Tory bit back the questions that immediately sprang to her mind and focused on the menu, but her thoughts were spinning. Liam was running this meeting? Why hadn’t he said anything? She hadn’t seen him since he dropped her off after their night under the stars and she’d crept into her house like a teenager late for curfew trying not to wake anyone. Not once in his texts since then had he mentioned the dialysis unit. Was this why he was keeping his distance?
She tried not to feel hurt as she perused the menu. Liam didn’t owe her any explanations for what he did on his own time, and she knew the Turners were still trying to win the Founder’s Prize. That’s why Virginia had been pushing her to win it, too.
She and Olivia managed to place their order, then settled back to wait and see what would happen next. It was only a minute or two later that the restaurant’s door opened and Liam walked in. He fought his way through the crowd like she and Tory had a little while ago, but when he reached the center of the restaurant, he called out, “Hey, everybody, let’s get this thing started!”
As he shushed the crowd, Tory turned to Olivia. “How did you know about this?”
“Heard about it through the grapevine. Apparently Liam couldn’t get the hospital to listen to him about saving the dialysis unit, so he’s starting a revolt. I figured we’d better make sure our side of the family was represented at the meeting.”
“So the Turners don’t get all the credit?” She was sick of the Founder’s Prize and the way it kept them all pitted against each other, although she supposed they’d been rivals a lot longer than this contest had been going on.
“We need to make sure both families win, or there will never be any peace between us,” Olivia said.
Liam was talking again.
“Thanks for coming out,” he called. A waitress brought him an extra chair, and he climbed up to stand on it. “Hey, everyone, settle down so we can all hear each other.”
The customers quieted down.
“As you know, I’m trying to raise money to save Chance Creek’s dialysis unit. A friend of my family has been going there for years, and she just found out she’s going to have to leave her home and move to Bozeman in order to continue treatment. Everyone knows that Chance Creek has had some hard times, but I think we can save the unit—and the hospital, too.”
There were scattered cheers, but Tory’s mood was getting darker by the minute. Had he been planning this while they made love the other night? Had he simply been distracting her so she didn’t find a way to win the prize herself?
“Move over,” Enid said, appearing beside her suddenly.
Tory flinched. She hadn’t seen her mother come in. “What are you doing here?”
“Heard the Turners were saving the hospital so they could win the Ridley place. Thought I’d better come and make sure we were represented.”
Tory exchanged a puzzled glance with Olivia. “What do you care about the Ridley property?”
“I let you down once before. I’m not going to do it again. If the Turners win it, they’ll be able to control the flow of Pittance Creek.”
“Such as it is,” Olivia put in drily. “How did you figure all that out?”
“I grew up in this town!” Enid exclaimed. “For heaven’s sake, both of you, don’t pretend I come from Mars. I know Chance Creek—and the Turners—a lot better than you do. You can bet Mary will be all over this competition.”
“I doubt it—” Olivia said but broke off when Mary herself dropped onto the bench seat next to Olivia.
“Ha. I figured you’d be here meddling where you don’t belong,” she said to Enid.
“I figured you’d be here cheering on that marauding son of yours,” Enid shot back. “If Liam thinks he can steal the Ridley property away from my kids, he’s dead wrong.”
“Dead wrong? Are you going to shoot him?” Mary asked. “I know how you Coopers love your guns.”
“Look at all this enthusiasm for saving the dialysis unit,” Leslie Falk exclaimed, dropping her oversize handbag on the table and startling all of them. Tory helplessly shoved over even farther on the bench seat when her mother nudged her and made room for the newcomer. “My two best friends competing to see who can help the hospital the most to ensure I don’t have to move to Bozeman! If that isn’t true compassion, I don’t know what is.”
Both Mary and Enid had the grace to look embarrassed.
“Of course,” Mary said. “We want to do all we can.”
“Then maybe you should pipe down and listen to Liam.” Leslie waved over a waitress, who wove her way through the crowded restaurant with more than a little difficulty. “A milkshake, please. With two cherries on top to represent my two good friends.”
“Before we talk about how to save the dialysis unit,” Liam was saying, “I want to hear from some of the people who work in the unit and in the hospital. Take it away, Jill.”
He hopped down from the chair and helped a middle-aged woman step up onto it.
“Hi, all,” she said. “My name is Jill Richards. I’ve worked at Chance Creek General Hospital for nearly twenty years, and I’ve been in the dialysis unit for over ten of those. It’s a crime what’s going on. I work hard to do my job there, and so does everyone else employed in the unit, but if our machines break down and the hospital refuses to fix them, there’s nothing I can do to help my patients. Right now only two of our machines still work.” She paused to let that sink in. “Every day it becomes more difficult to fit everybody in. Can you imagine that? Needing dialysis and having to
