“Listen, Cash?” she asked. “I want to ask you something, and you can say no if you want.”
“All right,” he said, his heartbeat pulsing at him.
“It’s actually a couple of things,” Lark said, and he could tell her nervousness without having to look at her. “I can help make lunch tomorrow, because you said you were making extras for Wade and Jet, and I’m wondering if we can take some to Grammy too.”
“Sure,” Cash said, thankful the question was easy. “There will be plenty. I always make too much food.”
A beat went by before she said, “Thanks. And, um, I’m going to try and convince my grandmother to come stay here for the next week. And I think if she knows she’ll be fed well and have Sweetie nearby, that she’ll come.”
Cash opened his eyes and looked at Lark, not quite sure what to do with this development.
“I’d take her home on Sunday when I leave,” Lark said. “She could stay in one of the guest bedrooms on the main floor. My brothers will stay upstairs. You won’t have to give up the master suite.”
“All right,” Cash said, because how could he tell Lark no? He couldn’t imagine ever doing that.
The jets went off in one moment, and in the next, Cash could hear his phone ringing from inside the house—a special ringtone he’d given to his father. His stomach fell through his body, and while Cash had put his daddy off plenty of times, for some reason tonight, he pushed himself up and out of the hot tub.
With water cascading off his body, he said, “That’s my daddy. I’ll be right back.”
He opened the sliding glass door with one hand and the towel warmer with the other, managing to get a towel out and thrown over his shoulders as he stepped into the house to answer the phone. The end of the third ring sounded just as he swiped and then tapped to turn the speaker on. With wind whipping across the back of his wet neck, Cash turned back toward the sliding glass door and pulled it closed.
“Hey, Daddy, what’s up?”
“I knew you’d still be awake.” His father chuckled.
“I’m surprised you are,” Cash shot back. “Do you know what time it is?”
“It’s almost ten-thirty,” Daddy said.
“Yeah. And what time do I get in the hot tub?” Cash asked.
“Well, you didn’t have to answer,” his father said. “I thought you didn’t take your phone out to the hot tub.”
He watched the glowing lights as they lit up the night sky from around the corner where the hot tub sat. “I don’t,” he said. “My first cycle just ended.”
“I’ll be quick,” Daddy said. “Faith is making a big vat of her hamburger stew tomorrow, and we heard from Bryce that you were making doughnuts, and she’s wondering if we can arrange a trade.”
Cash grinned, catching the joy on his face in the partial reflection in the glass in front of him. “Yeah, I’m sure that canbe arranged. I’m making raspberry jam-filled doughnuts with either a cream cheese frosting or a white chocolate glaze. I haven’t decided yet.”
“We want whatever you make,” Faith called. “We just need one doughnut for each of us.”
“So you need a half-dozen?” Cash asked, his voice growing louder so his step-mom could hear.
“Yes, please,” she said. “I’ll fix you up with hamburger stew for a week.”
“Remember, I’ve got guests at the McClellans. Jet and Wade and their sister, Lark,” he said.And maybe their grandmother,he added to himself. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t want Lark’s grandmother at the house all week, and he’d need more time in the hot tub to riddle it all out.
“Well, we can come over around five or six,” Daddy said. “Maybe we’ll eat with you.”
“That won’t work, because we’re gonna be down in Coral Canyon then,” Cash said, realizing too late what he just said.
“Weare?” Daddy asked. “Who’swe? And why will you be down in Coral Canyon?”
Cash’s pulse picked up the pace, sprinting faster and faster as he tried to find an explanation that didn’t involve him spending every second he could with the beautiful Lark McClellan. After a few seconds that felt way too long, he still had nothing, so he decided to go with the truth.
“Lark’s grandmother lives in the fifty-five plus community there,” he said. “And we’re going to take her dinner. We can stop by your place with the doughnuts after that and make the swap.”
“All right,” Daddy said, his voice pitching up at least an octave as he drawled out the last word. “Well then, I guess we’ll see you and Lark tomorrow night.”
