“What about Ryan? Heard from him?”
“No.” She gave a wan smile. “Probably doesn’t realize any of us are gone.”
They hadn’t talked about Len’s cosmetic surgery. Hadn’t really had time. But Raney had thought about it a lot, especially after Mama’s five-point theory. “Did it hurt? The surgery?”
Len shrugged. “Certainly not as much as what’s about to happen to Joss.”
“Why’d you do it? You didn’t need to. You’re still beautiful.”
She was a long time answering. “With my kids growing up and away, I feel like I’m losing my babies. I’ve already lost Ryan to his work. I didn’t want to lose my youth, too. Yet every time I look in the mirror, I seem a decade older.”
“And you think surgery will help?”
“It’s supposed to. I doubt it will. The kids will keep pulling away and Ryan will keep working until all hours, and I’ll continue to age. But, what the hell.” She raised her goblet high like she was offering a toast. “It was worth a try, right? Oh, damn. I’m empty again. Do we have another bottle?”
Raney got up and opened another bottle, poured Len’s goblet full, and topped off her own. Then before she stretched out again, she turned off all the veranda lights to keep the moths from dive-bombing the screen.
They sat in silence, except for the soft whir of the coolers, the drone of crickets on the other side of the screen, and the lowing of cattle as they watered at the creek. Faint strains of music drifting up from the workers’ quarters added to a sense of loneliness as Raney thought about what her sister had said.
Theory number four. The slow slide into indifference, and maybe the saddest of them all. Raney hoped not. She didn’t know this Len, this discouraged, defeated shadow of her big sister. She didn’t like what was happening to her.
“I’m thinking of going back to school,” Len said after a while.
“You are?” Raney looked at her in surprise. “To study what?”
“I don’t know yet. Southern Methodist has an excellent business college. Maybe I’ll pick up where I left off thirteen years ago.”
Raney had been feeling sad for her sister a moment ago. Now she felt envious. She hadn’t realized how much she’d regretted not going to college until Dalton had talked about his two years at Texas Tech and Joss had referred to Raney’s missed chance when Daddy died. But how could she go to college and still manage the ranch and the AI program and the quarter horse expansion?
She’d have to think about that. And decide if she really wanted to go to college and why. Was she just looking for an escape from all the responsibilities that seemed to grow heavier every year? But college was a big commitment, too, and a drain in time and energy. And what would she study?
Here I go, she thought with a sigh. Overthinking again.
* * *
Dalton called just after ten o’clock. Raney had already showered and was sitting in bed in her pj’s, trying to read when her phone buzzed. She couldn’t ignore it. Especially after she saw who it was. But she wasn’t sure she wanted to talk to him, either. Not after he’d run off without telling her. She answered anyway.
“Hey,” she said.
“You awake?”
Did all of their phone conversations have to start with those words?
“And before you answer,” he added before she spoke, “I can see your light is on, so don’t lie.”
“You’re back?” She refrained from jumping up and looking out the window.
“Sitting in my truck, wondering if you stayed up late just to kiss me good night.”
“I didn’t know you were coming in tonight. Hicks said you might not get back until tomorrow. How are your folks and Timmy?”
“All good. Timmy likes his group home. He’s reading better and has just started a handyman job. He’s already earned enough to open a bank account. Mom is happy to have a grocery store less than five minutes away and a church she can walk to. And Dad told me all about this newfangled cable TV thing that plays football games all day long, and has fishing shows, and even a program that explains how to make stuff. Did you know polar fleece is made from recycled plastic bottles? What are you doing?”
“Reading.”
“How’s Joss?”
“Nothing new. She sees the doctor tomorrow. I thought you were avoiding me.”
“I was.”
“Why?”
“You wanted us to go slow. The only way to keep from chasing you down as soon as your mother left was to go see mine.”
“Do you think I should go to college?”
“Not tonight. Tonight, I think you should come get in my truck so we can hook up like we should have back in high school.”
“I didn’t know you in high school. And your truck has a console between the front seats and you’d never fit into the back. Besides, I’m not that kind of girl.” Or I wasn’t until I met you.
“What are you wearing?”
“Pj’s.”
“Something frilly?”
“Something like running shorts and a tank top.”
“Want to take them off?”
“In your truck?”
“Wherever. We could go to the creek and skinny-dip.”
“Just us and the mosquitoes and the snakes. Sounds fun.”
“Then come to my room. You remember where it is, right? You can help me shower.”
“I thought we were going to go slow.”
“I’ll go slow. In fact, I’ll let you take all the time you need to scrub me down.”
Raney laughed, loving his sense of humor. “I’ve already had my shower. But I’ll meet you in the kitchen with a beer. That should cool you down.”
“Maybe you could practice your domestic skills and make a sandwich to go with it. You do know how to make a sandwich, don’t you?”
“Bite me.”
Ten minutes later, Raney was building a ham and cheese when Dalton walked barefoot into the kitchen, wearing jeans that barely clung to his narrow hips, a still-damp T-shirt plastered across all those muscles she admired, and a devilish grin on his unshaven face.
Without a
