6

The sun was just slipping behind the mountains on the horizon to the west when Sarah collapsed her last cardboard box, poured herself a glass of iced tea, and plopped down in front of the little window air conditioner in her living room. She propped her feet on her coffee table and leaned back against the cushions. It was done. She was all moved in. She closed her eyes and let the cool air and the gentle drone lull her almost to sleep.

The lime green pillow under her elbow vibrated, and she peeked under it to find the still silenced phone. She smiled at the slightly annoyed face filling the screen. Gran hated getting her picture taken.

“Hey, there. What’s up?”

“Hello, sweet girl. I didn’t wake you, did I?” Gran firmly believed that Sunday afternoons were made for naps as surely as Sunday mornings were made for worship services.

“Nope, I’m just sitting here drinking some tea.”

“Well, I was just wondering . . . did you happen to get any syrup last night?”

“Two or three bottles. Why? Need some?”

“I’ve got about enough for one waffle. I’m so put out with myself. I didn’t even think about it when I invited Chris over. If you could lend me a bottle, I’ll replace it next time I go shopping.”

“No need. I’ve got more syrup than I’ll ever use. Just give me a little time to clean up, and I’ll bring it over.”

“Thank you, honey. There’s no rush. I won’t need it for another hour or so.”

Sarah hung up the phone and headed down the hall to the bathroom. She stopped just before she got there. Why was she cleaning up to run a bottle of syrup down to Gran’s, unless she was falling into Gran’s matchmaking plans? And despite her grandmother’s protests to the contrary, she was pretty sure Gran was matchmaking.

Sarah turned on her heel, grabbed a bottle of syrup from her stuffed cupboard, and ran down the street to Elizabeth’s house.

Elizabeth was sitting in her recliner crocheting and watching television when Sarah came through the front door. She looked up in surprise.

“Well, Sarah! I thought you were coming over later.”

“You know, I just want to take a shower, climb into something comfortable, and kick back. I thought I’d run this down first.”

“But I was hoping to talk you into staying for supper.” Elizabeth rested her crocheting on her lap and looked up, clearly disappointed.

“Gran, what am I going to do with you?” Sarah gave her grandmother an exasperated smile. “I’ve already told you that trying to play matchmaker between me and Chris Reed is a waste of time. I am not interested.”

“And I’ve already told you that I am not matchmaking. I just thought it might be more of a party with you here, that’s all.”

A twinge of guilt poked Sarah somewhere in her middle, but she refused to give in to it. Even if Elizabeth had absolutely no intention of matching her up with Chris—and she had to admit she’d never known her grandmother to tell even a half-truth—she didn’t want Chris getting any ideas. She was not so naïve or so clueless that she didn’t know what Chris’s puppy dog stares meant, and if he came for dinner and found her here, he just might think she was being served up with a side of sausage. The thought made her shudder and completely erased the twinge of guilt.

“I’m sorry, Gran.” Sarah tried to make her smile conciliatory. “But I really am beat. I would be terrible company, I promise you. But we’ll have waffles next Sunday for sure. In fact, if you let me borrow your waffle iron, I’ll fix them for you and we’ll eat at my house.”

“Well, all right then.” Elizabeth seemed to know her battle was lost. “Go on home and get some rest. But I have to say, if you end the Lord’s Day more tired than you began it, you might need to rethink the way you spend it.”

Sarah tried not to heave the sigh that filled her chest. Gran could be so . . . Granish. “It’s been a really busy week with moving and all, but I’m settled in now. This coming week should be easier. I’m going to run up to San Ramon one day to get some things to decorate my classroom. Want to come?”

Elizabeth’s smile lost all trace of disappointment. “I’d love to. Fixing up the classroom was one of my favorite parts of teaching, although back then we didn’t have near what you all have today.”

“Great.” Sarah set the syrup on the table and headed out the door. “I’ll give you a call and we can decide when to go.”

“You do that.” Elizabeth picked up her crocheting again. “Shall I tell Chris you said hi?”

Sarah stuck her head back in the door. “No.”

Chris parked in front of Elizabeth Cooley’s just before six. This was his first invitation to a meal with anyone since he arrived in Last Chance. That in itself wasn’t too unusual. Chefs, he had discovered, didn’t get many dinner invitations, and neither, it seemed, did chefs-turned-diner-owners.

Elizabeth and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee met him at the door. Her eyes lit up at the flowers he held. “Well, aren’t you sweet? These are just lovely. Come with me to the kitchen while I put them in some water.”

Chris followed. His mom had told him never to accept a dinner invitation and go empty-handed—to always take wine or flowers. And since he had a feeling Elizabeth wouldn’t appreciate wine, that left flowers. The only problem was, there was no place in Last Chance to buy flowers, and the only place in San Ramon he could find that was open was the grocery store. They seemed to please her, though.

