one final glance in the mirror, she slipped on a pair of sandals and headed down the stairs.
“Aren’t you going, Daddy? You went to school here in Daisy too, and I’ve never known you to miss a reunion,” she asked when she got to the foyer. “You can ride with me and Pax.”
“We’d be glad to have you go with us,” Pax said.
“Not this year,” Matt said. “Don’t have the energy to deal with all that bullshit. You kids go and be the talk of the party with your engagement and all.”
Pax took her by the hand and twirled her around. “We should’ve gotten a red carpet laid out for you and a limousine for you to ride in. You look like a movie star.”
“You need to get your eyes checked.” She picked up her purse from the credenza. “Don’t wait up, Daddy. We’ll be late, but if you need us, call.”
“If you get bored, you can pretend I called,” Matt chuckled.
“Thanks, Matt”—Pax nodded—“but I’m going to be the one with the prettiest girl there. I plan to stay until they lock the doors and stay on the dance floor so long with Alana that I have to buy new boots tomorrow.”
“That’s exactly what I want y’all to do,” Matt said. “Good night, now, and get on out of here.”
Alana kissed him on the cheek and thought about the last word in that last sentence the whole way out to the truck. Not even the heat caused by Pax’s hand on her lower back could shake the words from her mind. Waiting—that summed up what she was doing. Waiting for the end of both her father’s life and the marriage that she was about to enter into with Pax. She’d read that there were several stages to the grieving process—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance—and that often they didn’t affect a person in that order, but they could jump around. According to the article, she might even experience more than one stage in a single day or hour.
As she got into the truck, anger washed over her, and she knew exactly who she was mad at—not her father but God, the Big Man Himself. How could He do this to them? There were serial killers out there on the loose that God could justify giving an inoperable brain tumor to. Those were the ones who should be dying instead of hurting other people. Her father was a good man, a Christian. He’d put her interests before his own after her mother died. He damn sure didn’t deserve to be afflicted with something like this, she thought as she fastened her seat belt.
“You all right?” Pax laid a hand on her shoulder. “You look like you’re mad at someone.”
“Nope, not mad at anyone,” she said.
Pax drove over to the Callahan Ranch and honked the horn. Bridget and Maverick came right out and got into the backseat.
Alana turned around in the seat enough to see her soon-to-be sister-in-law. “Bridget, we’ll have to stick together tonight.”
“Why’s that?” Bridget asked.
“Because all those poor women who thought they would someday end up with these two Callahan boys might pick a fight with us,” Alana answered.
“My grandmother said anything worth havin’ was worth fightin’ for,” Bridget said. “If I have to go to battle for this sexy cowboy here then so be it.”
Maverick picked up her hand and kissed the knuckles. “Thank you, darlin’, but I reckon I should’ve brought droolin’ bibs for my old classmates. When they see that I’ve married a gorgeous woman like you, they’ll be slack-jawed.”
“You sure know how to sweet-talk a woman,” Bridget teased. “And what about those two? They’re the ones that everyone’s talkin’ about right now.” She nodded toward the front seat.
“That’s because they managed to keep their dating a secret so long. I bet all the gossips are wondering how they did it,” Maverick answered.
“Even you, huh?” Pax asked as he started the engine and backed out of the driveway.
“Especially me,” Maverick said.
Pax changed the subject and the two guys went from one topic to another and still another while they drove from the ranch into the town of Daisy, and Alana was glad to be ignored and have some time to think. She needed to do some bargaining with God.
Lord, she thought, if you’ll let that tumor shrink and give me a few more years with my dad, I’ll come clean with him about this fake engagement. I promise I’ll never lie to him again.
God didn’t answer