“Yeah, we’re really not missing the temperatures there,” Daddy said with a chuckle.
Lark really needed this conversation to end, and she said, “I have to go. I’m getting another call.”
“Love you, dear,” Momma said.
“Love you, bug,” Daddy called.
Lark told them she loved them and hung up the phone. She flopped back on the bed with a sigh, saying, “Forgive me, Lord. It was just a little white lie.”
Her momma’s first question after Lark had called them on Sunday was, “Well, what are you going to do now?”
She hadn’t known, but Lark had made the drive to Coral Canyon every day this week to look for a job. Visiting Grammy happened while she was there, and if Lark didn’t mind working in food service, there was plenty of employment to be had. But she had some secretarial skills from her time in school, and shefelt like she could afford to wait a couple of weeks before shehadto have a job.
After all, she was living here for free, and her mother paid all the utilities and bills on the house.
Lark needed gas in her car and food. She honestly had no idea what Cash would leave in the cupboards when he moved out that weekend, but no matter what, Lark still had a paycheck coming, and she’d be fine.
“It would be really great if either of the rooms at Silver Sage would work,” she prayed. Cash couldn’t move onto his ranch, and he’d said he’d move into his daddy’s basement on Saturday if he couldn’t find somewhere. He’d found a vacation rental starting in January, but there was still a ten-day period there where he needed somewhere to live.
Silver Sage was a luxury lodge, and while they were quite busy in the winter due to the skiing in the Tetons, they weren’t as close as some of the other resorts to the ski runs, and Cora’s ideas for where Cash could stay had sounded promising.
“He just needs this one piece to line up for him,” she added to her prayer. Her guilt over dislodging him from this house he’d made his own, and the hot tub he loved, and being so close to her, had kept her awake at night, and Lark really needed God to come through with an ideal living situation for him.
“It would really help me to know that we’re doing the right thing.”
“You’re not working in here,” Cash said, and Lark sat straight up, enjoying the teasing quality of his voice.
She gestured for him to come in. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”
He wore a pair of dark jeans and a black T-shirt with a white outline of a Texas Longhorn on the front, and Lark sure could appreciate the width of his shoulders and the woodsy scent he brought with him.
“Can we just take a nap?” she asked, reaching for his hand.
“We’ve got to get ready to go out to the lodge,” he said. “We’re leavin’ in half an hour.”
“Well, then we can lay down for twenty minutes,” she said. “As part of getting ready.” He chuckled, and Lark used his strength to help her stand. “Please? I’m so tired.”
He reached up and brushed her hair back off her face. “All right, sweetheart,” he said, and he climbed onto her narrow twin bed first, laying on his side and opening his arms for her. She sat down, her back to him, and then lay with her head against his arm. He pulled the pillow down so they shared it, enveloping her in his embrace.
“All right?” he whispered.
“Yes.” Lark closed her eyes again, and this time, the guilt and unrest just melted away.
Cash really didn’t want to have to live with his parents, and Lark managed one more prayer that God would give him a good alternative before she dozed off.
Just one, Lord, she thought.Just one, just one, just one.
An hour later,she climbed to the third floor behind Cash, Boston, and Cora, her nerves rioting through her.
“No elevator?” Cash asked.
“We don’t have elevators in our staff quarters, no,” Cora said. “They come furnished, and the assumption is that you’re just bringing in clothing and a few personal items, like pots and pans.”
“The kitchen’s not furnished?” Cash asked.
“I mean, there’re a few things,” Cora said, her breath coming a little bit quicker as she rounded the corner. “This is on the top floor, which has a great view.”
“Well, I’ll get my steps in,” Cash said. “Between here and the gym.”
