“Son, that won’t happen.”
“You don’t know her like I do, Dad. She’s already mad I’m using your last name. She’s said when I go see her for Christmas that maybe she won’t let me come back here. I don’t understand why I have to spend Christmas with her. I’ve never gotten to spend Christmas with you. She doesn’t care about me. She just doesn’t want me to like you better than her.”
Dawson was agitated; Lex was miserable. And the phone kept ringing. I picked it up. “Hello?”
“Who’s this?” Mona demanded. “Why are you answering my son’s phone?”
“Hey, Mona, it’s Mercy. I see Lex left his phone on the counter again.”
“Where is he?”
I looked at Lex. “He and his father went to town for supplies for a school project. They should be back in a couple hours. Would you like me to give Mason a message?”
“No, but tell that kid to call me tomorrow since I’m on my way to work.” She hung up.
“Crisis averted.” I slid the phone to Lex. “You’re supposed to call her after school tomorrow. Let’s hope she’s in a better mood. Now finish your spinach so your dad will let us have cookies.”
Dawson had Lex clean up the kitchen. I’d just poured myself another drink when the house phone rang. “Gunderson.”
“Mercy? Is it true? About Verline?”
“Hope, hang on a second.” I took the cordless phone into the office away from Lex’s curious ears. “I’m sorry to say it is true.”
“That’s so horrible. Who’s taking care of those poor babies? Rollie?”
“No. Verline’s mother.”
“Oh.” I heard her juggle the receiver. “Joy is just Little Miss Grabby Hands. Jake, take her for a sec.” More phone-clunking noises, then a sigh. “Now we can talk.”
“About what?”
“Sophie.”
I was not in the frame of mind to hear Hope complain or whine. “What about her?”
“She… wants to quit.”
Okay, not what I expected. Good thing I was sitting down. “Really? Why?”
“Penny is being difficult, I guess.”
“So Penny’s gotten worse?”
“No, that’s the thing. Penny is actually improving. I mean, not like she’s in remission, but some of the natural herbs and stuff have helped her. She’s back to walking every morning. She’s eating. Her spirits are better.”
I took a long sip of my drink. “That sounds like good news. Not like Penny is being difficult.”
Hope sighed. “That’s what Jake and I think, too. But you know how stubborn Sophie is. She has it in her head to spend every waking moment with Penny while she can.”
“I take it Penny doesn’t want that?”
“No. She told Sophie to worry about doing her job.”
“Which caused Sophie to quit that job.” I swirled the amber liquid in my glass. “How do you feel about her quitting?”
“Jake is worried she won’t be able to live on just her Social Security checks.”
My little sister wasn’t very good at evasion. “That’s how Jake feels. How do you feel?”
When Hope hesitated, I braced myself, anticipating she’d break down. Her curt response shocked me. “Look, I love Sophie. But after Levi… and during my pregnancy, she smothered me. I thought that after Jake and I moved into our own place, she’d keep working at the ranch like she always has and give us a chance to be a family. But she comes over here every day. Tells me how to do things. She basically tries to run my house. I can’t even watch the TV shows I want. And I can’t really talk to Jake about this stuff because she is his grandmother. So to be honest, I’m glad she’s quitting.” Another pause, and I could almost see Hope biting her lip. “Sounds horrible, doesn’t it?”
I tried to wrap my head around this side of my sister. Hope had never wanted to do things for herself.
Or maybe she had. But our dad and Sophie wouldn’t let her. They made her think she was incapable.
“Do you think I’m an awful person?” she whispered.
“No, sis, not at all. I’m just surprised. Sophie got pissy with me when I asked if she’d considered retiring.”
“That’s because it wasn’t her idea,” Hope retorted.
“When did she talk to you about this?”
“Today. And before you get all up in my face that she didn’t talk to you, she told me you’re under a lot of stress with Lex living with you.”
“Lex is one of the least stressful aspects of my life.”
“I’m happy to hear that. He’s a sweet boy. I like him. I liked Levi a lot at that age, too.” She cleared her throat. “Anyway, a couple afternoons when I’ve been over there doing books, he’s kept Joy entertained.”
Had I been so wrapped up in my day and making sure Mason’s needs were being met that I’d forgotten Lex was part of my life, too? Probably permanently. I needed to stop treating him like a guest and start thinking of him as part of my family. “Thanks. Sometimes I get the feeling he’s disappointed Mason and I won’t have other kids.”
She laughed. “That’s not true, trust me. He likes being the sole focus of his father’s attention. Anyway, I hear Little Miss screaming, but I wanted to run one last thing past you.”
“Shoot.”
“Sophie has asked for the rest of her yearly salary and her year-end bonus. Is it okay to cut her a check for fifteen grand?”
I whistled. “We can afford that?”
“Yeah. But…”
“Spit it out, Hope.”
“I think Devlin may be pushing Sophie to get the money. I overheard him in the background coaching her. She’ll probably give it all to him. And he’ll blow it all at the casino.”
Dammit. I’d gotten so busy I hadn’t dug into Devlin’s gambling issues. “Does Jake have any idea who Devlin owes money to?”
“No. He don’t wanna know. I don’t, either. And you should stay out of it, too.”
I’d heard Rollie mention Saro, but I wouldn’t get within a mile of that psychotic motherfucker if I could help it. Asking John-John wasn’t an option. The tribal cops probably knew who on the rez was in the business of loans. Maybe I could discreetly get the information.
“Mercy? You still there?”
“Sorry. Been a rough day. Nothing you can do but write the check. What Sophie does with it after that… out of our hands.”
“I hate that.”
“Me, too. Thanks for the heads-up. Give Poopy a kiss for me.”
“Stop calling her that,” Hope huffed, and hung up.
I returned to the kitchen and topped off my drink.
Everything in this kitchen had Sophie’s touch. The arrangement of the dishes in the cupboard. Where the utensils were placed in the drawers. Where the kitschy objects hung on the walls. The positioning of refrigerator magnets. The style of the tablecloths and the place mats. I didn’t remember much from when this space had been my mother’s domain.
I’d changed only one thing in this room in all the years I’d lived in this house-I hated the frilly, moth-eaten curtains that blocked the great view of the ranch, so last month I’d yanked them down.
Sophie had thrown a hissy fit, claiming she felt naked without the coverage the curtains provided. But I’d held my ground. And she’d backed off.
Even though she hadn’t been here every morning recently, she was around often enough. I couldn’t imagine Sophie not being here at all. Would I ever see her? Would she stop by to chat? Would she call me? Would she welcome me into her home? Or would the relationship end like every other working relationship I’d had? Where she’d become part of my past? Where she’d be gone like she’d never been there at all?
That thought sucked the air from my lungs. I’d already dealt with so much loss in my life. I couldn’t stand losing Sophie, too. But I couldn’t push her to stay. That would be awfully damn selfish.
“Mercy?” Mason yelled from the living room.