“She is, but that’s not what I mean. Well, it is. I needed coffee like it was nobody’s business. And I’m fucking starving and this muffin has those big sprinkles of sugar on the top. So damn good. But I mean for making Sierra happy again. I don’t even think she realizes it. You know she wears those weird outfits, right? Well, she stopped after Jake died. I think it was like too much effort or something. Now she’s back to those damn character-inspired whatever.” Lisa waves her hand in the air. “I can never guess what she is, and I hate when I can’t do something. But my point is, she’s herself again. Part of her died with Jake, and whatever you’re doing, it’s bringing her back to life.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. Suddenly, I realize that’s a whole lot of fucking responsibility.
“And,” Lisa goes on, “I just want to remind you once again that my family owns a lot of farmland in this town. You hurt Sierra, I can kill you and make it look like an accident and scatter your body over the thousands of acres we own.”
I smile, liking Lisa more and more. “If you were going to hide my body, you don’t need to make it look like an accident. Save yourself the trouble.”
Lisa smiles back. “Good point. Then I’d just beat you to death with a shovel.”
“Sounds about right. I won’t hurt her.”
“You better not. Want me to get Melissa now?”
“Yeah, then finish your coffee. You’re gonna need it.”
I pull out my phone while Lisa goes in the back and open Jax’s text. He asked if I was alive. I simply respond ‘yes’ and hit send.
Chapter 19
Sierra
I set my Kindle down, trading it for my phone. I’m supposed to be at the Sunday family dinner in ten minutes and I’m half expecting it to be Mom, asking where I am. It’s Lisa instead.
Lisa: Are you bringing Chase to dinner tonight?
Me: No. He’s hanging out with his brother tonight.
Lisa: Good. We need to talk.
Me: Trouble with Rob again?
She doesn’t respond, so I take that as a yes. I read a few more pages before getting up out of the hammock and going inside, opening a can of cat food so Dolly and Tinkerbell come running. They like to sit on the screened-in porch with me, but I won’t leave them out there unattended. I might have a slight irrational fear of something tearing through the screen and getting them.
When I get to my parents’, I see Rob and Lisa sitting together on the back patio. His arm is around hers and they’re animatedly talking with Sam and her husband. No one looks stressed. Rob laughs and brings his head closer to Lisa as they talk. I’m not a body language expert, but those two do not look like lovers in a quarrel. And I know they didn’t just have a fight because when they do, they’re all over each other for a day or two after making up.
I catch Lisa’s eye and wave. She gives me a tight smile and whispers something to Rob. He jerks around, face flat before smiling like everything is normal. Lisa stands, shoulders tense, and starts to make her way inside.
“Sierra, dear,” Gran calls. “You look lovely. Did you get a bit of sun today?”
“Too much,” I tell her, crossing the solarium floor to give my grandmother a hug. “I was hiking and thought the sunlight wouldn’t get to me since I was in the woods.”
Gran smiles. “I’ve made that mistake a time or two. Not recently, mind you. Come, dear. Keep me company while I have my tea.”
I shoot Lisa an apologetic glance and follow Gran to the front porch. Storm clouds are rolling in, and the smell of rain on the horizon calms me.
“Have you thought about going back to school?” Gran asks, stirring sugar into her tea.
“Not really.” I look into my cup, watching tea leaves swirl around the bottom. Part of me wants to try to read them, but I know Gran would think I lost it for sure. “Getting into the same grad school twice is pretty unlikely. The program I was in is very selective.”
“But not impossible.”
“I know. Maybe I’ll go back and get a second degree in agriculture. Or business. The more I think about letting Sam run the farm, the more I feel we’re all doomed.”
Gran gives me a wry smile, gracefully bringing her tea to her lips. “You would bring a level head into the equation. Which we need. You would be an invaluable asset to the Belmont Industry.”
I almost choke. It’s the first time Gran has ever hinted that she wants me to come into the family business.
“I’m not really a business person,” I mumble.
Ignoring me, Gran goes on. “There is more to this than men in stuffy suits, my dear.”
“Yeah…I know.” I set my teacup down and look out at the gray clouds. The breeze picks up and a chill comes over me.
“So,” Gran says, changing the subject. “When am I going to meet this gentleman you’ve been seeing? Gloria Freemont tells me he’s quite the looker, even with those tattoos.” She shakes her head, clicking her tongue. “I don’t see the appeal in that.”
I laugh. “A lot of people find tattoos sexy, Gran.”
“You know what I found sexy about your grandfather?”
“Do I want to know?”
“The way he treated his inferiors. You’d never know they were inferiors. When I met him, the farm was struggling. There had been a drought followed by a year of nonstop rain. It nearly wiped out everything. And within the next two years, luck changed and he got the first partnership selling to a national distributor. He made his first million the next year. But he still worked the fields. Took extra shifts to give his employees days off. I’ll never meet another man like your grandfather,” she ends, voice dropping.
Gran married two more times after my grandpa died. She divorced her second husband after six years of marriage, saying she was bored with him. She married six months later to a telenovela star she met in Miami, shocking us all. He wasn’t a legal citizen, so the marriage isn’t technically recognized. He got into some trouble and got deported. She still keeps in contact with him, but I don’t think she ever fully committed to either of those men.
It was my fear after Jake died. I’d never find someone I loved as much. I’d forever think back to what I had, comparing anyone I had interest in to Jake. And they’d fail.
“Excuse me, ma’am,” Melinda, my parents’ housekeeper says as she steps onto the porch. “Dinner is ready.”
I help Gran to her feet and go inside, taking my usual spot at the dining room table next to Lisa. She’s quiet throughout the meal, averting her eyes whenever I look her way. As soon as we’re done, she grabs my wrist and pulls me into the living room, away from the rest of the family.
“We need to talk,” she blurts, looking nervous.
“Are you pregnant?” I whisper.
“What? God no.” She looks down at her stomach. “Do I look pregnant? It’s this fucking shirt, isn’t it?”
“No, you don’t. But if you just found out you wouldn’t look pregnant. That’s not the point. What the hell is going on?”
“Chase,” she says, and her voice cuts through the air like a sharp knife.