And stood outside his window and looked at him pointedly. Damn. He rolled it down.
“Hello. I’m afraid we haven’t had the pleasure of an introduction. You weren’t leaving were you?” The woman’s green eyes were sharp, and he doubted anything got past them. Her hair was smooth and straight, worn just above her shoulders. Despite the wind blowing around them, making Allie’s blond tresses wave in the air, the woman’s didn’t budge. Shellacked in place.
“Sam, this is my stepmother, Peg McBride.”
Ah. No wonder she seemed familiar. The woman at the airport, trying to groom her stepdaughter. “Nice to meet you,” he said politely.
“Sam is a friend of mine from the school. I had an issue with my car today. He happened to be there when the tow truck came, and he offered to give me a ride. But I’m afraid he has to get going, so…”
“Allie, I’m surprised at you,” Peg admonished. “Where are your manners? The least you could do is invite Sam inside to say hello and have a bite to eat. As gratitude for offering you a ride.” Her gaze returned to him.
He tried not to notice the beseeching look Allie was giving him. “I would love to come inside, Mrs. McBride,” he said, and Allie looked like her head was about to swivel around. “But I’m not exactly dressed for the occasion,” he continued poker-faced, as her cheeks went crimson, and her eyes flashed with irritation. “I was assisting St. Andrew’s Academy’s soccer team at their match this morning.”
“We’re not snobs,” Peg said in a tone that suggested the contrary. “We’d love your company regardless of what you’re wearing.”
He really should come up with another excuse. It’s clearly w
hat Allie wanted—her eyes had grown wide with alarm. But he couldn’t imagine anything he’d like better than spending some time getting to know these people. See what made her so damn nervous. “I was just telling Allie I have a few things I had to do today, but I guess my errands can wait a few minutes.”
“Good. We’ll see you inside then?” It was less a question than an order.
“Can’t wait,” he assured her.
He couldn’t help but grin at the look of abject horror on Allie’s face and the steam he could practically see coming from her ears. But Peg had already taken her arm and was leading her into the party, the white-haired gentleman who’d parked the Taurus ambling behind them.
He chuckled. This was going to be fun.
When he stepped into the entrance foyer of the home, a wall of family photographs lined both sides of the hallway and continued on toward the back of the house. Mixed among them were some religious pictures, a picture of a red-robed Jesus, and, finally, a picture of three older men in dark suits and ties.
On the long table that ran along the wall under the photos were several magazines, fanned out so people coming in could see them. There was also a catalogue for Brigham Young University sitting on the corner. It hit him then that the blue and white balloons secured to the mailbox were probably in honor of BYU’s school colors.
The first room next to the entry was empty except for two boys sitting in front of a piano. But rather than playing the keys, their attention was diverted to the Nintendo 3DS game systems in their hands. Josh had the same one. Ahead he could see where the heart of the party was. But he took his time getting there, looking through the photos in the hallway and the ones lining a staircase he passed.
He was looking for any pictures of Allie.
A-ha. There was one. An old eight-by-ten of the whole family. Allie was probably around nine, judging by the fact her sister, seven years her junior, couldn’t have been more than two. Laney did look like a little doll, plopped center of the picture on her mother’s lap, her blond hair accented with a pink flower. Allie’s father had white hair even back then and smiled mildly. Evan, the evil stepbrother, stood on one side of his mother, grinning like a weasel.
Allie stood on the other side of her stepmom but a little apart from everyone else. She looked awkward, with an almost uncertain smile, as if she’d rather be anywhere but in that photo. She looked a lot closer to the girl he remembered in high school than the woman she was now—young, sad, and desperately in need of a hug. And suddenly, he wished he’d known her back then, so he could have given her one. He shook his head, silently lamenting the lack of time-travel and the obliviousness of teenaged boys, and headed into the great room to join the party.
A huge wooden table divided the large, rectangular room from the kitchen on one end and family room in the rest of the space. The sliding glass doors behind the table were open and led out onto a patterned brick patio where guests lounged in chairs and dozens of kids ran around on the expansive lawn. A tall, gangly young man in a dark suit stood next to an older couple, and they were surrounded by a number of people glowing as they talked to him. Sam assumed this must be the recently returned Elder Jared and his parents. Sam was going to pass on going out there, if he could help it.
Allie was at the kitchen counter, deep in conversation with Laney. She glanced up for a moment to catch his eye and then resumed her conversation. Since he also planned on staying clear of the sister, he stopped at the table to check out the spread. He spied at least four Jell-O molds, the state’s unofficial main dish. Guess he was going to have to do a taste-test, just so he’d know what was under each whipped cream-covered delight.
He grabbed a plate and plopped down several healthy scoops. Okay, well the green Jell-O had shredded carrots and pineapple. Yum. The red had mandarin oranges and marshmallows. Even better. He bypassed the one with the pretzels smashed on top and tried the one with layers of purple and cream. Hmmm. Not bad, although the blueberry pie filling was probably going to send him into sugar shock.
“I’m warning you now that most of the entrees on this table have a carb value triple that of a Twinkie.” He looked up to find Allie next to him. “But the blueberry dish goes fast, so if you want more, get it now. It’s Laney’s—not that you’ll see her take a bite.”
She said this with some frustration, and he glanced over at her sister, immediately understanding. Laney looked like a scarecrow. A skinny one.
“Now that you’ve loaded up on carbs and seen the place, you probably want to get going,” Allie prodded pointedly. “I’m sure you have things to do.”
“Not at all.” He grinned and spooned another bite of the blueberry dessert into his mouth.
“You are so dead,” she muttered under her breath.
“In my day, a man would have served the woman first,” sniffed an elderly woman he placed somewhere around a hundred and fifty. She stepped forcefully between Allie and him. “Then again, knowing Allie’s history, it’s probably best she watch what she eats.”
Stunned by the woman’s words almost as much as her appearance, Sam peered into the woman’s sharp brown eyes. She was a little frightening. A large, poufy black wig was perched on top of her head, but it had slid down to rest on her penciled-in brows in an unnatural and unsettling way. Bright white tennis shoes adorned her cloven hooves, and equally glaring-white nylon knee-highs were pulled high up under the hem of her green crop-pants so any view of actual skin was completely obscured.