“I guess you’ll be gone when I get back, huh?” Keith said.
Isaac nodded. “I’ve been here a week already. I need to get home and organize my notes.”
“On the forest elephants?”
“Exactly.”
Keith grinned and shook his head. “I don’t know how you Tarzan types do it, man. I’d go nuts camping out in the jungle for so long.”
“You wouldn’t if you loved it as much as I do.”
“Maybe not. You certainly make it look easy.”
“I’m single. I have only myself to worry about.” Isaac liked it that way. After taking care of Liz for so long, he enjoyed having the chance to focus solely on his work.
“Well, come and see us again before you head back to Africa, okay?”
“I’ll try. A lot depends on whether or not I get the grant money.”
“It’ll come through eventually. It always does.”
Isaac had been lucky so far. “We’ll see.”
Scooping his keys off the counter, Keith headed to the living room. The front door banged shut. Then silence fell over the table—except for the sudden chime of the clock.
“I hate it when he has to go,” Mica complained.
“Me, too,” Christopher said.
Isaac checked Liz’s reaction and found her staring into her coffee cup.
“What’s up?” he asked.
Her sudden smile appeared forced. “Nothing. Why?”
“Are you still thinking about that accident in Sacramento?”
“Not really.”
“Where’s Keith off to this time?”
“Phoenix. He goes there a lot. He’s training personnel on how to use the new software he’s developed.”
“He must like what he does.”
She sighed. “So much he won’t put in for a change.”
“Is everything—” because Mica was watching, Isaac purposefully veered toward the generic, using only his tone to convey that he meant something deeper “—okay, Elizabeth?”
His sister’s delicately arched eyebrows lifted. “Between me and Keith?” she asked in a low voice. “Of course.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive.” She waved a hand in a dismissive gesture. “The constant traveling gets to me occasionally, that’s all. It’s hard to maintain a normal family life when he’s away half the time.”
“Would you like me to stay here with the kids this week so you can fly to Phoenix and be alone with your husband?” Isaac was really anxious to get back to the university. Classes would be starting soon. He had to get his syllabus prepared for microbiology, which he’d be teaching in the spring semester, if the grant money didn’t come through before then.
But this was Elizabeth. He and his sister had grown up with the understanding that no matter what the world threw at them, they’d always have each other.
He thought she might need him now.
She tucked her long blond hair behind her ears, then took a sip of coffee. “No,” she said, her cup clinking against the saucer. “That’s sweet but, to be honest, I don’t think he’d want me there. He doesn’t like me to bother him while he’s working. We rarely hear from him when he’s out of town.” She rubbed her temples as if battling a headache. “His company demands so much from him. But he enjoys his work, so…what can I do?”
Isaac rubbed his knuckles against his jaw. “Are you sure he wouldn’t like you to join him? He’s been traveling for years. All that work has got to get old after a while.”
“Like your trips to the Congo get old for you?” she teased, her perfect teeth glinting at him as she smiled.
Isaac returned her smile, then sobered and reached out to touch her arm. “Liz?”
She took another sip of coffee before answering. “Hmm?”
“How do you think he missed that big accident in Sacramento?”
Her forehead wrinkled as she considered the question. “I don’t know.” Although her plate was still nearly full, she pushed it away. “It’s possible I have the dates mixed up. He comes and goes so often.”
Despite her attempt to sound casual, her response didn’t ring any truer than Keith’s answers had earlier.
“Do you really think so?” Isaac asked, afraid he was missing something important.
Another flicker of a smile—and an almost imperceptible glance at the children. “I do.”
Dundee, Idaho
IT WAS STILL AWKWARD. Even after nearly two years.
Taking advantage of a moment when Lucky Hill was studying the menu, Reenie O’Connell made a face at her brother to let him know she expected a more valiant effort from him. Then she curved her lips into a bright smile as the half sister they hadn’t known about—until their father spilled the secret after Lucky had returned to town as a grown woman of twenty-four—looked up.
Unfortunately, admonishing Gabe did little good. He was too stubborn. His granitelike expression didn’t soften, and Reenie could tell he was making Lucky uncomfortable. Every few seconds, her eyes darted his way as if she was looking for some small sign of acceptance.
“So…should we rent something in Boise?” Reenie asked, trying to keep Lucky distracted by pressing forward with plans for their father’s sixtieth birthday party.
“I don’t think so,” she replied. “Boise’s over an hour away and too impersonal.”
“But Dad’s been in the state senate for…what? Twenty years? He’s got a lot of acquaintances and professional associates. We need someplace big.”
Lucky tossed her curly, strawberry-blond hair over her shoulder. “Who says we have to invite all his professional associates? I vote we include only those people who are closest to him. Then we could have the party right here in Dundee.”
When there was still no response from Gabe, Reenie jumped in. “You have a point,” she mused. “We don’t want to turn this into another tedious political engagement. Lord knows Dad’s suffered through enough of those.”
“Exactly,” Lucky said, and her gray-blue eyes darted Gabe’s way once again.
Reenie added another spoonful of sugar to her coffee, even though it was already too sweet. She needed something to do with her hands. “In that case, I guess our best option would be to have it at the Running Y Resort.”
Lucky’s reaction held a little too much enthusiasm. “That’s perfect. Don’t you think, Gabe?”