen.

      Kelly was sitting on a stool beside Petunia, talking on a cell phone. She didn’t look up at them.

      Jenn pointed Zack to the empty pen opposite them, where he had been playing earlier with his assortment of action figures. Once he was absorbed, she said. “Kelly, I need to speak to you.”

      Kelly rolled her eyes and pointed to the telephone.

      Jenn barely resisted the urge to rip it out of her hand. “Tell them you’ll call them back.”

      Kelly turned away and said something Jenn couldn’t hear, then disconnected the call. When she turned back she had a sullen look on her face. “What?”

      Jenn wondered briefly what had happened to the sweet girl who had stayed at her house in Dallas last summer. Kelly had changed from a sunny child to a sullen teenager in the course of a few months.

      “I told you how important it was to keep an eye on Zack. He’s not like other children.”

      Kelly shrugged. That insolent lift of her shoulder was becoming a familiar thing. “It’s not my fault. I thought he was right behind me.”

      “Well, he wasn’t. He wandered away and was almost gored by a bull.”

      Kelly glanced over at Zack. “But he wasn’t.”

      “No. Thanks to Trace.”

      “He should stay with you. I can’t talk to him.”

      “Yes, you can. He’s getting good at lip-reading.

      “I didn’t want him to tag along.” Kelly’s pretty face got red and blotchy.

      “This summer really sucks. I don’t see why you even had to come. I can take care of myself.” The girl stood up so quickly she knocked her stool over. “It is, like, so disgusting.”

      Jenn didn’t know what she was referring to. “What is?”

      Kelly did the eye roll that was becoming annoyingly familiar. “Mom having a baby. She’s, like, so old. And just because she has to stay home doesn’t mean I can’t take care of myself.”

      Jenn could tell Kelly was trying hard not to cry. Poor kid was having a rough time since her stepfather had walked out on them, but Jenn couldn’t let Kelly take it out on her or Zack. “Well, Kel,” she said gently, “it would be tough to haul a three-hundred-pound pig to the fairgrounds on the city bus.”

      Kelly glared at Jenn. “You’re as bad as Mom!”

      Ah. A truly teenage insult, Jenn thought as she watched her niece turn and run toward the sunlight streaming through the stock-barn doors.

      Kelly had been through so much during the past few months. Her stepfather, the only father she remembered, had run off with another woman. According to Miranda, Roger hadn’t even said goodbye to Kelly before he moved out, nor had he talked to her since. Add all that to a raging case of hormones, and this was not shaping up to be Kelly’s finest summer.

      Jenn had nothing but sympathy for her niece’s situation. She suspected this was not going to be her best summer, either.

      “Jennifer?”

      A male voice startled her out of her thoughts. She looked up at a vaguely familiar face.

      He held out a hand. “I’m Stan. Stan Donnely. I was in Miranda’s class.”

      She hadn’t seen him for years, but she remembered him. He had been a close friend of Miranda’s first husband. When Rob had died, Stan had helped with the arrangements. “Of course. Stan. How are you?” She shook his hand.

      “I’m fine. How’s Miranda?”

      Jenn didn’t miss the look of genuine concern on Stan’s face. “She’s on bed rest.”

      “I’ll stop by later and see if she needs me to do anything around the place.”

      Jenn nodded. “Miranda would appreciate that.” Stan had always been a nice guy. He’d never married, and Jenn had suspected he’d had a crush on Miranda since high school.

      “Where’s Kelly?” He motioned with his clipboard to Petunia. “I’m here to check in her project.”

      Stalling, giving herself time to think, Jenn said, “Are you the 4H adviser?”

      He nodded and smiled. “Yup.”

      Jenn decided to cover for Kelly. “I sent her to get me a soda. Does she need to be here, or can you do this without her?”

      “She needs to be here. I can get started, but I’ll bet she’ll want to be here for the birth.”

      Jenn looked at him blankly. Miranda was not due for weeks. “Birth?”

      He gestured toward Petunia, who lay on her side panting. “Unless I miss my guess, she’s in labor.”

      In the wake of everything that had happened in the past hour Jenn had forgotten the pig was pregnant. What did you do for a pig in labor?

      Stan chuckled and said, “Relax. She knows what to do.”

      “I hope so.” Jenn glanced at Zack, who was still playing across the aisle, then dug her cell phone out of her bag and dialed Kelly’s number, praying the girl would pick up.

      On the fourth ring Kelly answered, with a rude “What?” Obviously she’d recognized her aunt’s number on the incoming call.

      Jenn said cheerfully, “Kelly, sweetheart, you’ll have to forget my soda. You need to hurry back. Mr. Donnely is here to check Petunia in and he thinks she’s in labor.”

      She heard a yelp and then the line went dead. Jenn smiled up at Stan. “She’s on her way.”

      As they waited for Kelly they chatted about her job in Dallas and how hot the weather was getting. Then the conversation, as it tended to do with old acquaintances, turned to the past.

      “You used to go with Trace McCabe, didn’t you?”

      Jenn tried not to wince at the question. The last thing she wanted was to discuss Trace. “Yes, for the last two years of high school.” People in small towns never forgot anything, Jenn thought.

      “Have you seen him since you’ve been back?”

      She nodded and struggled to keep her tone

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