she owe it to Billy to let him maintain some sort of relationship with his father, however carefully guarded?
Finally she voiced her concerns out loud. “Billy’s been asking to see his father. With Will right here, what should I do?”
Janet considered the question for some time. “We can work it out, if it’s what you want. It might be for the best, prove how reasonable we intend to be.”
“Not alone, though,” Patsy said hurriedly. “I don’t want Will alone with him. He might take him and run.”
“A supervised visit, then. I think I know of a sheriff’s deputy who’d be happy to hang out with the two of them or all three of you, if that’s what you’d prefer.”
“Yes,” Patsy said at once, thinking of the likely need for a buffer between the two men. Will was going to resent Justin’s right to be there, and Justin was clearly itching for an excuse to slug him. “I’d better be there.”
“Then when Will’s released, we’ll arrange for him to come to the house to see his son.”
“Thank you,” Patsy said. “For everything.”
“No need. I’m doing this as much for Justin as I am for you. You’re good for him.”
“I’ve brought him nothing but trouble.”
“No,” Janet corrected. “You’ve opened up his heart.”
Chapter Twelve
When Patsy emerged from Janet’s office into the bright sunlight, she couldn’t help comparing it to emerging from the darkness of the nightmare Will had put her through these past few years. At last, though, the future was bright again. The debt she owed to the Adamses was enormous, beginning way back with Sharon Lynn.
Instead of heading directly to Justin’s office, she went to Dolan’s and found the elderly pharmacist filling prescriptions as methodically as ever, evidently unconcerned about the mess in the front of the store.
“Doc, I’m truly sorry about all of this. I’ll pay for fixing it.”
He peered at her over his reading glasses. “You didn’t do it, did you?”
“Well, no, but—”
“Then I’m not laying the blame on you. It’ll get fixed up. The glass cutter’s already been here. Justin saw to it.”
“But I should be the one—”
He grinned. “You’re wasting your time arguing with me, young lady. If you disagree with the plan, you’ll have to talk to Justin.”
Patsy sighed. He was doing it again. He was fixing things for her. On the one hand, she was grateful. On the other, it was a reminder of too many years of weakness and dependence on other people.
“I’ll speak to him,” she said grimly.
The older man grinned. “Let me know how it turns out. It’s been my experience that once an Adams makes up his mind, there’s not much use in fighting him.”
“We’ll just see about that,” Patsy retorted. “Before I go to see Justin, there’s something else I want to discuss with you.” She explained her idea for lighting a fire under Sharon Lynn and hopefully jolting her out of her depression. She didn’t mention that the plot was helping her to keep her own mind off whatever was going on with Will down at the sheriff’s office.
“Are you sure you’re not an Adams?” he asked when she’d finished. “You’re sneaky just like they are.”
“You disapprove?”
“No, indeed. Not if it’ll get the job done. I’ll go along with anything that’ll get that pretty little gal out of her bed and back among the living. I’ve just been putting off my retirement until she made up her mind whether she wanted to take this place off my hands.”
Impulsively Patsy hugged him. “Thank you. Since the lunch counter’s already covered, I’m going out to White Pines now, if you don’t mind.”
“Go. Be sure to let me know how it turns out.”
“If I go about this right, you won’t need me to tell you. Sharon Lynn will be busting down the door before the afternoon’s over with.”
“Lordy, I hope not,” he said with mock horror. “One busted door in a day is about all an old man can cope with.”
“You know perfectly well what I mean.”
“Yes, I do. Now, get along with you.”
When she arrived at the ranch, she went straight up to Sharon Lynn’s room in the main house. She found her friend still in bed, still gazing blankly at the ceiling.
“Hey, sweetie, how’re you feeling?” she asked, pulling a chair up beside the bed.
Sharon Lynn cast a distracted look her way, then gazed off in the distance again.
“I have some news,” she said, deliberately injecting a somber note into her voice.
The statement drew no response.
“It’s about Dolan’s.”
There was a