When Elizabeth set the flowers in the middle of the table, Chris noticed it was set for two. He tried not to let his disappointment show. Elizabeth had not mentioned that anyone else would be here, but, face it, ever since she had called him this afternoon, he’d been hoping to see Sarah here. He had made one bad impression after another, and a nice, relaxed evening away from the diner might have given him just the chance he needed to finally get her to stop looking at him as if he really needed a keeper.

Elizabeth stopped talking, and he realized she had asked him about his family. He tried to regroup his thoughts and hoped he was answering the right question.

“They’re in Scottsdale. My parents have their own real estate company, which keeps them really busy, and I have one sister, Kaitlyn. She has a little girl, Olivia.” Thinking about Olivia always made him smile, and Elizabeth seemed to pick up on his delight right away.

“I bet she’s darling. How old is she?”

“She’s seven. I don’t know that I’d call her ‘darling,’ though. I think of darling as someone in a fluffy dress sitting on a cushion, and that’s definitely not Olivia. She’s so smart she scares me, but she hasn’t had an easy time of it, and she’s a tough little cookie. She’s been sent home for fighting more than once. I worry about her.”

Elizabeth smiled. “Sounds like you need to worry more about the other kids. Olivia’s doing okay.”

She plugged in her waffle iron, set a mug of coffee on the table next to Chris, and started stirring up the waffle batter before she returned the conversation to Olivia.

“You didn’t mention a brother-in-law. Is Olivia’s dad in the picture?”

Chris shook his head. “Nope. Both he and Kaitlyn were just kids, and he ran. Kaitlyn’s done this pretty much on her own.”

“But your folks were there.” It was more a question than a statement.

Chris shrugged. Ordinarily he was fiercely protective of his family. He had built a high wall around them in his heart and stood guard, sword drawn, daring any outsider to judge or even criticize. But Elizabeth wasn’t coming across as doing either. She just seemed interested and warm, and he felt himself relaxing a bit. “Well, they gave her and Olivia a home, of course, until Kaitlyn could get out on her own. And they put her through beauty school so she could take care of herself and Olivia, but they’re too busy to babysit and stuff, if that’s what you mean.”

“Do you get to see them often?”

“Not as often as I’d like. I tried to get them to move out here with me, but they wouldn’t even move to Albuquerque. There’s no way I could get them to a place like Last Chance.” Chris felt his ears grow red as soon as the words were out of his mouth. Nice. Eat a lady’s waffles and insult her town in one fell swoop.

But if he had offended Elizabeth, she gave no sign; she just nodded.

“Well, Last Chance isn’t for everyone, that’s for sure. And I, for one, am glad. If it were, it wouldn’t be Last Chance. It would be just another big city in the desert. Not that we wouldn’t love to have your sister and Olivia here in Last Chance, of course.” She put a cast iron skillet on the stove and took a paper package from the refrigerator. “Now, how about putting those chef skills to work and frying us up some sausage? It should be done about the time the first waffles are ready.”

Chris was grateful for the task. He had talked more openly about his family to Elizabeth than he had ever talked to anyone, and even though she was easy to talk to, he was glad to leave the subject.

The conversation never did return to his family. It just slipped from one easy subject to another as they ate their waffles and sausage and then as Chris, over Elizabeth’s protests, helped with the dishes. Finally they stood on her front porch in the deepening dusk of the long summer twilight as he said his good-byes.

As he turned to head down the walk to his Jeep, Elizabeth raised her arm in a wave, and he looked to see Sarah in her front yard watering her flowers. He also gave what he hoped looked like a casual yet friendly wave and got in his Jeep. He had turned his Jeep around to park in front of Elizabeth’s house, so he was pointed away from Sarah’s house.

Almost too embarrassed to admit to himself he was doing so, he swung the Jeep into another U-turn so he could nonchalantly drive by Sarah’s house as if he had someplace to go in that direction. He lifted his hand in another easy wave as he drove by, and she returned it. Perfect, Reed. Cool, casual. Oh, yeah, you live here. I’d forgotten. He drove to the corner, signaled, and turned into a cul-de-sac. There was nothing he could do but turn the Jeep around and head back the way he came. Sarah was still in her front yard watching him approach. This time he didn’t wave. Or even look at her as he passed.

Sarah shook her head as she watched Chris drive past the second time. What in the world was he doing? But as the taillights disappeared around the corner, she dissolved into laughter. Not a ladylike chuckle either, but the kind of loud belly laugh that made her mother look at her and sigh. If Chris Reed were even half as cool as he tried to be, he’d be an obnoxious jerk, but he was such a doofus, she almost felt sorry for him.

“Was that Chris going by again? What was he doing?” When Elizabeth had seen Sarah in her yard, she had walked on down.

“Beats me.” Sarah grinned. “Maybe he just wanted a tour of the neighborhood.”

“Well, that’s just the strangest thing. There’s nothing down there but the Watsons’ house. Why would he want to see the Watsons’ house?”

