in my first sandstorm. And I vividly remember when that damned camel bit my leg. But my time with Stacy in DC has become a blur.”
“Maybe that’s because you were in a job you hated.” Terri wanted to ask Nate to stay. To tell him to call Stacy and say he’d changed his mind.
But she couldn’t do it. She had to live with herself. She knew she was being judged by the town—and knew she was failing. If Nate broke up with perfect little Stacy Hartman for Terri Rayburn, she’d never live it down. Their children would grow up under a stigma.
Oh! she thought. To be able to say, Let’s run away together. Go to Colorado and open a horse ranch. She’d never been on a horse but maybe she could learn.
But she couldn’t do that. Couldn’t leave her dad with the lake.
She looked at Nate’s profile, saw that his expression was glum. “Can you ride a horse?”
The incongruous question startled him enough to put a sparkle in his eyes. “Quite well. When I was a kid I did some rodeos.”
“Bucking broncos, that sort of thing?”
“And a few bulls.”
“I’d like to see that.”
“Now I’m too old—and I know a lot more about pain.”
“So what did you talk to Della Kissel about?” she asked.
When he turned to her, he was smiling. “The same question everyone has. Why did you break up with Billy Thorndyke? From the way you talk about him, you still seem to think he hung the moon.”
She took her time answering. “You have any secrets that you’d die before you told?”
“About a dozen.”
“I have one.”
“Between you and Billy?”
“More than just he and I know, but...” She trailed off. “Weren’t we talking about you? I’m sure that once Stacy is here, you won’t remember any of this.” She motioned to include the lake, the house and herself.
“Since I heard you yelling at me to get out of your house, it’s like time has stood still. I remember being in DC with Stacy, but it’s like a movie that I saw long ago.” He looked at her. “What would you do if Billy walked through that door right now?”
His question annoyed her. “What would you do if Stacy walked through the door?”
“It’s not the same thing.”
“You think not? It’s different because you and Stacy are engaged to get married? Want to see the ring Billy gave me? He cashed a bond from his grandmother to buy it for me.” She started to get up but Nate caught her hand and held it tightly. He didn’t look at her or speak, and his hand kept her from leaving.
When she began to calm down, he loosened his grip. For a few minutes they sat side by side, fingers lightly entwined, and looked out at the water.
“How about thick, greasy bacon burgers?” she asked.
“As good as water in the desert. And the first one who brings up anything serious has to eat the kale leftovers. All of them.”
“That’s cruel.” She started to get up but paused. “Does talking about having to deal with tomorrow’s temper tantrums and putting up a fancy Italian tent count as ‘serious’?”
Nate groaned as he stood up. “Yes! Let’s talk about how old that Mason girl is and did you get the thick-cut bacon that I like?”
“Too young, and yes I did. Did you take the sheets out of the dryer?”
“Sure.”
“Did you change the bed?”
“How about if I put some shawarma spices in the hamburger meat?”
Terri groaned. “You left those sheets for me to put on the bed, didn’t you? Well, I’m not going to do it. It’s your job, not mine.”
Smiling, Nate stepped aside for her to go into the house before him.
* * *
Terri tried to act like it was any other night. Nate found a rugby game on some obscure foreign channel and sat at the end of the couch and watched it. She had an old Josephine Tey murder mystery that she couldn’t seem to get into. She thought Nate was absorbed in his game until the announcers started yelling about some great goal, and he didn’t blink. It looked like his mind was elsewhere.
She kept her eyes on her book. “What was the food like at the brunch?”
Nate turned off the TV, which made Terri put her book down.
“That woman has the ability to take the flavor out of anything. She had some baked egg thing that was crusty hard all the way through. Bob seemed to like it.”
“Bob hasn’t lived all over the