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“What are you looking at, buddy?” she asked, as she crossed the room. Wildlife was abundant in their neighborhood, especially since their house was so close to the creek, and she assumed her nephew was watching a deer or a bunny in the yard.
“I’m just watching all the people,” he told her as he pointed out the window. “Are we having a party?”
“Not that I’m aware of,” she said, coming up behind him. Her eyes widened at the cars and trucks that were pulling up in front of their house.
Including Chevy’s pickup.
She hurried to the front door and pulled it open. What the heck were all these people doing here?
Max followed her out onto the porch and waved excitedly to Chevy, who was unloading a stack of two by fours from the back of his truck. Another pickup had pulled up behind his, with Chevy’s brother, Dodge, and Maisie, the librarian he was seeing, inside.
Duke Lassiter and a tall curvy blond woman she’d never seen before got out of another car and walked across the lawn toward her.
“What are you all doing here?” she asked into Duke’s shoulder as he engulfed her in a big cookie-scented bear hug.
She’d never really known her grandparents, and Duke was the closest thing she’d ever had to a grandpa. Losing Chevy had been heart-achingly awful, but she’d also mourned the loss of the Lassiter family in her life. She let herself be held by him for just a moment. Why did this man always smell like fresh laundry and vanilla?
“Chevy came into the ranch house this morning loaded for bear, and he rallied the troops. He told us what happened to Lorna, and we’re all here to help,” Duke told her, giving her one more squeeze before letting her go. “It’s awful good to see you, Leni. We’ve missed you, darlin’.”
She swallowed back the emotion filling her throat. “Good to see you, too.”
“Hi, I’m Ford’s girlfriend, Elizabeth,” the woman with Duke said, holding up a box filled with orange juice, a couple of plastic containers, and a red casserole dish covered in foil. The smile on her face was warm and kind, like they were already friends. “We brought breakfast.”
Max grinned up at Leni. “I was just wishing that we alreadyhadbreakfast and didn’t have to make it.”
She had spent the better part of the last twenty minutes wishing that Chevy hadn’t just snuck out in the middle of the night and that she would hear from him again today.
Apparently, both herandMax’s wishes had come true.
“Wow. You didn’t have to do this,” Leni tried to tell them, but Max already had the front door open and was pointing the way to the kitchen.
“We know,” Duke said with a wink as he walked past her. “But we wanted to.”
Dodge’s girlfriend came up the stairs, holding a blue grocery tote. Leni remembered her a little from school, and they had met again a few weeks ago when she and Dodge had come into the coffee shop. “I’m not sure if you remember me. I’m Maisie. I was in Lorna’s class, and I work at the library.”
Leni nodded. “Yes, of course, I do. You’re with Dodge, right?”
The other woman’s cheeks blushed pink, which Leni thought was kind of adorable. She didn’t know Maisie well, but she seemed very nice.
“Well, yes, I guess.” She held up the tote bag. “My grandma is Ruby Foster, I think you know her too, and she sent me with a baked ziti she had in the freezer, and I brought taco meat and all the fixings for you all. Some of the other women from the church will probably be dropping meals off later today or tomorrow. We didn’t want you or Lorna to have to cook.”
“Gosh, this is so nice. I don’t know what to say.”
Maisie smiled. “Just say thanks and then bring a meal to someone in town next time you hear they’re in need.”
“Thank you.” She could handle the ‘thanks’ part, but she wasn’t planning to be in town long enough to help the next person in need.
Although…her stomach dropped as she suddenly realized that she wasn’t going to be able to leave in a week or so, like she’d originally planned. Not with her sister hobbling around on crutches for the next six weeks. Lorna had done so much for her over the years and never asked for anything in return.
There was no way Leni was leaving, not when her sister needed her, and she could actually do something to help.
There was only one complication with her staying for longer, and he was wearing a sexy-as-sin grin as he walked across the lawn toward her.
“Good mornin’, darlin’,” he said, as he dropped a stack of boards and a pile of tools next to the porch. He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Sorry I didn’t say goodbye this morning. I was up early, and you were sleeping so soundly, I didn’t want to wake you. I was hoping to get my chores taken care of and get back before you woke up. And I figured getting home to Duke and the ranch was the best place to start to round you all up some help.”
She didn’t know what to say. She was still stuck on the way her stomach had done a little belly flop when he’d called her ‘darlin’. And she appreciated the way he whispered and wasn’t announcing to the whole town of Woodland Hills that he’d spent the night with her.
Although his truck had been parked in front of their house, so word had probably already spread.
