A Home of Her Own (Dundee, Idaho #4)(69)
Author: Brenda Novak

“That’s silly,” Barbara said. “He’s not here because he’s still angry at your father about that little spat they had a few weeks ago. Larry?”

Hearing his name, her husband muted the football game he was watching on television half a room away. “What?”

“You called Mike, right? Told him you’re not holding a grudge?”

“Of course.”

“Mike just hasn’t forgiven him yet,” Barbara said.

Rebecca’s expression plainly revealed that she agreed with Josh. “I’m not so sure that’s it.”

Barbara remembered Lucky standing at the door. Does he care about you?…No…it was all me…

Strange words from someone who wanted to hurt her…

Barbara’s conversation with Lucky nagged at her late at night, as did the lovesick expression she’d seen in Lucky’s eyes. But Barbara couldn’t think about that. Lucky was gone. For good. Mike had never fallen in love before; he wasn’t in love now. Certainly not with Red’s daughter. He’d eventually meet and marry someone else. And if Lucky loved him as much as she said she did—well, that was unfortunate. As a good Christian woman, Barbara wished Lucky no harm. She just wanted Red, and everything to do with her, out of her life.

Tightening her apron, she finally managed a brittle smile. “He’ll forget her,” she insisted. “Come on, let’s eat before the food gets cold.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

THE PHONE RANG.

Pulling himself out of a light sleep, Mike lunged toward it. Lucky. This late, it had to be her. She was finally calling….

“Hello?” he said eagerly.

“Mike?”

It was his mother. Slumping back onto his pillows, he cleared his throat to buy enough time to keep the disappointment from leaking into his voice. “Hi, Mom. Something wrong?”

“No, I was just up late, puttering around the house, and thought I’d give you a call. I didn’t wake you, did I?”

He squinted at his glowing alarm clock. She couldn’t have called earlier? It was nearly eleven-thirty on a Sunday night. “Not really,” he said, because he knew the past few weeks hadn’t been any easier on her than they had on him. “I only dozed off a few minutes ago. What’s up?”

“We missed you at dinner earlier.”

So that was it—she was upset about dinner. He hadn’t skipped out to make any kind of statement. He simply couldn’t sit through another dinner and pretend, as she obviously wanted to, that nothing had changed. “I had a lot of work to do, stuff that’s been piling up,” he said vaguely.

“Are you still angry with your father?”

Mike wasn’t sure he had a right to be angry. Considering what he’d thought of Lucky in the past, he couldn’t blame Larry for his reaction. Of course his father felt betrayed. Mike would have felt the same in Larry’s shoes. “No. Dad called and we talked about it.” He rolled away from the glowing digits of his clock. “How’s he feeling now?”

“He’s putting the past behind him.”

“Good.”

“I think we should all do that.”

“It’s probably best,” Mike agreed.

“So you’re okay?”

“I’m great. Just busy. Breeding season’s around the corner and—”

“Business picks up,” she finished. “I know.”

A strained silence fell between them. “Well, I’d better let you get to bed,” Mike said.

“Josh seems to think you’re in love with Lucky,” she blurted out. “Is that even a possibility, Mike?”

Mike opened his mouth to deny it. But he couldn’t. He knew it was true. “My feelings don’t matter,” he said. “She’s gone.”

“She hasn’t called, then.”

“Not once.”

“If she were to contact you, what would you say to her?”

He hesitated. He knew his mother wouldn’t want to hear the truth, but he’d already tried to dodge her. This time he couldn’t keep from voicing the two words that sprang immediately to his lips—probably because he’d said them to Lucky so often in his mind. “Come home.”

“What?”

Mike made no reply.

“You’re not saying she could become my daughter-in-law someday….”

He might have reacted to the panic in his mother’s voice. But the idea of marrying Lucky hit him like a club over the head. He’d been so busy trying to fight his attraction to her, trying to minimize what he felt for her, that he’d never allowed himself to imagine anything permanent. Now he pictured her smiling up at him as he slipped his ring on her finger, and felt a tremendous surge of pride and desire.

“Well?” his mother pressed.

“I don’t know,” he said. “We’re wrong for each other in every way.” He blinked up at the ceiling. “Except…”

“Except?” she echoed weakly.

Mike remembered Lucky’s “I don’t need you” look, the one she used to reject people before they could reject her, and couldn’t help smiling to himself. “Except the one that matters most.”

MIKE USED A PEN to trace the number he’d jotted down a few minutes earlier. According to Rob Strickland from the telephone company, Lucky had made only two calls to the state of Washington while staying at the Victorian, both to the same number. Which meant it belonged to one of her brothers. Lucky had mentioned that she and Sean and Kyle weren’t particularly close, but it’d been more than three weeks since she’d left. Surely they’d know how to contact her by now.

“Hello?”

It had been so many years since Mike had spoken to Kyle or Sean that he couldn’t place the voice. “Sean?”

“Kenny.”

Feeling the tension of approaching someone he’d always considered an enemy, Mike got up from his desk and crossed the room to gaze out his back window at the barn below. He’d thought a lot about making this call. Lucky had left and wasn’t looking back. If he wanted a clean break, to go on as he was before she’d returned, he could do that now.

But he didn’t want to go on as he’d been; he couldn’t. He wanted Lucky, and he knew he’d contact anyone and everyone who might be able to help him find her. “This is Mike Hill.”

The sudden silence seemed deafening, but then, he’d expected a chilly response.