Suddenly, Annie's Father

“You look real good,” he managed finally.

Annie didn’t even waste her breath replying to the blatant lie. She just continued to stare at him with a defiant tilt to her chin and a heartbreaking mix of hurt and anger in her eyes. He might have responded to that, if his mother hadn’t latched onto his arm and pulled him aside.

“I’ll explain to you about that later,” she muttered under her breath, her gaze pointedly focused on Annie’s hairstyle. “Please don’t say anything about her hair. She’s very self-conscious about it.”

“She darned well ought to be,” Slade retorted. “What were you thinking?”

“It wasn’t me,” she snapped. “When she found out we were bringing her over here, she did it herself.”

He shot a bewildered glance toward his daughter. “But why?”

“I have no idea. She’s a mystery, Slade. Keeps everything bottled up inside. It comes out in these daredevil acts of hers. I never know what kind of trouble she’s going to get herself into. She’s a smart girl, but you saw her report cards. She got through the school year by the skin of her teeth. I’m pretty sure her principal will throw a party when she hears Annie’s transferring to another school district.”

She gestured toward the three suitcases his father had lined up on the porch. “That’s everything she has. Your dad and I will be going now,” she said, as if she couldn’t wait to get away, to get some peace and quiet back into her life.

Slade stared at her in shock. “You can’t leave,” he protested. The nastiest bull on the circuit had never set off such panic deep inside him.

“It’s a long way back home. Tomorrow’s a workday for your daddy. Besides, you two need time to settle in.”

“But you’ve driven all this way. I thought we’d go into town for a nice dinner or something,” he said, trying to delay the inevitable moment when he and his daughter would be left on their own.

His mother gave him a sympathetic pat. “Everything’s going to work out just fine, Son. She’s your own flesh and blood, after all. All the girl needs is a little love and attention from her daddy. You remember how she used to worship the ground you walked on. She was a daddy’s girl, no doubt about it. She never mentions her mama, but I catch her staring at the pictures we have of you on the mantel.”

Love and attention, Slade thought, staring at Annie uneasily after his parents had driven away. Too bad those were the two things likely to be in very short supply coming from him.

* * *

Val stood in the office Harlan Patrick had built for her just off her boss’s music room and stared at the scene outside. It was like watching an accident unfold in slow motion, horrifying and tragic. Slade Sutton was regarding his daughter as if she were a rattler he considered capable of striking at any second. His wariness was downright pathetic, but then Slade seemed to be wary of most females.

Watching him with his daughter, she couldn’t hear what was being said, but it was all too evident that neither of them had conversational skills worth a hill of beans. The few feet between them might as well have been a mile.

Hug her, Val coached silently. Neither of them budged. Slade’s hands were jammed into his pockets. His daughter’s were jammed into her own. It was as if they both feared reaching out. Val wondered if Slade even realized that the girl was mimicking his mannerisms.

Abruptly he turned and stalked away. As the girl stared after him, her chin wobbled as if she might cry, but then she, too, turned and stalked off, in the opposite direction. Her suitcases stayed where they’d been left, right on the porch. He hadn’t even bothered to take her inside and show her where she’d be living.

“They’re a sorry pair, aren’t they?” Laurie asked, coming to stand beside her. “I was watching from upstairs. I guess it’s true what I heard, that they’d been estranged for months now. I wonder why.”

“The why’s not important. Somebody needs to see to that poor child,” Val said, her indignation rising. “Slade’s obviously not going to do it.”

“Why don’t you go?” Laurie suggested, regarding her with amusement. “You know you want to. You’ve been itching to find out more about Slade’s daughter ever since you discovered he had one.”

Val shook her head and reluctantly turned away from the window. “I don’t want to meddle.”

Laurie grinned. “That’ll be a first. When it comes to meddling, you could rival Grandpa Harlan. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you were an Adams. My relationship with Harlan Patrick wasn’t any of your business, either, but that didn’t keep you from teaming up with him.”

