LITMIR.BIZ

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sounds more like it. I guess I’ll just have to dust off my charm.”

      That ought to do it, Cassie thought as he held out his hand to her son for a grown-up handshake. Certainly one member of the Collins family was under his spell. Okay, two, she conceded reluctantly. She might not hold out any hope for their future, but that didn’t stop her from indulging in the occasional fantasy, the one in which she, Jake and Cole somehow put aside all the lies and deceit of the past and became a happy family.

      * * *

      As soon as Cole left and she could get away, Cassie invited her mother to come into town with her and Jake to have lunch at Stella’s. Eager for an outing of any kind, Jake had already raced ahead to the car.

      “I need to talk to Stella about that job,” she explained to her mother. “This is as good a time as any. And maybe it will pacify Jake. He’s still smarting over the fact that I didn’t let Cole spend the whole morning helping him with that bike.”

      “Then you’re determined to stay?” her mother asked. “Even with Cole showing up here earlier and sending you into a tizzy?”

      Cassie couldn’t deny that she’d been thrown, but a promise was a promise. “I told you I would. Besides, there is nowhere else I could be right now. You need me.”

      Her mother nodded, and what might have been relief passed across her face. “That’s that, then,” she said giving Cassie’s hand a squeeze. “It’ll be good to have the two of you here. The house gets awfully quiet sometimes.”

      “I thought you’d be grateful for that after all the ruckus I raised as a kid.”

      Her mother smiled. “I was for a time, but no more. Having Jake running in and out, having you to talk to now that you’re a grown-up woman yourself, it’s a real blessing, Cassie. I’m grateful.”

      “I don’t need your gratitude, Mom. I belong here, especially now. Go on and get your purse. I’m going to buy you the biggest sundae Stella can make.”

      “Oh, my, I couldn’t possibly,” her mother said, but she looked tempted as she followed Cassie to the car.

      “Of course you can,” Cassie said as she checked to make sure everyone had fastened their seat belts. Then she grinned at her mother. “And you can have it before lunch.”

      Her mother looked horrified. “Heavens, no. It will ruin my appetite.”

      “So what?” Cassie said as they made the quick trip to Main Street. “Why can’t we have dessert first every now and again on a special occasion?”

      “And what occasion would that be?” her mother asked as Cassie pulled into a parking spot in front of the diner.

      “My homecoming, of course.”

      A rare and full-fledged smile spread across her mother’s too-pale face. “Now that really is worth celebrating.”

      She said it with such genuine emotion that Cassie had to blink back tears. Maybe she’d had it wrong all these years. Maybe her mother really had missed her.

      “Can I celebrate, too?” Jake asked from the back.

      “Absolutely,” Cassie agreed.

      “And we’re really going to stay here?” he asked. “You’re not going to change your mind again?”

      “I’m not changing my mind,” Cassie said firmly.

      He pumped a fist into the air. “All right!”

      When they were settled into a booth at Stella’s, Cassie beckoned her old boss over. “We need three large sundaes, two hot fudge.” She glanced at her mother. “Caramel or strawberry?”

      “Definitely strawberry,” her mother said.

      Stella reacted with shock. “No main course? Not even a burger?”

      “Not yet,” Cassie said.

      “Anything else?”

      “How about a job?”

      Stella’s mouth gaped. She stuck her order pad in her pocket, then scooted into the booth next to Cassie. “You’re looking for work?”

      Cassie nodded.

      “Well, hallelujah! That must mean you’re home to stay.”

      “I am.”

      “Then you can start tomorrow. With the parade and all, it’s going to be a zoo in here, and the teenage girl I had working for me announced today that she intended to spend the Fourth with her boyfriend whether I liked it or not.”

      “Did you fire her?”

      Stella chuckled. “I will now. Irresponsible kids need to be taught a lesson.” She patted Cassie’s hand. “Didn’t take long for you to catch on, did it? One warning had you in here right on time every single day you were scheduled.”

      “I liked the perks,” Cassie said with a grin. “All the ice cream I could eat.”

      “It was a small price to pay for a reliable worker,” Stella replied.

      After she’d gone off to fix their sundaes, Jake left his grandmother’s side to squeeze in next to Cassie. “If we’re gonna stay, that means I can spend more time with Mr. Davis, doesn’t it? My friends back home will be so jealous when I tell them I know him. I mean, he’s almost like a celebrity.”

      “In that case you should understand that you can’t go bothering him. I’m sure he has lots and lots of work to do,” Cassie said.

      “But I asked him if he would explain to me about computers and how they work and stuff, and he said he would.” Jake regarded her with an earnest, hopeful expression. “He said he wouldn’t mind at all.”

      Cassie exchanged a helpless look with her mother. Leave it to Jake to take matters into his own hands.

      “We’ll see,” Cassie said evasively.

      “I think we should go after lunch, before he forgets,” Jake said.

      “No, not today,” Cassie told him firmly.

      “When?”

      “I’ll talk to him and work something out,” she said, grateful when Stella appeared with their sundaes.

      The ice cream distracted Jake for maybe five minutes before he began to badger her again.

      “If you don’t drop this right now,” Cassie said finally, “you won’t see him at all.”

      “But—”

      “I said to drop it.”

      Tears welled up in Jake’s eyes, but he fell silent, shoving the rest of his sundae away in protest. Cassie’s appetite disappeared, as well. Only her mother continued to enjoy her sundae, or at least pretended to.

      Was this what it was going to be like living in Winding River, a constant tug-of-war with her son over his hero worship of a man he didn’t even realize was his father?

      By the time they left for home, Cassie had a splitting headache and a knot the size of Wyoming in her stomach. At this rate she was going to wind up in a hospital bed right next to her mother’s.

      * * *

      Naturally Jake didn’t take her decision as final. Nor did the concession she made, allowing him to attend the parade and fireworks, appease him. She had to admit that had gone well enough. If Cole had been around, she hadn’t spotted him. And Jake’s delight had been worth every second of nervousness she’d experienced.

      But by the next morning the treat had been forgotten, and Jake was back on the subject of going to see Cole. Her repeated warnings that she didn’t want to hear another word about it seemed to fall on deaf ears.

      He continued to pester her for the rest of the week about going out

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