Sierra Falls

Sorrow caught her sister’s eye and gave a self-effacing shrug. Billy could see she was pleased and touched. Just how long had the woman been toiling in the kitchen without thanks?



Sully bristled. “Wait a minute. My food’s not that bad.”



Laura gave a gusty sigh. “We love your cooking, Sully. You know what I mean. Sometimes a teenage girl wants soup and a salad instead of cheesy chili fries.”



“I can cook.” Sorrow stood tall, and Billy felt a spurt of pride. “People like my cooking, Dad.”



Bear scowled. “So everyone tells me.”



“Who else has told you?” she asked, sounding genuinely curious. The girl was too modest for her own good.



“Him, for one.” Bear pointed his way.



Billy gaped. “What?” The attention flustered him, and he was at an utter loss for words. “I…”



Sorrow got the cutest perplexed smile on her face. “You told my dad I could cook?”



The way she’d asked tugged at something in his chest. He tried to formulate something cool and collected to say, but Sorrow’s father didn’t give him a chance.



Bear turned on her. “Girl, I don’t know what you fed our sheriff, but he’s been crowing about…I don’t know…bread or something. All that time in the city, maybe he forgot how to eat meat.”



Billy laughed. “I love meat. For the record.”



Sully added, “Sorrow does do a fine brisket, sir. Her secret is to add Coca-Cola, if you can believe that.”



“Fine, fine.” Her father waved impatiently. “Sorrow can cook. One night a week. Tuesdays, how about. We’ll call it Ladies’ Night.”



“Ladies’ Night?” She rolled her eyes. “Should I feel insulted?”



Billy couldn’t help it—he couldn’t keep his hands to himself anymore. “Hey.” He squeezed her shoulders, telling her in a quiet voice, “This is a good thing. He’s saying you can cook.”



“You start tonight.” Bear walked to the window and shoved aside the lace curtain. “And you better get a move on. Jack Jessup’s truck just pulled into the lot.”



Twenty



Marlene stole a peek into the kitchen and knew a surprising wash of relief to see Sully. She didn’t know why she was being so silly. After all, the man was always there. It was only that she wanted him to talk to her grandson, Craig, of course.



For a brief second, she wondered what it was Sully did when he left the tavern, driving away on that noisy motorcycle of his. Where did he go? Was there a woman waiting for him at home?



How was it she could know positively nothing about a man she’d seen and said hello to for over two decades now?



There was some to-do in the kitchen, and she dallied, remaining standing to spy as she touched up her hair. She pulled off her scarf and cupped a hand along the bottom of her do, making sure her bob was still curling under.



It looked like the Baileys were having some sort of appliance trouble. Bear had his usual crotchety face on, though for once his girls weren’t at each other’s throats.



The door that led between kitchen and dining room swung open, and she hopped aside, letting out a little “Oh!”



Laura stopped short before running into her. The girl put a startled hand at her chest and did a quick side step. “Sorry, Marlene. Gotta run get some ingredients from the house kitchen.”



The door flapped shut, and as the girl ran off, Marlene stole a glimpse through it. Sorrow and their new sheriff were exchanging words. Quiet words.



She bit back a smile, pleased that she’d insisted her family dine at the tavern tonight. If there was something afoot, she’d not miss a second of it.



She went to the table to join her son Jack and his family. Her daughter-in-law, Tina, was wearing that sourpuss face she always had on—she’d wanted to go somewhere else for dinner, naturally. If Marlene said tomato, Tina would say tomahto. They never seemed to see eye to eye on anything. Especially money. Tina had a taste for the fancy restaurants in Silver City, and though Marlene’s boys Jack and Eddie made a good living running Jessup Brothers Construction, Tina clearly had yet to understand that money didn’t grow on trees.



Jack stood to scoot her chair in, and she gave her son a warm smile. “Thank you, dear.” Her ex-husband might be a son of a bitch, but they sure had raised themselves some lovely gentlemen.



“I’ll go grab us some menus,” he said.



“No need for that,” Bear said as he burst into the dining room.



Sully was on his heels. “Freezer’s down.”



Marlene made herself not look at the cook, focusing instead on unfurling and smoothing her napkin in her lap. She’d raised four gentlemen, and she, too, would be genteel.



Jack stopped, midstride, a handful of menus in his hand. “Want me to take a look?”



“No need,” Bear said. “They’re both down.”



