True Colors

“They needed me at home. What about you? Did you ever make it to Australia?”

“Nope. Too many school loans.”

“I know what you mean.” She laughed, but when it faded, the day felt too quiet. “You ever get married?” she asked softly.

“No. You?”

“No.”

“Ever fall in love?”

She couldn’t help turning to him. “No. You?”

He shook his head. “Never met the right girl, I guess.”

Winona leaned back, looked out over the view. “Your mom must hate that you’ve moved away.”

“Nah. Caroline has four kids and no husband. That keeps Mom busy most of the time. And she knew I was getting restless.”

“Restless?”

“Sometimes you have to go looking for your life.” He took a sip of beer. “How are your sisters?”

“Good. Aurora met a guy named Richard a few years ago—a doctor—they have four-year-old twins. Ricky and Janie. I think they’re all doing well, but it’s hard to tell with Aurora. She wants everyone to be happy, so she doesn’t talk much about what bothers her. And Vivi Ann’s still the same. Spontaneous. Headstrong. She dives in first and thinks later.”

“Compared to you, no one thinks enough.”

Winona couldn’t help laughing at that. “What can I say? I’m always the smartest person in the room.”

They fell into a companionable silence, staring out over the untended field, drinking their beers, then, quietly, Luke said, “I think I saw Vivi Ann pulling out of the gas station yesterday.”

Winona heard something in his voice, a little catch that put her on guard. “She was on her way to Texas. She makes a lot of money at weekend rodeos. And meets a lot of handsome cowboys.”

“I’m not surprised. She’s beautiful,” he said.

Winona had heard that sentence from men all her life; they usually followed it up with: Do you think she’d go out with me? She felt herself stiffening, drawing back whatever feelers of hope she’d allowed foolishly to unfurl. “Stand in line,” she muttered under her breath.

What had she been thinking, anyway? He was too damn good-looking for Winona; it was dangerous to let herself expect anything at all. Especially now that he’d seen the beautiful Vivi Ann.

“It’s good to be back,” he said, bumping her shoulder-to-shoulder the way they used to when they were kids, when they were best friends, and suddenly her own warnings fell out of reach, clattered away.

“Yeah,” she said, not daring to look at him. “It’s good to have you home.”

Chapter Two

All the next day, Winona told herself he wouldn’t call, but still she looked longingly at the phone, jumping a little every time it rang.

One day.

That was all it had been since she’d sat with her once-best friend in a porch swing at night. One day. Of course he wouldn’t call yet. Or at all. She was as big as a house, after all. Why would a man as good-looking as Luke Connelly want to go out with her?

“Focus, Winona,” she said, looking over the paperwork he’d given her last night. She’d made plenty of notes—things she needed to discuss with him, precautions he should take to protect his interests. In addition to her legal opinion, she had some thoughts as to the viability of becoming Woody Moorman’s partner; the man was well known to be a heavy drinker and he’d lost a lot of customers over the years.

When she’d made all her notes, she closed the Connelly file and opened the Smithson interrogatories. For the next few hours, she concentrated on work, until finally, at five o’clock, she shut down the office and went upstairs.

Usually she loved the evening news, but tonight she was restless, caught up in waiting for the phone to ring, and she couldn’t stand it, so she threw on a pair of jeans, a white turtle-neck sweater, and a thigh-length black vest.

A quick check of the weather told her it was one of those rare January evenings when the sky was plum-colored and cloudless. Bundling up, she decided to walk over to Water’s Edge. The cold air might clear her head, and God knew she could use the exercise. It was less than a mile from one door to the other.