was no sign of Emily. Cora Jane met them halfway across the dining room. She pulled Boone aside.
“I don’t know what happened,” she told him. “But Emily called yesterday. She’s not coming for Christmas. She said it’s for the best. What on earth is she talking about?”
Boone’s shoulders sagged. “Dammit. I was afraid of that.”
“Did something happen in Colorado?”
“Yes, but not anything you’re thinking. This is Jodie again.” He explained about having to leave Emily to go after B.J.
Cora Jane shook her head. “No wonder she sounded so upset. I’m sorry, Boone. I really thought things were going to work out this time, especially after you went all that way to Colorado to see her.”
“They are going to work out,” he said with determination. “I just need to see her, straighten out a few things.”
Cora Jane regarded him hopefully. “Can you do that?”
“I have to do that,” he said.
“Well, all I know is that her heart is here, even if she’s not,” Cora Jane told him. “The girl loves you, Boone. It ought to be enough.”
He hugged her, noting that she felt more frail than usual. “You always were my biggest fan. Why don’t you come to my place tonight? Have dinner with B.J. and me. Let me cook for you for a change. Maybe you can help me come up with a good strategy for straightening out this mess.”
“I’m a poor substitute for my granddaughter,” she said.
He touched her weathered cheek. “You’re nobody’s substitute,” he said fiercely. “In my book, you’re family. You always will be, no matter what happens between Emily and me.”
And that, thank God, was true.
* * *
The grill was ready for the fish. The vegetables had been brushed with oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper, then wrapped in foil. With yet more unseasonably warm weather, he’d set the table on the patio, and B.J. had actually been coaxed into taking a shower. Cora Jane was due any minute.
Through the open windows, he heard the crunch of gravel in the driveway and walked into the living room to let her in. To his shock, though, it was Emily who stepped out of the driver’s side of the car.
Across the yard, he could see the hint of nervousness in her eyes, saw the hesitation in her step.
“Do you have food for one more?” she called out as she helped Cora Jane from the car.
“Around here there’s always food enough for one more,” Boone said. “It’s a lesson I learned from Cora Jane. Unexpected guests are always welcome.”
They reached him then. Cora Jane gave his hand a squeeze. “Is B.J. inside? I’ve been dying for him to teach me one of those games he’s so fond of.”
Boone merely nodded, unable to tear his gaze away from Emily.
When they were alone, he said, “I thought you’d decided against coming for Christmas.”
“That’s what I thought, too,” she confessed. “But then I got back to my big, lonely house in California and started thinking about where I wanted to be. I’d been imagining this holiday for so long, all of us here together. I knew there was only one way to make that happen. I had to swallow my pride and come back.”
He frowned. “Your pride?”
“It kicked in when you didn’t want me to come with you to get B.J. I started thinking that was the way it was going to be forever, that Jodie would keep finding ways to interfere and cause problems. I figured sooner or later you’d get tired of it and I’d be the one who’d lose.”
“Never!” Boone said adamantly. “This thing with Jodie will get resolved. I may have to initiate legal action, even guarantee her some visiting rights, so she’ll know B.J. will always be in her life. Maybe that will be enough to make her see reason.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
“Then she’ll be the loser.”
Emily shook her head. “B.J. will be the loser, Boone. You don’t want that.”
He sighed heavily, aware that she was right. “No, I don’t want that.” He pulled her closer, touched his lips to hers. “This is my problem, though. I will figure it out.”
Though he’d meant to be reassuring, he saw a shadow pass across her face at his words.
“Shouldn’t we be figuring things out together?” she asked quietly, pulling away from him. “Especially the important things like this?”
Boone backpedaled at once. “Of course. You’re right. I just meant that I’m the one bringing the Jodie situation into the mix, so it’s my responsibility.”
She didn’t look a hundred percent