Marlene finally looked at Sully, and his eyes were already on her, riveted, like he might be able to see straight through her. She cleared her throat. “So, you’re not cooking then?”



“Sorrow’s trying her hand at it tonight,” Sully said, and his expression softened.



It gave Marlene pause. What else made his expression warm like that? Was there a woman in his life who got to see that face? She felt a twinge, like loss, and brushed it off as foolish.



“Sorrow’s cooking?” asked Jack.



Tina added under her breath, “And pigs must be flying.”



Marlene shot her daughter-in-law a look. The girl could be short on manners.



Bear shrugged. “She’s cooking up some putanleska pasta. You don’t have to eat it.”



“Oh,” Marlene exclaimed, delighted. “A puttanesca. That sounds wonderful. Of course we’ll eat it, Bear. Good heavens.”



She felt Sully walk over and wished she had a drink to sip on. There wasn’t much more she could do to arrange the napkin in her lap.



Why was she feeling this way? Lord, but the divorce had thrown her. What had happened to her confidence?



“Evening,” Sully told the table. “How are you folks doing? It’s Craig, right? I didn’t recognize you at first. Kid’s growing like a weed.”



Forgetting herself for the moment, Marlene looked up at him. When it came to her grandson, she was 100 percent focused. “Yes, this is my grandson, Craig. And I think you already know my son Jack, his wife, Tina.”



Jack scrunched his face at her. “Come on, Mom. Of course I know Sully. Join us,” he said, gesturing to the chair next to him.



“It’d be an honor.”



Marlene watched, mesmerized, at this different side of him. She’d seen the man for much of her life, but somehow she’d never really noticed him. Something was different tonight. First off, he wasn’t wearing that apron. Instead, he wore a pair of khakis and a snug navy blue polo. Goodness, his eyes were dark blue…deep, almost purple, like lapis.



He turned his attention to Craig. “I hear you want to join the service, son.”



Her grandson beamed. “Yes, sir.”



“Good for you.”



There was a notable silence. Tina’s eyes turned to frost, glaring from Marlene, to Sully, to Craig. She told her son, “I thought this discussion was over. My son is doing no such thing.”



It seemed suddenly that Sully was a million miles away, separated from them by a gulf of cold wariness.



Was it a mistake to have asked him to talk to Craig? Had she crossed a line? But she knew…the boy would be eighteen soon, and then he could make his own decisions. He was almost a man now, and pretending otherwise was the worst they could do.



Someone needed to say something, and it fell to her. “I thought Tom…you know, Sully…could tell Craig about the service.”



She was probably making an enemy of Tina, but this wasn’t about her daughter-in-law. Craig was stubborn, and she wanted to make sure he was informed and thoughtful about the very life-changing choices he was facing.



“We don’t want him to go,” Tina said, shutting her down.



Jack’s hand snaked across the table, finding his wife’s. He nodded his agreement. “The boy’s too young, Mom.”



She could tell her son was trying, and she appreciated it. But she had the wisdom of her years to tell her, the boy would do what the boy would do. And all they could do was love him and guide him as best they could.



She doubled her resolve and turned to Sully. “How old were you? When you enlisted, I mean.”



“I didn’t enlist. I was a West Point man.”



“You were?” Marlene felt her eyes widen. It sounded so…masculine. Like something from a movie.



Sully looked amused. “Yes, ma’am.”



Marlene put a hand on his arm to interrupt. The gesture surprised both of them. “Good God, do not call me ma’am. You make me feel positively elderly.” She felt his arm tense. Hard ropes beneath wiry muscle. Tom Sullivan stayed in shape.



She pulled her hand back and touched it to her temple. Why did Bear insist on keeping the tavern so warm?



“Fine. Marlene.” He gave her one of his rare smiles, and it was like the sun broke out and warmed something in her chest.



What was wrong with her? She hadn’t had a hot flash in years.



Sully turned his attention back to Craig. “Have you thought about college? It’s a good way to go.”



The boy slumped back in his chair and scowled at his folks. “Not if there’s no money, I can’t.”



“First thing you’ll learn in the service is not to talk to your parents that way.” Sully’s tone was one Marlene didn’t often hear. It was more than simply strict, it was commanding, and yet he hadn’t needed to raise his voice to get there. It was an officer’s voice.



Craig’s eyes widened.



“You’ll sit up like a gentleman, too,” Sully added quietly. “Elbows off the table.”



Damned if the boy didn’t sit bolt upright and put his hands in his lap.

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