The Long Road Home

“Over the years, he’s gotten much worse. I’m beginning to wonder if he doesn’t have some kind of mental health problem in addition to his emphysema.”

“That would be a real shame with him living alone and all.”

Her father had changed, too, since he’d retired. Luckily, he had her mother to make sure he was all right. Mr. Berger had no one as far as she knew. His son Tim lived and worked in Racine.

Thinking she might interest her nieces in the kinds of cheeses and other foods she carried in the store, Priscilla realized her mistake as she looked at them—both were immersed in their cell phones. Great.

If she couldn’t figure a way to get them interested in other things happening around town, it would be a very long summer.

CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_5d1afc6b-cbcf-541f-8f8c-1879b9ad3ffd)

IT WAS GOING to be a very long summer. Alyssa nibbled at a few kinds of cheese and tasted her salad as the others chowed down. Soon her phone buzzed again. She ignored the disapproving look from her aunt Priscilla and slipped the phone from her pocket to read the new text. It was from Tisha. Luke was getting together with that new girl they’d seen at the coffee shop, plus Brad was angry and not speaking to anyone. Everything was going on and here Alyssa was stuck in a stupid, boring, small town out in the middle of Wisconsin! She heaved a big sigh that earned another snarky look from Aunt Priscilla, then she texted Tisha in return.

After lunch, they went upstairs to change their clothes, since Mia, the silly twit, couldn’t wait to ride the horses out on that farm they’d passed. In the bedroom she was sharing with her sister, Alyssa opened her suitcase but decided to wear the same jeggings. She removed her sandals, however, and slipped on a pair of over-the-knee high-heeled black suede boots. The day was a little warm so she also changed her T-shirt to a midriff-baring purple tank. She slashed on some bright lipstick and threw a beaded scarf around her neck, sighing anew at the idea of being isolated in Wisconsin. Why she and Mia couldn’t stay by themselves, she had no idea. She was only a year or two younger than the NYU students who populated their neighborhood, and they were getting along without their parents.

“It’s going to take her forever, you know,” Mia was saying as Alyssa came out into the living space of the apartment. She was sitting on the couch, still showing Grams the Furious Falcons game.

Grams looked up. “Oh, not forever. Here she is.” She rose to give Alyssa a hug. “You look so pretty!”

Alyssa hugged Grams in return. Grams and Gramps Ryan had always been nice to her. It wasn’t that she didn’t care about them. On the other hand, she hadn’t been around Aunt Priscilla all that much, and, so far, she seemed plenty annoying.

Right now, she was giving Alyssa a studied once-over. “Those boots are kind of fancy for riding, don’t you think?”

“Mia is the one who wants to ride. I’m just coming along.” No horse sweat for her! She suddenly wondered if she could get out of it. “Unless I can stay here...”

“No, no, I want to be with both my girls,” exclaimed Grams.

Alyssa assumed they were ready to go then, but Mia came off the couch, only to scrabble around on the floor. “I just had it.”

“What?” asked Aunt Priscilla.

“My stylus.” Mia tried to find it under the couch. “I was using it for my game. It’s got to be here somewhere. I don’t want to lose it.”

“A stylus?” Grams opened her large purse to rummage inside. “Don’t waste any more time looking for it. I think I have one.”

“Why would you have a stylus?” asked Aunt Priscilla. “You wouldn’t let me buy you an eReader for Christmas. You said you wanted to read books the old-fashioned way.”

“I always buy things when I see them on sale.” Grams finally looked up from her search, a small green pen-like item in her hand. “I saw these little things were a dollar each at FamilyMart.”

Aunt Priscilla laughed and shook her head. “Honestly, you have everything. I just hope no one ever needs a hand grenade.”

The two women and Mia continued talking as they went downstairs and left the store, Alyssa following. The dorky older guy Aunt Priscilla had introduced as her part-time employee told them to have a good time and continued sweeping the wide floorboards. The store’s interior was meant to look kind of country, yet sophisticated, with light paneling and barrels with butcher block tops to display the many kinds of cheeses for sale, along with some locally made sausage and other products. There were a few small tables and chairs off to one side where customers could taste cheeses or sit down for lunch or snack. Alyssa had to admit the place presented a pleasant atmosphere and the cheese board with crackers and a salad they’d had for lunch had been good. Her aunt obviously knew more about merchandising than she did fashion. Dressed in beige pants with a beige T-shirt and nondescript shoes, her red hair pinned back simply, as if to get it out of the way, Priscilla could easily pass for being ten years older than Alyssa knew she actually was.

