When Luke and Leo were kids, the whole family would come out to the ranch, and beneath the Chinese lanterns his mother hung on the trees, they would have big dinners on one long table. His mother had always dressed it up with a tablecloth, flowers, and fancy dishes. The kids would play on the lawn while the meal was prepared, and again, afterward, when the adults would sit around with their homemade pie and coffee.
Tonight, they were missing the backdrop of the mountains and the fancy dishes, but Patti had put up Chinese lanterns and had brought her own tablecloth. And the lasagna was as good as anything Luke’s mother had ever made. It took him back to a simpler, happier time. Could it be like that again?
He looked at Madeline. To him, she was gorgeous. And tonight, so different from the woman he’d met up on Sometimes Pass. She was laughing at something Leo said, her eyes crinkling in the corners. They could be this, he thought. They could be this couple, living this life.
Leo was entertaining them all with his grand schemes to win tickets to a Denver football game. Patti was appalled—and rightfully so—that Leo had convinced his young friend Dante to try and get the tickets through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
“Come on, Aunt Patti,” Leo had scoffed as Marisol mashed up his lasagna to a pulp. “He thinks it’s pretty cool. He wants to go. And he wants to take me. But just in case that doesn’t fly, I am working on backup plans. I will see a game at Mile High Stadium if it’s the last thing I do!”
No one said anything for a long moment.
Leo laughed. “Okay, it won’t be the last thing I do. Better now?”
“I think it’s great,” Greg said, and pointed his fork at Patti. “You know Cathy always said this kid was going to be something someday,” he said, winking at Leo.
“I am something,” Leo said. “I’m a chick magnet. Just look how many I’ve got around me right now.” He grinned, trying to turn his head to look at Libby, Madeline, and Marisol.
“The only thing you have around you now is flies,” Marisol said casually. “Just like the rear end of a horse.”
“You love me, Marisol,” Leo said cheerfully. “Just admit it. Come clean. We all know it and it’s embarrassing.”
“Do you boys remember the lasagna Cathy made for my Tyler’s birthday?” Patti asked.
Dad laughed. “That thing was a brick. Could have been the cornerstone of a new house.” The Kendricks laughed while Patti explained to their guests that Luke’s mother had overcooked the lasagna a wee bit.
Luke remembered that day very clearly. Mom had been beside herself—with fifteen people for dinner, the lasagna burned to a brick. Under the table, he put his hand on Madeline’s knee, and she turned a brilliantly warm smile to him. Yes, he could see her at this table for years to come. He could see them, dining under a Colorado sky, their children playing on the lawn while the two of them ate pie and drank coffee.
“Libby, you have a pretty big family, don’t you?” Patti asked.
“Me?” Libby said, looking surprised. “I have a lot of cousins. My mom has four sisters. There are a lot of them, but we don’t get together like this. It’s usually my mom, her husband, and my twin brothers.”
“What about you, Madeline?” Patti asked.
“Ah… it’s just me and my mother,” Madeline said politely, but Luke could feel her tensing.
“Where’s your mom, in Orlando?”
“Yes.”
“Well, this must have been a great surprise,” Patti said.
She was only making small talk like any good hostess would, but Luke knew Madeline well enough now to know how uncomfortable these questions would make her. Her fist curled in her lap, and she glanced at Luke. He smiled reassuringly. On some dusty, remote level, he understood the anxiety that she seemed to live with. In moments like this, he felt sorry for her. Madeline had not had an easy life.
Madeline suddenly sat up. “It was a huge surprise,” she said, and laughed a little, looking at Libby across the table. “Of all the things I imagined about my dad, this wasn’t it. Two sisters and a ranch? I was not expecting that.”
“I’m really glad you came out, Madeline,” Jackson said. “When are you heading back to Orlando?”
“Next week.” She said it without hesitation, so easily, that Luke realized her mind was made up.
“What?” Leo exclaimed. “But you can’t. You have to stay and redeem your piss-poor performance on ‘Hounds of Hell.’”
Madeline smiled warmly at Leo. “I would love to, but I have a lot of active listings. And my mom needs me.” She turned that warm smile to Luke.
He did not smile back, and he saw something flicker in her eyes. Guilt?
“Time for dessert!” Patti announced, and stood up. “Madeline, would you help me?”