When the meal was finished, Aunt Mo appeared with a large pan of huckleberry cobbler, fresh out of the oven. “There’s homemade vanilla ice cream, too,” she told them, pointing in the direction of a table holding a vintage hand-cranked wooden ice cream maker. She winked in Charlie Grace’s direction. “I put Gibbs to work earlier.”
A smile formed as Charlie Grace quietly mouthed, “Thank you.”
Her aunt blew an air kiss her way.
While everyone enjoyed their dessert, Ford straightened up. When he’d finished scraping his pans clean and putting the dishes in the wash bucket, he grabbed his guitar from the back of his pickup. He hoisted one foot upon a stump, leaned over his knee, and tuned his instrument. “Any requests?” he asked.
Edith clapped her hands with delight. “Do you know ‘Home on the Range’?” She turned to the others. “I once heard that song in a John Wayne movie in a scene much like this.”
“You bet, ma’am.” Ford strummed his guitar and sang as the flames danced and crackled in the fire pit. His fingers moved nimbly over the strings, producing a rich and soothing melody that filled the cool mountain air. The guests sat transfixed by the music and the rustic ambiance of the campfire. Soon, they were singing along as he played, even the kids.
As the light faded, the colors of the sky deepened, shifting to shades of violet and deep blue. The first stars began to twinkle into view as the last remnants of sunlight gave way to pitch black blanketed with piercing tiny lights.
Charlie Grace looked across the campfire and found Nick Thatcher watching her. She dared to smile, and he smiled back.
She sat back and tried to take it all in, memorizing and storing every detail in her heart. All her hard work and plans culminated in this…an evening she hoped her guests would never forget.
She knew she wouldn’t.
14
Reva opened the door to find her three best friends standing on her deck. “There you are,” she said, waving them inside. “You’re late.”
“You mean busy,” Lila corrected. “Doc Tillman went home early this afternoon. Left me to tend to a Labrador with stomach issues and a cat with conjunctivitis. Not to be indelicate, but I think he had a bad case of hemorrhoids.”
“The Lab?” Reva asked.
Lila shook her head. “No, Doc Tillman.”
“Ew…and you know this how?” Capri handed Reva a tray of homemade enchiladas. “Mom sent these.”
Reva lifted the casserole dish from her hands. “Extend my gratitude. This sure beats my bowls of chips.” Despite her affinity for good food and her expensive kitchen, she wasn’t known for her culinary skills.
Charlie Grace tossed her jean jacket over the sofa back. “Let’s get back to why Lila knows her boss had hemorrhoids.”
Lila shrugged. “I saw him take the lidocaine cream we use when cows have prolapsed rectums into the bathroom with him.”
“Double ew!” the other three said in unison.
Reva laughed and set the casserole dish on the stone countertop. “I don’t envy the man you’ll someday marry. With your lack of filters, dinnertime around your table will be very interesting.”
Lila shrugged a second time. “Yeah, sorry. I forget how squeamish people get.” She grabbed a chip from the bowl. “And I’m never getting married again.”
“Never say never,” Charlie Grace told her.
“Oh? And what about you?” Reva moved for the refrigerator and pulled out a pitcher of margaritas. “Last I heard, you’d sworn off matrimony as well.”
Charlie Grace rested her hand on the back of a barstool. “Well, that’s different.”
“Right,” they all said, laughing.
Capri narrowed her gaze to the wall across the room. “Did you get a new piece of art?”
Reva nodded. “It’s a Paula Baucum original, an artist from Texas. Her pour paintings have such incredible movement. I love them.”
Reva’s house was a showcase of mountain chic décor. While relatively simple in terms of architectural form, she’d paid a lot of attention to luxury details. Warm tones, local stone and timbers, inlays of metals, and leather furnishings created an inviting interior. Soaring open-beamed ceilings and walls of floor-to-ceiling windows melded her home and nature…the feature she most loved. She especially appreciated the unobstructed view of the river and the Teton Mountains.
Reva poured the margaritas and handed the stemmed glasses to her friends. “So, let’s get to the reason we’re all here.” She turned her focus on Charlie Grace. “We need the scoop on your handsome new guest.”
