“I’ll ride him down. We can both use it.”
“Sundown’s here.” Alice gestured. “I see him.”
“That’s one fine horse. Big boss coming,” Easy added, and Alice tore her eyes from his face to look around.
“It’s Bodine!” Alice’s hand relaxed in Cora’s. “Bodine works here, too. It’s close to the Bodine House.”
“I’ll get these fellas saddled. Ladies.” Easy tapped his brim again, led the horses away as Bodine strode up.
“Bodine. I went to see Bodine House. Nothing looks the same. Everything’s different. It’s big.”
“It is big.” Casually, she draped an arm around Alice’s shoulders. “We like to think we have something for everybody who’s looking for a Western experience. Maybe one day you’ll take a ride around with me, see more of it. To my mind there’s no better way to see Bodine Resort than on horseback.”
“We can ride around?”
“That’s right.”
“Now?”
“I—”
“I’d like to ride now. I can take a ride with you.”
“Um.”
Callen grinned at her, knowing she’d be ticking off a half dozen things she’d planned to do. And none of them would be giving Alice a tour on horseback.
“Bodine must be so busy,” Cora began.
“She’s the big boss.”
“You know, you’re right. And the big boss can take an hour to show you around. Skinner, you pick out a good mount for my aunt.”
“I can do that.”
“You’ll have Leo. I saw him over in the paddock. I’ll have a new horse. I’m not afraid to ride a new one.”
“You ought to come over with me, pick out one who looks good to you.”
Obviously pleased, Alice took Callen’s hand.
“I know you’re busy, Bo,” Cora said, watching Alice walk away with Callen.
“I like being busy. Why don’t you and Grammy go on up, have some lunch, and I’ll text you when we’re back.”
“You’re a good girl, Bodine. Don’t let anybody tell you different. Come on, Cora. I’m in the mood for a glass of wine with lunch.”
She’d have to work late, Bodine thought as she saddled Leo. But she’d planned to anyway. Two events that night, she mused, and she wanted to lend a hand at least in getting them going.
Besides, she had that fancy dinner to look forward to tomorrow night. She figured Callen would get his words together by then. And if he didn’t, she’d take that bull by the horns and say her own.
“Carol works here,” Alice said so quietly Bodine barely heard. “She’s taking those people out riding. She has bluebirds on her boots.”
“She’s taking them on a trail ride. I thought we’d ride more in the open, so you can get a good idea how things are laid out.”
“We’ll ride in the open. Easy works here. He’s too thin. He must need a wife to cook for him.”
“He could learn to cook for himself.”
“He calls Cal boss, but you’re the big boss.”
“And she doesn’t let us forget it.” Callen moved in to check the cinches. “You picked a good one here with Jake. Want a leg up?”
“I don’t need one anymore.”
Alice swung into the saddle as if she’d done so every day of her life. And made him proud.
“You have a good ride, Miss Alice.”
“I can, because you and Sundown taught me again. You’ve got a ma, but you’re mine, too. You can be mine, too.”
Touched Callen patted her knee. “We can be each other’s.”
“I’m Alice. You call me Alice. No more Miss Alice if we can be each other’s.”
“Alice it is.”
With Bodine, she walked the horse through the gate Callen opened.
“We can ride toward the river,” Bodine told her. “We’ll see some cabins, and pretty country, and one of the camps.”
“Camps.”
“It’s called ‘glamping.’ Glamour camping, because it’s really fancy and plush, and we do it up right on the resort. Not like pitching a tent and pulling out a bedroll.”
“Do we have to meet more people?”
“No.” Recognizing her nerves, Bodine tried an easy smile. “I mean, we could go by somebody who’d say hi, but you don’t have to talk to anybody if you don’t want to.”
“I get nervous when I do if I don’t know them. I’m better. I think I’m better.”
“Alice, you’re so much better.”
“I met Carol and Easy.”
“And that’s enough for one day.”
Smiling, Bodine looked over, and saw tears standing in Alice’s eyes. “What is it? What’s wrong? Do you want to go back?”
“No. No. No. I was happy to see you. Happy to see Cal. I get happy to see Chase, and Rory. You’re not mine. You’re not mine. He took my babies away, all my babies. And they’re not my babies now. They’re my babies and not my babies. If Bobby found them, if I found them, they’re not my babies. All grown up, and with another ma. A good ma would never, never tell them about their daddy. I can’t have them back. I’d have to tell them. And they don’t know me. I’m not the mother.”
She let out a shuddering sigh. “I can say it, I can tell you when we’re riding. It hurts in my heart, but it hurts more when I think of telling them. Cal says I’m brave. It’s braver not to look, not to find, not to tell. But it hurts.”
“I can’t even imagine how much.”
“Bobby put the man who shot Cal and Sundown in jail. He’ll put Sir in jail when he finds him. But I have to tell him not to find my babies. I have to tell him that, and protect them.”
“If I ever have a daughter, I’m going to name her Alice.”
Alice gasped, and though tears shimmered in her eyes, they widened with stunned joy. “Alice? For me?”
“For my brave aunt, who’ll get to spoil her.”
“And rock her to sleep?” This time her sigh spoke of pleasure. “I can sing to her. Reenie and I can sing to her. She’ll have a good ma, a good daddy.” Settling, she looked around. “It is pretty country. It feels like home again. Every day it feels more like home again.”
*
Whatever crunch it put her in, Bodine deemed it worth the hour or so she spent riding with Alice.
At sunset, she stepped out to check on the photography club holding their annual awards banquet, and was pleased to see the sky didn’t disappoint.
All thirty-eight members worked to capture the brilliance of light and color, the billows and streams. A number of guests there for the first outdoor concert of the season did the same.
Satisfied, she went to check on their headliner, the musicians, ran into Chelsea and Jessica.
“Have the waitstaff light all the candles in about fifteen minutes,” Jessica said. “I want the porches, the patios, the gardens to sparkle as soon as it’s dark. And we need at least two waitstaff circling out here.”
“On my list,” Chelsea assured her.
“I was about to hunt you down, and here you are. Chelsea, did you pick up those samples for the summer setups? The napkins and rings and candles?”