“She was missing you.” Her voice dropped a notch. “So was I.”
“The same goes for me.”
“You haven’t called.”
“That’s because I’m working for a slave driver. Once Justin gets a notion in his head, he pulls out all the stops.”
“Exactly what are the two of you up to?”
“Justin’s not up to much, if you ask me. I’m doing all the physical labor. He seems to have designated himself as supervisor. The man has no shame at all. He’s blatantly using me.”
“And what does he have you doing?”
“Building a house for him and Patsy out here at White Pines. It won’t even be close to finished before the baby’s born, but he wants to surprise her with the frame at least.”
“I had no idea you knew how to build a house.”
“Actually I’m not so sure I’d want to live in any house I built, but I can swing a hammer and follow directions. Besides, it was a fair trade for what I want from Justin.”
“Which is?”
“He’s doing a little research for me.”
Laurie’s heart climbed into her throat. “He’s looking for my father, isn’t he?”
“He’s trying,” Harlan Patrick admitted slowly. “Don’t get your hopes up, though. So far, all he’s run into are dead ends.”
“At least he’s trying,” she whispered. “Thank you.”
“I told you I’d do what I could. Now tell me about the tour. Is it going well? I saw the piece on TV the other night. Mom called me when she heard the promotion for it. I think that show’s ratings probably went through the roof here in Los Piños. Grandpa Harlan called right afterward. Then Sharon Lynn called. The consensus was that you looked beautiful and sounded brilliant.”
She laughed. “You all aren’t biased, by any chance?”
“Maybe just a little,” he agreed, then yawned. “Sorry.”
“No, it’s late and I’d better let you go. I just wanted you to know that your daughter and I were thinking about you.”
“Are you at the hotel?”
“No, we’re still in my dressing room. I’m heading back there now.”
“Sleep well, darlin’.”
“You, too. I miss you.”
“Not half as much as I miss you. Give my girl a kiss for me.”
“You want to tell her good-night?”
“Absolutely.”
Laurie took Amy Lynn back from Val and held the phone to her ear. “Here she is,” she told Harlan Patrick.
She could hear the low hum of his voice as he talked to Amy Lynn, saw her puzzled frown and then a gurgle of delight as she realized once again that it was her daddy.
“Da,” she repeated joyously, patting the phone. “Da!”
When Laurie tried to take the phone away, Amy Lynn’s face screwed up. “Da,” she echoed piteously.
“Tell him bye-bye,” Laurie coached.
Amy Lynn waved instead.
“She’s waving,” Laurie told him.
“I don’t want to miss any more firsts,” Harlan Patrick said. “I want to be there.”
Laurie sighed. She understood his longing. “I know.”
“I’ll see you both soon,” he promised.
“Good night, Harlan Patrick.”
“Night, darlin’.”
Neither of them seemed to have the will to sever the connection. Finally, with a sigh, Laurie placed the receiver back on the hook.
“Feel better?” Val asked.
“No.”
“Hearing his voice doesn’t do it for you?”
“It only made me miss him more.” She regarded her assistant and admitted the painful truth. “This is why it won’t work, you know. It hurts too much to be apart. We’ll just end up making each other miserable.”
“Did it hurt any less when you thought you’d never see him again?”
Startled by the question, Laurie paused thoughtfully. “No,” she conceded finally.
“Then isn’t it better to know that you will be together again, that this misery is just temporary?”
“You’re right,” she said, excited by the discovery. “I hadn’t looked at it that way.” She gave her assistant a hug. “Thank you.”
“That’s why you pay me the big bucks,” Val said.
“Do I pay you big bucks?”
“Not big enough,” Val retorted, then added with confidence, “But you will.”
“Yes, I imagine I will,” Laurie agreed. “And whenever I start wallowing in self-pity, remind me again of the alternative.”
“It’s a deal.”
“How many more days on this tour?”
“Seven more days, six more concerts, then back to Nashville.”
“Back to Texas,” Laurie corrected.
“But—”
“Make it happen, Val. Whatever you have to do.”
Val grinned. “In return for those big bucks you’re going to start paying me, consider it as good as done.”
Fourteen
Three days after that middle-of-the-night call from Laurie, Harlan Patrick was hammering the last nail home in the frame for Justin’s new house when his cousin drove up.
“Excellent timing,” he called down to him from his perch on the skeletal rooftop. “Have you actually put