Alyssa’s attention returned to her texts as they got in the car, dropped Grams off for some meeting, and headed for the horse ranch. Tish said there was a really hot guy hanging around in the hallway of her building and she got him to say “hi” to her. How could she get him into a longer conversation?

Alyssa was about to text a suggestion as they pulled into the parking lot of the “ranch” with its big, old white barn. A matching farmhouse sat a short way down the road. Suddenly the phone indicated there was no service. “Unbelievable!” Were the hills on either side cutting off reception?

“Wow, look at those horses!” Mia nearly burst out of the car in her enthusiasm.

But it was the young man saddling the mounts in the corral that drew Alyssa’s attention away from her useless phone. Slim but muscular, blondish hair feathering from beneath his straw cowboy hat, the guy had a killer smile and a square jaw. Alyssa loved square jaws.

Alyssa slipped the phone into the case she wore on a chain around her neck. At the moment she didn’t care about reception. Tish could take care of herself. She had her own encounter to enjoy.

“Which one of these horses is most spirited? I want to ride fast,” Mia was saying to the young guy as Alyssa approached.

“Hey, chill out. We’re just going on a trail ride this afternoon,” the guy told her, laughing. Then his smile seemed to freeze as he caught sight of Alyssa.

“Hi.” Alyssa adjusted her sunglasses. She wished she’d had time to freshen her lipstick. She put her hand out for a shake. “I’m Alyssa.”

“My sister,” added Mia with a disgust that Alyssa ignored.

“Logan.” The cute guy took Alyssa’s hand then released it more quickly than she would like. “Sisters. Hey, uh, great...you can both go on the trail ride.”

Alyssa posed carefully, hand on one hip, hoping her big city glamour would affect Logan. “I’m just here to hang out.”

“We don’t really have a hang-out spot around here but you’re welcome to wait until we get back,” Logan told her before turning to Mia. “I think you’ll like Cloud, the Pinto. She’s got a sweet temperament, along with some spice.”

Alyssa asked him, “You’re going on the trail ride, too?”

“I’m leading the group.” Then he walked away to introduce Mia to the spotted horse nearby.

Drat! Alyssa looked down at her beautiful boots. Guess she’d have to take the chance on getting them sweaty after all. “I’ve changed my mind. I need a horse, too.”

She’d had riding lessons for a short time when she was Mia’s age, before she’d lost interest. She could look pretty good on the back of a horse if she wanted to.

If that’s what she had to do to get next to a cute cowboy.

* * *

AT LEAST ALYSSA was enjoying something, Priscilla thought, hanging on to Gold Mine, the pretty Palomino Logan had saddled for her. She could let go of the tension she’d been feeling since the drive to her place from the airport. Her niece might be flirting with the young hand, but Alyssa was little more than a kid, and he was several years too old for her. Thankfully, she noted that Logan remained friendly but professional, nothing more.

Also thankfully, Sam was nowhere around, so she didn’t have to worry about running into him, after all.

“Aren’t you going to get on your horse, Aunt Priscilla?” Mia asked from atop a little Pinto mare named Cloud.

“I’m just waiting until the last minute,” Priscilla hedged. “We’ll be in the saddle long enough as it is.”

Besides, which, she’d only been riding a few times and not since she was a teenager. A far more experienced rider than she, Mia was already walking her mount around the corral adjacent to the barn, turning Cloud this way and that. A few other riders, strangers to Priscilla, were doing the same.

When Alyssa asked Logan, “Aren’t you going to give me a leg up?” Priscilla whipped around to see what was going on.

Logan gave her niece a friendly grin. “If you can’t get off the ground on your own, we do have a mounting block—”

Alyssa made a sound of exasperation. “Never mind!” Then put a foot in the stirrup and bounced right up into the saddle.

Logan looked at Priscilla. “Do you need help, ma’am?”

Priscilla flushed. She couldn’t let her nieces outdo her. She placed her left foot into the stirrup and said, “I’ve got it.”