Sunrise Canyon (New Americana 1)

“Fine. Calvin’s in the gift shop, looking at books. I’ll send Patrick in to join him.” She took a moment to inspect Patrick’s new bandage, then directed the boy inside.

Jake gazed out across the parking lot at the color-burnished hills. “Calvin was pretty cool this morning, using his shirt to stop the bleeding while he called you on his phone.”

“He’s a great kid,” Kira said. “It breaks my heart that he was almost cyberbullied to death before he came here.”

“You’re kidding!”

“I’m sorry,” she said, catching herself. “Please forget what you just heard. It’s unethical for me to share information about my students.”

“Kind of like doctor-patient privilege?”

“Exactly. All I can say is that every one of these kids is hurting. In that way, they’re not so different from you.”

He flinched. “That’s a low blow.”

“Is it? What happened to your hand?”

“That’s none of your damned business.” His voice was flat, emotionless. “I’m not one of your sick, rich teenagers, Kira.”

His words stung. “Are you saying you don’t have a problem?” she demanded.

“All I’m saying is that I don’t need any help from do-gooders like you and your grandfather. And I’ll be damned to hell if I’m going to let you poke and prod me like a bug under a microscope. As soon as I’ve paid Dusty back for bailing me out, I’ll be gone like a shot. You’ll never hear from me again!”

“And what about Paige?”

A groan rumbled in his throat, like the sound of a lion in pain. “What about her?” he asked.

“Does she deserve to grow up without knowing her father—or knowing that he cared enough to be there for her?”

“Does she deserve to know that her father was a burned-out train wreck who won a bunch of medals for blowing up men, women and children—even little girls like her?”

Shocked into silence, Kira stared at him. She was saved from having to respond by the sound of her cell phone.

“That’ll be the girls checking in.” She turned away from him to take the call. “Yes, come on back here,” she said. “If you see Mack and Brandon, tell them to come back, too. It’s time to get some ice cream and head home.”

She made a quick call to Brandon’s cell phone, then turned back to see Jake walking away from her, toward the parking lot. “Where are you going?” she called, half-afraid she’d made him angry enough to drive off and leave them stranded.

He turned and gave her a withering look. “Calm down. I’m going to wait in the vehicle, maybe take a nap if I can manage it. Come on out when you’re ready to go.”

With that, he wheeled and strode away.

* * *

Half an hour later, they were on the road again. They’d left earlier than planned, but the students were all tired. When they got home, there’d be the horses to feed, then dinner, and then her first private interview with Heather, while the others did their schoolwork or watched a video i

n the den. And she’d need to phone Patrick’s parents as well. It would be best to have the boy there when she made the call. That way he could reassure them he was all right and make sure they knew the accident had been his own fault.

Buckled into the passenger seat, Kira glanced at Jake. He’d barely spoken to her since their heated exchange in front of the visitor center. But if he was still upset, he showed no sign of it. He drove calmly and carefully, his hands relaxed on the wheel, and the radio tuned to a mellow country station.

Behind them, the sun was low over the western hills, casting the saguaros into long shadow. By the time they’d passed through Tucson and taken the road into the Santa Catalina foothills, some of the students had fallen asleep.

Kira’s gaze traced the line of Jake’s profile against the fading sky. She’d always told Wendy he was too handsome for his own good. Even after some very rough years, he was still a striking man. Not that she should care. The last person she wanted to be involved with was her cousin’s widower, who’d loved his beautiful wife so blindly that he could never have seen what was coming.

But why was she even thinking along those lines—especially knowing that Jake had every reason to resent her?

Only as they were driving through the side gate to the house and Kira saw the lights of the house—the living room strangely dark—did the premonition strike her that something was wrong. When she saw Consuelo waiting on the porch with Paige, she knew she’d been right. Reaching over the console, she touched Jake’s arm.

“Let me out here,” she said, unclipping her seat belt. “Then park by the cabins. Tell the students to go get ready for dinner.”