“I wonder if she’s really got an ex to hide from or if big brother just sent her up here to keep an eye on you.”

“Brad? No way. He sounded extremely shook up about the ex-husband. He really loves his sister.”

“He might have been pretty shook up about your shed getting burnt down too. I’d say timing is very coincidental.”

“Well, what’s Sam supposed to do if the bad guys come back? Run over them with her Volkswagen bus?”

Puppa grinned. “Samantha looks like she’s half Amazon. I bet she can take care of herself.” He looked at me. “And watch out for you too, I imagine.”

“Please. I have been taking care of myself practically my whole life. I do not need a babysitter.”

“But having a bodyguard can’t hurt any.”

“That’s ridiculous. I’m supposed to be keeping Sam safe. Not the other way around.”

“Having a roommate at the lodge is a good thing. I feel better knowing you’ve got company. I’m sure your friend Brad feels the same way.”

I thought of my new roomie’s VW, orange shag comforter, and lava lamp. Those items didn’t really affect my life in a negative way. But if she started blaring Elvis, the Beatles, or even the Beach Boys, I’d have to draw the line.

Puppa turned around. I realized we’d walked all the way to the main road. My golden horse pranced a circle on the other side of the fence, then accompanied us back toward the barn, which was barely visible through the thick row of cedars that cut the barnyard in half.

“So, what’s going to happen with Melissa Belmont?” I asked him.

“Drake’s sending threats from his cell to scare her into staying at the house. His dealer buddies have practically moved in to keep an eye on her and the kids.”

“That’s awful. I had no idea. What can we do to help her?”

“The tricky part is to get her and the kids out of town without anyone seeing them leave. Then she’ll have to go somewhere Drake and Company won’t think to look for her.”

“Kind of a layman’s witness protection program?”

“Pretty much.”

“Just like Samantha has going.” I cringed at the thought of Sam’s ex tracking her down in Port Silvan.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“If her life is in danger, why not get Melissa into the real program?” I asked.

“Too small of potatoes, too much red tape. The feds don’t really care about prosecuting a dealer like Drake. All Melissa might do is put an insignificant player behind bars for five to ten years.” Grandfather bent down and uprooted a pricker plant. He flung the carcass toward the fence. “Now, if Melissa were willing to testify against bigger potatoes . . . but I can’t imagine she’d do that.” He kicked dirt to fill in the hole. “If Drake came forward to inform on his network, like identifying the big shot running the drug supply lines in and out of the U.P., then Drake could very well earn himself immunity and a new life.”

“What? That’s not fair. Melissa and her kids are the ones that deserve a new life. Doesn’t anyone care if they get killed?”

“We live in a backwater county where there’s only one murder a year, Patricia. Witness protection isn’t a high priority. Besides, more often than not, these women go out looking like suicides.”

My heart beat in my ears. “What do you mean?”

“The suicide rate is off the charts around here.”

“Then my mom . . .” My voice petered into silence.

“May not have been a suicide.”

I stared at him. The breeze lifted a piece of his gray hair. His blue eyes were rimmed with red.

“You didn’t have anything to do with Mom’s death, did you?” I couldn’t forget Candice’s accusations.

He shook his head. “Not directly. But I’ll always wonder.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I should have never let her go that night. It was foolish of me even to mention it.” He shook his head and wiped a hand across his forehead, back in another time.

“Tell me what happened. Please. You have to.” I grabbed his hands. Up in the cedars, birds chirped. My horse reached her nose over the fence and whinnied. Puppa opened his mouth to speak.

From the direction of the barn, I heard Samantha’s voice. “Hey, Tish! Come and see!”

24

I tore my gaze from Puppa to watch Sam jog our way.

“Go on and visit with your friend, Patricia,” he said. “We can talk later.”

I gritted my teeth. Sam had terrible timing. Go away, I felt like telling her.

Sam reached us, bubbling over. “There’s a peacock, Tish. And roosters. And a llama.”

Goldie nickered again.

Sam turned. “What a gorgeous horse!”

Back away from the fence, Barbie, I seethed in my mind. Sam was driving me nuts and it hadn’t even been one day. August couldn’t come soon enough.

She gave Heaven Hill Gold a pat on the nose, then turned and grabbed my arm. “Come on. You’re going to love it.”

