see if you want to go, but since you’ve got company…” Shiloh let the sentence trail off.
“Give me time to finish eating and then I’ll be leaving. You should never miss a chance to get off this ranch, Bonnie. Even if it’s just to go for groceries,” Vivien said.
Shiloh poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table. “So what brings you back to the canyon, Miz Vivien?”
“My daughter,” Vivien answered and picked up another piece of toast. “I thought she’d be tired of this place, and she’d jump at the chance to go with me to California. Maybe y’all can talk sense to her.”
Bonnie could have sworn that the look Shiloh shot her way was one of pure understanding. But how could her sister know anything about the way Bonnie and Vivien had lived? Both of them had had a fairly stable life.
“We don’t know what we’d do without her.” Abby Joy pulled up a chair and sat down. “I’m having a baby soon, and my child is going to need her aunts to be close by, and I need her to help me. I don’t know anything about babies.”
“Neither does she,” Vivien said.
“But she knows me, and she can calm me down when I get scared.” Abby Joy smiled.
Bonnie could have hugged her sister for saying that.
“And she promised she’d stay close to us even if she didn’t stay on this ranch. We’ve kind of grown to like having siblings,” Shiloh said.
Vivien glanced up at Bonnie. “You’re going to be sorry. Every evening, I’ll watch the sun set over the ocean, and you could be with me.”
“You’re playin’ a dangerous game,” Bonnie warned her. “We have lovely sunsets right here, and you can get sober and clean, maybe even learn to put down some roots like I have.”
“That ain’t for me.” Vivien shook her head. “But, honey, I’ll call and check in when I get my new job. Maybe you and your boyfriend”—she nodded toward Rusty—“can come out and visit me. You know how I hate goodbyes, so don’t follow me to the door and wave and all that crap. We’ll keep in touch. See you later.” She stood up, finished off the last swallow of coffee, and grinned. “You wouldn’t have a spare bottle of Jim Beam for me to take along on the trip, would you?”
“No, I do not,” Bonnie said quickly.
“Never know the answer if you don’t ask.” Vivien waved as she left the house. In a couple of minutes, Bonnie heard the front door slam and then she let out a loud whoosh of breath that she didn’t even realize she’d been holding.
“I’m sorry.” Bonnie looked straight at Rusty. “I owe you a big thank-you and an apology.”
“You are welcome, but you don’t have to be sorry.” He stood up and carried empty plates to the sink. “I’m going to the barn to change the tire on the tractor you use. You ladies probably have a lot to talk about.” His eyes twinkled. “Hey, I’m special. Now I’ve met both your parents.”
“That’s not saying a lot, now is it?” she told him.
Rusty shot her a grin and strode out the door with a wave.
“Had your mom been drinkin’?” Abby Joy asked. “Her eyes were bloodshot.”
“She drove all night from Kentucky and is damn lucky she didn’t get stopped for drunk driving and drugs, but that’s my mama. I have to love her, but nothing says I have to like her all the time,” she said. “I’d forgotten how crazy she can be. Do y’all ever wonder what it was in Ezra that made our mothers marry him? From what we saw of that old man in the casket, I can’t see why any woman would want to vow to love him forever.”
“I’ve wondered the same thing about my mother,” Abby Joy said. “Since we never knew him, we’ll never know the answer to that question.”
“Do you think she’ll get all the way to the West Coast in that truck?” Shiloh asked.
“If she doesn’t there’s lots of biker bars and truck stops between here and there. She’ll find a way.” Bonnie crossed her arms on the table and laid her head down. “Someday I’m going to get a message that says she’s been killed unless she cleans up her act. God, I’m scared to death of…” She didn’t finish.
“That wouldn’t be your fault,” Abby Joy said.
Shiloh patted her on the shoulder. “She’s living a daredevil life and it has consequences.”
“Not her,