Sierra Falls (Sierra Falls 1)

Laura stopped short before running into her. The girl put a startled hand at her chest and did a quick side step. “Sorry, Marlene. Gotta run get some ingredients from the house kitchen. ”

The door flapped shut, and as the girl ran off, Marlene stole a glimpse through it. Sorrow and their new sheriff were exchanging words. Quiet words.

She bit back a smile, pleased that she’d insisted her family dine at the tavern tonight. If there was something afoot, she’d not miss a second of it.

She went to the table to join her son Jack and his family. Her daughter-in-law, Tina, was wearing that sourpuss face she always had on—she’d wanted to go somewhere else for dinner, naturally. If Marlene said tomato, Tina would say tomahto. They never seemed to see eye to eye on anything. Especially money. Tina had a taste for the fancy restaurants in Silver City, and though Marlene’s boys Jack and Eddie made a good living running Jessup Brothers Construction, Tina clearly had yet to understand that money didn’t grow on trees.

Jack stood to scoot her chair in, and she gave her son a warm smile. “Thank you, dear. ” Her ex-husband might be a son of a bitch, but they sure had raised themselves some lovely gentlemen.

“I’ll go grab us some menus,” he said.

“No need for that,” Bear said as he burst into the dining room.

Sully was on his heels. “Freezer’s down. ”

Marlene made herself not look at the cook, focusing instead on unfurling and smoothing her napkin in her lap. She’d raised four gentlemen, and she, too, would be genteel.

Jack stopped, midstride, a handful of menus in his hand. “Want me to take a look?”

“No need,” Bear said. “They’re both down. ”

Marlene finally looked at Sully, and his eyes were already on her, riveted, like he might be able to see straight through her. She cleared her throat. “So, you’re not cooking then?”

“Sorrow’s trying her hand at it tonight,” Sully said, and his expression softened.

It gave Marlene pause. What else made his expression warm like that? Was there a woman in his life who got to see that face? She felt a twinge, like loss, and brushed it off as foolish.

“Sorrow’s cooking?” asked Jack.

Tina added under her breath, “And pigs must be flying. ”

Marlene shot her daughter-in-law a look. The girl could be short on manners.

Bear shrugged. “She’s cooking up some putanleska pasta. You don’t have to eat it. ”

“Oh,” Marlene exclaimed, delighted. “A puttanesca. That sounds wonderful. Of course we’ll eat it, Bear. Good heavens. ”

She felt Sully walk over and wished she had a drink to sip on. There wasn’t much more she could do to arrange the napkin in her lap.

Why was she feeling this way? Lord, but the divorce had thrown her. What had happened to her confidence?

“Evening,” Sully told the table. “How are you folks doing? It’s Craig, right? I didn’t recognize you at first. Kid’s growing like a weed. ”

Forgetting herself for the moment, Marlene looked up at him. When it came to her grandson, she was 100 percent focused. “Yes, this is my grandson, Craig. And I think you already know my son Jack, his wife, Tina. ”

Jack scrunched his face at her. “Come on, Mom. Of course I know Sully. Join us,” he said, gesturing to the chair next to him.

“It’d be an honor. ”

Marlene watched, mesmerized, at this different side of him. She’d seen the man for much of her life, but somehow she’d never really noticed him. Something was different tonight. First off, he wasn’t wearing that apron. Instead, he wore a pair of khakis and a snug navy blue polo. Goodness, his eyes were dark blue…deep, almost purple, like lapis.

He turned his attention to Craig. “I hear you want to join the service, son. ”

Her grandson beamed. “Yes, sir. ”

“Good for you. ”

There was a notable silence. Tina’s eyes turned to frost, glaring from Marlene, to Sully, to Craig. She told her son, “I thought this discussion was over. My son is doing no such thing. ”