Although she was as curious as her sister, maybe more, Dwayne’s expression had alarmed her. She’d spent enough time in his company to know when he was deeply upset. The strange woman had him in a tailspin.
She joined him at a small wire bistro table with two chairs under a large eucalyptus. “What’s going on, Dempsey?”
He took a long swallow of soda before answering. “It’s complicated.”
“I got that much on my own.” She hated beating around the bush. “Was she your wife?”
“Ex-wife.”
“What did she want? Why was she here? Did somebody in your family invite her?” As bizarre as it sounded, the thought had entered her mind.
“Not unless they had an early death wish.” He set the bottle down and leaned back. “I got a phone message last Monday. All it said was, ‘I want to see the kid.’” He sighed and shook his head. “Then nothing until she showed up here out of the blue.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Jeez, Red, I hate getting you involved in this.”
“Hey, you work for me, so I’m already involved. I’m crazy about Amber, about all your family with the exception of you.” She grinned when he flashed a glare.
“You are a piece of work, Danaher.” A hint of smile tipped the corner of his lips.
“I’m kidding. What are your plans? What do you want me to do?”
“I need some time off. School’s out for the summer on Wednesday. I’m going to take Amber to stay with my mom at her ranch in Wyoming.”
“You’re going to be gone all summer? But what about—?”
Her stomach lurched at the thought of him abandoning her project. At the same time, she cursed herself for thinking of her interests when Dwayne had a family emergency to deal with.
“No.” He waved his hands. “I’ll take a few days to get her settled then come back. I want to leave her there until I find out what Francine is up to.”
He stopped talking when one of her twin brothers approached them with a large bowl of tortilla chips.
“Uh, thanks, uh…” Dwayne took a handful of chips and put them on his plate.
Marla smiled, knowing he had no idea whether it was Harry or Barry.
“Name’s Barry.” He glanced at her. “Want some, BS? Going fast.”
“No thanks, sweetie. We’re good.”
Barry strolled away, offering chips as he went from table to table.
“How the heck can you tell them apart?” He stared at Barry’s back, then over to Harry who still manned the bar while eating between pouring drinks. “Why did he call you BS?”
Marla smiled. “Stands for Big Sister. The boys like to ration words. As for telling them apart, even our parents have a hard time with it.” She smiled while thinking how mean she was not to tell Mom and Dad her secret way to identify them. A tiny fleck in Barry’s iris. She noticed it the day they came home from the hospital and had kept it to herself for twenty years.
“Let’s get back on the subject, Dempsey. When are you leaving, and who will take over while you’re gone?”
“Not you? I thought you’d jump at the chance to run the whole operation.”
“Jerk.”
“Yeah, I am, especially today.”
“Every day.” Which made it difficult for her to understand why she was increasingly attracted to him. Maybe because he wouldn’t jump to her tune.
“Cluny will take over. He’s a subcontractor, but I’ll have him sign a waiver if that’ll make you feel more comfortable. He’ll have to leave now and then to attend to his own business.”
“A waiver’s not necessary. But aren’t you about to tackle the finishing work inside? That’s going to make it difficult to work around Miss Emmaline.” Grateful for not having to relocate, the old woman had not uttered a single complaint about living in the middle of a construction zone.
“I’ll take her with us. She’ll have a little vacation on the ranch while we do the work in her apartment.”
“What a good idea. I’ve lost sleep over how you were going to accomplish your final bit without disturbing her.” His concern for their old nanny touched her. He had a big soft spot for the woman. “Do you think she’ll mind?”
“Nah. She always liked my mother but wasn’t happy when I left here at sixteen to move up there. I’m sure they’ll have a good time catching up and badmouthing Dad. Mom has tons of room in the old ramshackle house she grew up in.”
“How long has she owned the ranch?”
He hesitated. “In reality, I’m the legal owner. Grandad left it to me in his will with the caveat that Mom could live there for the rest of her life if she chose.”
“You own the ranch in Wyoming? How do Dylan and Donovan feel about that?”
“Except for having it available to them for family vacations, they have no interest in owning three thousand acres of Wyoming ranchland.”
Three thousand acres!
Her real estate broker’s brain went into high gear. “Three thousand acres? It must be worth millions. What do you plan to do with it?”
He shrugged. “Go back someday, I suppose. Mom has a good crew but someday she’ll get tired running all those cattle and bison.”
“Why bison?” Weren’t all the bison in Yellowstone Park?
He grinned. “They’re good to eat, Danaher. What do you think the Plains Indian tribes lived off for hundreds of years? They weren’t growing wheat.”
“Don’t be a smart aleck. How would I know? The closest I ever got to a wilderness is Sequoia and Yosemite parks.”
He snorted. “Compared to Montana and Wyoming, those parks are like downtown Denver. You really are a pampered city girl, aren’t you?”
“And you’re really a jackass, aren’t you?”
Face relaxed, Dwayne laughed. “You’re good for my black mood, Red.”
She failed to keep the smile from growing on her face and shook her head in defeat.
They ate the fast-cooling food in comfortable silence for a few minutes, then Marla said, “What about taking Amber to
