Page 88 of Rocky Mountain Home

“Mom.” Jaxi’s tone held a world of warning.

Marion turned to her with an innocent expression. “What? You know we do.”

Beth and Hope exchanged glances as Jaxi gave their mother-in-law a firm frown. “I wasn’t talking about the houses. You promised. Don’t push.”

Marion sighed dramatically, winking on the sly at Dare. “See what I have to put up with?”

It was awkward, and yet not, because it was all done in the kindest of ways. Dare’s phone rang, and she excused herself, stepping away to near the shop door to get some privacy. “I’ve been expecting you to text.”

“Yeah, well it’s been busy, and I can mind my own business,” Ginny offered.

A very undainty snort escaped Dare at the idea of her sister-by-choice attempting to keep her nose out of any situation, let alone one as interesting as this. “Yeeeeeeah, no. I can’t see that one.”

Ginny hummed for a second then spoke again. “I’m trying to curb my curiosity?”

“That one I’ll buy. How’s everybody?” Dare turned on the spot to gaze back to where Marion was chatting with her daughter-in-law. Jaxi had finished burping the baby and now held him in that one-armed pose that scared the living daylights out of Dare every time she saw someone do it.

Ginny dove into her report. “The girls are driving Caleb mad. He’s been interviewing babysitters, but so far every one of them Sasha has declared unfit for one reason or another.”

“Then they probably were,” Dare pointed out. “The kid’s a pain in the bootie, but she’s damn smart.”

“I know, which is why Caleb hasn’t hired anyone yet.”

“Wait—why does he need a babysitter, and why is this the first I’ve heard of it?”

“Because you’ve had other things on your mind. The other why is because I gave him hell and told him he had to stop depending on me and you. Not that we don’t love the girls, but he needs to plan ahead. You can’t drop everything on a moment’s notice forever. In other news—remember Dustin went on his date for the bachelor auction, and the woman sent him flowers afterwards?”

Ginny was changing the topic, but Dare let it go this time. “It was cute.”

“He spilled the beans that she did it again—in fact it’s been five days in a row, and he’s a little freaked out.”

Dare could picture Dustin’s face, as well as the teasing he was probably getting from the other boys. It was all so familiar and predictable she felt as if she were there seeing the things that Ginny described.

She fit there. Heart Falls was home, and always had been.

“Tell me honestly,” Ginny insisted. “On a scale of one to ten, how are the Colemans?”

Dare hesitated. “All over the place.”

“Well, that was clear as mud.” Ginny took a deep breath. “And Jesse?”

“Nine point five to a negative twenty-three.”

Ginny swore. “He put his boot in it, did he?”

Yes, and no, and…

“We’re good,” Dare insisted, thinking back to the morning and being cuddled up in bed with his arms around her. She could hardly complain about his attentiveness then.

She also couldn’t deny something was weird. Curiosity itched at the back of her brain. The man she’d met in February, and the man she’d spent time with in Heart Falls, were not the same man she’d been catching glimpses of over the past twenty-four hours.

Let it drop? Probably not, but she also wasn’t going to try to describe her concerns over the—

“Hellllllooooo.” Ginny’s call was louder than polite, and Dare grimaced.

“Sorry, distracted,” she offered in apology.

“I get it. I shouldn’t keep you, but I miss you.”