“That was different. You two belonged together. You were just too stubborn to admit it. You needed a little push.”

“Maybe that’s all those two need.”

“Forget it. You know how Slade is. He’ll be furious if I go sticking my nose into his business,” she said, fighting the temptation to meddle anyway. Another glance at that downcast child and she’d let her heart overrule her common sense.

“Since when did his moods bother you?” Laurie asked. “Besides, I thought you took great satisfaction in provoking him.”

Laurie was right about that. Val did like getting Slade Sutton all stirred up. Every now and again the fire she managed to spark in his eyes struck her as very promising. So far, he’d carefully avoided indulging in anything remotely close to a passionate response. In fact, he made it a point to steer clear of her whenever he could. Yesterday had been one of those rare occasions when running hadn’t been an option.

One day, though, she was going to catch him alone when he didn’t have chores to tend to. She would seize the chance to deliberately push him over the edge. Then she’d finally discover if all this chemistry she’d been feeling for the past few months was one-sided or not.

Now was not the time, however, and Annie was not the best subject to use to provoke a response from him. There were too many complicated emotions at work here that Val didn’t understand.

After she thought for a minute about the scene she’d just witnessed, it occurred to her that for once Slade might be grateful to have her step in. Clearly he was out of his depth, though why that should be eluded her.

She, on the other hand, liked kids. All sorts of maternal feelings washed through her every time she held Laurie’s baby. Now that Amy Lynn was beginning to toddle around on unsteady legs, Val enjoyed chasing after her almost as much as she liked setting up interviews and keeping Laurie’s life on track. She might not have signed on as a baby-sitter, but it was one of the duties she took on willingly.

“Okay, okay,” she agreed finally, giving in to Laurie’s urging and her own desire to get involved. “I’m going.” She said it as if she were caving in to pressure, just to preserve the illusion of reluctance. The truth was she was eager to meet Slade’s daughter, just as Laurie had said.

Outside, she strolled casually in the direction in which she’d seen the child go. Surprisingly, she found her near the stables. Apparently she’d gravitated back toward where she knew her father would be, after all. Slade was nowhere in sight, but Val assumed he was inside the barn doing those endless chores he found so fascinating.

“Hi,” Val said, coming up to the corral railing to stand beside her. “I’m Val.”

The girl kept her gaze focused on the horses.

“You must be Annie,” Val continued, as if she hadn’t been totally ignored. Apparently father and child shared a disdain for polite responses. “I’ve been hearing a lot about you.”

“Not from my dad, I’ll bet,” Annie responded, giving her a sullen glance.

“Actually, that’s not true. Your dad is the one who told me you were coming. Then I heard about you again from my boss, Laurie Jensen.”

The mention of Laurie’s name was bound to catch the attention of anyone who’d ever listened to country music. Laurie’s albums were at the top of the charts. Annie Sutton proved to be no exception. She regarded Val suspiciously.

“Yeah, right. Like you actually know Laurie Jensen.”

“Like I said, I work for her.” She gestured vaguely toward Harlan Patrick’s house, which wasn’t visible from where they stood. “She lives about a quarter mile down the road, not too far from your dad’s house. Surely he’s mentioned that to you.”

Annie shrugged. “Me and my dad don’t talk too much.” She focused her attention on the horses for a while, then asked, “So, how come Laurie Jensen lives here?”

“She’s married to Harlan Patrick Adams, who’s one of the owners of this ranch.”

There was a flash of interest in eyes that had been way too bored for any typically inquisitive ten-year-old. “No way.”

“It’s true.”

Her expression brightened visibly. “And you said Laurie Jensen actually knew my name?”

Val grinned at her astonishment. “She did.”

“Awesome.”

Relieved to have caught the child’s interest, Val decided to capitalize on it. Maybe she could forge a bond with Annie more easily than she’d imagined. “Maybe you could come by sometime and meet her, listen to her working on songs for her next album. If your dad doesn’t mind, that is.”