just told him again in the front yard. “Joanna.”
He returned to staring out the window and said nothing else. She would give an arm to know what was stewing inside his head. Soon they drove up on the old blue ranch truck. A few yards away, they saw Alicia and Clova surrounded by curious cattle and struggling with a wire stretcher. They had succeeded in closing the hole in the fence.
Clova must have recognized her son immediately because she dropped her tools. She started toward them in a walk that soon became a run. Dalton opened the door and slid to the ground just in time to wrap his arms around his mother. Clova broke into sobs of joy against his chest and they stood there in an embrace inside the shade of the pickup door.
“It’s okay, Mom,” he said softly against her hair, patting her back. “I’m here now.”
“You should o’ tol’ somebody you’s comin’,” Clova said on a hitch of breath. “I ain’t got nothin’ cooked or anything.”
“Shh-shh,” he told her softly.
The obvious affection between them didn’t mesh with the gossip Joanna had heard from her mother and sister last Sunday or with the impression he had made on her in the last hour and a half. He might be an overbearing bastard, but something about him made her know that somehow he would fix everything. And he might even save the Parker ranch. From what she could see, Clova felt that way, too. Joanna looked away and wiped a tear of her own.
With Clova’s love for her oldest son so obviously desperate and long-suffering, Joanna found their reunion painful to watch. It touched her in an unexpected way. If Clova loved him so much, why and how had she gone so long without contact with him?
Taking Alicia into her pickup, Joanna left mother and son at the broken fence. Once on the road back to town, fatigue that had been accumulating for a week fell on her like a boulder. The energy she had left to devote to Clova’s dysfunctional family waned. All she could think of was a long, peaceful nap.
“You’ve done a good job this week, kiddo,” she told Alicia. “Above and beyond the call, I’d say.”
“You have the sore head,” Alicia said, pointing to her own forehead.
Joanna didn’t have the will to discuss it or explain it in detail. She gingerly touched the injury between her eyes and chuckled. “Would you believe I ran into a door?”
“Oh,” the teenager said, her eyes wide with puzzlement.
“Listen, Alicia, don’t come to the store tomorrow, okay? Stay home and rest.”
“But who will do the work?”
Responsible Alicia. Seventeen going on thirty. Joanna dreaded the day she would have to do without her. “I’ll ask Mom to fill in,” Joanna answered.
“Poor Clova,” the teenager said, her eyes downcast. “She such a nice lady. I don’ mind helping her.”
“I know. Listen, when you do come in on Monday, pick out a bottle of your favorite fragrance, okay? I’m delivering the eggs, so I won’t be there. Just leave me a note which one you chose. So I can take it off of inventory.”
Alicia’s face broke into a big grin. “Okay. Sí . I will take Angel. Pablo will be so happy. He like for me to smell good.”
Joanna drove home thinking about Alicia and her boyfriend. Opposite from Alicia, Pablo Sanchez was a worthless kid who was probably in Alicia’s pants, which didn’t bode well for Joanna’s favorite teenager’s future. For an instant she wondered if she should say something to Alicia, but she quickly put that thought out of her mind. She simply had to stop involving herself in other people’s lives.
At home, she shoved a Lean Cuisine frozen dinner in the microwave without even looking to see what she would be eating, then sorted her laundry and stuffed a few items into the washer. Dinner turned out to be low-fat lasagna. She ate, then changed into her sleeping clothes and crawled into bed. She didn’t intend to merely nap. She intended to sink into unconsciousness. Mom and the three girls
He returned to staring out the window and said nothing else. She would give an arm to know what was stewing inside his head. Soon they drove up on the old blue ranch truck. A few yards away, they saw Alicia and Clova surrounded by curious cattle and struggling with a wire stretcher. They had succeeded in closing the hole in the fence.
Clova must have recognized her son immediately because she dropped her tools. She started toward them in a walk that soon became a run. Dalton opened the door and slid to the ground just in time to wrap his arms around his mother. Clova broke into sobs of joy against his chest and they stood there in an embrace inside the shade of the pickup door.
“It’s okay, Mom,” he said softly against her hair, patting her back. “I’m here now.”
“You should o’ tol’ somebody you’s comin’,” Clova said on a hitch of breath. “I ain’t got nothin’ cooked or anything.”
“Shh-shh,” he told her softly.
The obvious affection between them didn’t mesh with the gossip Joanna had heard from her mother and sister last Sunday or with the impression he had made on her in the last hour and a half. He might be an overbearing bastard, but something about him made her know that somehow he would fix everything. And he might even save the Parker ranch. From what she could see, Clova felt that way, too. Joanna looked away and wiped a tear of her own.
With Clova’s love for her oldest son so obviously desperate and long-suffering, Joanna found their reunion painful to watch. It touched her in an unexpected way. If Clova loved him so much, why and how had she gone so long without contact with him?
Taking Alicia into her pickup, Joanna left mother and son at the broken fence. Once on the road back to town, fatigue that had been accumulating for a week fell on her like a boulder. The energy she had left to devote to Clova’s dysfunctional family waned. All she could think of was a long, peaceful nap.
“You’ve done a good job this week, kiddo,” she told Alicia. “Above and beyond the call, I’d say.”
“You have the sore head,” Alicia said, pointing to her own forehead.
Joanna didn’t have the will to discuss it or explain it in detail. She gingerly touched the injury between her eyes and chuckled. “Would you believe I ran into a door?”
“Oh,” the teenager said, her eyes wide with puzzlement.
“Listen, Alicia, don’t come to the store tomorrow, okay? Stay home and rest.”
“But who will do the work?”
Responsible Alicia. Seventeen going on thirty. Joanna dreaded the day she would have to do without her. “I’ll ask Mom to fill in,” Joanna answered.
“Poor Clova,” the teenager said, her eyes downcast. “She such a nice lady. I don’ mind helping her.”
“I know. Listen, when you do come in on Monday, pick out a bottle of your favorite fragrance, okay? I’m delivering the eggs, so I won’t be there. Just leave me a note which one you chose. So I can take it off of inventory.”
Alicia’s face broke into a big grin. “Okay. Sí . I will take Angel. Pablo will be so happy. He like for me to smell good.”
Joanna drove home thinking about Alicia and her boyfriend. Opposite from Alicia, Pablo Sanchez was a worthless kid who was probably in Alicia’s pants, which didn’t bode well for Joanna’s favorite teenager’s future. For an instant she wondered if she should say something to Alicia, but she quickly put that thought out of her mind. She simply had to stop involving herself in other people’s lives.
At home, she shoved a Lean Cuisine frozen dinner in the microwave without even looking to see what she would be eating, then sorted her laundry and stuffed a few items into the washer. Dinner turned out to be low-fat lasagna. She ate, then changed into her sleeping clothes and crawled into bed. She didn’t intend to merely nap. She intended to sink into unconsciousness. Mom and the three girls
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