Sarah gave her grandmother a one-armed hug. “I don’t know. Why don’t you come sit on the porch with me for a while and have a glass of tea. You can tell me all about your dinner party.”

“I’d hardly call a few waffles and sausage a dinner party.” Elizabeth started up the walk with Sarah. “But Chris is a nice young man. He brought me flowers.”

“Did he, now? Maybe I’m not the one you should be thinking about matching Chris up with.”

Sarah had only to glance at her grandmother’s face to realize she had crossed the line. Gran was not amused. “I think that’s enough about Chris and matchmaking, don’t you? He’s clearly been taught some manners, and I find that refreshing.”

Not quite sure how she was to take the “refreshing use of good manners” comment, Sarah left her grandmother rocking on the front porch and went into the house to get them both some iced tea. When she got back, Gran, in typical Gran fashion, had moved beyond her admonishment as if it had never happened. Her sigh was as contented as her smile as she accepted the icy glass.

“Thank you, darlin’. This is so nice. I have to admit that when you left for college, I was afraid Last Chance had seen the last of you, to live anyway. So many of our young people leave.”

Sarah, rocking beside her, nodded. “Well, there’s not a lot to keep people here once they get out of school. A few of my friends from high school stayed to work the family ranch or chile farm, but most are long gone.”

“I guess that’s one reason why I’ve taken to Chris Reed like I have.” Elizabeth set her glass on the small table between the chairs. “When young people come into the town, instead of leaving it all the time, it makes me think that maybe we’re going to be okay.”

Sarah put her hand on her grandmother’s arm and gave it a tiny shake. “Of course we’re going to be okay. Nothing’s going to happen to Last Chance. Ask Rita! She’s got a dozen schemes going at a time to keep Last Chance revitalized.”

Elizabeth smiled into the dusk, “Well, you’re right about Rita. If she has anything to say about it, we’ll be putting up skyscrapers on Main Street by Christmas.”

“See? And have you ever known anyone who can say no to Rita for long? Last Chance isn’t going anywhere.”

“Maybe not. After all, the Dip ’n’ Dine got some new blood. Who knows what else might happen?”

Sarah felt a little air go out of her bubble. “Well, just because Last Chance isn’t going anywhere doesn’t mean everything has to change, does it?”

Elizabeth patted her granddaughter’s arm. “Darlin’, things are always changing. That’s the nature of life. Sometimes they change toward more life, sometimes they go the other way, but nothing ever stays the same.”

“Last Chance has.”

“Oh, no, it hasn’t. When I first got here, Last Chance was a thriving ranching and farming community. We had a bank, a couple restaurants, neither of them the Dip ’n’ Dine, a dry goods store, and I don’t remember what all. Then came the drought and the interstate going through up by San Ramon, and we shrunk. Then the chile cannery opened, and we grew again. Then it closed down, and we got to be about where we are now.”

“I don’t remember all that.”

“Well, you weren’t even here for most of it. And you were pretty little when the cannery closed. But as you say, Last Chance is still here, and with young people like you and, yes, Chris coming in, I imagine we’ll do fine.”

Sarah took a sip of her iced tea and didn’t say anything. Gran may have been right about change being the nature of life, but she didn’t have to like it much.

Elizabeth looked at the trim gold watch on her wrist and set her empty glass back down. “I guess I better get on home. It’s been quite a day for both of us, and one of my shows is fixing to come on.”

“Let me walk you home.”

“No, darlin’. We need to get this settled. I hope we do a whole lot of back-and-forthing between our houses, but you’re not going to walk me every time. I’m not an invalid, and I know my own way home.”

“I was afraid you were going to be that way. Hang on.” Sarah ducked into the house and was back in a minute. “Here. I bought you a flashlight. Promise you’ll use it, and I won’t bug you about walking you home.”

Elizabeth turned it on and off a couple times, then focused the beam on the walk in front of her. “Hmm! This might be nice. Thank you, darlin’.”

Sarah watched her grandmother follow the pool of light down the walk. Sam must have joined her when she reached her gate because the gentle fussing Elizabeth always directed toward her cat floated back down the street, followed a moment later by the sound of Elizabeth’s front screen opening and closing.

Sarah moved her little table to a spot in front of her chair and propped her feet up on it. It felt good to be on her own porch. She could go in or stay out. It was totally up to her. She leaned back and closed her eyes as the night wind sprang up and ruffled her hair and the events of the day played like a movie through her mind. When she got to the part where Chris Reed had driven himself into a cul-de-sac and then had to drive back by her house as if he had meant to do it, she started giggling.

Still giggling, she got to her feet and went back inside. Gran was right about one thing: as much as Sarah loved her grandmother, she did miss hanging out with people her own age, and face it, pickings were slim in Last Chance when it came to young people. Maybe she would invite Chris over sometime. She’d be right up front that all she was looking for was a friend, and he did make her laugh.