My feet slapped the ground in defiance at each step as she dragged me to the barn. Inside, we checked out the new stalls Joel and Puppa had put in. Even in my foul mood, I couldn’t help but laugh at the roosters with their bobbleheads, and the peacock, who tried chasing us off with a shake of its plumes.

We found the llama in a high-fenced pen adjoining the back of the barn. Sam and I ran hands through the animal’s thick wool.

She smiled at me. “Tish, I’ve never been to a farm. Thank you for bringing me along tonight.”

My heart melted as I put myself in Sam’s muddied shoes. She had the happiest disposition of anyone I knew, even though she’d suffered her own share of poor choices.

“I’m really glad you’re here,” I said. “We’re going to have a great summer together.”

“We really are.” She rubbed the llama’s ears. “I couldn’t help but wonder what you were talking about tonight regarding that Melissa woman. Is there anything I can do to help her?”

“What a situation. Poor thing. My grandfather’s already doing as much as he can.”

“Joel caught me up on some of the details. I hate the thought of her living in that house with her husband’s buddies hovering over her. Let’s sneak her out of there. She can live with us at the lodge.”

My hands dropped to my sides. “Absolutely not. We’ve got enough trouble worrying about your ex-husband. We do not need Melissa’s baggage coming after us too.”

“Oh. Brad told you about Gill, huh?”

“Well, yeah.” I looked at her with an expression that said “duh.”

“Then you see why I want to help Melissa. We have so much in common.”

“I doubt it. Somehow I can’t imagine you staying with Gill as long as Melissa’s been with Drake. And she’s still reluctant to go.”

Sam stiffened, her hands tucked deep in the llama’s wool. “I look like I’ve got it all together, don’t I? But you’d be surprised. I was with Gill for almost ten years before I had the courage to break free.”

I swallowed. The beautiful woman in front of me with her Grecian features and incredible black hair deserved only the finest man the world had to offer. And she’d picked Gill and stayed? “What’s the story behind that?” I asked. “It just doesn’t seem to fit who you are.”

“It’s our hardships that mold us, Tish. I wouldn’t dream of trading my past for a kinder, gentler one. The choices I made led me in some weird, roundabout way to the exact place God can use me.” She flipped that magnificent hair behind one shoulder. “I know this, if not for what I’ve gone through with Gill, my music wouldn’t carry any meaning. It would be about as deep as ‘Row, Row, Row Your Boat.’”

I thought back to the church in downstate Rawlings where Samantha and her band led the worship each Sunday. “You wrote those songs?”

“All except the hymns.”

I recalled the many times tears had threatened as I listened to the words of gratitude and praise to the Lord. “Your lyrics are amazing.”

“Thanks, but it’s all God. I just made a bunch of dumb mistakes. He’s the one that took what I’d messed up and turned it to something useful. Something that can help others find their way.”

We left the llama with a final scratch behind the ears and latched the gate behind us. The guys had disappeared somewhere. We went back in the house, visited with Gerard and Grandma Olivia for a few minutes, then made the drive back home.

We drove past the cider mill and the turn to Candice’s house. I thought about my last visit with her, wondering why I should believe her when she said she hadn’t ripped my mother’s picture in half.

Would the kind and gentle Joel have ripped the photo? He’d seen Candice’s car leave the area that night. Maybe he went in the lodge to see what she’d been up to, saw the picture on my pillow, and in a fit of jealousy, torn it in two. He’d apologized for his behavior, hadn’t he? Maybe his remorse had been more for the vicious vandalism than the callous comments.

“So what did you think about my idea to hide Melissa down at the lodge with us?” Sam said, interrupting my train of thought.

“I think I don’t need one more wrench in my routine, that’s what.” It came out a touch snotty.

Sam’s shoulders pressed back against the seat. “It seems to me like your whole life revolves around protecting your personal routine. It seems like a really dull, really unfulfilling existence.”

My fingers tightened around the steering wheel. “You can just stow the guilt trip. Those don’t work on me anymore.”

She looked at me, eyebrows raised innocently. “No guilt trip here, honey. Just stating the facts.”

“No, the fact is that I am not going to invite chaos into my life. I just climbed out of that pit and I’m not going back there.”