That Carrington Magic - By Karen Rigley Page 0,89

have dinner with me. She’ll hardly speak to me.”

Toby walked over to pat Grant on the forearm. “Don’t worry. I’ll come up with a plan. In Zonar Galaxy we always come up with a plan.”

“Thanks, partner,” Grant replied, touched by the child. “I thought you didn’t want your mom to get married again.”

“A guy can change his mind, can’t he?” Toby asked sheepishly, flashing that lopsided grin at Grant. “Even a guy like me.”

“A smart guy like you,” Grant corrected, kneeling to give Toby a bear hug.

“Toby!” Jami called from the inner bathroom. “Will you hand me my lotion? It’s on the dresser.”

“Oh, oh!” Toby’s brown eyes grew to saucers. “I better go, or we’ll both be in trouble.”

“Yes, sir.” Grant chuckled and saluted Toby, who snapped his heels together and saluted Grant back, before dashing into the bedroom and pulling the door shut.

Grant was nowhere in sight when Jami and Toby went downstairs to supper, nor was he at the dining room table with the other lodge guests. Jami told herself that she was glad as she and Toby took seats across from Dottie, Doris, and the professor.

“Glad you found your son,” Professor Tolaski stated as he lightly buttered and peppered his steaming white and yellow corn-on-the-cob.

“Me, too,” Jami replied, piercing the crust of her wonderful smelling turkey potpie as peas, carrots, and gravy burst through the pastry, wishing she had the appetite to do justice to the dish. “I appreciate everyone’s help in the search.”

“I wasn’t lost,” Toby objected, slathering butter on his own corn. “I knew where I was all the time.”

“We didn’t,” Dottie said, a schoolteacher scold marring her usually cheerful expression. “You had your mother terrified, young man.”

“Grant was very worried as well.” Doris wagged her finger at the child. “You turned this lodge upside-down.”

“Does that mean I’ve got to apologize to everybody again?” Toby asked, reluctance apparent in both his face and voice.

“Yes.” Despite her own pain, Jami smiled affectionately at her little boy, noting that he already had butter and corn smeared ear to ear. “You’re getting pretty good at apologies.”

“I guess so.” He glanced around the table, his brown eyes wide. “I’m sorry everybody. I didn’t mean to cause trouble.”

“Apology accepted, Toby,” Professor Tolaski said with a smile, corn kernels caught in his beard as he peered over his thick glasses.

“Next time tell someone where you’re going,” Dottie admonished, using her fork to mash her potpie into unidentifiable mush.

“You’d be welcome to accompany my sister and me on a nature hike, Toby,” Doris offered kindly. “Then you won’t get bored or into more trouble.”

“Thanks,” Toby said, taking a swig of his milk. As he replaced his glass, Jami noticed a white milk moustache above his lip.

“After supper, we’re going to look for the emerald cuckoo we spotted earlier in the woods.” Doris smiled, creasing the dimple lines in her plump face. “Would you care to join us?”

“Emerald cuckoo?” the professor boomed. “That’s an African bird! You certainly didn’t see one here in the Rockies!”

“We did.” Dottie pressed her lips together as she exchanged a glance with her sister. “It was green with a yellow belly and definitely a cuckoo.”

“Maybe the emerald cuckoo flies a migration path through here that you’re not aware of, Professor,” Doris suggested, obviously not about to change their story.

Shoving his eyeglasses higher upon the bridge of his nose, Professor Tolaski scowled from one sister to the other. “Not on this continent.”

“Green with a yellow tummy?” Toby mused, stuffing a chunk of turkey into his mouth. “I saw a bird like that today.”

Professor Tolaski harrumphed and shook his head. His brow furrowed in disgust as he scoffed, “Not an emerald cuckoo.”

“Toby, can you show us where you saw it?” Dottie eagerly asked.

“Can I, Mom?” The child turned to his mother. “Please?”

“Well...” Jami glanced from her son to the retired schoolteacher sisters.

“We know it’s late, but we’ll have him back by dark,” Doris assured Jami.

“Mom?” Toby coaxed, his face alight with excitement. “I’ll be so good. I really, really will.”

“Okay,” Jami slowly agreed. She hated to let her child out of her sight after losing him twice in one day, but they’d be checking out tomorrow. This was an opportunity Toby wouldn’t get again. “I’ll be upstairs packing.”

“Packing?” Dottie repeated, sounding alarmed. “Are you leaving us?”

“Toby and I head home in the morning,” Jami answered with artificial cheerfulness and a strained smile.

“What about Grant?” Professor Tolaski asked, crumbs from the potpie crust drifting from his beard as he talked.

“Ask Grant.”